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seance · 2 years

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What are your thoughts about season 3 of TUA?

Let’s start with saying I’m now comfortable with admitting I liked it more than s2. Until episode 4 I was seriously worrying about the pace of the plot, it felt very all over the place but once the various storylines started to unravel, I was definitely curious about the direction they were pulling us towards. So there’s that, even though nothing can ever top S1 in my heart and that’s cause s3 suffer from the very same thing that made s2 so difficult to digest for me the first time around: tone inconsistency.

I want to make a huge disclaimer before I continue and that is: this is obviously an opinion I formed thinking about the show with a critical approach like I do with everything I enjoy, I like to think and talk about it “seriously” and then putting those thoughts into perspective if the context of said piece of media requires it. So don’t think I don’t know why the writers have chosen to give the show a lighter feel, a more nonsensical vibe etc. I’m not trying to over dramatize anything here, this is just something I really care about and I find it engaging and entertaining to talk about it with other people more in depth. ♡ At the end of the day, it is just a show about wacky interdimensional stuff.

THE CONS

With that out of the way I can surely tell you the one thing I disliked completely was Luther’s treatment and writing which I have already addressed in this ask but to reiterate I personally find the way they jumped from one characterization to the other incredibly jarring. This is not to say he can’t be the fun, affectionate one, I love that about him, love how it can be read as a deconstruction of the persona Reginald forced him to be to keep him complacent (stern, hyper responsible, detached) BUT it’s all taken to an extreme with him. Like they didn’t know what to do with his character after S1 so they decided to dumb him down, give him all the comedy gimmick, never again explain his train of thoughts and just leave it at that.

To add salt to the injury they immediately threw him in one of my most hated trope: romance at first sight. This is totally a me problem, I want everyone to know I acknowledge this but it’s a huge mood killer for me. I can uphold my suspension of disbelief for eldritch tentacles and time travelling teenagers but I draw the line at ‘I was moping and whining about my sister having married another man two hours ago but now everything I do or say will be for the sake of this random alternative dimension woman I just met in my old living room’. I’m sorry but no, it immediately antagonizes the characters for me, you do this and I can assure I’ll have to work twice as hard to even try to care about them in the slightest and it honestly sucks because I don’t think him and Sloane aren’t cute or don’t work in general. I just wish we could have seen at least SOME build up to it? One shred of her personality that didn’t involve her very sudden immortal love for Luther? It shined through in glimpses here and there but it still felt forced. That fact that he suddenly discards his family and even says her name as he dies, I mean c’mon. You have to SHOW me changes in your characters, you can’t just TELL me it’s there, this is the kind of writing that gets on my nerve. Especially because it wouldn’t have taken a genius to write it a little bit more consistently and still making it work. They had to finally separate Luther and Allison, which is more than fine (even tho I wish it wouldn’t translate in ‘they never interact normally again’), Luther needed to gain a new purpose, a sense of independence after being let down by his dad for one last time in s2 and having come to terms with his disillusionment and isolation. I’m really not a fan of implying he finds all this in a romance instead of building the characters separately and then maybe having the romantic relationship has a bonus, it would have felt 10x more natural and there wasn’t any reason to sacrifice their sense of self. The show made a point (S1) in characterizing the Hargreeves as people who have super powers but incredibly real, overwhelming, gritty and relatable problems. This entire storyline felt so disconnected from that kind of vision, I simply couldn’t get behind it.

A similar thing, in a less messy form, happened to Diego. Don’t get me wrong, I know they take care to insert bits and pieces of siblings interactions here and there but I’m starting to notice how they really struggle in actually managing their dynamics in a consistent, diversified way. Diego was basically isolated from his family all season. Not narratively speaking, it’s just that they always had him spend all his time with Lila and Stanley. Y’all, Lila gets to spend time on her own with Five and Diego don’t. He is just suddenly in dad mode and that’s it. He doesn’t have one single 1vs1 meaningful interaction with anyone else (brawl scene with Allison notwithstanding, that one I liked very much). Where with meaningful I mean somehow serious and/or relevant to the plot. This is the same character that gave us an incredible insight about him AND the others through his dialogues with Klaus (I have the sneaky suspicion they completely separated them in s2 cause of all the shipping but I’m still mourning them), Luther, Five and even Viktor. If you really think about it, we understand what life in the Academy was like at first through Diego’s eyes. I was honestly sad to see him kinda estranged now, they exacerbated his ‘slice now, ask questions later’ side and called it a day. Again, I know I’m generalizing on some things, he had some cute exchanges but in the grand scheme of things they just fell short to my eyes. Yeah, he had tears in his eyes when Klaus died but still they decided to write the scene like a gag and make it about him and Stan. As usual the new characters can only be developed at the expenses of the ones we already love and that’s why I find it so hard to grow attached. Anyway, my feelings about this are also totally biased and I know this, I never could grow fond of his relationship with Lila (I have an incredible resistance against putting female characters in all these little boxes right away: girlfriend, wife, mother, you have to fall in love immediately or we don’t know what to do with you, oh here you go then be plagued with thoughts and anguishes about your value as a woman once you get pregnant etc.) plus the ‘style’ of their dynamic is really not my cup of tea (constant teasing, manipulations and such) and that’s just about different taste in media tropes so yeah. I’m indifferent about them now, I like both as single characters and I guess I’m just feeling stressed about their story possibly being only about parenthood from now on. Again, totally makes sense for Diego, with all his internalized daddy issues, his sense of insecurity and his overcompensation, I’m glad they feel secure in their relationship and everything but god I wish the writing was different and didn’t hyperfocus on a single dynamic leaving out everything else. Also why did we see him grow into his powers, deviating bullets and such in S2 and this time around he barely touches his knives?

I’m gonna try and speed up from here about the other things that left me kinda eh: there are several plot holes I think? That break up the immersion for me. Like, this is a genuine question if anyone else want to pitch in but isn’t Reginald’s plan basically a retcon to S1? If he always knew about Obsidian and the sigil (and it’s implied that he did since he very conveniently adopted seven children for seven stars/bells in every timeline) and he specifically sent Luther to the moon to guard Abigail (personally preferred the version where it was ACTUALLY meaningless, ‘cause it was such a pivotal point for Luther’s development ugh), why the hell did he kill himself in S1? So the siblings could get together and save the world, that’s what we are told. But if they really had succeeded then what? He was dead, how did he think to put everything in motion then? He says something to Klaus about him expecting his son to summon his spirit and then we’re told in the same breath he purposefully raised them to fear their powers so how did he expect that to work? It could have been his plan all along, you say, the timelines, the dimensions… how? How could have he known that Five would be back? That Klaus would throw the journal into the trash? That Leonard existed and would have found it, that his plan to manipulate Viktor would work, that reconciliation among the siblings would be shaky at best, that they would end up in the 60s, in the same city where he lived years before they were born etc. they are just too many variables. Maybe he was not really dead? No! Klaus finds him in the afterlife so???? I have many questions about that, I hope they’re gonna go over it in s4 at this point.

I’m incredibly sorry to say, I still don’t care about the Sparrows. (picture me saying this like the “You know what I'm about to say it I don't care that you broke your elbow” kid) It was inevitable, there were just TOO many characters and the writers have proven times and times again that they struggle with balancing too many characterizations at once, something had to give. As a concept, they were incredibly interesting but the first three episodes, where it seemed like the main point of focus would have been their conflict felt so weird simply because it was based on something too silly like trespassing (as they put it, they didn’t manage to convey the real reasons very well). Zero depth there about their real motivations, the relationships they shared etc. We vaguely understand they weren’t really close from what Sloane tells Ben but then again, they talk about avenging their siblings in a scene and don’t care in the next, I don’t know everything about them felt strange, like they really were just some placeholder npcs that were never intended to take up much space. So I honestly felt nothing when Jayme and Alphonso died, don’t honestly understand why they wouldn’t tell us ANYTHING about Christopher, was he supposed to be some kind of comedy relief? If so I’m completely off that target audience. Fei and Ben were the only ones that kept me going in those few initial episodes, their dynamic was interesting and kept the tone of the series a little more serious which was what I personally needed. I’m disappointed they took Marcus out in less than an episode, those crumbs we got about his personality and the possible interactions with Viktor and the others were interesting. Also it’s totally not my place to say, but it didn’t really feel right to yeeet another black character this way.

With Sloane, as I was saying it was really just about wasted potential. I look forward to know her better (I know they aren’t gonna get rid of her so easily) but damn if I wish it wasn’t framed by the romance arc. Her powers are super cool? She’s obviously incredibly smart as we gathered from that 3 lines exchange she has with Five as they try to trap the Blitz. She’s very sweet, I liked how she was so open to know every Umbrella better if given the chance and Genesis’ performance was really good! So fingers crossed.

Ben’s everything felt like a huge scam ngl. I had the distinct impression they had cut a lot of content about him, like the Jennifer storyline. Everything about his character was, once again, told to us instead of shown. Kinda like a grocery list, you know? So yeah, he’s jealous, he’s resentful, he was once number one than he wasn’t anymore, anything else? He had his moments for sure and I understand the direction they wanted to take with him, I just think it would have benefitted from more careful writing. As a rule of thumb, I always prefer to see less stuff happening if that means it’s going to be written better instead of a thousand shallow plotlines.

Still not over the fact that they didn’t truly take their time to explore what it meant for everyone and especially Klaus to see him again. Luther, Diego, Allison and Viktor mourned him when they were sixteen. Five didn’t see him for forty-five years just to be told he died without being offered a real explanation. Klaus mourned him twice without having said goodbye and he was the sibling who knew him better than everyone else. Did you notice how everyone described Ben this season? He was the best of us, so sweet, so soft, so timid, so good. That’s what they remember from their childhood. Klaus tells Sparrow!Ben his brother was a dark cloud, he was annoying, he was relentless, he was a scold but he was THEIRS and they all loved him, Klaus loved him for it. Their bond was tried times and times again by the life they both had to lead from childhood to adulthood and it was strained in the end but it was also real and very deep. Episode 8 does a good job at making us see what really is going on inside their heads and how Sparrow!Ben is actually feeling the weight of the comparison. It was worth expanding imo, with Klaus especially being allowed to grieve.

The last real con I want to address is of course the elephant in the room which I kept for last cause in my opinion it’s exactly the monster child of this whole inconsistent writing: Allison and Luther’s scene. I won’t insult anyone’s intelligence by reiterating the fact that the act itself was horrible and not something anyone should ever condone but I think the real problem here is what they decided to do after. That scene was meant to show us viewers how desperate and how low Allison had fallen into her grief. It feels incredibly wrong to say but narratively speaking it could have made sense, it was indeed a very shocking, very intense scene. Emmy and Tom both did great in conveying how terribly wrong everything felt in that moment, how the actions of the characters were being portrait in a negative light which is obviously the intent here. I do not agree with never showing bad things on any media because these are things that happen every day and they tell a story. Allison’s struggle has always been about her relationship with her powers and validation, this is not all there is about her but it’s part of her identity as a character. While I am glad they framed the situation as wrong and that she stops shortly after in realization, what I do not agree with is how after that the writers basically never address it again. What’s the point of showing such a scene if you aren’t ready to write the aftermath with the same dedication and careful attention? If they knew it had to be that way then it would have been better not to put it in the show at all. Cause it wasn’t vital to Allison’s breakdown but could have had an important connotation for both her and Luther (how often do we see men portraited as the victims?). All they left us with instead is a half-assed message of ‘it wasn’t a big deal, you see?’ and that’s wrong cause it's a huge disservice especially to Allison’s character which is actually one of my favorite and represents something even more important for many of the viewers.

THE PROS

Whew, that was heavy. I’m sure I didn’t even touch all the points I wanted to address but honestly, we all need a little more positivity right now so onto what I liked instead! I’m at 2777 words, I’m gonna try to summarize for real this time oh my god.

Compared to S2 the siblings spent more time together actually talking and communicating. Not enough to avoid the usual trope of ‘sibling x disappears and not one notices’ and/or ‘I’m not actually gonna pay attention to anything you said’ that’s getting on my nerves lately ngl. But at least we had some more quality time among them and a good understanding of how closer they all got in the last few weeks.

Viktor’s coming out was handled in a very sweet, tender way. From what I read trans viewers appreciated it too and I think that’s really important. Absolutely loved the easy affection and immediate understanding from everyone else, it didn’t feel forced or anything, just personal enough to make it very soft and believable. On that note, it was a joy to see how Elliot’s and by proxy Viktor’s confidence skyrocketed after he was finally able to act in a body that felt more like his. His smiles were so contagious and I loved to see him so assertive and involved this season. His relationship with Allison is one of the most complex of the entire show and it made sense they focused on that to tell part of S3’s story but I look forward to see him interact with his brothers more in the future.

With the exception of what we have already addressed, Allison’s path was the most engaging to watch. Emmy was outstanding this season, I’m so glad she got her moment to shine because she’s a terrific actress and what happened to her character this season was something worth telling. Allison’s rage was a long time coming so it didn’t surprise me they chose that route, in this case even tho we don’t really know much about Claire and Ray (who’s still my fave extra character from s2, the only one I grew attached to) her motivations don’t feel forced or out of place because what’s matter is what we saw through her eyes. We just need to know how important they are, especially Claire, for her and that’s something that’s been consistent since S1. I related to her anger this season, grief is not all about sadness and withdrawal, it’s even more often about fury. And considering how she’s right about the others trying to minimize her anguish because it’s been 30 years and they’re still learning how to really exit survival mode where all it matters it’s your own well-being, her downward spiral makes total sense. Anger is a protective emotion but it swallows everything else more often than not, in her case it took away her inhibitions regarding her powers and the moral courtesies she usually extended to others and now felt weren’t really reciprocated. It was sad and intense to see her grow apart from everyone else but I’m curious to see what the reckoning is going to be.

Klaus and Five were part of why I liked this season way more than S2. I’m biased since they’re both my faves but I was just so glad to see them interact more in a less snippy way. This season addressed Five’s conundrum from a different perspective: he has lived all his life with the weight of something massive like the end of the world on his shoulders and he never had time to fill his head or his heart with anything else except this impeding sense of doom and responsibility. But he is tired and just like Luther, he is disillusioned because the universe seems intent in proving him wrong, in ending just the same no matter what he sacrifices to prevent it. It was very telling to see how this knowledge (that there wasn’t anything else he could do) liberated him instead of putting him down. He was finally able to soften his cutting edges, get to know those siblings he fought so hard to save better, let himself be known, indulge in the little things. To Five, trust is everything and he never trusted anyone, we are repeatedly shown this. Now he finally let himself lean on the people who know him and care for him and didn’t find them lacking. Confiding in Klaus, talking honestly with Viktor, being open to work with Lila, genuinely caring about what Luther wanted to do before dying, sharing an easy camaraderie with Diego, noticing what was wrong with Allison. He was so attuned to the human aspect of it all and that’s what, in the end made him choose to jump on the star against every instinct he had had up until that moment. Reginald keeps insisting on their similarities and it’s true, they’re similar in intellect, motives, methods but there are lines Five will never cross time and time again cause he’s willing to learn and part of him won’t lose that hope that kept him alive all those years in the apocalypse. His biggest vulnerability transforms into his biggest strength every single time and that’s something Reggie can’t take from him. Ps: loved his scenes with Lila, they’re really fun together and it’s interesting to see how their past in the Commission gives them this very peculiar vibe that only they share, their own rhythm. That said I would have loved to see him interact more with Ben and maybe it would have made more sense that at least part of Klaus’ storyline with Reginald would have been Five’s instead.

Last but not least, Klaus. You all know I could talk forever about him but that also means I probably already said everything I wanted to say in my various gifsets. I was afraid they would use him to completely redeem Reginald to our eyes and that didn’t really happen so I’m glad. I have to say, I kinda gaslight myself into finding a plausible reason why Reginald chose him to infiltrate the family since the show didn’t really bother with telling us. First of all, there’s the empathic aspect to consider. Klaus is one of the most, if not the most empathic sibling among the seven of them. It all gets mixed up with is erratic behavior but we are shown time and time again how much he cares. And that’s usually also his downfall because people tend to either abuse or distrust this part of his personality. What he lived through as a child and the instability that kept characterizing his years on the streets and his addiction made him maybe more fragile to emotional manipulation because he never really had anything to himself that wasn’t taken away violently afterwards. The number of interpersonal relationships he manages to maintain in the present are all dependent on his input for now because people don’t really seek him out. So for him, the possibility of rewriting part of his past with his dad, the most traumatizing figure in his life, was incredibly tempting and I get that. I don’t actually think he would have just stood there and got himself killed in that horrible way time and time again but I guess it was for plot and comedy (sigh) reasons. I appreciated seeing him grow into his powers, him remembering what really happened in that mausoleum but I have to say it was maybe more Robert and Colm’s performances that brought that intensity to life because like with everything else about Klaus, the writers have this habit of letting heavy important shit just slide, with every other character always underreacting or not caring at all. It was also all very short lived since everyone lost their powers now, hopefully not permanently because what the fuck. I’m just ? about why Reggie decided to leave him to die if he knew he needed the kids to activate the sigil (without Klaus he would have sacrificed Allison instead and that’s ic but the more the better, in theory?) maybe he was just afraid Luther’s ghost would manifest and tell him what really happened? I don’t know, it was heartbreaking to see (yet another betrayal from someone Klaus had grown to trust) but also a little bit thrown out there. The realization he comes to aka him not belonging to the living world, not deserving to live even because of his mistakes and the life he led was absolutely crushing, they immediately had to ruin it yet again with the funny lines but one day I will have my revenge and I hope he can have a real heart to heart with his siblings where they ALL listen to each other.

Okay I’m surely forgetting something (Reginald is an incredible character and even tho they keep tweaking him like they do everyone else, Colm manages to keeps a consistency to him that makes him absolutely compelling, just like Aidan does with Five. Very appreciated) but this is already impossibly long and impossibly messy probably.

To summarize, it is clear that S1 will never be topped, it was the perfect balance of serious topics treated seriously and light intervals of fun. But they had years to write it properly, now with Netflix it’s all about speed and the general public. To me, this will forever feel like a loss but I can only hope we’ll still get to enjoy the show overall like I did with this season in the end and maybe take it a little less seriously that I do.

#replies #the umbrella academy #anonymous #long post /#tua negativity /#but also positivity i swear!#i want everyone to know that if no one ends up reading this #that's so valid and understandable honestly #i've written fanfic shorter than this #i can't even proof read it cause i have to run #but i really hope i was able to convey at least some part of my thoughts <3 #tua meta

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doctorofmagic · 3 years

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My thoughts on What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?

The very title of the episode sends a shiver down my spine. And this is where we’re going to start.

~ long post under the cut ~

A year ago, I wrote this post as an attemp to dive into one of the most important traits in Doctor Strange’s personality: love. Stephen is a being made of love, made to love, no matter which interpretation you have when you watch Infinity War. If you don’t read comic books, you’ll understand the moment you meet Donna. You’ll begin to understand how her death reshaped his entire subjectivity out of fear of failing, being powerless and unable to control everything around him (especially death), thus the arrogant and yet a disaster of a man we all know.

Where do I even start? Stephen loved her sister deeply and felt responsible for her death. And then, slowly, he also lost his parents and his brother. He fell in love with Clea but he also pushed her away. He loved Zelma platonically and lied to her, which was enough for them to break their bond. He felt attracted to Kanna but screwed things up, even though they remain friends. He was forced to kill the Ancient One, the only father figure he had ever since his father died. And lastly, the only person who would never leave his side... also left. Yes, even Wong. Stephen has SO much love to give but he’s also afraid because he’s cursed. He truly believes his love in poison. And would you look at that? What If really delivered a story where this is actually true.

What If Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?

The level of understanding when it comes to the character is... inconceivable. What could possibly reshape Stephen into following a dark path but love? The very premise of the whole episode. This is so much more than a love letter. This is literally too much, in all senses.

Fine, let’s begin.

What if the best of intentions has very strange consequences?

No. You used the word “strange” for the pun but this is not the word. Nah-ah. I’d go with ATROCIOUS, for starters. Things are gonna escalate so quickly, my friends.

Seriously, tho? Christine is SO SO SO SO beautiful, they’re so cute together. I have this feeling that MCU!Stephen was quite toxic because of his arrogance and this is why they didn’t work out. But WhatIf!Stephen???????? He’s always praising her, teasing her in a healthy way, respecting her and listening to her. HE TRULY LOVES HER, I’M GONNA CRY ALL OVER AGAIN, PLEASE, NOT THE CRÈME BRÛLÉE, PLEASE

I’m going to leave this shot here because we need to go back to it later. Hold that thought.

And bonus points to “Yeah, well, I would call that quite remarkable.” / “Well, I would say the same about you.”

GODS. THE PAIN. STOP THE PAIN.

So in this reality, Stephen didn’t caused the car accident because he was checking his phone while driving. Also it was not the reckless attempt to pass the truck. Well, maybe it was the consequence of this act? The fact is, the car behind them loses control, which makes them crash. Does it matter? We’ll learn later that no, it doesn’t.

And yep... Christine dies. Have you noticed the shattered heart? Ah, the pain only gets better and better.

Again, Stephen blames himself. More than anything, this is so important because Stephen is all about guilt. We still need to meet Donna so we can add yet another layer of guilt. But the feeling exists. This is what corrupts Stephen’s heart and soul in all his iterations. This is what makes him the character I love so much. I love this SO. MUCH. In addition, his stubbornness to accept his condition. Man won’t take a no. This, this is Doctor Strange in character. Stop complaining about NWH Stephen, it’s pathetic.

Okay, “grief-stricken”, Stephen found the Mystic Arts and became a sorcerer. That’s when he learned about the Time Stone, the Eye of Agamotto and Dormammu. Nothing changes, he saves the universe. But time does not heal his deepest wound.

I love Wong so much. Every time Wong does something, the world is healed. Really. We’re going back to him as well but for now I’ll just leave this shot.

BUT STEPHEN, DOING SOMETHING RECKLESS? HE’D NEVAH

Aaaaaaaannnnnnd then he did.

He goes back in time. It’s been two years since he lost Christine. I think he reacted pretty nicely, despite the circumstances. Now let’s go back to that shot I said I was saving for later.

Stephen is so light-hearted here. Also, during the first time he lost Christine, he had no idea what “The Price is Right” was. He knows now, which means he probably tried to learn more about the show because of her, because of grief. HAHAHA MORE PAIN

AND THEN HE

AND THEN SHE DIES AGAIN

AND THEN HE KEEPS GOING BACK IN TIME

AND SHE KEEPS DYING

AND THE MUSIC

AND HIS VOICE

AND HE TRIES TO CHANGE FATE BUT IT CAN’T BE AVERTED

HE EVEN TRIES TO STAY AWAY FROM HER LIFE BUT SHE DIES ALL THE SAME, WHY

AND EVERY TIME THEY CRASH, HE FEELS THE PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL PAIN AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN, WHY

I’M-- *ugly sobbing noises*

Apparently, not.

And this scene when he simply... closes his eyes before she dies again...?

This is where this episode had me in endless tears. It got me the four times I watched it. I’m dead serious.

Okay, so, next the Ancient One appears to Stephen, explaining that Christine’s death is an Absolute Point in time. It cannot be changed. Stephen needs the accident to become the Sorcerer Supreme and defeat Dormammu.

And this is where Stephen starts his journey into darkness. “Nothing is impossible, you taught me that. I only require more power.” Disobeying the Ancient One, Stephen then travels in time, seeking the Library of Cagliostro. Now, if you’re not aware of that, Cagliostro was a sorcerer who studied time in comics, and later became Sise-Neg (there’s a recent post on this because of the new Defenders run). It’s funny to think that Sise-Neg also destroyed the world when he became a god, however he grew past his pettiness and remade reality. Stephen did not possess such power, as we’re about to see.

PS: “Stop torturing yourself, Stephen.” Naur but he should use this line like a mantra. Especially comics!Stephen.

Not gonna lie, tho. This place reminds me of the Temple of the Vishanti from T&T (of course I was going to insert T&T somewhere, it’s me).

And of course they’d go for a pun with his name haha. I don’t know how to feel about this, tho. I feel like the episode is too heavy and dark for comedy. But it is what it is.

Okay but why some books are in cages??????????? And wow, it seems Cagliostro also gathered knowledge about several fields of magic.

And then Stephen learns that, in order to break an Absolute Point, he needs to absorb more power. This is when I went “oh-oh, here we go”.

And for real, is this Shuma-Gorath? Why are they keeping his name a secret? Is this the same creature from the first episode with Captain Carter, right? RIGHT? It has to be Shuma-Gorath.

Of course he tries to be polite and ends up all hurt haha. O’Bengh warns him about love but he will not listen. “Love can break more than your heart. It can shatter your mind.”/ “Is she worth the pain?”. Please, this is Stephen. He eats pain for breakfast.

Also, also, let’s take a break. We’re finally going to get monsterf0cker tentacle-lover Stephen Strange. It will cost us everything but here we goooooooooooo (yes, I went frame by frame for your more obscure fanservice needs)

Gods, I love this sequence so much it hurts. Okay, here we go.

Shmebulock???????????

AND HE STOLE THE CAPE??????????? AND DREW THE LINE ON BUGS??????

The grasp this man is holding on me right now...

Some of you will understand. I’m with you.

And here are the grostesque ones. These are hard to take SS but I had to.

Animation, sound effects, OST? CHEF’S KISS TO ALL

And lastly... the tentacles. Yeah, if you’re new... this is a thing.

Fanservice. Fanservice everywhere. (low-key the reason I also waited to write this review, I wanted to enjoy this part so badly but I was too sad for that lmao)

Okay so. O’Bengh is suddenly OLD and DYING, until we realize that Stephen spent CENTURIES absorbing mystic beings. CENTURIES. WTF STEPHEN. He had nothing in mind but the goal to save Christine. And people wonder why he went insane???? I’m sorry, O’Bengh, but I can’t take you serious when you still call Stephen Sorcerer Armani. Oh, and also because you watched him absorb beings for centuries in silence lmao. But I guess I have to because you said that Stephen is split in two since the Ancient One cast a spell on him, splitting the timelines and making them exist in the same reality before he could travel back in time. I know, it’s complex. Anything for the plot.

And now good!Stephen has an evil!twin who wants to absorb him back in order to become whole and break the Absolute Point. Cool.

I said I wanted to talk more about Wong because I think people are not talking about him enough. Wong is so important in this episode. He’s the one who’s trying to heal Stephen after Christine. He’s Stephen’s anchor.

Also, THEY FINALLY USED A SPELL WITH THE NAME OF THE VISHANTI. HOORAAAAY

So, for the sake of our understanding, I’m addressing the characters as evil and good!Stephen. Let’s go. Evil!Stephen summons good!Stephen and gods, he still holds such a strong grasp on me... unbelievable. THE DEEPER VOICE BENEDICT USES???? PLEASE, DIDN’T WE HAVE ENOUGH?

Imagine his strength to hold so many beings inside him, fighting to control him. BRO, THIS IS TOO TOO MUCH

Fine, I’ll not post SS about the fight because I’d be here all night long but I WILL say this: NOT CLOAKIE!!!!! NAAAAAAAAAAUR

Also if you ask me if I recognize any of the spells? Maaaaybe the Flames of Faltine, the not-so-crimson Bands of Cyttorak and a little trick Magik does with her portals. That’s how far I go.

I’ll not comment on the “seducing yourself to stay in the trap”. I will not. I’ll just say that the first person Stephen thought of when “Christine” was talking about the crème brûlée was Wong. That’s it.

And finally evil!Stephen absorbs good!Stephen and releases... UNLIMITED POWER (I love when the stone goes red as if it was bleeding aaaaaaa)

I can fix him...

This scene here? Poetic cinema. (I love his wings so much)

And when Stephen says her name and the other monsters’ voices echo “Christine”, AAAAAACKKKK

AND OF COURSE CHRISTINE WOULD FREAK OUT, BRO. LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE BECOME BECAUSE OF YOUR TWISTED LOVE. I’M NOT DOING FINE.

Oh, but it’s too late anyways because Stephen broke reality haha. This scene is interesting because Stephen is the only one who sensed and/or talked to the Watcher until now. I read an interview that the Watcher kinda showed up but it’s also about Stephen’s keen senses. Bit of both, let’s say. Still, man, 616-Watcher is not that cold. 616-Watcher would watch this and say “how about I intervene anyway?”. WhatIf!Watcher is brutal.

The way Christine looks at Stephen one last time also KILLS ME, DESTROYS ME, BREAK ME INTO A MILLION PIECES.

And this is where my soul left my body.

This is how they end the episode. This is how you leave me speechless and with teary eyes. This is how you give me a whole existential crisis.

This... this was brutal to watch. Really.

What can I say after this? I’m used to reading painful things when it comes to Stephen. Aaron’s and Cates’ runs are heartbreaking on so many levels. Hickman’s New Avengers is not easier. Coincidentally, What If? Magik Became Sorcerer Supreme and The End. And now Death of Doctor Strange. And yet, after everything I’ve been through, I’d never expect to watch something so brilliant, so tragic, so heartbreaking and unexpected in the MCU. Never. This is top tier content and this is my favorite character with SO MANY LAYERS and SO MUCH UNDERSTANDING. I can’t put into words how meaningful this whole episode is to me, or how deep it touched my heart and soul.

I’ve been struggling to find the proper words since then, I still can’t. All I can add is, I cried for the 4th time now. This is too, too much, even for Stephen stans. Even for the ones who are used to pain, regardless of which media you’re into: comic books, live actions or animated movies. This is literally more than I can take and yet I’m so, so grateful. The voice acting, gods, how did Benedict manage to create a better Stephen than the one he’s literally playing in real life???????????? HOW

This episode really took the max potential Stephen had to offer as a character, added tons and tons of layers based on his grief, depression, arrogance and need to control everything and created a tragic masterpiece. In 7 years of being a Doctor Strange fan, I've never read or watch something that could go this deep into the character. The closest I can think of is Mr. Misery and the metaphor of Stephen's depression. This is a whole new level of respect and understanding. This is more than a love letter. This is peak maestry. It’s perfect, it’s heartbreaking, it’s... gods, I can’t.

Sorry for dragging you until this far. Before I wrap up this review, I just wanted to remind you all that Stephen will appear again, he will smile again, he will be surrounded by people again. So this is not the end. It was painful but be brave. We still have a few more steps to take.

#what if...?#doctor strange #stephen strange #what if doctor strange lost his heart instead of his hands?#wong #christine palmer #the ancient one #long post #review #he did nothing wrong #so what? he destroyed a whole universe #/j #benedict cumberbatch

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ticklygiggles · 3 years

Text

Obey Me! N$FW Headcanons!

Written with @otomiya-tickles

Oh goodness, sweet Ginny and I are way too invested on these boys! We've been talking about the Obey Me boys' virginity and masturbating likings, and we decided to post these bunch of naughty hc’s. We hope you enjoy them~

Diavolo

We think this sweet looking guy has fucked at least once (don’t let him fool you, he’s fucked more than that)

We also think it can be because he was feeling horny and wanted to satisfy his needs or because he wanted something in return

When it comes to masturbating - he’s a shameless one

He’d go to the bathroom before a meeting or in the middle of the day to jerk off!

Goes back fresh as a lettuce, uf

One of Diavolo's fantasies is having someone looking at him while he masturbates!

He also has very sensitive nipples, you can’t change our minds

We think that when it comes to sex, Diavolo wouldn’t enjoy it as much if he’s not doing it with someone he loves

He’d just do it for some regular sexual thrill, but nothing too exciting

All for the dick, lololololol

Lucifer

Oh goodness, we think he wouldn’t be that interested about sex, but he’s up to do it if he feels the need!

We dare to say that he’d try to please Diavolo if he’s asked to, just like in our tickle hc’s!

L: “Fine. *sigh* if you must… Can I refuse?” D: “Noooo!!!” L: “Alright,, but make it quick” D: “I will, I will!!!”

Something like that, lolololololol

But sometimes when he sees how happy the other person gets he might smile a little (which is just too charming), or when he makes the other person feel real good

He will have a satisfied smirk

We think he’d be the pickiest little shit out there when it comes to choose a sex partner

He just won’t have sex with anyone! It doesn’t matter if they’re the most beautiful being alive, if there’s something he doesn’t like, then he won’t have sex with them!

Unlike Simeon, he’s not that flirty and doesn’t tease much, but of course he’d be so hard to get!

Both in ship and non-ship case, we think he’ll help Diavolo fulfill his sexual needs, but other than that he seems a very hard one to lay a hand on!

We thiiink Diavolo would make him watch while he masturbates, huhu

And Diavolo would be like “Touch my nipples?” and of course, Lucifer can’t deny him

We also think that since the MC manages to win him over, he just has the sexual hots for them!

We think Lucifer wouldn’t be horny for celestial beings since he wants nothing to do with heavenly things!

He knows and acknowledges angels are attractive but somehow horny is just not in his book

Unless with the one he really likes then he can be a beast xD

Omg, Lucifer banned the word Sex in the House of Lamentation, hahaha!

He really doesn’t like his brothers talking about sex. He’s just not interested in their sexual lives!

The horny bunch got their own chat room to talk about their nasty sex xD

Be it Mammon or Asmo talking about it (they both do it a lot) or they making remarks about Levi jerking off to things (Levi is flustered)

Those kinds of talks are not appreciated by almighty Lucifer

Asmodeus

Of course you won’t expect the Avatar of Lust to be a virgin, right? Because he is not!

He’d have sex with anyone attractive and that wants to have sex with him!

He’s also on the top of the masturbation list

Kinky bastard

Oh goodness, we think Asmo and Mammon have horny competitions like “how many times can you cum in one night?” or “how many times can you make your partner cum in one night?”

Actually these competitions were one of the reason talking about sex is banned in the House of Lamentation

Lucifer was like “Enough, you nasty pigs!” With that offended expression (you should know which one): wide eyes, a little gasp, a hand against his chest, yes. He’s pissed

Beelzebub

We think Beel is too busy with his food to notice that he has sexual needs

… Unless he’s making out with his S/O, then he realizes how needy he is!

He also likes to use his mouth! Be it nibbling, sucking, biting, licking, just everything!

He will eat the other person and make teasy remarks that they taste good!

He’s not necessarily kinky, but anything that includes food is a bonus for him!

Like whipped cream on his partner’s body or flavour oils!

We think Beel would come up to his s/o with his happy smile holding up a new flavour oil like “I got this. Let’s use it tonight!”

We also think he’d be so good at kissing (and blowjobs) because he uses his tongue a lot!

He’s an expert with his mouth. Just him kissing and sucking a neck can make a person weak already!

Barbatos

He’s also fucked before, so no Royal Virgins

We think he’s so into blowjobs and handjobs (mostly receiving)

He hardly ever jerked himself off, he will let others do it, omg!

He’s also so kinky: humiliating his partner, spanking, bondage, he’s up to everything

He's pretty resilient tho, like he can do a lot without getting hard yet hahaha!

Simeon

We have no shame. Where’s the fun if our hot angel is not in these hc’s?

We think Simeon is the candy everyone would want but can’t get!

Honestly, this man doesn’t need to be naked to turn people on!

He’s sexy and hot and hard to get, so he might please others sometimes

He doesn’t get touched or fucked easily because he’s definitely “keeping himself” for the person he loves!

He’ll give someone a handjob, but then the other person wants to do something back to him and he’s like “Naaaah” *graciously leaves*

We think he wouldn’t use his mouth on someone else, though, so he’d be like “Hmm? I can give you a hand job”, while he does a very dirty move with his hand, ay

He’s also extremely skilled at it! Like??? How?!

He’s also a tease!

He’d say things like “oh goodness, you’re so wet. Does it feel that good~?”

And it’s so frustrating because he doesn’t get hard! Only for the person he loves, fufu

Leviathan

It’s a dirty Otaku, no kidding LOL

We think he fantasizes, watches (you know what) and jerks off a lot

However, when it comes down to it he's shy and awkward

Definitely knows how to touch himself, but having someone touching him and/or touching someone???

Levi. exe has stopped working

He’s super subby and likes being told what to do, but he’s also cute and clumsy!

We think Levi is into many nasty things lolololol

As a dirty otaku he's seen a lot of things including the kinky shit: bondage SM/ tentacle sex (lolllll) so not really vanilla x'D he's just shy to ask or suggest anything

But he does get super hard whenever someone is dominant over him

He's definitely curious about all things he's seen, but he's way way too shy!

We think he probably just sends screenshots of the things he'd like to do and his partner is like "you want that? We can do it~"

We also think that he's jerked off so much and he knows how to please himself so well that it's a bit hard for him to come!

Like he needs a lot of pleasure and build up and other turn ons (like the kinky shit), and lots of verbal teasing to get him over the edge

Levi just needs a lot of stimulation, even though he is a virgin!

We also think he apologizes so much during sex! He’d be apologizing through all his moans and cries sdnjdsg

Like he will apologize if he doesnt come and then when he does come all over the other person he will apologize too haha

He's kinda into edging/denial? Like it takes a lot of time to make him cum, so it'd frustrate him so much if they stop when he's finally so close!

And he loves it when the other punishes him, like he doesn't necessarily act like a brat or something to be punished but he gets it on him anyway and when he does,it’s such a turn on for him haha!

He'd probably like to be spanked, but nothing too intense because he's baby

Levi usually talks SO much, so we think his dom can often tease him with that! Like “where are your big talks now~?”

To which Levi makes very courageous remarks like "don't touch me, normie" between moans and broken voice and his partner just "*spank* how did you call me?”

We think the whole concept of sex just changes him into this cute shy boy who's only had much experience with porn and fantasies

So he goes from the HOOOOOH loud Levi to just cute mewls, moans and apologies hahaha

We also think that he’d get ticklish when touched for the first tiiime, he’s so nervous and jumpy! Imagine him letting out this moany surprised giggles asjnd

He's also so ripped! He'd get flustered if you comment about his muscles!

His partner could be like "look how good your body is even if you're just an otaku staying inside all day long" and Levi is like "so meeaaan!!" All teary but his cock’s jumping skdjnff

While we do think Levi takes long to cum, he DOEs get hard pretty fast hahahaha

like maybe even when he's not fully undressed yet the bulge will already be visible!

We love cute kinky submissive dirty otaku boy >:)

Solomon

He’s kinky, HAHA

A top tease! Like 24/7 smug and teasy and he will make the receiver beg and ask for it and play dumb like "What do you want? You'll have to be specific."

He’s also very hard to please!

Like even to get him hard it’s hard xD he's enjoying his time with his s/o, but he's skdkf not hard!!

He can endure a lot without getting horny but he just loves to watch a person get weak under his touch

We think even when he's on the receiving end, he gets all teasy and constantly challenges the other, like “is that all you got? 8-) You gotta try harder~”

We also think he can control himself a lot! Like he can hold his orgasms for quite a long time and be like "I’m not even close~"

He rarely jerks off because he's not that entertained by it, he just needs someone to tease and make crazy haha

We love the idea of almighty Solomon getting overpowered by an even higher top!

We don't think he will ever 'break completely' and beg or do anything uncool but he'll definitely have less of an attitude once taken good care of

He’d be like "o-okay that's... That's enough" and his partner all like "huh? We're just starting, Solomon, so keep yourself together" while he blushes a lot!

He sounds so hot when he moans and gasps! His voice is a hidden treasure!

And once he finally DOES reach his orgasm his entire body gets sooo sensitive!

He'd be a whiny mess if his partner brushes their fingertips or nails against his skin!

He'd squirm so much and maybe let out a whiny giggle????

Belphegor

Belphie can be both genuine and teasy at the same time like "Does it feel good?"

He often needs confirmation and he often says things like "I'm inexperienced" or "I'm not sure how to do this" but he tries his best anyway

And besides saying things like "I'm inexperienced, I'm not sure what to dooo" he might say things like "Beel probably knows what to do." and he adorably tends to mention beel and the receiver will have to be like x3 omg no belphie you're doing fine

He'd be a little lazy to please his partner xD like he tries his best, but after he's like "I'm tired" and he wants to be taken care of!

He tends to get overwhelmed pretty fast by pleasure so he might ask the other to stop even when his body doesn't want it to stop but he's just like PSPHHgailugigh

He probably comes too fast the first times he has sex with his partner! He maybe just cums when they play with his nipples because he’s that sensitive!

He is so sensitive and his moans are so cute and whiny

We think he might be sore the next day xD he will complain a lot about being sore and tired haha

His body also gets tired fast during any intercourse, even though he does feel good and enjoys it, he will whine and whimper about it haha

He’d like to find little hickeys on his neck, chest or thighs the next day too!

He’s also very sensitive to neck kisses, probably enough to already stimulate him sexually since he’s so sensitive!

His little moans would be the cutest! And if he gets to make the other party feel good, he will show his precious smile!

Satan

We think Satan wouldn't be too interested in sex, (he spends his time trying to be better than Lucifer skdndnd)

BUT we also think that he reads erotic books every once in a while and like those book don't necessarily turn him on per say, but make him feel blushy and a bit giddy about having someone to enjoy sexy times with!

He'd be quite knowledgeable and a bit shy like “I read that this feels good, may I?” He is not like super horny but he likes to experiment a bit and is just so sweet 😍👏🏻

He's got skills to make his partner feel good, but he'd be so, so blushy and would feel flustered if his partner compliments him about how good he is!

ALSO! Someone should not mention Lucifer in any competitive matter because that might activate his hidden beast

When he's receiving, he tries to hold himself back so much! Like his moans and any noises!

He just wants to hide how sensitive he really is!

His s/o would be a little pouty like "are you not liking it?" and he just adorably nods but he keeps controlling himself as much as possible hehe

And sometimes a cute little moan escapes and he blushes so much omg

Also he has super sensitive nipples, if he gets touched there he'd be arching his back so much and would cover his mouth with one of his hands to hold back his sounds and would grip the sheets with his free hand!! He'd be all beggy like "please don't touch me there~" while his hips circle and thrust because it feels so good!

We think bondage will work really good on him since he tends to squirm a lot and cover up. He’s so helpless if he can’t!

He'd be pulling at his restrains and biting his lip so hard and begging for his s/o to let him go (even though he can escape on his own), and they're just teasing him

He’d also get extra sensitive if he’s being edged, like everytime they deny him his release, he'd just feel more and more sensitive and eventually won't be able to stop his sounds!

Satan begs a lot and he whines adorably but he’ll never say a safe word or give up

Satan being like this makes us want to wreck him!

We think he'd get a bit turned on if his s/o brush their fingers against his sides and he’d be so shy if he lets out a little giggle here and there!

"don't- don't tihihickle me right nohohow!" And his cock is shaking dkdnf

He’s also the type to get ticklish and super sensitive everywhere especially after an orgasm

And his giggles and moans are so cuuute and he sounds tired and whiny and he shakes his head adorably omg

His cheeks super red babyyyyyy

Mammon (tumblr didn't let me upload a pic, wtf?)

He’s a beast! Will have no mercy, so brace yourself!

To be fair, he’s really good in sex, so he loves praises! Compliments stimulate him. He needs to hear how good he is!

What can you expect from the Avatar of Greed, right?

He’s the typical guy to run after his dick, lololol! He’s all about money and sex!

We think he gets horny and hard in the most uncomfortable moments. He gets so many boners a day wtf

Even his brothers just stare awkwardly at his crotch… “wait… are you hard? o_O”

We also think he loves receiving blowjobs and he loooves to hold his partner by their hair!

He’s a passionate mouth fucker

He probably feels a bit vulnerable when people touch him elsewhere like, he just wants the attention for his dick!

And he might be sensitive somewhere else but he doens't quite like to be touched unless it's his love haha

He's really picky! Like if he's with someone else, then it's just dick attention, but if it's the person he loves, then they'd let him touch him everywhere!

He's a bit less casual about it than Diavolo, but he does jerk off from time to time and people will be able to tell from the look on his face haha

And he doesn't like to be confronted and teased with it, while Diavolo won’t give a shit

However, Asmo would tease him so much just because he knows Mammon hates that!

He’d be like "woah! Did you have a good one, Mammon~?" or “what did you think of mammoonnn?<3”

Also Asmo and maybe even the others might make some remarks like "Ugh, Mammon would jerk off to this"

Probably besides Asmo he might have some arguments with Levi from time to time, like Mammon's a nasty perv normie and Levi the dirty otaku

Levi would probably agree whenever someone's like “ugh Mammon would jerk off to this” or any other remark like “oh, he probably just gonna suck on his own dick!

And mammon will fire back at Levi for being a dirty otaku

We also think that Mammon has walked into Levi's room when he was watching anime porn hahaha

Mammon thinks his own porn is superior and Levi is like "that normie stuff is gross, this is way better" so Mammon ends up watching hentai with Levi xD

Also if people ever need condoms he probably has a good stash. He's really picky, so of course he'd have his stash of condoms! We're not risking anything here hahaha

It’s hard to Dom him, like he’s not super Dom, but he likes to be the possessive one!

He also might have a lot of kink stuff stored but in the end he just doesn't end up using it?

He would like to be kinky but in the end he just has normal sex

He’s also easy to distract! Like he's super horny and has the handcuffs or something else kinky ready, but the other person just can give him a blow job and let him fuck them and then it's done and he's like ohh oh well

He'd also be a bit turned off easily, like, he's still hard and all, but at then he ends up having sex just because, but he's bored, but if he's turned ON he can stay turned on for quite a while haha hes a beast!

Like fuck after fuck even after he comes! He likes it raw and he loves to hear his partner whining so much about how they just came too

He also likes to hear his partner saying just how tired they are and he'd give them this wide, lethal smirk and be like "we're just starting, so put yourself together"

And he's sweating a bit and his cheeks are a bit flushed and his skin just glooowwsss because he's feeling so good!

We also think Mammon is not too loud when having sex, he’s just not a moaner, but he will grunt and huff and occasionally you'll hear this kind of growl that just proves how good it makes him feel

#Obey me #Obey Me!#Obey Me shall we date #Lucifer #Mammon #Leviathan #Satan #Asmodeus #Beelzebub #Belphegor #Simeon #Solomon #Diavolo #n$fw #headcanons #mia's headcanons #Collaborations #Sweet GinnyGinny♥

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kuiinncedes · 3 years

Text

show me the places where the others gave you scars

shadowhunter!klaine oneshot

author’s note i guess lmao: so i saw a prompt list that had something like “i’d hurt anyone who’s given you a scar” and i ran with some shadowhunters!klaine 😋 idk if i need to explain the shadowhunter things... i think i’ll leave it out for now tho so if anyone has any questions about it please feel free to ask :)

might need warnings for minor descriptions/discussion of violence and injury? nothing too graphic, nothing that you wouldn’t see in a young adult novel (which is what the shadowhunter chronicles is so yeah) -- it’s slightly angsty i guess, i was going for hurt/comfort, did i achieve it who knows

i’m scared of ao3 so i’m just posting here lol 😗✌️ and it’s completely under the cut because idk where else to put the cut 😂 (sooo pls click keep reading if u want :3)

***

“Blaine, I’m okay, by the Angel,” Kurt huffs as Blaine pulls him into the infirmary and calls out a quick response to someone asking where they’re going.

“You’re not, really, but humor me.”

Kurt kisses his cheek. “Fine.” Blaine smiles at him from the side as he takes out some supplies. Kurt smiles back and swings his feet from where he’s sat on the infirmary cot, humming lightly and smiling wider when he sees Blaine holding back a giggle.

“Okay, let me see,” Blaine says, stepping up to the injured arm’s side. He gently holds Kurt’s arm and starts cleaning the wound near his shoulder.

The work is interrupted when Blaine’s hands slow and stop as they near Kurt’s elbow. Blaine inhales and Kurt’s eyes snap to that spot, seeing immediately what Blaine’s attention has been caught by. His heart starts beating a little faster, more out of instinct than actual tension or fear, which he knows is unnecessary right now. He takes a breath and looks up at Blaine expectantly.

“You haven’t seen this one before?” Kurt asks softly. It’s probably one of his most prominent scars -- definitely the one he’s most insecure about, so honestly, it’s not that big of a shock that he’s managed to hide it for so long, even from Blaine. But he’s still a little surprised.

“No,” Blaine murmurs, his golden eyes warm, close, safe. “Can I… how’d you get it?”

Kurt shrugs. “A training accident my first year at the Shadowhunter Academy.” He pauses, then continues with a grumble, “Although, if you ask me, maybe not that much of an accident.” Also if you asked anyone else in the room -- other than the person who was the cause of the incident, or the incompetent weapons training master who would rather fight and be destroyed by a Greater Demon than run a single effective, useful class, and especially rather than treating his only half-faerie student with any kind of respect. (Kurt had had to teach himself most of the weapons, finding ways to sneak into the training room after class or in the middle of the night, fighting twice as hard as anyone else for his proficiency in fighting skills as well as for acceptance among his classmates. He had done pretty well, if he could say so himself, especially for the former. And if the midnight training might have given him the opportunity to set fire to some of Scarsbury’s things… that was an added bonus.)

Blaine gently runs his fingers over the imperfect skin, sending shivers down Kurt’s body. “I want to hurt anyone who’s ever left a scar on you,” Blaine whispers vehemently, and it makes Kurt think, anyone who believes that Blaine Anderson, one of the best Shadowhunters Kurt knows, is only gentle and soft -- Kurt’s even heard weak, hissed in a demeaning, cruel tone, and that one almost sent him running with seraph blades blazing for the speaker -- is in for a surprise if they ever face him.

“Well, it might be hard to track down all those demons, but I appreciate the thought.” He smiles as Blaine rolls his eyes at him.

“I’d do it,” Blaine says. Blaine’s eyes hold steady contact, and the insistence almost brings tears to Kurt’s eyes. He swallows the feeling down.

“As if you could,” he teases.

Blaine scoffs. “Is that a challenge?” He goes back to washing off the dirt and demon ichor on Kurt’s upper arm. “I’ll have you know, I am Blaine Anderson, most promising Shadowhunter of a generation, blah blah blah blah…”

Kurt just grins and shakes his head. “You are, though,” he says quietly, and kisses Blaine when he leans closer to reach the clean bandages behind him.

Blaine sighs, shrugging, but he smiles a little as he pulls back despite the resentment in his eyes.

Kurt knows how much Blaine hates the reputation, the whispers, the jealousy, the attention, but most, if not all of it is well-deserved -- it doesn’t take much time spent with Blaine to see that. And fighting against it will be for another time; right now, it’s acceptance (and some teasing).

And it’s Blaine’s gentle, calloused fingers brushing against his skin, quickly and perfectly wrapping Kurt’s arm again, so careful not to hurt him and Kurt’s heart aches with how much he loves him, having had so much thrown on him from a young age but still the most compassionate soul Kurt’s ever met. Gentle -- but in a different way than what others see and make fun of.

Not to mention an incredible Shadowhunter… in many different ways.

“I think you should be able to use an iratze soon,” Blaine muses as he works. “You look a lot better.”

“Oh, so I looked bad before?” Kurt knocks Blaine’s shoulder gently with his.

“Next time don’t take a poisonous demon tentacle to the arm, okay? It wasn’t pretty.” Blaine grimaces a little.

“I’d do it again.” Kurt’s voice is hushed, bare and honest as their eyes meet.

Blaine swallows, looking down and then leaning his forehead against Kurt’s lightly. “I don’t want you to,” he whispers.

Kurt cups his cheek. “I know, honey.”

The demon tentacle had lashed out for Blaine, who had been distracted by a different demon, and Kurt managed to cut it in time, just not before it hit his own arm. It wasn’t fun to deal with it for the rest of the patrol, while relatively short. And it definitely wasn’t fun to know that Blaine was worrying about him, or to almost pass out before Mike could warlock-magic away the poison from the injury, or to have Blaine see that.

For you, a thousand times over, Kurt thinks, watching as Blaine finishes with his arm.

“Okay, your turn,” Kurt says, trying to lighten the mood. He hops up from the small bed and moves to the side.

“Don’t worry about me, I wasn’t hurt that badly -- ”

“You still need an iratze, honey, sit down.” Blaine laughs softly and obeys, watches as Kurt carefully draws the rune on his upper arm and the cuts on his cheek and collarbone disappear. Leaning in, Kurt gently brushes his lips over both spots, now with barely even a scar. “There,” he murmurs, “all better.”

Blaine looks up at him, the light in his smile blinding but Kurt doesn’t mind. “I love you,” he whispers.

“Love you, too. So much.” Blaine squeezes his hand, kisses him again, deeply, sweetly.

Kurt starts to deepen the kiss, pulling Blaine up and closing the space between them, but they are startled apart from each other when someone bangs on the infirmary doors.

Rachel’s voice rings out from the other side. “I don’t know what you guys are doing in here and it’s been a while of you ‘cleaning up,’ so I’m not coming in, just telling you we’re doing game night in 5 minutes! Don’t be late!” Her footsteps echo away loudly.

Kurt laughs softly. “Ready?” he asks, extending a hand to Blaine. They lightly swing their hands between them on the way out.

***

other notes for after :P

“for you, a thousand times over” is a line from the kite runner by khaled hosseini!!! i used it because it makes me lose my shit every time i think about it <3

mike’s a warlock for fun reasons 🤪

title from “willow” by taylor swift :)))

again please let me know if you want/need to know anything about the shadowhunter part of this!! idk how understandable it might be to everyone else because i’m absolutely obsessed with the books and just kinda wrote this very (VERY) self-indulgently hehe

thank u for reading 💕💕

#glee #klaine #klaine fic #glee fic #this was.... S O self indulgent XD #it started as an idea for my gleewatch gift exchange thing which is the reason for a couple super minor things #including the fact that rachel is in it at all lol but i just decided not to change that :P #and i decided not to make this my present thing bc it's literally the most self-indulgent specific thing ever lol #so yeah anyway #i think that's it lol #i feel fine about posting this rn honestly maybe because the target audience is me #so i'll be fine if people dont like it lol but yeah shut up #my ficsssss #shoutout to jas for daring me and sim for hyping me up to post this lol love u guys :))

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radramblog · 3 years

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Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Commanders

Due to circumstances I won’t get into at time of writing (don’t worry it’s mostly good) I’ve been forced, dragged over, and required to actually fucking read all the new Commanders from Magic’s newest set, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. I’ve only recently gotten deeper into D&D, I don’t know who like any of these clowns are (except Tiamat, obviously).

Also due to circmstances beyond my control (that are less good but understandable) my Commander night has been called off and I don’t get to play with my shiny new Cabal Coffers. It’s a bit sad, and it means I want to get my fix elsewhere.

What better way than to combine these two and just write about every AFR ‘mander? That’ll pass the time. There’s like, what, 30? I can manage that if I’m quick. Let’s get into it.

(No I’m not doing the precon cards I haven’t been staring at those all week)

Acererak the Archlich

The way I see this guy going is one of two things. You either do infinite Venture by making him free (not too hard in Black, what with Heartless Summoning, Carnival of Souls, etc.) and have a probably fine combo commander. For the record, infinite Venture does kill your opponents flat-out, BUT only because of Lost Mine of Phandelver’s Dark Pool room, and only if their life totals are lower than your deck count because you’re going to be drawing it in the process. That shouldn’t be an issue, but you never know.

The other option is just playing him fairly, which requires completing Tomb of Annihilation, and you just have a kinda mid Stax commander I guess? Eh.

Asmodeus the Archfiend

This Devil is clearly trying to echo prior Demons like Griselbrand and Vilis, but I’m not sure it’s going to be successful- if only because the mana investment means it’s a lot slower. And if he gets killed when you don’t have B up? Blown the fuck out. Add in no evasion and this is a God I’m happy to pass on.

Barrowin of Clan Undurr

Okay so this is kind of like Alesha, in less colours and more mana, if you manage to complete a dungeon. And there aren’t that many dungeon cards, so you’re probably playing some bad ones to make up for it. This is definitely a 99’er in that Esper Dungeon precon, and certainly not a commander.

Bruenor Battlehammer

In an attempt to solve one of Boros’s problems, Bruenor saves you a bunch of mana on equips and makes shit like Argentum Armor substantially more playable. He also gets kinda fuckin beefy with even just a few on him, hitting that 7 no matter what the first one is and 11 not long after. As far as Boros Boys go, you can do a lot worse!

Delina, Wild Mage

Didn’t we just get this card? Like, in C21? This is harder to make busted than Rionya, but it is cheaper and works with legends, so fair call. There’s not enough “advantage” dice mechanics in Red, certainly, so you can’t go probability-mad with this, but it’s pretty decent value. It also happens to be a Shaman, so it works with that new MH2 card, and that’s fun.

Drizzt Do’Urden

This guy has a lot of potential, and for added bonus, he has a cat! A lot of the cards that are good in this are the ones that are good in, say, Varolz, but honestly if you just want to play Selesnya Beatsticks then Drizzt might be the way to go. Can’t play him in Cats, though, unless you want to lose Kaheera, so.

Ebondeath, Dracolich

Yeah I don’t think this one was for this format? I mean it’s super recursive, and probably a really good candidate for a Homicidal Seclusion/Deadly Wanderings deck. I think we need one or two more of that effect to make it actually playable, but I still like the idea.

Wait why isn’t this fucker a skeleton? WoTC Pls.

Farideh, Devil’s Chosen

Look, I tried. I really tried, but there really just isn’t enough to make Farideh work yet. At least in black-border, as I think she’s probably one of the best silver-bordered commanders printed in a minute. A shame, because I sure do enjoy Tieflings, and the effect is legitimately solid if you can trigger it consistently.

Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar

While I imagine it’s a perfectly solid commander in their own right, basically Mono-Blue Edric but not group-huggy, where this is going to really shine is in Ninja decks. Holy shit, this is so nutty for those. Honestly, ETB decks in general are going to like them, because the choice of either taking damage and letting them draw or letting them reuse a powerful ETB is pretty tough. I like everything about this, except the art, because I’m not into tentacles no thank you.

Gretchen Titchwillow

When Strixhaven came out, I thought Zimone was going to be the most boring Simic commander we’d ever see. But here comes Gretchen to outdo them.

Look, Simic can do good designs. Even at uncommon- Imoti, Moritte, and Eutropia are all super interesting in my opinion. But Simic being just draw and lands has become a meme, and I’m sick of it. Extremely so, for three main reasons- one, it’s boring, two, it’s been all over the place since WoTC decided +1/+1 counters being their only theme was bad (and, fair,) and three, it’s good.

Gretchen is the most boring card in the entire set, in my opinion, and I sure hope she isn’t a cool character in the lore because that’d be such a waste.

Hama Pashar, Ruin Seeker

There are 21 venture cards in Azorius, and some of them are even good. Most of the Room effects are pretty minor, however, save for some of the endgame ones (and copying Cradle of the Death God is pointless, Atropal is legendary), so copying them isn’t actually a huge amount of value. I’d still play this in Esper Venture, but I don’t think I’d build around it.

Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant

While this clearly isn’t built for this format, equipping this dragon with it’s own tongue is kind of a hilarious idea. You could do worse for Voltron decks, I guess, and in the 99 it’s both a thing to slap equipment on and an equipment itself- like a flying (and weaker) Halvar. Eh? I just wish the token wasn’t legendary- like yeah Flavour but this effect gets a lot worse when you can’t recur it. It’s rare that someone goes out of their way to kill an equipment that isn’t super busted, so Frost Tongue is probably hanging around for a while anyway.

Man, it feels awful if they bolt this one, huh?

Inferno of the Star Mounts

Okay this is fucking cool. It’s a Shivan Dragon with haste, and that ability is probably pretty feasible to activate- keep in mind Braid of Fire and Neheb and the like are in the format- and combined with a swing will just kill someone. In fact, when I saw this, my brain immediately started looking for ways to shrink it, just so you can get multiple 20-damage wallops in a turn.

…there aren’t very many. But still! Even if you can’t get to 20 multiple times in a turn, getting to 21 once or twice is pretty good!

Iymrith, Desert Doom

The fourth of our dragon cycle, because hey, it is Dungeons and Dragons. Iymrith reads basically identical to Dragonlord Ojutai, but without White- and for that kinda control deck, White is pretty nice to have. Iymrith can draw you more cards than Ojutai, but only if you’re low, in a blue deck, in Commander, so. With that said, a deck that just loads this with cheap auras/equipment might actually be pretty good, since they can load you back up on cards and keep the Voltron flowing, so, maybe? I’d honestly consider it if I didn’t already have Mono-blue Voltron as a deck.

Kalain, Reclusive Painter

Okay this is super interesting. He is, unfortunately kinda fighting with the RB precon face, Prosper, for the new RB treasure deck, but for an uncommon there’s a fair bit going on here.

Actually, wait, is there? I thought about this for another couple seconds, and I don’t think this card actually does that much. It’s one treasure, and it benefits you a little bit for doing something you frankly don’t really want to be burning treasures on? Like it probably plays a mean Marionette Master, but everyone does that.

There really aren’t any other RB Artifact commanders, though, aside from Prosper or a partner deck. So ehhhh? Why are more people playing this than, like, Bruenor?

Krydle of Baldur’s Gate

That’s a lot of words that don’t actually do a whole lot. I like the second ability, but Commander and especially Dimir aren’t hurting for evasion options. This is probably pretty good in Rogues, but that deck has a de facto best commander now, so. If this came out like, five years ago, it’d be kinda hype, but not anymore.

As an aside, I do kinda hate it when they just print a Tribal commander (or anything like this) that’s just miles and miles better than every other commander for that archetype, like with Anowon 2 or Edgar Markov or Anje Falkenrath. Wait….those are all vampires…….

Minsc, Beloved Ranger

Shivam Bhatt did a fucking excellent breakdown of this character’s lore on twitter, which I recommend reading- the history of D&D’s lore is fucking wild. As it is, this seems like a pretty fun Naya commander- there’s plenty of creatures that get way better if you make them large, even if targeting Boo seems kinda pointless.

Also, I need someone to explain to me why the “Top Cards” on EDHREC for this guy right now are, like, all combo cards.

WAIT NO FIGURED IT OUT, unlike Marath he doesn’t say X can’t be 0 so you can use him as a sac outlet, for fucks sake people.

Nadaar, Selfless Paladin

Hey remember all the things I said about the WB and WU dungeon cards? I mean, at least this guy could theoretically complete the dungeon on his own, but Mono-White is even more restrictive for what you could get, so. At least he draws a card every so often. And that anthem isn’t even remotely worth it, at all.

Old Gnawbone

Green eating up more of the colour pie, I see. Now to be fair, I’ve pondered Mono-Green artifacts for a while, and this is probably a better leader for that list than Oviya Pashiri (but…I like her….), but beyond that I’m not sure what you’re doing with this. I guess people playing Sakiko because they think she’s actually good and not because they like her have a new commander.

This is fuckbusted in the 99 of like a million decks though. So there’s that.

Orcus, Prince of Undeath

That…is so much mana. In a colour combo not especially great at garnering lots of it. The second ability scales fairly well, and it is a decent body on its own, but I don’t think this is going to be a particularly popular commander. Like, you have to pump 6 mana into this just to get a 2-drop back or to Infest the board? And that’s just the first time you cast it? Nahhhhh.

Oswald Fiddlebender

Artifact Pod? Yeah, okay, sure, that seems reasonable at two mana. Keeping this mono-white was a good idea, I can’t imagine how insane this’d be in blue. I’m no artifacts expert, I’m no pod expert, but this has to be busted, right? Like surely there’s an easy way to infinite this? Someone with more brains figure it out for me, but either way it’s still a bunch of value and also a tutor in the zone.

(convert two random 2-mana rocks or wellsprings into Basalt Monolith/Rings of Brighthearth, okay that’s a good start)

Shessra, Death’s Whisper

…ehhhhhhh. Okay, so, it’s a significantly worse Deathreap ritual in the command zone, and also a terrible Lure effect. Along with the flavour words on this taking up much more space than necessary, making the effects look much bigger and better than they are. Would it have hurt to give this deathtouch? Make it trigger on every end step? Lure more than once? I dunno, this just seems painfully weak to me. We’ve had an overabundance of Golgari commanders recently, to be fair- MH2 had 3, and before that was the enemy focused Strixhaven/C21, but that’s no excuse for this to be such trash- just look at Bruenor.

Targ Nar, Demon-Fang Gnoll

I hope you like Gnolls, because that’s gotta be the only reason you’re playing this. Hello Tuya Bearclaw/Syr Faren/im sure a bunch of other boring commanders, this is another one of you. This looks so bad next to the Gruul precon (which is apparently somehow the first Gruul precon) and, well, every other RG general from the past couple years (save, again, Tuya Bearclaw). Even the fuckin Walking Dead guy is cooler than this.

The Tarrasque

Disappointment part one over here is at time of writing the only commander from this set with a fat zero decks. Considering there were like 10 commanders at that number when I last checked, people are clearly trying out the set, so The Tarrasque being abandoned is particularly sad. It just…doesn’t do anything? It’s the fucking Tarrasque, and it doesn’t have trample, or a fear ability, or anything? Ward 10 is cute, basically being hexproof unless they have infinite mana (or an uncounterable spell), but really? I want more than this idiot for my 9 fucking mana commander. Ugh.

Tiamat

I believe I’ve talked about Tiamat before, when she got spoiled, but I can’t be arsed finding that and dredging it up. I’m still disappointed, basically, especially since I’ve now read her statblock and know what she actually does. They could’ve given her a cool ability per head like Cromat, or had her recur like she does in the lore, or something. I genuinely would have preferred if she was an Emrakul-style massive game-ender (with a no-reanimation no bullshit clause) than this. How utterly meh.

Trelasarra, Moon Dancer

This is literally just Ajani’s Pridemate but Selesnya and in the zone. Also you scry. Sure? It does also have two relevant creature types I guess, and they’d probably be good in a Soul Sisters deck. But it’s not like Selesnya was hurting for Lifegain commanders- this is basically just Lathiel but much leaner and voltron-ier.

Varis, Silverymoon Ranger

Wait you can’t even play this in Esper Venture, fuck. With Flash effects, you can start clearing dungeons well quick enough, but like, for what, a Wolf? And these defensive keywords aren’t getting you anywhere either. Blegh.

Side note- I’m a big fan of tokens, and collecting various token arts, and I was extremely disappointed when I found out that the Wolf token from this set is just…the Zendikar one again? They didn’t reuse the 3/3 Angel or the Goblin or even the Zombie, why just that one? Something must have happened behind the scenes here.

Also….Silverymoon? That sounds like shit.

Volo, Guide to Monsters

Hey, I know you, you’re from that one book. As much as Anti-Tribal sounds fun, I’m pretty sure this just turns into generic Simic value. Copying things is fun, I suppose, though not working with Legends hurts. I also appreciate that this supports playing a bunch of weirdo cards or ones that have fallen out of favor because they have more unique creature types- Anphin Mutineer, Acidic Slime, and Diluvian Primordial all seem like a lot of power here.

That said, is anyone ever letting this fucker stick around for a turn?

Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

Hey, I know you, you’re from that one book. This card is completely awful to play in webcam-commander, so it’s a good thing we’re all getting vaccinated, right?

So this is UB Gonti, I guess? And also unironically not the worst combo commander, since it stops people from playing spells on your turn in a very White-like effect. Add in some Lantern-style effects and you can get a real stew going with this guy. He looks like a lot of fun- and I’m sure he’ll end up popular as a result. Well, that and being on the cover of an expansion book gets you a lot of notoriety.

Zalto, Fire Giant Duke

Our final card, our final Venture card, and the only red one. So, uh, there are literally 4 other Venture cards in mono-red, and at least one of them is complete dogshit, so I can’t imagine this being very good. Also, it’s an Enrage trigger on a 3 toughness 5-drop? Far from ideal. I guess it’s a 7 power trampler for 5, but that’s kind of faint praise to damn with. Maybe if someone makes 5C Venture, or if Giant/Barbarian tribal feel lacking, then this guy can find a home.

Shoutout to the exactly one person who built this deck, by the way. I see you, Elder Demon Highlander, and your 100ish views on your deck tech.

And that’s the lot of them. Honestly, a lot more misses than hits, but that’s perfectly okay by me. 30 legends in a set is a lot, not to mention the 12 from the precons, and we’ve had so many actively playable legends recently that I’m fine with, like, half of these being trash. Trash is more fun anyway! Get yourself a fuckin Varis, why not.

Okay but seriously though who’s biting the bullet and building Tarrasque first? It’s not going to be me.

#ramble #mtg #commander #edh #mtgafr #adventures in the forgotten realms

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thetradeway · 3 years

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Session 48 14 Aug 2021: "Dhidth hwe huin?"

I’m late today. Ginger balls. Never admit you were wrong, and never apologise! Has anyone heard from Mina? She may or may not join us. Billy Corgan on a rollercoaster!

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Matthew, wondering: “Does Billy Corgan have alopecia, or is that a choice?”

Duncan: “I don’t know, I’m not his mum.”

Matthew opens a 4% by volume Potion of Healing, and we get started. Everyone makes saving throws except Tarragon for their hangovers after the Midsummer festivities. Ahleqs is delicate but not too rough; he has however just discovered that he is no longer immune to alcohol. (He isn’t quite puking up pixies, so he’ll take it.) Gideon is bright as a button, as is Kessler, and Melaina. Ardvack complained that the sherry wasn’t up to snuff, so he didn’t drink much.

Gutpunch is snoring and emitting smells when the boys wake in their room. Tarragon returns as the sun rises. She returns to her chambers to find everyone else asleep; she joins them, and Mina joins us. The gnome bunked in with us is not emitting smells. There’s a bang on our door - it’s one of the Avowed, a runner.

“Your presence is requested in one of the Necessariums.” He’ll return for us in a few minutes.

Same thing happens for the boys; Ahleqs tries to wake Gutpunch, with no success. Ahleqs, blearily: “Necessari- what? What is this Hogwarts bullshit?”

Is Darkspire in with them? Yes. The Avowed asks if he behaved; yes, Ahleqs thinks so. Charity overhears this conversation, and butts in. He opens the door wide and tells Ahleqs to go back to bed; he does so. Charity peers at the Avowed’s face, the one who showed us to our rooms.

“Yes? What? Yes? I’m here. Everything’s fine, nothing occurred.” Assured that no crimes have been committed, the Avowed retreats.

Ahleqs asks Charity why there would be ‘incidents’. He says he has no idea.

We use our ten minutes to head to the Hearth for breakfast. Ahleqs has water. And a small pot of coffee. and one egg, and one bit of toast with some salt. “Is there any tabasco?”

Ardvack explains about the Necessariums. They are tall towers with lots of books; we can’t access them ourselves but the Avowed will get us anything we want. Kessler wants some books about tinkering and artificing.

The vegetarian menu is vast, and very good.

The runner returns as we are stuffing more food in our pockets to take with us.

Ahleqs is delighted to see Mr Pickles in the Necessarium; he’s talking to a green dragonborn. Ahleqs doesn’t want to interrupt so he hops from foot to foot until the Al Miraj spots him. He is bidden to go over so Mr Pickles can take a look at him.

Mr Pickles says Ahleqs looks a little green around the gills; did he not hear about the revels last night, Ahleqs asks? Mr. Pickles was in the library having discussions. Should he order some tea? Yes, Ahleqs will have a small bucket of tea. Mr Pickles summons an Avowed.

Mr Pickles says there are wards on this place to cut noise and prevent eavesdropping from outside; he has some news for us if we will gather around.

An Avowed brings Kessler the books she asked for. (Carl wants some books too; The Very Hungry Caterpillar, A Tiger Came to Tea, The Borrowers, that sort of thing.)

MP introduces us to Bookwyrm, the First Reader of Candlekeep - the dragonborn he was talking to. He is in charge of maintaining the collection and acquiring newbooks. We want access to books about the Shadow Weave?

The knowledge in there is dangerous, those books have been locked away. They don’t usually let people access them, but since Mr. Pickles is involved, he might be able to help - if we can do something for him in return.

Ardvack has a question; is this endeavour going to cut into our ten-day? No, since we will be out of the Candlekeep to do it. Bookwyrm can’t give us details until we agree to help, but Mr. Pickles believes it’s well within the limits of our skills to accomplish what he needs.

Tarragon agrees immediately, but mostly because Ardvack looks dubious. Ahleqs, assured by Mr. Pickles’s confidence that we can do whatever it is we’re being asked, also agrees.

Some time ago, Bookwyrm tells us, the keep was visited by a drow scholar who told them the location of a book the Keep have been seeking. Are we familiar with the caves below the Keep? No, but we’ve seen a picture.

They are beneath the catacombs, in the bedrock. They lead all the way to the Underdark. The book was supposed to be there. Someone went in search of it; a more than capable wizard, Olius Visk, but they were expecting him back a full ten-day ago and he has not been heard from. He is a young man, it is very out of character for him to miss the Midsummer Festival.

What was the title of the book he was after? Bookwyrm doesn’t know. When the wizard applied to go after it, he didn’t mention which one it was.

Where is the drow? He left, as you can only spend a tenday here. He did not book in another visit.

We just need to rescue the wizard, not necessarily complete his mission, Bookwyrm says. If we do locate the book then we could bring that too. It’s not the Underdark proper, it’s not that far down - it and the wizard will be in the Upper Dark.

The First Reader gives us a book about the Underdark. Tarragon gets excited about the fungus that could be down there, and the potions she could make with them.

Will we need any further resources? Healing potions, at the very least.

When we are ready we’ll be teleported to the caves. We can get past the myconids that way, the ones that moved in and live off the mushrooms they grow on the refuse from the keep; they keep the drow and duergar away.

He gives us an orb to follow; Ardvack suggests giving Gideon the ring the activate the thing. While following Olius’ tracks, it will glow brightly to show us we are going the right way. Gideon blusters about the ring; “A fine piece of brass work! That will fit on my finger nicely.”

How many potions will we need? Tarragon, immediately: “All of them.”

They can spare a GHP and two RHPs - each. Oooo! They will give us twenty days’ of rations as well.

Can Carl come? We need Carl, probably more than Ardvack. Ardvack consults his book of manners, then laughs; “Ahahah, very droll.”

We decide to leave Popcorn in the stables while we go; he doesn’t like dark and scary places.

Tarragon is excited to be going into danger again; Ahleqs less so.

Ardvack, resignedly: “To almost certain death?”

Tarragon, far too excited: “To almost certain death!”

Ahleqs does a very shaky sigh.

A runner approaches with our Healing Potions, and we spend ten minutes farting about with our inventories.

Ardvack, bored, pulls a book from his pocket and begins to read; Ahleqs wants to know what it is.

Matthew, OOC: “What languages do you speak?”

Duncan: “Common, Elvish, Infernal and Light Crossbow.”

Are we all ready? Various themes on ‘yeah’, some more excited than others. Ahleqs casts Mage Armour.

Carl is brought from the Hearth (holding a book called ‘Ye Olde Very Hungry Caterpillar’), and we are teleported.

It takes a moment for our eyes to adjust when we arrive in the dark, wet caves. We head deeper underground, and of course someone (Mina) starts singing Jamiroquai. Well, someone had to.

Tarragon looks out for mushrooms for use in her recipes. There are lots, of various sizes. Some have bits that look like they’ve been cut off; as if someone has been eating or harvesting them.

Tarragon takes a bit of mushroom and eats it; it’s tasty. Ahleqs will watch her for about 45 minutes before he eats any himself. Ardvack stands as far as physically possible from all of the fungus.

Joe waits for his computer before telling us what has befallen Ardvack, who has gone ahead; Tarragon starts cackling. (She doesn't do subtly devastating insults, she does this.)

Matthew rolls a d4; he gets a 3. Does 16 hit him? “I think the 8 might do it.” The 16 does hit as he backs away from one mushroom into a violet fungus, for 8 Necrotic damage.

We roll initiative!

Melaina kills the fungus, but we don’t feel as though we’re alone. Tarragon holds a Thorn Whip in case she sees something within 30 feet of her that she doesn’t like, and warns Ardvack that this includes him.

We hear something shuffling towards us. Ahleqs is trying to hide when it attacks him twice for ten necrotic damage, and Tarragon gets it with her Thorn Whip. Ahleqs does Burning Hands at it.

Joe, laughing: “Really? You’re going to make a mushroom do a Dex save??”

He misses the one he was aiming at but hits the one he didn’t know was there, so… a win?

More turn up; Gideon does an Acid Splash, complete with quavery wizard voice as he announces it.

Ahleqs and Ardvack are closest and get a horrible, acrid stench as the acid burns the violet fungi.

A fungus aims at Ahleqs but only manages to sort of caress his face with its tentacles, leaving a slimy residue; he sicks up all the water he drank.

Kessler gets one with her crossbow. “Remove your grubby bits from the Ahleqs!”

Tarragon, yelling “Danger and excitement!”, takes out her quarterstaff and runs at one; she hits, and is pleased when it doesn’t die just yet.

Does Ardvack want to chomp on a tentacle with someone else, do a sort of lady and the tramp manoeuvre?

Duncan, disgusted: “No tentacle sucking, this is not that kind of show!”

Mina, disconcertingly matter-of-fact about it: “Some people would pay good money for that.”

Ardvack chooses to hit the thing with his shillgjakjsgaklghjkghhhjbblhh instead. It crumbles into bits, but is also ‘a little bit on fire’.

Ahleqs spots some little orbs somewhere ahead up the path. He thinks they are probably magic, but has no idea what they are or what they do.

Carl does a ‘friendly yet violent pat’ on one of the violet fungi and does 5 splatting damage. It wraps its tentacles around him - and then lets go, shuddering. Carl goes in for a bonus action grapple-slash-fatal-hug. The fungus loses the grapple. “High point in Carl’s life.”

Sophie, OOC: “Are you going to give it a noogie?”

Ahleqs takes aim at the grappled fungus. Matthew, OOC, singing: “Now that’s fuckin’ teamwork!”

“If I move away they’ll get a tickle of opportunity won’t they?” Ahleqs stays where he is. “I do not consent to this.”

Gideon gets one with Magic Missile.

Joe: “How de do dis?”

Sophie, OOC: “With gusto!”

Carl maintains his grip on the fungus.

Melaina is feeling arrogant so she goes Sharpshooter. “Urgh, five, that’s not going to work is it?” But to her amazement, it does. 29 damage; a little bit overkill. It explodes into truffle oil, which showers Ardvack but completely avoids Tarragon.

Tarragon offers Carl her old quarterstaff, since he doesn’t have a weapon. He rolls an INT check to try and reply to thank her, but gets a 0. He accepts the staff with a nod of thanks; she smiles at him.

We have killed all the Violet Fungi! We have solved Joe’s Underdark puzzle, yay!

Yeah, nah.

The drift globe leads us around the next corner. Tarragon and Carl chase it, and see three little huts made of fungus and dried grass. Two look abandoned, but the third has light inside. The orbs Ahleqs saw seem to be drifting around it. Ahleqs rolls 19 Arcana; the orbs are warding or protection magic.

We decide to approach, because the inhabitants might know something about the missing wizard.

Kessler, approaching: “Helloooooo? Avon calling?” Tarragon casts Guidance on her as she goes by.

A bell sounds; Kessler recognises the Alarm spell. She calls out to say she doesn’t mean any harm. “Ignore the mech armour, and the idiots with me…”

Duncan OOC: “I want to know what happens if we find the ‘How not to be a goblin’ book and Kessler turns out to be a six foot five valkyrie warrior. Ardvack’s not going to know where to put himself, is he?”

An Unknown Woman appears from the hut:

“What on earth are you doing down here?”

Kessler explains about the wizard and the book. Are we from the Keep?

Yeah…

So is she, it turns out. Will we be going back? Yes, unless we’re killed horribly.

Do we have a way to get back in past the myconids and such? (uh oh.) She says she was a speaker for the keep and was looking for some books, and got lost down here and got stuck.

Kessler rolls Insight with Guidance - 13. She seems convinced. We can pick her up on the way back? That would be amazing, she says. She’s smiling especially at Ardvack.

She has some warding magic up here if we want to rest? Ardvack tenses up. He makes an Insight check as well. He rolls a 9, but uses his Inspiration to re-roll - a 12. He feels a kind of kinship with her, as though her magic might have a similar source. He eases a little bit, and ventures a half smile, even though she’s wearing a 'very low-born outfit'.

Ahleqs, scandalised: “She can’t even afford a middle bit on her top!”

We don’t need a rest, do we? Ahleqs got hit a bit. Melaina doesn’t trust her, and doesn’t want to stop.

Tarragon asks the woman’s name. It’s Ava.

We could take a short rest, roll some hit dice? Have a sandwich? Get to know the locals?

Melaina: “Alright, but I’m not going to sleep.”

Ava points out the orbs. Anything on this side of them is safe.

This seems a bit too good to be true. Does Ahleqs get a sense of magic, other than the protective field? A nine; “She seems legit.”

She was looking for a book that the Keep wouldn’t exactly approve of when she got stuck here. She’s been living off the mushrooms. She was fleeing undead when she was chased into the myconid hives? A ghost or wraith or something.

She brings us some tea, apologising that it’s not quite as fresh as she would like. Something is definitely fucky; Tarragon takes watch, on Ava as much as for other dangers. Tarragon rolls 24 Perception, so she can see the colonies of ants coming to get us.

She sees that no-one’s quite at ease. Suddenly Ava’s skin sloughs off, peeling in big chunks, and a blood hag reveals herself.

Me, horrified: “Blood hag?? JOE!” Tarragon Thorn Whips her.

A writhing mass of hair bursts from the hag, and reaches out toward Ahleqs. She reaches out with her claws to Ardvack and Kessler, and hits both. 23 slashing to Ardvack - and 35 slashing to Kessler.

We roll initiative!

Melaina gets in amongst the mushrooms and tries to hide. “And now I’m going to shoot her in the face. Shit. No I’m not, with a ten.” She cowers behind her mushroom.

Gideon Thunderwaves her and hits, and retreats.

Tarragon casts Greater Shillsdghksdfkhsdg, and crit-misses. The quarterstaff bounces off and hits her in the face - she takes half the weapon’s damage and has Disadvantage on her next attack.

Carl hits her with his new quarterstaff and hits!

Ahleqs casts Mage Armour on Ardvack and Carl, using Sorcery Points to twin the spell.

Kessler bonus action slams her Greater Healing Potion. She uses her Thunder Gauntlets and forces Disadvantage on attacks not against her.

The Blood Hag uses something called Call the Blood, to do a Blood Choke Curse on Ardvack - his mouth fills with blood, preventing speech and verbal spell casting components for one minute. She uses her bonus action to Misty Step to Melaina and do another blood drinking hair, and a claw attack on her.

Ardvack’s turn; he riffles through his spells but they all have a verbal component. Matthew OOC, cross: “I needed that to be effective.”

Joe, pleased: “She’s charming, isn’t she? I thought you’d like her. But at least all the blood vessels in your mouth and throat have burst and you’ll keep having to spit blood for the next minute, so that’s something.”

Ardvack clubs her instead, and hits. He somehow manages to do 0 damage.

Duncan, OOC: “If you say ‘good girl’ or something while you attack, you could do some psychic damage…?”

Matthew: “If only I could speak!”

Melaina gets sneak attack plus Sharpshooter with her rapier - 31 points of damage. All of us, fanning ourselves: “… Damn.”

Gideon will cast Scorching Ray - all three bolts hit, for 21 damage total. The blood hag is pissed off, now, we are told. Gideon bravely retreats.

Tarragon misses again, and begrudgingly heals Ardvack. “Come on, it’s not that bad. Get up.”

Carl was going to use his Raging Cadaver ability, but Tarragon is now in the square he was going to rage to. He can probably navigate through the mushrooms. He does that, and then a slam attack. He does a zombie grab as well. He rolls 17 to her 14, so she’s grappled!

Ahleqs casts Shatter right in the huddle of Carl, Charity, Tarragon and the blood hag. But he would hit Carl, so he doesn’t. He does Eldritch Blast with Tides of Chaos and hits both times for 7 total Force damage.

55: His hair falls out again. “Oh… this again. Okay. I mean I was growing that, but whatever.”

Kessler wants to know if the mushrooms are difficult terrain; she can push through them. “I haven’t finished with you yet!” 16 with the Thunder Gauntlets hits for 12 Thunder damage, then 19 to hit for 11 more. The hag has Disadvantage on attacks versus anyone but Kessler.

Carl is surprised when the hag Misty Steps out of his grip. “He is very perplexed.”

Does 26 hit Ardvack? Er… Yes. He takes 24 piercing damage, and is grappled; her hair worms dig into his flesh and start to suck his blood. He makes a Dex save - or he would, but he might be dead…? No, he’s at 1HP. His lucky hit point.

Matthew is fighting his computer. “Dex save… Any minute now… It’s coming… I’ve pressed the button… It’s asked me if I want to make it public… seven.”

Joe has devastating news for him. The hag has reached out and torn his face off.

…

Holy Fuck.

What the fuck???

“I wanted the pretty elf, but this will have to do!”

The hag makes good her escape as Ardvack goes down. Tarragon uses a free action to vomit.

Ardvack has an ability that brings him back with 8HP. “Dhidth hwe huin?”

Melaina shoots the hag in the back but misses; Gideon does a Scorching Ray.

There’s discussion about the face and the fact that it has Ardvack’s memories and personality; Mina, OOC: “Give it a few minutes, she’ll bring it back.”

Duncan, as the hag: “‘Can you take this back, it’s kinda bumming me out’.”

Tarragon does Cure Wounds at the highest slot available to her; Ardvack’s face is now a mass of scar tissue. She uses her bonus action to throw up again.

This is worse than when Wee Jock got Disintegrated. This is worse than the time we were all zombies, and we started off dead.

Joe, put out: “You’re so ungrateful. It took me ages to find this monster.”

Carl can reach the nasty lady. He can Dash, but he can’t do anything when he gets there. He holds out his hand for Ardvack’s face. She ignores him.

Ahleqs: “Okay… Okay… I cast Fireball. Oooh, it’s big!” He casts it at level 4, and places it so he’ll get the hag, but not Carl. The hag must make a Dex save. She gets a 22.

Duncan, OOC: “Well… Yes, she does and she doesn’t.” She takes half the damage, and is really pissed off.

Kessler: “Oi! Come back with that!” She pulls out her crossbow and shoots. First shot is a miss, and so is the second - a crit fail. Booh. Off target: You deal half damage for 1d4+1 rounds (3). She tries to intimidate the hag, who is unimpressed.

“Let me leave, or I’ll cast Cloudkill.” The bitch uses Invisibility.

Ardvack’s turn; he is now un-stunned, and remembers the sensation of having no face. He’s also still spitting blood. He takes out the mirror that Amelia gave him, and looks in it to see the horrible-ness that is his face, still drooling blood. He puts the mirror away. He gives Tarragon a pat of thanks on the shoulder as he turns away so no-one can see him and crawls toward the hut, “Because this is where I live now.” Even Tarragon feels a little sorry for him.

Before we go, Ardvack is crawling into one of the huts, yes? Yes. "I do not wish to take tea with guests." The most complete hut is the hag’s one; he sees some stones on the floor as if she’s been scrying. Next to them is a pebble with a purple ring on it.

He makes an Arcana check on it to make sure it’s not a bum-stealing stone. 21; he knows the mark as the symbol of Shar. He may remember Shar from such activities as fighting a giant scorpion and an assassin, or raising an army of scarecrows to harass a halfling village.

We decide to leave it on that cliffhanger...

#dnd #thetradeway #campaign diary #Youtube

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some-creep · 4 years

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SERIOUS and OFFICIAL RE3 Creep Review

Resident Evil 3 Remake is a good and fun game that I have already dedicated more energy into than all of RE2 Remake.

However. We can’t leave it at that so here’s a stupid long post.

First off: This will not include any mention of the freebie multiplayer game bundled in, RE: Resistance, a game that I unfortunately like but also realize it adds absolutely nothing to the purchase of this game itself.

Second: I have no goddamn idea what other people are saying about this game because I haven’t even clicked on the steam store page to see the general review scores. I don’t have twitter, and I refuse to watch reviews. All I know is vague youtube titles I’ve seen in my feed. That’s it.

Third of all: Everything I’ve ever written on here is disjointed and confusing so buckle the fuck up.

Oh. And spoilers.

To start this story we must go back to everyone’s favorite year, 2003, when RE3 released on the Gamecube and I was in third grade. Watching my cousin play it when he stayed over was my first actual experience with the series. And Nemesis was, like, really fucking scary at the time because I was a child. I bring this up because as you all might know, I’m a bit of an obsessed weirdo sometimes. This is where it started for me, so RE3 is kind of a big deal for me personally. Conceptually, this game means kind of a lot to me I guess.

As a “remake”, RE3 does, like, a terrible fucking job at being one of those. This is flat out, just, not a remake. At all. It’s a re-imagining. It would be easier to count the things they included from the original over the things they cut, that’s how different it is. OG RE3 had like. Three environments. And the remake just straight up cuts one of them and slaps a different character in the other. Alright I guess. We don’t see Brad get killed by Nemesis, because that just… doesn’t happen anymore. Jill doesn’t go to the police station… at all even. There’s no missile countdown during the final boss fight which was my favorite part because it was like. I know it was just a glorified timer but it was much scarier to me than the self destruct timer? Idk for some reason the concept of a missile destroying the whole ass city is an idea that genuinely just kind of freaks me out to this day.

This will sounds very hyperbolic but the ending was kind of garbage. Mr. Paul I love my Wife Anderson did a shot for shot recreation of the original ending and I guess I was just expecting something like that instead we got. Not. That. I don’t know if these complaints are valid but they are things I’ve been thinking about a lot. Half that scene straight up just takes place in a map that is just an empty white void. If that after the credits scene wasn’t a possible hint at a Code Veronica remake I will riot. CV is my other favorite game (conceptually. CV itself is a completely fucking unplayable nightmare game).

There’s no helicopter fight. There’s no gravedigger. There’s no giant spiders. There’s one bonus costume. Hell, there frankly isn’t even a lot of Raccoon City at all.

I guess it is short. My first play through was 4ish hours of logged gameplay and 6ish hours of total playtime with cutscenes and nemesis chases which apparently pause the timer since they’re basically QTEs? This doesn’t really bother me like it does other people. I don’t have a lot of free time anymore. Everyone fucking hates that this game is short from what I’ve seen? Idk. (It’s no shorter than RE2. RE2 just seems longer since you can be Leon or Claire but their stories are basically identical. B scenario in RE2 Remake was a fucking joke.)

Buuut… I really, really like this game. Carlos is fine. He’s in this game. I still don’t like him that much but he’s the best of the male sidekicks. Maybe I like him more than Leon. He isn’t offensive or anything I just don’t stan him as hard as everyone on here seems to. Mikhail is way, way better now. Love how he knows who Jill is. Nikolai has… good facial mocap I guess. He’s certainly in the game and is evil and Russian again so no change there. Tyrel is a character who does things and is in scenes. He seems nice. He’s doing his best. And then there’s Jill. Who got the best treatment of anything in this entire game. Not like, physically of course, her ribs are absolutely destroyed and her spine has been snapped several times after all of that shit they put her through in the cutscenes.

I loved, loved, loved the opening. So much. Jill’s apartment. Her nightmares. The fact her life is in shambles. I’ve gushed about this before but I genuinely loved how the game opened. It’s everything I could have asked for and so much more. It’s an idea I’ve toyed w/ before in one of the only finished stories I’ve ever put on AO3 and I’m so glad to see it acknowledged canonically. I just. Ugh. I loved it.

Everything she says is beautiful and perfect and sassy and sometimes angry and it’s just. Good. They let Jill say fuck and she became unstoppable. Also she at least still says the You want S.T.A.R.S. line. It’s way, way, way early, in a scene that makes no sense for it to be in at all. But she says it. And I liked that she said it. I’m easy.

That stupid railgun bullshit at the end?? I was streaming it live and just exclaimed “is this game even real???” because I was just so all about it. We’re all still giggling at “Bitch can’t even swim.”

It’s fun to play as Jill and do sick dodge rolls. I’ve gone through this game four times now, once on each base difficulty and again on Assisted with just the hot-dogger fire knife w/o healing. Sick dodge rolls make the game very easy if you don’t fuck them up. I always fuck them up. But, still. I feel like all the bits are there from RE2 but just better. I intend to go through the game on the other two difficulties. Wish me luck. I am frankly terrified. But I want to do it.

Two of the nemesis fights are just straight up identical though. Which is. Okay. Sure. Whatever.

This game only had two puzzles for reasons I do not understand. The subway puzzle was the hardest of the two. It is the first puzzle in the game. Arguably, it is the only puzzle in the game because it is the only one you have to think about for more than 11 seconds to solve.

When the credits play the new version of Free from Fear I genuinely forget every weird problem I have with this game because it’s just… so good. Once again. I am easy.

This whole thing probably sounds like more complaints than praise for a game I’ve put this much time into, and maybe it is, but it is easier to talk about about something bad about a game than to pinpoint what you liked. And I love to complain as we all know. This is horrible as a remake. It’s great as a follow up to RE2 Remake probably. I think plenty of people already disagree with that. But plenty of people like to just be wrong on the internet.

Speaking of RE2 remake why did Pale Heads return from.. the ghost survivors dlc of all the fucking things. That’s just weird. They were a weird inclusion. Maybe I’m not totally surprised something like that made it over but it’s still… weird. They’re fine as an enemy type. I just ignored them though.

I think that for me it is just enough to have good and fun characters that I enjoy. I just. Like how Jill is written. And honestly, that’s kinda just all I need. It doesn’t really matter to me that this game is something of a horrible amalgamation of vaguely borrowed concepts from the original game. Sure, the RE1 remake is great because it’s mostly completely faithful, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do it. Re-imaginings like this can also be good. This one is good. It’s fun.

There are a strange amount of tentacles in this game to the point where I wonder if someone on the dev team just straight up had a fetish. Especially after you get the lockpick. That scene is. Um. Yeah. It’s in the game.

Is that really how I’m going to end this? Talking about the tentacle fetish?

Yeah.

#resident evil #resident evil 3 #re3 #re3 remake #resident evil 3 remake #very little of what i wrote made actual sense #pls @ me so we can fight about it #creep ranks

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twilightknight17 · 4 years

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So I was zoning out during work this morning thinking about how they made a big deal about deviations to Mementos floors being a thing that could happen, but I’ve literally only gotten two the entire game. That one time when they told me about them, I got a whole dark floor full of Treasure demons. And I got a dark floor one other time. I thought it was weird, because I didn’t visit Mementos a lot, but when I was there, I was there for long periods of time. It feels like something that should have happened more often.

I now regret every thought in my head about that subject.

So we’re heading back into Maruki’s Palace to try to route the Treasure, which... I don’t know. I’m not getting the impression that he has a specific Treasure. The whole thing with his fiancee was the instigating event, but...this is clearly not a normal Palace.

Ten Thieves is so many Thieves.

So she wasn’t Ribbon or Midnight. XD I like Violet, but at the same time, it feels like it doesn’t match her overall aesthetic. It fits her, but not how she looks, which means the Thief gear really needs an update.

Being Goro is suffering.

Sumire gets an actual, proper awakening, with actual blood! I knew there was something fishy about there not being any the first time around. I really, really wish her outfit had changed, though. Give her something unique to represent herself as her own person. Not Kasumi, and not Joker’s aesthetic. But okay, fine, be the only person whose gloves don’t match their core element.

Time to shove my whole team into a safe room!

...while I appreciate you not making a scene and understand why you have mixed feelings, I’d also just like to remind you that you were the one who said, “It doesn’t matter where you start over.” He’s...trying, Futaba.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room...

I guess not being at each other’s throats is as much as I can ask.

So I gasped out loud like an excited dork when I realized that one of the personas you can fuse now in the Velvet Room was Hastur (and it was also something I had to fight in the Palace). I should have figured that if Biyarki was around, the thing it serves wouldn’t be too far behind. Shame Hastur wasn’t the final boss, but I still think this is the first time he’s shown up since Innocent Sin, and even there he was like a weirdly-hidden secret. I’m honestly just nerding out. XDDD

The warehouse areas were fun to climb around in, and the monitoring room was about as unsettling as anything else so far. I do think it’s funny that everything is so sleek and sci-fi and whatnot and then...ceiling fan.

Anyway, we can’t get any further in the Palace here, so it’s off to Mementos. Another day, because god forbid we just go today. But that means I’m finally free from plot prison and all my friends want to talk to me again. I might have enough time to rank up Haru. I probably won’t have time for Shinya, but if I have an extra two days somewhere...

I feel so bad for Sumire.

Makoto has finally directly acknowledged that she plowed in head-first and was kind of stupid.

It would have been funny if her third-tier persona was just Anat riding Johanna, but the new bike is cool, too.

I’ve got four third-tier personas, rank 7 of Sumire, and rank 8 of Haru, but I’ve also got two Mementos requests, so I guess it’s time to go investigate.

...oh dear.

Apparently the Depths no longer exist. Iweleth opens directly into the Grail’s chamber. Which he’s filled with giant security cameras. What is he even looking at?

A whole new area has formed, going up instead of down. I wonder if it’s going to connect back into the Palace. It’s like he looked at Mementos and was like, “I’m going to make a better Mementos. With tentacle monsters and the color white.”

And what requests we have! A mother threatening to kill herself and her kid out of grief and depression, and a teenage boy that wants us to kill him so he won’t hurt his sister again. How dare I assume that utopia means less severe Mementos requests!

(In hindsight, there was one request a long time ago where we just talked down the person. It was the only time we’ve done that. You’d think we’d talk down the kid trying to commit suicide by phantom thief, but nope. He was fucking Yoshitsune and it was a nightmare.)

Please appreciate that I almost launched my phone across the room trying to get a picture of this Showtime activation dialogue before it disappeared. XDDD

So I’m pushing forward through Da’at looking for the next rest area so I can stop for the night, it’s probably two floors away, and my thoughts from this morning manifest to destroy me as we head up the escalator and Futaba announces, “Joker, this floor is dangerous! We need to get out of here as fast as possible!”

Okay, cool. It must be a deviation where all the enemies are the powered-up red-aura kind. I’ll just be ready to floor it around them and it’ll be---

...what’s that noise?

Watch out for the what?

So I haven’t seen the reaper yet. I’m pretty speedy in Mementos. And apparently there’s a deviation floor where he’s just there from the start. Stalking you around as you open treasure chests and scream and drive like a maniac. He almost cornered me in a dead end and if this was remotely realistic I’d have crashed the bus swerving around him. X’D

Thank goodness the safe floor was in fact two floors up.

Bonus:

Went to run around in the Den and spend more coins, and...

Iwai’s shop is...where, Akira?

I’ve got Shido’s statue and Yald’s statue around to bait Goro into commenting on them, and it finally paid off. XD He hates the big gold lion.

Yusuke says that he’s probably being a bit narrow-minded, and Goro shrugs him off with, “You probably felt the same about Madarame.”

Yusuke says that he understands that Madarame was not always a terrible person. Something distorted him into what he became. Goro doesn’t care that Shido was probably the same.

Which, all things considered.......fair.

#Li plays P5R #Mementos is upsetting today X'''DD

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ubcs-dump · 4 years

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People will hate me for this but

I do NOT like some of the character designs in the RE3 Remake. Call me a nostalgic baby but I absolutely love most designs from the original RE3. I grew up with these characters. They hold an extremely special place in my heart, ESPECIALLY Mikhail. But before I lose myself and talk myself into a mess, let me just rate every chacter’s design to get a bit more of a structure into this (DISCLAMER, I WILL BE EXTREMELY HONEST WITH MY OPINION, AND I AM NOT SAYING YOU SUCK FOR LIKING THESE DESIGNS, I’M GLAD YOU CAN ENJOY IT BUT I JUST CAN’T):

JILL VALENTINE

So. I‘m actually okay with that design. I like the changes they did to her outfit, this makes a lot more sense than her running around like the zombie apocalypse caught her off guard while clubbing. Her face did change quite a bit and I am still not sure if I like it or not. Tl;dr I’m fine with the design in general.

CARLOS OLIVEIRA

Okay now THIS ONE. THIS ONE actually physically hurts me. While they at least tried to stick close to the original design with Jill, Carlos took a whole 180 turn. First of all, does Capcom even know what a 21 year old looks like? This dude looks like he is in his late 20s. But age aside, what have they done to his design in general? Nothing about him says “Carlos Oliveira” to me. He might as well be some random OC they picked out from the internet. Something I absolutely love about the original Carlos are his hair and his skin tone. He is a POC but I can’t see any of that in this design (ORC white-washed him too and I was furious about that as well). Speaking of which, why is Carlos a character that gets extremely redesigned in every single game? I showed this model to multiple people and when I said “This is Carlos Oliveira” they all thought I was joking. Tl;dr Not fond of this at all. I want my cute jokester Carlos back. And No, his “pre-order classic design” is not classic at all. He looks weird in that too. (Also what’s with the extreme redesign of the UBCS outfit?)

NIKOLAI ZINOVIEV

It’s interesting how while Carlos designs seem to get worse, Nikolai is either improved or stays pretty much the same. I absolutely loved his design in ORC. That scar and his constant down-looking gaze, not to mention that sexy voice (remember, this is my opinion only). I really really wished they would have used his ORC design and just changed it up a bit to fit the better graphics. In this he just looks like my dad but with grey hair and lighter skin. Also they didn’t bring back the “Mikhail and Nikolai were supposed to be brothers” thing which would have been awesome but this is Capcom and we can’t have nice things. Tl;dr It’s okay but could have been way better. (New UBCS design still sucks)

MIKHAIL VICTOR

*Deep inhale* *Deep exhale* Why? Why does he look like Bill from Left 4 Dead? I’m not joking, look at them side by side. They look like twins. This is the model that made me break down in tears, I am not joking. Mikhail has always been my favorite character, he had a much bigger impact on my life than you might think. He is not just the name giver for my pen name (Uby Victor) but he has been a sort of mascot for my DeviantArt and YouTube accounts as well. You could say the original Mikhail is my role model. And then I saw this and absolutely lost it. Nothing about this looks or sounds like Mikhail. In the original he was so wounded he couldn’t even talk properly from the pain, which made him even more badass when he actually managed to get up and fight back with all he got left. But here is just hanging around with surfer boy-Carlos and Jill like it’s nothing. Just sitting there, calmly talking about what happened. In the original he is supposed to be one of the reasons the characters wanted to hurry up and get out of town as much as possible, because he is on the verge of pretty much dying. I could probably rant for way longer than this because I am absolutely livid they changed him so extremely but I don’t want to write too much. Tl;dr I absolutely hate this model and will stick with the original because that is the character I love and look up to.

MURPHY SEEKER

You know, I am actually fine with this model. He looks almost exactly like how I imagined him look like. I’d probably give him a tuft of hair sticking out of the hat because his forehead looks massive. Plus change the outfit to the old UBCS gear, FOR ALL OF THEM! But other than that he looks cute. (Although why is it Jill who finds him? It had a much bigger impact when Carlos had to kill him because they were best friends and that helped develop Carlos as a character). Tl;dr I like it. I would want to be friends with him.

TYRELL PATRICK

I’m pretty indifferent about this. I admit that Tyrells old model was very offensive (what with the big lips and such). This model I don’t really mind but since we only see it in the dark, I can’t yet give a full opinion on it. At least they let him keep his glasses and did not white-wash him or anything. But still, that new UBCS ouftit, I do not like. Why are he and Carlos together though? Aren’t they supposed to be in totally different platoons (plus Tyrell is a monitor)? Tl;dr it’s okay I suppose but I can’t give my full opinion because I can barely see him.

BRAD VICKERS

Hmmmmmmmm. Brad, oh Brad, what am I supposed to say about you. He used to be my second favorite character and I remember writing fanfiction about him and my RE OC almost 10 years ago. They kept his original outfit, which I am very thankful for. He also seems to be more involved in the story and that is great imo. But something just seems off with his face. In the original he looked pale as if he was in a constant 24/7 panic attack (which suits his character and is pretty relateable I might add) but in here something just seems... off? I don’t know if it’s the shape of his face or the fact he seemed to have gained a bit of weight (which is NOT A BAD THING, don’t get me wrong!) but I don’t really know if I like it or not. Tl;dr I take it I guess.

NEMESIS

I gotta admit, when I saw that nose I started laughing out loud. It just looks goofy to me. And those teeth man. Nemmy, who’s your dentist at Umbrella? I guess it’s no surprised I prefer the original by a long shot. The old Nemesis on the box art was so scary to me as a kid, I had to hide it in the far far end of my family’s game shelve because I was too creeped out to even look at him with his sharp teeth, noseless face and dead but intimidating eye glaring at me. This new one is certainly creepy to some extent but the OG is way better in my opinion. Tl;dr not my thing. Also what’s with those pipes? Are they trying to fight the tentacle-lovers side of the internet and prevent them from using Nemesis any longer?

BONUS

Capcom, stop trying to modernize this game, especially in regards to the UBCS outfit and the weapons they carry. RE3 is supposed to take place in 1999. You don’t have to make it look like some futuristic zombie apocalypse to draw in people. That also goes for the cable car, oh sorry, SUBWAY as it is in this game. What’s wrong with the cable car? Yeah sure it’s pretty outdated by todays standpoint but, again RE3 TAKES PLACE IN 1999 when cable cars were common! Just making the original again but with much much better graphics and the new controls would have been enough already in my opinion.

Anyways, these are my opinions on the RE3 REMAKE so far. Thanks for reading and remember, these are my opinions. If you don’t agree with me, that’s totally fine!

Special thanks to @therealorigonalguppieniwa and @ubcsmercenary for pointing stuff out for me and discussing my opinions with me.

#Resident Evil #Resident evil 3 #Resident evil 3 remake #jill valentine #carlos oliveira #Nikolai zinoviev #Mikhail victor #Murphy seeker #tyrell patrick #brad vickers #nemesis #long post #ubyspeaks

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chemicalmagecraft · 4 years

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The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 25

A/N: Thanks for all the positive comments, everyone! I tried to get this done quicker than the last chapter.

This is a fun chapter, by the way. For one, I realized just after publishing that Izuku just cast a temporary creation-type spell augmented with a temporary enchantment-type spell like a hundred times, and both of those were near prestige. For another, you might have forgotten considering how long ago it was (feels like it's been half a year...), but Izuku got a quest for participating in the sports festival. ;)

xoxoxo

A skill has been created through special action! The skill 'Imaginary Architect' has been created through Bound Blade reaching MAX level!

A skill has been created through special action! The skill 'Item Enchantment' has been created through Elemental Weaponry reaching MAX level!

I closed the text boxes that appeared while I was throwing an inordinate amount of weapons at Kacchan. Those looked insanely useful but there wasn't much rush, so I planned on setting some time aside later to read those, paying very close attention. For now, though, it was time for the rewards ceremony.

The rewards ceremony. For the Yuuei sports festival. That I won. When I went to the podium that the first-, second-, and third-place winners were supposed to stand on I felt like I was floating. "I can't believe I placed first in the Yuuei sports festival!" I thought to myself. I was about to step onto the first place plat- Oh wait I actually was floating. Huh. Weird, it felt almost natural... Luckily the podium was underground for added showmanship, so nobody actually saw me floating.

"Were you just floating, Deku?" Kacchan asked. Well, almost nobody saw me...

I scratched the back of my head. "Haha... I kinda got excited. Didn't even notice."

Kacchan looked skeptical. "How the hell didn't you notice you were floating? I feel like that's the kind of thing you'd notice."

"I'll tell you later." Then I decided to show off a bit. I activated Float, on purpose this time, and floated up onto the podium without turning around. Kacchan snorted and jumped onto the second-place spot.

"Isn't this tres magnifique?" Aoyama asked us as he got on the third place platform. Normally Iida would join him as the other person in third place, but he'd left earlier, telling us that his brother was attacked by a villain. I hoped he was okay...

After a few minutes of us waiting, Sonia alerted me that Midnight-sensei was about to announce us. The hole above us filled with smoke and bright flashes of light from fireworks as our podium started to rise. I got into what I hoped was a distinctive, but not too weird, pose as the confetti started falling on us. Well, it fell around me and on the other two. I flashed a little smile at Halitus and Juniper just before we rose into view.

"Iida is also in third place, but he had to leave for family problems," Midnight added. "Now, to present the medals, we have..." she pointed at the top of the wall of the arena, where a familiar shadow appeared.

"AH HA HA HA!" All Might shout-laughed, then jumped down in front of the podium. "I have come to present the medals!" Midnight presented the medals to All Might. He picked up the bronze medal and approached Aoyama. He smiled at him as he gave him the medal. "Young Aoyama, your resolve was impressive. Even though you suffered hardships, you persevered, and look at where you ended up. You will make a fine hero." He gave him a small hug and went back to get the silver medal. "Young Bakugou," he said as he put the silver medal around Kacchan's neck, "you have shown so much fire today, literal and metaphorical. You might perhaps want to tone down the aggressiveness just a bit, but you are very well on your way to becoming a great hero. I mean it." Kacchan grinned like an idiot as All Might went to get the gold medal.

The gold medal that he placed around my neck. All Might was giving me the sports festival gold medal I had dreamed of this moment, literally dreamed, for years! "Young Midoriya, you are... are you vibrating? And glowing?" I totally didn't stop vibrating because I totally wasn't glowing in the first place. I noticed that in my excitement that totally didn't cause me to literally vibrate I failed to notice a series of text boxes that had popped upholyshitwhatisthat.

Congratulations! The quest Sports Festival was completed!

Completion Rewards: 10000 EXP, 10000 Skill Fragments, Quirk menu unlocked, Mending unlocked, Blackwhip unlocked, Singularity unlocked

Bonus rewards for performance

Placed first in Obstacle Race: Swift as the Wind title, 5000 EXP, 5000 Skill Fragments, +2 to all stats, A copy of the Quirk of one member of Yuuei of your choice added to Quirk Shop

Placed first in Cavalry Battle: Cavalry Leader title, 5000 EXP, 5000 Skill Fragments, +3 to all stats, A copy of the Quirk of one participant of Cavalry Battle of your choice added to Quirk Shop

Placed first in Tournament: Champion of Yuuei title, 10000 EXP, 10000 Skill Fragments, +10 to all stats, The copies of the Quirks of the people you defeated unlocked, Copies of the Quirks of the other participants of Tournament added to Quirk Shop

Your level has increased by one! (x2)

Okay. That was... something. Several somethings stacked on top of each other, actually. I had actually forgotten all about that quest. I mean I know I just got first place in the Yuuei sports festival, but those rewards... Sure I didn't get any milestones from the stat boosts, but +15 to all stats. And it was pretty obvious what "A copy of the Quirk of..." meant, and that was ludicrous on its own even if there was a pretty big downside..."

"Young Midoriya, are you okay?" All Might asked me. "You've been staring at the air and muttering for a while now and even knowing what your Quirk is I'm starting to get worried."

I jumped. "Oh, sorry! I'm fine, I just got a really surprising quest reward." I looked at Kacchan and Aoyama stealthily, noted that they were staring at me, and then had Sonia whisper in his ear.

"I'd like to talk to you later. Hopefully it's not a pressing matter, but it's kind of serious."

All Might nodded. "I understand, young Midoriya," his voice whispered in my ear, just like I'd done with him. "You should have free time later. I'll meet you in my office." He then turned around to address the audience. "This was an amazing sports festival, folks! These three fine young men took the top three, but if could have gone very differently! Who knows, maybe in an alternate universe young Tokoyami reached third place, young Todoroki was in second, and young Bakugou was the one who won out in the end? It's that aspect of the sports festival that I admire the most! The way that everyone works their hardest and challenges each other for the spot at the top! It's wonderful! Now, there's one last thing I'd like to say to the students!" He pointed to the heavens. "Say it with me, folks!"

"PLUS ULTRA!" everyone in the stands shouted at once, at the same time that All Might said, "Thank you for your hard work!"

"WHAT!?"

xoxoxo

I checked out the Quirk menu, which I'd found in the main menu, while I walked to All Might's office. It was a menu that looked like the skill menu, except it was divided into two sections. The first one, labeled Quirks, looked like a list of all the Quirks I had unlocked and man was that an amazing sentence to have just thought. I put aside the two popups asking me to pick from a long list of Quirks, which luckily didn't have a time limit so I would scroll through those later. The first one on the list was surprisingly enough not The Gamer, which was the second. Instead it was that Singularity Quirk I'd gotten with the rest of the quest rewards. I tapped it, bringing up the text box.

Singularity (Emitter)

A distortion in the fabric of reality that can pull in anything, even the immaterial. It fuels The Gamer's miraculous power.

Usage does not use MP but instead lowers HP and MP regeneration, scaling with usage. Overuse causes HP and MP regeneration to stay lowered for longer.

Well that raised more questions than it answered. I... guess it made sense, considering the fact that my mom's Quirk let her pull in small objects, but it was also completely out of left field. I sighed and put it aside for now. I had a lot on my plate already, Singularity probably wasn't going anywhere. I checked The Gamer. That one didn't have anything surprising, just what I knew already from Gamer's Mind and Gamer's Body. Actually, I checked my skill menu and noticed that Gamer's Mind, Gamer's Body, One For All, and presumably the other Quirks that were in my skill menu were gone. I checked the rest of the Quirks from One For All. They looked about right. Mending was a rewinding Quirk that only worked on inanimate objects, which I was actually really excited to play with. It was time manipulation! Blackwhip, meanwhile, had slightly confusing wording, but it looked like it was energy tentacles. That one old Spider-Man theme song may or may not have played in my head when I read it.

Then I looked at the Quirks I got from the tournament. Brainwashing, Half-Cold Half-Hot, Engine, and Explosion. All of them were powerful Quirks, and now I just had them. I felt like they were there, but they weren't... active, I guess. The same went for the other Quirks aside from Singularity, The Gamer, and One For All, now that I thought about it. After a moment of thought I "activated" Explosion. My hands tingled for a second. I carefully, carefully triggered it.

Bang!

I jumped and looked around. It looked like there was nobody around to see the small explosion I just made.

I just used Kacchan's Quirk.

I laughed, then stared at my hands. Next I activated Half-Cold Half-Hot. My right side got colder and my left side got hotter. I laughed as frost spread across my right hand and fire danced on my left. Then I made a few small explosions, proving that the two Quirks were both active at the same time. I activated Blackwhip and-

System Warning: Using multiple non-native Quirks at once may lower efficacy and exaggerate downsides. This can be improved with training.

Fair enough. I turned my new Quirks off. Then I wondered how Mutant Quirks would work with that. I decided not to try Iida's Quirk, at least at first, and instead looked at the second part of the Quirk menu: Quirk Shop. The first Quirk on that part was Sludge Body. From the looks of things it was the Quirk of that sludge villain that attacked me all that time ago, though it didn't have any description aside from saying it was a Mutant Quirk and what looked like a cost in Skill Fragments. I scrolled down the surprisingly long list, though not actually as surprising when I realized it looked like the Quirks of all the people I'd gotten EXP from beating like another kind of spoil, for what I hoped was a Mutant Quirk. If it was, it was hands down the best Quirk I could think of to have it permanently on.

There. I bought it, burning through 2000 SF, and turned it on immediately.

Super Regeneration (Mutant)

Just like I'd hoped, I could turn it off at will. I used Draining Hands on myself to lower my HP by half and stifle my HP regen, then activated Super Regeneration. My HP regeneration skyrocketed for a moment, but went back down to its normal level when I turned it off. That was enough for me to be comfortable testing out Engine. Which caused my pant legs to rip when my thighs grew and sprouted mufflers. Honestly I should've seen that coming. I turned Engine off, which confirmed that turning off Mutant Quirks made the mutations automatically disappear like a Transformation Quirk, which made about as much sense as the fact that I could now copy people's Quirks and there was no indication that it was temporary. Then I tested out Mending. Like I thought, it made my pants good as new. Well, good as it was about one minute ago. That was awesome.

And then I noticed that I was standing in front of All Might's office and he was staring at me through the window, blood dripping out of his gaping mouth. A pink-haired boy wearing a matching cardigan appeared next to me with a sound like a heartbeat. He had oddly-shaped ears that had feelers on them that reminded me of Jirou's Quirk, except they curled up at the end instead of becoming earphone jacks. He was still a basic elemental, which wasn't surprising considering the fact that I'd only thought to Observe All Might at his lower-level form for affinities a week ago. Turned out he had a few points of sound affinity, so he was able to summon Seth. "This is what you meant when you said 'it's not a pressing matter, but it's kind of serious,' isn't it?" He said the quoted words in my voice, which was weird.

"Yeah. I can explain, by the way."

All Might nodded and opened the door. "Let's talk."

xoxoxo

All Might contemplated what I told him. "I see," he said after a while. "That is... interesting."

"I was a little worried because it reminded me of what you said about All For One," I said.

All Might laughed. "You thought I was worried about that? I've seen copying Quirks before. In fact, young Monoma in 1-B has a copy Quirk. If I freaked out at every person with a Quirk that I thought could be related to One For All I'd have lost my spot as number one long ago, if not my hero license."

"Oh good," I sighed in relief.

He patted me on the shoulder. "Really, young Midoriya. Have more faith in me, please."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Sorry..."

"You're okay, young Midoriya. I understand where you were coming from."

"Also I figured I should probably tell you about it because you're my heroics teacher and Quirk copying is probably the kind of thing you should tell a heroics teacher."

"That sounds about right."

Seth placed a tray with two cups of tea on the table. "The tea is done," he said. "Be careful, it's hot." He smiled and faded with another heartbeat.

"He seems nice," I said.

All Might nodded. "He is nice. He helps me around the house, too."

"That's good. Unless you have something you want to talk to me about, I think I should go now. I still have some time before I need to be there, but I should get back to homeroom."

"Goodbye, young Midoriya. Congratulations again."

xoxoxo

Aizawa-sensei was smiling. Even though it was only a little grin it was honestly a little disturbing. "You all performed well today," He told us. "There are a few things I think you could've done better but, well, there's no such thing as perfect. Now I'm sure you're all excited to go home, so I won't keep you long. You have tomorrow and the day after off to rest up. Class dismissed." As everyone got up to leave, Aizawa-sensei said, "Oh, and I want to talk to you, Midoriya." It wasn't too loud, but Sonia made sure I heard it.

I waited until everyone was out of the room and walked up to Aizawa-sensei. "What did you need me for?" I asked.

"Shuzenji wants to see you sometime over the break. Something about your private lessons."

"Thanks for telling me," I said. Then I looked at one of the two popups asking me to pick a Quirk, the one from the obstacle race. I scrolled it down near the bottom of the Es, looking for what was probably one of the more useful Quirks for me. Jackpot. "Actually, I have something I want to talk to you about..."

Erasure (Emitter)

xoxoxo

"I'm home!" I shouted as I walked through the door.

"Leaf hair!" Yang meowed, darting up to me. She purred and rubbed her head against my leg.

"Hey, girl," I said as I started petting her. I picked her up and started rubbing her as I walked inside.

"IZUKU!" Mom shouted as she ran into me, tears streaming down her face. She hugged me, getting my shoulder wet.

"Are you okay, mom?" I asked.

She wiped her eyes and gave me a big smile. "It's just... You won! You did it and you were so amazing and I'm so happy for you!"

I felt my own eyes water. "Ha, thank you. It was so unbelievable, to be honest." I pulled her in for another hug.

"I recorded the whole thing, if you want to watch it," she offered.

I smiled. "Yeah, let's watch it together."

She smiled. "Yeah, let's do that."

"Oh yeah by the way I can copy Quirks now."

She froze. "WHAT!?"

xoxoxo

Annnd now I wanna write the next chapter, but I have things I have to do...

Elemental list:

Midoriya: Halitus, Dune, Rayne, Blaise, Juniper, Mifuyu, Raimon, Iggy, Sonia, and Claude

Bakugou: Pyra and Leaf

Tokoyami: Corvo

Uraraka: Nebula and Ion

Hagakure: Lucy

Tsu: Bubbles

Aizawa: Charlie and Cassiopeia

All Might: Seth

Sorry if it's not obvious, but Seth's name is a play on Stethoscope, which is kinda-sorta what the Pokemon Audino is based on. If he had a last name, by the way, it would obviously be O'Scope. You know what screw it that's canon. His name is Seth O'Scope and I love it.

#bnha #bnha fanfiction #fanfiction #the gamer #The Gamer Hero Deku #Gamer Hero Deku #GHD CH 25

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adventuresloane · 5 years

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IPRE plushie headcanons because i can

Was thinking about how much I love my stuffed dolphin and decided to start discussing comfort item headcanons in my discord. Here’s what we got:

Magnus: has a very well-loved stuffed dog, mostly light brown with darker ears and a dark patch around one eye. a bit flattened after all the times Magnus has used him as a pillow, but still a pretty sturdy little guy who’s holding up just fine. formerly known as Scruffy, now referred to as Scruff Boi, pronounced “ScrrrrrrUFF Boi”

Taako: has SO MANY stuffed animals to sleep with. they make up a large part of his infamous Pillow Nest, because why sleep on a bed when you can just pile up a bunch of soft shit and sink into the warm void to sleep? prefers large stuffed animals and definitely has a pony that he taped fake horns onto to make it a binicorn. all of the fabric in his Nest is enchanted to smell like lavender.

Merle: has a plush Pirahna Plant. he’s never played any of the Mario games. he just thinks it’s neat.

Davenport: the crew got him, as a joke, one of those stuffed animals with the tiny heads. it’s the lion one. he took it in stride and the toy is now a team mascot of sorts, with his own little red jacket made by Lup. Davenport uses him as a doorstopper but also sometimes sets him in the middle of the ship’s common room and says, “i’m going out. Captain Daven-roar is in charge. don’t do anything stupid.”

Lup: has the lumpiest, rattiest, filthiest ragdoll you’ve ever seen. she’s made of stained cloth and has, like, three threads sticking out of her head for hair. her name is Celeste and Lup absolutely loves her. she made the doll herself out of scavenged materials while her and Taako were kids out on the road. she brushes Celeste’s little strands of hair against her chin when she gets anxious, especially after getting her body back when she emerges from the Umbrastaff. also, post-umbrella she starts collecting very soft blankets to rub against her cheek for the same reason

Barry: has a stuffed giraffe from childhood that mostly just sits on his shelf because of how fragile it’s gotten. currently has a little stuffed cartoon skeleton on a keychain that Lup got for him, which he occasionally squeezes or rubs when he thinks of her.

Lucretia: at some point not too long before leaving on the Starblaster mission, she got self-conscious about the fact that she still owned stuffed animals as a teenager and gave them all away. once on the ship, she realized that everyone on the crew had stuffed toys and were unabashed about it, and felt some regret that she had gotten rid of hers, though she never voiced it. that was until, many cycles on, the crew surprised her with a Voidfish plush that they had made her, one with velvety tentacles and soft, color-shifting lights inside its bell. she cried when she got it and has kept it ever since.

BONUS: Angus: has an Official Limited Edition Caleb Cleveland Plush. Magnus also got him a teddy bear with tiny round glasses and a bowtie.

#ipre #magnus #merle #taako #lup #davenport #barry bluejeans #lucretia #angus #headcanons #taz balance #taz #the adventure zone #moine

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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Chapter 157: Giant Zelda Boss

Previously on BnHA: The badass lady squad kicked some villain ass (even if it did take them a while). Toga showed up disguised as Deku and directed the heroes to where Nighteye and co. were fighting Overhaul underground. They crashed onto the scene as Toga, Twice, and Compress watched from the street above. Twice and Toga told Compress to go kidnap Eri, and he was all “:/ but it’s dangerous” but in the end they bullied him into going down there. Overhaul tried to escape with Eri and Deku leaped after them. We learned that Eri was the granddaughter of the Precepts’ boss, and her mom abandoned her, so the boss put her in Overhaul’s care. Apparently she had an unknown quirk that had somehow killed her biological father. Overhaul experimented and found out her quirk had something to do with “rewinding.” Then the rest of it we already knew -- Overhaul continued to hurt her and she had to suffer through it and eventually she was conditioned to blame herself and to believe that she was “cursed.” But now with everyone trying to rescue her, her quirk is apparently “awakening” with her desire to somehow save them all. omg.

Today on BnHA: Deku grabs Eri and says he’s not gonna let go! Overhaul, who has reverted back to his normal form, is all GIVE HER BACK, and creates some stabby rock tentacle claws to try and get at them. Deku instinctively uses 100% OFA to escape to the surface, and then panics afterwards, thinking that he’s broken his legs. But surprisingly, they’re fine. Meanwhile, Overhaul fuses himself with another unconscious minion and heads after them. Nighteye tells Ryuukyuu and the others that he saw the future and that Overhaul is going to pursue Eri and kill Deku, and that even if they go after him they won’t win. Back on the street level, Deku realizes that all of his injuries have been healed, but then he promptly crumples over in pain. Overhaul, having transformed into some sort of multi-limbed giant rock dragon man, explains that Eri’s quirk gives her the ability to “rewind” humans, and that she can’t control it. But Deku decides this is the perfect opportunity to activate OFA Full Cowl at 100% and just have Eri heal him as he goes. He’s gonna BREAK BONES LIKE NO ONE HAS EVER BROKEN BONES BEFORE.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 187 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

oh! I like this!!

“the determination to be saved” YESSSS ERI YESSSSS

also, going back to the previous panel for a second, what is going on??

what happened to Overhaul and Nemo? they unfused?? did she rewind time and undo all his bullshit?

anyway Deku has her now and he says this time he’s not letting go of her! YAY

AHHHHH

FUCK. SOMEONE SWAT IT WITH A NEWSPAPER

also Horikoshi’s love of drawing hands has officially gone too far. that is SO FUCKING DISTURBING. and also AWESOME, GODDAMMIT

like, look at how his fingers are separating the panels in the bottom right corner. fuck this artistic bullshit

also why is Deku worried about his ability to move? it’s not like Overhaul is any better off. he’s disintegrating the platform he was standing on so he can literally fall at them. you’re both falling. just dodge him. it’s not like he’s any more mobile than you are, and he doesn’t have 20% OFA or 8% or whatever the fuck you’re using right now

anyway he’s hugging Eri determinedly and glaring at Overhaul and again thinking that he won’t let her go no matter what

oh cool are we flashing back to one of the best lines in this arc? I’m down with that

nice to see Deku getting back to his roots

nice to see Horikoshi getting back to his roots, actually. pacing has picked up again, art style is back in full swing, and Deku is thinking determined thoughts about heroically saving others? this is the manga I fell in love with

...maybe I spoke too soon

wait, what? did he just make a giant claw cliff only to grab himself?

okay but what the fuck is happening, though?

wha

that’s what I... you know what, never mind

OH MY GOD

DID YOU BREAK YOUR FUCKING LEGS DEKU YOU FUCK

ARE THEY!?

I can’t tell?? they don’t look anything like they did the last time he used 100%, but the one time it happened with his legs, it looked pretty different from when he breaks his arms. with his arms his sleeves usually rip right off and he’s all noodley and floppy. but with his legs, his pants always seem to stay intact to preserve his modesty. which is very thoughtful of you, OFA

anyway, down in the basement, Ryuukyuu and the others are saying they felt some sort of shockwave, so it’s indeed seeming like he broke his vow to never use OFA at full strength until he mastered it

I forgive him though. do you guys. I fully forgive him. as long as it actually worked oh please god let it have worked

hmm?

SHE WHAT. WHAT’S HER QUIRK GODDAMMIT

he’s screaming at Eri (even though she’s not there) that he needs her “in order to realize Pops’s ambition”

well too bad

Ryuukyuu looks very concerned, and I didn’t understand why, but then I remembered that even though Deku and Eri got to safety, the rest of them are all still stuck down there with him lol

it honestly didn’t even occur to me to be concerned. I don’t know why. I just assume they can handle themselves

NIGHTEYE WHY ARE YOU TALKING

I mean, we already knew that though

omg

...well shit

but I mean. did he really see that? because if so, that’s officially the first vision he’s had that we 100% know is not going to come true. so I guess they’re not infallible after all

and of course Ochako is FREAKING OUT now

oh no but she’s falling down now for some reason

(ETA: I guess she’s still fatigued from all the vitality-absorbing attacks earlier)

Nighteye says that he saw it

Ryuukyuu’s turning in disbelief asking him if he thinks they’d just go along with what he’s saying after hearing that

but he says that in their current condition they can’t win

EXACTLY

Nighteye is all “...”

and he’s giving Tsuyu directions to where Mirio is

and he’s asking Ochako and Ryuukyuu to help him to the surface omg

ARE YOU GOING TO SACRIFICE YOURSELF

meanwhile back on the surface, Deku is landing!

and HIS LEGS AREN’T BROKEN OMG

IT’S ERI’S QUIRK

he’s asking her about it!

oh shit and now something’s happening

“RRIP” is not a good fx for one’s body to be making, generally speaking. though jury is still out on “ZZGGGG”

oh shit

look Overhaul, I’m going to allow you to make one last stand for just long enough that you can explain how this quirk works. and then you can fucking die

he says she doesn’t know how to stop it

siiiiiiiiiigh

you really went and made yourself into a giant Zelda boss. and made yourself into its fucking tongue

anyway he’s continuing to explain, and it seems it is indeed a time-rewinding quirk

actually that quirk sounds amazing. once she’s able to control it she’s going to be a BEAST. offensively and defensively this is a winner. I can’t believe she had to put up with so many assholes telling her she’s cursed. cursed with being fucking awesome, maybe

(ETA: question, the way Overhaul phrases this makes it sound like she can rewind literally anything. do we know if there is a limit? is it limited to just living things, or organic materials? or is it literally anything, because if yes, holy shit though?)

Overhaul’s telling Deku to return Eri to him. hahahahaha. full of jokes now, are ya

“there’s no way to stop her other than her disassembly” um, nah. pretty sure she’s capable of stopping herself if they can get her to calm down. which could probably easily be accomplished if you would just kindly step off and go fuck yourself

anyway, Deku’s strapping Eri to his back. oh damn

he gets it now. the instant his leg broke, she reverted it before he could even feel the pain

he says it’s a kind, gentle quirk

oh my god Deku yes. say it louder for her to hear!

oh baby girl it’s okay

oh fucking shit, of course Deku immediately thinks of how to appropriate this quirk for his own reckless needs

DEKU YOU SELF-DESTRUCTIVE LITTLE LUNATIC

(ETA: “CONSTANTLY ACCUMULATING INJURIES AT AN EVEN GREATER SPEED...!” jesus christ he is so fucking excited to have found this new and revolutionary way to wreck his body more efficiently than ever!!)

HIS HAIR SPIKED UP LIKE ALL MIGHT’S OMG!!??

DID THE SHAPE OF HIS FUCKING FACE CHANGE?? IT LOOKS MORE ANGULAR AND LIKE HIS BABY FAT IS SOMEHOW GONE ALL OF A SUDDEN?

I WISH I COULD SEE HIS MUSCLES, ARE THEY ALL BIG

(ETA: normal! so we’re still not sure how All Might does it, but that’s okay)

THIS KID IS ACTUALLY INSANE. “WILL YOU LEND ME YOUR POWER” FUCKING MAYBE ASK THAT BEFORE YOU GO AND DO THIS

NIGHTEYE REALLY PREDICTED HIM DYING EVEN AT ALL MIGHT LEVELS OF STRENGTH? JUST HOW BADLY IS HE SOMEHOW GOING TO MANAGE TO FUCK THIS UP

OH MY GOD LET’S KEEP READING AND FIND OUT

BONUS:

okay first off we have an “afterword” by Horikoshi announcing that this arc will finally come to an end in the next volume, and thanking everyone who’s sent him fan letters, and apologizing that he doesn’t have time to respond to them

he also talks about how tired he is and how energy drinks aren’t as effective anymore

I’m pretty worried about him burning out now tbh. Jump always works their best mangaka to the bone, and it’s a problem

other than that, there’s just the back of the volume 17 cover, which has Eri clutching her beloved Lemilliocape and more or less looking like she’s come straight out of some sort of apocalyptic AU

how did her clothes and bandages get so raggedy omg. Overhaul is just the worst caretaker in the history of time

#bnha #boku no hero academia #midoriya izuku #overhaul (bnha)#eri (bnha)#sir nighteye #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #so in the bnha universe whoever makes pants needs a raise for sure #deku's pants can survive anything apparently #whereas his sleeves rip apart if he so much as sneezes #y'all remember his polo shirt from the forest lodge arc #'what shirt' you ask #yeah exactly #it lasted for like half a chapter #so what we have learned from this is that deku has the same tailor as bruce banner

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cutiecrates · 5 years

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Cutie Reviews: Kawaii Box June 19

I don’t have much to say for this one, but I decided not to include the prices and such. I know I probably should but I don’t actually know if it serves any purpose...

Word of the month: Ma-meido - Mermaid

Chocobar Z & Marukawa Kirby Mix’n‘Match Gum

This is unusual, I’m beginning with the snack items first. For this month we got 2 of them, the Kirby Gum and a Special Surprise Treat, something they also did last month, but it was a bonus item rather than a snack. So this is an item I’m semi-familiar with, pretty sure I had one before.

This is pretty much a chocolate umaibo; but it’s not of the Umaibo brand and they have their own chocolate flavor. This reminds me a lot of it, but it has a bitter aftertaste and it’s much thicker. It also brings to mind a chocolate breakfast cereal, it’s pretty yummy. But I wasn’t able to locate it on Blippo.com.

-----

Our next item is a delicious Kirby packaged gum set. Basically you have so many flavors of gum that you can chew separately or mix to get a new flavor, as you can see by the pic.

I had this years ago back when it first came out and it’s essentially the same, but I noticed right away that before it only had 4 flavors (Yogurt, Mystery, Apple, and Orange), and you could make a few of the same combinations, one of which was actually cola, which was removed because it’s is a flavor now, along with white grape/muscat and soda.

Of course, being a curious person I sat down and tested everything; and once I did I still had a good amount left over. Here was what I thought:

Cola - a little tangy, tastes like cola candy.

White Grape/Muscat - normal muscat/WG candy, but my tongue felt like I had a little salt on it from this one. No idea why.

Soda - typical ramune or soda flavor, very yummy, hard to mess up.

Orange - tastes like orange tic-tacs. I loved these when I was little.

Apple - a sweet apple, delicious~

COMBINATIONS

Soda + Apple = Champagne - It was unique but I’m not sure if I liked it or not. It confused me.

Soda + Cola = Gingerale - Same as above, and I’m not sure it reminded me of gingerale either.

Soda + WG/Muscat = Melon Soda - A strong melon taste with a hint of grape! Very tasty.

WG/Muscat + Apple = Wine - Weird -_- but it tasted better over time.

Apple + Orange = A fruit mix? - I mostly taste orange and couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be.

Soda + Apple + Orange = Vitamin Drink - It was very tasty with a strong citrus flavor.

WG/Muscat + Apple + Orange = Pear - Like the gingerale one, I found it hard to tell if I liked it and if it tasted like what it was meant to be. This one felt a little more successful to me, but I was still unsure.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

None of the flavors tasted badly, I really like them. The flavor lasts for a bit, maybe like 10-15 minutes; and weirdly enough, every piece I spit out had a really pretty pearlescent color and they all came in a different color of the rainbow! I’d recommend these; especially if you like Kirby!

Round Neko Plushie Charm

(Sorry about the items in the background~)

Our next item is an adorable plushie charm based on a round kitty. They’re the purrrfect size to roll around in your hands and squish on when you don’t have a squishy available or just want something different. They also come in a variety of cute kitty colors and patterns and they are completely stuffed with filling.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As cute as the kitty is I have to admit, the face detracts a fraction of cuteness away from it in my opinion, but I still think it’s very sweet looking. It’s decent looking in terms of sew job and if you like firm plush then I think this would be a good one to get; but I prefer squishier, softer plushies and if you look at the picture, doesn’t the whole thing feel a little unbalanced? It might be easier to see in person, but it kind of bothers me a little.

Dreamland Puffy Stickers & Mermaid Nail Stickers

I love panda bears, so I thought this pastel themed sticker sheet we got was very cute! Besides the panda we also have cute flowers and clovers, birds, and bubbles. Oh, and if you’re wondering they’re sadly not scented.

Rating: ♥ ♥

This bothered me, because I ADORED these. But they get a 1 or 2 out of 10 on the puffy scale, they have a very slight puff to them in appearance, but when you press them they’re very hard. I find them ultra-kawaii but if you’re looking for actual puffy stickers, then you’re not going to be satisfied with these.

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Besides adorable panda clovers, we also get a cute mermaid themed nail sticker set by Snow Fox. Specifically these are their 3D Design Nail Stickers, due to have a 3D element in the form of cute little diamond accents. These are perfect for summer or if you just like mermaids; I especially love how they look like Ariel.

So.. because I didn’t use these yet, I decided not to rate them. Also, I’m pretty sure they’re just like any other sticker; there isn’t much you can say about them and you could probably use them on other things if you wanted to.

Aiko Little Mermaid Face Towel

As of late we have been getting adorable exclusive Kawaii Box/Blippo.com goods featuring the adorable Aiko-chan~ They always fit the theme and they’re made in really good quality too, I love them and it’s such a nice touch to personalize the box more x3 But you can also buy them off of Blippo.com.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It’s on the smaller side, but it’s perfect for a hand and face towel/rag/wash cloth. The details are really nice, it’s spot-on with the theme, and it feels very soft, and it’s small size makes it very handy for putting into numerous things you might want to bring with you.

Little Twin Stars Key Cover

This item is a bit random (in my opinion) but it’s still cute! This is a Sanrio original item you just pop on over your keys to add a touch of adorableness every time you pop them out, and it includes a ball chain so if you don’t plan to use it for the intended purpose, you can just turn it into a cute charm or keychain.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I like Little Twin Stars, but Lala has always been my favorite out of the two. I was a little disappointed I didn’t get her, but I still think they’re both really sweet and adorable. The chain is good and the key cover is made from rubber with really nice, but simple and bright detail. It even has molded on writing on the back for the branding that looks amazingly crisp and clean.

Our Little Mermaid Notebook & Puffy Narwhal Sticky Notes

To go with our theme, we have these 2 cute writing stationery items by Tree in Art; a gorgeous mermaid notebook, which I’m sure you can tell is a lot bigger than what we usually get in these boxes; I was surprised! And it came in a few variations, all with a lovely watercolor/pastel theme.

The paper is basic lined, nothing fancy, but it has Discover Your Senses written on the bottom of each sheet. I like how it seems to go with the image.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

So I know you can judge paper quality by doing various things or using various pens and coloring tools on them- but I don’t really know paper at all, so I can’t really do that. But I mean, I didn’t notice anything wrong with the paper the one time I’ve used it thus far, I wish the pages were a little more decorative though to match the outside.

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I don’t really know anything of the Tree in Art brand, but so far I’ve been liking what we get. It’s very soft and sweet looking, like this puckered lip narwhal sticky note set o3o

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I really like the detail they put into the backing of these, you can see it in the pic right? It’s a very cute touch to go with the very cute sticky note image. I could see these floating around quite quickly in the office or school among friends~

Also, these tear very easy. Not easy enough that they won’t stick to each other, but easy enough there’s no issues tearing them off.

Kawaii Jellyfish Pen

Our last item, and one of my most favorites in this months box is an adorable Jellyfish themed pen :D besides having a cute, simple design on the tube using various pastels and pink tones, there’s an adorable jellyfish charm hanging from the top, the main attraction! The jellyfish feels like a light plastic and has fabric strands as the tentacles; it can also be taken off if you wish to turn it into a keychain, or a charm for a necklace or something.

The pen is a fine tip, and these came in a few color variations if I recall.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I love love love it~ it’s so adorable and fun looking, and I love fine tip pens x3 you need to give them a few seconds to dry when using them, but they right so smoothly. It’s also really fun to use the pen and watch the jellyfish wiggle around on the tip.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 5 out of 5: I really liked this box, all the items were well-made and seemed thought out, and like usual we got a mix of things. I didn’t see any real quality issues or problems.

Theme - 4 out of 5: Only half of the box fit the mermaid/sea theme; but to be fair, the other half seemed to fulfill the fantasy side. Lately Kawaii Box has been confusing me with its themes and items, but I felt like this one was really obvious :3 perfect for summer too!

Total Rank: 9 out of 10 Cuties. Besides one or two little issues with a single item (and they were minuscule and only my opinion), I felt like this box really picked up the pace after the past two or three boxes. I liked them but with their confusing themes and lack of items fitting them, this one nailed it! Everything is really kawaii and fun, I’d recommend this box!

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

1. Mermaid Notebook - I love the gentle colors and overall sweetness of the cover. I do wish the pages were a little more matching with it, but I still really like it.

2. Jellyfish Pen - it’s so cute the way it sways around~

3. Narwhal Sticky Notes - Very cute, I love how decorative the clear backing is to go with them.

4. Kirby Gum - I love Kirby, and I really did like this gum so it was really fun to experience how it changed over time.

5. Aiko Hand Towel - Perfect for the summer season x3 Aiko-chan looks so cute.

6. Dreamland Puffy Stickers - Very sweet and cute, they give me a dreamy vibe that I love to look at them; but I was disappointed by the lack of puffiness.

7. Mermaid Nail Stickers - They’re so pretty, I’m a little afraid to use them~

8. Chocobar Z - It was delicious~

9. Neko Plushie - I was surprised by this because I love cats. But I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling it.

10. Little Twin Stars Key Cover - it’s cute but I don’t know when I’ll use it and I feel like out of everything its the least practical for me.

#cutie reviews #kawaiibox #kirby candy #mermaid merchandise #little twin stars

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sraawrats · 5 years

Text

🦇🎃Kana’s Halloween Hangover Rec List🎃🦇

Love Halloween? Not ready for it to be over? No worries! Old and new, these are some of my favorite spooky, suspenseful, and supernatural Kylux reads--perfect for drawing out your favorite month a little longer!

which is 100% why i’m posting this on november 1st, definitely not because i didnt manage to finish it before yesterday. nope, not at all

My Baby’s a Devil in the Bedroom | @callmelyss

- E - 4/5 chapters, 14 645 words - “Oh, obviously.” Kylo let out a shaky laugh and ran both hands through his hair. “Wait, no, you’re serious. You’re a fucking demon.”

“Well, yes, not to put too fine a point on it.” Hux smiled, clearly pleased with himself at the joke. “Or more accurately, I’m a succubus. A sex demon.”

—

Kylo has an unusual squatter. He's pretty fine with it. -

This fic is seriously amazing. It’s a super fun idea, the dialogue is hilarious, and it perfectly balances the sweetness and humor with angst/intrigue. Plus, I’m absolutely taken with snarky, smug, candy-tasting succubus Hux <3 <3

strange phenomenon | @brawlite, @kyluxtrashcompactor

- E - 8/8 chapters, 65 756 words - Kylo Ren is haunted by recent tragedy. He answers an ad posted by one Armitage Hux for a roommate, and he thinks a fresh start will help him begin to heal. He brings next to nothing with him from the past when he moves in.Or so he thinks. -

This fic is wonderfully suspenseful, and perfect if you’re looking for something to keep you on the edge of your seat. I also had a lot of Han feels when reading this one. Overall it’s just really nicely well-rounded with heartfelt and genuine characterizations, good spooks, and some searing sexual tension.

Something Wicked | @marlonbookcase

- G - 7/7 chapters, 22 514 words - Kylo and Armitage have been friends since they were kids. Now in university, they run a semi-popular YouTube channel called "London Below" where they investigate all sorts of haunted and paranormal happenings in and around London and try to answer the question, are ghosts real? When they take on the mysterious and tragic case of the Pendle Witches, they come face to face with the spirit world in a way they never have before. Will they make it out of Pendle alive? Are ghosts real? And most importantly, does Armitage return Kylo's affections? -

I love Buzzfeed Unsolved. I love Kylux. I love this fic. A lot. As it says in the description, it’s not an exact Unsolved AU, but it really captured the format/feel of the “paranormal investigator” genre, so if you’re a fan of that, you’ll love this. Bonus points for some mutual pining and sugary fluff 👀👀

Second Spring, First Fall | @huxandthehound

- T - 5/? chapters, 7 018 words - Nothing brings people together quite like the holidays. Well, maybe not Halloween... After a scare, Hux has to confront his neighbor. Lucky for him, Kylo might be a little sweeter than his tricks let on. -

A cute multi-chap made of Huxloween prompt fills! Lighthearted, but it’s still got that Halloween spirit. Plus I’ve got a soft spot for sweet modern AU Kylo :))

Some Strange and Unnerving Events | @longstoryshortikilledhim

- E - 10/10 chapters, 158 815 words - As a boy in a dreary school on the moors, Kylo Ren had only one friend, a red-headed boy whose sharp tongue and wit drew Kylo to him. But that friend was taken from him. Now grown, Kylo goes into the service of the master of Stormfield Hall, the enigmatic Lord Arkanis, who is seeking a tutor for his charge. Kylo's past will come rushing back to him, both in his new employer and some unusual circumstances that bring to the fore powers that Kylo thought long-suppressed. -

This fic hit me like a ton of bricks. This fic hit me like TWO tons of bricks. Start this one when you’re ready to be feeling it for a few days afterwards. It’s an incredible historical AU with magic and a great murder mystery--it basically pushes, like, all of my buttons. And it’s /genuinely/ spooky, I had to start keeping a light on while I read it. Oh, and it features definitely my favorite Millicent ever. If you’ve got the time for something long, go for this one.

Reach Out in the Darkness | unicornsandbutane

- E - 2/2 chapters, 9 321 words - Having spent a decent amount of time researching the history and folklore of Arkanis, Cadet Hux strikes out one chilly evening in search of some legendary creature that's supposed to be extremely powerful. If the myths aren't true, all he's wasted is time. But, if they are based in some actual fact, then what a boon such an entity would be to his cause. He doesn't know what he will find, but he is prepared for any (absolutely ANY) eventuality. -

Tentacle monster Kylo. I am unapologetic. It’s really good.

Witchfeather | Whatever21ism

- E - 14/? chapters, 16 015 words - Armitage Hux is a new witch trying to establish himself in a new town. One day he goes out seeking a familiar, particularly a cat, somehow instead he ends up with a raven who is much more than they appear to be. -

A favorite of mine! Apothecary witch Hux & his crow familiar Kylo. There’s some really nice worldbuilding and crow Kylo is super cute. Possibly abandoned, but defs worth checking out what’s there & showing the author some love.

First Order Investigations | @mistresseast

- Unrated - series, 3 works, 58 094 words, incomplete - Hux and Phasma have been running First Order Investigations since high school, and Dr. Snoke's metaphysical research graduate program seemed like the perfect opportunity to pursue their interests under the protective umbrella of academia. Unfortunately, that meant allowing Snoke's personal project, a taciturn medium named Kylo Ren, to join their team. Hux and Kylo mix like oil and water, or, more accurately, like fire and gasoline, and Hux is convinced that working effectively with Kylo is absolutely impossible. They hate each other, and Hux is content to leave it that way.

But then, a case in the sweltering heat of South Carolina begins to change things between them, and Hux finds himself questioning not only Kylo's feelings, but his own as well. -

Paranormal Investigator AU of the highest quality. The detail and thought put into each investigation site is incredible. I love this fic to pieces, and if you like ghost stories, you will too.

Undead | @heyktula, @splinteredscript

- E - series, 2 works, 6 855 words, incomplete - They’ve been circling around each other for years. Kylo Ren, the most powerful vampire in Supreme Leader Snoke’s house, and Armitage Hux, the human liaison between the world of mortals and that of eternal darkness. Baiting, taunting, the cord between them growing ever tighter.Sooner or later, one of them is going to snap. -

A lovely and dark vampire AU~~ Gives off some real classic Kylux vibes, and is an absolute pleasure to read :D

Fixer Upper | @irisparry

- T - 5/7 chapters, 10 034 words - When Armitage Hux starts with First Order estate agents, he thinks the house on Alderaan Drive is an insult, a patronising set of training wheels for the new boy. He is ... not correct. -

Adorable haunted house AU! I love both of their characterizations in this one, especially shy, grumpy ghost Kylo~

Hair of the Dog That Bit You | @theweddingofthefoxes

- M - 9/9 chapters, 21 597 words - Ren owns a popular tavern, and Armitage is a respected physician in town and the surrounding villages. Their years-long friendship will survive anything -- even the bite of a werewolf. Won't it? -

Full disclosure, I haven’t actually finished this one-- I have a tendency to get distracted unless I finish something in one sitting, rip. But I remember being SUPER stoked about starting it, and anything by weddingofthefoxes is guaranteed to be a treat, so I’m putting it on here anyway :D tbh now that I’m thinking about it again I’ll probably finish it tonight.

The Eldritch Effect | @generallyhuxurious

- E - 17/17 chapters, 67 899 words - For the last three years Major Donal A. Hux, formerly of the British Army's Parachute Regiment, and Kylo Ren, estranged son of US Defence Secretary Leia Organa, have been tooling around North America investigating "weirdness"- and they're plenty weird themselves. Their latest tip off is leading them towards a haunting in rural Alabama. But first they need to make a stop in Trinity, South Carolina... -

A real goofy Paranormal Investigators AU that I super love (but I also need to catch up on rip). It’s an American Gothic AU, but you don’t need to have any knowledge of the show to follow along (I don’t). It also comes with a series of oneshots set in the universe but outside the main plotline, so when you finish the fic and inevitably want more, you’re covered ;)

blackbird, fly | @acroamatica

- M - 19 265 words - One sunny afternoon in the mountains of Washington state, Ben Organa-Solo walked out into the woods.

He never came home.

Six years later, a journalist specialising in missing-persons cold cases decides to follow his footsteps and see where they might lead. -

This is a sad beautiful horror AU that is very close to my heart. The writing is just gorgeous and the suspense is beautifully done. Also, it about doubled the amount of emotions already attached to the song Blackbird for me (I still get a little heart-squeeze every time I hear it)

what’s real or isn’t | @brawlite

- E - 12/12 chapters, 57 398 words - Hux's new house is not haunted. It isn't. -

Super surreal haunted house AU. There’s also monster sex. This is definitely a staple of spooky Kylux fics :D

How to Kill a Living Thing | hedgerowhag

- E - 10/10 chapters, 25 394 words - It starts like any other horror movie: a young man moves into a strange old house full of relics of the past and becomes haunted by some strange entity. However, Ren doesn't find the monster that he expects. -

This one has got some of the most stunning, spooky visuals I’ve ever read. I could picture every scene and character so clearly. Plus, I love Hux’s characterization--he’s kind of a shit, and it’s beautiful.

Twenty-Six Weeks | @vmprsm

- E (eventually) - series, 4 works, 28 539 words, probably complete - Two mature adults need to do two things: live an a house with a stranger for six months, and keep their secrets to themselves. How hard could that be?

Apparently very. -

The author made a point of trying not to give too much away in the summary/tags, so I won’t either :D I’ll just say it’s one of my favorites, and definitely worth a read if you haven’t already~~

The Brief Wondrous Return of Vampire Boy | @hollyhark

- T - 21 190 words - Two days before Halloween, Hux hears a rumor that Ben Solo is back in town. While Hux does not believe the sensational version-- that his estranged childhood friend/enemy escaped from an asylum and is out for revenge --he is left on edge as to how to proceed. -

One of my favorite Halloween fics; it really encompasses the feel of fall/Halloween but also, like, good ol’ ~teenage bullshit~. There’s a lot of creepy Snoke stuff, some dealing with the fallout, and a nice hopeful ending :))

Ghost Encounters of the Hux Kind | carefulren

- T - 9/9 chapters, 25 610 words - Kylo purchases an old, abandoned house in order to get away from his family. He just wants the chance to be alone for a while, and he considers this house as the start of his new, isolated freedom.

Everything is going as smoothly as possible, until it's not.

Perhaps, Kylo isn't living alone after all.-

A sweet and soft ghost story AU. I adore the ending <3 <3

Spookylux Huxloween 2018 | @nofootprintsinsalt

- T - series, 31 works, 36 896 words, complete - Huxloween 2018 - 31 benarmie fics in 31 days -

A series of benarmie fluff/horror for the Huxloween prompts this year! These were so so fun to read throughout the month and I adore the little universe that develops as they go on :))

Of Our Time | @ezlebe

- E - 15 297 words - “Do you know how many people would think it’s weird you walk around in the day?”

Hux grits his teeth in vain against an uncanny sensation, his own words digging and clawing up his throat to leave behind the taste of blood and bitterness thick on his tongue. “I could care less. I was made this way before there were movies – before fucking Stroker. Call me a demon if it makes you feel better.” -

I only read this really recently, and I was BLOWN AWAY. Seriously, this packs so much into 15k--it’s got feels, it’s got lore, it’s got steamy smut. What more could one ask for?

Shiver The Whole Night Through | @theweddingofthefoxes

- T- 5/5 chapters, 7 977 words - Ren's always loved hunting, so when he's told his paid time off won't roll over into the next year, he decides to take a week, get his gun and rent a cabin in the woods. But it takes no time at all for the hunter to become the hunted. -

This one’s very accurately tagged “Mind Games,” which really made it stand out to me--I do love a good spooky woods story~~

The Ghost Under My Bed | @longstoryshortikilledhim

- E - 19 525 words - Amateur witch, aspiring actor and full-time family fuckup Ben Solo discovers that his house is being haunted. Best part? His very own poltergeist, Armitage Hux, is kinda cute. Worst part? Well. He's dead. -

THIS IS THE SWEETEST GHOST STORY. I love it so so much. The sweetness of their relationship set against the sad backdrop of both of their histories gives this one a really unique feel. And the ending is guaranteed to give you the warm fuzzies <3

aaaand that’s all, folks! Lord, this post turned into a behemoth lmao. I just. really love supernatural stuff. (on that note, if anyone has read/written anything even tangentially spooky/supernatural, feel free to send it my way. I will happily give it a read ;)))

Happy reading! ^_^

#kylux #fic rec #halloween #huxloween #spookylux

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ilovechristopheralexandershaw · 5 years

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What would your ideal drarry fic be? Like, how would they get together, what tropes would be involved, what would be your ideal story line? Any squicks or triggers or things you aren't interested in? Any HC's with the two of them? :D

THIS IS THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY SEVEN WORDS OR SOMETHING HELP ME

Whoo boi, honey, lemme tell you, this answer gave me some s t r e s s. Tumblr, can you just...idk, have a save drafts option for asks? No?

Anyways, back to the point. Snuggle down into your blankets y’all, ‘cause this is gonna be one long post.

What would my ideal drarry fic be? Okay, siriusly, legit anything with angst. Copious amounts of angst. Drown me in the angst. I’m always willing to read an angsty fic, almost always as willing to read a fluffy fic and occasionally have an urge for smut but that’s like…every three months or so lmao. I prefer a story that isn’t based on the size of one’s cock. (Sorry if that’s a little crude). I’m fine with any length of fic, as long as it has a good story behind it and if it hopefully has some heart-wrenching moments that make me feel like I might have a soul after all. I love fics that keep their character – not too much, though – and have them arguing with each other all the time – its more real to me, and makes me laugh. I love drarry because of that, because it’s that ship that will keep their relationship, unlike idk shrek and Fiona who fall for each other and lose their old self completely. Drarry is that ship that stays intact and old and new at the same time, and that’s why I love it.

How would they get together? I have this vision of the two getting together slowly. First it’s banter, insults, hexing, all the while having miscommunication and some serious pining because I’m an absolute sucker for that shit. As I said, angst. Hate turns to like and death threats to exasperated, witty little replies, private jokes between the two of them – a Malfoy Stinks embroidered on his robes in place of Healer Malfoy.

I love fics where there’s just that one, final leap of – I have to do it, otherwise I’ll never get another chance, I don’t care about the consequences. If it’s a kiss that gets them together, in that ‘final chance’ way, I love it when the other is too shocked, and the first person just loses all hope (I mean until like two seconds later when they’re snogging the life out of each other lmao). Basically just a slow build and all the sass 😊

Tropes? Okay, I’m gonna admit that even though I’ve been in the fandom for a few months, I still can’t define so much, but I hope most of what I write here is legible.

I love coffeeshop Aus, I find them really cute and sweet, and a blushing Malfoy is always a bonus. Eighth year is my absolute jam, unless it’s a drinking fic in which case no thanks. I love friends to lovers or enemies to lovers – the slow build, especially if the author has timed it perfectly, is just argh, I love it. Pining has been mentioned like a hundred times already but I’m going to say it again just because. Roommates are okay, I guess, but not exactly my go-to. I do like muggle Aus, and even though I think Potter should be a teacher, I enjoy the action in an Auror Partners fic, too. Also uh..oops? This was supposed to be tropes that were involved not the tropes you like you dumb butt. That’s not what Nonny asked.

My ideal storyline for a drarry fic? Not sure if this is what you’re asking but I’m gonna go with it and if I’m wrong then I’m wrong y’know?

As I said, I like fics with pining. I love a number of storylines, but I’m just gonna choose one for this thing since it’s already almost if not over two thousand words (is anyone even reading this? Who cares, I’m having fun) okay I checked its like over 2600 help me. Also this turned out into a fic not an ideal storyline hhhhhhhh

I guess I like fics with slow-building pining, going from meeting together at work or having to work together for some reason in eighth year, or just seeing each other in eighth year. PTSD gets them together, but so does the (admittedly weaker) banter, since nobody understands either of them – the Saviour and the Ex Death Eater. The press is still going off about the war, and everyone has their own ways of coping. Soon enough, they’re friends – (ok let’s pretend this is eight year) and helping each other through the bad days. And soon enough, the insults that hit closer to home for others but not them, the inside jokes, the love of Quidditch, the homework assistance – all this time around each other turns to pining. Malf-Draco, with his white-blond hair and black turtlenecks that he kept even though that was what he wore as a Death Eater. With his now self-deprecating jokes instead of hurtful insults. With his smile, that shows his sneer lines of the past. With his blue-gray eyes. With his knowing smirk when they’ve done one of their own eighth year pranks. Even with his wonky Charms and obsession with stroking the Dark Mark and the way he stops in front of the Room of Requirement every time they pass. And Harry, with his mop of untidy hair and glasses that have had Reparo used on them who knows how many times by now? With his bright green eyes, with his surprisingly pale skin, with the way he disappears into the forest every now and then, staring at the clearing where Voldemort once thought him dead. They pine, they’re oblivious, and finally, Pansy spills it to draco, an exasperated ‘will you kiss him or not’ just as Harry rounds the corner in his invisibility cloak. ‘are you stupid. Pans? We’re just friends.’ (wow ideal storyline this is a mini fic by now what am I doing with life my math sheet is like right in front of me I should be doing that). The questions, that night, in their respective beds. And the finale, with Harry rethinking ‘we’re just friends’ in his head in the final Seeker-to-seeker game, Draco leaning in.

Finally.

Okay, squicks. Here we go. First of all, I don’t really like fics where they speak really…I don’t know, childishly? To each other eg. too many cheesy pet names (‘Hi hun,’ he giggled, taking the offered plate), since my idea of drarry is a couple that banters all the time, not one that sits around squealing at each other. That’s the main reason I ship them, after all.

Another squick, although this just annoys me more than makes me uncomfortable, is when there’s a fic involving children where the author makes their speech like that of a baby. Five year olds and younger can make legible sentences, so it’s sometimes irritating when eight-year-old Scorpius is saying ‘dada give h-h-hoog’ if you get my drift.

Daddy kink is another thing. If you like it, good for you but personally, I- *shudders* no thanks. It’s just – okay, my dad’s like over fifty, and that’s what I imagine if I think of that. Sex with my dad? I’ll pass. Calling your boyfriend your ‘daddy’? I- no no no just no I’m sorry but no.

Okay, I’ll rephrase. Most, if not all kinks make me uncomfortable – I’ve said daddy already, Parseltongue (just any other language) is just weird to me (it’s not disgusting, I just find it kind of dubious I guess.), any sort of pet play is similar if not worse than daddy kink, choking or breath play sounds more like rape (I’m crude, handle it), lingerie is just hella weird and I don’t even want to know what tentacles are, thank you very much. I’ll stick to my vanilla sex.

Any sort of sex toy/tool use is also a squick (including painful BDSM stuff), but I’m not sure if that’s kink so I’ll just add it here.

I don’t mind OOC fics, but, again, if they’re too soft (unless it’s some sort of caring angsty oneshot e.g. most of @rose-grangerweasleyisbae ‘s ones) then they most likely don’t work with me either.

Triggers? No, I haven’t read any fics that have triggered me in any way and I’m not sure if I have any. Most are squicks.

Fics, or tropes, I guess, that I’m not interested in would include either one being some sort of Magical Creature (although there are some exceptions – some writers make really good fics with these tropes), and by that I mean any humanoid creature such as a werewolf, vampire etc. Veela especially. Also, anything with mates. (Fun fact, in my first answer that got deleted, I wrote a headcanon fic thing with draco as a bowtruckle since I said I don’t know if that’s a squick bc I’ve never read it and decided to do it for fun)

Dunno what this is, but I’m gonna include it as well – I also don’t like fics where their entire supposedly ‘loving’ relationship is completely based on sex. I’m okay with it if they’re supposed to be fuckbuddies at that point in the relationship, but if this is what the author is calling their ‘established relationship’, I don’t really like it.

Any fic that loses the banter after their getting together, where their world and source of happiness is completely revolving around the other – that is also one of my disinterests. As I said, I ship drarry for the sass and banter (and angst). Not the sappy love.

I don’t really like unhealthy relationships – I read a fic where the whole reason Draco allowed Potter to date him was because he complimented his flying skills, not because he liked him. That’s a really minor example, but basically any fic without actually liking each other or as I said, an unhealthy relationship, doesn’t take my fancy. Unless, of course, they’re fixing it.

A fic that starts somewhere in the books, eg. third year or something, don’t normally take my fancy, but, again, there is the occasional exception that I turn out to love.

Not exactly Drarry but any poly relationships with the two of them are also a disinterest – I feel like they’re the ones for each other. Dunno if this sounds polyphobic or whatever it’s called, and it probably does, but that’s not it. I just personally don’t think Drarry need another person. Other ships, maybe. Drarry? Not for me.

Eighth year fics that are based on drinking and drinking games also aren’t my thing (omg there’s like eight million alsos here what am i doing don’t shoot me please (ok i fixed it)). I just don’t like them.

And fics with any sort of bonding lose my interest pretty quickly, especially sexual magic bonds. Mpreg, as well, again, I’ll read the occasional fic but most of the time I don’t really like it.

Age difference, again, are something I find strange, and I can go on for hours but this is now around three thousand words and I should stop so y’all can go read your fics lmao.

And um I’ll give you two headcanons as my way of apologising for the unbelievably late reply

Harry, lying on the ground, blood dripping from a massive slash in his stomach, chest barely moving, lips slightly parted, tinged red with drying blood

Malfoy, now just a colleague, they’ve lost the schoolboy animosity, hovering over him, wand casting diagnostic spells even though he knows they’re no use – he knows the curse but he doesn’t know the exact variation – and the wrong healing spell will kill the Saviour – he can’t take that chance.

‘Scared, Malfoy?’

His head jerks up, pale eyes widening at the old question thrown back at him. Shoulders slump, his lungs heaving from all he spells he’s cast

‘Yes’

Idk just the idea of that final admittance – yes. Idk, just, my heart, man.

Okay headcanon 2 which is more of a fic by this point (someone help me im so bad at headcanons. Like this is all fleshed out in my head but ugh)

Eighth year holidays, Draco is sitting alone at the blazing fire in the common-room, strangely enough knitting, as he talks, friendly but quiet to a surprisingly happy Moaning Myrtle (the common room is where the old bathroom was)

Hermione Jean Granger sits down next to him and he flinches, almost expecting a slap like third year – he’s had hexes from Muggleborns who had nothing to do with the war, and here’s the Saviour’s friend – of course she’s gonna –

She pulls out a massive textbook, quill, inkpot, blotting paper and three rolls of parchmment from her bag, tucks her bushy hair behind one ear, and starts scratching away

He’s surprised, but still too nervous to ask why

It becomes a habit, her sitting there there, him as well, talking to Myrtle, doing Potions work, knitting as well

They start talking to each other, he finds out she Obliviated her parents and doesn’t want to come back just yet, even though she knows the Dark Lord’s gone

She finds out he’s too scared to go home, with all the memories

They become friends of sorts, helping each other when they can

When the holidays end, there are a few double takes, but nobody really questions it. After all, it’s Hermione, she never was too against Malfoy (nobody really saw that slap) and she’s always been a rule-follower. They assume its part of Mcgonagall’s asking for peace between Slytherins and Gryffindors

I mean, Ron does complain about her hanging about the ferret nowadays and not around her boyfriend, but he gets it. Besides, their ‘sessions’, if you will, are always when there’s Quidditch practice for Harry and Ron (they help train the younger years)

So yeah, it’s not too bad (and this isn’t Dramione I promise although I do ship it occasionally)

One day, though, she brings out a bundle of knitting herself. To his surprise, she knits a single sock and puts it in a box

He asks her why

‘For Dobby’

And he remembers. He remembers the strange little house elf, the one he loved as a kid but had no way of showing it. He remembers his father’s hatred of that elf in particular He remembers scowling at the poor thing, ranting to it – it was a way of venting, but in true Malfoy-raised fashion, he’d been so cruel to it as well, laughing as it jammed its fingers in doors, encouraging its pain.

He leaves the common room early that night

Next day, the Golden Trio isn’t there. Hermione (no longer Granger) isn’t there

He knitted a single sock that morning himself. He’d heard the story from their talks. He wanted to contribute. A way of apology, if you will. If it even counted. Today’s the day the elf passed away, and Hermione had said she put a sock in there for everyone

It’s pretty obvious where they’ve gone. He Apparates there after class, and finds the grave easily. It’s got a bundle of Conjured flowers, stems wrapped around the rock that serves as a headstone, and the box of socks is right there too. (what am I doing this is meant to be a short drarry hc and I haven’t even brought potter in yet help)

He starts crying

He spent last night remembering. Remembering how even through all the pain he caused that elf, a single smile, a single ‘thanks for listening, Dobby’ would make the elf bow and weep at his feet. He remembers how cruel he was, how the elf just…took it in his stride. He remembers losing the house elf, realising Potter had stolen something else of his. He remembers

And he lets it go. He spills all of it to a gravestone, apologies and ‘I know it won’t mean anything’ and ‘I didn’t know but that’s no excuse’ and ‘you always listened, how did you always listen?’ and ‘thank you’ and most of all ‘I’m so so sorry’ stumbling over each other as he tries to explain, to finally let it out

He’s crying and sniffling and that’s making it even harder to speak but he needs to say this, even though Dobby is dead, even though he’s apologised to so many people – this is one of the few that listened to him, and he’s treated the elf like garbage.

Tears drip onto the single sock in his hands

It’s hours later when he finishes. Well, not exactly finished, but he’s said enough that he thinks he’s explained himself and said sorry – even though it’ll never be enough. He’s cast a Light Charm (not a lumos ok it’s bigger don’t correct me) and he leans over to put the now-damp sock into the box too. A final ‘I’m so sorry’ and he stands up, turns around

And comes face to face with the Golden Trio

Hermione stares at him, then grabs him in a massive hug

Ron looks at him, slightly awkwardly but at her glare, he offers a tight smile

And Harry? (wow how long has it taken for me to get here god) is just staring. Openmouthed. Who knew Malfoy had felt this much about a house elf?

And yeah that’s the point where he realises Malfoy isn’t that bad and then they go back to Bill and Fleur’s (Hermione explains along the way that they went back to the grave bc they saw the Charm and were in shock – was Dobby back?)

‘did you hear all of it?’

‘we heard enough, Draco’

And when they get back to Hogwarts, well, it’s slow building at first. Potions help when Hermione’s out on a date with Ron, a butterbeer in the school kitchens on a Hogsmeade weekend when they want to hide from the public but enjoy the drink

But over time, the pining and the miscommunication and Draco getting back to his (albeit weak) banter with Potter leads to one thing. You know what it is.

Drarry

You know what I’m having fun writing trashy hcs so here’s a third (although it ain’t drarry. It ain’t any ship)

Alright so there is no hairdresser at Hogwarts or Hogsmeade or anywhere near the castle (I mean it was never mentioned in the books was it so this is possibly canon)

Therefore, most kids have to use spells

But we all know that each of us probably has a haircut that is somehow slightly different to one another, and there aren’t that many hair care spells in the world let alone known by a few teachers in Hogwarts

While some kids know exact spells, others, for example, Muggleborns, just use Diffindio

I mean, it gets their hair cut, yeah? That’s pretty much all they need

Of course, Hermione knows each and every spell but let’s not get to that

And Malfoy uses his own spell and a litre of Sleekeazy every morning

But since everyone else cuts their own hair, it looks as bad as each other

And that’s why Harry wasn’t teased too much about his hair (yes, also bc he’s the Saviour bUT STILL)

That’s why Sirius had long hair and etc.

Basically none of the kids at Hogwarts really had good hair and they all looked like Halt from Ranger’s apprentice (also this one is long as heck I could’ve just said everyone uses diffindio and there’s no hairdresser why am I like this)

#oof yay i got an ask #what am i doing look at the length of this thing #nonny i am so sorry for doing this

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