#bonus points if it only focuses on the first game and doesn't include ANYTHING from the tie-in novel or BS2

[hypodermicfroggy]

I wished for a Bioshock movie for Y E A R S

but now that we're finally getting one I don't want it

I do not have faith this is going to be a good adaption, I'm sorry, maybe 10 years ago this could have been a great passion project (especially if Gore Verbinski had been involved like originally planned) but I just know it's going to be an over-actioned, improperly funded (since it's a Netflix production they're absolutely going to either dump too much or not enough money in it then write it off as a failure if it doesn't 'perform' well enough), CGI-laden slop fest that doesn't even acknowledge or properly handle half the themes present in the series.

[rawmeknockout]

Hi! Can I get poly TFA Jettwins x human!reader? Just some general SFW headcanons, how it happened/affection/etc. (bonus points if reader verbally beats sentinel's ass because he gave their boys shit about dating an organic and they made fun of him cause he's bitchless) sorry if this breaks any rules/is too complex, have a nice day/night!

01 + Jetstorm for sure found you first, he has more game than Jetfire. He was zipping around the city, hot on the tail of Blitzwing. It was a bit too fortunate that no humans were in the way of danger, but that came to an end when Blitzwing zoomed past you just barely missing you with a wing. Jetstorm, moving too fast to stop or swerve, had no choice but to transform and lift you into his arms to avoid a collision. Good news, he was gentle when plucking you up and it wasn’t so bad of a takeoff for you. Bad news, he’s got an armful of a very cute squishy and the pounding of his spark isn’t due to the adrenaline of the chase. 😔

02 + Blitzwing gets away. Jetstorm hardly gets to introduce himself before he’s getting reprimanded by Sentinel through the comms. As much as he wants to stay and chat you up, much to the bewilderment of Jetfire, they have to return to base. He’s a pretty melancholy and distracted mech after that. It doesn't take long for his brother to catch on. You linger in his thoughts long after the scolding he gets from Sentinel.

03 + How fortuitous that he runs into you while patrolling! He's hard to understand with his thick accent and way of jumbling words, but the two of you are giggling and chatting each other up in such an embarrassing display of puppy love. Jetfire doesn't get it. Jetstorm is totally ignoring him and hasn't even introduced him yet! He's instantly miffed and put-off. From that moment, you start to monopolize Jetstorm's thoughts and time. It wouldn't be a problem, he's a diligent and obedient soldier, but Jetfire doesn't like that you've seemed to weasel you're way between them so quickly.

04 + Safe to say Jetfire doesn't exactly like you. He starts to resent you and hold every interaction against you. Of course, this is more passive aggressive and he tries to tone it down when Jetstorm is around because he knows it will only devolve into a fight between them. He just doesn't get it! How could one organic come between them so quickly! Any solo interactions with you are cold and filled with snippy, short remarks. It's hard to get anything from him other than he just generally dislikes your presence, which is weird because Jetstorm describes his brother as fun-loving and friendly.

05 + Bringing this up with Jetstorm doesn't result in much, because Jetfire just brushes off his brothers concerns and dismisses that anything is wrong or that he even treated you coldly. He just doesn't like organics okay? Sentinel says they spew acid or whatever. Of course, it's a weak defense and it only makes Jetstorm pry harder.

06 + That is, until Jetfire needs your help. It's not really that he could lean on you in a hard time, but he got to see a side of you that he wasn't privy to (which was his own fault). It's after a rather rough battle with the Earth-based maintenance crew. Even Optimus is looking worse for wear and Ratchet is swamped with injuries to treat, including his own. Jetfire actually made it out relatively unscathed, but he has a slowly leaking puncture in his side armor. It's fine, he can wait until Ratchet has treated his brother, but it stings and makes moving around rough. While you're waiting for Jetstorm to be treated, you're milling about in the main room of Optimus' base. It doesn't take you long to notice Jetfire isn't looking so hot, mostly because he's one of the only mechs you actually know, and you can tell just by how he's shifting around that he's uncomfortable. He's trying to fly under the radar right now until he can get treated, but totally misses you lingering closer because he's so focused on the other mechs in the base. You have no choice but the huff and bat his servos away from his injury, earning a startled yelp from him, before doing your best to pack the wound. You're no medic, especially not for a machine, but you at least know pressure eases bleeding. Jetfire hasn't been this close to you and especially hasn't had you care for him like this. You're gentle and quiet with him, soft squishy hands moving about his side, pressing sanitized mesh into the wound to stifle the leak.

07 + Uh oh. His spark just fluttered up into his intake while watching the stern press of your mouth as you work on his side. Who knew that an organic could make him feel so... Assured. He still feels the tingle of your skin on his armor hours after his wound has been treated. From then on his attitude towards you does a complete 180. He chatters nervously when you're around and will happily greet you if he sees you. This is the Jetfire that Jetstorm knows but he can tell that something is... Off.

08 + Jetfire isn't the type who can keep his feelings to himself. He's always lived loud and proud. Ad despite the fact you're his brother's partner, he can't live keeping something so important to himself, so Jetfire has to confess to you soon after he realizes how much he likes you. This is more a cause of stress for you than him, because Jetfire doesn't really think it through. You, on the other hand, worry this is only going to pull Jetstorm and Jetfire further apart. You already felt guilty for 'getting between' them. But when you explain it to Jetstorm he's... More playful. He thinks it's cute that Jetfire likes you. It makes sense, even, because he and Jetfire are so alike. Jetstorm can't hold it against his own brother that he ended up falling for you. I mean, look at you!

09 + It turns into a playful competition between them which is sort of how your three-way relationship grows. Your boys get to have fun one-upping each other and you get two boyfriends!

10 + Jetstorm is the romantic of the two: classic dates with lamp-light, energon treats, and high grade. Jetfire likes spur of the moment plans and doing something thrilling, the type to take you flying and do aerial tricks over the ocean to impress you. Unsurprisingly, they're both equally touchy and affectionate. They have a pretty close relationship where they could always be affectionate with each other so that reflects in how they interact with you, but, ya know, more amorously.

11 + You kissa da one mech then turn and kissa da other. Mamma mia.

12 + You never miss a chance to tell Sentinel where to stick his opinions. He often uses the twins as a means to exert authority, because power is something he so strongly clings to, to the point it feels like they're mere tools at his disposal. This really tends to chap your hide. Jetfire and Jetstorm consider you the 'coolest' for backtalking him the way you do.

[safe-t-mark]

Avoiding the Climb: Scaffolding Safety for Occasional Users

For most of us, scaffolding conjures images of towering construction sites, not our everyday work environment. But even if your small company only uses scaffolding on rare occasions, ensuring your safety while using it is paramount. After all, falls from any height can lead to serious injuries and even fatalities.

This article demystifies scaffolding safety for infrequent users, focusing on what you need to know before stepping onto the platform.

1. Understand the Rules of the Game:

Regulations: While specific details may vary by region, most countries have guidelines governing scaffolding use. In the US, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulations like 1926.451 provide a comprehensive framework. Familiarity with these rules, even at a basic level, can empower you to ask questions and identify potential hazards.

Competent Persons: Remember, "competent person" in scaffolding terms doesn't refer to your general skills. It signifies someone trained and certified in scaffold erection, inspection, and safety procedures. Never use a scaffold that hasn't been erected and inspected by a competent person. Look for tags or permits indicating proper authorization.

2. Before You Ascend:

Inspection, Inspection, Inspection: This can't be stressed enough. Before setting foot on the platform, take a thorough visual inspection. Look for cracks, damaged planks, loose connections, or missing guardrails. Check for uneven surfaces, unstable footing, and overloaded platforms. Report any concerns to your supervisor or the competent person immediately.

Know Your Weight Limits: Scaffolds have weight capacities, just like bridges. Overloading can lead to catastrophic failure. Understand the platform's maximum weight limit and ensure it's never exceeded by people, tools, and materials combined.

Wear the Right Gear: Treat scaffolding work like any other safety-critical task. Wear sturdy, slip-resistant footwear with good ankle support. Use a properly fitting hard hat and consider eye protection if potential falling objects are present. Don't forget fall protection! In most cases, using a full-body harness and lanyard anchored to a secure point is mandatory.

3. Mind Your Manners on the Platform:

Stay Grounded: It's tempting to lean over edges or stretch beyond handrails but resist the urge. Always maintain three points of contact with the platform – two feet and a hand – while moving around. Avoid rushing or making sudden movements.

Watch Your Step: Loose planks, nails sticking out, and unexpected dips are common hazards. Walk cautiously, paying close attention to where you're placing your feet. Be particularly careful near edges and openings.

Clear the Deck: Keep the platform free of clutter and tripping hazards. Tools, materials, and debris should be properly stored and secured to prevent accidental falls.

Buddy Up: Working alone on scaffolding is usually discouraged. Have a co-worker nearby who can assist in case of an emergency or if you need to retrieve something out of reach.

4. Weather Woes:

Wind, rain, snow, and ice can drastically alter the stability of any structure, including scaffolding. If weather conditions seem questionable, err on the side of caution. Consult your supervisor or the competent person to determine if it's safe to proceed. Remember, even mild breezes can affect balance at higher heights.

5. Don't Be a Hero:

If you see anything that raises a red flag – missing guardrails, overloaded platforms, unstable footing – don't hesitate to raise the alarm. Your safety and the safety of others is paramount. Inform your supervisor or the competent person immediately and refuse to work on a platform you deem unsafe.

Bonus Tips:

Be aware of overhead hazards like power lines and falling objects.

Carry a communication device (walkie-talkie or phone) to reach help if needed.

Be familiar with emergency procedures, including escape routes and first-aid protocols.

Remember, safety is everyone's responsibility. Look out for yourself and your colleagues, and don't be afraid to speak up if something seems amiss.

Conclusion:

Scaffolding can be a safe and efficient tool when used properly. By understanding the basic principles outlined above, you can significantly reduce the risks associated with occasional scaffolding use. Remember, knowledge is power – the power to protect yourself and those around you in potentially hazardous situations. So, before ascending those metal steps, take a moment to familiarize yourself with these safety guidelines and climb with confidence.

Additional Resources:

OSHA's Scaffolding Standard: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.451

Construction Safety Association of Ontario: https://theccat.ca/upgrade-courses/scaffolding-health-safety-training-program-18/

National Scaffolding Contractors Association:

[eldritchamy]

#oh god I’m so delighted every time you answer one of these #it’s always such a fun read like #huh what’s the fighter levels for? (two seconds later) ohhhh omg #and man I am so into Cass she sounds interesting af #I think the phrase ‘dislocated soul’ is gonna be spinning around in my brain all day #out here putting the epic in epic fantasy #uneiverse #my question #eldritchamy

thank you for liking my thiiings 😭

For your consideration: two levels in Fighter ALSO gets you a Fighting Style and Action Surge.

Cass is a very fun character both in story/personality and just mechanically.

She's Soulknife 12 Rogue, Way of Shadow 6 Monk.

Deep enough into Shadow Monk to cast a couple spells with Ki points like Darkness, Silence, Pass Without a Trace, and a free Minor Illusion, and the ability to teleport up to 60 feet from one point of dim light/darkness to another, so she can just teleport from one shadow to another. She also gets +15ft of Unarmored Movement (on top of Dhampir's base 35ft), always has at least one bonus action attack she can make with either Martial Arts or Flurry of Blows, Deflect Missiles, Slow Fall to reduce up to 30 points of fall damage, Extra Attack, and all her "Unarmed Strikes" (which includes her Dhampir Bite as a "natural weapon") count as Magical weapons.

From Soulknife Rogue she gets a bunch of goodies. In addition to the standard first 12 levels of Rogue (4 Expertise skills, 6d6 Sneak Attack, Cunning Actions, Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, Reliable Talent, and FOUR ASI/Feat levels), she gets 12 d10 Psionic Dice that she can add to failed skill checks (only expended on success) or establish group telepathy for a number of hours, she can make Psychic Blades as a dagger or 60ft thrown weapon that deals Psychic damage (and leaves no visible marks on the target, perfect for a Dimir assassin), because they count as Monk weapons (i.e. a simple weapon she's proficient with) the OFFHAND Psychic Blade still gets to be a d6 instead of a d4, she can add a Psionic die to missed attacks, and she can throw the Psionic Blades to teleport to their location.

So she has two ways to teleport, one of which is completely free in dim light, she's telepathic, she's a martial class that can hit anything within 60 feet of her even when "unarmed," her vampire bite counts as a magic weapon, she's hard to hit, her WALKING SPEED is almost equal to most characters' DASH speed, she ignores up to 30ft of fall damage (and can teleport to the ground as long as she's conscious while falling), she can walk on walls, she doesn't need to breathe, she can Planeswalk, and she has the ability to sense the precise location, emotional state, and health (e.g. whether it's currently weak or out of breath) of any creature with a heartbeat within 30 feet of her, and if she focuses on them she can learn their damage resistances and whether it's currently suffering from any poisons or other ailments.

That's without getting into the specifics of her build stats, feats, and magic items. She's very much built to emphasize the vampire flavor. One of her items is an artifact weapon I homebrewed called the Blood-Stained Blade, a dagger with a stained glass aesthetic that has a number of charges for special properties that you can track based on how many of the stained glass fragments are blood red.

I've homebrewed a handful of artifact-level weapons because I DESPISE the way 5e handles them. If you go through a list of artifact items it feels like more than half of them are possessed by an evil entity that will try to take over your body (which means they can remove your ability to play your own character, which is STUPID), and all of them have an assortment of randomly generated positive and negative properties, which incentivizes re-attuning to your item over and over until you get something that isn't terrible, which is just WRETCHED game design. They should just be treated like Legendary-er weapons with more specific lore and specialized properties imo.

Anyway.

Cass was a human girl. Her father was the head of what amounts to a cross between a noble family and a mob family (Cass is technically a Viscountess, but has no love for the title), and her mother died when she was very young. Cass was therefore the only daughter of a man who needed a male heir, and sure as hell wasn't getting one from his stubborn, temperamental, and mildly psionic lesbian daughter. The only person Cass ever had any real interest in was her maidservant, Gisella Bathori (who Cass calls "Ella"). The Bathories USED to be one of the noble families but were basically ruined and cast out when great-grandma Bathori did some experimenting with some naughty naughy forbidden necromancy-flavored magic and got herself labeled a monster. Her line was then relegated to a servant class for the remaining families. Ella was only about 2 years older than Cass and was essentially taken on to look after her specifically. Since Cass was a precious commodity to her father, she was more or less housebound her entire life, practically a prisoner in her own estate. Ella was the person she spent by far the most time with, and grew closest to.

When Cass was a teenager, strange things started to happen. She had a preternatural sense of when someone was about to enter her room, and could almost always correctly predict their mood. It wasn't EXACTLY like reading minds, but there was definitely something off about her. Chair legs would break out from under potential suitors that she wanted nothing to do with. Drinks would spill and force unwanted company to retire early. No maidservant ever came to harm around her, but unwelcome men were prone to inexplicable accidents and mishaps. The more her father tried to find a suitable husband to marry her off to, the more those suitors met with misfortune and the other families started seeing her as bad luck. No one trusted her near their sons, which suited her just fine.

One day in a fit of frustration, Cass threw an unwanted fancy shoe at a fancier vase. Which fell off its fancy mantle onto a fancy mirror, which shattered rather explosively, sending a few very deadly shards of glass directly at Ella. In a split-second panic, Cass reached out a hand towards her, fearing she was about to lose the only person who mattered to her, and every single shard froze in midair. Her father heard the noise and rushed in, and the back of the door tossed some of the frozen glass shards safely to the floor. After a moment, the rest fell. There was no mistaking that Cass had done it somehow, and her father became even more desperate to marry her off and get a real heir before rumors spread further and ended his bloodline in shame.

Cass utterly could not give a shit about the family legacy because she spent her life experiencing it as a prison. She never knew any real luxury because she never had a whiff of freedom.

When her magic started manifesting more blatantly, any books in the library that related to magic mysteriously disappeared. Some of the other families suspected it was the cursed Bathori line who was afflicting her with some foul corrupting magic.

Finally, when Cass was 23, a foreign noble family looking to break into the local scene was willing to provide an heir. Cass' stubborn lack of cooperation led her father to conspire with the head of that family to have her killed after the wedding - a son by marriage was still an heir, even if she "tragically" died on her wedding night.

So they arranged just that.

After the ceremony, three men from the other family (probably including her 'husband') ambushed and killed her.

Around the same time, Ella overheard the heads of the families talking about it and panicked, dropping a portrait of Cass that she had been crying over. They caught her trying to escape out the bedroom window in an attempt to save Cass, but she was cornered. Cass's father left to fetch a lawmaster to have her arrested as a scapegoat for the corruption and murder of his precious daughter, and the other head of house was left to take care of her. She snapped a ceremonial rapier off the wall and buried it hilt deep in his throat, just as he stabbed her through the chest.

Ella used the broken rapier to carve a sigil into the floorboards: an old "protection" spell she found in Great Grandma The Naughty Wizard's spell book, and using blood forcibly taken from an enemy's throat and blood willingly given from a lover's heart as a potent catalyst, she spent her last breath begging the spell to "not let Cassandra die".

So Cass jolts awake in the back of a truck before they can dump her body, and she's disoriented and panicking, and only more confused for the fact that she's soaked in sticky, coagulating blood but her throat isn't slit and there's no knife wound in her heart. There's a heartbeat pounding in her ears and she realizes it's actually THREE heartbeats, and she's feeling them outside the truck.

She stiffly pulls herself up into a crouching position by the time the doors are flung wide open and the men scream at the sight of her: a woman absolutely COVERED in blood, disheveled and messy, mostly in shadow, with two eerie lights glinting from the eyes of something no longer human, like the eyes of a predator at night. She instinctively lunges toward the pulsing in her ears and one of them fails to get away, accidentally pulling her out of the truck and getting himself pinned under her full weight, as her new fangs sink into his neck and she pulls and pulls, not even realizing she's drinking his blood until it stops flowing from his neck.

By the time she realizes what she's doing she freaks out and jumps backwards, effortlessly, into the back of the truck, gripping the edge of one of the doors so tightly the metal bends around her hand.

She can feel strength like she's never known. She can see far better than she should in the evening light. Euphoria pumps through her veins as a newfound power courses through her. She can feel the fangs in her mouth and knows she's become a monster.

It's the worst thing that's ever happened to her, and it's utter euphoria; she's become a monster and she's never felt better.

She rushes home in the hope that Ella will know what's happening to her, and finds her dead on the floor with a mysterious sigil. Cass fails to understand or use it, and before she can even process or mourn, she feels more heartbeats enter her home. The men who ran are frantically telling her father and a lawmaster what they saw, to their mocking disbelief.

Her father reaches the top of the stairs first, sees the body of the other head of house in the doorway of his daughter's bedroom, and rushes over, only to scream and jump ungracefully backwards into a table at the frankly terrifying sight of her, and runs down the hall to barricade himself in his office. The others approach, which ends very badly for them. The lawmaster just manages to shoot her, but the wound instantly closes. She drains him and the others before stalking down the hall, breaking down her father's door, flinging his desk aside and knocking the rifle out of his hands, and then pinning him to the wall by the throat, telling him how awful he is, and then shoving her other hand in his chest and mincing his heart in an iron grip.

The mess pulls the wedding ring right off her finger, leaving her father's corpse with the perfect symbol of the only thing he really cared about wedged in the mess that used to be his heart.

Cass washes off the blood of eight people (her own plus Ella, father in law, 3 men, lawmaster, and her father), packs up whatever she knows to be valuable or useful, looks back at Ella and sorrowfully notes that there are no heartbeats in the house and that the pair of them deserved so much better, kicks one of the bodies into the room for good measure, and leaves her home forever to hunt down what remains of both families.

What Cass didn't know was that the fresh blood from one of those bodies mixed with her own blood that she tried to use on the sigil, and blood taken from the throat of an enemy mixed with blood freely given by the heart of a lover, which re-activated the spell and raised Ella as another vampire.

Cass made her way to Dominaria and then Ravnica shortly before Ravinca's Decamillennial (and not long before the Great Mending cut off planar travel by non-planeswalkers), and didn't find out Ella was still alive until 122 years later, after her new planeswalker spark led to a chance meeting back on her home plane.

They reconnected and now Ella lives on Ravnica with Cass.

Also, these are my face refs for Cass:

She's about 5'8 with short black hair, pale skin (but not inhumanly so), and hazel eyes.

What the shit. Fighting a god in hand to hand combat as a gold dragon using immovable rods goes so fucking hard and it’s the backstory for a character that’s just in the main backstory???????? AMY???

You know how a lot of people, when making DND characters, make the mistake of having their level 1 PC have an elaborate backstory where they're super badass and already recognized as a hero?

When I made Ash I did the opposite. Her backstory is elaborate, yes, but in very mundane ways that inform her personality and how she perceives the world around her, and build up the logic of how she makes decisions.

I made everyone AROUND my PC a super powerful character who had done incredible things, and I gave Ash anxiety about it.

She feels, constantly, that she is inadequate by comparison. Her entire frame of reference is shaped by a bunch of women in her life that are outstandingly powerful, and she's just a quiet girl who makes leather goods and sells them for a living. She thinks of herself as the NPC in other people's more impressive lives.

Her mother, Lailah, is a nearly seven foot tall divine warrior created in Elysium to destroy Pit Fiends. She's an angel of lightning built like an MMA fighter, and she wields a weapon like piece of a lightning bolt (not stylized, I mean a real, glowing crackling arc of electricity that she holds like a staff and can be used like anything from a polearm to a spear to a whip, and when thrown it acts like a Lightning Bolt spell). She is built, both narratively and in game stats, to be an unkillable holy destroyer, capable of fighting MULTIPLE PIT FIENDS simultaneously, and winning. She's a CR 10+ magical creature (she's a homebrewed mix of Deva and Erinyes stat blocks with some unique flavor) with eighteen class levels, 16 in Zealot Barbarian and 2 in Fighter. She has a strength of 27 and a constitution of 25. She's designed to deal HUGE amounts of damage, tank unfathomable amounts in turn, NOT DROP WHEN SHE HITS ZERO HITPOINTS, and keep swinging until every devil in her way is a pile of dust, then use bonus action Second Wind to bring herself back above 0 so she doesn't incur the auto-death caveat on Zealot Barbarian's Rage Beyond Death ability. One of her attuned items is also the very simple uncommon item "Periapt of Wound Closure" which automatically stabilizes you at the start of your turn, thereby resetting the death saving throws she would theoretically have to make each time she gets hit below 0. Also, as an angel, she's innately immune to auto-death effects like Power Word Kill, which closes almost all loopholes that get around her build. She is UNSPEAKABLY badass. I ran a simulated round of combat with her once, and she could potentially one-shot a CR 15 Skittering Horror (228 HP) in a single turn. Her theoretical maximum damage output is like, 456 damage in a turn (granted this assumes all crits and rolling max damage).

So that's Ash's mom.

Aria is interesting. She was always strongly attuned to the forces of nature, and her magic grew quickly. Where Ash grew up with someone she knew would always be there to protect her from anything, Aria did NOT have that safety net, and spent her formative years learning to be more self-sufficient in terms of relying on her own power. So eventually she got sucked into an adventuring party consisting of herself (a tiefling Witch subclass with very strong druid flavor), a tiefling zealot barbarian, and a couple of elf twins who were an Arcana cleric and a Celestial Warlock. Sometime after they had made a name for themselves, they were tasked with stopping a suspected fledgling vampire who had been kidnapping girls and killing a bunch of people. When they arrived, they met Cass, who was very much NOT a new vampire. She was almost 150 years old and had been protecting women from abusers and overzealous debt collectors, and things had gotten a little messy with one or two of them, leading to a lot more attention than she normally got. They start off fighting Cass (Aria polymorphs herself into a dire wolf and lunges directly for the throat, which Cass found amusing and impressive) but realize in the banter that Cass wasn't the real problem, and she ends up being a sort of a lesson for the group in terms of whose word they trust and who they take jobs from (YES THE BACKSTORY'S BACKSTORY HAS NARRATIVE ARCS AND MORAL LESSONS THAT LEAD TO LONG TERM CHARACTER GROWTH OKAY I CAN'T HELP MYSELF). Cass, having a particular rapport with Aria, ends up joining their party as a dhampir Soulknife Rogue/Shadow Monk.

Yes, that's all backstory that I made up for an imaginary campaign that exists entirely as a set piece for Aria as one of Ash's story NPCs. This doesn't even touch on the fact that I liked Cass so much as a character that I gave HER an entire backstory of her own. I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM.

Anyway the team only makes a bigger name for themselves for handling things that other groups can't. Eventually, they just happen to be in the Tenth District when the War of the Spark happens (major established event in the MTG canon), and I basically added some extra "scenes" to it that didn't violate existing canon so I could have that be the climax of their imaginary campaign. One of Aria's partners was a new planeswalker at the time and her spark got harvested by the Dreadhorde, specifically by the god eternal Bontu.

Gods in Magic The Gathering aren't honestly that special? They don't seem to have THAT much power, all things considered. Ravnica's gods are mostly powerful magical animals, and in the most recent Magic Story one of their gods (Anzrag the Quake Mole) was captured in an "evidence capsule" (basically Magic's version of a Pokeball). The most powerful god in MTG is probably the Ur Dragon honestly, unless you count the Eldrazi, but that's a whole other conversation since neither of those actually have the "God" creature type.

Anyway, Bontu was one of the gods of Amonket (basically a plane based on ancient Egypt), which had been conquered by an Elder Dragon planeswalker named Nichol Bolas. HE was the one who actually killed all but one of Amonket's gods, and then another planeswalker named Liliana Vess (extremely powerful necromancer) raised them as zombies for his army, because Bolas had a ton of complicated leverage over her (magical contract that he could invoke to kill her if she betrayed him). So Bontu was a god zombie.

Here's a reference:

Well, Aria was a level 18 Witch at this point since this was the climax of their campaign, so she had access to the Shapechange spell, a 9th level transmutation that lets you become any creature with a challenge rating equal or lower than your character level. And the best candidate for that was an Adult Gold Dragon (CR 17). So Aria goes full berserk and stands up on her dragon hind legs and picks a fight with a dead god that she's determined to make deader, and has a Godzilla vs King Ghidorah standoff with her.

So how do you fight a god that can suck your soul out and instantly kill you with a single touch? You don't let it touch you.

What Aria did was basically inspired by this gif of a Wildebeest trying to charge at a lion:

Or this:

And to be clear, yes, I'm saying Aria was the lion in that situation. She basically did a big dragon threat display to get Bontu's attention, and used the Gold Dragon's weakening breath to give Bontu disadvantage on Strength checks and saves. Bontu charged at her, and at the last second Aria dropped to the ground and then shot back up, clamped her teeth around the god's throat, and used her weight to throw Bontu around and knock her off balance, and her superior strength to grab her by the wrists and wrestled her to the ground so she couldn't get a grip on Aria. She had every part of the god that could have killed her pinned, and used the claws of her wings to pull Bontu's armor apart and tear at everything she could reach while thrashing her around. It was Fen, the Arcana cleric, who thought to use Immovable rods to pin Bontu down so that even if Aria lost her grip, Bontu wouldn't be able to immediately one-shot any of them. So Athena (barbarian) and Cass (rogue/monk) as the two martial classes were the ones who got close enough to handle that while Fen and her sister (Gwen) used whatever holy magic they could to help from a distance.

Now CASS had a problem, because she's a DEX based martial class, not a strength based one. She needed a boost to be able to get this job done. So she drank some of Bontu's blood from one of the wounds Aria had left on her arm to give herself a burst of strength. Except. She had to get real close to do that. And Bontu managed to get a loose grip on her, and tried to suck out her soul.

The magic that makes Cass what she is is very old and very powerful. It binds her soul to her body in a much stronger way than any living creature, fusing the two together to prevent her from dying (i.e. by having her soul separated from her body; Cass can recover from almost any conceivable physical injury as long as there's life energy, in the form of blood, for the magic that keeps her alive to feed on and maintain the seal between her body and her soul). BECAUSE SHE WAS FEEDING ON THE BLOOD OF A GOD AT THE TIME, the magic holding her together basically fought against the magic that was trying to rip her soul out, and it had enough fuel to hold on until Aria's thrashing forced Bontu to let go. So Cass survived the Elderspell thanks to a very weird and unrepeatable set of circumstances (which allows something narratively impressive and legendary to happen without being gamebreakingly overpowered and violating the established rules of the world).

Because of how her magic draws energy from other things, though, there was a side effect: she also accidentally took in one of the planeswalker sparks that Bontu had harvested. So when Cass had healed enough for her soul to no longer be dislocated, her spark activated and she became a Planeswalker. (I imagine a soul is connected to a body mostly through the nervous system, because that's how a brain holds consciousness in it, so a "dislocated" soul is like something glued to every nerve ending in your body being pulled on with an enormous amount of force, trying to sever that connection; imagine trying to pull yourself off the ground when every nerve ending in your body is superglued to the floor by something akin to the Strong Nuclear Force. It SUCKED.)

The team ended up being forced to retreat because of Cass' injuries, so Aria didn't actually manage to kill Bontu personally (or die trying, which in her grief-rage she was fully open to). Right about this time, my bottle scene ends and Magic canon comes back into play: Liliana betrays Bolas and turns the Dreadhorde against him, and Bontu ends up being the one who bites him and rips out HIS spark. Due to the enormous rush of energy of consuming all of Bolas' stolen Planeswalker sparks (tl;dr he was trying to become a god), and with the added bit of lore that it was Aria's team that heavily injured Bontu just prior to this, Bontu exploded in the process.

This resulted in Ravnica playing a game of telephone in the chaotic aftermath of the War. Aria fought a god. She's still alive and that god is dead. Rumors spread and now Aria is misremembered as the one who killed Bontu. Half the plane thinks of her as the "god killer." All she wanted was to avenge her lover or die trying.

Neither outcome happened, and now she's credited with the very thing she sees as her greatest failure. And that trauma has haunted her ever since.

[enhypia]

JS ; exes

exes answers questions with the choice of drinking instead of answering

pairings: park jongseong x gn!reader

genre: angst, mild fluff

words: roughly 1.7k

masterlist ⸺ series masterlist

~guides and warnings~

italics - reader speaking

bold - jay speaking

[enclosed] - interviewer speaking

italicized bold - both reader and jay speaking

[enclosed bold or italics] - question (depends on who's speaking)

heavily inspired by: rec.create lie detector games, cut truth or drink

warning: contains and mentions of !!! drinking, swearing, neglect, breaking up

i don't promote underage drinking, save your livers

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

hello, i'm (y/n)

and i'm jay

we're (awkward eye contact)

uhh we're exes

[you guys were invited here today as exes for a fun little drinking game, you guys were aware of that right?]

yes

yup

*interviewer shuffles awkwardly

sorry it's just, our friends were the ones who signed up for us

yeah, we just found out about it three days ago

[but are you guys still okay with doing this?]

we're okay

just give us a few minutes to get used to environment

*(y/n) chuckles

[okay, for this game, questions will be asked and if you refuse to answer, you drink, it's that simple. are you guys ready? should we start?]

*jay nods

ready as i'll ever be

[how long were you guys together?]

we were together for almost 3 years

[how long have you guys been broken up?]

about a year and a half now

[who broke up with who?]

i did they did

[why did you break up with him?]

so this was all a year and a half ago okay? no coming for jay, he's grown, we've grown

thanks?

you're welcome

*jay laughs

uhh.. it just really reached a point where i felt neglected in a way? and it was just tiring? i kept thinking 'do i deserve this treatment?' and i hated that i was doubting everything, including his feelings. so i just said let's talk about it and then yeah we split up

*jay drinks and (y/n) laughs

sorry sorry

nah i just needed that

[okay, how about we officially start the q&a portion between the of you now?]

*both nod and played rock paper and scissors to determine who gets to ask first, jay wins

*he picks up a card and facepalms after seeing the question

goddamn

should i be scared?

not sure, but you might opt to drink though

[do you blame me for what happened to us?]

oh my god *(y/n) laughs

i know right

so we're unpacking emotions today? okay noted

you can just drink if you're not comfortable with it

i'll drink but i'll still answer, might ease your mind no?

*jay couldn't stop his head from nodding

*(y/n) drinks

i admit that i blamed you at first, but then i got to thinking that it wasn't just you, i was also at fault too since i never really vocalized what i felt? i just let it build up until it reached the point where you couldn't do anything about it anymore, and i couldn't too.

yeah but it's more of my fault since i felt something was wrong but i just brushed it off, i brushed you off.

....

shot?

*jay smiles slightly and both raised their glasses to cheers before drinking

we were both at fault and i don't blame you, jay. i hope you stop blaming yourself

*(y/n) smiles softly then picks up a card to stop any reply they might get from jay

god why are these questions so heavy? it wasn't like this from other episodes

*jay and crew laugh

okay, hit me

[what's your biggest regret about our relationship?]

what the fuck

SEE ?!

*both laugh and jay drinks

okay, next question

no, i'm answering

[we won't stop you but just reminding you both that it's okay not to answer if you drink]

the alcohol releases the unhinged-ness

in other words, this is really just us using the alcohol to actually say what we feel

i think you already the answer, and it's that i didn't do anything about us even if i felt something was wrong. i just kept on focusing on my career that i reached a point where i brushed everything off as nothing. and in the end, while i got the success i wanted, somehow i also feel like i'm on the losing end really.

*(y/n) drinks making jay laugh

what? it's my first time hearing all this !

it was a rough break so

omg is this our closure ???

*jay's eyes widened

and it's filmed ?!?!

*everyone laughs

couple goals *(y/n) does a hashtag

oh wait *(y/n) looks at jay

exes goals *both do a hashtag pose

*they laugh, ignoring the sting in their hearts

okay, okay moving on

*jay laughs again

is it a heavy one again?

nope

[do your friends hate me?]

*(y/n) bursts out laughing

please 😭

we have the same friends

we share a lot of mutual friends

that's why there was like tension for a month in the friend group because no one knew what to do

i'm sorry you had to endure all that friends

remember when they literally made an organized schedule to hang out where we wouldn't see each since the break up was still fresh?

yeah like i got heeseung on tuesdays

and i got him on thursdays

😭😭😭

we love them though, they did their best to console us both

thanks guys <33

*(y/n) picks up a card

goddammit

[do you think we could've actually worked out our problems?]

i think it's unfair that i get a lot of heavy questions

i have the power of god and anime on my side today

i think we could've, if i just had taken the actual time to reflect and sit down and talk, we could've worked it out.

*(y/n) slaps jay's arm

i told you, stop blaming yourself

k

*(y/n) rolls their eyes

*jay picks up a card and

oh

what?

*he is stuttering guys, he is fidgeting

[do you wish we were still together?]

oh

yeah

.....

*both drink

i mean-

*jay has been paralyzed, he did not expect (y/n) to answer

i'm happy where i am right now, maybe there are moments of weakness that the thought crosses my mind but i don't dwell on it too much. i think we're both still learning and growing.

*jay doesn't want to think about the fact that (y/n) never said a clear yes or no

*(y/n) picks up a card and groans

please just drink to this

why?

[what do you think of me now?]

....

drink.

no?

why?

because-

why?

i'm answering

why?

i want to?

no.

right now i'm just really proud of you.

*WORLD PAUSE, (y/n) is malfunctioning

it's a little sad that i didn't get to witness a lot of it but i promise i watched from afar and i'm so proud of you. like it makes me feel lighter in a way? knowing that you're still going and pursuing your dreams. it just made me at ease that -

*(y/n) drinks, looking very much like snow white's apples

are you blushing?

jay i will kick you

*he laughs and pinches (y/n) cheeks making them redder, (y/n) slaps his hands away

i won't hesitate bitch

how about you huh?

[what do you think of me now?]

*jay you should know not to tease too much or else it'll bite you back

i think you're absolutely amazing.

*jay could only blame himself

i am in constant awe and there's this pride that i have in me whenever i see you thriving. it's weird because i thought i'd be bitter about it, but since i knew of your goals and how passionate you were, all i felt was pride. it did hurt a little that i couldn't go "that's my baby!" anymore.

*alert! jay's ears are red and it's spreading to his cheeks and neck

okay next question!

*he quickly picks up a card making (y/n) burst out laughing

everything i said was true though.

hajima. stop. pause. i'm not listening

*(y/n) laughs at flustered jay

this is the last one.

[question for both: if you could tell me anything, what would you say?]

sheesh

same

rock paper scissors? loser goes first

*jay wins

*(y/n) drinks

can you turn around for this one, like don't look at me.

*jay followed

i want to say that,,,, that it's not your fault for putting your future first. it kind of stung since you made me feel like i wasn't a part of it but i know that wasn't your intention. i understand your actions and i don't blame you. if i was in your position i probably would've been the same. i'm sorry that i didn't try harder, like you said we could've made it work but i just got so tired, i hope you can forgive me for that as well.

okay i'm turning around as well, your turn

*(y/n)'s eyes are glassy, but jay doesn't need to see that

i want to say that i'm sorry for neglecting you. i feel like you're tired of me saying sorry but that's really all i could do. i forgive you by the way even if i don't get why you're apologizing to me. i also want to say that, it wasn't you. it sounds cliche but you weren't the reason i became like that, it was me. it was never you. so please don't blame yourself for anything. please don't question your worth because you were more than enough.

yah i didn't want to unpack that

well i still know you and i was given the chance to say it now so

*(y/n) turns around wiping tears, jay is sniffling

i need a drink damn

*(y/n) pours a shot and jay as well, both drink after clinking their glasses

[you guys good?]

*both looks at each other and chuckles

we're good

i can't believe we have to thank our friends for setting this up

*jay groans

[care to answer one last question that is in everyone's minds' right now?]

oh god

is it what i think it is

[will we see you guys be featured again? maybe exes to couples again?]

let's drink!

*both take one last shot and waves to the camera

*(y/n) shrugs and jay winks

bye~

»————-　♡　————-«

bonus: youtube comments (peep last one)

masterlist ⸺ series masterlist

a/n: i was planning to post this sooner but my pharma prof suddenly dropped a 6-page activity lmao rip, im scheduling the timestamps i forgot to post last update sorry sorry. my angst skills are subpar forgive me but i tried my best. i hope you like this one too !! jake's will be uploaded next ! please look forward to it <33

[nerdythebard]

#10: Trevor Belmont [Castlevania]

Time to finish this little special with the man, the myth, the drunken legend of the series, Trevor Belmont of the House of Belmont. Poor Treffy, saved for last, and with such a long delay. Well, let's see what he brings into the game!

Next Time: Nothing like the refreshing taste of coffee with honey, eh?

Y'all know the drill. Let's examine what we need to make Trevor shine on the battlefield:

Whip It Good: The main weapon of the main man. Trevor's proficiency with the whips goes beyond the bedroom. He's precise enough to poke a guy's eye out. He's also pretty good with, well, anything he can find, including tavern mugs, rakes, or just his very own fists.

Monster Lore & Tactics: Now, Trevor himself said he's not been that keen on learning from his family's library, but we see him dropping bits and pieces of that monster hunter's lore. He also can sense magic and lead untrained villagers against a night creature attack.

Fancy Feet: Trevor is quite agile, able to keep up with Alucard's super-speed, climb up trees with ease, and do some nice tricks with his whip... and of course, reflexes like a cat!

---

There's nothing troublesome about Trevor's race; just like Sypha, he's Human. Humans (Variant) get a +1 to two abilities, let's get Dexterity and Constitution, proficiency in one skill their choice (Acrobatics), they know Common and one additional language, and they can take a feat. Tavern Brawler gives us several benefits, fit for a rough-and-tumble monster hunter:

We increase our Strength or Constitution by 1;

We are proficient with improvised weapons (which means anything from broken glass to a dead vampire can be our weapon now);

Our unarmed strikes now use a d4 for damage instead of our Strength modifier;

When we hit a creature with an unarmed strike or an improvised weapon, we can use our Bonus Action (instead of Action) to grapple a target.

Since Trevor is the last member of the House of Belmont, and stores quite a number of artefacts and knowledge in the Belmont Hold, I think the Inheritor background from Sword Coast: Adventurer's Guide fits him well. We gain proficiency with Survival and one other skill from the list (let's get History), we learn one more language, proficiency in a gaming set or a musical instrument, and we get the Inheritance feature, which lets us create the Belmont Hold. Work out the details with your DM.

ABILITY SCORES

Our main ability will be Dexterity, it will work great when we get our whip. Constitution is next, we can take a few punches and we sober up pretty quick. Trevor loves his ale, much to Sypha's annoyance. Follow that up with Strength; some of Trevor's weapons use that instead of Dexterity.

Wisdom is next, we know what to do when fighting night creatures, even with common household objects. Intelligence is a little low, but Trevor himself said he was never really a fan of learning and doesn't know much about magic. Finally, we're going to drop Charisma... Trevor's social skills are lacking, and there's a reason he's the main himbo of the show.

CLASS

Level 1 - Fighter: We start off simply, as a Fighter. Our Hit Dice is a d10, and we start with [10 + Constitution modifier] Hit Points. We get proficiency with light armour, medium armour, heavy armour, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. Although we don't really see Trevor donning any protections (Giggity), we could assume give him leather or studded leather armour, and of course a whip as his main weapon. Our saving throws are Strength and Constitution, and we get to pick two class skills: let's get Intimidation and Perception.

Fighters begin by choosing their Fighting Style, and similarly to Alucard, we're going to pick Duelling. It gives us a +2 to our damage rolls if we're using only one weapon in hand.

We also get Second Wind, which lets us heal for [1d10 + our Fighter level] once per short or long rest, as a bonus action.

Level 2 - Fighter: At this level, we gain Action Surge. Once per short or long rest, we can take extra Action on our turn.

Level 3 - Fighter: This is where we select our subclass, our Martial Archetype, and what else fits a Belmont other than Monster Hunter from 2016 Unearthed Arcana. Starting as a Monster Hunter, we get some skill proficiencies (pick Insight and Investigation), and Combat Superiority feature. We get four d8 Superiority Dice, which we can use for a number of different benefits:

When making a weapon attack against a creature, we can roll a Superiority Die and add the result to the attack roll.

When making a weapon attack against a creature, we can roll a Superiority Die and add the result to the damage roll.

When we're making an Intelligence, a Wisdom, or a Charisma saving throw, we can roll a Superiority Die and add the result to the roll.

When making an Insight check or a Perception check, we can roll a Superiority Die and add the result to the roll.

We regain all expended Superiority Dice after finishing a short or long rest. We gain additional die at the 7th and 15th level.

With Hunter's Mysticism, we can cast Detect Magic as a ritual spell. Trevor was able to smell lingering traces of magic on artefacts and in locations. Once per long rest we can also cast Protection from Evil and Good, with Wisdom as our spellcasting ability. In addition, we learn a language wielded by supernatural creates: Abyssal, Celestial, or Infernal.

Level 4 - Fighter: Time to get our first Ability Score Improvement! Let's put one point in Wisdom, and the other in Strength.

Level 5 - Monk: Jumping into a more nimble class for a moment. At their 1st level, Monks get Unarmoured Defence, which makes our AC equal to [10 + Dexterity modifier + Wisdom modifier], provided we're not wearing armour.

With Martial Arts, we increase our hand-to-hand combat capabilities, which works pretty well with our Tavern Brawler feat. We can use Dexterity instead of Strength for our unarmed strikes and monk weapons. When we use an unarmed strike/monk weapon as an Attack, we can make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

Level 6 - Monk: We get access to the Ki energy. Starting with 2 Ki Points, we gain access to the following abilities:

Flurry of Blows lets us spend 1 Ki Point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action;

Patient Defence burns 1 Ki Point to let us take the Dodge action as a bonus action;

Step of the Wind doubles our jump distance and lets us take the Dash or Disengage action as a bonus action.

At this level, we also get Unarmoured Movement. Our ground speed increases by 10 feet, provided we're not wearing armour.

Level 7 - Monk: Here, we pick our second subclass, our Monastic Tradition. With Trevor, who is undoubtedly the master of all weaponry, going with Way of the Kensei is an obvious choice. The Kensei Monks take training with their weapons to a whole new level, and the Path of the Kensei feature presents that perfectly. We get to choose two weapons: one melee and one ranged (whip and darts), those become our Kensei Weapons that gain special properties as we level up in this class. We gain three Kensei benefits when we choose this subclass:

Agile Parry gives us +2 on our AC if we have a Kensei weapon in our hand, and if on our previous turn we used it/made an unarmed strike.

Kensei's Shot lets us use a bonus action to improve our ranged weapons (we've seen Trevor using throwing knives, so darts seem to be the best equivalent). When we use our ranged attack, we can add 1d4 to our damage roll. We retain this property until the end of our turn.

Way of the Brush: We gain proficiency with either calligrapher's supplies or painter's supplies.

At this level, we also gain Deflect Missiles ability. If we're hit by a ranged attack (not a spell), we can use our reaction to reduce the damage by [1d10 + our Dexterity modifier + our Monk level]. If we manage to reduce the damage to 0, we catch the projectile, and we can use our reaction to make a ranged attack (20/60) with it.

Level 8 - Monk: We get another ASI! Let's put one point in Wisdom and another in Dexterity.

We also get Slow Fall. If we're falling, we can use our reaction to reduce the falling damage by [our Monk level x5].

Cat reflexes.

Level 9 - Fighter: Coming back to Monster Hunter, we get the Extra Attack feature. We can now attack twice instead of once when using our Action to attack.

Level 10 - Fighter: Halfway through the build, and it's time to get another ASI. We shall put another point into Dexterity and one into Charisma, to slowly get rid of the negative modifier.

Level 11 - Fighter: We get our first Monster Hunter upgrade. With Monster Slayer, whenever we expend one Superiority Die for whatever benefit, we can instead expend two. The Dice are expended as they normally would, but if the target is an aberration, a fey, a fiend, or an undead, we add the maximum number to the damage.

Level 12 - Fighter: Another ASI! Let's put +2 to our Dexterity to max it out (and actually giving our whip decent damage).

Level 13 - Monk: We jump back to Kensei for a second. This level would give Monks Extra Attack, but we already have that feature from the Fighter. If your DM agrees, pick the optional class feature, Focused Aim, from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. When we miss an attack, we can spend from 1 to 3 Ki Points to get +2 to our attack per each Point, to potentially turn the miss into a hit.

We also get Stunning Strike: when we hit our target with a melee weapon attack, we can spend 1 Ki Point to attempt to stun it. The target has to make a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + our proficiency bonus + our Wisdom modifier) or be stunned until the end of our next turn.

It is also at this Monk level (6th) that our Martial Arts die changes from a d4 to a d6,

Level 14 - Monk: Our punches become extra punchy with Ki-Empowered Strikes. From this point onwards, our unarmed strikes count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances and immunities to non-magical damage.

We also get an upgrade to the Kensei subclass. Thanks to One with the Blade we now get access to the Morningstar whip.

Our weapon attacks now count as magical, for the purpose of overcoming resistances and immunities. Additionally, once per turn, when we hit a creature with our weapon, we can add extra damage equal to our Martial Arts die roll.

At this level, our Unarmoured Movement gains extra 5 feet.

Level 15 - Fighter: At this level of Fighter, we get the Indomitable feat. Now we can re-roll a failed saving throw once per long rest. We have to use the new roll, even if it is lower.

Level 16 - Fighter: We get another subclass upgrade with Improved Combat Superiority. Our Superiority Dice change from a d8 into a d10.

Level 17 - Fighter: At this level, we get additional Extra Attack. We can now attack three times, whenever we use the Attack action on our turn. That gives us a possibility of up to six attacks when combined with Action Surge.

Level 18 - Fighter: Time for another ASI. Let's put one point into Charisma and one into Wisdom.

Level 19 - Fighter: Our Indomitable feature improves to two uses per long rest.

Level 20 - Fighter: Our capstone is Fighter 14, and we end it with an ASI. We put one point into Wisdom... and I hate to leave an odd number, but we have to distribute it somewhere. Let's put it into Intelligence.

---

We've got Trevor Belmont. Let's see how he turned out:

To start off, we've got a really good defence. With an AC of 18, +5 to our initiative, and 45 feet of ground speed, we have a pretty good battlefield presence. We also have 181 Hit Points on average, so we can take a punch or two from a vampire.

Unfortunately, we have to manage our resources with five Superiority Dice and six Ki Points, making sure they don't fly by. We also are pretty vulnerable to Charisma and Intelligence saving throws.

---

And that is it, that's all for the Castlevania trio. Once again, I am accepting requests for any fictional character you wish to see, and if not - we're going back to SMITE gods. That's it for now, tune in next time!

- Nerdy out!

[imo-chan-imagines]

『 Haikyuu!! Week 2020 | Day 3 』

· Sept. 27th → Irresistible Force ·

Characters: Karasuno team

Prompts: A. favourite team + B. crossover/AU

Tags/warnings: Haikyuu!! (anime), PG, fluff, crack, a teensy bit of angst (because who doesn't love a sad superhero backstory), headcanons, AU, superheroes, HaikyuuWeek2020

A/N: Again, I love all the teams and didn't want to pick, but life is cruel, so here I am. This is headcanons about my fav team (Karasuno) in an AU (superheroes). I was thinking of a Hero Association, kind of like in 'The Boys'? But less corrupt... Maybe more like in 'One Punch'? I think you get me.

All of my Haikyuu Week 2020 posts will be SFW, but I have NFSW content on my blog if that butters your biscuit. Feel free to check it out! Thanks for reading! Please enjoy ♡ Imo~

Karasuno / Superhero Association AU

×

☆ Sawamura Daichi ☆

Powers: nigh invulnerability, super strength, enhanced healing

If he's not the ordinary cop that somehow befriends the heroes I was tempted then he's definitely the leader of the superhero group

Kind of like Superman in the old-school Justice League, just not as OP lol

Looks damn good is spandex those thighs *sweats*

Cape!! so ✨majestic✨

Probably wears dark-ish, neutral colours with a dash of blue

A bit serious. Not the kind of hero to go around making quips all the time, but will make light of his own suffering like Captain America

Takes younger heroes under his wing like the true Dadchi he is

Strong moral compass. Unbreakable

Won't hesitate to lay down his life for others

Who am I kidding. He's basically Captain America with a cape

Poster-boy for the Hero Association

×

☆ Sugawara Koushi ☆

Powers: telekinesis

A soft, pearly aesthetic with his suit, hair and skin. Lots of white and silver

A favourite among the ladies he's just too pretty, damm it T T

Very plucky and adorable

People in the vicinity will literally faint when he goes all serious to concentrate and use his powers

Has a duo move with Daichi where he literally throws him like a missle YEET

Has the most followers on Twitter and TikTok and his fans can be pretty nuts

Has a perfume line named after him and models for the adverts

Will smile like an angel right before bringing a building down on top of you fuck, I find this one really funny

×

☆ Azumane Asahi ☆

Powers: regeneration, enhanced stength

Kind of like Wolverine or Deapool but, like, much, much softer on the inside uwu

Wears green and black

Messed up big time back in the day and dropped off the grid out of guilt some people died :(

Was convinced to come back when his old teammates finally found him again because they needed his help in a crisis

Literally shed tears of relief when heroes and citizens alike welcomed him back instead of hating him mah heart *sniffs*

Can withstand seemingly anything and fully heal within a matter of days

Doesn't know the full extent of his powers himself. How exactly do one test it? 🤔

Still has to psych himself up for a fight, though big softy, really

×

☆ Shimizu Kiyoko ☆

Powers: electrokinesis, flight

Powers like Storm from X-Men, and kicks ass like Wonder Woman

Refuses to wear a revealing suit, but looks bomb af anyway

Kiyoko = absolute queen

One of the most powerful heroes, but doesn't throw her weight around unless she's kicking bady-guy booty

Stella gynamast, and has mastered several martial arts

Can literally throw a guy three times her size, all without any strength powers Tanaka: 👁👄👁

Somehow has perfect hair all the time secret superpower??

Is active on the political stage as a human rights activist, headlining women's rights yes, yes yes

Will strike you with lightning for sexual harassment

Comes up with really good mission plans

Is a soothing balm for Tanaka when he loses it

Black and gold aesthetic✨

Asymmetrical cape! super fashionable

Poster-girl for the Hero Association

☆ Tanaka Ryuunosuke ☆

Powers: fire generation and manipulation

Tanaka brings the heat literally

A bit of a chaotic-good, but what's new there?

Can get out of control if he loses his focus, so his friends have to keep him grounded Kiyoko is a literal angel when that happens

Kiyoko: Sun's getting real low...

Bonus points if you get the reference

Is terrified of hurting innocents if he gets out of control

It rarely happens, but if he loses his self confidence, his powers don't seem to work

Shouts cringy lines at the villains before roasting their asses lmfao

Wears a black and orange flame-retardant suit, and actually looks pretty fine in it 😌👌

Literally head over heels for Kiyoko just imagine it. Biggest hype man

×

☆ Nishinoya Yuu ☆

Powers: animal metamorphosis, enhanced speed

Think Beast Boy from 'Teen Titans', but less green he's more likely to be yellow or orange, lmao

Handy in lots of different situations. Very versatile

Incredibly cheeky and joins in with Tanaka's cheesy jokes and one-liners

Absolute maniac, but the people love him, especially schoolkids lmao

Has his own energy drink flavour, and he's STOKED about it

Yellow and black suit, kind of like his hair

Has a surprisingly large following of fans

Laps up the attention, but it doesn't really go to his head

Quiet and serious when he's on a mission/fighting

☆ Hinata Shouyou ☆

Powers: self replication, super speed, levitation

His powers took a while to properly manifest, which left him feeling isolated as a teen

Was pretty lost until Ukai helped train him

Got into a fight with Kageyama in an alleyway when he first met him MET HIM IN THE STREET, LMAO

Argues with Kageyama a lot at headquarters, but they work together like a dream when taking down bad guys

Has a heart of literal gold precious baby

Is contantly amazed when he helps significantly

Was inspired to become a hero by his idol, the Little Giant and it's his dream to inspire someone else 😭😭

Uses his replication ability to confuse the bad guys ULTIMATE DECOY

Levitates around the room when he's excited like Aang from ATLA, hahaha

Wears an orange, white and yellow suit with little wings on his heels cuuuute

×

☆ Kageyama Tobio ☆

Powers: water/ice generation and manipulation, breathing underwater, superhuman reflexes

I was tempted to give him fire/ice powers like Todoroki, but I didn't want to detract from Tanaka

Has problems focusing his powers, and can be quite turbulent in the heat of battle

Finds it hard to work well with others initially, but really makes an effort

Has hurt people close to him by accident before and never wants to do it again it would tear him apart

Becomes a power duo with Hinata when Ukai helps train them, even though they don't seem to get on well at first

Broody boi on the surface, but a cinnamon roll deep down

Wears a dark blue and deep purple suit that has fins to assist in underwater escapades which are his forte

Freezes Hinata's feet to the floor when he pisses him off or anybody's feet, tbh

Can dodge almost anything because of his reflexes don't ever try to punch him. You'll look stupid

Is surprised by the number of people in his fan club especially the number of women asking to marry him??

×

☆ Tsukishima Kei ☆

Powers: telepathy, superhuman intellect, mind control on weak-willed individuals

Prefers to outwit his enemies rather than getting into a brawl

But his self-designed gadgets and tech help him out if he has to a bit like Tony Stark, wink wonk

Sometimes makes you question if he's really a hero or not Tsukki, please

Doesn't take orders well

Baits villains by insulting them and getting the better of them with his words it's hilarious

Comes up with good plans, but improvises well with whatever he's got

Probably wears suits over his spandex most of the time fancy shmancy

Is prepared to die to protect Yamaguchi waahhh

×

☆ Yamaguchi Tadashi ☆

Powers: invisibility, force fields, teleportation

Susan Storm with added teleportation, lol

Often finds it hard to value his powers because they're not as visually strong and impressive as other people's

Rather than squaring up to a battle, he often has to 'hide' from it by literally going invisible

But he gradually becomes aware of how vital his powers can be, and learns to control them and make them as advantageous as possible

Is a highly important and valued member of the team

Soft bean that gets nervous and throws up before a fight

But he's hella determined and won't back down

Honestly, just wants to protect Tsukki and make him proud PROTECT HIM

×

☆ Yachi Hitoka ☆

Powers: size manipulation

She can shrink and enlarge herself and objects she touches at will, including other people

Sometimes shrinks really small to avoid social situations she doesn't want to be in samez, honey

The clumsiest and least experienced on the team

But she tries her best, gradually getting to grips with her powers

Sometimes uses her powers by accident, like when she's nervous

Once touched a watermelon slice on the refreshment table and accidentally blew it up to the size of a car Hinata, Kageyama and Noya fully dug in with their faces 😭😭

Nearly passed out when Daichi, the literal god of the Hero Association, told her she had great potential

Don't worry, Yams teleported and caught her

☆ Ukai Keishin ☆

Powers: laser vision, metal mimicry

The has-been hero who lost his enthusiasm for hero-ing and retired some years ago

Was really cool back in his hayday. Big hot-shot with a fan club

Has been working as a convenience store attendant to pay the bills and is bored out of his mind but refuses to admit it

Was convinced to get back in the game when he found Hinata and Kageyama fighting, both struggling with their abilities. He broke up the fight and agreed to coach them

Doesn't do much of the flashy hero stuff anymore, but will occasionally get stuck in when he's needed must protecc his children

Is only, like, ten years older than the other heroes, but they treat him like some fossilised sensei out of Natuto, or some shit

Tbf, he has the back problems of one 😭😭

×

☆ Takeda Ittetsu ☆

Powers: power absorption

Transferred from being a hero to hero management after having having issues with the effects of his powers he has a conscience :(

He felt guilty and responsible for permanently taking the powers of others, even if they were criminals

It was like removing a piece of their souls it kind of broke him

These days, he makes sure nobody knows about his powers, so it can't be used against him

He helps in any other way possible

He would only use his powers again in dire circumstances he knows he'll eventually have to

Is generally chipper and good natured, though

If he was ever captured by a villain, they'd probably send him back because he talks too much omg, hahaha

Helps gather info for the team and direct them on missions and in fights

Gives bomb inspirational speeches ✊

© imo-chan-imagines 2020

[fayesdiary]

@loregoddess yeah sure I can do that

The first thing of note is not only how they got traumatized in the first place but how they deal with it.

Dimitri was traumatized by a single horrific event where he watched everyone he loved die followed by an entire population and culture being wiped out for it while he couldn't do anything in either case, while Alear had to deal with all of their siblings being brutally murdered while being threatened with the same fate for their entire life.

Alear processes the trauma by growing completely numb to it in the past (to the point of sounding like a robot) and freezing fear in the present. They mention in their support with Diamant they have to mentally prepare themselves every time they fight a Corrupted, and when one catches them off guard they completely freeze like a sitting duck and you can see this even in the main story when Veyle saves them in Firene. Also the obligatory manga panel, because it is mandatory to include every time we talk about Alear's trauma.

Dimitri's trauma response is instead visceral, murderous rage.

If he witnesses an event that reminds him of the Tragedy of Duscur, his response is to find whoever is responsible for it and not just kill them but murder them.

Whether Alear's usual response is either freeze or flight, Dimitri's is fight.

Hell, even their relationship with fire foil each other.

To Dimitri fire seems to be a huge trigger (Remire), but to Alear it's when they (almost) kill Sombron.

speaking of fire, Veyle and the Hounds are lucky Emblem Dimitri isn't plot relevant or else they would have met a gruesome end in Ch17, ironically another map that involves a village being set on fire which is also an important moment for Alear too now that I think about it

Same thing with their insane laughter scenes. Dimitri's signifies his complete shattering of his mental stability, but Alear's is when their life truly takes a turn for the better. ...After being revived by Lumera, but still.

Lastly, while present Alear is completely unaware about their traumatic experience for most of the game but still bears PTSD from it and doesn't remember any of their countless siblings, Dimitri remembers everyone he lost that day. Every single one. Painfully. And they keep tormenting him from beyond the grave (or rather he keeps hallucinating them, but that doesn't make it any less valid)

And he's disgusted by his trauma response and either desperately tries to hide it pre-timeskip or completely gives into it in the early timeskip.

Hell, even their rage differs quite a lot.

Dimitri goes on a rampage slaughtering everyone in his way to kill those he hates, while Alear's rage is deathly cold and focused esclusively on Sombron. Hell, you don't even see any emotion in their eyes until they deal the killing blow.

And in the parallels, I mean. Both are young monarchs who are trying their best and are deeply traumatized by and also committed manslaughter and I think they should be friends.

Honestly I kinda want to write a short fic where they have a talk post- Engage Ch24, because I refuse to believe Dimitri wouldn't want to talk to Alear after that.

As a small bonus have this parallel between Veyle and Dimitri the game itself draws in their bond convo:

The further I go into Blue Lions, the more I need to scream about the parallels and foils between Dimitri and Alear

[retphienix]

I did it :)

So, I cried. That's a given.

Also this might be the most overwhelmingly happy ending in the series so far, you know, if you're used to every entry ending with "KIRYU DIE?????"

Bonus points because this ending DID NOT immediately reveal that he lives! I know my intro here is all unserious and the like but genuinely, that does a lot for making the scene so much more impactful and it worked here even though I know he returns for Y6.

So, I'm gonna do this post like the last big post because there's too many thoughts to expel.

Timestamps as I rewatch so I can share my thoughts. Then a short conclusion because honestly? This game has taken all my words multiple times.

I just want to calmly and happily say my final piece at the end :)

0:39 - Spoiler, this ending SUCKS because it doesn't include a final rhythm battle for Haruka! Now I think I read somewhere that there's a member of that assassin clan she can dance battle as a final challenge but I clearly didn't do that right and missed out and that's beside the point- THERE'S NO RHYTHM GAMEPLAY IN THIS FINALE >:(

9:00 - I EARNED IT, I'M USING IT!

13:00 - Spoiler for later, Shinada doesn't get to say this from what I recall. Instead Baba gets a different wake up call, but that works out :)

17:00 - Not now, but this will come up, I offer to you my johns for what happens in the first boss fight. My eyes were dry as hell so I missed some QTEs which means I didn't get the flashiest stuff to happen. This actually happened at the end of Y4 also but I restarted just to capture good footage- not this time.

17:30 - MOUSE. MOUSE MOUSE, A LITTLE RAT, MOUSE. Love to see it.

19:00 - The audible sigh I let out when they played the same song I've heard like 40 times in my playthrough was palpable. I do dig the song! But there are what? 4 Idol songs? They really needed more or to not saturate their use so much :(

19:40 - I legitimately gasped and went "Oh no... of course it's you!" at Baba's role in this. It added a lot of weight to the way he practically begged Haruka not to show up.

20:50 - So here's the gist. Majima's plan didn't work out, we know that. Majima has a REALLY good line and motivator moment where he says he's following orders now to protect Haruka because she means more to Kiryu than anything (and that's how Majima rolls), Majima then reveals some shit which can be amounted to "I think you've gotten weak and wanted to protect you!!!!" which does ring slightly hollow since we saw Majima at a ridiculously low point earlier. So either his low point was him contemplating Saejima's survival chances, or his low point was sincere (it sure sounded it) and his worry over Saejima being weak was just also happening at the same time. I don't really mind either way to be honest, we beat him up. I fail some QTEs.

33:00 - Baba deciding not to fulfill his orders on his own accord is actually extremely important and good as hell. It shows that all this changed him and gave him the motivation to forge his own path- or rather it began to though he's overwhelmed with doubt. It's extremely good.

33:50 - The fact he intentionally leaves evidence shows how much doubt he has though, he's giving up entirely more than forging his own path, he's just refusing to follow the orders of another but hasn't found the strength to continue on his own. It's really good is all.

38:00 - This was the first cry I had beating the game x.x Shinada is just a phenomenally likeable character, and watching him accept where his life has gone and what it's meant to others is way more touching than I'd assume considering it's a tale of a baseball star.

40:50 - THIS WAS HYPE AS HELL AND LEAD TO MY SECOND CRY. THIS PRISON FAMILY HAS NO RIGHT BEING THIS ENDEARING. Also, more or less, they get to deliver the message Shinada was supposed to lol.

42:50 - THIRD AND BIG AS HELL CRY. SHINADA YOU FOOL, YOU'VE A FOUND FAMILY AFTER-ALL!!! I genuinely adore this moment so much is all. It's such a wonderful payoff for this loveable fool. After all the runnin' away he has a home.

43:36 - I love Shinada so much the silly fuck.

46:00 - I got a laugh out of Akiyama KICKING ASS in the news footage (didn't mention but the first brawl cutscene was rather lacking wasn't it?) and Kiryu just like... punches a guy. It's hilarious to me. Also you best believe- I UNLOCKED IT, I'M USING IT!!!

48:00 - Now this is a, well, it's a bad reveal. Like look, there is a metric ton of good going on in this finale- but the reveal that Aizawa is his son and is evil and is the final boss is just too much zero-build-up-payoff. It's the worst part. It's not like extremely detrimental or anything- like it doesn't take away from the good stuff- but it's just entirely uninteresting and bad. It makes Aizawa's interest in Morinaga bizarre and uninteresting since he got no payoff, he had buildup with Saejima and then in the final scenes he's just like "Yeah, Mori was nice but who gives a fuck I am the one who killed him (I think he said) and I aspire to be strong as fuck because all of YOU IDIOTS have FRIENDS and CHARISMA >:(" and like, who fuckin' cares bud.

52:00 - Now I'll more or less sum up all of Akiyama's payoff here. 1- I unlocked it so I'm gonna use it! 2- He offhandedly says he wants to be a legend in this town, which in Y4 he already was- he was a myth, a city mystery- but of course he means like Kiryu not the loch ness monster. 3- He gets to be a legend by being the only civilian (or person in general) the Omi would bow to. It's kind of not built up at all and is a bit lame, but to be honest Akiyama has a pretty bit part in this entire game. He's kinda just a convenient returning character with motivation to assist Kiryu and a career that allows motivation to get involved through Park. To be blunt, his part in the story is weak. I wish it was stronger. But it's inoffensive and he at least gets something- as minor as it is. Getting to say he's king of the world is something, you know?

56:00 - I will say that the build up of "Oh shit, these are Kanai's men!" and the reveal that "Oh shit! They are WATASE'S men and all the clans who the Tojo were seeking alliances with!" is a good one. Watase is a fine enough character which I bring up only because I was told he was a standout- but he wasn't for me. His scenes are great, his growth with Katsuya is nice, but he's barely in the game and really only exists to be betrayed and then to be like "I'm one of the good yakuza despite being a war-lusting one because being a good yakuza is just complicated enough to allow this overlap" which is interesting for sure, but I don't know. Unless he does stuff in the subsequent games I didn't catch much in this one. Maybe he does- I assume he runs the Omi now!

1:00:00 - I kinda summed it up but yeah. Here's the final boss, Aizawa, a character we were mislead on and who's motivation is empty as fuck. It's, whatever. It's not the good part of the ending. The good part is everything prior and directly after. Like his entire deal is anti-silver-spoon talking points but also he includes being charismatic or capable as silver spoon-isms??? He pretty much just wants to be leader because he's strong. He'd arguably be more interesting if he just said it that way.

1:11:00 - The lyrics to Dream are anything but subtle and I love them and I love Haruka. Sliding this in here- Majima gets no payoff >:( Park's dream is accomplished in seeing her star on the stage, but no Majima moment? No sight of him accepting her loss? Lame.

1:14:00 - I genuinely LOVE that Aizawa focuses in on Kiryu's gunshot wound. He still accepts it as a fair fight because Kiryu presents it as one, but even then he pays mind to it as you'd expect someone wanting to fight at their strongest would- he wants to fight Kiryu at his best and he's accepting this because Kiryu presents as his best even when wounded- it's pretty cool. Fight happens. It's fine stuff, flashy and fun. Still maybe the weakest final boss yet because he has no build up. I'd be the first to admit without looking it up I can't list every final boss thus far, but like, Nishi was built up, Mine was built up, Goda was built up, I just, in this moment, don't recall having a big "WHO THE FUCK, THIS MEANS NOTHING?" fight in yakuza and this is certainly one of those.

1:25:00 - I cried AGAIN. Haruka just hit me with a truck of emotion here is all.

1:41:15 - This is a beautifully shot, emotional, and tragic looking ending. Heck, at 1:43:00 I initially thought he was being awoken in a hospital bed and I was like "Heh, there's the old Kiryu dies fakeout!" but no! They hammer home, they go for broke, they give a TRAGIC AS FUCK bitter ending on top of an ending that's like 99% happy as fuck in terms of offering everyone involved hope for the future. This was a good end :)

So then, some overall thoughts I maybe didn't get out- I mean there's no way this post touches everything but I want to at least try to because I like sharin' the experience and what I got out of it.

The fighting styles were mighty uneven as far as strengths or fun factor. To be blunt,

Kiryu has an overpowered counter attack and heat mode and since heat mode is underwhelming as hell that means he has JUST a counter attack- his strikes don't really hit all that well considering the improvements other characters saw this time around, so he's a bit one note here.

Saejima feel even meatier than before, nothing particularly 'stands out' but the fact that he has super armor as long as he has heat is a pretty big factor in making him feel good to use.

Akiyama got the short end of the straw this time around. His new gimmick is the launch combos and they are... well... less than shit at least from what I could feel during gameplay. They don't hurt much, they burn heat like crazy, and they can MISS, all while being a move that targets just one enemy- has no counter to blocking or armor- and provides no armor in turn.

Despite not losing anything, he kinda got screwed.

(I'm lead to believe Akiyama is invulnerable during his aerial combos which my blurb in my finale post complained felt worthless and cited that as a reason.

If so then I was wrong but I still hold all my other complaints towards it, just not the 'it has no armor or invuln' bit assuming that's true.)

Shinada wins out for being unique and being a weapon oriented character that actually does well with weapons. Weapons have always been something I pretty much ignore in Yakuza and the series itself has always desperately tried to make them interesting with things like weapon skills, Kamiya works, and the like. But other than the god weapons like the golden gun weapons just never felt good to manage.

Using them, sure, that's fine, but managing them? Durability and skills and limited movesets and all that? Nah. But Shinada really does a lot to make them less shit! His innate abilities that raise durability a metric ton REALLY make weapons feel better to use with him- and his unique movesets with weapons are pretty damn good (mostly. The pipe/'normal one hander pole size object' moveset is worthless as heck, it regularly misses).

He's fun.

===

Revelations were a miss this time around for me. Since you couldn't have seen them if you tried on my blog let it be known- I ONLY got the quest related revelations for each character- which is to say- ONE rev per character.

Revelations in 5 are weapon based, and not just 'bat or pole or gun' or whatever- they are DISPOSABLE TEMPORARY weapon based.

What you are supposed to do is go to the specific place on the map where that one revelation weapon spawns, hope like hell you find an enemy, and wail on them like crazy. If you use a weapon x amount of times then you'll get a revelation according to the internet. This is beyond ridiculous and means a normal playthrough will get none of these, while a focused one will be bored out of their mind GRINDING to get these.

I did not bother.

===

Now.

Yakuza 5.

This might be my favorite Yakuza overall.

I still think 0 is probably the best overall for most people, it has the best style, it has from what I've experienced the best gameplay, it's story is tear jerking and exciting and fun.

But as a yakuza game overall, I really have to give it to 5 personally. Because 0 tried to work within its bounds- it made itself a great entry point to the series or a great addition to Yakuza 1 / Kiwami as background.

But 5 is building on 4 previous games and it does so fucking phenomenally.

There's something to be said about a later entry in a series gaining extra payoff thanks to multiple entries of build up and character depth and 5 fucking does it.

I just. It explores the motivation of some fan-favorites so well, it expands characters so fucking well, I know I've harped on about it but just Saejima- man! Saejima goes from a run of the mill "Decent" character to a fully fledged and explored entity! And I LOVE him!

And no he's not the only shining spot, like hell he is, but he's such a posterchild for what 5 does right in my eyes- take something that's already good and breath some life into it. Also I adore it's laser focus on a singular theme and all the ways it wanted to explore it.

Like. I think Kiwami and Zero take the cake for the most fun I've had " 'playing' Yakuza so far, but 5 takes the cake for the most fun I've had 'in general' like gameplay and me just thinking about it because there's so much to think on.

More time will tell as I compartmentalize my thoughts and perhaps forget some details as one does, but right this moment- this might be my favorite Yakuza game.

I love it.

Also, woot! I beat Y5 before Monhun Rise came out :D Now I can start that game without putting a story on hold!

...

Except I also told my sister that I'd start Omori after Y5. So I guess alongside monhun I'll be playing through a game with a hefty and wonderfully done story. Which is what I didn't want to do with Y5.

I just can't win, lol.

[kali-tmblr]

What's Happening in the Finale?

What's happening in 0713? First of all, kick-ass fighting, usually the best of the season. Last of all, an end credits scene. In between we've got three confrontations. One is centered around Cinder in Fria's room, another between JNPR and Neo (although I think that's likely to end up at the first location), and a third between Qrow and Ironwood. Extra Grimm may or may not show up for the climax. (Personally I think not. Salem would like them to do the maximum amount of damage to themselves before she shows up with her reverse paratrooper brigade, and that could mean letting them tear themselves apart over Ironwood's drastic plan without a worthwhile enemy in sight. "Never underestimate the usefulness of others.")

But what happens in between? There's a lot of ways we can approach that question, but I'm going to start with things CRWBY mentioned but hasn't shown yet. Then I'll move on to things I want to see.

First, the ending. There's a rumour going around that a member of CTWBY said that one of the last two episodes would be a cliffhanger. Well, it wasn't last episode, so if true they're going to pull a Josh Whedon and give us a season cliffhanger. Which is cool, if CW can do it I don't see why RT can't as well. But it means there's going to be substantial plot points left dangling.

CRWBY dropped a lot of hints before the volume started, and three sets haven't paid off yet, regarding Maria, Nora, and Oscar.

Melissa Sternberg, Maria's voice actress, told us to expect "sassy granny shenanigans". Aside from the first episode we haven't seen her involved in anything that could remotely qualify as shenanigans, so I hope we get more from her.

Samantha Ireland, Nora's voice actress, told us we would be getting some of Nora's backstory. It hasn't happened yet, and we're at the last episode. That limits the possible information sources to already named characters who Nora hasn't met, which on a practical level limits it to Neo or Fria. I was hesitant to jump on the "Fria is Nora's granny" bandwagon, but we're running out of other possibilities.

We were given three strong hints that Oscar would do something impressive this volume. Kerry said he was excited about the "small farm boy" this volume, and while Oscar has been a significant presence even I would hesitate to call him exciting. Then in Chapter 6, we got a mention that Oscar hasn't unlocked his Semblance, which was the same clue we got back in Volume 5 that Jaune would unlock his Semblance before the Volume's end. Finally, there is this note from Amity Arena about their current lack of Oscar in the game, "We are waiting on Volume 7 for him to show off something iconic that we can base his card off of!" (They also implied it was different from whatever Ozpin does, which is far too OP for the game's current levels.). So it looks like Oscar will unlock his Semblance as part of the final episode.

That's all the remaining hints, now let's move on to the plot.

Qrow wants to set Jimmy Ironwood down and give him a talk on "The Inherent Problems With Blind Obedience, Complete With a Visual Aid". It's a hard sell for a paranoid dictator, but given RWBY's optimistic nature it might actually work. Ironwood is basically going down the same path as the Director in Red vs. Blue, and Rooster Teeth has already followed that path to it's bitter end with him. It's possible the intervention Qrow is planning may stick. I can't really call it at this point.

There's the Neo vs. JNPR confrontation, which may turn into a fight but may not. Neo allowed them to get close to her, even hit her, while seeming uncharacteristically hesitant to fight. She does withdraw from fights where she is overpowered (a common trait among professional criminals such as herself), however she should wipe the floor with JNPR. But does Neo want to fight JNPR? In Volume 6 her target was Cinder. Cinder tried to convince Neo to assassinate Ruby instead, and it appeared as if she might have succeeded. But did she really, or is Neo just playing along to stay close to Cinder and strike the Fall Maiden down when she is vulnerable? Looks like we may get an answer to that question. If she is, she may well just play JNPR a recording of Cinder announcing her plan to go after the Winter Maiden and send them on their way.

The big fight looks like it's going to be Round 4 of Cinder vs. the World complete with the Winter Maiden Power as the prize, and with all the young Huntresses converging on her location it could be anybody's game. Previously Cinder had always arranged for her foes to have multiple targets to concentrate on besides her, but that doesn't look like it will be the case this time.

There's multiple things to consider about this fight. First, the location. A cramped hospital room is hardly a suitable arena for a Maiden fight. You know it's going to get trashed in order to create more space. Then there's her three opponents, Fria, Penny, and Winter. I include Fria because I honestly expect her to get in at least one lick in this fight. We've already had Cinder kill one Maiden who was lying helpless in one of those transfer tubes, a repeat would be boring. Besides, Fria has held the power for around 50 years. You don't last that long in that job without being a badass. At the same time she is old and feeble, so I don't expect her to get in many licks.

Cinder's main opponents, Penny and Winter, both have crippling weaknesses. Penny is metal, and Cinder's favorite tactic involves superheating substances. To quote Mercury, "That could be bad." Winter's weakness is tactical. She focuses too much attention on what is going on in front of her and too little on what is behind her. Qrow used it to win against her in Volume 3, and Weiss used it to win against her in this Volume. It shouldn't take Cinder long to find and exploit Winter's weakness. On the bright side, with Cinder's tendency to gloat she will probably tell Winter exactly what the other woman is doing wrong, especially considering that Vernal used it against Cinder. If Winter survives this fight she might even listen.

Will Cinder win, lose, or die? Honestly I'm expecting another power split, like with Amber, only this time the Maiden remains conscious. I don't see Cinder completely winning or losing, and I don't see us getting another fully powered Maiden in the cast at this time. (But that raises the question of who can open the Vault. It would be ironic if neither woman could.) So I'm expecting whichever woman Cinder tries to steal the power from to be rescued by the others, ending in a tactical retreat on Cinder's part.

That leaves the current Grimm invasion, possibly with bonus flying Beringals, to wrap up. This may involve Ruby's silver eyes. It may involve Oscar's Semblance. Or it may just be a bunch of nameless Atlesian military forces. It's anyone's guess at this point.

That brings us to the remaining nonviolent resolutions. There's Ren's newfound fondness for Ironwood, which I don't see surviving Ironwood's decision to abandon Mantle, although it might. Hopefully this will lead to a resolution of Ren and Nora's romantic tension as well. There's Robyn and the Happy Huntresses, whom we may or may not see again this Volume but probably won't. There's the Schnees, at least one of whom we probably will see again in this Volume. And last but not least there's the political problems, which is heavily intertwined with the fates of Qrow and Salem. If Qrow does turn Ironwood around and/or Salem does bring the flying Beringals to give them a strong enemy to unite behind, they may survive the political storm. But if Qrow does not get through to Ironwood and/or Salem does NOT bring the flying Beringals to unify the populace in terror, Ironwood's political career is over. Even if he's still in power at the end he will have sustained too much damage to keep it for long.

So that's my take on things. What's yours?

[fyrapartnersearch]

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have." -- A Harry Potter-Based Partner Search

Introduction & About Me

Hello! My name's Rain, and I’m a gal in my early-twenties who has been roleplaying for approximately 7 years (but only in the most recent 4 or 5 have I really been “serious”). After being dragged by the ankles (although not without a struggle) into a hellish chasm of personal issues that has kept me from writing, I’ve finally managed to work everything out and am now itching to get back into the roleplaying game! I’m hoping that I can find some good partners to satiate my cravings, and hopefully I can satiate some of yours too. If you emailed me in the past and I didn’t respond, shoot me another email! Like I said, I had some things get in the way, so I’d be up for rekindling a past roleplay or picking up planning where we left off. Right now I am specifically looking for some Harry Potter roleplays, so if you are too, then we’re both in luck!

I can write replies ranging anywhere from 500-1200 words average - I know that’s a rather big window to call my “average”, but I don’t want to make it sound like that’s my strict length. This equates to around 3-8 paragraphs, but that obviously will vary depending on the size of the paragraph. I can certainly go upwards from 1200 and have gone on to posts with 2000+, however that’s usually too much for most people. Essentially, I’ll write the same amount you write so that it’s not over or underwhelming. Let me know your range and I’ll adapt! Although, if you would be willing to write 1500+/2000+ words a post, then you’d earn quite a bit on bonus points from me.

In terms of writing style, I write third person, past tense, multi-paragraph to novella. HERE are some samples of my writing from past Harry Potter-verse roleplays so that you can see what you’re getting yourself into! Hopefully I did the characters justice.

I’m also putting this up front - my schedule’s a bit wonky. There will be some days where we can go back and forth multiple times with multiple posts each and there will be some days where I can’t reply at all. I’ll try my best to let you know in advance if there will be a period of 2+ days where I can’t reply, but things happen. My activity rate is partially dependent on interest level as well - if I’m really into and excited about our roleplay, I’ll be able to reply more often!

On a similar note, I’m on the east coast (EST) if that’s an important factor for you.

I’m open to playing multiple characters if that suits your fancy, or, if you’d rather just play one each, that’s fine by me as well. If you do want to write multiple characters, then we can do more than one pairing at once or do more than one roleplay thread at once! I love doing both of those.

For relationship pairings, I do all different kinds: romantic/sexual, platonic, familial, and antagonistic. I think it’s fun to mix and match all these different kinds because they can make for some interesting character interaction! 

I’m smut friendly as well and don’t mind including it in my roleplays, but it’s really dependent on the content of the story itself. I don’t necessarily want a story that is focused solely on smut, but I wouldn’t mind having it play a part

I'm only interested in roleplaying over email at the moment. My email is ofliliesandfoxgloves@gmail.com.

What I’m Looking for in a Partner

Now that we’ve got those basics out of the way, there are certain things that I would like out of a partner that hopefully someone can provide!

Be 18+, please. I know I’m technically on the younger end of the adult spectrum but I still feel uncomfortable roleplaying with minors (especially because some of my plots can contain smut).

I would prefer if you were female, just because I am more comfortable roleplaying and writing with someone who is the same gender as I am, but that isn’t a requirement, as I don’t want to totally limit the partners that reach out to me and potentially miss out on a fantastic male, nonbinary, etc. partner just because they aren’t female.

I’m looking for someone who can at least mirror or match my minimum post length, so no fewer than 3-4 paragraphs or 500 or so words. Again, if you want to write longer replies that span the 1500+ word range, than that would be even better!

I would like if you wrote in the third person. Tense doesn’t matter - write present or past, that’s up to you. But I won’t roleplay with anyone who writes in the first or second person, as it is a little weird to me.

If you can get me at least one post every other day, I’d be happy! If you can get me more than that, even better! Also, let me know if you’re not going to be able to reply for a prolonged period of time so that I’m not sitting on my hands wondering where you went.

Likewise, if you want to drop the roleplay for any reason, just let me know! I won’t be mad if it’s not working out, I just don’t want to be ghosted by someone who doesn’t want to continue and instead never replies again.

If you can play multiple characters/want to do multiple pairings, that would be wonderful, but again, it’s certainly not a requirement.

When you email me, let me know which pairings listed below interest you/you would want to include! Tell me a little about yourself and the way you write as well (including whether or not you would like to include smut in the roleplay as well as your limits if it’s the latter).

Also, if you have an idea that I haven’t listed, ask/tell me! I’m very open to suggestions for pairings!

Roleplay Information & Pairings

On to the part that you’ve actually wanted to see! I have a variety of things that I would like to include in a roleplay. To set it up, my preferred role in a pairing will be italicized. I’ll also note what type of relationship I would be interested in writing for a particular pairing/plot (romantic/sexual, platonic, familial, or antagonistic); we can also combine some of the four (like a romantic/sexual and antagonistic would be fun). Additionally, we can combine pairings if you’d like that are from the same era, or we can have more than one roleplay go on at once (as I mentioned earlier).I’m up for fluff or action or anything in between, so let me know what you want!

Marauders Era

James Potter x Lily Evans (romantic/sexual and/or platonic)

Sirius Black x Marlene Mckinnon (romantic/sexual and/or platonic)

Sirius Black x Lily Evans (platonic) *

Remus Lupin x Lily Evans (platonic)

Regulus Black x Lily Evans (romantic/sexual, platonic, and/or antagonistic)

Hogwarts/Golden Trio

Hermione Granger x Draco Malfoy (romantic/sexual, platonic, and/or antagonistic) 

Hermione Granger x Harry Potter (platonic)

Ginny Weasley x Draco Malfoy (romantic/sexual, platonic, and/or antagonistic) 

Hermione Granger x [Your suggestion] (romantic/sexual, platonic, and/or antagonistic)

Ginny Weasley x [Your Suggestion] (romantic/sexual, platonic, and/or antagonistic]

Next Gen

Teddy Lupin x Victoire Weasley (romantic/sexual and/or platonic)

Teddy Lupin x Lily Luna Potter (romantic/sexual and/or platonic)

Contact

That’s all I can think of at the moment! Again, if there’s anything else not listed that you’ve been dying to try out, let me know! More likely than not, I’ll say yes and jump right on board. Shoot me an email at ofliliesandfoxgloves@gmail.com with your interests and a little information about yourself (ex: average post length, activity, etc.). If you shoot me a message just saying a pairing you were interested in without telling me about yourself, then I won’t be as inclined to reply since I don’t know if our styles would match up! So please, tell me about yourself - I promise I won’t bite!