Okay, gripping about the stupidities involved with the School as presented in the show aside, I won't object if we try to portray the teachers as giving classes in life-skills or basic school subjects or whatever. But there should still be something related to friendship in this School of Friendship curriculum. Any thoughts on how to convey that?

Trust exercises, bonding lessons, a version of a feelings forum?

7301041
Lots of after-school activities and group projects.

Okay so here's something rough, though I'm eager for suggestions to refine this.

Rainbow Dash: Gym/sports
Pinkie Pie: Baking & Home economics
Rarity: Arts & Crafts
Fluttershy: Creature care
Applejack: Management
Starlight Glimmer: Essential Magic
Zecora: Alchemy/Potions
Moondancer: Advanced Magic
Harshwhinny: Literature & Language Arts
Autumn Blaze: Music & Theater

I figured Starlight could get "essential" (basic) magic because she also has to pull double-duty as the Headmare, so advanced magic would go to Moondancer.

7301102

I figured Starlight could get "essential" (basic) magic because she also has to pull double-duty as the Headmare, so advanced magic would go to Moondancer.

Which makes logical sense, and not to say Moondancer can't handle it herself (she probably can)...but it still seems like a loss to not have Starlight involved in the advanced class, seeing she has such a clear talent for it.

Of course, now that I think about it, how big would an advanced magic class even be at the School of Friendship? Not every student is going to have the ability to make use of most of those advanced magics (like Earth ponies, yaks, etc), much have less the interest meaning it's likely an elective class, not a mandatory one, so I'm wondering if it would be logical to assume the advanced magic class might be rather small in terms of number of students...

...but I guess maybe part of the point is to try and teach even the not naturally magical students how to use magic, if they want, or at least find a way for them to do so (and, of course, how the magic of friendship can be exhibited by all, regardless of species). Heck, maybe we can have a story where one of the Young 6 like (picking one at random here) Yona decides they want into this advanced magic class, leading to discussions over whether or not that's even wise...just spitballing, though.

Do we want to get Sunburst in on the magic class teaching too? He may be a weak caster, but he's very fluent in magic regardless and probably more than capable to teach the theoretical side of it. Maybe he and Starlight can tag team it, he teach the theoretical side and Starlight the practical side, while also helping to minimize their workloads with the class in addition to their other duties as the school's administration...but again, just throwing ideas out there.

I don't quite see AJ as management; more agriculture/botany/farming.

I'd also question the inclusion of Starlight and not Sunburst and Trixie. As I said elsewhere, it's rare for administrators to actually teach--and for the top admin to teach while the lower ones don't is even odder since it'd be expected that Sunburst and Trixie would have more time to spare to teaching than Starlight, who would have the least.

7301228
Hmm...here’s a thought.

Sunburst & Trixie: Essential magic
Moondancer: Advanced magic
Starlight: Ethics

It just occurred to me that if there had been an ethics course initially then Cozy might have been spotted right off the bat. As well, the School is sort of training it’s students to be Friendship ambassadors, sociologists, social workers, stuff like that, one presumes - an ethics course would work well here.

7301346
Hmm, Starlight teaching ethics...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIlL0T2yTss

7301431
Well, she has a lot of practice making questionable ethical choices...and if you think about it, it kind of fits with how the Mane-6 teach basically what they know, and if there’s one thing Starlight knows it’s how to screw up...

I had actually considered Harshwhinny and have Starlight teach some magic-related class, but we don’t want the school to get too Hogwarts. Or for that matter step on the School for Gifted Unicorns too much.

7301472
Heh, put in -those- terms, yeah I can see it. I just mostly love busting her chops. My favorite bit in all of Season 8?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvym_oq5w5o

7301559
Not to nitpick, but the clip you have linked there is actually from season 7.

I stand corrected!

7301472
Upon mulling it over for a bit, I think I kinda have to side with Trinary on this--Starlight doesn't seem like a great choice to be teaching an ethics class. Never mind her own track record on the subject, it just doesn't seem like a subject she'd have the right skills for teaching on.

But then they also have Trixie as student counselor, so...

I would suggest simply swapping out Starlight for Harshwhinny instead, but Starlight doesn't strike me as a language arts sort of teacher either. Which then got me wondering if the school even really needs a literature and language arts class, but then I had the thought that, with so many students potentially coming in from all over who may not always be equal in reading/writing skills as the average Equestrian pony, it might be a good idea after all.

7301846
Hmmm...you know, Applejack might actually make a good ethics teacher. She just couches it in good ol' country wisdom. And apple metaphors.

7301852
And all the other farming stuff too, of course--nobody says she has to teach just ethics. We can totally mix and match on this, so long as the subjects don't overwhelm each other.

Besides, I could see AJ having a few farming-related object lessons on ethics.

7301852
Eh, I've always been a perennial skeptic of Applejack as the supposed bedrock of good common sense. It feels like something more often spoken of than actually demonstrated in the show.

7301877
Well who should teach ethics, then? I do think it's a class that the school both needs and would obviously benefit from. It could be given to Harshwhinny, but it seems wrong to give the class to a newcomer, as though we're outright stating that the Mane-6 and Starlight are a bunch of dysfunctional mares who couldn't teach the class...which may well be the case but we shouldn't be so on the nose about it. Zecora wouldn't be a bad candidate but I like the concept of a potions/alchemy class too much.

7301976
I'm personally still for Applejack teaching the class, since that would also mesh in nicely with the farming/agriculture/honesty subjects she would already be teaching, or so my mind claims.

I can't really think of any good alternatives among the Mane 6 who could, either, because Twilight's obviously unavailable, Rainbow Dash wouldn't fit any better than Starlight would (in fact, I'd argue RD would be an even worse fit for it), Pinkie has too much of a positive outlook that I struggle to see her viewing the subject of ethics from the needed subjective point of view and be able to see example problems from both sides, Rarity's too proper and would strike me as being too stuck in the nobility's sense of ethics and would leave her teaching of the subject too "tainted", and Fluttershy just seems too timid, and I'd hate to loose her in her trademark animal class. Really, at that point, Applejack's really the only one left.

I suppose we could just have it be required that all of them mix in a few ethics lessons in with their usual subject material, but that solution just reeks as the jury-rigged patch job that it is, so I'd only turn to that option as a last resort.

If we're willing to go outside the Mane 6 for teaching this class, I suppose Sunburst could work for it.

7301976
7301986

My contention is that none of the Mane Six on their own, are an authority or expert in ethics. None of them can or should be elevated to the stature of being some kind of authority on the matter over the others--especially since the whole theme of the series has been Harmony and what you get from having six diverse characters and personalities and the need for balance between them. Taking just one of them and setting them aside to teach ethics--while all the others are only teaching their respective life-skills--is just wrong to me. If we have AJ teach honesty, that's one thing. Ethics is another, since the two are not synonymous.

I'm not really convinced as to the need for this kind of class. If we are going to have something as subjective as ethics, why not have the Mane Six actually teach their respective Elemental virtues--though my impression was that these new subjects (creature care, gym, etc.) would be replacing them teaching the Elements since it was considered too impractical to teach those in a classroom setting. But if we open the door to them being capable of teaching ethics, why not teach Loyalty, Laughter, etc. or even Friendship 101?

Plus, all of our proposed ethics teachers are ponies. Since ethics are very close to one's own cultural values, that might not be the best thing to have in a School about diversity. This feels like a class that should be less about someone teaching ethics to the students and more about exploring different societies view of ethics and the students discussing amongst themselves the implications, moderated by one teacher or another; or possibly even a rotating series of moderators.

7302052

Plus, all of our proposed ethics teachers are ponies. Since ethics are very close to one's own cultural values, that might not be the best thing to have in a School about diversity.

A very fair point, but there are some rules of ethics that are, and should always be, considered universal regardless, and I think it was in that direction that was RDD's general intent with the ethics class.

But that said, you do make a compelling argument. When you phrase it like that, signalling out a specific class just for ethics seems unnecessary, especially when you consider how the school's already going to be teaching the basic Elements of Harmony (whether the teachers are teaching classes specifically on their respective elements or not), which incidentally tends to cover many of the same subjects that ethics would happen touch upon too.

So maybe we're looking at this the wrong way--instead of looking to teach a specific class on ethics, we need to better consider how classes on friendship and the elements of harmony need to be conveying these same principles in the process...and consider how those such as Cozy Glow had managed to miss picking up (or just flat out ignored) on those same principles when it's quite likely they were already being taught in the school by coincidence, even if it wasn't being consciously taught or not.

Maybe what we need instead is a Harmony class...a class where it discusses on how all of the each individual elements come and fit together to create harmony and, in turn, friendship...but I don't know how such a class would work off-hand.

7302068
I think I mentioned something elsewhere about how I was disappointed that the show sometimes put the stress on Friendship IS Magic, i.e. friendship as the power source for magical rainbow lasers, as opposed to the Magic OF Friendship, i.e. friendship being a wonderful thing that brings people together and allows for the accomplishing of great things through that bond.

That is sort of where I think Cozy took the wrong lessons; seeing friendship as something that gives you power over others. Maybe there should be some class or activity where that aspect is stressed, that friendship is valuable in and of itself, even if it doesn't lead to you getting a cutie marks in groups or forming lasers? I don't know.

Given the nature of the school and the issues of diversity, it seems like there should be something done regularly, if not a class then some sort of activity, about students sharing their different cultural backgrounds and views.

7302052

though my impression was that these new subjects (creature care, gym, etc.) would be replacing them teaching the Elements

That wasn’t...exactly what I was trying to do. My thoughts were more along the lines that whenever we see Applejack’s class it seems to be her teaching about farming. When we see Rarity, it’s sewing or dress-making. But they are still considered to be teaching honesty or generosity or what have you. I mostly just wanted to nail down the lens through which they’re teaching their respective elements. For the purposes of, like, homework or class projects that the Student Six might do.

7303173
Ah, I misunderstood.

Still, this ties back to my original issue with the School: I can't see how they can spend an entire semester (let alone a whole year, let alone a four-year term) teaching honesty, laughter, loyalty, etc. solely through the medium of their own careers or interests. It's just too narrow and ego-centered a prism for so broad a topic. Maybe that stuff could make up -part- of what they teach, but I really can't see farming as the central focus on a class on Honesty, sewing the focus of Generosity and so on.

Granted, I recognize we probably won't have the Students physically in class for THAT much of the actual stories, likely not enough for it to be too big a deal, but I'm just not a fan of it from a conceptual viewpoint, which is why my attitude towards Season 8 was: love the students, hate the school.

7303369
Mm, but I suppose that does bring us back to an earlier point though--do we want to go to all the effort to "reinvent" the school so to address that problem...or do we just continue doing what the show had already set up, especially seeing we're planning to keep this largely consistent with established show canon?

I suppose. I'll just make two last points and leave it at that.

Just because we only saw the Mane Six do the equivalent of teaching their own life-interest in class, do we really need to assume that's all they did? Especially since a lot of those episodes didn't show the Mane Six in the best light, which is something RDD made a point of saying we didn't want to do more of? I'm not saying we should declare Screw!Canon and totally ignore what we saw in S8-9. But maybe have it be that what we saw in the show was only a small part of what classes in Honesty, Generosity, etc. were like.

A lot of what we're doing is inferring how things are based on scattered glimpses of the school and the students. Some element of guesswork is inevitable and that naturally means diverging from the canon to some extent. After all, we're making a lot of assumptions, even making stuff up, about things the show never got to, like Cozy's backstory.

My final point is this: I've had some past experience with trying to keep things strictly within the established show canon when writing fanfiction. My first attempts saw me tying myself (and my story) up in knots trying to justify certain things being a certain way just because that's how it was in the show--no matter how little sense it made and me often having to invent reasons for these things that the show never bothered to. It got things awfully convoluted.

In hindsight, it was a mistake to prioritize matching the show canon (which, let's be real, contradicts itself all the damn time) over what made for a better, more cohesive/coherent story. If the choice comes down to what makes for a better story or what sticks closer to the canon---always go for what makes the story better, is my advice.

7303570
Despite impressions, what with me tending to be a stickler for canon and lore, I agree on all points--I never said we couldn't refine, expand, or add on to the preexisting canon, so we should be able to easily do all of that.

My bigger concern is just we'll spend too much time trying to "fix" the school that we'll either loose sight of the reason we're all here to do this in the first place, or we'll spend on this time doing that only to have it not really factor in all that much with the stories we plan to tell in the end. So as long as we know where to draw the line and stick to it, I think we'll be fine.

7303590
Fair enough.

7303590 7303638
For the record the main reason why I even started this discussion was because Trinary suggested beefing up the introductions of our 4 new teachers, which most likely would lead to Starlight introducing what they’d be teaching, which lead to this.

I think I’ll just try and find some way to work around it.

7303654
Right, sorry if I've been a pain. We should probably keep what/how is taught a bit vague (for the old and new teachers) so we don't over-complicate things or restrict options for future stories.

As for intros for the new staff, I still think there should be a little something to introduce them. Maybe just an explanation of who they are for folks who don't know them (in universe), play up the experiences they've had that they bring with them to the school, that sort of thing.

7304111
Right, I think this addition should work?

“Helping me out will of course be my good friends and fellow professors,” Starlight said, sweeping a hoof. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity here can’t wait to get to know each and every new student, and welcome back our returning ones. With our student body having grown, as well, we’ll also be receiving help from a number of other creatures, who I’d like to introduce now.

“First up, our new Vice-Headmare: Sunburst!” Starlight smiled brightened as she beckoned the yellow stallion forward, who gave a nervous wave to the assembled student body. “He came on at the end of last year at the same time as me. Sunburst will also be teaching our Basic Magic – ”

“Essential Magic!” Trixie corrected, loud enough to be heard despite not using a sound-amplifying spell.

“…Essential Magic class,” Starlight corrected, “with help from our Student Councilor who will also be enjoying her first full year here: Trixie Lulamoon!”

Trixie trotted forward with much more surety than Sunburst had. She opened her mouth, but Sunburst and Starlight both acted quickly, Starlight transferring her sound-amplifying spell to Sunburst. “W-well, um,” Sunburst called out, “there isn’t just me, Trixie, and Starlight as newcomers to the school.” He took in a breath and steadied himself, helped along by a reassuring grin from Starlight. “The School of Friendship has expanded enough that the Professors, Starlight, Trixie, and I decided we needed to recruit some new professors as well.”

Sunburst turned, pointing a hoof as four creatures, previously hidden behind the stage, came up onto it. He started with the earth pony mare of the bunch. “Firstly, there’s Professor Harshwhinny! She worked with the Equestria Games Commission for many years.”

He indicated a cream-coated unicorn in a sweater. “And next up is Professor Moondancer! Moondancer is one of the foremost unicorn mages in Equestria, and we’re glad to welcome her!”

The third creature wasn’t a pony – and to Gallus’ surprise, he recognized her already. “Thirdly, Professor Zecora has agreed to help teach potions and alchemy, since we’ve had a lot of students interested in non-unicorn forms of magic.”

The final creature didn’t trot onto stage, she bounded, leaping and twirling and making quite a show of herself. “And finally,” Sunburst said, “Professor Autumn Blaze has come from the kirin’s Peaks of Peril to help the school establish a Theater class, also one of our most-requested classes!”

The assembled students cheered once more. Starlight opened her mouth to take back over, but before she could continue Trixie leapt out to the front of the stage, rearing up with her cape billowing dramatically. Her horn sparked to life, and she enchanted herself with a sound-amplifying spell. “But wait, students, for there is even more!”

7304872
That works! Sorry if I caused a kerfuffle.

Minor note: it's counselor. Councilor is for being on a Council

Cozy is completely trustworthy!

“I’m sorry.”

“Liar!” A few dozen students shouted at once. Gallus was one of them. So was Smolder and Yona. Ocellus, Silverstream, and Sandbar didn’t look any more trusting.

Twilight spread her own wings, but before she could say anything Cozy waved her down. “No, Princess Twilight, it’s alright! I don’t blame anypony for not believing me.” She scuffed a hoof on the stage, looking down. “Gee, I’ve sure made a mess of things for myself. I tried to take over all of Equestria – twice! And if I wasn’t sorry then I could tell you all that I was just being used and manipulated. Why, I bet I could tell you all a big ol’ story about how Tirek contacted me and spent years and years manipulating me with letters from Tartarus into becoming an evil filly. Or how the months and months I spent wth Chrysalis and Tirek and Grogar – sorry, Discord – made me even more evil.”

Cozy looked back up. “But that would be a lie! I should have known better. I can’t blame anypony but myself.” She nodded once. “But what I did was wrong, and I’m sorry, I’m super sorry! Spending months stuck in stone gave me a lot of time to think – ”

“You were asleep!” Somepony called out. “It was a stone sleep spell! You couldn’t think about anything!”

Cozy was taken aback – literally, she stepped backwards. “I – I’m sorry,” she said once more. “You’re right. But if I had been awake, I’d have had a lot of time to think about everything. About how the whole gosh-darn world seemed to come together and power that big blast of Harmony out in the fields before the Canterhorn.”

She paused a moment, sniffing and rubbing her muzzle, before pressing on. “I was wrong to stand against so much friendship. I was wrong to think that me and Chrysalis and Tirek could ever win. I was wrong…and I’m sorry.” She beat her wings a few times, lifting herself up into the air. “But I promise I’ll do everything I can to make friends with each and every one of you! I know that I don’t deserve it, that I’ll be flying into some super-strong headwinds…but just you wait! I’ll show you that I can be your true, true friend!”

7309069
Heck, I'm not sure I'd trust her at that point either.

But that just means we've got plenty of story to cover correcting that.

Obviously we're still aways off from this point, but I was thinking ahead to that point in the future anyway and got to wondering on how, exactly, we intend to start posting this whole series for the public once we're ready to do so, because it occurred to me that I don't think anybody ever explicitly mentioned it to me. Do we intend to post them all as part of just one fic and give credit to each author as it comes up? Do we intend to post them all separately and simply tag them to indicate they are all part of the same series? Or through some other means?

I mean, we've got plenty of time (probably) to work out the logistics of this, but I figure we might as well start now, unless RDD's already got that part figured out and just hasn't said.

7309117
I was thinking we would each release the stories under our own accounts, with us title-dropping and including a synopsis of the next fic in the author's notes (plus a link once it goes live). I was thinking we could do something like put a new story up each Saturday, like an actual MLP episode. Possibly, if we want to potentially game the feature box, we release the story's first chapter on Saturday and then post the next chapter one a day until it's done. I figure most stories will probably be like 3-5 chapters so that would mean a new story on Saturday and then a new chapter through to Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, then a brief hiatus until the following Saturday.

7309144
Decent enough plan, and it does help to address the one obvious downfall of it--the enabling readers to be able to easily find all of the series entries in the proper order with minimal confusion--by adding the links to the next fic and, I would advise, a link to the previous (and maybe a link back to the first too), in case a reader happens to stumble upon a series entry out of order.

I suppose that would really be the best way to approach it for this, because while putting them all in one fic would definitely guarantee no confusion among readers about where to find entries or what order they are to be read in, it also has the notable disadvantage of not allowing equal sharing of credit (and all of the viewership benefits that come with it) amongst all of the readers and that would certainly seem unfair to the authors.

I would recommend that we try and title all of these with some sort of system so they can be clearly marked as all part of the same series and, if possible, with some sort of marker indicating its proper place of order in that series (e.g. episode 1, 2, 3, etc.), because I think the added precaution would only help readers keep it all straight.

I imagine all the fics will be featured in this group once made live too, so I think a link in the story description leading back to the "master list" here, for the reader's reference, ought to be in order.

I can get behind this plan but to be clear: does this mean then that we won't begin publishing any stories until the whole series is more-or-less done? Having each story link to the next seems to assume that the next story is ready to begin when the one before it ends. Is that right?

7309393
I was thinking we’d at least have the first 13 done, with the gap between 13 and 14 serving as a sort of mid-season hiatus.

“I’m not going to let Cozy fool me like she did back when we first came here! She’s evil and we know it, and she’s up to something and we know it! And we’re going to stop her, or my name isn’t Lady Silverstream, daughter of the Second House of Mount Aris, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rocks and Heir to the Holey Rings of Seaquestria!”

Anyone have strong objections to this being Silverstream's set of titles and honors?

Yes, they're a riff on Lwaxana Troi's titles, who I know is somewhat...controversial in the Trek fandom. But I love her, personally.

The Sacred Chalice of Rocks was used to prevent arguments. Or start them.

The Holey Rings are made of coral.

In any event I don't expect her to break these out with any degree of regularity, I just was writing and had a point where it would make sense for her to name them - above - and so decided to take the opportunity to pitch some.

Heh, it's fine with me. She can call herself the Daughter of the House of Pancakes or whatever XD

7319833
It's a Star Trek reference--further, a reference to Lwaxanna Troi, who was always fun (why do you think she kept popping back up in the franchise? ), so no, no objections whatsoever from me on that front.

I will, however, say it should be "my" and not "many"

or many name isn’t Lady Silverstream

"Wanna just blow a big ol' fireball on me?"
- Summer Light the kirin, to Smolder.

Wrote that today while writing chapter 4 of "Return of Cozy Glow". Now I have an image in my head of Summer Light helping Smolder when she's really, really angry and needs to calm down.

So I was perusing DeviantArt just now (like you do) and encountered a sketch picture suggesting Tempest Shadow and the hippogriffs were still not on good terms with each other due to her involvement in aiding the Storm King's attack on Mount Aris.

I've done some checking around. The show/movie canon don't explicitly say as such, but pretty much all of the secondary lore (comics, books, etc.) surrounding Tempest suggests she was involved in some manner on the Mount Aris attack, and most fans assume it to be, shall we say, "unspoken canon," regardless. My point then being is that there's no reason for us to not assume it couldn't have happened (though I'll happily hear out any counterarguments if you have them).

What this has to do with us and this project, though, is that I figure there's probably a good story in that which could be easily tied in with the Young Six, specifically Silverstream. Perhaps Tempest shows up and Silverstream has a falling out with her, not yet having forgiven her for the attack on her home and the story's then about helping the two sort this out, OR, conversely, Tempest is having issues regaining the trust of the other hippogriffs, and Silverstream, unwilling to let that stand, takes it upon herself to try and help Tempest fix this in some manner (with maybe a little bit of help from her friends).

Thoughts? Questions? Personal attacks? Death threats?

7353956
I could see the second one. Silverstream seems like the sort who'd be willing to forgive Tempest, particularly since she's been spending time genuinely trying to help out around Equestria according to that secondary lore.

7354042
Agree with RDD. Most of the tentative plans and proposed characterization for Silverstream for the season have had her be the quickest among the Students to accept Cozy Glow and give her a second chance. Having her then be slower to forgive Tempest Shadow --a character who has already demonstrated her commitment to change (i.e. by turning on the Storm King) vs. Cozy Glow who has done nothing of that sort--would be problematic. Especially since Cozy Glow's actions towards Silverstream and her friends were far more personal and direct than Tempest's general assault against hippogriffs in general.

Well, keep in mind that it may not be a conscious problem. Just because Silverstream is accepting and forgiving doesn't mean she wouldn't still have subconscious or involuntary issues with the subject.

Or, in turn, that her friends wouldn't make a big deal out of it on her behalf after assuming she's upset about it.

7354042 7354845
Concur with you both--I like the second option best too and figured that's where the consensus would lie, but I threw in both options anyway just in case.

7354863
There's also the point worth considering that the whole Storm King affair is still a very sensitive spot for Silverstream, as demonstrated in "What Lies Beneath," and there's no reason to assume that isn't still the case to some degree now for Silverstream, giving her a motive for at least being leery around Tempest.

But as already stated, I'm game for favoring the second option too.

7354986
Sileverstream could be leery and afraid of Trmpest but, knowing that she is genuinely trying to be better, this manifests in the form of Silverstream being too enthusiastic.

7354986
7354988

Here's a quick addendum to what I posted earlier. I still stand by what I said but I will add that it IS possible to do a story where Silverstream can be more leery or less forgiving of Tempest for misdeeds done in the past even though she's already taken steps to make amends for it, while Silverstream is still being a bit too gung-ho to accept Cozy Glow even though she should really be a bit more more cautious around her...

HOWEVER!!!

HOWEVER, this should -only- be done (in my opinion) if this contrast is acknowledged and the character grapples with it in-story. Perhaps Silverstream recognizes intellectually that she has no reason to still hold negative feelings towards Tempest, especially considering what she hopes to achieve with Cozy, but still can't help feeling what she feels (this comic sort of sums that up: https://galacticdragons.com/comic/230-molly-maxton-and-amends/ ).

Or perhaps Silverstream realizes that she's been unfair when she keeps pushing her more slow-to-forgive friends (i.e. Smolder and Gallus) into bonding with Cozy when she (Silverstream) is herself unable to let go of all her lingering issues with Tempest. Either way, the contrast has to be acknowledged in-story and not brushed aside.

I can't tell you enough how frustrating it is when characters display obliviousness or really inconsistent behavior and no one comments on it; like being quick to argue for mercy for unrepentant monsters but slow to forgive other characters for objectively lesser misdeeds. That doesn't mean the characters are dumb or bad for having those contradictions ("Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes." - Walt Whitman). On the contrary, those are really interesting to explore...but that requires the contradiction being acknowledged and given its proper place.

If not, then it's best to avoid that story and put the focus elsewhere, like the second story Scyphi suggested.

So...been sorting out logistics for my own entry in all of this lately, planning out how what needs to go where, etc. Anyway, long story short, I've been planning to open it with Gallus and Sandbar having plans to to get-together to hang out one day (they don't actually get to make good on said plans, but beside the point), and I'm trying to decide what would be a good activity they both would be interested in.

And I figured I might as well open it up here for a bit of crowdsourcing. So what are some good activities y'all can see Gallus and Sandbar doing in their free time? It doesn't have to be elaborate or detailed, just a fun activity you could see them doing.