#and also it would have animated effects unlike the Light block

[feelmyskinonyourskin]

Judex, Judicum, Infantem - Chapter 1

(Eventual) Reader x Matt Murdock x Frank Castle

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gif by me

summary: Two pink lines stared back at you and began to blur in your vision as tears welled in your eyes. Shit. You think back on one of the possible encounters with Frank that could have resulted in this.

warnings: SMUT/18+ (don’t interact if your age is not in your bio) AFAB Reader. No use of Y/N. Mention of pregnancy. Unprotected P in V, Oral mention, aftercare. Pet names. Angst.

wc: 2,144

*I never give permission for my fics, manips, or any other original creation I post on Tumblr to be copied, posted elsewhere, translated, or fed into any AI program. The only platforms I currently post on are Tumblr and AO3. Thanks!*

The tile of the bathroom floor was cool against the back of your thighs as you sat there waiting. A welcome relief to how intensely it felt like your body was producing nervous sweat.

17 more seconds.

You squeezed your eyes shut and inhaled deeply, trying to calm your nerves. Your leg bounced up and down as you waited, feeling like the seconds dragging on were taking an eternity.

It was only a few days late. Okay maybe like a week. Or two. You’d lost count. But it was so unlikely.

You were just stressed, that’s all. There had to be an explanation.

Your birth control was 99% effective according to the doctor. And you had absolutely taken it every day. Right? Right. Maybe.

There couldn’t be any way.

You jolted at the sound of the timer on your phone and scrambled to silence it while also lunging for the little plastic stick balancing on the corner of the sink.

You held it with both hands in front of you.

Two pink lines stared back at you and began to blur in your vision as tears welled in your eyes.

Shit.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

A few weeks earlier

The moan started in the back of your throat and died just as it escaped your lips, muffled by the scratchy fabric beneath you where your cheek was pressed into. The flesh of your rear was hiked in the air and reverberated with a slapping sound each time Frank thrust into you harshly over and over. His grasp was firm, each hand anchored to where your waist met your hips. Mindlessly pulling you back into his body in a counter to his rhythmic movements.

“Just one more sweetheart” he cooed “Just need to feel one more from you.”

Your knees ached and your hip joints were starting to lock up, but you didn’t even dream of tapping out, too lost in the bliss of Frank pulling so many orgasms out of you tonight, you’d lost count. How long you’d thought of having him in a moment like this. Felt the tension between the two of you rise and rise until the coil finally snapped. Now the two of you were like animals, freshly freed from their cages and ready to pounce on each other until you collapsed in exhaustion under the dingy florescent lights of the small office in the abandoned warehouse where he was currently squatting.

His accommodations weren't particularly comfortable — the cinder block office of an abandoned electric company facility wasn't what one would call homey. Nor was the utilitarian and practical way he had it arranged, with floor to ceiling shelves of canned food and ammunition. You also wanted to make some snappy comment about the mattress on the floor with no bed frame, covered in worn bedding matching the singular lumpy pillow your face was now buried into as he fucked you mercilessly. Would this man ever allow himself a single damn comfort? A fuzzy blanket or even a throw pillow or a mug that didn’t look like it was dug up from a time capsule from 1982?

A firm slap on your ass had you whimpering as you clutched at the sheets beneath you.

“Quit bein’ difficult baby.” he commanded

Baby.

Fuck, you shuddered at the mere sound of that word in his raspy, fucked out voice. It seemed almost unbelievable to you that you’d ever hear him call you that in this manner.

You weren’t trying to be difficult. It was just that you knew as soon as this was over, as soon as the two of you would lay there together in the afterglow, that things would change between the two of you and a conversation would need to happen. One you so desperately didn’t want because you knew where it would lead. You knew Frank would never allow himself the warm and fuzzy hallmark ending. So you held off on your orgasms as long as possible. Which wasn't easy to manage considering how psychically he was reading every ministration of your body.

Adjusting his position, his large paw of a hand came to rest on the back of your neck. Not with the pressure of a full on choke, but enough firmness to steer you as he please like the rudder of a boat. You felt the thump on the mattress as his foot anchored beside your aching leg. His new stance placed him on one knee, increasing his leverage and depth. He fucked into you as if he wasn’t just chasing your pleasure; it was as if he was trying to expel the demons of how he felt about you. Seeking with each punch of his tip against your cervix to rid himself of the guilt of whatever spark he allowed between the two of you to grow and grow until it turned into this.

The hand on your neck pulled your head upward so his other hand could reach around to press two of his thick digits between your lips, along your tongue, and down your throat.

That did it.

You groaned on his fingers as your cunt clenched around his cock. His feral roar rumbled from behind you a moment later as he spilled himself inside your still trembling walls. Just as the last of your heat’s spasms died down, you felt the comfort of his fingers leave your mouth and a trail of drool dribbled down your chin. With feather light precision, he replaced his controlling grip on your neck with his chapped lips and the bristle of his 5 o’clock shadow. He continued kissing down your spine. You let his journey guide you, lowering your body vertebrae by vertebrae until you were flat on your stomach, finally letting your muscles relax with a groan.

“Atta girl, baby.” he whispered, followed by one final kiss to the base of your lumbar.

There was that damn word again. Baby. Almost as if he…

I love you

The words wisped through your train of thought like a siren’s distant call.

Shut up, brain.

A satisfied hum escaped him as he flopped on the bed beside you. Cocky grin growing on his face, he rolled on his side and traced soft circles into the heated and sticky flesh of your arm.

“You good?” he inquired

You replied with a content mumble, watching as his soft eyes drank you in beside him.

“So good, Frankie.”

“So fuckin’ beautiful” he murmured, almost as if he didn’t even realize he was verbalizing the thought out loud.

Your heart froze up at his words. He thought you were beautiful.

I love you.

The three words you so desperately wanted to say danced on the tip of your tongue in the spaces of silence between inhales and exhales, threatening to spill out of your lips and inevitably lead to what you dreaded.

The conversation.

Frank sensed the shift, clearing his throat as he rolled onto his back and all the way into a sitting position.

“Stay put. I’ll get you cleaned up.”

You tried not to let him hear the sigh that pushed from your lungs as you rolled onto your back, a physical release of the words you knew you felt but didn’t dare say.

He returned a moment later, clad in black sweat pants that hung low on his hips, and carried a damp grey washcloth.

“Ew, do I wanna know where that’s been?” you asked as he tapped at your knee, indicating for you to open your legs

“Can you not have a fuckin’ mouth on you for once? Tryin' to take care of you.”

You shrugged and parted your legs so he could clean you up.

“If you were a little less eager earlier, you could have known exactly what my fucking mouth is good for.”

“Christ.” he mumble with a sigh and a shake of his head, meeting your eyes with a smirk on his face

You couldn’t help but grin in return, noticing the flush rising in his neck and knowing it was you that got him all flustered. It was your favorite thing to do to Frank.

Well, after tonight, your second favorite thing.

You scrunched your nose with a giggle as he ducked back down, ever the focused Marine on the mission before him.

The washcloth hit the concrete floor with a splat as he finished and tossed it aside.

No sooner had you relaxed into the comfort of the bedding beneath you, still hazy and coming down from your bliss, a soft fabric something landed on your face. The projectile carefully aimed in playful retaliation for your previous comment. You swiped it away and sat as he climbed back onto the mattress beside you.

The faded olive sweatshirt he tossed at you was clearly old; the worn Marine’s emblem on the left breast and the holes along the sleeve banding indicative of it’s history of threadbareness. Still, it smelled like Frank, all comfortable and warm and familiar. As you slipped it over your head, you realized it felt like him too.

Just as you’d gotten the garment situated just right on your body, you felt the gentle pull of his arm around you. Drawing you against his chest, he pressed a kiss into your hair. His embrace, much like his sweatshirt, was warm and comfortable.

It was still. Silent and content in the air surrounding the two of you and what had just transpired. Maybe you could be at peace with how things had just changed between the two of you.

And then at your eye level came his hand, fiddling with the gold ring he wore on a chain around his neck.

A reminder of why you couldn’t bring yourself to say the three words that had been echoing in your conscience all evening. Why if you dared speak them, you’d never hear him say them back. Even if it was what he truly felt. It would only break your heart more than he was about to.

The calmness you’d just been feeling whooshed out of you like a hot air balloon popping and deflating.

Neither of you spoke yet, but the clicking of his tongue let you know he was trying to find his words.

“Sweetheart… I…” he stumbled

“I know. I shouldn’t have…” you trailed off

“No, hey. It’s just—”

You cut him off.

“Your dead wife.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Sorry.”

“It ain’t just that. Look,” he paused, still finding the line between expressing his feelings and not crushing you completely “the life I live, it ain’t... I mean I just can’t have someone waiting with the porch light on for me. You know?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake Frank, when have you ever known me to be the type—”

“I know, I know. But, baby,”

Stop fucking calling me that.

“You’re just too damn good.”

“Oh don’t give me the ‘you’re too good for me’ spiel Frank. You’re better than that.”

“It ain’t a lie though.”

He sat upright, undoing the arm that was around you to fully face you.

The soft way he caressed your thigh and the earnest look in his eyes was almost enough to make you forgive him for whatever he was about to say.

“I had my shot you know? Had it all and I blew it. Can’t tell you how many times she begged me not to go back, but I thought I had time. Thought they’d always be there. I had to keep goin' back and back and then they got taken. Finally decided I wasn’t goin’ back and didn’t even get a day with them then they were just gone.”

You had to look away from his piercing brown eyes, or the tears would start flowing and you just couldn’t bare to let him see you cry. Not now. You’d never heard Frank speak so candidly about what happened to his family, always skirting around the topic as if he was trying not to fall into the mouth of a volcano.

“And now,” he continued “I’m just this now. I don’t know if I can go back to bein’…”

Normal. Happy. In love with someone who isn't her.

He licked at his lips as his words began to falter again, thoughts coming out choppy and all over the place.

“… and you deserve, you deserve someone who can give you that, you know?”

“I don’t want that.” you replied, finally finding some courage to meet his gaze again

“Bullshit.”

“You don’t get to decide for me what you think I should or shouldn’t want, Frank! God, you always think you’re right and it pisses me off.”

“Hey. Shhh.” he cooed, trying to pull you back into his arms again

But, you resisted.

“I should go.”

“No, no. Hey.”

His firm hand reached up, cradling your chin and turning your face to his.

“Stay? Just for tonight?”

Those goddamn brown eyes.

“Okay.” you contested

Maybe you could keep pretending this was real until the morning.

next chapter

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[pathfinderunlocked]

Zandrel - CR4 Aberration

Weird coincidences are common when a Zandrel is near.

Artwork by Kez Laczin on ArtStation, official art from Numenera, copyright Monte Cook Games.

The zandrel is a monster originally designed for the Numenera tabletop RPG, a scifi game with some of the most insane and outrageous monster concepts of any game out there. Unfortunately, the actual combat mechanics for said monsters are very lacking in rules, mostly just leaving it up to the game master to decide how to mechanically represent what the bestiary's lore says they can do.

Monte Cook Games did release a D&D 5e book full of 5e stat blocks for their Numenera monsters, but the zandrel in that book is still basically just all fluff and no mechanics. It gets advantage on all d20 rolls and is otherwise just a CR4 bird. With this Pathfinder version, I hoped to give it some real gameplay at the table, both before and during combat.

A zandrel is an aerial predator that has amazing vision and hunts by either day or night. It can glide on updrafts in the air for days or possibly months at a time before it must descend to rest or hunt again. It can usually rise so high that it is essentially invisible to creatures on the ground, though its eyesight is so keen that it can clearly see anything that moves on the surface even when it's miles high. RAW, seeing a creature flying half a mile above you in plain sight is a DC 264 Perception check, so when I say "essentially invisible" that's actually quite an understatement.

A zandrel often hunts by choosing a target, following it for hours or days while flying high in the air overhead, and waiting for the ultra-likely random encounters or some crazy stuff from its Improbable Events table to wear the target down before swooping down to attack in the middle of one such event. It has no special knowledge of what events will occur.

If you're not using random encounters, and are instead hand-choosing or fudging when and where your encounters take place, I would suggest having a wild animal or a group of bandits or a PC's long-lost sister or something else that feels "random" attack the PCs just before the zandrel does, to get the same feel. Alternately you can just wait until the Improbable Events table hits them with something nasty.

The way this creature interacts with random encounters will be interesting to certain kinds of GMs and not others. I wanted to include that, but I also tried to make the rest of its abilities interesting enough that it still felt like a cool monster even if you're not using that aspect of it. It's still much more GM-fiat-reliant than a typical Pathfinder monster - Pathfinder is a game where abilities normally have very specific and well-defined effects, and this is a monster that can cause almost anything to happen. It's a good monster to use if you enjoy improv in your games.

GMs should feel free to customize the Improbable Events table to their liking. If you want absolute chaos instead of just highly unlikely coincidences, you could have certain results on this table create a wild magic surge or even cause the GM to roll on the d10000 net libram of random magical effects.

This is a commissioned monster.

Zandrel - CR 4

Descending from overhead is a large, vaguely birdlike creature with a wicked beak, red and black feathers that end with barbs and spikes, and legs that feature cruel talons. Tiny glowing white motes of light drift in the air around it.

XP 1,200 N Large aberration Init +3 Senses blindsight 30 ft., long-distance vision, see in darkness; Perception +17 Aura improbability field (1 mile)

DEFENSE

AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 11 (+3 Dex, +2 natural, –1 size) hp 39 (6d8+12) Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +8 Immune poison

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (good) Melee 2 talons +7 (1d6+3 plus grab) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks constrict (talon, 1d6+3 plus poison), flash of misfortune, swoop down

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 11 Base Atk +4; CMB +7 (+11 grapple); CMD 20 Feats Endurance, Flyby Attack, Weapon Focus (talon) Skills Fly +11, Perception +17, Stealth +3, Survival +15; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Survival SQ improbability field, improbable events

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Flash of Misfortune (Su) As an immediate action, when a creature other than itself within 100 ft. makes a d20 roll, a zandrel can force it to roll twice. The zandrel chooses which die result is used.

Improbability Field (Ex) Within 1 mile of a zandrel, whenever a creature rolls on a d100 table or similar large table of random results, including random encounter tables, the GM should roll 5 times and choose the most interesting result. This does not apply to the zandrel's own Improbable Events table.

Additionally, within 1 mile of a zandrel, whenever a creature rolls to determine if it runs into a random encounter, the GM should roll 5 times. A random encounter occurs if any die roll results in a random encounter.

Improbable Events (Ex) Once per hour, the zandrel can roll on the following table, causing one of the following effects to happen after a 1d10 x 5 minute delay:

1-20: Abnormal weather effect appropriate for the region, as described in the Core Rulebook 21-30: Storm weather effect appropriate for the region, as described in the Core Rulebook 31-40: Powerful storm weather effect appropriate for the region, as described in the Core Rulebook 41-50: A creature of the zandrel's choice within 1 mile encounters one of the previous 10 enemy groups fought by that creature, chosen at random (reroll any option that is impossible). 51-53: Lightning strikes a random creature or object, or a creature or object of the GM's choice, within 1 mile, dealing 5d6 electricity damage (Reflex save DC 13 halves). 54-56: Lightning strikes creature or object of the zandrel's choice within 1 mile, dealing 5d6 electricity damage (Reflex save DC 13 halves). 57-58: A meteorite falls from space and strikes a space of the GM's choice within 1 mile, creating a 20 ft. radius crater and dealing 5d6 bludgeoning damage to creatures and objects in that area, ignoring hardness less than 20. A DC 13 Reflex save halves the damage, and all creatures within 1 mile of the zandrel that can see the sky receive a DC 20 Perception check to notice the meteorite falling 1 round before it lands, and those that see it can make a DC 20 Knowledge (geography) check to determine where it will land. The meteorite contains 200 GP worth of adamantine. 59-60: A creature of the zandrel's choice within 1 mile, and everything else within the stampede's area, is trampled by a 20-ft.-wide stampede of wild animals moving in a straight line, and takes 4d6+9 bludgeoning damage (Reflex save DC 13 halves), as described in the summon stampede spell. 61-65: A creature of the zandrel's choice within 1 mile steps on a concealed bear trap that was left behind. 66-99: Nothing 100: A random creature, or a creature of the GM's choice, within 1 mile, locates a treasure trove containing 1d10 x 500 gp worth of mundane treasure.

Long-Distance Vision (Ex) When making sight-based Perception checks and other sight-based skill checks that take the same penalty for distance, instead of the normal -1 penalty per 10 feet, a zandrel only takes a -1 penalty per 1000 feet.

Poison (Ex) Constrict—injury; save Fortitude DC 15; frequency instantaneous; effect overwhelmed for 1 round; cure N/A. This poison is applied each round that the constrict damage is dealt, and does not continue afterwards.

An overwhelmed creature is staggered and cannot concentrate. If an overwhelmed creature attacks or casts a spell, it falls prone and becomes helpless until the beginning of its next turn after doing so. Effects that would remove or prevent the paralyzed or nauseated conditions also remove or prevent the overwhelmed condition.

Swoop Down (Ex) As a full-round action while flying or falling, a zandrel can fly downwards at a speed of up to 800 ft. per round (the speed of a falling object), and make a talon attack against a target at the end of its fall, ending its movement flying at ground level without taking falling damage or requiring a Fly check. This counts as a charge, giving the zandrel a +2 bonus to attack on the charge and -2 AC for one round afterwards. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

[ecargmura]

Blue Lock Episode 34 Review - The Demon Of The Second Half

The vibes the beginning of the second half is certainly different from the first half now that Shidou is playing in the game. Who knew Blue Lock’s biggest challenge would be one of their fellow participants? It’s definitely a crazy ride when the Blue Lock XI starts using their reserves.

I feel like unlike the training session at the beginning of the season, Shidou being an opponent for the Blue Lock XI makes him a much more terrifying opponent as he can go all out and face little repercussions because of it. Nobody in Blue Lock matches his play style, hence why Sae decided to have him play for him and the U-20. He’s certainly the dark horse of the match. His Dragon Dive and all of his demon wing spawning was really fascinating to watch. His dynamic with Sae is also interesting because he acts a bit differently towards Sae than he does with Rin. Shidou and Sae have a demon and a demon tamer sort of vibe as Sae was legit telling him to not attack Niko for blocking his moves (also, poor Niko’s foot; that gotta hurt).

Chigiri actually improves the animation quality by making him sprint with his legs moving for once. The way he was running towards Shidou during the free kick session was really cool. Too bad that he wasted all of his energy and got a leg cramp because of that. It must be really frustrating when you realize that you didn’t take something seriously at first and now when you do, you’re facing the repercussions of not taking it seriously before. The way he looked upset when he was being switched out was heartbreaking. Though, I did like that the audience was praising his sprinting.

Chigiri and Niko are switched for Reo and Hiori. It’s interesting to see their play styles as Hiori is a serious technician with his ability to strategize on the field. I really liked the effect of the snowflake motif coming out from beneath him. It reminds me of Akaza’s Blood Demon Art. Reo is an interesting choice because of his copy abilities. He even copied Aiku’s snake defending technique and I was gawking when that appeared on the screen. Having these two on the field is clearly going to be a wild ride because they’re not the strongest players, yet I love unpredictability more than the predictability of a strong player shooting a goal. I wonder which one of these two reserves will get a goal.

The additional time was super cute with Isagi’s mom and Bachira’s mom getting along. It’s typical for moms, especially Asian moms, to tell embarrassing stories about their kids. Apparently, Isagi has been a very sensitive kid and can predict rain despite extremely sunny weather. This detail has been told in the Blue Lock light novel, so it’s nice that they incorporated some light novel trivia into the main anime. Bachira was a pretty blunt kid, and he sort of still is to this day.

I honestly can’t wait to see how the rest of the second half will turn out. The flow of the match certainly did take a turn with Shidou playing, but will Blue Lock be able to steer to back to their direction? I can’t wait for next week! What are your thoughts on this episode?

[skeletonmob]

Catharsis - Chapter 12

Chapter 11

Masterpost

Chapter 13

Word Count ~ 2850

Reading Time ~ 14min.

Aug 5

Maria, Autumn, and Lily spent the day at Carnival – an indoor mini golf course, arcade, and bar. It was located in an old turn of the century brewery a few blocks away from Coors Field. The actual mini golf course was located on the second floor and it was surprisingly quiet. There were numerous speakers overhead playing music, but unlike most other places, they weren't purposely trying to give you a headache. You could also hear music and arcade machines radiating through the floor, but you'd only be able clearly hear them if you were next to the stairs. Beyond that, there were also other groups taking and sound effects from the various holes. Overall, the total volume was akin to the food court at Park Meadows on a very slow day.

The three were led upstairs by Sam, who began explaining everything.

"So we have three courses: yellow, green, and blue. The ends of all of these courses have a . . . they basically have a deposit box of golf balls, and that's how we retrieve them. DO NOT try to fish your golf ball out of that!" Sam pointed to a row of oversized gumball machines that were filled with colored golf balls, "You're supposed to get a new ball for every course, that's just how we keep them in circulation and help keep track of things. If your tokens somehow disappear, just show your stamp to the front desk and we'll get you some more."

"Okay." Autumn could sort of see the logic behind it, but not entirely.

Sam pointed towards a counter stall with a neon martini sign by it.

"If you want to order drinks, you can do so at that counter. You can either pick them up there or say 'we're on hole three of the green course' and someone there will bring it to you. Bathrooms are also just past there. If you have any more questions ask somebody over there or stop by the front!"

"Of course!" Lily cheered.

Sam headed downstairs. The three got their golf balls and set about their mini golf journey. An array of green rectangles, colorful plastic props, and equally colorful lights stretched out before them.

"Which one do you want to start with?" Autumn asked.

"They all seem pretty fun!" Lily exclaimed.

"I was planning on going from right to left." Maria said.

"Let's start with the one in the middle." Autumn suggested, "It looks pretty flat compared to the others."

Maria and Lily agreed. The green course was your basic mini golf course. There was a large windmill in the center and a skull mountain directly behind it. There was a hole shaped like a half pipe, one with a loop-de-loop, and many others with sharp angles and a variety of non standard layouts. Beyond that it was your typical mini golf course.

The blue course was next. From a distance, it looked like a theater stage. A large wooden cutout of the Rocky Mountains stretched the length of the wall, with a cutouts of various plants and animals in front of it. The idea was that you were hiking through the wilderness, and you had to zig-zag your way up the mountain before heading back down to start the green course. The highlight for them was the 'salmon run', where you had to gently guide your ball up a long staircase that was painted to look like a cascading river.

"Hey! Do you guys want something to drink?" Lily asked as they finished this course.

"Didn't you guys want to go out to lunch later?" Autumn asked.

"Yeah, but we can still get something small to tie us over. It's getting kind of stuffy in here anyway."

Maria checked her phone. It was a quarter till one. The lunch rush was in full swing, and by the time they'd finished it would probably be over.

"Sure, we're probably going to get hamburgers anyway." she said.

The three of them headed over to the counter and looked at the menu. There was a small selection of beer, a variety of cocktails, a lot of dessert and a lot of fried food.

"You want to get the fish and chips or the coconut shrimp?" Lily asked.

"Won't that be too heavy?" Autumn objected.

"If each of us eats a third of it, then not really." Maria said.

After some more thought and discussion, they decided on the coconut shrimp platter. Both Maria and Autumn got a Cancer cocktail, which was a mix of Prosecco, gin, lime syrup, and coconut syrup. Leo season was going to start soon, but it felt like the appropriate drink for coconut shrimp. Lily got a pina colada.

After they ordered, Lily headed into the bathroom. Within a few moments, a familiar voice came to haunt the couple.

"Hey!" Leon slammed his hand onto the table they were at, "You should totally come to my tech showcase on the 8th! It's going to be super aweso - "

"Dude! Stop stalking us!" Autumn shouted.

"I'm not stalking - "

"Yes, you are! It doesn't matter if you're the richest man alive! You don't just walk up to people ask if they can be best friends with you!"

"Listen, I'm not trying to become friends with any of you! I'm just trying to advertise!"

"Says the world's most divorced man."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT!" Leon's scream echoed throughout the room, grabbing everybody's attention.

Leon started going on a tangent about how nobody appreciated him. How nobody acknowledged his hard work. How nobody acknowledged his genius ideas. How no woman he met acknowledged his charm. Neither Maria or Autumn were paying attention. Autumn was desperately trying to remove the rubber head from his golf club, to no avail. The shaft was made of steel and it was the most immediate wand he had on hand. Maria was simply standing there in shock, worrying once again why Leon was so obsessed with bringing her into his inner circle. Though she didn't have to worry for long, as security came to drag Leon kicking and screaming away.

Lily exited the bathroom just in time to see Leon being dragged away. She rushed over to her friends.

"What happened?" She frantically asked.

"Fuckboy was trying to 'advertise' to us again." Autumn said, exasperated.

Lily looked at the tickets on the table.

"Oh, this is for that tech show or whatever! We should totally go!"

The was a confused pause.

"You want to go?" Maria asked.

"Yeah! There's been a lot of talk online about pulling an epic prank on him during the show. I've even seen some actual blueprints!"

"That's just people talking shit about him." Autumn retorted.

"No, for real! I've even seen a video where a maintenance guy talks about all how easy it is to hack into a sound stage and stuff!"

"Again, that's just people talking shit. That doesn't mean they actually want to go through with it."

"Come on! We have to go! If something crazy does happen, we have to be there!"

-----

Maria was anxious. She couldn't stop thinking about her multiple encounters with Leon. She desperately hoped that he was just trying to rebuild his reputation. Trying prove how cool and awesome he was. But more and more it seemed like he had an unrequited love for her. Maria, of course, did not want her life to turn into a soap opera. She went through enough emotional turmoil when Brandon died. She needed to address this problem somehow. But how, exactly?

It'd take a few weeks, maybe even a few months, to get a restraining order and it probably wouldn't do anything. Getting him to a therapist would probably be impossible. Leon was definitely one of those guys who thought he could do no wrong. Distracting him with new hobbies or community service might work, but that had a high risk of backfiring. Maria could lie and say she was trying to get into 40K or something and convince Leon to come along, but he might interpret that as a date. She also wasn't very confident in her acting skills.

Maria stared at the ceiling for a long while. She then suddenly sat up, eyes immediately locking onto the box with all of Brandon's letters in it. Leon was definitely trying to rebuild his reputation. He was trying to prove to the world that he was a cool, chill dude, especially because the majority of the public blames him for starting the Bullion War. She was certain of that much. The solution, she figured, was to show him how uncool she was. Prove to him that they'd be incompatible on every level, that she would not be a good fit for his inner circle, that she had nothing to offer him. Revealing her past with Brandon would make her seem 'tainted' in his eyes.

Maria picked up a beige envelope. The idea sounded like it could work, but it also felt very . . . disgraceful. It felt insulting to reveal all these personal details, especially after everything Brandon had went through.

Apr 18, 2014

Dear Maria,

There was a car bombing outside the Ministry of Utilities building yesterday. The minister himself is fine, but there was a lot of collateral. About 30 people were injured. Me and everyone else secured the area then helped the ambulances as best we could. There's a good handful of kids who're in critical condition. A lot of them were bleeding from the head from being thrown by the blast. There was one girl who suffered a bunch of 1st degree burns. I haven't heard if they're going to pull through yet.

Honestly, I don't really know how I feel about all this. It was horrible what happened, but at the same time, I'm kind of relieved that the other shoe finally dropped. Then I feel guilty for thinking that. I guess I'm just shocked overall? Some of the older guys are congratulating me on 'losing my virginity' and that just feels so callus. But I can't object. Everyone will just call me a pansy or say that's just how things are and I should deal with it.

I really just want to go home.

Brandon

Aug 6

The flypaper flower had completely died off a few weeks ago, and I chopped the stalks down so they wouldn't fall over and crush the other plants. There were some more aphids on the basil and the peppers, which I killed with Saturn magic once again. The stems of the basil were becoming woody and were less fragrant than before. There were a few offshoots growing from our previous session, but I think this would probably be the last time we'd be able to harvest them. The peppers had exploded in number and showed no sign of stopping.

"Have you done anything with these guys?" I asked.

"Like, actual cooking? I've made some stir fry and a jar of chili flakes with them." Maria responded.

"Great! Just letting you know that local restaurants will gladly take these off your hands if there's too much for you."

"Do you just walk up and hand them a bag? I've never actually done that."

"You normally just ask someone there if they need anything, and if you have it on hand, you can give it to them. Your local Asian or Mexican restaurant would probably have the most use for hot peppers."

"There's a Nashville hot chicken place near my apartment."

"That works too!"

I had brought a large wicker basket from home and it was starting to fill up fast.

"Do you know why – has there been any research into the psychology of celebrities?" Maria suddenly asked after a moment of silence.

"Not on celebrities specifically." I answered, "Most research is usually done with average Joes like you and me, but if it's done well, you can extrapolate out to the population overall."

"Do you know why rich people are so neurotic then?"

"Like on reality TV or just in general?"

"Like . . . like with Leon Funk. Why people like him act the way they do?"

"Well, it's a long story," I explained, "There've been multiple longitudinal studies that've tried to figure out the correlation between economic status and parenting styles. The hypothesis was that if parents have more money, then their kids will generally have better access to healthcare, education, and leisure. So the more money parents make, the more relaxed and carefree they'd be. However, every study done on that subject concluded that rich parents tend to have highly neurotic, entitled, and or misanthropic kids."

"So Leon acts the way that he does because of his parents?"

"Yes, but that begs the question: why are the parents like this? The general consensus is that the more money you have, the easier life will be, yet these studies seemingly contradict that. So more studies were done, this time on the parents. The majority of parents in the study were afraid of losing their money or social status, so they tried everything they could to get their kids into Ivy League schools or train them to take over the family business. Because of this, many kids felt like their parents didn't listen to them, or felt like they had no control over their life, or felt like the universe was being cruel to them."

"I'm assuming the story doesn't end there."

"Yes, because that still begs the question: why are the parents like this? We can keep assuming that it's because of their parents, but that line of logic doesn't stop. It's also unlikely that every single family has generational trauma and that it's lasted for centuries. The next assumption would be because of society, but that also doesn't hold any water. The average crime rate for any major metropolitan area is about .07% and about 85% of people have reported that they're happy with the current position they're in. You could also just assume that they're inherently assholes, but that's not a good answer from a psychological perspective."

I took a drink of water. Maria stared at me with a confused look on her face. She had no idea what this was leading to.

"So, after musing on this for a great long while, psychologists came up with the theory of the Death Drive. It states that one's own mortality is the driving motivation underpinning all of human behavior."

Maria glanced back down at the peppers, dumbfounded. Like she felt silly for not realizing something so obvious before.

"So Leon is the way he is because of his parents," Maria summarized, still processing it all, "But he also acts the way that he does, because he's afraid to die?"

"Yes, but more specifically, the theory states that how a person confronts their mortality determines their overall behavior. Many people confront it by trying to live the most fulfilling life possible. They try to help others or experience as much of the world as they can. Others will try to gain as much money and fame as possible in an attempt to shield themselves from it."

"And according to the theory, that's what Leon's doing. He's trying to gain as much money and fame as possible."

"Yes."

Maria's hand slowly reached out to another ripe pepper. She pulled it off with a quick twist.

"It does sound convincing." She said, "But it also feels . . . "

"Too simple?"

"No, it just feels . . . very depressing. Like, there's people out there who are actively wasting their lives to try and become the next viral sensation."

"That is sad, but according to the theory, they think it'll help. Plus, if death comes for us all, why not try and make your name last throughout the ages? At least you're still doing something with your life, and it's better than sitting around being miserable all day."

"Yeah . . . "

Maria rested her arms and continued to contemplate everything. I went back to harvesting the last few peppers I could. I just barely heard her whisper something as I finished.

"Guess this is my only chance."

"Huh?"

"Oh! Before I forget, I got tickets to Leon's tech showcase." She handed me two tickets, "Could you come along with me?"

My hand jolted out but then hovered around the tickets.

"He's not forcing you to go, is he?"

"No, but my friend is convinced that it's going to become the internet meme of the century."

"You don't have to go if you don't want to."

"Well . . . like we've been saying, you only live once. And I think it'd be best if you were there with me."

My hand hovered around the tickets for a moment more before I took them. This felt a bit out of character for her, but I assumed that she'd been debating this and that our conversation had convinced her to go through with it.

[etruatcaelum]

BLAKE BELLADONNA

PHYSICAL

Average height. Lean. Narrow shoulders. Brown skin. Thick black hair. Eyes dark gold, with tapeta lucida. Angular. Full mouth, long nose, high cheekbones. Various minor combat scars on her arms and back from her time with the White Fang. Ears of a domestic house-cat, with black fur.

Like many fauni with animal-like ears, Blake has distinctive musculature that is, while not visibly apparent, easily noticeable to the touch: her skull is slightly flatter an more oblong than that of the average human, and she has extra muscle groups that control the motion of her ears. If one were to touch the back or crown of her head, it would feel more like the chin or brow area—these muscles aren't very thick and they lie flat, but there is discernibly a layer of flesh that a human wouldn't have.

Because of this, Blake is extremely particular about not letting people touch her head. (In fact, one of the first things she and Yang bonded over—however trivial it seemed—was shared hatred of other people touching their hair. Everyone on Team RWBY now knows the real reason Blake doesn't like people putting their hands near her head, but as far as anyone else from Beacon knows, she's just protective of her hair.)

Blake's human-like ears are vestigial—she can't actually hear with them. This, too, is common among fauni who have "extra" ears.

STYLE

Tight-fitted clothing. She likes the feeling of compression. Jackets or coats with long tails. Black, white, shades of purple.

Her emblem is a belladonna flower stylized to suggest flame.

GAMBOL SHROUD

Blake's weapon so defies easy description that she made up her own classification when she applied to Beacon, designating it a Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe. It began life as a comparatively simple semi-automatic pistol with a retractable claw-like dagger, which Blake later traded out for a backsword.

Then she added a bladed edge to her sheath.

Then she went through a brief but intense phase of hero-worshipping Sienna, which led to Blake obsessing over chain whips and rope darts for a while and, ultimately, to her addition of Gambol Shroud's "ribbon"—really a chain made of an ultra-light alloy, stitched loosely into a sleeve of elastic black fabric for better grip, but Blake thinks "ribbon" sounds cooler.

One might feel inclined to ask: Why? Why all of this?

Blake would answer: Why not?

AURA

Violet. In the White Fang, Blake received practical aura-training focused much more on engaging human adversaries than grimm. On the defensive side of things, she's much better at parrying and deflecting bullets than blocking fangs or claws—for example, Blake is nearly on par with the average maiden in terms of ability to just idly swat bullets away, but if she tried to stop a striking grimm with her bare hands like Ren does during initiation, she'd probably end up mauled.

On the other end, Blake has a certain affinity for and a very high level of skill in using offensive auraleric techniques that most huntsmen consider to be marginal—because they aren't terribly effective against grimm. The grimm can be wounded by pure aura if the blast is strong enough, but it takes a lot of power and focus; conversely, hitting a trained auralerist with a focused burst of one's own aura is a quick-and-dirty way to end a fight by creating interference that disrupts the target's aura.

SEMBLANCE

Blake registered it with the name Shadow when she enrolled at Beacon: an instant line-of-sight teleport. It leaves behind a tangible afterimage, most often, a formless mirage-like violet haze. When she's very focused, or if she activates her semblance more slowly, this afterimage can become clearer, more lifelike, and even briefly tangible—not unlike the aura-constructs manifested by the Schnee semblance, or Sun's.

She can also infuse the afterimage with dust to conjure statues of ice or stone, or explosive balls of fire.

The way Blake thinks of her semblance when she comes to Beacon is warped by her self-hatred, and heavily influenced by Adam's disdainful outlook on evasion and subterfuge. With time, she leaves this critical perspective behind and gradually reclaims a fairer, more accurate, and healthier conception of Shadow as a power that allows her to reposition herself and take control of the battlefield.

PRINCIPAL ALLUSIONS

Beauty and the Beast –> Blake is the Beauty, though she left the White Fang feeling like a monster and certainly felt like the Beast for much of her time at Beacon and those first few months on Menagerie. Her Beast is divided between Adam, who embodies the violent, dangerous Beast the Beauty fears when she goes to sacrifice herself in her father's stead, and Yang, who shares many of the traits which drew Blake to Adam in the first place—passion, strength, bravery—but who, like the Beast in the tale, proves herself to be noble, kind, and good of heart under the surface.

The Jungle Book –> Blake is Bagheera. RWBY plays a little shell game with the Jungle Book allusion; while the name Ghira is undoubtedly intended to bring Bagheera to mind, narratively, the power struggle between Sienna and Ghira over the White Fang quite plainly takes cues from the coup Shere Khan orchestrates against Akela, the leader of the Seeonee wolf pack; Ghira's pauldron features a wolf-head, and Kali's ears are those of an Indian wolf.

He's the leader of the wolves, Blake is the black panther who, having been born among humans and escaped her cage to return to the jungle, understands both worlds, and Mowgli—much like the Beast—is divided between Adam, the dangerous boy whom no one can look in the eye, and Ilia, the child raised by wolves who cast her out for not being wolf enough.

OTHER NOTES

Blake was twelve years old when her parents left the White Fang and returned to Menagerie. They insisted upon her leaving with them; Blake pretended to accept this, even dutifully boarding the ship to Menagerie with them—but when the ship sailed past a small isle just off the coast a short while later, she hopped overboard, swam ashore, took the ferry back to the mainland, and ran straight back to the White Fang.

From that day until she returned to Menagerie after the Fall of Beacon, Blake had no contact with them.

Generally, I don't truck with the fanon conception of the Belladonnas as perfect parents meant to provide narrative contrast to the abusive Jacques Schnee and the complex dysfunction of the Rose-Xiao Long family. Much as they love Blake and do everything right once she comes home, they also did just about everything wrong when their twelve-year-old ran off to join a now expressly militant activist group, and I think Blake feels deeply hurt by those five years they let pass without trying to contact her. It's... not just because of Adam that she's scared they'll reject her when she finally comes home.

After their departure, Adam, then fifteen, became her "mentor" in the sense that he was just a few years older than her and she thought he was unbearably cool, and tried to tag along with him as often as possible. When Blake was fourteen, she developed an outright crush, and they began dating about a year later. She left him, and the White Fang, only a few weeks before the spring term began at Beacon—several months after she submitted her application and received her acceptance. Blake had been planning her escape for quite a while before she ran.

In the aftermath of all that, her opinion of the White Fang is very colored by Adam; she knew Sienna Khan as a friend and occasional rival of her father's, as a combat instructor, and as a leader with a fierce reputation, but she didn't have much of a personal relationship with the woman. Adam, however, did—Adam was Sienna's protégé—so when he assured Blake that Sienna knew and approved of how he ran the Vale chapter, she believed him.

Bees.

My personal headcanon is that Kali was a ringleaders of the revolt that snowballed into the Faunus Revolution, that she met Ghira months after the war ended and they had a whirlwind affair which resulted very shortly in Blake, the White Fang, and marriage. In that order. In interactions with her parents I'll defer to your headcanons, but those are my default presuppositions.

[archoneddzs15]

Sega Mega CD - Fatal Fury Special

Title: Fatal Fury Special / 餓狼伝説Ｓ��ＥＣＩＡＬ[スペシャル]

Developer: SNK / Funcom / JVC Musical Industries

Publisher: Victor Entertainment

Release date: 31 March 1995

Catalogue No.: T-60214

Genre: 2D Fighting Action

I'm not too sure if I prefer this version of Fatal Fury Special or the Super Famicom version to be honest. Coming from a Mega Drive fan who enjoyed what Takara provided with their ports of Fatal Fury 1 and 2, you would think it's fantastic to see Fatal Fury Special make it to the Mega CD add-on, right? Well, for a start, this Mega CD version does include the original Neo Geo audio in CD-DA recordings and Ryo Sakazaki as a selectable player from the start, unlike the Super Famicom where he's a hidden character. Anyway, let's start. The initial presentation of FFS looks promising: upon booting the game, you get to see the original intro in all of its glory. The title appears complete with a spoken voice: “FATAL FURY… SPECIAL!” The menu appears just like the Neo-Geo home ports, and the character select screen looks almost exactly like you remember it from the arcade. Then you get into the game – and that’s when it all falls apart.

To begin with, the visuals have taken a major, major hit. The animation is so badly cut up that the whole game becomes extremely choppy. The characters themselves look fine and are of a decent size for the system; even Big Bear is nearly as big as he was in the Neo Geo. Even with the meager 64 colors the Mega Drive/Mega CD can dole out at once, everything looks quite colorful with minimal loss in detail. But when about 60% or more of the animation is lost, it simply looks like crap in motion, and bad animation makes it all the harder to control the game, since most of the time your moves animate far too choppy, making collision rather hit-or-miss. Not a good thing when the CPU can pound you into submission in seconds flat.

On top of that, the backgrounds from the original game were also put on the chopping block and are missing too many elements from their original versions. Kim Kaphwan’s stage, for example, was teeming with the hustle and bustle of a big city, while Duck King’s stage was in a nightclub, complete with rave lights, DJs, and a huge crowd. Where is it all? Gone! Wiped clean from existence. A bad port is getting worse.

Audio is a mixed bag. On the plus side, all of the original Neo Geo tunes are present and sound brilliant. The music is all CD Audio and was sampled straight from the Neo Geo version, in essence giving you a soundtrack CD! All of the tracks from Fatal Fury 2 are available, and the new tracks for Duck King and Tung Fu Rue are well-composed and fit their respective characters quite well. But the in-game sounds? Geez, I’d expect a lot better from a system with “CD” in its name! Voices are grainy and sound even worse than a stock Mega Drive; sound effects are muffled and minimal, and even the announcer's voice has been removed! Why, Funcom (and to an extent JVC)?

Oh, as a side note to the presentation: remember how I mentioned the arcade’s intro being preserved? Yeah, that’s about the only thing Funcom got right. Most of the stages had little intros or touches that completed them or gave them personality. And my personal two favorites, Geese Howard and Wolfgang Krauser, got shafted big time. In the Neo Geo version, Geese’s stage opened with you going through several screen doors, almost in tune with the intro bars of his theme. Not in the Mega CD version: straight into the stage you go. Wolfgang? He had an entire orchestra on his stage playing his theme. It seems that Funcom gave them the axe for the Mega CD, because there’s no one to play his theme now.

It really seems like I spent 90% of the review ragging on the Mega CD version considering the Super Famicom and PC Engine Arcade Card CD versions had their own strengths. Still, it's all about playability, and here is where the Mega CD version manages to stay afloat. Overall, Fatal Fury Special is a sub-par port of a superb Neo Geo game. It’s shameful because the Mega CD was more than capable of producing an excellent port that would’ve been the stuff of legend. All negativity aside, it’s at least a cheap alternative to buying a Neo Geo and its version, plus the CD can double as a soundtrack CD. Now that’s not quite a bad thing, is it? All in all, it's a great fighting game and probably the best for Sega's ill-fated Mega CD closely followed by Samurai Shodown [only released in America and Europe by the way] which was also ported by Funcom and JVC.

[ichayalovesyou]

THE BIG VULCAN BIOLOGY POST (aka Vulcan is a Hell Planet)

DISCLAIMER: I am not a biologist, astrophysicist, neurologist, animal psychologist or literally anything that would qualify me to talk about this with 100% confidence. This is the result of dozens of headcanons and obsessive deep dive research. I don’t want this post to be three miles long, so after I address the planetary stuff I will oblige y’all with a Read More.

Adsfasdkfjhaslkdfh I’ve been working on this post for almost a month SO HERE WE GO!

First of all, Vulcan (aka T’Khasi) is a HELL PLANET, which is part of the reason they’re so badass, I say this for the following reasons:

No moon(s) (natural satellites)

Sodium (Salt) is so rare on the planet that Vulcan’s oceans are freshwater

It’s a “Super-Earth” (as in big chonkin’ planet of similar composition to earth in the “goldilocks region”)

Let’s do this.

“Vulcan has no moon Ms. Uhura.”

-Spock, The Man Trap

Tons of things change about our planet if there was no moon:

Much darker nights (no moonlight)

Much lower sea levels since there is no gravity from the moon to pull it upward.

Lower and weaker tides because the water is pulled by the sun instead of the moon, and it depends on how large the Vulcan solar system’s sun is for how big the waves are.

Stronger winds from faster planet rotation.

Depending on whether the axis of the planet would straighten or tilt further without the moon’s pull, combined with the faster rotation would lead to more severe seasons (strong tilt) or no seasons at all (no tilt)

The first factor may lead to Vulcan eyes being very catlike even if they aren’t nocturnal (I think they’re crepesucular but we’ll get into that later). Which given the likely nature of their blood and their herbivorous eating habits they probably aren’t. The sky would still be so dark that our human eyes couldn’t even see our hands in front of us, being blind when the sun goes down could be a death sentence. Alternatively, if they didn’t develop strong night vision that may be one of the reasons why they have such strong senses of hearing.

The stronger winds, faster rotation, and stronger (or nonexistent) seasons come from the lack of resistance and friction that stronger tides and the moon’s pull create on our planet. I suspect that Vulcan is larger, or at least denser than Earth, but I’ve been informed that according to the TMP novelization that it does rotate faster. I also think that Vulcan’s tilt is on the more extreme end to get the hostile extremes like storms and heat that we see on Vulcan.

If you look at this image of Vulcan, water covers way less of the planet’s surface than Earth. I don’t think this is necessarily because Vulcan has less water, but that it isn’t spread as far because of the lack of moon, and the fact that the oceans are freshwater, I’ll get into that shortly.

“My ancestors spawned from a different ocean than yours.”

-Spock, The Man Trap

In the Star Trek: The Original Series (third) pilot The Man Trap, there is a creature that kills its victims by draining their bodies completely of salt. Spock encounters the creature but does not die, implying his (and Vulcans overall) body contains little to no salt. His justification is that his species did not evolve from a salinized ocean.

What does it mean to have oceans with no salt?

This has to mean that sodium is a very rare mineral on Vulcan, as the reason our oceans are so salinized is due to erosion of minerals by rainfall, carried from river to ocean. Salt in the ocean is also generated by submarine volcanic activity, which means either that the volcanoes on Vulcan (which we definitely know exist) somehow don’t produce salt, or the vast majority of the submarine volcanoes have been inactive for millions if not billions of years. The active volcanoes on Vulcan must be very far inland and/or Vulcan has almost no rivers, which given how hot the planet is, wouldn’t actually be too much of a stretch of the imagination.

Which means every single lifeform on T’Khasi, including Vulcans, evolved biosystems that exist without (or with very little) salt content. Any salt that exists would likely be deep beneath the planet’s surface, and within volcanoes.

No saltwater has a ton of consequences:

Plants (like underwater algae) are rarer and may not photosynthesize the same way Earth plants do, meaning less oxygen and more carbon dioxide, which means more greenhouse effect, which means higher temperatures.

The lack of salt would also mean less diverse plant life (at least as humans know it) and given the lack of visible rivers and vast swaths of desert on Vulcan, we can safely say vegetation must be hardier and infrequent.

Lower sea levels as the oceans would have lower density due to lack of salt.

Little to no water convection, which salt is crucial for on Earth. Which means warm ocean water doesn’t move to cold regions and vice versa. Creating extremes, the equator being obscenely hot, and polar waters freezing at the poles more extensively.

Lack of convection means more frequent and stronger storms like hurricanes.

If you thought the lack of a moon made Vulcan inhospitable, compound it with the low sodium factor and you’ve got a planet of even more severe extremes than before. The heat, and the decrease of plant diversity definitely explain why the vast majority of Vulcan is rocky desert, even being near the water poses more extreme dangers than it would on earth due to the increased frequency of hurricanes.

“Mr. Spock is much stronger than an ordinary human being.”

-Kirk, This Side of Paradise

I am almost 100% sure that Vulcan is either bigger or denser than Earth. Which would explain why Vulcans are so much stronger than Humans and other species that exist on similar gravity worlds.

Effects of a high-gravity planet or “Super-Earth” include:

Everything is shorter or has very strong foundations, plants, animals, structures, and people.

More “Armageddon” class asteroids would hit the planet (like the one that killed the dinosaurs and created the Gulf of Mexico)

Larger liquid mantle under the planet’s surface, higher pressure under the surface as well.

Weaker magnetic field due to lack of convection in the planet’s core (not to be confused with the mantle interacting with the planet’s crust). Which means a weaker atmosphere, lower magnetism in surface metals, and increased vulnerability to solar flares.

More volcanically and seismically active due the the increase in the mantle’s size and generated heat, more earthquakes, and more volcanic eruptions.

Would have to have a smaller sun but be closer in orbit to it than earth.

Extremely deep oceans, potentially with water under so much pressure at the bottom that it becomes solid like ice. Luckily Vulcan is not an ocean world, because the pressure would block the planet’s core from interacting with the atmosphere, which would prevent life as we know it from happening.

There is plenty of evidence for this on so many levels. We never see any plant life similar to trees on Vulcan. Nor animals significantly larger than Vulcans, the ones that are bigger are much more muscular. Vulcan’s sky is more red than blue because of the lack of oxygen molecules for the light from the sun to filter as blue. I actually headcanon that Spock is unusually tall for a Vulcan because of his human heritage (Leonard Nimoy was around 6ft tall) , and may have had heart and muscle problems in his teens and early adulthood while on Vulcan.

Perhaps Vulcans are the result of many more extinction level events than we are, contributing to their hardiness. Perhaps they are, evolutionarily, not too much older than we are, and had more incentive to develop extraterrestrial technology than we have, so that they could repel Armageddon Class meteors and defend their planet against Solar Flares? Space travel being born out of self-preservation rather than curiosity. Which would absolutely account for their attitudes in the beginning of Star Trek: Enterprise.

It could be that Vulcans still maintain a semi-nomadic lifestyle even today because their planet is so incredibly volatile. Unsentimental and utilitarian in anything less than the most sacred of architecture long before they adopted the teachings of Surak. Their own survival more valuable than any structure that would inevitably be damaged or destroyed by their planet’s harsh environment.

In summary, Vulcan is a Nightmare Planet because:

So, so many much natural disasters, like, so many, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, hurricanes, twisters, just, so many more than Earth.

Water is relegated to specific locations in the world rather than spread across it due to lack of flow and lower sea levels.

Extreme temperature changes, intense heat, intense cold, hard to breathe, stronger gravity.

Due to the planet’s hostility, there is a smaller diversity of life than we have here on earth, which means fewer and hardier food sources that, like Vulcans, are very difficult to kill.

So… How do they handle it? What features have they developed to adapt and thrive in such an inhospitable place?

First thing is first, lets talk about

BLOOD

“My hemoglobin is based on copper, not iron.”

-Spock, Obsession

Funny thing is Spock, it’s not hemoglobin at all! It’s hemocyanin! In fact, there are earth animals that have it, among them Horseshoe Crabs, crustaceans, mollusks and spiders!

Hemocyanin is blue when it hasn’t been exposed to oxygen, and blue-green when it has, according to some sources on Vulcans their blood is orangey red when unexposed to air and that’s why they have pink lips and so on, but we can brush that off as chemical variation within their hemocyanin. Better yet, maybe it’s trendy for Vulcans to wear pink lipstick nowadays, ‘cause Surak knows how horny Humans and Vulcans are for each other XD! Anyway!

Hemocyanin does quite a few things that our blood can’t, it’s uniquely built for high pressure, low oxygen environments, as well as endure temperature extremes like cold (not unlike nights on their planet). Not only that, but it coagulates and clots WAY faster than our blood. Which means wounds seal themselves off from harmful bacteria and stop bleeding much faster than hemoglobin. Pair that with the Vulcan ability to enter a healing torpor, no wonder Spock keeps surviving environments and wounds that would definitely have killed a human.

Now, the animals I listed don’t have veins, which for us carry oxygen around via hemoglobin, so it’s possible that the same difference that causes Vulcan blood to be a coppery orange-red beneath the skin, is the same reason they have veins. Allowing them to look more like us and lack the exoskeletons and deep ocean delving that their earth blood cousins have.

“The ship’s temperature is increasingly uncomfortable for me. I’ve adjusted the environment in my quarters to 125 degrees.”

-(Elderly) Spock, The Deadly Years

Oh goodie, the Vulcan blood temperature discourse has arrived, the age old question, are Vulcans warm-blooded or cold-blooded? The answer to this question is

YES

I am firmly in the small (but hopefully growing) camp Vulcans Are Heterothermic. Among the earth animals we know to be heterothermic are bumblebees, several species of bats, the opah fish, and the arctic ground squirrel. Of all these animals, despite the opposite temperature intensity of Vulcan’s environment, I’m basing how Vulcans function on the last one, the arctic squirrel.

Which means they can deliberately control their body temperature in accordance to the needs of their survival. I imagine, just as arctic ground squirrels can drop their body below zero as needed (entering what is called a “daily torpor”) Vulcans can do the same. In turn, they could possibly skyrocket their bodies to temperatures that would be a lethal fever for humans. Which makes both McCoy’s “nonexistent Vulcan metabolism” comments in various episodes, as well as describing his blood as “ice water” make sense. As well as Spock being able to handle the heightened body temperature caused by Henoch in “Return to Tomorrow”. It also explains why Spock was in far better shape than Bones in the freezing temperatures of the planet from “All Our Yesterdays”.

However, like arctic squirrel newborns, they start out as ectothermic (cold-blooded) which lends itself to the Vulcan infants needing even more skin to skin to survive than humans theory by @acesexualspock. Being born cold blooded would prevent them from immediately dying the second they were exposed to the dangerous extremes of Vulcan’s heat. I also think they slowly lose the ability to control their metabolic rate as they grow older, slowing down dramatically as they age, which is why Spock gets increasingly colder as he ages rapidly in “The Deadly Years”.

“The brightness of the Vulcan sun has caused the development of an inner eyelid.”

-Spock, Operation: Annihilate

I wanna thank @tribbleland for inspiring this part in particular.

I want to offer a special congratulations to furries people who let their love for anthro-cats bleed into their love for Vulcans, turns out Vulcans are very catlike! Like our feline Terran friends, Vulcans have what is called a Nicitating Membrane. It’s functions that would serve Vulcans well in their desert home include spreading moisture across the eye, protect the eye from small water and small debris (like sand for example), as well as protecting the eye from ultraviolet radiation, which is more or less what Spock said in that episode. Other animals that have Nicitating Membranes aside from felines is actually the majority of the animal kingdom, and primates (like us) are the exception and not the rule. I also subscribe to the idea that Vulcans have other desert dweller features like thick hair and eyelashes, sealable nostrils, big feet, a crepuscular sleep cycle (avoiding extreme midnight and midday temperatures), and a tough as nails digestive system!

As an added bonus fact since this section is pretty short: It makes purrfect sense for Vulcans to purr! In cats purring is an emotional regulator when they are angry or scared (Vulcans are ALL about regulating their emotions) as well as purring when they are happy. It is also a mechanism for healing themselves, their kittens, and their owners, the frequency at which cats purr (25-140 Hz) cover the same frequencies that are therapeutic for bone growth and fracture healing, pain relief, swelling reduction, wound healing, muscle growth and repair, tendon repair, and mobility of joints. I’m over here getting emotional about the mental image of like, Spock or Tuvok or smth sitting next to a wounded crewmember and just like, purring with a completely straight face and that is soft and just a little funny and I am emotionally compromised.

“And are it’s natives predatory?” “Not generally, but there have been exceptions.”

-Spock to Trelaine, The Squire of Gothos

Surprise! This isn’t just going to be about Vulcan dietary needs, it’s gonna be about animal behaviors and self-domestication as well! I was trying to think of herbivores that are capable of eating meat, and then this idea hit me like a bomb going of in my head-

Vulcans are like Hippos!

I don’t mean I think they used to be hippo-like (visually anyway) somewhere along the evolutionary line. I mean that they were probably big, extremely aggressive, pack roaming herbivores that are able to eat carrion when food is scarce. Have you ever seen a video of a group of Hippos smashing an alligator to smithereens? They kill more humans than any solitary predator on the African continent! What about a murder of crows killing a cat that injured one of them, or a group of bison saving a calf from a lion?! Herbivores can be insanely aggressive while still being social, plant-eating animals.

With that in mind, let’s talk about self-domestication! This is something that we humans (and to an extent, cats too) did way back in our biology according to some studies, we bred out aggression and bred in cooperativeness and curiosity. Cats, while partially domesticated by us, started looking for mates that were more sociable so that their offspring could exist closer to humans (and their food) as well as to tolerate other cats. While I do think Vulcans self-domesticated to a degree, I do not think they were able to do so nearly to the same extent as humans or our deliberately domesticated companions. Vulcan is a harsh, violent, and unforgiving planet, even more so than Earth, if Vulcans were naturally as friendly and curious as we Humans are now, they would not have survived as a species.

I believe this is why their emotions are so primal and strong, and things like Pon Farr and their unusually high wariness of the new and unexpected still exist so strongly. How do they live together in such high numbers and develop a functional society? They developed other means of coping as a work-around the impracticality of decreasing aggression!

“Call it a deep understanding of the way things happen to Vulcans.”

-Spock, The Immunity Syndrome

So, how do you have a species as aggressive, unforgiving, and frighteningly strong as Vulcans keep from completely destroying itself (aside from Surak’s teachings)? You take the empathy that humans already have, turn it up to 11, and tack on every evolutionary possibility to increase it. We already know how the Earth comparisons for Vulcan empathy: the extreme vitality of touch for the survival and emotional stability, cats purring to heal each other and themselves (and regulate emotions), nonverbal communication, the ancestral instincts of an infant animal being able to walk days after its born. What if we had all of these traits in remarkable spades, Vulcans certainly seem to! (Be prepared, the science starts getting a little squidgy because there are no real world comparisons and neurology research is very jargon heavy)

Electricity is a fundamental part of the biology of nearly all living things, it allows synapses to fire, regulates our internal organs, and gives us our senses of touch and movement. Skin to skin is so incredibly vital to the survival of infants, and the emotional stability for adults, that needing any more touch could be impractical and counterintuitive. So what if we got more from less? What if our sense of touch, and the acuteness of being able to read the emotions of others from body language and touch manifested as a form of what looks like from an outsider’s perspective, telepathy!

Now what if the radius of the sensation of touch could be extended much farther, say being able to sense someone to the same intensity I described in the last paragraph, like, through a wall or from across a room? What if you could connect to other lifeforms with the same ability like a chain circuit that could connect a whole species together in one giant circuitboard? I just described what Vulcans call the kwar’ma’khon, the telepathic energy that connects all Vulcans to each other!

Imagine having this same intense telepathic connection to someone for an extended period of time, like a t’hy’la or Bond Mate. What if you had a relatively easy to master non-lethal attack against other members of your species, that comes to you easily due to your intrinsic understanding of nerves and touch, like the Vulcan Nerve Pinch. In turn, what if, through the intensity of this connection you could transfer everything you knew and saw and felt to another person in the event of your death. That way, if you survived the harshness of your world without dying violently or unexpectedly, you could deliberately pass on that knowledge and those instincts to your next of kin, like the Katra. (thanks @distractedducky @spacedancer1701 & @find-me-in-outer-space)

Now, that’s A LOT of empathy on top of A LOT of aggression, if you don’t have a work around for any of these, as a species you’d be rendered a complete emotional wreck pretty much 24/7 (or whatever the time cycles for Vulcan are). Which is where @ineffablebuddies theory that Vulcans can control, or at least mitigate their incredibly strong emotional reactions the same way they control their nervous system and metabolic rate. Which is how they are able to be touch telepathic, able to enter a torpor at will, and be heterothermic in the first place. The only reason Vulcans come off as unemotional to us is because we simply do not see and feel the way that they can. Unlike us, because of their ability to control their own internal chemistry, if they follow Surak’s teachings and/or Syrranite ideology, they can take that emotional regulation to the extreme.

(BIG EXHALE) Congratulations on getting through this insanely long post! I hope you enjoyed it, if you want sources on any of my non-tumblr post research just let me know in the notes. LLAP! 💚🖖🏻💚

[anntoldst0ries]

Coda (Ethan x MC)

Book: Open Heart 3, Chapter 7 Pairing: Dr Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr Noelle Valentine) Word Count: 3.1k Rating: 18+ (NSFW) Summary: Things got heated between Dr Ramsey and Dr Valentine during Bloom’s event. Will they finish what they’ve started?

Warning: This fic contains adult content, don’t read if you’re a minor.

A/N: Happy Easter, folks! So, let’s pretend this horror of a dress (which, let’s be honest, even Bloom’s PA wouldn’t wear) never happened. Also, this is my first time ever publishing NSFW fic, so please be understanding 🙈 That being said, I always appreciate feedback and am forever grateful for all of you, because you help me grow 💜

Huge shoutout to Bree @jamespotterthefirst who was so lovely to pre-read it and actually encouraged me to post, girl you are golden and I just cannot thank you enough! We are all so lucky to have you 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼😍

Even though he was trying to be sensible about this, every molecule of sense left him during his left palm’s chance encounter with Noelle Valentine’s bare thigh.

But has anything about their touching bodies ever been truly accidental?

Although, if he was honest, this was just the culmination point.

His rational mind’s death by a thousand cuts.

It all started when she entered the premises of the venue in her provocative dress and he had to blink rapidly a few times, thinking that his eyes were deceiving him, breath trapped in his throat.

Cut.

Her every step gracious and light, as if she’s been the human embodiment of a wood nymph.

As if she’s stolen the world's entire allure.

Cut.

Her silky waves, cascading like a waterfall - he wanted to dive into them, lose himself in them.

Drown in them.

Cut.

She was a prodigy, a goddess descending from mount Olympus, who, for some mysterious reason, decided to grace the mortals with her overwhelming presence.

Some guests were standing agape, the others smiled wide and showered her with rain of compliments; a few people had tiny lightnings of jealousy flickering in their eyes.

But no one was left indifferent by her grand entrance.

Strangely, Ethan didn’t feel jealousy.

In fact, he couldn’t be more proud.

His eyes, like x-rays, have relentlessly been reminding him of the perfect shapes hiding under the layers of the sophisticated, silky material. In this regard, he envied everyone else. Unlike him, imagination was all they had.

He knew. He touched. He teased. He tasted. He caressed.

Sometimes, ignorance was truly a bliss.

Today, ignorance was certainly not going to help him get through this evening.

* * * * * *

He almost lost it on the balcony.

Then, the sudden appearance of musicians interrupted them.

He wasn’t startled.

He was angry.

Freaking Bloom and his jazz band, he thought to himself. How on earth was he constantly able to rain on Ethan’s parade, even when they weren’t physically in the same room?

Noelle’s pearly laugh dissipated all thoughts in an instant, her impossibly beautiful face now turned to him. Entwining their hands, Ethan knew he had no choice but to play along.

Inside, he was laughing out of the other side of his mouth.

They were coming back to the room full of buffoons and right now her presence was as comforting as it was driving him further into insanity.

Before he was even able to sit down, someone has already slipped a drink into his hand and when Ethan was ready to sigh and curse the fate that sent him to Bloom’s 4th circle of hell*, a sudden realisation struck him.

This evening wasn’t lost yet.

In fact, it wasn’t lost at all.

And as he was thinking, a small smile ran past his lips.

The answer was right there in front of him.

* * * * * *

“Dr Ramsey, you’re still here?” Ethan had heard the unwanted and all too loud voice, followed by an even more unwanted pat on the back, accompanied by his nemesis’ reddened face and alcohol breath.

He plastered a fake smile, mustering the remains of politeness.

“You didn’t strike me as a party type, I thought you’d be making excuses a long time ago.” Leland grinned like a Cheshire cat. For a second, an outsider could have almost thought these two hold each other in high regard.

Almost being the key word.

“This is the most pleasant surprise.” Leland continued. “You see, I am rarely wrong, so it’s one of these moments when not only am I wrong, but also being wrong actually makes me happy.” He laughed as if he’s just delivered the best punch line in the world.

“Well, we are representing the hospital after all and I wouldn’t be too much of an example if I left before the rest of my team.” Ethan put on his best charming smile, not without a superhuman effort.

You don’t play the game, you play the opponent, he reminded himself.

“It looks like we are finally agreeing on something, doctor.” A sleazy smile ran past his lips, as he left to mingle with another circle. Inside, Ethan shuddered. There was just something about Bloom that didn’t add up and he was yet to figure what it was… but now his focus shifted to something else entirely.

Just like he predicted (or diagnosed, if you will) with every sip, every passing minute, the guests were falling deeper and deeper into inebriation - the excellent staff made sure that every time someone emptied their glass, a new dose of liquid happiness was ready for them. Dr Ramsey knew this must have been Bloom’s doing.

They may have had money and resources but during these events, they were like wild animals held captive and then suddenly let loose. Their problem was that they thought money could pay for everything, but it certainly couldn’t buy back dignity, redeem bad manners and erase terrible first impressions.

Tonight, he will use this flawed logic to his advantage.

* * * * * *

Noelle was sitting across the table, not even trying to hide anymore that whatever the tech moguls were trying to sell, she wasn’t buying.

Neither their fancy apps nor their bullshit.

Ethan finished yet another glass of scotch and stood up, his height towering over everyone else at the table.

“Well, it’s about time I was moving. Thank you for a very… revelatory evening, gentlemen.” The other table occupiers didn’t even pay too much attention and murmured something, shifting their focus back to the beautiful female doctor. “Dr Valentine, can I offer you a ride home? That is, if you were planning to leave soon…”

“That would be great, thank you, Dr Ramsey.” If her eyes could speak up, they would have definitely thanked him for throwing her a lifebelt.

“Fantastic, meet me outside in 10 minutes then? I have…one more business to attend to beforehand.”

She wasn’t exactly sure what it was — the look, the pause between words, the accentuation - but something told her that whatever business he meant, she was very much a part of it.

Her suspicion has soon turned out to be justified, as his tall figure wandered off and disappeared around the corner.

A corner he had absolutely no reason to disappear around.

The younger doctor waited a minute before making her excuses and assuring her companions that a future partnership with Edenbrook couldn’t look any brighter, Noelle turned around and followed the man in black suit.

Walking as fast as her hurting feet and long gown were allowing her, Noelle entered a long corridor at the back of the fancy restaurant and had to admit that even this place, which must have simply led to different utility rooms, looked spectacular and stylish. Almost like those fairytale corridors, which lead to other dimensions.

But only if a voice summons you and guides you there.

Just as the thought popped into her head, a firm grip tightened around one of her wrists, making her jump.

When she turned around, his index finger was on his lips in a clear message.

Quiet.

They only made a couple of steps before he cautiously opened the door and rushed her into a room. It looked like a sophisticated pantry or a wine cellar and she thought the stock must have been worth more than her annual salary.

The room was dark, bar for the little window, which wasn’t much helpful with providing the light, given that the world outside was hugged by the arms of the night.

“Ethan, what’s goi—“ She never had a chance to finish the sentence, before he took her breath away with his lips, not for the first time this evening. He didn’t stop there, pushing her towards the counter, like a famished animal backing its victim into the corner.

“You said you’ll be looking for an encore, didn’t you?” She was trying to accustom her sight to the darkness, the gleam in the blue of his eyes her only reference point.

“Although, if I’m not mistaken and my opera knowledge is still sharp, I think coda** is actually the word you’re looking for.”

She stilled, a shiver running through her spine, the electric feel both hot and cold. An audible swallow filled the silence that lingered after his words, not for long as he continued his monologue.

“And I’m sorry, Dr Valentine, but I’m not a patient man today…I’ve exhausted all my patience on senseless endeavours this evening.” Almost as if to prove the sincerity of his words, he started moving towards her, his every gesture deliberate; there was no space for randomness.

Every word hit her like a wrecking ball, her remaining senses overkeen. She couldn’t rely on her eyes anymore and her hearing, smell and touch suddenly became heavily heightened, almost supernatural.

She couldn’t reflect on this for too long though, as he backed her further towards the counter, blocking her moves.

“H-how… how do you know no one’s gonna come in?”

Even in the dark, she could see the corners of his lips going up, in a smile which wasn’t affectionate. It was dark, almost sinister.

And hot as hell.

Ethan leaned into her and dropped his voice even lower than she thought was humanly possible, whispering straight into her ear.

“I don’t, but… my diagnostic instincts rarely fail me, Noelle Valentine. Plus… that’s a part of the thrill, isn’t it?” He paused for a second to gloat upon the effect his ministrations had on her. Dr Ramsey enjoyed controlling the situation - more than he’d care to admit.

“Look me in the eye and tell me you haven’t fantasised of this, of losing yourself in me completely… except you couldn’t, because of a tiny detail, a stubborn question in your pretty head… what if someone walks in on us? What if it happens when you are overwhelmed by pure ecstasy, knowing there is no coming back, that the only way is forward…”

Ethan knew immediately that these words hit the jackpot. If she wasn’t before, she was definitely shaking now, her treacherous body betraying her in all ways possible.

That’s how she knew all these months ago. Maybe her mind could, but her body could never lie to Ethan Freaking Ramsey.

Ethan’s hands started roaming her body, discovering his favourite promised land, as if he had not been touching her on that balcony earlier, as if he’d never touched her before.

Because for him, every time with her was first and last. And he hoped things would always feel this way.

“Who are you and what have you done to Ethan Ramsey?”

She couldn’t see the smirk that appeared on his painfully handsome face.

“If I were you, I’d be more worried about what’s to be done to you, Dr Valentine.”

With this, he lifted her up by grabbing her ass and sat her on the counter, pressing her back against the cold wall, which felt strangely warm against her body.

Or not so strangely, given there was a fire inside of her.

Securing her neck with his palm, he pulled her closer for a long, wet and greedy kiss, the obscene sounds of their mouths filling the otherwise silent space.

“Touch me.” A silent plea fell off her lips, her voice a quiet sob. Usually, he’d enjoy teasing her forever, playing little games, checking how far she would go to get what she wanted. But not tonight.

Tonight… he’s gonna give her exactly what she wants.

Because he wants it even more.

His middle and index finger slipped past the silky material of the dress and the band of her underwear. Noelle parted her lips slightly and drew a shallow breath, waiting in anticipation. Her wish was granted a couple of seconds later, when he ran up and down her folds, eliciting a small, guttural moan, which he was sure would forever be his favourite sound in the whole world.

Before she was even able to get used to the feeling, he pushed 2 digits into her without warning, making her eyes wide with amazement. But the movement stilled a second later. Maybe he couldn’t not tease her after all.

“Please.” The sound that came out of her was almost inaudible, yet extremely high pitched. Even if he tried, Ethan simply didn’t know the words that could come close to describing what these reactions were doing to him.

“You know I will give you the world… I will give you anything you want, Noelle. You just need to tell me what it is that you desire.”

She didn’t know what was the biggest turn on - his sultry voice dripping with desire, the feeling of his digits inside her or the well thought out choice of words. But it gave her an answer immediately.

“Fuck me with your fingers, Ethan.”

There was something shy and yet confident about the way she said it, he couldn’t explain it. Whatever it was, it made him even harder, which, at this point he thought wasn’t humanly possible. Although he was painfully aware of his own desire, he couldn’t rid neither her nor himself of the pleasure of watching her come undone on his fingers.

“As you wish, my naughty girl.”

His fingers started moving in come-hither motion, first slowly and teasingly. Just when she opened her mouth to beg him again, his thumb circled her swollen clit and pressed the sensitive bundle of nerves with precision, sending her mind into overdrive. She had to bite her own shoulder to suppress what she was sure would turn into a scream.

“Fuck… yes, right there.” She was an incoherent mess, while his fingers curved and touched places that made her eyes roll. “Faster, Ethan.” She commanded weakly as his fingers picked up the face, going in and out of her furiously.

She was pleading and moaning for god knows what and her hands were desperate to grip something, just anything.

Soon, he knew as well as she did that the peak was close, for her body kept moving and shaking on its own accord.

“I’m…this…you…” She cried, making even less sense than before.

“I know. Let go… let go now, Noelle. I know you needed this so much. Come for me now, baby.”

Sinking her teeth, this time in his shoulder, and tightening her grip on him, Noelle clenched around his fingers, the feeling so arousing that he thought he’s going to explode himself. He had to hold her with all the strength he had in his free arm, as she was all over the place, trembling, cursing, riding out what must have been one of the strongest orgasms she’s ever experienced.

When the feeling settled, Ethan slowly loosened his grip over her and slid his fingers out, bringing them to his lips. The taste of her astounded him every single time.

“In case I haven’t told you before… nothing can compare to the way you taste. Maybe apart from the way you feel, but I need to check to be certain.”

Before he was able to do so himself, she reached for his belt and unbuckled it hastily, letting his pants pool at his feet. Ethan hissed when she was ridding him of the last layer separating them, his throbbing member oversensitive to the slightest touch. He responded in kind, slipping her thongs down.

He stared at her as if he’s forgotten how to blink before saying:

“If I were you, I’d hold on tight.”

She grabbed the edge of the counter and tightened her grip, leaning onto her other arm, palm pressed flat onto the surface. Ethan positioned himself in front of her and the moment his tip met her sex, a wild lust overtook him completely, from top to bottom. He pushed hard, their bodies finally connecting.

He didn’t waste time to make himself or her feel comfortable. Right now, he wasn’t a guest - he was the invader, the intruder, the conqueror.

“Fuck, it’s impossible you’re still so tight.”

In answer, she clenched her muscles around him even more, earning herself a throaty sound.

“You little minx.”

She was going to be the death of him and what an epic death it would be.

“Ethan, fuck me like you mean it.” Noelle bit her lower lip, knowing the effect this tiny gesture always had on him. He didn’t need anything more. The sound of fast thrusts soon filled the air, making it thick and dense. The race started, two lovers chasing their gratification like it was the last thing they were ever going to do.

This wasn’t vanilla.

It was chilli, whiskey neat and flames.

A dance of carnal desires, intense and salient, leading to the grand finale. Nothing finesse, quite the contrary - a satiation of the most primal of human desires.

Ethan kept thrusting into her so deep that she felt blood when she had to bite her lip, trying to stop the animalistic scream trapped in her throat, begging to be released. She felt every vein, every nerve inside of her, every place he was reaching. Her hands and arms hurt, but her mind, currently controlled by Ethan’s cock moving in and out of her in killer pace, has overridden any physical sensations other than pure pleasure.

“So…so close.” She panted weakly, rolling her eyes as waves of pleasure kept crashing on her.

Leaning into her, he caught her earlobe and as he kissed her ear, Ethan groaned. “You’re so,” thrust, “fucking”, thrust, “hot”, thrust, “when”, thrust, “you come.”

And with that, she came.

Her whole body arched and hot white pleasure turned every cell of her body into bliss. It was like jumping into the pool on a sunny day, submerging yourself completely and then just… floating.

Ethan followed her instantly, her climax triggering his own. They were holding onto each other for dear life, compounding the intensity of their sensations and silently praying for this moment to never, ever stop.

When their breathing returned back to normal a few moments later, the older doctor pushed aside strands of her hair that stuck to her face and then cupped her cheeks.

“You ok?” The tenderness in his voice almost made her heart stop.

As if she hasn’t already been dead.

“Ok? No, I’m not ok. I am pretty fucking great.”

“That you are.” He smiled wide. “You are pretty fucking great.”

“Well you are not too bad yourself. How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I died and was reborn, all at the same time.”

They laughed at each other’s choice of words, still in a tight embrace.

“Ready for the next part, Ramsey?”

“Next part?”

“Now we need to sneak out of here for real.”

* * *

* This is a reference to Dante’s poem “Inferno” from “Divine Comedy”

** coda - The final part of a play, film, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved

Tag 🏷 list: @starrystarrytrouble @genevievemd @sophxwithers @terrm9 @maurine07 @the-pale-goddess @drakewalkerfantasy @iemcpbchoices @oldminniemcg @schnitzelbutterfingers @mercury84choices @lsvdw-blog @archxxronrookie @queencarb @qrkowna @utterlyinevitable @lucy-268 @udishaman @stygianflood @romereadingshop @romewritingshop @caseyvalentineramsey @xxsugarplumfluffsxx @liaromancewriter @mrs-ramsey @wingedhairstylemusicweasel @fayeswiftie @tsrookie @lisha1valecha @alina-yol-ramsey @stateofgracious @lem-20 @fireycookie

[raposarealm]

Rockman Characters as Magireco Units Part 3: Kodama Drift

I jokingly mentioned in last year's Magitober that, since I'd done Magireco builds for the main Fusion trio from Exe, that I would also do one for Starforce's Subaru eventually. Well, a buddy and I were chatting away on Discord a few days ago, and I got inspired to do that now. So I present to you, Exe Rockman characters as Magireco Units Part 3: Starforce Edition!

Staring with the main protagonist again, Subaru. Now, unlike with the Fusion trio, the Starforce characters kinda don't work together often in-series until game three, which I'm handily ignoring on account of... not having actually finished it yet. Whoops. I'm only covering Ryuusei (Subaru) and Harp Note (Misora, AKA the First Hibiki) here, though I might do something with Rogue eventually, because he's fun. (Also anime version Cancer Bubble just screams 'Magirepo unit'.)

Onto stats! First up, Subaru:

Ryuusei no Rockman Element: Light Type: Balance Growth Pattern: Attack/HP Disks: AABBC, one vertical blast and one horizontal

Compared to our previous Rockman, the Hikari twins, Ryuusei's got a bit more armor, and a lot more HP. He's got more of a focus on blocking attacks versus evading them. I've loosely based some of his build here on Yachiyo's, partially since Yachiyo's the default 'does it all' veteran (tanky, high damage, good HP pool, and inherited protection to top it off,) and partially because Yachiyo gives me similar vibes to Subaru's character. For some reason. Depressed and cynical grump who learns to be friendly again through the power of found family, I guess. 

Connect: If There's Even a Sliver of a Chance... Attack Up, Blast Up, Damage Cut. A reference to this line Subaru says in game 1.

Magia: Star Fall Damage All Enemies, Attack Up (Allies/2t), Light Attack Up (Allies/2t), Remove Status Ailments (Allies) 

So I couldn't think of an actual attack to reference here, so I made one up. I imagine the animation looking similar to Momoko's magia 'Edge of Universe,' and maybe utilizing one of the sword cards. Alternatively, maybe it could look similar to Tanabachi's Doppel? 

(Also a very obtuse pun on the 'Heaven's Fall' catastrophe in Aldnoah.Zero because I keep rewatching it I regret nothing)

Second Magia: Star Break

Now, there's actually three Star Force forms (which are activated by the Star Break move in the anime, for those uninitiated,) so I could just pick one like the games did, or... we could use all three. So! Like Theresia, Sana's Doppel, has 2 forms, this one's gonna have one for each Star Force form. Fun!

1st pattern: Atomic Blazer (Fire Leo) Damage All Enemies, Attack Up (Allies/3t), Defense Up (Allies/3t), Chance to Burn (Enemies/2t) 2nd pattern: Magician's Freeze (Ice Pegasus) Damage All Enemies, Attack Up (Allies/3t), Damage Cut (Allies/3t), Chance to Skill Seal (Enemies/2t) 3rd pattern: Elemental Cyclone (Green Dragon) Damage All Enemies, Damage Inflicted Up (Allies/3t), Variable (Self/1t)

I nerfed the last one to allow for Variable. Now, this doesn't really track to the actual in-series attack, but 'elemental' immediately made me think 'variable!' so here we are. Also possibly an homage to Aniyachi.

Once again, I'll deal with SE later. Onto Misora! That's right, I'm doing both of them.

Harp Note Element: Flame Type: Attack Growth Pattern: Attack/Defense Disks: ABBCC, both blasts are vertical

Not quite an honorary Chargius, I've mostly just riffed off of Aimi here. Misora's an attack type here, because she takes No Shit™. 

Connect: Raise Your Voice! Damage Up, Chance to Stun, Endure

In the first game, Misora gives the link skill 'Undershirt,' which is effectively Endure. I figure this would track to anybody else she formed a Brotherband with, and what are connects but temporary Brotherbands? (Except I've already made that joke about Soul Unison, crap.) In addition, her 'Pulse Song' attack in-game stuns.

Magia: Shock note Damage Enemies in a Horizontal Line, Damage Up (Allies/2t), Chance to Stun (Enemies/1t), Defense Down (Enemies/2t)

Second Magia: Machine Gun String Damage Enemies in a Horizontal Line, Damage Up (Allies/3t), Chance to Stun (Enemies/1t), Defense Down (Enemies/2t)

I've got some ideas for card art and personal memos and whatnot, but it's late and I'm tired. It'll be tackled later.

[beforedawnworld]

durmstrang institute (written in cyrillic as дурмстранг) is one of the three great wizarding schools of europe, and it is the one most shrouded in secrecy. the requirements of students and staff in attendance placed on them by the school are known only to other durmstrang staff and student, both current and former. they do not share their experiences with other wixen from other magical schools, as there is a superstition among alumni that to do so would only damage the skills they learned there. tucked in the ural mountains of russia, pushed up against the arctic circle, the four-story tall castle is unplottable and cannot be found on any maps. it is known for its emphasis on the dark arts in its curriculum and in recent times has developed a reputation for producing dark wixen, most famously the dark wizard gellert grindelwald.

acceptance

durmstrang accepts students from around europe aged eleven up, including those as far west as iceland and as far south as bulgaria. as long as a student seeking acceptance to the school does not live in an area covered by the other two wizarding schools of europe, hogwarts and beauxbatons, there is a possibility durmstrang would offer them acceptance. it is never a certainty, however, as despite this wide geographic region, the school is rather selective in who is allowed to attend. first and perhaps most infamously, the student must not be a muggleborn. they must come from a family that has not spoken against the dark arts nor acted to limit education on the dark arts. the path to admittance can and has been smoothed by generous donations from the family members of those seeking acceptance, though such students have been known to get teased relentlessly at school upon arrival.

education

unlike many other magical schools, including hogwarts and ilvermorny, it is not the lighter magics such as charms and transfiguration at the core of the curriculum of durmstrang. while such subjects are indeed taught, their importance and standing in lessons is strongly undercut by the pervasive flow of the dark arts through the various programs offered. a student of durmstrang is far more likely to know how to transfigure another wixen than an object and can likely think of several… unconventional applications for a well-cast aguamenti.

as a nod to their founder, all durmstrang classes are offered in bulgarian, however the true lingua franca of this school is russian. for those unfamiliar with these languages upon their arrival at durmstrang, an eight-week intensive course in the cyrillic alphabet, as well as the russian and bulgarian languages is required for any first-year or transfer not demonstrating adequate levels of language proficiency. however, because durmstrang accepts students from an incredibly broad geographic area, professors also offer classes in their home languages, resulting in lessons being conducted in polish, romanian, and other languages. this has resulted in nearly every durmstrang student speaking a minimum of four languages, depending on their professors, their courses, as well as the origins of their fellow pupils. translation spells do not work on campus and no class is taught in english.

core classes

core subjects are mandatory up until fourth year with the exception of dark arts, which is mandatory through the student's entire time at durmstrang.

the dark arts

the core that runs through durmstrang. to any durmstrang professor or alumni worth their magic, there is no “dark” and “light” magic, it is all simply magic and like a tool, it matters only in how it is used. durmstrang has chosen to focus on what other schools would refer to as the dark arts, which is defined by the administration as: “the interaction and manipulation of organic matter through magical means via internal manipulation of magical pathways”. this seven-year course grounds students in the basics of such an approach, moving into simple spells and manipulation, both with and without a conduit such as a wand or a staff. unusual applications of more conventional “light” magic is discussed, as well as dark spell development, the definition of a curse and how to create a cursed object, and applications of jinxes, hexes and curses in practical, applicable settings.

zagovory

the study of verbal enchantments. students learn the precise pronunciations and necessary circumstances this method of magic requires and begin practice with a set of knives. as they advance through their lessons, they will eventually be required to gather a full set of teeth through their own, non-magical means in order to fuel the enchantments. the strength of the enchantment, as well as how long it lasts, depends on how much power the caster can produce, which is why a full set of teeth is crucial to actually advance in this style of magic, making the collection of those teeth what distinguishes advanced students from beginners.

magic of the body

“it is from the body that your spell must originate. the wand, if you choose to use it, is nothing more than the way it escapes. it all comes from within you.” - durmstrang headmaster katayeva leonidovna. this seven-year course examines how energy moves through the body, how circumstances can hinder that flow, and where magical energy and various kinds of magic originate within the wixen’s body. one of the slower courses offered at durmstrang, it is a basic building block in how durmstrang students and teachers understand magic. as the course continues, it builds on itself until nonverbal, wandless magic can be produced by any graduating student purely by the manipulation of the magical energies inside of them.

potioneering

students examine what a potion is, how one is made, brewing a potion with proper safety precautions, as well as the development of a potion recipe and the history of potioneering. a strong believer in the hands-on approach, durmstrang students are given access to a cauldron almost immediately and are allowed to access it whenever they wish, as long as they prove they can be responsible and follow all guidelines. as a student advances, potions will become more complex with more and more complicated effects on the body. the class is divided in half, with the first half being a lesson and the latter half being an opportunity to discuss what was applied in class. exams are given at the end of each week.

organic transfiguration

a study on the history of transfiguration, the dangers and benefits of organic transfiguration, as well as in-depth practical study of the subject. students may use plants, non-sentient magical beings, or themselves as subjects for practice. the idea behind organic transfiguration, as they teach it at durmstrang, is a simple one: you must reshape the internal magical paths of a living being to resemble something else. this results in students needing a good basic knowledge of anatomy, both human, plant, and animal, which is also offered in this course.

greenskeeping

the durmstrang version of herbology. this is the study of keeping plants alive and healthy in order to be able to harvest needed materials from them. students will interact with both magical and mundane plants, both poisonous and safe and learn how to best look after them all, as well as how to monitor their health and how to produce the best yield when needed. repotting strategies, health issues, and applications of all plants for a variety of measures and situations will be discussed. students are strongly advised to have thick gloves and warm clothing for this course.

ancient and modern runes

a study of runic meanings and their history, alongside potential divination techniques and uses for runes in academic, professional, and personal settings. runic linkings and charging will also be discussed at higher levels of the course. translation of runic texts and artifacts will also make up a portion of this course in order to gain a greater appreciation for the history of runic magic. fluency in runes, both in divination and as a form of writing, is a must in order to succeed in this course and will be taught but not elaborated on. students are strongly encouraged to seek out additional help if they are having problems reaching consistent divination successes or having problems reading the runes.

lower division electives

magical law

a study of magical law across many wizarding countries in europe and asia. laws involving regulation and condemnation of the dark arts will be examined closely and broken down to further facilitate student understanding. other laws, including travel laws, artifact laws, and laws regulating interactions with non-magical populations will also be covered in this class. students will be expected to familiarize themself with one law covering dark magic regulation from their home country and present it, arguing either for or against it.

use of magical creatures

the examination of magical creatures, including their diets, mating habits, and life stages as well as how these creatures can be used by wixen kind. proper care for these creatures will be emphasized, as well as examining unconventional uses that may not have been obvious upon first examination. students will be trained to find these atypical uses and capitalize on them as well. laws around magical creature care, movement, and reproduction will also be examined.

non-magical studies

the study of the non-magical world, including what the americans would refer to as “no-majs” and their societies, cultures, and laws. also present will be lessons on the development of the nature world, the existence and categorization of non-magical creatures, and non-magical ways of understanding internal processes and systems.. this class is only available upon request of ten or more students. to make this request, please contact the auxiliary headmaster.

homeopathy

the study of medicinal plants and animals, the development of modern medical practice, and introductions to modern healthcare with the opportunity for limited practical applications. medical spells and plants will be at the center of this course with lecture material supplemented by field excursions and guest speakers. for a student gleaned to have a great aptitude for this field, medical texts as well as great opportunities for practical applications may be available. not recommended for those below third year.

whisperings

similar to the hogwarts study of charms, whisperings is the opportunity for students to expand into a field similar to zagovory with a return to spoken magic designed to produce an effect. unlike zagovory, whisperings are used to accomplish a task, whether that be extinguishing a fire, moving an object, or polishing a shoe. students will learn both the traditional method of whisperings, which does not use a wand, staff, or other conduit, as well as the more modern method, which combines limited conduit movements with shortened words to produce a similar effect to the traditional method.

inorganic transfiguration

a study of the more popular part of transfiguration in schools such as ilvermorny and hogwarts, this class examines how to turn inorganic objects into other inorganic objects, as well as how to turn inorganic things into organic ones. durmstrang considers this a more difficult form of transfiguration as there is no flow of magic in the starting object and, in some cases, a student must imbue it with magic in order to bring about the change into an organic object. as such, this course can only be attended by those recommended for it via a letter of recommendation.

conjuration

one accio can bring an object flying across the room. conjuration teaches that but at a far greater level. as this course serves as the foundation for future studies in conjuration, it is primarily theoretical, with examination of several texts written about the subject, including an introduction to the subject, an examination of how conjuration works, traditional methods of conjuring, before moving into more modern ways of taking a great many things from there and moving them to here. towards the end of the course, students will have the ability to put their learning into practice with limited conjurations from around the castle.

sailing

a traditional and dearly beloved pastime of durmstrang students, this course teaches students how to sail without the use of magic. one of only two recreational classes offered at durmstrang, this course will discuss how to plot a course, navigate using the stars, operate rigging, steer a ship, and cast an anchor. hopefully, students will become proficient before the annual great sailing competition, a time when mastery of the water and of offensive magicks come together to prove just who is the best student at durmstrang.

flight

a popular mode of transportation among the greater european magical community, this course teaches students how to fly, including how to summon and maintain a broom, get off the ground, hover, move up and down, and how to land. after several accidents in the past, students are expressly forbidden from using magic on brooms until they have demonstrated sufficient mastery of how to control one via completion of a mastery course.

upper division electives

advanced whisperings

students interested in furthering their studies into whisperings at last have an opportunity with the addition of the advanced whisperings class, added less than a decade ago. there is a greater focus on non-traditional methods of whispering and students are encouraged to examine and explore how different conduits impact their success in whispering. traditional whispering methods will be further expanded upon by examining how many words and sounds are needed to properly whisper without it failing entirely. lessons will be supplemented with historical sources and lectures from experts in the field.

advanced conjuration

letter of recommendation required for entry into this course. after a firm grasp of the history and methods have been proven, alongside an ability to successfully conjure objects from around the castle, students now have the ability to experiment further with practical, hands-on work in conjuring. students are expected to demonstrate mastery of both traditional conjuring methods via a summoning circle as well as more modern means that do away with the ritual. the final portion of this course will involve the conjuring of organic material with a human subject capping off the class.

resurrection studies

a class focused on the history, legends, and practical potentials of the resurrection of the dead. students will begin by examining popular stories and traditional tales of wixen returning from the dead, analyzing similarities between these stories to see what, if anything, is the truth. from these individual observations, students will then present them to the class and as a group, the class will pick a few options and attempt to succeed in this most elusive of goals via experiments conducted on plant life and deceased magical creatures. durmstrang would like to remind its student body there has not been a success in this course yet and there is no reward for succeeding.

alchemical studies

a magical field as old as magic itself, students will be instructed and taught in this ancient form of transfiguration and the traditional study of the elements of nature (earth, fire, water, and air). students will learn the history of this subject, the successes and the many, many failures that have plagued this study, before trying their own hand at it, turning ore into a refined metal, conducting the elements to obey one’s whim, as well as attempting the impossible: turning lead into gold.

advanced flight

once one has mastered the basics of broom flight, that is when the fun can truly begin. this course teaches advanced techniques on a broom, including offensive and defensive moves for airborne combat. popular trick moves, including those most commonly found in quidditch matches are also taught in this course. at the end, there will be a demonstration of learning presented to student peers and faculty of durmstrang.

experimental potions

letter of recommendation required for entry into this course. for those interested in going beyond what the books teach about potions, this is the perfect course. students will learn how individual ingredients affect the outcome of a potion, how to make a potion reliably explode, and what boundaries are currently being pushed in the field of potioneering today. students will be required to attempt to create their own potions and their own recipes, as well as modify existing potion recipes to produce an entirely different effect. several course will take place with the students blindfolded, in order to teach them how to brew a potion from touch, smell, and sound alone.

advanced homeopathy

letter of recommendation required for entry into this course. for those students that demonstrated exception skill and talent in the field of homeopathy, this course is the next logical step for them and serves much more as an apprenticeship to a working mediwix than an actual class. students gain extensive hands-on experience in this subject, as well as an above average knowledge of the theoreticals behind it. students are almost guaranteed a place alongside the healthcare workers they have worked under upon successful completion of this course and upon graduation from durmstrang.

examinations

at the end of each year exams are sat in every subject with the exams that that determine placement and job opportunities coming fourth and seventh year. fourth rank oral guidance exams, or f.r.o.g's, are sat in forth year with the seventh year exams known simply as crowns, as they crown off the student's time and determine what jobs they can perform. certifications and final exams all in one.

grading

much like the non-magical russian academic grading system, grades for durmstrang are on a scale from one to five, with five being the highest and one being the lowest. 

5 (“excellent”) - shows highest distinction and excellent knowledge of the subject. equivalent to an outstanding and is a passing grade.

4 (“good”) - shows good knowledge of a subject. equivalent to an exceeds expectations and is a passing grade.

3 (“satisfactory”) - shows a credible or passing grade. equivalent to an acceptable and is a passing grade.

2 (“unsatisfactory”) - shows a limited knowledge of a subject and is below average. equivalent to a poor or dreadful and is a failing grade.

1 (“very poor”) - shows a complete failure. equivalent to a troll and is a failing grade.

extracurricular activities

while all students at durmstrang are strongly encouraged to participate and interact with their fellow students as much as possible, student involvement in extracurricular clubs is intended to advance their academics and complement their learning. therefore, most of the clubs found at durmstrang tend to be more academic in nature, or at least tangentially related. however, as is the case with many rules, there are exceptions to this.

choir

for a school with such a focus on spoken magics, is it any surprise that durmstrang is particularly proud of their choir? any student can join and will sing both modern wixen hits from around the world as well as traditional songs from russia, bulgaria, and other countries prominently represented in the student population of durmstrang. perhaps most exciting is the opportunity to learn traditional magical songs that the wixen of the past used in casting their spells. a true hit among the students, especially with the incredible contrast between their sopranos and the baritones and basses, who are the three most common vocal types in the durmstrang choir and are trained to provide a maximum amount of contrast between their voices.

conduit performance

a form of performance unique to durmstrang, conduit performance allows students the ability to become more comfortable with magical conduits outside of an academic setting. a student will choose a wand or a staff and will work with others in their performance group to learn how to use that conduit in art as an extension of their body. there are semesterly performances by this club to demonstrate what they can do, and the most popular are always routines that combine partial movement with particularly powerful use of a staff.

dark arts club

one of two school-required clubs, every student is a member of the dark arts club and as such, receives more exposure and experience with this style of magic in an informal, out-of-classroom setting among their peers. this is where students will discuss lessons, work on homework, and experiment with material learned in their lessons. however, as this is a school-required club, it meets daily for only forty-five minutes.

debate club

it is an odd idea for a school such as durmstrang, but the administration understands that there is only so far magic can take an individual and that sometimes battles must be fought in courtrooms, offices, and private buildings. this is why they offer the ability for students to practice arguing each other into submission. the topics are all chosen by the students and each debate is judged by the students as well. depending on their successes, they might advance to the next level of the club or stay to learn more about communication techniques they had not previously been aware of. there’s often a fair amount of yelling in the halls of durmstrang, but few rooms are louder than the one where the debate club meets.

duelling club

the world has entered uncertain times, but durmstrang has been expecting such an event for centuries and would even claim that this all is nothing new. any student of durmstrang is expected to hold their own in magical combat and duelling club is how this expectation is met. one of two clubs required by the school, every student in durmstrang is a member of the duelling club and as such, receives consistent, focused training in offensive and defensive dark magicks. this has led to a healthy environment of competition among students and it is believed that this school-sponsored fight club is the reason there are fewer fights between students outside of the duelling ring.

homeopathy club

a place for the truly gifted in the art of homeopathy, as well as those interested in learning more about the subject to meet, practice, and discuss their lessons in this truly crucial practice. there is almost always a steady stream of students seeking medical attention that don’t want to risk the wrath of the staff at a school like durmstrang, and this club is a place for the next generation of healers and mediwix of durmstrang to become even more familiar with healing and its many challenges. there is a joke among students of durmstrang that every friend group should have someone in homeopathy club in it as it is a near-certainty that their skills will be needed.

quidditch

a durmstrang student intends to win, in all aspects of their life, and nowhere is this more clear than among the quidditch players of their school. durmstrang has six quidditch teams, all selected from the greater student body, with the captain of each team being voted on by the team members. students are expected to have a natural aptitude towards flying, a remarkable level of fearlessness, and the willingness to win a game at all costs, which makes a durmstrang quidditch match a bloody affair, often resulting in many injuries. it is, of course, a favorite of the students and most dream of joining one of the teams.

rune reading club

one doesn’t learn an entirely new alphabet, each symbol with its own greater meaning, only to use it just in class. this is the thinking of the students in rune-reading club. these students often have a proficiency with languages or a particularly mischievous streak. students in this club are infamous for swapping their classmates’ notes for ones written solely in runes, if they don’t simply hex a student, resulting in that student seeing nothing but runes no matter what language they are attempting to read.

sailing

a classic pastime for the students of durmstrang. sailing has a long history in the school and much of this club’s time is spent preparing to win the great sailing competition, which occurs each year in the sub-arctic sea near durmstrang. students will customize their boats, practice racing, and engage in mock naval battles in preparation for the big day.

[pathfinderunlocked]

Great White Laser Shark - CR7 Animal

You know, I have one simple request, and that is to have BIGGER sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!

Artwork by TravisChapmanArt on Etsy.

This is a great white shark. Why would you ever attach lasers to a lesser shark?

Sharks are typically only CR 2 and it's criminal. Even great white sharks are usually only CR 4. This one is stronger than normal because it's been trained. This training allows it to use the laser beam that's been attached to the top of its head, but also just make it generally a little more combat-capable.

Lasers do fire damage in Starfinder, so I stuck with that precedent. This enemy was obviously made with a modern setting in mind, but if your supervillain is less technologically advanced, the "laser gun" could just as easily be a magic crystal that fires energy beams, implanted into the shark's forehead. I promise your players will still get the reference.

Laser Shark, Great White - CR 7

This immense silvery beast oozes strength, power, and speed. Its gigantic maw is lined with rows of ragged-looking teeth, and its pitch-black, emotionless eyes give nothing away. Mounted on its head is a giant frickin' laser beam.

XP 3,600 N Huge animal (aquatic) Init +10 Senses blindsense 30 ft., keen scent, low-light vision; Perception +13

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+6 Dex, +6 natural, –2 size) hp 76 (9d8+36) Fort +12, Ref +14, Will +6

OFFENSE

Speed swim 60 ft. Melee bite +12 (2d8+10 plus 1d6 bleed plus grab) Ranged laser +11/+6 touch (4d6/x4 fire damage) Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks bleed (1d6), grab from shore

STATISTICS

Str 25, Dex 22, Con 19, Int 1, Wis 16, Cha 4 Base Atk +6; CMB +15 (+19 grapple); CMD 31 Feats Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Focus (bite, laser) Skills Perception +13, Swim +15

SPECIAL ATTACKS

Grab From Shore (Ex) When a swimming laser shark makes a bite attack against a creature above the water's surface that is at least two size categories smaller than it, and succeeds on its grab attempt, it can choose to pull that creature 10 ft. into the water and move with that creature. This is a free action. If it does so, it foregoes inflicting the bleed effect on its bite attack. Both the laser shark and its target provoke attack of opportunities from this movement (but do not provoke attacks of opportunity from each other).

Laser (Ex) A laser shark can fire a laser beam as a ranged touch attack. This is treated as a manufactured weapon attack that deals 4d6 fire damage, has a x4 critical damage modifier, and has a range increment of 100 ft. A laser shark is proficient with this weapon. Unlike most ranged attacks, this laser attack is not completely blocked by the water's surface; a laser shark firing its laser through the water's surface treats its target as having improved cover (+8 AC) instead of total cover.

A laser shark does not provoke attacks of opportunity for making ranged attacks with its laser.

[monstersdownthepath]

Spiritual Spotlight: Tanagaar the Aurulant Eye

Lawful Good Empyreal Lord of Night, Owls, and Watchfulness

Domains: Animal, Darkness, Good, Law Subdomains: Archon, Feather, Moon, Night

Chronicles of Righteousness, pg. 25

Obedience: Find and observe a mouse or rat from no more than 30 feet away. Continue watching the mouse, unseen, for 100 breaths. Catch the mouse and release it in an area where owls hunt. Benefit: Gain a +4 sacred bonus on saving throws against effects that would hinder your sight or hearing.

Oh my god

After all these years, after all this searching, we’ve finally found it. We’ve found an Obedience that justifies carrying around a Sack Of Rats! It’s a miracle!

Anyway, this Obedience is ironically somewhat difficult to perform if your DM is being a stickler about it. Note that you not only have to find a rat--which means if you’re using a Sack Of Rats, you have to release it and then relocate it--but you have to watch it while being unseen. While one may assume that “unseen” simply applies to the rodent in question, the linguistic gymnastics we tend to pull here at Monsters Down The Path LLC to cheese Obediences sometimes works against us, and in this case “unseen” may not simply apply to your prey, but anyone. If your DM applies this additional stipulation, I hope you’ve got a good Stealth mod! And a good excuse about your weird behavior.

While Tanagaar isn’t exactly an evil guy, he’s not especially well-known, and your weird prowling may get some raised eyebrows. The good news is that as a Lawful Good deity (and an Archon at that), the number of times you’re likely to be sent into Evil territory to subtly work among them is 0, reducing your chances of needing actual excuses about why you’re skulking around like a cat. If, for whatever reason, you want to keep your worship of the Aurulant Eye under wraps, simply being a catfolk, kobold, or goblin is a good enough excuse.

Next comes catching the vermin and releasing it in an area where owls hunt. Simple enough in almost any environment but a desolate stretch of empty desert, winter wasteland, or subterranean cavern, as owls are very widespread, to the point that this Obedience could simply say “release it into the wild.” The biggest problem is refreshing your rodent stock, an issue that goes largely unaddressed in other Sack Of Rats Obediences because those usually require the death of any small critter, and this one specifically requires rodents. Better take up rat catching as a hobby or frequent the local pet store, I guess!

The benefit is more amazing than it looks at first glance, because Monsters Down The Path LLC’s patented Linguistic Gymnastics is here to point out that any effect which could impair your sight or hearing is blocked, even if that effect is SECONDARY, such as against powerful spells like Sunburst or against afflictions like Blinding Disease. Having your senses stripped from you is always bad, even for a short time, but the fact this benefit applies to “any effect” that would “hinder” your sight or hearing means it works on everything from having dust blow in your eyes to an enemy’s Greater Shout, and it can potentially give you an edge against dozens or hundreds of other effects which tack on sensory abuse as a bonus effect, making it a fantastic bonus at all levels. It even applies to EVERY saving throw instead of just Fortitude!

Boons are gained slowly, typically achieved once you reach 12, 16, and 20 Hit Dice. Followers of the Empyreal Lords, however, can enter the Mystery Cultist Prestige Class at level 8, which grants them their Boons much quicker! Entered as early as possible, you gain the Boons at levels 10, 13, and 16 instead. Mystery Cultists MUST take the Celestial Obedience feat, NOT Deific Obedience.

Empyreal Lords do not grant the typical Evangelist/Exalted/Sentinel spread (and cannot enter those classes), instead having only one set of Boons granted to their followers regardless of their class.

Boon 1: Forest Dweller. Gain Calm Animals 3/day, Eagle Eye2/day, or Deeper Darkness 1/day.

Oh, interesting! Never seen Eagle Eye here before, and it’s actually a good spell! ... sort of. It creates a magical sensor above you, upwards to 400ft+40ft/lvl, from which you can see as though you were there and rotate your viewpoint around freely. It’s more or less to give one a birds-eye view of a battlefield, akin to someone playing an RTS with an over-the-field viewpoint to make commanding armies easier, though the birds-eye view is also very, very useful for spotting threats to a small group of people (such as the party) that they cannot see from the horizontal plane.

Also, needless to say, but having a safe way to see the surrounding terrain from several hundred feet above it can make navigating towards a destination or landmark much easier. With a 1 min/lvl duration and 2/day availability, you can be the party’s aerial lookout without ever actually leaving the ground and putting yourself in danger, and the sensor itself is invisible as well if you fear flying enemies. Eagle Eyes isn’t useful at all inside enclosed environments, and in fact cannot be used to spy into the floors above you unless you have line of effect, but if you want to peel inside, say, the Evil Wizard Tower without alerting them via the use of a familiar or similar, go crazy.

Calm Animals causes up to 2d4+CL HD worth of animals to become docile and harmless for its duration, but for it to actually work on a group of animals, they all must be roughly the same type (i.e. a pack of wolves) and cannot be further than 30ft apart. This isn’t really a problem, as using it on a bunch of angry animals usually means you’re hitting a pack of scavengers or predators you’ve angered, and its generous scaling means that it’ll be useful at all levels of the game whether you need to slow down a charging pack of raptors or just one big T. Rex--wait a T. Rex has how many hit dice? well, scratch that particular idea I guess. unless you get lucky with your 2d4 roll. Still useful. The big problem is that it’s completely useless against anything that’s not an Animal, and if an Animal suddenly receives the gift of sapience--even temporarily--the spell has no effect on them. That makes this spell useful for traveling through the wilds (or, rarely, stopping the charge of an enemy warhorse), but not for much else.

Which leaves Deeper Darkness, the spell which hammers your party just as hard as it does an enemy. Creating a 60ft sphere of absolute black can send chaos through the ranks of more or less any foe, because if the area was already low or dim light it becomes supernaturally pitch that not even darkvision can pierce it! Not even yours. Cutting off your party’s ability to see is just as crippling for them as it is your enemy, so be sure to have some method to actually take advantage of the shroud or you’ll end up swinging at empty air or, worse, swing at allies. While it’s good for making an escape, Obscuring Fog is way better, way cheaper, and doesn’t take away your magical flexibility.

Boon 2: Owl's Eye. You gain darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, increase its range by an additional 60 feet.

Wow! Boring! But useful for more or less everyone, since not needing torches or a light source when skulking around in the dark or keeping night watch makes it less likely you’re spotted by some prowling predator or sadistic dungeon-dweller, but it’s noting spectacular or even particularly noteworthy. I appreciate that Tanagaar extends existing darkvision outwards, but it’s rare you’ll actually need more than 60 feet unless you’re actually adventuring in an open area after dark.

It’s a decent Boon, but it’s also insultingly easy to replicate with existing spells or cheap items (such as a Wand or Potion of Darkvision), making its impact a little hard to appreciate.

Boon 3: Hunter's Edge. You gain Sneak Attack +3d6. This increase to Sneak Attack damage stacks with Sneak Attack damage you may have from other sources. Whenever you deal Sneak Attack damage with a piercing weapon, you deal +2 points of damage per Sneak Attack die.

huh hey that’s pretty good

hey aren’t you supposed to be Lawful, Tanagaar? Not that I don’t appreciate a little bit of pragmatism among the forces of Good, but stabbing someone in the kidney from behind seems kinda underhanded, doesn’t it? Then again, so does summoning flocks of owls to gouge out enemy eyes or appearing before them as a terrifying phantasm to gently coerce them into surrender. Even Law knows when it needs to fight dirty, I suppose.

Not that you HAVE to, mind; with how easy it is to set up a Sneak Attack (you literally just have to be flanking), you don’t have to be particularly sneaky. Just standing across from an ally and stabbing someone in the throat when they turn away from a brief second deals +3d6 damage to them, which is already good before you take into account that, actually, it’s 3d6+6 because Tanagaar superdupercharges your Sneak Attacks with +2 damage per die! Even NOT having SA to begin with is still adding a flat +6 damage to your attacks that stacks with all your other damage modifiers, but having SA available beforehand--such as by being a Rogue, a Ninja, a Slayer, or one of the rare archetypes to hand it out--is especially viable because Hunter’s Edge stacks with ALL other sources. Have +5d6 from your class already? Now it’s 8d6+16 damage.

It’s even tastier if used on a ranged weapon, but make no mistake, it’s still pretty damn nice just at its base regardless of your build... unless you’re a Mystery Cultist, which is aimed mostly at casting and doesn’t get anything particularly martial-aligned until later levels. Classing into Mystery Cultist also means that your Sneak Attack is unlikely to be at all impressive (you may reach 6d6, but certainly not the impressive 8d6 I proposed), but the only other option is waiting for this ability to kick in at level 20, which is simply unacceptable. Aside from that, the only real problem I have with this ability is that it specifically works with piercing weapons... and since Tanagaar’s holy weapon is the kukri, you actually miss this Boon entirely if you stick only to his weapon of choice, and your god actively discouraging you from using any of their sacred aspects isn’t a good look for anyone!

You can read more about him here.

[tangtownie]

You Should See Me In A Crown - Natasha Romanoff x Dark!Reader Insert (AU)

Author’s Note: So, this is my first time trying to write something dark…

Think it might land in the category of soft!dark, but be warned none the less!

Super nervous about posting this, but I actually ended up really liking this one myself, so hopefully others will as well.

Reader is from the Red Room Academy, just as Natasha, only reader never left them. I took some creative liberties when describing the Red Room Academy, so that it fit my idea better, which is also why this story is marked as an AU.

The Russian nickname for Natasha means ‘darling’, ‘pet’ or ‘beloved’.

I incorporated some lyrics from the song, tell me how many you can find? 🧐

Regarding the timeline, I imagine this would take place after Natasha brought down SHIELD and shortly after Bucky joined the Avengers.

Also, shoutout to @a-little-counter-esperanto for being kind enough to beta this for me and offer some moral support! 🥰

Once again, this is marked dark for a reason! There might be topics that are triggering to certain people, so please be responsible about your media consumption.

Warnings: Explicit descriptions of violence and murder, dark!Reader, messed up “family” relations, weird/sexual obsession with a sister figure.

Word count: 2.252

Song Inspiration: You Should See Me In A Crown by Billie Eilish

I was perfectly concealed, blending in with all the mindless idiots making their way down the street. If this hadn’t been New York, and people actually paid attention to what happened around them, they might have noticed the warning sign that was the concealed weapons on my body. Or my too heavy boots beating down against the concrete. Carefully eyeing the tower, I counted the people moving in and out of the building. “Bite my tongue, bide my time.” I mumbled quietly, catching the attention of a passerby. We had in fact been biding our time, monitoring the tower for months, counting the number of armed guards on site at any given time. However, it seemed that these soft Americans had their most precious protectors under lock and key at all times. Biting my tongue, I tried not to scoff. One would assume that the Avengers were more than capable of handling themselves, but apparently their employer did not.

Not that it mattered, the more people in the tower, the more people there were for my sisters to play with. My sisters who were all watching me, waiting for my signal. Finally, we had found our missing piece and none of us were leaving here without her. I had been searching for her for years, using the Academy’s missions to get intel on my long lost sister. In time, Mother had found out and I had been forced to deal with that. Fortunately, it was nothing a little thallium poisoning couldn’t handle for me. One less complication and Mother would never get between us again. No one would. Catching the rays of the sun on the edge of my watch, I slowly rolled my wrist, the light reflecting up on a window in a perfect circle. “Wearing a warning sign.” I didn’t know where my sisters were located, but I knew they had all seen my signal. I moved swiftly through the masses, discarding my disguise along the way, and quickly found myself standing in front of the tower.

The first window shattered, as I opened the door, a flurry of bullets following the first one. Civilians were screaming: scrambling to get away, guards were rushing in from all sides: barking commands rushing through their radios and glass continued flying through the air as my sisters blew the lobby to pieces. A few stray pieces of glass tangled in my hair, light reflecting off of them as I moved gracefully through the chaotic scene, while the bloodcurdling screams piercing the air sounded almost like a symphony. Humming quietly to myself, I pulled my gun from the holster on my hip and aimed carelessly before shooting a guard in the face.

The bullet lodged in his eye and he fell to his knees, screaming. His body spasmed out of his control and with a final gurgling scream, he fell limply to the floor. “I love the way they scream.” I really didn’t need to kill him to swipe his ID, but alas why should my sisters have all the fun? After all, I was the one running this mission. The glass crunched underneath my boots and blood splattered all over me whenever my sisters killed the ones that got too close to me.

Making it to the elevator was easy: the guards and civilians continuously dropping all around me. Once inside of the elevator, I pressed R for residential. Wiping some blood from my cheek, I caught a whiff of gunpowder on my dark glove and I inhaled again, greedily, as pure joy filtered through my system. Raising my head to look at my reflection, I was met with a dazzling vision wrapped in all black. I could see the bumps from my arsenal of knives and guns strapped to my thighs, hips and arms. My hair was tied back tightly, the glass shards framing my head like a crown, and blood smeared across my face. “You are so pretty.”

The elevator dinged as it reached the residential floor. Unlike the others, this was ominously silent. By now the precious protectors would now that I had come looking for them. Or rather her. I had come for her and I would die before leaving without her. “Natalia?” I called out for her teasingly. “I know you’re here, любимый." I was met only with silence. Humming quietly to myself again, I fished a knife out of my holster and jammed it into the keypad of the elevator. The keypad sputtered and sparked before I pulled the knife back out, leaving it hanging down the side of the wall.

Flipping the knife carelessly, I scraped it against the wall, as I started moving down the hallway. “Our sisters are so looking forward to seeing you again, sweet Natalia.” I was almost reunited with her and joy filled my voice as well as my body. A flash of movement caught my eye and I turned just in time to see someone charging at me. A quick sidestep and he flew past me. He was tall, broad and dark. Every inch of him wrapped in black leather. His gaze was burning with fury, when he turned to look at me.

“Soldat,” I cocked my head in recognition, a smirk curling around my lips. “I see you’ve betrayed the cause as well.” The burly soldier snarled at me in response and a bubbling laughter rose from my throat. “Poor little Soldat, still have the manners of a raging beast, I see.” The deranged soldier lunged at me again, and it took all of my power to block his fist. The metallic whirring getting louder and louder the more weight he put into it. Grunting with effort, I could feel his arm slipping through mine and his fist met my face with full force. My entire body was slammed backwards into the wall and it felt as though my brain was vibrating from the hit. For a second everything went dark, but the taunting scoff from Soldat ripped me back to reality instantaneously.

Pushing myself from the wall, I growled back at him. To think that my dear sister had been trapped here with these abominations of nature for so long… But no matter, we were here for her now and we would take her away. I simply needed to put down this caged animal in front of me, and we could be on our way. “Watch me make ‘em bow.” Anger flashed in the eyes of the beast as I spoke and he charged again: his metal hand shooting out and wrapping around my throat. His eyes burning while he tightened his grip until all that could escape me were choked off gasps.

I fumbled for the needle in my pocket. I knew it contained just enough sedative to take down a deranged super soldier and while I had anticipated using it on a certain overeager Captain, this seemed like an appropriate use. When I finally grasped the needle, I plunged it into the side of Soldat’s neck. The drug took effect immediately: the beast’s eyes drooping and his ironclad grip on my throat loosening. As my feet touched the floor again, his hand slipped from my throat and he landed with a loud thump. I wasn’t certain how long it would keep him down, so for good measure I grasped one of my knifes and plunged it into him: his stomach, chest and shoulder before I sliced along the inside of his arm.

Loosing my patience, I started down the hallway again. I had to find her and save her. How could Mother ever have thought that Natalia was safe here? Kicking down every door I met, I eventually found her room. The soft scent of jasmine and lemongrass wafted over me and I couldn’t resist the temptation to go in. “You smell so sweet.” My fingers softly grazed over her walls as I moved inside and let the smell of my dear sister take over my senses. Her room was warm and inviting with throw blankets and pillows everywhere and I knew that I had been right. This—she—was exactly what our sisters needed, a comforting and warm presence.

Natalia’s bedroom was immaculate as always, not a single item out of place. Stopping at her dresser, I needed to feel close to her. I tore open a drawer and pulled out a sweater. The material was much softer and smoother than anything I owned and I burrowed my face in it, so that I could really smell her. A sense of calm washed over me and I let myself fall backwards onto her bed, so that I could be surrounded by her scent. My sweet Natalia, how I had missed her. “I fell for those ocean eyes.”

There was nothing I hadn’t missed about her: her eyes that would sparkle like the stars on a bright and cold night. Her deep, soothing drawl. Her soft and luscious hair that I could almost feel running through my fingers. All of it making up the resilient, courageous and ruthless warrior that I had loved for as long as I could remember. My sweet, dear sister. We would be together again soon and then nothing could tear us apart ever again. A sudden sound snapped me back to attention and I quickly got off the bed, hiding beside the doorframe to her bedroom. The steps were careful and calculated, yet soft. A smiled curved over my lips as I recognized them.

“Natalia, любимый, I’ve been looking for you.” Her steps froze at the sound of my voice. I slowly emerged from my hiding spot with the smile still on my lips. Natalia had never looked quite as beautiful as she did with her gun pointed at me. “Oh, любимый, I’m not here to hurt you.” Natalia’s stance wavered just a little and I was elated to see her giving in to me. “I’m here to help you escape, sweet sister.” Confusion washed over Natalia’s face and I smirked as I was reminded that she had always been one of our more simple-minded sisters.

“Mother fell ill.” I explained it simply to her. My darling, simple sister did not need to know all the gory details of what I’d done to find her. “And some of our weaker sisters were flailing without a strong leader, so… I stepped in.” An emotion I didn’t quite recognize flashed over Natalia’s face and she lowered her gun a little. “But as you know, любимый, I’m not exactly a nurturing person and while I see no use of such foolish sentimentality, some of our sisters have requested that you re-join us.” I watched her closely, as I finished my sentence. “We are going to run that place together. That, and any other place you want, my sweet love.” Anger flashed in Natalia’s eyes and her gun was back in my face instantaneously.

I didn’t let her reaction deter me, though. I loved her and I knew that she loved me too. I gently placed my hand on her cheek and dragged her closer to me. “I cannot do this without you, sister. I cannot live with you… Do you have any idea how long I’ve been searching for you?” I placed my other hand on top of her gun and pushed it down until it was pointed at my chest. “If you won’t let me help you, then you’ll have to kill me, любимый.” Natalia’s eyes widened and jumped back and forth, from my face down to my chest. “Tell me, sweet sister. Which do you imagine is worse? Living without you or dying first?” I gently brought my hand up to her other cheek and pulled her closer to me, until our foreheads were resting on one another.

“любимый, my love, don’t resist me.” I whispered the last words before crashing my lips onto hers. The feel of her soft, full lips against mine was even better than I had dreamt. I gasped ecstatically into her mouth and let my hands slide into her hair. I tightened my grip on her hair, when she tried to pull away. She could breathe when I let her. Until then, I would kiss her as long as I pleased. A tear slid down her cheek and I understood. She had finally accepted that we were supposed to be together and that we would rule alongside each other. “You will be the most perfect Mother, любимый.” I whispered against her lips.

Suddenly, a burning feeling spread through my chest and I could hardly breathe. “любимый, do you feel it, too?” I gasped. “We are finally becoming one.” Each syllable hurt more than the last and I barely registered Natalia’s gun clattering to the floor. Something warm ran down my chest and my legs almost collapsed under me. I clung to Natalia and she fell to the floor with me. She wrapped her arms around me and I was in heaven. “You are so beautiful, sweet Natalia.” Even as my vision blurred and I could feel the pull of a deep, dark sleep, I could not pry my eyes away from her. “Sister, I feel so tired…” My voice was cracking from all the effort it took me to speak, but she was here. My true love, my dear sister. I had finally found her again. “Sleep, sister. Everything will be alright.” My sweet Natalia’s voice was the last thing I heard before the darkness took me.

Okay, so Tumblr was acting all crazy when I was making this post, so hopefully, it'll work! 😬

Also, as always, would love feedback in any form! Comment, reblog, messages! It doesn't matter. ❤️

[glon-morski]

On Noctis’ Injury And Its Effects On His Magic

A̷ ̷f̷i̷l̷l̷ ̷f̷o̷r̷ ̷t̷h̷i̷s̷ ̷k̷i̷n̷k̷m̷e̷m̷e̷,̷ ̷I̷ ̷g̷u̷e̷s̷s̷.̷.̷.̷?̷

Anyone who has played FFXV knows that as a child, Noctis suffered from an injury that rendered him unable to walk for a while – the reason for his visit to Tenebrae as a kid, and thus his first meeting with Luna shortly before Tenebrae fell. The Brotherhood anime and Kingsglaive movie expand on it a little bit, giving more information on the extent of the injury, as well as what caused it: a daemon called the Marilith. As a reminder, I mean this thing:

The injury was severe enough that Noctis remained in a coma for an unspecified amount of time (though most likely at least a couple weeks, if not a couple months) and even once he woke and recovered a bit, he was unable to walk, his legs being paralyzed (or he was literally paraplegic, meaning paralyzed from the waist down; that’s a valid possibility as well, and an even more likely one all things considered). Furthermore, it is a widely assumed headcanon (and rather heavily implied, though never actually stated in the game) that he was infected by the Starscourge through this injury. For these reasons, he was taken to Tenebrae so the Oracle may heal him, though this led to Niflheim attacking and conquering Tenebrae as a result.

Well, fine, he was healed. That’s that then. Except it’s not, according to Noctis’ character sheet in the game’s archives.

“An injury incurred as a young boy deprived him access to the full potential of his innate power”, huh?

Unless there was another ‘childhood injury’ that we don’t know about, which is unlikely, this references the Marilith. And that injury, though healed by the Oracle, apparently left marks deep enough that it affected Noctis’ ability to use his magic. But that begs the question: how exactly was he affected? No part of the game or the anime or ANYTHING gives us any real indication on that. So all we can do is speculate. That said, here are some thoughts I had on the matter.

1 – Warping

Noctis can warp. That’s obvious to anyone who played the first five seconds of the game’s gameplay or watched the first minute of the brotherhood anime. It’s one of the basic abilities he should have as a royal, of course he learned how to warp.

Here’s the thing, though: just because he can doesn’t mean it was (or still is) easy. In fact, Noctis had experienced uncommon difficulty in mastering this skill, as stated in the book/script ‘Prologue: Parting Ways’. Ignis outright says there that Noctis actually only mastered warping recently and goes as far as to speculate that his difficulty in learning might be connected to his childhood injury, which is as much of an indication that it’s the case as we can get since the characters visibly aren’t supposed to know for sure. Furthermore, if we consider Gameplay-Story-Integration – something FFXV does in spades, far more than I think I’ve ever seen any other game do – at the very beginning of the game, warping (and warp strikes in particular) is very costly in MP. In fact, unless you’re on a New Game+ (which doesn’t count), overusing warp strikes is the best way to end up in Stasis in only a few attacks, along with aerial combat which, surprise surprise, also makes Noctis warp and phase a lot to not fall down prematurely.

The effect lessens as Noct gains levels and thus more MP, but even late game you can sometimes end up in Stasis against stronger, aerial opponents if you’re not careful. That said, while the gameplay mechanic of gaining more MP as you level up is nothing new, here it could be explained in-story as well: as Noctis grows stronger because he’s fighting nearly every day and is thus forced to practice both his combat skills and his warping, he perfects the skill he had so he doesn’t need to use as much magic for it. He may have ‘mastered’ it before leaving Insomnia in the sense that he never fails to warp when he wants to, but for most of his journey he’s perfecting it so he can do it with more ease and using less of his reserves of Magic, and thus not fall into Stasis so easily.

Speaking of which…

2 – Stasis

Stasis is something akin to a ‘status ailment’, yet different. It’s what the state of having 0 MP is called. When in Stasis, Noctis can’t attack because he can’t summon his weapons and can’t avoid attacks well because he can’t phase, much less warp. He can’t use the magic flasks, either. The only thing he can do is run around but that, interestingly, only makes the Stasis last longer. In order to recover MP and thus get OUT of Stasis, he needs to stop moving entirely (and preferably hunker down behind a rock or something of that nature). Stasis only ends when he recovers all of his MP.

There’s a few things interesting about Stasis. The first, as I already mentioned above, is how to get out of it. You need to stop and cease moving entirely – which, if you’re in the middle of combat, is of course nothing short of idiotic. But then, since you can’t do anything anyway, Stasis is something you usually need to get out of ASAP if you’ve already failed to not fall into it in the first place. Finding a hiding spot and hunkering down helps as Noctis’ magic recovers faster that way. While there’s no indication how Stasis may feel to Noctis, however, there’s a widely-accepted headcanon that it is not pleasant. The fact that you have to stop and that crouching makes Noct recover faster lead to believing he might feel dizzy and maybe even nauseous or otherwise sick, that he as a character feels the need to sit or lie down when he ends up in Stasis. Which would make sense considering that, as far as we know, his Magic is and always has been a part of him, so having it deplete to zero is likely to not feel nice. It might be similar to when you’re anemic for the exact same reason: you need a certain amount blood and hemoglobin for your body to function properly. It’s not too much of a stretch to assume that it’s the same for Noctis and his magic power.

Noctis, however, is not the only character who may have to deal with Stasis if he’s not careful about his magic use. The others are the members of the Kingsglaive, as shown in the Comrades DLC. However, even at the very beginning of DLC, you have to try really hard to get the Kingsglaive character into Stasis. Like, fighting an aerial enemy and constantly warp striking it even though you have shuriken you can throw from a distance kind of try. In fact, in all the time I played Comrades, I only managed to get into Stasis ONCE and my reaction to it was ‘wait what? Stasis? HOW?!’ that’s how surprised I was that it actually happened, even though I theoretically knew it could. Furthermore, at no point in the Kingsglaive movie was Stasis ever so much as mentioned as far as I recall. So in this case, it is safe to assume that it’s either a case of Gameplay-Story-Segregation, or in case it’s not, that most Glaives only know vaguely that Stasis can happen, but rarely-to-never actually experience it. By comparison, early-game Noctis falls into Stasis nearly all the time (or he did the first time I played the game and before I learned to watch my MP and periodically point-warp, a tactic I largely dropped late-game and barely use in Comrades).

There’s one thing, though: magic is not a native ability of the Glaives. They get the ability to use magic by borrowing said magic from the king. Their bodies are not as adapted to it as Regis’ and Noctis’ would be by virtue of magic being an energy they don’t usually have access to. This is further reinforced by the fact that they have varying affinity for magic. So since the energy wasn’t theirs and their bodies were not meant to be able to use it, but do so anyway due to their connection to the king, it would make sense if there was a limit of how much magic they could borrow before something blocked them – either because the ‘sharing’ works by them having a certain stock which runs dry or because their bodies refuse to accept more magic from the king past a certain threshold, thus inducing Stasis. The same cannot be said for Noctis. He’s of royal blood. He was born with his ability to use magic. It’s part of him. It’s his magic, not someone else’s that he’s borrowing.

Furthermore, there is King Regis, who we know is weakening due to sustaining the Wall. He’s been weakened to the point that already at the time of Brotherhood, he lost access to his Arminger – not the entire arsenal, he can still summon regular weapons, but the Royal Arms no longer appear to him because he’s too weak. Yet even this weakened monarch withered by years of using the Ring of the Lucii is never so much as implied to experience Stasis, or to ever have experienced it. Even now, when he can hardly use magic in general, there’s nothing that may imply he’s close to or dealing with Stasis. His magic is there, he just cannot use it. But if Noctis’ father never experienced Stasis in all his life, then it would mean it’s weird that Noctis does, especially as easily as he does in early-game.

Unless, of course, his childhood injury and the Starscourge play a role in it. Hence why I believe they do.

3 – Elemental Magic

Another direct ability connected to his magic that Noctis has is his Elemancy and general spell-casting. And here’s where things get really interesting in my opinion. I’ll be breaking this into two separate parts, one about the obvious Elemancy from the game (i.e. making the magic flasks) and one less obvious aspect. Let’s start with the less obvious one.

3.1 – Elemental Deposits

In order to use elemental magic in the form of flasks, Noctis has to first store the energy from elemental deposits. These are strewn about all over Eos, most notably with one of each element (fire, ice, lightning) around every haven blessed by an Oracle. However, they’re also found in different locations to varying amounts. Mt. Ravatogh is littered with fire deposits and maybe a lighting here and there, but you won’t find any ice, which makes sense considering it’s a volcano. The cave behind the waterfall, aptly named Glacial Grotto, is littered with ice deposits and you’ll be hard pressed to find anything else (though there is exactly one fire and one lightning deposit). This implies that elemental magic is part of the very earth itself, which is important when you consider another thing:

Noctis is the only character who requires these depositis. Everyone else can cast spells ‘just like that’ as far as we know. The Kingsglaive? Both in the movie and in the Comrades expansion, they just do it. There’s not even so much as a mention of the deposits. Ignis, who’s implied to be the most magically adept of Noctis’ companions? His entire fighting style when you play him relies on elemental magic, and when you don’t play as him, he has elemental techniques to use via the tech bar like Sage Fire. He can do both whether or not Noct has stored any elemental energy himself, so it’s not connected to that.

Where, then, do these characters draw the magic from?

At first, one may think that they draw from the royal family. It’s how the Kingslaive’s abilities are explained in-game, after all. They can use magic because of their connection to the king, because the king gives them access to his own magic. The same goes for the Crownsguard, though to a lesser degree, as they don’t seem able to do much more than just conjure and dismiss weapons from the arsenal. Cor doesn’t warp once the few times he’s a guest member in your party and, unless I’m misremembering, none of the Crowsguard were able to warp in the Kingsglaive movie, either. Same for the Crownsguard enemies in Episode Ardyn. Outside the royal family, only the Glaives could do that.

So they draw their magic from their sovereign – King Regis in most cases, Noctis in the case of Ignis, Gladio and Prompto. Except we just talked about how Ignis’ fighting style, particularly when he’s the player character, relies heavily on elemental magic and he can use it whether or not Noctis has any elemental magic from deposits stored. This leads me to believe that using elemental spells is actually a two-fold job. Because the magic of the royal family is bound to the Crystal. But the elemental deposits can be found literally anywhere (even in cities in odd containers) and the kinds of deposits you find in certain terrain depends on that terrain, meaning the elemental energy is something that can be found in the earth… and by extension likely the sea and the air, too, it would only make sense.

So the royal family doesn’t actually have direct use of elemental magic, but their Crystal magic gives them a way to manipulate these elemental energies to form spells. This is further reinforced by the fact that when Noctis absorbs elemental energy, it is portrayed as colorful, smoke-like wisps or something. There’s no small flame or ice particles or sparks of electricity in the energy he absorbs (though they are there on the deposit before he starts siphoning it). That only comes when actual spells are cast. Which would mean it’s possible that whoever gets access to the Crystal’s magic via connection to the royal family gains an ability to manipulate those energies as well, and is thus capable of using elemental magic. Which would also explain why some people have more of an affinity for it than others because let’s be honest, that sounds like complicated, hard work.

As I said before, though: Noctis is the only character to actually use the energy deposits. So where do other characters grasp the elemental energy to manipulate it with the Crystal’s magic to create spells? The answer is simple: everything around them. The earth. The water. The very air. They can draw that energy from those places and manipulate it to form spells. And Noctis should be able to do the same. Yet he seems to require the deposits instead.

Could it be due to the fact that, for some reason, he lacks some aspect of his Crystal magic, be it fine-tuned control or something as simple as the instinct for it, that would allow him to weave these energies from the very air around him? Could it be that in order to grasp those energies and manipulate them, he requires a higher concentration of that energy? It seems to be the case. And by that logic, unless we assume he simply doesn’t have the affinity for magic, the only other possible explanation is his childhood injury.

But wait. One thing doesn’t add up. Noctis can use elemental spells in his parries, after all. Against certain enemies, when you block at the right moment and then press the attack button when prompted, an animation will start where Noctis counters, usually with magic. For instance, he can jump onto the flat side of a Red Giant’s sword, run up to it, up its chest, jump away and throw a fire spell at it. A similar counter is possible with one of the Niflheim machine enemies of the X generation (X-Angel or something along those lines, I think). And those counters, much like Ignis’ fighting style, can be executed whether or not Noctis happens to have elemental energies for Elemancy stored.

And that’s true. But there’s a few details to consider here. First, these counters are available against specific, late-game enemies. Besides which, no matter what the enemy’s weakness or resistances might be, Noctis will only ever use a fire spell in those parries, and not an overly powerful one, either. So going by Gameplay-Story-Integration again, this can be explained thus: by virtue of fighting and using magic far more often than he ever had to in Insomnia, Noctis eventually learned to draw the elemental energy from the air as well, but still not in what can be considered an effective manner. Especially since I’d consider fire to be the easiest spell to cast of the three (even if blizzard, by virtue of being connected to water, may be the one for which the energy is easiest to draw from the air in particular). Because lightning would be difficult to conjure from the air in general and blizzard, while probably having an amplitude of water energy that can be used, needs far more manipulation because you need to freeze it and stuff. By contrast, with fire, you just have to manipulate it enough that there’s a first spark and the rest is a chain reaction because the flames use the air (or rather the oxygen in the air) as fuel to burn. Furthermore, compared to blizzard and lightning spells, fire spells have far less of an area of effect. They’re more concentrated and thus safer to use for a counter without endangering one’s comrades, but that’s another matter entirely.

There’s another aspect of the deposits, too, namely that they’re the one thing in the game that Noctis’ companions never point out. If you pass a shop, they’ll talk about shopping or getting curatives. If you pass a haven, Gladio will often ask if you want to make camp. If you’re near a fishing spot, either Noctis or one of the others may comment on the opportunity to fish. But elemental deposits are never commented on by anyone. Almost as if they’re not seen. (Much like mineral deposits and places where you can pick up food, but admittedly, those really can be overseen. The same can’t really be said for elemental deposits, considering their glow and stuff.)

Which… actually would make sense if you think about it. Episode Gladio and Prompto were both in locations that should have been rich in deposits – Gladio’s by virtue of being a generally magical location and Prompto’s because it’s still relatively near to Shiva’s resting place, which should make him stumble upon ice deposits all over, especially considering that there were several of them in abandoned containers on the railway where the train Noctis, Gladio and Ignis were using was forced to stop (you know, that spot right to Shiva’s corpse’s head?). Yet in neither location is even one deposit to be found. Not even in a ‘yeah, there is one here, but obviously you can’t make use of it’ kind of way. Similarly, there were a couple deposits in containers in Altissia, but when you play Episode Ignis, there is not a single one. Finally, there were even deposit containers in the ruined Insomnia. I find it hard to believe those would have been brought there by Niflheim, so they had to have been there before Insomia’s fall and might even have been lying around for years. And yet you also don’t see a single one when you play Episode Ardyn. Ardyn who, being a Lucis Caelum, has access to the Crystal’s magic as well as far as we know. Admittedly, he never uses the elemental aspect, though. Actually, all he does use is warping and the Royal Arms during his final fight with Noct. Nothing else. Almost as if… as if he’s lost access to it. Maybe because of all the Starscourge he’s absorbed.

Much like Noctis, who had been infected with it to a lesser degree as a child and who thus has issues with using it as well.

But back to the deposits. One more interesting thing to note in the case of Insomnia is that these deposits lie literally in random spots among the rubble. With the addition of the Glaive Encampment and stuff in the Royal Edition, you would think there wouldn’t be deposits at least around the encampment, right? The Glaives might not need them, but still, why would they just leave them lying around in random spots like this? Especially if it was known Noctis makes use of them. Then it would have been even more logical to gather them in a safe place for him, if only to make sure they’re preserved for him to use whenever he comes back. So why wouldn’t they do that? Why just leave them? Why won’t Noctis’ comrades ever comment on them, even when you have nothing stored and they would usually remind you to maybe stock up like they do with everything else?

Simple: no one but Noctis can actually see/sense them.

As I said before, one of the possibilities of how elemental magic is weaved into spells from the Crystal’s magic and natural elemental energy is that it’s done instinctively. It’s not that the characters can SENSE the elemental energies and decide to use them. They just go ‘I need this spell’ and instinctively reach for the energies they need for it. As the energies they need are literally everywhere around them, there’s no NEED for them to be able to sense them.

But Noctis is different in that the energies flowing all around him are not enough for him to actually grasp and weave into spells. He needs spots where those energies are concentrated. Spots which he needs to FIND. And so he may have developed a sort of sixth sense, a way to sense elemental energies when they’re concentrated enough (and possibly the Crystal magic, too, because the two likely aren’t that different; the Crystal magic could even be a sort of fourth element). A way that no one else has, because no one else NEEDS to find these places. Hence why they’re only actually there in the main game, which is from Noctis’ PoV. No other character could make use of them and because they don’t even need them, no other character can even sense/see them.

3.2 – Magic Flasks

As extensively discussed above, Noctis cannot easily cast spells, not the way the Glaives or Ignis do (and his father as well before he’s been weakened by the Ring of the Lucii, at least according to ‘A King’s Tale’). He can’t draw the energy from just anywhere, it needs to be concentrated enough. Furthermore, considering you can’t draw from elemental deposits even when you happen to be right next to one in a fight (and you can do a lot of things in the middle of combat via even the main menu in FFXV) and that it’s an ability that you can ‘level up’ via Ascension, it would be safe to assume even that is not easy for him. It takes time and he needs to concentrate. Because of this, it’s very possible that the difficulty of just drawing the energy makes the simultaneous manipulation of it into a spell nearly impossible for him (the exception being the aforementioned, tiny fire spell in counters). As a result, instead of drawing energy, manipulating it and then releasing the crafted spell simultaneously like the Glaives (as well as his father) do, Noctis needs to separate the steps.

Step one has been discussed extensively above. He draws the energy from places particularly rich in elemental energy – the deposits.

Step two, an intermediate step necessary due to the apparent difficulty in drawing elemental energies, is storage. As Noctis cannot manipulate the energy at the same time as he draws it, he needs to do something with it so he can do so later. The only logical thing to do is to store it, which he does likely in his own body (as he can do it since the beginning of the game and there’s no item or anything that’s in any way required for it).

Step three: he forges the spells. Now this one is interesting, because it doesn’t seem like Noctis has much issue with this particular step. Once he has the elemental energy necessary, spell-crafting seems to be simple, at least if one looks at it once again through Gameplay-Story-Integration glasses. As stated earlier, you can’t draw elemental energy from deposits while in combat. You can, however, craft spells mid-combat via the use of the main menu. So, going by the same rules as we did for the drawing of energy, this means that crafting spells is quick, easy and doesn’t require much concentration on Noctis’ part.

Why then does he always store them in flasks? If crafting the spells is so easy, why not cast them directly from his own energy storage?

Well, another widely accepted headcanon (to my knowledge) is that Noctis can’t control the spells that well. Not in terms of crafting them, but in terms of their power and where they land. Thus, he uses the flasks to both have better control in terms of aim, as well as actual power. This idea is supported by two things.

The first is how crafting spells works. You can decide how much of each elemental energy you want to infuse into a flask and you see what the end result will be before you actually craft the spell. This is, of course, an obvious game mechanic to avoid frustration for the players so they don’t craft blindly. But it would also make sense if this was another bit of Gameplay-Story-Integration, because Noctis himself likely doesn’t craft the spells blindly hoping he’ll get the right one, either. He can either ‘sense’ what spell will come out, or he’s practices crafting spells long enough to just know from experience.

The second thing is the difference in spells between Noctis and the Glaives. Whether you look at the Comrades DLC or the Kingsglaive movie, the magic of the Glaives is far more controlled than Noctis’. It’s more focused while being just as destructive and there doesn’t seem to be nearly as much risk of getting your comrades caught up in the cross-fire, and considering I only ever played Comrades offline (meaning with AI), trust me that the difference wasn’t between actual people knowing to get out of the way. Especially since it’s not like Comrades actually has a chatting system or anything, so it’s not like you can warn anyone ‘magic incoming!’ or anything. And yet unlike the main game, your party members are never actually caught in the crossfire.

Of course, there’s one big difference between throwing a flask (which is basically a magic bomb) and casting a spell yourself, and that’s the amount of control you have over the spell at any given moment. You need to control it to cast it, control where it lands by aiming and likely control it at the very moment of casting, so when the magic is released and possibly what it considers a target, as well. Flasks remove one-and-a-half of those. Noctis still needs to control the spells when he crafts them so they don’t blow up in his face or something before he stuffs them into flasks. But he doesn’t need to keep controlling it when he aims and he literally can’t control it at the moment of casting, because that happens on its own when the flask breaks. So while the Glaives can be assumed to control even the release of the spell (exactly when it goes off, how far it reaches etc.) this is out of Noctis’ hands. Once a flask breaks, that’s it, the energy inside literally explodes outward in a big, destructive mess. And that’s exactly how Noctis’ flasks work: a big explosion of magic that decimates everything in its path.

But then we return to the question: why bother? Why not just cast from his ‘internal storage’ where he keeps the elemental energy before he puts them in flasks?

I believe that is due to the fact that casting normally would be too difficult and demand too much concentration, much like drawing the energy from elemental deposits in the first place. As I said before, putting the magic into flasks removes two steps of casting where tight control of the magic is needed: to aim and to release (and potentially to designate the targets versus the people who are not to be harmed). And that is the EASY step, as Noctis can even do it mid-combat. It’s the aiming and release that likely pose issues, which would make sense. When it’s merely in ‘wisp-form’, the energy may be more or less difficult to manipulate, but is likely easy to contain. Once it’s crafted into the spell and becomes magic, however, the actual power/strength of it likely amplifies, since you’re combining various energies together. It’s like a chemical reaction. As soon as you start mixing stuff, a kind of reaction happens and energy is released. This is likely the same. And containing that energy, that pure power that’s created when a spell is crafted, may be beyond Noctis’ grasp on his magic. Which would mean that he does not have that tight or fine-tuned a control over it. He can manipulate it to craft spells, but anything other than that is either difficult and demands a lot of concentration, or is outright beyond his capabilities.

(Again, there’s this one little spell he does in counter-attacks, but that might be about all he can safely manage.)

4 – Healing Magic

There’s one more aspect of Noctis’ magic in terms of spell-casting: healing, otherwise known as the Cure-line of spells (Cure, Cura and Curaga, as well as potentially Raise and Arise, though the latter two don’t seem to be a thing in FFXV in general). It’s the one type of magic that’s nearly entirely unavailable to Noctis.

He can’t cast healing spells. The Glaives can and do.

On the other hand, Glaives don’t use potions. I don’t think a potion, or any other kind of curative, has even been mentionned in the Kingsglaive movie (though it’s been a while since I’ve seen it so I may be wrong), and they definitely aren’t in Comrades. Curatives are something only Noctis and his companions have access to, and the description of each points out that they only work ‘by way of Noctis’ power’. So he’s the one that makes them.

The idea here is similar and yet different to magic flasks. For magic flasks, Noctis needs to gather elemental energy first. He doesn’t seem to have any need for it to create curatives. On the other hand, he can’t just stuff healing magic into a flask. He requires a medium of sorts, apparently preferably in liquid form considering he always uses various types of energy drinks. Interestingly, the potency of the curative doesn’t seem to be how much magic Noctis’ stuffs into it, otherwise they could probably buy Hi-Elixirs for the price of a mere potion, but rather what kind of medium (so energy drink) he uses. Almost like the magic he infuses it with directly interacts with the chemical contents of the medium to determine the curative’s potency. Which is, at the very least, plausible.

Here we have another wonderful bit of Gameplay-Story-Integration in that you can buy curatives of any sort nearly anywhere, up to and including Gralea. Which makes sense if Noctis himself is the one who creates them. Surely even the empire would have energy drinks for their human citizens, right? And furthermore, with the exception of one (1) cutscene in Episode Prompto where Aranea uses a curative (which, considering she’s met Noctis and the others in Tenebrae before, she might have gotten from them; even if they didn’t have enough stock themselves, Noctis could have turned all energy drinks she had into curatives to further enable her relief efforts; and let’s be honest, it’s totally something Noctis would do) no one else but Noctis and his crew ever uses curatives, or even seems to know they exist. I mean, all those hunters you rescue in random side-quests? You’d think they’d have their own potions and antidotes and stuff on them if it was something that could be bought anywhere. Except all they can buy is an energy drink. Only Noctis can actually make it into a curative.

As for actually casting a healing spell in any form, Noctis cannot do that at all. The only thing he can do is mix a curative or some food into his elemental spells to create healcast spells. (Which, by the way, is another example of magic actually interacting with matter on a chemical level or something of that nature – though it’s likely more abstract than that - to determine an additional effect. If you use other items, you get stopcast, venomcast, failcast etc.)

5 – Sharing Magic With Others

The final point in which Noctis’ injury may have affected how well he can use his magic is actually sharing it with others, the same way Regis does with the Crownsguard and the Kingsglaive. However, at first glance, in this one point, it doesn’t seem like Noctis has any difficulty compared to his father. He shares his magic with Ignis, Gladio and Prompto easily enough and they can do everything a Crownsguard is supposed to.

As stated before, the Crownsguard doesn’t seem to have that much access to elemental magic, at least going by what little we see of them in the movie and the fact that in-game, Cor isn’t very magically inclined in terms of elemancy, either. However, they can materialize weapons from the arsenal. But they can’t warp. Cor never does and neither do the Crownguard operatives in Episode Ardyn.

The Glaives (and the Royal Guard they’re derived from) can use elemental magic and they can warp (though some are better than it than others). They can also manifest their weapons, as prove in both Episode Ardyn and Comrades.

I don’t remember if it was said in the Kingsglaive movie itself or if I read about it elsewhere, but I’m pretty certain it was stated somewhere that these differences were due to how powerful the ‘sharing link’ between King and subject is. The Crownsguard, being a ‘defense and reaction only’ kind of force and derived of what used to be the Lucian army to boot, only have the most basics of links to allow them access to the arminger arsenal. The Kingsglaive, on the other hand, was meant to basically be the new Lucian army (and yet, ironically, they’re based on the former Royal Guard). They were meant not to be a defense force, but an attack force. And since most of the magic the king can make available is more attack-oriented anyway, he bestowed those powers to them.

There’s also the fact that this more powerful link is more draining, too, which was likely another reason the Crownsguard only got the bare minimum of magic access.

Thing is, Ignis, Gladio and Prompto are all part of the Crownsguard, so they should also only have this ‘basics only’ connection. And yet Ignis can use elemental magic like no other Crownsguard member. Which leads me to believe that Noctis, being young and not yet burdened by the Ring, gave the strongest connection he could to his friends, allowing them access to every aspect of his magic.

But wait. If that’s the case, why don’t the other three warp? Ever?

Well, in Prompto’s case, that’s simple. He’s only been trained for a couple of months and while he was accepted into the Crownsguard, it’s downright said at the beginning of the game that his training was more meant for self-defense than to actually protect Noctis. Ignis and Gladio, however, don’t have that excuse. Gladio in particular has been trained in combat all his life. You’d expect him of all people to know how to warp, right?

Here’s the thing though: if you look at the Brotherhood anime, then outside of the few scenes actually set after the beginning of the game, neither Ignis nor Gladio are shown to be able to use magic. Even in the scene in episode 3 (I think?) where Gladio and Noctis trained with wooden weapons, they didn’t call for them or dismiss them with magic. In Noctis’ case, he might not have wanted to or he might still have been struggling to, since he was still a teenager then. In Gladio’s case, it’s safe to assume he hasn’t had access to it at that point. Especially since neither Ignis nor Gladio wear a Crownsguard uniform in the anime.

So that would mean their link to Noctis, and thus his magic, is relatively recent. Two, three years at most. And warping isn’t something that’s easily learned. Noctis might have additional trouble with it because of his injury, but even among the Glaives there are those who warp better (Nyx) than others (Libertus, who complains it makes him nauseous and that he needs to practice more). And these are highly skilled combatants with lots of experience and decent-to-exceptional magical affinity who have likely been training for years before being sent into the field (a lot can be said about Regis, but definitely not that he would send poorly-trained soldiers into a war). So learning to warp, whether you have aptitude for magic or not, takes time. Thus it is very likely that Ignis and Gladio could learn to warp if given the time and opportunity to do so. It’s just that once they leave Insomnia, they never do.

There’s one more thing, too: Ignis has a tendency to throw his daggers in combat and Gladio often throws his sword at Noctis during training. Both ultimately end up summoning the blades back to them in the end, but there’s always a second or so of delay before they do, as if they were originally trying to do something else. Like warping after the weapon. It’s thus very possible that shortly before leaving Insomnia, they have both begun warp training, it’s just that they haven’t had the time to finish it and actually learn to warp. And then once they leave Insomnia and then Insomnia falls, they don’t get much opportunity to train. Even during the ten years Noctis is in the Crystal, or rather especially during that time. Because daemons are springing up all over, the nights are getting longer and it’s basically the apocalypse. You don’t really get the chance to learn a new skill when something like that happens, you focus on the skills you already have to better them in a way that can make it possible for you to survive. So in the end, they never really learned. And after the Dawn, they didn’t really have the opportunity to anymore.

However, looking at everything else, it’s safe to assume Noctis allows them free, full access to his magic. His ability to do so is not hindered by his childhood injury.

In conclusion:

Noctis’ injury, sustained by the Marilith and likely made worse by a Starscourge infection, affected his magic on nearly every level. It made warping (and possibly conjuring weapons and other items) more difficult for him to learn. It immensely impacted his ability to cast spells, both of the elemental and the healing variety. It made him susceptible to falling into Stasis. Almost every aspect of his magic that we know of has been affected in some way. The only part of it that still seems perfectly fine (or at least there’s no reason to believe it’s been affected in any way) is his ability to create a ‘sharing link’ to give someone else access to magical abilities.

[teenage-mutant-ninja-freak]

A brief backstory into the Mob Boss! AU

Splinter (Couldn’t find any gifs of him from the movie lamo sorry)

Splinter was experimented on in that lab and unlike the turtles he was old enough to remember every injection, every poke and prod and every time they hurt him and the turtles

When the experiments “failed” and the lab lost funding, they didn’t have the money or patience to properly dispose of the subjects so they flushed Splinter and the 4 turtles down the toilet where they ended up in the sewers

It only gets worse from here

They were found months later, after the mutagen had taken hold, and were forced into a private, underground freakshow

the turtles were put in chains and Splinter was forced to perform for an audience

if he refused he would be beaten and tortured 

or his sons would be used against his with threats of violence (or actual violence) befalling them

desperate to protect them he did as he was told but every time something was thrown at him, he was whipped to keep him in line, one of his sons was beaten ect it just made him more cruel and unforgiving

he grew to hate humanity, the people who called him a monster were the same ones who had him in chains.

later April, who’s a big time activist in everything from animals rights to environmental, finds them and helps them get free

Splinter wants to destroy the world effectively so he decides to start small and run a crime family or mob, selling guns, drugs and anything else he can to other gangs just to wreck the communities around him

This is until he’s violently tortured and murdered by the foot clan (a rival gang) and found the next morning by the boys.

Leo

Leo was always Splinter’s favourite 

he learned to walk and talk first, he was a clear born leader to the others

looks up to Splinter and everything he did to keep them safe

cool, calm, collected but still has a nasty temper when he needs to bring it out

has blocked out most of what happened when they were in the freak show so it only affects him subconsciously. 

like he can’t keep a woman because anyone who showed him kindness was viciously thrown out and hurt for “associating with the animals” if they tried to talk to him or offer him food and water

probably the most stable and likeable of the brothers

head of the mob when Splinter dies

his death really takes a tole on Leo even if he tries to hide it

Splinter was his rock and taught him everything he knows so he’ll never forgive the foot clan or make another deal with them

His one goal is to finish Splinter’s work and destroy the foot clan entirely

good friends with April just like his father and tries to hide the business from her a lot

currently single

Raph

Raph grew the fastest and was always mocked for his size

labelled the biggest freak out of all of them because of this

they also never bothered to update the chains they kept the boys in so Raph still has scars around his wrists from outgrowing them and how tightly they pressed on him

always butting heads with Splinter even though he loved him

it was a tough relationship because Raph was so angry about their childhood and the way they were treated but Splinter always had the bigger picture in mind so he’s never gave in to Raph’s impulsive, violent suggestions

remembers the faces of everyone who ever hurt them and vows to kill them one day

already has killed a few of them

high sex drive, he wants to feel desired and powerful

so size difference and dominance over his partner is a big turn on

don’t look at this guy the wrong way, he takes everything personally and won’t hesitate to knock your lights out of you do

or worse

killing is personal for him, he hates nearly everyone he meets because they remind his of the smiling, laughing faces of the crowds who would come to watch Splinter perform and pay for the privilege to meet (and harm) him and his brothers

currently in a very messed up relationship

Mikey

Mikey is a whole ‘nother story

he was the smallest out of them, always has been and so one night he managed to slip out of his chains when he was about 4 years old

He will never, ever say what happened, all they know is that they found in outside of the juggler’s tent sobbing and laughing hysterically at the same time

he hasn’t been the same ever since

now he’s a straight up sociopath 

he can barely feel empathy and only cares about his brothers and one woman who works as a waitress in Paddy’s (the bar they frequent and sometimes make deals at)

he’s never really spoken to her but she’s his everything and he has an unhealthy fixation on her

Splinter didn’t really know how to control him after whatever happened happened so he would keep him in isolation for long periods of time in what he called “the hashi” which only made him crazier

killing is fun for him, it’s a game really. 

you hurt them here and then blood comes out, neat!

no real friends, no close relationships just casual stuff until he can get the girl of his dreams but he has needs, y’know?

single but has a few “friends” with benefits 

Donnie

Donnie is....Tricky

he learned from a young age that he was smart

and he knew he was smart, always with the one liners and bluntness that got his and his brothers extra beatings

he taught himself how to read and write from litter left around the freak show 

but it was never enough for Splinter

He was gangly and tall and too clever for his own good and Splinter didn’t like that

He’d pit his brothers against him just to spite him or make him shut up

when Donnie realised his true gift was with technology, Splinter just didn’t get it. How could knowing how to use emails and shit help them run a crime empire?

He didn’t know about hacking or digitally turning off security camera and wouldn’t hear it if Donnie tried to explain

his best was never good enough for him 

at least, until Donnie was all grown up and managed to hack the cops database to get Splinter off the hook for assault with a deadly weapon, but by then Donnie was all grown up and resented him intensely

He’s closest to Mikey as Mikey is the most honest, he says exactly what he feels and thinks when he feels and thinks them

Donnie finds there’s a simplicity to that which he enjoys

currently single

[mst3kproject]

Planet of Dinosaurs

This movie is blessed with some pretty cool stop-motion dinosaurs and absolutely nothing else, and it’s got a Rifftrack.  That’s… that’s it, really.  Press play.

The spaceship Odyssey suffers a reactor meltdown and blows up with only just enough warning for the crew to launch a single lifeboat shuttle.  Luckily, there’s a life-bearing planet nearby where the spandex-suited survivors can land, but unluckily, it turns out to be inhabited by giant reptiles, not unlike the prehistoric fauna of Earth!  There’s also a spider the size of a Yorkshire terrier, for no particular reason.

There’s not really any plot from there, it’s just bad actors shooting toy laser guns at plastic dinosaurs, interspersed with Rock Climbing. At last the characters manage to kill the inevitable T-rex that’s been threatening them, whereupon they declare themselves to have conquered this planet.

There are a few attempts at human conflict but they’re pretty watery.  The first possible b-plot has to do with the vice president of the space-shipping company, Mr. Baylor, who was along on this trip for some reason and is among the survivors. So they’re not just stranded on Dinosaur Planet, they’re stranded on Dinosaur Planet with their boss.  He’s a jackass and his secretary quickly gets fed up with him and quits, which doesn’t do her a whole lot of good since they are, as I mentioned, stranded on Dinosaur Planet.  The writers run out of things to do with Baylor about halfway through the movie and kill him off, to everybody’s relief.

The second involves the bearded guy, Jim, who’s starting to take issue with Captain Lee’s command style.  Lee is trying to keep them all alive and uninjured until help can arrive.  Jim doesn’t think help is coming and wants to go full caveman and start slaughtering things. It starts to look like he’s gonna foment a mutiny, but eventually he and Lee overcome their differences and come up with a plan to kill the T-rex.

Finally, of course, the survivors inevitably pair off in heterosexual couples.  Sure is lucky there weren’t more men than women or vice-versa.  Very fortunate nobody’s left with no-one to bone but someone they’ve never gotten along with.  Quite improbable that nobody on the entire command crew was gay.  When one member of one of these couples becomes a dinosaur victim, the other thoughtfully dies a few scenes later, not because he commits suicide out of guilt or something, but just by coincidence.

One thing the movie actually does pretty well is day-for-night.  It’s not great, in that you can still tell it was shot in the daytime through a filter, but they chose the right filter to cool down the warm tones of the sunlight, and had the sense to keep the sky out of shot.  It never looks like somebody just turned the brightness on your screen way down and called it ‘night’, and I’ve seen so much worse that I want to at least acknowledge their competence.

The other thing Planet of Dinosaurs does well is the actual dinosaurs, which are a lot of fun. They’re lumpy and out of date, but some real care seems to have gone into building the detailed puppets and their movements are fluid and sometimes very lifelike.  There’s a nice variety of them, too.  As well as the T-rex there’s a smaller therapod that might be intended to be an Allosaurus, a couple of little Ornithomimus­-like animals, a Brontosaurus complete with the wrong head, a Stegosaurus, a Centrosaurus, and some kind of ankylosaur.  In real life these are a jumble of Hell Creek and Morrison dinosaurs who never met each other, but eh, it’s supposed to be another planet, it’s cool.

Unfortunately, there are several points where the effects people try to show us something they probably should have implied instead.  I commend their ambition, but knowing your limits is a big part of making special effects work.  In the first episode of Walking with Dinosaurs, the Postosuchus attacks a Placerias… but we don’t see as much of this as we think we do because our view is blocked by the body of the prey animal.  They knew their CGI wasn’t up to making the attack look good, so they tricked us into thinking we saw more than we did.  In Planet of Dinosaurs, a character stabs an injured Ornithomimus with a spear, and it’s painfully obvious that the stop-motion creature was just superimposed on top.  They could easily have set up the shot so we didn’t have to actually see it go in, but they didn’t.

The dinosaurs are clearly what they spent their budget on, which was wise – as I said in my review of Twelve to the Moon, if you can only afford to show us one cool thing, best make it the one in the title. Sadly, when I say spent the budget I mean the entire budget.  The rest of Planet of Dinosaurs looks like it was made in somebody’s backyard using stuff from the garden shed.  The spaceship that briefly appears in the opening had a previous career as a vacuum cleaner.  When it ‘explodes’ it just flickers red and vanishes with no further attempt at an effect.

The costumes look kind of like if they made the original Star Trek series ten years later but on the same budget, with producers who didn’t think they wanted this to be a porno but preferred to keep the option open.  The designated Himbo, Chuck, doffs his shirt within the first few minutes of the film and never gets it back.  The blonde who goes for a swim and is eaten by some water monster was wearing a bikini under her uniform for some reason.  By the end, they’re all dressed in cartoon caveman garb and Chuck is still shirtless.

Besides the dinosaurs, the main effect we see is the laser guns, which are among the most ineffective sci-fi weapons ever committed to screen.  They fire a beam of very slow red light which does absolutely nothing to any of the dinosaurs, even when the characters observe that one has been injured.  I think this is supposed to show us that the animals are tougher than the technology, but for that to work we would have needed to see a laser used effectively, perhaps to destroy something blocking the path. Without that, we have no basis for comparison.

If this were all Planet of Dinosaurs did wrong, it would be a bad movie classic.  Even the abysmally bad acting has its funny moments. What ruins the enjoyment is the movie’s lack of a proper story.

Planet of Dinosaurs is supposed to be a Cast Away or Robinson Crusoe sort of a film, about unprepared people thrust into the wilderness and forced to survive as best they can.  Such a narrative doesn’t need an overarching conflict per se.  It can be a series of smaller survival stories strung together, but Planet of Dinosaurs doesn’t manage to do that.  The ‘plot’ with Baylor depends on him being a petulant fool, and the characters are not sufficiently well-developed for us to have any interest in the ‘love stories’ that don’t affect the overall course of events.

The rivalry between Captain Lee and Bearded Guy Jim turns on how to keep the rest of the survivors safe from the large predators in the area, particularly the T-rex.  Lee wants everybody to hole up on a rocky plateau behind a ridiculously flimsy stockade to keep the animals out, while Jim wants to hunt down and kill the dinosaurs, to teach them to fear humans as wolves do on Earth.  The main problem with this is that we just don’t see enough of the predatory dinosaurs to justify this treatment of them.

We see the T-rex fairly early in the film, and it fuels the humans’ decision to see high ground where they hope such a large animal will not go. The much smaller Allosaurus shows up at one point to make a woman scream, is ‘injured’ with a laser, and the T-rex then eats it.  And just before the climax, the T-rex breaks through the stockade to chow down on Baylor’s secretary.  In between these incidents, we do not see and rarely even hear about these animals.  If we’re supposed to imagine them constantly lurking around outside, the movie makes no effort to reinforce that impression.  The T-rex is treated as the Final Boss, but the movie just hasn’t earned that.

At the end we see the survivors a few years later.  They’re building a farm, making their own clothes, living off the land, and raising their children.  One of the women asks the other if she thinks they’re ever going to be rescued, and the other replies that she doesn’t think it matters anymore. The implication is that they’re now happy here.  This is really not a bad little denouement, and ends the movie on a warm, optimistic note.

If you want to see some ridiculous 70s mustaches and ugly 70s dinosaurs, you’ll probably have fun with Planet of Dinosaurs.  Unfortunately, the movie was a little too ambitious in some places and not ambitious enough in others.  If I’d seen it at the age of six I probably would have become immediately obsessed with it for the dinosaurs alone, but as an adult I’m afraid my standards are just a little too high.  Unable to afford to be good, and unable to commit to being bad, it’s just another meh.