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piltover-sharpshooter · 9 months ago

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𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍.

Tagged By: @witchcraftandburialdirt (Thank you dear!)

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have? ━━ This is going to sound incredibly basic, but it was Caitlyn's depiction in the Warriors cinematic. Before that Cait was always shown in her awful stripper parody of herself costume, so seeing her be so cool while at the same time getting the itch to get back into RP was a perfect combination. And I'm glad too, cause I started writing a few moments before she became extremely popular cause of her ASU and Arcane, so I always have some food and inspiration!

is there anything you don’t like to write? ━━ Not per se? I tend to be open to a lot of stuff depending on the partner I am writing with. If it counts, I guess I don't like being thrusted into a position where I HAVE to write something I'm not comfortable with without my partner having double checked.

is there anything you really enjoy writing? ━━ I'm going to be real with you chief, I like writing dumb shit. It's just fun, I try to both have fun with my writing and make others have fun as well. I love angst, I love smut, I love fluff, I adore all of it, but funny stuff? Comedy? Oh that's my jam, I am here for the memes.

how do you come up with headcanons? ━━70% of the time it's usually me talking to other people and a subject with be brought up, like amount of languages learnt, or instruments, and such and I end up thinking how does Cait relate. The other 30% it's actually something I have completly stolen from other media lol. I will just see something that jumps at me and think 'Oh Cait can do that too'

do you write in silence or do you play music? ━━ I tend to write in silence, if nothing else because listening to music while writing makes my brain's wires get mixed. There are times when I listen to music, but it's more for ideation and inspiration.

do you plan your replies or wing them? ━━I tend to wing it! I ask beforehand if we have a plan for the specific thread, and if so I try to steer it in that direction, but for the most part I don't know what I will do until I get behind the keyboard.

do you enjoy shipping? ━━ Absolutely, I am a ship whore. Clarification, I don't ship with anyone ever, and I do enjoy just a biiiit of preamble, characters meeting and interacting

what’s your alias/name? ━━ Monkey or Choncc preferably

age? ━━ 27

birthday? ━━ The 25th of October

favorite color? ━━ It changes depending on my mood, but purple

favorite song? ━━ Don't have one! I tend to listen to a lot of stuff until I get bored of it and move on until I decide I can come back to it kek. At the moment my favorite song to listen to is Industry Baby .

last movie you watched? ━━ Madame Web, it was trash, I loved it.

last show you watched? ━━ Dungeon Meshi! Sidenote, WATCH DUNGEON MESHI.

last song you listened to? ━━Molgera's Theme Remix. (Blame @songofsilentechoes I've been listening to it religiously)

favorite food? ━━ Oh fuck, I'm a fat bastard how can I pick ONE?! You have milanesas, pasta carbonara, pizza, and so much more....shit I'll have to go with a classic and say double cheese burger, but that's a tough one and very interchangable.

favorite season? ━━ Winter. FUCK THE HEAT, ALL MY HOMIES HATE THE HEAT. COLD SQUAD FOR LIFE. Unless I'm at the beach

do you have a Tumblr best friend? ━━ Shoutout to my VAMPIRE SQUAD. @thegoldentigress/@nova--spark , @angelicxlly , @heredis-sanguinis and @weapon-turned-jack

Tagging: @songofsilentechoes @risingshine @undercity-merc @ferinehuntress @shimmerbeasts @playgroundmonsters @blackrosesmatron @darkin-of-shurima @heredis-sanguinis @weapon-turned-jack @nova--spark And whoever else wants to!

#occ #mun post #thanks for the tag!#long post

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ungodly-amounts-of-godly-trauma · 2 years ago

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minor bracket contestants

32 of them! see all the teams, the contestants, and the fandoms below. i likely won't be including who's in the teams in the polls due to character limits, but the fandoms will be there. if you want to suggest better team names, my askbox is open!

x-laws (shaman king) consists of lyserg diethel and iron maiden jeanne

every eliotrope (dofus and wakfu)

team savior (savior) consists of seyeon, wohn, and juyi

raistlin majere (dragonlance)

marie korbel (skullgirls)

hitori uzune (hatoful boyfriend)

team blaseball (blaseball) consists of jaylen hotdogfingers, parker macmillan, and also every single blaseball character!

team dragon quest (dragon quest 9) consists of everyone especially the unnamed protagonist

owen carvour (spies are forever)

fai flourite (tsubasa reservoir)

artorin damara (the hands of the emperor)

tanya von degurechaff (the saga of tanya the evil)

dio (virtue’s last reward)

nimay (queer dungeoneers)

mark heathcliff (the mandela catalogue)

renarin kholin (the stormlight archives)

the sanshuu middle school hero club (yuuki yuuna is a hero & washio sumi is a hero) consists of yuuki yuuna, tougou mimori, inubouzaki fuu, inubouzaki itsuki, and miyoshi karin

tsubaki kasugano (mirai nikki/future diary)

neku sakuraba (the world ends with you)

team abc’s lost (abc’s lost) consists of richard alpert, benjamin linus, and john locke

mad rat (mad rat dead)

velvet crowe (tales of berseria)

doomguy (doom series)

maelgwyn (friends at the table)

guren squad (owari no seraph) consists of ichinose guren, hiiragi shinya, goshi norito, juujou mito, hanayori sayuri, and yukimi shigure

sinbad (magi: the labyrinth)

cale henituse (lout of the count’s family/trash oh the count’s family)

elder kevin price (the book of mormon musical)

merle highchurch (the adventure zone)

team oc (brain) consists of salty, thorax, arden chimestock, and vandium! if you created any of these four, respond to this post letting me know so i can easily keep track

the sinners (limbus company)

harry watling (inside man)

#masterpost #(un)godly trauma #minor masterpost #minor bracket

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princessravenna · 1 year ago

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@sharktofu tagged me in a tag game! Thank you for tagging!

There goes 13 songs that I've been listening on the loop:

I Am the Night - Perturbator

Never Looking Back - P.T. Adamczyk (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Soundtrack)

Death Squad - Perturbator

Disco Inferno - Perturbator

Breath of a Serpent - LudoWic (Katana ZERO Soundtrack)

Full Confession - LudoWic (Katana ZERO Soundtrack)

Kronika's Hourglass - Mortal Kombat 11 Soundtrack

Cage Mansion - Mortal Kombat 1 Soundtrack

Washing Machine Heart - Mitski

Bloody Mary - Lady Gaga

HISTORY - Gazelle Twin & Trash Generation (Cyberpunk 2077 Soundtrack)

Sardaukar Chant (Remix) - F3LYN

The Final Combat - Stuart Chatwood (Darkest Dungeon Soundtrack)

Yes, I'm aware that the majority of those songs are soundtracks of various games and frankly, I don't care. I just enjoy them very much!

It was fun!

Now I'm gonna tag: @sunflowervc @dicktat @lyypeachu - if you wanna share, no pressure!

Love you guys! <3

#tag game

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britcision · 1 month ago

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Okay so hear me out

I 10000% also would never trust him with Thistle but for a slightly different reason

Cuz Mithrun’s behaviour pattern towards dungeon lords is trying to talk them down

When they refuse to surrender the dungeon he goes full terrifying murder mode, but during every run in with the dungeon lords, even with the same person more than once, he asks them to give it up

There’s a reason he’s the one to agree to Laios’ deal

(1 - kill the demon shit yeah go nuts

2 - he’s always giving people a way out)

If the demon’s visible he’s a little murderhornet but for the dungeon lords? He takes them down, then gives them a chance before taking them out, and tries to warn them from his own experiences what it’ll mean

Thistle:

Marcille before she gets all lorded:

Like seriously look at his face there

He’s absolutely awful at it but he’s trying to reach out and connect

And then even after she has knocked out his whole squad and is about to take over the world, he asks her again:

He broke off his attack on Thistle and on Marcille to ask if they were really sure this was what they wanted, if they couldn’t be persuaded to save themselves

And he thinks this is a sensible and reasonable way to talk to people, and has all the self preservation instincts of a drunken mayfly, so if he’s in charge of Thistle they’ll be wandering the forest identifying mushrooms by licking them and be dead in a week

He is so incredibly bad with people

He’s really actually trying to be compassionate and helpful but he’s saying “hey by the way everything you want is dogshit and you should just stop caring about the overriding desire that the demon chose you for”

Awful little trash man im love him

He’d probably not intentionally hurt Thistle post series (he’s fine with everyone at former dungeon lord meetings and gets on with Marcille) but my gods if he was in charge of his welfare

If all Thistle wants to do is lie in the ground and stare at clouds 50/50 Mithrun will let him and carry on his day

(The other 50% Mithrun lies down with him and they both need rescuing)

Deeply traumatized people are not necessarily good caregivers for those with the same trauma, no matter how much they empathize

Mithrun caring for Thistle? Nah

Mithrun and Thistle completely accidentally going on adventures and bonding while their caregivers desperately try to stop them? Yessssssss

Mithrun and Thistle the bitchy old men in the nursing home complaining about how they could totally be independent and they don’t need all this care and ~immediately~ walking straight into a pond and just deciding to stay

They can’t solve each others’ problems but dammit together they can be much bigger problem for everyone else

By the way Falin is also ineligible for this combo specifically cuz while she is a significantly more competent caregiver and actually likes taking care of people, she would ABSOLUTELY buy into their bullshit adventures just immediately

She finds Mithrun and Thistle in the pond, the rest of the evening is looking at cool frogs, all dripping wet

They all get head colds and share a sickroom while Marcille loses her goddamn mind

Tbh Mithrun constantly getting in the way of whoever’s caring for Thistle has so much more meat on the bone, he can’t be The Man telling Thistle to eat his veggies and go to bed

They need to bond over being horrible little bastards with no wants or physical desires climbing out the bedroom window to go do absolutely nothing except Not Be In Bed

Mithrun has no wants and no desires but what he does have is Little Bitch Attitude and I love that for him

At best, big brother Mithrun can commiserate but remind Thistle that yeah, they do both need to listen to their caregivers or their bodies will die

i know it's a common enough fandom trope to have mithrun take care of thistle post canon so they can bond over similar experiences and all that, and i don't mean to rain on anyone's party but huh.... given mithrun's behavior pattern towards dungeon lords i wouldn't trust him with thistle

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi spoilers #delicious in dungeon spoilers #i love mithrun with all of my heart but by gods this man cannot be trusted with his own health bugger anyone elses #mithrun of the house of kerensil #thistle dungeon meshi #i love my disaster dungeon lords #they will not be competent in any combo but they will be more fun #let them be unmitigated hazards

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strangermarvelss · 2 years ago

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partners?- e.m

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Cheerleader!Reader

Summary: you've been working together with dustin on some side work and eddie gets jealous

Warnings: bit of angst but not really, wingman!dustin, fluffy end

Request: Yes

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: another lovely request! hope i did your dream justice lol. enjoy! -sava

“Tonight at 7 work for you Dustin?” You ask, lunch tray in hand as you and then freshman boy walk closer to his lunch table. The two of you stop when you approach the well known Hellfire table, you looking up and flashing the boys a smile, your eyes lingering on the repeat senior Eddie Munson for a few moments before hearing Dustin respond.

“Yeah, 7 is good. Can you drive me though?” He asks.

“How about I just meet you at your house?” You question. You watch him nod and jump for a second, before bidding him and the other boys goodbye and head off to eat with the rest of the cheer squad. You plop yourself down next to the other girls in your usual seat and begin eating your food.

“I’m totally telling Suzie,” Mike teases as Dustin sits next to him. He scoffs at the Wheeler boy and begins unpacking the lunch his mother prepared for him.

“Yeah, like how could you? Does Never Ending Story mean nothing to you anymore?” Lucas says with sarcasm dripping in his tone. The table erupts into a fit of giggles, causing your head to perk up for a moment from your own. You always admired the Hellfire club, even with them being labeled as outcasts and freaks. They were unapologetically themselves and it was something you wish you could do yourself.

“Will you guys give it a rest? She’s coming over to work on our programing project, we just got paired together last period,” Dustin explains to the table. At the head of the table, the Dungeon Master himself was watching the curly haired freshman with an envious look, his big round eyes beginning to twitch. He felt a nudge come from his side and looked over, causing him to drop his bag of mini pretzels on the table.

“You alright there, Eddie?” Gareth asks.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” The metalhead retorts, scoffing and picking his pretzels up and jamming them in his mouth.

“Oh, I don’t know, just saw you staring daggers at the freshmen over there who has plans with your girl,” Gareth responds back. Eddie’s eyes are quick to glare at him as the table falls silent, a few “oohs” scattering around.

“Your girl? You’ve never even talked to her,” Mike says matter-of-factly. Lucas nudges him in his side, cause Mike to yelp out an in pain.

“Wait, Eddie…do you like Y/N?” Dustin asks him. Everyone’s eyes were now on Eddie once again, a blush beginning to form at his cheeks that he quickly tries to wipe away, which ultimately doesn’t help.

“Shut it Wheeler. And keep your voice down Henderson!” Eddie replies, looking over at the sea of jocks in hopes you weren’t able to hear the conversation from where you sat. He watches your eyes beam as you talk with your other cheer friends, the smile on your face stretching from ear to ear as the bow in your hair moves frantically as you speak. Good, you didn’t hear them.

“Eddie’s had a crush on her since last year, but has been too chicken shit to do anything about it. He just stares and hopes from a far,” Jeff explains to the freshmen members. Eddie was getting physically embarrassed, trying to hide his face and reactions from the truth being spilt out into the open.

“Didn’t know you had a thing for cheerleaders Ed,” Dustin says, shoveling a cracker into his mouth. Eddie rolls his eyes and begins to pick at his pretzels a bit.

“Not just any ol’ cheerleader Henderson,” he begins, looking over to the table where you remained. “Just her.”

“Awwww,” the entire Hellfire table said in unison, making Eddie jump from his seat and beginning to throw his trash away.

“Oh bite me.”

The lunch bell springs to life, notifying everyone to stream out of the cafeteria and back to their regularly scheduled academics. One by one, the Hellfire members rise from their seats and discard of their trash, making their way out of the cafeteria in groups.

“Henderson, wait up,” Eddie calls out, jogging to walk with Dustin towards his next class. “Hey I was wondering, if, uh-you could talk me up to Y/N tonight? You know, casually, make sure its organic. Don’t force it, ya know?” he rambles to the boy. Dustin claps his hand on Eddie’s shoulder and nods.

“Yeah, I’ll see what comes up and make sure to tell her you’re a catch,” he says with a smile. Eddie returns his smile, then flinches when the warning bell rings.

“Shit, can’t be late. Thanks man, I appreciate it!” He exclaims as he scurries down the hall, trying not to be late to Miss O’Donell’s class for who knows however many times now.

———————————————————————————————

You pull up to the address Dustin gave you after school when you were on your way to cheer practice, turning the engine to your car off and climbing out with your backpack in hand. You walk up the path and knock on the door, quickly greeted by a blonde woman with a warm smile.

“You must be Dustin’s partner, Y/N. Dusty! Your partner is here!” She exclaims. She shifts to the side and her hand motions you to step inside, allowing you to match her smile and step through the threshold. You look around for a moment, taking in the cozy nature of Dustin’s home, with family photos and baby pictures scattered around the living room. It warmed your heart seeing people’s domestic life, especially someone as sweet as Dustin.

“Hey, Y/N! Follow me, my room is this way,” Dustin greets you, that braces filled smile growing on his face. You head down the hallway following him.

“Remember to keep your door open Dusty since you’re in there with a girl!” she exclaims sweetly down the hall. You chuckle to yourself as Dustin turns to you, cheeks bright red and an embarrassed look on his face, causing you to giggle.

“Mom!” He yelps out, his voice cracking a little with the hitch pitch tone. You set you bag down next to you as you take a seat on his desk, looking around at all the posters on his wall and figures scattered across various surfaces. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s all good,” you laugh out, bending down to retrieve your books and pencil from your backpack. The two of you begin to bounce ideas off one another in an attempt to get some kind of footing for your project, the lightbulbs flashing for you both once an idea finally landing. Programming was kind of something you wanted to get into, as nerdy as it might sound. You were feeling a lack of passion lately, with the same routine every day putting you in a slump. Wake up, eat, go to school, cheer practice, the Friday night games for both football and basketball with the change of the season quickly approaching, go home, sleep, repeat. It was getting tiresome and you thought signing up for the new programming elective would be an interesting twist.

You go to put your books back in your bag as the two of you continue to talk, searching for some blank flashcards to write down your idea and some methods you both thought would make for a successful project when your walkman falls out, along with the tape you’d found solace in recently.

“Is that a Metallica tape?” Dustin asks you. You pick it up and hold it close to you, smiling at the freshman’s question.

“Yeah, it’s been my go to tape for a few weeks now. I’m trying to expand my interests and I really vibe with their music,” you explain, playing around with the tape for a bit before putting it back in your bag.

“You know,” Dustin begins, shifting a bit on his bed causing you to raise your eyebrows at him. “Eddie, you know Eddie, right? Course you do, everyone does. Anyway, h-he likes Metallica too. I bet he could give you some recommendations for some other bands. Only if you’re interested of course.”

“You really think he’d do that for me?” You question, a blush creeping up your neck and onto the apples of your cheeks, which you try to cover up a bit.

“Yeah of course! He loves giving music suggestions. Why wouldn’t he do that for you?” Dustin asks.

“I dunno…I just feel like he’d never go for anyone like me-shit, I mean talk to someone like me. He always goes on those rants in the cafeteria about popularity being a construct and how jocks and the, freaks, as he calls them, I don’t think of them like that, don’t get along and, uh. Yeah I dunno,” you ramble on, your hands making weird attempts to distract Dustin from your words as you speak. You scratch the back of your neck, embarrassment seeping into your bones and you feel the boy’s eyes staring at you, his jaw slightly agape.

“Go for anyone like you? Y/N…do you like Eddie?” He questions again. Man this kid had a lot of questions. You turn to look at him, trying to hide the smile on your face as you nod.

“You cannot tell him though. I know your club is close but Dustin, I’m begging you not to say anything, please?” You ask, scooting his desk chair closer to him and placing your hands on his shoulders to show him just how serious you were. He nods and you remove your hands, a relieved sigh quickly soothing you from any worries you had felt within the last few minutes. “Alright, well I should probably get back home and work on my other homework for the night.”

You stand from his chair as you gather the last of your things and walk out into the hallway of the Henderson household. You flash a smile at Dustin’s mother, who was in a rocking recliner chair holding their family cat. You walk out the door and down the path again when you hear Dustin calling after you, turning on your heel slightly to meet his gaze.

“Come sit with us at lunch tomorrow. We can talk more about the project, and maybe Eddie will give you some suggestions on music too,” he offers. You nod and wave him goodbye, hopping into your car with a smile as you turn the engine one once again and pull out of his driveway.

———————————————————————————————

Smiling at the lunch lady, you take your tray and walk towards the Hellfire table and take a deep breath. Being nervous about sitting with the club was not something you were used to. You knew them all briefly, exchanging pleasantries when you saw them around the school, which made the other girls on your cheer squad question your sanity, but you didn’t care. They were nice guys and you wished the rest of the school could see them that way.

As you approach the table, you see Dustin look over his shoulder and smile at you, waving you over. You return the smile and scoot pass a few people to get to the open seat, which was right next to Eddie.

“Hey guys,” you greet them, setting your tray down and pulling the chair out to plop down in. You notice the guys staring at you, even the frizzy haired metalhead, blinking a few times as if to make sure this was really happening.

“Uh, hey, Y/N. What’cha doin’ at our table?” Eddie asks you, his chocolatey eyes making contact with yours. You feel your heart quite literally skip a beat, never having been this close in proximity to Eddie, only longing and staring at him from a far. His big eyes were intimidating yet hypnotizing, feeling as if you could swim in the brown sea of his irises. You quickly realize you were staring, and snap out of it before it become creepy.

“Y/N and I were going to talk more about our project. Hope you all don’t mind her joining us today,” Dustin answers for you, looking around the table as everyone nods. You look back over at Eddie, who kept his eyes on you for a moment, before being pulled away by Dustin’s voice, discussing the project a little. Picking at your food a bit, you and Dustin come to a mutual understanding of how you want the project to be completed and agree to a schedule so you can both get a good grade when the project comes due in a few weeks.

“By the way Eddie,” Dustin abruptly says with a snap of his fingers, causing you to jump a little. Your eyes look towards Eddie, who stares at the freshman boy with annoyance, making you giggle just a bit. “I was wondering if you had some music recommendations? Y/N here recently got into Metallica and was talking with me about getting some insights on other bands to listen to.”

Eddie blinks for a second, his eyes darting between you and Dustin for a moment.

“You, Y/N L/N…like Metallica?” He asks simply, his face deadpanned and voice treading lightly. You nod your head and slowly look away from him, starting to feel slightly embarrassed.

“Uh, yeah. I got into them a few weeks ago.”

“Hmm, interesting. Well I’m not one to judge a book by its cover. So there’s this band called-“ Eddie begins to say, but is interrupted by the sharp sound of the lunch bell. He lets out a dramatic groan and rises from his seat in order to throw his trash away, which you follow suit.

“Do you want to tell me about them on the way to O’Donnell’s? Since we have the class together?” You ask him, digging your hands into the pockets of your jeans. You watch his smile grow, his dimples coming to life as he nods and begins to walk with you towards class. As the two of you walk out of the cafeteria, Dustin begins to jump around and scream in excitement.

“My plan totally worked! I am the best wingman ever.”

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hellfire-munson · 2 years ago

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If You Love Her: Eddie Munson X Reader

Warnings: Angst, implied smut

Pairings: Eddie x Reader

Eddie Wayne Munson, Hawkins' own town freak. Leader and dungeon master of Hawkins High Hellfire club as well as the lead vocalist and guitarist of Corroded Coffin. He was a force to be reckoned with from his eccentric personality to his welcoming yet scary aura. Eddie didn’t regret a lot of things in his life except for one thing and that was letting you slip through his fingers. You were his best friend and his first love. You showed him the love and affection he so desperately craved but would never tell a soul about. You were something foregin to Eddie, it scared and excited him. When you first came back to Hawkins you immediately took up with Chrissy and her friends even though you stuck out like a sore thumb. Eddie knew you weren’t a cheerleader nor did you ever try to be no matter how many times Chrissy begged you to join the squad. What solidified Eddie’s love for you was the day you strolled into the cafeteria wearing the same DIO shirt that he had sewn to his vest. He saw how the basketball team looked at you with disgust but you were Chrissy's best friend so they had to accept how you looked regardless due to her, but that didn’t stop Jason from making an out of pocket remark about the way you dress.

“I swear Y/L/N you keep coming to school like that and hanging with us people are going to think we took on the freaks.” He snickers with Andy and Chance. Eddie’s head perked up when he heard the encounter. You smacked the table gathering more than just Eddie’s attention at this point.

“Carver, let's get one thing straight here, keep running that mouth of yours and I will make the rest of your high school days a living hell. If it wasn’t for Chrissy I would be over with the so called freaks as we speak because they seem a lot more tolerable than you and your losing team. Hearing your voice daily is so nauseating and I just want to sock you right in the jaw every waking moment I sit here.” You counter getting in his face. Chrissy tries hard to quiet her chuckles and the silence around you is deafening. What made the whole moment the greatest thing was the look on Jason’s face. Eddie smirks at the memory as he sits in his studio jotting down all the things he loves/loved about you in a song. You had Eddie wrapped around your finger, he was smitten from the first moment you had acknowledged his existence. Eddie was your first of many things but the biggest first he was, was your first love and you were his. Eddie was so used to being alone until you waltzed into his life and brought a whole new perspective to it. Your love of trash tv and movies, the fact that you were always so excited to receive love notes from him, you weren’t afraid of what your parents would think of him and how much love you had for your family and friends. After your first time with him he noticed how you latched onto his side under the covers and every night since you couldn’t fall asleep without being in his arms.

“Eddie, can you please come over, my parents are gone and I really don’t want to be alone. We can watch Nightmare on Elm Street… or we can do other things” You say in a suggestive tone over the receiver.

“Baby I need to finish this one sale and then I will be over in 30 minutes.” Eddie says unable to control the smile breaking onto his face. He kept that promise of being there within 30 minutes but the movie idea was long forgotten the moment he walked through your front door and saw you leaning against the counter in nothing but one of his shirts he had left behind. He hoisted you over his shoulder and you were sure to get complaints from the neighbors about the noise in the morning. During hellfire nights you graced them with your presence as well by bringing snacks, Dustin asked you to help him one day with his campaign he was putting together, Eddie had decided to drop by to see the younger Henderson but what he saw warmed his heart. You, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Erica and Max were all dancing around the living room to Dancing Queen. Things changed after that day when Max was on the verge of death due to Vecna he held you tightly and swore he would never leave you alone but that was what ultimately broke you. You didn’t want this life for him, you didn’t want him to be in harm's way due to you constantly being drug into the issues with the Upside Down. You couldn’t bear to lose him like you lost Billy, like you almost lost Max. Eddie was quick to try and change your mind but you were set on saving him. That summer after graduation was the worst summer of both your lives.

Eddie sat in his studio finishing the song he was writing before the show tonight at the hideout. He hoped you still would show up so he could try to get you back but he knew you probably wouldn’t but what he didn’t know was that Steve, Robin and Nancy already drug you out there. They were dead set on getting you two back together. They were so tired of you two continuously tiptoeing around the fact that you two still loved each other and they were sick of seeing their friends hurting over a decision that still didn’t keep Eddie out of harm's way. Jeff and Gareth were already there setting up when they caught a glimpse of you smiling with Robin and Steve. The excitement they felt seeing you here was unmatched. They contemplated telling Eddie when he arrived but they felt it would be best if he scanned the crowd during their set and saw your beautiful face smiling back at him.

“Y/N give this another chance, everything is back to Hawkin’s normal. We know you miss Eddie, it's written plain as day on your face and you didn’t put up much of a fight getting out here knowing he’s going to be here tonight playing.” Robin says, causing you to blush.

“Of course I still love him but who knows how long this ‘normal' will last. I can’t risk losing Eddie like we almost lost Max and like we lost Billy. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to him.” You counter.

“Who the upside down targets is out of our control, what happened to Billy wasn’t even your fault. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and we couldn't control that.” Steve says.

“And what about Max?” You say.

“After Billy’s death you know Max had regrets about all the things she felt about him, how at times she wished that he was dead. Vecna used that against her just like he did to Fred and Chrissy. I know you and Chrissy were close as well and that wasn’t your fault either nor was it Eddie’s as much as this town wanted to believe it was.” Nancy says rubbing your shoulder.

“I feel stupid for ending everything, there is no way he will want to take me back, he’s probably already moved on from me.” You sigh. When you look up at the stage you see Jeff and Gareth setting things up and give them a small smile and wave. They smile widely at you knowing some things that you don’t and making the anticipation that much more exciting. They knew Eddie had been working on a song about you and was hoping to play it for you tonight. Your mind wanders to Eddie as you wait for the show to start.

The first time you noticed the mysterious dungeon master was during lunch that day you put Jason in his place. Much like you Eddie was a sucker for theatrics and made it known how he felt about your so called friends. “The devil has come to America, dungeons and dragons.. At first regarded as a harmless game of make believe now has both parents and psychologists concerned. Studies have linked violent behavior to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodemy, suicide and even…. MURDER.” You hear him say to his friends as you walk by with Chrissy to grab some food. You couldn't make out what his friends were saying but once again he started his monologue.

“We’re the freaks because we like to play a fantasy game? But as long as you're into band, or science or pArTiEs.. OR A GAME WHERE YOU TOSS BALLS INTO LAUNDRY BASKETS.” He yells facing your table now.

“You want something freak?” Jason stands in defense of his friends. Eddie sees you smiling at him and throws up his fingers like a little demon at Jason causing you to almost spit out your drink as Jason retreats back to his seat.

“It’s forced conforming, THAT’S WHAT'S KILLING THE KIDS. That's the real monster.” He yells running off his table scaring Debra in the process making you chuckle even more. Jason clearly pissed off at the whole encounter even more knowing he’s gained your attention.

“Really Y/N, you dress like those freaks, laugh when they insult us. Keep dressing like them and giving them this kind of attention people are going to think we took on a resident freak.” He insults you. You slap your hands down on the table getting dangerously close to him.

“Listen Carver let's get one thing straight here, keep running that mouth of yours and I will make the rest of your high school days a living hell. If it wasn’t for Chrissy I would be over with the so called freaks as we speak because they seem a lot more tolerable than you and your losing team. Hearing your voice daily is so nauseating and I just want to sock you right in the jaw every waking moment I sit here, and another thing that I have just noticed you are all talk and don’t have the balls to back up anything you say. If you had wanted to start something with Eddie, be a man and do something about it. Stop with all these open ended threats of wanting to kick his ass for what? Because he is different from you and your friends?” You counter, causing his face to turn red from embarrassment and also catching the attention of a certain curly headed dungeon master. That was the day Dustin and Mike asked you to be the sub for Eddie’s campaign, that was also the day that you would remember for the rest of your life.

You were pulled from your thoughts when you heard Eddie’s voice through the mic.

“How’s everyone doing tonight!” He yells causing the crowd to scream.

“Hell yeah, that's what I like to hear! To start the show off I want to play a new song that I wrote for something very special to me, who I hope is here tonight.” He says scanning the crowd not yet seeing you.

Take it

If she gives you her heart don't you break it

Let your arms be a place she feels safe in

She's the best thing that you'll ever have

She always has trouble

Falling asleep

And she likes to cuddle

While under the sheets

She loves pop songs

And dancing, and bad trash TV

There's still a few other things

She loves love notes and babies

And likes giving gifts

Has a hard time accepting

A good compliment

She loves her whole family

And all of her friends

So if you're the one she lets in

Take it

If she gives you her heart, don't you break it

Let your arms be a place she feels safe in

She's the best thing that you'll ever have

She'll love you, if you love her

On days when

It feels like the whole world might cave in

Stand side by side and you'll make it

She's the best thing that you'll ever have

She'll love you, if you love her like that

You walk to the front of the crowd harmonizing with Eddie causing him to stop singing before the next verse.

He wakes me each mornin' by kissin' my cheeks

And when I look a mess, says, "You're perfect to me"

He's more than my best friend, forever and then some

And I choose him over and over again

He pulls you on stage with him as you both stare into each other's eyes. Those chocolate brown eyes that you missed so much bring back all the memories you both shared. Tears well in your eyes.

So take it

If she gives you her heart, don't you break it

Let your arms be a place she feels safe in

She's the best thing that you'll ever have

She'll love you, if you love her

On days when

It feels like the whole world might cave in

Stand side by side and you'll make it

Shes the best thing that you'll ever have

She'll love you, if you love her like that

She'll love you if you love her like that

She'll love you (She'll love you)

She'll love you (If you love her)

She'll love you

If you love her like that

She'll love you if you love her

On days when

It feels like the whole world might cave in

Stand side by side and you'll make it

She's the best thing that you'll ever have

She'll love you, if you love her like that.

Before you can say anything to him, his lips are on yours. Every bit of heartbreak, sadness and fear you felt about Eddie not wanting you back disappeared as you wrapped your arms around him melting into his kiss. The crowd goes crazy as you both pull away and rest your foreheads against one another.

“I love you so much Y/N, I was so lost without you.” He says holding your face.

“I love you too Eddie. I don’t want anyone else's love but yours. I’m sorry I hurt you, I thought I was protecting you but I realize now we need each other.” You say looking into his eyes kissing him again.

“Meet me at my van after the show, I’m taking you back home with me and never letting you go again.” He smiles.

“Is that a threat or a promise, Munson.” You smirk before breaking from his embrace to rejoin Nancy, Steve and Robin. Once again that night Eddie kept his promise of never letting you go and made sure you craved only his touch from now on.

It's been so long since I have posted on here... I took a very long hiatus due to some mental health issues but now I think its time for a come back and what better way to do that than with some Eddie Munson fics. Asks are open... Tags are open.

@runawaymunson @websterss @cherrymaybank @dancethroughthethunder @thee-ava-mariee @marleyrose17 @sunset-curve-fantom

#eddie munson #strangers things #eddie the banished #joseph quinn #stranger things 4 #eddie stranger things #eddie the freak munson #stranger things #hellfire club #eddie munson x female reader #eddie x reader #eddie munson imagines

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finalfantasyxivwritings · 3 years ago

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this has nothing to do w writing, but do you tank? and if so, is it difficult to get used to? ive pretty much only played healers (currently maining whm) and i really wanna pick up drk bc Fray but the idea of trying out a completely different role kinda scares me lol;;

Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat--I only have experience with healing (WHM main) and DPS (RDM/BRD). However, fortunately I do have good friends who play tank quite often, and are also DRK mains!

They've got a bit of experience in helping new tank mains get into the groove. I put all the information from one friend (@amasarbulqasar) below the readmore since it's a tad lengthy.

If @nijohirjesyho wants to add onto this please do!

Tanking in FFXIV is:

- make sure your stance is on

- 98% of the time face the mobs north and stand away from your party. If they come stand by you that officially becomes a them problem.

- take the aggro and make sure you keep it. Your AOE is usually good for securing enmity but you shouldn't spam it since your primary combo will traditionally do better.

- use mitigation on trash pulls. It's okay, that's what it's there for. Good to have on bosses too, but you need to live long enough to get that far. Don't panic and push it all at once. Rampart is also a very good resource, please don't forget your actions.

- you can interrupt moves with a flashing red bar. You should do so when it's a boss casting.

- keep bosses pointing north when possible. Boss fights usually introduce the tank buster early so you know what it's called when it's being cast later. Mitigate and keep that away from your party in case it's a cleave. Some exceptions apply but sharing the cleave is the exception, not the rule.

- if they're picking drk up know the grind is a bit weird because the early class plays... not funky? But its an adjustment from step 1. Don't eat too many pools of the abyss, this mechanic never comes back so don't worry about it. The damage buff is nice but not too make or break. Keep people off of Fray.

- get good gear. Invest in decent tank gear. Make it yourself if you must. As a tank you probably shouldn't be running around with gear 10+ levels below your actual level if you can avoid it. You're going to be hit a lot and your healers will thank you if you're at least trying with mitigation and a decent gear.

- Use FATES to level if you need a break from dungeons. They're underrated but very good. Hunts are good too. These are good tips especially in later areas where you're rewarded for FATE completion.

- if you're going into a raid or a dungeon as a new tank, it doesn't hurt to look up a guide and check how the bosses work. obscure ARR hard dungeons especially had some weird times where they hadn't decided what they want markers to look like yet. If you don't wanna, that's fine, but it doesn't hurt to be open about first time tanking!

- checking with your healer for pull sizes is not a bad idea. Some want in and out and want to hold your life in your hand. Some want small because they're learning too! If you're more comfortable with small pulls and people keep bringing more to you, saying something like "hey I'm new and not comfortable with big pulls" at least is open about it. If they're a dick I can't help you with that other than "your Squad in your grand company is Trust Alpha and while there are some hiccups are a good way to learn the dungeon without random people" if you have the rank for it

- Any time your level syncs down, your stance is turned off. If you go into maps it's turned off. Make sure you check if it's on or not.

- don't feel the need to Main Tank a trial if you're new. It's worth asking in chat, "hey do you wanna MT or should I?" If you're not sure. Don't make yourself uncomfortable if you're not up for it, but be aware you may need to turn your stance on and provoke if your cotank spontaneously dies

- Tank privilege is to stand in an AOE if that saves the party, but if you don't put people at risk for doing so get out of it and then move back in. Try to face all the enemies because you have a chance to "parry" (block ~15%) of damage if they're attacking from the front, but they'll always do full damage from the back

#ffxiv #notwriting #ask #tanking #advice #tank advice

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affableanthropologist · 4 years ago

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Oh I should TOTALLY do this to the Trash Squad!!!! =0

If you're a DM and tired of your players constantly killing important NPCs there is one easy solution. Have the stats ready at all times for every important NPC to possibly be an ancient dragon (color of your choice) in disguise. See! Problem solved!

#dungeons and dragons #dm inspiration #trash squad #they had it coming tbh

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affableanthropologist · 2 years ago

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Messy half-hour Kingston sketch. Kingston was my player's changeling warlock, until he defected to the enemy. The party killed him many sessions ago now, and afterward read a very angsty letter to them that they found on his person. It was a great session.

(the wings and horns were later acquisitions, his Evil Mentor had a fascination with magical body modifications.)

#kingston #dungeon trash squad #changeling #warlock #my scribbles

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fukoronoko · 2 years ago

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So…about last session @ze-royal-jester

#i‘m trash #my art #dnd #dnd shenanigans #dnd squad #dnd art #dungeons and drawings #dungeons and dragons

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emkay512 · 4 years ago

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Once Upon A Time

Chapter 1

Summary: This starts at the beginning of TRR book 2 with the Fydelia ball but with a different series of events. This AU is based off the show Once Upon a Time with Riley and Liam mirroring Snow and Charming. Characters belong to Pixelberry.

A/N: This is my FIRST EVER post and it’s literal trash 😅 I’ve never written before I found you all, and I’ve never had so much fun reading all the stories I found. If you read this please know I’m a complete rookie and I have no idea what I’m doing haha. I welcome and encourage any thoughts and feedback!

A/N 2: my biggest thank you’s to @queenrileyrose and @bbrandy2002 for pre-reading and giving me endless boosts of confidence!!! This first ever, cherry popping post, is in honor of you ❤️

Warnings: This will contain NSFW adult language and content. By reading, you acknowledge you are 18 and over.

I’m tagging those I’ve connected with and thought would be interested. Please let me know if you do or don’t want to be tagged!

@burnsoslow @ao719 @kat-tia801 @callmeellabella @charlotteg234 @neotericthemis

The welcome ball had been exhausting. Riley finally saw them, all of them, the good and the bad. Mostly bad with Liam being the exception.. except the fact that with him came his stupid fiancée. She was forced to deal with the Penelope’s and Kiara’s of the court, and got none of the Olivia’s and Drake’s of the world, with Olivia blackmailed and Drake most likely avoiding the court. Majority of the conversations she had to deal with throughout the night consisted of her rebutting all the allegations against her, most people believing that she had jilted their king. At least she had Maxwell and Bertrand, her home away from home. With the maybe two seconds she had Liam to herself and the amount of work and effort she had to put into her first public appearance, she was completely drained and changed from a gown and into more comfortable leggings and tank after she got back to her room of the Fydelia estate. Just as she was decompressing from the stress of her night, there was a knock on the door. She opened the door to see a particular grin on the face of one Maxwell Beaumont carrying a vase of two dozen roses.

“Greetings, little blossom! One of the staff members stopped me on the way of delivering these, asking what room you were in and I insisted on catching you myself.” Maxwell invited himself into her room after handing her the arrangement. Riley pressed the roses to her nose, inhaling the beautiful scent, and she noticed a note wrapped around one of the stems. She unwrapped the note and turned to Maxwell, who had already cozied himself up on her bed, clearly excited to hear what was on the note. “I noticed the paper in the arrangement too, it’s clearly from Liam isn’t it? You did so great tonight and he had the biggest puppy dog eyes on you, I knew his Prince Charming ass would pull off something like this.. well, go on! Read it!”

Riley quickly unwrapped and read Liam’s note, she had no idea the girlish grin she had plastered on and Maxwell was beaming. He had hated these past few weeks so much, he had been watching one of his closest friends, his makeshift sister, live in desperate torment, questioning her worth after hearing nothing from those she cared most about. She put the roses down and placed the note down next to them and looked up at Maxwell, “He wants me to meet him on his balcony in 20 minutes..”

“That is charmingly romantic, but did he slip in his royal socks and tumble down Madeleine’s overly buffed stairs?? He’s clear across the estate, it’s way too dangerous for you to get out of here alone.”

Riley sighed and collapsed onto the bed with Maxwell, “I don’t know Max, his note is sweet and remorseful, but.. maybe this isn’t about getting back together.. maybe I should just focus on helping house Beaumont and getting home..”

Maxwell stretched across to Riley and smacked her across her head, “Come on, Riles! You have been unable to go a single day without asking about him.. at least twice a day! You NEED to go meet him, otherwise I think both of your little fairy tale hearts will die.”

Riley smirked and rolled her eyes, “You’re so dramatic! And please tell me what fairy tale involved a half nude photo scandal and public humiliation leading to a bullshit engagement between a king and the only ice queen that would rival both Olivia and Elsa while singing let it go? Plus, didn’t you just mention that it’d be too dangerous for me to get to him?”

“Hellooooooo?? Ok first of all, literally all fairy tales are structured that way, couple meets and falls in love, and a public enemy curses them with a dramatic, heartbreaking lie, and then they defile all enemies and live happily ever after.. you’re just living the 21st century version of that! Nudes are basically the most vanilla scandal these days anyway. And secondly, have you JUST met mr covert ops extraordinaire, Maxwell Beaumont!? I said it’d be too dangerous for you to go out alone. Let’s just simply walk out together, and if we get any questions, we can just say we’re meeting my brother for.. you know.. this and that diplomacy reason.. whatever, I’ll wing it. Plus, look at you, you’re already dressed for stealth. I just need to get you outside, and then you can scamper over to Liam’s side of the building. Whaddya say, blossom?”

Riley was exhilarated. Maxwell always knew how to say the right things. She locked eyes with him, pointed straight to his chest and said, “You son of a bitch, I’m in.” They shared a mischievous smile and giggled their way out of her room, totally giddy without even shutting the door all the way. They were completely unaware of the royal guard that had been manning her room and slipped inside.

Thanks to Maxwell, Riley had successfully snuck out of the estate and crept to below the balcony of Liam’s room. She had to think fast as to how the hell she’d get up there, and then she spotted the flower vine growing on a trellis against the building, and she let out a small victorious, “Yes!”

But as soon as she took a step in that direction, a hand grabbed her shoulder and jerked her around so she was facing one of the royal guards. “I don’t think so, lady Riley,” he put a heavy sarcastic emphasis on the term lady, as he was clearly disgusted by her newfound tarnished reputation. “You’re coming with us.”

“Us?” And then from behind her, another guard bagged her head and she felt the grip of two men on each of her arms as they forced her to their destination, practically dragging her as they went. Riley’s heart was thundering in her chest. Where were they taking her? Back to the airport? A jail cell? A dungeon? A firing squad? She wasn’t at all expecting what she got. She was sat on a decently comfortable chair. The guards removed the bag and revealed to see she was in a study. A large one. And there before her on the opposite end of a mighty desk, was the king father, Constantine.

Constantine nodded a dismal to both the guards, and they took their leave. “Well, well. If it isn’t the disgraced American.” Riley was utterly confused and could feel the former kings command in the mood of the room. He did not like her, and she could feel his dislike radiating off of him. “You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you, you foolish girl?”

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“You had your exit, your out. You were scandled. Ostracized! I even had you as far as at the airport gates. But no, you came back. You came back and left me back at square one on how to get rid of you!”

Realization dawned to her, “It was YOU!” Riley leapt to her feet. She felt no fear, only anger coursing through her. “YOU staged those photos, YOU unleashed Tariq on me.. and you timed the release of those photos, at the most prime time allowing maximum humiliation and zero time in between Liam’s announcement. You’re despicable, I bet you’re even disappointed that Tariq’s attack on me didn’t end.. didn’t end up the way he planned.” She had deliberately slowed her speech as each new revelation came to play in her head, she had lowered her voice with disdain and disgust.

Constantine let out a scoff-laugh at what he considered to be a poor attempt of exerting dominance. “You’re right, and quite honestly I don’t care what that pompous buffoon would have done to you, but I must say, those pictures certainly did deliver.” Constantine was teasing and patronizing her, “And now you’re here, still trying to get to my son.”

Riley crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at him, “I don’t know what you’re tal-“

“Enough. I know everything.” He waved in front of her the very note that Liam had written inviting her to his balcony that he got from one of the guards. “You poisoned his heart, and now his marriage. And with that, the entire kingdom is poisoned, all because your feelings.” He spit the last word out as if he found it vile.

“I wish feelings could be helped, but they can’t.”

“Of course they can. Love is a disease, and like all diseases, it can be vanquished in one of two ways. A cure, or death.” Constantine stood and leaned both of his palms flat on the surface of the desk. “Do you know where your beloved is right now? He’s right down that hallway, he should be packing for his new life, prepared to take on his engagement tour to unify two Cordonian houses and assume the responsibilities and sacrifices it takes to be king. But no.. He’s pining for you. Awaiting your arrival.”

“And I suppose you intend to keep him that way? Waiting for me, only to be rejected, never knowing I came for him?” Riley’s voice was desperate, but still cunning in reality. She needed him to know her questionnaire was not doubtful, but challenging. That she hated his deliberate intentions.

“No. In fact, you’re gonna walk down that hallway. You’re gonna sneak in and tell him you got his note,” Constantine slid the note across the table, no longer wanting it in his possession, and Riley picked it up. “You’re gonna tell him why you answered his call.. Because you don’t love him. It’ll break his heart.. And that will cure him.”

Wide eyed, Riley could only assume the consequence if she didn’t do as he said, “Or you’ll kill me.” She stated with no question in her mind.

“Oh no. I’ll kill him. Killing you would only make him love you more. And the marriage and kingdom would ultimately crumble.”

“And what about your precious Madeleine? I know how this works this is all about mergers and business transactions. How else would you get Godfrey and his house to join with yours?”

“Please, if Liam were to die at an assassin’s hand, he would die a martyr. Godfrey would forgive, even laud, the death. And the merger would be complete.”

“You would do that to your own son?”

“I’m doing it FOR my son.” Love was once Constantine's weakness and it led to Eleanor’s death. It scarred him and he became brainwashed. Convinced love was the enemy. And now, the product of his foolish love, was Liam, who he groomed to be the perfect king. Constantine applauded himself all these years. It was clear as day that even Leo knew the job belonged to Liam, so Constantine did everything to assuage any of Liam’s hesitation into taking on his duty. He always planned on Liam being the logical one, ready to take on the duty and a loveless union. Then that damn New York trip happened. And that damn Riley came in the picture. Immediately Constantine couldn’t tell if he actually hated Riley, or if he hated the idea that Riley was basically the new version of Eleanor that he’d never have.

#the royal romance #TRR #choices #liam x riley #choices trr #liam x mc #king liam

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dead-fandom-society · 4 years ago

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Greek Gods as Highschool Students

Because I’m that bored.

Zeus- Chad, the notorious fuckboy. Has every STD but lies and says he doesn’t. Should be in jail.

Hera- absolutely gorgeous. really rich. people wonder why she keeps returning to date Zeus because she’s way out of his league. the popular girl who is a bitch to everyone.

Poseidon- the eco-activist. focuses on preventing plastic waste from getting to the ocean. will slap you if you don’t recycle. is probably sponsoring a whale or something. him and Demeter are best friends. surfer dude

Demeter- the other eco-activist. spends all of her time planting trees and picking up trash from the forests. has a gardening Instagram where she posts pictures of her plants and they’re all beautiful. kind of a hippie, probably smokes pot

Ares- dickhead jock

Athena- valedictorian since freshman year. cutthroat when it comes to academics. loves looking at old art and architecture. good at chess. probably captain of the debate team and really involved in model UN. likes politics

Apollo- plays trumpet in the marching band and does theater, but still acts like he’s a jock even though he’s never thrown a football in his life. obsessed with working out. is a lifeguard at the local pool. party animal

Artemis- a model student, but usually very quiet. extremely loyal to her friends and will fight you if you wrong them. probably the most mature and responsible of the group. kinda nerdy, but also really cool. started a tutoring group.

Hephaestus- the nerd. specifically, the robotics/coding nerd. also a huge comic book nerd. plays dungeons and dragons on the weekends. made a working lightsaber to go with his Star Wars cosplay and became a comic con legend

Aphrodite- captain of the cheer squad, prom queen, class president. she’s the popular girl who is friends with everyone. has the best taste in fashion.

Hermes- the class clown. always has detention for something.

Dionysus- the theater kid. always has the lead role. also the king of parties, always has a way to get alcohol. smokes pot with Demeter

Hades- the emo kid that looks scary but is actually really, really nice. has the best music taste. gets picked on but always has some wicked comebacks

#greek mythology #greek gods #Zeus #hera #poseidon #Demeter #ares #Athena #apollo #artemis #Aphrodite #Hephaestus #hermes #hades

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kuiperblog · 4 years ago

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I spent some time (and money) playing Genshin Impact

I've spent some time with Genshin Impact over the past few weeks. (It's probably come to about 60 hours and 60 dollars that I've spent.)

All of the things that need to be said about this game has probably already been said by others: yes, it's very much similar to Zelda: Breath of the Wild in terms of the open world exploration and visuals. It's also a free-to-play gacha game where you have to put money into the slot machine if you want to be guaranteed to get the characters you want, and you have a limited amount of daily stamina to get rewards from certain repeatable content.

The thing that seems to be under-acknowledged is that Genshin Impact is largely two different games: an open-world exploration game that you’re largely free to play through at your own pace, and a “grind to make the numbers go up” game where your progress is mostly limited by daily missions and activities. These two games are sort of intertwined, but I think I’ve managed to decouple the two, and it’s greatly enhanced my ability to enjoy Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact is at its best when it is an open world game where you wander around, discovering treasure and puzzles and shrines and fighting groups of enemies who are guarding chests. This is the part that takes after Breath of the Wild: it does a great job of filling the overworld with content in a way that, every time you finish a task, you need only to pan the camera around to see another activity off in the distance that you can do. And if you don't see anything to do, just climb the nearest mountain and pan the camera around to look for a glowing point of interest. This, too, is very BotW-esque: you can climb any vertical surface (how high you can climb is limited by your stamina), then jump from the peak using your glider. Scattered around the world, you will find orbs (usually cleverly hidden within environmental puzzles), and you feed these orbs to a statue in each region to raise your character’s stamina so that you can climb mountains more easily.

The environment has an incredible amount of verticality, and I had a lot of time in one particularly mountainous region (pictured above), gliding from clifftop to clifftop, then walking around the "mid-tier" of the mountains where everything was connected by suspension bridges, and finally exploring all of the valleys. And of course, I was constantly switching between the different "tiers" of the environment: I would begin gliding from one clifftop to another, but then I would pan the camera down and see, "ooh, there's a chest down in that valley. Let me take a 'small detour' to obtain it," and then I would parachute down from the sky before climbing back up to see what other goodies were hidden in the world.

Genshin Impact, like Breath of the Wild, is all about seeing an interesting landmark in the distance, walking in that direction, and repeatedly getting distracted by detours and other smaller points of interest on the way there. You can stumble across a random torch, think “there’s probably a bunch of other torches in this area that will give me a reward if I light all of them,” and you will be right. No matter where you are in the world, there’s always multiple things that you can see in the distance that make you say, “ooh, I want to see what’s over there. I bet I’ll find another korok seed blue wisp.” It’s kind of great.

The thing that it actually does better than BotW is that everything you do in the overworld feels like it is giving you forward progress, whether it’s hunting for hidden treasure or fighting enemies. In BotW, there are genuinely some enemy encounters where you will just fight a bunch of enemies and afterwards go, "Great, I just wasted half of this sword's durability, and all I have to show for it is a much crappier sword than the one I used to kill these enemies." In Genshin Impact, there is no weapon durability, and every enemy drops materials that you will eventually use to "ascend" your characters and weapons (essentially raising the level cap), so even time that you spend fighting trash mobs isn’t wasted (though there are usually faster ways to progress, so I don’t fight every single enemy I come across). Every chest that you open gives you progress toward raising your "adventure rank," which determines how high you can raise the level cap. The open world is fun to spend time in, and it always feels like you are making progress.

In fact, exploring the open world is so much fun that it's easy to forget that there's actually a main questline, though the questline is actually quite enjoyable. (And, unlike BotW, that main questline actually involves a large amount of story where you meet and talk to different characters, like you would in most open-world fantasy games!) There's voice acting and cutscenes and an interesting story that explores the different cultures in this world, including an interesting contrast between one vaguely-western European region where you meet characters with names like "Jean" and Bennet" and "Noelle," and a China analog where the characters have names like "Chongyun" and "Ningguang” and "Xingqiu" (who you can see pictured below).

The cultural influences aren’t merely aesthetic (though they are definitely reflected in the fashion and architecture of these two regions).

There are also “character” story quests where you will, for example, meet a character who is a book nerd and help him track down a volume of a novel he’s been trying to find. In the process of helping the book geek, you will meet with the merchants guild to engage in financial speculation and market manipulation, and also there are some combat sequences where you get to play with the book nerd character and find out that he’s also pretty good with a sword and water magic, and hey, if you’d like him to be a permanent part of your team, maybe you could consider spending some money on the gacha slot machine for a chance of getting him?

(By the way, if all of that sounds like a bit much just to help some kid track down a novel, it should be noted that this game is set in a time where books are quite a prized commodity: there’s also a story set in the game’s “vaguely western European” region that involves helping a librarian character track down overdue library books, and I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to tell you that part of this quest involves entering a dungeon and fighting a bunch of enemies.)

These “character stories” do feel like a pretty obvious way to get you to care about and “try out” characters that are locked behind the paywall, but I’m glad they’re there, as they are easily the most endearing part of the game’s story. I’ve been content with my main squad of 5-ish main characters without the need to dig into the game’s roster of ~25 characters (with more to surely be added with each update).

There’s a finite amount of content, in the sense that eventually, you will explore all of the open world and uncover all of the secrets, and do all of the main questline and all the character sidequests and whatnot. (The game does have some repeatable and “daily” content...but we’ll get to that later.) The game’s open world and story seems to represent about 60 hours of content, from my own estimates (and estimates I’ve seen by others), and it is worth noting that more content is on the way: the game currently has 2 regions, but the map (and the game’s lore) has room for a total of 7 regions, and of course I’m sure that more characters (and accompanying side stories) are on the way, since getting you to pull for new characters is how the game makes money.

I enjoyed my time with that game very much, and will probably be coming back every time there’s a major update that adds a new region. It’s also worth mentioning that while some of the activities in the open world are one-time puzzles, there are many chests throughout the world that do respawn every few days, so there is still stuff to do if you want to keep exploring the open world even after you’ve cleared everything.

All of what I’ve described above could be a regular AAA game that I’d be perfectly content to spend $60 on (and, as it just so happens, I have spent approximately that amount of money on it, because I wanted to recruit the mischievous bard archer whose ultimate ability is to summon tornadoes, and the chuuni thunder princess whose ultimate lets you fly around as an electro-charged raven and zap everything. I don’t regret that purchase.)

This leads into the “second game” that is Genshin Impact.

One of the main “rewards” for exploring the open world of Genshin Impact (as well as doing the main questline and the side quests) is that nearly everything you do (including opening random chests in the overworld) gives you experience toward raising your “adventure rank.” Adventure rank 1-20 is when you are mainly progressing to unlock the game’s features. This is done pretty well, for the most part: tying various features to the game’s progression system ensures that you’re not inundated with too much stuff to do right out of the gate, and it gives you an incentive to keep progressing the main quest to continue advancing your adventure rank.

The final “feature” that the game unlocks for you at adventure rank 20 is that you now have the ability to ascend the game’s “world level.” At adventure rank 20, you ascend from “world level 0″ to “world level 1.” (From this point on, every 5 adventure rank you gain allows you to raise the “world level” again: at adventure rank 25, you hit world level 2, at adventure rank 30, you hit world level 3, and so on.)

This is where you encounter the second game within Genshin Impact, which is a game that is basically about watching numbers go up.

You explore the open world and do quests to raise your adventure rank, which lets you raise the world level. Raising the world level raises the level cap for all of your characters. Raising the world level also makes all of the enemies stronger, but this is good because it means they drop better materials, which you need in order to ascend your characters to hit the new level cap. This becomes the main “gameplay loop” of Genshin Impact: you want to raise your adventure rank, so that you can become stronger and so that the enemies become stronger so that you can become stronger faster.

This is where the complaints about the “stamina” system come in. You see, the part of Genshin Impact that is just about watching the numbers go up is all tied to your adventure rank, and the open world has an essentially finite amount of adventure exp. Early on, your adventure rank grows quickly because the story quests and sidequests give you generous amounts of adventure exp, but eventually the main soure of renewable adventure exp becomes tied to daily quests and the game’s energy system.

The game is filled with overworld bosses, short dungeons, and “leylines” (which are basically random points on the open world where you can spawn and fight through waves of enemies). You can do these as much as you want, but they only give adventure exp (and other rewards) if you spend energy, which you get a finite amount of every day. You get 180 energy per day, and each activity costs 20-40 energy. (Also, energy constantly regenerates and you can only store 120 energy at a time, so if you don’t want to “waste” energy by hitting the cap, it means you have to log in multiple times per day to spend it.)

This means that, at a certain point, your “adventure rank” progress is gated by energy/dailies. (For me, this happened at around adventure rank 30.) Of course, you can spend money to get extra energy. This is what has a lot of players upset. (The game’s energy system is called “resin,” and doing a google search for ‘genshin impact resin’ or simply pulling up the Genshin Impact subreddit will probably turn up pages of such complaints, if you’re interested in reading such things.)

The thing is, the “energy system” doesn’t really impede your ability to explore the open world, which is where this game is really at it’s best. In fact, there are people who have gone through the entire world and found all of hundreds of hidden orbs even before ascending to world level 1.

When I say that Genshin Impact eventually becomes a game about watching the numbers go up, I mean that quite literally: at world level 3, I am fighting the exact same enemies that I was at world level 1; they just have bigger numbers over their heads. I am using the same characters and abilities and doing all of the same activities, but now instead of killing level 18 goblin archers to collect “firm arrowheads,” I’m killing level 45 goblin archers to get “sharp arrowheads.” The difference between these two items is that “firm arrowheads” are required to ascend my archer up to level 40, while “sharp arrowheads” are required to ascend my archer up to level 60. Eventually, I’ll graduate to fighting even higher levels of goblin archers to get “weathered arrowheads,” which will let me ascend my archer up to level 80.

It is worth noting that the game’s “loop” of watching the numbers go up is quite satisfying: while it is easy to describe the game in a reductive way that makes it feel dumb and arbitrary, I’ll admit that once I graduated from fighting level 35 slimes (who only drop “slime condensate”) to fighting level 40 slimes (who were then able to drop “slime secretions”), and then used those “slime secretions” to upgrade my my wind archer’s attacks to do more damage, it felt good.

Whether it’s leveling your characters, ascending your characters, leveling your weapons, ascending your weapons, level up each of your character’s individual talents, leveling each of their individual pieces of equipment...it just feels good to make the numbers go up, and to keep making the numbers go up, you have to raise the world level to make the enemies stronger. Every milestone feels like a significant achievement, and it’s great at giving you the constant feeling that you get when you “prestige” in a game like Call of Duty: the game ratchets up in difficulty, and you once again get to go through the process of grinding your characters up until you slowly accomplish the task of once again hitting the new level cap.

And so I absolutely understand the frustration that a lot of players hit once the “the wall” where only way to keep making the numbers go up is to sign in every day to do their dailies and spend their energy, or spend money to get more energy. I myself was a bit annoyed, and even spent a couple dollars’ worth of the game’s premium currency so that I could gain more adventure exp to make the number go up faster.

But I quickly realized, “No matter what my adventure rank is, I’m still fighting the same goblins, slimes, wizards, and electro cubes that I was fighting 10 hours ago.” Even if my progress is being arbitrarily gated by an energy system, on a moment-to-moment basis, the gameplay is pretty much the same.

And at that point, I basically abandoned the game within Genshin Impact that is “make the numbers go up,” and went back to playing the thing that made me enjoy Genshin Impact, which is the game of “wander around in the open world, look for activities to do, collect all the orbs, open all the chests, and fight the various enemies that I fight along the way.” Doing this still makes the numbers go up, just more slowly than if I was spending energy on all of the game’s repeatable content. And that game continues to be quite fun. Eventually I’ll run out of things to do, and at that point I will probably put down Genshin Impact until the next region comes out and gives me another few dozen hours of open-world content to explore.

Most people I’ve seen recommend Genshin Impact do so with the caveat that before you go in, you should be aware of the gacha system so you don’t spend too much money, and maybe stay away if you lack the self control to avoid dumping too much money into it. In my case, the money I’ve lost to gacha games has always paled in comparison to the amount of time and mental energy I’ve lost to playing any game that has “dailies” that make me feel obligated to sign in once a day (or more than once a day) so I’m not “wasting” a resource that the game is giving me for “free.”

Now that I’ve resigned myself to not particularly caring about the numbers in Genshin Impact, it’s not such a big problem for me, but if you are the kind of person who is going to lose a ton of mental bandwidth to any game that has “dailies” or an energy system, be aware that Genshin Impact is one of those. Also be aware that playing the game at higher “World Ranks” is pretty much the same experience as playing it at World Rank 1 in terms of the enemies you fight against and the abilities that you use, and if you’re able to cross that mental hurdle (like I eventually did), you can loop around to not really caring too much about the game’s energy system (which prevents you from getting frustrated by having your progress, but perhaps more critically saves you from feeling like you need to log in every day for fear of “wasting” energy).

#genshin impact #gacha #video games

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