#He looks bad in all of em. He should look like an actual dragon and he fucking doesnt.

[dapper-lil-arts]

[licensed2faint]

I said like forever ago that I would make tier list for dragon types, and I've finally gone and done it. Big thanks to @veterantrainerray for suggesting I do this like a month ago.

These lists are directed at newbie trainers, specifically younger trainers. If you're thirty-two and have a twenty acre property and all the time in the world to read up on the care and training of a Salamence, go for it. I'm not your dad.

I've ONLY added Pokemon I have personally trained, so I can try to explain each list. I made two lists, one for captive-bred 'mon and one for wild-caught. Captive-bred pokemon tend to be hardier and less temperamental, so the list is a bit different. ALSO, while I used the final forms, this list is assuming you got them in their first form. I do not recommend trying to train a fully-grown wild Salamence. For any reason. That's a catch-and-release beastie.

honourable mention: Gyarados. Not a dragon-type, but temperamental as one. My recommendation is that this is a very strong guy who (probably) loves you very much for taking care of him when he was weak, and also he hates everyone else. Train him to wait for your command, and also socialize him while he's still a Magikarp to avoid the 'us vs. them' mindset as much as you can.

~~~

First up, the 'domestic-bred dragon list!'

Explanation:

Acceptable Starter: Swablu and Dratini are not very aggressive pokemon, and domestic-bred ones are usually much hardier than their wild counterparts. Dratini are a little more intelligent, and thus easier to train, but a domestic Swablu is pretty intelligent itself. Neither of them evolves into a pokemon known for aggression, so I think overall they're pretty well-suited travelling companions.

Fine with experience: Horsea is Horsea. You know him, you love him. Domestic ones, are, again, hardier than than their wild counterparts.. Honestly, the reason I have them here rather than 'acceptable starter' is because of Seadra. All the good breeding in the world can't guarantee a calm Seadra. You have to make sure your Horsea is well-trained BEFORE it evolves. But if it is? Your Kingdra is gonna be a breeze. Way more chill than Seadra, if not a bit snooty.

Druddigon get a bad rap, which is unfortunate. I love them. Might be my favourite dragon type. Domestic breeds are hard to come by, since they're not very popular, but the ones I've met are wonderful. They enjoy sunbathing a lot. The reason I put them here is actually because they tend to be stubborn. And while it takes a lot (compared to other dragon types, NOT most pokemon) to get them irritated, they CAN AND WILL use their strength to solve a problem. So the difficulty lies in getting them motivated enough to train them well. But if you're just looking for a guy who sits out in your yard sunbathing and looking scary, maybe give a breeder a call...? (you should still train them not to attack without a command, though!)

Flygon is actually usually really sweet-tempered. The reason he's so low is actually because of Trapinch and Vibrava! Trapinch, even domestically bred ones, are not all that intelligent, and thus hard to train for people who don't know what they're doing. The digging instinct can be very, very difficult to train out. They're hard-wired for it, it's how they survive in the wild! Vibrava are much more intelligent, but when they first evolve, there WILL be accidents with the wings. They're still figuring things out. Give 'em time, teach them to only do that stuff outdoors, etc etc. But if you can get through that, Flygon are wonderful companions! Every now and again in Hoenn you'd find a family with a pet Flygon instead of the typical Skitty or Poochyena. Love em.

Might need outside help: Domestic Gibble tend to be much less wantonly destructive than wild-caught, since having that bred out of them was a big goal of the original breeding programs in the first place. That said, instinct is instinct. If you aren't giving them their proper exercise every day and making sure to train them, they are going to wreak havoc. You need to be paying attention to it at all times. They're also pretty curious lil' guys! This means they will see something neat, like a fire hydrant, go 'hey, what's that?' and then answer that question by destroying it. They tend to get labeled 'aggressive' which is. Well it's not really true, but the difference between 'playtime' and 'this little guy hates you' doesn't matter so much when you're human and a Gibble is chasing you, open-mouthed. Domestic Gabite are much more calm on that front, and fully-trained, domestic Garchomp tend to be remarkable bastions of self-control. Again, it's all about surviving and training that first stage.

Pros Only: Both of these guys are here for similar reasons: Their instinct in their final evolutions has a tendency to override their training, so you're gonna have to not only have a firmer hand then a lot of trainers are comfortable with, but train them pretty continuously throughout their lives. They're fiercely independent, so forming a bond based on respect very early on in their lives is direly important. Otherwise you ain't getting them to do anything for you. Thankfully, at the very least the domestic breeds tend to not be too violent/destructive.

Salamence has an added difficulty: most people don't train their Bagon or Shelgon correctly. Bagon is one of the most easygoing dragon types out there, and Shelgon have a tendency to be pretty placid. This leads to trainers not taking their training too seriously early on, which leads to disastrous consequences once they're fully evolved. Just because your Bagon listens to you doesn't mean your Salamence will. Practice your recall training. Or Else.

You put that thing back where it came from or so help me: Hydregion is smarter than you. You may be able to train a Deino. I don't know you. They're bitey, but not the worst out there. But you do NOT have the resources or the know-how to handle a Zweilous. Straight-up. They have high energy levels, need a LOT of food, and can and WILL injure themselves via infighting. There's a reason Hydregion is rare as hell, and it's because a lot of them don't make it to adulthood due to injuries. It's a survival of the fittest tactic. I love Hydregion. I have one. If you don't have a damn mountain range in your backyard, don't get one. They NEED a place to go off and be destructive, and they're territorial as all hell. Just don't. Please.

~~~

Next up, the Wild-Caught List!

As you can see, there's nothing on the acceptable starter list. I'll get into why in the next categories.

Fine with experience: You're looking at basically the same thing with the wild Kingdra line as you would be with a domestic breed, with one notable difference: Wild Horsea tend to be a lot less hardy and a lot more timid. It'll take it longer to start trusting you, but honestly just doing the upkeep to keep it happy and healthy should start winning it over. They're more intelligent than most people give 'em credit for. Your eventual Kingdra is probably also gonna be more headstrong, but honestly for some trainers, that's a good thing.

Dratini suffers from the same problem. They have pretty specific habitat needs- but if you're at the point in your journey where you get your hands on a wild Dratini, honestly I'd trust that you're able to provide what it needs. Bonus, though, is that while wild Dratini can be cautious, they're very curious, too! And if your vibes are good (lookin at you, Ray!) they're usually more than happy to come along with you. And as our dear friend Ray is learning, one that is eager to battle is a ready and willing student! There's a reason they have such a great reputation.

Might need outside help: Wild Druddigon tend to be pretty territorial, on top of all the stubbornness. They're usually also a bit more proactive in expressing the classic dragon type temperament. You're looking at more intensive training to get recalling down and increase their tolerance for being bothered. No shame in asking a dragon-type expert. That said, I still love these guys. If you can read their body language, you could probably get through a cave of them no problem.

Oh, Swablu. Swablu, what will we do with you? Wild Swablu are flighty little critters, and kind of frail, to boot. And wild Alteria are stubborn. They will not get dirty. They think they are better than you. This isn't to say they're awful! An Alteria is usually pretty affectionate with its trainer, wild or domestic. A properly-trained one isn't going to be raging any more than a Dragonite or a Kingdra. But trying to train a Swablu is harder than it seems, just because they're not great listeners. If You've got patience and a guide, you're fine, but really I'd suggest asking an expert.

I don't know how to say this without sounding mean. Please understand I've raised five Trapinch. They are. Difficult. and a little stupid. Wild ones especially don't really have any sort of grasp on the world of training. You are looking at one hell of an uphill battle. But they're kind of a rite of passage for Hoennian trainers, and if they can do it, you can too! Really, you're going to be doing most of the 'basic training' for these guys in the Vibrava stage. You should still be taking the time to get your Trapinch used to being balled and the sound of your voice, obviously, but the traditional way to train a Trapinch is to do double battles until it evolves. Then do a lot of the indoor-outdoor distinction, once it can understand what a building is. And if you can deal with a Trapinch, you can deal with a Flygon. They're pretty relaxed, especially for a dragon type.

Pros Only: You don't have the patience for a wild Gibble, and you almost certainly aren't capable of tying down The King of the Caves when he wants to rampage. That said, if you do manage to train one right, and you've got a firm hand an a certain kind of attitude, you've got a partner for life. A wild Garchomp's respect is a tough thing to earn, but it's worth it. I was debating putting him on the final tier, but honestly... if you're really, really dedicated it's certainly possible. But you NEED to get in contact with somebody who knows what they're doing. Trying to freehand training is going to get your arm torn off.

Honestly, with Salamence, you're looking at about the same issues as you would be with a domestic, with two exceptions: your Bagon's gonna be a bit more of a wild child (but still nothing crazy) and your Salamence is gonna be aggressive. No way around it. Keeping it trained is a full-time job. If you're not looking to make a trained team of six and would rather just focus on a few, then you might have the time to dedicate to making sure the training sticks. Otherwise, leave it.

You put that thing back where it came from or so help me: Look at me. Look at me. Do not go near a wild Hydregion. Do not attempt to steal a Hydregion's baby. You will die, and it will hurt the whole time you are dying. And then that beast is going to start rampaging, and if there's a human settlement on or even near its territory, they are going to pay the price for your stupidity. Then they'll call the rangers in, and IF they can subdue the Hydregion, they're not going to be able to release it, because Hydregion can always find their way back home. They'll have to put it down. Don't fucking do it.

You can probably keep and train a wild Axew. Just make sure it has an everstone, because you are in no way, shape, or form prepared for a wild Haxorous. See the above, minus the rampaging parts. They're usually content with just you and anybody in a direct line-of-sight. If you train it well, it'll probably just run off into the hills instead of attacking you, at least. They've got really powerful instincts, and need things most people can't provide. 'Oh but Laser, don't you have a wild-caught Haxorous?' I do and I also have an entire nature preserve, complete with mountain range. He loves me, in his own way. I know this because he is willing to wait for food and not attack everything in his territory. I can go into his territory without being instantly vaporized, and he's willing to come out of his territory and interact with me. This does not mean he is safe to be around. It only means that I have twenty years of experience. If you want one, get a domestic breed. There's plenty of Axew breeders all over Unova.

~~~

I hope this was informative! Please remember that pokemon are individuals, and not all of them will conform to what I've laid out here. Please also remember that your life is not worth the possibility that you could get that one in a billion, super nice Hydregion. Dragon types have their reputation for good reason, and I simply can't stress enough that you need to do a lot of research before owning any of them.

Good luck!

[poppitron360]

I’m trying to branch out from my usual angst by writing a happy(ish) fic.

Summary: Jason goes back to Camp Jupiter after the war and reveals that he and Leo are dating. He struggles so deal with the backlash from that while simultaneously having to cope with being long-distance.

CW: Swearing, Octavian

Word Count: 2,423

VALGRACE FANFICTION- “Fuck ‘em”

When Jason had announced to Camp Jupiter that he was seeing someone, he wasn’t sure what had been more appalling. That the someone in question was a boy, or that he was Greek.

Octavian had, of course, been outraged on both accounts: “We let a man like this become Praetor! He is fraternising with the enemy in a very un-Roman-like fashion!”

That’s what he called it. “Un-Roman”- like for some reason Jason was any less Roman because he was bisexual.

But it wasn’t just Octavian spouting bullshit. There was a shift in the way people acted under his command- they seemed less trusting, like Jason had become some foreign invader. Even though he had stepped down as Praetor and given his powers to Frank, he still held the newly-created title of “honorary Praetor”, alongside Percy, to commemorate all the work he had done defeating Gaia. People should still listen to him, respect him. But it was different now. His boyfriend was a Greek.

He didn’t dare tell them it was the same Greek that had fired on New Rome, albeit under the influence of evil spirits.

Some of them had been supportive, especially those in the fifth cohort. They were used to being outcasts.

“Children of Vul- I mean, Hephaestus, though?” His friend, Dakota, had said, “They’re good to have around. Large, beefy, big muscles. Good fit for a son of Jupiter like you.”

Jason laughed nervously, “Uh-huh. Yeah… large… muscles… right.”

Oh my gods, Praetor Grace had a twink. That was another thing he didn’t dare tell them. He let them imagine their leader with a powerful hunk for a boyfriend- at least that way he could keep some dignity.

He felt bad being embarrassed by Leo. He was awesome. He had a badass flying dragon. He told cool jokes and made Jason laugh. Jason was proud to call him his boyfriend. Or, at least, that’s what he told himself every morning. Then he’d step outside, and be faced with the weird looks and behind-the-hand whispers, and suddenly he didn’t feel so proud. He didn’t hold it against Leo, though. He loved how the kid acted so unapologetically himself- unlike Jason, who needed everyone to like him so much.

Jason didn’t care about the stares when he was with him. The asshole comments from Octavian seemed like distant memories when he looked into those big, dark eyes, complete with the playful little twinkle and mischievous smile. But when he was without Leo, he was a nervous wreck. The only thing that kept him going were Leo’s monthly visits. That was the one thing they couldn’t take away from him. He counted the days in his head to when he was gonna see him again. When Octavian was being shitty, he’d just think “twenty more days”, “ten more days”, “five more days”, “one more day”.

He met Leo and Festus outside the New Rome border. He picked the tiny guy up in his arms and twirled him around, and then kissed him. Leo’s skin was warm to the touch, like it always was when he was nervous.

“I missed you so much,” Jason whispered, although there was no-one around to overhear.

“I missed you too, Sparky. Camp isn’t the same without you.”

“Are they treating you well there? Anyone still giving you shit for your powers?”

“I’m fine Jason, everyone’s super nice,” Leo replied, although Jason could tell it was probably exaggerated. Not a lie- just a projection. What Jason wanted to hear. He decided not to call him out on it- Leo just didn’t want Jason to worry, that’s all.

“You’ve not been spending too much time in the workshop, I hope? Actually go outside once in a while.”

“I’m outside now.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“You worry too much,” Leo said, standing on his tiptoes to kiss him.

But Leo had worries of his own. They talked causally for a while, before Leo interrupted him with a question that Jason had been dreading.

“Why do you always ask me to meet you outside the border?” Leo asked.

Jason had a pre-planned response for this, “I just wanna keep you separate from my work. At Camp, I’m a leader. A soldier. Praetor Grace. With you, I can be myself. I can be Jason. I want it to stay that way.”

Leo’s eyes held so many different emotions, it was hard for Jason to tell what one was most prominent- sadness, resolution, hope- Jason had spent many hours searching those eyes for the secrets that they contained, and he still had not found them all. Leo sighed.

“They… they don’t know about me, do they?”

Jason hesitated- but he couldn’t lie to Leo.

“They know I’m dating a son of Hephaestus… they don’t know it was the same son of Hephaestus that fired on New Rome,” he admitted.

“You’re embarrassed.”

“No, I’m not!” Jason said, which wasn’t entirely true.

“You are! You’re worried about being seen with me! That’s why you meet me out here- you don’t want people to know you have a dangerous freak for a boyfriend. Praetor Grace and the scrappy little street rat he took pity on,” Leo looked down and kicked the dirt.

“I think you’re a pretty cute street rat,” Jason said, ruffling Leo’s messy, greasy hair. Then his smile turned serious, “Leo, I don’t want you to think that I think of you that way. I’m not embarrassed by you, it’s just…” he looked at the sky and sighed, “There’s a lot of expectations that I have to live up to. And when I’m with you I get to say “fuck ‘em”, but when I’m there…”

“Yeah, I get it,” Leo said. He looked up at Jason with those big, busy eyes- drawing ordinance survey maps of Jason’s face in his mind, “I really do, Jason. I understand feeling like you need to be someone else to get people to like you. I get it.”

Jason smiled and hugged him.

“We can stay like this. You don’t have to let me inside the border. We can just say “fuck ‘em” out here,” Leo mumbled, his voice muffled in the fabric of Jason’s hoodie.

“One day,” Jason assured him, “One day I wanna say “fuck ‘em” to their faces. There’s a really nice café in New Rome I wanna take you to.“

“But we don’t have to say “fuck ‘em” today.”

“No.”

His time with Leo came and went. Jason went back to his duties, to the stares and the whispers.

He sat on the lunch table with the rest of the fifth cohort, chatting idly about the local gossip.

“Heard we got some exchange students from Camp Half-Blood,” one of them remarked, “Because we’re doing that now, apparently.”

“They have all these freaky little behaviours- it’s not sitting right with the other cohorts.”

“Yeah, Greeks are weird,” Jason remarked, leaning back in his chair, “And I should know- I’m in love with one.”

The whole table went quiet. Jason seemed to realise what he’d just said.

“Oh,” was all he could manage in response.

Dakota broke the silence, “Man, I thought you were just his sugar daddy, I didn’t know you guys were actually in love!”

“I-I didn’t know either, ‘til I just said it,” Jason stuttered, still in shock, “But… yeah. Yeah, I love him.”

“So when do we get to meet him?” One of the other members of the fifth asked.

“Well,” Jason leaned forward, contemplating, “He comes to visit me every month. He’s coming again in thirteen days. I could…”

He looked around the dining hall. He took in the sneers as people caught his eye. The whispers and snickers and pointing. He realised that that would never change. As long as he was open about who he was, there would always be backlash. The only thing he could do was to not let it get to him. To say “fuck ‘em”. And as terrifying a prospect as that was, Jason was ready. He was ready to rise above the snide remarks and disrespect and yell “I’m in love with Leo Valdez!”

Because he was. He loved that tiny imp of a kid. He loved his loud mouth and weird quirks. He loved how Leo would hold his hand and tap out little morse code messages that Jason didn’t understand, but would speculate for days what they meant. He could look it up, or ask Annabeth, but he loved to fantasise.

Leo was leaning against Festus in their usual spot outside the border. When Jason saw him, he tackled him with such force that Leo’s hair caught fire in surprise. Luckily, Jason pulled away before it could burn him.

“You’re in a good mood,” Leo observed, patting out the flames on his head.

“Yeah, well… I’ve decided,” Jason told him, “I’m ready. I wanna take you inside the border.”

Leo stopped fussing with his hair and looked up at Jason, “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Jason assured him, holding out his hand, “Come on!”

Leo grinned and took Jason’s hand. A little spark of electricity ran along Jason’s spine. He took off for the city, pulling Leo behind him. Leo was giggling in that cute way he did when he got exited and thought no-one could hear him. They ran like the wind- literally. As Jason yanked him along, he summoned the winds to push them faster, lifting them up into the air slightly. They were inside New Rome now, Jason dragging him through winding streets and bustling crowds. Jason felt truly free, running along with Leo. He was overjoyed. For once, he didn’t care about expectations or who he should be. They were just two kids having fun.

They stopped outside a sidewalk café with Romanesque architecture, like the rest of the city. There was one of those classic red-and-white-striped awnings over the front, and clusters of tables and chairs littered the pavement outside.

“Lunch?” Jason asked, turning to Leo, “They do paninis and toasted sandwiches.”

“I would kill for a panini right now.”

“What about drinks?”

“Diet coke?”

“Gods, no. You’re not having any more caffeine, Mr Hyper. I’ll get you a lime soda,” the conversation was dull and mundane, but Jason found it comforting. They had spent so much of their time together with the weight of the world resting on their shoulders. Now that that was finally over (and Jason rapped on the wooden café table at the thought, praying he wouldn’t jinx it), they could finally settle into a monotonous rhythm, like and old married couple.

Wow. That image took him by surprise- him and Leo growing old together- but it was a good sort of surprise. Jason didn’t push the thought away, instead, he let it wash over him, clinging to the notion that they had hope. A future in the making.

Lunch was going awesome- until Octavian showed up.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Praetor Grace- sorry, former Praetor Grace.”

“Honorary Praetor,” Jason corrected, not looking up from the menu he was reading, “Still ranked above you, Octavian, so a position you should treat with respect.”

Jason didn’t bother looking up to see Octavian’s reaction. He continued to ignore the kid, until he saw him turn to face Leo.

“Hey! Isn’t that the Greek Scum who destroyed half the city?!” He yelled, “Guards! Guards!”

“Octavian, no,” Jason commanded, looking him directly in the eyes, “I saw to it that Leo was pardoned. That incident was not through his actions.”

“It very much looked like it was through his actions, from where I was standing!” Octavian replied, angrily.

Jason stood up. He grabbed Leo’s hand, partially for reassurance, partially as a way of telling Octavian to suck on a cavalry sword- a way of saying “Fuck ‘em”.

“Oh… oh my gods! That is your little pet?!” He pointed at Leo like he was a disgusting patch of mould.

“Uh-huh. And what’re you gonna do about it, Octavian? Run and tell? I am fucking fine with everyone knowing. In fact-“ Jason leapt up onto the café table, still holding onto Leo’s hand, “Listen up, motherfuckers!”

“Jason, what’re you-“

Jason squeezed Leo’s hand to reassure him and Leo stopped protesting, but he still looked worried.

“I’m in love with Leo Valdez!” Jason yelled, “He’s tiny and Greek and he’s awesome. You motherfuckers might look down on him. You might think he’s dangerous, or that he’s a freak. But I see how awesome he is. And sweet. And badass. And cute. And funny. And none of you-“ he pointed a finger at the crowd of passers-by, who were giving him annoyed and disgruntled looks, “Get to say a fucking WORD against him!” He turned towards Octavian, looking down at him and jabbing a finger in his face, “Especially a slimy little piece of shit like you, Octavian.” Jason jumped down from the table, reclined in his seat, picked up the menu, and studied it with his glasses at the end of his nose much like how an old man would study a newspaper.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna enjoy lunch with my boyfriend.”

Octavian scoffed, and left.

“Jason…” Leo was staring at him with those eyes of many feelings. Jason counted wonder, shock, horror, pride, lust, reverence and a seventh emotion he couldn’t quite describe.

“I’m sorry if that was too… loud, Leo. I don’t wanna make you feel-“

“Y-You’re in love with me?”

“…Yeah. Yes. I am,” Jason searched for what emotion was the brightest in those eyes, but there were too many and it was too confusing. He could never pick just one, “Is it too soon? Should I have waited? Should I have asked you first before yelling it in the street-“

“No! No, it’s fine. It’s… amazing, actually. And I love you too, Jason, I really do.”

Jason squeezed Leo’s hand again. Now that Leo had said it, Jason saw the love surface above the mess of other feelings in those eyes. He saw it bud and bloom like blossoms in springtime across Leo’s fiery irises. He wanted to get lost in those meadows of brown and gold, and when Leo closed those eyes to lean in to kiss him, Jason was slightly crestfallen at the fact that he couldn’t keep staring at them. Soon, though, Leo’s lips were against his, and his disappointment melted away. He had plenty of time to stare into those eyes later. They had their whole future ahead of them, and nobody was gonna stand in their way.

[seaglassmelody]

10, 14, 16 for the Rook asks please!!!

Thanks so much for the ask!! It's been...a very long time since I've done any fanfic so here goes!

All are for my main Rook, Mourn Watch elf Sabriel "Sabi" Ingellvar (she/they, demiromantic asexual)!

Prompts from the Rook Story Time Asks

I actually did all 3 so this got pretty long. All under the cut:

10. Rook attending a funeral-

Sabriel released a shuddering sigh as she anxiously adjusted the burial shroud on the corpse before her.

Fine embroidery, elegant weave…this was a family of some means, I suppose.

Not for the first time, she found herself wondering if her parents had the dignity of even a rough-spun shroud.

She shook her head quickly to shake the thought out. “Can’t get distracted now.”

This was far from her first time preparing a body for the Necropolis, but it would be her first time performing the burial rite on her own.

She mouthed the words to herself silently as she finished preparations. Everything was perfect. Everything had to be perfect. The man on the table left behind a beloved family and a mourning community. They deserved her best work.

For how can one truly grieve without a proper chance to say goodbye?

With one last deep breath, she patted the hand of the corpse in front of her.

“Well ser, shall we go say our farewells?”

-----

14. Rook attending a celebration-

“Hey Lucanis, finally decided to stop lurking in the pantry for once?” Davrin’s question was goading as he climbed up the stairs from the Vi’Revas chamber.

“Rook kicked him out of the kitchen.” Taash’s reply came before Lucanis could respond, and he gave them an exasperated look.

“Rook has kicked us all out of the kitchen for the foreseeable future.” He retorted, before turning back to Davrin, “So don’t even try going in there.”

“She said it was for a surprise!” Harding chimed in from the couch, looking up from the book she was reading - The Count of Bloodhill Manor. Emmrich had scoffed at it when he found it on the shelf, but still kept a hold of it for Harding anyway.

Davrin’s face turned skeptical. “Should I be worried about that?”

Neve’s laugh came from the stairs behind Davrin as she entered the room behind him. “Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”

“Rook’s not that bad of a cook!” Bellara spoke up, her legs crossed in front of her in Rook’s usual chair. “She’s pretty good when she actually makes something instead of…eating the ingredients individually…”

“I did see Rook and Taash bringing in quite a haul from the market yesterday,” Emmrich supplied from the upper balcony, having just exited his room to investigate the hubbub.

Taash nodded. “Dunno what she needed all those potatoes for, but it sure was a lot of em.”

“So how long has she been in there?” Neve asked, coming around to take a seat on the couch next to Harding.

“3 hours and 23 minutes.” Came Lucanis’s prompt reply, spurring a laugh from Neve.

Davrin sighed deeply. “Guess there’s nothing we can do but wait then. C’mon Assan, let’s go preen your feathers.”

The young griffon trilled in joyful assent before bounding off towards the door.

~~~

It was another several hours later before everyone was summoned to the kitchen by a few wisps that had been coaxed into Sabriel’s service by offering them a few curious notes from her personal desk (and potentially one of Neve’s. Not that Neve needed to know).

The group entered to a table sprawling with a variety of foods - fresh cut fruits, some sort of stuffed mushroom dish, a few pots of what appeared to be sauces, cups filled with drinks and in the center of it all- 3 large pies lovingly decorated with dragon motifs.

“You made all of this yourself?!” Harding exclaimed as Sabriel wiped her hands on her apron.

(She played it off as getting off some stray flour but really her palms were sweating. Were they going to like it? Was she going to give everyone food poisoning? Only time would tell.)

Setting aside her anxieties, Sabriel smiled broadly at her team. “I found my old recipe notes from when some of the other elves in the Watch gave me some cooking tips.” She pointed at each pie in succession. “This one’s a fish-based one, this one is root vegetables with herbs, and this one at the end is an extra spicy curried vegetables.” She smiled at Taash. “Hopefully it’ll be to your taste.”

Taash’s responding toothy grin helped settle her nerves enough to explain herself.

“I just figured…we’ve killed an archdemon. We took down two dragons. And we’ve even drawn blood from Ghilan’nain. I wanted to do something to thank you guys for all your hard work and…celebrate how far we’ve made it.” Her courage faltered a bit at their stares and her smile turned a bit nervous. “So umm…bon appetit?”

The silence that threatened was immediately broken by Assan noisily crowing and bounding the table, followed quickly by Manfred, who picked up a stuffed mushroom and began poking at the cheese mixture in the middle.

As both skeleton and griffon received a sound scolding for lack of manners from their respective fathers, the group laughed and took their seats, happy chatter echoing through the kitchen as everyone discovered that Bellara was right.

Turns out Rook is a pretty good cook when she tries.

-----

16. Rook falling in love for the first time-

Love was never an easy thing for Sabriel to understand.

Attachment? This she knew. She had her friends in the wisps and spirits, in her fellow Watchers and the friendlier undead.

Obligation? Certainly, she had her duties to the Watch, to the living, to the memory of the dead.

Affection? More difficult, but still known. She watched her agemates form bonds, experiment with public displays, experienced friendly nudges and hair ruffling.

It was the sum total of these parts that eluded her.

What was it that drove others to write entire operas about the passion of romance? What spurred heartbroken poetry and the lovers’ suicides that she had heard rumor of in the Necropolis? How overwhelming was this experience of seeing and being seen?

Was it joy? She had seen it described as a feeling of floating, of wanting to burst into song.

Was it pain? She had heard tales of excruciating attachment, so strong it hurt more than helped.

It was a question she had resigned herself to never fully receiving an answer, no matter how hard she tried.

It felt like a wall she could never break through— A glass barrier where she could watch everyone on the other side experience transcendence. She was never bitter, but a bit confused, and very resigned to her fate as a companion of only spirits and the dead.

And yet, when she sat at the Lighthouse’s table, cup of cioccolata calda made especially for her in her hands, watching Lucanis’s face light up with silent laughter at something Harding said-

The glass began to crack.

[drakmanka]

Dragonkin Question Game pt 2

4. what are some unique features of your dragon self? can be related to your body, your powers or your behavior.

Couple things that are related to each other: I'm a black dragon which is rare for my species. Also I had the ability to see visions of the future! In my species, all black dragons, and only black dragons, had this gift of future-sight.

I should note that they were only visions of potential futures, not definite, unchangeable things. Over half the visions I ever had never came true.

5. what do you think of the representation of dragons on earth?

It's a mixed bag. I'm not fond of most of the stereotypes and tropes. I loathe the entire concept of "dragon hunters" and the insinuation that we're some sort of monster that needs to be wiped out.

Humans tried that with wolves and look how that worked out. Same thing with sharks. Vilifying a being because you don't understand them or think the world is better off without them is a bad idea and will only come back to bite you int he ass.

All that said, I do love some of the more recent portrayals of dragons and the impact they've had on the public view of us.

6. do you have memories of being a dragon in a past life or concurrent life?

Yes! A past life. Quite a lot of 'em too.

7. what do your shifts look like, if you have any?

I'm semi perma-shifted. I almost always feel my wings and tail, although they vary in size/length. I also experience phantom horns, claws, scales, a phantom snout, and sometimes my teeth and tongue will shift as well.

8. what does your species' diet?

We were obligate carnivores and had a severe sensitivity to sugars so we actually physically couldn't eat things like fruit except in extremely tiny amounts.

[raynavan]

it is finally here!! the winners of the @ultimate-submas-tournament first round!! this is. verrry long as I have a bit of (lighthearted!!) commentary on the winners. said commentary is not meant to be offensive, but i just poke fun at the Au's in the running. of course- i highly suggest checking some of them out! all the polls (and therefore the au's in that poll) are linked in the first word of the message beow it. and with that, doodles under the cut.

the Ingo Bracket!

behold the subway boss Ingo! taking down statues! ah... but aren't gargoyles supposed to ward off evil spirits..?

eh, im sure it fine! nothing quite like an never ending cycle ammirite?

dad instincts activated. it was super effective (thank goodness another ghost was there, its pretty hard to punch them) ((though ah... perhaps a bad idea to beat up your dead self..?))

The Actual hero of courage!! purging the land of all poison! even his alternate's poison!!

man actively bleeding out beats up fox man, more at 11.

T-posing (the "T" stands for table) ((joke was made by @/thesilverinfinity thank you!!))

fire beats electricity!! villains for the win!!!

a... fae. a fairy type. destroyed by a... prince that commands (used to command) a dragon... perhaps there is a reason fae Ingo hides in the human world...

who was going to tell him that LTOT ingo isn't even a pokemon technically

bro respawn already you leaks are leaking everywhere- at least the Woodsman can continue his never ending task of gathering oil!

oh right... kid kinda... had the favor of a few gods... good luck ingo!

oh uh... i suppose even lord zoroark isn't immune to pets... (hope warden Akari doesn't find out-)

ooh... probably should have checked you type advantages buddy... at least wormgo knows we all love him even if he's a worm <3

The Emmet Bracket!

the power of sweaters

one might be the eye avatar after looking for answers, the true detective turned out on top!

tfw your just a train conductor in the far past with trauma (and brain trauma) and you get beaten up by another you that is friends with a god.

GET 'EM WITH THE LASER EYES (that you definitely have) (hope grovyle doesn't find you)

beach vacation in the past beats present Unova any day. (unless the Pelipper are looking for a snack)

jellyfish stings!! not even Gift's wonderful cosplay of his bother as enough to avoid the beast's wrath... no respect for cosplayers these days...

even though normally Ingo is the one to deal with unruly passengers, it easy to forget that robot Emmet has tasers for hands... o7 host emmet.

mans under the effects of CST (Chad stasis Twin effect) he is currently unbeatable.

wow the plushy has some power! uh... what do you have there Emmie..? why are you... looking at me like that...

air tight suites will not protect you from toons. take note. (though im sure he'd be pretty helpful with those hoards of monsters!)

congratulations! don't worry about the blurry Emmet, im sure he wasn't protecting anyone or anything, haha!

good job Emmet! you beat someone in a hospital bed! /lh

that's the last of it (no i am Not doing bracket 13 i Cannot draw them all differently hgeirpohgnolp) wonderful job everyone! i definitely heard of some new Au's that i have greatly enjoyed! im verrry excited to see where this competition continues!

bravo to everyone moving on to the next round, and for all those who didn't, thank you for sharing your Aus!! here's to another fun round, and also to the amazing aus and stories everyone here has created!!

SUPER BRAVO!!

[cybertron-after-dark]

Beast Wars X TFO scenario

Optimus Primal, Cheetos, Black Arachnia, Tarantulas, Ravage, Silverbolt, Ratrap and Dinobot meeting a TFP Predacon reader that just crashlanded into earth as a protoform and the pod scanned the bones of the first creature it could find (that being the dead predacon)

I'm assuming you mean Rampage instead of Ravage given Ravage was kinda barely there. If you did actually mean Ravage, my bad just let me know and I'll do him separately!

-For Optimus, well... Isn't this just prime? They already have enough of a headache fighting Megatron and his merry band of idiots and assholes. And now they have to deal with an ancient Predacon proper? It's not looking good. But, he hasn't completely given up hope. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Or, rather, he's hoping you'll join HIM. Predacon altmode or not, you're still an intelligent creature. Perhaps you can be reasoned with.

-Cheetor is nowhere near as scared as he should be. The Preds just have one extra aft to kick, just so happens that this one is a whole lot bigger. He's not exactly happy about it, but hey, what's complaining about it gonna do?

-for blackarachnia, homegirl is in full scheming mode. She wants an alliance with you yesterday. She's gonna try every tactic in the book to get you on her side so she can stage a coupe. Really, what are the chances ol' Buckethead can take on a wholeass mechanical dragon? You're practically a trump card. A trump card she wants in her hand.

-tarantulas has a thousand different plans for you. Convincing you to join his side, convincing you to stay far far away from that witch blackarachnia, taking you apart to study your mechanics, taking you apart and putting you back together, digging you with a shock collar to make sure you stay loyal to him... So many evil little plans to make.

-rampage is almost comforted by your presence. He sees a kindred spirit in you: a spirit of incredible violence and destruction, not to seek power, but simply for desolation's sake. He wants to commit unspeakable crimes with you.

-silverbolt is considering this his ultimate test as a heroic character. He's always strived to be the perfect knight in shining armor. Now here's his dragon to slay. Of course, if you prove to be reasonable he probably won't lean into the whole slaying thing as much, but he will be at least a little disappointed that he doesn't get the chance to.

-all rattrap can think is just... Nope. Nah. No thanks. Nada. Negative. Negatory. Nein. Not happening. He's gonna pack up his shit and he's gonna scram. Off to live as a vagabond rat. Of course, he'll come back about an hour later, but he REALLY doesn't want to fight a fucking dragon. He likes being alive and not crispy fried, thanks.

-dinobot is in absolute awe. He is having a religious experience seeing you glide through the air. A Predacon... One of the ORIGINAL Predacons. Those his kind were named for... Alive. He wants you on his side so badly. He'll seek you out, try to tell you that the Darksyde's crew has no honor, and that you're better off with the Maximals, backwards as it seems. Then he'll try to fight you because he really really wants a match with what he considers a worthy opponent.

BONUS ROUND:

-Rhinox is so fucking tired, please let this be a nightmare. He's already carrying the Maximals half the time with his chainguns, but they can only do so much against a fucking dragon. He's honestly considering taking off with Rattrap, but unlike Rattrap, if he's at that point it's gonna take a lot longer than an hour for him to change his mind and come back.

-Waspinator would really appreciate it if you would not take part in the tradition of using him as the communal chew toy. Please. Please consider it.

[punsmaster69]

23/OCT/20XX

"is that who i think it is?"

tori flipped her pumpkin around.

it was a carving of my face.

"The one and only!"

"mine's you, too."

"..my craftsmanship isn't as good, though."

"I like it all the same."

"Get a room!!"

"UNDYNE, ARE YOU NOT ALSO CARVING ALPHYS?"

"R-really?"

"..Yeah."

"I c-carved you, too..."

"get a roooom."

"Shut UP!!"

——

"Flowey, what.. um...?"

undyne finished toriel's thought with a lot more bluntness.

"Dude, the hell IS that thing??"

"Undyne, please.."

frisk leaned over to look at flowey's carving, and snorted.

"STOP laughing!!"

"It's- it's a cool dragon!"

"Ah. I see. It is... very neat, Flowey."

"Your dragon looks-"

tori narrowed her eyes at undyne.

"....."

"It's."

"...Good."

flowey went back to carving with a huff.

"......."

"it looks like it crashed into something."

tori bonked me on the head.

"Yours sucks worse!"

"Nobody's pumpkin is bad."

"..Sans, you should know better."

"just giving constructive criticism."

"It did not seem very helpful."

"What about that was constructive?!"

"ok, ok. let me rephrase."

"it could look less like it slammed into a wall, if you lengthened the snout more."

he snapped back at me.

"Wait, what do you know?! Your pumpkin is awful!"

then he looked at his carving again.

"...Fine! Whatever!"

——

napstablook seems like they've gotten emotionally attached to theirs.

"Blooky, dear, are you ever going to actually 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦 the gourd?"

"it.. might hurt it.. if I did.."

mettaton?

....

i'm sure you can figure out what he made his into.

——

"I THINK I DID QUITE WELL RECREATING FRISK!"

paps held his pumpkin up next to the kid's head.

it was identical.

frisk turned around theirs to show off an equally accurate papyrus.

"WOWIE!! YOU'VE CAPTURED MY LIKENESS PERFECTLY!!!"

"You two are quite good at this!"

"Yeah, seriously! Those are super impressive."

"Does that mean everyone's done now?"

"let's put 'em out on the steps, then."

——

seeing the pumpkins everyone worked so hard on lined along the porch stairs was really something special.

"...let's do this every year."

"WE ALREADY DO, SANS."

and it's just as special every time.

[himbopunk]

🌹and 🌷 for the ask game!

meant to do this when u sent em oops. ask game in question!

doing hakim for both of these!

🌹 What’s the first genuine fight Rook got in with their love interest about? How was it resolved?

hakim and neve fight a decent amount, their main big early one (at the cusp of their relationship like. being one lmao) was about hakim not being upfront about the fact that he grew up in tevinter as a slave before being a raider + lord of fortune. (i think its kinda like, how the dragons/crows are harsher on you because youre supposed to look out for your people and you left to go help the other. he's not a shadow dragon but it's like, something super important about his life he didn't tell Anyone until the slip up with taash and then on top of that that retroactive feeling of betrayal cuz its like, you of all people then should know what the venatori rising + losing shadow dragons would mean... it's layered.). it kind of fizzles out a bit on its own though cuz thats how hakim and neve's fights usually go, i think? they get to the point they both are yelling or something, one of them realizes what theyre doing or says something stupid and the tension falls apart. theyre both just not great at being upfrot about their feelings so they gotta yell a bit and move on. (they dont usually get like super nasty/personal/etc its just. High Feelings that burn out quick)

hakim and lucanis don't really get into many fights until after the endgame i think bc the stakes finally arent world ending enough that they can let whatever they wanna fight about be an issue. i think. either its about illario or after an encounter with caterina. i think hakim gets super frustrated with the way lucanis can be with her and hes tried to be understanding about it but its like. he's not had any functional/longterm relationships before and seeing someone he cares about struggle w the circumstances of all lucanis' family + crow shit really gets to him. and considering hakim's whole like, live freely by your choices mentality, he just doesnt really get a lot of it. so i think either they argue about some shit lucanis didnt speak up on to caterina more than once despite hakim knowing how he feels, orrr theres also just the whole. mess of hakim having previously had a thing with illario. that ones complicated cuz hakim does Not like illario and thinks hes a piece of shit and lucanis doesnt exactly have a jealous streak but i just feeeeeeel like. whenever it is they finally have a big fight post-endgame some of the illario stuff comes out too on both ends.

i think neve intervenes and talks to them both individually. they both have to take a few days to cool off and then feel really bad about everything and apologize a ton. (probably lucanis goes to bring him food as a peace offering just as hakim is coming to bring him some cute small gift like smth for his knitting or an apron or smth wyvern themed.) this is not the last time this happens ofc but its not very frequent at all.

in general ig all corners of the relationship are rly good at empathizing with the other but neve and hakim will do it like mid-fight and then lose momentum but lucanis and hakim both get blinders on a bit and it takes a couple days to set in and sort things out

🌷If Rook needed to get away from their responsibilities for a moment, where would they go? Where is their safe space outside the Lighthouse?

drew a little smth for this, but hakim likes being on the coast, somewhere he can watch the ships take off from the docks. sometimes he'll find a spot on a rooftop watching the docks in treviso or dock town in minrathous, but there's a lot of little things there that don't quite hit the same as being back in rivain... there's a sweet spot of quiet and busy the air is + the sea smells a certain way. so if he's got access to an eluvian, he'll make his way to the rivain coast (preferably the southern coast or even an island bc thats what he actually prefers but he takes what he can get.)

usually its taash or harding who finds them there first when he needs to get away

[pomellon]

for your dtk+ dragon au, I'd love to know more about sam, ant, and boomer!

I've been working on their designs but I haven't had much time for au art lately ; u ; I also somehow lost Sam's sketch but here's the rough sketches for Ant and Boomer:

Some more info about em all below!

Ant is kind of the flight’s mom friend, mostly since he’s the only nurse other than Bad for a good while. He’s fun and relaxed most of the time, but will snap into a serious no nonsense mood when a situation should call for it. He’s main job is usually that of a medic and mediator, but he also helps Bad pretty much run the flight and organise assignments and missions when needed.

He’s pretty much bonded with everyone but he’s no desire of making any of his wingmates into a talonmate. I would like to include Velvet in this au at some point and have a plot centred around Ant around it, but I am still working out the logistics of it!

Boomer is one of the few dragons in the flight that has a god claim, and got it by bonding with a familiar, a frog/alligator creature that made him a water elemental. Bad has a strong feeling that the bond between Boomer and his familiar could be the key to regaining the attention of the Watcher of Tides to their world, but they’re still not quite sure how.

Boomer is bonded with Bad, Ant, and Punz, and similarly to how Sapnap bonded to Dream very early, Boomer bonded and took an instant liking to Sam. If you’re looking for him one of your best bets would be in Sam’s workshop as Boomer loves helping out the scholar with his projects and experiments. He also has a kind of sibling rivalry with Sapnap, the two hatching around the same time and they would often fight for attention when they were young. Nowadays it’s more of a friendly and competitive rivalry, the two of them often sparring and comparing their guardian strengths. 

Sam used to be small for his age, something that’s common with dragons that have high magic potential. He grew into a guardian out of a sense of duty and need to protect his flight after they were attacked and separated from each other. The same sense of duty led him to research and track down a magic item that granted him a god claim from the Knight of Suns, making him a light elemental. That wasn’t enough however and he soon started figuring out a way to gain more magic, more power to keep his family safe, eventually leading him to become addicted to raw magic.

Addictions like this can be dangerous as they can either lead to high levels of pent up magic, result in a magic blowout that can cause immense destruction, or make the dragon become violent as they start to attack and consume anything that contains magic (including other dragon) to satisfy their growing needs. Sam suffered the former, luckily in a situation where the outburst actually saved him, but it left his magic system weak and damaged. 

Shortly thereafter the flight was reunited again and his strong sense of duty to protect ebbed away with the knowledge that there were other capable guardians around. With this new found sense of safety, and his body no longer fit for fighting or capable of holding much magic, he started to shed most of his guardian scales as he shifted into a scholar instead, growing a lot in over all size. He might no longer be a physical fighter but he now spends his time engineering and crafting items and tools that he and his flight can use to protect themselves and improve their quality of life.

He’s bonded to quite a few dragons within the flight and he’s talonmates with Punz and Dream.

[weregreatatcrime]

“Who did this to you? And no I’m not going to believe it was an accident.”

Raph and Donnie

ask meme from here! I chose 2012 later on to fit with the vibes I been doing lately

"Hey, Donnie?" Raph asked sheepishly from the door of the lab. "Could you give me a hand?"

Donatello turned his head from his computer and squinted. It was almost 8 in the morning. Very late for Raph to be up and- "Holy chalupas, what happened?"

Raph limped his way into the lab, looking like he'd gone a few bad rounds and lost. "You should see the other guy." He boasted as he sat himself gingerly into a chair.

"That is not something to be bragging about, Raphael." Donnie scolded as he grabbed his medkit. That was all he said as he first assessed his brother to make sure nothing was too horribly broken.

His ankle was twisted and swollen, needing a wrap and strict instructions to keep off it. Donnie even gave him a crutch he hoped he'd use at least for a few days. The rest of him was just covered in cuts and bruises, thankfully.

"So, who did this to you?" Donnie asked casually as he cleaned up a cut around Raph's eye. "And don't even try to play it off, Raph. You're going to get ragged on by Leo when he wakes up anyways."

Raph grumbled and swore a few times as Donnie patiently wiped and cleaned his face. "...me and Case were dicking around, having a few drinks, when some Purple Dragons showed up and decided they had a problem with it."

Donnie shook his head. He could already assume the part about the alcohol when he smelled the beer on his brother's breath. He also knew that come morning there was no way Raph would be telling Leo that particular part.

"Nothing else?" He raised an eyebrow at Raph judgingly.

"We maybe cussed em out a bit," Raph couldn't help his grin. "But it's their fault for being a bunch of wannabe gangsters."

Don huffed and rolled his eyes as he finished up and cracked some ice packs. One for his face and another for his foot. "You should really know better by now, Raph."

"Eh, the other guys came off a lot worse." Raph snickered.

"Next time you two go drinking, can you at least try to do it somewhere you won't get any dumb ideas?" Donnie rolled his eyes again. He knew better than to try telling Raph to actually stop, not when it was at least a safer method of blowing off steam than going out on anger fueled patrols.

"With Casey? There's always dumb ideas involved." Raph laughed. "But sure, we'll try to be a little more careful where we drink." He rubbed Donnie's head with a slightly slurred 'thanks' as he got up to limp off to bed.

Donnie shook his head as he watched him go. At least he took the crutch. Come the morning he'd probably be woken up by Leo and Raph getting in some sort of argument, but at least Raph seemed to have a good time and didn't come out the other end too hurt.

He sighed and looked at his computer screen. If Raph was just stumbling in after drunken adventures, it was probably late enough for him to go to bed too.

[smol-tired-binch-blog]

So. Finished Kiwami 2.

I can feel the details fading from my brain already, what the fuck was that. Even without the weird anti-Korean bullshit (seriously EVERYONE is Jingweon except Kazuki and Suyeon bugger this honestly) it was so fucking BORING, I didn't CARE about the fate of the Tojo, let it fall, who cares. The only reason I'm mildly interested in it staying is cause the Omi are worse. I wasn't as invested in the combat but in fairness I got into this series thinking the quick-changing between four unique combat styles was this franchise's gimmick but turns out I'm wrong :) That's fine, it's just one of the main reasons I picked up the game, that's okay.

The game's best bits were Ryuji and Daigo. Also I like seeing Yuya and Kazuki and Sayama, whilst not given the best treatment via the writers imo, is a really cool character.

Oh and Majima Saga was MUCH shorter than I expected which eh, lil disappointing, but I got closure with him and his Sotenbori past so I'll allow it (even though it makes me fucking CRY)

Time for some under the cut ranting:

Why is it that the Jingweon's whole 'death before dishonour, revenge above all else' is simply Bad And Evil And Backwards when I swear like....don't yakuza have similar creeds? Never back down, loyalty to the cause, to the family, debts must be repaid in blood and money alike. Maybe they're go a bit more with it but yakuza aren't above playing the long game for their goals (see Sera and Shimano). Is it bad when they Jingweon do it cause they're Korean? They're the bad guys I guess so.

Also WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH TERADA. FUCK OFF. I TOLD YALL I DIDN'T TRUST HIM IN KIWAMI BUT APPARENTLY HIM AND KAZAMA ARE RIGHT PROPER PALS BUT THEN NO HE WANTS REVENGE BUT ACTUALLY NOT REALLY HE REALLY WAS OUR ALLY ALL ALONG?!?!?!?!? FUCK THIS

Speaking of the bastard, Kazama really likes taking two young brothers/comrades and telling them "go make something of yourselves, you have such great potential" but then proceed to give special attention to one of them for SOME fucking reason but then still plays the cool-headed and aloof mentor, like "no I don't play favourites I can't do everything for you" whilst doing Literally Everything For Them and fighting tooth and nail to get them to the top without letting on to anyone that he does actually care. Every day I grow angrier that Nishiki didn't kill him the first time. Fire again, boyo.

Also FUCK RYUJI'S DAD. SERIOUSLY, what is WRONG with dads in RGG games??? "You're saying my own mama threw me away?" "No! I begged her to leave you with me." I BEG YOUR FUCKING PARDON?! WHAT?! I- I JUST- HUH?!?!?!? WHAT?!?!?!!?? FUCK OFF?!?!?!?!?!!?!?

But now Ryuji. Oh my God Ryuji. What a character, what a lad, what a man. I don't give a fuck, okay, he earned the title of Dragon, bollocks to Kiryu. And I mean that.

'Dragon of Dojima', 'Mad Dog of Shimano', legends, yes, but inherently tied to and defined by men who ruined their lives, men who don't deserve their names attached to those boys legacies. Ryuji though? He's defined by none but himself, tied to no one, his strength and power and name belonging to him and him alone. The Golden Dragon. By God he earned that tattoo.

So then WHY did they KILL HIM OFF?!?!?!? THEY HAD TIME TO LEAVE, YES RYUJI HONEY I AGREE EVERY MAN OUGHTA BE A LILTTLE BIT STUPID, IT MAKES EM CHARMING, BUT THIS IS SO FUCKING DUMB!!! You are NOT falling apart, you are LITERALLY BUILT DIFFERENT. You make KIRYU look like a twink and he's survived about 17 bullets in his life at this point, you should be able to heal from TWO of the bastards in NO TIME JUST GET YOURSELVES TO A HOSPITAL AND FIGHT LATER YOU HAVE A SISTER TO GET TO KNOW YOU CAN TALK ABOUT YOUR MOTHER YOU CAN HAVE A FAMILY PLEASE DON'T-

And the less we say about that dumb ending the better. skrunksthatwunk already made a good post on why it's bullshit cause Jesus fuckin Christ on a unicycle WHY do they keep trying to but Heterosexual Romance in my Shirtless Men Beating Each Other Up Whilst Pouring Their Hearts Out To Each Other game.

But hey, Yakuza 3 should be fun!!!! Genuinely really excited to see what goes down!!!

[ralofofriverwoods]

3, 4, 16, 22, and 42 from the wholesome ask game, for virthik? (if he has friends????)

plus full permission to add on with any other oc you wanna talk about :3

He has friends! He’s just bad at being close friends with ppl. Very nervous and very inexperienced in that

3 what is something they really like about themselves, and what’s something you really like about them?

Hmmmm. Virthik likes his hair a lot. It’s arguably the nicest thing about him, in terms of the amount of care put in. He also quite likes that he’s finally at a point in life where he can actually do things that he wants to do, and have a say in what may happen to him. The thing I like most about him physically is his dragon horns :3 overall I like that he does his dead level best to help people when he can, even if he doesn’t know he’s doing it :)

4 What is the thing they like the most about their friends, and what is the thing their friends like the most about them?

For friends that are my ocs, he likes that they’re kinda used to his whole thing(pretty much just automatically) so they don’t end up getting terribly worried when he says out of pocket shit on accident(at least not visibly). Should they prolly be worried? Absolutely. He has a 50% chance of a therapist resigning after the first 2 visits, it’s like a status effect.

For npc friends(like Serena) he likes that she also kinda doesn’t mind hating on one’s own parents. Like ‘ayyy! Mine are shit too, what a coincidence!’ And of course that serana is kind of ok with just. Not chatting, but being around each other as a way to hang out. Burnt out chosen ones 🤝 not talking constantly bc honestly wtf. How

I’d list more canon characters but the only others I can think of rn are either government officials or gelebor. Sooooo

For something that they like about him, I think all of them have a general appreciation for his skill in combat. Learning how to fight early on has its perks! Especially the ones that have low health, it’s very nice to have a bit of a tank as a teammate

Otherwise I think they like that he’s always up for pretty much anything. Wanna go to that old abandoned crypt that’s definitely full of cultists? Why not! Wanna rebuild an entire town from the ground up? How hard could it be! Wanna talk about our feelings? Ok maybe not that one very much but he’ll get back to ya!

16 What was the happiest moment of their life?

I think it would have to be a few days after the dawnguard questline tbh. Hasn’t killed alduin yet but honestly? It’s good to know that he CAN kill him, or at least that he’ll have a chance. He’s still got a long way to go, sure, but knowing that you’re doing something right is always nice.

22 If they had to pick up an instrument, what would they choose? 

Ooh that’s a tough one. In Skyrim he’d prolly do a lute, for lack of any other really interesting instruments(other than a flute but like. Meh). If he could choose a modern instrument it would either be the drums or an electric guitar. Why? Cause he’d look cool.

42 Let them vent for a second, without the fear of being judged. What would they like to say?

“Ughhh well. I’ll admit I’m not feeling great. I mean like just in general I’m not but I really am not feeling great right now. Feel like I’m missing a bunch of stuff I should have known a long time ago, I don’t like it. Just a lot of things are happening and I don’t really want to mess it up if I can help it, I guess? I guess it’s a little like spinning a bunch of plates and making sure none of em drop and shatter? I think that’s the saying… umm I think it would help to just curl up under a rock for a little while haha. Maybe after I clear my to do list…”

[cheemken]

Everyone is already tired of Eepy after a month, mf is even starting to piss off Iris because he won’t listen to her

So imagine how defeated everyone felt when Iris came home with a Tyrunt , a Pokémon that likes to bite even more that Gible, and their bites are known to hurt like a bitch

Even Drayden is starting to think letting Iris bring home wild baby Pokémon is a bad idea, if the broken TV is anything to go by

I just imagine the lead up to that was just, Iris sitting them down on the couch and looking at them in the eye seriously

“I’m going into the next room to do some paperwork”

“Tyrunt!” “Ble!”

“Promise me that you’ll behave by yourselves until I’m done”

“RuntRunt” “Gible!”

“Ok, I’ll get this done as fast as I can”

And not even five minutes later does Iris hear a crash. Girly is really contemplating whether she should let Drayden find the mess first or just go clean it up herself

On the bright side, Eepy finally stops biting them 24/7 and instead bites Tyrunt when they play together

REAL😭😭🤣

No bc in the first ask you sent me I was gonna add like, a small bit of Eepy following Iris during the league meetings and ofc, he's there biting her, and ofc it was expected of Cynthia to say that's normal for Gible bc when her own Garchomp was still a Gible it wouldn't stop biting her too, it still has a habit of biting Cynthia really (Iris hopes and prays everyday that Eepy won't keep that habit when he evolves, please Arceus just this one good thing), but also Diantha saying how it reminds her of her own Tyrantrum when it was still a Tyrunt too, and Iris was just "really? I mean, doesn't your Tyrantrum have Strong Jaw??"

"yes, he broke my bones back then"

"WHAT"

And that's how the Champions found out that Dia took a year off from completing the Gym Challenge bc her Tyrunt bit her arm hard enough it broke her bones lmao

And that in mind, when she found her own Tyrunt, well, she's glad at least that it's Eepy he bites, not her, bc she'd rather not want broken bones too lol

But also now it's Eepy and Terry, im gonna call him Terry bc of Dinosaur King I love Terry so much he's so cute, causing trouble in the league, Caitlin's chambers is off limits now like she legit put up a psychic barrier so the two lil shits won't be able to disturb her while she's sleeping hahaha

Imagine Eepy and Terry just following Iris to another league meeting, Hilbert just gives her a look™

"no."

"Well, I can't just leave them!"

"yes you can!! Why don't you leave them with Bianca?! They listen to her more!"

"because I'd be a bad parent and partner if I just leave them with Bianca all the time! Plus, she has her own meeting"

"Okay how about this: give them to trainers!! To Dragon trainers! Can you at least do that?!"

"and you think I haven't tried??? These little shits wouldn't leave!"

On the bright side, at least y'know, Eepy and Terry just bite each other and their toys now, not them which made the meeting a bit more bearable lmfaooo

But y'know imagine it got to the point Iris has to beg Bianca to train Eepy and Terry not to bite anyone bc she's the only they listen to, and ofc, Bianca agreed, saying she'd have more time with her lil darlings, Iris still doesn't understand how Bianca's not tired of em, Eepy especially lmfao

The downside of that is that while Bianca did train them to not bite anyone, they would legitimately listen to only Bianca now, like Iris is their actual trainer but they won't even listen to her cjkdjdb hahaha now they follow Bianca around so at least she has more company when doing field work, plus, Eepy and Terry doesn't bite people much anymore so that's an added bonus ig hahah least the league wouldn't have to deal w Terry and Eepy anymore hahaha

[dragonmasterhiccup]

She didn’t fully believe him, thinking that maybe he was just saying it to say it, and then later he would change his mind, but, she didn’t really want to disagree with him. The most she could do is promise that she wouldn’t be there for too long. “I don’t think I need to be there for a very long time, b-but I’ll stay…” After all, it was an actual hut with hot food— practically a dream come true. She’d never seen the inside of a hut until today.

Tilting her head to look up at him, she nodded, waiting with anticipation for whatever his answer would be.

When she finally heard it, though…

She couldn’t help but laugh; it was quiet, and probably not as hearty as she actually felt, but it was still a laugh, which had to count for something, right?

“Horrendous? That, that’s very silly!”she said between giggles. “Why would your mom and dad name you that? It doesn’t make sense, wouldn’t you want to give your kids pretty names? Or at least ones that aren’t calling you ugly? I kinda feel bad for you now…” she said, a small smile still on her face as she leaned her head back on his arm.

“That was a very lucky guess…” she stated, suspicion laced in her voice. Though after taking no more than ten seconds to think upon it further, she concluded, “I don’t think you’re a witch, witches are mostly girls, and they’re very mean, at least from what I’ve heard…” She’d been told stories about witches before, though after Magnus had accidentally scared her, those got cut off pretty quick.

She nodded. “Yep, I like Danny better, Ellie is like a little kids name, I mean if I ever heard a grown up with the name Ellie, I don’t think she’d be taken very seriously… But I dunno, maybe when I’m grown up, I’ll like it, or I’ll like Danielle again.”

“Seven isn’t that young, Hiccup, I can do some grown up stuff, only if they tell me I can, but still, I’m almost grown up. ‘Sides, learning is hard, I can’t focus, ‘s always so much noise.”

“Oh… okay.” He was being weird— what if the other people on this island didn’t know he was friends with a dragon?! He could get in big trouble then…

She caught herself looking over her shoulder, checking to see if there was a dragon looming over her.

“You have a lot of long stories,” she observed.

Gods, she was so confused. “You want to help? You want to help me? B-but helping me is using up your stuff, and it takes a lot of time. I, I don’t understand.” And really, how could she?

Her eyes widened, only a tiny bit. “Really? Any of ‘em?” Wait. This could be a test. “M’ actually already warm, your fire is very hot y’know..”

“Oh.” Caito said infection was bad, really bad, and that it was harder for it to get better. “Well, if water can’t stop it from getting infected, why don’t I have any of this stuff at my home?” she asked, gesturing to the small pile of medical supplies.

She started peeling a little at one of the smaller bandages on her face, but almost immediately stopped; if this was helping her get better, she should probably leave it on.

“Okay, so the itching isn’t bad? It’s supposed to do that?”

“‘S good, what um, what ones have to stay on longer..?”

The only exit she could spot was the nearby window, but even that was inaccessible to her. She was stuck.

Best to just stick to her plan [which she really didn’t want to follow through with, but this Astrid person was a mystery, and she might not be as nice as Hiccup].

She was scared, and her eyes were glossing over again, but she gave a tiny, reluctant nod, watching as he left the room.

Her entire body was tense as Astrid rounded the corner, and she clutched her knife even tighter.

“Hi…” she muttered, looking over at Hiccup for reassurance.

“You don’t have to lie, ‘s okay if you want me to leave,” she stated bluntly, though her voice was still quiet. “Just ‘cause Hiccup says I can stay doesn’t mean you have to agree.” If she wanted her to leave, she would, but if she tried to come closer to her, then… she’d do something; stab and run? Maybe.

But by the Gods, she was so glad when Astrid left the room, and all she mumbled was a quick “Bye…” as she watched her leave.

She eyed Zephyr curiously, not having seen in actual baby in like, ever.

Babies were so weird, she had no clue how Hiccup saw this as a gift; they required endless attention and time, they were burdens, that’s all.

“N-no, I’m uh, I’m not thirsty.” She was, very, but if she reached out the grab the tea, then that knife would definitely fall into view, and then Hiccup would definitely kick her out.

He laughed with her, knowing full well how ridiculous his name sounded. "Well, in our tribe, we give names that would scare off trolls, but I've always thought trolls would laugh when they hear my name, much like you just did."

"Even then, I'm the third, so there were two Hiccup Horrendous Haddocks before me."

Hearing her suspicion, he did his best to not show his nerves, but quickly relaxed when she moved on.

Nodding in agreement, he said, "They are particularly frightful. Thankfully there aren't any on Berk, so you don't have to worry about running into one here."

He grinned down at her. "You have some options, at least, and you can always change your mind, right?" Hiccup, didn't have any good nickname options, but he didn't mind too much. So long as Tuffnut didn't call him 'Hiccy' ever again.

Thinking for a moment, he said, "What if you had some moss earplugs? Might help block out some of that noise, help you focus?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, I do, I've certainly done a lot, too... I'll tell you some of them, if you'd like, once we get home."

Looking into her eyes, he nodded. "Yes, I do. See, it doesn't matter to me how much stuff it uses, or how much time. I want to help, not only because it's the right thing, but... because I...I think you could use it."

He gestured to the many furs draped around. "Any of them." Hearing that she was okay without one, he said, "Okay, but if that changes, feel free to use one."

Truthfully he had to stop himself from wrapping one around her shoulders, but he knew that would only confuse or make her more wary.

Looking down, he shook his head, sighing sadly. "I...I don't know. I'd send you home with some, but I get the feeling you wouldn't be able to hold onto it for very long, would you?" Looking back at her, his eyes weren't accusatory, but sad.

"Not necessarily. If it gets to be too much, we'll find a new solution for you. The only ones that would need to stay on are for those deeper cuts, like the one on your eyebrow. We'll keep a close on those over the next couple of days, and by then if all looks well, you won't need any bandages anymore."

As Danny looked to Hiccup, he did his best to give a reassuring nod, letting her know that it was okay.

Astrid tilted her head before shaking it. "Oh, no, I don't mind having you here, honestly." Gods, this was so weird. "It'll be nice to have you here with us. But believe me, if I didn't agree with Hiccup, he'd know it. No, we are on the same page here."

Hiccup laughed, agreeing with Astrid. She never minced her words, and he wouldn't change a thing.

Sitting down, he situated Zephyr so she sat comfortably on his leg. "Okay, well, it's there for you, when you need it. I just recommend to drink it before it gets cold."

There were a few moments of silence before he spoke up again. "So, you mentioned you like to draw? Do you like to draw anything in particular?"

[rocklandjbrin]

"Well if it's that famous maybe it'll be lended out. Gonna have to go on a waitlist five hundred people long or somethin'." He joked, "Don't really have Netflix... a family friend does, though. Last I heard at least. Maybe she'd be up for checking it out."

Tell me how you really feel. "I'm not joshin' you! A load of fantasy series in recent years? Probaly influenced by Tolkein- he's the author. His works are like, a masterpiece of literary fiction." He finished up the last of his wings, and then turned to his donut. Maybe he'd save part of it for later, but, in the mean time... He took a big bite and sighed contentedly. Sweet, sugary goodness. Of course, the guy promptly mixed up the Lord of the Rings and it's predecessor, and Rock couldn't keep the amused glimmer from his eyes. He did try to shrug it off though. At least Wade knew something about the world of Middle Earth. "You're on the right track, that's the book before it. Lord of the Rings still has an adventure with the ring, though." He snorted as he compared the dwarves to Snow White. "I haven't seen Snow White but these dwarves live in the mountains. As for orcs, they were made by this dude named Morgoth, they used to be elves, but they were changed, and they work for the big bad now." A smirk crossed his lips as Wade spoke of Gollum, "Yeah, that's his name. Well, one of 'em. He was influenced by the ring, and is basically obsessed with it. He's uh, he's got some problems. It's kinda complicated though, so, you know, if you wanna find out more maybe you should give it a read."

Not an honourable bone in his body? "Yeah, you know, you're probably right. Standin' up for a kid and then buyin' him a meal, dessert and all? Real dishonourable." The sarcasm was dripping like the glaze of his donut. A lot of bad. What did he mean by that? Was this guys' idea of bad actually that bad, or was he just being hard on himself? "Is it stuff you can do something about, now? Stuff you could make better?"

Talk about praise, when it came to his ability. The boy practically glowed with sheepish pride, "Thanks, man. I wanna get better at 'em, I just- I gotta be kinda cautious about where, you know? Old man doesn't want me practicin' at the house and not everyone's as cool about uh, about people like me." There were people roaming around even at this time of night, and the street would be bustling by morning. "Besides, I find it kinda eats up energy if I use 'em a lot, don't need to be even hungrier." It took him a second to recognize the fumble in his words, the implications, and he quickly followed up, "Growing teen and all." He took another bite of his donut, and nodded at Wade's question, speaking over his mouthful, "Yeah, we've got what's called an "X" gene." He smiled, "I don't know if it's possible to comprehend the entire world. It's got layers. Just from a microscopic perspective alone never mind what we can see with our bare eyes." Yeah, he read up on science, too. It was pretty cool. "Mutants, aliens, who knows what's all out there? Maybe dragons. That'd be epic."

Or vampires, apparently. He hadn't expected that on his night's bingo card. "Aw, man. You mean you don't have a cape at home?" He joked, laughing with the others' bewilderment when it came to sparkling. "It's uh- It's a Twilight reference. That's a book series about vampires who sparkle in the sun." Wade seemed hesitant to show his teeth. Rock squinted skeptically, and then- Whoah. His eyes had changed. And sure enough, "Yeah, that's a little sharper than average. Eh, I'm not scared, doubt you'd save my ass just to suck my blood. Plus you were fine with my nose, earlier. That is wild, Dude! So uh, you're still able to eat regular food? Are you the vampire equivalent to vegetarian-? Sorry, another Twilight joke, that's- some of them have animal blood instead of, you know. That's what I mean. What about reflections? Can you see yourself in them?" He looked across the street, trying to get his eyes on a window reflection or something. "How old are you? Are you like, immortal?"

Well that caught their attention alright. A middle finger had shot into the air, directed at a group of teens across the street who were hovering by a Duncan Donuts long closed for the night. The boy beneath the hoodie, propelling said finger, sneered. Just like that, the group of five moved towards him, the tallest, Shacks, sauntering forward with an irritating air of confidence. And to think, there'd been a time when Rockland had thought he was cool.

"You can't seriously blame us, Rocky." He looked to the others with cruel amusement, "It was a prank, get a sense of hum-" Too busy searching for the favour of his crew, he'd missed the draw of the younger teen's fist before it met his cheek.

"Prank my ass, I could've been arres-oof." Rockland was tackled by Archie, the smallest of the bunch, who was about a head shorter than he was, but kinda stalky for his age, and with the element of surprise on his side. Cane clattering out of hand, and across the sidewalk, the lanky teen scraped across the pavement, electric pain radiating up from his tailbone. He caught the breath that had been knocked out of him just in time to catch the thump of a fist to the nose in return. - For Wade

Wade didn't know what to make of this city yet. He'd only been here a couple days and was still trying to get his bearings. It wasn't a bad city, he thought, just cold. Just... really cold when you're alone, like all cities are. Nevertheless, Wade did some hunting and stocked up on other supplies, always wanting to stay on the move. That's how he got jobs, and that's how he kept sane.

Tonight had been quiet enough so far... that is until he heard sounds of a fight. But a fight... between kids? Was he hearing this right? Wade made his way toward the sounds, and sure enough, some kids whose parents were absent and whose bedtimes must be fast-approaching were going at it. Or rather, several kids were beating up on one unfortunate one.

"Hey! Come on, cut it out, what the hell're you guys doin'?!" Wade yelled, hoping to scatter the bullies. "You know better than this, get off him! Don't make me call the cops!" he said, watching as they all scattered... save for one. Wade knelt down beside the boy lying on the ground. "Hey, buddy, you okay?" he asked gently.