i know im an overemotional, overreactive pathetic little wimp about my hyperfixation, and i dont even mean that derogatory, i think its both my best AND worst quality, im well aware of it, especially in moments when im already stressed i have a hard time to get my brain back into control, im so well aware of it that i HAVE been managing to learn how to deal with it actually which is why, instead of letting myself spiral any further, i went to bed to let my brain calm down

and it worked!

i still hate the live action zelda thing, i still think it WILL be bad, and it will still negatively affect how i feel about the franchise as a whole, i am not spiraling out of control about it though, which i think is a win in my book, some people hate that i say my opinion at all though, more on twitter than here so hey, im grateful to not be called pathetic to my face bc i said something someone might decry as too 'weird'

Subtleties of a Suitor (Part 1 of 2)

Summary: Pre-calamity AU where Zelda’s powers awaken in time, but not everything is back to normal after Calamity Ganon is defeated.

Note: This is all @intangiblyyourswrites‘s fault. Also, the second part is NSFW -which also happens to be Kristie’s fault. Enjoy!

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Scrawling ink coated the underside of her hand and left light imprints on the edge of the paper. That paper was bound within leather covers that rarely left the Princess’s desk. It was a journal of upmost confidence; containing her deepest secrets and cresting moments of happiness. The highs and lows of her life caught between compressed papyrus.

It was hardly secretive that her lows were concentrated in the years before, caught in the repetitive cycle of failing expectations that were handed down to her from birth. This desk and this journal were Princess Zelda’s small reprieve. Even going as far as referring to it as an old friend because it felt better to write with purpose than to speak nothings into a void.

My dearest friend,

A worry line creased her forehead. The nameless friend was so accustomed to moments of happiness nowadays, it felt alarming to her that she was writing with distress once more.

These days have been nothing short of harrowing. In my last letter, I was convinced that he finally understood my intentions after Calamity Ganon was sealed away. I thought-

She paused her pen strokes and glared at the page, willing herself to connect thoughts to words and words to paper.

We don’t meet anymore, we haven’t since before the monster was sealed away. Even though the night prior haunted my dreams for weeks following my expressed wishes to cease these small moments of privacy. No matter how sweet and innocent they could be. As you know, in my heart of hearts I can’t bind him to me when-

When Zelda could never be his. When, in times of great enlightenment and prosperity, their fates have crossed and her father now sees him only as a valuable combatant in his army. When destinies have been fulfilled and they were no use to one another.

They both knew this in the beginning, but with the veil of ignorance and Zelda’s everflowing failure, she was convinced they were fated to die with the kingdom. It was a simple case of action and reaction. If she didn’t unlock her sealing powers, then Calamity Ganon would not be defeated.

The knowledge most likely drew out their passion. Pages upon pages recounted shaky hands and blushing cheeks that glowed hot and bright against starry skies. A string of months where she felt more warm than she had ever been and more loved than she thought she deserved.

Then, a week after the Calamity, when Link was pressing her against the railing of an empty stairwell far from the celebratory festivities, she broke their kiss after her guilt grew too heavy for her chest to bear. Zelda will never be able to forget the unmasked hurt on his face as she thickly told him that they couldn’t do this anymore. Among it all, Zelda told him she loved him.

I was under the impression he understood. Father offered Link a promotion and he didn’t even wait a day to think about it. The next evening another man was waiting by my door and of course it shocked me. A part of me wanted to be belligerent when Link hadn’t bothered to ask, another part was more than understanding. But now?

Now I’m rethinking everything.

It started two weeks ago.

The court was lively. Since Calamity Ganon’s appearance and subsequent defeat, Hyrule Castle had its fair share of celebrations. Three months later, the Zora was being hosted within its walls. Without looming dread over her head, Princess Zelda found herself in more social circles. The Zoran princess and Champion, Mipha, became an especially close contact. As opposing as the two princesses were, they had cultivated a solid friendship. Zelda assisted Mipha with fitting into Hylian customs and Mipha was a fantastic listener.

“Link hasn’t said anything about it to me,” Mipha said gently, swinging her little brother in her arms. Prince Sidon made a disgruntled noise and reached out towards Zelda once more.

The small prince smoothed the trouble in her brow as she heaved him in her arms. “Well maybe it’s for the best. We should both move on.”

They were taking turns about the court, trying to spend the dying summer days. Sidon giggled and reached out to his sister.. Mipha seemed to be debating what to say before opting for nothing at all and looked across the room. Her Hylian companion followed her gaze to find Link communing with her father and few other Zora. It was typical for him to parade around the Hero of Hyrule as if he were some trophy.

“I don’t know, Zelda,” Mipha softly said beside her. A joke from Link made the group laugh and suddenly the blond caught her eye. As if stung, Zelda looked at the marble tiles in front of her. She scorned herself when her mind would drift from the fact that he wasn’t wearing his Champion’s Tunic. “His burden is lifted, yes, but it’s not like him to so easily let go of someone.”

When Zelda didn’t respond, Mipha tried to reassure her. “I could be wrong. If anything, we can refer to Lady Urbosa.”

As they walked, they soon found themselves amongst a throng of Zoran and Hylian ladies who began to gossip about the affluential bachelors in the room. Although she was physically there with polite smiles galore, her head was miles from the court. There was something about wealth they were talking about when all went silent.

“Master Link!” a woman exclaimed, “What a pleasant surprise!”

Suddenly, Zelda was back with slight vertigo. The group moved from her and began asking a dizzying amount of questions.

“Tell us, how frightful was that monster?”

An excited Zoran was nearing jumping out of her draped fabrics. “Heavens! Recall to us how you slayed the dreadful Calamity Ganon, please sir.”

“Oh goodness, Catherine, not with my weak nerves.”

Why hadn’t they asked Zelda those questions? She was there too!

The man seemed caught up in the storm of women and it occurred to Zelda that she had the opportunity to slip away amongst the chaos. Right when she discreetly bid Mipha goodbye, Link began speaking.

“You’re all too kind. I’m afraid I’m not a very good storyteller,” he wore a graceful smile, but she could see the anxiety behind his eyes. She knew him. Then, she saw the skies in his eyes and any desire to leave dissipated. “I can tell you that Princess Zelda saved my life.”

All eyes fell on her and she felt the acute urge to stare at her feet. Her voice sounded foreign, “You say the most fantastic hyperboles, Captain.”

Those were the first words she has said to him beyond common pleasantries in three months.

“I assure you that there was no embellishment in the slightest.” Link was looking at her along with the rest of the ladies.

“Ah, well,” Zelda trailed off, “It was only fair when you saved mine.”

That caused a sea of hushed whispers around them. The woman that separated them spoke up excitedly, “Will you allow us a story or two, sir?”

“My apologies, I should be off to the barracks right now,” Link said, meeting her again. “I came to bid Her Highness goodbye.”

Another wave of whispers as the woman between them shuffled off quickly. Confusion ebbed at the Princess, but refined manners kept it at bay. Link reached out to her and she instinctively offered her hand, but his fingers grazed the underside of her forearm, the tips of his glove brushing down its length before finally clasping her palm. As he bent down low, he held her gaze, and it felt like they were the only people in the room. Warm lips pressed a long, searing kiss to her hand, and it revived the sensation of those same lips drifting up the inside of her thighs.

He pulled back, “You look lovely this evening, Princess. I hope we cross paths again.”

Zelda’s lips drew tight together and she nodded chastely, not trusting her voice to speak. Footsteps on marbled signified his leave and she looked at Mipha, who stared back with bewilderment. The two princesses thought the same question.

What was that?

Her ink quill scratched against the paper from added pressure, she readjusted her grip.

I thought about it for the rest of the evening. That one moment dredged up emotions I spent weeks burying. Logically, I had chalked it up to basic biology; chemicals in my brain that were ultimately a hindrance to my responsibilities. For a few hours, that had worked until I found out that that night would be the first of many where he would bid me goodnight.

The next day was no better because Father decided he was honored enough to dine with us.

“I’m so glad you can join us, Captain!” King Rhoam boisterously said. “There is a seat next to Princess Zelda.”

The woman stared holes into her empty plate as the chair beside her grated against the floor. When her father coughed to clear his throat she glanced up, “Isn’t it nice that he has joined us, Zelda?”

“Oh, yes,” she smiled tightly, hardly meeting their eyes. “It’s good to see you, Link.”

Her hands folded tightly in her lap. Zelda didn’t hear him reply, so she assumed he demonstrated his signature nod. Perhaps he didn’t want to be there either. Before the Calamity, he was never permitted to sit at the royal table, much less next to the princess. He was a simple soldier then, she reminded herself, someone with promise. Princess Zelda assumed this was another way for her father to show off the Hero of Hyrule to the lords and ladies at the table.

The thought made her bite the inside of her cheek. Didn’t he deserve better? Had he been asked what he wanted?

Supper crawled by painfully. Typically, she didn’t mind if someone sat by her but she hadn’t realized how common it was to brush arms with a neighbor. Each time they touched, she’d involuntarily flinch away. Sometimes he would mumble his apologies that were a little too close to her ear.

Like all things, the torture ceased and as Zelda was about to excuse herself, dessert was announced.

“Where are you off to?” Link said, watching as she was already half-risen from her chair.

The Princess swallowed her curses. “I’m excusing myself,” she lilted, not quite leveling with him. “A lady should keep her figure.”

It was a bold-faced lie. She knew that he knew she loved sweets and would easily endure three courses of her most hated dishes to reach them. Zelda dared him to say anything. The door to the kitchen swung open and revealed several servants. Her father suddenly eyed her oddly, “Are you not planning to stay? I requested fruitcake for this evening on your behalf.”

Oh.

Link looked away as she flopped back in her seat. Despite the rolling in her stomach, her cheeks flared in embarrassment and she rushed to say, “Thank you, Father.”

As much as Zelda wished it would, the issue hadn’t immediately folded. When a large cake was placed on the table, she had the full intention of taking the slice to her room under the guise of studying a fallen Guardian’s laser module. It would be an easy solution to this problem. The cake knife was in her field of view and she went for it, only for another’s to brush her hand away.

With accusation in her eyes, Zelda watched the smallest smile - almost unnoticeable - cross Link’s face.

“What are you doing?” she said under her breath, glancing around the table to assure no one was watching. It hadn’t seemed to be the case, but this was exactly what she didn’t want. The Princess knew this court and though they’re opinion of her had shifted, the lords and ladies would cling to any rumor no matter how innocent his actions were.

His eyes were carefully guarded and if he had been anyone else, she would have been offended by how large the slice of fruitcake was when he set it on her plate . Right when she moved to stand, he caught her with his words.

“Who is it that has you caring about the way you look?”

At the head of the table, King Rhoam was laughing at something an advisor said. By now, it would look uncouth to leave the table mid-course. With a heavy breath, Princess Zelda pulled her chair in and spread her napkin over her skirts. The cake was layered with lemon icing, which would usually make her exponentially excited. Her lips upturned into a soft frown. He shouldn’t ask questions like that. It wasn’t fair.

Annoyance surged into her chest. “Does it matter?”

He was quiet for a moment and conversations from others dominated the air between them. The fruitcake tasted stale in her mouth.

“Yes.”

She wasn’t looking at him - she couldn’t. A stirring feeling lodged itself in her throat and threatened to bring about everything she tried to undo. Memories of laughing so hard in Hyrule Field, doubled over in her saddle from something ridiculous he had said; learning in that moment that he looked at her like she was the moon on a cloudless night; his hands twirling her into a circle besides a campfire to the sound of her humming ballroom tunes.

He had asked me if I fell out of love with him or he had hurt me in some way. I hadn’t and I wasn’t then and I am not now. It wasn’t just about me, but him as well. If it came out to the court, to the public, that we were having an affair, of course I would be criticized. My character put into question and subsequently tarnished for as long as it stayed in the minds of my peers, but nothing would happen to my title. I would still be the Princess of Hyrule.

Link would be scrutinized and his reputation ruined. He could be subject to expellment and be banished from the castle or Castle Town entirely. That was a fear I had harbored and for me to perpetuate our relationship for selfish indulgence… that isn’t love. At least, not a love he deserved.

Daintily, Zelda set her fork beside her plate and partially turned to him. The man had been expecting her as if this was any ordinary conversation, his fork pressing down the spongy dessert instead of eating it.

“Only because you care so much,” she uttered with a stiff back. “The royal family of Labrynna will be hosted in Hyrule Castle in just a few days. I haven’t seen their prince since I was a child.”

His expression hadn’t changed, but he ceased his movements with the fork. Guilt pricked at the edge of her consciousness. Link placed his fork on his plate and reached up. Immediately, her faced flushed hotly and felt his coarse fingertips brushed her cheek. There wasn’t any movement to indicate that she would pull away from his touch.

Then, he smirked. “There was cream on your face.”

It was like he didn’t care! I was mortified.

Her ink pen ran underneath the last word several times to create a line deep enough to bleed onto the next page. The worry line on her forehead had creased deeper as she recounted the events that had happened.

I should have made it clear to him after dessert was over, but when we were taking leave, Father got caught up in a conversation with him. I couldn’t confront him at that point and when Link came to my door again to say goodnight, I shouldn’t have opened it. And when I did, I should have told him: Link, this is inappropriate and I’ve told you that I didn’t want this to continue. Especially in front of my father, no less!

But I didn’t.

Zelda’s face burned and she couldn’t get herself to write down that she might have liked it. She was someone who was both stubborn inside and out, and even her feelings wouldn’t leave with tumultuous effort on Zelda’s part. What was she supposed to say? That she really does miss him and that every second around him chipped deeper in the hole he left?

It was rude. Irresponsible. Ungentlemanly and without regards to propriety. OR my feelings for that matter! What if the way I felt about him is different? Three months is a long time.

And then she remembered his self-satisfied smirk when her face was hot under his hand. Her handwriting grew more frantic against the paper and she had to consciously apply less pressure before the quill-tip punctured through the surface.

Her mind shifted to the days after.

Labrynna was hosted in Hyrule Castle amongst continued celebrations of Hyrule’s success. Their King and Queen were welcomed with open arms, overwhelmed by the jubilations of Hyrulean citizens. Along with them was their son and daughter: Prince Tyrion and Princess Aurra.

Prince Tyrion had written to Zelda several times after the Calamity about their shared childhood, a time she hadn’t remembered at all herself and referred to Impa more than once to verify his stories and to write back to adequately pretend she had. The Labrynnian princess was someone Zelda wasn’t aware of whatsoever and even her father had leaned in during the processions to ask of her name.

Aurra, however, was acutely aware of Zelda. More importantly, she knew of the Hylian Champion who slew a monstrous being of myths.

Not long after making her introductions to Princess Zelda and King Rhoam, she skipped to who was at King Rhoams side and curtsied. Before Zelda could see Link’s reaction, Prince Tyrion took up her view. She offered the appropriate pleasantries and allowed him to take her hand, but she didn’t miss when Link took Princess Aurra’s.

She made note that he didn’t bring it to his lips.

Through the day, she didn’t wander from Prince Tyrion’s side. He was an interesting man; well read and well traveled. She found him to be a fantastic conversationalist nor was she blind to his charm. Dark eyes paired with brunet hair that was shorn close to his ears, which were notably shorter than any Hylian’s - a common trait amongst his people.

However, he was also arrogant.

As King Rhoam led the party through the castle grounds, a level above the barracks and training grounds, Tyrion spoke up.

“You know, Your Majesty, I am well trained in the arts of combat,” he said with a slight smile.

Rhoam raised a brow, turning slightly to face his daughter and the Prince. Two men sparred below, each clash of their swords echoing off the walls. The King of Labrynna nodded in affirmation, a certain pride in his face. “Yes, it’s custom for our prodigy to learn the blade from young ages. Tyrion has a special affinity to it.”

“Fascinating. I hope to see your skill during your stay, young man.”

“Well,” the smile of the Prince’s face and he gestured to Link behind him. “I would be honored to spar with the Hero of Hyrule.”

Princess Aurra stopped her chattering with Link and grabbed the sleeve of his blue tunic, “Oh, brother, you will surely lose. Isn’t that right, Link?”

Zelda swallowed, suddenly uncomfortable with her familiarity with him after only hours. Even more was how unbothered he was by it.

“It surely would be quite the duel,” Rhoam mused, “As long as it has your approval, Captain.”

Link nodded Tyrion’s way, graciously, “The honor would be all mine, Your Highness.”

He said it to the Prince, but his eyes meandered to Zelda’s.

The preparation took an hour and by the time Princess took her seat overlooking the training grounds, the sun casted a golden glow over them. King Rhoam was incredibly eager for the duel, shooting secret smiles at his daughter as the two men shook hands below.

It was clear who would win to the Princess, Link was at the top of his class even before he became her attendant. She scolded herself, though, and told herself that she shouldn’t underestimate Prince Tyrion so soon.

Dimly, she could hear the two opponents giving their regards to one another. The Prince had changed into an elaborately designed sparring outfit that appeared to have leather padding laced at his forearms. Link, however, changed only into Hylian trousers.

Princess Aurra hummed next to Zelda, “Is that the magical sword? It looks normal to me.”

It wasn’t as he had chosen a Knight’s Broadsword to match Tyrion’s.

“It isn’t the Master Sword. We returned it to the pedestal after felling Calamity Ganon.”

Aurra blinked, “Together?”

Zelda politely nodded. That sword was an extension of Link and she remembered comforting him after he realized its purpose was served. The night of, she felt his tears through her nightgown and told him he was more than his destiny - they both were.

After Link gave his regards to King Rhoam and Princess Zelda, a man who had sparred prior held an arm out and shouted to begin the duel.

“Oh, how exciting!” Aurra squealed.

The two men  circled each other like vultures. Prince Tyrion was the first to push forward, a simple feint that Link sidestepped. He was testing the waters. Then, the Prince leapt forward and went for his opponent’s side, who parried without losing ground. There were several short exchanges of the Hero being passive, while Tyrion was assertive.

Before Zelda knew it, she was gripping the sides of her chair as they danced. Tyrion was grinning wildly at his stoic opponent. He hadn’t been bluffing earlier, he was skilled. The Hylian Princess had seened Link spar time and time again, never did it take so long for him to disarm his opponent in some manner. The sun beat down on them, creating glistening sweat on their skin that bled darkly through their clothes.

Suddenly, Tyrion had space for a large horizontal slash before Link could recover from a parry. Zelda let out a yelp and watched him duck into a lateral roll, regaining his senses and plenty of ground between them.

Tyrion harked out a laugh, “You are brilliant, sir!”

They were panting now and the comment brought a sideways smile to Link’s lips. “I appreciate the regard, Your Highness. You’re a remarkable swordsman.”

They took a moment to breathe and Link did the unthinkable. His Champion tunic was discarded easily to the ground and Zelda held her breath when his eyes found hers on the perch where she sat.

Princess Aurra gasped softly. Zelda didn’t blame her. Hard lines on his stomach were only more prominent in the sun and his chest heaved with his hard breaths. The lack of coverage revealed the flex of his arm as he readjusted his grip on the blade.

It wasn’t an oddity that he was now half naked. Tyrion had long let the strings that laced the neckline of his tunic loosen, leaving a large portion of his chest exposed. Considering that they were already in the heat of midsummer, the sight of shirtless men should be expected at this end of the castle. But Link, well, he was always different.

The Prince of Labrynna lunged forward with a grunt, thrusting his blade out. Where Tryion was tactful, almost mechanical, in his movements, Link was fluid. He took his opponents strikes like water, flowing into the gaps of his defenses and reevaluating in a moment’s notice. It truly was an art in Zelda’s eyes, a very dangerous art.

Much different than anything Tyrion had done, he brought his blade upward in a sideways slashing arch with a loud shout. Princess Zelda’s heart surged in her chest. Link grit his teeth and threw his weight back into a flip, landing on his feet.

Surprise registered in Tyrion’s eyes and couldn’t recover fast enough when Link brought his blade against the hilt of His Highness’s broadsword. The blade was sent skidding along the dirt.

“Ah,” Tyrion brought his hand up to further demonstrate his lack of weapon. “I yield.”

It was then that Zelda realized she was holding her breath. Her father and his guests had all stood and applauded, so she followed suit.

“Good show!” Aurra leaned on the stone wall. “Very well done!”

The two men clasped hands again with a few words of respect. The Hylian princess watched a short regaling and found an opportunity to slip away from the processions without another glance at the arena.

A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 60

Chapter 60 WHOOT WHOOT! 60 days ago I started this journey with only 2 followers, and now I have 337! I can’t thank you all enough 😭It means so much to me that you all like my little world. 

Warning, PLEASE CHECK TAGS IF YOU SEE SOMETHING YOU DON’T WANT TO READ THEN DON’T READ. Tag lists are closed

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Will tag as I go along, Will update tags, Slow Burn, Influenced by Star Trek and other Sci-Fi themes, References to We Happy Few, Tons of References and quotes to George Orwells 1984 see if you can find them all, The First Order is the new Big Brother,  but who is really surprised, Blatant Nazi Symbolism, Interrogation Themes, Eventual Smut, Eventual Romance, Really just drawn out Slow Burn, Don’t repost without permission, Torture themes, Suggestive Themes, Execution themes, Disturbing Themes, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Verbal Abuse, Controlling Kylo Ren, Physical Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, Possessive Kylo Ren, A character shamelessly based on Zelda

A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–

He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?

MASTERLIST

Chapter 60: First Lady

The general was waiting for you as you both sat down. Kylo and the general sat opposite of you. The lieutenant came up to join you. The general looked at Kylo, who nodded and began, “We are here to discuss your duties as First Lady of the First Order. An inaugural role that has not been done before in the history of the galaxy.”

He paused to make sure you were paying attention and understanding the gravity of the position. You nodded to signal him to continue.

“As the First Lady of the First Order, you have many duties, some more obvious than others. First, you act as the identity of the First Order, the face in which our people will rely upon and trust. You are the focus of unity and pride. The person who gives a sense of stability and continuity to the First Order. You are the official recognition for success and excellence. And you are to support the ideal of voluntary service.”

You were to be the complete face of the First Order. Not Kylo, who is hidden behind his mask, but you. “So you are asking me to be like the queen of England,” you asked trying to make sense of your role.

“Yes, in many ways, except you have actual power when you want it. While she is unable to make decisions for the United Kingdom in its entirety, as that power now belongs to parliament, you do. The only person who can override your decisions is the Supreme Leader himself.”

You watched as Kylo nodded along to what the general was saying.

“You shall be in charge of official First Order Social events like the formal dinner that we just had, and ceremonial events like commissioning of new destroyers and bases. You shall present titles of high honor within the First Order Military, and any civilian titles. You may also preside over military ceremonies such as remembrances of historic galactic battles, and major retirements.”

Your eyes grew wide at the list of things you would be responsible for. The general could see the look of hesitation on your face as you were processing everything.

“Of course you won’t have to do everything alone. You shall have a team of people to help you, one of which is the lieutenant,” he then gestured to Mitaka sitting next to you. “And a few others, you shall not have to handle everything yourself, but you will essentially be supervising it all. You will also be handling many correspondences which will go through your team, and you will be a patron of many charities. We will need to announce a charity today as a start. That is a decision we can make together, so you do not have to make it alone.”

You sat back in your chair as you started to process everything. Your life has shifted from working a 9-5 job, to doing very little with your time, to now being a head of state all in the matter of a month. Less than a month ago you were wondering who Kylo Ren was and now you were to be leading the largest government in the galaxy with him. Leading a group of people you had no idea existed. Being a face to the galaxy when you were perfectly content to just be friends with your match and living a life alone.

You felt his hold on your mind once more, the worry that you felt dissipated. You don’t know whether or not you should be comforted by this or horrified. He was in your mind messing with things.

‘There is nothing to be afraid of Kitten. You will do great. This is one of the big steps in becoming an empress, my empress.’

Something about the way he said that you would be his empress made your belly warm. A spark of desire to be something powerful to him.

You could feel his tendrils of hold swirling with that desire in your mind. Playing with it, caressing it. You closed your eyes at the feeling, your body welcoming the touch. The tiny rational portion of your mind was screaming, but the feeling was so nice that you ignored her.

You felt a hand touch your face, which shocked you out of your bliss. It was Kylo’s hand. His eyes told you that he was just as spellbound as you were.

Both the lieutenant and the general didn’t seem to know what to make of the moment as they both shared a confused face at both of your actions.

Kylo’s hand caressed your cheek before he withdrew it. His eyes never leaving yours. No words were spoken between you, not even in your mind, but you knew what just happened changed something.

You could almost hear the rational part of your brain whimper in pain at being ignored, whimper because of his grip on your consciousness. That rational part being afraid at what just occurred, but the rest of your existence being overjoyed at it. You could feel the tendrils recede slightly and the rational part slowly coming out of the corner that it had been backed into. Still very much afraid of the dark mass that just took over.

The general spoke first, “M’lady shall we go over what will need to be decided today?” He hesitantly looked between you and Kylo, trying to figure out your next course of action.

Without breaking eye contact with Kylo, you responded, “Yes. I think will be best.” You examined Kylo’s face as if it were a rare piece of art. Going over every last detail.

“We should decide what charity you should patron first. Is there anything, in particular, that strikes an interest in you m’lady? Any topic that you would prefer?” You could hear some unease in his voice as you failed to look at him. Your eyes still locked on Kylo.

You could feel the tendrils shift as a thought presented itself, “Something for abused or neglected children.” You watched as Kylo’s eyes phantom fluttered for a moment. His eyes then roaming your face as yours did his.

Both of your breathing is in sync. Two halves of a whole as his hold on your mind made itself at home. The tendrils tucking themselves in the corners of your skull, occasionally skimming your brain when needed, but mostly just there watching.  

“There are many orphanages throughout the galaxy shall I choose one for you,” asked Hux with his voice wavering. You could hear how uncomfortable the whole situation between you and Kylo was making him. You could not see nor hear the lieutenant, but you guessed that he was worse than the well-seasoned general.

Kylo answered for you, “Yes.”

You heard the general stand, “Well sir, m’lady we best be off to our luncheon. There is much to discuss.”

Kylo stood first, holding out his hand for you to take. Which you did. He then tucked your arm under his. Never breaking eye contact as you walked down the stairs and to the entrance of your chambers. You paused as Kylo put on his helmet, breaking your stare and trance. He then faced forward as you walked down the winding halls to the conference room.

You entered arm in arm with Kylo; he guided you to your seat, you never took your eyes off of him. Still enrapt in a trance. He walked with power around the room as he reached the head of the table where he chose to stand.

All around you were the High Command members, most of whom were holograms as they holocommuted in. Luckily for you, Pryde was also holocummuting in. You were relieved at his lack of physical presence. You also noted that there were several other officers standing along the opposite wall to you.

Kylo addressed the room, “Today is Lady Ren’s official first day as First Lady of the First Order,” he paused and you could hear a small applause coming from the High Command, both those who were physically present and those who weren’t. “She has many responsibilities in her new role, you are to do what she asks of you as if it was an order from me.”

You watched as chins raised in acknowledgment. You could see that some were not happy about having another person ruling over them. Kylo sensed this too as his head cut to an older male admiral, “I sense unease Admiral Berand.”

What shocked you was that the man wasn’t even here, he was holocommuting. Were Kylo’s Force abilities that strong?

“No, sir,” said the admiral.

You watched as Kylo marched around the room and came up next to the holo projection of the man. Even though they were technically a galaxy apart, the admiral shrank away from Kylo. “Good, keep your thoughts under control or I will do it for you.”

You could feel the tendrils in your own mind flex with excitement. They apparently wanted the admiral to mess up, so they could arrange his thoughts for him.

Kylo then spoke again addressing the room, “You have all given candidates for Lady Ren’s staff. Her chief of staff will be Dopheld Mitaka, now a captain, but there still remains her press secretary, correspondence secretary,  social secretary, her advisor, and her spokesperson. Five positions to fill. And after General Hux’s initial weeding of the candidates, there are 15 applicants. We shall now proceed with the filling of positions.” Kylo then gestured to the Allegiant General to start. Hux then waited patiently for your signal, waiting until you were ready.

You broke your gaze from staring at Kylo to look to your side. You gestured to Mitaka to come forward and join you by your side. Which he gladly did. You then nodded to the general to commence the application process.

You picked out your press secretary, social secretary, advisor, and spokesperson with ease. You took into account the opinions of Kylo, Hux and Mitaka. The final position of the correspondence secretary was being considered.

Unfortunately, Pryde’s recommendation was still in the running. The young officer that he had put forward as an applicant gave off similar vibes to the man himself. Almost a younger version of himself. You quickly denied his choice. The officer had a look of disappointment and anger on his face as he was forced to step back. You could tell your decision also displeased Pryde as you had a feeling that this officer was going to be some sort of informant to him.

Across the room, you could see Kylo’s body stiffen as he was probably monitoring both men’s thoughts. He barked at the officer to get out and to return to the Steadfast as he was no longer needed here. You watched as he left the room. He was the only rejected officer that was asked to leave before the meeting was over.

Next up was General Parnadee’s choice, a nice young lieutenant with a kind face. Parnadee introduced her, as the other generals did with their recommendations, “This is Lieutenant Amala Graven. She has an impeccable memory. The ability to recall voices and has a knack for routines. She is quiet but very decisive when it comes to printed languages. She has been my trusted personal secretary for two years and I can think of no one better for the position of correspondence secretary.”

From what you knew of Parnadee, even after entrusting your home planet to her, you knew that if she was recommending someone, especially someone, she trusts that you should highly consider the person. You then looked over her file, which was a clean record. She came highly recommended from the academy and she had been promoted quickly into Parnadee’s trusted and highly coveted secretary position.

After sharing a look with Mitaka, you made your decision. You looked at the female lieutenant in the eyes and said, “I believe you will make an excellent correspondence secretary and I would be honored if you would join my staff.”

The lieutenant thanked you and joined the group of others that had been selected. Your attention then shifted back to Kylo as he dismissed them and Mitaka while you were to have the luncheon portion of your meeting.

Everything went by rather smoothly after that, Hux telling those who holocommuted in that they were free to go as no official business was going to be discussed. You were thankful because you were sick of Pryde’s holo eyes watching your every move.

You watched as slowly every hologram was disconnected. Pryde getting in one last final creepy stare before disconnecting. You were relieved when Kylo took a seat next to you instead of his official unused one across from you.

You were in a large conference room filled with only a few generals and admirals. Lunch was served and Kylo relented in taking off his helmet so he could join you as you ate. Small pleasant discussions popped up around you. The Allegiant General giving his opinion here and there to the different conversations.

Meanwhile, you and Kylo ate in a comfortable silence between you two. There seemed no need to say anything as you could feel the tendrils exploring your mind. Seeing how far they could go before hitting a wall or turning around. You could feel them warmly caressing your happiest memories and completely covering those that caused you pain. You felt light-headed but in a way that didn’t make you sick, but as if a weight had been relieved from your consciousness.

You felt as if you could stay in this moment forever. But soon you would have your lesson with the general and soon you would have to move on with real life. But for now, you chose to be stuck in this moment. This little piece of forever.

A/N: Note that I see every comment and reblog w/ # and I love them so much! Tumblr is kinda hard to respond with just note that anything coming from @justanotherhockey-blog​ is from me!

In the '80s and '90s, a lot of things were turned into cartoons. We saw a long list of animated shows based on live-action movies and more than a few that existed simply to sell toys. One interesting subgenre you might not remember, though, is when an animated series would age down an established set of fictional characters. All of a sudden, characters you were used to seeing as adults were portrayed as children on another show.

It happened more often than you may think and, honestly, some of the properties that did this to squeeze a little extra money out of their intellectual property may surprise you. At the end of the day, they all had something that made them entertaining enough to stick to the back of our minds.

Let's jump in the time machine and revisit 18 of the absolute best animated shows that age-flipped characters you knew and love--and maybe a couple you were downright terrified of. Also, make sure to check out our list of movies that were based on beloved cartoons. He-Man, eat your heart out.

1. The Tom and Jerry Kids Show

It's not that Tom and Jerry Kids was a bad show, it was actually pretty good. However, the most memorable thing about it is its fantastic theme song. The series also included a kid version of Droopy Dog, in addition to little Tom and Jerry.

2. Muppet Babies

This is easily the most beloved and iconic example of this trend. Jim Henson's Muppets were portrayed as babies when they became a cartoon--complete with onesies, baby talk, and a parental figure named Nanny that was only ever shown from the legs down. Muppet Babies is hands-down one of the best cartoons of the 1980s. What's more, the recent reboot on Disney Channel is also quite fun, even if it doesn't cast tiny versions of your favorite Muppets in movie franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

3. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

This was another show with a very memorable theme, though it's a confusing one. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo first debuted in 1988, and yet its theme sounds like a doo-wop song from the '50s. Regardless, this show is a blast as a young Scooby gang hunts monsters and solves mysteries, and of course, feeds the titular dog Scooby Snacks to keep him motivated.

4. Flintstone Kids

Flintstone Kids was good, but what makes this entry on the list special is the show-within-the-show. Captain Caveman and Son were shorts that aired as part of Flintstone Kids. Originally, Captain Caveman was a character that debuted in the 1977 animated series Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels. On Flintstone Kids, he teamed with his son Cavey Jr. to fight the forces of evil. As for the little Flintstone gang themselves, that part of the show was also very fun, though you might remember it most for the public service announcements that aired during the episodes.

5. Tiny Toon Adventures

This one is, admittedly, a bit of a cheat. The kids on Tiny Toons weren't actually the kid versions of Bugs, Daffy, Taz, and the rest of the gang. It doesn't get much closer, though. Baby and Buster were clearly a younger take on the different sides of Bugs Bunny, while Plucky Duck has Daffy's temper, Dizzy was the spitting image of Taz, and Hampton was so close to Porky Pig it was scary. What's more, sometimes the classic Looney Tunes characters made appearances on Tiny Toons, seeing them team up with their younger proteges.

6. James Bond Jr.

This is another one that sort of works, but only if you stretch the premise a bit. James Bond Jr. was the nephew of James Bond and a spy-in-training and, along with his prep school friends, was fighting the forces of evil just like his infamous uncle. What you may not know, though, is James Bond Jr. has his own novels. The Adventures of James Bond Junior 003½ was first released in 1967, written by an author under the pseudonym R. D. Mascott. Interestingly, the actual author of the book has never been officially revealed, though several names have been theorized.

7. Baby Looney Tunes

First debuting in 2001, this is a much newer series than Tiny Toons. What's more, it actually delivers what you might have been looking for in that show--this is the actual Looney Tunes characters as babies, in case the title of the series didn't hint at it enough. This series essentially Muppet Babies, but with Bugs Bunny and friends. What's not to love?

8. Yo Yogi!

If you've actually heard of this one, congratulations. You're as nerdy as we are. Yo Yogi! debuted in 1991 and only lasted for 12 episodes. It was the most over-the-top version of the '90s you could expect, complete with a neon-colored makeover of Yogi's clothes. The series casts the bear and his pals--Boo-Boo, Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, Cindy Bear--as 14-year-old crime fighters. What else would you expect these animated teen animals to be?

9. Jungle Cubs

Yes, Disney's The Jungle Book for the kid treatment, even though the main character in the movie is already a kid. This version doesn't feature Mowgli at all. Instead, the animals are all kids, living it up in the jungle. They aren't crime fighters of ghostbusters or anything like that. Instead, they're just friends hanging out. Oh, and we have to mention the theme song, a hip-hop version of "The Bare Necessities."

10. Clifford's Puppy Days

If you were a kid in the early-aughts, you might remember Clifford's Puppy Days. Before he was Clifford the Big Red Dog, he was Clifford the normal-sized puppy that wasn't a menace to keep and maintain.

11. The New Archies

Before Riverdale turned Archie and his friends into a Twin Peeks-flavored murder party of teenage angst, The New Archies made them little kids. The gang is in junior high and, well, not much else has changed. It lasted 13 episodes and was still the incredibly wholesome Archie Comics you knew back then before it went full-CW.

12. Sabrina: The Animated Series

The animated Sabrina series was a spin-off of the live-action version starring Melissa Joan Hart and featured the titular teen as a 12-year-old. She was still learning her magical ways and getting into all sorts of trouble with her spells. In this series, Sabrina is voiced by Hart's little sister, Emily Hart. However, the original Sabrina does play a role, voicing Sabrina's aunts Hilda and Zelda.

13. Camp WWE

What if WWE did its own take on South Park? That's Camp WWE, an animated series that's definitely meant for adults. All of your favorite WWE superstars, including "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, and The Undertaker, are little kids at a summer camp run by Vince McMahon, his teen daughter Stephania, and her boyfriend Triple H? That's all you need to know about WWE. It pokes fun at WWE and professional wrestling as a whole, is filled with more adult language than you'd find on Raw or Smackdown, and it actually one of the most entertaining WWE Network originals.

14. Ewoks

Yes, this is real. There's honestly no telling how old the Ewoks are in Return of the Jedi. But who cares? In this Star Wars animated series, viewers follow a younger version of Wicket and his friends before the events of A New Hope and, for some reason, they speak English now. Originally, this series aired with the half-hour show Droids for The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour, otherwise known as the coolest one-hour block of TV you'll ever experience.

15. Iron Man: Armored Adventures

This is the most recent series on the list, but need to be pointed out. Iron Man: Armored Adventures followed Tony Stark as a teen Iron Man, alongside a similarly-aged Pepper Potts and Rhodey. If you thought Stark might have less of an ego as a teenager, guess again. Still, this take on Iron Man was entertaining and it managed to introduce a long list of popular Marvel characters--from Black Panther to MODOK.

16. The Mini-Monsters

So, The Mini-Monsters wasn't a show. It was, however, a segment within the animated series The Comic Strip. The segment featured the children of the classic Universal monsters, including Frankenstein's son Franky and the Invisible Man's son Blanko. It's utterly ridiculous, with a premise of a pair of siblings (one of which is voiced by Seth Green) being sent to a summer camp filled with the children of actual horror villains for a year. This is the oddest entry on the list, but one of the best.

17. The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show

While this is a list of cartoons that turned adult characters into children, it didn't always work out that way. In some cases, the process goes backward, and this is a perfect example of that. On The Flintstones, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm were the kids of Fred and Barney, respectively. That series ended in 1966, though, with The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show following in 1971. In that series, the two titular characters were teenagers, attending high school together and starting a band. What was the band called, you ask? The Bedrock Rockers. This sequel series only lasted 16 episodes, but it remains a cool idea that most cartoons won't dare touch. Bart Simpson has been in elementary school for three decades, and chances are that won't be changing anytime soon.

18. All Grown Up

This series also aged up popular baby characters. All Grown Up revisited the world of Rugrats. This time, though, Tommy Pickles and his friends were preteens and had more fleshed out personalities. It lasted five seasons on Nickelodeon, airing between 2003 and 2008.

from GameSpot - All Content https://ift.tt/2ZG6o5a

Imagine Ambrose breaking up with you

- you meet in a literature class at one of the lesser colleges he attended, while his time as a enrolled student was short there, he was so captivated by you that he would find himself at your dorm room door, for a late night visit/sleepover.

- During one of these visits he accidentally let it slip that he was a warlock, and expected you to run, however your response was just, “Praise Satan, I thought I was going to have to preform a mandrake spell on myself.”

“Why on earth would you do that?” He whispered, your face slowly leaning forward as his lips meet yours somewhere in the middle

“Because Ambrose Spellman, you have bewitched my heart.” You whispered into the kiss before laughing, “Cheesey I know.”

“Not to me.” He replied, as he deepened the kiss, desperation filling it as his mouth battled with yours

-Within the month you were both living with one another, in a flat off campus.

-He kept you in the dark about his plans, or his meetings, he would always pass it off as not important, and you trusted him.

-whenever you came home from a hard day of spell casting, or work, he always had a cup of tea ready for you, and a tray of sugar cookies. On the extra stressful days he would have your favorite meal prepared when you arrived.

-The landlord thought you were both the cutest couple around, and would knock your rent down most months..... but that was totally because he thought you both were adorable, and had nothing to do with the spell Ambrose used on him when you first moved in.

-You loved reading his poetry, and would spend countless hours listening to him ramble about his school days.

-The few times you fought it was because you were being outspoken, or took too much pity on the natural occurrences in mortal’s lives

-He secretly loved you for it, and knew that he could never stay mad for long.

-You were reading one of Ambrose’s books on dark rituals while drinking a cup of tea when you heard the phone ring. Thinking it was just a quick call of Ambrose saying he was gonna be late for your supper plans, you took the tea with you to answer.... several seconds later it was smashing to the floor.

-For one week you tried everything in your power to locate Ambrose, for a week none of your companions had any information regarding your lover.... until you received the invite to the emergency meeting being held by the Counsel.

- You were at the emergency meeting called to discuss the fate of Ambrose, eyes red rimmed and tear filled as he sat before the court in the center of the room, chains binding his hands behind him as he wore the same outfit from that morning a week ago, however he was much more filthy then he was when you kissed him farewell that morning.

- You didn’t even hear most of the trail, it was all a lot of low buzzing, until a loud booming voice drew your attention, “Sister [Y/N], I call you before the court, to testify before the accused.”

“No!” Ambrose shouts, “She knows nothing.”

“However she lived in the same corridors as you, shared a bed with you, preformed great acts of lust with you, and fell in love with you, why would I not demand her to be questioned?”

- On the stand you finally got to look at his battered face,unsure which wounds were caused by the blast, and which were caused by the torture he was enduring before this trail. Dirt covered him as his eyes were glassy, tears falling as his own, and slipping down his cheeks as they began to question you, and after hours they declared you naive, and declared to take a vote, after discussing the evidence of his guilt.

-As you left the stand, you made solid eye contact with him, and whispered a protection charm in passing.... this particular one protected the enchanted from death.

- You were the reason he got house arrest, because the court even stated, “Ambrose Spellman, for your crimes against the coven, and refusal to reveal the names of your conspirators, you should be hung from the neck until death, however the Dark Lord has compelled us to spare your life.” You released a breath you were unaware you were holding, praising Satan that they were allowing him to go free.... or so you thought

“Instead the Counsel has deemed it only appropriate that you think of your crimes in isolation, and among our own sisters of Night, Ambrose I bound you to the Spellman Manor, until the Counsel releases you from your punishment. Praise Satan that he has granted you mercy.” 

-When you heard those words it felt as though the wind was knocked from your lungs, but at least he was alive, and both Zelda and Hilda Spellman had no problem allowing you to move into the house which was to become your lover’s prison.

- within two weeks of being placed under house arrest he ended things, however he never gave a reason to why he was ending things. When you left the house you were in tears, and cursing the thought of the man who broke your heart for no reason, unaware he was just as heartbroken

- He told Hilda everything about the breakup, and how he was doing it for your benefit, since you were such a bright witch, and being associated to him any longer would just force you into exile as well.

“She deserves the world Auntie Hilda, she needs someone she can explore with, and grow with. With me she will only be held back, I mean I can’t even help her master the dark arts, and she would have to give up all her freedom just to be with me. Her family and friends have already begun distancing themselves from her, and who knows what else she will lose because of my actions.”

“Ambrose, that is her choice to make, not yours.”

“I know Auntie, but I can’t let her make the right choice.”

-After three weeks of him moping around the house, Zelda announced to Hilda, “I invited [Y/N] to dinner.”

“Does...”

“No, and it will stay that way, just because I don’t want to listen to the same sob story he told you about wasting her time.”

- When you knocked on the door, Zelda shouted from the kitchen, “Ambrose, would you be a dear and get that?”

“Yes Auntie Z.” He sighed, putting down your favorite book, and dragging himself to the door, the dirty house robe hung loosely around his frame, his briefs barely showing as his hand touched the cool knob, “Welcome to the Spellman Mortuary, my aunts...”

-His breath hitched in his throat as he looked at you, your beauty blowing him away as he looked at you standing there, dressed in a crimson dress. He quickly straighten himself and pulled the robe tighter around himself, “[Y/N], w-w-what are you....doing here?”

“Auntie Z invited me over for dinner.” You whispered, “She said that you knew.”

“Of course I didn’t know.” He whisper shouted at you, “If I knew do you really think I would have answered the door in my robe?”

“No, you wouldn’t have answered it at all.” You responded before gracefully pushing past him, and heading towards the kitchen, while he raced to the attic to change.

- both Spellman sisters shared with you how depressed Ambrose had been behaving.

“He is always moping about, looking miserable. He barely eats, his hygiene has gone out the window, poor fellow doesn’t even know what to do.” Hilda stated

“It is really quite pathetic.” Zelda stated as you slowly sipped your tea.

“If He is so heartbroken, then why....”

“Because dear....” Hilda whispered, looking to make sure Ambrose wasn’t about to round the corner, “He is under house arrest, and feels it unfair to stay with you, when he is so restricted.”

- You has never thought of that, and once Hilda said it, it all made sense. Your heart excelerating at the thought that he loved you so much he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness for you, and then you giggled at the thought of the fool.

“You mustn’t tell him though that you know.” Hilda whispered, unaware that he was now standing outside the door in the hall, and seeing how he was not a fool, he pieced together why you were invited, and decided for his Aunties’s sake, he wouldn’t make it obvious.

- during dinner he sat across from you, his eyes fixated on you as you spoke to the Spellman sisters. He thought after this he would never see you again, so he was trying to etch every detail of you into his mind, so that for the remainder of time he wouldn’t forget what being with you felt like.

-Occasionally you would admire him to, a smile would slowly spread as you watched him look away quickly, unaware that he was blushing a deep red as he pretended to be doing anything else. You would quickly go back to looking at Zelda or Hilda though, so that he could continue to stare.

-After dinner the party moved to the parlor, Ambrose settled into one couch, while the sisters claimed the other, leaving you no option then to sit by him. You sunk into the cushion, and out of habit, his arm went behind you on the back of the couch, his hand resting lazily on your shoulder as he inhaled your scent. You were so tempted to lean into him as you used to, but feared he would run off.

- “Well it is getting late, I best be off.” You sighed, regretting the decision to rise as the sisters rushed to hug you, both whispering their farewells as they did, once Hilda released you from her squeeze you turned towards Ambrose, “Would you walk me to the door A?”

“Course.” He replied quickly, following you to the front door. He opened it wide, and leaned against it as you turned on the porch.

-“I’ve missed you Ambrose Spellman.” Your eyes locking as he smiled, his heart breaking a bit as he replied, “I’ve missed you [Y/F/N] [Y/L/N].”

“Listen, I know you made it clear that we were over but I don’t want to be...” He cut you off quickly with a kiss, a long, deep kiss, filled with need and desire.

-Once he pulled away slightly, and rested his forehead on Your he whispered, “I don’t either, but this house arrest...”

“Fuck the house arrest, as long as I have you, I am fine with not going on dates and such, because at the end of the day, it is just you and me against the world Spellman.”

- He kissed you again, this time it was short lived however, the sound of Hilda silently celebrating caused you both to chuckle, as Zelda scolded her sister for ruining the moment

-That night you moved back into the house, and for the first night in three weeks you both slept, after other activities of course. When you woke up, he was peacefully snoring, your limbs tackled in the messed up sheet as you placed your head on his chest, remembering the little details of his face.

-75 years later you were both still together, however you were still just boyfriend and girlfriend, seeing how if you were to marry before he was granted his freedom, you would temporarily lose your familiar and your powers would be restricted such as Ambrose.

-This was mostly do to the fact that the Church of Night would hate for you to help him use magic to do anything that violates his house arrest.

- You and Sabrina were super close, and you were always willing to help her practice magic. She would always ask Ambrose how he ended up with a mate like you

“I am truly blessed by the Dark Lord to have her.” He slowly breathed out, as the thoughts crept back into his mind.

-The day after Conner’s funeral, you were curled up on the bed in the attic, paging through Ambrose’s poetry book, and rolled over, glancing at the ceiling.....

-When Ambrose returned you were seated on the edge of the bed, eyes glassy as he cooed, “My sweet [Y/N], Why do you look as though you have been crying?”

“Whose Luke?” Your voice was a whisper as his eyes grew, “A boy.”

“Why is his number on your ceiling?”

“No idea, love I swear.”

“You have one more chance Ambrose, I am asking you again, what did you do while I was sleeping in Brina’s bed?”

- He lied, “I love him [Y/N].”

“And me?”

“No.”

-You fled the room and in his head, he felt as though he did what had to be done. It felt like some serious déjà vu for him however and as he slowly sunk into the couch, he sighed, hoping that driving you away was for the best.

- “Aunties.” You called as you entered the kitchen, all three Spellmans gathered around the kitchen table as they turned their eyes to you, “Do you remember the depression period that occurred in this house at the beginning of A’s sentence?”

“The depression period?” Sabrina asked as she looked to Zelda and Hilda, who were both looking at you with understandment.

“Ambrose broke up with [Y/N] in the start of his house arrest, believes he is doing her a service by breaking her heart, he tries to do it ever few decades, however he has never really done it.”

“He just did, and I don’t believe a word he just said, so I need your help.” You sighed, taking a seat, “And a very simple cake.”

-It took you all a week to put the plan into action, you were waiting for the perfect moment to attack, and it was thankfully coming on Sunday evening. You however had no idea that before this plan could happen, that Ambrose went on a date with Luke, or that he wasn’t as depressed as he was the first time.

- Ambrose! Supper!” Sabrina called up, and watched as the stars lightly creaked, revealing a sleepy Ambrose, his rode undone, and slippers mismatched as he sluggishly made his way to the kitchen, and shrugged when he noticed Sabrina’s favorite meal, and a simple cake in the center.

“Why are we celebrating today Aunties?” He asked, taking his seat next to the chair you normally occupied.

“Because love, Sabrina has returned from Academy, in one piece.” She smiled, as he took his seat beside the empty chair you always sat in.

“Ahh you got harrowed, how exciting.” Ambrose smiled as the conversation flowed for the remainder of the meal, until Hilda announced, “Time for cake!”

“I hate to say this Aunties, but I am quite tired, and full. I will have to skip the cake tonight.” He excused himself, slowly standing and pushing in his chair, before making his way to the stairs. Once he reached the doorframe he turned, and walked backwards, smiling, as he continued, “But I hope you enjoy Auntie Hilda’s truth cake.”

-Sabrina raced to the greenhouse once he said that, and found you sitting at the table, tears softly hitting the wood of the table, as you realized the plan didn’t work. Her body engulfing you as the sisters stood in the doorway.

-You were in Sabrina’s room after that, she sat on her bed solving the Acheron Configuration, you had fallen into a tearful slumber. You had no idea about anything happening in the house until.....

-“Well isn’t this a treat, you have no nightmares girl?” The demon stated, causing you to turn from your dream table, where you sat with a cocktail, your body covered by nothing but Ambrose’s robe, and a pair of underwear.

“Ah so you are what was trapped in that Rubik cube. You’re the famous Batibat, are you not?”

“Don’t flatter me child! Why won’t my metronome work on you girl?” She snapped, as you turned towards her, and slowly walked towards her, cocktail in hand as you whispered to her face, “Because hag, my worst fear has already come true, and I am living it.”

“Then you shall live it here as well.” She snapped as you laughed turning back to the paper on the table, “Not how this works Bati.”

“I will kill him, again and again in his own dream, unless you tell me the spell to get out of this house.”

“Ask a Spellman, I know not this house’s incantations.” You lied as you turned from your paper, smiling as she screamed in agony and disappeared.

-Sabrina slipped into your dream as well, frowning when she saw you drinking away, “She hasn’t....”

“She can’t, seeing how my worst fear has already come true.” You smiled,before Sabrina faded away, because the alarm went off.

-You woke up after everyone else, they were all sitting in the kitchen, you slowly rounded the corner as Zelda’s head perked up, “Satan’s hoof, I forgot you were still here.”

-Everyone turned to you, your mouth slowly opening to speak, but you were cut short by Ambrose pushing abruptly out of the chair, and crashing his body into yours, arms squeezing tightly around you, like a snake compresses their prey. Your own slowly raising to pat his back as he buried his head into your shoulder, tears hitting your shoulder lightly as you softly whispered comforting words into his ears. Your eyes glued to the three Spellman’s, who all were staring in bewilderment, only Sabrina smiled slightly, cause she knew what Ambrose was dreaming.

-when Ambrose awoke the next morning, he opened his eyes to see the top of your head, your body laid out against his, your hand entangled in his as you slept soundly. A shakey breath left his mouth as you unconsciously snuggled your head against his chest, his hand brushing lightly against your bare back.

- He never told you about his Batibat nightmare, but you already knew what it had to have been about, just like he knew you probably didn’t have one, cause you were the brightest witch he knew, and knew you would have figured it out in five seconds, just like you did when Edward told you of his dreams. He wasn’t sure though what you told Sabrina or Batibat when they visited you though.

-After that he never tried to leave you again, and once Father Blackwood pardoned him in the name of the Dark Lord, he took you on a proper date, to Las Vegas, to one of their novelty courthouses.

Weekend Top Ten #462

Top Ten Things That Hopefully Will Actually Happen in 2021

I mean, it’s got to be better than last year, hasn’t it? Just on law of averages. I know it’s not really the greatest start. Everything’s shut again but it’s colder now. We’ve not got a handle on this thing. The idiots are still in charge. But I still feel cautiously optimistic. There is a vaccine now, at least. Trump is gone, barring some cataclysmic last-minute kerfuffle. A new lockdown is required, so hopefully however painful it is right now it’ll be the death throws of this wretched virus. Will 2021 look like 2019? No, not a chance. But maybe by summer, by autumn, we’ll be well over the hill. 2022, hopefully, will be great.

Not that I’m writing off the new year altogether! No siree. I think this is the year we turn the corner and see the road before us. I think this year can be good, and I think that – outside of pandemic and politics – there is quite a lot to look forward to.

I’m not right now talking about personal ambitions or wider, geopolitical hopes and dreams. This is all about stuff that I want to see or play or whatever. Things that don’t really have any bearing on if the world keeps spinning or we all make it through another tumultuous twelvemonth relatively unscathed. Just, y’know, stuff that’d be nice.

Cinematic Superheroes: 2020 was a bonkers year, and one of the things that was bonkers as it unfolded was how all these huge movies kept getting pushed back. As a result, there were precisely no Marvel Cinematic Universe productions released. Like, at all. Thankfully – hopefully – that will change in 2021. As well as some Disney+ stuff (see below) there’ll also be the belated release of Wonder Woman 1984, which came out around Christmas but which I’ll probably stream this month; and, lockdown permitting, we should finally see the likes of Black Widow, The Eternals, and things that were already scheduled for ’21 such as DC’s The Batman and The Suicide Squad. And y’know what? I’m even looking forward to Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Yeah, maybe some more will slip, but I’m just glad that we’re finally getting some men in tights back in our lives.

Plus all these Great Shows: just before Christmas Disney outlined its slate of upcoming releases and by Crikey it was mega. And the best part is, so many of these shows and films are imminent! In a couple of weeks WandaVision will hit Disney+, and later this year we’ll also see (I do believe) The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, maybe Loki, The Book of Boba Fett, and maaaaaybe if we’re lucky Obi-Wan Kenobi. Even outside of the other movies and things that they announced, and even if we don’t look as far ahead as 2022, Disney+ has a hell of a lineup for this year, and even if lockdown closes the cinemas, we can still enjoy a nice good stream.

Starred Up: the arrival of Star, the “grown-up” channel on Disney+, was confirmed (and confirmed to be included in the existing sub, which was nice), and recently it was announced that it will go live on February 23rd. For some reason I was expecting it later, so that’s nice. It’ll be good to see some of the smuttier Marvel movies make their return (especially Fox’s X-masterpiece, Logan), but I’m more looking forward to having all the Die Hards and Aliens in one place. Even the crap ones.

Finally, Halo Infinite: I really like Halo; it’s pretty much the reason I ever bought a console in the first place. So I was incredibly excited for Halo Infinite, and – I must confess – a bit disappointed by its reveal. A delay is fine; take your time, do a good job, try to avoid crunch. I’ve got more than enough to play. But with my pretty new Series X installed next to my shiny new 4K TV, I’d love to get into a proper new Master Chief adventure once again. And finally it’ll happen! My Big Christmas Game for 2021 is sorted.

Return of the (Lego) Jedi: speaking of Big Games for 2021… I love the Lego games from Traveller’s Tales, and it all started with Lego Star Wars. With the release of The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, I kind of assumed they’d be making a new one, and they are: The Skywalker Saga. Much delayed (I think it was meant to come out last summer originally?), but finally making its debut at some point in 2021, it promises to be a more expansive effort than any previous Lego game, and also offers a fresh look at every film in the increasingly-inaccurately-named trilogy. My youngest is really getting into Star Wars and she loves the Lego games, so this is something we can really enjoy together.

2020’s Greatest Hits: yeah, lots of great things coming out in 2021, but I gotta say one thing I’m really looking forward to is catching up on all of the things that were supposed to come out in 2020. I’ve already mentioned the likes of Black Widow, but there’s Coming 2 America (on Prime Video in March), Dune (potentially still hitting cinemas), No Time to Die (God knows), Spielberg’s West Side Story (delayed a whole year!)… even smaller-scale things like the cool-looking Freaky have been pushed right back. And whilst I’m not exactly looking forward to it, pity poor Peter Rabbit 2, knocked from an early Easter slot when the first lockdown hit, only to have its February half-term run destroyed by Lockdown III. Maybe next year, eh, Peter?

Matrix of Leadership: The Matrix turns 22 this year, shockingly enough, and last time I watched it was still absolutely brilliant in one of those hardly-ever-happens ways. The sequels I could live without, although I’ll warrant they’re still stylish with nice action, but they were a huge disappointment (moreso for me than the often-lambasted Star Wars prequels). However, I am super excited for Lana Wachowski returning to direct a fourth Matrix movie. I don’t know why, but I just think it’ll be great; there’s twenty years’ worth of “internet stuff” and “games stuff” and “comics stuff” she can use as reference or in-joke, and let’s face it, Keanu Reeves has never kicked as much ass in his life as he does in the John Wick movies, so we don’t need to worry about that. What the hell will it be about? How can you make a sequel to what felt like a pretty definitive ending? I mean, half the characters died (spoiler!). But I don’t care about that, I just want to see it (hopefully at a cinema).

One (Other) Ring to Rule Them All: I ended up spending quite a bit of time in Middle-Earth in 2020, including reading The Hobbit to my girls, Unfinished Tales, and Ian Nathan’s book about the making of Peter Jackson’s trilogy, Anything You Can Imagine. So I am, shall we say, primed for Amazon’s new TV adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s opus. The Lord of the Rings series – as I think it might still be called? – will be set a lot earlier than the more famous stories, and although there are a lot of potential hiccups and hurdles in the way, I hope the less-familiar period and setting will offer scope for a series to make its own unexpected journey, showing even those that have read The Silmarillion something they’ve not seen before. I hope they don’t try to make it into Game of Thrones, and I hope they don’t try to shoehorn in too many aspects of The Lord of the Rings (I mean, hobbits shouldn’t really feature too much into it, surely?), but the pedigree is strong and I’m very excited.

Sinful: Russell T. Davies’ last show, Years and Years, was a fascinating combination of terrifying apocalyptic sci-fi and domestic soap opera, and one of the best things that happened in 2019. His next show, It’s a Sin, is about something altogether more real but still apocalyptic: the AIDS crisis in the gay community of the 1980s. I imagine he’ll still be expertly combining soapy drama with casual gaggery and moments of utter heartbreak. Apparently this is a story very close to his heart that he’s been wanting to tell for – yes – years and years, so it’s sure to be one of the TV highlights of 2021.

The Unconfirmed: one of the great things at the start of the year is, you don’t know what you’re going to get. Sometimes you get, well, 2020. But sometimes you don’t! Sometimes you get a year in film like 1984 (Terminator! Ghostbusters! Gremlins!) or 1999 (Matrix! Fight Club! American Beauty!); sometimes you get a year in gaming like 1998 (Half-Life! Zelda! Grim Fandango!) or 2007 (Halo! BioShock! Crackdown!). What’s coming this year? Well, with the new consoles out, we’re going to finally start seeing some new games that wrestle with the hardware; not just the cross-generational likes of Halo or Horizon but some new games, some unannounced games. We’ll also, no doubt, see proper footage and trailers for stuff we do know – Hellblade, Fable, hopefully Perfect Dark. Taika Waititi’s got at least two films on the go; that’ll be good. Spielberg doesn’t usually rest on his laurels; he’s finished West Side Story, so what’s next? Bond will come out, somewhere, somehow; will we get the announcement of a new Bond? Speaking of recasting, is Jodie Whittaker really leaving Doctor Who? I’ve not been too fussed with the show the last couple of years, but I’m always rooting for her and will be sad to see her go; but does that mean we’re in for another New Doctor palaver later this year too? Will we see or hear anything of Rian Johnson’s Star Wars films or, even better, a Knives Out sequel? The new Stranger Things has got to be this year, hasn’t it? What about Star Trek – Picard season 2 and Discovery season 4 should be happening, but will we also see the Pike and Georgiou-focussed spin-offs? God knows! It’s all up in the air! And these are only the things that we know or can speculate a little bit about! But that’s what makes it so exciting.

Well, that’s it for now. As I write this, what can only be called a mob of white supremacist terrorists – idiot insurrectionists, if you will – have stormed the US Capitol. Truly terrifying scenes, given the added worry of the Twat in Chief using the crisis as some phony excuse to cling on to power. I have faith that it’ll be resolved, short-term, and that democracy – capital-D Democracy – will endure, for now. But it just goes to show how volatile everything is. The kids are being homeschooled again. London’s hospitals are teetering on the brink. There’s gunfire in the Senate. But the first Black Senator just got elected in Georgia. My wife’s playing Ooblets. Somewhere it’s sunny, somewhere else a kid’s catching snowflakes, and somewhere else again some lucky sod is getting to watch Nine to Five for the first time ever. Things are scary and often crap but on the whole I think the arc of the universe tilts ever so slightly towards Being Generally Okay.

Take care of yourselves, wear a bloody mask, and here’s to 2021 Being Generally Okay.

SDCC Steven Universe Panel Highlights

I thought I’d summarize some details on the San Diego Comic Con panel for anyone who wants it.

The panel at SDCC opened with a live singing of the theme song.

Zach Callison is the moderator. He introduced the guests: Michaela Dietz (Amethyst), Deedee Magno Hall (Pearl), Estelle (Garnet), AJ Michalka (Stevonnie), and of course Rebecca Sugar. He gives her congrats on the Emmy nomination (which is for "Mr. Greg" if you didn't know). Then he asks the other cast members some questions. This is all paraphrased, not direct quoting.

Zach to Michaela: What Amethyst quotes do you use most in daily life?

Michaela says that when she wakes up, she makes noises that sound like her Gem is cracked. Then she says maybe she should change her answer to "womp womp."

Zach breaks in with "Which way to the baby war?" as his favorite.

Zach to Deedee: What songs do you sing around the house?

She responds "Which do I NOT sing?" She likes "Love Like You" in the shower. "Steven and the Stevens" when she's doing dishes, and "Peace and Love" a lot lately. Her kids are learning the songs on piano and ukulele, so there's lots of SU tunes happening in her house.

Zach to Estelle: How has the popularity of the show affected your music career?

Estelle basically says a new generation of people are noticing her music and realizing she is the singer on songs they encounter in the wild. Zach says he grew up on "American Boy." ;)

Zach to AJ: How has Stevonnie changed since their first appearance?

She says Stevonnie has learned a lot, and has more confidence now.

Then the cast does a great little line read of the scene when Stevonnie first appears, beginning with them barging in with "Pretty cool right?" The voice actors all say their parts and perform it slightly differently, which is cute. Then they do a version of "Here Comes a Thought" with Estelle and AJ!

Zach to Rebecca: What's next on Steven Universe?

(Of course she laughs.)

Rebecca says the show has recently had so many huge events, so there will be lots of fallout, like a roller coaster from here on out. Then they show a clip. It's sort of like a trailer. It's all about Lapis's conflictedness not wanting to get caught in another war, Homeworld's future actions, Pearl being unable to properly explain the context of everything even though she wants to, and Greg not knowing his place in all this.

Zach says he hadn't seen it yet.

Then they talk a bit about the Save the Light game coming out. A trailer for the game pops up and it includes footage that hasn't been seen. Including a new character: Squaridot, a Peridot from Homeworld.

Rebecca was very involved in the making of the game. She says having a console game is a dream come true because they could do so much more than with the small mobile game, Attack the Light. There are Fusions and original characters, and the mechanics are relationship-based, and Greg is a player character who can play guitar. She likes that Squaridot is a Peridot who hasn't made the kind of progress that Peridot has made. They segue to say Shelby Rabara (Peridot's voice actor) is taking over social media for the week.

Then they talk about the Art and Origins book being out, and how there's a SDCC-exclusive version. Launching also is the podcast, a 10-episode production, about the production of the show. McKenzie Atwood is the host. Rebecca and Steven were Episode 1--I've already heard this (and I seem to recall there wasn't really a lot of new info except that the Gem writing in the Kindergarten will say who each section belongs to if you can read it, and that a lot of Ishtar imagery was used, including the 7 lions and the stars). Rebecca did episode 1 of the podcast with her brother, and says she wishes she could do everything with Steven. Zach and Grace are Episode 2.  

They talk about how the soundtrack Volume 1 is out, and announce that a vinyl version is out in fall! A limited-run Stronger than You and Love Like You vinyl single is out for SDCC.

Then they play a name-the-song game with SU cosplayers. They complimented a Pearl cosplayer's cool spear too. They read lyrics, tell what song it's from, and if the player gets it right, they win a vinyl single. Quiz songs included "Love Like You," "Wailing Stone," "Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart," "Steven and the Stevens," "It's Over, Isn't It," "What's the Use of Feeling (Blue)," and "Comet." Most people got them right, but if they got it wrong they got to try another one.

Then there's a Q&A, which I'm paraphrasing the 12 questions:

1. Audience member: Fluorite is a polyamorous relationship, right? What inspired it?

Rebecca said she went to an LGBTQ center in Long Beach and chatted about what stuff they really wanted to see. Poly relationships came up. (So yes, that's confirmed, though in my opinion it really didn't have to be since they were pretty clear about it!)

2. Audience member: Fan theories--do they influence you or do you have a master plan?

Rebecca says she loves fan theories, but they work way further in the future, so no, they really don't influence what the story does. She has loved reading the theories about the trial, because some are onto something, and some are like way off. Zach says the good stuff gets downvoted a lot.

3. Audience member: Says a favorite character of theirs is Rainbow Quartz, and wants to know will we see a version of her with Steven?

Rebecca says of course she can't give spoilers, but that Rainbow Quartz 2.0 would inevitably be different. Then she quickly says, "Forget I said that."

4. Audience member: How old is Lion? Have we seen all his powers?

Rebecca says it's a good question and can't say exactly. The episode "Buddy's Book" gives a hint at the general time when Rose was spending time with seven lions. That's a gauge for how old Lion is. She implies that Lion does have more to show us about what he can do.

5. Audience member: Regarding the "Off Colors" episode, which Off Color do you relate to?

Rebecca immediately says "Rhodonite, the neurotic." Then Zach says he relates to Padparadscha because he'll trail off in the middle of a sentence. Deedee says she relates to that too.

6. Audience member: On writing music for the show--any challenges?

Rebecca says it's very challenging--they're given no extra time to work on the songs. "Mr. Greg" was most challenging of course. Zach is glad the Emmys recognized Rebecca's extra hours. He said he had a hard time when his voice changed. "Puberty is a thing," he says, while talking about some songs he struggled with.

7. Audience member: Will there be a Blu-Ray?

Rebecca would like it. Making it happen will take more moments like this (the panel, people showing up for the show).

8. Audience member: Did Yellow Diamond shatter Pink Diamond?

Dude.

Zach: "We won't tell anyone what you say Rebecca."

Rebecca just says she's really excited about the next run because it was a chance to do a real murder mystery.

9. Audience member: What inspired you to use gems/rocks?

Rebecca: "Aesthetic! It'd look cool!" But she learned a lot about myths. Smoky Quartz was fun to learn about gem trivia for, building important symbolism into their character. Estelle said gems are just really pretty, that's enough of a reason.

10. Audience member: How often do you write a song and then build an episode around it or vice versa?

Rebecca says it depends. Character stories will need a song when dialogue just isn't enough. "Here Comes a Thought" was unusual since it came before the episode. She wanted it to be a tool to teach kids about mindfulness meditation.

11. Audience member: Do you anticipate what's going to be popular on your show?

Rebecca says on the inside they focus on loving what they're making. Team ideas that are spur of the moment seem to catch on most with the fans too. They discuss Padparadscha's immense popularity. Sapphires are sort of Zelda-like, Rebecca says, and she wanted one who reminded her of Peach. Lamar Abrams came up with the idea of making her hair kinda look like a crown to increase the feeling that she has a matching vibe.

12. Audience member: On Lars' development: was it planned initially?

Rebecca says it happened naturally. He's one of the oldest characters in the show, and she was drawing him in college. Lars-n-Sadie comics are older than SU. (This was already known but apparently some people didn't know they predate the show.) So of course they were always going to be important. (Zach says Lars was important in the pilot for calling Steven names.)

How to be a Queen [Part 24]

Summary: Princess Zelda is at a loss. Her handed royal responsibilities have begun to weigh heavily on her and she is eventually backed into a corner. Live a life she loathes or run away from everything she’s ever known? Navigating life is hard, and Link forces her to learn that she doesn’t have to do it alone.

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Part 1

How To Be A Queen

Hyrule flooded the day Nathaniel Nohansen III died.

It had rained for three days. Castle Town had closed its shops and barely no one walked the streets. The storms were so harsh that it was hardly a premonition when they told me he was deteriorating quickly. I found him in his bed as he had been for months. Soft cries of my father filled the silence as he knelt at the bedside and grasped a limp hand in his own. Guilt twisted deep in my stomach when tears didn’t come.

“I’m so sorry, Nate,” Father sobbed. The words hardly intelligible. “I’m sorry.”

For months I had mourned for this moment. When he stopped responding to questions almost two weeks ago, my heart knew that this journey would have a finite end. In the very least, my father had some time to step out from his veil of ignorance before now.

Gods. No matter how much I tried to will myself to cry, I couldn’t.

I hadn’t thought about death so much in my life. When before it was a quiet promise of my youthful failures, now it was staring me down at every corner. These coming days, I thought of it as a fear that had become a flirtatious caller. War walked hand-in-hand with death. They were synonymous actions I had come to expect; violence paired with the spilling of blood.

Presently, it came to me as an eerily familiar vessel of a man I adored, sleeping forever. It was as if a trickster had carefully sculpted a copy of my uncle from wax and stole the real one away. There was no grave injury or pooling blood, just the deep feeling that something was horribly wrong. The blood in my veins ran cold and suddenly I could hardly bear to so much as glance at it – that wasn’t my uncle. Never had been after his eyes no longer smiled and his casual flirting with his nurse ceased.

Numbly, I pulled my hand from Father’s shoulder. His cries subdued to soft sniffling pleas for his older brother to wake up. I softly pried him away, but he didn’t give much resistance in the first place. As we walked away, I barely heard Father’s voice.

“I love you. So much.”

The body wouldn’t speak back because its wrinkles were far too sunken and its hands far too still. The silence behind us as we walked towards the door was deafening.

“I love you too,” I said, but his words weren’t for me.

----------

“Your Majesty,” a servant said, breaking me from a far-off stare. “The coroner mentioned that the ground was too soft to bury General Nohansen this week.”

Cold hands. Cold eyes.

Impa cut through, stepping between my desk and the man with a series of hushed mentions that made the servant satisfied enough to leave. Lightning struck in the distance and lit up the study through the uncovered window. Soberly, she turned to me with a white swinging braid.

“Allow me to handle the funeral.”

I went to shake my head. “I feel like I should do it myself.”

Her eyes pried into me, making me meet them no matter how badly I didn’t want to. Impa stood with square shoulders, appearing so tall even when she barely reached my shoulder. Then, she softened with folded hands before her. I knew what she was insinuating: I sounded like my father.

A chill slithered up my spine. It caused me to fold and fear engaged me.

“What else am I to do?” I pleaded. The careful guard I had unknowingly constructed was being chipped away by intrusive thoughts. For the remaining years of my life, there will never be a grin as toothy as his. My arms will never be swept up in such a warm embrace for as long as my heart is still beating. No laugh was as baritone as his once was; capable of escaping even the thickest walls.

Nothing, nothing, nothing could compete with the man who died without meaning.

Suddenly, my cheeks were wet and my bottom lip trembled unrelentingly. I stared up at the rafters, hoping the sniffling would subside as I cursed aloud, “I can’t even give him solid ground to rest under.”

“Listen to me,” Impa whispered, pulling me into her bosom. “Listen to me, child. He is with the goddesses.”

She repeated it like a mantra.

“I hate this,” I withered and folded into her arms. “I hate feeling so weak.”

The tears were bitter now, stinging me with their presence and making my throat burn with abandon. I was the Queen.

Legally, I thought to myself, I had all claim to everything around me. I knew that my predecessors had wielded their power to dominate entire kingdoms from the peaks of the northern mountains to the shores of the south. They had brought about bloodshed and dominion to people for reasons as little as wanting to feel the warmth of their burning villages. Only two generations before me had sent their dissenting opposition to the gallows.

So, why was it that I felt so powerless?

“Do you know why the goddess Hylia descended?” Impa hushed. “Why did She leave the comfort of the heavens?”

I tamed myself to calm, though my voice was still odd and gravelly. “Because she loved a man.”

A maternal hand patted my head and she spoke through a smile.

“No,” she started. “No, because She loved the people created by Her hand. When She heard of the dangers coming from the underworld and how a king born of shadows was laying claim to land Hylia’s sisters had left Her, She had a choice.”

Impa sat back on the floor, taking my hand in hers like how she did when she recalled to me old myths before bedtime. I swallowed and waited for her to continue.

“Hylia could stay in paradise and allow the world to be buried,” she said, framing the choices as if she didn’t know how it would end. “Or She could descend and give Her people a fighting chance – no matter how slim it was. What do you think She chose, Zelda?”

“She chose to fight.”

“Very good.”

She procured a handkerchief from her breast pocket and allowed me to dry my cheeks.

“So,” Impa drew me in again after a couple minutes. “As we know, the goddess spent years on the Surface fighting off the darkness. She rallied Her people to find hope in the darkness and for that, they revered her only more so. For years, some say decades, Hylia lived among mortals and learned their ways. In Her time, She found that gods do not experience existence the same as humanity does.

“When the mortals experienced disappointment, their eyes grew watery. With fatigue, they grew sluggish and weary – sometimes lashing out at loved ones. When they accomplished success in battle, broad expressions crossed their faces,” she mirrored my small smile, “and oftentimes they laughed. They say Hylia enjoyed seeing that emotion the most.

“Eventually She found herself partaking in these feelings and paralleling those expressions She had once considered redundant. Her love for these mortals had only increased since She descended. However, their battles were hard-fought and even with Her light, they had only been able to maintain their ground. That is, until one day the spirit of Her holy sword told Her another was worthy enough to wield it. His name is lost to time, but the books say he was a valiant solider. In him, Hylia found a partner; the ability to feel another triviality that suddenly wasn’t so trivial.”

Impa’s smile was sad and she grasped my hands tightly in hers. “That was when She learned to love a mortal man. You and I know how this ends.”

“He dies,” I answer for her with a thick voice.

“And when he dies, She is taught that there is danger in love’s beauty. Born from his death was grief, an emotion so strong the goddess feels She will die. Hylia, the goddess of light and mother to all, realizes that the mortals around Her had been experiencing this for all Her years on the Surface. In that, She grieves more because how could She be so blind to this pain?”

I had let myself slack again the back of my chair and stared at the embroidery of my skirt. When she stopped talking, I thought aloud. “Was it worth it?”

“We are alive today because of it. I think Hylia knew that even though it would be centuries, She would see him again after life settled and after Demise was properly sealed. Similar to when we will see our loved ones when we pass on, however I do pray that we have many more years before that day,” she allowed a light chuckle.

“Yes,” I laughed with a small sniffle, “I think Uncle will be very cross if I follow him too early.”

“Now then,” she pulled me from my chair and walked me to the door. “Let’s get you to your room. You deserve rest after today and the weather is perfect to lull you asleep. When you wake, we’ll have your favorite tea and cake.”

------

“It will be an uphill battle,” Whitehurst sniffed, reading through a copy of the report sent from.

It had been a week since Uncle died and I hated the feeling of wasting time. Finally sitting with a couple advisors with a fresh stack of news felt worlds away from where I once was.

I agreed with Admiral Whitehurst, combing over the words once more. The rebels had declared the Gerudo capital as their own and announced that the aristocracy have been puppets to topple the purity of Gerudo traditions. The handwriting was distracting, but I ignored the repeated leaps in my chest and thumbed the unopened letter in my lap.

“They call us heretics of the true gods,” I rose from my propped hand with a sigh. “And then attempt another strike on our food supplies meant for starving infants. Urbosa, am I misunderstanding?”

She breathed in and rubbed the soreness in her neck. “It seems to me that from their threats to Link that they don’t consider us their people and would prefer dead children whose parents refuse their preaching.”

Whitehurst was still wary of the aristocrat and peered from across the table. “Who are their gods? Do they reject our goddess?”

“Partially,” she said. “They ascribe to the ancient three. Whereas we see Hylia as being the guardian goddess left to protect their creation, they see her as a usurper – ironically.

“Traditional creation story dictates that Hylia took advantage of the original three’s absence and bore Hylians as her minions to take over the world. The guardians of the sand fought back, baring a people that would be called Gerudo. A champion rose among them and found the Triforce. He used that power to save his people. That’s what I was told as a child.”

The Admiral wrinkled his nose. “How dubious.”

“It’s fragmented across villages. Most Gerudo in the capital worship money more than religion,” she shrugged, barely taking mind in the man. “Allow us to remember that this was a tactic in the early wars to turn people away from Hylian culture.”

Whitehurst nodded, somewhat perturbed. “What does Her Majesty call for?”

I hummed in thought. There were twenty causalities in the one hundred that accompanied the supplies. Out of those casualties were two deaths.

“It seems like the plan to send reinforcements along with reserves was the go-to,” I asserted. “I would like to refer to you to increase the amount of food three-fold. Impa believes levying taxes with grain farming territories would motivate morale.”

The Admiral stood with a stack of papers and nodded, “I’ll draw up the order.”

The letter burned a hole through my skirts and I couldn’t help looking down. The report was addressed to my full title, but between the pages of reports was a smaller envelope that simply read: Zelda.

“Riju has sent her regards to you. She says she is saddened to hear of Nathaniel’s passing. I would let you read it, but she has difficulties writing in Hylian,” Urbosa said, folding up the paper with Riju’s signature on it and setting it aside. “Truly, Zelda, let me know if you need me in any way.”

“You say that as if you haven’t comforted me for several nights already,” I smiled, negating her.

“My people grieve as a community. The commonplace of isolating oneself is considered unhealthy, while here it is almost expected.”

The way she crossed her legs billowed her Hylian skirts out as if she were wearing a Gerudo sirwal. I could tell it made Admiral Whitehurst uncomfortable earlier and the thought made me laugh.

“You aren’t wrong. If we weren’t in the middle of war, the court would have expected a three-month mourning period from me,” I only shrugged off the notion, tidying up my papers and setting Link’s letter on top. “I simply cannot afford it right now.”

Especially when the rebels were proving to be more organized than we thought. Encampments were appearing in the East Barrens with foreign flags. Not long after they were discovered the heads of three Hylian spies were found not far from the road leading into Gerudo Town. As of now, we had no way of telling if their strength or numbers.

The woman nodded. “And you have other distractions.”

“I,” I paused, momentarily bewildered by her expression. “I beg your pardon?”

“Distractions, my dove,” she laughed, lifting a hand to lazily gesture at what was before me.

Warmth bloomed on my face as I snatched the letter from her prying eyes. Urbosa only laughed heartily, “I cannot help but recognize that that hand matches the one who scrawled your reports.”

She let my embarrassment fester a moment longer. “Oh, don’t worry,” she leered. “I never said it wasn’t a good distraction.”

“Urbosa. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but this is not a regular occurrence.”

“Everyone has a right to hold secrets.”

“This isn’t a secret!” I bristled with wide eyes. “It’s a personal correspondence.”

Understanding was on her face but amusement danced in her eyes, a light I was all too accustomed to. “I see, with a man you had a short ‘engagement’ with before he left for war.”

“Engagement,” I blanched, “Engagement?! There was no engagement about that night, I��ve told you the extent of it!”

“Ah,” she closed her eyes, reminiscing. “I remember the first Hylian who followed me around like a dog. I was about Riju’s age – maybe a little older – when we snuck into the stables and she-”

The door to my office opened and a servant slipped through. He cleared his throat, “Announcing the esteemed Rito-”

“No, no, no,” a demanding voice cut through and in the doorway came a face Zelda hadn’t seen in many months. “We’ve rehearsed this,” the midnight blue Rito chastised, “The esteemed Ambassador. Yes, that is who I am. My title. Ordained by your King. It really, truly isn’t that hard.”

He carried on in subdued whispers while the poor man stood awkwardly by the doorway.

“Revali,” I called out. Then again when he was too engrossed in his discussion. “Why are you accosting my squire?”

“Accosting?” he primed, finally pulled away. The man scuttled back through the doorway and quietly shut it behind him. “Zelda – first of all, I will take the liberty of saying hello first – I’m not sure whether it has always been this way or if it’s the product of your reign, but these butlers of yours aren’t acknowledging my status and frankly? I’m shocked and perhaps a little appalled at the sight.”

“She is your sovereign and you will regard him as such,” Urbosa asserted, her tone commanding with an earthy undertone that took up the room.

Revali puffed out his chest, looking between her and I with admonishment.

I cleared my throat, “If you’ve just arrived, perhaps you’re exhausted. I can lead you to a room. I would have met you at the door, but we were expecting you tomorrow.”

“No, no, your Royal Majesty,” the Rito seethed, staring at Urbosa as he bowed with sweeping wings.

Some things, or Ritos rather, never changed. Revali had been the Rito ambassador at Hyrule castle for about three years now. Unlike other ambassadors, he preferred his home outside of Rito Village over staying at the castle full-time. However, Father had always kept that group at arm’s length, so it suited both parties up until now.

I was familiar with him and his disposition with the short interactions we’ve had. He was the son of wealthy traders and had no problem entering the realm of politics. The Rito people were bold, some would classify their pride as arrogance; those that did hadn’t met Revali.

He nodded my way as he pulled out a seat next to Urbosa. “May I?”

Neither of us could speak before he sat down leisurely.

“I see there have been many changes since I’ve graced these halls,” he said, touching the tips of his fingers together and took full advantage of the chair’s seat. “Yet I haven’t a signal update from the Crown!”

“I have sent reports of our decisions to Chief Kaneli when he sent his official recognition that I was Queen.”

Dramatics abound, he turned to Urbosa. “Is it not my job to relay these matters to my leader? Regale to me, my Queen, how I am to perform my duty.”

“I have seen nothing from you until I called for your presence last week, Ambassador Revali,” I straightened and sent him a pointed look. “And I’m willing to take much from you because I value our connection, but do not think for a second that I will willingly take commands from you. I am not my father and will not entertain your abuses because unlike him, they do not amuse me whatsoever.”

His beak fell open, but no words came out. This time he didn’t bear a glance at Urbosa, whose smug look made me stifle a grin. I didn’t get that tone from thin air. The gap of silence was the longest I had ever heard in the vicinity of this man.

Revali coughed into his fist and awkwardly shifted in his seat. “I see that my words have been misconstrued. I did not mean offense.”

“I accept your apology.”

“Yes, well, to lead into my concerns – which are very justified, mind you – my deepest condolences for the loss of General Nohansen. Even our great airmen are deeply saddened,” he bowed his head, a pivot from the dominant air of before.

I offered a subdued smile.

“And your replacement doesn’t seem awful, but I hadn’t heard that you were looking to fill the position so soon.”

Urbosa tilted her head. “We are in a war. I’m not sure if you heard about my people being persecuted.”

“Yes, yes, yes. Of course I have heard of the mad man. Gerudo women are already masculine enough. Maybe the roles have reversed, and he will be easily squashed.”

I rested my head in my hand and sighed, “No. Much of the opposite it seems.”

The Rito held an indignant look as he examined the tip of his feathers. “Seems my services were much in need,” he mumbled.

“Pardon me?” I asked. Was he expecting an invitation to be considered?

Oh, actually, that sounds very in character for him.

“All I’m saying is that it was a statement sent from Her Majesty to me,” Revali emphasized with splayed fingers.

I glanced to Urbosa who was glaring daggers at the Rito. I clasped my hands together in front of me, “I promise you that no offense was meant, Ambassador. Truly, the process of filling the position of Commanding General of Hyrule’s Royal Army was tumultuous.”

Revali leaned back with a stiff shrug and crossed his legs, then immediately uncross them to vehemently point his feathered finger at the ceiling. “Make no mistake! No offense was taken on my part. Zero offense because I would have merely turned down the offer in the first place because my title as the Rito Ambassador is already time consuming. Incredibly. Unmatched, even, across of the board.”

“Oh,” I blinked. “I’m glad that you see it that way.”

The man huffed, brushing an imaginary speck of dust from his right wing. “Indeed.”

“Zelda, I don’t think we should keep this from him.”

I turned to Urbosa, confusion written on my face.

“Don’t act coy. We can tell him,” she motioned towards Revali with a sweeping gesture. “Tell him how he was considered and how his resourcefulness would be better used elsewhere in the conflict.”

He chirped up and stared at me with wide eyes. I quickly nodded and masked any dubious expression.

“Oh, yes,” I piped up. “Your name was thrown into the mix several times by my cabinet.”

“It-it was?”

“Absolutely, Revali. You’ve been an incredibly valuable asset to Hyrule. Your years of service haven’t gone unrecognized, nor your training as a Rito airman. Such a wide variety of-” I tripped over a couple thoughts, looking for the right words.

Urbosa offered, “Skills?”

“Yes – thank you – such a wide variety of skills can’t be boiled down to ‘General’.”

Revali seemed to consider this greatly, rubbing his neck in thought. “Well,” he rasped. “Well, that I can understand. After all, Commanding General is largely a decorative title…”

“I wouldn’t necessarily go that far,” I muttered half of the sentence into my hand with a look at Urbosa. Ambassador Revali nodded affirmations to himself as he stared holes into the carpet.

“May I ask, Your Majesty,” he said, looking up finally. “What were your plans for me?”

I sat up in my seat and thumbed an ink quill in my hands. The feeling of opportunity rose in my chest with robust hope easing into my heart.

“I would like to inquire in your people’s support in defending fellow Hyruleans.”

He sat up with me, towards the edge of his seat.

“You mean to assert that you want additional support.”

“I do,” I said, feeling the pointed tip of the quill dig into my thumb. “The Rito and Hylian people used have strong bonds in meat trading. I wish to bridge the gap in the years our agreements fell through; even strengthen them more than what they once were.”

Revali seemed intrigued. “Under what pretense?”

“There’s no pretense,” I smiled, “I think we can both agree that Rito airmen are incredibly prolific through military history. Chief Kaneli’s support, no matter how little is, would be a great honor and assist our efforts in preserving the Gerudo aristocracy.”

“I can’t refute that,” he nodded. “I can say that Kaneli holds Her Majesty in the highest regard and has great hope for your reign… however our recent history has him wary. It will take some convincing.”

“I understand completely. If anything, do I have the Rito Ambassador’s support?”

He breathed a dramatic sigh. “Yes, I suppose you do.”

 --------

After meeting behind meeting, I snuck behind a rose bush in the gardens. The light was dying, but I couldn’t wait anymore. Wedged between the pages of my notebook was the small letter from before. It was no bigger than my hand and I took care to rip the wax-sealed seam.

Zelda,

I’m sorry this took so long to write.

A smile was already brimming my lips and I mouthed: Don’t be.

There was an attempted ambush as we passed Satori Mountain. Byron’s scouts spied them first and they were dispatched early on, but you should know this long before this letter reaches you. The supply line-

The last couple words were neatly crossed out.

I don’t know why I want to give you a report when you’ve most likely already read the one I’ve already written you. It’s been on my mind too much, but so have you. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer that morning and I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there when Nathaniel passed.

There’s so much I wanted to tell you before I left. Being alone with my thoughts while we traveled only added to that. I could write one hundred apologies about asking you to forget about us and then dredging it up again. One hundred more if the nights between left you just as distraught as I was. It’s hard for me to speak about my feelings and when it comes down to it – pretending they don’t exist is what I usually resort to.

I couldn’t do that with you. I care about you. I tried to convince myself I didn’t, hadn’t, and I failed miserably; only making it more known to myself how helpless you’ve made me.

And despite everything, I hope you’re smiling when you’re reading this because the selfish thought keeps me from ending this letter. I want to talk to you as I do this paper and hear your witty remarks that are far too intelligent for your own good. The same intelligence that I am convinced will end this conflict far sooner than I anticipate so I can see you again.

But I’m rambling.

I’m safe. The only casualty on the road was a lad with a twisted ankle. I did run into the boys from Hateno. Do you remember Mac and Toma Ratliff? They thought it was a prank when someone mention “General” in front of my name and got written up for insubordination.

Nonetheless, Zelda, I will wait for you.

Yours,

Link

Archive Project - January 2, 2012 - Gaming in 2011

Since this fall was one of Gamings most exhaustive with over a dozen AAA titles in less than three months, i thought Id share my opinion about some of them and review the ones I played....        Full list: Dead Island, Gears of War 3, RAGE, Batman Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Sonic Generations, Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim, Halo Anniversary, Assassins Creed Revelations, Saints Row The Third, Super Mario 3D Land, Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, Mariokart 7 (3DS), Just Dance 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic. -Dead Island: I've never been a fan of the whole Zombie franchise, not because they are bad games, but because ive had to be selective in my gaming purchases. Everything i've heard about Dead Island however has been very good and is probably the best zombie game of 2011. I wouldn't know though. -Gears of War 3: This long awaited title is debatably the most anticipated game of 2011, and definitily the most anticipated Xbox title. The title finishes off the Gears of War trilogy with a satisfiying (though cheesy) resolution to end the Locust War. -RAGE: Anticipation for RAGE was high as shared development between Id software and Bethesda Softworks, two of gamings most notable companies, brought the title to life. The game was expected as a mix of DOOM and Fallout, an action packed, open world, first person shooter with a detailed plot, amazing gameplay and hundreds of hours of gameplay. This was not the case. The game reported to have a low total length of about 10 hours and a weak storyline. Where RAGE shines however is in its gunplay and technical feats.  Overall this game is fair, but doesn't live up to either companies standards. -Batman Arkham City: Seperate from the movies and following the plot to Arkham Asylum, this game provides a deep look into the Batman Universe and is praised for its story and innovative gameplay. -Battlefield 3: Back in October I was DYING to play this game. It was the first major title this fall I was prepped to buy and I was excited to finally get a chance to keep up with the newest gaming buzz. Unfortunatly the release was less than ideal. It came out the week I was preoccupied with the Fall Play and I didn't get a chance to open it. By the time I finally had freetime to play games, Modern Warfare 3 had been released and I was itching to finally finish the storyline for that. Finally in late November I got my chance. I popped the game in my xbox and began the Campaign. Immediatly I enjoyed the game. However as time went on the Campaign seemed to drag on and on. I had a difficult time understanding the plot and the characters were difficult to relate to and feel emotions for (Unlike MW). Then I tried out the Multiplayer. I was not impressed. The maps were too large and the players were all far more experienced than I was, I didn't have much fun. Overall Battlefield 3 has amazing technology, but unless your willing to dedicate more time to it, then it isn't as much fun. -Uncharted 3: I don't own a Playstation, however reception for this game has been very good (Im assuming Nathan Drake is the Indiana Jones of Video Games). When I finally do break and buy one, this game is definitly on my list of games to try. -Sonic Generations: Old Sonic meets New Sonic, brushing aside the obvious cheesiness of this concept, the game seems to provide gamers with the chance to live out their favorite form of Sonic games. But since ive never been a strong fan of the series it means little to me personally. -Modern Warfare 3: I bought this game for the sole purpose of defeating Makarov! (Oh I can hear the COD fans screaming right now). Ive never been a fan of COD multiplayer. Ive gotten into it recently but its vastly different then the games im used to. Ever since Black Ops, Activision has been publishing really crapped COD titles that simply reskin the previous game with new graphics and stories, barely changing the gameplay or multiplayer at all. This game is basically a $60 addon for Modern Warfare 2. Not only that but they expect gamers to pay an additional $50 for multiplayer upgrades. Frickin heck!!!! -Skyrim: OH FRICK YES! When I first heard of Skyrim about 8 months ago it didn't seem that big of a deal to me. It just seemed like a crappy sequel to Oblivion (which I didn't play). So I turned my attention elsewhere, notably to the newly revealed Halo 4. However about two months ago I began hearing alot about this game and how excited people were for it. I still wasn't interested. I had already sunk $180 in games already and Christmas was on the horizon so I continued to ignore it. News of Skyrim only increased after the release as all my gamer friends talked about it exclusively while I sat in the corner playing Halo. Eventually the buzz got too great and I broke and decided to rent a copy (not convinced I would like it). Just today I dedicated a few hours of my day and sat down to play it. Now I can safely say that I am in love with the game as much as any other. In a few hours I had climbed a mountain, discovered an ancient tomb and killed a fire breathing dragon. This game is definitly on the list of games I need to buy in the future. -Halo Anniversary: When I first heard about this in June, I was gitty with excitement. Like many I feared that Halo would die after Reach and that the series would never be as acclaimed as Call of Duty took over. As I watched the live E3 announcement I was filled with hope as a new decade of Halo games came into the light. For months I waited impatiently to play the new Halo title. I loved Halo 1 and I couldn't wait to see it in HD. Finally the day arrived. After a long day of school and an agonizing ride to the local Gamestop, I held the game in my hands. I brought it to my dad's apartment, turned on the Xbox and blasted my way through the Pillar of Autumn and across the surface of installation 04. I would have played all night if school hadn't directly followed. Though quickly the game grew old to me. Something ive noticed about Halo titles is that they have an amazing amount of replayability, but get old if over played. The game itself broke down into two features. One was the rebooted Halo 1 campaign, and the other was a map pack for Halo Reach. The games renewing quality was its reduced price tag of $40. Thus making Anniversary what Halo 3 ODST wanted to be. Overall a worthwhile purchase if all its aspects are to be respected. -Assassins Creed Revelations: I very specifically was not interested in this title. Why? Because the Assassins Creed Franchise is a buzzkill. I could have easily rented this title at the local Redbox for a mere $2 a night, played it and given it back. But no. I didn't. Why? Because the franchise is story driven by the previous title and hits a cliffhanger at the end of every game. Id have to play 1, 2 and brotherhood just to understand the plot prior to the game. I might as well just google the entire plot. Plus the gameplay is repetative. Jump off building, kill guy. Jump off building, kill guy. Jump off building, kill two guys. See my point? -Saints Row The Third: Its a ruder Grand Theft Auto clone. Enough said........ -Super Mario 3D Land: Back in November, I had been given the opportunity to hang out at the local gamestop while my mom was busy. As usual I took note of the various titles avaliable, asked some questions to the clerk and played some demos avalible. Notably the new Mario title. As with every Nintendo console, a Mario title is paired up to boost sales. With nothing better to do, I approached to sample 3DS (you know the one nailed to the wall) and played through the first level. Rarely do I enjoy a game the first time a play it. Usually the controls become a hastile and I dread my first experience. But the controls came naturally to me. The level was simple and fun and I honestly enjoys playing through it. When I finally buy my 3DS, Mario is one of the first titles I will buy. -Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword: There are not bad Zelda games, there are ones that dissapoint slightly or have frustrating features, but all the titles are quality titles worth their cost. I am not personally a zelda fan, but I have tremendous respect for the franchise and its fans. Skyward Sword is definitly a notworthy title. The game cronologically takes place before Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask. The game however is vastly different in style from previous zelda titles and may alienate some fans. Overall the game is praised for its quality and story. I applaud Nintendo for ending the Wii's Lifespan with such a wonderful title and look forward to seeing what titles they have in store for the Wii U in terms of Zelda. -Mariokart 7 (3DS): Since the Nintendo 64, every Nintendo console has to have a mariokart game. They are fun, simple and bring in the bucks for our friends in Japan. Mariokart brings the same style of racing Nintendo characters to the 3DS and is worth the cost. -Just Dance 3: either you play motion sensitive games or you don't. If you like them and music games, then youll like it. If you don't, then you won't like it. Simple as that. -Star Wars: The Old Republic: A star wars MMO, not an original concept but definitly a profitable one. Following the success of Knights of the Old Republic and the huge following for MMOs like World of Warcraft, Lucasarts and Bioware came together to produce The Old Republic, allowing fans to make their own epic journey in the star wars universe. However the game is plagued with issues. Notably the fact that all players are forced into a waiting room upon signing into a server until enough room opens for them.

- dear Nintendo I'm done. I'm just I'm done .sometimes you hold hope in your heart. to .help you get from. day to day. you have to hold. on to that hope but after a while .you reach a point where that hope can .only hurt you. and all you. can do is let go. and move on it's better to simply accept. that there is no hope so. that you can start to heal Nintendo you just announced Paper Mario Color Splash. and the hope for. a real Paper Mario sequel that. I've been holding. on to for. over. a decade I'm letting. it go a lot of. people will tell. me not. to. judge the game based on .this short clip and we won't know until the. game's out but I'm. not playing the whole game. I know what this. is I know what. I'm seeing when. I watch this and it's basically sticker star - I see no partners no RPG elements no interesting enemies or environments or characters. I just I see sticker star. - with all due respect Nintendo. I don't think you have any. idea how much the first two games .mean to us you just don't get it you .don't understand the depth of. our love for. them for the characters the excellent battle. system the awesome stories the worlds you gave us to explore that made the Mario universe .seems so rich and alive I've never been able. to quite. put my finger on what made those games so darn good but. it was .something and it's clearer than ever that you. simply do not understand that for. starters if you understood you would .have never announced the game in such a casual. way when I think of a new Paper Mario coming. I imagine a reveal as grand as one you would get. for Zelda and Metroid. some sort of exciting trailer .maybe starting. with a little teaser. than .revealing that yes this is a brand new Paper Mario game but you didn't do. that .bill came on with a goofy little. paint joke and was just. sort. of like hey. look here's some new. Paper Mario you get to paint and there are cards and it's kind of cool anyway. pokken tournament and I was like what. the fact that Paper Mario has become such a casual little amusement. to you speaks loads. about the disconnect .between you and fans of. the series but that's all. probably the least of. it if you really how much we. love Paper Mario. you would have never removed the refined. addictive turn-based combat and replaced it with substandard 2d platforming. and a 2d 3d mechanic. that never lives up and if you understood. you most certainly would. have never even. dreamed of. not only removing all experience points in RPG elements turning battle into something that's better to avoid. but stripping the series of any sort of plot or delightful characters or interesting cohesive environments or most egregiously any .Bowser humor look you simplified Mario's main games and I. get that I totally do you tried having hub worlds and stories .and adventury stuff and you decided you .know what. Mario is just about simple platforming. and nothing else. I didn't exactly. like that decision but. I understand it. and most people are fine with. it so cool but would you take the .next zelda game for. instance and remove its story would. you break the world into small isolated. areas accessed via world map. remove items and. Epona and just have sword fighting. but it's okay. because there's all these. silly swords you can get and they all do. different. stuff would you. do that to such a beloved. and deep. series because there was a time when I thought similar treatment of Paper Mario would be. impossible. the first Paper Mario was called Mario story in Japan for pete's sake. that game and thousand-year door were epic quests through huge lands with. the sequel building incredibly on every single .aspect of its predecessor this series was the. perfect companion to the other Mario. games which were and still are more about just picking. up and playing for. a bit of jump. and fun one has to wonder why on earth. you would. be unsatisfied with. this. perfect. setup of story. Mario and platforming. Mario now I do have a theory. when the first. Mario and Luigi came out. naturally I was like whoa it's like Paper Mario on my gameboy .it had most of the same mechanics but with a bit more. action in the combat in a much sillier. field .I imagine. that over time you started to be like. why do we have to separate Mario RPG series. we wouldn't have. two slightly .different. Mario. Golf or Mario Party series running. concurrently. so you figured that Mario Luigi could be the official RPG series. and Paper Mario could. be more about whatever papery mechanics you could come up. with in a form. that. doesn't necessarily. have to match any sort. of set style. that's why you then tried to. make the game about platforming and perspective. and you know what Super Paper. Mario was definitely enjoyable if just. for one playthrough do you know why it. was still fun though for me personally it was the. fact. that it still had an epic story and a fun cast of interesting and often. hilarious characters. half of what I loved had been .replaced with stuff that. was okay. but that story. still made it worth it but you weren't done experimenting you sat on. the series for several years then released sticker star. a game that just .broke my spirit here was a game that was .just oozing with. style. just exploding with. it the visuals were amazing the paper aesthetic was finally. perfected and collecting. and. using stickers was so darn. much fun and turn-based battles were back. but like I said earlier battling when you didn't have. to just wasted your stickers. and that nearly .ruined the whole. game by itself but then there were still. no partners and in fact barely any characters at all there was no plot. oh no Bowser stole. the .whatever sticker and we had to go get .him plot synopsis. over there was no overworld to explore there were no towns .just dots on a world map. Super Paper Mario. at least had half of what I loved about. the first two games sticker star .had like 10% the rest was dumbed down .stripped away turned into more of a shallow. pick-up-and-play experience and that brings us back. to. Color Splash. yeah I don't know. everything about the game yet. I'm jumping. to conclusions yadda .yadda yadda but. I know what it's not and hey I'll even. admit just like the sticker mechanic painting stuff looks .like fun if they fix the XP problem they might have a. little adventure like game that's enjoyable. in its own way totally but why does it. have to be this way. why are we. just not allowed to have the .Paper Mario we want take the style of the. original games and add the sticker or paint mechanics. and you would have incredible experiences each one would be fresh while still being exactly. what we want. we. love. it when. you try. new things Nintendo we really do but not when those new things replace nearly every old thing that. we love. you know what I know what we're asking. for is kind. of a lot those first two games were. probably way harder to. develop than the other games good plots are hard. writing is. hard big connected. over worlds are hard. it's hard to make a grand. adventure that has .a lot to it but you've done. it. before .you used to do it. all. the time and on much weaker. hardware you used to be ambitious. you used to want to. improve on .your work. make. it. better every time and that's what we want now. don't be the company. that aims only for simple fun and sacrifices everything. else experiment. keep using new ideas but make sure. they're supported. by a complete .experience that we. want to return. to .again and again. and this doesn't just .apply to Paper Mario Mario and Luigi the series that. effectively replaced it has been. getting stripped and simplified in terms of plot. and world building in every. title that comes after bowser's Inside Story. it has to stop. please just take. a moment. to actually. listen to what .your ravenous fans want go anywhere. on the. Internet and. tell me what the vast .majority. of. people are saying that kind of response is not normal it's not healthy you. absolutely cannot deny that .nearly every Paper Mario fan was .extremely saddened by the. disturbingly casual announcement of. this game then when you're done reading angry. tweets. go and check out some. of. the many fan games or go and see just how absolutely. crazy we all. are about the idea of. using. all .sorts of Mario races as partners the idea of further expanding this world that you've already started creating. we want a real sequel to thousand-year door and we want. it. so badly there's nothing more I can. say Nintendo. except please please make the Paper Mario game. I know you're more. than capable of making that .we've been waiting so long for make it .silly and creative and charming with some cool new mechanic that. brings something. fresh. to the series but also .make it Paper Mario well thanks for. watching this .20-somethings heartfelt plea for a storybook themed baby came and just. in case I did get. the attention. of someone at Nintendo please let Pikmin. 4 have a level editor .please oh please oh please oh please oh please

Therese Anne Fowler Reminds Us How Insane the Gilded Age Really Was

Given the runaway success of Therese Anne Fowler’s novel Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, it’s not surprising that her new novel, A Well-Behaved Woman, has been among the fall’s most highly anticipated historical fiction releases. This time Fowler takes on the lesser-known figure of Alva Vanderbilt, who married into one of America’s richest Gilded Age families and took bold actions to steer herself, her family and society forward into a better future. Like Zelda, Alva hasn’t always been described kindly in historical narratives, and as Fowler puts it in our interview, every word of these descriptions makes a difference: “critical adjectives create and maintain mischaracterizations.”

As a fellow writer of novels that seek to reframe and center women’s role in history, I was delighted to sit down with Fowler and discuss her latest work. Like its subject, A Well-Behaved Woman draws beauty from paradox: it is both detailed and fast-paced, loving and critical, heart-breaking and hopeful. We also explored Fowler’s thoughts on the challenges of shaping a novel from biography, what it’s like to live in a two-author house, and how the common advice for authors to create a “brand” can be a disservice both to authors and readers.

Alva Vanderbilt, 1883.

Greer Macallister

You describe your initial impression of Alva as a negative one, saying she’d been “described as a pushy, selfish, overly ambitious, materialistic social climber.” And if one looks at Alva’s life through that lens, she definitely seems iffy. She threw eye-poppingly lavish parties for New York society, including a masquerade ball in 1883 that cost a reported $3 million. She challenged authority and societal norms that didn’t suit her. But as you write them in A Well-Behaved Woman, these events make sense in context. The ball, for example, is a desperate yet calculated bid to improve the status of the socially questionable Vanderbilts, the exact reason the penniless Alva was approved by the Vanderbilts to marry W.K.

Do you feel like your sympathetic interpretation of Alva, seeing her as strong instead of pushy, strategic instead of selfish, gets us closer to the truth of the person she really was? Or does it even matter—can there ever be a “true” record? This is fiction, after all, not biography. (Though biography also has its biases…)

Therese Anne Fowler

Biographical fiction is always an interpretation, but yes, I do think I’ve given readers a truer Alva, and yes, I do think this reframing matters a great deal. We as a culture need to reconsider our judgments of women, past and present, who don’t embody the traditional ideals of what a woman is supposed to be and do.

If a man had acted in the ways Alva did, he would be lauded for those actions—described as progressive, a visionary, a champion. Critical adjectives create and maintain mischaracterizations, hence Alva’s (and Zelda Fitzgerald’s) frequent depictions as difficult, problematic women who should therefore be disliked and dismissed.

And yes, context is another matter that’s often ignored in modern assessments of Alva’s life. Given the way Alva is so often held to account, one would think she was the only socialite hosting lavish entertainments, that her lifestyle was excessive for her time and place and class—when in fact nineteenth century millionaires were in the habit of spending wildly long before Alva came along (and that’s leaving aside the habits of Europe’s upper class, who we might say wrote the book on “lavish”). Alva was in many ways more restrained than her cohorts, including her sister-in-law Alice Vanderbilt as well as Caroline Astor, but they are both given a pass because they embodied the traditional ideals of feminine comportment while in some notable ways Alva did not.

If one wishes to take issue with the excesses and assign blame, let’s remember that nearly all Gilded Age extravagance ultimately occurred not by a woman’s hand (any woman’s) but by her husband’s: the men controlled the money.

Greer Macallister

Very good point. You begin the book in the summer of 1874, when Alva Smith is just beginning to consider marriage to William K. Vanderbilt, and end it around 1908. When you’re writing about a life as rich and complex as Alva’s, how do you decide where your version of the story starts and ends? How did you decide what to leave out? I’m thinking of Alva’s sister Jenny’s marriage to Consuelo Yznaga’s brother Fernando—does the stage get just too crowded?

Therese Anne Fowler

As those of us who write biographical-based novels know well, research materials may be dense with information, but no individual’s life follows a tidy plotline. We have to create one from the material at hand.

Shaping a novel from biography means we have to learn and assess all the facts about an individual (who they were, what they did, the historical context) in order to discover thematic through-lines, and then use those through-lines to help in the selection of what gets onto the page. There’s not necessarily one right approach.

Once I knew that this story was going to a depiction of how the Alva of Women’s Rights history came to be that woman (as opposed to a novel about her suffragist activities), I had my general start and end parameters. As for choosing how much of the narrative to give to any particular person or situation, that goes back to knowing the thematic through-lines. There are many pieces of Alva’s life that get minimal attention in the novel (or none at all), because, while they may be interesting, they’re tangential to the storyline.

Greer Macallister

You’re a writer married to a writer. It seems like that could either be a recipe for perfection or disaster. Are you and your husband early readers of each other’s work? You write in such distinct genres that your styles don’t overlap much, but good writing is good writing, and it seems like it could be enormously helpful to have someone else in the house to help you puzzle out a problem.

Therese Anne Fowler

My husband, John Kessel, does read my early drafts, and I read his. It’s never a bad thing for a writer to have another experienced reader/writer/editor in the house as long as you respect each other and aren’t competitive with each other.

In our case, I think it helps that John established himself as an award-winning author long before we knew each other, and that he’s been a creative writing professor for more than thirty years. We absolutely think ours is a recipe for relationship perfection (inasmuch as such a thing can exist). Not only are we qualified early readers of each other’s work and great sounding boards for those thorny plot problems, but we can fully commiserate about the difficulties of this business as well as truly appreciate what goes into each other’s successes.

Greer Macallister

Any story that combines fictional interpretation with the historical record raises a question in the reader’s mind from time to time—is this particular bit real? I was particularly curious about the letters and newspaper clippings you include. Some are letters from the public to Alva after “Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt’s Great Fancy Dress Ball”, some full of praise (“You are a fine lady of good imagination”) and others the opposite (“…such expenditure on frivolities is immoral when so many are going hungry. You should be ashamed!”) Were these based on or excerpted from real letters? Were you able to see archived letters between Consuelo and Alva, or did you create their correspondence as it exists in these pages?  

Therese Anne Fowler

Unlike the voluminous material I had to work with when writing Z, authoritative materials relating to Alva’s life are relatively few. Most biographical accounts of her rely on a lot of hearsay and a handful of highly biased accounts from newspaper articles published about her during her life; we really have an echo chamber of misinformation. Too, there’s a lot of cherry picking from her daughter’s memoir, a lot of selective use of critical facts that ignores both context and Consuelo’s praise.

In the novel, quotes from newspapers are for the most part taken from actual publications. All the letters, however, are invented, derived from facts about the relationships between the individuals and the events in each respective authors’ lives. Written correspondence was the mode of communication, even for people who lived nearby one another, and so although I didn’t have source documents to work with, there can be no doubt that this kind of correspondence took place.

Greer Macallister

Your recently announced next novel (congratulations!), Edge Effects, has a contemporary setting. It may seem like a departure to readers of Z and A Well-Behaved Woman, but since your early novels Souvenir, Reunion and Exposure were all set around the time when they were published, does it feel like more of a homecoming to you? Do you see yourself continuing to explore both contemporary and historical settings in the future?

Therese Anne Fowler

While there are many authors who are strongly encouraged by their agents and/or editors to write in only one genre (in order to build a “brand,”), I feel that this advice can be a disservice to the author and to readers of that author’s work.

I have wide-ranging interests, and while I might be said to return to a handful of favorite themes in my novels, I’m choosing to write stories that grab me irrespective of their time settings. Readers, too, have wide-ranging interests, and I trust that the ones who read across genres will willingly come along with me for the ride as long as the stories I give them are compelling and done well.

So returning to a contemporary setting for Edge Effects is less of a homecoming than a matter of having again pursued the idea that captivated me most. And I will say, it was a real treat to get to invent the characters and storyline from scratch.

Here’s the other thing: though many of the authors who’ve come to have name brand recognition write the same kind of novel every time, there are so many others whose names are less familiar and whose career paths are diverse and winding. Sometimes this is by design. Sometimes it’s a consequence of factors well outside of the author’s control. Success and longevity, if it’s going to come, comes from showing up and doing the work. It comes from continuing to learn and improve. I’m here, and I’m writing, trying to make each book my best yet.

FICTION – HISTORICAL A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts By Therese Anne Fowler St. Martin’s Press Published October 16, 2018

Therese Anne Fowler is the author of the New York Timesbestselling novel Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Raised in the Midwest, she moved to North Carolina in 1995. She holds a BA in sociology/cultural anthropology and an MFA in creative writing from North Carolina State University.

Source: https://chireviewofbooks.com/2018/10/24/a-well-behaved-woman-therese-anne-fowler-interview/

DualShockers’ Favorite Games of 2019 — Chris’ Top 10

December 28, 2019 10:00 AM EST

This Top 10 list of 2019 games from curmudgeon contributor Chris Compendio is full of oddities, with both indie titles and blockbuster hits.

As 2019 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2019 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2019 releases — can be considered.

There is a particular attitude that comes with end-of-the-year discourse. Much like how there is an “Oscar movie,” we have “GOTY games,” triple-A titles so hotly anticipated that many in the gaming community are sure that it will already be their favorite. Look no further than any social media feed, where people are already arguing about what will be Game of the Year 2020. But when I look at my favorite games of 2019, I am surprised by how many of them are sleeper hits, quality titles that snuck up on me.

I still believe that there is value to having group and outlet-wide Game of the Year lists, and it is fascinating to see where everyone ends up. Still, I’d much prefer to sift through personal end-of-the-year lists, as they are a better indicator of the personal gaming journeys that individuals went through during the year. There you’ll find obscure little nuggets, or perhaps contrarian and eye-opening angles to games that you may have missed out on or didn’t give a chance.

With my personal top 10 list for 2019, I find that the uniting factor between most of these games is that they are weird. They are incongruous, non-traditional, unusual, and so on. And most of them are games I hadn’t even heard of a year ago, making the value they provided all the more surprising.

First off, some Honorable Mentions that didn’t quite make the cut, including Untitled Goose Game, Gears 5, Tetris 99, Baba Is You, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, CROSSNIQ+, Pokemon Sword & Pokemon Shield, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Mini Motorways, all of which could have formed their own top 10 list. Then there’s the stuff that I didn’t finish or get to, but will absolutely do so starting in January, including Luigi’s Mansion 3, Kind Words, Arcade Spirits, Knife Sisters, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Outer Wilds, The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Life is Strange 2, Disco Elysium, and Neo Cab.

Man, I wish we had room for more than ten entries.

10. Ring Fit Adventure

I have fond memories of playing Wii Fit back in the day; while it obviously wasn’t a proper substitute for more intense workouts, it was a nice way for Nintendo to encourage health and regular exercise into one’s daily routine. That’s why I was so surprised by how freaking hard Ring Fit Adventure went. For the first time playing an “exergame,” I was left sore and sweaty, so much so that I had to lower the intensity at times.

What Ring Fit Adventure succeeds in doing is actually turning exercise into a video game. It took Nintendo maybe like, over a decade to get there, but it’s great to see nonetheless. All Ring Fit Adventure comes down to is a turn-based RPG where the moves and attacks and defense are achieved through exercise. The Ring-Con is durable and versatile, and as the game encourages, I find myself turning it on by itself and doing some mindless exercise while doing other activities or watching television. It is obviously far from the most impressive video game of the year, but Ring Fit Adventure is the one that I came back to the most often in 2019.

And fun fact: the model in that lifestyle photo that serves as this list’s featured images is my friend from college. You’re damn right that I had to use it for this.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Ring Fit Adventure.

9. Kingdom Hearts III

The Kingdom Hearts series is like a specter that will never stop following me. I don’t even have to go over how much these games mean to me and how wild the pre-release period has been since Kingdom Hearts III was announced what must have been a century ago at this point. And I’m not even going to bother to talk about how stuffed and contrived the lore is—at this point, Kingdom Hearts practically speaks for itself. Even if you aren’t into the franchise, hearing all of the fervor around it should at least give you a feeling of what it’s about.

And once Kingdom Hearts III finally released a lot of people, ranging from newcomers to devoted fans, were quick to scrutinize and tear it apart, and a lot of the criticisms were fairly justified. Perhaps I was in my own world, but none of that stopped me from enjoying the hell out of III. It may have just been the novelty of playing a brand-new, high-definition Kingdom Hearts game, or all of the obvious fan service and emotional scenes of closure, but whatever it was, the feeling of playing Kingdom Hearts III could not be recreated by anything else I played in 2019.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Kingdom Hearts III.

8. What The Golf?

Most of the games on this list were surprises to me, but What The Golf? was a strange game that contained a number of different surprises within it. The facade of this being any sort of ordinary golf video game quickly wears off, as you find yourself hitting more than just golf balls into the hole: maybe it’s a golf club, the golfer themselves, or even another damn hole that you have to get into the hole. And that’s just the beginning—you’ll be going through city streets, parodies of other video games, and space, with some gravity-defying shots.

What The Golf? is an excellent example of how to create comedy that is unique to the medium of video games. It isn’t writing or cutscenes, but rather the actions that the player does themselves that creates hilarity. Each level plays with your expectations in a different way, and there is enough variety to prevent the game from just turning into the same punchline replayed multiple times. Other than that, the game has excellent sound design, and there’s a neat feature that lets you showcase a short, curated level selection to friends. What The Golf? is perfect for short bursts of play, and at some point in the near future, I’ll probably find myself going through each hole yet again.

Check out DualShockers‘ PAX East preview for What The Golf?

7. Ape Out

With such a bold art style and a distinct percussion-based soundtrack, Ape Out is impossible to ignore. The core gameplay is quite easy to wrap your head around, but I appreciate all of the strategic considerations that go into playing the game. As a massive ape trying to make your great escape, your main tools are a basic attack and a grab; enemies die easily, but so do you, with only three hits. The decision I always faced was between brute-forcing myself through gunmen or taking a slow and deliberate pace using an enemy as a human shield. Better yet, breeze through the randomly-generated maze and avoid conflict altogether.

The trial-and-error nature of Ape Out might naturally draw comparisons to Hotline Miami or Celeste, and as magnificent as those games are, putting this game only in those terms would do it a disservice. There was something so intriguing about the total lack of context given regarding this ape, but as you continue your rampage and leave a trail of death and destruction behind, aided by some brash and flashy visuals, what has led to these events is irrelevant—the scene and tone and the feelings that they invoke are already enough.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Ape Out.

6. Wilmot’s Warehouse

This is a last-minute entry in my 2019 list, but Wilmot’s Warehouse instantly won me over by getting all of the gears in my head to click into place. It is a game all about organization, but the hook of this game is that players can organize everything in any way they want to. As such, the game essentially becomes a Rorschach test for whoever tries to play it—what does the way you organize your warehouse tell about how you live your life? Perhaps by color, by category, or some other wild methodology of your own invention?

Wilmot’s Warehouse is almost like a single-player Overcooked, but with a lot more versatility and room to work with. It has a charming minimalist art style, with some lovely motivational posters to come with it. It is challenging, less so because of everything the game throws at you and more so because your own methods and styles will begin to crack and fall apart. It also makes you wonder about the infrastructures we have in real-life, and why giant corporations at Amazon can’t seem to come up with proper organizational strategies that don’t exploit and abuse their warehouse workers. I guess it’s just a fantasy at this point!

5. Death Stranding

Honestly, I’m surprised that I bought Death Stranding in the first place. I was anything but a Hideo Kojima stan, and much of the previews and the pre-release discussions over the game were quick to turn me off for a variety of reasons. Once Kojima and company began to actually show gameplay, however, something resonated with me. Yes, you can derogatorily call this game a “walking simulator,” but I am all about games where traversal itself is a puzzle. There’s that whole cliched pitch of “You see that mountain? You can go there!” but what if that phrase was just the premise of an entire video game?

There’s more to it, of course, but the story is absolute crap with a total lack of subtlety, nuance, and sensitivity. Even as I rolled my eyes at pretty much every single cutscene in the game, I spent endless nights on Death Stranding, optimizing the amount of weight I was carrying and carefully planning out routes, not to mention becoming obsessive over building projects. And once the chiral network aspect of the game comes into play, it becomes more of a unique massively-multiplayer co-operative game of sorts, with other players’ buildings and structures coming as assistance in the most harrowing of scenarios. Awful story but addicting gameplay was enough to put Death Stranding smack dab in the middle of my favorite games from 2019.

Check out DualShockers’ review for Death Stranding.

4. Apex Legends

If we’re going to talk about surprises, then I am required by law to write about Apex Legends, because just the existence of that game alone was a surprise. Announced right before its release, Apex Legends appears to be the end-all-be-all battle royale only by looking at its feature set, but it absolutely earns the title once you pick up the game and play it—I don’t think anyone can possibly deny that games from Respawn Entertainment feel good. It’s fast, responsive, but most importantly, it’s just fun.

I’m not an expert on multiplayer balance, but I’ve personally found every character in Apex Legends to be viable. The game’s design is full of so many smart decisions, from the concept of the Jumpmaster, to how inventory is handled, the diverse hero abilities, the respawning, and especially, especially the Ping system. This game has so many quality-of-life features that I never even knew I needed, and they make any session, whether it’s with a close group of friends or with complete strangers without microphones, feel like a breeze. After playing Apex, why even bother with any other battle royale shooter in 2019?

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Apex Legends.

3. Control

Man, this game is cool. I can’t think of any other video game in 2019 where I would actually read through all of the pick-ups and collectibles and logs, but Control had me going through every piece of lore the game threw at me like a drug. This game, more than almost any other game, inspired curiosity in me. It is esoteric without being pretentious, it is bizarre without being off-putting, and there is rarely any sort of disconnect between the narrative and the actual gameplay.

It may take a bit of time to get into the combat flow of Control, but the trials and tribulations leading up to that are worth it. Eventually, you’ll have a number of psychic powers and weapon forms to utilize as tools of destruction, and as you get used to the enemies and their behavior, each encounter will feel like a fast-paced game of chess. The latest from Remedy Entertainment was enough evidence that I needed to get into their previous stuff, so I spent some time with Alan Wake and Quantum Break as well. No one quite does such an excellent blend of surrealism, world-building, and combat like that studio.

Check out DualShockers’ review for Control.

2. Katana Zero

I’ve been becoming more and more tolerant of difficult fast-paced trial-and-error games (see: Hotline Miami, Super Meat Boy), but Katana Zero may perhaps be the first one of these games that I barreled through with few breaks in between. The premise of this side-scrolling action game with its drug-induced time-manipulation and the fast and twitchy gameplay demanded my attention and time, and boy did I give this game just that. There were too many deaths to count on the way to the end, but all was worth it.

Katana Zero is infused with a neon art style and rousing electronic music, which further enhanced the compelling gameplay. It all comes down to planning, looking at the scenario at hand and taking into account reaction times and all of the environmental pieces around you to brutally dispatch your enemies while also avoiding their own attacks. And your katana-wielding character is thinking about all of this too, as your failed attempts are actually (at least, the way I interpreted it) the scenarios in his head that just didn’t work out. It is perhaps the smartest game I’ve played in 2019 in merging story and gameplay together, and out of all of the titles on this list, this is the one that I want a narrative sequel to the most.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Katana Zero.

1. Sayonara Wild Hearts

After writing a review of over 1,500 words for Sayonara Wild Hearts, I’m not even sure what else I can say about it. But in the context of my personal life, I should say that it came at exactly the right time in my life. Underneath all of the colors and the fanciful style is a story about overcoming depression and getting outside of your comfort zone to lead a truly happy life. All of the other games on the list I probably could have played at any point in my life and enjoyed it all the same, but Sayonara Wild Hearts feels like the definitive 2019 game for how my year went.

Even months after the game came out, I still came back to Sayonara, one reason being to finally achieve some of those Gold Ranks, but mostly just to try to live the euphoria of the emotional experiences that this game provided me; somehow, the entire “Begin Again” sequence is still enough to get me near tears, producing the same powerful reaction each time ever since I first played a demo of this at PAX East. I still listen to the soundtrack on a regular basis, letting myself get lost in the soundscapes—eventually, I would actually seek out the lyrics to these songs, and I would find the written words to be just as touching.

I was used to my safety and peace I mistook all this tedium with being at ease But then you came around, said “it’s time to let go” And you took me to a place I don’t know

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Sayonara Wild Hearts, from yours truly.

Check out the rest of the DualShockers staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 23: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2019 December 25: Lou Contaldi, Editor-in-Chief // Logan Moore, Managing Editor December 26: Tomas Franzese, News Editor // Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor  December 27: Mike Long, Community Manager // Scott White, Staff Writer December 28: Chris Compendio, Contributor // Mario Rivera, Video Manager // Kris Cornelisse, Staff Writer December 29: Scott Meaney, Community Director // Allisa James, Senior Staff Writer // Ben Bayliss, Senior Staff Writer December 30: Cameron Hawkins, Staff Writer // David Gill, Senior Staff Writer // Portia Lightfoot, Contributor December 31: Iyane Agossah, Senior Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Senior Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Contributor January 1: Ricky Frech, Senior Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer

December 28, 2019 10:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/dualshockers-favorite-games-of-2019-chris-top-10/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dualshockers-favorite-games-of-2019-chris-top-10

Here’s All The 29 Game Announcements From February 2019’s Nintendo Direct

A Nintendo Direct just dropped and it’s filled with big game announcements. Here’s a quick rundown on all the game announcements made for the Nintendo Direct released on February 13th, 2019.

1. Super Mario Maker 2

Before minute one, we got a new game announcement out of the gate. The sequel to Super Mario Maker is coming to the Switch. The map making tool/game will have more tools and items to plop in such as slopes.

Super Mario Maker will be out in June 2019.

2. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3

First seen at E3, more details of the action RPG has been shown. The cast of characters playable range from the Avengers, Defenders, Guardians Of The Galaxy and yes, even the X-Men. The presentation makes big highlight on new character Captain Marvel.

The game supports local co-op for up to 4 players on one Switch, or connect 4 Switches locally as well as online. It will be out on sometime this summer exclusively on the Switch.

3. Boxboy + Boxgirl Coming To Switch

Puzzler Boxboy is coming to Switch with additional new content added up to 270 puzzles, including two-player co-op.

It will be out on April 26th.

4. Smash Ultimate Version 3.0 Update

An update to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Version 3.0, is coming. No details were mentioned (otherwise it’s going to be another Nintendo Direct of length).

But it’s a nice reminder that Joker from Persona 5, the first of several paid DLC characters, will drop together with the update, scheduled for release in spring.

5. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Free Update and Paid DLC

Two-player co-op coming as a free update that should be live now. New DLC adds 18 new challenges and 5 new courses.

The Special Episode DLC launches in full on March 14th, and a bundle of the base game plus DLC will also be available.

6. Bloodstained Ritual Of The Night

The spiritual successor of Castlevania designed by the father of Castlevania will be out sometime this summer.

7. Dragon Quest Builders 2

The sequel to Minecraft-meets-Dragon Quest is coming to the Switch. It features building and crafting mechanics as well as some simple combat. Multiplayer includes local play or online up to 4 players.

It will be available on July 12th.

8. Dragon Quest XI S Definitive Edition Coming To Switch

The highly acclaimed latest entry to the RPG series, Dragon Quest XI is coming to Switch. While this has been known for some time in Japan, now we got to see it in English.

The release will support dual-audio if you prefer Japanese voice-overs. It will be out in fall.

9. Disney Tsum Tsum Festival

Multiplayer party game and puzzler with online support.

Available later this year.

10. Starlink: Battle For Atlas Gets More Star Fox Content

Exlusive for Switch, more characters from Star Fox are available to play as in Starlink. The whole crew that is Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy has to fight their regular nemesis in the Ubisoft open world galaxy shooter.

The update will arrive in spring.

11. Rune Factory 4 Special

This is a remaster of Rune Factory 4. This RPG includes some hefty amount of side activities, from farming to cooking and even a marriage system. It will launch on the Switch later this year.

12. Rune Factory 5

The sequel to Rune Factory is announced to be in development. All we have is the logo.

13. Oninaki

New RPG fro Tokyo RPG Factory, developers of I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear. You control one character, Kagachi, but he has the ability to summon Daemons to fight alongside him, like a JoJo Stand. These Daemons act as different classes found in regular RPGs.

Oninaki Launches in Summer.

14. Yoshi’s Crafted World

More details on the gorgeuous 2D platformer. Demo is available today.

It will be out on March 29th.

15. Fire Emblem Three Houses

A new trailer showcasing the new Fire Emblem is here. Most of it is setup for the story and word. But it shows off the cool art style it has going.

You play as a professor and are in charge of training of either of the three noble houses of your choosing. Grid-based battles are returning, and the downtime between battles is spent training the students and developing bonds, so they get out there and fight harder.

It will be out on July 26th.

16. Tetris 99

99 Players. 1 winner. This is… Tetris battle royale? Sort of but not really. Imagine your regular multiplayer Tetris where clearing lines will throw garbage. Now add 97 other players. Arika is developing this game.

The game is out now and it’s free.

17. Dead By Daylight

The asymmetrical multiplayer horror game Dead By Daylight is coming to Switch. It will be out in Fall.

18. Deltarune on Switch

Deltarune, the sort-of sequel to Undertale, and GM’s Best Game Given Way For Free 2018, is coming to Switch. This is the first chapter of more to come. And just like the PC release, the first chapter is free. Though additional chapters will not.

Deltarune is now available on the Nintendo eShop.

19. Daemon X Machina Demo

Action mech game that is essentially Armored Core, Daemon X Machina now has a demo available. It will be out this summer.

20. GRID Autosport

As announced earlier this year, Codemasters’ GRID Autosport is coming to Switch. All DLCs are included and it will have local two-player split-screen (cool!) as well as online racing.

It will be out in Summer.

21. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Coming To Switch

Ninja Theory’s critically acclaimed take on action game will also be gracing th Switch.

It will be sometime in spring this year.

22. Mortal Kombat 11

A reminder that gory fighter MK 11 is coming to Switch. We reported earlier that a different studio is handling the Switch port.

23. Unravel Too

The little indie game sequel funded by EA is getting released on Switch. It too has a co-op feature where two players have to solve puzzles in this 2D platformer.

It will be out on March 22nd.

24. Assassin’s Creed III Remastered

Assassin’s Creed III gets remastered on Switch. This will include all the DLC and also Assassin’s Creed Liberation Remastered, the PS Vita game that was released around the same time.

It will also add some enhancements such as motion control aiming, HD rumble support and touch screen supported UI.

It will be out on May 21st.

25. Final Fantasy VII

As part of three Final Fantasy related announcements, Final Fantasy VII is coming to the Switch on March 26th.

26. Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY!

The interesting dungeon crawler spin-off featuring Final Fantasy’s lovely bird species, will be out on March 20th on Switch.

27. Final Fantasy IX

The last of the Final Fantasy announcements, the seminal ninth entry and throwback to classic, pre-PS1 era Final Fantasy games, is now out on Switch.

28. Astral Chain

An all-new character action game by PlatinumGames. Supervised by Hideki Kamiya, this looks like a sci-fi action game about cyber-cops with Stand powers.

You play as a police special force that has the ability to command a “humanoid special weapon” dubbed Legion. Some sick combos are displayed in the announce trailer.

Astral Chain will be out exclusively for Switch on August 30th.

29. The Legend Of Zelda Link’s Awakening Remake

This is a “re-imagining” of the 25-year-old game first released on the Game Boy. And now it’s coming to Switch sometime in 2019.

The full 36-minutes of Nintendo Direct can be found here.

Here’s All The 29 Game Announcements From February 2019’s Nintendo Direct published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

Retro Games That Made it to the Big Screen and Surprised Us

Remember The Wizard, Nintendo’s big-screen effort that had more of an air of a marketing campaign for the Power Glove than it did an actual movie? Yeah, we didn’t think you’d remember it because to be fair, it was something that never should have happened. But hey, it was 1989, and terrible movies featuring kids with mullets were the in thing.

Photo by Kyle Nishioka / CC BY They can only wish they were a part of one of the greatest retro gaming movies of all time.

Since that abysmal effort, things have gotten better, although in some cases, not by much. A few weeks back, it was the worst video game movie adaptations, but today, we’re leaving our movie critic hat at the front door as we take a look at some of the kitschy directorial masterpieces that were surprisingly enjoyable to watch.

Final Fantasy (2001)

Okay, so it’s not quite the live-action flick you were hoping, and some of you may even call into question its place on this list as a retro game but remember that this movie came out in 2001. That’s 17 years ago, people! Wow, it’s time to feel old.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within shocked us all with its sheer brilliance. Yes, it shouldn’t have worked, but for some reason, it did. And don’t lie, we all loved it. The plotline was, of course, predictable, and some of the characters stretched a little too far for the audience’s liking, but all in all, this was a solid effort that took a long time to beat. Some would even go so far as to say it nothing still has.

Tomb Raider (2001)

As one of the all-time classic video games from the 90s, Tomb Raider is one that gamers of a certain age grew up playing. So, when the announcement came that none other than Angelina Jolie would play the lead role in the big-budget 2001 movie adaptation, the gaming population of the world took a collective sharp intake of breath. What the what now?

Photo by Serhey Galyonkin / CC BY There’ll never be another like her.

It’s safe to say that while the movie was a roaring success (thanks in part to its lead actress), it wasn’t what we expected. Most gamers thought it was going to be one of the worst movies of all time, but Jolie was magnificent as was Daniel Craig. Indeed, it was so good that they rebooted the franchise, but then you know all about that. Right?

Mortal Kombat (1995)

Now, here’s a classic game that no gamer anywhere on the planet thought a producer could make a movie based on, Mortal Kombat. And they were pretty much right about that. Mortal Kombat is another in the Double Dragon-style that is so good because the director and actors didn’t take themselves too seriously when shooting. Overacting was the order of the day, and boy, did the stars of this flick outdo themselves.

Modern-day directors of movies such as Assassin’s Creed would do well to look to the old-time classics and see how video game movies should be made — as tongue-in-cheek, leave-your-sense-of-reality-at-the-door-type movies. And Mortal Kombat is the perfect example.

Street Fighter (1994)

What do you get if you cross Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kylie Minogue and the greatest fighting video game of all time? You get a weird concoction of B-movie fodder that is strangely compelling and impossible to turn off. Like Super Mario Bros., we all waited with bated breath to see how this one would turn out because let’s face it: the video game had no story whatsoever. But despite its troubles, the movie was a massive success.

Director Steven E. de Souza tries too hard to engineer a meaningful plotline, and that’s why it’s so entertaining. Not enough fight scenes though.

The Ones That Got Away

Metal Gear Solid is on its way, and all we can say is wow. But what’s exciting about this is not the movie itself but that director, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, is talking about how he would approach a live-action Zelda movie.

We have to see this happen, so we’re begging the gods of video games to make it so. If they can make Sonic the Hedgehog, then for sure, Zelda should be on the cards. No? And to see how they’d do it, how about a movie adaptation of Pac-Man or Pong or even Paperboy? We say this in jest, but the truth is that no video game is untouchable by studios these days. Could we see a big screen adaptation of Tetris? The mind boggles at how they’d manage that one.

from More Design Curation https://www.16bitdad.com/retro-games-that-made-it-to-the-big-screen-and-surprised-us/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=retro-games-that-made-it-to-the-big-screen-and-surprised-us source https://smartstartblogging.tumblr.com/post/177530265130