happyhell

[madame-helen]

The new three (four if we include Victor) og DBD killers follows a pattern:

"Scary, Scary and IS THIS A KILLER?!"

[bansheeoftheforest]

Well, my wifi is not back, and wont be anytime soon. The very earliest luckiest would be getting it back by Tuesday (unlikely). The very worst my house burns down so theres that /lh /hj

This sucks so much because I really cannot read asks I dont see in real time, I have the same amount of reading comprehension for them as I do Frankenstein XD

Dm me links to any important syndicate asks I miss while I'm gone 👍

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Bannnnnn I tried to draw the Jekyll brothers but Kent? Is inconsistent? The database (what I use) showd him as a clean shaven guy with a bit messy hair but google is showing Kent as a completely different model? Neat hair, Brokenshire beard. Like it's the ingame "identify" zoom in and I cant check whats right before I already killed himmmm

Anyway here art <3. I know I said I'd draw the DTIYS first but art inspiration is stored in the Syndicate au <3

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Also I've been thimking about Henry wearing a mask +plus ponytail to hide his identity like for the past two days. Yknow those theater masks? The weeping and laughing? He wears the sad one while in the Blighters and Templars and the happy one while in the Rooks because hes a dramatic theater nerd. Also! I like to think that if Jekyll has to be a templar he'd still wear the Blighter uniform when he could and pretend hes not high ranking. He gets away with it because Crawford doesn't care about him and Roth lives for chaos

I also drew Henry in a mask and ponytail but it's not done yet 😔

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Also I did the math the the twins are 3 years older than Jekyll. Like thank goodness first of all because I fully went into ship entirely unaware on if there were canon ages or a scary difference. But also Jacob being 3 years older than Henry is kinda funny to me

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All of Evie's outfits (besides her default) are bad and I'm gonna fist fight the designers because the secrets of london (where I only searched the locations of 3) is so bad, especially with the effort needed. How did they do Jacob so good, but utterly fail with Evie /lh

NOOOOOOO D: Man, I really hope you will get it back asap, and also that your house don't burn down!!

Man, if I don't know your struggle rn. However I shall do my best to link you to every syndicate ask that I will get from here on out bc I don't tend to get small asks for that au so <3

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Huh-- oh wow you're right. I wonder if it is a set design or just a bit on random depending on the save file... I killed him a long ass time ago so I have absolutely no idea how he looked like <3

EITHER WAY OH MY GOD IT LOOKS AAMZING. I love??? How you gave all three individual personalities in just a single picture??? Kent looks like he is seconds away from murder and I LOVE Henry in the templar outfit, it fits him so well??? Man I really want to start thinking more of this branch. Would the entire Jekyll family be Templars so the trio got that role inherited? Are Raphael and Kent unidentical twins and Henry is the odd-one-out because he is the youngest? Were the three of them really close in Scotland, but left as soon as possible bc their family was abusive, only for Kent and Raphael to find refuge in the Templar Order while Henry goes to university? Would they still have that brotherly love if they were close as kids even when they are in the Order, or would they have a falling out and start despising each other (or Jekyll @ the older brothers at least)? Would Raphael and Kent secretly be protective of Henry and manage to keep him out of Starrick's line-of-sight so that Henry won't get in trouble for defying orders/ignoring them? Would they force Henry to join the Templars with threats or would Henry mostly feel obligated to join them? Since the Templar Order isn't illegal in London, would other people know that Jekyll is a Templar, or would he keep it hidden from the public? Would his brothers help hide his identity?? SO many questions and I'm so sad I won't be able to discuss them with you :'c

(also can I just say I love the poetic differences between their clothing. Raphael is just wearing a waistcoat/basic clothes and he is a brute and more open, Kent is wearing more clothes/layering up and he is the "brains" out of the two of them, Jekyll is wearing the most layers and is almost trying to hide himself and I just... *chief's kiss*)

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Henry being a dramatic theater nerd and stealing Roth's costume supplies to hide his identity bc he is so ashamed of it and doesn't want people he knows to know about it my beloved <3 Plus the blighter uniforms doesn't look too far off of what he normally wears so he could probably use that as an excuse whenever some other Templar gets up his ass about not wearing the right clothes, yet it still doesn't make Henry feel any better knowing he has to bear the knowledge that he is actively wearing discreet blighter clothes to keep the Order happy and the public oblivious, knowing what cause he is reluctantly supporting. (him joining the rooks and suddenly coming into the Society all dressed in green lol)

Anyways I have now also decided that Maxwell and Henry are friends bc they both hate the Templars and Crawford and Henry gets to star in many of the plays he sets up. Plus they are both slightly insane so they match each other good.

YKNOW WHAT I WAS DAYDREAMING ABOUT WHILE BRUSHING MY TEETH RIGHT AFTER THIS ASK? Jekyll being forced to be the one to murder his brothers and the twins trying to track the murderer down just to know who tf are killing their targets, conveniently at the same time Maxwell starts meeting Jacob. Henry watching Jacob from afar getting smitten by him but keeping a distance bc he knows Maxwell is possessive, Jacob being the first to befriend Henry after Maxwell explains that both of them are against the Templars and Crawford, Jacob saving Henry during the fire of the theater? Yes pls <3

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Thank god bc here I was imagining an age gap of like idk 15 years bc of the differences in the timeline but! I'm just going to keep the canonical age difference while also shoot the timeline up a lil so that the events of Syndicate and TGS takes place at the same time but they are the right age and stuff, just bc I do not like Evie's and Jacob's older designs and I do not want to imagine them meeting during the Ripper dlc <3 Also the thought of Jacob being older than Henry is funny. I think Henry has a type /j

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They are so fucking bad and I'm going to scourage the Nexus to see if I can find any good redesign mods because they are so fucking bad. But to be fair, all female main characters' outfits are bad. Pearl? Lucy Thorne? Mfs looks like vampires. Even more reasons for why I only play Jacob, bc all other outfits on Evie are bad <3

[mainstream-deviant]

For your prompts, how about euroship and a very weird but also very romantic date? :0

I thought long and hard about what would make a “very weird but also very romantic” date, and then I suddenly realized that two words were all I needed to get started for these two: Death. T.  ;)

I hope this fits what you were looking for, anon! Thanks for the excuse to write euroshipping. Lol!

Summary: One night, Ryou casually asks if Seto ever thinks his love of the macabre is a little...well, odd. Seto decides it's time for a rather unique date to show Ryou he’s not the only one who can have a twisted taste in entertainment.

Rating: PG (I have somehow made Death T cute, wtf is wrong with me)

Word Count: ~1750,  below the cut or here on A03

It had been a quiet evening so far. Seto was making good progress fixing the latest mess out of the tech department – three idiots fired, and counting - and Ryou had spent the early evening putting the final touches on his latest ghoul figurine. When he finished, he'd gleefully shown off how the dangling entrails on this one had come out before putting it in the display to dry with the others. He had quite the collection of them by now, each with its own grotesque personal touches lovingly painted by hand.

But now, Seto noticed Ryou was staring into the display with a contemplative look on his face. Maybe he was halfway through fleshing out his third campaign idea of the night. That wouldn't be at all unusual. Seto would have been content to leave him to his thoughts and continue his work in silence, but Ryou’s soft voice interrupted him before he could open the next document for review.   

“Does it bother you at all that I keep collecting the same things over and over? It must get a bit repetitive for you, watching me paint blood splatters for the thousandth time…”  

Seto remained silent for a long moment, and then took a loud slurp of coffee from his custom-printed Blue-Eyes mug to get Ryou’s attention. Once he had it, he fiddled with his pale blue pen and looked pointedly between the small dragon figurines on his desk and the artwork on the wall. “…no.”  

Ryou let out a short burst of laughter. “Yes yes, that’s an entirely fair point.” Ryou walked over, and Seto shifted in his chair so Ryou could lean against him more comfortably. “But still, I know some of your employees are rather uncomfortable with all the macabre things I keep adding to the decor. Doesn’t it ever seem a little odd to you?”  

Seto scoffed. “Hardly. Conventional passions are for dweebs. And if the maid doesn’t like it, she can find employment elsewhere.” He paused to take another sip of caffeine. “It would be hypocritical for me to criticize you for building horror-themed items, at any rate.”  

Ryou gave him a deadpan look. “If you think your Blue-Eyes is anything even close to horror, I haven’t educated you properly.”  

Seto shook his head and brushed the statement away with a flick of his fingers. “I was referring to Death T, of course.” He lifted his coffee to his lips for another sip.  

“What’s that?”  

Seto raised an eyebrow. “Surely your little geek patrol told you about that.”  

“I don’t think so?”  

Seto scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Even after all of Joey’s horrified warnings when we started dating, he missed out on telling you about that. It’s extraordinary how he still finds new ways to be incompetent after all this time.”  

Ryou poked him hard in the shoulder. “Be nice. And tell me what ‘Death T’ is. That sounds interesting.”  

Seto leaned back in his chair. “Death-T is the theme park I created in an attempt to kill Yugi outright, shortly after we first met. It goes without saying that I had some issues at the time.”  

He was met with silence, but the look on Ryou’s face was priceless. Seto made a snap decision then and there, and closed his laptop before holding out his hand for Ryou.  “Would you care to accompany me for the evening? I’ll have the car brought around.”   

Ryou gave him a huge smile and nodded as he took his hand.   

~~~~~~~

On the way, Seto gave Ryou a quick history of the event and how it had come to pass. Ryou had wavered between delightedly horrified and genuinely concerned, both for his friends and what Seto must have been going through at the time. His gentle fingers caressing Seto’s hand were comforting when he came to speaking about Mokuba’s role in the whole thing. It was still hard to talk about.   

They arrived, and Seto lead Ryou towards the building. Ryou looked at the gleaming walls in confusion. “It doesn’t look very abandoned, Seto. I thought you said this was from years ago.”  

“Originally, it was. But the lower floors make an excellent seasonal attraction for the Halloween crowds, and the upper levels were intended for tabletop games in the first place. There was no reason to not continue to benefit from the original build. The new version has been thoroughly safetied and the public backstory is quite different, of course.”  

Ryou nodded. “Of course.” He followed Seto into the building. “Will we be able to see it all, though? It’s a little early for Halloween, yet.”  

“Of course. I had Isono call ahead and have them prepare the T2 level for our arrival. I think you’ll enjoy that one more than the others.”  

“And what’s on that level?”  

Seto just smirked down at Ryou’s eager face. “Wait and see.” As the elevator zipped them up to the second floor, he watched Ryou’s excitement build with a sense of satisfaction. Yes, this outing would certainly worth a late report or two.   

They exited the elevator into a small, plain room. There wasn’t much to see here, except for a rickety old cart with over-the-top restraints waiting for each guest. Ryou scurried right over to it, prodding at the wires with great curiosity. “Is it some sort of electric chair roller coaster, then?”  

Seto followed at a more dignified pace. “It’s more of a haunted house ride than a roller coaster. There are several surprises along the way, but no sudden drops. As to the electric chair theme, there’s an option for the chairs to give small electric shocks if the guests scream – just enough to make things more interesting. The challenge is to get through the ride without reacting, in that case. Gamers like an extra challenge.”  

“Sounds like fun.” Ryou looked up with an eager grin. “It must be absolutely terrifying, if you were trying to scare Yugi to death with it.”  

“Not so much scare as electrocute. The original schematics had the chairs deliver a million volts, not a tiny spark.”  

Ryou just blinked at him.   

“As I said, I had some issues.”  

The corners of Ryou’s mouth quirked up just a fraction. “ Yes, apparently. Well then, even if it’s not that scary I still want to try it. C’mon!”   

Seto allowed himself to be pulled into the cart by the elbow, and helped Ryou get strapped in properly. Despite his suggestion to the contrary, Ryou insisted on having the “full experience”, shocks and all, so Seto grudgingly set his controls to react to noise. With that task completed, Ryou gave a him cheerful thumbs up, and they were off.   

Ryou didn’t last long. Seto had told him he wouldn’t. As soon as the first holographic zombie came shambling into view with an overly theatric moan, he let out a little snicker. This was followed immediately by a yelp, as the cuffs gave him a zap.   

“Hey, that’s not fai - ack!-“ Ryou glared at his wrist. “I was just laughi - eep!- would you- ah!- oh, piss off, you stupid machine, no one asked you.” Ryou, who by now was caught in a feedback loop of laughter and wincing, squirmed one hand out of the cuffs and slapped down on the controls to turn the shock feature off. “There. Honestly, I was just having a laugh.”  

Seto tried to hide his amusement at Ryou’s adorably disgruntled expression. “How badly would it end for me if I said ‘I told you so’ right now?”  

Ryou shot him a playful glare and crossed his arms, completely ignoring a holographic ghost that swooped towards them. “Quite.”  

“Then I’ll refrain.” Seto leaned back and reached over to weave their fingers together as the cart rounded a corner. He also subtly stretched his legs out to move his feet away from the seats. It was just about the right time for...  

Ryou let out a startled yelp when rubbery hands popped out from under the seats and batted at his ankles. The original grasping hands had been removed, for obvious legal reasons, but the sudden contact from underneath the seat was still enough to shock the hell out of even the most stoic of first-time riders. Seto chuckled a little as Ryou tucked his feet up onto the seat and stuck his tongue out at the flailing hands beneath them.  

Ryou pouted at him. “A jump scare? That’s so cheap!”  

“But effective. If you hadn’t already gotten annoyed with the shock feature and turned it off, that would have set it off. Those hands have taken their fair share of smug riders down a notch or two.”  

“Still though. Cheap.”  

Seto stuck his nose in the air, looked down at Ryou with the most ridiculously snooty look he could muster and gave a judgmental little sniff. “Nothing in Kaiba Land is cheap.” There was a beat of silence before Ryou rolled his eyes and was back to grinning, which was always worth acting like a fool.   

They rounded another corner straight into a horde of mummies, and Ryou burst into incredulous laughter again. “Oh honestly, are these holograms the best your people can do? Really? They’re practically cartoons! I suppose that’s ok for kids, but it’s kind of ridiculous for the adults.” Ryou suddenly whipped around to look at Seto with wide, pleading eyes. “Please let me help redesign them. You could advertise it as a real scare. Oooh, that would be so good. Please! It would be so much fun!”  

Seto threw his head back with a loud laugh. “Only if I get to be there to watch when you tell the nerd herd you’re helping redesign their death trap.”  

Ryou let out a happy squeal and attacked Seto with a hug. “Done!!” Seto barely had time to lift an arm around him before Ryou was leaning back again, squirming excitedly in his seat. “I have so many ideas. We can revamp the holograms looks, of course, but there’s also something to be said for the horror that stays forever just out of your sight, and…”  

Seto let Ryou’s excited babbling fill the silence between holographic moans. He rested an affectionate hand on Ryou’s knee while he nodded and hummed approval of some of the more creative ideas. Yes, t his was definitely worth ignoring the paperwork for once. It’s a shame they hadn’t come sooner.

~~~~~~~

A/N: You know they visited the murderer's room after this and Ryou acted out the part like the goober he is. ;)  And what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall when Ryou casually brings up his "awesome date" to the rest of his friends..... Ha!

[chockfullofsecrets]

Class 1-A vs. Tickle Might: Part 1

<< Prologue (in case you’re wondering what’s going on) :: Part 2 >>

(A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who offered their kind feedback, especially @gigglingknight ! 2.7k words and 4 kids - Mineta’s not getting back up again - down, 16 to go! Hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think - favorite scene, constructive criticism - your feedback will keep me awake at night to write part 2!)

The forty combined eyes of class 1-A were locked on All Might as he leapt gracefully from the wall of the training grounds, passing overhead and descending in a lazy arc into the mock city before them.

“He moves like a missile,” Momo said thoughtfully. “You would think such a big person would be less aerodynamic.”

Other students were less calm. “He’s gonna kill us all!” Mineta yelled. “I won’t get to enjoy my summer break at all!”

Hagakure clung to Ojiro’s arm. “Guys, I bet Aizawa-sensei sent him to beat us up before training camp. He probably thinks we won’t cause as much trouble if we’re all in full-body casts!”

Ojiro laughed, but he too was looking at the cluster of buildings in obvious dismay. “All Might’s the number one hero, he wouldn’t just indiscriminately fight us. I think.”

Even Aoyama’s sparkle was a little dimmed, his eyes wide in alarm behind his visor. “Mon dieu, didn’t you see what he did to Bakugou and Midoriya? His smile was as twinkling as ever, but… it was scary!”

“And he’s at full strength this time,” Satou added, his big lips pursed.

Those of them who were afraid edged closer to one other, clutching at armor and fabric and hands as if hoping they would fuse together into a single pro capable of taking on the Number One Hero. A select few, though, prepared to rally.

“It’ll be all right, guys!” Deku was smiling. Of course he was. “There’s a lot of us, and we have more experience using team attacks now! I’m sure we can impress All Might and Aizawa-sensei!”

Iida frowned. “Won’t it be easier for him to find us if we all stay in a group?”

“Maybe, but I feel safer with you guys!” Sero said.

“Yeah!”

“Let’s come up with a plan!”

A familiar snarl filled the air. “You extras can plan all you want!” Bakugou announced. “I’m going to face him head on! The only thing that would make me surrender is having to listen to you idiots for another minute!” He spun on his heel and stalked off, quickly disappearing behind the piles of concrete.

Kirishima grinned. “Guess I know what I’m doing, then.”

Mineta howled. “Just let him die! He’s really annoying! And if you get caught in the crossfire between him and All Might there’s no way you’ll survive.”

He shrugged. “Maybe, but I can’t just let him go in alone! And besides, what could be a manlier last sight on Earth than those two going at it?”

“I’ll come too,” Mina said, bouncing up and down on her toes. “I want to watch! And maybe I can get some surprise attacks in with my acid!”

The two of them headed off together after Bakugou, cheerily waving a goodbye to the rest of the group. Kaminari waved back at them like it was the last he would ever see of his two friends. Jirou scoffed and turned to look at the two planners left in their group. “Let’s call them the distraction, then… Momo, Midoriya, do you guys have any ideas?”

Bakugou’s arms throbbed inside his gauntlets.

The wounds from his finals match had been healed by Recovery Girl  - the old hag had been surprised that he’d been hurt so bad, even though Deku was in the next bed over with a shitty bruised spine, as if he wasn’t just as dedicated to winning even if it means shattering every bone in his damn arm – but the memory of just how much it hurt was still in there.

He almost wished Kirishima was here to guard his back. Shitty Hair could take a punch, at least. Maybe even one of All Might’s. But he didn’t need him to win. All he needed was the chance to get in one good blow of his own this time –

A sound behind him. He whirled around, one sweat-filled hand slinging behind him with even more force. As soon as he could see his target, he would –

Something closed around his wrist. A sudden jerking sensation as his arm was pulled upwards, and the explosion seared harmlessly into the air.

All Might was holding him suspended by one hand. Like a freaking ragdoll. “Ah, young hero! I might have expected you to come face me head-on.”

Instead of replying, he tried to blast the man with his other hand. It joined the other above his head just as quickly, held in that same massive grip. “What are you doing? DON’T RESTRAIN ME, YOU SHITTY – let me fight, old man!”

All Might propped his free hand on his hip. “A brave face, huh? You must really want a rematch. I think your sleeveless uniform’s really going to put you at a disadvantage in this round…”

He cocked his hand, fingers spread stiffly for a grab or chop, and Bakugou wasn’t afraid, he wasn’t, but that didn’t keep his body from flinching, a fruitless attempt to protect himself from the painful blow.

His captor paused. “Young Bakugou, are you – are you frightened of me?”

“No.”

He lowered his arm enough for Bakugou to get his feet on the ground – still up on his toes, but at least he wasn’t hanging there like a sack of meat. “My boy, I must say that I’m very sorry about the end of our last battle. I wouldn’t have stopped you so forcefully if I didn’t think you were about to seriously injure yourself.”

“I’m not fucking afraid, okay? Just hit me already so I can hit back.”

All Might looked unconvinced. “Ah, that’s… good, young hero! Such an indomitable spirit!” His smile grew impossibly wider. “Besides, you won’t come to any harm today!”

“Oh yeah? Then what the fuck are we here to do, talk each other into submission? And what do you mean, I’m at a disadvantage because my uniform doesn’t have sleeves?”

“Ah, yes.” All Might cocked his hand again. His fingers were wiggling this time, and somehow this spiked Bakugou’s apprehension in an entirely different way. “Allow me to demonstrate.”

He’d never put much thought into a costume redesign, but as All Might’s evil hands came in contact with his bare armpits he decided that he needed more armor. Immediately. “W-whahaHAT! THE HEHEHELL?!” His palms were sparking uselessly into the sky, face bent into a helpless grin, and shit he was glad that none of the others in his class were here right now.

It was a relief, almost, not to be thrust into another bloody fight with his hero, but that didn’t stop him from kicking and screaming bloody murder, still on his tiptoes as he strained for some leverage to protect himself. All Might was chuckling. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you smile, young Bakugou! A very good imitation of my trademark, but perhaps we can do better!”

“NOHO – nowecan’t – AHAHA!” His entire torso was helpless under the attack, and his face hurt from smiling so hard. It wasn’t long before he couldn’t take it anymore. “OKAY nonONO not thaHAT just fucking STOP I GIVE I GIVE!”

All Might let him down gently, giving one last triumphant laugh as he patted Bakugou on the back. “An admirable effort, my boy.”

“I didn’t even do anything,” he mumbled into the ground. Was he still grinning? He was, like an idiot. He was an idiot. This was terrible.

Footsteps skidded into the street. “Bakubro, we heard you screaming – laughing? – oh shit, he’s here-”

Bakugou forced his head up. Kirishima and Mina. They’d probably followed him in.

He snorted. “You’re next, morons. Better run if you’re ticklish.”

They’d worked three-quarters of the way through a plan involving Sero’s tape (just. So much tape), Tsuyu’s mucus secretion, and a titanium bondage set from Momo when an explosion roared through the air.

“Kacchan,” Deku gasped. His theory was confirmed when the explosion died down only to be replaced with cursing at only a slightly reduced volume. And then there was the screaming.

“Such darkness,” Tokoyami intoned. “It will swallow us all.”

The screams continued, Bakugou sounding truly desperate. “OKAY nonONO not thaHAT just fucking STOP I GIVE I GIVE!”

Mineta fainted.

The racket tapered off at last, All Might’s laugh echoing tinnily in their ears as they all shivered. “Do you think he’s still alive?” Uraraka whispered. “Man, this is scary.”

Deku’s mind raced. The other students were thinking frantically too, but he had two pieces of information that no one else knew.

The first: In all the videos he’d seen of All Might, he’d never heard of him making a villain beg for mercy. All Might preferred to harm the villains he captured as little as possible, making it easier to the police to detain them without having to provide medical treatment and having the added effect of minimizing property damage.

The second: He’d grown up with Kacchan, who had never been in the habit of screaming in anything other than rage. The only thing that had ever made him howl like that had happened when they were little, and it was – it was –

Oh.

“Midoriya’s about to faint,” Todoroki said.

“Deku?” Uraraka shook him. “What’s going on?”

He swallowed. “We need to split up and hide. Now.”

The class looked at each other in alarm. If even he couldn’t maintain his determination…

They were all going to die.

“We’re not going to die!” Mina gushed. “This is so fun! This is fantastic!”

She and Kirishima were sprinting away from All Might as fast as they could, taking corners at random in hopes that they would lose him. “Yeah, if we can make it back to the others, they’ll definitely be less scared!”

“Are you certain of that, young hero?”

They both skidded to a stop, but Kirishima still crashed into All Might’s massive chest and rebounded onto the ground. Mina shot past them both with a shriek. “All Might!”

The man crouched over him. “I was surprised not to find you with your friends, young Kirishima.”

“We were trying to find Bakugou,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “Mina and I are really bad with directions though, so we got lost until we heard him screaming.”

“It seems you arrived at the perfect time to become my next victim,” the hero intoned, and wow that smile was the most ominous thing he’d ever seen now.

“I – haha –“ Kirishima spluttered, before remembering that he had a quirk. “Ha!” he exclaimed, activating his quirk and feeling immensely relieved as his skin hardened to a rock-like texture. “There’s no way you can tickle me now!”

“It will be more difficult,” All Might mused. Suddenly, he yanked one of Kirishima’s boots off. “I wonder, do your palms and soles harden as well?”

Kirishima, who’d had his quirk for all of twelve years, suddenly couldn’t remember. He glanced frantically at one of his hands and mentally cheered. “Ah, they do.”

All Might frowned, as much as he could frown. “If all your skin hardens, it’s pretty surprising that you can move at all…” Taking Kirishima’s foot gently in his hand, he rotated it right and left. “If this works, then…”

Kirishima felt something brush against his ankle, and without thinking, snickered at the ticklish sensation.

All Might’s grin came back in full force. Hesitantly, Kirishima offered him a weak smile. “Uh… maybe I just have a really cool quirk… and tickling definitely won’t work on me?”

Turned out, his ankles were traitors. A few scratches from All Might and he was already giggling frantically, his other foot drumming against the ground as he tried to roll over and crawl away. Even worse, as he lost focus his quirk began to waver, and despite his effort of squeezing his eyes shut and trying to will the laughter away he could feel his protective shell softening around him.

“Not so tough now, young hero,” All Might teased, and Kirishima groaned internally at the joke as his torture became a thousand times worse. The soles of his feet, the soft skin behind his knees – even squeezing his calf produced a new wave of laughter from him.

He couldn’t take it. No wonder Bakugou had been collapsed on the ground. “Mihihina…. MINA, HELP!”

A pair of pink arms wound themselves around All Might’s neck – Mina, jumping on his back. “Hi! All Might-sensei, can I go next?”

The tickling eased up a little as All Might turned his head to smile at her. “You know, my girl, this is technically a test.”

She pouted. “I know, but… tickling! I already failed my practical anyway, so I’m sure I’ll have to take the remedial classes. I might as well relax and have some fun while I can instead of running! Right, Kirishima?”

Panting, he considered this situation. This was definitely more fun than a fight, and it was really nice after the nightmare of preparing for finals. “Heh… yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I can hardly refuse such a polite request,” All Might proclaimed grandly, “but first, I need to hear a surrender from young Kirishima here!” He reached a hand up to scratch at Kirishima’s ribcage, the boy squeaking as he tried to bat it away.

“I could help,” Mina offered slyly.

“No, yOU CAHAN’T!” Two pairs of hands hovered over him, Mina reaching over All Might’s shoulder with her evilest grin. “Wait, wait, I give!”

All Might roared with laughter, offering Kirishima a hearty embrace as he wobbled to his feet. “A smart decision! She’s very determined!”

He glared half-heartedly at Mina, shaking his head with a rueful grin. “I’m going to get you for this.” He turned to All Might. “Do we get to watch the others?”

“You do have to leave the training ground. However, your Aizawa-sensei’s in the evaluation room. If he permits you to enter, then you can watch with him!”

“Cool! I’ll see you there, Ashido.” He looked around. “Which way is the exit again?”

As he left, Mina prepared to jump off All Might and take off – she felt like running at least a little bit, after seeing how wrecked Kirishima looked. But before she could so much as loosen her grip, All Might spoke in a decidedly villainous voice. “Well, young Ashido, this means it’s your turn now.”

He grabbed her uniform and yanked, and the next thing she knew she had tumbled over his shoulder and straight into his arms with a surprised shout. He dropped to the ground, cross legged, and released her unceremoniously into his lap. “Wow, you move… really fast, sensei!”

All Might chuckled. Evilly. “You said you wanted to relax, young hero? Perhaps you’d like a massage?” His fingers dug into the muscle at the back of her shoulders, and she found herself squealing with laughter as they hunched up instinctively. “Hm… you don’t look very relaxed. Maybe a different technique?” Said technique was a light massaging of her ribcage that had her curled into a shaking ball, giggling her head off. “This seems a bit harsh… are you really having fun, young Ashido?”

“Yehehes!” she giggled, burying her head in his shoulder. “Lohots of fun!”

His breath stirred her hair as he huffed with laughter. “All right, then.” He continued happily, paying special attention to her neck when he discovered that tickling her there produced actual cackles. She lasted for nearly three minutes before slapping at his hands and gasping breathlessly for mercy.

All Might waited until she caught her breath to move, standing them up together. She jumped onto him once more, offering him a hug from the front this time. He returned it slowly, a little surprised but pleased nonetheless. “You’ve had your fun, young Ashido! I hope you’ll apply as much dedication to attaining mastery of your studies!”

“I will”, she promised, climbing to his shoulder and somersaulting off to the ground. “Thanks a lot, All Might-sensei! It’s really nice of you and Aizawa-sensei to do this for us!”

He had to point her in the direction of the exit as well. She left with a cheerful smile, and he smiled in return as he cracked his knuckles.

Time to find his next target.

[creative-clusters]

LaserDad au

Hello, and welcome to the LaserDad au, an alternate universe centered around the questions of: what if laserblast survived the sandwich incident, but Carol didn't? And how would the plaza change if Carol was never present?

The backstory for this au goes something like this. When the sandwich incident happens, Carol gets into the shop quickly after the first explosion. Before the store is "shrunk, or teleported or whatever" Carol manages to get laserblast out- but she can't save herself. And so, with no powers and Carol's son to take care of, Laserblast moves on, soon taking over the role of running a fitness dojo where he teaches weaker heroes the powers of physical combat!

Of course, there some timeline changes and differences to certain characters, so here's the part of this au that will explain all the character changes I've made so far! (This,, the reason it took so long to make this post.)

Introducing: the main cast and their designs!

Laserblast

A fun loving, slightly overprotective, but overall cool dad! Full of enthusiasm for his job, love for his son, and a positive outlook, this excitable father figure takes Carol's place in raising KO! He can be intimidating at times, and tends to lunge in whenever KO is in danger, but really, he means the best.

Carol

Taking the place of Shadowy Figure, Carol is a dangerous foe to KO and everyone in lakewood plaza. She isn't as brutal as Shadowy Figure, but is just as if not more powerful than him. Her fights are full of focus and strategy, and when taking full advantage of her ability to mimic powers, you're good as beat if you take her on.

KO and TKO

(with a bonus PKO drawing)

KO copies his father, and is always looking to kick butt, take names, and eat all your candy. Born before the sandwich incident, he has an added year onto his age and with it, an extra bit of cleverness and endurance that helps him tough out battles, even if his combat skills aren't the greatest.

TKO is a silent rager, a scary brute, and a formidable opponent. He's less tantrum-y than his canon counterpart, but with an added sense of patience, he's all the stronger. He's snappy, quick, and hits hard and fast, so you better get thinking fast if you're gonna provoke him. Cause this edgelord means business!

Rad, Enid, and Mr. Gar

KOs boss and coworkers are mostly the same. However, I couldn't help but redesign em a little! Mr. Gar allows for more uniform customization, so Enid and Rad show off more of what they aspire to be!

Lord Boxman

(and a bonus Shannon)

Boxman in this au hasn't hit huge business with his company after Mr. Logics "betrayal", so his factory is more of an indie company, and his robots are hand crafted more often. That doesn't mean anything different to Boxman, though! He's still that determined, plaza wrecking jerk we all know and love.

Dendy and Red Action

Hey look! It's everyone's favorite kappa and lesbian!

Dendy shows off more of her kappa heritage, taking on a simple lily pad on top of her head, along with two pets- a frog named Einstein, and a duckling named Albert! And though she dislikes going shoeless, her power has served useful to her, so she simply makes it so she can use it whenever. And fun fact! Her gloves are wirelessly connected to her hackpack- by simply touching something, she can reprogram it.

Red Action has done the best she can to seperate her identity from the hue troopers by spending tons of time in the dangerzone and clothing stores, though she won't admit it. She's the coolest future girl around, and she owns it with her robotic arm, incredible technology, and radical vehicles. Of course, hanging out in dangerous places brings its scars, but she doesn't hide em- she shows them off with pride!

And with that, that's every character, design, and bit of backstory for now! If you have any questions, thoughts, or ideas about this au, my inbox is always open! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy and look forward to figure content!

[megatentious]

My lengthy defense of the most hated Persona game

Here’s my grand defense for the most hated game in the series: Persona 1, AKA Revelations: Persona. I know it’s too late to try and rehabilitate the game’s reputation on the internet, but I’m hoping that by rambling in modestly structured form for a bit, at least some folks might be able to look at Persona with a fresh perspective. It would be cool if everyone could try to understand what the game did so well and why it resonated so strongly with me and 2 or so other people. If you are the kind of person that thinks games age and become archaic, then I probably don’t have any hope of reaching you, but still, try to put yourself in the right mindset and approach the game on its own terms, and maybe you’ll discover something quite special.

So, Persona. Persona does very interesting things with choice. As the first Megaten rpg released in America, the negotiation system was a revelation (har har), providing the choice to talk your way out of battles and into rewards is a natural D&D element that never got a foothold in countless videogame conversions of the game, and in the first Persona these elements are at their peak. With every demon having four moods, four series of animation and four sets of voiced sound effects, the expanded options really let you get into the headspace of the demons you’re conversing with, unlike traditional SMT’s more spare binary system. Getting into the thick of things with complex sets of reactions (Joy + Interest, that’s what’s up) makes for a fun simulation.

The theme of choice is also really built into the game’s fabric, it’s the reason why in old usenet postings, Persona was recommended to folks who were fans of Gold Box games, during a time when RPG labels were more porous and that sneaky “J” hadn’t yet latched itself omnipresently to the term. Choice here also extends to the fifth character in your party, a friendly way to promote replay value without new game plus, and certain choices locking you out of giant chunks of the game, an unfriendly way of getting you through the game again. In a world though where developers are desperate to ensure that gamers experience all content (so many buzzwords!), the chutzpah of Persona being willing to lock you out of huge swathes of the game is something I actually admire.

It’s easy to underestimate the impact of the modern day setting in a post Persona 3/TWEWY/Alpha Protocol world, but dungeons that were hospitals and police stations and high school students snarling “EAT THIS” with MIGs in pitched street battles felt revelatory. Exploring the comically low-rent polygonal city (is this another reference to the abstracted icons of SMT1 and 2 world maps?) was actually fun, as ridiculous as waiting for traffic to pass might seem. There are also many complaints about the first person perspective dungeons, even though the rest of the game is third person, but the setting variety is nice and many of the wall patterns are quite evocative (Deva Yuga looks like Persepolis!)

The game also does PSX-era philosophizing in a tasteful and generally thoughtful way, while contemporaries were drawing from Evangelion, Persona looked to Zhuangzi and Jung. Not very high-falutin, true, but at least middle brow enough such that my 14 year old Sophie’s World reading self was entranced. The game has something neat to say about loneliness and identity and the way we construct the world around ourselves (all hinted at in the moody intro. The story is very nice and very Kaneko, even if he’s overestimating the literary quality in this interview, I’m very fond of it and it is my franchise favorite.

Here’s where I alienate the remaining people who might have been on board with me so far: if you ignore the loss of the Snow Queen Quest, a 20 hour alternate version of the story that takes place in a series of SMT:If... like towers, Revelations: Persona is actually the superior game. “Lunarvale,” a hodgepodge of America and Japan cobbled together by localizers attempting to mask the game’s origins, is actually more weird and interesting than the Mikage-cho that appears in Persona PSP. This bizarre mashup, combined with a nonsense translation attempt, somehow manages to better fit the lurid dreamscape vibe the original developers were going for. I can’t undersell how one-of-a-kind and wonderfully unsettling the game’s atmosphere is in the PSX version, and this is helped along of course by the sound.

Here are excerpts from some things I wrote on the music in this game:

Revelations: Persona has the best soundtrack in the franchise, possibly the best soundtrack ever made. In raw quantitative terms it's ridiculous, 113 songs and 3 hours of music without being looped, and all without doing Persona 2's trick of repeated (but still awesome!) remixes. Two majorly sweet leitmotifs for the two major quests, employed creatively and thoughtfully, four fantastic composers on four discs, cohesive and thematically coherent when by all rights it should feel disjointed as fuck, this is a generous OST!

Hidehito Aoki (R.I.P.) composed the dungeon music, which is exquisite. Lengthy songs that are moody, elegant, just plain beautiful and get you PUMPED! The iconic Deva Yuga Monochrome: School Revisited Dream-like, synthy, catchy, beautiful, quintessential Persona sound. Pandora's Den (Deepmost Area): The climax at 1:12! Ice Castle/Black Snow The twists and turns in this one, so effing good. Sebek Music, Karma Palace 90's music is the best!!! Misaki Okibe's range is ridiculous, she composed some of the most memorable, interesting tracks in the whole game. Reverse Dream World: You think you have this song figured out in the first few seconds, but stick around to see where it suddenly veers off to around :30, hilarious and awesome. Theme of Nemurin's Love: The intro! The power of a simple lovely melody, a little Uematsu-esque. Augustia's Wood: The save music, so memorable, I love the grumbling. City 2 Accident: Do you remember wandering the streets in the town, disoriented, listening to this gorgeousness, thinking about how Lunarvale suddenly seemed so scary, like an unsettling dream? Bar Attacked by Harem Queen: A bit of jazzy beauty. And most important of all of course, Misaki Okibe is the composer of the Pharmacy Music, featuring vocals by one Hidehito Aoki of all people. Satomi Tadashi Drugstore Song In our heads forever, teaching us about item use since 1996. 

More alienating for readers who have gotten this far: the “whitewashing” character designs were all improvements, Kazuma Kaneko redrew everything himself and it’s easy to tell that a lot of thought was put into the redesigns. Finally, Mark is also >>>> Masao, everyone’s always yelling about the jive-talking but to me he came across as quite smart and savvy. I dunno, maybe this is just a Flavor of Love/Outsourced minorities just wanna see themselves effect operating here, leave me alone you guys! So yes, the franchise’s current fanbase might not be fond of them, but the cast is comprised of characters that are meant to be iconic and not friends you wish you had in real life, a cast that, FFVI-like, is meant to evoke broader themes and not follow the typical arcs of many RPGs these days. Check out the classiness of Yuki’s design, and allow me to quote some more stuff on how Tsuchiya, master of the character theme, nails it for each party member.

The sign of a good character theme is when you can extrapolate from instrument choice and melody to personality. Here Tsuchiya is the man, no one does it better this side of Uematsu. I hear these songs and I've got a perfect picture in my mind of each cast member. It's what I think of when I think of "videogame music" ha, here are my personal favorites, I could listen to these endlessly. Mary/Maki: Cheerful, just a hint of melancholy in the notes, love that slap bass. Yuki: Starts a bit slow, but soon we learn that Yuki's cool but determined. Alana: The song tells me she's brassy, energetic, fun. Chris/Reiji: Dangerous, exciting, a bad-ass delinquent. Ellen/Elly: Classy, elegant, confident.

Some also rag on the dungeon design, but it seems unfair to expect centerpiece labyrinths along the lines of Strange Journey or Etrian Odyssey in a game going for something completely different. Nevertheless, you’ve got tricky mazes with dead ends that test resource allocation skills and provide a sense of accomplishment. Encounters are tough and require thought, careful consideration of when to flee and negotiate is imperative for dungeon survival. This is something that gets lost a bit in the PSP remake as the encounter rate is increased but battles are a bit easier. Exploiting elemental weaknesses isn’t as elegant as in later games, but with a ludicrously high 14 damage types breadth supersedes depth. And there’s even a positioning system to consider that the developers decided to drop from later games rather than refine. In the end, surviving the dungeon and beating the boss is an RPG staple that just plain works, although yes you will probably grit your teeth at some of the loading times.

And finally, you don’t have to take my random word for it. Parish really liked it too! How’s that for an appeal to authority?

For series buffs, it’s fun to trace this game’s historical lineage, as one of the earlier spinoffs of Shin Megami Tensei, it's easy to spot the mainline series influence: the occultism of the opening ritual, the hospital as first dungeon, the first person perspective for dungeon travel, BLUE POINTER MAN, and the omnipresent danger of demons in town and dungeon alike. Revelations: Persona is drawing from a rich and storied history, but manages to recast SMT traditions in interesting new directions. Again, the atmosphere is really unbelievable and something I haven’t come across in other games. It’s more than a simple curiosity and it doesn’t deserve dumb dismissal or sneering derision for its flaws. Revelations: Persona is a real marvel, modern games ought to draw more inspiration from its lessons, and the game belongs in the RPG canon, there I said it!

[yoongiandchiminie]

KISMET. {MAFIA & SOULMATE AU) PART 2

Series: When you’re born, you can’t see a color until you meet the eyes of your Soulmate for the first time. Bangtan is known as one of the most infamous gangs around. This series will focus on the lighter side of things, their soulmates- Well, maybe they’re lighter. Maybe.

[Part 1]

Genre: Angst, Mafia!AU, Soulmate!AU, Fluff

Pairing: Hoseok x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, mature themes, strong language

Word count: 2,376

Summary: Hoseok meets his Soulmate during High School and she’s there through it all. There’s nothing that could come between the idol pair of Soulmates living in house Bangtan, right?

His hair was orange when you left and brown when you had returned. The woman at the buzzer seemed to recognize you, but you were unsure of how. She was a stranger and in this moment you looked like one too. You were dressed different than how you used to as you arrived to the Bangtan home right before their third birthday. You wore a long sundress as you sat in your car with them wide awake and excited to see their father in the back.

Throughout your time away you’d told them it was a vacation. That Daddy was busy with work, so you decided to take them away for a bit. You stayed with your parents back home who you’d lightly kept in touch with. They knew vague details about your life and were extremely saddened when you’d told them your husband wouldn’t be joining you.

The woman at the buzzer didn’t say a word to you and instead just opened the gate. You drove in to see the cars as messy as ever and watched as the front doors to the open flew open to reveal the seven Bangtan boys out of breath. Hoseok ran faster than he ever had before as he ran over and basically jumped into the backseat onto your children. They were full of giggles and kisses as he held them for a while before acknowledging you. He just smiled in your direction and you turned a bit to run your hands through his silky hair.

“I’m thinking pink next.” Was the first thing you said to him and he just chuckled. His eyes finally met yours and his brown hues were full of joy. He was still the happy Hobi you’d seemingly run away from. The kids got out of the car to go and greet their uncles. Hoseok was lost in his own mind full of joy that the thought of why you hadn’t even gotten out didn’t cross his mind.

“Y/N? Are you staying?” he peeked at you through the back of your seat until he decided to stand up at your nod. “Let me help you-” he began to choke on his own words as he opened your door and realized something that he should've realized sooner. You were pregnant and his eyes bugged out upon seeing your belly. “Me?” you simply narrowed your eyes at the accusation and refused his hand to help you up. Instead you carefully pushed yourself up only to be greeted with his arms wrapped around you. “Us.”  

“Yeah, that.” you were a bit annoyed, but gave into his hug. Feeling his body pressed against your felt nice. Being reunited with his warmth was nice as he was careful not to apply as much pressure to his hugs as normal. “I found out when I arrived at my parents house… They miss you, Hobi.” He sharply inhaled at your use of the nickname and when he pulled away you could see his face was coated with his famous smile.

“I missed you. All 3 of you.” Hoseok’s voice was light as he wrapped his left arm around your waist to support you a bit as you two moved towards the rest of the boys. “Can someone grab their bags? Dinner’s on me tonight.” Taehyung quickly abided to Hosoek’s orders and grabbed your bags. Normally you would have felt bad, but at seven months pregnant you didn’t care too much at this point.

He led you inside as your kids ran away from Namjoon back over to their father. They were immediately at his legs and he took his arms off of you to hold them tight to his chest. He sleeves dropped a bit as he lifted them higher and you couldn't help but to notice how much more defined his arms were along with some new scars that ran jagged. You trailed a bit behind them, taking your time.

“Glad to see you here.” Namjoon’s voice was stern as he stepped ahead of you to grab the door Hoseok couldn’t hold. “Knew you’d come back.” he ended the conversation there, but with a smile. You got the same kind of reactions from the rest of Bangtan but deep down you knew that they were all a bit mad that you left. You couldn’t imagine what they’d been doing without their fake mother for the past half a year.

You moved your swollen feet along the wooden floor and couldn’t help but notice that they’d gotten rid of the homey carpet all together. There was dust piled into a corner and new leather couches that didn’t really match the furniture that laid around the rest of the house. There were more pictures hung up on the walls and that made you happy. Seeing them smiling. Seeing him smiling.

The hallways were darker and you couldn’t help but take notice of the lack of drugs around the home. When you’d left you figured they’d go back to their messy habits, but there wasn’t a single drop of coke or even a bottle in site. They never truly used the drugs themselves, they were just unorganized and somehow always ended up with drugs in the house.

The door to your bedroom almost taunted you as you watched Hoseok race the twins to their own. You followed them instead of going to your room and marveled at the changes in there. He’d almost redesigned the whole room. Half of it was racecar themed, as Jae was going through a phase where all he wanted to do was that and Kira’s half was littered with ballerina things.

“This is nice.” you complimented him as the twins found their way to their respective beds. Hoseok made his way to you and put his arm back around your waist. There was a spark for a second. One that you’d missed. You found his beautiful eyes focused on your entire being as you watched your kids happier than they’d been in quite a while. They weren’t sad at your parents house, but they felt extremely cramped. They’d been sharing a bed with you for the past six months and this just was a dream come true for them.

With little to no control over your movements, you moved onto your tiptoes to kiss Hoseok. Even if he was intensely watching you, he hadn’t expected this. He watched you move into the right position and even when your soft lips were met with his, he didn’t see it coming. He smiled into the kiss and returned it, pulling away after a moment.

“Mommy and Daddy are gonna go for a bit, okay? Have some time alone.” Hoseok chirped as he pulled you away from your kids, shutting the door behind you both. He slid his fingers down your wrist into your hand and intertwined the togther.

He wasn’t different and you truly didn’t expect him to be. The only thing you expected was a bit of a torn heart from him. Yes, he understood you and probably knew you needed to get away well before you did, but you left him high and dry. You didn’t tell him where you went, but he probably knew. There was no way you left and Bangtan didn’t have some sort of tabs on you for months. Despite all of the love in the end you knew too much about their operation.

You half expected him to take you out to the living room, but instead he went right to your bedroom. The hallways were lined with a bunch of pictures of the boys and some even had their own soulmates within them.  

The closed door bore into you as your stomach turned tables. This was your home and it wasn’t like you ran away- it was a break. You’d convinced yourself it was a vacation. His smile was what got to you the most. Yes, of course he was happy to see you, but why wasn’t he mad? He should have been furious and those times were scary.

He looked to you for a moment and studied your face as you stood in front of your bedroom. His eyes darted around every inch and they were extremely comforting. “You ready, baby?” You nodded slowly and he sighed for a brief second before opening the door.

The inside was almost the same except it looked a bit empty. He left all of the things you’d left here in the same position and even cleaned the dust off of it. The room was collectively clean which was almost a strange thing to see. It wasn’t that he was messy, but Hoseok had relied too much on you for being organized.

Your bags were inside already and instead of going for those, you walked over to the comfortable bed you’d missed so much. In an instant you were sprawled across it with a bright smile on. “Ah, there she is. So, you missed our bed more than me?” there was a slight chuckle in his voice and the bed sank down from his weight.

For a moment he just watched you on your side and just took you in. Hoseok took in having you back home and the surrealness of it made him start to cry. He laid down to spoon you and his head was buried into the nape of your neck as he just softly cried into it. His arms snaked around your body and rested upon your stomach.

As soon as they landed there, he moved his body so now his face was next to your tummy. “Hey.” he was whispering against your skin, warming it up. “I know we’ve never met, but I’m your Daddy, okay? I love you so much, baby Hope.” you couldn’t help but to giggle as he continued. “I’ll love and love and love you forever. I hope you’re excited about it.” Then with almost perfect timing, the baby kicked and scared the shit out of him. He bounced back in a hot second and hit his head against the wall to the left of you both. “Aish, I haven’t seen that in a bit.”

“It happens a lot.” your voice was a whisper as you began to feel guilty yet again. This had happened quite a few times in the past few months. You’d inevitably shut down from the guilt eating away at you about the whole situation and you’d relive it over and over. Every time you would tell him in person instead of just walking away.

If you’d approached Hoseok about letting you go away for a bit all those months ago, you knew he would have said yes. It was a matter of your anxiety building up about talking to him about the situation rather than just running away. He was open about most things and you knew he was gonna be okay with it. There was just the fact of you racking up the courage to leave him if it wasn’t in secret. It wasn’t all there.

“Hey, Hobi?” a shy smile crept onto his perfect face as you spoke his nickname, “I’m sorry I left the way I did. I love you.”

There was a silence that was in the room now and it wasn’t as awkward as most of them were. It was a comfortable silence as you watched him rack his brain for how to respond. He was always quick with his words, but you knew he didn’t want you to be offended by whatever he was about to say. He didn’t want to hurt you.

There was always this thing about Hoseok that he was never truly out for revenge. It was funny to say the least since he was in the infamous Bangtan. You couldn’t even guess how big they’d gotten now as you had distanced yourself from any winds of the mafia during your time away.

“I love you too, but you don’t have to apologize.” He sat up and helped you so that you were directly eye level with him. Before he continued he made sure you were comfortable against the pillows behind you. “In the first week, I was upset. I can’t deny I was broken and I knew you’d come back. Everyone told me over and over that we knew you better than that, but I still couldn’t help to think that I had personally done something wrong to hurt you so bad that you took our children and left.”

Another pause before he continued. “Then, something happened during week two. We were in this big brawl with a gang that we could have definitely taken down with ease. We were outnumbered and put down especially because I wasn’t in the right head space and I got fucked up. They beat me to a fucking pulp, Y/N and it was all because I was letting irrelevant thoughts into my head. I wasn’t accepting the fact that I knew you well enough that you’d come back as much as the prominent one that you’d left me.”

“So, I had to go to the hospital. It was that bad that I needed more help than Jin and the rest could offer me. That’s where I realized you’d come home and I had to be around for it. I couldn’t die before you and the kids came back… So, when I got back I started training even more to get myself back into working condition and cleared my mind of all of the negative thoughts. The only thoughts I let remain regarding my family was how much I loved you guys and that I hope you were having fun back home with your parents.”

Normally, in these situations tears would well up in your eyes and you’d break. Emotions always ran rampant through your head, but this time you simply listened to him. To everything he had to say and sometime during it you’d reached out to hold onto both of his hands and move Hoseok even closer to you. By the end, you were right against him and taking in the entire form that he always provided.

“Thank you.” That was the only thing that made sense to respond with. “Thank you, Jung Hoseok.”

Author’s Note: Please send me feedback and let me know your thoughts! Sorry that it’s a bit shorter than expected, there’s always a possibility for more though honestly and they have a bit of story to tell. Truthfully, I had a bit of trouble with Kismet, I’m not sure why (It’s too happy maybe ok). 

Yoongi’s installment!

Taehyung’s installment!

Jungkook’s installment!

Jin’s installment!

Jimin’s installment!

What happened to them before Bangtan?

[asrisartarena]

It’s been two months since I last did a redraw of my OCs (I rly need to get back on the ball with that oops), but I was in an OC mood, so I used the opportunity to redesign Hatter Dobhail, who’s next in line after Lokka!!

As always, his bio and stuff will be under the cut!!

Name: Hatterson “Hatter” Dobhail

Nicknames: Hatter, Hatty, Hatsy

Age: 17

Gender: Gendervoid

Pronouns: He/Him and They/Them

Romantic/Sexual Orientation: Demiromantic Pansexual

Birthday: June 31th

Star Sign: Cancer

NDs: Autism, ADHD, BPD, DPD, PTSD, Anxiety, Psychosis, and Paranoia

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Height: 6′0″

Powers: Dark magic manipulation and shadow teleportation (both from the demon bonded to his soul)

Likes: Creepy and scary things, alcohol, good food, horror movies, Halloween, being with Dankia (his gf), loud music

Dislikes: Authority figures, hallucinations, nightmares, people hurting his loved ones, fire, crowds, most vegetables, wheat bread, small dogs, being touched by strangers

Bio: Hatter is the son of Carroll Dobhail (his father, who was a hatter/hat maker) and Dymphna Dobhail (his mother, who was a housewife). While his family wasn’t exactly rich, they were a happy family; until one day, their house mysteriously caught on fire when Hatter was only five years old. He was the only survivor thanks to...well, he’s not sure, even to this day. A mysterious force saved him from the inferno just in time, and when he woke up the next day from falling unconscious, he saw strange markings under his eyes that he didn’t have before. He didn’t think about it much, since he was only five at the time. The only thing he has left of his family are his hat (his father was going to save it for his 16th birthday, but he had Hatter grab it before he escaped the burning inferno that was his house), and an old picture of the three of them together that Hatter keeps safe in a little compartment in the top of his hat. To this day, he has no idea how the fire started all those years ago, but he has a feeling it was one of the townsfolk, since his mother was considered a witch by most of the town due to her odd mannerisms and behaviors.

With no family to claim him, he was soon sent to the local orphanage, where he was outcast by the other kids due to the rumors spread about his mother, thinking it applied to him as well. After a few weeks, he was sitting near the fence that bordered the orphanage, and he saw a little girl with pale blue hair come up to him and compliment his hat. Not really used to someone willingly wanting to talk to him, he fumbled out a compliment about her hair. The girl giggled, and introduced herself as Danika. Hatter also introduced himself, and after that day, Danika came by almost every day to visit Hatter, and they would talk the entire time Hatter had outside time. This went on for a few years, and with Danika’s help, he managed to escape the orphanage when he was about ten years old, and he an Danika ran away together.

They managed to find an old farmhouse owned by an elderly man, who took them in and provided them food, shelter, and even work. Two years later, Hatter was inside helping the old man with some chores when he suddenly heard Danika screaming outside. He rushed out and saw that one of the bulls was attacking her, and she was on the ground getting trampled on by the bull. Hatter, filled with so much rage, started running towards the bull, but he blacked out soon afterwards. Once he came to, he saw the bull a few feet away, dead and with three huge slash marks across its side. There was blood on him, but not on his hands. He heard Danika crying and saw that her entire left side was covered in gashes and bruises, and he immediately rushed her inside the house to be given first aid by the elderly man. He successfully tended to Danika’s wounds, and Hatter stayed with her until she was well enough to walk. She was covered in scars now, and she cried because she didn’t think she was pretty anymore, but Hatter thought she was just as beautiful as she was before, and the two grew even closer that day.

They lived with the elderly man until he died three years later of old age, and he left his farmhouse to Hatter and Danika, where they have been living together until they were sixteen.

Fun Facts

Hatter’s last name, Dobhail, means “unlucky; unfortunate” in Gaelic.

The demon that’s bonded to him is a Siamese Twin Demon named Left and Right; Left is the more impulsive one, whereas Right is the more sensible one. They bonded to Hatter when he almost died in the house fire, but neither of them know how they found Hatter in the first place. Hatter’s memory of that day is extremely blurry, and it’s a void in Left and Right’s memories, so they hope to figure it out eventually.

Hatter likes to drink, but he doesn’t drink in excess; he likes to drink for fun, mostly. The only alcohol he refuses to drink is beer and wine, because he doesn’t like how they taste.

His favorite alcohol is rum.

Danika is his depended and fp.

He’s doesn’t really understand most English slang and jokes due to his autism and the fact that English isn’t his first language (his first language is Gaelic, and he learned English from Danika and the elderly man who took them in), but he catches on pretty quickly.

He has little to no volume control, and he doesn’t know he’s being too loud unless someone tells him; the only person he actively tries to control his volume around is Danika, since loud noises startle her very easily, and he doesn’t want to unintentionally scare her.

He doesn’t like being touched by people he’s not close to, and will flinch away if a stranger so much as brushes up against his shoulder.

Hatter has psychosis, so he will have the occasional “episode”. When these happen, he gets extremely anxious and paranoid, and he’ll spout word salad and act jittery and nervous. If they get bad enough, he’ll start hallucinating and screaming and he’ll try to run away from where he’s currently at, but Danika so far has been the only one to successfully calm him down from any episodes he has.

He’ll also have a fairly reoccurring nightmare where dark, shadow-y blobs will try to drown him in darkness and rob him of all his senses. These can turn into night terrors if Hatter’s not woken up soon enough, and Dankia’s usually the one to wake him up if she hears him having a nightmare.

He’s able to calm himself down from his episodes or his nightmares, but it only happens every once in a while.

Danika is the only person Hatter actively acts affectionate with, and even then it’s usually nothing more than hand-holding and hugging with the occasional peck on the cheek, and sometimes even cuddling if he’s comfortable enough that day.

He has the attention span of a squirrel, but Danika’s been helping him with that.

Hatter is also very expressive with his body language, and likes to stim by tapping his hands and feet on stuff, jiggling his leg, pacing, and chewing on stuff; Danika bought him a special chewing necklace so that he doesn’t chew holes through his shirt or bite his nails to stim. The pendant of the chewy necklace is a white skull and crossbones, and he usually keeps it in his hat, since he doesn’t really like wearing necklaces.

Danika was the one who painted his nails, since she thought it would help him not bite them as much; it worked for the most part, along with the chewy necklace.

He’s not a huge fan of keeping up his personal appearance (as long as he’s clean and at least looks decent, he’s doesn’t really care otherwise), but he refuses to leave the house until he does his eyeliner.

He didn’t know how to read in English until he was ten; Danika and the elderly man taught him how to read in English along with speaking it.

He considers Left and Right as his annoying siblings.

Him and Zalem are actually pen pals, and Zalem was the one who helped Hatter and Danika move to America.

[sm0rches]

Trouble in the Tropics (a Jane Bond story pt. 4)

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3)

On an island somewhere in the Caribbean, one of the world's most cunning villainesses lounges—a stunningly beautiful woman in a white bikini who calls herself Ms. Blanche. Her secret resort is a small slice of paradise: dazzling waves tinted sapphire and turquoise gently hug its creamy shore, while a balmy breeze rustles the palm trees and the feathers of nesting gulls. She won it in a drinking match against a Hungarian prince and soon after had it redesigned to suit her needs. Though it was rather small, she somehow managed to have a great, white mansion of cubist design built on it, accompanied by a miniature waterfall for optimum relaxation.

The sun always shone on Pearl Island, yet there was a storm on its way nevertheless with Jane Bond and Esther Merald en route.

Steering their speedboat like a fine white steed, 007 stood proudly at the helm, her golden locks perfectly tousled in the salty wind. The sleeves of her silk blouse were rolled up,  displaying long arms and creamy skin, while her sunglasses glinted in the afternoon sunshine. Miss Merald stood behind her, dressed in a mint jumpsuit that billowed in the wind, her bare shoulders shining like smoky quartz gems.

The two cut a fierce and regal pair. Ms. Blanche could not help but smile gleefully as she watched them on the horizon. She lay on a chiffon sheet spread out in the sand, a white canopy over her to protect her delicate complexion. Two of her servants, Boris and Vlad, loomed over her in matching white suits, ready to tend to her every need.

When the speedboat came to rest on shore, Boris and Vlad drew their glocks, ready to defend their mistress, but she motioned for them to pause. She had no intention of killing her guests without letting them have a drink first.

The island was much too small to clandestinely sneak up on their target, and Jane knew Ms. Blanche was much too clever to not have some method of surveillance to prevent unwanted intruders. Thus, Jane proposed that they make no effort to arrive unnoticed.

It was a gamble, but Jane Bond was rather familiar with those. So it was with complete confidence that she ran towards Ms. Blanche, pulling out her Walther PPK. Esther followed close behind, providing an intimidating glare and emotional support (Jane often needed it).

When they reached her, Jane pointed her gun directly at Ms. Blanche’s face and said, “Don’t try anything funny, ma’am, or I will shoot.”

"Oh no, you've foiled my diabolical plan," Ms. Blanche sighed in response, taking a sip of her coconut cream cocktail with little alarm. It was obvious she was unconcerned about their sudden presence. In fact, judging by her subtle smirk, she seemed pleased to see them.

She rose from her reclined position and, after waving away her bodyguards and picking up the sheet, sauntered off in the direction of her mansion. Jane and Esther had no choice but to follow, albeit suspiciously.

The two had come across many fine residencies in their travels and had even lived in a few mansions in their day, but they could not help but be impressed by her extravagant (and somewhat peculiar) decor. True to her nature, everything---from the walls to the floor to the furniture---was blindingly white.

Except for, of course, the dead bodies lying in pools of blood in the kitchen.

"Mind the mess," Ms. Blanche said as she gestured towards the corpses. "I've been meaning to get the maid to clean those up."

"Absolutely marvelous," Esther said sarcastically as she gingerly avoided them, her cynicism masking her sudden urge to vomit. "It really adds some pizazz." She glanced over at her partner, hoping for an equally biting comment, but Jane was silently observing, deep in thought. She recalled the conversation she had hours earlier with Q, their quartermaster and computer extraordinaire. Because this was an unofficial mission, Q had to do some digging on the sly, and he had managed to find information about Ms. Blanche, also known as...

"Natalia Dorminov," Q said, showing a picture of the familiar woman on his laptop screen. "34 years of age and the daughter of a Russian crime lord and English baroness, so she obviously comes from affluent standing. She began training in ballet and gymnastics at age 4 and martial arts at age 8. She has been credited with over 30 kills."

"Acting as what? An assassin?"

"...She apparently has many temper tantrums."

"Does M know you're here?" Ms. Blanche asked curiously, disrupting Jane's flashback. When she was met with silence, she smiled wickedly. "Oh, someone's been very naughty indeed. If you died today, who would know? Who would come to retrieve your mangled bodies after I've fed you to the sharks---?"

"Natalia, my dear, what are you up to?" A new voice interrupted. An older woman appeared in the doorway, looking very out of place in a black turtleneck and black slacks. However, she held herself with an air of such confidence and intensity that Jane and Esther did not dare question her place there. Her blonde hair and blue eyes, which studied them critically from behind black-rimmed glasses, mirrored Ms. Blanche's so much so that it was no great surprise (at least to Jane) when Ms. Blanche frowned and said, "Mummy, I thought you were just leaving."

“Mummy?” Esther’s eyebrows flew heavenward.

Ms. Blanche’s mother smiled, amused by Esther’s response. She waltzed into the room, going into the kitchen (paying little heed to the corpses) to pour herself a glass of red wine. “I was planning on it, but I thought you could introduce me to your new friends first.”

Esther was too dumbfounded to respond, but Jane, ever charming, stepped forward and extended her hand. When she took it, Jane bowed slightly and brought the woman’s hand to her lips, saying, “Baroness Gillian van Derson, I presume?”

Gillian van Derson’s smile widened. “Ah, you must be the chivalrous Jane Bond that my daughter adores. It’s a pleasure finally meeting you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” She turned to Esther, who had finally recovered from her shock. “This is my partner, Ms. Merald. Esther, this is---”

“Mummy dearest,” Ms. Blanche finished, wanting to be part of the conversation again. She was pouting slightly, having the attention not centered on her. “Who said she was just leaving.”

Gillian waved her hand dismissively, taking a sip of her wine and making herself comfortable on one of the white kitchen stools. “Nonsense. If I knew Ms. Bond would be here, I wouldn’t have made other plans.”

“But Daddy’s waiting for you in Moscow.”

“Your father can wait. The Russian opium trade won’t suddenly dissolve because I chose to postpone the meeting. I’ll let Maurice know to wait on bringing the helicopter.”

At the mention of the opium trade, Jane and Esther exchanged looks, reminded of their reason for being there. It appeared they would need to apprehend two villains today instead of one.

Twenty minutes later, when they found themselves strapped to lab tables in a white room full of scary torture devices and glinting medical instruments, this proved to be a more daunting task than they were expecting.

Gillian, who had taken on a much more frightening expression, stood over them, her wine glass in one hand and a silver scalpel in the other. Her daughter, having done most of the dirty work, sat, disheveled and bruised on the counter near Jane’s feet. “That wasn’t fun at all. I broke a nail,” she mourned, examining a silver stub on her index finger.

“How unfortunate.” Agent 007 was of ill humor, having lost the fight. Natalia Dorminov proved to be very spry, and even though she initially had her at gun point, Gillian intervened by threatening to decapitate Esther, thus forcing Jane to withdraw.

“Now don’t be sour,” Gillian said with a smirk. “If it’s any consolation, I will have great fun dissecting your brains. You will contribute much to science.”

“Now now, Mummy,” Ms. Blanche protested. “You can’t kill that one. She’s mine.”

“I’m afraid you’re horribly mistaken, Ms. Blanche.” Jane raised an eyebrow. “The only woman I pledge allegiance to is the Queen.” And with a dramatic flourish, she broke her bonds and magnificently kicked Ms. Blanche off the table.

Ms. Blanche let out a shriek, and Gillian raised her hand, preparing to slice Esther open in response to Jane’s defiance, but Jane managed to wrangle the scalpel out of the mad scientist’s hand and free her friend.

Two gunshots and three karate chops later, the pair had escaped the white house of horror and were sprinting towards their speedboat. They had barely managed to escape with their skins, much less with the Baroness and her criminal mastermind daughter in captivity.

Bringing Gillian van Derson and Ms. Blanche would be a mission for another day. Until then, the cat and mouse game continued. But such is life for the daring 007 and her trusty colleague, Ms. Merald.

---

Gillian van Derson was of course modeled after Gillian Anderson (thanks @vavaharrison for the idea!). Sorry the ending was rushed :/

[murasaki-murasame]

I was planning to make a whole post anyway about my hopes and predictions for Gala Leif if he ends up happening next month, but there’s also a whole lotta other stuff to talk about now with the FEH rerun, the Ciella fight teaser, and our first gala dragon, so I guess I’ll take the chance to just talk about everything all at once, lol.

I feel like I went through every possible human emotion in the span of like ten seconds when I saw the gala banner announcement a day or two ago and then saw what it was actually about. That sure was a roller-coaster.

I honestly don’t really care about Mars that much [mainly because I’m always just more interested in adventurers than dragons], but I’m really curious about the precedent this is setting, with this being our first gala dragon, and this also happening only one month after the last gala banner.

They’ll probably talk about it in the next This Month post in a week or so, but I’m gonna just assume for now that we’re gonna get gala banners on a monthly basis from now on, rather than every two months. Which is a little bit scary to think about since it gives us less time between each gala to save up for each one, but we’ll just see how it goes.

Everyone’s predicting that we’re gonna alternate between gala dragons and gala adventurers, but I’m not sure it’ll be strictly scheduled out like that. I feel like we’re just switching to a monthly schedule and we just happened to get a gala dragon as the start of the schedule shift. I think it’s more likely that we’re going to start seeing reruns of old gala units between entirely new gala characters. I mean, it’s pretty obvious how much revenue it’d get them if they ever decided to rerun Gala Cleo or Gala Alex, lol.

Mostly I just can’t even think of that many options for what they could release in terms of gala dragon alts. We might get some of the other dragons that the royal siblings have pacts with, but we only know of like two other ones.

Mars’ introduction is bringing up the whole hot button issue of powercreep in the fandom, but honestly I don’t think Mars being really powerful is that big of a deal. He’s not exactly essential for any content, and tbh at the end of the day I just think it’d be weird if our first gala dragon WASN’T notably powerful. People already complain about dragon banners as it is because they have such low value. I can only imagine how many complaints there’d be if we got our first gala dragon and it only ended up being a sidegrade to the existing options. From what I’ve seen of how Mars changes up things on the DPS sim, I think they struck a good balance of making him powerful without him being super gamebreaking. I honestly think that Marth’s mana spiral is a much more blatant example of powercreep, and has had more of an impact on the flame meta than Mars alone.

Anyway, on the note of Marth and co, the FEH rerun has finally begun, and I kinda have to agree with everyone that the defense gamemode just doesn’t really feel good to play at all when it’s locked to solo, lol. It’s so obviously designed for co-op instead. It’s not really that big of a deal, but it does feel like more of a slog than it should, especially since you have to do it like 45 times for the event endeavors, and since there’s so many valor rewards. I’m curious to see how it pans out when this becomes a regular gamemode for future events, though. Hopefully they get better at balancing it and making it fun to play.

Even though I still don’t have any interest in pulling on any of the FEH banners since I just want to save for Gala Leif, I did decide to 70MC Alfonse, because haha bad decision machine go brr :) But I honestly do like him a lot, and I’m excited to get Sharena from the upcoming event. I hope she’s a light lance since I don’t have H-Elly or H-Vanessa, but we’ll see how it goes.

We also got some more teasers of the new FEH event and how it’ll play out. It looks like it’ll be a wave-based arena mode of sorts where you fight lots of enemies, which apparently include boss versions of different gacha characters. I think they mentioned a while ago that they’ll be introducing a new event type to the event rotation along with defense battles, and I assume this’ll be the first example of it. If they do, I hope they keep the part with you fighting boss versions of gacha characters, since that’s a neat idea that makes them feel different from the other events we get and the bosses we fight.

They haven’t really said anything about what the new FEH units will be like aside from Sharena, and I can’t really make any guesses since I’m not a Fire Emblem fan to begin with, but I’m already bracing myself for the inevitability of us getting a two-part banner for the new units, lol.

We’re also getting Ciella’s fight at around the start of next week, and they posted a preview video of the standard difficulty version of it. It seems like she inflicts a unique debuff called Vulnerability, so I’m really curious to see if I end up being correct with my previous theory about certain wind units getting debuff cleanse mechanics added via mana spiral upgrades. I think there’s at least one part in the video where Lowen heals the team and it doesn’t cleanse Vulnerability like it does with Plague, and it’d be a bit weird if you’re just meant to deal with having the debuff until it eventually wears off, so it’d be neat if they do introduce a new debuff cleanse mechanic.

Though tbh I can’t actually tell exactly what Vulnerability is meant to even do, since I don’t think it seemed to have a big impact on how much damage characters took, even though it definitely sounds like it’s meant to be a defense debuff or something. Either way, it’s probably going to be the central mechanic of Ciella’s fight, so hopefully we get tools to deal with it.

They only showed off the standard version of her fight so things will probably get more complex in expert, but it looks like her fight’s going to be built around making you move around a lot to dodge attacks. She seems to have various purple attacks, as well as homing attacks, and one move that seems to fire projectiles that bounce around the map. I don’t know how much this will really impact things, but it at least seems different to how relatively little you have to move around in Kai Yan.

It also looks like she might have unavoidable freeze-inflicting attacks, which might be interesting. They probably want you to use at least one freeze-res character. Which might not really diversify the meta much from where it is now, since Hawk has freeze res, but we’ll see how it goes.

We haven’t heard anything about us getting more wind mana spirals, but I’d be kinda surprised if we don’t get any more for this. In general wind is in a bit of an awkward spot, and if we don’t get more mana spirals for it soon, I feel like the Ciella meta is just going to be Tobias + Hawk [and maybe Lin You] again, if only just due to a lack of good options.

I’m also still really interested to see what the wind Agito weapon buffs end up being, and how much they might benefit certain characters. I think that a crit rate buff might be pretty nice, at least for characters like Ku Hai, but that sort of a buff probably wouldn’t help people like Lin You or DY-Xainfried much since they have crit rate buffs in their kits already. A crit damage buff could be interesting, but unless you’re playing as Lin You or have a DY-Xainfried on the team, it might not be as good as a crit rate buff.

Either way, I’m slowly getting a 0UB wind CT2 of each type just so I have all my options available to me, but I feel like the first wind Agito weapon I get will probably be a blade or wand, since I’ll probably end up using either Tobias, Noelle, or DY-Xainfried against Ciella most of the time. I do have a 70MC Lin You, though, so I might get an axe too.

We’ll see how it goes when the fight comes out, but I’m gonna assume that Ciella will probably be about as difficult as Kai Yan. Though since she doesn’t seem to have the same ‘you deal twice as much damage to the boss as you normally would for some reason’ mechanic as Kai Yan, and since wind is way less broken as an element than shadow as a whole, it’ll probably take a bit longer to clear. Though tbh I’m still like 100% expecting people to be able to clear it notably faster with full shadow teams than wind teams, so there’s that to consider, lol.

Anyway the main thing I’ve been thinking about recently is Gala Leif, who I’m still hoping against hope will come out at the end of next month.

It’s not like we know for sure he’s gonna ever be released at all, but with chapter 13 he’s officially joined Euden full-time, and he got a whole new redesign and 3D model to commemorate it, which really seems like blatant set-up for him getting a gala alt. Like how Sarisse has her NPC design, and a 3D model based on it for Melsa’s event, but then she got a new outfit and 3D model for her gala alt. Even Mym technically got her design tweaked a bit for her gala alt compared to her regular NPC artwork.

I wasn’t even sure at first if Leif got a new outfit for chapter 13 or if it was just a different pose, but it’s definitely a different outfit. Or, more accurately, it’s basically his old outfit but tweaked and redesigned to be more ornate and fancy and detailed, which is pretty telling. And I’m pretty sure his 3D model from the Void Poseidon fight was a new one based on his new outfit, which is also just even more additional design work to put into someone who’s currently just an NPC.

I heard that in chapter 9 he was basically given the same sort of internal coding as Albert [like how NPC Zethia in chapter 1 was apparently based on Hildegarde’s data], but I don’t really think he’s going to be a light unit, at least if he does end up as a gala unit. We already have Gala Euden as a gala light sword adventurer, and I don’t think they want to double up on that. I also feel like one way or another Leif is going to be fairly support-based, which would make him overlap with Gala Euden even more if he were a light sword. So I’m just hoping that doesn’t happen.

In the long run I think that his role in combat will be more relevant to the question of which units he’d overlap with, rather than his element/weapon combo. I mean, we could have a purely offensive gala light sword and they wouldn’t actually conflict too much with Gala Euden because they’d do different things. The various changes we’ve gotten to how co-abilities work, and the introduction of unique co-abilities, means it’s not really a big deal to have two units with the same weapon type in a team together so long as they do different things.

Which is also why I don’t want him to be a wind or water element sword unit, either. Gala Ranzal is [kind of] defense-oriented already, and also he just doesn’t deserve to get directly overshadowed by a hypothetical new gala wind sword, lol. And even though Gala Elly is a different weapon type, Leif would definitely conflict with her in practice if he was a support-oriented water unit.

Funnily enough I think him being a shadow element gala sword built around team buffs could work fine, and he wouldn’t really overlap with anyone aside from maybe Patia, but realistically I doubt we’ll get another gala shadow sword so soon after Gala Alex, no matter how different they might be in practice, lol.

So basically due to process of elimination I think I’d want him to be a gala flame sword. On the one hand the idea of a gala flame sword doesn’t really interest me at all, but honestly I think he could be surprisingly interesting and really shake things up if he’s support-oriented. Nearly all of the flame swords we have are pretty much entirely offensive, and nobody uses Karl even though he can technically be used as a support-based flame sword with the right set-up. So I honestly think that Leif could have his own relatively unique niche in the flame meta even if he ends up with such a common element/weapon combo.

There’s also the fact that Volk seems like it’s going to end up being the hardest Agito fight by a substantial degree, so I think it’d make sense to start introducing more flame units designed to let people break into that fight. And from what I know of the Volk meta [from having never actually played eVolk myself, lol], it seems pretty obvious that the big hole in the flame meta at the moment is how H-Lowen is basically the only accepted support unit, and he’s an entirely support-focused unit who does next to nothing to contribute to the team’s DPS. If eVolk and HMS didn’t have unavoidable damage and high difficulty in general, he’d probably lose his place in the meta, which I feel like is kinda already happening as a result of Hawk and Marth’s mana spirals. So I feel like what flame really needs right now, rather than more good DPS units or more good healers, is a support unit who can also contribute to team DPS.

So basically what I want is for Gala Leif to be like a mix of Tobias, Gala Elly, and T-Hope. If he wants to be an alternative/replacement to H-Lowen, he’s going to need at least SOME healing, on top of offensive/defensive buffs. I wouldn’t actually want him to have enough healing to straight up replace H-Lowen as a healer, but if he wants to be an alternative to him then he at least needs enough to deal with stuff like cleansing plague.

In general my basic idea of how I think his kit could work in order to fulfill that role is that he could have an S1 that has a big strength boost and a smaller defense boost [so like a reverse of Patia’s S1], and an ability/chain co-ability that gives Team Healing Doublebuff. Preferably on the level of 5% HP per tick instead of 1% HP per tick like with T-Hope. I think that’d basically be all that he needs to be able to work as a team support unit who can contribute to team DPS while also providing enough healing to deal with plague and recover people from unavoidable damage, even though he wouldn’t be as good of a generalist healer as H-Lowen.

For both Volk and HMS there’s also the issue of interfering with melee baiters, and needing to do ranged baiting for certain moves, so in spite of him being a sword unit, maybe they could give Gala Leif an S2 that gives him a ranged attack stance like Tobias, so he can let the melee units do their thing.

This is all just more or less baseless speculation, but this is just what I’m thinking they could do to address the fact that Volk is the hardest Agito fight, that the support role is the most exclusive and difficult role in that fight, that H-Lowen is basically dead weight DPS-wise who seems to slowly be losing his relevance in the face of 4DPS team comps, and that Emma has basically never been meta for Volk and has become way less important for HMS with how co-abilities work now. So introducing a new gala unit who provides fairly substantial team DPS buffs along with adequate healing seems like it’s exactly what the flame element needs right now. And considering that Gala Alex has poison and buff dispel it’s not exactly impossible that we could get a gala unit designed to work against Volk. It might make more sense for us to get a wind gala unit next to go against Ciella, but I still think that Ciella won’t be as hard as Volk, and wind also already has more in the way of viable support units than flame does at the moment.

The fact that our first gala dragon is also a flame one designed for DPS units, along with Marth getting a super powerful mana spiral, also just makes me think that they’re still trying to address the Volk meta and give people more options for it, so I think it’s reasonable to assume our next gala unit might be designed to address the support/defense part of the flame meta.

It’s worth noting, though, that I’m pretty sure Leif had some sort of team defense buff when he showed up in chapter 9, which is basically the main reason why I’m assuming he’d be a support/defense-based unit rather than an offensive one. Patia also ended up being a team support unit so it’d just make sense if he ended up being kinda similar, lol.

Anyway this was way too many words to just say that I want my boi to finally come home :v