#poison/fairy. yeah. but it's a bird. go figure :////

[front-facing-pokemon]

[artzychic27]

A bunch of fairly odd uncles quotes! Go! *Blows whistle*

Gabriel: Don’t worry, Adrien. My dreams were shattered years ago.

Adrien: How long ago was that?

Gabriel: How old are you?

—

Nathaniel: What do I do?

Marc/Adrien: Don’t do anything stupid!

Nathaniel: …Must… Resist… Stupidity impulse. *Poofs a Jack-in-The-Box* … Not working!

—

Nathaniel: *Turns into a rooster* What am I?

Adrien: A rooster?

Nathaniel: No! I’m a red pigeon! You are the worst characters player ever!

—

Mme. Mendeleiv: Adrien Agreste must have… FAIRLY ODD UNCLES!

—

Adrien: What's so funny?

Nathaniel: Duh! Having a "B" word here.

Adrien: Huh? You're having the baby? Okay, earth boy freaked out, need explanation here.

Marc: Adrien, everybody knows that it's the guy fairy that has the baby.

Nathaniel: Adrien, we really need to have a serious talk about the Birds and the Bee Gees. *Poofs up a poster board with the Bee Gees band* You see, when the Bee Gees recorded Saturday Night Beaver, everybody loved them. Then, there was a backlash, "TOO MUCH BEE GEES," thay said!

—

Marc: Adrien, I warned you, you-doo dolls are dangerous, not everyone can handle having that sort of power.

Adrien: Yeah, maybe you’re right.

Marc: … Ah, but what do I know? In fact, wish up a whole box full of you-doo dolls! *Poofs a box full of dolls* And let’s wish up some more pudding for Nathaniel and dance! I’m a nag! Let’s do the nag dance! You nag it to the left, you nag it to the right! I always nag my husband all day and night!

Nathaniel: *Holding a Marc you-doo doll* He’s finally listening to me!

—

Aya: Unlike you, you bossy, black-haired, over controlling-

Nathaniel: Alright! Let’s get something thing straight here! I’m not bright! Big words confuse me! I have the attention span of a rodent! And Marc loves me anyway, he makes me happy, and that should be enough for you!

—

Gabriel: Adrien, do you know why I give you your tiny allowance?

Adrien: *Holds up three pennies* Because, if you called it pay, you’d be breaking child labor laws?

Gabriel: Exactly! And because I want you to do the chores I don’t want to do.

—

Marinette: You’re my new best friend! *Rips up a photo of Alya*

*Somewhere else*

Alya: *Clutches her chest and screams*

—

Marcelle: I can’t believe my frump of a brother beat me!

Marc: Who are you calling a frump, you Zappy-less nobody?! Zappy fight! *Smugly* Oh, that’s right. You don’t have one.

—

Adrien: I wish Marc’s mother was here right now!

Marc: NO!

*Alyssa appears, threatening another fairy*

Alyssa: I’m funny to you? Funny how? *Poofs up a clown outfit* Like a clown? Am I wearing big shoes, a funny hat?

Fairy: *Fearfully* Yes!

—

Nathalie: Adrien! I’m respecting your privacy by knocking, but asserting my authority as your maternal-figure by coming in anyway! *Breaks down the door with a battering ram*

—

Marinette: You’re weird!

Mme. Mendeleiv: Says you and several other psychiatric professionals!

—

Nathaniel: *Wearing a kilt* Your dad was right! This is comfortable! *Floats over Marc*

Marc: Would you please put on some underwear?!

Nathaniel: Never! *Poofs into Braveheart William Wallace* FREEDOM!

—

Kagami: *Adrien sits next to her* I’m ignoring you… I said, I’m ignoring you… STOP IGNORING ME! I’M IGNORING YOU!

—

Nathaniel: Geology, geography, geometry, what’s the difference? They all start with J.

Marc: Here’s another ‘J’ word, ‘Jidiot’!

—

Nathaniel: Nothing bad ever happens at school… Except for learning!

—

Marc: He’s observing us. Act like a hamster. Act like a hamster!

Nathaniel: Um, uh… Moo?

—

Nathaniel: *Showing a slide show* This is us on vacation in Japan.

Marc: Nathaniel got food poisoning.

Nathaniel: And this is us in England.

Marc: Food poisoning.

Nathaniel: Fancy food poisoning! And this is me getting food poisoning in Disney Land!

—

Gabriel: *’Accidentally’ flicks his fork* Oh, Marc, I’m sorry again. I hope you don’t hate us and ask us to leave forever.

Marc: *With dozens of forks pinning him to his chair* W-why would we do that?

Gabriel: Have you gained weight?

Nathaniel: A loooot of weight?

—

Adrien: *Reading Lila’s diary* ‘Monday April tenth, saw my future love slave with two squirrels. The orange squirrel looked cute, but the red one looked really fat.’

Marc: WHAT?! Oh, she is going down!

—

Anti Marc: My Anti Nath sure was right when he said y’all would be so busy lookin’ in that there laundry basket, ya never think to look under this thing! *Points to the tire*

*The hubcap pops off, revealing Anti Nathaniel*

Anti Nathaniel: Anti Marc, I love you dearly, but you are such a twit!

Marc: I feel your pain.

[a-tale-of-legends]

I feel bad for leaving my Kanto-Johto league split idea and the oc's that came with it empty, so here's a refresher + even more brainstorming.

At some point, Kenji, my oc and Champion if the indigo League, has decided to split the league. His reasoning is to give Johto the chance to fully blossom as a league on it's own, as more often than not it's overlooked next to Kanto. The split goes like this:

The Elite 4 is split into 2, Will and Karen joining the Johto Exclusive league, while Bruno and Koga/Janine stay in Kanto. Given that this split takes years after the main events of the game, there are bound to be changes to the gym roster. For one, Falkner is no longer a gym leader- he became part of the Elite 4 of Johto! His gym was made into a center got bird types. In his place is an oc of mine, Phlox Willowvale ( xyr first name is gonna change), who is now the grass type gym leader.

Pryce has retired by now, so in his place is his grandson. I have yet to give him a proper name, but much like his grandfather, he specializes in ice types.

For now, those two are the only changes to the gyms in Johto. I am considering having Chuck retire as well, but for now he stays.

Going back up to the Elite 4, there's only one spot left, to which I'm planning on adding an electric type trainer. Her concept is honestly all over the place, so she's very unpolished right now. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to share!

With Johto done( kinda, still need to brainstorm), we move to Kanto, which is also going through some changes. With Sabrina long retired for her acting career, I believe that she is replaced with another pyschic type specialist. I love the idea of having an old wizard dude in her place, but the idea needs to be fleshed out.

Now you must have noticed how I mentioned Koga/Janine as the Elite 4 member along side Bruno in Kanto. Cause I literally just realized that without the shared league that justifies having a poison type gym leader and elite 4 member, there can't be two for one region. So, either Koga gives his spot to Janine as a E4 member, or Janine steps down as gym leader. Honestly? I like the idea of passing the mantel to his daughter ( again). They're could be something said about nepotism, but this isn't the first time a gym leader has given their duties to a relative, so who isn't to say the same can be said for an E4 member. Though I will say that might be a bit more challenging than passing down a gym.

So, with no Poison type gym, what takes it's place? Fairy! I feel there's a lot of irony there. A concept that I like that goes with the old wizard dude for the pyschic gym is an old fairy biker/greaser. They would be married and would visit each other when they're not busy. May have a past with Koga himself.

And finally, Blue.....yeah he's no longer a gym leader lol. He quit to handle the Battle Tree in Alola. In his place is Arabella. Much like Blue, he uses different types but mostly normal to stay under that legal restriction. It gives headaches to those in charge of the gyms but it's hilarious to Arabella and the other trainers in the Viridian Gym. As always, Daisy is a B's k up gym leader. The only reason why she isn't one full time is because she's s professor, coordinator and occasional daycare worker. She got her hands full lol. ( This just reminds me that I need to figure out what to do with Green).

I am sad that I can't do the normal type E4 member, but consistency demands it. One day....( Oh wait, maybe I could do that in Sinnoh as Bertha's replacement. Huh.)

Blane is also retired and I have no clue who takes his place. I know it's another fire type specialist, but who they are and what they're like evades me.

Going to the Kanto Elite 4, there's a problem. I don't plan on having any other gym leader outside of Janine move up the ranks ( it's poetic how both Falkner and Janine move up to such a high placement, me thinks), but that leaves two spots left. The problem is Lance. I dunno what to do with him.

I plan on having Kanto and Johto have their own champions, and Kenji is obviously staying in Johto ( until, like, the Tainted Heart arc, but that's for later. Also still not sure if that would be an au of an au or should I make it canon), so Kanto doesn't have a Champion. I'm not sure if Lance would go back to being champion after the years he was in retirement. This is more towards me not knowing how I want Lances character to be in the legendverse. I know he's a father figure to Silver ( literally adopted him), and he takes what he does seriously. But what else? What more could there be to him? Does he want to be back into the League , either as a E4 member or as a Champion? That's what I'm figuring out. So right now the Kanto Elite 4 is a big question mark.

But that's the Kanto-johto league split for my au! I feel like I've repeated myself so many times with this, but I also feel I get a little closer to getting a better picture of how I want this plotline to go. So thanks for making it through my ramble!

[0gasstationcoffee]

LWA rewatch episode 7

·      Oh hell yeah I remember this episode well, let’s dive in. Lots of good Ursula and Akko moments

·      Okay Lukic (sp?) needs to chill tf out. Just telling all these students the medieval punishments awaiting them if they use magic to commit a crime, no wonder some people think magic is outdated

·      Resurrecting the dead is the worst crime in the magical world. Cut to Akko like 2 episodes later lmao

·      Also not even murder? The teacher specifically mentioned murder and resurrecting the dead is still worse?

·      Akko omg my sweetheart “Are these gonna be on the next exam????” She’s not even phased by the speech like everyone else is

·      Sucy blinking once is the biggest reaction we’ve seen when Akko says she’s going to study lmao

·      Ha ngl Finneran deserved that

·      HI URSULA

·      IM DYING THAT WHOLE SEQUENCE OF FINNERAN YELLING AT URSULA AND URSULA JUST BASICALLY RUNNING BACKWARDS

·      Finneran calling Akko “Ursula’s protégé” my heart!!!

·      So Ursula is Akko’s teacher, counselor, mentor AND unknowingly her idol? Gdamn

·      Akko so sadly saying “I didn’t mean to [screw up]” and Ursula just kindly smiling at her both delights and hurts me at once

·      Oof the two of them stayed there til NIGHTTIME trying to get Akko to open the window magically

·      If Ursula didn’t know before, she has to be like 90% certain Akko attended one of her shows

·      So birds are the most common familiars for witches which explains Alcor

·      Wait I felt so bad for Akko during the raven translation exam but she still got a C!!! That’s so much better than I thought good for you girl!

·      And of course one of the words she translated correctly was “hope”

·      What the hell Hannah and Barbara, if they look up to Diana so much then WHY ARE THEY BULLIES

·      Oh god HB (I’m using that abbreviation from now on) asking Akko “what she actually is good at” is very hurtful and that’s coming from a personal place because I despise that question

·      Ooh restoration magic to fix broken objects!

·      Hey Akko actually did fix that bent spoon! That deserves some credit with being able to cast the spell properly. She’s starting with the basics, as she should! C minus is a little harsh

·      But also I love the little fairies helping Lotte out with repairing the shoe, I’m glad she’s good at healing magic!

·      Oh Lotte wants to get her Magical Item Handler License for getting a job after graduation

·      Yes love this worldbuilding info! Tell me more about jobs after graduation

·      Ursula showing Akko a book of all the school’s alumni and Akko not immediately trying to find Chariot? Sus

·      So the examples are surgeons who use transfiguration and crime scene investigators who use restoration magic, and FORTUNE TELLERS WHO USE ASTROLOGY LMAO

·      Akko’s dream job is to go out into the world and do something that’ll make everyone happy, just like Chariot. I wonder if her talk with Lotte from a few episodes ago resonated with her since her response to “what do you want to be when you graduate” wasn’t just Shiny Chariot

·      Akko turning the question around to Ursula on what her childhood dream was and Ursula NOT BEING PREPARED LMAO she doesn’t even try to answer

·      Ursula “My childhood dream, huh?” her voice is so different when she’s alone and I’m not okay

·      Amanda you would have aced that flying exam if you weren’t so chaotic lol never change

·      Akko not being able to fly but still getting a D minus for being able to get on the broom lmfao

·      Akko’s trying to be responsible and everyone assumes Sucy poisoned her lmao this friend group is so supportive

·      It’s really interesting how Akko is trying to figure out what everyone wants to do after they graduate

·      Aw man, in every exam she’s watching one of her friends just excel

·      Omg that scene between Akko and Ursula was so funny and so sad lmao Akko’s just wondering why she isn’t good at anything and Ursula’s like “you are!” And Akko starts freaking out and begging Ursula to tell her what

·      Oof Ursula love you could have said anything! Didn’t have to be a magical ability like how Akko is so good at being kind and loyal! That being said Ursula’s “so anyway” cracked me up good plus I know Ursula goes very mama bear over Akko at the end of the episode so we forgive her

·      Lol Ursula “hey my exam is next let’s work on that”

·      Okay so is Ursula is Magical Astrology teacher or the Astronomy teacher? Or both? Also of course they are both STAR related

·      I guess if Lukic is magic pharmaceutical and the magical law teacher, Ursula can be both too. And she’s young! Give it up for Ursula, as always

·      Diana reading the fortune with the heavy foreshadowing, spill that tea girl. Unite to face the coming challenges ahead? Go off

·      Lmao Akko “that’s fucking vague”

·      Diana’s vision of Akko “you will leave the academy” and she doesn’t say it none too happily either

·      HB at it again

·      Im dying Ursula is just watching Akko fight them just going like “yikes”

·      I’m am fascinated that when Finneran said if Akko failed her next exam then they’d expel her, they focused on Ursula’s reaction which was horrified

·      Of course HB smile cuz they���re dicks

·      There’s a whole meta to be written about how soft spoken and hesitant to interrupt Ursula is, like she’s so afraid to be back in the spot light but it makes her defense of Akko at the end all the more powerful

·      “Please don’t say you’re disappointed in me, I don’t want to be a bad student” Well I certainly heard both my and Ursula’s heart break

·      Akko chose Philosophy of Magic as an elective? She really does love magic :’)

·      The student talking about how fish language was incredibly complex and only advanced language students should take the class…If Akko didn’t have the issues with magic that she did, I feel like she would have fit in well there given that she is damn proficient in language already. Japanese AND perfect English by 16? Come on

·      And thank god the exam is on altruism because this episode would not have turned out the way it did if it wasn’t

·      Akko freaking out about being expelled and then immediately getting ticked off and motivated because she won’t let Diana be right about her is great and as Lotte said “what a quick recovery”

·      I’m just realizing, we actually didn’t see Akko take Ursula’s exam did we? I wonder how that would have gone

·      Akko sucking up to Pisces lmfao

·      She brought Pisces “water that the celebrities drink” which has Shiny Chariot’s symbol on it, how much you wanna bet Chariot did a bottle water commercial once

·      I FORGOT ABOUT THIS WHOLE SEQUENCE I AM CRYING LMAO

·      Had to rewatch and I’m still crying

·      NO NO NO BREATHE PROFESSOR PISCES WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO MOUTH TO MOUTH NO SHE’S A FISH SO MOUTH TO GILL THAT’S NOT A THING SHE’S GONNA DIE

·      SHE DROPPED HER DOWN A SINK

·      Incredible scene 10/10 all other shows take note

·      And then Ursula, Lotte and Sucy all trying to find her before the exam, probably to wish her luck which is sweet and having no idea what they’re walking in on

·      They’re just walking towards Akko and hear her yell into a sink “COME BACK PROFESSOR PISCES”

·      URSULA LMAO “AKKO YOU FLUSHED ONE OF YOUR PROFESSORS DOWN THE DRAIN???” Babe we saw your flashbacks don’t act like this exact thing isn’t something that would happen to you lmao

·      Sucy smiling because Akko basically poisoned their teacher with mineral water

·      The red team going to look in the sewers actually isn’t such a crazy plan Ursula, I’ll give them that

·      Akko “Cover for us okay?” Ursula “…what” I am deceased that long pause got me GOOD

·      URSULA BABE LMAO THAT IS SO SWEET SHE ACTUALLY IS COVERING FOR AKKO

·      Her freaking out when she hears the students coming BABE

·      The fake fish still has the bait hook on it I love this woman

·      SHE’S UNDER THE DESK LMAO

·      Akko is truly too kind she’s vowing to help this sad fish while trying to avoid expulsion

·      IM CRYING URSULA JUST SAYING BLUB BLUB FROM UNDER THE DESK AND PROF NELSON IS LIKE I’LL HELP

·      Oof the fish saving scene. More emotional than it has any right to be

·      Akko!!!! Maybe don’t run into the classroom yelling “We did it!!!” It’s very suspicious darling

·      OOof Professor Ursula’s in trouble poor thing

·      Lmao her only response to being involved “I’m deeply sorry”

·      Akko just completely understanding fish language now and just like “yeah why not”

·      Shooting Star sighting in the paper!

·      This scene. This scene warms my heart every time and is so important

·      This is Chariot being her true self while still disguised as Ursula and it comes out because she has had enough of Finneran beating down on Akko

·      She actually uses her voice and makes her presence known, she yells at Finneran (I wonder how long she’s been waiting to do that) and talks about how ridiculous it is to compare Akko to others when she should only be compared to herself and in that case her progress has been, in keeping with the show’s theme, ASTRONOMICAL

·      Ursula acknowledging how HARD Akko tries. Finally!

·      Finneran daring to say that Akko has no value as a witch and Ursula putting her in her place. Akko’s value is in her heart and loyalty and how much she cares about others!!!

·      Also love how this scene has Ursula backing Finneran into a corner as a reverse to earlier in the episode. But where the first time was done for comedy, this is serious and meaningful

·      “I VALUE ATSUKO”

·      HELL YEAH URSULA TELL THEM

·      And don’t even get me started on Akko’s face during all of this :’) She can’t believe Ursula is sticking up for her like this and saying all of these wonderful things about her. Is this the first time someone has ever pointed out what she’s good at?

·      I know Ursula is like probably not even a decade older than Akko but I LIVE for these mama bear vibes which only get stronger as the series goes on

·      The way she’s looking at Ursula is starting to become similar to how she looks at Shiny Chariot and it’s hurting my heart both good and bad

·      Awww Lotte and Sucy smiling at Akko when she’s not expelled!!!

·      And Holbrooke echoing Ursula’s words and calling Akko one of their most valuable students

·      Lmao Ursula babe “Why was I punished too?

·      Akko can’t stop smiling at Ursula it’s too sweet

·      She’s so heartfelt in her thanks to Ursula

·      OMFG The mother/daughter vibes at the end when they’re both yelled at by Finneran to get back to work

·      Both of them saying “Fine!” in the exact same way and then looking at each other and giggling

·      My heart!

·      That might be my favorite episode yet

[akirameta84]

Warning: This is VERY LONG. i got carried away.

"hey don't you have a wip fic for another au?" yeah shush i have a new idea that's not as fleshed out (after writing that turned out to be a lie) as the chunibyo one but i had to share it.

its in every fandom, but Saiki K Pokemon Au time. it's always cliche but who cares its amazing.

Kaido is the mc. for sure. he chooses a froakie because the professor (its kusuke, he's totally it) said it was a dark and mysterious as him. at first he's disappointed by the frog but once it evolves he starts loving it. him and greninja wear matching outfits. he tied red wrist wraps on its arms and he wears a pink scarf.

nendo is his rival lmao. he met him when kaido left with his first pokemon and challenged him to a battle, immediatly. he said loser has to buy the other persons ramen. "but i dont even know you??" "oh. well lets be friends, runt!" "you just asked to fight me???" nendo uses an eevee because his mom gave it to him when he was young. kaido wins because nendo didnt use a single attacking move. he just used sand attack and growl. the battle lasted 10 minutes because kaido kept missing.

now with his newly self proclaimed rival, after going to eat ramen, kaido sets out on his journey. i like to imagine a region with just every pokemon cause its cool that way. kaido mainly looks for fighting type pokemon, and a few dark types, and it takes him a bit to realize that this is probably a bad strategy and that he isnt finding anything, as cool as they are. he catches a shroomish, not knowing it became a type he wanted, because he was impressed with it's "battle capabilities" because it survived an attack that had fainted others. he names it doomslayer cause he's such an edgelord.

somewhere along the way nendo finds him and says that he's going to challenge a gym, and that kaido should join him. kaido agrees because "oh yeah, thats why im on this journey" and they go to the first gym.

The first gym is ghost type, run by toritsuka. why is he first? cause he's prolly not very good at battling and he knows it. the gym itself would be very foggy, and kaido has to traverse it to get to toritsuka. along the way toritsuka has spirits tell him where kaido is, and he'll release a pokemon near there for him to battle, and this happens 2 times. Torisuka himself uses 2 pokemon, a Litwick and a Galarian Yanmask. both are female, obviously. kaido absolutely demolishes these two pokemon, with his water and grass type, seeing as they're part fire and ground. first badge complete.

surpsingly, nendo also beats this gym, mainly because eevee can use bite. guess he figured out how to use attacking moves lmao. also yes ik bite is learned at 25, and rn they're at like lv 12 but shh. he found a tm or smt. it also helps thst toritsuka could barely hit nendos eevee due to the ghost and normal type thing.

nendo tries to travel with kaido, but kaido usually manages to worm his way away from him. he usually gets away whenever nendo challenges someone else and they have to tell him that he can't catch someone else's pokemon.

second gym is chiyo's gym. she uses grass types, and her gym is covered in flowers, trees, and it looks like a forest. the puzzle itself is rather simple. the floor is covered in large flowers, and you have to step on the correct ones or get sent back to the start. i like to imagine a giant vine yeeting kaido. chiyo also forgot to write clues over which ones are correct and ends up helping kaido, and winds being endeared by his determination. chiyo uses a Fomantis and a Petilil, because she thinks they're cute. kaido actually struggles quite a bit because he brings a water type and a grsss type. he wins in the end though, because chiyo ends up lovestruck and forgets to attack. she daydreams about inviting him to run the gym with her because he's so talented in her eyes, but he leaves before she can ask, grass badge in hand.

after chiyo's gym, kaido's froakie evolves into Frogadier, and he cries. in-between gyms again, kaido catches a rockruff because it was cute and it whined when he tried to walk away after battle. again, kaido catching types he likes without even knowing, provided his rockruff evolves at nightime. he names it Decimator. at this point i place kaido's levels at 19-21 ish, and close to rockruff and shroomish evolving.

next gym is hairo's and surprise surprise, it's a fire type gym. his gym his very, very intense. he has actual jets of fire lining his gym. there's no puzzle because he believes in just battling for victory or whatever, kaido didn't catch it behind the roar of the fire jets. kaido just walks along a pathway and gets challenged to battle by 3 randoms. i like to imagine one of them is nendo, and its never discussed. he has a fire type and everything, and its just not brought up. he's back to his single eevee after this too. kaido also wins with relative ease, considering he has a water type and rock type, although he makes the mistake of sending shroomish out at some point, but makes a clutch switch after it survives a flamethrower. fire badge obtained.

right after this, his shroomish evolves into breloom and he cries again. he gets very happy when his pokemon evolve. and also, after a few random encounters, his rockruff also evolves. its day form because kaido is a clueless baby. he still loves it all the same. at some point nendo challenges kaido with a single pokemon again, but this time it's a leafeon. kaido asks how he knew to evolve it, and he just says he battled next to some funny looking rock and it changed. of course. it actually manages to oko Frogadier because kaido wasnt expecting anything other than an eevee, but his breloom deals with it easily, because nendo kept using not very effective grass moves because it worked once. how does he have 3 badges again? nobody knows. level 25-27 now.

next gym is saiko's, and he uses normal types because all the other types were "too needy for someone like him." he's got 2 Persians and a Toucannon. he tried to use 3 persians but he was told that he needed something else just in case someone brought a fighting type by his dad. so he grabbed the first wild bird he found and evolved it. saiko doesnt have a puzzle, and instead just has an elevator that you can pay 5000 Pokedollars to use, otherwise you have to take the stairs like a pleb. Kaido takes the stairs because he's keeping his money dammit. its only 3 stories until saiko's floor, so it's really not much. Kaido sweeps easily with breloom until toucannon comes out. breloom gets slaughtered by a flying type move, and he sends out lycanroc to finish it. normal badge complete.

when he next sees nendo, he has a meowth with his leafeon. kaido asks where he got it, and nendo says he found it near the rich looking gym. kaido concludes that nendo accidently stole a pokemon and they go to return it. saiko says that the plebs can have it as a reward for defeating him, and dismisses them. levels 30-33.

5th gym! mera runs this one, and there isn't a type. she has an Alcremie, Appletun, Cherubi, and a Vannilish. what can i say, girl loves her food. kaido is genuinely concerned that she is gonna eat her pokemon though. the challenge is cooking. kaido has to cook curry, and if its bad, he fights a trainer, up to 3 times. if its good he gives it to mera and moves on the next curry. the actual battle goes okay, but its fairly difficult due to not having a single type, and being unpredictable. obviously he wins in the end, and the badge is a bowl of curry.

frogadier evolves into greninja finally, and they have the matching outfits going on. nendo laughs at it. somewhere nendo also got an applin. kaido is fairly sure he took this one from mera as well, but he decides to let it go, and tell nendo how he can evolve it. he doesn't think nendo understood, but he tried. kaido also realizes he only has 3 pokemon, and decides to find two more. he finds a braixen, which he evolves into delphox. her name is Lucifer's Eternal Flames. Lucy for short. he also catches a noibat. the noibat was caught because he got lost in a cave, and the noibat was leading him out, so he decided he couldn't just leave it there. he names it the Jet Bat Wings. yes im doing that and yes its hilarious. levels 37-39.

gym 6. fighting type, and its kuboyasu. he tried to leave behind his violent days behind him, and become a poison type gym, but eventually gave in and did fighting instead. after he had already dyed his hair purple for the colorscheme. he kept the fighting gym purple because he already commited dammit. 4 pokemon, and hes got Toxicroak (yes ik the irony), Lucario, Grapploct, and Pangoro. greninja faints quickly, and so does lycanroc, but after some paralysis tricks with breloom and delphox sweeping the rest, pangoro comes in and ko's delphox. noibat pulls through in the end, with flying type moves. fighting badge earned.

next battle with nendo, and it turns out he actually evolved applin, and now he's got a flapple. kaido is midly impressed. kaido catches his 6th and final pokemon, an absol. he was overjoyed when he finally got another dark type. he names it Fluffy. yes, the dark type doesnt get an edgy name. levels 44-46, there was a longer gap in between the 6th and 7th gyms. oh also, you may be wondering about an evil team in this au. and my answer is....¯\_(ツ)_/¯

gym 7. Fairy type. Teruhashi. you knew she'd be coming eventually. and yes i saved the characters people prolly wanna know about until last haha. and because i think they fit the more difficult gyms. girl's got 5 pokemon, Mimikyu (i think it fits her fake perfect girl personality), Slyveon, Gardevoir, Florges, and Magearna. how does she have a legendary? prolly cause she's perfect and just asked for it, and someone actually found one. No puzzle here, but having to find his way through the mobs of teruhashi fans is prolly hard enough. Kaido actually has to try this gym several times due to him lacking anything good againist fairies. he gets it eventually though, and teruhashi has to reassure her fans that it's okay that she lost before they murder kaido. fairy badge down.

at this point kaido has no clue how nendo keeps getting gym badges. he has 3 pokemon, and one isn't even evolved. especially considering how easily Kaido himself can beat him. kaido I shrug it off as the plothole it usually is in pokemon games. levels 47-50. Noibat evolves into Noivern, and kaido has himself a pretty strong team. Greninja, Delphox, Absol, Lycanroc, Noivern, Breloom. although he has just been choosing based on personal preference, it turnes out nicely. and yes I'm padding this out cause y'all know what gym is next.

Gym number 8. The psychic type gym, run by Saiki and Aiura. It doesn't get more cliche than this. The challenge in this one is a maze. There's no extra trainers here, instead Kaido fights Aiura everytime he encounters her. She only uses 1 Pokemon in these battles because they happen a lot. Kaido wonders how she keeps finding him, let alone getting through the maze so easily when there's walls everywhere. He brushes it off as her just knowing the layout. battle itself happens, and it's a double battle. they each have 3 pokemon. Saiki has a ditto, espeon, and an alolan raichu (because he thought it was cute) Aiura mainly runs the support side of the team, and she's got a female meowstic, alakazam, and reuniclus, and wishes she had a cuter team, but she makes it work. This is prolly Kaido's second hardest gym. not harder than teruhashi's because he had no advantages, unlike this one where he's got several dark types. the battle is hard because they know exactly what kaido is gonna do. the minute he sends out his breloom to get a cheap paralysis, out comes ditto. the breloom ditto nearly wipes out both dark types, but noivern takes care of it, only to meet a sad demise at the hands of raichu, despite the dragon advantage. he's able to win on his second try, after he refused to send out breloom due to the fact that they just seem to know his next move. it creeped him out. Psychic badge done.

nendo tries to take saiki out for ramen with him and kaido after his gym fight, declaring him his best buddy, and it's not explained why nendo decided this. nendo eventually wins the argument and they get ramen. kaido notices saiki looks disturbed everytime he looks at nendo, but brushes it off as "yeah he disturbs me too." they part ways and onto victory road because im still mourning how there wasn't one in sword and shield. after victory road, kaido is nearing level 60 on everyone.

elite four? eheh i don't know who'd make it up. prolly 4 previous gym leaders with fully evolved teams and more pokemon. not tlo worries about them tho.

Kaido bests the elite four, and marches on to the champion.

Champion Akechi. Full team of 6 Pokemon, and he's a formidable opponent. He's able to easily predict what moves are going to be used next, and always has type advantage. Although, unlike before, while difficult to do, it is possible to do something unpredictable to trip him up, which is the only way Kaido is able to win. His team consists of Serperior, Glaceon, Gyrados, Ninetales, Togekiss (it's just there to be annoying, it can barely attack, and akechi did this to be a nuisance so he can't be clean sweeped), and Mew. Again, I love unexplained lengendaries on teams okay. To Kaido, it seems like with enough switching, he could easily defeat Akechi, but Akechi is very good at predicting. So againist Akechi, it's like the team as been catered specifically to beat Kaido. But, knowing him, it likely was. It takes him ages to beat Akechi. Like literal ages. The only saving grace is Akechi can get tripped up if Kaido is unpredictable enough. It's likely a mixture of that and para hscks that lets him win, and Kaido is champion. Nendo did try to challenge him (somehow beating the elite four) but was beaten. I love how the rivals always beat everything but then get horribly beaten by you.

Holy shit this is longer than i thought it would be. I have been writing this for literal hours. Hope you enjoyed. This is what my brain had inspiration for today apparently, instesd of the fic im working on.

Hadn't seen too much Pokemon stuff for saiki k yet, so tada. and yes, i came up with most of this while writing. the only idea i had before i started writing was the saiki and aiura gym

[radramblog]

Series 10 Team Tech

Once again there’s another series of competitive VGC ‘mons, and once again I didn’t really get to play it. Because I woke up late and missed the tournament. That one’s on me.

Still, the team exists, and I’m kinda proud of it. The idea was to build an anti-meta team, one that has answers for what I figured would be the top threats of the meta. Since this meta has Restricteds, those were my main targets- particularly what I thought were the ones I was most likely to see.

It probably would have turned out okay? But I guess we’ll never know. But here’s the team anyway.

(I don’t have proper images for the sets since this is on my laptop but I’ll just type out the details)

Xurkitree

Beast Boost, Choice Scarf, Thunder/Grass Knot/Volt Switch/Dazzling Gleam, Modest 252 Sp.A 4 Sp.D 252 Spe

This is kind of where the whole team started. Xurkitree has incredible power at just taking out significant threats, what with its base 173 Special Attack. And that’s not even keeping other ways of boosting it in mind. The idea for this team pretty much stemmed from this idea- I ran some calcs and found a set that could OHKO both a fully invested Groudon with Grass Knot (also useful against the many very heavy Pokemon in the meta) and also OHKO a fully invested Kyogre with STAB, which due to Ky’s insane Special bulk necessitated Thunder as the choice. At the very least, Drizzle means it’ll be 100% accurate.

Unfortunately, both Kyogre and Groudon just outspeed Xurkitree by about 7 base points- curse that prime number stat distribution! This necessitates Choice Scarf, which should be fine provided people aren’t running Scarf Water Spout Kyogre or something (they could have been!). Scarf, fortunately, also makes Xurkitree an excellent lategame cleaner.

What Xurk really falls in is its coverage options. It’s basically stuck with Electric/Fairy (just Dazzling Gleam)/Grass (Energy Ball/Grass Knot)/Normal, which is far from ideal. And seeing as two of my moveslots are effectively taken up by Thunder/Grass Knot, I don’t have that much to work with. Ended up going with Volt Switch, seeing as zipping out of an unfavourable matchup is always good, and Dazzling Gleam, just for spread damage and it’s just kind of a good offensive move. I really wish it could get, like, Ice Beam or something, but it’s what we have to put up with.

 Ho-Oh

Regenerator, Wacan Berry, Sacred Fire/Brave Bird/Recover/Whirlwind, Adamant 252 HP 252 Atk 4 Def

With Xurkitree handling Kyogre and Groudon, the issue game to deal with some of the other big spookies- Zacian, Calyrex-Shadow, and Xerneas. Calyrex is its own little chestnut, but Ho-Oh deals with the other two pretty well, while also being Big and Beefy. Sacred Fire nukes Zacian, and it can live a hit from most things (especially with Intimidate, which we’ll get to) Zacian throws out. The only move the dog has that really answers Ho-Oh is Wild Charge, which is where the Wacan berry comes in- it’s also useful for things like Regieleki or Thundurus.

As for Xerneas, well, it just can’t really damage Ho-Oh, what with the Fairy resistance. In case they do go for Geomancy, Whirlwind is pretty effective, though I’m unsure as how often that’d be useful. Xerneas really doesn’t have a way to break through Ho-Oh, given its coverage options are, to my understanding, even worse than Xurkitree’s.

Ho-Oh also has the advantage of Never Dying. Recover and Regenerator make for a hell of a bulky bird, and the team overall has enough fluidity that switching out isn’t a huge downside. When you’re building a team to counter specific threats, you kind of do need the ability to preserve counters, and Ho-Oh does a great job of doing that on its own. And like… Sacred Fire is a really nuts move.

 Hitmontop

Intimidate, Eject Button, Fake Out/Feint/Close Combat/Wide Guard, Adamant 252 HP 252 Atk 4 Def

Hitmontop is such an incredible support Pokemon. Fake Out. Intimidate. And, a great way to answer Calyrex- Shadow as well as Kyogre and the like, in the form of Wide Guard.

I honestly think I goofed up on this set though, with the brief testing I did. While Feint is going to be great the times you can use it, it’s nigh-useless outside of that, and I’m not great at predicting Protects. I think I would have preferred the extra tempo of U-Turn, frankly, especially since I’m not Speed-invested so going for a non-priority move means the Eject Button is switching me out half the time anyway.

I’m interested to see how a different mon in this slot, like Mienshao, would affect the team’s performance. But I love that Intimidate so much, so I dunno.

 Tapu Koko

Electric Surge, Assault Vest, Electroweb/Volt Switch/Dazzling Gleam/Nature’s Madness, Timid 4 HP 252 Sp.A 252 Spe

I’m a big fan of the Electric-Type Offensive Support, apparently. First Raichu, then this. Fuck Regieleki, though. Koko brings a lot to the table- immunity to Sleep effects like Amoonguss’s Spore or Venusaur’s Sleep Powder, the ability to crack bulky mons with Nature’s Madness, and making Xurkitree hit even fucking harder.

God, I wish it got Rising Voltage though. Considering it’s often led next to Xurkitree, being able to double Volt Switch into itself to reset terrain will have to do. Electroweb is, unfortunately, the only Speed control the team really has, which is a weakness I’d like to work on, though there isn’t really a great place to do so.

 Tsareena

Queenly Majesty, Wide Lens, Power Whip/Triple Axel/Taunt/Protect, Adamant 252 HP 252 Atk 4 Sp.D

This is kind of the most meta mon on the team. Sorta. Turns out when Fake Out and Rillaboom are everywhere, Queenly Majesty is a fucking great ability to have.

Due to the fact that Koko already had the Assault Vest, this queen couldn’t get the most “default” set it gets. Wide Lens, though, is kind of still really good, giving you the ability to get away with Power Whip (even though I still missed it in testing) and Triple Axel, which is great in this format. It also allows for fire moves that you don’t normally get to put on Tsareena- High Jump Kick ended up not being as relevant seeing as I have two Fighting types, and Play Rough the same because of Xurkitree/Koko, so I went with Taunt for all the funky shit it can do, as well as Protect, because, Protect.

It turns out Tsareena just hits really hard, too. Getting a basically free 120BP attack off of 120 base Attack is a lot! And Triple Axel covers most of the things Power Whip doesn’t hit anyway, so it’s not too big a deal only having two attacking moves.

 Urshifu-Single-Strike

Unseen Fist, Life Orb, Wicked Blow/Close Combat/Poison Jab/Detect, Adamant 252 Atk 4 Def 252 Spe

The final mon on the team was one I puzzled over for a bit. Eventually I realised I had a way of stopping Calyrex-Shadow, but not a way to actually, you know, KO it, so in came the Urshifu. Can’t Protect your way out of this one, you idiot deer/horse combo.

Urshifu also handles Trick Room really nicely, seeing as those teams often have Psychics as their setters which it can just KO flat-out. The also often use fairies, though, so Poison Jab gets in, though having it up against one of those is not exactly an ideal case scenario.

I’m still unsure of how this set looks. Like, yeah it’ll kill stuff, but it’s pretty fragile, and very weak to a lot of things. But at the end of the day, Urshifu is always Urshifu: I.E., good.

 That’s the team. It didn’t get to play. Well, I tested it a bit, at least. The biggest issue I think with the anti-meta team is its overspecialization, and in this case that’s heightened by the fact that I made this team before the meta actually started- so the threats I’m answering may not be the reality of the matchups I face. But that’s just Pokemon, isn’t it?

[dat-town]

how to un-break a heart?

Characters: Mino & You

Setting: slice of life

Genre: angst

Summary: “If I read our story backwards, it's about how I un-broke your heart, and then we were happy until one day, you forgot about me forever.” ― Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1

Words: 2k

Merry Christmas @lily-blue​ dear! ♥

Snow was falling heavily outside with the sweet scent of mulled wine lingering around when you saw his name flashing on your phone's screen. You knew you shouldn't take that, not with your fragile heart on the line, tongue wanting to dance back on those reckless words. You didn't only break his heart but smashed your own in your fist as well. Realistically speaking, in the long run, it was still better this way, you tried to convince yourself.

But was it really?

The bed felt too big, too empty and too cold without him and you were lying down, lifeless, watching the swirling snowflakes through your bedroom's window. The fairy lights, forgotten there from Christmas made everything so lovely. Ironically pretty while it stirred up memories too: playful, tipsy kisses shared under a mistletoe and watching stupid movies while cuddled up. But it didn't take long and bitter memories came back to haunt you as well: stupid arguments about the tree decorations, the Christmas party his parents had and tears ruining your makeup when he just looked at you with a resigned sigh, giving up on you and whispered Fine after you told him you wanted to break up.

The screen went dark just like the dancing flame of hope extinguished in your chest, swiftly and irreversibly, and your nails dug into the pillow under your head soaked with your salty tears. You hated yourself for the rush of feelings taking you under when the phone lit up again, his name written there engraving the syllables into your mind once again. And you made the mistake; you took it, lifting the device to your ears with shaking hands.

“Minho...” you started but your voice cracked before you could have scolded him for calling. You heard party music from there and shouting and him panting as if he had been running. Maybe he did.

"Baby…" he hiccuped and although it was a pathetic little sound, your sensitive heart churned still. He sounded drunk and desperate. He sounded like he missed you. "Can't we… go back to spring?" he asked so hopelessly and then the line went silent.

You haven’t heard from him ever since, not even when the season of withering and eternal snow has passed. You had only seen your trace in his art and yet, you were too proud to call and tell him that you wished flowers bloomed again (in your heart too).

Saying I love you had always been hard on you. The words tasted heavy in your mouth and you didn't like the weight.

But it seemed so easy to Minho, he kept saying it, murmuring it into the crook of your neck, into the coconut scented waves of your hair, kissing his way down your blade bones and biting your earlobe. He confessed over every mug of shared coffee in the morning and when he pulled you closer on the colder autumn nights, pressing kisses onto the exposed skin of your shoulders while holding you oh so close. He made it seem so easy and uncomplicated, he made the word 'love' lose its meaning because he told you even after your arguments and petty fights when you were still mad at him. He told you under the pouring rain and among colourful leaves of fall when he made you laugh in the middle of the streets. He told you when you got a promotion and he said he was proud but you could see it in his deep dark eyes that he wasn't genuinely happy about your stricter work hours and busier schedule. You blamed it on him being an artist, always so free, a bird not belonging into a cage and you hoped your embracing arms wouldn't become one of those metal jails and yet, maybe it was him who put you under pressure. Expectations you couldn't live up to made you feel like a disappointment, and what did he love in you then if not the girl you actually were? And since when did love had such conditions?

Doubts poisoned your heart more and more and nobody seemed to notice than something was inevitably wrong. All of your friends loved him, your mother was charmed and even though your father didn't think art could provide a stable income he quite liked him as well. They kept asking you about him, inviting him over to every family event of programs and sometimes you wished you could take a breather.

He loved you so much, why couldn't you love him back the same? There must have been something wrong with you because nobody had ever made you feel like the way he did and yet it wasn't enough? Because to love was to give your all, bare, flawed, willing and yet, you started asking yourself whether it was worth it. Almost eight months into your relationship you had felt as if it was wearing down on you like eight years. You could feel the storm coming. That heavy argument on that rainy night was just a prelude.

"Oh baby, I told you to take an umbrella with you, didn't I?" he greeted you as soon as you crossed the threshold, drenched, hair wet and your shoulders shaking a bit. You had a shitty day, you didn't need him preaching but you didn't want to snap at him for caring, so you let him hush you into the bathroom and took the steaming hot cup of coffee once you were wrapped in a fluffy blanket on your couch.

"Stop it," you murmured under your nose.

"What? I– I didn't do anything…"

"You baby me. You treat me like a child just because I'm forgetful and clumsy. It makes me feel like I'm your responsibility or some shit and not your girlfriend. It sucks," you spat, knuckles turning white from the force you grabbed onto the soft material of the blanket.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Minho apologized immediately, too soon to your liking as if he wasn't even thinking it through. Maybe that was the main problem.

"Exactly. You never mean stuff," you blamed it all on him. But most of all for saying I love you too much, making it lose its meaning.

That cold, rainy November night was the first when he slept on the couch and disappeared in the morning before you could say sorry. But it wasn't the last.

Summer was scorching hot that year. Sweat-covered bodies lying together over the duvet hoping for some breeze coming from the fan after the aircon broke at your place. The sweet taste of icy strawberry smoothies lingered in your mouth and your hands stroke down the expanse of tattoos over Minho's chest. You liked tracing the inked lines feeling goosebumps forming under your eager fingertips and watching that smile he flashed at you, in moments like this you always thought things couldn't have been more perfect.

"What about a day trip to somewhere next weekend? We could visit a beach," he suggested out of the blue but it painted a soft smile over your swollen lips.

During summer you had tons of free time next to your part-time job, even took up an occasional journalist job writing when you found the topic of the next release up to your liking. Minho told you that you should have spent more time writing, finding a full-time job based on that instead of the administrative one you had currently. He liked to read your stuff, be it a short story or a semi-academic article about rhetorics in k-pop MVs. On one hand it was flattering how much belief he had in you but on the other, it caused you distress because it wasn't that easy. He chose art, a risky way, but he had already found sponsors with his talent, so he spoke easily but writing was different. So you always hushed his encouragement away.

"Okay, let's do that. Where to?" you looked up at him with a wide smile, eyes sparkling from excitement.

"Dunno. Anywhere is fine as long as it's with you," he said so casually that you had the urge to bury your face into your hands.

"Eww, that's cheesy. Don't say that," you shook your head giggling, turning your body to reach for your phone on the bedside table.

Back on your stomach, nuzzling close to him, you opened up the browser, scanning through the map to find a good destination. Though it was hard to concentrate on the task at hand with his artist fingers drawing skillful patterns on your bare back. On days like this, in moments like this, it was so easy to be (in love) with him.

It was a heavily flower-scented spring, the cherry blossoms just bloomed, painting the streets of Seoul all shades of pink. One could breathe in the season of rebirth even through the thick smog over the metropolis. However, you had rather breathed words and art, bathing in culture at its finest, wondering of whys as if you could find the answer of the universe in a drop of pigment.

“You have been standing there for quite a while,” a deep voice noted startling you out of your daze, making you turn your head towards the source on instinct only to find a young, tall, handsome man next to you. You liked to think you had an eye for beauty and you could see it painted in his features. He wasn't pretty or ugly, he wasn't flawless or artificial. There was some raw strength in the sharp lines of his features but there was undeniable softness in the caramel brown of his eyes.

“Ah yeah. I try to figure this one out,” you collected yourself quickly, looking back at the abstract portrait of a woman.

“What about it?” The guy only a few years older than you asked, curiosity taking a hold of him. You didn't mind, you liked talking about art.

“It has such happy colours and yet it's just so sad. A mess of emotions really,” you explained the cause of your confusion as well as the reason of your awe. It was interesting how an artist using the bright colours of the Sun and fire and flowers could emphasis such raw sorrow just because of the facial expression and the painting technique alone.

“Are you here alone?” the stranger asked and it tugged on the corner of your mouth.

“Nah, I came with a friend but she ditched me to talk with the curator,” you shrugged because you didn't really mind wandering around all by yourself. And apparently, you weren't alone anymore as you looked up at the guy to introduce yourself, so he could match a name with the strange obsession about paradoxical art.

“I'm Minho, or Mino as my friends call me. Glad to meet you,” he smiled down at you and his eyes narrowed cutely from the motion. However, your attention snapped back to the painting, or more precisely the little white card next to it, displaying the title and the name of the artist.

“You… wait! Is this your painting?” Your jaw dropped as you looked up at him. You couldn't help but found his laugh endearing.

“Yeah,” he chuckled, ruffling his hair before clearing his throat. "What do you say? Wanna grab a coffee and talk about stuff like my art while you wait for your friend?"

You didn't even have to think. You just smiled, having a good feeling about it, feeling that he could become someone you can't forget easily.

And oh' how right you were, not knowing the weight of its consequences, the heartbreak and sadness after all the happy memories. A mess of emotions really, just like his painting and hell, how much you wished that you could go back, back to spring, to mend both of your hearts.

[sugarysweetsprites]

ALL THIRTY OF MY ENTRIES FOR FAKEATHON 2020 COMPILED BELOW THE CUT

ROUND 1: HOMETOWN MONUMONK - Derived from monument, monk

did you know I like maybe four miles away from a field of 109 identical 7 foot corn statues

FAKEATHON ROUND 2: THE USA ROBINOX - Derived from robin, autumnal equinox

Round one was our hometown, and I did my current city. But my childhood belongs to Connecticut, so I wanted to do a connecticuter. The american robin is the state bird of Connecticut, and as a part of New England it has a colonial history, hence the style. A type of garnet is the state gemstone, hence the species name.

Mostly though, I associate Connecticut with the vibrant autumns. The falls of New England are magic.

FAKEATHON DAY 3: CANADA CURTLE - Derived from curling, turtle

Very simple this one. Canada has a lot of curling events, right? Put the CURLING STONE. On the TURTLE. and you get the CURTLE. Dudes in this other server I’m in really love this one

FAKEATHON DAY 4: MEXICO CASOLURO - Derived from first two letters of the cards it’s based on; el CAtrin, el SOl, la LUna, la ROsa

A very fun one to work on. These are based on those Loteria cards - Specifically, the sun, moon, rose, and the dandy. The 4x4 grid on the inside of its cape is a reference to the 4x4 grid of a loteria play mat. Just threw crap at the wall here and got this funky friend.

FAKEATHON DAY 5: BRAZIL CAPYERA, CAPOBARA - Derived from capoeira, capybara

Not new designs, so much as designs I really needed to give another go. Much happier with these. And frankly, couldn’t think of a concept more wholly Brazilian short of slapping the flag on them.

FAKEATHON DAY 6: FRANCE CHÈVAÇAY - Derived from chèvre (French for goat), Chevalier (French for knight), valençay (French variety of cheese)

F🥐R🎨A🍷N🚬C🥖H

I stole the grease type from someone in that fakemon server it fit this cheesy boy too well

FAKEATHON DAY 7: SPAIN POMEGRIA - Derived from pomegranate, bandurria

Typically tried to avoid the lady-in-dress motif, but felt too justified here. Spain is home to pomegranates, with the blossom being the national flower. The body shape was inspired by the instrument the bandurria, with the base of the body being a halved pomegranate, and her “earrings” being both the tuning pegs and pomegranate seeds.

FAKEATHON DAY 8: UNITED KINGDOM MEMORI - Derived from memento mori, memory

I could’ve uh. Had this idea at a better time huh :^)

FAKEATHON DAY 9: ITALY MEDITIVE - Derived from Mediterranean, olive

Tried going more off-the-wall, but it didn’t quite work. Based on olive branches clearly - olive oil was often used as lamp oil, hence the fire typing. I meant for it to resemble a nuns habit or monastery robes, a la Italy’s heavy catholicism, with the floating olive leaf circlet as a halo. It was… good ideas that didn’t come together perfectly. Probably my least favorite of the lot

FAKEATHON DAY 10: NORDICS MINKJAVIC - Derived from mink, Reykjavik

Look when I think Iceland I always think black metal. This is the second time I’ve done a heavy metal pokemon. The first one was more badass. This one’s instead uh A lot : )

FAKEATHON DAY 11: EGYPT DJEDLY - Derived from Djed, deadly

One of the easiest to draw for��� obvious reasons. Based on a canopic jar, sort of like an off-brand yamask or cofagrigus. It’s meant to open up twice; If you take off the lid, you see the fleshy eyeball dude in the lower corner. And if you pull that like a handle, you see what’s inside… and die with that knowledge : )

FAKEATHON DAY 12: ETHIOPIA CAFFIEND - Derived from caffeine, fiend

Obviously hyenas live in Ethiopa. But moreover, Ethiopia is also known as pretty much the birthplace of coffee, and coffee drinking/making is important to the culture. So I thought, why not make a hyena that’s super happy cause it’s always super hyped up on caffeine? Dunno if the electric typing makes much sense, I just thought caffeine = energy = electricity

FAKEATHON DAY 13: MADAGASCAR TENROCK - Derived from tenrec, rock

Tenrecs are endemic, yeah, but this wasn’t just based on a native animal. It was based on the land of Madagascar - specifically, the gorgeous and incredibly sharp structures of Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park. I’ll post a photo above the art, when I saw Madagascar was a theme day I knew I had to base something on that park.

FAKEATHON DAY 14: SAUDI ARABIA MASQAREEN - Derived from masquerade, Qareen

This is based on the Islamic idea of the Qareen. People don’t 100% agree on what Qareens are, but they are consistantly considered to be spiritual doubles - Every person has a Qareen associated with they’re spirit. This is based on one idea, them as dark spirits who attempt to lead their companion-spirit astray. I chose them because even though they’re evil from the start - hence the dark typing - they can become good based on their companion - in this case, trainer’s - actions and whims.

Since they’re counterparts to humans, I thought having them mimic humans would be fitting. It’s body is ALMOST humanoid, it’s many pink extremeties ALMOST resemble clothes. It would be a zoroark like situation, where it could make illusions to resemble human.

FAKEATHON DAY 15: RUSSIA MATEESHKA - Derived from mastryoshka, tea SAMOSHKA - Derived from samovar, matryoshka

Fun fact, I actually used to collect matryoshka dolls. Have a whole box of them in the basement somewhere. So I felt I had to. I have a thing for designs that look a little snobby, Samoshka certainly fits that little niche of mine : D

FAKEATHON DAY 16: INDIA BOVIQUIN - Derived from bovine, palanquin

I like ride pokemon, and I like customizable pokemon. So I made one that’s both! It’s supposed to be based on the water buffalo. The simple colors are because it’s supposed to be customizable - As in, the fabrics hung from it (and maybe the markings painted on it) could be swapped out, so I wanted something simple as a base. Sort of like Furfrou, but the customization doesn’t wear off

FAKEATHON DAY 17: CHINA LONGRUSH - Derived from Long (chinese for dragon), brush, rush

I expect here will be a lot of chinese dragons this round, I wanted to avoid the obvious. But… this is one of the best concepts I’ve ever come up with. The second I had the mental image, I knew that was it

FAKEATHON DAY 18: JAPAN SPIROUS - Derived from spirit, cirrus, pious

This is a myth from both China and Japan, but I associate it with yokai primarily. This is based on Hangonkō, incense that brings forth the spirits of the dead. Hence it’s body obscured by the clouds - It’s literally being summoned by the incense it carries. In retrospect, this could have been an interesting pokeball mimic with different colors.

FAKEATHON DAY 19: INDONESIA WHALEEN - Derived from baleen whale

The Philippines are home to the coral triangle, a stretch of ocean  that’s home to a stupidly large amount of coral life. So I initially  wanted a coral mon… but it’s known for its reefs. So why not make the  whole reef?  

FAKEATHON DAY 20: AUSTRALIA OPALINE - Derived from opal, mine

One town in Australia I’ve loved since middle school is Coober Pedy. Known as the opal capital of the world, it’s a desert town that’s so hot, almost all the residents live in houses carved into the ground. Even many businesses and hotels are underground! Coloring was fun on this dude :3

FAKEATHON DAY 21: ANTARCTICA SOUTHAIR - derived from south, hairgrass.

I wanted to do something unexpected. So rather than do that obvious penguin or similar, I went with southern hairgrass, the south most flowering plant. Did it’s closer meant to loosely resemble any wet clothes, but since there are no Inuit populations to Antarctica, only loosely. It’s species, the 1000-to-1 pokemon, Refers to both its chances of survival and the fact of the body is comprised of many many blades of grass

FAKEATHON DAY 22: SOMEWHERE HOT - DEATH VALLEY HELINDRA - Derived from helios, indra

The reason I chose the Indra butterfly is because it's native to death valley. I figure, if death valley gets HELLA sun, why not instead of it living in spite of the harsh sun, living so well because of it?

FAKEATHON DAY 23: SOMEWHERE COLD - GREENLAND STUFFIN - Derived from storm, stun, puffin

I know there are myths that say puffins can bring thunderstorms, so I thought why not turn a puffin into a storm cloud? But uh. It kind of just. Is a puffin isn't it :/

FAKEATHON DAY 24: ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS KYTHURA - Derived from Antikythera, Urania

One of my favorite remnants of ancient times is the Antikythera Mechanism. It was an ancient Greek computer. With proper gears and mechanics and everything, that was used to plot the locations of the planets and the stars in stunning detail. This first go around turned out… not that great, I’ll be honest. But I wanna do something with the Antikythera Mechanism. It shouldn’t take TOO much tweaking to make this something I love

FAKEATHON DAY 25: FUTURE WORLDS COCOWATT - Derived from coconut, watt

One of my favorite images of the future is, instead of all streets having street lights, some having bioluminescent trees! I wanted to make something to that effect. Even though we have Exeggutor I chose palm trees cause they already have a street-lamp-like shape. Finally got to bust out my super neon pencils :3

FAKEATHON DAY 26: RANDOM COUNTRY - IRELAND AMANEELIE - Derived from amanita, unseelie

I have irish blood, so I wanted to do an irish mon. I took the idea of the fairie ring in a weird direction - when it extends its arms and the little purple "hands" touch, anything in the loop of its arm - the fairie's ring - will become hideously poisoned. Visually referenced the deathcap. Just like imagining these things in a secluded dense forest, floating along like swimming jellyfish

FAKEATHON DAY 27: THE OLYMPICS SYNCRA - Derived from synchronized, tetra

This is similar to wishiwashi, in that it's a schooling mon. But instead of it having a schooling form, it's ALWAYS in a school of five fish, constantly swimming in unison. Clearly based on synchronized swimming, I wanted the tails to be super long, so they'd flow all elegantly when they maneuver around. Kinda... power rangers in execution, innit

FAKEATHON DAY 28: THE OCEAN EXPLORB - Derived from explore, orb

The idea to turn the bathysphere into a pufferfish-like dude just came together really clearly in my head. I imagine their attack would be terrible but their defence would be amazing - basically, they aren't out to fight, they just wanna explore the oceans :3

FAKEATHON DAY 29: THE MOON MOOMOON - Derived from moomoo, moon

its the cow that jumped over the moon

FAKEATHON DAY 30: LEGENDARY CORRA - Derived from core, cor (latin for heart), terra

I figured, we’ve done every part of the earth this challenge… except the interior. So for the legendary representing the world, I based mine on the core of the earth. The body itself is meant to resemble the phylotypic stage of an embryo - the stage of development where most species are virtually identical. It cannot leave its lava bubble. At the center of its body is a heart glowing with all the colors of magma.

The FIRST person to make a legend of korra joke is getting slapped

[biorusted]

A MidSpring’s Night Trip

Characters- Natalie, Lucifer (natan) Words- 1873

Summary- Lucifer shows Natalie the kind of parties that happen in the woods. 

“Ok, dude. I think you’ve dragged me into the woods far enough; where are we going?” Natalie pushed past some dew slick branches and let them shake off the water behind her; as she had done all the way so far.

Natalie looked up through the mosaic of blacks and greens to the sea above them, still the sun hadn’t come to lighten the sky and still they were walking. She really wished she saw the time before Lucifer had popped them in the middle of a seemingly ancient forest, that way she could hold it against him, but sadly, her sleepiness had no numerical value. She couldn’t even see the smiling moon to give an estimate! Surely there could be only twenty minuets more… at least… maybe.

  Lucifer continued to charge a head as if the question slipped past his ears into moss and lichen covered trees. Or maybe he had put cotton in his ears, as he hadn’t replied to a single thing she’s said all morning—night—whatever. She momentarily thought about just stopping and seeing how far he would go into the woods without his little duckling behind him, but that would mean being alone in the woods. Instead she picked up a piece of bark and threw it at his head.

Disappointingly, he caught it like he had eyes at the back of his head and dropped it by his feet.

“Girl, can you stop messing up the forest, its going to make it harder later on.”

“’Harder later on?’ What do you mean! Where are we? What have you brought me out here to see?”  

Lucifer rolled his head back and sighed. “I can’t tell you, dumbass, then it won’t work – they can smell anticipation.”

“And what? You don’t have anticipation?”

“No, I have never anticipated anything in my life.”

Natalie reached forward and shoved him as hard as she could. “Liar.”

“No, I have never lied about anything in my life.”

She groaned and kicked at the dirt under tow. “Give me something at least!! Please!”

He jumped across a creek bed and looked back, “Okay. We’re in Greece.” He held out his hand for her to take.

“I’m sorry what was that?” She jumped across.

“Greece.”

“Like… Europe?”

“No like the movie- we’re in the 1970’s or some shit. Get ready to start singing.” His eyes were as deadpan as his voice. “Shush, Kid, we’re almost there.”

“Wher-“ Natalie started, but was cut off via Lucifer flicking her forehead. She crossed her arms and continued to follow him blindly through the now-confirmed ancient forest.

   After another five minutes of off-trail hiking and one minuet of trekking through the mud, Lucifer brought her to a clearing. Immediately, she could tell there was something intriguing about the area. A shiver went up her spine as warm air breathed down her neck, she turned suddenly but was met with the same midnight forest she had been walking through for who knows how long.

“Natalie.” Lucifer called her from across the clearing. She turned to find him sitting down against one of the larger trees that stood guard for something invisible. He patted the mossy ground next to him. “Walk around, sit with me.”

She looked at him, and then in the middle, where the creeping moon shown light. A small, decrepit gravestone peaked out of the ground at a sunken angle. Little golden mushrooms grew a ring around the grave, and almost seemed to glow.  For an unknown reason, Natalie bowed her head and walked around to where Lucifer had indicated.

As soon as she sat down, Lucifer put her arm around her.

“You’re going to feel warm. For this to work they can’t know you’re here; they hate humans.”

“So why will I feel warm?” She looked up at him.

“I’m going to cover your aura with mine… According to Raphael, my aura is… warm.”

“Oh? So, he can see auras too? How does that work?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s like an either-or thing. Like he see’s either the soul or the aura depending if he’s making eye contact with someone? That’s how he explained it to me, anyway.”

“And your Aura is ‘warm?’”

“There’s no point in questioning the things he says. Now, seriously, hush.”

“Okay.”

“Shh.”

From where his fingers brushed her waist, heat like a spring afternoon spread throughout her person. Instinctively, she leaned into Lucifer’s chest and relaxed, another moment passed, and she felt Lucifer relax too.

Without another word between them, they gazed out into the clearing before them. Long stretches of silence passed between wind moving the canopy above them and setting off the natural windchime of leaves. Natalie listened, strained to hear past the wind, but somehow there were no other sounds interlaced through the old columns of trees. Not a single fern shifted, not a twig snapped. It was just their breathing, and the wind.

And then, there were fireflies. One by one they filtered into the clearing as if they were strung together, all heading towards the center. Soon, the forest they sat in turned into the milky way and, Natalie swore hints of purple and red shimmered across the short grass.

Natalie lifted her hand cautiously and let it gravitate towards a string of lights before Lucifer grabbed her hand and shook his head. He still held her hand as he brought it down. So, this wasn’t what they were waiting for.

Out of the corner of her eye, ferns were brushed aside as a deer tiptoed into the ring. Natalie held her breath as the doe smelled the air and blinked her long lashes inches from her face. Two little fawns trotted in after her, not as careful and not as graceful as their mother, but just a gorgeous. Natalie felt Lucifer hold her hands in place; he really knew her too well.

Her eyes glinted through the space again and again as she tried to see all the new comers filing in. Song birds and snakes line the branches like audience members while larger forest goers settled on the floor. Then, one by one, the stars started to go out, and silence returned to the woods. Everything was holding its breath for what Natalie thought was the final guest to the night’s party.

As Lucifer would explain later, it wasn’t the last guest they were waiting for; but the hosts.

The lights reappeared, but these were different. Instead of golden globes; blues, violets, crimsons-- more vibrant than fireworks—sparked to life. They grew from tiny flames into butterflies into…

Fairies.

Natalie covered her mouth to keep her revelation silent. The clearing slowly filled with a mosaic of tiny bodies and animate lights, something that no artist could recreate. She watched as the lines started to shift into circles, and then loops and then spider lilies.

They watched as the fairies danced around the forests guests with the gravestone in the center of it all.

Lucifer tapped her forearm and snapped herself out of the trance. To her glee, the corners of his mouth were turned up ever so slightly. He sat up straight and reached forward as if to not startle a humming bird feeding.

For a second, he was ignored, but then a little fairy with an orange glow bedded in its chest paused in their ritual to settle on the devil’s finger. The creature locked eyes with Lucifer, large black abysses meeting the sun, and smiled. They stood like a ballerina, curtsied, and joined the dancing once more.

The dancing continued without stop, but soon Natalie found that they were actually doing something; an alter of flowers, woodland trinkets and bitts of lost items was being made within the circle of fungi. With every minute that passed the space was filled until wreaths of foreign flowers held tight to the chipping stone. Still, they danced on. And on.

Natalie felt her sink into something intangible and then, the lights dimmed.

**-*-*-**

  A hand grazed her cheek and brushed back her hair.

  “Natalie? Wake up its time to go back. Did you really fall asleep during that?”

Natalie lifted her head up and wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.

“Its not my fault.” Her head felt like a sack of bricks. “Carry me?”

After a moment’s pause “You’re lucky I’m being nice today.”

“Mm hm.” She mumbled and allowed him to pick her up off the damp ground. “Is it over?” she mumbled.

“Yeah, its been over for a while now. They usually finish before daybreak and crawl back to whatever hole in the ground they came out of.”

She opened her eyes and strained to get another glimpse of the fairy alter just to find nothing remaining of the night’s festivities. The beautiful collection of gifts reverted to a simple crooked stone marker in the middle of a dirt circle. She felt a tendril of sorrow.

Aparently, Lucifer caught on. “It happens almost every night, Natalie, its what they’ve been doing for thousands of years.” He commented. Natalie figured he thought nothing of the whole event until he turned before leaving the clearing and bowed his head to the grave.

She thought about letting it slide. “Who was buried here?”

His eyes skirted the ground and the sleepy forest around them, debating on whether to tell her.

“You actually… might have heard of her before. That bastard… Shakespeare, right? He used stories of her in one of his writings.” He shifted his grasp on her. “Her name was Titania. She was a fallen… and a close friend of mine a long time ago.”

“The Queen of Fairies, right? A Midsummer’s Night Dream n’ all that.”

“Yeah, except she wasn’t really the queen, just a person that spent a lot of time with whats called ‘the Fae.’”

She nodded as if she could understand, “How… did she die?”

Lucifer sighed. “She poisoned herself because the man she fell in love with was hunted down and slaughtered because he was suspected of treason.”

She thought a bit as branches brushed by her legs. “Very Shakespearian.”

He laughed a little, “Yeah, that bitch knew how to be dramatic. I mean, look at the funeral she held for herself. Plus, now she’s immortalized in history as a plot devise for not two but four lovers? That’s more than any of my stories could do.” His laughter died down suddenly. He’d taken a wrong step, she realized. He shook his head and started again.  “Titania was very powerful, I knew she was crazy for falling in love, but I didn’t do anything to stop it.  It’s a shame she died. I think you would have liked her.”

“Really? How so?”

“I once heard from Raphael that she had a garden soul too.”

“Ah.” She started to giggle as the drowsiness washed over her again. “A garden soul and a warm aura. That’s funny.”

“What are you talking about? Are you high?” His distain was clear even through her closed eye lids. She had half a mind to wrap her arms around him and hug him, but the air was warming up, and the forest smelled of rain, so she fell asleep in his arms. 

[bugcthulhu]

Spanish/Iberian mythological creatures: So Many Goblins edition

Marraco: Wingless dragon with a very wide mouth and stomach. While said to swallow people whole, it is also treated as a spiritual guardian

Ayalga: Nymphs that guard vast treasures in caves or palaces, alongside dragons. Some were cursed into the role, but many just do it from the get-go. Only go outside during a single night of every year, and may offer some of their riches to the men that seek them out if they follow certain rituals. A dragon whose Ayalga has abandoned them for good succumbs to despair and abandons the land.

Crespell: Cave-dwelling, child-eating monsters covered in warts that spew flames from their eyes. Always appear in groups of seven: six tiny ones and one gigantic.

Ollaparo: A man-eating cyclops with an additional eye on the back of its head

Xacio: Amphibious beings that live at the bottom of rivers. Usually presented as merfolk, but sometimes they have the lower bodies of lizards.

Carmenco: A creature covered in woolly black hair that prowls the mountains. Settles in abandoned houses and prevents them from falling to disrepair, but spotting one brings years of bad luck. Can be driven away by throwing stones at the house its chosen.

Nonell: Horse-sized dog of dense, flowing white fur and black eyes. Its arrival precedes the fall of snow in mountain areas.

Cucala: Black birds that dislike being seen and emerge in droves during the darkest nights. Extremely dangerous, and really noisy

Sacauntos: “Grease puller” A bogeyman that carves children open to remove and devour their body fat. Carries its bounty around in a sack

Maruga: Tiny critters that swim in rivers and ponds. Their bite makes women pregnant, but what they are pregnant with is not specified.

Lambiron: Demonic being with the power to poison sources of water, make fields go dry and ruin crops

Mouro: Dark-skinned, really tall humanoids (sometimes flat out giants) that live underground. Extremely skilled in mining and metallurgy, to the point everything they own is made of gold, and are immensely rich. Often made deals with humans with gold as payment, but humans had to never reveal the source of said gold, or else it would turn to coal….or the Mouros would kill them straight away. Said to love wine, and have outstandingly beautiful women

 (The Mouros are a really tricky one because their name sounds almost exactly like Moro, which is the word for the ancient muslim invaders of Spain, and a modern-day derogative slang to refer to muslims. Coupled with everything else about them… yeah)

 Serpe: Very much like the Cuelebre in that they’re giant snakes with bat wings and extraordinarily hard scales, usually guarding the treasures left behind by the Mouros. Other times they’re women cursed into the form of huge white snakes, waiting for someone to break their curse

 Zarronco: A child-eater that usually takes the form of a huge insect

 Bloody Pirico: Bogeyman that resembles a bloody, skinless humanoid. Steals lost children.

 Half-Face: Another child-eater, appears as a figure with a single arm, a single leg and a single eye, like a body that’s been bisected.

 Malismo: The Spanish answer to norse trolls, a drooling, excessively hairy, stinking, hideous and malicious monster that dies when exposed to sunlight. Though said to be on the small side, they are noted as extremely dangerous due to their knowledge of sorcery

 Trasgo: The quintessential Spanish goblin, usually depicted with a hole in the palm of each hand. Though not evil, it is an obnoxious prankster that loves playing tricks on the people it shares a house with. May sometimes take a shine to said families, which means it’ll follow them wherever they go. Extremely hard to get rid of

 Trasno: Similar to the trasgo in many aspects, the trasno is also said to assault people in forests, and stalk travellers to bring misfortune upon them

 Martinico: Benevolent and helpful goblin, though terrifying if upset. Has the ability to shapeshift into animals

 Tardo: Unlike its brethren, a genuinely evil goblin with green skin and sharp teeth, usually carrying a small sword. Causes nightmares

 Quarantamaula: Half-man, half-chicken, half-vulture. Jumps from roof to roof to make noise and scare children.

 Cerdet: Snaggle-toothed hairy pig that spooks travellers at night, loves riding horses

 Goncho: A beautiful male giant that takes wives away from their husbands, appearing only when said wives want him to do so

 Maragassa: Female figure that causes anguish and grief on women.

 Pardalot: Bird that feeds its chicks with human children and enjoys the warmth of fire and smoke, entering houses through the chimney

 Man of the Noses: Self-explanatory, a man possessing as many noses on his body as days there are in a year. Benevolent, but in some areas it is treated as a bogeyman that can be bribed away with money.

 Aneto: A giant that refused to help Jesus when he arrived exhausted and hungry to his domain, was punished by being transformed into a mountain. Only recovers his conscience on stormy days, and all he does is wail about his fate.

Meiga Xuxona: Blood-sucking witch that takes the form of a bumblebee.

 Falugue: Tiny being similar to the Nyitus that enters the bodies of humans and devours the inner ear, rendering them deaf

 Avelainya: Spectral butterfly that can be black or white depending on whether it brings good or bad omens. Might be related to Cuques, glowing worms that appear at night and are likened to the souls of the dead

 Famelier: A goblin with a huge head and mouth, and a terrible voice, born from containing a certain kind of ephemeral grass inside a black bottle. Constantly asks for either food or work, will indulge the former if not given the latter.

 Boet: Another servile entity, except this one will go out of its way to NOT do any tasks after begging its master for some.

 Freba: Small, shiny fairy that uses crickets and/or legless lizards as steeds. So beautiful anyone who spots one falls into lovesick melancholy

 Joanet: Luminous goblins that can be summoned to find hidden treasure

 Barruget: Goblins of elongated heads and immense strength that usually live deep in wells, but might emerge in groups on days of bad weather to play in the raging waves. A prankster that can be placated by offering it bread with cheese.

 Martinet: Born from mushrooms, extremely fast, easy to anger, and outrageously powerful, capable of changing the course of rivers or altering mountains. Is repelled by snake drool

  Negret: Black goblin that turns into a pile of coins if someone touches it while holding a candle

 Telles-Melles: Invisible goblin that watches over children and plays with them.

 Follet: Sometimes said to be a goblin, sometimes just said to be a special gift. Either way it is tied to an individual person and grants them powers.

 Rotlla/Rotlan/Errolan: A version of the fictional Sir Roland, wielder of Durendal, in which he is an heroic giant. Rode an equally gigantic one-eyed horse that could chew through mountains.

 Pesanta: Sometimes a huge dog, sometimes a huge cat, both with legs made of iron. Enters houses from under doors or through walls and sits on people as they sleep, giving them nightmares and great pain

 Pupieirinya: Forest fairies that love bread crumbs, very quick and very silent. Can hear the voices of children that are too young to speak, and bring them gifts.

 Lavandeira: Old woman that sits by rivers washing clothes and calls for passersby to help. Ignoring her pleas or folding the clothes in the same way she does nets you extreme bad luck, if not guaranteed death.

 Canouro: Vaguely defined evil entity associated with water. Fond of mortally wounding children on the arms of their parents

Butoni: Hairy bogeyman with claws, horns and two faces that enters houses through keyholes

Aideko: Wind spirit said to be responsible for every disease and disgrace that cannot be explained by conventional means. An even more malevolent variant, the Aidegatxo, also controls storms. Can only be driven off through magic.

 Es Vedra Giant: Sea-dwelling. Hunger for human flesh only surpassed by his love of octopi. Will eat until it can’t move anymore

 Saint Llorenc’s Dragon:  Brought to the land by foreign invaders, originally very small but grew to monstrous proportions by devouring everything in its path, and soon claimed an entire mountain. Survived what should’ve been a fatal sword strike, forcing its slayer to call upon divine intervention to finally smite it down

 Altzuruku Dragon: Enormous and fierce. A knight called SIR GASTON fought it to a stalemate for weeks, some say months, and finally had to resort to feeding it an ox skin filled with gunpowder to do the trick, blowing its head off.

 Espillet’s Dragon: Considered one of the dracs, of deadly all-rotting stench. Terrorized the city of Valencia until a man called Espillet slayed it in return for avoiding life-long prison and reuniting with his lost love. In one version, however, the dragon merely scared people away to live in peace, and the city blamed it for all sorts of kidnappings. Espillet had no choice to kill it anyway, even if he felt pity for the beast.

[poisonwonders]

                                              POISON IVY.

                                     pamela lillian isley. twenty six.

                                     biochemist / botanist / toxicologist.                                                          MOTHER NATURE.

                             i am not ruined. i am ruination.

okay so ------- ivy is mostly based on the PAMELA ISLEY we encounter in DC’s prime earth universe, but some influences are also drawn from new earth and DC rebirth. a lot is also just AU / headcanons.

BASICS: ivy is 26, currently working at a lab that works on researching different toxins & poisons. she did not die during the whole thanos ordeal.

obviously no one has to read all this because i got carried away as per usual ! i’ve labeled each section if there is something in particular u want to know ! c:

BACKGROUND.

domestic abuse cw, child abuse cw, parental death cw, murder cw:/

she grew up incredibly sheltered, hidden away from sight. her father locked her away and used threats and fear to force her to stay inside. he also made her believe that if she went outside, into the sun, she would burn. pamela wholeheartedly believed this, because she did have a rare skin condition that made her sensitive to sunlight.

so her mother home schooled her, and tried to protect her the best she could. it was never enough, for either of them.

ivy’s mother emptied her heart of sorrows and poured all her energy into her garden. as a result, it was a beautiful place, filled with carefully tended flowers from all over the world and meticulously trimmed fruit trees and bushes. pamela could see it from her window, and she spent most of her days looking through the blinds and daydreaming about what life outside might be like. she didn’t notice that her mother’s garden grew little by little, every time her father was sorry for yet another unforgivable, unspeakable thing that he had done. but how was pamela to know that her mother’s pain was measured in flowers? that the reason her father showered ( no, drowned ), her mother in the most expensive bouquets, flower arrangements and exotic plants - was to keep her quiet? buy her forgiveness.

every now and then when her father was away for work, her mother would let pamela out into the garden, just as dusk was setting. she’d bask in the day’s last ray of sunshine, taking in the feeling of warmth across her face, stinging her skin ever so lightly. she wouldn’t dare be out there for long. her fear of her father, combined with her fear of her skin igniting, made her careful.

but no matter how careful she and her mother were, disaster eventually struck when ivy was eleven. her father came home from a work trip early ------ and saw his ‘beloved’ daughter outside, flowers in her hair, pale cheeks rosy with laughter. that night, her mother was sent to the ER. she came home the next day, her skin stained black and blue. her mother pretended like nothing had happened, and instead immediately went out to her garden. it had grown, over night. slowly, but certainly, ivy began to see a pattern form. when her mother was trying to hide another bruise, the garden expanded, and a new vase of beautiful flowers stood on the kitchen table. she may have been young, but pamela finally understood that flowers could be used to manipulate, to destroy, to conquer.

but her mother didn’t stop - she refused to let her daughter be cooped up like a beautiful bird in a cage. so she continued to bring a young and frightened pamela outside. she spoke to her in a low voice, about how flowers bound this world together, how they were linked to its very core. she spun tales of girls just like pamela, with flowers in their hair, dancing underneath the starlight, transforming into fairies and witches and elves. she explained that her garden always listened, and if you spoke to flowers, and you kept very very quiet, they’d answer. so pamela was bewitched, and her daydreams of the magical garden continued. she’d sit perched in her bedroom window, her gaze fixed on the roses below, watching them sway in the wind.

daydream turned into yet another nightmare when she was twelve. she saw it all happen, from her window. she saw how her father dragged out a lifeless body, and began to dig up the roses that pamela & her mom loved so much. she saw how careless he was, how flowers were thrown aside, how he barely looked at his wife before tossing her into a hole beneath the garden that she had poured her soul into. now she became part of it.

it took a few weeks of ‘your mother has gone to live with her sister, who is very ill’, before the police came knocking. they took her father away, and a few months later, he was sentenced to a life term in prison. 

pamela’s aunt moved into her house and started taking care of pamela instead, and pamela’s life took a drastic change for the better. she was now allowed to go outside, received treatment for her skin condition, and was enrolled in a private school. all of ivy’s free time went to her mother’s garden. on some level, she thought that through her flowers, she’d be able to keep her mother alive.

end of cw.

COLLEGE YEARS / BECOMING POISON IVY.

teacher / student relationship cw, human experiments / testing cw, abuse cw, ptsd cw.

ivy enrolled in college with a double major - chemistry and botany. she excelled in her course and soon became one of her chemistry teachers’ favorite. they embarked on an erratic relationship, their power balance completely skewed, with a naive pamela completely lost in love, thinking she had met the one. she was willing to do anything to maintain that feeling. so when he asked her to steal some seeds from another lab? there was no way that she would say no. and so it continued - he asked her to steal, from museums, from labs, from botanical gardens.

eventually, he found what he was looking for, and her perfect dream turned into yet another nightmare. he locked her up and experimented on her, injected her with every biochemical poison imaginable, a little at a time. seeing how her body reacted, how she slowly became immune to his tests. how almost succumbing to their effect drove her a little bit mad. what he didn’t count on was that pamela’s body would take to more than the poison [ continued in power section ].

after pamela broke free of his prison, she killed him. no remorse. just anger.

she dropped out of college. accidentally killed her new boyfriend with a kiss, and decided to go on the run.

at first, she had some trouble controlling her powers. the first few months, she didn’t dare touch anyone. too afraid that her touch would be toxic, deadly, disastrous. but a new rage had been ignited within her, and it was a rage that would soon become everything she was afraid of.

what was really nice though was that the sun now made her stronger, instead of weakening her!!! cool cool cool

she had been controlled by men many times by now - with disastrous consequences. people wanted to make her feel like she had been ruined, that she was now rotten. pamela refused to be anything other than their ruination in return. she wanted to prove to herself that she was now in control, that she had the power over men.

suffers PTSD after everything she has been through. it sucks

so maybe she went on a murder spree or two, while on the run. what about it?

also became very involved in environmental activist groups!!! often went to protests and was heavily involved with several pro-environment groups and their leaderships.

eventually.... started taking things waaaaaay across the line of what could be considered decent. became involved with underground groups, and turned to crime as the only answer to get the justice that she thought that she, along with mother nature, deserved.

end of cw.

ASYLUM YEARS / ‘MOVING ON’.

was eventually caught while trying to take control of los angeles, by threatening to release lethal fungus into the town’s water supply, and equally as lethal spores into the air. she wanted them to meet her environmental demands. they refused, and she was eventually captured.

after that, she was deemed insane, and was sent to an asylum. 

eventually escaped, and returned to her ways of crime.

was caught again, and sent back to serve a year within the asylum’s wall.

decided to be smarter about it, and pretended that she was changed by her stay in the asylum. 

she found a job in new york, at a local lab that researched biochemical toxins. it’s rumored that ivy has created poisons capable of wiping out half of the earth’s population. at that, she just laughs.

CURRENTLY / MOTIVATIONS.

ivy has managed to keep her job at the lab. possibly because the boss is a questionable figure, himself. mostly interested in money. 

her motivation is to keep plants safe. she can feel every plant around her, and she can hear their pain. she communicates with them, and through them. they willfully do her bidding, and she can take control of any plant close enough to her. she is mother earth’s protector, first and foremost. any harm to her also hurts ivy.

working closely with both underground environmental groups and larger, public groups. her motivations never change. neither does her anger, or her ambition.

she will do ANYTHING to get what she wants.

pretty girls cloud her morals even further, we love a chaotic bi

PERSONALITY / CHARACTER TIDBITS.

murder cw.

that girl that’s always fucking running in high heels

loose morals? yeah

has her own very specific agenda and follows it religiously! 

mood swings? yes. sweet like sugar one minute, sour like venom the next.

can be so cold!!!! literally doesn’t care 98% of the time if it isn’t related to plants or someone she loves.

she’s in a bad mood? probably would be best to hide.

might hate humanity, but she loves children. can be so maternal! will always protect kids and take them under her wing.

has a really nice aesthetic! wears a lot of dungarees, wooden shoes, flowery patterns and pastel colors.

uses her sexuality as a weapon.

so so so smart !!!! 

kinda unstable, too? 

lowkey into the idea of sisterhood. will have girls’ back.

used to be super naive, now she’s more cynical :c

thinks that humanity ain’t shit ( except for her gf, who is The Shit )

lowkey just wants to live on a deserted island with her gfs and her plants but she can’t do that yet because !!!! people !!!!! keep !!!! fucking with her plants. and ivy is also of the belief that someone’s gotta keep this world pure. so that’s what she’s about, really. purity. a peaceful world where plants are safe from harm. by any means necessary.

end of cw.

POWERS.

IMMUNITY:

ivy is completely immune to all toxins + poisons and can also use them as weapons through her skin and lips. the natural oils that her body produce are also laced with biochemical toxins, so her mere touch can be lethal, if she wants it to be. she can also conjure up toxins and manipulate plants into becoming toxic. 

also possesses specialized toxins, such as truth serums & love potions.

MENTAL CONTROL OF PLANT LIFE:

ivy can control plants, completely and effortlessly. she can animate them to attack and ensnare her opponents. she can also create new plant hybrids and accelerate a plant’s growth and strength and size. if she has seeds with her, she can also grow new plants quickly.

ivy also has a very special relationship with plants, and treats them as her children and family members. they thus respond to her will and command.

she has also brought back formerly extinct plants to life !!!

she can also feel plants. what they’re feeling. she shares a deep telepathic bond with wildlife, and can communicate with all flowers, trees and other plants. 

she can hear through plants! if she focuses, she can eavesdrop on people through plants. super useful, really.

hmmmmm plants also act as her spies, a lot!

DURABILITY & STRENGTH:

all that poison and it just made her stronger!!!! really though, it’s the sun that makes her strong!!!

anyways she’s more agile than the average human and less prone to injury.

[alarriefantasy]

                                      Halloween Fic Rec 2017

Alien AU

Alien Harry

We've got to get away from here by @suspendrs Words: 23k

Or, Louis is an FBI agent who likes to think himself a paranormal expert, and Harry is alien that somehow ended up in his office.

A King Beside You by @alienproof Words: 26k

When the aliens invade, the last thing Louis expects is to fall in love.

Cosmic Love by @smittenwithlouis Words: 27k

Or: Louis lives in a small, desert town in the middle of nowhere Texas, yet a strange visitor manages to find Louis among the stars.

Glow  by @haydolce Words: 41k

Alien AU, with a hint of Royal AU. A summer barbecue at the Tomlinson's is interrupted by a naked visitor from a peaceful planet far, far away. Can an alien and a human survive a summer together for the sake of the human race?

The Galaxy's Edge by @the-cheshire-pussy-cat  Words: 113k

In which Louis is a bounty hunter with a messed up past. Harry is a prince who just wants to prove himself. Niall and Zayn have too many things to figure out together. And Liam just wants to take care of his family. Things never quite go as they are planned during a simple rescue job. Working title: Gays in Space

Angel/Demon AU

Two Different Versions of the Universe by Hazzalovescarrots Words: 11k

Harry is a demon, captured by hunters. but not just any hunters. Angels. Louis is his angel.

Even Angels Have Their Demons by @afangirlfantasy​

Words: 52k

Or... an Angel/Demon AU where Angel Louis hates Demon Harry, but somewhere along the way that stops being so true.

Say Hallelujah, Say Goodnight by @alivingfire​ Words: 110k

Louis is an angel who is just a little too bad to be good, Harry is a demon who is just a little too good to be bad, and they're both a little too in love to be impartial when angels and demons go to war.

Run Like the Devil by @benzos Words: 137k

Supernatural AU. Louis hunts demons; Harry's the strangest demon he's ever met, and he keeps fucking meeting him.

Mermaid AU

Merman Harry

The Importance of Body Language by @zimriya Word: 11k

Harry really has no idea how he’s going to get out of this one. After the little incident with the fishing wire, he’d been told that under no circumstances was he to visit the surface of the water, as he is the heir to the throne and his safety is essential to the continued existence of their underwater society. Or something. Harry loves his mum, but there’s really only so much talk of royal duty a prince can take before he does something drastic. Like purposefully disobey her strict instructions to stay under the sea for the rest of his natural life, and instead swim too close to a human ship and get himself spotted by none other than the unfairly attractive Prince Louis Tomlinson, for example.

Needless to say, Harry is fucked.

My head's under water (but I'm breathing fine) by @infinitelymint Words: 13k

Harry's a merman, Louis is a prince. Sometimes happiness can be found at the bottom of the sea.(not a 'The Little Mermaid' AU)

Chances under the purple sunrise by @pumpkinlou Words: 28k

Or the one where Harry is a merman, prince of the Atlantic Ocean, whose curiosity and healthy envy takes over him and he steals Louis' shoes every time he fishes.

Coax the Cold by @mediawhorefics  Words: 86k

English Professor Louis Tomlinson’s passion for the occult has been a source of mockery and derision for most of his life. When he hears whispers of a travelling freak show newly established in London claiming the existence of a monstrous sea hybrid, half-man, half-fish, Louis sees it as his ticket to credibility amongst his peers. The summer he spends undercover working on the show, however, gives him much more than that.

To Embroider Your Waist With Corals by @smittenwithlouis  Words: 100k

Or: All harpy Louis has known is the sky, all merprince Harry has known is the sea, except when they're together.

Merman Louis

Sirène by @canonlarry Words: 4k

Louis is a merman who turns into a human and Harry takes him home and takes him to bed.

Purer Than The Water (Like We Were) by @infinitylourry Words: 33k

Louis is a merman and Harry is a boy. The lake is a good place to fall in love.

I Know All Your Colors by @someonethatsfunny Words: 34k

The one where Louis is a mermaid and Harry meets him as a five year old boy. What happens when you meet a merboy at the tender age of five, but no one believes you? Will you listen to your parents and other adults who all tell you that you’ve imagined him or will you hold onto the memory of him for a lifetime, never willing to let him go? What if you can’t let him go because you’re pretty sure you were destined to meet and to be a part of one another’s lives? Maybe it’s down to fate.

Pirate AU

Pirate Harry

These Hands Not Fit For Holding by @achilleus Words: 46k

Or, Harry is the captain of a pirate ship, and Louis is an accidental stowaway.

Liberté by larriebane Words: 64k

AU. 1647. “Pretending you don’t have a heart is not the best way to not get it broken. It’s just the easiest.”Or the pirate AU I always wanted to write

Resist Everything Except Temptation by @domestic-harry Words: 100k

OR The one where Louis is the commodore's son who is forced to become a part of Harry's crew when he is captured.

Swim In The Smoke by @crazyupsetter Words: 101k

“What about this, Captain?” Liam asks, nudging the boy kneeling between their feet with the toe of his boot. The boy hisses and swipes at him, slurring out something unintelligible around the makeshift gag Niall had to stuff in his mouth. He misses by a mile and tries again, just as ineffectively.

Harry looks down at him, at the way the sun streams over his face and shoulders, at the way the gag stretches his mouth, lips pink and chapped. He’s lithe and pretty, smudged all over with dirt. They had found him tied up below deck, mostly unconscious, next to a barrel full of gold. He’s clearly a prisoner, but there’s something familiar about him, something that niggles at Harry’s brain. Something he can’t quite put his finger on.

“Put him in my cabin,” Harry decides, turning back to deal with the rest of the loot. The boys screams out jumbled curse words at Harry’s back, muffled by the gag, and Harry can’t understand any of it.

Pirate Louis

Gentle Rogue by @juliusschmidt Words: 15k

“Well?” Tommo prompts. “What the hell are you doing aboard my ship?”

Harry grins, “I’m here to plunder your booty.”

[Or Harry bets Nick a hundred pounds he can get Louis to sleep with him. He wins the wager and a thorough fucking.]

Sail Across Me  by @canonlarry Words: 21k

Harry is a prince that is about to be forced into marriage against his will and running away to sea seems like a much better option. Louis is the captain of the infamous pirate ship The Rogue and he has a thing for helping defenseless creatures. Especially when they're as pretty as this one.

Both Pirates

Set Sail With No Compass by @zarah5 Words: 4k

Pirate AU. That's it; that's the summary.

If you'll be my star, I'll be your sky by MANGAMANIAC666 Words: 42k

"You know," He whispered. "The pirate way is to take your pretty finger with the ring. If you want to keep your lovely hand you have to give me something else of value."

Louis swallowed again, harder this time. "I don't have anything else." He mumbled worriedly. Averting his eyes.The pirate grinned. "Oh, but I think you do." ~ (Larry Stylinson version of To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker)

Vampire AU

Vampire Harry

I Picked My Poison, And It’s You by @afangirlfantasy Words: 5k

Louis never backs down on dares. But maybe this was the one time he should have.

Feels Like Infinity by Larrymama15 Words: 21k

Louis Tomlinson is an accomplished professor and a published author, all at age 28. He has devoted his life to the study and discussion of the mythological beings known as vampires. What he hasn't prepared for is, well, meeting one.

I Will Never Rust by @myhaz Words: 38k

or Harry wants to suck more than just Louis’ blood but Louis refuses to sleep with Count Dickula.

As Cold as a Whisper by panda_bear21 Words: 48k

A fairy tale au where people in Louis' village are disappearing and Louis is married off to uphold a centuries long agreement.

Finding You Was So Hard (But Loving You Is Easy) by @lourrynavy Words: 66k

​An incredibly shameless vampire!AU filled with stupid jokes, endless dates, flappy bird, a bro man dude pal sleepover thing and there also might be some sex in strange places.

Also known as the one where everyone is a vampire, Louis is oblivious and somewhere along the way it becomes a bit too much like Twilight

Waiting On You by @lads-laddylads Words: 76k

“Vampires,” Louis says with disgust, glaring over at the vampire who is noisily slurping from the woman’s neck nearby.

Zayn gives the neat fang marks on Louis’ neck a meaningful look.“Can’t live with them, can’t live without them,” Louis finishes, ignoring Zayn when he rolls his eyes.

Louis takes a long sip of his milkshake, presses his fingers against the marks on his neck, and definitely doesn’t think about the vampire who left them there.

Luscious blood by Deidei Words: 116k

Louis Tomlinson, a human, has been living in poor living conditions together with his mother since he was born. Ever since he can remember he has loathed the stronger, faster, more developed kind that rule this world; Vampires. But will his opinion change after he meets his soul mate that is an arrogant, royal vampire named Harry Styles…

Love Endless (The Road to Recollection) by @wubwubnparmaham Words: 171k

The year is groovy 1973, and eighteen-year-old Louis Tomlinson is perhaps the gayest teen to ever grace the gloomy, hateful town of Fortwright. Would be fine if he wasn't so viciously bullied at both home and school for such a "harmful" sexual preference.

Yeah, yeah, we've all heard this story, haven't we? Believe him, Louis didn't think he was anything special either.

Until he found the mansion. The notoriously haunted mansion hidden deep within the forests of his tiny blip of a town in Bumfuck Nowhere, Idaho. No one with a brain ever goes near it, but Louis could use a little excitement in his life...and possibly a Band-Aid or two.

After discovering the mansion was less abandoned than he'd thought, he's now left with the most riveting mystery of a lifetime; every new finding leaving him with more questions. Who is this elusive owner, and why won't they show themselves? Why is there a set of journals in the same handwriting that span over centuries? Why in the world is there a padlock on the refrigerator...and who the hell is Alexander?

Vampire Louis

The Lion Man by @canonlarry Words; 12k

Louis is a vampire who loves tattoos and piercings as much as he loves a good feed. Harry is a biology student who gets dragged to a vampire bar (really, of all places) by his friends and happens to have blood that tastes like maraschino cherries. They're both a bit addicted and they're neither a bit ashamed.

A Real Boy by Centa0592  Words: 29k

The not so Twilight fic where Harry falls hopelessly in love with vampire Louis Tomlinson.

The Devil You Know by @a-writerwrites​ Words: 35k

Louis is a vampire. Harry is probably too curious for his own good

Witches AU

Witch/Magical Harry

Far Afield by @becomeawendybird Words: 11k

Harry Styles is a witch who owns the best flower shop in Manchester. Lottie Tomlinson is planning her wedding, and brings her brother along to her first appointment. Both men have been having a bad day and sparks fly.

Taken by the wind by @scrunchyharry Words: 12k

Or the one where Harry is a clumsy witch and Louis is making everything worse just by existing.

A Long Way Down(To The Bottom Of The River) by @mediawhorefics  Words: 24k

a practical magic au in which Harry and his sister accidentally kill her abusive boyfriend with magic and Louis is the D.I working the case.

Love is divine by @alienproof Words: 25k

Being a witch doesn't help when it comes to unrequited love.

Feel the Chemicals Burn in My Bloodstream by @lourrynavy  Words: 123k

Harry is a journalist with a lot of secrets and Louis is the future king of the United Kingdom; they live together for 60 days.

Witch/Magical Louis

Nocturnal Creatures Are Not So Prudent by @doncasterkitten Words: 24k

Louis is a white witch with a little black cat named Hemlock and a best human friend Liam (they're a lot like Samantha Stephens and Louise Tate). When he's dragged out to a new club Liam's heard about from a friend and classmate, Louis comes face to face with that which witches do not touch: a charming vampire by the name of Harry.

You Take Me Over, You’re the Magic in My Veins by @supernope  Words: 36k

No, he thinks, he has no desire to be betrothed to Princess Gemma, but he finds he wouldn’t mind being married after all, if it was Prince Harry he was promised to, instead.

May We Stay Lost On Our Way Home by LoadedGunn Words: 74k

On March 31st, Harry Styles disappears. Though many speculate, only two people know where to find him: Niall, his former guitarist, and Zayn, who follows where Niall leads.

The fact the biggest boy band in the world broke up two weeks earlier might be related to the disappearance. The fact Harry meets a fairy named Louis in the woods is a whole other matter.

Nocturne in silver and blue @tinyweirdloves Words: 97k

louis is a fallen star and harry brings him home. told over the course of fourteen years.

[crystalelemental]

I've gone on record stating that Gen 3 is not my favorite, and I stand by that.  I think Team Aqua/Magma had a lot to do with that, being far less interesting than they should have been.  As much as we mock IGN for it, the fact that the latter third of the game is a bunch of surf routes with the same Pokemon over and over is also frustrating.   Also, since I'm in the middle of playing the remakes of ORAS, I find it really frustrating the things that they changed, with my biggest gripe being that I wish my rival would go away forever.  That said, the Pokedex itself has always been something I appreciated.  A lot of my favorites came from Gen 3, so I tended to remember the Pokemon in the region fondly, even if the region wasn't my favorite.

TOP 15: 15) Mightyena line - There was so much competition for this slot, it's ridiculous. Ultimately though, I have to give it to Mightyena and its pre-evolution, Poochyena.  Both have great designs, but the thing that stood out to me most was that, in the early game, we were given a Dark type.  That's really atypical! Usually you go through the normal types, the Flying types, and the bugs, until after the first gym.  But Gen 3? You got things like Mightyena right away; it wasn't even rare!   Combined with things like Seedot/Lotad and Ralts, you had some interesting types going into the first gym.  Mightyena is a great starting point for introducing how unique Gen 3 and its Pokedex are, and I think it stands out a lot because of it.

14) Nosepass - Imagine being a kid who had faced Brock back in gen 1.   Imagine again that you started with Red and Blue, and didn't pick Charmander. Odds are, you blasted through him without a second thought.  Literally no issue. Now, imagine going to Roxanne, blasting through her Geodude like they're nothing, and then encountering Nosepass, who can tank those Grass and Water hits just fine, and hits pretty hard for early game.  Nosepass is awesome.  It's a fantastic tank, who can take all sorts of hits in that early game.  While it doesn't hit particularly hard later on, its main draw is as a wall among walls, with great support options.  The concept of basically being a walking easter island head statue is also comical.  It looks funny, but it's adorable too, making for a fantastic overall Pokemon.

13) Absol - This is a Pokemon that gets a lot of favoritism based on aesthetics. It's a sleek and pretty Pokemon, but also has a great role.  It tells of impending disasters, and is a fun but short-lived character in Red Rescue Team as well.  I really like Absol, and just wish it could be a bit faster so it could have a solid competitive niche.

12) Aggron line - We've had big bipedal rock monsters before, like Rhydon and Tyranitar.  But Aggron is just a different kind of cool.  Its sleek metal plating and terrifying design are fantastic.  The fact that it starts out as the cute little Aron only helps add to its charms.  Best of all, you get it super early game.  Rhydon was surprisingly late-game, and Tyranitar was literally only attainable when you had nothing left to do.  But Aggron? You can run one the whole game.  I love the ability to do that.

11) Metagross - YEAH!  Metagross is a beast, and a strong contender for my favorite pseudo-legend.  It's literally a walking tank, with the glorious Steel/Psychic typing.  It had one of the few Steel moves in the game that was actually useful, and back before the nerf, Steel covered all of Psychic type's weaknesses, making it a defensive and offensive nightmare.  I love the entire concept behind this behemoth, too.  It's a walking robot monster, whose evolution is basically just it gaining more legs until it becomes Omega Weapon. 

10) Breloom - I'll get to a similar case later, but Breloom is a favorite based on typing.  Grass/Fighting was unreal at the time, and it did super well for itself. Plus it's just cute.  A tiny little punching mushroom child, with stubby little arms that apparently shoot out to hit really hard.  It's a quirky concept with a fun design, and I adore it. Plus, Spore with the abilities it would later get made it a surprisingly brutal enemy to face.

9) Roselia - IT'S SO PRETTY!  Such a gorgeous Pokemon.  Grass/Poison was pretty overdone, even at this point, but I just loved the appearance of it.

8) Swampert line - Dual-type starters, at this point, were still relatively rare. Venusaur had Grass/Poison, but so did every Grass type in gen 1 barring Tangela.  Charizard had Fire/Flying, but the fact it wasn't Dragon is stupid.  Gen 3 introduced new dual-types for starters, and one great one is Water/Ground with Swampert.  While the combination had been done before with Quagsire, Swampert offered far better overall bulk and damage output, on top of its excellent typing.  It's also goofy-looking, but in a really charming way.  It's just so loveable, and every evolution retains that cute look.

7) Flygon - Flygon is just cute to me.  It looks like such a friend.   Being a Pokemon that exists in the sandstorm-focused desert area was also cool.  I really liked that there was an entire region dedicated just to the new weather effect.  Shame that Sandstorm was such a pain in the ass, but it's a really cool area!

6) Altaria - Altaria is so pretty.  Just a fluffy cotton ball bird...dragon.  It's apparently more of a songbird, too, which is just heavenly.  It also got a great mega evolution, receiving Dragon/Fairy typing, which is hilarious and excellent.

5) Latias - I'm guessing this run of Dragons is proving I really like the soft, friendly dragons over the big intimidating ones that actually do well, huh? Dragon/Psychic was, at this point, the coolest typing I had ever heard of.  But what's cooler than that?  How about a super adorable Dragon/Psychic type.  Oh, what's this?  It gets a hold item that boosts special attack and special defense 50%?  That's ridiculous, I love it. Latias is the more defensive option of the two, which I always felt was better if you factor in hold item.  The added defensive bulk is going to matter more than slightly more physical offense from their perspective.  Of course, Latios having much better special attack is ultimately better in competitive, but Latias still has her use, and is super cute.

4) Blaziken line - Remember when Fire/Fighting was a novel type?  Remember when its introduction was a kick-boxing chicken creature?  Those were the days. Torchic is one of the cutest starters, and its final evolution is surprisingly still an elegant design.  It was such a cool idea, and I love that Hidden Abilities brought it back to the top.

3) Mawile - It's such a cute little creature.  Cute and terrifying, and excellent combination for sure.  It's a shame that Mawile ultimately was a forgettable Steel type in terms of competitive use, but the acquisition of Fairy type and the best mega really helped it out on that front, too.  So I guess it's basically perfect? Sounds about right.

2) Milotic - I never caught one in gen 3.  Not fairly, anyway.  I could never figure out how to get Feebas to show up.  In fact, I don't think I've ever captured a Feebas.  I've always traded for it.  It's just so hard to find.  But man, is the final form ever beautiful.  It's such a gorgeous Pokemon, and an excellent tank to boot.  Everything about Milotic is wonderful.

1) Gardevoir line - Don't you judge me.  We all knew this would happen.  If you read anything in this post or the ones before it, you know elegant and cute are the biggest draws for me.  Gardevoir is both. It's also a Psychic type, so bonus points there.  Also, as mentioned in the Mightyena entry, it's super early-game. Rare, sure, but you can have a Psychic type from nearly the very start of the game.  I love Gardevoir so much, it's definitely an all-time favorite, and it should come as no surprise that it winds up being the favorite from this generation.

BOTTOM 10: 10) Pelipper - I like Pelipper.  Its reason for being here is that so many Gen 3 Pokemon are great, it just doesn't stand out as much as the others.  I have literally no complaints, I just locked myself into "it has to be 10" and here we are.

9) Huntail - Same as above, it just doesn't hold as much aesthetic appeal.

8) Seviper - If there's anything I actually dislike here, it's just that it's pure-Poison type.  We had a Poison snake already.  I would've liked to see a different typing added in.  Poison/Dark at this phase of the game would've been amazing.

7) Zangoose - Still good, but it loses points based on my frustrations with Pokemon Coliseum.

6) Glalie - Getting closer to legitimate frustrations, Glalie is here because its design doesn't captivate.  Snorunt is cute, but it evolves into an angry face in a block of ice.  Not exactly all that interesting.

5) Volbeat - Did nothing legitimately wrong, but I am upset that Volbeat gets a lot of nice and unique tools that Illumise does not.  I like Illumise.  I think its color scheme is a lot better.  But Volbeat gets the nice tools, so whatever I guess.

4) Ninjask - Please stop speed boosting, I am begging you.  You do nothing else but Swords Dance, Speed Boost and Baton Pass, please do something else.

3) Slaking - Okay, actual legitimate complaints.  Slaking's problem is it goes backwards.  Vigoroth was a nightmare to face, and I have a friend who stated that facing Norman's was the reason he started to respect Normal types as something other than early-game fodder.  But Slaking?   It re-acquires Truant, which is an awful ability by any standard, and requires very specific team support, on Doubles only, to mitigate.   Anyone who sees Slaking knows exactly what will happen, and is probably more than prepared to shut it down.  It's a nice design, and a nice concept, but it's been so ruined by the ability it is burdened with that it's virtually unusable.

2) Plusle/Minun - Possibly less legitimate complaint, but I feel more strongly about it. Plusle and Minun are cute and have solid designs, but their great sin is being Pikachu clones for the new area, kicking off the trend of needing an electric rodent in every area.  Worse, they do not evolve, offer little in the way of any competitive value, and existed to show off the introduction to Double Battles with their unique abilities and access to Helping Hand.  Beyond this, they offer very little, and are the reason we have to always have a new electric rodent that ultimately winds up having no competitive niche.

1) Grumpig - Literally the only one on this list I dislike.  Spoink is cute, and Grumpig is...not.  It just looks irritable and not all that friendly by comparison.  It's also nothing too impressive competitively, and offers little in the way of uniqueness, losing the quirk of constantly bouncing around like Spoink did to...just be grumpy.  It's a Pokemon I might like more on its own, but as an evolution of Spoink it doesn't seem as interesting.

[richincolor]

K. Imani’s 2017 Favorites

I'm so glad that publishing houses are producing more and more diverse books because each year the choices for my end of the year list gets harder to narrow down, and these are the books that I was just able to read because I know there are books that I missed that I'm sure I'd love (for example, I finally read Aristotle & Dante this year and I loved it so much!). All of these books below really moved me in some way, whether it made me ponder the future, make me snap my fingers with its "wokeness", or made me stand up and cheer, therefore they make my best of 2017 list. If you read these books, I'm sure you loved them as well. If you haven't, then share this list with your family to buy you these books for Christmas. Or, even better, buy someone these books for Christmas. 

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Miles Morales by Jason Reynolds

Want by Cindy Pon

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert

A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi

Saints & Misfits by S.K. Ali

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Balzer + Bray  Group Discussion

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Miles Morales by Jason Reynolds Marvel Press Crystal's Review

"Everyone gets mad at hustlers, especially if you're on the victim side of the hustle. And Miles knew hustling was in his veins." Miles Morales is just your average teenager. Dinner every Sunday with his parents, chilling out playing old-school video games with his best friend, Ganke, crushing on brainy, beautiful poet Alicia. He's even got a scholarship spot at the prestigious Brooklyn Visions Academy. Oh yeah, and he's Spider Man.

But lately, Miles's spidey-sense has been on the fritz. When a misunderstanding leads to his suspension from school, Miles begins to question his abilities. After all, his dad and uncle were Brooklyn jack-boys with criminal records. Maybe kids like Miles aren't meant to be superheroes. Maybe Miles should take his dad's advice and focus on saving himself.

As Miles tries to get his school life back on track, he can't shake the vivid nightmares that continue to haunt him. Nor can he avoid the relentless buzz of his spidey-sense every day in history class, amidst his teacher's lectures on the historical "benefits" of slavery and the importance of the modern-day prison system. But after his scholarship is threatened, Miles uncovers a chilling plot, one that puts his friends, his neighborhood, and himself at risk.

It's time for Miles to suit up.

Want by Cindy Pon Simon Pulse  Group Discussion

Jason Zhou survives in a divided society where the elite use their wealth to buy longer lives. The rich wear special suits that protect them from the pollution and viruses that plague the city, while those without suffer illness and early deaths. Frustrated by his city’s corruption and still grieving the loss of his mother, who died as a result of it, Zhou is determined to change things, no matter the cost.

With the help of his friends, Zhou infiltrates the lives of the wealthy in hopes of destroying the international Jin Corporation from within. Jin Corp not only manufactures the special suits the rich rely on, but they may also be manufacturing the pollution that makes them necessary.

Yet the deeper Zhou delves into this new world of excess and wealth, the more muddled his plans become. And against his better judgment, Zhou finds himself falling for Daiyu, the daughter of Jin Corp’s CEO. Can Zhou save his city without compromising who he is or destroying his own heart?

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert Little, Brown  My Review

When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she isn't sure if she'll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (along with her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support.

But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new...the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel's disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself--or worse.

A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi

St. Martin's Griffin  My Review

 An ancient mystery. An unlikely union. For one young princess in a state of peril, a dangerous wish could be the only answer…

She is the princess of Bharata—captured by her kingdom’s enemies, a prisoner of war. Now that she faces a future of exile and scorn, Gauri has nothing left to lose. But should she trust Vikram, the notoriously cunning prince of a neighboring land? He promises her freedom in exchange for her battle prowess. Together they can team up and win the Tournament of Wishes, a competition held in a mythical city where the Lord of Wealth promises a wish to the victor. It seems like a foolproof plan—until Gauri and Vikram arrive at the tournament and find that danger takes on new shapes: poisonous courtesans, mischievous story birds, a feast of fears, and twisted fairy revels. New trials will test their devotion, strength, and wits. But what Gauri and Vikram will soon discover is that there’s nothing more dangerous than what they most desire.

 Saints & Misfits by S.K. Ali Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers My Review

Saints and Misfits is an unforgettable debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life…starring a Muslim teen.

How much can you tell about a person just by looking at them?

Janna Yusuf knows a lot of people can’t figure out what to make of her…an Arab Indian-American hijabi teenager who is a Flannery O’Connor obsessed book nerd, aspiring photographer, and sometime graphic novelist is not exactly easy to put into a box.

And Janna suddenly finds herself caring what people think. Or at least what a certain boy named Jeremy thinks. Not that she would ever date him—Muslim girls don’t date. Or they shouldn’t date. Or won’t? Janna is still working all this out.

While her heart might be leading her in one direction, her mind is spinning in others. She is trying to decide what kind of person she wants to be, and what it means to be a saint, a misfit, or a monster. Except she knows a monster…one who happens to be parading around as a saint…Will she be the one to call him out on it? What will people in her tightknit Muslim community think of her then?

[i-read-good-books]

Expomise Chapter 6!

I updated Expomise!

Summary: 

“It’s really good to see you, Victor. Love the hair.”

His friend flushes, “Y-yes, I thought so, too.”

For a moment, they just kind of stand there, in silence, not really knowing what to say. Yuuri wants to tell him to come in again, wants to ask how Chris and Georgi are doing, wants to reach out and touch him, like he always does.

Except… he doesn’t.

Link to ao3: here

Chapter under the cut:

“I am a strong, independent wizard who needs no man,” Yuuri whispers to himself, clutching his scarf close to his chest. “This is fine.”

“Yuuri?” Luke’s voice reaches him just as he’s finishing lacing up his skates, as cheerful as always. “We’re waiting for you here!”

“...Coming,” he calls back weakly, straightening himself up and turning to glance backwards. The Coaches who have hours in the mornings are on the ice, carefully guiding beginners and lecturing some more experienced skaters, all of which look half-asleep still, clinging to the barriers and groaning every few minutes of exhausting exercise.

Luke, of course, is also there; because the universe just hates Yuuri that much that it didn’t have enough making him anxious and terrified of squirrels. He’s at the short door that opens up to the ice, beaming at him, wearing his colourful pink beanie and the tightest leggings Yuuri’s ever seen (and he’s a ballet dancer). “Slide in, big boy.”

Yuuri flushes as he’s making his way towards him, wincing at the sound the blade make against the ground, even if it’s protected against them, “Please don’t call me that, Luke.”

“Aw,” the teenager pouts, in a way  so unnecessarily dramatic that it reminds Yuuri of Phichit. “But aren’t you such a big, strong boy?”

“I’m thi- almost fourteen,” he splutters, not meeting his eyes. “And I’ve got class now, you know.”

“You were so much nicer to me at the beginning,” Luke smiles, gently moving so that they’re skating together towards where the  Coaches are. Yuuri only has morning classes like these on weekends, since he mostly uses the rink alone with Celestino during the afternoons, to practice his magic, and he’s changed his rink from last year, so he’s still a bit unfamiliar with the rest of the adults there. That means nothing when it comes to Luke, though, he practically lives here.

Yuuri met Luke last year, at the open ice rink during Christmas, and Luke told him he had talent.

“He was scared of you at the beginning,” Yuuko pipes in, happily coming to a stop in front of them. She’s the reason Yuuri changed rinks this year, to one further away from his home, which he has to Floo to. It’s close to Minako’s, though, so he makes the trip count.

“He couldn’t be,” Luke gasps, “I’m so undeniably pleasant.”

He smiles at Yuuri as he says so, taking a moment to rub his shoulders in a friendly way, the same kind of ‘big brother’ affection he loves showering Yuuri in, and his blue eyes shine.

For a moment, Yuuri can’t breathe properly.

“Come on, Yuuri,” Yuuko grabs his hand, “We have to practice together! That’s why we’re rinkmates. You can try holding me up.”

“Yuuko, that’s dangerous - “

“Gotta go, bye!”

Honestly? She’s just saved him from completely humiliating himself by trying to speak to Luke normally. It’s basically impossible.

…

Yuuri is um, he’s pretty sure he kinda, um… he kinda likes Luke.

It’s not a big deal! And it’s not like Yuuri is like, totally lusting after him or falling in love with him, either. Luke is just really handsome, and nice, and smiles a lot, and holds his hand when he trips on ice, and says his skating is good, and -

Well. Luke is um. He’s a cool guy, okay? Anyone would have a small crush on him, he’s got that special charm that makes people flock to him like birds. Mari teases him about it all the time, to his absolute horror. Whenever she comes pick him up at the ice rink she makes a show out of calling out Luke’s name, asking how Yuuri’s done, and smiling blindingly the whole way through, ecstatic.

“I hate you so much,” Yuuri groans as they exit the place, burying his face in his hands. “Why can’t you let me be?”

“Oh, was I bothering you two?” Mari presses the back of her palm against her forehead, mock-ashamed. “I never meant to interrupt your romantic encounters. But you can’t blame me, the last time you had a crush was on that one girl who lives across the street.”

“He’s like, your age,” Yuuri whines, pushing her so that she moves quickly. He’s almost certain Luke can’t hear them, but it’s better to make sure. Just in case. “And I don’t like him!”

His sister hums noncommittally, “Yes, of course. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Yuuri.” She smirks, “Or whatever helps you at night, even if you don’t actually sleep.”

“Oh my god - I can’t believe - I am going to murder you -” His cheeks are flaming red. Did she just imply…?

Mari holds her hands up, “You’re almost fourteen, little bro, I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Yuuri glares at her, hoping his blush isn’t as noticeable as he thinks, “Well, you tease like a two-year-old, so it’s an easy mistake.”

“Oi!” she punches him in the arm lightly, cackling when he yelps. “No badmouthing your sister because you get hot over an older guy!”

“Please kill me,” Yuuri begs to no one in particular.

Of course, Phichit’s reaction to the “news” (Yuuri awkwardly mumbling, “I think I have a crush on a guy at my ice rink.” during one of their nightly Skype calls, feeling like his heart’s about to burst out of his chest) is much different, and almost endearingly Phichit-like.

First, he tells Yuuri that under no circumstances is he to try to date the guy, as if.

“He is much older than you, Yuuri!” he waggles his finger threateningly on his laptop’s screen. “And a guy who hasn’t already asked you out on a date after seeing you in your ice skating glory doesn’t deserve you, anyway. Besides,” he seems especially insistent in this part, “I think you already have some very, very dateable people around you. You don’t need this boy.”

“I’m not going to date him,” Yuuri whispers harshly, checking around to make sure his parents haven’t woken up. No sound from their bedroom. “I was just telling you because it’s been driving me mad. Now that I’ve actually told someone, I can forget him!”

“Oh, no,” Phichit smiles, “You ain’t forgetting Luke Matthews anytime soon, buddy, but well. He’s your type, isn’t he? Gorgeous blond hair, endless blue eyes, smooth pale skin, and that smile, dear lord.”

Yuuri’s eyes widen, “Phichit, how do you know what he looks like?”

“How do you think?” he raises an eyebrow. “I just followed him on Instagram, obviously.”

“Phichit, unfollow him right now or I swear I will cut off your wifi.”

His friend winks, “We’re not in Hogwarts, my dear Yuuri.” He laughs at Yuuri’s dismayed expression of realization, and settles back in his chair, his smile widening. Phichit’s gotten a haircut recently, a nice one that makes his eyes stand out more. “How’s the summer coming along otherwise, cute boy notwithstanding?”

Yuuri bites his lower lip in thought, running his fingers through his hair, “Um. I’m getting more and more into skating, actually. I might be able to do a proper competition jump soon, other than waddling through my Salchow. Yuri’s been hinting at wanting to try my mom’s katsudon, so I’m probably gonna invite him over sometime soon.” He thinks about it, “Might invite Victor, too, while I’m at it.”

“Oh yeah, you do that.” Phichit nods, and then he lets out a small laugh, “Don’t tell him about Luke, though.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Yuuri rolls his eyes, “I’m not that stupid, you know, I’d already figured he might be jealous.”

His friend stares at him, mouth hanging open, “You had? Um, w-when?”

“Like, the first day?” Yuuri sighs. “Victor’s really nitpicky about anyone teaching me figure skating, he gets all petty every time Yuuko helps me with anything. Do you think I’d tell him about an older guy with more experience giving me lessons?”

For some reason, Phichit looks almost like he’s about to laugh again, his eyes twinkling, but he just says, giggling, “Yes, I’m pretty sure Victor would object to an experienced guy giving you private lessons, Yuuri.”

He crosses his arms over his chest, huffing at his friend, “Honestly, you treat me like I’m so dumb. Obviously I’d realized Victor is a protective teacher.”

“Very protective teacher,” Phichit agrees, smirking suspiciously.

…

yuuri katsucky (because you SUCK)

i dont know what u wanted me to do. like. do u want to like. poison the food or smth. i dont care tbh. im going to ur house anyway bc im invincible. so fuck u who cares tbh

nikiforov says hes going too but meh.  whatever

Yuri always writes such nice things.

Knowing that both Yuri and Victor are coming means that Yuuri spends the day before their arrival cleaning every corner of the house, meticulously making sure his parents don’t leave anything...incriminating (like the one teen Witches’ Fave Hottie: Victor Nikiforov! poster he bought because he was curious) around, and peering over their shoulders as they cook and wrinkling his nose if they put their feet on the table.

“Seriously, you’d think you were the adult,” his mother mutters, ruffling his hair while he works on his summer homework. His parents make him see a tutor to keep him updated on muggle school work, in case he doesn’t want to work in the wizarding world. Mom still thinks that the fact that they don’t study biology at Hogwarts is a crime against humanity.

He’s still fretting, fixing his clothes, the moment he hears the doorbell ring.

The first thing that Yuuri thinks when he opens the door, smiling, calling out to his parents, “They’re here!”, and sees the two Slytherins waiting outside for him is that, no matter how much he sometimes feels like Celestino is working him to death, it’s nothing compared to Feltsman.

It’s less noticeable in Yuri, who’s grumbling, wearing respectable clothes for once (although his earrings are tiger claws, of course), because the boy still looks almost eerily like a fairy, lean and skinny in a way that suggests elegant rather than ‘awkward’. But it’s undeniable the second he glances at Victor.

Victor babbled about ‘starting to really train’ for Junior Worlds after he came clean to Yuuri regarding it, delighting him with schedules upon schedules of what he had to do this summer to get up to bar in order to compete internationally. He even confessed that he may not write as many letters, with all the stuff he had to do, apologizing profusely. So Yuuri was expecting him to gain a little muscle and all but, um. They haven’t seen each other in almost two months, and the change is just a little bit striking.

His hair’s longer, almost reaching down to his back now, but he’s got it on the side, tied up in a stylish ponytail. Apart from that, all the differences are the fact that Yuuri’s pretty sure Victor’s grown at least ten centimeters since he last saw him, which finally cements his position as ‘the short friend’, something he’s been able to avoid with Phichit, thankfully. He also just seems more filled out; his shoulders are a bit further apart, his face is slightly skinnier, and he stands with more confidence, balancing his weight like he’s making an entrance.

“Hey, Yuuri,” Victor says, smiling.

He reminds Yuuri, just slightly, of Luke.

“Your voice is deeper,” he blurts out automatically, even though it’s not that big of a change, after taking in the rest. He flushes, embarrassed, and doesn’t meet his eyes, “Oh, sorry, uh, come in, you two, we’re expecting you!”

Yuri rolls his eyes, “Always collected, Huffle.”

Yuuri pokes his nose as he goes by, laughing at his infuriated yelp, “It’s good to see you, Yuri.”

“Don’t steal any paintings,” Victor tells him cheerfully, which makes him glower so bad that Yuuri’s kind of impressed he doesn’t back down. He turns to look at Yuuri again, “How have you been?” Victor bites his lip and fidgets with his hands, glancing at him from between his eyelashes, “I’m really sorry I haven’t been able to write much recently, Yakov’s been running me down.”

“Um,” Yuuri swallows. Were his eyelashes really that long before? “Oh, um, it’s fine. You already told me about it, you know.” He smiles back at him,“It’s really good to see you, Victor. Love the hair.”

His friend flushes, “Y-yes, I thought so, too.”

For a moment, they just kind of stand there, in silence, not really knowing what to say. Yuuri wants to tell him to come in again, wants to ask how Chris and Georgi are doing, wants  to  reach out and touch him, like he always does.

Except… he doesn’t.

“Yuuri?” his mom’s voice, coming from the kitchen, interrupts his train of thought. He startles, turning back. “Don’t leave your friend at the door, it’s rude.”

“Sorry, mom,” he mumbles, chastised. “Oh, so, you have to take your shoes off, see…”

…

Yuri and Victor meeting his parents goes extraordinarily well. Yuuri was slightly worried that Victor would say something accidentally offensive (one can never be sure with purebloods. Phichit, in his search for knowledge, innocently asked Yuuri when they were 11 if muggles took showers, too.), or that Yuri would burn the house down or something (one can never be sure with Yuri Plisetsky), but they come out of it mostly unscathed.

“So, Victor,” his mom sets down her fork and looks at his friend, smiling. “Yuuri has been telling us about you since forever. It would be truly nice to see you figure skate.”

Victor preens, leaning back in his chair before answering, turning on the ‘pureblood charm’. It’s a term that Leo and Yuuri made up after spending so much of their time around old, rich purebloods: however ridiculously awkward they may seem around their friends, regardless of their gross quirks and hand gestures, they turn into something like wizarding debutantes in the presence of any respectable adult, channeling thousands of gala nights into perfect table manners, unbelievable skilled public speaking and just the right amount of compliments.

Yuuri thinks it’s kind of silly, but undeniably useful for some situations. Leo calls it “Phichit trying not to seem Phichit”. Yuri has another name for it: “pretentious pampering”.

“Well, Mrs. Katsuki,” Victor closes his eyes briefly, beaming at her, “I’m sure that Yuuri has exaggerated my abilities. You see, he’s a very biased friend, although I do appreciate it.”

His mom smiles, “Oh, you’re so well-spoken, what a treasure.”

Yuri, who’s said a total of 10 words during the duration of the meal and is currently shoving katsudon into his mouth as quickly as possible, snorts.

After lunch, when they’re helping clean up the kitchen, Yuuri moves next to Victor, murmuring, “You don’t have to do that, you know.”

His friend cocks his head at him, furrowing his brow in confusion, “Do what?”

“Go all ‘look at me, I’m respectable’ on my parents,” Yuuri shrugs. “They don’t care, really. Phichit never goes pureblood mode on them. And, um,” he flushes, scratching the back of his neck, “They’re going to like you anyway, with all the stuff I’ve told them about you. I’m pretty sure my parents are convinced that you and Phichit save me from hordes of bullies every minute I’m in school.”

“I would,” Victor says immediately, as if on reflex, and then freezes, “I mean, we would.” He licks his lips, glancing downwards, “I didn’t mean to um, go ‘pureblood mode’, or whatever.”

“I’m used to it,” he smiles. He steps a little bit closer, mindful that no one hears them, just enough that their feet are almost touching in the narrow kitchen. It’s a little harder to breathe. “But you can be yourself with me, okay?”

Victor’s eyes flutter shut, before he whispers, quiet, “You’re an evil, evil guy, Yuuri Katsuki.”

…

Victor has to leave early (something about the amount of hours he has to sleep while on ‘Yakov’s training regime from hell’), but Yuri’s allowed to stay a little longer. Mari pats him for a while and challenges him to a selfie match of death (the theme is ‘who can balance more things on their nose while taking a selfie at the same time’, and it ends with them breaking five ceramic bowls and Yuri’s shoe on Mari’s face), and after a while both Yuri and Yuuri go upstairs, letting the adults watch a film. Something about a stone, a three-headed dog and a giant chess game. Honestly, Warners Bros are running out of ideas.

“Katsuki,” Yuri begins, flopping down on his bed and narrowing his eyes at him. “If you even think trying to make me play a board game, I’ll murder you.”

From where he’s kneeling down next to his bookshelf, Yuuri quickly lets go of the Monopoly box, “O-of course I wouldn’t do that, haha.”

Yuri huffs, stretching out on the bed like a cat and sighing, “I should have just gone home. You’re a mess, like always.”

“Well;” Yuuri swallows, moving to sit on his desk chair. “What do you want to do, then?”

“Sleep. Wake up and find out moderate maiming is legal and encouraged. Maybe eat pizza.”

“You just had like, three katsudon bowls!”

Yuuri hisses, “I don’t need you and your judging in my life.”

He holds his hands up, admitting defeat, “Okay, okay.” Yuuri giggles, “You’re cute when you’re excited about things, you know.”

The younger boy glares at him, showing his teeth, “I am not cute.”

“Oh yeah?” Yuuri teases, dragging his chair so it’s closer to the bed. “What about when you spent three hours telling me about the cat shelter that had opened up next to your house?”

Yuri’s ears go bright red, “I was not excited, you degenerate, I was merely moderately pleased that the human race has finally accepted cats as superior beings and are providing for their needs cost-free.”

“Or when you made me rewatch Otabek Altin’s catching the snitch ten times in the match against Portugal? With added commentary? And flaschards?”

The Slytherin throws a pillow at him, “It was twenty centimeters away, Katsuki. Learn to appreciate gods on Earth.”

Yuuri just laughs.

…

Hey Victor,

Thanks so much for sending me a book like you mentioned when you came over last week. I just thought that the book we talked about was one on magical creatures (remember? I mentioned I was struggling with the utter hell that is learning that so many stuff I thought didn’t exist is actually real?) and not your copy of Bridget Jones’s Diary.

Still loved it, though.

Yuuri

…

YUURI

OH MY GOD I’M SORRY

IT’S MY SUMMER READ OKAY THE MUGGLE STUDIES TEACHER MADE US READ ONE OF THESE LITTLE SHITS IT’S NOT LIKE I WAS READING IT BECAUSE I LIKED IT OR ANYTHING OKAY

SENDING YOU THE RIGHT BOOK WITH THIS LETTER

FML

VICTOR

…

“Hey,” Luke’s voice so close to him makes him look up, startled. The older skater is standing next to him, smiling cheerfully. He adjusts his beanie before patting him on the shoulder, “So, you’re leaving, are you, big boy?”

Yuuri flushes, not meeting his eyes. It’s his last figure skating lesson before he goes to Hogwarts for the school year, and he won’t be coming back until the summer. “Yeah, boarding school.”

“Ah, boarding school,” Luke muses. He bites his lower lip, glancing around them for a few seconds. He seems nervous. “Um, before you left, I wanted to ask you something.”

Yuuri nods, itching to get on the ice and start practicing, “Sure.”

Luke blurts out, “I was kind of hoping I could get your sister’s number.”

Yuuri freezes.

Oh.

Oh.

So that’s why he was so friendly, he realizes, with an almost disturbing calmness. Luke’s waiting for an answer, cheeks red, scratching the back of his neck. He looks just as embarrassed as Yuuri feels by this conversation, although for very different reasons. Luke probably didn’t even guess that Yuuri sorta has a crush on him. He swallows, “You like my sister?”

“...yeah,” Luke mumbles, staring at his feet. “I know it’s super weird, to go around asking her little brother, but I didn’t realize you wouldn’t be coming anymore, and I hadn’t gotten up the courage to ask her, so I was just hoping - I’m sorry, this is terrible.”

Despite himself, Yuuri lets out a short giggle, “Yeah, a little.” He takes a deep breath, ignoring the slight pang in his chest. “But I’ll give you her number anyway.”

Luke beams at him, throwing an arm around his shoulders and rubbing their cheeks together in excitement, “That’s my boy!”

It still makes Yuuri feel slightly lightheaded, having him so close, touching. And yet, there’s many things Yuuri can deal with, but crushing on a guy who would like to date his sister is not one of them. He’s ordering Phichit to unfollow him on all social media and erasing him from his memory.

“Yep,” he mutters. “That’s me.”

He reconsiders. Phichit would probably get angry on Yuuri’s behalf, even if it was more of a hero-worship crush than anything else, and make a big deal out of it. He’ll tell Victor, instead, he decides. Just omit the part where he’s a skater and everything will be fine.

…

“Mom,” Victor says, in a very quiet, very controlled voice. She looks up from the book she’s reading, blinking. Her son is holding a letter, one of those that come with puppies stickers on the front and Yuuri Katsuki’s signature on the bottom. “Have you ever wanted to murder someone?”

fin

[alicedoessurveys]

165 Questions

(this took a couple days to complete so I don't know if the answers will even make sense haha)

did you pay attention to anything you were being taught in health class?   we didn't really have a ‘health class’ at our school. we had a whole day once a term where our usual lessons were cancelled and we were all split off into different groups to learn all that shit. i used to stay home on those days because the routine change sent my anxiety sky high

what are your feelings regarding shopping?   i like it when I'm in the right mood

do you think people have any misconceptions about you? i think people sometimes mistake me for being rude or stuck up when its actually that I'm quite shy

have you ever worn fishnets? Nope

do you go somewhere to get your eyebrows done? my sister’s house

do you believe prayer really works? i do, especially after this week

do you have one best friend who is always there for you? kind of

describe one of your most emotional farewells. not really had any emotional farewells

have you ever been tied up? eh, nope.. well not in a serious way :’)

how many times have you been cussed out? i dont think i really have been in a genuine way, only ever jokingly

does it bother you when people ask personal questions? not really, if it did i wouldn't have a tumblr just for surveys haha

do you know anyone who’s been in jail? dont think so nope

have you ever considered acupuncture? Nope i cant do needles

have you ever watched the same sex undress? only when it happens in films/tv but never watched a guy get fully naked aha

have you ever seen the last person you kissed cry? Nope

have you ever seen your mom or dad drunk? Yeah, but only a handful of times

do you enjoy mario games? not really played Mario games tbh

do you think that necessities should be free? (ex. food, toilet paper) not sure

does it bother you when dogs lick you? i love my dogs but i don't really like being licked, i don't like the feeling of it especially on my face or feet

do you feed your pets human food? Occasionally, but we always double check before that its nothing poisonous or anything

which is worse: being sexist or racist? dont even get me started. They're both as bad as each other. The thing about racism is that its never picked up on when it happens to a white person. We experience it too, but for some reason it doesn't count if you're white.. Racism is NEVER okay and it affects ALL races. White people, black people and every skin colour in between.

do you think suicide is selfish? Only if the way you do it affects someone else. for example, jumping in front of a train or car, or throwing yourself of the top floor of a busy shopping centre in front of loads of people. thats when it gets selfish because youre forcing other people to witness something that could be potentially traumatising and could disturb them for the rest of their lives. Especially when it involves jumping in front of a vehicle because that driver has to live their life knowing that someone died because they hit them with whatever they were driving. personally, if someone jumped in front of my car and ended up dying i would never drive again and it would ruin my life. so yeah, thats when suicide is selfish, and this was a long answer haha

would you take a dirty picture of yourself for someone you are dating? No

what are the most embarrassing songs in your itunes library? probably glee songs

how picky are you when it comes to choosing who to kiss or not kiss? seems I'm not fussy enough from past experience :’)

do you feel that having sex anywhere but a bed is more exciting? i wouldn't know

in your opinion, is it ever okay to get back with an ex? depends on the situation and why you broke up

what’s the first animal you go to see at the zoo? Whichever is closest to the entrance. we always need a system when we go to the zoo so we see everything haha

what’s the strangest or rarest creature you’ve seen at a zoo? when i went to australia zoo there were loads of creatures i didn't even know existed and i cant remember any of the names

what animal is at a zoo that really, in your opinion, shouldn’t be? im not sure. i think as long as the animals have a good way of life, are treated right and are happy then theres no reason why they shouldn't be at the zoo. and if being there means they're protected and can help the species not to go extinct then thats awesome!

do you like zoos or aren’t you bothered? i like the a trip to the zoo :) I'm gonna love taking a foster kid to the zoo

i offer you a cigarette, you say… no, and do not smoke anywhere near me

why do you think you were put on this earth? i haven't quite figured it out yet

is it ever okay to hit a child? when is this? it is never okay to hit a child

do you think violence in video/computer games influences the nation also? Maybe slightly, i think it can de-sensitise us and make us see violence as more normal. BUT saying that, i play gta and it doesn't make me want to go round punching/shooting people so it depends on the person i guess..

are you in any shape or form, racist? No. i don't understand it at all. at the end of the day, we’re all humans no matter where were born, what our nationality is, skin colour is. It doesn't matter. A person is a person.

are you in any shape or form, sexist? again it doesn't matter what gender you are, you're still a human being

how do you think the world will end? as a christian, i believe it ends when God decides it will end.

what natural phenomenon do you find the most beautiful? Aurora borealis or however you spell it

would you kill someone who killed a child? how about YOUR child? i dont think i could ever kill someone.

what is your favorite cover of a song? pretty much everything Pentatonix does. I LOVE their cover of ‘Hallelujah'

have you ever been in love with someone who was fatally ill? neve been in love

have you ever received or given a make-over? Yup, received a few. given a few, my male best friend was the best because he let us do a photoshoot of him in full make up and i still have the pictures :’)

do you know anyone who is HIV+? not that i know of

have you ever been to a desert? no, i was supposed to go riding camels in the desert while on holiday but i got sick and spent two days stuck in the hotel in bed

do you know any trans* people? Nope

what is your favorite beatles song? let it be.. is that them? Idk

what is the poorest you have ever been? Teenage years when i got £70 to last a month but it basically all went on my gym membership and bills.

i’m sure you know of the gamer fad on youtube. who’s your favorite? dont really follow any gamers, i like watching pointless blog play sims though

is there something written on your shirt right now? nope, its a plain black shirt

what is your favorite song to play on guitar hero or rock band? i dont play either of those

where do you find the surveys you take? i follow a load of survey Tumblrs and steal ‘em of there

what’s one weird/annoying thing your pet(s) tend to do? Sit at the door and bark every time they see a squirrel. or a bird. or a shadow. Literally anything and one of them will bark, then they all start barking and having four dogs barking its an absolute headache.

what’s your favorite song by your favorite artist?   oh i cant answer that, i have too many favourites.

do you have an “original character?” i dont really get the question

what about a persona/fursona?   wut..?

do you ever MAKE your own surveys? nope im not very original

why’s it the woman who have to give birth anyway if the man is physically stronger in most cases? first of all, rude. secondly, its all Eve’s fault.. read the bible

do you get good internet where you live? yeah its alright most of the time

ever had a cavity? how many? Never

ever broken a tooth? Nope

what did you do on the playground at your school as a child? i liked playing make believe. me and my friend in primary school came up with our own pretend kids tv show called witches and fairies where she played a witch, i played a fairy and we had adventures :’)

are you into comics? a bit

did you ever have computer disc games you played as a kid? Sims!! Rollercoaster tycoon & zoo tycoon.

what do you think of people who have therapists? Brave. I've had a few therapists during school/college so i know how difficult it is and i gave up on therapy so i really admire people who stick with it

do you have any of those adult coloring books? i have a few, my favourite is one full of the original Alice in wonderland artwork. ALSO i found out the other day theres a fantastic beasts one and i rally want it

ever ridden an elephant?   Nope

deserts: dreary or beautiful?   i think they can look beautiful in pictures but i imagine they'd be dreary irl

ever seen a panda?   only in pictures

what kind a camera do you have?   my phone is my main camera. i do own a Sony a290 dslr that i have to buy for college but i don't use it anymore

do you have stretch marks? where? don’t be shy, they’re tiger stripes! i do, on my thighs

lobsters: cool or scary? Scary

opposoms: total vermin or cute? i dont know what they are

what tv channel dominated your childhood?   Cbbc

ever actually seen a snake in the wild? dont think i have nope

have you ever had a PET snake? what kind? NO! Snakes scare me

ever had an encounter with a snapping turtle? they’re scary! i have not nope

do you like oatmeal? Nope

wherever you live, have you ever seen your national bird? does England have a national bird?!

ever had a reptile as a pet that you had to feed crickets? Nope. i would like a bearded dragon, but having to feed it live bugs freaks me out. even just the thought of having the bugs in my house i cant even

ever play hearthstone? dont know what that is..

ever gone hunting? biggest thing you’ve ever shot?   No. and I'm disgusted by people who do hunt

how about fishing? biggest thing you’ve ever caught?   i used to fish with my grandad when i was a kid, but i only ever caught small ones

coolest place you’ve ever been fishing?   Idk I've only ever been to lakes on camp sites

which is cooler: african or asian elephant? i didn't know there was a difference

craziest thing you’ve ever eaten? i dont eat crazy stuff, I'm too scared of eating crazy stuff

what’s in a camel’s back? Idk ask the camel

steve irwin: foolish for messing around with animals or brave for teaching us? Brave. i love Steve irwin, i think he did great work and its a shame he died. I've been to his zoo in australia and I’ve never seen happier animals in a zoo. we spent at least half an hour watching the tigers play in the water with the zoo keepers and you could tell there was a genuine love between them.

what do you think of people who put their whole life on social media? If thats what they want to do then fine.

don’t you think it’s a bit deceptive to wear a push-up bra?   nope. if wearing a push up bra makes you feel better about yourself and gives you confidence then you do it!

do you truly believe we came from chimps? No

well, what do you think of extra bones and even organs in our bodies? why do we have them?   Idk

if you could choose anyone to be your father, who would it be? my dad

weirdest video game you’ve ever played? i dont think I've played any weird games tbh

we’re having a pig-pickin’! whatcha eating? a what?

ever been on a scary hay ride? no I'm a chicken

ever been to a castle?   Yuppie live like half an hour away from Warwick castle so I've been there a lot in my life

what’s your favorite kind of penguin? rockhopper- we had to make penguin masks in college for one of the shows the actors were doing so i made a mask of a rockhopper penguin

whales. should they be allowed in sea world? if they're treated right then yeah

ever seen an albino? whether it be human or animal?   yeah there was someone in my school who was albino

what do you think of the song “miss jackson” by panic! at the disco? Don't think I've heard it

what is the wallpaper on your best friends cell phone? it used to be a picture of me and him but i don't know if he's changed it

do you feel comfortable singing in front of others? No

do you like using big words when you talk? No I tend to say words wrong and make a fool of myself

do you EVER use caps lock? Rarely. i cant read things very well if they're written in capitals

are you loud when you’re having sex?  Doubt it

have you ever wanted to drop out of school? yes, i hated school but in England you're not allowed to just drop out

when was the last time you watched south park? dont think I've ever watched it

are you italian? nope

are you interested in photography at all? Yes i enjoy taking photos and used to be super into it but when i studied it in college i had such an awful time it kinda ruined it

any survey takers that annoy you on tumblr? nope

do you like bob marley? hes alright, I've not really listened to his music much so i don't really have an opinion

can you talk to your parents about anything without them judging or bickering at you? my mom, pretty much yeah. dad, not so much.

are you interested in art? a bit, not a lot though

don’t you think we’re spending too much money on exploring the mere theory of climate change? no i think were not spending enough. we should all be way more concerned with global warming than we are

everyone always wants to know your favorite animal. what’s your SECOND favorite? i dont have a first favourite so i cant have a second favourite. i just have a big list of favourites

who’s your favorite disney character? again, i don't have a favourite there are too many. i tend to like the sidekicks in the movies more than the main characters like Sven & Olaf from frozen, Pascal & Maximus from Tangled etc

have you ever taken the eharmony personality quiz? Nope

do you take vitamins? if so, what kinds? Vitamin C

how much was your prom dress? what’s the most you’d spend? my prom dress wasn't very expensive, I can't remember exactly how much it was. I still have it in my wardrobe but I don't like it 

would you marry someone of a different religion? Possibly, if i loved them enough. and if they understood i wouldn't change my religion

how did you learn the word “fuck”? probably at school

if you could make one of your enemies your best friend, who would it be? i dont have enemies so idk

what is the last movie you saw in theaters? Passengers

have you ever got into a wreck?   not a serious one nope

do you think you are an argumentative person? Not really, unless its something I'm passionate about or if I'm hurt by something

can you admit when you’re wrong?   Yeah

are you easily confused? very :’)

do you think you would make a good wife/husband?   i think i would

have you ever caught a butterfly?   not on purpose.

have you ever deliberately tried to get someone drunk? nope i dont drink so i wouldn't try make anyone else

do you like being kissed on the neck? no, it feels gross

favorite song by the band the offspring? never heard of them

how many times each morning do you press the snooze button? i dont set an alarm often and when i do i don't press snooze

when you go out to eat, what sides do your order with your food? normally fries

what video game or computer game are you best at? sims

how do you normally come across new music? listening to the radio, or when ads or videos use a song i like the sound of i find out what it is

what subject in school do you feel is the least necessary? English, I've never had to analyse a book or poem in my life since leaving school

do you enjoy power outages or do you get annoyed? no they're annoying

are you pretty politically correct? idk probably

have you ever behaved like a stalker?   probably online yeah :’)

do you appreciate other people’s opinions?   depends what its about

if you could pick your own pet name, what would it be?   pet name for myself or for an actual pet..? I've already decided when i get my own dog i want to call it moose

do you care what’s going on in the world? i care, but i don't make an effort to find out cause its usually all depressing stuff

how many partners is too many? at one time or like in a lifetime..? lifetime it doesn't matter but if you have more than one parter at once then thats too many

do you examine the tissue after you blow your nose?   nope

do you prefer boys to shave down there?   Idk

how much does your mother know about your sex life (or lack thereof)?   she knows its non existent

are any of your siblings married? what are their spouse’s names?   Nope ut she lived with her partner Tom

have you ever had a pet bird?   Yeah, we used to own to cockatoos called bobby and beauty

how many times have you moved in your lifetime? 2

if you could get one piercing and one tattoo, where would you want them?   dont want any piecrings. i have a tattoo already but i want another one on my ankle/foot of a lighthouse

would you consider yourself to be adventurous?   Nope

has any part of your house ever been flooded?   dont think so

is there anyone that you’re worried about right now? who and why? our foster baby, he's two weeks old tomorrow but he's still in hospital with drug withdrawals so he cant come home yet

if you won a lot of money, would you donate any of it? to what organization would you donate it?                                                                                              I would donate to dogs home or a mental health charity

describe the best friend you’ve ever had, or the best person you’ve ever known.   I cab right now 

have you ever adopted a stray animal?   We've adopted a few dogs in my lifetime but none recently

what time did you wake up this morning?   about 9am

ever wonder if you’re someone’s everything?   yeah, i cant see anyone getting to know me and being like ‘shes perfect for me’ like srsly I'm too much of a mess

would you ever bleach your hair platinum blonde?   not platinum nope

what is your mom’s middle name?   Anne

do you know the color of your ex boyfriend/girlfriend’s eyes? n/a

have you had your wisdom teeth out?   Nope

your appendix?   yeah, mine burst when i was two years old and tried to kill me haha