#(i didn't love the ending and i felt like there were redundant bits in the beginning)

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

y’know, we’re calling it a Win that the mall scene is still under 5k, all things considered

#text #personal #writing #in btw #driscoll #hazard #we are also ignoring the fact that the beginning and ending of this scene need Overhauled lmao #future me problem #(if i ever get out of this tiny scene which is current me's problem lmao) #(i THOUGHT it would be quick and easy!!!) #(dear reader: it was and is Not) #on the bright side i'm much happier with where it's going lol and i think i found all the out of order shit #adhd whomst??? #so i did two of my three writing goals today but. really. i do feel better about this tiny scenelet so that's a Win also #(i didn't love the ending and i felt like there were redundant bits in the beginning) #i was correct on both fronts #i have figured out Why i'm just trying to re-execute now #love retconning my own thought processes from six years ago (not) #(okay that's a little harsh it is sort of fun to troubleshoot and problem solve) #(but dammit i want a Eureka moment soon bls)

[icearts]

A couple things about Sonic Prime that disappointed me

1. Shadow was in almost the entire trailer, but showed up for 3 out of the 7 episodes

2. An action scene that lasted for three episodes. It got redundant

3. There was an entire plot point where Sonic was dying from the prism energy being taken from him. This took 3 minutes of screen time and the risk felt minimal if it was there at all

4. No consequences = no stakes (literally there was no issue or "sacrifice" that came out of repairing the prism. Idk what i was hoping for, but the fact that everything was so easily fixed kinda hurt my feelings because it made the entirety of season 2 seem completely pointless and dumb)

5. Shadow was super protective of Sonic in the first episode, but never showed that same "Would kill and die for you in a seconds notice" energy he had in that first episode

6. The chaos emerald is mentioned again but never used as a plot point. Chekov's Gun is fake, apparently

7. It's said that Sonic can't exist in the Shatterspace without prism energy, but Shadow never had it in the first place. There is no provided explanation as to why this makes sense. The closest thing was "shadow wasn't there during the blast" but that only explains why he doesn't have the energy, not why he doesn't need it to live like Sonic does (I assume the others have at least a signature of it too which is why they cloned and Shadow didn't. Again this is unexplained in Prime. What does the prism energy even do for/to the supporting cast)

8. Why are there only 7 episodes? Why do they take up so much time in one place?

9. Rouge and Shadow only had one line of dialogue (this isn't a genuine critique I just wanted to see my favorite duo be a duo)

10. Sonic's Prism "Super Form" doesn't come back. Shadow doesn't get anything like that either. Another dud Chekov Gun. Why is this dumb little anecdotal metaphorical firearm never firing

I really loved the new season, and it was great and super fun, but those critiques really ruined some things because those were all things I thought would be a guarantee because of the trailer and because of how the other seasons were.

Why would they even bother to mention the chaos emerald, and this weird void thing if it wasn't going to be essential to the plot other than being an excuse to sideline Shadow. They could have just as easily said that chaos energy is neutralized in cyberspace because it's not connected to the world/chaos/master emerald. That works too!

Plus, why was Shadow sidelined so much? What's the reason? Why wasn't he allowed to use chaos energy and go apeshit? Why couldn't he take off his inhibitor rings in a desperate situation to protect Sonic and be able to teleport into shatterspaces even at the expense of his health?

I know it's a TV-Y7 show. It honestly did not need to be, but I'm sure it was a Netflix mandate to make sure their animation is all meant for kids and only kids, but they really ended up nerfing themselves by alienating their more passionate audience which would be teenagers and adults. Just make it TV PG that would've allowed you to work with higher stakes and a higher budget (oh wait that's what Netflix's intention was nevermind).

If you wanna see me make a list of things I genuinely liked, feel free to ask or comment that. I might do so anyway. I feel like the internet is too negative and critiques of shows tend to do too much of that, so sorry for contributing to that culture, but I really needed to get that disappointment out because it bothered me quite a bit. Feel free to disagree too, or say "bro it's a kids show. It's not that deep. Stop having passion and emotions for your special interests you dumb fuck" I get it. Anyways, good show, good season, highly recommend, it's very fun and enjoyable especially if you're a fan of Sonic

Last minute edit: I only saw the season once and my sense of media literacy isn't by any means perfect, and also, to clarify, most of my concern isn't quite "these plot points are 1000% absent and terrible" and more "I thought the distribution between the action scene in episodes 4-7 and the rest of the season's story was very poor and made the content I was more excited for seem watered down/unplanned/super easily resolved". Again the part of the show where Sonic almost dies because of the prism energy withdrawal was about 3 minutes long. Why did it feel so low-stakes?? I love action scenes. They're great, but when you dedicate over 30 minutes to one long fight scene, it becomes less interesting and there's still MORE OF THE SHOW TO GET THROUGH so those parts got super rushed

#sonic #sonic prime season 3 #sonic prime #sonic prime spoilers #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sth #breaking news: some random guy on the internet rants for an hour complaining about a kids show. never before seen live on television

[snuffysbox]

man the ending of BG3 was kinda... rough, ngl. Like, not the fights and stuff, that was about what I expected, but the cutscenes post final battle were... something.

HEAVY SPOILERS for Baldur's Gate 3 ending under the cut

listen man, I can respect not giving everyone a perfectly happy ending, but Karlach's fate felt unfair. It felt like there had been a way to save her in development, but it got scrapped somewhere in the process. why even have the quest with Dammon and the infernal iron if all you can do is delay the inevitable.

Astarion's wasn't much better. If you tell him not to use the ritual to ascend, he just. stays a vampire spawn forever then?? the whole 'oh I can stand in the sunlight' bit was just for laughs?? I was horrified tbh.

Gale's romance scene was... fine. Like, perfectly servicable, sure, but choosing what to do with the crown was his literal companion quest! and you don't even get to see it resolved, he just SAYS what he'll do with it. PLEASE.

Shadowheart had one (1) appearance and one (1) line of dialogue in my ending and that was a quip about Astarion's sad fate. Thanks.

No mention of the Emperor after killing the netherbrain with Orpheus. Really? He's just dead, apparently. Nvm that it was like... the original founder of the city. No no, just dead, don't even see him die if you didn't kill him during the fight.

NO EPILOGUE AT ALL COME ON MAN. I would've taken poorly written SLIDES over nothing at all.

The post-credit scene with Withers feels... so, so redundant? Like, why is he waxing poetic about foes who weren't even the stars of the show? It really felt like a version of that scene should've come earlier, maybe around the start of act 3.

There's a ton of other little stuff that I would've loved to see resolved, but those were my main gripes. It just felt veeeery rushed right at the end there which is pretty disappointing, considering how entirely excellent the rest of the game is. Like, I don't want games to be these infinite projects that studios revisit and expand on (in anything other than expansions) bc they didn't get it quite right the first time around, bc that shit isn't sustainable, but man.

#bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3

[petrichoraline]

they should have left august have genuine feelings for day imo like we already saw him kinda disappointed it was not a date with mork... the whole kiss thing felt so wrong they did day (and august too tbh) dirty

to start off, thank you for indulging me with a ltts message 🥰 also I hope this isn't too long, i havent had the time to seriously think about this episode so this is my chance 💓

throughout the episode I began wondering if august was a legitimate contender and the thought bothered me for a few reasons: i had been under the impression the plot isn't really about that; that there would be no space to fit in a love triangle of this size if other conflicts were to be explored and resolved. basically that mork and day would have enough on their plate without august in the picture and focusing on those two would only slow down the development of the main couple. I did find the thought of august's intentions being serious intriguing though, a bit frustrating, yes, but also interesting.

now, I had a bit of trouble understanding your point but im guessing you mean we already saw that day was disappointed the party wasn't a date so we're aware of his feelings and they are not aimed at august anymore? so it wouldn't have been an issue if august just continued liking day because day doesn't like him that way anymore, right? because I get that, it wouldn't have been the first time that's happened on screen haha but also that's exactly why I'm not that fond of the idea. day and august having a mutual crush and that going for a few episodes? THAT I find intriguing, an actual relationship trying to figure itself out while it's doomed by the narrative because it isn't the main romance.

but august having actual romantic feelings for day and stepping aside (because the show wants this couple dealt with by the end of the first half, apparently, and it would have cut him off somehow) would be something both sad and also, in my humble opinion, redundant. I've seen it before, it's just a bummer for everyone involved and I don't need it here.

what the plot actually did was very nice, as weird as it sounds. it gave us a character who loves his mate a lot. I do not doubt that august has strong feelings for day. everyone is pissed at him at the moment, day is hurt because there was pity, mork is angry because there was lack of consideration but that boy cares for day, a lot. i suppose there are feelings of guilt, they were on the court together when day lost his vision and then he didn't contact august for over a year. august probably felt some sort if personal responsibility for day's condition or for his behaviour towards him while they were partners, for the fact day felt he couldn't tell him the truth. so there is guilt and there is pity but also there is affection for a friend, for a partner, for the person alongside which you aimed for your dreams. they have a bond (and im sure people have expressed a lot about their sync and dynamic that I haven't picked up on but a bond is undeniable).

august tried to be a better person, a warm one, someone day doesn't recognise. he tried to be everything he wasn't before because thats what he decided day wants and needs. the night at the bar he was already feeling bad about leaving day to hang. on a side note, while the episode was airing i ran to check whether the cast was there that night and if it was on the same arm. it was. august didnt lie and im paranoid lmao anyways

the scene was crushing for mork and us, sure, but it was also very hard for august. he had had an accident, he couldn't contact day and still went as soon as he could after midnight. when he heard the confession he ran which honestly felt like an appropriate reaction - indicating he was there would make day embarrassed and pretending to come in later also wouldn't work because his partner who recently came back into his life with shocking news after ghosting him for a year suddenly confessed he's in love with him. while he's exhausted and hurt. of course the kid needed time to process what the fuck is going on! and he came back the very next morning, ready to make things right.

the issue stems from the fact he had no clue what right is, his underdeveloped brain told him to be a better friend than before but it went too far off in the direction of that thought and landed at "be what he wants you to be to a T" which includes, well, a romantic interest. and that's just not something you can force but alas, earnest, stupid august tried to check off everything on the "make day happy" list.

that boy ran off crying (I would too if mork glared at me like a maddog but still) because he kissed and got kissed by someone he didn't want such contact with ( the reciprocated kiss was A Lot for him) and then realised he'd hurt the person he wanted to satisfy in every way. his words indicate he didn't intend the kiss to be just one, that he wanted to actively change the way he feels about day, that he considered being his boyfriend. I figure he truly realised that was not an option while the kiss was happening hence why the second one had him running away again.

we know august is impulsive and earnest, his intentions were coming from a good place but he couldn't plan to save his life. he acts with his heart and so he was relying on falling for day till the end with no backup plan. it's either that or he knew before the kiss and intended it to be a single gift and I can't tell which is worse. in any case he was aware of the big possibility him and days weren't going to work out so his actions were majorly irresponsible.

the kiss had me screaming NOO literally and then the second one nearly had me gripping my hair, idek what sounds I made from the beginning till the end of that scene but "felt wrong" is something I can understand though it didd feel wrong but maybe not in the way you mean?

i didn't know nor suspect august's intentions and thought process so the kiss felt real to me and though I was against it as an avid morkday shipper, I didn't think that narratively it was bad. day was done dirty a 100% (though he gets mork acting on his feelings finally so..glass half full..?). let's not forget that mork actively supported day's perception of the situation as flirting - not his fault, that's what august was doing after all - but it's something that made the fall that much worse. day was getting hyped up by mork the way he was by gee ABOUT mork before that. he gets affected by his friends' opinions because he relies on them to read the other's body language and intentions. so there is this feeling of helplessness not only because of the pity that guided august's actions but the fact he couldn't assess the situation himself. so yes, for this and many other reasons, day was done dirty by every definition of the phrase.

but as for august and the plot I'm not so sure. august as a character is, to me, much more interesting as this confused and, frankly, unintelligent young man whose heart seems to be in the right place..? but whose actions are totally misguided than if he were, let's say, a good guy finally acting on his crush after years. I suppose he could've stopped before the kiss and told day the truth and maybe day would be a bit disappointed but definitely more forgiving and less heartbroken..

but then how would we see that day can help mork tame his anger with just a touch of the hand? and we needed an act so grotesque that would lead them to have a conversation that makes mork want to scream "I do not pity you, I haven't pitied you for a second, you are so strong and smart and loveable, i love you, how could you ever focus on a nobody like him when you are everything, you deserve so much more, how could you not know that, why did i ever let him near you, i should have never allowed for this to happen, i love you so much god I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU" (yes thats what those eyes at the rooftop said, idk what yall heard.)

i believe the charm of this scene and this whole conflict is that no one there is acting out of malice. it's just people doing what they think is right. mork stepping aside was not the right move technically but it fits his character and the plot as well. imo august wasn't done dirty, he was made interesting and also he isn't a bad guy. he did some really harmful shit but by the end of the scene i didn't feel an ounce of malice from him. there could still be love between the two but one that's not based around day walking on eggshells and one that doesn't rely on august to be something he is not. when they arent forced by the outside to be in close proximity and make things work, when they can just tease each other comfortably without taking all of the other's happiness and well-being as their own responsibility, thats when they could have a nice casual friendship with a lot of appreciation for the other. i believe him and day would reconcile at some point in the future when day is ready to forgive and august is ready to stop running.

#this turned into an august defense essay huh #last twilight #ltts #morkday #im sorry if i sound too..whats the word defiant? like i am hardly against your points #i think they are very valid in the sense that we all have dofferent views of our beloved characters and we want different things from shows #truth of the matter is that if the story went the way you envisioned it i probably would still like it! im just satisfied with what we got #i say im tired and then write for like an hour jesus #thank you for this again <33 hope its comprehensible im not checking hahah

[color-cacophony]

I was going to make a Big Official Review Post about Rayman in the Phantom Show but I don't really have enough complete thoughts to make something comprehensive and organized, but I still want to share some points from my experience with it so uhhh without further ado, here's a bunch of thoughts on what dazzled me and what I thought could have been done better.

Here I go...

I'll start with the stuff that bugged me first because I don't like to end on a bad note:

I think the biggest issue is that giving the player the option to complete each set in any order diminishes the opportunity to have a linear story. Without a series of events building up to the finale, the actual climax doesn't feel as grand or substantial as it should be (it definitely feels like a few lines were cut from the moments before Phantom's first verse with how abruptly it starts). It would have felt more immersive to see actual scenes of the heroes trying to play their roles and have more varied quests based on puzzles or even characters and dialogue (like the search for Sweetlopek's stolen axe), all whilst gradually putting the pieces together that they were led into a trap.

Speaking of putting the pieces together, it would've paid off to have Beep-0 learn from his own arrogance in the past instead of repeating his assertion that he knew what Phantom was up to all along. That part made me kind of sad because I really like Beep-0 and it seemed like they were setting him up to eventually become less uptight and more open to admitting his mistakes, which would be more satisfying and obvious!

As we all know, Beep-0 isn't the only one who repeated himself. I remember an exchange I had with @randomrabbidramblings about our predictions for what would happen in the climax; they were hoping the final showdown with Phantom would not be redundant with his first encounter, having the same battle gimmick as before. Unfortunately that is, in fact, what they ended up doing. While framing it as Phantom being unoriginal or making a callback helps it a little bit, ultimately it made me feel let down (although I love Beep-0's delivery when he reiterates his line from Kingdom Battle. he means business).

As for the aftermath of the battle, I want to know where Phantom went. There doesn't seem to be any sign of him anywhere in the studio. It's really odd, given how this was supposed to be his grand comeback (alongside Rayman, of course), but we don't get even a simple explanation of what happened to him after he was defeated for the second time, unless I missed something. I presume this is his last major appearance in a game (unless they decide to do something completely different with him in the distant future??? wishful thinking but not ruling it out!), so it's a strangely underwhelming and mysterious send-off to our beloved ghostly diva. I would have been bummed that we didn't get lore paintings for him, but the memory entry summarizing his surprisingly short-lived career actually made me laugh and honestly, the thought of him only releasing one album and becoming so well-known just because he's notoriously a huge jerk and a producer of incredibly terrible films is so in-character for him.

Another choice I found unusual was the lack of any explanation as to how he got his voice back, since it's been established that he screwed it up by overdoing it. Although, they must have dismissed it knowing that not everyone is going to find the mural containing the only source of that detail. His voice could have healed over time anyway, but it just doesn't entirely make sense that they don't acknowledge it at all (I did see @bramble-scramble 's post mentioning a detail @randomrabbidramblings pointed out where a gramophone can be seen in a box in the studio's control room and it is supposedly the one Phantom replaced with a new one when he messed it up, but even if that's true, it's still a bit easy to miss).

I understand that a lot of these issues were due to restraints since it's only a DLC and they could only fit so much in, but that goes to show that this concept is a little too big for a DLC, but not quite big enough for a full game.

Now, for the things I loved...

I must give massive props to the artists and animators for taking reference from multiple Rayman games and essentially making the pinnacle of his goofiness. Rayman was HIGHLY entertaining to see (and listen to, thanks to David Gasman) and very lovable in this! And the way his dynamic with Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Mario changes up until the end where he becomes friends with them and realizes that he can work with the Rabbids now instead of against them it's just 🥺 awgh... It feels cheesy to talk about it but it really does make me happy now that Rayman has a chance to be an equal to the Rabbids and have something resembling a mutual understanding.

I appreciate them bringing back characters from the main game and giving them their own sets. Fittingly enough, it's like a curtain call for the final installment of SoH.

The return of Beep-0's swearing. SERIOUSLY IT'S SUCH A SMALL THING BUT IT DELIGHTED ME

The studio's lobby is gorgeous. Absolutely STUNNING I love all the details and the music notation motifs on everything.

Honestly the rest of this is just going to be me gushing about Phantom hehehe...

First of all, I was completely awestruck at the decision to give him a swing/jazz sequence because I love the aesthetic of the whole sassy big band musical number kind of thing so when I saw that Phantom was going to do that I went INSANE. The animation in the song sequences is absolutely top tier. Phantom is ALL OVER THE PLACE, very charming, very energetic. The swing bit made me realize just how unbelievably coordinated he is. Like when he's zipping and spinning around the stage and it doesn't affect his singing at all? Holy crap. Then, I went even MORE insane when rock/metal Phantom showed up. I would have wanted a verse in that style too, but I get that it was cut because it would mess up the pacing of the battle.

I love Phantom's inability to contain his excitement at the start of the battle, his annoyed lines when you destroy the lights, his smug remarks even when he's taking damage. He's just so- I'm just gonna say it- so freaking cute in this! His line deliveries in general made me fall so hard for him, especially "were you EVER a thing, Rayman?". The way he drops his voice sounds so cool...

Regarding his abilities, I thought they were going to explain why he could turn people to stone in Kingdom Battle, but they simply took that detail away. I don't have a big problem with this, as the Stone Deaf ability could have been part of the Megabug's influence (and it makes him at least a bit less OP lol). I'm also satisfied to finally know that he can indeed phase through things like any other ghost and isn't limited to just teleporting.

His death acting has definitely improved since last time, in that it's silly and makes me smile instead of just making me feel embarrassed lol.

So uummmm yeah that's all the noteworthy stuff I can think of! Overall I thought the DLC was delightful during my playthrough, but after I finished it I felt kind of sad because it just didn't feel "thorough". However, given that Sparks of Hope generally improved on so many aspects from the last game, I'm confident that they'll keep adding and experimenting with more characterizations and scenarios and make something even better if they decide to continue with Mario + Rabbids. And even if they don't, we'll always have the amazing fans to continue the story and put even more wonder into this wild crossed-over universe!

Anyway, thank you for reading through this highly disorganized rant/gush! And while I'm at it, thank you to everybody in the Mario + Rabbids community for making such amazing art and just being here to share our love for the series. That means thank you to @randomrabbidramblings @bramble-scramble @salamifuposey @hostess-of-horror @phandrow @pastelprince18 @critterzone13 @hostdoozy @majorpepperidge and more! You guys are super cool and I appreciate you even though I've never directly interacted with all of you, hehe. I suppose all I have left to say is goodnight, so goodnight/day everyone! Until next time I decide to dump more nonsense onto your dashboard :D

#I was a bit late making this post but I was dead for a while so eehhhh #thoughts and rambles tag

[heaven-s-black-box]

The shadow- father!Dottore & clone!son!Reader

Return to File

Recovery date: April 10th, 2024

Description: I was thinking about a platonic Genshin impact story with a bit of angst where the reader is male and is a clone of Dottore's son who died from sickness and the reader was tricked into believing that Dottore was truly his father but the reader didn't have a familial bond with him and deeply fears Dottore even though he rarely interacts with the reader but the reader ends up becoming friends with the traveller and went to Sumeru with them and after Scaramouche was defeated and irminsul was saved, when Dottore spoke with Nahida he revealed the readers true origins. (I was inspired by Hunter from the owl house)(if you're not comfortable with writing this that's completely alright and I wish you a good morning/afternoon or goodnight and I hope you're in good health and spirits☺️)

Notes: This work was recovered in conjunction with an anonymous researcher, we thank them for their contributions. This was fun! I did make a slight adjustment which is that reader arrived in Sumeru with Scaramouche instead of the traveler.

Word count: 1 760

Back to directory

“When you were a child…”

I don’t remember that.

“He loves you in his own way.”

How can he love someone he never sees?

“He would never hurt you.”

How can you be so sure?

“Do you remember…”

I don’t.

Maybe that’s why it was so easy for Y/n to leave Snezhnaya with Scaramouche. Maybe that’s why, for the first time in his life, Y/n felt alive. He wasn’t walking on eggshells around his father’s lab, and no one pretended to know him. Scaramouche himself seemed completely ambivalent to his presence, only making vaguely aggressive comments to not die.

It made following the Balladeer a redundant question. With the gnosis, the two fled Inazuma even though Y/n was supposed to return to Snezhnaya.

This was a chance he couldn’t miss. A chance to see the world, and to see the home he’d only seen through pictures. Father be damned, he could ground Y/n later if he wanted… if he even cared too.

Sumeru was not as freeing as Inazuma. Maybe it was the knowledge that his father was here, somewhere, but it felt ever so slightly suffocating. The bright colors and clear skies were blinding, and everything felt wrong. There was a distant sense of familiarity, but it also felt like he’d never been here before. It was as though his brain was trying to remember everything he’d ever been told about this place– about the shops, the streets, and the people– but he couldn’t.

That sense of life that Y/n had found in Inazuma seemed to be slowly draining away.

Maybe father was right, maybe he should have returned to Snezhnaya instead of coming here. Perhaps telling Y/n to return to Snezhnaya was also his father’s way of protecting him, by ensuring he would not be deemed a fugitive for following the Balladeer. Had he been forced to fight to clear his son’s name with the Tsaritza and other Harbingers? 

“Oh- sorry.”

Y/n looked up from the ground to see who he’d just bumped into, and was immediately filled with a sense of dread. A blond traveler stood before him. The traveler.

“It’s alright,” the traveler’s voice was kind.

Y/n sidestepped the traveler and continued, at a quicker pace, to Puspa cafe. Then, as he was waiting for his food, a familiar voice drew his attention away from the people milling about and towards the opposite chair.

“Is this seat taken?”

Panic set in as he reflexively shook his head, and the traveler took a seat. Had he been found out? Had the traveler somehow found out that he was Dottore’s son? It was probably that damn Tartaglia, they seemed pretty close.

“Are you alright?” The traveler spoke again.

“Uh-uhm,” he cleared his throat, “yes, why?”

“You look a little sick,” the traveler’s floating companion said.

“Oh, I always look like that.”

Accepting his answer, the traveler and Paimon nodded. Y/n, however, was not so easily relaxed and instead began to fidget with the cuff of his shirt. Was he wearing something identifiable? His necklace was tucked under his shirt, so there was no way it was visible, and he wasn’t wearing the fatui insignia.

“Are you from here?” the floating creature, Paidon, Pai-Pai-Painon, Paimon, asked.

“N- I was born here, but we moved when I was young.”

“Aw, man, I was hoping you’d have some recommendations on good food.”

Y/n couldn’t help but chuckle at the dejected look on Paimon’s face.

“No, sorry.”

When his food was brought over, he offered to share it with the two traveling companions while they waited for there’s. Paimon happily obliged, while the traveler denied the offer.

Sumeru slowly felt less suffocating as Y/n stopped trying to remember things, and instead made new memories. Stories of chasing shroomboars were replaced with memories of hunting them down and cooking them, and stories of watching performances in the grand bazaar were replaced with actual memories of Nilou’s dance.

It just made his betrayal all the more painful on both sides.

“Y/n,” Dottore said, not looking up from his final touches on the Shouki No Kami.

“Yes, father?”

“Are you ready to leave?”

“Yes.”

Dottore looks up from the machine, finally, and turns around. There is a sorrow in the doctor’s eyes, one that Y/n has come to understand as mourning for his mother. That’s all he is to his father, a shadow of his mother. Maybe that’s why the man has always been so distant, perhaps too afraid to lose his son like he’d lost the mother.

Y/n steps forward and wraps his arms around Dottore.

“I love you,” Y/n says, and he isn’t sure if it’s a platitude or if he means it.

The doctor only pats his son’s back before he pulls away.

“You’ll be joined by one of my segments, I have some business I still must attend to.”

Now, Y/n was in no way skilled in the same way the fatui grunts were, but he also wasn’t as blind as a regular civilian. As he and the clone of his father made their way to the port, he felt the presence of their pursuers. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of white hair just before it ducked behind some crates.

His heart clenched in regret.

Perhaps, in the future, they could still be friends. If they were friends with an actual harbinger, surely the son of one of them would be alright. Maybe if the traveler ever came to Snezhnaya they could share another meal, and he could finally give them food recommendations.

The boat slowly began to drift away from the port, and Y/n stared up at the Sanctuary of Surasthana. 

He stood up suddenly, and carefully looked around on the boat. No one was watching, everyone was busy and his father had already entered the cabin. So, as naturally as possible, Y/n sat up on the side of the boat and made one last check of his surroundings before falling backwards into the water. 

“Hi, I know you probably don’t trust me, but I want to help,” Y/n muttered as he ascended the streets of Sumeru city, soaking wet from his swim. “Hey, so I know I’m the son of Dottore, but you’re friends with tartaglia, so let me help, please?”

It was late, and the street lights were on when he finally arrived at the Traveler’s place. He knocked immediately, not giving himself a chance to hesitate.

He was greeted with silence, and he had to strain to hear what sounded like metal scraping against something, and-oh no.

Y/n took a step back from the door just as the traveler swung it open and leveled a sword at his neck.

“Y/n?”

“Hi. I want to help.”

“You’re a horrible spy,” Paimon piped up. “We know you’re with Dottore, you can tell him that your little plan failed.���

“He doesn’t know I’m here, he thinks I’m on my way back to Snezhnaya.”

“And he won’t notice you’re gone?”

“He’s still in Sumeru.”

“What?”

Cautiously, the traveler let Y/n into the house and found him a change of clothes.

“Why help us?” The traveler asked, sitting on the bed while Y/n sat in front of it on the floor.

“I’m… not really sure. Well, that’s not entirely true, it just sounds stupid.”

“Well if you want us to trust you, you better tell us,” Paimon huffed.

Y/n gnawed on his lip for a moment, mulling over his words.

“When I was leaving Sumeru, I found myself staring at the Sanctuary of Surasthana, and I couldn’t help but think that lesser lord Kusanali is a bit like me. Before recently, I’d never left Snezhnaya. I felt… trapped. And there’s more to it, but that’s the gist of it. I just… want to give her the same freedom I found on this trip. Even if it means I can never go back to Snezhnaya, or that I can never leave it again.”

The next day, Y/n joined Nilou’s distraction team as the Traveler freed Nahida. Everyone was on guard for the possible appearance of Dottore, though his lack of presence was starting to get to Y/n. Had his business perhaps not been here, but rather somewhere nearby like Liyue?

He doesn’t expect to see the traveler again so soon, much less to be dragged along to the final fight with Scaramouche. It’s a blur as Y/n calls out flaws in the design for the traveler to target, flaws that Nahida eventually complies and ranks for the final round. 

Y/n catches Scaramouche as he falls from the Shouki No Kami, carefully positioning him to rest on his lap.

“I’ve got him,” Y/n said, “you guys finish this.”

---

“Your son is a wonderful man,” Nahida said as she handed her gnosis over to Dottore. “However, I can’t help but get a sense of… incompleteness, from him.”

The doctor rolls the dendro gnosis over in his hand, his gloved thumb tracing over the design.

“I do not owe you an answer.”

“I gave you the electro gnosis and the dendro gnosis.”

“In exchange for the destruction of my clones and knowledge about the fake sky.”

Nahida frowned, he was right. She had no leverage.

“I won’t bring him back with me.” Nahida felt her eyes widen in surprise. “My son died when he was just a boy, the man you’ve met is nothing but a shadow of that boy. As the clone of a corpse, he was not able to receive his memories, and it has caused him great pain. I did not bring back my son. He is no different from that puppet.”

---

“Hey, hat guy,” Y/n called, shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked up at his friend lazing in a tree.

“Go away!”

“Come on, the traveler’s here, we’re going to get lunch.”

“That’s nice, have fun.”

With a huff, Y/n carefully climbs the tree until he’s sitting on a branch above his friend. He stares intently at the other man until he finally cracks an eye open and groans.

“Honestly, if you’ve always been like this I have no idea how we ever became friends.”

Y/n jumped down from the tree, followed by the puppet.

“It’s a long story.”

“Will you ever tell me?”

With a scoff, the man replied, “What does the past matter when we can make new memories now?”

#researcher s's recovery #genshin impact #genshin impact dottore #dottore #dottore & reader #male reader #reader insert #oneshot #genshin impact oneshot #slight angst

[floraishas]

so i finished season 5 and sadly the mystery of the abyss as well!! here are some of my thoughts :3c

overall the season was... okay! the redundant and repetitive dialogues were a bit annoying to me but that's fine, harmonix was really cute!!! ........unlike sirenix 😭 they look so ugly oh my god

i didn't like the fact that daphne is... alive? until the second movie i thought she was a ghost or something, i'm still not the biggest fan of this concept tbh :|

also. she's not serving in her human form 💔💔💔 #heartbreaking

the lost memory thing was so unnecessary oh my god

i wish this season was more aisha-centric, i mean, it happens in the ocean!! yeah the villain is her cousin and her family is in danger, but i would have liked more episodes centered around her :(

speaking of aisha, roy is cute, i like him! (i have a friend called roy so that's pretty funny) but i think the romance was too sudden 😭 i saw them as close friends and suddenly aisha wants to be with him like uhhh??!?!

anyway. why did musa never got her sirenix wish. THAT WAS SO MEAN FOR WHATTTT

oh you already know but i love darcy and stormy this season!! they are sweet <3 my stupid daughters

icy you monsterfucker bitch (i get her)

idc for tritannus really, he's kinda annoying (plus his spanish voice is SO stupid i can't take him seriously 😭😭😭)

roxy being just a background character made me sad 😞

now. about the movie.......

girl who asked for this

it really feels like a really long season 5 filler episode (save me)

i said it on twitter but i was really interested to know about politea!! why is she evil?? why did she betray daphne? were they close friends? TELL MEEEEE

and i didn't get the pearl powers ??? weird op pearl

i actually think musa and aisha 3D models look cute!!

the bloom/sky date scene felt so long for me omg

i gotta say the villains dancing and singing at the end made me laugh a lot 😭

#im tagging this one!! #winx club #winx season 5

[ninjastormhawkkat]

The Fall of Fair City - Chapter 1

Dr. Two Brains yawned as he sat through another dull meeting for the Evil Villains Association or EVA, at the hotel outside of town. It wasn't that he found every villain meeting dull. Most of the time these meetings were helpful such as keeping villain crimes organized with schedules so two or more villains won't end up robbing the same place at the same time. It was also nice to know when an annual BBQ or Beach Day for villains is coming up, just to have a time to relax from the stressful work of planning, stealing, and fighting the local hero. What Dr. Two Brains found annoying and tedious were how the meetings were delivered sometimes, some villains got to the point which he was grateful for, but others seemed to droll on and on. Just wrap it up already, People can hold attention for a twenty minute time limit then its snooze city. Dr. Two Brains gave a quiet huff as Lady Redundant Woman was finishing up. He didn't mind this villain, he actually admired her as a person and her skills as a villain. It was just irritating for the mad scientist when she had to repeat certain words thrice in different ways, all with the same meaning. Two Brains knew well the different ways to use words thank you very much. He has an alien daughter with off the grid vocabulary skills. "And finally, winding up, and in conclusion." Lady Redundant Woman, the EVA's president, spoke aloud, "after you rob a valuable place like the jewelry store or the pawn shop, even if you get caught by Wordgirl, leave the place a bit better than you found it. Other villains who rob those areas have complained about broken glass and lack of values to steal when they try to rob the place as well." The EVA members just grumbled but nodded in confirmation. A few side glanced at Chuck who was looking sheepish. LRW nodded, pleased with the response. "One final thing." She announced, halting the villains from being dismissed. "In about a month and a half from now is our annual villain's anniversary potluck. Attendance is not required, needed, nor necessary but all villains should want to attend for good food and sharing exciting stories about your crimes. This event is a celebration for every villain's first time appearance and crime in Fair City as well as their first face off with Wordgirl." All of the villains cheered, excited for the anniversary, well all except for one mad scientist. Dr. Two Brains looked down at his feet while LRW and the other villains began discussing plans for the event. The anniversary of him becoming a villain was one of the best, but also worse moments of his life, for both him and Becky. On one hand, it was sort of a liberating experience. He could finally create what he wanted, do what he want. At the same time, his identity and mind became shot and warped. He was forced into this life by a careless mistake, succumbed to pleasing the obsession of a crazed mouse brain. It wasn't fair sometimes that all these villains had a choice on this path, while he had to begin rolling with the punches. He had lost friends and loved ones. Two Brains felt extremely lucky to remember his own child and her monkey as well as the close family members who still talked to him. He was also grateful for tenure and that villainy didn't affect it. The mouse man sighed in self anger. He hated how weak he was to Squeaky's will. He was proud to see how much his daughter could resist the mouse the last time they were brain swapped. 'Look at me, I couldn't do something an 11 year old girl could.' Dr. Two Brains berated himself in thought. He enjoyed villainy now, he just wish he could take control of it more to his liking. Two Brains looked back up at LRW when she silenced the elated villains. "You are may go now, leave, skedaddle." She finally said, shooing the others away and back to their daily lives. All the villains got up. Some stayed behind to talk to some fellow cohorts or waiting for a ride. Others began to leave for home. @melodythebunny @drtwobrainsstuff

#wordgirl #wordgirl au #dr two brains #angst #wordgirl villains #lady redundant woman #chuck the evil sandwich making guy #the fall of fair city #chapter 1 #tw: self negativity

[the-girl-in-the-high-castle]

A few days ago I finished watching Into the Badlands, a show I wanted to watch at the time it came out, but never did, so:

- Liked it way more than I thought I would.

- In spite of it being 85% made of fighting, bloodshed and violence, it has a damn good story following it all.

- Probably the closest thing to GoT you can get out there.

- Quinn! Damn, it's the character you want to hate so much, but you just can't. He's consistent with everything he does, to the very end, no matter what, and I love him for it. We need more characters like this out there, urgently. And like I've already said before, Marton's performance here absolutely took my breath away.

- I didn't like Lydia at first, she annoyed me, but in the end, she ended up being my second favorite character.

- My tradition of not liking the main character is prominent here because Sunny was one of my least favorite characters, and I didn't like him one bit. He was pretty good at being a hypocrite most of the time.

- I love the fact that they took "the chosen one" trope with MK, chewed on it and mercilessly spat it out.

- I know MK was annoying as fuck toward the end, but somehow his journey made sense and it went well with his struggle and temperament.

- I loved that towards the end, the main character role actually went to the Widow because from moment one, whether it was intentional or not, she sort of carried the story. Somehow, things always started and ended with her. And, she's my absolute favorite character.

- I've seen people complain about the way her story ended, but I actually think it was perfect, because in the end she got to be everything a woman can be. Most writers end up failing at this, they reduce female characters to just one thing. You can either be a woman and a mother, or you can be a warrior and girlboss who needs no one. The Widow ended up being everything a female character can be, a woman, a warrior, a girlboss and a mother. She got to face her own flaws and demons and got to know what it feels like having everything to lose the way people did fighting for her. And I loved that.

- What completely came out of the left field for me was her romance with Gaius thought. His entire character was kinda redundant. I mean, I did like him, but he felt like a plot device through the entire time he was there, a plot device that in the end didn't even serve as that, cause the story would've mostly been the same even if he wasn't there. I appreciate that they tried to paint some backstory with Minerva for them to actually make some sense, but it wasn't that convincing. I actually liked his character more than I liked Sunny, but he deserved more agency and should've been introduced way earlier for it to make any sense and not only serve as the baby daddy.

- I hated that for half of the show's run Sunny was reduced to just one thing, the way writers mostly do to female characters. He was reduced to a father and nothing else, and his entire story, if it wasn't for Bajie would've probably been my favorite thing to skip.

- I loved that Bajie wasn't just a blameless and sinless comic relief and that most of the time he was portrayed as not much of a good guy based on everything he's done. Just human and selfish pretty often.

- I'm sorry, but I fucking hated Veil. She was the most annoying character in the entire show. Followed by Odessa close by.

- Somehow, the only characters that were aware of the world they live in and what it takes to survive, without being merciless butchers, were The Widow and Lydia. That's why they're my favorite characters. They have gone through hell and learned, unlike other characters who seemed too naive most of the time, in spite of living in a literal hell on earth. I can understand that with young characters like MK and Tilda, but others don't really have an excuse for being fucking Starks.

- Which is why I was annoyed as hell with the Tilda turning her back on the Widow for selling Veil out to Quinn. You live in the fucking badlands, you do what you have to do to keep your head on your shoulders, but you have to do even worse things if you are fighting for something better than that. In spite of her action actually making sense based on the world she lives in, we still had the Widow face her own dark side and her own failures and mistakes, which is why she ended up the last one standing. Unlike a lot of other characters.

- Lydia did not have to die. Her death was useless and it kinda only served as a slap in the face of the Widow telling her "you fought and killed and sacrificed everything and everyone for the power you hold, you can't put it on anyone else's shoulders now, you can't run". It also gave Moon another revenge plot he would fail. I know he's supposed to be this badass clipper, but he kind of comically ended up being a walking failure. He failed to stay away from the badlands, he failed to beat Sunny, he failed to get revenge on Sunny, he failed to beat the Widow, he mostly failed as her regent, he failed to get revenge on the witch for Lydia.

- They didn't know they would get canceled, but somehow the second half of the 3rd season felt like they were rushing to wrap up the story and a lot of things felt a bit naive and off.

- Oh, and wtf is with the showrunners being alergic to love and sex scenes? You literally have bloodshed everywhere. You have a man's arms being broken and him being stabbed by the bones of his own arms, but have like two kiss scenes in the entire show. It's actually hilarious.

Probably forgot a lot of things, but all in all, I loved the show, and I didn't expect to love it as much. Would totally recommend.

#into the badlands #into the badlands amc #a review #i will now go back to watching older shows i always wanted to watch but never did #because i hate new shows #the widow killing people with high heels will forever live in my mind rent free #the fights are all so damn cool #of course it's a long post because i just can't shut up

[theladyofbloodshed]

Hi! saw you are a teacher, may i ask how you choose to be one (if you don't mind 👉👈)? I am considering pedagogy but my experience with teachers when I was a kid weren't very good, as i was the "shy quiet lonely exclueded" kid in a class of louder kids, and the few times i got accepted by my classmates the teachers would scold me for talking too much but tell nothing to the other kids, i even remember one saying she didn't expected that kind of behavious coming from me as i was so behaved, and i was always the buffer for the most misbehaving kids, which i always hated

I’m so sorry that happened to you. That’s so sad :(

I will write a very long biography

Uh I kind of got here by accident! I never wanted to be a teacher lmao. Basically, I studied psychology for my bachelors then switched to the sport science department for my masters and studied applied sport and exercise psychology. My dream was to work in sports. I was running a blog all about sport psychology and relating it to ice hockey and football based on current issues and applying like mad to jobs relating to sport and exercise but could find nothing. You need a lot of experience for these jobs but I grew up poor and couldn’t drive so I was working 40 hours a week, walking an hour to work and an hour back so didn’t have the time to walk elsewhere and volunteer. I’m not from a big place so there weren’t any sports team other than little local ones so I’d have had to take a train in the evening etc and I gave up.

Ended up getting so frustrated I just became an au pair. Moved to Denmark. Did try applying to volunteer with sports clubs but nobody ever got back when I tried to contact.

Came home and was working at greggs. Best job ever. I then started working at my local sports centre where I had to increase attendance amongst hard to reach groups, primarily elderly and disabled people. I really enjoyed that. I helped grow our local disability sport group, introduced trampolining to it, set up archery sessions etc. I also had a drop in club for over 60s where we played sport and had a chat over a cup of tea. Brought along dementia groups and prostate cancer groups to talk to them. (I still have a picture of us all up on my fridge when we went to London).

We had redundancies and I also ended up running the children’s club that ran in the school holidays. I had to do all the planning and did extra hours helping to run it (some weeks I was doing like 80 hours lmao).

I’ve always loved kids and I really enjoyed that part but I wanted more than just playing dodgeball with them. My boss was also a bit of a nightmare so I found a job as a TA in a school. I did that for 4 years and felt bad that I had a masters degree and was “just” a TA. At the same time, I wasn’t “just” a TA. Maybe in the past they washed up paint pots and listened to children read. Yeah, I made sure everything was photocopied and trimmed and supported lower ability kids in lessons but also I ran interventions that I planned for memory, phonics, fine motor skills, speech and language, emotional regulation. I was the first person they’d come to when they’d been in trouble or something awful had happened at home. I dealt with major safeguarding incidents, had to speak to aggressive parents, deal with things that massively shocked me about their home life whilst remaining professional. I’ve had diabetic children I’ve had to inject with insulin even on residential trips where I was their “parent” for 5 days straight, epileptic children who I’ve had to give medicine to daily, children who use wheelchairs that I’ve had to take to the toilet and change their nappies.

Then I got a promotion to cover classes as I’d done it a lot during covid when people were off. It was a massive learning curve but thankfully I already knew every child in the school and I was loved so they’d cheer when I walked through the door. I’ve worked with lots of teachers and seen great ones and good ones and different tactics and techniques. My mantra to them is “we have to do the boring bit before we do the fun bit”. We get the work done to a good standard and we can play a game, go outside etc. They know my rules!

I switched schools and now I am still covering but I get to plan the lessons I cover so it’s another step up. I teach every class but different subjects eg geography in one year group, religion in another. It’s more fun as I can decide how to deliver the lesson and can make it more engaging. I know the children a bit better now I’ve been there for a few weeks so I know what they’ll enjoy.

For me, I need to know the classes well. I get the energetic kids who can’t sit still to hand out books or sheets. I get the lowest ability children who can’t access the lesson to help me click things on the board so they’re still part of it. I get the shy children to whisper me the answer and I will tell the rest of the class. I’m very much adaptive to the class I have so they can all access it.

I love it although I do feel like I’m wasting my masters still. The money isn’t great. When I grew up, school was my safe place. I had a lot going on at home and school was stable and safe. It was really hard to leave my old school because I had children in difficult situations who also saw school as safe. They saw me as their safe adult who they could hug and cry on and ask to go for a private chat when things became too much. I think for me that was the most important part of my job and the thing that mattered most.

So that is how I ended up teaching! I think teaching depends a lot about the children and staff you work with. Some classes I’m like yay! I have them today! Other times I’m like “this afternoon is about me surviving them”. It’s fun and varied but also hard work. I don’t have a TA with me ever which is hard!

#anon asks

[bear-cubs-art-things]

PART 2 MMAU LETSGGOOOOOOO

kinda redundant here, but I swear its gonna get better 💀

❄️✨️🌱✨️🖌

The setting sun was beautiful.

A huge circle of golden yellow-orange sitting on the faraway hills of the Valley in a sky of brilliant oranges, purple-pinks, and deep night blues. There were a few clouds as well, lined with coral pink lighting. Truly it was Jasper's favorite part of any day.

He was sitting on top of the roof of the Rhondischite house. The shop had closed already, and profits were looking good as always. They were very successful business for a middle class monster family (on the lower end of the middle class).

The air was cool with autumn at its peak. Jasper loved the autumn time, with all its warm colors and cool days. And tonight was a beautiful evening to be out watching the sun set.

He made it a habit to watch the sun set a long while ago, when he was 15, 16 maybe? He's 21 now, so for quite some time he's been doing this. How it started exactly no one really knows. But that was irrelevant to the moment.

This moment.

The setting sun and all the quiet it will bring to the world once it's gone.

It's a spooky thought if you think about it too much. But Jasper liked the quiet, the solidarity. It made him feel that much more alive, more grateful to be alive.

There's this old Monster Proverb, from the Dawn of Fire; The Eternal Silence that Night brings should not be feared; the Day will sing its Song in the morrow.

Jasper was taught that proverb in the Temple when he was a child. It stuck to him somehow, and recalling that proverb during the minutes of the setting sun made him feel enlightened somehow. Reborn again though he never died.

"The Day will sing its Song in the morrow..." he whispered, to feel the effects of those moving words.

"Jasper?" Howie called out from a window.

"Hm?" Jasper turned around to see Howie peeking out of the attic's window. It was really an attic, so to speak, more like an observatory/upstairs study. Nonetheless.

"Ya wanna eat?" Howie gave a cheeky smile. He's silly like that.

Jasper couldn't help but grin. "I'll be down in a sec."

Howie gave a thumbs-up, then left, closing the window behind him.

Jasper turned back to the sunset. The sun was nothing anymore, the only evidence that was there were a few yellow-orange streaks of light in the sky, fading out to blue quickly.

But the stars were out.

Jasper looked above him, soaking in the thousands - no, millions - of stars twinkling and winking down on him.

The only remaining bits of the Celestials left in the sky were those stars.

The Shadowed Glare constellation was right above him, the eyes of its ghost a bright, shining red-white, staring down at Jasper's being.

Loodvigg's Star Map

Jasper got chills whenever he looked up at the Shadowed Glare. It wasn't that he was scared or anything, but he always felt that sense of being watched whenever he saw the Shadow Celestial's namesake.

He decided to go inside. Dinner was waiting for him, and he didn't want it to get cold like it was earlier this morning.

Jasper opened the window to the attic-servatory (as he liked to call it). A single candle-lamp sat on the table next to the window, shedding some light in the dark room. Jasper opened the lamp and blew out the candle before heading downstairs. He could see well enough in the dark (being of the Quarrister kind and native to the dark caverns of the Rocky Plain, he had enhanced eyesight to see in dark areas).

And down the stairs he went. Thud thud thud

He heard commotion in the dining room, and automatically assumed it was everyone finishing up dinner. To his surprise, however, they were just setting the table.

"The fish took a little long than expected," Carlee announced, "but everyone's here. I guess it all worked out."

Jasper already knew that when his mother said "everyone's here" she was referring to Jasper actually being down in time for dinner.

Everyone was in their respective seats, with Carlee being the last to the table. She turned to Falspar, who cleared his throat.

"We give our eternal gratitude to the Celestials for this meal. May this not be the last. Now, let us feast."

"Amen," was the unison reply from the table, closing out the prayer. Then, as one would expect, the sounds of clattering silverware and monsters eating were to be heard at the table.

"So," Carlee started, looking up at Jasper. "How many of those carving did you sell today, Jasper?"

"A few," he replied between a mouthful of food.

"Like, how many?"

"Mmm..." Jasper thought a bit. "Like maybe ten? It's not a lot but it's a start. Selling them for 50 coins a piece."

"That's a good start," Falspar nodded his head.

"Why use wood? Ya got ice in ya veins," Howie piped in. "Ya could be using that."

"Yeah, well, ice melts. Wood doesn't."

"Okay but ice magic doesn't melt as quickly-"

"My point is, ice melts and wood doesn't." Jasper looked at Howie. "What point are you tryna make?"

"I'm jus' sayin'," Howie shrugged.

"Oh! Oh!!" Juliette got excited all of a sudden. "Can I tell you guys something that happened at school today?"

"Of course, sweetie," Carlee smiled at her daughter, prompting her to go on.

"Okay, so, Talia and I were eating lunch at our table, right?" Juliette started her story, in which Jasper wasn't particularly listening to. Something at lunch, drama this drama that.

The meal went on for another half hour or so. Then Japser took the dirty plate to the sink to get washed. There was a few, being that the Rhondischites were a large family.

Rudy was cleaning the table while the younger girls ran to their room. Howie and Peri started on dish duty, and the parents resided to the living room where Carlee continued on a knitting project, and Falspar read through paperwork.

Jasper went back upstairs, this time to his room.

He closed the door to get some privacy (but true privacy is a luxury he never really gets in the house), and sat down at his desk. Still organized, still clean.

Jasper opened a drawer to his right. In the drawer were tools that one would use for carving. He selected a few, closed the drawer. He also had out a sketchbook too, and a pen.

His sketchbook was a thick one, bound by leather, stitched by Junegrass fiber. The paper was rough and absorbent, meant for inked drawings and the like. It was a good sketchbook of high quality, for sure.

The sketchbook, going on, was filled with sketches of monsters from around the continent and beyond. Busts of his family members, customers that he remembered, friends, but mainly full body sketches of Mythicals and Celestials. Of course, there was the occasional drawing of wildlife within the sketchbook.

These sketches, of course, were a base for Jasper to go off of, for his carvings. He'd draw, say, G'Joob, then practice carving G'Joob using his cold magicked ice as a medium. Once he was satisfied, he'd then select a wood and carve on the wood.

That said, Jasper got to work.

He took his pen and lightly dragged it across the paper. Black ink flowed like a river from its source, either gaining or losing thickness as the pressure of the hand changed. One line turned into two, which turned into four. Then eight, sixteen, and a messy outline of a tree. More lines, more black, and the outline slowly became a realistic drawing of an Everblue tree.

The Everblue tree had spiritual symbolism to the monsters. It's said that these trees were planted by Glaishur himself, filled with unknown properties directly linked to its alleged creator. Legend has it that any hungry, cold, homeless wanderer could take refuge under an Everblue tree, supplying them with food and shelter. These trees were beautiful, and even more so sacred.

Jasper lifted his pen away from the paper, satisfied with the swoops and sways of the drawing. A snow-covered Everblue, with fruit bountiful on its lower limbs.

Jasper put the pen back in the tin where he got it from, pushed the sketchbook back a little, and focused all his energy into making a decent sized block of ice.

Magic, you see, isn't easy to manifest. It takes focus and energy to produce even a small shard of ice.

Jasper held his hands palms up in front of him, willing the power of the cold into his palms. Focusing his breathing, in... out... in... out... and his body temperature began to decrease.

That's the thing about cold magic. Everytime you manifest it to the surface, you get cold. Jasper especially- he sometimes felt that he got more cold than other cold mages.

He felt his skin start to prickle with cold, goosebumps being raised on his forearms. His teeth started to chatter a little bit. Still, he had to focus. In... out... in... out...

Ice started growing upwards in his palms. Uniformly rectangular, a block manifesting into existence.

A little more... Jasper thought, shivering a little bit.

The block of ice rose faster, all uniform. It had to be at least 12 inches tall. 15 inches, then 18, then 20.

Then Jasper pulled back. His magic, anyway.

The cold sensation sunk back deep into his veins almost instantly, the warmth flooding his bones and organs once more. Jasper realized he could breathe easier now. Huh, strange.

And the block of ice still stood in his palms, unaffected by the warmth. He placed it on the table.

It was a good sized block of ice, definitely the size he's looking for for this project.

A large Everblue tree carving.

He grabbed his tools and got to work, chipping away little bits of ice.

Tink, tink, tink

The tree slowly began to take some sort of shape.

A knock at the door.

Jasper paused. "Come in."

His mother opened the door a little bit, just so her upper body could be seen.

"Just came to say good night, eldest child."

Jasper smiled. "Good night, Ma."

"Good night," Carlee started closing the door, making her leave. "And don't stay up all night carving! You have work tomorrow!"

"I won't, ma!" Jasper turned back to his carving. It wouldn't take more than two hours, right?

Carving away, and the minutes melted into hours. Pretty soon, the ice carving was finished. All he had to do was do the same thing on wood.

Which took longer, obviously.

Jasper decided not to do the wood tonight. It would most likely go into the late hours of the night. Maybe the early hours of morning, considering this is a larger project.

Besides, the ice carving of the Everblue tree was beautiful in of itself.

Hopefully it'll keep until Jasper returns to his project the following night. It should, being it is magicked ice, not regular ice

Jasper changed into some sleeping clothes from his drawer before going into the bathroom to clean his face. It was a bit late to fully bathe, but he bathed last night, so no big deal.

He retreated back to his room, sitting up in bed. The window was still open from the morning, allowing the starlight to twinkle on through. The many stars that were spread out across the night sky, like glitter glued stuck to a plate.

Jasper loved the night sky. He could come up with many descriptive analogies for it. "Galvana scooped up diamonds and threw them in the sky" was one of his favorites though. He read it somewhere, a book maybe? No matter.

He lied down, continuing to stare out at the night sky that for now was his.

Another proverb came to his mind

To the Night I shall sing to thee; one can not rid of the shelter you bring upon this world. So I pray, to the Night I pray, allow me in your sanctuary.

Japser liked that one. He felt at ease in the night when most would be fearful of its surprises.

It wasn't that Jasper didn't like the daytime or it's hustle bustle, no. Jasper just felt comfort in seeing the stars way up there.

Their protectors were up there long time ago, way before his lifetime. And even though Starhenge has been long since fallen, Jasper still felt like part of the Celestials were still up there.

Watching him. Guiding him. Protecting him.

His eyelids grew heavy, thoughts slowly spiraling into quiet. And at last he slept.

The Day will sing its Song in the morrow.

#msm au #musical mages au #bear cub art things #fanfiction #msm #my singing monsters #AYO ITS DONE!!!

[drewsaturday]

some thoughts about [redacted] dying now that i've had some time to process

natalie's death had poetic implications but it did not feel satisfying in the kind of tragedy they were trying to do, at least not to me, and i think that's due to how all over the place her storyline felt this season. it did not feel like it was leading up to this in a clear traceable way... and that's weird to say because i see the pieces--the wilderness initially choosing her but taking javi instead, not wanting lisa to die like javi did, etc--i think her storyline has just been pulling me in so many diff directions no outcome was going to feel right except for a "she's been being drugged by lottie this whole time actually" kinda conclusion.

it's very possible she died (and had such a scattered story) because her actress wanted to leave, but i also don't think that's common knowledge. unless you caught a specific insta story or watched a handful of specific interviews, you'll have no idea about that possibility... and as far as i know it's still just a possibility. if this is the case and the writers knew in advance, then the writing was not very good. if they didn't know until closer to the end, i can see how they tried their best to play off of previously established story pieces with it.

i don't hate that they took a character who was on the road to recovery and finally wanting to live and then made her die. i just hate that they did it in a way that didn't... feel grounded in that flavor of tragedy. it definitely makes sense it had to be her since if she kept recovering and trying to make the other girls do better we probs wouldn't have much of an adult storyline anymore. there were a few poetic things it played off of and it's mind-boggling because it SHOULD be this epic tragedy!! i'm just not feeling it for some reason.

i also appreciate the mirror of javi's death, nat not wanting someone else to die for her and having to live with that. i like that those burdens are now on lisa's shoulders. i like that nat learned to let someone in and want to protect them, even after everything.

however... if her actress was down to stay, i would have loved to see the cycle continue, to see someone else die for nat yet again, and for her to have to deal with that while still trying to come out on the other side. maybe that would just be depressing and redundant, but i think it would've been my preference to the canon thing's execution.

i see a lot of people going "can't believe people are surprised the killing and cannibalism show has killing and cannibalism" in reference to scenes like the original ritual not having much leadup or nat's death. of course i'm devastated nat's gone, and of course some people are particularly upset that the one character who was on a positive course had to be the one to die. my issue isn't that natalie died, or that they didn't spell out the steps to the og ritual. my issue is that i WANT these things, i want these darker elements, but the execution has felt lackluster and unearned and full of missed opportunities.

i like the ongoing cycle of misty killing people she loves. i said earlier i would've loved lisa to die in a cyclical nature to javi, but the cycle does continue with misty's actions. there's something so interesting about nat's sworn protector being the one to bring her down.

however, although i LOVE walter and i'm not in the "ew a man!!!" camp, i do feel a bit odd about killing off a female character just to push misty closer to a man.

there's been pushback about nat dying as a drug addict to the world, and that... in particular is uncomfortable. however i do see an interesting angle there of how only the yj's know each other best. she's nothing more than a drug addict to the rest of the world, but to her team she's a hero. they're nothing more than cannibals to the rest of the world, but to each other they're a team, etc.

the plane scene was confusing. i'm not sure why travis wasn't there and i'm not sure why teen lottie was. however i did see someone say it was javi, teen lottie, and teen nat who had the biggest impact on adult nat's trajectory and that she's finally let go of travis... so i'll take it. however i think they could've mirrored the other death/near death experiences better possibly in the language being used or the imagery. ik nat didn't have much time left compared to jackie or lottie slowly freezing to death tho.

i'm hoping that seeing nat's ascension to leader will give her adult version dying more weight. i'm not sure HOW exactly but i feel like if they had to kill off adult nat, seeing teen nat go down such a path is going to help fill the void quite a bit and possibly flesh out what we've already seen even more.

all in all i didn't hate the season or these choices, and i still want more seasons. i'm just kinda... meh... feeling about it all, and this particular scene felt like a potent one to try figuring out why.

i do want to rewatch the series/season altogether to see the bigger picture and what i may have missed, but for now... that's where we're at.

#yellowjackets tag #yj spoilers

[nellie-elizabeth]

Westworld: Que Será, Será (4x08)

It's already the finale, time flies!

Cons:

In many ways this episode almost functioned more as an epilogue, like, it wrapped up elements of the season, but we didn't really learn anything new except that final decision from Dolores. So there were things as I was watching that felt... redundant? Unneeded?

Like, okay, we have another showdown between Charlotte and William. We saw these two fight last week, and this time it's like "hey, round two, with a new winner this time." So it almost made last week's confrontation seem irrelevant, if they were just going to do a round two here. It also stalls out the impact of Charlotte's "death" last week; it's not that we didn't know it would be temporary, but to see her getting back up and getting a cooler more impenetrable body so quickly made the whole thing feel a little pointless.

Then there's Christina making up a black best friend to offer her sage advice? I don't know about that. We basically learn that Maya and Teddy and everyone else we've seen Christina talk to have been figments of her own imagination, her mind's way of processing things so she can wake up and remember the truth of what and who she is. I feel like they wanted there to be some huge impact to the discovery that Christina's roommate was entirely fictional. But I had to look it up to even know this character's name. She had no real personality of her own, so the impact of learning she was fake didn't do anything for me!

Pros:

Despite some problems that stem from the overall pacing of the season, I still did think this was a relatively solid finale.

I haven't talked about the visuals enough this season, probably, but let's just say by and large the visual and special effects go in the "pros" section virtually across the board. It's the uncanny valley horror of Charlotte's skull splitting open on smooth mechanical hinges, it's Teddy inside Dolores/Christina's mind, fizzing out with strange red electrical signals bubbling under his skin. It's the whole opening title sequence, with a synthetic skeleton playing a piano. It's Central Park, it's Times Square, all the strange glitching wonder of the environments and settings. All of that is very cool to see.

I also ultimately enjoyed Hale's fate, that she chooses to pass the mantle, let the story be told by someone else. The pieces of what Dolores once was have splintered into Charlotte Hale and Christina and whatever else, and now we're getting some synthesis, some cyclical storytelling, where as a function of Hale choosing her own end, and Dolores (Christina?) choosing her own continuing, we are seeing how things circle back to the park for which the show is named. It's a cool concept, and it also gives me hope that maybe a fifth (and likely final) season can narrow the scope, keep things where they're more interesting and contained, and give us a satisfactory wrap-up to the proceedings.

While Maya being fictional did nothing for me, I will say that Teddy's presence this season greatly moved me, and the revelation that he's entirely a figment of Dolores's, while unsurprising, was still a bit gut-wrenching. I love the idea of her creating the original park again within the Sublime. It's meta and twisty and circular in a way that this story, a story concerned with the gamification of the human experience, really justifies.

Then we've got the beautiful tragedy of Caleb and Frankie. Stubbs is killed (at least for now) in the escape effort, but an injured Frankie and a slowly dying Caleb manage to escape and get all the way to a boat that is going to take them away from the chaos. But Caleb decides not to come along, given the limited life he has left in his body. Their goodbye is tender and emotional and the perfect kind of cathartic tragedy. What a gorgeous end for Caleb's character, to be able to get this one final dream of seeing his daughter grown up, and be able to help her escape to fight another day.

That's what I've got! I hope that season five of Westworld, should it materialize, will be the show's last. I think this show ultimately suffered from an abundance of ambition, the world-building breaking out of its confinement and taking the story in directions too convoluted to be compelling to me personally. But this season was an improvement on season three, and I think they could stick the landing in an interesting way with one final chance!

8/10

#review #westworld #westworld review

[astridofraftel]

reading challenge review #4

Just finished: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor + Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Next on schedule: Le Chien des Baskerville by Arthur Conan Doyle + Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola

(HUGE spoilers for DOSAB volume 1 to 3)

I definitely appreciated the second volume more than the first! That's a relief, I was afraid it was going to get worse. This one was a roller-coaster of emotions, I gasped and sighed and cheered a few times so it was a good time!

There wasn't as much mentions of "beautifulness" as the first volume so that was a win, and there was significantly less romance (meaning the two main characters rarely interacted in this one so the story was allowed to be better).

I was neutral about Brimstone in the first volume, and he's dead in the second but everything we learn about him in this one made me absolutely love him! I love father figures in fiction, especially when it's found family, and his Message to Karou definitely sealed the deal of my endearment. I'm so sad we didn't get more scenes of him when he was alive...

Hazael's death was a letdown, too, but I get why it makes sense for the narrative. He would have made things easier, probably, and it's supposed to be a real struggle. Anyway, he and Mik had a very similar personality anyway, so it could have been redundant. Ziri was quite bland at first, but I progressively warmed up to him, even if his feelings for Karou were pathetic.

We learned a lot about the past, too, and it was very interesting to get to see more of Eretz and the chimaera's culture. There wasn't as much said about Seraphim culture, so they didn't feel as fleshed-out at that point, but it was still good to get to know that world better.

I liked that Earth was still relevant though, as was Zuzana. She annoys me sometimes as a character but I'm sure I would love her as a friend if she were real so it's probably just a me problem; I can totally see her being a popular favorite among fans (and it's obvious the author adores her).

As for DOGAM, it was great! The setting was chilling and amazing, with the hour-counting of the Arrival and a real focus on the threat Earth was under, even if the resolution of this plot-point felt a little anticlimactic to me. The long-awaited alliance was a relief, and it was good that it wasn't easy to get to it: the struggles were realistic and important.

I couldn't care less about Karou and Akiva together, but I could finally say that I got attached to them separately, which was not the case at the beginning of volume 2.

I had so much hope that Liraz would be aspec!! The disappointment was huge, especially since she got feelings in a matter of hours (that was ridiculous). Ziri grew to be one of my favorite characters from this story, I was desperate when I thought he'd died and exhilarated to discover that he hadn't, but their love story didn't impress me. I'm happy that they're happy, though, so it was still cute of them (if a bit embarrassing).

Eliza was an unexpected deus ex machina for that last plot-point, but it was okay, I'm not dissatisfied with the ending.

I have not LOVED the series, but I liked reading it. I definitely think that, had I had only bought the first volume, I wouldn't have bothered to read (much less buy) the second and the third. But I'm still glad I went through it all, because it wasn't a bad read in the end! It just wasn't made for my type of taste. I need to be emotionally involved with the characters first in order to like a romance, and not every story builds it up enough for me, because not every romance story is a slowburn and very often the romance is the character-building. People with different tastes than I will love the kind of romance Karou and Akiva have, but it's not a recommendation I would personally make.

I totally recommend reading Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares from the same author, though! I really should re-read them now that I've read DOSAB because I think they might be somehow linked, in a probably vague way. The first chapter was actually at the very end of DOGAM as a preview and reading it again made me remember how much I loved this duology, mostly because it was so beautifully written.

Next up: a Sherlock Holmes story to procrastinate the french classic I bought on a friend's recommendation (and that I'm dreading to get into, because ten years ago I DNF the only Zola book I ever opened)

(prev) (next)

#daughter of smoke and bone by laini taylor #days of blood and starlight by laini taylor #dreams of gods and monsters by laini taylor #spoilers #9 books read out of 30 #reading challenge #books #my post

[petrichoraline]

i dont know if this post is worth anything but ill make it anyway - i was disappointed with the finale. i watched the last four episodes yesterday and it was so nice! i was left with the feeling we'd get a happy ending so i wasn't worried about that but little did i know i'd find a happy ending so unsatisfying.

the loose ends were wrapped nicely, palmnueng learned that love requires more mutual work and less unsolicited sacrifice, family won over greed, etc. but the way the show went about it felt so lazy! i don't remember ever being this bored with a finale, the script choices were sometimes questionable (mostly palmnueng dialogues) and some scenes awkward - chopper, ben and nueng in front of palm's room joking around was a bit painful to watch and so was the convo between tanya and nueng in the hospital - i don't think it was there just to fill time but it was executed (or edited) in a way that made it feel that way.

perth and chimon just didn't show any romantic chemistry whatsoever which i felt was needed considering ben switched from nueng to chopper (even if he liked him before, what we as an audience experienced did not include enough of ben being obviously into chopper)

i don't know if i should even comment on the we best love attempt, if i watch a scene and it reminds me of a way better executed one immediately, there is an issue - for them it's three months, for us it's about 15 minutes of separation; i'm guessing it was supposed to be this short, not as much of a serious conflict but rather a final step (now that both have left for each other's good) on their way to happiness. i can understand that, i did still find it boring and redundant.

other than that, i'm happy for palmnueng and i'm glad i shared these 12 weeks with them 💖

#never let me go #nlmg #palmnueng #are these L takes lol id love to hear opinions on this #all of this is plastered with a big IMO

[weakforarwen]

The biggest mistake the writers did with The Last Dragonlord was beginning the episode in the middle of a battle. Already you knew there was no real urgency and that Kilgharrah's attack was not the focus of the episode. Had the dragon been a real threat to Camelot, the finale wouldn't have begun on day 3 of his attack. The characters were scared but had already grown accustomed to the attacks; all of them were safe: Uther never left the castle (Kilgharrah's revenge was against him but he was weirdly comfortable); Gwen was saved in the beginning of the episode so we knew nothing would probably happen to her, and she and Gaius only left the castle during the day, when it was safe; Arthur and Merlin can't die so no one was feared for their lives; and Morgana was gone. Truly, what was there to be scared of?

The episode was very high tension but the audience couldn't share the characters' sense of urgency, so it was all a bit excessive. It didn't help that the episode was jam-packed with pivotal character-building moments that almost didn't feel earned. All the events of this episode could've taken place at any other point in the season. Furthermore, the excessive amount of emotional scenes had the effect of partially desensitizing me to them. That also created an issue with the pacing. The episode was constantly "lurching". It started with a battle scene but the tension quickly dropped only to pick up fast in the scenes with Balinor; yet, the episode climaxed with his death and the tension dropped afterwards, even though the stakes were supposedly higher. The episode just didn't feel like it was building up to anything.

An example of the intensity of pivotal scenes decreasing throughout the episode was Arwen. Arthur saved Gwen early into the episode, and they shared an intimate moment in the infirmary; much later, at the end of the episode, Gwen ran into Arthur's arms after he returned safe from his suicide mission to defeat Kilgharrah. The last moment had bigger significance than the first one because Gwen had been openly and publicly embracing Arthur, yet the first moment had been much more tender and touching. The significance of Gwen running into Arthur's arms was slightly undermined by the fact that Arthur only reacted with surprise and the moment ended as fast as it begun.

A better example of this were Merthur. When Arthur and Merlin set out to find Balinor, they rested at an inn for the night. Merlin was quiet, worrying about meeting his father, so Arthur asked him about it. (The scene frankly read as romantic: the soundtrack was romantic, and Merlin and Arthur sharing the same room and an intimate, late night conversation was the kind of scenario common to romcoms.) Arthur was uncharacteristically sweet with Merlin, encouraging him to see Arthur as a friend; it was a very touching scene, if somewhat odd due to its obvious yet entirely misplaced romantic undertones, and it was really the only scene I needed from Merthur to feel like they'd grown closer and that Arthur cared for Merlin the way we already knew Merlin cared for Arthur.

However, we had another touching scene between them, before their final confrontation with Kilgharrah. By then I had already reached my limit of heartwarming Merthur scenes, so I just felt a bit bored by it. Too much emphasis was placed on the fact that Merlin was willing to go into battle with Arthur; Merlin had proven his loyalty too many times for Arthur to act surprised by his actions. We already knew they would survive with 100% certainty, so, honestly, who even cared that they were going on a dangerous mission? The best part of the scene was Arthur telling Merlin no man was worth his tears, not knowing that man had been Merlin's father. Everything else was redundant. Just like with Arwen, their second big, emotional scene was less meaningful and impactful (to the audience) than the first.

The highlight of this episode was obviously Merlin and Balinor. I loved their scenes a lot, but the writers made a mistake placing them in the season finale. Balinor and Merlin needed an entire episode dedicated to them. Merlin meeting his father and becoming a Dragonlord was a big deal, but everything felt rushed, because, technically, the focus of the episode was on defeating Kilgharrah. Yet, the most emotional and tense moment of the episode was watching Balinor die in Merlin's arms. The episode peaked there. We knew Merlin could stop Kilgharrah, so nothing else mattered.

If the entire episode was about Merlin becoming a Dragonlord, why make it a season finale? It may have been significant to Merlin, but it meant nothing to Arthur. Apart from showing his great courage and leadership skills, Arthur had no character-building moments. This series wasn't just about Merlin. His destiny was to serve Arthur, his story began with Arthur. Any series finale should take Arthur a step closer to becoming The Once and Future King. The Last Dragonlord would've been an excellent mid-season episode, but it was certainly not a proper finale. It was similar to Le Morte d'Arthur in that way; Arthur was rather useless in both finales and only Merlin got to prove himself, so both episodes were underwhelming and felt filler-y to me. Watching Prince Arthur become the legendary King Arthur was the appeal of the series. At this point in the story, we already knew Merlin was powerful and that his powers grew by the day. It was Arthur who was a big question mark for us; he was far from being legendary.

So, yeah, the episode was enjoyable yet messy. It would've been an excellent episode were it not the season finale. For a finale, it felt too much like a standalone episode. It told us nothing about what was to come (besides Arwen, maybe; Morgana was only mentioned once, in passing, by Gaius); Arthur didn't grow much as a character; it was completely unrelated to all other episodes - probably because the season had not plot; and although Kilgharrah's freedom had been hinted at from the beginning, I hadn't expected him to attack Arthur of all people.

Lastly, I'll just mention a few scenes I liked a lot:

Arthur and Gwen's first scene was amazing, but the scenes between Gaius and Gwen were just as touching and meaningful to Arwen. I found Gaius's words so beautiful, hopeful, and moving:

Oh... the world's a strange place, Guinevere. Never underestimate the power of love. I've seen it change many things.

I immediately thought of Merlin and how his love failed to change Arthur's destiny - and, in fact, cemented it, but love did indeed change many things.

Gaius's (and Arthur's) love saved Merlin from possibly becoming a Morgana, or a Gilli, or even a Mordred; Gwen's love nurtured Arthur and sheltered him from his father's influence so he became a better King; Arthur's love transformed Gwen and gave her the means to fulfill her calling to serve Camelot; Arthur and Gwen's love for each other saved them from the outside forces trying to separate and weaken them; the love between Morgause and Morgana birthed a new Morgana; Merlin's love for Arthur changed both of them forever; Arthur's love for Camelot made him The Once and Future King of Albion; and I could go on.

I loved Gaius in the episode. His words to Merlin were so sweet and deeply touching:

Merlin, I know I can never compare with your father, but for what it's worth, you've still got me.

Their scenes together felt earned due to the love, trust, and respect that existed between them. To me, the Merthur scenes were tainted by the fact that Arthur only seemed to value Merlin when their lives were at stake. Arthur and Merlin's dynamic in this episode was not their normal. Just in the previous episode, Arthur told Merlin to stick to what he did best, which was nothing.

Anyway, like I said, I loved Gaius and Gwen in the episode. I like their friendship a lot; they work well together. Gaius loved Arthur so he was happy to see him and Gwen at the infirmary. He was happy Arthur and Gwen had each other. He gave Gwen hope for the future.

I liked the symbolism of the last scene of Gwen running into Arthur's arms, and sort of "stealing" Arthur from Merlin, and Gaius going to Merlin. The person Arthur loved the most was Gwen, and the person Merlin loved the most and could always count on was Gaius. Others (Freya, Balinor) left Merlin, and Arthur was inherently unreliable since he didn't know Merlin's secret or approve of magic and, besides, his priorities were Camelot, his father, and Gwen, but Gaius was always there for Merlin. I didn't mean to say Gwen actually stole Arthur from Merlin, as in, romantically, but rather that the scene was symbolic of the fact that while Merlin lived for Arthur, Arthur lived for Camelot, Gwen, and his father first, and remained oblivious to Merlin's pain and sacrifice, which only Gaius truly knew.

Lastly, what stood out to me about Arwen's hug was Arthur's shock. Gwen had been the one to distance herself from Arthur, so I think he was taken aback by her very open display of affection. Perhaps he was also surprised that she cared for him that much.

#bbc merlin #bbc arwen #merlin #arwen #arthur pendragon #gwen pendragon #gaius #the last dragonlord commentary #the last dragonlord