#i just finished it so it may have some Issues(tm)

[court-jobi]

Look Up, Darlin'

Pairing: Bakugou x reader (biker! pro-hero reader, some afab pronouns used)

Words: 1.7k

Rating: G~

Warnings: Pro-Hero Bakugou domestic fluff, TW: eyedrops, if you're squeamish, established relationship, tooth-rotting fluff, "Bakugou knows best"TM

Summary:

Bakugou’s prized love placed a newly fallen-asleep leg down on the ground with an uncomfortable groan. He has half a mind to chew you out on your posture again; he’s told you time and time again that you’re gonna wreck your lower back that way… But you really haven’t learned how to manage your time well enough to finish your work at the office rather than bring it home every night- especially as you’ve been asking for more and more to cover expenses. It’s a bad habit, but one he still finds a soft spot towards… and Bakugou is not so high-and-mighty that he won’t step in and give you the helping hand you need.

A/N: Oops, I loved Midoriya's stress relief tactics so much in Reheat, I let Bakugou try his hand at some comfort! Enjoy, lovelies, and thank you for the love, as always!

For my My Hero Academia Masterlist, check it out here!

Read on Ao3

Back from an evening patrol route, Katsuki sighs at the hour listed on the microwave. Not much time left before you have to leave for yours. It’s his least-favorite patrol cycle, where you two are working opposite each other; but it only happens every two months -lasting only about five or six days each time. It’s enough to put him in a soured mood, but fortunately he’s been working on his attitude at your insistence. 

Best to enjoy what time he can, rather than be a grump about what he’s missing. Your routine has been disrupted too, after all.

However, the sight he comes home to flares up his disappointment even more: though this time, irritation sits in his chest because of you.

Finding you situated in the living room this way is becoming a bit of a habit; and not one that Katsuki loves. You’re stretching out your leg with a wince, which you’ve no doubt sat on for too long again. He really outta chew you out for this. 

–at least he would, until he got a better angle of your face: tightness and tension seep from every pore, sinking your eyes and draining your usually enduring spirit by the minute. 

Now of course, he was primarily concerned if you were having a charlie horse or circulation issues, because he reasoned that could affect your quirk. But moreover, you did not look comfortable. An 'I told you so' was also out of the question. It would hurt your feelings– not be a swift kick in the butt that would motivate someone like Izuku. 

So the questions remains, how to best help you… He's getting too damn soft around you.

This was a key difference between your work habits– not worthy of a fight, but a point of debate you usually opt to table for another time whenever he brings it up. Katsuki liked to get the back-end, post-mission paperwork done on-site at the agency, even if it took him longer after the fight to get home. Meanwhile, you liked to take your time, get ahead of the mad rush at the office after your adrenaline leveled out, and chose to work on it from the comfort of your couch. The latter would spare you the mental space after a battle, but opened up potential procrastination of the job entirely.

In both instances, he prided himself on his method and would defend it, even now. That said, he sure hated seeing you like this- when you fall on your method with a fumble.

Instead of a snark or a sigh, Katsuki comes up behind you with remarkable stealth for his character, interrupting your tired typing flow with his reflection cast faintly on your screen. He arrives just in time to get you back on track, reaching over the sofa and bringing your shoulders back with warmed hands.

"Those are some tired eyes, wifey."

Katsuki kissed the crown of your head firmly. You may not be his actual wife yet, but he can’t help trying out the name. Lucky for him, you haven’t had the heart to correct him yet, so he gathered it’s enough of a sign to keep it up. 

The day he finally makes it a reality will be a fully-realized dream come true. But for now, he’s set to save for the perfect ring, the perfect moment, and build up the skills needed to take care of you. Why not get a head start?

You exhale at his touch and freshly washed-up smell-- immediately regretting working for this long of a stretch, because the second your eyes shut, they stung.

"Got more left?"

"Mhm."

"Wouldja rather dictate?"

"You would be my secretary?" you couldn't believe the offer, despite his amused huff across your pinned up hair at the idea. He took it out, to run his hands through instead. 

Feels ungodly good, those hands– when they're not overworked and overheated, Katsuki keened when you told him so the first time he took to this method of relaxing you.

"If it would get your ass in bed sooner,” Katsuki snarks, “then yes. How long you been up.”

“Got up a few hours ago, to finish up~”

Katsuki chewed the inside of his lip with a scowl. So you didn’t get as much sleep as usual, it seems. Getting up early ahead of your 12-hour shift in order to finish your previous day’s work wasn’t best practice, and that’s exactly where he’s found you. 

This didn’t please him at all, but the blonde keeps his tongue from clicking its displeasure at you.

You sink into the movement of each fingertip, "It's more the eye strain getting to me than the lack of brain power, now."

"Well, you know what fixes those problems..."

Eye drops: which you hated, or coffee: which got you wired, not rested. Neither were a pleasant option at this hour, and made you groan.

With his long reach, Katsuki double swiped through what comment fields were left on your laptop, and simply made an executive decision to 'Save Progress' and shut the laptop down. You’d fallen prey to his massaging hand and whined once you registered what he did.

"None’a that,” he gripes at your moan, “C’mon. Off to bed."

"It's work, Katsuki. I need to do it."

"You NEED to set a timer. Barely ten minutes left’a work. Set it for after a nap." Katsuki rounded the couch and appeared before you as you tried for a spinal twist in his absence. 

"Thirty, if you're me,” you reply, “You rush. I’ve read your sum-ups…"

You say it with a smirk, but Katsuki is hardly in a joking mood.

"Says the woman working herself into an early grave. I think I'll stick with my ‘Sparknotes’, thank you very much," he crossed his arms.

Works for him, after all. You stared off at the offending computer in a way that Katsuki could only hope was you mentally running through the possibility that maybe there was something to his strategy that you could adopt in your favor.

Katsuki scoffed, then simply took your phone up without a fight from you, "Fine, I'll set it."

By the time he’s done, he centered back to you, but to a sad sight. You’re zoned out and defeated, exhausted. Summoning the grace you offer him in droves, Kats decides to soften the blow of his arrival home with a compliment, to ease your clear regret. No need to add lemon juice to your self-inflicted wounds.

"You take your time, and it does get ya results. It's good work. I'll give you that," Katsuki stuck your phone back on its charging pad, then squatted with his hands on his thighs, "--it aint worth all this."

No fight left in you on the matter, you thankfully agree, "... okay."

"Okay?"

"...I'll take the stupid eye drops."

“Good start...”

A hint lies unspoken in his tone. Just a pause, waiting on you to read into the rest like he knows you can…

“And-” you sigh and place a hand over his on his knee, “I’ll rethink this whole remote work thing.”

-Perfect-

"Atta girl," Katsuki chipped your chin up, and snuck a couple fingers to his back pocket. Taking a knee on the couch between your thighs, he stayed situated above you and into your space so you’d have no way to back out of what’s needed right now. "Four eyes, off."

You look shocked he has a bottle of eyedrops on demand. What do you take him for, a stupid extra? Of course he’s prepared. What do you think all these pockets are for, tictacs?

"-What, now?"

"Yes, now."

Shedding your blue light glasses, you tisk away your trepidation, "You were gonna make me use ‘em anyway."

"Cry me a river. Oh wait– you can't, cuz you don’t listen to your own frickin’ eyelids. Now c'mon, don't be difficult, dummy -look that way- dammit, do you ever blink..."

He kept your jaw up gently at first, knowing he’d likely have to borderline hold your entire throat in place when you blinked like mad and flail back after just one squeeze. 

You’d figured out a little trick by looking off into the corner of a room to help with the anticipation; Katsuki even used to make you count down to ‘zero’- only to execute the drops early, as a psych-out. You knew all the tactics now, so little worked to distract you, but whether he had to pull out all the stops or not, you still hated this process. 

Katsuki snarked through this little task with the bottle’s topper wedged between his teeth.The drops’ sting fortunately did lessen and give way to some cooling relief once he capped it again. Unsurprisingly, he sassed that you shouldn't wipe it all off, but he did take a surprisingly gentle touch at swiping away the excess from your lashline and cheeks for you. With more blinks, you were happy to give him a little apologetic smile.

"What do we say?" Katsuki purred with a smirk.

"Thank you."

"Thank you, what?"

"Thank you Lord Explosion Murder God, Dynamight, the Ultimate and Benevo-"

Stocked up with your praises, Katsuki kisses you: gentle in entry, but with a passionate tongue to shut you up.

"You're welcome,” he nudged noses with you, “-now come cuddle your murder god before you and I both pass out."

By his count, you’ve got two and a half hours before you need to scoot on out the door. He compromised on your cram time to an even twenty minutes to finish your report, fully confident you’ll be just fine with what you turn in. You’ll give him another sleepy kiss before he settles back into bed, you’ll take your dinner to-go, and he’ll take care of the rest of the chores around the apartment when he wakes up. May not love these wacky arrangements, Katsuki thinks, but the payoff will be more than worth it come Monday. 

He’s a hero; he can handle a few nights without you nestled in as his personal weighted blanket. For now, a quick cat-nap will do– for both of you.

[canonicallyobserving911]

So I saw your post on trying to figure out who’s behind Chimney in the promo, and I gotta mention one thing that’s bothering me and would love your commentary.

So in season 5, episode 4 (I believe?) after Maddie runs away and Chimney is freaking out, and when Buck comes to check in on him, Buck essentially says that no one is making Maddie do anything.

Chimney ends up bringing up Doug. Saying, specifically, “Doug did.”

Buck then says that Doug is dead, and chimney says:

“Is he, though? I mean, did you see a body? Did anyone see a body?”

That line has been bothering me SENSE.

Thoughts?? Or am I just looking too much into things?

Thank you @travelandwriting for the ask.

This answer is in response to this post.

You posed a good question from 5x4 that was brought up during Chimney's conversation with Buck about Maddie's deceased husband, Doug Kendall. I just watched the 2x13 scene of Maddie killing him again to be sure and since the coroner put him in a body bag, it appears he did die after she stabbed him multiple times. Also, she got the insurance money from his death in season 3 when his estate was settled.

If by some chance, he woke up and he's not dead, then the question is, where has he been all this time? Was he recovering in a bunker somewhere?

Now, there's a small possibility (like a .00001% chance) that he woke up (Maddie stabbed him in the shoulder and in the back) while his body was being transported. The fact is there was a HELICOPTER on the scene too and Athena was talking to them on her radio and the aerial view of the scene is below.

Reminder, T.K. was already gone from the 118 so the speculation that follows may not be too farfetched.

If he was flying it and he air lifted Doug out but he woke up during the transport; maybe Doug paid him to keep quiet about him being alive. Also, Doug was a surgeon which means he would know how to fix his own wounds so there's that.

If any of this speculation is true and Doug did wake up, it makes sense why T.K. would want to get next to Buck so Doug could find out where the bachelor party would be so he could finish the job. He stalked Maddie for months starting in 2x10 while he pretended to be Chimney's friend before he stabbed him in 2x12.

Full disclosure: with all the continuity issues in seasons 5 and 6, I'm not sure 9-1-1 would be this detailed but it's not a long shot since TM is back.

Unless they show more scenes in the upcoming trailers, we'll have to wait until Thursday to see who that person standing behind Chimney is.

Thanks again for the ask and have a great day.

[mysticalserenity-tarot]

Hey there !!! 🙋‍♀️I’ll just give u a heads up… long ass review incoming !!!

I just went through ur recent pac reading of “What's coming for you in the next few months” and I have to say it was soo damn accurate !!!

Like the first couple of lines where u said u sense writers I was like laughing out loud. I just finished a creative writing essay for my college this evening after months of not writing much despite writing being my love and passion. Med school has been hectic so no time man. Anywho I was feeling ecstatic after writing something after so long and ur line bout writers was just like pure confirmation that it was indeed my pile. Another one which resonated was the recent pain from someone causing me to isolate and withdraw… Boy did that hit. Was just betrayed by my closest friends and hit hurt like hell. Able to manage my duties and responsibilities well but I’ve been quiet and just feel like pushing everyone away. Trust issues TM lmao 🫠🫠. I felt reassured and encouraged by the reading. Thanks so much and keep going love !! Love ur readings so damn much… u got some talent 🫶🫶

Anywho hope u have a great day/night ❤️❤️

Loads of love from India 🇮🇳

Have y'all collectively decided to make me cry with your beautiful comments and reviews? 😭😭

I'm so so happy it resonates with you and I loved the energy in it. I truly felt freedom and yes writers (hence the intuitive books pic eheh), which I salute because you guys have so much patience and creativity in you.

Oh dear, I'm so sorry for the betrayel, I know the feel unfortunately but better days are on the horizon, keep believing in them and in your uniqueness and potential 🙌 Don't worry, those who hurt you will face their consequences. Thank you so much for this beautiful long feeback/review and for taking the energy and time to write it, I appreciate it 🫂

Sending much love and blessings your way. May you rebirth like a beautiful Phoenix 🔥 Have a great ones too, love ❤️

Ps: I have Indian friends which I love so much! 😌

[k--havok]

sorry ive been dead for the past week+ a LOT has happened again so complaining under the cut i suppose.

2024 keeps giving me whiplash and it's like I cannot get a break. I finished my TMS therapy finally and like. I have no idea if I am doing better or not but at least its over with. I'm dreaming again which is nice. And I finally got my sleeping pills back but I've been off them for so long that I now have to readjust to them and its been kinda difficult. Pair that with all the sleep debt I've accumulated and it's been a bit rough. At the very least this is the first weekend I've had in over a month where I have not been taking 3 hour long naps every day so that's good.

What's not good is the fact my estranged aunt on my dad's side of the family died in what looks to be an OD. Horrible way to go. I was not close to her at all as my dad's side of the family is certifiably nuts and I want nothing to do with them, but now there's an issue with inheritance regarding my aunt. Her older sister, and my other aunt, is supposed to contact me regarding said inheritance as its supposed to be 50/50 but she has not yet. Which is no surprise really as she is a very greedy person and will try and cut me out of whatever I am owed. So I may have to get a lawyer or something. Idk. My mom is going to help me out with this but this is just another headache I will have to deal with. Luckily, due to the TMS therapy, my anxiety is managed so I'm not panicking about this yet but. Still. I just want this to be over with.

My patients at work have also been difficult. Not personality wise but they've just been so complicated. They come to us half-dead on their last legs and it's heartbreaking but with all the comorbidities I can only do so much to help them. I ain't jesus and I cannot perform miracles. I get home from work and just pass out in bed since I'm so emotionally and mentally drained. It doesn't help that I've found out that some of my previous patients have died not long after seeing them and I really do not need to know that. I do not need existential dread at 2:00 AM while staring at brain waves.

Aaand I've just. Been trying to rest I think. I've been so stressed out these past few months that the little brain power I have left over has been going to video games, cooking, and managing my kitten. Writing has been pushed out of the way which is sad as I do have ideas and think about my blorbos often. But I cannot seem to put any of that mental energy into like. Actually fleshing out their stories. Instead I think about stupid shit or smut which is lovely but unhelpful.

Hopefully I'll come back from this mini hiatus soon. Sometimes an epiphany will hit me like a train and I'll jump in feet-first back into writing and interacting here. But it may take a while, as I am an extreme introvert and it's hard for me to interact with more than one or two people at a time.

I'll just. Continue to work on it through therapy and hopefully that will help me along.

[cutekittenlady]

Tumblr Plays Pokemon White 2 - Part 9

((I should consider making a masterpost for all this))

Ahhh what a beautiful summers day in Castelia!

The plasma leads have all but dried up, leaving Hugh feeling a little... well hes not in the peppiest mood. Challenging Castelia Gym and filing up the pokedex are still on my to do list at the moment, but before I try and tackle either of those issues I need to train up my team and earn a little more money. I think there may be some trainers here in Castelia I can battle for pocket change. At least enough to finish off the sewer dex.

I've asked around and apparently some of the companies around here dont mind having things shaken up by a battle during the lunch break. I got a list of places to check out.

To start with;

Huh kind of an on the nose name but whatevs.

There were only two guys interested in battling me here, and I beat them relatively easily but they invited me to come back again the next day if I wanted to battle again. Pretty ok place.

I went to the office building across the street and while I didn't find anyone to battle there I did get the tm for rest.

On the next street over I found a casteliacone stand. I'd really like some but I'm trying to save my money for pokeballs!

Other than an art gallery where a guy asks to see different types of pokemon everyday this street doesnt have much else.

Battle Company huh? Maybe this'll have some people I can win prize money from.

The second I walk in this old man accosts me. He tells me that the people in this building LOVE pokemon battles so if I go upstairs to the offices I should be careful.

I tell him that thats exactly what I'm here for! I need training for my pokemon and a little extra prize money. In response he gives me an exp. share.

Dang old dude, thanks! Thats actually incredibly helpful!

The old guys heads upstairs while I decide who to strap the weird exp helmet onto. We talk to some of the folks in the lobby and this girl notices our pokedex and asks what pokemon we started our journey with.

Feeling a little coy I lie and say I started with Tepig. She gives me a charcoal in response. I feel a little bad about having lied, but the charcoal will power up Mollys fire type attacks, and I already found a miracle seed back in the empty lot. This is bound to be useful for the gym. I thank her and quickly move on. I also run into one of the clowns from the other day. Evidently there are more of these people around here.

With that I head upstairs.

The battle company wound up being incredibly lucrative! I got several special pokeballs as well as a lot of other useful items.

Most of the team gain levels as well as some new moves. Molly learned reversal in place of leer for instance. Polux, sadly, didn't do as well in the battle company despite having one higher level than everyone else. I'm thinking it might be good to teach him so of the tm moves I've picked up to help him compete.

I head back and heal up my pokemon at the pokemon center after leaving the battle company before continuing to explore Castelia.

This s the creepy ally where that one guy gave me the tm for flash. Theres a cute little cafe here at least.

And then theres the street where the gym is! The gym doesnt need to be explained but the building on the left has a guy who rates pokemon names, and a lady who gives pokemon a massage (gave one to Polux to help him relax). On the second floor is a medal office where I find the second clown from the rally. And on the third floor and the scientist fennels office.

I head north past the central plaza to the northernmost street and explore the buildings there. I manage to get the tm for attract, an amulet coin, and an eviolite.

Thats all of the streets explored. Now I think I'll check out the docks. But first...

Hmm Lemonade. Sweet citrusy lemonade.

I decide to take nice leisurly boat ride to the nearby liberty island to do some site seeing.

Which was a... bad call...

Eeuuugh my poor stomach.

UUUUUgh I literally just found out I get seasick. Howd I forget so soon??? Bleh.

I eventually managed to make it back to Castelia, but I take a minute to take note of my seasickness in future.

This more or less makes me give up on the pier and I head to the analytics HQ where I find the last clown. I also got a soda pop after answering a toooon of questions.

Regardless with all that taken care of I decide to delve into the sewers again to try and finally complete this pokedex.

Well I've explored every nook and cranny of this town. Guess its finally time to start prepping for challenging the gym.

First I give the team some relevant held items.

I give Bentley the Miracle Seed I found in Castelia Park. His typing likely won't be much use in the bug gym, but even so it seems a more reliable move item to give him rather than anything else. Besides, once the gym is beaten it means I wont have to wonder about what item to give him next.

Molly I have obviously given the Charcoal in order to increase the power of her fire type moves. She has the biggest type advantage on the team and so I'll likely be relying on her for super-effective hits.

I've given Aries the scope lens. I considered giving her the leftovers in order to help her heal herself, but tbh I'll mostly be relying on Aries for her special attack and ability to paralyze opponents. Giving her an item that'll allow her to hit super-effective hits should hopefully help things out.

Finally there's Polux. i was between giving him the silk scarf or the eviolite but ultimately decided on the eviolite. I've noticed Polux tends to go down easier than my other team members, so giving him a defense boosting item will likely help out.

Now there are attacks. The change I've really made is teaching Polux Return. As a normal type the move will be especially effective. I replaced Growl with the move but we'll see where this goes.

I'm leaving the HMs alone for the moment. They are far more difficult for a pokemon to forget when compared to a regular attack or tm. So I'm hoping to keep them in my back pocket for further exploration.

I think about purchasing more healing items but opt to preserve my money instead.

I wonder what the gym is going to be-

Burgh... level with me are you on drugs?

Cause this place make it feel like your on drugs...

Clyde gives me a bottle of water as usual and explains that the gym is designed around a series of cocoons that will, sooner or later, lead to Burgh.

This gym is definitely way different from Cherens school yard or Roxies club. Well theres no helping it. I might as well start by going straight in.

The cocoon right isnt actually that bad. Some weird suction pushes me through the whole thing to an upper web. Thinking there should really be some railing or something around here.

I ride back down and experiment a bit by going in to the cocoon on the opposite side which leads me to being pushed through to a different cocoon on the same level. It seems what direction I enter these things influences the direction I go. Something to keep in mind.

Evidently those clowns running the rally where I got my bike seem to work for the gym as its a clown with a sewaddle I wind up facing first.

I lead with Bentley hoping to get through this fight without using up too much of Mollys energy which I want to preserve for more difficult opponents. As a result I have Bentley use wrap to get some chip damage on the Sewaddle only for it to use bug bite and eat up over half of Bentleys health. Sadly it looks like Bentley is just not going to be able to handle this gym.

I swap in for Polux to give the little guy a chance at a fight early on in the gym. The eviolite seems to be doing this work as he tanks a tackle attack. I have Polux use quick attack which lands a crtical. A bug bite from Sewaddle takes out way more of Polux's health than I expected, but I'm able to win another quick attack.

The clown sends in another Sewaddle. Not wanting to be here all day I send in Molly. She gets hit with a critical razor leaf but takes out hte opponent with a flame wheel.

With that first fight not going quite to plan I swap around the team order a bit. Evidently this gym is higher level than I thought. I put Bentley in the back. Sadly he'll likely have to cover the rest of the team rather than. I hae Polux lead the team since, as a normal type, he largely takes neutral damage. Aries and Molly are both nostled in the middle as my main damage dealers for this gym.

With that bit of rearranging I continue on.

Moving up the structure I come across my second clown.

This one starts things off with a combee. I have Polux use Bite but it doesnt do much damage. I swap in to Aries who tanks a bug bite. THankfully her static ability paralyzes the combee. I have Aries use thundershock which proves to be super effective and takes combee out. Next up is a swadloon. I swap in to Molly who takes the swadloon out in one hit with a flame wheel.

Thats two trainers down.

The third isn't too far away and I get into yet another battle.

This third clown starts with another sewaddle. I have molly face it and while shes hit wth bug bite she manages yet another one hit KO. From there the trainer sends in a dwebbly. I send in Bentley in the hopes that Dwebbles rock typing with counteract its bug typing. The answer? It does. Or at least appears to as Bentleys leaf tornado gets it in the red. I have bentley use return to finish it off. The clown sends in a combeen prompting me to swap in Aries. I think Combee has a flying type which Aries should be super effective against. She tanks a couple bug bites before hitting a thundershock taking it out.

Phew. Thats three trainers. And with half the team nearly in yellow health I hope I find Burgh soon. I dont want to use up my healing items until right before the gym leaders.

Instead of Burgh I find yet another trainer.

This one starts off with a dwebble so I send in Bentley. The dwebble uses rock polish and I have Bentley use leaf tornado which takes Dwebble into the yellow. Dwebble keeps using rock polish leaving Bentley open to use return. Unfornately it isn't nearly enough to take dwebble out. Dwebble hits with a smack down and I have bentley use another return to finally knock dwebble out. Dwebble is followed by Swadloon. I follow suit by sending in Molly again. She manages yet another 1 hit KO with flame wheel.

And after that final trainer I FINALLY manage to make it Burghs gym room. I heal up most of my team and leave Polux as the lead pokemon. Burghs nice enough to let me prepare before starting up the gym battle.

Burgh starts things off with a swadloon. I swap in Molly as an obvious counter. Her intimidate ability lowers swadloons attack. Swadloon hits Molly with a stringshot and hits with razor leaf. Molly counters with flame wheel on hite KO'ing swadloon. Burgh replaces Swadloon with Dwebble and I send in Bentley. Bentley hits with smackdown but bentley uses leaf tornado in turn. Dwebble increases its speed with rock polish and htis another smack down. Unfortunately for it Bentleys tough enough to tank the hits and takes dwebble out with anoher leaf tornado. Bentley even learns Leech Seed a a result of the victory, replacing wrap as the new chip damage strategy. Burgh swaps to Leavanny, his final pokemon, I leave Bentley in hoping to use leech seed on it only to find that it doesnt effect Leavanny because its a grass type. Leavanny then hits with another struggle bug KO'ing Bentley. I choose to send in Aries next. Leavanny hits with razor leaf doing a lot of damage but Aries manges to get in a thunderwave paralyzing Leavanny and hits with thundershock which does hardly anything. Leavanny hits with another razor leaf taking Aries out. Rather than send in Molly I send in Polux. Hopefully his eviolite will let him tank a few hits. I have Polux use sand attack repeatedly to lower Leavannys accuracy as much as possible. The paralysis Aries hit here helps a lot and we get in two sand attacks before Polux is taken down. Molly is the final member of the team standing. She hits Leavanny with a fire wheel doing super effective damage. Leavanny heals with a sitrus berry and hits with a string shot. But its not enough as Molly takes Leavanny out with another flame wheel.

And just like that the gym is won! Molly even learned Fire fang.

Burgh gives me the insect badge and tm for struggle bug to reward my victory.

I head out of the gym and go directly to the pokemon center to heal my team up.

Whew that was a hard fought for Victory. I'm going to rest up at the pokemon center for awhile. I haven't seen Hugh again for awhile. I hope he hasn't taken off again... Regardless after a quick power nap I better head into the sewers to catch a few more pokemon before continuing on.

[jekinabox]

@mapalsyrup

You haven't finished Scarlet yet but fuck it imma tell you shit and just try to leave out as many spoilers as I can because DLC bois

-Basically: Riddler Khu (well known pokemon game data-miner and teaser) posted stuff about the DLC having some pretty cool mechanics

-RK says something about the hexagon w/ eyes on tera jewels having to do w/ the third legendary

-RK talks about mega evolution being different from z-moves, dynamaxing & terastallizing in a way that seems to suggest that the difference it that all are caused by pokemon except mega evolutions

-You know how Paldea is Spain? The connecting area between Spain + France appears in maps in-game but cant be accessed in game.

People assume that this is where the dlc will take place.

Kalos is based on France, and also doesn't contain that area, so its not off-limits to use/make

-The thing many people assume to be linked the third legendary, mentioned in the scarlet/violet book and some lab entries, has a hexagonal pattern and/or shape

People have theorized that this could point to Zygarde (Kalos legendary)

No one else has mentioned this (as far as I know) somehow but the image in the scarlet/violet book does kinda have a Zygarde-ish shape

the letter amount it has in the name in the lab is 1 off, but it may have some different nick-name or the letter amount might not just fully correspond, since the scarlet/violet book has that issues. People are thinking it might get a mega-evo w/ a 6 letter name but idk

-someone talked about how Area Zero has the same initials as the guy behind the story of X&Y, and RK responded with a reference to the guy's floette that was in the code but never the game., which may or may not have to do with floette and/or AZ being in the dlc

That guy's evil scheme was apparently a giant crystal cannon

Floettes can be spotted in Area Zero

-Delphox (a Kalos starter's final evo) is once of the pokemon I saw was going to be transferable to S/V from Home in 2023

-Diance & Carbink (crystal pokemon w/ links to Kalos) will also be transferable

-2023 will be the 10th anniversary of X & Y coming out in 2013

-Dex entry of Roaring Moon (Scarlet Paradox Salamence) references mega salamence

-While the first impression I got was that the hexagon legendary was behind the paradoxes, if Zygarde is in the game, it may be under control or trying to stop the paradoxes(bcuz order pokemon) and would be helped during the game

Perhaps Zygarde cells could be found around the world like roaming gimmighoul

-I really wanna see Yveltal, the LIFE DRAINING pokemon that can WIPE OUT AN ENTIRE FOREST, in an open world game. Imagine the dystopia.

-Volcanion's (Kalos legendary that people have been complaining didn't get to do anything) move was removed/replaced for S/V pokemon.

It does look very mechanical.

-Paldea is mentioned "defending against neighboring countries" or smthn similar in the history, and a war was mentioned in Kalos lore

-This could just be for profit & loving Charizard's sake but the OP Tera Raid Charizard might be a secret teaser (since its one of the few pokemon with 2 mega evos)

-idk exactly what this means, but Geeta's final pokemon has been laughed at bcuz its meant to be a set-up pokemon for the beginning of battles, but its the species you need to farm in order to get the Tera Blast TM & is found deep in Area Zero, which is specifically called out by the game (idr who, but Penny and/or Arven ask about wtf it is) + RK also mentioned her as an option when he made a poll about who people thought would be the dlc villian

-Another option was Heath; he has a cyclizar(like how Miraidon + Koraidon are paradox cyclizar) and with the lore+theories so far, it kinda makes sense but not really so idk this either

-also may or may not do anything- but the scarlet book has a drawing of a paradox pokemon that looks like a mix between Suicune, Raiku, & Entei, and the violet one is a mix between Virizon, Coballion & Terakion. The book claims it was drawn by one of the explorers based on paradox pokemon because the ones they saw inspired him, but idk, some of the current knowledge and theories (that I can't say bcuz spoilers) may suggest not

edit: the war mentioned in Kalos was stopped w/ the ultimate weapon crystal cannon that AZ brings back, and Area Zero is also called Ground Zero(area below/above an exploding nuke), so the post about "THEY NUKED MADRID" might've been right

[kingofwickedskulls]

I finished Twilight Mirage this week and have been digesting it as I start up the road to Partizan. I had some thoughts about one theme from the season that I was trying to wrap my head around so I wrote a mini essay below the cut in an attempt to organize them.

To start off with, and I'm going to wax a bit poetic here, but Counter/Weight in my head always had the texture and feel of a cloudy winter day. That season was a fantastic ride but to me it's a depressing season nonetheless and the ending, while I think was excellent, was certainly not a cathartic release that one might expect. I don't think it needed to be/should have but it set up Twilight Mirage as a generally warmer and more upbeat season in comparison to me. If C/W was a city street in a Midwest winter where the snow you tramped through was more brown sludge than fine white powder, then Twilight Mirage seemed to be the a field of wildflowers with the hint of a wildfire on the horizon or the first turning leaf of autumn.

I really enjoyed TM but why I'm writing my thoughts out is because, and the cast note this throughout, the pacing was weird which spilled over into the themes for me. I should note that I did not read episode descriptions and I understand that may have cleared some things up, but from an audio only perspective it did feel unbalanced. I won't/can't suggest any changes that would have pulled things together more nicely. One difficulty that the cast note is just how many factions there were and how that bogged things down initially. I can see that, but I appreciated it because it gave the world a very lived in feel and showed how characters were managing and thinking about so many relations that really fleshed them out. Of course, it's not sustainable and these multiple threads that couldn't be neatly tied up leads up to the point I've been thinking most about.

There’s an intro that Austin gives, from the perspective of Keen, where he remarks upon Crystal Palace’s inability to account for non major actors. I understood this to mean your average joe in a sense (though of course, what is "average" in a galaxy lol, it's completely meaningless but I digress). It was refreshing to hear that at that point in the story though, because it showed not only that crystal palace was fallible but that it’s flaws could be exploited by those at the margins. Except. Crystal Palace doesn't make mistakes, it doesn't have flaws.

This isn’t a critique or a failing but just a tension of the show that is not really resolved and maybe can't be. The extent to which systems govern us seem insurmountable, capitalism as an example has the ability to adapt to crises that we might hope destroy it. Revolutions don't necessarily mean an end to the status quo, I think one could even look back to OriCon as an example of this in universe. Crystal Palace is much the same, any crises it has are simply non issues because they become preordained and thus established and overcome by virtue of prophecy.

Keen offers the listener hope in Crystal Palace failing to overcome every accountable crisis. It couldn't account for a singular fisherman saving the day then, right? Except that Austin states that Crystal Palace is actually predicting everything, accurately and wholly, it is only human biases that are diluting the prediction. It will overcome any crisis, time and time again. We understand then that the fisherman was accounted for, most likely as a miniscule chance that somebody disregarded because they let their bias against unlikely odds get the better of them. It’s interesting then to read Keen’s comments as coming from the perspective of someone who wants out but can’t take that step, as shown in other moments with his daughter or literally stated in the chase with signet in the finale arc.

It is hard to make a show about your “average joe” changing galactic level politics and wars. They are at the very least swept up into a higher level from which they can act. I think the closest we have to that in TM is Echo Reverie. All other characters from the start occupied elevated positions in some form and would have had access to a least modicum of influence (whether religiously, militarily, or socially). Echo was the only who was sort of swept up into this high level conflict, but even then the crux of their arc is dealing with their brother getting buddy buddy with fascists. They certainly don't like Advent but they're not 14 15 who literally goes after the leader of the group.

This is all to say that when I listened to Twilight Mirage one of the themes that I think was trying to be communicated was the ability of non-major actors to effect change in the world, but it fell through in my opinion. Crystal Palace demonstrates the ability of everyone having the ability to act upon the world in meaningful ways but as the story is told through characters who aren't everyone it just doesn't click properly.

I hope this rambling makes sense. It's only a select few moment from like 80 hours of content but they stood out to me. I want to reiterate I still loved the season, I mean look, they got me writing almost a thousand words on just a small bit of it lol. There was just something about this particular theme, if you want to call it that, that didn't feel tied together.

[marigoos]

Time for pokémon guides again? Time for pokémon guides again. Maybe I should make a sideblog.

Sorry for always sharing these solo builds last minute. I didn't realize how many are still having trouble. Anyway, single pokémon that can beat both Walking Wake and Iron Leaves (not online tested, we play offline and completely solo in this house). I call this set Tadpole against The Time Traveling Tyrants, T5 for short (spoiler it's a Bellibolt)

Bellibolt lv.100

Tera type: Electric (duh)

Ability: Electromorphosis

Item: Magnet

Nature: Modest/Quiet

IVs: all max except speed and attack

EVs: these can be flexible. 252 sp. atk. mandatory, the rest can be all hp, all def, or half hp half def. I know all def and half/half work for sure, no data on all hp (will work with walking wake not sure with iron leaves)

Moveset:

- Reflect (TM)

- Light Screen (TM)

- Parabolic Charge (egg move, only Miraidon and Dedenne learn it rn)

- Acid Spray (TM)

Really, if you're not familiar with anything above or below ask for an explanation! Am here to help

Usage

Ok so this pokémon is actually a pretty common, standard raid build. It's pretty straightforward: good natural bulk that can be boosted even more with the screens, stat debuff that's not blocked by the tera shield, offensive move that's STAB with built-in healing. I recycled it from the Decidueye raid and I've been using it for normal 5-6* raids too, it's very good, recommended for everyday den farming. The only difference is that I didn't give it Electric Terrain (it's just one more turn on WW, actively detrimental on IL) and instead taught it both screens. When you've used a TM once you can always make the mon remember it at any time without consuming a new one, so you can freely experiment!

Most of the times you just gotta Acid Spray x3, terastallize, then spam Parabolic Charge. Obv it still has its issues (mainly ground types).

Walking Wake

This is. Pretty easy. I have to say that if you have a common raid-built Azumarill you can use that too, it's what I did the first time and it only took a couple of blind tries to win~

The first attack is probably gonna look pretty scary, especially if you have a build with less hp EVs (I used the 252def one), so start with Light Screen. You're also probably gonna need Parabolic Charge on turn 2 to recover from the damage. Honestly the type matchup is good enough that you can finish without using Acid Spray at all, unless WW used Noble Roar (but only do that if you're at full hp and with Light Screen on)(btw one Acid Spray is enough to neutralize the effects of two Noble Roars). Terastallize a.s.a.p. since you will get your tera charge stolen at some point, but it should be done in less than 10 turns and with minimal setting up. Congrats!

TL;DR: Light Screen, Parabolic Charge x3, terastallize, Parabolic Charge spam till dead. Only use Acid Spray every 2 Noble Roars to keep your offensive power up, possibly not needed

Iron Leaves

This one is more difficult. The Bellibolt used was a 128hp 128def one iirc. Less hp more def will work better against Iron Leaves, but you may want one with hp only to use as a generalist raider. It was a pretty comfortable fight anyway.

You may want to reset for good NPC allies. Those with Intimidate (like Staraptor and Arcanine) can help by lowering the enemy's attack right away, and Arboliva will overwrite the field basically on the first turn, lowering Iron Leaves' best stat much sooner than expected, and making Psyblade much weaker. Drifblim can burn it. Even just one of the above will help a lot!

Open with Reflect, after that the start of the battle is relatively safe. Giving you the time for some much needed Acid Spray. Only 3 to reduce its sp. def. to the minimum, then you can terastallize (IL also steals your tera charge so it's better done sooner than later), then start Parabolic Charging. It will reset its stat modifications sometime around half of its shield, but it happens pretty late and by then you should be fine with just one more Acid Spray before resuming Parabolic Charge. At that point you should be terastallized and the electric field should be gone, so unless it used more than one Sword Dance you won't even need to reapply Reflect.

TL;DR: Reflect, Acid Spray x3, terastallize, Parabolic Charge until Iron Leaves resets own stats, then Acid Spray x1-2 then Parabolic Charge till death. Be aware of Bellibolt's health and Iron Leaves' attack boosts

PROS:

- single typing so you will find the right tera type 100% on wild ones (as in not from dens, not wild tera)

- very very common pokémon (can be found already evolved and at high levels in Area Zero too)

- ability needed is one of the regular ones

- useful for high ranking tera raids in general

- stupidly cheap held item (can be bought in a Delibird Present)

- a single build can be used for both raids, so you can train just one and then trade it to a friend to help them even if they have the other version

CONS:

- uh, probably that you need to catch a Dedenne for the egg move (unless you have Violet)

- ehhh TMs

[I wanted to add images but it's late I will do it tomorrow]

[goosetrainer]

Mari's Tera Raid Guides #22 - Serperior

Today I bring two options: Skeledirge and Polteageist

Skeledirge lv.100

Tera type: Fire

Nature: Modest

Ability: Unaware

Item: Ability Shield

IVs: max HP, defense, special attack, special defense

EVs: 252 special attack, 252 defense, 4 HP

Moves:

-Torch Song (level up)

-Slack Off (egg move)

-Lick (level up)

-Flamethrower/Fire Blast/Overheat (all level up, all optional)

Usage:

This guy is made for the raid, I swear.

Open with 3 Licks, wait for the player stat reset, terastallize, use Torch Song until your special attack is at +5-6, use Slack Off whenever your HP run low (~ half bar?), Lick to reapply paralysis after Serperior heals himself (optional), either keep using Torch Song or the other optional move to deal a lot of damage.

The drawback is that you don't have passive healing via Shell Bell, so you're gonna waste a lot of turns healing. Remember to use a cheer to heal if you're REALLY low in HP (because you're slower) or if you're paralyzed.

As for the optional move: I picked powerful fire moves that you can simply teach via move reminder: Fire Blast is very strong but not very accurate; Overheat is also very strong but it lowers your special attack by 2 stages (so best used towards the end of the battle or remember to throw in 2 additional Torch Songs between Overheats); Flamethrower is only barely stronger than Torch Song but it has full accuracy, no negative effect, may burn Serperior, and you may be short on PPs at this point of the battle. You can also skip this part and go in with 3 moves, it's ok.

Additional note: your defense may be lowered by Iron Tail. While unlikely (not used frequently 'cause of lower strenght + not effective on fire), if it happens, run and try again. You'll just end up spending the whole fight healing...

Last note I swear: the passive healing from Arboliva's ability may seem useful, but it also makes Leaf Storm too much more powerful. Avoid that tree it made me lose :(

TL;DR: 3 Licks, wait for player stat reset, terastallize, 6 Torch Songs (Slack Off every time you have less than half HP left, Heal Up cheer if you have less than 1/4?), Torch Song/4th move spam

Pros:

-look it's another Skeledirge

-native tera type

-ez

-don't need to pay much attention to NPCs ('cept Arboliva)

Cons:

-HA starter

-needs active healing (move / cheer)

------------------------

Polteageist lv. 100

Tera type: Fire

Nature: Modest

Ability: Weak Armor

Item: Shell Bell

IVs: max HP, defense, special attack, special defense

EVs: 252 special attack, 252 defense, 4 HP

Moves:

-Tera Blast (TM) (best to use PP Up)

-Skill Swap (TM)

-Nasty Plot (level up)

-Withdraw (level up)

Usage:

And this one works a different way, so you'll have to do some NPC filtering. Run away if you get Staraptor, Arcanine, and/or Tauros.

First move is always Skill Swap. Then it gets a little weird. Serperior has Gastro Acid, which would actually be beneficial to you, but only if, you know, he uses it. Sometimes he won't. Regardless, after Skill Swap, start using Tera Blast, with the goal of charging the tera orb.

Possible scenarios:

1: you got hit with Gastro Acid pretty soon, you have a lot of HP left (say >3/4 left): stop attacking, wait idly for the 85% threshold (player stat reset). Then start using Withdraw (2-3 times should be enough), Tera Blast again to finish chargeing the tera orb, terastallize, Nasty Plot x2-3. Up until this point, you may need to heal with a cheer. After that, though, you can start using Tera Blast to deal a lot of damage and heal yourself with Shell Bell, so you should be safe. 2 Nasty Plots are enough, but 3 makes the thing faster!

2: you get hit with Gastro Acid but too late (low on HP), or it doesn't happen at all during the first phase: keep using Tera Blast until you die. Once you come back, you should hopefully be far over the player stat reset threshold, so it shouldn't be a concern; however, you're now back with Weak Armor, which can be an issue, and Serperior's AI (not the generative one) is actually smart enough to take advantage of it. If you can't terastallize yet, use enough Tera Blasts to do that; terastallize ASAP while using Nasty Plot. Two more possible divergent paths:

2a: Serperior actually fucks up and used Gastro Acid soon-ish after you've come back in play (and you have some good HP left): like above, take advantage of this and use Withdraw 2-3 times to help Polteageist survive. You should still do this while terastallized, fire typing will make you more resistant to most of Serperior's moves. Then 2-3 Nasty Plots followed by lots of Tera Blasts. Enjoy :)

2b: more likely to happen, Serperior stops using Gastro Acid on you and you finish the fight with Weak Armor. You will see your defense go down every turn, but it still shouldn't be enough to 1HKO you. Don't use Withdraw at all, and instead make sure you're terastallized (resistance to Leaf Storm and Iron Tail), and use 2 Nasty Plots. Those should be enough to make Tera Blast strong enough to heal more damage than what you get each turn. A third Nasty Plot would be nice, but not sure you'll ever get the chance to do it without dying (your defense will be very very low at that point, and you're gonna be spending the rest of the battle attack-healing even just to stay alive). It should be hard, but doable!

TL;DR: NOPE sorry I don't think I can resume this, too many if/thens

Pros:

-common-ish pokemon available in base game

-regular ability

-makes Serperior actively weaker

-less time spent on healing

Cons:

-tera shards needed

-bit more difficult

-Intimidate users not allowed

Other options:

I think Curse could be used in place of Withdraw, on a physical build (Adamant nature, 31 attack IV, 252 attack EVs instead of sp.atk.). Definitely never use it when not terastallized though. I'd have to make some calcs because I'm not sure you'd get a higher attack than special attack, and if it doesn't you would end up having a special Tera Blast that's weaker than it should be. But if you do, even if you're not getting astronomically high attack values, you'd still be getting some defense boosts (or partially countering the debuff from your Weak Armor) and taking advantage of Serperior's Weak Armor, making you less likely to die and more powerful. All theoretical for now though

-------------------------

Other Options I Didn't Try But Could Be Good In Theory:

this fight shouldn't be too hard as long as one can find a way to neutralize Contrary.

Unaware is unfortunately an uncommon ability, and the only pokemon that can really make use of it in this raid in particular is Skeledirge (and it still takes some good damage from Leaf Storm!), but Clefable, while weak to Iron Tail, has access to Cosmic Power, and a bunch of useful moves. Maybe make it tera fire.

Skill Swap is a TM and thus easier to get. Fire types are best because they resist both Leaf Storm and Iron Tail, but grass has a lot of other weaknesses. Avoid ice maybe, because of Iron Tail. Bug, flying, and poison are probably viable. It can also always be coupled with a fire tera change and Tera Blast, or with Charm if all else fails. Obviously try to pick an ability that wouldn't benefit Serperior! Example: I think Delphox would be great here, but with Blaze (Serperior has no fire type moves) and not Magician (you want your item stolen?!)

Other interesting move is Gastro Acid itself, which is usually found on poison or bug types. Wonder if Spidops would work...

Worry Seed makes the opponent's ability into Insomnia, and it's a typically grass-pokemon move, thus very likely to be on something that resists Leaf Storm, and some of those are also part poison (or fire, but not sure Scovillain has the defenses for a raid :/) (idk, Venusaur? Victreebel? Amoonguss? *squints* Shaymin?!)

Abilities that change the opponent's ability upon contact may also sound good, but the only ones I can think of are Lingering Aroma (male Oinkologne) and Mummy (Cofagrigus)... one is weak the other is not in the game. Not looking good :))) still had to mention them.

[lilolilyr]

My reader wordcount: June edition

January • February • March • April • May

I read around three million words last month!

ca.2.866.991 in fanfic plus

• one book I started: Erebos, because a friend lent me the sequel and I wanted to reread the original first

• one I continued: discworld Pyramids - i think i need to just get the next one, this one's dragging o.o even though it's hilarious af! I don't even know what precisely my problem with that book is. Maybe it's too funny and absurd? Though the other discworlds are Like That too and I didn't have the issue... anyway I need to put it down after like each page so eh O.o

• and one book I read start to finish: Karl May's Old Surehand II, I never read any Karl May before but when i was once again struggling with Pyramids and saw that it was right there... It's somehow less racist than I expected from what I heard about it? Like, some surprisingly(?) progressive views about the land being stolen from the native americans, things like that. still pretty racist in places tho, and oh god the religious rants... and of course the language itself is ~a product of its time~. But all in all pretty fun read, well written storylines, I'm reading Winnetou (the actual first part) now, borrowed from my grandpa who's got the entire collection!

And I wanted to read a book (Running out of Time) because of this Insta Reel, the story sounds really fascinating and sb being basically dropped in a different time/environment from what they're used to sounds right up my alley - part of why i like SIOC fics so much - but of course now it's insta famous and unavailable in all the online libraries xD and the local library doesn't have it :{ oh well! goes on my To Read

~

Here's The Math TM

Ao3 History: 910+2520+1494+21356+4889+1079+254122+13307+11044+2898+11461+9938+4480+2021+3714+30054+172692+123794+94432+98281+2562+14938+19351+169918+73621+10056+177701+64573+13693+5488+85563+84402+24058+4061+4419+22554+91132+31977+34400+11570+278015+159374+38467+334615+42394+587+532+20633+86100+58652+5723+3580+10120+10764+89336+140632+17037+5729+39152+14453+40700+2610+2912+29999+20695+62906+2101+2019+3453+2602+2553+3048+1227+720=

3343963

Bookmarks:

Tagged didn't read yet:

−21356

Tagged To read: −31092−2101=

−33193

Tagged to continue reading: −169918−278015=

−447933

Tagged Jun24 didn't reread: −96789−177701=

−274490

Tagged external source: (ca. bc ffnet wordcounts) 20000+62000+3000+24000+37000+55000+73000+11000+3000+12000=

+ 300000

3343963−21356−33193−447933−274490+300000= 2866991

[iapetusneume]

Ask game, 14 and 21 :)

14. A fic you didn't expect to write

While I already answered this before, it honestly has more than one answer.

In this case, "Point of Pride." I mentioned previously that writing it was an extremely last-minute decision, in an attempt to help the Fic Challenge I was in get closer to 1000 posted works. In that Challenge I had already met my requirements. I'd actually even exceeded it by a lot already, with my official assignments.

See, for Fic In A Box, there's an option to write for more than one recipient. Without getting into the rules/etc, I had opted to try to write for every other 40k writer who was participating. There were six of us total, and so that would mean five people. I was already planning on doing two different stories to the person I had officially been assigned, so that meant six stories.

And then, as you may know, I ran into a lot of health issues. I took a serious look at my projects and decided to order them in what I felt I could complete, to what I couldn't. I had started a piece for I_Cant_Say (the recipient of Point of Pride), but I knew I did not have the time to pull the piece off to my satisfaction.

So, I shelved it. I hated the idea of not writing something for her, but I knew I needed to take care of my health. (And she would also want me to take care of my health.) Thanks to my other stories going over as well as other stories for her going over on the wordcount, I wasn't going to have to worry about defaulting. And I'll come back to that story idea at some point, but not now.

Anyways. Then it's two days before the reveals, and it's suggested we try to reach 1000 posted works. I know that I cannot finish the fic I started in time. But I look at her prompts again to see if there's something that I can write quickly. (My original choice had been a pairing I haven't written before.)

And I found it. I knew I could write something for Raldoron, Amit, and Azkaellon quickly somehow involving RPF. It was funny, I had experience writing them, and I knew I could do it quickly. So, I did. I barely got it in before the reveal.

In all my plans for possible fics for the recipients, this had never been on my radar until the last possible moment.

21. Most memorable comment/review

When doing fic challenges, I got assigned to two different writers that I deeply respect and admire their work. (To be clear, everyone I got assignments for are lovely and great, but due to varying levels of how well I knew them, The Anxiety(tm) kicked into different levels.) I was so, so, so nervous because they are so great and I've only just started writing for 40k this year, and would they like what I made???

Well, they did. And their comments on the stories I could tell were heartfelt. The most important part of writing a Gift is that the Giftee likes it. I could tell they did.

.

Want to play? The list of questions can be found here.

[theblueescapist]

Final Fantasy XVI

I have just finished the game, that I started in July after I finally managed to get a PS5 (yes, I'm slow).

Random comments below the cut

The Good

Yes, favourite character is Dion, obviously, but I was surprised by the tiny margin he has for me over...Clive. That I like Clive more than Joshua was also a surprise.

Dion is just...the best?? He is so awesome?? I fail to understand how Squeenix produced such awesomeness?? He's just so magnificent?? Clive may be the protagonist, but Dion is the one who's coded as the (tragic) hero of this game. And yes, he died, but Clive dies too, I don't think it's fridging the gays in his and Terence's case (yes, I am aware that Terence is technically not listed as dead after Twinside got absorbed into Origin, but what exactly do you think is the cause of Dion's desperation when learning from Clive what happened to the city he recently sent his lover to?????); also, the other two gays survived, so that's something at least. Dion is just an unbelievable character with a fantastic arc, I was waiting for Squeenix to stumble with him, and was so pleasantly surprised when it didn't happen. I would have liked to see more of his relationship with Terence, and more of Terence in general, because I do have some issues with the power imbalance in their relationship. They're adorable together, but Dion also has a lot of chemistry with Joshua, who he recognizes as his equal. Apparently in the Japanese version Terence is listed as The Love of Dion's Life (TM), but...I mean, I don't think I'm imagining there was something there, on Joshua's part, at least.

Clive is just...a solid mass of good? He's relentless without being cruel, caring without being overprotective. That he manages to learn to trust people again despite the entire shitshow of his life after Phoenix Gate and before Cid, is saying everything about him. Also, he's just...a gentle person, with very few hangups, and those mostly get resolved. I think that he didn't set out for Origin with the intention to die there like Dion did, he truly meant to come back if possible. He wasn't sure that he could, but he would have if he could have. That's why it's such a sad blow for him when he realizes his body is going to give up on him after all. Yet he doesn't hesitate, because that's not who he is. I do think he's dead, though; I actually don't understand how people can claim otherwise after that ending. Yes, we don't see his whole body turned to stone, and something could have happened to revive him after Jill realizes he died. But. He was meant to write that book, Harpocrates wanted him to; since it ends up being Joshua who writes it, instead, I don't think he made it. Besides, the only person who could have revived him was perhaps Joshua himself, if Clive handed him back some magic besides healing his body, and we know that Joshua can heal flesh, but not that he can turn people back from being stone. I don't think it's possible for Clive's death to be retconned in a DLC in a logical way either.

(Sidenote: I love Noctis more than Clive, but I do believe Clive is the better protagonist, and arguably the better person. The two timeskips work in Clive's favour, because he was given the time to grow as a person. Noctis spends his single timeskip alone, and had no such luxury. Although they both sacrifice themselves for the good of the world, Clive got to live the life that Cid gave him, while Noctis totally lost those ten years --"grant [...] one more day inside this life" indeed.)

Joshua is lovely too, but we never see him struggle and resolve his personal issues like we do for Clive and Dion, we always witness him having resolved them already, and that makes it more difficult for me to relate to him. I just adore how much he and Clive love each other, though, it's so nice to see other types of love being validated so much in any media form. Joshua would have totally been the playboy character had this been a different game genre. I do believe he loves Jote; but he 1000% has something going on for Dion, too. Clive knows Joshua feels something important for Dion, he wouldn't have made his condolences to Joshua upon Dion's death otherwise. Also, Joshua is even more well adjusted than his brother, possibly because he at least was actually loved by their mother.

I didn't believe I could love another Cid as much as Raines, but okay, this one got me. ^_____^ And if the whole Benedikta stuff had been handled better, I actually think I'd have loved him more than Raines, but as it is, they're on equal footing. He's just such a fun character that his depth is totally unexpected. What a role model.

Uncle Byron is love!!!!!!!! The game improves SO MUCH after he's introduced. He's just a ray of sunshine.

Three over four of the most badass NPCs are women, and one of them is a madam in a brothel. It's so nice to see female characters with real agency, and they are so different from each other too! Martha with her pan was so iconic?? And Isabelle was so much better as a diplomat (and as a person in general) than stupid Quinten. And Eloise was smart and tragic, I hated that she got the short end of the stick.

Most of the scenery is so fucking gorgeous

The Bad

All the most powerful dominants belong to men, and female main characters are generally sidelined. Shiva is technically the first boss, but not really. Jill just gives her up to Clive because she loves him. Jill had the potential to be an iconic character like Yuna, and instead she got deliberately benched (read the interviews). Did they think that she would eclipse Clive or something if they gave her more screen time and developed her more than her extra short arc? That's like, not having faith in Clive as a character. I mean, we got more quests for Mid than for Jill, there's clearly something wrong there. Why do we never find out what happens to Lady Marleigh? Don't tell me Jill just left her in the Ironblood's hands without even a second thought! Benedikta is the first real boss for a reason, Garuda is a joke. Benedikta is probably the worst-handled character in the entire game, while she could have been a solid villain like Anabella.

It irritates me so fucking match that elemental magic has no place in this game!!!! If there's a Bomb and I'm freezing it, you need to have me make more damage, FFS!!!!

Why is called "party" when I can't control party members?? Playing as Jill or Cid would have rocked. At least we got to play as Joshua a couple of times, but it really sucks that XVI followed in FFXV's footsteps on this matter.

(this is just a pet peeve of mine) Why is Leviathan "lost"????? Lost where????? I want my favourite element!!!!

The Ugly

I'm very glad the whole "Final Fantasy's answer to Games of Thrones" thing was mostly exaggerated, but I really could not stomach the sexual violence in this game. I couldn't stand it in FFXIV either, and seeing it make a comeback here soured me a lot. It was bad already with Benedikta, but... I'm sorry, but seriously. Child rapists in Final Fantasy is a huge squick for me, it's the one reason why I'll never love this game as much as some other ones. Yes, it's more explicit in the Japanese version, but what exactly do people think Jill meant when she told Clive what she expected would have happened to her if she hadn't awakened as a Dominant???? Jill was 13 at the time she was taken by the Ironblood. And the child they use as leverage against her was much younger. What do you think she would consider so abhorrent as to murderously literally skewer Imreann over it??? These horrifying things happen all the time in the real world, I don't need them to happen in the videogames I play as well.

[axe-trio-commanders]

Ok yeah I've got to infodump (and im. late because I wanted to draw enkkioh in her new outfit but have been too tired so;;; have old art and more recent screenshots for now)-

I don't really have a main at this point, I really do have 3 (as referenced in the blog title :3c They all did at least wield axes at some point) that sorta rotate in and out depending on who I'm thinking about the most at the time, for whatever reason?

But right now it's Enkkioh and I've talked about her probably the least anyways out of the three (Zori (charr soulbeast survivor's guilt incarnate baby) and Seremnis (smol uwu sylvari necromancer with simultaneous god complex and significant self-worth issues that i may or may not be sending on a multiverse adventure to see new york) being the other two)

Enkkioh is the third commander- Zori was the first, the actual 'Pact Commander', Seremnis was the second because Zori went AWOL during PoF (which is. its own post tbh)- and those two sorta co-commanded before a while, but a little after the Icebrood saga, Seremnis sorta officially got the title.

And immediately gave it to Enkkioh, because heck if she's dealing with that.

So, by EoD, Enkkioh is the official, by-title Commander- though Zori and Seremnis are still working closely with her pretty much up and until a few weeks pre-SotO, where Zori is just kinda... vibing, and Seremnis is off on Multiverse Adventures(tm).

But! As for Enkkioh's whole. Story, and whatnot, she had a relatively normal childhood in Rata Sum, decent parents, found a very lost charr cub who didn't have claws for some reason and decided that they were sisters now, learned everything through two years of Synergetics college with that charr before backlash over the cool new claws Enkkioh designed for her drove that charr out of the city (and then personal story based grievances and a rifleshot through a certain counselor's ear got Enkkioh banned from Rata Sum about a year-ish later).

And then, she joined the Vigil, got another dad, nearly lost him (but didn't- I decided he gets to live, actually. Zori and Seremnis get a grumpy war grandpa by proxy.) Most of her contributions there, beyond General Vigil Things, is she's the one who actually does the story dungeons to get Destiny's Edge back together (which. Man did that suddenly become extremely relevant very soon after she became commander, huh).

The next two expansions mostly consist of her aiding and learning from the pale reavers and sunspears, respectively, so she's sort of off the radar where the main story is concerned- the main two plot points there that lead to Seremnis and Zori actually knowing about her, let alone trusting her with the title (besides various Destiny's Edge members going 'oh, yeah, that one. I like that one.') are... well, this whole situation, and also the Icebrood Saga, where she gets a bit more directly involved by demanding Bangar's head on a pike.

(She also did a... fair bit of proving in EoD itself; both Seremnis and Zori were trying to take a backseat for the whole thing, but they aren't... very good at it- and Enkkioh isn't Aurene's champion, but... she was the one to finish the fight against Ankka while Seremnis was. Incapacitated (planning to write out some scenes about that later), and Zori was too busy taking care of her (read; panicking) to help; she was pretty directly involved in most things after that.) In general, though? Enkkioh is Synergetics smart, will learn from pretty much anyone who lets her (She's a warrior specc'd into first spellbreaker, then bladesworn), got into jewelery because she discovered putting certain magics into stones could make her punch harder- really most of her scientific knowledge goes into, essentially, 'punching harder'. She's not really fond of knowledge for knowledge's sake, and is less likely to give you a ten-page thesis on why you're incorrect than she is to punch you in the jaw (or the shoulder, if you're a friend) and call you an idiot. She also bites.

...And yet, somehow, out of the three, she's still by far the healthiest mentally- she already was when she got the position, and after learning more about... everything, with the other two commanders, it's something she's at least vaguely keeping an eye on in the interest of not being hypocritical- though she's ignoring her own tendancy towards violence. Some people need to be punched. Or bitten. She could use her words, yeah, she knows plenty, but they aren't listening and also this is funnier.

(She will use every opportunity possible to terrorize Phlunt with this information. Yes Phlunt, she is a Snaff prize winner and one of the most accomplished inventors in the Vigil, and yes, she just threw a pen at you and told you to eat her mist-forged socks. Suffer.)

Tell me about your Main!

I don't know if the folks who used to follow me when I first started playing back in like 2017 are still around, but long time real ones will remember Commander Day! I did it for about 2 years(?), and it was a day I invited people to reblog a post n infodump/share pictures of their gw2 main!

I'd like to do that again, so please tell me about your main!

I'll start:

Titania Oberonn! She just turned 6 ingame! :)

My mesmer Commander, Titania is actually the reincarnation of my Prophecies hero from gw1, Tiana! Froggish, blue, bisexual, iconic.

[meganuzlockediary]

Diamond! Victory Road!

7th April

Ok Victory road was no where near as harrowing as I thought. I just took my time planned for each trainer and sloowly made my way through. The old man with the empoleon and tentacruel was scary there is a massive hole in my team in that I need an electric type move. Its really annoying that infernape doesn't learn thunderpunch this gen. Still not too much of an issue.

So then I start the grind. I Fly and surf around the sinnoh region collecting anything that might be useful. Mostly tms. I even go to the safari zone and catch like 30 croagunk to try and get a black sludge! Happy to suceed despite the time it took.

Then after grinding a lot in victory road. Getting bored and rare candying the rest I move forward to challenge Barry

At this point all my pokemon are near the level cap of 63 all being at 62 so this is a good first test to check all my pokemon are ready.

He starts with staraptor I go gastrodon. One Icebeam to remove him. Roserade is next so I switch to infernape who has a chesto berry inc ase of grass whistle. He goes for poison jab instead which does get the poison crippling me for the rest of the fight. Fortunately a flamethrower is enought o remove roserade and a focus blast is enough to remove Empoleon (I'm going special with this one). Unfortunately I'm now a little low. I dont wanna risk a miss with focus blast so switch into mothim expecting earthquake. He of course goes for crunch instead so I take a hefty chunk of damage but I use the bought time to chip away at snorlax until mothim is suuuper low. I switch back into gastrodon as at this point none of Barry's team mates pose a threat finish off the snorlax with earthquake, then the heracross and rapidash with surf for the win. Not too bad so far.

The league will be the real challenge and I really am expecting to lose some here. The aim is to have as many as possible before cynthia and not to wipe. This may be the end. Here is the team

Scruff the Mothim

Set up to be a special attacker with decent speed. He's honestly the sacrifice Mon if needed able to get some chip damage and has protect for stalling. He will be useful against Lucian once Mr. Mimes thunderbolt is gone.

Moves: Protect, Psychic, Bug Buzz and Air slash

Stench the Skuntank

A defensive tank and second answer to Lucian. I had trouble deciding what he would be about but I'm honestly really exciited to use him. I Just need to keep him away from fighting and ground type moves. With aftermath he may also be an answer to Garchomp in a sacrifice play. We will see.

Moves: Night slash, Poison Jab, Toxic, Screech/Dig

Cherry the Cherrim

My main answer to Bertha but honestly will probably be subbed in for gastrodon. I have never used one so I do not know how she will fair but she needs to last as long as possible. She is 100% a support mon either making infernape insane or setting up with leech seed.

Moves: Leech seed, Sunny day, Giga drain, HP Psychic/Protect.

Egg shell the Blissey

Massive special wall considered bannable in most nuzlockes but I'm not fussed. She is very necessary. She is currently running a complete stall set I will be Switching out tms to give her as much coverage as possible. I only have 2 sitrus berries but they will be her item of choice as leftovers is locked behind the post game for obvious reasons.

Moves: Toxic, Soft boiled, light screen, Chargebeam/Ice beam/whatever is needed

Lemonade the Gastrodon

Honestly has been the MVP of this run. So goddamn tanky with enough sttack and Sp.atk to dish out whatever he gets. Honestly this is my only answer to garchomp. I wish he was a little more defensive but this is the best I can get.

Moves: Recover, Ice beam, Surf, Earthquake.

Wukong the Infernape

Such a cool pokemon. I have never actually used infernape in a play through this has been great. Obviously its hard because every move comes with a price with him hence why I am going for the calm mind special set on him. With a zoom lens his accuracy is raised just a little but its better than flare blitz and close combat which are just so risky.

Moves: Flamethrower/fireblast, Focus blast, HP water/other tms, Calm Mind

Hopefully this team will be enough to take me through I am obviously nervous. Cynthia is a monster. But fingers crossed.

[scream-mans-friend]

despite the milestones missed, we'll be alright - Chapter 11 - scream_mans_friend - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia [Archive of Our Own]

Summary:

As a pro hero, Shirakumo Oboro is prepared for a lot of things- disaster scenarios, hospital visits, villain attacks- you name it. That being said, he never thought he would have to be prepared for his best friend, Yamada Hizashi, to ask Oboro and his boyfriend, Aizawa Shouta, to babysit his recently discovered lovechild, but if there’s one thing Oboro has learned in hero work, it’s to roll with the punches. 

Not that cute little Hitoshi is a punch that Oboro has to roll with, though. He’s a delight- Oboro loves the kid like he’s his own suddenly acquired child.

Its a chapter from oboros POV!!!