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therummesoccupied · 4 months ago

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IDW'S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, ISSUE #70 - THOUGHTS

Keeping with standard Review!Tay tradition, I'm very late to the party again, but at least this time the new issue doesn't come out tomorrow, so I'll take the wins where I can get 'em.

You've likely heard by now, but this issue was really, really good. Like, I'm not sure I even could find anything to complain about, even if I'd wanted to. Every single aspect is thoroughly on point. The closest thing I could even fathom to complaint is that I don't really care for Sonic Riders, so this arc had to kind of win me over, but even that was accomplished early in the previous issue.

And just like last issue, the first thing that really had me in this one's corner was the art. I've already spoken at length about how much I adore Min Ho Kim's and Aaron Hammerstrom's pencils, and with the phenomenal showing from Kim in Issue #69 (nice), Hammerstrom has absolutely followed up.

Keeping true to his Uekawa-inspired style, his art manages to drive the intensity and motion of the high-speed scenes, while also utilizing strong character design elements and posing to really sell certain panels. He even gives us some real Henshin shit out of Sonic here.

The writing also continues to entirely slam in this issue. I think I remember Evan Stanley once talking about her reputation for writing fluffy, low-stakes, side stories, and seeking to show how well she can handle action and drama, and I'm really glad to say she totally pulls it off here. The action never feels dull or slow, and the characters all feel active and driven.

Speaking of the characters, this issue might have the strongest character writing in the entire comic, hands-down. It's been said by other IDW Sonic aficionados before, but every single character gets something to do here - something that matters to that character specifically.

We get Sonic as the Phantom Rider, which I absolutely love. I said last time that I like Sonic occasionally displaying some roguish behavior, letting the noble, heroic persona down for a bit and being the daredevil showoff the series sells him as. He spends the entire issue daring the authorities in charge of the race to do something about him, and doing everything in his power to piss Jet off. Sneering in the face of power and taunting his opponents until they're red in the face is what Sonic does!

And it's not even like he's being a total asshole here.

Like, people get to be in danger, and he still helps, but like. Even then he tries to hide that he's doing it. It's Good! This is peak Sonic!

Surge gets some interesting stuff here, chasing off the Phantom Rider and being met with unexpected praise and applause. This is a really neat angle to play for her, because she was kind of built to crave Hero Worship by Starline, and she is the way she is partly because, when she was working under Starline, every single thing she did was met exclusively with negative reinforcement - a reflection of Starline's time spent working under Eggman. It's kind of neat that Eggman's treatment of Starline continues causing him problems long after Starline's death like this.

Then there's Jet:

And Jet gets to be all pouty because, not only did the Phantom Rider steal his spotlight during the race, but now Surge is stealing the spotlight after the fact, despite the fact that he won! This seems to be setting up a budding rivalry between Surge and Jet, which was a story beat I had never considered. I'd always wanted to see what Surge would do confronted with another one of Sonic's rivals like Knuckles or Shadow, but seeing it happen with Jet, somebody with an ego to match her own, is really cool. Also they're both green. They're the only two Sonic "rivals" outside of Metal Sonic that haven't experienced some form of heel-face turn, and remain pretty explicitly bad, or at best neutral, guys. And they're greeeeeen.

Our big bad, Clutch, treats the whole thing with relative unease, but I like how calmly he approaches it. Once more, he plays this manipulative businessman villain archetype really well, keeping his cards close to his chest until he knows what he's dealing with. He also sends Mimic after the Phantom Rider, which has some really cool implications.

It's entirely possible that Mimic and Sonic are on their way toward some form of confrontation, which I said last time would be a really neat dynamic to explore since they've never really met, and neither is the kind of opponent the other typically deals with. But more than that, with Mimic being under specific orders to quietly unmask Sonic, I could see things playing out so that they learn of one anothers' identities, with neither being able to blow the other's cover for risk of blowing their own.

I could even see this breaking really bad for Sonic if he even tries to expose Duo as Mimic, as Silver tried to do that once before and was not only seemingly proven wrong, but also had the trust the other Diamond Cutters had in him entirely shattered, while their trust in Duo was only strengthened. Sonic is already putting a lot of good will on the line with his Phantom Rider antics, if he ends up falling for the same game as Silver, it's possible he could not only ruin the faith the Diamond Cutters or the Restoration have in him, but in the image he has with the world at large.

Not that I'm entirely certain he'd care, mind you. Sonic has already shown in stuff like SA2 or Black Knight that he doesn't really care if he's in trouble with authority or if not everyone sees him as a hero. He just does what he thinks is right and that's good enough for him. So who knows?

The Diamond Cutters are a little less present in this issue, mostly trying to bring down the Phantom Rider, but there is one subtle little bit of storytelling I really like here.

Lanolin, attempting to corner the Phantom Rider, knocks him into one of the course's glass tunnels, which shatters with the added weight of Clean Sweep's security crew, putting the racers inside at risk. The expression on her face and the small "no..." seem to reflect a bit of horror at realizing that her actions have directly put people in danger. A lot of folks have been hoping for Lanolin to face some kind of reckoning over her decisions as a leader, and while I really like Lanolin as a character, I think it would be interesting for this, and the eventual reveal of Duo, to really shake her faith in her skills and make her reevaluate her approach.

In addition to the Diamond Cutters themselves, we get a real quick bit with Jewel here:

Ever since Sonic and co. were disqualified from the tournament, Jewel has been trying to reach out to them to check in, but Duo, who appears to still be acting as her assistant - yikes - tells her over and over that he's tried every means of communication (which is, of course, a lie), and that he's had no luck getting in touch.

And here, we see our first little bit of someone within the Restoration having their doubts about Duo. I don't know what tipped her off - she seemed just as invested in him as anyone after the incident with Silver - but it's clear she doesn't buy everything he's saying here. She knows something's up. The question is: What will she do about it? What can she do? As Clutch pointed out last issue, she's got a lot of eyes on her. She's not an action-hero like Sonic or the Diamond Cutters. She's an organizer. But in this respect, she works as a perfect heroic foil to Clutch, who does not boast any special abilities of his own, just a diligent mind and a willingness to follow carefully laid plains with a subtle demeanor.

Lastly, we get a bit of Amy and Tails sneaking around the Restoration shuttle.

While Tails gets some nice bits here - namely a neat little nod to Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog with his dumpster diving - Amy is really the one with the best display here.

Amy has spent so much of IDW, and really a lot of recent Sonic media, being the collected one. The beacon of normalcy in a rag-tag group of child prodigies and daredevil speedsters. While she fills this role well, it also leaves her somewhat meandering for things to do in terms of character dynamics. There was a time when Amy had a hot-headed attitude to rival Sonic and Knuckles. She was a bit reactionary, and it gave her some neat character quirks.

There's a balance to be struck between these two extremes, but I think we're finally nailing it down with this arc. With Amy knowing her way around the shuttle after her time spent there during the Metal Virus, but then excitedly dragging Tails along, grimacing at his ruffling through the trash, shrieking with terror as a weird robot hand grabs onto her face, and barking in anger as she realizes whose hand it was, I get the sense that we have the real Amy here again!

Yeah, she's still "the normal one" (kinda, they've been playing up her ridiculous strength again lately as well), but she also has the spark that made her chase after Sonic on his adventures in the first place. I really like her here!

So, once again, this arc (Extreme Competition, as its been named in the TPBs) leaves me thoroughly impressed in way that I did not expect from a Sonic Riders-centric arc. This is some of the most on-brand Sonic writing with some of the most accurate art I've ever seen. It seems to me that, after all this time of IDW being good but not quite hitting the mark for a lot of fans, the series is finally hitting its stride. I remain excited to see what comes next, and hopeful that there's still lots, lots more to come after this arc wraps up.

One other thing to mention: It was revealed in the Fan Letters section at the end of the issue that there is currently an IDW Sonic crossover in the works:

Now, speculation has been rampant about what this crossover could be - TMNT, Transformers, MLP, even DBZ with the recently-announced TMNT/Naruto crossover setting a precedent for anime/manga crossovers - but I'm throwing my hopes and dreams behind what appears to be the popular theory: Godzilla.

It makes sense. Godzilla and Sonic are both properties IDW currently has the comics rights to, both owned by Japanese companies. Godzilla fits the notion of a "BIG threat" to Sonic and co., both in terms of size as well as the implication that the figure crossing over will serve some form of antagonistic role. Godzilla even works relatively well within a Sonic storyline, and Sonic is no stranger to kaiju fights. It'd be very easy to do a story about Eggman trying to awaken/control some kind of ancient, powerful creature, only to reveal that said creature is Godzilla, over whom Eggman swiftly loses control, and Sonic and friends have to find a way to stop his rampage and return him to his proper place.

Honestly, they could make it a canon story if they wanted to. Hell they should make it a canon story! I love Godzilla!! Make him canon to Sonic!!! FOR ME SPECIFICALLY.

Time will tell what the big crossover is, and where the comic will go next, and I'll be sure to be fashionably late with my review.

Till then, thanks for reading!

#sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic #idw sonic #comics #video games #extreme competition #clean sweepstakes #issue 70 #sonic 70 #idw sonic 70 #godzilla #crossover #magic cordless drill

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minerwarfare-suzuya · 5 months ago

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A Scam and A Spiteful Client?

Mobox87 is a scam. Why do I say this? Well if we go back to previous posts talking about Mobox87's prices on her OCs and her Patreon subscription. We can recap some stuff that has been nearly lost when this blog almost got taken down from false reports made.

Now before further discussion. I do wanna state that these are old posts I'm linking. Some of these are likely dated and might not hold up well since Mobox87 likely changed her prices as time went by, which I'll be going over those changes.

Anyways let's bring up-

OC adoption price scam:

I have to say during the time that has passed. Mobox87 has made a better approach in selling off her OCs with prices now and I think this was something she took a good understanding out of the criticism thrown at her.

But of course, I still think the biggest gripe is the characters being sold in designs that look alike... Though that's not my only issue about these OC adoption sales.

My biggest issue has to be OCs being sold twice and I've been catching on to that with Miles buying OCs. I think it should be stated that once you buy that OC you should get the character completely and not have to be sold just one variant. Every version of that character design should be sold to you.

Except one thing I want to clarify is that Mobox87 didn't charge Miles $200. Miles offered her that amount and begged for the OC to be sold to him.

Honestly, Mobox87 should've already given him the character design prior to the first purchase of Oliv but no she took the cash because "She really loves money" (Who doesn't? Lol).

Other than that I think the biggest elephant in the room is still Mi-

Her Patreon subscription overpriced:

Okay, this obviously remains unchanged and I think it'll remain like that. Her Patreon is basically dead and it is currently left with an unfinished comic. Plus, you can just subscribe or donate to her Kofi for $5 and that's a far more affordable option that offers more considering Mobox87's activity on Kofi.

Either way, making only 1 subscription tier $70 for access to a patreon that has very little posts and an unfinished comic isn't worth it. You would totally need a lot more locked posts or content shared to want to pay that amount.

So-

We've talked about the issues with Mobox87 being a scam and we kinda do see that there's been some changes regardless of how Miles spends his money carelessly. Despite one thing-

The Spiteful Client

Yeah, I shadow dropped a post on Miles and made it private for awhile for a certain reason until now. I just think it's time to be full on more open to the fact that no one really accepts Miles'apology at all. I don't need to fake the funk with anyone and it's better to be honest about it.

Miles has not changed at all and has gone out of his way to bully people in private through direct messages.

To put matters even worse. Apparently he has resorted to now buying Mobox87's OCs to spite others from buying them. He has not done this one person but with two people which ironically Mobox87 knows about this and has taken Miles side.

It's no darn secret that Mobox87 would keep supporting Miles'bad behavior because his money is what gets her to hustle online.

So, there's NO POINT in announcing on the Affinity blog that you're selling OCs when it's basically being treated as a bid and that you let Miles still get the upper hand in buying your whole stocks.

There's no fucken sale going on at all! It's clear that your only buyer is going to be Miles and I think it's better off that you're honest about it.

Anyways, I think until then. This will be the second to last time I'll mention Mobox87 in drama since I do wanna talk about her in a more important post because there are some things that thegoldfiles (Moboxcritique) blog doesn't really talk about.

Until then I'll catch y'all later on talking about Arion since there're far more important things to talk about.

#mobox87 #miles jeffery #rant

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justinspoliticalcorner · 6 months ago

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Rachel Leingang at The Guardian:

The posts are ominous. “Pick a side, or YOU are next,” wrote conservative talkshow host Dan Bongino on the Truth Social media platform in the aftermath of former president Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions. The replies were even more so. “Dan, seriously now,” one user wrote in response to Bongino. “I see no way out of all this mess without bloodshed. When you can rig an election, then weaponize the government and the courts against a former President, what other alternative is there? I’m almost 70 and would rather die than live in tyranny.”

That’s a common version of how many people on the US right reacted to the Trump verdict, drawing on a “mirror world” where Trump is seen as the selfless martyr to powerful state forces and Joe Biden is the dangerous autocrat wielding the justice system as his own personal plaything and a threat to American democracy. Calls for revenge, retribution and violence littered the rightwing internet as soon as Trump’s guilty verdict came down, all predicated on the idea that the trial had been a sham designed to interfere with the 2024 election. Some posted online explicitly saying it was time for hangings, executions and civil wars. In this case, Trump was charged with falsifying documents related to a hush-money payment made to an adult film actor to keep an alleged affair out of the spotlight during the 2016 election – a form of election interference from a man whose platform lately consists largely of blaming others for election interference. The verdict has been followed by a backlash from his followers, those who for years chanted to lock up Trump’s political opponents, like Hillary Clinton.

On the left, the mood was downright celebratory, a brief interlude of joy that Trump might finally be held accountable for his actions. But there was an undercurrent of worry among some liberals, who saw the way these felonies could galvanize support for the former president. On the right, in the alternate reality created by and for Trump and his supporters, the convictions are a sign of both doom and dogma – evidence that a corrupt faction runs the Joe Biden government, but that it can be driven out by the Trump faithful like themselves. Trump’s allies in Congress want to use the federal government’s coffers to send a message to Biden that the verdict crosses a line, saying the jury’s decision “turned our judicial system into a political cudgel”. Some Senate Republicans vowed not to cooperate with Democratic priorities or nominees – effectively politicizing the government as recompense for what they claim is a politicization of the courts.

They echoed a claim Trump himself has repeatedly driven home to his followers: that his political opponents, namely Biden, are a threat to democracy, a rebrand of how Biden and Democrats often cast Trump. For his most ardent followers, the stakes of the 2024 election are existential, the idea that he might lose a cause for intense rhetoric and threats. And, for some, the convictions provide another reason to take matters into their own hands during a time when support for using violence to achieve political goals is on the rise. Indictments against Trump fueled this support, surveys have shown. Some rightwing media and commentators, like Bongino and the Gateway Pundit, displayed upside-down flags on social media, a sign of distress and a symbol among Trump supporters that recently made the news because one flew at US supreme court justice Samuel Alito’s home after the insurrection.

The terms “banana republic” and “kangaroo court” flew around, as did memes comparing Biden to Nazi or fascist leaders. Telegram channels lit up with posts about how the end of America was solidified – unless Trump wins again in November.

“If we jail Trump, get rid of Maga, end the electoral college, ban voter ID, censor free speech, we’ll save democracy,” says one meme in a QAnon channel on Telegram that depicts Biden in a Nazi uniform with a Hitler mustache. Tucker Carlson, the rightwing media heavyweight, waxed apocalyptic: “Import the third world, become the third world. That’s what we just saw. This won’t stop Trump. He’ll win the election if he’s not killed first. But it does mark the end of the fairest justice system in the world. Anyone who defends this verdict is a danger to you and your family.” The former president’s supporters also opened their wallets, sending a “record-shattering” $34.8m in small-dollar donations to Trump’s campaign on Thursday, the Trump campaign claimed. The massive haul came after Trump declared himself a “political prisoner” (he is not in prison) and declared justice “dead” in the US in a dire fundraising pitch. “Their sick & twisted goal is simple: Pervert the justice system against me so much, that proud supporters like YOU will SPIT when you hear my name,” Trump’s campaign wrote. “BUT THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN! NOW IT’S TIME FOR ME & YOU TO SHOVE IT BACK IN THEIR CORRUPT FACES!”

Right-wing MAGA nuts reacting as you expect to Donald Trump’s conviction: anger and fear that he is finally being held accountable.

#Donald Trump #Joe Biden #People of New York v. Trump #Right Wing Extremism #Right Wing Violence #Dan Bongino #Tucker Carlson #2024 Presidential Election #2024 Elections #Catturd #Phillip Buchanan

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famiconblogs · 1 year ago

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The Heta-Uma Appeal

Garo 1982 September Issue with cover art by Yumura Teruhiko

Heta-uma. 'Heta' as in 'bad', 'umai' as in 'good'. Not officially recognised as an art movement, the wave of manga/art/illustrations that kicked off in the 70s were seen as being "so bad it's good". There are a number of different ways to describe heta-uma, with terms like "unskilled" and "ugly" being used to categorise the rough look of the art. Check out this highly detailed and informative article from Sabukaru for more on its history!

If you're wondering who pioneered the craze and led the charge, look no further than three artists deemed to be the most influential and notable: Yumura Teruhiko, Ebisu Yoshikazu and Takashi Nemoto. Garo was a platform that allowed these artists to spread the name and fame of their crude and raw drawings, often featuring gritty and vulgar subject matter. Heta-uma is a style that rejects the norm and pushes outside the box for new ways of expression, going against standards to evoke new reactions in readers. It aims to leave you laughing, gagging in disgust and everything in between with its sheer variety of storytelling. You can find gag manga, comedic shorts and satire. You can find political and social commentary veiled underneath raw and seemingly shallow drawings. It's a style that I honestly took me awhile to get into, but my appreciation slowly began to accelerate as I dived into alternative manga, especially mangaka like Ebisu.

Ebisu Yoshikazu: First Exposure

My very first read from Ebisu was a book titled "I Wish I Was Stupid" (Watashi wa Baka ni Naritai), now being released in English by Breakdown Press, an extremely exciting occasion for alternative manga fans. As far as I know, there are few heta-uma mangaka with an official English book, one being Hanakuma Yuusaku with his "Tokyo Zombie" published by Last Gasp in 2008. Takashi Nemoto also had his "Monster Men: Bureiko Lullaby" published in English by Picture Box in 2008. At the moment, Ebisu's "The Pits of Hell" by Breakdown Press is also being reprinted, so I'd hope that demand is high enough for more heta-uma exposure to the English market. There are also alternative manga anthologies like "Ax (Vol 1): A Collection of Alternative Manga", "Sake Jock", and "Comics Underground Japan" that feature heta-uma mangaka and artists like Suzy Amakane and Carol Shimoda amongst others.

But back to Ebisu. I was again exposed to his works via a haul video by Shawn from Japan Book Hunter, and the cover of the manga was enough to get me interested. The book is raw, disgusting, incredibly vulgar and in-your-face with its crazy drawings on confronting subject matter. It blends dark humour with satire on Japanese society extremely well, all supported by rudimentary character designs of salarymen, housewives and naïve children. I loved the weirdly random and surreal settings that feature UFOs flying in the sky, coupled with the desolate backgrounds that emphasise the other-worldliness of Ebisu's work. Its content is extreme, and it left such a lasting impression on me that I had to explore further into the world of heta-uma. I picked up "The Pits of Hell" after that, and am definitely planning to get more Ebisu books in the future.

AX Magazine: A Bigger Picture

Assorted AX issues featuring heta-uma artists Takashi Nemoto, Goto Yuka, Shiriagari Kotobuki, Family Restaurant and Hori Michihiro

After discovering Ebisu, I had bought myself a whole stack of AX issues, opening up a whole new world of more contemporary heta-uma. This is where I became addicted to artists like Goto Yuka, Shiriagari Kotobuki and Family Restaurant, all centred on more a more comedic/gag style of manga. I still have a long way to go in terms of reading up on all the wonderful heta-uma out there, so I would say I'm still only on the first couple of steps in. One of my favourite heta-uma works that I'm still reading at the moment is Goto's "Justice Corps" (Seigitai), a gag manga following a group of vigilantes fighting to protect the city from monsters and villains. It's a pretty simple premise, but the slapstick humour combined with very rudimentary drawings gives off a nostalgic kids-show vibe. Addicting, straightforward and fun.

Justice Corps vol 1 by Goto Yuka

Shiriagari's "Jacaranda" is another amazing story that follows the violent and chaotic destruction of a city and its subsequent rebirth. The manga begins with a woman on a train brutally beating an old man for accidentally leaning on her shoulder as he struggles to stay awake. Nobody tries to do anything to help, a common critique of passivity in Japanese society that you can find in lots of other manga. Over the course of the story, the city is ravaged by a giant Jacaranda tree that sprouts and destroys the entire landscape, massacring the people around it as buildings topple and fires burn. The art is intense and the civilian deaths are brutally depicted through most of the book. Though, the end result is that of a blooming Jacaranda tree that towers over the city, hailed and prayed to by the survivors. There is little dialogue with most of the sound dominated by screams and onomatopoeia, but Shiriagari's raw and rough art style very much lends to a violent story like this. You can interpret the narrative in many ways, with one observing the first event of the woman's violence on the train as a karmic catalyst to the Jacaranda sprouting. This book is a good example of how the heta-uma style can also lean towards quite sincere and more serious works, a great display of versatility.

Jacaranda by Shiragari Kotobuki

Although, I must say that not every heta-uma work I've read is a favourite for me. "Jacaranda" is, in my opinion, an amazingly raw and hard-hitting work, but Shiragari's "Twin Adults" (Futago no Oyaji) series is very much a hit or miss. You can find individual chapters throughout many of AX's early issues, and there are also tankobons that collect all the stories into one book. The series features two twins arguing and playing, both up to whatever antics they may be up to, but not many of them land for me personally. On a different topic, Takashi Nemoto's subject matter is also a bit too raunchy for my tastes. I appreciate his art style as a whole and actually really love some of art that don't feature extremely explicit imagery, but the usual abundance of the dirty stuff isn't for me.

Left: Takashi Nemoto page from Garo 1983 April / Right: "Futago no Oyaji" from AX vol 8

The King Terry Obsession: Present Time

Various 1983 Garo issues featuring cover art by Yumura Teruhiko

Yumura Teruhiko. King Terry. Terry Johnson. Flamingo Terry. My current artist obsession. The artist is a man of many names. King Terry is attributed as the founder and pioneer of the heta-uma movement from the 70s and onwards with his "artfully artless" illustrations, a quote from Ryan Holmberg which I find is an extremely fitting description. You can find his article below!

King Terry mainly drew illustrations and has only put out one manga in his career, "Penguin Rice", where he drew the art for a story written by Itoi Shigesato for Garo in 1976. I haven't found a copy of it yet, but my eyes are always on the lookout for it. But for now, I'm satisfied with the various Garo issues he'd illustrated covers for, all of them addicting to look at. Yumura had illustrated all the covers for Garo's 1977 issues, reappearing and staying as the physical face of the magazine from 1982-87. He's an artist that has grown on me over time, and I can't give a clear reason why, but it's very much tied in with my love for alternative manga.

And that's pretty much my experience with the wonderful world of heta-uma. To conclude, I want to have one last section about an event that I feel was an extremely important one for heta-uma and alternative manga fans outside of Japan.

Heta-Uma Mangaro: Le Dernier Cri Exhibition

Le Dernier Cri, a French publishing house headed by Pakito Bolino, is your one-stop destination for underground and alternative art that thrives outside of the mainstream. They sell high quality silkscreen prints, books and posters from many Japanese artists and mangaka, many of whom I've talked about before. In 2014, Bolino and Taco Che owner Ayumi Nakayama curated an extensive collection of works from Japanese artists in the double exhibition "Heta-uma Mangaro", a gallery of 40 years of Garo and heta-uma history. There was a catalogue book released for the event that is long OOP, but I'm still patiently waiting for one to pop up sometime soon. But having such a large event specifically for alternative manga and heta-uma is an amazing feat that I hope will inspire bigger and more frequent exhibitions like these. Thanks for reading!

#manga #hetauma #alternativemanga #manga recommendation #art review #manga art #manga panel #japanese culture #japanese history #contemporaryart

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ellies-cycling-notes · 1 year ago

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Day 17: Findley State Park to Van Buren State Park

Distance Covered: 81.27 miles

Total Time (including rests): 7:10 (8:03am-3:13pm)

Time spent riding: 6:22

Average Speed: 12.8 mph

Apples Eaten: 4 (fuji - 7/10, fuji - 6/10, fuji - 7/10, fuji - 5/10)

Today's ride was another boring, yet alright, one. It was basically 80 miles straight West from one State Park to another, only going North or South to switch to less busy roads. The entire ride was on various state roads and side roads, most of which had rather good pavement. I made rather good time for a few reasons. There was the good pavement as mentioned, and then also I had a tailwind for most of the ride, and thirdly, this ride was really flat. I barely had to switch gears at all, and when I did, it was more likely to be because of a sudden change in wind making the ride too hard or too easy, rather than because of going up or down a hill. The weather was also really nice, barely getting above 70 Fahrenheit, and oftentimes cloudy for miles on end.

I stopped twice on the ride, once about half-way through, and once only 10 miles from my campsite. I wanted to not take that second stop at all, but I was getting really hungry and didn't want to hold off on lunch.

Today's ride's main focus was on conserving the battery on my phone. One of my power banks is dead, and I think I might have to use my laptop as a power bank to get my phone fully charged for tomorrow. Because of that, I took various measures on the ride to extend my phone's power. For one, the fewer number of stops meant I spent less time just sitting looking at my phone (of course, that didn't really matter in the end because it meant I arrived at my campsite earlier, and this would have more time reading stuff on my phone). I also kept my phone's brightness as low as I could, and even turned off my maps whenever I was about to be on a straightaway for several miles, only turning it back on again when I believed myself to be close to the next turn.

I saw a few interesting birds on today's ride. In addition to the normal ones, I also saw a peacock on a front porch, a vulture by a field, a bird I think was a hummingbird (it was moving too quickly for me to be sure), and what I think was pheasants in a yard. Apart from those, today's ride didn't really have anything that stood out, which is kinda what I expected, biking across rural Ohio.

Design Notes

Today's notes are probably going to be short (I don't actually know, I have a few key points that I wrote down during the ride, but most of the substance has yet to be written).

I've been thinking about character stats/ability scores. This train of thought comes from 2 places.

1) Yesterday's ruminations on Procedural Generation got me thinking about Characters, Inc. again, in which each character has 6 (maybe 5, I can't remember) stats that affect how well they do in a dungeon. I'll go more into detail later in this section, because I spent a lot of time specifically thinking about Characters, Inc.

2) I've been reading LitRPGs, which are a fantasy sub-genre where the fantasy world has game-like elements, often including ability scores.

Ability Scores

I understand the necessity of ability scores in games in order to simplify complex systems of the world, but there's always something about them that feels awkward. There's always too much overlap between certain abilities, or cases where it doesn't make much sense for you to automatically become better at multiple unrelated things. For example, bench pressing should increase your Strength, but in most games that would also increase your leg power, even though they're different muscles. With that being said, I do enjoy the use of ability scores as measures of characters that aren't directly controlled by players, because then those abilities end up being used in more broad stroke ways, and so it makes more sense. For example, if you have a character with high dexterity, you can't guarantee that they'll succeed at a certain parkour move, but if you give them an entire parkour course, they'll probably complete it more quickly than someone with a lower dexterity score. That brings me to my discussion of Characters, inc.

In Characters Inc, you the player send a party of characters out on a quest, and only receive the results of said quest. As such, this is the perfect place to make use of ability scores, as they can be used to broadly define a character's strengths. Here are the ability scores as I remember them in Characters, Inc. I will describe the ability and what it used to do, if I can remember, as well as what I would have them do if I was to remake the game.

Strength (STR) - Every quest in Characters, Inc has a hidden power level the party has to beat in order to complete the quest. STR contributes directly to meeting that power level. In addition, when distributing damage amongst the party, characters with more STR will have been targeted more by enemies, and so will receive a larger portion of the damage.

Agility (AGI) - I don't remember what this does in the original version of the game. If I was to remake it, it would have 2 main effects: it would influence how long it takes for a party to complete a quest, and it would act as a buffer relative to one's STR such that they are targeted less if they have high AGI.

Endurance (END) - Endurance directly impacts how much health a character has.

Toughness or Defense (TOU) - After getting assigned damage, TOU reduces the amount of damage that a character takes. If I remake the game, it might also increase the amount that the chosen character is targeted, because otherwise a high TOU character is useless without high STR.

Magic (MAG) - Similar to STR, this directly contributes to the power level of the quest. It also increases the chance the character is targeted, but at a much lower rate than STR. Thus, it pairs well with characters that have lower END or TOU.

Luck (LUCK) - Increase the rewards characters receive from the quest. Every quest has guaranteed rewards, but this stat increases the chance for additional gold and/or item rewards. In the original version, each character's luck was used independently to figure out additional gold and items, such that you could get at most +1 item per character. If I was to remake it, I'd probably have it that the character with the highest luck is taken as a base, and each other character's luck is added on to that, but not to the full amount.

That's all. There's no pics today, as the ride was rather bland and boring. Tomorrow I'm headed straight North to Ann Arbor. I hope the wind will've calmed down a bit by then, because I'd rather not ride 80+ miles with a headwind.

Previous -- Next

#blogpost

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spinningbuster98 · 1 year ago

Video

youtube

Mega Man X7 Part 2

Warning: Viewer’s auditory discretion is advised

So X7′s level design is bad, but mostly due to the controls and camera.

On their own most levels are bland, uninteresting and forgettable. Like there’s nothing I can comment on with Soldier Stonekong and Tornado Tonion’s stages other than the former’s has this nasty issue where oftentimes the midair dash just refuses to work over certain cliffs for some baffling reason, forcing me to hover with Axl to be sure.

Splash Warfly is long as shit and you can really start to spot how much the camera angle sucks here: it barely allows you to view what’s in front of you! That first miniboss is so awkward because it constantly goes off screen while the camera is stuck right on your ass!

There are occasions where you are allowed to move the camera, like with boss fights such as Tornado Tonion, but in this case the camera will ALSO keep track of the boss despite you wishes, and you can ONLY move it left or right, not up and down meaning you’ll be stuck with that shitty angle no matter what.

Flame Hyenard’s second half is a great example of this: you can’t see more than 3 feet in front of you in a level that constantly bombards you with enemies flying from offscreen, that can knock you in the insta kill lava that is still insta kill even if you have I frames because now is a good time to call back to Mega Man 1 I guess? Add the clunky controls and this just gets worse

And yeah Flame Hyenard.

If you know what you’re doing you can handle him easily enough, plus every time you hit him with his weakness he stops talking for a bit.

But if you DON’T have his weakness or just don’t know that the real one is on top of that giant robot goat thing and waste your time with his copies?

The memes are no exaggeration

youtube

As for each character’s gameplay style:

Axl has the barest essentials of the X gameplay formula, plus a hover but minus a charge shot.

The lack of a charge shot is the reason why I recommend you turn on rapid fire in the options because otherwise this game will quickly transform into DMC2′s cousin, forcing you to button mash non-stop throughout the levels. But with the rapid fire you can just hold down a button and things will die quickly with minimal effort. It ain’t fun but you’ll have to make do

Axl’s main selling point is supposed to be his ability to turn into certain enemies:

1) You have to kill an enemy with his Copy Shot which takes an eternity and a half to do the job, you CAN soften up enemies with normal attacks but sicne they have no visible healthbar you’ll have to count your shots so that you don’t accidentally kill them

2) There are only like 5 enemies in the whole game that can be copied

3) Their movesets are extremely limited and clunky, really only needed for 1 or 2 optional items

4) You can’t turn back until your weapon energy depletes on its own (or at least I’ve never found a way to do it)

So yeah I think I’ll be using it a grand total of once

The funny thing is that this ability was likely inspired by Mega Man’s original conceptual idea of being able to copy Robot Masters instead of stealing their weapons, and idea that will once again be proposed in some form in Mega Man ZX to better results

And as for Zero...

talk about a fate worse than death

His combos are slow, clunky, have no elegance, do less damage than previously, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid getting hit as you’re comboing.

Zero is absolute shit, aside from his double jump and SOME of his special moves being useful against some bosses (as you see here), but other than that no: he barely feels playtested, I swear he’s near unplayable in 3D

As for X...well you have to unlock him first! Yep! In a MEGA MAN X game!

And there’s a reason for that (though not a good one as you’ll see).

You unlock him by either completing the 8 stages or by saving about 70 Reploids, which results in its own series of problems as you’ll see

#youtube #mega man #mega man x7 #my gameplay #tw: flame hyenard

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vishnu920 · 3 months ago

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Pricing strategies for digital freelancers

In the fast world of freelancers, have you ever felt like you worked hard as a freelancer and send the invoices, and you think—did I charge too little? And did I charge too high? You are not alone. Finding the right pricing strategies for digital marketing services It’s like investing in a minefield. So it’s time to rethink your pricing strategies.

Let us understand by a case study. Sara is a graphic designer who has been working freelance for five years. Sara started freelance because she loved the freedom it offered—choosing her clients, working on her hours, and doing projects that were passionate about her. But regarding her growing portfolio and her client review, Sara worried about pricing. She works long hours and hardly makes a couple of dollars. What's wrong with her?

The problem is Sara's pricing strategy. Like many freelancers. She didn’t set a price based on her thoughts the client would be willing to pay. She is not charge the value of what she delivers; she charges hourly. Without thinking about how much time she gives to revision and with clients' communication. As a result, Sara undercharging and overworking. As like many freelancers common scenario.

Sara's story is not uqine. A survey by Payoneer found that globally, freelancers earn hourly only a couple of dollars. It depends on your location, experiences, and specialization. In a study of freelancer union, 70% of freelancers struggle to get paid that they deserve. There are many facts—lack of pricing confidence, fear of losing clients, and simply not knowing how worth their work is.

Understanding Pricing Models Don't fall, as Sara understands all types of pricing models and knows which one works for you. Hourly Rate:

Hourly rates are so common for freelancers. especially for beginners. The faster your work, the less you earn. Here you are not paid as your worth.

Project-Based Pricing:

Get paid on project-based is more profitable. It allows you to check all factors of work, including revisions, with Clint's communication and meetings. It requires clear knowledge of the project to understand the project scope.

Value-Based Pricing:

This model is based on the value of your work that you delivered to clients. Here, no matter how time it takes. A value-based model increases your earnings. But it requires strong communication and confidence in your value proposition.

Make Your Pricing Strategy

Know Your Worth:

Try to understand rates for your services in the digital market. website Like Fiverr, Upwork, and Glassdoor, proved insight into the prices of what others was charging for your services. But not go with the crowd. Consider your skills, experiences, and the unique value you provide the clients.

Test and Adjust:

Setting a price is not permanent. You can experiment and adjust the rate with different models. You start with a rate you are comfortable with and increase it when you get more experience, confidence, and more skills. Communicate with Opely with your clients about your pricing. And ready to justify the worth of your delivered work.

Build in Flexibility:

Build a flexible level of pricing and give the clients to choose what fits their project and budget. This helps you to get a wide range of clients and maximize your income.

The Importance of Confidence

At the end, confidence is the key to your success. Who you have confidence in your work is very important. like Sara, who changed her pricing model to a project-based model that reflects her work value. and eran more money and not getting stressed. She learned communication skills and openly talked to her clients.

Conclusion:

Pricing your services as a digital freelancer is both an art and science. It needs understanding to market and your worth value. Adopting the all-strategic to make your pricing strategies. Make a profitable and stress-free freelance career. Always remember your pricing is worth your work values. So set your pricing for your value and watch your career growth. Want to know more? So go with this link pricing strategy for digital marketing services.

#freelancer

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frontproofmedia · 4 months ago

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Dolo Flicks: MaXXXine Review: Ti West highlights the price for obsession with fame

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By Hector Franco

Follow @MrHector_Franco !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id))(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

Published: July 18, 2024

"Now, say it with me... I will not accept a life I do not deserve!" -- Maxine

All the films in a series or franchise are rarely considered top-of-the-line or high-quality. Director and writer Ti West continues the trend of delivering top-notch horror with the third installment of his X series, MaXXXine. The film is a direct sequel to 2022's X and follows the pseudo-prequel Pearl.

MaXXXine stars Mia Goth as the titular character, Maxine Miller. It follows her journey attempting a future as a famous actress in Hollywood in the 1980s, against the backdrop of the infamous Night Stalker serial killer murders of the time. Maxine receives an opportunity to work on an upcoming horror movie sequel, and the events of X come back to haunt her, putting her new career at risk as a mysterious leather-wearing killer watches her every step. MaXXXine also stars Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon.

In 2022, when West set on what could have been a disastrous goal of putting together a trilogy of horror films, each with its own distinct style, many were skeptical as to how they would turn out. Two years later, West has put out one of the most anticipated films of 2024 as the final film in his horror trilogy, MaXXXine.

MaXXXine, following the path of the previous entries, is a film that stands out in both style and design. X was a 70's slasher with elements of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, and Black Christmas. Pearl served as a slow-burn character study with a character descending further into madness. What X and Pearl have in common is their smaller cast, making for a more intimate experience. MaXXXine, however, strays from the formula, carving its own unique path as a crime-thriller slasher.

The opening sequence of MaXXXine displays how the film will separate itself from its predecessors. It starts with an audition, where Maxine confidently outshines her competition and then takes us on a ride through Tinseltown to her next destination. This approach is so well executed that it instantly pulls the audience into the lifestyle of the main character, the setting, and the film's visual style.

" You've made it to the belly of the beast. Congratulations, very few come this far. To stay here, you must make it your obsession. Eliminate all other distractions because if you take your eye off that prize for even a moment, the beast will spit you right back out where you came from. You may never get a taste for you again." -- Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki)

One element of West's trilogy that will be remembered is how each entry utilized the look and style of the films it mirrored. MaXXXine is a stylized slasher in the vein of some of Brian De Palma's work, such as Body Double and Dressed to Kill and Italian Giallo films of the 1970s. The cinematographer for each installment is Elliot Rocket, and MaXXXine is arguably his best work. The well of nostalgia for the 1980s has nearly run dry, but Rocket and West's technique and usage of colors bring a level of polish to MaXXXine that stands out from its contemporaries.

"I have to give Ti tons of credit because that is the kind of thing he's very focused on," Rocket told Indie Wire. "He'll push really hard to make sure that the aesthetic, the colors, the clothes people are wearing, what the hairstyles are, what the props are, what the color of the wall is painted.

“It's really just a matter of someone who's in charge, plus all of the other people who are working on it creatively having the vision in their mind to create a consistent and cohesive aesthetic in terms of all of these things that are going to be in front of the camera."

Goth has been the foundation for the trilogy's success, putting forth career-best performances. Yet, MaXXXine asks less of the famed actress than X and Pearl. In X, Goth played dual roles; in Pearl, her performance was the center of every aspect of the film. The cast allows for breathing room for the Maxine character, allowing others to shine. Kevin Bacon's Louisiana Private Eye, John Labat, is one of the film's highlights. Bacon brings a level of levity and fun to the film in-between moments of stylized violence. Along with Giancarlo Esposito's agent for the stars, Teddy Knight, MaXXXine's vibrant look bleeds over to many of its characters.

For the bloodthirsty horror fan, MaXXXine has a plethora of memorable kills. The kills are where the Giallo influence truly comes to life. In one scene, Maxine is pursued by a Buster Keaton impersonator and has the tables turned on him. Maxine pulls a gun and forces the man to strip, only to viciously stomp his testicles. This scene, like many others in the film, is a perfect example of the stylish violence that permeates MaXXXine. The colors used, along with the overly sexualized violence, infuse for an almost humorous moment that leaves audiences covering their faces in shock.

Time will only tell how West's trilogy will be viewed. However, its standing in recent horror history firmly places it as the best series of films of the decade. Each film is connected yet different enough for fans to pick any of the three as their favorite. MaXXXine, with its unique style and narrative, has left a significant mark on recent horror history. Despite a few narrative issues, specifically with how the film reaches its resolution, MaXXXine is one of the year's best horror films and certainly one of the most memorable and engaging.

4/5****

(Featured Image: A24)

#HF #Mia Goth #Ti West #Horror

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jaderimehardt · 10 months ago

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Opened my Etsy Shop!

Hello! o/ I mentioned in last night's blog post that THIS post was coming today, so here we are!

It took a while to gain the courage for me to do this, but I finally opened my Etsy shop!

With my Etsy shop open, the path is open for me to place Resin pieces in it whenever I desire to. All my products will be in one place. And like before when my shop was on RedBubble, all items in my Etsy are still using my own self-created art/graphics with no use of AI.

I use a completely outdated freebie version of Photoshop CS2 for my art. I show some of my layer work here on my Tumblr if anyone is ever curious enough to browse through my posts or follow. I might make it a habit to show more of that in the future because the world is becoming more accustomed to using AI and society is becoming split on the matter.

But enough on this controversial topic, I just wanted to make it clear that I do NOT use AI and I'm not a fan of it in the art world.

I knew I wanted a Print-to-Order on-Demand "Partner" and that was something I was looking heavily into for the longest time. Actually I think this was causing me the most anxiety, because this is important! This is where quality of products comes in. I do my homework guys. I research thoroughly.

I found one I'm very pleased with, and it's Printful. Look forward to future blog posts similar to my "RedBubble Product Review Posts", because I've ordered items from Printful with my graphics and I'll be doing reviews on their items. I'll try to do them more often too 👍🏻 (assuming life doesn't get in the way and I have funds to do so, lol)

So far I've added 38 listings to my shop. I don't want to overcrowd it. I feel for the amount of designs I have and the amount of products Printful has available for me to utilize, this is balanced. From here I'll work on new designs.

If there is something OLD that you may have liked (in my RB shop) and is no longer available (in my Etsy shop), I apologize, but I have to put the past behind me and move forward.

There is a fear of "Will this work for me, or not?" on Etsy, because I need to pull in traffic and their rating requirement system is harsh- basically need 5-stars otherwise you drop out of their search engines entirely. But "nothing risked, nothing gained".

I'm putting this at the bottom of the post because it's more on the ranting side, but RedBubble upped their tier fees again which also inspired much of this change.

I mentioned this in a Tumblr post a couple days ago, but to break it down and put it in perspective:

An Artist in "Redbubble Standard" tier who earned a 25$ paycheck in a month used to get charged an 11$ fee. That's 43%. Couldn't change their tier. It progressively scales worse, and all us RB sellers thought that was bad.

Now with their new system, that they tried to play off as "This will include a fee increase of less than $1 for most artists.", is significantly worse. (That's literally how they phrased it in the e-mail)

If you make 25$ a month in "Redbubble Standard" tier, you get charged a 17$ fee. That's 67%. And it continues to rise at an insane rate- in the 70%+ range.

They have a form you can attempt to submit, trying to "get a real person to reevaluate your shop to be placed in a different tier"- but that doesn't work. I tried it. Pretty sure that inspires false hope and it's bogus. I didn't even get an automated basic reply back. Not a "you submitted a form!" or "you've been denied." or "your evaluation is in progress.", nothing.

RedBubble products were okay quality. At times the quality wasn't that great in my opinion but people liked the items I felt that way about and economics is all about supply & demand 🤷🏻‍♀️. I was fine selling their items because the pricing was on par with the quality. The saying "You get what you pay for." comes to mind. But would I go out of the way to buy their items? No.

And I'm going to apologize again if any or all of this sounds negative or sarcastic or moody... I'm just saying things like I see it 😅🫠

Thank you everyone who has been supporting me all this time! 💖 And to anyone new! 💖

(I know the point of posting on this website is to tag all the things, but I feel bad and weird about tagging all the things 😖)

#jade.blog #etsyseller #etsyshop #accessories #clothing #octopus #ffxiv job stones #konpeito #space #ginkgo #mugs #journals #totebag #bomberjacket #stickers #galaxy #night sky #milky way

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extremelyblackandwhite · 4 years ago

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innocence - 33

PAIRING: bodyguard!bucky barnes x innocent actress!reader

WARNINGS: assault, swearing, trauma, tones of ptsd

A/N: this chapter is heavy with prominent mentions of assault. if that triggers you, please skip this chapter.

NEXT CHAPTER

She stood in the middle of the set, surrounded by bright lights as the cast and staff moved around to change the setting of the set design. There was nothing she could really feel and she felt herself almost out of her own body, the lack of sleep weighing not only on her eye bags but on her brain and ability to properly function. She felt she was watching herself out of her own body, watching as she dragged herself from scene to scene, almost changing into a completely different person when the cameras were on. It was mechanical, an ability of someone who’d been acting since she was a child. She slipped in and out of her own consciousness, almost knowing everything with a sharp eye but ignoring it. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t sleep. Any news that appeared regarding HYDRA or criminal organisations were always a trigger to keep her up at night. The silence itself was a trigger. Every blank letter she would get would send her into a spiral, every knock on her door. Wherever she turned, either Bucky or however haunted her seemed to surge. Except this time, Bucky wasn’t around. Sharon was but she couldn’t help to think something was off.

Two weeks.

Something was off.

She was no super soldier and she was no agent so all she could do was merely put a smile and say “nothing” whenever they asked her if something was wrong. Not that they asked, she was a good actress after all so to everyone else, even Sharon, she was peachy keen, with the same shy smile she always had on set. After all, this was the place she could be anyone but herself. Anna, the character she was playing, was so far removed from her own personality that whatever she felt seemed to dissipate mid takes. Yet, there was no comfort in becoming someone else, becoming someone who was so one dimensional she’d rather be back in her mind. Wherever she turned, she felt trapped, shackled by the weight of her own thoughts. There was nothing she could do.

- CUT! It’s a wrap everyone. - the bright lights dimmed as a ‘pop’-like sound removed her from her own dazed consciousness. She clung onto her own arms, turning around with a quickened heartbeat which slowed down as she realised it was merely a bottle of champagne which was now being half poured into flutes and half poured onto the floor. Yet, all she could hear was a buzzing in her ears.

She stood in the middle of everything, almost like a movie shot. Things moved fast but she knew they moved slowly and she remained there, in the middle of the shot, listening to everything as if she were underwater. Everyone was celebrating, drinking and laughing out loud but she couldn’t hear anything. Just a buzz. That’s all she could hear. The buzz and the sound of the wind bustling her dress.

- Y/N? - Sharon moved through the crowd, knowing way too well what was happening. She had seen it before. She carefully put her hand just slightly over her shoulder, not touching her but anyone would sense it. - Can you breathe in and out?

- Huh? - she was once again pulled out into her body and suddenly everything was just too fast, everything was just too loud as if someone had pressed the forward button on an old VHS tape. Her eyes moved side to side as her own hand pressed against her chest, a forceful reminder to feel her own heart beat. - Yeah, hum, I just need a break.

- That’s fine. - Sharon nodded her head and started to guide her out the middle of the set; however, a much familiar sound of heels hitting the gravel halted those plans. The she was, always board in hands. - Move.

- You’re needed. - Ms. Olson pointed at the actress in front of her with her pen. - The director wants to speak to you.

- Yeah, that’s fine. - Y/N pulled a fake smile. There was no use putting a fight, she had already done so and something told her not to stray too far off the cage they had put her in. She knew that with Bucky gone and Sharon under the cover she was one of her old university classmates which had settled down in New York as a stage manager, she had no protection, at least no personal protection. What she had belonged to the agency and if she toed out of line, she’d be left to fend for herself. She could barely look at the mail without shivering, much less fend for herself. She was a short woman, anyone taller than her could easily overpower her and that was the sad truth.

Once again, she found herself out of her body, watching as she walked the gravel with Ms. Olson to the trailer belonging to the director. Y/N was tired, she had no intention of wanting to speak to anyone, all she wanted to do was try to sleep yet here she was knocking on the door of the man she had learned to stray away from. The door was opened by his assistant, a small woman barely in her twenties, couldn’t be much younger than 5 years from Y/N, who had an almost meek look to her, hunched back even. Before Y/N could ask her what was wrong, the director, Mr. Powell, was already yelling out for the assistant to leave and for Y/N to come already. The girl stepped out and closed the door behind Y/N, leaving the two of them inside his trailer. It was grimy with papers and open bottles everywhere and the stench of smoke was thick in the air. It was almost comical, cartoonish even how it looked as if a cartoon, over exaggerated version of a 70′s movie director.

- Sit down. - he pointed to the spot on the brown couch near him. She was hyper aware of everything as she sat down on the couch, yet living a big space between the two of them. - You almost ruined my shot today with those puffy eyes, darling.

- I’m sorry, sir. I’ve been having some personal issues, I thought they would’ve de puffed by today.

- I’ve heard. - he took a puff of his cigarette which laid in the middle of his calloused fingers, laying against the couch rest as if he were on top of the world, when he was merely as much of an unknown as she was. He was no famous director, he wasn’t even a good one. - I thought you were missing your shadow. Where is he anyway? Lost his mind again? You know, darling, I’m always worried about you. I mean once a killer, always a killer, right?

- ... You’re pathetic. - it came out of her lips without her even noticing it. She stared at him with a lack of respect few people saw yet as quickly as she said those words, she was pined down against the brown leather of the couch. She could feel the cracked leather against the skin of her neck. His hand gripped her throat, hard, cutting her air flow and keeping her against the couch cushions.

- You ungrateful little bitch. - Y/N started kicking her feet, trying to somehow roll over on the floor. - I gave you the best role, put up with you not losing any weight and looking like any average shopping girl and how do you repay me? By being a whore?

She continued to kick her legs up in down so fast it had already started to tire her muscles. Her hands clawed at his face, leaving scratch marks which were sure to remain red and angry on his cheeks.

- I’m gonna give you some advice, darling. You wanna get ahead? Start whoring yourself for someone other than your boyfriend.

His hands left her neck and he returned to sit down where the place where he had been, as if he hadn’t just chocked her against the couch pillows. Y/N got up from the couch and bolted towards the door, pulling it open and climbing down the stairs, noticing the assistant was in front of them. Same meek look, yet Y/N continued to charge away from the set villa until she stopped on the sidewalk, sitting down as she watched the traffic in front of her. The weather was cloudy and dark yet somehow the cars lights made it brighter and it hurt her head. It hurt her head too much. The smell of fog and the bright lights hide her away as she tucked her head in the middle of her knees, chest going up and down yet no tears rolled down her face.

- Hey ... - Sharon sat by her side. - Let’s go home, yeah?

The fog merely thickened and lowered, covering the whole of New York in a somber mood. The wind itself was also fast and freezing and as Bucky stepped inside government headquarters, the mood as just as somber. The lights were yellow yet everything had a weird green-like tinge. Everyone was mechanically induced into their own work yet he was hyper aware of everything. Two weeks. Two weeks to bring in a HYDRA general and a senator which were sure to buy their own bail and go back and all he could say and think was he was tired. James “Bucky” Barnes was tired and worn down.

He strutted towards the interviewing room where Agent Cox and Doctor Raynor were. It was nothing new to him, it was always the same; he would return from whatever assignment had been given to him and be questioned on it by whatever agent was looking over the case and then had a “therapy” session with Doctor Raynor. It was never to check if he was alright, or at least it barely was. They just wanted to see him, to see the Winter Soldier was still inactivated. He understood that yet that didn’t mean he particularly liked it.

He told the agent all he wanted know, from where he had found the two he had just brought in, to some background info. There wasn’t much to say and when he was done, he was left with Doctor Raynor. He stood against his metal chair, convinced to get this over and done with so he could go back to Brooklyn. Back to her.

- How are you, James?

- I’m good, doc. Can I go now?

- James, that’s not how this works. You should know that by now. - she opened her notebook. Great. - Tell me about the mission.

- It was an extraction, mission. No one got hurt. - lies. He had gotten hurt, he had taken a pretty harsh blow to his cheekbone which was developing into a nasty purple bruise, yet, that was not who they were questioning him about. If he had gotten hurt, it didn’t matter. - No nightmares either.

- Are you lying to me, James?

- No, I just want to get out of here. I haven’t seen my girlfriend in two weeks.

- Tell me about your girlfriend. - she closed the notebook, almost as if this was off book yet he knew that nothing was off book. Not for him. Everyone has the right to privacy but the Winter Soldier. - What’s her name?

- Y/N.

- How old is she?

- Younger than me.

- No need to be hostile, James.

- No need to ask me about my love life, doc.

- Any big fights? Any ... problems regarding your condition? Healthy sex life?

- Are you asking me if I abuse my girlfriend? - his blood boiled yet he tried to keep cool. He knew an anger outbreak would only keep him in this session for longer than he wanted. Despite this, he chose to get up and leave the room.

He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear those accusations, he didn’t even want to think about it. Bucky did not like the idea of the Winter Soldier and Y/N together. He didn’t want to merge those two worlds together. The Winter Soldier was someone, a part of him which he didn’t fully understand and he didn’t want Y/N together with it. No, Bucky wanted Y/N to only see whatever bit of kindness, whatever few bits of goodness lied within him. He didn’t want her to the Winter Soldier’s girlfriend. He knew he didn’t deserve her and that title only further reminded him.

He continued to be lost in his head, those questions running through his mind as he unlocked the door only to be met with Sharon pointing her gun at him. She lowered her gun once she realised who it was that stood in the entrance, putting the gun back in between her jeans and her shirt.

- Two weeks? That was long.

- Not my fault, Sharon. - Bucky dropped his duffel bag to the floor. - How is she?

- Not good. - Sharon crossed her arms. - You have to tell her things, James. C’mon, you can do that with me and Steve and maybe even Sam. We know them, we’ve been in missions before but she doesn’t.

- Spare me this.

- She barely slept while you gone, James. God, are you so afraid she’ll stop loving you if you tell her about the Winter Soldier that you’d rather her live in constant anxiety every time you have to leave?

- I won’t have to leave.

Sharon scoffed, grabbing her jacket from the coat hanger.

- Do you seriously believe that, James?

- Since when do you care about Y/N?

- Stop being your worse enemy, James. She deserves to know.

God, she sure was awful now, Bucky thought to himself as Sharon left probably to return to Steve. The flat was intact, things were just as he had left them and everything was quiet except for the TV in the living room. Their bedroom door was slightly opened, probably so Sharon could keep an eye on Y/N. He took his shoes off so his steps wouldn’t alarm her and walked into the bedroom. She was there, in the bed, laying on her side, sleeping peacefully. Bucky walked up to her side of the bed, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

She stirred in her sleep, eyes slowly opening as Bucky began to shush her, trying to make sure she went back to sleep. Last thing he had wanted was to awake her up.

- Bucky? - she held herself onto one arm, the other hand coming to rub the sleep off her eyes. Once the blurriness dissipated and she confirmed it was indeed her Bucky, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, almost knocking him into the bed.

Bucky melted in her touch, burying his nose in her hair, sensing the scent of vanilla from her shampoo and the warmth of her skin. This was home, not Brooklyn but her. She was home, she felt like home. She pulled away from the hug for a bit to examine him, her fingers brushing the bruise on his cheekbone.

- What happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?

- I’m fine. It’s just the bruise, Y/N.

- I’ll get some ice. - she prepared to get out of bed but he pushed her back on it. She felt onto his chest and he held her against him with one arm. What he did not expect was to see how uncomfortable she became at the inability to move. He was used to playing around with her, rolling around or having her on top of his chest.

- What’s wrong, princess?

- Nothing ... - she shook her head. - I just missed you. I was afraid you were hurt or you were dead.

- I’m not hurt, I’m here.

- You’re staying, right? - she questioned, rolling to his side of the bed, laying on his side. - You’re not here just to visit.

- Yeah, I’m staying, princess. - he caressed her cheek, leaning his forehead against hers. Sharon’s words, however, kept pulling at him. She loved him, he knew she loved him. Right?

- You’re making the face.

- What face?

- Your thinking face. - she cuddled against him, fingers softly pulling his chin down so he was looking at her. - What are you thinking about?

- You love me, right? - he probably sounded insecure, he could hear himself sounding insecure, his voice cracking. She cocked her head to the side before raising her fingers to trace his jaw.

- Of course I do. You think I’d be marrying you if I didn’t love you?

- I wanted to hurt them. - he blurted. - I wanted to torture them. Both of them.

- Who?

- Every time they send me to any of these assignments. Make amends ... I wanna hurt those people, I wanna hurt them like they hurt me and I hate it.

- Buck ...

- I’m ... I wanna be a good person, Y/N. I wanna be good. - he shut his eyes tightly. - And I’m not.

- It does not make you a bad person to want to hurt you hurt you, to want revenge. You do not act on it and that’s the difference. You’re not a bad person, Bucky.

- You’re the only person who thinks that.

- Doesn’t matter. - she smiled at him, softly kissing him. - I’m not expecting you just to move on and let it go. It’s part of your life and it’s part of you and I love you. All bad and all good, I love you.

- Maybe you need a better judgement.

- I have the best judgment between the both of us. I have no thrown myself off a plane without a parachute.

- That can’t be your way of winning arguments.

- It is my way of winning arguments. - she giggled at him. - Let’s just go to sleep.

The night seemed short, way too short but it did not matter because both of them were there. It was calm, too calm until a harsh knock had both of them wake up from her slumber, the morning barely bright yet there was already some light. Y/N clung onto his arm as another harsh knock was delivered against his door. Bucky moved slowly to take his gun from under the bed before he walked out the bedroom, putting his gun behind his back as he opened the door. The police stood in front of him, quite a few of them. Way too many.

- James Buchanan Barnes, you are under arrest for the alleged harassment and stalking of Miss Y/N Y/L/N.

taglist: @disasterbi @lookiamtrying @buckysteveloki-me @americasass81 @jamesbarnesappreciationclub @lostinthebeans @mariahthelioness29 @oh-nohoney @peaches-roses-sins @theadorasabditory @sipsteacasually @saiyanprincessswanie @booktease21 @noiralei @learisa @everythingisoverratedbutgreat @uglipotata72829 @naturalthrone22 @husherstan @mandiiblanche @vicmc624 @newyorkgoddess @itsallyscorner @chipilerendi @emzd34 @writerwrites @bluevxnus @that-girl-named-alex @captnrogers @nsfwsebbie @sarge-barnes-sir @niki-is-a-thing @cynic-spirit @tenaciousperfectionunknown

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akiisame · 4 years ago

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Genshin impact guide - how to into artifacts

How to into artifacts and team set.

A guide by me for my kawaii @stupidneko and whoever is in need.

Okay, so, as a word of introduction before well start with this long ass post, I’ve never wrote anything like this so be patient with me.

ALSO ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE SO SORRY IN ADVANCE FOR ANY MISTAKES

In my personal opinion artifacts are more important than the characters themselves, they can turn every 4* into a main dps (yes, even amber). 50% of your DMG will come from items, then the other 50% will come from weapon, talents and the character itself, but this is a story for another post.

First let’s take a look at what kind of artifacts do we have. Each and every character have 5 slots for artifacts:

Flower of life - or just flower, for short

Plume of death - feather

Sand of eon - time watch piece

Goblet of Eonothem - goblet

Circlet of Logos - head piece

Each of the pieces have two types of stats: main stats and sub stats. The first two pieces, flower and feather, always have the same main stat.

For flower it's HP

And for feather it's ATK

Then for the rest of them it can be anything, from good main stats like this:

(The following items have high stats because most of them are on max lvl)

... to less of a good stats, like this:

Goblets also are the only artifacts that has the possibility to have element DMG bonus as the main stats:

While head piece are the only artifacts that can have CRIT DMG and CRIT rate as a main stats:

... but they too can have less of a good stats like healing bonus or DEF.

Now, to the sub stats. They can vary from less appealing stats like HP, DEF and Elemental Mastery:

To a great stats like CRIT DMG, CRIT rate and ATK:

Unfortunately that's where the tricky part comes in. You cannot chose which substats the item will have. They will randomly appear. All that's left is to cry and pray.

But how do you get more stats on your item? That's simple, you need to level it up! We call it 'enhancing'. Depending on the rarity of your item( they vary from 1* (one start) to 5*(five stars) ) there are different max lvl cap. I'll mostly focus here on the 4* and 5* items. Max lvl cap for 4* is lv16 and for 5* is lv20.

Every artifact you'll get is always lv1. To enhance an artifact you'll need mora and another artifacts. The main stats will grow with each level, but the substats will update every 4th level (so for 5* item new substats will appear on 4th, 8th,12th, 16th and 20th level). Let's take this 5* feather: Bard's Arrow Feather

As all feathers it has ATK as a main stats and quite decent substats. You can enhance it by giving it other artifacts. You can also auto add artifacts of given level (1*, 2* or below, 3* or below and 4* or below)

Or you can chose items manually if you click on the gray '+' icon. Once you do it, there will be a list of artifacts you can use for enhancing. Only items that are not given to any characters will appear here.

Let’s enhance it up by one lvl (there’s limit of pic so I can’t show it ksmosjnwk). As I said, the main stats got better, but the substats didn't change because that was only the 1st level. So now let's enhance it to lv4. Once we choose enough artifacts to enhance it to lv4 we’ll see an information that one new substat will appear. (It doesn’t always have to be new substats. Sometimes the substats that the piece already have can get a boost).

Let's see what I'll get:

... Yea, I'm going to cry.

But for real now, that's how the artifacts work. Depending on your luck you can get a great items or a depression.

Usually people always aim for artifacts with ATK and CRIT as a both main and substats, but that all depend on you team composition.

But Akii, how do I chose good artifacts for my characters? How do I build my team?

I'm happy you asked. We can have up to 4 character in the team. Usually people aim for a team consisted of one main DPS, one healer and two supports, but ofc that all depends on your style of the game and your needs.

What is the most important in building your team and deciding on artifacts is the characters talents themselves. You absolutely have to check their talents and passives before giving them any artifacts, cause for some of them items with HP as a main stat could be actually good (like Barbara, since her role is only healing she doesn’t make more than 100 dmg on her normal attack but she heals a TONS).

Let's take my team for example, I’ll explain what their talents do and choose artifacts accordingly:

Razor as my main DPS

Qiqi as my healer

Xingqiu as my support

And Xiao that is none of the above but I just got him so I really wanna use him lmao

Usually I'd have Bennett in my team that would work as both healer and support, but yea, Xiao happen. Anyway, back to the topic

Since Razor is my main DPS I am focusing mostly on the DMG he can do. That's why when choosing artifacts for him I was aiming for the one with ATK/CRIT.

I do believe right now is a good moment to introduce artifacts sets. Each artifact has its own sets. There are plenty of sets to chose from. Now, the question is, does it matter from which set the item comes? Yes, it does.

Every set has all 5 types of artifacts to offer (a flower, feather, time watch piece, goblet and head piece). Depending on how many of the pieces from the same set you'll have you can get different stats. Let's take everyone's favorite Gladiator's Finale set. If you equip 2 pieces of Gladiator your get additional 18% of your base attack. IT'S A LOT!

But if you equip 4 pieces of Gladiator your normal attack (the single mouse tap, not the skills or the hold tap) will be increased by 35% IF your character has a sword, polearm or claymore (so it doesn't work on characters with books and bows, sorry Amber).

As I was saying, since my Razor is my main DPS and his role is to hit, not deal Electro DMG, I gave him 4 pieces of Gladiator's Finale just so he can have these additional 35%. But his head piece belongs to Wandener's Troupe. Why? Since every character can have 5 different artifacts, and the set's bonuses are only up to 4 pieces, the last one can belong to any other set. I chose Wandener's because it have CRIT rate as a main stats, so it's perfect for main DPS character. (The last piece doesn’t have to be the head piece, it can be any of the other 4 pieces).

You can check the character stats and the difference in the artifacts by going to your character menu and then clicking on the ‘details’.

For example here are my Xiao stats calculated with all the artifacts he has right now on him:

And here I have my Xiao without any artifacts and with 1* weapon:

DO YOU SEE THE HUUUGE DIFFERENCE?

Next we have Qiqi, my healer. One would think that, if she's a healer, then it would be good to have a set that is designed for healers on her, right? Wrong.

Let's take a look on Qiqi elemental skill (You can check your character skills by clicking on ‘talents’ in the character menu):

(APPARENTLY TUMBLR WONT ALLOW ME TO POST MORE THAN 10 PICS IN ONE POST SO ILL HAVE TO PASTE THE INFO FROM WIKI, THANKS)

When Qiqi hits a target with her Normal or Charged Attacks, she regenerates HP for all party members and all nearby allied characters. Healing scales based on Qiqi's ATK. Regenerates HP for current character at regular intervals. Follows the character around, dealing Cryo DMG to enemies in its path.

It's says that the heals she gives is based on her overall ATK. Which means the more ATK she has the better her heals are. That's why, in my personal opinion, it's better to focus on raising her ATK and energy recharge. Ofc, there's nothing wrong in having for example 2 pieces of Maiden Beloved (set's name designed for healers, 2-Piece Bonus: Character Healing Effectiveness +15%) on her. If those pieces main stats will be ATK then this will work amazing, but unfortunately I don't have any artifacts like this.

Next are supports, Bennett and Xingqiu. Since their role is not dealing DMG, but more of a supporting you can give them sets of a 2 pieces. Let's take a look at their elemental burst:

Bennett:

if the health of a character in the circle is equal to or falls below 70%, their health will continuously regenerate. Regeneration scales based on Bennett's Max HP. If the health of a character in the circle is higher than 70%, they gain an ATK Bonus that is based on Bennett's Base ATK. Applies the Pyro element to characters within the Field.

Basically you just ult and switch to your DPS (or whoever you want honestly). If the character you switched to (or Bennett himself, his ult works on him too) HP is below 70%, they will receive heals. If their HP is above 70%, the incoming healing with cease and they will get attack bonus based on Bennet BASE ATK (only when you have him c0, so with no constellations. On c1 (his first constellation is unlocked) there is no HP restriction, so his ult buffs the attack no matter of your character current health). So it’s not the same case as Qiqis. Base attack is the base amount the character have with weapon equipped but without any artifacts on, so the only way to rise base ATK is to maximize character level and to give them weapon with high amount of attack. Then we should focus on giving him as much of an energy recharge as we can so he can load his ult faster. Then it’s up to you whether you wanna make is a healer or side DPS. In healer case you should focus on rising his HP amount by giving him artifacts with that stats and substats cause, on the contrary to Qiqi, the heals he gives are based on his own max HP, not his ATK. In side DPS case you can focus on the overall dmg he makes.

Now let's take a look on my Xiao. His role is a dps, just like Razor. So one would think that it would be the best to max physical DMG on Xiao too, right? Wrong.

Let's take a look on Xiao's elemental skill and Elemental burts:

Skill:

Xiao lunges forward, dealing Anemo DMG to opponents in his path.

Burst:

Greatly increases Xiao's jumping ability. Increases his attack AoE and attack DMG. Converts attack DMG into Anemo DMG, which cannot be overriden by any other elemental infusion. In this state, Xiao will continuously lose HP. The effects of this skill end when Xiao leaves the field.

Both of them covert the DMG into Anemo DMG. Which mean that no matter the physical DMG bonus, if he doesn't have any Anemo DMG he won't be as useful as he could be. That why my Xiao has 2 pieces of Gladiator and 2 pieces of Viridescent Venerer that gives him +15% of Anemo DMG bonus. (y’all have no idea how long it took me to write this thing correctly lmao)

As the last piece i used Wandener's head piece again to give him that additional CRIT rate. (yes, his Anemo DMG can be scaled with CRIT rate, too). Ofc my Xiao still lacks a lot of power we can see on some videos on yt.

Okay Akii, I understand how does the artifacts works and what to which to chose when thinking about the character role, but how do I actually get the artifacts?

That's actually the hardest part. You can get them from domains. Each domain have two sets of artifacts at the same time, which means depending on your luck you'll get the artifacts from the set you want or the artifacts you don't want BUT can use for enhancing later on! Gladiator's and Wandener's don't have its own domain, but can be achieved by fighting bosses like cubes or regisvines and from weekly bosses like Dvalin, Andrius and Childe.

Now that you know everything you need to know about artifacts you can go and start doing the domains...

only to waste all of your resins and get tons of shit artifacts with DEF as a main stats and then start crying after your one good artifact with ATK as a main stat and CRIT as a substat gets shits like HP, DEF and more HP after enhancing. Have fun <3

#genshin #genshin impact #artifacts #genshin artifacts #genshin guide #tutorial #how to #genshin artifacts set #razor #qiqi #xiao #bennett

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ohthehypocrisy · 3 years ago

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Ninjask for Pokemon Unite!

Prev: Miltank - Crobat - Heracross - Parasect

If there’s anything Ninjask is known for, it’s for its lightning fast speed. When it was introduced in Gen 3, it was the second fastest pokemon of all time, beaten only by Deoxys-S. But that didn’t really matter much since Ninjask had the notorious Speed Boost ability, a power that let it outrun Deoxys after just one turn, eventually outrunning all of existence as well. Nowadays, even though Regieleki is the fastest pokemon in the game, Ninjask is still the defining image of speed, thanks to its simple but memorable design. Now, let’s see how it utilizes that speed in Pokemon Unite.

...with a special appearance from this guy!

In a classic case of ‘water is wet’, Ninjask’s highest stat is its speed. Maybe there’s such a thing as too fast, as some would argue that some of those points should go to another stat to make Ninjask even better. In Pokemon Unite, that speed could mean anything, from how it attacks, to what kind of moves it use. I mean, it’s not like Ninjask could be anything other than a Speedster, right?

Speedster

...well, it’s not like Ninjask would’ve excelled as a Defender. The fact that its second best stat is a whopping 70 points lower than its speed means that Ninjask is a shoe-in for the Speedster archetype. This just means that it has to work extra hard to become the best Speedster ever.

Basic Attack - Melee/Attack

A single swipe of your claws. Hold the button to increase the power, then release to attack. The more boosts in your Speed Boost Gauge, the faster you move during the charge and the more damage you deal on release.

-One of these days I’m going to do a write up for a pokemon with a ranged attack. Today is not that day. Now, this is a charged attack much like Slowpoke’s Water Gun or Lucario’s Power-up Punch, but it has the benefit of making you move faster instead of slower. The downside is that it is a short ranged basic attack, your speed is dependent on your Speed Boost Gauge (check the ability section), and that the Speed Boost is exclusive to Ninjask, since Nincada doesn’t get Speed Boost. On the subject of Nincada, he can at least charge a basic attack without losing speed, so it can make for a surprise attack.

Ability: Compound Eyes/Speed Boost/Wonder Guard

Compound Eyes (Nincada) Enemies targeted by your moves and attacks for 1 second or more receive more damage by those moves.

-Now, first off, since each form has a different ability, we’ll be going through them one at a time before we move on to the moves. Now, what Compound Eyes does is that your enemies being targeted will be taking more damage when you use those moves. To be specific, when you hold the button, a little reticle shows up, visualizing the range of the move and where it will land. If you position your moves where an enemy is, that enemy will take more damage from that move. Because of this, it won’t kick in if you mash the button willy-nilly. Well, it could, but it wouldn’t be fair to just aim and shoot and get free extra damage that way. You have to keep them in your sights just long enough to get that extra damage. And by the way, the basic attack gets this boost as well, making it a nice substitute for Speed Boost until you evolve.

Speed Boost (Ninjask) The pokemon gains Speed Boost Gauge whenever you land a hit on an enemy with a move. For each Speed Boost Gauge level, your movement speed is increased. You can only gain one Speed Boost Gauge level per enemy, which is lost when the enemy is KOd or when you are KOd.

-Now this is where things gets fast. By simply dealing damage, you get faster, which is great and all, except those boosts are lost when that enemy gets knocked out. Not to worry, as there are other ways of getting Speed Boost Gauge than just dealing damage. Before we get to that, understand that there isn’t a limit to Speed Boost, since the boosts are supposed to go away after getting a KO. Now, if this were implemented in the game proper, there’d be a hard cap on the Speed Boost Gauge, naturally, but that’s hard to conceptualize in just a Tumblr Post. All you need to know is that this boy gets real fast real fast.

Wonder Guard (Shedinja) The pokemon cannot be damaged by the basic attacks, moves, abilities, or status effects dealt by any enemy. The pokemon cannot gain Exp. and they cannot score. The pokemon can only be damaged by Unite Moves.

-Ok, hold on, what?! Total immunity to all damage with the exception of Unite Moves?! This doesn’t seem fair. Well, surprise, it is. See, Shedinja only has 1 HP, and that is true of it in Pokemon Unite. For being so impossibly frail, Shedinja is a terrifyingly unkillable bug. While there isn’t a whole lot that Shedinja can do, it can definitely secure an objective from beyond the grave, forcing your enemy to decide whether to use up their Unite Move just to definitely put this bad bug down. Speaking of which, there are a few things to note with Wonder Guard. If a Unite Move provides boosts to an enemy’s regular attacks, it will count as Unite Move damage, knocking Shedinja Out. This can include Charizard’s Unite Move, as well as the passive damage of Crustle’s Unite Move. Secondly, Wonder Guard prevents damage from status effects, but it will not prevent shove and stun. You can get grabbed and tossed around by Submission or Ice Fang, and, while you won’t get hurt, you will get slapped silly.

At the start of the game, Ninjask will start out as Nincada. Your first move can be either Fury Swipes or Dig. By Level 3, you will have learned both moves.

Move 1: Fury Swipes

The user attacks five times very quickly, dealing fast damage to the area in front of it. 5s Cooldown.

-A simple attack, albeit kind of more like pathetic flailing. Fury Swipes is a short ranged multi-hitting attack that is hard to land all five hits, which makes it accurate to the games. See, Nincada needs to stand on its hind legs in order to use the attack, meaning when you attack with Fury Swipes, you stay in place and scratch wildly. Stronger than it looks, but difficult to fully exploit. Better than nothing.

Move 2: Dig

The user digs underground, avoiding damage and traveling under walls and obstacles. When the user resurfaces, any enemy caught in the attack will be stunned for 1 second. 6s Cooldown.

-Imagine if Gengar’s Unite Move was just a regular attack. It’d have to be toned down dramatically to make it fair. That is what Nincada’s Dig is, basically. When you Dig, you have 4 seconds to move before you are forced to resurface. Your digging speed is the same as your movement speed, so while it isn’t very fast, it can get boosted by buffs. You will also be effectively invisible to enemies while digging, making sneaky plays possible. But since there’s no speed bonus for using Dig, it’s better off offensively as an ambush attack rather than a chase move.

At Level 5, Dig will become either Aerial Ace or Skitter Smack.

Move 2a: Aerial Ace

The pokemon zooms forward in a flash, damaging any enemy in its path. At the end of this attack, it deals a second hit to any enemy in range. This move deals more damage the more Speed Boost Gauge you have. 6s Cooldown.

At Level 10, Aerial Ace becomes Aerial Ace+.

The range of the second attack is increased. Knocking out an enemy with this move will increase your movement speed for a bit.

-This is a cool move. See, while Nincada is using it, it’s only an ok attack. But when it evolves into Ninjask, that’s when things get crazy. You deal damage to any and all enemies caught in the attack at the end, and each new hit adds to your Speed Boost Gauge. In a crowded area, that gets you an easy 4 or 5 boost, which then powers up your basic attack. The first hit of the attack can generate Speed Boost Gauge, which then powers up the second hit even further, making it very likely you will KO an enemy caught by both hits. The upgraded version is even better, as it grants you a bonus to your speed. Remember than KOing an enemy takes away from your Speed Boost Gauge, so the extra speed is compensation. However, because of Ninjask’s frailty, it should be used as a hit-and-run attack, or as a finishing blow, as even the toughest Defender can’t hold up to the power boost you get from the Speed Boost Gauge.

Move 2b: Skitter Smack

The pokemon disappears into the shadows for a bit, scuttling around. When it reappears, it deals damage to any enemy nearby. Targeting the enemy’s backside inflicts stun and lowers the enemy’s Defense for a bit. The higher your Speed Boost Gauge, the greater the effect of the Stun and Defense drop. 6s Cooldown.

At Level 10, Skitter Smack becomes Skitter Smack+.

Deal more damage when attacking the enemy’s backside. KOing an enemy player in this way grants a temporary boost to your Attack.

-As cool as Ninjask is, it’s still a bug, and thus prone to scuttling about. That said, when you have a super fast pokemon like Ninjask doing some scuttling about, it scuttles really freaking fast. A direct upgrade to Dig, Skitter Smack isn’t as strong as Aerial Ace but it is a lot safer. You aren’t invincible while scuttling, but it is effective at weakening enemies when you start putting on the pressure. This attack is much more useful to Nincada until it evolves, providing a stun and defense debuff that can turn the tide of battle in either lane. As difficult as it may be to position yourself to do back strikes, keep in mind that you are getting faster with Speed Boost powering you up, making it easier at chasing down enemies and finishing them off.

At Level 7, Nincada will evolve into Ninjask. At the same time, Fury Swipes will become either Fury Cutter or Double Team.

Move 1a: Fury Cutter

The pokemon’s basic attack moves faster and deals more damage the higher your Speed Boost Gauge. The boost lasts for 2 seconds. Attacking an enemy with your basic attack boosted by Fury Cutter resets the duration of the boost. 9s Cooldown.

At Level 12, Fury Cutter becomes Fury Cutter+.

Restore HP with each hit of Fury Cutter. Gains a boost to your movement speed while Fury Cutter is in effect.

-Much like Decidueye, Ninjask can augment its basic attack with the powerful Fury Cutter. Using Fury Cutter causes you to lose out on the extra speed from charging the attack, but in exchange, you deal a crazy amount of damage really fast, provided you have enough speed when you activate it. As great as it is, the crazy part is that you can keep using Fury Cutter as long as you keep hitting the move. Now, it’s not that great against enemies, since they aren’t going to hold still and fight you back and forth to avoid getting KOd, but against wild pokemon it speeds things up. Problem is, you’re so frail, and getting locked out of Fury Cutter thanks to stun can be the most frustrating thing in the world. Which is why you must get a hold of a generous amount of speed before engaging with Fury Cutter. When the move gets upgraded, though, it becomes a lot safer. Getting healed with each hit is a nice insurance, and getting the extra speed is nice compensation for the speed up charge bonus you lose.

Move 1b: Double Team

Create a fast moving double that fights by your side, using the same attacks as yourself. You can have up to 6 copies fighting by your side. If you take damage, the damage will be nullified and a copy will disappear. If a copy disappears from an enemy’s attack, gain Speed Boost Gauge permanently until that enemy is KOd. 4s Cooldown.

At Level 12, Double Team becomes Double Team+.

Expend a copy to reset the cooldown of Aerial Ace or Skitter Smack on hit with an enemy. If those moves KO an enemy after spending a Double Team clone, regain a clone.

-No self respecting master of the ninja arts would be unable to use the self cloning trick that is Double Team. As the general idea is to confound your enemies with blinding speed, Ninjask achieves this flying colors. Not only are the doubles made with pure speed, they will also attack along with you, effectively increasing their range at no risk to you. They will appear in a flash in the direction you aim and operate at a fixed distance, ignoring walls and such. They will move at the same speed as you, so they will always be by your side until you get damaged. Extra range and safety sounds nice, but it is very difficult to take advantage of because of the multitude of multi-attacks in the game. The 2 second cooldown is generous, but all things considered it takes a total of 24 seconds to be fully decked out. Double Team is meant for security in securing KOs against enemies too strong for their own good. Against troublesome foes like Charizard and Zeraora, Double Team may not be as ideal, but there is one strength to the move. As Double Team expends a copy to avoid damage, you also avoid the passive status effects inflicted by those moves, meaning a fully loaded Double Team is practically immune to stun effects. And not only that, Double Team gets better with its upgrade, powering up Aerial Ace and Skitter Smack at the cost of a clone. Reset cooldown sounds great and all, but regaining the clone after a successful KO mitigates the risk of losing the Double Team boost. Mastery of Double Team makes for a scary Ninjask master.

Unite Move: Bug Blade Blitz

In a wide ranged attack directed forward, Ninjask will fly in the blink of an eye. Any enemies caught in the attack will be stunned briefly before receiving massive damage in the area of effect. Gain permanent Speed Boost Gauge when defeating any enemy KOd by this attack.

-It’s nice to have a simple Unite move with no excessive breakdown of any and all side effects. Ninjask’s Unite Move is much like Talonflame’s, in that you will fly forward in the direction you’re aiming at, and can easily get stuffed by any wall or obstacle you just so happen to run into. However, the attack is wider than Talonflame’s, making it easy to scoop up entire enemy team’s in the attack. Ninjask won’t bulldoze anyone away, but they will get cut up something fierce. As strong as the Unite move is, it’s not super strong, since it’s easy to hit and you get a good reward out of any KOs you get with this move. The idea is more like, you use this attack to finish off any bulky pokemon like Crustle or Snorlax, after you’ve thrown just about everything at them. Even so, it makes for a great finale to an organized beatdown courtesy of your team, provided everyone’s gathered together of course.

Now, after all of that, where’s the other guy? The hollow soldier of those left behind? Don’t worry, Shedinja isn’t being discarded, here he is.

Whenever Ninjask is KOd, Shedinja will take over for the duration of your respawn time. Shedinja will only appear if you would respawn with more than 6 seconds of time and if you have more than 3 levels in your Speed Boost Gauge.

-And here’s the trick to this bug. If Ninjask is KOd, under the right conditions, Shedinja will take over. This is why Nincada evolves so late in the game, to avoid the chance of Shedinja appearing too early. Even so, you can’t have Shedinja show up for free, which is why getting that sweet Speed Boost Gauge is so important. Just as a reminder, only Unite Moves can KO Shedinja, but you can’t score or collect points or gain exp, so you must make the most of your time before you respawn proper. Oh, and if you do get KOd, you’ll be forced to wait for the respawn timer to finish before you come back as Ninjask.

Basic Attack - Melee/Physical

A small explosion of shadow energy. Holding the button increases the range and power of this attack. At full charge, any enemy caught in the attack will be stunned. Charging does not reduce your speed.

-Is it still a melee attack if it’s more like an explosion of evil? Well, if Self-Destruct can be a non-special Attack, then why not? Anyway, with only a limited time, Shedinja makes itself a terrifying threat that cannot be KOd. A wide ranged attack that can be charged is perfect for dealing with multiple enemies at once, whereas the stun effect is useful for ensuring they can’t run away unharmed. Because only Unite moves can KO you, the enemies will have no choice but to retreat, which can be difficult because of your other moves.

Move 1a: Shadow Claw

If Ninjask knows Fury Cutter, Shedinja will know this move. Target an enemy to curse them with an eerie shadow. If Shedinja survives the respawn timer and Ninjask returns, damage all enemies cursed by Shadow Claw. This move can be used up to 5 times on each enemy, dealing more damage with each curse. The Shadow Claw curse is removed if the afflicted enemies attack Shedinja with a move. 3s Cooldown.

If Ninjask knows Fury Cutter+, Shadow Claw becomes Shadow Claw+.

Add 1 level of Speed Boost Gauge to Ninjask permanently for each enemy KOd with Shadow Claw.

-A curse from beyond the grave. The short cooldown of the move is offset by the short respawn timer you typically get hit with after KO. As for the move itself, enemies can tell if they’ve been cursed by observing their shadow carefully. If it’s blurry, then Shadow Claw is about to hit. The only way to lift the curse is to hit Shedinja with a move, any move. Even though it won’t deal damage, it will remove the curse. This just means that you have to play well with Shedinja and realize that your invulnerability won’t make things easy for you. Avoid getting hit and plant Shadow Claw sneakily.

Move 1b: Grudge

If Ninjask knows Double Team, Shedinja will know Grudge. A ghostly fire burns from Shedinja’s hollow opening for 4 seconds. If an enemy player hits Shedinja with a move, that move will gain 2 seconds of cooldown afterwards. Adds 1 more second of cooldown for each KOd teammate. If Shedinja is KOd while Grudge is active, adds 30 seconds cooldown to all of that enemy’s moves. 7s cooldown.

If Ninjask knows Double Team+, Shedinja will know Grudge+.

Ninjask will gain permanent Speed Boost Gauge for each enemy afflicted by Grudge.

-Talk about petty! Not only does Shedinja lock away the moves of your enemies, but the cooldown of those moves increase the more teammates of yours that are still respawning. If an enemy is determined to end you with their Unite move, Grudge will deal a naughty penalty to their moves, forcing them to use just their basic attack. Now, by itself, Grudge isn’t all that impressive, but it makes for a nice support move in the middle of a team fight. As a parallel to Shadow Claw, however, it puts the enemies in a difficult situation. You need to attack Shedinja to lift the curse of Shadow Claw, but Grudge depends on you being hit by those attacks. However, if you don’t attack Shedinja, Shadow Claw is going to kick in on respawn. It depends on how observant your enemies are, since there’s a small indicator of which move Shedinja is using. The ghostly fire coming out of your back is a little gaudy, but it would be unfair if the enemy can’t tell if you’re running Grudge over Shadow Claw.

Move 2a: Shadow Ball

If Ninjask knows Aerial Ace, Shedinja will know Shadow Ball. Fires a slow moving ball of dark energy in the direction you aim at. The move deals damage constantly as it moves, traveling a short distance for 6 seconds. If Shedinja is attacked, it reduces the duration of the move. 4s cooldown.

If Ninjask knows Aerial Ace+, Shedinja will know Shadow Ball+.

Increases the travel speed of the move greatly. The travel speed of the move decreases dramatically when dealing damage to an enemy.

-Since neither Ninjask nor Shedinja are powerful special attackers, Shadow Ball doesn’t do great damage. However, it deals damage very quickly, making it very good at getting the last hit on enemies, including wild pokemon. This move was designed to steal KOs from the enemy team, making it trivial to try and secure Rotom, Drednaw, or even Zapdos. Of course it all depends on if you chose Aerial Ace over Skitter Smack, and that you manage to summon Shedinja when you get KOd.

Move 2b: Shadow Sneak

If Ninjask knows Skitter Smack, Shedinja will know Shadow Sneak. Vanish into the shadows and move around as a blurry wisp on the ground. Your movement speed increases while using this move and the move lasts for 5 seconds. Press the button again to emerge, dealing an explosion of shadow energy. If you KO an enemy with this move, it resets the duration of Shadow Sneak. 9s cooldown.

If Ninjask knows Skitter Smack+, Shedinja will know Shadow Sneak+.

Deal a small amount of damage to enemies when you get close to them. This damage increases gradually until you surface.

-Another sneaking attack much like Gengar’s Unite move. Well, it’s a good unite move. By effectively disappearing from sight, you have the advantage of initiative by targeting and defeating weakened enemies with this move. If someone is trying to run away, you can get the jump on them with a hit they’ll never see coming. Much Like Greninja’s Surf, you get a freebie when you get a KO, and since you can only be KOd by Unite moves, you can catch the entire enemy team off guard with a well timed Shadow Sneak. You aren’t invulnerable, though, as you can still be stunned by regular attacks, and nothing is worse than being done in by a stray Unite Move that wasn’t even aimed at you. The upgraded version makes it easier to get that KO, at least.

Unite Move: Soul for a Soul

Casts and direct an otherwordly fire with your crescent crown. Direct the attack with the left stick. The fire deals damage constantly and ignores shields, and it burns for 7 seconds. If this attack KOs an enemy player, your respawn is reset to 0 and Ninjask spawns in at the location of the KOd enemy. Ninjask will return with 2 seconds of invulnerability and 3 Speed Boost Gauge, in addition to any you have gained from your other moves. While this Unite Move is active, you cannot move the camera, and the move can only be directed in the field of view.

-By taking the ‘life’ of an enemy, you trade places with them and return from beyond the grave. It’s not that dramatic or anything, but that is basically what happens with this move. Now, while you can’t move the camera, you do get a generous zoom out so you and your team can see the enemies nearby. The fire moves at the same speed as a player, so an enemy can easily outrun the attack with a speed boost or one of their moves. This is why you’ll need to coordinate with your team to make the most of this Unite Move, as not only does it KO an enemy, it can also bring you back from respawn. What isn’t mentioned here is that you are in control of the fire while Shedinja itself is staying still. This means that if your soulless husk is spotted without its crescent crown, an easy Unite Move will put an end to your soul stealing schemes. Also worth mentioning is that only defeating player characters will activate the fast respawn. It’s worth it though, as you give Ninjask a huge head start in Speed Boost Gauge and 2 seconds of free invulnerability.

Holowear

The easiest Holowear for Ninjask is a shaded cowl and headband, making a great impression of the shadow soldiers of Japan, the ninja. However, for each Holowear Ninjask gets, Shedinja must also have one. Paired with the ninja cowl, a traditional white kimono with those small triangular headband things for Shedinja. Beyond that, Ninjask can rock an extra cool samurai helmet, with bits and pieces of the armor and everything. On the flip side, Shedinja can wear a battle torn style of samurai armor, with a flag on its back and toy arrows stuck in its body in random places. Lastly, you can also give Ninjask an arborist set, with pruning clippers, a tool belt, and safety gear, while Shedinja gets a brown cloak, a lantern, and a toy shovel tied to its back to make for a great mock up of a grave keeper.

Strategy

At the start of the game, Fury Swipes is the way to go. Since the first Aipoms or Lillipup run away after the first hit, it’s better to move ahead to try and get all 5 hits of the Fury Swipes. Dig is useful if you’re planning on raiding the enemy jungle, but however you do it, you need to hit Level 7 as soon as you can to start taking advantage of Speed Boost.

Lane confrontation can be difficult since you are so frail, but don’t forget that you do get EXP from scoring points. It’s too risky to try and defend your goal zone all by yourself, not without the help of a teammate. Since you are more likely to encounter enemies before you hit Level 5, you can decide between Aerial Ace and Skitter Smack by noting who’s defending the enemy lane. If you’ve got bulky Defenders and All-rounders taking up a lane, Skitter Smack might be better so that you and a teammate can break through and score. If your enemies are ranged Attackers and are also frail, Aerial Ace may be the better option, since Attackers tend to turn tail and run when they get to half HP.

The choice between Fury Cutter and Double Team is a difficult one, since contending with powerful ranged and melee enemies makes either move not that appealing. Instead, you should make yourself out to be an assassin, targeting problematic enemies with specialized moves for the job. Fury Cutter is great for bulky enemies that rely on tanking hits and holding enemies off until reinforcements arrive. On the other hand, Double Team is good for overwhelming opponents that like to deal big strong hits all at once. In battles of attrition, these moves won’t hold out, which is why you have to decide when to fall back and reposition and when to go in for the KO.

If you play right and still get KOd, that’s when Shedinja comes into play. Before Shedinja shows up, be mindful of how long it’s been since your enemies used a Unite Move, as that’s the only thing that can KO you. As a Shedinja, you must be an asset to your team by continuing the assassin play style, KOing problematic enemies and hindering them as much as possible with your life on the line. Choose when to use your moves carefully and cautiously, not just because you’re invincible, but to help your team as best as you can before it’s time to get back into the fight.

And that’ll do it for Ninjask and Shedinja! It took a little while to get this together since I was making a second moveset, essentially, but I love the idea of a zombie mechanic that Shedinja would have here. Now, while I was writing this out, Hoopa came out and also brought along a second form that it can use in battle. I was reminded of the Ninjask moveset I was in the middle of making at the time, but I still think this is an equally good idea.

Next time, we’ll be looking at another Defender. A familiar face who misses the forest for its trees. ...I don’t know what the phrase means, but I really should know before I start the next post. Anyway, later.

#Ninjask #Shedinja #Nincada #Pokemon Unite

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skylightbooks · 3 years ago

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FRIEDA

CROSSROADS

To me, Franzen has always been a fluid read. No showboating. No fancy lingo. He just gets to the story without being pedantic. The Crossroads faith-full family is experiencing, and reminiscing about, the mosaic of growing up. The adults—the father is a pastor, the mother is a mom—”sin,” and then “redeem” themselves, only to “sin” again. The sons and daughter do the same within a winter season in ’70s Chicago. No Bible thumping or preaching. This is a complicated family’s story and a good read.

THE HISTORY OF BONES

The History of Bones caught my eye because John Lurie was a teensy weensy part of my cinema and music development. While I hated Stranger Than Paradise the first time I saw it, I caught on by the second time and loved it! Down by Law? Loved it! John’s book is like a non-sequitur-laden diary. Back and forth through time, sharing his life as a musician and actor living in the Lower East Side and everywhere else. I enjoyed imagining the streets where I lived, in Alphabet City, were the same ones where Lurie lurked several years before me.

W FAN

Hanging out at the beach and need a cooling breeze? Pretending you’re not having hot flashes? This amazing fan is for you! I love mine. It has 5 speeds and it’s actually comfortable. It’s rechargeable, so you don’t need batteries, and the charge lasts for 50 hours. One of the things that’s great about these is they look like headphones. Nobody needs to know you’re coolin’ off!

SAFER AT HOME: PANDEMIC PAINTINGS 2020

Esther Pearl Watson’s work is beautiful and otherworldly. Much of her previous work depicts flying saucers in pastoral landscapes. This monograph tells the story of the pandemic’s journey through Los Angeles. From the beginning to where we are now, Esther, a local artist and bon vivant, has made beautiful, deceptively colorful paintings that tell a story of L.A. while the virus curtailed the chaos of freeways and shopping malls. Her paintings are engaging and evocative.

MAKE YOUR ART NO MATTER WHAT

One thing, among innumerable things, that artists may not tell you is they need encouragement 24–7. Well, I do. Make Your Art … provides ideas and methods you can use to encourage yourself 24–7.

BLACK BLOCK 2021 PLANNERS

The nice perfect bind makes these flexible, portable, and affordable.

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descendantofthesparrow · 4 years ago

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Encore - Part of your World - Harry Hook x Reader - part 18 - quiet

suuuch a fluffy chapter lol

You slowly woke up as beams of sunlight hit your face, you cracked open your yees and groaned, sitting up slightly to avoid the sun.

You yawned and rubbed your eyes, smacking your lips together and dropping your hands on the sheets covering your legs.

Glancing at the clock you sighed.

7:37 am.

You hated waking up early on your days off, but you were still exhausted from the night before so you hopped out of bed, closed the shades to the window, and walked back over to your bed. flopping back down into the mattress and curling up underneath the sheets, turning your back to the window.

You fell back to sleep, face buried into Harry's pillow.

Harry stepped into the room minutes later, taking off his hat and tossing it onto the chair in the corner of the room.

He sighed, shaking his head and running his head through his sweat-soaked hair.

He was glad Uma had enchanted the lost revenge 2.0 with a constant temperature of 70°, so no matter how hot it was outside the ship, it was always comfortable.

A smile broke out on Harry's face as he spotted your sleeping form on the bed, the blankets curled around your form. He took tentative steps towards the bed and leaned over you, pressing a kiss to your exposed forehead.

He stood up straight and walked over to the bathroom, stripping out of his sweat-soaked clothes and tossed them into the hamper.

You woke up to the sound of the shower and sat up, blearily looking around the room.

You noticed Harry's shirt hanging halfway out of the hamper and his boots just outside of the bathroom door.

‘Harrys back from dock work’ you thought, stretching your arms, groaning as your back popped and hopped out of bed, walking over to your dresser and getting out some clothes for the day.

You stopped as the light from the reopened window hit your new ring, the ruby shining in your face. You smiled and brought your hand close to your face, biting your lip as you remembered Harry's sweet proposal.

Deciding to dress comfortably for the day, you grabbed one of Harry's tank tops and a pair of black leggings.

You tossed them on the bed and opened the top drawer, digging out a red sports bra and some socks, tossing those on the bed.

Mentally deciding on your black converse you turned and walked over to the bathroom, knocking on the door.

“come in!” Harrys muffled voice echoed back. You opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind you. “hi love” Harry purred, poking his head out from behind the shower curtain.

“hi~” you chirped, tiptoeing over to him and pressing a kiss to his lips “you’re wet”

“im takin’ a shower” Harry chuckled, slicking his long bangs back and shaking his head at you. He dipped back behind the curtain and continued to wash his hair.

You turned to the sink and did your morning routine.

A couple of minutes later the shower stopped, harry stepping out of the shower, and standing behind you, he leaned over you and kissed your cheek, giggling as you squeaked and smacked his shoulder.

He backed up and grabbed a towel drying off his hair before wrapping it around his waist. “thought yeh were gonna sleep in?” Harry asked, raising his brow at you as you tried to talk with toothpaste in your mouth.

“ughgh” you spit the paste out into the sink, turning to pout at Harry. “you woke me up”

“aw im sorry love” Harry chuckled, walking out of the bathroom and over to your shared dresser. As he got his clothes out you finished your routine, patting your face with a towel and walking out of the bathroom, a smirk growing on your lips as you passed by Harry who was leaning over the dresser.

*SMACK*

Harry stood straight, a small yelp ripping from his lips as he spun around, his cheeks a blazing red “(y/n)!!” he yelled, mouth gaping open in shock as he watched you giggle to yourself.

“i-im sorry!” you looked back at him, scrunching your nose “I couldn’t resist~ you just got too good of a butt to not smack it!”

Harry pouted at you and shook his head, turning back to his dresser and grabbed the rest of his clothes for the day.

You bit your lip as he dropped his towel and pulled out a pair of boxer-briefs, covering up that sculpted butt of his “yer staring” Harry chuckled, glancing at you from the corner of his eye, his now too long bangs hanging over his eyes.

“im your fiancée” you snorted, rolling your ryes “I have a right to stare at your butt and you need a hair cut, hey that rhymed!” Harry blew his bangs out of his eyes and sighed.

“aye right,” he muttered, turning to you and walking over to the bed, setting his clothes next to yours. “ so what's the plan fer today?” Harry asked, shrugging on a tight white t-shirt, accenting his biceps.

“well, you already filled your quota for today for Uma and it's my day off, soooooo…..date day?”

“date day” Harry confirmed, leaning over and pecking your cheek, hopping into his pants and sitting down next to you to get his socks and shoes on.

Harry tied off his shoes and turned to you, raising his brow as he looked at your still pajama-wearing self “uh, yeh gonna get dressed?”

You perked up, looking down at your clothes “oh, I was just going to go like this? Problem?”

Harry chuckled and shook his head “well I wouldn’t have a problem” he eyed your exposed thighs “buuuut-“

“Alright alright,” you snorted, pushing his face away, breaking his eye contact with you “im getting dressed.”

Harry swung your hands between the two of you as you walked the path of the enchanted forest, his other hand holding his chocolate shake.

The two of you decided on a simple date for the day, get breakfast, hang out at the lost revenge watching movies, get lunch, go to the enchanted lake through the forest and just chill watching videos on your phone.

To you, it was perfect, just spending a day with the love of your life.

You finished off your shake as you arrived at the lake, you released Harry's hand and skipped down into the grotto, hearing Harry chuckle behind you as he followed.

Harry set down the fast-food bag on the ground, settling down next to it and pulling off his backpack, he took out a root beer and (fav soda/drink) and set them down next to the bag.

He watched you as you took off your shoes, rolled up your leggings, and wadded into the water, starting to dig around the rocks.

“yee” you grinned, standing up with a nice shiny black and clear crystal rock “I think it's obsidian and quarts!” Harry tilted his head at you as you wadded towards the grotto “yeh sure?”

“I said I think, not that it is” you snarked, lifting yourself onto the grotto platform and shaking your legs to rid of the excess water “you sure you got your hearing ears on?”

“ouch” Harry snorted, grabbing the food bag and clutching his chest “no food fer yeh then”

“bitch I paid for it! give me my food!” you dropped to your knees next to harry, reaching for the bag as he cackled and leaned away from you, lifting the bag in the air.

“no~” he sang, yelping as you lifted your leg and placed your knee in his hip, halfway straddling him and grabbing the bag “hey!” you mocked his laugh and kissed him on the nose, turning around and sitting on his thigh.

Harry let out a small huff and buried his face in the crook of your neck, watching as you took out the food from the bag.

You set down Harry's burger and took out your (preferred fast food item) and started to eat, rearranging yourself to let Harry eat.

It was quiet as you ate and listened to the music coming from Harry’s phone and the waterfall in the distance.

You finished your food and crumbled the wrapper and tossed it in the bag, sipping at your drink as you leaned back against Harry.

“so,” Harry started, licking his lips “when’s an appropriate time ta talk ‘bout weddin’ stuff?”

“anytime really” you muttered, closing your eyes and resting your head on Harry's shoulder.

“soooo” Harry hummed, letting his cheek rest against your head “um, cake?”

“my aunts already on it” you chuckled “she offered to do it free of charge but I said we would pay her”

“of course” Harry smirked “she's a damn good baker, can't let her efforts going unpaid”

“Yep yep” you laughed “Evie offered to make my dress, and im gonna let her do that but im designing it mainly” you muttered with a slight tone of nonchalance.

“Is this about those Mal and Ben wedding stuff from yer world?” Harry asked, glancing down at you.

“yeah” you groaned “those designs were not Disneys best, nor were they Evie’s, so im designing and Evies making”

Harry nodded, grabbing his root beer and taking a sip “um, is she also-“ “yeah” you interrupted, glancing up at harry “shes also making yours”

“alright that takes care of tha’” Harry muttered, “where?”

“mmmm” you went deep in thought, tapping your chin “well we could to a beach wedding, a forest wedding, a classic cathedral wedding, we could get married on the revenge, anywhere really, im not picky as long as I get to marry you” Harry felt his face flush and he buried his burning face into your neck. “fuuuck I love yeh” he muttered, feeling your hand reach up and run through his hair.

“I love you too harry” you giggled, tuning and kissing his forehead. You relaxed back against him and closed your eyes, smiling as you felt harry grab your left hand and start to mess with your fingers and ring.

“still hard ta believe that this is all real” he muttered, you snorted.

“consider what it's like for me, im from a world where yall are fictional characters, how do I know this isn’t my dream” you hummed, squeaking as harry wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into further into his lap.

“if it was I would scavenge the multiverse to find you” he muttered in your ear.

You felt tears burn at your eyes and you hurriedly wiped your eyes “gosh your such a sap” you sniffed, turning in his lap and pressing your lips to his.

Harry hummed into the kiss and tilted his head, hands trailing up your back and landing on your jaw, thumb brushing your cheek.

You groaned into the kiss as your phone suddenly went off, you leaned out of the kiss and almost fell out of Harry's lap reaching for your phone, if not for Harry's arms falling to your waist to hold you.

You picked up the phone and rose your brow at the id.

-AUNTIE

You pressed the answer button and set it on speakerphone.

“Hey what's up,” you said aloud, leaning back into Harry and tucking under his chin

‘hi hon, just a quick question, and I was busy so that’s why I didn’t just text you, im making some test batches for your cake and I was wondering what your favorite flavors are?’

“Ummm” you glanced up at Harry who nodded at his almost empty shake “harry likes chocolate, you know what I like, ummmm, maybe something light too? Like angel food?”

‘oooh~ angel food, okay thanks hon!’

“bye” you clicked off your phone as the dial tone sounded and set it back down on the ground. You leaned back and rose your brow as harry stared at you “you good?”

“mmhm” he hummed, bumping his forehead into yours and closing his eyes. You smiled at him, closing your eyes and once more relaxed against him.

It was a quiet date, just leaning against each other and watching videos as you spent the next two hours at the enchanted lake.

Around 3 pm you both decided to pack up and head back to the ship, Harry picking up his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder, tossing his arm over your shoulder, and walking out of the grotto with you.

“that was nice” you hummed, tossing the black and clear crystal rock in your hands “we should do that more often”

“aye,” Harry nodded, messing with his phone and pocketing it as music started to play. “I have next Tuesday off?”

“same here, then its set, day date next Tuesday!” you cheered, grabbing Harry's hand and swinging it in the air.

Harry chuckled and smiled at you, holding onto your hand and bringing it to his lips. “I can't wait ta be yers”

Your face burned and you let out a nervous snicker, sidestepping into Harry's side and rubbing your cheek into his arm “same”

“same?” Harry laughed, scrunching his nose “that’s all yeh have to say? Same?”

“shhhhhuuut up” you rolled your eyes, pushing away from him and upturning your nose “if you’re gonna make fun of me you can walk on your own” you speed-walked to make some distance.

“noooo” Harry pouted, running after you, a smile breaking on his face as you started to run. “hey!”

You cackled as you ran, “race you back to the ship!” “yer on!”

-end of part 18-

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