#also the devil axe is one of my favorite weapons

[fayesdiary]

@felikatze

a well-deserved reward

[put-me-out-of-my-destiny]

I do like that Trish's movesets in Devil May Cry 2 and Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition call back to Dante's limited moveset from the original Devil May Cry, the game that Trish first appeared in, but I think it could benefit from an update if she's ever playable again, and her losing Devil Sword Sparda makes for a good opportunity.

The thing is, I actually have two ideas about how this could be achieved.

Idea One

One idea I've had is Trish forging herself a new sword, one that isn't a devil arm, but does conduct her natural magical energy very effectively, like the way Vergil used Force Edge in Devil May Cry 3. This sword wouldn't be as powerful in-lore as the Sparda was, but it would allow Trish to do something that she couldn't before.

While Trish is commonly associated with lightning, her unarmed attacks in Devil May Cry 2 project fire, as they are based on Dante's Ifrit moveset. I like to think that Trish can wield all sorts of elements, and lightning is just her favorite.

With this in mind, I like to imagine that on top of being able to switch between her sword and her bare knuckles, Trish can also swap the elements that her respective movesets project. For example, if her sword were charged with lightning, then her knuckles would be charged with fire, and vice versa.

While charged with lightning, her sword moveset would consist of very fast and narrow attacks, much like Dante's modern sword moveset. But while charged with fire, her attacks would be wider and slower, similar to Cavaliere Angelo's attacks (and Dante's original sword moveset by comparison). Similarly, when her bare knuckles are charged with lightning, Trish will mostly use multi-hitting kick attacks, but she'll use chargeable punching attacks when charged with fire. This means that Trish effectively has four melee movesets.

Idea Two

On the other hand, I've more recently imagined Trish not gaining a new weapon at all. Instead she pays homage to her very first cutscene in the original Devil May Cry, and uses objects as improvised weapons. Imagine her using a pipe like a sword, or a sign like an axe, or a chain like a whip, or a longer pipe like a polearm, or a motorcycle like Cavaliere. These improvised weapons probably have limited durability, and will eventually break, though they can also be discarded manually (and thrown at enemies) at any time.

This concept provides Trish with a unique gimmick, in that her moveset is determined by context, and this can be extended to a power that she's only demonstrated in cutscenes - shapeshifting. Suppose Trish can copy the forms of enemy demons in order to access their movesets? Maybe doing so requires some amount of Devil Trigger* based on the strength of the enemy, so the player can't just do it constantly?

*That's not to say I'd want her shapeshifting to replace a standard Devil Trigger, I've even speculated about what Trish's devil form should look like before.

It would certainly be easier than giving her a large pool of forms that she can choose to change into whenever, though I did consider giving her a pool of enemies from the original Devil May Cry when Idea One was all I had in mind.

But there's one piece that I had trouble fitting into this gimmick, and that's elemental magic. The obvious idea is for her to drain elemental powers from sources found in her levels, but I think that's too similar to her improvised weapons.

My next idea was for it to be based on the circumstances of the fight, like Trish's health, her style level, or her Devil Trigger, but those are all independent resources, they can all be at minimum or maximum simultaneously.

Then my third idea was to tie elemental magic to the improvised weapons and copied forms directly. Trish can use a weapon or a form for as long as she can, or she can destroy them early in order to absorb their associated element and imbue it into her bare knuckle attacks. For example, she could get fire from a motor vehicle like a motorcycle, while she could also get lightning from an electric sign or perhaps a cable she'd been using like a whip. And of course enemies have various elements she can steal. This gives her a much larger pool of elements to choose from than just lightning and fire, which is exciting, but also sounds difficult to balance.

With two perfectly viable ideas with their own benefits and drawbacks in mind, I decided to make this a poll.

Please share your reasons when you choose!

[saturn-xvoid]

Basically all my TMC Aus/headcanons!! Please lemme know yours if you have I lobe them so much 😭

Anyways, Let’s get started!!

COLORGUARD AU!

Fav tosses:

Mark = Strip toss

Cesar = single half 45, catch behind back

Jonah: Pop toss

Adam: Lasso

Least fav tosses:

Mark = Silk double, spin underneath it

Cesar = Silk toss

Jonah = 45

Adam = Any toss where he has to do jazz splits on the floor 

VOLLEYBALL AU!

Mark = Outside hitter

Adam = Setter 

Jonah = Middle blocker

Cesar = Libero 

Sarah = Opposite hitter 

Joel (mystifying oracle) = Defense specialist 

Evelin = Manager or Setter 

Thatcher, Dave, Ruth = Coaches 

HANDBALL AU!

Evelin = Goalie 

Cesar = Pivot 

Adam = Left wing

Sarah = Right wing

Mark = Left back

Jonah = Right back 

Thatcher, Dave, Ruth = Coaches 

FAVORITE COLOR: 

(Self indulgent tbh)

Mark: Blue

Cesar: Red

Jonah: Orange 

Adam: Black

Sarah: Green

Evelin: Purple 

I imagine that if Mark was getting injured by something and Cesar (or anyone really) was near, he wouldn’t call Cesar for help in fear of Cesar getting hurt by the thing as well.

Adam would just yell and cuss which is what normally alerts Jonah that he needs help.

Cesar would call Marks name but that’s it, he wouldn’t ask Mark to help him, just for him to come over. 

Jonah would ask anyone and everyone for help when getting hurt but back then (MY AU) he never did because of TRAUMA. 

HTTYD AU:

Cesar = Night fury

Adam = Monstrous nightmare 

Mark = Cesar’s rider (that sounds weird but it’s not i swear) 

Jonah = Adams rider (once again not weird leave me alone)

(I also have a fanfic of this btw so lemme know if ya want me to link that ;))

WEAPONS OF CHOICE:

Mark = Gun

Cesar = Spiky bat

Adam = Knife or anything sharp 

Jonah = Axe

PRONOUNS ?? IDK MIGHT CHANGE:

Mark = He/him

Cesar = He/they

Jonah = All pronouns 

Adam = He/it (Possibly xe/xer too)

Sarah = She/her

Evelin = She/he/they

Dave = All pronouns 

Ruth = She/her

Thatcher = He/they

CUPHEAD AU!:

Mark = Mugman 

Cesar = Cuphead 

Jonah = Dice 

Adam = Devil 

Sarah = Mrs. Chalice 

PUSS IN BOOTS AU:

Mark = Kitty softpaws

Cesar = Puss

Sarah = Perrito 

Jonah = Baby bear 

Adam = Goldie 

Six = Papa bear

Lynn Murray = Mama bear

SOUTH PARK AU!: 

Mark = Stan

Cesar = Kyle

Jonah = Kenny

Adam = Cartman 

A tmc au where everyone lives and no one dies (Like Unwound Wounds by SoundlessNoise on ao3) but Jonah has an alternate attached to him.

The alternate isn’t visible to anyone but Jonah and it doesn’t turn Jonah into an alternate, instead it tells jonah to… ya know… commit die. Jonah doesn’t give in and he debates telling the boys but the alternate convinced him not to. 

Maybe have the boys find out?? 

Sorry I like Jonah angst LMAO 

ORCHESTRA AU!:

Mark = Violin

Cesar = Viola 

Jonah = Violin 

Adam = Cello 

UNDERTALE/MOMMACQ AU!:

Mark = Geno sans

Cesar = Ink sans

Jonah = Fresh sans

Adam = Error sans

TMNT AU!:

Mark = Donnie

Cesar = Leo

Jonah = Mikey

Adam = Raph

Sarah = Usagi

Evelin = April 

Jonah is a juggalo fr.

Dave Lee reminds me of the do the flop guy.

SECURITY BREACH AU!:

Mark = Gregory 

Cesar = Glamrock Freddy

Jonah = Sun

Adam = Moon

Sarah = Roxanne

Evelin = Chica 

Thatcher = Monty 

Ruth = Vanny

Dave = DJ music man

FAVORITE MOVIES:

Jonah = Moana

DESCENDANTS AU!:

Mark = Mal

Cesar = Evie

Jonah = Carlos 

Adam = Jay

[featheredscorpion]

Fire Emblem Pilgrimage pt 3: Mystery of the Emblem

Welcome back to the mistake where I play every mainline Fire Emblem game, in order.

(I skipped Book 1 and I feel no shame. I can't play FE1 three times for this project, I'm sorry.)

"Remember all those cool new mechanics in FE2? Let's just throw them all away. We're keeping massive weapon ranges, though. But only for the enemy units. Sorry."

That being said, this is still leagues about FE1. Inventory management is streamlined (you get separate weapon and item inventories which is honestly overkill), shops work as expected, you can trade items around without ending your turn... lovely.

The level design kinda holds the game back unfortunately. Midgame is fine, but the end levels are either flooded with meteor mages + catapults, or nothing but Devil-axe barbarians and dragons. Medeus was also a breeze, especially since his attack didn't have good accuracy (though Hardin was stupidly powerful due to his high stats and speed).

By far the best parts of the game were the writing and the pixel art. All the character sprites and faces have so much personality, and the visual design of the final Medeus fight goes hard. The writing is hilarious, though it might be unintentional (or due to the english patch I'm using). I love how Marth is kind of an idealist idiot.

Overall, it was a bit of a slog. Several levels came down to Meteor RNG, and you'll spend probably half of your turns just moving units towards the battle or waiting for Marth to travel from the villages to the seize point. I'm glad I played it, but I don't think I'd play it all the way through again.

Favorite Character(s):

Michalis the CHAD. His entrance (in book 2) is absolutely hilarious: he flies his wyvern directly into a castle, yells at the guy in charge, gets the guy to give up Minerva (who was being held captive), says he hates all of them, and then just leaves. Then Marth spends the whole chapter trying to fight his way to the castle to rescue Minerva who isn't even there anymore. Absolute madlad.

Xane got a massive glowup in terms of design (though his power was slightly nerfed). Love his personality here, and that he gets to be a main speaking character for 3 levels. Bro casually drops the wildest lore imaginable, then says "dont worry about it". Also the fact that he's a divine dragon who just yeeted his dragonstone is neat.

Favorite Units:

MERRIC'S STILL GOT IT! The magic boi himself, and he's still great. He protecc (healing staffs), he also attacc (tomes), but most importantlly, he gives everyone their turn bacc (Again Staff is OP)

TIKI. Love my girl. The dragon designs go hard in this game, and her divine dragonstone is effective against all dragons, which made the endgame levels much more manageable. She also took down Medeus when Marth's Falchion barely did scratch damage.

Favorite New/Unique Mechanic:

Look. I like mount/dismount. I just don't like forcing dismount in some areas.

Manaketes fully transforming for a few turns instead of just during combat!

THE AGAIN STAFF. Only 3 uses but man. It gives every other unit in the army another turn, which is MASSIVE. By chaining with a dancer, you can do Some Shenanigans.

Least Favorite Part:

Meteor mages + catapults make every turn RNG. If they double your unit or attack a weak one, they're dead. But sometimes they didn't attack at all even though I had units in range. I hated how unpredictable and cheap it made the endgame levels feel.

Why were all the final boss maps inside. Forced dismount is annoying at best, but now lances are useless and all my units have lower move.

Needing to visit villages AND seize with Marth sucked. Spent like 10 turns on every map just moving him around.

[donivanessdoodles]

POWER METAL PIRATES

Part one of the crew introduction and information:

I'm excited to see that you all want to know about the crew I have. Also please ignore any typos. I'm sure theres alot haha.. Well let's start with the captains~

The Power Metal Pirates have 2 captains. Pidgeon and Lincoln.

Let's start with Pidgeon~

Armored Pidgeon

Pidgeon belongs to me, she is a main one piece oc and let me tell ya she is a bundle of chaos.

Basic info

Female

26 years old

Bisexual

5ft 2in

250 lbs (due to her fruit powers)

Wanted Title: Armored Pidgeon

Bounty: unsure yet

Favorite food: Burritos

Singer/guitarist- favorite is playing the accordion

Leather worker

She grew up in the East Blue on a very very small island with her older sister Canary and Lincoln as childhood friends. Her and her sister are a species I made called Colossai, related to giants in a way but they can turn into beast like forms and become taller. Pidgeon is short at a height of only 5ft 2 shes on of the smallest Colossai remaining of the species. So far I only have her and her sister.

Family owns a small clothing and fabric shop, Canary and Pidgeon take it over once their parents pass and Pidge specializes in leather.

She regularly hunts and skins to make her own leather.

Small details:

Her right eye was taken out during a childhood accident. She wears and eye patch to cover the injury and to look very stylish~

Her hair/mane is a mess Usually using clips to clip the side up making a Mohawk.

Stands Pigeon toed when nervous (toes pointing in)

Devil fruit and Abilities:

Yoroi-yoroi no mi: Armor armor fruit. A paramencia fruit. Her body can change into metal and become metal plated as armor. She can combine this with her Colossai ability to turn into a large armored beast. Down side is that her weight is very heavy for her size and parts of her body stay metal at all times (gray patches of skin)

Colossai ability. Becomes a 9ft tall beast, long and muscular arms giving her strength and claws that are sharp. She is blind in this form, she does not have eyes ans relying on her hearing and smell. Large jaw and teeth. She can talk but her speech is distorted.

Carries a Axe, itnis a guitar but also a functioning weapon.

She will bite, no questions asked

One Cent Lincoln

This sweet ass bean belongs to @that-one-fat-lesbian who is my BESTIE

I worked hard on this reference tho its only a sketch ref. Lol he is an chaotic mess also but it more down to earth than Pidgeon. They are best friends and together make one whole brain cell.

Basic info

Male

27 years old

Bisexual

7ft tall bean

Bassist/singer

Coin- coin fruit

One of 10 siblings

Family of fishermen

190 lbs

Wanted Title: One-Cent Lincoln

Bounty: unsure

Growing up in the East Blue he was born into a fisherman family with alot of older siblings, all boys. Being the youngest he was a brat at times. Meeting Pidgeon and Canary by getting in major trouble and his dad forcing him to help out in the tailor shop after fishing duties and school.

Growing up together Lincoln and Pidge got into trouble here and there and decided that they would be pirates as some of his siblings were pirates, marines, and stay home nobodies.

Small details

Gages in both ears and the first coin that Lincoln ever made with his devil fruit.

Dyes his hair purple haha

Devil Fruit and Abilities:

The coin-coin fruit is exactly as it sounds. Lincoln can create coins out of nothing. These coins are of the lowest value, but he can use them to pay for goods.

He uses the coins as bullets in his pistols and guns.

Other abilities are a current work in progress.

How Pidge and Lincoln got their Fruits:

Lincoln's older brother had found a devil fruit while fishing. Being a bully he pressured Lincoln into eating the fruit and being a kid, he did.

Once he ate the fruit and knew what it was, him and Pidge set out to find another fruit. Using the families boat they would fish every night until they found one.

Canary the Siren:

*reference sheet coming soon*

Older sister to Pidgeon! Canary the Siren, the more responsible of the two sisters. She may not be a part of the Power Metal Pirate crew she is their strongest alliance. Currently she is part of the Buggy Pirates and is a Oc x Cannon ship: Canary x Buggy

Basic info:

Female

Pansexual

30 yrs old

6ft tall

190lbs

Non fruit user

Seamstress/songer

Instrument: hurdy gurdy

Wanted Title: The Siren

Bounty: unsure

With parents away most of the time she took care of her younger sister happily seeming the motherly type. Creating fashion and clothing was her passion at a young age. Their parents quickly taking notes and making it their family business.

With parents dying young Canary quickly took over and started shipping her clothing to other islands and parts of the east blue, taking care of Pidgeon and Lincoln.

Knowing Pidgeon and Lincoln's passion for being pirates she is 100% supportive.

When the younger ones leave on their pirate adventure Canary finds herself bored and longing for more. When Buggy and his crew doxk at the island this was her chance to go.

If you'd like to read that small story @cyborg-franky lovingly wrote it here:

Cute Halloween:

Small Details:

Rarely uses her Colossai ability as it is physically draining for her.

The large scar on her right shoulder is from a run in with bandits. She was kidnapped and it was the best way to subdue her was to handicap her, though with her Colossai form she escaped.

The scar unfortunately effects her everyday life as she will lose feeling in her hand/arm and may drop items, loose her grip etc.

Abilities:

Colossai form is still being worked on but will be based on agility though still debating on if it'll be flight or aquatic style.

Very fast and graceful

Siren Song. She knows lullabys and poems and when sung correctly can help manipulate, confuse, or influence others but only for a few minutes. Which is most cases, every minute counts.

This is just part one of the crew and more to come soon of my One piece ocs. Thank you to those who may find my ocs interesting and those who showed interest. Feel free to ask questions~

Tags for those who wanted to know more:

@ashencreations @pagingdoctorbedlam @secretsnailor @rosiinante @ivy-spivy @cipher-p0 @chinesegal

[anjuschiffer]

Amira Wayne [Unclassified]

So I’m creating a series dedicated to unused chapters/scenes from Amira Wayne... Since these aren’t part of the actual fic, I will not be using the same tags from the fic themselves. If you wanna be tagged, just comment on the pieces themselves or send an ask :D

-

This was originally going to be the official Day 6 fic, but then I ended up changing the plot too much to be able to use it...

If I had followed my OG plot, then by this chapter, Bruce, Dick and Amira would still be in good terms, healthily healing from Jason's death.

Also, Tim would've be adopted by Bruce when Amira finds out that Tim has been severely neglected by his parents.

-

Tag: @theatreandcomicfreak @damianette-is-life @toodaloo-kangaroo @elijahcrevan

-

MASTERLIST | A03

-

Day 6 - Deleted Chapter

It was another boring day at the WatchTower, some of the heroes lounging around while those with proteges kept an eye on them. 

Wally was immersed into the new game Tim had brought in the other day, only for his ears to catch the sound of the zeta tube opening.

While his first thoughts were to ignore it, the voice of the person to whom had just come changed his mind.

“Hello everyone! Sorry for our delay! Batman has a few things to work out before coming here, so I hope these pastries make up for it.” 

“And you are?” Wonder Woman asked, wondering who this child was. 

“Diana. Barry. Arthur. Meet Ladybug, Batman’s war-“ Superman started, only to get cut off. 

“Bug!” Wally squealed with a grin on his face, running up to hug his favorite person in the world as soon as she finished handing the box over to Superman.

Sure, the two have only met a few times, but can you blame Wally? She made the best cookies in the world! And not only that, she was able to get on Batman’s good side! Batman even let her drive the Batmobile!

Ladybug erupted into a fiery pink blush, earning chuckles and giggles from some of the adults in the room. 

She quickly averted her eyes when she saw Bart and Uncle Kent smile at her, Diana giving her a knowing face. Arthur simply looked at her with confusion, Ladybug hoping he wouldn’t figure out why she seemed so familiar with him. 

“S-See too nice to you! I mean! Nice to-to see you too!” Ladybug stammered, hoping he wasn’t able to hear her heart. 

Who was she kidding? Of course he was probably able to hear her hearty happily thumping away. 

Wally finally let go of Ladybug, grinning at her. 

“You won’t believe who’s here!” Wally said with a smile, catching Amira’s attention. 

While this wasn’t Ladybug’s first time at the WatchTower, it certainly was her first time on her own and having to meet other League members. As far as Wally knew, Ladybug had only met Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Flash. And maybe Martian Manhunter...once. 

“Who?”

“Hal! You know? Green Lantern!” 

At those words, Ladybug gaped, a smile quickly overcoming it. 

“No way! This is probably the first time I’ll be able to properly meet him! Oh no!” Ladybug quickly brought her yo-yo to her face, checking for any flour left behind. “I want to make a good impression. Wally, do I look alright?” She asked as she put her yo-yo away. 

“Splendid as ever.” He replied with a grin, causing her to blush once more. 

“Careful there. Wouldn’t want Batman to hear those words towards his new ward.” Bart reminded Wally, taking a cookie from the box Ladybug had brought in for them. 

“Relax.” Wally assured, grabbing hold of Ladybug’s hand. “Now, let’s go and find Hal! He’ll be so excited to finally meet you!”

“I hope I make a good first impression.”

“He’s going to love you!” Wally said, giving her a toothy grin. “You’ll see.”

Wally and Ladybug ran through the doors, Flash and Wonder Woman following them, not wanting to miss the events that have yet to happen.

Arthur, meanwhile, fought with his thoughts, attempting to connect the dots in his mind. 

-

Bruce let out a sigh as he finally got to the WatchTower an hour and a half later, surprised to see Clark sitting near the Zeta Tube waiting area.

“Kent. What are you-”

“Waiting for you.” He quickly replied, handing Bruce a napkin, a bat shaped cookie on it. “Aside from Amira being a kind girl, she’s also quite the baker. Alfred must be happy to have a set of hands to help him around the kitchen.”

Clark had accidentally found out about Amira being Ladybug one foggy night while visiting Bruce. Clark was waiting for the man in his study when he caught her entering it via the window in full Ladybug costume. 

“Not only can she bake, but she also knows how to get the boys to listen to her with a single command.” Bruce said with a sigh, regretting letting Amira go ahead without him. Making sure that Dick wouldn’t go off solving cases without backup and for Tim to not wander into the BatCave by himself is what held him back. “So where is Amira?”

“Last I heard, she was busy arguing with Hal-”

“Jordan’s here?” Bruce asked, only then realising that two were heading towards the sparing room, hearing muffled shouts coming from the room.

“Knowing that Amira wanted to meet him, Wally offered to introduce her to him.” 

“And you let them?” Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, fully knowing the headache that was awaiting. “Let’s just hope-”

Bruce wasn’t expecting to see what he saw when he entered the room.

There, in front of them, Ladybug finished slamming a robot against the floor as a timer went off, the crowd cheering for their victor.

“That was amazing!” Bruce heard Wally shout, looking over to Ladybug, a prominent blush on her face as she held her hand in the air. Bruce wanted to throw a glare the boy’s way, but chose not too.

She let her hand drop to her side, feeling as her entire body almost fell down with it. She let herself take in big breaths of air, fully knowing she badly needed it.

“That’s the fifth time in row that I’ve beaten you.” Ladybug said after catching her breath. Sparring with robots was nothing compared to fighting her brothers...brother. She straightened herself up, doing a few bends to the side to calm down her aching body. “If you still want to go another round to try and prove-”

“Ladybug.” Bruce’s voice boomed, making everyone quiet down and causing Ladybug to harshly flinch.

“B-Batman.” She said, slowly turning to face. “I know you said that I should wait for you to arrive so that you can properly introduce me as your ward, but-”

“She’s your ward?” Hal asked, glancing between Batman and Ladybug. “Should’ve known.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Bruce asked, narrowing his eyes. 

“Using underhanded methods to destroy-” 

“I didn’t use any underhanded methods!” Ladybug defended, holding back a blush when she heard ‘She fought fair and square!’ from Wally. “Batman taught me how to make the most of my surroundings and of my abilities! He’s the one who taught me to access my situations instead of charging in...unlike you.”

“Excuse me? Are you-”

“Instigating that you solely rely too much on your ring’s power? Yes.” Ladybug said, stepping out of the ring. “Makes you think you’re invincible.”

“Not like you’re any different.” Hal retorted, pointing at Ladybug’s earrings. “Your earrings are also magical. As for how I know, I scanned it earlier. I know what they are.” Hal said with a smirk when he saw Ladybug scowl. 

“My earrings-”

“-are just like my ring.” Hal completed, walking up to Ladybug. “You too rely too much on your magical earrings.”

“No, I don’t.” Ladybug sternly said, straightening up. “And to prove it. Let’s have a simple sparring match. One round, no time limit. And to make things fair, no magical item for me since you believe I rely too much on it.”

Everyone watched as Ladybug went over to Bruce, who simply looked at his ward with pride. 

Everyone watched as Ladybug called off her transformation, watching as she held her earrings in her hand before giving them to Batman.

Wally’s jaw dropped at finding out that it was Amira behind the mask. 

“Dad, hold my earrings.”

“Dad?!” Hal yelled, wondering if this meant death. “Batman is-”

“My father? Yup. Name’s Marinette by the way,” Amira said, bowing her head as she said it. 

Wally looked at her in confusion. Wasn’t that Amira?

Technically, Amira wasn’t lying. “And before I forget, let me just tell you,” Marinette stepped into the ring, stretching her arms for the upcoming fight. “Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean you should underestimate me.”

-

“-and that hold you did at the end! That was...amazing!” Wally blabbered away, causing Amira to turn a shade redder than what she already was.

As soon as the match started, Hal wished he hadn’t challenged the young girl.

No matter how many times he would hold her down or throw her across the ring, she would never. Back. Down. Ever.

She fell on her back? Did a flip to get back up or twist her body to attack him from below, oftentimes kicking him in the jaw.

She rolled towards the edge of the ring? No problem. She simply stopped herself and went back to dodging Hal’s chains and weapons. He hated it when she would grab a chain and use it against him, or even better. She used it as a step stone to land a hit on him.

He hated her axe drops the most. That thing hurt like the devil.

He grabbed her? She would pull him towards her and knee him in the stomach or chest and then punch him square in the face. But wait! When she didn’t feel like doing that, she’d simply throw him towards her side and push him down, letting some distance go between them before she would flip towards him and do a dropkick on him.

Their fight continued until Amira landed the final blow. 

Hal was too late to notice the girl behind him, grinning at him like a madwoman.

Using his projectile as a foothold, Amira launched herself towards him, the heel of her foot connecting with his shoulder, causing him to fall onto the floor, Amira using that opportunity to grab Hal.

But Hal wasn’t going to go down that easily. 

Grabbing her arm, he attempted to tuck it behind her and hold her down, but she proved to be quicker than him.

She pulls him towards herself, placing his arm under his body, wrapping her legs around his body.

Hal felt his arm ache in pain from the unnatural stretching, the pressure on his back not helping his lack of breath. 

It also didn’t help that he also had pressure going against his chest due to Amira’s leg pushing his arm into his chest and her hands pulling his head into his compressed body.

His head was starting to become light, his vision starting to spin.

He wanted to breathe, but he just couldn’t. 

Feeling the last of his energy beginning to leave him, he tapped out, gasping for air when Amira released him.

“It wasn’t anything, really.” Amira finally replied to Wally, internally smiling as she recalled how smoothly her plan went.

With his focus on breathing, Hal’s concentration slipped from his ring, allowing Amira to guarantee her win. She slipped his ring off his finger temporarily, making sure that he wouldn’t attempt to use it as she waited for him to tap out.

When he did, she quickly slipped it back on, grinning as she claimed her victory.

But that was a low move, even for you.

Yes, it was, but something had to be done to knock Hal off his pedestal.

“You think you could teach me how to-” 

“Sure!” Amira chirped, internally screaming at herself for saying that. “I'd be happy to teach-“

“Nightwing could teach you.” Batman cut off, causing Wally to shudder and Amira to giggle.

While her first meeting with Hal didn’t go as planned, she sure hopes they can spar with him again in the near future. It’s not everyday she was able to spar without having to hold out after all!

“Can’t wait until our next visit Father!” Amira said, quickly slipping into her Ladybug costume. “And I can’t wait to see you again.” Amira told Wally, waving to him as she stepped into the Zeta Tube.

While she enjoyed visiting the Tower, she couldn’t help but wonder how Jason would’ve reacted had he had the opportunity to see it himself.

[rubisaurus98]

Another character inspiration meme, this time for birthday girl Marena!

Credit to the template creator here

1. Elsa (Frozen series): Marena takes a lot from Elsa. The ice powers, the lack of control of powers due to fear of them, the wanting to keep powers under wraps unless absolutely necessary, especially after greatly injuring someone very close to them with their powers, the eventual forgiveness and embracing of their powers. “Let It Go” fits Marena so, so, well.

2. Kratos (God of War series): Specifically his God of War 2018 incarnation. Marena’s weapons are heavily based off of Kratos’ Leviathan Axe. The biggest difference is that Marena uses two smaller axes instead of one big one. Plus the berserker rage. Can’t forget about the berserker rage. And the half-godly inheritance.

3. Nero (Devil May Cry series): His theme song “Devil Trigger” fits Marena astonishingly well. That’s first and foremost. Both of them are also 1/4 demon and descended from one of the most powerful and had trouble coming to terms with their demonic natures for a good while. Oh, and both have a superior whom they butt heads with over that superior thinking they’re basically “dead weight” due to lack of powers/control over powers for a good bit.

4. YorHa No.2 Type B / 2B (NieR: Automata): Headcanon for Marena’s voice. That’s...honestly really it. Marena doesn’t take much else from 2B, except for maybe a bit of 2B’s demeanor.

5. Karl Walker (Brave Frontier): Well, Marena is an OC that’s meant to be his daughter, so of course I had to put Karl in. Mari’s element and powers come from him. But also, there’s a line from him in God Eater’s Web, Fal Nerga that was the catalyst for Marena having her “berserker rage” about how if Karl were to attempt to deactivate his demon powers, he’d go on a rampage, which in of itself implies that this has happened at least once before. So, I went ahead and thought “Okay, but what if he did and what would it look like?” and then applied that directly to Marena. :)

6. Yang Xiao Long (RWBY): Goes hand-in-hand with the above reasons behind Marena’s berserker rage (though that isn’t exactly the nature of Yang’s Semblance (special ability). Yang’s is kinetic energy absorption, storage and conversion) Both their eyes turn red when in their powered-up states. For a time until more recent Volumes, Yang would activate her Semblance on a dime when fueled by anger. Sound familiar?

5. Katie "Pidge" Holt (Voltron: Legendary Defender): I’m trying to pinpoint where I got the idea to make Marena a tech nerd, and around the time of her creation/conceptualization, according to the earliest posts about her, I was still really into Voltron and it was still ongoing. Pidge was my favorite character, and still is if you were to ask me today, so chances are, Pidge is the most likely source of Marena’s high interest in technology.

6. Maria Calavera (RWBY): It wasn’t until Maria’s fighting style was shown in RWBY that I had a solid image on how Marena fights. Maria dual-wielded small scythes in her prime, and she can manipulate them at will in mid-air.

7. Lucina (Fire Emblem: Awakening): More on Marena’s actual appearance. I think some of Lucina’s personality got into Marena when it comes to her outward demeanor, but that’s unclear.

8. Makoto Niijima (Persona 5): Marena miiiight take more from Makoto’s personality that I consciously know right now. Appears cool, smart, and collected, but it a huge nerd underneath, don’t piss her off if you value your life, and goes absolutely batshit in a fight when worked up enough.

Special Mentions:

Mikasa Ackerman (Attack on Titan): Marena’s Japanese voice plus more outward, surface-level demeanor. And deadliness when in combat.

[hairphones]

Why Libra is my favorite FE character

(if anyone knows the artist here it’d be appreciated to mention it)

Fire Emblem has plenty of characters people give a shit about. Most of the time it’s going to the lords or any of the really popular “waifu” characters, but in recent time I’ve found people who love all kinds of people in the franchise. The best thing about FE’s characters is there’s bound to be at least 1 person in here that you’ll consider cool. Despite there a lot of reoccurring archetypes I’m willing to say FE is still able to make something that feels unique in each game, even if not necessarily good. Anyways, for me one character who’s stuck out is of course the guy in the title, Libra. I’m always kind of weirded out this guy isn’t anymore popular than he actually is. Awakening is one of the most successful games that had a cast full of characters that ended up being way too popular for their own good. And yet, Libra is one of the few Awakening characters that doesn’t exactly get to enjoy the limelight like the other part of the cast back then. With that being said though I’ve found him to be one of the most interesting in the game and as you can read in the title he’s just flat out my favorite. I guess the best way for me to start is him as a unit.

Libra comes in as one of the more unique classes in the series, war monk. As a prepromote most people probably skipped over what’s given to you here despite what honestly is a pretty solid no investment unit. I say this from his C staff rank and his fairly balanced stats that lets him handle himself quite well for the first few battles he can fight in. Of course I gotta be realistic, Libra is no way a character who’s going to stay good at defending himself. Awakening’s real emphasis of making your units snowball means that ignoring to train Libra will only really leave him as nothing more than a staffbot, and even with training a glaring flaw is that Libra is too balanced for his own good to really specialize in anything unlike the other units. Another flaw comes from his rather limited class pool that leads to Sage and Dark Knight taking up spots in multiple class trees. This does give him access to helpful skills such as vengence or lifetaker, but unless you plan to grind only Libra I wouldn’t call it optimized to constantly reclass and train him. I’m in no way a hardcore FE fan that takes into account how units play in the challenge runs such as LTCs/Ironmans/Low recruitment, but I think it’s safe to assume that Libra’s overall performance will come in as primarily a support unit. But of course, judging him on his numbers isn’t my focus here.

I want to start off talking about Libra’s character with what you can already see from his design. It’s no surprise that most fans make the connection to Libra and other designs such as Lucius from FE7, another favorite of mine. In-game there’s a gag involving him looking female to other characters. However while his face is feminine, he’s actually rather tall and with a masculine frame. As one of the tamer Awakening designs I actually quite like his outfit as it perfectly fits with war monk ( I know crazy). Though you can chalk that up to being biased.

Hell on first appearances you’re most likely ready to assume this character is going to be a born again christian character with the only joke being he’s actually a male judging from the recruit conversation. The fact Awakening has it’s share of running jokes among party members definitely could lead to you assuming there’s nothing interesting about this guy. Yet, shouldn’t the fact he wields a weapon (as opposed to the usual magic tomes these sort of characters use) surprise you? and an axe at that? Lemme emphasis that, why an axe?

Sure FE has this tradition of the 3 main weapon types, but has it ever been used to add character? Not exactly, but it has been part of character archetypes for quite a while.

Think about what kind of character uses swords: The lords, the brave mercenary leader, the heroes, the flashy edgelords that become swordmasters. Swords almost always play a role as the legendary weapon made to save the day in FE games (as well as any jrpg). The sword will always be a symbol of courage in just about any video game.

(this screencap is low quality to stay consistent with the speaker)

How about lances: As far as FE goes the lance is primarily the weapon held by the jaigen archetype and the main weapon for the more chivalrous units such as cavaliers, knights, and soldiers. The kind of characters associated with these are often the diligent or experienced members of the army. You also have the usual flying trio of characters that range from happy go lucky to those that take the situation seriously.

Now what about axes? These weapons are more often than not held by the lower class characters. Hired fighters, bandits, pirates. These characters aren’t ever bad, but they’re not exactly fighting out of heroism or for their nation. In fact these characters are the most down to earth in the grand scheme of an army full of anime characters. Maybe not sooo much in Awakening’s case with Vaike, but every single one of these weapon types have their exceptions. Also wanna mention that one of the most (in)famous weapons in the series is called the fucking Devil Axe.

Going back to Libra, why would a character like him hold onto an axe when it’s pretty apparent he’s more of a gentle character? Why the weapon type that’s the most violent looking of the triangle? Obvious reason is purely gameplay reasons involving the odd design the war monk class is, but looking at it from a literary perspective only makes it look off (especially with the female clerics). This is also something to wonder if you take into consideration his C ranking, implying he’s at least somewhat experienced. Not to mention his high stats for that point in the game.

For better or worse this kind of mystery isn’t exactly answered in the base game of Awakening. However there’s some interesting conversations that’s found in the Summer Scramble DLC that gives an idea. Specifically the one with Lon’qu.

Lon’qu catching onto the dissonance of Libra’s appearance to his skill. The first conversation is only Libra claiming there’s no reasoning behind any of it. however the second conversation has Libra open up to talk about himself more.

As you see there’s no explicit answer to what kind of “darkness” Libra has ever committed before the events of FE:A, but given Lon’qu is the one to take notice of Libra’s supposed bloodlust the implication isn’t going to be anything peaceful. In fact, it’s that violent nature that gets questioned in another conversation in this same DLC.

Again, this conversation feels more important to take note of given what character is talking to Libra. In this case it’s the hyperviolent character who takes comfort in bloodshed (at least in the western release, perhaps Henry is different in Japan?). Either way, this conversation goes hand and hand with the Lon’qu one in a pretty easily. That is to conclude that Libra himself has had a pretty rough past filled with who knows what, and that past version of himself was most likely not justifying any murders as if justification was even something to consider. The Libra you meet in-game is of course still capable of killing, but it’s extremely obvious he has a concept of remorse.

There’s no reason given anywhere as to what changes this man to become the benevolent priest. Though really I think it’s better that Libra keeps it consistent with revealing almost none of the causes in his life and instead only showing the effects. Filling in the blank is not a new thing for FE characters, in fact fans of older games in the franchise seem to really enjoy that aspect quite a lot.

Still, even the current Libra understands himself to not be a person devoid of guilt or sin. A few supports touch upon this aspect such as the one with Sully.

Libra’s doubt that he’s anywhere close to being considered a good man in the fact of the gods adds something that I absolutely love: having skepticism to one’s own morality. There’s something important to follow up this with how Libra views morality in battles in one of the supports with Gaius.

Even as a supposed man of faith he refuses to deny that living a fight against the different nations in Awakening is just a matter of being on the side that’s doing more killing. Take away all the politics of any war and you’ll find people who are simply fighting for the right to keep on living. It’s what considered “just human”. I also find this conversation to be a little more profound given that is the same franchise where one of the biggest features is permadeath. These characters put their faith in their gods to escape death another day while the average player is the one avoiding death altogether.

Finally, a support with Tharja concludes mostly everything learned so far. Where she explores Libra’s memories only to find there was no peaceful childhood.

A newfound devotion to a religion isn’t treated as a fix to a life full of cruelty. To be a good person to many doesn’t absolve you of the terrible things you’ve done to others.. I’m sure this kind of topic has been explored in FE games before or after and in countless other video games/movies/books/pieces of media as well, taking away the religion part of course. Nonetheless the introduction to this kind of thinking to a 13 year old version of me had me really second guessing back then, and it still comes up to me from time to time. Sure I’ve done what’s considered “good” but will it ever outweigh any terrible things I’ve also done? Even today I can’t pretend I have an answer to that, and that’s just only thinking of what I’ve gone through personally.

To wrap it up though, there’s his ending card.

For such a simple ending it really brings out the fanboy in me. The entire game is filled with Libra having his doubts of being a good person according to himself and to the gods he worships. To end his story with him being believed to be a reincarnation of Naga due to his reformed nature just feels so sweet to me.

As much as I wish more characters could have a similar air to them in newer games, I get it’s just not really everyone’s preference. Fire Emblem is always going to be a series of good guys vs bad guys also dragons and with that comes making new characters for fans to get attached to. Still though, I really appreciate the attempt done with Libra. Once again the best thing about this franchise is everybody can find at least 1 character they love, they don’t even need to be playable.

I understand not everyone is going to grind supports to see everything a character has to say (especially not in newer FE games), but as you can see nearly all the nuance of this character was hidden away in dialogue. In a game full of joke characters and tropes, it is refreshing to see a character who acknowledges their own flaws and isn’t played for laughs. I didn’t write all of this to try to convince anyone in some clickbait manner like “THE DEEPEST FE CHARACTER INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS HID FROM YOU” or anything. Nah, I’m sure I sound like I’ve repeated myself many times here. But all of this was to attempt to put into words why I’ll stay with my opinion that Libra is my favorite FE character for being a reformed character done right. And for the fact that uncovering the secrets of this guy affected me personally all the way back from when I was a lot younger. And honestly a large part of it really stems from how Libra is in no way a major character, yet he clearly had a lot of thought put into him.

For anyone that bothered to read all of this I wanna thank you. Whether you liked it or not is up to you, no hard feelings. I know all this is the definition of “reading too much into it”, but I consider speculation on writing to be fun. Anyways hope I didn’t take too much of your time and have a nice day

[alucard-posts]

The Beauty of Alucard's Arsenal

Alucard, the son of Castlevania's canonical Satan and the second half of the face of the metroidvania genre. A cult gaming icon. Symphony of the Night is a roleplaying game but the weapons in the game aren't just numbers. There are various weapon types, each suited for a specific playstyle. The beauty of Symphony of the Nights weapons is that it's not about how hard they hit but how comfortable they are to you the player.

First we have the classic one handed sword. These can be short swords or just a little longer. This is Alucard's preferred weapon type and mine's as well. They only take up one hand slot so you can have a potion, food, or shield in the other hand. They boast fast attack speed and great overal damage per second but lack range. Unless the sword has some added flair effect that extends the hitbox, a generic short sword won't go far.

Next we have the dagger weapons. Lots of these are found in the JP version of SOTN but they boast very fast attack speed. They have more range than your fist but lack any decent damage (which the attack speed makes up for) and suffer range.

Then there are the longswords. They take up two hand slots. They have high damage, high range and their attack speed is okay at the cost of some poor endlag. Lots use this heavy handed style of play and a lot of the swords in this subclass are very unique swords like the Muramasa, the bloodthirsty sword.

Then there are the clubs. A mixture of flails, hammers and rods; these are very unique weapons in that they do something special with a command input. They are essentially short swords but they could shoot a lazer out of the tip for example. The shield rod in particular is perhaps the strongest weapon in the game when paired with the Alucard shield. They also contain attributes like holy which adds more damage against enemies that are weak to holy.

Fist weapons are very niche and it takes a great player to utilize them during the early stages of the game. They attack very fast and do good DPS but you will constantly be in the enemies face so one wrong move and you're taking damage.

Throwable Swords. Some swords in the game you will actually throw out as a projectile. One of my favorite and rarest swords in the game, the heaven sword, is a throwable projectile. The best part about these swords is that endlag practically doesn't exist. You can move freely and throw them out.

Projectiles like chakrams, stars, boomerangs and bombs are available to equip. They are usually limited but do very high damage. A stick of dynamite will do great damage or clear a room but you may only have one in your inventory.

Summons are an underrated and underutilized tool in SOTN. You can find monster vials which count as off hand, limited use items. They summon whichever monster is contained in that vial and they will fight for you.

Shields are shields. They're an off hand that you can equip. They block certain projectiles and give you a better overall defense. Each shield when used with a shield rod will do something entirely different so experiment.

Then there are the limited use screen wipes. The bombs of the game that act as something similar to a Star Fox bomb, a Classicvania Crucifix or a Devil May Cry holy water. Their intention is to clear tye screen but their locations and presence in the game are very limited. You can run out of ever finding some of these again if you've used all of them the game provided. They are equipable off hand.

I won't go over things like the various armor in the game, potions/buffs or the spells. I feel I can save those for other posts. The freedom of expression in weapon choices give SOTN this variety of gameplay. It's not just a number game. If i'm not used to the endlag of a longsword after using short swords for an hour, there's going to be some hurdles to jump over.

Last but not least, the subweapons. The fact that the subweapon system still exist in a game like this is very interesting. The subweapon system, for the Belmonts, are given to them to help compliment the whip and cover it's weak areas (Ex. the Belmonts can't usually whip directly up so you use an axe). It's a very very simple concept but has intricacies of strategy. Giving this system to Alucard, who's arsenal covers almost every option on the game for him, won't utilize it as much as a belmont. Though there are still some very useful subweapons. At the start of the game, the axe will be amazing since your lack of attacking anything above you will hurt you. The bible can be a nice subweapon. For Alucard it acts as a moving barrier around him (think strider's ouroboros from MvC). The dagger has it's very specific niches for the early game and the new subweapons like rebound stone and agunea are great for just throwing out and added damage. The Cross in SOTN is an itemcrash only subweapon, which means when Alucard uses it, he won't get that classic boomerang cross but instead, the screen wiping grand cross of Richter. As for my favorite, of course it would have to be the stopwatch. It will freeze weak enemies in place and slow down stronger ones to a near halt. It will even freeze some early bosses like doppelganger. Stopwatch and cross will consume the mist hearts to use. The only subweapons that are if no use to Alucard is the sacred ash and holy water. Holy water's damage is redeemable but the area of effect of the water is so small that it makes it useless in many scenarios. As for sacred ash, it is probably the worst subweapon in the entirety of the series since all it does is leave small little projectiles on the floor that do very little damage. Both are grounded subweapons with no real merit. Alucard can attack down so you won't need them.

I incline all players to really delve deep into Alucard's weapon here so that you can appreciate Soma's intricacies as well later down the line.

[maloosh-baloosh64]

Hey guys here’s a top ten list of my favorite dark souls bosses just for you ready here we go :)

10) The Butcher The Butcher is the most powerful of all the Dark Souls bosses and one of its greatest antagonists. He is a gigantic hulking creature that looks like he could easily crush you in your sleep if given enough time. His appearance alone would make him terrifying but his personality makes him even more so. He's incredibly cruel and sadistic, he will laugh at your pain as you die before laughing again when he eats you. He will also taunt you with the corpses of your friends and family. He's incredibly territorial too, attacking any intruders to his home. The worst part is there is no way to avoid him other than his home and given how big it is he could easily chase you all the way to the surface and eat you. The Butcher will also use his immense size to carve huge slabs of stone out of the surrounding area to use as weapons to crush you with. The best way to deal with him is to take him on in a large group, focusing on defeating other members of your party so that you can get to The Butcher alone. It's also a good idea to attempt to distract him by drawing his attention towards another enemy, at that point you and your other remaining survivors can attempt to overwhelm him. There is one important thing to note, The Butcher regenerates infinitely faster than the rest of your enemies and can only be truly killed if you hit him in the head or the heart. Taking him down piece by piece will only result in his revival after a few of your hearts.

9) The Gaping Voids The Gaping Void is probably the most well known enemy from Dark Souls. They are huge holes in the ground which you fall into after falling too far below the surface. The Gaping Void is known to swallow up any Souls that fall into it, though it seems that it isn't an exact process and some Souls will escape if they are quick enough. It is also known that some hardy Souls will survive the fall and land in a deep underground cavern. It is here that you will find The Gaping Dragon, a huge creature in the center of a large cavern with several smaller tunnels extending out from it. The Dragon appears to be asleep but if you feed the beast enough it will regurgitate you back out into The Surface with full health. The larger tunnels extend all the way to the surface, although it is unknown what lies at the end of them. They are guarded by several smaller dragons which you will need to take on in order to continue further into the world of Dark Souls.

8) The Forest Hunter The Forest Hunter is the first boss in the Catacombs. It is a large and heavy armored beast who wields a massive axe. Like most of the enemies in the Dark Souls series, he's incredibly hard to hit and has several dangerous attacks. His charge attack can easily destroy you, should you be unprepared. He can also slam his axe into the ground, sending a wave of dark energy crashing toward you. His third attack involves him swinging his axe in a wide arc, which will cut you if he slices you while you're in the radius of its arc. The best way to handle the Forest Hunter is to stay out of his immediate range and interrupt his attacks. Should he attempt to charge you, quickly back away until the charge is over. If he attempts to slam his axe into the ground, you can usually jump over it. If he attempts to swipe at you, keep a safe distance and rinse and repeat. After defeating the Forest Hunter, continue deeper into the catacombs. You'll find more powerful enemies here.

7) The Harbingers The Harbingers are large demonic creatures covered with armor. Their bodies are hunched and they have long arms with claws on the end. They're not too fast or strong but their armor makes them very defensive capable of taking a lot of punishment before going down. Their projectiles aren't all that dangerous if you stay away from them but they're very fast and they dive at you on top of this they follow you when they fire making them hard to avoid. If you're feeling aggressive you can try and bait one into following you but be careful they're fairly intelligent. 

6) The Grand Mothers The Grand Mothers are the larger female equivalent of the Harbingers. They're a lot slower than the smaller demons and don't pack quite as much armor but they're far more dangerous than their smaller kin. They pack a lot more of a punch then the average person could ever expect from a demon and they're also significantly stronger then what you would expect them to be. Their projectiles aren't homing like the Harbingers but they have a very large blast radius so will do a lot more damage if they hit you. You can easily dodge their large bludgeons but they're surprisingly fast when they need to be so watch out when that happens. 

5) The Blood Matron The Blood Matron is the first major boss in the catacombs. She's a large and very bloody vampire. She will use her melee attacks primarily but she's capable of throwing large blood chunks at you which explode on contact. Her primary attack involves her diving at you and biting your head off. While this may sound simple, she'll fling her body around with such speed while lunging that it's hard to avoid. You'll just need to try and space out her attacks. She also has a number of other attacks such as summoning demons who will attempt to grab you and drag you into the ground or firing streams of blood at you.

4) The Count The Count is the second major boss in the catacombs. He's much larger and more impressive looking then the Blood Matron but otherwise they are very similar. They both have large amounts of health and are both fast and powerful. They're usual tactic is to fling themselves into the air and come down on top of you in a pounce. It's possible to dodge this attack but it's hard and tends to result in a lot of damage taken. The Count also has a large cone attack that he will fire in a short range at regular intervals. He will also summon a large number of small vampires to attack you. 

3) The Great Lich Lord This is the final boss of the Catacombs. He's very large and impressive looking but for all his appearance of power, his attack seem to be much weaker than the rest. One of the main attacks he has is spitting out a long tentacle of ice that will bind to one person and pull them towards him. He will then eat them. He will also summon large numbers of demons who will attempt to hit you or get in close to attack you. Of course he will also just plain old punch the hell out of you.

2) MALEFICA This is the final boss in Hell. In fact, it's the final boss in any area. The best way I can describe this creature is an angry blender. It has lots of small parts flying at you and it's obviously faster then anything that big should be. Fortunately it doesn't have too many attacks then. The Hell Hound will occasionally launch itself at you and attempt to chew you up but for the most part it's just a big blob of damaging attacks. Fire, ice, electricity, crushing blows, you name it. Fortunately you've got way more defense abilities then he does and you take very little damage from it.

1) The Devil This is the final boss of Hell. There's not much else to say about him. After beating the Hell Priest in a fight you have to fight the Devil. The Devil is very fast and dodge your attacks often. He also has a lot of hit points and is very resistant to damage. He tends to push you around the arena a lot and it's very easy to get backed into a corner. The fight ends when you burn the Devil's wings off of him. Without them he can't fly around the arena to avoid your attacks and is forced to land, at which point you can take him out. After you take out the Devil, the gates of Hell slam shut and you're sent right back to the entrance of the catacombs for the final time. Congratulations! You've beaten the game.

as you can tell none of these are dark souls bosses.  I just went to AI dungeon and typed in the prompt “Welcome to IGN, today we are counting down our top ten best dark souls bosses starting with number 10.“ and just spammed the enter key till i got something i liked.

Some of these bosses actually sound kinda sick.  And they sure as hell sound like Dark Souls bosses.  anyways yeah this is just a funni shit post

[safestsephiroth]

Nioh 2: A Preliminary, Incomplete Weapon Analysis

I’ve been playing Nioh 2 since its release on PC Friday (48 hours logged), and while I haven’t beaten the base game yet, I’ve finally done 3 of the 4 weapon skill tier unlocking missions. (The 4th tier is unique per-weapon, the first 3 are generalized.)

I’ve been going a bit of an underpowered generalist build to get a feel for every weapon type, with a focus on the newer ones. However, I have not completed this objective by and large. There’s too many weapons, and my stats are split too wide, so the weapons that HEAVILY focus on one stat (Axe, Dual Swords) are suffering for it.

That said, I’ve got a decent feel for multiple weapons.

I’m halfway through Chapter 4 at the time of this writing.

The list of weapons, my thoughts on each, and what I’ve discovered of note so far below:

SPECIAL NOTE: Blessed/Yokai weapons are categories that are in every single weapon tree, and it seems there’s several of each per weapon.

Blessed weapons are a fucking phenomenal answer to every Yokai threat, they’re incredible. A++. They’re a free fast-stacking status effect that makes getting Chaos damage buff extremely easy as long as you have a spell of an element the target is weak to, and they make shattering Yokai ki gauges super, super easy. I very highly value them, but they’re somewhat hard to actually get ahold of in my experience.

Yokai weapons are extremely good against human targets, and have a gauge that fills a little bit every time you land an attack. When it’s full, the weapon “awakens”, has a cool voice line, and then you can go to town and do a big burst of damage. Personally, while this is good, I find you can’t really rely on it and about half-and-half it pops when I don’t need it anymore (last attack in a fight, etc.) That said, it’s a very good tool for when you get your ass beat by a boss and want to redo the fight a few times - you can make the others practice runs and have the fight where the weapon pops off be the “real” attempt. It makes learning strategies a lot easier to pull off.

General points to keep in mind: Weapon types that are ki-dependent feel much improved in Nioh 2, because ki regeneration on the whole is easier. 

Also, I’ve invested significantly (24-ish points, which, for a generalist save is pretty significant) into both ninjitsu and onmyo, so that’s being factored in to some of these.

Also also, I cannot recommend enough getting the skills which let you restore ki with a dodge ASAP. They’re all vital.

One final note: I plan to do multiple save files where I specialize on two weapons per save file, and at most two hyper-specific builds, along with my primary (respecced to focus on my “favorite” weapons) save. I’ll be doing this for multiple clears of the base game’s base difficulty so I can decide which to push into NG+ and beyond with. And I’ll be looking guides up after I beat the game.

Now, the proper weapon categories:

Sword: I find Sword boring. However, I’ve learned that iai builds are much easier to put together in Nioh 2, so I’ll be trying to do that. Maybe that’ll change my mind. Sword has everything you need, and none of the stances are trash, but I have little to say about it besides this. Seems equally good against everything.

Dual Swords: they feel good, it feels like the animations were cleaned a little bit to feel even better in Nioh 2. I haven’t done much because they require lots of Skill and that’s my second-lowest stat. (Har har.) Seems fine against everything, but better at shredding larger targets with elemental damage.

Spears: I like Spears WAY MORE in Nioh 2 than I did in the first Nioh. Fatal Thrust (the spear’s charge) feels WAY better than in Nioh 1, and way more worth it. Piercing Rain (high stance multi-hit) is a great status applicator, and the root of Spear’s theme seems to be zone control. Your ability to knock people around and to hit both far and close is really good, but I find myself whiffing basic high stance combos more often than not. Mid stance is really the place to be with Spear. Plus, there’s a TON of mobility built into the kit, and the ability to knock back enemies when doing a ki pulse is really solid for the super aggro fist weapon revenants.

Seems best against large targets, though it absolutely destroys humanoid targets with lower ki, much moreso than most weapons.

Axe: I’ve barely touched Axe. My impression is that it’s for tanky builds that don’t care about dodging and want to smash things. That’s about all I’ve got. It’s good if you want to specialize hard into it, I think.

Kusarigama: The first weapon on this list I LOVE. It’s got some insane mobility with Serpent Strike (blade hook-yourself-or-them-in). If you need to duel an AI and can only win through cheese, this is the weapon and combo of choice. You can chain stuns if the initial attack hits for as long as your ki holds out, and you can safely dodge away once it does.

You have great options for breaking horns in every single high stance guard ability, you have excellent control with the mid-stance AOE light attack ability “whirlwind”, you have excellent mobility using your hook skills and phenomenal range from it as well. Biggest weaknesses are how exposed you’re left if you whiff a hook and, sometimes, stamina costs. Well worth it.

Kusarigama is great against everything, but it shines as a killer of ranged bosses (dodge AOEs with gap closers!) and single human-types.

 Odachi: Odachi feels like it’s got a significant upgrade. Its greatest weakness once was its speed, and Twin Moons (high stance ability that allows for a quick triple-hit) fixes that RIGHT up. Mid stance heavy attacks continue to be excellent ranged tools for dealing with short-range matchups, but I haven’t used it a ton so that’s about all I have for insights. Odachi’s pretty good against everything, though anything with breakable horns will really suffer against it.

Tonfa: Every single goddamned Tonfa move feels incredible. There are no bad moves in the kit, and nothing breaks ki as well as Tonfa. A blessed one makes it possible to smash ki on yokai even more effective, and it needs no help doing so to human targets that can’t spontaneously decide to break out of a stun chain. Demon Dance: Heaven (rapid attack spam out of a ki pulse) is so absurdly strong for breaking guards it makes a joke out of all revenants within seconds. You cannot lose a duel if you properly use this tool, excepting special NPC bosses, and even then you’re incredible effective against them. The ability to just dodge through them with ki pulses that then chain into a counterattack is so obscene!

Tonfa are amazing against everything, and make Revenants a joke. Anything where ki breakage is a priority, the Tonfa are a go-to.

Hatchets: First of the new weapons, and, in my eyes, least. I’ve barely used them for being too reliant on Skill to do meaningful damage. I’ll have a more comprehensive view later. As-is, with trash stats and basic skills, they’re awful. But I’m confident that changes later on.

Switchglaive: What if you had the ki-shattering power of Tonfa, with the longest range of any weapon that isn’t slow, and the combo-chain potential of Fists, all in the most edgelord package of the game? Switchglaive is possibly my favorite weapon. It’s not great early, but unlocking the ability to chain between stances makes clear the core identity of this weapon. You can mix things up however you need. Start in mid stance and chain low so you can get off a heavy attack before dodging out after a short exchange. Go low to high for a low-commitment start on a heavy damage chain you can easily break ki with. For high stance, light light heavy to use Mortal Retribution is an incredible combo for taking out ki on human targets, and I find it almost always can break guard on anything I use it on. It’s less perfect for larger yokai, given it leaves you vulnerable during the last part of it, but you can just use three mid lights into the stance-swap high heavy for Yokai and do absurd damage with fantastic ki damage potential, ESPECIALLY with a blessed Switchglaive.

Switchglaive is great against everything. It has everything you want. Range, mobility, chain attacks, and it doesn’t cost an obscene amount of Ki to use either.

Splitstaff: Poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke. But seriously, Splitstaff has a lot of potential, I just don’t use it that much. The ability to take short fights is really powerful, and its range is not to be underestimated. The ability to extend ANY attack by holding is really strong, and Fill the Void is a great space-making high attack that does meaningful damage on top of that. Against bosses, you can dodge damned near anything you need with that while still getting hits in, and nothing smaller than a miniboss-type at least can handle it.

Splitstaff is really good, but I don’t use it much because I find it too costly on ki and I also find its amazing AOE potential still doesn’t actually hurt that much and leaves you too immobile to do things unpunished.

Fists: The be-all end-all. The reason, more than any other, that I wanted this game. Fists are amazing at all points in the game. Fists of Reckoning is a great high stance combo chain early for punishing stunned yokai. High stance in general is fantastic. When leveling Fists, focus on abilities which are “at end of combo” skills. Every single first attack is a good engage, and every follow-up is even better. You have the ability to knock human-types into the sky, you have the ability to do insane parries, you can do running moonsaults (and dodge SO MUCH in the process), you can falling attack enemies with moonsaults.

You can chain counter-spam if that’s your thing. You can do an absolutely insane combo in the form of Beyond Infinity once you unlock it. You can use a mobile backdash-charge to dodge a ton of attacks that feels better than functionally the same move in Devil May Cry 5. You have everything you could ever want. Fists are the best. Fists are great against everything*.

And that’s it. That’s my incomplete impressions of every weapon so far.

*Note: Fists struggle against matchups where range is non-negotiable. Don’t fight enemies that take to the sky with your bare fists. They’re insane against revenants, almost as good as Tonfa at that. I highly recommend them, if nothing else, as a secondary weapon to followup on stunned Yokai. You won’t be disappointed with the results if you do it right.

[stayatsam]

hey so my friends n i are going to start a new campaign soon and i really wanted to play a warlock after hearing you talk about them. do you,,maybe have any tips for playing them?

this is going to be... very long bc im SOOO into warlocks so it’s under a cut LOL they’re a really complicated class but you can do literally anything with them imo!! so fun

i’ve actually been meaning to make a like “Guide to the warlock” thing for a while and this could be like the outline of it LOL i hope this helps! 

Story and Roleplay

Warlocks are INCREDIBLY customizable. Your patron can be just about any powerful being in the universe. If you want to throw fireballs and have a character with severe edgy internal strife at the same time the Fiend patron is great.

Or if you want to be like a wizard and be a scholar but are interested in like, eldritch abominations than the Great Old One is for you, or maybe the Seeker. i love thinking about the relationships between my characters and their patrons. my first warlocks patron was the arch devil Belial, who acted as an invisible surrogate father to him as a child, manipulating him to corruption to hurt others. but they had an interesting father son dynamic! Chat with ur DM about your relationship 

My second warlock was the with a Hexblade. hexblade is the way to go if you’re interested in dueling like a fighter. your patron is a sentient weapon!!! my warlock Gatz felt his family’s heirloom axe speak to him and give him the power to kill his abuser, and it became an aspect of the ideal of vengeance!

i feel like warlocks have one of the best potentials at some serious role playing. you’re providing essentially a possible powerful NPC that your DM can use to move the story forward if you’re stuck. also, even if they have a reputation as being the tormented edgy ones. they can provide a lot of insight into magical motivations. clerics get their magic from faith and wizards study and sorcerers just have it. But warlocks consciously interact with a living creature that personally (unless u take Great old one or how you flavor other patrons) that saw something in your character that made them gift you amazing powers. and also, warlock powers aren’t necessarily taken away easily even if you break your pact, they’re yours to keep.

Mechanics and Build

in terms of raw mechanics, warlocks are pretty difficult to play your first time. but honestly, eldritch blast + agonizing blast are so amazing that you’ll really never have to worry about your damage output

starting with warlock you have to basically throw out everything that other spell casters do. you’re basically a half caster but with all the power of a full caster. EB will probably be your go to attack if you are out of options (unless youre hexblade)

Spells

take eldritch blast!

warlocks, for the most part, will only have 2 spell slots. it sounds daunting but definitely talk with your DM about taking short rests. it’s something they might neglect but Warlocks are short-rest characters, just like fighters. every short rest you get both your spell slots back. 

also, your spell slots are ALWAYS cast at the highest possible level. you only have two spell slots but if youre a level 9 warlock, your fireball will always be cast at level 5. not to mention you recharge on a short rest, so say you take three short rests a day you’re getting 6 of your highest level spell slots. use your spells wisely! Pick out whatever you want! it’s very difficult to go wrong with warlock spells. for example, my first warlock had the fiend patron so i took fire spells, but i also took some sneaky spells like dimension door

also, warlocks get an expanded spell list. if you want to do a bit of healing, you can go with the celestial patron!

Pact Boon

Your pact boon is really a fun part of the class. 

Pact of the Tome is if you’re big into ritual casting and want some extra spells. you’re kind of like a ritual wizard. if you take book of ancient secrets, you can add ritual spells to your book that you find on an adventure! and a bunch of cantrips from any class. i played two tomelocks and they were fun, my first one was like a scholar of all things infernal

Pact of the Blade can help you get some melee damage in there if you really want. It’s honestly really weak and almost no one chooses it because eldritch blast will almost always be better than your pact weapon. If you want to play the Hexblade patron line, then absolutely take this! Hexblade warlocks with pact of the blade are incredibly powerful, especially with some invocations. my hexblade warlock was a force of nature in a fight, with both some slick spellcasting and some really hard melee attacks.

Pact of the Chain

This is the only pact boon i haven’t played, but I have a build for it as my next character for something. Pact of the chain gives you a beefed up familiar. the Imp is the most powerful but they’re all pretty good and you can reflavor the imp if you’re not playing a fiendlock. 

With certain invocations, your familiar is the perfect scout. imps can turn invisible, and as a familiar you can teleport your friend back to you as two actions. i feel like this invocation is incredibly versatile and is something you can talk with your DM about, because your DM may be the one roleplaying your familiar , bc these ones are intelligent

Invocations

This is my favorite part of the warlock class!!!! invocations are really part of the charm of warlocks because you get amazing abilities, and if you dont like them you can simply replace them the next time you level up. Agonizing blast is almost always a certain to get. 

But there’s a lot of good combinations. like with my hexblade warlock i took the darkness spell and the invocation that lets you see in magical darkness.

honestly picking whatever you want that makes you feel like your warlock is cool and strong is great! they’re all very interesting. like one invocation lets you cast detect magic as much as you want. and another one lets you summon a cloud of flies. and one that makes it so you never have to sleep 

sooo many fun things. 

SORRY THIS IS SO LONG im super passionate about this class! i hope you have as much fun with a warlock as i have!

[drunklander]

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 505

ADSOOO!!! AND CLAIRE!!! AND ADSOOOOO!!!

My floofer was not amused when I woke her up to show her the cat on the teevee. Bqhatevwr, boo boo, you’re stuck with me. #TeamSocialDistancing

Oh, I guess the voice overs are back in a big way. Super...

And also like, this whole running bit about God and stuff would work so much better if they’d included Jamie and Claire’s faith a bit more throughout the show. *cough Jamie’s prayer cough*

Do we have to pour one out for science!jizz? This is the book bit where the science!jizz happened, but maybe they’ll do it later? Probs not. Le sigh.

Marsali being all excited with Claire and Claire being all fuck yeah I found it gives me the warm fuzzies. I LOVE THE TWO OF THEM A LOT OK.

This montage makes me dizzy. Not a fan, tbh.

Oh hey, the old Hancock building! With a park that looks nothing like Boston, haha. But I appreciate the effort lol, my main office is like a block from the old Hancock building. Not that I’ll be seeing it any time soon. Living that work from home life until the plague times are over.

But for real, social distance. No joke. Stay the fuck home.

I love 60s Claire if only because damn girl, look at dem legsss.

Hi, I’m Der and I’m very shallow sometimes.

But Claire has objectively great legs.

Omfg, Roger, stop being a butthurt whiner. You suck at being a soldier. You know you suck at being a soldier. And instead of being like yeah, let me learn and get better, you just bitch about it.

Sam is gonna kick his horse in the head at some point. Why the fuck does he dismount like that. It’s literally bugged me since season one.

So they’re pardoning everyone. Probs not Murtz though. Cool that instead of doing a continuous ramp up to the inevitable confrontation, they’re going the book route of lol, jk, all this was kind of a waste of time for now...

Really, Knox, you did something excessive? Cool way to say murdered a dude.

Ok well if Knox is getting the Ardsmuir roll, then he’s def gonna die, right?

Jamie’s 100% gonna intentionally miss Murtz’s face.

Boom, called it.

I do not like spiders. Please move this VO along, Claire.

I’m fucking glad we finally get Doctor!Claire. We should have gotten more Doctor!Claire in season three. Jamie got to have all aspects of his 20 years examined but fucking Claire’s side was literally just about Fred and how shitty he is.

Fuck you, season three. Fuck yeah, Doctor!Claire!

“It’s my married name.” Lulz. And not the married name she wants...

GRAHAM SAYS THE THING JAMIE SAID WHEN CLAIRE WAS STITCHING HIM UP IN SEASON ONE AND I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT IT OK.

Graham makes me miss when the show was in Scotland like whoa. I miss the Squad. There are so many characters now that are like kind of always around but they’re not part of the Squad. And the main Squad is always separated. So like there’s barely any big group adventures anymore where we actually give a shit about everyone involved.

I JUST WANT THE FOLKS I CARE ABOUT TO HANG OUT MORE, OK!

Needle!jizz 2.0 is gonna be the closest we get to science!jizz, isn’t it. Whomps.

Can the show please just be a period procedural with Claire and Marsali being badass doctors? Thx.

Because for real though, Marsali being like “scalpel” is my favorite thing ever.

I feel you, Jemmy, I’d cry if I were stuck hanging out with Roger too.

I DO NOT LIKE SPIDERS, CLAIRE.

“My lass is more concerned wi’ words and deeds.” Which is why it baffles me that she’s still with you, bro, because your words and deeds fucking suck.

How Bonnet doesn’t accidentally swallow the diamond is beyond me.

Ok so if your wife was violently raped and you know she’s had some PTSD about it, because you’ve seen the drawings and stuff, you should maybe act completely the opposite way from how Roger is acting.

“And you kept it? A gift...from Bonnet.” Yes, you giant fuckwit, your traumatized wife went to hang with her rapist for shits and giggles and accepted a present because she really wants a memento to remember him by. They’re on such good terms and all. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! HOW IS HE SUCH A DOUCHECANOE?!

You do not get to judge or question how someone processes their trauma you raging asshat.

He is such a fucking Fred.

Do I think what Bree did was smart? Or a good decision? Hard no. But it’s what she thought she needed to do to move forward with her life. And so she can do whatever the fuck she wants. Yeah, words have consequences and it was a stupid move, but Roger needs to step all the fucking way off.

“You’ve never said as much to me.” “I didn’t think I needed to.” I HATE ROGER SO MUCH. I HATE HIM WITH THE PASSION OF A THOUSAND FIERY SUNS. HOW DO THE WRITERS NOT REALIZE THAT THEY’RE MAKING THE CHARACTER WHO’S SUPPOSED TO BE THE SECOND ROMANTIC MALE LEAD AN IRREDEEMABLE PIECE OF SHIT. OH WAIT BECAUSE THEY HAVE LOTS OF PRACTICE FROM FRED 1.0 THAT FRED 2.0 IS JUST A NATURAL PROGRESSION.

Lol at this “Boston” priest sounding vaguely southern. Is he one of the pedos the archdioceses just kept shuffling around?

(I’m not a fan of organized religion and being forced to grow up Catholic sucked a lot for me. I did some therapy about it.)

Ok so is Claire’s knife on her belt the hand job antler knife? I mean, Jamie doesn’t give it to her until Echo, but I’m gonna pretend like it’s the hand job antler knife. Also, some witches use a white handled knife called a boline to cut herbs and stuff so it’s fitting that Claire constantly-being-witchy-to-her-own-detriment Beauchamp has a white handled knife for collecting herbs.

“Yeah, Frank and I... no, we had a very complicated marriage.” Well that’s one way to put it. *keeps rage bottled up on the inside*

“Frank and I, we still managed to make it work, for Bree’s sake.” Except it didn’t fucking work. He was terrible to you. You basically put up with 20 years of emotional abuse for the sake of your kid and then he used her as a weapon against you. Because he is garbage. Much like Roger.

Claire is always the bigger person. She was with Fred and now with Roger. Like, I’m still pissed that she never got to let out her side of things. She just keeps framing it through rose colored glasses, never speaking ill of Fred when he didn’t do that for her.

WE DO NOT DESERVE CLAIRE BEAUCHAMP AND NEITHER DO MOST OF THE MEN ON THIS SHOW.

Fergus deserves milady.

They’re really going hard with the Roger, Bree and Jemmy have to go back stuff. Are they gonna bump them going back up to the season finale this year? They bring it up basically every fucking episode. I’d be down with moving that along tbh. Except then we’d have to have just the two of them as their own story line and I hate that part from the books.

“We are but humble servants to the law.” Really, Javert Knox. Would you say your duty’s to the law?

“Those who follow the path of the righteous shall have their reward.” Yes, bible and shit, but also a veRY FAMOUS LINE FROM A VERY FAMOUS SONG FROM A VERY FAMOUS MUSICAL.

“Scotland, eh? I never stopped missing it.” HARD SAME, GRAHAM. HARD SAME.

Pledged their oaths to the militia. Not the governor. Miiiinor detail, haha.

“It is a relief, to finally put down the sword and pistol and pick up the axe and shovel.” So, Jamie, you’re saying you’re gonna walk behind the plough-share, you will put away the sword?

Oh hey, it’s Joe! Another person we should have spent more time with in season three.

“Something about Graham Menzies...” Maybe the fact that he could easily have been part of the OG Squad?

I MISS THE OG SQUAD.

“Principally that men like Fitzgibbons never change.” Really, Knox, men like [him] can never change? A man, such as [him]?

“OUR DUTY IS TO THE LAW. WE WILL SEE JUSTICE DONE.” OK BUT THEY’RE LIKE LITERALLY TRYING TO SHOEHORN IN ALL THE LES MIS LYRICS THEY CAN LIKE THE TIME I DID THAT WITH I’M ON A BOAT IN THAT ONE RECAP...

“What kind of deceitful devil wears the guise of honor and talks of justice and mercy?” Valjean Fraser, at last we see each other plain...

“Believe of me what you will,” there’s a duty that he’s sworn to do. Protect his Murtz.

“As god is my witness, I will do what must be done.” You never shall yield? ‘Til you come face to face?

“Damned if I’ll be in league with a traitor.” Would you rather live in the debt of a thief?

“But I will not stand by and watch my kin hunted like a dog.” Like a dog on the run, Jamie?

Called it! Broski needed to die. You’re not gonna make sure the letters are burned all the way, Jamie? Like didn’t that dude who brought in the letters see you there? This seems like it’s gonna backfire *rull* quick.

Also, speaking of dead bodies, is Rando McWhatshisface still in the basement?

Is Adso Gavroche in this scenario?

Jamie Fraser, murder to kitten snuggles in 0.3 seconds.

IF YOU HURT ONE HAIR ON MY LITTLE BEBE’S HEAD, I WILL END YOU, JAMIE.

Slash finally, I thought this episode was turning into Waiting for Gadsot...

(I made myself chuckle a little too hard at that one, tbh.)

“I found him in an alley, couldn’t leave him behind.” AKA how Jamie Fraser adopts all of his children, haha.

“How would you feel about taking a trip to London with me? Your father wanted to bring you there before he died.” You mean, when he threatened to steal your kid from you? It fucking speaks so highly of Claire that she won’t ruin Bree’s impression of Fred. Even though Bree knows by now that he was a terrible person.

“Thank you for my gift.” YOUR GIFT LOVES YOU TOO, CLAIRE!

(And I’m still a sucker for the Claire calling Jamie “soldier” bit.)

[razorblade180]

Seasons Beatings pt2

[Void, Vytal Ring]

Carmine and Yujin stand on opposite sides of the platform in there fighting gear. The older opponent smiles as she watches her half sister from another world stretch her wrist. Carmine then watches Yujin pull out what looks to be like two golden box cutters that a crease in the middle of each. Yujin slapped one on each wrist. Making them fold around like....well a slap bracelet. ‘Well that’s unique. It reminds me almost like Ember-’ her thought was derailed as Yujin flicked both wrist and the bracelets became gauntlets. ‘Oh. In hindsight I guess I should expect no less.’

Yujin:You ready!?

Carmine:Can I just say it’s really something that you’re fighting in some wripped blue jeans and walks around with a blue trench coat. Are you hunting grimm or devils?

Yujin:First of all, you are wearing a crop top. Second, don’t forget to mention that the inside of the cloak is orange. Very important distinction. If it was leather then it would be trench coat. Third, Tenzen has made me watch a lot of his favorite shows.

Carmine:I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. I’m ready to start when you are.

Yujin nods and gets into her boxing stance while Carmine grabs her sword and bring it navel level in front of her. Their knees bend slightly and breath slows down to a crawl. Metal thumping zones them out of battle ready mode for a moment. Suddenly they aren’t alone anymore. Everyone is in the bleachers watching from above.

Carmine:Looks like we have an audience.

Yujin:Not surprising. I’m only the second to fight you. I’m sure everyone will take every chance they have to analyze your fighting style. I know I would.

Carmine:Why do you think Tenzen showed up then?

Yujin:He’s my entire support group.

Tenzen:Kick her butt Yujin!!!! I know you can do it!

He can see her shift both eyes toward him as she smiles; letting him know she appreciates the cheer before focusing her attention back at the task at hand.

Once again the room goes dead silence. The first moves have already been made. Yujin could tell every single thing about herself was being watched closely. The slight rise of her shoulders when she breathed. The weight of her feet going from the heel to the balls of them. ‘Blade against fists. At least it’s nothing I haven’t done before. If I’m lucky the her Jaune trained her swordplay like me. The night stick is a factor but it’s the scythe I’m worried about.’ They slowly begin to walk in a circle. Keeping an equal distance apart.

‘Yujin looks serious. Better not take her lightly, or let her think too much. If our dad’s are alike then a game plan is the last thing needs to figure out.’ Carmine two steps forward before raising her blade and lunging. The wind was cut through like paper and a loud clang rung in the crowds ears as the blade met the back of the gauntlets. “Nice block” said Carmine with a smirk as she dragged her weapon down to the floor thin twirled. Yujin quickly saw the sword rise to meet her right side and caught it with her left hand. The assault wasn’t over. Carmine pivoted on her right heel and spun to Yujin’s left with her night stick and fired point blank.

The force slid Carmine back and she took a new stance. This time with her left side leading with her nightstick blocking diagonally. Her blade still in Yujin’s hand while the other gripped the round met for the girls ribs. It was surprising to say the least. Yujin’s eyes glowed a majestic lilac and she tossed the sword out of bounds. “My turn....” she said power jumping and slamming her fist down like a sledgehammer. Carmine pivoted once more; leaving the attack to dent the floor. Yujin thought on her feet and rose her right leg to kick the girl behind her. The hit landed right into her stomach before an elbow grazed her face. Not wanting to deal with any of that, Carmine backflipped to the middle of the stage for distance. ‘Her speed isn’t as fast as Tenzen, but that striking power...’ her stomach tensed up in shock. “Definitely a Xiao Long.” The remark made Yujin smile and point straight up into the air. “Was there ever any doubt!?” Yujin front flips into the air then raises her right leg vertically for an axe kick. “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Summer:Wow, would hate to be in the ring with her.

Nick:Eh...

Summer:Not impressed?

Nick:Don’t know; haven’t decided yet. Didn’t think I’d see a mixture of Valerie and Veronica.

Summer:Well Yang in any world hits like a truck. Yujin happens to have a dad that was on JN_R.

Valerie:Wouldn’t be surprised if she’s seen a thing or two from my mom.

Everyone watches Carmine backstep away from the blow. Yujin gets up with viscously with a left hook that was promptly caught. “I’m not done yet!” Yujin used her caught hand as support and did an aerial. The first foot passing by Carmine’s nose while the other knocked her clean across the face and to the ground. Yujin pulled the girl back up to her feet the sent her flying back with an elbow to the chest.

Valerie:Or.....my dad taught her something.

It was satisfying knowing she was holding her own but something felt off. Too many hits connected so easily. ‘What’s up with her? It’s like she’s barely moving.’

Yang:Uhhh Carmine? I can’t help but feel like you are actually pulling your punches.

Carmine:No, just sort of in disbelief.

She points to the left and Yujin follows her finger up to the aura board. What she saw could not have been right, yet there it was as clear as day. Yujin’s aura reading sat comfortably at 95% which made sense. Carmine hadn’t landed a clean hit. Just grazes and a bullet impact. Yujin on the other hand had landed good hits that were by no means warning shots. So how is it possible Carmine’s aura was even with hers!?

Yujin:What the!?

Carmine:I knew Arc blood made us sturdy but this sturdy? You used your semblance yet we’re even.

Yujin:You’re surprised about my numbers!!!? Look at yours!

Carmine:What about them? Seems about right to me. I’ve been tensing up every time you landed a blow. Also I’ve been told I’m quite the sturdy little wall.

Tenzen:(I wouldn’t call a six foot battle demon little.)

Sienna:Wait a second. If there aura is this resilient then a knock out would take forever. Yujin’s semblance makes her heavy.

Jael:Throwing her out the ring is no go. The only other way is pinning but how do you pin someone who’s dense? Carmine on the other hand is essentially fighting a weight that knows how to hit back.

Lucas:I guess that means....

Yujin:Gasp! (I have the advantage. She doesn’t know what to do with me!)

Carmine:(Did not expect to literally be punching out of me weight class. I’m fighting handicap no matter how I look at it. Oh well. Easy is boring anyways. Guess I’ll just do what dad does. When in doubt-)

Yujin:(Hit harder!)

Both fighters ran at each other with weapons ready but Carmine was faster. Yujin only heard a gunshot before the night stick came flying across left cheek and then slamming down on her knee. Things were defydifferent from a few moments ago. Carmine seemed to had finally put her game face on. She landed another on the inside Yujin’s arm, then leaped frog over her a swung her weapon like a baseball bat. It connected right against the shoulder blades. Carmine didn’t bother to look at the screen she knew she had a lot a ground to cover and just kept swinging.

The crowd watched Yujin struggle to keep up with the older girls nimble moves. Carmine was like a ballet dancer; her foot work brilliantly gliding across the floor with every sidestep and pivot into an exposed opening of her opponent. The twirls she did added to this as her scarf trailed behind her. Each spin was a way to dodge, prepare a block, or build up momentum for a close quarters strike. One hit would land and she’d immediately spin the opposite direction before coming in contact again. It was a sight to see but also very tiring.

The rapid and powerful attacks took some wind out of her and it didn’t go unnoticed. She swung for Yujin’s jaw but missed because of a well timed duck. Yujin didn’t let this slip up go without consequences and got Carmine’s ribs with a weighted right hook, then sent her elder stumbling back with a headbutt. Lucas and Tenzen winced at the thump it caused. Not even Carmine would go unfazed by such a blow and she didn’t. Her vision cleared just in time to see a flaming left first hit her square in the face and push her back more. Yujin was set on capitalizing this moment.

‘Hit the head and the body will follow. I got this’ her mental plan kept playing on a loop. She kept advancing and lunged left knee first into Carmine’s gut to hunch her over. Yujin gripped both shoulders to put her at arms reach then yanked her forehead into another headbutt. This time an auditable grunt could be heard from Carmine’s mouth. At this rate she might accidentally stumble out the ring with enough blows. Her head was cocked down from the hit but she could still see Yujin’s shadow. A kick was coming her way fast. ‘Guess I have no choice.’ Carmine’s body glew a beautiful red and she quickly slid her right foot to the inside of Yujin’s left one. A shockwave of rose petals blasted outward like an explosion and knocked Yujin off balance before her kick can land. The girl watch Carmine get farther away. The sudden explosion had blown Yujin away and on her back to the edge of th ring. On the other side was Carmine hanging off the edge with one hand before pulling herself back up.

Valerie:Wow! what was that!?

Tenzen:(It’s like just like my match when her sword came flying out of nowhere. What is she doing?) What is that semblance?

Lucas:Don’t know, but I remember a similar thing happening awhile ago when Sienna and I went against her in the strength test. One minute we’re good and the next, boom, petals everywhere.

Yujin:*standing up* Ow....

Carmine:Aren’t you supposed to be numb to pain right now?

Yujin:I can numb pain. Not negate it. Hit me hard enough and I’m going to feel it. I definitely felt that landing. (And most of those hits)

Carmine:Consider it payback.

The contenders look at the screen to see a 75 and 72 on it. Carmine had a slight lead but it hardly mattered. Both of them groaned and look at each other.

Carmine:I’m fine with calling it a draw if you are.

Yujin:No you’re not.

Carmine:I know. I just wanted to see your face. You’re lucky you got my sword out of bounds. I’d be set otherwise.

Yujin:Maybe. It definitely would’ve made this next part more interesting.

She turned her gauntlet last back into bracelets then put her wrist together. The metal bands straightened back out like before and connected together. The far right and left side folded out from there respected crease to form a hilt. The middle shot out a blade that was the length of bastard sword. Yujin smirked and pointed at Carmine as it shined in the light. “Shall we?”

Yujin swung the sword in a wide horizontal swipe as she took a lunge forward. The sound of the metal dancing through the air was met with a dodge rolled towards it. Yujin’s talents were on display as continued to swing Tempered Steel with one hand and with ease. Heat came of the diligently forged weapon and ticked Carmine’s throat. The increase in range wasn’t expected by her and was now back on defense while Yujin rapidly thruststed her sword at blinding speed. “You know you’re only proving my devil hunter comment right!”

“Maybe a little bit.” She performs one final thrusts that slides her passed Carmine. Yujin spins around and leads with cross slash that pushes two waves of flames of it in the form of an X. Carmine’s eyes light up with excitement. “Okay now that’s pretty cool.” She raises both arms to block and a fiery explosion happens on impact. The only things visible is a Yujin sweating from the her ordeal and a plume of smoke. Her nerves start to get the better of her. This fight was fun and light hearted but winning was the goal. It seemed possible or was she falling into a trap?

The top of the smoke parted and Yujin reacted instinct; raising her blade in defense to what was only the night stick. It was a faint. Her eyes widened as she looked back in front of her. The smoke dissipated in another petal burst that knocked her gaurd off. Carmine ran right up on her to return the punch in face she was given way a right jab. Yujin’s eyes turned lilac again but Carmine did not care. She followed through and drove her first into Yujin’s face. Sending her sliding to the edge again. Sharp pain went through her wrist that made Carmine grit her teeth but that wasn’t about to stop her. It was now or never.

Carmine reached into her right pocket and jumped backwards at the same time. “I hope you’re fire proof!” She tossed a red dust crystal right at Yujin’s chest. Her night stick fell into her left hand and she wasted no time firing a round into it that caused a second explosion right on top of Yujin. Her semblance endured the blast but the impact was too great. Yujin could not stop her feet from sliding her out of the ring and falling to the ground below. A heavy thump shook the ground in a matter of seconds as the girl hit the floor with all that extra density. Carmine looked over the edge to see Yujin laying on her back displeased.

Yujin:I fell faster than I could grab the ledge.

Carmine:Yeah, you did.

Yujin:Was that the plan all along?

Carmine:No. I actually thought you’d try reverting back and jumping out the way in the way in time. At that point I would’ve shot you again to hurt you while I used another shot to zoom towards you and throw you out before you tried to weigh yourself down again.

Yujin:.....

Yujin:Can we pretend that’s how I went out?

Carmine:*snickers* Sure thing. If it makes you feel better your aura was at 62 while I had 50. Remind me to never punch you or take a fire slash to the everywhere again?

Yujin:Deal.

Jacquelyn:Hmmmm that’s two down. This girl just keeps getting more interesting.

[keybladeswar]

Midnight Waltz (Xaldin x Reader)

Words: 2220

Warnings: None

Summary: You’re not a princess and he’s not a prince, but you share a dance anyway.

Author’s Note: Okay I’m not even a Xaldin stan but like... I’m proud of this. As always, please like and reblog if you enjoyed this, and find my other works here.

*

You leaned against the brick wall, twirling one of the strings of your coat around your fingers. Day 5 of this mission and you’d yet to see anything out of the ordinary.

Well, that’s not exactly true. Until coming to this world, you’d never seen a talking clock or candlestick. But as for anything that might jeopardize the mission, there was nothing. You’d much rather have Xaldin’s job, you thought. He basically had to be the devil on the Beast’s shoulder, convince him to give into doubt and his dark thoughts. Based on the amount of roaring and crashing you’d heard from the West Wing and from the girl, Belle’s, lack of appearances these days, you assumed things were going according to plan. Not that Xaldin would actually tell you. The strong and silent type, he’d hardly spoken two words to you the entire time you’d been a part of the Organization, and both of those words had happened on this mission.

You missed having missions with Larxene or even Axel. You and Larxene would always trash talk the other members, and Axel could take your sarcasm and throw it right back. With Xaldin, there was no point even trying. The first night, you’d tried to crack a joke, only to have him glare at you in silence. Didn’t he know how to have fun? These missions could get so repetitive; you needed some way to keep it interesting.

Somewhere, a clock chimed midnight and you pushed off the wall and tucked your hands in your pockets. Time to swap guard points. You jogged up the cobblestone steps and entered the foyer of the castle. You greatly preferred this castle than the one the Organization lived in; even though it was dark and dreary, it felt much more lived in than your own. You admired the plush carpet, the ornate ceilings, and the delicately carved gargoyles. Your favorite room, though, was the least dark — the ballroom. Though you were meant to stay in the foyer for an hour, you couldn’t resist the urge. You headed up the stairs and entered the ballroom.

You’d never admit it to anyone, but as a little girl, back when you were a Somebody, you’d daydreamed of being a princess, of dancing with a handsome prince in a ballroom much like this one. You could still picture the perfect dress too — a deep red with a skirt that flared out when you twirled.

You sighed. As far-fetched as that dream was then, it was even less likely now. Some dreams, you supposed, were meant to stay that way.

You slowly walked to the middle of the room, your shoes echoing loudly. Though you knew you were alone, you scanned the room and then, so quick that you could pretend it didn’t happen, you twirled. And then you did it again. And then you were dancing, waltzing around the room the way you used to do in your childhood bedroom, your arms out as if draped over an imaginary prince. You couldn’t help but laugh. You knew you looked ridiculous, but it’s not like anyone would ever find out.

Or so you thought.

You were so wrapped up in your fantasy that you didn’t notice the dark corridor open in front of you. When you spun, you crashed right into Xaldin. You stumbled back a few steps, and once you realized what happened, you felt the blood drain from your face.

You had a reputation to uphold; you were sarcastic, sure. You liked to joke around, but when it came to actually revealing anything about yourself, you were cold-hearted (figuratively of course). You were the type to roll your eyes when one of the other members showed some semblance of their previous emotions. You never showed fear or concern, no matter the circumstances. You slashed through enemies like you were cutting cake. When Larxene never returned from Castle Oblivion, you simply shrugged and went on with your day. If anyone found out that you were dancing around a ballroom like some lovestruck girl, you’d never live it down.

“How much of that did you see?” You asked in a quiet voice. God, I’m an idiot. Why did I do that?

“You weren’t at your post,” Xaldin said, ignoring your question. “I thought something had happened.”

“No, everything’s fine. But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about... this.” You gestured to your surroundings vaguely. Xaldin simply stared at you, again giving you no response. You clapped your hands together. “Right, then. I’ll be going then.” You turned away, trying to keep your usual pace as you walked away, though you wanted to escape as quickly as possible.

“I didn’t know you liked to dance.” His voice was low and gruff, and if it weren’t for the echo you probably wouldn’t have heard it. But as it was, you paused.

“I don’t,” you said immediately. “I was just messing around.” Your tone was harsher than it needed to be, and you knew it, so you slipped into your typical persona as you turned around. With a smirk, you said, “I mean, what’s a girl to do in a big ole place like this? I’m bored. You might be having fun whispering sweet nothings into the Beast’s ear, but if you haven’t noticed, the only thing I have to talk to around here is the flatware. And I’m not too keen on the fact that they can talk back.”

Xaldin didn’t answer.

Maybe it was your embarrassment and frustration from getting caught, but this time it pushed you over the edge. “Why don’t you ever talk? I’ve tried to talk to you so many times on this mission and you’ve hardly said two words. I think tonight’s the first time you’ve spoken a full sentence. And, what, it was just to reprimand me for not being at my post? And then mock me for something I thought I was doing in private?”

“I wasn’t mocking you.”

“Then what were you doing? Because considering how embarrassed I was that you saw me, it sure seemed like you were.” You crossed your arms and glared at him. After a moment’s silence, you rolled your eyes. “And you’re not going to answer. Typical. I’m going to my post now. I can’t wait till this hell of a mission is over.” Not wanting to spent a second longer in the room, you opened a dark corridor and stepped through.

As you returned to your post, you took several deep breaths to try to calm down. You were acting ridiculous and you didn’t understand why. You always kept your cool. Even as you were yelling you didn’t know why you were doing it. Why did it matter if Xaldin wouldn’t talk to you? Why did it matter if he did mock you? It wouldn’t be the first time someone had and it likely wouldn’t be the last.

You couldn’t continue to dwell on it though, as you heard a large crash on the other side of the door leading to the courtyard. You drew your weapon and headed outside.

The circle of gargoyles that you’d admired earlier had apparently come to life — but unlike the forks and dishes, these didn’t look too friendly. “Heartless,” you muttered. You dashed toward the nearest one, bringing your weapon down on its head. A small crack appeared, but it didn’t seem to slow it down. The heartless raised its ax and you dove out of the way just in time.

You needed to assess the situation but you didn’t have time. You’d never encountered heartless like these before; you didn’t know the best way to take them out.

Not knowing what else to do, you leapt at the heartless again, slicing and chopping at them. You leapt and ducked, avoiding the most fatal swings as they surrounded you. You managed to bury your weapon in one’s chest, and it disappeared. Before you could turn to the next one, though, a harsh blow to the back sent you flying to the ground. You groaned and rolled over, managing to kick the attacker away long enough to get to your feet. You had yet to regain your balance when another heartless lunged at you, and you stumbled backwards.

“Shit,” you hissed as you realized you’d been backed into a corner. You summoned a streak of lightning, taking out a couple more, but you were still surrounded.

Then, they were gone. Just like that.

Wide-eyed and panting, you looked up to find Xaldin where the heartless had just been.

Wordlessly, he held out a potion. You took it and gulped it down, wincing at the bitter taste. Within seconds, the aches and pains that had been plaguing your body were gone.

“I could’ve handled it,” you said. You handed the empty bottle back to his awaiting hand and brushed past him, heading back toward the castle’s entrance.

“I’m aware.”

“Then why jump in?” You asked. “I’m not a princess, okay. I’m not some damsel in distress that needs saving.” You found that looking at him was just fueling your anger again, so you turned away, instead looking up at the stars shining overhead. You heard him move behind you but kept your head tilted upward.

His next words surprised you. “I’m sorry.”

You blinked. This time you did look at him. He’d moved closer and was standing beside you, his gaze also lifted to the sky. “What?” You were confused.

“It seems I keep offending you, no matter what I do.”

“I’m not—“ you began to argue but drifted off. He was right. You sighed. “It’s not your fault. I’m not myself tonight. So I’m... the one who’s sorry.” The words felt strange on your tongue. When was the last time you’d apologized for something?

A silence fell over you again and you felt the need to fill it. Before you could think too much about it, you began talking about what happened in the ballroom. “I was embarrassed. I don’t do things like that. I don’t have time for silly fantasies. But standing in there reminded me of a when I was a kid. I wanted to be a princess. Complete with the dress and the prince and the happily ever after. It’s so stupid saying it out loud. And then to have you see me acting that way... I panicked.” You couldn’t believe you were saying these things aloud. To Xaldin of all people. Or maybe that’s why you were saying them. Xaldin was quiet. He minded his own business. You never knew what was going on in his head, what kind of secrets he held. Maybe if he kept all his locked away, he wouldn’t share yours either.

Standing there with him, the night sounds surrounding you, you felt... comforted. Your anger had washed away, replaced with a peacefulness you hadn’t felt in a long time.

“I wasn’t mocking you,” Xaldin said. “About the dancing. I was trying to start a conversation.”

“You were?”

He nodded. “What you said about me not talking... I realized it, too. And when I saw you weren’t at your post, I wasn’t angry. I was worried that something had happened to you. Once I knew that you were safe, that you were still here, I wanted to try.”

You weren’t expecting that confession. He was worried about you? Why? “You wanted to try what?” You asked.

“Getting to know you,” Xaldin replied. “You see, Y/n, I’ve always been intrigued by you.”

A shiver went through you as he said your name. You didn’t think he’d ever said it before. But you liked it.

What was happening tonight? To hide these strange feelings, you laughed. “What’s so intriguing about me?”

You made eye contact. “Everything.”

Your breath hitched. You didn’t know what to say. All the ghosts of your emotions came fluttering back, and it had been so long that you’d forgotten what to do with them.

“Y/n, would you like to dance with me?” Xaldin held his gloved hand out, never releasing your gaze.

Your stomach twisted. Every instinct told you to laugh it off, to smack his hand away, to accuse him of mocking you. But something deep in your chest was only pulling you closer.

You took his hand.

He led you to the middle of the courtyard, the full moon illuminating you. He placed his other hand on your hip, and took a step forward. You followed his lead and the two of you began moving. It was awkward at first as you learned each other’s movement, but you soon got the hang of it, and the two of you glided across the cobblestones as if your feet weren’t even touching the ground. And then your feet really weren’t touching the ground, as Xaldin used his wind powers to lift you slightly into the air. You began to laugh as you drifted higher and higher, looking down at the world below you in amazement.

When you looked back up, you found Xaldin gazing intently at you. His eyes flickered to your lips and then back up. And then, silently as ever, his lips were on yours.

You were no princess. And he was certainly no prince. But maybe your dream had come true anyway.

[paindealt]

Hmm, are you referring to his “default” skin in MKX, or his story skin? Probably the former, but I’ll ramble about both anyway because I love rambling. First all, I’ll talk about his default.

His default might be my favorite Kuai design (I can’t really count his Revenant, just because that feels... not right? To me it feels talking about your favorite Jin (Tekken) design being a Devil Jin’s design.) This or... I might get flak for this... MK9 Sub. Since I tend to illustrate that one the most in my art. Though this one def has some things I prefer over MK9′s design. I LOVE his mask, the way it glows just gives it a unique look to it. Not to mention, but my biggest issue with MK9 Sub’s design was his mask... it looked INCREDIBLY bulky and too large in my opinion (especially comparing it to the other ninjas’ masks). Which... just didn’t make it look right, or even silly. This mask isn’t nearly as large, feels right, and as I said -- has a cool glow to it. And as I’ve mentioned in the tags of my revenant post, I will ALWAYS prefer Kuai in fingerless gloves. Just because fingerless gloves make anyone look rad and bad-ass. This design is also littered with weapons. He has weapons on his arms, on his hands, and on his belt. His 11 design(s) also feature this detail too. And while yes, they do make him appear bad-ass... it also feels... redundant to me? I don’t think we’ve ever seen Sub-Zero use any weapons other than ones made of ice. And that makes sense! Because from what we’ve seen, this dude can like... instantly muster up an ice sword, hammer, or ax. Hell, he can straight up shoot ice shards from his hands. Maybe he uses them for emergencies... but mostly they just feel like useless weapons there lol. Which, his MK9 design doesn’t feature any non-ice weapons on it. (Though it might’ve went overboard with the silver faces he dons.)

I prefer this default design over his default in MK11. I just think it looks cooler imo, kinda has a grittier feeling to it. I might prefer it over MK9′s as well, but I’m not entirely sure.

I gotta admit, the first time I played MKX... I wasn’t the biggest fan of this design? I always thought he looked like a FERAL CAVEMAN in this game! I mean, that beard is getting kinda long, and with that chest out! And it might be hard to tell if you’ve only watch this game on YouTube, but if ya played it on an HD TV as I did on the PS4, well... his chest hair is quite noticeable. And like, it’s not like Kano’s either where it’s a chest full of hair. They’re like these, small pieces of chest hair and it’s Odd to me!! Because it doesn’t feel like typical man chest hair. There’s not enough to be that noticeable, nor is it a Gorilla Chest, nor is he just completely hairless/waxed. So that’s why it always came off as odd to me. Rather be looking at Kitana’s TITana’s y’know? (I’m gonna get killed for that joke -- I still love Kuai too.) Okay, I just went off about Kuai’s chest hair, but it was SOMETHING THAT SOMEWHAT BOTHERED ME. Anyways, mostly his X design was pretty much just his Deadly Alliance design... but Made Better.

Another issue I had with it -- which is a minor one, if it can even be considered an issue, just something I thought was weird -- was that his scar looks relatively new here? Like he got it recently. Even though the comics show that it was YEARS ago he got it before the events of X. Which is a detail I like in his 11 design, as it actually looks like an old scar.

But I don’t know, as I started to look at the design more often, especially icon it. I began to appreciate it more. I dunno why... I just started to like the feral look more! While I definitely prefer his trimmed beard in MK11 more, something about this design became more endearing to me. He gives off these old, kinda embarrassing at times Dad vibes to me. And to be honest? Though I do have my criticisms regarding it, it’s actually one of my favorite Kuai designs -- at least in the top five or ten.

Something I forgot to mention regarding his design(s) in X are his eyes in general. I definitely prefer them over both MK9 and 11′s, I love the INHUMAN feel that’s given to them. It tells the player/konsumer that Kuai isn’t exactly human, that he’s a hybrid. While I felt they reminded me too much of Raiden’s eyes, or a dead Scorpion’s. (Since while he does indeed have pupils, they’re so faint... you can barely see ‘em.) Which made them feel less unique, and why I often illustrate him with black sclerae and blue irises/pupils in my liberated designs/art. And while I’ll admit it does make more sense for him to have very light blues/white eyes, since it’s like ice. But the black sclerae are also opposite to Scorpion’s typical whites. Which those two characters are often have traits that are opposite to each other.