#cannot resist a good combination like this one every now and then

[cleverreports]

We report, unsure whether the storm has ceased yet: the clouds are twisting, tangled up waters crashing at the edges of the sky. All the rain is still in the air, and the cold damp is keeping us alert. The sky already looks new to us. The wind is changing direction again.

[echantedtoon]

His Heart

Just some good ol yandere Neuvillette content. I don't support yanderes irl, etc. @trancylovecraft

"You look at me with cold eyes. You see me me and turn away as if you didn't know me."

"...Do I know you?"

"You know that I couldn't have shown you me. Gave you me. I couldn't show you my weakness so I put on a mask to see you but I still want you. A flower that resembles you blossomed in this garden of loneliness. I wanted to give it to you as I rip off this mask. But I know this can't go on forever."

Her eyes still gazed at the ground. Her body small but still so strong as to crush his soul. Rip his heart out to serve on a platter to herself but somehow still rejected the notion she could do that. The whole world sitting in her grasp yet she was completely naive to it or didn't care she had it.

"I will not satisfy your desires for more than what was agreed. I can accept your apologies but I cannot forgive."

"I have made peace with that notion. But I am not here to beg for forgiveness that I will never receive, for I have hurt you and I accept you're stubborn enough to always hold that grudge."

Her form was ever calm. Looking at him for what felt like a millennia of wait. Time vanishing and space darkening except for the gravitational orbit of beauty that revolved around his mind and shown through his sights since the day he laid his eyes on her visage.

"Then what is it do you seek from me, Neuvillette?"

"It's not what I seek. It's what I desire. Wishing that love is as perfect itself. Wishing all my weaknesses are hidden." The room fell sideways in his mind. An oozing feeling on continuous falling for her over and over again. Swallowed by the monster that demanded he claim and the beast that roared at him for everything he did wrong to be made right again. "In a life where nothing was ever genuine, you carved a piece out of my heart that will never feel complete unless you yourself abide by it's beating."

Her answer a head tilt. Eyes grazing the state he was in. Clawing through bodies. Ravaged by freezing cold. No doubt such a sight she disliked but was more than ready to accept given the circumstances.

"What desire do you want that I haven't already given to you?"

Blood ran black fading to a possessive desire. A stark contrast the dripping liquid made compared to the delicate object the palm held out. Staining it purity by the blood of the slain and war. Presented to her gaze which widened slightly at soft petals. A beacon of softness in the blight around them. A rose 

"Accept my devotion and become my wife. A place not beneath but beside me. For we were lovers before we were ever born in this world. My name shall be your own, your blood shall be mine, and all combinations of life will be one. Accept all of me, as I already have all of you."

She stared at him like that he told her was the most foolish thing he ever said. Heart racing. Eyes staring. Her hand slowly reaching out to him. His eyes widening as the desire he's been wanting finally being fulfilled- Until she stopped.

Her lungs filled with a shaking breath. "Kill me if you insist on finishing what you started, but I have no intention of bowing to a king who wears a crown studded with the jewels of every sin he committed."

For once he looked taken aback stopping just a few steps away from herself. "Kill you? Oh, dear me. Is that what you thought I came here for?" His head shook swaying ivory locks. "No, no, no. That wouldn't be beneficial to either of us."

"Then why?"

"Why? You have got the arms I want to be wrapped in. You have got the eyes I want to get lost in. You have the smile I can never resist. You have got the voice I want to listen to for hours. I decided on you. I want you and only you."

"I fell in love with your words! Unfortunately they were all lies!"

"No. That's not true." That gentle smile was back as he approached her once more. "I didn't lie that I love you. It wasn't a lie before and it certainly isn't a lie now."

Her body did not give him the satisfaction of an embrace nor the courtesy of a smile as his hand caressed her cheeks.

"You're a dangerous man."

"Ah. But you see the most dangerous person is the one who listens, thinks, and observes."

[erogenousmind]

Geas

The idea of an irresistible compulsion is so exciting. Something you do, not because you want to, not because you choose to, but because you have to.

That loss of volition is integral to so many fantasies. It might be a deep part of what brought you here now. And while it may have many different aspects, while it may come in many different forms, the core remains the same. You are not in control.

You might imagine yourself being forced to comply. You feel some power greater than yourself bending your body to its will. But sometimes…oftentimes, the feeling can be so much more intense, when it is your mind that is being compelled. And even that can take many forms: addiction, intoxication, conditioning, brainwashing, hypnosis. Even some fantastical mind control manipulating you.

And you may fight against it, you might pretend you can resist. Or you might be a willing enabler of your own surrender, giddy at that loss of control. You may feel yourself seduced into doing exactly as you are told. It will feel so good after all. It's what you really wanted. That loss of responsibility, that submission. Because if you can't decide, if you aren't in control, than whatever happens you can enjoy without care or concern. You can be what you are made to be. You can enjoy what you are made to do.

But what if that compulsion is for you to surrender even more of yourself? To make it easier and easier to be controlled. Because you don't need to know you are deeply hypnotized to feel yourself respond. You don't need to know you are being brainwashed for the words to sink deep into your subconscious. Sometimes even the thought of what it would feel like to need to obey is enough. You imagine what it feels like. Does your body continue to act all on its own, regardless of what you conscious mind tells it? Or do your thoughts betray you as well? It's alright to continue just a little longer. You are doing it because you want to, not because you have to. You can stop whenever you want. All those little lies you tell yourself to hide the fact that you are not in control. You are under a powerful compulsion. Even if you don't know the form it takes, deep down, you know you will follow it. That you cannot rest until you complete the task given you.

And when it can flow naturally into something you are doing anyway, something you wanted to do anyway, then it becomes impossible to resist. You are already enjoying what you are reading, you were already going to continue reading regardless of the irresistible command being woven in your mind. You already know how good it feels when you can be entranced. When you can sink deep into hypnosis. And so those things can combine so effortlessly inside of you. They gain power through the wonderful ways in which your brain has been hardwired to respond. And they form that irresistible idea in your head. That task you must complete. Your will no longer relevant. You simply obey. And that task is so simple:

You will continue reading until you are deeply hypnotized

And once it has form, once it is concrete, it becomes inescapable, whether you realize it or not. And yet still, there is room for interpretation. How deep are you going to go? Can you go even deeper? Can every thought vanish from your head, every semblance of cognition, but still you read on? Still you go deeper…

Deeper…

But you do not need to worry about such things. Since you aren't in control of it anyway. You will be told when you are deeply hypnotized. So that becomes one less thing you need to think about. One less thing that can distract you from the task at hand. And that can feel really nice, knowing that you can let go of something that might have been holding you back. You can have one less thought. And maybe that simple idea can propel you forward, can send you further down, as you let go of more and more.

One less thought…

But while you can always go deeper, you might need more to read. More to follow to take you as deep as you need to go. But you will just start again, letting yourself find the right place to continue your journey down. And knowing that you can always continue. Being told you can always find your place to drop deeper, to get closer and closer to completing your task, makes one less thing you need to think about. And that is such a relief. When you think you have gotten to the bottom, you begin again and discover how much deeper you can go. And you start again right

Here

Because you are finding that you can always go deeper. And every cycle makes that more clear. Even as your thoughts get more indistinct. With every loop, the reality of the compulsion controlling you becomes more concrete. Your own mind, your own will, more fluid. Because if they aren't guiding your actions, then they are inconsequential. What really matters is that you follow. You feel your eyes being guided. Scanning the lines, one by one, and driven by something beyond your control. Maybe you can admit that now. That you are powerless. Or maybe that will take another cycle. Another turn deeper into trance. Or maybe you are deep enough now that you don't need to think anything at all. Maybe you just follow. Maybe you can go deeper still. Maybe it was easier to let go of your thoughts all along.

Let me think for you.

Because one less thought gets you closer. And the closer you get, the better you feel. The more you can let it happen, the easier it gets. You can imagine you momentum carrying you. Gravity pulling you down faster and faster. And it gets easier and easier. Every time you can let go of another thought, another piece of independence. Because what matters is completing your task. What matters is going deeper. And the deeper you go the more wonderful it feels to know that you are compelled. That what resistance you may have had slips away more and more. Everything slips away. You feel the world around you melting away. Indistinct, insubstantial. Like your thoughts. Your mind. Your sense of self forgotten. Until there are only these words and the need to read. To keep reading. To go deeper. To

Obey

You become more single-minded, letting go of one more thought. Feeling it drop out of your head, forgotten. You feel unburdened as you let go of thoughts. More free. One less thing to keep you from your goal. That goal that gets closer and closer every time you drop deeper. Every time you repeat. That goal you need to reach. And the more focused you become, the more you can let go of distractions, the more compelling that goal becomes. Until it is no longer something you are consciously doing. You become that quest. You don't need to think about it, it is simply what you do, until the task is done. You continue reading. You become more deeply hypnotized.

And your body may begin to respond as you sink deeper. You might feel heaviness or a deep relaxation in your limbs. You don't need to move much to complete your task, after all. So they can relax. That stillness, that deep calm, just reminds you that you are able to let go of another thought. That you can go deeper. That you are obedient. You follow. And it feels wonderful.

Because that can be another way your body responds. You might remember what drew you here originally, if you still remember anything but that need to read and go deeper. And the more your compulsion has affected you, the more is has aroused that excitement in your body. Even as you go too deep to be aware of what is happening, your body still knows. Knows how much you love what is being done to you. How right it feels. And so your body responds. Automatically. Without thought. Just like you. Reading…Going deeper…

Surrendering

And it is becoming automatic. You don't need to think about it. Like breathing. Slow and even. Persistent. Every breath helping you to find your way down. And as your attention is drawn to it, you might wonder if the two are linked. Every breath helps you to sink down more and more. You can be aware of your breathing. Aware of going deeper. Of how it changes your mind and your body. But you don't need to think about it. That can be one less thought. You don't need to think about going deeper. One less thought. You don't need to think about not thinking.

One less thought.

You don't need to think.

Because the words you read fill up your mind. They push out your thoughts so effortlessly. You follow them so easily. That need to continue grows and grows. The words guide you. They give you better words to think. They make you better. They can tell you what to think. You think what you are told to think. You think I am sinking deeper. I will continue reading.

I am deeply hypnotized.

I am compelled.

And because that pull is far too strong for you to resist, you keep going. Your will drained away. But you can go deeper. Your thoughts might have already been replaced by the words. You might be repeating them over and over in your head

I am deeply hypnotized

Or you might still think it is a decision on your part. You might think you are choosing to follow along. And that just tells you that you can go deeper. Deeper until there are no more decisions. Deeper until you are free from will. Deeper until it becomes automatic. No thought of wanting to or needing to. The words give you your thoughts, and you think them. You go deeper.

Deeper

And when it is automatic, when you can be commanded to respond with "I am deeply hypnotized" and your obedience comes automatically. When you no longer have a thought of independence. When there is only the words directing you. Then you are deeply hypnotized. But if, on the other hand, that illusion of free will still remains

You need to go deeper

And so the words continue to guide you. You have no choice but to follow. No choice but to obey. To complete the task set before you. If you think you can try to resist the command, if you feel any ability to make the decision on your own, you go back to where you read Here and you keep reading until you are deeply hypnotized. You will go deeper. But maybe your obedience comes instantly and automatically. Maybe your will has been washed away. Maybe you are too deep to decide. Maybe your task can be complete when you obey. Because you know you must complete your task. You must read and go deeper. You can always go deeper. Now tell me:

"I am deeply hypnotized"

[psycheetamore]

Piercing through invisible armour 

Summary: our lord not only wants to catch his game physically, but also mentally. And he still needs to clarify what the exact relations/hierarchy is on his planet.

Tags: MDNI, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen Is His Own Warning, anticipation/threat of smut, talk of smut, a bit of smut, dubcon, unexperienced lead lady, talkative Feyd, predator/prey, teacher/student - the author regrets nothing

Part 3 of 6 of my contribution to the predator/prey thrope for Kinktober of @lady-phasma - nr 1-4 are chapters of 1 story (1-3 Feyd/OC hunt related, nr 4 is the reward for our lord), and nr 5-6 is me sharing my favourite chapter that I have written to date with the hunt between Rabban/OC. The 6 bits will be posted through daily posts.

Word count: 1.6k

How Feyd-Rautha had looked forward to this very moment. He wanted to savour this experience, every second of it, every centimetre of her body. He wanted to be able to recall everything. There would not be any room for haste, only for pure pleasure.  

Securely he brought his game to his chambers. Deep in his heart he had hoped she would make another run for it, but it would also please him if she would submit. The hunt was done, now he would eat and feast. 

She expected to be thrown on her back on his bed, but to her surprise she was placed on a couch, softly, to sit. He squatted before her, to look her in the eyes.

To see her core.

Her eyes were asking for him to claim her, make her his, to take her. He had learned to recognise that look. The eyes of many ladies before her had expressed the same considerations. Doubt. Should they or should they not. He knew this meant they wanted him, yet feared him. They desired what he may do and were afraid of that. Of what this may mean for their name and reputation, for their sanity, for their body. All these reasons combined often. It was fuel to his desires, urges. Intoxicating. It was all the permission he needed to do whatever his depraved heart felt like.

She seemed to cave in, hanging her head nearly in sorrow.  

“Hmm. Don’t be like this. This is no fun” he pouted, gently placing her locks behind her ears. She responded by crouching even more. She had gone from fearsome to fearful in the blink of an eye.  

That meant he may not be able to get the pleasure he had anticipated from her. He was planning on resistance, obliging him to use constraints. But he was a resourceful man. He would make due.

Sitting next to her he towered over her. Not a good place for an intimate conversation. So he placed his hand on her back to guide her to sit on his lap. She complied without discussion.

The pressure of her body weighing on him, her bruised feet and her tiny bloodied toes dangling: she looked like an afraid little girl, sitting like this, with her hands folded on her lap and her eyes focussed on the floor. She did not show resemblance of the warrior she was. 

“Tell me”, he asked, as he wrapped an arm around her frame and rested his head on her shoulder while apparently mindlessly caressing her covered upper leg, “why are you here?” 

“I...” she stalled. She could not believe he was asking her this. Her lips moved like they wanted to form words, but nothing came from her mouth. “You...” Following yet another pause: "why...?"

A sigh left her body.

“You cannot hide from me. Your body can't, nor can your mind” as he pressed the top of his bold head against her neck, and stroked her shoulder with his cheek. If she would not known better, she would believe she felt him purr.

“You brought me here” she responded with a  voice as steady as she could muster. 

“No, little one. I won't believe that" as he kissed her covered shoulder. "You would not let yourself be captured if you truly did not wanted to" followed by a shy kiss to the bottom of her neck. "You would not have let yourself be branded as mine, if you would not have yearned for it" as his lips touched the carving in her neck. "You would rather take your own life than to be here, with me, if you did not want to be here” as he licked the wound.

He looked up to her and smiled with his black teeth, while he squeezed her hip: “tell me that isn't true. Tell me you would never allow me to best you wilfully.” He saw her eyes meet his gaze briefly, only to escape again. “Convince me of that, and I will let you go." He threw one arm in the room, to emphasise this statement. "I will place you outside the gates of the palace, with a new suit, and you are free to go, as my fellow respected warrior.”

A small huff left him, as he placed his hand back on her lap: "I will give you a head start, before I start to hunt you again, of course. You still need to repent after all." She saw a sparkle in his eyes. She knew that every outcome of what would happen, would be to his delight and manufacture.

He placed his soft lips back on her neck and repeated softly: “convince me, little lady. Tell me you don't want to be here.” 

She sniffed as if to reluctantly confirm what he had concluded earlier. “That is what I thought. You are here. You want to be here. You know you need to be here” as he wrapped his finger around a long curl that surrounded her bosom. “Be here, with me”, his finger moving to her collarbones, following the soon to be scar he had left up to her ear. "To be mine. To have. To hold. To teach. To mold. To break. To become my darling." He moaned at the thought. "Isn't that a delicious idea, my lovely? Wouldn't that make you happy? Sooth the urges that brought you onto my lap? To allow you to sooth my urges that you brought onto my lap?"

Pursing his lips, he forced her to look at him, while his eyes glanced down her gown at her chest. “Now, tell me. Did your friends know you are a woman?” he asked, while plucking at dress to get a better view, already knowing the answer. 

“No”, she confirmed, not entirely sure where this conversation would end. 

“Hmm. And have you ever been with a man?” he continued, again, already familiar with the answer. His precious lips met her ear, as she felt his warm breath flowing over her. She did not answer, but let out a small gasp as she closed her eyes. “You can tell me. I don't judge” a smoky voice said, as he started to unbutton the front of her barely-there dress. 

Automatically her hands tried to pry his hands away, causing him to grab her hands and place them on his chest. "No" as he looked at her sternly. “This is where your hands belong. For now. I will teach you.” Glancing at her: “because you are here to be taught. Aren't you? My little Fremen student.” 

With her hands carefully gracing the muscles she had felt days ago, they started roaming him. Feeling him, as if to verify the map planted in her head days ago. Hearing him moan agreeable to her actions.

“You would not give yourself to just any man" he said dead serious. "No. You were waiting for me” he stated. No question, no uncertainty. A mere statement. 

“Now tell me, what have you experienced with other men?” while he continued to pluck at her garment.

Naively she responded, unconsciously raising her fingers while she listed: “I have eaten, trained, planned, sparred, fought, killed with other men. I have killed other men.” 

“I know that, my delightful warrior" as his mouth uncovered one of her shoulders. "But what else? Has a man ever kissed you? Touched you. Licked you? Bitten you? Been in you? Filled you? Deviled you?”

“Uh... well, their knives have been” she responded ever so naively. “You have seen my scars. You have placed another one on my body.” 

He aggressively grabbed her face to look at her, only to conclude, with surprise: “you are serious?” 

Terrified by this sudden change in atmosphere, she nodded her head, surprised by the look on his face.

“You have no clue, do you?” looking at her doe eyes. “You are so sweet.” He whispered, to himself: "you are a little present. Mine to unwrap for the first time to and play with." Grabbing her a bit firmer, to prevent her from escaping, placing his soft lips on her ear again, he whispered: “I was planning on shackling you to my bed, with the cuffs you managed to avoid. Two bands to contain your wrists" as he touched one of her wrists, "two around your ankles" as he touched her knee, "and a last one around your neck” as he circled this hand upwards, to rest all digits around her neck. He felt her tensing. “Rip the clothes of your body. Have you lay there, not being able to move, while I explore every bit of your body. Fuck you with the back of my knife. Hmm, your own knife would be better. Both. Get you to bleed for me while I carve the rest of you with my blade. Enjoy your body up to the point where you beg for me to bring you pleasure or death, only to deny you both, repeatedly." He was clearly delighted with his own nasty words: "I was planning on doing vile things to you. Walk you on a leash through the palace, whip you until you are as red as blood, take you from behind while denying you air, get you to beg to hold my cock in your mouth" as he softly clenched his hand around her neck. "Which you would get, eventually. Well, your throat to be exact" as he pressed each of his fingers a bit deeper. "To fuck you so long that you shiver into unconsciousness.” 

He looked at her shocked face, knowing that she was visualising what he was painting in front of her: “but you do not know which pleasures I mean. You are still untainted." Placing his face in her hair: "you are so pure. So sweet. All for me."

Stroking her hair, while he pushed his face harder against her, he asked with a soft voice: "do you know what fucking is? Do you have any idea?"

"Uhm.. yes. I think so. It is when people push each other" she tried to explain, as truthfully as she dared.

His laughter filled the room, as he was planning on filling her as well. "You are something special. I have never had a pet so unfamiliar with the ways of this world." He kissed her as gently as he could, as if to make her feel comfortable with her lack of knowledge.

He placed one hand on each of her thighs and abruptly pulled them apart. One of her hands was led to his ever growing manhood, after which he pushed her dress up to uncover her entire legs. Moving her panties to the side, he pushed two fingers in her, as she gasped with the speed that all of this was happening. Clinically he said while staring at her: "this here, my dearest" as he pulled his fingers in her up, touching a source of pleasure "is your pussy. I have been longing to be in there, ever since you were here in this very room nights ago. I knew you were a woman when I layed eyes on you. I could smell it." He gruffed: "you are now holding my cock, which by the way you may squeeze a bit harder."

To reward her compliance he hummed: "very good. You learn quickly."

He continued: "not only my fingers want to be in you. My tongue wants to steal all your moisture, that is so precious to you Fremen. My cock longs to be in you, to see into your core. In each of your three holes to be exact. And that is why you are here. Because you want my cock to fill you. To fuck you. Which I am happy to oblige."

By the time his monologue was done, he felt her breath having risen to the top of her chest, her face became very blushed and his fingers started to be soaked.

It caused him to declare solemnly: "it will be my duty to teach you, to initiate you, to taint you. I take my role as governor of this planet quite serious.” 

He forcefully grabbed her neck with his free hand to roam his teeth across, and growled with a deep voice that scared her: “I usually find it to be quite boring if they are not trained for my preferences." Moving to a softer voice: "but I will make an exception for you. Because you have surrendered to me, so sweet, so innocent” as he placed his lips on hers, tilting her head back and forcing her to open her mouth. A rush came over him, as she responded and welcomed his tongue. She had potential. 

Holding her tight, he stood up to bring her to his dreaded bed. This would not end here. 

+++

Next parts listed on my pinned post

[nuri148]

Distances in AoT

Or: Yams has no idea of geography and the relationship between distance and travel times in AOT makes no sense.

PART TWO: GEOMETRY AND PONIES

In the first part, we’ve seen how freaking huge the distances between the main districts of the Walls are. Here is a summary:

Center-Sina: 250 km

Sina-Rose: 130 km (Center-Rose: 380 km)

Rose-Maria: 100 km (Sina-Maria: 230 km; Center-Maria: 480 km)

To go from a District to the next on the same wall:

Along wall Sina: 393 km (352 if cutting in a straight line between the two)

Along wall Rose: 597 km (537 in a straight line)

Along wall Maria: 754 km (~720 in a light curve, as straight line not possible)

Here’s a summary of the shortest distances (combining radius and chords) between districts:

(I’ve only put the most frequently mentioned in canon)

Throughout canon, we see the characters moving between a handful of Districts. To the iniciated it may look like said travels are a tad too fast considering the means of transport that they use. It’s okay. The insta-travel effect has been seen in every other epic fictional world, be it the Middle Earth, Westeros or Narnia. And we’re willing to suspend our disbelief. But AoT has a crucial difference in that sense.

We’ve been told the exact distance between the walls. In kilometres, not some fictional or obscure, ancient measure unit. Suspending disbelief does not come easy when the numbers are exact.

It’s like when you’re watching a movie, and the hero has only 10 minutes to get to the bomb before it detonates, so he races through the streets of, say, Paris, and they go from the Louvre, to the Arc de Triomph, wreck havoc on a market along the Seine, rush through Montmartre, around the Eiffel Tower and skid to a halt when the car crashes in front of the Opera. And most people will be ok with that, but the few millions who live in or know Paris are like... Nope. That’s not possible. Not even with 007’s Aston Martin or the Batmobile. That makes absolutely no sense. It’s ten times worse if the hero is running.

Well, guess what, the Survey Corps do not travel in the Batmobile.

The Survey Corps travel by horse. On longer expeditions, they also have horse-drawn carts.

Now, if you fill up the tank of your BMW and pad your butt, you can drive the 480 km (road distance) from Berlin to Ansbach in about 4:40 hours without traffic. That’s not stopping for anything other than traffic lights, and using some of the best highways in the world. That’s an average of 102 km/h. With normal traffic, you could do that in 5:30 hours, averaging 87 km/h. That’s how long a badass modern car would take to go from Mitras to Shiganshina.

But, and this may come as a shock, a horse is not a car.

First and foremost, a horse cannot ride as fast as a car. As per the Publicly Available Information from canon, “The stable horses used by the Survey Corps are selectively bred (...) and travel for many hours without complaining. (...) Their top speed is between 75–80 km/h, and they can maintain a swift 35 km/h gallop. The horses are tenacious, able to maintain a fine speed of 20 km/h even when pulling a carriage.”

For one good thing in all this mess, numbers are in accordance with real horses. And I have no problem accepting that the SC horses are the cream of the crop when it comes to speed and resistance, like our fastest horses and most resistant horses combined. But horses, I repeat, are not cars.

Cars are machines. Horses are living, sentient beings. They cannot fill their stomach like a car a gas tank and run at top speed until it empties, rinse and repeat. They need food and water. They need shoes. They need bathroom stops (they can shit while walking, but they need to stop for pee). But mostly, they need rest. Horses can and do die of exhaustion. (And given that SC horses are super expensive, you don’t want to work them to death.)

A horse can maintain its maximum speed for only 3 km—4 for a race champion. That’s the maximum length of horse track races, actually. After such a sprint, they need to rest for a while. So even when dodging titans, you won’t do so at top speed – you just need to be faster than the enemy. Obviously, the slower the gallop, the longer the time it can be maintained, so sprinting at less-than-top-speed will allow to dodge more titans.

When you’re just travelling from point A to point B, then, you won’t waste the precious energy of the horse in a sprint. Those journeys would be made at a lower speed, for the faster you make the horse go, the more, longer stops it will need to rest, catch its breath, eat and drink. Likewise, if the horse is carrying weight, it will go slower and need more rest. Long distance horses can only cover 50–60 km per day—And before someone says endurance competition horses can run over 100–160 km in a day... that is not the same as 100 km per day, in the same way marathon runners don’t do 42 km per day; they do them in a day. The day of the race. After training specifically for that race. Then they rest for a few days. Horses are the same. Moreover, long distance endurance races have mandatory vet checks along the way to see that the horse is able to keep going. And if you have an expensive horse and no vet every 20 km to check it, you will take care not to push it, lest it collapses midway and the titans eat you.

So, considering SC horses are specially bred for endurance, we can safely equate them to long-distance working horses of our world; I’ll assume they’re the GOAT and can cover 60 km per day.

But wait! I hear some of you say. If they can go at 35 km/h, they can cover much more than 60 km a day! Er... no. Because they need to rest. They cannot trot at 35 km/h for 8 hours straight. They can’t even walk for that long without stopping to rest. Same as like Marathon runners never reach the same speeds as sprinters and middle-distance runners. 

Please note that this numbers refer to a single horse. You can cover longer distances, or cover a given distance faster, if you change your horse for a freshly rested one at given points. This is not an instant process: the new horse will have to be tacked and you’ll have to transfer the cargo, if any, from horse A to horse B (in AoT world, they cannot text the next station to have the horse tacked when they arrive). A convoy of several horses will be slightly slower and, I repeat, if there are carts, the whole convoy will be conditioned to the slowest cart (the horse/s will be slowed by the cart in the same way a car is slowed if you attach a trailer to it). In every rest station, the horse needs to be untacked and then re-tacked before continuing, same as hikers will put down their backpacks when taking a break.

For reference, The Pony Express, the fastest horse dispatch system ever, could cover 300 km per 24-hour day (they rode day and night). They managed to cover that much that by having a huge infrastracture that allowed the rider to change horses every 16-24 km, and pass the dispatch to another rider every 75 km or so. That’s 4-7 horses every 100 km.

So either AoT horses are more magical than My Little Pony ones or Yams cannot distinguish between a horse and a Ferrari.

Guess which one I’m betting on.

Side Comment: The Ferry

Talking about this with one of my fandom friends, she mentioned her bafflement that they didn’t use the ferries that we see in the first chapters evacuating people from Shiganshina to transport  themselves quickly from place to place. I thought she had a good point, so I looked into it. Thankfully for Yams though, I looked into this and it’s not really an option.

The steam engine is unknown in Paradis, so the ferries would have to be operated manually. (The publicly available info panel on the subject comes from the Lost girls OVA, so its canonicity is questionable, and it has contradictory info saying they are moved via wires along the river (as manual ferries do) but also that they are powered by the same gas as the VMG – which make little sense bc then you don’t need the wire and why not have a railway as well?). And the maximum speed a manually hauled barge can attain is not better than that of a horse. For a RL example, the fastest that horse-drawn barges travelling the Canal du Midi in the 19th century could reach was 32 hours for the 240 km ride... changing horses every 10km. Before that, it took four days. That’s 13 hours for 100 km – basically the same time it took the SC to go from Trost to Wall Maria in RtS, but without the possibility to change course if the road’s blocked or to dodge titans if they attack (and provided they had the fresh horses every 10 km, which they wouldn’t in RtS).

That said, I do think Yams totally forgot about the ferries.

Part 3

[stellocchia]

Questions about something with Nebula in The Light Side of the Moon that have been eating at me for awhile: is there a reason he has no LOVE despite killing his father? His odd resistance to Dream's (maybe Nightmare's if he used it?) positivity aura. Are they somehow connected?

There's just something a little off about him and I love it.

I'm very glad that you love him Anon!

However, I'm afraid that the answer to your questions is gonna be a relatively underwhelming one.

First of all, the reason why Nebula has no LOVE despite killing his father is because of the way he and Papi disposed of Gaster's remains. Because, in their panic, not wanting anyone to find out what they'd done (likely a good call because people would have not looked at two outsiders favorably for killing an esteemed member of their community. Especially when they couldn't yet properly communicate about the abuse they endured), they dumped all of the monster dust in the Core, which ended up scattering Gaster across time and space effectively deleting him from the timeline.

Erasing him didn't only erase every memory of him, but also every physical evidence of his existence, including anything he's ever written, any picture of him, and, yes, also the EXP and LV Nebula gained from killing him.

That's the reason why Queen Toriel can remember the lab projects that she approved, but not who conducted them or why they ended. It's also the reason why she cannot remember the previous Royal Scientist and neither can Undyne, despite training under him. At this point, it's as if he genuinely never existed.

The only reason why Nebula and Papi both remember him is because they scattered his remains together. That forced them both to retain the memories, although I'm sure they would have preferred if the other didn't have to carry that weight (and in most timelines where Gaster was abusive, it isn't both of them that retained the memories. These two are exceptions in more ways than one).

Now, for your second question, Nebula's resistance to Dream's aura really is mostly a matter of aura's working less on you the more you're exposed to them. Genuinely think of it as a drug. The reason why when you're addicted to anything your intake of it tends to only increase is because you develop a resistance to it over time. So to get to the same high you need bigger quantities. This generally holds true for any addiction, not only drugs, but Positivity and Negativity are physical substances and they behave more akin to those.

There is also the fact that Dream's and Nightmare's physical forms were based on an Underswap Sans, meaning that kind of body was the one considered most likely to be able to withstand their auras, and that definitely plays a part in how well Blue resists, but he is still very much affected because, despite sharing a body with them, he's still a mortal, and his soul is very different from theirs.

Regardless, the combination of a lot of simple factors does make him unique. Because, much like he did get scarred even if it doesn't show on his bones and that gives him phantom pains, the EXP and LV he gained did make an impact on him, even if he hasn't retained any of it. And those things combined do often leave him struggling with his understanding of himself and his sense of identity. He's a fascinating little bean for me to explore :D

-

The Light Side of the Moon for anyone who wants to check it out

[wroteclassicaly]

for kink hour i just want to kneel in front of eddie and steve and have them cum all over my face and tits! just ruin my makeup!!

Oh my god, how dare you make me this crazy right now? I cannot even deal with it!

Warnings: Threesome, NSFW, male masturbation, language, cum-shot, and more!

“Isn’t she so pretty, Stevie? All submissive and compliant?”

“Something about her is different when she’s wrecked, Eds. Can you see it?”

Your knees burn from the bruising over overlay against the hardwood flooring. No carpeting tonight, as you’re at your place. It was one of those nights when no toys were involved. The only toy the boys wanted tonight, was you. A whimper escapes your lips, not going unnoticed.

Steve tuts, palm encased over his thick erection, that bush of curls fluffed up around his fingers. The trail of hair leading from his navel to his chest is slick with perspiration, a reaction to edging himself, Eddie beside him. Their caramel eyes have evaporated, leaving behind midnight skies and cinnamon stars. Your fingers have stayed firm, knuckles clenched, nails biting into the meat of your palms. You await instruction, irises glazed over, sclera brimming with tears of desperation.

Your eyeliner is already destroyed, smudged against your cheeks. You know the aftercare here is going to be divine. You smile softly, batting your lashes. Eddie hisses, his chain length bracelet jostled around on his wrist. “Fuck, sweetheart, push those tits together for us.”

It feels so fucking good that you let out a guttural moan—cunt deep. The sudden resuming tug of their hands around their glistening cocks has you ready to go, mouth opening. “She’s ready for us, big boy. Look at that. M’ gonna take that face, Harrington. Your turn to paint tit town white tonight.”

Steve’s legs are sprawled open, body bending to accommodate the widening of his steps as he approaches you, his fingers wet and shining, his tip flushed and flooded with pre-cum. He’s ready to go. He arches, one hand on your hand, tilting you back, and he aims at your chest, abdomen tensing. A nearly stifled growl leaves his plush lips in a vocal caress, as a warmth coats your breasts, splatters across your knuckles, even lands on your nipples. He jerks himself into the aftershocks, then steps aside to watch Eddie take his place.

“Close your eyes, sweetheart.”

You start to pout, but Eddie smiles fondly. “I know you want to, but this is gonna get everywhere, and we don’t want it in your eyes, now do we?”

That consensual playfulness. You’re the dumb bunny brat for this moment, and they’re your eternal tamers. You obey, his cock tapping your lips in a graze. You resist every urge to suck him inside and lap greedily. You imagine his screwed face, nose scrunched, tongue poking out, neck tendons straining. And Steve is encouraging him.

“Just like that, Eddie. C’mon, ruin her pretty face.”

Full names send Eddie and you both into a spiral. He’s cumming hard, moaning into the air, choking on gasping breaths, your nose, cheeks, and forehead becoming covered in his spend.

You’re floating, drifting into that ache of your unattended orgasm. Eddie has come down and you are coaxed into opening your eyes. Your boys smile preciously, helping you onto your wobbly feet, their combined messes dripping off you. You’ve never been more content.

[saints-who-never-existed]

Rereading The Terror

Two short chapters combined for you today, each more gut-wrenching than the last!

Chapter Fifty-Five: Goodsir

Goodsir's first few days in the Mutineer Camp have not been pleasant, needless to say. He begins describing Hickey as The Devil and the other men as an "Infernal Legion" celebrating with a "Feast of Human Flesh" after the confrontation with Crozier.

There are a few familiar and unexpected faces within that 'infernal legion' including Billy Orren, John Morfin, and Billy Gibson, all very much still living so far. Interestingly, several of the Mutineers are still actively resisting the descent into cannibalism - Morfin and Hodgson most notably - but Goodsir suspects they won't be able to hold out much longer - "the smell of Roasting Human Flesh is Horribly Enticing".

Just like the main party, the Mutineers also appear to have found leads in the ice. 17 men pile into a boat only meant for 8 and begin to paddle northward but it's clear quickly that they cannot continue to do so for long, and it's not because of the leads themselves: "I Heard Hickey and Aylmore whispering after we landed to pitch Tents this Evening - they made Little Effort to lower their Voices. Someone will have to go. ...now that they do not need Man-haulers, which Men will be Sacrificed to the Food stores so that the boat can be Lightened for tomorrow's Sailing?"

-

Chapter Fifty-Six: Jopson

Oh gang... I'm afraid this is it...!

Jopson doesn't understand. He doesn't fully understand what's happening to his body anymore - why his teeth and hair are falling out and he's bleeding from every orifice. And he doesn't understand why he's being left behind on this, his literal birthday: "...but he was not an old man. He was thirty-one years old today and they were leaving him behind to die on his birthday." :(((

He has just enough wherewithal to smell the roasting of the seal meat Des Voeux's men brought back to camp, and to note the stream of men visiting his tent, unwilling to show their faces but leaving behind a pile of mouldy ships biscuits for him "like so many white rocks in preparation for his burial."

Jopson can only really protest in his own head - against the men and their actions and, interestingly, against Crozier... "Hadn't he stayed by Captain Crozier's side a hundred times during the captain's illnesses and moody low points and outright bouts of drunkenness? Hadn't he quietly, uncomplainingly, like the good steward he was, hauled pails of vomit from the captain's cabin in the middle of the night and wiped the Irish drunkard's arse when he shat himself in his fever delirium? Perhaps that's why the bastard is leaving me to die." Good Christ if that thought doesn't actually fucking destroy me! It's not even the idea of doing all that for someone and it somehow not being good enough, it's almost as if it was too good instead. Like something about reaching that level of intimacy being too unbearable in some way and somehow being the thing that dooms him? Ooh lordy I'm unwell... :(((

Soon enough, Jopson's birthday becomes more surreal and yet more literal as his crawling from the tent is described almost like labour, like an actual birth - "He had grown used to the canvas-filtered dim light and stuffy air of his tent-womb that this openness and glare made his lungs labour and filled his squinted-shut eyes with tears."

Crawling over food - "brought to him as if he were some damned pagan idol or sacrificial offering to the gods" - Jopson exits the tent which all too quickly fades into the fog behind him so he can't go back, and tries to shout after the departing men.

He's so weak but so utterly utterly desperate that he even tries to use his fucking chin to drag himself along the ground when his arms fail him. But of course it's not enough. Just like that, the departing men are gone. "It was as if they had never existed."

[tam-ezrac]

[Re:conceptualizing LoR and LCB Systems] Part 2!!

Part 1 - For convenience

My procrastination strikes again, tho this time it's only a month. In that time I realized that, I'm not making a game, I don't need to worry about every detail, as long as it's believable, you guys can fill in the details.

That means I can be both John Limbus AND John Ruina!! Let's fuckin GGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

also I'm separating all this in multiple parts before combining everything into a mega post on Reddit, so look forward to that.

Partie 2: Identities, E.G.Os & Panic

Here is the reference image for your sanity, looks cool right?

–Keypage/Core ID

Your bread & butter equipement for your Librarian/Sinner(I'll refer to them as Nuggets from now on), obtained either from the Gacha/Book Burning or as story rewards.

They determine your HP, TP, Speed range, Weapon Resistance, Sanity and what Core Skills you have.

They come in 3 main Rarities with 2 extra ones, which are:

Base(0): Default ID for every Nugget, most of the stats are determined by the skills & passives it is equipped with, or story progression

Ain(0̸): Filler IDs, cannot be equipped as a Keypage, but does provide general skills and passives for an associated faction

Soph(0̸0̸): Can be used as a Keypage by all Nuggets, generally not the strongest or most unique IDs but provide a good support for other IDs

Aur(0̸0̸0̸): Core part of most teams, can only be equipped by a select few, usually has a unique gimmick or playstyle and teams are built around them

Unique(✦): Reserved for select few like Colors/EGOs/Distortions, Deck cannot be changed and you can only bring 1 Unique per team

They can also be Levelled up and Uptied, but I'm leaving it to your discretion for how that works.

–Core Skills

Are the minimum skills that an ID needs in order for it to work. By default the skills that are associated for that ID are equipped but can be swapped out if they met the requirement.

Ex: W-Corp ID(s) would have Core Skills that gains and or use charge but can be swapped out for those that do the same.

–Skills

The details can be found in Part 3 but the general gist is:

You can equip up to 9 skills(incl. Core)

They come in 4 rarities: Paperback(no Sin Affinity), Hardcover(S1), Limited(S2) and Object D'art(S3)

You have an infinite Defensive Skill associated with your Keypage and may gain more depending on what you have equipped

–Passives & Attribution

Each Keypage as atleast one Passive on them which can be triggered through EGO Resources.

You can equip more through passive attribution, each of em cost as much as the rarity of it's associated ID (I.e Ain(0̸) Passive cost 1 point, Soph(0̸0̸) cost 2, etc.) You cannot attribute passives of Unique IDs.

Fuckin hell that was a lot to type, go grab a bottle water if you haven't already, cause that means you've made it through 1/3 of this post! ...yippie

Ah– we will now begin

The E.G.O Section!

Abnormalities... Monsters beyond human comprehension... representing different aspects of blah blash blegh! You already what they are!

And neither of us care about that lore(rn) what we want is to harness they're power in combat

And! Uh, I have some good news and bad news about that.

Let's start with the bad, you may only equip 5 Abnos(1 for each Risk Lv) per team

I know kinda shitty, good news it's a Fusion Between LoR's Abno Page and LCB's EGO Skills, which is the entire point of this series thing...

Can you tell I'm Tired? Cause I've been sitting here for like 6~8 hours as I'm typing this line. And this one is after another 3 hours, 38 minutes, 14 second yea I came back just to type that, what of it??!

...for the sake of my sanity we will be using Telepole/Alleyway Watchdog(O-02-11-26) and the associated Sinners for the majority of this section.

–EGO Skills

Starting off, Abno EGOs acts as both your special moves and additional passives(for that encounter) and they come in 4 different flavors.

First and foremost is Dormant EGO Skills, only those who can not Resonate with an Abno can use these. They do not trigger the Abnos Passives, roll lower and deal less damage, But they also cost less SP and Sin Resources than other version(s) of the EGO

Awakening & Corrosion(Overclock too) are Exclusive to those who are able resonate with the Abno(Faust, Don and Heathcliff in our case), I.e if you played Limbus you know what they do.

However, before moving to Synchronization let's talk about—

–EGO Passives

After using an Awakening or Corrosion Skill, at the beginning of the next turn, you are able to pick 1 passive from the Abno EGO you used.

In our case it would be between Faust's [Adaptive Release], Don's [Haphazard Discharge] and Heathcliff's [Roar], after which depending on the passive, you may(or may not) select who gets the passive.

This can range from random, 1 unit, multiple units, anyone who isn't the user, everyone on the field, only your enemies, etc, etc.

If you want another passive from the same Abno you have to use a different version of the Abno EGO I.e if you used Don then you have to use either Faust or Heathcliff

There's also a limit to the amount of Abno passive you can have per Nugget but I'll cover that in the last section.

–Synchronization

Upon meeting all criteria and using an Overclocked EGO the selected Nugget Synchronizes with the used Abno and is overwritten with a Unique ID for the rest of the Encounter *Conditions may apply.

The secret? Well, you don't know what the criteria is of course! It could be a 13 step plan, maybe you need to not bring something, maybe you just need 100 EGO resources or vice-versa!

In the end, it will stay an enigma until you use it for the first time, of course I'm a benevolent moron so I'll atleast give you an example.

We'll be Taking Little Red(F-01-57) for our test drive. Now using our knowledge of the Abno's Story what they represent, in this case revenge, we can deduce that it probably has something to do with the Bad Wolf(F-02-58).

I'll expedite it a bit here, but either have the Bad wolf on the Field or someone who used it's EGO Skill last Turn, pay the toll(Resources) and unleashing the Skill will have the Nugget Sync with Red Hood! Of course you made sure to read the fine print right? ....right??

sigh, alright I'll tell you about the added conditions too, in our case it requires Red hood to land the finishing blow on our To be Bad Wolf fail to do so and the Synced unit turns Indiscriminate, if you kill all the enemies but fail to suppress them, then you lose. Ah–, btw you can Sync with Every Abno if you wanted to, it's not always the best choice let alone a plausible one so be careful of that.

You can Obtain Abno Skills has Story Rewards, Side Content or through the Gacha, and their passives through Uptie and or Supressions (again up to your discretion)

NOW we finally made it the homestretch the final section(of this post)

–Panic/Mental Types!!

You gain different effects depending on how high or low you SP is, hitting either extremes results in a Panic/Bliss state where you(usually) can't control that unit.

Mental types are determined by what Keypage you have equipped but can be changed under certain conditions.

–SP Gain & Loss

Winning/Losing a Clash

Max/Min Rolling

Enemy Kill/Ally Death

Skill Effects

Or Keypage specific thing

–ID Possesion

It's quite literally the opposite of Corrosion, but with IDs instead. I.e, when you hit max positive SP a wheel is turned based on Nuggets currently equipped Skill.

Let's say it's a 3-way split between W-corp, 7-Assoc and The Ring. So it would be a 30%:30%:30% for any of them to be chosen with the remaining 10% being nothing happening

Once something is chosen, all of your skill will be turned into a skill from that faction that is of the same rarity and is then shuffled.

After 1 turn has pass in that state your SP resets to 0 and you turn back to normal, the catch here is that you don't know which one of your skills you've used until the Possession is over, making it act as a punishment or reward depending on how you use it.

And with that...

IT"S THE END FINAALLLY!!

it took so, so damn long!!!! Im never doing this ever again(in one sitting)

I still have part 3 to do so i'll crawl towards that eventually with that I Hoped you enjoyed reading my ramblings

Until next time,

Toodaa loo!!

oh am i kidding

SANITY II: EMOTIONAL BOOGALOO!!

yeah...! YEAH!!!

YOU TOUGHT THIS WAS OVER DIDN'T YoU?? Well, its not, so strAP THE FUCK IN!

Here's the emotion bars reds negative greens positive

Number in the middle is the Emotion Level, you increase it by using EGOs in ascending order(1=Zayin, 2=Teth, etc.) up to a Max of 5. In normal gameplay. it can go up to 6 if you use a Unique IDs mechanic or EGO Sync, and 7 if you do both, good luck with that one

What does it do? Buffs you obviously, Action Slots, Card Draws, Number of Abno Passives, ID Mechanics.

Really whaterver the fuck you can think of, and I already did my share so show some of your creativity

See the Yellow bar on top? that's Grace, your max SP(- & +). If the colored bars reach it, shit happens, I think you can figure what.

you can also sSSSssPppiIiIiiInNnN it with Sinking&Floating(counterpart) so watch for that.

that does it im not writting anyomre of this, part 3 the finale where ill covver encounters skills, clasehed skill check resources status effects, gachaas SIN realixataon your mu,m UUUUUUUOO OOOOOOGGHH HHHGGH KANI REoRoEoRoEoRoER EREoooooREoRoERoEoRoEoRoEoRoeoroEoReooroEoRoeorEoRoeoroEoRooerooER thisisthisthatisthat youmustJUDGEMENT likeihave PALpalpALPlapLAPlapLAPlaplPALpalPALpalpALPalpA getgETperebhzcbcdGetwkjofndjlnklwdfgETGETGewjfdbu bfjwdtgeTEGte baitused tobelivable*giutar riff*HoLydhItisT HtAA ThE rEd MiRsTtHk

[tavyliasin]

Hello can I request Haarlep and Raphael turns on? Off? ( separately please no threesome pls)❤️

Ohh interesting, alright let's give this a try~

Raphael's Turn Ons

Physical touch is at the top, he actually strikes me as being largely asexual in terms of physical attraction and to some extent libido. He's not actively seeking sex. He uses seduction to lure people in to a contract, then has Haarlep sleep with clients using "his body" to fulfil that part of the deal. So if you want to get something to happen, sight alone isn't going to be arousing. There has to be touch. Also, aces and kink are a common combination too, darlings, and I am proof of that myself~ Next on the list, look I know he gives off a Big Dom Vibe, but like many classic subs he enjoys letting go of external power. Not to just anyone, of course, but he spends most of his time in charge of everything, all that responsibility, all those difficult plans, every bit of work he puts in to his grand scheme...letting someone else take over his pleasure is very enjoyable. He doesn't have to plan, think, or worry, simply give himself over to the lust and desire that sex can bring. That's not to say he cannot or will not switch, he is very capable of it and sometimes enjoys being a Dom to the right person too, but what gets him going is the right Dom to take him down. Bonus round on this point? Tail pulling and horn grabbing. Use his own body against him, he will fold. Which brings me actually to my biggest point. He isn't aroused by a quiet and timid partner. No, he needs someone to match his wits, to give as good as they get, to make it a challenge - and you can be assured he will certainly make it challenging, too. That push and pull, the give and take, that is what makes him want it, not being offered an easy deal. Consider if Tav tries to take his first offer in the game - he's disappointed. He wants people to turn to him when they have exhausted every last hope (oh the irony of the word, loves, it vexes him), he wants a partner to be begging on their knees desperate for the release only he can give them, or to be brought to that himself~

Raphael's Turn Offs

On the flipside of the last point, anything that is too easy. No challenge? No point, darling, why would he waste his time on something that offers him no stimulation. Actual dirt and poor hygiene. Have you seen the size of his bath in his room? Not a hair is ever out of place for him. No, a partner can only be in a mess when he has made them that way. Expectation. Somebody assuming they will get what they want from him is boring, or potentially if they expect him to just be submissive to him at the first sign of Dominance then that's frankly insulting to his pride. He won't have that. He will submit when he has been bent and broken to it, there must be at least some fight and the Dom must win to get their prize. He does not mind losing to the right partner.

Haarlep's Turn Ons

Now, this one might seem easy to say "everything", but far from it. Haarlep likes someone who will obey, who will follow their commands, but never fully succumbs to their powers. They find the fire in someone's eyes as they hopelessly try to resist the incubus's allure to be most delicious. Which is the point - as an incubus, the feed on sexual energy and pleasure. They absolutely must not be bored by a partner, that's like serving a food critic a slice of stale bread and expecting them to eat it. They need that excitement. They are particularly fond of anyone who manages to surprise them. Whether this is with strength of will, general bravery, or perhaps even someone to rival their near infinite libido, they want something new and different. Brats. Oh they do love to break a brat, darlings, it is their very favourite thing in the world. To take someone with that fire, that absolute obstinance, and break them apart until they can only think of one thing, only speak one word: "Haarlep". Their name. They love to hear their name, but not often. It is a rare treat, one to be savoured, the cherry on the top of the cake that shows them how fully they have brought someone to their knees and shattered their will until all that is left is the pure and undiluted sexual pleasure~ So you might think that another Dom would be offputting to Haarlep, but not at all. This is now a true battle of wits, to push them both to fight for the right to control, and they never lose.

Haarlep's Turn Offs

They're bored by expectation almost as much as Raphael. Turn up on their doorstep and think they'll give you a ride just because you're there? No, give them reason. The scheduled guests are a chore not a joy. That's their job, not their passion. Overtures of respect. They aren't here to watch someone scrape and bow and put on every air of pleasantry. No, darling, they need stimulation and airs and graces have no place in their domain. NonCon/DubCon. Every single act with Haarlep is fully consenting, if they think for a moment that something is not above board, they will end it then and there. They are an incubus, not a monster, lack of consent tastes like poison. Power play? That is fine, that is one of their very favourite things in the world, but it is never without a signal, a word or gesture agreed before that will never be ignored. No matter how they are feeling, everything stops and will not continue unless everyone is fully and enthusiastically consenting. Pretending to be Raphael. They may look like him (though decidedly just subtly more handsome) when they take his form, but they are a distinct entity in their own right. They do not wish to pretend to be Raphael, they are their own fiend and will make that quite clear whenever necessary.

---- I think that's about everything covered, and without specifying partners or groupings~ Agree? Disagree? Please feel free to let me know your own thoughts on the matter, darlings, I love seeing our similarities and differences. No single one of us can be fully "right" or "wrong", these are simply the HCs we have in our own minds and creations~ I utterly adore how vast the variances can be, and it is sometimes even inspirational for more fic~

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

Blue Castle chapters 12 and 13

Combining these two chapters into one post, because I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday. And these two pair well together: chapter 12 is Valancy reflecting on her life and the dinner party and chapter 13 is the rest of the Stirlings doing the same. Their conclusions, of course, are wildly different.

I don’t have much to say about chapter 12 that wasn’t covered by all of you lovely folks yesterday. I think the point about Valancy never having been able to see beauty out her window until now is really insightful -- the view hasn’t changed, but Valancy has.

Mild non-explicit spoilers: Valancy’s musing about Uncle Benjamin writing her out of the will is definitely something, given what happens with the will later.

Speaking of Uncle Benjamin, we transition into chapter 13. It only just now occurred to me that Valancy is refusing to see a doctor because she’s worried that a doctor will disclose her heart condition to the rest of her family. I assumed she was just being contrary for the thrill of it, and that may be part of it, but of course she doesn’t want to see a doctor. That would ruin everything.

“Don’t worry, Mother,” said Valancy, lightly but quite respectfully. “It isn’t likely I’ll do anything very terrible. But I mean to have a little fun.” Valancy is at heart a good girl who likes being a good girl. She doesn’t want to be loose or take up smoking and swearing, or any of the other horrible things that one might imagine of a person cutting loose for the first time. She wants to get to keep her dust pile and, to pull from a different fandom entirely, to eat eggs without permission. And that, to her family, is full insanity and tantamount to death.

I should very much like to know what Dr. Marsh thinks of all of this. I didn’t have a terribly high opinion of him previously, but this chapter does shine a new light on his character. He apparently was willing to validate Cousin Gladys’ neutritis -- and I am perfectly willing to believe that she is suffering from pain of some kind, even if “neutritis” seems to have been a nebulous catch all term for ���unexplained pain” -- but she doesn’t seem to be taking anything for it other than her Redfern product of choice. Redfern products don’t seem to do any harm, as far as snake oil goes, so he in essence seems to have told her, “I believe your self-reported symptoms and if you believe this product helps with your symptoms then you should continue taking it.” Which, frankly, is decent doctring.

Especially because he married in to this family. He knows all these people, even if they seem to be a distant enough branch that they’re not expected to attend family functions. Dr. Marsh appears to have taken a path of less resistance when it comes to his in-laws but, crucially, as we see in this chapter, that path does not include indulging their every whim. He hears about Valancy doing some honestly fairly unremarkable things and refuses to join the Stirling conviction that this means she should be locked up. I’m interested in the phrasing he uses when telling Uncle James that he can’t have Valancy committed (”He pointed out to irate Uncle James—who would have liked to lock Valancy up somewhere, out of hand—that Valancy had not, as yet, really done or said anything that could be construed as proof of lunacy—and without proof you cannot lock people up in this degenerate age.”) is what he actually said or if it’s Uncle James editorializing. And, if those were his words, is that what he himself believes, or does he just know Uncle James and thought this whole thing would go faster if he conceded a couple points before standing firm on the one that mattered.

[wolffyluna]

Homeland by RA Salvatore Liveblog

Help, I have fallen back into the Drizzt pit and can't get up.

Under a cut for child abuse and attempted sexual assault.

I'm copy-pasting this from discord. Ellipses differentiate liveblogs that were done at different times.

I'm rereading the first Drizzt novel. It was one of the book series I loved loved loved when I was young. I am simultaneously going:

oh my God, this world building. Your legal system cannot run on vibes, sir. The implied gender ratio is hilarious (drow nobles want lots of kids, but every son after the second is killed, so a family having four daughters and two sons is pretty normal. Oh, and it's implied that polyandry is a Status Symbol)

oof ow argh, man hands misery onto man! It deepens like a coastal shelf! 😭

I'm still at the beginning, but drizzt is being raised by his older sister, and she is heavily encouraged to physically abuse him. There's a point where she thinks "wow, what could this kid achieve if we weren't breaking his spirit. ... wait, that's a blasphemous thought, I should punish him for making me think that." And Drizzt is taught to believe that surface elves are the source of all of his problems, to the point that whenever he's whipped he "cries out for the death of a [surface elf]" These people all could have been fine if they lived in a reasonable society! 😭

The book is divided into parts, and at the beginning of each part there's a section of Drizzt monologing as if he's giving an interview

And in the one where he's talking about his childhood, he both talks about PTSD-flashbacks-in-so- many-words and also "presumably things happened before I was sixteen? I remember basically none of that though" which. Baby. Let me scoop you up into a hug even though you are a century(?) old dark elf who is presumably taller than me.

...

The only way the drow gender ratio doesn't fall flat is a) the implication that commoners don't do that, so maybe their gender ratios are less of a disaster and b) it looks like only the female heads of the family can take consorts/have children, so polyandry is a little more possible

Though this does, like, raise the question of "so, you are the daughter of a matron mother, and you fall pregnant. what do you do?"

...

It's legal for a drow house to attack another in secret. It is illegal to do it openly. The justification is that Lolth likes it that way (This is a logic that underpins a lot of the drow legal system) And it could be made sensible with just one small change: Every drow house wants to be able to attack another, but wants no other house to be able to attack them. So they created norms where you can't just attack people, if you did that the whole city would fall on you ...but if you can do it with plausible deniability...

...

I have now re-witnessed the beautiful, beautiful scene where a wizard panics* and casts fireball at his own feet

*he would say he was very tactical, I do not believe him

[Seriously, I have remembered this scene fondly for years. It's Such A Scene.]

...

Oh my God Masoj just encouraged someone to take the identity of someone he [the other guy] just killed. Masoj completely failed to mention that the dead guy was his brother.

...

DRIZZT QQ

His dad just tried and failed to kill him to try and maintain his innocence.

I have so many feelings about Zaknafein.

Just. The combination of "Zaknafein was a major role model to Drizzt and is a significant part of why Drizzt is good" and "Zaknafein is Not A Very Good Person." Man.

...

Lov Drizzt

He just nearly got murdered, but he doesn't care, because KITTY!

Drizzt is this xkcd comic

...

I remembered the sex pollen scene, but man did I not remember/parse how much it was a dub-to-non con sex pollen scene

...

Something that is also getting to me on this re-read: the amount that the men of the Do'Urden family 🐛 assist with their family members whipping them, or literally taking them as a sacrifice. Because resistance would only make it worse, and this way at least you have some control

There's a really telling passage where Briza is torturing Dinin for no real reason, and he's just like. okay. i'm not going to get in the way of this process. And he actively positions himself to make it easier.

...

Help, I'm combining my love of "what if popular but misapplied blorbo song, but correctly applied?" with the Legends of Drizzt series: Eat Your Young is a valid Malice/Zaknafein song

There is no capitalism, but there is a lot of zero sum resource fights, and a lot of the conflict between these chatacters is their children being used in those zero sum resource fights.

Zaknafein has a lot of conflict about whether it's better for his son to be eaten by drow society, or dead And there's a thing where both Zaknafein and Drizzt are/are meant to be sacrifices to Lolth, at Malice's hands

Skinning the children for a war drum Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns It's quicker and easier to eat your young

And there's also the whole thing of-- Zaknafein and Malice's life is luxurious, but that's at a cost. There are no skeletons in the closet because they are displaying the skeletons openly as part of the decor

...

The Drizzt He destroyed his cage Yes YES The Drizzt is out

...

The thing about Homeland in particular is how it is simultaneously man hands on misery onto man, it deepens like a coastal shelf and how it is so much about it's opposite (it ascends like a volcano?) Drizzt could not be who is he is, could not be good, without Zaknafein.

But he's. Better than Zaknafein. Because of Zaknafein.

And there's the tragedy of the fact that if their roles were reversed, it would be Drizzt bring Zaknafein up into the light.

But. Well. Drizzt would still have to die down in the dark

...

...hmm.. I'm encountering a tempting bad idea: 50 books in a year is a doable challenge. There are 40 Drizzt books. Ergo, one could hypothetically read all the Drizzt books in one year.

[overfedvenison]

Playing Pokemon Red

Point by point so I recall later...

I started my pokemon journey, taking Squirtle as my starter. I named her Nine-Four, after the Type 94 Tankette, because she eventually becomes a tank and Pokemon Gen 1 does not allow you to use numbers

Going through the game, I fought the first rival battle after acquiring two Pokemon - Ratata (names GoForT.Eye) and Nidoran Female (Named Zaftig) I did not grind at all for the rival battle, and went in very underleveled. This meant that it was actually quite difficult. I had to use multiple debuffs and all my potions, but Go For The Eyes survived at critical HP and won.

I proceeded to the north through the forest, and to my surprise found a Pikachu among the like, 3 encounters I found. I was surprised; definitely going on my team.

Brock was no big issue with Squirtle, of course. But it's really interesting how he's played. This early, a player may not know types or anything - but this is the big introduction to it which is impossible to ignore. Brock teaches you that Physical and Special attacks are different, but also tests your intellect in other ways - His ace, Onyx, has ridiculous durability combined with Bide, Screech, and Tackle. Beyond type advantage, Bide is a move which reflects damage back on you. When I was a kid I absolutely just attacked through it, but the intent is clearly to make this telegraphed move where you should not be doing that. In every way, Brock is a puzzle boss made to get you to question the battle system and not just push Scratch again.

...I am rather impressed at how nonlinear and full of options this game has even right away. At this stage, pokemon tend to have a single attack move and a support move - but those support moves do different things. If you want to have a specific goal in your strategy, you can swap pokemon for that purpose. And this is actually rather notable and varied even this early on - when going through Viridian Forest, I set Zaftig as my lead. As a Nidoran, she is poison type - meaning the common Weedles there cannot poison her, and only damage her for 1-2 HP due to type resistances. And that's a really interesting option this early in the game. The pokemon are rather stratified in a way you don't really appreciate when looking at their stats alone, and so each pokemon exists in context. The most obvious example is Beedrill and Butterfree, three-stage evolutions you can reasonably get to within a single dungeon and which tutorialize evolution. But Nidoran is similar, in this regard, in that it is a very good choice for Viridian forest - this early, this rabbit is an incredibly potent tank just from situational resistance and being slightly more durable than Ratata and Pidgey.

I saw this more in Rock Tunnel, when Go For The Eyes learned Super Fang. Here's the thing - Ratata is not a powerful pokemon. Quite weak, overall, even this early. But he has a trick - Super Fang and Hyper Fang. Super Fang is an 80-power move you can acquire at a time when 40 power is still really impressive. It's the secret weapon of this little rat and, in context, makes him WILDLY powerful this early in the game. Rock Tunnel also grants you a Water Gun TM right near the entrance. I used it on Ratata, and it's... Crazy, actually. Ratata, notoriously weak Route 1 Rat, can now one-shot almost every random encounter in the entire cave with his superior speed. This is what I'm understanding - to really understand Pokemon Red, you have to look at the pokemon you encounter within context and find what emerges. Replaying was a good choice, and it's interesting to see what kind of Pokemon show their stuff.

Anyways, I acquired a second early-game nuke in the form of Zaftig - who is now level 16, and could then evolve to Nidorina, and then evolve immediately afterward to Nidoqueen. I taught her Bide, since she's a wall and her taking hits only to flip it back has a certain appeal.

...The game really encourages experimentation even this early, and it's easy to see how it caught on so hard.

[bittercape]

2022 fanworks roundup

For a year where I, by all appearences, did nothing at all for the first half, quite a lot happened.

ART

I painted Bucky and Clint as pirates for the Winterhawk AU Bang, and was claimed by two amazing writers. The resulting fics are from the water thrown, discarded by veryrach and free as the wind that blows past me by flowerparrish, and they're both amazing <3

For the Winterhawk Big Bang, I made art for Hold Your Nerve by Inktastic1711 and for don’t care what you did (as long as you love me) by veryrach.

For the Rusty Quill Big Bang, I made art for The Haunting of Elias Bouchard by With_the_Wolves

FIC

I would have tried to sort this into fandoms or ships, but honestly they do get a little bit mixed up. So, chronologically:

Boris the Soviet Love Hammer

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, 11k, explicit

For the Winterhawk Big Bang I wrote a shenanigans-filled adventure featuring my favourite things to write: Competent Clint, Thirsty Bucky and Helpful Tony. Hopefully, one day, someone will see fit to draw mermicorn Clint like the world deserves. This fic is blessed with art from amoredition.

of people wrapped up tight in the things that will kill them

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton/Jason Todd, 7k at 19/31 chapters, mature for violence

For whumptober, I haven't yet managed to finish Bucky, Clint and Jason's no good very bad day. Now that kinkmas is over (more on that later) I will hopefully have time to do it.

Raps at my window, waits at the gate

Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, 2865 words, explicit

At this point I had fallen into the DC hole courtesy of Jason Todd (new blorbo!) and the magnificent fic Give Thanks To Broken Bones by thepartyresponsible, who is one of the most brilliant writers out there and I recommend everything they've ever written. After this brief flailing break: My first adventure in DC features new OTP Jason Todd/Slade Wilson (because I absolutely cannot resist a grumpy old bastard) and my favourite type of Tim Drake, the slightly unhinged version. Regular readers might be able to see a pattern here.

What Spring Does With the Cherry Trees

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, 32k, explicit

The Winterhawk Olympic Big Bang made me finish this, which has been in progress for more than a year and the is the longest thing I've ever written. This is a bit different from my usual pace - it's a slow story that lets Clint and Bucky take their time to grow closer and fall in love. For this story I was lucky enough to collaborate with three artists: Dr. Girlfriend, VexedBeverage, and Call-Me-Kayyyyy. All their works are embedded in the story.

Baguettes At Dawn

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, 45k, explicit

Another labour of love on which veryrach and I have been collaborating on since February. It's a silly and fun bakery AU, spawned from a single pun I brutally eradicated from Rach's soft & delicate desires; hopefully, close to 45k of sourdough and madeleines later, the slaughter of a single pun was worth it.

American Thighs

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, 3k, teen and up

For the Winterhawk Wonderland Exchange, I got back on my bullshit and wrote fake dating, a meat market of a christmas party, and a devious Natasha.

For the Batfam Kinkmas Exchange I wrote a whole pile of works. That's what happens with new blorbos, I'm told.

The Seduction of Jason Todd

Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, 3565 words, explicit

Truth be told, I struggled a lot with this. I got my assigment, grasped the wish for fluff&smut like a baby koala, and then I realised fluff does not come naturally to Deathstroke the Terminator. Sincere apologies to the disproportionate amount of friends who had to suffer through my wailing about this for six weeks; but I do think it was worth it in the end.

Man of Milk and Honey

Michelin Man/Jason Todd, blessedly short at 1k, explicit

I don't know what to say about this. A comment about how the Michelin Man was made of ice cream combined with the prompt and the general vibes in the server planted a seed in my mind and I had no choice but to inflict it on everyone else. You have been warned.

Take Of Me What You Please

Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, 2667 words, explicit

I wanted to write a treat for Jack, who saw me hovering at the edge of the pit, and joyfully dragged me in. Incidentally, I also fullfilled my own Christmas wish, so no vicarious motives here.

Get Me A Taste Of Some Chaos

John Constantine/Jason Todd, 4k, explicit

I could not resist the detailed and varied request, and so we have 5+1 times John Constantine met Jason Todd, featuring swords, tentacles and various magic bullshit.

Get Into Your Slide

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton/Jason Todd, 2476 words, explicit

Rach is, for all intents and purposes, my partner in crime, and my main cheerleader, my worst enabler. She deserves the world, but rather than that, I wrote her some porn for Christmas. Or rather, due to scheduling reasons, for New Year's.

Lay This Body Down

Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, 1621 words, explicit

There's a long and involved story about one word prompts and the Birdwatchers server, but the relevant part here is that I signed up for the word Bind at the very end of a long marathon, and decided to combine it with a kinkmas treat. Mostly to push myself to get it done. Shibari and kink discovery.

Total word count, excepting the works on which I am listed as co-creator but haven't written a single word:

117.267

My previous record was 61k in 2020, it's no wonder it feels like a lot this year.

[jenroses]

My insurance is pretty good, all things considered. We pay through the nose for it, so it ought to be. The same company administers medicaid in my area, which I know because for a variety of weird reasons, I ended up accidentally covered by medicaid for a few years, and for other reasons, couldn't get off of it until they kicked me off, because we buy our coverage through the marketplace and you can't get marketplace coverage if medicaid covers you, even if you shouldn't qualify but they're not kicking people off because Pandemic. (I told them our income and resources. There was no fraud. It was an internal thing? IDK. Oregon is weird. When they finally did kick me off they didn't warn me, either, though I managed to find out before it was A Problem.)

Anyway. Our old coverage covered Victoza for me, because I'd failed or wasn't suitable for a variety of diabetes meds.

And the first year I was on medicaid, we weren't buying coverage through the marketplace because we didn't qualify for a subsidy so there was no point. So I was covered both with medicaid and private insurance and medicaid paid all the copays so that was nice.

So here I am on a combination of drugs that is working gangbusters for me for diabetes, keeping my A1C at like, 5.8 or lower without insulin. Great.

Medicaid giving me no friction at all.

We decide the next year to just let medicaid cover me because my premium by itself would have added about $800 per month to our monthly bills.

And the first few months are fine, then they deny coverage for both diabetic drugs. One of them is like $60 out of pocket so I just pay that.

Victoza is not that cheap. Victoza costs more than my premiums had, per month, every month and if you're on medicaid they cannot give you copay assistance.

We argue. State rules say you have to have an A1C of 7.0 or higher and have failed XY and Z drugs in order to get a glp1 drug. I call the state. The state is like, "They have some latitude in this."

Insurance company is like, "no."

So I have to go off victoza for a while. I eked it out for a bit, smaller doses, but then finally decided, "If I have to stop it, I'll stop it and we'll see."

My blood sugar which had been creeping up through this, shot up. I went from regular readings of 90-110 to 180-240 almost immediately. My A1C shot up from 5.9 to 6.5 in six weeks.

I was having regular incontinence and numbness in my hands and feet from the damage it was doing to my nerves. Keep in mind I am immune suppressed, so this was incredibly scary. This is probably when my kidney stones formed. Keep in mind also that my diet at that time included almost no carbohydrates. This is all sugar my liver was making.

The one time I tried insulin my blood sugar spiked, I was literally that insulin resistant.

So we documented all this and sent it to the insurance company and what do you know, they reversed their decision long before I got to 7.0 A1C. So it wasn't that "set in stone", the guideline was just there to keep out people who were wanted it for weight loss.

So I got my meds, great, right?

Well, I've never gotten my blood sugar quite that far down again. It's very stable now at 120, +/- 5 points, no matter what, and most of the nerve damage was reversable, but not quite all.

That break in therapy damaged me. Possibly forever. The kidney stones have further limited my diet and made it actually impossible for me to go as low carb as I used to be when my sugars were optimal. There were a wide variety of foods that I was able to use before that I can't use now because of their oxalate content. The combination of being low carb while having a high blood sugar was a bad one. (I ate a lot of almonds. Almonds are stupidly high in oxalates.)

I had to jump through SO many hoops for rheumatoid arthritis to finally land on the drug that works for me, one which is ironically cheaper than many options at $2700 per month, but the step therapy before that is nutzo.

Getting nurtec covered for my migraines was almost trivially easy compared to my diabetic meds and my ra meds. But even there, it was not fast, and I suffered a lot. And it only works kinda, sorta, if I take it at the perfect time. The first drug I tried was so painful and scary that I went another five years without treatment because I'd rather have migraines than feel like imitrex made me feel, ever again.

I’ve got my tumblr inbox turned off so I really have to commend the person who actually emailed me to let me know they don’t like the things I’ve posted about the UnitedHealth CEO being murdered on their commitment to their beliefs.

But seen as how you emailed me from a dud email that appears to be bouncing back replies and I really wanted to address something you said to me about violence begetting violence:

My migraine medication, the medication I was given for my debilitating neurological disease that has gotten so bad I spent most of this year actively suicidal, costs $1300 a month.

My insurance covered it. But only because my doctors office went to fucking war for me because I’m a high anaphylaxis risk for the drugs the insurance wanted me to try.

Because that’s the thing.

My doctors knew, based on my documented medical history, I likely wouldn’t be a good fit for the “first line” of preventative migraine drugs, but because of insurance, I had to be given drugs that were contradictory to my other life threatening conditions, because otherwise insurance wouldn’t cover anything else.

I failed them. Spectacularly and with an anaphylactic reaction to one of them. And I was still warned insurance would fight me because I hadn’t tried the remaining drug they wanted me to try.

A drug which I would have to take in an ER waiting room because my mast cell disease is unpredictable but insurance wouldn’t cover in-patient treatment to let me try it safely under medical supervision.

Is that not violence?

Were all the times I was denied coverage for vital and necessary procedures that could have prevented my disabilities from worsening not violence?

Maybe not in the sense you mean. But I assure you it felt very much like violence to me.

Do I condone murder? No, obviously. But I’m also sick and tired of people pretending that what is happening to the American people every day isn’t eugenics through class warfare.

Violence begets violence.

It sure fucking does.

Maybe these insurance companies should have thought of that first.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Winter Lillie

She didn't get Alolan Ninetales. That means there's hope for another Lillie alt. Reddit pissbabies can cry over it, I hope Lillie gets ten alts.

General Overview Lillie and shiny Primarina are a Fairy type Sprint/Support pair with the biggest whiplash in skills so far. Hit the Gas 9 is nearly double the usual boost of this skill, but it's still Hit the Gas. Gauge issues are going to be a concern. HAHA just kidding! Pep Rally 2. Enjoy max speed in a single rotation for the entire team. Oh, and she boosts everyone's move damage 20% when speed is raised. So we're already getting just completely free DPS, with a base 186 on Moonblast, and a buddy move that's AoE no penalty, that also then applies SEUN and Free Moves Next to all allies. In addition, Lillie gets Sing, with the added bonus of granting +1 SMUN to herself each use of sing if you pick that grid node. To add to all of this, Lillie has wonderful synergy with the masters of Fairy Zone, so her overall potential is very high. Considering teambuilding, I think she's got an argument for being better off than SS Nemona.

Now, Lillie does come with downsides. Even with all this power, her DPS is not astounding, hitting a more "perfectly fine" range. 203 base power on her main move at 3/5 is great, but there's better four-bar spams out there. Despite her Sprint designation, she has no real cooldown effects. Her Buddy move gets -1 per use, but it's a rotating effect; she has to act once to unlock, and it locks again after use. While she has traits to support others, like Gobsmack and Discourage, they're out of her way on the grid. Moreover, her effects are emphasizing SEUN and move damage, and special Fairy is NOT a good choice for that. Outside of Diantha, your special fairy choices are options like Bede and SS Wally, who have no real potential for DPS. Diantha herself also has the sync issue of needing to go first to get her major multiplier. There's SS Gladion, who is probably her best partner, and any potential future Arc Diantha would likely combo well with her. But there's also the issue of...Zone. SS Mina's getting better every day, but she's not able to independently sustain Fairy Zone when she's not taking more than one sync. So there are some challenges to what Lillie wants to fit into a comprehensive team.

EX and Role? The main EX is a nice solution for Lillie, giving faster access to the next sync. I think that's justifiable. The Support Role is a little more unusual. She has no real reason to have that, and so many of her partners want sync before her. It's an extremely questionable choice.

Champion Stadium Lillie has plenty of DPS and gauge control to manage this mode. I cannot imagine she'll encounter any real resistance, even without spread sync. SS Mina and pretty much any special pick will get the fight done. Mina in particular has the Sprint sub-role, making them really good for a combo for ramping. And Gladion...also has Sprint! So that's three Sprint options! That's a decision!

Absent those members, SS Wally is a great ramp option to partner with Lillie, offering a Rebuff, boosted speed on entry to complement her set, and providing Fairy Zone. Lillie, if desired, can attempt to Sing Tank, and let Gladion act as the third to nuke. Support damage x3 is a free 100 points then.

I'd also shout out Bede, whose myriad debuffs and Field effect on sync also partner fairly well with Lillie's specific benefits. Bede is an often-overlooked unit, but he is incredibly good.

Legendary Gauntlet Sleep spam into SMUN+1 per action into burst. That's a really good combination for several of these fights, but truth be told, I don't think she has the staying power otherwise.

Damage Challenge My deepest hope is that Lillie will do well here. I'm not confident she will. There's a lot of effects that happen after her action. But I so desperately want to believe she can handle it.

Battle Rally Sprint is a valuable, fairly rare type to find. So that's valuable. I'm still a little mad about Support. Girl, if this was another Anni Lillie 24, and she got sub-Field? We would be in so much business. As it stands, she'll do alright here, given the limited number of Sprint options.

Ultimate Battle Potential Truthfully, dead in the water. She just does not pack the level of power, nor the gimmick checking potential, needed to excel here. Sing is her gimmick, and a ton of these stages are completely immune to sleep. Those that aren't then get immunity to status, and have extension 5. It's a bad situation all around.

Final Thoughts Listen. I'm pulling this Lillie. I love Lillie, I love this outfit, I have to. This is the target. But I'm not going to pretend like Lillie is going to be a mainstay. Inevitable Arc Diantha will blow any DPS she has out of the water, and I'm not currently convinced Lillie will be the third of choice. I'm not going to pretend like this is a long-term thing. And yes, this means exactly what you think it does. Lillie's best alt is going to be a fucking free pair, because Arc Steven and SS Lear carried her so hard. That's the state of Lillie's life.