#every season he sort of teams up with a duo

[chirpsythismorning]

I know most bylers are 50/50 when it comes to whether or not they actually want Mike and Will to get Murray'd. But hear me out?...

Instead of getting Murray'd, Mike and Will just literally team up with Murray for like half the season...

[sixthsensewulf]

Let's talk about my favourite duos in each IH campaign. . Not the player duos but the characters. Since all the players have the amazing chemistry with each other and know how to build relationships etc.

It's why most of the campaigns just go hard with Found Family with the exception of A Crown of Candy. . That's just Family. But the others - 100% found family.

FANTASY HIGH

All 3 of the campaigns in this world.. the Bad Kids friendship with each other is so heartwarming and sweet it's amazing. The kids are also traumatised as well as forced to grow up into the world. But also how they really do care for each other. So choosing a duo for each year was bloody hard.

Freshman Year : Gorgug and Fig

Honestly yeah. The friendship between Gorgug and Fig is basically why they started Fig and the Sig Figs. Fig got Gorgug into drumming to help with his rage etc.

Sophomore Year : Fabian and Gorgug

How can you not love this duo. They really come into their own this season. It's the hug when they reunite in the Nightmare Forest. Like take the fact that the first interaction these two had at high school was Fabian punching Gorgug. . Then to share a hug after Gorgug told Fabian that he remembers him.

Junior Year: Riz and Kristen

The class president and her campaign manager.. what's not to love. Honestly Junior Year was tough for me to pick a duo since I love all the duos out there. But Riz and Kristen take it. It's Riz watching Kristen when she goes and talks to her parents. It's him backing her play towards the Rat Grinders as well.

The Unsleeping City

This setting I feel like is one the underappreciated campaigns or the underestimated ones. Like it's not underrated. This weirdly has turned into my comfort campaign, I just can't get bored of this setting. Give me more urban fantasy settings D20 please. Like this campaign setting literally gave me my 3 favourite NPC to PC relationships (Ester and Ricky, Dale and Sofia, Liz and Kingston). In the first chapter, you get the very good example of "you don't need every character to have insane character development in order to tell the best story" in Ricky. Chapter Two has sort of the similar vibe with Ida and Rowan.

Chapter One : Kingston and Pete

The Voxs .. I could write an essay on the relationship of these two. The growth and development of both of them. Like come on. .from Kingston telling the rest of the team that he will and would put Pete down if Pete goes out of control... To apologise and revive Pete during the Robert Moses fight. The father - son relationship.. these two had

Chapter Two : Ricky and Cody

The Journey of these two is one of my favourites. Just the duo of Zac and Murph 100% helped, but the growth of the duo was soo good. Ricky and Cody, the paladins of the group are doing insane damage in the final fight.

****

A Crown of Candy : Lapin and Liam

There is a lot to say about the duos of ACoC. They all have their story to tell. They all grow. But the Lapin and Liam story is very bitter sweet. But the reunion between the two of them when Lapin saved the kid and told him of the Bulb etc, was so cute. Like literally the smile and small laugh from Lapin from Liam told him, that he will kill "that carrot".

****

Starstruck: Barry and Margaret

This season was hard to pick. They all are soo good and chaotic. But Barry and Margaret duo was honestly a good duo. The call to arms tactic, Margaret brought in. Make the already protective Barry, more protective.

****

Neverafter : Mother Goose and PiB

Just the two voices of reason of the group. . . Yeah PiB being the voice of reason half the time was very interesting. Like if a trickster spirit is telling the group to calm down a little or reign it in then oh boy. .. but Mother Goose and PiB are such an interesting duo. I honestly quite like the old man and his cat....

(also kinda clocked most of them are the quartet of Zac, Ally, Murph and Lou. . that's not intentional at all... )

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Season 5 really killed my love for love square, especially with the way the choose Adrien, a kid with massive trauma and depression, as a therapist for his girlfriend. The whole "I want to be everything Marinette want" is bad for Adrien even more so because he doesn't get the same effort from Marinette.

The whole Adrienette is one sided and it remind me of a girl in one yt clip where she basically said she want a man who do everything she want while the man should already be grateful to be chosen as her boyfriend, which means she will do the bare minimum if nothing at all in that relationship.

Marinette isn't that kind of girl but the way the story goes it sure seems like that because Adrien doesn't allowed to bother her, he just continue to serve whatever she needs without her needing to do the same.

People saying that they'll break up and I agree, but also it will take a whole lot of character development for Adrien, something that the writers seems to hate it seems. Even if they argue or have a break up, I doubt it will be last for an episode before Adrien goes back to Marinette and say sorry. That's how Ladynoir conflict solved Kuro Neko after all, with Cat Noir be a bigger person while Ladybug do nothing at all.

Girl power is supposed to be a slogan to empower girls and Marinette supposed to be a role model for the young audience but at this point I don't even want my nieces and nephew to watch this show if what they teach them is that boy should do whatever the girls said and never bother with their girls with their feelings because man should "suck it up" while the girls can do whatever without minding about their man need.

I would actually be surprised if they broke up. Not because it's unearned, they arguably should breakup or at least get some sort of therapy, I just don't think that the writers have the guts to do that.

As you said, a breakup would only work if it led into character growth and they're allergic to doing that in this show in part because of the mandate that every episode must stand alone. That's a fine rule in a monster of the week show where all the drama is sitcom stuff that can be easily solved in 20 minutes, but a terrible rule in a show that's diving into the levels of complexity that Miraculous is trying to pull off. The show's current format is the worst of both worlds: complex plots that lack the complexity to really work and monster-of-the-week battles that feel rushed because they're being squeezed down to make room for the more complex stuff.

Prior to season four, my opinion of Miraculous was that it was a decent show for its indented audience, but there were a few plot points that required serious discussion to explain why they were wrong (for example: the "don't confront liars unless you're doing it for ideologically pure reasons" lesson from Lila's intro). As the show currently stands? I would not willingly introduce it to a young kid for a myriad of reasons. One of those reasons is the fact that the relationship drama we're currently dealing with is suited to a show for teenagers while still having the writing of a show for young children, leading the drama to feel weird and toothless. Yet another worst of both worlds.

All of this is quite sad because Miraculous has such a fantastic setup for being a cute, fun, healthy romance for all ages! It's why I started watching it and the choices made by the people running the show are truly baffling.

They picked a setup that allowed for all of the tension of a love triangle with none of the awkward fallout and then.... decided to introduce two love triangles.

They went with a duo setup to allow the male romantic lead to be mostly comic relief without feeling superfluous and then.... decided to introduce a larger team without establishing anything to make him feel like more than the comic relief.

They picked a setup that allowed for balanced support needs and then.... never let Adrien get any support.

That last one is the thing that really upsets me. When it comes to magical girl shows and their male-focused equivalents, it's somewhat standard for the main character (or main characters) to get all the struggles while the love interest (or love interests) are just there to give comfort and support, leading the love interest to have minimal character development. (Ex: Sailor Moon, Winx club, almost every shonen show ever made, the list goes on)

This isn't necessarily a flaw. You don't want to bloat a story with pointless side conflicts and you can still write a good romance under these conditions. After all, in real life, it's perfectly normal for relationships to go through phases where one person needs more support than the other. As long as it's implied that the love interest has more going on than just being a love interest, you're okay. Not amazing, but okay.

To put it in more concrete terms, if the Prince Dreamy Eyes is ruling the kingdom with his best friends at his side while Princess Sparkle Tutu is stopping the monsters, but the show mostly focuses on the prince supporting the princess and the princess fighting to save the day, that works. The prince is clearly not just arm candy. And maybe the viewers would really like a few one-off episodes about what Dream Eyes does while the Sparkle Tutu isn't around, but this IS a magical girl show so it makes sense that all the "filler" episodes go to the Sparkle Knights and not the Prince and the Dream Team.

This excuse obviously doesn't work for Miraculous because it didn't relegate Adrien to background love interest status. He is a key part of the team, but that's still something you can work around. In team-based shows with a large cast, it's not uncommon for some of the team to just kinda be there to round out the team while one or two main leads get the character growth and personal struggles. This isn't even a flaw as it's arguably better to have more focused drama. If everyone had a sob story, then no one does.

But that excuse doesn't work for Miraculous either because the show is driven by a conflict that's centered around Adrien. A beautifully simple yet powerful conflict that was perfectly tailored for making the relationship between the leads feel balanced.

On the hero side, Ladybug needs all the love and support because everything is riding on her. On the civilian side, Adrien needs all the love and support because he's a sheltered kid whose father is the villain. That allows for a setup where it doesn't feel like either character is nothing more than the love interest. You can make them both complex and flip around the support/supporter roles based on what part of the conflict the story is dealing with in a given moment. It will forever be a tragedy that such a wonderful premise was pulled off this terribly, which is why I say that I'm still a fanon shipper even though canon is dead to me. I love writing and reading takes on this premise that do it right. It's why I got into the fandom in the first place! I'm not really drama to cute romance. I'm drawn to interesting story ideas that feature romance, which is what Miraculous should have been.

[stressedbisexualtm]

This Time, I'll Stay

a short desert duo confrontation one-shot set at the end of double life that I wrote in an hour and barely beta read

ALSO! I did imply /r desert duo, but it can be read as platonic... probably (I checked it can I'm just silly)

____________________________________

"What would your secret soulmate think?"

...

"What?"

Unfortunately, this was a regular occurrence. It's not as if Grian never expected for it to come up, but he had not been expecting it at this moment.

"You heard me." Scar's voice is tinged with bitterness as he stares at the floor.

They're standing in the remains of the Red Velvet Keep, the smell of ash and smoke still fresh in their minds. "I don't know what you're on about." He does, though. Grian had been talking about their plans to take out the rest of the server now that they were on red. It vaguely involved a warden and some sort of trap, not that Scar had been listening anyway.

Instead of deflecting it like he usually does, which Grian would have preferred, Scar's brow furrows. "Yes, you do."

Grian sighs. "Scar, now's really not the time-" "Then when is it the time?" He cuts Grian off, finally moving his gaze from the ground. Grian doesn't really know how to answer that. Ideally, it would never be the time, and they could move on from it like it had never happened. "I- I don't-" he starts to say.

But Scar is steamrolling ahead. "If now's not the time, then when? Because I've been waiting, G, this entire time. But nothing! No, 'oh by the way Scar I'm cheating on you with someone else's soulmate'," he spits out in a poor imitation of Grian's voice. "No, 'hey, I don't love you, leave me alone so I can hang out with BigB,' absolutely nothing! I've been trying to talk to you, but every time it's 'not now Scar' or 'I don't know what you're talking about' or-" His voice cracks, and Grian can imagine his heart cracking a little too. Grian's mouth hangs open lamely.

"Scar, I... I just need you to trust me on this." He whispers. Scar lets out a laugh with no mirth in it. "Trust ? I just need to trust you? Oh, that's rich coming from you." He smiles, all jagged edges and crooked corners. "I have done nothing but trust you. And what do I get in return? No trust from your end, I assure you. Just a broken heart and empty pockets to go with all of your broken promises-"

"WELL IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER NOW THAT HE'S DEAD, DOES IT?!" Grian shouts before he can help himself. He's tired of holding it all in. "Pardon me if I'm just the slightest bit frustrated with the man who's been trying (and has succeeded twice!) to kill me all season! Pardon me if I'm not the least bit upset that I wasn't paired with a good friend of mine! That's all he was, mind you! He was a great friend and I killed him and Ren for you!" He points at Scar. Scar tries to speak again, before being cut off by Grian.

"Gods forbid I'm scared that I'll kill you again! And gods forbid I'm afraid to watch you die at all, even if we are linked! I have cared about you all damn season Scar, and I'm not saying that going off with BigB was the best choice, but at least I didn't leave you like Scott did Pearl! I have been here this entire time, even if you hadn't realized it!" He's breathing heavily, and he can feel hands shaking. He's still looking at Scar. Scar, who looks grief-stricken and heart-broken. He almost takes it all back once he sees that look on his soulmate's face. But Scar's face hardens. "Okay." Grian manages to hear him whisper. Scar turns around, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Even in his angered state, all Grian can see when Scar turns away is a man in a purple cloak, dark against the blinding snow of the mountain.

"Fine, if that's how you want it to be," he had said. And Grian didn't go after him, because it was pointless. Scar was alone, and he was teamed with Joel. So he pushed away the dull pang in his chest and walked away as well.

Grian can't let that happen again. Scar is right here, in front of him, and they weren't really standing that far away in the first place. Grian grabs Scar's hand before he gets too far away. He doesn't look at Scar, afraid of what he'll do, but he does hear the man freeze. Grian isn't looking, but Scar is. He's looking the way Grian had lightly tangled their fingers together, an invitation to stay with the freedom to leave.

There are tears running down his cheeks in earnest now, and he can spot a few on Grian's as well. He's still upset - about the secret soulmates, about Grian lying to him, about the argument they just had. But he's not going to let this go. So he holds Grian's hand tighter and pulls him I'm close. They're holding onto each other for dear life. " 'M sorry," Grian mumbles onto Scar's shirt in between sobs. "I never meant for it to- to be-" he breaks off.

"It's okay," Scar says, even though he knows it isn't, and Grian knows it too. Even if it isn't okay, they need to be strong enough to win. "...I do love you," Grian whispers. "I promise I never stopped loving you, even when I was hanging out with BigB." And Scar sighs. "I know," he says. He did know, and he knew the whole time, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself. Because why would someone leave if they loved you? He doesn't have the answer to that. Maybe he will one day.

And when he dies, he thinks he can hear Grian's whispered "I'm sorry,"  through their broken soulbound.

[w0yxe]

There are some duos in the Life Series that will always be loyal to each other no matter what.

They have a special bond one could even say.

So as I do, I’m going to talk about it

First off there’s the most obvious Bdubs and Etho. This is definitely more one sided on Bdubs half as he’ll do anything to do back to Etho but even then Etho still favours him quite a bit more than others. By this I mean he’ll still agree to teaming with Bdubs or anything of the sorts if he asks and as seen in Double Life will even be salty if not. (3rd Life: I’m not too sure on this because I haven’t evaluated the series as much as the other but please do tell me if there’s something, Last Life: Team BEST, Double Life: Jealous Etho, Limited Life: Betrayer Bdubs)

Then theres Ren and Martyn the undying king and hand. This is less obvious than the previous one but still SO OBVIOUS. The two of them will also always get drawn to each other in any given circumstance. Now this might be because of the huge bond they shared in the first series or just because they’re both a fan of the dramatics and love good storytelling, but either way if you team with one of them eventually the information will get shared to the other. (3rd Life…well you know, Last Life: Shadow Alliance, Double Life: that one meet up they had summoning Pearl and from then forth)

Scott and Cleo is the next one because after Last Life both of them have teamed up in every season and have done a proper allyship. This one is more influenced by the competitive nature of the two players and not trusting other people hence why they always resort back to each other. But in a happy way instead of being forced to. They also have a similar sense of humor which helps in them being a good duo overall and allowing them to team up that many times. (3rd Life: widows alliance, Last Life: after Cleo’s betrayal, Double Life: chosen soulmates, Limited Life: secret alliances)

Tell me if I’m forgetting any duos that’ve been together since the start because I’m sure to have

maybe I’ll do one on duos that always end up fighting next…

[queseraone]

Alright, next question: we’ve done favorite Chenford episodes, but what are your 5 favorite non-Chenford episodes and/or storylines and/or multi-episode arcs?

I sort of answered this one here, but that was specifically about favourite non-Chenford episodes, so I'm going to answer this with a mix of episodes and storylines/arcs.

It's really, really hard for me to separate Chenford from The Rookie, because clearly they're my favourite part (shocking, I know). So there are certainly more I'd love to include in this list, but tried to exclude because while I love every part of them, I love the Chenford parts most of all. (Looking at you Standoff (1x09) and Plain Clothes Day (1x14) and about a dozen more....)

1. The Dark Side (2x10) and Day of Death (2x11) - Sorry not sorry, this is absolutely the top of the list. Yes, lots of Chenford, which we love, but as an overall arc it's phenomenal. Everything from the Lucy/Jackson/Nolan/Armstrong bar night to the Angela/Wesley parts to the perfect creepiness of Rosalind Dyer to (yes, duh) the Chenford of it all. And I'll rave about the acting and the scenery and the sound editing (the song choices, and of course the use of silence) until the end of time, because it's just so, so good. (I'm resisting the urge to add Now and Then (2x12) to this, because while it's still a part of the arc, it leans more heavily on the Chenford side... but I can't leave this without celebrating them continuing the story beyond just the little bubble of those two episodes. It's truly refreshing that they didn't gloss over Lucy's recovery and have everything just back to normal right away.)

2. Safety (2x07) - I yammered on a bit about this here, but I LOVE this episode, and Tim and Lucy don't interact in it at all. I don't think there's anything I dislike? Football Tim cold open ✅, Tim and Nyla and the challenge coins ✅, the beginning of the Lucy/Nyla duo of awesome (seriously, everything at the bomber's house) ✅, Angela being a sassy queen in her security gig ✅, and how Tim and Jackson's football storyline suddenly tied in with Angela's story ✅. One of my absolute faves!

3. Man of Honor (3x10), Triple Duty (3x13), and Threshold (3x14) - I'm specifically talking about Tim as Angela's man of honor. Their friendship is amazing, and seeing this all play out is so much fun. Tim bursting into the bridal shop ("you're going into labor?") is hilarious, and then him helping her find a dress?? Ugh my heart! THIS FRIENDSHIP!!! And then Tim and Nolan trying to reduce the guest list, and Tim and Jackson showing up with riot shields??? I love it all so much. (Doesn't hurt that it culminates with Tim in a tux *fans self*)

4. The Q Word (2x19), The Hunt (2x20), and Consequences (3x01) - I'll give credit where credit is due, I absolutely did not see the Armstrong twist coming. It all seems glaringly obvious now, but hindsight is 20/20. This is one of my favourite arcs. It was unexpected, a great Nolan/Harper team up, brought Rosalind back, and just really exciting to watch. (And while I don't hate Nolan like so many others, I do enjoy when he gets knocked off his pedestal a little bit and faces some real challenges.)

5. Greenlight (1x12) - PAIN. I miss Andersen so much, she was an absolute badass. I can't watch this without crying, and that alone speaks to the power of this episode.

Oh, and for shits and giggles, I'm also going to name my least favourite...

I hate, hate, hate that arsonist arc from early season 4. It was painfully obvious who the real killer was - literally the moment I saw him I was like "yup, there's your guy". It was just too much. It felt like a departure from the overall tone of the show, just way too dark, and yet somehow also leaned into a bit of a cartoonish depiction of a villain? The worst.

(Oh, and the double dose of shoving of The Rookie Feds down our throats backdoor pilot for The Rookie Feds is a close second... hated everything about it.)

Part of me wanted to add Under Siege (5x22) to the favorite arcs list, but since it's still ongoing, I will instead say I can't wait to see how to all plays out! Love seeing this team come together for each other!

[imminent-danger-came]

Who do you think will try and help MK grapple with the issue of being the harbinger of chaos? (Obviously all his friends, but who would play the biggest role?)

Considering that some of the next season will presumably take place in the underworld, and that he‘s the only one who actually KNOWS about it; Macaque is actually a decently strong contender imo.

Which would be really fun- they‘re one of my favorite duos (MK is a bitch exclusively to Macaque and I love him for it) but I‘m holding out hope for some Sandy/Pigsy!

Since the curse of the scroll called them monstrosities, and they both seem to have lived with that kind of discrimination they would also have experience with figuring out your own identity despite it.

So them unknowingly helping MK when their past is revealed sounds fun!

And the MK‘s mental health takes a turn for the worse again in the special obviously. We can‘t have him become to stable after all!

Also, (sorry if you already talked about this before) What connection do you think the curse has to MK? If I‘m not misremembering anything he is the only one where it said 'we' (unless MK was in denial about something). Everybody else was 'you', but MK also accidentally said "we help people!". Even in the curses final scene it says "then prove us wrong." Us being the curse and MK, since he did end up believing what it said.

Do you think there is actually some credence to the curse calling MK the harbinger of chaos? Or is it just saying what MK is feeling since he caused so much damage on accident? Is MK being that harbinger actually destiny, or more something along the lines of a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answering this ask with another, because both kinda go into the same thing with the curse/memory:

-

So, in my dreams, Sandy is the one to help MK cope with his Monkey Demon identity for reasons I go into in this post (of course I want Mei to be the one to talk MK down initially, but as far as post-breakdown goes Sandy is my top contender—which those two work together to comfort MK a lot anyways, like in 2x06 and 3x04). But, if we had a Pigsy/Sandy tag-team duo while also going into their pasts, that would be awesome! Literally couldn't ask for anything more.

Macaque could also be interesting, being the one who was there for MK in 4x09 and 4x10, but he's also already given his advice: MK doesn't only have two choices, and nobody can decide who he is for him. But, well, the curse (who I think is undeniably part of MK) was the one who gave MK the title of "harbinger of chaos"—it wasn't anyone else. MK essentially gave himself that title. This would be a super interesting way for MK's arc to go, if it's headed this sort of direction, where MK can certainly decide who he wants to be, but what if he doesn't believe in that person, you know?

((Of course Macaque can offer up more advice, I'm just not sure Macaque advice is what MK needs right now.))

Next on the agenda: whatever the fuck MK is.

So I have this collection of screenshots where I highlight MK's weird connection with the underworld throughout the seasons, and I specifically want to call attention to the scroll emanating from MK not once, but both times he enters the scroll:

Bonus Shot of MK as part of his reflection motif, where his face lines up with the skull on screen:

MK: "Again!? Remind me how this 'game' is supposed to convince me I'm not destined to turn into an evil monkey demon thing again? Cause every option I pick takes me to this, same, screen!"

(4x10 The Jade Emperor) (Every option MK picks leading him to the same end? I'll take foreshadowing for 500!)

Which, the skull in the TV is very similar to LBD's skull in the Demon Revealing Mirror from 2x02:

All this to say: the Curse/the scroll and MK are connected somehow, meaning I'd take a gander that MK is also connect to memory in some form.

MK: "You're not my friend—you're NOT me!" Curse MK: "Sure I am! I'm your best friend, well, closest at least! I know more about you than you'll even admit—to yourself, or to others."

(4x07 Pitiful Creatures)

-

I think you could make the argument (which I'll probably write a full-fledged theory post on at some point), that Lady Bone Demon's original power source for her mech was MK, then switching to the Samadhi Fire later when that comes into play. LBD in ROTSQ, s2, and s3 threatens to erase the memory of Wukong/the world/Macaque, which is something that is notably absent in the s3 special. MK (plus maybe Wukong) being the original power source would help to explain why LBD wanted MK (+ Wukong) all throughout s3, and why she didn't immediately go ahead with her plans. She only says "Now, I will undo the memories of this world!" when she's confident that she has both the staff and MK. If MK were a being related to memory, using him as a power source could be a real possibility for how LBD originally planned to erase the memories of the world—then moving to the Samadhi Fire to create a "clean slate" when that became an option.

Now, although it's based entirely in conjecture, I do think MK potentially has the power to "rip the memory of people from this world". We know so little about what MK actually is that a lot could be possible!

ANYWAYS.

When it comes to "is MK destined to become a harbinger of chaos or was it just the curse echoing his own doubts", I think it's both! After all, there's "a reason [he] was at the center of all these stories, a reason [he] can harness the power of the Monkey King himself!". We don't know that reason yet, but I'm inclined to believe that it's because MK is connected to the underworld/the scroll/memory in some way, like I've mentioned. However, I also think MK's own flaws and self-doubt will contribute to his walk down destiny lane, and MK will put on his own chains so to speak.

One of the major contributing factors of MK's arc has been his own lack of belief in himself (in contrast with his total belief in his friends), so that HAS to be resolved eventually. When it comes down to it, that's at the core of his character—it's why he can feel he's both too weak and too strong across seasons and still feel distinctly like MK. So, that same lack of belief is probably going to be what drives his decent into the role of "harbinger of chaos"—that and a number of other things I'm sure. His friends, Monkey King, his identity, his responsibility, destiny—it's all gonna culminate somewhere.

Plus these eyes haven't turned up yet,

(they also show up in MK's 4x03 vision), and we don't really have any concrete explanation for what the curse was/is, or why MK specifically was the one who could destroy it ("It wasn't in my power—it was in yours."; but maybe Monkey King could have finished it off after it had been weakened?).

There's a lot of arc left and a lot of things we don't know!

[butterflyintochains]

Those Small Details

Or, five times the Sid and Geno thought something was up with Kris and Erik. And the one time they knew something was up with Kris and Erik.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One - Training

Cranberry is alive again, and the boys could not be happier. Off season lasts far too long, and they all have a score to settle with the league's inane ranking system. Sid, Kris, and Geno skate laps with their new fourth musketeer, Erik Karlsson. He's awesome, and they're all very happy to have him. But, Sid can't help but notice something different between Erik and Kris. They're just about to go for lunch, Sid says. ''Tanger, Erik, you comin' with us for lunch?'' Kris smiles, his friendly smile. ''We won't be long, we just wanna practice some shots.''

Sid nods, unclipping his helmet. ''Oh, okay.'' Erik grins, cheeky as always. ''Well, ready to get smoked, Letang?'' Kris cocks an eyebrow, smirking while gathering some pucks. ''Don't threaten me with a good time, Karlsson.'' The duo share a laugh as Sid walks down the tunnel, he turns around, and just watches them for a moment. The easy conversation, the jokes they're sharing, something about Raleigh and Duncan Keith. And, he wonders what he's missed in the years he's known Kris.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two - The Plane

Every NHL team has a seating plan for the team plane, the ever superstitious Penguins are no different. Sid used to sit with Flower, and now sits by himself. Kris and Geno always sit together at the card table. The trio board the plane to Halifax together as always, and split up for their seats. And, this is where it gets weird. Lars Eller approaches Geno and Kris, and points to the empty seat next to Geno. ''Can I sit here, Geno?''

Geno nods, and moves his bag and jacket. ''Sure, that's cool.'' Kris notices Erik glancing around the plane looking for a seat, and says. ''Hey, Erik, over here!'' Erik beams at him, and gingerly takes the seat. Geno can feel the air change, a sort of familiarity buzzes between the two defencemen. Geno thinks, as they play cards, it's good that they're not clawing each other's eyes out, but it's like they've always played together. There's clearly a history here, he thinks, as Erik playfully nudges Kris' shoulder, and Kris nudges back. Geno looks to Sid, who is probably texting his sister, Sid just shrugs and goes to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three - San Jose

Ten two. Ten. Two. 10-2. Holy shit. They actually beat the Sharks ten goals to two. The bus ride back is remarkably chilled out all things considered. Geno is fast asleep next to Sid, head leaning on the window. Sid is flitting between asleep and awake himself, even easy wins are tiring. He's almost away, when his ear pricks up at hearing a hushed conversation at the back of the bus. ''So, did it feel weird at all? Being back here after the trade?'' Kris asks Erik. The swede just chuckles. ''A bit, it's nice to see what those wins look like from the good side though, y'know?''

Kris quietly says. ''Not really, but I'll take your word for it. Are you liking playing for us, Erik? Do you have any regrets about coming on board?''

Erik has a smile in his voice, and assures Kris. ''I am. It's a damn lot better than the alternative, the company is amazing.'' Kris chuckles. ''You know me better than anyone else does, Kris, the only regret I have is not coming here sooner.'' Wow, Sid closes his eyes, that sounded intimate. Sid feels vaguely dirty now, having listened in on such a private conversation. Whatever the subtext was, Sid is sure he wasn't meant to hear any of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four - Locker Room Gossip

Kris rarely gushes over goals, even his own cup winner in 2016 was 'just another day at work', that's why the team loves him so much. But, Kris and Erik are in deep and excited chatter about his game winner against Toronto. Kris got the assist. After the usual post game stuff, Geno just watches them talk to each other. Knees almost touching, shoulders angled inwards, massive smiles on both faces. ''God, if only Jumbo was still playing for them. He'd be fuming that you actually know how to assist me.'' Erik says, adjusting his tie. Kris runs his hand through his hair. ''If he'd be fuming, Burnsie would explode. He might have your Norris, but you have a better partner.'' Erik bursts out laughing. ''Someone's feisty tonight.'' Kris shrugs, and stands up. ''Pot kettle.''

Geno hates to intrude, but says to them. ''Erik, Legenda - team dinner? Dubas is paying tonight.''

Kris nods. ''We'll be right behind you, G.'' They leave the locker room together. Geno wonders when Kris became such a gossip, sure he'd bounce things off of Flower back in the day, but he'd never actually gossip about anyone on their rival teams. And, why is Erik so cool with Kris gossiping about his old team mates?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five - Five Assists

Five assists in one period, just back from christmas, and Kris is already making history for his team and the league. He finishes media, and holds his puck tower, almost in disbelief at himself. Sid sits next to him, and pats him on the back. ''That was amazing, man, truly. I am so proud to be your captain.''

Kris beams, and says. ''Thanks, Croz. I just can't believe this is my achievement, I almost feel like this isn't real.'' Sid laughs, and assures his best friend. ''Enjoy it, Kris, we call you 'Legend' for a reason. See you on the bus.'' Kris nods, and they do their secret handshake.

Just as he's left the locker room, Sid hears Erik ask Kris. ''Where do you wanna put those, Kris?'' Kris must be thinking for a bit, but he says. ''With my Masterton, on my award shelves. You've got your own now, so we're not sharing my shelves anymore. Is that okay?'' Erik laughs, and assures Kris. ''That's okay.'' Sid ponders that on the bus ride, Erik has his own shelves now? Where? Was he just living with Kris until he found a place of his own?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Six - Home

Jarry and Guentzel were selected to represent the team in Toronto. So, the trio are left with a rare three days off. Sid and Geno, done with a bag skate, get showered and changed for lunch. Strangely, neither Kris or Erik showed up today. So, instead of eating with the rest, they make the drive to Kris' place. Seeing not one, but two cars there. ''That's odd.'' Sid remarks.

They go to the door, and ring the bell. Kris is happy as ever when he says. ''Hi, guys! You're just in time, we're just about to make lunch.'' Geno kicks his shoes off. ''We?'' He asks. Kris nods, and takes them through to the kitchen, where Erik is making stir fry. ''Erik, look who's here!''

Erik smiles, and hands over cooking duties to Kris. ''Hi, guys.'' Sid says, trying to hide his confusion. ''Hi, Erik. What brings you here today?''

Erik casually says. ''I kinda live here, Sid.'' Kris chops up some carrots, eating some as he does. ''We weren't making that mistake again, it's so much easier this way. No repeats of 2017, huh, amour?'' Erik kisses Kris' cheek. ''Exactly, hjartat.''

Over lunch, which is when Geno notices the twin award shelves, they tell the story. Getting together in Raleigh at the 2011 All Star Game, breaking up after the 2017 playoffs, getting back together at the 2019 All Star Game in San Jose, and finally settling down here. ''So, yeah, we're together, and this is our home.'' Kris says.

Erik adds. ''We're so sorry we didn't tell you about this earlier, but we've been so happy, and didn't wanna risk anything again.'' Kris finishes his partner's sentence. ''It took us all of 2019 to move past 2017, we hope you two understand that.'' And, they do, they do understand that. This is something special and private, something no one should ever be able to take away from them both. Not after all they've gone through to get here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi, all! First Kris/Erik fic, and my 65th post (I hope Erik would be proud I saved this for that) I'm gonna link some people real quick. I hope this is good! I had a lot of fun with this one!

@simmyfrobby @mikathemad @couthbbg @coffee-at-annies

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s1 episode 23 thoughts

back at it again with another post surgery painkiller and x-files combo, let's goooo!

i'm almost done with season 1, only 1 more episode! i'll have to see how long it took me to get to this point and then update accordingly- but i might finish today- which will be bittersweet

(update! i started watching 20 days ago, so a i'm at a little over an episode a day! wow, time flies. and yet it seems they have always been at my side)

anyway this episode was again Problematic but i did chronicle my journey like always. i am a citizen journalist.

episode opened with some math words, math words which i definitely knew the meaning of (/s)

then the scientist we see working on a sort of jet thing gets sucked into his jet- he was locked in there by the custodian- with a sound the closed captioning described as a "squishing thud" which was. unfortunate.

enter our duo! "how was the wedding?" "you mean the part where the groom passed out or the dog bit the drummer?" (mulder, teasingly) "did you catch the bouquet?" (scully, teasing back) "maaaaybe :)"

(your honor i would die for them. no hesitation. mulder, what do you care if she caught the bouquet? dreaming of her as a radiant bride or something? scully, you stringing him along with that imagery? lol. lmao, even. i need to put them in a bottle and study them)

another scientist is killed when the custodian puts him into liquid nitrogen which is not something i can endorse but he WAS rude asf so i get it. and then his ear falls off and crunches which was nasty!

scully says she has seen this happen on a fish before! mulder responds that this is not something they'll see on "beakman's world" (had to google that one but it seems to be a contemporary children's science programming of some sort. and there was a man in a rat suit playing a rat. which is absurdly funny to me. hold on NEED to get an image of him for you)

i'm. gonna fucking cry why does he look like that. need to end this line of commentary here before i start begging for explanations on what the hell was going on in the 90's

so mulder seems to think that the custodian killed his boss and all the other members of this team working on the fancy jet stuff, which we know to be true but we don't know Why. turns out our custodian, roland, is the twin brother of the head scientist, arthur, who died a few months back, and has since had his brain placed in a cryogenic freezing chamber. JUST the head!

i love when scully and mulder need a visual on what a person would look like so they go to the woman in the fbi that presses some buttons on a computer and generates a dude. it brings me pleasure to no end. then they look at the guy like :0 yup that is exactly who we are looking for. i eat it up every time.

! SCULLY LORE REVEAL ! she has two brothers, one older and one younger! (she's a middle child omg.........)

mulder thinks siblings have a psychic connection (which is actually deeply tragic if you consider his circumstances) and that the ULTIMATE psychic connection is between twins. so the twin that is currently in an icy soup is somehow connecting to the other twin to get him to kill all the other scientists and finish his research. sure. why not.

there's then a scene where mulder tries to walk in the wrong direction and scully has to correct him, which recalled him getting lost in the woods in an earlier episode i had No Positive Feelings Towards, but it does make him always driving funnier. like, can he follow a map but has no internal sense of direction? was the gps still in its early days? did he have one at all? how is he getting places? a lot of people want to know

the last remaining scientist who was not killed lowered the temperature on brain soup twin, which was stored in another part of the university campus where they worked. man my university campus has no jet propulsion wing OR brain soup section. did i get ripped off? what is my tuition even for?

anyway, the episode ends with the seeming psychic curse of soup twin being lifted from custodian twin, which we can hope to mean positive things moving forward

overall, like i said, any episode of a show from the 90's with the words "mentally challenged" in the description is bound to have aged poorly, which i am not surprised by- up there with the earlier Indigenous appropriation episode and the aforementioned episode i Shan't Name- but, we did learn things! for instance, that scully has 2 brothers (!!!), just went to a wedding where mulder teased her about maybe catching the bouquet (and also a dog bit a drummer, drop the full story time scully don't be shy), mulder believes in the psychic connection between siblings, and that there was a rat on a kid's show that was a mere man in a suit. that i'm still gonna cry laughing at.

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Happy New Year’s Eve to you too! :D I can’t wait for that “crossover” with the duo. I bet it’s young avengers or something (I’m more DC than marvel to be honest)

1: what is something the duo will never forget? Like Clark telling Chris you belong here; a El instead of a zod.

2: what’s their favorite YouTubers to watch?

3: I know you answer this already but every character in mortal kombat have two fatalities, so what other fatality would you give them? How about friendship move? I can Jake using his sticks to create firework sparklers.

4: when Chris use his darkness powers, is it like energy balls/blast or flames?

5: if it’s flames can he use it setting his farts on fire? or have Kon-El do the farting while Chris have his darkness near his butt XD

6: how would you write Superman & Lois? I definitely need more time to write more seasons lol

Just for a minor spoiler, that crossover for the Starburst Duo I had in mind (at least for the idea stage) is with Dragon Ball and given my liking of Son Gohan….I think you can piece together something from there lol

Anyways in celebration of the New Year, my last ask for 2023….

1) Aside that talk he has with Clark in reconciling on the Moon looking at a sight over the Earth, Chris’ most memorable moment would be the first ever time Jon finally had full flight which meant he joins Chris in the air, first the first time ever playing sky tag.

Meanwhile for Jake, besides that fateful duel with Zsasz and subsequent comfort he got in the hospital from Chris and his loved ones, his first ever patrol at the age of 8 years alongside Batman which invoked taking on both Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy at Bludhaven Stadium is one he’d always treasure and for good reasons.

2) I lean on Linkara of Atop of The Fourth Wall, The Blockbuster Buster and Angry Joe as their main go tos, otherwise the Duo would find both Nightwing and Superman channels which are highlights of their amazing feats captured from their smart phone cameras and more.

3) Chris; One other Fatality I can see him do would be a combination of sorts of Both Superman’s and Supergirl’s Injustice finishers. First, punching his opponent across the atmosphere in rapid succession, followed with a clear uppercut right into Earth’s Orbit finalized with a huge blast of heat vision that zaps into said opponent accelerating their fall to Earth and crashing in a massive asteroid sized explosion.

As for a Friendship, he’d use his shadowy aura to create flowers for giving while offering a free hand to pick up his beaten opponent of the ground

Jake; First he’d use a Starbolt charged Thunderclap blast his opponent back straight into the nearest wall, following it up with speed rushing to their face and laying down savage punch after right in the face, then grabbing them by the color, slamming them back first onto the ground and finally using a overcharged Starbolt on his escrima to slam it on the opponent head, the subsequent explosive discharge shaped like a massive lightning bolt.

For his Friendship, as you said, he’d use his sticks and starbolts to create sparkles while giving a respectful bow to his dazed and confused opponent.

4) Visually speaking, if not for his shadow based powers, they’d resemble energy blasts and balls akin to Dragon Ball’s Ki blasts and charge ups

5) As for the old flatulence stunt….I actually see both Conner and Chris not exactly going for it albeit for differing reasons; Conner as he thinks doing that is so 2000s, it’s no longer cool while Chris simply thinks it’s gross

6) Well, I’ll freely admit it has been quite some long time since I’ve seen enough clips of the show itself but I will give this.

Since Jon’s ten years old and likely attending Middle School, he’d instead take part in the baseball team as opposed to football. That said, I can see for see Clark being one of the coaches and during one game, Jon gets hit in the face with a ball when batting, the pain involuntarily causing his developing heat vision to burn up so Clark would use a hand to catch said heat cain on it so it doesn’t create a massive fire while calming down his hurt son. Jon feels real bad about it afterwards and locks himself in his room out of fear and anxiety about his loss of control. Not helping of his super hearing picking up on things all over the place and struggling to control it.

He’d mumble to his parents and brother something around the lines of “it’s too much….too big”. Then Clark would remember what his mother Martha told him once “Try making it little small” which help calm his senses down and allows the family to come in and comfort him

So yeah a bit of both the show and even Man of Steel 2015 (one of the actual gold scenes) thrown in if anything lol

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

where directors commentary

i forgor

***SPOILERS***

i went through a lot of drafts while writing this one cause i wasnt really sure what to do. originally there was just going to be one pairing per team and everyone else would be supporters, but then that didnt make sense and kind of stunted a few arcs i wanted to get through

kellaustin was always going to be the double elimination this episode, and i think the way they broke up was a self-critique on my part because im never quite sure what to do with either of them. having them part ways over their percieved perfection and lack of character felt natural. i like lyler, but i didnt want either of them to become lindsays or tylers, i want them to have more agency and exist outside of each other. not just as in "one gets eliminated", more like as their own people entirely.

i also wanted to avoid making them gidgette, which is lowkey kind of the most toxic td couple ever. like man even duncney was less manipulative and terrible than them and they should not have stayed together. kellaustin i think was just lacking substance and it felt right to set up a way both of them could shine in their own rights down the road, rather than drag them along as gimmick characters in tta

i also wanted to explore more of bonsar, because they exist in that space where im not sure whether i want them to be romantic or not, but calling them just friends feels very dismissive of the bond they have, and what ive written them to be.

plus, there are a LOT of duos in this season that are already purely platonic and will continue to be so. for example, i really have no romantic intents for scary, it just isnt in her character. and if it was, i could only really see it being with someone just as smart and capable as them. they're sort of filling the "mean and smart" role that ass, julia, and max can't occupy this season.

i also think they very nicely contrast joner's view of romance, since he's had a lot of trouble with it in the past. while scary is pretty outwardly anti-romance just because it's illogical to her, joner is just concerned that he's going to lose all of his important friendships to romance one way or another. he learns to be a little more accepting and supportive as we reach into the season.

and to address some of the theories floating around:

I don't think anyone has actually guessed who the winners are going to be yet. or the returnee, which is curious, cause I feel like it'd be obvious. wait no nvm there's been someone very passionately advocating for the return who I think will be pretty okay with how it's handled. most of you are wrong, though

wait also i wanna say THAT just about every single elimination order ive seen so far has been wrong. sorry. you guys are not prepared for the character arcs i have planned

[awesome-opossum-after-hours]

so I saw someone else do this and I wanna put mine out to the internet SO- here's my stranger things s5 wishlist

-Hopper-Byers family [trauma-] bonding

-specifically involving Jonathan, like with either parent tbh

-"Byers Twins" teaming up... possibly super powers involved? like either Will has hidden powers or El helps him get some

-Wayne involvement PLEASE

-going off the former, bc the Duffers said the parents were getting involved, Dustin somehow setting up his mom and Wayne

-as sad as it is, explore Dustin's trauma

-Lucas's too, and honestly maybe they'd bond over it and help each other? they were such a great duo in seasons 1 and 2 and I want that back

-Steve and Robin have a new job at some sort of stupid children's pizza place lmao (Freddy Fasbear core hahaha)

-but in all seriousness they need to still keep a running gag of them having a job together at a new place every season

-badass Karen Wheeler teaming up with Nancy

-overall more parent/child bonding now that the parents will be involved ig?

-Eddie somehow PLEASE, ideally back from the dead but it seems more likely that they'd bring him back as a Vecna vision (that'd rip me to shreds but hey at least more content)

-feel like this is self explanatory but Max being okay

-BUT FIRST, Vecna using her as a puppet

-more of a theory I have that I want to be correct, but I want them to show where she is, if she's alive but El couldn't find her. since Max wasn't totally gone when Vecna got disintegrated, what if she's trapped in Vecna's mindscape?

-badass Erica moment. spoiler alert she actually single-handedly defeata Vecna by roasting him so goddamn hard he cannot recover

-please not let this end badly but I want a Steve and Dustin callback to the "no. if you die, I die" line. AGAIN tho nothing bad should come of it please

-let Sam Owens be alive. #justice for Sam

-let Dart somehow come back and help save Dustin #justice for Dart

-Mike and Nancy acting like actual siblings but like not just fighting. like, looking after each other

-holly being sentient, yk she'll be about 10/11 it's about damn time

-IF he does come back, I want a fucking Twilight-style scene to For Whom the Bell Tolls where the camera spans the Upside Down around the trailer, dramatically and all that. on the last bell chime in the intro when the bass starts, it zooms into Eddie, laying dead on the ground. a gnarly hand reaches into frame in front of his face, and Eddie's eyes fly open. boom roll credits as the song goes on

-lastly, I do not care WHO he gets this with. even if it's some rando. but I NEED a scene at the end where we see Steve driving a Winnebago, hair blowing in the wind, with his six little nuggets that he deserves. when they arrive at their destination, we see everyone [who survives lmao] possibly with their future families, setting up a little campfire and connecting like the goddamn wonderful little Found Family they are!!!

[stevethehairington]

20 and 50 for the ST asks

helllooo!! i am SOOO sorry for such a late response omg.

i hope i got the right ask game here lol but i'm preeeety sure i did.

20. favorite emotional moment?

i definitely have to go with robin's coming out scene for this one. there are several other good emotional moments throughout the show, but this one really takes the cake for me because it's just SUCH a good one!!! and it's not very often that we get a gem of a coming out scene like this one, it's just so well done, and i could really go on and on about the scene. PLUS it sort of solidified thee platonic soulmates, like, from this point on they are IT for each other in that sense, yknow? and steve and robin's friendship is truly one of my favorite things about the show.

50. top five absolute fav things about stranger things in general?

ooh hm well i suppose:

the friendships!! there is such a huge focus on friendship in this show and i LOVED that so much. i feel like the show has sort of strayed a little bit from this in the later seasons, but oh man, season 1? that shit HITS, the friendships there are SO good, they're SO strong. like the party? i love that little group of kids!! they're so ride or die already!! they clearly love each other a lot! and then when el and max join the group, they become Part Of The Team too and i love them and i love their specific friendship too! and steve and robin my favorite dynamic duo!!! there is TRULY no other platonic soulmate best friendship out there like theirs, it's something special. and also the kids' friendships with steve (especially dustin!!!) it's SO good!!

the vibes are just so good too. like i was born after the 80s lol but there is still SUCH a sense of nostalgia with this show, again especially in that first season! there's just something about a bunch of kids riding around on bikes fighting monsters that hits different yknow?

steve's character arc!!! steve is probably my favorite character of the whole show and just the way they did his arc is one of my absolute favorite things ever because they did it so WELL. like, asshole popular jock who realizes that he's wrong and realizes that he fucked up and actually puts in the effort to fix what he did and to make things right and to mean it too, that's just SO GOOD. THAT is how you do a redemption arc. i just love steve so much, he deserves his whole entire own bullet point here lol.

i feel like if i give steve a whole entire bullet point for himself i HAVE to give eddie a whole entire bullet point too because that man.... well, he changed the whole entire game. like i've said it before but i was just a casual fan before s4 - watched when new seasons came out, talked with friends about it, but i was not part of the fandom. like i didn't look through the tags, or reblog a whole lot outside of the occasional gifset or smth, and i certianly didn't write or create any of my own content/hcs/etc. but THEE second that eddie munson walked onto that screen he stole my god damn life from me. that guy dragged me over the edge of that boat and right through the watergate with him because once i saw him i was HOOKED and i did not look back. so yeah, it's entirely eddie's fault that i am here today and i adore every single thing about him and what he stands for and who he is and i wont get into it because this post will really never end but i am SO disappointed with what they did with him and how they chose to *end his character arc (*clown shoes are FIRMLY on tho bc i am honk honk fully onboard with the we have not seen the last of eddie munson train soooo lol).

the absolutely incredible fantastic wonderful beautiful amazing inspiring awesome ridiculous epic EVERYTHING that everyone has created in response to this show. i love stranger things, i do, but we all know that there are certain things - characters, relationships, arcs, plotlines, etc. - that have missed the mark, that could have been better, that could have gone a different way. and it is the fans, it is the writers, it is the artists, it is the gif makers, it is the editors, it is EVERYONE who puts their heart and soul into creating for this fandom that fills in those gaps, that fixes things, that takes these characters we know and love and breathes even more life into them, takes them to new places, lets them explore things they deserve to explore. i will forever be grateful to everyone in this fandom because of this!!! it's incredible and it's the best part of the whole show, truly.

[teamsunfluff]

(@ask-a-staravia) "Do you have any friends here in Cosmos town?" Mukudori asked the pair of Shaymin. "Or, um, at least Pokemon you know? What are they like?" He added hastily at the end.

"Oh yeah, we know a fair amount of residents due to how involved the whole town is with the refugee program here," Kaji said. He gestured towards the bar across the room, where a Tinkaton was cleaning out some glasses. "We already introduced her, but that's Ilva. She's the owner of this café, The Gigaton Brew. She can come off as a bit brash at first, but she's just very passionate about her job and confident in her craft.

"Then there's Prisca. She's a shiny Mightyena Absol crossbread who is a traveling merchant that comes by Cosmos Town every once in a while with rare materials. She really enjoys spelunking, so she finds all sorts of stuff, ranging from evolution stones to maps for other dungeons, the works. Normally she only stays in Cosmos Town for a week before she heads out again, but due to the recent incident at Sky Peak, she's settled in for a time until the guild can ascertain how safe it is to venture out of the town's radius again.

"Speaking of the guild, the Cosmos Town guild is run by a shiny Rapidash named Hrímfaxi. Guildmaster Hrímfaxi is a pretty stern guy, but I think that comes with the territory of being a seasoned explorer. He's seen some things and doesn't want to see those mistakes or tragedies repeated. He's also in charge of investigating what happened at Sky Peak, which is why we're staying at the guild currently. We're key witnesses," Kaji explained.

"He's tried to be gentle with us though, I can tell," Avin cut in. "The incident was... extremely traumatic, so while he definitely wants information from us, I think he's trying to let us adjust to being here first before he does any sort of interrogations."

Kaji nodded. "Much to the chagrin of his vice guildmaster, Mefitis. The two of them were apparently famous explorers once upon a time as Team Midnight? We'd never heard of them but when the Rapidash Scolipede duo opened up a guild, their reputation was enough that they had people in a line out the door and down the road. Or so Ilva says.

"We've also met a fair few of the guild members. Not all of them, since a lot of the teams operate out of their own bases, but the apprentices and staff all stay on site so when we were first given a tour we got to meet all of them.

"Firstly, there's six main staff members: Circe, Otrera, Cluri, Arnold, Roksana, and Kiko. Otrera is the primary doctor on staff, with Circe being her apprentice. The two of them make for a great healing duo since Otrera has natural healing abilities as an Audino, while Circe can handle some patients that Otrera can't, like ghost-types or ones who can only be reached via flying. They usually stay on site but sometimes are sent out during major disasters, like at Sky Peak," Kaji elaborated.

"Cluri is the main chef for the guild. Supposedly her name is short for something but in all candor, she kinda scares me. I can’t decide if it’s just the creepy vibes she gives off as a Morgrem or if it’s because she seems to intimidate the other recruits too, but, she seems like the type you don’t want to mess with, at least in my opinion.

“Arnold and Roksana are the tag team that handles sentry duty. That Boltund Watchog duo can't be beat! They're also an exploration team that graduated a few winters ago, which probably explains why they have such good synergy. Supposedly they caught a couple outlaws who were trying to mascarade as a guild team last year, all because Arnold recognized their scent!

"Then there's Kiko. She's in charge of changing out the job mission and outlaw boards. Apparently she's got a cousin who changes out those requests at a guild in the west too? She often talks about how cool it is that she can go into the ocean when he can't. I'm not really sure what she means by that, but if it makes her little Wiglett-self happy then so be it!" Kaji said with a laugh.

"Oh and then," Avin interjected, "There's the other apprentices. Besides us, there's eight other apprenticing members at the guild that make up three teams. There's Team ZipZop, which primarily focuses on water rescues and missions. Cosmos Town is really close to the ocean so having a team consisting of largely water-types is handy for that. Being a Dreepy, Lich is really fast so they're able to scout out ahead for any danger or people in need of rescue! Then Dre, Rami, and Ju can come in and perform the rescue itself. Between Dre's flotation devices, Rami's schooling ability, and Ju's swift flying and diving, they're able to pretty quickly get people out of the water and to safety!

"Then there's Team RockyShock. Their leader is Fen, an older apprentice at the guild, who took Deli and Vulcan under his wings to form the team. And I do mean that literally, since Fen is an Oricorio. They're currently operating mostly in the Northern Desert region, since Deli and Vulcan are rock and ground-types respectively and still need to get used to the ins and outs of exploring. It's a bit rough on Fen, but he says they're doing pretty well for being newer apprentices.

"Lastly, there's Donahue, a solo explorer and the only member of Team X-Scissor. You wouldn't think a Ninjask would be able to hold his own, but Donahue's a really skilled fighter and rescuer. He's also the apprentice that's been at the guild the longest, so all the others sorta look up to him. I think he's set to graduate soon too? I'll need to ask him more about it."

Kaji lightly smacked his paws on the table in excitement. "Oh! And of course we can't forget-"

"Adam!" Avin said excitedly. The two Shaymin laughed together before turning to Mukudori. "Adam was one of the first non-guild members we met in Cosmos Town. He actually really wants to be part of the guild, but he's failed the entry exam three times already because he gets too scared and runs away. We were thinking of offering to help him train to see if it would calm his nerves down a bit."

Kaji nodded. "He seems like a really nice guy. You wouldn't think a Garchomp would be so easily intimidated by the entry exam, but given we didn't technically take it ourselves... well... we don't actually know what it entails, so best we can do is help him train and hope it works, right?"

"Sorry, I know that was probably more than you were expecting," Avin said with a chuckle, "Did you want to ask about any particular details?"

Ask Hints have been Updated!

[writerleo86]

Terravenger Season 6 - The Agents of Light Arc - Episode 508 (Do Not Copy) - 01.30.2024

    During the evening, the entire team of rescuers led by Sirene stood by a space jet while they were behind the closed Jordan Airport. And another person stood before the right side of the large vehicle.

    The stern Sirene had asked "So yer lendin' us yer jet?"

    This person was revealed as the older student of the Midas Academy named Pacey Deacon. He had fair skin, short brown hair, and a pair of bright blue eyes. He wore a jet-black shirt with long sleeves, a fine collar, and a long black tie. He had on a pair of dark-gray dress-pants with a black belt that had a squared silver buckle. He also wore a buttoned dark-gray coat with the Deacon Publications crest placed on the left side of the collar. And he wore shiny black shoes with dark-blue socks.

    Pacey informed the witch in an Irish accent "You will have one of my personal jets at your disposal along with the pilot. This jet had a state-of-the-art food maker. Its computer will create whatever you like to eat on command. There is also a drink machine that has the same properties. And you all will have your own monitors in order to watch any show including the new channels."

    The humble Sidney gave a soft smile and implied "You truly have done wonders for your family's company ever since your father disappeared. But I am sure you have troubles like every other business."

    Pacey placed each of his hands inside the pocket of his pants as he responded "I have done what I could to terminate past goals set for my company. Now we at Deacon not only issue printings for sales, but we help with all sorts of communication around the planet. Many readers and our main board appear to be satisfied with our accomplishments so far."

    The grim Ethan commented "I never thought Deacon Publications would ever be used for the greater good. You really have turned this business around."

    Pacey faced the team and asked "Where would your first destination be?"

    Sirene answered "We're headin' to take Troi back to da prison planet."

    Troi informed Pacey "Sirene broke me out using a portal without the guards knowing about it. Hopefully, neither the guards and other inmates will know that I went out on my sentence."

    Then Granger told Troi "Don't worry about anything. I am certain Sirene knows a spell that will erase anyone's memories."

    The wicked Naigahata commented "Sirene is no novice when creating spells such as those. She will assist Troi with handling the mere jailers."

    And Sirene replied "After that, we're gonna head to Denmark. Sirbo's got a base down there. I'm gonna find da tomb of dat fool Scorpio, even if it kills my ass!"

    The sly Pacey shook his head and claimed "It seems you all have enough on your plate."

    Sirene added "But I'm gonna blow back here if da Raven's in trouble again."

    Pacey shook his head once again and said "I do hope it doesn't come to that whatever situation our city lands in."

    Granger told Pacey "I'll make sure to report everything we do to you."

    "That's not a bad idea," directed Pacey. "I will have the pilot give you one of my private numbers in order for you to keep me up to date."

    He added "I also would like to hear about the adventures your team will have. It will be fascinating to hear what you all accomplish as your own squad."

    And the sly Naigahata said "So do I."

Terravenger -- Season 6

Episode 508:  Approaching the Holidays; The Troubled Gypsy Appears

    A few months later, the excited Duo had met with three of his friends at a table near the opening of the Midas Academy's cafeteria.

    Duo who sat at the right side of the table had worn a sleeveless black shirt that had the capital letter X printed in yellow on the center. He had on a pair of thin sand-colored band around his wrists with a sky-blue key printed on the top part of the left band. He also had tight light-gray jeans and a brown belt with a circular silver buckle. And he wore khaki shoes with maroon at the middle.

    Sitting by his right side was Dilan Carr who had on a black shirt with long white sleeves. He wore a pair of tight blue jeans with a silver rectangular buckle on the middle of his thick black belt. He also had his family crest printed on the left shoulder of his shirt. And he wore his shiny black boots over his gray socks.

    The older Cheetah sat across from Dilan. He wore a green undershirt with a pair of burnt-orange jeans with holes on various spots. He also wore a small black gauntlet around each wrist and his black shoes with red on the center. And he wore his black makeup along with black lipstick.

    The tall boy called Lenz had on a white shirt with short black sleeves and a fine black collar. He wore a pair of long blue jeans with a thin brown belt. He also had on a pair of white socks with black shoes that had white covering the center. And a pair of small silver circles were printed on the right sleeve of his shirt.

    Cheetah informed the boys "I'm havin' a little brunch at home for Turkey Day if anyone wants to come. Anton's leavin' for some kinda conference till dat weekend."

    "I am so there!" Duo told him. "My 'rents are goin' to a special dinner that their boss is having at Deacon. They asked me to go with. But I can find a way out of it."

    "I'll be there too," answered Lenz. "We gotta stick together this year."

    The smiling Dilan shook his head and responded "My dad will be on his regular duty throughout the week of Thanksgiving. I guess I will come to your party as well."

    Cheetah gave out a great smile and responded "Cool! It's gonna be an awesome party Mates! I'm gonna ask Ayr, Seth, and Silver too. I wanna go all out."

    Lenz faced Duo and cried "You need to be at this party more than anybody! You've been through a lot this part three months!"

    Duo shook his head and commented "You gotta be the most worried person ever!"

    "Don't play like dat Mate!" Cheetah told Duo. "Jinx told me about what's been goin' on with ya lately. Dat bloke Mephistopheles's got some kind of hold over you."

    "It's okay now," replied Duo. "Doc Tuscon handled everythin'. He used some mojo to keep da bastard away from me. I'm not gonna let dat creep get to me like he did Cutter."

    Dilan shook his head and responded "I did hear about your ordeal as well. This must be terrible for you to handle on your own."

    Duo gave a relieved smile and answered "Well, I guess I'm not gonna handle dis shit alone. You guys are gonna be there wit' me."

    "Hell yeah!" Cheetah told him. "Yer not alone! I'm wit' ya till da end."

    Then a male voice called out "Storms!"

    Duo quickly turned around and found their principal standing behind the group.

    Beau Ravenstone wore a collared white shirt with a long green tie and a brown vest. He had on a pair of pinstriped gray pants and a leathered black belt with a squared silver buckle. He also had on a pair of short black boots. An opened black dress-coat was worn over his shirt with his golden MAF badge placed on its front left side.

    Duo lowered his head and whispered "What the hell?"

    So, Duo began walking to the commander.

    Lenz asked "What is this about?"

    Cheetah lowered his head as he said "No idea. I got nothin'."

    The pair faced faced each other and Duo asked "What is it, Commander?"

    Beau gave a soft smile and commented "Even after everything you have gone through since the summer, you still have kept yourself together. You seem to be much stronger than I would have ever been."

    Duo folded his arms in front of him as the commander implied "You and I never once had a chance to talk since... You know. Ever since we discovered that you were my biological son."

    Then Duo shook his head as he felt no emotion.

    "You are a strong young man Duo," described Beau. "Finding out something like this would have broken any other individual. But you... You have the heart, the mind, and the fire of those from my family. Your will counters all forms of evil."

    "What do you want?" asked Duo. "Did you come here to spill yer crap or somethin'?"

    The calm Beau shook his head and replied "I may deserve all that you say. You have the right to express your opinion. To tell you the truth, I am still shocked about our outcome."

    A stern Duo lowered his arms and Beau told him "I am having a great dinner at my home on Thanksgiving Day."

    "A dinner huh?" repeated Duo.

    The kind Beau shook his head and said "I would like to invite you over. I would truly like to get to learn about you. I am certain you have questions that I may be able to answer."

    Duo told him "Look! You and I got the same blood. But that's all there is. I'm good. I already got a dad. And I'd never trade him for anythin'. My mom too."

    And Beau replied "I have no intention of taking you away from your loved ones. I only wish to get to know you individually."

    "Like I said," answered Duo. "I'm good where I'm at."

    Finally, Duo walked off as Beau watched with a soft smile on his face.

    After that, the commander walked toward the door of his office which was nearby. Beau opened the door and spotted two people standing inside.

    A stricken Beau whispered "By the gods!"

    The individual standing at the right side was the older student named Jon Griffin. He wore a white shirt that had long sleeves and a fine collar along with a long black tie. He had on a pair of dress-pants with a thick black belt that had a silver buckle. He also wore a pair of thin black socks and shiny black boots. And he wore a buttoned black dress-coat with long sleeves.

    Beside his left side stood Morgan Taylor. She had a red-sleeved shirt with short puffy sleeves and black covering the bottom part. She wore a long purple dress with blue covering the bottom. She had a long black cloth with silver and gold dots tied at the top of her dress. She also had a thin golden bracelet coming down from her left wrist along with a golden pendant around her neck. Golden rings were worn around three fingers from her right hand. Red polish had covered her fingernails. And she wore a pair of short black boots. She still had her wavy dark-brown hair which lowered from her shoulders. She also had on black eyeliner and red lipstick. And a long mahogany bandana was wrapped around the top of her head.

    "Commander Ravenstone," greeted Morgan.

    Beau implied "You are Morgan Taylor."

    And he asked Jon "How did she pass our security?"

    "It's okay Sir," Jon informed his principal. "Morgan's not the enemy. But she has a lot to tell you and the staff."

    The calm Morgan walked a few steps toward Beau and responded "I need an audience with you. What I discuss may help against the Agents of Light."

    "You have information on those people?" questioned Beau. "Your associates?"

    Morgan shook her head and informed the commander "I have much information that may please you regarding the missing people. The ones that were taken by the Bringer's deadly soldiers. I also have what you need on my former leader."

    "Do you mean Leo?" asked Beau.

    Then Morgan answered "I also come here to speak of the organization that you may have heard of -- New Beginnings."

    Beau shook his head and implied "The organization that is a stage for the Bringer and his minions?"

    And Morgan told the commander "As long as I still breath, his agents will search the entire planet for me. So I ask you for sanctuary within your city. I wish to help the nations anyway I can against the Agents of Light. And the Bringer of Death himself -- Mephistopheles."

[ikram1909]

Our problem is having a completely different lineup with players out of position EVERY game. We need some sort of consistent lineup with the occasional changes so players can understand each other better.

I totally agree with you. It's hard to develop a partnership on the field when you don't get a string of games with one partner and thats why we don't really play as a team. There's no cohesiveness in our play this season. And I know injuries are a factor in this but we keep swiching things up even when they're fit. it's especially obvious in defense. We've been so fragile defensively this season compared to the last and I think playing a different cb duo every game is a big part of the problem. last season we had BACK who had this inherent understanding of each other because they got to play together a lot. Now we don't have that and our diffense is completely reliant on the individual brilliance of our center backs (we do have really great defenders they're all amazing individually) and thats not enough. the same goes for our midfield and attack. Another issue I think is stopping our players from performing as well as we all know they can is how most of them don't get consistent game time in one position (preferably their own). Gavi for example played on the leftwing, lcm, rcm, pivot, ss. thats just this season and we aren't even halfway through. Gavi is the most extreme case but he's not the only victim. A lot of our players suffer from this and it ain't changing seeing where Pedri was playing yesterday. I think Xavi needs to start giving more importance on the word consistency. its the key to turning this around imo.