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loregoddess · 1 year

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4, 7 and 10 for the comfort character ask: for Rose from Legend of Dragoon

oooh, Rose is a fun character

4. what about their personality i like I loved watching Rose go from this "mysterious, cold, closed-off" warrior to slowly becoming more trusting and open as the story progressed. Like, all the stuff she does in the world's history aside, seeing her regain that sense of "humanity" before the story's ending was nice, and I think works the best for her character arc. But also makes me wish we got a prequel bc it's suggested that Rose was this warm and kindhearted woman, who was deeply in love and full of hope before the Dragon Campaign, and then had to kill off that part of herself to bind herself to her destiny. She's a fairly complex character, and her entire arc is really interesting.

7. the moment of theirs that made me the happiest The scene at the end of Chapter Two, where she's alone in the guest room of Fletz Castle and Rose laughs to herself, and then realizes that she laughed. Like, it's small, but it's the first indication that she's begun to break away from the fate she's been tied to.

10. my favorite moment with them in canon Hmm...probably her conversation with Dart in Ulara, which is also when the flashback cutscene to her duel with Dart occurred, because it's such an interesting and pivotal point in both her and Dart's character arcs, as well as their story. Like, on one hand we have Dart and his recurring theme of choosing not to claim vengeance despite his motivations throughout the story being vengeance (against both the Black Monster and Lloyd), and how he chooses not to kill Rose because "the Black Monster is already dead," instead accepting her as she is, because, unforgivable as her actions are, he also understands why she chose them. And given that the world is very close to ending, Dart knows that now, more than ever, they need to work together as a team. And for Rose, it's this moment where she's able to truly begin to separate herself from her fate as the Black Monster, to move on from being the crux of the world, and return to just being Rose. And while she can't forgive herself really, she's at least able to face and move towards the future instead of remaining stagnate, as she had been. It's just...not the type of story arc I see explored a lot, and it's messy, but at the same time it was nice to see that for all that occurred, Rose was still given the chance to return to moving forward, to return to living.

#legend of dragoon spoilers #honestly for as much as I'd love a pretty HD remaster I also don't want one bc the disc horse around Rose would be a nightmare #but I like her a lot she's a mess of a character and she's interesting and she's so so tragic #alas she's not great mechanically but story-wise she's pivotal and fascinating #like I know Dart's the main character but the actual overall themes and events of the story mirror Rose's character arc #AND the main theme song is about her so like #she's not the protagonist but she's very much the main character in a sense if that makes sense #am I the person who picks up the messiest characters and then turns around and says #''I swear they're really cool if you get past the war crimes''?? maybe...#also though Rose you named your dragon Michael when all the others gave their dragons cool names #like Feyrbrand and Regole #WHY did you choose such a bland name girl?#anyhow that's my LoD spiel for the night #alynnl #ask meme #I still don't have an ask tag

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prozach27 · 2 years

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Morrowind really took a few days to get comfortable with but honestly it’s so fun once you do?? I can see why people enjoy it. It has so much just straight up weirdness and a million factions to join and stuff. You can tell Bethesda or whoever embraced the weird with this game, and then oblivion sorta streamlined it and made it more lord of the rings, then skyrim made it fully unstoppable. Morrowind’s really alien and rough around the edges but once you get used to the mechanics it’s low key so addictive lol

#basically the big one that took getting used to is that you miss when you attack a LOT #if your stamina is low (and it often is because you move at a snail’s pace and have to run) your character is exhausted #and so if they try to cast a spell there’s a decent chance it’ll fail and if you use a weapon there’s a good shot it won’t hit #if the weapon or school of magic is low level it then becomes much harder to hit also #level 30 or so is when it’s pretty consistent and by 50 you pretty much always hit #but level 5? 10? 15? no. you will literally never once hit your target #which is actually kinda neat mechanic wise because it’s the first time in an elder scrolls game where you really do need to use the trainer #like having a trainer level up your skill is a necessity and idk I think that’s so cool #also you can wear rings that are basically free spells to cast that always work #BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BY FAR: it’s from 2002 and quest journals just didn’t exist then #so basically they tried by giving you a journal that updates with a lil bit of info when something important happens but it misses details #so like… everywhere online says you legit need to get an actual physical journal and take notes #not even for basic quest stuff but also you have to buy directions to towns and stuff rather than aimlessly explore #and it’s honestly so weirdly fun to flip back to your actual real life journal and be like ah yes I took good notes I know what to do #or follow the directions you wrote down after someone told you and then end up at the right town #idk it took a minute to get used to but it’s the most weirdly satisfying part of the game to me now lol

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afamiliarsword · 1 year

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This just in!: Sword and Shield funnier than I thought it'd be

#Friend lended shield to me and it's been a guilty train play addiction #Got a vileplume so quickly somehow #And I mean funnier as in more fun to play not haha #The writing is alright character wise and very handholdey #But the routes are fun!#So once you get out of the hand holdey stuff you have a bunch of cool mechanics which very clearly influenced how arceus was built #And everybody loves that so...#Pokemon #shenanigans

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yourclumsyguardianangel · 7 months

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the seven + a few others future headcanons

percy:

becomes a high school teacher

teaches high school marine biology (idk how it is in other schools but when we hit sophomore year we got to choose different bio classes ie: marine bio, ag bio, med bio + regular bio)

also teaches the mythology elective and is the swim team coach

annabeth:

we already know this queen is an architect with obvious inspiration from greek architecture

learns how to make blue food for percy and their kids from sally

has traveled all over the world looking at different architecture

learns the basics of many languages so shes able to communicate with the locals

her and leo team up to build a small school near camp half-blood for year rounders so everyone can learn consistently but dw they get summers off

piper:

love her but shes a nepo baby

she doesnt act like it tho

”are you tristan mcleans daughter?” “who?”

loves her dad to bits but does not like being seen out in public by the paparazzi

marries shel, they dont have kids tho, neither of them want to bring any into the world especially with america’s downfall and the government erasing women and poc rights

is basically leos big sister atp

leo:

him and calypso dont last, maybe a year and a half in they split bc calypso wants to explore the world and leo is very emotionally unstable and calypso has a hard time understanding

they end on good terms but dont ever talk unless its with a group of friends

he goes into a trade to become a mechanic and owns his own shop

starts smoking cigarettes/vaping

his friends dont really approve but they understand he cant quit just yet as hes not in a mental space to do so

goes to therapy with a psychologist whos a demigod that specializes in grieving and war trauma

they all go to therapy but hes the last one to do it

he’s still the ‘happy go lucky’ guy hes always been but as he gets closer w the others they start to see the true sadness in him

piper and him grow a lot closer after jason died and have a big sister little brother relationship

hazel:

my girl stays at camp jupiter

takes nicos place at camp

horse trainer

her and frank also dont work out as a romantic relationship, they felt that the age gap was too much after frank turned 18 and hazel was 15 theyre still friends tho

hazel often visits leo in his shop

as much as leo reminds her of sammy, through therapy she has recognized that theyre separate people and to not push all her past feelings for sammy onto leo

not only does she train horses but she also teaches little kids basic math, science, and history to the younger kids

they all call her ms. hazel

she prefers to teach the really young kids (age 4-7)

wears her hair in different braid styles after BOO

frank:

my friggin HOMIE

i relate to frank a lot personality wise

therefore i think hed be a 4/20 fanatic after BOO

hes not stoned during training or during important camp duties

but otherwise you try talkin to him and you dont really notice until you look and see the far off look and red eyes and he just goes “huh?”

other than that hes a great leader

after he gets his cool new look from mars he takes really good care of his body including consistent exercise and eating really healthily (maybe he has a soft spot for fast food when hes hi)

him joining the military does not make sense to me

he lost his mom to war, and he was in one himself, idk about you but i would not wanna join the military after being the main character in a war

he studies to be a veterinarian for exotic animals

when no one is around he shifts into the animal to find out whats wrong

”dr. zhang prefers to work by himself” “why” “idk but hes always right, if it aint broke dont fix it”

jason:

rip home-slice

nico:

my other homie

my guy does not get taller than 5’8

stays at camp during the summer to train the new and old kids

him and will get a house together

teaches history at the camp school

cat dad (5 cats and counting)

will:

takes nicos last name when they marry bc its cooler

him being a doctor doesnt click w me i more picture him being an EMT

EMTs are hotter anyways

does med training with new apollo kids whenever he gets time

if he’s not busy during working hours he drops by nicos classroom w his fav drink from dutch bros (starbucks is MID) and hangs out with him and his students

#percy jackson #pjo #jason grace #hazel levesque #frank zhang #leo valdez #piper mclean #annabeth chase #nico di angelo #will solace #heroes of olympus #solangelo #percabeth

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ncat · 1 month

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The Conduit

So heres the conduit! I'm very happy with how this turned out.

The conduit as a class is best described as a "Con Based Martial with spellcaster aesthetics", since, mechanically, it fills a martial role, being a class that doesnt use resources, with a primary party focus on dealing damage, while flavor wise, it goes around slinging blasts of energy at people.

This class mechanically is very much based on the warlock of 3rd edition, with flavour and some mechanical inspiration from the Kineticist of Pathfinder 2e.

The two core design elements that I tried to stick to with making this were 1. Being resourceless and 2. Customizability.

For the first point, none of the class features are limited in uses per day. No feature adds an additional resource for the player to track, nor uses spell slots nor etc. The closest it comes to a resource is its Exertion mechanic, where certain things tire out your conduit character. Though, this serves less as a resource, and more as a temporary debuff, reducing your damage output whilst its in effect, before being easily removed.

The second point is customizability. The first element of this is subclasses. Of course, theres the variety of subclasses to pick from, but notably, is that unlike other classes, you aren't bound to picking just one subclass. From 7th level onwards, whenever you reach your subclass feature level, you can choose to continue advancing in your subclass, or you can take the initial features of a different subclass. This means while you can do a more traditional route of going "I'm the lightning guy, I'm taking lightning every level", you can also do an avatar style "Master of 4 elements" and have 4 different subclasses by level 20. Mix and match them as you like, be the "Fire and Lightning" person, be the "I control water mostly, but also a little bit of ice", combine your elements and so forth.

The next part of customizability is in talents. Talents are very much your classic invocation style feature, of which there are... like. 60 of them at this point. But! Theres a lot of variety in what they do. While you have your choices of ones that give additional powers, like flight or teleportation or whatnot, a large bulk of them are dedicated to one thing: Reshaping your elemental blast. Go out there as a fire guy and blast people with fire, then turn around and literally explode everything around you in flames, then focus your blast into a roaring line of fire that pushes everything within it towards you, and then rush the last man standing with a spear made of literal fire.

The talents are designed around not just being able to reshape and modify your blast in a bunch of different ways, but you can combine them together and do cool stuff.

Because at its core, I wanted to design this class to fill a very specific style of fantasy, and thats of the type of magic you see in some settings where its just "I control this one element", and then from that the mage turns that into a billion different things.

A fire wizard will say "I can cast fire bolt, fire ball, and scorching ray". A fire conduit instead just has an elemental blast, but they can turn that elemental blast into a bolt that is hurled at one person, or have it explode into a ball of flame, or split it into multiple beams.

Its very much a creativity first subclass, and thats whats behind its capstone! The capstone is all of this at its epitomy, the ability to freely reshape your elemental power (By freely, temporarily learning talents) into whatever form you imagine.

Hell, customizability is built even into the very core of its flavo

Yeah <3

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this class as much as I enjoyed writing it and as much as I enjoy talking about it <3

#dnd 5e #5e #dnd homebrew #ncat homebrew #dnd class #dnd warlock

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kyberblade · 1 month

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Say That Again…. Please. (Din x Reader) - A Back To You Drabble

A/N: Idk. Don’t even look at me. It just happened, okay? (I’ve read over this so many times to proof read it, but I add to it each time, so now we’re just going to yeet it into the universe and hope it’s not gibberish. Okay? Okay.) I think this happens sometime after Part 18? I’m not sure, but I think inadvertently it just ended up there in my mind. I always thought they were kinda closer way before this, but also, not? Idk. I make no sense even to myself. Plot wise this is where it makes sense, so we’ll go with that.

I do not own Star Wars or it’s characters. Sadly. But I carry them in my heart. Does that count for something? My soul says yes.

Word count: 2,767

Warnings: Din is an absolute menace like always. Maybe some language? I can’t remember. (Look, I’ve read over this so many times, I can’t remember where I landed.) Absolute tooth rotting fluff. Suggestive language and behavior, but nothing directly stated, just absolute menace behavior once again. Helmetless Din…. Sort of. What? Who said that? 🤨 Copious amounts of me slipping the phrase back to you into sentences in ways I think are sly and endearing.

Synopsis: Here we find a wild Mandalorian and his Mesh’la in their native habitat…. Here in this throwback to the first time things got a little frisky between these two. (Don’t worry, it’s still PG-13. 😉)

A huge thank you to @fordo-kixed-rex for once again reading this 5,000 times and saying I’m not insane.

| Series Masterlist |

Xxx

Crowding you back into the bulkhead, Din chuckled softly when you let out a quiet huff of air as your spine hit the cold metal of the hull.

The familiar press of beskar came to rest against your forehead, making you grin as your eyes fluttered shut. But all too soon, the cool touch of steel was rolling down and away, accompanied by a mechanical hiss that made your brows screw up in question.

Before you could say a word or even open your eyes, the warmth of Din’s breath cascaded across your chest, making the last of your oxygen leave you in a rush. The prickle of his facial hair tickled as he lightly mouthed at your neck from bottom to top, taking his time as he went.

It took you a moment, but you realized he had tilted the helmet back just enough to expose the lower half of his face, like he did when he ate with you and the kid in the privacy of the ship. Try as you might, your breath continued to stutter in your chest, and you felt the upturn of his lips in response as he made his way upward.

He stopped just behind your ear, his lips surprisingly soft as they rounded to catch your lobe between them, the blunt tips of his front teeth coming out to play as he nipped at the flesh softly. “Mesh’la…..” His quiet voice came, whispered just for you to hear. “So beautiful…..”

“D-Din,” you tried softly, the Mandalorian groaning at the sound of his name on your lips as you attempted to clear your throat.

He let go of your ear and tucked back into your neck, his helmet riding back a little higher with the movement, exposing the tip of his nose to brush just right behind your ear. “Say that again…. please.” His hands began to pull your own up toward the armor on his chest, and further up onto his shoulders.

“Din,” you grinned at the unabashed groan that tumbled from his unmodulated lips, “are you sure? I don’t want to-”

The bounty hunter went stiff in your arms, his upper body and face pulling back and away from you just enough that you could see the slight downturn of his features. Nothing concrete, as he was too close, and you quickly averted your eyes down to his neck out of habit, but in the blur of your peripherals, you saw the rough curve of facial hair trying to conceal a saddened expression, but you were quick to wrap him in your hold, reassuring him with your words mumbled into his shoulder.

“No! No, Din,” even now he let out a quiet hiss through clenched teeth at his name from your lips, making you chuckle with a gentle shake of your head. “I only meant, you giant Tin Can,” you snaked your hand that rested on his chest plate up and around the back of his neck, tracing light figures on the warm exposed skin there as he melted into your palm, the rest of his body quickly closing the distance he’d pulled away and molding back into you, his hands landing softly back onto your hips. “I don’t want,” you reiterated with emphasis before carding your hand up into the small tuft of his exposed curls and giving them a gentle yank that made his breath stutter deliciously, and the side of his mouth quirk up to meet a dimple in your peripherals as you watched his Adam’s apple bob in front of your face. Your voice went soft. “I don’t want to go breaking your Creed for just a moment of-”

“You’re worth it,” he cut you off, your hands suddenly pinned at your sides against the wall, and his face once again tucked into your neck mercilessly. Any inch of skin he could touch, he was. It was like it was his mission. And he always followed through. Mando always got his man. “Besides, I know what I’m doing, mesh’la.”

You can say that again, you found yourself thinking, feeling your stomach sink into your feet when Din chuckled in response. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

Instead of dragging it out, Din mercifully went back to the subject at hand, and you let out a thankful breath as you listened. “No Creeds will be broken.” He moved his kisses across your clavicle to your right side. “No vows,” he worked his way up, “No promises….” He was right over your lips now. “But just to be absolutely clear, like I said….” His voice had trailed off to a low murmur. “You would be worth it.”

You couldn’t take the breath you were trying to manage as you stared at his askew helmet. “Don’t say that,” you whispered. Try as you might, your eyes landed on his lips and wouldn’t look away, but he didn’t seem to mind.

He was partly cast in shadows from the way his helmet was seated and the lighting of the cargo hold. You couldn’t even really tell a shade if someone held a blaster to your head.

But, oh, the way they turned upward.

It had your stomach doing stupid things.

“It’s true,” Din smirked.

Oh, this won’t do at all.

Slinking your leg between his, you switched your weight and threw him to the ground. Landing on top of him, you let yourself feel a short burst of pride at the soft oomph! he let out on impact.

Ignoring the desire to look at what was exposed of his now well lit face, you stared at the diamond in the center of his chestplate. Your hands were braced on either side of it in an attempt to hold him down, as you straddled his waist.

“Din, you're not thinking straight.”

In an instant, the Mandalorian had flipped the two of you over so he was on top, your wrists pinned to the ground in his grasp on either side of your head as you glared up at him.

“This would be much more menacing if your helmet were on straight.”

Din only smiled a tight lipped grin, like he was trying to hold it back, the curve of his mouth turning up one side more than the other in a lopsided smirk of amusement while he continued to hold you down. He was backlit now, so once again you could only vaguely see, but Din’s emotions always seemed to have their own tone. It wasn’t much of a leap.

The bounty hunter adjusted his weight, moving his lower half so his legs that were one between yours and one outside by your hip, were now between both of yours and applying just enough pressure to keep you down.

“Can I get up, please?” You bemoaned, lightly struggling in his grip.

“Do you really want to?” He jibed, gently rolling his hips into yours and making your eyes go wide at the soft groan that fell from your mouth unbidden. “Besides,” his voice lowered as he did, his face now inches from yours as he lifted your hands and set them on his pauldrons. “I think now you’ll actually listen to me.”

“Think again, flyboy,” you whispered. Wrapping your legs around his waist, you attempted yet again to flip the two of you, but Din kept the momentum going and once again landed on top, the same lopsided grin twisting up his face as you pointedly stared at his equally lopsided visor.

Despite his obvious amusement, his tone was dry. “That was cute.”

As he brought your hands to rest on his pauldrons once more, you sighed, rocking your head back and forth, your eyes falling to rest on the glimmering beskar covering his chest. “No. No, Din. I’m not going to be the reason you-”

“That’s right,” he cut you off, bracing his weight on his right forearm and reaching across with his left to press a button on his vambrace that sent the cargo hold of the Crest into nearly complete darkness. “You won’t be.”

As you stared at the blinking red, green, and white lights of a panel on your left to let your eyes adjust to the new twilight, the quiet thud of beskar on the hold floor pulled your attention back to him. Once again, your breath caught in your chest.

All you could see was his silhouette, the hold of the ship only illuminated by several barely lit panels, their various array of blinking colors casting the ship in an odd mood that seemed to breathe as the light faded in and out, trading one color for the next. No features were available in the dull light, just shadows, but still you closed your eyes on instinct, your face screwed up from the effort.

Din let out a snort of amusement. “Open your eyes, mesh’la.”

You winced. “Din….”

This time you both groaned, and it quickly devolved into quiet shared laughter at the absurdity of the situation.

Din’s voice was soft. “Mesh’la…. Open your eyes. It’s okay.” When your eyes still remained shut, Din sighed. He almost sounded sad. Or was that hopeful? Could they be the same thing? “I trust you.”

As you slowly blinked your eyes open, both to adjust to the low light and to make sure Din was absolutely sure, the Mandalorian guided your hands to his armor for a final time, helping you through the foreign motions of removing the beskar plates.

He’d never had you help with this before. Sure, you’d watched a time or two when he had to make repairs on a single piece, like that time the whistling birds became the multiple random flying projectiles that ejected whenever they wanted on the tiny ship in hyperspace.

Or when he was about to step into the fresher when you were staying somewhere going after a bounty…. He’d often remove most of it, and you’d quickly busy yourself with the kid or cleaning your blaster, or he’d start to, then notice you were making a point of averting your eyes and he’d quickly step into the fresher to finish the job.

You always felt bad when he’d duck into the tiny little rooms to finish, they usually barely offered enough room to even breathe and stand in, let alone remove armor and store it somewhere until after your shower.

But you just weren’t willing to be the reason he broke his Creed, no matter how relaxed he was. Or trusting. One wayward glance, and his entire way of life was gone. No matter how badly you wanted to just turn around and smile when he cracked a joke during these times, or would fuss over the kid…. Or say your name. It’d be so easy to just turn around, and….

No. It was easier to just never look the other way. Never look back toward him.

Now, however, the Mandalorian was right in your line of sight, or rather his silhouette was, and he was doing everything he could to keep you from looking the other way. To keep your eyes on him, your hands busy with his armor as it fell away piece by piece.

As the man beneath the metal slowly came into view beneath your fingertips, you smiled.

He was just like you pictured.

What you could feel through his flight suit…. Warmth, muscle, the raised edges of a scar and a concealed weapon…. He fit every bit the picture inside your head, and the grin on your face continued to grow.

“What?”

You startled at his voice, eyes darting up to where his face should be. “You can see me?”

His silhouette shook its head. “Don’t have to. Your breathing changes when you smile. Always has.”

Brows knit together as your expression turned into something slightly sour, you looked up at him through your lashes. “That’s only slightly terrifying, Shiny,” you mumbled, disengaging the left pauldron as he chuckled.

Din leaned in closer to you, his nose nearly brushing against your own as his warm breath fanned out against your face. It made you startle just a bit, the feeling of a living breathing being beside you aside from the kid a foreign and frightening thing in the darkness surrounding you. He seemed to understand immediately, and was quick to soothe any remaining jitters away, shifting his weight up slightly and shimmying off his gloves right above your head so he could cup your cheeks with his bare hands.

As his calloused fingers wound into the hair right above your ears, you were shuddering for an entirely different reason.

“I know everything about you, mesh’la.” His bare forehead fell to rest on yours, the warm touch of his skin in place of the usual cold kiss of beskar you were used to instantly melting the scowling crease from between your brows, and causing your eyes to flutter. “That’s my job.”

Looking up at him through your lashes once again, you snorted out a laugh. “As what, my traveling companion?” Your hands moved to his chestplate.

This dance had gone round and round for the two of you for so long you’d lost count, now. Admitting feelings, admitting caring, but never exactly what. It was driving you mad, honestly.

Sure, it was shallow, trying to find out this way what exactly you were to the Mandalorian, especially when the two of you were in the…. Position you were currently in.

But needs must.

“That, and,” he said in a voice that said he knew exactly what you were trying to get at, as he helped you disengage the large piece of beskar across his torso, leaning back just enough to remove it himself and set it off to the side before he was back to trying to burrow under your skin and into your very bones.

Leaning your head to the side to give him better access, he made his way up and down your neck with soft kisses that were making your toes begin to curl inside your boots. “Yes?” You prodded when he didn’t go on, your voice surprisingly strong despite how distracted you felt. One of your hands came up to thread through the curls at the back of his head, your fingertips massaging his scalp lightly to try and bring his attention back to you.

“Sorry,” he chuckled softly, pulling back to look at your face. Your hand still tucked in his curls slid down to the side of his neck with the movement, and he turned his face into your forearm, mumbling into your skin, “Got distracted.” After he offered the inside of your wrist one last lingering kiss, Din turned back to face you again, and lightly ran the tip of his nose along the left side of your own. “Yes, your traveling companion, but also your friend. Partner.” He pulled back just enough that the tips of your noses were barely touching, his voice dropping lower in both volume and octave. “Lover.” Din moved after a moment to brush his nose along the right side of yours, softly kissing the apple of your cheek before adding the words mumbled against your skin, “You’re my other half, mesh’la.”

You couldn’t help the grin that was climbing up your face.

Sliding your right hand that was still resting on his neck up to cup his cheek gently, you let it fall down to clutch at his cowl that was still draped around his shoulders, shrouding the two of you in a familiar warmth you hoped never actually disintegrated like you always joked it might.

The smile only grew as Din chased after your palm once it left his face, a small frown turning down his features against your left hand still cradling his face when he could no longer feel your touch. But it quickly melted to match your own joy when you tugged on the fabric to pull him further down into you like you always did, clutching the fabric like a lifeline.

Pushing him gently, you rolled so you both were laying on your side facing one another, still so close you could share the same breath if you needed.

Turning into his neck, you whispered the words into the warm skin there. “Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum…. Ner riduur.” ("I love you…."; lit. "I will know you forever…." “My partner.”)

Din shuddered, cradling the back of your head in one ungloved hand and pressing your face further into him gently as he quietly moaned, “Riduur….” He let out a shaking breath. “Say that again…. Please.”

Xxx

Tag list to come!

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xamiipholia · 3 months

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okay y'all seemed to like the last one so here's a few more Horizon 3 thoughts:

Aloy won’t die. It would completely upend the series’ themes and just be really nihilistic.

Since Nemesis is a gestalt entity I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Sam Witwer, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc again. I’m curious how they’re going to do it because at least structurally, it’s basically a reaper. Maybe it’ll use different Avatars when communicating like the Leviathan in ME3.

It's gonna take some work to make a flashback/dream/vision not contrived but I would love to see Varl and Rost again. I think we deserve that.

Minerva is gonna have its work cut out for it blocking access to both the dormant Faro Swarm and the ZD terraforming system.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Nemesis has some sort of corruption function that becomes the equivalent of the corruption in HZD. It would be a really fun tech showcase if GG uses Zenith nanotech for machine corruption and leans into mechanical body horror.

If we’re going to Ban-Ur I really really hope they do the work to make the Banuk less problematic and more fleshed out as a culture. A quasi-Spartan society absolutely would not survive in an extreme environment, *especially* without megafauna to hunt. The Banuk characters are lovely and well-written; they deserve a society as well thought out as the Utaru or Carja. I’m honestly fine if there’s retcons or revamps to the cultural lore because the whole “outsider barges in and becomes chief” is rooted in racist, colonial tropes and we just don’t really need that imo.

The most recent footage of Death Stranding 2 (also running on Decima) has me SO excited for the visuals. GG’s gonna knock it out. The facial rendering and animation that Kojima Productions are doing looks industry-peak and I’m sure GG’s gonna match that. Aloy’s Gay Panic™️ scene on the beach in HBS is already top-tier nonverbal storytelling through animation. Digital Foundry actually just posted a really cool tech breakdown of the current Decima engine. I’m especially excited about the environmental stuff. The ocean simulations in HFW are already incredible and I hope they increase verticality in the world. I can’t wait to see the Sacred Lands in current gen graphics.

I really love Kotallo’s DIY arm and it’s so so important to his development but Beta and Gaia now have access to Zenith nanotech, maybe give your buddy a sick upgrade hmm?

Speaking of, I can’t wait to see Beta come into her own. She’s one of the best parts of HFW and Aloy’s character absolutely shines in a sibling dynamic.

I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a romance mechanic. Everyone’s feelings on that aside, it would be really odd from a game development perspective to just overhaul part of how the narrative develops Aloy’s character in the last act of the story. Yeah, there are flashpoints but I would argue that the presence of choice in Horizon is smoke and mirrors- cosmetic at best. Kentucky Route Zero (which you should play) does something similar where the player is given a certain amount of control over the substance of individual conversations and scenarios and it does absolutely nothing to alter the plot, by design. I think it’s the same here - this isn’t really a choice-based RPG, the flashpoints don’t really affect anything plot-wise or for Aloy’s character development. Olin is still out of the story, Nil lives, Regalla still dies one way or another. Aloy’s character development is pretty firmly on rails (think Jin Sakai, not Shepard - you get to guide some momentary character reactions but that’s it). I don’t think HBS is a testing ground either - If they were gonna introduce a romance mechanic I think they’d just do it, and not spend two years making a direct continuation of HFW’s main quest and establishing a specific romance hard-baked into the plot, complete with multiple leitmotifs for the character relationship (which is something they haven’t done before afaik) just to introduce a side quest mechanic coming in 5 years. I genuinely can’t think of any game or dev that has beta tested a major alteration to upcoming game mechanics that way - it doesn’t really make any sense in terms of developer resources, and these games are extremely time-consuming to make. I know this is a thing a bunch of people want and I can totally empathize with that! I just think it’s probably not on the table.

I would bet money the series will bookend itself and the epilogue will involve a) the naming of Zo and Varl’s kid and b) Lis’ pendant.

Mostly I'm just looking forward to being surprised. One of my favorite things that Horizon does is use carefully established elements in the world to pull the plot in unexpected directions and keeping the world grounded while they lean into speculative science fiction. I can't wait to see what Guerrilla is cooking up

#horizon 3 #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #horizon #hfw #aloy #guerrilla games #hzd #horizon burning shores #horizon theories #well not so much theories as observation and vague speculation #and some zesty takes #I love this world though #erend #sylens #varl #kotallo #beta #alva

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graceshouldwrite · 11 months

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How to Write Devastating Betrayals (Pt. 1)

Here are some elements + tips on satisfying betrayals that will destroy both your characters AND your readers!

1. Relationship Between Trust and Betrayal

The #1 Betrayal Rule:

MORE TRUST = WORSE BETRAYAL

This is because TRUST implies 2 main things:

The traitor has probably PROVEN their trustworthiness, and now has a shared history + bond with the character they’re betraying

The traitor probably has access to a LOT OF INFORMATION about the character, whether it’s career-wise or personal. Probably at least some information the character considers STRICTLY confidential

An act of betrayal undermines Point 1 by manipulating Point 2 to their advantage.

So, if you want your betrayal to DESTROY, have the traitor be CLOSE with the character they’re about to betray. Lets compare examples:

you are a gang boss. You hire a new recruit who doesn’t really know anything except one insignificant operation, like “today we buy groceries at 2PM”

your recruit tells the rival gang about the grocery trip

→ betrayal doesn’t really matter that much

you probably didn’t place much trust in a new recruit

the implications of information leak are insignificant

→ not much plot weight

On the other hand:

you find out that the entire time, your RIGHT HAND MAN (also your childhood friend!) has been feeding information to the rival gang and sabotaging your operations

→ HURTS a lot more emotionally

might ruin everything you’ve built, career-wise, for good

→ LOTS of plot weight

From a completely SECULAR PLOT STANDPOINT (please don’t come for me, theologians), Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is a good example because:

Judas was one of Jesus’ disciples, a.k.a. the people considered closest to him, and who followed Jesus throughout all of his preaching years

Judas’ information about Jesus’ identity and whereabouts led to Jesus’ crucifixion → LOTS of plot weight (the entire Bible from a Christian standpoint foreshadows this moment, and every point after is spreading word of this moment. Talk about plot implications!)

ONCE AGAIN, I know all the “Jesus knew and allowed it to happen” “it was the will of God” stuff but this is purely used as a good plot example!!!!

2. Reason for Betrayal

“’Cause it’s super edgy/evil/cool” is DEFINITELY not a valid option.

All the plot points in a book build towards achieving a goal, and all the characters do things they think will get them closer to what they want. Likewise, the traitor must want a specific thing that ONLY betrayal can get them, or that betrayal can get them more efficiently.

People generally portray typical traitors as:

completely selfish with no personality trait aside from infinite ambition and ruthless pragmatism

a hero whose had enough

someone who sees the person they betrayed as a “worthless disposable” or something

Traitors don’t have to be morally bankrupt, even though betrayal is typically seen as something inherently bad, or just a bad means to a good end at best.

They can be conflicted about the betrayal (like Macbeth delaying his murder of King Duncan), remorseful about it (like Discord from MLP feeling super guilty after he hands the main protagonists over to the villain), or even do it for the “greater good.”

e.g. Brutus thought Caesar was becoming too power hungry, and would destroy the republic by becoming a dictator, so Brutus betrayed him to preserve the republic

→ example of a betrayal that was NOT self-serving

However, building on the MLP Discord example, a traitor can also have been manipulated into it themselves.

(For context, the villain basically promised Discord lots of power if he handed over the protagonists, but then the villain also sucked away Discord’s powers afterwards—won’t bother explaining MLP magic mechanics LOL)

3. Foreshadow It

A satisfying betrayal is usually a subtle, looming shadow that creeps over your plot before it makes its grand entrance during the scene when the character realizes the traitor sold them out.

A good example is in Shakespeare’s dramatization of Brutus’ betrayal:

Brutus’ loyalty to the REPUBLIC is made super clear throughout. When Caesar starts deviating, seeming more dictatorial, Brutus remains firm.

Their values are CLEARLY conflicting, so SOMETHING has to be done. Either:

they reconcile by both agreeing on either dictatorship or democracy

they turn on each other...and that’s what happens

Basically, planting the possibility in your reader’s mind is a great way to foreshadow a betrayal.

Other ideas could be:

traitor begins suddenly acting a lot warmer to the unsuspecting character, or even colder right BEFORE the betrayal

traitor is always TOO obedient and/or sycophantic

traitor acts suspicious, e.g. caught in lies, using inconsistent body language (ex. pretending to cry when talking about something really bad), caught talking to people they shouldn’t be talking to (e.g. rival gang)

∘₊✧────── ☾☼☽ ──────✧₊∘

instagram: @ grace_should_write

stay tuned for part 2!

Hope this was helpful, and let me know if you have any questions by commenting, re-blogging, or DMing me on IG. Any and all engagement is appreciated <3333

Happy writing, and have a great day!

- grace <3

#writers on tumblr #writing #writing tips #booktok #writer #writeblr #novel #writerslife #writergram #wattpad #betrayal #oc #writing stories #creating characters #characters #fantasy #ya fantasy #ya books #plot holes

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sorcha-sublime · 29 days

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I've discovered the perfect TTRPG (...almost)

This is the absolute definition of niche but... Ars Magica. Yeah?

The "almost" is the setting, I don't super vibe with it. This means if I ever want to use the game I'm going to have to re-arrange it because a lot of the mechanics are tightly woven into that setting but hey, fun game design project.

It has such a cool magic system though, it gets a bit arcane appropriately (one of the official character sheets has a formulae page lol) BUT this is just a product of how adaptive the magic system is and it's based around the same core concepts so it wouldn't be that overwhelming.

At a basic level it isn't much more complex than level 1 Fighters in 5e D&D though which makes me REALLY want to take a stab at running a magic school campaign with the system at some point. This will require a lot of the mechanics to be broken out into a fun curriculum and some expansion of the Apprenticeship expansion to support gameplay on a slightly tighter timescale which shouldn't be too hard.

I also want to use the system for basically everything though. As I say, outside of the magic the base system isn't that bad complexity wise, it ties into an expansive, complex yet *modular* magic system AND it has an interesting model for wounds and health aside from HP.

The system is meant to be going CC 4.0 pretty soon which is hype because it probably means the release of a clean and unflavoured SRD. I might end up doing smth when that happens...

smth magic school-ey. smth cosmic horror-ey. maybe smth ziney.

#ttrpg #ttrpg community #ars magica #indie ttrpg #queer magic

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ganondoodle · 4 months

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I was at first in love with totk, and I still think mechanical wise, its quite impressive

And when I collected all the tears and saw the "story" I genuinely got upset in a good way (at first), because man! Did they really got the balls to go that far? Is there nothing I can do for her? Now I MUST do all the temples, see how it plays out and --oh, I've got this cutscene already. Why are all the people so dumb about Zelda, I KNOW where she is, Link say something-- Link??

After finishing all the temples and almost falling asleep, I stopped playing the game, looked up the last boss and remaining cutscenes and went "Thats it?"

Watching other people (including you) being critically about so many things, both character and mechanical wise, I've almost startled myself with a realization what the gnawing feeling I constantly had, actually was.

Totk feels like a fanfic.

And don't get me wrong, I love fanfiction, I think its great and important, I adore fanfic writers, I love finding gems, I love reading self indulgent stories, see new spins and interpretation of characters. I love the casual, the passion, the creativity!

But totk gives me the same feeling everytime I am reminded that Fifty Shades is a Twillight fanfic.

The world is there. The faces I know and grew to love are there. But everything is ever so slightly different, uncannily so. Just how some characters talk, how they act, how they were placed in the story. The Zonai appearing out of nowhere, but no, they always had been there you see, they were these super magical advanced people but they all died, the king is so tragic. And you see, the king is super cool and powerful and-- oh I dont get to interact with him outside of the tutorial. Did they try to do another King Rhoam-- but wait, that only worked because we didn't knew he was a ghost-- totk wait stop why do you take him out of the story, why couldn't he be a companion, he IS ABLE TO TALK THROUGH THE ARM LET THE OLD GOAT COMMENT ON STUFF?? If you bring up all this ancient stuff and you still got a ghost lingering, let him talk?? (I never ended up getting Mineru but I smell wasted potential as well)

Im not even mad, I am disappointed. It feels like the devs saw what all the lore hunters got attached to and talked about and then just... took the "cool". All the Zonai stuff could've easily been Sheikah tech, but got just reskinned to look more exciting instead of being its own thing.

Like... at this point I prefer what fans are doing over what Totk gave us. The characterization of Rauru (and everything Zonai), projects like you do of what totk couldve been, the little nuggets of actual highlights and details of love fans find in the game. I found much more enjoyment in these concepts than I got from a 70bucks game. And thats depressing.

I love fanfiction. I dont love it when my corporate 70 dollar, six year development, console exclusive game feels like a story that passionate fan couldve written miles better in a week (and I've already seen much cooler and interesting rewrites and ideas).

Zelda has been a huge part of my childhood and its depressing seeing it treated like that. It always was about the story, the epic, its The Legend of Zelda for crying out loud. To be courageous to enter a dungeon, to be wise and solve all the riddles. To become powerful over the journey you embarked on. Zelda to me is the campfire story you tell to others and go into the woods or the beach and imagine what monsters you would slay. Zelda is not the sandcastle you build in the sandbox and then add dinosaurs and star wars ships because you didn't had any other toys, and just stumble into and over some story to entertain yourself until lunch is ready.

I'd have an oracle of seasons over another totk any day at this point. They should've just make the mechanics of totk its own thing, but I guess they were scared it wouldn't sell if it doesn't have a Mario or Zelda skin straped over it.

Anyways, sorry for the mini rant - love your art, love your thoughts and insights, and I am looking forward to see more of it - Zelda related or not (your original characters look amazing, I adore your style sm)

Hope you have a great rest of the day!

*nods along through this entire rant*

idk how many of my rants you have read but yeah ... yeah ... and the further you think about it the further it all falls apart, the wasted potential of it all and the goddamn audacity of them to do those interviews in which they make it EVEN WORSE is just

i know the expectation for a direct sequel to botw was huge and understandbly so but i really REALLY think it would not have been that hard to make it a good follow up even taking into account that totk was originally a DLC, pretty much all of botws aspects could have been developed further, i dont know what could have happened to make totk have turned out like this .. literally it feels like something had to have gone wrong, its like someone who doesnt know zelda nor botw at all was given a few prompts and then just made some generic fantasy story while the rest worked on ultrahand for 5 years

the technical impressive things ARE technical impressive, but i dont think it was necessary nor served the game well in any way (and i LOVE building games- however totk is neither a building game nor a story game nor a zelda game nor an exploration game nor a sequel imo) but zelda, this zelda, is not made for that and i cant help but think it was mainly to encourage people to make some ridiculous mechs so it can go viral on tiktok (not trying to discredit them, it IS cool what they are doing but i .... have my doubts if zelda is the right place for that)

ill stop there bc i have ranted so much about everything i dont wanna repeat it here again; it just doesnt feel like a real game (derogatory), it feels extra bad bc i was not really into zelda when botw came out and while i did get it as soon as i could (months after release since i just started a minijob and didnt have the money) i only over time grew to love zelda this much again, devouring any theories and anything about it bc i loved it so much- i was never into it like this when a new title was announced and dont own any special editions so i bought the totk collectors bc i was just so damn excited for it after the 2019 trailer dropped (god i want that time back ... it looked so much more like it was going to be an actual sequel) even if i was already worried it wouldnt be good at that point given how much i started to sense stuff i dont like about the newer trailers

i recently sold it at our local gameshop bc it was like a thorn in my side given how expensive it was and how dissapointed i was in the game, i genuinely think that, technical impressiveness aside, totk is the onyl zelda i truly cannot stand (for alot of reasons) and im genuinely worried for the future of the franchise

i bought an Oki (Okami) figurine for what i got back and i feel much happier with that :3

(also on a note, i did finish the game two weeks after release but stopped playing it right then and hadnt touched it since, i also streamed all of what i played and its still up if you want to see my slow descend into madness fjkdhkdhjk though its been a long while since then and i by far did not talk about everything back then, just what my most immediate frustrations were while still playing)

(also the gameplay isnt as good as people make it out to be, so much is so frustrating and punishing to use i am kinda baffled it got through like that and most people call that its best aspect ..... though i guess if the rest is so much worse even mid gameplay can seem good ooooooooh how dare i)

also thank you for liking what i do!!! <3 it means alot to know it is appreciated by someone :D

#ganondoodles answers #zelda #totk #ganondoodles rants #in my playthorugh i genuinely tried to be super open to what its offering me #but i think its pretty clear that i could see were it was going pretty soon and tried to fight my fear #and then i ended up being right #like i even went out of my way to get the memories and dungeons in turns so i wouldnt spoil anything #and still you can see me get sadder and dissappointed with each new memory i got #and the time it truly all started to crumble was when i discovered what they did to the shrine of life #pretty sure after i got all the lightroots and all i got was a you did it sticker i jsut gave up and went to the end #and after that i found the endfight fun so i played it a few more times #but the last few streams were mostly me ranting jkdfngvkjdfnhgjkdf #for this price its pretty bad #idk why so many people are okay with this tbh #zelda fans deserve better #i think the wasted potential and insulting treatment of both lore - botw and even the player is what frustrates me so much #sidenote i love the username bc there sure are words #alot of them even #(good)#i have done so much ranting it feels good to read someone elses rant about similar frustrations

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leolingo · 6 months

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(long post about purgatory and meta and rp)

sigh one thing ive been thinking is that it feels a bit unfair to see so many people complaining or doomposting over how purgatory affects the overarching qsmp rp story or how it ~interrupted arcs~ or is ~disturbing current storylines~ or ~narratively unsatisfying~ like. Sure. its a bit abrupt and most players were caught off guard because lore-wise it stems from the federation which means none of them were told about anything beforehand

but... its only been three days. maybe we could have a little faith? like idk ill be soooooo out there rn and say that maybe the admins did this now for a reason. maybe itll make sense later on. we already see lore repercussions with elquackity and his motives and all the nods to the eggs.

theres fair criticism to be made (when done respectfully) if youre mainly here for the roleplay but i feel like we sometimes need to remind ourselves that the qsmp storytelling is a VERY ambitious project. lmao. imagine being the writing team and trying to wrangle 20+ characters with distinct points of view and journeys on an ever-changing story because of the very nature of live rp. its practically IMPOSSIBLE to tie up every loose end neatly and at this point i dont think we should expect that. keeping up momentum with all plotlines must also be pretty hard, cc's schedules and outside factors like server programming and building and mod tweaking and all those meta elements considered and so on and so on

i DO also want the story to move forward and be cohesive and make sense in a satisfactory way. like i really do!!!!!!! but i try to understand that thats not ALL the qsmp is about. from the start quackity said the server wouldn't be exclusive to the rp aspect. it sure is that way right now, but thats because most of the active members are VERY passionate about roleplaying. thats a good thing! they have fun and its fun to watch and the experience is mostly good for everyone because it corresponds to their expectations to an extent

the thing about purgatory is that i feel like its a lot more meta than most people doomposting realize. it ties into the story, sure, but to me it feels like the sudden switch in environment and vibes and stakes isnt actually catered to the rp and thats FINE. like thats not what it exists for and thats fineeeeeee

pac for one has said he appreciates the event for the change of pace, though its very hard (lol), because regular qsmp was starting to feel a bit stale to him and he was kind of running out of things to do. THATS A GREAT THING! managing player engagement like that is awesome and sometimes necessary. YES, purgatory caters to a very different playstyle than what we're used to -- and thats one of its strenghts.

a lot of hispanic creators have also felt this!!!! roier, rivers and carre most prominently have been VERY excited about this event because its similar in format to a lot of spanish speaking events like mc extremo and such. a lot of these players are also not particularly interested in rp-ing and had not been logging on very often prior to purgatory.

even roleplay regulars like tubbo, fit and bbh have shown interest in purgatory for the competitive nature of the setting!!! thats cool too!!!! something different, new possibilities to play around with. thats what the events should be about. kudos to the admins and dev teams for attempting it in such a big scale. their effort shows and all the mechanics weve seen are really fucking cool

i love the roleplay!!!!!! its one of my favorite parts of the qsmp!!!!!! but its not ALL there is and it shouldnt be! non rp-oriented creators are also part of the project and deserve to have a little fun too -- not to mention a big chunk of the hispanic fan community that has blown up twitter with support bc what we have rn is similar to events they already love!!!!!!! im glad to see so many of them get excited again!!!!!!

at the end of the day, qsmp is a LONG long term project, and purgatory ends in two weeks. by the time its over, we can all choose to engage with it as we wish. it can be a big filler episode in your mind, if you want. it can be just for fun..... otherwise, if its not fun, your regularly scheduled qsmp will be back soon anyway :3 its fine to not like it, its fine to have something negative to say about it if properly tagged and not like. crazy entitled or blown out of proportion for what this situation is.

i just hope we can all manage our online experiences accordingly and avoid making things less enjoyable for each other. this is supposed to be fun

#rant kind of #i hate hate hate doomposting it drains me #lets not assume the worst!!!!!! lets wait and see!!!!!!! theres so much time!!!!!!! how about that #qsmp #discourse

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