[New Heroes Appear: Adrift (November 9 ~)]

Wow. I'm not even sure what to say at this point.

If the Corrins had been literally anyone else, I think that could have cushioned the Azura and Camilla alt blow. I was pretty excited when I saw Mikoto since I wasn't expecting her to get in. I would have loved to see Scarlett as well. (And Yukimura is the dream, but I know he'll never get in, so I'm fine with that.)  I suppose thematically all of the characters make sense for what the writers probably want to go for... 

But wow. This FEH channel NEEDS to be good now.

[Feh Channel on the 7th 7:30pm PT]

I'm honestly not sure what could possibly be in this FEH channel. Book 3 was my top choice, but that info from the Spanish version knocks that idea out of the running. 

I think FEH is desperately in need of a new mode. For me, their last few attempts have been...lackluster, and I just don't enjoy them. Forging Bonds has been my favorite out of everything introduced because we at least get some character interaction between the grinding. But I'd like to see something other than RNG based team battles and inflated stats. 

Some things that might make this FEH channel worth the hype:
-Combat Manual Shop - It'd be cool to see another kind of currency added that allows you to buy combat manuals to use for SI or merges. They could vary from week or week...maybe sometimes there will be sales. This would be a super nice. 

-Guilds (or something similar) - Really just something where players can band together for a mode. If they're going to have co-op, it'd be nice to have a choice in who you play with. I feel like I'd enjoy Grand Conquest a lot more if I knew who I was playing with and we could communicate. 

I'm expecting a trailer announcement for the next banner at least. Maybe they'll cover the new weapon refinements, but those two things are hardly worth a livestream. 

[Legendary Hero Battle - Eirika: Graceful Resolve]

That awkward moment when you almost forget to do this map.

I was so busy with other stuff that I put this off, and well...last night I checked it and realized I only had 19 hours left, and I would be asleep/at work for most of those. Because I wanted the orbs instead of the pride, I just used Phoenixmaster1's video with Brave Lyn, Olivia, Lissa, and unarmed Halloween Dorcas for Infernal. Had to give my Olivia a Fortify DEF seal since my Lyn is -DEF and needed a little more bulk to tank some hits, but everything worked out even with my Olivia and Lissa at 4*+10. The rest of the maps could be cheesed with horse emblem. lol

[SF's "Write Your Butt Off" II - Return of Writer's Block]

Phew. Sorry I got a little busy and didn't respond to my last bit of feedback I got. I've read it all, and I really appreciate it. It'll definitely help me in the future. Actually, I had a project I was working on for a friend, and I think it helped motivate myself to finish it. XD 

Next round looks like a lot of fun. I'm all about failed relationships. Part of me wants to write something incredibly angsty. Part of me also wants to try to be creative and branch out from my normal toxic relationship type stuff. So I'm undecided for now. But I'll definitely do my best to complete something.

[Official Pull Topic]

Threw about 100 orbs at the VG banner in hopes of Shigure merges or Ophelia or Ishtar. On the lackluster banner, I got a free Delthea +HP -DEF, the first Delthea I've gotten with a decent (non -ATK or -SPD nature). Wow. Next banner gave me two Olwens, one of which is +SPD -DEF, a Brave Lucina (+ATK -HP), once again waaay better than my -ATK and -SPD ones, and a completely neutral Linde to replace my +HP -SPD one...

No Shigures, but I can't say I'm not happy. 

[SF's "Write Your Butt Off" II - Return of Writer's Block]

Phew. Okay. Made it through the rest of the stories, but I haven't decided on my vote yet, so I'm going to mull over it a little bit more. Totally not procrastinating. 

@Otts486 You're up first!

Spoiler

I actually think I’m familiar with this song without listening to it again to be sure. I used to be a pretty big fan of a lot of Vocaloid songs. Those content creators really know how to tell compelling stories.

 

I think the beginning of this was easily the most clever part because I was convinced it was from Len’s POV up until the end of that first scene. I think the choice of present tense was a little odd, mostly because I find it incredibly difficult to write in, but for the most part you were consistent with it, so I can’t fault you. Your punctuation was absent in some places, so you might want to be careful about it in the future. There are a lot of missing periods and commas.
 

I think you did a good job with Rin’s characterization. Her casual mannerisms didn’t seem very tyrannical, but I definitely got that she was a brat. I also like the image of people rising up to basically murder a young girl. Like she’s done bad things, but they’re also taking an eye for an eye which isn’t necessarily a moral thing either. So immorality for all! I also liked your subtle hints throughout so I feel like I understand Len’s motivation without having to watch the video.

 

If I could critique one thing, I’d say the transitions could be a bit smoother from scene to scene. It was a little easier for me to settle into longer scenes, but the shorter ones were quite abrupt. Finding a way to help the piece flow more smoothly would have really made this excellent.

Next is @Shoblongoo.

Spoiler

Wow. This is a super solid piece. Like it’s really good, and I’m beating myself up that I can’t really think of much constructive criticism to give you. I just really liked it. Your dialogue is great, Marcus’s inner struggle is super compelling, and the transitions are smooth too. I suppose if I have to nitpick something, the descriptions about how awful Elben is are entirely unnecessary in my opinion. “Bugger that. This is the good part!” is MORE than enough to convince me he’s awful. And Marcus’s “what does he mean?” followed by “You know what he means” is probably one of my favorite exchanges.

 

The nerd in me also likes your varied sentence structure. I dunno… There’s just something refreshing about seeing a lot of variation. Makes things fun to read.

And now @DarthR0xas

Spoiler

First of all, I like the device you use to tell Nyx’s story. It’s pretty creative, and I like the idea of a tome that brings memories to life. I think you could have played with that a bit more. Nyx or Leo could have interacted with the memories or reacted to them in some way. Nyx’s narration is clear and gets the point across, but it lacks some emotion. Watching your favorite sister burn to death again would probably spark some uneasy emotions or at least a physical reaction. Leo’s presence kind of disappears when she’s telling his tale, and it makes me wonder what he thinks of it while it’s happening. Is he interested? Repulsed? Taking notes? Having them interact a little more between the story would have helped connect the beginning and the end and create a stronger bond between the two so the ending probably wouldn’t feel as rushed, but I totally understand the struggle to end something when you’re running out of steam. Better finished than unfinished!

 

So congrats on finishing. I like Leo quite a bit as a character, but I know close to nothing about Nyx. She always gets RNG screwed in my playthroughs so I don’t use her. She and Subaki are kind of always benched because my game’s RNG hates them. I like the in-depth backstory for her though. It makes me like her a bit more.

Last but not least @AnonymousSpeed

Spoiler

Wow. I think your piece wins in terms of creativity. This is an approach I never would have thought of myself, but it combines something as base as forum debates with something as elegant as philosophy and something as relatable as a cop show. The dialogue is witty and smooth. The writing is smart, and it’s a piece that makes me think without losing me in technicality or fluff. Your set-up is quick and to the point, and everything from the characters to the setting make it feel very real to me. I feel like the very first scene functions as a oneshot itself, and you easily could have ended it when Laius goes home since I feel like that action itself gives people something to think about. But the second half does clarify things more and provide some interesting ideas for discussion.

 

Nice work. I’d honestly like to see more commentary written in this fashion.

 

[SF's "Write Your Butt Off" II - Return of Writer's Block]

3 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

@Rafiel's Aria OMG yes the cat pun with the title. That is quite fitting, didn't think of the connection to my username. I was more going for a reference to Metal Face/Mumkhar's weapon. Literally claw bladed gloves. 

Your critique is fair, I guess if I thought of it I could have Mumkhar scare the crap out of Farran, adding something like he thought dear old dad was going to attack him or possess him and turn him into what he was. That would have been a good addition. "Rough around the edges dorky ghost dad" lol. He kinda is. He's quite despicable ingame but you can't help but love him a little because he can be amusing sometimes. A few of his lines:

"Is that all you got, Grandpa?" (taunting the elder of the "good guys" side)

"We don't need her. Look at me, look at me, goody two shoes!" (talking about another character that became a mechon)

"I think a fly bit me."

That last one doesn't need context.

Thanks for the overall nice feedback, I do enjoy putting humor in. On Jaylen: did you notice I gave him a hairstyle like a blue jay's crest? I would have made his hair blue but entia normally have hair in shades of blond, gray, and silver. Nobody has technicolor hair like in FE. Could've done a blueish gray but meh.

I didn't notice the bit with the blue jay, but that's a nice touch. XD I don't know a lot about birds in general, so that might've slipped past me regardless. I think blue jays used to live outside my house. They were kinda mean. lol But it's a cute easter egg regardless.

3 hours ago, Anacybele said:

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)

I get what you mean, I suppose I could've done with less flat out stating of those details, but I also didn't want to flood the thing with too much dialogue compared to description, so I'm not exactly sure how to pull that off. But maybe this just means I need practice.

Nothing wrong with practice. When you're writing, or proof-reading, maybe you could try to prioritize what you want to be exposition, and what you can add through dialogue/action to convey something. Like for example, I could write a long paragraph about how character A really hates hot weather and yesterday was one of the hottest days of the year. It was made even worse by the fact that Character B, the love interest and easily the prettiest girl in school, saw just how sweaty and gross he was, and that was utterly humiliating. 

But I can also take the same idea, have Character A wipe some sweat off of his forehead, mutter some complaints about the heat under his breath while he's packing up his books to head home after school. Character B walks past him and giggles, says something about how miserable he looked yesterday, and he tries to laugh it off, but has to spend a few minutes regaining his composure by his locker before heading out. 

You still get the idea that Character A hates hot weather, likes Character B, and was embarrassed, but you get to see it in a way that helps you learn about who these people are in a more organic way.

I personally don't find anything wrong with more dialogue. But that's just me. I try to reserve descriptions for mostly scenery, people, and other things that might be relevent to the scene in the moment. And I like to use characters to convey important events so it feels like the reader isn't just playing catch-up. They're learning what happened with the other characters involved. Sometimes I think exposition is totally fine outside of dialogue, like when you have a first person narrator who kind of acts as a character him/herself. But it really varies. Like I was saying earlier about my own writing, I could stand to be a bit clearer with my own exposition. 

[SF's "Write Your Butt Off" II - Return of Writer's Block]

Had a little bit more time but not as much as I wanted. Didn't get much sleep last night either, and I want to review stories with a fresh face, so I'll just post the two I have for now. XD If I've got more energy later, I'll have another go! I'm sorry if I'm repeating any comments already given. I haven't read the other comments because I didn't want them to impact my own thoughts about the stories.

First up is @Anacybele

Spoiler

You had something you wanted to write about, and you wrote about it. XD So in terms of the prompt, you nailed it. You’ve clearly put a lot of thought and love into these characters and want to show as much of your hard work as possible. Immorality and redemption is a sweet theme to go with.

 

I’ll say that I think amount of detail has some pros and cons. On one hand, you’re incredibly clear with what you want to tell the readers. I know all of the background for this story without having to wonder who the characters are or what their connections are to anyone. But on the other hand, it’s a lot of exposition that the author is giving us and not the characters. I feel like a good chunk of the oneshot is the author interrupting the scene to step in and say, “BTW this is how these characters are related and how they feel about each other and how their history has played out” before the readers get a chance to determine that for themselves. One example I can think of is how you described all of this stuff about Raphael’s past, interests, etc. before he physically appeared in the story. I feel like some details you could sprinkle throughout the scene with him instead of just flat-out stating them.

 

Trust your characters to do some of the exposition work for you, so the characters can shine, and you don’t have to take your readers out of a scene to tell them what’s going on, like how they just casually mentioned Geoffrey’s new bride in dialogue. I thought it was a simple thing but plenty effective without hindering the scene.

 

Overall, very detailed and very clean, so I didn’t have any trouble reading it.

Next is @Dragoncat

As a side note before I start reading: I appreciate that the title of the story is "Declawed" and your name is Dragoncat. Also, as a disclaimer, I know about as much about Xenoblade as I do particle physics. (Nothing at all. lol)

Spoiler

Despite not knowing anything about the world or characters, I could follow your story easily enough because there was just enough detail to keep me informed without bogging the story down too much. So while I probably would have understood the story better with some knowledge of the games, I thought the oneshot functioned pretty well on its own. You’re pretty good at writing amusing dialogue. I really enjoyed the exchange between Kaziel and Jaylen because you threw so much personality into them just with their little quips. Part of me probably would have enjoyed a whole story just about them. XD

 

Now on the other hand, I think your more serious dialogue wasn’t quite as impactful since it still seemed rather humorous in a way. I think your scene between father and son could have been a bit stronger with a little less humor. I felt like you were building up this big internal struggle with Farren, and while I liked that Metal Face didn’t seem all that bad in the end after having some time in the afterlife to repent (even though he was still rough around the edges), I think you could have maybe eased your way from “terrifying murderer” to “rough around the edges dorky ghost dad.” The humor could still be there for sure, but even one major serious moment could have had me thinking, “Crap. Kid’s gonna die. Oh wait plot twist…” If any of that makes sense. XD

 

I did enjoy this piece quite a bit though. With the sleep deprivation, some humor was just what I needed.

Also in response to your question before about Cam, I haven't decided yet if he's gay or bi. I'm leaning towards bi-curious with a preference for women. In this particlar story line, I do already have a few gay characters whose romance is a bit more important to the plot. Besides, Cam is more of a free spirit, so dabbling with men and women seems like something he'd do. 

22 hours ago, Otts486 said:

@Rafiel's Aria I kind of figured it was something like that cause of how ambiguous the story seemed. In that regard the extreme subtlety can be seen as more of a plus than a negative. but yeah subtlety is a tricky thing especially in writing. You can't give too much information or else it'll be boring but you can't give too little or no one is going to understand it. It's a tough balancing act to be sure but I think you did a serviceable job in conveying what you needed to convey. Though if I could make a suggestion is that maybe you could've shown a little more of Cam's thoughts on how other's treat him besides mostly annoyance. Like have him be a little angry and self-conscious about it. It doesn't have to be much just a couple sentences would do the trick.

However overall I did really like your story and with that confirmation I seem to love it even more. I love open ended stories like yours with how nothing is really black or white so there's really no answer to the questioned posed. It's all up to the reader to answer that question given the information they have and ultimately what they take away from it is all up to them. Sorry I couldn't convey all that in my initial post was trying to keep things short. Regardless I think I know where my vote is going.

Thank you so much for the kind comments and for the critiques because it'll help me be a bit more conscious in the future. If I rewrite this piece, I'll definitely take all your suggestions to heart and hopefully make it a bit easier to read. I definitely think I failed in my initial attempt to do what I wanted to do, but I can think of a few things to do differently now.

[Fire Emblem Heroes General Discussion and Links]

15 hours ago, Vaximillian said:

Well, what else to spend my feathers on if not my favourites? Haha, now I wish even more for Queen Caeda With Actual Wing Spear as an 8% alt. With Ephraim, Lyn, Hector, Ryoma, and Tiki already having received one, anyone can get one without any rhyme or reason necessary.

Yeah, Clair will be my next +10. She can theoretically be +8 now because I need to pull blue a little more (she’s +2 at the moment with six books on the shelf).

My next promotion, however, is going to actually be Aversa. I can use a ranged flier that isn’t Nino (not that I have anything against her).

We've got Hero King Marth. We definitely need Queen Caeda. But since we've gotten both Marth and Tiki, we may have to wait for her a bit. Definitely one of my fave FE heroines. 

Aversa looks really, really good. I'll probably promote her myself. I kinda want to slap a -blade tome on her... She's definitely a GHB unit with a lot of utility. And Clair's really good too. I desperately need to build mine since I've been slacking. I think the 5 star copy I pulled WAAAAY back when is +RES -DEF which is pretty good for ploying. But Shigure's gonna be my main flier. I think I need 3 more copies of him. XD And then I'm going to do a stupid DC+Berkut's Lance build... 

[SF's "Write Your Butt Off" II - Return of Writer's Block]

5 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

@Rafiel's Aria You explained the immorality well and I guess that's a neat writing quirk with the names. But I can't stop thinking of that Johnny Cash song A Boy Named Sue now lol.

Was Arrow a man or a woman though? How old? I'm confused.

Arrow's a dude too and probably in his early/mid-20s like Cam and Kurt. Cam talked a little bit about some memories that probably took place close to 10 or so years ago: Arrow giving Cam flowers so he didn't feel left out during the love festival orr Cam kissing Arrow to get him to shut up during their first hike. 

Arrow is (pardon the pun) straight as an arrow, but Cam's not. It's not meant to be the focus of the oneshot, but it's sort of a hidden easter egg. Orchids have a variety of symbolic meanings that range from like...purity to friendship to respect to sexuality. 

[SF's "Write Your Butt Off" II - Return of Writer's Block]

Haven't had a ton of time to read stuff because I've had to take a lot of my work home with me. RIP. On top of trying out a new sleeping schedule to get as much daylight out of my day as I possibly can. Darn you winter forcing me to become a morning person. Because I feel bad responding to my tags without having read a story, I'll do one review now and try to hammer out more later. Got one more day of work and then a short break, so hopefully I should have more than enough time to read this weekend.

So first up is @TheSilentChloey. I'll stick stuff in spoilers, and if you wanna chat over PM instead of in the topic, feel free to message me!

Spoiler

I like the concept a lot. Villains with a tender side is a trope I like very much because in the books I tend to read, villains tend to stay...well...villains. It's nice for them to have a soft spot or a weakness, and if that weakness is kids or love, it just kind of seems a little more compelling since that's a weakness heroes tend to have that villains manipulate. Now the tides can be turned. As a piece, it's short and sweet and easy to understand. You don't necessarily go into a lot of depth about all the stuff Grima's done, but for anyone that's played Awakening/Heroes and knows Grima, it would seem a bit like fluff to talk about all the death and destruction. Without that knowledge, the piece probably wouldn't have as much impact, but it's a fanfic, so if someone's reading a fanfic for a fandom they know nothing about, they might be lost regardless. lol 

In terms of grammar, in the beginning you kind of switch between past and present tense a few times, and it makes it seem a bit odd to read. It might be best to stick entirely with one or the other, or if you want to convey his thoughts in the current moment, turn the present parts into dialogue or thoughts. If you ever decided that you wanted to expand on this, it'd be interesting to see more direct interactions between Grima, the Summoner, and other heroes. I found myself curious to know who was leading the charge against this "unholy union." Other than that, I found the scene with Grima and his daughter very cute. Like I said, I'm a sucker for this sort of thing. 

 @Anacybele @Dragoncat @Otts486 - Since you all kind of had a comment about not being able to pinpoint the immoral deed, I'll address that first since that's definitely my bad, and I certainly failed in that aspect for sure if no one can catch it. XD I tend to be overcomplicated, so I'll write a little explanation, and if you have any other suggestions on how I might make it clearer, feel free to let me know.

Spoiler

I wanted Cam to be ambiguously immoral. The town thinks he's a bad dude. The knight, Billy, mentions that he could put him in jail "again," so he's done some time for something that I want to keep kind of a mystery, so in that sense, I don't go into depth. But Billy roughs singles him out, thinking he might be high. The townspeople avoid him or watch him carefully. Cam admits to having done things like stealing Arrow's first kiss or breaking some dude's nose at the bar. So for him, it's not neccessarily one big immoral thing, but living it immorality. Kurt, on the other hand, is generally a good dude who was drafted for war and has some major survivor's guilt. Because he came home and his friend, someone the town liked quite a bit, did not, he thinks he did something terrible by leaving him to die/not dying with him. 

So in the end, it would really be up to the reader to decide what's immoral. Like it could be the judgmental town, Kurt for his cowardice, Cam for his poor choices, etc... 

For @Dragoncat - Recently, I've liked messing around with more androgynous names. I found out that in France, Camille could be a French name. I thought giving my "rough" character a more feminine name would have been a good source for some of his childhood rage. And he chose a slightly more masculine nickname for everyday life. People usually only call him Camille to get under his skin. Lou is short for Alouette; I didn't include her full name because I didn't think it was worth mentioning. She has three brothers, so she got stuck with a masculine nickname. I have a lot of characters with names that kind of break gendernorms. In real life, I've met girls named Tyler, Elliot, and Robbi. I think it's kinda fun. :3

For @Otts486 - I'll have to be more careful with how subtle my writing is in the future and make sure I clean up my dialogue a little bit. 

~Thanks for the feedback, guys. Next time I post, hopefully I'll be able to write up a few more reviews.

[Fire Emblem Heroes General Discussion and Links]

@Vaximillian Oooooh congrats! She's gorgeous. 

I just finished my Caeda too. Got enough feathers from GC and did all of her merges at once. She's my first non-infantry +10. And she's absolutely amazing. Tactics team is a really good idea. I really want to try one myself, but don't really have the characters I want to pull it off just yet. You're really hammering out these merge projects. Is Clair next? Do you have someone else in mind?

[SF's "Write Your Butt Off" II - Return of Writer's Block]

So we've got less than a day until voting begins, right? 

Is it required that we provide feedback for all of the stories before we vote? I know we definitely gotta read them all lol. Or is it only if the author wants feedback? I don't think anyone's said specifically whether they want it or not. I was planning to provide some whether it was required or not, but I thought I'd check since I missed the last few rounds.

[SF's "Write Your Butt Off" II - Return of Writer's Block]

Okay...so I totally dropped the ball on round 2 of this even though I had kind of a funny idea involving Miriel and Laurent hardcore trolling people at a bar in the name of science. Was it actually funny? The world may never know. My poor laptop ended up dying a horrible death, and I had to get a new one which came in last week. 

I finally got my butt in gear and managed a kind of last minute submission for the current round. So if folks don't mind my squeezing in a little late...here's mine:

Title: Orchids for Arrow
Word Count: 4407
Fandom: Original

Spoiler

Roses seemed to be the answer to both Life’s great celebrations and terrible tragedies. Any lover with half a brain brought their significant other red roses, definitely not yellow ones. But Cam had also seen friends and family bring single roses of all different colors to place on top of a casket shortly before they lowered it into the ground. As a child, he’d liked the poetic aspect of the gesture: one last bit of earthly beauty before the body rotted in the earth for the rest of eternity. But now he was old enough to realize that the roses rotted too. Everything rotted.

 

Now it just felt stupid to throw more dying things at something that was already dead.

 

He narrowed his eyes at the delicate potted plant tucked away partially in his coat to protect it from the crisp autumn air. Despite his best attempts, its fat pink petals still seemed to shiver with each gentle breeze that cut through him. With his luck, it’d die before he got it anywhere.

 

“Just like everything else in this blasted town…” he hissed, readjusting the pot again. As a woman tugging along a string of children tried to pass him, his elbow knocked into her side, knocking a few heads of cabbage from her bag. The smallest boy started to scream.

 

Eyes narrowed into thin slits, the woman cleared her throat, but Cam shrugged and kicked the cabbages in her direction. “Not my fault the birth control didn’t work, Denise.”

 

The oldest of the children had started to reach down for the cabbage, but his mother yanked him back to start a hasty retreat across the street, barking at her children to hurry up. Cam rolled the cabbage around with his foot for a moment, wrestling with the idea of taking it before kicking it off to the side.

 

A dull, familiar ache returned to the back of his skull. “Damned kids…”

 

His father had told him he wasn’t allowed to start feeling “old” until he was at least 30 or his sister married, and considering Lou’s natural tendency to repel all potential mates within the perimeters of their podunk town, he would have to wait at least another 5 years to earn the right to feel tired and worn out despite the fact that he had found several strands of silver hidden amongst the white blonde meticulously tugged back into a bun.

 

“It’s your imagination, boy,” his father always said. “Just wait until everyone you know is married or dead.”

 

“Well...we’re off to a pretty good start,” he muttered under his breath, drawing the gaze of a few passersby. He coughed, perhaps a bit too loudly, into the sleeve of his duster and retreated off to the side of the narrow street underneath the awning of the mostly deserted general store. Prying eyes followed him for a moment, but he dismissed them with a sly grin.

 

The dull throbbing in the back of his throat only reminded himself that the pounding in his head was getting worse and worse by the second. He pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth and tried to will it to stop, but even with the crisp night air trying to penetrate the tightly knit fibers of his wool coat, he could feel sweat starting to drip down the small of his back. “You’ve been doing so good, Cam…” he muttered, turning up the collar of his jacket to hide the movement of his lips. “You can do it.”

 

Minutes passed, and he gave up on Time’s ability to cure his pathetic ailments after the “tink” of the bell disturbed by the general door’s opening sent rivets of pain straight through his skull and down his spine. Limping into an alley, he juggled the small potted plant into his right hand, and reached into his back pocket to retrieve a small lighter cast in silver and a cigarette which he balanced in his mouth.

 

His fingers, numb from the cold, welcomed the warmth that emanated from the small rune clumsily etched into the silver. Lou had said it was ugly, but it could get the job done. Just like him. He held his thumb over the mark for a moment before fire erupted from a second rune etched into the top of the device. He held the flame to his cigarette, and artificial relief washed over him the moment he could finally  inhale a long drag of smoke. The pain didn’t quite subside, but he welcomed the numbness.

 

As he finished one cigarette and lit a second, familiar heavy footsteps drew his gaze upward long enough to spy a portly man about his age, lumbering in his direction. He rolled his eyes before tucking his plant back into the safety of his coat. Probably sensing Cam’s desire to flee, the man picked up his pace and stopped a few paces in front of him, blocking the alleyway entrance and breathing heavily through his nose.

 

“Evening, Billy,” Cam grumbled through the corner of his mouth, without looking up. “Something wrong?”

 

After coughing violently in Cam’s direction, the knight rocked back on his heels, snapping his fingers a few times to try and force the taller man to look at him. “I want to see your eyes, Camille.”

 

“You really ought to buy me dinner before you start making demands like that.”

 

“You wanna spend another night in jail?”

 

It took most of his willpower not to bite his cigarette in half as he tipped his chin up just enough for the knight to get a good look at the bags under his eyes. Without warning, Billy grabbed his chin and forced it downward, grunting with importance each time he shifted the angle of Cam’s face.

 

“Baby’s almost due, huh? Your grandmother said it was a girl,” Cam started when the knight’s nose was just inches from his own.

 

Satisfied, though somewhat disappointed, with his findings, Billy released Cam and fingered the cuffs hanging from his belt. “Uri Peterson said some idiot broke his nose at the bar last night. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” He stepped back as Cam blew another puff of smoke in his general direction.

 

“Uri Peterson… Uri Peterson… He’s not the bloke that keeps trying to slip nasty little things into Dawson’s drinks, is he?”

 

Cam could see the gears turning in the young knight’s head, the wrinkles in his brow growing heavier by the second with the weight of the accusation. “I don’t want to see you at the bar tonight.”

 

“Thanks, Mother, but I don’t drink on work nights..”

 

Had Billy not been so wide, he might’ve been able to brush past him and head on his way, but the knight’s girth was just enough to keep him walled into the alley. He blew out a long stream of smoke that forced the knight back a few more steps.

 

“Last I checked, your home was in the other direction.” He looped his fingers into his trousers to tug them up, challenging the authority of Cam’s smoke. “ And what’s that?” He gestured to the lump under his coat.

 

“If it were any of your business, you’d be the first to know.”

 

The knight cleared his throat which prompted Cam to roll his eyes which in turn prompted the knight to clear his throat even louder than before.

 

“I heard you the first time.”

 

“Camille.”

 

“It’s a damn orchid!” He lifted his coat just enough to offer the knight a quick glance. “Happy?”

 

The man rubbed at the stubble on his chins and grinned from ear to ear. “You trying to make a move on Arrow’s girl?”

 

“It’s for Arrow, bastard.” He flicked the ash from his cigarette at the knight’s feet. “If you absolutely gotta know, I’m going to the temple.”

 

The knight’s smile disappeared as he slowly stepped to the side, allowing Cam just enough room to sidle through. “Fair enough, but I don’t want to see you out past 8:00 tonight.”

 

“And I don’t want to see you or anyone else trying to slide their hand up Dawson Sinclair’s shirt. I hear about it again, and I make sure my next night in jail is well worth it this time. Got it?”

 

The knight licked his chapped lips, cheeks suddenly flushed a brilliant red. “Last I checked, she wasn’t your girl. You keep throwing threats like that around, I might have to bring it to the mayor’s attention.”

 

“I’m quaking.”

 

“I mean it, Camille. You keep screwing around, and I’ll make sure you end up like Kurt. All it takes is one letter, and you’re off to war.”

 

“Good night, Billy.” Taking long strides, he put as much distance as he could between himself and the knight. His hands were starting to sweat this time, knuckles aching for the crunch of bone underneath them. After his cigarette had finally disintegrated into nothing but ash, the anger had passed, only to fade into a longing for more artificial warmth. Such a vicious circle.

 

The silly little ornamental plant in his arms suddenly felt like a sack of rocks. “It’ll be healthy for you to visit him,” Lou had said. “Even soulless creatures need closure.”

 

Plants weren’t closure. They were a pretty way of masking hurt, an offering of beautiful death to mask the ugly death. The world didn’t need anymore rot, and he was still going to feel numbly angry or sad no matter what he did.

 

The temple sat in the town square, built from smooth gray stone except for the turquoise door cracked partially open. In the fading evening light, he could see a few candles still lit through the windows. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he stalked towards it, keeping his head low to avoid making eye contact with the groups whispering by the few vendors left trying to earn some coin. Once he had slipped behind the wooden door, he felt brave enough to let out a breath that still tasted vaguely of tar.

 

The priests had been burning incense all day, leaving the air thick and hot with the scent of cinnamon and bergamot. He slipped out of his shoes and left them by the door, ignoring the delicate silk slippers left for guests, before creeping towards the small altar set up at the back of the main chamber. Even from across the room, he could see dozens of bouquets left across the stone table. Red roses tied with black ribbons...white lilies drooping over drawings left by children...As much as he wanted to hate the display, he couldn’t. Perhaps a few folks had brought offerings just to seem like good people, but he couldn’t tell the difference between the genuine and ingenuine gifts. Plant still nestled in the crook of his arm, he reached down to pick up a wrinkled sheet of parchment scrawled with messy lines that couldn’t contain the colors used to bring the image to life.

 

It could have been a troll depicted, judging by the size of the creature against the trees scribbled around him. The artist had drawn the figure with a tiny head engulfed with a mass of red hair, a grin bigger than his face, and hulking arms cradling an armful of cats. “Looks about right…”

 

“You’re...not supposed-”

 

Cam slammed the paper down against the table so a few vases swayed and stepped back defensively, looking around before he spotted a figure hunched over in the corner. “Kurt?”

 

“...touch those.” The young man on the ground brought his knees up to his chest, spilling dozens of shriveled flower petals onto the floor around him. It seemed to take his mind half a minute to process the mess before he started to pick each one up one by one and place it back into his tunic.

 

Cam watched him with a discerning eye as he worked. Sometimes he grasped at air until he caught a petal by chance. More than once he had to stop to rub at his gray eyes, bloodshot and rimmed with shadows. If anyone had earned the right to feel old before 30, it was Kurt.

 

“You been here all day?” he finally ventured to ask once most of the petals had been picked up.

 

“Maybe...what time is it?” He didn’t bother looking up. His eyes were too busy watching the last petal sitting beside as if he was waiting for it to run away. His fingers hovered over it, trembling. He reached for it and missed once...twice...three times...

 

“Probably time for you to go home.” He set his orchid on the corner of the stone altar and knelt down to get a better look at the guy. Aside from some old burns on his hands and forearms and one that had scarred over under his eye, he didn’t seem different.  After the crude buzz he’d been given, his thick black curls had finally started to return. Perhaps his robes were a little too wrinkled and his lips a bit too thin, but that was part of aging. But even when Life took a bite out of him and spit him back out, he managed to maintain an innocent, boyish glow about him. “Pure,” his sister called it. “Need some help?”

 

Kurt lifted his eyes long enough to regard Cam with some confusion before slumping back down in the corner so more petals sprinkled from his lap. “I’ve gotta’ stay and...keep it clean…”

 

“The altar? Looks clean to me.” He reached down to pick up the fallen petals before Kurt could spend another 5 minutes collecting them himself. “I’ll walk ya’ home. Your old man’s probably missing you.” He reached for his wrist in an attempt to tug him up, but Kurt resisted with more strength than he expected him to have. “You can pick up dead flowers tomorrow, Kurt.”

 

“I-I can’t…” He tore his arm away and rubbed at his bloodshot eyes with the heels of his hands until tears started to stream down his cheeks. “I...I think I’m drunk…”

 

“Huh.” Cam stepped back, hands in his pockets as he watched the young man sob. “Didn’t take you for a drinker…”

 

“...I...I drank half...the the bottle of ritual wine…” He gagged on one of his sobs and had to hold a fist to his mouth.

 

“Ahh...” Cam could feel the corners of his mouth wanting to curl upwards, but he had to remind himself that there was a time and place for everything. He settled down onto one of the ornate cushions lining the floor of the room. “Didn’t take you for a thief either.”

 

“I just...I just want to sleep… I thought...I thought taking care of him...might...might help… And then...and then maybe the wine might...”

 

“Hate to break it to you, but that ‘wine’s’ about 10% fruit juice and 90% water. You’re not feeling booze...just guilt.”

 

“...I had hoped I was dreaming..”

 

“This whole town is kind of one big nightmare, so I guess in a sense you are.  If you really want to sleep, one good swing knocked out Uri Peterson for a few hours last night. He just woke up with a crooked nose.” He popped each one of his fingers on by one. “I’d be happy to provide you with a similar solution for your insomnia.”

 

Kurt’s attention had shifted from Cam to the delicate flower perched precariously on the edge of the altar. He doubted he even heard his offer.  “That’s pretty… You brought it for him? Wait.” He balled his fists together and knocked them against his skull “...that’s a stupid question…” He exhaled slowly through his nose and started to rub at his eyes again. “I’m sure he would have liked it…”

 

“Fun fact, Arrow used to send me flowers during the romance festival when we were kids. Thought I looked left out ‘cause everyone had paired off, at least temporarily, at that point.”

 

“That sounds like something he’d do…”

 

“Well, I was so pissed, because I’m sure you can imagine the rumors that spread, that I told him if he did it again, I’d make him eat it.”

 

“...that sounds like something you’d do.”

 

“Bastard brought me chocolates next time.”

 

Something like a smile passed through Kurt’s eyes. He hugged his knees tightly, ignoring the petals falling onto the floor around him. With a loud thud, he knocked his head back against the wall a few times. “Everyone blames me.”

 

“That you came home and he didn’t?”

 

“People don’t look at me when they pass by. But it’s worse when they do look… I’ve spent hours sitting over a forge working with my father in the middle of summer. I know heat, but that judgment...that I’m here...and he’s not… It’s like someone’s driving a hot coal through me just centimeters at a time. I can’t even...jerk away from the pain.”

 

“War sucks. Mages and healers got the short end of the stick. Arrow had decided to go long before Varenza ratted you out to the military. So if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s his. I’m no strategic genius, but I’m pretty sure the war effort didn’t need another minster spouting out proverbs and blessings to boost morale.”

 

“They didn’t need more mages either… Just fodder.”

 

“Then blame Varenza, the king, the gods... It’s bigger than you Kurt.

 

“Don’t you think I could’ve helped him?”

 

“Maybe? I wasn’t there. For all I know you could’ve ended up dead. And then I would’ve had to buy two of those stupid flowers.” He reached into back pocket and pulled out another cigarette, ignoring Kurt’s wide-eyed gaze as he lit it. “Point is...this war is dumb. Arrow’s dumb for thinking he could do some good. You’re dumb for thinking this is your fault. This town is dumb for blaming you. And I’m dumb...for smoking these blasted things after I made it a whole week without ‘em.” He blew out a long stream of smoke and rested his head in his hand. “But Arrow really was a whole new breed of stupid, wasn’t he?”

 

“Y-You shouldn’t s-smoke in the-”

 

“You remember that camp our parents always shipped us off to during the summer? Practice some archery, go swimming, build character...blah blah blah…”

 

“If...if Sister Charice sees-”

 

“Some geezer thought it was a good idea to send me and Arrow out on a hike. I wasn’t a ‘team player.’ I ‘scared’ the other kids… Somehow hiking up a mountain with Arrow was going to magically fix that. But let me tell you...it wasn’t a character-building mission. It was a punishment. He didn’t stop talking the entire time.  His sister, his career, his future, his girlfriend, how much the gods love us, why we should respect nature… When he started talking about how he was saving his first kiss for something special,  I grabbed his face, stuck my tongue in his mouth for a few seconds while he flailed about like I was trying to suck out his soul, and earned myself 30 minutes of the purest silence ever graced to mankind once the deed was done.

“We made it to the top of the mountain. And then he started to cry. You know… I tried to laugh at him. He was the kind of person we wrote nasty things about on dumpsters. Too much fake sunshine. Too much lording over humanity like a saint. But he stood up there and cried and apologized for talking too much or offending me or acting insensitive...and I felt like...well frankly, I felt like how you look right now. Didn’t say anything though.”

 

Kurt stiffened a bit, pulling his tunic up over his nose to shield his lungs from the cloud of smoke. “Camille, please…”  

 

Cam spit out a curse that made the other man blush and crushed the cigarette in his hand. “I never apologized. He never ratted me out. We just didn’t talk about it...but I guess he told his girlfriend something because she left him for… I dunno’... Probably someone ‘untainted.’ But you and I both know there isn’t such a thing. Dawson’s worked her way into just about every eligible bedroom… Even back then she had quite the tally…”

 

He could feel the ash burning into his palm. Maybe he should have been worried about the pain, but...at least it was something.

 

“She’s not...taking this very well,” Kurt muttered. “I tried to visit her to apologize, but...she threw-”

 

“-that stupid ornamental bear?”

 

“How-”

 

“Gave it to her for her birthday years ago. Knew it was a bad idea the moment I handed it off. Sturdy, heavy, unassuming… When we broke up, that’s the first thing she reached for. Cracked two of my ribs. I heard she broke Uri Peterson’s hand with it. Kinda touching to know she keeps it around.”

 

He felt a phantom ache in his side and put some pressure on it until it subsided. “Arrow and I always took bets about which one of his bones she’d break with it. He just never gave her a reason to mess him up.”

 

“He gave her a ring, you know…”

“Oh, he gave her a lot more than that…”

 

Cam waved off Kurt’s inquisitive gaze tapping his bare foot against the weathered floor to fill the chamber with some sort of sound.

 

“You know...even after our hike, Arrow still sat with me during meals. He didn’t talk quite as much, but he’d ask me questions. Was everything all right at home? Did I play any sports? How were my siblings doing? There aren’t a lot of people like that…”

 

“...Stupid ones?”

 

“No. We’ve got plenty of those. And Arrow was definitely one of ‘em. But no…  Not a lot of people ask me about home. They like to talk about it, speculate even; don’t you think I can’t hear them. But for someone to just ask about your life and want an honest answer….”

 

When he’d started his story, there had been a point, but he couldn’t remember what that was now, and the more he remembered, the older he felt. “Normal people have this fight or flight instinct that tells them to take their hand off of the hot stove. But Arrow could sit there having a nice conversation with the stove while burnt to a crisp… So it’s his fault he’s probably not coming back.”

 

So stupid… He threw the half-finished cigarette on the ground and stomped on it with his bare foot.

 

“...you think he might? C-Come back?” Kurt asked, his voice small and pinched. He shifted his position, crawling towards Cam until he could scoop up the still smoldering cigarette and its ashes into his hand. He wiped up what was left with the corner of his tunic.

 

“Maybe… Until someone ships a body home, there’s no telling. I like to think he hit his head on something just hard enough to rattle a few memories and knock some sense into him. Some foreign girl would find him, nurse him back to health, and have twelve of his babies.”

 

“I’ve...I’ve thought about going back,” Kurt admitted. He dropped the cigarette into his lap along with the flower petals and curled up into a comfortable position again. After a moment, he started to scoop up the trash and hide it in his pockets of his robes. “To look for him I mean. But the more I think about it...I don’t want to go for him. I want to go so that maybe...I don’t come back....”

 

Cam’s brow furrowed in thought. He ran his thumb over the tiny scorch mark now etched into his palm and tried to think of something meaningful and deep or comforting. He couldn’t remember a single one of the temple texts his mother had beat into him or any of the cheesy hunting metaphors his uncles liked to toss around. He stood up, throwing his cushion down next to the shadow of a man before grabbing his plant from the altar and joining him.

 

“I’ve changed my mind. This is for you.”

 

“B-But but...but Arrow-”

 

“He ain’t gonna water it. And Lou said these things are high maintenance. So you’re gonna take care of it, ‘cause if it dies, I’m gonna make you eat it. Stupid thing cost me a pretty penny. If Arrow makes it home, you can give it to him then. Got it?”

 

For a moment, Cam thought he was just going to drop it, judging by how his hands trembled as he turned the pot in his hand. He set it down and stroked one of the petals with a knuckle. “It’s very pretty…”

 

“Pretty flower for a pretty priest.” Cam offered the young man a cheeky grin, tugging at one of the more rebellious newborn curls on his head. “Your hair had better grow back soon. Lou won’t stop whining about it. You know you’re half the reason she even bothers coming to the temple.”

 

That time he got a smile out of him. It didn’t last long, but it was there and semi-genuine as he picked up the plant once more and held it against his chest. “She’s a good kid.” He edged closer to the taller man so their shoulders touched, and almost all at once, the priest’s fragile body sapped the warmth from Cam’s. Both shivered, waiting in silence for one or the other to fill the emptiness of the room with a sigh or laughter or sobs, but this time, the silence wasn’t quite so suffocating.

 

Once Cam had had his fill, he pushed himself off the floor, using Kurt’s bony shoulder as leverage before sticking his hand out to him. Kurt reached out, fingers twitching back in retreat right before he made contact, but Cam caught him by the wrist and tugged him to his feet with one tug.

 

“I’m gonna get you home.”

 

“I-I’m not-”

 

He jabbed a finger into the top of his head, forcing it to look down at the flower. “Needs water.”

 

“Oh…” He pulled the pot into his chest again and nodded. “Okay…”

 

“Attaboy.” He drummed his fingers across the young man’s head and ushered him towards the door with a firm hand on his back. “Er...ah...speaking of home...how’re things?”

Author's Notes/Self-Critique:

Spoiler

I decided to interpret the prompt in kind of a...strange way I suppose. Still dunno if it was a good idea or not, but I suppose I'll find out! I figured as long as my character(s) had committed an immoral act, it was fine. The prompt didn't say anything about having to reflect on said immoral act or the plot of the story having to be based around it or even having to state exactly what the act was. So I went for a story with a couple of characters who've done some questionable things (some implied, others stated) dealing with a mostly unrelated problem. 

I'm pretty happy with how Camille turned out. He was pretty fun to write for the more I tweaked him. This town and the people in it are fairly new, and this is my first time writing anything for them. I have trouble writing "bad" characters, so I tried really hard to give him a few layers so he didn't feel like a generic bully. Even so, it's a challenge for me, especially in terms of speech. Kurt feels weak in comparison, so if I were to go back and work on this, I'd want to tweak him a bit more...just not too sure how yet.

I'm not as happy with my worldbuilding. It's a work in progress, and I still haven't quite figured out how I want this world to function. It's mostly fantasy for sure, but I recently decided I didn't want it to be exactly medieval fantasy...I want some modern elements. Since I'm still undecided, I left it mostly ambiguous and tried to make it not the main focus. Still...it's definitely weak. 

Overall, I think my writing style tends to be very..."thinky." (Yeah. That's a good smart word to use.) So I'm not entirely sure if it's fun to read or compelling at all. Short stories are especially difficult for me since I'm used to writing long plots, so I hope I managed to clearly convey the situation I wanted to. I also think I rely way too heavily on dialogue, so my descriptions suffer...but I also tend to like focusing more on thoughts and thought processes more than the color of someone's skin or eyes...

I haven't had someone read my writing in so long that I feel a lot more anxiety over posting this than I probably should. XD But I am glad that I finally got out of my writer's block rut and did something...even if it's not the thing I should be writing.

[New Heroes Coming: October 23rd (Brave Redux) Loki, Kliff, and Owain]

Finally, a banner that doesn't super tempt me. lol But it's pretty cool to see all of these characters in at last. 

I love Kliff's art. I feel like if I ever actually got around to playing Echoes, I'd like him a lot. But I've really come to love Tobi's art style. 

Owain's art is rocking too. I'm glad to see him, and I hope his stats do him justice. 

Loki is Loki. I'm tired of her in the story, but if she pity-breaks me eventually, Lucius might like her A skill. I wonder if her inclusion in the game will hurt her CYL 3 chances. I do find it strange that she's in while normal Veronica and Bruno aren't here... 

Oddly enough, I'm looking forward to Aversa the most. I haven't promoted (or even bothered raising) a GHB unit in several rotations. She's a red mage flier, and that's a niche I haven't filled on my flier teams yet. Getting one for free would be great. 

[Official Pull Topic]

@mcsilas Your namesake seems to like me quite a bit. XD I just pulled my second copy of Silas as a free pull. My first one was +SPD -DEF, but this one appears to be +ATK -RES. Dunno if he'd rather have -SPD or -RES, but I tend to prefer a little extra SPD over the extra magical bulk myself. 

If only Shigure would come home this easily. Just need 3 more copies.

I also managed to get a +SPD -DEF Libra from one of my free pulls. Not quite the nature I'm looking for, but a merge is a merge.

[Official Pull Topic]

Caved and bought a few orbs. (It's been a few months, and I figured why not since this is a limited banner.)

Sniping blue and colorless, I managed to get a Niles, my first focus unit in like...almost 2 months. This one is +RES -DEF which honestly isn't the most terrible thing in the world. Went back in sniping only colorless (and then blue if there weren't any colorless) and ended up with another Niles who is +SPD -RES. I may end up going with the latter simply because 42 SPD before A skill/buffs is pretty sweet. I really want Mia, but I think my chances of getting her are better if I wait and save orbs for her appearance on a legendary banner. 

Now the question is...what to do with Niles #2. ATK/SPD Link would be cool for Legendary Lucina I think..

[Official Pull Topic]

@mcsilas Can't complain about a Myrrh. XD 

My pitybreaker trend continues. I went in with a little over 50 orbs. After experimenting with a summon simulator and managing to get up to 12% (on a 3% banner...how?), I knew my luck wouldn't be great. I did manage to get a 4* star Silas, my first one. He's +SPD -DEF however, so he may just be Steady Stance fodder for someone. With a relatively low pity rate of around 3.50%, I also got a Sumia who is +SPD -RES. One one hand, she's a new character, so I'm grateful it's her and not like...5 star Tailtiu. On the other hand, I really don't need blue fliers with my super Shigure...and Tana...and Hinoka...and Cordelia... But on the other OTHER hand...her art is pretty. 

So this is already slightly better than the Muspell banner. At least I have a month and an upcoming TT.

[If CYL3 voting Started Tomorrow Who Would Get Your 7 Votes and Why?]

Hm...complicated choice. I told my buddy that I would throw all of my votes at Helbindi if he died. However, he got into the game right after. Voting for Veronica felt different because she wasn't and technically still isn't in the game as her normal self for some reason. I guess she needs to die first? So I suppose my meme-y option is to throw all of my votes at him. 

If I were to vote for characters I want in the game, I'd probably do what I did last time and divide my votes between Pent, Louise, Nailah, Rafiel, Rhys, Saleh, and Ewan. 

If I were to throw all of my votes at characters I thought could actually win an alt, I'd probably divide my efforts between Micaiah and Marth. 

[Tempest Trials: Familiar Faces!]

With Brazen skills as potential sacred seals now...imagine triple Brazen ATK/DEF Alfonse. Punch him once and suddenly he's got +21 ATK/DEF. But ATK/RES is going to be a fun seal to play with. I could easily give it to any number of my mages. 

 

[Tempest Trials: Familiar Faces!]

Spoiler

Hmm...interesting set of bonus units. It's kinda unfortunate that my Mia and Myrrh have already maxed out HM. Normal Dorcas still has a ways to go, so I can use him for now. I'm not sure I wanna use armors... Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get Halloween Mia so I can cheese things with flier emblem. The last time I attempted armor emblem in a TT was during the LA banner... Maybe I'll give that a shot. 

 

[Feeling burnt-out]

I've been playing Knights Chronicle recently. As long as you ignore the crazy amount of people that complain in the reddit, it's a pretty chill game. There are rumors that it might not last much longer since they're merging the JPN server with the global server, but for now as a f2p, I enjoy it. If you do play this game, I don't recommend spending any money. 

As far as gacha rates, I'd say they're pretty standard, around 4% for focus units I think. If you spend 1400 crystals on most banners, you get a selector ticket for one of the non-new banner units. If you spend 2000 crystals, you get the new banner unit. Of course you can get stuff before spending that much, but I like having that security. A lot of the SSR units are given out for free via random character tickets too. Sometimes you get lucky and get new characters. Sometimes you get repeats. I feel like I've been pretty blessed, and I've gotten pretty much all of the units I've wanted. 

I'd say the story is pretty meh...but for the three different difficulties, you get three different PoVs so that's kinda nice. It's a very grindy game. And a lot of the advents are HARD and require very specific characters to complete. And there are some p2w aspects, but it's nothing game-breaking. 

[Fire Emblem Heroes General Discussion and Links]

Lon'qu has an interesting refine. I think I like it a bit more on Raven since I can comfortably run double LnD or LnD plus Fury on him. I don't feel super compelled to promote him right now for it, but it's a nice option for him. 

Firesweep against mages and dragons for Innes is super fun. He got super nerfed when dragons could suddenly hurt his DEF instead of RES. Now that won't be a problem. Though he might have some trouble getting past the crazy DEF they have anyways. 

Tana getting extra stats is nice. Some folks might think the conditional stats are weird, but I don't mind them. It encourages you to use different team compositions. Granted, I normally use Tana on my flier teams (since I gave her Hone Fliers), but she does come with Guidance, so it makes sense to use her in a mixed team. 

I realized that I have enough dew & rocks (if I use them to turn them into dew) to refine 4 weapons, so I have room to play. 

[Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)]

1 hour ago, LordFrigid said:

@Rafiel's Aria Yeah, that sounds like my team. My fourth would've been Fjorm, I think. It could have been the neutral one or the built-up one, I changed up my team a few times in search of a defense win.

Glad you got a defense win. I would've given you that one (especially since that AA run ended up ending the match after yours anyways), but it was late enough in the week that I figured you probably had one already. 

[Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)]

Yikes. My poor team has slowly been falling behind in AA. IDK what happened this week. I can't remember my exact score. I do know I ended up with some lower scoring matches (between 732 and 736), and I missed out on three points since my starting team didn't have the appropriate blessings...so it was probably somewhere around 5163 which dropped from the top 5k. That was really surprising. I haven't had a lot of trouble with my normal team scoring well. Lucius isn't even in the starting line-up for AA. Must've just been Fjorm + Water season. I forgot how crazy competitive things could get with her around. 

It was my lazy week in Arena (to save crests and some sanity), so I dropped from tier 21. Got 3 defense wins. 

I took screen shots, but I don't have time to upload them so maybe later, but this week I also faced @LordFrigid's team in AA (It must've been you because there was a Caeda, Tana, NY!Azura, and....another flier I think) and @Shoblongoo's team in the normal Arena. (If that's your in-game name. I vaguely recognized it from the forum and figured there can't be many others out there with a name like yours!) Kinda weird seeing two SF members this week.

Now that I've kind of gotten around to building the units I really wanted to build (Shigure and Libra aside), I can start building +10 units that might score a little better than all of my squishy mages. Caeda is first up, and she'll be the first non-infantry +10 I build. Got enough feathers to +7 her at the moment. Just a little more to go.