#died in the final fight

[acowardinmordor]

Me, reading this just now: 'oh heck, this is right up my alley, I almost feel like I wrote i--- oh.'

the cruel urge to write a time loop au where steve finally realizes that the only way to defeat vecna, whilst keeping eddie alive, is to completely rewrite the timeline and he has to see it playing out differently, invisible and unmoving, forced to watch as he dies instead of barb.

but it works. vecna is dead and eddie is alive... but he keeps looking to the side, expecting someone to be there. he doesn't know why he dreams of a boy in a yellow sweater. he doesn't know why he's grieving. he can't remember and, when he asks el to make sure he's not cursed, she offers him reassurances.

bc eddie isn't cursed. he's dreaming, that's all. the boy in the yellow sweater doesn't exist.

not anymore.

[lass-us-slay]

So I read a prompt about how Wonder Woman found Danny in a trash can (don’t remember which one) and I was bored.

So I took that lil info and made it into an AU.

So basically, Danny get yeeted into this unknown universe and has no where to live. And no where to live means no money. No money means no food. No food means Danny can’t keep his human half sustained.

So what does he do?

Decides to not change into a human and live in a trash can.

Yes you heard that right, live in a trash can.

Because he’s a ghost, he doesn’t have to worry about the germs and stuff. But that doesn’t mean he lives in just any trash can! He lives in a clean one ☝️

AND he also decorated it with his name so other people know it’s his!

And so Danny has been here for a while now and realizes

Holy shit there’s hero’s here- you know what, why doesn’t he have hero’s back home?!

And being minorly annoyed jealous (but he’s never admitting that)he thought:

Well since there’s hero’s here already, guess I’m not needed.

.

.

.

Good. I’m tired af

And so Danny caries on his life, being content with his trash can and scaring whoever comes into his alley. It’s fun. Sure he sometimes needs to ugh overshadow people to feed his human side, but other than that.

It’s going great.

But Danny doesn’t realize that with Amity gone (or smth, you choose) which was his haunt, he slowly makes the trash can into his new haunt.

And slowly but surely, Danny’s beloved haunt trash can starts to become other worldly kinda.

Yk because of the ectoplasm.

So now Danny’s lovely trash can haunt has more space inside and- Hey Danny can actually sleep in it better!! And he got some company too!

In the form of blob ghosts.

Two actually.

They keep his trash can clean and help purifying some corrupted ectoplasm that he finds. Because for some reason this universe’s ectoplasm seems half way artificial and tastes a bit weird. Which is where the blob ghosts help out in.

Everything was great.

Danny was loving the trash can life style.

He has two blob ghosts friends. Which he named Sam and Tucker, and yea they couldn’t talk but that was fine.

He wasn’t lonely, he wasn’t. He had two very much talking friends like Sam and Tucker.

However one day two weirdly dressed people- oh they were hero’s.

Well anyway they found him, one woman stripper and one furry guy.

But it was on accident! He was just peaking out of his beloved haunt trash can, and they spotted him.

He stared, they stared back.

Then the woman stripper asked him questions, even when he said:

“Don’t mind me, have a nice day!”

But they just kept bother him and giving him weird looks and glances.

Which- rude.

Didn’t they see his mark on his haunt trash can? Obviously it means it’s his home, so they shouldn’t be bothering him still. He’s safe as can be.

Plus.

It’s not like he’s looking at them in suspicion and weirdness, I mean look at them! What kinda cheep knock off vampire fury mix and American stripper style clothing are those!

They should mind their own business!

———

Just a silly lil drawing of this lmao, don’t mind me.

[cak31ssuperi04]

"Basically what happens is, Grace and Max are right about to win. They're right about to do it. And then, there's a groaning. In the floorboards. Suddenly, the staircase gives out beneath Grace and Max, and they fall through the floors. They fall stories. Pieces of wood shove through their chests, and they both are killed."

"But keep this in mind, nothing truly dies in the Waylon house. Grace and Max become ghosts, and they're off doing whatever, but they're no longer involved in the tournament."

So.. that Pit Stop in Hatchetfield tag team deathmatch huh.

[theonewhowails]

nari goes on field trips :]

[lotus-pear]

rewatched madoka magica again today bc i fucking hate myself and to absolutely no one’s surprise i went through all five stages of grief in a single evening

[kennycrows]

First impression of Snow? All talk.

[antsday]

okay i will admit it: i don't like 431 from a narrative standpoint (or really any standpoint) but if you view it exclusively as the true epilogue in an alternate universe of mha in which 5 year old katsuki is right about deku looking down on him and doing everything to spite him and wanting to bring about his downfall then the whole thing becomes kind of absurdly funny

[a2zillustration]

We lived.

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[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

[epickiya722]

Y'all can't keep doing this to me, okay? Oh, Yuji just like his teacher for real!

[theyilinglaozus]

So I've been sort of binge watching Mysterious Lotus Casebook these past few days and I am so here for the 'you are the only one (rival) for me in this life Li Xiangyi' energy Di Feisheng carries. He's not here to solve crimes and fix the past! He's not here to make friends! He's just here to settle the score with his number one true rival. I respect that.

[worstloki]

brodinsons AU where they are both acting the entire time the plot occurs. They both know both sides of what is happening at all times.

[alttac-co]

My part of an art trade with @tribius-art :D

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 24 thoughts:

. . . fucking . . . fuck. Just . . . fuck. Fucking fucky fucking FUCK, THAT WAS SO BADASS!!!!!

ALL OF IT HOLY SHIT I DON'T CARE, JUST PICK ANY MOMENT!! EVERYTHING EVERYONE DID WAS BADASS!

LIKE. FUCK. COLIN GOT TO LOOK BADASS.

He even got "yelling in caps" badass. Just for the one scene when he picked up Chevy. He did one fucking thing right, which was help someone up and then let THEM be cool.

And speaking of . . . HOLY FUCKING SHIT CHEVY! YOU DIDN'T GET KILLED BY TIME TRAVEL CHAD!

WHICH MEANS I DON'T HATE YOU ANYMORE!

WHICH MEANS I CAN SHOUT ABOUT HOW BADASS THAT WAS!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck waiting for my interlude section to talk about this. That final scene with Behemoth was one of the most visually badass things I have ever read in my life! Fuck. I get fucking chills just thinking about it.

I can see that entire last fight in my head very clearly, almost like remembering an anime scene. Perfectly written.

And Regent! Look at you go, that's character growth!

I mean sure, you died. But growth!

Besides, you dying legit made Imp cooler. She was already great but "I'm going to fucking kill his dad for him" is even better! And Wanton's apparently got jokes so we still have a funny guy.

Basically if someone had to die I'm happy it was you. Sorry not sorry.

ALSO FOIL WHAT THE FUCK YOUR POWER COULD ALWAYS DO THAT AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN SITTING THERE SHOOTING THINGS?

I . . . I just . . . girl! How?? You could literally have turned a piece of rebar into a sword that Alexandria could have cut Leviathan in half with! And that's just what I thought of in the first few seconds after seeing this! Spend some time actually thinking about what you can do lady!

But luckily my daughter is here to do the thinking, and be FUCKING AMAZING AT IT!!!

LIKE HOLY SHIT TAYLOR, YOU CUT OFF BEHEMOTH'S LEG!

AND THAT PLAN HOLY SHIT! YOU MADE A PLAN THAT SET RACHEL UP TO BE THE BADASS HERO WHO CUTS OFF BEHEMOTH'S LEG, AND SETUP REALLY POWERFUL HEROES AS HER SUPPORT!

Fuck half of Eidolon's fucking job was "Catch my girlfriend and fly her back to me."

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOLFSPIDER WOLFSPIDER WOLFSPIDER!!!!!!

And the snuggling at the end, as they were leaving!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god and the lightning rod! That was insane!

Golem just has really cool powers. Glad Theo is doing ok.

And Alexandria's power preserves the body so Pretender can just puppet her. That's wild. Kinda annoying, my daughter just killed her!

And and and Taylor talked with Contessa!

AND CONTESSA SHARED HER POWER!!!

I was pretty close, didn't have it that specific, but basically was expecting something similar. Fuuuuck it's so cool!

Also the underground cities and the secret capes were wild. Kinda unfortunate that you guys set things up for Behemoth to be able to collapse the entire city, gave him lots of existing tunnels and such to work with.

My daughter could have done a little less bonding with Phir Sē. Ideally. Would have made me feel a little better.

But holy shit a time portal bomb made of looped light?? GOD DAMN. That sure hit like a truck. Just not a big enough truck.

Also Grace and Cuff are dating. I don't make the rules I just enforce them.

And the rules are "make it gay"

God and the whole "thinkers stuck on a roof" bit. Christ that was planned badly. They almost died because nobody had some rope. Embarrassing.

I'm glad Tattletale is doing ok. She got her girlfriend to steal a dudes phone for her, which was pretty funny. And I loved how she still got to do her big reveal to Chevy, she needs that.

HOLY SHIT AND TAYLOR TELLING RACHEL HOW TO TAKE CARE OF IMP?? SHE UNDERSTANDS HER GIRLFRIEND. GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAAAAAAYYY!

And fuckin Tecton just trying so hard to do the same thing with Rachel first and just failing so completely. And then trying again. And again. Bless his big himbo heart he's trying.

Fuck there's so much, I'm sure I'm missing a dozen other things. Every chapter had 20 moments I could mention.

Seriously though, sucks for New Delhi. "There’s nothing left to protect here" is a heck of a line and it is not what anyone wants to hear.

Chevy interlude (the rest of it) thoughts:

Holy shit Chevy's shadows! I wish he had described more of them, I wanted to know everyone's image! Just so much data there.

Fun to see the early Wards. Fun to see that Colin was always like that.

Hero's death was absolutely a targeted hit, he started asking too many questions, pushing back on things.

Chevy's whole power is just really fascinating. Really interesting to think about.

RIP Mouse Protector

Also the fact that her shadow was her laughing makes me think she might have lost the ability to be sad when she triggered, which is unfortunate if true. I mean Bonesaw got you either way so I guess it doesn't matter now.

Loved getting a wonderful list of Endbringer attacks. Sure it still wasn't all of them, but up through Simmy showing up is still pretty great.

Extremely curious about Mr. Keene, keeping an eye out for more info on him.

Tattletale just needed this poor man to read her texts and let her do her fucking THING! It's all she wants.

Anyway ya turns out powers (except Scion of course) can't touch the actual core of the Endbringers and I'm like 95% sure I have a good idea as to why it works like that, but still got a little bit of that uncertainty.

Endbringers are directly related to Eidolon in some way, I am pretty sure of that. Created by him. Previous bodies. Sentient poop for all I know! They're connected though.

HOLY SHIT WHEN HE SEES TAYLOR'S SHADOW DURING THE FINAL FIGHT!!!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! SHE LOOKED SO BADASS!!!!

Aftermath interlude thoughts:

Pretender and Satyr are so gay. That one's easy I don't even gotta try.

Everyone just starting to freak out about how things are gonna escalate instead of just celebrating the win is really unfortunate.

I mean, they aren't wrong. Another Endbringer is gonna come. But it would be nice if they could live in happy ignorance for a few days.

I'm guessing it'll either be two Endbringers that always attack at the same time or one Endbringer that uses teleportation to swap to a different city after a certain period of time. In either case basically fucking up the organized response ability.

Already mentioned this, but Rachel and Taylor fell asleep on each other!!!! GGGGAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!

If Dragon comes back wrong I'm putting all of the blame on Colin.

Fucking Danny just fucked that phone call up so bad. This man can not get it fucking right. FUCK.

GLENN YOU FUCKING FUCK I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR REASONS ARE YOU DON'T PUT SOMEONES PRIVATE VIDEO THEY TOOK FOR THERAPY ON THE INTERNET!!

AND YOU NEVER EVEN FUCKING SAID "SORRY"!!!!! YOU EXPLAINED YOUR ACTIONS AND WHY YOU HAD TO DO IT EVEN THOUGH IT WOULD HURT HER AND YOU COULDN'T ASK HER CAUSE SHE WOULD HAVE SAID NO BUT YOU NEVER EVEN SAID SORRY!!!

Like for real. Taylor says "You could have asked" and you respond with "You would have said no." Fuck at least just say sorry!

[galactaknightyaoi]

Art Fight #3

Yayyyy!! Final attack of the year!!! I'm so glad to finally be done... Everything I wanted to say, I've already said on the attack itself. Irregardless I wanted to repeat just how much I love these silly kids. They are beyond adorable.

From left to right, their owners:

Oniria & Aster: @deefighter2739

Onya: @moonmacabre01

Luna: Mine :)

Iris: @inufaiya

Vega: @miniiinebulaee

Valentine: @das-a-kirby-blog

Bunny: @xwildwhirlx

Andromeda: @eryth-arts

Deeby: @clairetimes

Polari: @maybeher0

Polaris: @fecto-eevee-agitando

Sunset: @deafeninggardenerpanda

Gibbous: @blueberryfruitbat

[the-wintry-mizzenmast]

When a dao isn't just a dao 笛飞声的刀不只是刀

A quick and dirty analysis of Di Feisheng's dao

Following up from my previous post speculating about Di Feisheng's dao 刀, I think the configuration of Di Feisheng's dao is quite clever and consistent with his character, despite looking like nonsense at first glance. I know more taiji and kung-fu 刀 dao forms than I do 劍 jian forms, and this is what I choose to do with my knowledge and time, I guess.

Before I launch into his dao in particular, I think it's important that you understand what a dao is, and how you are supposed to attack and defend with one.

When you say 刀 dao (in English, it's also been called a Chinese saber or broadsword), this is what it's supposed to look like (I've annotated the image below from the Wikipedia entry on dao). They are by definition single-edged, and the majority are slightly curved (though there are some variants such as the Nandao 南刀 which are straight). A dao should have a point, a sharp edge (in red), and a blunt edge (in blue). The blunt edge (short edge, or inner edge, since the thing is curved) is usually quite thick.

One of the main ways that a dao does damage is through slashing/chopping motions, either down, sideways, or upwards (which my sifu always called uppercuts). All upwards slashes with the dao require that you turn your wrist so that the sharp edge, which usually faces down, faces upward instead.

The other way that a dao does damage is via forward thrusts, where the point of the dao is supposed to pierce enemy flesh. The basic attacks I've mentioned above are in the beginning of this clip, and I've added text to the original video below to highlight what's what and what they're supposed to look like.

(n.b. I was just randomly searching for videos to show what I'm trying to describe, no endorsement intended).

One of the things you'll notice from the above video as well is that the master is putting his hand on the blunt edge. This helps stabilize and give more power to the dao through its various motions, and is a basic part of how dao forms are supposed to work.

The blunt edge is also important because it helps in defense. One of the cardinal rules of a dao is that when you are defending, the dao should be kept close to your body, with the blunt edge facing your body. This is what a basic block looks like:

Should you get hit, you can brace the blunt edge of the blade using a shoulder or upper arm. In certain positions you can also use your hand as a brace on the blunt edge to stop (or execute) a particularly strong attack.

These are the dao basics. Now you have enough background to know what makes Di Feisheng's dao so unusual: it is double-edged, and it has a blunt tip.

These two things must follow if you have a dao that has two edges and is blunt at the tip:

You are limited to slash and chop attacks as your main blade damage. Thrust attacks won't penetrate flesh unless you have a serious amount of qi behind it.

Your defense is limited, because you can't use your dao to defend in the usual way.

But wait, does Di Feisheng's dao really have two full edges?

If you're a details guy like me, and completely obsessed over Di Feisheng (guilty as charged), you'll notice that one the edges of his dao doesn't actually extend the full length of the blade:

From the way that light reflects off the edges of his dao, you can see a bit on the short (inner) edge of the dao where the blade seems to transition from sharp to blunt:

And this shot, it's confirmed that there is a short blunt area on the inner edge of his dao:

In this memorable scene, Di Feisheng uses his hand against the very short blunt part of his dao to press his attack into Li Xiangyi's cheek:

One of the upsides of his unusual dao is also that he can use the inner edge for attacking as well. Upward sweeps using the inner edge aren't possible with usual daos (because they are blunt), but are possible with Di Feisheng's dao. I think we see an example of that here in the way you see his arm sweeping upward. (He has also added a substantial amount of qi to this sweeping strike, most of us plebs don't have enough qi to do anything like this.)

You can see how he gains some flexibility to his attacking capabilities, when he flips his blade mid-block into an attack:

While a double-edge gives him more adaptability in terms of attack on along the slashing and chopping edges of his dao, what he is losing out on because of the blunt end is thrust. You almost never see Di Feisheng thrust his dao forward because his sword just doesn't work like that.

In this final scene in the episode one fight when they are charging at each other, Li Xiangyi thrusts the Shaoshi Jian forward, but Di Feisheng, due to the design of the dao, has to slash:

However, most of the power of a dao is in its slashing and chopping motions. This is where the weight of the blade and its curved design (plus gravity and force) result in the most damage. Unlike the jian, the dao's thrusts do less damage. My conclusion about this is that it's a purposeful trade-off that Di Feisheng has made. He would rather maximize his offensive capabilities where they are strongest.

In terms of blocking, the design of Di Feisheng's dao means he's at a defensive disadvantage, since there's no blunt area to brace his body against for blocking (he can use his hand on the bit that is blunt, but because he has an edge along the rest of it, he can't use a shoulder or upper arm). This is a key feature of the standard dao that Di Feisheng's dao is missing.

In this move in the Battle of the Eastern Sea in episode 1, we see Di Feisheng execute a block, but he's got both of his hands along the hilt instead:

At this point, it should be noted that the standard dao is typically a one-handed weapon. The hilt is slightly curved, so you can get a good downwards chop with your wrist. There are other daos that have straight hilts and can be two-handed like the Miaodao 苗刀 (which is more similar to the Japanese katana 刀 than most Chinese folks like to admit). Di Feisheng's dao being straight-hilted and two-handed isn't that unusual because it's a feature that can be present on certain types of dao (it's way less unusual than the two edges!), but I thought it was worth pointing out in case any eagle-eyed readers noticed the difference between the Wikipedia image and what Di Feisheng has.

I could wax on about Di Feisheng's dao and his fighting style forever, but I think this thread has gone on for long enough.

I believe that the design of Di Feisheng's dao is very clever. At first glance, it seems utterly silly (what kind of dao has two edges?), but on deeper inspection of his style and how he uses it, it is consistent with his character.

He is always playing on Hard Mode because he is trading defense for more flexibility in his offense. And he is maximizing his offense where it is strongest (slashes and chops), and choosing to forego the offensive capabilities where it is weaker (thrusts).

...And that really is Di Feisheng's martial arts style in a nutshell, isn't it?

[hq92]

I haven't dipped my toes into writing Shakarian fanfic (yet), and while my heart wants to imagine fluffy happy scenarios, my brain instead keeps saying:

Imagine a team of youngsters who have to take down the galaxy's new Big Bad™, but they're just so young and don't have their shit together and keep getting their asses handed to them. But then their adventures cause them to cross paths with an elderly turian. He's old, he's cranky, but damn if he isn’t a hell of a shot and full of bad ass war stories from back when the Reapers threatened everything.

...He also has this horribly sad and lonely look whenever he thinks they aren’t looking, and keeps saying cryptic stuff about, "Waiting years to go up to that bar and get a drink with her."

"Hey man, if it's a bar you want to go to, we can just go and hit one up whenever-"

"No. It's not time yet."