#if you can recognize that mono can do good and bad things without him being Exactly one or the other | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

inventors-fair · 3 years ago

Text

Two-Faced Commentary

People went really big this week! There were a lot of cool tropes, novel mechanics, and a surprising number of white cards with hexproof.

@alextfish - Manifold Core

The front side of this card is a very powerful cost reduction effect, especially given that it applies to a set of cards that often don’t have any colored mana in their costs. I suspect that would often function as a combo piece in decks that don’t intend to transform it, to a degree that it overshadows the rest of the card a bit, but the overall flavor is good. The card is also very aggressive when transformed on turn 4, although that you need to four-for-one yourself to get the creature serves as a powerful check.

@bread-into-toast - Guilt-Wracked Artist

A genuinely horrifying card concept. I’m not 100% sure that I follow what the treasure represents in the story (the key?), but it’s still very unnerving.

Mechanically, the card holds together reasonably well, in that if you get the card in the graveyard the “right” way, then it’s easier to pay the disturb cost, and the mutual discard plays reasonably with a graveyard-focused strategy.

@decayingbooks - Graceful Swan

This is a great transformation trope, and a very strategy-heavy flip card. Flip cards that gain value by flipping back and forth are established design space, with Huntmaster of the Fells being the most notable, but this card adds the additional wrinkle that, once you’ve accumulated enough bird tokens, you want it to be night on your own turn to take advantage of the ability to buff your tokens. (Although both activated abilities do have value on your opponent’s turn.)

While it’s doing reasonable flavor work, the ability that makes your bird creature tokens humans may be overkill. There’s nothing wrong with trinket text, and in a set with human tribal elements it could be genuinely relevant, but the card is already fairly complicated.

@deg99 - Seraph of Salvation

The creature revealing its true demonic nature (or falling angel, but my understanding is that this is the former) trope is a good fit for a TDFC. There’s a ton packed into this card - the front side on its own is very flashy, and threatening an instant-speed Mythos of Snapdax once the card is on the field changes the way the game is played significantly. (Wrathing at instant speed is a big deal.) The mechanics of each side don’t feel all that strongly connected, but they make enough sense on their own. I like the aesthetic decision to leave the demon W/B rather than making it mono-black, as its effect is more strongly associated with white.

@dimestoretajic - Zosusk, Cruel Taskmaster

The front half of this card is extremely strong. Even at four mana, a super-Ashnod’s Altar that can go in the command zone is a scary proposition, especially given that it’s also difficult to remove and can cash itself out for a treasure if it would die. The indestructibility is arguably overkill, especially as the card can generate a lot of value even if it is removed right away.

Similarly, I’m not sure if the back half particularly needs hexproof; if you’ve got any kind of board, it generates a lot of value, and I think that on balance it’s better if that’s answerable.

The idea of a card that’s sort of a side-grade when transformed is interesting, as is the tension about whether or not to cash out your creatures if it’s going to transform, and I like that the tension is abated a bit by the fact that both halves make sense in the same deck, even though they operate differently.

@fractured-infinity - Velis, Distorted Reflection

This is a really clever twist on the Evil Twin design space. The back side is very powerful, but the effort required to get there is real and meaningful, and the front side is enough of a slightly bad deal on its own that the transformation ability isn’t just a freebie. Needing to specifically see a creature with the same name die is also fairly clever, as it means that Velis needs help to transform. (You can’t just crash Velis into whatever it’s copying.) The back side does have a pretty high level of inevitability; once you’re at six mana, you can effectively “steal” any creature your opponent plays before they can attack with it, and in Commander can be used to keep other commanders off of the field. This latter feature might make this card safer as a non-legendary creature.

@gollumni - Ral, Untapped Potential

The front half of this card makes a lot of sense as a Ral card. The sparking condition doesn’t tie directly into Ral’s own sparking story in any obvious way (he sparked when he discovered his partner was cheating on him), but it mechanically ties into what the character is about and strongly enables his fairly stiff sparking condition.

If I have a quibble with this card, it’s that you often won’t be able to productively make use of Ral the turn he flips. To do so, you’d need a fourth instant or sorcery that you can cast that turn, this time at full price, and if it’s a very cheap spell then the amount of value you’re getting is pretty modest.

@greensunzenith - Escape from the City

What I think really elevates this card above the basic idea of a Saga that transforms into a creature is that it does something with the lore counters after transforming. Unless I’m missing something, haste on Hazoret is mostly superfluous, as it will nearly always have been on the battlefield from the beginning of your turn when it transforms. (It could still matter if you double proliferate or if it changes controllers, I guess.)

@grornt - Inconspicuous Youth

This card is another fantastic choice for a transformation trope. This one does a magical girl transformation in a non-obvious but flavorful way, where the character transforms specifically in response to a major threat, and then reverts when the threat is gone. That it transforms even when the major threat is your own card feels like an acceptable flavor bend for the sake of making the card playable, and that it reverts as soon as any major threat is gone is a reasonable choice for simplicity. (It could also check for 6 MV creatures at the end of the turn.)

I went back and forth on whether I liked the back half having defender. On one hand, it allows the back half to be far bigger and scarier than if it didn’t have defender; without that, the transformed half needs to shrink or the card needs to cost more. It’s also fine flavor. On the other hand, it really gums up the board, as it’s very difficult to profitably attack into the card. Additionally, it kind of creates an “...oh” moment when reading the back.

Lastly, I think that a white creature just straight up having hexproof is a bit of a bend (although not one wholly without precedent.) The flavor helps justify it (and it’s definitely mechanically relevant), but flavor can justify a lot of things.

Despite these questions, I do really think the design is very clever, and it was one of my favorites from this week.

@helloijustreadyourpost - Marchesa, Tyrant Queen

The mirrored Abyss effects are clever together, and the flavor helps to sell the shift. The nontoken clause on the first side is doing several interesting things in terms of not only making the card a bit stronger as a control tool, but in helping enable the flip. Giving opponents a natural out on the back side helps check the overall power level of the card as well, and I think it’s a positive that any wrath is an answer for the back half in Commander. While the flavor makes sense and it certainly makes the card stronger, I could take or leave the second ability on the back.

@hiygamer - Penultimate Form

I like that this card cleverly ties the “quest” condition to something that the reverse side of the card will naturally need. I also think that the triggered ability on the back is extremely clever, in that helps make the card less tricky. Without the triggered ability on the back, there’s a not-immediately-obvious interaction where casting instant spells in response to each other allows the creature to transform with five loyalty counters on it, which is a major advantage in that the card can use its -4 ability right away and survive. Stealing a creature is extremely powerful protection for a planeswalker and strong in general. However, because a similar ability is present on the back, players don’t need to recognize that stacking instants correctly allows the planeswalker side to start with five+ loyalty counters, as you can get the same effect by just casting them in sequence.

@hypexion - Sigarda, Fallen Grace

The transform condition on this card is quite difficult, even with the amount of Eldrazi token-making available and its ability to fuel itself, but the front half is plenty strong. Large, evasive, efficient hexproof creatures are something that I think they shy away from a bit now (and white rarely gets creatures that just have unconditional hexproof), although the throwbacks to Sigarda’s first card are clear. While the back half of the card is a meaningful upgrade, the front half is strong enough that it stands on its own - many decks may not worry about flipping the card at all.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes - Ormendhal Weakened

Ormendhal is a potent abyss effect, and having it wait until your upkeep to trigger for all players is a good safety choice - it gives your opponents a healthy window of time to respond to it. The backside is something of a consolation prize, as in many circumstances it will operate like a basic Plains, but the flavor is interesting. I don’t totally understand the decision to allow the land to tap for colorless instead of just white; outside of an environment where colorless mana costs exist, it won’t make much of a difference, and while there have been Eldrazi on Innistrad (and Ormendahl was affected by Emrakul), the connection seems a little loose to justify what’s otherwise an unusual line of rules text.

@jsands84 - Battered Lamp

This is a really fun design. That you need another creature to “rub” the lamp is a cute piece of text, and allows for other costs on the card to be pulled down to really attractive levels

The degree of inevitability on this card (5-power, evasive, bounces any blockers your opponent has, requires either artifact destruction or instant-speed creature destruction), along with its complexity, might push it to rare, although I like that the numbers work out such that this doesn’t win the game on its own.

I’m not sure whether this is intentional, but you can effectively get “infinite wishes” by having Zephyr Djinn bounce itself when you transform it for the last time. It’s enough of a tempo hit that I don’t think it’s a power level concern, and if you’ve already made (and probably attacked with) a 5-power evasive creature twice, then there’s a good chance that you’d rather attack with the Djinn the third time than to bounce it, but I felt that it was an interaction worth pointing out.

@kellylogs - Klara, Embereth Aspirant

This is a sufficiently clean, elegant transform condition that, even though this is not an existing planeswalker character, tells a clear story. I do feel like the backside of this card could be a bit stronger; if you’ve successfully attacked alone with Klara, blockers may not be something that’s causing you problems, and in an aggressive deck a 3/2 with Exalted may be at least as powerful planeswalker side in many scenarios. (Although being able to get a 2/2 Vigilance creature right away means that you don’t fall back much in terms of board presence.)

The -7 ability in particular could probably also use a bit more juice. While it’s technically a three-turn ult, its impact disappears if Klara does, and the +2 ability required to get to it is pretty weak (especially on the turn when Klara transforms, where it will generally do nothing.)

@misterstingyjack - King Pakesh II

The two sides of this card are loosely mechanically connected (they both like it if your opponents’ creatures die, although both halves can also be fueled in other ways), but the flavor helps tie them together. I think that limiting the front half to one treasure/turn is a good decision both in that it helps keep the cost of the card down and in that the card isn’t so good that you don’t care about the back half. Both halves have unique mechanics that still feel reasonably elegant and flavorful, and I like that the card doesn’t try to do too much. This is also a cool recontextualization of Disturb in general.

@morbidlyqueerious - Niko, Quizzical Javelineer

You mentioned that this card is revised from an earlier contest where the goal was to make a card that included every letter of the alphabet, and while that shows in the card’s name, the overall package isn’t stretching or squishing tooooo much to meet that criterion. Niko offers a larger amount of repeatable scry that exceeds what’s generally printed, although needing to connect with what’s otherwise a gray ogre to get it makes it such that it’s not likely to fire too many times in one game. The flip condition is challenging enough that I think the strongish +2 ability on the reverse side is justified, especially as it will often leave Niko vulnerable. If anything, I think the reverse side could perhaps be a smidge stronger.

I’m not sure whether this is intentional or not, but I do think that it’s interesting that it’s easier to meet the card threshold for the when you’re on the draw, but easier to meet the unblocked attack condition when you’re on the play.

@naban-dean-of-irritation - Will, Stoic Cryomancer

This is a pretty clever way of handling a flip walker that represents power sets found in two different colors, and the card does a solid job of feeling like a tag team. Another cool thing about this card is that it defies the legendary rule as long as you leave both copies on different sides.

If I have a critique of the card, it’s that I do think it’s a bit difficult to reach Will’s ult, however. If you play the card on curve (turn 3), you generally can’t flip it until turn 4. From there, you need to use the +2 three times to get to 10 loyalty, which is only possible if your opponent consistently has at least two creatures. That takes you to turn 7, which means that you can use the Ult on turn 8, making it a five-turn ult (or four turns if you were able to flip Will on turn 1). The ult only does something, however, if you control another planeswalker. While the ult is not a big deal on a planeswalker that’s this flexible, I think it could be a smidge cheaper. (-9 would save you no turns on building to it, but means that you don’t need to have another walker in play to use it.)

I’m also not sure if overtly making typeless permanents is something that’s worth putting on a card, given the potential confusion. The rules can handle it, and there are ways of making it happen in-game already, but similar gameplay can be achieved in more conventional ways.

@nicolbolas96 - Ugin, Last Among Elders

This is another card where the front half is almost worth it on its own, so the relatively steep flip requirement is fine, as it serves as more of a bonus. Life gain and card draw aren’t the things I most strongly associate with Ugin, but the card draw works as a mirror of Nicol Bolas, the Ravager, and the package is sort of like a miniature version of Ugin’s ult.

This is a small thing, but I wish Ugin was a bit bigger than 3/3. I realize that the similar Nicol Bolas, the Ravager, is only a 4/4, but 3/3 feels a bit small for an Elder Dragon.

The planeswalker side is recognizably Ugin, serving as a sort of greatest-hits of his associated cards. The novel ultimate will win the game on the spot in any deck built around it, but as you spent 5+8 mana on Ugin already and upticked it three times, that’s totally fine.

@nine-effing-hells - Mysterious Ruins

It’s not totally obvious which part of the ability the Revelation ability word refers to, but overall the card tells a clear story. A land that transitions into cardflow in the late midgame and a (kinda) finisher in the late game makes a lot of sense, although opponents that are too worried about the reverse side can save a kill spell for it. A land that enters the battlefield untapped doesn’t need to do much else to be good, so the high overall investment required to flip it is a good decision. Decks that want this sort of effect will tend to be controlling decks that can make better use of the mutual draw as well.

@partlycloudy-partlyfuckoff - Tender of the Wilds

The names on this card are clever, and help tell a different story than the superficially similar Mayor of Avabruck.

This is a very strong effect; the back side in particular is both large for a 2-mana werewolf and has a very strong anthem effect. While a good fit for a werewolf deck, this card is strong enough to go almost anywhere (and the front half is slightly better in a non-werewolf deck.)

This is a minor thing, but the more common templating for abilities like the backside has is to roll the stats it provides into the creature itself (printing it as a 4/3) and then to print the ability as “Other non-human creatures you control...” However, I think the templating you’ve chosen is potentially reasonable on this card for the sake of mirroring the front half.

@piccadilly-blue - Gavony Town Hall

This is a very difficult card to evaluate, because its impact on the game can vary a ton depending on how things are ordered.

This needs to go in a token deck to do anything at all, but the day-side drawback of turning off all of your creatures is harsher than the anthem on the back is beneficial, if you’re trying for an aggro strategy. On the flip side, there’s a lot of potential to gum up the board quite a bit with indestructible hexproof tokens if you play the card after your token producers. Token strategies already sometimes gum up the board, and this creates the potential for game stalls. Your opponent can get around this by passing their turn to shift to night, but that’s a fairly major tempo loss, and it sets you up well for the crack back.

I do like that there’s some interesting things that can be done with wraths and with creating token copies of cards with powerful static effects while on the day side.

@pocketvikings - Covetous Vizier

One of two “genie of the lamp” cards this week, I believe that this card is specifically a reference to the Disney movie Aladdin. (I could be wrong about that - I’m not super familiar with genies.) This card is basically Phylactery Lich on an installment plan, although you spend more total mana and some life. Additionally, your opponent has a window of time to respond with creature removal, which is not the case for the Lich. In compensation, the front half of the card can be played profitably even if you control no artifacts. Black does, as of Midnight Hunt, apparently get 2/3 creatures with upside for 1B at higher rarities, but a 2/3 for 1B with a useful effect is already, on its own, a satisfactory creature. The first question I had with this card is why it wasn’t just a lich, but not every card needs to use the most obvious or most-established flavor for an effect - and it’s more memorable that it doesn’t.

@quillpaw - Shellcrown Phoenix

A few different phoenix cards - Everquill Phoenix and Rekindling Phoenix - have used complicated tokens to try to mimic this effect, and a few DFC cards represent hatching eggs, but this card is novel in combining them, and I think it works really well.

The one slight oddness with this card is that it’s possible to miss your chance to transform it back, if you don’t have the mana (or don’t wish to spend the mana) to flip it at the time that the last counter is removed. It’s possible to play around this by attacking with fewer creatures, but I don’t think that the card as a whole is so strong that this limitation is necessary. Additionally, due to the cost of the card and the flip condition, I feel like the game will often be over before the card can flip back, but it still has utility in getting the last bit of damage in in a gummed up board state.

@real-aspen-hours - Gathering Storm

The front half of this card is very strong, offering heavy levels of card selection at a reasonable price on a card type that’s relatively difficult to interact with. I don’t know that it’s over the top (three mana is a lot for just selection), but the card doesn’t hinge completely on

I respect the decision to use a simple transform condition. I feel like the “obvious” angle is to condition it on having a certain number of cards in your graveyard, and that’s potentially safer (the current version will, I think, sometimes be flipped with just one very strong card in your graveyard), but even that requires some building around, so it’s probably not that big of a deal. I do like giving players a decision

@reaperfromtheabyss - Wavewhisper Egret

This is a lot of card for a two-mana uncommon. The front half would be an attractive card even without the ability to transform, and the transform effect will generally scry at least 4. Blue can get 2-power fliers with upside at higher rarities on occasion, but this is certainly a very aggressively-costed version of this creature profile.

I also think the decision to flavor this as a card from Kaladesh, rather than from New Phyrexia or Alara, was an interesting one. It injects a bit of light horror into a setting that doesn’t have much of that.

@shakeszx - A Tempest Foretold

Having the saga exile itself and return transformed is an elegant way to kill two birds with one stone, dealing both with the sacrifice clause on the card and helpfully disposing of the now-irrelevant lore counters.

I’m not 100% sure how to parse the first ability on this card - I’m assuming that it’s meant to pull from your graveyard or cards you own in exile (and maybe the stack), since those are under most circumstances the only zones that will have instant and sorcery cards in them when the ability resolves that aren’t your hand, but as written it sort of reads as though you can grab cards from places like your opponent’s graveyard. The rules do intervene to stop you from putting other players’ cards into your hand, but I feel that the wording on this could be clearer.

I’m also not sure that the back side works the way we want it to. In cases of cards that exile themselves on resolution, I’m not sure that Izzuke will recognize that it’s the same card, and any other card will go to the graveyard upon resolution, where it won’t be recognized as the same card if it’s then exiled again. (The rules could maybe be altered to support this, but it’d create additional complications.) Additionally, I’m not sure that exiling your hand in order to slowly potentially get the instants and sorceries back one at a time really feels worth it; Izzuke is a good deal for four mana, but even with Ward 4, the blowout potential is pretty huge. If your opponent saves any removal for it, you’re very likely to lose.

All that said, the general concept of a saga that builds up a resource that the creature it flips into can expend is a strong one.

@snugz - Queen Bee

Assuming that you hit your land drops and that nothing happens to your drones, this card will flip after two land drops, having created seven 1/1 fliers. The reverse side will then make these fliers 2/2’s, three of which can attack right away (assuming this occurred over two turns). In most formats, this means that your opponent is going to be dead before the long-term value aspects of the card come into play. They are still relevant in Commander and as a rebuilding option if your drone army gets wrathed, and the flavor is good, however.

On the whole, the card may be a little too efficient at building a game-winning board, especially as it is hard to remove if not removed immediately. I think the card could do fewer things and still work as a card, even though all of the individual components make flavor sense.

@starch255 - Cursed Knight

There’s a lot of things I really like about this card. I like that its toughness is low compared to its power, so it will usually either kill something or die in any combat with another creature. I like that the Frog side is still a knight. This feels like a reasonably in-pie way to give white a well-above-the-curve creature, and if your opponent doesn’t have an answer or a body to throw in front of it, this puts out much larger life swings than two-mana uncommons normally ever do. Even if your opponent tosses a 1/1 in front of this, you’re still up a bit.

@whuh-oh - Masked Debutante

This card has a lot of moving pieces, but the overall package makes sense. The actual power level of the card hinges a lot on your opponent having at least three creatures already in play, but there are enough outs to it that it doesn’t feel hopeless in any case. I also like that the creatures have to actually hit you to get the counters, limiting the total amount of value you can steal. I also like that the card doesn’t have any sort of anti-sacrifice mechanism built in; it’s game-winning enough of the time as it is, and doesn’t need to have what answers do exist for it to be shut off.

I’m not 100% sure that the creature-stealing is really a red thing, but tying it to the survival of the creature helps, and in general makes the card much more fair.

@wilsonosgoodmcman - Venser, Close to Death

In inventing a new card subtype, this is the most ambitious card for this week. I also like the flavor of a doomed planeswalker having only minus abilities, and lining up the planeswalker so that it needs to die to using one of its abilities (or take damage on your turn, I guess) is a nice little minigame that isn’t trivial, but also is easy enough that you can usually expect to flip Venser if your opponent doesn’t have a substantially greater board presence than you.

The third ability on Venser should probably target only other permanents, to avoid confusion about what happens if it targets Venser, but that’s pretty minor. (I’m assuming that the intent is that it doesn’t flicker Venser.)

Even though it costs you (usually) a creature and the effort of flipping Venser, I think that the +1 on the reverse side might be a bit much. While all of the abilities are powerful, that one stands out as especially tough to beat.

@wolkemesser - Keepsafe Bear

This card tells a cool story, and I appreciate the work you did in balancing the difficulty to flip the card. At first, I sort of felt like it went a little overboard in terms of preventing you from flipping it (you basically need a wrath or for your opponent to block it or attack into it with a much larger creature), but the front half and back half are both strong enough that I think it’s okay for there to be some fairly specific hoops.

The back half does just enough, I think. There’s an alternate design for this card where the back half loses indestructible and the front half is harder to flip, and that version is probably a bit easier to print, but I think there’s a place for the higher-challenge version presented here as well.

#commentary #if-two faced #mtg #magic the gathering #inventor's fair #custom magic card

12 notes · View notes

fe-semi-decent-scenarios · 4 years ago

Note

oooh could you do protective headcanons for the golden deer too??🥺

{I most certainly can. Y’all know I love these tropes so keep ‘em coming. Hope it’s to your liking! :3}

Claude:

6/10

Neutral, with just a tad bit of nerves.

Look. Claude has bigger fish to fry than what you’re gallivanting on about during the day. The man has a dream to catch with literally a country and 1/3 (woot woot alliance) on his shoulders.

First, the future. Then, you. Can’t have a life together if there is no place for it to be had, yeah?

This doesn’t mean that he never worries about you. Quite the contrary, if he begins then he can’t stop. So he doesn’t tinker the thought.

Instead he has his most trusted allies at your back. During the Academy days you were left under Hilda’s watchful eye, and during the war you are always nearby (courtesy of matchmaker Prof.Byleth)

Once he puts a ring on it you’ll have guards. No problem.

He also trusts your own capabilities. One doesn’t train every day to walk out with nothing

Also

You make me laugh if you think Claude believes you’ll ever cheat on him

Not that he’s cocky okay, maybe a bit but no one would dare put the moves on “The Master Tactician’s” s/o

Any suitor coming your way is peasant fodder. If not to him, than to your own personal retaliation.

Yupp, nothing to worry about. You’ve got it covered. He’ll only step in if you physically come ask him

and with a bit of teasing he’ll comply

However, Claude is very sensitive to illness for obvious reasons. This is why he’s listed at a six. He always insists on tasting your food

It was a gimmick at first, and in the beginning he’d make banter to sneak a bite while you remain all unknowing of his true intentions

He’ll be damned if someone ever poisons you. They won’t ever get the chance

Ignatz:

9/10

Let us face it. Iggy is a worry-wart.

He freaks out over the most minuscule of situations. The poor lad nearly gets a heart attack at least once a day

And no, i’m not just referring to his pre-timeskip self. Ignatz may have grown a head taller, got a backbone, fancy harem artist pants--but no, he did not lose his inner anxious zealot. That trait will cling until the day he dies sadly

Having you at his side only makes things worse (in a good way. The trouble is worth it to him)

Especially if you’re more of the risky sort. Expect him to mother hen if you cause ruckus around the monastery. He can and will lecture you to death (only to apologize and hide away after)

Now not only does he worry about his own issues, but also yours. I swear Ignatz acts like you are his second being. If someone scolds you, hurts you, etc. he acts like they did it to him

Can be a bit dramatic, not gonna lie. He gets so worked up that his ears go red. Like, you can just t e l l he’s holding so much back because he doesn’t want to go too far

Don’t even get me started on if someone tries to make a move on you

He becomes t o r n. It isn’t his place to tell you who to hang around, but ohmygodwhatifyourealizeheisn’tgoodenough

iggy no, bad iggy. don’t think like that

He feels threatened so easily and not many would peg him the jealous type. He is, but hides it very well.

If need be he will talk out his feelings with you. That’s something noteworthy of Ignatz: he uses his words. He may find communicating such thoughts aloud difficult, but if he truly is concerned then he will be honest with you.

Raphael:

10/10

Raphael believes in trust. He expects you to be honest and to not keep anything important secret. In return he’ll do the same.

This is why he doesn’t care if someone is flirting. He could give less of a thought on gossip, rumors, or anything really. That effort can go towards training

He truly, honest to Sothis, trusts you with all his heart. There isn’t any time to spend doing otherwise. Raph just wants to live happily and that means having you by his side

Nor does he feel intimidated by anyone else either. I’m not saying that he reeks of resolved confidence, but Raph believes that you love him. Love topples any mindless flirting that other people throw your way

but let’s get one thing straight

If anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, tries to hurt you

This guy’s having them for b r e a k f a s t. Pounded, sliced, and Smoked. The same way he liked his bacon.

You are his family. Raphael protects his family, and those he cares about.

You will never be alone. Goddess if you cry and someone else is the cause then he will take action. One fault of Raph is that while he’s a sweetie, he doesn’t think before acting a lot. Similar to Caspar, he just goes for it

It takes a lot to get underneath Raph’s skin.

In short: do not f*ck with his loved ones. He would take on Nemisis himself mono-e-mono if it meant protecting them

Lorenz:

8/10

Y’all going to sit there and try to convince me that Lorenz Hellman Gloucester doesn’t try to establish dominance?

Key word: try

He’s quickly shut down

“Lorenz if you tell one more person that we’re betrothed, I swear that I’ll shave off your eyebrows” - You, one month post-confession

Saying that you’re his perfect match is no excuse. Considering all the preaching he does on noble humility, you’d think he would want your private affairs off the notice board?

It doesn’t take long for your peers to start complaining. Claude finds his behavior entertaining, but not a day goes by that someone doesn’t beg you to make him shut up

Lorenz is also a bit old fashioned. He doesn’t like the idea of you fighting more than necessary

Once again, shut down

Best way to deal with Lorenz is to let him think he has his way, then just do whatever. He gets upset, pouts, spouts his normal lecture, but then relents. All in due process with him

Never thought I’d say this, but perhaps requesting not to be in the same troop together is the best option? You’d think he would fight better with an S tier relationship at his side? Nahhh. HE TAKES YOUR KILLS IT IS NOT FAIR

He gives too much attention to what you’re doing, and not the enemy. Best if you stay separated

Ugh pray no one hits on you in front of him. Just... *screams* I don’t think anyone will, just to avoid him getting defensive. I swear the other deer take extensive preventative measures to avoid it.

Hilda:

6/10

C’mon. This is Hilda we’re talking about

You two most likely grew closer because she “asks” you for help so often

Just like Claude, she has bigger fish to fry. The last type of person she wants to be is Holst (she loves him though don’t misinterpret that)

She does worry though

Not enough to make her take the front lines, but a smidgen. Just to where you’ll get periodic check in’s

Nothing obvious. A simple “what’s going on?” as she inquired about your well-being

A precarious scan-over as she checks for any new scars

She does get jealous though. There’s an entire castle full of available people and someone chooses to flirt with you?

That just doesn’t make sense. Perhaps the “once something is taken it becomes more desirable,” saying has some truth

She’s quite the clinger. You’ll just be walking and suddenly, BOOM, bubble-gum pink arm-candy in the corner of your vision

Once you two bypass the ‘puppy-love’ early stages, she changes.

Despite her negligence beforehand, she does become overprotective

Will fight if needed. Say you have a paralogue? Just so happens she was nearby and wants to tag along

She also has to protect you from Holst. My dear, you cannot do that yourself. Brotherly wrath beseeches you, my god. Run dude run

Marianne:

3/10

A possessive streak is nonexistent in her blood. Such thing is a personal fear of her’s. Marianne refuses to conform to the stereotypes associated with her crest

However, she does believe that one day you may leave her side. Marianne isn’t the most confident person. She...doubts

Often does she wonder if you’re there solely to make her hurt. To love her and then one day disappear without a trace

Anxieties like so will not go away overnight. She will not seek reassurance, which makes her more uncommunicative than most partners

but no one is perfect. Neither are you. All you personally can do is politely decline any advances, and do your best to let Marianne know that you love her

She isn’t particularly protective in any other sense either. She’ll heal you if needed, but special attention isn’t there

Marianne treats being a healer like how an ER doctor operates. On the field, everyone is equal. She is needed everywhere and cannot stay by your side. Otherwise lives will be lost, and that won’t be good for her conscience.

The same goes for all other aspects. If you’re gone, then you’re gone. If you’re sick, then you’re sick. She cannot give you special attention and acts in accordance to severity of the situation. Patients cannot be weighed in value via personal bias

She has a surprisingly strong sense of self control, let me tell ya.

Lysithea:

7/10

She...does not have much time. Entering a romantic relationship was not a possibility that crossed her mind once before you

Why bother when the ending is certain? Why leave someone brokenhearted, or a widow? Why give herself that extra stress when she’s already under so much as it is?

You can’t blame her for being extra cautious. While her life may be hanging on a string, that doesn’t mean yours has to end

After some time she develops a resolve. If needed she would gladly lay her life down if it meant you could live another day

A problematic conclusion. You two will argue often over how she cannot trade a ‘life for a life,’ just because of her special circumstances. Her mind always enforces that it’s the logical decision, and has trouble recognizing her own value

I suppose that comes with being a know-it-all, huh? Once her mind is set then there is no changing it

Despite her brain sending all the signals that acting on jealousy is wrong...well, we know Lysithea

She won’t come out and say she gets protective for your sake. Apparently anyone flirting with you already had business with her

Business that miraculously unfolds once you leave. Then suddenly they no longer have an interest?

What’d she do? Threaten to shove a thoron up their rectum? No one knows

Leonie:

9/10

She is the mom who’d create a strict morning routine for her kids to follow before school

Or a thorough itinerary on a vacation

Not a moment or bullion to be wasted!

Cannot express enough how much this girl cares. She can become annoying from all the interference, but you’ll never become a bum with her in your life

You might want to ask her to butt out. Remind her that you’re not one of the kids from her village, and that you can handle yourself

Sometimes you’ll joke and say “yes mom,” because she gets b o s s y

Which will earn you either: a) a glare, or b) her playing along and confusing everyone else

So in a sense, yeah she’s protective. Overbearing in her own Leonie way

Not the jealous type. Leonie doesn’t look at what other people have, and instead focuses on her own life. If someone wants to shamelessly throw themselves at your feet then that’s their issue. You know better than to cheat on her

I can see her complaining to the captain or to Byleth though. Why waste time when the issue can easily be solved? Obviously someone with the time to flirt has time to do training drills

Bonus! Cyril: (because during my first play-through I kept expecting GD to take him under their wing. They did not, and Nintendo missed out.)

5/10

He personally hates being treated like a child. When someone doesn’t take him seriously Cyril’s self restraint goes b o o m

So he won’t do that to you. You’re a capable individual and that’s that. Nothing more for him to interfere with

His only protective streak lies when you’re incapable of doing things yourself. Aka: injured, ill, resting, etc.

He’ll nag you for not being careful, but it’s not hard to miss the tears pricking his eyes

He’s also very perceptive towards break-in’s. Many people have tried to kidnap/assassinate people of higher standing. He’s witnessed many attempts towards lady Rhea. I see him taking night shifts for patrol often, and after the war the habit sticks with him.

He takes a lot onto his shoulders often. It’s not bad. Being dedicated is an admirable trait, yet if you’re down someone will have to stop him from picking up the slack.

He’s no healer, and leaves that job to the professionals. However he doesn’t want anyone to disturb you with the work your missing. So he’ll do it in your stead

Manuela lets him stay in the infirmary past visitation hours. Mostly because he’s so busy during the day that he can’t come by

He won’t return to his room those nights. He prefers to be by your side, just in case.

Other than this type of situation- no, he’s not protective in the slightest.

183 notes · View notes

grim-faux · 4 years ago

Text

16_The Art of Necessity

First

The dreams are unfamiliar scraps of places he never knew, never saw. No, he did know these places. A building full of false children, and a strict teacher. Unpleasant creatures, clacking and springing, snatching at his mask.

He gripped a bar in his hands and brought it down hard. Fake! Not real!

They chased him in droves. He climbed onto the lockers, like they did. Before one or more could get a good grip, he’d already shoved the locker out from the wall and smashed three beneath. He took apart the last two with ease. He hated them so much. The pranks. Their snickering. All their traps. The stupid, copied smile they wore.

Fake! FAKE! F̸͝A̵̡K̕҉̨̛E̸̶̛!̵̢͜͞͏ !̡̮̣͔̗̭̩̩͉ͨ͒͑̄͆͒͜͝

The silence and dark become constricting. It’s no longer a school full of terrible things with horrid ideas. There’s nothing in place of that broiled rage, but the reflections of it humming in his bones. They left that place so long ago, it wasn’t even the worst place. It wasn’t that bad. He just hated it, because they mocked him. Those fakes. He hated them!

And then what happened?

Ran away. Kept moving. The cold, the storm. Buildings, and places to visit but deserted. Nothing enduring, always moving. Exhausted, hungry, soaked through, and always never stopping. Should have stopped more, should have done sleep. It was hard, it was scary. No excuse. Not good. They drove onward, relentless. No, he pushed onward, searching for something. Refused to give in, more afraid of the dreams than the thought of collapsing.

He was stopped now. Wasn’t moving. Where? No idea, not the foggiest. Something happened. Oh… there was a place, he did revisit. He shouldn’t have, he didn’t mean to. The television. Treacherous thing. What happened then?

Cage. Kids. Yes, that did happen. He left them. Left him. Just like She left him. He ran away, like a coward. Even when he could… did something. It wasn’t enough. He wasn’t enough. Or, it was too much. Bad. Mistake. Should have left. Shouldn’t have bothered. Cursed.

He took a deep breath and sighed. Through the air rustled the static, and in his ears, through his bones. He didn’t even care. He shouldn’t. Why should he fight so hard, if he was doomed to fail anyway? The world was against him and not an ounce of what he did mattered.

His arms were numb from being so tightly wound against his sides. Shifting them, he struggled to feign off the pins and needles buzzing through his wrists. It felt uncannily like the static bristling his nerves, a sensation he normally hated. He accepted it for now, and nestled a little more into the coarse coat against his side. The white noise was a dull hum, yet he was too spent to care. Though resigned to his uncertain fate, it didn’t stop the miniscule twinge when a hand settled over his body and a thumb brushed against his back. The hand stalled.

“You’re awake.”

The closeness of the resonance alarmed him. Mono thought about pretending sleep, he was already tipping into that somber spiral of utter fatigue he couldn’t withstand. He didn’t want to resist. But, that wasn’t a question.

“Mmm.” He did have a question. “Am caught?” The hand moved away, and he almost missed the gentle touch. He didn’t think adults could be anything but cruel or harsh.

“No,” the reply came, soft. “You seem in poor shape. Hurt?”

Hurt. That question again. Always asking, like it mattered if he was or not. It did though, didn’t it? For someone else, not for him. He saw someone hurt, and tugged at the side of his coat. “Dunno.” Calm and silence invaded, deceptive with its illusion. Was safe? Where?

Tentatively, he uncoiled his body enough to raise his head and checked, seeing first dark. For once he wasn’t searching for his escape, but examined the walls and judged the surface. Enough definition to the gloom afforded obvious features, such as the panel texturing, eroded wallpaper, some furniture; a desk and some small bookshelf. It was dry, aside from his dampish coat – he must’ve been sleep for some time. This room….

For a moment there, he was afraid they were someplace… more familiar. He didn’t know where precisely, but it was a shroud that lingered in the back of his mind, an unknown dread and uncertain paranoia. Like when the Thin Man appeared at the alley end, and he had no more strength for flee. Dread. A dread he didn’t want to face, didn’t want to invite, and wanted nothing to do with. More fearsome, terrifying, than being crushed to death.

He didn’t know what could possibly be worse than dying. Then, with a little hiccup, he had a thought. He recalled what could be worse than death. Worse than pain.

He adjusted his posture and looked up at the Thin Man. His hat was down, and he appeared to have his head resting on his hand. It was hard to decipher if he was fully awake or focused. The man in the hat sometimes pretended rest, but really watched. The disquiet scrutiny of someone, trying to figure out a puzzle with a missing piece.

“You hurt?”

The hat tipped up and a little bit of light glinted under the bill. “No. Worried? About me?”

Mono tucked his head down. He only just realized he’d lost the racoon cap. Forget it, pick another hat later. “Make sure. You… not n’hurt.” It felt good to stop. Stop worrying, stop running, stop thinking. Just stop. Stay still. “S’nice t’worry.” He nuzzled into the dense fiber of the coat and just tried… to let his body soothe out. It would be nice to be anywhere else, but he preferred the warmth. It felt good on his bruised side.

“Rest. When you are able to manage yourself, I’ll leave you to your own goings.”

Oh. Of course. That’s right. This was rest, and later… he didn’t know what. Find foods. Don’t be seen. Scout. Sleep. So sleepy. Sleep forever seemed like a bliss. He could do just that.

“How do know name?” he mumbled

The static rustled. “That is a story for another day.”

“Can tell?”

“No.”

“Tell?”

The Thin Man shifted, and Mono snapped his head up to check the action, and glare. He was fixing the hat, or rubbing his face. Annoyed? Good. “No. If you are quiet and sleep, then I will consider to tell. Not before.”

A story would have been nice, Mono reflected. Words would have distracted him from the whir of static, though, it was not painful. Or that distracting. At least that insatiable panic of impending danger and looming threat was absent. He hadn’t decided if that was really good or not. If his sense of self-preservation was shattered entirely, and he was unfeeling. A void, incapable of recognizing when running was still the better option. It horrified him, the ideal of turning into that one child who had lost all resolve. He didn’t want that to happen to him. He wanted to wake up tomorrow, or the next day. After a sleep.

With a meek exhale, he let the tension melt from his muscles. He was frightened by how effortless it was, to forfeit.

The Thin Man settled a hand over his side, and this time he barely winced. He was on high alert for the next few minutes, hardwired instincts screaming at him: How easy it would be for that hand to snap your neck.

The fingers deftly brushed the back of his head; slow, gentle and steady. It felt… very nice. Somehow, it made the aches in his body feel less important, and made the horrible events seem so far-far away. He didn’t understand why the Thin Man was doing that. Too much of the strange man in the hat, he did not understand. For now, he couldn’t dwell on it. He uncoiled the tight fists his hands hand formed and focused on breathing, slow and even. The scent of smoke saturating him wasn’t so terrible anymore.

The first five steps they took from the window, they decided… awful, wretched, terrible place. From the smell in the corridors, of chemicals and decay – too familiar to the Hunters cabin – to how dim and poorly lit everywhere was. Hated it.

Loathsome place.

She actually gave a very soft, near imperceivably growl. It almost made Mono laugh. But they didn’t know these areas, the darkness contained. There was anything deadly and vicious, searching now as they trespassed. She, in her cunning yellow jacket. Him, in his faithful coat.

Once, in one of the murky corridors, she tugged his shoulder. And when he faced her fully, she put her hands in a rectangle, over her head. How do you see?

In response, he tugged up the paper bag and gave a grin. Not very well!

And then promptly tripped on a chunk of wire.

The flashlight was a great contribution. They passed it back and forth for a short while, trying the button. Six wasn’t too partial to the harsh light, and still felt more comfortable in the vague black. At times when Mono – guardian of the electric torch – flashed it around the walls, it wasn’t that great of a contributor. Sometimes the slicing beam made shadows, and looming-stretching, ambiguous shapes, all the more terrifying. But they needed some sort of radiance to navigate these areas, which became as impenetrable as a wall of chiseled midnight.

The scouting eventually led to this one area in all this icky place, and without a glance shared they chose unanimously to stay there for a bit. It was calm, the air still and no strange smells made them wary. Light sprouted abundant, and despite it being a dead end, it felt safest. They needed to stop anyway, especially since he had… another incident with one of the televisions.

The room received an astute search over. Six poked at the shelves and dark spaces, while he scrutinized the wall and the speek there. It was… transfixing. Something happened, he didn’t know what. It felt so familiar, he couldn’t place what from. Something about a room, and a—

He’s startled by the inaudible breath of paper creeping across the table. She found the box of paper along with bits of crayons and set them on the table edge. She hoisted up onto the stool and began scratching down some lines.

Mono took the chair. He climbed onto the table to shove the bear off. Now he could see her. She passed him a page, and briefly checked beyond his shoulder.

Just in case, Mono looked as well. It marveled him how haunting an empty yet well-lit room could be, but beyond it was nothing but black and empty wastes. They currently sat in a dead end, where only paranoia would deliver them from certain doom.

He took a clump of crayons, and practically sat crouched on the table to draw. “Tweet-tweet,” he whispered. It was bird. They made tweet sounds. “Birb.”

She mouthed the sound. It was hard to get her to speek with her voice, but he didn’t mind. Next, she showed him a picture of one Bully, with its head cracked in two. Rather violently. He judged the picture accordingly. She made a low growl.

Mono tried to imitate the sound. “That s’hard,” he spoke, carefully. “Pick ‘nother.”

Six stuck her tongue out. “Lern’t.”

“All your speek hard.” He leaned over his current drawing. “And I’m stupid.” He pulled his bag up enough to pout, but only for a moment.

This got a grimace from her. The Six. It was the closest he’d get of a smile.

The time was devoted to the very serious business of speek-share and storytelling. Six had seen many interesting things, and done very frightening things. On the other hand, Mono wasn’t as invested in sharing where he had been or who he had seen. He focused on coloring a dark hole, with a long step ladder extending upward.

Six snagged it away and gave it a look, turning the page this and that way. He crawled across the table and set the picture right, gesturing with his hand from the bottom of the pit to the edge. She gave him a speek. In return, he mimicked the noise. She became invested with scratching down bars, against a wall.

“Climb?” Without looking up, Six nodded. He leaned closer, on the same page she worked at, he drew a figure on the climb steps. “Fall.” Then a figure detached from the climb steps.

Before he finished bolding in the middle section of the person, she pried the page away and swept it off the table. In silence, Mono took another page and settled back to his chair.

She remained very secretive, sharing so little of her speek. He didn’t know if she interacted much with other children, it seemed like she had in the past. He’d known children that just didn’t have the capacity, while others resorted to clicks or whistles. Six had some of that speek. Much of it did consist of sniffles, hisses, clicks. Her name was a fluty warble. Six. He wished he was that clever. Who gave her the name, where she got it, she couldn’t convey. Maybe she didn’t remember, either.

A picture of a child in white clothing and red smears on the lips, was passed to him. So, she did know other children before him. He was looking at it, right before she snatched it back and began etching it in with thick, black bars – going sinister and quiet as she worked.

Mono knew that mood. The angry, brooding girl. Then, she shows him a picture of a figure in a yellow raincoat. He tried to enunciate her name. He was so bad at it.

Six shook her head. Then, gave him a new speek. Once more, he tried to enunciate it, though clumsy and rough. “Rain? Coat?” He snatched the picture away and lay on the table, studying it closely. “Girl? Friend?”

She swiped the page back and gazed down intently. Then, hiked one shoulder up.

Mono’s mind wandered to dark places, of bad things, and uncertain questions. He took a new page, and began sketching in. “Foods?” Immediately, she perked up. “Mmm.” He’d never met someone so excited to eat anything. He liked her speek for foods. “Meat.”

She hummed, “Bread.” And began a fury of drawing.

“Meat n’bread.”

“Bread m’meat. Mmm. Fresh meat.”

“Soft, fresh.” Mono clicked his jaw.

A sudden, muffled thump, sent both children scrambling from around the table. Six lunged into the furthest corner of the room, crouching behind a basket full of knickknack junk. While Mono crawled beneath the table and huddled up; both stare at the ceiling. Frozen and quiet, wide eyes unblinking. Sound up there. uP TheRE. Would move? Should leave? Go where?

They remained latched down to their respective locations, alert, listening for the threat and its direction. But there was no further utterance or hint of what the sound was, and the atmosphere retained that deceptive stillness. All a lie. Something was hiding here. Something awaited their exploration, the curiosity.

Mono inched around to face her, and pressed a finger to the front of his paper mask. Six shook her head vigorously, and slunk back behind a large stuffed animal. No place to run. A dead end.

But he crept out from beneath the table, and snuck toward the gaping entry. She moved, only slightly, but he didn’t check. His whole focus and concentration went beyond, to the darkness. In the first room, lit by blaring lights, there is nothing. He knows this. Just the large machine, and its window that shows inside things. He slipped closer to the portal and leaned on the doorframe, checking the shroud in the large chamber. He sees the chair and wheels, the mannequins – as Six called them. How does she make those sounds?

Nothing is evident in the space above, just more shadows and strange shapes that are not moving. False people, but they are pleasant and still. Not moving. Not annoying or sinister. They are quiet, contemplative, polite. The only semi-horrible but pleasant thing about this place.

With a deep sigh, he returned to the brightly lit toy room. Hmm? Where is her?

The stuffed bear quivered. Odd, he thought he left it—

It rushed at him, colliding with his face and chest, nearly bowling him over. It was the Six! Ooh, he made her mad. Oh dear. This wasn’t good.

She crawled under the table and sat, cross legged and arms folded against her chest. Mad, brooding, girl. He didn’t mean for her to get upset. She was fuming. This was the absolute worst.

Mono dragged the stuffed bear with him and nudged the chair away. He flipped the swollen plush upright and shoved its arms around Six, bundling her up in the horrible gawking thing. She’s so mad, she won’t look at him, and swung away – within the embrace of the crazed toy.

He laid down on his tummy and crawled closer, his paper bag rumpled, but it’d be okay. Reaching over the bear’s knee, he tentatively touched her elbow. She slapped his hand and wrenched away, her shoulders bunched up around the hood of her jacket.

Well, he could just let her simmer for a bit. There was nothing wrong with that… except he was hungry, and he wanted to explore around. But he didn’t want to do that alone, and he wouldn’t leave her alone. Even if there was a chance he could bring back a peace offering.

With a sigh, he folded his arms under his chin, and kicked his legs up to sway above his back. After a while, he started plucking at the loose thread in the plush toys feet.

Then, Six reached over and took his hand, she shook it off the thread. Holding him by the wrist, she pulled his arm over the bear leg and mashed at his palm. Mono let his arm go limp, and let one leg bop against the bears head. She fumbled with his fingers, each in turn, traced the lines in his palm.

Mono’s mask rustled as he leaned up enough, to glance back at the door. He didn’t hear anything, which in itself was sometimes frightening. There was an eeriness under the hush, of an unaccounted predator coiled up and waiting to spring. A trap set, waiting, knowing that a path was regularly used by clueless trespassers.

Assured the deceit was not present (for now), he rested his chin back on his arm and shut one eye. Six pressed her palm to his, and he splayed their fingers out. Once more, he tried to pronounce her name right. Softly. She giggled, and let go of his arm. It dangled over the bear’s leg.

Suddenly the mammoth stuffed thing was smushed against his back. ACk! He squirmed out from under the lumpy behemoth, and hauled his coat away as well. The nerve. He checked on her, and proceeded to fix the crinkles in his paper bag. Six was curled up against the bear, knees tucked into her chest, and her holding a furry paw around her side.

“Slep?” he posed, while straightening a crease in the edge of his mask. In the hood, Six nodded vigorously. He hummed and scooted around to face the door. He hugged his legs to his chest and dipped his face behind his knees. It was cold, his pants were stiff with mud and grease, but it was his turn to watch and wait, listen. The doorway retained the disarming aura of neglect, nothing living or otherwise stirred.

After a few minutes, a faint scuffling-twitch spilled from her. Sleep was hard. He hoped she wouldn’t wake up, but sometimes, it was the biggest trial to just be still and sleep. Dreams reminded them that there was no safety or escape, but he could wait and listen for threats, and be the one to say if it was time to run. He hoped though this time, he’d be able to get rest himself.

He hated his dreams, likely as much as Six hated hers. The door, the corridor – the thrumming reverberations. Sometimes, he hated the sound of his own heartbeat, so familiar and intense in the dreams of him rushing to some… unknown. Actually, he was surprised she volunteered to sleep first. Nobody liked a nap, but they couldn’t get by without rest. Eventually, they crashed. Hard. It was dangerous, merciless, and more often frightening. More frightening, than tackling the lurking shades of their nightmares.

#little nightmares #six #mono #the thin man #little nightmares fanfiction #little nightmares fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #little nightmares fluff #these kids need some supervision #six angry #use the slep #the man in the hat

7 notes · View notes

radramblog · 4 years ago

Text

Every Mono-Black Commander, Part 4: Designed for the Format

In what will be the penultimate edition of this weekly word stream, the cards steadily on average get better, as WoTC realises commander is the most popular format and starts designing specifically for the format. On the other hand, people don’t play lots of these cool and interesting cards because everyone’s obsessed with “multicolour”, the cowards.

Moving on.

Sidis, Undead Vizier (245 decks, 25th most played)

Sidisi is one of those cards I’m surprised sees as much play as it does. Not because it’s bad, but because it seems to belong a lot better in the 99 than in the zone- they’re pretty much just a tutor with a body attached, after all. For a while, though, it was the only commander you could run that was a pure tutor, so if you were into just comboing people out it’s probably not a bad idea.

I think part of the reason I underrate this card is that I always assume it’s 6 mana. And it’s a lot better at 5 than it is at 6. And you can always just sacrifice itself if you really want your commander to just be an overpriced Diabolic Tutor.

Kothophed, Soul Hoarder (29 decks, 73rd most played)

I actually rate Kothophed a bit higher than I think most do. While as the 2nd of Lilliana’s demons he was obviously a fair bit weaker than the extremely banned Griselbrand, and the only one of the 4 not to be mythic, he does do a couple things really well.

For one, he draws a lot of cards. Things are going to the graveyard all the time, especially in multiplayer, and he makes the artifact/aristocrat decks think twice about popping off. The other is that he’s super cheap, at like 40 cents a pop. And I appreciate that, especially considering some of the cards surrounding him.

Liliana, Heretical Healer//Liliana, Defiant Necromancer (645 decks, 9th most played)

Baby Lilli herself looks a lot better than Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath as far as Planeswalker commanders goes, and it’s therefore unsurprising that she breaks the top 10. Everybody loves Planeswalkers, lots of people like Lilliana both as a card and a character, and the card that puts her in the zone is quite solid.

What does she do, though? Well, of the 6 Creature->Planeswalker transform cards, she’s one of the three that can theoretically flip the turn you play her without a haste effect (and Nicol Bolas is only on that list by technicality, because that’s a loooot of mana), and it’s not particularly hard to do so considering the colour she’s in. She then protects herself a little with a Zombie token and acts as basically a multiplayer-tuned Lilliana of the Veil, with a bigger number on her plus and minuses that better suit commander. This lets her work quite well for discard decks, reanimator decks, aristocrats decks, zombie decks, and of course, Lilliana decks. She’s just really solid overall, making up somewhat for the fragility of walkers in the format by being cheap and making herself a blocker.

Drana, Liberator of Malakir (82 decks, 49th most played)

Drana I guess could be used as a tribal or Voltron commander of some description, but to be frank, she’s here for one thing- aggro. Anthem effects are uncommon in black, and Drana just piles on so many counters in such an efficient manner that she kinda makes up for that on her own. I’ve actually never seen anyone piloting a Drana deck (of any of the three Dranas, actually), so I don’t know exactly how effective it is, but putting her at the helm of a stack of tokens or efficient threats just sounds scary. I’m pretty sure she’s only liberating Malakir from its remaining life points.

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet (124 decks, 38th most played)

Kalitas seeing this much play…actually frustrates me, seeing as he’s basically just a hate piece. Like yeah, he has another ability, and he makes tokens, but come on. You’re just playing this for the exile clause, and it’s never going to make you any friends. Headcrab Vampire over here doesn’t do anything much if your opponents just wait til he’s off the field to do anything spicy, and in that case, what are you doing with him? Very inefficiently voltronning up? Gaining 3 life? It’s a bit sad. I don’t really like him.

Gonti, Lord of Luxury (550 decks, 11th most played)

Aww man, they’re not in the top 10 anymore? Fucking Tergrid.

Gonti is another card advantage commander, but everything on them lines up to make both a fun and a powerful effect. They’re not too expensive, and in addition to effectively drawing a card, deathtouch makes them a great way to dissuade attacks from other players. Their ETB not only acts as card selection, but it also gives you access to effects mono-black lacks, silver bullets you don’t play, or just surprise threats that vastly open up your options. They can whiff, sure, but that doesn’t happen especially often.

I’m biased, because my Gonti deck is among my favourite of my 100-card children, but Gonti is just such a fun commander that I don’t even mind the lack of direction they hand you. I run them as grindy valuey control, but they work great as the helm of flicker, theft, and even Aetherborn tribal decks as well. Just a stellar little commander.

Yahenni, Undying Partisan (306 decks, 21st most played)

Speaking of Aetherborn, Yahenni is also here, and I really appreciate that the two Aetherborn commanders we got are both really cool both in game and in the lore. Shame about most of the rest of the tribe being draft trash. Also, WoTC brought all sorts of old tribes back into the limelight for Commander Legends and the Modern Horizons sets, so where are the new Aetherborn at? Wizards pls.

Yahenni themselves is a pretty interesting commander. Their effects combine into a powerful package more subtle than their flavour text suggests- they not only are a threatening body, as a hasty commander that grows significantly as the game progresses, but they’re also incredibly sticky- a free sacrifice outlet that protects itself from most removal. They’re just a card where all the pieces come together just right, and I appreciate that a lot. One job and that’s aristocrats, but they’re good at it!

Bontu, the Glorified (59 decks, 57th most played)

When we finally got eyes on the Amonkhet gods, I think Bontu was my least favourite. Like, she’s hard to turn on, and has to be done repeatedly? A 3 mana 4/6 menace is a lot, but not enough to justify that in my opinion. And that activated ability is painfully mediocre.

At this point I like Kefnet less, but that’s just because I’ve cast him a bunch of times and I’m pretty sure he’s done nothing most of those times. Both of them are just kind of shithouse though. I expected more from the Magic equivalent of Set.

Razaketh, the Foulblooded (74 decks, 54th most played)

The only thing foul about Razaketh is that mana cost. 8 mana, holy shit. But you get paid off for it, don’t ya? A free-ish sac outlet that, oh, also just demonic tutors. If you have an infinite combo in your deck, this’ll get it.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Razaketh decks therefore get focussed pretty hard once people recognize the power in the zone. Like, running him as a commander is basically saying “sup once I get to 8 mana y’all are fucked”, and in that case people are going to do all they can to stop you getting to 8 mana, whether by blowing up your rocks or just killing your face and dudes. Perhaps consider an alternate route if you don’t like getting beaten up.

Spike, Tournament Grinder (N/A)

Aight, this is kinda cheating, but shshshsh it’s fine. Now, I’m not sure exactly how this works in the zone, but I’m just assuming it can get any “spikey” card that fits within your colour identity? Or maybe it’s just anything. Either way, this gets some bonkers shit.

Even if we assume it’s only legal commander cards in identity, Spike can still draw you some funny things. Dark Ritual, Crucible of Worlds, Bitterblossom, Demonic Tutor, Ancient Tomb, and that’s just the first page. If we do include commander-banned cards, then you can also use them as a spicy secret commander for such hits as Griselbrand, Emrakul, or Braids. Overall, they’re definitely fair and balanced. Un-Commanders when.

Tetzimoc, Primal Death (15 decks, 86th most played)

Oh, Tetzy. I love this stupid stupid card, one that seems to get worse the bigger the decks get. And by that I mean, it’s completely stupid broken in its original draft format, fringe playable in Standard at the time (and by that I mean… I mean I played it), and thoroughly mediocre in Commander. And that’s in the 99, because much like Haakon and Phage he doesn’t work in the zone. He’s a fair bit easier to enable than they are, but it’s for much, much less payoff. Alas poor Tetzimoc.

Demonlord Belzenlok (110 decks, 41st most played)

The last Lilliana contract demon, and the first Dominaria card of the 6 we got to talk about. Belzenlok’s ability is frustratingly awkward, however- while it will never draw you land, in my experience you’re rarely drawing more than two cards off it, and one is very common. Because the thing is, in order to support the dummy thick cards Belzenlok likes to see, you need a lot of cheap ramp and draw, which he does not like to see. And said ability takes up all the space on his textbox that could be used on other things. He’s basically okay, but I don’t see running this over basically any other demon.

I mean, he’s in my Gonti deck, but that’s besides the point, making a fatty and drawing cards is what that deck’s about.

Josu Vess, Lich Knight (69 decks, 55th most played)

Lilliana’s dead brother is an army in a can that packs a mean punch- 20 menace power is absolutely nothing to sneeze at- but 10 mana is monstrous. And casting him for 4 is just not worth it, especially since it makes that 10 into 12 next time. With that said, I recall once a Dominaria draft on arena where I used Muldrotha to cast this guy kicked twice in a row, and while this might just be magical Christmas land, getting to reroll this guy repeatedly with Disentomb effects might be spicy. You can just bury people in Zombies, ain’t that fun? I mean, it’s still 10 mana, so that’s a lot, but yknow

I guess you can also sac the tokens to some variety of altar, but that’s boooooring.

Torgaar, Famine Incarnate (99 decks, 44th most played)

Wait, if it’s Famine Incarnate, why is it an Avatar instead of an Incarnation?

I’m woefully unfamiliar with Torgaar, but it seems like a relatively effective general. It hits that 7 mark for a three-hit commander damage kill, while being able to cost as little as two mana, which is enough on its own- but that chunky power also helps with that second ability, setting someone to 20, assuming other people are willing to help pick up the slack. Fuck your infinite life combo, back down to the ground with the rest of us.

Honestly, this guy just looks really fun. It’s nice that in a pinch you can just have them gain you up to 19 life (or more I guess if you’re Platinum Angel-ing), and they don’t seem broken enough to garner hate. Not bad, potentially underrated.

Urguros, the Empty One (29 decks, 73rd most played)

On the other hand, I’m not sure why you’d pick this of all cards to head your deck. Looking at it, though, it’s mostly just Spectre tribal, which makes sense to me. Don’t think there’s another Legendary Spectre outside of changelings, though that would at least get you Blazing Spectre.

Shoutouts for Spectre being one of the words with different spelling in America that people don’t know about as well.

Urguros is not a powerful commander. They’re slow and their effect is weak. But if you’re running them, you don’t care about power, you care about creature type, and that’s fine too.

Whisper, Blood Liturgist (150 decks, 33rd most played)

Oh, ok. blood liturgist.

Jokes aside, Whisper is more popular than I would have expected. Considering they’re basically reverse Victimize, I’m surprised that people are so into them when that card exists.

Ohh, wait, there’s probably a bunch of infinites with this and Thornbite Staff, huh. Yeahhh, that scans. Though even outside of combo bullshit, I bet they get a bunch of fun value stuff with army-in-a-can-type creatures like Abhorrent Overlord and Sengir Autocrat. Shame about the stats.

Yargle, Glutton of Urborg (208 decks, 27th most played)

A literal vanilla creature, Yargle has overcome the odds to bargle into the hearts of many. The undeniable Best Frog Commander (Gitrog players do not interact), Yargle has clearly captured as many hearts as he’s eaten, considering he got his own Secret Lair filled with cards he can’t really play. His bit in the lore was also kind of hilarious, nearly killing all the protagonists until Muldrotha deus-ex-mythic rare-d him out of there.

The thing is, Yargle is not even that bad aside from the meme. He might be literally vanilla, butt he has 9 fucking power for 5 mana. He’s probably one of the cheapest creatures that breaches the 3-hit rule, and only needs 2 more to get down to 2. And 2 power isn’t super hard. Strap this bad boy with a sword or two and you can just gettem. Let alone the fact that he one-shots things with Tainted Strike. Or Grafted Exoskeleton. Or just about anything plus Fireshrieker. Unironically one of Mono-Black’s best Voltron options.

Isareth the Awakener (30 decks, 70th most played)

Skipping the Battlebond cards because…who plays Virtus or Regna solo… brings us to the painfully mediocre Isareth. A 3 mana 3/3 that lets you cast one thing from your yard, and only if she risks her own life. And you still have to pay for the reanimate. And it gets the exile clause as well. Man, this was the same cycle as Goreclaw and Sai, too. Hell, I even like Lena more after I designed a deck around her. This just sucks. Like, I cannot imagine playing this over Chainer or something.

The Haunt of Hightower (168 decks, 31st most played)

Speaking of Voltron, this Buy-a-Box exclusive is basically a self-sufficient beast of a flyer. Cards go into opponent’s graveyards all the time, and one mass mill effect makes this thing get huge fast as fuck. Add in lifelink so it keeps you going and all it’s really missing is the ability to protect itself, and there’re equipment for that.

On the other hand, it’s 6 mana and a 3/3 base, so if you aren’t able to get things in bins (or if a Rest in Peace/Leyline of the Void is out) it basically isn’t doing anything. And Flying is a much worse keyword in commander than one would think, being probably the most common Evasion mechanic. But I think this haunty boy is still solid.

God-Eternal Bontu (81 decks, 48th most played)

If only the rest of us could age so gracefully. Er, die so gracefully, I guess. Zombie Set is kind of a beating, turning all sorts of useless shash into pure cash. And she can go to your deck if the zone is getting too costly, and she’s a cool crocodile zombie god.

Unfortunately, she does suffer from being an ETB-effect commander, which always feels a bit more mid than I’d like- they do their thing and then just…sit there… and unlike Gonti she doesn’t deter attacks that well. She does attack pretty alright herself, but it’s only 5 power and can’t even trade with two 3/3s. And it’s harder to fuel this all-or-nothing kind of ability repeatedly. There are a few (crocodile?) rocks to use, as well as chump creatures that crave death, but fill your deck with those and that’s all you’ll draw. It’s…fine. She’s fine.

Massacre Girl (285 decks, 22nd most played)

The final card under the magnifying glass today, and probably still the best boardwipe/commander combo. Massacre Girl basically just kills everything, provided things aren’t too massive and there’s fodder around to bite the dust first. If anyone played Hearthstone back when I did, she’s basically a way, way better Defile.

Wait, that’s also a Magic name now isn’t it, shit.

I still think the notorious M.G. goes better in the deck than the zone, but I suppose control decks would appreciate having one of the things they crave most- board clears- available at a moment’s notice. And if you’re building around her, then you can fill your deck with the fodder that fuels her best. But I’m not sure where you win from there.

Ehhh, probably just Revel in Riches.

This brings us to the end of this edition of Black Commanders, and to the start of 2019. Which means the remaining 21 cards all came out in the last 2.5 years, which speaks a lot to how much they were designing cards for commander, and how many sets they’ve been coming out with. Until then.

#ramble #mtg #commander #edh #mono-black #this marks like the fifth time i've accidentally typed MTF instead of MTG #are my typos tryna tell me something?

3 notes · View notes

mysterious-prophetess · 5 years ago

Text

Triple Cross Section

Recently, I played and beat the main plot of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I also recently read (in this order mind you) The Blood of Elves, The Last Wish, and The Sword of Destiny.

I know. I screwed up the timeline there.

Finally, I just finished the 2019 Netflix Witcher show (and actually part of me reading The Sword of Destiny overlapped with the first half of the show).

So, despite not having played the prior two Witcher games (because 3 is semi-standalone) I feel comfortable enough to do a triple cross section of this multi-faceted set of adaptations.

I’ll start with the books because they came first.

My thoughts on The Blood of Elves is that it felt like a D&D campaign for a good chunk of the story. It also had a feeling to it that made it feel half-way between D&D, The Hobbit, and GoT in that there was a weight to the world--a magical one--that GoT just never had for me but there was enough of the mundane misery GoT was steeped in mixed into the fray. It was full of wonder and pain to sum it up.

Then I jumped back to the short story collections and it just felt like a bunch of edgy fairy tales. Side note: Sapkowski sort of did Beauty and the Beast twice with the actual outright Beauty and the Beast parody-”A Grain of Truth” and the story called “A Question of Price” AKA Ciri’s parents’ love story.

The stories I liked best from the short story collections were the ones that didn’t do that fractured fairy tale routine. Every time they referenced a fractured fairy tale within the Witcher-verse I rolled my eyes a little. We get it: your fantasy world is even edgier than the Brothers Grimm.

So, yeah. The times where Sapkowski was original were where he shone the brightest.

Now onto the Games which came next.

SIDE NOTE: Now, I know there was a Polish movie and a TV adaptation, but I never saw them and I don’t understand Polish (and I doubt the Hexer is available to me). So, they are going to be skipped despite proceeding the games into existence. I am also aware of the comic books’ existences too.

Now, I was sort of aware of Witcher 2 back when it came out, but for some reason or other I never played it. I was much more aware of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt whenever it was released because it was everywhere. Having now played it, I am very much aware of why. I enjoyed every last minute of the game. Ok not every last minute. There were times it’d kick my butt and I’d get mad (and I’d get extra ticked when the game crashed on me). However, I had a genuinely good time playing the game despite not fully knowing what’s going on but thanks to the book I’d read before playing -The Blood of Elves- I knew enough about the secondary characters to keep afloat.

it’s funny but because I played the game before reading The Last Wish or The Sword of Destiny, it turned out that while reading those books I was given clearer background context for certain things (like the incest joke that was made about Foltest on his Gwent card and Crach an Crait’s past with Geralt).

However, the game did ruin a few things I’m sure were plot-twists later in regards to Ciri’s backstory which I won’t write here.

Witcher 3 the game was enough of its own entity, from what I can gather, that it borrows a lot from the books to make its world but ultimately does its own thing.

Adaptation did have to yield to game mechanics in a few places. Especially since there were moments where choices affected what ending you got. I, personally, used a guide to make sure Ciri got a happy ending. Because even from only reading one book prior to playing this game, I wanted Ciri to be happy. Naturally, there were times where plot overruled player actions but in a story heavy game, that’s to be expected. Overall, it was a fun game and a really interesting interpretation of Sapkowski’s world.

Now last, but certainly not least is the Netflix series.

I know there are many camps of people and their feelings about the show. I’m sort of a mixed bag regarding it.

Season 1 is definitely most influenced by the two short story books, The Last Wish more so than The Sword of Destiny. I personally don’t know where all of the Yennefer backstory bits come from, but I assume they’re in the other books as some of the stuff I did recognize from The Last Wish, The Sword of Destiny and The Blood of Elves. On the other hand, I’m not a fan of how they would give the stories a sort of new twist.

I did not enjoy them granting what was (originally) a mostly one-and-done character like Renfri more staying power/screen time. Mostly because (as I already said) I was annoyed by the edgier fairy tale stuff and she’s edgy Snow White.

I was mixed on my feelings towards extra Jaskier/Dandelion being thrown into situations he wasn’t around for in either collection. I do actually like Dandelion/Jaskier, and his show counterpart is delightful. On the other hand, it just scrambled a lot of things around to have him there.

I really do not like how they handled Geralt’s last wish in this show at all. It took both parties knowing about the wish binding their fates together and made it almost look like Geralt did to Yennefer like what Triss had done to Geralt in the books: using magic to make someone love you.

Oh yeah, Triss Merigold. As I already didn’t like her for that bit of using magic to seduce a man and entice him to be her lover and then further being pissed at her game counterpart for pursuing a relationship with an amnesiac Geralt (and therefore taking advantage of the fact he’d forgotten all about Yennefer and his past with her), her inclusion earlier in the storyline annoyed me. So far, Show!Triss is the form of her I like the most but that’s not really saying much.

I’m sure she redeems herself in the next four Witcher books or something but please don’t tell me. I’d like to read them and see if my opinion of her improves from the books alone.

Back onto the show.

The Geralt of the show is a sort of half-way between the book and games Geralt in characterization. Which, for this show, works well enough. The more eloquent Geralt of the books and short stories makes sense for a written medium. A much less talkative Geralt works for games and in-between works best for a show (though he does admittedly make more mono-syllabic noises than speak).

What I did like without any caveats was the casting. Mostly because while they didn’t match book descriptions in some cases, the actors did a damn good job. Plus, being shallow, aesthetically speaking putting Henry Cavill in the various outfits(or lack there of) of Geralt was very nice. And....well....Superman is my favorite hero ever so Henry Cavill would have always gotten a pass from me.

The show’s timeline thing only threw me for an episode because I was very much aware of the fact that a bunch of the stories were in different parts of time in the short story collection and I recognized Yennefer as her past self. So, three timelines was something I was aware of very quickly. It wasn’t a bad way to deal with backstory and the various bouncing through time that Geralt’s stories were doing, on the other hand if someone didn’t have any knowledge of The Witcher going into the show, they would be so very confused.

Which brings me to how each adaptation dealt with magic.

The books reference it a lot and it’s much easier for them to do so since special effects aren’t an issue. The games being games also have less to worry about when concerning special effects.

The show, understandably, had to scale back the magic a lot.

With the constraints of dealing with VFX and budgets, I think the show did an adequate job.

I was sad to see my favorite sign snubbed by the show (Igni because I like to set stuff on fire, ok?) but I understood why it’d be hard to use in a live action show.

So, final thoughts.

The books by far have the most magical feeling to them, then the games, and the show being the least magical. Yet that’s all ok for each of these mediums.

The characters are sort of else worlds versions of themselves which is also ok because it’s an adaptation and things need to bend for an adaptation. Especially in the case of live action since there is almost no chance that people in the real world look like the characters from the books.

Some might come closer than others but in that adaptations can take license.

They all do different things, but in the end all three are very clearly The Witcher.

#the witcher #witcher 3 wild hunt #the witcher books

3 notes · View notes

solerey · 5 years ago

Text

Some initial TROS thoughts, unpolished and rambling. Feel free to come chatter.

So...”Rey Palpatine” is kind of stupid, but also kind of the best option that they had available to them short of just...doing to TLJ the same thing that TLJ did to TFA and just kicking it apart and tossing the pieces out the window. And I guess JJ and the other folks working on this movie weren’t that level of asshole, okay.

How the hell does Poe being a spice smuggler fit his backstory? Was it a Resistance mission and he didn’t want to spill those beans in front of everybody mid-mission? Because seriously, how the hell is that supposed to fit even time-wise into the history we’ve been given, let alone personality-wise? Was JJ just trying real hard to make Poe “this movie’s Han” or something? Because I hate to break it to him but Poe is the new trio’s Leia and he’s the one who established that fact so he really should have remembered it okay. I mean...at least we do have the canon of Han Solo being a spice smuggler, so we can kind of say it’s not as bad of a Bad Racist Stereotype as it would be to pull the equivalent shit in our world...but at the same time, smuggling space under the Empire is rather different from smuggling spice under the New Republic, which is not a horrible totalitarian government...and for that matter, Poe had nice loving parents and a good childhood, unlike Han, so how the hell did he even end up starting that in the first place? It must have been some kind of undercover mission. It must have. Nothing else makes sense.

OH GODS THAT KISS ASJLK:SGOIWEUGHUAKBN:KNSFN WHYYYYY. I legit let out a noise of involuntary disgust and horror that was some kind of scream-turned-into-a-gurgle that I really, really wish I could duplicate but I don’t even know how I got my throat to issue that sound omg. Made half the theater giggle though whoops. Thank every power in the ‘verse that he died then, at least; if Kylo Ren had not only gotten a “redemption arc” but also lived I don’t know that I could have stomached it...

P.S. “I realized that I’ve been a complete monster and have murdered tons and tons of people for bad reasons and now I feel bad about it, so I’m going to go kill some of my old allies now and then give my lifeforce to someone who’s actually a Good Person so they can survive in my place and improve the galaxy in ways that my shitty whiny evil ass never could” is not the kind of “redemption arc“ that actually turns someone into a good person. Just like with Darth Vader, none of the horrible deeds that Kylo Ren did were erased by the fact that he had a last-minute epiphany and actually killed a few of the right people at the end. He is still a villain -- still a mass-murdering monster. He just managed to do one right thing before he died. He is not Zuko. But gosh, am I looking forward to watching the fandom elevate him to Character Sainthood for that. What is it with people and their inability to enjoy a villain without painting him as some Innocent Woobie? In my day, we could look at our Magnetos and our Doctor Dooms and say “oh yes he’s such an interesting character, I love reading about him, definitely a favorite!” without also convincing ourselves that he was a Good Person who Never Did Anything Wrong Ever...I say, grumbling, from my rocker on the porch of The Fandom Elders.

He’s worse than Kyp Duron and tbh I think Kyp Duron should have gone to jail.

Anyway...I kind of hated the Han scene? And not just because it was part of the “absolve Kylo Ren’s horrific crimes” subplot, but because it just didn’t make sense.

SPEAKING OF...what the hell was up with the “we can teleport objects across massive distances with the Force” nonsense? And people were upset that Leia used the Force to pull herself through vacuum okaaaaay...

Oh Leia. Oh Carrie. At least we got something. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who gave us that; to everyone who salvaged that. Thank you.

Also I really really wish that someone writing for the New Canon would go back to watch the first movie and figure out how hyperspace works. Ughhhh...

Not a lot of Rose in this movie, alas -- I guess she was “the Lando” of the films, huh? Shows up in the second movie and is awesome (really the only good thing to come out of TLJ wasn’t she?) but then gets pulled back to supporting-character role in the third... Hopefully the new expanded universe will do a better job of keeping her around and engaged in the further stories than the original EU did with Lando!

Even less Connix, which is sad. I wonder if it was hard for her, coming back to Star Wars without her mom? Oh Carrie. My princess eternal.

What was the point of the new droid? Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t annoyed by it or anything -- I just didn’t get what he was actually there for? Whatever.

THANK THE FUCKING FORCE THEY DIDN’T KILL CHEWBACCA. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO EVAPORATE RIGHT OUT OF MY SEAT WHEN THAT SHIP BLEW UP.

So I’m guessing “Junior” is a baby Ackbar, right? Too bad they didn’t go with Jesmin.

WEDGE. WEDGE. WEDGE. WEDGE ANTILLES!!!!

Thank the Force they didn’t kill Wedge, either. (They didn’t, right? I mean, I was watching, but things were kind of chaotic, and I only found out that they’d killed Ackbar in TLJ because they fucking said it afterward, since there had been nothing to indicate he was there before that...but they wouldn’t kill The Survivor, RIGHT?)

Oh man it was so nice to see Lando. I kind of wish he’d been in it more, but at the same time, the bits he was in were so perfect. I hope we get a book about him helping Jannah and the other former stormtroopers tracing their origins.

So real disappointing that we didn’t get to see Finn inspiring any stormtroopers to defect, huh? When they got surrounded on the Star Destroyer, I was so hoping that the stormies were going to suddenly recognize him and lower their blasters...SIGH.

Still, at least Finn is going to be Rey’s first New Jedi Student now, right? Right?

I did really like the group of defecting stormtroopers in general, though. That was excellent. They make me want to actually read a New Canon book although it’s a shame Aaron Allston isn’t here to write one about them because his style would be a kickass fit for that story, wouldn’t it? Whoever they get, I hope someone writes it.

I’m still torn on whether or not I like that it was Luke who lifted the X-Wing out. I do know that I don’t like the Force Ghosts Can Interact Tangibly With The World idea.

JEDISTORMPILOT hug at the end? HELL YES. That is the only ship I want to see in this movie. Okay no that’s a lie I would have also been delighted with Finn/Poe and happy with Finn/Rey but since they didn’t want to give us anything more than bait-and-switch bullshit in this trilogy, I will just sit back and be thrilled by the lack of (likely heteronormative) Mono Ship Resolution and enjoy the fact that the closest we come to actual canon is this charming polyship. Even though all these of these characters deserved BETTER than the weird quasi-love triangle/whatever the fuck was going on there...and we’re not talking about the kiss again ever yuck.

I really wish they hadn’t opened Zorii Bliss’s helmet. UGH.

Speaking of: disappointed that Phasma didn’t come back again lol. Could have gotten her ass kicked again by Finn...only better this time, like the deleted version.

Also why are all of the main characters humans? Come on man...the Resistance is not the Empire (or the First Order, or Final Order, or whatever they’re calling themselves; it’s just a fresh coat of paint on the same old xenophobia). There should be way more non-humans in the ensemble scenes...and a few more aliens as full characters. Someday we’re going to get someone who actually understands the world building of this universe to write a SW movie... You couldn’t even paint Zorii Bliss a different color? Ugh. All we really got was Chewie and a few background extras/jokes/one-liners...and Chewie was pretty underutilized too, imo.

SPEAKING OF, WHY WASN’T THIS MOVIE DEDICATED TO PETER MAYHEW?

#star wars spoilers #tros spoilers #rise of skywalker spoilers #sw spoilers #spoilers #ooc ramblings #sw tlj criticism #sw tlj #sw tros #jj abrms salt #tlj criticism

2 notes · View notes

chasholidays · 6 years ago

Note

Holiday prompt: Bellamy POV of Somebody's Only Light would be amazing!

Original fic here!

“I can’t believe this is actually the best way for you to find out your soulmate’s name,” Miller says, pixelated and slightly delayed over the shitty Skype connection. He’s examining the photo Bellamy sent of his back in the mirror, and Bellamy owes him a lot of beer when they get back to campus. “I feel like I’m on CSI or some shit. You literally sent me a picture to enhance.”

“This is how I know you’re an only child. I don’t want my sister to find out first. She’d probably say some weird name just to–”

“Clarke Griffin,” says Miller, and Bellamy’s jaw drops.

“What?”

“I’m pretty sure. It would be easier if you just got someone there to double-check. Maybe Clarke is wrong? I don’t know, it’s your back.”

Right on cue, Octavia bangs on his door. “Hey Bell, how’s your–”

“I don’t have a soulmark! I’ll call you back,” he adds to Miller, and closes the laptop, tugging his shirt back on before opening the door for his sister.

She looks supremely put out. “You don’t have one?”

“Nope. I’m going to die alone. It’s not a big deal,” he adds, before she can say anything. “I told you I don’t care about soulmates.”

“Yeah, but–you really don’t have one? Did you check everywhere?”

“I did and I don’t want you double-checking.” He rolls his eyes, deliberately melodramatic. “Yesterday you were telling me you didn’t want one and all your friends were being weird about it.” His mouth goes a little dry on the word friends, but he thinks she doesn’t notice. She doesn’t really have any reason to be suspicious of him. “I’m fine with it, seriously. Soulmates aren’t everything. Plenty of people don’t have one and have perfectly good lives.”

“Uh huh.”

“I promise, I’m fine.”

“Still, you wanted one, right?”

“I was cool either way,” he says, and wishes he meant it.

Not having a soulmate sounds great right now.

The number-one thing Bellamy knows about Clarke Griffin is that she’s fifteen.

It’s obviously not her only personality trait, or even her most important one, but it’s the only one that can matter to Bellamy right now. Because fifteen is really, really young, and the more he thinks about it, the younger it seems. He doesn’t think he was even a complete person at fifteen, and Clarke probably isn’t either.

Not that he doesn’t like her, so far. She’s smart and sharp and interesting, not exactly fun, but enjoyable. Plus she’s always good for a random argument, which he likes, and she’s started experimenting with low-cut tops, which he’s trying very hard not to pay any attention to, even if it doesn’t always work. She is pretty, but, again, in the way where he’s very aware that she’s going to be in high school for several more years. By the time she graduates, he’ll be out of college himself and off in the world.

Even if she is his soulmate–and he got one of his own high-school friends to confirm that she is, after swearing her to secrecy–she’s not his soulmate now. And if, when she’s twenty, his name shows up on her, she’ll at least know who he is. She can try to find him, if she wants to. There’s definitely no way for him to tell her now that she’s his soulmate without feeling like he’s taking advantage of her, so he just doesn’t. He goes back to school without having said a single word to his new soulmate the entire summer.

Miller isn’t impressed. “You let your sister tell her you don’t have a soulmate?”

“What else was I supposed to say? Hey, call me in five years if we’re soulmates but otherwise have a nice life? Fuck, I’m not ready to be someone’s soulmate now, she shouldn’t have to do it at fifteen. And I wasn’t just going to make up a name.” He sighs. “If you have a better idea for what I should do, you can tell me, but anything I can come up with feels like–grooming, or some shit.”

It doesn’t take Miller long to think through that one. “Yeah, fuck, I don’t know. You’re right, that sucks, there’s no good way to tell a high-school sophomore she’s your soulmate. Sucks to be you.”

“Thanks for the support.”

“Can you at least stay in touch? Like Facebook friend her or something?”

“I’m not going to sign up for Facebook just to friend an underage girl.”

“So then what’s the plan? Wait five years and google her?”

“Wait five years and see how I feel. I’ll still be twenty-five and she’ll be twenty, that doesn’t sound much better. Maybe give it ten years, that’s enough to not be creepy, right?”

“I think once she’s legal, you’re set. But what do I know, I’m still waiting to meet Monty the normal way.”

“I met her a normal way! She’s my sister’s friend, it’s totally normal. The timing just sucks. If O had met her in college, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It would still be weird,” he admits. “Depending on how old she was. But at least I wouldn’t have to be overthinking it alone.”

Miller pats his shoulder. “Yeah, this is basically the worst possible soulmate scenario for you. So–happy belated birthday.”

“Thanks.”

“At least you like her.”

He sighs. “Yeah, at least there’s that.”

As a rule, Bellamy doesn’t like lying. He does it, of course, about big and small things, but he doesn’t enjoy it, and having Clarke for a soulmate means he’s doing it a lot. For the most part, he can tell his friends the truth, but he feels weird telling people he hooks up with–it always ends up being such a long story, and people always want more details. It turns a quick, no-strings-attached fling into a long discussion about soulmates and the right way to deal with them and how age gaps change as people get older. Which isn’t always bad, but is rarely what he’s looking for at a party.

So he mostly says he hasn’t met her yet, which is what everyone expects him to say anyway, and if he ever wants to actually seriously date someone, he’ll tell them the whole truth. It’s not as if it reflects poorly on him; he hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s trying so hard to do everything right.

On his breaks, he’s constantly aware of Clarke being nearby, of the possibility of seeing her, like a malfunctioning spidey sense that doesn’t actually tell him anything and just makes him non-stop paranoid. Since he still hasn’t told his sister about the soulmate situation, he can’t just ask her, and it seems as if she and Clarke are growing apart anyway, in the natural way that kids in high school do. And while there are definitely some advantages to that, it makes him feel antsy, too, unsure of what’s happening to Clarke in the months and years of his not seeing her.

When he does, finally, he’s not ready for it, of course. He’s home for spring break, not quite a year after he gets his soulmark, at the grocery store, and he literally runs into Clarke in the produce aisle, the stupidest meet-cute in the world.

Her smile is warm as she recognizes him. “Hey, Bellamy.”

“Hey, Clarke.”

“Spring break?”

“Yeah.” He wets his lips, trying to figure out something to say that isn’t an unhelpful mono-syllable. It hasn’t been that long, but it feels like years since he saw her, and he can’t help studying her for non-existent changes. She’s just Clarke, the same as he remembered: blonde hair, blue eyes, the mole over her lip adding a lopsided charm to her smile.

His soulmate.

“How are classes going?” he finally asks.

“Fine. Pretty uneventful.” She holds up an apple. “Just stocking up for a road trip. Mom and I are doing a college tour over break.”

“Anywhere you’re particularly excited about seeing?”

“Brown,” she says, with a slightly embarrassed smile. “I’m a legacy, so it doesn’t feel completely unrealistic.”

“Definitely not. I hope you get in.”

“Thanks. You’re a junior too, right? Any idea what you want to do after graduation? Or is it too soon for me to even ask?”

“If everything goes well, I’m going to be teaching. But that’s assuming everything goes well, I’ve got certification and prep stuff to do first, and that’s not set up yet.”

“I figured it might be a little early, yeah. What do you want to teach?”

“History.”

“That sounds like a good fit for you.”

“I’m hoping so, yeah. What about you, any career aspirations yet?”

“Something art-related, still not sure what. My mom thinks art history will make me more employable, I’m not totally convinced.”

“I think a degree from somewhere like Brown will probably make you pretty employable all by itself.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.”

“Well, uh–” He rubs the back of his neck, but he can’t come up with anything else to say to her. This might be the last time he ever sees his soulmate, and he’s done. “Good luck with–everything.”

Her mouth quirks. “Everything?”

“End of high school, college, college applications. All that stuff.”

“The rest of my life?”

“I’m not going to wish you bad luck for the rest of your life.”

That one actually gets a laugh out of her, and his stomach flips. Would he feel the same, if her name wasn’t on his back? He wouldn’t have been thinking about her off and on for all these years, but he thinks–she’s pretty, he likes her. There would have been something there.

“Yeah, I guess that would be pretty shitty of you. Good luck with the rest of your life, too.”

“Thanks,” he says.

If she wasn’t his soulmate, he probably wouldn’t watch her go. But he thinks he’d still want to.

Gina Martin feels like someone he might marry, in another universe. They meet his first spring teaching AP World History, when he starts going to a bar regularly because it feels like a healthier way to consume alcohol than alone (or even with Miller) in his apartment while he grades. It’s still probably not the healthiest thing in the world, but that’s fine. He was never going to be the healthiest person in the world, he was only ever going to do his best.

Gina is cute and flirty right from the start, but he does his best not to read into that. It’s her job, as a bartender, to be cute and flirty, after all. She does it to everyone, and he doesn’t want to get carried away thinking it’s anything personal.

It’s not like he has time to date, anyway.

It’s been about three months when some drunk guy spills a drink on her and she tugs off her flannel to reveal a gray tanktop underneath, low cut enough that he can see the curling edge of soulmate letters on her left breast. He can’t read the name, but its existence interests him in the way soulmate names always do.

Once she’s dried off, he says, “Do you like talking about soulmates?”

She thinks it over. “I do it a lot. Does that count?”

“Not really. If you don’t want to, we can skip it.”

“Having problems with yours?”

He’s pretty sure Clarke is older than twenty, by this point, but if she’s tried to get in touch with him, it hasn’t worked. Most of the time, he’s too busy to worry about it much, but every now and then, he’ll wonder if the lack of contact means she got another name, or if she doesn’t know how to get in touch, or if she’s disappointed, or any of a thousand other things that occur to him in his stupidest, most irrational moments.

He knows it means she hasn’t decided to talk to him, and that’s all he needs to know. Which is a good reason to try to flirt with a cute girl.

“I was actually curious about yours,” he says. “But I’m always ready to vent about mine.”

It’s not entirely true, but it does make her smile. She raises her eyebrows at his empty beer glass and he nods, so she refills it and slides it back to him. “Haven’t met mine. Your turn.”

“It’s complicated.”

“You two don’t get along?”

“No, that would be easy.” He drums his fingers on the bar. “I’m, uh–twenty-five now?”

She smiles. “You don’t even know?”

“It’s been a busy year. So, yeah, I got my soulmark five years ago, when I was home from college for the summer. And I knew the name when it showed up.”

“Lucky.”

“Not really. She was one of my sister’s friends, just finished with her sophomore year of high school. I panicked and told everyone I just didn’t get a name because it didn’t–” He sighs. “I didn’t know how to tell her. She wasn’t going to know anyway, it didn’t matter.”

“But she must be old enough now, right? To have her soulmark.”

“Yeah. But I haven’t heard from her.”

“Does she have any way to get in touch with you?”

“Google.”

“And you haven’t gotten in touch with her?”

“No. Sometimes I think about it, but–” He shrugs. “I don’t know what I’d say.”

“It makes a lot of sense to me. You lied because she was a kid, and now you want to come clean. What else would you need to say?”

“I don’t know.” He huffs. “I figure if I’m her soulmate, she’ll let me know. And if I’m not, I don’t want to make her life more awkward by bringing it up.”

“That seems misguided at best and actually stupid at worst, but I also probably wouldn’t want to call her if I were you either, so–what are you doing after this?”

He frowns. “After what?”

“Well, I get off in an hour, so–after I get off.”

The frown deepens. “Did that story count as a pickup line?”

“You’re cute,” she says. “That’s not new. You’ve been trying to not be a dick about flirting with me, we both have soulmates, you’re clearly a good guy. So if you want to go on a date sometime, I’ll take it on credit.”

“Credit?”

“Buy me dinner later and you can get laid tonight.”

He opens and then closes his mouth. “Sounds like a good deal,” he settles on, and Gina grins.

“I thought so.”

Bellamy’s pretty sure they both know it’s not going to last, but it’s nice for as long as it does, through their first Thanksgiving together. Octavia comes back from college to crash on his couch, and they have this awkwardly intimate dinner with just the three of them. Holidays have been weird since Aurora died, but Bellamy wasn’t prepared for just how much weirder it would be with his (fairly casual) girlfriend there. She’s so convinced that Gina’s going to abandon her own soulmate and marry Bellamy, and even if that was never on the table and Gina didn’t want it, it’s an awkward situation.

“This maybe isn’t the best idea,” Gina says.

“Yeah, I know.”

She bites the corner of her mouth. “I know that saying I still want to be friends is a total cliche, but I do still want to be friends.”

“Me too. I definitely don’t want to have to find a new bar,” he teases.

“Yeah, we can’t have that.”

He puts his arm around her, giving her a quick squeeze. “I still love you. Just not–”

“The same way you always have,” she supplies.

“Yeah.”

“We both knew what we were getting into. We’ve got soulmates who are going to show up.”

Sometimes, Bellamy can believe that. Sometimes, he does think that Clarke will just stroll back into his life someday, that they’ll run into each other at the grocery store or something equally cliched, and things will just work out like magic, like they’re supposed to, without this years long headache he’s been nursing.

Mostly, though, he thinks he missed his chance. That he was supposed to go for it back when he first got Clarke’s name, because whatever great celestial force it is that governs soulmates doesn’t understand age of consent laws.

But that’s never going to be the right thing to say to his girlfriend during a breakup, so he just smiles. “Yeah, we do,” he says, and tries to mean it.

Gina: Are you coming to the bar tonight?

It’s not a particularly surprising message for a Saturday night–the more surprising thing is that Bellamy was chaperoning a dance and hasn’t been checking his phone–but he still can’t help feeling a little suspicious. He doesn’t like Rocket Fuel as much as he liked her last employer, and it’s early enough in the year he doesn’t feel the need to go full alcoholic. Probably there’s some guy there hitting on her and she wants him to scare him off. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Me: I wasn’t planning toI had a school thingbut we’re done so I can be on my way overeverything okay?

Gina: Everything’s fineClarke Griffin is hereWe’re talking about you

Bellamy nearly drops his phone, and the effort it takes to not drop it makes him nearly makes him trip over his own feet. It’s about the least graceful he’s ever been, but–Clarke. Clarke is at the bar. Clarke is so fucking close.

He tugs on his jacket and starts walking before he’s even responded to the text, in a hurry to get there as soon as physically possible. It’s not that long a walk, which is the best thing about Rocket Fuel, as far as he’s concerned, but he still can’t get there fast enough.

Me: holy shit I’m going to kill youyou’re joking, right?

It doesn’t feel like the kind of thing she’d joke about, but it doesn’t feel possible either. There’s no way Clarke just wandered into the bar and started talking to Gina about him. Did she just tell Gina her name, or did Gina bring him up?

He’s trying to figure out a good way to ask if he’s Clarke’s soulmate too when the picture comes through, Gina with Clarke and an unfamiliar woman with dark hair in a tight ponytail. She’s lovely, but all Bellamy can focus on is Clarke, her hair shorter, her smile nervous, but still familiar. She must be twenty-two or twenty-three by now, out of college and in the world, in his world. Talking to Gina. Taking selfies.

Gina: That’s MY soulmate with her btwRaven ReyesAnd you are Clarke’s soulmate, don’t worry

Me: holy shitI’m on my waybe there in ten minutes

He actually runs part of the way, which feels excessive and a little pathetic, except that Clarke is right here, and his soulmate, and all he has to do is get to her. He’d run the whole way, except that he doesn’t want to be weirdly sweaty when he shows up.

She may be his soulmate, but he still wants to make a good impression.

To his surprise, she’s leaning on the fence outside of the bar, although it takes him a little while before he’s sure it’s her, and not some other blonde girl. The odds of that seem low, but the odds of Clarke showing up at Rocket Fuel with Gina’s soulmate seem even lower, so he’s not ruling anything out.

Once he’s close enough, he waves, and she smiles, pushes off the wall and comes to see him. He knew what he was expecting to see, knew what she looked like now from the picture Gina sent, but the reality of her is still a shock.

He clears his throat. “Hey, Clarke.”

“Hey.”

Ideally, this would be the point where he said something smooth and cool, some line worth waiting for, but his brain is still stuck on her face. “You didn’t want to be inside?” is all he comes up with.

But she laughs. “Honestly? No. We had an audience.”

“Gina said you brought her soulmate too, yeah.”

“My best friend.”

“Jesus. I can’t believe it.”

Her smile is impish. “Which part?”

“Everything about soulmates, pretty much. I’m, uh–” He pauses, reconsiders. There are thousands of things he wants to say, but one’s more pressing than the rest. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. When it happened.”

Her response is immediate. “Don’t be.” She smiles. “You want to take a walk and tell me about it? That must have sucked.”

He inclines his head in the vague direction of the park, away from the school. All the students cleared out, but they could still be in the area. He really doesn’t need to be dealing with anyone else. Just dealing with Clarke is overwhelming enough. “It was–fucking surreal, honestly. I wasn’t expecting to get anyone I knew. Most people don’t. And I didn’t–” He shoots her half a smile. “Don’t get me wrong, you were cute, but you were fifteen, and you weren’t going to get your mark for five years. If some guy had come along and told O that, even if he was her soulmate, I would have kicked his ass. And now, teaching teenagers? Jesus. There’s a reason you don’t get it until you’re twenty. I still wasn’t ready then.” They walk in silence for a second, but he can’t help it. The question has been pressing at his mouth since he first saw her. “You really got me too?”

She laughs. “You thought I wouldn’t?”

“I didn’t know. I didn’t know much about you. I tried to figure it out. Why we were–why you were my soulmate.”

“And?”

“No comment,” he says, automatic.

“Oh, come on.”

She sounds so disappointed he has to laugh. “I liked you fine, okay? You were smart and intense and I felt bad for noticing you were hot.”

“I don’t feel bad about that at all,” she says, grinning. “You’re my soulmate, you’re allowed.”

It’s surreal, hearing the words. He was so sure he wasn’t going to be anyone’s soulmate. That this couldn’t possibly work out for him. “I still can’t believe it. I thought you might have my name, but–I figured if you did, you would have gotten in touch.”

She shrugs. “I thought you would already have someone else. Since you didn’t have a soulmate. I didn’t want to barge into your life and mess stuff up for you.” She laughs a soft, sheepish little laugh; he can’t stop looking at her. “You were mine, but I thought I wasn’t yours.”

It makes total sense, of course, but it’s also just the most absurd situation. And mostly because of him. “I would have liked to know, even if I had someone else. But I get it. I didn’t want to do that to you either.”

“I think you did the best you could. I don’t know—" She shakes her head. “I have no idea what I would have done if you told me back then.”

He grins. “Been smug as shit, I assume. I know all you guys had a thing for me.”

“Not a big one. Just, you know—normal teenager stuff.”

“Yeah.”

“Did your sister know?”

“About you? No, I just told my best friend. He’s the one who found your name for me. I sent him a picture because I didn’t want O to know first. Which was a good call, I don’t think she would have been able to keep her mouth shut.”

She’s going to murder him when he does tell her, but that’s a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, he’s catching up with his soulmate.

“Where is it?” she asks, and he frowns. “Your soulmark.”

“On my back, just under my shoulder blade. Where’s yours?”

“Stomach.”

“So you couldn’t really hide it.”

“No. Are you—" She pauses, reconsiders. “I guess you date. You dated Gina.”

“Yeah. But I’m not seeing anyone right now. You?”

“Single.”

His stomach flips, like it always has. “It, uh. This doesn’t have to be anything, if you don’t want it to be. We can just be—“

She shakes her head. “I want it to be something. We should at least try.”

It feels like such a small word, like nothing new. He feels like trying his best sums up his whole life.

Then again, it’s turned out pretty well for him. He’s got a job he likes, friends, and a soulmate who’s smiling up at him, eyes bright with happiness.

He smiles back. “I’m good with trying.”

In the morning, he calls his sister.

Clarke is on the couch, dressed in his clothes, which isn’t a new kink for him, but feels new because he is completely gone for her and his previous scale of things he was into no longer applies. She’s been texting Raven for updates about her and Gina, and Bellamy texted Miller with the update that Clarke was in the apartment, but he doesn’t think he can get away with texting Octavia. Even if he tried, she’d call back immediately, and somehow put herself on speaker phone so she could yell at him most effectively.

She picks up on the second ring. "Why are you calling so early? Did you and Miller have a fight?”

“That’s your guess?”

“Wait, am I supposed to guess? I was just annoyed. You woke me up. Did something bad actually happen?”

“Nothing bad.”

She groans. “Please just tell me, it’s too early for this shit.”

“I lied to you,” he says, in a rush. “About my soulmate.”

There’s a long pause. “What?”

“I told you I didn’t have one, but I do.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her voice is small, and he closes his eyes against the guilt.

“It had nothing to do with you, O. My soulmate–it’s Clarke Griffin.”

“Clarke?” she demands. At least she’s too surprised to sound hurt.

“She was fifteen, I didn’t want to tell her. Fuck, I didn’t want to deal with it at all. And I wasn’t going to make you lie to your friends for me.”

“You kind of did, though. You had me tell them all that you didn’t have a soulmate.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t know it was a lie.” He rubs his face, and Clarke gets off the couch to wrap her arms around him, an unexpected burst of warmth. He leans into it. “I’m sorry, seriously. I kept wanting to tell you, but I didn’t know how.”

She pauses. “So why are you telling me now?”

“Because she found me,” he admits. “And I’m her soulmate too.”

“Of course you are.” She doesn’t sound sarcastic, or even surprised, just matter-of-fact. Like there was no doubt. “You thought you weren’t?”

“Assume I’ve been on a downward spiral about this whole thing for the last seven years. I figured I was going to die alone.”

“That’s why you should have told me, dumbass. Or she should have! I can’t believe you two. You’re both ridiculous.”

“We are,” Bellamy agrees, twisting to kiss Clarke’s temple. “We must be soulmates.”

Octavia, at least, just laughs. “Yeah. No question.”

#beaked

71 notes · View notes

gul-dukat-cc · 5 years ago

Text

PT Barcelona Report

Shoutouts to Detective Dhaliwal/David Rood for lending me a bunch of cards for the PT, and to Callum Smith for lending me Seasoned Pyromancer on Magic Online. Notes on my modern decklist / choice : I felt with open decklists + london mulligan you had to know your deck inside and out to fully use those systems, you had to know what the mus were about as you had so much agency so I chose UR Phx, I played seasoned pyromancer to work with my leylines vs hoogak so I could mull to 4/5/6 and not die to random bloodghasts which is a real issue as thing/arclight are very weak on very low cards. pryomancer is just very good with leyline. I played gut shot over surgical main because my sb had almost no removal and my deck just wouldn’t sb smoothly without gut shot. plus gut shot is fine vs hoogak stops them convoking and fine in mirrror kills thing. I tried desperate ritual/noxious with aria so I could goldfish turn ¾ vs hoogak but gave up on this cause lazy. I tried dreadhorde arcanist main so I could keep more hands but I found the effect is kinda weak, without open decklists I value cards like flame slash/sinkhole pretty low sine I am mulling to goldfish but with opendecklists I can value these powerful but narrow effects properly, basically like having sb cards main. I played 2 aria main 1 side since I found it is tough to split payoff/enablers, but I felt 3 aria was a bit too much and I would draw aria too much when trying to go off, and it made more hands mulls with the red finale and it being clunky but it was a close call. I also thought about set adrift cause hits hoogak/chalice/aria but My experience in the best with it was not great. I tried titanshift but 0-2d a league vs neoform and mirror, I tried burn but it felt kinda weak to me 3-2d a league lost to uw with timely and rug where they force of negation to blow out my searing blaze on their goyf when I swung with spearo.

I did ~280/300 matches of MH1 Limited in prep for the pt including a trip to GP Seattle where I was granted a nice 12-3 finish (1 bye). I am a newer limited player having only begun really playing it about last year, but since then I have mostly been playing limited as I feel I have a lot more agency in the games and prefer the format. However, since I am relatively new to limited I don’t feel I was able to truly process the amount of information I was receiving as most of what I was learning about in my games, is just what drafting a “master” set is about, and how to handle combat and complex boards in this type of limited environment, so a lot of my attention was drawn away from the actual evaluation of cards and trying to understand how to maximize my value in the game in-game decisions. My plan going into the PT was to soft force black, I wouldn’t just force it if it clearly wasn’t open, but I wouldn’t be shocked if your win rate would be higher taking any black uncommon, or even common over the best green rares and blue mythics p1p1. I found the black decks had so much more synergy and power than the other colors, (I felt the snow decks could trainwreck quite easily and just wasn’t very impressed by springbloom druid) Br and Bu being premium whilst the other black decks were about the same as any other archetype, I wasn’t sure about my read on the format since I am not a limited master and I saw players had different evaluations, but in a practice draft the day before Max Mick agreed this strategy seemed fine, and Malavi/Lars Dam had hit a 2030 elo drafting black every single time. I just found I would win a lot more with black decks and they felt much better, with my previous experience I felt soft forcing black was a reasonable approach. First Draft I get a pretty good BR deck, p1p1 raredraft w6, p1p2 Bogardan Dragonheart p2p3 feaster of fools, black and red cards kept flowing and I didn’t pick up any particular signal except ninjas might be open, pack two I got a pick 4 pashalik mons, but at the end of the draft I probably could have a had a simliar power level ninjas deck but I prefer BR slightly. Round 1 vs Van Vaals, Michael (1966) Michael was in the same Canadian Group chat as me, I was not happy to be paired vs him as in the draft I felt too many good cards were going late and it implied to me the pod mostly consisted of primarily constructed players. Luckily for me he got a bit manascrewed g2 and g3 so I was able to win, he had a BR deck splashing blue for the uncommon ninja and keranos, he also had two hoogaks, indicative of my weekend to come. Round 2 Verdiani, Luca (1869) Versus a UW Flicker deck, not much happened just curved out and stomped. g3 we both mulled to 5, I also played really poorly g2… wake up call for me to not be a doofus. Round 3 Rask, Love (2008) Michael told me there was some insane snow rare deck in the pod his opponent told him about, filled to the brim with rares, I looked at my legion of putrid goblins and they didn’t look too happy, but I trusted in that feaster of fools. My opponent cast a turn 2 bladeback sliver and i’m not feeling afraid anymore, later he curves out hermit druid + dead of winter and I won pretty easily, so I was feeling pretty confident for g3. I had passed a dead of winter in the pod so I messed up a bit g1, it was a bit of a complex line of basically using my Munitions Expert on myself to grow my Scavenger past Dead of Winter, but it could also have backfired in some cases to so it was reasonably hard. After the match my opponent says my deck is insane and his deck is garbage nice.. iirc feels good man. 3-0 Round 4 Maynard, Pascal (1967) Open decklists cool, I see a hoogak deck and look quickly at the manabase and removal spells, g1 Pascal mulls to 5 and I am luckily to kill him on turn 3 or 4 with arclights at 1 life, lucky lucky. G2 my hand was just obscene, looting + 2 arclight + leyline… think there might have even been a force, Pascal just had pretty weak hands so I was able to win. Round 5 Busson, Etienne (2006) Recognized this as the Mono Red player, I was sitting at table 4 and feeling if I win another game or two I could get a feature match maybe so was happy, but wasn’t happy to see this mu. g1 I mulled to 5, game was kinda close, coulda made some slightly different decisions maybe, if I was a bit luckier and hit an extra arclight could have won. g2 turn 1 critter into turn 2 eidolon, coulda maybe ignored the first creature but killed it, interesting choice perhaps, needed to hit an extra arclight or two to win, game was super weird and I tanked the most here, basically opp had an eidolon and I had 2 arclights and I had to decide how to attack and block with the arclights, for example when opp was at 20 life and Iwas at 12 I just attacked with 2 arclights as I felt that was my best chance tow in, was pretty hard, think I made the correct choice, opp agreed game was pretty tricky after. Round 6 Futamata, Yojiro (1798) Open decklists opp is on Hollow Gaak, kinda scared and would prefer a normal Gaak list so I don’t sb poorly or whatever, a bunch of cryptbreakers main and even push. g1 I can’t remember exactly but I think my opp might have mulled once or twice, I had a thing in the ice but opp had push so we move on. g2 I kept with a leyline, opp mulls to 5 I believe, my hand was pretty good, 5 or 6 can’t remember exactly, however as the game progresses I feel I run a bit poorly not being able to trigger arclights or flip my thing for a while, my opp casts a cryptbreaker and just make zombies and I just whiff and whiff but they mulled to 5 and my hand was good so it runs even plus doesn’t matter to my decisions, coulda made some slightly different decisions in relation to fetching to thin which I normally do aggressively, but not sure felt I played fine at worst, in the end I need to dodge either fatal push or bloodghast for one turn to untap and win but opp topdecks the ghast for exactsies feels bad man but feel I played fine. Round 7 Luong, Marcus (2019) Hoogak Dredge, g1 I needed opp to whiff on their last dredge, they had bloodghast conflag and creeping chill as outs, sadly for me they hit and I died. g2 I kept a 5 or 6 with rav trap and the card just sucks vs hoogak so I fire it off a bit early to not get gaaked and die horrible. maybe Rav Trap gamed me as I kept hands assuming it would do stuff and then it just makes me die. Round 8 Nass, Matthew (2015) Table 69, I tell Matt we have the nicest table in the room, I think he agrees. He is also on Gaak, I lose g1 pretty quickly, g2 I keep a hand of like thing + force of negation, maybe was too weak, I tried to bluff I had a leyline by having 1 card I was about to slam in play. Matt keeps a hand with a lot of removal and floods out pretty hard so I am able to win a game I felt I got pretty lucky to win. but idk. g3 I just have 2 leyline + seasoned pyromancer. Feels bad to go 4-0 into 5-3 but I feel I played fine in my losses, didn’t play perfect but I mostly play magic online and find it hard to process information irl and didn’t feel I made too many savage punts. DAY TWO My draft pod has Javier Dominguez, Raph Levy and various other pros. I am sitting next to vidi, p1p1 I take urza over mob mostly due to being 50$, p1p2 I slam a manowar, rp1p3 there is goblin war party lightning skelelemental and ninja removal spell entwine. I think wow br seems open. I remember the lr advice, I can take one of these nut br cards and get passed an a+ br deck potentially or stay on ninjas and get a maybe b ish deck on average. I took skelelemental but some of my friends who are better said first of all there aren’t many rare blue cards better than manowar so manowar is a light blue signal, second of all they said skelemental isn’t that good and they said thirdly the two blue cards are too good so they’d try really hard to play it. Might have messed up my draft as RB was very very not open, I continued taking UB cards but Vidi was also in UB, p2p1 I took a fallen shinobi and didn’t feel black was being cut til mid pack 2 but was too late then, still I feltmy deck could win games. Round 9 Wijaya, Vidianto (2013) We play a Ninja Mirror, I just wait til he taps out both games and use fallen shinobi, I accidentally stole one of his lands and when I return it to him later he says fucking fallen shinobi. Round 10 Levy, Raphael (2112) g1 was pretty close, I had a choking tethers and every turn just needed him to have 1 less spell to get lethal, he had a marit lage enchantment and kept playing snow lands every turn, I Had 2 strings so I wasn’t too scared but cascade sliver + lots of removal was enough to kill me in a close game. g2 I had 18 lands due to 3 cycling ones, I side out a talisman for a spell snuff since talisman is in my deck to ramp into cards liek pondering mage/urza/first sphere/other nonsense vs more aggresive decks where I need to get on the board, here I want to be aggresive but those cards aren’t that aggresive and I felt spell snuff would be good. I keep a 2 lander with choking tethers as the hand is just good with an urza in it but sadly I get stuck on 2 lands and draw both spell snuffs, i’d sb the same again but felt kinda bad. Round 11 Matsumoto, Yuki (2000) vs BR, g1 my opp casts a silumar scavenger I spell snuff and untap, my board is urza + 5/6 lands with talisman and 2/2 token, my opp has like 4ish cards in hand and board of changelign outcast + bladeback sliver + 5 lands, my hand is like fallen shinobi + strings, can’t remember exactly what else I had in hand, I believe I also might have had a preordain in my graveyard. My deck doesn’t have much removal really outside of 2 strings and choking tethers so I try to be aggresive and close game quickly, I bounce the bladeback with strings and fallen shinobi the urza, Ken Yukihiro sitting next to us laughs,I hit a land and volatile claws *fuck* and pass. opp hardcasts an igneous elemental killing my 2/2 token, I can’t attack with shinobi so I cast urza and pass, they now goatnap shinobi I chump with token they cast dragonheart and suddenly i’m way far behind and feeling terrible, I feel I prob messed up this game somewhere, I just saw an insane line and went for it, coulda thought more but honestly likely would have came to same conclusion, g2 is pretty close but pretty much my opp casts a bunch of big creatures and removal and I die since my deck is just very medium and leaning on fallen shinobi or smoke shroud to win. Feeling pretty bad since my winrate in MH draft is muuuuchh higher than modern but I felt I just need to learn more for next time, feels bad but here we are. I felt my choices were mostly reasonable even if they might not have been the best I tried. Round 12 Vorel, Andrew (1847) VS Hoogak, can’t remember much, just leyline g2 and g3. puts me to 3-2 vs hoogak and I was doing well vs it on modo idk close mu. feels good to win Round 13 Jones, Derrick (1817) Izzet Phoenix Mirror, g1 I go turn 2 thought scour myself mill phx I scried on top, gut shot + bolt your thing in the ice and end up winning by goldfishing better I suppose. g2 my opp has to surgical random things to protect his thing from my flame slash but I am able to have a nuttier hand and win. feels good to be winning in modern atleast today. Round 14 Prosek, Dominik (1969) We get into a disagreement late into g2 whether a card was in my hand or graveyard, I believe I went to cast bolt and grab dice for aria and when I looked again my bolt was in my graveyard and I didn’t say I cast it, but it is possible I just messed up somehow, we end up with like 7 judge calls and with diminishing time extensions get a draw in a g3 I felt very far ahead in (two arias on 5 on turn 5 of time) but opp didn’t slowplay as they also believed they would have won close game, my first really fun game of teh weekend as g2 and g3 were just extremely grindy both players slamming haymakers, mostly said my favorite cause I was just winning a long game. Round 15 Wijaya, Vidianto (2005) I get pretty lucky and win a PHX mirror, I make a small misplay maybe g1, drew my 1 of rav trap g2 and draw pretty nutty, but that’s what I signed up for. Round 16 Stihle, Julien (2008) For 750$, I didn’t know at the time but I sure did after, g1 and g3 I mull to 5 vs UW, still kinda close, feels pretty bad wish I would have shuffled more idk, think I played the games fine,g2 felt pretty good though as I get to use the gy ability of two seasoned pyros and win a drawn out game. kinda bummed at myself for getting a draw in round 14, but I think I played fine, got slightly sloppy when time approached but that is fine by me considering the circumstances, I shouldn’t have spammed the judge calls so much but I don’t play much irl so I learned my lesson. a painful one. also I felt kinda dumb about the second draft but I still liked my decisions based on my previous experience even if I got a 1-2 record. happy with 9-6-1, felt I played ok but I feel next time if I can queue I will be able to focus a lot more. PT was overall more fun than I expected, the venue was a lot nicer than a GP one, you also get to spend a lot of time around die hard mtg players whereas at a GP I feel more like an outcast since I play way too much mtg, here I felt most players also do so. You get lots of cool stuff and etc. Also drafting is fun and you don’t even need to day 2 sealed to do so.

2 notes · View notes

morathor · 2 years ago

Text

Pokemon: Lancer Theory

That title sounds way too self-important but it is the phrase that stuck in my head.

I’m actually not sure why this concept is so stuck in my head, maybe it's what I've seen of Scarlet/Violet and gym leaders terastalizing their ace pokemon. But I need to babble it out, so here we are. I wanna talk about type-themed trainers like gym leaders, elite four members, etc having off-type Pokemon.

It seems like they try not to do this anymore, and I get that, because people complain about it whenever they do. Which I also get, I guess. But I dunno, I think it's kind of cool when even a themed trainer has a somewhat diverse team. The central type should still be visible as a theme, of course, but I don't think it's inherently a bad thing if they have an off-type here or there. It makes the battles more interesting, it makes the characters more interesting by introducing a little more nuance. It also plays to the idea of these trainers being talented, which they are supposed to be--I think every pokemon game I’ve ever played has some NPC to tell you that using varied types is the best strategy (even though I recognize a lot of people just bulldoze the game with an overleveled starter). But when gym leaders and even the elites ignore that beginner advice, it makes them feel a little less competent, a little less threatening.

That said, I think this is more effective if it is applied consistently. So in the same way that every major trainer needs their "ace" pokemon, I would love to see every major trainer have a "lancer." Just one off-type pokemon (and the team would need to be a minimum of three so that it's not an even split), probably their second to last/second strongest. They might fit the aesthetic of the type without being of that type--like how Lance classically has pokemon like Gyarados or Charizard (although I'd want him to pick just one). Or they might be more focused on the aesthetic of the trainer. Bonus points if they're a type that helps cover the weaknesses of the main type, but that can be reserved for the higher ranks.

So because I am, one, bored, and two, Like That, here's what incorporating this lancer idea might look like in kanto games/remakes. Just because they feel like the characters people are most likely to be familiar with. (And also some other changes because why not.)

Brock's Team

Kabuto--I'm really on the fence about this, but there are other NPCs with fossil pokemon, and Brock uses Kabutops and Omastar both when he shows up in later games. Besides, type diversity isn't just for the lancer. And even though you can't catch Kabuto in Mt Moon, you can at least get the fossil there, so we're kind of still showcasing a local pokemon? Ish?

Cubone--Not a rock type, but not straying far from the mold for this early lancer. I thought about a Zubat to showcase a local pokemon (plus he has one in the anime) but it's too far outside his tanky preferences. Actually, if we wanted anime influence, a Vulpix would be a great call, although haven't Bulbasaur players suffered enough? Anyway, Cubone is neat because it's sturdy and looks ominous, fits the aesthetic, but when you find out more about its Inherent Tragedy it maybe makes Brock look a little more gentle in retrospect. I think that's neat.

Onix--Ace unchanged, no notes.

Misty's Team

Poliwag--I actually prefer not to have multiple members of the same evolutionary line in one trainer's roster. I won't always have a good alternative, but there are so many water types. Also, when possible, I do want to have one mono-type pokemon on the team. (Not possible for Brock, there are no mono-type rock types in the Kanto dex.)

Dratini--I'll be honest, I'm stupidly proud of this lancer. Dratini is aquatic without being a water type, and aesthetically fits very well. In Gen 1, I think Misty is the first trainer to get "good AI", which really isn't all that good but it still shows they wanted her to represent a step up in terms of tactics. So giving her a lancer that specifically resists the weaknesses of her main type is very cool.

Starmie--Ace unchanged, no notes.

Surge's Team

Magnemite--Not a lot of type diversity for electric types. But if this hypothetical game is a later generation remake, at least this throws in a steel type.

Mankey--A fighting type seems like a good companion for a military man, and as Surge likes his pokemon fast and hard-hitting, Mankey seemed a better choice than some of the other options.

Raichu--Really considered Electabuzz instead; the stats are incredibly similar, and I feel like it fits Surge's aesthetic slightly better. But only slightly, not enough to change out such an iconic ace.

Erika's Team

Tangela--Don't know if I have much to say, other than please make sure this has grass moves. Thank you.

Butterfree--A butterfly pairs real well with all these flowers. Additionally Butterfree's access to powder moves and its special attacks make it fit Erika's strategy even though its not a grass type.

Vileplume--Really torn between this and Victreebel, since I'd rather not have two grass/poisons if I can help it. I often here Victreebel presented as more of a threat, since it's more aggressive, especially in Gen 1. But Vileplume is tankier, so it might hold out a little longer, and I think that gives it more of a presence.

Koga's Team

Tentacruel--Koga is spoiled for choice on poison types, and something menacing that lurks in the water fits his ninja theme pretty well.

Golbat--It was this or Beedrill, but Golbat's access to confusion moves makes it fit Koga's tactics better.

Magmar-- Originally I was thinking Scyther; as a fast blade-wielder, it's more of a ninja than anything else on Koga's team. But for Koga, that theme is all about debilitating foes with smoke and poisons, so a pokemon that packs the poisonous fumes of a volcano is a good fit.

Weezing--I could easily have dropped Weezing and elevated Muk to the role of ace, but I don't feel strongly enough about either to drop his classic. Plus, and maybe this is just me watching too many solo runs, the looming threat of self-destruct carries more menace than anything Muk has ever packed.

Sabrina's Team

Mr Mime-- There are so many psychic types in these games, I don't want a Kadabra and an Alakazam. Honestly I don't even need two mono-psychic types, I could have gone with something that adds more type diversity, but strangely I do like Mr Mime for Sabrina. Plus in later gens, leading with a screen setter might be a pain for the opponent.

Slowpoke-- There's that type diversity. I considered a Starmie for that fast, hard-hitting feel that Sabrina tends to go for, but let's not step on Misty's toes.

Venomoth-- I thought about giving her a Haunter, but nah. Venomoth is a non-psychic type that can pack psychic moves, and I can kind of see a connection to Sabrina's sort of aloof, otherworldly vibes. Moths are creatures of the night, dancing on the edge of the light... it kinda works.

Alakazam-- Ace unchanged, no notes.

Blaine's Team

Vulpix--Thought about a Ninetails and an Arcanine, but I kinda feel like that diminishes Arcanine as the ace even if its higher level. Still, replacing Blake's leading Growlithe with a Vulpix gives him a little more diversity in his team.

Rapidash--Speaking of diversity, I really thought about Charizard. I did. It and Moltres are the only Kanto fire types with a second typing. And while there are other NPCs who have starter pokemon, I feel like giving one to a gym leader felt a little off. So it's gonna have to be all mono-fire types except for the lancer.

Exeggcute--Eggs equals bald? I dunno, Blaine doesn't have strong theming to me, but what he does have is a role as the second-to-last gym leader, one the game expects you to treat as a major threat. Honestly we're here more for a move than a pokemon--solar beam, which both fits a fire theme and covers fire's weaknesses. And Exeggcute is like the only Kanto mon to learn it at a level Blaine is likely to pack.

Arcanine--Ace unchanged, no notes.

Giovanni's Team

Dugtrio--Moving this to the lead, who needs Rhyhorn AND Rhydon?

Sandslash--I really thought about keeping both Nidoking and Nidoqueen, they're not quite the same evolutionary line. But they're close enough, and I have... other plans, for her majesty.

Nidoking--I love how over the course of the game, this ground theme gradually crystallizes, without Giovanni dropping too many pokemon. This started out as just a poison type, which most Team Rocket members lean towards, and only for this final fight is it evolved into a ground type.

Kangaskhan--You could go with Persian here if you wanted to emulate the anime, but in most of the games Giovanni uses a Kangaskhan prior to this point. Whichever one you have him use for the rest of the game, I'd want him to keep it till the end, but now it's reframed as not even his final form--I mean, strongest Pokemon.

Rhydon--The fact that rock/ground doubles down on so many type weaknesses almost wants me to let Giovanni keep his old Rhyhorn and elevate Dugtrio (or maybe Sandslash?) to ace. But neither of those match Rhydon's raw power, so I don't think we need to change this.

Now, as for the elite four...

Lorelei

Dewgong--Not a lot of ice types in this game, and Lorelei already has all of them (except the legendary). So there's not much room for me to improve on anything but the lancer.

Cloyster--No notes, move along.

Jynx--Originally Jynx was the only break from the water types, and her psychic type could be a good counter to any fighting types giving you trouble. Problem with that is, Lorelei's Jynx doesn't typically have psychic moves. I know in Gen I the learnset was bad, but suck it up and give her psychic or something.

Nidoqueen--A surprise I'm sure, but hear me out. As I just noted, three of Lorelei's ice types are also water types, and adding in Slowbro made it four out of five. That meant that, one, she was just as much a water type trainer as an ice type, and two, water was her more exploitable weakness. Grass types might have struggled, but electric types could sweep her pretty easily (Jynx isn't weak to electric, but she's a glass cannon and not too much of a threat). Adding in a bulky ground type that can learn ice moves and fits Lorelei's color scheme seemed like a good call. And yes, this is part of the reason Giovanni doesn't get to have the queen.

Lapras--Ace unchanged, no notes

Bruno

Hitmonlee--I'd have Bruno lead with Hitmonlee just because it's one of the more straightforward fighting types. Hits hard, but doesn't have a varied move pool.

Hitmonchan--Obviously we can't separate Hitmonchan from Hitmonlee, so here we are.

Poliwrath--Doing what we can to get some type diversity into this roster. Plus Poliwrath's access to hypnosis and halfway decent special stats (sorry Hitmonchan) represents a pretty sizeable tactical shift.

Pinsir--This one does not represent a tactical shift. Big and bulky, well known for moves like seismic toss and submission, Pinsir feels like an honorary fighting type. A bit of a straightforward lancer, but Bruno's a bit of a straightforward trainer.

Machamp--Ace unchanged, no notes

Agatha

Gastly--Okay, this one's a problem. Ghost and dragon are supposed to be rare, mysterious types, each represented by only one evolutionary line. I don't mind that in theory, and I also don't mind showcasing the rare mysterious types within the elite four. But boy does it make it hard to have a varied team. Gastly's move set should focus mainly on spreading status more than inflicting damage--hypnosis, confuse ray, maybe toxic or in later gens will o wisp.

Haunter--Same evolutionary line, but now focus a little more on damage, and maybe coverage. You can keep hypnosis and maybe confuse ray, but moves like night shade are keepers, and maybe throw in a TM move like psychic.

Haunter--Now we have two of the same exact pokemon and I hate it. At the very least give this a different moveset. Maybe mega/giga drain, dream eater, and hypnosis as its core? Let its focus on life drain set it apart from the tactics of the first haunter.

Hypno--Finally a break from the same evolutionary line. This team already has more poison types that Koga, so I didn't want to double down with Golbat or Arbok. Hypno's emphasis on status moves and dream eater fits well into Agatha's theme, while providing a good wall against psychic types that may have been giving you trouble.

Gengar--In gen 1 at least, Agatha's final Gengar didn't have hypnosis, which kind of meant a sigh of relief when you reached it. And while I do want the ace to be threatening, I kind of like the idea that you've gotten past the worst of the debilitating effects and are ready to square off in a more head-to-head battle. Nightshade, thunderbolt, maybe keep dream eater even if you can't put things to sleep yourself.

Lance

Dratini: Yep, same problem as Agatha. I have similar ideas for solutions, just trying to keep the movesets distinct. Dratini's a little bulkier than Gastly, but doesn't hit very hard. Dragon rage doesn't depend on stats, so that's a good attack. Then throw around thunder wave, maybe set up a reflect.

Dragonair: I think Yellow had more or less the right idea for the Dragonairs. This one can focus on electric moves, but make sure not to entirely give up on dragon moves.

Dragonair: And for this one we'll focus on water and ice moves, though again try to keep at least one dragon move. We want to show off the diverse move pool of these mighty dragons.

Gyarados: There are so many pseudo-dragons to choose for the lancer. No Charizard for the same reason I didn't give Blaine one. Aerodactyl is really neat, I think it's something no other NPC in the game has, but it also really doubles down on the ice weakness, and if we're talking about a Gen I version it doesn't even have rock moves. Gyarados offers good bulk and is at least neutral to ice, so a player just spamming ice beam or whatever will have to be a little more tactical for a bit.

Dragonite: We had one dragonair focused on electric and one focused on water/ice. For the ace, pairing fire moves with dragon gives it solid coverage and a strong turnaround on ice types (though many of them are also water, but still a neutral fire blast from a powerful pokemon can be scary).

That's it for Kanto. I uh. My brain is already buzzing with Johto. So that might be a thing.

#pokemon #long post #i'm not really sure what else to tag this but i'm open to suggestions #game design maybe?

0 notes

sunnydwrites · 7 years ago

Text

The Silk Parade

Part I — Wild Radiance

The cake was salty. Granted, salted caramel cakes were supposed to have a certain degree of salt — it was in the name, after all — but something was off. Natalia gave a tight-lipped smile to the people at her table and excused herself through the food in her mouth, taking her napkin with her.

She had always been told that the food at the biannual Silk Parade was the best in the nation. When the invitation arrived in the mail, she imagined a night full of dishes made by master chefs, accenting their steaks with flecks of gold or whatever it was they did to make food fancy. Only when she was sure nobody was watching did she spit her mouthful into the napkin, grimacing.

“Is everything all right, miss?” someone asked, but she did not look. Instead she nodded and hurried the other way until their hand was on her arm and she was forced to pay some attention.

Natalia forced a smile. “Wonderful,” she said. “Simply delectable.”

The attendant — still holding onto her arm — was resplendent in a dress that seemed to be made entirely out of living flowers and butterflies, and somehow the colors all blended with each other. She took a moment to look the whole thing over, immediately caught up once again in the wondrous aspect of fashion that came with this night. If she remembered correctly, this gala’s theme was “Wild Radiance”, and they captured it perfectly.

Each of the flowers seemed to be a different shade of soft orange or red, blooming and closing as if on their own cycles. The butterflies followed suit, creating a mesmerizing flow of wings and petals that were all somehow perfectly timed with each other.

It put Natalia’s own dress, a fiery orange garment that flared out with petals towards the bottom hem, to shame. She had previously loved the way the orange made her dark brown skin glow, but now the look seemed drab. Underwhelming.

“Excellent,” the attendant smiled. “May I take you on a tour of the kitchen? I’m sure your father would quite like to see our operation.”

“I’m sure he would,” Natalia said. “Too bad you get me instead.”

The attendant simply laughed, but the look in their eyes said it all. “Come this way.”

She followed the attendant across the dining hall, trying to pick out each and every design for the night. How many people would wear these again? How many would be simply tossed aside, shoved into a display case to be seen in mansion hallways decades later?

As they walked, she caught dresses and suits and headwear and jewelry and makeup and all sorts of different wonderful things in brilliant shades of purples and yellow and everything in between. None of them paid her any attention, but why would they? The famous reason she was here wasn’t even at the banquet.

“I think your father would be especially pleased to know that we used his recipes and his recipes only for tonight’s meal,” the attendant said, breaking through Natalia’s haze.

“Only… his recipes?” she asked, and the attendant nodded. “Including the salted caramel cake?”

“How could we exclude that?” they laughed. “It’s iconic.”

“Iconic indeed,” she hummed along, surveying the crowd. What were the chances that she could get back here at the next banquet?

They arrived at the kitchen doors and the attendant pushed them open, inviting Natalia to lead the way. She wasn’t sure what she expected to see, but it wasn’t a large group of teenagers following recipes off the screens of their tablets. They wore plain gray aprons smeared with flour, batter, and various different sauces. They looked clueless and completely exhausted. Natalia raised an eyebrow and the attendant gave a nervous smile before clapping her hands to get the cooks’ attention. “Everyone, this is Natalia,” she said, making a grand gesture, “the daughter of Chef Mirialo.”

Everyone murmured and greeting and went back to their work, except for one worker. She watched Natalia with dark mono-lidded eyes, lifting her chin to meet Natalia’s gaze. The feeling sent shivers down her spine, the sudden feeling of being watched setting her nerves on edge.

“Looks like everything is in order here,” Natalia said, pretending for once to have a knowledge of cooking and how kitchens work.

“Fantastic,” the attendant beamed. “Let’s get you back to your table, then.”

“I actually need to run to the bathroom for a moment,” she said, then hurried away in the direction she was pretty sure was the bathroom.

It took a while, a couple of twists and turns and some run-ins with almost-acquaintances — as in people who somehow knew her father — but she got there. The din of the massive dining room was muffled behind the door and she took a deep breath walking to the mirror. Someone walked in behind her and directly into the nearest stall.

“Rough night?” she asked, and received no reply. “Yeah, we’ve all been there.” A whispering began and she assumed the girl had taken some sort of hallucinogen; apparently those were getting popular at parties now.

She leaned in closer to the mirror to check her hair, to make sure each of the gold and orange artificial lilies were in perfect position in her coarse black hair. Usually her father encouraged her to “tame” it, but tonight — as with every other occasion in his absence — she had let loose her hair and it now framed her face like a dark halo. Her shimmering gold lipstick seemed to be wearing off, but that wasn’t something she could fix.

Every detail became a point of focus as she tried to further procrastinate going out into the sea of people once again. Someone came out of the stall behind her and she offered a smile. “Keep some water—”

Then there was a knife at her throat.

Salted caramel cake was supposed to be a foolproof plan. The client had told her upon hire that it was a crowd favorite, a recipe invented by the chef’s daughter herself and perfected to a tee. She had dropped the poison in herself, insisted on serving the girl’s table. It should have gone without a hitch.

So why did Natalia Mirialo walk into the kitchen to observe the cooks work like everything was perfectly fine?

She called her underboss, who picked up on the fourth ring. “Who’s ringin’?”

“Who do ya fuckin’ think?” She paused, lowering her voice. “Something’s up. I put the poison in and she’s walkin’ like it’s nothing. Did you do me dirty?”

“I wouldn’t never do nothing like that,” the cronie on the other line stammered. “Who do ya take me for?”

A rat, she thought. “Then tell me why she’s breathin’.”

There was silence on the other line. “I—I don’t know,” he said.

“Gotta do everything for myself around here,” she growled. Before she hung up the phone, she added, “You’re paying for this once I get this contract settled.”

“Wait, boss—”

She hung up and drew the knife from its sheath inside the waistband of her pants. The Saint almost felt bad for this girl’s impending freeze until she remembered the mistakes of her imbecil father. You don’t cheat the Saint, and you sure as hell don’t get away with it.

This time she recognized the flaming orange of the girl’s dress, and she took a step forward. Another step and she placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, getting close enough to place a blade on her throat from behind.

“Don’t make this hard for me,” she warned.

The girl began to hyperventilate. The Saint watched as her chest rose and fell, faster and faster until—

“Are you gonna—”

“Kill ya? Unfortunately for you, that’s the plan,” she said, flicking a piece of dark hair out of her eyes.

“Why?”

“Ask your father when he makes his way up there with you.”

Her shoulders sag and a dangerous anger burns in her eyes before she hides it. “He made a deal, didn’t he? You’re with the mobs.”

“That’s a bit of an uncivilized term,” the Saint said, taking on a bit of the regality she had learned from these events. “We prefer organized ‘service’ — anyway, that’s not the point.” She pressed the blade a little harder and the girl whimpered.

“Why me?”

“He didn’t pay. Ever heard of ‘life for a life’?”

“That… sounds kind of illegal, actually.”

The Saint smiled a cruel smile, leaning forward and tilting her head. “Nothing’s legal around here, darling.”

“Don’t call me that.” She paused. “And if it’s really that important to you, he couldn’t come because he’s sick. Really sick.”

“What’re you saying?”

There was a pause and that same anger flashed in the girl’s eyes again. This time, she didn’t do as good of a job to mask it. “You could make it look like an accident.”

“You want to help me kill your father?” The Saint blinked. Of all the things she had experienced in this short lifetime, helping someone ice their own blood was not one of them.

She coughed, refusing to meet the Saint’s eyes. “I wouldn’t say help… I—I just don’t wanna die.”

The Saint sheathed her knife. “Where can I find him?”

“At my house. It’s—” the Saint held her hand up; she already knew the Mirialo address. What good boss didn’t?

“Just don’t walk in on the crime, and you won’t get caught up in it. Sound good?”

“How long should I wait?”

The Saint paused. “I’ll have to do some cleaning,” she murmured, “and then… Just attend every after party you can find.” The girl nodded. “Don’t get in my way.” She had no intention of cleaning up, really, but she would have preferred not to give a witness any more opportunity to sell her out.

She sheathed her blade again in an easy movement and walked back out into the party. It was easy to blend into the crowd as a serviceman — of a different kind — as she dialed the same number. It sent her immediately to voicemail and she made a mental note to talk to her subordinates about this. “Our contract has been changed a bit. Don’t bother calling, I’ve got this whole charade under control. We’re going after the man himself.”

Natalia’s heart pounded in her chest; even after the dark-haired girl from the kitchen disappeared, she couldn’t seem to get it back to a normal pace. With a shaky breath, she placed her hands on either side of the sink and leaned in towards the mirror. There was a light sheen of sweat on her deep tan skin, but nothing drastic enough to ruin the makeup on her face.

“Did I almost just—”

Someone walked into the room and she straightened up immediately.

“—ruin my makeup? Oh, stars, I hope not.”

Whoever walked in rushed over immediately, putting their hands on her face. I’ve never regretted saying anything more. She put her face close to Natalia’s, inspecting her makeup.

“No, darling, you’re fine,” she said after a while, releasing Natalia’s face. “I do admire the layer of gold in your eyeshadow, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Natalia said, jerking away before rushing back to the party.

The gala had continued on without her, and it was safe to say they were getting drunker by the moment. Someone latched onto her arm and she let them follow her for a moment before batting them away. The people at her table watched as she sat down, quieting down.

“What?” she asked, a numb feeling growing in her chest. Her father would die on this night.

There were a few shrugs and Natalia covered her lap with someone else’s dark red cloth. A slice of salted caramel chocolate with a single bite taken sat on her plate; knowing now what was inside, she shuddered and repressed her appetite. She couldn’t quite bring herself to partake in the festivities everyone else seemed to be enjoying. The easygoing comfort she had felt before was slowly replaced with a terrible cold feeling, one that started in her chest and spread out to the tips of her fingers.

She just signed her father’s life away.

A fleeting idea of her ability to save him ignited in her mind but she extinguished it just as quickly. If she got in that… that assassin’s way, she’d be putting her own life on the line as well.

Her father, the famous Dante Mirialo, would die tonight.

And she could do nothing to stop it.

Natalia found herself lost in a sea of bright colors, blooming dresses and suits themed after all sorts of colorful bugs and flowers. It was a spectacle, really, a once in a lifetime experience for someone like her. Someone offered her a dance.

She stood and pushed past them, ignoring the strange girl’s warning to stay out longer than usual. At the door, the grand entrance, a man in a plain black uniform — sleek but drab against the background of the crowd — stopped her.

He checked a list and handed her an envelope, but she didn’t dare open it yet. Instead she hailed a taxi and gave them her address; the driver tried to make small talk about her father’s wellbeing and the gala. She shut the speaking window and opened the envelope.

It was an invitation to the next Biannual Silk Parade. The paper was like a blade in her hands, but she didn’t dare let go.

She changed into her pajamas before calling the emergency line. She looked through his cracked door while she spoke the the operator. A pool of blood soaked into the carpet; certainly the girl had meant to be cleaner with Natalia’s death than with her father’s.

At least someone prioritized her over her father.

She looked down to the invitation in her hand. It was addressed to Natalia Mirialo, not to Dante. Not even an invitation to come in his place. No, this was all hers; she walked into her room with a soft smile and stayed there as the paramedics make their futile attempts to revive Dante.

45 notes · View notes

sneakyhomunculous · 5 years ago

Text

Last PT Report

Day 1: Wake up fresh; shower normally and then turn it freezing for the last 30 seconds. Shadowbox for 5 minutes. Stand on head against the wall for 3 minutes. 20 push-ups, get dressed and shuttle 0.4miles to site. Walking would be better, but it’s a bit cold and I don’t wanna worry about a jacket. Arrive at 8:55, pods go up minutes later. Arrive at the table to see Zvi and 6 others I don’t recognize. Zvi is two to my left. Open my pack Ayara, Edgewall Inkeeper, Slaying Fire, Fierced Witchstalker, and thankfully a Charmed Sleep. Slam the Charmed Sleep. I’m not going to let the way some early packs break determine my fate in the last PT ever. I’m passed clockwork servant and a bunch of mediocre cards like scorching dragonfire scalding cauldron maraleaf rider. Slam clockwork servant. Pick 3 there are no good cards, luckily I’m greeted with a Fabled Passage. Take it easily over middling things (I did briefly consider taking corridor monitor). 4th pick I am greeted with a gift from the gods. A 4th pick Opt!!! One note, at this point corridor monitor is the only blue card I’ve passed. This pack contains no blue cards besides Opt. Many people would panic thinking Blue is being cut. While the chance that is happening are not 0, they are not significantly more likely just because you haven’t seen blue cards in 2-3 picks. The packs easily could’ve just been light on blue cards. But what is certain? No one on my left has even seen a single blue card they can take. Pick 5 no blue cards. I take Jousing dummy over middling cards in other colors. Pick 6 a welcome sight. Corridor monitor! Slam it so fast as I wouldn’t want to give the players on my left a faulty signal. Pick 7 there is a mad ratter that I assume my fellow draft mates did not see in the pack. Pick 8 there are no blue cards but a wicked guardian will do. I already have servant and monitor, to go along with Opt and this mad ratter. Not sure how I’ll cast it but we’ll see I round out with another joustin dummy and that early corridor monitor tables!!!!! Pack 2 I crack open a pack without a blue card. Luckily there is an epic downfall that I may end up playing. Pick 2 I get passed a pack with the best common in the set, draw 3 sry 3. I take it quickly over reave soul and other irrelevant cards. 3rd pick Stolen By the MF Fae. Thanks Worth! 4th Pick Frogify over nothing. They aren’t going to give this draft to me easy. 5th pick No blue cards 😡 take Witch’s Vengeance I probably won’t play. 6th pick SO TINY; The second best common in the set with a run away together and didn’t say please in the pack too. Bad distribution tilt. 7th pick spinning wheel. I can’t wait until they fix these bots and we can get REAL practice in 8th pick Draw 3 scry 3 😂 this is when I knew I had 2-1 at least locked up. Around this pick I notice the player on my right (I’m on the edge so he’s directly across from me) has an opportunistic dragon sticking out of his pack C. So I call a judge and they have to replace the pack with no issues. I round out the pack with dregs. Pack 3 I open Folio of the fancies GG yo I get passed a pack so blank I almost cried but then I noticed a scaulding cauldron, whew. 3rd pick I face the decision of mystic sanctuary vs hate drafting, and sanctuary is completely busted so I take that. Pick 4 I am greeted with another 4th pick Opt!!!! 3 for 3 baby. 5th pick there is nothing great I take a searing barrage I hopefully won’t have to play. 6th pick I get passed a pack with didn’t say please! But there is also a Lochmere Serpent and a Drown in the Loch. I take the serpent 7th pick is blankish if I recall correctly and I got sad. 8th pick another mad ratter, I recall being happy/content. And saying to myself in my head... I think I shall play it all! I do end up playing everything! 4 swamps 1 mountain 1 Fabled Passage 1 Sanctuary 10 Island. My SB is pretty weak but I do have a couple searing barrages, a forever young and a few expensive fliers/jousting dummy type things I can bring. [Insert Picture of deck 1 here] (I’m trying but can’t figure out Tumblr maybe I’ll post all the pics at the end?)* Wouldn’t be a PT without a Round 1 Doozy I’m paired vs someone I don’t recognize. Apparently it is their first PT but I don’t know this at the time. They seem confident but reserved and ready for battle. We both keep 7 and I am on the play. My opponent plays a turn 1 witches Cottage. On turn 2 he plays a swamp and an order of the midnight. It immediately becomes So tiny. On turn 3 I do nothing. My opponent plays a mountain and a redcap raiders. I miss my land drop but put the raiders into a Charmed Sleep. On turn 4 my opponent plays swamp Lochtwain Paladin with Cheese. I untap and draw Fabled Passage. My hand is expensive cards like mad ratter Draw 3 Serpent and something else. I am about to fetch and then I realize his hand is facedown on the table but looking thicc. I just double check how many cards and he picks them up no problem and says 5. And it’s correct it is 5. However my brain says it should be 4. Turn 1 land. Turn 2 land 2 drop. Turn 3 land 3 drop. Turn 4 land 4 drop. This means he started with 7, drew up to 8. Played his land down to 7, and he didn’t miss any land drops so far. So turn 2 his card played should mean he is down to 6, then turn 3 down to 5, and now his Paladin down to 4. He has an extra card!! I count 5 times just to confirm, and sure enough he is 2 cards ahead of me. I call a judge and after a quick count and discussion it is confirmed he has one too many. He is extremely calm but also quiet during all of it. I didn’t get any vibe of him trying to be dishonest or hide anything. At the same time it’s incredibly sketchy of course. How and when did he get an extra card? He is on the draw so he’s already got extra cards, seems like he’d notice if he had 9 to start or something?? The ruling is that I get to Thoughtseize him basically and he has to shuffle what I pick back in his deck. I really hate this rule as its putting so much of the onus on me to always track my opponents hand so vigilantly. If I would’ve noticed he drew 9 to start, it would be hugely beneficial for me to Thoughtseize him. But now I Thoughtseize him and see 5 spells as I’m already behind on the board and want to throw up. Did he just draw 2 cards at once on turn 4 because he needed a land? I’ll never know. But his hand is completely fucking stacked and I can’t find myself ever beating it. He has another lochtwain paladin, Murderous rider, another order of midnight, lash of thorns, and a festive funeral. I take the murderous rider but miss a land again and by the time I can play serpent I am forced to block into his Lash and have no outs so I just concede without showing him. Game 2 I don’t remember a ton of, but I know he plays multiple rimrock knights and order of midnights and I am so close to dying so many times. I had spinning wheel and he made a few small errors, and it let me survive at one life but needing to topdeck a cheap creature/play to survive at all. I peeled a Charmed Sleep and it left me actually in control with mana left over to tap his one other attacker. Well, as in control as you can be with 1 life. Shortly after I find a draw 3 and turn the game around over 2-3 turns before he can find a way to deal me 1 damage. Unfortunately the time is about out in the round and we only have a 7 minute extension. I slam in the 2/1 bloodcrazed wolfthorn guys and both searing barrage hoping to have time to finish game 3. Instead I am on the backfoot and in serious danger of dying. T2 order. T3 rimrock it and play rimrock. T4 rimrock it and play rimrock. I am all the way down to 4 before I have any chance at stabilizing. I play in the only way I think will give me any chance to survive and it involves letting him untap with me at 4 life and him having a Brimstone Trebuchet in play, knowing he has at least two cheap knights he has returned with order of midnight/forever young combo. He did only have 5 mana so I wasn’t that scared (I had witch’s vengeance for walls ready on my next turn). But the prospect of surviving at 1 still seemed grim at the time. Oh yeah somewhere in there he played a murderous rider and pumped it with rimrock knights so he was at 30 and me at 1. I never felt safe until around a minute before time was about to be up. Unfortunately my opponent was still at 30. The judge called time right as I passed so I got turn 1. On my Opp turn 2 I flashed in serpent and untapped and sacrificed two swamps but could only find more lands. I made it unblockable and attacked with it and all 4 of my stolen by the Fae tokens and 8 of my mad ratter tokens leaving back a few more to make sure I wouldn’t die to the swing back from my now 3 life. My opponent took 17 down to 9 so they must have been at 26 at the time. On turn 4 I had a small sweat as I left myself dead to barge in (hadn’t seen one, did pass multiple in draft though) as I really wanted the win and not the draw. Luckily my opp not only didn’t even attack, but they played out their entire hand and were clearly dead on board by 2 points more than lethal. Win on turn 5. Wild start. The rest of the day was a lot smoother. R2 vs ZVI Mono G Zvi Mulligans on the play g1 but leads t1 Goose. I have so tiny and Charmed Sleep draw 3 and bunch of lands so I ignore goose. He plays a wildwood tracker at some point I so tiny and I Charmed Sleep a Fierced Witchstalker. He is hitting me for 1 with gingerbrute when I cast draw 3. Then I cast another. Then I play serpent and folio etc and I’m still above 10 life and he dies in short order. In g2 I get sloppy and lose a game I have no business losing. I turn 3 clockwork servant turn 4 Wicked guardian draw a card, but this was just a mistake. I did this knowing I would take 5 damage this turn but I had no business taking it as I already had everything I needed to win this game. I needed to preserve my life total. On turn 5 I do start preserving life, but when I flash in serpent on turn 6 to block Zvi has Insatiable appetite on his gingerbrute that has counter from weapon rack to kill me from 7. G3 is a lot smoother as I so tiny a gingerbrute, and at some point am up so many cards I decide to use a searing barrage on the untapped gingerbrute with so tiny on it (only 3 cards in Zvi yard) just so I don’t have to worry about losing to double insatiable appetite when I tap out for stolen by the Fae and or serpent. R3 vs GW I play vs the person feeding me and my heart drops. I assume he is blue and will have many secret keepers and didn’t say pleases and I know I am screwed because I have 0 counterspells. Instead he leads forest curious pair food turn 2 the 1/3. Then he misses land drops and eventually beanstalk giants up to 4-5 mana but just plays some medium GW creatures. I win without much resistance and G2 goes about the same. 3-0 and now it’s break time. I immediately start running to subway as I want to beat the crowd on our short lunch break. Unfortunately as I open the door I am greeted by a 50+ deep line. I turned around and dive into the fried chicken place. 30 person line and 1 lady working. GG yo. I am feeling good despite not having any lunch options. At some point in the beginning of the constructed rounds Allen Wu shares his protein cookie with me, and I think that was just enough to save me from crashing too early. R4 JetSki Fires I don’t recognize my opponent but I Open his list and see a Sam Roflo Specialeee. 4 Bonecrusher 1 Shimmer 1 Fae 1 Realm Clock 4 clarion 8 cavalier stock fires. I have a t2 Oko on the play, but otherwise my hand is Shite. Joe Demestrio is birding and brings up my line after the game saying he would have done things differently. That is why Wallace was on the rail and I was in the streets. The point was that my opponent played a turn 2 shimmer. On my turn 3 I made my food an elk and attacked for 3 missing a land drop and said go without playing paradise Druid. The reason being that if my opp has clarion you always want to have a food back to start attacking immediately. This way I could make food with goose in response to clarion untap make it a 3/3 and play Druid. Instead my opponent did nothing, and I passed turn 4 with a lethal attack if I untapped (9 damage from elks and 2 from Druid I just played with opp at 11). But They play 4th land and say go? I am worried about going for it as if they have bonecrusher giant for my Druid and then untap and realm cloaked giant I will have an Oko no food and 2 lands with no plays. But I don’t see any real other options. If I don’t make My 3rd elk and attack with everything I still will die to the realm cloaked. My opponent just concedes when I right click attack all. I sort of forgot what Joe even wanted me to do. Maybe it was not playing Druid T3 he didn’t like, or maybe it was when I turned my goose into an elk the following turn. But that was mandatory as it left me a food back Incase my opp had the t4 clarion or fires/clarion, and left me with a lethal attack if they did not. G2 I play a T3 nissa untap Breeding Pool attack, my opponent plays 4th fires and I Aether Gust it and untap and krasis for 6 or something. I won that one. R5 Jack Kiefer on JetSki Fires. His list was notably a bit cleaner and played less bad cards (except he had a bunch of shimmers I guess, that does qualify as a bad card) This match was really good, but just showcased how good the food deck is. He beat me g1 with no real sweat as I couldn’t pressure him nearly fast enough. G2 and 3 details are blurry to me but I know a surprise brontodon really threw him off in one of the games. He cast fires into drawn from dreams turn 4 and when I untapped and played and brontodonned his fires he seemed frustrated. I don’t know if he could have taken different cards with drawn but his next couple of turns were not good enough and I won. Oh I remember now. I absolutely ravaged him with a casualties of war in the other game killing his 5th land and only white source, his fires, his sorcerous spyglass and his cavalier. 5-0 R6- Oscar Christensen Mirror Oscar had a good list with 2 Casualties and I was a bit worried going into this match as I hadn’t practiced much at all with my deck and I felt he was probably well prepared for these mirrors. That proved to be true as he seemed to play very well in all the games. I think I just ran away with one game on the play, and the other game I won was solely bc I jockeyed myself into a position where he was forced to make plays to keep parity and left himself tapped out and dead to my 1 SB casualties. That 1 card I put in my sideboard at the last possible second after discussing how much I hate duress with Collin is certainly the only reason I made this run. It singlehandedly won me 4 matches. 6-0 R7- Craig Krempels Mirror Craig has a Karn’s bastion in his deck! I immediately screamed judge to get an Oracle as I had no idea what that was. But the rest looked pretty normal. I don’t know Craig well but I knew he was old school and at least a good to great player. I was in the zone this round and I think I got extremely lucky in a few ways. First was the seating arrangement. By the 2nd game a huge crowd was forming and I could sense them around me, but couldn’t really see any of them. He had them over his shoulder but also could see all of the people behind me up close and looking on. He made a few glaring strategical errors (Multiple times in Nissa fights he attacked with a land which let me kill his nissa for free where otherwise I would’ve had to overextend/throw things away to get to it), but he also just literally forgot to activate his planeswalker one turn and also forgot to play a land in another. He ran away with game 1 with a t2 Oko followed by an early Nissa, capped off with a Karn’s Bastion threatening to activate no less! In game 2 we have a bit of a back and forth affair but I am starting to fall behind. I am not giving up hope as on turn 5 I draw the black source I need for Liliana on the following turn. My board is two wicked wolves and a food, and I have 4 forests and a watery grave after playing land this turn. My hand is Liliana and my freshly drawn overgrown tomb. Howver Craig has just deployed Nissa to go along with his Oko on 10 counters, and his own goose and wolf. On his turn he makes an attack after I had attacked his walkers with my wolves. His only blockers now are the lands and one goose but his Oko has so much loyalty and nissa is now at 4 because I hit it with a wolf last turn. Fortunately he says go without even using his Oko. I untap ready to slam Liliana and hope I can fade krasis for a couple turns and claw back from a dangerous life total (I was at under 10 but don’t recall exactly). Instead I draw my 1 casualties 🏆 I kill both his creature lands and his Oko which leaves his nissa at 4 loyalty and him only having a goose to chump. But I have two wolves and a food so he can’t save nissa and chooses to not block with goose. He’s down to 3 lands goose and I end up winning easily with Liliana a few turns later. Game 3 is another back and forth affair but this time I wrestle control in the middle turns and also have my casualties ready. He is fighting back and has a vraska in play for a couple of turns, but I manage a krasis for 3 which will threaten to kill it as its at 1 going up to 3. He does remember to use it and has a goose he can use to jump in front and protect it for one turn. But I have nissa and casualties ready this turn and when I untap I know it’s over. I start by attacking Vraska with Krasis. He blocks with Goose and Bins it. I ask how many cards he has as they are on the table and he spreads them out slowly and it’s 4. As this is happening someone behind me on the huge rail screams Judgeeeeeee. My eyebrows raise and I immediately realize he left his Vraska at 3 but it should have gone to 2 from Krasis Trampling over his Goose. So I tell him this. Craig looks incredulous. I said yeah u chumped with goose it should be at 2. He says well trample is your ability. You have to remember your own abilities. So I said wait what? Did you think maybe I just wanted to go ahead and assign all 3 damage to the goose this time?? Really fuck that goose up good huh??? He kind of shrugged and said something back but I said let’s just call the judge. Lengthy call but I just lead with exactly what happened. I tell them that the person behind me screamed judge after a few seconds and that is what prompted me to scan the board and realize he didn’t tick his vraska down. It’s been 5-10 seconds since binning goose and all I have done was ask how many cards he has. I acknowledge that it wasn’t even on my radar until someone screamed judge (bc I was so happy and knew I was going to win. Also probably bc I suck and can’t seem to remember what my own cards do) They basically rule that trample does not have a default rule, so it’s on me to assign it. And also that someone behind me saying judge seems to have prompted me to realize I missed it. So the vraska stays at 3 I think this rule is kind of BS in the first place. Trample should be automatic default lethal + rest at you. (That’s how it works on Modo and Arena no?) But also barely any time has passed and no actions have been taken here, so I snap back and ask “What if I would’ve just called you over and told the exact same story, but left out the part about someone behind me screaming out judge?” You would rule differently right? “I cannot answer that hypothetical at this time” Ok well when can you?? “After the match” Ok thanks. “You can appeal if you are not comfortable” No it’s all good. Nissa float Gb with overgrown tomb untap casualties your entire board except vraska and a useless wolf go. The crowd goes wild!!!! “Olldddd Schooooooollllll” rings heard throughout the hall. He died the next turn or so. I bring it back up with Craig and I just let him know it’s not 1999 anymore. It’s actually the future now, 20 years later. And almost everyone in the room would just tick their own Vraska down to 2. He didn’t agree with that, but I have faith in the new guard. 7-0 R8 Eli Kassis on GB Adventures I was starting to fade hard at this point. The lights also got to me a bit. Its extremely bright up there and I was actually having trouble even reading what lands/cards he was playing. Game 1 I was feeling the head spin from not eating and having such a long day. I managed to keep it together and I am proud of myself for recognizing what I should be doing in this game. I had a wolf and 2 goose and on turn 4-5 I untapped and could slam nissa, but he had left 3 mana open and had some cards still. And I identified massacre girl as a massive blowout if I didn’t get my food count up ASAP. On top of that Nissa was so likely to just die to Murderous Rider or Grasp as he’s not doing much proactive stuff and I haven’t given him a great window to use either of those cards either. The issue is mostly that I didn’t practice so I haven’t played this matchup. But I totally blanked on Liliana for a few turns. The passive plays I was making left me completely fucked if he had one removal spell (kill a goose) into Liliana make me sac two. I still think I made all the correct plays, but after a few turns of skipping my plays to make food with geese to play around massacre girl and abyss him with my wolf, I realized how big of a threat Liliana was and finished the game off while playing around that as well. I win and he drops his hands of all lands. He played well but literally drew all lands so any plays I made throughout the game probably would have been good enough to win. G2 and G3 I think I play quite poorly. I don’t remember specifics but every time I made a play I felt like I was guessing and second guessing and I would just tell myself to make a play u are thinking but actually not getting anywhere. Go ahead, guess you monkey!!! No amount of thinking can save you. And then I’d just listen to The Oko Devil on my shoulder and make a random play. It all culminated in me scooping when I wasn’t dead. (I was dead as shit, but not technically dead. He had 2 cards and a castle, and any 1/1 or removal spell in the top 4 cards would kill me immediately) but I never would have scooped if I knew wasn’t dead immediately. You see the problem was Lovestruck Beast. Eli had 2 of them, a massacre girl, and a 1/1 human. I had a wolf that could kill the human and now help double block Massacre girl. The bigger problem? I played the entire match as if Lovestruck Beast was just a 5/5 for 3. Totally forgot it can’t attack without a 1/1. There is no excuse as I had the card multiple times in draft, but after a long day it just totally slipped my mind. 7-1 [Happy] One other note. Open decklists. I think this is a massive reason for my success at this tournament. I don’t have much time to practice these days, and there are so many damn formats and they are always changing! Magic is already so hard, but when you don’t have the practice + confidence in what your opponent will have in their list + confidence in your ability to remember and understand all of the possibilities/interactions/situations in the entire format it makes each game so much harder to form your long term strategical plan, which in turn makes all of your tactical ideas harder to execute as well. Knowing exactly what I am working with and against every round makes me 10x as comfortable/dangerous. I know it goes both ways, but I feel like most players at the top level have a huge edge on me without open decklists. I struggle to play around cards/piece together what they might have until it’s too late so often. Mostly because I’m bad at it and scattered, but also because of the lack of reps. I can never remember what set a card was from or how long ago a standard was or all the decks from the old formats etc. I actualy can barely ever tell you what sets are in standard and which cards are in which set! And that’s when I’m actively playing. So yeah. Shoutout to Open decklists. I’m sure many people hate them, but I strongly prefer them. I’m always going to bring caw blade anyway; GG yo. Day 2 & Day 3 Coming soon!

0 notes

littledragonlily · 8 years ago

Text

TMI: Oversharing

((Trigger warning: mentions of self harm, r@pe, abuse, drugs, alcohol, suicide, body dysmorphia, mental illness, ...um, a lot, actually, so please please think about this before reading ahead. My life's a mess tbh. Will put an * (or many, if bad bad) by the numbers of anything with potentially bad triggers just in case..)) Credit to one of my mutuals, after reading their oversharing post, I felt like writing my own might actually be cathartic for me, so thank you mutual (no name callout because they may not be comfortable with that). 1. I actually have zero idea about who I am when I'm on my own. I've felt this way for years and only recently has it been recognized/taken seriously. 2. My father and three siblings are all on the autism spectrum in varying degrees. The question hangs if I am too, I show similar signs, but I don't care enough to find out. 3. I cycle through obsessive behaviors. Collecting things, couponing, certain games; luckily it has never landed on an unhealthy addiction so far, but it scares me that it might. 4*. I have been self destructive for 7+ years. (For clarification, I'm 21 going on 22 currently.) My arm is white lines and long story short, I cannot wear shorts above my knees anytime soon, or anything less than a one-piece bathing suit to cover my torso. 5*. My arms are healed because I was relentlessly picked on by an abusive ex and my own father when I wore it on my sleeves, so to speak.. I hide it now. My dad still doesn't know I started doing it again and I plan on keeping it that way. 6****. Callout to my ex I mentioned above. Because of him, I get ptsd episodes if I'm under the water even a second too long, forbid I'm being held down even playfully. He took whatever he wanted, including my current peace of mind in relationships. I've been trying to escape the damage he caused for 5 years. 7****. Callout to friends/another ex I trusted that would not take no for an answer, especially the one that took me as I cried for him to stop. 8*. By all normative standards, I'm wickedly smart. I had the military branches beating down my door from my perfect aptitude test scores (no studying, mind you, I wing tests), and if not for mental issues stealing my motivation to try, I could've been in my top ten graduating from high school easily. However..no one wants to take a damaged "genius" so..yeah. 9. I have so so so many ideas of what I want to do with my life, but I'm viciously afraid of stepping foot outside of my not-so-comfy-but-good-enough bubble. 10*. I am professionally diagnosed with major depressive disorder, general anxiety disorder, and dependent personality disorder. That list may grow when I actually trust the psychiatrist enough to tell them Everything™. 11. If I don't push myself to hang out with my friends/favorite people, and it has to be because THEY want ME, I will quite literally spend all day in my bed during my time off. Even finding the motivation to clean my room and pay my bills (spoiler, I usually don't) is just..improbable. 12*. I have two, count them one-two, people that are even close to knowing Everything™ about me. (Unfortunate spoiler: they've both done things that they sometimes use against each other to make me question my faith in them.) I love them both, which causes me immense guilt because they both want to keep me Forever™ (also know to me as until they get tired of my..Me-ness.) and right now I'm just wondering how long of Forever™ I'll actually be alive for. 13. Speaking of immense guilt, hi, it's because I've hurt mentioned people both more than they admit to. I didn't mean to I'm sorry I really didn't just I just how do you not depend on someone that you were engaged to but also how do you not depend on someone that actually gets you and is your carer and you actually get along with everyone in their system and ahhhh fjdjfhdjrbd I'm sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry.. 14. Sorry, sorry.. I'm back. Kinda? Anyway.. I feel like a split person, kinda. I have different aspects of myself that handle different things and I have names for them, but I would NOT call myself a system at this point, I would just say I am compartmentalizing and personifying certain aspects of my personality. It just feels easier, yeah? I try to stick to the ones people love best (Mama(carer)-me, Lily(regressed)-me, and Belle(work)-me). My carer is the only person "acquainted" with all of Me™ by name. 15. I only always get along with one person in my house, which is my little sister, Hannah. She has a degenerative disorder and has her own special way of communicating. But as far as I can tell, I'm one of her favorite people, and that makes me super happy actually. 16. So I got derailed on number 13 because that's such a touchy subject. Mostly because I'm forced to choose between the two of them because of societal norms/their feelings/some other reasons here, and in my head and heart I'm so dependent on them both it hurts. (Lately, however, I've been more dependent on my carer.) 17****. Possible reasons I shouldn't be dependent on ex-fiancé person: Has hit me in a "black-out rage" previously (isolated, non-recurring, however I have my days of questioning would I trigger that again..), can be incredibly argumentative if my word choice is incorrect expressing my issues (bad to the point it has triggered me to self-harm), and has forced my indecisive self into making a decision in the midst of a six-hour crying/panicked episode. Also can be neglectful as a person to depend on at times, a little more self-centered than he realizes most of the time, etc. 18****. Possible reasons I shouldn't be dependent on my carer person: Lack of respect towards a previous relationship with ex-fiancé ((as in..well.. some unloyal behavior happened while I was drunk/high/sometimes sober and it actually makes me sick that I let that happen.. I disrespected my own relationship oh god I'm horrible I never wanted to be that person I didn't mean to I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry..)(okay, okay, calmed down..)), one of his alters is notoriously angry/violent however has recently been more gentle with me after some talks about the fact that anger/arguments/violence/yelling trigger my anxiety badly (I'm a sensitive marshmallow puff y'all, sorry..), I WILL NOT HOLD HIS PAST AGAINST HIM but it sometimes gets in my head a little so I try to talk it out when it does, he does have a bit of dependence on Mary Jane (think green, not a lady) but I don't mind this so much because it's better than alcohol (I helped with that! I helped! Yay!), and there are some times when he doesn't word things well and it'll get to me but I don't see this being intentional honestly. 19*. My past trauma makes me hypersexual, and sometimes I'm incredibly disgusted with myself for being that way. Thankfully though, my regressed self is "too small" for those things and my carer does not fetishize my regressed self, so thankful for that. It is that that caused my initial confusion because I didn't understand that some communities were fetish.. ugh.. 20****. In the past year I have cycled through drinking, smoking, and pills as a short-term "dependence" (I put that in quotes because I feel as if it had been serious I would not have been able to step away so easily). Each one I have quit (drinking is social, and never anywhere near as heavy as it used to be). I occasionally smoke Mary Jane now as it is more effective than my Prozac I'm currently prescribed (will get changed soon, I hope). 21. Physically I have some liver/kidney damage (my fault), scalp psoriasis, chronic acid reflux, chronic pain (fibromyalgia), anemia, cold and hot sensitivity, spleen damage (I'm Epstein-Barr sensitive, aka unfortunately susceptible to mono), and something I don't have a name for that makes me get incredibly weak if I don't have a steady intake of sugar during the day.. (any ideas?) 22. I have a SEVERE phobia of vomit. I can handle the word, stories are iffy, but seeing/smelling/hearing it will trigger a panic attack and when i do it (which is thankfully only once every few years so far) it is incredibly painful and I will NOT eat for days. I will be absolutely food repulsed. I doubt anyone would post anything visual, but if you do and you're reading this, PLEASE I'm begging you, post a warning for me. I'll be eternally thankful. 23. Something lighthearted for once: I will not see a superhero/comic book/Nerdy™ movie that I can't go see without my dad. It's just super important to me. 24****. I hate my appearance while simultaneously being incredibly vain about it (do I make sense? No? Ok). I have dysmorphia, because I swear by a few things (I'm always too big, my skin is always bad, etc etc.) If it were not for my conditions (phobia of vomit, not being able to function without sugar), I'd most likely have an eating disorder. Instead I am in a state of limbo where I hate my body but I won't do anything negative to impact my body image. (Yay?) 25. You now know more about me than most people I know in real life, including my parents and family. Sorry it's so much, thanks for sticking around.

#tw self harm #tw depressive #tw body dysmorphia #tw abuse #tw rape #tw suicude #trigger warning #so this is probably way tmi #helped a little tho tbh #Tinana speaks

4 notes · View notes

grim-faux · 3 years ago

Text

2 _ 18 _ Hope and the Storms Eye

First

The dream haunt was pretty horrible. The terrors came regularly whenever he tottered off and got carried away with resting. Sleep was important sometimes, but how to retrieve it was the trick. Friends you left behind, friends that left you behind, monsters stalking the dark pools of memories. Why was sleep so dang important? It never made him feel better. Never. Ever.

Mono crawled out from behind the collapsed sofa seat – his current nest – and face planted. It wasn’t worth it. Exhaustion was very tempting, but the terrors all the more dissuading. He got onto his feet and paced around the room trying to focus on sounds and smell. The room had no windows, but a discouraging bulb gleamed in the ceiling above. At times it flashed when the Thin Man came around, but Mono was typically busy hiding behind the sofa to notice.

This time, he left the room and wandered the corridors. He got lost in the not very difficult to navigate hallway, but after some effort and waking up a tad more, he made it to the small living room. He smelled smoke before he recognized the subdued rustle of static.

He crept under the kitchen table and shuffled out over to where the Thin Man’s legs were. He meant to grab his pants, but collapsed against his shin.

“Mono….”

“Hmm….” He did his best to prop upright and try to wake up a bit. The Thin Man shook him off and, once more, Mono face planted. That woke him up. He folded back onto his knees and scratched at his head.

“Do you need something?”

Mono scrubbed at his good eye and looked up. The man in the hat drank the smoke stick and flipped a page in the book, intently focused on the marks within. From what he could tell they did nothing. Not like static, which had images and sound beneath the layers of chattering. It could be the Thin Man liked the quiet books.

“Der-eem hu-nt. Bad dre’m.” He ruffled his hair and stood. The Thin Man was looking down at him.

“Bad dream. What do you usually do when you have a bad dream?”

Mono shrugged. He didn’t go back to sleep. The worst were the ones that kept on continuing and replaying, especially after something nasty he witnessed. Like the kid getting crushed.

This haunting sleep terror was something about him wandering corridors, those familiar massive passages stretched and looping in the Tower. He thought he was chasing Her, or something else – a mass of flesh and eyes – gurgled through the doorways, pulsating and pursuing him. No matter how he searched, he couldn’t find his way. Couldn’t find his friend, couldn’t get away. Worst of all, he knew no one would come search for him once he was gone.

“Check,” he muttered. “Y’er safe.” With that taken care of, Mono left the kitchen and ventured through the living area to where the main door awaited.

A relocated pot sufficed the reach he needed to trigger the latch. Outside the residence, a tall crate offered his reentry. For now, Mono shoved the door shut all the way and took a direction down one mostly lit passage.

The Thin Man was still annoyed about his book being demolished. Really, Mono did get it. This thing with books the Thin Man had, was something like Mono and his important coat, or his precious paper bag. He was heartbroken about losing his original mask, but he made the Snatchers pay. For everything. He would try and make it right for the man in the hat, somehow.

Though, he really didn’t get off so ‘lightly’, as the Thin Man might’ve expected. Mono suffered a bad tummy ache and was sorely sick from eating the pages. Not the most productive thing he’d ever done. Maybe not an exact book, but something close. The only reason Mono didn’t haul books back to the Thin Man… books were big and heavy, and most he couldn’t barely carry by himself. It was also too obvious. He wanted to bring the man in the hat something unique, new, never seen before. Something that would show Mono paid attention, and was trying. He wasn’t sure if he could succeed in this mission, but he needed to check the hallways and rooms anyway. He’d been very lucky for however long, but the Thin Man wasn’t always around. It was Mono’s job to search and do watch.

When they first came through the building, he never saw a stairs or a lift, or anything. The floor collapsed downward, in layers. To the third, then the second, and then the ground floor below. Planks and tattered clothing afforded connection between the detached levels, along with passages that extended behind the rotten walls. None of this didn’t mean dangers couldn’t lurk, as he knew well, and he never saw where the lift or the actual stairs lay in this building.

Thus far, the separate residencies he pillaged through didn’t convey too many menacing threats. The usual Viewers, caught up in the televisions left rooted to walls or wound up into corners. He found that often rooms and televisions equaled zilch on books, but the spaces he wandered through empty of the fanfare jingle, did relinquish a book or two. However, as suspected when he began, these tomes were too large and hefty for his mightiness. At times if he unearthed some literature, it was a small blessing if it wasn’t tarnished by water and rot. He knew the Thin Man would have no use for a book that was soggy or icky. The man in the hat didn’t prefer icky things. The pages must be crisp and flip one-by-one, this he knew without a doubt. If a book was paper, like his bag mask, then getting it wet would end it.

At long last, and after venturing far beyond the main area of the building, Mono did locate some books in good condition. He could find his way back, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. First, he had to figure out which book to take. He could only manage one, if they all had survived.

The books remained preserved from water damage due to a suitcase they exploded from. He sat in the small dark room, checking the pages. Searching for something near identical, though aware the book wouldn’t be a replica or anything like that. For one, he couldn’t remember anything about the book he ate, aside from how nice the pictures were. Second, he should avoid a book with those sort of pictures. Third, that book he couldn’t carry. He would have to settle, and hope the Thin Man would accept the token.

After browsing the inner pages and material, he found a book of suitable size and with plenty of pictures. Not as many pages, but close enough. He could hold it in his arms, bundled about the sides. It was no more heavier than a fuse. Carting it back to the upper floors wouldn’t be too grand of a drama, not like the plane. He could throw the book a good distance. And he practiced a few times, as he ventured through the silent and musty corridor.

He does hit an unforeseen snag when he reached an indoor pool. The walls of the building collapsed around the perimeter, barring off an easy pass to the furthest side and pathway that would lead into the building interior. Along with his route to the layers of crumbling floors and floors within.

Mono peered up, guided by the dim light of a flickering lamp dangling from the side of a decimated wall. The first time he came through, he slid down the telephone wire from the pole bent high above the edge of the collapsed roof. The descent was easy, but he never gave forethought to a return. Especially not with a book.

The water might be deep, he isn’t sure. It’s murky and dreary, the top layered with a thick film. Further across the waters surface, a sequence of flotsam swayed. A chunk of planks beside the pool wall caught his eye, perhaps sturdy enough for his weight and the book. If not them both, then maybe the book on its own. If it’s not too deep, he can bounce off the bottom. But he won’t sink, he’s certain, if he holds onto the raft. It won't be so bad, he did something like this before.

Firstly, Mono leaned out and set the book on the floating debris. That secured, he went along to the ruble lying beside the pool and poked around. He unearthed a stout pole with a few boards attached by rusted nails. He knocked off the excess wood, until he could carry his liberated paddle. He hoped onto the raft and pushed off from the pool side, aimed for the furthest wall and hopefully shallow waters. The paddle he dipped through the chunky surface testing the depth, and decided it was much deeper than he was tall. He swept the pole on one side of his raft, then the back, until he figured out how to move forward. He wasn’t skilled with paddling this way, but no one ever taught him. He regretted—

Something snared the paddle and wrenched it from his hands.

Mono snapped loose and gawked, as the water behind his makeshift doorframe-raft churned. The water was black and gray beneath the froth, greasy fins flashed under the surface. The waves rocked his raft, and without a thought he leapt to the nearest side of the pool.

This blind leap fared better than most others. He touched upon a clear space of the wreckage, and despite flailing about in a near graceless wobbling, he caught his balance and toppled among insulation and mortar. He gathered himself up and turned horrified eyes toward the swirling raft and the book abandoned atop it.

Whatever was beneath the liquid was uninterested in the raft and its cargo. The surface subsided in its throes of watery threats, beneath the shining surface he spied a flash of scales. Some kind of monster!

Though no stranger to beasts or creatures, is a book worth this? Fuses and keys, and other instruments for breaching doors is one thing. But a stupid book?

Either way, he was stranded in this small patch among the ruble. He’ll be careful, and if it is too great a risk, he can always abandon his prize. He set his hands on the edge of the pools cracked wall and focused, not on his raft, but some other island of debris loitering in the water. With a flash and crackly squeal, he’s hugging the slanted pole and perched on a bit of wood. He braved slashing his foot into the water, the bold movement triggered something churning through the grime feet away. A thin trail zoomed at his precarious perch, and if he was careless, it could snag his coat and haul him deep into the water.

Mono barely thought, and with a shrill chatter, he crashed into the side of his raft and toppled right into the water!

Blind panic seized him instantly. Or, it would have, if Mono wasn’t stunned from the impact. He snorted water, but managed to cap his breathing and work out the seized state of his muscles. Somehow his hand snared the edge of his boat, this saved him from sinking too far too fast. He righted himself and got his face above the surface. His hat was gone, floated off somewhere. Not important. He choked on the pungent air surging into his frigid throat, instinctively he began kicking. He managed to coax the raft a few inches, before he’s conscious of something surging through the sludge below. With a great deal of effort, he’s hauled up onto the raft enough to gather his bearings and perform another teleport.

This time to a spindly spike of wood, lodged into the pool by some debris on the bottom. Mono searched the surface, as his tether began dipping to its weak side. When he caught visual of the swirling film, he gauged when to make his next teleport. Waiting and waiting, even when he all but lost his landmark to the liquid. He let the creature get as near as he could tolerate, and then made a more graceful but all the same splashy leap to his raft. And the book, perched on the edge.

After several more calculated leaps, and creeping the raft in close to the pools edge, he finally discovered where the shallows were. He stood up to his neck in the water, shoving the boat as close as he could to the edge. He was barely able to stay upright, if not for the buoyancy all around him. When he was about to abandon the raft once more, he’s startled by something right beside him.

WHAP! A geyser of black water erupted upward and came all the way down. Mono fought to haul backwards with the last ounce of his strength and get the raft to safety, before the plume of water cascaded down. He crawled up the steps and out of the water, panting and choking. It took a bit for him to catch his breath and choke up the last of sludge. Foul awful, nasty!

“Chu. Chu?”

He wrenched away from the faint touch on his arm and gawked.

The other child gaped back, as if he insulted the whole method of approaching another living creature. He’s too boggled and taxed by everything to really take the kid in. Clothing, oversized, but fits. Close enough. Dirty gaunt face. Dark skin. Different. Maybe girl? Not sure.

They made a soft click at him, frowning. His hat was gone. His hat was gone.

The kid turned away and went to the pool edge. He observed as they shifted through the greasy film, before snagging something and coiling back. A great deal of effort went into the prospect of hauling out the… it was a fish, he supposed. It didn’t look much like a fish, it was large, about his size, and had limbs, or nubs, big thick barbs stuck out from the fishes face. The monster fish flapped around in open air on the sprawling concrete, and the kid smashed it a dozen more times with a chunk of wood. They didn’t stop, until the misshapen head was more unrecognizable and misshapen. He kind of liked this kid.

He went to the further edge of the pool and liberated his book from its uncertain fate. The kid followed him. They stood a bit taller than him, sort of burley and broad shouldered. He still can’t decide if they are a girl or boy, it’s hard to tell, and it doesn’t matter.

He dropped to his knees and set aside the book. That was too much, he’s not sure if he’ll make it back to the room without a rest. He almost wished the Thin Man was here. Almost.

The kid held out a crinkly bundle, and offered a sound. Speek. Softly. They did speek.

“Hoi,” he whispered. “Foods?”

“Fff…oOOOoo’dz,” they repeated. Then, repeated their speek.

How did they make the sound? He opened the bundle, and found indeed it was foods. Bits of dry stuff and bread bits, it smelled all right. He ate slow and careful, so he didn’t look like a nutcase. He watched the other child intently, suspicious to their motives. Was help? Reason? Was reason?

They watched too, legs bent up and chin resting on a knee. One eye was discolored and the skin around it scarred. That was strange and a little scary, likely an injury.

“Hurt?” he crooned, when finished eating. He reached up and touched his own eye. Though, he knew it was healing well, he could see a little more out of it now. The kid’s eye… that looked like forever.

The kid sighed and cocked their head. “Hhn-eeerrt.” Looking at his face, they reached a hand up to touch their sad eye. “Hrr’nt.”

Maybe it was too dark, they couldn’t see. Mono could only see the poor eye in the sallow light. He tilted his head only slightly, when they waved a hand at his face.

The other child made a creeing, and pointed to them self. Lifting forth the pointer finger, they gestured the other hand in a vague direction. Then, there were two fingers. Two. They made certain Mono understand that one finger was them, and then, they had a friend somewhere. Somewhere. Vaguely out there somewhere. Perhaps scouting, doing scavenging for food. A second set of eyes. Another pair of ears.

“Two.” He used Her speek for numbers. With one finger he pointed to himself, and (he does not hesitate) held that finger out. “Self.” The crinkled paper held some scrap of crumbs, which he was glad to distract himself in picking at. He only raised his head once more, when the other kid patted him on his head.

The other kid held out their hand, and made a churring sound. Or warble. It sounded very friendly and somewhat curious. Like an insect, but pleasant and comforting. This all feels… familiar. They wanted him to come with. Stay. Be together? Them and friend, and him. A small pack, still safe. All of them. Together.

This child seemed capable, as well. He examined the dead fish monster behind them, a trail of red drained out of the caved in eye. Maybe they knew different tricks, or how to escape the dream haunts. Would the other friend be okay with this? It might work out. He could go with them, learn new skills, share things. Important things, such as together, fears, and foods. Watch after each other, find each other, call to each other. It would be nice. The Thin Man wouldn’t care, adults didn’t need anyone.

But… Mono is no good. He is alone, and he runs away. And he hates the way his dreams scream through the sleep, clawing at his guilt and the memories of all the faces he left. It won’t be better with a different child – someone that will be taken from him. Someone that will decide to leave him. Another person to walk away, when he’s no good anymore.

With a surge Mono is on his feet and recoiled backwards. Take by utter shock, the other child collapsed, tripping over the large and very dead fish monster at their heels. All of this drama, followed from the forceful shove by Mono. The other child is not down for long, and with some effort, they haul up and braced themselves. Primed for retaliation or revenge, whichever suited the situation.

Mono doesn’t dawdle, he stole up the book and ran for what it was worth back to the entrance doors of the building. At his back, the slap of the child’s sodden feet follow on the greasy cement. The child can’t follow for long, as he suspected. Not due to any special talents on Mono’s part, but because the Viewers cluster within the first corridor he veered onto. He wasn’t about to risk shooting too near the denizens of the Signal, but Mono came down this way through an open vent in the wall.

The faint footfalls ebb beyond the opening. Even so, Mono didn’t stall or catch his breath. He hugged the book and hiked up the steep incline of the shaft, using his elbows for balance when his damp feet skid on the silt.

Hauling the book up the numerous broken levels of the building wasn’t the trail he thought to appreciate, not until he was trying to hit a mark with the heavy and flappy wings of the book. Without killing it. The climb was much more tedious than the descent, and each floor he made it to, Mono gave pause to examine the tome and insure it wasn't shredded. Somewhere in his tedious climbing, the alarming wail of Viewers burst throughout the inner chamber.

This time he did postpone ascending higher to check and see for what the threat was. He's not nearly as stunned as he could have been, when he recognized the fish beating kid race by on what remained on the floor below. Directly on their back hurtled two Viewers, agitated about something; the kid could've gotten too close. He doesn't see where the kid goes, they disappear over the edge in the floor. The Viewers don't hesitate to barrel off the edge and plunge, several floors down. He tugged the book tighter into his embrace and resumed his tedious ascent.

At long last he hiked up the incline he first came down, to the one door he knew. He set the book on the crate and heaved it over to the door handle and snagged the latch. After some grueling coordination demanding a door be hauled open, shift the weighted crate aside, and enter through the wedge of the doorway, get the panel fitted in its frame. Go back out and retrieve the book he almost forgot, then once more shut the door.

Mono was back.

“Hey. Hoi. Hai.”

The Thin Man wasn’t in the kitchen.

Mono scampered past the lower cabinets, though its apparent nothing is lurking in the shadows of corners. From there, it’s trace through the living area – he whisked through so fast, he might’ve missed the tall figure. However, there is no one present, especially since there is no furniture aside from some tables and stacks of moldering boxes. No Thin Man. Was gone? NoNoNo. Still here. He can feel it.

It’s only the other rooms then. Mono tries the one with the collapsed sofa, and his intuition is rewarded. Not that it was difficult to figure out. The Thin Man slouched beside the sideways fabric chair, hat down and cheek in his palm. Mono hurried around to his side and tossed the book onto his stomach.

“Hey,” he rasped. “Look.”

The Thin Man jolted, static vibrating as he groaned. “What? Child?” He rubbed his face. “What have you gotten into?”

Mono reached over the Thin Man’s middle and patted the book. “Look. M’fix. Try. S’good?” He tried to grip the edge of the book and haul it back, but the Thin Man already plucked it up. “M’sorry. T’s diff-Err-Ant. B’t still.”

“I don’t know what to do with this.” He flipped through the pages. “Why bring this?”

The book was kind of small in the Thin Man’s hands, Mono reflected. “Is… n’good? Not?” He hoisted himself up onto the Thin Man’s side, but the man in the hat pried him loose.

“You’re filthy. Child,” he groused, with an electric huff, “get yourself cleaned. This isn’t healthy.” Rising through a jittery flicker, the Thin Man lifted the child and exited the room. “Why are you like this?”

“No. No. Rice-zipo-rate.”

“Please, don’t start that again.” The wriggling child he held a little out from himself, but much of the grime was caked on and no longer sopping. Meager illumination worked down the walls of the small bathroom, but at least the tub was empty of debris. He set the boy in the tub and tried the faucet. No water?

Absolutely not. The Thin Man pressed his hand on the wall, and water gurgled out of the corroded pipe. The fluid was dark and red at first, until the line flushed out. It looked like the water drained as well. Good.

“Book. T’sorry,” Mono insisted. He inched back from the flow of water creeping in the dip of the tub.

“Look at it later. You’re a mess.” The Thin Man stood and moved to the exit. “Take your time.”

Mono didn’t get it. The book. But, if he scrubbed off some of the grunge… he was kind of a dirty mess.

The water was frigid, but clean for the better part. He sat at the puddle edge soaking out the thick blotches on his shoulders and sleeves, slinging out globs of gelatinous sludge. Until most the fibers in his coat resurfaced, and his hair was liberated from the drudge. Last, he scooted safely from the spewing stream and checked his hats, and most importantly, his new paper bag mask. The paper appeared only dampened at the edges, but it would be fine. Leaving the stream of water was chilly business, but he had to dry out. The sooner the better. The water just seemed to get colder and colder.

Heaving his soggy self over the tub side was a new challenge. He’d hidden in bathtubs a few times, but usually they were dry. A fine layer of goop clung to his clothing. It took a few tries of hoping up and snagging the curved edge of the tub, but at last he had the leverage to get him and his weighted coat over the edge. He crashed to the floor in a graceful broken pretzel. Ow.

He didn’t see where the Thin Man went off to, he wasn’t in the sofa room. Mono went back there to search for the book, see if he took it.

The book was on the floor, but at least it was safe. He took it up and carried it down the corridor, back to the living room. As expected, the tall thin man was seated at the kitchen table examining one of his choice picks. Mono thought about trying once more, but he supposed if the Thin Man wasn’t interested in the book, then it was his now.

He went to a corner of the room not far behind a shattered nightstand, and sat down to check out the pages. It was a stack of pages with substance, not a pamphlet or a thing stapled together. The Thin Man preferred big heavy books, but some of them had picture speek. Not all. He liked the patterns that looked like static. Maybe he liked the pictures of food? This book didn’t have pictures of food, but different things.

One thing in the book looked like a plane. He built a plane, it flew. The plane in the book was a different shape, different in many ways. But it had wings and a fan on its nose. It had a tail too. It was a plane.

Other things he didn’t know what they were, not exactly. Machines. Children sometimes did speek about malicious machines, of teeth and grinding. Machines lived in factories and ate many different things, and then sent out many different things. Elevators were machines, fuses gave them life and power. Machines didn’t work without electricity or power. Electricity made up the Thin Man, among other things. This Mono knew, because he could feel it. Like he could sense energy in machines, such as the televisions and the screaming box.

He saw a car before, but not like the one in the book. The wheels, the color. Different. Real cars were not a common sight in the city, most got swallowed up. There were other machines, other things in the book, which Mono had never seen before. He found the portrait fold out of stars and the moon. He hadn’t seen the moon in forever, nor the stars.

He hunched over the book tracing the different shapes of the moon – waxing and crescent, to quarter, and full. He missed the sky and the stars, and the moons many changes. He watched the days go by, and understood time did not hold still.

So many different things in the book. The pictures conveyed messages he didn’t understand, but he grasped one thing. It gave meaning to the travelers lost in their journey. The speek was so crisp and refined, not like the childs hasty scribbles. It told stories, but did not know about the real dangers to warn against. That was comforting in a way.

Somewhere in his single-minded exploration, he’s blanked out in a sleep. Mono isn’t fully aware he’s been KOed by exhaustion, not until the cramped tent of the book is peeled back from his face. And then he’s up and alert, scoping for threat and hazard. The Thin Man dropped the book at his feet.

“Hai.” He’s still on edge, glancing around. Danger? Is there danger? Where? “Hunh?”

“Are you ready to leave?” the Thin Man ventured. “There is no food here.”

Mono ruffled up his sticky hair. He needed to wake up first. “No….” The book was in a folded collapse, but he rescued it and unfurled the pages. “Show. S’book? Mark speek?” He opened a page and indicated the static pattern.

“What? This thing?” The Thin Man knelt down and accepted the book. He frowned at the contents. A lot of pictures, along Mono’s line of interest. It was utterly childish and simplistic, a child’s picture book of all things. “This… isn’t very good material. It’s too… complicated.” He settled on. “This speek is difficult for me.”

Mono tilted his head. “Speek. Not… know?” He raised his arms toward the book and made grabby motions.

“We’ll find you a better book. More in your age range.” He pushed Mono’s hands down and ruffled his hair.

“Aye-gee.” What was that?

“How old are you?” The Thin Man was in fact curious. He’d forgotten how old he was, when he suffered the treachery. It had been such a long-long time. “Child?” Mono blinked owlishly. “Never mind. This…” he held the book up, “it is not right for you. We can find something better. You would like that, hmm?”

Mono bounced a little on his toes. “S’mine. F’r sorry. F’not t’want, n’mine. Find.” He tried climbing the Thin Man’s thigh, but the man in the hat pushed him away and stood. Mono reached. “F’not give…? T’n share.”

The Thin Man took a step back. “No, Mono. You don’t need this.”

Confused and at a loss, Mono clasped his hands to the back of his head. “Want? S’yours?”

“Yes. This is mine now. Thank you.”

When the Thin Man turned to abandon the situation, Mono hastened forward and snatched at his ankle. “Wait. Th’n… can share? Help. T’speek, make werk. To pictures. Show, then… n’help. Aam…. I help?”

The Thin Man pushed his hat up and rubbed his forehead. “Enough, child. That’ll be enough. You are not getting this back. It’s rubbish. All right? No good. Not need.” In a flicker, he was leaving.

“No! Wut not w’k? S’wrong? Broke? M’sorry. Sorry!” He charged after the Thin Man, following the sizzle of static into the kitchen. “Take. T’keep. S’have tu learn! Wait!” In a flash the man in the hat was beside the cabinets; he opened one of the topmost and tossed the book in. “I ll’help. M’ke w’rk. Fix! N’fix! T’fix! T’fix! Not!” The cabinets didn’t have handle grips, but he could pull the bottom drawers out. “M’sorry. Juz n’take.”

The Thin Man took him around the middle, to pry him loose and set him on the floor. “No child, we are not take.” He held the collar of his coat, but Mono pushed on the tips of his toes against the gritty laminate. Getting nowhere. “We will find you a more suitable book, but now, we are leaving. No discussion. Are you listening?”

“Ss… mine!”

“No, Mono! No. Not for you.” The Thin Man scooted Mono aside, and with the child far enough out of range, settled his other hand against the front of the cabinet drawers stacked up.

When the Thin Man withdrew, Mono raced over and tried to pull a drawer out. It… didn’t budge. None of them would. This time, he tried climbing the coarse surface to reach the countertop. He couldn’t leap and reach the countertop. Next, he turned and examined the table with the chairs hunkered around it. Falling on his final option, he glared at the Thin Man standing, arms crossed

“Fix.”

The Thin Man flicked his hand and spun away. “No.”

“S’not funn-eh,” Mono hissed, shoulders tightened. “T’s book. For’yu. Fix’d broke. Wuz try.”

After a few steps and a flash, the Thin Man did turn back. “I don’t want that book. I can’t haul around every book I find.”

Mono reached for the cabinet high above, and the book he knew was within. “T’s. Want. T’at. All’t. Important.” The static vibrating and the Thin Man muttered something, he glitched and appeared close to Mono and knelt. Mono retreated a step.

“There are better books in the city,” he pleaded. Settling his hands around Mono, he kept him in place. “Many more, better, waiting to be found.”

Mono wriggled away, or tried. The fingers tightened over his shoulders. “Important.”

With a rustle and a flicker from the light above, the Thin Man recoiled and stood. “Very well. You can stay here, with your book. I am leaving, but I will not return.” He took his casual strides, toward the living space.

“Not. D’take! Not n’leave.” He hovered in the entry of the kitchen, conflicted with remaining in the empty residence. And unable to reach the book. “Ph-lez. Not.” The Thin Man stood at the door with his hand on the handle.

“This is done, C̷̪̉h̶͈̕i̶͚̎l̵͇̃d̸̫̑. I am not waiting for you this time.” The tall figure pushed the panel outward and stepped through. “Do whatever you wish. I will have no part of it.”

Mono tore from the kitchen entrance and hurried after the retreating shadow. “Come. M’come. Here.” He did look back one or more times, to the dull gleam of the cut-out form of the entry. Fading with each step he took, becoming dimmer and more distant.

The Thin Man was right, of course. Of course. That didn’t stop the dull ache in his chest or how tight his throat felt. Even for one thing, he couldn’t let him have that? It wasn’t fair. But he wasn’t going back, and he wouldn’t protest it further. The corridor was murky and he didn’t… it was hard to find his way.

“You don’t recall when last you ate, do you?” the voice came.

Probably the best indication that it had been some good time, a day or so if those still existed. Mono chewed on his palm and shook his head, indifferent if the Thin Man saw or not. He pursued the rhythmic clicking down the sloping floor.

“We’ll find you a better book,” he repeated. A little further ahead, after a thrumming pop. “Would that make it right?”

Mono shrugged. It wouldn’t be the book he found, the important book. But the Thin Man did whatever he wanted, and went wherever he wished. That was the way it was. Nothing Mono did or say was important.

“S’comp-in-ee?” he whispered. The steps fell silent, and Mono hurried closer. He peered up, only able to discern a bleak suggestion of the face.

“Y…es?”

That was what the man in the hat called it, anyway. Company. It is what they shared, he supposed. It was not together, it was them in the same place. Mono was allowed to follow the Thin Man. The Thin Man reminded him, kept him close, waited when his legs failed. It wasn’t pack. They had differences. The Thin Man was adult, and Mono was child. Mono had to understand he couldn’t expect the same things, as what he shared with his previous packs. Packs formed out of share and necessity, the bare minimal to survive, and barely managed that.

They failed. His friends were gone. She didn’t want him. The Thin Man was the only constant. He had someone that couldn’t be stole or hurt or taken. Good.

Mono looked up-and-up at the tall-tall figure. “M’comp-un-knee?” He tugged at the collar of his coat.

“Yes, child,” he hummed. “You are my company.”

Before the figure could resume walking, Mono snagged his ankle. “Bu’t. S… n’good comp’an-ee?” The Thin Man pursed his lips. “M’mean, is to n’m-ee, m’Mono. Good n’s—”

“Are you good company? Yes. Splendid. Let us go, before the storm rallies it’s strength.” With that, the gloom rippled and the shape vanished. He could still detect the static buzzing, grating. Agitated, more likely.

The book wasn’t important. However, Mono remained determined to find something that would intrigue the man in the hat. He could do that. Keep trying, he was good at that.

In the meanwhile, he’d bar himself against the sour ache in his chest and in his gut. Lethargy nipped at his eyes, and he was more than famished, but he wouldn’t find food sitting around. But the Thin Man was right, even if he hurt Mono without meaning to. The book was temporary and it was small, but like Mono, it endured so much. He could’ve made an exception, even for a little while. It was important to him.

#little nightmares #mono #the thin man #thin dad #little nightmares fanfic #little nightmares fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #mono trying his hardest to fix things

3 notes · View notes

sage-nebula · 8 years ago

Note

oh man im really loving those posts about alan's lost parents coming for him and stirring all kinds of trouble. you think this is something ash can help alan with at some point with some input? given the novelization's canon of him having a dad that vanished out of shame due to being a shitty trainer and all. maybe something to help alan settle his resolve on staying with those that are truly important to him? taisetsu mono, right? or is this something that alan and sycamore work out themselves?

Thank you! I put quite a bit of thought into Alan’s parents / heritage, so I’m really happy you like the posts! ♥

I don’t think Ash would help Alan with this, only because by this point Ash is either back in Kanto, or possibly even already in Alola. (It depends on how long he stayed in Kanto before traveling to Alola, but you get the idea. This takes place somewhere around that time, post-XY(&Z) and around the beginning-ish of SM.) Since there’s already an ocean between them, Ash isn’t around to notice that something’s up with Alan, and thus he’s not really in a position to ask. Alan also isn’t the type to call up someone else to talk about his problems; it’s one thing if Ash notices and asks him, because we see in canon that Alan is willing to share his feelings with Ash if Ash asks him directly. But even Ash isn’t someone that Alan will actually call to talk about his problems with. He wouldn’t want to put that on Ash’s shoulders, especially not out of the blue. So unfortunately, in this regard Ash wouldn’t be able to offer any advice, because he wouldn’t know about it. He’s off in Kanto / Alola, completely oblivious that any of this is happening. =/

(I do think that Ash would, however, have some interesting thoughts / feelings on it if he did hear about it, though. I mean, at this point I don’t even think he knows that Sycamore is Alan’s (unofficially) adoptive father; while I think he has come a long way from his obliviousness when it came to recognizing that Sabrina’s father was her father, and while he no doubt picked up on the fact that Sycamore and Alan are very, very close (he picked up on the fact that Manon was important to Alan, after all, and he had only spent about twenty minutes around Manon, if that!), I don’t think he’s aware of their actual relationship, beyond the fact that Sycamore asked Alan to come work at the lab again. So I think he might at first be surprised to hear that Alan is actually an orphan, and then would fall back into some complicated feelings, because his father did walk out on him and Delia and he has never known the man. There are times, I think, when Ash thinks that he’d like to see his father again, but then I also think there might be a lot of resentment buried deep down, because Ash’s father left Delia to be a single teenage mother, and while Delia has done a wonderful job raising Ash, and while he no doubt feels that their family is perfect just the way it is, I think that Ash is also perceptive enough to know that things were hard for Delia at times, that even though she’s always done her best to keep smiling and persevere, and even though he did his best to try and be easy to take care of, it was still hard for her to manage the restaurant and take care of him at the same time, and his dad left them to that, and never called or anything. So when he thinks about that, I think he might feel angry, and feels sort of like “good riddance” to his dad, and hopes he never meets him. But then he also kind of wants to, especially since he doesn’t know that his dad is a garbage trainer, since Delia tells him that his dad is a wonderful trainer and would be proud of him … and so on and so forth, it’s complicated. So I think Ash would think on it for a while, and would feel kind of complicated, especially when he thinks of situations like how Brock’s dad, Flint, came back to take care of the family and Brock gave him that chance, or how Sabrina’s father was always hanging around in case she could be helped, et cetera. I think ultimately he would, as you say, say that he thinks Alan should stay with Sycamore, that family’s not so much who you’re related to by blood, but who you care about in your heart. Your family is what you make it, you know? Like, Professor Oak’s not actually his grandpa, but he’s always kinda been a grandpa to him since he never met his actual grandparents for whatever reason, and so he considers Professor Oak family even if they aren’t actually family. And Brock’s like his big brother, which means he guesses that he also has ten little brothers and sisters thanks to all of Brock’s younger siblings, and it doesn’t matter that they’re not blood related because they’re still family. So in that sense, Ash would think that things should follow for Alan the same way, that even if his biological parents are back, if he doesn’t feel like they’re his family, then they don’t have to be. I definitely think that Ash’s feelings would fall along those lines, and he’d say so if asked, but since he’s not around he can’t really be asked about it, alas. :/)

That was a really long aside, haha. Anyway, this would be something that Alan would work out mostly on his own, and I say “mostly” because there is one living being on this planet that Alan does talk to without prompting with whatever’s on his mind, and that’s Lizardon. We actually see the two of them talk numerous times in canon, both in TSME and in the main series, and we know that Alan understands the feedback that Lizardon gives him, because sometimes the things that Lizardon says take Alan by surprise for a moment before he reacts:

This was after his first battle with Ash, in XYZ013. I like to think that Lizardon was commenting on Alan’s clear, genuine happiness, and that’s why Alan was so taken aback. He didn’t even realize how genuinely happy he was feeling as a result of the battle, even as he said it was excellent. But when Lizardon pointed out it, Alan was taken aback as the awareness hit him … and then he closes his eyes and smiles, because yes, Lizardon is right. We also see them talk after Alan’s second battle with Ash, at the end of the episode by the campfire, wherein Alan is still in a very good mood after the battle earlier and receiving a positive message from Manon, and talks about how he’s nostalgic for the days back at the Professor’s lab, and how they need to continue to get stronger to protect what’s important to them. So we know that Alan talks freely with Lizardon about his feelings, and also that he understands the feedback he gets in response (and sometimes doesn’t even need it verbalized; in TSME 4, after his fight with Manon, he says to Lizardon, “You look like you want to say something,” but since the next battle is about to start, Lizardon huffs, shakes his head, and turns to face the fight instead). So I think that, in this situation, he would absolutely go straight to Lizardon to talk about it, no doubt while they’re out on their flight after the dinner he had with his parents (or even like, they fly somewhere, land, and then he talks about it). They would probably have a good, long talk about it; Alan would tell Lizardon everything that had happened, and after Lizardon got over the initial surprise (he would have never even thought something like this was possible; the only parent Lizardon has ever known Alan to have is Sycamore, even if Alan doesn’t call him “Dad”), he would listen as Alan went into his personal feelings on the subject, as he talked about how conflicted he felt, how he wants to stay (and wants the Professor to adopt him, has always wanted the Professor to adopt him, wishes he could be good enough for the Professor to adopt him but knows he isn’t, especially now), but how he feels like maybe he has a responsibility to his parents to give them the chance they’re asking for, maybe he’s being selfish or cold, maybe he’s once again hurting people he has no business hurting. Maybe it’s wrong of him to stay because that puts a burden on the Professor as well, puts the lab at risk, et cetera. Maybe his parents showing up isn’t about him, but maybe it’s a way for him to stop putting the Professor at risk and leave without forcing the Professor to kick him out, since the Professor’s too good of a person to do that. Alan would think and feel all of these things, and he would talk about them with Lizardon, because Lizardon is the one he speaks most freely to about whatever it is he’s burdened with. And Lizardon would listen, but then he would give his strong, equally as blunt opinions right back, that they don’t know these people and Alan isn’t required to do anything with or for them, and hasn’t Alan already given up and sacrificed enough for other people? He’s done it constantly over the past two years, and honestly—

“It’s not like that. You make it sound like a bad thing. I was doing what was—what I thought was right.”

‘But it wasn’t.’

“No, but only because I was stupid enough to be fooled by the Director. It wasn’t wrong to protect the Professor, Manon, and everyone else. It was wrong to listen to the Director. There’s a difference.”

‘You’re not stupid, and enough sacrifice is enough—’

And so on. I think that talking to Lizardon would help a lot, and would help Alan reach a conclusion, not so much about whether it’s right or wrong to sacrifice to protect the people he loves (and Alan would point out that it’s not like Lizardon wasn’t right there by his side, so honestly Lizardon has no room to talk—and Lizardon would fire (ha) back with, well, obviously he was, what, does Alan think Lizardon is going to leave him? No, that’s never going to happen, and Lizardon is pretty sure Alan damn well knows that, and so on and so forth), but about what to do in this situation. He would still be feeling stressed out about it by the time he gets home that night, which is why he pretty much comes home, takes a shower, and then goes to bed, but talking with Lizardon definitely would have helped him get his thoughts in order, and reach a conclusion about what it is he should do—about what the Right thing to do is, even though it’s hard for him to trust himself on that now after everything that happened with Lysandre. (And given that he’s Gryffindor down to his core, the fact that the Team Flare situation has shaken his faith in his internal moral compass is extremely troubling and damaging to him. It’s part of why he needs that sounding board from Lizardon to be sure—or at least as sure as he can be—that he’s making the right decision. And even then, there’s still some doubt …)

As far as Sycamore goes, Sycamore actually wouldn’t steer him one way or the other, for two reasons. One, Alan isn’t going to be forthright about this. As we’ve seen, Sycamore typically has to work to get Alan’s feelings out of him, because Alan doesn’t want to burden him any more than he already thinks he has. If Sycamore simply asks “how are you feeling?” he gets an “I’m fine” in response. Anything beyond that is a result of gentle probing, and Sycamore setting up the situation so that they can talk about it. Alan won’t seek him out and volunteer that information as he will with Lizardon, and he won’t answer on the first try like he will with Ash. With this situation in particular, though, Sycamore feels that it’s not really his place to pry. He asked Alan how things went when Alan came back to the lab the first time (after dinner with his parents, before his flight with Lizardon), and Alan simply said things were fine before he left again. Sycamore can tell that Alan doesn’t really feel fine, and he’s concerned about that, but this is a really sensitive matter and he doesn’t want to push if Alan doesn’t feel like sharing. And that kind of hurts, and he has some doubt, and he feels like … it’s as I explained in the previous post. Sycamore feels like he should be happy for Alan, or like, if Alan has this chance to get to know his biological parents, this should theoretically be a good thing. It’s not Sycamore’s place to interfere with that. They’re Alan’s parents, this is something that he should be free to deal with on his own, however he sees fit. If Alan doesn’t want to talk to him about it, that’s … fine, it should be fine, it’s not really Sycamore’s place to feel upset. And he does feel upset, and he does want to gently probe, but then he’s worried that if he does that he’ll be crossing boundaries that he doesn’t have a right to cross. Honestly, the fact that he never officially adopted Alan is rather coming back to bite him right now, because if he had then he could pull the “well you weren’t around so I adopted him and he’s legally my son” card, but he can’t pull that card because he doesn’t have that card. Regardless, Sycamore wouldn’t press that night because he would be concerned about crossing boundaries he has no right to cross, and would also have some doubt that maybe he’s perceiving upset in Alan that isn’t really there because he’s upset—that, perhaps, he’s projecting on Alan. So he would hold back and they wouldn’t really talk much that night. (He would tell himself, though, that if Alan still seemed upset the next morning, he’d try gently poking that information out of him. He doesn’t get the chance to do that, though, since Lucia and Sebastian return first thing the next morning. Sycamore is … overjoyed at their reappearance, as I’m sure you can imagine.)

When Lucia and Sebastian come back, Sycamore forces himself to take the same stance he had the day before: It isn’t his place to interfere, it’s Alan’s right to handle this however he wants to, he doesn’t really get a say in this, can’t let his own personal feelings possibly impede on Alan’s happiness, et cetera. (Though again, all the same other concerns still apply, i.e. why have Lucia and Sebastian suddenly shown up again now, do they have ulterior motives, et cetera.) He would step out of the room as Alan handles things in the lab’s foyer, and would totally plan on not listening … but then Cosette cracks the door to listen there, and Sophie joins her, and as Sycamore gives the two of them an appalled look, Sophie is like, “I’m just a bit worried, you know … I want to make sure he’s okay.”

“I’m … I’m just nosy,” Cosette says sheepishly. “But my nosiness comes from concern, promise.”

And Sycamore sighs, and he thinks this is probably wrong, but if Sophie and Cosette are eavesdropping … he eavesdrops, too, even as he’s aware of the little voice in the back of his mind telling him that this creates a risk of him hearing something that he really doesn’t want to.

Fortunately, though, he doesn’t—or at least, it ends up all right. Because when Sebastian asks Alan if he thought about what they said, and, “Are you ready to come home, and give our family a chance?” Sycamore’s heart drops all the way to the floor. It’s lucky he’s not actually holding anything this time, because he reflexively squeezes his fingers into fists so hard he probably would have broken whatever he was holding. He had no idea that’s what Alan’s parents had talked to him about—hadn’t thought, or considered … though even as he stands there, numb with shock and upset, he knows he probably should have realized it. But he hadn’t, and now they’re here, and—

“I have—I did think about it,” Alan says, and his voice is quiet, steady. “And my answer is no. I can’t. I’m not who you think I am—who you want me to be.”

“What do you mean?” Lucia asks, confused, as the sudden tension Sycamore had felt melts into relief. “Baby, we’re sure you’re our son—positive. If you’re doubtful, we can get a DNA test—”

“It’s not that,” Alan says. He isn’t looking at them. He’s be staring at the floor instead, his own hands fists in the pockets of his lab coat. He takes a deep breath before he speaks again. “I’m sure that, biologically, you are my parents. We share enough physical similarities for that to be obvious. A DNA test isn’t necessary.”

“Then—”

“Are you familiar with the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics?”

Lucia and Sebastian are both perplexed by this seemingly sudden subject change, and on the other side of the door, Sycamore, Sophie, and Cosette all exchange looks as well.

“Um … not especially,” Sebastian says. (Before he can help himself, Sycamore thinks a petty thought about how no, of course he isn’t—and then immediately feels bad for thinking something so petty and spiteful. Not everyone is a scientist, after all, and that’s not a bad thing—that’s not something that should be held against Sebastian, and isn’t something Sycamore would even ordinarily hold against him, but the circumstances being what they are …)

“The many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is a metaphysical theory that postulates that an infinite number of alternate timelines and dimensions coexist with our own, usually explained by the asserted existence of the universal wavefunction. Generally, the alternate timelines and dimensions speculated about when considering the many-worlds interpretation are alternate timelines and dimensions that spawned off from events that could have happened in our past, but didn’t. For instance, if you were driving down a road and came to an intersection where you had to take either a right or a left. If you chose to turn right, that would create a timeline—or dimension, depending on how you looked at it—where you turned left, running parallel to the timeline or dimension you created when you turned right instead.” Alan pauses, then asks, “Does this make sense so far?”

“I … suppose,” Sebastian says.

“But I don’t see … what does this have to do with you thinking you’re not our son?” Lucia asks.

Instead of answering directly, Alan takes another second to collect himself and then says, “Sometimes the branching timelines or dimensions don’t have very much difference between them. In some cases, maybe they even look identical. But in others, maybe they’re very different. Maybe the you that exists in the world where you took a left turn isn’t very different from the you that exists right now. But maybe there’s another dimension out there where you made a much more drastic choice. Maybe the you in that timeline … is very different from the you that’s standing here right now.”

“I … maybe, but—”

“I’m not Liam.” Finally, he looks up at them—secures and maintains eye contact as he continues. “Maybe I am, in a different timeline, in another dimension. If there really is an infinite number of dimensions, as the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and reports of legendary pokémon such as Hoopa seem to suggest, then maybe there is one where you didn’t leave me in the forest that day—where you chose to raise me instead. In that timeline, in that dimension, I’m Liam. But we’re not in that timeline, or that dimension. We’re here. And in this one, I’m not Liam. I’m not—I can’t be the son you want me to be. I’m sorry.”

They would try to argue, I think. They’re not really understanding his perspective on this, where he’s coming from, and I think they would try to argue or reason out that they don’t have preconceptions of who he should be, that they want to get to know him, as he is now, and that although they made the wrong choice in giving him up—that Lucia especially made the wrong choice by abandoning him on that rock—that doesn’t in any way prevent them from loving him now, they promise. They’re fine with calling him Alan, they can accept that, and they don’t have any set idea on how they want him to behave, other than as himself.

But he would stand firm on it. He would point out that whether they realize it or not, they have built an image of him up in their heads. They don’t really know him, they know an idea of him, and that would affect how they interact with one another, whether they want it to or not. And aside from that—

“I can’t see you as my parents. Biologically, I know you are,” he adds quickly, as Lucia opens her mouth. “But I’ve never known a mother, and when I look at you, I still don’t see one. All I see is a stranger. And when I close my eyes and think of my father,” he looks at Sebastian as he says, “yours is not the face I see.”

And that hurts. It cuts deep. Lucia even starts to cry a little, though she does her best to hold it back (she’s never been an open crier). Alan notices, and he feels bad about it—it’s not like he likes making people cry, or hurting them—but not only is it true, but they weren’t accepting his first answer. They kept arguing it. And he’s starting to feel uncomfortable, anxious, because he just wants them to accept his answer and leave, and yet they’ve persisted—

Sebastian, I think, would be the first one to give in, and probably would right then. He’d probably say something like, okay. He—they understand. They won’t push anymore, but if Alan wants, he knows where to find them. They can stay in touch, maybe take things slow, that sort of thing. Lucia would want to keep talking about it—she has that same dragon clan determination that runs through Alan’s own soul, he got that part of his nature from her—but Sebastian would take her hand and gently tug her toward the door. Continuing to push him won’t do any good, and I think Sebastian would know that. Or at the very least, he’s hurt, and not happy with this answer, and so he has this odd mix of wounded pride and feelings that tends to make him retreat and sulk for a while before trying again. Lucia, while still not wanting to give in, would be able to notice that Alan seems a bit relieved by this, and that would make her back down. She’s not happy about it at all, and probably reaches out as if to grab or hug him or something, but Alan makes no move to hug either of them—he stays rooted to the spot—and that clues her in, too, to the fact that it’s not happening. So the two of them leave, and Alan feels … not happy, but relieved, although not … in a really positive way. It’s an odd feeling, where he’s glad it’s over, but that feeling doesn’t translate to happiness. It’s more of a subdued, melancholic sort of feeling.

He wonders, vaguely, if Liam is happy in whatever dimension he exists in.

But there’s no point in dwelling on it (even though he’s going to anyway), and so he probably leaves the foyer then to go out to the garden to tell Lizardon what happened. Meanwhile, remember that Sycamore eavesdropped on all of this, and while there is a part of him that is inwardly beaming at how clever Alan is at utilizing the many-worlds interpretation to express his reasoning, there’s a bigger part of him that’s just sort of … warm and fuzzy at the implication he’s pretty sure he picked up on in the last part of what Alan said, that he’s the person Alan thinks of whenever Alan thinks of his father. True, Sycamore has always thought that it was obvious and didn’t need to be said that he and Alan are family, that Alan is his son and that is that, that things are fine the way they are because this is just an unspoken understanding they both share. But something else entirely to actually hear it, and that … well. It’s a good something else. (Of course, he can’t really say anything about it because that will reveal that he, Sophie, and Cosette eavesdropped on the whole thing, so …)

Anyway, that’s how I imagine that falling out. It would probably be a while before either Lucia or Sebastian tried to contact Alan again, though of course they would hear when he became the new Kalos Champion (and would feel a sort of pride, though also a strong pang of awareness that they had no part in raising him, no real part in how he became the person he is today). I’m not entirely sure how subsequent meetings would go, though I do know that they, at least, would still consider him to be their son, even though he does not feel that they are truly his parents. (Like, biologically, yes. But in every other way, no.)

Thanks for asking!! ♥

#em-exceeds-change-zearu #fic fix #the bond that overcomes reason #lab family #my valiant dragon son #pokemon #champion alan #lizardon #ash ketchum #professor sycamore #lucia and sebastian #alan's parents #lucia #sebastian

13 notes · View notes

sindrafalcone · 8 years ago

Text

The Mom Ch. 4

Fandom: BIGBANG/ Choi Seung Hyun

Synopsis: Troubling thoughts...

Warnings: Fluff and some angst. Trigger Warning: This chapter touches on the subject of Postpartum Depression. (PPD) Reader discretion is advised!

Author’s Note: Just a touch of angst in this chapter, I swear. But there’s also plenty of the fluffy stuff. And, there’s a bit of an homage to @mainhoonemily‘s incredible story “After Midnight”. I hope she can forgive me... lol

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. This story contains fictional representations of real people. None of the events are true. This is from an American standpoint, so some of the situations may not happen the same way they might in Korea. I make no money from the writing of this fictional work.

Masterlist

“______-ah, that was a delicious breakfast! I missed your cooking while I was gone.” Seung Hyun sighed as he pushed himself away from the little kitchen table. Sung Ja gurgled happily from her bouncy seat. “Just you wait, dumpling... you're going to love your mom's cooking.”

You rolled your eyes but laughed tiredly. “Dumpling? Really, Seung Hyun?”

For the past two weeks, your husband had been trying to pick a nickname for the twins. Every day he threw out an increasingly absurd list of names, just to try them out. So far, nothing had stuck. He insisted that it had to be 'perfect' because he didn't want to switch it later.

Seung Hyun shrugged, standing up. “Yeah... it doesn't quite work, does it?”

“Not really, no.” you smirked.

“I'll go up and get Seung Min for you before I get ready.” he said, hugging you from behind. “I'll more-or-less be able to take a month off now, spend some real time with you and the twins.”

“That's good.” you smiled, snuggling back into his embrace.

“I still have a small schedule to keep up with, but at least I'll be home. I've got to go in today though...” he sighed. “Jiyong and I have an interview and then we're working on our upcoming album for a bit.”

He gave you one last squeeze before heading out of the kitchen and upstairs.

"Here we go, monkey boy." Seung Hyun picked his son up out of his crib and smiled at him. "I've got to go in to work, ok? Your mom will be here to watch over you and you sister though, so don't worry." The infant just stared up at him, wriggling his limbs.

"Yeobo, you do realize I can hear everything through the baby monitor, right?" came a static-y version of your voice from somewhere. Seung Hyun startled and Seung Min made a pleased noise at the sound of his other parent's voice. "You are not calling our son monkey boy."

"What the...? Since when did this thing have an intercom?!" Seung Hyun looked around, totally confused. Sure enough, on the white device sitting on the end table next to the crib, there was a little speaker. A little green light was lit up brightly on it, he presumed that showed when it was in use. "Oh, there it is! Do you always talk to them through this thing?"

"No, I usually just use it to hear when they wake up."

“Hmmmm...” your husband pondered aloud as he carried the baby over to the changing table. “Does it have another receiver? How far is the range? Do you think it would reach all the way over to YG?”

It was extremely amusing to listen to Seung Hyun when he got overprotective of the twins. He'd fervently deny it when confronted, but it was pretty obvious. This new revelation was almost as cute as the time you'd caught him trying to explain the merits of modern expressionist art to them.

"No, it only has one receiver. And, even if it did have two, I doubt it would reach beyond the villa." you said with a laugh.

Seung Min wiggled as his father finished changing him and picked him back up.

"Oh, well... it was a nice thought anyway." he sighed, walking out of the nursery.

The only upsetting thing about Seung Hyun's overprotectiveness was where it stemmed from... his intense desire to be nothing like his father. Where you could occasionally look back at how your dad had been and take some inspiration, Seung Hyun looked at what his father would have done and did the exact opposite for everything. He was determined to be an incredibly hands on parent, much more than you had anticipated him being with his sometimes insane schedule.

He came back down to see you standing at the kitchen sink & washing dishes. He walked up behind you and gave you another hug, wrapping one arm around your waist and planting a kiss onto your neck. You breathed out a sigh as you finished the last dish & turned around to take Seung Min from him.

“Go get ready or you're going to be late.” you chided Seung Hyun playfully as you sat back down to get ready to nurse.

“Yes, dear...” he mono-toned with a wink as he backed out the door. It always amused your husband whenever you attempted to half-heartedly boss him around.

You took your time feeding Seung Min, knowing that his daddy still needed to take a shower before he got dressed and ready for the day. After he was finished and burped, you gathered the twins up and moved into the living room. You spread out a large blanket on the floor in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, scattering some toys on it. Then you laid both babies down so they could have some “tummy time”.

When Seung Hyun came back downstairs, it was to find his children playing on the blanket while you curled up in the De Sede chair to read for a bit. He smiled at the sight before him. Nothing in the world, not even being on stage in front of thousands of fans, made him feel this good. He swooped forward, scooping Seung Min up into his arms in one swift motion.

“Seung Hyun...” you said, voice concerned. “I wouldn't do that...”

You didn't even get to finish your warning before Seung Min promptly spit up, all down the front of Seung Hyun's shirt.

“... if I were you.” you finished futilely, standing up and reaching over to the coffee table to pick up the burp cloth you'd used earlier. Walking over to your husband, you took your son from him before handing over the cloth.

“I really should've known better.” Seung Hyun chuckled. “I know he just ate... but I couldn't help myself. They were just so cute, laying there and playing like that.”

“I know what you mean, yeobo.” you leaned over and gave him a quick peck to the cheek. “But now you have to go change shirts.”

“Shi...” he started to curse, but caught himself and just sighed in frustration instead.

“I'll text Jiyong that you're going to be late.” you told him with a laugh, as you laid Seung Min back down so he could play beside his sister.

After Seung Hyun finally left the villa for work, you had busied yourself with things to do around the villa. You'd done some laundry and decided what you were going to make for dinner. By the time Noon rolled around, you had given the twins their lunch feeding and tucked them in to nap.

Since you had such a busy and productive morning, you decided to reward yourself with some downtime. You stretched out on the big leather sofa and scrolled through your phone. You didn't have any text messages, but hadn't really expected any. But you did have a notification that Seung Hyun had uploaded something to Instagram, which didn't surprise you in the least.

Quickly you opened up the app, anxious to see what he had posted. Maybe it was something teasing his new collaboration with Jiyong? After a few taps to your screen, you were instead greeted with a photo from the magazine shoot. It was the one that you had personally chosen to go on the cover. You smiled at your phone, it really was a great picture, one that you felt perfectly captured what a great dad Seung Hyun was for his children.

You were shocked at the number of comments that had already been left, he had only posted it an hour ago. Your finger hovered over the 'View all comments' link... Seung Hyun had warned you against reading the comments on his SNS. He said that they could sometimes get a little out of control but you had assumed that he just didn't want you getting jealous over all the lovey comments from his female fans. But... this was such a beautiful, wholesome family picture, what sort of bad things could they have to say about that?

Feeling pretty confident about your decision, you tapped the link. But, as your eyes scanned the comment section, your heart only sank further and further. A few of them were nice, saying how happy you looked together as a family. But the majority of the words others had left were horrible:

why did he have to marry a foreigner?!?

UGH... I know she's SO ugly!

The twins would look so much better if both parents were Korean.

He should divorce her and marry me instead... I could raise those kids the PROPER Korean way!

I know my oppa is a great dad, but I bet she's a stupid, cruel mother. Those poor babies!!!

And so it went... on and on. You felt like you should probably stop reading them but, for some odd reason, you couldn't. Somehow, you'd gotten yourself stuck in this endless hell of reading the harsh words your husband's fans had written. You understood that some of it was just jealousy. What you couldn't wrap your brain around was how some of the comments attacked the twins and your parenting.

These people didn't know you. They had no idea what your life with Seung Hyun was really like, so why did they feel the need to say such mindless and hurtful things? You thought back to what you'd told Seung Hyun just before he proposed... that you would be fine as long as you got to keep the real him and his fans kept T.O.P. So, why did they feel entitled to act as if they knew him better than you did?

Suddenly you felt tired, drained. You wanted to escape, to run away from the spotlight that accompanied being married to a celebrity. You missed being able to go out if you felt like it, like when you'd taken Yeon Jun to places while you were his Nanny. Now you were lucky if you could get out of the house to buy groceries without being recognized.

You touched your neck where Seung Hyun had kissed you earlier. Maybe his fans were right... Maybe you just weren't cut out for this sort of life? Maybe he should have married a native? Would the twins be better off with a Korean mother instead of you? Had you being a foreigner doomed them to a life of unfair judgment from others?

Quickly you closed the app and shook your head, as of that could clear it of all the dark thoughts that had taken hold. You thought for a minute about what to do. You knew you couldn't call Seung Hyun, he was busy and you didn't want to make him worry. Your in-laws were currently on vacation, so that was out. Seungri was somewhere in Japan doing something business related. Then you realized exactly who was the perfect person to talk to in this situation.

So, you'd sent a quick text to Daesung... asking him if he could please come over if he wasn't busy. As soon as he'd replied that he would be right over, you went upstairs to get the twins up from their nap.

By the time he arrived you already had the babies fed, changed and happily playing on the blanket again. After a greeting and quick hug, he sat down on the blanket with the twins and started playing with them. But his eyes were entirely focused on you.

“What's up, ________-ah?” he asked, his voice cheerful even though he could tell something was clearly bothering you.

“I, um...” you paced nervously. “I might have done something that I really shouldn't have. I... I started having some scary thoughts. And I just really didn't want to be alone right now.”

Your words had him up off the floor in a flash. He put an arm around your shoulders, leading you over to the sofa so the two of you could sit down.

“Okay... well... I'm glad you called me then.” he told you, giving your shoulder a squeeze. “Do you want to talk about it or...?”

You knew that you'd made the right choice in asking Daesung to come over. He would be happy to be supportive, but he wasn't going to force you to talk. He had helped you so much while Seung Hyun had been gone during his enlistment & your comfortableness around him had you pouring your heart out in no time.

After you'd finished telling him everything that had happened, even showing him the comments that had bothered you the most, he sighed heavily. You had started crying again, and he always hated to see you cry.

“They hate me... and I don't understand why. I haven't done anything to them. Is there something wrong with me?" you sobbed. It was all pouring out a break-neck speed. "I don't understand why it's like this!" you leaned forward and buried your face in your knees. "I take it back. I don't want to share him any more. I don't want him to be anywhere near his fans. But I'm so anxious that he would be unhappy...I can't ask him to choose! What kind of wife would that make me, Daesung? They're my babies and I'm starting to think they would be better off without me! I'm a horrible parent!"

"Wha...why didn't you say anything to Seung Hyun? ________-ah, the twins are over four months old now! You've felt like this for four months and you didn't tell him?"

"No! No.... it only started today.” you said, lifting your tear streaked face so you could look at him. ”I didn't want to bother him because he's busy in the studio.”

"Okay, then...” Daesung took a deep breath. “That makes things a bit different. You're a good parent, ________-ah. Don't let anyone try and tell you otherwise."

You were crying hard, your whole body shaking. Daesung leaned over and gathered you up into his arms, hugging you tightly to him.

“Listen to me, _________-ah. We're going to get you through this, I promise. I'm pretty sure that what you're feeling is common in new mothers. I think I've heard my therapist talking about it before. I can always give you her number.” he said, rubbing your back in an attempt to soothe you.

“I... I think that might be a good idea.” you sniffled.

You talked with Daesung a little while longer before he convinced you to go upstairs and take a shower and a nap.

When you woke up next, it was late afternoon. You jolted up out of bed, panicking & hurried to the nursery only to find it empty. Running downstairs, you saw Seung Hyun sitting in the De Sede chair.

“Where are the twins?” you asked, your voice shaking with fear.

“Daesung took them over to Youngbae's for a bit. He will bring them back before bedtime.” Seung Hyun replied, looking at you. “You needed the sleep, and I wanted some time with my wife.”

He grabbed your wrist and pulled you onto his lap. His warm, chocolate brown eyes looked into yours and you looked away, ashamed of your feelings from earlier in the day.

“What is wrong, gongju-nim? Daesung told me that you'd been having some very troubling thoughts after looking at some fan comments? Please, ______-ah, what’s going on?”

You felt tears well up in your eyes again, and after a few minutes of silence, you whispered. “I’m weak, Seung Hyun…” the tears fell, streaking your face with heat and you began to tremble. “I just... I let them get to me. I know you told me not to look. But I didn't think that the fans would have such mean things to say about such a beautiful picture.”

Seung Hyun's heart stung at those words. Clearly the fan comments had done more to you than he realized. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into his chest, feeling your sobs as they wracked your body. He didn’t know what to say. Maybe posting the picture hadn’t been the best choice, he only wanted to show off his little family, but maybe he had gone about it the wrong way. As your body quieted, he tilted your head up and planted a soft kiss on your lips.

“You aren’t weak. You've been through hell... all because of what I do. I thought financially supporting you and the twins was my first priority, but I realize now it wasn’t. I need to support you emotionally first. Forgive me?” he whispered.

You looked up at him, his eyes pleading with you, and felt your heart stir. You wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss. The two of you stayed just like that for a long time, holding on to each other like a lifeline.

“There's nothing that you need forgiveness for.” you breathed quietly. “Seung Hyun... take me to bed. Please? I need...” you left that statement open ended, hanging thickly in the air between you.

“Are you... are you sure?” he asked. “Is it okay?”

You chuckled quietly. “The doctor cleared it as okay when I hit nine weeks postpartum. I think we're good.”

“Well then...” he said with a smile. “As you wish.”

It wasn’t until you were laying in bed afterwards, with your head on your husband’s chest, that he let out a startling shriek of triumph.

“I’ve got it!” he said gleefully.

“Got what?”

“The perfect nickname for the twins!”

You lifted your head an looked down at him expectantly.

“Well?”

“Thing 1 and Thing 2!” he said happily.

You just smiled at him before laying your head back down. “You’re right, Seung Hyun... it is perfect.”

He looked so proud of himself that you didn’t have the heart to tell him that you had secretly been calling the twins that for almost two months now...

#bigbang #bigbang scenarios #bigbang scenario #bigbang fanfiction #choi seunghyun #choi seunghyun scenarios #choi seunghyun fanfiction #choi seunghyun scenario #t.o.p scenario #t.o.p #t.o.p scenarios #t.o.p bigbang #t.o.p fanfiction #tabi #kpop scenarios #kpop #kpop fanfiction #kpop scenario

78 notes · View notes