#i still have 3 slots open but i’m most likely going to add more listings next time I’m free

[bearforceone3]

beasig kofi request for @sapphyreblayze! thank you so much for supporting me again!

[yszarin]

Hi! I just came across one of your fics and really enjoyed it. Saw you prompt list meme, and I hope you don't mind me plopping in a prompt here. Please ignore me if you do. :) I'd love to see nr. 18 (“I don’t like the way they look at you.”) for Jamie Winter (or WinterNelson).

hello! thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed the fic! <3 always open for prompts, just also a bit slow - hope this is okay!

[read on AO3] [send a prompt, get a fic, Eventually]

They have every opportunity for regret, and take none. Nelson sees no faces tilted up, trying to pick out the flat’s window from street level. No last glance through a rain-flecked windscreen. No farewell flash of lights. They just drive off into the low cloud of the early evening, gunmetal car gleaming amidst Causton’s muted, drizzle-gentled tones. Might as well have been a pair of high-flyers leaving a moderately successful business meeting.

Nelson hadn’t really expected anything more. He’s not at the window because he’d been waiting to wave back. Watching them go, yes, but in the way a sheepdog waits for a wolf to vanish beyond the treeline; seeing, being sure that they’re out of Winter’s life again.

That done, he glances down into his glass, swirling it so that the last of the wine dances with reflections. A dust mote, caught against the deep ruby of the surface, sits steady as the hand of a spun compass.

“I don’t think they like me very much,” he says.

On the other side of the flat, Winter looks up from the sink, considering Nelson over one shoulder. Still just as quiet, his expression just as empty as it had been all through lunch.

“Parents usually love me,” Nelson adds, straightening, pushing himself away from the window. He paces past the table, setting the glass down with a faint scrape of crystal against hardwood. “I’m told I seem very responsible.”

It takes a moment, as though Winter’s internal systems are lagging so badly that he needs time just to recognise him, but then he smiles, and it’s real. Nothing like the polite, skin-deep efforts that he’d been making all afternoon.

“It’s not personal,” he says, and there’s even a trace of a laugh in it. He turns away from the washing up bowl, flicking excess water from his hands, and reaches for a tea towel. “And you don’t like them much either.”

Nelson stops. He’d meant to make a start on the drying himself, but Winter is already descending on the draining board with a studied intensity that clearly would have been frenzy, if he’d let it.

“I don’t like the way they look at you,” Nelson says, settling against a work surface instead. He hadn’t liked most of it, really – the atmosphere had been so cold, and Winter had carried himself so stiffly, that they might as well have eaten outside, half-frozen in the November wind – but that had been the worst of it. Their polite disinterest. When they’d shaken his hand with all the engagement they might grant a gate across their walking route. A four-hour lunch with only cursory attention paid to their son’s partner, like it didn’t matter to them who he was seeing. They’d looked at Winter, at everything he was and everything he cared for, weighed it and found him wanting. “When they asked about your inspector’s exam–”    

He’d wanted to step in, then. Had let his eyes flick over to Winter, trying to ask, silently, do you want me to defend you? Is that why I’m here? But he’d got nothing back. Winter had just sat there, replied to his parents in a flat, level voice, blank behind it.

Nelson had tried to divert them anyway, throwing out a few questions about their own work, but he’d known by then that he wasn’t saving anything. There had never been any chance at that.

“They’ve always had high expectations,” Winter says, in the same casual tone that he uses to talk about everything that hurts. “I barely saw them growing up. They were always out working. Wanted to send us to the best schools, make sure we had a good start.” He slots a plate back into its place in the cupboard, utterly without force, a stark contrast to the anger that turns in Nelson’s gut like an animal seeking flaws in its cage. “They just wanted more for me than the police, and definitely more than a dead-end job in Midsomer.”

“More than someone like me?” Nelson guesses, but even with all that bitterness in his mouth, none of it’s on his own behalf.

Winter pauses, back at the draining board. His fingers shift away from another plate, reach for a glass instead. He passes Nelson on the way to its cabinet, and lays a brief hand against his arm, the slightest shading of regret across his features.

“I’ve known for a long time that nothing that makes me happy is ever going to be enough for them,” he says, his touch a request that Nelson hears the part he thinks is more important. He does, but the rest of it’s still too sour for him to taste anything else.

“And you’re just all right with that?” Nelson asks. Wasted breath, probably. They wouldn’t be having this conversation if Winter didn’t think he could pretend that everything’s fine.

“I got used to it.” The same sort of thing he’d say about Misomer’s climate. About immutable qualities of the world that cannot be altered, rather than two people who’d apparently never got over the fact that their son didn’t measure success the same way they did, and didn’t bother trying to hide their disappointment. “They do try.”

“Not hard enough.” Nelson curbs a snarl, swallows the urge to snatch the tea towel, take Winter’s hands himself. Whenever this had broken, it had been a long time ago. The bone’s too knitted for sharp edges anymore.

He leaves it.

A few months ago, he remembers, Winter had told the Barnabys about their relationship. They’d talked about it beforehand. Winter had been sure the Barnabys would have no problem with his sexuality. He’d known that they already liked Nelson. And yet, through every conversation they’d had about it, Winter had been tense, nervous despite his efforts to pretend otherwise. Dogged by a fear of something he wouldn’t or couldn’t articulate, right up until he’d finally spoken to them.

Winter had asked him down for this over the phone, voice so level, so resigned, that Nelson had thought there might actually be something wrong with the line, up until he’d heard it the same all through lunch. He’d made no occasion of the introduction.

So, Nelson’s here for him, not them.

He stays where he is, lets himself be the still point, while Winter finishes with the drying up, and then starts to move methodically through the flat, putting everything back the way it had been before his parents had come. Keeps going until it’s all done and the dark’s drawn in around them, and then he just stops. Stands there like a clockwork toy that’s run down.

Nelson steps in before he can feel it.

“Do you want to order in tonight?” he asks, pausing beside him with an off-hand glance at his watch. “There are repeats on until three, and they’re showing the episode where Detective Ostergaard’s trapped in a haunted hotel.”

He’d usually expect a light, good-natured jab about his taste in television, but Winter just nods and smiles, lets Nelson lead him to the sofa and trusts him to order something he’ll like, while he scrolls through the available channels like he doesn’t remember exactly which one he’s looking for.

Winter’s quiet, and he stays that way until so close before the end of the opening credits of their first episode that he might have measured it specifically to stop the conversation from going any further. Or maybe he’d just realised it was his last chance to speak.

“Thanks for coming,” he says, eyes fixed on the screen and flickering with cold reflections.

Nelson exhales, his attention flickering away from Detective Ostergaard’s crime scene, spattered with red that’s slightly the wrong shade. He has nothing he knows how to say, so he just takes Winter’s hand, and raises it to kiss the inside of his wrist, a ghost of lips across his pulse point. Hopes that tells him everything. And then he lets go, brushing his thumb across Winter’s knuckles.

They watch in silence for a moment, Kate’s favourite pathologist spouting nonsense to camera with more conviction than the average person will ever feel, then Winter lets out a dragging breath, like he’s trying to purge every corner of his lungs. He wavers towards Nelson, and Nelson leans in to meet him.  

This is why he’s here, Nelson thinks, as Winter’s head settles onto his shoulder, and he inclines his own so that his cheek rests against Winter’s hair. Crap telly and a takeaway, a weight of warmth, someone who remembers the way back to normal. Just to be there, where he’s needed.

With any luck, it’ll be a long while until Winter’s parents feel obliged to visit again. The food will be here soon, and there’ll be enough spice in it to burn the last of the bitterness off Nelson’s tongue. The wound will scab over again, and Winter’s smiles will look a little less brittle.

For now, this can be good enough.

[dramashii]

Drama Updates

This will most likely be my last drama update for the year. 

2022 went by in a flash. I came across some good ones; there were also some that were utterly forgettable. I’ll probably make a separate post summarizing all the dramas I watched this year. I’m only about 6 dramas away from reaching my goal since I finished Lighter and Princess, and New Life Begins this month. I also just watched episode 16 of May I Help You. I’m currently watching Summer Strike which will finish airing before this year ends, so, I’ll probably add it to my list. I also haven’t finish yet the Cdrama, She and Her Perfect Husband. I stopped watching a week before my final exams. I’m about 10 eps away from the last episode. I’ll probably get back to it before this year comes to a close.  

Other than those mentioned above, I’m also watching Alchemy of Souls Season 2: Light and Shadow. I’m actually enjoying the chemistry between the leads, Lee Jae Wook and Go Yoon Jung on-screen but they’re even on fire behind the screens. Have you seen their The Swoon videos with the rest of the cast? Absolute cuties. Kinda worried how this drama will end. Everything just screams heartbreak. Let me just say though, what a lousy villain Jin Mu is. I’m also showing interest for the recently premiered, The Interest of Love starring Yoo Yeon Seok and Moon Ga Young. I’m currently watching it as I’m typing this post. It gives me quite some serious vibes. There are some interesting themes going on like classism and toxic workplace culture which I think is timely and relevant. I’ll probably stick around to see how this goes now that my Wednesday-Thursday slot is open. 

A few days ago, I started watching the Cdrama, The Day of Becoming You which has a body-switching thing going on. I have had this in my to-watch list for quite some time now so I’m finally trying to cross it off. I’m still in episode 3. Hopefully, I’ll get around it before 2022 ends. Other than that, I’m also trying to get back into the dramas that I started to watch this year, but I never got to finish. There’s probably a reason why I stopped showing interests for those dramas, I’m about to remember them.

Hopefully, my time management skills will be improved in 2023. I want to be able to watch more dramas. I’m an awful binge-watcher, so I want to watch as many on-going dramas as possible. I’m kind of sad how I faired this year considering there were a lot of actors and actresses who made a comeback which dramas they star in I would ordinarily watch if circumstances were different. 

Anyways, this is it until my next drama update!

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #293: Saitō Hajime

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re building the most tired man alive, Saitō Hajime! Seriously, look at that motherfucker. He looks how I feel.

Anyways, he’s a Champion Fighter to be good but not perfect at using swords, and a Gloom Stalker Ranger to perfect his opening attacks. Check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: Hope y’all saved your FP from the grail front. You’re gonna need it.

Race and Background

Saitō is a Variant Human, giving him +1 Dexterity and Wisdom, as well as proficiency in Perception and the Fighting Initiate feat for some Two-weapon Fighting. We need a lot of fighting styles here, so get used to hearing about them. This one lets you add your ability modifier to damage done by weapons in your off-hand, so your short-swords both do as much as possible. Like Okita you’re a member of the City Watch, giving you proficiency in Athletics and Insight. I’m not sure whether Insight or Perception will help you pick your battles, so you’re good at both now.

Ability Scores

Right off the bat, your highest score is going to be Dexterity. You fight in a suit, and you dual-wield, both are usually dex-based. Second will be Strength though, since you’re also just as deadly with a two-handed sword. Third is Constitution, to help you not die while fighting in a suit.

All this does mean your Wisdom will be lower than I’d like, though it’s still good enough for multiclassing with your racial bonus. This also means your Intelligence is just okay, but we’re dumping Charisma. Don’t worry though, looking dead inside is a charm point on tumblr, just ask Sans and Reigen.

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: Starting off as a fighter gives you the Great Weapon Fighting Style, letting you re-roll 1s and 2s on damage dice if you’re using a two-handed weapon. Invincible blades don’t roll poorly on attacks. You also gain a Second Wind to help you outlast the rest of the Shinsengumi. (Or it would if they didn’t also all have it.)

You also get proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, as well as Acrobatics and Intimidation. Being invincible is half in the way you hold yourself, after all.

2. Ranger 1: We want that third fighting style as soon as possible, so we’re bouncing over to ranger right away, letting you make someone your Favored Foe when you hit them. Then, once per turn you can add 1d4 to your weapon damage against them. It’s worse hunter’s mark, but you can use this without spending spell slots proficiency times per day.

You also become a Deft Explorer, making you Canny and doubling your proficiency bonus on Insight checks. (Or perception, again it depends on which one you think helps more) You’ll also get proficiency in one skill from the ranger list for multiclassing, so grab Investigation for better policework.

3. Ranger 2: Second level rangers get another fighting style, and Dueling will help your one-handed attacks be a little stronger by giving them a +2 bonus to damage. This only works when you have a single sword out, but drawing one weapon is a free action. Just attack, draw your second sword, and attack again.

Alternatively, you could use that bonus action to cast Spells, which use your wisdom for damage and attack rolls. At least they would, but we’re picking up Hunter’s Mark and Longstrider, which don’t need either of those. The former adds a d6 of damage on every attack while you’re concentrating, while the latter lets you move a little faster to hurry up with your NP.

4. Fighter 2: Moving back to fighter gives you an Action Surge, a second action you can use in a single turn once per short rest. Stabby, then stabby again. Simple but effective.

5. Fighter 3: Third level fighters pick their martial specialty, and yours is the Champion, which gives you an Improved Critical right off the bat so you crit on a 19 or 20 now. Again, simple but effective.

6. Fighter 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Piercer feat for a +1 boost to your Strength and some extra consistency. Once per turn, you can re-roll a die of piercing damage and use the new roll. Additionally, critical hits with piercing weapons will now have an additional die of damage.

7. Fighter 5: To make that crit fishing even easier, fifth level fighters get an Extra Attack each attack action, for up to two attacks in one action, three with your bonus action while dual-wielding, and five with an action surge as well.

8. Ranger 3: Moving back to ranger gives you even more attacks once you become a Gloom Stalker. This gives you an expanded spell list (none of which really matter to us, but they’re in the character sheet if you want them), Umbral Vision for 60’ of darkvision and invisibility against darkvision, and you become a Dread Ambusher. You now add your wisdom modifier to your initiative rolls, and on your first turn of combat you move faster, and can make an additional attack as part of your attack action. Not only that, but your additional attack also deals additional damage too!

On top of all that, your Primeval Awareness lets you spend a spell slot to sense weird creatures within a mile of you. Now that you’re part of chaldea you’ll probably have to deal with that stuff.

You also get another first level spell like Zephyr Strike. Spend a bonus action, move without provoking reactions, and you can end the spell early for extra damage, advantage on an attack, and increased walking speed. All good things, all very Hajime.

9. Ranger 4: Use your second ASI to grab the Slasher feat. This rounds up your Strength, making you just as good with a longsword as a shortsword, and you can use slashing weapons to reduce a target’s speed by 10’ once a turn. If you score a critical hit with a slashing weapon, you’ll force disadvantage on that creature’s attacks for a round. Now all your swords are fancy!

10. Ranger 5: Fifth level rangers would get an extra attack, but uh… you don’t. Instead you get second level spells like Barkskin. This also uses concentration, but for up to an hour you have a minimum AC of 16, regardless of what it would be otherwise. If you’ve survived to level 10 with an AC of 13 and a +1 to constitution, you’ve earned a little break. Now you can fight in a suit with… slightly less fear. Not none.

11. Ranger 6: Sixth level rangers deal more damage against their favored foe, and you become Roving as a deft explorer. This means your speed increases by 5’, and you get a climbing and swimming speed for more mobility. That’s not particularly applicable, but the extra speed is nice, and maybe one day we’ll get a Summer Hajime. It could happen! Maybe…

12. Fighter 6: Sixth level fighters get another ASI, and we’re actually going to use this one to improve our ability scores, how wacky. Round up your Constitution and Wisdom for more HP (this is retroactive, so you get +12 this level) and stronger spe- a faster initiative roll. We still don’t have any spells that use wisdom, aside from your subclass ones.

13. Fighter 7: At seventh level champions become Remarkable Athletes, so you can add half your proficiency bonus to any physical check that doesn’t already use it. You can also add your strength modifier to long jumps if you have a bit of a runup. It’s the silver medal of physicality, which fits you perfectly.

14. Ranger 7: Meanwhile in ranger, seventh level gloomstalkers get proficiency in Wisdom saves thanks to your Iron Mind. Admittedly I am writing this before the event shows up, but you seem pretty unflappable.

You can also turn one of your swords into a Magic Weapon, just in case your DM hasn’t given you one by this point. Or three, as the case may be. Anyways, now it’s more accurate, deals more damage, and can cut through high-level enemies like demons.

15. Ranger 8: Eighth level rangers get another ASI for more Dexterity for more AC and speed and stabbing. You can also use Land’s Stride to walk through nonmagical plants without being slowed or damaged. This is also very situational, but at least you get a cool shimmery effect when you do it.

16. Ranger 9: Ninth level rangers get third level spells, but I don’t like any of them. Instead grab Silence for a better time sneaking up on people. The slow walk is intimidating, but it doesn’t really work in most fights if people know you’re coming.

17. Ranger 10: A tenth level ranger is Tireless, letting you give yourself temporary HP as an action proficiency times per day. Your short rests also reduce exhaustion now too.

Your evade skill also finally comes online when you don Nature’s Veil as a bonus action. This makes you invisible for a round, and you can also do this proficiency times per day. Either get the advantage on a foe, or make your escape to survive the Meiji Restoration. Either option works great.

18. Ranger 11: Our final foray into rangerdom unlocks a Stalker’s Flurry. Now once per turn you can make another attack as part of the same action when you miss one! The ultimate boon in terms of consistency.

19. Fighter 8: Eighth level fighters get our last ASI, bringing up our Strength to match our dexterity. We couldn’t leave longswords hanging like that, it’s just not safe.

20. Fighter 9: Ninth level fighters are Indomitable, letting you re-roll a failed save once per day. Don’t bother fighting charisma saves, I’d keep this for the fights you can win.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

You come packed with ways to re-roll attacks, damage, and saves, while also having a boost to your physical checks, making this build one of the most consistent fighters we’ve had so far.

That’s not to say you’re a one-trick pony though, since you have plenty of options available to keep combat interesting, with plenty of skills unique to your short swords and longswords to switch up and keep enemies on their toes.

Dread Ambusher doesn’t specify you have to use your extra attack after your normal ones, so you can mix this with your Nature’s Veil and Favored Foe to deal 2d6+1d8+6 Piercing damage in one shot, which is a nice opener, especially with six other attacks coming behind it thanks to your offhand weapon and action surge. And all of those have advantage and a doubled crit chance to boot for even more pain.

Cons:

While you’re great in an ambush, you’re not quite as good in an open fight. Your HP is okay, but it’s nowhere near good enough to be a frontliner if you want to run around rocking an AC of 14. Thankfully Hajime is as flexible with his armor as his swords in this build, but it’s not in character to pull out chainmail.

You’ve also got different additions on different weapons, so at no point can you truly fight at full power. Either you’re dealing extra consistent damage with shortswords, or you’re slowing people down with a longsword, but you can’t do both at the same time.

Finally, your low charisma means you might have a hard time convincing the party to go anywhere. You’ll also have a hard time not getting shot into another dimension, which is its own set of problems.

[simp-for-mha-men]

𝕚 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕓𝕒𝕕 𝕣𝕠𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 (𝕜𝕒𝕥𝕤𝕦𝕜𝕚 𝕓𝕒𝕜𝕦𝕘𝕠𝕦 𝕩 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣)

Request by @loxbbg: Drummer Bakugo x Lead singer Reader (ngl saw a TikTok and couldn’t help it) and they have a really lowkey relationship and the reader is singing bad romance and she goes up to Bakugo and is basically like singing to him he like drops his sticks mid play and kisses her sending the crowd crzy and there other band mates (the rest of bakusquard) are like called it

A/N: If anybody asks, this isn’t one of my biggest fantasies. Also, no, I didn’t listen to Bad Romance a couple times before this to try and nail the ‘ole Tik Tok high note. Anywho, I love this idea! Enjoy this trainwreck of a concert!

Genre: female reader, musician/band au, swearing cause it’s Bakugou, established relationship, pg-13 due to some vulgar-ish things and a suggestive ending, the fans losing their minds over you and Bakugou 💥❤️

Word count: 2.8k

♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥*♥

“You are such an asshole,” you groaned, pushing your boyfriend on the couch.

“You are such a bitch,” he growled, pulling you onto to his lap to engage in a messy make-out session.

It was the U.A. International Music Festival, and your group, known as The Chaos Crew, was headlining the event. Today was the first performance, ushering in the exclusive guests who paid extra for V.I.P. status. To say the least, Katsuki Bakugou, your boyfriend and drummer, was a lot more annoying than usual. Some examples were how the kisses you shared were rougher, the hand holding was almost painful with how tight he squeezed, and the mic checks were filled with intense staring. However, the band didn’t know you two were together, making the situation much worse.

Somehow, your other friends turned bandmates Eijirou Kirishima, Denki Kaminari, Hanta Sero, and Mina Ashido agreed to pursue the dream with you when you first offered up the idea. Bakugou took more convincing. He thought you were the most idiotic person on the planet. His superiority complex only became worse when you asked him if he could be the drummer for your new group. He agreed after hearing you beg for a couple weeks straight, which began the slippery slope of flirtatious tension. 

Despite you two being together all the time, the flirting wasn’t obvious. Bakugou would notice your skirts when they were just a bit shorter, and you would notice when his shirts when they got just a bit tighter. Neither of you ever let the other one know, though. Both of you despised each other so much that it would be the death of either of you for your secrets to get out.

One day, this changed during a photoshoot for your first magazine article. A rival band, known as The Pros, was at the shoot, and their lead singer, Deku, was asking you questions whenever you weren’t working. You didn’t mind it. You actually found it flattering how interested he was in your vocal range. However, after watching Deku “flirt” with you, Bakugou dragged you to the green room.

Slamming the door, he turned around and asked, “Are you fucking blind, (y/n)?”

“Excuse me?” you scoffed.

“You heard me. He’s flirting with you for fuck’s sake! Tell him to just leave before I knock it into him.”

His overprotectiveness shocked you. You were more than confused. You weren’t that pretty, so Deku couldn’t be flirting with you. Your hair was well put together, your makeup was done nicely, and you were dressed with just a tad bit of sexiness, but you still looked average. It didn’t add up.

“Deku is not flirting with me,” you replied, rolling your eyes. “He’s just assessing the competition.”

“He’s staring at your tits and waiting for your little skirt to flip up,” Bakugou replied, clenching his fist.

“Ugh, stop being so vulgar!”

“I’m being honest, princess.”

Marching over to him, you met his gaze. Waiting for him to continue with another statement, you stood in front of him and didn’t cower under his stare. Instead of getting an earful, you felt pressure on your lips. He kissed you, and you loved it. You loved it too much. He was like a drug, and your first hit left you wanting more.

You ended up spending the next 30 minutes in the green room making out and telling each other how much you hated it. It was true love, and after this experience, you began dating each other in private. Your family knew and so did his, but your bandmates didn’t. At least, you both were in agreement about that.

As time went on, The Chaos Crew began rising in the charts. After releasing 3 number one singles, you started touring and gaining a much bigger fan base. The Chaos Children, or what your fanbase called themselves, began doing every celebrity’s nightmare in a matter of weeks: shipping. The most popular ship within your band was, you guessed it, you and Bakugou. This was a running joke between Denki and Sero, but little did they know it was already a sailing ship. This only made you keep your relationship even more private.

Now, back to the U.A. International Music Festival. The feverish kiss ended, leaving you and your hot-headed boyfriend panting messes. Leaning into him, you nuzzled your face in his neck. You pressed a kiss to his collarbone before stopping to just inhale his scent.

“Since when are you so needy?” Bakugou joked, mocking you.

“Since when did you start acting like a child?” you snapped back.

You yelped, realizing Bakugou had slapped your exposed thigh. Whenever you both were performing, he felt the need to have his hands on you at all times. The band and fanbase, however, couldn’t know about you two. It would be too detrimental to your career.

“When am I gonna see you in my room?” Bakugou asked, rubbing where a red mark was forming due to his slap.

“Tonight,” you coyly replied.

“Oh really? Will you be wearing my favorite little outfit?”

“Of course, I will.”

Suddenly, a loud knock interrupted your rendezvous. Brushing yourself off, you leaped off of Bakugou’s lap and stood up as formally as possible. Of course, you two had snuck off together. You couldn’t just tell everyone you were going somewhere with Bakugou alone. However, you were relieved to hear a familiar voice on the other side.

“Bakugou? (y/n)?” Mina called, waiting for either of you to reply.

“Come on in, babe,” you replied, saying it a little too quickly.

Mina opened the door and smirked when she saw you two. She had her suspicions about the two of you, but they were never confirmed nor denied. She knew she might never get her ship to sail, but she would never tell either of you that.

“What do you want, Bug Eyes?” Bakugou grumbled.

“Not much,” Mina shrugged, “but I have news. We have a schedule change.”

At this, Bakugou exchanged a look with you. A schedule change during the U.A. Festival was like waiting outside of a store for days for a limited-edition item then leaving and never buying it. Someone dropped their act for later that night. There was no other possibility.

“Sero got an update from Shinsou,” Mina stated, “and it looks like Deku broke his ankle from a stunt during their last show. They can’t perform tonight.”

Bakugou smirked, and you punched him in the arm. Ever since the photoshoot, he despised Deku. It was as if they were born to be rivals, which made you laugh a little.

“What’s the plan?” you questioned, knowing that Shinsou, one of the event directors, had already made one.

“We’re taking half of their slot,” Mina smiled, shoving a set list into Bakugou’s hands. “The other half is going to Itsuka Kendo, the new solo artist. She’s going first, and then we’re up.”

“We planning on singing from a particular era?” Bakugou asked, focusing more on the set list rather than the conversation.

“They don’t want us singing our songs,” Mina replied, causing both you and Bakugou to choke on air. “They want us to cover popular music.”

“We have no idea why, though. It’s kind of stupid, if you ask me,” Denki complained, walking in with Kirishima and Sero hot on his tail.

Upon their entrance, the boys came over to give you a hug and congratulate you on the earlier show. It went off without a hitch, and they insisted they give you credit since it was due. However, when a question about you and Bakugou running off came up, Bakugou immediately stepped in and said he wanted to jot down some lyric ideas. A game of playful banter began and went on for about 5 minutes before Shinsou entered the room.

“Well, it’s good to see that our fill-ins are ready for tonight,” he chuckled, walking over to place a hand on Denki’s shoulder. “You guys ready?”

“Obviously,” Bakugou grinned. “How bad can it be? We’re just performing covers. It’ll be just like the old days.”

Immediately, your first performances and venues came to mind. Run-down bars and covers were normal for a few months before getting signed on by Shouta Aizawa, president of 1-A Records. After that, you were able to write your own music and live your dream.

“Yeah,” you chimed in, moving closer to Bakugou, “we can perform the last cover set we did before we got signed.”

“Hell yeah!” Kirishima yelled, pumping his fist in the air. “The Bad Romance Set was always my favorite.”

Everyone was in agreement. Shinsou trusted you all enough to bid you farewell for a few hours before you were called back on stage. The Bad Romance Set was, simply, the best cover set The Chaos Crew ever played. It was a tribute to Lady Gaga, and it celebrated her amazing career. Mina was the Beyoncé to your Gaga on Telephone. Kirishima was the killer guitarist during Shallow. Bakugou was the best drummer on the planet during Bad Romance, the huge finale piece of the set. It was the perfect set to get the crowd hyped and into the show.

Soon enough, the show was about to start. Itsuka was on her last song, a personal tribute to her ex-boyfriend. You were gussied up in all black, sporting a short mini skirt, a low-cut shirt, and a leather jacket. It was perfect. You looked like you could kill anyone that crossed your path, and you probably could. It only attracted your boyfriend even more to the prospect of getting handsy before the show.

“Come on, sexy,” he growled, kissing under you ear. “Let’s do it. We’ve got a few minutes.”

“No,” you responded, pushing him away. “We have to stay focused. You know our ground rules.”

Rolling his eyes, he kept trying and trying and trying. After denying him multiple times, he smacked your ass before sulking away to sit at his drum set on the dark stage. Once he did that, the rest of your bandmates followed his lead and walked on stage. The lights went up, causing the crowd to lose their minds over your presence. Glancing back at your boyfriend, you nodded your head to signal him to start the first song.

The act went wonderful. When you sang to the audience, you could tell the hardcore Gaga fans from the fakes. However, no one seemed disappointed in the set. Everyone thought it was fun and easy to dance to. It was very clear, though, that everyone was waiting on one song: Bad Romance. After 25 minutes of Gaga hits, you glanced back at Bakugou and nodded your head again.

Once the drums began for the final song, the rest of the band chimed in to start the melody. Immediately, the crowd recognized it and sang the opening verse with you. Mina chimed in with her amazing voice to layer your vocals. Sero and Denki had the electric guitar and synth timed perfectly with one another, which only added to Kirishima’s bass. Bakugou, of course, played his drums with passion and never took his eyes off of you.

Once the first bridge of the song arrived, your bandmates began growing with excitement. Your singing ability was always incredible to them, but the first time you nailed the added high note in the final chorus of Bad Romance, they knew you would be their lead vocalist. The moment was fast approaching, and you took the mic from the stand. 

Finishing up the second bridge, you walked around to personally serenade each of your bandmates. First, Mina and you made sure to twirl each other, causing her to chuckle just a bit. You sauntered over to Denki, jamming out on an air guitar to compliment his real one. Next, Sero was graced with your presence, and he added a riff to impress the crowd. Kirishima was surprised, and you both exchanged flirtatious winks at one another. However, these actions annoyed Bakugou to no end. His blood was boiling, and his jealousy was rising. He needed to show these extras exactly who you belonged to.

The final chorus began, and you arrived at Bakugou’s drum set. To tease the fans just a bit, you decided you were going to belt the high note right next to your boyfriend. Besides, this entire song was about him and you. This song was the most important one in the whole set because of that. You knew it would give the audience the best reaction and moment to capture on film.

I want your love, and all your lover's revenge You and me could write a bad romance Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh Caught in a bad romance

The crowd went wild. A constant chant of “(y/n)” was repeated over and over again and filled the venue. The end of the song was close, and Bakugou’s patience was running thin. You didn’t move, stuck next to his drum set. Whether you were trying to prove a point or your affection for him made his brain hurt. All he knew was that he couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.

“Want your bad romance,” you sang, finishing off the song as dramatically as possible.

Leaping out of his seat, Bakugou threw down his sticks and bounded over to you before wrapping his arms around you. He pressed his lips to yours, claiming you in front of everyone watching. You fumbled with the mic before successfully flicking the off switch and let it fall to the ground. You wrapped your arms around his neck, melting into him. He tapped your hip, signaling you to jump. You happily obliged, basking in the way his calloused hands gripped your thighs.

Screams filled the venue. Fangirls cried about the way Bakugou held you while others cried because he was holding you and not them. Paparazzi snapped as many photos as possible, hoping to capture the best photo that could be put up on TMZ. Parents tried to cover their children’s eyes because they thought the scene was so vulgar. Oh yeah, you guys were definitely going to be trending on Twitter.

In a flash, the lights went dark across the entire venue. The screams didn’t cease, even when an announcement came over the loudspeakers. It wasn’t heard the first time, probably since you and Bakugou broke everyone there. However, speaker volume could be raised, and the announcement could be heard through the crowd on the second try.

“Attention festival guests,” the lovely voice began, “tonight’s performances are over. Thank you for attending the V.I.P. exclusive day. We hope to see you all tomorrow for the first official day. Have a wonderful night and stay rockin’!”

Before groans of protest could be heard, your band was escorted off stage and immediately into your limousine. Your were able to successfully avoid paparazzi, but that didn’t mean you and Bakugou were safe. You had your friends, and they were all nosy in their own ways.

“It was the photoshoot,” Kirishima began.

“Yeah! Come on, you wouldn’t stop glaring at Deku, Bakugou!” Mina grinned.

“We knew you both were together,” Sero smirked.

“Yeah, come on! You think we didn’t notice when you guys would run off to lock lips and do who knows what else?” Denki added on.

Bakugou was more than pissed off. After the onslaught of statements brought to the table, Bakugou effectively shut them up by yelling, “If any of you touch my girl, I’ll your kick your asses. Got it?”

“Whatever you say,” Kirishima replied, flashing a grin and a thumbs-up.

“Just use protection!” Mina reminded, forcing some questionable hand gestures and noises from Denki and Sero.

After 15 minutes of torture, the limo arrived at the five-star hotel. In a matter of seconds, Bakugou had opened the door and picked you up bridal style so he could carry you up to the room. You had all booked the penthouse, since the U.A. Festival was such a big deal. You each had your own room, but you figured you two might have free reign of the whole place for while due to Mina’s previous innuendo.

Once you arrived in Bakugou’s room, he plopped you down on the bed. Smirking at you, he removed his shirt and went to get something a bit more comfortable out of his suitcase. You couldn’t help but look at the beautiful muscles that adorned his body. It made you feel hot and a little flustered.

“Go change,” he commanded, turning around to face you again.

You chuckled and replied, “Oh, come on. You know me.”

You slipped off your leather jacket, bending forward just a bit to let him gaze at your cleavage. He licked his lips and threw down the extra shirt he had grabbed. Walking over to you, he roughly grabbed your hips and pulled your body into his.

Leaning forward, you smirked and whispered in his ear, “I already have the set on. Wanna help me get out of it?”

[makeste]

BnHA 6th Popularity Poll Reaction Post - Risky Spoiler-Dodging Edition

hey guys, so seeing as the results from the 6th popularity poll were leaked today, I figured I would do a separate reaction + analysis post this year, rather than piling it in as an extra on top of the chapter reaction post tomorrow. I figure this makes more sense anyway, since they’re really two completely different things. also this way I can write as much as I want lol.

also, just fyi, I am still completely unspoiled for chapter 293. and probably the smart thing to do to keep it that way would be to log off tumblr and hold off posting this until tomorrow, but I apparently have no impulse control today so oh well. anyway, so I’m hoping you guys will keep this spoiler-free if you don’t mind! as always, I would prefer to just jump right in completely unaware tomorrow like Troy returning to the study room with the pizza boxes lol.

okay so this first part is just going to be my predictions. fyi I am writing this part on Wednesday night, and then I’ll add on the results part on Thursday or Friday (ETA: Thursday, apparently, since I am impatient.)

okay so first of all, just as a refresher, this poll was open to Japanese voters from Aug 3 to Sep 30. meaning chapters 279 through 285. meanwhile last year’s poll took place around the tail end of the MVA arc. so between then and now we had Heroes Rising, the Endeavor Agency arc, and the War arc up to the part where the 1-A kids took on Gigantomachia in Gunga, and started battling Tomura in Jakku. so technically only a couple of arcs, but a LOT of stuff going down in them. oh and season 4 of the anime as well

so! firstly, I predict that my truculent africanized honeybee son will hold on to his crown at #1, coming off a year in which he did some internship-boosted soul searching, borrowed OFA in movie canon, and finished out the voting period as the my-body-moved-on-its-own character development MVP. like CALL ME CRAZY lol, but I’m pretty sure his title is safe. and then after him will be Deku and Shouto as usual

Aizawa should hopefully also have a strong showing because the dude had a banner fucking year. reunited with his old dead friend, took on Tomura with his hopelessly inept hero pals, and then chopped his fucking leg off. he had better be in the top 10. his fucking leg died for this, idk what else he has to do

Endeavor also stands a decent chance of doing well given the internship arc and the final episode of season 4. which I’m sure will go down just swimmingly if that does happen lmao. especially if he somehow manages to rank higher than...

Dabi, which I don’t think he will btw, but you never know. anyways though, but I’m thinking Dabi’s going to have a stronger showing than in past years (in the last poll he only got 367 votes and was ranked 19th). mostly because of his fight in the Gunga mansion, and his cheekily censored name reveal to...

Hawks, who is also going to rank pretty high here, I think. might be he loses some points for killing off Twice, but his back was basically to the wall there. and he has always been very popular, and I think season 4 will also give him a boost, along with his heavy involvement in the first half of the War arc

Tomura was already in 6th place last year and I think he cracks the top 5 this year. he’s gotten exponentially more popular since the MVA arc, and got a boost in the last poll even though his flashback had only just barely happened, and he hadn’t finished Awakening yet and all that stuff. anyway, so he’s only gotten cooler and more tragic since then so I think he makes a big play here

Kirishima, Momo, Tokoyami, and Mina should also hopefully do well, since the poll opened right in the middle of all that Gigantomachia action, and Toko had just got done being an absolute badass and protecting his birb dad. I don’t think he’ll quite make it to the top ten, but he should

and last but not least, I’m hoping that Mirko will come out and take the polls by storm, although I have no clue how popular she is in Japan lol. she’s clearly Horikoshi’s favorite though. she SHOULD be everyone’s favorite, but I mean, we’ll see how it goes

anyway that’s it as far as predictions! and so now, through the magic of writing stuff at different times, we will fast-forward to the part where we actually find out the results!

OH MY GOD YES, STEAMPUNK KHLKSLLKL. HERE FOR IT. JOLLY GOOD SHOW. 5 STARS

Kacchan looks SO COCKY and SO HAPPY and SO ADORABLE, YES I SAID IT. he is adorable as FUCK. I don’t quite know what it is about this particular Kacchan that just screams “LOOK HOW FUCKING CUTE MY STUPID, LOUD SON IS WITH HIS BIZARRE WINDOWPANE-LOOKING CONVERTIBLE SUNGLASS GOGGLES and his POORLY TIED CRAVAT”, but I think it’s because he looks like if a Digimon character and a FMA character had a baby

anyway, so it looks like most of the people present here are more or less who we expected to see. except that I can’t tell for sure if that’s Dabi or Shindou, and if it’s Shindou I’m going to punch somebody in the face so you will have to excuse me

Iida wearing a TRENCHCOAT and a TOP HAT with ENGINE EXHAUST GOGGLE ACCENTS is my new favorite Iida of all time. take note how there is no possible way he can wear those goggles with them sitting on top of his hat like that. plus he’s already got glasses on. these are just purely for aesthetic and IF THAT AIN’T JUST THE STEAMPUNK WAY

Deku out here speaking softly and carrying a lead pipe. Kacchan you best look out. seems like he’s done watching you take first place year after year while he languishes in the number two spot. your only hope is that he trips while attacking you because his boots are unbuckled

Shouto’s standing over there with the rest of the non-first-and-second-place characters, but what are the odds his results are actually within spitting distance of Deku’s same as always. anyway he doesn’t mind, though. also his outfit is by far the most sensible one here, but if you look closely he’s got some sort of fire extinguisher/jet pack thing strapped to his back that’s got a control switch on his belt. Shouto are you jetpacking or putting out fires

Kirishima out here all “I’m not sure what steampunk is so I’m just going to take off my shirt and pose”

AIZAWA WITH THE EYEPATCH SKLKSDLKFJLSKJLDFKJSLDFFJLDKSJFL:KS. SIR. SIR. also, lowkey furious that Horikoshi refuses to show us the automail leg that he is clearly sporting here but which we just can’t see, SHOUTO MOVE GODDAMMIT

Endeavor has TWO fire extinguisher-slash-jetpacks. THE BETTER TO... WHATEVER. look at you here in the top ten again. you really live for that controversy

HAWKS OUT HERE WITH HIS STEAMPUNK BEATS BY DRE AND HIS WEARING A RING ON EVERY FINGER. nice to see you’ve still got your wings there, kiddo. then again Deku still has both of his arms too so who even knows what is going on

BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH, IS THIS DABI OR SHINDOU. as if I don’t know the truth deep down in my heart. y’all I am gonna flip lmao. it’s not that I dislike Shindou, strictly speaking. but just... I can’t explain what it is, but if you put him and AFO next to each other and told me “you can only punch one”, I would be having a serious crisis. just, THIS FUCKING GUY, idek. STOP SMILING

Tomura looks like he just wandered onto the set here by mistake and has no idea where he is or what is going on. it’s because you’re wearing a bigass severed hand that’s blocking your entire view, Tomura. just take the hand off your face my sweet murder dumpling

anyway! so I managed to also find a link to the full poll results while somehow managing to avoid spoilers, and then I wanted to compare the results to last year’s poll, and so I made... this

hopefully you can all see this. if you’re on desktop you might be screwed, but on mobile you should be able to click and enlarge it. I mean, assuming you actually give a fuck about boring poll analysis spreadsheets lmao

anyway, so there were actually 13k fewer votes cast this year which is a bit of a surprise. is the series not still growing in popularity? do people apparently have better things to do during their quarantine lol

anyways but despite this, and despite getting 8k fewer votes overall, Kacchan still managed almost twice as many as his closest competitor. well fought, Deku. please put down that pipe

I somehow always underestimate the power of ship popularity to influence these things. but for example, it looks like Present Mic got that Vigilantes Trio bump. ride that wave for all it’s worth my man! hell, you got me on board

Iida fucking Tenya somehow got some sort of POWER BOOST out of NOWHERE which I can’t explain at all lmao, but I’m here for it. NOT BAD FOR AN OLD MAN

Sero managed to get the exact same number of votes in both 2019 and 2020. clearly the most loyal fans in the business

Mirko being all the way down at #20 is, of course, a travesty, and I hereby nominate her to be the one to punch Shindou in the face

ngl though, the lack of a single female character in the top ten hurts just a bit. it’s not overly surprising, but still. the worst part of it is that even if you kicked Shindou to the curb and moved everyone else up one slot, it would still be all dudes since Mic beat out Momo by a margin of a little more than a hundred votes. hard to stay mad at Mic for too long, though. ah well

Tomura actually lost a bunch of votes which is a genuine surprise to me. I know the villain standom isn’t as dominant in Japan as it is in Western fandom, but still. you can go ahead and punch Shindou too I guess

Tokoyami lowkey doubled his vote count over the past year while hiding down there at #18. he is slowly becoming more powerful. biding his time

anyway so I think that’s it! I mean not really, but I’m getting kind of tired lol. so just, you know, insert the usual gripes at Overhaul’s ranking here, although we can be happy about Magne making her way onto the list (r.i.p.), and Mineta and AFO taking a very satisfying slide down (all the way out, in AFO’s case; good riddance you bum). Hadou also got a huge boost which is awesome. Mustard’s persistent ownership of the #36 spot will forever remain a mystery to me, but oh well

anyways, this was fun. and I really do feel like everyone is looking away on purpose so that when Deku brains Kacchan with that pipe in about two seconds from now, there will be no witnesses, oh my fucking god

[muthaz-rapapa]

Let’s talk TroPreCure! (^∀^ 🌺)

i’m so stupidly proud of this dumb pun “tropurikyua~”, hahahahaha

Last post of the year and wow is there are lot to be excited for!

I even had to make a list for the stuff I want to talk about and I’m sure I already forgot one or two things but we’ll get to them as we continue to float~ along the wave to February 28th, mmkay? :)

Now for what has peaked my interest so far. And yes, we have to talk about the following first:

1) HealPre the shortest Precure season??

Unless they plan for double features in February (which I doubt but you never know), HealPre is likely going to reach only 45 episodes long instead of the usual 48~50 before TroPre I’m using this shortening of the title for now so if there’s a better alternative, tell me and I’ll switch out begins its broadcast.

Understandable because the producers probably want to get back to their normal scheduling as soon as possible (toy sales, y’know) and I suspect pushing the start of the new season back by a month is the most they’re willing to compromise.

As for me, I’m quite happy about this since HealPre’s lost its hold on my attention a while ago so the sooner TroPre gets here, the better. Though the downside might be a scrambled climax and a rushed, underwhelming ending for HealPre (I dunno if it’s January’s titles that feel a bit messy or if the hiatus is still throwing me off) but whatever. We’ll refresh ourselves with the new blood Cures so it’s all good.

2) Tropical movie announced for Autumn 2021, no All Stars??

(source)

First saw this mentioned on Youtube somewhere but it’s all over the fandom forums by now. I mean, HealPre’s movie is set for March, the usual time slot for All Stars release. If Toei intended for there to be an All Stars in 2021, there’s no way they would announce the seasonal movie before it so speculations of them skipping it this year are probably true.

To squeeze it somewhere between March and October-ish would force them to readjust their budgets as well and I don’t think even Toei wants to go through that extra hassle after all the trouble the pandemic’s caused for everyone already. It’s just easier to resume All Stars in 2022.

That, and I think Laura being a major character in TroPre despite not having a Cure title (yet) would make for an awkward situation when the three latest teams gather so perhaps that’s also one of the reasons. But I’ll get back to Laura in a bit.

3) Cure Summer is a RAINBOW Cure

So god help me if I see anyone calling her a Pink Cure.

Yes, she’s the lead Cure for this season. NO, she is not a Pink Cure.

Look, even the official website has a rainbow overlay for her profile pic and text font while everyone else’s respective theme colors are a solid hue:

Therefore, RAINBOW.

In promotional material and merchandising, they’re probably going to advertise her primarily with pink bah and at worst, she might occasionally be labeled as a White Cure with multiple subcolors (her outfit is not pink-dominant) but definitely NOT. PINK.

...also, this goes without saying but f***yea, we finally got a lead Cure practically and unabashedly wearing the LGBTQ flag and you cannot tell me otherwise, Toei!

Own up to it! Declare Manatsu/Cure Summer as the Precure queer icon!

I’m not gonna stop yellin’ until you do! 😠

4) Laura = obvious midseason Cure is obvious

First of all, Laura is a babe. I already love her the best and she’s not even Precure yet. <3

Anyways, the set-up is pretty much in the description. Important main character who’s not a mascot, stated to have a self-confident personality and just speaks her mind (oooh, I like~ :D), magical/foreign being from another world looking for Precure to save her home, possesses her own special item(s), has aspirations to become the next Queen (so she’s a princess-candidate or something to that effect, I suppose).

We’ve seen various combinations of these traits in past midseason (and a few starter) Cures so nobody should be surprised when we all guessed that one of the Cures would be a real live mermaid.

The only question is why not just make Laura a Cure from the get-go if she’s introduced to us at the beginning (like Hime or Lala) and having a team of five with no unnecessary extra add-ons later on (like Smile).

Well, there’s a simple answer for that: formula.

Toei is afraid that if they don’t spit out some new animation sequence at the halfway and third quarter points of the show, the kids will lose interest and abandon the series altogether. Which means failed toy sales. Oh nooo... [/sarcasm]

...Yea. 

And this way they can also have Laura available in the Cure lineup for the next All Stars in 2022 instead of making her sit the fight out if we were going to have one in 2021. I’m convinced that’s gotta be one of the reasons. *shrug*

But ok, whatever. Her debut is gonna be later, that’s all. She’s a delayed Cure.  Midseason Cure, same difference.

Moving along to the more important stuff now like what’s her Cure name gonna be, y/y?

Well, knowing Toei, a translation of the term “mermaid” into another language is the most predictable route even though we already have a Cure Mermaid. Not like that ever stopped them from repeating words before (ex. Cure Happy vs Cure Felice). Though if they do go down that road, I hope they opt for the Spanish/Italian “sirena” and not the French “sirène” because the latter sounds too close to how Cure Selene is pronounced in Japanese. And, putting it nicely, we all know Japanese pronunciation of foreign words is as off kilter as can be.

Hell, even the the Portuguese “sereia” sounds aesthetic as hell so it’d be nice if they can just remember there are other languages that exist out there besides Japanese, English and French when making the final decision at the writing table! *stomps foot* >:/

Alternatively, “nereid” or “naiad” are good choices too but they remind me too much of Greek myths and Laura’s from the Grand Ocean which covers more than just a couple of seas (Greece is surrounded by three, btw) so...

I dunno. But whatever it’s gonna be, she’s definitely got a strong association with water and her powers will probably be based on that.

As for theme color, since there’s noticeably no blue or green Cure in the starter lineup, it’s likely she will take up that spot when she debuts around ep 20.

Pink is also open since Cure Summer, again, is technically not a Pink Cure and Laura’s hair and tail fin are hot and light pink respectively but looking at Laura’s design and concept, does anyone seriously believe that?

Her upper torso consists of aquamarine while the body of her tail is definitely some shade of cyan, implying they’re aiming for somewhere around the middle of green and blue on the lighter spectrum.

And yea, I’m aware that green and blue are considered exchangeable in some perspectives with how close some of their shades are to each other but officially, I think Laura’s gonna be grouped with the Green Cures.

Cuz of the hair. If Laura’s gonna keep it the same or a similar shade after transforming, that is. The Blues have always had cool-colored hair so putting Laura in with them might disrupt that harmony whereas if you put her with the few Greens there are (including Parfait), she’d fit right in.

I mean, we’ll see but that makes the most sense, doesn’t it?

On another note, I just want to say that I love how they added frills to her arms instead of letting her elbows go bare naked. It definitely makes her look more like a genuine mermaid than if she didn’t have them (remember, half fish doesn’t mean half the body :P).

5) Magical Items

Frankly, I’m tired of seeing the transformation device being a compact again even though one of the main motifs is make-up this season. But at least, as far as Precure compacts goes, the Tropical one is my favorite cuz of how cute and delightfully colorful its toy version looks! So I guess I’m okay with it.

The Heart Rouge Rod, though? ...I dunno. I think it would’ve been fine without that...straw (?) jutting out at the top. It looks weird, doesn’t it look weird? :S

As for the collectible clip-ons, I can live without those for the rest of my life. Yeesh.

Laura’s items, the Aqua Pot and the Ocean Prism Mirror.

Again with the portable, travel-size housing. *sigh* 😩

Alright, I can let this year slide cuz Laura (I’m so soft for her, omg) probably won’t be getting legs for 20 weeks so she’s got to move about on land somehow. But unless they’re really thinking about turning this idea of carrying your apartment around in your bag/pocket/purse into a reality (cuz that would be effin’ awesome), please be more creative with your toys.

On the other hand, I’m much more interested in the Ocean Prism Mirror but from what Kusyami (the Precure merchandise reviews I follow on Youtube) said in his latest vid, this is the ED dance item so don’t know if it’ll actually have an relevance to the story or not. But I did hear him mention it having something to do with the Queen as well and since Laura wishes to become Queen, maybe it’ll be important after all? Maybe it’s her transformation device?

That’d be super cool. Let’s continue the trend of the midseason Cure having a different transformation item than the starters. Honestly, we should alternate every other year or two but we’ve gone three seasons with all of them using the same henshin gimmicks up till HealPre and I just want a break from that.

6) Fin sleeves??

These look so impractical for combat so maybe it’s exclusive to group attacks.

And/or a sort of precursor to the super forms?

*GASP* Does that mean they all eventually turn into mermaids? 🤩

7) Yui finally became Precure!! 😭

lol, it’s all crack from this point on so don’t take it too seriously but man, after Yuni’s deceptive braids, I thought I wasn’t gonna see anything that reminded me of Yui for a while and lo behold, Sango.

kehehehehehe xD;

Though Yui might be closer to Minori in terms of personal interests (fairytales and storybooks).

8) Akira, the actual Onee-chan version

I didn’t think this when I first saw her but once I read “Onee-san” in her profile, there’s no saving you now. Sorry, Asuka. 😅

Also, damn, do her sandals make her feet look big! Compare them to the heels she wears as Flamingo. Are they even the same?! lololol

9) ...this sounds awfully familiar...

Translation:

Tokimeku Tokonatsu! [Exciting/Thrilling Everlasting Summer!] Cure Summer! Kirameku Hoseki! [Sparkling Jewel!] Cure Coral!  Hirameku Fuurutsu! [Flashing Fruit!] Cure Papaya!

Japanese reiteration:

Mallow/Mao: Pink no tokimeki! Lillie: Blue no kirameki! Lana/Suiren: Yellow no kagayaki!

….........

@Toei 

Care to explain yourselves, punks?! 

୧(ʘ ∀ ʘ ╬)

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Worldbuilding (Part 1)

(Cross-posted on Pillowfort.)

I've spent the past few weeks searching for resources and advice for how to outline things, because I'm kind of hopeless when it comes to organizing my thoughts in a way that makes sense to everyone, and while I've found some pretty great resources a lot of them were framed as a series of questions lumped together and there was something about it that just turned me off to it. (Maybe it was a little too strict?) And so, after searching for an easy way and coming up pretty empty-handed, I decided I'd make my own guide - which turned out more as an outline for a guide, but it works better for me because it feels a little more fluid.

What I ended up with was a bullet point list designed to guide me through the process. It's far from perfect and I keep going back to add new things, but that's one of the things I like best about it: something comes up that I hadn't thought about before and it's easy to slot it into place.

With these posts, I'll be talking about that process and sharing my outline so that you can make your own. I hope you find it useful.

The Basic Breakdown

For the most part, guides that I've seen are broken down into 5 key areas: Geography, Civilization, Politics, Economy, and Technology and/or Magic. Those are then broken down even further into specific categories.

For my own works I've added a 6th key point. I call  it "flavor text". It's for all the little details that  don't necessarily have direct relevance on what you're writing but are a fun detail to have on hand just in case. Could they fit into one of the Main 5? Sure! This is simply my personal addition because I want to keep these separate.

So keeping that in mind, my initial outline looked something like this:

I. Geography

II. Civilization

III. Politics

IV. Economy

V. Technology/Magic

VI. Extra Details/"Flavor Text"

(Do you want to know what the best part about bullet points is? You can move them around in whichever order you prefer.)

Like I said, it's pretty basic. You could open any book on worldbuilding, look at the table of contents, and it would be separated into different categories just like this. (Which, incidentally, is how I made my outline. I went through a few books, a few pdf documents, and pieced things together until I had a list that would work for me.)

Let's expand it a bit.

I. Geography     a) Earth or Not Earth?     b) Primary Location(s)     c) Important Natural Landmarks     e) Flora and Fauna     f) Climate     g) Minor Location(s)

You can, of course, have even more categories than this. I chose to focus on important details first, like what sort of world it all takes place on. (Is it Earth? If it isn't, what's this world called?)

Primary Location(s) could also be named Setting. It's there to name the important locations in your world - the places your characters spend the most time. Minor Location(s) would be places that are referenced or perhaps only visited once or twice. Or maybe it's simply to fill out a map of your world, if you're creating your own.

Important Natural Landmarks - things like mountains or rivers. Maybe your town is near the ocean or a lake? Maybe there's an active volcano nearby? Maybe a National Park plays a key role in your story? Details like these that the characters take note of and help flesh out the world they exist in.

Flora and Fauna is one that's important for some stories, less for others. Since I write fantasy, it's one that's important for me to include. You don't need to go overboard for this (unless your main character is a botanist or really loves animals), but naming and describing a few species can be helpful.

Climate is self explanatory and seems pretty simple but is still important. This is an easier one if your story takes place on Earth, but when you're creating your own world you have the opportunity to decide how your seasons work. (Or if your world even has seasons.)

Ready to expand it again?

I. Geography     a) Earth or Not Earth?     b) Primary Location(s)          i. Cities and Towns          ii. Important Buildings/Structures          iii. Fresh Water Sources     c) Important Natural Landmarks          i. Mountain Ranges/Volcanoes          ii. Rivers          iii. Forests          iv. Deserts          v. Oceans/Lakes          vi. Natural Borders          vii. Ruins     e) Flora and Fauna     f) Climate          i. Seasons          ii. Weather          iii. Vulnerabilities/How Weather Affects the Region     g) Minor Location(s)

This third set of points is to help direct and remind me what I want to try and include for each category. Some of it is stuff that I need to know as the author, but it doesn't necessarily need to make it into the story.

So, what does this look like when I sit down to start writing down details?

I. Geography     a) Earth or Not Earth? Aeolia is found on a parallel Earth. Shrouded by a magical fog created by the Gods of old to protect the children of the winds - the Anemoi, who are winged humanoid beings capable of magic.

I name my world - or rather, my island - and give a brief description about it and who lives there.

    b) Primary Location(s) The island of Aeolia consists of one major island and several smaller ones just off the coast. A large mountain range and deep valley carves up through the center and slightly east on the large island. To the north of this valley is a large mountain and to the south it slopes downward to a freshwater lake.          i. Cities and Towns Vroilada - a town that exists along the valley and ridges formed between the two mountain ranges. A river cuts through the valley and flows down into Lake Koimni to the south. Pathways cross the divide, crafted from living wood and vine and strengthened by magic. Houses are primarily built on the upper ridges, though some are carved through solid rock. It is home to a myriad of Anemoi and is the largest of the villages on Aeolia.

Not everything has to be a multi-sentence description, of course. Nor does it have to be a perfect description. This is all for your eyes only. What matters is that it's detailed enough for you. And also it should be easy for you to flip to and find when you're in the middle of writing and need a refresher on where you've located something.

This is where I'll end part 1.

Part 2 will be my full worldbuilding guide/list and I'll answer any questions you want to send my way.

After that will likely be a part 3 where I list and give links to some of the resources I found during my hunts.  

[radramblog]

Ultimate^2

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate has finally unveiled its final DLC character, with reactions ranging fully across the spectrum. Hot takes abound.

I mean, statistically, just about every possible opinion is going to be represented. There were at least 500,000 people watching the reveal stream, and that’s not including those viewing through restreams. That’s insane for a trailer of any kind, let alone for a console-exclusive video game DLC.

Now that it’s been like… a day and a bit, I think most of the spciest takes have probably been made, which is the perfect time for me to chip in with my own milder opinion. More of a butter chicken, really.

(no images in this one i’m lazy tonight)

I figure I’m this late already, might as well drop some notes on the other ones first.

Piranha Plant was kind of the definition of an unexpected pick. Not only was it from an already well-represented franchise, being fucking Mario, it’s also just…not a character. As such it makes an odd choice for a DLC fighter…except for the part where it was free. If you owned the game in its first month. And frankly, I don’t think people would have been happy if it wasn’t. As it is, though, it’s a perfectly fine character- surprisingly cute, actually.

I’m unsurprised about Joker’s inclusion. With how huge Persona 5 became in both Japan and the west, capitalizing on it to make a shitload of money makes perfect sense. The character plays well enough, though the meter gimmick was kind of a daunting sign of things to come. All that in mind, though, the most surprising thing about Joker being in the game is that they still haven’t put P5 on the Switch. Atlus please.

Hero and Banjo/Kazooie were announced on the same night, and I distinctly recall someone saying that this was one for the Japanese audience and one for the Americans. I mean, I’ve never played Dragon Quest, so I guess I fell into the latter? Both series have a long, well-regarded pedigree (Banjo’s lack of recent offerings notwithstanding), so both arguably deserve their respective positions. Hero is the much more notable character gameplaywise, though, with the incredibly complex mana and spellcasting mechanics. Complaints about RNG in Smash aren’t completely unfounded- though it has existed in the past in the form of, say, Luigi’s misfiring side-B- but I know a lot of people think Hero took it too far. If I’m honest, though, the weirdest thing is just having Akira Toriyama-ass 3D models in the game. Banjo’s gameplay is…awkward. The kit is kind of a mess, but at least the gimmicks weren’t going too hard, you know?

Next was Terry, perhaps the most obscure character on the entire list in 2021. I actually really like Terry in this game- while he’s still trying to emulate a similar feel to Ryu/Ken, the difference feels more natural, if that makes sense. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really devoted significant time to them, but Terry’s kit feels easier to work within than the Shotos when going between characters.

Finally for the first Pass, we had Byleth. I think it’s for the best that they announced the second Fighter’s Pass before this released, because if both 4 and Ultimate had ended their run on Fire Emblem DLCs then people would have been pissed. I mean, people were already pissed, but like…moreso. As someone who has played Three Houses, I do think the game is worth celebrating, but having yet another Fire Emblem Protagonist (read: basically a blank slate) in the game over all the substantially more interesting characters 3H has to offer is just really frustrating. Also the final smash looks like dogshit, like FE3H has overall worse animations than Smash for obvious reasons but I’m pretty sure this attack looked better the first time around.

FP2 opened with Min Min, which brings ARMS to the table. ARMS. The only first-party fighting game Nintendo has outside of Smash, so it looks a bit less weird next to everything else but…come on, man. I think this was the most confusing pick of all of them- the game came out in 2017, and having Min Min in Smash would serve as promotion for a sequel…which hasn’t been announced. There was a graphic novel in the works, but it was cancelled earlier this year. Oops? At least the stage was fun.

As much as playing them is awkward and complex, the Minecraft addition was fitting. Only the best-selling game around. I think people weren’t sure if Microsoft would go for it, but they let us have Banjo, so sure. I’m mostly just annoyed that they couldn’t get any of the songs from the actual game in there- like, you got one in from the fucking mobile game, but you couldn’t just get C418 on the phone?

Sephiroth is definitely one of the hype-ier releases from this pass. The character is iconic, as is his theme and his home game. I’ve never played any Final Fantasy game, but I can still respect the name. Once I remember how to spell it. The whole bossfight aspect to his release was also quite cool, while it lasted.

On the other hand, I have no love for Pyra nor Mythra. There’s so much wrong with these ones, frankly. They’re another swordy character, immediately following Sephiroth too, and they go back on Smash’s very deliberate decision to split characters like Zelda/Sheik and Samus/ZSS up (Yes I know Pokemon Trainer does the same thing but I have a lot more leniency for them). Add in their being from a JRPG much less well-known or remembered than the previous couple characters and the designs being…questionable, I have a big issue with the whole thing. This was also around when I kinda stopped playing the game in general, and they definitely didn’t help pull me back in.

Kazuya might have, though. With the exception of him and Sephiroth, all the characters from the Fighter’s Passes were pretty much protagonist-types, but this motherfucker pulses with the essence of bad guy. What I’m saying is that he’s fucking cool, and while he’s ludicrously complex, that makes perfect sense since…I mean just look at the combo lists from Tekken 7. His inclusion also kinda rounds out the list of biggest fighting game franchises out there being rep’d in the game, though I imagine now I’m going to have stans from Mortal Kombat or whatever on my back. They’re not going to put a fatality-capable character in Smash, guys!

Finally, this rounds us around to the original point of this article. Let’s talk about Sora. And by that I mean…I don’t really have a huge amount to say about him. Kingdom Hearts is a franchise that completely passed me by growing up, and I don’t think I have the time or energy to devote to it now. I’m sure it’s good, people seemed really excited for him to be in the game so they have to have gotten that love from somewhere, but I don’t share that feeling.

That’s not to say that I don’t think he deserves a slot. The idea of “deserving a slot” in Smash Bros is kind of an odd concept, even though it’s come up a lot so far this post. But a slot in this roster isn’t just a place in a popular fighting game, because at this point, Smash is kind of a museum of (mostly Nintendo) games- and so having representation is a forever acknowledgment that the franchise is, or has been, an icon to so many. Kingdom Hearts, to my knowledge, has 100% earned that position, and so Sora getting to be playable here makes perfect sense. He wasn’t my pick (Touhou representation never I guess), but I’m happy for those who wanted him.

As far as the actual gameplay looks, he reads like a character that kept in mind what people didn’t like about Hero when he released. It’s another sword-based character, which I think at this point speaks more about the demographic of video game characters than it does about Smash. But I appreciate that the Magic Bullshit is toned down, and that it’s also his only real gimmick (The 3-hit combo feature is A Thing, but other characters e.g. Bayonetta have already done that, so whatever). His recovery potential looks patently absurd- like he just gets Pikachu/Pichu’s Up-B as a Side-B that can also be chained with his actual Up-B? This guy better be light as hell or he’s going to be super hard to take out. I dunno, I think he looks solidly fun enough- more dynamic and aerial than the other swordfighters, at least- and that’s good enough for me.

And I guess that marks the end of Smash Ultimate. Not with a bang, but with a key…dude. It’s been a very solid run, the game managing to keep itself fresh across several years of development, even as other games have risen and fallen. Smash is kind of forever at this point, I think, though the finality of Ultimate’s ultimate character implies that this particular iteration may be coming to its end. And seeing as it is always one Smash per console, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Switch itself was nearing its endgame as well.

Okay but also it’s pretty funny how they heavily censored everything Disney out of Sora’s DLC except for that little Mickey charm on the trailer, like how much must that one shot have cost them, was it even remotely worth it, I don’t know but I kinda want to

[tysukis]

Hi, first(?) AU anon here. I will absolutely dive down this rabbit hole with you. I went a little overboard (sorry?). I absolutely agree with you on your Zuko take. I think we all kind of land there naturally. But I also think that Zuko would latch onto stability the moment he realized he had it. So this is kind of how I see it going down:

I think the band Sokka is part of would be solid. Just a local hit, right? But Sokka is the plans guy, and the aspirations guy, and they can do *so much better*. I 100% do not know how real life musicians work so add a pinch of salt here, but he would absolutely land them a gig as openers to a mediocre niche headliner just by sheer power of phone calls and charm. (He scripted it as much as possible, we all remember how that canon speech went when he winged it, but he knows how to put words together when he has time).

And yeah I love the idea of Zuko being an academic. I'm assuming Ozai is out of the picture for this, and the boy gets to pursue his passions instead of an expectation. Unfortunately, you mix in passion and the general anxiety of a kid who lived under intense scrutiny and you get an adult who gets tunnel vision during spring finals/prep for a conference/etc. So he doesn't quite rise to the occasion when his boyfriend drops this life changing news, he's proud but distracted, and he's already so bad at words in comparison to Sokka that it's just. Lackluster. And he probably meant to meet them at the bar/house party to celebrate after he got home but he's sleep deprived and his phone is dead because he's a disaster sometimes.

So now you've got Sokka stewing on immediate events, and being a little heartbroken because he went all out every time Zuko accomplished *anything*, even if it wasn't super impressive to Zuko himself. And maybe there's a bit of Zuko assuming Sokka doesn't need that reciprocated. He just doesn't vocalize his important needs, so Zuko assumes they're being met, you know? I like the drama of a blown up confrontation but also the idea that Sokka just confronts him sounding hurt and so damn tired of being the emotional one for that long.

But on the other side you have Zuko with his internalized plan that this is his forever person, and he does go to almost every performance even if they don't play his preferred music. And he assumes Sokka is satisfied with this. Maybe because Zuko can't imagine being happier than near his family - the good ones anyway - or because he genuinely thinks Sokka and the band are happy with being local celebrities and leaving it at that. So he plans for permanence. Because he is still a disaster, Zuko probably never vocalized this beyond doing window shopping for apartments or something. Vague jokes about a wedding that Sokka laughs at/agrees with and Zuko interprets as, "Yes I am also thinking about being here with you forever." He's not the wordsmith, he's the pragmatist and love means house shopping and snuggling over takeout and planning trips to visit their distant family together, right? Sokka's confrontation blindsided him, because he thought they were on the same page, and Sokka didn't have to leave to keep playing music, why is that even a thing??

They're both justified in being jaded because they're dumb as hell (affectionate). This isn't an AU for two grown ass men who have put in therapy time, they're both young and full of their own understanding with poor communication skills.

musician au anon!!! hello welcome back thank you so much for this incredible ask, let’s GO

(I’m gonna pop this one under a read more because otherwise this post will be eight miles long lmao)

Honestly I’m wracking my brain with what I can possibly add to this because you’ve got like. A fully fledged outline here my dude and it’s a good one. Do you write? Because you should, if you don’t. I still love the alternative take of Sokka being the one to leave and honestly this pretty much cements how much potential it has. I absolutely adore how you’ve thought about just how the communication would break down between them - and you’re completely bang on the money with it as well. Zuko is fully a hot disaster and would completely just assume Sokka’s needs are being met if he isn’t vocalising them, and we know Sokka, he’s a complainer but when it really comes down to those he loves - he’s known for being pretty selfless and for putting up brave faces. I can totally see Sokka perhaps almost feeling a bit self conscious about how hurt he is by Zuko’s lack of enthusiasm. Because Zuko loves him, right? And it’s just one show, right? So maybe he’s just overreacting, right? Or maybe he’s actually not even that good. Oh no, maybe Zuko hates his music and is just waiting for the right time to break it to him gently. Oh no, oh no, oh no. I think I might have already said it at some point tonight but Sokka would absolutely spiral until he convinces himself that him leaving would be nothing more than simply just leaving before he gets left. And like you said: Zuko  is out here planning a whole future assuming that they’re on the same page, meanwhile he has no idea.

I totally buy Sokka winging his way into a supporting act spot using his charm and charisma, and yeah his speech in canon didn’t go too well but this could likely be over the phone to only one person which would probably make it easier. I was thinking about how Sokka performing would work in conjuncture with his canon almost stage fright/fear of public speaking - and I’m leaning towards the hc that he embodies a sort of persona in front of large crowds and he’s able to let that take over and act casually and confidently no matter the audience.  (source: I am someone who studied acting and excelled in public speaking most of her life despite having a chronic anxiety disorder - playing parts and speaking on stage didn’t feel like ‘me’ because I was always channeling a character either fictional or an alternative version of myself. It works, folks.)

Are we thinking he broke away from the band and went on to succeed in a solo career? As in, he felt being local heroes was a limited pathway? Or did they all go together? Who else would be in it I wonder.

I LOVE your interpretation of Zuko and how the factors under which he was raised would shape him, especially in a modern setting. He would absolutely go into tunnel vision and that perfectionist mindset he was essentially forced into as a kid would probably be alive and well into adulthood. (And yeah, these aren’t men who have been to therapy - yet! - so we’re probably gonna assume that Zuko views this as a Perfectly Normal And Healthy Way To Live And Not At All A Trauma/Survival Response.)

I’m assuming this confrontation is what leads to their break up and then Sokka going off to pursue music further? I wonder, even all their other issues aside, what Zuko thinks about him travelling so far? As you said, we’re operating under the assumption that he doesn’t understand why Sokka couldn’t continue music and stay local. Even if things were perfect between the two, I imagine they still might not see eye to eye on that, which of course would just be another breaking point for them to tack onto the list.

As for their eventual reconciliation, Kaleigh @zukkau with her gigantic brain, said earlier that Sokka being the one to leave could also tie into a whole ‘I couldn’t ask you to uproot your whole life for me’ anxiety (especially if we’re painting zuko as a bit of a homebody here; hates change, likes routine) and that sets up perfectly for a “I would go anywhere for/with you” moment. All this to say that I think that would slot into this (^) narrative nicely.

If you have (or anyone has) anything more to add or touch on I would absolutely love to hear it, I am now fully in love with this AU and all messages and mentions of it are permanently welcome in my inbox and DMs <3 

[dc41896]

You Again

Hey guys👋🏾! So really quick just wanted to go ahead and say that this will have multiple parts (probably 5 or 6 more after this, but then again I’m not sure lol). Also I know this first part is short (at least to me it is), but the rest will be longer (not super long though lol). Ok that’s pretty much everything and hope you guys like it💕!!

Pairing: fratboi!Chris EvansxBlack Reader

⚠️: None☺️!

“Okay guys, ready to find out your partners for your projects?,” Professor Harris excitedly asks only to be met with groans and a sarcastic “yay”.

“Cmon guys I promise it won’t be that bad. Well that is if you guys try to work together like the somewhat responsible adults I know you are.”

Reading down the list, you anxiously await for your name to be called hoping that you’re put with someone who won’t leave everything to you this time. Being your senior year, and last semester to be exact, you just wanted everything to go by smoothly so you could get out of this place.

“Next we have Y/N with Matt.”

“Yes!,” you thought turning to look at your best friend, smirking at each other knowing you both were gonna ace this project.

“Oh..actually..my fault I was looking at the wrong line. Y/N you’re with Chris, and Matt you’re with Leslie. Okay now that you guys know your partners, go sit next to them and spend the last few minutes of class discussing your plans. I’ll come by and give you guys your topics as well.”

Walking towards the back of the room to talk with his new partner, Matt dramatically reaches out for you mouthing “I’ll never let go” before reaching his desk. Dark blue backpack flopping to the floor, Chris slouches down in the formerly vacant seat. Signature sly smile plastered along his face looking at you with those blue eyes pretty much every girl on campus wished would look in their direction.

“Mr. Evans and Mrs. Y/L/N, you both will be covering the frontal lobe of the brain. Good luck and please don’t kill each other,” he says handing both of you a sheet of paper with the due date and other information on how to properly complete it.

“So partner, what’s the plan?,” he asks skimming over the sheet in his hands.

“Well I think first we need to set up a schedule. We have 2 weeks to do this so I figure maybe we meet twice a week-,”

“Yea schedules sound nice and all, but what if we just, I don’t know, take a break and get everything prepared you know? Then meet up say the week of and put everything together?”

“...so basically what you’re saying is you want to wait until the last minute and try to do this project that we have to present on for 10 minutes?,” you respond arms crossed in front of you as you sit back in your chair.

“Not the very last minute, but something like that yea! Look we both are busy, I know you have your other classes you have to study for just like me so instead of stressing ourselves out with even more work, we leave the easiest for last,” he smiles.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” you thought laughing in disbelief as you tapped your pencil against your chin.

“Yea how about no to that idea, and we go ahead and get this done since like you said it’ll be the easiest. Plus leaving this for the last minute will only add more stress due to procrastinating which, I don’t know about you, but I don’t need.”

Taking a moment to look at you, he chuckles to himself before placing his bag over his shoulder. “Still always the boss huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Like you don’t remember, pink ranger.”

In fact you knew exactly what he was talking about. Before becoming the party king of Phi Kappa Chi everyone knew him as now, he was your teammate, the red power ranger, during recess and your friend. Most of the time, it would only be you two playing since everyone else who joined eventually got upset because you guys weren’t playing right.

“The pink ranger can call out orders too!,” you would shout back at anyone fussing because Chris wasn’t the only one that was the leader.

However, those days would come to an end with you having to move away because of your dad’s new job. You tried to keep in touch with him but you guessed with time he found new friends so you decided to do the same.

No matter how much it hurt.

“No I still don’t know what you’re talking about. You must have me confused with another girl you used to play games with,” you retort looking at your paper actively avoiding his eyes.

“Yea alright,” he rolls his eyes with a chuckle. “So when do we do this?”

“What about Friday? I’ll be done by 12 so depending on when you’re finished we can meet then and at least plan out what we’re each gonna work on if we don’t actually start it.”

“I don’t have class on Friday so sounds good.”

“Why am I not surprised,” you thought. “Ok good, we’ll meet around 3 at my dorm-,”

“And why yours?,” he smirks, fingers lightly tapping the table.

“Because there’s plenty of study rooms we can use, so I can easily claim one once I get up. Plus you live in a frat house and I already know it looks like a hazardous waste zone through there.”

“This is gonna be great,” he says under his breath as he lightly shakes his head. “Alright whatever, here.”

Handing you his phone, he already has a new contact slot opened for you to enter your number under “Pink Ranger🦸🏽‍♀️”.

“Very funny, but you’re not saving my name like that,” you respond correcting it after entering your number and handing his phone back.

“You might have a say in a lot of stuff sweetheart, but not what I save you as in MY phone,” he winks before standing up to walk out of the room.

“And don’t call me sweetheart!,” you yell after him, momentarily forgetting where you were before seeing everyone’s eyes on you as they quietly giggle.

“So I take it the meeting went well,” Matt speaks walking up to you as you collect your things to journey to your next class.

“Sure, if me foreseeing myself needing bail money before this is all over counts as a good meeting,” you sarcastically smile making him laugh as he wraps an arm around your shoulders walking out with you.

Taglist: @crushed-pink-petals @fumbling-fanfics @honeychicana @lady-olive-oil @themyscxiras @lovelymari4 @melinda-january @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @itshinothey @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy

If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged but don’t see your name, only want to be tagged for certain people I write for, or no longer wish to be tagged just let me know🤓!

[happymeishappylife]

DC CW Shows

I finally caught up on all the DC Universe shows. Quite an accomplishment for me considering I was 2 seasons behind. It feels good to finally get caught up to speed, but some of them are starting to feel like chores getting through them, rather than fun entertainment. A concern that gets amplified by the fact that the producers want to add on 2 more shows to the line up. So I felt like it was a good idea to breakdown my thoughts on each of the shows and what I liked/didn’t like. Plus then I will break down my thoughts on Crisis, because I have a lot of them. I’ll also rank these as I go as far as which ones I liked best, beginning with least to best. So let’s begin:

#7 - The Flash

I used to love this show so much. The first two seasons were a lot of fun and I loved all the characters so much. Thanks to the writing though, I can’t honestly say I don’t like this show much at all anymore and that’s kinda sad. Part of the reason is it became soooo angsty. Like the reason The Flash was great, was it was the antithesis to the angst on Arrow which made it so refreshing to watch. Now it’s like everyone must suffer some sort of pain over the tiniest things or worse, they become entrapped in characters and situations like its been haunting them for years when it only got introduced a couple episodes ago. At this point the only characters I care about are Caitlyn/Frost, Joe and Cecile West, Wally (when he’s on, which is like never), and Ralph. And that’s painful that Hartley won’t be returning to fill that role anymore because he was the only one who still could joke and laugh around like old Team Flash.

Season 5: Overall season 5 had a pretty solid storyline despite some of the angsty writing. After a while though I got pretty sick of fighting Chicada over and over again, especially Grace’s version. My one big pet peeve with it though was the relationship of Nora to Barry and Iris. I’m sorry. I can’t honestly picture any 20-30 something meeting their adult daughter and automatically assuming the role of an actual parent and treating her like a preteen. That always felt super weird and uncomfortable. Not to mention it happened almost automatically with little to no hang ups on ‘is this really our kid? Should we trust her?’ Plus then it created angst between Barry and Iris which I’m really over at this point in the series because their relationship was never my favorite to begin with.

Season 6: A hot mess. Granted, because of Crisis and Covid-19, the season probably didn’t get a fair chance to play out to it’s full potential. But cutting the season into two arcs didn’t do it any justice. Especially because instead of having character growth, I felt like a lot of the characters regressed. Take Barry for instance. The whole first part of the season is him prepping/training the team to take over for him after Crisis since he believes he is going to die. Only when he doesn’t, he assumes the role of leader still without actually leading. He stops telling his team members key details and putting aside the fact he killed the speed force, he stopped being a hero. The whole fight scene with Mirror-Iris, was so bizarre to watch. Yes, Barry would never hurt the real Iris, but she’s not and instead he just stands there and gets stabbed over and over, crying at the end that she’s not there. It’s really hard to watch.

#6 - Arrow

Arrow used to be in my top 3 slots as last I left it. The storylines were still on point. But leading up to Crisis and the show ending, there were some things that worked for me and some that didn’t. Still, kudos to the team for standing their ground and saying that we’ve told all we can tell, let’s put this show to bed and give it a close it deserves. It made the ending super emotional, but at the same time satisfying despite, Oliver’s death in the universe. My only complaint is the fact that the producers can’t put it fully to bed and now want to reboot Arrow all over again with Mia and the canaries. Don’t get me wrong watching strong women take more of the leading roles is awesome, but not to tell and retell the same storylines.

Season 7: The first half of the season when Oliver was in Iron Heights was not my favorite. Mainly because as it continues to develop it was like all the reasons he got put in Iron Heights to begin with no longer mattered. Diaz is still on the lose, he’s still playing his games in prison, and really what was the point? Now the second half of the season where we focus on his rehabilitation into society and working with the SCPD to track and take down his sister Emiko, was actually good. Too bad it got horribly overshadowed by a time travel flash-forward storyline to introduce and make us care about Mia.

Season 8: Obviously this season was the closeout season and the season leading up to Crisis. But I liked the way they treated it. They gave cameo spots and guest starring spots to former faces like Thea (she’s still freaking awesome), Tommy, Moira, and even Merlyn came back. My only complaint was that all of sudden we did have another time travel situation on our hands to meet our future kids. Thankfully I felt Arrow overall took that development better than the Flash, which since that was only a couple episodes and not a season, says something about the writing. Plus the post-Crisis pilot for the Green Arrow and Canaries felt a little out of place given everything that happened and a little insulting.

#5 - Supergirl

There’s parts of Supergirl I still absolutely love to pieces and the writing that are still doing it the justice that started the show by telling storylines of not only heroism, but commentary on today’s events to help push for progress. I love the whole cast of characters and think the acting has been great. My only complaint is with Season 5 and the fact that the show is beginning to find its tipping point of being less than stellar. I mean, I still enjoy it, but it’s beginning to show its where and tear so I’m worried what’s going to happen as it continues forward. Especially as it gets hyperfixated on Lex Luthor, who don’t get me wrong is a fabulous villain, but isn’t that Superman’s arch nemesis, not Supergirl’s?

Season 4: What a great commentary to tell throughout the season that parallels the feelings and conversations being had about immigration in our own world. I thought the idea of the Alien Amnesty Act squaring off against Ben Lockwood and his Agents of Liberty was not only great commentary but great story telling. I also loved that we got to introduce Nia Nall into the series because she’s fantastic and has become one of my favorite characters. I even love the twist reveal of how Ben Lockwood isn’t the enemy, it’s really Lex Luthor and his communist Supergirl clone. Plus Jon Crier plays an amazing Lex Luthor.

Season 5: Don’t get me wrong, the stakes and the storylines with Leviathan and Obsidian North, I do think are important and worth telling, but they detracted from the main storyline that developed at the end of last season which was Lena and Kara’s new relationship. Yes, it was still hit on and explored, but by far that was the storyline I was interested in seeing the most, not Ramah Khan or Virtual Reality horror stories. Also, while I like Lex, thanks to his antics during Crisis, the second half of the season felt hijacked and became this witch hunt. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to see what he and Lillian are doing, but I wish it played out more in the shadows and less of the actual screen time. I’m also glad Lena is back on Kara’s side again. But Brainy better not be dead! He’s one of my favorites even if his motives during this season were hard to watch.

#4 - Batwoman

I actually really, really, really liked Batwoman’s first season. Getting to know the badass that is Kate Kane and watch the horror’s of Gotham play out week to week was such a refreshing change of pace. After all, The Flash and Supergirl are undeniably heroes and must carry those burdens(?) as they fight for truth and justice. And Oliver was a vigilante, but while he took down drug lords, weapons dealers, etc. the stakes of being a vigilante in Star City is nothing compared to wearing the cape in Gotham. I loved the cast and seeing the stories play out of their past and how they connect to each other and also how some of them discover who Batwoman is, was fantastic. Even as creepy as Alice is, I enjoyed seeing the performance of the completely unhinged and psychotic villain take the stage to play out her twisted fantasies. I also appreciate the openness that Kate brought to being an out and proud lesbian, even revealing her super identity to a teenager to prove that it does get better and lesbians can be awesome is super freaking powerful. I even like that with the shortened season, it didn’t feel like we got robbed of an awesome storyline, but now we get to why this ranks fourth on my list instead of higher: Ruby Rose left the show and we get a whole new Batwoman. I get that this is out of the hands of the producers and the writers and I am super sad to see her go. But its hard not to feel like we lost a whole season of introduction and development to just reset and begin again. I’m not sure how they will handle it, but I do hope that a lot of the cast stays and stays in their roles. Especially Luke and Mary who are a great team. Mary is also like my all time, instant-favorite character because not only is she super wicked smart, but she has so much humanity in her so I hope she still continues on the show.

#3 - Stargirl

 Yes, yes, this show is still airing which is why I can’t speak to the overall season arc in finality yet, but I absolutely have been loving this first season. Again, what a refreshing new reality to step into and what a great new storyline to pursue. This rag-tag group of teenagers becoming the new Justice Society of America is a fun telling and already, the stakes of the Injustice Society are so high! Like I was expecting that it was going to be like the other shows where slowly by slowly we meet all the bad guys in different seasons, but instead it feels a little flipped since we don’t have all our new heroes on the stage yet. Still I love Courtney and her relationship with Pat as she discovers these secrets of his past and their new home of Blue Valley. I love her recruiting reasoning to bring Yolanda and Rick into this crazy plan and even her acceptance of Beth becoming the new Doctor Midnight. Plus, the show keeps surprising me because on one hand, giving these teenagers these powers to help them redeem their self esteem is a great storyline, which is why I was expecting them to force us to like Cindy since the beginning of that episode was leading up to maybe becoming friends with her, but no. Turns out she is the super bitch and super villain of the show and that’s kinda awesome. Also I like how because their teenagers, their secret identities aren’t really that secret, which makes it’s kinda fun, but also dangerous. We’ll see how the last 3 episodes play out, but I can’t wait.

#2 - Black Lightening

Talk about real gritty, dark, and powerful storytelling. I enjoyed the first season, but these last two have been a real punch in the gut in good ways and the writers have been outdoing themselves to provide heartfelt, real, honest emotions and discussions to the world of superheroes, compared to the other shows. And it’s hard, but the gruesome nature of the show also highlights some of the real struggles going on in the Freeland Community which of course highlights the issues in our own world around the Black Community. The whole spinal chord ripping scene will haunt me forever and not only because they keep replaying it, but because of how insane that was. The cast is also great and I love that at the end of Season 3, it’s not just a family of super heroes, but a group of powerful metas squaring off against the government and the most dangerous threat of all so far: Gravedigger. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

Season 2: Now that the whole family knows the stakes of what they have gotten themselves into with Tobias and revealing the girls have power, I love the way we got introduced to the ASA and the pod kids as a menial threat while still struggling to take down the perceived ‘bigger threat’ that is Tobias. Jennifer also having trouble coming to terms with her powers and how to use them I think was a great way to explore that not everyone wants to be a superhero, especially in antithesis to Nyssa who is a full on badass as Thunder and Blackbird. Watching Khalil’s story in this go from obedient lap dog to a runaway and finally a victim of Tobias’ violence was hard, but I felt was justified throughout and made him that character you want to root for, even when not everything he’s done has been great.

Season 3: What a harsh turn of direction. A full on occupation of Freeland, house arrest, killings on the street, and an underground railroad of metas or suspected metas completely changed the tune of this show. Watching each of the Peirces struggle to find out who the ASA is, what their doing, if their actions are justified and if the Marcovian threat was real was really fascinating to watch. The showdown with the Marcovians too with a whole team behind them was also a nice change of pace, even if their mission didn’t end the way they expected. I think the amplified stakes though of what happened and what’s to come will continue to develop into an incredible show, minus one now big problem I have, but I will detail that out below when we talk about Crisis.

#1 - Legends of Tomorrow

You can fight me, but Legends of Tomorrow is the best goddamn shown on this network for one simple fact: They don’t take themselves seriously. There is no real angst and because of that it makes the adventures so fun and so hilarious that its such a great break from all of the other shows. Plus, because they keep swapping new and old cast members into the show, it always feels new. Kinda that Doctor Who spirit, which I love. That and because there are hardly any rules to a time travelling group of heroes who don’t really want to be heroes, you get ridiculously themed episodes like Bollywood Musical or TV Crossovers. It is what makes the show a total blast.

Season 4: As the team gears up to track down magical creatures throughout history, you get the introduction of permanent team member, John Constantine who I freaking love for his cool, aloof character and yet sarcastic and sassy contrast to the sunshine and bro-squad that is Ray and Nate. I also love that the season not only was about capturing these magical creatures, but fully rehabilitating Norah Dhark into a good guy now accidentally turned fairy godmother. To be honest, I definitely did not see that one coming. I like that fighting the demon lord also helped transition the show from Season 4 to 5 to fight hell spawn creatures. Quite a leap from the original Legends concept, but again that’s what makes this show so fresh.

Season 5: Part of the other fun of Legends is getting to see old characters get reinvented. I loved the storyline with Charlie and her reveal to be Clothos, one of the 3 fate sisters and the reason the ancient loom got destroyed. I also loved Tala Ashe’s portrayal of Zari in a different timeline because the difference between tech-geek, super smart Zari and social influencer extraordinaire Zari were well done. Plus we got another awesome bro-squad member in Behrad who I hope sticks around for a while. The only bummer was saying goodbye to Ray Palmer. Ray has been one of my favorite characters in the Arrow-verse and seeing his exit was sad and partly because I think it could have been handled better. Like don’t get me wrong, seeing him have to get approval from Damian Dhark to marry Nora was entertaining and I’m glad he isn’t dead like Dr. Stein or Leonard Snart, but I just feel like the exit was a bit rushed. The good news is, it opens the door for Ray to return and I hope we get to seem in the future.

Alright...... To end this long spiel, let’s talk about Crisis on Infinite Earths and what that now means for all these shows. Because unfortunately.... it can’t be ignored. And I’m sorry to sound pessimistic, but to be honest, Crisis wasn’t my favorite story and was too hyped for the end result.

The only show who came out better for Crisis, in my opinion, was Arrow. Mainly because the story of Oliver’s last sacrifice to reboot the universe was the only one that made complete sense and doesn’t complicate the show after it happens. Granted it could be because it was used as the show’s exit, but still. I used to love crossover episodes and getting the whole team together, but now because there is soooo much going on in each show and such a large cast, these big multi-night and multi-universe shows just feel scattered because you are constantly hopping around and between each of the characters and all the individual storylines don’t matter. Like remember when Barry and Oliver would actually talk about what they were up against? Miss that. That and Oliver, Barry, and Kara stole the show even when it was other shows turn to shine. Like Kate was hardly in it, even in her own episode and the Legends weren’t in it at all. It was just Sara and Ray which was disappointing because as Crisis was their season opener, you missed a real chance to have the Legends save the day. Don’t get my wrong, there were some great moments during crisis and I liked the nod to past versions of the DC characters, including Brandon Routh getting to play Superman again, but overall it just made chaos for things that don’t make sense post-crisis.

Like yay, all our favorite heroes are in one place and created the justice league to help each other, but once Crisis is over, nope sorry, no one can be bothered to borrow a hero friend. Like that makes sense for some shows, Batwoman for instance isn’t that close to everyone and her storyline is so rooted in her own family drama, that ignoring the other supers made sense. The Flash’s stakes weren’t high enough to involve anyone else, so fine. And Legends of course travel through time and so aren’t around, fine. But Supergirl’s takedown of a longstanding secret group of people capable of bending Earth’s elements to create catastrophic events, isn’t enough to at least reach out to Cisco or Luke for help tracking them? That seems underwhelming. Plus where are the aliens in all the other cities now? Or the metas in National City? That’s a pet peeve, but more so because of the biggest twist in Crisis:

Pulling Black Lightening into the Arrowverse. Like the shows writers and producers, I think Black Lightening works better outside the Arrowverse which was the intent and goal from the get go. Pulling Jefferson Pierce’s family and world into the same Earth as all the other shows, no longer makes the shows storytelling as strong and maybe it was because this was a last minute decision, but there is just no justification post Crisis as to why they had to come in. I mean, The Flash and Black Lightening have metas related issues, you would think that alone would be a prime source of teaming up. Especially when Cisco goes out on a worldwide quest to document metas, you’re telling me skipped over Freeland? And where’s our favorite Kyrptonian to fight for truth, justice, and the American way as Freeland is being occupied by the ASA? Oh, what too busy going after Lex Luthor? Sorry, I’m not buying that Kara Danvers ignores racial injustice. Like I get that maybe it was a way to be able to use Black Lightening later in cross-over events, but the fallout from bringing them in this season with everything going on is a huge mistake in my opinion. And heck, having shows exist outside each other is probably a good thing. Too many and these crossover events don’t feel fun anymore, they just feel chaotic. I think I’m with the Legends on this one: the crossovers aren’t worth it anymore.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #129: Artoria Pendragon (Archer)

Today on Fate and Phantasms, our fun in the sun continues as we make yet another Artoria Pendragon. Geez, we’re over 100 builds in and they just keep coming. How many of you are there?

...Wow that’s a lot of clones.

Anyway, Artoria’s known for two things- the existential horror of existing in over a dozen places simultaneously, and now, her skill with water guns. I choose to believe those are connected somehow.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Summer lovin’, happened so fast!

Race and Background

Again, there’s nothing new here. You’re a Human, giving you +1 to all stats. You’re also a Knight, getting History and Persuasion proficiencies.

Ability Scores

Your Charisma was already pretty strong, and thanks to Summer helping you chill out a bit it’s only gotten stronger. Instead of focusing on Strength, your mana bursts now empower you Dexterity for greater speed and avoiding other player’s shots. You’ll also need some Wisdom to spot enemies lying in wait. Your Constitution hasn’t been changed much by your class change, but your Strength did take a hit as did your Intelligence. It’s Summer, the one time you don’t have to worry too much.

Class Levels

1. Sorcerer 1: Thanks to your ranged weapon specialization this time around, being a paladin is completely useless for us! The good news though is that we can finally take a moment to appreciate your Draconic Bloodline. As the descendent of a white dragon, you get abilities related to Cold damage later on. You also double your proficiency in charisma checks against dragons. Your Draconic Resilience makes your sorcerer hit dice slightly less terrible, and you get a permanent mage armor effect, making your AC 13 plus your dexterity modifier.

On top of that, you get proficiency in Constitution and Charisma saves, as well as two sorcerer skills- Intimidation and Religion. You can really put the fear of god into people.

You also get Spells you can cast using your Charisma. Grab Frostbite, Shape Water, and Ray of Frost for the opening salvo, Light so you can still make your sword all cool and glowy without God helping out, Expeditious Retreat for a bit of speed, and Charm Person because there aren’t that many first level spells I really like for you.

2. Warlock 1: You wouldn’t be King Arthur without Merlin hanging on like a hair in a biscuit, so let’s spend this time to make you a Archfey warlock again. This gives you a Fey Presence that lets you force Wisdom saves on creatures in a 10 foot cube (DC 8 + proficiency + dexterity modifier) or they become frightened/charmed by you for a round once per short rest. You are the king of the britons wielding a deadly weapon, but you’re also in a bikini, so either one works here.

You also get Pact Magic, another spell list that also uses your Charisma to cast. This spell slot doesn’t mix with your other spells, so just use the normal spell tables to figure out how many you have.

You get Friends for more charisma shenanigans, Eldritch Blast for a quick and easy water gun (it’s force instead of cold, but that just means you’re blasting them really hard). For first level spells, Armor of Agathys ensures you get water all over the place when you’re hit. I told you to put a towel down before you sat in the car, but noooo... You also get a Healing Elixir to create a healing potion. Nobody will judge you if you take a sip out of your water gun. Actually I just saw its color, everyone will judge you. But it’s still healing.

3. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get some Eldritch Invocations to customize your squirting experience. Lance of Lethargy makes your Eldritch Blasts slow down enemies when they hit once per turn by making their socks a bit squishier. Most people would call it rude to attack someone with a squirt gun when they’re clearly not ready, but you call it strategy. Like usual, we’re saving the other one for level 3.

You also get Protection from Evil and Good, because even if you’re not a paladin officially, you still gotta get some of the holy flavor in there.

4. Warlock 3: You’ve probably figured it out already, but your pact boon is the Pact of the Blade, allowing you to create a magical melee weapon as an action. Thanks to your Improved Pact Weapon, you can also make it a crossbow, if you really want an actual water gun. Regardless of its form it gets +1 to attacks and damage. You’re limited to two-handed crossbows though, so you won’t be able to dual-wield a gun and sword like in your NP.

You can also cast Calm Emotions, to cool down your allies and enemies alike with a little playful water. Don’t mix this up with your killing people water, that’s an easy mistake to make.

5. Sorcerer 2: Second level sorcerers are a Font of Magic giving you a number of sorcery points equal to your sorcerer level each long rest. Right now you can use them to recharge spell slots, or vice versa. This gets more interesting next level.

You can also cast Magic Missile now! it might not be cold damage, but it is very accurate.

6. Sorcerer 3: Third level sorcerers can use their sorcery points for Metamagic, adding extra effects to their spells. Right now you get two options, Distant Spell doubles the range of spells that involve attack rolls, making your water guns fire on par with most bows. Empowered Spell allows you to re-roll damage dice on your spell for some extra pumps before firing. Both of these cost 1 point.

You also learn how to fire a little wildly thanks to Snilloc’s Snowball Storm, launching cold damage in a 5 foot radius, dealing full damage to creatures who fail a dexterity save (DC 8+proficiency+charisma) or half as much if they succeed.

7. Sorcerer 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to round up your Dexterity and Constitution scores for better weapon attacks, a higher AC, and more health and concentration.

Your next cantrip is Blade Ward in case you miss raging, and you can cast Alter Self to give yourself a swim speed and water breathing. There’s other uses, but you can just ignore these.

8. Warlock 4: You get another ASI right away, so use this to become an Elemental Adept. Your spells now ignore resistance to cold damage, and all dice rolled for damage count as at least 2. Your water blitz skills grow by the day.

You can also Create Bonfire for a cookout after the match, or take a Misty Step for some extra speed.

9. Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks get third level spells, and Spirit Shroud will allow you to add extra cold damage to your closeup attacks, and make your surroundings a bit more slippery for enemies.

You also get the invocation Eldritch Smite. Just because you aren’t a paladin doesn’t mean you can’t hit like one.

10. Sorcerer 5: Your Magical Guidance lets you spend a sorcery point to re-roll a failed ability check, because being a protagonist means never having to say “I got a nat 1.”

You can also cast Water Walk at this level to walk on water. This is more in-character than alter self, use this instead.

11. Sorcerer 6: You now have an Elemental Affinity for cold damage, adding your charisma modifier to cold damage caused by spells. When you deal damage with such a spell, you can also spend a sorcery point to gain resistance to cold damage. You’re probably the only person in the party in a bathing suit, water shouldn’t be an issue for you.

You can also cast Haste now for even more extra speed and eldritch blasts.

12. Sorcerer 7: Seventh level sorcerers get fourth level spells such as Stoneskin. We’re not spending levels on barbarian this build either, but that doesn’t mean you should miss out.

13. Sorcerer 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Charisma for stronger and more damaging spells. You also get Watery Sphere this level. I don’t have a way to flavor this as a watergun technique, but there’s only so many cold spells so we can’t be picky.

14. Warlock 6: As a sixth level feylock you speed up a lot thanks to your Misty Escape. As a reaction to taking damage, you can turn invisible and teleport up to 60 feet away, once per short rest.

You can also cast Blink to become fast enough to be completely unhittable. At the end of each turn, you’ll have a 50/50 shot of vanishing into the ethereal plane. You’ll pop back in at the start of your next turn, or if the spell ends.

15. Warlock 7: Your final spell is the fourth level Elemental Bane, forcing a constitution save on a target creature. If they fail, the first time they take cold damage each turn they take extra damage as well, and lose resistance to the damage type. (It also works on other types of damage, but... come on.) You also have a Thirsting Blade, allowing you to attack twice with your pact weapon each turn.

16. Sorcerer 9: At ninth level your aim starts getting really wonky, turning your watergun into a Cone of Cold. It’s a cone, it’s cold. It forces a constitution save.

17. Sorcerer 10: With another metamagic option you get Twinned Spell, allowing for double the blasts at once.

If you really wanted to, you could cast True Strike. Or you could do something productive with your turn and go with Far Step, giving you teleportation as a bonus action each turn the spell stays up.

18. Sorcerer 11: Your sixth level spell gives you the nicest bikini magic can make, the Investiture of Ice. This outfit makes you Immune to Cold damage and resistant to fire damage, causes the area around you to become difficult terrain, and you can create cold blasts as an action, dealing cold damage and further reducing the speed of anything that gets caught in it and fails a constitution save.

19. Sorcerer 12: Last ASI, bump up your Dexterity. More AC, better weapon fighting, yadda yadda.

20. Sorcerer 13: Your capstone level nets you a seventh level spell, Plane Shift. I’m not entirely sure where that place you do your noble phantasm is located, but I’d bet the elemental plane of water will make a great substitute.

Pros:

Sorcerers are good blasters, and you show that off nicely. With haste and a quickened spell you can fire off three supercharged cantrips per round, or the powerful eldritch blast. Or, you can use other spells like Spirit Shroud or Elemental Bane to push your spell damage even higher.

Thanks to all that ice and water you’re sporting you’re great at slowing down creatures, controlling the tide of battle by controlling the tide.

Compounding on that, you’re pretty mobile thanks to those teleportation spells to pop you around the battlefield, making you a real nuisance to pin down.

Cons:

All three of those pros mostly rely on concentration spells, meaning you’ll have to pick which one you’re good at at any one time. You also run the risk of wasting spell slots by dropping them since we spent all your ASIs on feats and attack stats instead of constitution.

We got a lot out of multiclassing into warlock, but we also lost a lot, especially in regards to sorcery points. It’s a good thing you’re good a blasting, because you’re not good at extended fights.

If you could focus on either your sword or your water gun, you’d have a much easier time squeezing yourself into 20 levels. You dual wield though, so we have to split our attention.

[wearesorcerer]

[5e] Metamagic

’Kay, I don’t think I’m going to restart my spell level series just yet. The more I look at the 5e Sorcerer, the more I think it’s turned into the red-headed stepchild of the classes, which makes me a sad panda.

And you thought I was just going to stick to the South Park reference. For shame!

The key to making Sorcerer work is to select the right Metamagics.¹ You don’t get this until third level, which IMHO is a bit silly for your signature, differentiating ability, but it’s probably that way because everyone would pick Twinned Spell (dungeon crawls) or Subtle Spell (any campaign, but especially intrigue). By third level, you’ll probably have found a niche in your casting:

Beguiler (favoring debuffs -- spells that target enemies with debilitating effects. Most debuffs on this list are crowd control effects [alter how the enemies move and behave], rather than ones that apply other types of disadvantages to them. I figured I’d invoke Beguiler-senpai because she needs some love [seriously, go follow @wearebeguiler​], but I’d be remiss if I did not also invoke @we-are-illusionists​ [also -senpai])

Blaster (damage)

Environmentalist (;P more crowd control, but focuses on spells that don’t target creatures and instead alter terrain, visibility, and such)

Utilitarian (divinations, movement spells, etc. -- anything to overcome obstacles. Also includes the few buffs [support spells] on the list)

Jack-of-All-Trades (hybrid)

Each method is going to want different metamagics, so I’ll note which ones help which best. Bear in mind that you only get four metamagic options unless you take Metamagic Adept (Unearthed Arcana 2020: Feats; +2 metamagic options, +2 sorcery points), if you’re even allowed to. This will be a hard decision: all of the core metamagic options are fine, so you might find yourself stuck.

Careful: Cha mod creatures automatically succeed at their saving throws against your spells (1 SP). Although you might initially think “fling fireballs everywhere!”, most damaging AoEs still deal half damage on successful saves. This is more for crowd control effects or AoE debuffs. Beguiler, Environmentalist

Distant: Add 30 ft. to the range of touch spells or double range of ranged spells (1 SP). Anyone would like this. However, whether you should take it depends on which spells you take and the sort of campaign you’re in (e.g., mass battles on open fields vs. tight dungeon corridors). Any

Elemental (UA: Class Feature Variants): Change a spell’s damage type from one of the five elemental energy types to another -- acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder (1 SP). A blaster taking this will benefit from getting to concentrate on things like shape, range, and damage dice over resistances. However, other styles with fewer attack spells (e.g., Jack-of-All-Trades) will benefit more because they’re less able to get around resistances. Jack-of-All-Trades/any

Empowered: Reroll Cha mod damage dice; must take the new rolls (1 SP). Obviously for blasters. You should save this for higher levels when you have large dice pools, particularly ones that exceed your Cha mod so you can keep any good rolls and not feel like you’re wasting the sorcery point. Blaster

Extended: Double the duration (cap: 24 hours) of spells that ordinarily last one minute or longer (1 SP). This is not a combat metamagic (1 minute = 10 rounds), so it’s best used with spells that you’ll take through an entire dungeon or want to have ongoing through the day. You’re mainly looking at the Enchantment, Illusion, and Transmutation schools, plus an assortment of Divinations. You might get more mileage re: spell schools out of it if you have spells from other classes’ lists. Beguiler, Utilitarian

Heightened: Give one target of one of your spells disadvantage on its first saving throw (3 SP). The wording implies that this is useful to blasters, which it kinda is, but not as much as others. It’s mainly for debuffs that only allow one save. Beguiler

Quickened: Cast spell as a bonus action if normally it’s be 1 action or less (2 SP). While you could decide to cast magic missile and fireball in the same round, this is mainly for things like casting a spell and then making an escape with dimension door or comboing based on your choice of spells. Regardless, extra actions are good for anyone. Environmentalist, Utilitarian, Jack-of-All-Trades; any

Seeking (UA: Class Feature Variants): Ignore half- or three-fourths cover when casting a spell with a Dex save or an attack roll (1 SP). Blasters? In dungeons? Are you mad? Wait, no, you’re basic. I gotta say, for a game that’s all about being in rooms with furniture and such, I have not once in twenty years had a DM use the rules for cover. I dunno why, it makes sense to use; maybe it’s just not the first thing you think of when you don’t see it before you. Blaster

Subtle: Cast without verbal or somatic components (1 SP). Useful! This is great for stealth, for reducing agg, and ignoring anti-caster bondage. (You’d think Sorcerers would be kinkier...) A good second choice in any campaign and everyone’s first choice in an intrigue-focused one. Also likely the first choice for the Environmentalist, being passive-aggressive. Environmentalist/any

Twinned: Single-target spell (at the level it’s cast) gains a second target (SP = spell level [min. 1]). With few exceptions, a blaster will mainly find this useful for cantrips, as most damage-dealing spells on the Sorcerer list affect multiple targets. Beguilers will get more use out of this, as they won’t have to spend higher spell slots for standard augmented effects. A Jack-of-All-Trades would benefit from both options, making them that much more viable. Beguiler, Blaster, Jack-of-All-Trades

Unerring (UA: Class Feature Variants): Reroll spell’s missed attack roll, must take reroll; can use other metamagics with it (2 SP). This is for when you’re desperate enough in combat that it needs to end right now, but it hasn’t. Like, you’re going to miss, but it’s unlikely that you’re going to want to use this every time you miss (even if it only cost one SP). Think of it as a panic button and the inverse of Empowered. Blaster, Jack-of-All-Trades; any

¹ This is a bit strange for me, coming from 3.x, as spontaneous casters were the worst at metamagic. However, 5e’s metamagic works like 3.x metapsionics (substitute “you must expend your psionic focus” with “you can’t use more than one metamagic effect at once” -- same thing, more arbitrary) and I’m quite familiar with that.

[slashedthroughtheheart]

Commission prices!

Heya~ Local cryptid writer here with my do’s and don’ts!

First, any word count estimates will be given after I receive a prompt and I will check with you if that estimate fits what you want! We can negotiate it to be less if that’s what you need/can afford. Either way, I will write to the word count every time.

However, if I go over estimate word count, you will not be charged extra. Sometimes the muse decides how long a fic actually is despite clear goals set close. If you love it, you can always leave me a tip but don’t feel pressured just because a plot what plot/porn without plot turned out to have some plot in it because I got carried away.

Currency is in USD

Flat rate for a full one shot fic (1k): $10

Flat rate for a full one shot fic (2k): $15

Flat rate for a full one shot fic (3k): $20

Flat rate for a full one shot fic (4k): $25

Flat rate for a full one shot fic (5k): $30

I do longer fics than this all the time, but when writing for stuff I’m not personally into, this is about the cap I’d be able to get to. If you give me a prompt that aligns with my own interests, you can likely expect an Over the Estimate fic, but I will try to stick to within 1k words of the estimate.

Additionals/Add ons for fics!

If you don’t have a prompt, but have a character and general kink/idea in mind, I can write a prompt and send it to you for approval before I start a fic. The first time will be free, but if I have to think of a different prompt than the initial sent, it will be an additional $5 if I do write the fic out.

For all characters you will be asked if you want My headcanons for them. If you would like to feature your own headcanons that are Major changes (Ie: If you think someone is a sub rather than a dom like I think or vice versa) then you will pay $3 extra. If it’s something minor like a trans headcanon, no extra charge!

Stories featuring OCs: Add $5 to one of the flat rates if it is an OC I have done before. If it is a new one, Add $8 since the work of learning a new character is a lot to handle.

Adding another sex scene to any 18+. One is included, but if you want a second separate scene, add $3

If you wanna read some of my works, you can go to my Ao3 at HaruyamaYuri or look around this blogs My Writing tag.

If you would like a quote/estimation of price for a commission, dm me! And if you’re not certain if I write for a character, you can also pop in for one of those!

Please come ready with your prompt, even if it’s just a basic idea and what you want included and how you think it might go down. It’ll help me give a better estimate if you have a fully fledged idea for me to think about and work with!

What I WON’T write: Incest, vomit, hard vore, scat, zo//o/philia, non-con (consensual non-con and some dub-con is okay on a case by case basis) anyone under 18 and I don’t age up! I have a fic of Max Thompson Jr when he was younger, but he is still 18 and in canon he is very much of age when we personally get introduced to him, so aging him down to 18 was needed for the story to work because of timelines. If your character starts as an adult but you want them younger, 18 is my limit at how young they can get unless it is 100% a sfw/non-sexual fic. If you aren’t sure about me being okay writing a kink, just dm me and ask! I’d be happy to let you know!

So far, this blog is only for slashers and the killers from Dead by Daylight. I am mainly into Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, both Leatherface’s, and most of the male killers from DBD. I can write for the female ones, but I’m much more comfortable writing for male slashers/killers. If you’re wondering if I’ll write for a specific character, just dm me! I could likely write for your character given a bit of time and learning the source material well enough.

Relationship combos I do: Canon/reader is my bread and butter, but I can do canon/canon or canon/OC. And if given enough source material/references, I could do OC/reader. I don’t want to say I’d do OC/OC because I have to have some kind of frame of reference to start from and not knowing either personally would be difficult for me. If you want a pairing with an OC in it at all, you need to be ready to answer any questions I come up with during the writing process if I can’t figure it out from the references you give me.

I’ll start by having slots for fics so everyone can see if there’s any available. However, I can create a waitlist if needed! So don’t be afraid to dm me even if the slots are full!

I will communicate through the whole process of writing your commission. If something comes up in my life that will delay anything, I will let you know. Usually, I can finish a long fic of about 5k words within 2 or 3 weeks if it’s not something I’m personally into. So most fics will be out within 2 to 3 weeks. I may need breaks between fics, and I will always keep people updated on that!

Payments accepted: Paypal and Cashapp. If paying through cashapp, we can discuss that in DM. Paypal link will be added to my bio, but I can also send it in dms as well!

Waitlist info: If you do not respond to me letting you know I’m ready to take your prompt within 48 hours I’ll go down the list to the next person! If you are more easily accessible on a different social media, you can share that with my via dm and I can do my best to contact you there when a spot opens up as well as dms here on tumblr. You can always dm me back if you missed your window to keep you in the rotation! And don’t worry about telling me to skip you or that you don’t want the fic anymore for whatever reason! There is zero pressure!

[inventors-fair]

Weird Commentary: Thanks

I would call this one of our most successful contests. Not every card was a gold standard, not every card made me squeal with glee, but every single one had love, thought, and heart put into them. I’m even more impressed with the fact that over 2/3 of contestants actually made their own art! As a not-artist myself, I understand how challenging that can be sometimes. I’m just having a moment where I’m proud of everyone.

Also, for this commentary, I’m trying something a little different. Tell me if you like it!

@3smuth​ — Burrow-Wing Amalgam

What I like: Besides the gorgeous art (look at the curve of the moon behind the wing!), the wording is great, and the abilities are well-rounded for an uncommon. I like how the flavor text builds up the “character” of the creature, making it seem more alive, and tying in to the abilities as well. That’s hard to do!

What we can improve: I find that the first ability giving it two mono-black abilities a little jarring. There are only two BG fliers in black-border canon, and that’s not to say that this couldn’t be added to that list, but it’s mildly off-putting; I kept thinking that this could be an Abzan card, maybe with G/W hybrid in the cost? But that’s entirely dependent on the environment. It’s hard to visualize one in which BG has an uncommon pseudo-flying beater, but it’s not to say that it’s impossible — just a hard sell.

Allison — Salheim, The Twisted Storm

What I like: This feels like a fun commander who would also be good in draft. A cheap body means that your spells can be small bodies that return at the start and huge potential bodies later. I like how it limits it to the first spell, so you can’t go infinite for less than ten mana with some other combo pieces. Honestly, this is a fantastic mechanical card.

What we can improve: There are a few grammatical mistakes to clean up, small pieces of Magic wording. “The” in the name should be lowercase, as should “Blue” and “Red” in the text box. “spells” should have a possessive apostrophe, and “it’s” shouldn’t. Don’t forget a period at the end before the quotation mark! I would also shorten the trigger: “...you may pay (X) [symbol], where X is that spell’s converted mana cost.”

@ceta-maelstrom​ — Camouflage Krasis

What I like: “Cat fish” is an awesome creature combo! Your art brings that across really well. With the new-ish arrival of Cat tribal and the rise in the creature type, I think that this is a welcome addition. I like the hexproof clause. It gives it a flavor of “as long as I’m small, I can’t be seen.”

What we can improve: Metamorph is a little hard to parse. Because of the “if” in the middle breaking up the sentence, I thought “it” referred to the creature entering the battlefield, and that that creature would get two counters. My mistake. Hm, how to reword it... “Whenever another nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control, put two +1/+1 counters on this creature if it has no +1/+1 counters on it.” No, that’s a little awkward too... There can be a little more clarity. I think the mechanic is worth playing around with.

@dancepatternalpha​ — The Rat King

What I like: Simple, easy to understand, cool synergistic potential. I think this would be a fun build-around-me card. You mentioned something about Innistrad not having a rat king; would you believe they had one mechanically, in the form of Dark Imposter? I actually thought it was potential inspiration, different flavor.

What we can improve: Like Dark Imposter, I believe that the “all activated abilities” should be a separate line. When it comes to that, the similarities are a little stark, but I think the King distinguishes itself from the Imposter by its legendary status and the fact that it exiles your own creatures. I’m not getting a strong sense of either “ooze” or “construct,” though. “Ooze,” I would honestly just take off altogether. “Construct,” in Magic history, implies an artifact creature, something built by something else, and I’m not getting a sense of that either. “Noble” might be fun, if a little on the nose.

@dimestoretajic​ — Cryptizub, Steel Abomination

What I like: It’s certainly a limited beater, something that reminds me of Scuttling Doom Engine from back in the day. It can be incredibly powerful in the late game and can fit into any slot. Oof, give it lifelink? And you’re in good shape.

What we can improve: The first thing I got from this card that’s iffy is the name; it sounds like a legendary creature. “Steel Abomination” would be just fine. For the activated ability, I believe going off of Banshee’s oracle text, that you need to say “~ damage equal to its power to target creature, and damage equal to its power to you.” Not an absolute, but it’s one possibility. Don’t forget to italicize Threshold. The flavor text is a little on the nose. I would either shorten it or just leave it off. The card carries a world by itself as a magic beatstick.

@gollumni​ — Severed Stone-Seer

What I like: This is a card that would definitely get you a-head of the curve!..... Ahem. I think this card successfully fits into the world of Theros, with a little jank. The flavor text is really great. It’s a powerful card with a big butt. I can imagine this taking over games of limited quite easily.

What we can improve: Five toughness might be too powerful. A 3-mana 2/4 with deathtouch is pretty nasty as-is; at five toughness, stuff becomes a lot harder to remove. As much as I do like what you wrote here, I’m still having trouble fitting “Gorgon Hydra” into my mind as something reasonable, considering that the two have such distinct qualities already. “Gorgon Head” could be fine, maybe even “Hydra Head.” Both have great mythological flavor. Small note that I’m unsure of: would it be “create a token copy of” or “create a token that’s a copy of”?

@grornt​ — Carnivorous Multitusker

What I like: Yup, that’s a mutant boar hydra all right! It’s big, it’s bad, it’s green, it takes over games, and it’s a great bomb. This feels like a quintessential green creature right here, with the exception of the weird types. Maybe the Simic and the Gruul could come together to make something like this, yeah? I’d love to open this in a pack and/or add it to a starter deck. Wish it was powerful enough for Standard. Maybe it is, who knows? I like how your added aspects of both boars and hydras from Magic’s past.

What we can improve: This is a pedantic point, but I’d like to see “Mutant” at the end rather than the beginning. Aside from that, I think the flavor text, smirk-worthy as it is, doesn’t really add to the card or to the world. I’d rather see something like on Protean Hulk, a little more expanse. 

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes​ — Apex of Evolution

What I like: Wow, you really went all-out with the creature types, huh? I think that you used the mechanics pretty well to get the feeling of “a creature that grows from your experience and also eats other creatures to gain their strength.” It’s a build-around-me card that’s fun if you can beef it up.

What we can improve: Firstly, the flavor text pushes the card from “wordy” into “too much.” I love adding it where needed, but with this much text, and with this strong a mechanical focus, you don’t really need it. I feel that in this instance especially it doesn’t add anything that the card doesn’t already have. For the second ability, it should be a full if-clause: “If a creature dealt damage by ~ would die, exile it instead.” And the game already knows that those cards are imprinted “with it” so you don’t need to add that. For the last ability... That’s way too many clauses. “Apex of Evolution has all abilities of cards exiled with it.” It does add some baggage, yes, but most creatures won’t have those negative effects, and, well, that’s a risk of combat to take. This creature already makes combat complicated.

@ignorantturtlegaming​ — Fabled Fox

What I like: Cool art, and cool combo! I think that two creature types works well here; it’s a Fox, and it’s a Dragon, and that’s that. This seems like a card that, when it hits, can really get you ahead in a game. I like how the last ability implies a world with Fox tribal; that’s grokable.

What we can improve: There are a few things that this card has that it doesn’t necessarily need. The mana cost has no reason not to be 3WRG; why the doubling-up? I don’t really understand the blue restriction. Is this card a bomb, or a hate-card? I don’t feel that it needs to be both. In the Cycling part, don’t forget to add the cycling cost inside the reminder text and add a colon. I believe the last ability could be — and be mindful of the punctuation — “When you cycle ~, you may search your library for a Fox or Dragon card, reveal that card, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.” See Krosan Tusker. Small note: I believe the way that abilities go, it should be worded “Flying, lifelink, haste” in that order.

@industrialsalad​ — The Origin of Oddities

What I like: I find it a little hard to take seriously, but you went ham with the types here, and I love reading “Elder Vampire Sponge.” It’s an interesting take on fossils as a concept. I think that with the advent of ability word counters, this card could be a fun little build-around me. I also like how it can steal counters from your opponents’ permanents!

What we can improve: This card does not feel legendary. I understand that it’s “the origin,” but I mean more in terms of how Magic’s other legends feel, what this card brings to that set of established unspoken rules. Maybe some flavor text could have amended that, and it could definitely explain the Vampire type, which feels distinctly out of place, especially for a colorless artifact. Small grammatical notes: “Oddities’s” doesn’t need “’s,” and it should be “fewer than five” spelled out. 

@ishouldgetatumbler​ — Ash, Hydromorph Shaman

What I like: This is a distinct Simic feel! An elf shaman who becomes a hydra, who morphs themself into a mutant. Very nice. This is indeed a powerful card, and I think this is one of those legends that would be great in limited and in the other 99 in a commander deck. Or you could build around putting it into your hand! Fun stuff!

What we could improve: Not a lot to make better here. Firstly, though, this could be a rare in this day and age. It only brings it to hand, and you need to commit a fair amount for it to matter heavily. Small grammar notes: “counters on it” for the first ability, “its power” instead of “its,” and...that’s about it! Save it for a cube!

@jsands84​ — Dandylion

What I like: This was really close to being a runner-up. I love the types and how they come together, the use of a powerful hybrid card and the pushing of it to uncommon without it feeling OP, the use of spore counters, the aggressive P/T for limited, and man, there’s flavor in the fact that it doesn’t fog itself. It’s like, Everyone has allergies except for me! It’s super cool. Shoutout to @iguanamouth​.

What we can improve: Small notes. I think the name is a little cutesy for Magi, but that’s not a biggie, more of a personal quirk. I feel that “Cat Plant” parses better than “Plant Cat,” and maybe there’s alphabetical justification, idk. “Three” should be spelled out instead of “3.” I’d love to see flavor text here, just a line or so. Other than that, radical cat-ical!

@lyxine​ — Ahrizhel, the Wanderer

What I like: Now that’s a combo! It’s a bomb in limited to be sure, a great token-maker and legend to be reckoned with. I’ve always been a fan of Lure effects in green, even if they don’t always work out for me. Giving it to any creature you want is pretty neat.

What we can improve: My main concern is green fliers. I know that for dragons it’s an okay bend, but making more fliers as well? I think that’s too much of a bend; Hornet Queen is almost a break as-is, despite the massive cost. And the fact that this one can create 4-5 of them the turn after it hits the battlefield? That by itself is far too powerful. I would unfortunately call this one a break. Wording notes: “deathtouch” shouldn’t be capitalized, and there should be commas after the green mana symbols. The flavor text could use a little pizzaz, some more specific poetic words.

@mistershinyobject​ — Ludevic’s Familiar

What I like: That is indeed a weird zombie dog. The unique mechanical approach you took here is fascinating and experimental. It’s strange enough to warrant questions if it’s playable in certain formats. Modern Dog Mayhem? Hey, who knows. 

What we can improve: This is a weird targeting system, and I don’t know if it’s in the good way. The fact that you can pay BB for a redirect effect is potentially a break, but it makes sense otherwise. (B)(U/R) could have worked, perhaps? I’m not entirely sure why the hybrid was chosen in this way here. It’s probably for the best, honestly, but it’s still a little iffy for me. I like the flavor text in a memetic way, but a) I don’t think I can see Ludevic saying this and b) it really toes the line. I think it would be best not to have it, or to have more wordplay and not a quote. I would also put the types as “Dog Zombie Weird” personally, but there’s probably not precedent for it.

@nine-effing-hells​ — Chalkyri Resplendent

What I like: Bonus points for having me learn a new word and new creature type. I had no idea the name was an actual thing! It’s useful for getting something like this, I suppose, and you did an amazing job with the art and flavor text. This does indeed seem like an awesome angel serpent thing.

What we can improve: My main concern is giving the permanents hexproof. It works for white, but not RW multicolor, in my opinions. Seems a little too powerful, despite the flavor work-in. I’m 65% sure the wording should be “it’s not your turn” instead of “it isn’t your turn,” but don’t quote me on that. See oracle text on Angry Mob. Aside from that, this is a fine beat-worthy beast.

@real-aspen-hours​ — Octothreat

What I like: Octopuses and spiders go hand in hand in hand in — etc. This is a huge limited card that reminds me of Pelakka Wurm from Rise of the Eldrazi when it first came out: big beefy boy. I think that it would be an interesting card for sealed, a huge blowout, and a great body. Very powerful card. Oh man, blinking it? Lordy.

What we can improve: Most of what we can improve are minute wording things for presentation. Keep in mind that if you do a text submission, your wording is copied exactly. The types should be capitalized, there doesn’t need to be a period after “Trample,” and there should be a period at the end of “step.” Mechanically, the text should say “up to eight target creatures.”

@shakeszx — Wyrveplasm

What I like: A big oozy boy! This feels appropriately like a drake and appropriately like an ooze. It’s a complicated card that works just as well on its own as it would in a deck centered around it. And I think that mythic is the right choice here, honestly. This thing can run away with games.

What we can improve: ...except for the death loop. If it had no counters on it when it dies, then it creates a 0/0 who dies and creates a 0/0, ad infinitum. Infinite death triggers on a single card, well, that’s a no-no. So how do we fix it? Change the last ability: “When ~ dies, if it had any +1/+1 counters on it, create a token that’s a copy of it, except that token’s base power and toughness are equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on ~ when it died.” ... Okay, it’s not perfect, but the token wording is right and the “base” is there. Modern Magic, woo.

@snugz​ — Chronocular Bivalve

What I like: Chronocular is a brilliant word. This card was super close to being a runner-up/winner as well. This is a control card for limited to the max. It’s powerful, it’s super complicated, and it exists in a world of theoretical phasing that’s, well — I might not want to play in it, but I know people that would. Super cool.

What we can improve: Not much to improve here. “Non” shouldn’t be capitalized, and I’m not entirely sure what the point of that second ability is, but that’s just about it. Sorry there’s not a lot to say here, but you did a fine job and the card speaks for itself.

@starch255​ — Roving Squidtaur

What I like: It’s strong! It’s tentacled! It’s...got nipples? Squipples? Right, before I get any more sexually confused, let’s talk about the card. This is a world of sentient half-squid monstrosities. And I kind of love it. I think that mechanically you did some really neat things with this card. You included all aspects of the colors together, and they make for a three-colored beater that’s just plain good in the formats it would see play in.

What we can improve: I’m super bugged by vigilance in a way I shouldn’t be. Yes, I know it’s green, but it just feels...off?? Like, why is a berserker vigilant? I always got the impression that they would be more tramply, that they wouldn’t be as keen-eyed or direct. But that’s just me being weird. There’s nothing “””wrong””” with it. This one could definitely 10/10 have used some flavor text, though. I want to know more about this roving squid-person!

@tmstage​ — Bandicooze

What I like: Whoa! Yep, that’s a five-mana 3/3, but it’s a fine limited beater for its cost. Instant counters in the right deck and it’s good to go! I’ve only tangentially been connected with Crash games, but I get exactly how you tied it together nicely. This card just makes me smile.

What we can improve: I might make it a 4/3, or give it trample or haste or something. Aside from that... It’s a meme, and memes get what they deserve: a nice chuckle.

@whuh-oh​ — Arctic Narwhuck

What I like: The simple two-type “Whale Bird” aspect fits pretty well here. Other people did a diving/burrowing theme, and I think yours works well here. Four mana for a 3/2 flier with potential upside is pretty great in limited for an uncommon!

What we can improve: Islandwalk and landwalk in general hasn’t been in the game for a while, and I don’t know if this card needs that throwback. I get how it works flavorfully, and I like that part a lot. It’s just that modern sensibilities would let it just have hexproof. See Canopy Dragon’s oracle text as well; I think it gains things before it loses things. The flavor text is fine, but very vague, and doesn’t necessarily add to the card.

@woman-of-the-fen​ — Goldenhump Camelsaurus

What I like: Naya dinosaurs are always welcome! I also like the way you tied camels and deserts together to make a hybrid. The ape and rampage go together, I assume, and you conveyed that well in the art. 

What can be improved: Rampage, well, hasn’t been around for a while, just like landwalk, and for good reason. It’s simply not a great mechanic. I can see it working as a one-off in a Horizons set, but it’s still not the aspect I would have chosen. The first ability creates an infinite loop that lasts until the Camelsaurus dies; you fight, get dealt damage, then fight again, etc. Give it indestructible and it’s a boardwipe. Wait, and it creates an infinite loop; if it survives, then it’s forced to target itself. “Enrage — Whenever ~ is dealt damage, you may have it fight target creature you don’t control.” Still doesn’t fix the board-wipe issue. Might need to take this one back to the drawing board. For the flavor text, don’t forget that if you’re quoting someone, their name belongs on a separate line.

@wpandp​ — Apaprik Muster

What I like: Gosh darnit. Deviled eggs. C’mon man... I do love it, though. I like the concept of an egg filled with demonic creatures, imps and whatnot. It’s a scary thought! I like how you played around with mutate here. I personally don’t like mutate as a mechanic, but it’s not a huge issue. You used it well.

What can be improved: I’m still a little uncertain as to what world this card is inhabiting and what the name is implying. Why are devils and demons mutating? Why is “Muster,” an abstract noun, being used as the naming convention for an egg? Why does it have the food ability? I mean, I know, it’s all part of the play that this card is making, but it doesn’t really make mechanical sense.

~

Thank you all for your entries! Get ready to make cards for tomorrow.