#and trying to avoid having to put it in a particular region

[hibiscuslynx]

i keep imagining the statehouse as this huge house in the middle of nowhere. the entire property is in the middle of a grassland—yellow-green grass that reaches up to your knees kind of grassland. the plains. and there's a fenced off backyard behind the statehouse, but not more than a few hundred feet after it there's a forest—a temperate deciduous forest, like you find in the eastern U.S., with a creek a little ways in. venture deeper and you'll find a river. there's a mountain backdrop as well, and you know they're huge mountains, but they're so far away they appear a little small.

the house itself is... queen anne meets folk victorian-ish. shades of golden brown and white. there's a paved road leading up to it and a parking lot off to the side, about the size of a decently sized high school parking lot. and the road ends at the house. if you keep driving the other way, though, you eventually make it to town. a fairly urban city, with your standard fast food joints and stores and gas stations and whatnot. it's not the heart of a metropolis, not the suburban edges of it, but a decently populated urban city with a freeway or two running through it. somehow, somewhere, after a bit of an elevation drop maybe, absolutely rural plains gives way to the city. blink and you'll miss it, except no matter what you do, you'll always miss it.

the thing is, i keep imagining the statehouse and the land surrounding it as this little pocket in time and space, that exists on vaguely the same line as where central time meets eastern. the states are immortal, and that's practically magic, so why can't the statehouse be magic as well?

#lynx rambles #wttt #wttsh #welcome to the table #welcome to the statehouse #disclaimers: i know nothing about architecture and did some quick google searches to come up with queen anne and folk victorian #also this is mostly the result of me trying to put the loose concept in my head into words #and trying to avoid having to put it in a particular region #since the start i have always had this idea that the statehouse was out in the country #but it also doesnt make sense to not put it in an urban area #but also this praire forest idea would NOT leave my head #afterthought: i realize this is more eastern u.s. based #and my excuse for that is that 80% of the U.S. population lives east of like the 99th meridian i think it is? #also i wrote this in the middle of the night so this may not make a lot of sense but thats fiiiiiiiine #i also do entertain the thought of like a TARDIS-style average suburban house thats normal on the outside but huge on the inside #and i love it and it matches up w the actual statehouse series #but like i said before . the praire-forest location would just NOT leave my head #this idea of some state just walking out the back door and continuing to walk thru the entire backyard and then jump the fence and then #Keep walking untl they reach the forest bc they need some time alone or theyre Super pissed off or something #does any of this even make sense . dont think about it too much #anyway. posts this and logs off

[tibli]

story research is fun because its so all over the damn place. like one minute I’m googling “weird reptiles” and the next I’m doing research on an ancient village in the taklamakan desert. and then after that I’m doing an hours-long deep dive into phonetics and grammar structures across various languages

#tibtalks #story development #whats frustrating though is that a lot of things i want to learn about #are very very difficult to find concrete answers on #extremely specific questions that are hard to google #mainly because i want this world to feel authentic and well-put together #while also trying to avoid the standard fantasy pitfall #of having villages that were clearly derived from a shallow and surface-level understanding of a particular culture #like obviously i can only get so far with internet research because i have no means to travel to these places i want to know more about #but at the very least i want it to be more fleshed out than just #'these people live in a desert and that's all there is to it' #or god forbid like #the whole tipis and totem poles thing with indigenous coded characters #like the story im writing has multiple races both human and not #but i dont want any of them to feel like a monolith #so certain communities are based on like #central asia or northern africa #among others #but its a balancing game between 'i dont want to treat every culture in this region as a singular entity' #but also 'i dont want to take so much from one culture that its indistinguishable from its own thing' #mainly bc im bored with fantasy where all the major protagonists are white #i figure its at least better to try and inevitably make missteps than it is to not try at all #sorry this was suuuuuuper long lmao i just needed to get my thoughts out #you would not believe how many obscure little websites ive visited scrounging for even the smallest little morsel of useful information

[headspace-hotel]

I'm trying to write a post about tick safety and avoiding tick bites, but a lot of the info on websites is like "Avoid going in the woods, in plants, and where there are wild animals" and "Activities like hiking and gardening can put you at risk" and I'm like thanks! This is worthless!

As ticks and tick borne illnesses are expanding their range, I think it's important for people to be educated about these things, and I think it's especially important to give people actual advice on how to protect themselves instead of telling them to just...avoid the natural world

Rough draft version of Tick Advice:

Ticks don't jump down on you from trees, they get on you when you brush against grass, brush, bushes etc.

Ticks get brought to an area when they get done feeding from an animal and fall off them. In the USA, the main tick-bringing animal is deer, but I've seen plenty ticks on feral cats and songbirds.

Ticks get killed when they dry out so drier areas with more sunlight are less favorable to ticks.

The above is useful for figuring out whether an area is likely to have lots of ticks, and how vigilant you have to be in that area.

Wear light-colored, long pants outside. Tuck your pants into your socks, and tuck your shirt into the waist of your pants. Invest in light, breathable fabrics idc

IMMEDIATELY change out of your outside clothes when you come back from a tick-prone area, wash them, and dry them on high heat to kill any ticks that might be stuck on.

Shower and check yourself for ticks after coming inside. Hair, armpits, and nether regions in particular. You can use a handheld mirror or rely on touch; an attached tick will feel like a bump kinda like a scab

While you're outside, you can just periodically check for ticks by running your hands down your legs and checking visually to see if anything is crawling on your clothes. Light colors make them easy to spot, and they don't move fast.

Combing through each others' hair to check for creepy crawly critters is a time-honored primate ritual and is not weird. When hiking, bring a friend who will have your back when you feel something on your neck and need to know if it's sweat or a tick

If you're careful, you can usually catch ticks before they bite you, but if one does bite you, it's not the end of the world. Since tickborne diseases are different regionally i suspect this advice will differ based on where you are, but the important thing is remove the tick with tweezers (DON'T use butter, a lit match, or anything that kills the tick while it's still attached, please) and contact a doctor to see what to watch for. Most illnesses you can catch from ticks are easily treatable if you recognize them when symptoms first appear

#random #ticks #nature #safety #psa

[lomlompurim]

What if Without A Cure were a different type of poison, like a cursed potion that will consume a person's body & mind, slowly and painfully while they transform into a creature with little to nothing left of their human consciousness, ending up like a beast. Like a dragon.

A victim of this version of Without A Cure would suffer a series of gradual changes on their body: developing scales all over their skin, claws growing in their hands and feet, painful reament of bones, teeths being replaced by fangs, several migraines for growing horns out of their skull, and a tail.

What if the sessions of qi transfers with Liu Qingge and the herbs can only do so much to keep the transformation at bay, forcing the changes on Shen Qingqiu's body to step back for a bit. But as the days go by, these changes come again slowly, each time a little bit harder to fight. And the flares of Without A Cure make these changes happen at a violent speed.

He can hide the worst of it with a veil, gloves and a hat while being in CQ mountain. Having LQG and MQF helping him almost daily. But the peaklords (Specially YQY) do their best to keep eveything as private as possible. No one truly knew what this Without A Cure was capable of, since the few records of it's victims mark them as dead within a few days of being posioned, having "strange deformities in their bodies" as the only clue.

Maybe Binghe never really knew the true effects of the so called poison with no cure. He only knew his master sacrificed his cultivation and now needs qi transfers to help him endure the pain.

SQQ never really tolds him, he saw how guilty Binghe felt about the whole deal, telling him that he was slowly becoming a feral creature will only make the poor boy feel worse!! Unthinkable. It wasn't so bad anyways (it was) for now his draconic features are minimal, almost non existent after the qi transfers, everything is going to be fine. Maybe becoming a dragon can help him avoid death? Uh that's a problem for the SQQ of the future.

After the conference, SQQ's grief made things a little bit worse. Just a little. The pace of the cursed posion is becoming more bothersome as days passed by, now he can't go anywhere without a veil covering his face, and the little poking horns on this head can't be hiden by his hair anymore. Maybe he just should die and come back in his plant body to put a stop to this prickly curse. A lot of people, in or outside of the mountain think he covers his face out of vanity or bc of an ugly scar. Some weirdos are even trying to take a peek under his veil. Is this what Liu Mingyan has to endure everyday?! The urge to bite out those curious fingers is becoming stronger.

Then, what if when Huan Hua Palace takes him as a prisoner, a flare up happens and with no one to help him w a qi transfer, his horns grow severly inches long, his hands and feet are completly covered in grey scales, big black claws ripping his robes because his skin is itching like hell thanks to the new scales. His pupils become slit, his tail pokes out of the rags that his clothes became, everything is a mess and no one can see him like these.

What if when Sqq self detonates, instead of dying he sacrificed what was left of his humanity to stabilize Binghe, and he completly transformates into a huge white dragon, flying away into the sky, disappearing in the distance. Leaving a very confused half demon and a devastated war god behind, memories of his human life becoming blurry and far away.

What if some despicable palace master and a particular greedy demon royalty of the nothern region put a price on the head of the misterious white dragon that has been seen floating around the skies?

--------------

Idk this is an idea for a bingliushen story. With without a cure having the effects of the first drafts that airplane had thought in this AU, when PIDW was not so popular yet. And no, the heavenly pillar can't cure this. In my brain this version of without a cure is older than the concept of dual cultivation with a heavenly demon being a cure to almost everything, so no magic dick can solve it, they would have to find another way.

In my mind Sqq's dragon form is like this from Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. Pretty big lizzard.

#svsss #人渣反派自救系统 #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #liu qingge #fic idea #but idk how to write #well I kinda now and tbh I'd love to try but rn I dont have the time #my semester will end up soon tho #I can give it a try during my vacation period who knows #a lot of my sparks of ideas are too long to just draw why am I like this #without a cure transforms sqq into a dragon au

[jellogram]

Tips for naming characters!

Nameberry.com is a good place to start. If you make an account you can save names you find in a list form.

If your story is set in a particular time and place that exists, google the most popular names of that region/period for inspiration.

If your story takes place in a fantasy world, consider the feeling of the setting, and what kind of words/names/languages also evoke that feeling. If you want a dark medieval vibe, start by taking a look at some Latin names. If it takes place in a magic forest, maybe look at nature names and see if there's a twist you can put on them. Be sure any cultural names are being used respectfully.

If you make up a name completely from scratch, consider if readers will be able to pronounce it by looking at it.

Finding the first letter can help narrow it down and make name websites easier to employ. Look at popular names starting with different letters and see if any particular letter gives off the right vibe.

Generally, you will probably want to avoid overly long or complex names. Throwing in a lot of unusual letters or punctuation can very quickly make your story sound cheesy. A suggested rule is to balance conventionality with length, ie, Alexandrinius is a bit pretentious but could work in the right story. Whereas Xelakzandrinius is a little try-hard, but you might get away with just Xelak. This will of course vary by what language you are writing in.

No matter what name you choose-- but ESPECIALLY if you made one up yourself-- GOOGLE THE NAME FIRST.

For adding a last name, think about the number of syllables in each name. 3-2 typically makes a good combo (Hillary Clinton, Jeremy Renner) but there's no hard rule on patterns. Just think about where the emphasis is and what kind of rhythm you want the name to have. Assonance and consonance are your friends.

#more writing advice since yall seem to like these <3 #i love names honestly like I scroll through nameberry sometimes just for fun #writing #writing advice #writing tips #writing time #writeblr #writing community #creative writing #writer things #writers

[azullumi]

can you do some headcannons of spending your time w/ tighnari? like helping him with his studies and helping him pick flowers!!

summary — your alone time with tighnari rarely comes and when it does, the two of you always spend it wisely and it's at these rare moments that you'll learn to cherish every single bit with him.

pairing — tighnari/gender-neutral reader

tags — fluff, established relationship; headcanons

word count — 931

a/n — i'm having a fried brain as i wrote this with heavy eyes but like i really wanted to write

Your alone time with Tighnari rarely comes and when it does, the two of you always spend it wisely especially when he’s often busy with his work. This sometimes leads to the two of you searching for ways to spend time together instead of waiting for that said opportunity to come. Even when it’s just in the small and short moments that you two could spend, you’ll cherish it greatly. 

“Do you have some time?”

“If it’s for you, of course. Although, I can only give you a short amount of time as I still have other duties to finish, is that fine?”

Oftentimes, you’ll accompany him while he’s out—only when he lets you and he’s not going somewhere dangerous like an area of withering or venturing out in unknown regions of the forest because he was notified of dangers lurking in that said place. He’ll let you come with him as he looks for new species of plants or just picking for some herbs and flowers, always teaching you about everything that he knows about what you saw or just anything that you’ll ask.

He’ll tell you about the Dos and Don’ts of certain things, greatly emphasizing on what to not eat and avoid smelling so you don’t end up putting your life at risk and him having to worry about your safety. He educates you about the poisonous plants that are commonly found in the forest and animals that you must avoid at all cost. He’s particular and strict but you understand because everything is just for your own protection since the forest could be an enemy to those who are a stranger to it.

“You should never— and when I say never, it’s really never—never ever eat that no matter how hungry you are.”

“Whenever that plant is in its activated state, avoid inhaling its scent.”

New knowledge about your environment always comes whenever you’ll go out with him and it’s not like you mind because it helps you in becoming more familiar with your surroundings and knowing everything that you need. Tighnari has a lot to tell you, especially about what he has learned as he is willing to share them as long as you are also willing to listen. He often helps you in your studies when you need it and alternatively, if he ever needs help about something that you are knowledgeable about, he will not hesitate to seek out for you.

“(Name), are you free? Can I ask for help over here?”

The two of you have a small garden built and made together and only you and him are allowed to access that. It is where you grow some crops and tend to flora and botany. You could say that its convenience is great as Tighnari could easily research and study about some plants on a much closer range and he could even grow some of them too.

The garden is never neglected as it is also where you spend some time together especially during the morning when you two are watering the plants, tending to the crops, picking out the weeds, cleaning up, and everything. Although it can be exhausting right after.

When he’s studying and doing some sort of research, trying to finish it up in one sitting, you’ll prepare some snacks for him and make sure that he’s not forgetting to take some rest in between. When he does take a break, he’ll ask you to come over to his direction and once you do, he’ll just either hug you as you sit on his lap or hold your hand with the excuse of energizing himself and honestly, it’s such a cute excuse.

However, your time with him isn’t just spent on learning, picking flowers, and studying. When either of you two or just the both of you are tired and need some rest, your time will be spent sleeping together while cuddling. He’ll hold you near him, the space between you just nonexistent as he wrapped his arms around you nicely and not tightly so as to not accidentally suffocate you. He mostly prefers it when your back is facing him and he’s hugging you from the behind because he gets to smell the scent of your hair and feel you much closer to him.

When time would even allow, he’ll take you out on a date that he has planned and that date isn’t just going out of the forest but is instead going to the city and having a meal together in a place that he booked a reservation for. He has a romantic meal prepared just for you two, having yours and his favorite foods prepared and in addition, he also has a bouquet of your favorite flower ready.

But not every date is planned. Sometimes, it’s just something that happens or came up on a whim, something that you just suddenly decided on when the two of you are together and had nothing to do. These types of dates involve going to an area with a magnificent view and where you can also watch the sunset while having a small picnic, going down the river and playing in the water with him, or it could be stargazing on a high place while laying down the grass.

There are multiple means that you can spend time with him, time that you always seek out and memories that you create together, and even if it’s just the most silent moments with nothing but the presence of one another, he’ll cherish and hold it closely to his heart.

— navigation | masterlist

#tighnari fluff #tighnari x you #tighnari headcanons #tighnari x reader #tighnari #genshin impact fanfics #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact #genshin headcanons #genshin fluff #genshin imagines #genshin fanfic #genshin x you #tighnari fanfic #genshin #azul.writes

[fatuismooches]

SMOOCHES!!! Hii my dove!! ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა

OKay so! Since fragile!reader was in a coma for like a really reallyyyy long time, it means Dottore didn’t really have anybody to cook for him. 😭I’m glad we all agree this man probably can’t/couldn’t cook well, so you were the one always cooking his meals before you got sick. And sure ! Maybe you did teach him a few recipes but they won’t taste the same! Or how he wasn’t able to enjoy the sweets you would bake for him before whenever he would stay up working on his experiments in your dorm. I Can just imagine that while you’re in your coma, he probably tries baking/cooking so that when you do wake up from your coma, he can treat you to perhaps some food he made. Would it be burnt? Obviously…but I feel like whenever he does have free time and you’re baking/cooking, he would try to help you instead of Zandy helping you. He probably shoo’s the child away LMAO. I really enjoy that one HC that someone made about him taking an hour out of his day. Since just the both of you baking and talking over simple things </3 I’m very delulu as you can see. I just wanna bake chocolate chip cookies with my love and talk about the most generic things while we wait for the cookies to bake. 😭

Anyways I hope you’ve been enjoying Fontaine! I was able to finish the archon quests and plan on starting exploration the day I’m writing this. I really think Fontaine is my fav region bc of how gorgeous and fun it is. But have a wonderful day my love! Lots of cuddles and chu chus

-from your dear boo boo bear 🎐 anon ೀ

🎐 ANON!!! MY LOVE <3 THANK YOU FOR THIS BRAINROT!

Yup yup, do NOT let Dottore cook 😭 It will not go well. The first time you let him cook dinner in the dorm was also the last time. From then you tried to teach him some basics so everything he knows is from you, but even still it's not the best... only the bare minimum. So Zandik had always left the kitchen stuff to you which he had no problem with. He never admitted defeat... but in this particular skill he had to.

But he only realizes the extent of his ineptitude when you're not here anymore. I feel like his lab wouldn't even have a kitchen a first lol he only got it put in since he knows you'll want to cook when you wake up from your coma. And even though he gets it for you he avoids the room like a plague because it somehow reminds him of you cooking in that cramped dorm kitchen from long ago.

Until finally after a long period of time and no signs of you waking up Dottore bites the bullet and tries his hand at your forte. Truthfully he never understand why he wasn't good, he thought of cooking as a sort of experimental procedure, just follow the directions in the cookbook and surely the food would turn out fine, right? Wrong! No matter how much he follows the directions down to the wire it turns out horribly. Even if he wings it, it's much worse. He swore he could hear you laughing and making fun of him... even though you had been asleep for centuries.

UGH YES ZANDIK HELPING YOU 😭 Hey, he may not be able to do all of the actual cooking but he can still slice and cut things up pretty good (he has experience if yk what i mean) which is quite helpful to you since your hands are shaky. You have to comfort bb Zandy that you'll hang with him later before hugging him (he throws the meanest look and sticks his tongue out at Dottore)

Oh yes that was 💌 anon's hc !! <33 Sometimes you feel guilty for "wasting" his time so you try to not make it a habit but he always lectures you for thinking that way. I mean surely he has more important things to do than doing some silly little baking with you but he always reassures you in his gruff to the point way of speaking that he likes it.

Yup, I've been loving Fontaine very very much! The story has been my fav part and I also love the underwater scenery 💖 Good luck on your exploration! I think it is a lot of fun doing stuff in the sea, it feels so new and unique ❤️ (Sumeru desert flashbacks)

#smooches talks #🎐 anon #fragile reader <3 #dottore love notes <3 #omg u sitting on his lap waiting for the stuff to finish baking :( #and then u fall asleep and somehow watching u makes me fall asleep to and then the two of u wake up to the clones putting out a fire <3 #and yea fontaine has been so... invigorating

[sam-glade]

hey sam, happy STS!

you have a lot of really good worldbuilding resources and do a lot for your stories - do you have a go-to strategy when it comes to research (especially for something you haven't looked into before), or is it a bit different every time?

my own strategies atm are very uhhh scattershot tbh TT_TT

(--@space-writes)

Hi Space! Happy STS💜

Now that I've created two (and a half) settings - two worlds, one of which has two stories set in different eras - I'd say I have a consistent strategy, and sure, I'm happy to share it, but I make no promises it'll work for anyone else😅 'Scattershot' is a pretty good description.

I usually start with some elements of the setting that make me want to put a story in it. In Days of Dusk it's the metaphysics, with the superpowered weapons and long lifespan. In The Fulcrum, it's the larger than life structures inhabited by a sentient species that couldn't have possibly built it. I treat these ideas as axioms, and take them as given. I only need a handful of those, and the rest is exploring the consequences.

There are three parts to it:

Trust your intuition

Tl;dr: put down whatever comes to mind, explain it later, if needed.

It starts with how I draft stories. I'll come up with a location or two and describe it in detail in the first few chapters. As I draft them, I try to avoid the notes in square brackets to fill in the details later. Instead, I trust my intuition and put down the first thing that comes to mind that would make this particular place and scene unique. If I'm really unsure about it, I might make an editing note for later to check it, but 9 out of 10 times, it sticks.

I'm talking about the little, localised things that make the place/character/ritual distinct and memorable. Accents, talismans, decorative vessels on the shelves in the house, etc. Basically, whenever a description starts sounding too bland and generic, I'll come up with something - anything - on the spot. It's a first draft, it doesn't have to be perfect.

I'll use Gifts of Fate as an example. The first scene-setting description is this:

The downpour started when they were half way to Beetletun. The ground turned to mud, and the leaves of the bushes that crawled up the sides of the causeway drooped heavy with water. No wonder that there was nobody else in sight, on the road or in the orchards and fields stretching to either side of it.

For the plot, I needed it to be on an empty road and with rain, but otherwise, it could have been just fields - that's boring. Ok, fields and copses of trees to break the monotony? Still not distinctive enough to stick in the reader's memory. So, on a whim I arrived at orchards.

So now Aritia, the region where Lissan's from, is known for its orchards; they're an ubiquitous element of the landscape.

Causes and Consequences

I've come up with a detail, now I'd like to explain it, so that it's consistent with adjacent elements. I usually do that when I'm passing time irl, e.g. in a queue or on public transport, not looking at the document. I'll pick at a detail and keep asking why it is this way and what else it affects.

This is loosely based on the Five Whys method though quite often I won't go as deep with the questioning, and expand in the direction of consequences.

To take the orchards from the previous section, what does it entail? Quite a few of Lissan's neighbours work in the orchards. Let's weave this in then - a person Lissan runs into in the pub is a son of one of the local apple growers. Also, there's plenty of apples to go around, so in the beginning of the second book, Lissan and Marta (his sister) talk at home as they do chores - turning what's left of the late apple harvest after winter into jam.

At no point I'spell out that apples are the primary goods produced in this region.

This is also where going down research rabbit holes and chains of Wikipedia articles comes in handy. I'll look up especially the technologies that I put in on a whim, to make sure what are the prerequisites for them and that they're reasonable with the level of development of the society. I'm not talking about modelling how science and technology developed in your setting on history, but rather understanding why it happened IRL and translating it to the priorities and values of your setting.

For example, in the setting of Days of Dusk, people turn to ash in the moment of their death. That's one of the rules of the setting which I don't want to change. As a consequence, you can't perform autopsies, and that stunts the development of medical sciences. Ouch.

Another example: I wanted lamps lighting the streets in the main city featured in the story. Ok, so what sort of fuel was used in early gas lamps? Where did it come from? Coal is one of the options. Ok, so let's say this region is coal-rich, and there are mines. Why are they mining it extensively in the first place? What are they using it up for? Factories - so let's say we're at the very beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Let's add a factory to the cityscape.

Of course this could have gone in a different direction - gas can be obtained from other sources, like wood or peat, and each option would have different consequences. E.g. on the landscape - wood comes from forests, peat from moors.

Either way, if the overall appearance of the setting was pre-modern, I'd have much more trouble explaining it, but it's still doable! Are they fuelled by magic? Where does the magical energy come from? And so on.

You can keep asking these questions forever, but the last part is:

Be lazy

It's very easy to go too far with following the threads of cause and effect, and I'm afraid it's one of the cases where your mileage may vary. Most people won't notice or at least won't be pulled out of the story by anachronisms, some will. How egregious they need to be to break immersion, will vary.

My rule of thumb is to pick one main thing about the location and add no more than 2-3 relevant details per scene in which it features. Hence, Aritia is Lissan's home and we return there quite often, so it's a lot more fleshed out than a village where Lissan stays for two chapters, recuperating, and doesn't really leave his host's house. In the latter, I've no idea who the local lord is or what's the main export of this area. It doesn't matter.

I only come up with the details when they're needed. A very obvious example would be hypothetical methods of space travel which the society will reach in a millennium, when right now it's an early-modern setting.

I didn't name the lord to whom Lissan's home village belongs until 2/3 of the way through the book, when Marta was talking about the lord at length, filling Lissan in on what he'd missed. I vaguely knew that there are the five princedoms, but only two of the princes feature in Gifts of Fate, so I didn't even come up with the names of the others until I reached a scene in the later books, when they all make an appearance.

I also don't put the names of the cities, rivers, or regions on the map until they come up in the story. Then and only then I note them down so that they'll be consistent.

Finally, you'll see extensive worldbuilding questions lists, which are overwhelming and frankly, I find them incredibly unhelpful. They're usually divided into sections like climate, government, religion, culture, etc., and sure, it's good to be aware that these aspects of the setting are a thing, but I don't believe that they're all important in every story. Most of the categories can be described in vague terms, and adjusted as needed.

So, e.g. in Gifts of Fate, there's a conspiracy within the army and the plot relies on military technology being misused, so I'm exploring the magic system in detail, as well as the military. There's a single chapter of courtly intrigue (I couldn't resist a ball), so I completely skipped etiquette and customs among the upper class, only describing fancy outfits. Also, there's nothing about political factions and tensions between the different princedoms. It's not relevant. The religion also is a very background thing, so a couple of rites are mentioned in vague terms, but at no point I mention a pantheon of gods (there isn't one) or a creation myth.

I hope that helps😊

#writeblr #writing advice #worldbuilding #sts #ask and i shall answer #days of dusk

[florenceisfalling]

@nil-the-glitch nil i love you so much, you know this. but this is so untrue it kills me. i know people say that exact thing a lot, but im so sick of that argument, i feel like its just rooted in people getting tired of the particular country songs they're forced to listen to while shopping at walmart - i definitely said it when i was a junior high schooler trying to be contrarian but i didnt even mean it i just wanted people to stop forcing me to listen to jason aldean

you can listen to plenty of new country musicians and hear their old influences. go listen to roses are falling by orville peck, or steve earle's songs about unions, or turnpike troubadour's particular ballads that give a charlie daniels vibe, neko case's older songs with yodel sort of vocals, or literally anything thats not jason aldean. many of the "old country" people praise are still making music anyway. dolly parton has plenty of "modern" albums

country is full of subgenres, not divided into new/old. yes, there was a shift in politics after 9/11, but that is not universal nor inescapable. and now in the modern age you actually get MORE of a selection of what to listen to bc more indie artists can put their stuff out there, which means you dont have to worry about a particular subgenre you dont like dominating so hard you cant find anything else.

theres no singular spirit of country aside from its roots in a particular region. its a multifaceted beast and should remain so.

the reason country gets a bad rep is because of 1.) the handful of shitty fake fame types, who are insanely easy to avoid if you arent in a walmart or some guys car (JASON ALDEAN), 2.) peoples refusal to seek out music beyond popular stuff, and judging an entire genre based off of the tiny bit that gets the most media attention is ALWAYS a bad idea 3.) the idea that all of the south and thus all of its culture is irredeemably right wing because people want an easy target to blame for republicans in power (go listen to humdinger by old crow medicine show) and 4.) classism.

you cant be saying this to me when we just had luke combs up there singing with TRACY CHAPMAN good heavens .

[boss-poss]

I've kinda gotten interested in the pokemon gun slavery game since I learned it was actually a base building survival type deal but $30 seems like a lot to pay to watch someone piss on an established franchise. I'd bite for 15, maybe even 20 for a completed game, but I just feel like I'm getting hustled for the current price. It's funny watching nintendo take knee to the balls after decades of stagnant slop but I won't be overcharged for event, sorry. It's a project made out of spite and designed to fire a few shots in the air to scare a company but it isn't really anything else. I think I'll just wait for like a year and catch it on a sale.

Otherwise I would like to see more contenders in the creature collection ring. I can't go back and play old pokemon games because the level of difficulty is nonexistent I've realized as time has gone on that the combat system is really fucking basic and broken. Give me an actual attempt at making an even semi-original competitor with a decently balanced combat system and some challenge and I'd happily throw money at it, full price even.

I've said for years that the hard part about standing against pokemon isn't about making something better than the original IP, it's about putting in a consistent level of effort and continuing to do so while trying to make a fun video game. Literally just do anything besides rushing out half-baked entries designed to siphon money from recognition and nostalgia. Literally any effort at all it seems.

Palworld, when viewed on it's own, looks like a modded unity game with someone's OCs added in and it still makes the official pokemon releases of the last 5 years look like absolute shit out of a butt. Scarlet and Violet in particular look like cheap copies in comparison and it really sells it to me that pokemon kind of needs to die. When the big name IP is so absolutely dunked on by an early access indie project it shows that the only real staying power it has is monopoly.

Pokemon exists as it does today only really because adults with money get addicted to nostalgia and Nintendo is an extremely litigious company. How many pokemon fan games have met their axe? How many developers have avoided even trying to make a similar game because featuring things even tangentially like a pokemon is just begging for a cease and desist from the hip? There should be multiple fan projects that consist of all regions and pokemon wrapped up together in one package but there aren't because the plumber's heel finds them every time. The greedy giant jealously guards his golden goose.

I don't think I'll even probably buy palworld, in fact I think no one will remember it this time next year, but we do need more games like it. Nintendo won't take this sitting down and if the developers can somehow avoid getting C&D'd into the dirt, I really hope that more people try to make the pokemon game they want, not just eat at the trough and be grateful for anything. If you want good and entertaining pocket monsters you need to say so by being the change you want to see in the world. Realize that collectible creatures aren't exclusive to pokemon and Nintendo's control of that genre only extends so far. They know this and that's why they act so aggressively to keep that the truth.

In fact, if I was a holder of the digimon (or the monster rancher) IP I'd be getting some talks going at least. Players are hungry on a lean diet and they've just gotten a taste of a thicker, more nutritious gruel. How quickly and happily they would run to people serving even cafeteria food? Bring something truly delicious and you could boot the king off his throne.

#pokemon #palworld #there's also all the buzz about AI use with the devs so take that as you will #I'm no surprised but it does take away from it a lot if that's true

[zvaigzdelasas]

Germany’s foreign minister warned Saturday that Russia could seek to spark division in the West through refugees, as Moscow seeks to expand its “hybrid war.”[...]

"[But this war] will also be waged with fear and division, and that is precisely what we have to prevent,” said Annalena Baerbock at a congress of her Greens’ party.[...]

“In this situation it is clear what will be next -- refugees and not refugees from Ukraine... but because this war is hybrid, other countries are also participating,” Baerbock said, pointing to Serbia which she accused of letting in planeloads of migrants without visas.[...]

Stressing that there cannot be a situation “where people are being used as weapons,” the minister said Germany was in talks with the Czech Republic and Slovakia on the issue.[...]

Germany has in recent weeks warned about Belgrade’s visa-free travel regime for several countries whose citizens use Serbia as a springboard to enter the EU.

Serbia, a candidate for eventual EU membership, lies on the so-called Balkan route used by migrants heading towards Western Europe as they flee war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Although the route is nowhere as busy as it was during Europe��s migrant crisis in 2015, tens of thousands still pass through the region annually.

15 Oct 22

Growing numbers of Cubans, Indians, and Turks coming via Albania and Serbia to claim asylum in the EU has prompted talk of suspending Western Balkan visa-free travel.[...]

"Nationals from Turkey, Tunisia, India, Cuba and Burundi, in particular, enter legally (visa-free) by air in Serbia (and from some of these countries also in Albania) and a very high number moves irregularly further towards EU member states," the memo said.

"These are unusual nationalities on the route and there is a risk of a growing trend," it added.

The largest numbers by far still come from Afghanistan and Syria, with over 60,000 detected trying to clandestinely enter the EU in January to August this year, compared to 51,000 for the whole of last year.

But the number of people coming via the Western Balkans from Burundi (259 so far this year compared to zero last year) also rose steeply. The number of Cubans (339 vs. 36), Indians (4,469 vs. 557), Tunisians (5,777 vs. 842) and Turks (6,186 vs. 1,652) likewise rose.[...]

The trend was putting new pressure on neighbouring EU states Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia. Hungary has built an anti-migrant wall on its border and was not mentioned.[...]

The Czech paper outlined a number of ideas for reducing the numbers.

These included diplomatic pressure for Albania and Serbia to align visa waivers and take back more irregular migrants. They also included sending EU border guards to Western Balkans states and pressuring airlines to prevent "abuse".

But if all else failed, Prague, which holds the EU presidency until the end of the year, proposed suspending visa-free travel from Albania and Serbia.[...]

The Western Balkans problem comes seven years after the so-called migrant crisis of 2015, when more than 1 million refugees entered the EU irregularly, most of them via south-east Europe.

That figure was dwarfed by the fallout from the Ukraine war, with some 4.31 million Ukrainians having obtained "temporary protection" in the EU since Russia invaded in February.[...]

"To avoid that Ukrainian displaced persons become the target group of social tension and outright hostile reactions from EU citizens, member states with the support of the [EU] Commission would need to ramp up campaigns to counter disinformation," it said.

By contrast to the strong focus on reducing asylum applications from Cuba or further afield, the Czechs urged EU capitals to show kindness to Ukrainians.

13 Oct 22

[pykanico]

Day 30 - New Friends

Fic if you want to read every posted day : https://archiveofourown.org/works/51386731/chapters/129854215

While Ingo was in front babbling with Cynthia about Pokemon battle, Emmet in his case, preferred to stay slightly behind to let them the space they needed to talk in peace, Next to him was the champion Dawn, who, since the start of the day, seemed to avoid initiating any conversation, as she seemed lost in her head for some reason.

It was strange, but Emmet didn't pay any mind, she was probably occupied with more pressing matters about the league, and as much as it was an honor that she accepted his request – something he was still surprised about, as he was thinking he was going to be turned down - he cannot stop himself to feel bad for disturbing Dawn and Cynthia in their already busy schedule, that don’t mean he regret anything, he is satisfied that his plan for Ingo’s anniversary and their vacation worked better than he through it would, but he still feel bad.

It took a long time to put their perfect vacation in place – even if there was no train, so it wasn’t totally perfect – He knew his brother by heart, and how to make him happy, so his best bet was to find someone who would share their love for battle and would be okay to guide them around in the new region, and lucky for him there was the Champion of Sinnoh and the previous champion who were more than happy to help.

They even got the chance to have a battle against them!

And even if it was a shame to have lost with flying color against Dawn and Cynthia, he was happy that his brother got to have fun with it.

“hum….Excuse me?”

The tentative voice of Dawn startled the silence between them, It was slightly surprising to say the least, a good one, but still a surprise, he slowly tilted his head.

“Yes? Is there a problem?”

“Oh no, no, no no no, there is no problem!!” she started to shake her hand rapidly, before turning her head away with a thoughtful look as if she was trying to find how to explain what she wished to talk about. “It’s just that…. I have a question, if you don’t mind, it has been bugging me for a while now”

“Oh! I am Emmet, I will be happy to answer your question!!”

That seemed to be enough to encourage the Champion to talk more. “Well, I was wondering about why you asked us to surprise your brother?” Oh….that was that sort of question, Emmet nodded ready to answer, but he rapidly realized that she was not finished. “Don’t get me wrong!! I would have accepted either way to meet you two, It’s not everyday that a strong trainer from another region asks you to make you visit the region for an anniversary, This is the first time even, but I just don’t understand why, why here, in particular Em, you could have ask everywhere in the world but...you decide to come here so….”

Emmet stayed silent for a moment, trying to register the question and all the words she just spilled on him, before finally answering, “So you were curious about my reasoning?”

She nodded to confirm that it was what she was thinking about, That was a simple question that Emmet was more than happy to answer to “I thought it was a good idea, So I did it, there is no profound reason behind my reasoning, I just wanted to make Ingo happy”

“Oh...yeah I understand that make sense”

There was a silence between the two for a moment yet again, more awkward than before, as neither knew how to continue the discussion, They even tried to avoid looking at the other one as the silence was getting progressively worse...finally Emmet decided to talk again, hesitantly “So...You call me Em, Why?”

That seem to surprise Dawn who look more than embarrassed now as she realize her error “Oh... Oh shoot!! I didn’t mean to!!! I just said that by reflex, and …Arceus!! I am so sorry Emmet, I didn--”

The reaction of the champion just made Emmet chuckle loudly “Do not worry, I don’t mind, it is just that there is... not a lot of people who use this nickname, even Ingo does not use it, so I am surprise”

That seemed to reassure the young adult who sighed loudly before hiding her head in her hand to the further amusement of Emmet “Still, this is very embarrassing!!”

“Embarrassing? Yes, but it is very funny too”

“Of course this is funny to you, why am I not surprise?”

“Because I am Emmet!!”

And that seems to break the glass between them as they start to joke and talk more naturally, the tension that was building before seemingly evaporating slowly as the two learn about each other slowly but surely.

______________________

Their vacation did end up on a very good note, as Ingo and Emmet had the chance to visit and try multiple interesting places that Dawn and Cynthia knew about, They even had the chance to fight against other battle facility heads who were more than happy to meet the twins!

But all good things come to an end, The two brothers needed to go back home at the end of their two weeks in Sinnoh, and that also meant that they needed to say goodbye.

“It was a pleasure to have meet you two, My brother and I will never be grateful enough to have take time out of your busy schedule to guide us around”

Cynthia simply laughed it off, smiling at the duo. “It’s nothing really, I am happy that you have been able to enjoy the region!”

“I am Emmet, and it was very fun, thank you!”

“Good to know that it was as fun for you as it was fun for us!” declare loudly Dawn, as she herself smile ear to ear, even if she was clearly sad to see them go so soon, Emmet can understand where it came from, he himself going to miss her.

The announcement in the airport made them know that their plane had arrived at the station, cutting their goodbye short as they had to go, but before Emmet was able to follow his brother, Dawn suddenly stopped him, putting something in his hand with a serious look.

“Em, before you go, I just want to make you know that if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to make me know okay? I would be more than happy to help”

And before Emmet could ask any questions about this sudden change of tone, she was already back near Cynthia, waving at him, He was certainly confused but decided to think about it later on, turning around and catching up to his brother who was already ahead.

It was only when the two were on the plane at their designated seat that Emmet decided to take a curious glimpse at what Dawn had given to him.

“Well, Emmet, I must admit my defeat, your idea for our vacation and anniversary was excellent even with the lack of train”

“Hum?!...Yup, I know, I told you that you would like it”

“You did tell me it is true”

“I am Emmet and I am always right!!”

As his twin laughed loudly at Emmet shenanigan, the latter simply smiled as he put in his pocket the paper where was written the number of Dawn.

#pokemon #pokemon au #submas #novembmas #zoroark emmet au #ao3 #ao3 fanfic #my fic #subway boss ingo #subway boss emmet #cynthia #pokemon dawn #Illusion of Replacement AU

[multiversal-bridge]

My Journey Through Hyrule

So I wanted to write up something about my experience playing Tears of the Kingdom, because everyone's story in an open-world game is going to be inherently different, especially if you choose to lean into the idea of telling a story.

Spoilers for the big twist in the geoglyph memories cause I gotta talk about it.

0. Introduction

So what was my story?

Some backstory: It's useful to know that back when I played Breath of the Wild for the first time, I headcanoned Link as a trans woman because gestures broadly at BotW's entire thematic apparatus. In particular, I focused on the theme of rebuilding your identity from scratch, and the anxiety of reconnecting with someone who was incredibly important to you when you're not sure if you're the same person anymore.

So in the implied 5 or so years between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, I imagine Link would have begun transitioning, even if this isn't reflected onscreen (barring mods). I think she would have been very close with Zelda as someone who understood and accepted her. I suspect they would have been able to bond over the idea of breaking free from one's imposed identity.

My Link was also pretty cautious and a planner, wanting to be highly prepared with anti-Guardian armaments before facing Ganon to avoid another Calamity. (IRL, I definitely overprepared, but that's okay, it was fun). I also really enjoyed taking notes and making hand-drawn maps of different regions during my playthrough, so you may imagine that during TotK, my Link is doing that, too. Also speculating wildly about all the unnamed bits of ruins and trying to reconstruct the archaeology of ancient civilizations.

The Sky

So, starting off, it's pretty delightful that the first item of clothing you can put on in the sky is a skirt.

Okay, it's the lower half of a tunic, but you can actually wear it as a skirt if you choose the right top, one that doesn't hang down too much. These tops are: the climbing shirt, the sheikah top, the rubber armor (which looks very punk), the frog top, and, surprisingly, the flame-proof armor. So my fashion choices throughout the game were largely based around these tops and the skirt. My favorite outfit was pink Gerudo topnot + pink climbing shirt + skirt. I generally went for a pink and black aesthetic, with occasional reds. I wore pants only when I needed extra shin protection.

I'm sure I spent my time in the Great Sky Island the way everybody spends it, exploring and worrying about Zelda.

Among the mysteries of the sky: a gold-and-white dragon above the Sky Islands, filled with light. A photograph of the dragon, taken from the back of a Wing device, became one of my treasured possessions. I didn't understand what the dragon was or what it meant for my journey, but I could appreciate its majesty as I had the dragons of the world below.

Dropping down to the formerly bottomless swamp to go to Lookout Landing was a thrill, and it was delightful to catch up with everyone there. There was a real sense of comraderie as we made plans to fight back against a smarter, more tactical Ganon with an army of clever monsters.

Following the game's encouragement to do the Rito quest first, I began by exploring the western side of the map. I had the idea that I would explore everything in the west before heading east, but in practice, I found myself needing to go to Kakariko and Hateno pretty early on for their resources. Still, I was able to save some areas in the game, like Eldin and Zora's Domain, for later on. I chose to do the regional phenomena in the exact reverse order that I had done the Divine Beasts; therefore my TotK order was Rito -> Gerudo -> Goron -Zora, which turned out well.

2. Into Hyrule

Link's travels were a rush of exploration as she tried to find out what had happened in Hyrule. I would rush into new areas to find towers and geoglyphs and piece together my understanding of what was going on, starting with the west and moving to the east. All the while, I was exploring local sky islands and the Depths beneath each nearby chasm. I was also taking pictures for the Hyrule Compendium. I hadn't done this for Breath of the Wild, but in Tears of the Kingdom, it became a fun travelogue of my journey that I could reminisce on when I saw each entry. I think Link, for her part, was fascinated by the new plants and creatures in Hyrule and the ecological changes that had happened to the existing ones (durians were not in season). I'm sure she also tried to piece together the history and geography of the Depths.

My first encounter with a set of Gloom Hands took place at the old Exchange ruins near the road to Hebra. I'd been expecting to explore a familiar ruin, maybe with some monsters camping there, and was NOT prepared for what awaited me inside. I fled, but soon discovered the landscape was lousy with the damn things. Outside Hateno, I managed to catch a glimpse of one of Ganon's phantoms before having to run from his blade. Link developed a theory that these were the dark spirits who had been animating the Guardians during the Calamity. It would explain a great deal.

Heading north to the Great Forest, I found the last of the geoglyphs on the side of Death Mountain, and the terrible truth about what had happened to Zelda fell into place. I stood there stunned into silence in Akkala. The fact that these were her memories, and so Link was witnessing her own visuals and sensations during her transformation, had to be devastating on multiple levels. She flew above me, and I tried to reach her, but couldn't. She was already too far away.

The next time I saw her, passing by the Tabantha sky islands, I flew to her. I couldn't find a way to take the sword from her without hurting her, so instead I sat down on her shoulders and tried to give her some kind of comfort. I didn't know if it was possible, but I had to try. I had to try. I stayed with her for four days and four nights, tracking her progress around Hyrule, eating and sleeping atop her back. Only when she'd done a full loop and returned to the Tabantha sky did I finally return to my quest.

At least I was among dear friends for my next journey, catching up with Riju and Bularia in Gerudo Town to slay the Gibdo Queen.

3. A New Approach

Around this point, I became frustrated with my approach to the game. As with Breath of the Wild, teleporting wildly around the map and doing multiple quests at the same time was less satisfying than overcoming obstacles to move through the world. I craved a stronger narrative through a sense of place. I resolved to stay in one place as much as I could. I could go to areas above or below, just not outside of the area I was currently exploring. I could teleport when starting a new expedition or hop over to visit some useful resource (the dye shop, the stores, the Great Fairies), but not otherwise. I justified this by deciding that Link only had so much "juice" in the Purah Pad teleportation system, and so was conserving it unless there was some need.

This worked exactly as hoped. I found myself really enjoying and exploring each region. I still had a tendency to do an initial "foray" into each new area before running off to another, but when I came back to it, I was committed.

I caught up with the engineers of Tarrey Town and glided south to rescue the refugees of Lurelin village from the invading monster army. I spent a great deal of time in Necluda, mapping out the Necluda Depths in detail (including by hand) and pondering their geographic features. I was also fascinated by a strange factory, with a jeweled machine resting at the center, and outposts that seemed to refer to arms and legs, yet I couldn't yet make sense of it. Regardless, it intrigued me deeply.

Then, gathering as many bombs and as much courage as I could, I returned to the Deku Forest and slew my first phantom beneath the tree. I helped the Gorons deal with their drug crisis and ventured into Death Mountain with Yunobo, which took no small amount of lizard-based potions.

It was around this time, too, that I returned to flying with Zelda and finally retrieved the sword she'd been keeping for so long. I knew I couldn't rest until I did so - she'd given so much for me to have this opportunity, sacrificed all she had. It hurt that after so long spent fighting the Calamity, she'd fallen back into self-sacrifice. I had some hope that when I took the sword I might be able to bring her back. I saw her again, but in a vision, not as I'd hoped. I couldn't speak to her; I couldn't save her. I had to accept that she was really gone.

4. Great Expeditions and Mysteries

Meanwhile, the mystery of the massive stormcloud to the south had always intrigued me. I'd made some initial attempts to fly to it, but in the past it had exceeded my grasp. Then I finally landed on it, but found myself stopped by a mysterious door.

Now, after Death Mountain, I returned to the Thunderhead Isles with the vitality to open the great door. Revealed was a marvelous mystery beneath the floor, a mask leading me by flight to Tobio's Hollow, where not long ago I had explored the Zonai ruins trying to understand their secrets in vain. Now the door opened, and I found myself back at that mysterious factory, suddenly awake with purpose. I took counsel with the spirit sage Mineru, and learned her secret story. I fumbled around with trying to control a giant robot but found her a worthy ally in combat. We confronted another robot of her kind and secured a new alliance through the power of punches. I felt like I'd discovered a great treasure hidden by the ages.

Next came a massive expedition to explore the Gerudo desert. I ventured far and wide with sand seal and hovercar, gathered as many lizal tails as possible for upgrades, and solved the mystery of the Eighth Heroine. I also cruised around the Gerudo Desert Depths, confronting Yiga and visiting giant skeletons. I mapped Gerudo depths and Gerudo skies in great detail. I retrieved Vah Naboris's mask and made it my signature look while in the desert.

After that, I returned to Zora's Domain, to catch up with Sidon and help my old friend with benefits destroy the source of pollution in his kingdom. That took us high above the Zora skies, a fitting culmination of my quest for the temples.

The sages and I flew by triplane into Hyrule castle, pursuing a vision of Zelda. But I already had a dark suspicion that the Zelda we would find there was only an imposter. My blood boiled as Ganondorf, the monster of past and future, mocked our hopes. We overcame his phantoms, but not without great struggle. We returned to Lookout Landing to discuss and regroup with Purah. The group was surprised to hear me explain that I had already retrieved the Master Sword made contact with the sage Mineru.

It wasn't yet time for that, though. I had a lead to chase. In my confrontation with Master Kogha beneath Zora's Domain, he had mentioned that he was heading to Hebra, and he claimed he had a weapon to give to the Demon King that might end the world.

So began my great Hebra expedition, where I explored the province I had only glimpsed before. I convinced the last of the Great Fairies to return to the world and be consulted on fashion; I fought Frost Gleeoks and Frost Taluses and captured them on camera. I found the Great Skeleton of Hebra, and found more of Colgera's species nesting in the Hebra Depths, which I also thoroughly mapped.

Thankfully, Kogha's threat turned out to be more hot air in the form of another Zonai robot. Mineru and I made quick work of it. I also found the legendary garments of frost scattered about the land's caves, and with Mija's help, unlocked their hidden potential.

Ganon was gathering forces by the day, calling them to his lair each blood moon. I knew I had to act soon, but I also wanted to be ready. I decided to undertake one final expedition, where I would travel in a circle around the map, dealing with unfinished business and gathering resources.

I had a device in mind, a flying machine that would let me travel across the country with the swiftness of the breeze. I tinkered and tinkered with its design until I had it perfectly balanced, precisely right. Two fans. One steering stick. One beautiful machine.

The hoverbike.

5. Final Journey

This was my last tour:

In Tabantha, I gathered resources from Mt. Satori. At the edge of the Gerudo cliffs, I joined Farosh and rode with her through her entire flight path in and out of the Depths, taking claws and spikes when I could. I returned to the Thunderhead Isles to find resources to upgrade my charged robes and solve lingering questions, then offered a claw to the spring in Faron. I returned to Hyrule Field, where I gathered more vitality and fought a Thunder Gleeok in the old Coliseum. I sent in the last of my reports for my part-time newspaper job, then headed north. I helped unlock the secrets of the Typhlo Ruins and fought the King of Gleeoks lurking underneath.

Next, I went to Eldin, where Dinraal was flying. I rode with her, just as I had with Farosh, and touched down on the last of the sky islands I was yet to visit. I helped the monster-control squad clear out a cave, and retrieved the Ember robes, which I enhanced with fire fruit and fiery Lizal tails. I flew to Akkala to visit the Spring of Power and enhance my beloved horse Betsey, then reached out to the local racers to send them to help Lurelin's revitalization. Then, in Zora's domain, I retrieved the rest of the Zora armor and did a walking tour of Sidon's new inscriptions.

After that, it was time to return to Necluda. I caught Naydra heading out of Necluda, and did a couple of loops with her around the region. I touched base with Robbie, and made my pilgrimage (carefully - there were gloom hands about-) to the Spring of Wisdom atop Mt. Hylia, glowing with icy power.

Then I sailed in my tidy little boat down to Lurelin as the sun set beside me. The racers were already talking with the mayor, and we soon had set up a thriving racing scene to draw in new tourists. One last shrine up on the hill, and it was time to depart. I rode Betsey north, all the way back to the Forgotten Temple, to confer with the Mother Statue whose power I had restored.

Then it was time. I flew for Hyrule Castle and the Hyrule Castle Depths to confront the Demon King.

6. Ganon

I was armed with the Master Sword, the Lightscale Trident, the Boulder Breaker (plus Igneo Talus heart), Dawnbreaker (though not the Scimitar of the Seven), the Great Eagle Bow, the Fierce Deity's Sword, the Dusk Claymore, and the White Sword of the Sky, enhanced by a shard of Zelda's horn, plus anything else I could get my hands on. I had as much stamina as I could get, but only thirteen hearts (I had been overleveled last time, and wanted a difficult fight).

I spent a couple of hours exploring the castle, looking for any treasures and any secret assets that Ganondorf might have hidden away. Then I dove into the dark.

The fights ahead were tough, particularly when I was surrounded, but I had the aid of the Sages. I suprised myself by being able to slay a Silver Lynel, whose horn became the blade of a weapon I hoped to use against my final foe.

We fought our way past the army of monsters, into the secret root of evil. Gandondorf rose, taking his resurrected form. I squared off against the swordsman -

And got my ass thoroughly kicked. I had made one crucial mistake: always bring more sundelions than you think you need. I narrowly escaped being flattened while poisoned by gloom. Still, I managed to learn his patterns and find ways to dodge his blows. The thrill of battle filled me as I dueled my familiar foe. Master Sword and Lynel Blade struck against demonic blades.

The Demon King was fully awakened now, and I struggled to break through his stance. I thought I might be wearing him down, but he was draining my strength, too, and I struggled to drive the last blow home. He was too good at dodging, anticipating my every attack.

Then, I struck out without warning, randomly, almost blindly. He dodged--

But didn't dodge the next blow, where, faster than he could anticipate, I thrust my blade up into his neck.

And before I knew it, I was facing a dragon.

Zelda and I spiraled through the sky, locked in a deadly dance with the embodiement of evil. But as many times as I plummeted from the demon dragon's back, Zelda was always there in a heartbeat to catch me, and we were rising, rising together, back up to the top of the sky again.

In the end, I struck the Demon King's wounds with two blades. One was the Master Sword. The other, the White Sword of the Sky.

Both of them in honor of Zelda.

And then Ganondorf, the Calamity, the source of all our pain and suffering, disintegrated in an explosion that shook the sky.

I felt Rauru and Sonia's power flowing through me, and I let it pour into Zelda, and watched as she was reborn.

And then we were both falling, plummeting from the sky, and again I tried to get to her, to grasp her hand--

This time, this time I reached her.

*

7. Epilogue

What might the future hold for Link?

If what I've done since my playthrough is any indication, her future adventures might involve exploring and mapping the rest of the Depths, enhancing the magical robes of the ancient Zonai, and setting new records in human flight into the stratosphere. There will be rebuilding, and time spent cataloguing plants and animals, and conversations with Mineru about Zonai history.

But it won't be Link alone. Wherever she goes, she'll be with Zelda. Following her, exploring with her, researching all the mysteries of the world with her.

That, I think, would be the most important thing to her. Not anything that she herself has done.

But that this wonderful, remarkable person, this brilliant and open-hearted person this girl who loved her and accepted her even after so much had changed, this girl who sacrificed everything for her family and sacrificed even more for the world, that this girl gets to be happy, she gets to live, she gets to be safe.

She's safe. She's here, and she's safe.

That's what matters.

#loz #tears of the kingdom #breath of the wilder #mb posts #mb fanwriting

[edaworks]

Summer Reading/Writing/Art Tag Game

Tagged by @electricshoebox - thank you!

1: Describe one creative WIP project you're planning to work on over the summer

UHHHHH well, I’m hoping to get back to more actively working on One if by Land, since I’ve been less than productive recently. But I’m also figuratively running a gauntlet at work these days, so I’m treading the line between work stuff stabilizing and spending more time writing again.

2: Rec a book

I understand that the next iteration of Jim Butcher’s Cinder Spires series is coming out later this year, so now is an excellent time to read or listen to The Aeronaut’s Windlass.

3: Rec a fic

I mean. @twosides--samecoin’s Long Time Running, for sure. (Not that I’m biased or anything) It is excellently written and hits the trifecta of good writing, art and music. She just released a new chapter, too!

4: Rec Music

I’ve not got half the good recommendations that the rest of my mutuals do, frankly, but I’ve been getting back to my middle-generation-millennial roots lately and listening to House of Pain.

5: Share One Piece Of Advice

Hmm. I‘ll reinvent the wheel trying to give this advice, but: if you are writing about fictional regions or places that have real-world counterparts, and you are ever privileged to be able go to those areas and look around, I find it’s worth doing so. That’s literally or figuratively: If you can’t do it in person, look it up on Google Street View. You’ll find so many tiny details you might otherwise miss, even if you’re super familiar with the places! Doing this forces me to think more about which characters would know these areas/take these routes and how they’d react to environmental details, etc. What places would they avoid, or drag others to salvage? Who’s going to go ass-over-teakettle down a particular path? Where’s a good fishing spot to put up a makeshift lean-to in an urban area?

I acknowledge that I’m very privileged in this regard given my subject matter, where I live, and the areas through which I’m likely to drive - it means I frequently get to do this exercise in person. When I’m writing fic for Fallout, I’m constantly going to relevant places, walking around and thinking about how each character might react to what I’m seeing (albeit two hundred odd years and an apocalypse removed from when I’m seeing it). I’m wandering around Takoma Park trying to figure out what tiny restaurants might have surviving signage. I’m the sketchass clambering around on narrow brush trails under overpasses in DC, climbing rubble heaps under bridges over the Potomac, and checking out the side elevator rooms in the Lincoln Memorial at 2 AM. I’m setting my phone up on my dash to take burst photos at I-90’s interchanges when I’m driving through Massachusetts. I’m looking in windows at the historic train station by the Monongahela, taking photos in the parking lot of certain airports and asking the park rangers which fire towers I can get away with climbing. I’m detouring to look at roadways leading to Bar Harbor when passing through Maine. I’m biking around Point Lookout State Park and taking pictures of the old amusement park by the boardwalk in Ocean City. But: When I’m not able to hit up these places in person, I’m in Street View doing the virtual equivalent; I’m in Google Earth looking at others’ geotagged photos of these places from the comforts of home!

Finding points of interest to shove into the narrative (or give me ideas for in-universe equivalents to those places) forces me to more thoroughly stand in my characters’ shoes. I find it helps with both describing local flavor and furthering character development, and perhaps that’s a useful tool for others as well.

Tagging @twosides--samecoin, @dovesofcedar, @persephotea, @some27-url, @adventuresofmeghatron and whomever might want to participate.

#tag games #fallout #fallout 4 #fallout 3 #fic rec #book recommendations #music recommendation

[wildliferemovalplus]

Five Benefits of Qualified Wildlife Removal Orlando

Creatures is an important component of our natural community, adding to the balance and range of everyday life in the world. Nevertheless, when wild animals encroach upon individual environments, disagreements can emerge, leading to possible hazards and problems. In such circumstances, specialist creatures removal solutions participate in a crucial part. In this particular article, our team will certainly explore five essential perks of choosing professionals for wild animals removal.

Security

Among the primary factors to pick specialist Orlando wildlife removal solutions is safety. Taking care of wild animals, particularly those that experience cornered or even imperiled, can be very harmful. Several wild animals lug conditions, like rabies, that may be transferred to people via bites or even cuts out. In addition, seeking to catch or take out animals without the proper equipment and know-how may lead to accidents to both humans and also the creatures themselves.

Qualified wild animals removal pros are qualified to take care of these conditions carefully. They possess the needed tools, including snares and also protective equipment, to take care of various varieties of wild animals without putting any individual in jeopardy. They also understand the actions as well as practices of different creatures, enabling all of them to make enlightened selections about the very best method for removal.

Humane Treatment

While it may be actually necessary to take out wildlife coming from human-occupied locations, it is actually vital to do so humanely and also morally. Professional animals removal solutions focus on the well-being of the creatures they run into. They are trained to use procedures that lessen worry and also harm to the pets, ensuring their secure relocation or release in to a suited environment.

These professionals are well-versed in local creatures rules as well as regulations, ensuring that all removal and relocation operations follow lawful needs. This commitment to humane treatment prepares expert wildlife removal companies besides amateur attempts that may accidentally harm or get rid of the animals they are attempting to get rid of.

Prevent Home Harm

Animals can easily induce significant damages to residential or commercial properties and residences. Animals like raccoons, birds, and also squirrels can nest in attic rooms, smokeshafts, or crawl spaces, causing structural harm, power problems, as well as fire dangers. Delving pets like moles and also groundhogs can easily inflict chaos on gardens and yards. Trying to take care of these circumstances without specialist assistance can easily lead to more damage as well as costly repair services.

Expert Orlando wildlife removal pros have the expertise and also adventure to evaluate the extent of the harm and also apply efficient approaches to stop further damage. They can carefully eliminate the pets and deliver solutions to fortify your home against potential wildlife intrusions.

Disease Control

Wild animals frequently bring different conditions that could be sent to family pets and also people. Rabies, for instance, is a fatal condition that could be transferred through the spit of infected creatures, primarily by means of attacks. Raccoons, baseball bats, and skunks are well-known providers of rabies in numerous regions.

Qualified wild animals removal solutions are well-aware of the prospective health and wellness dangers connected with wild animals encounters. They take preventative measures to defend themselves and others coming from disease gear box during removal techniques. Also, they can determine possible sources of contaminants and encourage hygiene measures to reduce the risk of ailment transmission on your residential property.

Stop Reappearance

One of the considerable benefits of choosing specialist wildlife removal Orlando solutions is their capacity to avoid recurrence. Amateurs might successfully clear away an animal from your residential or commercial property, but without attending to the root cause of the breach, the concern is most likely to come back.

Specialist wildlife removal experts conduct in depth assessments to calculate exactly how and why creatures are entering your property. They then implement helpful approaches to seal access factors, strengthen at risk places, and discourage potential wild animals intrusions. This comprehensive method certainly not just clears away the quick hazard yet likewise minimizes the probability of future conflicts with wild animals.

Result

When wildlife ventures in to human environments, it can trigger prospective hazards, property harm, as well as wellness risks. In such conditions, choosing professional creatures removal solutions is actually the safest and most reliable service. These experts prioritize safety, gentle treatment of pets, home protection, ailment control, as well as long-lasting protection. Through getting their expertise, you may ensure that animals conflicts are resolved effectively and sensibly, protecting both your residential property as well as the welfare of the creatures included.

All American Pest Control

390 N Orange Ave Suite #2300

Orlando, FL 32801

[phone]

Orlando Wildlife Removal

#Orlando Wildlife Removal #Wildlife Removal Orlando #Youtube

[djuvlipen]

Hey, I hope this isn’t a weird question. I’m a hobbyist character creator and- while I’m not working on any concrete story I plan to “put out there” so to speak- I I see it as an important thing to challenge myself by including diversity (in race, culture, sex, sexuality, religion, economic class, etc) in the characters I create. Doing the accompanying research has been a great exercise in learning about different people in their history as well. Anyway, would you be willing to offer any advice or knowledge to a non-Romani woman considering writing a Romani character? I’ve been following you+reading your blog for awhile which is part of what sparked the idea/possibility and I’d appreciate anything you’re willing to share.

Hi anon! Sure, here are a bit of advice,

First you should figure out from what specific Romani ethnic group that woman is from, because there can be a lot of diversity from one Romani group to another. Geography can help you with this because each European country pretty much has its own historic Romani community (so Gitanos live in Spain, Portugal and the south of France; the Romanichal live in the UK; the Sinti live in the Benelux/France/Germany region, etc) but nowadays waves of migration mean that Western European countries also have Eastern European Romani communities.

Any cultural and linguistic specificity will be induced by what specific Romani group that character is from.

It will also impact what religion your character is from, fyi this can get tricky if your character is from the Balkan because Romani groups can be of a wide range of religions in that region. On top of that, the Evangelical Christian movement is growing fast among Roma all over Europe, France and Spain in particular. Atheism can be a motive of social exclusion but not always if the character's family is more progressive or less traditional.

Apparence-wise, there can be a lot of diversity as well. Roma usually have brown skin but they can be white passing if mixed (or if they are British Romanichal or Scandinavian Roma, they are pretty pale in those regions lol).

As for stereotypes to avoid, of course anything that's about how lascive Romani women can be, about how ~mystical the Roma are, is a big no but I assume you know this already haha.

I've seen some people give advice such as "try to avoid making your Romani character working class", I understand where this sentiment comes from but I personally always roll my eyes when people want to act like 80% of the general Romani population doesn't live in poverty, I find it unrealistic to push for making any Romani character middle class though middle class Roma do exist, of course.

Another advice I often see is "try to avoid making your Romani character a traveller", once again I understand the sentiment but in the UK and in some part of Western Europe, some Romani people are still travellers (my family stopped travelling in the 1950s-1960s for example), though they are a minority and nowadays most Roma are indeed sedentarized.

Hope this helps!💞

#roma #asks #anon