#like i can at least clear hard mode with a B

[rubys-domain]

logged into enstars for the first time in months. i still have no idea how to play this game lmao

[imfinereallyy]

“Steve, it’s an emergency. I need to kiss you. Actually, I need you to kiss me. But I can’t just do it without asking because what if you don’t want me to, and I practically attack you? So yes or no? I swear it’s for a good cause.” Eddie comes running up to Steve in the bar, panting so hard Steve can see the chest movements.

They have taken Robin to a bar out in Indy to get her laid finally. Or at least a tongue in her mouth. The girl is pent up. And it’s Steve’s job as best friend to make that happen (Robin has told him to stop saying that, ‘it is gross’). Eddie is the only other queer person they know and, luckily, has made quite a few trips to Indy to know which bars were the good ones. He tells Steve that, like Robin, he is desperate to get laid, so this is the perfect opportunity.

Steve does his best to try and ignore the burning jealousy he feels at that. Eddie doesn’t know about his feelings (hell about his sexuality), and Steve is pretty sure Eddie doesn’t see him that way.

“Huh?” Asks confused, his brain struggling to process.

“Okay, I see you’re stuck on how to answer, but Steve—“ Eddie grips Steve’s shoulder, and Steve tries not to swoon. “—my ex, the extra shitty one, is here, and if he sees me alone I’ll either a) go home with him tonight and—“

Steve cuts Eddie off with a searing kiss. The thought of Eddie going home with someone else was enough for Steve’s brain to catch up to speed. Steve presses Eddie against the bar. The loud bass of the music suddenly becomes a light thrum in the background. All that he feels is the delightful pressure of their lips together. Eddie’s hands slide up into Steve’s hair as he gets pressed harder into the bar. Steve’s hands' grip Eddie’s waist and give them a tight squeeze. The idea of bruises being left behind, a mark of what they are doing here, makes Steve deepen the kiss. His tongue used to massage Eddie’s, tasting the menthol and rum on his breath. Eddie moans loud and heavy, vibrating Steve’s entire body.

“Eddie?” A voice interrupts them. Steve feels his anger spark back slightly but wills it down because the interruption is probably needed. They are very close to getting kicked out for public indecency.

“Oh hey, Ryan.” Eddie looks the blonde man up and down. He’s cute, Steve notes, but he lacked personality in his appearance. He isn’t what Steve expects from an ex of Eddie’s. He isn’t naive enough to think Eddie dates exclusively metal heads, but he expects someone to match Eddie’s energy. This guy—Ryan apparently—looks like every other guy you’d find on a Sunday in Supermart. Boring and lacking imagination.

“Who’s this?” Ryan looks at Steve pissed.

“Steve?” Eddie wraps an arm around his waist, bringing Steve close up against him. “This is my boyfriend.”

“This dude’s your boyfriend?” Ryan snorts. “C'mon baby, I know you can do better.”

Steve feels his anger finally pop. “He is not your baby. Yea, he can do better than both of us combine, but I’m lucky enough to get him. Now, you interrupted our time together, and we both know you saw what we’re up to, so don’t act like it wasn’t on purpose.”

Ryan startles backwards, “I—“

“Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear. I meant leave the fuck right now.” Steve grits out, some of his Upside Down protection mode popping out. Ryan scatters quickly.

“Jesus, Steve, that was amazing. I’m sorry I had to make you uncomfortable with that.” Eddie’s eyes find his and cuts Steve off before he can protest and explain no, he really did like that “—and you never even let me explain reason b, by the way! Reason b is b) he would probably humiliate me in the middle of the club.”

Steve nods at Eddie but has one track mind at this point. He grabs Eddie by the face this time before crashing their lips together once again. This time Steve moans into Eddie’s mouth as they both get lost in the kiss.

Steve pulls back ever so slightly and talks directly into Eddie’s mouth, “Sorry. I think he’s still staring. Needed to do more.”

Eddie, with swollen lips and a kissed-out face, looks around the bar to find nothing. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

Steve smirks and pulls Eddie by his belt loops so they are flushed together. Steve leans into Eddie’s ear and nibbles at his lobe. “Hmmm, you’re right. I think he’s actually in the bathroom. Maybe we should kiss in front of him there.” Steve whispers hotly.

Eddie’s brain, which has short-circuited much like Steve only minutes ago, finally catches up. Eddie groans, his face collapsing into Steve’s neck. He licks a stripe up Steve’s neck all the way to his mouth. “Fuck. Yea, baby, I think I saw him too. Think kissing, though, won’t be enough. We might need to up our game.”

Steve nips at Eddie’s lips, “I was hoping you would say that. Guess I just know how much you love your games, Eds.”

They meet each other for one last searing kiss before rushing to the bathrooms to share a very tight, very heated stall.

[sweetbottletops]

I was able to read through the English vol 1. The translation was...ok? I knew it couldn't have the the same lines as what we're used to, especially when it comes to teenage slang which can likely go several ways, but I'll probably miss a few lines. Especially what Aya yells at the end.

Since I went over the Japanese volume with a microscope a while back I had time to notice a lot of the work she put into getting the self published twitter manga ready for printing.

When she started off it was more like a covid passion project and I want to say about the first 12 odd chapters had to have a lot of cleaning up, matching the detail levels of later chapters, going back and adjusting screen treatments, and a whole lot of adjusting Aya's expressions to be clearer. Her face was all over the place.

Let's dive in....

As expected she had to remove some copyrighted music art, but there was a surprising amount of references left in and the vibe remains good. Now that I'm looking at it here she also upgrade Koga's desk chair.

Both are Guns N' Roses but different cover art? It must have been for a reason. Negotiations. lol

Aya's unclear emotions are more clear here. She definitely has a bit more sadness when talking about this vs her expression before.

Sometimes she's given teeth and a clearer reaction too. Less of a fear look and more badum badum. Quick grey flashback treatment became the vertical lines she had begun to use in later chapters.

They totally punted on our fever struck Koga referencing a haiku. The people need to know!

Excuse me, it's hunk mode. And rizz. Don't dare take away her rizz.

They mistook who was saying that “sharing troubles” line. It is Koga yelling it. It’s bubble pointing to Koga because she’s saying it. It’s not Narita’s line. And Joe’s “tell Uncle about it” makes more sense to be a response to her. While it can sometimes be tricky to follow who the subject is in Japanese and you have to figure it out contextually it's not hard when there is a point on the speech bubble and a character with her mouth open.

That might be more egregious than not having a favorite line used.

Enough nitpicking from me.

I'd at least suggest looking at the first 12 or so chapters and compare the art to fully appreciate all the work she went through to get her first printed book out last year. It turned out great.

Let's check in on a day after release numbers... B&N and Amazon.

I believe for B&N its for all books within the last 3 months as far as sales cycles, but don't quote me.

[ravenclawshermione]

New Chapter Posted - Crack in the Ice

Alright everyone, it looks like things are wrapping up. B and Robin are currently engaged with Ivy, sending the location now if anyone wants to head over and help wrap this one up, I typed into the main line.

Bruce and Damian wouldn’t love me sending help their way, but I cared more about getting Ivy back behind bars than I cared about their approval. Calla wouldn’t feel safe in the streets as long as Ivy was running loose. I risked a glance at her, a pang of guilt hitting as I saw just how tense and afraid she looked. 

A flurry of movement pulled my attention back to the present. Bomb Voyage had shown up where Bruce, Damian, Jason, and Dick were fighting Ivy and the guards. I muttered a curse under my breath, he hadn’t even been in Arkham. 

Well sacré bleu, if it isn't my least favorite phony Frenchman, Dick quipped.

Before I even had time to scan the area, a chain of explosions went off all around them, sending debris everywhere. Bruce, Damian, and Dick all had extensive enough bio tracking that I could register several cuts, including a few that were deep enough that stitches would loudly be needed. Jason hadn’t wanted his setup to be as invasive, so all I got was the adrenaline spike. 

When the smoke cleared and let me see what the end result was, my heart sank. Ivy and Bomb Voyage were gone. Worse than that, although we hadn’t suffered anything too serious, the guards hadn't been as lucky. 

Oracle, we have three men down, Bruce said, bending down to check on the one closest to him. 

I see it, alerting paramedics and sending them the location now. 

Hey, just take it easy, Dick said, urging one of the guards who had started to stand the stay down, Help is on the way, it’s best to hold off on moving until they get there. 

I couldn’t make out the reply, but the man obeyed. Damian and Bruce were helping the others, and Jason…

Jason was kneeling next to a guard, trying desperately to staunch the abdominal wound that had turned his once blue shirt black. 

His comm channel showed a barely decipherable string of curses and threats. Words that made it clear that he knew the man. No. Had known the man.

I switched on a direct verbal line to him, “Hood…”

“Don’t you fucking say it,” he growled, and I had to force myself not to flinch, “How long until they arrive?”

“Looks like six minutes, but-”

He swallowed hard, finally abandoning his efforts. He had to know that it was far too late for anything shy of a Pit to help.

Oracle, eta to arrival? Bruce asked, clearly not wanting them to still be around when the paramedics and backup arrived. 

You have just over five minutes, I typed, switching the line with Jason off of audio mode and letting out a heavy sigh.

I didn’t bother trying to reach back out to him. Despite being the only one who was okay with dealing out death, he took it harder than any of the rest of us. I’d check in tomorrow, after he had time to process. 

We need to leave, Bruce said, his hand twitching slightly.

He clearly wanted to comfort Jason, but he wouldn’t. Not here, at least, and probably not later. They hadn’t been on a mission together in months. It had to have been almost a year now. 

Oh yes, by all means, wouldn’t want to be around to face the consequences of our inaction, Jason spat. I could hear the venom even through the transcription. 

Not here, Dick said, the sound registering as being softer. I wondered if Jason would even hear him. 

You can fight later, right now we need to leave, Damian said, Hood, you won’t do anyone any good if they decide that you are as culpable as you believe us all to be. 

It was a cold logic that he apparently couldn’t argue, and he gave one final look to the man before standing and following the others away from the scene. Jason managed to keep silent until they made it safely across the bridge. I almost hoped that he would opt to run off, to cut us off for a few days, maybe just cut Bruce off.

I should have known better. 

[coratorium]

wrt last reblog its actually so funny to me how overwatch kind of fucked themselves by trying to have their cake and eat it too and in the process made the characters into like, tools to be wielded instead of classes that fill roles.

like to try and elaborate on this (and this is why im making this my own post instead of going off on a tangent on someone elses post), overwatch has hero switching. as of [current date] there are somewhere between 20 and 200 heroes in the game and any time you are in your spawn room you can swap to any of them within your role that your team doesn't already have.

so this means that when dps hero A is hard countered by hero B, who is countered by hero C, one team is going to play hero A until a B appears on the enemy team, at which point the A player is going to swap to C, and then the B player will die and swap to whatever counters C, etc.

the maps are compact, the respawn timers are short, mobility is high. you have time to respawn on the counterpick and get back in the fight and make a difference. so, if you want to get past a certain rank of play, you have to learn how to hero switch- onetricking a single hero stops being viable. you need to know how to play not just one dps character, but all the dps characters, or at least the ones that are relevant counters to the things that check your preferred hero.

this is in contrast to something like a MOBA, which overwatch obviously borrowed a lot of design ideas from. in a moba you're (usually) stuck on the same character for the entire match. hero B being added to the game has no effect on a match where they're not one of the 10 characters picked. in contrast in overwatch hero B existing can prevent hero A from being used at all, just because the hero A player knows that the second they try to do anything they'll just get countered. and in that way the heroes can affect the way a match is played without ever even making an appearance.

then of course we've got tf2 which made so little of an attempt at balancing for 6v6 play that without player imposed restrictions most 6v6 matches would just be like, 2 medics and 4 demomen.

i'm exaggerating a bit- maybe it wouldn't be that bad- but the design philosophy is just completely different. 6s maps tend to be pretty big. respawn timers are way longer. not every class in tf2 is relevant for 6s. a lot of them are EXTREMELY niche. you're not going to see a 6s team swapping to heavy unless they're desperate to defend a choke in a relatively close quarters environment. if you try to run a heavy for the entire match, you're just going to get flattened- he gets counterpicked out of general relevance the same way overwatch hero A does.

tf2's response to this was not to try and make spy have the same level of impact on the game as the scout and soldier, but to just design an alternate competitive mode where each team has 1 of each class, and then those classes have to find ways to try and make themselves as useful as possible instead of competing to get playtime. the spy immediately becomes more useful in highlander than he does in 6s because the enemy team is guaranteed to have an engineer and a sniper for him to fuck with. the pyro in turn is also more useful, because they have an engineer to protect, an enemy spy to check for, etc. the classes get to exist in a mode where they are interacting with every class on their own team and on the enemy team in every match.

i don't think the differences in design philosophy are inherently good or bad or anything, to be clear. i just think it's interesting.

ok, overwatch hero pool bloat is maybe a little inherently bad, and the most fun i ever had in that game was in the modes where you were locked to one team comp and had to play around that fact. but still.

[syrupspinner]

i completed both Party Hards

tycoon. what tycoon. i dont know what youre talking about

i have... little first-hand experience with the stealth genre. there's a level of Katana Zero with a stealth section, i played a little Aragami a while ago, and uh... i played some skyrim as a tween? wow there arent a lot of stealth games huh. well anyway, its my understanding that for most games, things are structured around infiltration. sneak around guards without getting spotted. this game is pretty unique in that you need to stay in one spot instead of traversing to new locations. the closest i can think is hitman, but there youre heavily discouraged from killing most people, but here youre expected to clear out the whole level.

if you have experience in the stealth genre, you may have some apprehensive questions. like, what do you do with the bodies? how does the crowd react to being thinned out? what can you even do to stay hidden? the answer is: not much. the gameplay loop is the you set some of the traps, and then wait in the bathroom. kill someone, hide their body in the stall, continue waiting. you could leave to another hiding spot off the sidelines, but that risks the bodies being discovered. in a game where you have to restart the 30min~ level if youre caught, you are not encouraged to make mistakes. and if a body is found, the cops are called, and i dont need to explain why thats bad. sure, they leave after a while, but not without searching the place for the weirdo in the hockey mask. so just camp the body pile and get some anime on your second monitor. this is how i watched a lot of hunter x hunter, and i made it through heaven's arena and most of yorknew before the last achievement popped

the sequel doesnt expand on the core gameplay too much, but it adds some quality of life improvements. it gives you the instinct mode from hitman, active items, and a move where you kill everyone in a little circle around you. thats a *huge* bonus, because its just a really good way of dealing with the small crowds that were so annoying in the first game. the plot is an improvement as well; the original was a little surface-level, just a means of getting from point a to point b, but the sequel has like... boss fights and stuff. they really had to stretch to make em work, and theyre my least favorite part of the game, but theyre there. anyway, yeah, the plot was alright, totally serviceable. its not something that sticks out in my brain or anything, but it wasnt bad

so yeah, this game isnt good for people who are impatient of people who are new to the stealth genre. but if you want to give it a try, its not a bad game, it just isnt the best. i wouldnt get all the achievements in a game i disliked, let alone two of them. if you dont mind passive and defensive gameplay, it can even be kinda fun to wait for the perfect moment to strike. between you and me though, you can go straight to the sequel, its a pretty direct improvement unless you have a weird bias against voxel graphics (like i do)

[thepocket221]

Can you write a fanfic for Naven (Epithet Erased) with a sick s/o?

heck yeah!!

i could have easily gotten sick🤒 mixed up with sick😎 but LUCKILY THAT DID NOT HAPPEN /lhj

Naven with a Sick!Reader

fic is under the cut!! (also reader is gender neutral!!)

also maybe slight spoilers?? nothing too bad, just more so for the future of epithet rather than anything in prison of plastic (i think)//

love him

he’s silly (i’ve seen anime campaign and know of the horrors to come)

kinda goes concerned mom mode

gotta make sure the loved one is okay!!

i love his stupid voice omg🫶🫶

ow. Ow. OW. Right as you had gotten up, your arms gave out as your already pounding head hit the pillow as you fell back. Normally pillows were soft, but this one hurt. As a matter of an already-stated fact, everything hurt.

——

——

Meanwhile, humming up a sweet little ditty was said malewife. He was on one of the bottom floors of the oh so very tall building, making you a nice breakfast: some french toast with a fruit bowl on the side! The fruit was mainly apples. This building doesn’t have many other fruits. Don’t question it.

You normally would have met him in the kitchen by now… of course, you did seem a tad bit off the previous night, so maybe you just needed to sleep in a little.

Well, a little while—another hour— passed and you still hadn’t come down yet. The breakfast Naven had prepared went soggy after his many attempts at preserving it, so he took that as his other sign to go up and check on you.

——

A couple of floors later and he is in front of the room you two share. Okay, you share it with one other person, Yoomtah, but A) she has a considerably more spacious area of the room so it’s basically hers at that point, and B) this isn’t about her /lhj.

“(Name)?” He soft voice almost sounded like a whisper as he calls out from behind the curtain separating the two rooms.

You can’t respond. You want to but you can’t. Your throat feels like it’s closing in on itself.

Naven brushes aside the curtain and enters, finding you in your half-dead(not really) state.

“Oh my!” He rushes to your side, yet also keeping his distance, “Darling, what’s wrong?” did he forget the lack of response you gave or is this just a force of habit for him?

You painfully began to turn towards you lover but upon seeing your winces and disgruntled face, he gently places a hand behind your aching head to help.

Oh, what to do, what to do?

He ponders for a moment, taking in the situation you are in, “Hmm, I don’t think it would be a great idea to make you take and hard pills just yet.. Perhaps I’ll focus more on making sure you get something to eat” he stated, his eyes are closed yet filled with concern, “Some soup should help clear up your throat a bit!” Naven smiled. Before he stood up to leave, he placed your and down gently and patted it… which he immediately regretted upon hearing your groan. Any and every movement gave you a terrible shot of pain.

“Ah! Sorry, dear..!” The worry came back in and instant and he took that as his notion to leave and prepare your meal.

——

Ever since you had started dating Naven, he always had a sort of an antsy yet endearing aura about him. As if he’s hiding a terrible secret but still trying to appear as normal as possible.. or at least as normal as a guy who has his eyes closed 24/7 yet still wears glasses can look. He was kind of a weirdo, but he was yours🫶

——

A considerable amount of time had passed and Naven returned. He carried a little tray with a bowl and a glass of water placed on it. He sat down next to you again after placing the tray on the bedside table, “Dear, could you sit up?” Naven’s soothing voice seemingly lifted you as if the words and his tone themself could accomplish physical tasks rather than just being sound vibrations. It didn’t hurt. No, you finally felt some relief when you moved. How does he do that? How does he make the pain go away?

He grabbed the glass of water and your hands met as he handed it to you. You smiled, he had such a warm and comforting presence. God, you loved your boyfriend.

The cold liquid woke you up a little bit as it made its way down your soar throat. It felt nice to get something down it, but the pain soon came back. You placed the water down on the table and rubbed your throat; eyes shut from the pain as you winced a little bit.

A forlorn expression planted onto Naven’s face as he pressed a hand against your cheek and slowly rubbed his thumb in a soothing motion, “Oh dear, I’m so sorry. I know it must hurt, so I won’t take up any more of your time. You definitely need all the rest you can get.” Sadly, he moved his hand away to grab the tray with the soup, set it in your lap, picked up the spoon, daintily stirred it a bit to make sure the various spices and seasonings hadn’t settled to the bottom, and began to lead a spoonful to your mouth. The tiny amount of soup being brought to you smelled as if the spices in it were fighting each other to the death.. but in like, a loving way. They all work together to make the food taste good but still have some sort of rivalry about them. The only way you could tell was from the steam that filled your nose and you can almost feel as if you can breath through it again. As the warm substance hits your tongue, there is a hint of spice that seemingly won the fight of the seasonings. Naven took notice of your slight expression change, “Ah, the little kick it to help clear your nose as well.” He smiled. You could feel your throat’s pains from before begin to lessen the more you took in. This was some damn good soup. Maybe you should get sick more often… that would mean more of this glorious broth filling your senses in the most whimsical of ways.

——

Upon finishing the meal, Naven moved the tray aside back onto the bedside table, helped you lay back down, and planted a soft little kiss on your forehead, “Get some rest, love.” He whispered as he turned off the lamp and began to leave.

Just before he had placed the curtain between the two rooms again, your weak self finally found the strength to speak, “Thank you..”

He turned his head in your direction, “Of course.” a loving sigh and heartfelt chuckle came out as he said that whilst pulling the curtain to where not so much light could seep through. Your tired eyes began to become harder to keep open, so instead of fighting a losing battle, you were lulled back to sleep.

——————————————

GAAAAH I LOVE HIM BUT ALAS I KNOW WHATS GONNA HAPPEN TO HIM😭<//33

okay that’s it, thank you and stay safe🫡🖤‼️

[regallibellbright]

I’m going in with EXTREMELY low expectations of Fashion Dreamer - starting with thinking of it as Style Savvy/Girls Mode/Style Boutique’s Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, since by all accounts removing the shop sim aspect with its budgets and specific customer requests and stock management (along with a lack of story mode) has removed pretty critical incentive structure to keep playing, and a gacha machine for designs IS NOT a suitable substitute!

Also because they didn’t just gender-lock fashion (okay, the bodies are called “Type A” and “Type B,” but it’s pretty blatantly obvious,) they gender-locked it so hard that SOCKS aren’t interchangeable.

There’s actually a tiny bit of variation in proportions and not just stretching the player model up to make it taller, at least for the Type A/girl one, so while you would need to account for pretty significant changes depending on the model I suspect it has more to do with the devs being cowards who won’t let male PCs wear dresses or even tights.

Because seriously. SOCKS.

(Are the guy fashions at least good, though? So far they’re pretty underwhelming, I know from the trailers that at least slightly more interesting fashion than Style Star’s “casual/preppy/basic, bold/rock, luxury” There Are Functionally Three Aesthetics, Maybe Four If Anyone Ever Comes In Asking For It, And They’re All Dull As Hell menswear EXISTS, but I’ve barely seen anything good on either side. Granted, I’ve played for maybe an hour so far? But… ugh, the tutorial here is WAY worse and a bit harder to navigate the menuing, you start with less clothes per NPC than you did in all but the most BLATANT basic tutorials in Style Savvy, and the requests aren’t as clear AND you can’t search by style.)

But I’ve decided I want to give this the fairest shot I can, and I DID like the designing in Fashion Forward and was disappointed when it got stripped back so hard in Style Star. So let’s see how it goes.

[luffythinker]

We need to talk about MomoKendo more Specifically their relationship + first eveythings

First kiss* I think Kendo would be the the one to kiss Momo first, Momo doesnt strike me as the one to women up to the task. Maybe if they were seeing eachother in a small light after the camp incident they start thinking more about eachother Kendo goes to Momo and hesitates apologizing for acting weird not kissing her yet but actually realizing she has a thing for her. After Kamino (the Momo helping with the bakugo escape mission) she doesn't know about it cause the teachers keep it on the down low but she snoops around a little (has someone in class B help her that wont go off the rails but help her figure out what happen help her if she cant find out herself) and finds out while the dorm thing is happening and that's when she goes to scold Momo for being one track minded, she could have gotten hurt! She thought at least Momo would have the common sense but it appears all of class A is an idiot like Monoma says (she says this jokingly angry with momo) which Momo says something like "yes I deserve it cause my actions were less than responsible" and Kendo calls her a idiot in a endearing way grabbing her roughly by her shirt pulling her into a real kiss telling her not to do something like that again holding her face and telling her shes too precious and she couldn't bear something like that happening to her. Momo is in shock and awe still in the close proximity to Kendo eyes wide that she kissed her, she cant tell if shes surprised another girl would kiss her who the fact Kendo cares about her like that Momo's brain is in shut down mode cause NOT JUST A GIRL BUT A REALLY INTELLIGENT REALLY STRONG GIRL TOUCHED HER LIPS WITH HER OWN this moment stays with Momo and she thinks back on it alot she honestly thinks about it more often than ever in her bed or when she gets up to brush her teeth she feels her lip remembering Kendo's words even though they were harsh she didnt honestly remember what she was saying she just remembered the kiss Kendo on the other hand views this as the beginning of them dating and starts doing extra stuff for Momo coming to sit next to her at lunch bringing her gifts or just trying to be what a girlfriend is Mina probably brings it up and Momo's all "were dating?" Momo didnt know shes shocked and surprised when its revealed to her that they were even remotely going out she thought a kid was just a kiss she ddidn't know what it meant Kendo is half laughing at her half disappointed cause that means all the effort she put in wasn't shown without telling she tries to laugh it off like "yeah I thought you knew! I didn't think it needed to be said, what? Should I have kissed you again and properly asked?" Momo is hot mess confused as to why or even how Kendo would want her of all people "What did you think the kiss was for?!" Kendo speaks loudly a little upset half confused at the part momo isn't getting about this "i like you do you want to go out?" She makes it blantly clear for her Momo nods "great! Can I kiss you?" Momo nods again "yes please"

I think that's pretty cute

Lovely, let's get into them!!

JUST TEARED UP A BIT AFTER READING IT ALL CAUSE OMG I LOVE LESBIANS

I think I will just share my thoughts on how I think their relationship would start and then first kiss and stuff

So for me, I can see Kendo having a crush on Momo from afar but not doing anything or even trying to talk to her cause she didn't know she was into girls, I think Momo is demisexual so crushes are a bit hard to explain in her mind, but she does think Kendo is very attractive. They would start talking first after the camp accident, and I think that's when sparks start!! I agree that Kendo would kiss first, especially after she sees that there is interest, I think we can keep your first kiss scenario here because I really loved it so much and it's so perfect for them. Now the aftermath of this is where it gets complicated, cause for Momo she think that there has to be a formal confession and/or will you be my girlfriend? for them to be dating and Kendo thought they were cool and the kiss meant that yes they're into each other so yeah they are dating. I can see this going for weeks and on the first month after the kiss, Kendou wants to celebrate and Momo is like ??? wait what ??? That's where they would have to talk and Kendo finally asks Momo to be her girlfriend, she's confused and upset but overall just satisfied that now her girlfriend is actually her girlfriend!! I think Momo just likes things to be as clear as possible to avoid misunderstandings, and I think that's very sweet of her <3

[dojae-huh]

After listening to TY album, I really like 404 File Not Found and Back to the Past. I already knew it would be hard for me to somehow connect with his music, but I'm very pleased with the outcome of his solo. Not a big fan of the other songs, much least the title track but so happy to see him as a soloist. He got a really good MV and even better outfits (DJJ can't relate).

Aftet the firat listen (and not reading lyrics translations) my faves are: Gwando, Virtual insanity, Ruby.

Move mood mode sounds very SM, and Back to the past reminds me of 127's early b-side sound.

I'd like to hear Ruby with Doyoung featuring. Tae's voice is lacking in the chorus. It is his song and story, his emotions, so artistically it still works, however, a clear voice would be nice, will benefit the song, me thinks.

Shalala is a solid sparkly song. It is a "today" song, but SM doesn't aim to produce timeless songs, it cares about sales in the present. Its only minus (for me) is that it's not a very Taeyong song. I can see Dawn sing it, and any other young idol rapper.

It's like every human has their own natural way of walking, which is a result of the leg length, hip width, proportions, etc. If a person is put on high platforms, the way of walking will change. That's the feeling I get from Shalala. It is Taeyong, but as an idol, not as Taeyong the artist. The song is not deep, introspective or adventurous as Tae's own written works.

The album is wholesome overall. What you get when songs are worked and improved on for a few years.

Let's not talk about DJJ outfits anymore... they should sink in the Lethe.

[pine-tree-system]

I think for the sake of system communication and recovery, I'm gonna say I'm endo/genic.

Now now, hear me out-

Denial sucks ass and it's hard to beat. Especially without a therapist and/or a diagnosis. Hell, even with one, it's a tough beast to grapple with. And when I do grapple with it, when I try to fight it, it fights back even harder and I always go back to square one.

But well, if I might it half way... Maybe I can do better. Maybe it's easier to talk with my parts now.

Cause I know I have trauma. I know I have dissociated parts. I know I have sucky memory. And I know that putting it altogether looks a hell of a lot like CDD. But that doesn't make it easy to say that I have it. I know it exists and if this were someone else, I would've said "yeah, that could be a CDD. You oughta see a specialist!"

But the moment it becomes Me + CDD, right in the same sentence without any arguments... Suddenly, I want nothing to do with any of my parts. Or my trauma. Or my amnesia. I cannot have a CDD. I just can't. Don't tell me otherwise because the denial just can't allow it. It does not want recovery.

But maybe, just maybe, if I say I'm endo, maybe it'll make it easier. It's easier to say I'm endo with trauma (what an oxymoron lol) than I have a CDD. And because it's easier, it'll also be easier to talk with my parts. It'll be easier to journal too. And deal with trauma. Recovery will be easier.

Maybe. Just a little experiment. Feel free to politely argue otherwise. I know endos can be a trigger for some folks and I'm no stranger to going into fight mode due to triggers. I just don't wanna fight with you, person with good intentions.

Edit:

I'm gonna make it clear tho. I'm calling MYSELF endo. Whatever you are, that's your business. You know yourself. I'm not gonna say you're endo because your trauma doesn't look like trauma. That's rude as fucking hell, at the very least.

And also, it's actually less of saying I'm endo and just... Pretending I'm endo. Like, pretending I'm mixed origins despite contradictory evidence. Just so I can get from point A to point B. It's easier than trying to bash my denial away and yelling at it how I actually have a CDD. It doesn't wanna play like that. It wants to be a fucking idiot and say "oh sure. You have the symptoms and the common experiences and our recovery was pretty good when we acknowledged our systemhood. But you're not a system. You're a dramatic, sensitive, ableist, faking attention-whore. :)"

Like, thanks, denial. :/

But I'll spoon-feed my denial some good ol' endo-mixed origins BS, just in case it'll allow other alters to talk. So I can just... Communicate, check in with everyone, allow all my parts to talk. Allow every piece of myself to have a voice. Even if it really turns out that I don't have a CDD, I at least allowed the entirety of myself to have a voice and I'll treat myself better. Better than repression.

[bitterrobin]

1,8,13 for the hate ask game 💃💃

a character everyone gets wrong -- The character I'd say that everyone truly gets wrong is Talia. With the exception of dedicated Talia fans and certain Damian or Bruce fans, pretty much everyone in wider fandom has some kind of negative view on her. If its not about Talia's relationship with Bruce, then its about her relationship with Damian. People will pop up with "Talia's a rapist!" Technically, yes, but that got retconned years ago and the writer admitted their own mistakes. Even then, why are you so adamant that Talia, historically one of few Arab/Asian characters in DC to be at least morally grey and portrayed positively romantically with a main hero, be immediately villainized based on the work of a single author? And then, there are also Damian fans who still swear by "Talia's an abusive mother!" when if her character wasn't so butchered, drawn and quartered by DC writers she would never treat Damian that badly? (Much less have a child raised in the League??) I've noticed some fans will stab at any flaw of the mother and dismiss the flaws of the father - it doesn't just happen w Talia it happens with almost every mother in Batman adjacent fandom. Talia, Janet --and then Bruce's clear flaws are ignored or explained away, Jack's actual present involvement in raising Tim is either dismissed or also turned up to eleven. I should stop here before this gets any longer lmao. There's more succinct and well-read Talia stans out there who carry the same complaints.

8. common fandom opinion everyone is wrong about -- A lot of misconceptions float around the fandom its hard to just choose one. But "Dick sent __ to Arkham!" and "Damian aggressively tries to kill Tim every chance he gets" are the worst contenders. No, SpongeBob, Dick didn't send Tim to Arkham, he was trying to get Tim to see a therapist. No, SpongeBob, Dick didn't sent Jason to Arkham, Jason got arrested by the GCPD and put there by them. No, SpongeBob, Damian doesn't feed Tim rat poison every day and try to slice his head off every hour, Damian's only seriously attacked Tim (in the Reborn 2009-2011 era) twice. Once, in his introduction where Damian was clearly set up as a nothing-character who wouldn't appear again until Morrison decided to project their "child of divorce" arc onto him. Again, the line cutting in Red Robin, when Damian was retaliating for something Tim did against him. Was it justified? No. But people really portray Damian as a child psychopath over these incidents. Some Tim-fan's genuine hatred seeps into their fics and become laughably awful to the point Tim doesn't seem like a sympathetic character anymore. And yes, Tim may be insecure and grieving but guess who also was??? Damian, who also lost his father and doesn't know where he fits into the family. Is it so hard to admit that Tim and Damian were equally bad to each other, and there is no side to take? Is it so hard to admit that Dick was also dealing with serious shit, also lost his father, and he couldn't make the "right decisions" for everyone? I feel like I have to get on a megaphone and yell "EVERYONE WAS GRIEVING AND TERRIBLE! THERE IS NO RIGHT OPINION OR OPTION THAT WOULD SAVE THEM!"

13. worst blorbofication -- *siiiigh* Objectively speaking, every character gets blorbofied, not even my fellow Damian fans are exempt from this. But the absolute worst offenders are of course, Tim and Jason and occasionally, Dick. They do get blorbofied for different reasons and in different ways though, which I'll admit does affect my opinions for each of them and their fans. Tim gets blorbofied to hell and back because its easy. Thats it. The longest running Robin has tons of fodder to explore, and I get it. Tim is easy to warp into whump mode, but that doesn't mean I'll turn a blind eye to how utterly fucked over everyone else has to get in order to get Tim to that state. You can explore Tim's terrible moments in life without making everyone the villain. Jason gets blorbofied in two ways: the struggles of his childhood and the ever-present specter of UTRH. Jason's fodder for whump is basically singular - its his death/resurrection and rarely anything else, maybe his parents if a fan's feeling bad about it. I get it, again, Jason's narrative is interesting to explore. Some fans just delve too deep into justifying all of Jason's feelings and actions and shoving Bruce into the "terrible dad/mourner" machine that I've grown apathetic to it. We get it, Jason's death was terrible and Bruce is terrible for moving on like a normal person would /s. Finally, Dick is a strange case. Ive seen more fans of other characters blorbofy Dick than actual Dick fans. I think this mostly because Dick's sources of trauma have been widely explored and agreed upon, or at least his history is so expansive that the fandom just doesn't get into it (cough the non-comic readers cough). Frankly I don't have major issues with Dick whump, just that it sometimes weirdly centers other character than actually around Dick. Tarantula/the multiple incidents of SA/Bludhaven getting nuked/Dick's subsequent mental breakdown always seems to get explored in terms of "how will these characters react to it?" rather than how does Dick feel about it? It bothers me when fics veer into "and Jason is a good brother/good arbiter of justice because he kills the rapist and everyone is fine with it and everyone clapped" when Dick canonically would just feel even worse about it if that happened. The scenario is set up to justify Jason's philosophy and history, and again, no one cares what Dick would really want. I actually think that's the only instance where Dick gets blorbofied in fics, correct me if i'm wrong, and its at his own detriment. I've read Dick being weirdly wrong or mean to other characters than fics where people are exaggeratedly mean to him.

(ask q's from here)

[bluem00n007]

Hello!! Hopefully I didn't keep you waiting for too long. Anyways, here's my incoherent ramble. Your concepts about the effect of imprinting are definitely food for the thought, I love it!! I think my favorite would be the first one surprisingly, even if it's really simple. Sharing emotions with your imprint can lead to some really angsty moments, like the scenario of summoner being kidnapped by the void that you mentioned. Although your third point where an imprinted can't be injured would come in clutch, the summoner is still emotionally effected. The sorcerers would feel all that turmoil, and it just adds on to the desperation and despair while trying to find and rescue the summoner. Also, how did you know that it's canon that imprints can share emotions? I'm really sorry if I sound dumb rn, but I don't think I remember that being mentioned. But either way, spica would still be gigachad for agreeing to imprint with the summoner, he has all my respect lmao.

Also also, regarding the second point, do you have any other theories as to why you think the summoner has so many imprints already? Because although you mentioned the Time Loop Theory, you did say that you pretty unsure about it. I would love to hear your thoughts about it, but only if you're comfortable. And as for the third point, could there be a limit to how much damage can be deflected? Like maybe a slice or a bruise would be easily transferred to the attacker, but what about a critical stab wound or a fracture? Imprints aren't exactly a indestructible shield, just an oath to protect made by the parties involved. If the summoner was critically hurt, it would be pretty angsty if some of the injuries they received were transferred to some of the guide committee in an attempt to sustain their life.

Hopefully this wasn't annoying to read through, and thank you sm for spending time to read through my weird ideas!! Take care!!

Dear annon, did I ever tell you how much I love your thinking? I am telling you that now, I love your way of thinking, it is perfect, so please it is not annoying or anything! I am very much living for the angst headcanons and ideas you are giving me

First let me answer your question about the emotions thing, so when we make a pact with Poll and he goes berserk mode and destroys the lab, the summoner says "I feel he is lonely", Sirius remarks it must be our imprint allowing us to feel his loneliness, hope this makes it clear! (I personally know this because I have replayed that chapter at least 3 times, so no you are not being dumb)

For my theory regarding Summoner, it's a bit hard to say, but I am not completely sure, other than summoner having something to do with Polaris, the Ursa constellations are used to find the position of the Pole star after all, you think this is why Castor said our soul is special and that it isn't monsters the void is trying to summon but Polaris? Like the entire rebellion madoka movie? Ah sorry, so about why we have so many imprints, it's hard to say, even cannonicaly it's an enigma that not a lot of people know about, like my sincere apologies, but I have no theory to give in replacement of time loop, despite not agreeing with it, other than just saying we are someone close to Polaris or his placeholder in the current time, it would help a lot of we had a cannon calender, pointing when Polaris vanished, because I don't buy that he died out of no where, plus this is our second time in bound arlyn, two (ehe) much of a coincidence, Vega had his destiny of being Orpheus, the Greek epic so he was also there with us, the void have done their homework on constellations, huh?

The thing with imprinting partners getting hurt though, I am only basing it off of Poll's exact words actualy, "strangling" is a little bit odd? Like you can just say "harming an imprinted partner is like harming yourself" but no, strangling, so I guess it's more of a hurting your partner will give you a prolonged version of that pain? There must be a limit to it too, unless we are talking about straight up killing your partner, then I guess it's RIP? It would be agsty if summoner's injuries got transferred to guide come and I live for angst TvT thank you, but I don't think it just happens for every random injury, if Summoner's got a papercut it won't randomly appear on the others, more so, someone from the guide committee must cause a direct injury to summoner to get hurt, I am only saying this as such because Sirius seemed fine and ready to fight and Even wore a crop top after destroying the tower of Babili, despite the fact that summoner was knocked out for a good few days and was bleeding, yeah I don't buy his mana healed that fast, especially after chapter 10

So what do you think?

[kaymarie-bell]

Idia’s Backstory Translation

Don’t look at me I’m a mess rn

Disclaimer: my own translation, just for entertainment purposes, there might be mistakes. Proceed to suffer.

Idia: My whole life was decided before I was even born.

“The Guardian of the Island of Woe”

That’s my future job.

Those who are born into the Shroud family are able to burn off accumulated blot in their bodies easily…

It is an unique magic that opens and closes the gates of “The Underworld”

Researcher A: Idia-sama is truly excellent in both academics and magic.

Researcher A: Experts in the magic engineering field are especially interested in him. He’s a genius.

Researcher B: Yes. The future of [S.T.Y.X.] is secure with him.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

For an ordinary child, that’s a question that will be asked to them at least once.

Would it be alright if someone asked me once as well?

[Run like a meteor, aiming for distant glory!]

Young Ortho: Hang in there, Big Brother! Hit Chronos’ army!

Young Idia: Yes! Hard Mode cleared!

Young Ortho: As expected of my brother! You defeated Chronos’ army!

Young Idia: Ahhh. I want to go on adventures to the outside world like the hero of [Star Rogue].

Young Ortho: Me too! I’m going on an adventure with my brother too!

Young Ortho: Then, we can be heroes who beat the bad guys together.

Young Idia: Heroes….I thought I might be able to go with Ortho, but I guess I can’t.

Young Ortho: Why? I want to be with my brother.

Young Idia: Because when I grow up, I have to take over the household…

Young Ortho: Well, what about before you grow up?

Young Idia: Before I grow up…?

Young Ortho: Yeah. You can go on an adventure trip before you grow up, right?

Young Idia: That’s right. I may be able to go outside before I have to take over the household.

Young Idia:…It’s easy to get out of the [Okeanus Hall] if you can break through the security system of the headquarters. That means…

Young Idia:…let’s go on an adventure.

Young Ortho: !! Yes! I want to go!

Young Idia: Leave it to your big brother!

I was just curious.

I just wanted to have a little adventure.

I didn’t think much of it.

I can’t believe it happened-

Young Idia: Heheh. It was easy for me to turn off the security. Is it okay to be able to break in so easily?

Young Ortho: Wow…! It’s my first time in this place.

Young Idia: Ortho, make sure you follow behind me.

Young Idia: you need an amphibious magic vehicle to be able to leave [Okeanus Hall]

Young Idia: Wait just a moment. Now, I just go to the hangar management system…

*Alarm Turns On*

Announcement: An emergency has occurred. The headquarter’s security system has been compromised by an external cyber attack.

Announcement: All detention centres in [Tartarus] have been unlocked. Subject ROS-3367A has escaped from the laboratory building.

Announcement: Charon units to head to [Tartarus] immediately! Non-combatants must evacuate to the shelters quickly!

Young Ortho:…Brother? What’s that sound?

Young Idia: No way…It can’t be…The security system I hacked into and turned off earlier…

Young Idia: N-no. I have to turn it back on!

Young Ortho:…B-big brother!

Young Idia: It’s okay. Your brother is lucky.

Young Ortho: No, brother…there’s something at the end of the corridor!

Young Idia: Eh?!

???: *growls!*

Young Idia: That’s- a monster?!

???: *growls*

I don’t remember what happened from there.

By the time I woke up, Ortho was gone.

Researcher A: I can’t believe that a 10-year-old boy could hack into the world’s highest security system…

Researcher C: He is too much of a genius. I never expected it to end in such a tragedy…

Researcher A: They say that all the phantoms were sent down to the underworld.

Researcher B: Even though there was no other choice….It was an unfortunate incident.

Young Idia: It was my fault. I was the one who told him to go on an adventure.

Young Idia: How can I be a genius if I can’t even protect my brother…? How could I ever be a hero?!

Young Idia: Ortho come back…give me Ortho back…

Young Idia: Every part of Ortho…return his body, his personality, his memories, everything!!

Young Idia:….that’s right.

If he can’t come back on his own, I can just make him.

….It’s okay. I remember everything. I can make the perfect Ortho again.

We promised we would go on an adventure together…

…Just leave it to your big brother.

Researcher A: Idia-sama…It’s been more than two years since he has stayed inside his room.

Researcher B: He has shut his heart ever since losing Ortho-sama.

Researcher C: However, he keeps requesting a large amount of magical parts regularly. Just what the hell is he doing…?

Boy Idia: Boom ba da boom boom boom! Ha! It’s done!! I finished it!

Boy Idia: I finally got it back!

Researcher A: Idia-sama?! Finished? What did you finish?

Boy Idia: Hehehe! What, you say? It’s Ortho!

Ortho: Nice to meet you. I am Ortho.

Boy Idia: What do you think!? It’s a complete reproduction of Ortho’s memories and thought patterns.

Boy Idia: the AI also includes a self-learning algorithm.

Boy Idia: The world’s first magic humanoid that continues to grow on its own. This is [ORTHO]!!

Researcher A: No way…you recreated your younger brother?!

Researcher B: That’s a taboo, Idia-sama!

Boy Idia: Huh? The story of a hero rescuing his girlfriend back from the underworld is considered a beautiful story, but why is it that when it comes to a younger brother it becomes a taboo?

Researcher B: T-that’s…

Boy Idia: Haaa. This is exactly why I dislike ordinary people!

Boy Idia: Would you please stop judging others with subjective ethics or mere emotional arguments?

Boy Idia: My “younger brother” is here because there is nothing physical to prove the existence of a soul.

Boy Idia: And he is stronger, much stronger than the living, he cannot be broken easily.

Boy Idia: If we keep making improvements, one day we can reach the end of the universe with this body. That’s right, Ortho!

Ortho: Hm! [Run like a meteor, aiming for distant glory!]

Boy Idia:…that’s right. Hehe! Both Chronos and the phantoms would be nothing compared to the current Ortho.

Boy Idia: The current Ortho could even be a hero…hehe!…he…hng…*sob*

Ortho: Your frontal cortex is overactive and your autonomic nerves are disturbed. It is recommended that you take a proper rest.

I wonder where I went wrong.

If I hadn’t tried to go on an adventure that day…

No, if I hadn’t yearned to become a hero before that…

Maybe, If I hadn’t been born in the Shroud family in the first place…?

If only…If only we had been born in a normal family…

Having friends to play games with,

Going on adventures,

Talking about our dreams for the future…

I might have become a real hero someday.

How did this happen?

I….

We just wanted to be like everybody else.

…Big brother.

….Ortho?

Thank you for chasing after me. I was very happy.

But, my brother shouldn’t come here yet.

Ortho…Why? I’ll go with you. We made a promise.

Yes. But “someday” is not “now.”

You want to read the rest of that manga, go watch an idol group live, play a new game…

My brother loves this world too much to give everything up.

Ha!? Who would love such a crap world!

It doesn’t matter if all that shit is gone!

You don’t have to be so silly. You don’t have to give up on anything anymore.

My brother has a future.

I want my brother to fulfill the dream we had that day.

Our dream…?  

I’m sure it’ll be a long road. And you might be discouraged. But…

You’re my big brother….my elder brother can go anywhere.

No matter how far away the place you dream of is, you will definitely get there.

It’s okay. I’ll be with you forever.

So don’t give up.

Ortho…wait

ORTHO—!!

???: IDIA!

——-

I apologize for any typos or grammatical errors, I could barely see past my tears sorry

Idia's VAs (the usual + the child voice) bodied this whole chapter. I highly recommend listening along.

The way he goes from laughing to crying during the hero line was heartbreaking, and the way he was begging to get Ortho back dealt me some heavy emotional damage. God I loved this chapter.

[luimagines]

Can I get twilight and wars (seperate) with an injured reader? Like badly injured but not dead

O.O

I hear you loud and clear. I gotchu.

Masterlist

Content under the cut!

Twilight

Twilight was screaming your name.

He has been for a while.

He doubt that he will still have his voice by the end of the day if he doesn’t stop any time soon but things were bad. 

You had gotten separated in the scuffle. He was alone. While the group went one way, he went another and you went god knows where. 

Twilight passes a minor clearing with two directions. Down one he could smell the faint traces of cooking food. He knows it would lead him back to the group but the other way concerns him. It has the faint traces of blood. Your blood. It’s as if someone injected ice into his very veins.

He doesn’t take long to figure out his decision.

Twilight starts sprinting down the beaten path. He blearily wonders if anyone else has even bothered to come down this way in so long. He knows that it has to have been at years for it to become as overgrown as it currently is. It’s unstable as a path and rocky to a fault. Twilight falls off of his feet at least twice in his attempt to follow the faint smell that steadily gets stronger the more he travels.

His worry for you grows.

Twilight continues running when he can and he nearly kicks himself for it. Down the path, hidden by the tangled branches and roots of the trees, he sees a dark mass.

He almost completely passes it.

“Hello?” You call.

Twilight stops dead in his tracks and b-lines back to the dark blob against the green. Attentively, he says your name and pulls back the foliage as much as he can to get a better look.

“You found me.” You whisper. “I thought no one would.”

“I’m here.” Twilight bends down and crawls to your side. “I’m here. We’re going to get back to the others, ok-”

He sees you. He sees where you’re bleeding. A smaller spot on your arm. One by your forehead and another on your leg. Speaking of your legs, one isn’t supposed to be able to bend that way.

“I had to hide.” You hiss as tears fall down your face. “They would have found me before you would have.”

“Who?” Twilight’s on attack mode. His rage at your injuries is only silenced by the need for more information. But you stay silent.

Undeterred, and if anything, only more determined. Twilight maneuvers over you and slowly positions himself to drag you halfway out of your little hidey hole.

“I’m know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He says softly when you begin to cry harder from the pain of moving. He makes his way out of the hole and pulls you out of it and right into his arms. He turns around to go back to the group.

“We’re going to get you help, ok? We’re going to get back to the others. We’re going to have dinner. And you’re going to be patched up and full and warm and no one is going to hurt you, ok? They’ll have to go through me first.” Twilight rambles. It’s hard to tell whether he’s trying to comfort you or himself.

Regardless, you sniffle and use your torn sleeves to wipe the tears from your face, getting a bit of blood on the cloth from your head injury in the process. “Thank you Link.”

Twilight pauses at your use of the name but he continues out after a solid jump over a rocky formation. “It’s what we do.”

“It’s what you do.”

“Well you’re one of us, so you count.”

Warrior

He saw you fall from a distance.

Warrior wasn’t sure if there was anyone else nearby when it happened. All he knows is that you were fighting alone on a cliff. He was below. And you were driven off of the edge.

Driven by his need to help and make sure he didn’t lose another one on the battle field, he finishes the monsters around him with a beastly vengeance.

He’s quick to sprint in your direction. He has to get to you. He has to find you. He has to make sure you’re heart is still beating.

He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he was so close but too far. That he was within spitting distance and he would have still failed you.

His saliva is thick in this throat as he continues on. He can feel something try to shoot at him. Something tears at the back of his leg, another by his shoulder and a third just grazes his head.

He keeps running.

He finds you trying to get back up- your sword having been caught in the tree that broke your fall. There’s a lot of twigs and leaves in your hair and clothes. Many more litter the ground around you. 

Warrior is quick to fall by your side, shielding you with his body as more arrows fall around you. 

You groan and hiss, spitting curses left and right to rival the literal sailor in your group. 

Warrior hasn’t been so thankful to hear it. “I have you. You’re ok.”

“...Link...” You squint and look up. Your eyes widen and you hand fails you. Hitting the ground once more doesn’t bother you. You’re too focused on reach up and touching the suddenly stinging part of his ear that Warrior knows he’ll has to attend to afterwards. “You’re hurt.”

Another barrage of arrows and Warrior tucks himself closer over you. He can see that you’re bleeding in multiple areas. Maybe a few broken ribs and your knee certainly doesn’t look right.

But you’re more concerned about him at the moment even if he’s faring far better at the moment. It lightens the burden in Warrior’s chest and brushes away some of his fears.

You’re going to be ok. This isn’t the last of you. You’re just going to have to take it easy for a while.

“You’re hurt too.” Warrior smiles at you and has to swallow the thick muck that’s been collecting in this mouth.

It tastes metallic. Great. He’s bitten his tongue on top of it all.

“Your ear...” You trail off and try to sit up again. You hiss and Warrior can see how it pains you to even move an inch by your own power.

You’re worse off than he wanted to think.

He shifts himself to move away momentarily before leaning over and scooping you up into his arms. It’s a bit harder to carry your weight now that he’s aware of the injury to his leg as well and he stumbles a bit on his way up.

He bites back the curse. He doesn’t want to upset you anymore.

“Let’s go get you some help.” He says calmly.

“I’m not going to be able to fight like this.” You say quietly. It’s an apology.

“Don’t worry about it.” He replies without missing a beat. He can’t go back the way he came. He turns to the left and runs into the thicket. He hopes to lose the trail and get the enemy off of his scent. “You’re not even gonna know this happen a year from now.”

“I think my knee is broken and it hurts to breathe.” You say.

“That would be your broken ribs.”

“Oh fun.”

“I’m sure it isn’t.” He smiles at your sarcasm. Yup. You’ll be right as rain before either of you know it. You’re too stubborn to let this stop you.

[crystalelemental]

Trainer Lodge - Expedition Guide

Now that we’re on day 3, and are starting to get those extra expedition slots, I figured now is as good a time as any to start building a resource for the mode going forward.  Specifically, how to set up your exploration teams for maximum profit.  While the early game here is straightforward - pick a color and stick with it until you’re done - the later game has the potential to focus on two colors at once.  With optimal teams, you can even cap the discovery rate of both colors.  That is the ultimate goal of this post: to outline some team compositions that allow for optimal resource acquisition.

Getting Started For those who may be starting out, the general flow is simple.  You want to focus on one color of stone at a time, and get as high a ranking as possible.  Ideally, you hit 10, but this is almost always only achieved with an Omni Potion in tow.

The one big thing to note is that one of your two exploration teams should always be Rare Cache.  While the random probability can hurt, it is the only source of the Stone items that are used to gain additional interactions and the highest tier of gifts, so they are absolutely essential to acquire.  Rare Caches can also surprise you with good rolls, providing massive quantities of Tier 2 and 3 crystals, simplifying your needs.  Always have someone on Rare Cache.

The problem with Rare Cache is that the best options are super limited.  SS Lusamine, Renegade Cynthia, and SS Giovanni all give +3 to the rank, and you need three of these options to achieve +10 with a three-unit composition and an Omni Potion.  The only generally available alternative is Masked Royal, who should always be present if you have him.  The good news is that Gold Chests start appearing at Level 7, so all you need is Masked Royal and two other options with +2, and you’re good to go.  But this is definitely an area I hope other F2P units will add to in the future.

Now, until you hit all six slots, there’s no way to get Level 10 in two categories.  As such, I’ll be addressing only six-unit compositions from here on, focusing on a combination of two crystal types.  Note that not all crystal types are created equal.  Red gets gifts for four units, Blue for three, and Yellow for two.  As such, Yellow’s kinda the least essential to stay on top of once all exploration slots are unlocked, but you do want to have some intake for them so you can get the assist items during interactions.

The last question then is how.  And this involves something that isn’t immediately clear.  Most units have +X and maybe -X if their value is high.  But some have a purple border and a range.  This range is dictated by how many other characters from their region are on the exploration team.  So, let’s say you have Selene.  She has a 1-6 range.  If all six of your exploration slots are Alolan, she gives +6 to Red.  By comparison, there’s a 0-4 range.  This seems to be dictated by how many units are from the region as well, but is all or nothing.  If you have at least two allies from that region, +4.  Anything less, nothing.  I assume this is the case, but it could be “more than half” in that region.  It’s hard to tell when you don’t have all six slots to test what 3 on/3 off looks like.

As one final note: expedition teams have an inherent +1 in two categories.  Team A has +1 Red/+1 Yellow, while Team B has +1 Blue/+1 Cache.  This can sometimes improve general performance, but is also an absolute nuisance to deal with in most scenarios, since Blue/Cache is a nightmare to set up.

Red/Blue What I consider the most valuable combination, due to hitting seven of the gift types.

Your 1-6 Red units are Morty, Selene, and Steven.  Your 0-4 are Nate and Classic Blue.

Your 1-6 Blue units are Hilbert, Sycamore, and Sonia.  Your 0-4 are Lillie and SS Kris.

Based on this, the best overlap is for Unova, which has Nate and Hilbert, both in the general pool.  Johto has good overlap, if you pulled SS Kris.  Otherwise, Hoenn, Alola, Kalos, and Galar are still in the race.

Option 1: Morty, SS Kris, Ethan, Bugsy/Clair, SC Jasmine, Lyra This is a very heavy investment set, requiring a Master Fair and a seasonal, but it’s optimal.  Morty gets +6R, and Kris gets +4B, for the Johto themes.  Ethan is +2R, while SC Jasmine and Lyra are +2B each, setting both to +8.  Bugsy or Clair have +1R/+1B, putting both values to 9.  With an Omni Potion, both Red and Blue are +10, with each other category being at their standard values.

Option 2: Hilbert, Nate, Hilda, SS Grimsley, Rosa, Cheren This set does the same above.  Hilbert is +6B, Nate is +4R.  Hilda and SS Grimsley are +2R each, Rosa is +2B, and Cheren gives +1R/+1B.  Note that, if you don’t have Hilda or SS Grimsley, you can use Marshall and Roxie/Brycen as commons to manage the Red needs without suffering the -1Y on Marshall.

Option 3: Steven, Drake, Glacia, Roxanne, Norman, Liza Steven gets +6R, while Drake and Glacia give +3B.  The last three all gives +1R/+1B, to set both to 9.  If you have Steven, this is a pretty F2P friendly solution as well, but it does tank Yellow.  Not that it matters much, but you know.

Option 4: Selene, Lillie, Molayne, Lana, Elio, Lusamine/Plumeria Selene gives +6R, Lillie gives +4B.  Molayne gives +3R, while Lana gives +3B.  Both inflict -1Y, and since that’s a dump stat, throw in Lusamine or Plumeria for the extra +2 Rare.  Elio gives +2B, putting Red and Blue at +9, Rare at +2, and Yellow in the tank.  That said, I will strongly recommend against this comp, for reasons that will be made clear later.

Sycamore doesn’t work.  There aren’t enough Kalosian units for this particular combination.  It may also be because I’m missing a lot of Galarian units because of how limited that all are, but Galar doesn’t work either.  I’m missing too much Red.

Option 5: Marshall, Molayne, Flint, Drake, Glacia, Lana If you have absolutely no time for this nerd shit of identifying common regions, you can always just get three +3 options in Red or Blue, and have all their deficits be in Yellow.  Red actually has three options readily available, while Blue just needs Glacia and Lana.

Red/Yellow Your 1-6 Red units are Morty, Selene, and Steven.  Your 0-4 are Nate and Classic Blue.

Your 1-6 Yellow units are SS Leaf and Lucas.  Your 0-4 are Serena and May.

Based on this, Hoenn has the best overlap, with Kanto working if you have some limited options.  Other regional options are Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Kalos, and Alola.

Option 1: SS Leaf, Classic Blue, SS Brock, SS Red/NY!Lance, Oak, Blaine This one’s rough.  SS Leaf is +6Y, C!Blue is +4R.  SS Brock and one of SS Red or NY!Lance are +2R each.  Oak is +2Y.  Blaine is +1Y/+1B  This achieves +9 in both, an Omni Potion caps to 10.

Option 2: Steven, May, BP Zinnia, Lisia, Brendan, Brawly Steven’s +6R, May’s +4Y.  BP Zinnia is +2Y, as is Lisia.  Brendan is +2R.  Note that Zinniquaza can also cover +2R, but the only alternatives to cover BP Zinnia’s yellow are May alts, so once again Zinniquaza is inferior.  Brawly is +1R/+1Y.

Option 3: Selene, Nanu, Sophocles, Kahili, Mina, Hapu This one’s rough.  Selene is +6R.  Nanu and Sophocles get +3Y, but -1B, so Blue is dumped.  Kahili gets +3R, while Mina gets +3Y.  Problem: Mina also cuts Red by 1.  So we need one more Red unit, that doesn’t cut into Yellow again.  Hapu is the only F2P one you’ll have, but Hala, Olivia, or Anni Lillie work as well.  As with the other Alolan cluster, I recommend against this one really, really strongly for reasons that will be apparent later.

Morty doesn’t work, there’s not enough Yellow in Johto.  Sinnoh also doesn’t work, there’s not enough Red.  Sinnoh also doesn’t work, we need just one more unit aside from Looker with +2R to achieve it, so look forward to that I guess.  Kalos doesn’t have enough Red, and I’m not convinced enough Yellow either. 

Option 4: Nanu, Koga, Sophocles, Hapu, Kahili, Shauntal This is a surprisingly free combo for a bunch of common +3/-1 units.  Not bad, Red/Yellow cluster.

Blue/Yellow Your 1-6 Blue units are Hilbert, Sycamore, and Sonia.  Your 0-4 are Lillie and SS Kris. 

Your 1-6 Yellow units are SS Leaf and Lucas.  Your 0-4 are Serena and May. 

Maybe Kalos can finally get one.  Otherwise, literally every region has a finger in this pie.

Option 1: Sycamore, Serena, Calem, Viola, Ramos, Grant They did it!  Sycamore +6B, Serena +4Y.  Calem +2Y.  The last three are all +1Y/+1B, for +9 each.  This literally just needs Serena, a 50/50 shot on the Kalos ticket scout.

Option 2: Lucas, Lucian, Aaron, Cheryl, Marley, Dawn Lucas gets +6Y.  Lucian gets +3Y, at the cost of Red.  Aaron is +3B, at the cost of Red.  Cheryl, Marley, and Dawn are all +2B.

Option 3: Lillie, Elio, Kiawe, Mallow, Nanu, Mina Lillie’s +4B.  Elio and Kiawe are +3B, with -1R.  Mallow and Mina are +3Y with -1R, while Nanu is +3Y with -1B.  Blue is set to 10 here, so it checks out.

Kanto doesn’t work, not enough Blue.  Johto doesn’t work, not enough Yellow.  Hoenn actually doesn’t work either, to my surprise.  They have options but a lot of them conflict.  Unova...listen, it can work, but the level of limited options is off the charts.  Literally everything but Grimsley and Hilbert are limited availability.  If there’s a way to do anything around Galar, I don’t know about it.

Option 4: Phoebe, Kiawe, Aaron, Acerola, Mina, Lorelei The +3 Blue options are expensive, but the +3 Yellow are pretty free, if you want to just use whatever adds to +9.

Cache/Red Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for.  Why you shouldn’t use Alola for any other Red composition.

Option 1: Masked Royal, SS Lusamine, SS Giovanni, Selene, Kahili, Molayne Masked Royal and Lusamine are the only regional overlap for the Cache set.  By setting those two up with Giovanni, you you minimize the impact on Red to -2.  Kahili and Molayne get +3R, but -1B and -1Y respectively.  This puts you at +9C and +9R.  But if you don’t have limited options...

Option 2: Masked Royal, Selene, Hau, Plumeria, Lusamine, Kahili/Molayne This is the best we can do.  Masked Royal is +3C, with Hau, Plumeria, and Lusamine giving +2 each, setting Cache at 9.  Selene gives +6, while Kahili or Molayne are +2.  This gives +7R, exactly enough to pull in some Ultra Crystals.  As an alternative, you can trade out one of the +2C for Hapu, and get max effect for Red.

Cache/Yellow This is tougher, but there is overlap, it just requires even rarer options.

Option 1: Masked Royal, SS Lusamine/SSGiovanni, Renegade Cynthia, Lucas, Bertha, Lucian And it’s still short.  The main issue is the other Cache units in Sinnoh tend to cut into your Yellow, which hurts a lot.  So you need the other +3 options, which limits Lucas to +4Y.  Bertha and Lucian are the best you can do after that, which hits +8 after the deduction from either Lusamine or Giovanni.  You’ll always be just short.

Option 2: Masked Royal, Renegade Cynthia, SS Giovanni, SS Leaf, Lorelei, Koga +9C and +8Y, you’re one off.  And you’re locked into needing Giovanni for Leaf purposes.  Sigh...

Option 3: Masked Royal, Lucy, Noland, Thorton/Koga, May, Nanu I wanted to try something without hard limited units.  Thorton or Koga is the adjustment.  With Thorton, +9C, but only +5Y.  Not enough to break into Ultra territory.  Koga is +8Y, but +7C.  You have the gold options of both, but not optimal performance.

Also shoutouts to my wife, for finding out this cluster can hit 10 in both, by using a Cache potion here instead of an Omni.  Since the Cache groups will never hit level 4+ in a third color, and your common crystals aren’t significant after you get the extra slot and a general steady stream of them, this is a really workable solution.

Cache/Blue Every +3C option has -2B.  I do not think this is possible, but I will try.

Option 1: Barry, Hop, Silver, Drake, Phoebe, Glacia/Lana/Kiawe/Aaron +6C and +9B, with Omni Potion is capped Blue and enough Cache to have a chance at gold.  You can get more Cache, but it comes at a really significant cost to Blue.  Alternatively, if this is Team B, you have a natural +1 to both, and hit 10B naturally, +7 cache, and can use a Cache potion to hit +9.  When cheering, it’s a full +10 in both.  This is the best you can do for Rare and Blue; a condition, 12 hour window of perfection.

Adjust to Your Needs These are meant to be general structures, but at any point you can adjust to your needs.  For instance, here are my current expedition groups:

Team A: Masked Royal, SS Lusamine, SS Giovanni, Kahili, Molayne, Selene (+9R, +9C) Team B: Sycamore, Serena, Wikstrom, Viola, Clemont, Lysandre (+8B, +6Y, +2C)

I use this structure because we’re mainly aiming for Blue, and at present, I don’t have Marnie, so my only character using gifts from the Yellow pool is May.  I don’t need as much coming in, so an Omni Potion gives us +7Y to accumulate at least some of the rare crystals, while maximizing Cache at +5.  The natural +1B for Team B also means the potion keeps us at max Blue value.  This is best for my personal needs, as it increases the rate of stones being acquired for extra interactions, and potential gold gifts for the majority of my characters.

But early on, I shifted Sycamore’s team to something that emphasized Blue and Red, because Cynthia was my primary target.  With no resources going into Yellow gifts, we didn’t need much more than rank 4 to acquire the silver crystals for Boost Juice, and could double up on red materials for gifts.  This successfully got me through Cynthia, and prepared me for my secondary target of Rosa.  Adjust your teams to fit your needs, but you can use the structure of teams above to maximize values you’re interested in.

Final Thoughts Some of these are pretty tough, and the majority require some level of 5* presence.  The Rare Cache is impossible to optimize for any color other than Red at present, due to two of the +3 options being Alolan, and Selene being a pal.  Yellow and especially Blue come with tradeoffs.  Getting two crystal colors at once was...honestly easier than expected.  I’m still surprised Red/Yellow is completely F2P friendly.

From here, I think we need a couple things.  One is just...we need a +3 Cache unit that doesn’t hurt Blue.  If we can get two of them, C/B will be in a much better position.  I also think we could stand to add a few more of these regional options for specific colors, but most notably for options that align with the high-Cache units.  If we could get a +3C/-2R/-2Y unit and they align with Hilbert, great.  Stuff like that.  Regional alignment with those types of units is going to be really important.  But at a start, we’re not doing too badly.