#i use him more as support but i HATE the domain where you farm for pyro

[rhine-gold-archive]

I’m using this meme to rumble about my account haha

1.First 5*: Technically, it’s Mona, but practically, I got Hu Tao like 20 seconds later in the very next ten-pull and raised her first, so Hu Tao feels like a real first 5 star to me

2.Favorite 5*: I love them both, Hu Tao carried me from mid to end game and is my favorite nuke option for bosses. And Itto is just FUN

3.Most recent 5*: I got Ayato first and then just kind of casually kept pulling on Venti’s banner whenever I had primos. I kinda expected to lose 50-50 bc I won 3 in a row before that, but no, I won and I’m glad I did, Ayato\Venti\Ganyu perma freeze slaps

4.Most wanted 5*: Not very original. Every time they let us use Kazuha in event trials I look at the damage numbers and CC and sit there, consumed by lust. I do like his personality too tho.

5.Strongest 5*: I keep meaning to go back to crimson witch domain and farm her artifacts with better crit stats, but it kinda doesn’t take priority bc girlboss hits like a truck even with mediocre set, her burst crits for 160k on vape.

6. Favorite DPS: I didn’t plan to get him at all, bc I hate claymores and didn’t want to build mono geo. I’m not even into himbos. But then I got Itto at 15 pity doing random free wishes, and he just won me over. He’s the only claymore who feels good to use to me, his charged combo is fast and cool and has giant AOE. And sure, my Hu Tao or Ganyu are technically stronger, but Itto has no annoying mechanics like Ganyu’s charged shot and no set up needed, like Hu Tao, you can fuck up his rotations and his combos, you can even solo and baby boy is still gonna carry just fine. 

7 Favorite sub-DPS: Xingqiu is a secret 6 star on par with Bennett. the boy can do everything. I was more excited to get him than both Zhongli and Ganyu at the lantern rite, bc let me tell you, it’s not fun to try and vape Hu Tao attacks with Barbara’s or Mona’s E.

8.Favorite Support: I try keeping up my dodging skills by doing commissions with low level friendship team that dies in two hits if I don’t dodge, but even that doesn’t seem to work much. I actually rebuilt Zhongli from pure shield to sub-DPS bc his meteor looked cool, but hit two times weaker than Itto’s cow that’s 2 levels lowers. Now it hits about as much as Ushi (about 60-70K), so I can live with that.

9.Favorite 4*: Kaeya is my favorite anything in genshin, period. Morally ambiguous sarcastic dark-haired trolls with complex identity problems are my type to begin with, but I didn’t really get the brainrot until I got into genshin’s worldbuilding. I was like “Hoho, what is that? This anime gacha has extensive references to mythologies? Some of them pretty obscure? How peculiar! How quaint! Let’s see what they’re trying to do”, then I fell into the lore rabit hole and emerged with a whole ass conspiracy board where Kaeya is one of the central figures. Khaenri’ah skin with a galaxy cape when

10.Strongest 4: cryo Kaeya and vape\overload Yanfei are actually my fav teams for exploration or farming, bc you can play them braindead and not worry about burst regen or even being hit, bc everything is either perma froze or being blown up from afar. Best girl Yanfei is also another fav choice for carrying other people in coop on par with Itto, bc she has her own shield and if needed, can sustain enough mono pyro damage to kill anything even without reactions, when Hu Tao would already be dead

11.Favorite element: I like all elements, but electro needs a buff.

12.Favorite weapon: The free DEF% claymore is good on Itto, but it clashes so much aesthetically. I did a one random ten-pull on weapon banner and got redhorn, so it’s my fav just due to how cool it looks and how easy I got it. it’s also insanely good on baby boy, ofc.

#rhine talks #genshin impact

[nyan-koii]

Hashira ft. Sabito as genshin impact players

aunotes : Bad grammar ahead! I didnt proofread it so be aware of brain damage. plus i initially wrote it at the 1.6 update

PART 1 : T.Muichiro, R.Kyojuro, K.Shinobu, S.Sanemi, U.Tengen 

Muichiro : he probably would be uninterested at first. He's more to first person shooting game or anything other than this concept of farming or investing. So that's why when he saw yuichirou banging his fist on his desk, trying to get his fav character, he would simply just watch

"Fck this game, i've had enough,"

"But you havent finish your wishing things yet,"

Stares. "How about you give it a try mui. You might get the character i want,"

"You sure about that? You might get angry at me," "better than nothing. Now go go, get em you donkey,"

His first ten pulls on the game brings out a light we all want to see

"Eh is tha-" "AAAA A FUCKING 5 STAR FCK FCKFCK,"

Apparently, it was one of the luckiest wish yuichiro had ever seen so far

"OHMYFUCK, you GOT A GODDAMN KLEE, QIQI AND SUCROSE WTFF???"

"I think i get your fav character?"

"Yeahh!! More than that to be honest. I want klee but you brought me two more person," sniffles and cries "you're really lucky mui. You should try and play the game,"

"It's probably the system. I doubt im that lucky tho,"

Nah, he really is lucky. Apparently he wished for his friends and got what they all really wanted for so long

"Thank you for getting me the aquila favonia, muichiro,"

"It's nothing really. I just simply press the button. It might be the system that's giving you the thing you want when i wish,"

"But still, even if i were to wish, i can get really scared and paranoid over it,"

"That's bad. You shouldnt invest yourself that much in the game tanjiro. It's just a game,"

"Ehehehe, i guess so. But you're really good at it muichiro! If you download it, we can play together :D!"

!!!!

It took the word "play together" to get muichiro down on his knee for that game. Usually the idea of playing with your friends is not that interesting. So when tanjiro said that, you bet he's going to play it

Type of player

Extremely lucky it's not even real. He got a five star on the beginner's banner

Fast farming. He probably will complete all the quest and become an endgame player within one month

"I just wanted to play with tanjiro..." bashfully

He's really good with whatever he's doing. Attack combo, dodging, elemental reaction and all sorts of stuff. If he invest more of his time on artifacts, he would probably even one shot it!!

He's very lucky. Very

Kyojuro : he wouldnt even know the existence of this game. Well, he took a glimpse of it one day and boom, heart stolen. Maybe it was the fiery burning passion in bennett that made him play the game.

'oh wow!! What a determined young boy! Even though he has a very bad luck he still keep pushing forward! Amazing!!'

'I want to be like him'

Kyojuro's the type of player to read and pay attention to every single lore of his fav character. Bennett, oh my how he wish he could've had bennett in his team. Every wishes he made would make him a c6 bennett main if only barbara wont stop coming home

"I really like you barbara but i dont want you!! Thank you for the c6 though!! I promise to use you in the future but just-" he prepares to wish

"not NOW!!" Clicks

The highest con of bennett he had ever gotten is probably c1. One day the paimon's bargain shop offered bennett as their monthly character. Kyojuro had never been so excited over a game before. He usually perks up over academics and not this kind of thing. But it's bennett, the character he admires the most.

Unfortunately he couldnt get it due to low currency. He had never feel so sad in his life.

"I shall not give up. Dont worry, i will be a c6 bennett main!!!"

He will be a c6 bennett haver!!

Type of player :

Carefully reads every stories and listens to their lines attentively. He finds it amazing how the company spent their everything on this game. It amazes him. From the stories, lores and lines, he truly appreciates it.

Balance his team pretty well. He mains bennett so he doesnt need that much of a healer in his team.

Enjoys bennett's hangout very much!! He tried to not get him killed by the dungeon's trap but ended up having to sacrifice him which ultimately ends the route. He had never felt so down and guilty before.

Not much of a damage dealer. He prefers to play it in normal mode and doesnt care that much about one shotting monster.

He feeds his character three meals a day!! If only there's a sleep option, he would be sending bennett to sleep first before the rest.

Everyone loves his teapot

Shinobu : found the game while she's scrolling through the app store out of boredom. Initially she played it on her phone but due to the fps and a really bad ping, so bad that douma wouldnt find her interesting anymore, she finally downloaded the game on her pc where things has starting to get real

"Ara, shinobu chan, it's lunch time already. Come downstairs please,"

"Sis give me five more minutes, JUST FIVE PLEASE I NEED TO KICK CHILDE's ASS,"

"he's not going anywhere sweetie,"

"yEAHH BUT MY BP IS,"

'Bp?'

"DIE DIE DIE!!" Aggresive clicking intensifies

"Shinobu chan dont hurt the keyboard that much!!"

She got lucky on the beginner's banner too and pulled a 5 star along with bennett and noelle. Who's the 5 star? Diluc Ragnvindr in all of his glory. Shinobu benched him sadly. She prefers sword over any other weapon

"I mean he's cool i guess but i just really dont get that 'WOAHHH COOL' vibe from him you know?"

"then give your diluc to me! I really want him so bad shinobu chan!"

Deep sighs "yeah sure. You can have my c2 diluc mitsuri..."

Loses 50/50 to diluc everytime everyone would think she either is lucky or cursed by the amount of that man greeting him on the screen. She still bench him though, sadly

"Im begging you, give me jEANN THE GRANDMASTER I NEED HEALER iN MY PARTY TO DO ABYSS

Type of player :

Suffers a lot in the abyss because she just want the primos which is a valid reason to do because that's the only thing that keeps her going

She's a sword character main. She'll properly build every character as either support or dps. The support would be kaeya and bennett, and her main dps ayaka

Ayaka main btw

Honestly at some point she wanted to quit the game because of how tiring it is but then inazuma came out

Fragile resin = 0

Resin = 160/160 happens once in a blue moon

"i should probably control myself with the amount of resin i've used,"

"But i cant,"

Hates domain but always can be seen playing in there

Only coops if mitsuri is there

"So that someone can calm me down,"

"That's not a really good reason shinobu chan,"

Sanemi : dude probably know the game through obanai. He watched the latter play and finds it interesting on how high the numbers he dealt. He loves challenges so a game like genshin impact would probably satisfy his need.

"Obanai, are you hearing this shit?"

"What is it sanemi, im busy doing this event,"

"That loser giyuu is also playing the game,"

"Oh yeah i know,"

"YOU KNOW? WHY YOU DIDNT TELL ME??"

"i just know right after you told me,"

"...."

Sanemi's a meta but a mediocre one. He's meta but he doesnt show it that much. Probably buys welkin once in every three months or when he really needs it same goes with battle pass too. Honestly, he really just use his money when he really needs something

"Donno if my allowance can buy me a welkin so i'll probably skip,"

"But the next banner is zhongli's,"

"....."

"Ah fuck it," buys

My man cant dodge after he got zhongli. Its very painful because he used to studies the enemies movement in the early game so that he can utilizes it on the team but zhongli's shield is so tank he forgot that dodging exists

"Im gonna kill you and you and you hhahaahhaah just you wait im gonna shred all of yo- oh shit zhongli's shield. puT IT BACK PUT IT BACK ON,"

That one event where zhongli's shield plays an important role in the domain? Yeah, he felt like a god at that time. Even got his c2 on his rerun. Sanemi just really like zhongli because it kinda reminds him of himejima. Calm and wise and strong too. He looks up on that kind of person

"Zhongli sama, im in debt for all of your hard work protecting my team," bows and wipes tears

Type of player :

Spends a little money on the game to get what he wants

Zhongli main

Is that one player that has hoards of food but doesnt even use it

"Why need healer when you have zhongli's shield,"

Compare to kyojuro, he doesnt even touch the teapot because he finds it ridiculous and bothersome to create and design everything in it

Loves one shotting bosses and compares it to giyuu. He ask for advices from obanai regarding team build supports and stuffs

Doesnt do character's story quest. The key is full every single time. He unlocks it but leaves the quest like that.

"Ah shit, i accidentally activate the quest,"

His friend list only has obanai in it. Whenever people sent him friend request, he wouldnt hesitate, more like wouldnt care to accept it

They either have to coop in obanai's world or his world and after that, unfriend immediately

Says thank you after coop because he has manners and then completely disappears

"Zhongli main forever,"

Tengen : played since 1.0 this madlad has been staying loyal to the game ever since. Quite huge amount of money he spend on this game to be honest but he never gets broke by it. You can see his regular donation to the game by purchasing welkin and battle pass and some genesis crystal too. He's loaded with money, he didnt know what to do with it.

Uzui also plays honkai impact and guns girl Z so when he saw the unknown god at the intro , he was not surprised.

"Oh we have to pick between the siblings? Cool cool co- oh hi kiana,"

"Thats so herrscher of void hahahahah,"

Although he is a loyal fan to MihoYo games, he lost his composure when he saw the 1st genshin anniversary reward because what was that. Imagine getting billions of money and they give us this? Tengen cant believe this shit

"Oh god wtf was that reward, i have to draw to get a welkin and some primos?? aND I ALSO HAVE TO BE LUCKY? WHAT-"

"WHERE'S MY FREE MONA,"

In need of mona. He needs mona so bad he literally spent his money on standard banner to get mona but always ends up with qiqi. Not that he's complaining but he just wants the astrologist to complete the support team

"GOD QIQI YOU AGAIN? WTF WFF WTF-" converts genesis crystal to primigems

"Tengen, you should control yourself!"

"SHUT UP KYOJURO, IM GONNA WASTE MY MONEY TILL I GET HER,"

"yeah but my f2p ass is hurting with how many bennett cons you got," droops

Tengen sees potential in every character. Everyone has their weakness and strength so when kokomi comes out, he diss her at first but then realize maybe its a new way for a character. Adds the uniqueness if he may say so.

"Meh i dont care honestly. You guys should pull whoever you find nice or beautiful. Like me ;)"

"Who do you main uzui?"

"Beidou,"

Type of player

Spoils the storylines, lores, leaks A LOT THE REST HAVE TO BLOCK HIM ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Speed runs the game and has become an endgame player ever since but he still does his daily commission and helps people with domains and stuffs

R5 every battle pass weapon

Fights azhdaha for fun and to test out his characters rather than ruin guards and stuff

Mona wanter

Puts traveller as the pfp and doesnt display any showcase of his characters and namecards. You can only see his achievements and spiral abyss ( 12-3 ). Says its for fun and mystery

Throws a lot of pickup lines and roleplays a lot. Spams your chatbox messages with stickers and censored stuffs

Probably steals your ores and exotic things like violetgrass, qingxin and silk flowers

Screams in the chatbox whenever he saw Mona until Kyojuro had to calm him down

Changes signature every single time and sometimes put spoilers in it

In every survey he would complain "MihoYo where the fuck is my Mona,"

Doesnt heals his characters

#demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer hashira #kny hashira #tokitō muichirō #shinazugawa sanemi #shinobu kochou #uzui tengen #rengoku kyojuro #kamado tanjiro #kochou kanae #iguro obanai #demon slayer headcanons #kimetsu no yaiba headcanons #hashira headcanons

[bnhaficsforthesoul]

BNHA characters and their genshin experiences

I've been way into genshin for the past couple months, if anyone wants to play with me message me (I'm lvl 45 rn) but be warned I have shitty internet and am a partial razor main

but this is mainly characters I can see actually putting time into genshin

Bakugou

Mains: Yanfei

his main has probably been most every pyro character at some point

he wants diluc so bad, whenever someone else complains that diluc ruined their pity he wants to ruin their existence

before yanfei his main was probably hu Tao

hed definitely play klee if he had her lmao but he doesnt and is patiently waiting for her rerun

he has a lot of 5 star characters and is f2p, he can always get banner characters within at least the first pity, but for standard 5 stars hes gotten keqing and qiqi way too many times and hes livid

especially as a previous hu tao main, he was begging for Jean, still has yet to come home

hes probably a very high level, not fully maxed out considering he hasnt been playing all that long, he was probably forced to start when the rest of the bakusquad started playing it and he just took off

has really shitty artifact luck though, like his characters arent bad or anything but they could be so, so much better

and ugh hes livid

explores everything, has 100% exploration everywhere, but hes not bored hes still got artifact farming to do and he enjoys terrorizing enemies

in co op he will set you and everything around you on fire. cope.

Todoroki

Mains: Xiao or Ganyu

probably only started playing because Izuku asked him to

kaeya has also been on his team since day 1 and he is never leaving doesnt matter his friendship has been level 10 for weeks now who cares

was f2p until xiao, who didnt want to come home at all, and he finally got him on his 180th pull

now he doesnt care and will buy primogems whenever hes bored

he has a lot of constellations on kaeya and hes so proud of that, probably c4, is considering buying way too many primogems just so that he can hopefully get his c6

now his artifact luck is godly, you'll go into a domain with him and be like ugh I got nothing and hes like I got a 4 piece set with all attack or crit rate/damage main stats like haha I hate you

but yeah his characters are very strong cause of this, but he doesnt put effort into building a lot of them, he only levels up and gives good artifacts to his team and a couple other characters he likes but everyone else just sits there for a while

hes not super obsessed with the game, but he does think its funny seeing bakugou get so upset whenever they do domains together

doesnt even bother doing daily tasks really unless hes trying to save primogems

Midoriya

Mains: Venti

hes so good at building characters, like he looks up builds online and watches those "do INSANE damage with these tips" videos - and he sets out to get them done and he does

bakugou is once again livid whenever they play together, because Izuku barely has to try and can do so much more damage than him

he does have to put in a lot of work for his artifacts though because he doesnt settle for the okay ones he needs the absolute best

he builds his favorite characters the most ofc, but he evenly distributes things to other characters he knows can be useful- those characters might not have insane stats but they're still good

will not kill timmies pigeons, hell hunt birds in the wild for fun though

definitely a food hoarder

also does a lot of exploring and probably has at least 90% for each area

Kaminari

Mains: Lisa

he is 1000% in love with Lisa, he took her quest very seriously

and so many people say shes horrible, he hates it, hes made her crazy strong out of spite

his team consists of only his wifus- meaning lisa, beidou, rosaria, and mona

for a long time beidou was his second but then rosaria came along and hes like ugh big tiddy goth gf, but lisa still remains queen

these are the only characters hes built though, save for a couple like probably razor and xiangling that he used before he fully got this team

is an ayaka saver

he doesnt care too much about most 5 stars but will sometimes get them just to say he has them, but they end up just sitting there rotting away because he never puts work into them

he does have hu tao though and would get ganyu if she ever had a rerun

Kirishima

Mains: Diluc Razor or Beidou

they're all on his team, the last person switches out but it's most likely zhongli or childe

hes all about dps, support who, he just wants to hit hard and do insane damage , so yes he made dps zhongli

except his builds arent that great, with some help his builds are decent, but on his own hell be like ugh that's some sexy 300 damage

probably didnt know what 90% of the stats even meant and just put random attack ones on people and went yeah that looks good

doesnt really care though and is just having fun so hell play how he wants (as he should) but he does have to ask for help when farming bosses

loves exploring but misses so much, hell get distracted easily and end up just messing around

honestly probably hasnt bothered to ascend his world since he got to level 35, if he did the quest hed probably go straight to 45 and even then hed still have extra exp because hes been there for so long oml

but eventually he would have to and hed be trying to do it like :,) this is fine and it takes him a lot of tries but he gets there eventually,,, only to immediately have another one waiting for him poor baby

Mina

Mains: Klee or Xiangling

thinks baizhu is hot (and is correct) so shes desperately waiting for him

was a I must play 24/7 player until after the last story quest, then she got kinda bored but still plays frequently so she can save primogems and likes playing co op

goes into random peoples worlds a lot

shes got some pretty strong characters and is proud of her account

definitely makes tiktoks of her playing with the bakusquad cause it's always v chaotic (it's probably only denki and kirishima most of the time, but sometimes either bakugou or sero will join in)

does all the genshin tiktok trends

shes a pretty high level since shes probably been playing for a while and has most everything done

she loves helping lower level people though she thinks it's so cute and loves the power she feels when she one shots things

Sero

Mains: Xingqui

hes a pretty casual player, kinda only plays when hes bored or the others make him play with them

but his stats arent too bad, they're fairly average but he gets by

has so many primogems because he doesnt bother to wish on anyone, probably wants kazuha though

he does get super invested into the story though, hes so curious about the world and where the story is gonna lead

probably watches a lot of genshin theory videos and now he over thinks everything in the game

he explores a lot, not so much to find every single thing but more so just because he likes looking at everything, hes very excited for all the new places

Shinsou

Mains: Childe

hes a very thorough player, he explores a lot and puts a lot of work into building his characters

most of them arent all that great but he has plans to fix them

his main team is very well built, not the best, but still good

he struggles when he has to switch someone out for a domain or something because his other characters are so painfully mediocre right now and he feels so bad

shinsou, playing a character that can do like max 200 physical damage and biggest damage is like 2 thousand, repeatedly saying I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you deserve so much better, I'm so sorry

even if it's not the worst damage by far, he feels bad about anything under his main team's stats because they're just so much higher

broke. has no primogems. spent them all on childe and his constellations. does he regret it? well he sure does appreciate his c6 so- hell manage

yes he spent real money on his stupid mass murderer who he loves very much

fights childe every day even though he already collected the treasure, he is but a humble simp

probably decently lucky with wishing like he can beat the 50/50 almost every time

Tamaki

Mains: Chongyun and Sucrose

he only started playing recently, probably kirishima got him into it, but he immediately fell in love

kirishima was like tell me when you're level 16 so we can play together !!! and 2 days later tamaki was level 16 and kiri was shook because how the hell did he do it so fast

hates domains, the dread he feels when he realizes the lower level isnt going to give him anything anymore, and he has to move up to the next, and the next,,

asks kirishima to help him only to realize he isnt much help, is too nice to say that so he let's kiri keep trying- one day kiri gets deku to play with the two of them and tamaki almost cries because finally he can get through the level 90 domain and actually get things ugh

cannot get xingqui to save his life he refuses to come home and poor tamaki is so sad he wants him a lot hes even got all his materials saved up

Monoma

Mains: Ningguang

honestly doesnt play all that much but takes pride in making his account seem v good, is a whale

but hes very good at the game, didnt know what the artifacts were for at first and gave people ones based on how they looked but once he figured it out hes fixed them

is a very standard player, logs in every day to do his commissions and use his resin then logs out, he doesnt put too much time into the game and doesnt worry if he misses a day or two

worships ningguang, also really likes xinyan, his other team members are probably venti and albedo

has every single banner 5 star that has come out since he started playing, probably doesnt have klee though and is v upset about it, and is thanking the heavens for all the reruns lately

also doesnt have keqing and wants her a lot cause he likes her

accepts every single co op request he gets, and despite what a lot may think hes actually a very nice person to play with, not toxic at all - unless you're someone he knows then he might be mean to you shshshsh

Shigaraki

Mains: Razor

haha isnt it so odd that they sound so similar haha (if you dont know they have the same japanese va and I'm guessing hed play it in Japanese)

obviously he can be kinda busy ya know being a criminal and all that but when hes not he puts a lot of time into genshin

sadly doesnt have very good luck when it comes to characters or artifacts, but hes doing his best even with 0 primogems and his 50% crit rate

doesnt explore all that much, most of the exploring hes done came from him trying to get all the oculus

his razor is so good though, except that's the only character hes put tons of effort into

except for now zhongli, hes not replacing razor but ugh does he love zhongli

but his other characters are pretty mediocre at best, he could build them if he wanted to, hes good enough at gaming to figure it out, he just doesnt have the time to spend to do it so he focuses on his main team

also (spoiler alert kinda) when we had to go to the wolf spirit to fight the abyss herald and razor was there, afterwards how razor was saying how he was too weak and stuff and was super sad, at that very moment shiggy decided the entire abyss order had to be destroyed - sorry aether (he chose lumine) but razor is more important than you

#theres probably more charavters that would play but i can add to this later #did i describe myself througout these #yes of course #anyways diluc supremacy if youre not apart of the 70% of the fandom that hates him then youre superior i dont make the rules #bnha headcanons #bakugou #shigaraki #todoroki #kaminari #kirishima #midoriya #deku #shinsou #monoma #amajiki

[newkate]

The Cure

For @teamblueandangry Kandersgiving event - Day 4: AU/Free

AU where the touch of Justice cures Karl permanently. 

(I’m not saying that would have changed the whole plot of DA2 and DAI but yes it would have. I kind of want to write 40K of this but here are the bullet points.)

1.

When they were free and safe, catching their breath on the narrow bed after a messy, shakily desperate reunion, Anders offered to remove the brand from his forehead.

Karl traced the raised ridges of the sunburst with his finger. He’d not seen it in the mirror yet, not since he’d been cured, but he’d already made up his mind.

“No, love, leave it,” he said. “It’s fine. It happened, no point pretending it didn’t. You have plenty of new scars too.”

He ran his hand over the recently healed sword wound over Anders’ heart and leaned in to kiss it.

“Love, my love,” Anders sighed, and then the spirit that had mended Karl’s sundered mind was looking at him from his lover’s eyes, its voice coming from the familiar lips. “They’ll never take another mage. We won’t let them.”

2.

In those half-formed dreams he had, before his dreams were ripped from him altogether, Karl had imagined they’d run away together. They’d hide in some village, never again do magic to avoid any suspicion. They’d have a little farm, a cow and a goat, and they wouldn’t need anything else.

Things were different now. Anders, for all that he still was every bit Karl’s Anders, had become something new: more than human now, indestructible, unstoppable, burning with one purpose: to make this world a just one, a safe one.

And Karl himself was changed, new, bare, tender, like a thin pink skin that’s revealed when a scab comes off.

“I’m just… emotional,” he told Anders’ friend Bethany the next day. She came to visit while Anders saw to his patients, likely because Karl seemed too unstable to leave unsupervised. Even just thinking about that brought him near tears, and he had to bite his lips to stop them from trembling.

Bethany, a sweet little hedge mage half his age, patted his shoulder comfortingly.

“Emotions are good,” she said. “Better than not having any. I was like this all through puberty, I remember. Even now if I hear ‘Andraste’s mabari’ at the wrong time of the month, I’ll bawl my eyes out. But you’ll get used to it. Just cry whenever you need, it really helps.”

He wasn’t going to, would hate for Anders to see him like that. But that same night as soon as they kissed again the tears spilt out, burning and abundant, and Anders held him tight while Karl wept on his shoulder.

“I’m not sad, I’m just - too happy,” he sobbed out, and Anders kissed his hair and said it was all right, and soon it really felt like that.

But, whether he was fine or not, they had work to do.

3.

Samson’s name had been passed around Gallows in whispers, from one trusted friend to another. Before he was given the brand, while he’d still been planning to escape with Anders’ help, Karl had counted on Samson to get them out of Kirkwall, provided they could find the money.

“Apparently, if an escaped mage can’t come up with coin, Samson sends them to some unsavoury people,” he explained. “Some of them could be slavers. We need to make sure this doesn’t happen.”

Anders promised Samson any treatment that could ease the pains of Lyrium withdrawal, Karl promised not to burn him alive, and just like that, Samson was now working for them. Soon he brought them their first mage runaways, Feynriel and Olivia, and Karl had students again. Olivia’s father tipped them about the escaped Starkhaven mages, and with their friends’ help they brought them in, too. They all spent some weeks turning the sewers into a decent enough place to live, for themselves and other refugees. Between them they could provide clean water and safe fire, they could reshape stone and light darkness. They diverted the sewage away from the living spaces, widened the gaps in the rock to let in more light, and began trading their skills and knowledge for food and necessities.

The plan was coming together.

4.

A few weeks later Karl felt strong enough to talk about what had happened to him, and asked Anders to take him back to the chantry. There he prayed before Andraste’s statue for courage and then approached the Grand Cleric and pushed his hood off to show her the brand.

“I am a Harrowed mage,” he said. “I was illegally made Tranquil, against my will, by Ser Alric. With, I suspect, Knight-Commander’s full knowledge and approval.”

“This seems highly unlikely,” she said calmly. “You don’t sound like a Tranquil. Are you sure your brand isn’t a fake, child?”

“I… got better,” he said, already trembling, overcome with anger and frustration. “Will you bring them to justice?”

“The misdeeds of the Templars are the Knight-Commander’s domain. You should speak to her.”

“As I said, I believe she had a hand in this.”

“You seem to be here without templar escort,” she said. “Am I to understand I’m speaking to an escaped apostate? If you wish me to start the investigation and have a chance to take this to trial, you must turn yourself in. That’s the proper way to see the justice done.”

“I’m not going back to the Circle. I’m not safe there. That’s where I was illegally made Tranquil.”

“There’s little I can do on a hearsay from an apostate, I’m afraid.”

He stumbled away from her, weeping in strange, inexplicable, helpless shame, and Anders put his arms around him and led him outside, into the light.

“I want to ask your spirit,” he said when he could speak again. “Can murder be justified? Am I consumed by my anger?”

Anders had killed many templars to save him, Karl knew. He’d killed before, too, in his time with the Wardens. Perhaps even earlier, if he was cornered during his many escapes. But for Karl that would be a new line to cross.

“Justice isn’t vengeance,” Anders said. “It’s not about an eye for an eye. It’s about creating a better world. I believe this particular murder would go a long way toward that goal.”

They ambushed Alric the very next day on his way from the brothel. Karl forced him to his knees and pressed his fingers to Alric’s forehead, and set his brain on fire.

He was ill for days afterwards, unable to keep anything down, his hand sore as if his own fire had harmed him. The catharsis had brought some measure of solace, he supposed.

5.

Hawke was about to head out on his daredevil expedition, and Anders declined to go and leave Karl behind.

“Well, without the Warden and the healer this enterprise just became a lot more dangerous,” Hawke said. “I understand, it’s just that I wanted to take Bethany with me, to make sure the templars don’t snatch her while I’m away. Now I’m not so sure.”

“She can stay with us,” Karl offered, and she did.

While they waited they took her, Merrill, a few Strakhaven mages and Fenris all around Kirkwall, trying to dig deeper into the grizzly matter that was brought to Hawke by Ser Emeric.

“If we are to live free among other free people, we have to do our part in fighting those who use magic for evil,” Karl said. He knew Fenris still had reservations about their little commune, and it seemed important to show him their dedication. Karl’s right palm still itched a little, but he mostly ignored it. Solving this crime would be the comfort he needed. “We know a mage is involved. We will find and stop them.”

They kept digging, and eventually came to the end of their search. The dead murderer’s secret room held some remnants of his horrific experiments, and a shrine to a woman who looked disconcertingly like Bethany’s mother.

“Imagine if this creep met her and became obsessed with her,” Bethany said and turned the portrait to face the wall. “Well, she’s safe now.”

6.

Orsino stared at Karl, fascinated. They’d arranged the meeting in the Darktown, and the old man’s huge eyes were watering, perhaps from the stench, perhaps from the same emotion that had Karl on edge of tears too.

“Unbelievable,” he said again. “Karl, I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you. But this, this is a miracle.”

“It’s a simple enough cure,” Anders said. “I can do it with a single touch, but summoning a spirit isn’t difficult. Anyone can do it. We can cure everyone, and we don’t have to be afraid any longer. The templars have lost their best weapon.”

“This changes everything,” Orsino agreed. “I will make sure the other Circles know. This can not be silenced.”

“I’ll cure everyone I can get my hands on,” Anders said. “Anyone you can send my way. Afterwards we’ll take care of them right here, in this sanctum we’ve built, among our people. We’ll nurture them through their recovery, help them face the horrors they might have been put through. Make sure they heal, the way they’d never be able to if we send them back to Circles. This is what we’ve been working toward.”

“That’s very good,” said Orsino. “A good start. Let me talk to other First Enchanters. I understand you’re overjoyed to be free and together, and you might not be seeing the bigger picture yet.”

7.

Later that year the conclave had voted for separation of the Circles from the Chantry, and the uprisings were on the way. Grand Cleric Elthina left Kirkwall, fearing for her safety. The Nevarran accord was broken, but the Templars and the Seekers both were in disarray, a lot of them opposing the order once the truth of the Rite of Tranquility was known.

The Gallows stood empty, following a swift uprising of mages fully supported by the new Viscount. Dumar had retired to rebuild his relationship with his son, and named Hawke his successor. Hawke, friend of the mages, darling of the nobility after all the favours he’d done for them, a close friend of the new Starkhaven king and even a trusted ally of the Arishok, ruled well and fair, even though there were rumours that his friend Varric did most of the work. Once the Kirkwall mages rebelled, Hawke sent in the city guard to fight on their side. After a short siege, with the mages who’d not escaped by then holding the Gallows and keeping the templars trapped in the courtyard, the templars ran out of lyrium and surrendered.

For a few happy years Karl and Anders lived and worked side by side, teaching the children, curing the Tranquil, building a community that accepted mages as their own. They penned a few papers together arguing for the rights of mages, outlining their ideas for peaceful coexistence.

“What would I do without you,” Anders kept saying. “I swear, without you, without your love, I’d given up a long time ago.”

“I know you too well,” Karl said. “You’d never give up.”

Still, it was good to know he was helping. It was good to be alive, to be able to love, to be loved. His unruly emotions had mostly settled down, except for one: he was still as overcome by tenderness and desire whenever Anders touched him, looked at him, smiled at him. But that they could certainly live with.

There was a call for help from a rebelling Circle, and they gathered a fighting force of battle mages and set off. Halfway into their march the forward scouts brought back an elf in tattered clothing. He seemed weak and confused, he refused to talk, and he was clutching a strange dark orb to his chest.

“Friend,” called Justice to him as soon as he came near. “I know, this is strange. Like you, I didn’t want a body, but you will see, you will understand the beauty of this world. You will love it. I will help you.”

“What?” Karl asked, but Justice only kept beaming at the man, and didn’t explain. Karl could sense the man’s power, though. Definitely a mage, in need of shelter, food, probably healing. “Well, he’s right, anyway. You’re among friends now. You’ll see, we’re good people.”

#kandersgiving 2017 #dragon age #anders #karl thekla saves the world #my fic #i really wanted to do all four prompts okay

[bbyaster]

stop using talent books to make a second team for the spiral abyss bc you need them for kazuha challenge!

#genshin #genshin impact #how tf did i build kaeya so well #he’s a goddamn menace i literally don’t know what to do without him #also i will start crying without zhongli’s shield wish me luck #current team is kaeya zhongli bennett and beidou #new team is chongyun xingqiu barbara and fischl #and i’m just giving chongyun kaeya’s old artifacts #barbara isn’t even built as a dps but she’s doing more damage than the rest of them #i don’t have bad artifacts for them i just have like zero options #bc i’ve only been playing about a month?? #but i’m at like ar43 (i didn’t rush i just have no life) #my main team isn’t even fully built?? #bennett is over here barely used as a healer and i have a two piece maiden on him #i use him more as support but i HATE the domain where you farm for pyro #i also have zero anemo characters except the anemo traveler #so i really need kazuha anyways #but KLEE IS MAKING IT SO HARD #SHES SO CUTE #i don’t even like her playstyle i just love klee #pov i need to stop talking in the tags so much #uhh sorry if you read through all of these if it’s annoying block me cause i’m gonna keep doing it

[kingmindint]

The History of Overstock, E-commerce Bitcoin Pioneer Facing Unclear Future

The History of Overstock, E-commerce Bitcoin Pioneer Facing Unclear Future

How Overstock came to success, what is the role of Bitcoin in it, and what is going to happen to the company now that its share price is dropping?

Last week brought more controversial news about Overstock.com, the first major retail company to accept Bitcoin as a payment option in 2014. The company decided to pull its secondary stock offering due to its continuing falling share price, while Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com’s CEO, had previously mentioned that he considered selling the retail giant. Furthermore, Robert Hughes, Senior Vice President of Finance and Risk Management at Overstock resigned from his position to join a Blockchain venture that also involves Byrne.

Byrne has been an advocate for Bitcoin and Blockchain practically since day one, creating a strong reputation for himself in the cryptocurrency community. Now, when the pioneer of adoption seems to be going through some turbulence, it is important to refresh our memory about the intense relationship between Overstock and Bitcoin.

Overstock’s early days and Byrne’s war against Wall Street

Byrne founded Overstock.com in 1997 and launched it in May 1999. Initially, the company operated as an online marketplace that sold surplus merchandise, liquidating the stock of failed dot-com companies at below-wholesale prices. These days, Overstock.com continues to sell closeout merchandise including home decor, furniture, bedding, and other goods, but it offers brand new stock as well.

Essentially, Byrne kicked off his business by capitalizing on 90’s hysteria and the subsequent wave of dot-coms that abruptly went bankrupt. His company turned those domains into suppliers by offering to sell out their inventory.

Overstock’s CEO never shied away from voicing his criticism of Wall Street and mainstream finance. Byrne’s war with the most influential financial entities of the US has been continuing for more than a decade. It ties into his views on power as a whole — being a follower of the Austrian school of economics, Byrne believes that economy should rest on the judgments of individuals, not a central authority:

“These institutions that we get told are neutral and are governing society neutrally… become the tools powerful [enough] to oppress the we. I distrust the idea of central banking”.

Indeed, Byrne is not quite your typical businessman: not only does he refuse to obey the financial overlords, he’s also a three-times cancer survivor with a PhD in philosophy who wears bond-villainesque collarless jackets and silk Chinese shirts.

In 2002, Byrne took Overstock public using the-so-called Dutch auction or Dutch Initial Public Offering (IPO). That method allowed to raise money directly from the public instead of holding a traditional IPO, where Wall Street banks would take their cut in the process. Thus the company rejected Wall Street’s supervision while raising public capital.

In 2005, Byrne started off his campaign against illegal naked short selling – when a seller sells stock without actually owning it and intentionally fails to deliver it within the standard three-day settlement period. He argued that such sellings were used by big financial players as a tool to depress companies’ stock prices. In 2007, Byrne continued his crusade on Wall Street by hitting at least 12 brokerage firms including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch with a $3.48 bln lawsuit. Initially, the press portrayed him as a conspiracy enthusiast, but then the 2008 Global Financial Crisis happened, and the role of short sellers was taken more seriously.

By this point all of the defendants have settled with Overstock out of court: for instance, in 2016, Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp.,the last defendant in Overstock.com’s longstanding market manipulation case, settled Byrne’s claims by paying $20 mln to his company.

“Patrick, I need you to know that you are the most hated man I’ve known in my entire life. You used to be kind of a golden boy here on Wall Street, but now you can kill people and we wouldn’t hate you like we hate you in this town”, Byrne quotes a “well-regarded hedge fund manager in New York”, before kicking off his lecture at Bitcoin 2014 conference. He smiles when he recalls that meeting, taking those words as “high praise”.

In 2009, Overstock delivered its first annual profit of $7.7 mln and has been profitable ever since (with the exception of 2011, when the company confused its customers with unfortunate rebranding strategy).

Overstock’s relationship with Bitcoin

In 2014, Overstock.com became the first large stock company to accept Bitcoins through a partnership struck up with Coinbase. As Byrne recalls in an interview with Business Insider:

“We were the first. The largest company accepting Bitcoin then was a $800,000 a year restaurant diner in Western Australia. We stepped up and started taking it — we were $1.4 billion. So I like to think we saved that community about five years in their adoption cycle”.

The transition was partly accidental: in December 2013, Byrne mentioned to a journalist that his company might start accepting Bitcoin. “I said it off the top of my head”, Byrne admits. It was important for him that prior to that conversation – in November 2013, “the feds said that they weren’t gonna redlight [Bitcoin]”. Soon after the interview, he started seeing media outlets from all over the world reporting on Overstock’s potential move. That provoked him to swiftly contact Coinbase, and, in a matter of few weeks, Overstock.com went live with the Bitcoin payment option.

Byrne, being a “scourge of Wall Street” and a self-proclaimed Austrian economist “by background and inclination”, picked up on the idea of a decentralized currency. “When I first heard Bitcoin it reminded me of my feelings about gold”, he recalls. The eccentric businessman went as far as dubbing Bitcoin as the only rescue from the approaching “zombie apocalypse” and handing out Trump-esque “Make Bitcoin Great Again” red caps to his interviewees.  

The initial payoff after accepting the cryptocurrency seemed to be worth it. “The implementation pays for itself a hundred times just by the press”, Byrne claims. The cryptocurrency community was also there to appreciate the transition:

“Bitcoin users started to come to our site and buying a set of pillows or a bed just to show their support. We sold few hundred thousand just in two days after getting live”.

Due to his politics and blunt, brave predictions, Byrne quickly became an important player in the crypto world. Overstock shares have trended significantly closely to BTC price ever since Byrne became part of the crypto crowd. For instance, Overstock’s stock rose four times between July and December of 2017 as Bitcoin grew more than 7-fold, and closed the year with an approximate gain of 200 percent.

Company performance was so impressive that rumours about its main rival, e-commerce titan Amazon accepting Bitcoin started to emerge. At some point, Overstock’s success inspired a Nigerian businessman Emmanuel Olorunisola to launch a similar service in his country. “I stumbled on Overstock.com and saw a wristwatch selling for $28 and I was excited and decided to place an order”, he recalls. His site went even further, accepting only cryptocurrency.

However, such reliance on Bitcoin works both ways: in January 2018, when Bitcoin shedded 50 percent of its value in little under a month, Overstock’s company valuation fell 11 percent ending with a value of $1.8 bln thanks to the roughly $200 mln loss.

In August 2017, Overstock announced it would be holding on to half of all Bitcoin payments as an investment. Previously, the company held from 5 to 10 percent for that purpose. In an accompanying earnings call, Byrne mentioned that around that time, the company received about $50,000 in BTC payments each week.

“Now we only transfer 50 percent and the rest we keep in Bitcoin. And then periodically, we do — we have cashed in Bitcoin and made $5 mln, somewhere like that”, Overstock’s CEO told Business Insider. The company’s policy with the Bitcoin it receives from their online store is to keep half, and turn the other half into dollars.

While Byrne admits that Bitcoin is used in only a fifth of 1 percent of all Overstock sales, he says that he didn’t anticipate that share to be significant. Instead, he merely wanted his technology team to get familiar with cryptocurrency and the technology itself.

In February, Byrne started to champion a relatively unknown cryptocurrency called Ravencoin. When Business Insider asked if he’s interested in “everything cryptocurrency” or “really interested in Blockchain”, Overstock’s CEO went on to say that he is “not really interested in cryptocurrencies per se,” but revealed a little-known Blockchain project his company has invested “millions of dollars” into and that allows mining that doesn’t require “having mining farms in China”.

Ravencoin launched rather quietly on January 3, 2018 with a modest 4-page whitepaper and was first mentioned on Bitcointalk.org on Jan. 14 in a post that described its launch as containing “very little info regarding the future of the project,” but that “since then, several community members have learned that there is an active development team on this coin.” According to Bruce Fenton, a Board member of Medici Ventures (a wholly owned subsidiary of Overstock.com), Byrne had become interested in Ravencoin since he told him about it “at a diner in Boston”.

Blockchain before Bitcoin (and business)

Byrne dodges the “Bitcoin Messiah” label, which Wired used to headline a profile on him in 2014. For Overstock’s CEO, Blockchain is more important than the currency behind it. “Blockchain is a machine that generates trust”, he says explaining why he is trying so hard to make it a mainstream technology. Therefore, in 2014 Byrne launched a venture capital firm within Overstock called Medici Ventures that uses company’s money to invest in Blockchain startups.

The most prominent Overstock’s crypto subsidiary is tZero. Its essential purpose is to eliminate brokers and compete with traditional stock exchanges — just as Byrne always dreamed.

“If you have a stock brokerage account and call your broker you’re paying 15 dollars to execute a trade. That 15 dollars is feeding a lot of mouths all through the plumbing. Well that plumbing can be eliminated and you have a much simpler system that is robust and 80 or 90 percent cheaper. And, most importantly, all kind of mischief that goes on in Wall Street can’t go on here”.

Last fall, Overstock’s shares had jumped almost 20 percent with the news that it will develop an alternative Initial Coin Offering (ICO) token trading platform, a three-way partnership between majority-owned subsidiary tZero, Argon and RenGen. The retail giant’s share price hit its highest level since 2014 at $29.85, capping several years of slowly increasing dividends. The platform’s concept was designed to be wholly in-keeping with regulatory requirements in the US — an important point for Byrne, who has been positive about the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) attempts to regulate the industry:

“I’m actually quite supportive of the SEC cracking down. The ICO craze this year has led to a lot of people being fleeced. There’s been a lot of people bringing coins public with no business plan.”

Ironically, SEC started looking into tZero as part of its overall cryptocurrency probe, and the company saw its share price drop around 10 percent.

Byrne latest project is a collaboration between Overstock subsidiary Medici Ventures and Hernando de Soto, a well-known Peruvian economist. At the end of 2017, they partnered to create a new land registry venture called DeSoto to leverage Blockchain technology as a way to transfer rights and make ownership records harder to forge.

DeSoto intends to launch a pilot system in early 2018. Byrne told the Financial Times that he has “a great moral obligation” to refocus his life around this. And that includes selling Overstock, either partly or entirety, as the new venture could really use that money.

“One of the possibilities is I sell the business and we have all the capital we need,” Byrne said.

Source

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