#and the fine significance of who does or doesn't get to block

[rallamajoop]

Resident Evil 4 vs 8, and Ludonarrative Resonance

Having fallen so very hard for RE8 late last year, I’m incapable of talking about the new RE4 remake without comparing the two – especially when RE8 now occupies the bizarre position of being simultaneously the remake’s immediate predecessor, canonical-later-sequel, and also other pseudo-remake of RE4.

And it’s hard to appreciate just how much RE8 draws from RE4 until you’ve played them both – in broad concept (sinister bioweapon cult in isolated European village, lengthy castle section, awkward shift towards military-shooter-itis at the end – heck, did you know RE8 was even supposed to have Ada Wong showing up with a sniper rifle to rescue Ethan from cutscenes in early drafts? Because that was definitely going too far) and its initial chapter especially. I’d osmosed the broad strokes, but not, for example, the degree to which the first lycan attack in 8 is basically just the first village assault from RE4: mobbed by an endless stream of regular enemies and the one big guy (who you can defeat, but should probably just try to avoid) in an open environment until an invisible timer runs out and everyone goes home.

It’s not a one-way street: it’s only fair to say that by the time of RE4make, Capcom was re-integrating a lot of what worked in 8 back into the new RE4. But as many elements represent a conscious step back from the reinventions of RE7 in favour of recreating gameplay elements of the original: 3rd person view, visible health bar, etc. The same basic arsenal of pistol-shotgun-sniper-rile becomes available to you in that order, but trying to play Leon as you would Ethan is not going to come off seamlessly.

Leon he can’t block, for one. He can parry, but that’s not the same thing. His knife works very differently, many of its uses contextual. You have to aim before firing now – hitting fire without aiming first makes Leon slash with his knife instead (very annoying when I have the sniper rifle equipped, the enemy is too close for the scope to be useful, and failing to get a round off in a hurry is about to make my life a lot more uncomfortable) – and if you’re aiming, you can’t parry. The gameplay in the RE4 remake is honestly my favourite thing about it (the story is... more of a mixed bag, but we'll get to that), but coming to it directly off RE8 is just a little frustrating until you get your head around it. GDI, Leon, Ethan can make a decent mine that doesn’t go off on its own if it’s not tripped in 30 seconds, why can’t you?

Questionable nitpicks aside though, having gotten the hang of RE4’s combat, the more I think about it, the more the differences between how Ethan and Leon handle do actually work for me, and even make sense from a character-centric POV. Intentionally or not, there’s a kind of ludonarrative resonance to it all.

If you’ve read any video game critique in the last decade or so, you’ve likely run into the term ludonarrative dissonance: coined to highlight all those times when the story a game tells via dialogue and cutscenes clashes with the ‘ludonarrative’, or story created by the gameplay. The classic example is something like the Tomb Raider reboot, where cutscenes linger on the trauma of Lara's first human kill, but gameplay will still see her easily mowing down enemies mooks by the dozen barely five minutes later. See also: any time a character is a total badass in gameplay, but can be easily overpowered by a single opponent when necessary for a cutscene. This kind of narrative inconsistency is to some degree the nature of the medium – it’s a rare game that can avoid it altogether, but it can still throw you out of the experience.

For a more Resident Evil specific example, consider that minor plot point from RE6 which reveals that Sherry (one of the many playable characters) has an Ethan-like healing ability as a result of her exposure to the G-virus back in RE2. This has no effect on gameplay, before or after the reveal: Sherry’s health bar works the same as any other character’s. Even the RE4 remake hits this problem: letting Ashley be carried too far away by an enemy mook is an instant game-over in gameplay, but you’d better be prepared to see the exact same thing happen in multiple cutscenes at specified plot points, with no way to avoid it (c’mon, game, I know they’re just gonna stick her in a room with no guards somewhere, lemme go find her!)

You could arguably find a similar problem to Sherry’s in RE8, where Ethan very-canonically comes back from the dead after having his heart ripped out in a cutscene, even though he can absolutely be killed in regular gameplay. And yet, here, I’m inclined to cut the game some slack – because there is arguably an explanation provided, and it’s suitably horrific.

Ethan may be able to reattach severed limbs and walk off falls from great heights, but having his heart ripped out puts him down long enough to convince Chris he’s really dead – definitely down for the count. And if you pay attention to the (many) death-scenes that play after Ethan is killed by a lycan or moroi, you may notice that most monsters immediately start eating him as they light fades away. Ethan may come back after having his heart ripped out, but being digested may be a step too far.

And Ethan can get eaten a lot in this game. Moreau can eat you. The mould-foetus-monster can eat you. Dimitrescu makes pretty-fucking-clear her own desire to eat you too. Sturm doesn’t, but is certainly equipped to reduce Ethan to a fine, pink mist.  Whether those final-moments were included specifically to fill that plot hole or whether they were just thrown in for ‘ordinary’ horror value I can only speculate, but it’s always nice when all those little, gory details tie together, isn’t it?

If we’re going to take games to task for all those probably-accidental moments where the gameplay and the story clash, it’s only fair to note a few of the ones where they do the opposite (likewise-accidental though they may be). Ludonarrative resonance, if you will.

On a basic level, pointing out that gameplay differences between RE4 and 8 make sense for Ethan’s vs Leon’s respective strengths and weaknesses may be a little too obvious. Leon can stagger an enemy with a bullet and then rush in to finish him off a roundhouse kick or a supplex because Leon is a certified badass with way more training than Ethan (who makes one vague mention of having had military training, presumably as an excuse for why he aims so much faster in RE8 than 7).

But it goes so far beyond that.

There’s the issue of blocking, for one. Ethan can block – roughly holding his hands up in front of himself to reduce incoming damage – but Leon can’t. This was initially annoying, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it as a logical change. Sure, Leon can’t block, but Leon doesn’t secretly have mould-powered super-healing, and trying to tank axe-blows to reattachable parts of his body probably isn’t a viable strategy. What he can do is parry with his knife: a more skill-dependent strategy for a more-skilled guy. Timing is much trickier, but only his knife takes damage – Leon doesn’t, so when it works, it’s much better than blocking. And given Leon has this whole backstory-thing about being trained by a knife-obsessed nutjob, that all adds up too.

Then there’s the thing with ladders. Ethan can fall any distance without taking damage, but convincing him to take a gravity-shortcut doesn’t always work: if there’s a ladder nearby, he’ll take it. Leon, by contrast, clearly sees ladders as a waste of time. Ashley will use them to get down from high places, if there’s one available, but Leon, to my joy, prefers to jump. And again, there’s an arguable logic there that appeals to me: Ethan may be immune to falling damage, but he’s badly in denial about it, and would much prefer to take the stairs. Leon isn’t superhuman, but he knows parkour, and he’s damn well going to use it.

Health arguably follows similar logic. Ethan doesn’t get a proper health bar (maybe you need training to accurately judge how dead you are? IDK), just various colours to tell you roughly how bad this is going, and Ethan will be reduced to stumbling through a distorted red haze if you let him go too far into the red zone. Stumble around long enough without dying though, and Ethan will eventually walk it off, automatically returning to about half-health. Notably, Leon doesn’t get this same power (unless you’re playing on the very easiest difficulty – Ethan remains auto-healing right up to Village of Shadows level). But for a dude who canonically has healing powers, you can’t argue that makes a lot of sense.

The same rules apply to Mia too, when you’re playing her in RE7 – but given she’s been infected with the mould too, that tracks (and even if you did choose her for the cure, who’s to say how well such a haphazard cure even worked?)

This logic does break down a bit in RE8 when you play as Chris, and blocking and walking-it-off remain core mechanics. And if you wanted to get really nitpicky, you might even point out the same mechanics are available to Ethan in his very first fight with Mia in RE7, where he’s (presumably?) not infected yet. But there comes a point where you have to admit that expecting the devs to change gameplay so much for one brief section of a much longer game isn’t really realistic (and would be that much more annoying to get used to for this one tiny section anyway).

Amusingly though, in the Mercenaries DLC, Chris has been reworked somewhat, and now can’t block anymore: hitting the ‘block’ button throws a left hook instead. Which is only too appropriate for Chris Boulder-Punching Redfield – but it’s interesting to note that Lady Dimitrescu (another new playable character) can’t block either.

The only other character in Mercenaries mode who can block is Heisenberg, and he does so by raising a literal wall of sheet metal. Intentionally or otherwise, Mercenaries does kinda seem to cast Ethan’s ability to substantially reduce damage just by holding up his arms as pretty unique.

Speaking of health, Leon and Ethan can both increase their maximum HP – Leon by using yellow herbs, Ethan by eating food cooked for him by the Duke. Ethan, however, can also decrease the damage he takes while blocking and increase his running speed this way. This is the sort of game mechanic it’s probably not worth thinking too hard about, but even so, the idea that mould-man Ethan can enhance his own powers by eating food from around the village where the mould originates (and specially prepared by the nigh-omniscient Duke himself) is something I raised already over in my post on Mia and Miranda – and it fits here too. Leon, meanwhile, can only increase his own durability by buying body armour, then paying even more to keep it repaired (there is a case charm that increases his speed a little too, but it’s bloody hard to get).

There are other little details that follow the same pattern too – whereas in RE8, I found myself mostly using the pistol to finish off any enemies who didn’t quite go down in one shotgun blast, in RE4, I found myself relying on my basic pistol a lot more, even when not going for kung-fu finishers. Mostly, that’s down to enemy speed and ammo availability, but you can’t argue it makes sense that the better-trained Leon would be better-equipped to get the job done with lower-calibre weaponry.

Now, to be clear, I doubt most of these little differences are down to the devs going “okay, this new game is about a mould-superman, how do we work that into gameplay?” when RE7 came out – and I’m pretty sure a lot of how the new RE4 plays is down to an earnest attempt to include as much of the old RE4 as still makes sense. Leon has a visible health bar and can supplex enemies into the dirt because people loved the original, and we’re not here to completely reinvent the best features of the wheel. Half the stuff that screams ludonarrative resonance to me is probably more happy accident as design.

But when, for example, you’re being irritated by the discovery that the only mines available to Leon will just go off on their own after 30 seconds if not triggered by an enemy, it’s nice to be able to tell yourself “bloody hell, guess you need a real engineer like Ethan to make a half-decent mine!” and treat that like an excuse. It doesn’t fundamentally change the way either game plays, but it feels like there’s some rhyme and reason to it, and that’s just a little bit more fun. And they’re both great combat systems in their own fun way.

YMMV, of course.

#Resident Evil Village #Resident Evil 4 #Resident Evil #Ethan Winters #Leon Kennedy #meta #obsessive nerd over-analysis of gameplay differences and how they make Total Sense Actually #and the fine significance of who does or doesn't get to block

[argonapricot]

People accusing Shin of having no personality/characterization to dunk on her is so annoying... First of all, it's totally fine and normal to like a Star Wars character who hasn't gotten a canon personality yet (i.e. Darth Maul in Phantom Menace) based on their design / story / performance / vibes. It's normal for mysterious characters to exist, and it's normal for people to like those characters. But we do actually already know some cool stuff about Shin; she does have A Characterization and A Story even when the show is holding back with her.

I agree that for now there are many unknowns about her, and fans are having to speculate about her while we wait for the show to fill in the gaps and give us canon answers. (I agree that it would be nice to know more of what the showrunners undoubtably know but have kept hidden so far, like any information about her backstory at all. I am sure they are planning to explore more backstory in the next season, but it's a huge shame just bc Ray Stevenson can no longer be part of that exploration :( )

However, the information we do have about her is totally sufficient to make her cool and interesting. Imo.

"Baylan Skoll's feral, ruthless apprentice, who has a padawan braid, who is dark side-y enough that she seems eager for violence but still asks 'like me?' when Baylan is talking about Ezra being a Jedi." like yeah sorry that's all I need I'm sold! Sorry!

Seeing her make this facial expression before her first duel/encounter ever with another padawan:

Is enough for me! That's already something really interesting to work with! Or the dynamic between her and Baylan in this specific moment

For one moment he just suddenly beams fondness/pride at her and she seems so intense and excited when she bows back, as she goes off to try to murder some people. Then she gets so visibly upset later when Sabine tells Ahsoka to go get the map, thwarting the assignment she was given here of holding off the both of them.

That's an exciting and interesting master-padawan dynamic! I am going to be interested in Baylan Skoll's padawan who has this dynamic with Baylan Skoll as a foil to Ahsoka's relationship with Anakin and u Cannot Stop Me.

Sometimes I like to look at an actor's performance and observe what they seem to be feeling. Sometimes I like to wonder about things that have not yet been revealed to the audience, I find that an interesting experience... I am sorry that u cannot appreciate her Sublime & Unique Vibes....

The way she acts when she fights is part of her characterization! As with everyone in this show, her fighting style is designed and choreographed to be expressive of her character. The way she moves is expressive. She's so aggressive and excited and alive when she fights. That's information about who she is! It's fun information!

Look at this. Look at how she reacts when Baylan tells her to go up against Ahsoka Tano's ex-apprentice.

I admit I cannot tell u with 100% certainty what she is canonically feeling in this moment, but whatever it is she is feeling it SO INTENSELY. The fact that she reacts like this is interesting information about her character, bc every single conceivable explanation for why she is emoting this way is interesting and cool!

She seems kinda excited. She seems to find it significant and momentous. That's fun. We don't know why she feels this way, but it's too late she is already interesting sorry

Sorry for observing the facial expressions that a character makes and learning things about them that way

It's annoying that the show hasn't taken the time to reveal more things about her yet I agree but why are you being mean 2 her... Having mysterious characters is normal Star Wars procedure :/

Like yes we all know this is not Andor, the writing is not always brimming with deft characterization, that's a shame, but that doesn't mean the show hasn't given us a lot of interesting canon building blocks to work with.

tl:dr this is a skill issue and I love her very much

It's honestly kind of funny coming from the silmarillion fandom... some people simply know how to appreciate cool and unique characters based on limited information.

#shin hati #disclaimer i am kinda intoxicated #hopefully i will not regret posting this I'm definitely not trying to actually Start Shit with anyone #i just wanted to be excited about her for a little bit #because like lowkey i am Extremely Passionate about how good she and baylan are #the quality of their vibes is basically unmatched #they feel so Old Republic-y. they feel so tolkien-y. their soundtracks go crazy. i am sooo interested #they are Interesting To Me #ahsoka series #baylan skoll #i just have to assume that nobody who finds shin boring is a lesbian #i feel like if you are a lesbian you are Paying Attention To Shin #and if you pay attention to her she is actually::: very interesting and cool #anyway #this took me like two hours to write what the fuck

[ravixen]

svt + sending a video message on a show

➔ reaction || not requested || 96-liners

➔ warnings: none || 669 words ➔ notes: fluff ; it's monday, and you know what that means!! new post time hehe i've been re-watching some second gen clips after kara's comeback and really started missing the shows they used to have </3 bring 'em back. anyway, reblog if you liked! requests are open if you're interested. btw for anyone who doesn't know, video message example.

JUNHUI: i hope the producers have all the exits blocked because this boy is a runner. as soon as the hosts ask him to send you a video message, he jolts out of his seat from instinct, eyes wide, and his members have to push him down by the shoulders. giggles and hides his face in his hands the entire time and can't get a word out, even as he tries to take calming breaths. "so..." he says your name for the sixth time in a row, hoping that they'd move on, but they don't. he ends up saying something really sweet to you about dressing warm for the winter and staying healthy until he can see you again. his face is somehow both pale AND flushed, he has to sit on his hands the entire time, knuckles white as he clamps onto the chair. everyone applauds after he sends you a shy finger heart. spends the next five minutes curled up on the floor behind seungcheol's chair, laugh-yelling into the ground.

SOONYOUNG: the first thing he does is chuckle. pause. and chuckle again. that's how you know he's shy, and it doesn't help that his members are dying around him. he turns his back to the camera and shakes out his body like he's about to fight someone. then he tucks non-existent hair behind his ear, swivels around, and levels the camera with a serious look. he says your name quietly, 100% certain that the editors will add in a sparkly flower background and the typical shalala music and a pink filter...and something about that thought breaks his facade and he's covering his face with his hands. he reverts back to Baby energy, and the hosts are fake-mad, saying how the tiger side is a lie. tries to argue back and they say that the only way he can redeem himself is to send a video for real, so he sucks it up and sends you a generic message about eating well and ends it with the softest horanghae.

WONWOO: his expression doesn't change, and the hosts mistake that for him not hearing the request. no, he's heard it. he's just mentally debating whether to entertain it right now. he glances around for his members' opinions, and when seungcheol makes a barely perceptible nod of approval, he agrees. one of the other hosts covers his eyes with the cue card while the other one grabs a camera, insisting on seeing the expression wonwoo makes for his significant other. that's cheating because as soon as he says your name, his face does soften, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. and then he says, "crouching heavy punch xx light kick Hyakuretsukyaku, crouching light punch xx light kick Spinning Bird Kick." it makes no sense until one of the PDs laughs and tell everyone that it's a chun-li street fighter combo. apparently it's an inside joke, but he does send the camera a finger heart when people aren't looking.

JIHOON: sometimes he hesitates to act cute for the camera, but sometimes he just shocks everyone by giving in easily. the hosts prepared a stack of cue cards with reasons for him to send you a video message, but he says ok so fast that the words die on their tongue. "oh...okay, why don't you look into the camera and say something to them?" he turns to his camera with a smile and wait for them to zoom in before sending you a classic wooahae ς(>‿<.). there's probably the slow down edit and anticipation sound effect as everyone waits for him to say something, but nope, that's it LMAO they bully him into doing more and he's like fine, i'll do it for real, except it's just a left wooahae and a right wooahae and a big wooahae and everyone's sick of his shenanigans. the hosts just move on, and he shrugs like it's not his fault. and who can argue with that face?

#caratwritersclub #seventeen scenarios #seventeen fluff #svt fluff #junhui scenarios #jun scenarios #soonyoung scenarios #hoshi scenarios #wonwoo scenarios #jihoon scenarios #woozi scenarios #g: svt #m: junhui #m: soonyoung #m: wonwoo #m: jihoon #t: reaction #s: notrequested #ravixen

[dark-night-hero]

Imagine being Gojo Satoru's significant other.

Imagine having enough patience to be his childhood friend, classmates and let alone his lover for years. Or maybe you don't have the patience, rather you manage to get used to him and his attitude, the way he treats everybody and anybody throughout the years where you've been by his side.

Imagine being on the same year but instead of being put on the same team as him and the others, you were in tasked on a solo mission just like Geto's s/o but was overseas by the time you were at the jujutsu high. Not that you don't mind being away, but unlike Satoru who can do whatever he wants being the most powerful sorcerer alive. You who was the only descendants of a ruined clan have no choice but to obey unless Satoru stepped in, in which he never does, not because he doesn't care but because you never let him know.

"Awwe how come you always accepted missions overseas?" "Well Satoru, other people needed some aid you know." "But why does it has to be you? It's like the elders have been doing this on purpose." "We-" "Should I just kill them all?" "..." "Just kidding babe. Muah!"

Imagine being the dumb and dumber couple. Always making trouble for the principal when you were together. Going on a days when you both have times and making it always fun and memorable. Being with Satoru was like being in the eye of the storm, whenever you were with him everything was calm and bright, like everything was alright.

"Do you really have to go?" He was pouting like a child you're rather finding him silly than cute. "This job is the most suitable for me" You spoke, caressing his cheeks, looking at those mesmerizing blue eyes underneath those black glasses of his. "Don't worry, I'll be back before you knew it like always. Besides don't you have your own mission to do?" You remind him as he pout once again. "Oh come on you big baby. Stop looking at me like that, I'm not going to change my mind"

Imagine your mission being longer than what you've imagine, plus the danger you've faced was far more worse when you face it. As if someone was trying to get rid of you on purpose by not giving the right details about your mission. Nevertheless you manage to survive, thought attaining a few major and minor injuries, there was nothing that can stop you going back home.

Imagine the confused look on your face. The man right in front of you was the man you've loved the most at the same time he wasn't. He looked and sound the same and yet.. There was something different. He wasn't the only one. Everything seems to have changed. You want to asked him, really. But as soon as you went back to jujutsu high, you were put too focus on your recovery.

"You good?" He sat on the empty chair right beside your bed. "Yeah, just a little bit tired but I'm good." You replied not wanting to worry him. "How about you?" You asked, finally looking at him who was wearing his usual glasses. I heard from Geto that you... That was what you wanted to ask but you hold back. "I'm fine, aren’t I the strongest as ever?" He smirked playfully at you. But wasn't it we that it used to be?

Imagine being in the middle of a mission when you have heard the news about his best friend being wanted as a curse user. The look on your face as you hurried off and went to finish the work so that you could go home and head towards your lover.

Imagine as you burst enter his room, there he was sleeping peacefully, making you sit on his bed side as you watch him breath peacefully, only when times like this does it seems like he was a normal person, a beautiful normal person not the strongest jujutsu sorcerer in the history of sorcerers. But you knew that was never the case, reaching out to touch the lost strand of his white clocks on his face, your hand was blocked by an invisible barrier. A bitter smile making its way on your lips.

Imagine as you were about to leave him be for the rest of the night and was about to come back the following day, as you were to retract your hand, you found yourself laying on your side, his arms wrapped around your waist, his front pressing on your back as you can feel his breathing upon your neck.

"You're leaving me again, aren't you?" His voice was emotionless. It almost made you stop breathing for a second. "No. I'm not." You said with a sigh. "I'm staying for the night." You heard him chuckle after that. "Just for the night, heh." You felt his hold tighten around you. "No. I'll stay by your side as long as you like." For the first time in your life, you felt the strongest sorcerer tremble upon holding you as he buried his face upon your neck.

Imagine as times goes by, you learn how to love and adjust this new Satoru. In the first place its not like you stopped loving him and vice versa. It's just this Satoru was a little high wild. And also.

"Who's this kid?" You spoke upon seeing the little boy beside him. "Did- did you kidnapped a child?! OH MY GO-!" "Hey!" He spoke putting you on a headlock and eventually messed with your hair. "Babe stop!" You laugh, pushing him away. "But seriously who is this child?" You spoke once again referring to the kid that was looking at you two with emotionless. Just like that Satoru lean close to your ear and whispered. "He's a Zenin." Enough for you to know what he was referring to. "We're going to be his guardian." "What?" You look at your lover with a flabbergasted look on your face.

Imagine as you two spend the rest of your days together, as the two of you continue to love each other, days where just passing by. You slowly grown to love the child that Satoru have picked up. It was peaceful, though can a little bit of a mess sometimes because of your lover, it was wonderful.

Imagine, as at least you thought, as you were both teacher at the jujutsu high, you can agree at Satoru's decision when it comes to the vessel of Sukuna, Yuji Itadori was a bright young man after all. Though everything was a bit of a hellish mess, everything was fine, until the real tragedy came, the Shibuya Incident.

[ⓒdark-night-hero] 2022°

#gojo x reader #gojo saturo #jujutsu gojo #gojo imagine #gojou satoru x reader #gojou satoru x you #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu x reader #jujutsu kaisen fanfic

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Browsing some old Chortle reviews today for no reason, and found a review of Andy Zaltzman's first ever Edinburgh hour. Things I knew about this show yesterday: It was called Andy Zaltzman versus The Mysterious Dog of Doom, it was billed as a solo show but featured occasions bits with John Oliver, it was before he got particularly into political comedy and was mainly just weird surreal stuff, it was nominated for the 2001 Perrier Newcomer Award. Things I know now: Steve Bennett liked it a whole lot better than he liked John Oliver's solo debut the following year.

Things I know about the show now: According to Steve Bennett,

Andy Zaltzman is producing some of the most interesting and intelligent stand-up around.

He aims terrifically high, with material that aims to capture vast and important ideas and distil them into surreal streams of observation, underlining the absurdity of the situations.

And, considering how ambitious his targets are, his strike rate is remarkably good, producing plenty of laughs from such complex social and political points.

Well that doesn't really fit with what Andy has told both Stuart Goldsmith and Stewart Lee in interviews, that his first comedy hour wasn't particularly political or focused or worth much of anything at all. I figured he must be downplaying something about it, given that it got nominated for quite a significant award.

The integrity of the material is clearly important to Zaltzman, who also takes some well-aimed pops at the conventions and laziness of more conventional stand-up.

Oh I'd pay money to hear that. I mean, obviously I would have already been willing to pay good money for Andy Zaltzman's 2001 stand-up show. But I would really like to hear what a 27-year-old Zaltzman had to say about the laziness of more conventional stand-up. John Oliver wrote that weird article in 2003 getting mad at comedians who slag off Americans for cheap points with British audiences (I mean, I agree with his point, but it was a bit of a weird focus). What did Andy get mad about? Comedians who occasional cite accurate facts?

Mind you, he's not beyond the odd groanworthy pun himself, albeit a finely crafted one.

Sorry, does that mean puns were the things Andy complained about in conventional stand-up? Also, this would later prove to be the largest understatement of Steve Bennett's career, including the time in 2012 when he said that politics and racial identity "inform some of [Nish Kumar's] act."

At its best, the content is superb, although the densely packed routines can sometimes labour an idea beyond its comic limit.

I apologize my above incorrect statement. This is the largest understatement of Steve Bennett's career. (I think that is an amusing thing to say, but also a genuine point. People joke about Andy's puns, but as long as his pun runs are, if someone thinks of the fundamental building blocks of Andy Zaltzman's comedy, that'll be the extensive and laboured analogies. And they're densely packed as fuck.)

But the show is ultimately let down by its execution.

Hey! Steve! Come on, man. You were being so nice. What are you turning it around for now?

Zaltzman is never going to be one of those charismatic comics who can effortlessly work a room, but the presentation could still do with more polish.

Okay that may be accurate, but, hey! Fuck off, Steve! That is our guy who will never be one of those charismatic comics you're talking about! Don't try to polish Andy Zaltzman! No one is allowed to polish Andy Zaltzman. Can you imagine Andy Zaltzman polished? No thank you. I don't like that thought.

The Macguffin of getting the audience to vote for Zaltzman's treatise or the contrary opinions of the Dog Of Doom is an imaginative way to break up the material, even though it sometimes seems incongruously nailed onto the end of a routine.

Fair enough he does do that. I had no idea he was doing it as early as 2001. I'm sorry that Steve man is being so mean to you, Andy. Come to Edinburgh this year and I will happily vote in all your weird audience polls and I promise not to call it incongruous on the internet afterwards.

But the voting, and the smattering of sketches with fellow comic John Oliver,

Hey! Hey, I know that guy! That guy! Sketches with that other guy John Oliver! I had heard them say before that even in the couple of years when they were both doing stand-up but hadn't started doing joint double-act shows, they were appearing in each other's solo stuff. And I quite enjoy this piece of Avalon promo material from 2002, in which John Oliver tries to sell himself by bragging that he appeared briefly in that show by the successful Andy Zaltzman that got nominated for a Perrier Newcomer award. From the brief window when the balance of fame and fortune between them was that way around.

still leaves the occasional lengthy chunk of monologue that can seem more like lecture than comedy, with too few gags to justify the concentration required.

That's the first bit of this review that doesn't sound like the Andy Zaltzman we now know at all. When I say his comedy is densely packed, it's densely packed with jokes, among other things. But I can believe that maybe wasn't so much the case in 2001.

However, as a debut Edinburgh show, this is a brave and welcome attempt to breathe new life into the genre. And although the raw talent still needs to be better harnessed, it's a show well worth seeing now, to glimpse what the future of stand-up could, hopefully, be.

You're God damn fucking right it was. I mean, I don't know what that show specifically was. It might actually have been shit. But well done on correctly recognizing Andy as a brave and welcome attempt to breathe new life into the genre, and the future of what stand-up could, hopefully, be. Are we lucky that he did turn out to be that?

@lastweeksshirttonight I think you'd enjoy reading this.

[shuttershocky]

Hey Shutters, since you have a massive mind and infinite powers could you help me out with IC-EX8 without Pozemka? Every strategy I have found just has a massive s3 Pozemka do it. Not only do I not have a pozemka of that stature, but I don't particularly enjoy just throwing the newest broken operator at something to win. It's super valid to do just not my thing.

My own strategy was very similar in that the idea was "nuke this boss immediately lol", but instead of Pozy I ran Exusiai, who deletes this boss in mere seconds if you have a source of armor shred.

Breakdown:

The E is Exusiai's tile. Although she's the most easily recommended, the Materialist Antagonizer actually has only 800 DEF in EX-8, meaning other Marksmen like Greythroat, Archetto, etc who have rapid multi-hit attacks can beat its ass if you can buff them or debuff the drone. Marksmen also prioritize flying enemies first, meaning they're the most recommended since there's no way for them to get distracted in the fight.

The red arrows on either side are Lord Guards (Lappland highly recommended to disable evasion, Arene can do work too since Arene's got arts damage, and Thorns with his Arts poison damage).

One red and black arrow on the high tiles to support the Lord that doesn't have a lot of arts (in my case, it was Thorns on the left side, supported by Mostima).

Green arrow is a multi-target medic, Nightingale if you have her, but if not just kill the caster Durins with assassins.

Blue boxes are places to put your buff / debuff army. What you want to do is just to get Exusiai's ATK to be significantly higher than the boss' 800 DEF. Some recommended units are Warfarin (place her to the right of Exusiai's tile facing upwards, so the only unit she can buff will be Exusiai), Skadi the Corrupting Heart (if no Skadi, Sora with S2 does just fine), Shamare (her Cursed Doll summon lets her debuff the boss' DEF from far away by planting the doll under the boss), Schwarz (boost's all Sniper ATK, can also beat up the boss herself), Meteor (while she doesnt have enough DPS to take out the boss by herself, her DEF debuff on her skills is pretty significant), you can even throw THRM-EX at the boss for good measure.

Now, as you may have already seen, the biggest threat the boss has is that AOE multi-hitting stun attack that it does. What the guides won't tell you is that this shit is countered by the People's Wife, Gravel, as its stun attack targets the operator with the LEAST amount of other operators around it, meaning simply deploying Gravel in the middle of bumfuck nowhere away from everyone else aggros the stun attack and leaves the boss liable to getting its ass beat.

The boss' red AOE arts blast targets the operator surrounded by the most allies, but is dealt with by simply activating your Multi-target medic's skills. Nightingale will block most of it with her bullshit RES aura, but you can also fight fire with fire and activate Ptliopsis' S2 to outheal the barrage.

_____ Do note that I'm only recommending a physical strategy because it's easier, but if you happen to have a strong Eyjafjalla, Ceobe, or Ebenholz, then an Arts DPS strategy is very much possible. The boss has 50 RES so you'll be dealing half damage, but you can trade out the Physical debuffers for Arts debuffers like Saria S3 and Ifrit S3 and blow the boss up the same way. Always just remember to leave a slot open to deploy Gravel somewhere far away to tank the stun attack, and this boss is reduced to a very tanky nuisance

#Arknights

[chaikachi]

Chai!!! Thank you so much for the feedback on the thing about Oscar having memory loss! It helped me figure out that I was approaching the prompt from the wrong angle.

It made me realize that Oscar isn’t really the one who would have the opportunity to have a deteriorating memory.

Rather, in the same vein as a deteriorating memory, I realized that Ruby is the one who had the opportunity to “ascend” into something that would create distance from her former self. And yet, I think you were also right that Oscar and Ruby are too important to each other to forget and so I came up with an alternative.

Rather than a deteriorating memory, I thought maybe it would be better if the ascended Ruby (taking on the identity of a “Savior” or a “Hero” for Remnant) had a distance from her emotions. Something like, she remembers how she felt but she doesn’t seem to feel it.

This idea was inspired by Lightning from Final Fantasy 13 Lightning Returns, which has the main protagonist (Lightning) be forced into the role of Savior for the world by gathering souls to take to the new world (it’s a little complicated) and she has her emotions sealed away to force her to have a distance to the world.

Thank you for talking about it!! I’m making a lot more development now!

I'm glad I could help with the last ask but I'm worried we're not quite on the same page this time either aaahhh 😫

If this is in an AU context I need to disclaim that you can do whatever you want. There are no rules. If you want to explore one or the other, go for it! That's what fandom is for, just having fun!!!

In this specific instance in canon (and looking onward to v10), this feels sort of the exact opposite of what ascension was for though imo.

Ruby has been repressing her emotions. She had to be the perfect hero. She was a leader. She wasn't allowed to be a failure. And in a world where the creatures of darkness are attracted to negative emotions, she had to be Elsa. Conceal and don't feel any of those things.

Ascension is Ruby choosing herself. Aka, letting herself feel all those messy, complicated emotions she hasn't given herself anytime for until now. Because when you take care of your wellbeing before others, then you're better equipped to support those around you without having to pour from an already empty cup. That's the message they're trying to get across, that a hero isn't perfect, she's only human.

All that being said, I'm always down to discuss options.

One interesting way to explore memory re: ascension is if she didn't actually keep all of them. We know that with Ascension you become someone new and don't keep your memories in the process, but Ruby stayed herself so she retained them. HOWEVER, a person that chooses herself is not technically the same as someone who doesn't. So while I doubt they'll go this route, there is absolutely a loophole there. It also proposes some fun angst just because everyone thinks she came back fine but oh turns out there are bits and pieces missing as a result of what happened. It just wasn't enough to notice at first.

Another way to explore memory loss through canon though - and this applies to the whole cast - is through trauma. Memory and feelings of the past can get so very messy in light of constant and chronic distress. For Ruby there are probably a lot of things from her journey and even her childhood that she doesn't have memories of. Might not remember specific events or chunks of time or how she felt in some she does remember because brains in distress will block those sorts of things out as a coping mechanism.

Something that would be interesting to see in light of that (but another I don't think they'll do given the narrative significance), is Ruby just not remembering the tea party. Remembers something happened, remembers it was Bad™ but can't access those memories because of how distressing it was.

idk if this helped at all or if it even answers your question, but it was still fun to talk about, so thank you!

Oh and on the concept you mentioned, I am familiar with something similar! One of the protagonists of A Lull in the Sea (Nagi no Asukara) undergoes something like that, albeit for with different specifics. It's a great show tho. 11/10 do recommend.

#ask #asks #anon #anono

[larkreadsop]

WARNING : SPOILERS ON EGGHEAD

Am I the only one who is somehow deceived by Luffy owning the Nika Nika no mi ?

I found it funny he had a "random" or even weak in pure nature devil fruit, compared to other characters (Kizaru, Crocodile, Akainu, Kaido, Enel or Big Mom to name a few) , was imaginative and made it a deadly weapon.

Buut actually no, it's the power of a fucking god. I know he is the protagonist, so he needs to have a massive strength and all, but come on, he's already the son of the most wanted (and maybe powerful) man in the world, grandson of the hero of the Marine, youngest ever emperor, 101% future pirate king..., Leave some cool stuff for the rest please 😭.

I definitely understand... I think up until now Luffy has certainly gotten by with thinking he had a rubber fruit and was able to figure out ways to use it based on that belief so I don't feel as if this has cheapened or lessened any of the fights he's had to this point because of that.

But ever since Joy Boy's introduction and what happened on Fishman Island it's been foreshadowed that Luffy would be involved with that somehow and the 'drums of liberation' tie all the way back to Skypiea so I don't feel as if it came completely out of nowhere (and, like you said, given the genre of the series the main character is always going to have the most significant power-ups in one way or another...)

I guess what I'm most interested in is the potential downsides of Gear 5 because we've already gotten hints of it in that Luffy gets so caught up in the 'fun' of fighting that he pretty much blocks everything else out (which is fine when he's brawling one-on-one with someone like Kaido but even in this arc when Lucci went to attack Sentomaru instead Luffy should have been able to stop that but he wasn't using his Haki or paying attention and I could see that being very detrimental...). He also stuck with Gear 4 during the Seraphim fight so he's still capable of using his old forms as well and I think as long as he doesn't pull out Nika in every single fight it won't bother me as much!

In terms of the legend of Nika...the idea of this 'warrior of liberation' does fit with what Luffy's unconsciously been doing all along. Whether or not Nika was actually a deity or just worshipped/revered as one by the people he saved is still up for debate but in some ways it's almost the opposite of what Luffy himself wants, because he doesn't want to be seen as a hero and now he's almost inextricably tied to a figure that's been seen as heroic for generations.

So I think there's a lot of ways the story could go with this that add a lot more depth to the idea than it merely being a close-to-the-end-of-series-power-up and I really hope to see some of that in the future!

#one piece #opspoilers #that got long again so i put it under a read more but #those are my general thoughts #aoi answers

[wings-of-flying]

okay actually i've decided i've got more to say:

1. sharing exclusionary/phobic opinions and expecting no backlash/hate from the communities they target is idiotic. people will stand up for themselves, their supporters will stand up for them. if you're not prepared for backlash, simply don't post those opinions. it costs nothing to keep opinions offline. and this isn't you being censored or whatever, it's you protecting yourself from hate that you clearly aren't prepared for (which is fine and i get it)

2. sending death threats is never okay. never. it doesn't matter why or what they did or who they are. sending death threats is never okay. for two reasons. one is that you can never know how someone is mentally doing. death threats may seem like a one and done for you that you can forget and move on from, but that can seriously harm someone's mental health. please don't. and two, these threats are Always used as reasons to justify hatred. this has been shown again and again, for example with jk rowling, and they just perpetuate hatred. sending death threats gives them fuel to hate certain groups. don't send death threats

3. every community has "bad" people. there will be people within every community who consider it morally okay to respond to hatred with death threats. this does not mean everyone in that community agrees. attributing certain reactions or ideologies to a group as a whole will never work. don't generalise. don't let a hurtful comment or whatever it is define your opinion of a group of people

4. exclusionism is never okay. if you don't want to interact with a group of people and use that to justify your exclusionism when running a community event (where, in that community, there will be people of that group) then perhaps you shouldn't be running a community event. the whole purpose of community events in fandom is to bring the community closer through sharing art or whatever it is, not to tear them apart by excluding a significant number of people (because while there may not be loads and loads of a certain group within a community, there will certainly be more supporters of them than you may believe, so all you're really doing is dividing the community further). like i said before, it's perfectly acceptable to not run these events if you're worried about encountering a certain group

anyway i know i missed the drama about it and i'm now blocked by the person i'm vaguely referring to, but i feel like these are important things to say anyway

#albatross rambles

[appdevelopmentblog]

Is Your Website ADA Compliant? 5 Quick Fixes

At the point when you consider the Americans with Inability Act (ADA), you could imagine structures with slopes and walkways with control cuts. Be that as it may, in the present current world, making data and innovation available to individuals with handicaps is similarly all around as significant as ensuring they can get to structures and roads. Also, it's not simply significant it's expected by the law.

So what's the significance here for an SMB proprietor? It implies that your site should be ADA Compliant Consultant or you could confront a few serious legitimate outcomes. In any case, you can relax, we will go over all that you want to be familiar with why you want an ADA-Compliant site, and how to ensure you're not disrupting any guidelines.

What Does ADA Compliant Mean?

In the US, 1 out of 4 grown-ups has a handicap or the like (CDC). This can go from unfortunate vision to loss of motion and in the middle between. In 1990, the Americans with Handicaps Act (ADA) was passed to assist with forestalling the victimization crippled individuals. Some portion of this is ensuring that everybody no matter what their physical or mental capacities can get to public assets.

Furthermore, in the present mechanical world, that incorporates virtual and advanced assets like sites. So if your site is to a great extent blocked off by somebody with a handicap, you may be disregarding Title III of the ADA. To try not to cause problems, you want to ensure that your site can be utilized by somebody who is visually impaired, hard of hearing, or uses assistive innovations like screen perusers.

Why Does My Website Need to Be ADA-Compliant?

Each site needn't bother with being ADA Compliant. Notwithstanding, assuming you fall under one of these 2 classes, you truly should be:

On the off chance that you work at least 20 weeks every year and have no less than 15 full-time representatives. Assuming that your business or site is thought of as "public convenience." Presently, you may be imagining that you can essentially hold on until you become an admonition about your site and ADA Compliant and fix things then, at that point. Yet, the ADA is an extremely severe regulation, and there are no lawful guards for infringement. That implies you will not get any alerts or fresh opportunities.

On the off chance that your site isn't ADA Compliant as quickly as possible, then your business is defenseless against claims, significant fines, and a disaster for your image's picture. If you don't watch out, you could wind up like Domino's, whose allure got dismissed by the High Court after the pizza organization got sued by an outwardly weakened individual who couldn't utilize their site.

5 Simple Steps to Make Your Website ADA Compliant

Presently how about we get down to the bare essentials how precisely might you at any point ensure that your site is ADA consistent?

All things considered, there are no reasonable rules or guidelines in the ADA about what an available site needs to resemble or have. However, that doesn't mean your consistence endeavors are a roll of the dice. Most organizations and associations observe the Internet Content Availability Rules (WCAG), and the ongoing adaptation is called WCAG 2.1 AA. The WCAG is utilized in legal disputes about ADA consistency, so it's a useful rule with a lawful premise.

5 steps to making your website ADA compliant.

1.Alt Text Matters

Assuming you have a lot of insight into back-end Search engine optimization, you realize that Google believes you should have alt-text depicting any pictures or recordings on your site. Nonetheless, many organizations skirt this step since it's drawn out that your site could have hundreds or thousands of pictures on it including pictures, symbols, and logos.

Be that as it may, alt-text isn't just about supporting your Search engine optimization. With regards to ADA consistency, your pictures in general and recordings (fundamentally, anything that isn't text) requirements to have illustrative alt-text. Like that, individuals who can't see or utilize screen-perusers can in any case comprehend what the picture or video is conveying. To get two birds with one stone, ensure your portrayal is loaded with catchphrases to assist with helping your Google positioning in the meantime!

2.Enable Keyboard Nav

With regards to site route, you're likely more worried about ensuring clients can undoubtedly move through your site. Yet, to make your site completely available, you want to empower the console just route. , individuals, who can't utilize a mouse or need other assistive innovations to utilize a PC can in any case utilize your site.

You additionally need to ensure there are no "console traps" on your site. That implies a console just client ought to never get stuck someplace on your site-they ought to constantly have the option to explore advances and in reverse.

3.Offer Alternatives

Alt-text isn't the main elective you should be ADA-consistent. On the off chance that you have sound just satisfied like a web recording or music playing, giving a record or depiction of the audio is significant. Furthermore, for recordings, subtitles and records are an unquestionable necessity. Preferably, your records ought to be named and found near the first media.

Also , check- 6 Best WordPress Shortcode Plugins for 2022

4. Avoid Flashes

To guard things for clients with epilepsy and other ailments, try to abstain from glimmering lights and flickering visuals on your site. On the off chance that any component on your site streaks beyond 3 times each second, you could be in a tough situation.

5.No Time Limits

Assuming you have any time limits on your site, similar to a period delicate shopping basket or a capability that signs individuals out after a specific timeframe, ensure somebody can handicap that element. Individuals with incapacities once in a while explore destinations all the more leisurely, particularly on the off chance that they are utilizing console just route. You either need to guarantee that progress isn't lost assuming your site times out while they use it or make it as far as possible movable or removable.

Since there are no rigid rules for ADA compliance for sites, it very well may be precarious to know the precisely exact thing to do. In any case, assuming you adhere to these 5 stages, you ought to be well-headed in making your site simple to use for everyone.

On the off chance that you're feeling overpowered by ensuring your site is ADA-compliance, call us or email. We have long stretches of involvement making simple to-explore sites that keep you out of legitimate difficulty while helping your changes.

Also, check- Why hybrid app development is popular?

[farfromsugafanfic]

Sutures - Chapter Eleven: Right Place

Genre: Soulmates AU, Idiots to Lovers, slight Enemies to Lovers

Pairing: Yoongi/Named Reader

Warnings (chapter specific): mentions of anxiety (sort of), exes who won’t leave you alone, family hospitalization, mentions of death

Synopsis: “A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” –Jean de la Fontaine

There was only one thing you and Min Yoongi had in common that night. You were both brokenhearted. You only intended to be together for one night, but when you both end up in the hospital the next day you discover that you are soulmates. It could kill you to be apart. As you and Yoongi attempt to sever the bond between you, will another be formed?

Previous | Series Masterlist | Next

You swung your legs towards the seat across from you, but they were just barely too short and they fell straight back down which caused Yoongi to chuckle. He sat diagonally from you with his feet resting on the seat beside you. He wore headphones and had his laptop in front of him. You hadn't even realized he was paying attention to you. 

You held your knitting needles and your creation was nearly done. Yoongi had told you about his family dog--Holly--and you remembered seeing his picture in Yoongi's studio. You were knitting a small scarf that would tuck easily around his collar. You wished you had more time to make him something like a jacket, but Yoongi had sprung the trip on you, planning and taking on a large project like that took weeks to complete. 

The scenery on the train flew by so quickly you could hardly make it out and it made your head spin if you tried for more than a few seconds.

"You seem quiet," Yoongi said. He hadn't taken his headphones off and you laughed at the thought that he simply had them in as a habit.

"You were working. I didn't want to disturb you."

Yoongi shrugged and lowered his laptop screen and allowed his headphones to fall around his neck. "You seem nervous." His gaze lowered down to your fingers that continued knitting as you spoke and looked into his eyes. You hadn't even noticed the way your fingers continued the pattern. 

"I mean, I want to make a good impression on your family. I know we're not really together or anything, but I'm your soulmate and if they don't like me--"

"Exactly, you're my soulmate," Yoongi said. "Finding each other was less than one in a million. Almost less than one in a billion. And, don't they say that soulmates are often not just compatible with the person, but their family as well?" 

"That's been the case so far," you said, remembering reading the Wikipedia article on the handful of other soulmate couples. "But, soulmate science is new and imprecise. And, I imagine for those who are different from their families or don't have good relationships with them, that can't always be true."

"I have a feeling they will like you," Yoongi said. "You don't have to worry."

You didn't get a chance to respond as the train lurched to a stop and announced its arrival in Daegu. The doors opened and you stood up. You and Yoongi had had the train car to yourselves, so you were able to stand up and grab your suitcase immediately. 

"Are the press gonna be here?" 

"I don't know," Yoongi said. "We didn't officially announce this trip, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone is following us."

You nodded. It was becoming familiar to see camera flashes and your face used as a cover photo. The thought of growing used to it sent a shiver down your spine as you extended the handle on your suitcase.

Yoongi stood beside you and your eyes met briefly causing his lips to turn upwards in a small smile. He reached up and pulled the mask you'd forgotten was looped around your ears and hanging around your chin up over your lips and nose. 

"Just in case," he said.

---

You hadn't seen a single camera as you neared Yoongi's parent's place. You weren't sure if it was a blessing or a curse. Just because you couldn't see the cameras, didn't mean that they weren't there. You half expected to see a picture of you and Yoongi getting off the train in Daegu pop up in your newsfeed. 

"We're here," Yoongi said. The car stopped and Yoongi was immediately out and walking around to open your door. You stepped out and gripped the handle of your suitcase, the bones of your knuckles feeling like they were about to burst through your skin. 

Yoongi walked slightly in front of you and opened the door. The first thing you heard was a high-pitched barking and before you could catch sight of Holly, the brown full-sized poodle was jumping up on you in greeting.

"You must Holly," you said, crouching down and allowing the dog to rest its front half on your lap. "I've heard a lot about you." 

"Ah, I'm right here." Yoongi's face contorted into a look of simultaneous amusement and jealousy. 

You laughed as you ruffled the dog's ears and crouched down so he could lick your chin. "Oh, you're so sweet." You reached into your purse and pulled out the scarf you finished on the train ride and carefully tied it around his neck. 

"Oh!" you heard someone exclaim from the other end of the room. "I wasn't expecting you two for another hour. Dinner isn't done yet." 

"It's fine. We have to get settled anyway." 

Yoongi's mother's eyes widened as she met yours. It was as if she had just noticed you. She stood just a few inches shorter than Yoongi and you could see they shared many features. From the slope of the nose to the way her eyes seemed to narrow in on you, the same way Yoongi's did in certain moments.

"You must be Sumi," she said. "It's so nice to finally meet you." 

She reached out and pulled you into a hug. You tensed as she wrapped her arms around you. From everything Yoongi told you about his family, they were not outwardly affectionate people and so you had expected at most a firm handshake. 

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just feel like you're part of the family already." She glanced over at Yoongi and back at you. "I haven't seen Yoongi this happy for a long time." 

"Oh," was all you could get out. Yoongi had told them you were trying to sever the relationship, right?

---

Yoongi met his mother's gaze. Her eyebrow slightly arched, a look Yoongi had seen many times. Holly broke the silence with a bark signaling for you to reach down and pet him again. You crouched down so your face was level with his and allowed him to lick your chin. 

Yoongi couldn't help but smile as he watched you. Your hair was ruffled from the train ride and he noticed the way your shaking hands calmed as they ran through Holly's fur. He crouched down next to you and met your eyes, a small smile simultaneously appeared on both your faces. 

"I've never seen him warm up to someone so quickly," Yoongi said, ruffling the dog's ears.

"I guess he just likes me." 

"Yeah," Yoongi said, his voice an octave quieter. "I guess he does."

Yoongi's phone buzzes in his pocket. His hand reaches for it, but he doesn't want to leave this moment. It wasn't like he was reliant on his phone, but with an upcoming album and the other members working on it in his absence, he couldn't ignore it.

Jihee's name appeared on his screen and his widened. He hadn't blocked her number purely because the texts after the break up stopped and with the whole soulmates thing, he'd honestly forgotten.

Yoongi opened the text and found a screenshot from Instagram where she'd posted a picture of herself laying on a bed with her legs straight up in the air. It wasn't the familiar slope of her calves or the arch of her back that caught his eye, but rather the black pumps she wore. 

He recognized them instantly as the ones you'd worn and abandoned the night he'd met you and the ones you'd failed to get back from Minki. Yoongi had no idea how Jihee got a hold of them, or how she even knew their significance. 

He screenshot the text and emailed it off to the legal team at BigHit. He knew the post would probably gain some attention, but he trusted it would be seen for what it was, an attempt to seek attention. 

Blocking her number, he slid the phone back into his pocket. Yoongi knew he should tell you, but watching the way you adjusted the scarf around Holly's neck, he decided he'd tell you later.

---

Yoongi was starving and watched as each dish was placed on the table. His parents had made a bit of everything and as soon as everything was set he quickly reached for braised pork and his mom's homemade kimchi. 

You grabbed a bit of everything and mixed it together with your rice. Yoongi reached out and grabbed a few more pieces of meat and set them in your bowl. 

"You didn't eat much this morning." 

Your eyes widened and Yoongi thought he caught your lips curl into an embarrassed smile.

"Sumi," Yoongi's mother said. "I'm so happy you came into Yoongi's life. We were getting a bit worried Yoongi would never find someone who made him truly happy." She glanced over at Yoongi's father. "Even in his past relationships, I never saw Yoongi like this." 

Yoongi felt the heat rush to his ears and his feet fidgeted under the table.

You--despite Yoongi seeing the way you fiddled with your chopsticks indicating your nerves--smiled. "Well, I didn't really have a choice." You laugh, which normally made Yoongi's heart jump, this time made it fall. 

While it was entirely true that you and Yoongi hadn't a choice in getting to know each other, there was a part of Yoongi that didn't want this to end. He wanted to see you play with Holly, see your hair splayed over your face in the morning, and your small smile when he gave you more meat. 

"I am happy I met Yoongi though," you said. "Even if we can't spend the rest of our lives together and this is all some weird biological thing, these past few weeks getting to know Yoongi have convinced me that we are truly soulmates. I don't think soulmates always have to be romantic or end up together, we just get each other."

The table fell silent. But, it was content and for the remainder of the meal, the only sounds heard were light conversations and the sounds of eating. Yoongi couldn't help the swelling feeling he felt in his chest. He worried he would suddenly float off the seat like a balloon if he didn't try to stifle it.

You set down your chopsticks. "Thank you for the meal. I'll clean up my things and head to bed." 

"Oh, no need to clean up. You're our guest. Yoongi, why don't you show her to your old room? I'll set you up a bed on the couch." 

"Ah, mom, we're soulmates. Is that really necessary?"

"Yes," his mom said. "Maybe the poor girl wants a break from you." 

His mom's quip made you laugh and he let out a sigh. "All right," he said. "Come on." 

---

Yoongi led you to his childhood bedroom. When he opened the door, you were met with Epik High posters and notebooks lining the shelves of his bookshelf. You smiled at how distinctly Yoongi it felt. While it obvious his room hadn't changed much from when he first left home, you could still see hints of the man Yoongi would become. From the basketball trophies to the books about music production. 

"Hey, I need to talk to you about something." 

Yoongi's demeanor changed as he closed the door. "I got a text from Jihee earlier. She somehow got ahold of your shoes and posted with them. I sent everything to the company and I'm sure they will take care of it. I just wanted to warn you in case this blows up--" 

"I trust you, Yoongi," you interrupted. "They've already said everything they could. It can't get worse than it already is and I know you'll do your best to take care of it."

You flopped down onto the bed and patted the bed beside you. Yoongi laid beside you. Your bodies were centimeters apart, but you didn't touch. 

"Your parents didn't like Jihee, did they?" 

Yoongi shook his head. "No," he said. "They tolerated her because I liked her, but they said they never pictured her as part of the family." 

"Mine never liked Minki either." You were silent for a moment. "Maybe they knew somehow." 

"Maybe," Yoongi said, his fingers brushing against yours. You turned and noticed he was still looking up at the ceiling, seemingly not noticing how his hand wandered to find yours. You wondered if it was a side effect of being soulmates. Your hands would always find each other.

The moment was severed when your phone rang. It was your mom and your stomach turned as you realized it was 5 am there. 

"Hello?" You didn't care that Yoongi was in the room anymore. In fact, something kept you clinging to his hand. 

"Sumi? You need to get here. Grandma's in the hospital and they don't think she has much time left. We're gonna leave her on life support until you get here because we know she would want you here. I don't know if it's possible without risking your own health and Grandma will understand--" 

"No, I'm coming. I'll find a way. Give me a couple days. I'll be there, okay?" Your eyes were filled to the brim with tears and after you said your goodbyes, they rushed out. You weren't cognizant, but when you opened your eyes, you were folded into Yoongi's chest. 

"Did you hear everything?" 

Yoongi nodded. "I've already called a car to take us back. We'll be back in Seoul in a few hours." 

"Yoongi, what are we going to do? You have a comeback soon. You can't just come with me to California." 

"Shh, we'll figure it out. Just get your things together, okay?" 

You nodded and got off the bed to collect your things. "Yoongi," your voice was still hoarse and barely there. "Thank you."

#bts #fanfic #fanfiction #fan fiction #farfromsuga #bts fan fiction #bts fanfction #bts fanfic #bts imagines #btsfanfic #min yoongi fanfic #yoongi fluff #yoongi fanfic #suga soulmate au #suga x reader #suga fan fiction #yoongi soulmate au #bts soulmate au #bts au fic #bts au fanfic #originally posted on wattpad #bts fic

[crystalelemental]

What so you think about Misty and Vaporean and is she worth investing in ?

I think she was pretty heavily dunked on when she debuted, perhaps a bit unfairly so, but not without good reason.

The main issue with SS Misty that people have is that her base move kit isn't impressive. At all. Water Gun is not damage at all. Mist is an awkward option, only protecting against stat debuffs, which is a very rare kind of issue to run into. Haze is also incredibly limited, only removing buffs from enemies, which isn't usually super important. Her trainer move does her no favors either, only buffing the team's special defense by 2, and buffing her own defense by 2, which makes her objectively worse off defensively than Morty, and giving her 0 potential to buff her own offenses. She is completely team reliant to do the one damage-focused thing she can do in sync nuke. She can't supply any healing or significant defensive benefits to allies for stall. Her role is just incredibly awkward.

But it turns out we may have judged too quickly, as these tools are actually pretty solid for Legendary Arena. Haze is especially noteworthy, making her one of exactly four options who can handle Cresselia. Mist is a bit more niche, but there are Legendary Arena battles that tend to rely on debuffing your team, like Latios getting defense and special defense drops per attack. I think Regirock has debuffs as well? I can't remember each one of them and what they debuff, but SS Misty blocks all of that. Her special attack also isn't too bad for a sync nuke, so if she's supported well, she can put in a good show for this mode. But...damage isn't her forte. She needs a lot of help to set up appropriately, and has difficulty with deciding between Rain, or support for her evasion.

While I have done SS Misty before, I think it's worth mentioning these strengths as aspects that weren't present during her debut. While these team recommendations still work, I'd like to update her and Sycamore as a partnership, largely around anti-Cresselia tech. Negating buffs are also nice for Latias, who gets damage reduction based on her buffs. I think any combination of Champion Iris, attack/crit buffer, and SS Misty is great against Latios, to an almost unnecessary degree. She's one of the few general pool Water-type damage units that can be used with Entei, and doesn't necessarily need your Rain setter for good performance. SS Misty, Sabrina/Falkner, and NY!Lillie can work just fine for her. I don't remember enough of the other Legendary Arena matches to guarantee anything she can do, but I think she'll have serious utility for these overall.

#space-cowboy-stuff #sygna suit misty #unit teambuilding #pokemon masters

[yanderebtsstorytime]

Yandere Namjoon

Mine

He was needless to say relentless when we first met.

        Every other word that came out of his lips was some sort of compliment towards me and what I was doing.

            When he would pull me in for hugs, his hands would linger on my lower back holding me in ways no friend should hold another.

          He took great pride when he got me something and I liked it, weather it was food, clothing or jewelry. Once a smile appeared on my lips, he was in a good mood for the rest of the day.

            It wasn't that big of a deal to me when he asked me out and I said yes. After all it was simply 1 date at the time, and I enjoyed his company a lot. But that 1 date turned into 17 more and a long night spent in each other's arms.

The next morning while we went out for breakfast he asked if I would be his significant other and I said yes. We've been dating for almost 2 years now, and the love has never faded or faltered in his actions.

When I was only able to 20% he gave the other 80%. When I wanted to rip his throat out and scream his ears off, he sat and listened to me waiting for me to calm before he spoke. When I wanted nothing but his love and for him to hold me he opened his arms welcoming me into his embrace while he spoke such soft words about how much he loved me.

To say the man was a saint would be an understatement. He was a God send, and I have no idea how I got him to fall for someone like me, and put up with my shit. I'm just happy he does, and that every morning when I wake up in his arms and he opens his eyes he still has that loving look in them.

A look that tells me he's still willing to give me the world if I asked for it, or just kiss me softly when I need it.

-

-

-

"Baby~," Namjoon's sleepy voices whispers as he pulls me closer and kisses my neck softly. I grumble softly and turn to face his chest cuddle closer to him.

"No, to early," I pout wrapping my arm around his side. He lets a deep chuckle escape his throat as he pulls me closer and pulls the blanket closer to us.

We lay there for a few more minutes before one of our phones start to ring pulling us from the sleepy trance we were in. Namjoon looks over at the night stand, "It's yours lover," He whispers and I nod grumpily reaching out and grabbing my phone answer the call.

"Hello?," I say with a small smile as Namjoons large hand rubs my back softly. My friends voices appears in the other line in a happy tone as they speak.

"(Y/n)! You won't believe who's back in town!," They yell causing me to pull my phone away from my ear, "Who?," I ask, "Jackson!," They exclaim and I smile at hearing the name. He was an old friend of mine that I had been really close with. He moved over seas to study, and while doing so we talked over text and called, though recently I hadn't talked with him because Namjoon seemed to take up most of me time.

"That's good to hear, where's he staying?," I ask cuddling closer to Namjoon as he plays with my hair, "I think with his grandparents for a while. People are saying he wants to see you!," They says and I nod, "That'd be nice, we haven't talked in a while," I say as I slowly sit up and stretch. Namjoon stays laying down and runs his warm hand up the back on my shirt feeling at the skin.

"So are you gonna message him or should I!," They ask and I shake my head, "No I'll message him," I say and they gives a few happy squeals before hanging up. I shake my head and Namjoon sits up kissing the exposed skin on my shoulder. "What was that about?," He ask, "Oh nothing (F/n) was just telling me that my old friend Jackson is back and town and wants to catch up. You remember Jackson right?," I ask as we get out of bed and start to walk towards the kitchen to make breakfast.

Namjoon nods, "Yeah that friend that left to study over seas," He says as he opens the fridges. I nod, "Yep I think I'll give him a call and see if he wants to meet up for lunch," I say as I hop up on the counter the skin on my thighs making contact with the cold surface send goosebumps across my legs.

"But we were gonna go see a movie today," Namjoon mentions, "I don't remember making those plans," I say tilting my head a little. Namjoon closes the fridge with a few things in hand, "Well I mean I wanted to go see a movie today, I was gonna mention it while we ate breakfast," He says and I nod, "How about we go see it tomorrow?," I ask with a smile.

A heavy sigh escapes his lips but he nods, "Fine," He says grumpily and I smile hopping off the counter, "Stop it Joon, I'll only be gone for a while and then we can spend the rest of the day together," I say hugging him from behind.

            He relaxes into my touch and nods but doesn't say a words. With a sigh I kiss his cheek and then head off to our room to call Jackson and get ready for the day.

-

-

-

           "I'm so happy you said yes to coming today, I missed you so much," Jackson says as he reaches across the table and takes my hands in his. "I missed you too, today's been great. I almost forgot how much fun we have together," I say with a smile as I squeeze his hands.

         "I actually asked you to come here today to ask you a question," He says with a shy smile, "Oh really? What is it?," I ask taking a sip of my drink with a smile. "I wanted to know if you maybe wanted to go on a date?," He ask and my smile falls.

           "Oh um Jackson I'm flattered to know you have feelings for me, but I already have a boyfriend," I say and he frowns looking down at his hands, "Oh I see, I uh... I didn't know," He says.

              Just then I get a text from Namjoon, and use it as an escape, "I'm sorry Jackson, but I have to go... let's meet up again sometime soon," I say standing and grabbing my things. He nods and stands pulling me into a hug, "I'll see you later then," He says as he pulls away and I nod giving a small smile before leaving.

-

-

-

            Entering the apartment me and Namjoon share I sigh and kick off my shoes. "Babe?," Namjoon yells, "Yeah it's me," I announce as I walk into the living room.  He smiles from his spot on the couch, "How was the meeting?," He ask and I groan sitting next to him curling into his side.

             "It was great until he asked me out on a date," I huff and Namjoon stiffens, "He what?," He ask, "He asked me out on a date, I of course said no because I'm dating you, but it still made things awkward. It's gonna be awkward when I see him again," I say and he places the book he was reading down on the coffee table and turns to look at me.

            "Baby," He says moving me to sit on his lap, "I don't want you talking with him anymore," He says and I raise an eyebrow, "What! Why?," I ask slightly shocked, "Because I said so," He says squeezing my hips with a loving smile.

             I pout slightly, "Joon, I understand if him asking me out makes you uncomfortable. But he's still my friend," I say and he frowns, "Maybe you didn't hear me properly, I said you're not to see him again," He says in a low tone that sends a shiver down my spine. I sit in silences at his words, "You're mine, and I won't let some old friend get in the way. Do you hear me you're mine," He says grabbing my chin pulling me closer.

               I slowly nod and he smiles leaning up kissing me, "Good, now give me your phone," He says and I nod giving him my phone and watch as he blocks and deletes Jackson number before throwing my phone away from us and focusing his attention on me again.

            "Now, how about we go out for a little. Maybe go shopping, I know you need some new shoes and pants," He says with a bright smile and I nod slowly not sure what just happened.

===========================&==========&=========

•MasterList•

#bts fanfic #bts army #bts x reader #bts x y/n #bts x you #btsyandere #bts #bts imagines #bts one shot #yandere #yandere namjoon x reader #yandere namjoon #kim namjoon #namjoon x reader #yandere bts reactions #yandere bts x reader #yandere bts #bts yandere

[circular-time]

I finally watched S12's season finale, so let me jot down my thoughts. Voice dictation plus Tumblr mobile make moving paragraphs nearly impossible, so I apologize for jumping around in no logical order, and for adding more and more thoughts to one bullet point until it practically became its own post. 😉

- I loved all the satisfying Gallifrey visuals. A little ironic that I've grown up with the show over decades and only now get to see it in all its glory... as it's being destroyed.

- SHOBOGANS! Borusa! Assassinating presidents! Nice subtle callbacks that won't confuse new fans but make classic fans feel like this is still our Who, no matter how much it has evolved. 

- I liked the Timeless Child idea. It worked for me better than looms, and it makes the Cartmel Masterplan more palatable (I liked my classic Doctor to be a cosmic hobo, not some epic Other or Oncoming Storm, but if they didn't know they were Special, that's fine. )

Every now and then Who upends the table where it's built up all its toy blocks and tries something new, from the invention of regeneration and the Time Lords to the UNIT era to The Deadly Assassin to the Key to Time to The Cartmel Master Plan to Zagreus to the Time War. It keeps most of the blocks, adds some new ones, and starts building again.

Doctor Who's style of table flipping is about as tricky as doing brain surgery while the patient's conscious, but it's the only reason the show hasn't calcified. It regenerates. I don't always agree with major overhauls, and I am sute there are fans out there who are really not happy at the idea that Hartnell is no longer the original Doctor (or is he?), but for me, this retcon works.

BECAUSE IT MANAGED TO RESOLVE THE MORBIUS DOCTORS PARADOX I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE CHIBS HOW MANY YEARS HAS THIS BEEN YOUR HEADCANON? HOW MANY DECADES? 😂

In general, I am a lot more comfortable with new Who adding significant chunks of NEW backstory and worldbuilding (just like when the Time Lords or Key to Time first appeared), as opposed to altering classic Who characters and iconic moments (Cyberbrig, the misread of the First Doctor in TUaT). I want them to leave "my" Doctors alone. And I grew up with contradictions, so I don't mind if it occasionally contradicts something that happened. I just don't want new Who to recreate some iconic moment of classic Who overlaid with George Lucas special edition revisions presented as the "true" version of those events.

- But for fans who don't like the Timeless Child backstory (and I respect that; see my opinion on looms), it was presented by The Master fooling around with the Matrix. Unreliable narrator much?

- Frankly, I was expecting the Master to say he was the Timeless Child, and that was why he took revenge on Gallifrey.

- I enjoyed this ep in general, and especially the little sequence between Graham and Yaz. Ryan got a moment too. It was hard to fit the Fam in but I like them running to go rescue the Doctor even if they really didn't get much of a chance?

- Thasmin nanoseconds duly noted. 😁

- I love Jodie so much, and she had some great moments. However, Sacha is so MAGNIFICENT in masticating the scenery that it's hard for anyone not to be a little upstaged.

- But the Doctor pulled it together in the end, even if the script had to resort to the classic "The Doctor prepares to sacrifice herself, then a guest character does it she doesn't have to" dodge.

- The Master was trying so, so hard to maneuver her into becoming I Am Death, Destroyer of Worlds, but she flipped it to I Contain Multitudes, and her sense of wonder and wanting to explore/discover has turned inward as well as outward?

- RUTH RUTH RUTH. I think I would've flipped a table if she hadn't showed up in the finale, although I couldn't figure out how they were going to have time for her.

- The Gateway in flashbacks to the Timeless Child reminded me of Warriors' Gate. I jokingly announced that the Doctor is from e-Space. Which raises some fun fanfic ideas for Nyssa, if I didn't already have two or three on the back burner.

#ascension of the cybermen #thirteen #thirteenth doctor

[emo-floof-child-writes]

The Sword of the Solstice.

Chapter Nine: The Warrior Village of Leeno.

We return to our other adventurers, Izuku, Katsuki, Ochaco, Eijiro, and Momo; who are about 4 days into their trek. The 5 of them have been going nearly nonstop for those 4 days. Katsuki claimed his home village was close, but the other adventurers were starting to doubt him. He said that it was hard to find, seeing as how Leeno is surrounded by the Lerow Forest and the Leanna Kingdom of Elves to the East, and the Pland mountains to the West.

Izuku sighs, deciding to voice the thought everyone was asking themselves. “Kacchan?” Katsuki stops, and turns to him. “Yeah, Deku?” He says and Izuku bites his lip. “Do you actually know where you’re going?” Izuku asks, and Katsuki sighs. “Look, I know you guys think I am stupid, but I swear I do know where I’m going. And even if the Pass of Honor isn’t quite where I remembered it, we still cut off a lot of the time to get to Loyaci. We’ll get Light Bringer back.”

Izuku shrugs. “I can’t deny the logic in that, but do you think we’re close to your village?” Katsuki nods. “If all goes well, we should be there by nightfall.” Eijiro exhales, with a little smoke from his firebreath coming out of his nostrils. “Phew, it’d be nice to get a full night of sleep.” Eijiro says, as he waves the smoke away. Ochaco nods. “We should have a significant lead on them, so we should be fine.”

They reach a clearing that seems entirely blocked off except the way they got in. Katsuki gets down off his horse, and walks into the center of clearing. He sighs. “Okay, is it that one?”  Katsuki asks, in a mutter, looking off to the left side of the clearing. Ochaco frowns, and dismounts Momo’s horse, and jogs over to him. “You alright there, Dunderhead?” He rolls his eyes. “Tch, I just need to remember the exact way into Leeno...”

Ochaco nods. “What does this entrance look like?” She asks. “Look for a triangle with a circle in the middle, it should be carved into a tree.” She smiles, and looks around at the trees surrounding the clearing. She squints, and off to Katsuki’s right she sees a tree with a large triangle with a circle that looks like it's blackened, perhaps burned, that's carved into the trunk. Surrounding it are dense trees that you couldn’t hope to get past. With a smile, she nudges Katsuki. “Is that it?” She asks, subtly pointing to it.

He follows her finger, and sighs. “Yup, that’d be it. I’m blind.” He says, in a whisper. She giggles, and he walks over to the tree, and places his hand on the symbol. The others on the horses ride closer. The ground shakes, and two of the trees beside the marked one magically disappear. Ochaco gasps. “A magical barrier?” She asks, with shock. Katsuki smirks, looking proud. “I did say we are sophisticated in our own way. Now, come on. It’ll only stay open until I walk in.”

Ochaco climbs onto Momo’s horse, as Izuku cautiously guides his horse through trees. Katsuki notices his skeptic attitude and sighs. “Trust me, Deku, it’s not a trap.” Izuku swallows. “Okay, if you say so, Kacchan.” Momo and Ochaco follow behind him, and Katsuki gets back on behind Eijiro. The barrier reforms behind Katsuki and Eijiro. “Alright, Deku, if you keep along this path, you’ll soon see the village.” Katsuki says, and Izuku gives him a thumbs up.

Momo looks down, and notes that the path they are walking on isn’t just a dirt road with random branches and stones lying on it, but she instead finds that it is smooth cobblestone. Maybe they are more than just brawlers. She thinks, in appreciation. They walk further into the forest, they see off to their left, a clearing that looks like it has corn fields. On their right are various buildings, and a large animal pen. Cows are mooing and a couple pigs snort. Eijiro points to the two buildings, and looks back at Katsuki.

“What are those for?” Katsuki laughs. “That’d be the tavern and the storeroom for said tavern.” He smiles, and Eijiro gasps. “Ooh, you have a tavern?” Katsuki nods. “Yeah, there’s the horse stables on the right, and the dueling grounds on the left.” He adds, and Ochaco sighs. “Ah. There’s the ‘warrior village’ norms. HA! YOU HAVE A DUELING GROUND!” She teases. He grunts. “Shut up, Cheeks.” He says, as they arrive at some tents.

An older man, maybe 30 to 40 years old walks over. He has shoulder length black hair, with black eyes and a scar under his right eye. He is wearing a black tunic and grey scarf. He walks up to Izuku, and groans. “Who are you, and how did you get into our village?” He asks, and Izuku turns to Katsuki. “K-kacchan?” He says, looking back. Katsuki jumps off the horse. “Relax, Deku. He means well.”

He walks over to the older fellow. “Aizawa, it’s okay. They’re with me.” Aizawa gasps. “Oh, I see. Well, your mother is leading a hunting party, but I could notify your father about your return.” Katsuki cracks his knuckles. “No need for that. I’ll notify him myself.” Aizawa sighs. “You’re gonna give that man a panic attack.” Katsuki laughs. “I know! I find his childish panic hilarious.”

They others get off their horses, and frown. Aizawa motions to the horses. “Well, can I at least bring your horses to the stables?” Katsuki looks at the party. “Is that fine?” They nod, and Katsuki smiles at Aizawa. “Go ahead, old man.” Aizawa rolls his eyes. He guides the three horses away, mumbling about needing more sleep. Izuku frowns. “Who is that man?” He asks, and Katsuki wraps his arm around him.

“That lazy old man? Aizawa Shota. His family has served the chieftain’s family for generations.” He says, with a grin. Eijiro scoffs. “So what, he’s like a servant?” Katsuki shakes his head. “Nah, they kinda just chose to serve. I honestly think it’s a family tradition?” He shrugs. Ochaco grunts. “Can we just rest? Because my body is falling into my trance.” She asks, and Momo nods. “Same with me.”

Katsuki nods. “Follow me, I’ll talk to Father about getting you some accommodations.” They follow him past the tents, to a large tent with a fur pathway leading into it. “You guys can stay out here, or you can come in with me. I honestly couldn’t care less.” Izuku sits down, and so does Momo and Eijiro, but Ochaco decides to follow him inside. He pulls the flap of the tent, to reveal a brown haired man with a green robe and fur on the end standing with his back turned.

His attire was pretty similar to Katsuki’s, but instead of the orange and red, it is blue and green. The room was spacious, with animal skins as the floor. Three mats in one corner, with silk dividers to give each one their privacy. In another corner, there is a campfire. Large stones surround it, and there are large metal shafts that make a hole in the tent’s roof, which Ochaco assumes is for ventilation.

Katsuki puts a finger to his lips, indicating for Ochaco to be quiet. He tiptoes up towards the man, who is humming to himself while he stitches a torn garment. Katsuki winds up, and swings his fist at the man's arm. The man yelps, and drops the garment and the needle onto the ground. He takes a deep breath. “There is only one person who would do something like that to me.” Ochaco frowns, not liking his tone.

The man turns around, a wide smile on his face. “Katsuki! You've returned to us!” Katsuki laughs. “Yeah, I'm back.” He pats his father's shoulder, which makes him stumble a little. “It's been awhile since I've been able to scare you this badly!” His father kneels down to pick up the garment and needle, and chuckles. “It has been a long time since I have seen you, son.” Katsuki scoffs. “You exaggerate. It hasn't been that long!”

His father, who is shorter than him, looks up at him. “But son, it's been a year.” Ochaco gasps, but immediately regrets making any sounds, for she doesn't want the attention to be focused on her. Katsuki whimpers. “Mother is going to kill me...” He says, a hint of fear in his voice. “Have I really been gone a year?” His father nods. “Yes, and I was wondering when you'd—” He pauses as he turns to see Ochaco. “Come back...” He finishes.

Ochaco bites her lip, regretting her decision to follow him in here. While Katsuki's father doesn't seem threatening, she cannot help but feel awkward, if not a little nervous. Katsuki motions for her to come closer, which she does. “Father, this is Ochaco, she is a travelling companion of mine.” He says, and she waves. Katsuki's father bows his head. “Ah, and I am Masaru Bakugo, Chieftain of the Leenoan Tribe.” Katsuki rolls his eyes. “You and I both know that Mother is the true leader here. You are Chieftain in name only. In every other affair, she is the Chieftain.”

He sighs. “Can you not do this today? I understand that you feel like I don't deserve this title, and I do know that I probably wouldn't have it if it weren't for technicalities, but please not today.” Katsuki nods. “Okay, um, to get to the point of why I'm here, my party and I are trying to save a friend that was taken hostage, but we need accommodations for at the very least tonight.” Katsuki says, and Masaru laughs.

“Ah, as always, it's straight to business with you! Could you not for once come to just to see your old man every now and then?” He asks, and Ochaco fiddles with her hat. Katsuki scratches his head, and frowns. “I— I'll be back soon! I just need to stop some evildoers who took my friend!” Masaru shakes his head. “Then what, Katsuki? You'll come back in another year?” Katsuki bows his head. “I— I promise I won't be gone that long again!” Masaru sighs.

 

“I suppose there's nothing I could do to stop you from leaving anyways, so I'll see to it that your companions have a tent to stay in. How many are in your company?” Katsuki tugs on one of his necklaces, and sighs. “Including this pink-cheeked Mage, four.” She kicks his shin. “Can't you call me by my name? You slow witted oaf!” Katsuki grabs her hat, and holds it up out of reach. “Oh, what's that? Can't hear you, you're so short.” She reaches up towards the hat, but he lifts it higher, taunting her.

Masaru groans. “And here I had hoped that your immaturity had left when you embarked on Honor's Highway. It turns out I have not received a pleasure such as that. Give the young lady her hat.”

Katsuki sighs, and passes Ochaco her hat back. Masaru smiles at Ochaco, and walks towards the door flap. “Well, they can stay in the war tent, at least for the night.” Katsuki nods. “Thank you, Father.” He says, as he and Masaru leave the tent. Ochaco follows. When they exit the tent, the other three stand.

Katsuki directs them to where they'll be spending the night. Once they were settled in, Ochaco tries to go into her trance. Despite her body telling her that she needed rest, and how tired she had been earlier, she couldn't drift into unconsciousness. She looks around at the others, Izuku has passed out, face planted against the ground. Momo is in a corner, knelt in her trance-state, and Eijiro is curled up in a ball not unlike a cat.

Masaru had insisted that Katsuki stay in his old room in his tent, so she was sitting in the dark of this tent trying to force herself into a trance. The more she tried, the more awake she felt. Is this Dendar doing? She asks herself. She shakes her head. No. Dendar's control isn't like this... You can always feel her presence, this feels like an absence of her control... She sighs, and decides that if she wasn't going to get any sleep, she'd prefer to not wake the others with her tossing and turning.

She leaves the tent, and all she hears are the hoots of owls, the chirps of crickets, and the fluttering of bat wings. She walks over to a tree, and reclines against it. She sits there in silence, drumming her fingers against her leg. She hears a twig snap, and she lifts her hand, uttering the first word in the incantation of Eldritch Blast. But before she could get any further, she realizes that the twig snapper was just Katsuki. She lowers her hand, and he smiles.

He walks over to her, and crouches beside her. “Can't sleep either?” He whispers, and she nods. “Is it because you're worried about Light Bringer?” He asks, and she shrugs. “Honestly, I don't know what is keeping me from sleeping. That's just how it is.” She responds in a hushed tone. He pats her shoulder. “Is it because of her?” He asks, referring to Dendar. Ochaco shakes her head. “I feel odd here, like her presence isn't as strong? I usually can hear her voice in my head, or maybe a hiss, but my brain is pretty much silent here.”

Katsuki nods. “We do have magical barriers, inscribed with holy symbols, perhaps she is trying, and evidently, failing to break through them?” She smirks. “That's one of the only smart things you've ever said.” He hits her shoulder and groans. “Shut up, you pathetic weakling.” She gasps. “Take that back.” He shakes his head. “Not unless you take back your comment.” She folds her arms, making it clear that she wasn't going to apologize. He yawns. “Well, I'm not going to take it back then. You pretentious Elf.”

She grins, as he sits down next to her. She lays her head on his shoulder, and he chuckles. “Hm, maybe it isn't Dendar and/or lack of Dendar that's keeping you awake...” He mutters, and she frowns. “Whatever do you mean by that?” She asks, as he wraps his arm around her. “As of late, you haven't been that far away from me at all times. You tend to stand close by me, or when we set up camp, you put your bedroll next to mine. Whatever it is, you're always nearby to me.”

She looks down towards her boots, in thought. Have I really been doing that? I mean, I do feel less scared and more safe around him, but I haven't been purposefully staying as close as possible, right? She shakes her head, hoping to clear her head. No, there's nothing wrong with that...right? Nothing weird about it? I mean, when I stop to think about it, I do have a harder time sleeping when I'm not vaguely near him...but why?

Ochaco can't seem to come with any concrete reasons as to why that was, but when she glances at Katsuki again, he's fast asleep. That drowsiness that her body was feeling earlier starts to kick in again. Her eyes close, and she lays her head in his lap, too tired to go back to bed in the tent.

#kacchako #todomomo #kamijiro #bnha #mha #fantasy au #fanfiction #fanfic #written by me #izuku midoriya #midoriya izuku #shoto todoroki #todoroki shoto #katsuki bakugo #bakugo katsuki #eijiro kirishima #kirishima eijiro #tsuyu asui #asui tsuyu #ochaco uraraka #uraraka ochaco #momo yaoyorozu #yaoyorozu momo #kyoka jiro #jiro kyoka #denki kaminari #kaminari denki #tenya iida #iida tenya #chapter 9

[thebluelemontree]

So Sandor doesn't care about kings and mighty lords and stuff like that, but is possible that there's some kind of begrudging respect in him for Sansa's powerful family? Ned, Young Wolf, Blackfish and Jon, too (hopefully, they'll meet in the future) - all those guys are awesome and I'd like to think that Sandor agrees with that.

Hey sorry it took so long to get back to you.  I’ve been a bit overwhelmed and it took more time than I thought.  

Respect?  Errrrr, don’t hate me, but… no, not yet if we’re talking about what’s published so far, but we have reason to hope in the future.  The major block to recognizing traits worth respecting in individuals, let alone a whole family, is that deeply ingrained cynicism dancing up to the edge of nihilism.  The world is shit, the system is shit, and people are divided into either butchers or meat.  Most of the time he sounds like a smug, know-it-all teenager that stands on the sidelines pointing out everything that confirms his bias.  Yes, he has some buried idealism wayyyyyyyyy down in there, but it’s not as if they were equally-matched forces duking it out inside him for every word and deed.  It’s a worldview that has served him by making him feel strong and invulnerable.  There’s just no good reason at the start to dredge up those dreams of childhood, which he associates with vulnerability and helplessness.  It’s a security blanket.  Think of how hard it is to change someone’s mind about politics or religion.  The only way that usually happens is if someone has a lived experience that challenges their current beliefs.  Even then it can be a long process of wrestling with the new idea while it competes for brain real estate with the old idea.        

For him to even entertain the idea that someone could actually walk the walk of a real hero, a true knight, or lady, he needs to see what they’re made of with his own eyes.  His goal post is so far down the field, he actually makes it near impossible for anyone to live up to, which only confirms his bias.  Robb and Ned are definitely not the ones who make a dent in that.  Maybe he’ll reflect back on them in future books with fairer assessments, but not in the books so far.  He’s not impressed with a righteous cause or reputation anymore than wealth or titles.  

 Specifics under the cut.  

The WF training yard is his first interaction with Robb.  Not that Sandor respects Joffrey’s boasting and jackass calls for live steel, but he’s not impressed by Robb’s “courage” with this nerf bat training in an adult supervised safe zone either.  He even takes a swing himself, just because Robb is so very easily goaded.

The burned man looked at Robb. “How old are you, boy?”

“Fourteen,” Robb said.  

“I killed a man at twelve. You can be sure it was not with a blunt sword.”

Arya could see Robb bristle. His pride was wounded. He turned on Ser Rodrik. “Let me do it. I can beat him.”   

At this point, Sandor probably thinks Robb and the Starks are just more of the same self-congratulatory nobility that he’s used to.  Maybe not as dysfunctional and ruthless as the Lannisters, but still part of the same system.  Like Sansa, he probably thought Ned was a bit of a naive fool that got in way over his head. He believes what passes for honor and righteousness are just fancy clothes people dress themselves in or it’s a fool’s tin armor.  It would be inevitable that the latter would get themselves eaten alive.  Only people like him that have The Truth™️ figured out survive.  It takes Sansa’s lived example right in front of his face to take a chip out of those ideas.    

She has it in her to be a real deal true lady, despite his first impression that she’s just empty-headed and superficial.  After Ned’s execution and Sansa is forced to look at her father’s tarred head, she’s determined to look without seeing.  She shows enormous strength of will to not give Joffrey one iota of the reaction he desires.  When he taunts her some more, she bites back:  “Maybe my brother will give me your head.”  I won’t glamorize her murder-suicide thoughts, but I think witnessing this scene shows Sandor that innocence, compassion, and vulnerability can go hand in hand with real strength and courage.  Just because awful people hurt her does not mean she is weak.  It just might move that goal post a tiny bit closer in that even a sometimes superficial, imperfect, childish young girl can still conduct herself in such a way.  It’s still a long way from reconciling what he’s just seen with near a whole lifetime of cynicism.  It’s a start though!      

When he smiled, she knew he was mocking her. “Your brother is a traitor too, you know.” He turned Septa Mordane’s head back around. “I remember your brother from Winterfell. My dog called him the lord of the wooden sword. Didn’t you, dog?”

“Did I?” the Hound replied. “I don’t recall.”

Sandor probably did say that back in early AGOT when he didn’t gaf and would crack jokes like that to amuse himself as much as Joffrey; however, it seems as though he’s regretting and distancing himself from that bit of immature ridicule for her sake, not so much Robb’s.  But let’s be real.  He’s not always respectful toward Sansa from this point forward, but he’s staying in the conversation.  He’s still fighting the ideas she’s challenging him with.  It’s only by his actions, not words, that we see him starting to test those waters by making different choices.  He wants to be proven wrong deep down, but he’s going kicking and screaming the whole way.  

The other Stark he’s spent a significant amount of time with is Arya.

“I’m not a boy! But Mycah was. He was a butcher’s boy and you killed him. Jory said you cut him near in half, and he never even had a sword.” She could feel them looking at her now, the women and the children and the men who called themselves the knights of the hollow hill. “Who’s this now?” someone asked.

The Hound answered. “Seven hells. The little sister. The brat who tossed Joff’s pretty sword in the river.” He gave a bark of laughter. “Don’t you know you’re dead?”

“No, you’re dead,” she threw back at him.

Against all odds, Arya is alive.  The little girl that bested Joffrey with a “wooden sword” no less and made a mockery “Lion’s Tooth,” a tale that probably amused him as much as it did Renly.  He’s not meaning “brat” in a truly insulting way here, but that he’s genuinely surprised she’s survived this long and that she must really be tough as nails.  The Wolf Bitch nickname he gives her follows that same line.   And he seems to appreciate it when she’s bluntly honest.  I think he does respect aspects of Arya because he can certainly relate to being an angry, scrappy kid.  This is up to a point, because he’s very annoyed that she is relentless in reminding him about his accountability in Mycah’s death.  Through their journey, he is mostly focused on how helping her serves his needs.          

If this Young Wolf has the wits the gods gave a toad, he’ll make me a lordling and beg me to enter his service. He needs me, though he may not know it yet. Maybe I’ll even kill Gregor for him, he’d like that.“

“He’ll never take you,” she spat back. “Not you.”

“Then I’ll take as much gold as I can carry, laugh in his face, and ride off. If he doesn’t take me, he’d be wise to kill me, but he won’t. Too much his father’s son, from what I hear. Fine with me. Either way I win. And so do you, she-wolf.

Eh, I’m not seeing respect for Robb or Ned here, grudging or otherwise.  Sandor is still not getting it yet, though his intentions are to find a way to get back to KL and rescue Sansa.  All this wishful thinking aside, he wants to look like a big hero, but do so by cynically playing on Robb’s sense of honor as a wedge in the door.  He wants it both ways.  To be a true knight in Sansa’s eyes, while keeping his security blanket right where it is.  

It’s really at his death scene where Sandor confesses to the point of overly taking responsibility and feeling remorse for even the things he didn’t do, that he really connects with his best self.  No more bullshit.  He’s thoroughly stripped down and vulnerable and finally open to someone like the Elder Brother coming along.  If we’re judging by the gravedigger’s humility and quiet, humble service, Sandor has learned quite a bit about respect for others.  Respect for people he would have one considered weak for their pious, peaceful life.  Stranger’s refusal to be turned into a plow horse or be gelded means he’s not meant to remain there nor will he abandon all of his personality.  He will return to the story, but I think directing his anger and biting criticism to individuals that truly deserve it.              

So I do have a lot of hope for the future though, because he does seem like a displaced Northerner and that can’t be for nothing.  I would be neat if he gets to meet some remaining members of Sansa’s family and hopefully they won’t try to kill him on sight.  There’s still the Saltpans matter to clear up.  I lean toward that Sandor will actually become part of this family one day, so I think at that point there’d be some honest to goodness mutual respect, not just grudging.  :)      

#Anonymous #sandor clegane #respect #twow spec #sandor clegane meta #sorry it took so long #I'm getting caught up now