#halo spiker

[halopedia]

Map Monday — High Ground

An old military base situated near Voi, Outpost C9 was reactivated after the New Mombasa Slipspace Event. Here, the UNSC tested Paegaas Workshop Spikers recovered from fallen Jiralhanae in the wake of the Great Schism.

[oomisluvr]

“We should get married.”

Japan is unusually hot this time of year, the humidity weighing heavy in your lungs. The cicadas sing their love for the warmer weather, celebrating a seemingly endless summer. 

You watch the busy intersection from Kiyoomi’s highrise balcony, idly watching the streetlights conduct the flow of traffic.

Green, green, yellow.

Yellow, green, red.

Red, red, red.

You snort, “What makes you say that?”

Kiyoomi takes a long drag from a cigarette, inhaling deeply then releasing the breath in a plume of smoke. It’s a nasty habit he picked up from watching his eldest brother, a habit he rarely lets himself indulge in due to his lifestyle.

He only does it when he’s anxious. Jittery. Nervous. He only does it when he absolutely needs to.

Lots of people think he’s a prude, a killjoy, robotic by nature. Twitter seems to consider him as barely human, but you’ve been around Kiyoomi to know his faults, his shortcomings. You’ve seen enough of him that he doesn’t have to pretend around you.

The first time he slid a cigarette between his lips, you could hardly believe it. 

Laid comfortably on expensive sheets, his hair wild from how you had been tugging on it earlier, swiping a lighter off his nightstand and pinching the cig between two fingers. You remember how he grinned at your disbelief, a handsome smile on his face at how he was able to catch you off guard, the smoke pooling above him in a wicked halo. 

It’s what people do after a good fuck, isn’t it? He had joked. Consider this a compliment.

You remember feeling special. You remember feeling exactly how you feel right now.

“You make me happy, and I think I make you happy, too.” You watch the smoke dissipate into nothing, remnants swept away by a warm summer breeze. The cicadas grow quiet, muffled by the sound of your heartbeat in your ears.

You shift your attention from the sky overhead to the spiker. You find he’s already looking at you.

“It just makes sense.” He says.

You falter, “We’re not even dating.”

“Does it matter?” His response comes quickly, “We love each other, don’t we?”

You avert your eyes from his, afraid to fall captive to his piercing stare. His hand finds yours, rubbing smooth circles against your knuckles with a calloused thumb. Kiyoomi brings your hand to his lips, laying a soft kiss to the skin there. You draw a shaky breath, inevitably melting into him when he pulls you into his side, pressing you into him completely.

You’re surrounded by his body heat, the spiker towering over you. You hate how soothing it is. You hate how well your body responds to him, your eyes snapping back to him in an instant. 

“I’ll take care of you,” His voice is hypnotic, equal parts captivating and petulant. You hate that you believe him, like always. “We’ll take care of each other. How does that sound?”

Your body betrays you. You feel yourself falling, the walls closing in until–

“Okay.”

Kiyoomi hums, taking another drag of his cigarette, and releasing the smoke into the night air. The carbon burns your eyes, and you cough at the second hand exposure. Kiyoomi’s grip on you tightens and the smoke curls around him, forming that same wicked halo floating against the edges of your memory.

You can hardly remember life before you met Kiyoomi, the memories as tangible as his cigarette smoke. Part of you thinks loving him was inevitable, inescapable. Truly, meant to be. 

You don’t care what the other part of you thinks. Or anyone else, for that matter.

You bring your eyes back to the city below you, watching the streetlights flash and flicker and change.

Green, yellow, yellow.

Yellow, red, red.

Red, red, red.

hehehe i wanted to write something romantic but also left a sick feeling in your tummy. is it toxic obsession or is he just a freak in love? up 2 u baby its whatever you want it to be but lmk if this is too creepy!! so i can tag it as nfsw so it can go with my darker content!! ok bye love as always, niko ♡

[yanderecrazysie]

Can you do a Yandere Sakusa one-shot?

Absolutely! I feel like I barely saw any of Sakusa in Haikyuu- so many people love him but I totally struggle with getting a feel for his personality. And thank you so much!

Also, it’s been a little while since I wrote about murder. Let’s change that! ^-^

Title: Competitive

Pairings: Sakusa Kiyoomi x Reader

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, descriptions of murder, I know nothing about Japanese volleyball rules for girls on guy teams so just pretend I’m right

Summary: Sakusa’s never felt this competitive before. Maybe it has something to do with his newest opponent.

competitive

/adjective/

having or displaying a strong desire to be more successful than others:

Sakusa had never felt this alive.

He was used to staying in the background with a bored, disdainful expression. Judging people from a distance while staying in his own little germ-free corner. He rarely found interest in anything but volleyball.

Sure, he got competitive during volleyball, much more than in any other aspect of his life. He didn’t like leaving things unfinished and losing felt unfinished. He had a tendency to label rivals as a threat and overfocus on them throughout every match.

But never had he been more competitive than against this team.

He couldn’t understand why he viewed most of this team as such a threat or why he wanted to crush them harder than any team in the past.

Sakusa prided himself on his honesty, even if it went into the territory of being way too blunt. But this wasn’t so much lying to himself as it was being unable to figure out why?

He barely heard the whistle sound as he blankly turned to look at the scoreboard. Oh. They’d won. And by nearly 15 points. He’d been much too focused on the game to pay attention to the score. It felt like a blur.

The team he was playing at lined up and began to do their punishment exercises- running up and down the hill outside. Honestly, the training camp was going easy on everyone. If you lost in a competition, you were out.

Sakusa’s eyes trailed after one particular player as the number 13 jersey jogged through the morning dew-laden grass. You.

He’d been surprised that a team had let a girl play, but he had originally supposed you were just a bench warmer, let on to keep the parents’ mouths shut about equality. He had been outright shocked (though he’d never show it) when you lined up to play off against the other teams as not even the libero, but the setter.

You weren’t filling in for anyone, either, that much was for sure. Sakusa had watched your team beat another before playing against his and you were good. Your movements were fluid, your form was perfect, and you were a quick-thinker. Not a genius like Kageyama and not as talented as Oikawa, but you were a worthy opponent by far.

When he went up against your team, one of the wing-spikers (the one right across from him) said something snarky, something he couldn’t even remember anymore, and put his arm around you for just a moment while laughing.

And then, he’d been consumed by a need to win he couldn’t hope to control.

When your team turned around to run down the hill, he could see the disappointment on your face. You felt bad about losing, most likely, even though you’d probably done your very best. Sakusa didn’t know, he hadn’t been paying attention to you during the match.

Although, now it was over, he felt like he should have been.

You looked like an angel, with the sun’s rays lighting you up at that angle- he almost expected a halo to appear above your head. Your beautiful skin shone with sweat but it just enhanced your looks by making you glow.

He wasn’t the type to get this distracted by a girl, but he couldn’t help it.

“Why are you in a corner by yourself?”

To anyone else, Sakusa would say something biting, making them leave with their tails between their legs. To you, he could only look down at his food silently, wishing he had the guts to say anything to you.

“Would you like to sit with us?” Your voice was so soothing, so kind… You probably thought he was lonely, all by himself, when he did this to himself. He just wanted to get away from the crowd as they ate lunch, but you…

You really forced him out of his comfort zone from the moment you met him, huh?

“I’d prefer to stay here,” he managed to mumble out.

“Oh, okay,” you looked a little disappointed. Were you hoping to hang out with him? His heart lifted a little at the thought but quickly plummeted when you dejectedly walked away. 

He knew then that, if you gave him the chance, he’d do anything to bring that smile back to your face.

The universe must hate him, Sakusa was sure of that.

Somehow, he’d been tasked to be the one to clean up all the dirty, germ-ridden volleyball equipment at the end of the night, along with that infuriating guy from your team that always had his hands all over you.

But you’d given Sakusa a little wave and sweet smile as you left, and that’s all that really mattered to him. Silly that a girl he’d just met had so much power over him.

There was a cage filled with all sorts of different PE equipment that the volleyballs were meant to go in. The two boys jogged around the gym, scooping up the balls, dropping them in the cage, and repeating.

It would’ve been fine, had it been in silence. But the other boy just would not shut up.

At first it was little digs at how their team would beat his next time, about how Sakusa’s a “weird guy”, and then he said something that sealed his fate.

“(Y/n)’s pretty hot though, don’t you think? The girl on our team? Bet you’re jealous.”

Oh, he was jealous. Jealous beyond words.

“Yeah, I’m glad she’s on the team- she looks hot in a jersey and shorts. Doesn’t she?”

Is this how he always talked about you? Did you know about this.

The two of them stopped at the cage to drop off volleyballs. As your teammate turned around to gather more, Sakusa fished around deeper inside, under the volleyballs.

“I really wish she’d let me-”

CRACK

The sound of a baseball bat meeting the side of the jerk’s skull was a wonderful sound to Sakusa. 

The boy slumped forwards, landing on his face and not moving. For good measure, Sakusa brought the bat down hard on the back of his head. Twice.

He didn’t bother to touch his disgusting body to get a pulse reading- he could see the guy was dead from a mile away. It felt good. Better than he’d ever expected.

The threat was gone. Now both you and Sakusa could be a little happier. 

But he wanted more. He wanted all of the competition out of the way, until it was just you and him. Maybe that was selfish of him but he couldn’t help it.

He wondered how many of your teammates he could dispose of before this week-long training camp was over.

[haikyuuidolzine]

ハイキュー 'TO THE STARS'

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For a list of all unservicable countries, kindly check our carrd.

It has been updated to reflect all current information about our team, schedule and pre-orders.

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[tacko3d]

Working on something

“Oh it’s another robot.”

No my dear reader, it’s a little more than that.

You see it’s a special secret project.

Yes sir. We’re working in the shadows again. You don’t know what I’ll be doing next.

HAMBURGER

you didn’t expect that. You’ll never see me coming. My mind is labyrinth. At the center of it?

ANOTHER LABYRINTH

Yeah

And at the center of that?

Me with with Akimbo Halo 3 Spikers

Uh huh

*vine boom*

[radramblog]

Halo Through its Guns: Halo 3

This and the last one were actually the articles I was least sure about when thinking this whole series up. A bit awkward, considering it makes it look a bit one-hit-wondery. Unlike the franchise it describes.

Halo 3 was another big step up in complexity from its predecessors. Everything gets to look and sound bigger and better, what with the shift in console generation increasing audiovisual fidelity and how much shit the game could be running at once. Processing power, that’s the term I was looking for.

This coupled with the grand finale to the Halo Trilogy, something that is kinda funny to think about this many games later. But because of that, Bungie wanted to make sure this game was more bombastic than ever, with so much more stuff going on, and much of this effort paid off.

However, Halo 3 also hits a bit of a stumbling block on account of all that new Stuff. It’s one that would be corrected, then perfected, and then doubled down on as the series progressed.

But that’s well and truly ahead of ourselves. This is Halo 3 through it’s gun: The Spike Rifle.

Brutal.

If you’re somehow reading this and don’t know Halo 2/3’s plot, hello and also, what? But Halo 3 takes place after the Schism, a civil war within the Covenant in which the Jiralhanae (Brutes) replace the Sangheili (Elites) within the hierarchy and the latter start getting massacred. This means two things: one, you’re going to be fighting a lot of Brutes in this game. And two, you aren’t going to be fighting a lot of Elites in this game. Excluding Flood-infected ones, in fact, you don’t fight any.

Halo 2 gave the Brutes somewhat of a distinct flavour, seeing as they had to be distinguished from the Elites who were also enemies you were fighting, sometimes in the same level. They soaked up automatic fire like a sponge, were vulnerable to headshotting once you popped off their helmet, and would occasionally get pissed off and barrel towards you, furry fists at the ready.

Their weapons carried this further, but in 2 there really weren’t very many of them. I’d argue the Brute Plasma Rifle doesn’t really count, though the parallel is fun (higher fire rate but it overheats quicker- it’s an “angrier” gun), and Tartarus’s own Fist of Rukt isn’t exactly something you get to play around with. There was, however, the Brute Shot, a huge grenade launcher with a wicked bayonet built into the stock, a relatively powerful weapon befitting the stature of the big monkes. It was the Brute Shot whose aesthetic carried over to the following game.

The Spike Rifle (or just Spiker) is one of the new Brute-held weapons included with Halo 3. It’s an automatic, dual-wieldable projectile weapon whose spikes embed themselves in object and foe alike. Unlike the alien purple and pink of the Needler, the Spiker is a dull gunmetal and brown that feels akin to a human weapon, were it not for the twin bayonets and the, well, shooting fucking spikes at people.

The aesthetic of the Spiker and its companions in the Brute arsenal, the Brute Shot, Mauler, Gravity Hammer, and Spike Grenade (we’re just going to ignore the Firebomb) as well as the new vehicles they bring to Halo 3 perfectly suit the feel of the Brutes. These weapons are pragmatic and classless, with literally all of the guns having bayonets (including the Gravity Hammer!) and having magazine-based reloads. They’re simple, from both a design and gameplay perspective, but they server to seriously distinguish the Brutes from both the Elite enemies in previous games as well as the Grunt, Jackal, and Drone underlings they command over.

The Spiker is a standby of the lower-ranked Brutes, much like the Plasma Rifle was of the Elites previous. From this, however, stems part of the first issue with their handling in Halo 3. As much as they were unique in 2, Halo 3 doesn’t have Elites to balance them off of, and it seems the development team wanted to maintain that core enemy deployment structure that worked so well in the previous games. What this means is that the Brutes in this game are kind of just Elites most of the time, seeing as they play very similarly and have been given energy shields. There are subtle differences- Brutes can’t regenerate their shields, and they’re much more likely to rush you and attack in melee. Higher-ranking members, such as Chieftains, can actually shrug off a headshot after their shields break as their helmets stay on, and the new Equipment system (we’ll get there) means they can pull some really interesting tricks.

But like. A Chieftain with a Gravity Hammer isn’t far off a Zealot with an Energy Sword, and a Spec Ops Brute with a Mauler (only one for some reason) isn’t that different to a Spec Ops Elite with…an Energy Sword. Both wield Carbines in H2 and H3, and the Spike Grenade and Plasma Grenade are pretty similar as well. The Brutes are effectively the parallelization of an entire enemy class to fit a mould that doesn’t even exist in the game they’re in.

And as thematically appropriate as the Brute weapons are, the simplicity is kind of their downfall. The Spike Grenade is just a Plasma, stickiness and all, but trading the sheer lethality for a bit of extra range that you aren’t going to notice when you’re attaching it to someone. The Mauler is basically only useful when dual wielding, since if you aren’t then you might as well just melee someone- it’s not like the gun has any more range than the average arm. The Spiker is basically just another Plasma Rifle/SMG, though with a slightly higher DPS. Did you know that? It actually hits harder.

Arguably one of Halo 3’s biggest problems is weapon bloat. There’s simply too many guns and not enough room to let them all shine, such that a lot of them are confined to a single enemy subtype or a handful of multiplayer maps. The aforementioned Mauler only appears on the stealthy brutes that appear in maybe two levels, the returning Flamethrower and new Spartan Laser only show up in one each. And this is bad enough with the weapons that are actually cool and good, but when we get down to the Spiker? It just doesn’t matter.

The dual-wieldable weapons are pretty much universally bad in Halo 3, save maybe the Plasma Pistol. At this point, the drawbacks- not being able to conveniently melee, throw a grenade, switch weapons, or use equipment- just make them much too inconvenient to bother with. On top of that, for whatever reason, the game actually nerfs the damage of many of the weapons while they’re being dual wielded, so while you do technically get more bang for your tick, you certainly don’t get more bang for your buck, and the inaccuracy of a lot of these weapons means every miss hurts more. I think some amount of this is a result of the dominance of the Battle Rifle in just about every form of multiplayer, but very rarely will you see anyone deign to pick up anything short of an actual “power weapon”. Hell, most people never bother using the Assault Rifle they spawn in with, unless things get very desparate. The result of this is that weapons like the SMG, Spiker, and Magnum just get left on the dirt where they spawned in most of the time, unable to shine or make the game as interesting as they potentially could.

Of course, the dual-wieldable Spikers and the like were not the only thing clogging up Halo 3’s sandbox. There was also the Heavy Weapons, four very large guns that had the same restrictions as dual wielding and also slow your character down in exchange for being able to hold 3 guns at once as well as raw power. These were honestly pretty okay, adding an extra dimension to the turrets that littered Halo 2’s maps, as well as the Missile Pod replacing the homing function of 2’s Rocket Launcher. But because of that speed drop, as well as other issues (not being able to zoom in, the third-person perspective being awkward, lack of range), they just didn’t end up being worthwhile either except as defensive tools in objective modes. As insanely powerful as the Flamethrower is (seriously, fire damage is absurd in this game, if you shoot it on the ground and walk on the flames you will die very quick) it doesn’t matter if you can’t reach the guy you want to use it on while he peppers you with bullets.

The other axis on this equation is equipment. Equipment are a fun and interesting addition to the gameplay! But a lot of them are niche, terrible, or both. I can’t say I’ve seen many people effectively use the Deployable Cover, and I don’t know if there are any maps where the Trip Mine is both available and relevant. It’s not surprising that this is literally the only game with them, frankly, though a few would be adapted into future games in the form of Armour Abilities.

There is a lot going on in Halo 3’s gameplay. The game was ambitious with its additions to the franchise seeing as it was both the last of a trilogy and the first of a console generation. And while I don’t think any individual piece is bad per se, they frustratingly form less than the sum of their parts. It’s still a frankly excellent game, well-deserving of its long-time heritage and praise, but things like the awkwardness of some mechanics and the arguable needlessness of weapons like the Spiker somewhat weigh it down, much like the 12 grenades 2 guns many spare magazines and giant flamethrower Chief can carry should probably be doing to him.

The trilogy might have been over after 3, but the franchise certainly was not. Before we return to the Master Chief’s (hopefully) comfortable shoes, though, we’ve got a couple side trips to make. I hope to see you, reader, here for the next two entries of this article series, where we cover my favourite two Halo games.

[ladiesguy1122]

Do You Ever Wonder If The Brute Spiker From Halo Is Partly Based Off Of Inferno's Main Weapons? #weapon #collage #transformers #beastwars #predacon #inferno #ant #halo #covenant #brute #spiker #blades https://www.instagram.com/p/CHMzCJ-DF7N/?igshid=2abeu87oqvy1

[turnstileskyline]

nine inch nails (vampire) son or bikini kill (vampire) daughter. (click for higher quality!)

heres my take on the vatore siblings!! i tried to keep them mostly true to form in general but a) the ea hairs were ugly, b) caleb got gayer. not sure how, and c) i made lilith a bit buffer because i love her 

not available to download bc idk how to do that lol sorry. (p.s, i’m in the very early process of setting up a sideblog for my sims stuff, so find any future stuff at @telekinetictrait )

cc links and creator tags under the cut!

all –

my resources list can be found HERE / missrubybird’s aqua trigger muted unnatural eyes / confettiberry’s historian cas background (’wilde’ swatch) / mosaica’s arctic pink cas lighting

caleb –

all: s4simomo’s isamo hair / rheallsims’ stoic hairline / eco lifestyle septum / moonlitefalls’ help quija palm tattoos (blog deactivated, linked through mmoutfitters) / satterly’s paired poses / helgatisha’s male poses 11

everyday: base game eyeshadow / base game eyeliner / vampires single earring / zeussim’s lavendel top / barbieaiden’s transparent shirt accessory (post deleted, linked through maxismatchccworld) / vampires leather pants / vampires heeled boots

formal: base game eyeshadow / base game eyeliner / base game earrings / marysims’ thomas top / vampires lace floral gloves / pleyita’s subtle basic trousers / base game shoes

athletic: base game top / outdoor retreat cropped pants / cottage living shoes

sleep: kismet-sims’ head like a hole top / base game pajama pants / outdoor retreat socks

party: vampyre-sims’ damned eyehadow / base game eyeliner / vampires single earring / zeussim’s ditlev top / raggedy-rat’s lonnie skirt / ridgeport’s mynx tights / vampires heeled boots

swim: joliebean’s yukari hat / zeussim’s vladdy daddy sunglasses / kismet-sims’ americas suitehearts tank / base game trunks

hot weather: base game eyeliner / vampires single earring / realm of magic ripped tank / ceeproductions’ archive straight leg denim jeans / nolan-sims’ fully armed fatigue boots 

cold weather: base game eyeshadow / base game eyeliner / vampires single earring / discover university layered jacket with shirt / barbieaiden’s coco skirt (post deleted, linked through maxismatchccworld) / base game calf socks / vampires short heeled shoes with spats

lilith –

all: marysims’ roxy hair / bloodmoon’s nihil nose chain / saruin’s moth tattoo / someone-elsa’s basic posepack 4 / helgatisha’s vicious vampires poses

everyday: base game eyeshadow / evazetta’s batwing eyeliner / teanmoon’s cameo choker / base game cowl neck tank top / myfawnysimblr’s snake arm cuff conversion / zeussim’s letha pants / bellassims’ orion boots

formal: base game eyeshadow / base game eyeliner / realm of magic suit jacket top / cottage living pleated trousers / ridgeport’s mynx tights / cottage living lace up heeled boots

athletic: base game spaghetti strap tank top / discover university hand wrap / discover university short athletic shorts / base game ankle socks / discover university plain sneakers

sleep: serenity-cc’s eloise top / serenity-cc’s celia bra / pigeonhome’s boxers (post deleted, linked through mmoutfitters) / base game knee-high socks

party: base game eyeshadow / evazetta’s batwing eyeliner / myfawnysimblr’s double spiker choker conversion / evellsims’ nihilist blues top / evellsims’ nihilist blues gloves / evellsims’ join me in death pants / vampires heeled boots

swim: seasons sunhat / base game aviators (i think?) / aharris00britney + ayoshi’s nicole swimsuit 

hot weather: ts4eve’s batwing sunglasses / aharris00britney + ayoshi + dogsill’s aaliyah top / realm of magic lace-up shorts / base game chuck taylor inspired sneakers

cold weather: base game eyeshadow / evazetta’s batwing eyeliner / cloudcat’s no halo choker / dreambot’s cute thing top / softerhaze’s harmony boyfriend jeans / base game lace-up winter boots

thank you to @missrubybird @confettiberry @mosaica @rheallsim @satterlly @helgatisha @zeussim @barbieaiden @ms-marysims @pleyita @kismet-sims @vampyre-sims @raggedy-rat @ridgeport @joliebean @ceeproductions @nolan-sims @bloodmooncc @saruin @someone-elsa @evazetta @teanmoon @myfawnwysimblr @bellassims @serenity-cc @pigeonplays @evellsims @aharris00britney @ayoshi @ts4eve @dogsill @cloudcat @dreambot and @softerhaze !!!!

[transmechanicus]

Halo Infinite really tossed all the sexy cultural development the Brutes got in Halo Wars 2. They had bladed Spiker clubs, wrist swords, arm mortars, near ubiquitous grav hammers…the Banished leaned into Jiralhanae tendencies to crush, burn, or impale their foes and i loved it. In Infinite all that shit’s gone in favor of altered Covenant plasma tech. Brutes are more likely to be found using shit ripped from humans than anything culturally unique. Bring back the Spiker at minimum, the Brutes look dumb as hell running around with pistols as primary weapons

[plus-ultra-oof]

Pretty | SakuAtsu | Haikyuu!! | Tickle Fic

A/N: Ok hi so I wrote this a little while ago bc my SakuAtsu brainrot never stops and I figured I might as well share it. This is my first time posting a T-fic so please be kind lol. Also, sorry if the formatting is a mess I am on my phone.

Disclaimer: This takes place post timeskip so minor spoilers for Haikyuu! It’s nothing to major other than some vague things mentioned in passing. Also includes swearing and centers around tickling within a romantic setting (all sfw).

Summary: Sakusa’s stubborn as hell, but Atsumu is more than willing to get his boyfriend to go to sleep by whatever means necessary. Especially if that means he gets to see that pretty smile of his.

——————————————————

“Ya know, yer hair is really soft Omi,” Atsumu said, breaking the calm silence that had settled over the room. It was actually Kiyoomi’s room in his apartment this time. Atsumu was lying on his bed, running his hands through Kiyoomi’s dark curls as the other man laid across the bed, head placed conveniently in the setter’s lap as he attempted to read a book. He was far too tired to do so, in Atsumu’s professional opinion. The way his eyes kept falling shut for longer between blinks and how his grip on the hardcover kept shifting until he was barely holding it open where it lay against his propped up legs supported it too.

“You already- said that,” he replied, trying for flat and uninterested but the cute yawn that interrupted his sentence completely contradicted his unbothered persona.

It’d been a long practice for everyone, but especially the spikers. Both Bokuto and Sakusa had to run an insane amount of cut shot drills on top of their usual work. Just watching it had made Atsumu tired, so he could only imagine how Omi was feeling. The man had been practically dead on his feet when they’d gotten back to their complex, so the way he had melted into their bed upon finally brushing his teeth was unsurprising. His attempts at staying up were though. Atsumu blamed that on his insistence on keeping his routine no matter what.

The stubborn bastard could barely keep his eyes open, but sure, making it through a whole chapter of that thick ass book was totally plausible.

“It’s true though,” Atsumu was quiet for a moment and then, when he got no response he added on, “and it’s so pretty too,” For that he received a half hearted glare that was dampened by the way he could feel the man leaning into his touch as his fingertips scratched lightly again his scalp. The twin smiled, his boyfriend really lost his filter when he was this tired.

Gone were the biting remarks and cold expressions, leaving him far more pliant than he would ever admit to. Hell, here he was, letting Atsumu play with his hair and letting out little sighs of contentment. His eyes were even gradually falling closed as he relaxed into his boyfriend’s touch.

The harsh lines of his face were softened by the low light in the bed room, and with his brows uncreased by any worries and his hair pooled around his head like a dark halo, he looked almost angelic. Like something out of one of those fancy paintings.

“Yer so pretty Omi,” Atsumu murmured absently, the words falling from his lips easily. It was a statement to him. A simple truth of life.

The sky was blue, volleyball was the best, and Atsumu’s boyfriend was a damn masterpiece.

This was only proved further when his cheeks began to warm, the pink flush only complimenting smooth skin and pouty lips, twitching down into a petulant frown despite his flustered state.

“Shut it,” he mumbled in reply, unable to come up with a proper comeback in his half asleep state. Atsumu smirked. Another thing he loved about sleepy Omi was his inability to disguise any of his reactions. It always made messing him even more fun.

“Omiiii, Yer so cute m’gonna dieeeeee,” he teased, leaning down to admire his expression more closely. The new angle let him see the minuscule twitch of the corner of his lips, a sign that his adorable boyfriend wasn’t really as grumpy as he was trying to appear, “Aw is that a smile I see?” Said boyfriend had abandoned all hopes of reading his book in favor of moving off of Atsumu’s lap and onto his side of the bed, laying back and closing his eyes.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Atsumu,” he stated, his voice still managing to stay level and unaffected, a true testament to Sakusa’s insane amount of self control, “Now its late, let’s go to sleep,” Too bad Atsumu was too much of an asshole to let him be. And, he knew him well enough to chip away at that carefully crafted mask until his boyfriend was puddy in his hands.

Miya pouted and moved closer, letting his right hand come back up to rest in his curls again and the other land at his back, rubbing slow circles into it the way he knew Sakusa liked.

“Oh c’mon baby don’t be like that, I just want ta see that gorgeous smile of yers,” he let his chin rest on Kiyoomi’s shoulder, pressing close to his back as his arm trailed down to wrap around his waist. He placed a light kiss against his boyfriend’s temple. The first in a trail that led down his cheek to his jaw and then took a detour down and up his neck to reach his ear again, earning soft sighs and hums as he went. Atsumu smiled, his Omi really was sweet like this: All peaceful and relaxed and unassuming, “Do me a favor and lemme see it?”

He shifted from kissing at his neck to mouthing lightly and letting his lips graze the expanse of soft pale skin at his disposal and the reaction was immediate, even if Sakusa tried to hide it. Sure, he stayed quiet, but Atsumu could feel the shivers that ran through him when he started and how his shoulders began to shake the longer he went on. He felt him jump when he let the fingers at his waist trace lazy shape into his toned stomach.

“Atsumu-“ His name was rushed out in a breathy way that only Atsumu got to hear.

“Yes Omi?” He purred, directly into his boyfriends ear, savoring the little squeak that came from the man shaking in his arms.

“N-no,” he whined, actually whined, shaking his head in an attempt to rid himself of the tingly sensations that were quickly perforating his sleep addled mind and making him want to give into the bouncy feeling rising in his chest.

“Why not Omi? M’just tryin ta kiss ya?” He followed his movements easily, continuing the playful torment of his boyfriend.

“You- you know exActly whehy not!” The squeak was louder this time and Kiyoomi even let a few titters loose as Atsumu started using his other hand to lightly scribble at the other side of his neck while simultaneously blowing into his ear.

“Ooh was that a giggle there Omi? What’s happenin’ baby? Somethin’ funny?” Atsumu knew that if he could, Sakusa would be griping about the teasing and how this whole thing was immature and unfair. For now though, he was too busy trying (and failing) not to devolve into a ticklish mess, so Miya was content.

“Nahaha stahahap yohuhu bahahastard!” He forced out through his giggles. The sound was light and filled with gasping breathes and squeals. Kiyoomi hated it, but it was one of Atsumu’s favorite sounds. Especially when he knew he was the cause of it.

Whether it came from unraveling him like this or timing a sarcastic joke just right, he savored it each time he got to hear it, so he didn’t appreciate it when both ungloved hands flew up to muffle it.

“Hey what’dya do that for?” He asked, his own pout forming on his lips as he leaned up to see his boyfriend’s face. His eyes were squeezed shut again and the flush was even brighter now. What was really captivating though, was the way his whole face seemed to brighten, even with his open mouth smile covered up.

Atsumu couldn’t help but stop and stare for a few seconds before remembering the task at hand. To see that pretty smile for real.

“C’mon Omi, just pull yer hands away or m’gonna haveta resort to extreme measures,” Atsumu increased his effort at leaving barely there kisses along Kiyoomi’s neck, feeling his heart race against his lips when he reached the pulse point. This got a cacophony of muffled squeaks and giggles before he finally gave into instinct and moved one of his hands away to push at his face.

As soon as it came up, Atsumu saw his chance and took it.

The hand that was drawing shivery patterns over sharp hip bones immediately skittered up Sakusa’s side to find its mark just above his ribs, sending the arm crashing right back down with a muffled shriek.

“Pffft phmp uff,” Came the dampened response as the other hand stayed stubborn in its quest to deprive Atsumu of his happiness. He decided to take it up another notch, because despite his tiredness, his Omi-Omi was still able to put up a good fight. He wouldn’t have him any other way: As headstrong as he was talented.

“Fine, don’t say I didn’t warn ya,” Atsumu leaned back just enough to leave some space between himself and Kiyoomi’s back. For insurance and safety purposes, he threw a leg over his waist to make sure he would fall off the bed.

Then all bets were off.

He started actually scratching at his armpits in tandem with leaving sloppy kisses along his spine and shoulder blades and any other part of his back he could reach at the moment, and the reaction was instantaneous and oh so satisfying.

“Mmmmphhhuhuhuck AtsuhuHU! NaHAHA STAHAP!”

“What babe? Somethin’ wrong?” He made sure to speak against the skin of his back, his words sending ticklish tremors through Kiyoomi as his worst spot was attacked.

“NOHOHOT THEHERE AHATSUHU!” Something seemed to switch off in his brain as his arms finally fell limp at his sides and he threw his head back against the pillows, laughing fully now. When they did, Atsumu immediately toned it down, abandoning his underarm in favor of leaving feather light scratches down the sides of his boyfriend’s back, making him shiver and keeping him caught up in his giggles without torturing him too bad.

Omi could never say that he was anything but nice about this....Well at least at this particular moment. Sakusa definitely kept a dated list of the times that his boyfriend had ruthlessly abused this specific weakness, but that was besides the point.

“Ahatsuhuhu,” Atsumu looked up at the sound of his name falling from upturned lips and found himself mesmerized by the sight.

Now that Kiyoomi had given up on stopping him he’d shifted to flop down on his stomach, bracing his head on his arms as he tried to contain the shaky laughter still spilling easily from his mouth. His hair was tousled from the struggle and his eyes were teary from laughing so hard and he was in an eternal state of flushed and fuck he was beautiful.

Too pretty for his own good. And Atsumu’s. At this rate, he was gonna die before he got to the Olympics.

He could just see it now: Miya Atsumu, beloved son, brother, boyfriend, and teammate. Cause of death: Seeing his godlike boyfriend laugh his heart out.

Shit, ‘Samu was right, he was whipped.

“Tsuhuhuhumuuu, m’tired,” Whiny giggles followed by a familiar yawn brought him out of his thoughts and he let his fingers slow to a stop, moving up in the bed to be beside his still giggling boyfriend. He turned him over onto his back before placing his book onto the nights stand and turning out the light.

“A-asshole,” Sakusa groaned, through breathy pants, giving him a half-hearted shove as he turned to face the blonde.

“But ya love me,” he teased moving in closer to lay his head on the dark haired man’s chest, listening patiently as his heartbeat finally started to slow down.

“You suck,” he murmured in response, his tone empty of any real malice. Plus, the way he was snuggling closer and lacing their hands together across Atsumu’s waist contradicted his words anyway.

Atsumu smiled and took a final look at his boyfriend before closing his eyes to follow him into sleep. And as a man of a limited vocabulary when it came to most things other than volleyball, his last thoughts prior to drifting off were as simple as they were true: Omi’s so pretty.

[staranon95]

DinCobb Week Day 4: AU/Freebie (SFW)

for @dincobbweek​ this time we’re returning to a favourite AU of mine. The Halo universe!

i’ve previously explored a Halo/Mandalorian AU. the first story is very much NSFW but this story acts as a prequel showing how Cobb and Din meet in that verse

before we get started here is some very handy terminology

ODST - Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Spartan - a term for someone who was a child soldier and given physical augmentations to become a weapon ONI - Office of Naval Intelligence (so like the in universe FBI) UNSC - United Nations Space Corp (the army but in space) Covenant - invading alien forces and the main villains in the series Reach - a planet humans had settled that was destroyed by the Covenant

AO3 Link

Blast Radius

When Cobb was told by his CO to expect some heavy infantry of reinforcements, he was expecting another ODST squadron, not a Spartan III whose black and silver armour made him look more like an ONI operative than a functioning war machine for the UNSC.

Now granted, Cobb had nothing against Spartans. Spartans were the reason they were even managing to hold their own against the Covenant. But he did have a problem with this Spartan.

“Sergeant Vanth?”

Cobb looked up from the view into New Mombasa to see his Lieutenant Jo leading forward a heavily armed Spartan.

“Infantry’s arrived,” she said, and Cobb wished she didn’t have her helmet on so he could read her better.

“Sergeant Vanth,” the Spartan said. “Spartan A114 reporting in.” The Spartan then snapped to it and saluted him to show that he knew how to respect his superiors, but Cobb knew better. Spartans had a reputation to Lone Wolf it, and Cobb didn’t need that shit on his team.

“A Spartan,” he said incredulously. The Spartan easily towered over him by nearly a foot. All those augmentations and front of the line armour specs only added to the mass that made all Spartans seem unkillable. But in Cobb’s eyes, it made them cocky as well. “Wasn’t expecting a Spartan.”

“It was all they had on hand to offer,” 114 said.

“Right, well, settle in, big guy. We’re mainly search and rescue. Free hostages and get them to safety while clearing out the nests, you hear?”

114 nodded. “Loudly.” He unhooked a sniper rifle from his back and moved forward to join the rest of Cobb’s team with the look out—without needing to be told or looking to be told.

Cobb sighed. It was going to be a long fight.

…

“Vanth, come in.”

“Go ahead, Issa.”

“I’m spotting Jakal reinforcements on the rooftops. Beam rifles from the looks of it.”

“All. Squad, keep your ears on and your heads low and—”

Cobb heard a crack over head and ducked low as a second one followed shortly after. He held his battle rifle up as he looked for the source of the shots.

“Jakals are cleared. You’re free to go.”

That was 114.

Cobb sighed and clicked his tongue. “A heads up would be nice next time, 114.”

“Time’s of the essence, Sergeant.” Then he heard a ‘click’ and Cobb knew the bastard had likely muted on his end.

Fucking Spartans.

…

New Mombasa was a fucking mess. Based on the chatter they were picking up, the Covenant forces seemed to become more and more contained to one part of the city, like they were congregating. Other ODST squads had been deployed to hotter areas in the city, and Cobb’s smaller strike team made it easier for infiltration to minimalize casualties. They were the cleaning crew, really, and Cobb didn’t mind that.

But he did mind that his Spartan was deathly silent most of the time.

He had 114 act as their eyes. With his high-powered scope, he was able to get a better view of the terrain before Cobb’s team went down in to clear it out, and Cobb had to admit, 114 was a good shot. Those enhanced reflexes sure came in clutch in the best ways possible, but Cobb was expecting at least some communication on his end.

114 acted like a brick wall and Cobb hated it. He knew nothing of the Spartan, didn’t even know his name, and while it was nice to be fighting with someone who was this well skilled, Cobb didn’t know if he’d choose 114 over another top notch ODST squad.

“Looks like we got a standard fair here,” Jo said. “Couple of Brutes. Grunts as back up and a Jakal nest.”

Cobb nodded. “You see a Chieftain?”

“Nah, looks like pretty standard fare for them.”

“Good. Listen up! We clear this intersection and that gets us one step closer to the bank. You play it safe and you play it hard. Cover always. Focus fire on Jakals and Grunts and then the Brutes. Clear the field before we got in heavy. Got it?”

He received a chorus of Oo Rahs! and then utter silence from 114. “Hey, Spartan, you got that?”

The Spartan nodded and said nothing.

“Good. I want you on that roof top. Take the Jakals and then we move in. Provide cover from the Brutes if they get close.”

“I think it’d be better if I were on the ground with you,” the Spartan said, and Cobb was surprised he said anything at all—let alone battle advice.

“No,” Cobb said. “You’re best on the rooftops.”

“But—”

“That’s an order, Spartan.”

He could see that 114 was frustrated with how he tightened his grip around his sniper, but he fell in line all the same and marched off to find a perch of the sight before the team moved in to clear the junction.

“Get into position,” he said to his team, and they all crouched for cover and waited for 114 to get into position.

He looked through the scope of his battle rifle and scoped out the scene. Four Brutes, half a dozen Grunts, and two Jakals. Nothing in comparison to what Cobb had dealt with before, but it was better to play things safe and slow rather than to rush in.

“114, check in,” he said.

Silence.

“114, this is Sergeant Vanth. Check in.”

Again, silence. And then he knew why.

Rather than targeting the Jakals first and letting the squadron in there was a sudden explosion that caught Cobb off guard. 114 had discharged a round into one of the plasma cells stacked in the area that took the Covenant force by surprise, killing one Brute in the onslaught. Then Cobb saw 114 jump into the fray from what should’ve been his perch, taking a running jump to clear a distance of a dozen or so feet and come to the ground in a roll to lessen the impact from a fifteen foot drop. Then he struck with deadly precision on the Covenant left recovering from the shock.

“Fuck,” Cobb said. “Issa, eyes on the Jakals.”

“You got it, Sarge.”

“The rest of you, eyes forward! Now!”

He leapt over his cover, raised his rifle against his shoulder and began to pick off the Grunts one by one, while 114 aimed for the Brutes. And he was doing so with just a magnum pistol and a knife.

One of the Brutes raised his spiker in Cobb’s direction, and he dove down behind a concrete barrier as the deadly spikes imbedded themselves into the asphalt where he had just been standing previously. A Grunt jumped into his field of vision on his left and he turned and fired, hitting the Grunt’s methane tank, which he saw spark and catch before it blew. He raised his hands for cover and then looked over the barrier to see the field. The Grunts were fleeing. The Jakals were dead, and 114 was locked in combat with the only remaining Brute until he managed to drive his knife into the Brute’s throat and finish it off with a shot from the magnum until the Brute fell dead.

Cobb charged up to him. “What was that!?”

114 wiped his knife off his vambrace before sheathing it. “I told you. It was better to have me on the ground.”

“You disobeyed an order!” It was hard to feel commanding in contrast to a Spartan, who towered over Cobb in every way and could likely throw him up against the wall.

“It was efficient. You aren’t using me for my skills.” It also didn’t help that 114 was a calm speaker, rarely showing any form of inflection.

“Your skills are firing cover. My team can handle the job on their own. Disobey me like that again and I’ll see you reassigned.”

The Spartan looked at him, head tilted down in his direction. For the longest time he didn’t move until he took a half step back.

“Clear?” Cobb said.

“Clear, Sergeant.”

“Good.”

He looked over his shoulder to his team and waved them forward. “We’re moving.”

…

Scrounging in conditions like this were hard. Training to be an ODST required a certain amount of time in the field already before jumping into training specifically to handle an orbital drop. And then from there it was ‘survive until you group up or you’re pulled out’, which meant with the sun falling on the city that was burning, it was time to break for an MRE and some water before the final push into the heart of the city to help with the withdrawal of ONI scientists. It was the last job before the UNSC was pulling out the troops, which meant that ONI was going nuclear with its facilities so it wouldn’t fall into the hands of the enemy. New Mombasa was being abandoned in the short run. Once the Covenant was off Earth, they’d probably try to rebuild, but for now, it was pull back and see what happened.

It was nice, for a moment to sit on the ground with his back against the wall and his helmet off. It could’ve been a nice day in the city. The sun was warm. There was a breeze cooling his sticky skin from the sweat when the internal fans in his helmet couldn’t cool him fast enough.

But then he saw the Spartan who stood there rigidly off to the side of their little encampment. He had his back to the rest of them and seemed as if he was still on patrol despite the fact that the area was safe and they needed to rest before the final push.

Cobb sighed and got to his weary feet. He walked forward, grabbing at his pouch for one of the MREs he still had left. “Hey, Spartan.”

114 only turned to look over his shoulder.

“You eat yet?”

“Not hungry,” he said, before looking over the highway they were on and the sheer drop it led to.

“Come on, partner. You gotta eat. We’ve been going for near twelve hours and at least another twelve yet before we’re out for good.” Cobb stepped in front of him and handed out the MRE. He didn’t know if Spartans had the same standards as ODSTs. Did he carry MREs? Looked like he had water at the least.

Then 114 did lift his hand and take the MRE from Cobb’s hand. “Thank you.”

“Nothin’ to it, pal.” He stepped back, slapped 114 on the arm, and went back to his squad.

Then, when Cobb was sitting on the ground once more, he saw the Spartan move to a concrete barrier and take a seat. Then he removed his helmet, showing only a shock of dark hair, overgrown by UNSC standards. He didn’t see his face, but at least the Spartan ate.

…

Their final push into New Mombasa was the ONI facility itself, a giant cube looking building built in the center of a manmade pond to look fancy. It was a rough sight, but under the cover of darkness, it wasn’t like Cobb could see it all that well. All he was looking at was the sight of four ONI scientists being overlooked by a Covenant strike team—which included a Brute Chieftain.

Chieftains were worse than the usual foot soldier Brutes. Their armour was heavier, including armour that could only be struck through or cracked at the very least with specific armour piercing rounds. Chieftains also usually carried heavier weaponry, and this one had a gravity hammer on his back.

“They’ll want to keep the scientists alive,” Cobb said. “That’ll be our advantage to get in. Issa, what do you see?”

“By my count? Five Brutes on top of the Chieftain. A dozen Grunts. Jakals with shields but no beam rifles.”

“The structure doesn’t make good for sniper nests,” Jo added.

“114, you there?” Cobb asked.

“I’m here.”

“Report in.”

“I’m in position. Not the easiest place to leave in a pinch if you need back up.”

“We’ll go slow,” Cobb said. “Target the Brutes and get them broken up. I don’t want to fight the back.”

“Hear you loud and clear.”

114 went quiet on his end but didn’t mute.

Progress.

Then he turned to the scene at hand to plan the best way forward.

“On your count, 114. You take the lead. We’ll pick off the stragglers.”

“Going loud in three.”

Cobb looked down his scope and breathed in deeply and watched as 114’s first shot landed and struck a brute dead.

“Keep them clear from the hostages,” Cobb said. “I don’t want them taking them anywhere else. Issa, Jo, on me. We’re moving.”

They moved in as a unit before breaking and posting up at the windows that lead into the building they were infiltrating, most of which were broken. Once Cobb had a clear line of sight, he opened fire.

The darkness gave them a natural cover, and with their spread position, the enemy had no idea where they were. They kept the Brutes at bay away from the hostages where they were pressed flat on the floor to cover from the spray of bullets and plasma. For the time being, they had the upper hand until the Brute Chieftain roared and pointed in their direction.

“They’re coming out! Heads up!” Cobb said.

First the Grunts and then the few remaining Jakals which were picked off with deadly precision until the Chieftain himself charged out with his hammer swinging in Jo’s direction.

Cobb stood up from his cover and peppered the Chieftain’s back with bursts of rounds until he turned on Cobb and came in his direction.

“Cobb!” He heard Jo’s concern over the radio, but it was too late.

He rolled and dropped to avoid the Chieftain’s hammer as it discharged a burst that affected the CPU components in Cobb’s armour. But then the Chieftain swung again and the force of it sent him to his back, momentarily stunned before the Chieftain swung the weapon around, showing the sharp edge on the other side of the weapon head before crashing it down on Cobb’s chestplate.

The chestplate cracked under the pressure, and Cobb felt a burst of pain before the force drove the air from his lungs and he laid there, prone and stunned.

His ears were ringing, and he gasped like a fish which only made the wound worse until spots clouded his vision and he blacked out.

He blinked and saw the Chieftain’s armour cracked by an armour piercing round from a sniper.

He blinked again and saw Issa and Jo corner the Chieftain before a second round struck his back before a third struck his neck and he began to tumble.

He blinked and lost sight of what was before him.

…

“Cobb? Cobb.”

“Sarge, lift your right hand if you’re awake.”

“Is he okay?”

“We need to get the hammer out. His lungs could be damaged.”

“I’ll handle that. Hold him steady.”

Pressure on his shoulders, gently so before a wrenching and—

He gasped and coughed, felt pain radiating out from his chest and he tried to raise his hands to cover it, but he was held down gently.

“Spartan, there’s biofoam at his hip.”

“Got it.”

He heard the sound of an aerosol can being applied to his chest before the pressure on his lungs was abated and he could take a deep breath and relax.

“You there, Sarge?”

He nodded and tried to reach back and pat for Issa’s hands.

“Chestplate is cracked,” he heard 114 say. “The biofoam will hold for a few hours, but he needs medical attention.”

“I’ll get to the hostages,” Issa said.

“Evac point is over the bridge,” Jo said. “I’ll post up with Issa and get the hostages to safety. You good with the Sarge?”

“Just fine.”

Then he felt himself being lifted from the ground and cradled close to someone’s chest.

“Hey, Spartan,” he mumbled.

“That was damn reckless. You’re lucky you’re alive.”

“Knew you were watchin’.”

He heard 114 sigh. “Keep your words to yourself, Vanth. This fight isn’t over yet.”

…

He had heavy bruising to his chest and a hairline fracture in his sternum. He was on bedrest for a least a month with another month of light duty. He was lucky his lungs weren’t pierced.

Regardless, he had the luxury of his own private room in an actual hospital and not just a field tent. He was on some medical grade painkillers, and his team was being commended for their bravery. All around successful.

But now with this free time, he intended to do some research—never could abide stagnation for long. He pulled up a datapad and using his UNSC credentials, managed to get into the databases of every active soldier on the ground. He searched for Spartan A114, and as he suspected, he was given a lot of redacted material.

The Spartan III program was still tightly under wraps, but parts of it were being declassified, and through the grapevine, Cobb knew they were different from the old Spartan IIs.

Not as good training facilities. Not as good outcomes or survival rates.

He saw the name ‘Reach’ in 114’s file and knew if the Spartan had survived the planet’s destruction, he was a survivor to reckon with, and also why he didn’t have a fireteam of his own. He probably lost them all in the fray.

Everything else including personal details like date of birth, home planet, and name were redacted, so there wasn’t much else he could look into for the time being. But he did file a request to have 114 placed permanently on his team. He wanted to keep the Spartan close.

…

Friends and teammates would come by and visit him. Issa and Jo in pairs, but then one strange visitor came: a very, very tall man with dark hair, dark eyes, and a neatly kept moustache.

“This seat taken?”

He’d heard that voice of his helmet dozens of times, and Cobb looked at him and couldn’t believe his eyes, that he was seeing the Spartan—his Spartan—out of his armour.

Cobb waved his hand to the chair and pushed a button to have his bed elevated so he could face 114 head on.

It was almost comical to see 114 sit down in a chair not meant for someone of his size, but he made it work. He was dressed in a uniform and not standard military fatigues. There were metals pinned to the beast pocket, and Cobb could see what many of them meant.

“Ceremony?” Cobb asked.

“No. Meeting. I heard you put in a request for me to be made a permanent member of your squad.”

“Well. I liked you. Felt we fought well together eventually. We could use another on our team.”

“I’m surprised you’ve been managing well with only the three of you.”

“Used to be four, but I sacked the other guy.” Cobb shook his head at the memory of Toro and his hot-headed ways. The kid was lucky he hadn’t lost his head if Cobb hadn’t pulled him back time and time again.

“How are you holding up?” 114 asked, eyes drifting to Cobb’s chest and how its swathed with bandage and gauze.

“Eh. Could be worse. Chestplate took the brunt of it though.”

“That’s what it’s for.” 114 breathed in deeply, licked his lips, and looked down at his hands. “It’s . . . it’s good to see you. That you’re okay.”

“Thanks to you.”

“I barely had my sights on him.”

“Hey, Spartan. Look at me.”

He looked up, and Cobb was struck with how upset 114 looked. Upset in almost a sad way.

“I’m here. You killed the Brutes. Hostages made it out. That is a hundred-percent in my books.”

“Still, I . . .” He breathed in, a shuddering breath. “I don’t like watching from afar when my teammates are in the direct line of fire. It makes me feel . . .”

“Like you can’t protect us.”

114 said nothing.

“Listen,” Cobb said. “We can discuss this. Figure out new strategies. My team, we’re new at this. We’ve worked alongside only a handful of Spartans but not directly with one. We’ll figure it out, see what works for the both of us. But I’m not tolerating Lone Wolf shit. We’re a team.”

114 nodded.

“You good, soldier?”

114 raised his head. “Sir, yes, sir.”

Cobb smirked. “That’s what I like to hear.”

Satisfied with that answer, 114 stood and prepared to leave but just before he could get to the door, Cobb called out, “Hey, Spartan. You got a name to add to the A114?”

The Spartan turned to look at him, pulling open the door as he did, and after a moment of hesitation, he said, “Din.”

“Nice to have you, Din. Rest up if you can.”

“Yes, sir.”

[dragon-snoots-a-boopin]

Okay, so I had this idea. The idea being that what if Halo Infinite did DLC, but specifically, weapon and armor pack DLC for the multiplayer based on previous Halo games since Halo Infinite is supposed to be the last Halo game for the next ten years? Well, this is going to be what I think they could do for that.

I am going to continue with my idea for what they could do for the second weapon pack DLC with weapons being from Halo 3 and Halo 3 ODST

.

UNSC Weapons

M6 Spartan Laser

M7S Caseless SMG

M6C SOCOM

Covenant/Brute Weapons

Type 52 Mauler

Type 25 Spiker

Type 50 Particle Beam Rifle

Any of these would make fun additions to Halo Infinite multiplayer!

[sanghelios-stands]

Hi, I'm mol (21,he/him)! I've been here a while through various fandoms (Warhammer, Dragon Age, Cyberpunk, VTM, etc.) and started this page for whatever Halo OCs I pop out.

[Muses]

Name: Jutam 'Vatarn

Species: Sangheil

Gender: Male

Age: 30‐58(Human-Covenant War Timeline), 59+ (Blooding Years, Splinter Group Conflicts)

Rank: Minor-Major (Covenant, ???-2552) , Medical 'Officer' (Swords of Sanghelios, 2553-Present)

Armor: Combat (Red W/ White Streaks, i.e. 'Medic' colors)

Armaments: Energy Sword

Physical description: Black skin w/ yellow eyes, one of which is whitened and scarred over.

Name: Kerberos

Species: Jiralhanae

Gender: Male

Age: 45~ - 70~ (Human-Covenant War), 70+ (Covenant Splinter Group Conflicts)

Rank: Chieftain (Covenant), Warband 'Officer' (Jiralhanae Mercenaries)

Armaments: Gravity Hammer, Spiker

Appearance: Gray skin w/ graying black hair and red eyes.

[radramblog]

Halo through its guns: ODST

 A complaint many people had from Halo 2 is the lack of a huge battle for Earth that people were anticipating based on the marketing. The game spends one level in orbit over the planet and two more in New Mombasa before jetting off to the Arbiter’s side and to Delta Halo. While 3 spends a fair chunk of its campaign earthbound, there was still a contingent of people who wanted more from the facet of the franchise- to defend something familiar, to catch a glimpse of what the Halo universe was for civilians. I’m sure many of these folks were satisfied with the release of Halo’s first non-numerical (kinda) FPS installment, ODST.

Despite running in the same engine as 3, ODST plays quite differently, and all of that is a deliberate element of the game’s design. A set of more personal, lower-key stories through the perspective of a much different person to the Chief, and a closer-range look at humanity and the characters that make up the UNSC. And what could be closer range than a submachine gun?

Well, a shotgun. Also this one actually is pretty okay at medium range, considering.

…this is Halo 3: ODST through the Suppressed SMG.

Every previous Halo campaign has put you in the place of Master Chief or the Arbiter. Both of these individuals are incredibly powerful presences, both in rank and in combat prowess, and the games reflect that- much of those campaigns are kind of built to make you feel as kickass as possible. Arby and the Chief are constantly doing incredibly cool shit, and they utterly dominate swathes of enemies in their path, no matter what form the foe takes. They are loud, they are in charge, and they are there to win the fight.

ODST has a very different tone in mind. Much of the game takes place in a quiet, evacuated city during the night, with nobody but the protagonist and the occasional detachment of Covenant troops. Fast and Loud isn’t really the tone of the streets of Mombasa, save for during the squadmate levels. The world is dark and rainy, the music is solemn and pensive, and the player is made to feel utterly solitary as they hunt to figure out what happened to the rest of their squad.

To supplement this, the game has you playing not as a Spartan, but as one of the titular Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. In effect, while they’re still extremely effective soldiers, they are not superhuman, and much of the game mechanics reflect this. Gone are energy shields, with a slower-to-recharge and much more painful-sounding Stamina mechanic in place as well as the returning health bar. Every ODST you play as is much more vocal about being in pain when taking fire or on low health, which makes sense, seeing as they’re still, you know, dudes. The player is also weakened in other ways- the jump height is significantly reduced, fall damage is actually implemented, and melee damage is now about what a punch from a relatively solid person would be to a hulking alien instead of Chief’s apparent rocket-propelled-fists.

An…interesting decision to supplement this was to drastically lower the damage human weapons deal to energy shields, making Brutes significantly tougher to take down and the new Engineers priority targets (that the game also discourages you from killing). Nowhere is this more apparent than with the Suppressed SMG, whose shield-stripping prowess is thoroughly neutered to the point of feeling nigh-useless on higher difficulties. It also has a lot of recoil, especially noticeable when you’re zoomed in, making it harder to consistently land bursts of fire.

What I’m saying is that I picked the Suppressed SMG to represent ODST because it kinda sucks. Not that the game sucks, it’s fucking stellar, but part of the point of it is that compared to the Chief, you suck. This does get a little thrown out in certain levels, particularly some of the explosive holdout areas, but those feel all the more sweeter when you recognize how much more of a struggle the fight is for the characters.

Speaking of characters, ODST has a few of them! And while you never play as Dare, the Rookie, Buck, Dutch, Mickey, and Romeo all get distinct characterisation through their chatter, cutscenes, and generally constantly sniping at each other. Their personalities are, interestingly, reflected in their weapons of choice- Buck, being the leaderly all-rounder, carries the series traditional Assault Rifle, Mickey spawns with a Rocket Launcher but only two rockets because he’s an asshole and a cocktease, and Dutch has a Spartan Laser to represent his massive dick energy. But more importantly, Rookie gets both of the game’s silenced weapons- the Suppressed SMG and the Automag.

Rookie doesn’t get much of a personality, but there’s a bit there (and more in background material). He’s quiet, obviously reflected in his weapons of choice, and canonically the dude has very practical choices in his outfitting and his lifestyle, reflected by the versatile nature of his weapons. The suppressed SMG and automag do feel very “scout”-y, as relatively close-medium range guns that have 2x scopes in case you need them in a longer engagement (or just to get a better look at things). Their darker colouration helps blend them into the world, tiny lights visible only to the holder so they themselves don’t lose it to the night.

There’s a couple other major things the Suppressed SMG represents, and they’re tied into each other. The first, the removal of dual-wielding from the game in its totality. Not only is this further representative of the relative weakness of the ODST compared to the Spartan (canonically, the Spiker is fucking heavy), but it’s also a frankly necessary change to the game’s formula- at this point, the experiment that dual wielding was had run its course, and the limits that had to placed on it to make it balanced just ended up not being worth it. And despite many of these guns now being quite weak, you do end up being forced to use them a lot of the time- limited ammunition means that the S-SMG/Automag will only get you so far before you have to grab something off an unlucky Covenant patrol. Despite their weakness, the weapons in ODST shine brighter than you’d expect.

The other is a slight tightening of the weapon sandbox. The iconic Battle Rifle is gone, as is the as-iconic Energy Sword, as Elites are not present at all in the game save as a handful of bodies. The is Sentinel Beam is also absent (for obvious reasons) as are the standard SMG and Magnum variants. The level design, however, does give more time to the less-used weapons of 3- the Firebomb and Mauler appear more frequently due to the increased numbers of stealthy, jet-pack-y Brutes, and the finale of NMPD HQ lets you absolutely go to town with the Missile Pod, stuff like that. In an odd contradiction to the game’s overall philosophy, the heavy weapons/breakable turrets are actually buffed, as for whatever reason the Rookie and his squadmates can sprint at their normal pace carrying the things whilst the Chief has to slow down to make them work. This makes the second-to-last level, Data Hive, an absolute breeze, provided you know where the Flamethrower is hiding.

Speaking of Data Hive, it is kind of the only level where the Suppressed SMG is really allowed to wreak havoc, since it’s kind of the best gun in the game for dealing with Drones. A combination of tearing through unshielded targets, being one of only two hitscan automatics available, and being a bullet hose is great against hard-to-nail, flying opponents, not to mention the enclosed space the level takes place in. I’m not sure I’d expected it to drop the ones with shields, but it does at least get a place for it to be actually good.

You may notice I’m not talking about multiplayer, basically at all. Two reasons for that. Number one is that it mostly doesn’t exist- ODST was prepackaged with an extra disk that was just Halo 3’s Multiplayer mode (but with some extra maps). The second is that what does exist within ODST, Firefight, is still PvE, and as such the all the above pretty much still applies to it. Firefight is excellent, but for the purposes of this piece, it doesn’t have much unique to add.

In effective summation, Halo 3: ODST is a game whose mechanics and weapons are deliberately tweaked to evoke a distinctly different feeling from the game it’s based on. The characters are both more individualised and more specialised, and the gameplay reflects that. No other game in the series manages to get anything remotely resembling the atmosphere of ODST, and while a lot of that is a result of its aesthetic, story, and impeccable soundtrack, these would not hold up if the gameplay wasn’t changed to match.

ODST is the first of two Halo FPSs that deviated from the series’s tried-and-true formula, and greatly succeeded as a result. The other, Reach, will come up next week, as we finally reach the end of the Bungie era. Beyond that? God help us.

[veeranger]

that new halo 3 map is really good i’m kinda surprised. it’s funny though they still litter the map with halo 3’s most useless pieces of shit like spikers and needlers. odst smg tho

[jaydensfanfictionfactory]

ᵀʰᵉ ˢⁱˡᵉⁿᶜᵉ ᵃᵐᵒⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉ ⁿᵒⁱˢᵉ ᵖᵗ ¹

Fun Haikyuu story thats all.

Warning: Mention of death 

He was a shy quiet kid, never spoke a word to anyone. Volleyball was the only thing that got him excited, it was also the only sport that kept him somewhat normal. Jayden Wright sighed deeply; his labored breaths pushed pasted his dry, chapped lips. His brown eye was glued to the ball as it came toward him, the lights played a little illusion on his eye. It appears there was a halo around it. A stiffness formed in his legs, anticipation for what was to come. An easy point? To finish off the game. Maybe. Millions of things ran through his mind, each not staying for more than a millisecond. The stance of all the players, the blockers, the liberos, the spikers, and the receivers, were all flooding his mind with numbers and calculations for this split-second decision. The ball was getting closer to him as he lifted his hands up above his head. He saw the calculations floating in front of his eye as he lifted himself off the floor in a small jump. The ball touched his fingers lightly, as his eye flickered around quickly. Putting all his power and speed into this ball, Jayden set the ball into one of the two spiker’s hand with chilling accuracy. There was a rush of air as it was hit into the glossy wooden floor. The squeak of shoes filled the air from both landing and the sound of the ball hitting the floor.

 He looked down at his hands as his teammates cheered and jumped around in celebration. Even though it was just a practice match, they always got excited when they scored a point. Jayden really wished they wouldn’t touch him, but it was a habit of theirs. It wasn’t that he was a germaphobe, it was just… he had bad experiences with people touching him, but when he touched the ball… even for a split second, he could feel the smooth texture of the surface of the ball. It was amazing, just to touch the ball for a second in any game. Jayden wasn’t as old as his teammates were… in fact, he was playing with high schoolers even thought he was only in the third year of middle school. Jayden wasn’t like other kids… no, he wasn’t even like his two twins. He was smarter than them, quicker, and more flexible that them. Max and Alex were just middle schoolers, that’s it. Jayden… he was doing first year high school work, level five. He didn’t really understand why his teachers asked for this kind of work for him, but he did it without having to be taught the material. It was a nice surprise for his teachers. He sighed as he looked at the opposing team, they were hanging their heads in defeat. It was a weird sight; one he has seen a lot, but he didn’t really have time to sulk over the look. The team captain slapped his back happily, with a wide smile, but Jayden could see through the smile. The captain was only happy because they won, if they lost it would have been three flying laps around the gym and a lot of serving after. “Nice setting Wright!” the Captain said laughing as he ruffled Jayden’s long black hair, which he had tied up in a ponytail. His hair wasn’t that long, only about shoulder length, but it was now all pulled out of the ponytail and pointing in different directions.

 Jayden huffed, slightly annoyed by this show of affection, he pushed the Captain’s hand away from himself. The younger male sighed deeply, he turned away and looked over his shoulder at the light’s height above them. They reminded him of the sunset him and his siblings often loved to watch in America, when he was six. Being fourteen now, Jayden had far less time to see the sunsets, from school to practice, which always ended when it got dark out, and the walk home through the busy Tokyo streets. He had always been in love with the sunsets, they were always so pretty and beautiful. They had always been something for him to look at, something pure and happy. Tetsaro Kuroo, the team Captain of Nekoma, set a hand on Jayden’s shoulder, as if it was a normal thing to do. Ever since Jayden was taken at the age of six, and hurt for six months, he hasn’t spoken a word. Not one, except to one person, knew what his voice sounded like. Kuroo had to learn what Jayden was thinking or feeling through the little changes in his behavior, how he played, walked, or fidgeted. Even the little thing like hitting a ball differently, made Kuroo worry about him. The older male had often been found watching Jayden, just trying to see what was going through his head. Jayden had the best poker face Kuroo had ever seen. No one could figure out what was running through his mind. His body never betrayed his mind, his heart only gave emotions, not its intentions. It beats, yes, but it has more of a reason than just beating to exist. It was there to keep the machine moving, just like the brain did.

 Kuroo smiled at Jayden, as his eyes pierced the younger male’s one eyes, trying to pull out the boy’s secrets. The team watched quietly as they looked between the two males, their wills battling an invisible fight, trying to break down, or defend, walls that had been so hard to build up. The air around them was electrically charged with two emotions, fear and worry. Kuroo finally looked away from Jayden’s unrelenting stare. “You did good today Jay, it will be sad to see you leave… but the crows have gotten themselves a great weapon in their arsenal now.” He said softly as he watched Jayden take a water from the giant Russian man baby. Jayden hummed against the cold plastic of the bottle as its cold content rolled into his mouth and down his throat. A cold expanded in his chest as he pulled the bottle from his dry lips. The thoughts of moving to a team who he didn’t understand all that well, made Jayden worried. What if he disrupted their momentum? At least he knew one person on that team. The young male was moving to the countryside, and with that moving schools as well. His two twin siblings would be staying, continuing their manager jobs on the Nekoma team. Max would join the team next year no doubt, and with that, the two would become enemies. It wasn’t like they weren’t already. Jayden was very distant from his family, yes, he cared and loved them… he had just lost a lot of his emotional ties when his younger sister passed.

  Jayden set the bottle of water down and bit his lower lip gently. He wasn’t exactly part of the family after what happened. Max always thought it was his fault Lily, their younger sister, passed… but that wasn’t true. Jayden had done everything he could to protect her, he had gotten her to the hospital once they broke free. He had carried her, and himself – who was extremely hurt- all the way to the hospital.