#attitude ki spelling

[shannonsketches]

lays on the floor i am once again thinking about the goku geets foil in terms of their experience and perspective and parenting

tl;dr: Goku sees letting his child do serious battle as a gift, and Vegeta sees it as a failure.

a lot of the 'goku's a bad father' discourse comes from how he trains/puts Gohan into fights and either doesn't know or doesn't realize that Gohan wants to be a scholar and not a warrior; the reason Gohan keeps joining the fray is because he doesn't want to see people he loves get hurt, right, because that's been his entire experience since Raditz showed up (and remains so until Cell dies).

The discourse re: The Cell Games is interesting though, examining the 'how could Goku not know/how could Goku volunteer his child so blithely' etc and his similar attitude toward the kids fighting in Super('s manga), and it's part of why I say/write/read Goku as deeply inconsiderate but never malicious (and this does tie into the foil with Geets lemme just); Goku's experience with serious combat is fun, and exciting.

Goku volunteering Gohan to fight Cell was something Goku considered a gift to Gohan, to be able to flex his power and go all out on an enemy that could handle it/required it -- that's something Goku wishes he had the power to do, especially at Gohan's age! That's super exciting to Goku. It's not pageant mom forcing her kid to do what she wanted energy, it's Goku being sweet and pure and sharing something he thinks he has in common with his kid. Vegeta says Saiyans live to fight! Goku's entire life has been spent bonding with competitive martial artists! It never occurred to him that someone so naturally powerful and talented wouldn't enjoy fighting.

And Goku does not read subtext, that's not a skill he has, so by the time Piccolo spells it out for him, he's genuinely sorry to have put Gohan in that position.

But in Super('s manga), the larger picture of Don't Put Children in Traumatic Situations still doesn't really occur to Goku, because he doesn't consider battle traumatic, no matter how emotionally intense it gets. Goku doesn't hold onto things. Goku lives and lets live, as long as he doesn't have to kill you. That's his super power. It's why he can be friends with all of these people who have done him and his loved ones and his planet so much harm. He consistently ends earth-shattering battles with, 'that was fun, let's do it again sometime'

Vegeta, on the other hand (see I told you I'd get here, I promised), has had the complete opposite experience. Vegeta considers others heavily, it's what made him very good at being malicious. Vegeta does this for survival. Vegeta's climb to the top is for the vantage point, not the view. He's not looking to the stars dreaming about what else it out there. He's squinting at the dark trying to kill whatever it is before it kills him and his home and his family. again.

Vegeta is a child soldier, who has distinct recollection of his culture being built on the rearing of child soldiers. By the times the cell games come around he is experiencing having a child for the first time, and after seeing (a future version of) that child die in battle, he seems to take on a much different opinion on letting kids fight.

Vegeta comes from a culture in which you send your child off-world to conquer a planet, alone, once they're old enough to walk. The stronger kids go into war zones. Vegeta was giving strategic orders to fellow elites by the time he was five. He was treating Gohan like a soldier when he was five.

But, by the Buu saga, Bulma tells Gohan that Vegeta says Trunks is old enough now to start proper training -- when Trunks is eight years old. Even then, Vegeta's telling Trunks not to push himself too hard in the gravity room, to stop and leave when it's too much for him to handle. Vegeta kills himself trying to prevent Trunks and Goten having to fight Buu. He jumps in to protect the kids when the fight gets too intense in Yo! Son Goku and Friends Return. He begs the kids not to fight Beerus in Battle of the Gods when he's barely conscious. He snaps at Goku any time he suggests them for intense battle in Super('s manga).

Vegeta sees it as not being strong enough to handle a problem, Which totally definitely doesn't have anything to do with some kind of deep-rooted trauma about placing the responsibility of making up for your weakness on your children that Vegeta's had to deal with since becoming a father and he for sure doesn't take it personally when a parent volunteers children to solve problems they had nothing to do with. He's fine! It's fine.

He does not want Trunks or Goten anywhere near a real battlefield (Bulma and/or the other adults seem to be helping to enforce this; in Res F, Trunks and Goten are not invited to go to the Freeza fight, and in the Moro arc both of them were asked to go be rangers in 17's absence again, complaining that nobody told them there was a fight happening at all), because it's got nothing to do with them. They shouldn't have to fight for their -- or anyone else's -- lives. That's the adults' job. That's his job.

Because to Vegeta, it is a job. Soldier, guardian, prince, lord, whatever. It's a role he has to fulfill, and his pride (and a whole lot of trauma-informed necessity) drives him to be the best at it, period, the end. It's an obligation that he must fulfill, because he's decided he's personally responsible for [gestures to the earth] all of this and its survival. It's where he keeps all his stuff!

For Goku, it's a game. He just wants to fight the strongest guys, and it's his understanding that everyone else wants that too. If he's not the best, GREAT! That's more to look forward to. A whole new rabbit to chase to who knows where. It's adventure! It's exciting! So of course the kids would want to get in on it! He LOVED doing this kind of stuff when he was a kid.

Goku has two hands! ...for former villains Vegeta and Piccolo to try to wrestle away from all the other, much worse villains who do not want to play with him.

[aishangotome]

Minamoto no Yoshitsune: Chapter 1

*Yoshino is the canon name for MC in Genjiden, so I will be using her name in place of player's name or Y/N.

(Gather your spell power, break the bond with Tamamo... and open your own apothecary!)

Thinking of the ordinary and lovable daily life, I was inspired and looked straight ahead.

Yoshino: Thank you! Everyone.

Yoritomo: If you can answer that clearly, then you've done well. --For now.

Shigehira: Are you sure you want to be so lukewarm? The enemy is that Yoshitsune-san.

As Shigehira-san said this, his eyes were filled with a hint of caution.

(Yoshitsune-sama...)

Yoshitsune: I rose from the brink of death to defeat Lord Yoritomo. I surrendered my soul to something inhuman.

(Lord Yorimoto's younger brother, right?)

(However, Ayakashi... is trying to defeat Lord Yoritomo even by signing a contract with Kurama.)

Yoshino: Um, what kind of person is Yoshitsune-sama?

Tamamo: I'm curious too. Even if Yoshitsune has Kurama's supernatural powers, wasn't he a force that was once destroyed?

Tamamo: And yet, you say you need Yoshino's power.

Tamamo: Do you really have no confidence that you can stand up to him?

Yoshino: Hey, Tamamo!?

(If you say that...)

The rims of Kagetoki's glasses glittered, and his sharp gaze shot through us.

Kagetoki: It's not hard to see why a stupid Ayakashi who's been sleeping under a rock with a country girl wouldn't know about it.

Yoshino: Yes, country girl... you're not wrong.

(What sharp words!)

Morinaga: Hey, Kagetoki. The two of them are offering to lend a hand, so you shouldn't talk like that.

Tamamo: Yes, yes, respect.

Kagetoki: Excuse me. Woe to the honest man.

Morinaga: KA - GE - TO - KI?

Kagetoki: .....

Kagetoki quickly took a step away from Morinaga and grimly kept his mouth shut.

(He's smiling, but maybe Morinaga isn't an ordinary person either...?)

Shigehira: We're getting off topic.

Yoritomo: Don't get hung up on it, Shigehira.

Yoritomo: Well, the one who knows best how much of a threat Yoshitsune was is you, as a member of the Heike (Taira) clan who fought him directly.

Yoshino: The Heike...

(Come to think of it, Shigehira called himself "Taira Shigehira"...)

Even though I am a "country girl," I know that the Taira and Minamoto clans have been fighting for a long time.

Yoshino: Why is Taira Shigehira-san in Yoritomo-sama's camp...?

Shigehira: I'd like to say that it doesn't matter, but I'll tell you this much.

Shigehira: --because I fought Yoshitsune-san and lost.

(What?)

I felt a flickering flame in Shigehira's pale eyes.

Yoritomo: Shigehira may look like this, but he is a man who is considered a great general of the Heike clan.

Yoritomo: At that time, the Taira clan was already in decline. While it's not as simple as merely attributing their defeat to a lack of military strength, it is certain that Yoshitsune scattered the Taira clan and dramatically guided them to their end.

Shigehira: I was supposed to be executed there, but for some reason, Lord Yoritomo spared me.

Shigehira: So after all that happened, we formed an alliance and now I'm in the Shogunate..... Got it?

Yoshino: Yes, for the time being.

(I'm sure there's a deeper story, but this isn't the right kind of atmosphere to ask about it.)

Shigehira: Yoshitsune, who approaches battle with a seemingly carefree attitude, is an extraordinary monster.

(So that's the story of when the Genji clan defeated the Heike clan...)

Yoshino: You mean he was tremendously strong even before he gained Kurama's supernatural powers... is that right?

Tamamo: It's a horrifying story, isn't it? He's a force to be reckoned with.

Shigehira: That's right. Not only is he a troublesome opponent, but he has also acquired supernatural powers.

Despite the furrowed brow on Shigehira-san's face, there was no fear; only a determination for battle.

(And the others too... they all have the face of a samurai.)

Kagetoki: ... At that time, under Lord Yoritomo's command, I also accompanied Yoshitsune-sama in battle as a retainer.

Yoshino: So you saw Yoshitsune-sama fight up close?

Tamamo: How was it? From Kagetoki's point of view.

Kagetoki: Yes, it was an insane fight.

(What...)

Kagetoki continued his words matter-of-factly.

Kagetoki: Despite being a general while leading the vanguard, he ran to the front lines and swung his sword with such ferocity as if discarding his life...

Kagetoki: Sometimes, he calmly carried out daring strategies that seemed reckless.

Kagetoki: When the subordinates saw him, they followed him as if possessed by something, chasing after him towards their doom.

Morinaga: There was a rumor going around at the time that no grass would grow wherever Lord Yoshitsune passed by.

Morinaga: When I first saw him, I was utterly amazed by his graceful appearance and exceptional swordsmanship and combat skills.

(I can't believe the people behind the Shogunate would say something like this...!)

Yoshino: ...He's such a great person.

When I coughed in awe, Lord Yoritomo raised a corner of his lips in a sarcastic manner.

Yoritomo: No matter how critical the situation, a man like Yoshitsune has the potential to turn the tide of battle.

Yoritomo: In fact, some battles would have been lost without that man's help.

(Just by listening to the stories, it's hard to believe that such a person actually exists.)

(But...)

(Yoshitsune-sama clearly had an aura different from an ordinary person.)

Just remembering that cold look in his eyes made me cower with fear.

Tamamo: As expected from the discerning eye of Kurama, he had predicted that Yoshitune's soul was not that of an ordinary person.

Yoshino: So we have to fight someone like that...

Yoritomo: Are you scared?

--CHOICES--

Scared

Not scared

I don't know

---

Yoshino: To be honest, I'm scared.

(No matter how powerful Tamamo is, Yoshitsune-sama seems to be more fearsome than I had imagined...)

Yoritomo: You're really stupid. Well, it's better than being lied to.

Yoritomo: It's about time to get some rest.

Yoshino: Um... what should I do starting tomorrow?

Yoritomo: You can do whatever you like. I'll prepare a room for you.

Yoshino: When someone says 'you can do whatever you like'... it actually makes me feel a bit uneasy.

Yoritomo: If you have any inconvenience, tell the maid. If you're bored, I'll arrange suitable entertainment, be it music or dance.

(Eh)

Yoshino: That's not what I meant!

Yoritomo: Then what do you mean?

Yoshino: I was just wondering if it's okay for me to wait for the battle with Yoshitsune-sama like this... And Yoritomo-sama said, 'I will hire you.' I can't just do nothing when I'm employed.

Yoritomo: ......

(Huh? I have a bad feeling about this...)

For some reason, Yoritomo-sama stared at me intently and then immediately had a look of amusement on his face.

Yoritomo: Oh? You're serious, huh? Well, if you say so, I'll give you a job.

Yoshino: What, really...?

Yoritomo: Yeah.

Yoritomo: Kagetoki. I think I received a letter last night from another country asking for reinforcements for the war.

Kagetoki: Yes. However, it is just a minor skirmish between two small countries. I don't think it is a battle that would warrant the Shogunate's intervention.

Yoritomo: I thought about abandoning it, but at this point, it's not a bad idea to ingratiate myself with them in preparation for the Great War.

Yoritomo: Morinaga.

Morinaga: Oh, is it my turn?

Yoritomo: Yeah. Take Yoshino with you and check out the situation.

Yoshino: Wait! Are you saying we're going straight to the battlefield...?

As I voiced my doubts, Yoritomo-sama smiled.

Yoritomo: You're the one who asked for work.

Yoritomo: They say practice makes perfect, right?

(That's true, but---)

Yoshino: Isn't it too harsh to suddenly throw someone in like that!?

I was stunned by the tense atmosphere of the battlefield.

Morinaga: I'm sorry, Yoshino.

Yoshino: No, I should apologize to Morinaga-san... I'm sorry.

We were at the main camp where the battle had just begun.

Morinaga receives reports from his messengers, who comes in incessantly, and sends instructions to each unit accordingly.

(Apparently, the other soldiers have been told that I'm accompanying them because I'm a pharmacist...)

(I feel like people have been glancing at me for awhile now. I guess I'm out of place after all...?)

I thought Tamamo, who was in the same position as me, would be ordered to accompany me, but... he was tasked with providing details about Kurama's supernatural powers to Yoritomo-sama, and so he decided to remain at the Imperial Palace.

Yoshino: It all happened so suddenly that I'm shocked... is Yoritomo-sama always this forceful?

Morinaga: Except when he's pretending to be someone else.

Morinaga-san laughs so refreshingly, as if he didn't belong on the battlefield.

Morinaga: Hmm, but I don't think Yoritomo-sama sent you into battle just out of spite.

Yoshino: ...really?

Morinaga: Even the bravest warrior is terrified by his first battle. And, you're just an untrained town girl.

Morinaga: It's best to be familiar with the battlefield so that you can survive should the unexpected happen.

Yoshino: Ah...

Those words suddenly brought back memories of that night.

Yoritomo: Are you okay, Morinaga!?

Morinaga: Yeah, it's not a serious wound. Just watch out for that wind... it's like a blade.

Yoshitsune: As expected of a fierce general, Adachi Morinaga... you've skillfully evaded it.

Yoshitsune: It's a bit of a shame to have to kill you. If it weren't for this situation, I would have enjoyed working together more.

(That was the first time I saw Yoshitsune-sama's unusual ability, yet both Yoritomo-sama and Morinaga-sama remained calm.)

(That may be because the two of them have had many experiences facing danger on the battlefield before...)

Yoshino: Certainly on the battlefield, you can't always count on someone being by your side. I guess it's better for me to get used to it too...

Morinaga: As far as this battle is concerned, it is small. As long as we are in the main camp, we are not likely to be attacked by the enemy. I think this was a decision that was made with that in mind.

Yoshino: If Yoritomo-sama had said that from the beginning, I would have been able to accept it more easily...

Morinaga: That's the kind of person he is.

When Morinaga saw the next messenger rush in, he stood up and answered in a matter-of-fact manner.

(Of course, I still know nothing about the samurai or the people of the Shogunate.)

And a few hours later...

(At first I was worried about what would happen, but before I knew it, the sun was setting...)

Morinaga: Yoshino, thank you for taking care of the wounded.

Yoshino: Not at all! This is the only thing I can do.

Along the way, I started treating the injured, and time passed by in the blink of an eye.

Morinaga: Thanks to you, it looks like we're about to win.

Yoshino: Really!?

(Thank goodness, I can get home safely...!)

But my joy was short-lived---

Soon after, an uneasy atmosphere began to spread throughout the main camp.

Morinaga: ...It's strangely noisy on the front lines.

As if to affirm Morinaga-san's words, the number of injured people had been increasing for awhile now.

(I'm managing to get by for now, but if it gets worse, I'll run out of medicine.)

(What on earth happened...?)

Scout: Morinaga-sama! It seems that the enemy has reinforcements. Their number is approximately one hundred!

Morinaga: One hundred? It's too responsive for that number.

Morinaga: It's as if they received a thousand reinforcements.

(Does a thousand... mean that's how strong the enemy is?)

Morinaga: ...Yoshino.

After a brief pause, Morinaga turned to face me.

Morinaga: Will you go with the guards and get out of the battlefield for the time being?

Yoshino: Morinaga-sama...?

Morinaga: I'm going to go help our allies on the front lines.

(...)

Morinaga-san's words were filled with a strong will.

(I'm anxious to leave Morinaga-san, but under the circumstances, I don't have a choice.)

(Even at this moment, there are people waiting for help.)

(At least... don't let myself get in the way!)

I clench my trembling hands tightly.

Yoshino: ...I understand. Be careful.

Morinaga: You too. Please be careful.

I parted from Morinaga and headed to the rear with the other soldiers.

I desperately clung to the unfamiliar horse and kept letting it run for awhile...

(Huh? It looks like a messenger has arrived.)

A soldier rushed in and delivered a message. The others immediately began to stir.

Yoshino: Um, what's going on?

I timidly asked a nearby soldier.

Soldier 1: Actually... we have received information that our rear supply units may be targeted.

Yoshino: Eh.

Soldier 1: If the rear, which is responsible for assessing the battle situation and supplying provisions, were to collapse, it will deal a significant blow to the soldiers currently fighting...!

(No way...)

The image of Morinaga and the other soldiers I had parted ways with earlier came to mind.

Soldier 2: We can't just abandon them. We must defend our supplies. Let's go!

Soldier 3: ...However, that would mean fighting while protecting Yoshino. And the fastest route is the animal trail, but it is far too dangerous for someone who is not used to riding horses!

(I'm just a burden...)

I opened my mouth with determination.

Yoshino: ...Um, if you can find somewhere to hide, please leave me there!

Soldier 3: But...

(My voice was trembling, but...)

(Other people are fighting for their lives. I can't get in their way.)

Yoshino: If there is a battle, it's just as dangerous for me to be with you all, and I don't want to cause any trouble by being there. Rather, I'd prefer you come and pick me up after the fighting calms down...

The soldiers looked at each other and kept quiet.

After a short silence, one of them spoke.

Soldier 3: ...Yoshino is certainly right. Night will soon be upon us and the battle will be over. It would be better for you to hide somewhere safe rather than staying with us. I will show you the way, follow me!

Yoshino: Y-yes!

We entered the forest for awhile, and I was then guided to...

Soldier 3: There is a cabin over there used by local hunters. In case of an emergency, you can send out a smoke signal... I will come to pick you up in a moment, so please be patient.

Yoshino: ...Thank you very much. I hope everyone stays safe!

The soldiers disappeared from sight, and I finally realized that I am a human being.

(I'm a bit worried though...)

*flashback*

Morinaga: It's best to be familiar with the battlefield so that you can survive should the unexpected happen.

*flashback over*

(...Now is the time. All I can do is stay here and wait for the soldiers to return.)

(If anything happens, I can just send up a signal... it will be fine.)

Telling myself this, I headed for the cabin through the underbrush.

When I opened the door of the simple cabin--

???: W-who is it...?

(What?!)

In a dimly lit corner of the room, a soldier lay in agony.

(It's a terrible injury!)

Yoshino: Are you okay...?

As I rushed over to him, my eyes fell on a flag lying next to the soldier.

(This is...)

(...There's no doubt about it. This symbol was raised by the enemy!)

Enemy Soldier: A woman...? Why are you here...

Yoshino: I, I...

(If by any chance they find out I'm an enemy... I'll definitely be killed.)

I instinctively stepped back and my back hit the door.

Enemy Soldier: Wait... I don't know which town you are from, but you can't leave until the war is over...

Yoshino: What...?

The soldier, who seemed to have no energy to move, was giving me words of advice.

(This person is...)

(Although they didn't know I was the enemy... they were worried about me even though they were so wounded themselves.)

(A little bit of medical attention might help right now.)

(But this is not something I can show Morinaga and the others who were risking their lives to fight the enemy.)

(What should I do...)

Enemy Soldier: Guh...

Yoshino: Um...

While I hesitated, blood trickled from the soldier's side and pooled onto the floor.

(I am...)

I took out a cloth that I had prepared in case of emergency and administered first aid.

Enemy Soldier: Ah, what are you doing...

Yoshino: Please stay still. I am a pharmacist.

(I don't know what is the right thing to do right now. But I'd rather help... than to regret it.)

After awhile...

(I managed to stop the bleeding for now, but he was still covered in wounds. I need to wash the wounds and apply medicine to prevent them from getting infected.)

(I'm sure there was a stream nearby. I could just go outside for a bit...)

Yoshino: Can you wait a moment? I'm going to fetch some water.

Enemy Soldier: Ah..yeah...

I left the man there and quickly made my way to the stream.

--

(This is...)

The empty plains were in a terrible shape.

The burning embers and broken arrows stuck in the ground were telltale signs of a fierce battle.

(I've finished drawing water, so I need to get back to the cabin quickly...)

I was about to hurry back when my lips pursed together...

???: What are you doing here--- fox princess?

(That voice...)

A strange massed voice echoes from behind me, the kind that you would never forget once you've heard it.

(That can't be... he can't be here.)

It felt as if the temperature around me had suddenly dropped, and I broke out in a cold sweat, unable to even turn around.

All I could hear was the clear sound of footsteps approaching through the grass.

(...I have to run away!)

I forced my stiffened legs to move and roll out of the way, but---

Yoshitsune: Freeze.

Yoshino: Ah...

He grabbed my arm with strength and I knelt on the spot.

Yoshitsune: This is a much sooner reunion that I had expected.

Yoshino: Yoshitsune-sama...

Eyes that resembled amethyst looked down at me.

(What a cold stare...)

I tried to turn my face away in horror, but the hand on my chin prevented me from doing so.

Yoshitsune: I had no idea that an unexpected enemy was lurking in the midst of enemy reinforcements that I joined on a whim.

Yoshino: When you say enemy reinforcements... do you mean the rebel army?

Yoshitsune: We haven't brought enough soldiers to be called an army.

(Now that I think about it, Yoritomo-sama said that...)

(...Yoshitsune-sama is the one who can turn the tide of battle by himself, no matter how critical the situation.)

(That's why the war situation had suddenly worsened!)

Yoshitsune: Does your presence mean that the shogunate is coming to the battlefield?

Yoshino: It's...

Yoshitsune: Answer me.

The intimidating presence that left no room for argument sent a chill down my spine.

Yoshino: ...Yoritomo-sama is not here.

Yoshitsune: ---really?

Yoshitsune: Then it was Lord Yoritomo's fault for letting his precious trump card slip from his hand.

Yoshino: Ah...

The tip of his blade was held against my throat, and I had stopped breathing.

The fear made my skin crawl and my body tremble.

Yoshitsune: ...Resent me, Yoshino.

.

.

.

.

.

Read Chapter 2 here.

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to buy me a coffee here! :)

[rebelcourtesan]

My D&D 5E Character Build for Vaggie

Vaggie, the protector of the hotel and her princess.

Vaggie is a warror, a fallen angel, and the Princess of Hell's lover. She wears a lot of faces, but above all, she defends the hotel and her friends with love and ferocity. We're going to create a dexterous warrior who reclaimed her wings.

Long post below along with spoilers.

Stats

(In order from Highest to Lowest)

Dexterity: Top Stat Vaggie is very fast and dexterous when fighting. She can also climb high without losing her balance. This should be her highest stat and will need to be maxed out as soon as possible.

Wisdom: 2nd highest Vaggie tends to see things clearly while her girlfriend Charlie tends to view the world with rose color glasses. She's always looking out for Charlie, so she needs a high wisdom to see trouble coming.

Constitution: 3rd Highest Vaggie is no pushover. She took having her wings ripped out and her eye cut out and still lived to fight another day.

Strength: 4th Highest Vaggie was able to bully the guests and staff of the hotel into participating in Charlie's redemption projects and threw Sir Pentious and Angel off a building. I don't think she's the strongest, but this shouldn't be her lowest stat.

Charisma: 5th Highest Vaggie tends to be blunt with her words and takes on a no nonsense attitude with others.

Intelligence: Dump Stat

Race

Since a long fan theory of Vaggie being a fallen angel has been confirmed, we need to go into Aasimar.

For the purpose of this build, we're going to use the Aasimar stats from Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.

Add 2 points in Dexterity and 1 point into Wisdom.

As an Aasimar, Vaggie gains the following benefits.

Darkvision of 60 feet

resistance to necrotic damage and radiant damage

Healing Hands - We don't see Vaggie use a skill like this, but it's not bad to have. She can lay her hands on a creature and heal it from 1d4 equal to her proficiency. It can be used against after a long rest.

Gains the Light cantrip

Vaggie regains her wings!

At third level, Vaggie can choose a transformation. Of course, we're going to choose Radiant Soul, as a bonus action, Vaggie's grows a set of wings and has a flight speed equal to her walking speed. She can also add radiant damage equal to her proficiency bonus to her attacks and spells. This effect lasts for 1 minute and is regained after a long rest.

Background

Since she was once an Exorcist, her background should be soldier.

She gains proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation

Classes

We're going to start Vaggie off in the Monk class. She fights with a spear which is a simple weapon, but all simple weapons barring the heavy or two handed property, are considered Monk weapons. This will make more sense soon.

Level 1 - Monk 1st Level

For skills, choose Acrobatics and History, as Vaggie seems to be well verse on Hell's politics and Heaven's policies.

As a Monk, Vaggie gains Unarmored Defense. As long as she's not wearing armor (like wearing a hotel staff uniform) her AC is 10 + Dex modifier + Wisdom modifier. Hence why we want her Dex and Wis as high as possible.

Also, she gets Martial Arts with the following benefits:

Vaggie can use Dex instead of Strength for attacks and damage rolls with unarmed strikes or Monk weapons (Vaggie's Spear!).

She use a 1d4 for unarmed strike and the die increases as she levels up in Monk.

As a bonus action, she can make an unarmed strike each turn.

Vaggie gives as good as she gets.

Level 2 - Monk 2nd Level

Vaggie gains Ki Points, she starts off with 2 and gets an extra every level. These refresh after a short or long rest. She can spend a Ki point to perform Monk abilities such as:

Flurry of Blows - she can perform two unarmed strikes as a bonus action after taking the attack action.

Patient Defense - she can take the dodge action as a bonus action

Step of the Wind - she can take the dash or disengage action as a bonus action, and her jump distance is doubled

Vaggie also has Unarmored Movement. Her walking speed increases by 10 feet.

Level 3 - Monk 3rd Level

With this level Vaggie gains Deflect Missile. As a reaction, Vaggie can deflect or catch missile when hit by a missile. When she does so, the damaged is reduced equaled to 1d10 + Dex modifier + Monk Level. If she reduces the damage to 0 and the missile is small enough to fit in her hand, she can spend a Ki point to throw it back within the same reaction.

At this level, Vaggie goes into the Monk subclass Way of the Kensei. With this you can choose a melee and a range weapon to become Kensei Weapons. While this would allow you to choose a martial weapon to be proficient in, for this build I'm sticking with Vaggie's spear. It can double as a melee and range weapon as it can be thrown and still get the same benefit.

As a Kensei Weapon, Vaggie's spear gains the following benefits:

Agile Parry - if Vaggie makes an unarmed strike as park of her attack action and has her spear in hand, she can boost her AC by +2 until her next turn.

Kensei Shot - as a bonus action, Vaggie can throw the spear as a range attack dealing an extra 1d4 damage on a hit.

The only thing that matches Vaggie's ferocity, is her love for Charlie.

Now that we've Vaggie faster and harder to hit, as well as making her spear more effective in battle, we can now give her more strengths in Fighter.

Level 4 - Fighter 1st Level

Right away, she gets Second Wind. As a bonus action, she can heal herself for 1d10 + Fighter level.

Also, she gains a Fighting Style. Take Interception, if an ally within five feet is hit by an attack, as a reaction, Vaggie can reduce the damage with her spear by 1d10 + Proficiency Bonus. Perfect when she's fighting back to back with Charlie.

Level 5 - Fighter 2nd Level

Vaggie gains Action Surge which lets her take a second action in one turn. She can reuse this again after a short or long rest.

Buckle up, buttercups!

Level 6 - Fighter 3rd Level

Since Vaggie has a take charge attitude when it comes to the guests of the hotel, we're giving her the Battlemaster subclass.

She gains a pool of four Superiority Die (d8s), regained after a short or long rest and can choose three Maneuvers.

Brace - when a creature Vaggie can see moves within reach of her spear, she can make an attack as a reaction. if the attack connects, she can add the Superiority Dice to the damage roll.

Commander's Strike - If vaggie foregoes an attack, she can use a bonus action to direct an ally to use a reaction to attack an enemy. They can add the Superiority Die to their damage roll if they hit.

Parry - when an enemy damages her with a melee attack, Vaggie can reduce the damage by a Superiority Die + Dex modifier.

Level 7 - Fighter 4th Level

Instead of an Ability Score Improvement, we'll take the Athelete feat instead.

Add a point to Dexterity

When prone, Vaggie can stand using only 5 feet of movement instead of half.

Climbing doesn't cost her extra movement

She can take a running long or high jump using only 5 feet of movement instead of 10

Level 8 - Fighter 5th Level

Vaggie can now attack twice when she uses the attack action. Couple this Flurry of Blows, she can attack twice with the spear and then attack twice with unarmed strike.

Fighting by her princess's side.

Level 9 - Fighter 6th Level

Ability Score Improvement - Both both points into Dexterity. We want to max this out to 20. Then we'll put points into Wisdom so we can raise Vaggie's AC.

Level 10 - Fighter 7th Level

Vaggie can now gain vital intelligence of her enemy with 1 minute of study. Know Your Enemy lets Vaggie know if how strong the enemy is in and how.

Also, she gains an extra Superiority Die along with two new Maneuvers.

Riposte - When an enemy misses her with a melee attack, Vaggie can attack as a reaction, adding the Superiority to the damage roll if it hits.

Trip Attack - Vaggie can spend a Superiority Die to knock an enemy down with a successful attack and add the die to the damage roll.

Level 11 - Fighter 8th Level

Ability Score Improvement - Let's go ahead and max Dexterity. If it's already maxed out, put the points into Wisdom.

Level 12 - Fighter 9th Level

Vaggie is tougher now with Indomitable, she can rerolled a failed saving throw, but must take the second roll. She regains this after a long rest.

Level 13 - Fighter 10th Level

With Improved Combat Superiority, her Superiority Dice changes from 1d8s to 1d10s, allowing her and others to deal more damage on successful hits.

Also, she gets two more Maneuvers:

Disarming Attack - When Vaggie hits an enemy with a successful weapon attack, she can spend a Superiority Die to force them to drop an item of her choice. They must succeed on a Strength saving throw to keep the item.

Evasive Footwork - when taking the move action, Vaggie can roll a Superiority Die and add the result to her AC which lasts until she stopped moving.

Level 14 - Fighter 11th Level

Vaggie can now attack THREE times when she takes the three action. Couple this with Flurry of Blows, she can take three weapon attacks and two unarmed strikes.

Vaggie sparring with Carmilla Carmine

Level 15 - Fighter 12th Level

Ability Score Improvement - Okay, by this time Dex should be maxed out, so let's max out Wisdom. If by chance both are maxed out, you can round out any odd number Ability Scores.

Level 16 - Fighter 13th Level

Vaggie gets two Indominable after a long rest. She's very resilient.

Level 17 - Fighter 14th Level

Fighter gets another Ability Score Improvement, but if both Dex and Wisdom are maxed, you can take another feat instead. I would take the Lucky feat, which gives Vaggie three luck points which will allow her to roll with advantage on any attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws. These refresh after a long rest.

Level 18 - Fighter 15th Level

This level Vaggie gets dangerous. She not only gains an extra Superiority Die and Maneuver, she becomes Relentless. Anytime she stars a battle without Superiority Die, she automatically starts the battle with one.

As for the new Maneuvers choose:

Quick Toss - As a bonus action, Vaggie can spend a Supriority Die and throw her spear. If the hit connects, she can add the die to the damage roll.

Grappling Strike - After striking an enemy, Vaggie can spend a Superiority Die to grapple them as a bonus action. She can add the die to her Strength (Athletics Check).

Vaggie is a Warrior Angel!

Level 19 - Fighter 16th Level

Ability Score Improvement - If Dex and Wisdom is maxed out, round out any odd number scores.

Level 20 - Fighter 17th Level

Now we arrive at the level where Vaggie is a force to be reckon with for any angel or demon.

She gains a second Action Surge, giving her two to be refreshed after a short or long rest. And she also gets a third Indomitable.

Vaggie is . . .stronger than anything.

And there you have it. A fallen angel who becomes the warrior lover of the Princess of Hell. Levels in Monk will give her more legwork in battle and also fight in hand to hand combat if she should throw her spear which now deals extra damage as a Kensei Weapon.

Not to mention the Battle Master's Superiority Die will make her able to stand toe to toe with Overlords, Exorcists, Adam, and Lute.

[slashhinginghasher]

Lock and Key

I made a final girl for @thesightstoshowyou's slasher OC Lochlan Smith because I have no control over the brainworms.

Kieran "Ki" Dufresne

Full name: Kieran Desdemona Dufresne

Age: 21

Pronouns: She/her

Orientation: Lesbian

Occupation: College student, intern, radio DJ (part time)

Height: 5'6" (168 cm)

Hair: Light brown, long and wavy

Eyes: Brown

Ethnicity: White

Location: East Coast, USA

Detailed info under the cut:

Bio:

Ki is the daughter of Joni, an ex-opera singer turned vocal coach, and Michael, a marketing analyst. Ki's father cheated on her mother for years, starting when Ki was a toddler and lasting until she was 12, at which time he requested a divorce so he could marry his mistress, who was pregnant with his son. Joni was awarded full custody and cut off all contact with Michael. Ki does not speak to her father and has never met her half-brother.

She competed in track and field and cross country in high school, doing well but not exceptional. She is no longer on a team, but continues to run for fitness and her own enjoyment. One of her bucket list goals is to run a marathon on every continent.

Ki is studying music theory and composition, with a minor in audio engineering. She works part time at her university's radio station and has an internship at a local recording/production studio. Her dream career is to compose film scores, particularly for horror, psychological, and/or experimental films. She has taken a couple of film studies classes in college but found the student body in that department to be largely insufferable.

Personality:

Ki is not particularly gregarious and outgoing, but neither is she shy. She is very comfortable with herself - her appearance, her interests, her sexuality. She carries herself with a quiet confidence in professional settings, gets tongue-tied around cute girls, and has a decent-sized friend group that she enjoys spending time with, though she also appreciates her solitude.

Likes: Live music, indie films, dive bars with too-loud music, record stores, old movie theaters, dogs that look like muppets, anything with cinnamon

Dislikes: Excessive movie franchises, peach-flavored alcohol (courtesy of her freshman year), clef tattoos, men who try too hard to be charming

Because of her father's betrayal, combined with years of the type of harassment that many queer women receive from men simply for existing, Ki often views men with mild contempt. Any man who tries to flirt with her after being informed that she is not interested, or who comes on too strong, gets immediately waved off with a sneer. Until a man can prove that he is capable of interacting with her without seeing her as something to fuck or use as a trophy, she is fairly mistrustful of them. Most of her male friends are also queer, and the ones who aren't were introduced to her through other friends/friendly acquaintances. She dislikes the "man-hating lesbian" trope because of its often misogynistic and transphobic subtext, but would rather fall into the "man-hating" category than be forced to appease some loser's ego.

Ki and Lok:

Ki's saving grace is that she is more resistant to his persuasion/hypnosis than others. (This is due in part to her attitude towards men - she has no interest in hearing what he has to say, so he has to say it much more forcefully to get it into her head - but, like Lok, she also has some supernatural heritage a long way down the line.)

She is not immune, but she is not as quick to fall under Lok's spell and, like a wound healing over, his hold on her wears off on her after awhile. The more intensive the trance he puts her in, the deeper the wound, and the longer it takes to heal, but unless he breaks her mind completely, it will wear off.

Gestures, in particular (like the three snaps Lok favors to return people to a deep trance), do not work well on her. An intensive trance is required to make them work on her at all, and deep, repeated conditioning is needed if he wants it to work more than once or after a longer period of time (i.e. more than an hour). Lok therefore has to mainly resort to verbal commands with Ki, and even then he has to be quite specific and may even have to repeat himself.

Lok is bigger and stronger than Ki. She has to rely on creativity and her slight resistance to his main skill in order to escape him.

[600shekels]

2 Chronicles 17: 7. "The Third Year."

The Third Day is the time Dry Land appeared after the creation was made. In terms of years, it is the moment mankind realizes soaking the ground with blood is an unholy practice, it is futile.

The King of Ordinances mandates Mashiach, the Third Year is the spiritual revolution that affirms all laws and customs associated with the closing of the Age of Agony and the Messianic Age are appropriate and agreeable.

It is nice to think people might want to get along with each other, and even if they don't, they could respect the laws that insist upon it, but the Tanakh says they are the same. Sentience is legally required, so one might as well have a positive attitude towards it:

7 In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah to teach in the towns of Judah. 

Ben Hail=Son of the Circlular Rampart/ into the Whirling Cycle

חול

Verb חול (hul I) denotes a whirling in circular motions. It comes with quite a cluster of derivatives, most notably the noun חל (hol), meaning sand; the noun חל (hil), meaning pain so bad that it makes one writhe (specifically childbirth); the noun חל (hel), which denotes a (circular) rampart, and the nouns מחול (mahol) and מחולה (mehola), which describe (whirling) dances.

Obadiah= Hired Expert

עבד

The verb עבד ('abad) means to work or serve, and the noun עבד ('ebed) denotes someone who works: from a slave to a hired expert. The Greek equivalent of this noun is δουλος (doulos).

Zechariah=

זכר

The verb זכר (zakar) means to remember, to deliberately review, or to cause to remember or review — by means of public oration, urging and pleading, physical memorials, and so on.

Noun זכר (zeker) means remembrance, memory, memorial or invocation. Noun זכרון (zikkaron) or זכרן (zikkaron) denotes a memorial or token — a memorial day, altar-plates, stones, crowns, books, proof of citizenship, even spoils of war. Noun אזכרה ('azkara) refers to a memorial-offering.

Noun זכור (zakur) and noun and adjective זכר (zakar) mean male. This noun denotes the male of humans and animals, and marvelously illustrates the parallel between sexual reproduction and the learning process, which is so overly prevalent in the Bible.

Nethanel=

נתן

The shape-shifting verb נתן (natan) means to give in a broad bouquet of senses, from regular giving or bestowing, to setting or putting, to transforming one thing or situation into another.

This verb's three nouns מתן (mattan), מתנה (mattana) and מתת (mattat) all mean gift, again broadly ranging from a regular present to an offering to an innate talent (being "gifted").

Micaiah=

י

The interrogative pronoun מה (ma) asks "what?" Its counterpart מי (mi) asks "who?" The latter pronoun is spelled the same as the construct-plural form of מים (mayim) and thus also means "waters of ...". Its opposite, namely dry land, signifies certainty and mental footing. A similar particle מו (mo) combines with the usual prefixes to form poetic equivalents of these particles.

כ  כי  כה

The prefix כ (ke) means "as if" or "like." The particle כי (ki) means "in that," both in the sense of "because" and "when." The adverb כה (koh) means "thus."

So, once again by the Third Age of mankind, we should be able to understand the inner workings that create Dry Land and also the legal, ethical, and practical applications of it in our lives.

We are not quite there yet. The Tanakh says we need to get into our hurricane hunter and find our way into the eye of the storm and then, with nothing short of the very best in government operations in the world, assess the way out of this mess we have made.

Once the Strategic Plan is written, we will execute it and give birth along the way to an elite strain of human being that understands what it means to live a poetic life and write new stanzas of its own.

[eddiephobic]

at that point wouldn't you just spell it keykey though since as you said it's key and not ki

what’s with the attitude bruh😭

and sure that works too !

[stellocchia]

Here’s an analysis of the “Tommy’s Plan To Kill Dream” stream (part 1)

I noticed that my “overly long” analysis always tend to be about extremely depressing streams, so here’s me trying to change that and failing miserably because I can find angst literally everywhere!

As usual I’ll be talking about the characters only unless stated otherwise from here on out. 

The whole thing is under the cut because, as the name of this “series” suggest, I’m phisycally incapable of keeping things short

Before we proceed with the analysis we need a quick overview of Tommy’s relationship with the people he interacts with this stream so that we can all start with the same mindset: 

Tommy & Tubbo: They have obviously been very close friends since the beginning but recently Tommy has developed a sort of dependence on Tubbo which really isn’t healthy. This of course is a direct result of his second exile and his mindset moving forward after that. While with Dream and then Techno Tommy was extremely isolated and made to depend entirely on the one person providing for him. He continued this even after Doomsday, this time developing an extreme dependence on Tubbo that culminated with the line “What am I without you?” (basing your entire identity around someone else is not healthy, who’d have thought?). With the developing of the hotel post-finale he expands his system of support to include Sam and Sam Nook, but this is of course ruined with the prison arc. Tommy doesn’t trust Sam any longer and, while he still cares deeply about Sam Nook, he’s not someone that can give him emotional support. So he went back to rely soley on Tubbo (though it’s obvious throughout the stream that he’s tentatively doing so with Ranboo as well)

Tommy & Ranboo: The two of them used to be sort of close before Doomsday, Ranboo still very much admiring Tommy and considering him a friend. Thet said Ranboo is not in the very small circle of people who Tommy trusts and finding him married to his best friend and moving in together with a child didn’t help his perception of him. He feels replaced by Ranboo and sort of feels like he “stole” the only system of support he had that he could count on. Though there is a beginning of change throughout the stream. 

Tommy & Ghostbur: Their relationship is really interesting. Tommy is pretty obviously one of Ghostbur’s unfinished businesses (possibly the only one now that L’Manburg is gone) and most definitely his priority. He was the only one who offered to go with Tommy during exile and he tried to be there for him constantly. Even his return this time was Tommy-motivated as we know from what he said in Ranboo’s stream. Meanwhile Tommy’s feelings on him are very complicated. He swings between recognizing that Alivebur and Ghostbur are different entities to conflating them together any time he has a strong reminder of Alivebur (at the beginning of exile and after spending time with Void!Wilbur for example). He also has only very recently come to the full realisation that Wilbur was awful to him and that their relationship was definitely not healthy (something we can infer from him finally taking a stance on not wanting him back and him admitting that Wilbur is good at manipulating him).

Now that that’s done, let’s get into the analysis!

“Oh I forgot I died, didn’t I?” So, Tommy is in a very peculiar situation where he has to somehow process his own death and, at the moment, he’s still in a state of denial about it. He knows he died but he acts like he didn’t in the sense that he hates how it affects his life. He doesn’t want people to treat him any different (even though he IS different), he doesn’t want to acknowledge the changesto the world nor to his relationships, which is the reason why he dislikes the statues of himself so much (that and the fact that he simply never liked to have statues of him). They act as a constant phisycal reminder of what happened to him and, more importantly, how much things changed in his absence. 

One other reason why change scares him so much it’s because of how often he’s alienated from the world around him. He spent more time in exile/prison then in his own home since L’Manburg got it’s independence. He is constantly forced to live in an isolated bubble while the world around him moves forward and then, when he gets thrown back in he is never really given much time to adapt and catch up before he is thrown once more into the role of the hero/villain that he despises (after the 16th for example he was painted as a liability at his first mistake and put on trial etc despite how much he did for the country. Again after Doomsday he had the Dream fight to think about and, after that, Sam Nook asked him again to be the hero against the Egg and he, once again, was villanized by the Team Rocket. Now again he finds himself in the position where he has to take action against Dream once more).

So the stream really starts with Tommy deciding to contact Tubbo to get some help in his plan to kill Dream. He heads to Snowchester to do so (stopping before that to build Sam Nook a little wooden platform to keep him out of the rain).

On the way to Snowchester he gets trapped in the tunnel and almost drowns, making him break the glass of the tunnel. This is triggering for him for a couple of reasons (aside from drowning generally being not pog): exile reminder of his waking up drowning every day and taking damage in general seems to be a reminder of his death (he also seems to be hypersensitive in general in regard to phisycal sensations) 

The whole mansion scene is a further indicator of this new dynamic between Tubbo, Ranboo and Tommy. Tubbo and Ranboo grew extremely close as we know (got married for tax benefits, adopted a child together and, apparently, canonically fell in love after) and they are planning to move in together with their son in the mansion. This, once again, all happened while Tommy was locked in prison. The feelings of alienation for him in the situation are prevalent together with his jealousy at Ranboo as he perceives him as his replacement. 

“You married someone without me- without my permission?” “Okay, can I have your permission?” “Does he make you happy?” “Yes” “then ye- okay” Just... I’m a softie and I think that it’s very sweet that his only requirement to give his blessing is Ranboo making Tubbo happy. We stan a unconditionally supportive friend! 

“Ranboo listen, let me open up to you pal! I- I’ve been through a pretty rough time recently and- (”Yeah I can tell”) and I know that we were kind of close before I went into prison, but then you ki- Tubbo would you mind looking at that flower a bit more? You kinda stole my best friend, and that’s kinda- you know now I feel kind of very lonely- actually feel very lonely” “I didn’t steal...” “And my other friend who then turned out to be my enemy is actually dead. So I’m kinda feeling a little bit left out here, and considering I was locked in a prison for 4 weeks...” “Yeah, no, I mean... I didn’t- I didn’t steal...” “No no no no, you did, you did, didn’t you? You did!” That was a big piece of dialogue there to transcribe! Regardless Tommy doing my job for me here by literally spelling out for us how he feels about Ranboo. One thing to be noted though is that Ranboo remains calm and keeps an understanding attitude in all his interactions with Tommy. He constantly tries to be reasonable (trying to explain that he didn’t “steal” Tubbo as, you know, he has his own free will and can have more then one friend) and generally just doesn’t get mad. Keeping a non-confrontational attitude is probably the best thing he could have done here.

So after that exchange Tommy opens up to them a bit about Dream, explaining what he’s planning.

“The revive book is too much and he (Dream) is too powerful and he’s only gonna use it for evil now! He is an evil man and he used it- he used ME to prove a point and to experiment on me” “Oh my God, like a lab rat!” “Like a- like a- worse then a lab rat! A lab- a lab sock!” “A lab sock?! No!” “Oh God!” “Oh my God” This is the first time in the conversation where Tommy’s gone more in depth about his traumatic experience (though he did mention before that “Dream asked him about it” in reference to his revival). It’s honestly a really big positive that he’s opening up to someone, even if it is other two teenagers who can’t do much but be sympathetic to him. 

“I think it’s good. You don’t actually know this but I’ve been- I’ve been collecting some data, but, honestly... I’m not sure is a too good of an idea” “You said it was good” “No no  no, I didn’t mean it was good in the sense of we should-” “Ranboo’s changed you, Ranboo’s changed you! He’s manipulating you! He’s manipulative and controlling” So 2 things to unpack here:

1) Tubbo hesitance comes from both him being on his last life and how things went during the season 2 finale. He isn’t too optimistic about their chances of killing Dream (even with Dream being completely unarmed in the prison) and he’s also less passively suicidal then he was during the finale, probably because he managed to build a life for himself now. He has a home, a family and Snowchester, he doesn’t wanna loose those.

2) Because of very obvious reasons (Wilbur being abusive, Dream being abusive, Techno isolating and manipulating him and then siding with his abuser and Sam betraying his trust) Tommy views all relationships aside from his with Tubbo in a negative lense. Basically he has HUGE trust issues and he’s so used to his relationships having usually some degree of manipulation (exept for Sam, who still entirely broke his trust. Also recently found out Jack had been lying and trying to kill him as well, which probably didn’t help the issue) that he just assumes that must be the case for Tubbo and Ranboo as well. Both of them of course are fast to correct him on this as that’s really not the case. 

“So why don’t you want him to bring Wilbur back now? What suddenly changed?” “I spent months in the death... area- let’s call it ‘the death zone’, with Wilbur alright?” “The death zone?” “I spent months there. I spent months and months and months there and I was only there for a few days, Wilbur��s been there for real months. He is so different and he is fucking powerful and you know how he molds me like a piece of clay, Tubbo. (hushed) I don’t want him to come back” So here we have Tommy’s admission to Wilbur’s manipulation and how effective it is on him (most probably because of how close they used to be). We also have another hint about how dangerous Wilbur is now because of the knowledge he acquired. 

“In the mean time we also... unless we don’t kill Dream... we gonna have to stop Technoblade, ‘cause Technoblade owes him a favour” “Stop Technoblade?” “Technoblade owes him a favour and we can’t let him redeem it” When Tommy mention’s Techno, Tubbo immediately becomes even MORE hesitant about this whole thing (probably a mix of his death-related trauma, Techno exploding his nation twice and his most recent inquisition venture in Snowchester). 

“So why don’t we try to block Dream’s communication with Technoblade? ‘Cause then Technoblade would have no idea how to... redeem... the favour” “He can bring back the dead Tubbo, we need him DEAD! He’s too powerful for this server’s good and he’s a bad man and he won’t use his powers for good. And it’s not even-” “Mmmmh” “What do you mean ‘Mmmh’ Man?!” “I don’t know this really- this didn’t go too well for us last time we got all hyped up and tried to do this” Tubbo once again is mostly apprehensive because of how things went last time they were up against Dream. He also tried proposing an alternative solution to fighting that Tommy shoots down because he doesn’t think anyone should have the power that Dream has. Also, may I add that Ranboo is actually on Tommy’s side on this whole thing? Possibly because he knows as well how dangerous Dream still is. 

“Just because he’s locked up doesn’t mean his strenght is, allright?” This basically perfectly sums up the crux of the issue. Of course thanks to Quackity’s lore we know that Dream’s power now is mostly a facade, but they don’t know this. To them Dream is just as powerful now as he was before. To them the image of powerlessness that the prison gives him is the facade.

That said the conversation in the electric chair tower ends here and, as this is already so incredibly long, I’ll also end part one of the analysis here. This was also the most lore-heavy part as the rest is more light-hearted so it’ll probably be faster to cover.

[bopinion]

2022 / 27

Aperçu of the Week:

“Yippee-Ki-Yay, Motherfucker!“

(John McClane aka Bruce Willis)

Bad News of the Week:

Donald Trump isn't over. I don't even mean that he is reportedly flirting with an imminent announcement that he will run again for the U.S. presidency in 2024. In order, it is said, to distract attention from the negative headlines surrounding the Senate investigation into the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. After all, that's what he's primarily concerned with: his image. No, I'm referring to his continued dominance in the conservative narrative - defying its social media spell, except for the laughable boondoggle that is "Truth Social."

Finally, the decisions of his tenure still reverberate. Most notably, his appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. A frightening example from last week: the rights of the EPA (Einvironmental Protection Agency) to set state-level emission limits for coal-fired power plants, for example, are being cut to almost nothing. This fits with Donald Trump's basic attitude toward man-made climate change: I don't care. Sea levels rising? "Then we'll have more beachfront property." And, "I've heard that the oceans will rise one-eighth of an inch (just under 0.32 centimeters) in the next 300 years." Excuse me? Have you been to Pacific islands lately?

That's what makes Trump and his supporters so dangerous: no idea of the facts, but strong opinions. 80% of the Republican base still support him. And 60% still believe he was cheated out of winning the 2020 presidential election. Facts? Why, it's all a matter of personal points of view. "Alternative facts" (that should be on Kellyanne Conway's tombstone someday) means nothing more than relativizing everything that doesn't fit one's personal outlook. Never have I so much as hoped that someone would fatally choke on a Pretzel....

Good News of the Week:

Those who feel they are a different gender than their birth certificate says have it anything but easy. Many affected people hide their true identity for years - from the public, from colleagues and often even in the family. Because society is mostly not yet ready to accept this as a self-determined personality trait. Until now, people in Germany who wanted to officially change their gender had to obtain two psychiatric reports costing up to a thousand euros and answer questions about their sex life, among other things. What should be nobody's business, that is shameful. And after months of proceedings, a court finally ruled.

Now the federal ministries of justice and family have presented the "Self-Determination Act." It provides that everyone and anyone can determine their own gender and first name. In a simple procedure at the registry office, which is then also binding, for example, for the entry in the passport. An expert opinion on sexual identity or a medical certificate should not be required as a prerequisite for changing the entry - after all, the people concerned are not sick, as the liberal Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann comments. It does not matter whether the individual sees himself or herself or themselves as transgender, non-binary or intersex. And minors can appeal to a family court if their parents refuse consent. Good thing. Because true freedom cannot exist without self-determination.

Personal happy moment of the week:

The school year is coming to an end. And it relieves me of a pressure that had been hanging over it like a threatening storm cloud since Christmas. Because my son was officially "at risk of transferring" to next grade. And his lack of insight into the sheer necessities of his earthly existence ("School is your fucking job. So work, son!") was causing the whole family - and a tutor - stress. But slowly but surely, things got better. And with the last school assignments, we got the certainty: enough is enough, he'll make it through the school year. Phew! Now I'll leave him alone for three weeks. And then we start with repetitions during the summer vacations. Because next year has to be different, my nerves just won't take it anymore....

I couldn't care less...

...that Ukraine feels "deeply disappointed" by Canada. But only at first sight it is about a gas turbine for Russia. At second glance, it is the repair of a gas turbine. A German gas turbine from Siemens. A gas turbine that is located in Russia but supplies EU countries with gas. Yes, Europe's energy dependence on Russia must be overcome. And yes, theoretically, every ruble Russia takes in can help finance the war of aggression against Ukraine. And yes, "freezing for Ukraine" may be morally imperative.

But if an abrupt gas supply freeze drives Germany's third-largest industry, the chemical industry, against the wall, among others, we are talking about a recession the likes of which the Federal Republic of Germany has never seen before. Which must then also have a direct impact on German and thus also EU financial aid during the war and for reconstruction. In the case of the war itself, a black-and-white scheme can be applied. However, there is far more than fifty shades of gray in the sideshows of it.

As I write this...

...I am annoyed by a project at work that will not have a good ending. I know that, it's obvious. But it is not in my power to change it. Because someone who has more to say than I do is steering the whole thing with a completely out-of-touch mindset. It's like watching in slow motion a car heading for a wall. You know it can't brake in time. But you also know that the driver can't hear you screaming. Frustrating.

Post Scriptum:

In recent days, we've lost a number of high-profile politicians. In different ways. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally couldn't maneuver his way out of his scandals and lies. Former Japanese head of government Shinzo Abe was the victim of a hard-to-understand attack. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the president of bankrupt Sri Lanka was driven out by his disappointed people. The feisty Ukrainian ambassador Andrij Melnyk is dismissed in a "diplomatic rout." There are no lifetime posts. Except in royal houses - and the US Supreme Court.

[sweetescapeartist]

MY DBS MANGA CHAPTER 70 REVIEW

We learn in the last chapter that the Cerealian Dragon's name is Toronbo when Granolah speaks Namekian. Toronbo grants Granolah's wish but can't make Granolah stronger than the gods.

Here's the confusion I have... Goku is a mortal beyond GoDs so making Granolah the strongest mortal is making him stronger than gods. If you wanna say Beerus has been training and is now stronger than Goku, there's still a problem. It was said that Goku and Vegeta were stronger than some GoDs right before the ToP (but that might be anime only, so maybe it doesn't apply here). So Granolah is stronger than GoDs no matter what. If the gods that Toronbo is speaking of are the Angels, then that means Granolah is Ultra Instinct level of power since Goku is the lowest in Angel tier. But whatever. Bottom line is Granolah is temporarily stronger than Goku who may or may not be stronger than Beerus.

Granolah gets his wish granted and the cost is shortening his life... cool. Not much to say except let's see how its executed.

(I recently read that in DBXV2, during the Infinite History Saga, Videl is enchanted with Towa's Dark Magic spell by Dabura shaving off her life but granting her greater power. So granting power at the cost of lifespan has been done in DB before. Not in canon but in the games.)

Also, Granolah's life being shortened to 3 yrs got me thinking... Currently it's almost AGE 781 in the DBS manga timeline. Goku leaves to train Uub in AGE 784. We got 3 yrs left. The original manga shows Bulma said she hadn't seen Goku in 5 yrs. How I see DBS is that it is an alternate timeline that just happens to have a similar outcome to the EoZ.

So... why is Vegeta learing from Beerus again if Beerus isn't that strong now? Is Vegeta being like Krillin and continuing his learning from a master weaker than him, but gaining wisdom & knowledge? I-is Vegeta becoming Krillin 2.0?! (More like dollar-store Krillin)

I do think beerus got stronger tho. He seems very confident that Vegeta can get stronger from learning from him. Beerus probably saw Goku get UI then decide to train aftet the ToP

Anyways, Beerus is teaching us about hakai/destruction energy. Its erasing something from existence, not just destroying it (we already knew that). But, Vegeta quickly figures out how to do it anyways. By destroying a tiny pebble...

A tangent again but I personally think Piccolo is capable of easily learning Hakai energy. Think about it. Piccolo can create clothing out of nothing, why could he not do the reverse?

Goku is uninterested in what Beerus & Vegeta are doing. I dont know about you, but it sounds like Goku thinks that he's above Beerus in strength. Beerus & Vegeta aren't considered a challenge to him in any way. Goku sees UI as more important & better than anything Beerus has to teach, and Goku is right. Plus Goku learned Hakai on his own while Vegeta needs Beerus to teach him. It's a waste of Goku's time to learn it again.

(God Comics is funny. I imagine Toribot writes them)

Goku says "Let's see which one of us can be the strongest in the universe!" Really, Goku...? At present time, Goku is the strongest mortal in the universe already. He should know that. Then Vegeta for some reason thinks he will become the strongest in the universe. The last time manga Vegeta was the strongest mortal in the universe was... never. He's always behind Goku or whatever new opponent arises. This scene is meant to be comedic that they're arguing over who will be the greatest but it's not funny to me. And yet Vegeta fans still hold on for hope.

But why is Goku concerned about being the strongest between him & Vegeta? Goku is far above Vegeta. They're not rivals at this point. Also, Goku was the strongest in the universe until just a few moments ago. Goku should be saying "I knew bein' the strongest wouldn't last for too long. Roshi did tell me there will always be somebody stronger out there. Hehe! This is gettin' me excited! I can't wait to meet 'em!" (This would alsp parallel Monaito giving Granolah the same advice Goku already knows.)

Also, I guess Broly isn't that strong after all. Bye Broly, you served your purpose. And to think that Goku had said that he thinks Broly is stronger than Beerus...

Oh yeah. So Vegeta destroys a pebble. Impressive? Goku kinda gives a compliment or he is practically saying "Good job Vegeta! You're doing great following in my footsteps!" Seriously, this would be so much better and cooler if this seperate paths of training began right after the Universe 6 vs Universe 7 tournament. That would be the perfect spot to have them train under Beerus & Whis. [Vegeta using Hakai against Merged Zamasu, Goku able to fight Merged Zamasu temporarily because he is getting better at letting his body move on its own, Toppo & Vegeta using Hakai against each other as Goku & Jiren use power above GoDs. That would work so much better.]

Then Vegeta says he's gonna destroy bigger things soon... is that supposed to be more impressive? Its not. But this it to build up Vegeta even though there is nothing amazing about anything he is doing at the moment. Maybe later tho.

So Cerealians can't grow beards. Also I guess Granolah's race don't age? His hair grew when his lifespan was shortened but he has no wrinkles. It seems that they age more gracefully than Saiyans. If he has some wrinkles he would have looked cooler imo. Or those lines under the eyes at the very least. If the wish shortened his life & made his hair grow, it should have also showed that he aged. (Here's an edit I made of "Grampa Granolah." You're welcome)

And remember Vegeta destroying a pebble? Granolah can suddenly destroy big rocks! Cool right?! No? Its not cool? Showing Granolah destroy a much larger object right afterwards kinda belittles Vegeta's accomplishment.

Oatmil is surprised by a boulder exploding. This means one of 2 things. Oatmil is stupid & never saw an Granolah explode a boulder. Or it's implying that the boulder exploding is some technique Oatmil doesn't know of. Idk how he can tell its any different from just blowing up a rock with ki. I think it's supposed to be destruction energy. If it is then, ok. If getting his wish was so easy, then why can't he suddenly learn destruction as well?

Yay! Monaito! (This really should be a Namekian focused arc)

Granolah reminds me of Zamasu with his attitude a bit. Monaito tells him somebody stronger will definetly appear. Granolah has become like Vegeta and is over confident, so he is destined to get humbled. And think about this. Goku can probably train a bit and surpass Granolah within a week.

Granolah can now sense ki. Meaning he can have the destruction technique or UI, because why not?

Monaito blames himself for Granolah's actions. Its not your fault Monaito! You did nothing wrong! Dont be so hard on yourself.

Whis being a creep and peeping on people lol.

Granolah's hair growing was pointless because he cuts it off soon after. Nothing changed visually. This kinda reminds me of how Moro lost his arm. Goku gave him a senzu, Moro grew it back, & then Moro broke his arm when attacking Goku. Then Moro tore his arm off & reattached his old one. There was no need for Moro to grow his arm back then tear it off. Similarly, there is no need for Granolah to have grown long hair then cut it off.

Maki still brings a smile to my face. She & Gas stand out the most out of the Heeters. Maki's personality is kinda like Zangya combined with a teasing Bulma. Gas reminds me of a Krillin/Piccolo fusion with dreadlocks. I also ship Maki x Gas cause they're short and look cute together. (please don't be siblings so I can draw them together🤞)

Granolah fights Oil & Maki. I'm not impressed. They seem like they could be defeated by Chaoitzu (he's stronger than Raditz and probably Nappa now too). Granolah's movements could be seen as UI. If it is or isn't UI, it doesn't matter. Showing off that kind of power is like Goku using Ultra Instinct during a rematch with Nam or King Chappa. Its not effective storytelling. There had to be a better way of showing Granolah's new strength than making him fight opponents that give him zero challenge.

The art is good as usual and the panel flow is nice. Toyotaro is improving at creating the illusion of motion. The environment being used in the fight was smart and a good visual. Toyo still uses a ton of panels almost every page tho. But he's still a better artist than I am.

Granolah appears to have used Hakai again. Not the explosive variant but the sand variant (yes I think there are 2 ways of using Hakai).

The "Sand Variant" that Beerus & Goku (& maybe Granolah) have used.

The "Explosive Variant" Beerus & Vegeta (& maybe Granolah) have used.

Maki thinks the "Hakai" is magic so that's interesting. I would say I'd like for the next enemy to be a magic user but, we know how Moro turned out... 😓

Maki has "ki claws" & I like the idea but it would be better if she had used it against an enemy she can defeat. It doesn't make her look useful in this fight. Gas seems confident when he is about to fight Granolah, but Elec stops him. Gas would've gotten beaten but it make ya wonder what Gas can do.

Granolah appears to be a person that is easily manipulated and persuaded. He even gave information they weren't even asking for. He'll probably be easily convinced and manipulated by Freeza/the Hedters or quickly have a truce with Goku.

The Heeters plan to go to Planet Cereal to get the Dragon Balls. As I suspected, the Cerealian Dragon Balls were created so that it would be easy for wishes to be granted. Gathering 2 Dragon Balls on a nearby planet instead of gathering 7 on New Namek or Earth. Plus these new Dragon Balls ensures no interaction between Earthlings & Granolah/the Heeters. A perfect way to write Gohan & company out of the story... *sigh* 😔😒

We learn Cerealians live for 2 centuries. How's that compare to other races in Universe 7? Freeza & King Cold apparently can live more than 200 yrs, But that may be because they are mutants. Namekians can live for like 500 yrs & its possible for them to reincarnate themselves too. So in a way, Namekians can live forever. Saiyans stay youthful & live to be in their 80's, but rapidly age when they reach their 60's or 70's. Average Earthlings appear live to be in their 80's or 90's but some are over 100 yrs old (Dr. Briefs, Panchy, & Ox King are in their 90's in GT) and others can increase their lifespan through elixers or the Paradise Herb. Just some thoughts of mine.

Maki says "If he ices Freeza..." Ha, an ice pun. Elec wants to defeat Freeza so he can control his army. Its revealed they wanna kill Granolah & that they worked with Freeza to destroy his planet & race. Well... that more than likely means they're gonna die by Granolah's hand or Freeza's. This info is also an attempt to make the reader more sympathetic for Granolah. Granolah is too bland (pun intended) so I don't feel any more sympathy than I already had for him. Elec plans to make Goku & Vegeta fight Granolah since Granolah hates Saiyans. Smart but we all kinda expected it. Not bad writing tho.

The final panel talks about fate bringing the 3 (Goku, Vegeta, & Granolah) together. Sounds like a repeat of the Broly movie.

We've had 4 chapters in this arc & not 1 panel of Freeza... If Freeza doesnt appear & do something in the next chapter then I will be disappointed in the writing. Showing Freeza here and there would give tension and build up until we get the encounter with him. We also have no idea who Oatmil is. Is he an A.I. or a person? Not that big of a deal yet, but I would like to find out soon. Either show Freeza or tell us more about Oatmil next chapter pleaae

This chapter was like oatmeal (the food not the character) without butter, brown sugar, milk, & honey or raisins. Not bad, but not very good either. 

So here's my thoughts on the things that could or could not happen in this arc.

Goku vs Granolah. I don't care for the fight because the power is at a point that it doesnt make sense for enemies to get to without cheating somehow. The fight will look cool but I have no interest in it.

Vegeta vs Granolah will have Vegeta being stomped as always and Vegeta fans will make excuses & complain how it's not fair. A lot of Vegeta fans often make fun of Yamcha & Krillin for getting beat up even though those 2 bravely fight opponents leagues stronger than they are. Vegeta has gotten stomped by opponents more times than Krillin & Yamcha combined but the fans gotta deflect somehow. I don't care to hear or see the complaining again.

The interaction and dialogue between Granolah & Vegeta is going to be more interesting than their fight. But I worry because Toyo isn't the best at writing dialogue.

I have no reason to care about power growth, certain interactions, or Goku & Vegeta's training.

What I am curious about/want to see?

Monaito's well being. I want him to reunite with other Namekians. But I think he's been set up to die.

Lore about the dragon gods & Namekian lore we probably wont get.

I want Piccolo, Krillin, Gohan, & others will be involved. Piccolo because of the Namekian & wosh granting dragon lore. Gohan because his interaction with Granolah eould be interesting since Gohan is half Saiyan & views himself as an Earthling. Krillin & other Earthlings because they can bring tensions where characters like Goku & Vegeta can't. Those 2 are too strong for there to be any real tension. However Earthlings aren't all powerful so them using wits to survive is more exciting. But I doubt any of their involvement.

How long a Cerealian year is? Is it shorter than a Namekian year? How much time will pass for the Cerealian Dragon Balls to be active? How much stronger than Granolah will Goku get? Hopefully the answers aren't lazy...

Will Beerus finally fight somebody? There are 6 mortals that are near or above his power (Goku, Granolah, Vegeta, Broly, Freeza, Gohan).

Who's the villian of the next arc & what explanation is going to be given for them having power on the level of Angels? Angel tier fights don't sound interesting to me anymore. After those kinds of battles, Goku will have no challengers left.

Will Goku disappear to train or something so the story can TRY to match up with the EoZ?

Will Goten, Trunks, & Marron hit their growth spurts within 3 yrs?

Will we get spin-off manga about other characters? PLEASE!? 🙏

Also DBS moved too quickly when it comes to power. Now we're at the point that Goku & Vegeta need to stop being involved in fights for there to be any actual threat or tension. The Buu saga took place in AGE  774. After training for 4 years of peace, Goku thought SS3 & fusion was his limits as a Saiyan and he was right. Well, kinda... Goku was introduced to god ki near the end of AGE 778. Then in AGE 781, Goku masters Ultra Instinct... He mastered an Angel technique in 2 year or 2.5 yrs. That was waaaay too fast. As a result the storytelling & writing are suffering from this rushed progress. Now we're gonna have an Angel tier opponent? According to the pattern of DBS, Goku's gonna end up surpassing the Angels within 2 or 3 yrs after learning god ki. Thats not impressive for Goku, that's terrible writing. And no, Goku getting this strong so fast is not a benefit to Saiyans either. It just shows us that without god ki, Saiyans ain't all that powerful unless they're the legendary Saiyan like Broly. Saiyans didn't even have a concept of training until Goku was trained by Earthlings. Gohan, Freeza, 17, & I'm pretty sure Piccolo as well have all surpassed SS3 without the help of god ki. God ki makes Saiyans look like they have limits. With god ki, the writing is broken....

I got off topic again... Anyways that's the end of my review.

[wilwywaylan]

Tangled Up in Blue - part 1

Fandom : les Misérables

Modern!AU, Enjolras & Bahorel & Grantaire & Feuilly oh my !! - 3300 words

Written for the @lesmissamepromptficchallenge, "Person A gently tilts Person B's head up". Of course I Couldn't finish it in one go so have the first part right now.

Béta-ed by the amazing @paon-de-jour

For @mu-mumie and @citron-au-miel, my eager readers !

Also on AO3 !

-

Left, right, left again. The fists struck the leather with dry, satisfying thuds. Bahorel was humming under his breath, following the rhythm of his hands as they hit the punching bag. That was the part of his training he liked the most, when his gestures became automatic, on autopilot, a metronome lulling his thoughts in an almost hypnotic way. During those few precious minutes, he was as close to peace of mind as one like him could be.

A noise came to disrupt the rhythm, pulling him out of his trance, steps coming from the open door. Of course, it couldn't last. Most of the time, he could only get a few minutes a day of this glorious state of being, before being cruelly called back to the mortal world. A glance at the clock told him that it was already a few minutes past six. All lessons were done with since four, and he hadn't any appointement he could remember. Then again, he tended to forget those, as they were only for the added paycheck and usually consisted of too-eager people who had watched one action flick too many. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't remember having any lessons today. So either someone had gotten lost in the hallways, or that someone was looking for him. Which one was better, he didn't know. Maybe if he stayed completly still and silent, the person would just go their merry way and not bother him.

A knock at the door. Ah. So much for not being seen. He vaguely thought about scaring them away, playing the role of the big bad asshole. But no. That would probably hurt at least his job, if not his reputation. And as much as he wanted to be on his own, he wasn't an asshole on purpose. So he composed himself a friendly smile and turned to the door.

For now four years that he'd been teaching boxing and kickboxing here, Bahorel had seen many different people cross that door, from children, impatient to start learning, to women looking for self-defense classes (they were often wary of him, but quickly warmed up to him), to people trying to stay in shape. Tall, small, large, thin, burly, willowy, he'd seen all.

But that one... Bahorel had never seen anyone like them. Not because they were tiny, even if they totally were. Almost pocket-sized, Bahorel inwardly snickered, but he'd never say it because he was not a totall ass. That one was tiny enough to get into heated conversations with Bahorel's collarbone, but there was something about them. What exactly, Bahorel couldn't put his finger on, but you couldn't just brush them off. Not just because they were cute. No, scratch that. Cute was for the tiny girls in the ballet room at the other end of the hallway. Or for the puppies he liked to pet in the park. Or... but not that one. As a lover of fine persons and pretty faces, Bahorel had seen his share. But that one could blow every one out of the water without even trying. Because they were not even trying. They were wearing a very baggy, faded red sweater that fell around their thighs, black leggings, and red converse that had certainly seen way too many things. Their long, blond hair fell in soft curls to the small of their back, but it was hastily gathered together without care, and from there, looked quite tangled. The few strands that had escaped framed a very delicate face, a soft oval with high cheekbones and a slightly upturned nose. But the skin was pale and a little red around the eyes. Nice eyes, even from there. Blue and large, with long eyelashes. And a black bruise around one eye. Another one marked their cheek, a dark purple almost shocking on the pale skin. Looking closer, the pretty mouth was split in two spots, and there was a cut across their forehead. Bahorel could recognize a severe beating from across the room, and that one was quite an impressive one.

He suddenly noticed that neither the intruder nor himself had moved from their respective spots. He stepped forwards, offering his hand. The tiny blond one shook it, firmly. Their knuckles were scrapped raw. At least they gave back as much as they got. Good. From up close, they were even prettier. Or they would have been, had they not been scowling that much. Granted, they still looked angelic, but in a ferocious kind of way. Really, Bahorel was starting to like this one. Several badges were pinned on the red hoodie : a purple, grey and black one, a red one with a white slogan, and a large, very obvious rainbow one. No need to be a genius to understand that one.

- Hello, kid, he said with a welcoming smile. I'm Bahorel, pleased to meet you. Pronouns are he / him. What can I do for you ?

The newcomer's expression briefly crumpled a little at "kid", but it smoothed as quickly when they heard the rest.

- I'm Enjolras. He / him too.

So the tiny one was a boy. Good. Not that Bahorel had anything against girls who wanted to learn boxing. Or non-binary people.

- And what can I do for you, Enjolras ?

- I need boxing lessons.

- That, I can guess.

Enjolras frowned for a second, then seemed to remember either where he was, or the wounds on his face.

- Can you take me as your student ?

When someone came at him for lessons, Bahorel usually gave himself a moment of reflexion, assessing his future student's stamina, determination, and especially their willingness to stop and listen. But there was something about Enjolras... He couldn't put his finger on it. Maybe the attitude, the way he was carring himself, ready to take on the whole world. The wounds on his hands were proof of it. Or something else entirely. Some kind of... radiance. A magnetism. Since he'd come in, Bahorel hadn't been able to take his eyes off him. And there was an edge in his voice...

Suddenly, his hand flew to Enjolras' chin and lifted it a little. To Enjolras' credit, he didn't flinch, just looked at him, a little wary. From up close, the bruise around the eye was really impressive, all black, purple and blue, the swelling still noticeable. What did they hit him with, a brick ? That must have hurt like hell...

Bahorel suddenly noticed where his hand was, and quickly let go.

- Seems like you can give as good as you get.

- I don't turn the other cheek, Enjolras retorted. So ? Can you ?

Talk about determination. Bahorel clasped his hands, to break the weird spell Enjolras seemed to cast around him, and announced :

- Well, ki... Enjy, how about you show me what you can do, and then we'll get the paperwork going.

Enjolras scrunched his nose a little at the nickname, and Bahorel was sure he was going to bolt without looking back. But no, he put his bag down, pulled the sweater over his head, and joined Bahorel near the punching bag.

- Okay, Bahorel started. First, you need to stretch, like this...

~*~

The chime of his phone pulled Bahorel out of his concentration. He glanced at the clock. 7 PM. It was time for his next lesson. Usually, he would have been quite cross to be kept so late, when there were so many best things he could have been doing instead. But he couldn't bring himself to be more than a very little bit annoyed.

He barely had time to stop the punching bag from moving, when Enjolras came in. He looked way better than three weeks earlier ; no more traces of what had happened. Maybe there was still a very faint white mark across his forehead, but you'd need to be very close to him to notice.

Enjolras took off his jacket, and walked to Bahorel.

- How are you today ? Bahorel asked with a smile. Ready to box ?

- I'm fine. What about you ?

- Strong as an ox ! Bahorel boasted, hitting his chest with a fist.

The gesture made Enjolras smile, and Bahorel's heart did a little jump. Of course it did, Enjolras' smile was beautiful, radiant, without a hint of cynism. Bahorel knew of many people who would have given their right leg and the foot attached to it for a smile as gorgeous at that one. Bahorel did his best to keep a straight face, and went through the warm-up moves with him, as usual. And it was a good thing for him that he was so used to the course of his lessons, because Enjolras' presence was very distracting.

When it came to aesthetic preferences, Bahorel was quite flexible. None of that "prefers blondes" or "only dates pretty ladies with long legs and nice boobs". It didn't take much to reach his heart : a nice smile, a fun-loving view of life, gorgeous eyes, lots of stamina, .... Nothing too complicated. Just someone who could keep up with him in every activity. A pretty face and a nice body were just a bonus.

At first sight, Enjolras may not fit with his criteria, as loose as they were (the criteria, of course. Bahorel wouldn't judge anyone for their promiscuity or lack thereof). His words were laced with fire and determination, but not the fun kind that Bahorel loved. The way he focused on the bag, as everything he did, told him that Enjolras was quite the serious person. Not that he never had fun, he probably did, everyone did. But not the kind of fun Bahorel liked to have.

But there was still this presence, this vibe that attracted the attention as soon as he came in and seemed to suck in all the oxygen in the room. Staying around him hadn't help with making Bahorel immune to that effect, either. Even now, as he was several feet apart, he could feel the draw, guiding his eyes back to the slight form of his student. Which didn't help in the slightest with his predicament. He was supposed to work (out), not oggle him. And still, every time he tried to focus on his gestures, on the way he hit the sack, and note what would need to be corrected. Instead, his eyes kept crawling back to the back in front of him. Enjolras was wearing only a long, thin shirt and leggings - leggings ! Each time he moved, the hem lifted, unveiling a thin band of skin. And those legs... Bahorel had to refrain himself from going higher than mid-thigh. He was a gentleman, at least in that regard. But his self-control was wearing thin.

Finally, after what seemed both like three seconds and an eternity, the clock struck 8 PM. Bahorel signaled the end of their session. Enjolras stretched his back, arms thrown over his head. Bahorel did a titanesque effort to keep his eyes glued on the floor. Only when the red hoodie disappeared from the bench it's been thrown on did he deem the situation safe enough.

- You're getting good, he said as offhandly as he could.

- Really ?

Oh please, no, don't sound that giddy. But Enjolras did, with a smile so bright it put the fluorescent lights to shame. Bahorel's heart did a sommersault, but he did a great job at bringing it back to its righteous place.

- Yeah. Soon your punches will be as devastating as mine.

- Don't mock me.

There was no hint of hurt in Enjolras' voice, and Bahorel was glad he didn't take offense.

- I'm serious, he insisted. You're making progress.

Enjolras nodded. As he gathered his stuff, he suddenly dug through his bag, and pulled out of it a slightly crumped sheet of paper that he held out. Bahorel's first reaction was to wonder if it was some kind of invoice, but no. Why would Enjolras give him an invoice ? Besides, it was brightly colored, too brightly, even, with large letters announcing something. Nothing incriminating there, he could take it.

It was a flyer, advertising some kind of social justice club. Very ugly flyer. They probably didn't have any graphic designer or art student in their little group. But the name in large, blocky letters was the same than on Enjolras' badge, and he seemed so proud that Bahorel would bet his montly wages on him being the leader, or at least had a hand in creating the group.

- What's that ?

- We meet each Friday night, Enjolras explained, beaming. Well this, and rallies. On Sundays, usually. We'd like to do it more often, but it's difficult getting everyone... (He coughed a little.) We're holding meetings to discuss all kind of social questions, discuss them, and try to set up ways to either implement changes, or raise consciousness about them.

Bahorel nodded along. He was right, it was a social justice club. Not that he minded them, of course. But he ? In a club like this ? because Enjolras giving him the flyer meant that he wanted him there, to talk about issues and march to protest them. All good, but Bahorel's approachs tended to be a bit more... hands-on. What could he bring to a group of well-meaning students ? But Enjolras was looking at him with such an expectant look that he couldn't bring himself to crush his hopes.

- Maybe I can drop by, he finally answered. I need to check first.

Enjolras gave him the kind of brillant smile that made him want to do something very stupid, and left with a wave. Bahorel glanced again at the paper in his hand. Then again, maybe it could be fun ? He wouldn't lose more than a few hours of his time, going there, and it's not as if his time was accounted for and precious. Going there wouldn't ask too much of him, and maybe it wouldn't be too much boring. And even if it was, there was still Enjolras to stare at, discreetly, of course. Whatever happened, the evening wouldn't be lost on him. Yeah, he would definitly check this out. All in good fun.

~*~

- So, how is the new kid doing ?

Bahorel refrained from telling Grantaire his new pupil wasn't a kid anymore, but that was Grantaire for you. Anyone younger than him was a "kid", except Bahorel, and that was only due to the fact that he could throw (and already had thrown) him through a (first floor) window.

They had gone for coffee after their training session, as usual. For three years now that they've been practising together, it's become their own ritual : a no hold barred match, followed by coffee and a snack, and eventually some first aid applied to their bruises and bumps.

Finding a sparing partner, getting friendly with him and setting the routine had been way easier than choosing a good coffee shop. They had tried almost half of Paris', but always, there was something wrong with them : the place was not clean enough, the coffee was subpar, the baristas were stingy, it was too cold, too warm... always, there was something wrong, and they were left coffee-shop-less once again.

Until they stumbled into the Café Victor, by accident. It's been raining all day, but the weather patiently waited until they were outside to unleash all its fury with a hail hard enough to cut them into pieces. They rushed through the nearest door for shelter. And that shelter was a little coffee shop. Like every trendy place, it had the dark metal / light wood combo, with fancy light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, and those weird high chairs that had a very low back. Grantaire hated those things. But it managed to have a distinct atmosphere, with many plants scattered around the room, and the walls being covered in frames : pictures, drawings, collages, in black and white or vivid colors. The main room was connected to a second one by two steps, with chairs of normal-height. A low stage had been set against the far wall, under a large, abstract, very bright piece. All this managed to give the place a cozy, welcoming feel, and Grantaire and Bahorel happily adopted it as their favourite coffee place in the world.

To the displeasure of one of the baristas. "Fiery redhead" surely sounded like a cliché, but Bahorel had never meet someone that fit it so well. He was a bit on the short side, built like a twig, covered in an array of freckles, and always gave the impression that Bahorel had been put on Earth for his personnal aggravation. Which wasn't entirely wrong. Bahorel was a flirt and a bit of a smart mouth, nothing too mean, of course, but the guy didn't seem like he could take a joke, and he had a tongue sharp enough to retort everytime. Which, of course, was like an invitation for Bahorel to keep his act.

They ordered their drinks, gigantic and full of an unhealthy amount of sugar, but that's what you needed after a good sparing session, the bruise on Bahorel's face bearing witness of the energy they put into it. The redhead was already busy behind the counter, but it didn't stop Bahorel from winking at him as he grabbed his drinks.

Once seated, Grantaire asked, around a gulp of coffee :

- So ? The kid ?

- Good, good. Lots of fire.

- Of fire ? Is that a metaphor, or real fire ? Because if it's like that girl, the one with...

- It's not like that ! Bahorel quickly amended. He's not an arsonist. Just.... very enthusiastic.

- I like that in a man, Grantaire said with a raised eyebrow.

- You like everything in a man, you scoundrel.

- And women, don't forget, but what can I say ? My love is a pyre that only needs the smallest spark to catch on fire.

- And you'll burn your wings.

- Such is the life of Icarus, what can I do ?

Bahorel fondly rolled his eyes, but they knocked their mugs together.

- So, Grantaire said again after drinking almost half of his coffee in one gulp, tell me a bit about the recruit.

- You're weirdly curious, but I'll humor you. So... just picture this : this high (he gestured above the ground), with long blond hair, very curly. Blue eyes, too, and...

He didn't go farther than that before Grantaire dissolved in a fit of giggles. Bahorel knew that it was no use trying to calm him down or ask him anything. So he just enjoyed the rest of his drink, waiting for him to stop.

It took almost five minutes before the giggles finally died down enough for Grantaire to breath again. He hiccuped a little, but managed to wheeze :

- Are you telling me that Goldilocks came into the bear's house and asked him for boxing lessons ?

Bahorel pondered on the merits of pushing him backwards, then decided to let go.

- Keep your snark for yourself. He seems like a nice guy.

Also, he's really cute, he mentally added, but did he want to say this ? Of course not. He'd never hear the end of if, not in this life, and maybe not even in the next.

- Oh, I bet, Grantaire retorted. A paying customer...

- You're despicable, Bahorel said in his best Daffy Duck impression.

Grantaire snorted in his cup. The redhead barista, who was refiling the napkin dispenser, glanced at him, but quickly went back to his work. Probably rolling his eyes. Bahorel stuck his tongue at him, causing a new eruption of giggles.

They ordered a new round of drinks, and went on to chat about their last training session. The wind was blowing the rain across the window, but it was warm, inside, and the coffee was delicious. Neither was in a hurry to go home, and they stayed there, enjoying their drinks and each other's company.

[naruto-007]

attitude ki spelling? #shorts #shortsfeed #ytshortsindia @PureDesiAnime

[lost-immortality]

The complete line-up of D&D boys!!

Full descriptions of the classes/subclasses under the cut!!

From left to right (the names will take you to the individual image for each of the boys!)

Swapfell Sans- Way of the Open Hand Monk- Monks of the way of the open hand are the ultimate masters of martial arts combat, whether armed or unarmed. They learn techniques to push and trip their opponents, manipulate ki to heal damage to their bodies, and practice advanced meditation that can protect them from harm.

Underfell Sans- Multiclassed: Arcane Trickster Rogue/Berserker Barbarian- Some rogues enhance their fine-honed skills of stealth and agility with magic, learning tricks of enchantment and illusion. These rogues include pickpockets and burglars, but also pranksters, mischief-makers, and a significant number of adventurers.//// For some barbarians, rage is a means to an end – that end being violence. The Path of the Berserker is a path of untrammeled fury, slick with blood. As you enter the berserker's rage, you thrill in the chaos of battle, heedless of your own health or well-being.

Underswap Papyrus- College of Lore bard- Bards of the college of lore know something about most things, collecting bits of knowledge from sources as diverse as scholarly tomes and peasant tales. Whether singing folk ballads in taverns or elaborate compositions in royal courts, these bards use their gifts to hold audiences spellbound. When the applause dies down, the audience members might find themselves questioning everything they held to be true, from their faith in the priesthood of the local temple to their loyalty to the king.

Underswap Sans- Trickery Domain Cleric- Gods of trickery are mischief-makers and instigators who stand as a constant challenge to the accepted order among both gods and mortals. They're patrons of thieves, scoundrels, gamblers, rebels, and liberators. Their clerics are a disruptive force in the world, puncturing pride, mocking tyrants, stealing from the rich, freeing captives, and flouting hollow traditions. They prefer subterfuge, pranks, deception, and theft rather than direct confrontation.

Underfell Papyrus- Oath of Vengeance Paladin- The Oath of Vengeance is a solemn commitment to punish those who have committed a grievous sin. When evil forces slaughter helpless villagers, when an entire people turns against the will of the gods, when a thieves' guild grows too violent and powerful, when a dragon rampages through the countryside – at times like these, paladins arise and swear an Oath of Vengeance to set right that which has gone wrong. To these paladins – sometimes called avengers or dark knights – their own purity is not as important as delivering justice.

Sans- Lore Mastery Wizard- Lore Mastery is an arcane tradition fixated on understanding the underlying mechanics of magic. It is the most academic of all arcane traditions. The promise of uncovering new knowledge or proving (or discrediting) a theory of magic is usually required to rouse its practitioners from their laboratories, academies, and archives to pursue a life of adventure. Known as savants, followers of this tradition are a bookish lot who see beauty and mystery in the application of magic. The results of a spell are less interesting to them than the process that creates it. Some savants take a haughty attitude toward those who follow a tradition focused on a single school of magic, seeing them as provincial and lacking the sophistication needed to master true magic. Other savants are generous teachers, countering ignorance and deception with deep knowledge and good humor.

Papyrus- Champion archetype Fighter- The archetypal Champion focuses on the development of raw physical power honed to deadly perfection. Those who model themselves on this archetype combine rigorous training with physical excellence to deal devastating blows.

Swapfell Papyrus- Great old one Warlock- Your patron is a mysterious entity whose nature is utterly foreign to the fabric of reality. It might come from the Far Realm, the space beyond reality, or it could be one of the elder gods known only in legends. Its motives are incomprehensible to mortals, and its knowledge so immense and ancient that even the greatest libraries pale in comparison to the vast secrets it holds. The Great Old One might be unaware of your existence or entirely indifferent to you, but the secrets you have learned allow you to draw your magic from it.

[thesublemon]

three movies that should have been boring, but weren’t

I’ve been doing short write-ups of movies as I watch them lately, and I realized that the last three I watched were all united by the fact that they seemed like the kind of thing that should have seemed slow, or uneventful, or overdone, yet managed to compel me anyway. So I thought I’d compile them, in the interest of finding similarities.

*

Girlfriends (1978). Directed by Claudia Weill. A very good movie. Most impressive for the way it does so much with so little. A good example of how even in a genre that I should find insufferably overdone at this point—the struggling young NYC artist figuring themself out genre—can still be great if the artist has a strong, individual attitude and the guts that come with it. All it really takes for an “ordinary” topic to be interesting is for the artist to know what they want. I loved how unselfconscious it was. There was no sense that it was performing to what some imaginary audience would find cool, which is so often the problem with these sorts of stories (unless it’s something like Girls, which makes performativity its subject matter). This is one of the things that I think allowed all of its seemingly simple scenes to not be boring. Even if simple, the character tension in them was real and important to the writing. Whereas in writing that is looking for approval, the characters become vehicles for that approval instead of actual characters. And if they’re not actual characters, then they lose their ability to generate tension. Because tension is generated by things like “I have a model of what this person wants. When they face a new situation, I feel tense because my model predicts something about how they’ll behave.”

The Apostle (1997). Written and directed by Robert Duvall. One of those movies where it seems like nothing happens and yet you’re absorbed anyways. At least I was. It actually seems like an artistically perfect reaction to have because the point of the protagonist is that he’s a charismatic figure that makes people believe in God, but doesn’t actually have any real spiritual insight. Not unless you go in for his brand of born-again Christianity, anyhow. The movie could have chosen a much more intellectually tempting or palatable version of Christianity, so I think it matters that it focuses on a version that needs emotion and charisma to distract you from the theological emptiness. A version that comes off as nothing but a bunch of repetitions of slogans and platitudes, as if saying things enough times and with enough fervor makes them true. Yet you get to the end of the movie and you realize you’ve watched more than two hours of this religious bombast. It feels like something has happened, even though nothing has. The man is still a murderer, still preaching away. He hasn’t really progressed, even though he probably thinks he has. His “ascension” at the end is into the lights of the police cars rather than the light of heaven. Basically, it feels like there’s this question throughout, echoed by the “empty”-yet-absorbing nature of the narrative itself, about whether meaning created in the mind corresponds to anything real outside of it.

Also: Duvall is incredible in the role. His character is one of those characters that could so easily descend into caricature or pantomime, where the bigness of the deliveries is more about flattering the actor’s ability to be big than portraying a character who talks that way. But Duvall gets it exactly right. Every delivery feels totally embodied and character-driven, which is vital for making the movie feel like a thoughtful exploration of something, instead of something with an opinion it wants you to know. It’s a great example of not-needy acting and movie-making. A caricaturish depiction would let the movie off the hook—would be about giving the audience something obvious to approve of (there’s that issue of approval again). Whereas depicting a person with a huge personality in neutral way forces you to think about them in ways that aren’t simple or easy. The way you’d think about a real person if you had more information about them.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring (2003). Directed by Ki-duk Kim. A very good example of a movie that is both successfully meditative and successfully absorbing. I’m not sure why it succeeds so well on those fronts. It has many many beautiful images, but there are plenty of beautiful dull movies out there. I suspect it’s because first, the seasonal structure of the movie gives it an excuse to change tones and build on itself, which prevents boredom. It puts you in the mood of a puzzle box. Second, and probably more importantly, each section basically plays as a fairy tale, or parable. And fairy tales and parables are a very compressed form of storytelling that play on very basic human truths. Which means that all of the beautiful images and meditative moods have something narratively and philosophically precise to hang on. They’re not there as compensation for the fact that the artist doesn’t actually know what they want or mean. The fairy tale quality is also probably what allows the movie to get away with such obvious symbolism without feeling trite. Because you expect the symbolism in a fairy tale to be obvious. But that obviousness also doesn't feel annoyingly didactic because the point of a fairy tale is not just to teach, but to convey some sort of truth along with it.

*

Setting aside the formal competence of each of these movies, which is definitely a factor in what made them able to keep my interest, I notice they all shared one important quality: they all knew what they wanted. And if an artist knows what they want, then the pace of a movie can be superficially slow, or the content can be superficially empty, or subject matter can seem overdone, and it will feel focused anyway. The artist knowing what they want also seems to go along with not trying to perform to an audience, which also gives the movies focus. A lack of pandering--even subtle, subconscious pandering--means that there’s nothing to pull you out of the narrative spell by reminding you that you’re audience member and an outside world exists. It also means that only the artist is driving the artistic decision-making, instead of both the artist and some model of the audience in the artist’s head, which means there are no conflicting visions to add bloat. Lastly, the thing about performing to audience is that it makes a movie predictable, because the whole point is to anticipate what an audience already knows it wants. But in a slow or overdone genre, predictability of execution (though not necessarily subject matter!) will generate impatience and kill the pace in the water. If you already know how a certain story goes, then the pleasure comes from the artist’s take on it. And if the artist is trying to give an over-familiar take as well as an over-familiar subject, then what is the point? This is why an individual style will make an action movie feel fresh, but a shocking twist will not, necessarily. The individual style derives unpredictably from an artist’s personality, whereas the shocking twist derives predictably, ironically, from a desire to not come off as predictable. Of course, this theory also means that shocking twist is its own form of overdone content that could still feel exciting and new if it came from a confident artistic place.

[hellyeahheroes]

Building Jakeem Johnny Williams in D&D 5e

I finished something that took me waay to long this week, the X-Men stuff makes me mad and I need to put it out of my head for a moment or I spend whole night ranting about fascist narratives in that title, I wanted to do at least one or two builds in this series in Black History Month, this idea was on my head for at least a month and this character just make a comeback in Teen Titans so this may be the best chance to drop a build for a character not as well-known as some and get noticed. This is a lot of reasons to say that....we’re building Jakeem Thunder today.

The goals for this build are pretty simple - we have to get Yz or Ylzk or just Thunderbolt as he is called. It shouldn’t be so hard, after all he is just an....interdimensional seemingly all-powerful being who can warp reality to his will. Okay, so that may be a bit hard. We’ll see what we can do.

Ability Scores: Just like Tulok the Barbarian I will be using standard Point Array - 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8. If you or your DM would rather you roll or use point-buy or different array, go ahead and use these as guidelines, keep in mind you need at least 13 in Charisma, Dexterity and Wisdom

Strength: 8, Yz is doing all the heavy lifting

Dexterity: 13, you are quick to act, sometimes maybe a bit too quick

Constitution: 12, you go into battles against supervillains without any armor and survive.

Intelligence: 10, human average - you’re not stupid but you’re not the brains of most superhero teams either.

Wisdom: 14, you pretty much had to fend for yourself at a young age.

Charisma: 15, you’re a pretty likable guy despite your foul-mounted attitude.

Race, which D&D should rename to species long time ago - Jakeem is a human so we’ll go with Variant Human again. You get +1 to two Ability scores, pick Charisma and Wisdom. You get one skill, choose Persuasion and one feat of your choice. After some pondering, I decided to settle on Resilient, which can grant you +1 to Constitution and proficiency with a Constitution Saving Throw.

Alternatives: If you don’t want to play a boring old human then Half-Elf with its +2 Charisma and +1 to two other Ability scores (read: Constitution and Wisdom) or Protector Aasimar will do just fine. If you want to go full extra, Eberron’s Kalashtar is also an option.

Background: Yes, we’re doing an Urchin again. Jakeem’s mother died when he was a child, his father never knew he was even born and Jakeem himself is considered a latchkey kid. Don’t look at me, I’m not the guy who makes so many superheroes orphans. Urchin gives you proficiency with Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Disguise Kit and Thieve’s Tools. City Secrets class feature grants you an ability to half your travel time while within a city for you and your companions.

Class: Okay, so which class can give us access to a genie? Maybe the one that got a new variant that is literally about giving you access to a genie in January? 

1st Level Warlock starts with proficiency in Charisma and Wisdom saving throws, two skills, I’d suggest Deception and Intimidation, and light armor and simple weapons. You also get to choose an Otherworldly Patron and I already spoiled we’re going with a Noble Genie fro January Unearthed Arcana. This new class variant has gotten some flack for being seen as stereotypical but I have also seen people of Arabian descent approving of it. Thankfully Yz just got his whole story turned into an incoherent mess by Adam Glass (I cannot believe I just wrote that with word thankfully in front of it) who decided that he is an actual genie ad brother of Djinn and his BBEG Elias and ALSO a 5th-Dimensional Imp as established before. Then again wiki search claims he was an alien at some point. This means that what you need to do is ask at your table how people feel about this class variant. If everyone is okay with it, play Yz as a genie. If anyone would be offended by it offer to take class features but play your patron as some interdimensional creature instead. Flavoring is half of the fun in building characters after all.

You get Collector’s Vessel, which you can determine to be a pen. If you lose it you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to get a replacement. You got Thunderbolt because Jay Garrick gave you a wrong pen he himself got from Johnny Thunder by accident, learn to not make their mistakes.

A number of times equal your Charisma modifier per day you can, as an action, link a willing creature within 100 feet to you for an hour or until you use this ability again, the target is reduced to 0 hit points or gets more than 100 feet away from you. When bonded like this you can choose to cast a spell from the target’s space and not yours and can add your Charisma modifier to your Perception checks. Use this to stay in the back while Thunderbolt is in the front line throwing spells right next to Shazam or Hawkman.

Speaking of Spells, you get Pact Magic. You know a number of spells you can cast...I mean, have Yz cast for you.... and have a limited number of spell slots and as you grow in levels they automatically increase with you, meaning you always cast the spell from highest slot available, up to 5th. Casting a spell burns down a spell slot, you get them back after a short rest. Cantrips, however, can be cast at any time as often as you want. If a spell calls for saving throw it is made against Save Difficulty equal 8 + your Charisma modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. The last two modifiers also sum up to your spell attack bonus, if a spell asks you for an attack roll. In addition to learning new spells you can exchange spells you know for another as you rise in levels, so if any of my suggestions doesn’t work for you, pass it out for something else. You get two spells known and two Cantrips

Prestidigitation gets you to perform a number of minor tricks for free, it is much more useful than you may think and gets you to have Yz do a lot of minor stuff easily.

Eldritch Blast is the best offensive cantrip in the game, on a successful spell attack roll target takes 1d10 force damage and on 5th, 11th and 17th level each you get to fire one extra blast each, at the same target or different ones.

Unseen Servant gets you for 1 hour to command an invisible force that gets to do a number of small and minor tasks. Again, use this to play Thunderbolt doing things for you.

Thunderwave was added to Warlock Spell list in Class Features Unearthed Arcana and forces all creatures within 15 feet fro you to make a Constitution saving throw or be pushed 10 feet away from you. Whenever they saved or not they take 2d8 thunder damage, the save merely halves it. You do not want baddies to get close to you, you’re squishy.

This is how I imagine Jakeem’s version of Eldritch Blast looks like. Just have Yz YEEET himself at people.

Let us go to Level 2 now. Since I talked about how you don’t want the enemies to get close to you, how about we do something about when they do? In a few steps? 1st level Monk gains an Unarmored Defense, making your Armor Class equal 10+ your Dexterity and Wisdom modifiers. You also gain Martial arts, which allow you to use your Dexterity in place of Strength for your unarmed attacks, have them deal 1d4 instead of static 2 points of damage and allow you to use your bonus action to make an extra unarmed attack when you attack with unarmed strikes or monk weapons. Not very in character but we will improve it in two levels.

3rd Level: on 2nd level Monks gain Ki Points in number equal your Monk level. At a cost of 1 ki point, you can take Dash, Disengage or Dodge as bonus actions, which will be helpful for the whole defense thing. You can also spend 1 ki Point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action immediately after an attack action. Your Unarmored movement also increases by 10 feet.

4th level is where we end our dip in Monk with its 3rd level. You get Deflect Missles feature - whenever you’re hit by a ranged attack you can use your reaction to reduce the damage by 1d10 + your Dexterity Modifier + your Monk level and if it is reduced to 0 you can throw the projectile back at the attacker as a ranged attack as if it was a monk weapon.

But the real draw of this level of Monastic Tradition and Way of the Astral Self. This allows you to call upon Arms of the Astral Self and have Yz punch your enemy in the face - it costs you 2 ki points, the arms last for 10 minutes, have a reach of 10 feet, deal radiant or necrotic damage as you see fit, can use your Wisdom modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity modifiers for attack and damage rolls, allow you to use that modifier for all Strength checks and saving throws and you can make a bonus attack with them as a bonus action. 

5th level: Our trip into a Monk ensured Jakeem can survive if someone actually gets close to him but now it’s time to focus on all other things we want. 2nd level Warlock gains one new spell known - Hex has a casting time of bonus action, can last for 1 hour with Concentration, causes the target to be dealt extra 1d6 necrotic damage and imposes disadvantage on all ability checks of one ability you choose. If the target is dropped to zero hit points, you can move it on another target as a bonus action.

You also get Eldritch Invocations. Thief of Five Fates lets you cast Bane once per long rest using a spell slot. Lasting on concentration for up to a 1 minute this spell forces up to 3 targets within 30 feet to make Charisma saving throws and those that fail to roll a 1d4 they subtract from an attack or saving throw whenever they make them. Mask of Many Faces lets you cast Disguise Self at will, which for 1 hour, no concentration, lets you make yourself look as anyone as long as it’s a humanoid with a basic array of limbs as you and no more than 1 feet shorter or taller. It is an illusion so physical inspection will reveal the trickery

6th Level: 3rd level Warlock gains a Pact Boon and we’ll pick Pact of the Talisman. It modifies your Collector’s Vessel so now it allows you to add 1d4 to any skill check in which you lack proficiency. You can also give it to someone else so they get this bonus.

You get to learn your first 2nd level spell as well. Hold Person forces a target to make a Wisdom saving throw when you cast it and at the end of its every turn and unless it succeeds one it is paralyzed for up to 1 minute or if you drop concentration - they cannot take actions and all hits on them are automatically critical ones. This is great for Warlock because all your spell slots scale with you, meaning on higher levels you get to automatically target multiple targets with single Hold Person

You get one more Cantrip too. Chill Touch on this level deals 2d6 necrotic damage on successful ranged spell attack in form of a spectral hand. Until the start of your next turn, the target cannot regain hit points and if it’s an undead it also gets a disadvantage on all attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.

7th Level: 4th level Warlock gets an Ability Score Improvement, you should have Wisdom and Constitution in odd numbers so round them up for better Armor class, Astral Self attack and damage rolls, concentration and Hit Points - remember, you gain bonus hit points retroactively as well as with next levels, meaning you’ll be getting 7 for all levels up to this moment.

You also get one more spell. Enlarge/Reduce lets you for up to 1 minute on concentration increase size of a target, granting them an advantage on all Strength checks and saving throws and deal 1d4 of extra damage. Or decrease the size giving them a disadvantage and reducing 1d4 of damage they deal. If you cast it on an unwilling target it gets a Constitution saving throw to resist the effect.

8th Level: 5th Level Warlock learns their first 3rd level spell. COunterspell is a reaction spell that lets you shut down an enemy caster’s spell level 3 or lower and if it’s of a higher level you must roll a Charisma check against DC 10 + Spell Level. Use this to have Thunderbolt save an ally from an enemy attack and get rest of the JSA happy they have you.

You also get a new Eldritch Invocation. Tomb of Levistus will be our last resort defensive feature. Once per short or long rest it lets you, as a reaction when you are hit with an attack, entomb yourself in ice and gain 10 temporary hit points per Warlock level that immediately take on as much damage as possible, but until the end of your next turn you are vulnerable to fire damage (note it specifies you gain this after taking damage that triggered this effect), your speed is reduced to zero and you are incapacitated. Since you lose a turn use this only if you’d be killed by an incoming attack.

9th Level: 6th Level Noble Genie Warlock gains Elemental Resistance, allowing you to once per long rest gain resistance to one type of damage from acid, cold, fire, lightning or thunder until the next long rest and you can share this with a creature you bond with using your collector’s vessel.

You also get one more spell. Hypnotic Pattern forces all creatures in 30-feet range from a place where you cast it to make a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed and incapacitated and have its speed turned to 0 for the duration, on concentration to 1 minute, or until it takes damage or another creature wastes an action to shake it out of it.

10th level: 7th level Warlock gains first 4th level spell - Blight will allow us to boost our offense by dealing 8d8 necrotic damage to a target, half on successful constitution save. It doesn’t work on undead or constructs but plant creatures and magical plants make the saving throw with disadvantage while other plants just die. The downside is now Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing want to have a word with you and Yz.

You gain another Eldritch Invocation - Dreadful Word gives you an ability to use a spell slot to cast Confusion once per long rest, lasting up to 1 minute on Concentration. Each creature within a 10-foot radius must succeed a Wisdom saving throw or cannot take reactions and instead of actions must roll what it does on a random table on each of its turns until the spell ends or it succeeds another saving throw at the end of each of its turns.

11th Level: 8th Level Warlock gains a new spell slot. Polymorph allows you to transform you or another creature into another creature of challenge rating equal or lower the target’s, it gains all features and ability scores of the new form for the duration, which is up to 1 hour on concentration.

You also get an Ability Score improvement, increase your Charisma for better saving throw difficulty and spell attack modifier.

12th Level: 9th level of Warlock means access to 9th level spells - Creation lets you create an object no larger than a 5-foot cube out of a material of your choice, the better the material the short it will exist. You can make a stone object for 12 hours all the way to an adamantine object for 1 minute.

You get another Eldritch Invocation - Minions of CHaos allows you spend a Warlock spell slot once per long rest to cast Conjure Elemental, which summons an elemental of Air, Fire, Earth or Water who is allied to you as long as you keep up your concentration - if it fails before the spell duration (1 hour) or elemental dropping to zero hit points, it turns on you because it is unhappy you dragged it from its home to do your dirty work. So if you want you can have Yz call buddies from 5th Dimension but be wary they can be unpredictable.

13th Level: 10th lever Warlock gets a Cantrip and we should increase our offense. Poison Spray forces a creature to make a saving throw or take 2d112 (3d12 from next level) of poison damage.

Noble Genie now gives you Protective Wish - once you bond yourself with another creature using your Collector’s Vessel you can, would one of you be threatened by an attack, use your reaction to make you two swap places. This may help you get out of the harm’s way and have Shazam or Alan Scott deal with whoever threatened to beat you up.

You also get Genie’s Entertainment. Once per long rest you can have Thunderbolt wisk away a creature to 5th Dimension where he will play with it for 1 minute and then bring them back unharmed. It can avoid it or escape by making a Charisma saving throw first when you cast it and then at the end of each of its turns, if it fails until the effect ends naturally, you regain a use of this feature

14th Level: 11th level Warlock gets another spell and a new spell slot. Hold Monster works like Hold Person but without a limit only to humanoid targets, but you will be only targetting one creature with it.

At this level, you also gain Mystic Arcanum, which lets you grab one 6th Level Spell you can cast once per long rest without spending a spell slot. Institute of Flame lasts up to 1 minute on concentration, gives you resistance to cold and immunity to fire damage, deals 1d10 fire damage to any creature that moves within 5 feet of you for the first time or ends its turn there and as an action, you can create a 15 feet long and 5 feet wide line of fire dealing 4d8 fire damage, half on a successful Dexterity saving throw.

15th Level: 12th level Warlock means an Ability Score Improvement, round up your Charisma. You also get an Eldritch Invocation - Bond of the Talisman allows you to give your amulet to another creature and then either of you can as an action teleport to where the other one is, as long as you are on the same plane of existence. So give it to Jay Garrick, have him get behind enemy lines, teleport yourself to him and have Thunderbolt YEET himself at enemy caster.

16th Level: 13th level Warlock gets a 7th Level Mystic Arcanum - works the same as previous one but for a higher spell level. Forcecage lets you trap any creature in either a 10-feet on a side box of 20-feet on a side cage with 1/2 inch bars 1/2 inch apart from one another, made of force that prevents leaving by any means other than teleportation or interplanar travel and those two require a Charisma saving throw to succeed.

You get another 5th level spell as well. Planar Binding allows you to bind a celestial, elemental, fey or fiend to you for 24 hours, no concentration. The target must make a Charisma saving throw or be bound to do your bidding for 24 hours before returning to their home plane. Bind an Elemental and bond it with your Collector’s Vessel for full Thunderbolt experience. Mind you, just like Yz can carry out your commands too literally, this creature can twist words too, as long as it doesn’t break the letter of the command.

17th Level: 14th Level Warlock gets our last Noble Genie feature - Collector’s Call. You can make a Persuasion check to convince Ylzk to let you cast legend lore without components or spell slot, give one creature within 60 feet disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws until the start of your next turn or heal a creature for 8d6 hit points and end one of these conditions if it has them:  blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, or poisoned. You regain use of this feature on a long rest...or if you flat out bribe Yz with 500 gold worth of treasure.

18th Level: 15th Level Warlock gains 8th Level Mystic Arcanum. Demiplane lets you cast door to a room in another dimension, new one or one you created previously or even one made by someone else if you know its properties. Once the spell ends, which is after an hour, any creature inside it is trapped unless you cast the spell again. You can use this to trap your enemies, store objects or allies and so on.

You also get a new Eldritch Invocation. Shroud of Shadow lets you cast Invisibility at will, without spending a spell slot, making you or someone else invisible until they attack or cast a spell. You can also replace Mask of Many Faces with Master of Myriad Forms, which lets you cast Alter Self that actually changes your appearance not just casts an illusion. 

19th Level: 16th level fo Warlock is our last Ability Score Improvement, choose to improve either Wisdom for better AC and Astral Form attacks or Constitution for more Hit Points and better Concentration.

20th Level: Our capstone is 17th level of Warlock for our last Spell - I don’t see anything good on 5th level so grab Banishment, which forces target creature to make a Charisma saving throw or be sent to another plane for up to 1 minute and then returning unharmed. If the target is not from the plane you are on it is sent back to their home dimension and does not return unless the spell ends early by you breaking Concentration.

You also get your mystic Arcanum for 9th level. Sadly Wish is not on Warlock spell list so if you cannot talk your DM into giving it to you grab Imprisonment. If target fails Wisdom saving throw it is imprisoned by you in means you describe. It doesn’t need to eat, breathe, drink or age and cannot do anything. The form of imprisonment must be agreed upon by you and your DM. If it succeeds the save it is immune to your future attempts. So now when Yz brother forces their sister to summon you in front of him you will lock him into one of his own rings instead f getting your ass kicked.

So this is my take on Jakeem - Pact of the Noble Genie Warlock 17/Way of the Astral Soul Monk 3. Now let us see how good this build is. 

Pros: You are a battlefield controller, with multiple options to sew chaos among your enemies. You have multiple options to blast enemies at distance and punish those who get close. Your Hit Points are around 140 which isn’t bad, it will take one or two hits before you get in the range of dreaded Power Word: Kill and you are all about staying out of the action yourself and not getting hit while Yz does the punching.

Cons: A lot of your spells require Concentration and your Constitution is not that high, Resilient feat does a lot of heavy lifting here. Your AC is not that good either since we didn’t cap Wisdom and your Dexterity is low. Finally, you have a limited set of options to do actual damage. 

But that’s fine, you are still learning. Remember you are more a trickster and strategist - not the guy who punches the devil in the face but one who makes him so confused he runs into Wildcat’s fist. Stay in the back and hurl Thunderbolt at your enemies and all you need is few allies that can be the frontline.

- Admin

[earjacks-blog]

um.. kiss?????????

there are two things kyouka’s never done : one, initiating, and two, kissing someone.  ( on the lips, if that wasn’t clear enough. )

don’t get him wrong : she’s a hundred percent sure she loves him just as much as he loves her. it doesn’t have to be spelled out that kyouka was horrible at displaying any type of affection, or maybe it’s just that overwhelmed emotion that swells up in her stomach whenever she’s catch a glimpse of her lover’s face—- something about denki’s joyous, sun - like, giddy attitude sends her into an overdrive of emotions. the stupid fabled butterflies never stop rioting in her stomach, and that inevitable blush rises on his cheeks as always. then, she’s stunned, unable to function further on dude, what the fuck do i do with such a cute boyfriend?

god, heaven fucking help me.

she thinks cute at this point was an understatement and overused. she hates it. how bubbly she suddenly feels when that tongue - between - teeth smile appears. fuck is he cute when he does that. kyouka wants it off of his face— maybe that’ll cease the dumbass  thump thump thump-ing her heart can’t seem to shut up about whenever he’s like that.

that wasn’t the point here though! she’s fumbling, honestly. his mouth’s crooked, a cartoonish wiggly line, head trying to form out of the scattered scrabble pieces on how she should initiate this without sounding like a complete loser–  ❛  …h-hey, ki-kun– ❜  voice barely above a whisper when she tries to catch his attention. the blush on her face is mad, but he feels like it’s gonna cover her entire fucking body later.   ❛  …come look at me for a sec.  ❜

and he does, lucky her. or rather, much to her dismay, because now her flushed mood doubles up now that he’s looking at her.   ❛   okay- i..i just– ugh, dude! don’t look at me like that! i wanna kiss you okay?!�� ❜  as soon as the words leave her lips, the red tint’s reached her ears at this point. 

this is it. oh my god. this is absolutely it. i’m actually gonna die because i can’t comprehend kissing my own fucking boyfriend. 

she does, nonetheless.  her lips catch his, eyes fluttering close, and for a brief moment, those butterflies still rumble in her stomach but fuck it felt so right. denki’s lips were softer than she imagined, he smelled better up close ( he’s never gonna let him hear this. ever. he’ll bully her for it, she knows. ) and there’s that electrical hum that radiated from his quirk. but alas, that small bubble of euphoria only lasted a short life. she’s pulled away, almost regretting the parting of their lips, face still flushed red and heartbeat loud enough for the other to hear.

silence.  ❛  ...i’m never initiating anything like that again.  ❜     kiss.