#It's getting pretty hard to have fun playing Turf War...

[calista-222]

I love Splatoon 3 but Splatoon 3 doesn't love me...

[canis-rex-lupus]

PSYCHONAUTS SPLATOON HEADCANONS PART 3?!?!?!?!?! this one's for the INTERNS!!!

🐙 also im using squid emojis as dividers for an easier viewing experience now

NORMA NATIVIDAD

norma would be an octoling, and she'd main whatever's "meta defining" at the time instead of just picking a weapon she thinks is neat. what's the point if it's not the best!!

she has main character syndrome i think. she's EXTREMELY bossy and takes the game too seriously. she orders around her team (take the left flank!! cover me while i get the rainmaker!! nooo don't go over there i need you over here defending!!!!) and her instructions are almost always geared toward her getting her teammates to clear a path for her to take all the glory...it never quite goes well. she insists it's her genius planning and direction that gets her team to win matches but she couldn't be more wrong. she also probably blames her teammates when stuff goes wrong. you didn't coordinate well enough!! you didn't listen!!

her favorite mode is rainmaker and her locker is actually pretty neat looking. she shows off all her perfect gear in there and would probably have some of the amiibo items too. she's B- rank.

🐙

LIZZIE NATIVIDAD

lizzie is also an octoling causeee sisters! she'd be a skirmisher/slayer and be really good at baiting other players into unsafe situations where she or someone else on her team can splat them easily. SCARY good at getting people to tunnel and commit too hard to trying to fight her and not realize it till they're already respawning. she'd main something aggressive but mobile so she can get away easy, like octobrush. oh my GOD would she be infuriatingly good at sharking. comes out of nowhere and you're dead before you can blink.

i don't think she takes the game very seriously at ALL, polar opposite of norma, so she never really tilts or blames anyone when she loses. it's just a loss. she might be a sore winner though. i can see her being the type to make fun of her opponents like LMAOOO look at this loser on the jet squelchers aiming at the ground 💀 who let this kid play

anyways her fav mode would be tricolor battle. shes built different like that. she's B+ rank and pokes fun at norma about it sometimes.

🐙

SAM BOOLE

sam is an inkling, she plays slayer. blaster main. she. is. terrifying. she's the one who averages like 20 kills per game. she's the one picking off anyone who dares to touch the rainmaker or step onto the tower or make a single power clam. she is an unstoppable force. i don't think it comes from a place of Intense Focus And Practice though. she strikes me as the type of player to sorta just zone out and have fun without thinking too hard about it, and everyone keeps asking what strats she uses to be able to pull off all the insane plays she does and she just. shrugs.

i think her and raz as a slayer/skirmisher duo would be a force to be reckoned with, like, you see these two together on the enemy team and you're DOOMED. coach oleander is so proud of sam's natural killing machine talent but also a little bit terrified.

her favorite mode is turf war cause it's nice and straightforward. her locker is one of the less mainstream colors like brown or maybe that dark teal color, and it's thoughtfully decorated with cool stickers and stuff. there's definitely one of those furbies in there. very eclectic decor but she makes it work for suresies. she's rank A+. i think she would play salmon run a LOT as well just cause she thinks the salmonids are neat looking.

🐙

GISU NERUMEN

gisu gives me more inkling vibes even though octoling might fit her hair better. seems like the kinda player who doesn't really care about weapon roles and just goes for whatever feels the most fun to play. i think she'd play reeflux! there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with that weapon and potential for lots of trick shots. she'd be sort of like sam and lizzie in that she's pretty easy-going while playing, but i don't think she'd be immune to tilting, especially not when they're 30 seconds away from winning and the other team pulls some insane play that completely turns the tables. she doesn't hold onto a loss for long though and she's pretty good about getting back on track.

she'd totally be the type of player to post a million clips of her getting wipeouts or narrowly escaping getting splatted or those aformentioned trick shots btw. she lives for those highlight compilation worthy moments.

i think she'd be around rank A+ and her favorite mode might beeee... tower control. her locker would either be super sick or she'd use it to do one of those silly jokes with the moai head.

🐙

MORRIS MARTINEZ

morris strikes me as an inkling type fella. i think he wouldn't really like the stress of the front lines and would rather play an anchor weapon. something swagful like e-liter. he'd be convinced that the song that plays during matches affects his performance. of course we lost, they were playing headhammer. of course i did crazy good that round, they were playing ska-blam!!! (i'm the same actually. i always play well when a yoko and the gold bazookas song is on.) he's a pretty chill player but definitely gets put off by spikes in difficulty and might take long breaks from matches altogether because "the other teams are way too sweaty."

he'd probably range from C+ to A- rank at any given time depending how much he's bothered to play that season. his favorite mode would be splat zones since it's one of the less crazy ones, easier to follow what's going on. while gisu would only maybe probably do a joke locker, morris would TOTALLY do one But. he'd also decorate the outside properly so it's both silly and cool.

🐙

ADAM JOSEPH GETTE

octoling. or frankly... if we want to get devious and break the rules... inktoling?!?!?! like morris he's not so aggressive, but instead of it being because he can't handle the front lines i think it would be that he just has more fun playing support. he'd probably main a few weapons, like n-zap '89, splat roller, and tenta brella. he would spend a loooot of effort putting good abilities on fashionable outfits so he can look just as fresh as he plays. he likes learning so he'd get an advantage in the game by absorbing a TON of information about the best ways to use specials, map strategies, weaknesses of other weapons, all that good stuff. he's the kinda guy that always shows up right when you need someone to cover you, and has probably saved a good amount of games by being on point with his support.

he's S rank so y'know he's kiiiind of a big deal... kind of a big shot... big cheese... top dog... he says this all jokingly but norma always fumes at it. his favorite mode? oohhh don't make him choose...they're all fun for their own reasons!! he'd spend lots of time decorating his locker, using the stickers to make funky designs with heavy consideration for the color scheme. he'd probably incorporate the newspaper-y mixed media style stickers from story mode in there somehow. it would have kind of a vintage feel?

[hiroshotreplica]

my thoughts on new weapons (that ive tried in turf war) + some extra thoughts:

painbrush

its nice. it threatens a lot of weapons and gets quick kills if you can get past the lag before the first swing. trying to use the brush roll mechanic to escape tight spots is pretty hard due to that lag, though. maybe i just suck at the game but every time ive tried it fails.

i like curling bomb on it, a bit finicky but it can catch people off guard well. quick movement alternative to the brush roll is also nice, though it doesnt work as well.

it can combo VERY nicely with wavebreaker. i believe it just straight up kills people on the first swipe if they took wavebreaker damage beforehand but im not 100% sure on that

s-blast

its definitely one of if not the best blaster out right now. it gets kills very quick if you can hit the direct, and abusing tech with jump shots allows for your shots to have little to no shot rng i think which is really good. technical stuff aside, its just really good at killing, though its painting isnt amazing. i think thats why they put sprinkler on it

sprinkler isnt good on this weapon. i just use it to paint and build special. if youre in a pinch it can paint your feet and briefly block an attack, but itd be better to try to get a quick direct with the main weapon

not sure how i feel about reefslider being on this weapon at the moment. it isnt bad, but it isnt good, either. couldve been worse

heavy splatling deco

i only used it for like, 3 games and i dont know how to play this thing, but i like it. it reminds me of naut, probably because it has point sensor and functions better at midline lol

kraken is interesting, it can do the job, though im not good at using kraken so i cant give a reliable opinion on it. i struggled moving from back/midline to frontline to activate it, but that could very well just be a skill issue so take that with a grain of salt

light tetra dualies

okay i used this once so my opinion will definitely change in the future, but i prefer the original kit atm. zipcaster is better but i dont know how to use it lol. i miss my autobombs..

it cant take advantage of sprinkler well, i wish it got literally anything else. im a bit of a sprinkler hater

big swig roller express

okay im a bit of a liar, i havent even played this one at all. but a friend said it combos really well with angle shooter for kills and with ink storm for painting

side note: i fought against someone using one on flounder heights splat zones and they were so annoying (i mean this in a positive manner). we traded zones like every 5 seconds and they killed me many times despite me having the favorable matchup (i was using naut) really fun and tense match

im not gonna main any of them BUT these are all good weapons, some better than others. not sure about the other new releases. still gotta wait for a new naut kit, though... hope it gets suction bomb+trizooka/inkjet 🙏 (it wont)

snipewriter 5h

why is this here? it got the biggest buff ive ever seen in salmon run: each shot from a full charged set deals 240 damage. to put that into perspective, it now:

3-shots steel eels, scrappers, and slammin lids

4-shots drizzlers (easier one-cycle from before)

can now one cycle and 5-shot big shots, armored flipper floppers

call me crazy, but this thing went from a charger that was good based on niche uses to genuinely being one of the best chargers in salmon run. used this in the most recent rotation and it perform REALLY well. when i discovered how quickly it can kill flipper floppers my jaw literally dropped mid-match. ive always loved using snipewriter in sr but, damn, its amazing now

thats all i have to say

[totaldramafan-lauri]

OK.....so, I THOUGHT this would be miserable, and that I’d reach Ruler after switching back to normal Turf Wars. It took me a while to....not be disoriented with everything, and I actually start winning games. I told myself that I wouldn’t ragequit, and actually give it a chance...and I did.

And, I’m happy to say, that I DID have good games, and had just enough motivation to play the entire session in Tricolors.

I still don’t like the stage. It’s easily my least-favorite map in the game so far (I consider it separate from regular Gorge, which I like). Sure, it’s cute, it’s unique, and I like how they tried to even the playing field by giving the defenders an actual base, and the attackers and defenders equal space, but......I’m sorry, I just don’t enjoy it! First off, I had to use my Splatana the whole way though cuz there are no - ZERO - safe sniping perches there. THEN, there’s the fact that it’s disgustingly easy to get pinned to a base you only have ONE (1) PATH out of, and THEN, there’s how its encourages everyone to group together on this tiny point......Sure, it’s fun to unleash Ultra Stamps when multiple people are there, but....it’s also SUPER king-of-the-hill chaos, cuz if you get up there, you can practically see the entire stage!? And THAT’S not even a good sniping perch cuz that’s where the flipping signals spawn? And overall, it’s just SO SMALL-

I- it’s just REALLY chaotic....and if you like chaotic matches, sure, you might like it there. But me, being a stealth-focused player, found it hard to do much on my bad games.

But....well....I adapted. I got used to it.

For a while, I had a bad time playing there in both positions (due to, again, how easy it is to get stuck in base, so if I sucked even just once, I’d never recover). Then, as I kept playing, I started winning more.

At first (like, over half the session), my only real wins were on the defending team. For a good long while, I kept losing as an attacker. The only wins I got on the attacking team were second-place wins after willingly letting the other team get at least one signal and backing them up. That strategy was all I could count on cuz I had such little confidence in myself to play well. I knew Ultra Stamp was good there, so I leaned on that a lot and focused on just bullying.

But, in the last hour or so, I WAS able to get a few real attacking wins. Not many, but more than one. And each one was pretty hype! Keep in mind, that as an attacker, unless literally no one is nearby, I NEVER go for the signals. I’m not aggro enough of a player for that. So, in each of those matches, it was my teammate who got the signal (usually just one, but I think in ONE game we got them both) while I was....either splatting or getting splatted, and usually I wasn’t even nearby, so I’d FLIP OUT when the notice would pop up. XD So, I’m not taking credit for those lucky wins, but I still pulled my weight in my own way.

But yeah, MOST of my wins were defending. I’m not sure if that means that the defending team has an advantage on that map, or if it just has to do with my personal strengths. I’ve always had a preference for defending. Maybe a player who likes attacking more will have a different experience. The map seems to be trying to be as fair and balanced as possible, so I won’t say anything.

In the end, I was able to have some good games....but that’s despite the map, not because of it. I just adjusted. XD

Oh! And, one big upside to this - NO mirror matches at all! Wooooo!! Every single win mattered! SUCH a relief after last month....XD

So, yeah, that was my experience with my Tricolor binge. I MIGHT get on one final time to play some Pro, cuz I really do wanna try to win at least one 10x battle to make up for my losses yesterday, but I dunno if I will.

Also, PLEASE don’t get mad at me if you like this Tricolor map. If you do, then I’m really happy for you. I’m happy you got enjoyment out of something I didn’t. I WISH I could say that I loved having a unique layout like this. Trust me. I do acknowledge that my charger bias probably doesn’t help at all, but my experience itself just....wasn’t the best. It’s not the kinda map I like. That’s all. Feel free to disagree with me!

[emo-crowgirl]

Splatoon Ink Headcanons because I played Splatoon 3 for the first time and now I’m interested:

Inkling and Octoling Ink is diluted in multiplayer matches, as the weapons used in multiplayer matches dilute the Ink they’re firing.

When an Inkling touches Ink that doesn’t match their colour, the different coloured Ink disrupts the already existing Ink in the Inkling’s body and if the new Ink fully overwhelms the existing Ink, the Inkling splats and has to respawn. That’s just how Ink works. Because of this, differently coloured Ink burns to the touch. It’s like acid if it doesn’t match your Ink colour.

It should go without saying that this process is pretty darn painful. The inkling’s body being overwhelmed by another type of Ink that isn’t supposed to be there. So for both safety reasons and to make games more appealing (not many Inklings would be willing to play things like turf wars for fun if it was extremely painful to get shot), the weapons used in multiplayer matches filter and dilute Ink as they fire it.

The diluted Ink can still splat Inklings if they’re covered in it and being splatted definitely hurts, but this diluted Ink doesn’t cause as much pain as the non-diluted stuff and the Inkling’s body has a much easier time clearing it out of their system when they’re out of combat, preventing most long-lasting injuries.

However, the Ink used in Splatoon 1 and 2’s story modes, the Ink used by Agent 8 in the Octo Expansion and the Ink used by New Agent 3, Shiver, Frye and DJ Octavio in Splatoon 3 is not diluted. It’s pure Ink straight from the source with no dilution or filtering because the Story Modes aren’t games, they’re real battles with real consequences.

So Ink in multiplayer matches is diluted and doesn’t cause as much pain when covering or splatting an enemy, while the Ink used in the story modes is undiluted and hurts a lot more to be covered in or splatted by. The Inkling’s body also has a harder time trying to clear out and get rid of undiluted Ink, so the injuries last longer.

But there’s more:

There’s also other types of Ink, and they all feel different as well.

Starting with the least dangerous types of Ink and working our way up:

Big Man:

The unique “Ink” that Big Man produces during his boss fight isn’t actually Ink. It’s mucus. Real life Manta Rays have a thin layer of mucus that protects them from disease, infections and being grabbed by predators, and Big Man’s ink is an evolved form of that.

Because the Ink produced by Big Man isn’t actually Ink but can act just like it, it has some slightly different properties.

For one, it can harm and splat any Inkling or Octoling regardless of colour. It’s not Ink, so even if an inkling somehow managed to match the multiple colours of Big Man’s slime, they’d still be harmed because it’s not Ink and their bodies are not designed to handle it in any way.

Big Man’s slime hurts about as much as regular inkling Ink, but the pain sticks around for a while longer as the Inkling’s body has a hard time getting rid of the stuff. Regular Ink may hurt, but at least it’s Ink in the long run and can be quickly flushed out of the body. The same can’t be said about Big Man’s slime. It can eventually be flushed out, but it takes longer than what’s normal.

The mucus given off by Big Man also can’t be used in regular weapons, as it’s too thick and viscous to be properly fired from a gun. We see in Big Man’s boss fight that it can be used in things like bombs, but you can’t load Big Man’s “Ink” into something like a Splattershot and expect it to work.

Salmonids:

Like Big Man’s mucus-ink, Salmonid Ink isn’t actually Ink, but rather a type of slime.

Salmonids give off the stuff both through their skin and through their mouths (Fish Sticks, Flipper-Floppers and Stingers spit out this slime to attack, with them all having different mouthpieces to affect the shot. Steelheads also create their bombs using their own saliva).

Also like Big Man’s mucus, Salmonid Slime has its own unique properties.

Just like Big Man’s mucus, Salmonid Slime can harm an Inkling of any colour, even if that inkling is the extra same colour as the slime. It’s a different substance entirely and no Inkling can just deal with the stuff.

Salmonid Slime is also extremely sticky. Like EXTREMELY sticky. And that’s why it’s one of the more dangerous types of “Ink” here. Because if an Inkling gets Salmonid Slime on them, their body has an extremely hard time getting rid of it. It hurts just as much as normal (meaning undiluted) Ink, but it takes FOREVER for that pain to go away because it takes forever for the Inkling’s body to get rid of it. It gets in the body and because of its stickiness, just stays there with the body being unable to flush it out.

This is why Slopsuits are used by Grizzco Employees during Salmon Runs. They don’t completely prevent harm as Salmonid Slime can still get through it, but they do seriously limit the amount of Salmonid Slime that Employees are exposed to.

Touching Salmonid Slime bare-handed seriously hurts and the pain lasts for a LONG time because it’s extremely hard to separate from the body it’s attached to. Touching Salmonid Slime while wearing a Slopsuit still hurts as some slime does get through the protective clothing, but it doesn’t hurt as much and the pain doesn’t last as long as if you’d touched it barehanded.

Salmonid Slime also can’t be used in conventional weapons, which is why salmonids either use melee attacks, bombs or technology that doesn’t involve ink guns. Fish Sticks, Flipper-Floppers and Stingers DO shoot things, but not with guns. They spit out slime and have various mouthpieces that properly weaponize it as it’s being spit out, like Stingers essentially having a sting ray strapped to their mouths. Trying to put salmonid slime in a Splattershot will end in failure.

Fuzzy Ink:

Fuzzy Ooze is extremely dangerous to Inklings. Just touching the stuff beings rapidly rewriting your biology while removing your sense of self. But I’m not talking about Fuzzy Ooze. Im talking about the ink used by Octarians and Octolings that have been taken over by the stuff. The ink that matches the colours of Fuzzy Ooze. I’m calling it Fuzzy Ink for simplicity.

Fuzzy Ink is a waste product created by Fuzzy Ooze, which is why we see Fuzzy Ink all around Fuzzy Ooze. Because it’s a waste product and not the real thing, it doesn’t have the ability to rewrite biology or create Fuzzy Ooze. It’s basically just a bunch of waste chemicals that the Fuzzy Ooze had to get rid of to stay alive.

However, Fuzzy Ink is EXTREMELY painful to touch because of those exact reasons. It’s a byproduct full of all sorts of toxins and waste that the Fuzzy Ooze had to get rid of, and introducing that stuff to an Inkling’s body will NOT go well. It’s like being coated in acid or set on fire in terms of pain.

However, the Inkling’s body can quickly get rid of this stuff, as it is easily flushed out of the body. Even easier than regular ink. So it’s absolutely agonizing pain that doesn’t last very long.

It also goes without saying by this point that Fuzzy Ink can harm any inkling regardless of colour.

Also, Fuzzy Ink can very easily be loaded into an unmodified gun and fired. We see it be done by Octolings. It’s not too thick or viscous or sticky, actually being a little bit thinner and more watery than regular ink.

Sanitized Ink:

Sanitized Ink. DEAR GOD Sanitized Ink.

Sanitized Ink is like if Fuzzy Ink stayed in the body instead of being easily flushed out. Because that’s what it is.

Sanitized Ink was made SPECIFICALLY to remain in the body of whatever it’s exposed to and “sanitize” it. So it definitely hurts. A lot.

Being covered in Sanitized Ink is EXTREMELY painful as the Ink burns through whatever it touching and attempts to break it down and sanitize it just like it was designed to do. It doesn’t just stay in the body for a long time, it briefly SPREADS through the body before the Inkling’s body manages to slow, halt and eventually flush it out.

Sanitized Ink perfectly combines the painfulness of Fuzzy Ink with the long lasting affects of Salmonid Slime, creating an Ink that is MADE to overwhelm and destroy the bodies of Inklings and Octolings.

And the worst part is, there’s two different ways that Sanitized Ink can kill someone. There’s regular splatting done by very quickly overwhelming the targets body like one would do with any other ink, and there’s sanitization, done by slowly adding more and more Sanitized Ink to someone over a long period of time, eventually having the Sanitized Ink completely take over and turning the target into a mindless zombie.

We see this slow sanitization process during Octo Expansion with a half-sanitized Agent 3. The glowing mass of Sanitized Ink on their head is slowly adding Sanitized Ink to Agent 3, sanitizing them without instantly splatting them. This also explains why Agent 3 was un-sanitized when the blob of Sanitized Ink was removed. It was no longer pumping more Sanitized Ink into their body, so Agent 3’s body could flush out the rest after a while of being unconscious.

[iheardarumorthings]

heyy! can i request a nikolai x reader fic (or blurb or headcanons, i don’t have a strong preference!) where they’re recently married and he’s the king so she’s just become queen. and she’s working herself so hard because she’s worried about failing him and ravka and one day nikolai notices how exhausted and burnt out she’s become so he clears both of their schedules to force her to take a rest day? ty i hope ur having a good day!

of course you can!!! thank you so much for the well wishes, i hope you're having a great day as well! i didn’t end up using gender pronouns, but here you go!! i hope you like it!! <33

HEADCANONS FOR NIKOLAI WITH STRESSED!READER

It started with the hayloft a-creakin’ when you started slumping.

Now, don’t get me wrong, you stand just like everyone else, you don’t have a pole for a spine, no one does; however, you started slouching heavily in your seat.

He thought you were just tired and didn’t want to point anything out in case you got upset.

Then you started getting pale, and writing more notes, and skipping out on sleep.

So, the very observant man (<33) started checking up on you more.

Turns out, you were up working.

And not on something fun (like writing about or drawing him)

And then, because he’s nosy as hell, he checked all of those notes.

And when I say that the people of Ravka had a lot of petty problems, I mean that they had a lot of petty problems.

The farmers in the rural areas were basically having a turf war because chickens continue to go through the fences of other pieces of property.

WHO CAN CONTROL CHICKENS?

Well, you tried solving that one, too, and once he saw that he immediately cleared your schedule.

And his. He cleared his, too, because there’s no way in hell that you’re taking a rest day without him around.

You’d just go back to work and pretend to have had time off.

“Suprise, Darling, we’re going on vacation!”

“Oh, Volkvolny?”

“No, here, but no more work for a week!”

You were confused.

“Nikolai, I have work to do. Ravka needs us.”

“Ravka can stop being a baby and suck it up for a week, and so can you. Come on, let’s go.”

“Where?”

You wouldn’t be able to enjoy vacation unless you had a good amount of sleep, food, and water.

So, because you were too damn stubborn to help yourself to those things, he’d have to make sure that you got them.

“To sleep.”

“I’m not tired.”

“Yes you are, go to sleep.”

After that you were on bed rest for like a day.

But, he personally made you soup.

And there was hot chocolate in the mix, so you had a pretty good vacation after.

And, yes, before you ask, on vacation you two did spend time playing jokes on the whole castle, riding bikes down stairs, and just being total idiots.

But you needed it, and Ravka can suck it up for a week.

You were going to take time off more often.

[ink-central]

I can’t sleep so I’m in the mood to talk a bit about Jupiter. Nothings set in stone for her until the official introduction comic is released about Maggie and the Mariana because I want o make sure she’ll fit into the world of this deep sea metro

Jupiter is a flapjack octopus. Flapjack octopus are some of the smallest octopi out there, so she’s pretty small. Probably only just reaching 5 feet or so.

While she’s technically from Octarian society, she ‘moved’ to the deep sea Metro with her parents when she was very very young. So she knows the areas pretty well.

While things like Octopunk are inspiring to a young adult her age, she’s drawn to the brighter bioluminescence of things like synth wave. Despite not naturally being able to glow, she adorns her arms with things like glow stick bracelets.

She’s a big fan of music in general, having lots of posters in her room of tons of different genres of bands. She also enjoys working with textiles and sewing. Usually it’s not much, sometimes a patch onto her clothes or something. But it’s still fun to her,

She’s had a few friends in the deep sea who’s Shes close with, a firefly squid named Nova and a deep sea anemone named Anthony [get it like ANEM-ONY]. She’s had other octoling friends but a lot of them have moved up to the surface of Inkopolis ever since it became more accessible. It seems to only be her friends who came from underground based places like octarian society or the metro areas.

While she does wish she could participate in more Turf War and Ranked Battles, A lot of ranked stuff like clam blitz is too hard for her. When she does play she likes to main a slosher, her extra swimming fins on her head mean she’s a really fast swimmer, like imagine all swim speed sun stats on her head item but just naturally.

Anyway. That’s all I can think of talking about, I should give her a last name. I’m trying to find a synonym for ‘flap’ or ‘Jack’. In the mean time, have some of her earlier colour palettes before I settled on her current one

[jackosystem]

I honestly think ppl are complaining too much abt tricolor turf wars? scissors is like. SO salty abt that which I understand to an extent but they seem to not realize just how hard it also is for the offense duos?? the difficulty seems pretty balanced when u rlly think it through. sure, the middle team is dealing w double assault, but by virtue of having more players they ink way more turf right off the bat and you really can't defeat them w/o the ultra signal.

as well, if you're on the offense, you're somewhat allied w the enemy duo but once you get together at the signal all bets r off and you're enemies again, meaning you're then dealing w the 4 middle team players AND the 2 from the other offense. also you don't actually get clout unless you can get to/secure the ultra signal and a lot of the time you can't bc the other 2 teams are just that good.

I thought it was chaotic in a fun way and wish I got more chances to play it tbh

the only change I'd make rlly is like, the signal cooldown or maybe have there be 1 signal instead of 2

but yea ppl complaining that you can't win once the attackers get the ultra signals is like.. Yeah. That's The Point.

[goldeklee]

Splatoon 3 thoughts overall (my opinions and such, feel free to disagree)

Also is long

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Gamemodes:

-Tower Control could stand to have a bigger tower. I feel like it's too small. Probably also shouldn't be allowed to have specials (like Big Bubble or Booyah Bomb) attach to it? Unsure about the last one but it feels kinda bad.

-Clam Blitz is an alright mode where really the only change related to it needed is the map design.

-Splatzones are fine. I've not really an issue with any part of it.

-Rainmaker is probably my least favorite competitive mode overall. It also can be the shortest. I honestly have no idea how to improve it in my own views of the game.

-Turf War I feel like suffers from having everything be decided by the final 30 seconds. Like the rest of the match is just sort of a "screw around" moment. It's fun, but I genuinely can't think of any changes to make to it without making it worse overall.

Matchmaking:

Oh god. This is messy. Easily the messiest part in the game, even if it's not my biggest sore spot. I can't think of any other multiplayer game where everything seems like a stomp in one direction or another. However it handles matchmaking, I don't think it does a very good job at focusing on "fun" but moreso making matches fast. I want an equal power struggle please.

Weapon Balance:

I feel like overall, this aspect of the game is pretty okay. I think some weapons and their time to kill are a touch ridiculous, like the .96 Gal, but I also come from a Halo background.

Really the only thing I'd suggest for the game is to make sub spamming harder as oh boy does that make certain weapons a total nuisance.

Map Balance:

It's kind of a joke that Splatoon 3's map design is basically linear corridors with a wide middle section. There's not much cover, not typically much flanking routes, it makes the weapon balance feel a bit worse than it actually is. Weapons like Rollers for example have a tougher time as they have to shark to get any kills, which is not always easy. As for Chargers, they somewhat thrive in this scene, or at least they did until the torpedo spam started.

Ability Balance:

It might just be me, but I've incredibly mixed feelings on Gear Abilities in general. It's mostly because of two things: some abilities are just *that* good where you'll see it a lot (ninja squid, intensify action, stealth jump) and the time it takes to get certain abilities on your favorite gear is just horrendous. I like a bit of grind, but 40 or so chunks to get a primary is a bit crazy to me. Also I genuinely dislike respawn punisher as a whole.

Fashion Game:

Pretty solid! Aside from Gear Abilities preventing me from just running around dripped out, I find that there's a sizable catalogue of clothing to wear that covers a decent number of vibes. I do, however, kinda wish we had the ability to buy pants. Even if that'd probably mean even more ability nonsense.

Catalog Grind:

It's a free battlepass essentially. I kinda wish it didn't throw out the old one at all as I feel exclusive "you had to be there" things are best saved for actual events like Big Run or Splatfests but that's just me. The Catalog goes relatively smooth, only really having hitches after you completed it, which is fair.

Map and Mode Rotation:

This for me is the biggest sore spot. I cannot tell you *how* many times I've just stopped playing Competitive because I saw it was on maps I disliked and on gamemodes that were painful for the weapon I was trying to freshen up (I like stickers okay?). I suppose it'd be one thing if the gamemode would rotate, but with so few maps in rotation it's gotten to be a thing where my friends and I see Mahi-mahi and just play a different game for a bit.

Salmon Run:

Tons of fun, teammates can be a little... special at times. It's incredibly hard to raise rank with randoms I find. Only thing I can think of that I'd like is maybe less long grates for when high tides come up.

Campaign:

I've not done much on this yet actually, so all I can say is that as an Octoling the immediate racist grandpa was something else.

Things I'd like in the game that likely will never come:

-The ability to "Booyah!" or "Ouch..." once the match is over before the results get tallied. Just to interact with teammates a bit more

-A level editor! I love making maps for games, so to be able to make them for Splatoon would be fun too. Maybe have little mapping contests every now and then with the winners being transitioned into full maps?

-Aforementioned ability to buy pants

-An actual MMR system. Please. I'm begging.

-"Silence Shelldon" button

-Button customization! I don't like special being on Right Stick Click. I want it on L. And I'm sure other people would like some other options as well.

-Mayhaps a more traditional deathmatch mode? Antithetical to the game, I know, but I think making it one of the more casual modes would be nice.

-Ability to skip through the post-match stuff. It takes so long. I just want back in. I don't want to watch my gear slowly level up then spit out a chunk.

-Ability to thank the staff for the meals/drinks

-Let a Big Run permanently mark a map. Destroy it a bit. Make new paths/ cover. Let there be consequences.

-----------

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope you found it at least interesting to see how I personally view aspects of this game!

[mliter]

Splatoon 3: Splatfest World Premiere.

Separate post because this was a party! This was an anticipated event. It was announced during the Splatoon 3 direct, where tones of new information about the game was revealed. This was looking to be another solid release.

This Splatfest was pretty standard. Everyone got to experience the new plaza for the first time and it's MASSIVE. There's plenty of space, and more room for Octolings and Inklings to walk around. More players are present here i think. It's awesome.

This Splatfest is a little different, with 3 idols this time around, it's now been divided into 2 phases. The first one is quite familiar, but the second one adds something by the name of tri-color turf wars. A mode where each team gets the chance to fight on the same map. It's quite the sight. I'm used to seeing 2 colors on the map. An interesting detail you can see is a live count of the coverage you've made as the match goes on. It's really fun. I was attacking via Team Paper.

With every splatfest, comes a performance from the idols. There's 3 of them now, and their show changes with the phases. The first one has them on these floating stages that go around the entire lobby. If you can't see them well, that's ok. There's screens and projectors all over the plaza that show them at all times. The second phase has them dancing together on the stage, with a big screen behind them. You can zoom into them easily.

The best part about this event, was the excitement around it. Friends who usually don't play splatoon even came on for this. The petty banter, and everyone learning about tricolor turf war for the first time (and the hard way for those on team scissors)... I feel this may rival the cats vs dogs splatfest. This was so much fun. The memes and hysteria that spawned from tricolor battle alone was peak Splatoon community. Team Paper and Rock realizing what they can do to Scissors, and Scissors having to deal with the consequences of their dominance. Everyone was scrambling.

I had so much fun with this one. I've been around for the first, and i'll be around for the last. I just wonder why they stopped calling them testfires, though..

A quick shoutout to my dad. We had a camping trip set up before this was announced, and he set up an Internet connection for my to use while this was going on. He knows how much I love this stuff and how much it means to me so he worked with me to allow this to be possible. I feel the world would be a better place if everyone had a dad like him.

[tfsroleplay-arch]

Smoking TW, violence/blood mention, implied child abuse

Sylvia sits in a back alley in Splatsville, next to her is an Octoling that’s currently knocked unconscious. Not directly caused by her, but he dodged one of her punches and ended up smacking his head against the wall...

Usually when she was in Splatsville, she avoided any and all areas that may get her into trouble, but this time she went and actively sought it out.

She was aggravated and needed to blow off some steam, and didn’t want to go into a turf war and basically hunt down Inkfish with a roller (that might discourage younger kids from playing) so... an actual fight would have to do.

The Octoling was actually with several other Inkfish who... ended up running when they realized Sylvia was not playing around. Considering one tried to put her in a headlock and she immediately bit down on their arm and drew a lot more blood than someone would’ve thought...

In her defense, they wanted her wallet, she wanted to spar... She didn't want to draw blood and have someone get knocked out.

"...I don’t even feel better, either... it’s not fun if someone gets hurt like this..."

She took a long drag of a cigarette, something she’d taken got after meeting with her mother that day. Yeah, her mother. Let’s go back a bit...

{ Earlier in the day }

Sylvia stepped off the train and made her way to the center of Splatsville, today she was finally going to meet her mother and find out what she wanted after reading the letter she sent to the house.

"...This is not going to be fun..."

She stands to the side of Hotlantis, her mother was supposed to already be there but... She wasn’t. Great.

"Of course she’s fucking late..."

As if on cue, an older inkling woman, one that looked very similar to Sylvia, walked out of the store and looked at Sylvia.

"Oh there you are!"

Sylvia rolls her eyes, finally here? She got there at the time her mother told her to be there… Why does her mother look so happy?

"I got here at the time we agreed on. Where the fuck did you go?"

Cynthia shakes her head.

"My, such harsh language... Can't you act a little more proper?"

"No. Where were you?"

"Oh, I decided to check out some of the shops here in Splatsville. The city itself may look shitty, but the shops have some real treats if you look hard enough."

Her mother lifted a few bags up, Sylvia rolling her eyes. Materialistic as always... She motions to the alley close to Hotlantis, making Sylvia follow her, the sound of Cynthia's heels seeming to be the only sound Sylvia could hear now. She made sure to stay close to the exit, just in case things went south...

"Hmm... yes, I think here is a good place to talk..."

Sylvia stands up straighter, hands in her hoodie pocket. She's uncomfortable, and pretty nervous. She just wants to get this over with and get back to Inkopolis...

"Just get to the point, I don't have all day."

Cynthia huffed, raising an eyebrow.

"You don't know how to act like a lady now, do you? Rude language, no makeup, dressing like that."

She looks up and down at Sylvia's outfit, her face scrunching a bit. Sylvia just narrows her eyes, as if challenging her mother.

"My, nothing changes with you does it? Would it kill you to try and put some effort in looking nice? I swear even as a child you were difficult..."

"Yeah, like you'd know that... Cause you spent sooo much time with us..."

Cynthia stared at her, shaking her head and finally setting down her bags. She's still got a smile on her face, reaching into a bag and pulling out an envelope.

"I'm here because I need a favor from my daughter. I need you to accompany me to a little business party."

Sylvia stares at her, she scoffs and shakes her head.

"I'm sorry, you need a favor from me? What the fuck makes you think I'd do anything to help you? Newsflash, Cynthia, you might've given birth to me, but I stopped being your daughter the second you stopped being a good parent."

Cynthia was still smiling, though... her expression was definitely not one that was kind... And Sylvia's confidence immediately went down, recognizing it.

"Sylvia... I am generously offering you a chance to help out dear old mom..."

Sylvia gripped the inside of her pocket tightly, suddenly feeling a lot smaller than she did earlier.

"...No. I don't care what you want me to do, the answer is no. We're done here."

"We're not done."

She holds out the envelope and opens it, letting Sylvia see the contents. Her eyes widened, the amount of money in there would... definitely be a huge help for them... Sylvia almost immediately tried to grab it, Cynthia pulling it out of her reach, her other hand immediately gripping Sylvia's face tightly.

"Oh, no no, you don't get this unless you you do my favor. It would help tremendously if my sweet daughter joined me and played nice with my business associates, very simple. And make use of the piano lessons I had you do when you were younger, we'll show off your talent and then you can be done."

Sylvia was silent, her mother's nails were dangerously close to breaking skin.

"And... I don't think I have to say this, but don't cause trouble for me.. I think we both know that won't end well for you."

{ Present }

"...This fucking sucks..."

She puts out the cigarette, waiting for the Octoling to wake up. She'd at least like to make sure that he didn't have a concussion after smacking his head against the wall...

"It's always something... At least she won't be showing up at the house..."

[canis-rex-lupus]

ok everyone. splatoon headcanons for the psychonauts main cast. buckle up its gonna be Detailed.

RAZPUTIN AQUATO

raz would be an octoling i think. he'd start out playing one of the weapons he sees his idols use, but as he finds his own playstyle (i think he'd go for skirmisher personally, he'd like to be in the front lines with all the action) i think he'd play something that's more *him*, something snappy and fast with lots of opportunity for movement. i think dark tetra dualies would suit him. the rolling mechanic mirrors how he implements his circus upbringing in the way he uses his psychic powers and i think he'd be big on trying to do sick team wipeouts with the reefslider.

he'd focus on ranked battles and rank up REALLY fast - he'd be in X battle in no time. as for abilities i think he'd use a lot of offensive/movement based stuff like intensify action/swim or run speed up etc etc. when he first starts out he makes a lot of mistakes like tunneling when matches get heated but he'd be diligent about watching match replays and improving. he does a good job of synergizing and keeping the team in check when he gets the hang of things. he'd make a lot of gutsy moves that win the match in those very last few seconds, always snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. his favorite mode would be clam blitz. he'd decorate his locker with items you earn from playing like the big run statues or the stickers you get by weapon freshness, and he'd plaster it with a ton of stickers he thinks are cool. you think it would look bad but it turns out to nail the cluttercore look pretty well?

LILI ZANOTTO

lili would be an octoling, frontline slayer, and most DEFINITELY play a splatana wiper. she antagonizes people with the torpedoes and gets the SICKEST trick shot splats with charged splatana shots and well timed ultra stamp throws. she could hit you from a mile away without even trying. she'd run a comp that's just as cool and fun as it is killer. intensify action, drop roller, maybe something REALLY nasty like respawn punisher. ink resistance and sub defense so nothing gets in her way. she's really good but aggressive and tends to tilt a lot, throwing her off her groove and losing her a lot of matches, which i think she'd be a little too hard on herself about. despite this she'd be S+ rank having played pretty much her whole life and her favorite mode would be turf war or rainmaker. she'd have a pretty cool locker too - it would have hard to get stuff like the bear ears from the secret story mode level and a golden big run statue, but be put together in a more thoughtful way than raz with additional items just for style.

SASHA NEIN

sasha would be an inkling. since he values control i think he'd play a backliner - he'd have the patience for a charger like the e-liter, and the steadiest aim you've ever seen. he'd have a lot of sensible but boring abilities like ink savers and sub power and all that. overall prioritizes function over flashiness. he'd use his long range to keep control of the goal area and pick off enemies, keeping the rest of the team safe. he'd be very strategic about when and where he moves, when to shoot or when to hold back, when to use his special, etc etc. he pushes raz to do the same but he's far too impatient to really master it like sasha does. he's X rank and his favorite mode is splat zones. he doesn't decorate his locker much, but maybe he'd at least have a picture of him and milla in there or some cool scifi thingies with lights for the ambiance.

MILLA VODELLO

milla is an octoling and plays midliner support! she likes painting more than fighting, and likes playing fun weapons that can cover lots of ground like custom jr, inkbrush, or big swig roller - i think she switches it up instead of having one signature weapon. they're all just so much fun! she'd have ink recovery, sub saver, all that good stuff so she can paint the whole stage and earn her team the upper hand while the enemy's distracted fighting. definitely prioritizes the team win over getting the most splats or points or whatever - she'd be sure to emphasize the importance of being a team player to morry or lili, who might tend to be selfish in their playstyle without the reminder. morry definitely needs said reminder frequently. she's X rank and i think she'd like turf war the best. can't go wrong with the classics! her locker is THE cutest. she has the pink one obvy. her decorations are color coordinated and well placed, and she spends a lot of time trying out new layouts for it.

MORCEAU OLEANDER

he's an inkling. morry plays something big, heavy, and DEADLY. he could really get into the hydra splatling i think - he'd think booyah bomb is the best special of all time. he prioritizes getting splats over everything, even when he's the only one left alive and all four of the enemy team is on him. he just never thinks to retreat. he definitely doesn't make... the smartest plays. hence milla having to remind him to be more team oriented instead of constantly rushing to the other team to try to fight them on your own morry the hydra is a backliner we talked about this!!

hed be the type to not really internalize constructive criticism from teammates. yeah yeah whatever. he DOES get a lot of kills but at the expense of abandoning the actual goal of the game - it's probably resulted in a LOT of very close losses. he'd tilt a lot too, like lili. he's probably only A or S rank, and has league points waaayyy in the negative. his favorite mode is rainmaker, but he likes salmon run a lot too. it's fun to take down all those big nasty fish. he'd have no sense of design tbh his locker would be a little ugly LMAO

FORD CRULLER

ford would be an inkling, and a jack of all trades. him and each of his alters would have their own playstyle and favorite weapons. i'll just talk about agent cruller for now - i think he'd be a support but so practiced with his weapon he can and DOES use it like a slayer when the need arises - maybe undercover brella. he'd know all the best spots to put ink mines and he could show raz the best way to use his reefslider :) i think he'd use his ability slots to play to the strengths of his weapons and enhance them - for the brella, that would mean ink savers, special charge, and sub power. a lot of people would be confused that legendary psychonaut ford cruller would go with something as mid-tier as an undercover brella, but i think the way he uses it represents him well - it seems like it wouldn't get the job done but it's reliable if you give it a chance. sound familiar?

ford was the best player of the whole gang in his prime, and he's still a BEAST at it - he just slips up a little more often. he'd still have a lifetime's worth of knowledge and cool tricks though; i think he would've taught raz a lot of the important fundamental stuff as he was starting out, and if you really looked you could see echoes of ford in how raz plays. he's X rank of course, and his favorite mode is tower control. his locker would look disorganized to the uninitiated, but each section belongs to an alter so they all have a chance to decorate.

CALIGOSTO LOBOTO

cal is an octoling, and switches up his weapons ALL the time. i think he'd favor some really niche ones like bloblobber. he'd be pretty all over the place with his playstyle, having similar issues to morry in having no strategy. he probably doesn't think to practice much or familiarize himself with the limitations of his weapons, so when things get heated he either just throws caution to the wind and shoots without purpose. he doesn't think too hard about his ability comp - his outfit probably looks super silly, actually. silly in a cute way though. he'd wear something colorful, and maybe all the patterns wouldn't quite go together, but he's happy with it. he'd rely on stuff like ninja squid and quick respawn to make up for how flawed his strategy (or lack thereof) is. he'd shark a lot to get surprise splats.

he'd blame just about anything under the sun before he admits it's flawed though. this weapon is just no good, that other team was way higher level anyway, they weren't playing fair, so on and so forth. i think he'd get defensive at criticism -- he takes it very personally. in his eyes, being told about all the ways he could improve is the same as being told he's bad. it takes a lot of coaxing to get him to practice more and learn to admit his own mistakes. he might not even bother with competitive, but if he did he'd be pretty low rank. C or maybe B at best. both because he hasn't been playing for long and he's at a low-ish skill level. his favorite mode would be salmon run cause it's less competitive AND he loves to see the salmonids he thinks they're cool. his locker is a huge mess and has at least one of those furbies or the zapfish plush in it. i have a LOT more to say about cal but for the sake of post length i will save it for later.

this is all i will cover for now BUT..... i have so much more in me i could probably eventually cover the whole cast. for example how gristol malik would use the gold aerospray and be the most annoying player known to man. but i savr those foorrr... next time maybe this is already very very long. thank u for reading 😋

[snailslunchpail]

heyo !!!! :D pansy+nymphea+lantana for the ask game !!! also could u tell me about splatoon !! i know its part of nintendo but ive never actually gotten into it .... :p

BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS RN I'D BE SO HAPPY TO TELL YOU ABOUT SPLATOON- but also tysm for the asks ill answer these first!! o(*°▽°*)o

pansy; do you like poetry?

i think its really pretty! & i should look into it more, i dont know many good poems..

nymphea; forest or river?

this one is hard bc i love forests & rivers but recently the desire to swim in a river has been so strong so i'll say that!!

lantana; what’s on your mind right now?

probably art- i've been trying to brainstorm some potential ap portfolio topics cus i really want to find one im not going to get sick of immediately T^T

as for splatoon it has a pretty simple premise! you can play as a squid (inkling) or an octopus (octoling) and participate in 4v4 battles called "Turf Wars", where the main goal is to cover the arena with as much of your ink (your team's color) as possible!! it's so much fun and there's a bunch of different modes too!!

the music and character designs are my absolute favorite- & there's a huge selection of weapons too that all have different playstyles! I like to main the rollers which are literally just big ol paint rollers that can cover a lot of ground & squash enemies!!!

but GRAHHH there's a whole bunch of lore too that i know too much about and AHH IM JUST SO EXCITED FOR SPLATOON 3!!! i honestly think you'd really like it bc of all the marine biology! :D

[totaldramafan-lauri]

Splatoon 3 first impressions

MUSCLE MEMORY CAME BACK A LOT FASTER THAN I EXPECTED. I haven’t played any Splatoon since I got into Cookie Run Kingdom, last year...and despite that, I was sniping multiple people only a couple games in....

HOWEVER! Muscle memory means nothing when sniping relies on, y’know....knowing where the heck you are.....So, I had to get acquainted with the stages before I could....do super well.....XD

So far, I’ve played Undertow Spillway, Mincemeat Metalworks, and Eeltail Alley, along with a (mostly unchanged) Museum D’Alfonsino. Of the three new stages, I took a liking to Undertow Spillway the fastest - it has a pretty good perch that I’ve attached myself to, which is part glass but it’s not a HUGE inconvenience....It’s not perfect, but I get a pretty good view of the action and can defend my team’s base from it. For a while, I had NO IDEA what to do at Mincemeat Metalworks, but I suspect it may grow on me later. It was just kinda hard to get my bearing straight there. And Eeltail Alley is pretty cool. It has multiple good perches around base, and a bridge in the middle that I’m able to snipe from....while not being rushed....I-I was able to hold it pretty well one game.

Ink Vac is growing on me. It took me many games to get used to how it works....and heck, I’m still far from an expert on it....It’s not my ideal choice of special (would prefer Booyah Bomb or Tri Strike on a charger), but I think I like it now. I like how it can just make attacks from the front irrelevant for many seconds while you suck up any ink thrown your direction...and the more ink you suck up, the bigger the attack at the end is. There’s a lot of depth to it. I like how it can be used to defend teammates. I didn’t really know how to aim the shot at first, but now, I have been able to pull some stuff off with it! And finally, as expected from them, Deep Cut’s songs are all flipping awesome. REALLY good hype music. Wish I knew their names, cuz there’s one in particular that sticks out to me as a fav, and I can’t really describe it....XD

I know I said I’d try other weapons, but....well, y’know me.....I-it’s hard to pull me away from my charger....but, I WAS planning on switching, JUST as I got the low battery warning for my Switch....s-so, I’ll try to fit some other weapons in later! Particularly during the Tricolor Turf Wars...dunno how helpful sniping will be when I might only have ONE teammate....might wanna choose an inker in that case.....b-but who knows? XD This game is SOOOOOOOOOOOO fun already! SO many little improvements over Spla2n, which was already very streamlined as it was! I LOVE being able to do stuff while waiting in a lobby, I love the Splashtags, I love knowing exactly what I contributed to the team each match, I just love it! Pretty much my only complaint so far is that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how the squid roll works. I was in the lobby for minutes on end swimming through my ink trying to squid roll. I CAN’T DO IT. And I’m pretty sure it’s just flicking the stick! Unless I was told wrong, pfffff....

See ya later, once the chaos unfolds..... (Just a reminder: I-if you’re curious, I post replays on my Twitter, @NastyMajestyyy! Check that out to see how I’ve been playing! >.<)

[doitwritenow]

IronStrange Starter Kit - Master Fic Rec List for all Y’all Because You’ve been Asking and I’ve been Avoiding

Hi! All you anons and askers, I made a list!!! Hopefully some of these are what you’ve been after. :D

(Please reblog this, lol, I spent too much time on it...) 

General rules: These are complete unless indicated otherwise, and end happily unless indicated otherwise. There’s a variety of ratings, as I have no qualms against smut, but I don’t usually read it outside of a larger plot. So I don’t think there’ll be many explicit stories on here. Word counts vary; I indicate general length but don’t go into specifics. What else, uh... Bold stuff is the headers and general subjects. I link the titles. Block quotes are author summaries. Enjoy!!

- 

Okay so first off, there are a couple of Fandom Staples who just have leagues worth of good short stories, and if you haven’t read them, then definitely treat yourself to the array:

A Thousand Futures of Me and You - VisionaryGalaxy (Vishanti, what a legend, ily so much). This is a series of unconnected one-shots, each their own and covering a variety of tropes and moments and themes and AUs. They’re so fun (and/or painful and/or thought-provoking and/or tense and/or sexy)! In-character and amazing, consistantly. 

Prompt Collection -  amethyst-noir (Arbonne). (Also a legendary human). This is exactly what it sounds like: a series of prompt fills in all sorts of tones. You’ll almost certainly find something here that feels like it was just made for you!

Alright, onto the individual stories and series!

Long fics/series:

The of overqualified hands and pi figures series - lantia4ever. (This was my first Ironstrange story, and it is no less magical now.)

A series of one-shots, all set in the same alternate verse in which Tony and Stephen first meet following the events of the first Avengers and then continue to meet after that throughout the canon up until Infinity War and eventually beyond it. Becoming friends - and more along the way.

Time After Time - fancylances. (I love love LOVE this one. Highly recommended.) 

Tony Stark is unstuck in time. Stephen Strange might just be the only person in the universe qualified enough to help.

Citizen Erased - Imagined. (This author. Just... such a wonderful, talented, stunning person who makes wonderful, talented, stunning works. This story is masterful.)

What do you do when no one in the world ever manages to remember you?

Anyone who sees Tony Stark promptly forgets he ever existed after mere seconds. When everyone he has ever cared about has lost their memories of him, he goes to Stephen Strange, possibly the only one who can help him lift the curse. But a terrifying danger is coming, and saving the world isn’t an easy job to do when no one can remember who you are.

if only the gods had mercy on us and it’s sequel a soul too deep - orphan_account. (Vishanti, this series...  It’s so beautiful and emotional and heart-breaking and heart-warming. And it has so few views for so many words! One of my absolute favorites, VERY highly recommended.) 

Tony Stark loved Stephen Strange. He loved him more than anyone could ever imagine. But then a terrorist group attacked the convoy. Then there was a car accident. In the middle of it all, there is tired, battered love. (And, maybe, a little bit of genius)

From the Top - lucifersfavoritechild. (Everyone reads this fic. Written by the blogger Monarch Of The Ironstrange Ship, it’s an MCU rewrite around the relationship. Very fun.) 

“Stephen, if you’re . . . there somewhere . . . when I drift off, I’ll be with you again. I can’t wait.”

|| Personally, I think the MCU would be much better as a love story between Stephen Strange and Tony Stark. Don't you?

Starting from Iron Man, and going all the way to Endgame, with all the appropriate stops in between. Let's take it from the top.

UNFINISHED: Skin Deep - Mystical_Magician. (Super cool premise, and super interesting to read! The dynamic here is very fun.)

A battle that should have finally killed Stephen instead launches him into a parallel universe. Exhausted from centuries as Sorcerer Supreme, he chooses instead to explore this new world in any animal form except human. Having hoped for peace at last, he can't stand to be looked up to, to be responsible for others, to have the world on his shoulders.

If he'd hoped to avoid excitement, however, he really should have stayed away when he noticed an enormous explosion and a falling metal suit of armor as he passed through Afghanistan.

UNFINISHED: The End of Infinity - FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls. (Self rec. Very long, very slow-burn. Canon-compliant Endgame fix-it. I’m trying so hard, lol.)

In 2023, the battle for the universe has been won. At a cost no one can forget, the fight is over—for all but one. Stephen Strange has an idea. An impossible idea spanning dimensions and timelines, life and death, and the lines of good and evil. But he's played impossible odds before—perhaps he never stopped.

All that Loki wanted was to fight, one last time, for the fate of his universe. So when he finds himself fighting for another, crashing into the past, he has a few intended words for the wizard that forced him there. But not before he finds a boy. Or, more accurately, before the boy finds him.

Peter Parker had been waiting for the next mission. He just doesn't expect it to come from the future, armed with a ridiculous story demanding a ridiculous quest. And he doesn't expect not to be able to tell Mr. Stark.

Tony Stark is trying to rebuild from the Civil War, knowing that someday, something will come that he needs to be ready for. And he doesn't know it yet, but two universes are trying to rebuild around him, and that something is already here.

Seven Stones. Five dead. Two universes. And one impossible quest to tie it all back together.

UNFINISHED: Sunrise in Exile - Ragdoll (Keshka). (Another fandom favorite! And for good reason. This is really really good!) 

Tony does the math and realizes their best chance to save the universe is by... not confronting Thanos on his own turf.

So he steals a wizard and a spider and a space ship. And he runs.

(Three humans and an A.I in space, the alien friendships they make along the way, and discovering how science and magic might coexist in a universe where they can be one and the same.)

Shorter plotty ones: 

Out of Suffering - Mystical_Magician. (So this author??? THIS AUTHOR??? Very very good, much yes, very good.) 

Stephen Strange does not like people, but 14,000,605 lifetimes of fighting and dying alongside this small group have worn down his walls. He likes them, gods help him. He might even consider them friends. It’s really for the best that they all go their separate ways once Thanos has been defeated. In their eyes, he’s barely even an acquaintance.

Now if only Tony and Peter would stop surprising him.

moros - spookykingdomstarlight. (Almost got a spot in the angst section. Very good). 

There were fourteen million universes Stephen had birthed into existence and let die and, in far more than he cared to count, the visitor standing before him had become something… dear.

Shaking is Caring - mariadperiad20. (This is just STUNNING. Highly loved.)

5 times Stephen's hands would shake, +1 time they didn't.

It's Kinda Chalky - DestielsDestiny. (This one’s pretty short, but definitely worth it.) 

You can live an entire lifetime by looking into someone’s eyes. His sister used to say that all the time. Stephen never gave it much thought back then. These days, he can think of little else.

Something Magic - Imagined. (Beautiful!)

There is only ever one rule that matters:

do not fall in love with the enemy.

An Idiotic Theory - FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls. (Self rec! I tried to be funny.)

His wizard has been cursed, again, and Tony's already used up his luck for the day.

(Stephen says it's not a curse. He says Tony's whole daily-allotted karma-based luck theory has minimal merit, citing the fact that Tony had come up with it while he was drunk.)

Tony really should have saved his miracle.

Love Through Time - babywarg (morphaileffect). (I love this one. It sticks with you.) 

Tony discovers an old drawing of, and finally remembers, his invisible friend Stephen from when he was a child.

Alternates - doobler. (Super cool!)

After being punked by a lowbrow magician, Stephen finds himself falling through doors to otherwordly dimensions. How will he ever get home?

132 - 28ghosts. (Soulmate AU! Very fun, incorporates Stephen’s time-loop with Dormammu.)

Ninety-nine point eight percent of humans have a soulmate mark that tells them the age their soulmate will be when they meet them. Tony Stark has a mark. It's just that his is...different than most people's.

(Or: six people who aren't Tony Stark's soulmate, and one who is.)

and when the world falls (I will fall with it) - HeavenChild. (Another multichap soulmate AU. Absolutely lovely.)

Tony will give anything to those he loves.

People will take everything he gives before leaving him in shambles.

Rhodhey, Pepper and Vision have had enough.

Or the five times Tony had his heart broken and the one time he didn't.

i saw the end of the world - JumpToConclusions. (Why has no one read this fic??? It’s so good!!! Stephen knows the future since he saw it on Titan, and things grow more complex from there.)

Tony and Strange are trying to make this work, this being remaking The Avengers. ...And maybe they'll stumble into something else along the way.

Tiresome heart, forever living and dying - Mystical_Magician. (R e a d  t h i s  p l e a s e. The mythology is so cool and the symbolism is so beautiful and the prose is so satisfying. One of my absolute faves.) 

As a fledgling crane, Stephen was too curious for his own good, and it was this curiosity that led to Eugene Strange finding and stealing away his feather robe. Trapped in human form, cruelly forged into the perfect son, not even his father's death freed him when his robe was so well hidden. He only managed to break his father's mold after breaking completely in the aftermath of his accident, and slowly gluing those broken pieces back together at Kamar-Taj, but not even magic could find what had been hidden. Enter Tony, after the defeat of Thanos.

Fluffy ones:

From The Outside - Live. (Hilarious.) 

Being a sentient life-form surrounded by humanity can be hard. Especially when said humans just can't admit their feelings for each other.

Sleeping Iron Man - Golden_Asp. (Another fun one. Perfect balance of ridiculousness with a touch of angst to make it interesting.) 

Stephen Strange stared at the Avengers on his doorstep, Tony Stark flung over Steve Rogers' shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "He touched something, didn't he?" "Yuup." or The one where Tony touches Sleeping Beauty's spindle, is put into an enchanted sleep, and everyone, even Rocket Raccoon, take their turn kissing him. But Tony only has one prince charming.

Doctor Ob(li)vious - lantia4ever. (One of my very favorites. So cute.) 

Stephen starts getting some weird looks from the Avengers, spanning across disturbed, confused and even scared all the way to curious. He dismisses it at first until weird turns into knowing.

And knowing turns into realizing...even if the scheming teenagers had to all but paint it on the walls for him to do so. Oh wait...

Applied Combinatorics in Two-Player Games - 28ghosts. (Short and fun and full of snark.)

After a battle, Tony Stark and Stephen Strange argue about games.

-

“Chess is not a solved problem.”

“Has been since ‘97, Kasparov versus Deep Blue. Kasparov, 1; Deep Blue, 2; three draws.”

“Chess is a game, not a problem.”

The Courtship of Peter Parker's Father (Figures) - flyingonfeatherlesswings. (Peter plays matchmaker! Adorable.)

Peter couldn't stand to sit by while Tony and Stephen danced around each other any longer. Something had to be done.

Speaking Eyes - Vrishchika. (Not Steve Friendly. Tony is amazing in this. And Stephen is so fantastically dramatic.)

Tony has always had expressive eyes.

The Signs of Sleep Deprivation - FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls. (Another self-rec. <3)

"Tony said to put the potato in the dishwasher, so that's what I did."

Sometimes, Avengers just show up to say hi. Sometimes, they all show up at once, and Tony makes an party out of it. Sometimes, he invites the snarky, oblivious, somewhat insecure wizard because, and Peter quotes: "everyone else is coming".

Sometimes, something needs to be done.

Show Me Your Scars (And I'll Show You Mine) - Imagined. (Adorable. Lovely. Imagined does it again.)

The worst part is that Stephen keeps tucking his hands away, just as Tony wants to hold them. He keeps hiding them, surreptitiously, no matter what they’re doing. It’s only when Tony kisses Stephen, or hugs him, that he feels the hands settle on his back, uncertain, ready to pull back within seconds.

It only makes him want to cuddle up to Stephen even more, but he backs away, not sure if it’d be welcome.

Promise? Promise. - sharonscarters. (AU, kidfic, absolutely adorable.) 

A four year old Tony Stark runs away from home and finds his Guardian Angel.

What The Doctor Ordered - wakandan_wardog. (Post CW. Kind of not Rogues friendly? So fun, makes me smile. I re-read this one a lot.)

The Rogue Avengers are called back to New York because the heavy hitters are going to be needed against Thanos. Of course, there are some truths that Steve Rogers will need to accept sooner rather than later. Tony Stark has moved on and Stephen Strange will not suffer fools lightly.

Hurt/Comforty ones:

Among The Chaos of The Stars (You're My Safe Harbour) - ShootMeDead. (Oh my vishanti. OH MY VISHANTI. So so so so SO good.) 

Stephen has always been able to hear the stars. Tony is the only one who can silence them.

each night like a white noise frequency - Phierie. (I ADORE THIS FIC. OKAY. I LOVE IT. READ IT.)

Stephen is no stranger to making hard choices. He doesn’t regret his actions on Titan, but months later they weigh on his mind heavier than ever; the cracks begin to show.

Just An Accident - CucumbersInGold. (I really like fics with Stephen’s hands and the difficulties thereabout. Idk, just one of my favorite things. This is beautiful). 

Stephen's hands act up.

Learning, Unlearning - Caaaaaaas. (More character study than anything else. Really good.)

Whatever Stephen wanted with life, life just didn’t seem to know what to do with him.

In which Stephen learns and unlearns some very important lessons.

your eyes have their silence - doctortwelfth. (Oh look it’s another scars fic. I told you I liked them.) 

Tony is gentle with Stephen’s hands even when Stephen forgets to be.

Burning Lines Into The Snow - petroltogo. (Not very Steve friendly. Short and sweet.)

Post CW: It's not just the team that's so broken they are barely able to comprehend how many parts they're missing now, how many have been ripped and twisted and torn. It's Tony as well, right down to the core, the damage so far-reaching even he doesn't know how to fix it.

And then there's Strange, who has his own way of covering the cracks.

Old Bones - CJtheWeeb. (Owch. Dumb geniuses trying to be invulnerable.)

Sometimes Stephen Strange has great days, where he was nearly pain free and his hands still enough to where he could pick up a cup of water and barely spill a drop.

Today was not one of those days.

something taken, something new - meowrails. (So in-character. The premise was a little off to me, but I’m so glad I decided to read this one. I really really like this fic.)

The ChronicConnection implement and app allows a person that lives with chronic or illness-induced pain to transfer their burden temporarily to a willing loved one.

Tony and Stephen sign up as beta testers.

Angsty ones (happy ending unless otherwise mentioned):

day one - days4daisy. (THIS IS SO GOOD OKAY IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE ON THIS LIST READ THIS).

Three days in Stark Tower. Stephen must be in bad shape if he just agreed to this.

His Merlin - babywarg (morphaileffect). (This author keeps showing up on this list because they are A LEGEND. A LEGEND I TELL YOU.) 

As a child, Tony imagined himself a Knight of the Round Table. Little did he know he would grow up to be a king. And that he would have a wizard by his side to lead him to either glory or destruction.

there is no heart for me like yours - turtle_abyss. (Soulmate AU! Wonderful. <3)

Being able to feel your soulmate - a phantom touch, a bone-deep awareness - is a divine torture. To know, but not see. To seek, but not find. To feel someone holding your hand and not be able to hold theirs.

Grace - StrangeMischief. (*cries in beautiful fic* Happy ending!)

“Pain’s an old friend.” 

Us...Me - StrangeMischief. (This will hurt you. So melancholy. Pepper and Tony live their life, and Tony remembers. Not a happy ending.) 

“I don’t believe in happily ever after.” 

One-Thousand Cranes - FriendlyNeighborhoodFangirls. (Self rec, sorry. Hopeful ending.) 

After it all, a man with shaking hands makes a wish.

courtesy - deathofglitter. (Dealing with the fourteen-million futures. So good.) 

Stark looked at him like he looked at the amulet that rested on his chest like a steady promise - dutiful, a bit burdened, and trying to hold a profound lack of personal emotion whatsoever, still personal enough to protect as anyone would a precious object.

La Douleur Exquise - BananasofThorns, StrangeMischief. (More pain. Pepper and Tony, and Stephen watching and trying not to wish. Very good, no happy ending.)

The before was easy. There were fewer boxes in their minds and no chains around their hearts. There was no hurt. No tears. No dreams.

But those days were long gone.

Stigmata - babywarg (morphaileffect). (AU! Soulmates again. Very interesting, beautifully done.)

Since Stephen was little, mysterious wounds have appeared and disappeared on his body, leaving mysterious scars. His mother says it's because he's one of a Pair, and he's absorbing pain meant for someone else.

*wipes brow* PHEW! That gotta a little more in-depth than I first intended... Have fun, my MysticIron friends. Happy quarantine. 

[lovelivingmydreams]

A story by heroes and villains

Virgil Anker: better together

Virgil learns to accept help from others.

“Ugh! I am done!” Virgil glanced up from his assignment to see Roman let himself fall back into his chair with relief. Their first study session had gone rather well. They should probably reserve one of the discussion booths next time. The poor librarian had needed to remind them to be quiet multiple times. They’d just had too much fun. But Virgil could understand Roman’s exhaustion. It was time they wrapped things up. “Give me a sec, I have to finish this thing for English,” he muttered absentmindedly as he focused once more.

“Want me to read it trough for you?”

Virgil looked up in surprise. “You don’t…” he started. He didn’t even know why he was feeling like he’d done something wrong right now. Picani might be able to help him figure it out during their session after Virgil got back from his trip to the zoo with uncle Thomas tomorrow.

“We’re here to help each other Virgil. If I didn’t want to help you I wouldn’t offer. I thrive on being of help to my friends. It’s no trouble.” Right. Roman was like that. For everyone, not just him. It was okay to let him help. Virgil found himself smiling a little sheepishly and nodded. “Alright. You can read it when I’m done,” he allowed quickly turning back to his work.

When he finished his essay he looked up to find Roman in the zone. Which was excellent. It made it easier to sneak up on him. Apparently those with ADHD were extra susceptible to his cloak. Did he have proof for that? Well it was more of a hypothesis, but he had no means to test it. It made sense though.

And Roman had yet to prove him wrong.

Virgil cloaked himself, moved to stand right next to Roman and looked over his shoulder. It looked like he was designing a fashion line. Trans girl dresses, Pansexual messenger bags… as well as formal clothing inspired by broadway and Disney characters it seemed. He dropped his cloak.

“Seems I’m not the only one who can draw up some clothes.” Virgil had to stifle his laughter when that observation nearly made Roman jump 4 feet in the air.

“Will you stop that!?” he hissed.

“Not a chance,” Virgil chuckled as he picked up Roman’s sketches.

“This looks good though… You ever thought of becoming a fashion designer?” he suggested casually, allowing himself to imagine starting a brand with Roman someday.

“You are a genius!” Roman exclaimed, making Virgil’s heart jump.

He played it cool though. He’d gotten good at that over the last two years. Pretending that Roman’s smile didn’t turn his insides upside down. “It’s the least I can do. I sent in the designs like you said… I’m kind of excited.” He was. He hoped to catch a glimpse when he went out tonight.

“I’m sure next time you see DreamPrince on the news he’ll be wearing your design.” It was nice, having someone believe in him like that. Other than his dads that is.

“We’ll see,” he smiled as he handed Roman his laptop.

“Well,” Roman announced after a while. “I think you can hand this in with confidence Virge.”

Virgil felt himself relax at that. Roman wouldn’t say that if he didn’t mean it.

“So… I recall something about pizza? I’m starving!”

Virgil chuckled and lead the hungry Hispanic to the restaurant he’d suggested.

Virgil reminded himself over and over that this wasn’t a date, but it was very hard. Especially when, near the end of their meal Roman suddenly started acting nervous. “So… Um… There’s this… Shoot wait a minute,” Roman got up and picked up his phone.

“Si mama…? Que?” Virgil watched Roman look at his watch and jump.

“Perdona! I’ll be there soon.” With that he hung up and took out his wallet. Rambling all the way.

“So sorry Virge! Time got away from us I’m afraid. I swear I intended to give you that ride… Can you call your dad… You know what? Just use the change to take the bus or a cab or something alright? My treat! I’ll call you later!” he promised as he tossed down a few bills before rushing away. Leaving Virgil behind a little stunned. Maybe it was a family thing? It looked urgent.

He took the bus as it was cheaper and there was a stop in his new street.

The house was nice. Though Virgil wasn’t used to it yet. Especially now, when his dads weren’t home, it felt weird being here. Luckily he didn’t plan on staying too long.

He texted his dad while getting dressed. By the time he left the house, he got a reply.

“Don’t wait up. Patton and Thomas say hi. Thomas wants to remind you of the trip to the zoo tomorrow.” Virgil smiled, he didn’t know uncle Thomas was going to be there too… Maybe these projects were just poker nights with the boys. He might have to ask them about it when they got home.

Regardless, duty called.

Virgil was starting to think that he might need to do take a break from turning in evidence for a bit. The criminals were getting agitated.

“I say we attack now! They are weak! We can take them down easily!” he heard one guy suggest. No, turf wars were a bad idea. Clearly he hadn’t thought about maintaining the power balance enough. Good thing he was about to even the playing field again. All these idiots had to do was get caught on his camera with something very illegal, preferably saying the bosses name or any clue the police could use for some kind of big bust.

The leader of this troupe seemed rather well respected. Virgil had learned to spot the difference between the ranks, and if this guy wasn’t answering to the big guy himself, then he was pretty close.

“Boss says we have a truce until the rat is found,” The big dude in question stated.

A truce? Was he that much of a threat? Should he feel flattered or scared?

The tugs argued back and forth a bit more and Virgil was seriously considering just getting out of here. Maybe he could trip up some lower tier members. Or go back to helping lost travelers for a while. Just enough to make the higher ups relax again. They wouldn’t rebuild their ranks too much if they thought it was an inside job or something. Right?

And if they’d realized someone was giving the cops everything they needed to stop them, they wouldn’t plan anything major for a while. Unless the boss was stupid.

Suddenly Virgil saw a figure descend from the roof. He made a hero landing, straight from a superhero movie.

Virgil’s eyes widened. It couldn’t be…

“Do you gentlemen have permits for those weapons?” Dream Prince asked with a deep, booming voice as he rose up, wearing the full costume Virgil had designed. Including the cape. What was he doing here? Stupid question. He was government sanctioned. The chief was on the news a few days ago claiming him as one of theirs.

Which meant she probably asked him to look for Virgil. Does that woman never give up?

The gang was confused by his appearance. One of them calling the young hero ‘prince clown’. Virgil was too far away to see it, but he was willing to bet the clown in question was not too pleased with that.

With a gesture from the leader the gang was silenced. “Sure kid,” he said in a voice that made Virgil stand on high alert. “Got mine right here.”

Or find the stories of Logan and Roman in the Master post

Before Virgil could react in any meaningful way, Prince had shielded himself with his cape and the leader fired at least four rounds at him. The hero was unharmed though. The sounds of bullets falling to the ground the only evidence that they had ever left the barrel in the first place.

“Well now you just pissed me off. This is brand new!” Prince complained as he dropped the cape. And Virgil had to admit, it looked very cool. “I suppose you won't surrender peacefully?” he deduced.

The sound of guns being armed was his only answer. Which was stupid. That was already shown not to work. But sure, shoot with more guns. Don’t actually use your brain or anything. Prince let out an annoyed sigh as he hung his cape from a water pipe. “Fine.” And just like that, he sped towards the criminals through a rain of bullets.

It seemed like he had it handled, and Virgil was pretty sure that he would notice he was there no matter how well he cloaked himself if he got involved. And if he was here to look for him and bring him in for whatever the chief had planned…

Still, he couldn’t make himself just stand by.

He jumped in and helped disarm the criminals and caught a few punches, Prince seemed unlikely to dodge. Pretty soon he felt like Prince was adapting his fighting to his presence which told him that he was in fact spotted.

Soon the gang was down on the ground and their disassembled guns were on a pile on the floor. Virgil returned to the shadows once the sirens lit up the alley.

Prince donned his cloak once more and walked up to where the leader laid, showing off his boot.

“So… how does it feel to get your butt kicked by a guy in heels?” Virgil’s eyes widened as he saw Prince show off the boot. He was wearing the heeled boots? Sure he pulled them off, but that wasn’t a smart move. He couldn’t have had that much time to practice with them yet. Virgil sent the design on Tuesday. Unless… Maybe he’d worn heels before? That was a possibility. Though crime fighting in heels couldn’t be comfortable… Still, it did make the whole thing extra cool, Virgil had to admit.

Suddenly Dream Prince looked up at him and gave a playful wink. So he had noticed him. And he could see him even though he was cloaked right now… Or not quite. He wasn’t looking directly at him. So he knew he was there, just not where exactly.

“Good job Dream Prince. We've got it from here,” one of the police officers who’d come to make the arrests told Prince. The young hero turned to him and bowed.

“It's my pleasure to be of assistance to the police of this fine city.” While he turned around he made a gesture with his hand. Virgil could tell he was being asked to follow.

Part of him wanted to run the other way. But he was curious.

He wanted to take a good look at the costume. He wanted to scold Prince. He wanted to give him a message for the chief. Maybe find out what she wanted from him.

So he followed him all the way to a rooftop.

The city lights illuminated Prince from the back, his cape floating in the wind.

Virgil wished he could take a picture. Roman would love this.

Prince took a step forward and bowed for him. He was really sticking to this Prince thing huh?

“Greetings Phantom. I must thank you for the assist now and three months ago. I am Dream Prince, he/him if you please. A pleasure to officially meet you.” So he had figured out when they’d met.

Virgil couldn’t help a chuckle. He was still cloaking himself. He’d never talked to someone like this before so he had no clue if and how that affected his voice.

“Phantom huh?” Hmm. He kind of liked it. Sure it confirmed that prince was here due to chief. But it was a cool nickname.

“Sure you can call me that. He/him… mind telling me what that was about? I thought you officials weren't let of your leash unless you could be responsible enough to not get yourself killed?” Did he sound a bit catty? Maybe. Was what Prince did idiotic? Absolutely.

Prince didn’t seem to agree. “Says the guy who has half the criminal underworld out for his blood.”

Virgil looked away. Damn. He’d hoped Prince was going to live up to Virgil’s original nickname for him. But he was no idiot.

“Do you have something against the program?” Prince pressed.

“No I…”  Virgil tried to steady himself. It wasn’t Prince’s fault that he was pissed at his boss. “Sorry I’m just pissed at the cops for sending you, I guess,” he admitted reluctantly.

“Yet you chose to follow me up here?” Okay, so he really should give this guy more credit.

“Um… Well… I just…” He couldn’t tell him he was curious about him. That would give away interest on his part and he was not ready to let anything personal slide. He hated being put on the spot like this. Damn, this was not helping the stoic, mysterious guy aura he was going for.

“You interrupted my stake out!” he recalled. Right, one of the reasons he was mad at Prince. The lecture he’d interrupted with his observations.

“Do you know how long it takes to work my way up the ranks? First I have to find a low level runner, then I follow him to his boss, that guy to his and so up the ladder I go. I was getting real close to the big guy of this group. And now…” Sure, he had been thinking about needing to go more low profile for a while to let the rumors simmer out. But still.

“I apologize,” Prince replied sincerely with another bow. It was hard to be mad with this guy. Perfect hero material. “I merely intended to help. They were talking about killing you.”

He appreciated the concern really. But he overlooked one crucial detail.

“And now there is a price on your head! The leader of that little club is like two steps away from the big boss. They won’t be happy with you taking him in.” He couldn’t let him get himself on the bad guys’ list. Not because he thought he needed to protect him. Or maybe a little. When had he started feeling responsible for Prince? Was this how his dad felt? Why he’d tried to keep him from being overly self-sacrificing as a kid?

“You got dirt on them?” Prince wondered.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Yes… But that’s not the point. They have no clue about me. Not really,” just some guesses and rumors. “But you are out in the open.” They’d know who to go after with him. “This is not your kind of mission Royal pain. And now that you are out, you can’t expect me to hold your hand any longer…” Virgil got distracted when Prince crossed his arm and smirked smugly. “You’ve been looking out for me all summer huh?”

That smug little… Fine he got him there.

He rolled his eyes with a scoff, trying to dismiss the statement. “It’s not like I came looking for you.” He just… Did the right thing when they met up.

Prince was the one dreaming if he thought he felt any kind of responsibility towards him. He was just trying to… To be someone he could be proud of. That was why he was doing this. To not feel week and useless. To help people, even if he couldn’t always help those he felt closest to.

“Still… Thank you…” Prince said gently, about to step forward again. But then he cringed and clutched his head. “Ow!”

The young hero sounded more annoyed than in pain.

He pressed a finger to his ear. Communicating with whoever was on the other line no doubt. “One. Loud. Two. Rude! I am in the middle of something! And did you seriously remotely reactivate my com?” Virgil could hear him hiss in the communication device, dropping the regal persona completely. Virgil bit back his amusement.

“I am fine, not a scratch on me,” Prince replied annoyed. “I’ll call you when I’m done here.” And then he seemed to take something out of his ear. He was so lucky Virgil wasn’t a bad guy or he’d just made it a lot easier on him to take him out.

“Sorry,” Prince sighed. “My mentor is… intense at times.”

“Mentor?” Virgil wondered. He’d heard about the GTA program and it’s monitors in the past. But mentors… that sounded a bit more one on one than just people who told you what to do.

“One of the people helping me practice my powers, test my limits. Comes with the program. It’s not just a babysit and a nice suit,” Prince joked.

“Oh…” Virgil didn’t know what to say to that. It was… Something he’d been wanting for a while now. For a way to test all that he could do. To figure out the shield, push the limits of his cloak and try and use his healing for others. Someone to help him strategize, to talk with when he’d had a tough night. But unless he was ready to come clean with his dad, that was out of his reach.

“Listen, I admit I was sent by the chief. But I didn’t come here to recruit you. I wanted to thank you and tell you… If you ever need someone to talk to, to help you figure something out… I’d be more than happy to oblige. No need to tell me your name or anything about yourself.”

Virgil looked at the offered hand. Maybe, it wasn’t impossible after all.

He considered his options. But it seemed like there was no catch to this offer. So he closed the gap and shook his hand.

“I’ll see you next time,” Prince offered kindly before letting go and running straight of the rooftop as if there was a walkway just for him.

Virgil smirked. Maybe he should wrap it up for tonight. Prince and the other heroes had the area covered. He’d collect the information he had on the tugs that were arrested tonight. Next time he saw Dream Prince, he’d hand that information to him.

If things went well… This could be a good partnership.

End of this part. Meet Janus and learn his side

@cirishere​ @hestianerd1 @moonlightshow00 @naturallyunstablegamer @alias290 @meowthefluffy @frida0043 @angelic-cali @selenechris @theblackveilinreverse