#amusingly less good at one on one fights

[asklordcaptaincastronova]

Anastasia can melee blend

Correct

[inuyashaluver]

hello! can i request an enemies to lovers fic for misa?!?! i absolutely love your fics and theres barely any fics about her so i thought why not

change of heart - misa rodriguez

misa rodriguez x reader

description: in which your relationship with your ultimate enemy takes a turn when she helps you through a tough time

warnings: it’s a long one buckle in, swearing, fighting, suggestive, spanish in bold italics

a/n: finally misa!!! thank you for the love and support, babe, please enjoy!! ❤️

⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆

maría isabel rodriguez rivero, or misa if you will, was the bane of your existence. she was ill-tempered, absolutely insufferable when you couldn’t get a ball past her, arrogant and more. she was also gorgeous but you’d never say it out loud.

you couldn’t understand misa and she couldn’t understand you, the two of you just didn’t get along.

you were on the same team always, but it always felt like a competition between the two of you. sure you were a midfielder and she was a goalkeeper but that didn’t mean the hate didn’t stem.

it’s always been like that, especially in the spanish youth teams, you had the ability to push misa’s buttons in a way she couldn’t explain and vice versa. there was never a pivotal moment where the hatred began but you both knew it steadily developed as you got older.

—

“misa, we’re just training, calm down!” a 16 year old you screamed when she dove for your strike, a harsh smack sounding as she caught it.

“we may be training but that doesn’t mean we get lazy, chiquitín (small one)” misa smirked, kicking a long ball way past you. you send her a glare, cursing her under your breath as you went to retrieve the ball.

by the time you got back, she was doing her keeper duties, but with much less intensity, clearly only going full out when you were the one kicking the ball.

“i thought we shouldn’t get lazy, misa?” you teased, cocking your head to the side and offering her a cheeky grin that made her blood boil.

“fuck off, lay it on me then” she challenged angrily, everyone could feel the tension between the two of you but chose to watch in amusement. this happened every two minutes on the daily and everyone was so used to it.

“i fucking will” you bite back, striking the ball before she had time to think and sending it dangerously close to her face, sailing past her into the back of the net. “no, you’re a cheater, i wasn’t ready,” misa barked, you shrug at her

“you don’t get time to prepare for your little tea party in a match, rodriguez” you taunt, that’s when misa lost it. she walked over to you, standing chest to chest as she glared down at you, you could feel her anger bubbling in your entire body as your eyes challenged hers.

“listen here, princesa (princess), this little attitude of yours is a bad look” she said lowly with mock sympathy. she was clearly trying to rile you up, and sure, maybe you should ignore it but you couldn’t with this girl, no matter how hard you tried.

“my attitude? your fucking ego is the only thing that enjoys a solo performance more than you do” you scoff, she smirks amusingly, moving her face dangerously close to yours as you swallowed hard.

her scent was enveloping you, it was crazy how good she smelled after a training session but you squashed that thought down quickly.

she chose to just keep her face close to yours, her eyes boring into yours while that fucking smirk was plastered on her face.

she looked down at your lips, chuckled and moved past you, letting you stand there with slightly pink cheeks. must be from the heat.

—

for years the snarky remarks continued, tension rose and stemmed the basis of you and misa’s weird relationship. in reality, something else was growing under the surface. attraction.

you both played together in the under 19 spain team and your fellow teammates could all agree that both of you managed to hate each other even more, believing it was physically impossible but you and misa were always overachievers.

“move” misa grumbles as you were talking with ona, shoving you towards the girl, making you stumble before you snap your head towards misa. “you’re such a treat” you glare at her, ona makes quick work of helping you stand after she giggled at the two of you.

misa watches as you stand, making her grin and blow you an exaggerated air kiss. “always such a pleasure to see you” she mocks, you roll your eyes at her and she smiles satisfied, moving to change into her kit in her cubby.

you hate to admit that your eyes lingered on the girl as she changed, the muscles in her back rippling against her skin when she tugged on her keeper kit.

you were distracted, not even processing that aitana had joined your conversation, coming back to life when she sends you a sharp smack on the back of your head.

“ow! what the fuck?” you yelp, turning to a grinning aitana and ona, misa’s head followed the sound of your voice, her eyebrows furrowed thinking you were in pain.

“welcome to earth” aitana smirks, you huff out in frustration and urge her to continue the conversation, your eyes flickering over to see that misa was already watching you.

“can i help you, rodriguez?” you call out, she shakes her head, “nope”, flipping you off before walking out of the room. your eyes followed her as she walked out, feeling a little disappointed when she was gone.

well, you were disappointed until training started. “come on, is that all you’ve got?” misa taunted, her signature smirk that pissed you off like no tomorrow evident on her face as she caught the fifth ball you’d sent her way.

“you never change, we’re practising!” you huff, hands stationary on your hips as you glared at her, “you never change, you’re lazy” misa teases, you close your eyes in frustration, taking a deep breath as she laughed at you.

“you’re so fucking annoying, misa!” you groan, “don’t be mad, princesa (princess), you’ll get one past me eventually” she throws you a thumbs up with her gloves, you send her a charming smile, kicking the ball hard way over the goal, making her send you a glare when she had to go and get it.

“you give into her every time” ona chuckles, her arm thrown over your shoulder. when misa came back and saw ona holding you close, a funny feeling brewed in her stomach, she wanted to be like that with you, but you hated her. and she hated you.

—

you and misa got signed to real madrid at the same time and it was purely unintentional. when you both came to training for the first time, you swore you had a heart attack seeing her in the kit.

“you just cannot get enough of me” misa says in mock disbelief, trying really hard not to laugh at your face right now, you were shocked.

“what the fuck are you doing here?” you exhale, watching as misa chuckled at you. “i play for madrid now” she starts, “you look nice,” smiling before tugging the bottom of your training top quickly before moving past you.

your cheeks instantly turned pink, mouth a little agape as she smiled at you over her shoulder, making sure you had to open the door yourself.

the first game you and misa played for madrid changed something slightly between the two of you. the tension between you two finally acknowledged a little when you got a hatrick.

at the end of the game, you felt a hand on your shoulder spinning you around as you did your appreciation lap, “always so greedy, you just had to get three goals?” misa teased, you roll your eyes amusingly, her hand still on your shoulder.

“i was imagining you as the keeper” you smirk, she laughs at that, “you wish” you laugh along with her, both of you with gentle smiles on your faces before you realised what was happening.

you were bantering without any malice, that was a first.

—

the months went by and slowly you and misa got closer? that’s not the right term but it kinda was. the two of you were more or less a little more friendly, mainly through moments that people on the outside viewed as normal but very different for you and misa.

for instance, misa would make an effort to help you out occasionally. helping you out on your tracker as you pathetically tried to yourself.

“you’re embarrassing yourself” misa laughs, grabbing your hips to hold you still, your breath hitched as you felt her fingers on your skin, you were burning.

she takes the tracker from your hands and slips it in the back of your training top, lightly tapping it with her hand before pulling your top down for you.

“i had it” you breathe out, “mhm, sure you did” she winks, placing a hand on your waist before moving past you. you stood there a little dumbfounded, that was nice, and why did you like the feeling of her hands on your skin?

during that training session, she analysed your every move, misa came to terms with having different feelings about you. they were always there of course, but it was different now when she finally accepted them.

you as well couldn’t keep your eyes off misa, often making eye contact with each other before you ripped your gaze away, afraid she’d see how red your face got when she caught you staring. but she did see it, and she loved it.

during shooting practice, misa let you get three goals past her and it pissed you off. “why are you going easy on me?” you exclaim, misa holds her hands up in front of her with a little laugh, “i’d never take it easy on you,” you narrow your eyes at her unconvinced, kicking the ball softly and watching as it rolled in the net, slowly, misa just watched as it moved past her.

“rodriguez, what the fuck!” you throw your arms up, misa laughs brightly, “you’re too good for me now, miss madrid!” she teased, you run your hands over your face, shaking your head.

you walk off to grab some water and misa came up shortly behind you, you wordlessly passed her water bottle to her and her eyes widen a little at the gesture, “thanks” she smiles quickly, her hands brushing yours as she took it, feeling a little jolt of electricity between both of you.

—

everything changed rapidly when you and misa played in the senior team for spain. as soon as the two of you didn’t come in like a thunder strike of an argument, the team was genuinely surprised.

they noticed the complete shift when both of you were starting and unfortunately, your team lost 3-2 in a final. you hadn’t managed to get a goal and you blamed yourself for the whole thing.

you fell to the ground when the final whistle blew, lying on your back with your arm over your eyes as tears rolled down your cheeks.

you weren’t there for long, you felt your body being pulled to an upright position and you let whoever it was do it. you sniffled and looked down at your legs before a gentle hand hooked under your chin and gently directed it upwards.

your eyes met with misa and it made you cry a little more, her heart broke at the sight of you, she’d never seen you cry before. she places a hand on the back of your head and pulled you close to her, tucking your face into her shoulder as you cried.

both of you said nothing, letting yourself melt into misa’s body as everything else tuned out. her other hand rubbed up and down your back, your arms eventually wound around her neck, pulling her closer as she rested her head against yours.

“you played so well,” misa cooed, dismissing all the questioning looks sent by your own teammates, misa only cared about one person and that was you.

“i wasn’t good enough” you mumble against her shirt, misa shook her head, “you’re always good enough, hermosa (beautiful), always” misa said in your ear, her hand on your back now moving in gentle circles as she drew you impossibly closer.

“we lost” you whined, misa tutted at that, “it doesn’t matter, we’ll get them next time” you pull away from her slightly, at arms length.

she smiles at you softly, her hand leaving your head to push a stray hair from your eyes before gently wiping the tears falling on your cheeks. the gesture was so intimate, your stomach was fluttering.

“who are you and what have you done with my misa?” you let out a wet laugh, she laughs along with you, pinching your cheek gently as you both sat on the ground.

“your misa?” she teases, you freeze up a little at that, attempting to pull yourself away from her embrace but she kept you close, pulling you into another hug.

“you’re okay” she breathes out, comforting you as you both conversed quietly back and forth, misa helping you calm down completely before helping you to the change room.

she holds out both of her hands with a friendly smile, you blink up at her and take them both, allowing her to lift you from the ground.

that’s when alexia and jenni came over and began to comfort you, your hands dropping from misa’s and instantly missing the contact.

she went around talking to your teammates as you all slowly filtered into the change room, celebrations still occurring in the change room despite the loss.

you sat quietly in your cubby, misa watched you concerned when you just sat there but she didn’t want to push you anymore.

you all made it back to your hotel, separate rooms for the first time in a while. you collapsed on the bed with an exhausted sigh, starting up at the ceiling while the tv gently filled the atmosphere.

at this point, all you could think about was misa, she was completely clouding up every thought in your head.

your body moving on its own, you walked to the door, swinging it open and letting out a little noise of surprise seeing misa on the other side already. you both clutched your chests in fear, breathing heavily at the fright you gave each other.

“sorry, were you going somewhere?” misa utters, you shook your head, “i was going to your room” you say a little sheepishly, misa’s never heard your voice so soft, especially directed to her.

“oh” she breathes out, you shift your weight between your feet, “do you want to come in?” you swallow, misa nods slowly, moving inside the room and closing the door behind her.

“i just wanted to check up on you” misa admitted, scratching the back of her neck bashfully.

your heart was beating so fast, you nervously glance up at misa before looking back down, trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible. you could feel her eyes burning into your side profile, trying to see what your next move would be.

you clear your throat before sitting on the bed, your legs swinging over the edge, misa smiled at the sight, you looked adorable, she felt like she could see your younger self that she admired so much shining through.

she moved to sit next to you, her thigh slightly brushing yours as she sat down. “i feel bad, but i’ll be okay” you sigh, looking over to see her smiling sympathetically, she places a gentle hand on your knee.

“hermosa (beautiful), you played amazing, i really mean that,” she says earnestly, her hand gently squeezing your knee as she maintains eye contact with you.

you smile sadly at her, “so did you” she grins, “i let three go past me” you shake your head, “it doesn’t matter, misa, you played amazing as usual” her cheeks go a little pink at your compliment, “what have you done with my (y/n)” she mocks, bumping your shoulder with hers.

you laugh brightly, “your (y/n)?” you tease, but she just nods, “mhm, my (y/n)” her eyes flicker between your own, slightly dropping to your lips before catching herself and looking at her hand still resting on your knee, ready to move it away before you placed your hand over hers.

“misa” you breathe out, almost sounding like a plea as you looked at her, her heart caught in her throat, her eyes searching yours. she moved her hand to rest on your cheek, her thumb rubbing the skin there.

your eyes dropped to her lips and she took it as confirmation, closing the gap and placing her lips on yours. you gasp against her, your mouths moving together tenderly before she slipped her tongue in your mouth.

you weren’t sure how it happened but you ended up straddling her lap, both of you breathing heavily as the kiss grew a little hotter. she gently tugged at your bottom lip between her teeth and you whined into her, making her smirk lazily against your lips, squeezing the flesh of your waist as your hands carded through her hair.

you pull away in need of air, you and misa just looking at each other with pink cheeks and blown out pupils.

you pant as you look at her, smoothing down her hair with a giggle. “sorry” you smile, she smiles up at you adoringly, shaking her head lightly, “it’s okay” you keep your hands on her shoulders, your finger lightly grazing the exposed skin near her collar.

“you okay?” she whispers, the words hitting your lips, you nod, leaning forward to peck her lips sweetly, she smiles at you so brightly. “you okay?” you whisper back, she nods, bumping your nose with hers softly.

“if i told 16 year old (y/n) how good of a kisser you were, maybe she wouldn’t hate you as much” you tease, misa chuckles, pulling you in for another kiss, her hand cupping your jaw.

“if i told 16 year old misa all she had to do was kiss you to get you all sweet, i think she’d pass out” she teases back, you giggle, rolling your eyes fondly.

you tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, “you’re so beautiful” you say softly, “you’re more beautiful” she matches your energy, you both smile at each other sweetly.

“i like you, (y/n)” she looks right into your eyes as she says it, you offer her a cheesy grin, “i like you too” she mirrors your expression before pulling you into another kiss, becoming heated relatively quickly.

you pull away breathlessly making her huff in annoyance, “does this mean you’ll let me score against you?” you tease, she rolls her eyes with a laugh, “hm, maybe, bebé (baby)” she mumbles against your lips, pulling you back into the kiss.

—

when you both went to breakfast the next day and sat next to each other closely, you were offered wild looks of amusement.

“isn’t this a surprise” jenni laughed as her and alexia sat across the both of you. “what?” misa shrugged, “well you’re not fighting” alexia smiled, you rolled your eyes, arms crossing over your chest when you sat straight in your chair.

misa placed a hand on your thigh under the table, giving it a gentle squeeze. “we don’t fight all the time” misa defended, alexia laughed at that, yelling at ona and aitana for backup that they promptly gave.

“we made up ages ago” you narrow your eyes at alexia, she crinkled her nose at you teasingly, making you bite back a smile.

“oh don’t worry, we know you made up” jenni laughed, looking down at her plate with a smirk as she ate, “and what do you mean by that, jennifer?” you bite back, misa smiled amusingly, loving your feisty side.

“well the hickey on your neck says everything to me” she said simply, your eyes widen and your hand flung to your neck quickly, jenni laughs heartily, making alexia giggle too.

misa puts her head in her hands out of embarrassment now that the whole team was looking at you with teasing grins.

“i thought i heard something interesting last night, misa definitely got (y/n)’s forgiveness with what i heard” jenni teases, you glare at her, misa was bright red, “stop it, jenni” misa grits out,

“okay, i will” jenni smirks, continuing to eat her food before mocking your voice, “oh, misa, don’t stop” you gasp at that, ready to leap over the table to tackle the girl to the floor before you were held back by misa, the girl holding you firmly on her lap.

“misa” you whine, “no,” she reprimands, making you slouch into her, “i’ve never seen her so obedient” alexia smirks, you turn bright red, misa matches her smirk, running her hands up and down the side of your waist, promptly calming you down.

you both sat there like that for a bit until you had to get on the bus back to the airport. you and misa sit together and you both can’t help but relish in the affection and domesticity of being together.

you were cuddling into misa as you both chatted, laughing brightly with each other that had the whole team grinning.

it was extremely different from watching the two of you at each other's throats to seeing you all loved up but it was a happy change for everyone. especially you and misa.

⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆

you know the drill, just pretend it’s you!!

liked by ona.batlle and 44,232 others

marisabel_rguez: who knew she was such a softie?

view all comments

yourname: fuck off

↳ marisabel_rguez: there she is!!

jennihermoso: i’ve learnt a lot of things about this one😉

↳ alexiaputellas: so have i

↳ marisabel_rguez: oh god, so have i

↳ yourname: stop it.

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

since you implied it…

Kikoru with an s/o who’s taller than her (5’6 is still > 5’1) and decides to just have a random duel with her just for the funs only to get absolutely DESTROYED by her in combat (I love women who can destroy me…in fights, no taking that out of context.)

(Kaiju No. 8) Kikoru sparring with her S/O

Honestly, imagine trying to pick a fight with ANYONE from the JDF. Quoth a certain scholar: "You finna die cuz, die real good."

Kikoru's S/O was not a part of the Defense Force, yet they insisted to her that they teach her some moves for "protecting themselves".

In actuality, they just wanted to see how they could stand up to their girlfriend, the answer being: not at all.

Especially given her stature, Kikoru does not seem physically intimidating at all.

But, that's before she throws the first punch.

In one flashy yet powerful move, Kikoru immediately grabs their arm, tosses them over her shoulder, and subdues S/O with her legs locked around their elbow, all the while she gives them a cheeky grin.

(Kikoru) "Not as easy as you thought, huh?"

And this was before she put her combat suit on.

Not that she'd actually put it on to use it against S/O. First of all, that would kill them given how strong she was, Kikoru didn't need any enhancements to kick S/O's ass.

Secondly, she would never want to actively hurt them, even if she was getting a little smug about the fact S/O couldn't land a single punch.

But that stemmed from a drive to protect them and everyone around her.

Kikoru would sooner die than let any harm come to S/O, Kaiju or otherwise.

And so, she had to be this strong. If she couldn't even protect them without the suit, then she had no place in the Defence Force.

Seriousness aside, this did allow Kikoru to enjoy some quality time, even if said quality time resulted with S/O being sore.

...

(S/O) "Ack, man, you hit hard!"

Kikoru puffs her chest out pridefully at the remark as she waves a hand nonchalantly with a smile.

(Kikoru) "Oh please! You know what me hitting hard actually looks like. Besides, I recall this being your idea anyway."

(S/O) "Got me there, I guess...But, it's really impressive how strong you are. Makes me feel safer knowing I have you!"

Kikoru remained silent at that for a moment, her glance trailing downwards to the floor.

Though she didn't stutter, those brief few seconds of silence made S/O turn to her.

(Kikoru) "Well, I plan to be the best of the best! Nothing less than perfect is going to satisfy me, S/O."

(S/O) "..."

S/O extended their hand to pat her on the head, making her freeze up.

(S/O) "Make sure you still watch out for yourself, okay? You may be really strong, but I still worry anytime I see you get hurt-"

With her face turning red, she quickly spins around and any composure she had vanished instantly.

(Kikoru) "Y-YOU ASKING FOR ME TO THROW YOU DOWN TO THE FLOOR AGAIN!? Don't just suddenly touch my head like that, my reflexes might kick in!"

(S/O) "Hah, right."

Amusingly enough, Kikoru didn't move their hand yet.

And upon realizing that fact, Kikoru grabbed their wrist the moment she felt her hair being ruffled again.

(Kikoru) "Stop doing that!"

[xanderomeister]

MY TOP 10 CATS LIST

* this is an assortment, not a ranking; I don't like being forced to pick favourites

Relevant: animals, monster hunter, red dwarf, delicious in dungeon, heartstopper

Cats chosen for various, sometimes drastically different, reasons. This is like, a really stupid list to make, admitedly.

1. Izutsumi

Comment: She is a cat, and not happy about it. Izutsumi has some really funny panels/shots, although there are more serious narrative aspects to her character too, among others the nature of her soul and mind as a werebeast. Props to Ryōko Kui for cooking up some really interesting worldbuilding concepts in Dunmeshi in general.

2. Jaguar

Comment: The muscly, meaty jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag.... Honestly just a really cool cat in vibes. They are also really adaptable, and it shows in the range of places they inhabited historically, not just presently. Also possibly hoping for reintroductions in the US. I really like wildcats in general, but jaguars really strike me among big cats.

3. Charlie Spring

Comment: Reportedly catlike, has meowed at least once. Not the main thing that strikes me about him though. I think he is a well realised and compelling character in the comic and series. Admitedly he is not the most relatable in his experiences, but he is far from unlikeable. Charlie and Nick are also a really sweet couple.

4. Xenosmilus hodsonae (no common name)

Comment: The maddest (real) cat. This is one of the sabretoothed cats found in North America during the Pleistocene, alongside the famous Smilodon and Homotherium. Unlike these two, Xenosmilus is seemingly limited in distrubution, only known insofar from Florida iirc. It had insane teeth; the huge incisors stand out especially. It was also very heavily built among cats, and likely used its paws to wrestle down prey. Gnarly beast, love it.

5. Barioth

Comment: 90 screeching tons of cat-shaped wyvern. It has a lot of really weird details and cool design influences which I really like. Barioth is a very good fight imo, or at least one with considerable potential. It's also got a sick title for its BGM track: the Subzero White Knight. Overall, one of my favourite monsters in the whole of Monster Hunter.

6. Cat

Comment: A cat 3 million years in the making. My favourite Red Dwarf character, with Lister coming at a close second. I especially like his portrayal in the first two seasons. He just roams about yowling and doing all sorts of random bullshit. Basically, the worst parts of a cat in human form (though, he is a LITERAL cat by descent so... he's a cat.)

6. Flat headed cat

Comment: I found out about this little freak this year, and I love it. Shoutout to the other Prionailurus cats, who tend to look less weird overall. Interestingly it is semiaquatic and eats fish. For further clarification, this is indeed an adult cat shown here; they are one of the smallest species out there.

8. Pete

Comment: The least "catlike" cat. I assumed he was like a bulldog or something when I was little, but cat does make sense (yknow, cat and mouse, with one towering over the other). I like how ugly, clumsy and brutish he is, but at the same time amusingly pathetic in some situations. I have only fairly recently begun looking into Mickey Mouse shorts; I mostly grew up with Donald Duck comics.

9. Jones

Comment: The only other cat on this list in space. He is one of the few pleasant things in Alien, as the film is quite grisly otherwise. Fortunately, he is safe. I really don't have much to say about him given his fairly small role beyond a few jumpscare antics. I moreso just like Alien because it is such a multilayered and interesting film.

10. Eurasian lnx

Comment: My country's only wildcat. Lynx are pretty peculiar looking with their ear tufts, bobtail and long legs. They aren't huge among cats as a whole, but their size is still distinctive. At the same time they are normal in a sense because of their widespreadness. Btw they climb, which is something I remember every now and again and become amazed at.

HONORABLE MENTION: Felynes

Forgot about these guys as a whole, somehow, but I like them. They are a very distinct part of Monster Hunter, and pretty charming overall. Also not able to embed more images, sadly.

[sqarletsworldlesswandering]

Also do you have any lore for Aven's mom? I think she's pretty neat tbh-

Mom time!

She's an Ophan, so in the same rank as Lightning Nightmare.

Much less.... gremliny though. That said, she does have a gremlin streak if sufficiently prompted.

She has a weapon form, although it's not quite a traditional weapon. It's a scepter. Which can very much be used for blunt force trauma, and has lightning charged in the orb.

Her wielder is actually a Cherub - most Ophanim are wielded by cherubs. However, in some cases they'll bind to an Angel as a sign of military honor.

However, she also fights without her wielder just as herself pretty often. She mostly takes orders from him.

Pre-Conflict, she was a Nebula guardian - she watched over some of the Roamer Nebulas in the area to ensure they were coming out healthy and nothing was stirring trouble. She's always cared very deeply about Roamers, and that carried over into the Conflict by a thread.

When not monitoring the nebulas, she supervised an Angel flock - the angel rankings all group in flocks, with an angel of the next order up overseeing that flock. So she has her flock of Angels that she watches over, just as a Cherub watches over her fellow flock of Ophanim.

She is the definition of a Mother Hen when it comes to said flock, especially when they get hurt. Immediately she is there checking in and making sure everything is okay.

That also means she's quick to enforce discipline if someone does something bad. Much to her delight, she doesn't have to do this very often - her Angels love her dearly and don't want to disappoint her or lose her respect.

Every now and then she can be found starlet-sitting for someone. Usually fellow angels, but sometimes other Starfolk either because they know her or on recommendation. She's notoriously good with kids.

All of the above natural motheryness is... pretty unusual for Ophan. They're usually the definitional warrior angels.

And frankly, she is still a warrior angel. Everyone would do well to remember that.

She just also has a soft side that she's willing to actively show and nurture. Which is a stark contrast to the usual emotional constipation of Ophanim.

Once we get to New Eden, she resumes right where she left off with parenting Aven, and immediately adopts Edda.

She an Angel get along very well. They are in fact Besties.

Her view of Demon is... highly unenthused. She gave him a chance for her to evaluate, given the effects of the Conflict, but.... Yeah. He failed the vibe check.

Dark Paladin sorta... half-passed the vibe check. She wasn't quite sure what to do with him. On his own he's a little rough around the edges but pretty tolerable. But the things he puts up with concerning Demon are, in her view, ridiculous.

In the event that Paladin ever decides to extricate himself from that particular rats' nest, she will happily help him haul himself out and drag him into the family.

Her stance on Demon now is "Come near my family and I will put you in the ground."

Amusingly, she cannot cook to save her life. Eventually that improves to "she can cook three dishes to an edible degree," because Aven attempts to teach her, but she more or less concludes it's just not worth it.

She is a rather talented weaponsmith though. It's something she dabbled in pre-Conflict, and now in New Eden she spends more time with it. Edda would like to take lessons.

She's one of the few Lightfolk that actively wishes she could go underwater safely. As a result, she's one of the first to test the eventual fruits of Willow's research.

She darn near adopts the Wanderers (and Willow) collectively, although for Aziel, Athena, and Willow she's almost more of an aunt or big sister figure. Athena doesn't know what to do with the positive attention - she specifically remembers this woman attempting to skewer her.

Eventually that irons out a bit though. It's a good thing too - Athena desperately needs an older mentor figure to go to sometimes. Paladin may be older than her but also he is fact a he and he's got significantly more Older Brother energy for her. And also he's not exactly her first pick for advice of all things.

Eeeevery now and then, someone manages to bring out her mischievous streak, and chaos ensues.

There have been more than a few tickle fights. Aven fears the tickles. Someone save him.

[miloscat]

[Review] Wario Land 4 (GBA)

A disappointing misstep... am I the only one who thinks this??

Despite coming so soon after Wario Land 3 (the fourth Wario Land game), Wario Land 4 (the fifth Wario Land game) makes a lot of changes. It tries to synthesise new ideas with the old and ends up feeling like a bit of a mess. It has a good reputation but honestly I don’t get it!

The first thing you notice is the visual refresh. We’re on the cusp of Warioware completely revolutionising Wario’s characterisation and setting, and WL4 gets a bit of a ripple from that. Wario is flexing and posing, driving a muscle car… read the manual though and it leans harder than ever into his hilariously gross habits and self-aggrandising mannerisms. Unlike a lot of other things in the game, this combination works well.

In a premise most reminiscent of Virtual Boy Wario Land, Wario is on the hunt for treasure and goes to explore an ancient ruin only to stumble on a series of wacky out-of-place environments contained within and a big weirdo out of nowhere as would-be antagonist. The use of magic portals does a little something for plausibility, I guess. Did Wario really need a princess to rescue though? Was that necessary? Shokora at least has a presence in the story thanks to her transformation into a mysterious cat who pops up in cutscenes / Mr. Game & Watch-style silhouette person who acts as shopkeeper.

The levels feel initially like throwbacks to pre-3 style, with a critical path and side rooms, where it isn’t always clear which is which. But you do need to thoroughly explore because getting all four chests in each level is mandatory to unlock the zone bosses, plus there’s a key to find to advance to the next level. Having to redo entire levels if you miss any of these is a real drag. There's also optional mini-puzzle challenges sectioned off in their own rooms, removed from the flow and aesthetic of the rest of the level. But things change when you find the frog switch: a giant timer appears, and you have to backtrack to where you came in. Sometimes things change in the level, or you find a new path to return via, but often those progress items are hidden in this time-pressured sequence as well.

Far from being an exciting combination of ideas, I think these concepts of structure and design are at odds, pulling in different directions. Similarly, the non-damaging conditions from WL2 and 3 return here, but in a position of reduced prominence, and they've reinstated a health meter mechanic on top. (The GBA's shoulder buttons also prompted a return of the run button from VBWL, but it feels underused.) Removing the timer and health system was a breath of fresh air in WL2... now they're back, and for what!?

The boss battles are another miss for me. They're also timed, and you have to do them quick to get maximum treasure, which is otherwise kind of a non-factor. Collecting coins in levels lets you play one of three minigames (none of which are very fun) to earn tokens. You can spend these in a shop before the boss door, for a variety of effects that simply remove health from the boss. This Breath of the Wild-style "reward" of making the fights shorter by just subtracting from their health bar is such an odd choice to me. The fights themselves are fine at best, but the bosses are visually overdesigned in a purposeful, grotesque way; I suppose it's meant to be amusingly absurd but I just found them ugly eyesores.

Playing the Wario Land games one by one, I've enjoyed seeing them refine the concept and bring in fresh ideas. WL4 on the other hand feels like it's trying to force ideas in and fumbling in the process, with a result that doesn't quite come together. Even though the play control is tighter and snappier, the game is less than the sum of its parts, less pure than previous Wario Lands. The music is really strange too, trying for some kind of esoteric wackiness but maybe trying too hard... The series has never looked better, but this might be a sign that it's losing its direction. Meanwhile Nintendo R&D1 themselves are soon to be restructured, splintering into oversight roles and smaller teams, and I think the "Wario platformer" series suffers as a consequence, while Warioware's star rises. We'll see in the next few reviews I suppose...

[canmom]

nier automata anime 2-3

 So, I previously found the first episode of NieR Automata v1.1a disappointing. Thankfully, episodes 2 and 3 mark a huge improvement.

episode 2

Episode 2 makes a great decision in focusing most of the action not on 9S and 2B, but fleshing out some of the Machines and Resistance. We have Lily - very bitter after the events of the YoRHa stage play related here - and a machine cultivating flowers which explicitly references the DLC and Plato 1728.

Since this episode was playing pretty hard to the NieR lore nerds, let’s unpack a bit.

After a montage of YoRHa units receiving the good word from the moon, the episode proper opens with one of the picture book sequences from route B of NieR Automata; this one is Spirit of Fire. It relates when the robot P-chan, aka Beepy, which attained sapience and ascended into space, spread the gift to the other machines. This is covered in the story The Fire of Prometheus, and I talk about it in some detail here.

We’re introduced to a nameless Machine Lifeform (a Large Stubby), under orders to ‘Destroy All Dolls’ - relating to the infamous rampage of Plato 1728, which you learn about in the 3C3C1D119440927 DLC - more on that here. The same order to destroy dolls is the subject of the Amazarashi single Deserving of Life:

Here, we immediately see this machine lifeform identifying ‘dolls’ with the androids - but it shakes off this order, and becomes fascinated with a Lunar Tear flower. A montage takes us through the underground machine base from the 3C3C1D... DLC...

In a flashback, we see this machine sitting on the tower of TVs which houses Plato 1728′s records, reading a book with a Lunar Tear bookmark...

The machine finds a Lunar Tear on the battlefield, and although it crushes it, it’s inspired to plant some seeds and grow some flowers. Another picture book sequence - this one I think is new, I don’t recognise it from the game, expands on this to the machines learning. The machine’s eyes turn yellow, which in the game indicates neutral machines which won’t attack unless you attack them.

A long timeskip montage follows in which we see this machine cultivating flowers...

and before long, it starts a movement among the machines to cultivate flowers. At this point we’re ten minutes into the episode and there’s been almost no sound but City Ruins (Rays of Light) with J’nique Nicole’s beautiful voice, and a percussion track I’m having trouble placing. the only lines were the voiceovers in the picture book sequences, and one machine saying ‘Big Brother...’.

I love this sequence, it’s making much better use of the medium and pacing and really playing to the strengths of the soundtrack and the ruined city imagery. Finally, 10 minutes into the episode, we return to the androids. We’re introduced to a group of Resistance fighters, with low morale. Their leader is Lily from the YoRHa stage play. Here’s what she looked like in v1.2 of the play, as played by Kuroki Masako:

In the play, Lily - much like No. 2 - is a very anxious character. She is infected with the Logic Virus early in the play, and cured by No. 21, which earns the YoRHa the trust of the Resistance members. This gives Lily the ability to use the Machines’ power to create a ‘gravity wave’.

Later, Lily is a member of the group who stay above ground to fight off the Machines. She dies in the battle. In this version, Lily seems to have survived, embittered by the long machine war. I assume that means that in this version Anemone didn’t survive.

Amusingly, the Resistance still continue to use AK-family assault rifles even in this animated version. Also the CG is still kinda jank, but there’s less of it...

2B and 9S come back. Compared to the game, there’s a nice contrast between the relaxed body language of 9S and the stiff 2B...

We also see Commander White saying ‘be careful’, continuing her general sense of helplessly sympathising with the units she repeatedly sends to their deaths.

On the ground, the Resistance - accompanied by Devola and Popola - fight a pitched battle against a large group of machines moving in a big group that’s gathered over the course of the episode. (This is a cute touch - underlining that the machine tactics are more stochastic than planned).

At the same time, we get the picture book about the machines’ ‘Treasures’. This is Treasured Items in NieR Automata. The machines, as we have seen, find individual reasons to live in some specific treasured thing they fixate on in the world.

The battle rampages across the field of flowers we’ve seen early on. First, the charging machines trample the flowers - then 2B and 9S arrive at the last minute to rescue the Resistance, obliterating the whole group of machines in a rain of missiles. Lily, the only member of the Resistance to recognise the YoRHa clearly recognises 2B as the familiar model of No. 2, but of course 2B here is not the same No. 2 as the play. More significantly, Lily knows that the last time the Council of Humanity sent YoRHa reinforcements, it was a suicide mission which swept up all the Resistance members, all for the sake of gathering combat data.

Meanwhile, we see our friend machine blasted into the ravine, where it catches sight of another Lunar Tear; its eyes turn green and it falls in pieces into the ravine. The whole arc of this episode seems to be giving us an understanding of what the eye colours of the Machine Lifeforms mean beyond a convenient indicator of ‘hostile/not hostile’.

And of course, Devola and Popola are here, introduced as maintenance units.

And at the end, we see the cocoon that will later spawn Adam and Eve. In this version, rather than playacting sex and tending to imaginary children underneath it, the machines are reading books...

All in all, a nice episode. It’s necessarily firmly within the themes of NieR Automata, but it makes it feel fresh by shifting the focus. It doesn’t try for action scenes it can’t pull off, and it really gives the atmosphere that was missing in the first episode. And I’m intrigued by what they’re doing with Lily.

Visually... there’s much less bad CGI. Overall, the animation has the same issues as a lot of modern anime (douga that can’t quite keep the shapes consistent, struggling with very defined 3D forms). Most of the Machine Lifeforms in this episode are animated with CG, but it works a lot better than the flight suits and Engels in the previous episode. The backgrounds are... all right, they do a reasonable job of capturing the images of the game, lots of digital textures and I’m pretty sure a lot of them are straight up paintovers of screenshots. All in all it’s solid - the imagery of NieR Automata is pretty far from the norm for TV anime, and there are some nice moments of character animation for the MCs.

Onwards to...

episode 3

OK so first up this weapons trader with all the goofy looking fantasy swords from the game is great...

One of Kainé’s swords is tucked away on the left there!

Anyway this episode opens pretty low-key with 2B and 9S introduced to Jackass, who’s endearingly eager to take them apart. Commander White explains to the Operators (and us) that the disorganised Resistance are considered a disposable shield for the YoRHa on their recon mission. She’s tapping the riding crop the whole time she says this, of course.

2B and 9S set out in a truck(!) on a recon mission. There’s a really adorable shot where the Pods are clinging to the back of the truck.

and an even more adorable one later where 2B is petting Pod 042 after he’s thrown off the back by an explosion...

Not long after we get an action scene, which is setup for a fascinating aside where 9S hacks one of the machines that are imitating the Replicants of Facade, and finds his way into a kind of memory representation of the wedding between the King of Facade and Fyra from NieR Gestalt/Replicant.

As in the game, they make their way into a ruined city block, and find the corpses of YoRHa androids. At this point, we start to diverge and expand on the game. First of all, they find Machine Lifeforms that seem to have produced a white amorphous goo...

...which seems like it must be a precursor to the Adam/Eve project, not to mention calling to mind the imagery from the YoRHa Dark Apocalypse raid series in FFXIV!

Not long after, 2B and 9S are pulled into a huge underground chamber made up of the calcified bodies of Small Stubbies...

...and we do get to see them trying to fuck and raise babies...

Then is the incredible ‘This Cannot Continue’ sequence, and props to the animators, we have this incredibly cool sequence where Adam is first disgorged as a metal skeleton...

before white glowing tendrils construct the fleshy twinkbody we know...

2B and 9S stab him almost immediately and they make it nice and gruesome.

and when Eve is born from his corpse, they make sure you can see that it’s a rib which he’s born from...

Eve pops off way harder than he does in the game, with some classic cross-shaped flares a la Eva...

and 2B and 9S beat a fighting retreat. It’s pretty sick 2DFX. I’m surprised I can’t find anything at all from this show on sakugabooru.

The final puppet show has an adorable scene represented by bowling pins.

All in all, this episode had what I really hoped for from this anime: it’s playful with the source, it’s got some cool sequences that take advantage of being an anime rather than a videogame, and I hope it’s a sign of good things to come. Unfortunately it’s currently on COVID hiatus. I hope the team are all right.

All in all: if you drop NieR Automata ver1.1a from the first episode, I get it, but honestly you’re missing some good shit. I’m much more excited to see where they’re taking this version now it isn’t just doing ‘remember this from the game’ but starting to figure out some identity of its own! It’s inevitably going to be limited by both the conditions of modern anime production and the budget for this project - honestly it’s crazy that we’ve got an anime at all - but I’m glad they’re finding creative spins to put on quite a difficult task (adapting a massive JRPG plot into a single cour of anime).

[icebluecyanide]

Alex Rider S03E01 Reaction

So I've already watched all of s3, but I decided for some reason to keep a liveblog & take a moment after every episode to write down my thoughts/predictions/questions at the time. Some of it is very amusingly wrong, but I'm going to share it anyway because I do always enjoy reading liveblogs/reaction posts myself so maybe other people will want to read it too.

Note that while this contains no spoilers for later eps, I have read the book and reference it, so warning for book spoilers and me being unable to stop comparing the two.

Liveblog

Hey I’ve been there! (Malta)

I am petty but I don’t like Alex sharing what Yassen told him with people lol. But I guess they had to make it a group project for the show and it’s not the stuff with his dad which is what Alex in the books felt was too private to share so oh well

Tom and Jerry(/Jay??) ahsdlfhs

Alex thinking Yassen wasn’t lying to him 😭 and he does seem to have kept the part about his dad a secret!

oh damn he wants to destroy Scorpia!! and Kyra also wanting him to, that could cause interesting conflict when he joins them later

also i forgot that Scorpia actually killed Ian in this lol

Kyra is going to do machine learning lol

Love the Alex/Kyra ship fuel with the hurt/comfort scene

ahslfhs how did they even find that villa tho? LIke I thought that was just the piece of wall Mrs Rothman was photographed in front of, surely that gives them no clues about where she’s staying?

And not to be mean but Kyra did kinda bring the stabbing on herself ashdflhs. Going off on her own because she got bored and then expecting Alex to do the fighting and treating the fight weirdly casually

It’s interesting how they seem to have changed Scorpia’s structure/origin story what with Mrs Rothman being elected and there being no client for this operation.

Them referencing Alex getting in with Tom setting fireworks in the books... i mean it's a nice reference but also actually that was more fun than Kyra just being able to hack their way in ngl ahsdlfhs. Not really the show’s fault, but modern tech & computer tricks make spy stories more boring

Also Alex just walked into the party in his suit and honestly this is one of those plots that only works because Otto is not a teenager. If he actually looked like a teen, he would have stood out waaaay too much (which was actually a concern in the book)

Alex grabbing champagne and later putting it back down again haha good way to blend in, I suppose

Getting his phone out?? In the exhibition?? So rude

Love the trend of doctors/scientists in Alex Rider wanting to be paid more for their work. Honestly they deserve it because they won’t even get to publish their extraordinary findings

‘I can hear you breathe’ Love Nile

Nile please how are you surprised at Alex attacking you asdfs

Shame we didn’t get Nile overpowering him like in the books, the difference in their fighting skills was so much bigger there, but I think they made Alex more of a fighter in the show. In the books he mostly needs to rely on the element of surprise and usually when he’s in a fight he’s outmatched and needs to use some form of trickery/his environment to win while show!Alex actually has pretty good fighting skills

I love Nile’s actor but I wish he could have actually taken Alex down like in the book, the way he loses Alex and doesn’t even realise it & thinks he died makes him look a lot less competent tbh

How did Alex climb up there?? And more importantly, how is he getting down haha

I get the feeling Yassen isn't gonna show up until Alex is with Mrs Rothman lol but at least we got to hear his final words ot Alex like four times

Overall

Really exciting, love seeing Malta and I’m intrigued at the differences between the book and the show and where it will lead. 

Thoughts/predictions

I imagine the race Tom’s brother mentioned will play a role and I liked the little bit we got with Tom about his grades being bad and maybe wanting to drop out. I guess Tom’s parents aren’t going through their divorce in the show? Also really enjoyed Alex and Kyra being more invested in the investigation than Tom and how they are apparently planning to take down Scorpia for their families.

I liked how we got to see more from Julia Rothman and Scorpia already and I’m intrigued by what Invisible Sword will be. Love Max having his ‘I have grandkids now’ moment and trying to talk Julia Rothman down and her being like ‘no I want to kill’. Looooved Nile telling Mrs Rothman to shoot him if he ever lost the appetite for killing.

I also really liked Alex talking about his dad and how he had nothing to do with spying and how his world got turned upside down when he learned about his uncle being a spy and now it’s happening again.

Questions

What is Invisible Sword in this?

What’s the deal with Julia inheriting her place at the table? Not sure if I like the new origin story for Scorpia but I’m intrigued by the way they have a council now instead of an executive board and how it changes the vibes.

Are Alex and Tom and Kyra gonna fight?

[mariacallous]

When I was 12, I was hooked on James Bond, both Ian Fleming's elegantly pulpy novels and the cartoonish movies they spawned. One day, my friend's older brother, who went to Harvard, tossed a paperback onto my lap and said, "Here's the real thing, kid."

The book was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the 1963 thriller by John le Carre. I opened it expecting a racier version of what I found in 007 — you know, Asian thugs with steel-rimmed bowlers, gorgeous women as sweetly pliable as taffy. What I got was a dankly bitter tale of betrayal ending at the Berlin Wall. I hated it. It was just too sophisticated for the adolescent me.

You see, le Carre wasn't merely a better writer than Fleming, but a reaction against him. Where 007 fought amusingly acronymed groups like SPECTRE, le Carre conjured a Cold War hall of mirrors in which spy craft wasn't about knife fights and hot sex, but about gambits and machinations in which it was hard to tell the good guys from the bad.

His masterpiece was 1974's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy — not merely the greatest spy novel ever written, but the source of a 1979 BBC adaptation that's the greatest spy show ever made. In anticipation of a new film version that's coming out in a few weeks — the story, you see, is irresistible — the series has just been re-released on DVD, along with its sequel, Smiley's People. Watching again, I found it every bit as gripping as the first three times I watched it.

The great Alec Guinness stars as George Smiley, an honorable spy chief who's been ousted after a shakeup in British intelligence — known as The Circus. But once it becomes clear that there's a mole, or double agent, high up in The Circus, Smiley is brought back to catch him. He does this in the old school, pre-Google way, by sifting through papers and questioning anyone who might be involved, all in a style that's unsettlingly calm.

Bluntness isn't Smiley's thing. He's like the world's greatest poker player, all quiet observation, laconic dialogue and unreadable reactions. As played by Guinness, a master of the ambiguous smile, Smiley exudes a melancholy kindness that may not be kind, and a knowledge of human frailty that's profound — yet not profound enough to keep his own wife from cheating on him.

When le Carre first became famous, he was celebrated for being so realistic. Yet his fictional world is actually every bit as mythological as Fleming's. It's just subtler. In fact, Tinker, Tailor offers the seductive fantasy of entering a secret world, one imagined with alluring richness. We breathe a conspiratorial mental atmosphere in which Every Single Word might be important. And we encounter an oh-so-proper bureaucracy in which the deadliest snakes aren't the Soviets, but the colleagues slithering around your office. Here, even the most devout patriot will be sacrificed by his own side in the great chess game of Cold War politics.

Like millions of others, I can't get enough of this stuff, but for a while it all but vanished. You see, le Carre's brand of espionage tale was rooted in the Cold War, which offered the neatness of two opposed sides facing off. When communism collapsed, so did the contemporary spy novel. The West lacked a clearly defined enemy.

Happily for spy stories, though not for the world, it has one again in radical Islam. And almost predictably, we've begun seeing le Carre-tinged espionage stories — like Showtime's current series Homeland, in which Claire Danes plays a CIA agent who doesn't quite trust anyone, not even her own bosses, and PBS's Page Eight, starring the wonderful British actor Bill Nighy as a canny old spy who stumbles upon volatile knowledge he'd sooner not know.

I can recommend both. Yet truthfully, neither can rival Tinker, Tailor, an almost perfect fantasy for those of us less thrilled by shootouts or chases on jet-skis than by the exposure of what lies hidden. In fact, what makes le Carre's spy stories so primally gripping is that, at bottom, they're not actually about espionage. They're about secrets and lies and shifting identities — which is to say, they're a metaphor for our own daily lives. Except, of course, that Smiley's story is really, really exciting.

[satoshi-mochida]

Some thoughts on my last Gamefly rental, Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection(Switch version).

I never played the original games, just Network Transmission on the Gamecube, so it’s good for there to be a way for me and others to be able to play them again.

On the cartridge, the collection is split into two parts, the first having Mega Man Battle Network 1-3, and the latter having MMBN 4-6. Starting with 3, each game has two versions, like with Pokemon.

The game selection menu that you see when starting each collection up has a neat feature of having MegaMan.exe be there and talk when you navigate the menus(and when you press L), even being voiced by his voice actor from the Mega Man NT Warrior anime, Andrew Francis.

For all the games, there’s a Max Buster Option you can turn on that had the Mega Buster do the highest damage it can. You can bring the option up by pressing the -/Minus button. I used it quite a bit, though turned it off for bosses. It’s good for getting through maps and random encounters quickly, and scoring high rankings to possibly get better Battle Chips, or if you just want to play for the story. It’s not always an instant-win option, though, as some enemies, usually postgame ones, will need a strategy to beat.

There are several other extras for each game:

A Gallery to see official and concept art for each game

Trophies for completing objectives in each game

Free Downloadable Chips that are usually pretty helpful/OP

A Music Player

The basic controls for each game are:

X for the menu

A to interact with people/object or select options. It’s a good idea to run around areas spamming this in case an item or port is hidden somewhere.

R to try and jack into the Net if Lan is standing next to a useable port.

L to talk to either Mega Man or Lan, depending on who you’re playing as. They’ll give you hints on what to do next to progress the story. Sometimes they’re a bit too vague, though.

While jacked into an area and playing as Mega Man, you’ll encounter viruses to fight while walking around in random battles. Defeating them will get you, depending on the ranking gained at the end, either a Battle Chip or Zenny.

There are HP-Up/power-up programs you can find or buy that can raise Mega Man’s HP or give a boost to his Buster’s power, speed and Charge attack. HP Ups are used automatically, but the others need to be used manually from the menu under the ‘Mega Man’ tab.

I didn’t 100% the games, since some Battle Chips need a certain Battle Ranking to drop, and I’m really not sure how to manipulate the rankings to get to what was needed for some, plus the post games can be pretty difficult.

MMBN1

The Net maps in this game can be kind of confusing. I’d recommend using a map guide if you have trouble navigating them. Amusingly, there’s a bit in the credits where Mega Man gets lost in an area, so seems like they know it, too. XD

MMBN2

There's some notable upgrades and changes from the first game, from game mechanics to the size/look of the maps. 

Battles feel and load faster.

Navigating the Internet maps is much less of a pain now, and the areas look more distinct, though having a map guide for some of the more complicated areas would be helpful.

A new addition to this game is several ‘Styles’ for Mega Man that level up and unlock as you use them after Mega Man gets an upgrade a ways into the game. Here’s a guide to the Styles and how to get them. Later games expand on this.

Terrain effects in battle such as ice, fire and grass are also new features, ice’s effect being obvious, and grass tiles healing certain enemies.

Subships are another new addition to this game, which is carried onwards, which range from healing to avoiding weak battles, and more.

A change to this one that I don’t like that makes it harder is not having your HP automatically restored after battles, instead having to be healed by using healing Battle Chips in battle, using healing Subchips or jacking out. This seems to have been carried over to the later games.

In battle, you can now remove Chips from your selection by selecting them and hitting ADD, which, like in the first game, will have Lan send more chips, but now is based on the amount selected. I kind of preferred the old way, of just adding in more chips when hitting ADD and waiting for the Custom Meter to fill.

There are new purple diamond Item icons that you need to use an Unlocker item on to get an item from. You’ll need to go to the Subships menu and manually use it, as there won’t be a prompt just from interacting with the Item icon.

MMBN3

The first of the games with two versions, with a few differences between the two, such as available Chips, certain characters, etc..

MMBN 4-6

These ones gave the series a new graphical style and art upgrades such as new character portraits.

I was feeling kinda burnt out after finishing MMBN 2, so I decided to stop there, maybe go back to them all in the future. I did pop into each to at least get a save file started and see any immediate changes to each game.

It was good to finally play these, and for there to be a way for new players who missed out on them to get into the whole series, minus Network Transmission, at once.

Next game being sent is: Goodbye World

[paperanddice]

This is a special Christmas update, which unlike most of my stat blocks is going up on all my accounts on the same day. For those of you who don't back my Patreon, the week leading up to Christmas I released a series of Christmas related stat blocks I made for a Christmas one shot adventure. These stat blocks aren't intended to face off against players, instead being the stat blocks I was giving to the players to use, as a team of Christmas based heroes teaming up to fight against an attempt to conjure up an eldritch abomination to devour the entire world. As such, these stat blocks aren't really balanced as monsters except very vaguely, and instead are simply designed to be fun and to face off against incredibly dangerous threats.

Santa is nominally the leader of this team, though amusingly in my case since two players for the one shot couldn't make it we had unused characters, and Santa was one who went unused. He's got less tanking potential than Frosty, less powerful spellcasting that Jack Frost, less stealth and surprise tactics than Krampus, and lacks the novelty of the last stat blocks, that of his entire team of reindeer (one at a time, swap in a new when the previous dies or retreats), and ELF team six (elf special forces, same sort of deal as the reindeer). His focus is instead on exceptional versatility, with a good mix of options available and most importantly, his sack of toys. Within it is just about any random useful items the party might want, with the option to craft several that he didn't think to pack ahead of time. In game, this was represented by the player being able to draw out nearly unlimited mundane gear, and making Intelligence ability checks to see if he thought to pack more unusual items. Magic items, unusual gear, possibly even custom stuff. Santa had the most off paper potential for shenanigans, but sadly it went unexplored in the session I ran. That being said, I still really enjoy the fun ideas put into it, like being able to drink a glass of milk to heal.

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates, and a happy holidays to everyone! Thanks for a wonderful year, I hope you all have had a fantastic time. This coming week between Christmas and New Year's Eve will see the other Christmas stat blocks going public on Patreon and getting posted up here, and then the first week of January will have no updates as I'm using this week as a break from my regular Patreon posts. The Patreon will be updating right from the first week of January, so you'll start seeing the cross posts going up the week after that.

Santa Claus Medium fey, neutral good Armor Class 19 (magical fur coat) Hit Points 170 (20d8 + 80) Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft. Str 20 (+5) Dex 16 (+3) Con 18 (+4) Int 16 (+3) Wis 20 (+5) Cha 18 (+4) Saving Throws Con +9, Wis +10, Cha +9 Skills Animal Handling +10, Athletics +10, Perception +10, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +8 Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 20 Languages all Challenge 14 (11500 XP) Down The Chimney. Santa can move through any chimney or air vent without squeezing. Milk And Cookies. Santa treats any glass of milk he drinks as a potion of healing. Santa's Bag Of Toys. Santa’s bag contains an extra-planar space which is considerably larger than the outside of the bag, roughly 4 feet in diameter at the mouth and six feet deep. The bag can hold up to 2,500 pounds, not exceeding 3,000 cubic feet. The bag weighs 5 pounds, regardless of its contents. Retrieving an item from the bag requires an action. The bag is indestructible short of a wish spell or similar magic. Breathing creatures inside the bag can survive for a number of days equal to 10 divided by the number of creatures in the bag, after which time they begin to suffocate. Additionally, the bag can be used to cast fabricate as an action, using material stored in Santa’s storeroom in the North Pole as material. The created object must be able to fit through the opening of the bag. This effect of the bag can be used 5 times, with expended uses recharging at midnight. Sneak Attack (1/Turn). Santa Claus deals an extra 14 (4d6) damage when he hits a target with a weapon attack and has advantage on the attack roll, or when the target is within 5 feet of an ally of his that isn't incapacitated and Santa doesn't have disadvantage on the attack roll. Spirit Of Christmas. If Santa Claus dies, he returns to life at full hit points in the North Pole at the strike of midnight on the next Christmas Eve. Actions Multiattack. Santa makes two weapon attacks. +3 Candy Cane Sword. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (1d8+8) bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage. Throwing Cookie. Ranged Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d4+5) slashing damage. Spellcasting. Santa casts one of the following spells, using his sack of toys to replace any material components and using Wisdom as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 18): At will: dancing lights (red and green lights only), knock, mending, sleet storm 3/day each: animate objects, arcane eye, cone of cold, gaseous form, true seeing 1/day each: control weather, Otto's irresistible dance, scrying (children automatically fail their save against this spell), time stop

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Hollow Bastion (Cherished Element)

Sora, Donald, and Goofy walk through the Borough of Hollow Bastion, wondering what’s up.

Three Soldier Heartless run out of Merlin’s house and vanish into Dark Corridors, prompting our heroes to hurry ahead and see if everyone’s alright.

Inside, they see Merlin, who remarks that it took them long enough.

He was the one who summoned them but he accidentally used up too much power, which left him vulnerable to the Heartless.

“So, what’s up?” Sora asks.

Merlin then reveals that he stumbled upon something in the “Zero District”, and summons Pooh’s storybook into his hand, before handing it over to Donald.

He was aware of how Pooh and Sora were good friends, and so decided to summon Sora so the two could meet up again.

Then he got jumped by the Heartless, forcing Merlin to use powerful magic to drive them off,  but then he was worried about the book getting damaged, and he loses his train of thought as he decides to let Leon and the others know as well and vanishes in a puff of smoke so he can fetch them.

“I wonder how Pooh’s doing,” Sora ponders.

“Want to find out?” Donald asks.

Sora answers in the affirmative, and Donald opens the book to a map in the middle, depicting six locations. Some of them are familiar, while others are brand new.

In order to enter the Hundred Acre Wood, you have to talk to Donald.

Amusingly, the cutscene depicts entering the Hundred Acre Wood as Sora striking a pose and staring at the book really hard.

I don’t know how else to describe it.

Goofy tries to raise some concerns, but Sora just tells him to cover for him, before going back to staring really hard.

A bright light shines from the pages, and Sora is transported into Pooh’s world.

Just like in the first game, Sora is dropped into a map on the pages of the book.

Unlike the first game, the map now works like a pop-up book, and the marking that corresponds to Pooh’s house pops up from the page.

Sora wonders if Pooh’s home, and the player is able to enter the location on the map by walking up to it. Or, if they so wish, they can leave using the illustration of the tree with the swingset in the lower right corner, but you’re automatically sent back to Merlin’s house whenever you complete an episode here, so it would be best to just finish the current story episode whenever possible.

Pooh’s House is more or less identical to how it was in the first game, except you can’t actually go inside (Hunny Pots are blocking the way), there’s no interactive elements, and there’s a large chest holding a map of the Hundred Acre Wood, along with two small chests.

Pooh is sitting in front of the house.

Sora greats Pooh, asking if he’s had enough hunny to eat lately.

“Oh yes,” Pooh answers, “In fact, I was about to do my stoutness exercises. Would you like to join me Sora?”

“Sure, I’m game.”

Pooh jumps off his log and freezes in midair as the music abruptly stops, much to Sora’s confusion.

When he tries to tap the paused bear, a powerful gust of wind blasts Sora out of the book entirely.

When he comes to in Merlin’s house, the front door is open, and Donald and Goofy are nowhere to be seen, though they can be heard calling to him from outside.

The two of them were attacked by Heartless while he was in the book.

Goofy asks if Sora brought the book, and some Soldiers run out with it in their claws.

Cue Heartless mob fight to get the book back.

When the fight is done, the cover has three gashes on it.

The inside isn’t much better, as the landmarks have disappeared, save for Pooh’s house.

When Sora goes to Pooh’s house, he finds the bear is still there.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Pooh,” Sora remarks.

“And I’m glad you came for a visit,” Pooh replies, “But I was about to begin my stoutness exercises, so perhaps you could come by for a visit later, Somebody-I-Don’t-Know.”

“Oh… Sure,” Sora remarks as Pooh goes about his exercises, “So how’s Piglet doing these days?”

“I don’t think I know anyone by that name,” Pooh replies, “Now, where was I?”

Sora notices that something is up, and decides to go back and ask Merlin.

Back outside, Merlin is already there, and is not surprised Sora had already gone ahead and visited Pooh, and asks about the situation inside.

Sora explains that Pooh has forgotten him, and all of his other friends as well, and Merlin inspects the book, coming to the conclusion that it’s because of the pages the Heartless stole when they damaged the book. They’ll have to get those pages back to restore Pooh’s memory.

Additionally, he has Sora, Donald, and Goofy sworn to secrecy, because he does not want Leon learning about the state the book is in, given how important it is to Hollow Bastion.

For the rest of the game, the book will be resting on that nightstand in the back of Merlin’s house. Unlocking further story events in the Hundred Acre Wood requires finding Torn Pages in large chests.

However, the book isn’t the only thing Merlin wanted to talk to Sora about.

He gives Sora a special necklace, known as a Summon Charm. If Sora concentrates on it with all of his heart, he’ll be able to Summon an Ally, just as he summoned Simba and Mushu back in KH1.

The “Summon” command is found on the second page of Sora’s Command Menu, and, much like the Drive Forms that are also found there, it consumes the Drive Gauge when used, replacing Sora’s Party Members with whoever was Summoned.

This Summon Charm is the Baseball Charm, used to Summon Chicken Little (Chicken Little). In Japan, Kingdom Hearts II released BEFORE his movie, so he was added to the game in order to promote it.

Chicken Little has a whistle that can be used to draw enemies closer, which is good for crowd control. When Sora is low on HP, Chicken Little will restore 40% of his HP with a potion.

He’ll also occasionally bat baseballs at enemies for some damage.

Additionally, Chicken Little’s limit is FPS Mode, which turns the game into a First Person Shooter where Sora and Chicken Little shoot baseballs and firecrackers at their enemies.

Sora is invulnerable, but moves far more slowly.

Ending the limit also ends the summon.

Sora promises to be back once they’ve found more pages of Pooh’s book.

With that, we can now progress to the only remaining world that’s been currently unlocked: Olympus Coliseum.

-

 Gonna be honest: I totally forgot Chicken Little existed until this second.

[thevindicativevordan]

Thoughts on the new Priest/Pagulayan Superman mini announced?

I did not see this coming!

Priest was expressing some frustration in recent podcast interviews he was on that he felt like he was getting pigeonholed as "a villain writer" the same way he had been pigeonholed as "a black writer". Now he gets the chance to write a straightforward hero, and one of the Trinity no less. Shocked it isn't Batman given that's the guy Priest has named as his favorite DC hero, but Kaminski is close to Priest since he edited Priest's Deathstroke run, which might be why it's Superman instead of Batman Priest ended up on.

When it comes to Superman himself Priest has said this:

I see Kal-El as a kind of buffed out Tom Hanks: an identifiable Everyman with whom I identify a great deal. As a minister and a person of faith, I try, every day, to do good, to be helpful. We live in a cynical world where people are perhaps rightly suspicious of strangers trying to help them, and it is frustrating to constantly be treated with suspicion. There are days when I tire of it, where I become anxious about it, where I throw up my hands in anger.

But, the next day, I just get up and start over again. That’s Superman.

Amusingly in that same interview he also said there was little to no chance he would ever write Superman because "his" Superman would bear little resemblance to the Rebirth incarnation of the time, and likely mock that status quo. Will this story retain that aspect? I know quite a few people who would love to see Priest take the piss out of that era, as a guy who mostly enjoyed Rebirth I'm game to see Priest take swings at Superman. We've got PKJ and Williamson doing the ongoings which are all about letting Superman be cool, Waid as the biggest Superman fanboy ever writing the character in World's Finest and Testament, even Russel is very positive towards the character in Space Age, no better time than now to let Priest deconstruct Superman before hopefully putting him back together.

Pitch reminds me of Joe Kelly's Superman story where he's stuck fighting demons with Wonder Woman for eons. He's tempted to cheat on Lois but stays true, that was a story all about Superman's willpower and fidelity. Here I expect the story will examine the emotional toll that comes with being Superman. If like me you've been waiting for a Tom King Mister Miracle-esque approach to the character as opposed to the love letter of Up in the Sky, then I think this book will give you what you've been looking for. Reuniting the Deathstroke team for Superman makes me very excited to get my hands on this come March.

[psychronia]

That's exactly it though. Rather than praise, it's more sheer entertainment of it, so it's "give him a he's a comical designated jerk award!"

Zuko threatening his soldiers is more successfully played for drama, but that moment doesn't really make your point. In the exact same episode where we get the origins of his scar. So we have Zuko interacting with the very same men he got his face burned over because their lives do matter to him. Or at least did. So you can either take it as Zuko being sincere and this being a case of the lesson sticking with him whether he likes it or not, or you could take it as him saying it in the spur of the moment because he didn't believe Iroh about an incoming storm while the ship was in clear skies. I'm inclined to say the latter because Iroh immediately follows up with "He doesn't mean that", he personally takes charge to keep his crew safe, and he even lets Aang go to prioritize the safety of the ship.

And if you're referring to Kiyoshi Village, rather than a proactive effort to burn the place down, it just caught fire as Zuko fought combatants that immediately came out to engage him. And this is more about him being less controlled at firebending than he needs to be, plus not caring about collateral to the enemy when engaging in a fight.

This isn't really an argument about Zuko not being bad or not having done bad. He wouldn't need a redemption if this was the case. It's about how Zuko is actually kind of amusingly bad at being the bad guy. The contrast with Azula isn't in good vs bad. The contrast is that one of the Fire Hazard siblings is a clumsy mess that fumbles everything while they cause trouble while the other one is a controlled menace that knows exactly what she's doing.

I've been rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender because why not and I'm losing my mind at Zuko's proper introduction. I don't know if it's hindsight, shifting characterizations, or just me not watching this in a long time, but this was amazing.

We start off showing he's an impatient and very angry kid. Reasonable, and the sort of flaw we might expect to see in a villain. Kinda funny that he expects to go up against an adult and fully 4-Element realized Avatar, but the kid is desperate and Iroh clearly expects his nephew to get the banishment-denial kicked out of him.

What's important here, though, is Zuko's introduction to the Southern Water Tribe.

Here, we have a very intimidating entrance where his entire ship just sails through the ice right up to the village's front door. It's quite ominous and this is our first proper introduction to how the Fire Nation interacts with a foreign people.

Sokka charges, I'm assuming fully prepared to die, and Zuko casually knocks him out of the way. Okay, so clearly the Water Tribe are entirely outgunned.

He asks "Where are you hiding him?" and the people of the Water Tribe go silent. I assume they're either just too scared to talk or actually protecting Aang.

Whatever the case, it's important to note that the Southern Water Tribe know the terror the Fire Nation can inflict. We have a whole episode dedicated to tracking down a division of raiders. Sokka was able to not only identify the ash-mixed snow as signs of an incoming attack, but estimate how many ships the amount of ash measures to. These are a people who have experience being terrorized and are probably expecting something terrible to happen.

And then, after they don't answer, Zuko grabs Gran-Gran. There was a horror sting to it, and everything the tribe knows about the Fire Nation suggests that Zuko is about to threaten or straight up hurt her to get answers. Classic "terrorize the elderly" bad guy stuff.

And then...

He goes "He's (the Avatar) be about this age and is a master of all four elements!?" and lets her go.

And all of a sudden, the tension that was built up is shattered as Zuko went "I know, I'll give them a reference for the person I'm looking for because clearly they're confused and I wasn't specific enough."

This went from a show of villainy to a show of Zuko being totally socially awkward and misreading the situation entirely. Not helping is that when he does try to menace them a moment later, his fire is slow and angled quite safely.

It still worked on the Water Tribe because they're understandably scared, but all I could think of is that this was the equivalent of a playground bully trying to make someone flinch with that fake-out lunge thing.

Because the fact-and something we'll come to learn-is that Zuko is TERRIBLE at being a Fire Nation oppressor. He's capable of doing morally dubious things and is a competent fighter. But he's lousy at terrorizing people and cruelty-that's kind of the point of his banishment.

And while we can see the story paint this picture of Zuko's true character as the story goes on with hints of good and conflicting loyalties, here we get to see just how bad he is at being "the bad guys".

[90secondnewbery]

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

1961 Newbery Medal Winner

Adapted by Dimas, Jack, and Insiya of Elgin Academy (2022)

From Elgin, IL

Judges' Remarks: This movie made good use of green screen and stuffed animals to tell the story, and the material was really served well by the enthusiastic acting! The sparse but effective script hit most of the plot points in a more or less coherent way. Karana's flowery dress and lei worked well to set her apart from the other characters, and it was resourceful how she made a "bow and arrow" out of items commonly found in a classroom. There were lots of fun fight scenes, starting with the first one (concluding with the brutal "here's your pelts, buddy"), the part where Ramo is attacked by dogs (just by throwing a bunch of stuffed animal dogs at him, amusingly), and of course the battle royale between all the stuffed animal dogs, complete with dog growls, whines, and yips. An entertaining ride, with good performances by all the actors, both human and stuffed!

[awkward-and-indecisive]

As Taylor Swift Once Said

Summary - Your green eyed boyfriend finds you wasted on his whiskey and unable to stop quoting Taylor Swift when he returns to the bunker after a hunt.

Pairing - Dean Winchester x Female!reader

Warnings - Fluffy fluff fluff, drunk reader, screaming, a LOT of Taylor Swift lyrics (it’s in the title people!), a little bit of violence and punching,  Please let me know if I’m forgetting something!!!

Word Count - 1297

A/N - Honestly, I have no idea what this is or when I wrote it or why I wrote it. As Wayne put it, ‘Fake drunk Abby might’ve written it,’ because I genuinely have no recollection of writing this. But I dedicate this one to all my fellow Swifties on here!!!

This is was looked over by @msmarvelouswinchester and @waynes-multiverse , biiig thank you to both of you!!! 😚

Please tell me what you think about it.

FEEDBACK IS HIGHLY APPRECIATED!!!

Happy Reading :)

*****

You were drunk off your ass. That was the understatement of the year. Dean, your boyfriend had gone on a ‘brothers hunting trip’ with his brother Sam, leaving you all alone in the bunker. He had texted you that he'd be back in a maximum of four days. That was two days ago, which meant you still had two days to spend. 

You had cleaned every dirty corner you could find, did all of your laundry, had made two pies for Dean and gone through everything on Netflix. You were bored out of your mind. Another understatement. You had an idea which you thought was brilliant. 

You had gone to the library and started looking around for Dean’s whiskey. You’d have gone to a bar but they weren’t your scene and then you’d also have to drive back alone. So you decided to get drunk in the bunker and play your music as loud as you wanted without Sam and Dean telling you to turn it down because Sam was researching as always and Dean didn’t think Taylor Swift was actual music. You decided you’d have a dance party by yourself. 

You initially had thought of drinking less but then you didn’t know when the whole bottle was finished. You couldn’t even stand up without everything around you spinning. You sat there at one of the tables in the library trying to make everything stop spinning. 

Suddenly, the bunker’s door screeched and it opened. Your hunter instincts kicked in and you quickly stood up and hid behind the wall beside the stairs joining the library and war room, your hands balled in fists, your stance of someone ready to fight. You heard heavy footsteps coming towards you and when they sounded close enough to you, you outstretched your fist and it met with something hard. 

“Oohf!” Someone groaned. 

It took your intoxicated mind a little while before you figured out who that groan belonged to. 

“Sam?!” You questioned, coming out of your hiding spot to look at the tall hunter. One of his hands covered his nose that was now bleeding. You had forgotten how mean your right hook was. 

“Hey Y/n! You know I wasn’t expecting such a good welcome back.” He winced at the last word, his voice sounding nasally. 

“What’s going on here?” Dean’s gruff voice sounded as he made his way to where you both were standing. 

“I punched Sam in the face because I thought someone broke into the bunker and oh my god I’m really really sorry Sam. If I had known it was you-” your rambling was cut off by Sam saying that he was going to take care of this while he pointed at his nose and that there was no need for an apology as it wasn’t your fault. 

Dean put a hand on your arm and turned you around. Your eyes met his confused green ones. 

“Why’d you think someone broke in? You know there’s only one key and we have it?” Dean asked. 

“Oh! Right. Silly me.” You chuckled, slapping your forehead, your words slurring. 

Dean’s more confused gaze then went to the empty bottle of whiskey on the table and realisation hit him that you were drunk. 

“Are you the one who finished that?” He asked amusingly, pointing towards the bottle on the table. 

You spun around too quickly and felt dizzy, losing your footing for a second. Luckily, Dean caught you and also got the answer to his question. 

“Okaay! Let’s get your ass to bed.” He turned you around, his hands on your shoulders, guiding you to your shared room. 

“Why’d you drink so much anyway, sweetheart?” He asked on the way to your shared room. 

“ I mished…mished. I’m not saying that rightly, am I? Anyways as Taylor Swift once said ‘And all I've seen, Since eighteen hours ago, Is green eyes and freckles and your smile, In the back of my mind making me feel like, I just wanna know you better'” you continued your rambling. 

“You already know everything about me sweetheart,” Dean teased. 

You jumped on him and Dean caught you before you could fall. Your arms around his neck and your legs wrapped around his waist. 

“But I wanna know you better-er.” You whined in his arms, “You are my boyfie after all.”

“I’m your what now?” Dean questioned. 

“My boyfie!” You enunciated each letter, “You know when two people love each other. You’re my boyfie and I’m your girlfie.” You said like it made sense and Dean was being crazy. 

You didn’t know but Dean had carried you inside the room and was already standing beside the bed with you stuck to him like a baby chimpanzee is stuck to its mother. 

“Oh, ok!” He said, smiling at your antics, “Now get down Y/n.” He said, pulling at your arms around his neck. 

“But I looove youuu!!” You pouted. 

“I know and I love you too but right now you need to sleep this off. Come on!” He gently put you on the bed. You stood on wobbly legs on the bed, Dean turning around to find a bottle of water and some Advil for you. 

When he turned back, he saw you jumping on the bed. His jade orbs turned wide, panic filling them as he saw you almost fall off the bed. He caught your arms making you sit on the bed and groaned, “You’re so gonna regret this in the morning.”

“As Taylor Swift once said ‘They say I did something bad, Then why's it feel so good?’” You retorted. 

Dean rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah yeah. Here, take these and finish the whole bottle, ok?” He put two pills in one of your hands and the bottle in the other. 

You did as you were told while Dean changed into a fresh tee and boxers, watching this Greek god of a man looking so beautiful even while doing something as simple as changing into some comfortable clothes to sleep in. 

“Dean, tell me something,” you asked. 

He hummed in return. 

“As Taylor Swift once said, ‘What must it be like, To grow up that beautiful? WITH YOUR HAIR FALLING INTO PLACE LIKE DOMINOS’” you screamed the lyrics at the top of your lungs. 

Dean winced and turned to you. He had seen you drunk before but this time it was like you were a whole new person. 

“Y/n, as Taylor Swift once said, ‘You need to calm down’” Dean said while rolling his eyes, playing the game you had started. 

“OH MY GOD!!! OH MY FUCKING GOD! Dean fucking Winchester just quoted Taylor fucking Swift. OH MY GOD!!! My life is COMPLEEEETE. I can die happily now. I have NO regrets.” You said, dramatically falling backwards on the bed and putting the back side of your hand on your forehead. 

“Okay you drama queen. Come here.” He rolled his eyes and pulled at your arm to make you lie down properly on the bed. 

“As the queen Taylor Swift once said, ‘Call it what you want, yeah, call it what you want to.’” You sassed back. 

He let out a huff and rolled his eyes for a millionth time that night. After turning off the light, he got into bed, you quickly putting your head on his chest and him wrapping his arm around you. 

“Dean, as Taylor Swift once said, ‘My heart is yours’” You mumbled, sleepily. 

“Well as Taylor Swift once said, ‘I think he knows.’” He replied with a soft smile on his lips. 

You hummed and mumbled something incoherent.  

Dean kissed the top of your head and said, “Sleep well sweetheart. I have a feeling you’re going to feel like crap on toast in the morning.”

*****

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT IT?!

TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS PLEASE!!!

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