#my poor performance at work is a good indicator too

[anamericansinger]

.

[accioscarheadthings]

hello! can I req Drabble where hq characters comfort reader insome way by shushing them. like ‘shh sweetie shh shh’ 🫠🫠🫠 i just think it’s super intimate and reassuring.

take care of yourself :)

ohh yess i love this<3 thank you sm my love, hope you enjoyy

↳ 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗺𝘀 - 𝗛𝗮𝗶𝗸𝘆𝘂𝘂! 𝘅 𝗳𝗲𝗺! 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

haikyuu x fem!reader

summary - you have a bad day and you come home in a sour mood, resulting in you snapping at your innocent boyfriend

warnings - hurt-comfort, self-deprecating thoughts, fluff, timeskip!characters

featuring characters — YAMAGUCHI, ASAHI, SUGAWARA, DAICHI, IWAIZUMI, OSAMU, AKAASHI, YAKU, KITA

main masterlist !

you were having a tough day.

it all started when you realized you were running late for work and you had spilled coffee on your shirt, making you change into another before you left. your car wouldn't start, leaving you late for your first meeting.

as the day went on, it seemed like every minuscule thing opposed you. your phone died in the middle of an important call, and you received multiple emails from coworkers with urgent requests.

but just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, your boss took the time to reprimand you for your performance, adding to your stress and frustration.

the traffic was dreadful, adding to your stress and making you late for your lunch appointment.

and to top it all off, the weather turned bad and your clothes got ruined, worsening your already bad mood.

by the time you reached home, you were feeling fed up and exhausted, the weight of the day's events bearing down on you.

all you wanted was a hot shower and a good night's sleep, you didn't even have the energy to change into your sleep clothes.

as you crawled into bed, feeling utterly spent and frustrated, you couldn't help but feel that the universe was conspiring against you today.

you heard the front door click open and shut, indicating that your boyfriend that just got home.

he found you in the bedroom where you had sat up to greet him.

with a hasty kiss on your forehead, he immediately asked if dinner was ready. he had been working late and was clearly eager to get something to eat.

you felt instantly overwhelmed, the added pressure of having to cook for your boyfriend after a bad day was too much to bare.

you felt your frustration and anger welling up inside you, the exhaustion and stress of the day reaching a snapping point.

with a quick breath, you snapped at your boyfriend, lashing out at him, "seriously? after the day I've had, you're going to come home and ask me to cook?"

poor thing. he mouthed cluelessly like a goldfish under the water, "i thought you said you were gonna make dinner tonight so-"

"so?!" you seethed, clenching your fists at your side, "so what? do you even care how my day went?"

"of course i care. i just-"

"no, you clearly don't! i've had a terrible day, and the last thing i want to do is cook dinner for you!"

he raised his hands at his sides, speaking cautiously, "i didn't mean to upset you, i just wanted to know if we were going to eat-"

"well, you did upset me! and the answer is no! i'm not cooking dinner, i'm too tired and sick with everything that's happened today!"

you ducked your face away from your boyfriend, covering it with your trembling hands. your shoulders shook as you tried to suppress the tears of frustration and exhaustion that threatened to fall.

your boyfriend was clearly taken aback by your burst of emotions, his own expression turning from surprise to concern.

"i'm sorry," you whimpered, pressing the heels of your palms to your teary eyes, "please go," you muttered, your voice thick with emotion. "just leave me alone. i'm not in the mood to talk right now,"

"baby," he said, his voice gentle as he approached you, "i didn't mean to-"

"just stop, okay?" you cut him off, your voice wavering as you spoke, "I don't want to talk about it, I just want to be alone for a while. please," you added desperately.

your boyfriend hesitated, his heart tugging when he heard your voice crack. he saw the pain and frustration etched onto your face and knew that he had unintentionally added to your already bad mood.

the room fell silent, the only sound being your ragged breathing as you struggled to keep your emotions in check.

your boyfriend finally broke the silence, his voice soft as he spoke, "i'm sorry. i didn't mean to make things worse,"

you shook your head, your own guilt and remorse bubbling up inside you, "no, i'm the one who's sorry," you said, hiccuping a bit, "i shouldn't have taken my bad mood out on you, you didn't deserve it."

your boyfriend stepped closer, gently wrapping his arms around you. he pulled you into a firm embrace, holding you close as he comforted you, "shh, shh, darling," he murmured into your hair, "it's okay, let it out."

he kissed your forehead, his lips lingering softly on your skin. he moved to your cheeks, kissing them gently as he continues to hold you,

you pulled back with a gasp, shaking your head in a sob. but he kept sneaking kisses to your mouth, trying to soothe your distress.

you fisted the material of his shirt, your chest heaving, "i'm so sorry," he kissed your lips once, "i shouldn't have," he kissed you again, "i don't what got into me,"

your boyfriend continued to make soft shushing noises, his hand gently stroking your back as he tried to calm you down.

"shhh, it's alright," he soothed, his voice warm and comforting. "you don't have to worry about anything right now. just focus on us. i'm here for you,"

he continued to whisper reassurances, his embrace strong and supportive as he held you close.

"i'm not going anywhere, i promise," he murmured, his voice soft and calm, "no matter what, i'm always going to be here for you, okay?"

he continued to shower you with gentle touches, his hand caressing your head, cheeks, and neck, while his lips brushed against your face, spreading kisses. his shushing noises continued, the sound a comforting presence in your ear.

tears continued to flow from your eyes as you soaked in his comfort and affection, feeling the weight of your bad day slowly lift from your shoulders.

"i'm sorry. i'm so so sorry," you buried your face into his muscular chest, your tears staining his shirt.

"shhhh," he hushed, his voice soft and consoling, "it's okay, honey, I know you're sorry. I'm not mad at you, i never was. i can never be mad at you,"

you pressed your face into his chest, "nono," you shook your head, "you should be. you didn't mean any harm. why aren't you mad at me?" you rested your chin on his chest, blinking up at him.

"you were having a rough day, and you didn't mean to snap at me. i understand that," he smooched you between your eyebrows, "because I love you," he said simply, "i know that you didn't mean to lash out at me, you were just stressed out,"

his grip on you tightened slightly, his fingers rubbing circles on your back.

"no, baby," you dragged the word, still not able to comprehend that he wasn't mad at your attitude.

"yes, sweetheart," he replied, his voice firm but gentle, "i do love you, and i'm not going to get mad at you for having a bad day,"

he tilted your chin up, forcing you to look at him. his eyes were soft and full of love as he held your gaze.

"but," he continued, his tone firm yet caring, "you need to promise me one thing, okay? promise me that you'll tell me when you're feeling stressed or upset, so i can be here for you."

your sobs had subsided as you looked up at him with glazed eyes, tears clinging to your lash line. your lips in a pouty whimper you nodded, chin nudging against his chest, "i promise,"

"mm, that's my good girl," he murmured, his eyes softening as he watched your pouty expression.

he gently traced your bottom lip with his thumb, his touch tender and soft. "i just want to be there for you, sweetheart. you don't have to carry your burdens alone."

"m'kay,"

he noticed the slight quiver in your lips and the way your pout trembled. it was clear to him just how emotional you were feeling in that moment.

he couldn't help but slot his lips against your pout, kissing away your tears.

he pulled you closer, bringing you into his embrace once more, wrapping his arms around you protectively.

"thank you," you rested your cheek on him, nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

"'s alright, sweetheart," he murmured, his voice soft as he held you against him.

he gently stroked your back, "remember, I'm always here for you, no matter what. and i'll always love you, no matter how many bad days you have,"

he began to rock gently from one foot to the other, swaying back and forth in a pacifying motion. his head was resting on top of yours, his chin nestled against your hair.

the repetitive motion of his gentle swaying was calming, and the warmth of his embrace was comforting.

he could feel you relax in his arms as you closed your eyes, your body molding against his. he continued to rock gently, his body moving in a slow, benign rhythm.

"that's it," he whispered, his voice low and gentle in your ear, "i've got you. i'm right here,"

he could feel the tension gradually leaving your body as you surrendered to his embrace, letting go of the stress and frustration of the day's events.

you pulled back to look at him, your arms wound around his middle, "what about dinner though?"

he chuckled softly, the vibration of his rumbling through his chest. he pulled back slightly, his hands still gently holding your shoulders as he looked down at you with a gentle smile, "you focus on taking some deep breaths and unwinding, okay? i'll take care of dinner."

"stay for a bit," you tensed your arms around him, tightening your grip, eyes pleading, "please?"

he sat on the edge of the bed, pulling you on top of him in such a way that your body was slung across his lap, "then tell me about your day," he gazed up at you in adoration, "'cause i'm here to listen. and i mean, tell me everything,"

[joachimnapoleon]

My Napoleon Review

I really wanted to like this movie. When it was first announced, I was one of the people in our little community here with a hopefully-optimistic, wait-and-see approach. I wanted to love it the same way I loved Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven and other historical epics that, despite not being historically accurate, still managed to hook me with good storytelling, excellent casts, and memorable battle scenes and imagery. Ridley Scott's Napoleon has none of the above.

You know what I liked about it? The uniforms. The uniforms looked magnificent and were probably the most accurate aspect of the movie. Almost like Scott had help from historians, but that can't be the case, because Scott says he didn't actually need historians to make Napoleon.

What I was not expecting from this movie was to be bored. Yet that's what I was, for at least the first hour and a half. I'm honestly just perplexed by this even now. I don't know how it's actually possible to make the life of Napoleon Bonaparte so thoroughly uninspiring and dull, but Scott managed to pull it off.

To be fair, he was aided in this superhuman effort by Joaquin Phoenix. I never in my wildest dreams could've seen him doing such a poor job with his interpretation of Napoleon. But honestly, the fact that he's too old for the role actually ended up being the least of what I disliked about this performance, which was basically everything. The early reports coming out when the movie was still being produced about Phoenix putting a lot of effort into understanding Napoleon's psychology gave me what turned out to be a completely misguided hope. When you read descriptions of Napoleon from his contemporaries, you see an energetic, charismatic, vibrant being who exerted an almost inexplicable magnetism that drew people to him and inspired devotion and admiration, even among his critics. There is nothing even remotely inspiring, energetic, charismatic, or vibrant about Phoenix's grim, dour, monotoned Napoleon. He only ceases being grim and dour to become a clown, or to indicate to Josephine in some undignified manner that he is once again in need of sex (at one point he actually oinks repeatedly). In one scene he literally crawls under the dining room table towards her on all fours, while the embarrassed valets watch.

The relationship between Napoleon and Josephine is totally devoid of chemistry. Kirby's acting was fine, but she was given a trash script to work with. At one of their early meetings, Josephine flat-out spreads her legs in front of Napoleon, invites him to look down, and declares that once he sees what's down there, he'll never stop wanting it. It was the cringiest scene imaginable, and frankly an insult to the real Josephine's memory, as were the pathetic sex scenes. The scene of the official divorce is stripped of any dignity by Scott, who decided to have Josephine randomly chuckle at various points while reading her statement, and then made it even worse by having Napoleon actually slap her across the face.

Even the battle scenes were a joke for the most part, and that was the one area where I was certain this movie would shine. It's the usual fare of Side A charges across an open field at Side B, with no discernible tactics whatsoever. Napoleon yells "Send in the infantry!" Shortly after that, "Send in the cavalry!" Corps, regiments etc are just nonexistent; the armies are just big masses hurtling towards each other while the artillery blasts continuously. The Borodino battle scene lasts maybe two minutes and was just disappointing on every level, like damn near everything else in this movie.

Oh, remember that bit from one of the trailers of Napoleon charging headlong, saber drawn? That actually occurs during the Borodino scene. The battle during which real-life Napoleon was uncharacteristically lethargic (and possibly ill) and barely left his tent. And then to top it off, Scott also has Napoleon ride into the fray during the Waterloo scene, and start cutting English soldiers down with his saber like Mel Gibson's William Wallace in Braveheart. I almost fell out of my chair laughing.

The guy they cast to play Wellington appeared to be at least 60 years old. Christopher Plummer he was not. I'm actually planning to watch Waterloo sometime this weekend as a pallet-cleanser.

I imagine the eventual four hour director's cut Scott has spoken of will flesh the narrative out more, but I'm not even sure I'm interested in seeing it after this. I can only hope the rumored Spielberg HBO series on Napoleon will transpire and put in the effort that Scott was not willing to.

Well, the good news is that Rod Steiger is no longer my least favorite Napoleon.

[bupia]

Would very much like to see 2 and 31 of the smut prompts with Cardinal Copia - I would love to know what direction you take with it!

EROTIC PHOTOS

“I’ve never done this before…” - “Well, neither have I.” “I’m worried I won’t be good enough.”

There's a smut under the cut, +18 only, please.

(AFAB!reader: dirty talk; masturbation; mentions of masturbation)

It wasn't my intention to make a whole story, but I hope you all enjoy it.

Available on AO3

Day 10 | Day 12

You found yourself in a state of profound boredom. Wednesday was in full swing, but everyone around you was engrossed in their own duties, leaving you with nothing to occupy your time. It wasn't that you couldn't find something to do, but rather that you were consumed by a deep longing for him, Cardinal Copia.

The absence of Cardinal Copia at the ministry was disconcerting. It was a challenge not to see him wandering about or hear him call your name. Ever since he took the helm of Ghost, he had become increasingly hard to spend time with. There were moments when you'd call or text him, and you'd spend a few precious hours together until he drifted off to sleep. Poor Cardinal worked tirelessly, but there was little you could do to change that.

Today, however, your yearning for him was particularly strong. You craved him - his scent, his touch, his voice. Your situation with Cardinal Copia was unique. You'd decided to date, but before you could really embark on that relationship, a tour had emerged and created a chasm between you. So, in a way, you had him, yet you didn't. You could have had him, but the demands of the tour had created distance.

You longed to reach out to him, to send a message, to express how deeply you missed him, or just to say a simple "hi" perhaps, or send a silly joke that would make him laugh. But that wasn't what you desired from him today. As mentioned before, you wanted him, all of him.

You picked up your phone to check the time and, after a bit of mental math, you figured out what time it was where he was. It was likely getting close to his stage performance, but waiting until the show ended seemed unbearable. It might not have been the most tactful move, but you felt compelled to do it. You were already planning to take a shower and needed to get undressed, so it wasn't too much of a stretch.

So, you went ahead and did it. You took a few pictures, maybe two or three, and sent them to him. Perhaps he'd see them and understand how much you yearned for him, or maybe he'd be a bit annoyed at your attempt to tempt him before the show. Either way, it felt like a win-win situation.

You left your phone on the bedroom and headed into the bathroom for a relaxing, warm shower, hoping it would help quell your desires. However, your mind remained preoccupied with the thought of how he would react to the pictures you had sent. The bath, which was intended to be a way to unwind, became one of the quickest showers you'd ever taken. You were eager to see if he had replied and to find out what he thought.

After finishing your shower, you wrapped a towel around your body and returned to the bedroom, your anticipation growing by the second. You reached for your phone, only to be met with disappointment. There was no reply, no message, nothing. The initial shock of receiving no response was quickly replaced by embarrassment and regret. You shouldn't have sent those photos, especially considering the timing. Of course, he probably didn't have a moment to open them amidst his busy schedule.

As you contemplated deleting the pictures before he had a chance to see them, you noticed three dots appearing in the corner of the screen, indicating that he was typing a message. You watched them, and then they disappeared. A sigh of relief escaped your lips, but the anticipation returned when the dots reappeared. The ebb and flow of those three dots had you on edge.

And then, a message finally popped up.

"Amore, what are those?"

You read his message and felt a surge of nervousness. The uncertainty of his response had you second-guessing yourself. Did he not like the pictures? Had you made a mistake? These thoughts raced through your mind as you read his message. Summoning your courage, you decided to respond to his message. You knew you needed to say something, perhaps even offer an apology. So, you typed out your response.

"Sorry."

"What?" "Why are you apologizing?"

"I shouldn't have send the pictures..."

"What do you mean you shouldn't have sent them?"

"It was irresponsible."

"I agree."

Tears welled up in your eyes as you read his response, and you couldn't help but feel like you had indeed ruined everything. It was a moment of self-critique and regret.

"It was very irresponsible to make me hard before the ritual."

You read his message and your eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, thanks Satan" you thought. You read his message again just to be sure you weren't imagining things, and it was real. He had indeed said it, and you were relieved that you hadn't ruined everything as you had feared.

"Amore? Are you still there?"

The sudden vibration of your phone nearly made you drop it. It was clear you needed to respond, so you quickly typed out a message, not wanting to leave him hanging.

"Yes!!!" "I'm here!!!"

"Ok" "Good" "I thought I made you uncomfortable with my last message."

"What???? Not at all" "Actually, tell me more..."

A mischievous grin crept across your face as you lay down on the bed, pressing your legs together. The sensation of the cold from your still-wet body was soon to be replaced with warmth.

"More?" "What do you want to know?"

"Maybe you can tell me how hard your 🍆 is."

"My eggplant?"

"You don't know what it means?"

"I don't, amore" "I'm sorry."

"Eggplant means dick!!"

You saw the three dots reappearing, teasing you with their presence. As you rolled on the bed and settled on your stomach, a giggle escaped your lips. The anticipation and playfulness in the conversation were starting to lighten the mood.

"Maybe we can try use only words?" "I'm sorry, amore, I'm not used to this modern language."

Your laughter filled the room as you found his adorableness and occasional dorkiness endearing. It was difficult not to be amused and charmed by his quirks.

"Of course we can."

"Thank you"

"So..." "How hard your dick is, Cardinal?"

You were well aware of how much he enjoyed being addressed as "Cardinal." You imagined he might be feeling a delightful shiver down his spine at that moment, although you were equally sure he was probably cursing you in Italian, albeit playfully.

"You left my dick pretty hard."

"Yeah?" "Do I deserve to see it?"

"You do." "But, how do I do it?" "I'm worried I won't be good enough" "I've never done it before."

"Well, neither do I..." "But you got some pics of me" "You just need to take a pic and send it to me, ok?"

"Ok."

"So let me see how hard you are right now."

"I wish I could show you in reality."

"I know you are going to show it to me soon..." "Right?"

You settled comfortably on the bed, resting your head on the pillow as you awaited his response. Minutes ticked by with no sign of a reply. Just as you began to wonder if he was occupied with something else, the familiar three dots appeared on the screen, signaling that he was typing. The anticipation built once more.

"Amore?"

"Yes?"

"Can I send it?"

"Please."

You received his message, which included two identical, blurry pictures. The images were impossible to make out, but you could discern the red color of his cassock. Despite the lack of clarity, you couldn't help but laugh at the adorableness of the situation.

"Did it work?"

"No!!!" "I can't see a thing!!!"

"Is it that bad? Sorry, amore, I heard a noise and took it fast." "Wait."

As you continued to laugh and shake your head, you turned onto your side, gazing at the blurry pictures he had sent. Then, when you least expected it, a clear image popped up. This time, it wasn't blurry at all. It was a crisp picture of him holding his member in his hand. Your eyes widened in surprise at how big and thick it was. You could feel a heat building between your legs, you definitely needed him.

"Did you get it, amore?"

You couldn't tear your eyes away from the image. His member looked absolutely perfect. You rolled over once more, settling on your back as you continued to gaze at the image.

"Fuck" "I need you"

"Do you?"

"Yes" "Now"

"Amore..." "I wish I could be there now..." "I would be worshiping all your body." "Just like you deserve to be worshiped" "You naked body is perfect." "I need to touch you."

"I need you to touch me."

"I want to touch you."

"Yeah?" "Where do you want to touch me?"

"This is not fair." "You know I will be going on stage soon."

"We can stop if you want..."

"I don't."

Your hand reached for your towel, leaving it open on your body. You slowly spread your legs, going with your hand to between them. Your fingers began to rub your flesh, spreading them apart. You moaned softly as you felt your moisture begin to flow out of you, coating your hand.

"So tell me"

"I want to touch your body" "While I kiss it" "Every inch of it" "I want to make you feel loved" "Wanted" "Desired"

"Yeah?" "What more?"

"I will kiss your lips" "Your neck" "Your chest" "Your belly..." "Please, amore, let me see you again."

Of course, he could see you again. You tapped the camera icon, prepared to take another photo for him. But then it occurred to you that you could do better and decided to record a video of yourself instead. So you did. You removed your hand from between your legs and started to record it. You went with your hand slowly from your belly to your inner thighs, caressing it until you reach your mound. You went down with your hand going with it to between your legs. You gasped as you felt how wet you were and how easily your fingers slid between your folds.

You halted the recording and sent it to him, your heart racing as you patiently awaited his reply. Seeing the "received" status, you couldn't help but bite your lower lip in anticipation. After a few seconds, the familiar three dots appeared once more, and you couldn't help but smile in excitement, eager to see his response.

"Amore."

"Yes?"

"Are you touching yourself?"

"Maybe..."

"So do it" "Because I am" "I really need to fuck you right now"

As you read his message, a shiver ran down your spine, and an involuntary, soft gasp escaped your lips. The anticipation and desire were palpable.

"Say it again" "Please"

"I need to fuck you right now" "I need to feel you on my cock"

"I need you inside me, Copia" "I need you to fuck me" "Until I can't take it anymore" "But in reality" "I will never get enough"

"Fuck, amore" "What a sinful mouth you have" "It would look so beautiful here"

Another message popped up in the chat, this time containing a video of him. For someone who didn't know what to do some minutes ago, he was learning very fast.

You played the video and you could hear his low moans. He was lazily stroking his length on his gloved hand, and you could see a glistening on the leather. You continued rubbing yourself, feeling the softness of your folds. You looked down at your hand, seeing how wet it was. You brought your finger up to your mouth and sucked on it, imagining that he would do the same with you.

"Not fair!!"

"You didn't like it?"

"I loved it" "But is not fair to make me want you even more"

"I really want to be on your bed right now" "So I could taste you" "And fuck you until I make you scream my title."

"I'm very wet right now..." "Copia" "I need you so much" "I need to feel you inside of me."

"Do you, amore?" "Fuck" "You are driving me insane here" "I feel like I could cum only by reading your messages."

"Do you?"

"Yes" "Very much."

"So do it" "Cum for me"

"Will you cum for me too, amore?"

"Always."

You were in state of euphoria now, your whole being focused on your fingers. You moved one to your clit, rubbing it gently. The sensation made your hips buck slightly, and you let out another soft moan.

"Tell me what you are doing, amore."

"I'm just rubbing it."

"Fuck" "I wish I was the one doing it."

"You'll do it as you got back to the ministry."

"Yes" "And so much more..."

You could feel yourself getting more and more turned on. You could feel the heat building inside of you.

"Yeah? Tell me" "Please."

"I'm going to fuck you so good, amore" "Yes, so fucking good." "Fuck" "I need to feel your pussy on my 🍆"

Seeing the emoji, you couldn't help but burst into laughter. He was indeed an adorable dork, and he was all yours.

"Did I use it right, amore?"

"Perfectly."

"Good." "Because that's what I want now" "I want you to fuck yourself" "And think about my cock" "Inside you" "Fucking you" "So very good"

As you read his message, you started to rub faster, harder. You could hear your breathing getting heavier. You closed your eyes and pictured him, his hands on your body, his length buried within you. You opened your eyes, throwing your head back, moaning loudly. You turned your eyes to your phone, seeing new messages of him.

"Please, amore" "Let me fuck you" "Let me fuck you until you scream my name" "I need to fuck you so much" "Fuck this show" "I wish I could go to your bedroom right now" "And fuck you the whole night"

You closed your eyes and lost yourself in the moment. Your fingers covered in your juice. You lowered your hand to your entrance, sliding one finger into you. You moaned again, this time louder. You hips bucked slightly as you slit it in. You pulled out, then back in. You repeated this several times, each time going a little deeper.

"Yes" "Cardinal" "I'm doing it"

"Very good." "Don't stop" "Only when you cum for me"

You started to move faster, pushing your fingers in and out of your entrance. Your breathing became ragged as you let the sensations wash over you. Your hips were moving up and down, matching your thrusts. Feeling your orgasm starting to build, you quickened your pace. You took your phone, opening the camera and started to record it. Your walls were tightening around your fingers, pushing them deeper, feeling your walls squeezing them.

"Ah! Cardinal!" you moaned in pleasure. "Fuck me, just like that, please don't stop, make me cum on your cock!" you screamed out, feeling waves of pleasure roll through you. "Yes, just like that, just like tha-Ah!" you kept moving your fingers in and out of you, trying to prolong the feeling. "I'm going to cum, Copia, I'm going to... I... I..." your hips bucked wildly as you came, your body shuddering as you did.

You stopped the record, sending him the video. You kept your fingers buried inside you as your orgasm subsided, then pulled them out. You lay there for a moment, catching your breath. Then you felt your phone vibrating on your hand and you looked at it, seeing Copia's message.

"Fuck amore" "I need to hear you moaning my name when I get back to the ministry" "I want to make you cum on my cock just like that" "And even more" "So much more" "Fuck"

"Did you cum, Copia?"

"Not yet, amore."

"So cum for me, Copia" "Please" "Feel my pussy tightening around your big cock" "And cum inside of me" "Fill me with your seed" "Make me yours"

After sending your last message, you reached for your towel to clean your hands, realizing that you might need another bath before going to sleep. A few minutes passed, and Cardinal Copia had yet to send a reply. You settled on the bed, sitting up with your back against the headboard, your gaze fixed on your cellphone. Then, another photo arrived. This time, him holding his length on his hand full of his seed on his glove and on the tip of his member.

"Look what you did to me." "A mess, amore." "You did a mess."

"I'd gladly clean that mess for you."

"Amore, no more tempting." "I'll be on stage in ten."

"Wish you could come to the ministry in 10"

"I wish I could go to you too." "But don't worry." "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes" "How about you?"

"So much, amore." "But I need you more than I needed before." "Maybe I'll use your video at the hotel after the show."

"Why don't you call me? So we can play together."

"Are you sure? It will be late for you."

"So wake me up telling me how much you want me."

"I want you every hour of my day." "I think about you all the time."

"So call me just as you got to the hotel, maybe I can teach you how to do video calls."

"That sounds interesting." "Ok, amore" "I need to clean up and go." "Please wait for me." "I love you, Ti amo."

"Do your best there." "I love you, Copia."

[arwenlalaith]

Dating App Mishaps (Ch. 19)

Ship: Alex Blake/Emily Prentiss/Reader

Summary: Alex didn't have Tinder by choice...but that doesn't mean it isn't going to come in handy.

Word Count: 1073

Author's Note: This wasn't intended to fill a @cmkinkbingo2024 prompt, but it does! Yay me!

"She's got a smart little mouth, huh?" Emily asked Alex as if you weren't even there.

Alex barked out a laugh. "She does."

"Does she know how to use it?" Emily asked, her smirk making it all too clear what she'd meant by that.

As she poured them both another glass of wine, Alex called out from the kitchen, "Take the slut for a test drive if you're curious."

Emily gave you a look that made you quiver with anticipation. "Hear that, Angel? Daddy wants to share..." You nodded eagerly. "You'll be a good girl for me, right? You want to make me happy?" Another nod.

Pulling her fingers from your mouth, she stood and slowly unfastened her belt, which is when you noticed for the first time that she was packing (and if you'd been in better control of your faculties, you might've wondered what exactly they had planned...). "Go ahead," she said with a cocky smirk, "Make me happy."

You made short work of divesting her of her jeans and panties, your eagerness making her chuckle. With a glance over her shoulder at Alex, she said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you haven't been taking proper care of the poor thing, given how desperate she is..."

With a snort of amusement, Alex replied, "That's just how she is..."

As she settled back in the armchair, Emily gave you a pointed look, clearly waiting for you to follow the unspoken command. You glanced back at Alex one last time, just to be absolutely certain that this is what she wanted.

Her returning nod was enough to sufficiently reassure you, so you decided to simply go with the situation as it presented itself... You made a good show of crawling towards Emily, tongue lolled out in anticipation of the head of her cock.

Emily chuckled at your theatrics, but she also couldn't take her eyes off you. Once you were kneeling between her spread legs, she proceeded to slap your tongue with her cock a few times, teasing you until you whined, practically drooling.

Alex strolled into the room and you could practically hear her smirk as she passed behind you. She paused, stroked your hair away from your face, then wound the strands tightly around her fingers. She yanked your head back so you were forced to meet her gaze. "Remember your manners, Princess: hands off your clit while you pleasure Sir."

You whined and were about to say something in protest, but before you could, she was guiding you down onto Emily's cock.

Emily groaned aloud at the sight. "Goddamn, that's a sexy fucking sight," she husked.

Unable to help agreeing, Alex said, "The sight of her lips wrapped around your dick is the Eighth Wonder of the World..." She released your hair and took the seat across the room where she'd have the best sight to get off to.

You languished in the praise, in the knowledge that both of these gorgeous women wanted you, that they were both getting off because of you. You felt all powerful in that moment. You proceeded to put on a porn star worthy performance of sucking her cock and, if Emily's reactions were anything to go by, it was having the desired effect.

"That's enough," Alex interrupted and, for a brief moment, you panicked, thinking you'd done something wrong. "We've got other plans for you," she added.

The way Emily smirked at that had a shiver of anticipation running down your spine. She tapped your chin, indicating you should release her cock. Once you did, she smirked down at you as she settled back in her chair, patting her lap.

"Sir?"

"Ride my cock, Angel," she coaxed, stroking the cock a few times as she gazed down at you, "Let's give Daddy a good show, hmm?" The blatant lust in her eyes was practically enough to make you cum on the spot. Your earlier feeling of omnipotence came crashing down as you realized you were far from being the one in control here...

As you climbed onto Emily's lap, sinking down on her cock, you could feel your face heating up with sudden shyness as you felt Alex's eyes on you, watching your every move with almost clinical intensity. Your eyes fluttered shut as you began moving your hips and almost immediately, you were met with a scold of, "Open your eyes. I want you to look me in the eye while you fuck yourself on Sir's cock like the little fuckdoll you are."

With a little whine of complaint, you reluctantly locked eyes with Alex – the raw lust you saw reflected in them had you soaking Emily's cock with arousal, which only made Emily laugh. "Oh, you have trained her well..."

Alex just smirked.

Emily's fingers were deft on the clasp of your bra, discarding it to the side so she could tease your nipples, fingers rough as they toyed with the sensitive buds, and you were having significant difficult focusing on keeping your pace as her skilled fingers worked to draw little whimpers and whines past your lips.

Every time you began to slow your thrusts, Emily's fingers pinched at your nipples in a silent reminder to keep your pace and, desperate to please both women, you did your best – in spite of the fact that your muscles were burning with exertion.

"What do you think?" Emily asked Alex, as if you weren't even there, "Is she doing a good job? Putting on a good show?" Her thumb ghosted over your clit, causing your hips to buck sharply and you whined desperately.

Alex smirked, watching your obvious desperation, knowing you needed more stimulation to be able to cum and also knowing that you weren't about to just ask for it... "You're completely at our mercy, aren't you?" she taunted. When you nodded, she grinned. She loved you like this: desperate and needy, so close to the edge that you'd do nearly anything to gain permission to cum.

"Please, Daddy?" you whined in desperation, "Please, let me cum..." You added in a pout for good measure.

"Well, if you're begging..." she drawled, the smirk on her face letting you know they were far from done with you...

[thatswhatsushesaid]

Why didn't Su She just grab JGY and teleport out of the temple? Was his cultivation level really low? Did he need a recharge??

it's funny you should send me this ask, anon, since it does form the basic premise of a fic I am working on (kind of).

sms's cultivation level and martial arts skills are quite good! before uncovering his identity as the mystery swordsman responsible for absconding with xue yang's body and, presumably, the stygian tiger tally, wwx is impressed by his techniques and capabilities. during the second siege of the burial mounds, sms is the one who leads his moling su disciples in performing the altered song of vanquishing to seal the spiritual energies of everyone else present at the siege--and, once he is found out, he makes use of a teleportation talisman to escape (abandoning his own disciples in the process after tricking them--not a good look, minshan). he's using these talents towards a terrible purpose in this moment, of course, but this speaks to someone who does have a strong cultivation base; his own guqin isn't named in the text, but it is described as a first class spiritual tool comparable to lan wangji's. just because he isn't lan wangji, lan xichen or nie mingjue doesn't mean he isn't a strong cultivator! he's just not a cultivation prodigy.

(though, as an aside, it takes a different kind of gumption and courage to go from being exiled from your sect and branded a coward, to establishing your own sect in mdzs's jianghu.)

so, bearing in mind that he did just exert a considerable amount of that energy during the second burial mounds siege, I do think he was 'running low,' as it were, and didn't have much left in the tank. that said, I do think it's possible that minshan could have made use of a teleportation talisman for both himself and jgy, just because of how much spiritual power he pours into nanping [edit: not nanping!! i forgot that lwj already shattered nanping earlier in the confrontation. so this is a different sword, but i think my point still stands] in his final attack on nmj moments before his death. I am glad that this moment was included in the donghua and very sad it was changed in cql:

(highlighting that short paragraph up top just to indicate the short-sightedness of huaisang's revenge vision quest here. nmj's fierce corpse is a danger to everyone in this confrontation, not just jgy; moments earlier, he'd not only lunged towards both jin ling and jiang cheng, but even towards lan xichen and huaisang himself.)

I love this paragraph; I love that in this moment, minshan's martial prowess and his strong cultivation base get to shine, because he is a character who has gone through the entire novel belittled and mocked and denigrated by everyone around him because of his cowardice, his inconsistent control over his spiritual abilities, and his decades-long grudge against the gusu lan (and lan wangji specifically). all of that remains true, and in this moment, he is incandescent and capable and putting every scrap of remaining power that he has into this attempt to strike down nmj and protect jgy. it's beautifully and vividly written and demonstrates just how unwavering his devotion is to the only person in the text to consistently treat him with respect and dignity.

that said--

the moment of his death unfortunately encapsulates his achilles' heel, both as a character and as a cultivator, imo. minshan's problem isn't that he has a weak spiritual core and weak martial arts: it's that he is impulsive and prone to extremely poor judgment in the heat of the moment (case in point: he curses jin zixun for the unforgivable crime of... wounding his pride. I mean, I too think jzn is a cunt, but like, come on minshan). he pours so much dazzling spiritual power into his sword that it shatters, rendering him defenceless in the face of nmj's attack.

imo this is a pivotal moment in the final confrontation in the guanyin temple where both sms and jgy could have escaped exactly as you suggest, anon. if sms has enough spiritual power remaining to accidentally shatter his sword, he probably has enough spiritual power to activate a teleportation talisman (either while nmj is still staring at the empty coffin or after forcing him back with that initial sword thrust) and escape through it with jgy in tow. but he didn't, because that isn't the judgment call he made in the moment.

[carrinth-nsr]

Okay as much as I love the idea of each of the 1010 boys being sentient and having seperate personalities, it does raise a question.

Have any of them ever had an existential crisis about the fact that they can be replaced? Like, if one of them gets destroyed the flying factory can just pop out a complete copy?

Like, the flying factory just pops out another 1010 bot right IN FRONT OF THEM during the battle with BBj, and they have no reaction to it, so they have to have been aware at least some time PRIOR to the fight.

Do they EVER think about this????

Like do they ever have some kind of existential monologue?

https://youtu.be/MUUJIRes_yo

LOL I will be the first to admit that I'm totally guilty of over-indulging in fanon 1010. I too really like the idea of robots gaining ✨emotions and feelings✨ and questioning their value and self-worth! The drama~! The angst~! Are they merely tools to be so easily discarded and replaced or something moar?? 👀 It's such good stuff that it's actually the core story idea behind another comic I'm working on! (ppl might have seen my wips of "Repair Work"?)

But fan self-indulgence aside, in canon, 1010 actually seem very... nonchalant about being destroyed...? I mean, this was their idiotic (affectionate) reaction to being Shakalaka-Bammed by B2J:

Poor Neon J seems like the only one concerned. (Aww, he's shielding them, so sweet 🤗) It's almost like 1010 can't even *comprehend* the concept of death. Are they simply not that sentient? Or do they not worry because they can be easily rebuilt by the factory? Perhaps their robot bodies are merely wireless avatars they operate remotely while 1010's actual central processing server (aka consciousness) is stored somewhere safe like Barraca Mansion.

It would explain how quickly they fall back in sync even after being destroyed and how callously Neon J blows up their bodies during his Phase 3 fight. Because the body is just a shell and their actual processor is somewhere else? But that's just my fan theory.

I mean, at the end of day, 1010 is obviously a play on the whole 'idol churning machine' and the 'inherent fakeness and artificialness of performers' etc... etc...

And let's be honest: At face value, they don't seem as emotionally complex as us fans make them out to be.

SO IS IT ALL IN OUR HEADS? DO IDOL-ROBO-BOYBAND NOT FEEL???

Well. Hmm. They do seem rather *ahem* robotic when they fought against B2J and showed no indication they had individual personalities.

....Except for one last image in the end credits:

If (unfeeling machine) then why { 1010.action = read fan mail + get excited; subroutine(1010_green.getMail == 0) run (1010_green.action = sad;) }

I guess if we're to take a more nuanced middle-ground, 1010 probably doesn't suffer from as much emotional distress as we love to portray in fanfic (BUT THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT INTERESTING DAMMIT) however, they do show some degree of sentience and differing personality based on that End Credit image. 😎

[masha-nikita]

How strong is his Mars?- Bernard Montgomery-

Here I am, two episodes of “How strong is his Mars? all at once. I am going to test a theory in Astrology community- you’ve got to have a strong Mars to be competent in the military.

Whether that theory is true or not, you guys know I have to talk about Monty.

Monty has Mars in Virgo; you see, I am writing about his Mars back to back with Patton’s, because Patton also has a Virgo Mars- so far, that makes 3 outstanding generals with Virgo Mars-- even though it is my opinion that Manstein’s Moon, not Mars, is where his military magic happens. Here I can say, Monty and Patton’s Mars works against the odds, and performs better, above Erich’s score.

I commented on Manstein’s Virgo Mars as follows- if stands alone without any other aspects, this Mars is too detail-oriented for its own good, especially in a fast-paced battlefield. An earth sign Mars has poor ability to take actions by intuition and improvising, unless favorably aspected by Neptune or moon. Virgo Mars possesses delicate tendencies to handle smaller details but may easily lose sight of what needs to be done on a grand scale. This Mars makes its native a fussing workaholic.

Monty’s Mars trines Neptune; this indicates that he intuits enemy actions reasonably well. With Mercury and Sun in harmonious sextile aspects, he’s supposed to be very reasonable, and his decision making process grounded in reality. A 3rd house Mars endows active mind. Any malefic astro body in 3rd house becomes innovative and stimulating to the wits (yes, Mars is considered a malefic), which allows the native to be very smart during arguments. I do not think Monty appreciates small talks—small talks would be regarded as petty nonsense by him. His speeches do have very good leadership quality, very exhilarating to listen to.

This is actually a pretty good Mars, but poor Monty has other aspects that aren’t that good.

Monty’s Sun opposites Pluto and Neptune, just like Manstein’s. This brings the native great difficulty in assessing their ego (represented by Sun). This flaw would destine them on a long, hard journey to find who they truly are as an “independent self”. Manstein’s Sun is in 8th house opposite 2nd house Pluto-Neptune; he might have been secretly very concerned with how posterity would value him after his death. What is of personal value that belongs to Erich may be a source of great illusion and inner tension, if handled unwisely. This value struggle may render him a hard cynic whose only concern is money and self-preservation.

Whereas for Monty (4th house sun, 11th house Neptune-Pluto), it looks like worldly reputation for the Montgomery family name is the struggle here—or maybe it is just his own name to be his desperate concern. Family is where a person was born into, and where they eventually establish themselves, and then dies into. He may have an exaggerated sense of patriotism if he could not agree with the family he was born into, or could not find his own family to belong to. He might view anybody who’s outside of his immediate circle “the troublesome other”, a great source of power struggle. It is not easy for him to acquire a smooth friend circle. With a 11th house Pluto, some explosive shit constantly goes down between he and his supposed social groups—he’s a bit antisocial, in a neutral sense of the word.

Now moving on to his Saturn—any planet in conjunction with the ascendant should be given special attention. I admit it is not an amateur astrologer’s place to call a person’s chart “unfortunate”, but there’s something so deeply karmic with Monty’s Saturn.

This Saturn—which symbolizes rigid structure, hard disciplines, delays and pessimism, could act like an invisible iron prison for the native; the tighter the conjunction with the ascendant, the tighter the iron grip. Either he secretly denies himself any personal enjoyments possible, or life would strip him of happiness by taking away important loved ones from him. A positive side of this aspect is that, while it does not give good creativity to weasel oneself out of a danger, it is unphased by any kind of pain and suffering the danger brings.

A Leo Saturn is not fun to deal with, because Saturn is in detriment in Leo. Leo’s natural ruler is Sun; the key words of Sun are “accomplishments, authority, and self-worth”. Saturn not only hollows out Leo’s self-worth, but the native is also very suspicious of any authority over them. Monty may constantly question how come somebody deserves such authority, and how does himself deserve anything? We could hear from Churchill’s single quote on Monty showing how bad he is in getting along with authority- “In defeat, unbeatable; in victory, unbearable.”

It is very difficult for the native to learn about love, because love always involves a level of surrender. With such a karmic aspect, occasionally when Leo Saturn finds someone to love, he'd lose that person in a traumatic fashion. The native might end up going “fuck it, I give up.” Given this Saturn conjuncts ascendant, Monty sees no problem in denying himself worldly love and enjoyment. Leo Saturn is able to maintain some lightheartedness, a little bit of warped hero complex, thus the native is capable of dark humor.

Monty’s Saturn actually conjunct his ascendant from 12th house- a 12th house Saturn doubles down on certain problems. Saturn generally seeks to hold onto anything structured and concrete, yet 12th house is anything but. 12th house rules the afterlife, the disappearance, dissolution, the invisible worlds and creatures—dreams, unconscious, psychic realms, and illusions. Saturn in 12th native secretly believes in his own original sins, and is acutely conscious of and anxious about the existence beyond death. This Saturn has a tendency to draw the native into hermetic isolation and practices, because it is the world of the beyond that he looks at, the world where his loved ones have gone before he does.

However, sometimes this 12th house Saturn gives the exact opposite effect—what is beyond death and what is out there where everything dissolves into inmateriality, is such an acute issue that the native holds onto things and powers of this world to an excessive degree. For example, Vladimir Putin has a 12th house Saturn.

This series so far does draw a conclusion that perhaps it is not the Mars that brings forth a good general—I see no fire sign Mars. I haven’t even seen a Capricorn Mars (Mars is exalted in Capricorn). But I do see an unexpected common denominator- these commanders are all psychic on some level. I couldn’t help but wonder- what does “being psychic” really mean?

Perhaps it means the special ability either to reach into death, or to walk upon thousands of men’s life and death, the strength of coming to terms with the mortality of all the mortalities.

It might be a hot take for some people, but I really don’t see much psychic power from those famous 20th century occultist, especially Aleister Crowley. Neither his 8th nor 12th house is prominent; I don’t know what’s up with him. Maybe Crowley’s strength lies in his knowledge. I can statistically compare my own psychic ability against my friend, by measuring whose Tarot readings have longer projection into the future via client feedbacks, but what I see featured the most in many self-proclaimed magi isn’t psychic power, but the ego. Ego attracts egos, so there you go, a guru whose ego as big as the universe for the rainbow unicorn groupies to resonate with.

I digress. I love that there’s always smile in the corner of Monty’s eyes despite his Saturn, that’s the sign of an indefeatable man. This song is for him. May warmth and may love conquer all.

[wanderingblindly]

HI!!!! for the director's cut thing: anything about you bring me closer to god that you haven't shared yet? 😊

HELLO EMY MY DARLING MY CHILD!!!!!! Thank you for asking about ✨her✨

Looking back at my previous comments about this fic, I’ve shared a lot about the writing process it seems. So today, I’d like to talk about some of the non-Oscar perspectives!

I thought a good deal about what Lando was feeling during this, since his body language and actions were the focus on a lot of Oscar’s internal monologue. Not that he always read them correctly, to be clear, but it was important nevertheless lol. The first piece of Lando that I parsed out is that ALL of his behavior before and after a show is part of his performance. There might be truth slipped into it, of course, but every choice he makes is stylized and intentional. For example:

Until he’s there, just like he’s always there: a half-zipped hoodie thrown over his stage clothes, hair finger combed into something a little more presentable, heavily-lined eyes alight with endorphins yet to wear off. Then the seconds crawl, briefly, as Oscar stands there, dish rag in hand, looking at him. Watching as Lando rests an elbow on the bar, cupping his jaw in his hand and tilting his head to the side – looking at him, too.  His jacket isn’t zipped this time – hanging loosely off his shoulders

Lando spent TIME making sure his hair looked presentable, even if it was that “intentionally messy” look; he spent TIME making sure his jacket hung off his shoulders just right before stepping out to the bar. In my mind, the twenty minutes spent back stage after a show was reflective of both his perfectionism ((his desire to broadcast the exact image the band needs)) and his nervousness around Oscar ((wanting to play the exact character Oscar would be most attracted to)).

in the following scene, I spent some time wondering why Lando would go to the bar during the day. It’s implied that they’ve had their post-show routine for a few weeks, so why now? In my mind, there were two possible reason — both of which I alluded to in the previous scene.

A) George or Alex finally goaded him into it:

We know that Lando feels like talking to Oscar is easier when he’s in costume, when he can hide behind his stage persona. We also know that Alex gave Lando a knowing look after their last performance — asking if Lando was gonna stay late again. It’s subtly implied that the band knows Lando is down ATROCIOUS, and maybe that side comment was the indication that they’re gonna finally push him on it.

B) Lando finally had a moment of realization:

The scene ends with a bit of an ‘ow’: Lando seemingly flirting with a beautiful woman down the bar, and Oscar trying his best to ignore it. While I mostly wrote this to show that Oscar has some insecurities around Lando and his vivacious personality, I also wanted it to show Lando’s perspective. To me, Lando wasn’t genuinely flirting with her — he was just making conversation, he’s just continuing to play the part of ‘hot and gregarious frontman’. Maybe she got a bit too forward, or maybe he caught a hint of hurt in Oscar’s eye — maybe both. In the end, I thought that maybe this was a moment where Lando realized that playing a part the entire time he’s with Oscar won’t get him what he wants.

As my last bit of ramble, I thought about how to show Lando’s discomfort/awkwardness without making it clear to Oscar what he was thinking — and I did so by having him storm into the bar and start bombarding Oscar with questions.

I wanted the effect of having him sound confident while actually being horrifically weird. Like, spamming someone with questions, not allowing them to return the favor, that’s…. Poor social etiquette. It’s a little off putting. Oscar finds it endearing because he’s also down atrocious, but objectively Lando was not playing it smooth. This would have worked on absolutely no one but Oscar.

Feel free to ask more about any of my fics 💖

[soweirdondisney]

Just odds and ends - feel free to answer what piques your interest and ignore the rest

Money - with 6 hit albums and Rick and Molly writing songs (and I would think owning publishing, since Irene is very good at her job), I was thinking Molly ought to at least have tens of millions of dollars. Though we see nothing indicating that. Thoughts?

Do you have any good ideas on how to incorporate Atlantis/the cheese wheel in the final battle? I'm contemplating a headcanon where Rebecca's families are genetically Atlantean. I just kind of like the idea of her being able to have a world in-sync with aging and have a real life and keep connections and so on.

Any ideas for future careers for Fi, Jack, and Clu? I've thought about urban planning or child psychologist for Jack - something helping people or making the world a better place. Fi could totally pursue tech, as she likes that, but she loves the supernatural and fighting evil. And, with her tech-ness, maybe long-term that could end up with website/channel about those thing while she did some traveling and world-saving. Clu's a difficult one for me - we've seen him try to make a documentary once and I guess John Kane could give him entry into the field. But I'm not sure I regard that as more than a passing fancy.

After the end - original season 3 version: Rick is back from the dead. I know Fi would want the whole world to know the truth of what happened. That would make things very different that our world. If we keep the SW-world outwardly seeming like the real world for the majority, then they are going to have to come up with a story about Rick. Any ideas on what it could be?

TZIGONE!! You have been in the fandom and the forum for years, and your questions always push me to think outside the box. I welcome it! I’m going to try my best to answer all of them.

#1 - One

I’ve actually been working on something like this for a few weeks now! Ned’s comment to Molly about “being back in our old studio” (Medium) made me think of it. It’s too long to put here, and it’s very speculative, but there will be an upcoming deep dive on the success of PKB.

With that said, there’s a gap between Rick’s death and Molly restarting her music career. Chrysalis sort of fills in the blanks that Molly was an alcoholic after her husband died.

She might've spent a lot on her addiction (since we’re not sure how long that went on) and recovery (did she go to rehab?), lived off some of it before working in ads, and maybe doesn’t keep a lot of cash on hand for the sake of holding herself accountable.

Rick could’ve had life insurance, they likely purchased their million-dollar home outright, we mostly hear Ned and Irene discuss money woes (the struggle of putting two boys through college, most of Nightmare, etc.), so Jack and Fi are likely set up, and are we sure Hope Springs High is a public school? The students spent at least three days of their spring break doing a science fair that involved a live performance complete with a buffet line for lunch. That doesn’t seem public-funded.

My conclusion is comfortably upper class because they pinch pennies and are cash poor. Their net worth, not income, might be a few million.

#2 - Two

This one’s a little tricky but here’s what I came up with: in the original s3 Fi is contacted by an alien who is also a teenager with a lost parent and the same thing is happening throughout the universe that had sentient life on it.

The alien that contacts her is from space (above Earth), Atlantis is in the ocean (below Earth), and Fi is on Earth. She is “the destined leader in the fight against evil” … because she is the center. The alien is a teen, meaning it ages, but Rebecca (a possible Atlantean) is also a teenager, but ages slower, and has not lost a parent. Her existence goes against nature.

But as above so below, so – and maybe this isn’t what you wanted but it’s where my brain has gone – does Fi have to, literally, break the wheel to free Rebecca from her immortality and right the universe? Or maybe similar to the Banshee tradeoff Fi gets a compromise that lets Rick live and Rebecca have a real life and remain immortal (or not)?

Rebecca’s family collected artifacts and Carey teased it would be the cheese wheel that finds Fi next time. While researching her father’s death Fi could come across old photos of Molly and Rebecca with the cheese wheel in the background. Fi can’t stop thinking about it and wheelie knows that.

Unrelated: do we think the cheese wheel can roll like Rubber (2010)? I don’t think it would get that, pardon my language, cheesy and it shouldn’t be a gimmick but if it works…

#3 - Three

Jack would make a great child psychologist... or guidance counselor or recovery companion (the Chrysalis ending sort of plays in there). Long-term he could work within the prison system as an educator or even social worker. He has that no-nonsense approach.

Clu is tough! Like you, I don’t put much weight in his film making endeavors. UC Santa Cruz is known for research and public service. Mutiny’s a good example of his compassion, plus he has an interest in surfing, so maybe something to do with oceanic sciences? Not necessarily a biologist (although wouldn’t that be a twist!), but maybe he uses his social skills to do presentations, apply for grants, and get funding for research projects. Aside from s3, which can be excluded or not, we don’t ever see how college *changes* him as he enters adulthood so that leaves a lot of possibilities.

I agree with Fi getting in tech, maybe as a web developer for others (like helping lawyers have user-friendly websites since she practically insults Rachel’s note and research skills in Avatar😆). Through the show we see Tad give her software upgrades that she uses out of their initial, so she could end up working for (with) Tad. She could even expand her blog posts and online journal to a published book. More than Jack and Clu, I see Fi taking on different careers simultaneously.  

#4 - Four

Hmm. Fi WOULD want everyone to know because she’s not good at secrets (like telling the internet about Rebecca), and this is where Fi’s credibility comes in to play. Fi’s time on the road and chronicling her experience means she has “proof” of other supernatural phenomenon that people like Ryan, Candy, James, Rebecca, Claire, etc. could believe and defender her on, even before she helps bring her dad back.  

We don’t know if Rick shared his findings, who with, or kept journals, so, yes, Fi would want to share and have an ally in Rick, but it would ultimately be his decision what to say. The safest explanation, as a writer, would be to play with folklore/the supernatural and, like the show, make up what suits the story.

For instance, wraiths are a supernatural creature So Weird never touched on. When I first learned about them I understood they were only allowed to come back to life after they fulfilled an order/task. Maybe in Rick’s case his task was guiding Fi (Web Sight, Troll, Twin) to save the universe. Other stories have wraiths as the enemy of vampires (!!) who haunt the living - think Molly’s dialogue at the end of Medium, Another World performance in Encore, the ending of The Muse. Rick could be that, a mix of wraith characteristics that still identify him as one, before returning entirely.

That’s pretty out there BUT even Ryan accepted an unreasonable theory. And because of how Werewolf and Lost ended happily, as long as they’re not thought of too hard, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched if everyone accepted the story.

Rick’s return would be akin to Kamilah’s revival after a decade, except he wasn't in a coma, and Laura’s ability to change depending on the time of day, except he would be permanent.

Molly, Jack, the Bells, John Kane, the fans - they all knew he was dead. His every moment would be the proof that what happened, happened. And his return would give credibility to Fi's other findings and the people touched by her travels the same way that their experiences with her would give credibility that Rick’s story should be believed, whatever it may be.  

Hopefully the lengthy answers make up for the lengthy response time. You always ask great questions, and hopefully you got some ideas out of this.

[help-the-horse]

Future Planets

AO3 Link Summary: Ashley invites Reggie to poker night and drinks with her and Kaidan. The night takes an unexpected turn for Shepard. Pairing: Kaidan Alenko/Regina Shepard/Ashley Williams Words: 3,386

            The night still felt young, but that didn’t quite work properly when you were perpetually surrounded by the stars and darkness. It was actually rather late relative to Galactic Standard time, but it was a travel day so the crew had time to spend. Reggie found herself down in the lower deck, crossing from the elevator to Ashley’s workstation.

            “Could you check my rifle when you get done with that one?” Reggie nodded at the partially assembled firearm on the workbench in front of Ashley. The question came out a bit harsh maybe, but she had noticed her aim was terribly off on Therum and the poor performance of her gun reflected badly on her.

            “Anything in particular wrong, Commander?” Ashley looked up from her work, her hands covered in grease. The thought of those hands staining her uniform made Reggie clear her throat to wrangle in her thinking.

            “The aim was off. I checked the scope three times, but I couldn’t seem to adjust it proper. I figured it was something you could figure out easier than me.” The corners of Ashley’s lips pulled up slightly. Reggie felt frustration and embarrassment threaten to bubble up, a defense or perhaps a ‘never mind’ in the back of her throat.

            “That model tends to have issues like that.” Ashley’s smile grew, her eyes going back to the workbench. “I can fix it no problem, Skipper.”  Reggie felt the agitation simmer down. She was used to people thinking she was weak for not doing everything herself. Relying on someone was a dangerous thing, she could fix her own damn guns if she wanted to. But somehow, she thought making Ashley feel useful was to everyone’s benefit. And it was nice not to have to do something she was never very good at.

            “Something else I can do for you?” Ashley’s question made Reggie realize she was standing there for perhaps a second too long.

            “We never got to share that drink you talked about.” The words felt dangerous, too friendly.  It was true, but it wasn’t even something that had been at the forefront of her mind. She figured Ashley had celebrated her holiday alone already, and she had expressed her feelings of not wanting to share with the crew.

            “Me and the Lieutenant were actually talking about a game of cards and some drinks around twelve hundred,” Ashley seemed easy with her response, continuing her work as she spoke. “You should join us.”

            “Are you sure getting drunk with your superior officer is a good idea?” Reggie could feel her eyebrows furrowing with confusion, crossing her arms in front of herself.

            “Off the record then, Commander.” Ashley shook her head with the smile still on her lips. It wasn’t mocking or joking, simply amused. Reggie checked the clock across the deck, catching Garrus turning his head back to his terminal next to the MAKO.

            “Meeting in the Mess?” Reggie glanced back to see Ashley’s eyes looking up from the side of her lashes.

            “See you there.” She looked back down to her work.

            The thought that Reggie had been awake too long crossed her mind. She had maybe a few more drinks than  she had rationed for herself at the start of the night, and it seemed her crew mates had too. If the way Ashley and Kaidan were genuinely laughing at some joke she hadn’t heard was any indicator, they were all a little past tipsy.

            “How do you ever get drunk on those things?” the thought came out Reggie’s mouth, perhaps despite better judgment. She tried to remind herself they were off the clock, off the record. Being casual still felt strange.

            “I try not to build a tolerance I guess.” Kaidan shrugged, taking another drink from a green bottle of beer. Something that reminded Reggie of Earth, something he must have gotten on the last trip to the Citadel. “L2’s actually get drunk easier than L3’s. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t take almost double the drinks though.” Kaidan put his glass down a bit harder than it seemed he intended to.

            “And that’s why you keep stealing from my bottle, Alenko.” Ashley grabbed her liquor of choice and set it to her other side, where Reggie could still reach it but Kaidan had to extend his entire arm now to do so.

            “Yeah, and to try and see where you’re hiding your cards.” Kaidan grabbed the deck from in front of Ashley. “I’ll deal this time, thank you.” He started to shuffle the cards thoroughly. The three had been playing poker, not placing bets despite Reggie’s protests. She argued there was no fun when there weren’t any stakes. Ashley and Kaidan argued she had not just Alliance, but also Council credits in her account. She had lost the argument pretty quickly. Ashley had been winning every few games, with Kaidan following her. Reggie had never been very good at poker, she always preferred to play betting games that involved more knives and guns than cards and chance. She had to admit she was a lot less on edge playing this kind of betting.

            “Check.” Reggie hesitated for a moment. They had three cards on the table and Ashley had raised the bet. Reggie had a pair of 2’s. It wasn’t a lot but it was something she was ready to hold fast on, she was tired of folding for the last few rounds, her confidence lost after losing so many times.

            “Check.” Kaidan said smoothly. The way Kaidan and Ashley watched each other, Reggie felt like there was an extra layer to the game they understood more than she did. It was frustrating. Ashley raised the bet again.

            “Fold.” Reggie threw her cards onto the table, keeping them face down, frowning and grabbing another long drink from the bottle her and Ashley shared. Kaidan seemed to break first, him and Ashley sharing wicked grins across the table. Ashley soon started chuckling along with him. There was some joke Shepard didn’t understand.

            “What?” She accused the two as she put the bottle down.

            “Nothing it’s just…” Kaidan trailed off with a small cough when Reggie shot him a glare.

            “You’re just really bad at poker.” Ashley ran her fingers through her hair, which she had taken out of her military bun at some point to put it in a low ponytail, staring at her ends to avoid Reggie’s focus. “You have an awful poker face.”

            “I do not!” Reggie couldn’t help but get defensive. “How many times have you seen me quick draw without a single tell?”

            “That’s different.” Kaidan swallowed his drink. “You’re really quite obvious off the battlefield.”

            “So what, you’re saying I have a tell?” Now Reggie could feel her ears getting hot, not just from the alcohol. She felt there was subtext to Kaidan’s words, a subtext she didn’t quite want to address. She had always hoped that her lingering glances and personal questions could be ignored or written off as polite or obligatory.

            “A tell?” Ashley raised an eyebrow with a smile. Kaidan stifled a laugh. Reggie put her hands on the table and moved to stand up.

            “Hey c’mon now.” Kaidan grabbed at her wrist, holding her hand in place. The motion made her tense, looking at the point of contact, staying on her feet. The moment felt like it lasted too long, uninterrupted, anything but casual.

            “I don’t appreciate being teased and laughed at, Alenko.” Reggie moved to sit quickly, Kaidan’s hand remaining as a cuff keeping her chained to the table, and the cards, and the drinks.

            “I thought you two were on a first name basis already?” Ashley gave an expression of fake surprise, shuffling the cards on the table idly, ignoring the absolute disbelief on Shepard’s face. She might have been a bit casual in conversation sometimes, but she thought it was always seen as innocent. Her thoughts flashed back to her conversations with the both of them over the last few days, talking about personal history and then about Liara, the Asari that had managed to converse her way into a position on board. The way they both talked about rumors, whisperings on the lower decks. About how Liara might be interested in Shepard, how rumor was Kaidan was already sweet on someone, how Ashley had said she didn’t have anyone special other than her family, how she wasn't interested in Alenko.

            “I’m not allowed to be casual with my crew?” Reggie could still back out of this one.

            “That’s not what I said.” Ashley looked across the table at Reggie, comfortable and casual and powerful and in control from her chair. Her eyes were darker in the dim, orange tinted lighting of the mess hall.

            “What are you saying then, Williams?” Reggie couldn’t help but be aware of how hot Kaidan’s hand was still around her wrist. Maybe she couldn’t intimidate her way out of this one.

            “So you really wouldn’t kiss either of us?” Kaidan’s question gave her whiplash. She was truly cornered after that move. Her entire face heated rapidly, all her intrusive fantasies bubbling in her mind. Her heart rate quickened as Kaidan dropped his hand to the top of her thigh, leaning nearly halfway out of his chair to fill the space between them. Reggie felt all too exposed, unsure how to respond to such a forward action from him.

            “I told you.” Ashley’s voice snapped the tension, her bottle sliding across the table to Kaidan. He gave a big huff, rolling his eyes as he activated his omnitool.

            “What the fuck was that?” Reggie couldn’t decide which one to train her irritation to, her hands motioning in a sense of disbelief.

            “We had a bet.” Kaidan shook his head as he pressed a few buttons before shutting the device off again. Ashley had a look of satisfaction, and then mischief, cross her face as she read a notification on her ‘tool.

            “Care to double or nothing?” Her question was full of daring, her expression straight and jaw held. The challenge was clearly directed at Kaidan, completely ignoring Shepard’s loud outburst interrupting her question.

            “How in the hell are we supposed to do that?” Kaidan didn’t lose a beat, the supposed absurdity of the question making him wave a hand as his arms crossed over his chest and he sat back in his chair, cross legged.

            “Well discussing the rules ruins the fun, double or nothing?” Ashley repeated the question.

            “That’s enough!” Reggie stood roughly, her chair pushing out from under her. “I’m tired of being left in the dark, and you two have been doing it all night!” Kaidan and Ashley were both focused on her now, the playful tone between the two falling flat over the table. Reggie felt she was using the wrong words somehow, that she couldn’t get the tone of her voice quite right for what she wanted to convey. She always sounded too harsh. “I won’t be left out of, or be the subject of, this joke you two have going on!”

            Kaidan and Ashley shared a relatively somber look between the two. They seemed to agree on something.

            “Look, Commander-” Kaidan started, cut off by Ashley standing from her side of the table. She took a few steps around the edge quickly, determined the way she was when Shepard gave her an order on the field. Every movement she did, from standing in front of Shepard, to her hands slipping around her waist, to the way her lips moved, was deliberate and confident. It was the way Reggie moved when she knew she was doing the right thing, orders be damned. It was everything that always took her breath away when she saw Ashley in combat, when they had a moment to breathe. The kiss was a culmination of all the boldness Ashley could be capable of, motivated tooth and nail to fight for what she wanted and what she felt was right.

            Ashley took a single step back, her hands at her sides, almost like she was at attention, ready to salute. Shepard drew her body straight, pulling her arms away. She had nearly bent Ashley in half, off balance.

            Kaidan rose to his feet now, Ashley quickly sidestepping out of his way. Shepard stepped back when he touched her, and he waited. Shepard was feeling too much too fast, she could feel the growing panic and overwhelm starting to shut her down.

            “Hey,” His voice was gentle, graceful even. No judgment between the words, no fake niceties. “We should have probably talked about this sooner.” He was just true, understanding.

            “Talking is what made it go on so long.” Ashley reached around Kaidan to grab the empty bottles, nearly hugging him around the waist. The sight felt uncomfortably intimate to Reggie, despite the fact her and Ashley had shared a near make out in all the same company. Kaidan shot her a hard look as she walked away to the trash.

            “That doesn’t mean we don’t still have things to talk about.” He seemed almost scolding. He turned his attention back to Reggie. She was still wary, but she had started to process some of the pieces together. She should keep her defenses down this time, she needed to be able to trust Kaidan, and Ashley. A fearful part of her realized she already trusted them both far more than most. He took a step to close some of the distance between himself and Reggie.

            She thought about all the things she could be saying right now, all the threats she could think of to make this stop, all the reasons she didn’t want to say any of them. He could meet her where she was at. She didn’t have to prove something to him, or for him. He wasn’t here for a fight, he was here for a discussion. A true two way dialogue. He would be understanding of any reply, or none at all. She could be honest.

            “I don’t know.” Shepard stepped forward, allowing herself to be pulled into a loose hug, her forehead against his chest. “I don’t know what we’re even discussing here.”

            “Trust me, I wasn’t keen on the idea at first either.” Kaidan sat back down, tension in his shoulders now. “Me and Ashley had a few long conversations. I wouldn’t say all of them were pleasant.”

            “So you were talking behind my back?” Shepard crossed her arms over her chest, hostility coming back to her defense. “I don’t appreciate secrets within my ranks.” Shepard shared her sharp look between Kaidan and Ashley, who had taken her seat back across the table. “From anyone.”

            “And neither do I.” The agitation in Kaidan’s voice took Reggie off guard, catching her attention. “So that’s why I talked to Williams. That’s why I thought we should all talk together. It just hasn’t gone how I expected it to.”

            “And how did you expect it to go, Alenko?” Ashley frowned.

            “I don’t know!” Kaidan let out an aggravated sigh and threw his hands up. “Look, I’m not fighting over this.”             “You’re not fighting over me, you mean?” Shepard cut him off. That made him stop short. “And don’t you two start looking to each other for answers either!” Reggie put her hand down on the table harder than she had intended. She hated the way they seemed to be able to talk just through looking at each other. “You decide to start what, fighting for my affection? Without even considering how I would feel, without even stopping to consider the fact maybe I don’t want to be in a relationship with anyone?” She felt a stab of guilt at the way Kaidan’s face fell, the way Ashley brought her knees up to her chest in her chair. She felt guilty for telling a lie, even though she had told many. “We have enough to worry about just chasing after a rogue Specter, let alone-”             “And that’s the problem!” Ashley spit out the words. “You’re so focused on this damn mission,” She pointed a finger at Kaidan now. “And you’re too focused on breaking the rules, to realize maybe this is what we need.” She was starting to get fired up now. “You’re too focused on not upsetting the brass, and you’re too damn caught up in being the hero to let yourself have something nice for once!” She swallowed hard, her frustration becoming embarrassment, if her red ears and cheeks were anything to go by. “Commander.” She cast her eyes down to the face up cards on the table.

            “Look,” Kaidan rubbed his eyes, hiding his face behind his hands. “I don’t care what you two decide, I can get over it.”             “Don’t be getting up on your high horse too now,” Ashley glared at him, even if he couldn’t see. “We talked about this. That’s why we’re here in the first place. You said yourself that all you wanted was honesty, and now is the time for it.”

            “You’re right.” Kaidan resigned himself. Shepard made a note to ask about these supposed previous conversations. “Look, Shepard, me and Ashley are close but we have no interest in each other.”

            “You’ve made that clear.” Reggie was still standing, now with her arms back across her chest, her hip against the table. She remembered how Ashley had scoffed at the suggestion of her and Kaidan when Shepard had brought it up. Now she wondered if she had missed some context to that conversation too.

            “I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t think any of us do.” Kaidan continued. “And that makes me nervous. But,” he raised a hand as Ashley opened her mouth to say something. “There’s a first time for everything. If you don’t want to be in a relationship with either of us, fine, that’s understandable. We go back to the mission, we stay civil, we do our duty.” His brown eyes looked dark in the dull orange lighting of the overhead terminals, boring holes up into Shepard. “But I’m willing to try. And so is Ashley. And I think you should too.”

            The air felt heavy for a long moment, the focus turned on Shepard. She never liked being the center of attention, it usually meant something bad for her. It meant she had visions in her head, it meant she was getting an award she didn’t deserve, she was facing an interrogation for a crime she didn’t commit. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she knew this focus was different. This focus was asking, not accusatory.

            “Off the record, permission to speak candidly?” Reggie worked to keep her voice monotone. The quizzical looks from both of her companions made the corners of her lips twitch. “You’re saying I get to not only have one, but two of the best soldiers in the Alliance fleet as my date next shore leave?”

            “If it works out, I guess so.” Kaidan tried to shrug casually, but the smile was evident in his voice as he rubbed his jaw.

            “Too bad we didn’t do double or nothing.” Ashley spoke from her seat, putting the deck of cards back into the box. “Although I guess it was more of a draw.”

            “You would have lost, Williams!” Kaidan shot back, that same amusement coming back from when they discussed raising the stakes.

            “What the fuck was the bet?” Reggie sat down and slumped, she had missed out on a good high stakes bet.

            “Who could get you to make the biggest tell.” Ashley shrugged. “And I would have won.” She hit the edge of the table softly, playfully frustrated with herself.

            “No, I proved it was a tell.” Kaidan countered. Shepard was out of the loop again, even in the middle of the explanation. Ashley opened her mouth, then closed it with a look of thought. “You know I’m right.” Kaidan threw his hands up with a surprisingly mischievous smile.

            “If I fucking give both of you the full amount for the bet, would you please shut the fuck up?” Shepard rubbed her hands over her eyes. Her headache was already threatening to start if she had to be angry at both of them any longer. Kaidan and Ashley laughed, but this time Reggie felt she could laugh with them.

[crystalelemental]

Did you know there's a tier list maker for Unicorn Overlord classes now? Time to have opinions no one else agrees with!

For context: I am ranking this solely based on combat performance that I achieved. There are classes I have seen people rank far above what I do, and whether that's because they understand something I don't, or they had particular setups I didn't piece together and got better results out of it, it doesn't matter. I am rating this on how I experienced the class playing through twice.

The highest I beat was Tactical. I did try Expert, and beat the maps just fine, but I have this known brain problem where anything timed starts to stress me out if it runs too close, and I was constantly running too close. I never lost a map through the 8 or so hours I played it, but I couldn't stand the time pressure and kicked it down to have a more relaxed time of my life. Make of that what you wish.

S-TIER

Breaker. I feel like the surest indication of an S-tier classification is not having to think about it at all. While some will argue for the best possible performance being the indication of tier, I argue the opposite. I don't think many people are going to dig into the game that hard, and thus many aren't going to see the glory of incredibly fine-tuned tactics that let you beat Arena at level 15 with like three guys. Most are playing normally, and encounter stuff that just naturally works, and that, to me, is the surest sign of potency for a class, because there is nothing hidden that makes it good, you feel it right away. That in mind: Breaker is the most mindless win condition in the game, and my personal assertion for best class. Enrage is dirt cheap at 1PP, stacks, includes accuracy for consistent hit rates, counters armors, and has a row-wide attack that can't even be blocked or guarded. Once armor is removed, Assaulting Blow will recharge 1AP for every KO they land, potentially sweeping the entire enemy team, with no more support than "make sure they don't get hit." Anyone with cover and the tactic of "prioritize Highest Phys Atk" will do the job.

Gryphon Master. Gryphon Master is a bit more dynamic than Breaker, but no less devastating. Row-wide damage for 1AP is exceptionally strong, and they don't suffer the Berserker's accuracy penalty either. Add in cav effectivenss, and they're unspeakably strong. Being flying, they can front row dodge tank. Late in the game, they can pivot to Fatal Dive, dealing true damage to foes and denying guard, which can easily annihilate back-row foes and chip bulkier targets enough for follow-ups to finish. Griyphon Master has so much going for it, and very few legitimate flaws. So long as arrows are covered, they excel.

High Lord. Alain is ridiculous. Not because of anything offensive, but because defensively, he is unparalleled. Blocking is a huge deal to me, I like covering for squishier allies, and Alain's access to specific equipment giving him a much easier time hitting 4/4 means he adds a lot of defensive backbone, without suffering poor Mag Def, and contributing some DPS through anti-cavalry tech and row-wide offense. That anti-cav tech also removes AP and PP both, while inflicting Guard Seal, which is exceptionally potent. His potential to disrupt and defense a team cannot be understated.

Featherbow. At time of writing...this is my favorite class. Consider this bias if you must. Featherbow is S on utility. Row-wide Blindness in response to an attack leaves little room for foes to counter. She is not bound by the Rogues need to hit, and is instant enough that removing this status is impossible prior to them attacking. Photon Arrow hits two targets for -50% Phys Def and Passive Seal, which is devastating if aimed correctly given her high initiative, potentially shutting out a healer completely. Even Saint's Shot can be devastating, just removing 1PP from a target, or 2 if they're non-flying. As a flier themselves, they have evade potential on the front row, and can use their own blind effect to deny archers specifically. Featherbow is a metric ton of fun, and can really disrupt entire teams with good play.

Snow Ranger. Snow White Strike. That alone gets this an S. Follow-up attacks are generally good, accounting for typical shaky accuracy, but Yunifi defies that will solid bow accuracy and a devastating Freeze effect. This is an excellent way to keep an opponent locked down, and the damage doubles if someone else freezes for her. Triple Counter can be devastating as well with enough evasion on her; a full power retaliation that hits three opponents is amazing. Yunifi is interesting in that it really is her passives that make her tick, but Glacial Rain can be used on the back line to really hammer an enemy team with full AoE damage and a freeze effect that shuts down everything. The accuracy is shakier, but to my understanding, only one arrow has to hit for freeze to work. Yunifi is fantastic, and I adore using her.

Dark Marquess. I admit, my first run, I did not really respect Berengeria. I get it now, though. On-entry passive that cuts the initiative and attack of all foes is excellent. So long as foes are afflicted, she recharges PP on multiple attacks, including a 1PP follow up move for infinite regain that also heals her. When she's attacked, she boosts Atk/Initiative and gets 1AP back. She has row-wide offense that inflicts Stun. While it requires afflictions to be present, which can be slightly restrictive, she still has strong options even without that condition met. Dark Marquess is just very persistent and incredibly strong, with a powerful opening move, and it's hard to go wrong with her presence.

Elven Augur. The elf girls are very, very strong, but Augur is definitely stronger. Offensively, an on-entry row-wide attack that inflicts stun if it doesn't kill is great. Much like Sibyl, Augur has a good synergy between skills. Primus Edge restores 1PP if at 100% HP, even if it misses. Elemental Impetus will use 2PP to recharge 1AP, making this a good, steady source of recharge. The main draw, however, is Elemental Roar, a 3AP move that hits all foes and gets stronger with more active fairies. Her opening skill is strong by default, but adding a fairy into an AoE burst is outstanding. Very little investment needs to go into Augur for their magic to devastate, and they even pack a little recovery that can specifically heal up a Cleric-type if they get hit with status, keeping your team rolling without a care.

A-TIER

Shieldshooter. Again, I like blocking. Shieldshooters can block while recovering HP to allies. Shieldshooters also have competent offense in Heavy Bolt, making them a good two-skill focus unit. Their follow-up is fairly weak, but can be nice as I believe it cannot be interrupted, finishing off units that get Holy Cradle or otherwise barely survived. As a bow user in the front, she can aim specifically for back row as well, taking out core supports or big threats with hilarious precision. If anything holds Shieldshooter back, I'd say it's that they don't quite excel at what they aim to do. Heavy Bolt is good damage, but she lacks the same kind of hilarious disruption as Alain does against cavalry, or the row-wide offense he can pack, leading to her being more about sniping a particular target in a match and otherwise existing for defense. Still one of my favorites, though.

Swordmaster. One of my favorites. Swordmasters are about precision removal of specific enemies. By default, this is Scout. In some situations, it can be the fliers. With Runic Sword and some backup with Inspiration, it can include Armor, which legitimately feels like their best utility. But Swordmasters rarely carry. Their damage can be good with proper support, but maintaining that is difficult. And without it, their damage drops precipitously. I do compliment their anti-meta properties, like Meteor Strike being the easiest way to just blow through Galerius' Dark Armor, but they have trouble answering as much as they counter. Outside of Runic Sword, which is a one-time item, they have no means of getting around armor or guards. They're evade tanks whose Parry doesn't work on range, so arrows can break them, and truestrike remains a problem. Their PP generation is a bit challenging as well. Two swords means less flexibility on accessories. But for the sheer depth of what they can do for a team, and how well they can be crafted to serve any comp, A feels right.

Wyvern Master. Look, I don't know why I like Gryphon Master better. I think better early tools, but Fire Breath doesn't take long to unlock and is arguably stronger. Column-piercing is really good too, easily slapping someone out of commission on the back row. I think Wyvern Master is fantastic, but for some reason it just never felt like it worked as well as Gryphon Master, despite having comparable tools. Maybe I'm just biased. Maybe I just really liked Fatal Dive. I cannot give a satisfying answer, because they do rule.

Druid. Druid's great. Probably the strongest on-entry skill in the game, coupled with immediate debuffing of a target's offense as they attack. Defense Curse wildly improves damage and prevents Guard entirely, which is exceptional for offensive cores. I think the only reason I don't respect Druid more is that I didn't use Druid more. Their kit is truly excellent, if hard countered by Clerics.

Prince. Buffing alternative to Druid. Seriously, it's the same thing but reversed. Buffs initiative on entry instead of debuffing, buffs attack instead of debuffing defense, grants truestrike instead of inflicting Guard Seal. Prince does fantastic back-row work. I think I value Druid just a little more, solely because I think the entry skill is stronger, and Guard Seal slightly more valuable than a truestrike.

Elven Sibyl. She's a healing version of the Augur, whose on-entry skill is a heal that provides a nullification to one debuff for a row. She also has Primus Edge/Elemental Impetus, allowing for fantastic generation. However. My problem lies in her AP skills. Elemental Roar remains the boom it is on Augur, but her 2AP skill goes entirely to waste using it, and it's a row-wide heal that provides nullification of one attack to a whole row. To put it bluntly, this is insanely good. Evade tanks have a backup that can now prevent certain death, solely because Eltolinde was present to provide it. And yet...this comes at the cost of Elemental Roar. I talked about this positively in other classes, having strong variability, and I think that's Sibyl's strength too. You can use her as either Elemental Roar AoE damage for a wipe, or you can use her as a healer with built-in blocks to damage for an entire row. But you cannot do both. And that's why she's down here in A. Because the S class options? They can do everything they want in one set. Eltolinde cannot. She makes much harder concessions.

Valkyria. I wish I could put this higher, but I do think it's fairly limited at times. Boosting team defenses and guard rate on entry makes the entire team a lot stronger, and 50% guard rate is percentage points, meaning even your frail back row has better than average odds to guard and reduce a lot of damage. This is not what sells her. What sells her is Maiden's Hammer, a Truestrike move that deals better damage the lower her HP, and is a counterattacking move. This is an excellent utility move. Combined with her natural ability to hit Flying with Vertical Edge, she's like a heavily defensive variation on Swordmaster. But. Swordmaster has that magic attack to blast armor apart, being much more offensively competent. Valkyria relies on Brandish, which is expensive and never deals as much as you want. She can eventually break through, but definitely needs support to see it happen.

Dreadnought. I feel like Dreadnought is a boring, overly straight-forward damage class with exactly one interesting tool. Unfortunately for me, that one interesting tool is hilarious and extremely powerful. When a foe guards an attack, Dreadnought kicks them in the face, inflicting Stun and Guard Seal. That is. EXTREMELY good. It turns a lot of offensive focus options from middling and in need of support, to potentially just blowing right through armors. With her self-buff to get truestrike and sure crit, she's able to obliterate pretty much any individual enemy she sets her sights on. And with greatshields, even in the back row, she tends to be excellent on defense. Initiative can be a problem, but just kicking open a guard for allies is a massive boon.

High Priestess. This may seem a bit mean, but I don't consider Scarlett as potent as other unique classes. Her healing leaves a bit to be desired, and while her main attacks remove buffs, the fact they can miss creates issues. It's not like her damage is exceptional either. What keeps Scarlett in A is really just how rare buff removal is, and how nice having a shield to halve incoming damage while denying status can be in good hands. But the later you get, the more allies can find items that make them immune to status anyway, and thus her shield goes largely to waste. This is especially true for evade tanks, who just...move out of the way of the attack, rendering that shield moot. Scarlett has good tools mired by problems that kept haunting me, but I fully acknowledge what she brings.

B-TIER

Bishop. Standard healer. What gets Bishop in my good graces is Refresh being row-wide, and access to some good AP skills from staves, most notably Lyrical Wand. Most of their AP skills are pretty whatever, so the wand skill is free, and recharges AP of a target. I do think Bishop can be a little finicky, though. Specifically targeting what you want and when can be a challenge on the tactics, with their default sets healing every single hit no matter how minor resulting in consumption of 1PP. It's a necessary class, but not an exceptional one.

Featherstaff. Featherstaff has some solid traits, but I feel like initiative is their worst enemy. Unless they get Overheal or Holy Cradle up right away, it's easy for opponents to just slap something and ruin your plan. Holy Cradle in particular feels like shit outside of PvP/Arena contexts. It's 2AP that could go into just keeping you from dying, and very little in main game can threaten to one-shot you. They're overly specific for single matches, which is why I put them below Bishop.

Wereowl. Very fun but very finicky. Wereowl has basically one truly good trait, and that is granting 1PP to an ally after they use one. This combos into some hilarious shit, especially when you look at things like Featherbow's row-wide blind response, or sustaining healing or guarding, or counterattacks, etc. That said, getting that PP where you want it to go and not having them burn through all of it is very, very challenging. I will give credit for having pretty whatever AP skills. I think they're another that really likes the staff effect to be their primary, though Night Vision for huge accuracy buffs is nice.

Feathershield. What if your tank could dodge? Feathershield is fun because they are flying armor, which means they both take hits well and can evade, making them excellent at sticking around. That said...is it just me, or are there like no greatshields that have passive abilities to shield allies? Is no one else bothered by this? It's like the one fatal flaw. If I could get this guy to both reflect spells and jump in on attacks against the healer, I think we'd be set. I do want to specifically complement synergy with Valkyria. Iron Will with his buff to Mag Def for the entire party makes for some outrageously tanky units.

Great Knight. Cavalry Call. That's basically the class in a nutshell. They have a great buff that applies to all cavs, and are able to rush a column both with their base move and with a follow-up. In addition, they pack the usual AP recovering stuff, but with two different forms of attack, including a 2AP multi-hit move. Great Knights have a lot in their favor. I don't really respect them. I feel like a lot of their utility relies entirely on a full cav team that makes them hysterically easy to counterpick. I think they put so much in offense that every comp tends to lack wildly for defense, and their results in a map are either a clean sweep of massive damage, or getting half the team killed. I think without someone to proc boosted initiative or debuff foe's initiative, they tend to move too slowly and eat a lot of damage. They live attached to Selvie. Outside of cav comps, while they have decent tools, their offenses are significantly less pronounced, and I feel like they falter. They're really fun and have one of the more mindless overall setups, but it's such a hit and miss tactic that's so, so easy to counter.

Doom Knight. I don't really favor sacrificing HP for power. I admit they have a good system going, as well as good bulk and potential to recover damage they do take. I recognize their fire-base AoE move is tremendous damage with a lot of benefits. I just can't put them higher than this. Similar deal to the Great Knights, I think they tend to be easily bowled over at times. Tactics matter a lot, and if their conditions aren't in place, they falter wildly. Without a Cleric, or at least some means of active healing, they're very easily KOd. I like them well enough, but not all that much.

Sergeant. Granting Sure-crit can be specifically tailed for Maximum Funny. Granting 1AP to any ally at the cost of 2PP is also really nice. Sergeant doesn't have the best offensive profile, but column-piercing and cav effectiveness isn't bad, and they add some response to fliers as well. They're a decent all-arounder with no particularly outstanding traits, but some really fun concepts to play with.

Elven Archer. Ice Arrow is one of my favorites, I love freeze and they have the initiative to back it up. I've also seen talk of their on-entry skill resulting in Scarlett granting a PP back with some healing, kicking off their party-wide heal and instantly recovering the team to full not matter how battered from the last encounter. It's something! But I feel like Elven Archer often fails to dazzle. Damage isn't great, they don't have the same truestrike as base archers, their on-entry skill is nice but not one of the better options out there, etc. I do like them a lot, though.

Elven Fencer. Similar deal but worse. They rely heavily on evasion, and can sure-dodge, but only when conditions occur that grant the effect. Otherwise, they have sub-par evasion for a frontline tank, and are always hoping to recharge AP on successful dodges. They rely heavily on allies to set conditions for dodging, and are as easily bopped by truestrike as other evade tanks. At least they have really good and fun offense that has a magical edge, allowing them to hurt armor types.

C-TIER

Sainted Knight. This one would get me killed on Reddit. I don't think Sainted Knight is all that good. I think the blocking of magic can be divine, and the combo with Legionnaire is obviously decent. But I think their problem is often passivity, and being too cluttered with AP. Yes, they can deal hilarious magical damage. If they aren't using Row Heal. But then you need someone else dedicated to healing. Which causes its own problems. But keeping healing means they don't do much in the way of attacks, and that magic potential goes to waste. But also there's only two magical swords in the game and Swordmaster is way more proficient about removing armor, while their attacks seem to fail to KO anything with reasonable Mag Def. Even in just general runs, I use Sainted Knight often for mobility and reduction of magical assist attacks used against us, but their teams are extremely hit and miss by effectiveness. I struggle to see a situation in which they feel as good as many claim.

Legionnaire. I like blocking, so here they are. I do think they're highly passive, lacking for damage or healing or literally anything but guard. But it's nice to have someone to just block attacks and take like no damage, you know?

Feathersword. Kinda middling. Yes, ranged attack, decent self-buffing, but their kit is kinda whatever. No particularly great attacks, buffs literally everything but stats you really want like straight Atk, Discharge is their only means of offense but it removes literally every other form of buff. They have a Truestrike but its 2AP, and their lack of sheer crit rate means Gambler's Coin isn't even salvaging them. I have yet to feel like Feathersword truly does all that much.

Landsknecht. What if you were a follow-up class, but your follow-up missed? What if Berengeria were kinda bad? Bastard's Cross is huge damage, but easily guarded and then rendered unimportant. Landsknecht does have good damage potential, and the AP regeneration of Breaker and Great Knight, but it tends to fall way behind on every other metric I care about.

Warlock. On the one hand, row-wide move that can stun, and great follow-up and counter attacks with generalized magic. I do think the shaky 90 accuracy is a problem, as is general initiative woes and frailty. Pure magic classes tend to heavy invest in just their magical offense and everything else is kinda whatever. As a result, Warlock can do some nice stuff, but I rarely consider them exceptional.

Sniper. I barely used them. I kinda dislike them, to be honest. I got one to work in the Virginia/Feathershield team comp I used, but I feel like the biggest issue they have is that damage output feels limited. They're kind of another precision removal tool, in that they can aim wherever they want and are specifically good against fliers, but only okay when it's a wyvern without crits. Taking out back row stuff also relies heavily on what the enemy team's composition is. They can work, but they're not a favorite, for reasons that are slightly difficult to parse. I don't think they're that bad, but I've never had good success with them.

Sorceress. This has to be my most contentious opinion. I think Sorceress kinda blows. Stupid frail, horrendous initiative, magic can get completely hard countered by two class types, getting conferrals to land where you want when you want is an exercise in pure frustration, status conferrals take 2PP and a whole accessory slot which is demanding, and while their freeze is an excellent status, I pretty much never see it because the rest of the team does its job first or the witch dies immediately. They can be good. Devastating, even. But I feel like they're very often a liability. Also now that both are on here: I don't respect Trinity Rain. Way, way too much investment of a team's resources for something that can (1) miss, (2) be blocked, and (3) be entirely shut down by Feathershields and Sainted Knights.

D-TIER

Vanguard. They're just not too useful. I give some credit for Arrow Cover blocking flying attacks as well, and being useful alongside Swordmasters and fliers for the specifics of what it does. But that's about all I can really praise it for. Neat concept, very lacking outcomes. There's a reason they're a 25 Honor promotion.

Werelion/Berserker. They are the same goddamn class and I don't like them. Row wide and then full party AoE damage should be great, but their offense is surprisingly low by raw stats, and all of their attacks are base 80% accuracy. Which is, as it turns out, bad. The only good stat they have is HP, and fun fact: no situation in any game I've ever played has allowed high HP but bad defenses and evasion to work out. Ever. I feel like this could be a way better class if their other stats were a little stronger in some places, but as it stands, very underwhelming.

Werebear. I tried, but never found much interest in them. A greatshield class that can't block anything, and instead specs into attempts at offense that are inaccurate, or completely miss anything not on the ground. Wholly unimpressed.

Viking. Their on-entry skill should be a favorite. There's so much that should be fun with this. I have never, even once, found a situation where I think it's worth it. Other on-entry skills just offer a lot more bang for your buck, and letting everyone bypass guard, while nice, often isn't necessary to taking down armor. There are other approaches. Like magic. Even half-magic like the Elven classes will do a better job than bringing a Viking's low initiative and inaccurate shenanigans. I want to respect them, I really do, but I've never found a significant use.

Werefox. Let the broad opinion being: I do not respect units whose life is evasion. "But you like Swordmaster." For the offense. For its ability to remove, with incredible precision, several different types of opponents as you see fit. Werefox does not do that. It has some offensive utility I'm willing to acknowledge, but I didn't have a great time using them ever.

F-TIER

Werewolf. Werewolf is one I wanted to like. A row-wide 15% Phys Atk buff with no other conditions is fairly unique, and they have means of restoring AP for further moves. Unfortunately...I just never encountered success. This feels unfair, I feel like something could've happened if I just found something I liked. But the one (1) time I made a team with one that actually started to work out? It was the Virginia/Fodoquia team. And it turned out the best results for that team? Was dropping the Werewolf for a Cleric. I dunno man! Results don't lie! Maybe I'm using it wrong, but I've yet to see this class accomplish literally anything.

Rogue. _Lucille_ on Reddit has some excellent takes on classes, and some fantastic strategy. They're the kind of person who can beat Arena before breaking level 20 on the highest difficulty, something I legitimately could never piece together. So when they say that dodge tanks are better than physical tanks, and that Rogue is very good, I'm inclined to believe this is true. Evasion likely is more successful overall if outfitted correctly. But personally? I consider tier based on ease of access as much as anything. If something is stupid broken busted, but only once you've been playing for a while and have a working meta knowledge of tactics and how to specifically counteract all the things that otherwise beat you? That to me isn't success. That requires niche knowledge for success. And on that note: Rogue sucks. Getting it to work is an unending nightmare. So many enemies have Truestrike, and the only means of not dying horribly is knowing AI patters and how to avoid being the target of attacks that threaten, and nothing else. Even outside of this, just letting one (1) attack land the low percentage to hit is instant death, and in general maps, you're encountering so many swings that eventually that 10% will land. It requires a level of precision and calculation that I feel is way beyond what is reasonable as a more casual fan of the game. While their skills feel exciting, I never once found them significant. Row blindness is done infinitely better by Featherbow, and even Druid if you want to use the staff for it. Stealing AP is only ever 1AP despite the translation, and fails entirely if guarded. PP steal can also be guarded against, ruining the attempt. Someone mentioned using them with Viking's War Horn to ensure hits, stealing PP and using that on accessories to buff allies constantly. Great plan! That also cuts into their evade rate because less equipment goes to it, so you get hit more often. Evade stops working the instant archers are introduced, because they just hit you through it. Their bulk is so bad, anything that touches them kills. Their passive skills are bad, with an on-entry that just inflicts Guard/Passive seal on one (1) target, which sucks, but is likely to go first given their high initiative, ruining much better options because only one goes off. I have active contempt for Rogue. I would love to get it to work, just to see what others are seeing, but I feel like their utility ran out before I even finished the demo. I get that no damage is better than chip damage, but you know what's even better than that? Not dying immediately because you failed a roll.

Paladin. I think the basic fact that nothing seems to outline the skills on a Paladin should tell you what you need to know. The class itself is good enough, but Josef is so gimped in the stats department that once you leave Cornia, and start fighting things closer to his level? He's easily overwhelmed on the frontline and contributes very little to a backline. There's no reason to use Josef past the opening. At least the Rogues can be outfitted with something going on, Josef just feels like a burden.

[artfoold00k]

Art Fight summary

For my own performance

POSITIVES ☉ Good creating speed ☉ Learned and tried new things ☉ Tested/created different tools for inking ☉ Mostly good feedback from recipients ☉ New connections, more exposure ☉ Proud of my custom assets

NEGATIVES ⨷ Applied unnecessary limitations (style, theme, quality) ⨷ Not enough diversity, no creature OCs ⨷ Not enough male characters ⨷ Half of the expected number of finished works ⨷ Overthinking and outperforming ⨷ Technical issues with Clip Studio software ⨷ Poor mental health days, draining

· • —– ٠ ✝ ٠ —– • ·

My plan was to try new art things with each drawing I make, learn new tricks, and apply/practice them. By doing this I increased creating time by a lot and so it wasn't wise to continue. Not when quantity is more important than quality.

I'm very glad that I didn't push myself too much and didn't burn out from this experience.

➽ Let me know which of my July's artworks is your personal favorite. Leave a comment, tell how you see my art, and what you value in it. I'd appreciate the feedback.

· • —– ٠ ✝ ٠ —– • ·

Regarding Art Fight event management itself. Disappointing and bad.

🅧 Frequent maintenance in the first days indicates that admins were not prepared well. Assets were provided with delay. 🅧 Some small parts of the website are still broken as many years before. 🅧 The whole freaking drama unraveled among the staff in the only month everyone needs them to do their work well! Scam, staff shifts, owner change, negativity. Toxic and unprofessional. 🅧 Changes made to the event DURING the event. For example, team points calculation, changes to the search filter, and more. All the changes should be made BEFORE the time. 🅧 Bad Discord server maintenance. Poor structure, boring, immature. I expect more from Discord partners, for an old event with a huge community. I don't see a reason for me to be a member of their server in this situation. 🅧 Artists delete/archive their characters during the event. It's irritating at least. What if I'm in the process of drawing? I won't be able to submit my attack.

· • —– ٠ ✝ ٠ —– • ·

When time/energy allows, I plan to create TikTok content from all the speedpaint recordings I made during July.

[adultswim2021]

!!!EMERGENCY POST!!!

Sometimes I forget to cover a thing, so I add the phrase “EMERGENCY POST” to the top of the post to indicate that. So, without further adude:

Tim & Eric Nite Live #1: “Delicious Pizza” | November 6, 2007 - 10:00PM | S01E01 Aired on superdeluxe.com

Folks, I messed up. While this blog was always meant to be more about the proper television content of the Adult Swim original comedy ecosphere, I was planning to at least touch on some of the web-only content. While covering it in-depth wasn’t going to be a requirement I could work with, I was, however, planning to make an exception for Tim & Eric Nite Live. But I didn’t think about formally making sure I wasn’t gonna miss it until it was too late. I falsely remembered that the series started sometime midway through season two, rather than a few weeks before season two. I’m so sorry. But, being a spin-off somewhat of Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! I’ve decided to count this, and I’ve decided to do a brief run of posts catching up with this series so I can weave the few remaining 2007 episodes where they actually belong on the timeline. 

Tim and Eric Nite Live is an achievement. It’s one of the funniest things they’ve ever done. How can two Pennsylvanians, such a universally reviled demographic of people, be so goddamn effortlessly funny? It boggles my mind.

This is basically a public access show for the internet. It’s clearly influenced by their own love of public access shows. A lot of people from Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job showed up to participate in this. You had Richard Dunn, showing up to get shaved (sometimes played by the real Richard Dunn, but briefly and absurdly played by Zach “big time” Galifianakis” for a brief stretch), You had David Liebe Hart performing music and interjecting way too much from the sidelines (which yields some of the show’s funniest moments, nearly derailing the fabricated trainwreck into a real one). 

This one opens up with a wonderfully elaborate intro sequence, which makes the show seem like an attempt at a slick news-magazine show. What we get instead is an endless small-talk segment that is clearly paid advertisement for Papa John’s Pizza. To clarify: they aren’t actually getting paid by Papa John’s they are just doing their goddamn best to sincerely sell the idea that they might be. They are so good at laying it on thick. Tim decreeing “I’ve never seen anything like this” regarding the Papa John's website is hysterical.  

Other memorable moments: Tim backhandedly insulting We Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which was actually being advertised on the front page of Super Deluxe’s web page. I’ve done a very poor job of approximating what it might have looked like if you were watching this web broadcast on the front page of the site. It’s on top of this write-up. I tell you, streaming this show was hellish at the time. I remember sitting through entire episodes of the show and just watching all of my friends comment on it in an AIM chatroom while it buffered endlessly for me, so I only got to see a few snippets here and there as it aired live. 

It really was live, too. They took Skype calls from fans, and treated them poorly. My favorite call is a cute girl named Kate who DLH immediately starts hitting on (he nearly gives her his phone number only to be cut off by Tim & Eric). She refers to “Jayne and Wan” Skyler which prompts an immediate hang-up from Tim, incensed that she got the names wrong. 

Another memorable bit is DJ Doug Pound presenting the mostly lame Tim & Eric cover song contest. This bit ends with Doug very sillily walking into the camera as he leaves, causing a huge disruption in our visual experience of the show. Tim scolds him for doing an extra bit of comedy that the show did not need. 

It’s important to note: Tim & Eric eventually released higher-quality versions of these that are in roughly DVD quality. From what I can tell they are uncut but with one exception: this first episode is missing around a minute’s worth of footage towards the beginning. My guess is that their own high-quality archive of the stream failed, but since they had the opening sequence as a pre-recorded video they just stitched that to the front of their incomplete archive. If you find the lower-quality version online, it has a SuperDeluxe network bug in the corner. This is the more complete version. I made a composite version a long time ago but I don’t know if I have it handy anymore. If I find it, maybe I’ll throw it up online sometime?

[thequietmanno1]

TheLreads, Vigilantes ch 94, Replies Part 2

1) “OH WHAT THE FUCK HIS FACE”- Well, not all of it, but enough to say he’s not that ugly a dude after all, underneath all that. Got that Dave Baustra/Dwayne Johnstone look to his features.

2) “Oh jesus man you guys waited a whole day to remove the bodies and start investigating it? poor bastards, were left to rot in the open like that, I knew this society was rotten to the core #Stain was right”- Seeing as nobody actually died in this suppression incident, I’m not really sure what the body outlines are meant to indicate, especially since the only gunfire used in the fight was by Knuckles’ own hand.

3) “And I still want to see how that would’ve looked in an official hero report. “So I recruited a civilian fighting in an illegal ring and a non-licensed pro-hero in training also fighting in the same illegal ring to help me fight a villain. I also tried to pay them with law-enforcement funds but they refused””- I think Knuckles was working with the corrupt parts of the system long before he started working outside of it as a vigilante.

4) “Also completely bending the hero rules as he sees fit to protect elements that by intents and purposes were criminals and should’ve been arrested, but that’s too long so let us keep it at “cautious””- Knuckles sweeping this whole mess under the rug benefitted Him as much as it benefitted Mirko and Rappa, but it benefitted AFO in the end more. 5) “OH THANK THE FUCKING LORD THE BLACK BACKGROUND IS GONE THAT MEANS WE’RE OUT OF THE NIGHTMARE

WHERE IS KOICHI, IS HE STILL UP IN THAT BUILDING? IS HE EATING PROPERLY? TELL ME ABOUT MY BOY FURUHASHI

TELL ME”- No news on the best Boi yet, but the good news is we won’t be dragged into any further flashbacks now… 6) “that super secret ultimate showdown that was so secret that apparently everybody in the police force is aware of for some reason, since a completely unrelated nobody like you is thinking about it

oh my fucking god man”- I’m gonna take a guess that The higher-ups were made aware of the fight by necessity in order to account for All Might’s weakened performance, and those law enforcement who had been experienced in the job for a while were able to find out the particulars through their own investigating around the office, based on “detective instinct’ something was up.. If that’s too much of a stretch, don’t worry, the massive plot hole he just opened got sealed with a bang. 7) “the dots that show that the super-villain from back then is too similar to the ones that showed up at naruhata, and the ones at the sky egg??

HUH?! SOMEONE IS CONNECTING THE DOTS?!

WHAT”-

 Furuhashi: Well, we can’t have that! (kills him literally a few panels after he realises) Remember kids, competency kills!

8) “ DID THIS MOTHERFUCKER JUST FOUND THAT AFO WAS BACK YEARS BEFORE EVERYBODY ELSE?!

AND HE DIDN’T TOLD ANYONE?!

WHAT

NO, HE’S GONNA BE KILLED, ISN’T HE? THERE’S NO WAY THAT HE CAN JUST BRUSH THIS UNDER THE RUG, SOMEONE IS GONNA ICE HIM FOR SURE”-Well, it was a bit more of a fiery cover-up than a stone-cold cement shoes ending for him, but yep. Didn’t even make it to the chapter’s end. 9) “ITS HIM

IT’S FUCKING HIM FOR SURE

HES GONNA FUCKING KILL TANUMA”- The Nomura everywhere system strikes again! 10) “SORRY DUDE, BUT YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME

DEATH IS KNOCKING AT THE DOOR RIGHT NOW, AND THEY REALLY WANT TO HAVE A CHAT”- Tanuma’s chat with the reaper was short, but loud.

11) “I CAN’T FUCKING BELIEVE IT

HE FOUND OUT THE TRUTH JUST FOR McBEE TO SHOW UP AND IMMEDIATELY KILL HIM TO KEEP THE TIMELINE STABLE”-Not the smoothest way to resolve plot inconsistencies, but certainly takes care of all the bumps in the road we’ve have had to deal with should Tanuma have lived. 12) “And out he goes, the say was saved once again thanks to McBee!”- When the Villain is the one saving the plot, you know something’s gone amis. 13) “Oh ho ho, I’m already liking where this is going. McBee is off his shits after that humiliating encounter with koichi, I can only hope this mean we’re about to see something magical happen

Now I’m excited to read what might come next, that’s for sure”- The chains of the past no longer restrain us, now the showdown of the next generation of vigilantes can commence! 14) “Which now, after properly finished and with all the information provided by it I can finally say:

why in the fuck was it even included here

Like, holy shit, I was already questioning how anything that could’ve come up in the flashback could benefit the plot in the present, since Koichi was not even involved in learning about what we saw it was a cop revisiting an old file, and then the chapter ends with McBee killing said cop and erasing all evidence

Net zero information gain for the story. Could’ve added those last five pages to a chapter as footnote and it would’ve been just as effective, perhaps even more effective. Like, no joke, what did we even learned there? And I don’t mean that Hoodie and Mirko fought before or that Rappa and Mirko helped a pro hero before going their separate ways, I mean, what information here was meaningful for understanding the Vigilantes manga itself.”- Given that the ending of the Manga was looming (which wasn’t announced to anybody until a few chapters away) I guess they wanted to show what Knuckles’ past connection to AFO was and how he got on his trail in the first place. That said, I do agree with the pacing issue, it felt like a filler arc that got added to pad out the runtime of an anime in-between adapting ongoing arcs of a manga. @thelreads

[anthonybialy]

No-Way Street

Avoid the Democratic way at all costs.  The path’s inherent peril should be featured in every map application.  You’ve been warned about heading that direction.  Sadly, innocent travelers are being dragged along, too.  The lack of rumble strips is as alarming as the quantity of potholes for quality government work.

Getting what they wanted is a curse.  It it helps liberals cope, everyone else suffers far worse fates.  A stubborn desire to avoid credit is why mandate embracers believe all that communal mumbo jumbo.  Having to suffer along with everyone else makes us feel like we are all in this together.  The party that’s spent a few years inflicting its dreams loathes noticing consequences for a good reason that’s less than decent.  The genie giggles as he grants their wish.

The hammer surely fixed the windshield chip.  Unfortunately for those regrettably in charge, those poor folks enduring what follows have noticed the pattern.  Everyone can see compulsory priorities in action, or rather lack of it.  There’s very little movement for a nation Democrats have changed so rapidly.  Rotting cities are the embodiment of their glorious values.  Mandatory ideas in practice don’t seem to show as much caring for others as advertised.  Enthusiastic taxers never try running businesses with their results in mind.

You may ponder how many more examples they need.  Victims have concluded the present amount is beyond sufficient.  Some rather misguided voters could apparently use a reminder of what they inflict.  It’s one thing to maintain an unfortunate doctrine.  A republic with democratic principles means those enabling legal buffoonery are relieved at secret ballots.

Enjoy the innovative approach to solving problems they totally didn’t create.  Joe Biden is saving you money by ensuring there’s nothing to buy.  The cunning strategy resembles lowering crime by making items too rare to locate and steal.  And please enjoy family time when there’s no possible way to purchase fuel.  You ingrates won’t even thank kind politicians who reduced your soulless materialism.

Professional politician and amateur president Biden is unable to achieve anything tricky like allow people to perform tasks for compensation.  He leads a movement that can only fib about how they’re succeeding.  It’s not the best skill to develop unless you seek employment in the rather disreputable field of filling an office.  The tired andn tiresome incumbent’s only success will take the form of deterring young people from bossing around others after winning elections.

Pretending the globe is melting hasn’t ruined it to the dismay of the apocalypse’s fans.  We might still be ruined by commerce.  Mean stores decided they wanted to make more for selling stuff, which is why proprietors gathered in secret and decided to simultaneously raise prices.  My sources indicate the vote was unanimous, which is just what’s expected from greedy capitalists.

Coincidences are the only presently thriving aspect.  Acting as if commercial outposts wouldn’t undercut competitors is crucial to maintaining the Democratic delusion.  Astute retailers can make more by selling for less, which is voodoo liberals don’t grasp any more than they do that there will be responses to incentives either positive or negative.  They prefer the latter as part of their effort to coerce citizenry into glory.  It’s no wonder trade foes are so dedicated to creating static societies.  You have no choice to shop elsewhere, bizarrely claim those who want to ensure a lack of competition by letting our stupid government commandeer industries.

It’s frustrating when nothing you believe works.  I just wish there could be a remedy.  Some extremist theorists suggest humans are free to modify their opinions.  You could always try a new mentality that doesn’t involve getting rich by printing money.  But that seems too much like the freedom of interaction innate autocrats reflexively oppose.  Stubborn pride leads to a refusal to change.  Nobody else gets a chance at entering a higher economic quintile as a result.

Alleged openminded geniuses aren’t into the whole ability to alter themselves, as seen by their steadfastly goofy belief that everyone rich was always that way just like the impoverished have no hope but to beg for federal alms.  Thanks to deleterious Democratic policies, the chances of self-improvement are far tougher.

The one lesson Donald Trump taught the party he soullessly joined out of convenience is that you only need to be better than the other awful option.  Aspiring to more than what a pouting steak peddler shared would be nice, but politics is even trashier than usual.

It’s not like Republicans are super amazing to the point sensible voters should worship politicians of their own.  The alleged alternative are at their worst when they rip off their adversaries.  It’s not exactly a wise strategy to be as scuzzy, much less attempt to bribe voters halfheartedly.  You’d think there might be an audience for being left alone after a Biden term of extreme helpfulness.

Democrats don’t think it’s fair they should be blamed just because they got their turn and showed they’re all-time putzes.  Professional whiners claim they never got a fair shake.  Mean conglomerates making massive profits ruined the chance to impose economic justice just like the world suddenly turned chaotic just to hurt Biden’s dreams.

Unhelpful checks and balances prevent a full agenda implementation.  Pushy dreams can’t even be partly realized.  The excuse for lack of partial progress makes as much sense as halting drilling then bitching when fuel costs more.  Wait: what happened?