#1) because I just Allie suits being a bull

[senditothemoonn]

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #188

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re building the greatest robot ever built in Sengoku period Japan, Katou “Black Kite” Danzo! This amazing automaton is a Thief Rogue to speed up her limbs and get some ninja mobility, as well as an Alchemist Artificer so she can really fly, make objects disappear and reappear, and even make those awful rice balls.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Welcome to the CHK!

Race and Background

Danzo’s a Karakuri Puppet, but D&D races don’t get that specific, so we’ll just have to call her a Warforged instead. This gives her +2 Constitution and +1 in any other ability, and we want Dexterity. Her Constructed Resilience gives advantage on saves against being poisoned, and she gets resistance to poison damage. She also doesn’t need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep, and she can’t get sick. As a bonus, this means she doesn’t need to take any of the Fuuma clan’s medicine, thank god.

She still has to take long rests though, but a Sentry’s Rest reduces the time to six hours. You’re still conscious, but you can’t move if you want the rest.

Thanks to your wooden body, you can use Integrated Protection to fuse yourself into your armor, granting you a +1 bonus to AC, and preventing it from being removed against your will. Your Specialized Design also gives you proficiency with Medicine and Woodcarver’s Tools.

Like Paraiso, you’re also a magic assassin, so Volstrucker Agent is pretty accurate. This background gives you proficiency with Deception and Stealth.

Ability Scores

As usual, we’re using the standard array for maximum replicability. From high to low:

Still a ninja, still starting with a really high Dexterity. Unlike Kotarou, your ninja tricks come from your Intelligence. Also, you’re a robot; you’ve got to be pretty smart to know how you work, and you have a big chunk of the Fuuma clan’s history stuck in your head. Third is Constitution- you’ll happily sit in a cave for several centuries and not die, which is pretty impressive. Your Wisdom is above average, because I can’t think of anything specific you do that uses wisdom, but it’s still probably better than a regular person’s. Your Strength is probably lower than it should be, but it’s not like we really need it that much. That means we’re dumping Charisma. You don’t really “get” people that well.

Class Levels

Artificer 1: Starting off as an artificer is pretty neat, giving you proficiency with Constitution and Intelligence saves, as well as two artificer skills- Arcana is the closest thing we have to science in D&D, and Sleight of Hand will probably help with the bull swallowing we’ve got to do later. You also get Magical Tinkering when you start out, letting you tack minor magical effects onto tiny objects. A pebble that constantly sounds like someone walking around is a useful distraction. Despite artificers being a half casting class, they also get Spells this level, which you can cast and prepare using your Intelligence. For cantrips, I suggest picking up Mending to patch yourself up, as well as Create Bonfire for a quick and easy firestarter. Literally setting places on fire is also a great distraction, if a bit more obvious. For first level spells, I suggest picking up the classic suite of “barely spells” spells, like Grease, Alarm, and Snare. You should also grab Cure Wounds for some quick and dirty rice balls, as well as Jump and Feather Fall for Katou Danzo’s wind manipulation. There aren’t many offensive options for wind in D&D, but I can promise you’ll be very mobile by the end of this build.

Artificer 2: The big reason we started as an artificer is to grab Infused Items as quickly as possible. Starting at this level you can hold onto four blueprints for magic items, and can make up to two of them at a time, switching them out between long rests. Now you can make a Bag of Holding for some real bull swallowing (not literally though, those suckers are several times your weight limit), a Rope of Climbing for a grappling hook that attaches itself, a Returning Weapon so you’re not stuck picking up your kunai after every fight, or you can apply Enhanced Defense on some armor for even more AC.

Rogue 1: Now that your initial ninja tricks are set up, we still have to, y’know, get good at ninjaing. (Ninjing? Whatever.) Bouncing over to rogue gives you Investigation proficiency for expert analysis plus Thieves’ Tools for dismantling traps, as well as Expertise in Acrobatics and Stealth for double proficiency bonuses on all your ninja techniques. You also get a Sneak Attack once per turn, dealing an extra 1d6 damage to your target while using a finesse weapon and if you either have advantage on the attack, or have an ally within 5 feet of them. Also also, you get Thieves’ Cant. It’s a language.

Rogue 2: Second level rogues get a speed boost thanks to Cunning Action. Now you can use your bonus action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide. All very ninja-y, I assure you.

Rogue 3: Going into the Thief subclass lets you overclock yourself even further thanks to your Fast Hands. Now your cunning action lets you make sleight of hands checks, use thieves’ tools, or use objects as a bonus action. Plus, your sneak attack is 2d6 now! You’re also accustomed to Second-Story Work, so you climb as quickly as you walk, and your running jumps get boosted by your dexterity modifier. Combining this with Jump starts your ascent into a proper Black Kite- with a running start you can jump almost 40′ across, or almost 20′ straight up. You can also jump over most humanoids, clearing seven and a half feet on long jumps.

Rogue 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Intelligence for stronger artificer spells and medicines.

Artificer 3: Now that we’ve got a base level of ninjositude down, we can bounce back to artificer for more clever tricks. Right off the bat, you can always create The Right Tool for the Job over the course of a short rest, though you can only make one kind of tool at a time. (If you make new tools, the old ones get jealous and leave, I guess.) You also get goodies exclusive to the Alchemist subclass though, like proficiency with Alchemist’s Tools, Healing Word and Ray of Sickness as prepared spells, and the ability to craft Experimental Elixirs. When you finish a long rest, you can make one such elixir, with a random effect you find out when you create it. There’s a lot, so I’m not going to list them all here. The elixir only lasts until your next long rest, so you can’t stock up. That being said, you can create more elixirs at a time as you level up.

Artificer 4: Use this ASI for more Dexterity, for more accurate and deadly kunai strikes.

Artificer 5: Fifth level alchemists become Alchemical Savants, adding their intelligence modifier to spells that heal or deal acid, fire, necrotic, or poison damage. Playing to character means you won’t be using this much aside from the healing, but you also get second level spells! You get Flaming Sphere and Melf’s Acid Arrow for free, but we’re here more for the other spells you can prepare, like grabbing Levitate for some discount flight (hey, if you use your rope of climbing to grapple onto things you can probably get some good speed going...), Invisibility for better bull swallowing that can actually swallow a bull, Enhance Ability to just try a little harder, and Blur for some swirly wind nonsense that makes you harder to fight. If King Arthur can do it, so can you.

Artificer 6: Sixth level artificers get Tool Expertise, doubling your proficiency with any tool check you’re already proficient in. You can also cast Message at this point because you’ve worked in Chaldea too long for them to not give you a freaking walkie talkie, and you learn two more item infusions, and you can build one more at a time. Boots of Elvenkind will silence your footsteps, and Boots of the Winding Path can help you ninja vanish back along the steps you took this turn. There’s an obvious problem that you can’t wear both sets at once, but you’re probably not even making both at once, so...

Artificer 7: Seventh level artificers get Flashes of Genius, letting you add your intelligence modifier to an ability check or saving throw happening within 30 feet of you. You can use this Intelligence Modifier times per long rest. If scifi has taught me anything, all robots are calculating the seven billion ways an event could go at any one time, so finding the three that lead to success shouldn’t be that hard.

Rogue 5: Bouncing back to rogue for a bit brings your sneak attack up to 3d6, and also unlocks your Uncanny Dodge, spending your reaction to halve the damage of an attack coming your way.

Rogue 6: Sixth level rogues get another round of Expertise, so double down on Investigation and Arcana for extra robosmarts.

Rogue 7: Your sneak attack gets as good as it ever will at 4d6, and you learn Evasion, supercharging your dexterity saves. Successes completely negate damage, and failures only deal half damage. Just... don’t stand in the fireball. Why do so few people get that?

Artificer 8: We’re back in artificer to stay now, so bump up that Intelligence for stronger spells as well as more and stronger flashes of genius.

Artificer 9: Ninth level alchemists stick Restorative Reagents in their medicines, adding 2d6+ your intelligence modifier temporary hit points to your experimental elixirs, regardless of their other effects. You also learn how to cast Lesser Restoration Intelligence Modifier times per long rest without using spell slots. The Fuuma clan’s medicines are effective, if nothing else. You also learn how to cast third level spells, like Mass Healing Word and Gaseous Form. I mean, I guess the latter spell is flying, but it’s not Fly flying, you get me? You can also use Tiny Servant to create puppets of your own, Water Walk to walk on water like the ninja you are, as well as Haste and Blink to supercharge your mobility.

Artificer 10: Tenth level artificers are Magic Item Adepts, letting you attune to one more magic item at once, and you can craft common or uncommon magic items faster and cheaper. You also get two more blueprints for infused items, and one more you can make at a given time. Boots of Striding and Springing will make your jumps even more ridiculous, and the Ring of Jumping will clear up some prep space and save you a spell slot or two. Using both of those items at the same time basically let you fly without the spell, letting you jump 120 feet forward or 63 feet straight up, and your long jumps can pass over obstacles that are 22 feet tall. You can leap small buildings in a single bound.

Artificer 11: At eleventh level, artificers can create Spell-Storing Items, stuffing magic into weapons or spell focuses. You can stick a 1st or 2nd level spell in the object, and creatures can cast the spell from that object using your spellcasting modifier and the creature’s concentration. The item holds 2xIntelligence Modifier charges, but you can only have one SSI at a time.

Artificer 12: Use your last ASI to max out your Intelligence for super strong spells, better Flashes of Genius, and more Spells in your items!

Artificer 13: Your capstone level gets you fourth level artificer spells, like the freebies Blight and Death Ward. You can also use these slots to cast spells like Leomund’s Secret Chest for more effective bull swallowing. The bag of holding can still be messed with, and turning stuff invisible doesn’t get rid of it, but the Secret Chest will just hang out in a different dimension til you need it again. Also, you only have to cast it once every two months! You can also Summon Construct to make your own dolls to help out in combat. Sadly there isn’t a wood option, but this is as close as we’re gonna get.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Flying is good. Like, really good. And you’re so mobile you can fly without flying. You’re so good at jumping you take falling damage just by making a long jump.

With your expertise, enhanced ability, and flashes of genius, you can be pretty good at most skills if you really need to be.

Artificers make really cool toys, but most are limited by only having one action per turn. Thanks to your fast hands, you can make even better use of your infusions by using your bonus actions to either double up on item uses or multitask.

Cons:

We didn’t take that many levels of rogue, so your damage is a lot lower than your fleshier ninja counterparts.

While your magic and infused items are useful, they all get shut down immediately in anti-magic zones, giving you a big weak point most DMs won’t hesitate to smash.

While I wouldn’t call having extraneous spells a weakness, especially from a player’s perspective, it is kinda sloppy building on our end. Outside of healing word you really wouldn’t use the other subclass spells you get if you’re playing to character.

[drsweetzscenarios]

Hajime meeting future Female!S/O(Disney’s Hercules-Inspired AU)

I decided it would be fun if I did one of these because I absolutely love this scene so much.I had a lot of fun with this and maybe if this gets enough encouragement I might make this into an x reader series so I hope ha y’all like it!

Key-

Dialogue 

“Chiaki Dialogue”

“Kaziuchi Dialogue”

“Hajime Dialogue”

“Your Dialogue”

  This imagine is based on is these scenes

x x 

As Hajime cut through the thick,creepy,green forest, he glanced back at his two allies. Kaziuchi and Chiaki were a great help in this journey.

Kaziuchi being his childhood friend and Chiaki being his mentor for his mission to joining his father, Makoto Naegi and the rest of the hopeful gods up on Mount Hope. He desired to be one of them for it was his destiny. 

“So Chiaki...where are we going exactly?” 

the toothy boy questioned, his neon green jump-suit didn’t blend in very well with the forest. 

“We are traveling to Towa City. Hajime would get a better start on his quest if we started there.” 

She replied before bringing her hand to her mouth to quiet down her yawns

“And when are we going to get there exactly? Not that I don’t trust ya but this place seems a lil shady” 

Kaziuchi tried all of his might not to shudder at the thought of being trapped here forever, running in circles before they all go mad with despair.

“As soon as we make it through the ruins of The Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles-”“THERE’S MORE TO GO THROUGH????”

Chiaki glared at Kaziuchi before going back to explaining herself. However, she was cut off

“UGH LET GO OF ME YOU SICK ROBO-TOY”

They all stopped and Hajime raced towards the voice, not even comprehending what he was doing

With the other two following, they soon hide behind a bush.

And there you were in the tough hold of a exisal, struggling to get out of its grasp in the middle of a river

Hajime’s concerned face soon turned into a mighty glare

“Alright now remember Hajime,1.Analysis the situation. Don’t just go in there without thinking-”

Chiaki and Kaziuchi turned their heads to Hajime’s direction only to see he wasn’t there.

They turned their heads only to see Hajime striding up to the opponent his eyes gleaming with rage.

“Oh boy.” 

Kaziuchi gulped 

“He’s losing points for this” 

Chiaki dead-panned

“Halt!” 

As soon as Hajime spat out those words, the robot and the girl turned to him, one shocked and the other emotionless.

The exisal then crouched to Hajime’s level and seemed to be analyising him.

“My uh..”

He looked over the exisal once 

“ good friend.”

“I’ll have to ask you to release that young-”

He gestured to you 

“Keep moving, junior”  “lady...But you- are-aren’t you...a damsel in despair?”

“I’m a damsel. I’m in despair. I can handle this. Have a nice day~” 

You answered coolly despite struggling through out the sentence to get out of the grip you were in.

Hajime then cleared his throat 

“Ma’am I’m afraid you might be too close to the situation to realize-”

Before he could get his hope sword ready for battle, he was flung across the land and into the water.

Chiaki winced 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING??GET YOUR SWORD!!” “Sword. Right right, rule #15 a hero’s only as good as his weapon!” 

He scampered for his sword as the exisal neared closer.

As the exisal was nearing closer, Hajime pulled out his weapon to the robot which was not his sword but a nearly broken monokuma that ran for it’s life seeing the exisal.

Kaziuchi’s bellowing laughter in the background while Chiaki elbowed him to keep quiet did no affect while you rested your hand on your chin, expressing boredom and disappointment.

Before Hajime could even react again, he was punched square in the cheek sending him flying into a nearby stone.

“COME ON HAJIME CONCENTRATE”  “use your head Hajime!” 

When Chiaki said those words, he parted his from the tree and came charging at the exisal with the power of hope, like a bull charging towards a red flag.

The exisal flew across the forest before landing into a waterfall, glitching slightly

“ALRIGHT,NOT BAD!”  “not what I had in mind but not bad indeed”

You fell downwards into the river, rendering yourself wet all over before sitting up and spitting out the water that landed in your mouth.

Hajime turned to you and lifted you up bridal style if anyone lifts you up bridal style you immediately know. That’s the one your gonna spend the rest of your life with.

He placed you on a stone near his friend and mentor.

“Oh Usami. I’m really sorry that was dumb...:”

You opened your eyes to look at Hajime

“Yeah definitely”

Hajime looked back to the exisal who was preparing to attack

“Excuse me” 

he raced over to defeat the exisal.

As you watched Hajime defeat the exisal, you looked over to Kaziuchi and Chiaki who then looked over to you. Cue several seconds of awkward eye contact.

“Nice work! Keep at it!” 

Chiaki tried to cheer but her monotone voice made it seem lacking.

“Is Hope boy here for real?”

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKIN ABOUT! Of course he’s real!” 

He gestured to the ongoing brawl

“And by the way sweet cheeks, I’m real too.~” 

Kaziuchi’s lousy excuse for a flirt was gifted with a shove that sent him stumbling from you and a face palm from Chiaki.

Soon the exisal was defeated as Kaziuchi rushed over to use it’s spare parts for some mechanical things.

Hajime calmly walked over to Chiaki and Kaziuchi while you stepped off the stone to get the water out of your clothes.

“So... how was that guys?”

“Hajime you can get away with mistakes like that in smaller things but this is the big leagues” 

She patted his shoulder though to express her pride in doing well while making those mistakes.

“Well at least I beat it” 

He fixed his tie that was slightly torn thanks to the earlier brawl.

“Next time. DON’T. LET. YOUR. GUARD. DOWN. BECAUSE OF A BIG PAIR. OF GO-GO EYES” 

Kaziuchi shook Hajime’s shoulders with every word

Hajime then looked over to you who looked like a ethereal goddess as the sun hit your body just right to create something similar to a golden outline.

As Kaziuchi continued to rant about something..Hajime didn’t really pay attention as his body went over to you before his mind could even think.

“Are you...alright miss..?”

“(Name)” 

you gently swatted your hand in his face. 

"But my friends call me (Nickname) at least they would if I had any friends.”

Hajime’s surprise lasted at least a couple seconds before you continued 

“Soo do they give you a name along with that hopeful charm?” 

Hajime stuttered 

“Uh-Um... I- I- I-uhh …” 

he looked away in embarrassment. Nice going dude, Hajime thought to himself.

“Are you always this articulate?” 

You asked, your finger pointed at him as you dried a sock. 

“Hajime!”

He coughed awkwardly 

“My name is Hajime Hinata” “Hajime huh? Well I think I prefer Hope Boy”  “ So... How’d you get mixed up with the uh-” 

He leaned against a tree before he slipped and caught himself from slipping and falling.

“The robotic pinhead? You know despair-inducing creatures are. They think ‘no’ means ‘yes’ and ‘get lost’ means ‘take me I’m yours’” 

You barely leaned against Hajime, eyelashes fluttering in fake innocence.

“Don’t worry you’ll find out soon.” 

You walked away before turning to face him. 

“Well see ya later Haji. It’s been a great time.” 

You strutted away

“WAIT! Um... We can escort you there... Yeah! Let us escort you there” “No it’s fine really. My destination isn’t far from here. Just an couple minutes away.”

“I’ll be fine! I’m a big tough girl. Can tie my shoes and everything.”

“Oh...bye...”

“See ya later,hope boy”

You waved off to him

He waved back as if he was in a love-struck daze.

“She’s...something. Isn’t she Kaziuchi?”\

“Yeah yeah. She’s really something. A REAL PAIN IN MY BUTT”

“EARTH TO HAJIME”

Kaziuchi squished Hajime’s nose like a clown

“Come on Hajime we need to get into Towa City before you fall in love”

Chiaki snickered teasingly

He shook his head, flustered

“Y-Yeah! Let’s go!”

Hajime’s blush didn’t his face for a very long time

[purble-turble]

I recently imagine three possible endings for Demon King Red: 1) Him dying while trying desperately to reach for MK, who just looks at him with a mix of sadness and relief. 2) Him dying by making a huge sacrifice to save MK ( for bonus he finally admitting what he denied all this time: that MK would never love him anymore) cont

Those first two are ones I’ve thought of as well!

The first one I imagined coming as a result of their conflict finally coming to a head with a massive battle.. Red has finally recaptured MK and his holding him in his palace and Wukong and the rest of MK’s friends are not going to sit by quietly and let this monster force MK to marry him. They raid the palace, Wukong taking the lead and facing off with Macaque while the others go to find MK and rescue him. It’s bloody and destructive, but they manage to find him with Red in the heart of the palace. He’s immobilized from the bracelets Red placed on him, but Red is attacking his friends.. maybe even using the staff which he took from MK and is wielding by using his gauntlet.

MK struggles against his bonds, the pressure building as his friends start to lose and he becomes more and more desperate to save them. Finally he’s able to summon up a reserve of power he wasn’t aware he had, maybe undoing the seal Monkey King put on his powers even, and breaks free of the bracelets. Red is taken by surprise when a hand grabs the staff and yanks it away, then with one good hit he’s sent flying through the palace wall and out of sight.

There’s a moment of celebration among MK and his friends but then there’s a loud rumbling and Red reappears. This time he’s piloting a massive mech suit to rival Monkey Mech, because of course Red is going to pull out all the stops when he’s THIS CLOSE to finally having MK all to himself and if you think Red “you think I’d ever drive anything without at least one complex transformation” was not building a mech for himself then you’re more delusional than he is! :U And OBVIOUSLY if there’s going to be a climactic battle in this AU it’s going to involve MK in the Monkey Mech suit fighting a fire and bull-themed mech piloted by King Red. Cue one massive fight scene between MK and Red and after much destruction and maybe even a moment where Red seems to have the upper hand.. it turns around and ends with Red’s mech being destroyed.

Red stumbles out the wreckage, bleeding and on his last legs. His palace has been destroyed, his allies and court have fled, and once again he has nothing. Through his blurring vision he sees MK in the distance, having landed and jumped out of his mech to be greeted by all his friends. Red’s heart sinks because he did everything he could to free him from the poisonous influence of his friends but it wasn’t enough... he tries to get closer, reaching for MK with a bloodied hand, but when their eyes finally meet the look he sees on his beloved’s face makes him pause, and he realizes in that moment that it’s over. He’s lost. The adrenaline finally fades and he falls. Gone.

The second scenario I haven’t considered as much but it’s definitely occurred to me. I thought about what might happen if Red and Macaque have a falling out. Macaque’s goal from the beginning was just to be rid of MK so he could have Wukong all to himself.. if he stops working with Red, he could easily go back to his original plan of eliminating MK. If his falling out with Red is dramatic enough he could even target MK purposefully with the intent to hurt Red. I don’t have anything more specific than that in mind.. could be cool to have Red and Wukong team up in a fight against Macaque. That would be super dramatic and fun! Macaque is distracting Wukong and he sends an attack after an either incapacitated or tied up MK while Wukong is still holding off Macaque so he can’t intercept and save him.. so Red steps in and takes the hit for MK. In this case at least he gets to die in his darling MK’s arms while he looks down at him, confused and conflicted.

And that last scenario isn’t something I’ve thought about, but it is a pretty fun trope! I mean, Red’s obsession and madness weren’t an inherent part of him, it was all situational and he only got as bad as he did because of what happened to him. If he didn’t remember what happened to him and got to start over, it’s likely he’d turn out perfectly fine. Also Wukong might suggest they give him to Guanyin to ensure that he’d definitely turn out fine.

[rennyforpresident]

Renny’s BBSim: Second Chances Week 9: [Title Redacted]

Welcome back to Biiiiiiiiig Brother!

@brentrobinson​ @cirie-sandra-michaela​ @flopbb-22​ @flungevictee​ @iantxrry​ @kaysarswhore​ @maxdoesbb​ @music-obsessednerd​ @pawn2393​ @paymeincashnottears​ @rennyforpresident​ @swampassthing​  @wheremy--demons--hide​

Jury:  @theminionjcfucked​ @fucklauryn​ @phylisisley​

Last week, in a shocking turn of events, @swampassthing broke the tie to evict @phylisisley from the BB house. What transpired right before that shocking decision?

@flopbb-22, in the bathroom 15 minutes before the live show: “ @swampassthing, come here quick. I need to talk to you.

Listen, I know you have no reason to believe me, but there is no one in this house who has your back, and you know that. @phylisisley will tell you until the end of the day that she has your back, but she will sell you down the river quicker than you can say “Nominated”. You know how I know? She told me your secrets. Yeah, she told me all about the fact that you’ve been throwing comps, you’ve been hiding people’s things, you’ve been rating the people in the house on a scale of 1 through 10 based on hotness and that @cirie-sandra-michaela is a 9. I know it all because she told me. Do with that what you will, but remember that if she stays tonight.”

@swampassthing in the DR before the HOH competition: “*through tears* I trusted her! We had a bond! The fact that she was double crossing me? I had to vote her out, there was no way I could leave her in here after that. I hope she thinks long and hard about what friendship means in the jury house. God, I feel so stupid.”

After the shocking vote, the house is split down the middle, yet again (can y’all get it together for ONE WEEK). And the drama doesn’t end there.

@pawn2393 doesn’t feel supported by her allies. Every time they’ve been in danger, he’s been there for them, but this past week, when his life was on the line, they sat by and watched. He still wants to keep them close, so there’s no dramatic breakup, but he doesn’t feel like he’s a part of the alliance anymore.

Houseguests line up to compete, and this one is gonna be tough. After 10 minutes,

@paymeincashnottears gets to open a prize box! Her box contains a card that says “HAVE-NOT”. She will be the only have-not this week.

At 32 minutes in,

@iantxrry‘s box contains $5,000! Congratulations!

The last box-opener, falling at 41 minutes, is,

@maxdoesbb, your box contains the “BB BullSpit” costume! You will be dressed as a bull for the rest of the week.

After the last box is opened, another houseguest says, I’m done, I don’t have to worry about sabotage now, so I’m out.”

@flopbb-22 is OUT!

It’s the former alliance of three left! No doubt, they’ll all probably keep each other safe, but @cirie-sandra-michaela desperately wants his first comp win. The winner, after 2 hours and 5 minutes, is...

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@cirie-sandra-michaela! You have won safety for the week, and earned the right to nominate two houseguests for eviction.

A newcomer to the HOH suite! @cirie-sandra-michaela is still aligned with @kaysarswhore, and is still close with @pawn2393, but the rest of the house is a little on edge, not knowing where they stand.

At the nomination ceremony....

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@cirie-sandra-michaela: “I have decided to nominate you @iantxrry, and you @paymeincashnottears. At this point, it’s clear who’s on which side of the house. You both seem like floaters to me. At this point in the game, it’s put up or shut up, so I want to see the two of you play!”

@iantxrry in the DR: “I knew this was coming. @cirie-sandra-michaela isn’t on my side, and I can’t trust him as far as I can throw him. This veto is MINE, and then the power won’t be in the other side’s hands”

@paymeincashnottears: “So now I’m the threat? The girl who hasn’t won anything? Who hasn’t been called into the DR until two weeks ago? There’s no way I can possibly be voted out.”

We’ll see about THAT, @paymeincashnottears!

@cirie-sandra-michaela picks their alliance partner, @kaysarswhore to participate, and does a little happy dance after drawing her chip. @iantxrry picks @flopbb-22 and does what can only be described as a sad dance. She really needed @maxdoesbb to play in the comp, but it’s fine. @paymeincashnottears picks @swampassthing to play, and now everyone knows it’s game on: the Veto Queen is here.

This comp requires agility and focus, some things that some of these houseguests struggle with. Who will rise to the occasion? And more importantly, who will flop?

Once everyone has competed, @maxdoesbb reads the results.

With a time of 18:55

@iantxrry laughs off her loss, but spends a solid half hour screaming in the DR to let out her frustrations.

With a time of 9:03

@flopbb-22: “I thought I threw this comp really bad, but I didn’t realize someone could go as slow as @iantxrry did”

With a time of 6:21

@paymeincashnottears in the DR: “*crying* I hate this stupid house! Why can’t I win anything??? I’ve tried so hard in every comp but a win never finds its way to me. If I go home before winning, I’ll LOSE IT”

@swampassthing has been known to make moves before; will she do it again? @cirie-sandra-michaela and @kaysarswhore both want the power to stay in their hands; can they make it happen?

With a time of 5:58

@kaysarswhore yells “Fuck!” after seeing her time, knowing she fumbled the ball. She wanted this POV more than anything, and she desperately didn’t want the power to fall into the other side’s hands

With a time of 5:31, and the winner of the Golden Power of Veto...

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@cirie-sandra-michaela! You went from never having won a comp to winning two in one week!

@cirie-sandra-michaela in the DR: “This veto is EVERYTHING! Y’all thought I wasn’t playing the game? Who’s not playing now? These floaters need to learn that to win this, you have to fight. I wanna see them FIGHT!”

Sights set on the other side of the house, will @cirie-sandra-michaela change his nominees to target someone else?

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With nominations locked in, the houseguests anxiously await Julie to tell them that it’s eviction night.

But with the pressure of being on the block on eviction night, some people begin to lose their cool.

Later that night, after the veto ceremony, @pawn2393 is exercising in the backyard, running laps around the pool. @paymeincashnottears is trying to read in one of the lawn chairs.

@paymeincashnottears: “Can you stop making so much noise? It’s really fucking aggravating”

@pawn2393: “I’m literally just running? I’ve done this every night since I’ve been here, if you don’t like it, go inside.”

@paymeincashnottears: “Fine, I will, bitch.”

Upon the b-bomb being dropped, @pawn2393 yells, “The sad thing was I was gonna vote to keep you! Have fun at jury, tell @phylisisley I said hi!”

Later on, @pawn2393 goes to her former ally and still friend, @kaysarswhore with her problem. Well you know @kaysarswhore isn’t gonna take this shit lying down

@kaysarswhore: “If you wanna talk shit, do it with everybody around! Don’t be a fucking coward!”

(please don’t flip another GODDAMN mattress)

The two get really heated, almost coming to blows, but production calls it off before it can get that far. 

Realizing her terrible mistake, @paymeincashnottears makes the split decision to call everyone to the living room.

@paymeincashnottears: “I am so sorry for my behavior tonight. @pawn2393, I lashed out at you because I’m stressed being in this house on the block. I never meant to make it personal, and I hope you know that I mean that. @kaysarswhore, you’re a good person and I should have never have called you all those horrible things I did earlier. You’re not a loser who reminds me of a child beauty pageant hopeful that never caught her break. You’re so much better than that, and I mean it!”

Everyone gives @paymeincashnottears a big hug afterwards, and everyone goes to bed a little happier.

The next day,

@maxdoesbb continues to put in the work to make sure he’s protected from all angles. He’s not letting his relationship with @kaysarswhore slip away from him just because she has a new final 2 deal with the current HOH.

Live footage of @maxdoesbb in the house seen below:

Fast forward to eviction night!

Julie: “Hello houseguests! I have a hot date right after the taping tonight, so no time for questions! I wanna hear those speeches quick!”

@iantxrry: “I am not a floater. I took out one of the biggest targets in this house when I was Head of Household, and I’ve been nothing but loyal to my side of the house. It’s not my fault we suck at competitions. @cirie-sandra-michaela will be my ONLY target moving forward. I can’t trust you, I don’t like you, and if I get voted out tonight, I will not be voting for you to win a half a million dollars. Everyone else, I hope you vote to keep me, but I look forward to seeing all of you walk into jury after me otherwise. Love y’all!”

@paymeincashnottears: “Well, getting screentime for the first time all season really shook me up, but I want to let you guys know I’m solid now! I’ve been loyal to who I said I was going to be loyal to, and I promise I’ll win my first comp soon! If not, I’ll be happy to let you all keep beating me!”

Julie: “Why did you all talk for so long?? Didn’t I say make it quick? Anyway, time to vote!”

The first vote is to evict @iantxrry. You’re the bigger threat on the block, and there’s no way @flopbb-22 is gonna vote out the other no-comp-winner in the house.

@kaysarswhore thinks that @paymeincashnottears is fake as hell. She didn’t buy that fake ass apology she gave after their fight, and she won’t ever forgive her for calling her cast photo on the memory wall ugly. 

@swampassthing is focused on winning comps and making it to the end with someone easy to beat. @iantxrry is the bigger comp threat, and @paymeincashnottears is the easier player to beat. Win-win

@pawn2393 joins her BFF @kaysarswhore in voting out @paymeincashnottears. After their blowout, there’s just no going back.

Which means @maxdoesbb, will be breaking this tie. Who will he vote out of the house?

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Even though @maxdoesbb loves @iantxrry like a sister, he needs @paymeincashnottears to go so that there’s a bigger social threat than him in the house. His rat game depends on it!

Julie: “When I read the name of the evicted houseguest, they will have one minute to gather their belongings, say their goodbyes, and exit the Big Brother house.”

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Julie: “@iantxrry, come on out!”

Julie: “ @iantxrry, why are you sitting here? You were in such a good position!”

@iantxrry: “I know! I’m royally pissed at @cirie-sandra-michaela, because I knew the second he won, he’d put me up. We never really meshed, and he saw me as his biggest competition on the other side of the house.”

Julie: “There’s been so much talk about sides of the house. Who was on your side?”

@iantxrry: “Well, at the end there, it was really just me, @paymeincashnottears, @maxdoesbb​ and @swampassthing. It was an even 4-4, and now my side is down a number. I’m hoping those guys can pick up the pace and take the power back! I’d vote for any one of them.”

Julie: “Well we’ll see just who you’re voting for back here on finale night. Thank you so much for playing again.

There’s only 7 players left, and just 4 weeks until finale night! Who will come out victorious, and who will become the fifth member of our jury? Find out next time. From outside the Big Brother house, I’m Julie Chen. Goodnight.”

Some of y’all really decided to lose your damn minds this week, but I also wrote this at like 1am so we’ll see who gets taken out next!!

[tokiro07]

Voyager Class Ideas

Since Type-Moon has kindly confirmed that Voyager is a real class and not just the name of its current only hero, Voyager 1, so as with every other class, I’m going to speculate on its potential members before Type-Moon even explains what the qualifications are

Going by the name and the one member, I think we can safely assume that it’s a class for heroes who go on voyages, perhaps even designating its members as Heroic Spirits of the Journey (or of the Voyage, but that’s redundant). As a voyage is traditionally defined as a journey taken aboard a ship (across water or through space) I imagine a number of Riders would qualify, specifically those who traveled far from home by sea, such as Jason on the Argo, Captain Nemo on the Nautilus, or the various pirate Servants like Blackbeard on the Queen Anne’s Revenge. 

I don’t imagine a ship is a hard requirement here, though, and even someone traveling on foot would probably qualify if they went far enough. The journey itself rather than the mode of transportation is most likely the deciding factor here. People who embarked on epic quests like King Arthur and his knights in search of the Holy Grail or Gilgamesh in search of immortality might qualify by this definition, though again it might depend on how far from home they had to travel. I was actually planning to use the Wandering Jew here to fit that concept, but he’s already a canon character in Requiem, so I don’t feel right using him.

Sinbad the Sailor: 

Roc- Sinbad summons a giant bird by removing his turban, which Sinbad wraps around the Roc’s leg to use it for transportation or command it to attack enemies with its talons, beak, or boulders; this qualifies Sinbad for Rider class. 

Aspidochelone- a Reality Marble where both Sinbad and a target are stranded on an island, which is in reality a whale; should either combatant make too much noise, start a fire, damage the island, or otherwise alert it to their presence, the whale will submerge, crushing them under the waves; the Reality Marble can be dissipated by killing Sinbad in time, and the sinking can be survived with flight, Skills or Noble Phantasms related to survival or water, or a sufficient Luck stat. 

By Fortune and Fate- as Sinbad was able to survive the many disasters he attracted and subsequently accumulate so many treasures either by coincidence or the misfortune of others, Sinbad is able to survive in even the unlikeliest of circumstances, and defeated Servants will leave behind their Noble Phantasms (if applicable) for Sinbad to claim as his own, though they will generally be weakened. 

Sinbad’s Armaments include a bow and arrow (Archer), a scimitar (Saber), and the Cyclops’ two iron spits (Lancer).

Thorfinn Karlsefni: 

Vinland- Thorfinn creates a Reality Marble of a tranquil village, wherein he offers food and drink to an enemy Servant in exchange for laying down their arms; should they take the offer, the opposing Servant will gain an increase in their stats in exchange for becoming an ally to Thorfinn until the final battle of the Holy Grail War; should they refuse, the two will commence battle immediately, with the enemy Servant suffering a stat decrease. 

Thor’s Boon- the beached whale that sustained Thorfinn’s crew through the winter, eating its meat heals Thorfinn’s wounds and can even sustain his mana supply should something happen to his Master. The whale has no direct use in combat, though a sufficiently strong Servant may be able to lift it and wield it as a blunt object. As a carcass, it can potentially spread illness to Servants in the form of a stat decrease, which would be especially potent in Christian Servants.

Skraeling Bull- Thorfinn summons a bull that goes on a rampage and instills a strong urge to retreat in enemies without sufficiently strong mental fortitude; natives of the land the bull is summoned in will have much greater difficulty resisting the urge to retreat.

If Thorfinn is summoned on the east coast of Canada, where Vinland is believed to be located, his stats dramatically increase and all of his Noble Phantasms rank up

Ponce de Leon: 

Fountain of Youth- entering the waters of the fountain allows de Leon to recover from any wound so long as he still has mana; drinking the water separately from the fountain allows for healing of any non-fatal wound.

Lemuel Gulliver: 

Adventure- aboard the ship that brought Gulliver to (at least one of) his various destinations, Gulliver can direct or randomly spin the helm to face the ship towards one of them; Lilliput- enemy Servants are swarmed by the tiny Lilliputians; Brobdingnag- enemies are attacked by giants; Balnibarbi- enemies are attacked by stones dropped from the floating island of Laputa or Laputa falls upon them; Glubbdubdrib- Gulliver visits a non-classed necromancer who allows him to consult with spirits, generally for the sake of learning more about other Servants; Houyhnhnm-Land- Servants are trampled by a stampede of talking horses or attacked by a ravenous pack of deformed, human-like Yahoos. 

Yahoos With the Gift of Speech- a passive Noble Phantasm, Gulliver’s disdainful view of humans causes humans and Servants of human origin in his vicinity to begin to lose intelligence and reason (with the exception of his own Master); Servants that are less human, such as being partially or completely of Divine, monstrous, mechanical, or bestial origin, suffer a smaller decrease based on how little humanity they have.

Dorothy Gale: 

Silver Shoes/Ruby Slippers- grants Dorothy the ability to instantly travel wherever she wishes as well as granting protection from harm; though the ruby variant is more well known, the shoes were originally silver in the novels, thus allowing Dorothy to change them to their original silver to hide her identity, though invoking Ruby Slippers as the True Name grants her greater magic on account of their infamy. 

Tin-Man/Scarecrow/Cowardly Lion- Dorothy can summon any of her companions as non-classed Servants. 

Toto- though she generally won’t use him, Dorothy’s dog can exit her basket to engage in combat; he can also speak to Dorothy to give advice.

Chicxulub Impactor (personification of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs; also qualifies for Foreigner): 

Alvarez Hypothesis- Chicxulub summons an asteroid to crush their target; officially, this is an Anti-Planet Noble Phantasm, but if summoned through the Holy Grail, its power is actually limited to either Anti-Army or Anti-Fortress to prevent global destruction. Fragments of the full impactor can be broken off to be used as Armaments without invoking its True Name, and may be used to change the impactor’s area of effect.

[Note: I also considered Robinson Crusoe, Doctor Dolittle and Don Quixote, but I decided against them because while they are all known for voyages and journey, I felt they were either potentially better suited for other classes or just weren’t as interesting as other options. I may add them in here later, but I generally try to limit these posts to about five or six Heroes. I also considered Phileas Fogg and Dante Alighieri, but I’ve already used both of them in a previous post and I didn’t want to use any repeats if I could help it. All of these Heroes that I ignored are perfectly viable, I just didn’t take the time to put their Noble Phantasms in this post.]

[raywritesthings]

Fade In, Fade Out 1/2

My Writing Fandom: Arrow Characters: Laurel Lance, Earth 2 Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen, Quentin Lance, Barry Allen Pairing: Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen Summary: Pretending to be her deceased doppelganger has as many drawbacks as it does benefits, so Black Siren decides it’s time to really switch things up on her enemies and allies alike. Oliver is confronted with his true feelings once again and must finally make a choice. *Can be read on my AO3 or FFN, links are in bio*

Laurel Lance, formerly of Earth 2, had a problem. Well, several problems. Actually, they were all the same problems she’d had before, only now they were even more compounded by the precarious position she’d placed herself in. Namely, impersonating a dead woman.

It had been the best way to ensure she could no longer be held by this or that group in this or that cell. She’d been tired and hurting and so, so fed up with it all. So she’d let herself finally do the one thing she’d been avoiding for almost two years now: be seen.

Now she was Laurel Lance, miraculously rescued darling of Star City. A former ADA with a sterling reputation and a loving family and friends. How nice.

While it had bought her a temporary reprieve, it was clear this had not solved all her problems the way she’d hoped it might. Diaz was still sending his men sniffing around to threaten her and her doppelganger’s father. The bitch in the Black Canary suit was still breathing down her neck, probably barely holding back thanks to her team. And this Earth’s Oliver was continuing his sanctimonious bull about caring one minute then pulling back the next and pretending as if they were perfect strangers.

He was worried she was going to ruin his Laurel’s reputation. Maybe she should, since he’d pretty thoroughly wrecked her own image of Ollie, try as she might to maintain him in her mind. But doing anything too out of character for this Earth’s Laurel would just put her right back into danger.

Her old way of doing things had lacked security, but now it was hard for her to make any kind of move thanks to public scrutiny. She needed to be able to get away; a new fresh start on this godforsaken Earth. But she needed to keep Diaz and all her other enemies looking one way while she snuck off in the other direction. But how to do it?

And then, it turned out, the opportunity presented itself.

Quentin, her doppelganger’s father, took a call late one night. It was from this Earth’s Thea Queen, who was apparently saying goodbye.

“And Nyssa thinks there’s more of these Pits? Well that’s, that’s something… I’ve never even heard of these places you’re saying. Ojos del — well, whatever you said. And where’s that Kamchatka, that sounds — oh, Russia. Yeah, I wouldn’t have guessed that. Well, you’ll be seeing a lot more of the world than most people do.”

Laurel sat there, not really reading the law book he had pressed on her for the umpteenth time. If they were talking about a Pit, was this that magic Pit thing that wasn’t supposed to exist anymore? The one that brought people back from the dead or whatever? The dead were dead, no matter if you came to a whole separate Earth and met them again.

That’s something, he’d said, with such a wistful tone to his voice. She knew exactly what he was thinking, and it burned in her gut, angry and jealous despite it all. If he wanted his Laurel back, why didn’t he go do it instead of trying to force her to be her? Ugh, it sounded confusing even in her own head.

But as she glowered across the room at him while he talked to the other Thea on that phone, she took him in. Old, thin, frail as he was, he could never make that kind of journey. Great, now she was feeling pity, too.

The more she thought about it, though, the more she realized that these Pits still being active was something. Something that could help her, too. If she wanted everyone’s eyes off her, why not give them something else to look at? Watch the birdie.

Laurel took out her phone and made liberal use of autocorrect and suggested search to find the information she needed about Kamchatka. Then she started searching for plane tickets.

Later, after Quentin was sleeping, Laurel went out that night to the cemetery with a shovel, hoping to God this wasn’t part of some officer’s beat. There was nothing much she could do once she’d dug up the casket besides shovel the dirt back on top and pack it down. Maybe people would assume the casket had been removed since she wasn’t supposed to be underground anymore. And now her doppelganger wasn’t either.

Getting her on a plane wasn’t too difficult, but God was she glad she’d borrowed some money from Quentin so she could hire some help to carry the thing up the mountain.

“I want to see the springs,” she told her guides. “The ones off the beaten path. You know what I mean, right?” If there were rumors about these Pits, they had to come from somewhere.

The two exchanged glances. “No one goes to those springs now.”

“And why not?” Damnit, had the idiots already destroyed this one?

“There are men. They guard the springs jealously.”

Oh. The other guys. Right. Tommy’s weird evil dad’s minions or whatever.

Laurel shrugged. “I think I can handle myself. You two wait here with my birdcage.” Leaving them to exchange perplexed glances, Laurel turned and continued her march through the mountain range.

It was funny. She could have wandered around here for days without finding it, except that, two hours into that, out of the shadows leapt a man in ninja gear. That kind of blew the whole thing, didn’t it?

Laurel knocked him right off the cliff with her scream, then twisted the arm of his buddy who tried to attack her from behind, getting possession of his sword and stabbing him in the gut with it. He dropped to his knees, cursing in some foreign tongue while Laurel examines her new sword.

“Not my style, usually, but I think I’m gonna keep this. Thanks.”

He didn’t reply. Probably because he was dead. Well, she’d at least made this easier for Speedy and Friends whenever they showed up.

She found the casket abandoned on the path by the time she got back. Huh. Maybe she should have paid those guys extra. Quentin wasn’t made of money, though. No matter how much he was going to owe her once this whole thing was done.

Few things sucked more than carrying a dead body up a mountain by yourself. One of the things that did suck more was carrying a dead body that looked exactly like you up a mountain by yourself. Laurel did her best to keep her eyes on the path as she put one step forward after the other. When she finally found the crevice in the rocks that led into the springs, she sighed in relief.

This was definitely the place. The ninjas had set up a small encampment to the side of the cave, and in the center bubbled a mysterious-looking water.

“This better work,” Laurel muttered to herself, then unceremoniously dumped the body into the waters with a splash that had her quickly backing away to avoid the droplets.

What would it be like, meeting the fabled Perfect Laurel? Was it rose-tinted glasses that had everyone on this Earth making her out to be a saint?

She paced the edge, waiting for some kind of sign she hadn’t been duped. The waters had gone totally still. What the hell was she going to have to do, fish her doppelganger out? She hadn’t even brought a net.

Then the waters started bubbling again like someone had flipped the switch for the hydro-jets. She slowed, laying a hand on the hilt of her new sword.

With no warning, the previously dead body made an impossible leap from the waters, landing in a crouch with her hair hanging in her face like a wet curtain.

“Shit,” Laurel breathed to herself.

Her doppelganger’s head snapped up, eyes wild and mouth snarling. Certainly nothing like a saint. She had a split second to recognize the pulling back of her lips for what it was before she was ducking to avoid a sonic scream. She retaliated, catching her disoriented doppelganger in the side and sending her rolling across the cave floor. She didn’t get up.

Laurel listened to make sure they hadn’t caused some kind of cave-in, but it sounded like the rock was holding. Then she crept over to see if she’d accidentally killed the other woman again. The rise and fall of her chest said she was still breathing. Good.

What the hell had the whole wild woman act been, though? Was it permanent? What was she going to do with her if it was?

It was weird watching herself. Laurel paced to the other side of the Pit and stood against the wall, waiting.

She’d give her doppelganger half an hour before she just placed the return plane ticket at her feet and took off.

---

Laurel, always of Earth 1 and formerly dead, shivered as she came to, rolling onto her side and curling in on herself with cold. She was soaked to the skin and exposed to the open air of whatever this place was. Her ears were also ringing. She shook her head, feeling her damp hair sticking to the side of her face.

“Ugh.”

“You said it.”

Laurel blinked and looked around. How had she heard her own voice come from another direction?

Leaning against a rocky wall was her. Or, it looked exactly like her. “What is this?” Was it some kind of illusion? A person that could mimic appearances. Though while this other her was dressed in sensible gear for what looked like hiking a mountain, she discovered she was in one of her nicer but rather thin dresses. God, it was freezing.

“What do you remember?” The other her asked.

“Talking to Oliver?” She’d been trying to encourage him, because she’d known he was probably beating himself up about her getting hurt, and then everything went kind of fuzzy after that. She thought she could remember him shouting for someone…

“Ugh, of course you do,” the other her said, rolling her eyes. “Okay, basically you’ve been dead for about two years—”

“Wait, what?”

“And I just brought you back. You’re welcome! Only took your own doppelganger from another Earth to get the job done.”

Her doppelganger. That’s what this was. So she was from Earth 2, she was pretty sure Team Flash had called it. Where they there now? It would explain why there was what had to be a Lazarus Pit to the right of her even though Nyssa had destroyed the one at Nanda Parbat.

“Why did you bring me back?” There was something about this other her’s attitude that suggested it wasn’t strictly out of the kindness of her heart. She reminded Laurel uncomfortably of some of her worst behaviors in the midst of her spiral.

Her doppelganger smiled, and it definitely wasn’t nice. “Smart question. See, I’ve been trying to live my life on this Earth for the last almost two years, but things keep getting in the way. Mostly the people from your life. So I figure if I give them you back, they won’t keep bothering me. We’re even, see?”

There was so much she wasn’t being told, and she wished that wasn’t an old feeling. “You’ve been pretending to be me?”

“Only for a little bit. Hey, at least you don’t have to come up with a story for the press as to how you’re still alive. Someone can fill you in on the cover. I’m heading out of here and do not follow me.” Her doppelganger hefted a duffle bag higher on her shoulder.

“How am I supposed to get home from wherever this is?” She gestured down again her bare feet and lack of possessions.

The other her grumbled impatiently. “Here, take some of this stuff.” She grabbed a pair of black boots and a League-standard tunic from a small pile near the other end of the cave they were in. Laurel hurried to put both on, not really caring to ask who they typically belonged to when it meant she could finally warm up a little.

A passport hit her in the face. Then a printed out boarding pass came flying, which she caught before it could smack her as well.

“Tag, you’re it,” her double said. “And I guess you can have your dad’s credit card back.”

Laurel straightened back up. “You stole his—”

“Of course I did. I’m getting his precious daughter back for him, so what’s he going to miss a few hundred bucks for? I only bought plane tickets and a guided tour, calm down.”

Laurel did not calm down, and instead marched over to her double and snatched the card from her lose grasp. “You might think the snarky act helps protect you from other people hurting you, but let me tell you from experience that it just hurts worse watching everyone walk away.”

Her double glared, leaning into her space. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I am you. Or I was.” Laurel shook her head. “Why have you even been staying on this Earth? Haven’t you got your own?”

“And nothing there to return to.” She could see in the mirror image of her own eyes a deep-set pain and sadness. Laurel wanted desperately to ask, but she had a feeling she wasn’t supposed to be seeing it at all.

They stared at each other for a long moment.

“Look, there’s no point to this. We can’t both be you, unless we want to pretend you’ve been lying about being an identical twin your whole life,” her doppelganger finally said. “I’m leaving. Wait five minutes, then head down the mountain path. There’s a little touristy station set up at the bottom, and they can direct you to the airport.”

“You’re really just going to lay low the rest of your life on some totally strange Earth?”

“About the only option I have left. Believe me, I’m looking forward to semi-retirement.” With that, her double turned and walked out of the cave, with not even a snarky goodbye to show for it. Laurel winced; she’d been pretending to be her? Did the others know, or did they all think she’d come back from the dead with that attitude?

She had no watch, so Laurel guessed at five minutes and headed down the path. Sure enough, the tourist trap at the bottom of the mountain did have information on transportation to the nearest airport. She also discovered she was in Eastern Russia.

Laurel prioritized getting to the airport over getting access to a phone. Her flight was pre-scheduled, after all. She bought some new clothes for herself before boarding so she didn’t have to come into the Star City airport looking like a terrorist. Thankfully, her father hadn’t cancelled his credit card. She’d pay him back, assuming she still had a job.

She couldn’t believe she was really back from the dead. Around nothing but strangers, it didn’t feel real. She also couldn’t sense anything like the bloodlust Thea had had, but she wasn’t really experiencing anything that might trigger her anger. But she’d need to figure out if there was a way to get more of that Lotus sooner rather than later.

Thea, her father, the team and Ollie, how were all of them? What had she missed in her years of being dead? Did they miss her or think about her at all? It would be selfish of her to wonder if Oliver ever thought about what she’d confessed to him, right? Even she’d known that was nothing but a memory now. Hopefully he and everyone else were just happy and safe, at least as much as they could be in their line of work.

She followed her fellow passengers out into the Star City airport, breathing a little easier now that she knew she was back in her home. No matter how much she or it changed, she’d always feel that way.

Laurel started looking for a help desk, but a hand landed on her upper arm before she could take more than two steps.

“Let’s go.”

Laurel froze. “Ollie?”

He looked about the same as she remembered. It had only been two years, after all. But his expression was guarded, even hostile as he looked down at her. She almost wanted to draw back from him.

“Quentin called. Whatever you’ve been setting up in Russia, you’re going to tell me and him.”

“I wasn’t setting anything up. I just came back to life.” It was occurring to her that he thought she was her own doppelganger, that this dislike and distrust wasn’t really for her. “I’m the real me, Oliver. I’m not the other Earth one.”

His eyes widened for a second, before he shut down again. “Come on.” He yanked on her arm to get her moving.

He thought she was lying. Well, they were going to see her father, apparently, so she could just convince them both at the same time. It figured her own doppelganger would leave her a mess to clean up.

---

Oliver didn’t trust himself to speak as he guided her out to the car. The fact that she wanted to try this game again, fooling him, was proof that he’d been right to doubt her attempt to turn over a new leaf. God, what was she planning to do to Laurel’s reputation? Her legacy?

“Ollie, please,” she said as he turned the key in the ignition. “I’m telling the truth. One minute, I was in the hospital with you and the next, I was waking up in some cave in Russia with an identical copy of myself telling me I’d been dead for two years.”

“A Lazarus Pit.”

“From what I could tell.”

He smirked to himself, but nothing was funny. “The only Lazarus Pit my Laurel knew about was destroyed, so why would she assume she’d been resurrected with one?”

“Because I made an educated guess when I woke up soaked to the bone next to a bubbling hot spring. Why can’t you ever just believe me?” She demanded, and it sounded so much like her — the real her — that it tore at his heart. Oliver kept his eyes on the road.

“Because you’ve done this before.”

“My doppelganger.” Her head dropped back against the seat rest. “Oliver, I don’t know what she must have done or said the past two years, but I promise that’s not me. I don’t want to think I could be that cruel to try and trick you like that twice.”

“Then where’s your other self?” He avoided describing it in a way that made it sound like he believed her. Even if everything — her tone, her inflections, the chunky knit sweater she was bundled in, just the way that she moved — was perfect in a way Black Siren had never managed.

This Laurel didn’t seem like she was mocking herself.

She sighed wearily. “I wish I had a better answer, but she took off. Said she wanted to get away from all of this, so she was tapping me back in.”

Oliver frowned. She’d only been impersonating Laurel in the public eye for a short while. Would she really give up the visibility and protection against Diaz that Quentin kept claiming she wanted so soon? Unless — and something cold seized his heart — this was the visible protection. A Laurel out there in the public eye and Diaz’s sights while she ran off for who-knew-where.

Could she really be? He looked in her eyes for the first time and couldn’t detect any hint of a lie. Yet somehow it still felt like he was falling into some sort of trap.

“Ollie, you’re going to miss the turn,” she said. “If that’s still where my dad lives.”

“Uh, right.” He made it sharp, then pulled up outside the apartment building. He started up to his unit and she fell right into step with him without a word.

Quentin answered the door after two knocks. He’d been expecting them since he’d been able to get the number of the return flight off his credit card purchase. Oliver had volunteered to collect her in case something more was going on than a simple joyride on Quentin’s money. Now he wasn’t sure what to say to the man.

“So, five-hundred bucks later, how do you feel?” Quentin asked her.

“Daddy, I’m so sorry,” she answered, stepping forward and wrapping him into a hug. Quentin’s eyes went wide and his arms hovered in the air. He looked to Oliver.

“She’s—” Oliver cleared his throat and tried again. “She’s claiming to be our Laurel.”

Quentin gaped. “How?”

“I can explain, I promise,” She said, then looked up. “But how are you?” One of her hands rested over Quentin’s chest.

“I- I’m not sure,” he answered.

Oliver started ushering them all inside on the off chance one of the neighbors stepped outside and heard this. They gathered in Quentin’s sitting room, Quentin on the couch, Oliver standing against the side wall and her pacing the space between couch and coffee table.

“Okay, so I guess there’s a Lazarus Pit or something like it in Eastern Russia. There’s this mountain range called Kamchatka.”

“I was talking to your sister on the phone about that,” Quentin said to him. “She — Earth 2, I mean — was in the room with me.”

“I didn’t see Thea or anyone else, but I think the League might have been set up there at some point,” she continued. “Someone’s things were left behind.”

“Malcolm’s people,” Oliver said, and watched her nod. “He’s dead, by the way.”

Siren already knew that, but this Laurel’s shock looked genuine. “How did it happen?”

“He took Thea’s place on a landmine.”

Her eyebrows raised even higher. “Contradictory to the end, then. Where’s Thea now?”

“On a mission with Nyssa and Roy.” He wondered if she thought she’d have better luck convincing his sister. Oliver wasn’t so sure, because at the moment he badly wanted to be convinced even despite the warning voices in his head urging him to hold back.

“So your doppelganger brought you back with this Pit?” Quentin asked. “I mean, why? And why the hell didn’t we think of that first?”

“The bloodlust, for one thing.” Assuming she was telling the truth, this Laurel would need the Lotus cure the same as Thea had two years ago. Oliver crossed his arms. “Have you felt any symptoms?”

“Not so far. But it’s only been a couple days since I came back.” She looked from one of them to the other. “Do I have a grave we could check so you both feel more sure about this? I can tell you I woke up in my navy blue evening dress. It was a little cold for Russia.”

“I want to believe you, honey, of course I do,” Quentin said. “You have no idea what I’d give to have you back with us.”

“Then just give me some trust,” she said, reaching for his hands. “I’m your daughter. I almost went to work at a corporate law firm in San Francisco until you called me out because you knew that wasn’t who I was. I used to race Sara up the tree in our yard, and I always let her win after the first time when I made her cry and you told me it was my job to take care of her. We went out to dinner before everything at the prison happened, and you told me you were proud of what I was doing as the Black Canary, and I finally felt like I had made it somehow! Like I’d done right by you,” She said, her voice wavering.

Quentin stood, one of his hands cupping her cheek. “It’s really you. It has to be. Oh, my baby girl.” He crushed her to him, drawing in a ragged breath as she held on just as tight. “I don’t know why she did it, but I’m just so glad it’s really you.”

Oliver had to look away. It was too hard to watch. If this was some trick, it would only hurt all the worse once it was revealed. If this was real, then he’d been nothing but cold to her since she’d returned. Why did he always have to screw up when it came to her? He knew what he felt deep in his heart, but every time it came for him to act, he just—

“Ollie.” She had come up to him at some point, and he hadn’t realized he was that far into his own head. “I know I can’t ask you to trust me. But you know me better than anyone.”

He stared at her, willing himself to find some small thing out of place. If he didn’t see it now and he let himself believe, he would be lost. He knew that much about himself. And if it was all a lie, he didn’t think he could find his way back out again this time.

“What did you tell me in the hospital?” He finally asked, his voice sounding gruff to his ears.

“That you shouldn’t try to take on everything alone,” she said. “Even if you feel you have to to protect everyone.”

She was right that those had been some of her last words, and yet he couldn’t be certain that they were the only two who knew that; he himself had told Felicity, and as much as he wanted to believe she wouldn’t have spread it, he didn’t have that guarantee.

“And the other thing?”

She hesitated, glancing back at Quentin and licking her lips. “I told you that you were the love of my life and always would be.”

He heard Quentin make some startled sound, but he was too blurry in Oliver’s vision to make out any expression. He blinked a couple times, trying to clear it so that he could see her — Laurel — and he stepped forward, cupping her face with both hands, and kissed her forehead.

Oliver wrapped her in a hug after, as it sunk in that he didn’t have to leave this time. She was here in the real world with them. Laurel was alive, so much more than a dream.

She rested her hands at his back, seeming unsure, and he felt a fresh wave of guilt over how he had practically shunned her since finding her at the airport. He held her just a little bit tighter for a moment before finally letting her go, stepping back and running both hands over his face in an excuse to wipe at his eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I understand why you needed to check.” Her eyes stayed more on the floor than on her father as she turned to him and asked, “Could I use your guest room for a little? The time difference is kind of catching up to me.”

“Of course, honey. I, uh, had it set up for your doppelganger, but she took her things with her so it’s open.” The father and daughter headed back down the hall while Oliver walked over and sank onto the couch with unsteady legs.

Laurel was back. Truly. It was nearly overwhelming in its relief and yet the enormity of that fact was also hitting him. How did he explain this to Thea and the others hunting to find and destroy the Pits? How did he explain this to his team, whose experiences with the Laurel they’d known ranged from bad to worse? To his son, who was aware of the hero Laurel had been — and still was, now — but who had been warned to keep away from the woman who looked like her?

Quentin returned, taking his own seat in the armchair across. “I’m dreaming, right?”

“Feels like one,” Oliver agreed, knowing he had the experience to support that feeling. But there had been no strange glitches, and he was aware of all his memories, good and bad. This was all real.

“You’d think I’d get used to this. My daughters coming back, the whole world changing around us.”

Oliver nodded.

“Laurel and you.”

He froze and looked up, meeting Quentin’s gaze. “I… needed to know it was her.”

“Course you did. But I need to know things, too. Like just what your intentions are. I mean, you’re practically engaged, Oliver.”

He winced. “In a manner of speaking.” The thought caused his heart to sink deep down into his stomach or somewhere near it. A feeling he’d been having lately when his thoughts turned to Felicity and their tentative agreement.

Tentative because, and perhaps predictably, he’d started reconsidering at perhaps the worst possible moment: after their impromptu wedding alongside Barry and Iris. He had called the speedster up after the West-Allens had taken their honeymoon, just to catch up.

“We’re mostly just working on thank you cards now. Apparently super-fast writing also leads to super-fast hand cramps,” Barry had told him.

“Well, feel free to skip ours. Actually, what did we get you? Felicity never said.”

“Oh. It was, uh, an espresso machine.”

There was something off in the way Barry had said it, the pause and then the flat tone at the end. “Is it not working?”

“No, it does. I mean, I think so. I don’t actually drink much coffee since the caffeine doesn’t affect me,” Barry had admitted with an awkward laugh.

“Oh.” Oliver had felt his cheeks redden. He’d known that, thinking back on it. Shouldn’t Felicity have known that? He should have checked with her before they bought something, but she tended to take those things upon herself since she said teaching him Amazon was beyond her pay grade. “I guess Iris is making use of it?”

“A little. It wasn’t, uh, it wasn’t on the registry.” He’d been able to visualize the uncomfortable shuffling Barry must have been doing on the other end as he spoke. “She kind of had her fill of making coffee at Jitters, you know?”

“Right.” Oliver had closed his eyes, very tempted to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Could you send me the registry list? I can—”

“No, don’t buy something else. It’s fine. I mean, we’re not upset or anything.”

“About the gift,” Oliver had finished for him. “But you’re upset about something else.” Barry wouldn’t have even gone into any detail on the gift like this if something hadn’t been bothering him.

“Upset’s a strong word, Ollie. It’s just, you know, after the wedding was crashed and we lost Professor Stein and everything else, it kind of didn’t feel like our day anymore. And then we figured out a way to get some of that back and- and—”

“And we made it about us,” Oliver had realized with a wave of shame. What had ever possessed him to think that would have been a good idea? Yes, Felicity had asked, but he had been the one to start using the wedding backdrop as a way to hint he thought they should move things forward, and in doing so had upstaged Barry and Iris at their own celebration.

It had been the Lance family dinner all over again, where he’d subordinated Laurel’s feelings or those of Sara’s parents to a relationship he and she had wanted to try and force into working. Why was he always so selfish?

“Barry, I’m sorry. I don’t know what can make that up to you—”

“Look, we can just drop it, okay? What’s done is done.” Barry had sounded desperate to move on. “I just hope things work out for both of us, you know? We both got our dream come true.”

Oliver had hesitated.

“Right?”

“Yeah. Right,” he’d managed uncomfortably. Then he’d made some excuse or other and hung up the phone. He’d only felt it would have been an even lower blow to Barry to admit that his wedding hadn’t been interrupted by Oliver’s dream — far from it.

His dream was now sleeping just twenty feet down the hall.

Oliver dropped his head into his hands, feeling it starting to throb in his temples. He knew he loved Laurel and always would, had stopped denying that to himself over a year ago. But he was in a relationship — even a relatively chaste one since his misgivings about their not-quite wedding — with Felicity.

He’d been using William as an excuse, which wasn’t fair, but what he now couldn’t determine was, was it fair to William to have introduced Felicity into his life as a sort of surrogate only to end things with her? Or was his growing unhappiness in that relationship only going to teach his son a warped version of love and family?

They’d had no marriage certificate when they’d jumped in on Barry and Iris’ ceremony. They still didn’t. They weren’t really married. And he didn’t really want to ever be now. But was it right for him to start something with Felicity because he had been lonely and heartbroken, only to end it because the reason for his loneliness and heartbreak no longer existed?

“I know how I feel, I just don’t know what to do,” he admitted finally. Oliver jumped a little when a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Well, the first thing you gotta do is be honest with yourself and with the people in your life about how you’re feeling.”

“How do I do that without hurting someone?”

“Sometimes you can’t,” Quentin told him. “Sometimes you just can’t control how people are gonna feel, Oliver. But you have to let them feel it in their own way.”

He was right. He was right, and Oliver knew it. He also knew that avoiding the truth to avoid pain was one of his greatest failings. But by God, he had to get past this. Not for his sake, but for the people in his life.

“I should inform the team so they can start getting used to the idea,” Oliver decided. “And I need to talk to Felicity.”

She deserved an explanation, uncomfortable as it might make him to give it. He should have been honest with her about his remaining feelings for Laurel whether she was dead or alive, that it would always be a part of him. He would be honest with her now.

Oliver left the apartment, turning and heading down the block. But as he looked back over his shoulder at the building, he frowned.

The window of the guest bedroom was open.

He turned back around, walking and then breaking out into a jog. By the time he reached the hallway to Quentin’s floor, he was flat-out running.

Oliver rapped on the doorframe, waiting with impatience for it to open. Quentin blinked in surprise when he did so. “What—”

“I need to check something.” He walked straight back down the hall and knocked on the guest bedroom door. “Laurel?”

“You said you already checked it was her, and she’s sleeping,” Quentin argued.

“I’m not checking that it’s her, I’m checking—” The door was unlocked and almost bounced off the wall when he threw it open.

Oliver’s heart froze.

“She- she’s gone!” Quentin exclaimed behind him. He brushed past Oliver, going to the window and sticking his head out. “Laurel!”

It did no good, as she hadn’t been anywhere outside when he’d noticed the open window. Why had she gone? Where had she gone? Whatever the reason or location, he had to find out, and fast.

He couldn’t lose her again. Not this time.

[demansiabites]

So, the 2010′s are over, what the fuck is up with that one? I spent more time in video games during the 2010′s than I probably spent in school, so I’ve naturally been trying to rank 10 games as my favorites of the decade. Of course, I’m a dumb bitch so I couldn’t think of anything past four or so games that I loved during the decade. So under the cut, here are my top 10 games that I played during the decade ranked in idunno an order I guess:

Number 10: Far Cry 3 (November 29th, 2012), aka the worst fucking game I’ve ever enjoyed. Far Cry 3 is a video game, that’s one of the few things I’m certain of, so naturally it has video game elements. Story, gameplay, characters, some vague semblance of doing something. If someone asked me to describe how well it did any of those things, it’d probably go something like this: “The story was fucking garbage, there was one good character that they killed halfway through, there was like one good mission in the entire game, and the gameplay was passable for a first person shooter”.  So then what the fuck, why is it this high up? I don’t know, but for some reason I kept playing this god damn game at least once every year for the past few years. Even though I had to use uPlay, even though the characters are unlikable as fuck, even though the story feels like it was written in one night long bender including some combination of Vodka and Red Bull that probably resulted with at least one person in the hospital, I kept playing this fucking game. And I think I might have figured out why, it’s just fucking stupid. There are very few games I would consider a “survival” game where it doesn’t actually have survival elements, and Far Cry 3 is one of them. The entire map itself wants you dead honestly. Including a cast of tigers, giant birds, pirates, bears, giant cliffs, and sharks, there’s no safe place on the map. Getting from one end of the map to the other will include at least one fight, no matter what you do. The game gives you the stupidest tools I can think of to get you across the map. There’s literally no reason for them to give you a flare gun, but they do because why not. A wingsuit? You get that shit like, 60% of the way through the game, and that last 40% is mostly me fucking around with the added mobility they should’ve given me from the start.  I fucking hate this game so much, purely because I enjoy it more than this game has the right to make someone enjoy. I give it a 4/10. If someone asked me of any good survival games, I would recommend something else then remember Far Cry 3 a couple hours later when taking a shower. Then I would probably play it myself, because it’s the guiltiest of pleasures.

Number 9: BioShock (August 21st, 2007), aka I never said all the games came out this decade, I just said I played them. BioShock is one of those games people consider a “masterpiece”. It’s got an amazing story, revolutionary gameplay, fantastic characters. I may agree with that, but that’s not why it’s here. I bought this game and for the following three days I stayed up playing it from 8 PM to 7 AM because I kept getting so fixed into the game that I lost my passage of time. If that’s not top 10 material I don’t know what the fuck is. BioShock is a 9/10 game, play it if you know you’re not doing anything for the next 3 days because you probably won’t realize how long you’ve been playing it. Also it’s actually pretty scary sometimes, so be warned.

Number 8: Mount and Blade: Warband (March 30, 2010), aka the game where I said I was going to take over the entire map then spent 60 hours getting 33% of the way through that goal. Mount and Blade: Warband is a perfectly accurate simulation of the days under the feudal system, because everything takes 8 years to fucking happen. Travelling across the map takes minutes at a time, battles take minutes, starting a castle’s siege takes 3 in-game days, then the siege itself takes anywhere from 10 real life minutes to an hour based on how mean the game is feeling. Do I dislike this? No, not at all, I love how large scale this game. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the largest scale games I’ve played ever. Battles can have hundreds of troops at a time, the world is dominated by kingdoms with actual politics, there are hundreds of named NPCs in the game almost every single one of which you can fight or ally with. It’s fucking insane. Mount and Blade: Warband gets an 8/10 from me, it’s not at all for everyone but it’s certainly for me.

Number 7: Resident Evil 4 (January 11, 2005), aka “wait the same person that played Leon Scott Kennedy also voiced the Merchant?” I don’t think I have anything new to say about Resident Evil 4, so I’m not really going to bother trying to critique this game. I will say I beat it at least 4 or 5 times throughout the decade, having only owned it for a few years, and that I also played it with my significant other during that time and after that they bought it to play it themselves. The only other thing I feel worth mentioning is god damn did they make Leon Scott Kennedy fucking THICC. You may think the artillery are the guns you’re carrying around anymore, but nah, them cheeks could fucking fracture a skull. Resident Evil 4 gets an 8/10 from me, I would buy it at a high price. Also I love Ada Wong.

Number 6: Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (September 25th, 2014), aka the reason I would never recommend somebody to follow me on this fucking website. Danganronpa is by far, the best series I’ve ever seen have so many crippling flaws in it. Thankfully, Ultra Despair Girls manages to avoid those flaws by being just straight up a different game entirely. Most of Danganronpa’s flaws comes from how many characters they have. Ultra Despair Girls manages to fix that by not having as many characters, but expanding heavily on the characters that it does have. The motherfuckers literally made the hyperactive serial killer my favorite character in fiction, I don’t know what y’all expect of me at this point. Also, the game manages to have gameplay that is actually suited for someone such as myself. I absolutely adore the class trials in Danganronpa, but visual novels aren’t my thing most of the time. Danganronpa is certainly an exception, but Ultra Despair Girls’s third person shooter gameplay holds my attention like a vice, that shit was made for me. Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls gets a 7/10 from me, it’s certainly not the best game but god damn if it didn’t ruin me.

NOW ENTERING, THE LARGE LADS, WHERE RANKING MATTERS

Number 5: Plants vs. Zombies (May 5, 2009), aka the sentiment from the memories I have playing it is enough to put it on here. I played Plants vs. Zombies one time in the past decade, and that was just last year. But, I played it with my significant other while I was in England visiting them. We bought it for 1 pound from a game store, and played it almost every. single. day. after we bought it. We beat the main story at least three times, and one of those times I played. Honestly, it’s still a really fucking fun game, and I wouldn’t go back and change a second of the time I played it. Plants vs. Zombies gets a 9/10 from me, it’s an incredibly polished game and the memories I have of it means it’ll hold a special place in my heart for a long time to come.

Number 4: Fallout: New Vegas (October 19, 2010), aka 234 hours of my life I will never get back. Fallout: New Vegas is a special experience that I’m certain will never have a replacement. It’s reached a place in my mind where if I ever want to experience a game like it again, there is no “other game” to go to, I just go back to New Vegas and play through it all again. I give Fallout: New Vegas an 8/10, it’s incredibly buggy, but I’ll never be able to escape its grasp.

Number 3: The Outer Worlds (October 25th, 2019), aka wait there’s another Fallout: New Vegas, damn that’s rad The Outer Worlds was introduced to me through this trailer, upon which everyone was hyping it up. The game was made by the developers of Fallout: New Vegas, it looked like it had way more polish, and it was a space adventure. So naturally, with all of these positives, I was fucking horrified at what we were going to get. I was so unbelievably afraid that Obsidian was going to release the game and it was going to be bad. Well, I bought it a couple weeks after release, and let me tell you what the days after were like: BioShock, it was fucking BioShock again, god DAMMIT. The Outer Worlds is a fun, amazingly written, anti-corporation, fuck you Bethesda, space adventuring, really fucking fun game. I’m pretty sure I did almost every side quest, only missing on a couple companion quests, and I did everything I could to get the ending I sought after the most. I wanted nothing more than to topple the Capitalist Assholes, so I did. Not only did the game let me do that, but it has LGBTQ+ characters, and holy shit are some of them comparable to the UV Rays the sun is trying to fucking end me with.  The Outer Worlds receives a 9/10 from me, and I should play it again.

Number 2: Fallout 2 (September 30th, 1998), aka wow this game is the most dated piece of media, can I play it forever? I honestly have no fucking clue why I fell so in love with Fallout 2. It’s got some real problematic elements, homophobic NPCs, some of the worst parts of society, literal slavers? Literal slavers? But for some reason, I’m happy playing a game with them, because there is almost no consequence to just wiping them the fuck out. Every time I play through this game, it’s just routine for me to kill the slavers, the drug producers, the Scientologists. It’s like, the most selective experience ever, I could probably do quests for these people, but nah, I wipe them out and the game just stands there with its hands in its pockets not saying a word. It doesn’t try to stop me, it doesn’t give me some stupid negative trait for what I did. So long as I survive the encounter, I’m free to just move on with my day. On top of that, it’s also got amazing characters, and an amazing story. You can tell the story’s amazing, because in Fallout 3 Bethesda tried to do it again, and failed miserably. Fallout 2 gets an 8/10 from me, it’s a buggy piece of shit, but with a mod that fixes it it’s a way for me to spend another 90 hours.

Number 1: OneShot (December 8th, 2016), aka the best video game experience. OneShot is one of those special game experiences where I have nothing that I dislike about it. The main character is one of my favorite characters ever, they are an absolute baby. Every other character in the game is likable, as well. I have honest to god tried to come up with something I dislike about OneShot and I just can’t think of it. I may not replay it multiple times, but I don’t need to. I’m so in love with OneShot, I don’t need to play it multiple times. As a matter of fact, I don’t need to play it. I don’t own OneShot, my significant other does, they bought it at my recommendation. OneShot will never stop being one of the most special experiences to me.  OneShot is a 10/10 game, and I genuinely, with all my heart, recommend anyone who has even slightly similar tastes to me to play it. It’s one of the most lovable games in gaming, has exclusively likable characters, and I will always adore Niko from it.

[mumbal33]

The Warrior Within

Dark, brooding, and burly, one-time badass Ronon Dex has come a long way since he first jumped through the Stargate. Now a trusted member of the Stargate: Atlantis team, Jason Momoa reveals that there’s more to Ronon than just his muscles…

By Byran Cairns, Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis Magazine

Big guy. Big muscles. Big gun. Big attitude. There’s no denying these qualities immediately impressed Stargate: Atlantis viewers about Ronon Dex, a Satedan soldier from the Pegasus Galaxy who was implanted with a tracking device so the life draining Wraith could hunt him down. After easily getting the drop on Lt Col John Sheppard and Teyla Emmagan in the episode Runner, Ronan agreed to help them capture the infected Lt Ford if Dr. Beckett removed the alien mechanism under his skin. Realizing his potential as an ally against the Wraith, Sheppard later invited him to join his team and although they’ve slowly gained his trust and have been a positive influence on him, it has still been a difficult transition.

“To a certain extent, it has,” notes Momoa in his deep, gruff voice. “Ultimately, Ronon is still kind of a loner but has taken direction from Sheppard as long as he thinks it is right. That is the great part about him though. He’s military so he’ll still react and have that instinct within him but at the same time, he’ll still listen to commands.”

Since his inauguration, Ronon has been a key participant on multiple missions and the outings have given him the opportunity to connect with his team mates and adjust to his surroundings.

“Sheppard is Ronon’s commander but to me, he and Teyla are the only ones I can trust,” offers Momoa. “I go to Teyla for everything because Sheppard isn’t big on the emotional things. If I had a problem, I would go to Teyla because we’re both aliens. She’s like my sister. Shep is like my best friend through the whole thing. Weir is just my boss, I don’t know too much about her but at the same time, I respect her. Rodney is the brains and I’m the brawn and it will always be like that between us. I can kick his ass but he’ll outwit me. Beckett saved my life numerous times and in these episodes, you’ll see he’s probably saved me more than anybody. He is someone I trust and Beckett is like a good buddy now.”

The second season concluded with Ronon and McKay captured and cocooned onboard a hive ship awaiting either rescue of imminent doom. Among the Atlantis squad, those two are arguable the most polar opposite as McKay can be annoying and Ronon takes no crap. The unlikely pairing is a guilty pleasure and the new season sees them sharing even more screen time together while engaging in their trademark witty banter and scathing remarks.

“The upcoming Tao of Rodney is really good because there’s stuff where McKay is getting a lot of power and thinks he can beat Ronon,” reveals Momoa. “I’m like ‘Oh yeah? Want to take me on?’ And he’s like ‘Um no.’ It is still very much him eating all the time and me making fat jokes about him, McKay saying I’m not smart enough or I am his big friend with few syllables. He’s been calling me Caveman too and I call him fat ass. He’ll poke jokes at me or I will poke them at him but there’s a mutual respect. When it comes down to it, he’s saved my life and I’ve saved his. I am the Pitt Bull on the show and I can tear anyone apart. If McKay and me are bickering, I would chop somebody’s head off to save him.”

As the muscles on the series, Ronon’s special talent to intimidate, threaten, and kick some serious Wraith butt makes him better suited as a fighter rather than a peacemaker. Unfortunately, such roles can sometimes be limiting to an actor by not providing enough depth and development.

“Well, that is the character and the way he is,” defends Momoa. “You can’t expect him to get real emotional. That’s hard to write for. That is why in Sateda, there is a lot I don’t say but am suffering through. [Robert] Cooper and a lot of the crew guys were coming up and going ‘Wow! That was amazing!’ I don’t necessarily have to say anthing, but that doesn’t mean I’m not acting. As long as there are good things to chew on and you don’t have to ramble off all this mumbo jumbo like McKay. I would never want to say all theat sci fi garbage or Beckett with his doctor terms. I speak through my actions and the way I hold myself. I’m not the way Ronon is in real life so it is still fun to play but it is an an ensemble cast and they write for everyone.”

Luckily, Stargate: Atlantis has no intention of pigeonholing anyone and the talented writing staff has been shattering any preconceived notions by sprinkling juicy nuggets throughout season three for Ronon. The humorous Irresistible was such a case. With Atlantis somehow enthralled by a man named Lucius Lavin, Momoa was thrilled to see his tough guy alterego crack a smile.

“That was great, man,” he enthuses. “The night before, I was talking with my fiance, was a little intoxicated, and she’s making me laugh. I would go ‘Hhon! Hhon! Hhon!’ and it sounds like a motor. I couldn’t stop laughing. It was one of those giggles and the next day, I had to shoot this scene where I’m laughing and we’ve never heard Ronon laugh at all. I thought it would be great to be this big dumb animal and be, ‘‘Hhon! Hhon! Hhon!’. He just has this big, funny, annoying laugh. Irresistible was fun because I got to laugh and be goofy.”

Momoa also appreciated the series shifting from the Wraith-heavy adventures to something more light hearted.

“That is what is great about the show; we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” he admits. “The most serious character on the show is me. In that respect, Joe Flanigan plays the lead so great. He’s this unsung hero. I love the way everyone acts on the show and that it has that comedy element to it.”

However it was the recent Ronon-centric Sateda which truly excited Momoa. Once again, Ronon encounters the Wraith, returns to his home world, exposes his tragic past and vulnerable side while dealing with a dangerous present day threat.

“I had to do so much in Runner and this year, Sateda just blows it all away,” exclaims Momoa. “They finally gave me something to act with. Being an actor, I want dialogue. My guy doesn’t say much, but when he does… Sateda was an amazing episode and worth everything. We shot it as the third episode, it aired as the fourth, and it was like ‘Oh man! Now there’s not going to be anything! The rest of the season is going to suck!’ but it has been really good!”

According to Momoa, Sateda was probably the series’ most ambitious and time consuming production to date.

“Sateda was unreal,” he acknowledges. “I usually do four or five days per episode and if it is every day, it is with the whole group and I have little lines here and there. Sateda was a 12-day shoot when we normally shoot in seven. It was the biggest budget I think we’ve ever had and the most stunts and explosions. We’ve never had that many locations. I was exhausted. We basically shot a full-on movie in 12 days on a movie schedule.”

The experience was further heightened when Executive Producer Robert Copper stepped in to direct the episode.

“Robert was fantastic to work with,” praises Momoa. “I hadn’t talked to much with him before that. He’s a very quiet guy and I never go up to the office unless there is a serious problem. I came with my ideas and when I first met him, they were having a little meeting so I went in and gave him the hugest hug. I had to prove to him that I could act. He was there every scene, if I needed the set to be quiet, he would make sure they were. He gave me my time. Not to float his boat but he is definitely one of the top directors I’ve worked with on the show, let alone my career.”

Not exactly a big talker, Ronon’s right hook or his weapon shoved in your face speaks louder than words. Thankfully, outside of Stargate: Atlantis, Momoa kept in great shape on Baywatch Hawaii and North Shore. Neither series were as physical taxing as playing Ronon yet the gung ho actor immediately embraced that warrior spirit.

“When I was doing Baywatch Hawaii, my cousin was a big toe in surfing and now he’s a full-on stunt coordinator so I’ve done a lot of water stuff that has been pretty heavy in big waves,” says Momoa. “That was the only thing I knew. I had never really been in any fights and my manager is Japanese so I wanted to work with a stick. I basically did that for a bit and watched movies before I got the role. I watched tons of samurai and action movies, studying people’s body movements which is what actors do. I was finding my own way, incorporating them into the role, and listening to Bam Bam who is just a talented artist and can come up with a fight like that [snaps fingers]. We work well together because he’s not, ‘No, do it this way!’ He takes into account what you made for your character and how your body moves.”

For Momoa, that included laying off a previous injury which flared up early.

“I have bad knees, so grappling and going low are very hard for me,” he notes. “Runner just got me because we didn’t have the lighter guns so it was five-plus pounds and it was hammering on my right knee. At the end of the day, you soak in the bath, have some wine, pop some Advil, and you’ll be fine. But we established Ronon isn’t really a kicker and more of a head butt, punch kind of guy. The studio likes it and it is working well. Sateda did rip me apart because I had armor on too.”

Before the SG-1 spin-off geared up, most of the actors reportedly signed a five-year contract. Yet when asked whether he could imagine himself in the series for the long haul, Momoa momentarily pauses.

“Tough call. I don’t know if I would want to play Ronon for five years. Playing a character for four years is a little much for me so I’d like to move on. Ultimately, I’d like to be in movies. It’s kind of up in the air. This was a fantastic role and I’ve never played anything like it but not to expand or try other things would be selling myself short.”

Naturally, Momoa isn’t necessarily vying for those adrenaline charged parts.

“Originally, I did not want to be an action star,” he confirms. “I felt it was a trap I’d get into and it would come easy for me. I’m a pretty coordinated cat. I don’t want to be an action star because I don’t want to limit myself to anything.”

In the meantime, Momoa couldn’t be happier on Stargate: Atlantis. However, with only a handful of episodes to finish, he isn’t prepared to speculate on where Ronon is heading. Yet after adding his two cents on his imposing, dreadlocked character last year, the 27-year-old is hoping to fulfill a growing ambition on the series.

“I’d really like to do a story and have a credit for that,” says Momoa. “If I stay on the show longer, I’d love to do a director’s attachment where you sit down and go through the whole thing with him in post-production. I’d eventually love to be behind the camera, going through the dailies, editing, and enhancing what has been shot. I’d love to do that. Hopefully that may be possible next season.”

[chirpingtiger]

Five reasons why Tony is more of a villain in the MCU than Loki

1.) Kill count.

Pure and simple, Tony has a higher human kill count than Loki does.

Loki is responsible for summoning the Chitauri army to New York, and thus all the deaths caused by that.

We are told in Avengers that “he killed eighty people in two days,” and shown in Civil War that the kill count from the battle for New York is seventy-four, (although some of those deaths were shown to be caused by the Hulk).

This makes Loki’s total 154 people.

In canon, Loki is punished for this by being sent back to Asgard in chains and imprisoned there.

Tony is responsible for creating Ultron and unleashing him on the world, and therefore is responsible for all of the deaths that Ultron caused. Now, we are never given a specific number on the people that Ultron killed while resource gathering for his big hit, but we know that there were at least three significant ones. The civilian death count from Sokovia was shown in Civil War to be one hundred and seventy seven, and we know that Pietro died there as well.

Looking ONLY at the Ultron fallout, Tony’s total is up at 181 people.

27 more than Loki.

Now, I could count all of the people Tony killed in the first Iron Man movie even though a good number of them were terrorists, however that gets into a bit of a moral grey area. For the record, however, there were about forty kills shown on screen for this category.

There were also a number of deaths caused by Tony’s fist-fight with the Hulk in Johannesburg, however I don’t currently have a clear number for that, so we’ll pass on those kills for now.

There are an additional fifty nine kills that Iron Man makes on screen in the other movies, whether it be blowing people up, smashing them through walls, or firing a repulsor into their face at full power.

Additionally, I could go into detail about all the people killed by Tony’s weapons when he was selling them to make his billions, but that would take me far too long to total up, and many of the fans will argue about which ones he did and did not sell himself. (Though in the end he technically signed off on all of them, so really, if he didn’t read the paperwork, it’s still gross negligence, and it’s still on his head...)

Keeping in mind that Tony’s creation of Ultron behind his teammates’ backs was the cause of 181+ deaths...If we then include all of the other human casualties that Tony has caused, his total is 280 people.

126 more murders than Loki.

In canon, Tony is excused for all of these deaths without question.

2.) He ratted out Clint’s secret family

Loki brainwashed Clint in the first Avengers movie, and spent half the film inside his head, poking around through his deepest darkest secrets.

He knows everything about Clint.

And yet, Loki never once uses Clint’s family as a bargaining chip against him. In fact, he never tells a soul about Clint’s family.

It would have been the perfect bargaining chip - the ultimate “do what I say OR ELSE” - and Loki never touches it. He sees that this man has a wife and two kids that he wants to keep safe, and has gone to such extreme lengths to make it happen, and he decides to let Clint’s family stay a secret, even when Clint comes back to himself and is fighting against Loki.

The others find out about Clint’s family in Age of Ultron. Clint brings Tony and the others back to the farm in AoU to get them off the radar, trusting the secret of his family to his teammates so he has somewhere safe for the Avengers to stay for a while as they regroup.

In Civil War, at the Raft, Tony mentions in front of everyone that Clint has “a wife and kids” to berate Clint for showing up to help Steve fight the super soldiers. Tony knows that Scott and Sam weren’t there in AoU and probably don’t know about Clint’s family. Additionally, he reveals this information while knowing that Ross and the UN security guards are actively listening in, looking for something to hold over their prisoner’s heads - he scrambles their sound feed a moment later to convince Sam that it’s safe to tell him where Steve went.

Tony knowingly and intentionally reveals the existence of Clint’s wife and kids - putting them all in grave danger - for the sake of punishing Clint for picking what he feels is the wrong side of an argument.

3.) Daddy Issues Are an Explanation - Not an Excuse

Now, neither of them had stellar fathers.

Howard was always distant and busy, and was said to have been too absorbed with his work to take time to “say he loved me to my face” to Tony.

Odin slaughtered Loki’s race, found him abandoned in the rubble, and took him home in disguise as a kind of war prize, letting him believe that he was truly his son until it came down to who would inherit the kingdom, where he chose a (then) inept and bull-headed Thor over a calm and competent Loki for no apparent reason other than favoritism.

Loki blames Odin for his fall from grace, because everything he did was to prove himself to a father that was never even going to consider putting him on the throne. But that’s where it ends.

All of his other mistakes he blames on himself or his nature. He is the monster that parents warn children about, so it makes sense that he would act the part of the monster. (And even then, it’s only for a short while, until he is able to grow past his issues and get his act back together in Thor 2 to help out. He’s still a bit mischievous and a touch backstabbing, but at this point it’s a personality trait, and he always winds up coming around to the side of good in the end.)

Tony blames every mistake he makes on “Howard’s A+ Parenting,” refusing to take responsibility because not getting along with his father while growing up is apparently a valid excuse for the constant bad life choices of a 40-something year old man. He never grows out of this either, and makes no attempts to move on. It is his go-to “get out of jail free” card. “My father never loved me, therefore everything awful I just did is excused.” “Maybe if I’d gotten more attention from my father, I’d be better at dealing with Peter, or being a team player, or not treating Pepper like garbage.”

4.) Knowingly Endangering the Lives of His Allies

In the first Avengers movie, when they’ve all gathered together aboard the hellicarrier for the first time, we find out that Banner is essentially a bomb waiting to go off in the form of the highly-destructive Hulk - a bomb that is triggered by Banner getting mad or startled or threatened.

So naturally, what is the first thing that Tony Stark does, while on an enclosed airborne ship with hundreds of innocent people and his allies?

He purposely tries to set off the Hulk by prodding at Banner with sharp and electrified things, just to see how good a hold Banner has on it.

Tony actively tries to set off the Hulk, knowing full well that it may cause the deaths of many if not all of the people on board the craft, and he doesn’t give a damn.

For another example, Tony gets drunk in the iron man suit and starts shooting things.

At a party.

With hundreds of people packed into a tiny space.

Now it could be argued that he was having an emotional breakdown at the time because he thought he was dying, however that’s like trying to excuse someone bringing a loaded machine gun into a crowd because “they were  under a lot of stress at the time.”

It’s not excusable.

It’s selfish.

It’s saying ‘my method of coping with my problems is more important than the lives of everyone else.’

In the process of this, he nearly winds up killing Rhody.

And, to further prove that he has no regard for his allies:

He invites a man with a known grudge against him to “hit me with your best shot, here’s my address” and almost gets Pepper killed as collateral. He also turns on Steve at the drop of a pin at the end of Civil War, and tries to kill him, and Bucky as well, until Steve is forced to manually power down his suit. Tony is also firing live explosives at Clint and Wanda in the airport battle (of a large enough caliper that Clint stops to shield Wanda from the giant chunks of debris falling around them cause he’s afraid she’s going to get hurt) and has his repulsors at a high enough charge that he puts a giant hole in solid asphalt from 90 yards away while firing at Clint. He also shoots Sam Wilson point blank in the face with his repulsors for failing to take the shot that knocked Rhody from the sky, despite the fact that Sam risked his life nosediving to save Rhody without any armor to protect him at all and has previous trauma from watching a flight partner lose their life from being shot out of the sky.

Tony has no loyalty to his allies, and sees them all as expendable so long as it suits him at the time.

To quote The Avengers: Steve: “You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.” Tony: “I think I would just cut the wire.”

Loki, on the other hand, tends to switch sides a lot, but he always stays true to the side he’s currently on, and never knowingly endangers his allies.

The people he brainwashes in Avengers aren’t used as cannon fodder - they are kept safe and protected while they do his work for him, and he personally sees to it, to the best of his abilities, that they are not harmed or captured by SHIELD or the Avengers.

In Thor 2 he teams up with his brother and stays loyal to him, helping protect Jane through the length of the film, including two scenes where he shields her with his own body and another where he almost gets himself killed while trying to take out the baddie.

In Thor 3, Loki returns to what he’s pretty sure is going to be a death match with his big sister in order to save the people of Asgard, even though most of them view him with nothing but scorn, and even tries to offer his brother a way out of the arena despite the fact that it will endanger his position with the Grandmaster and potentially put him at risk.

Loki is incredibly loyal to his allies, and wouldn’t ever actively try to harm any of them, regardless of grudges, if they are working on the same team.

5.) Committed Genocide

At the end of The Avengers, the UN sends a nuclear warhead at New York to prevent the spread of the alien attack, and Tony redirects that nuke up through the wormhole as a convenient way to dispose of it.

Once through the wormhole, he aims it at the home ship of the aliens before letting it go and allowing himself to fall back to the safety of earth a few seconds before the Avengers close off the portal.

The nuke hits the ship, and every alien immediately drops dead.

No matter where they are, no matter the fact that they’re galaxies away or possibly in different realms, every single alien drops dead the minute that ship is destroyed.

Their species no longer exists.

Down to the last male, female, and infant on every planet in every galaxy in all of the universe, Tony Stark has effectively wiped them from existence.

His reaction to this? 

The closest counterpoint I have to this is at the end of Thor, when Loki makes a final play to win his father’s favor by trying to finish his brother’s quest to wipe out the Frost Giants - what he mistakenly believes is the final goal for the King of Asgard.

Unlike his brother, however, he plans on doing so by using the Bifrost to tear their world apart.

Thor stops him by shattering the Bifrost, and in the resulting explosion Thor and Loki are both nearly thrown into space, Odin showing up in the nick of time to grab hold of Thor’s foot.

Loki pleads with his father that he was only trying to do what he felt was his job as upcoming King:

To which his father simply responds “No, Loki.”

And at this - realizing that he nearly wiped out a species because of his own mistakes and ambition - he lets himself fall into the depths of space instead of allowing his brother to save him.

And so, given the above points as well as the fact that Tony always seems to weasel out of all of the consequences for his actions whereas Loki has been punished and imprisoned multiple times for his similar transgressions, I believe that Tony Stark is far more of a villain in the MCU than Loki ever was, or will be.

[sincerelysaoirse]

All 130 questions 🤓

Mannnnnnn……….

SEXUALITY & COMING OUT:
1. How do you define your sexuality?Queer
2. What pronouns do you use to identify yourself?She/her
3. At what age did you first suspect that you are sexually attracted to other girls?12 years old
4. At what age did you come to terms with your sexuality?Hmm probably 18
5. Did you have an “aha I like girls” moment or was it more of a gradual realization?“Aha I like girls”
6. How did your sexuality make you feel before you came out?Guilty, freaked out
7. How did you become comfortable with your sexuality?Making gay friends
8. At what age did you first come out?16/17 officially. I had been saying it to my mom since I was 12
9. Who was the first person you came out to? How did they take it?I guess my mom but she didn’t take it seriously when I was 12. Then one of my friends when I was 16 and she was.. awkward
10. Do your parents know about your sexuality?Yeah
11. How out are you?Pretty out
12. Do you now identify as something different than when you first came out?Yeah
13. Was anyone surprised when you came out or did people seem to already know?No one was surprised 
14. Has coming out lost you any friends?No
15. How soon after meeting someone do you usually tell them about your sexuality?I feel like I never really tell? They just find out from other people? Idk how anyone finds out 
16. How difficult do you find it to sympathize with straight women?Not very
17. Have you ever wished you were completely straight?No
18. Agree or disagree: Everyone is at least a little bit gay.Agree
19. If you are not a lesbian, about what percentage of the time do you find yourself attracted to other girls?95%
20. Do you think it is possible to be a true 50/50 bisexual, or is the percentage always skewed towards one gender?I think it’s skewed
21. How often do you find yourself trying to sneak a peek or stare at a cute girl?Every fuckin day
22. How accurate is your gaydar?Not accurate at all

RELATIONSHIPS & DATING:
23. What is your current relationship status?Single
24. What is the longest relationship you’ve been in? Are you still with that person?I guess two years on and off and no.
25. Do you remember anything about the first time you kissed another girl?It was at a bus stop
26. Are you a virgin? If not, what gender did you lose your virginity to?Yes fml
27. What is your ideal first date?Going for a drink. Or going to the extreme and going around town doing a photo shoot for Instagram 
28. What personality trait are you most attracted to?Funny? Confident? 
29. How flirty are you?Pretty flirty ah
30. Would you ever want to get married, if not already?Yes yes yes
31 Do you want have children someday?Ooh maybe not 
32. Would you ever want to give birth?If I was having children yeah
33. How often are you asked if you have a boyfriend?At least once a week 
34. Have you ever liked or dated a girl with the same name as you?No
35. Have you ever been on your period the same time as a girlfriend?Yeah 
36. Have you and a girlfriend ever been mistaken for sisters?No
37. Have you ever been in a long distance relationship?Yeah
38. Have you ever dated a guy?No
39. Has a girl ever dumped you for a guy? Have you?No and no
40. Has another girl ever hit on you?Yes
41. Have you ever had a crush on a straight girl?Yessss
42. Have you ever had a crush on a woman who’s significantly older than you?No
43. Would you ever date a trans woman?Yes
44. Have you ever had a profile on a LGBT dating website or app?Yes 
45. Where do you think is the best place to meet a potential lover?Ideally like in a bookstore or in some soulmate way on the street. Realistically in a bar
46. Do you consider yourself a hopeless romantic?Yeah

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:
47. Have you ever cut your hair super short? If not, would you ever want to?No and no
48. Is your nose pierced?It had been three times! I keep having to take it out for shows
49. What is your opinion on septum/bull nose piercings?Love em
50. Do you have any tattoos? If so, of what and where?One watercolour abstract one on my ribs
51. How muscular are you?Not very
52. Are you or have you ever been a tomboy?No
53. Have you ever been told that you don’t look gay, or that you’re too pretty to be gay?“Too feminine”
54. Have you ever been mistaken as a dude?No

FASHION STYLE:
55. Do you wear skirts and dresses? If so, how often?Yes probably once a week 
56. Do you wear high heels? If so, how often?Probably once a week
57. How much jewelry do you typically wear?None
58. How much makeup do you typically wear?A little bit or full face going out 
59. How often do you wear a bra?All the time except at night
60. How often do you wear flannel?Never
61. Have you ever worn a suit?No
62. Do you wear any shoes such as combat boots, Doc Martins or Timberlands?No
63. Do you carry a purse?No
64. Do you wear any hats such as snapbacks or beanies?No
65. Have you ever worn any men’s clothing?Yes
66. Have you ever dressed in complete drag?No
67. Have you ever shared clothes with a girlfriend?No
68. If you want to get married, do you think you will wear a dress?Yes

ENTERTAINMENT:
69. Who is your favorite LGBT celebrity?Kate McKinnon
70. Have you ever watched The L Word?No
71. Have you ever watched Will & Grace?No
72. Have you ever watched RuPaul’s Drag Race?Yes
73. How well do you feel LGBT women are portrayed on television?Not well tbhh
74. Do you listen to any LGBT musicians (i.e. Tegan & Sara, Melissa Etheridge, Chely Wright, Elton John, Sam smith, George Michael, Adam Lambert)?Troy’s Sivan, Hayley Kiyoko, dodie
75. Do you watch any LGBT YouTubers?Rose and Rosie, Ally Hills, Shane Dawson, dodie, Miles, like all of Buzzfeed lmao
76. Do you have a favorite LGBT themed movie?I guess ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’
77. Do you have a favorite LGBT themed blog or website?Nah
78. Do you read any LGBT magazines?Nah
79. Have you read any LGBT themed literature? If so, do you have any recommendations?Nah
80. Is there such a thing as “good” lesbian porn?Probably not

THIS OR THAT:
81. Boobs or butts?Boobs
82. Beer or wine?Wine
83. Ellen or Portia?Ellen

BEING (SOMEWHAT) RANDOM:
84. How much do you like cats?More than dogs
85. Have you ever been to a gay bar or a gay club?Yes
86. How many LGBT friends do you have?Dozens
87. Do you have any LGBT relatives?Yes one uncle 
88. Have you ever used any words (or variations of) such as lesbian, queer, gay, or homosexual as a password?No
89. How outdoorsy are you?Not very
90. Have you ever driven an SUV, Jeep, or pickup truck?No
91. How many rainbow items do you own?Probably two
92. Have you ever celebrated National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11)?No
93. Have you ever participated in the National Day of Silence?No
94. Have you ever attended a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) type of club?No
95. Have you ever attended a PFLAG (Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) meeting?No
96. Have you ever attended a gay or lesbian wedding?No
97. Have you ever been part of a softball team?No
98. Do you skateboard or longboard at all?No
99. Do you play any video games?No

FROM 1-10, HOW ATTRACTIVE ARE:
100. Muscular women?9
101. Women who wear glasses?10
102. Women who are covered with tattoos?10
103. Women who are covered with piercings?10
104. Curvy/plus-sized women?10
105. Women with short hair?10
106. Highly intelligent women?10
107. Tall women (i.e. around 1.83 meters/6 feet or taller)?10
108. Masculine/butch women?10

GETTING SERIOUS:
109. What does equality mean to you? Everyone being respected and treated according to their rights? Like treating people the way they should be treated
110. Do you consider yourself a feminist?Yes
111. Do you eat meat at all?Yes
112. Are you religious at all?No
113. How do you feel about the terms “woman crush” and “girl crush”?They’re not great
114. How do you feel when platonic female friends refer to each other as girlfriends?No tnx 
115. How do you feel when people use the word gay to mean things such as stupid, dumb, boring, or idiotic?Angry 
116. Are you comfortable with terms such as lezzie, lesbo, dyke, homo, or tranny?No
117. What are your views on gender identity and bathroom use?There should be gender neutral bathrooms everywhere
118. Do you have any opinions on LGBT people in the military?They should be treated the same as everyone else?
119. Have you ever been called a gay slur?No
120. Have you ever been queer bashed?No
121. Have you ever been discriminated against because of your sexuality or gender identity? If so, please explain.No
122. Does it really get better?I think so
123. Americans: How did you feel on June 26, 2015?
124. How accepting of LGBT people is the city/community you live in?Pretty accepting
125. Have you ever tried to “pray the gay away”?No
126. How annoyed are you with how heteronormative society is?8/10
127. What LGBT stereotype do you most disagree with?Like all of them idk I’m so tired
128. Is there anything about the LGBT community that you wish you knew before coming out?Nah
129. What advice would you give to a girl who is struggling to figure out her sexuality?Don’t rush yourself to know who you are but be comfortable with where your identity is. And know that it’s okay for things to change. 1000000s of people feel the same as you.
130. What advice would you give to a girl who is struggling to come out?Come out to yourself first. Accept and love yourself. Then go to the next person you know that will love you no matter what. You’re probably better off just saying rather than beating around the bush😎👉

That was so long tnx

[andrewuttaro]

Alternative History: The Rhinos made it to Major League Soccer!

I used to have a blog called Rhinos Outsider. This post is meant to be a more fun one harkening back to those days… earlier this year. Back then I wrote these pointed think pieces on the Rhinos past, present and future. I beat the MLS Push phase of the club’s history into the ground including a whole blog post asking if the Rhinos should even want MLS anymore. If you want that material feel free to go back and read it, once I get the blog in order again they should be easier to find. This post will only be like those in format. Part of the fun of those posts were that they involved some speculation and deep thinking about this club. As I try to be a more cerebral blogger these days I thought some good old speculation would be a fun break.

What if the Rochester Rhinos made Major League Soccer? What if the big 2000s MLS push that bankrupt the club’s original owners was somehow successful? I’ll be taking some creative liberties and changing history to imagine how it might have happened. I know it didn’t and this is not me continuing to beat the dead horse. No, as you read on you’ll see why this is not a frantic love letter to this country’s top-flight. In fact, this piece maybe a cautionary tale about how MLS has grown and does business. What could have actually happened if a few things were different? Maybe not as much as we think. I’ll change some turning points in the real story and once we diverge to Rochester reaching Major League Soccer I’m going to go off to the races! It’s speculation of course but its also supposed to be a little fun if you know the real story… or if you just know Major League Soccer.

With no further ado, let’s get to the fun!

Where it all went wrong…

The stadium building delay still happens. PAETEC Park is still funded with a large aid package from New York State and the original owners still go financially insolvent, it just plays out differently. First things first, that fateful night when Don Garber and the Major League Soccer bigwigs demanded a full payment of the expansion fee goes differently. Our OG owners don’t get cold feet: they take out yet another loan, this time from a different bank, and pay them their money. That decisive night goes Rochester’s way instead. That payment turned out to be everything the league needed! Even after the 2006 opening of PAETEC Park went just as haphazardly as it did in our timeline MLS and the National Federation granted the organization a three-year waiver period from the stadium standards they were not yet up to.

The first of those waiver years in Major League Soccer is the 2007 season. From the very get go it is clear all is not well in Rochester. After a very underwhelming MLS season the team does not even come close to the playoffs: the first time the team misses’ their league’s playoffs in club history. The Rhinos also suffer their worst loss in club history losing a spectacular 9-0 decision to New England Revolution. Off field things are worse as the contractors the club enlists to upgrade the new stadium to MLS standards suddenly pull out of the job the week of Halloween. The issue peaks the League Office’s interest and an internal investigation reveals the Rhinos owners are in deep debt overborrowing from three different banks. The scandal embarrasses MLS and Rochester. The club’s owners file for bankruptcy a year earlier than our timeline and the league takes over the team on December 1st, 2007.

With the embarrassment of the league contracting two Florida teams in recent memory Don Garber and MLS resolve to find an owner even after the initial search proves very difficult. Eventually the league turns ownership over to trusted ally Philip Anschutz, a founder of the league with ownership stakes in several teams. Seeking the stability of the league he insists on only holding onto the franchise until its two remaining years of the waiver period is over after the 2009 season. He helps pay for the necessary stadium upgrades and enlists the help of the City of Rochester in finding a new owner in a revamped 2008 owners search. Local grocery store magnate Danny Wegman buys the Rochester Rhinos that year after much insistence from Major League Soccer. Wegman’s purchase corresponds pleasantly with the Rhinos clinching their first MLS Playoff appearance with a comeback victory over downstate rival New York Red Bulls on September 28th, 2008. For a brief moment at the end of the 2008 season it looks like all maybe well with Rochester Rhinos SC.

The Dream Dies

While the Wegman Era starts out with a bang, it trails off from there. The Rochester Rhinos are eliminated in the 2008 Conference Semifinals by Houston Dynamo and fail to qualify for the playoffs in the following season in 2009. By 2012 Major League Soccer is fully in its 2.0 stage; downtown Soccer specific stadiums are the impetus along with spending on foreign talent. The Wegman family becomes notoriously cheap with spending and refuses to take an active role in the franchise as the years go on. Wegman infamously states at an industry conference that the supermarket chain’s expansion into the south is being slowed by “some god-forsaken kickball team”. Wegman’s frustration may have arisen from construction costs. Although his investment allowed the downtown stadium to get up to MLS standards by the end of 2009, by summer 2011 the Rhinos stadium is still undergoing piecemeal projects that needlessly frustrate match attendees.

For the third straight year attendance declines. Average attendance at Rhinos games falls to 10,000 in 2011 before almost cutting in half in 2012 to 5,560. After a local petition to change the team’s name to Rochester Lancers led by local pizza magnate Soccer Sam Fantauzzo fails he exclaims the club is not the same one that won the Open Cup in 1999. Fantauzzo starts a budget team in the amateur ranks by the name Rochester Lancers. The club’s first game in the summer of 2013 draws 3000 fans and turns into a protest of the Rhinos after the conclusion of the match. Meanwhile season ticket holders and box seat purchases at Wegmans Soccer Stadium hit an all-time low and general attendance collapses to a 3200 average in 2013.

For a brief time in the Fall of 2013 there is speculation the owners of the Buffalo Sabres, Terry and Kim Pegula, have interest in buying the MLS organization. While sources deny the rumors it gets out they considered it if they could move the team to Buffalo. Apparently Don Garber was ready to finalize the deal before the Pegulas got distracted by the opportunity to buy the NFL Buffalo Bills. MLS wanted to move the club and switch owners but had no good pretext to do so beyond attendance numbers. Then they got their way. The Wegman family’s growing disinterest in owning the team leads them to default on the lease agreement with the City of Rochester. Knowing the owners do in fact have the money to pay, Rochester moves on MLS in a lawsuit. The suit is settled out of court, but the MLS removes the Wegmans from ownership of the team five years to the day they took over. The league rallies interested ownership groups in other cities and manages to move the club to St. Louis just ahead of the 2014 season.

The City of Rochester is relieved at the departure of the troubled franchise while supporters cry foul. The NPSL Rochester Lancers move into the downtown soccer stadium which is now renamed Salvatore’s Pizza Stadium. After the 2014 NPSL season concludes Sam Fantauzzo announces his club will move to the USL PDL in 2015. After the Lancer’s 2015 season in the PDL the City of Rochester takes over full control of the stadium and kicks the PDL squad out. Ironically, the Rochester Lancers fold after failing to secure another home field due to a perceived connection to the MLS Rhinos. After three years abandoned by the City, the downtown soccer stadium burns to the ground in June 2018 after a mysterious explosion. After gunning for MLS for most of a decade, the Rochester Rhinos are gone from Rochester after only six seasons in that top-flight.

Conclusion

Ha Ha: the first priority here is to laugh. If you’re an avid follower of MLS expansion or lower league soccer you may find some humor in parts of this… or not, I’m no comedian. So why did I write such a nasty alternative history if I am supposedly a Rochester Rhinos supporter? Part of why the Rhinos went downhill in our timeline was the result of a hasty buildup in the MLS push. The financial reality of MLS in the 2000s means that push would only have continued after making the league. Moreover, after David Beckham arrived MLS changed. MLS changed even more as Portland, Seattle and similarly transformative clubs entered the league with plans to make money by actually winning. Rochester, a City still rebounding from decades of diaspora, would simply not have survived in Major League Soccer.

I feel like I should say sorry but no, I’m not sorry. Why our timeline’s Rochester Rhinos are in the situation they are right now has less to do with MLS and more to do with Rochester itself. Sometimes the dreams we think we need are the poison pill that fate saves us from. I truly believe the Rhinos would’ve floundered in MLS and would’ve been a relocation candidate from the word go. In our timeline we have stadium truthers who tell you how they called into sports radio in 2004 warning about the stadium as if that’s not the most obvious flex ever. In the alternative timeline we have St. Louis Soccer fans in Rochester boycotting Wegmans supermarkets because they’re too thick to see the bigger picture.

Soccer in America is still a “pick your poison” affair. If you go with lower league/non-league soccer you have short ass amateur seasons. You go USL, you have all the academy players and none of the prestige. You go MLS… while then you better be a top 50 City population wise with a pretty attentive sugar daddy. I don’t want my team to be on hiatus, and they may only just barely exist now, but they’re here. That’s what I have that alternative history MLS Rochester Rhinos fans don’t have: a club to support in 2019. Well… sorta.

Thanks for reading.

[craske]

The last Guardian fanfic pt.1

The story takes place years after Boy’s adventure in the Nest, when he is all grown up and finds the Mirror from the Valley. 

It’s a short fanfic, might have max 4 parts, first part is mostly what happened in epiloge.

[FIRST]  >  [NEXT]

MAJOR SPOILERS MENTION!!

Village children were playing together, being loud, chasing eachother, that is what children should do while they can. They were running around, playing the game of tag on the glade in the center of the Village, one or two of children tripped over, ran into few adults who were busy, doing things they had to do. One lady yelled, but children didn’t bother. They were too much involved in their game.

The late summer sun was setting down, so most of torches were already lit, but the villagers were still running around. They had to prepare for incoming winter, which still seemed to be a distant thing. But a lot of things had to be done, so the sooner you start the better. Wood was being brought from the forest, additional fruits were being collected, more animals were being skinned, not to mention women sewing special clothes, men improving cottage’s walls and roof. Children also had their responsibilities, though some decided to have a little break.

One boy was being chased by another one, who was chosen to catch other children as fast as he could. But when the chasen was sure he lost the pursuit and slowed down, something green caught his eye. The sunshine was reflecting in something small sticking out from the ground in midde of one of few patches of dirt. He stopped running, and after a moment of watching at the misterious object the boy walked up to it and kneeled down. It was simmilar to the plate, or small round shield. But it was green, and not made out of grass, wood or leather. It was more like a metal, though more smooth and shiny. And green. The misterious object was covered in dirt, but when child wiped off some of it, he saw the reflection of himself. It was a mirror! Very wierd one though. In the meantime other children noticed that their friend found something and came closer to see what was it.

-What is it?-

-What did you find?-

The boy didn’t know, he only shrugged. -I have no idea, it looks like a mirror, but it’s green… and has some wierd markings here, see?-

He pointed at said markings, which created some sort of a circle, though these markings were really small and in fact looked like some kind of writing or simply symbols. But what do these mean?

-You’re right!-

-What are these things?-

Children came even closer, everyone of tchem wanted to look closer at the Mirror or even touch it. But none of them tried to pull it out from the ground.

And then the group heared footsteps from behind. Ready to be scold they all looked up, but it wasn’t Nanny, it was the middle-aged man with a short beard. He looked like typical villager, but one thing made him stand out. His whole body exept face was covered in wierd tatoos, robes the Man was wearing were typical for people of important rank. Everybody knew that these marking on his skin weren’t actual tatoos, but nobody knew why and how they were created. But there were stories. About the Nest, ancient ruins located inside the moutain, alive suits of armour, glass eyes and flying feathered man-eating beasts. They often came to the villages at night, captured children and ate them alive. This Man though, he was brought back by one of these feathered beasts back. But children didn’t think it’s true, not now anyway. No more feathered beast have been seen for many years now.

Children stood up when the Man came, but he didn’t say a thing, because he didn’t seem to be mad. He looked at the Mirror in the ground, and despite not seing this for years, it looked exactly as he remembered it. But it was smaller, though the reason was clear.

-We found it just a moment ago- one child said, while others nodded. The true finder made an offended face, but nobody noticed, or at least didn’t pay attention.

-Do you know what it is?- Asked another child. The Man didn’t reply, instead he came closer and grabbed the Mirror. It was warm thanks to the sun, which was also reflecting on the shiny surface, but despite this green markings slighly gleaming with green light. He pulled i tour from the ground and started rubbing mud off.

-You know these stories which Nanny tells you sometimes?- he finnaly spoke, not looking at children around. They all nodded, some hummed in confirmation.

-Yes, about the Nest and flying beasts- one boy said.

-And about them taking children out from cabins. But that’s not true!- another child added. Man finnaly looked at this one, an older boy. In fact he seemed to be the oldest of the group.

-How so?- Asked the Man. Child got a bit confused, but bulled himself back together quickly. He was sure that it was all just tales to scare little kids.

-Nothing like this happened in years, nobody saw even a feather of a trico, not to mention a beast itself. And the Nest couldn’t be found anywhere. It’s clearly a fairytale- Boy said, really proud of this speech.

-That’s right! This is all made up!- another child claimed. The Man smiled warmly and looked at the group. He already cleaned the Mirror out of the mud and dirt, he was now holding it by a small handle. It was slightly funny-looking, a grown man with beard, covered from head to toes in tatoos, holding a thing which looked like a plate-sized extremly shiny and round shield.

-Well… how do you think i got these pelicular markings?- the Man asked, which confused children.

-That’s what i thought. Because Nanny and others don’t know whole story. Or at least they forgot to mention it- He paused for a second.

-You see… this is a magical Mirror. And, as every mirror, it reflects sun, illuminating the specific point. But, this one, it emits its own green light. You said tricos aren’t real. But trust me, when you point the green light of this Mirror, the beast’s tail would strike a lightning…-

 Later, when the sun hid behind the horizon, the Man and children, who found the Mirror, were standing in the middle of village glade. Some of children were holding torches to provide light, while the Man was checking Mirror again, to be sure it would work as it did back then, when he was just a boy, trapped in ruins of the Nest, trying to find his way home. And only ally he had was Trico, one of these big feathered beasts. And ironically enough, Trico was the one who brought him to the Nest. But luckly, after quite a lot of up and downhills, they both managed to escape. But unfortunately, Trico was heavly wounded and he had to be sent away, because villagers would kill him. And it’s very unlikely that Trico survived in that condition.

The Man sighed, suddenly flood with sadness. It’ the only thing he could remember of the moment Trico brought him back. The rest is all just a fog. When he finnaly woke up, he was told that he was getting better for three days, and after 2 next he was able to stand up and go down the stairs of the nursery. It all felt as an eternity, because whole body was hurting, mostly the head though.

-How far can the light reach?- one boy asked suddenly, which snapped the Man out from his memories. He grabbed the mirror by the handle.

-We are about to find out- he said and he rised a hand with a Mirror. Its markings light up with a familiar sound, and a ray of green light went up, towards the clouds on night sky, and it was visible up there. Children exclaimed in awe, whilethe Man smiled. It was so good to hear this sound and see green light, only thing able to destroy the barier protecting Ruler of the Valley.

-I reached the clouds!-

-It’s so pretty!-

-How does it do that?-

-Are you sure it’s not light of torches?-

Man snickered, hearing all these coments was amusing at least.

-I can tell for sure it is not light of torches you hold, it’s the Mirror itself creating this light. When Trico saw the light, his tail would stand up and create a lightning, which was able to destroy even walls. It could also make armour suits stop running after you. Until now i have no idea why though- he said, while children listened carefully to his words.

-Can you tell us the story? The real story?- suddenly asked one boy, which caught the Man off guard.

-Real story?- he asked.

-Yes! What really happened when Trico took you to the Nest!-

The man hummed, gathering thoughts and memories.

-Very well then. As you know, a long time ago, tricos were capturing people at night… and one night, it turned out i was about to be one of them…

 At the meantime, in a cavern far away from the Village…

A quiet sound of drops hitting rocks. A sound of waterfall further by the entrance to the lair. Silent breaths of offsprings. Their smell. The warmth of their little bodies.

The beast was at ease. Nothing disturbed the peace. Mate was out hunting. To keep the family well-fed. After the fall of the Claw, no more bright food could be found. So the beast and it’s mate started hunting beyond the Valley. But both of them avoided two-legged creatures and their nests. These creatures were very territorial. But beasts had no need to go there. For-legged small brown creatures were enough. Their offsprings were growing well while eating this meat. Soon they will start practicing flight.

Suddenly, the feeling. The urge. The familiar sense of need. Beast rose it’s head, looking for the source of the urge. Nothing in their nest. It growled silently, it’s offsprings woke up too. What was this? The feeling was somehow familiar. The beast felt it. As if it saw it’s mate after a long seperation. Or it’s offspring for the forst time. Or finnaly found a lost friend. Then the beast realised. The mirror, the tiny figure. Falling bridge, big eye, little weigh of companion on back. Pain of sharp sticks stuck in body.

Beast stood up, knowing what the urge was. What it had to do. Where it should to go. It nudged affectionately its offsprings to comfort them. Mate should be back soon, to tak care of them. Beast rushed through the big crack in wall, jumped over a precipice, trotted through a pond and finnaly rushed outside. It didn’t hesitate when it reached a cliff, it simply leaped, spread wings and quickly ascended, skillfully using the flow of warm air blowing from the abyss below. Despite the lack of sun on the sky, which was replaced by moon and stars, beast could see very good, which also was resulted by its eyes and horns glowing.  

Beast finnaly was above the wole moutain, it could see only forests, they stretched to the horizon and, very likely, even further. But ocasionaly, in this ocean of green and yellow, there were bald spots, meadows, where two-legged creatures had their nests. There were s omany, but the beast knew which one it should go to.

It did a small circle, lowered it’s height and headed towards East, direction which it took twice before. And it always was took to reach the same destination, but for diffrent reasons. Now it headed there to find it’s old friend. Friend which the beast brought to the Nest many years ago, in order to give it as sacrifice to the Ruler of the Valley. But very unfortunate accident made the extraordinary story happen.

[sapphiresea]

Questions For LGBT Ladies #LGBTask Answer them all hehe

questions for lgbt ladies #lgbtask                        

i’ll skip the ones i’ve already done. see previous post for answers.

1 ) how do you define your sexuality? lesbian af.2 ) at what age did you first realize that you like girls? my first crush was at age 8 but i didn’t recognize it as such until i was looking back later. my first inkling was when i was thirteen and my teacher said that one in ten people are gay, which meant at least two or three of us in my class were gay and i was like, “i wonder who the others are,” and then panicked. there were a few times like that and many a woman i ‘admired’ but i didn’t acknowledge it until i was nineteen.3 ) how out are you? pretty out. there’s only a few people left in my regular life who don’t know.5 ) who was the first person you came out to? how did they take it? the first person i told was courtney, who later became my first girlfriend. so that’s how she took it lol.6 ) has coming out lost you any friends? yup. not many, thankfully, but one of my best friends from high school was dating a super-homophobic ( and just all around terrible ) guy and he convinced her to stop being my friend. and considering how disgusted she acted whenever i did talk about my gf at the time, i was kind of over it anyway. i do kind of miss her sometimes though.7 ) what is your current relationship status? in a relationship~8 ) how many gay friends do you have? online? like a billion. offline? like one lmao.9 ) how many male friends do you have? i have a few male friends but only two i’d consider myself close to: peter and miguel.10 ) have you ever cut your hair super short? nope. chin-length was the shortest i ever went and i hated it.11 ) how often do you wear flannel? listen... i counted up all the plaids in my closet a few months ago and it totalled twelve. and i have since bought at least four more. a better question is how often am i not wearing it.12 ) how much do you like cats? i’m currently trying to get a new kitten, so every time someone in the house does something well, i’m like, “wow, you deserve a kitten!” and every time they don’t, i tell them, “that’ll cost you one kitten.” so far no bites. but i really, really love cats.13 ) do you like skirts and dresses? sometimes, if i’m in the mood...which isn’t often.15 ) do you have any tattoos? if so, how many and where? i do. i have two; one on each wrist. on my right wrist is my first tattoo, a triquetra, and on my left is an infinity arrow. i just got that one a week ago.16 ) how accurate is your gaydar? unfortunately my ‘gaydar’ is often very confused with my ‘please-be-gay-dar.’17 ) have you ever been to a gay bar or a gay club? yep. we only really have one here and it mostly tailors to men and straight girls, so i don’t like it that much. i went to a couple out of town. the one in san francisco ( i’m blanking on its name ) was by far the best.18 ) how do you feel when platonic female friends refer to each other as girlfriends? it’s so annoying. straight girls who refer to their female friends as ‘girlfriend’ owe me and all other sapphics $20 cash.19 ) have you ever had a crush on a straight girl? isn’t that, like, the most universal lesbian experience?20 ) ellen or portia? excuse me, what do you mean or ??? they’re the best together. but portia is my actual hero.21 ) is your nose pierced? nope.22 ) would you ever want to get married? if i meet a woman i’m certain i want to spend my life with, absolutely.23 ) will you wear a dress for your wedding? probably. 25 ) have you ever watched the l word? i watched the first season and maybe it makes me a bad lesbian, but i couldn’t get it into it.26 ) have you ever dated a guy? yep. nothing serious, though. i mean i literally gagged kissing one of them, so...27 ) how do you feel when someone uses the word gay to mean stupid, dumb, or boring? they’re probably stupid, dumb, and boring if they’re still using it for that.28 ) how many rainbow items do you own? lmao so many. my favorite recent addition is monty puckers, my stuffed gay gorilla.29 ) have you ever been to a pride festival? i just went to the one in my city last week.30 ) have you ever celebrated national coming out day ( october 11 )? i’ll usually post stuff about it and in support of all my lgbt siblings, but i’ve never uesd it to come out, myself.31 ) have you ever participated in the national day of silence? considering this is the first i’ve heard of it, no. but now i’m going to google to find out more.32 ) have you ever worn a woman’s suit? no, but women in suits 💯👌🏻👅 sign me tf up.33 ) have you ever worn any men’s clothing? i own a couple flannels from the men’s section and a few tees, but not really. i like my stuff more fitted.35 ) do you consider yourself a feminist? absolutely. intersectional, of course.36 ) who is your favorite lgbt celebrity? kate mckinnon, in case you can’t tell from my blog, is my #1. portia de rossi, stephanie beatriz, aubrey plaza, ani difranco, and melissa etheridge are pretty high up there, too.37 ) are you religious at all? yes. i don’t go to church every sunday anymore, but i do consider myself a non-denominational christian.38 ) how often do you find yourself trying to sneak a peak or staring at a cute female? i stare a lot. it’s kind of a problem.39 ) what is your ideal first date? usually for first dates, i like something lowkey where we can just get to know each other. after that, i like stuff like arcades and amusement parks and lots of movie dates and netflix.40 ) are you comfortable with terms such as lezzie, lesbo, or dyke? i’m great with them if they come from other lesbians. if they come from non-lesbians, no. miss me with that homophobic crap. it’s not yours to reclaim.41 ) how outdoorsy are you? i’m allergic to sun, so not very. i love the forest and walking down by the river and visiting elbow falls and such, but i can’t really do much of that anymore without ending up wanting to die.42 ) in general, has being out affected your relationships with other females? sometimes it’s really weird and i do notice them treating me differently, but usually it’s fine.43 ) how much makeup do you typically wear? not a lot, but i do wear a full face any time i’m going out or having company over. i just feel more comfortable with it.45 ) are you more feminine or more masculine? definitely femme. even if i don’t wear the heels.46 ) how long is the longest relationship you’ve been in? are you still with that person? coming up on nine months and yes. 47 ) have you and a girlfriend ever been mistaken for sisters? no. i don’t usually date girls who look enough like me lol.48 ) do you think it is possible for someone to truly be a 50/50 bisexual, or is the percentage always skewed in favor of one gender? i think it’s not my place to decide how other people experience attraction.49 ) have you ever wished you were completely straight? i used to when i was younger. now i’m really glad i’m not because girls are amazing and i love being a lesbian.50 ) do you watch any lesbian youtubers? sometimes. usually stevie or ally hills or hannah hart. i don’t watch any youtubers regularly though.51 ) do you like wearing combat boots or doc martins? motorcycle boots are my jam.52 ) have you ever been hit on by another female? yes. often. and a shining moment for me was being asked out by a girl while waiting for my date ( another girl ) to arrive. ( i said ‘no,’ obviously, but i was proud of myself. )53 ) how athletic are you? 0%. faked injuries to get out of p.e.; only runs when chased.55 ) what is your opinion of septum/bull nose piercings? not really into it, personally, but if that’s what makes you happy, i’m not judging. some chicks look really hot with them.56 ) what does equality mean to you? it means equal rights and protections under the law, but it also means that one day those laws won’t even be needed because people won’t have to be told that we’re human, too. it means no more stupid ass debates about whether companies can deny service to lgbt patrons or idiots on television saying lesbians caused the hurricanes. it means that kids won’t grow up thinking straight is the only option or that they’re somehow bad or wrong for being lgbt. it means we won’t all be assumed to be straight or cis.57 ) if you are not a full blown lesbian, about what percentage of the time do you find yourself attracted to other females? uhhhh? i don’t know? i don’t fall for every girl i see, if that’s the question. i definitely notice when girls are really attractive. 58 ) have you ever shared clothes with a girlfriend? no, but honestly...goals.59 ) have you ever liked or dated a girl with the same name as you? no. that’s, like, one of my main criteria. it would be way too weird. and unfortunately i have one of the most common names for sapphic women around here. i would, however, make an exception for stephanie beatriz. 60 ) how flirty are you? i can be pretty flirty, but usually only with people i’m in relationships with or who have already expressed interest in me.61 ) are you a virgin? no.62 ) do you listen to any lgbt musicians such as tegan and sara, melissa etheridge, or chely wright? all of the above, yes. i almost exclusively listen to lgbt artists, with a few exceptions like rob giles and emily kinney.63 ) have you ever been told that you are too pretty to be gay? yes. which i think is missing the entire point. other girls are too pretty for me not to be gay, and i’m not wasting myself on a dude.65 ) have you ever driven an suv or a pickup truck? i have not, as i am a terrible driver who would like the smallest car possible to avoid collision. i have, however, been picked up for dates in both and yes. a+ 10/10 do recommend.66 ) are you or have you ever been a tomboy? as a kid i always thought i wanted to be a tomboy but was far too girly...turns out i was just in love with the tomboys.67 ) agree or disagree: everyone is at least a little bit gay. disagree. sexuality is fluid for some and less for others.68 ) what personality trait are you most attracted to? sense of humor and kindness.69 ) boobs or butts? eyes. but also boobs.70 ) beer or wine? vodka.71 ) do you have a favorite lesbian movie? up until recently, it was imagine me & you. now it’s for sure a million happy nows. i’m still sobbing.72 ) from 1-10, how attractive are muscular women? 10/10.73 ) from 1-10, how attractive are women who wear glasses? depends on the girl and the glasses but 8-10/10.75 ) from 1-10, how attractive are curvy/plus-size women? 10/10. 76 ) from 1-10, how attractive are women with short hair? i tend toward being attracted to long hair but honestly there are so many stunners with short hair like 15/10.77 ) from 1-10, how attractive are masculine butch women? 10/10. although i usually go for a little femininity. that futch aesthetic is my greatest weakness.78 ) from 1-10, how attractive are highly intelligent women? 10/10.79 ) from 1-10, how attractive are tall women ( i.e. around 6 feet or taller )? wow. lemme climb you. i mean what80 ) have you ever been on your period the same time as a girlfriend? yes? 81 ) has a girl ever dumped you for a guy? no, i don’t think so.82 ) do you carry a purse? i try to avoid it.83 ) do you have any lgbt relatives? my mom’s uncle was gay and had a successful drag show in vancouver, but i was never allowed to meet him before he died. otherwise, nope. just me.85 ) would you ever date a trans girl? i mean, probably.86 ) how well do you think lgbt women are portrayed in television? lol that’s a joke, right? i’ve seen some good reps but usually we’re side characters or killed off and there isn’t a whole lot of diversity, so tv really needs to up its game as a whole.87 ) have you ever had a crush on a woman who’s much older than you? listen... i’m the queen of falling for older women. i once dated a woman who was almost twice my age. although tbh it was a bit of a mistake for other reasons.88 ) do you have any celebrity crushes? do i??? someone find me lauren cohan so i can propose immediately.89 ) do you have any opinions on lgbt people in the military? yeah, my opinion is fuck off with your homophobia and transphobia. someone’s risking their life to keep your company safe, you can shut the fuck up about what’s between their legs or who they choose to spend their lives with.90 ) do you believe in love at first sight? nah. i believe in attraction / crushes / lust and being really drawn to someone, but you can’t know you love someone until you actually know them as a person. otherwise you’re just projecting your ideas of what you want them to be.91 ) would you ever have a threesome? if so, would a guy be included? i’m too jealous for a threesome. i’d just be crying the whole time lmao. and a guy would never, ever be included even if i did somehow change my mind.92 ) where do you think is the best place to meet a potential lover? ideally? out in the wild, like, in class or at a bookstore or something. realistically, on an app like her.93 ) is there such a thing as “good” lesbian porn? i’m sure somewhere out there it exists, but i’ve yet to find it.95 ) how often do you wear a bra? whenever i go out or have company over. if i’m just lounging at home, i don’t tend to bother.96 ) have you ever been part of a softball team? nope. like i said, 0% athletic.97 ) if you could live your life all over again, would you still be attracted to other women? well, it wasn’t really a choice to begin with? but if it was, yes, i would.98 ) what stereotype about lgbt women do you disagree with the most? miss me with that predatory lesbian bullshit.99 ) what advice would you give a girl who is struggling to figure out her sexuality? give yourself time. don’t do anything you aren’t comfortable with. labels can be great, but don’t stress too hard if you don’t know what you are or don’t want to define yourself. just respect yourself and do what makes you happy. and fuck what other people think.100 ) what advice would you give a girl who is struggling to come out? be safe and don’t feel pressured to tell anyone you don’t want to tell. your safety and comfort is top priority.

[petite-neko]

Guardian - 14

Fanfiction: Guardian Story Summary: Somebody had to protect their protector after all. Characters: Zoro, Luffy, Law Pairing: Eventual LawLu Rating: T Warnings: swearing, A/N: I hope this is okay. Really. I had this written over a week ago, but I had become kind of exhausted after the last chapter and it see,ed like a good place to stop. I had to do a lot of editing on this chapter, so I really hope it’s okay.

That being said: I have now reached (basically) the end of the story-line that has been supplied to us by Oda! It has been a long and fun time writing this. Please see the end of the chapter for further notes on my plans from now.

.xxx. - Scene jumps

Chapter 1 || Read on Ao3

Chapter 13 || Chapter 14 || TBA?

They didn’t have much time. The samurais were looking around the country for their friend – and Zoro knew Kin’emon. The guy was blunt and took no subtleties into consideration. And then if the Minks found them before they did and questioned them…

Well, soon the Minks would turn on them as well.

They needed to find the samurais before that happened.

Law’s group, too, were helping. Their captain said something along the lines of their alliance and sticking with them through thick and thin.

(…What was it that Robin said about Law? That he was willing to die with Luffy?)

But Zoro wasn’t too surprised by these new facts either. Law was somebody they could all trust. So if a war broke out with the Minks, well, they at least had the Heart Pirates on their side.

None of them wanted that to happen however.

So the two pirate groups split up, but close enough to one another to communicate to one another. So if they needed to get away together, or band together to fight, well, they could.

.xxx.

Chopper was in his walking point right now – his nose tended to work best there – and Nami was nearby. It seemed the two of them were still discussing the abnormalities of Law.

Soon Brook had joined them in their idle conversation, and he was just as shocked as they were to hear the change in their allied captain.

“Yohoho, Zoro, so, what is this about Law?” The skeletal musician finally approached him as they continued to search.

Zoro shrugged. “Why don’t you ask Robin? She spent the most time with him on Dressrosa.”

At least, she spent the most time with Law changing. Sure, he rode on that bull with Law, but the other captain was pretty silent that entire while.

“Most of the time I spent with him, he was on the verge of passing out, or being irritable.”

Besides, it was Robin (and Luffy) that had convinced him to trust the creepy bastard. (Even though he trusted him, he was still a creepy bastard. Nothing would change that.)

And so the skeleton sung his way over to Robin, and Zoro relaxed a little. Well, not fully. They still needed to find the samurais after all…

.xxx.

It was their group that had found them. Law’s group wasn’t that far behind. Of course, it just had to be right behind the group of Minks on their search party for the samurai. Of course. And they were arguing and…

Well shit. That bastard just had to confront the Minks, didn’t he?

Things never went easy for them, did it? Always. Why did it always have to be this way. He could see the Heart Pirates coming in to regroup with them before they all flinched.

A war it was then.

As the pirates prepared to fight, the Minks however surprised them.

It seemed this entire country had their own secrets to hide…

(And those samurais.)

.xxx.

Zoro understood why the Minks kept the information about the Samurai a secret. Even though they had saved this country, they still were pirates, and it was a band of pirates that attacked them after all. Perhaps it was the way that they moved to protect the samurai that caused the Minks to fully trust them? That they were willing to go to war with a country on its own lands just to protect those whom they considered friends?

Certainly, there seemed to be some level of secrecy still, but it was more out of habit as opposed to mistrust.

Zoro understood that.

Minks and Samurais aside, yes, Zoro was still baffled and confused and curious about the way Law continued to refer to Luffy. It wasn’t just a one time thing, or even an intoxicated thing. No, Law continued to refer to his captain by his name even now. There were a few habitual slip ups but those were quickly remedied. (Which only lead to more confusion and curiosity.)

And it wasn’t just to Luffy that Law had opened up to either. No, there was just this general sense about Law now. Certainly there were snippets of it back on Bartolomeo’s ship, but not to this extent. Was it the influence of his crew nearby?

(The guy wanted to see the ninja. Seriously, who would’ve thought?)

He spent a lot of their trip up the tree beside Luffy, who was babbling on about the ninja and other things to Law.

Law had simply nodded and added in a few comments here and there. Mentioning a technique he seemed particularly interested in.

And eventually, they reached it, and Zoro, well he couldn’t not look to recognise the well-disguised way Law pulled on the brim of his hat in disappointment.

(At least he wasn’t irritated.)

Certainly, Law wasn’t enthusiastic as some of the crew members, but he was interested and intrigued, and felt, rather, let down. Especially considering the ninja even refused to prove said skills.

(But soon enough the men were proved wrong as the ninja decided he could not let them down. And while Zoro was, yes, impressed, he could see that Law was too. Especially since said ninja portrayed the technique that Law mumbled beneath his breath.)

Again, the other captain wasn’t starry-eyed like his was but, it was there.

And when Nekomamushi had ushered the noisy, rambunctious and impatient ones outside, Law had left with them.

(Luffy was in that group after all.)

Again, it wasn’t surprising, and maybe Law would manage to keep Luffy quiet enough that his voice wouldn’t echo down here to distract Robin. Right now, she seemed so fascinated and happy to discover something she had never thought of before…

And when somebody had gone to collect those outside once the deciphering was completed, they came back baffled.

“Huh… you guys sure you don’t know where Luffy and Law went?”

There were some sounds of confirmation before Usopp had started pushing him up the stairs (albeit with shaking arms) “O-Oi! Z-Zoro why don’t you go find them? You’ve got the abilities right? C-Can you feel them nearby?)

…This idiot had that too dammit. (Although he supposed the fool had just obtained it…)

But seriously? How the fuck did they lose the captains in such a short time period?

He sighed, but closed his eye. Observation Haki really wasn’t his strongest suit, and he mostly used it to read his opponents attacks and not to find people. So he walked past those on the stairs, trying to feel the familiar presences.

Ah, there they were! Above him.

“Oi!” He said and turned his gaze towards them. They were up in the tree. “Lu-Ooooohh…..” Up in the tree and---

No. No. No, no, no, no, no…

No.

Fuck no.

He didn’t see that. Nope. Not at all. Just pretend it didn’t happen, or that he couldn’t see properly or…

Yup he was just going to pretend he didn’t see that at all. Yup. Excellent idea. No, he didn’t see both captains up there far too close to one another, heads level and tilted and---

Nope he did not see that.

Not the way hands were clutching at shirts or hair or…

(Luffy-ya was starting to make a lot of sense right now…)

Maybe he should ask Usopp about that eye bleach…

“-bles…”

“Oi, Zoro, is Robin done now?”

Zoro tensed and just nodded stiffly.

Luffy made a joyful sound and started running down the stairs.

Ah, fuck, Law was looking at him. Looking hard at him. He wasn’t about to meet that gaze. There was no way in hell he was going to turn around and look at Law. Nope. Nope. Not only because he didn’t want to see the look in his eyes, but Zoro didn’t want to picture that again.

And it was awkwardly silent. Really fucking awkwardly silent.

“…I would appreciate silence on this topic…” Law’s voice was stiff as well. Good, he was feeling it too.

Perhaps it would just be best to begin acting now…

“What topic?”

With those words the tension in the air seemed to dissipate and Zoro thought he heard a soft chuckle from Law.

But then, Zoro reached out to grab Law’s good arm and he squeezed. Not tight enough to hurt, but the other man most definitely felt it. Because despite his feigning ignorance, Zoro could only think of one matter that still needed to be taken care of:

Luffy’s safety.

(Well, he most certainly lived up to his other moniker of heart stealer…)

“Don’t worry Zoro-ya. If there’s anything left of me after I’m through with me, you’ve got first dibs. I’m not about to harm the man who gave me a reason to hope. A reason to live.”

Law then removed Zoro’s hand before turned around and readjusted the hold on his sword, following Luffy down the stairs.

Zoro took a deep inhale. This was going to take some getting used to…

(Now, where was that eye bleach…)

A/N: Thank all of you for reading! As said above, this is the end, so far. I will be ‘breaking’ to figure out just what and where I want to continue the story. But, worry not. Not only do I have a completely new story I’m trying to build, I also have a little present for all of you:

Dissentient 1