#possibly incorporating both his and my presents

[quillandink333]

AGHAGAGDhdhjdbfj

Yall guess what Kaz went and did for OUR FIRST valentines as a couple (/pos)

He got us matching lingerie ＿|￣|○ a “cupid” set for me and an “incubus” set for him hhhhhhhh

[binniesbooks]

hi fayebae, heres the next one for hyuka! (Cos i just saw a clip of hyuka with his new black hair n in a black shirt, and its like cos now hyuka is buff buff, i was thinking mayb smth abt his chest? hyuka x reader!

basically reader is bffs with tubatu, but well hyuka has a crush on reader! reader has mentioned before that her type is men who exercises and have big titties(if u read my tyun pillow fic you would know what i mean🤭)

whenever reader is around tubatu, she will never fail to mention abt how tyuns chest is getting bigger and will joke abt how he should drop his workout routine. But hyuka didnt take it as a joke, so he actually asked tyun for help on building his titties. So after few mths of training, reader finally notices that hyuka’s titties are growing and that sends her on a conflicting journey, because shes never seen hyuka in that way before. But thanks to his titties now reader is looking in hyuka’s way…

trying to play it off cool and not freak out, reader jokes and asked whether hyuka’s builded chest was meant for her, and well hyuka told her the truth and agreed. which she was stunned(this is clearly inspired cos of that gym pic of hyuka n his chest ofc)

things escalated and well now reader is riding hyuka, hands on his big titties as support (smut: tittie play(reader sucks on hyukas nipples, hyuka does the same for reader, tittie fuck, hyuka asking reader to sit on his face , idk what else but please include as much as u want, these are just my ideas of ehat could happen hehe)

hopefully this is good🥺 love u my love💗(once again do this after ur yj fic if u want unless ure hit with inspiration again😭) i’ll come back soon, kith kith💋

• GAINS AND GLORY

HK 002 .F22 2024

wc 3.3k

pairings buff!hyuka x reader

warnings tits play (both ends receiving), multiple marking (scratching and hickeys), unprotected sex, creampie, manhandling (+ anything I've missed)

faye's note the asks be rotting on my inbox, I'm sorry omg 😭 but here it is, coz they're hunting me at my FYP AHAHAHA! Although I see Kai as a softie (the reason why I still incorporated fluff elements in this fic), I think I still love this one, omg! For tho who are waiting for Hyuka's fic, I present to you, Gains and Glory! Please enjoy! 🙂‍↕️

"How is that even possible? Are you cheating? You're most probably cheating!" You frowned after being beaten for the nth time by Taehyun in the game you're playing. Taehyun proceeded to flex both of his arms and laughed at you.

"I don't wanna play with you anymore!" you complained, "Kai! Come here, come play the game with me instead! I don't wanna play with Taehyun anymore!" You called for Kai and the youngest scrambled towards the couch you were sitting on.

"Give the controller to Hyuka, I hate you." You pouted at Taehyun. Taehyun handed the controller to Hyuka and he attacked you with tickles.

"Soobin! Can you grab this man? Wait -- wait!" He was tickling you so much and you were thrashing around causing him to flex his muscles.

You have been friends with the five of them. Despite their very busy schedule, they always find time to at least spend a day with you. Or even a week if their schedules were a bit loose. Every weekend, you would find yourself in their dorm. Laughing, eating, playing, sleeping. Name anything that friends do, and you're sure you would have done it with them.

They never complained about having you around, if anything, they were thankful because, at least once a week, they could refresh their mind and unwind. And your favorite time? It was when you and Soobin baked cookies together. When you and Yeonjun stroll the streets to take some Instagrammable pictures. When you and Beomgyu spent time quietly - which was ironic because you two are the loudest when together - with arts; either painting or drawing. When you and Taehyun would watch exercise videos together, obviously with him exercising while you laze around, sprawled on the couch. And when you and Kai were together, you guys would end up shopping for plushies even though he had millions of them already.

Other people tend to look at you with judging eyes. They even talked about how you were giving the 'pick-me-girl vibe' which you and the guys often laughed about. You were their friend even before they debuted and your mind never wandered beyond being anything more than friends with them -- or so you thought, yeah.

"Back from the gym again?" You felt a presence behind you while you were cooking dinner. You didn't have to turn around to know who it was. The scent was enough for you to decipher who it was. The fresh soapy scent - because after his gym sessions, he would take a bath before coming home, and the mild smell of the mist he was using, you knew it was totally Taehyun.

"You know us so well that you can now tell who it is just by our scent huh." His head pops on your shoulder as he brushes his cheeks on yours, emitting a soft chuckle from you. "Tae, you're not beating the cat allegations again." "Hmm, don't care." He shrugs as he gives you a back hug. "Welcome back home, by the way," you answered.

Hugging them was the most intimate interaction you had with the guys. But the hugs were never sensual at all. They always just felt safe and at home whenever they melt in your embrace. They could feel all their stress and tension disappear just with a simple hug from you

Kai was humming while hugging his plushies when he stepped in the kitchen and saw you and Taehyun hugging. "Guys! Taehyun is hogging y/n to himself! It's not even hug time yeeeetttt!" Kai yelled causing every door in the house to burst open with resounding complains. "Hey, that's not fair!" Beomgyu pouts as he crosses his arms. "It's not hug time yet! This is so unfair!" Yeonjun tried to pry Taehyun's arms off you. "Y/n, stop hugging Taehyun before I throw your things out of our dorm." Soobin was pouting at you as he stomped his feet.

"Okay okay! I'll do it later then!" You laughed as you stopped hugging Taehyun and Yeonjun pulled him away from you. Taehyun even complained that he was just too tired from his gym session and needed a hug, only to be met with a plush that Kai threw.

"Dinner's not ready yet?" Kai sat on the chair not far from you cooking. "Almost done, Kai, go prepare the plates," you smiled.

Soobin and Beomgyu were the ones who were scheduled to wash the dishes. You thought that they shouldn't be scheduled at the same time because the soaps and bubbles would be spilling everywhere due to their bickering and playfulness. Kai, Taehyun, and Yeonjun were sitting on the couch with you, busy watching the TV, with Taehyun and Yeonjun being topless.

You were too used to the guys being half-naked around you. It was like a norm for you to be around so there was no use in making a fuss about it. They often remove their tops just because. Yup, no reason at all, they just do it.

You turned your head towards Taehyun, "You're working on your chest, aren't you?" you asked, noticing how big Taehyun's chest was and how they often looked bigger whenever he wore a tight-fitted shirt, which he nodded. "Are you finally coming to your senses and making a move on me just because I told you how I love men with big tiddies?"You teased and laughed heartily as he looked at you with the same disgusted expression he maintained throughout his life.

"Y/n, you know I love you and know how much I value our friendship, but if you want to keep being welcome here, please avoid saying things like that." And Yeonjun burst out laughing at Taehyun's answer. "You! My goodness!" you just rolled your eyes while still laughing.

"Why not drop your exercise routine? So Yeonjun can start working on his flat--" You were cut off with a pillow being thrown at you. "Yah! My chest is buffed too! They're not flat!" Yeonjun yelled at you.

Unknown to your eyes, Kai's ear perked up, and hugged himself as he felt his own body subtly. He looked over to Taehyun's chest and back to his own chest. He stayed silent, as he watched you guys.

"Hug time!" Kai yelled when the clock struck 10, and all of them gathered around you, lining up as they patiently waited for their turn. "Are you going to stay the night?" Yeonjun asked while taking his time hugging you. "Will do, I want to cook breakfast for you guys before your busy schedule starts again," you answered, he pulled away and mouthed goodnight and Soobin almost shoved him out of the way.

"I want some pancakes for breakfast," Soobin silently whispered as he hugged you tightly, almost covering you with his big frame. "Of course whatever you want, Binnie."

"Goodnight y/n, please rest well too." Beomgyu shortly commented as he hugged you and you hummed back.

"I love you but I think I should start hating you." Taehyun's disgusted look never faltered and you just pinched his cheeks while laughing.

All the other four were already heading to their rooms but Kai was still standing in front of you. You opened your arms for him as he slowly walked towards you, tightly clutching his plush in hand.

"What's wrong?" you asked as you sat up straight. Kai plopped down beside you and melted in your arms as he hid his flushed face which was unknown to you, into the crook of your neck. "Goodnight y/n," he simply whispered. "Sleep tight, Kai, I arranged your plushies earlier," you said as he stood up and walked towards his bedroom.

The next day, you wake up early to cook breakfast for them before they start their busy week again.

"We'll be busy with our upcoming comeback again," Soobin sighed as he poked the pancakes on his plate.

"Cheer up guys, you know I'll be here when your schedule is done." You tried to cheer them up and forced them to finish their breakfast before leaving.

4 months. For four months they were so busy that they weren't able to spend a day with you.

When you went back to their dorm, two guys were missing in action. "Where are the others?" you asked as you removed your shoes. All three heads snapped to where the voice had come from, only to find out that it was you.

"Y/n!" They all screamed almost in unison, as they rushed over to you, dropping everything they were currently doing.

You took a nap that afternoon while waiting for the other two to come back when you woke up to the unfamiliar yet familiar scent. Your eyes roamed around, and Kai and Taehyun caught your eyes. It seemed like they had just taken a bath a little while ago, given that their hair was still damp.

Kai noticed that you had just woken up so he cramped his big body lying down beside you on the couch. You chuckled and tried to push him away but he didn't budge.

When he sat up, you noticed how his shirt was sticking against his chest. "Wait a minute, I was only gone for a couple of months... What is this?" you questioned as you poked Kai's chest. Kai felt embarrassed to answer and scooted over to Taehyun. Taehyun answered for him instead, "He's been going to the gym with me. I don't know what has gotten into him though?"

You were in awe. Taehyun's chest was big but it looked like Kai's chest now was bigger. Especially considering that he had a bigger frame than Taehyun. In the past, Kai was so adamant about not going to the gym, he preferred cuddling with his plushies, telling the other guys that having a baby belly was cute, just like his soft plushies. But as you look at him more, it looks like he isn't the baby you used to know anymore, he has become buff. And only within just a few months at that.

That night, you were awfully silent. Your eyes kept on wandering back to Kai's chest, subtly, not wanting to be caught. Your mind couldn't help but wonder the reason behind Kai's new buffed-up body.

That same night, all of them went to bed earlier than usual. They just wanted to sleep longer. They claimed that their bed had missed them because, for four months, they weren't able to be in their dorm, nor sleep in their own rooms.

You, on the other hand, couldn't fall asleep. Suddenly the guest room felt so big and empty. You didn't know why but you kept on tossing and turning. At that moment, you heard footsteps that stopped right in front of your door. You immediately sat up, waiting for a knock on the door. Which it did. Someone had knocked thrice before pushing your door open. Only then did you realize that you probably forgot to lock it because you were spacing out too much.

The dim light from the hallway shone through the slightly opened door. "Hey, why are you still awake? Can't sleep?" You asked. He closed and locked the door behind him, the room now too dark for anything to be seen. He walked towards the window slightly opening the window, allowing a bluish-yellow light coming from the moon to penetrate throughout your room.

The bed dipped down at his weight, and he crawled up to you, burying his face in your neck, his body now, almost on top of you. "I...I missed you." He whispered, as he tightly hugged you.

"Kai..." You felt how his heart thumped harder the longer he hugged you. This was new. No one ever did this to you, not even when Yeonjun was sick when Soobin got his first breakup, when Beomgyu failed to win the art contest, and even when Taehyun wasn't allowed by their manager to flash his abs at their show. Kai's hug and whisper felt different. As if he was longing for something else.

"I missed you too, you surprised me." You answered when he pulled away. Only then did you finally see him, he wasn't wearing his shirt. You've never seen him topless before. But now he was, and he was right in front of you.

Maybe it was the heat of the moment, but your finger landed on his chest, gently tracing his buffed chest. "Did you, by chance, do this for me? Because you heard I want men with big tiddies?" you joked. But you were stunned when he nodded. "I actually d-did in fact do this for you, I wanted to surprise you since it's b-been four months since I last saw y-you," his voice was shaky as he spoke.

"I-i've been wanting to tell you this y/n, but I just couldn't bring myself to s-say it. Not until now." Kai's face was so close to yours that you could inhale his minty breaths.

You wanted to push him, but putting both of your hands on his chest felt like it might be crossing a line. You felt how hot his body was. The warmth of his body, radiating through his skin, felt electrifying to you.

"I know it's weird... But I couldn't help but have a little crush on you," he carefully whispered as if someone else was in the room to hear it. "One chance y/n, please give me one chance." His forehead now resting against yours, his eyes were filled with longing. The room was so thick with silence that you could hear him gulp.

"Y-you're lucky I'm into big g-guys like you," you squeaked, and your heart swelled at how a bright smile had crept onto his lips.

He placed his hand over yours, which was resting on his chest, and guided you to squeeze it. His soft strangled whimper sent a shiver down your spine.

The wind blew making the curtains on the window flutter and the hair on the back of Kai's neck to stand up. He finally propped himself with his two hands supporting his body as he leaned in closer to you. You ran your fingers to his perked-up nipples and your eyes watched closely at how he bit his lips and how his eyes fluttered.

"You're brave. Coming to this room without a shirt on, and confessing your love." You commented as you roll his nipples between your fingers. He gripped onto your sheets as you chuckled at how he was holding his moans back.

"We're downstairs, you can let out your moans. They won't be able to hear it." Your taunt got him opening his mouth as he let out all those muffled moans he had been holding back. His body trembled at your touch.

You slowly push him down as he keeps on backing up. You finally pushed him to lie down when his head could no longer lie on the bed. His head was now hanging off the edge, and it was making him dizzy with how his blood was rushing to his head while you were licking his nipple.

"Fuck!" He whimpered when you subtly bit his nipple. "Y/n..." He holds the back of your head as you continued sucking. His toes curled at your tongue, rolling and swirling around his nipple.

"To be honest, I've been thinking what could've been your reason for this, but turns out it was all because of me," you chuckled as you kissed the tip of his nose.

Your touch felt like fire over his body. His stomach swirling, his mind blurry. He never thought you'd give in to him.

You dipped your head down again as you littered his chest with splotchy red marks. Leaving some near his nipples, on his shoulder, and on his neck. Kai was a moaning mess under you as he kept on trying to hold his head up, but was always failing. His moans and the rustling of the sheets filled the room.

Since he was being discreet with his moans, you decided to catch him off guard and grind on him. His moans became high pitched and more slutty. You chuckled, the cute guy you often care about was now a totally different guy underneath you.

You felt a wet patch on his sweats, "Did you just come?", you asked as you pulled away. "D-don't look!" Kai tried to stop you but it was too late. You ran your fingers on the wet bulge of his pants. "Kai, you're naughty," you commented, and he only answered with a whimper.

He sat down and pushed you down, to hover above you. "Not fair," he pouted and lifted your shirt over your chest.

"Kai, I swear if you do what I di-" you weren't able to finish your sentence. His mouth was now on your boobs, sucking on your nipples, rolling his tongue again and again. "K-kai.. Kai..." Your breathing was unstable as you squirmed, and you kept on chanting his name along with whines and whimpers.

Just like how you did for him, he also littered your chest, neck, and shoulder with love bites, he was now smiling at how they looked under the moonlight from the window.

"Pretty," he smiled and crashed his lips over yours. The kiss was hot. It wasn't sloppy but it felt eager.

Kai pulled back, sat down and pulled you onto his lap. Your left hand was on your back as he held it with his left hand. You couldn't move, you could only clutch on his hair with your free hand, and nothing else. His right hand was rubbing your clothed ass, lifting the skirt to play with your skin.

"I'm sure hug time w-was n-never like this, fuck," you pulled him closer as your nails dug into his bare back. Kai winced at the scratching pain on his back as you drag your nails down. He kept on feasting over your neck and played with your ass, continuously brushing his fingers on your skin.

When you started grinding again, you squealed when you felt a stinging pleasure on your ass, his hand probably left a mark on your skin. His big hard chest was pressing against yours. They felt hard and soft at the same time. You wanted to play with his nipples but with your position, you couldn't do anything.

He pulled his sweats down to his thighs and slipped inside you with ease. You're too wet for him.

"Wow, you're taking me whole, y/n." Kai was big, you felt him stretch you out, but you were too wet that he could just slip into you with so much ease.

"F-fuck I feel s-so full," you can feel him arranging your guts with his huge cock. You can't help but move your hips wanting to immediately feel the pleasurable feeling of his cock inside you.

"P-pull out okay? I'm n-not on any birth control, you j-just slid i-in w-without a condom," you added. "Sorry, I got t-too excited. Your pussy feels so warm and soft. Makes me wanna cum inside you."

"K-kai!" You warned him, he only chuckled at you.

He started to thrust slowly, while you were still trapped in the position he put you into.

His slow thrust becomes more sloppy as you keep on moaning into his ears. Your moans kept stirring something in him, it made him wanna cum inside you even more.

"K-kai please, I'm c-close." You whined as you scratched his back.

"W-wanna cum inside you, y/n. Wanna cum s-so bad." His thrusts get stronger which made your boobs bounce which caused them to brush against his nipples, making him more aroused.

Maybe you were just too drunk on his cock that you unconsciously nodded at him and chanted 'yes' multiple times.

"I'm g-gonna cum!" you squeaked as you tangled your fingers in his hair. You felt a warm liquid being spilled inside you the moment you came as Kai pants with you. His forehead now resting on your shoulders with his mouth open. You wanted to complain that he came inside even when you told him not to, but it just felt so good that you chose to collapse onto his arms instead.

@binniesbooks 2024

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Imagines: Touchdown Celebrations

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Summary: The gender reveal of your second pregnancy, and third baby, has to top the first reveal. You and Joe decide you want to incorporate the team again just like you did with the twins’ and even go on to decide to do it during a game… but still keep it secretive to the outside world.

Warnings: fluff, pregnancy

Pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

Imagine universe: Into The Mystic

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*18 weeks pregnant*

Another day at Paycor Stadium, except today wasn't just any day… today Joe and I would be finding out the gender of our third baby.

The twins’ gender reveal had been a hot topic on the internet after the story was told, and Joe and I both knew we'd have to step it up even more.

I can honestly say that I planned pretty much everything by myself last time, but this time around Joe had been bouncing ideas off of me constantly.

The team was going to be the stars of the show once again. It made sense because of how present they were in Joe and me’s lives, the boy's lives, and the pregnancy of the unborn baby still inside my womb.

I sat in the box with Robin on my right, Miles on her lap, and Tyson on my left.

Both of us were waiting patiently for the guys to run out and the outcome of the coin toss since it would be telling us how much longer we would have to wait for Joe and his offense to be on the field.

We would be on offense when the reveal of our baby's gender would happen.

This was how it was going to go down.

On our offense’s opening drive, Joe would ideally try to get the ball to one of his guys, ending in a touchdown.

The entire offense would go to the end zone, minus Joe of course, and either flex their arms for a boy or do a ballerina spin for a girl.

At first, Joe loved the idea but hated the flexing vs spinning because he found it subjective and kinda sexist.

He couldn't come up with any alternatives so Joe reluctantly agreed to the original idea.

Before the game, Coach Taylor kicked Joe out of the locker room and told the offense the gender of the baby.

Now that the guys knew what they were doing, all we needed was a touchdown.

Both Robin and I had spent the last 10 minutes trying to explain everything to Tyson and Miles in the best possible way you can to two two-year-olds.

Even though they still couldn't understand, their attention was immediately lost when “Dada” ran out onto the field.

I will never get tired of seeing them getting so excited watching their father do what he loves.

Miles had squirmed off of his grandma’s lap and was standing at the railing by his twin as they jumped up and down, cheering for their favorite person.

The moment was so blissful and sweet that I almost couldn't hear Robin talking to me.

“So, have you gotten sick yet? I know you had really bad morning sickness with the twins so I wanted to see if there was a difference.” - Robin

My hand dropped to the small bump that was just now starting to show through my shirt.

“No sickness which is insane. Joe thinks it's a girl because of that.” - you smiled

“I think it is too.” - Robin grinned

I stood up and walked down to the railing to coral the boys back to their seats, thankfully they chose not to fight back.

——

When Joe and his guys took the field, both Robin and I were high on excitement. She took one of my hands and squeezed it tight.

I could tell that Joe was trying to get down to the end zone quicker than normal.

Because of that, it wasn't long till they were within the 25-yard line.

Robin and I were practically bubbling with a mix of nerves and pure ecstasy.

Jimmy stood up at the top of the box talking to a few other people while still paying attention to the field in hopes of finding out what his next grandbaby would be.

The offense didn't keep us waiting too long for a touchdown. My heart was beating so fast as Tee caught the pass and waved the rest of the guys into the end zone.

Joe stood a few feet away, his heart beating just as fast, and he looked up at you and his boys waiting patiently for the results.

He so wished he was with you, but he knew he'd try to get you down to him during halftime to celebrate.

The O-line, receivers, and the rest of the guys started doing a ballerina spin.

“It’s a girl!” - Robin yelled and hugged you

My eyes welled up with tears as I watched Joe jump up in down out of pure excitement. He was finally going to be the girl dad he's always wanted to be.

“Joe looks so happy.” - Jimmy

“He wanted a girl so bad.” - you cried

“Congratulations sweetie, I'm so happy for you guys.” - Robin

Jimmy handed me a tissue knowing I would be mad AF if my makeup ran.

Tyson and Miles both stared at me confused, before looking at each other to confirm they were seeing the same thing.

“Mama?” - Miles

“You wokay?” - Tyson

“I’m perfect, guys. I'm really happy actually because Mommy has a baby girl in her belly. That's why Daddy’s friends did that little dance after Uncle Tee got the touchdown.” - you

“Baby Girl?” - Tyson

“Yup. You guys are going to have a baby sister in a few months.” - you

Miles and Tyson smiled widely and moved forward to my bump. They laid their little heads on it to be closer to their sister.

“Is it Daddy’s bwaby… too?” - Miles

Robin and I busted out laughing before I composed myself enough to answer him.

“Yes, it's your daddy’s baby too.” - you

My eyes shifted down to the sidelines where Joe was still celebrating with a wide smile on his face. Everyone was hugging him and patting him on the back.

I didn't think my heart could warm any more than it already had, but when I realized Joe was crying and continuously wiping his eyes I thought my heart was going to explode.

“Dada’s cryin’!” - Tyson

“It’s because he's happy, baby.” - you

Ty scooted closer to me and laid his head on my shoulder.

“Are you happy for a baby sister?” - you

“Mhm. We can match!” - Tyson

“You wanna match with sissy? Like you do with Miles?” - you

“Yes!” - Tyson

——

As soon as it hit halftime, a security guard escorted me and the boys down to the locker room after Joe texted me saying Zac gave him the okay to talk to me for a second.

Both of my hands were occupied with holding a twin’s hand in mine as we walked down the hallway.

We rounded the corner and my pase quickened when I saw that familiar tall frame leaning up against the wall.

Once we were within a foot of him I let go of the twin’s hands and ran up to Joe, who had his arms wide open for me.

“Baby, I can't believe we're having a girl.” - Joe wrapped his arms around you

“Me either. I'm so excited.” - you

“I am too. I get to be a girl dad.” - Joe

“Yes, you do, baby. I can't wait to pick out a name for her and start brainstorming nursery ideas with you.” - you

“I’m going to spoil the living daylights out of her… and you too, mama.” - Joe

I laughed as I pulled away, thinking of a response in the meantime.

“I’m sure you will, babe.” - you laughed

Tyson and Miles walked out from behind me and Joe squatted down to hug his boys, though Tyson complained that Joe’s shoulder pads made the hug “uncwumfy”.

Once they were done hugging their dad, Joe stood back up and placed a kiss on my cheek. He placed a big hand on the center of my small bump and grinned at me.

“I don't want to keep you from the team too long, I'll see you later.” - you

“One, my family is way more important than football, and two you better be seeing me later because I'm your ride home.” - Joe

“You're a dork, Joe. I love you though.” - you

Joe leaned down to kiss me, faint sounds of the team inside the locker room getting hyped, and the twins gagging watching their parents kiss could be heard, but the only thing that I could pay attention to was my husband's soft lips.

“I love you too.” - Joe pecked your forehead when he pulled away

I watched him turn in the direction of the door and I took this as an opportunity to smack him on the butt since the twins were occupied looking at the artwork on the walls.

“Go win this game, Tiger.” - you winked

Joe chuckled loudly and rolled his eyes before stepping into the locker room. My smile never left my face as I watched him walk over to Zac, who is a proud girl dad himself, patted him on the back.

——

Walking back to the box with my boys had my heart flourishing like never before. They continuously asked questions about their baby sister and for once it felt like nothing could ruin my mood, not even the fact I was going to have smile lines by 40.

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Authors note: Guys I lost my streak… so this is technically the 6th day of Christmas. Day 5 coming out later today maybe. 😊😉

Request for this fic; loosely based off of…

Hope you enjoyed! ❤️

[katiekatdragon27]

Since Ubisoft makes NFTs of Rayman, I don’t feel bad about rewriting the whole show (kinda)

Me and @rainbow-wolf120 both kinda/really like CLH, but we both have issues with it. Soooo why not rework some stuff while keeping the core the same? Seems easy enough (NOT). First up is Bullfrog :)

More stuff below cut:

Bullfrog is my favorite character of the show. I love him, he’s awesome and fun and kind when everyone else is sorta giant assholes. Also his design is very clean and cute, and I don’t really have issues with him.

HOWEVER, I do have a couple grievances with how he dresses and his motives.

On one hand, if he is the last of the brotherhood, WHY DRESS SO OBVIOUSLY LIKE AN ASSASSIN?? This is an issues I have with Dolph too, bc like, if you are supposed to be under the radar, you would think HIDING the parts of you that GIVE AWAY WHO YOU ARE WOULD BE OBVIOUS. But no, no you need interesting looking protags ig.

Another thing that irks me is that there are so many cool assassins in the Assassin’s Creed universe. So many. And they choose to base Bullfrog on Ezio. I get it for marketing ig, but like, there’s literally a French assassin (AC Unity), but no, the French frog gets to be Italian lol. Although I find it funny, I feel like the whole thing was a missed opportunity to give exposer to the lesser-played AC games. Or use it to promote AC Shadows by making Bullfrog a girl or like the woman assassin from that game. Or better yet, combine a ton of different aspects of every AC game into the outfit.

Which is what I did lol.

To fix both these problems, I decided to design two looks for her (he’s a her now, stone me idc, also sorry every Laserfrog shipper ever it’s not personal I promise). The one on the left is her assassin fit. It drives a lot more inspo from AC Shadows and AC Unity, with elements of Ezio and Bullfrog’s original look. However, most of Bullfrog’s initial look is incorporated in the outfit on the right, which is the subtlety outfit. That is the outfit she starts the series with, only to take it off in the sewers to reveal she’s an assassin.

When in the subtle outfit, she tries to hide as much of herself as possible. Her assassin parts, her frog parts, and her girl-ness. Kinda. She just presents as a man so people don’t fuck with her. As for the assassin fit, it shows up in the Sewer scene when she’s fighting the dudes down there. Then they identify her once she’s arrested and surprises Rayman with being a girl lol.

And to everyone who gets pissy about her being a girl, the show needs more girls.

Have a good one my dudes :))

[alacants]

re: the juanki/rafa lore. i wonder if you have any thoughts about their respective academies? the more i read about ferrero's academy, and how it's been this slow, long process started by ferrero's coach and like they all still live there and make improvements vs. rafa's just kind of springing into existence in 2017 i do wonder if that caused any feelings lol. there was that one interview where juanki said "i don't think it's right to just put your name on smth and show up 3-4x a year" lol

HA god i can’t believe i didn’t think to incorporate that angle—great point, that zinger was not meant to be subtle. that it can be overlooked out just bears out your point, really. equelite is fundamental to any consideration of juanki and Rafa Nadal Academy By Movistar is more or less an entirely separate entity from rafa nadal the person.

to be fair i understand it's more or less toni nadal’s project? (what isn’t toni nadal’s project…) but also—it’s part of the rafa nadal empire. the rafa nadal industrial complex. are they even competing for the same market share? i don't know enough about that market to judge—my gut says no, and i would imagine that to juanki it must feel to some extent like apples and oranges. but also, i'm sure, like who the hell do you think you are. perfect opportunity to claim the moral high ground AND the martyr's mantle.

(btw i remember hearing something about young jannik sinner being... invited? to the rafacademy, but it cost too much. can't for the life of my track that down so if anyone reading this remembers that please share because THAT is a fascinating alternate history lmao.)

it’s really just their image clash writ large, isn’t it. "the best in spain" vs "the best in the world." "achieve your goals" vs "the sky’s the limit." "it's not about me personally, also there's a giant mural of my face in the cafeteria" vs "the rafa brand is our most valuable asset and it would be idiotic not to leverage that." the natural counter-positioning to Extraterrestrial Star is Humble and Hardworking, and if you don't shape your own image someone else will shape it for you.

here are two world number ones who have made their sleepy hometowns (or as-good-as) the locus of their post-competitive networks. now let's see how different they could possibly be. toni cascales advised juanki from day one to diversify for both financial and psychological reasons, so there was the academy. the hotel. the winery. the valencia open. these are all very, like… reasonable projects. they probably seemed ambitious at the time! Meanwhile In Manacor, we've got the rafa nadal museum, the rafa nadal sports centre, and the rafa nadal international school. ngl as very much NOT a rafa expert i went to double check my hazy recollections of scale and the reality vastly outstripped them lmao. they've even got their own juicy urban planning war!

(an interesting aside here is that in 2014 jcf academy… well whether they opened a branch in shenzhen or just lent their brand to the enterprise is sort of an open question. it was certainly presented as a branch of jcf academy, in cooperation with gemdale/hongjindi sports, but now it seems to be operating entirely under the hongjindi name. this is relevant only in the sense that it’s interesting to see these sort of tentative overtures that ultimately either were withdrawn or petered out. whereas a friend recently told me about the ig ad they got for a rafa nadal academy seminar in a suburb of boston.)

this is extremely rambling and discursive lmao SORRY. i have a lot of thoughts in general about juanki and the academy that is his parent/child/home/cult/identity/locus of self/ready-made magical realism prompt. is it a piece of him or is he a piece of it. did he make it or did it eat him. the fact that toni cascales still introduces himself as "juan carlos' coach, i'll be his coach for the rest of my life." i imagine that you in particular, op, have already seen this but for those interested in this topic who haven’t, watch no strings: juan carlos ferrero from (iirc) 2005 to get a glimpse of just how deeply juanki is embedded in the place, how it’s grown around him literally from day one. "he likes racing so we built him a race course here on the campus. so he can be safe. :)"

it's in the eye of the beholder as to whether you find this wholesome and heartwarming or a seething hotbed of unexamined hangups. guess which side i come down on!

[angelsanarchy]

Righteousness of Man: Kappa x Y/N- Mini Series PRT 02

Tagging: @icarus-star @ithinkitstimetonap @kappasbbgirl @chainsawgvtsfvck @luzclarita57 @miniisunshine @romanroyapoligist @madamemaximoff06 @thirtyratsinasuit @ethical-cain-vinnel @blueberrypancakesworld @dumbbitchdelrey @loljustignoreth4t @tvgirlsbluehair @s0ulfulll @mommymilkers0526 @vomiting-blood @ultrakissed @hisemoslut @lustkillers @s-0lar @roryculkinsgf dukesofsp00ks thirtyratsinasuit

Y/n had decided to stick around camp for awhile and Kappa made it his mission to incorporate her into the family as seamlessly as possible. The two of them had a way of moving about the camp watching one another's every move.

Kappa found the way she spoke with the others and brought a level of comfort just from gentle touches to their faces or arms made everyone calmer. It was very motherly. He pondered the idea of having her teach all the girls how to be as soft and gentle as she was.

Y/n found listening to Kappa rant around the bonfire was both entertaining and educational. He spoke with such conviction that the others listened to him like he was preaching gospel straight to their souls.

"They're trying to take over. Soon enough, there will be metal rods in all of us, puppetting around like mindless robots. It's fucking disgusting." Kappa spit into the fire. Tonight's topic was based on the technological advancement that NASA had come up with sending astronauts to space but allowing them to have animatronic vessels here on Earth that could be present with their families.

The idea of robots taking over the world made Y/n chuckle to herself and it caught Kappa's attention.

"Y/n....do you have some thoughts on the matter you wish to share?" His tone was challenging and she simply shrugged her shoulders as she leaned back in the chair, holding onto a beer bottle.

"It's the American Dream isn't it? Father goes off to work while mother stays home and raises the nuclear kiddies, only now dear old daddy can be working around the clock while mommy gets to ride on a mechanical cock instead of the flesh and blood kind." She smirked. Some of the others laughed and Kappa knelt down opposite her, the large fire between them.

"No machine could ever compare to weighted flesh of the real thing." Kappa palmed at the front of his slacks and Y/N smirked.

"I don't know, I think unless you've used one then you can't really speak on its efficiency." Y/n knew she was pushing it and Kappa held her gaze. He was clearly getting worked up. His silence meant he was annoyed. It had only taken her a few days of being here to know that his silence could bring punishment.

As people started to retire to their cabins, Y/n remained in her seat, watching Kappa places kisses on his adoring flock of women who begged him to fall into their beds but he refused. He made his way towards Y/n who looked up at him as he stood towering over her.

"Left all your little minions heartbroken tonight? How will they survive without the weight of your flesh and blood cock?" Y/n continued to pick at Kappa and he grabbed her chin forcefully making her stop.

"Why would you defend the government taking over the human race?" Kappa's tone was serious.

"What?" She tried to laugh it off but his grip tightened.

"Who do you work for?" He asked curiously. Y/n held his gaze strongly.

"Technically I don't work for anyone. I'm self employed." She tried to give him the straight answers he was looking for.

"So a government contractor, is that it?" Kappa pressed stepping closer, trapping her in the chair.

"Let go of my face." She hardend herself but Kappa didn't budge.

"Darlin' if you think just because we've fucked that I won't toss you into that fire, you're sadly mistaken. I asked you a question." Kappa threatened squatting down to stare into her face.

"You want to hurt me because I challenged you in front of your people or because I think a robot cock is just as useful is your own?" Y/n bit back.

"You want to fuck something that feels nothing? That's what you want? That poison running through your veins?" Kappa flips out his knife and holds it to her throat.

"You want to kill me? Go for it." She tilts her head back exposing her neck to him. Kappa pressed gently drawing the slightest bit of red blood before wrapping his hand around her throat.

"I am trying to build a community here, something real. Something that will survive when the world goes to shit and the machines try and take over." Kappa growled.

"You think I don't realize that? You think I've stayed for the fun bonfires and fucking?" Y/n asked making Kappa release the pressure of her throat.

"You are the leader here Kappa. To them, you are a God among men. They feel safe and empowered with you and they should." Y/n could see him taking in everything she was saying.

"And you...what do you stay for then?" Kappa asked almost nervously.

"Every great man has a woman at his side reminding him of his potential." Y/n leaned forward towards Kappa.

"And you think you're going to be that woman?" Kappa challenged. Y/n shook her head at him.

"I am that woman." Her breath against his lips made his eyelashes flutter. He stood straight up and held his hand out for her to take but instead of taking his hand, she played with the front of his pants. Carefully unlooping his belt and resting her face against the zipper, long enough to take in his musk and grip the zipper with her teeth.

"Come to bed with me." Kappa lifted her chin gently this time and she refused.

"I want to feel the weight of your flesh and blood cock on my tongue..." She pulled his slacks down his legs and his cock hung heavy between his legs, slightly curved to the left and sprung from a heavy bushel of dark, coarse hair.

Y/n leaned forward and licked his already wet tip, listening to him take a deep breath in through his nose as she peppered little wet kisses over the skin, lapping at the precum.

"You want to be a God among men Kappa? Fuck the word of man into my throat then." Y/n's words made him look down as she held his eye contact while she took him into her throat deeply. He let his jaw slack as she drooled all over his cock, sucking and gargling on his thick cock. She let used her hands to stroke the length she couldn't fit into her mouth and massage his balls.

"Fuck...your throat is sinful." He brought his hands to his face and tried pushing his hair out of his eyes. He wanted to see Y/n take him down. He wanted to see her sacrifice air for his pleasure. He held the sides of her head and fucked into her throat harshly, feeling her moan at the contact of the tip hitting the back of her throat roughly.

His moans and the sound of the fire behind him were the only sounds that could be heard for miles.

"I'm going to cum and I want you to swallow every last drop. I want you to taste something machines could never produce. I want you to feel my cum in your belly tonight when you sleep and know that a little piece of me lives inside of you forever." Kappa whined as he yanked on the top of her hair so she would stare into his eyes, tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. He held her gaze as he released into her throat, watching her eyes roll into the back of her head as she swallow around him. When he softened, she slowly pulled back, letting his cock fall semi-limp against his thigh. She leaned back trying to catch her breath but instead of allowing that he yanked her to her feet by her shoulders and kissed her.

He could taste himself on her tongue and she gripped his greasy hair between her fingers tightly as she kissed back. When she pulled away, he wiped the tear streaks off her face carefully and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Don't leave...ever." Kappa's tone sounded like a plea rather than a demand and Y/n smiled. This was only the beginning.

[atamascolily]

I was trying to write out my thoughts about Homura and Walpurgisnacht's relationship, but I think what best encapsulates them at the moment is actually an image: the M.C. Escher lithograph Drawing Hands (1948).

Drawing Hands is first and foremost a paradox, with each hand rising out of a two-dimensional world to create the other and no beginning or end. In his book Godel, Escher, Bach: An Essential Golden Braid, Douglas Hofsteader uses it to represent the concept of a strange loop: a system (like consciousness or a musical fugue) that moves through multiple iterations, only to finally return to its starting point.

I first encounter this image juxtaposed with the Jorge Luis Borges micro-story, "Borges and I", which is--among many other things--a doppelganger story dealing with questions of identity and the boundaries between one person and another. The story ends with a confession: "I do not know which of us has written this page." The question that I ask now is, does it even matter? Is it truly either/or, or both/and?

The story of Madoka Magica is ultimately circular in nature. This is true of individual installments (here taking the anime episodes collectively as a unit), and I suspect it will ultimately be true on a collective level as well. I fully expect that the last shot of the final installment--whether Walpurgis no Kaiten or some other sequel--to end with the same imagery we saw in the "Prologue in Heaven" that opens the first episode of the anime. The end is the beginning is the end is the beginning--except that everything has changed as a result of the story that has been told; we now have the fully context to appreciate it for what it was all along.

In the anime, Walpurgisnacht created Homura by showing up in that first timeline and killing Madoka, thus inspiring Homura to make a contract and become a magical girl to save her. Thus it would be narratively fitting if Homura's actions--whether directly or indirectly, intentional or unintentional--lead to the creation of Walpurgisnacht, each of them giving rise to the other in turn.

After all, this is the same relationship between magical girls and witches in general--one creates the other in a never-ending loop, at least until Madoka wishes to change the cycle. Even here, the cycle remains a cycle--as evidenced by the name "Law of Cycles": the nature of the loop changes but not its structure.

The shape created by the hands in Drawing Hands is eerily reminiscent of the twofold tomoe, a Shinto symbol composed of two looping swirls, which itself is similar to the Chinese ying and yang symbol. A similar design appears in both Walpurgisnacht's mandala and Homura's shield--just as they are united in their shared motifs of cogs and gears, they are also linked by their connections to the cycle of creation and destruction.

Drawing Hands is also a good metaphor for Madoka Magica in that it involves transcending two dimensions, just as Madoka Magica's animation incorporates three-dimensional objects on a regular basis. It also suggests at the possibility of a world outside of the narrative presented in the story, that everything we've witnessed on screen is in fact a tale unfolding in-universe as well. It's also an excellent metaphor for Rebellion in particular, which explicitly incorporates Homura's floating hands ("blue-screened" to indicate they are visible only to the audience) actively puppeting the Nightmares and building the "stage" in her labyrinth upon which the entire psychodrama takes place.

Oh, and I'd be lying if Drawing Hands didn't make me think of this shot from the original series, too, although both the position and the underlying symbolism are different:

(something something Madoka's wish to save all magical girls with her own hands something something--look, there's a lot of hand imagery in this show, okay?)

That said, given Homura's salamander/lizard motif, perhaps a different M.C. Escher drawing, Reptiles (1943) will prove to be an equally fitting representation of her journey in the end.

We've already seen the salamander representing the "Dark Orb" move from two to three dimensions (and become a phone!) in the trailer for Walpurgis no Kaiten, so who knows what the movie has in store for us?

[1000sunnygo]

The Three Captain's Interview (2021) : Hiroshi Kamiya as Law (Translated)

Awfully late to the party again. Here's a partial translation of the "Three Captains QnA" interview conducted in 2021 to celebrate the 100th volume of One Piece. I think most readers already accessed the translation via auto translator, or maybe someone translated already (in that case, ignore this)

I didn't find any available translation so I'm putting all of Hiroshi Kamiya's answers here. Just in case you don't know, Kamiya san in Law's voice actor. His answers were particularly long and informative, so I focused only on him.

Starts below the cut!

-

Q. How did you feel when you got the role?

- The casting of Namikawa san (Eustass Kidd) and I was triggered by the work "Ilya no Sora, UFO no Natsu", in which Namikawa san played the role of a timid boy in junior high school and I was a sharp-tongued senior. Hiroaki Shibata, who was the producer of that work, later became the producer of One Piece and then approached us.

I understood the flow of the process and was grateful for the offer, but both Namikawa san and I were good at giving higher pitched voices at that time. So, to be honest, we had absolutely no idea what he had in mind when he cast us. But since I was approached and I had no choice but to give it a go, I gave the character a rough, low-pitched sound that didn't go well with my personal style but matched the character's appearance; and they gave me an OK...

But, adding a personal note, I voiced an unnamed role 'Pirate A' all the way back in the first episode. I had a few more roles afterwards, and eventually I was given the role 'Eddy' in the Sky Island Arc. After a short interval, I was very happy to be chosen for a major role with the name 'Law' and as a rookie with over a hundred million bounty like Luffy.

By nature, the sounds I make don't have a distinct quality, so I didn't have much of a chance to be cast in "ONE PIECE" filled with unique characters. But thinking about it, Law doesn't really have any outstanding feature either (laughs). Regardless, I am very grateful that I was selected out of all other choices.

(T/N: I made a separate post about Kamiya san's roles in one piece here.)

-

Q. Did you have any specific thoughts or feelings while playing in One Piece?

- I really wanted to play Law as a child. The past with Corazon is inseparable from the present Law, isn't it? Since Law at the moment is here because of that past, I really wanted to incorporate the childhood Law into my character.

Also, in the long history of One Piece, Luffy is the only male character who is played by the same actor for both his adult and child versions. There had never been a male voice actor who had the chance, so I had a personal ambition to set a precedent. The moment I found out that Law's past was going to be portrayed, I made a blunt confession that I absolutely wanted to play the (child Law) role. I later auditioned and was selected.

When the time came to record the episodes of Law's past and I was given a script with "Law, Hiroshi Kamiya" right next to Luffy, it meant a lot to me. Seeing the senior members of the One Piece cast team playing the main characters and monopolizing the studio microphones, I had always wanted to play as a main character in the same place someday. Unfortunately, I never had the chance, so, that time it felt like a dream come true.

I think this, too, was possible because it's a story created by Oda sensei. To begin with, it's rare for me to raise up my hand and take an initiative by myself. The possibility of trying out a role and then people thinking "Totally off, this shouldn't be their voice at all" - is terrifying, isn't it? I'm a person lacking self-confidence, yet, Oda sensei created a work that moved my heart and made me feel like I wanted to express my tone, and thus I was able to have such a joyful experience. So, once again, I think One Piece is amazing.

(T/N: Kamiya san talking about voicing young Law in a different interview can be found here.)

-

Q. Impression of the character you're currently playing?

- I think he's a man with a deep sense of responsibility. After all, the alliance was originally formed to defeat Doflamingo by taking advantage of Luffy's desire to beat the 'Emperors', and now even after defeating him, they're still working together. That makes him an honest guy who keeps his words.

That said, he's the captain of the Heart pirates. I think he wants to reciprocate the feeling to the crew that follows him with a belief that he's the best in the world. That's why when he said "I hate breads!" and the Straw hats kept pulling him like "you're one of us too!" (laughs), he kept holding his stance, "I'm NOT gonna go that way!"

-

Q. Thoughts on Mayumi Tanaka as Luffy?

- I saw Mayumi san leading the anime like a boss from the moment Luffy came out of the barrel shouting "I SLEPT WELL!" in episode 1. The fact that it continues to go strong and become more popular with the viewers to this day - is truly amazing.

-

Q. Thoughts on Daisuke Namikawa as Kidd?

- I think Namikawa san is ridiculous! After all, back at that time he would only play characters with meek voices, I really thought he didn't have the voice range to be entrusted with such a dynamic role. I think he threw his own persona away to play Kidd.

-

Q. Do you think it's possible to win against Kaidou?

- It has to be. I think Luffy would be able to beat him with something beyond Law's strategy. To Law, Luffy is the one person that can create unexpected circumstances. I believe their actions would blossom meaningfully in future.

-

Source: @Eiichiro_staff (search up the hashtag #三船長QA on Twitter)

[acourtofthought]

I read that josh body language post. It’s like they’re living in a completely different universe! I mean, seriously, these are the same people who tried to redefine “skittered” and somehow thought it would be a great idea to dive into fly fishing. Because, you know, nothing screams “literary genius” quite like a detailed breakdown of a fishing term and thinking that's exactly what Sarah had in mind. 🙄

Like, do they think Sarah wrote skittered hoping her most dedicated fly fishing fanatics would understand. 😂 Because I can’t imagine a single person outside that niche who cares about how a word used for darting fish could possibly relate to body language IN a romance book.

This is what their post said:

Skitter (v) - to draw (bait) jerkily across the surface of the water as a technique in fishing

The fact that Azriel's shadows skittered back could imply that they actually wanted Elain; that they were trying to draw her in, for whatever reason.

You know, having opposite intent of recoiling.

Honestly, it’s impressive how they manage to spin these absurd narratives. Incorporating fishing lingo into their analysis of character relationships. “Oh, his shadows totally skittered away, just like a trout escaping a hook!". 😂😂😂😂

These folks are really grasping at straws, and it’s hilariously cringeworthy. Keep it coming, though—this level of delusion is pure entertainment!

If you ever watch any of Sarah's interviews where Josh is present you see he's a bit of a fidgety guy. Also both Sarah and Josh become evasive when they're tip-toeing around questions that they know Bloomsbury might want them to answer in a certain way so as not to give anything away. I would bet money on the fact that he has absolutely zero emotions towards the possibility of Gwyn and Az together, that he is 100% supportive of what Sarah chooses to do with her characters. It's wild that they'll believe reading the body language of Josh is somehow a major clue while completely ignoring Sarah's friend directly saying "I don't think E/riel is happening." That they'll ignore Sarah laughing at the theory they had of Gwyn being a child but Josh somehow has skin in the game over who Az ends up with.

To your point about skittering. My guess is that a seasoned author is going for the obvious definition of skittering in her writing and not the answer that only those with fly-fishing terminology awareness have. Not to mention Sarah made sure we understand the point Az was making when he followed it up with "they'd always been prone to vanish when she was around." How can anyone claim that in one breath he's suggesting they're trying to lure her in when the next sentence literally tells us they often disappear around her. You know, that's the same issue I have when they try to claim Elain's scent of Jasmine and Honey has anything to do with night blooming Jasmine. First off, Jasmine is first mentioned in the Spring Court (book 1). But also, Sarah followed up "jasmine" and "honey" with "like a promise of SPRING." Is that not the author nudging you in the direction of her meaning? Especially when later we have Nesta thinking how the SPRING COURT had been MADE for someone like Elain? I guess they'll keep seeing what the want to see but I don't think they're going to like what the end result looks like.

[pico-farad]

I've been watching Vrains for the first time, and I finished season 1

some thoughts below (a lot. a lot of thoughts below)

Setting & Setup

The setting is a very smart choice, and the highlight of Vrains in my opinion.

The aesthetic is relevant, it integrates well with Konami marketing its mobile games, and it neatly deals with the problem every Yugioh series has to address of how to make consequences for duels that can be safely broadcast on children's television (aka the shadow realm / sent to the stars problem)

The virtual world opens up so much possibility in how to present things. 

In the character and setting designs, obviously, but also, the duels have their own visual identity. They don't need to play cards on a duel disk or hold cards in their hand, cards will just appear and disappear in pixels (it also probably saves on their animation budget). The duel grid and other visualizations can show up as they're relevant. And seeing the character take gashes to their avatars is dramatic while still being kid-friendly.

Every Yugioh needs its peanut gallery to react to the duel and be explained to, and Vrains incorporates them the most easily of any series, since they don't need to be physically present.

Kill the frog and the pigeon though.

On the topic of duels, I like both link summoning and speed duels.

I like the spacial/positioning element of link summoning, it puts an additional layer on top of "little monsters make big monster."

And speed duels have all the advantages of turbo duels, allowing for dynamic action, visual metaphor for the tide of the duel, and the ability to change locations without sacrificing pacing, all while requiring less suspension of disbelief than card games on motorcycles. It's easy to take for granted, but the heist sequences wouldn't work at all if they had to be standing duels. 

I also liked this about season 1 of 5Ds, where there's two modes of dueling (turbo duels and ground duels). The contrast between speed duels and master duels is fun.

Skills are cool too, though I feel like they could have designed better ones. Seeing Yusaku drop below 1000 got kind of predictable.

And finally, there is rich thematic potential in this kind of virtual setting. Themes about our relationship with social media, video games, artificial intelligence, and tech corporations are very relevant and have depth. I don't have the highest of hopes for Yugioh tackling them, based on how this first season has gone, but I'll withhold judgment on this until I'm finished.

Yusaku

I like Yusaku. He's blunt, but he's not edgy like I thought he would be. He's actually kind of nice toward Naoki when they meet. The three things tic is charming. I like his hacker deck, it's probably my favorite protagonist deck theme after Elemental Heroes.

Yusaku's problem is not that he's boring per se, but he isn't really put in any interesting situations in S1. 

A lot of his duels are just him being challenged to a duel he has no interest in (Go, Blue Angel, Ghost Girl), he beats them, and they don't actually end up forming a relationship or establishing a dynamic. Because their characters don't have anything to do with each-other except mutually not wanting the bad guys to do bad things.

Yusaku gains allies, but he doesn't make friends. He starts off with his only real relationship being Kusanagi, and that doesn't really change by the end of the season (and his relationship with Kusanagi is not very developed either).

Now, there is a reason for this, which is I think the core of Yusaku's character in S1. It's that due to the traumatic event of his childhood, time has stopped for him. This is very real for victims of traumatic events, being unable to move forward in their lives, develop relationships or think about the future, because their minds are still stuck in the past. This is why Yusaku seeks his revenge. It's not revenge he's seeking, it's closure.

This is a theme that's worth exploring. The problem is that I don't really think they explore it, not sufficiently enough for me to give them credit. If they were exploring it, they could have shown Yusaku reckoning with the divide between him and others in a number of ways. 

Most chiefly, by forcing him to make friends anyway. This is Yugioh goddamnit. The opportunity was right there with Naoki, but it's just played as a joke. Instead, most of this theme is squeezed in at the end of the final duel vs. Revolver, and without the proper build-up, the moment of Yusaku renouncing his revenge and reaching out to be friends with Revolver doesn't land nearly as strong as it could have.

If there is one relationship that Yusaku maybe develops though, it's...

Ai

The relationship between Yusaku and Ai should be what the show hinges on, based on the premise, Ai's status as the "partner," and glimpses I've seen of them through fandom.

Ai is the inciting incident of the story, his existence drives the plot forward, because Hanoi wants him, but Yusaku has him, and Ai doesn't want anything to do with either of them. This premise is gold. It's rife with dramatic potential. Ai is forced to work together with his captor. Yusaku is forced to work together with this goddamn annoying AI. They are both just trying to use the other, but end up developing a bond.

Or at least... that's what I think should have happened...

Very little happens between them in season 1, and it either goes nowhere, or comes out of nowhere. Ai tries to escape, but that thread is just dropped and forgotten. Various Hanoi guys hint that the Ignis can't be trusted, but it doesn't really faze Yusaku because he already doesn't trust Ai. The same thing happens when Revolver reveals that Ai is his counterpart from the Lost Incident and has known it this whole time.

There's only one turning point in their dynamic, which is in the second to last duel vs. Revolver, where Ai uses his body as a shield so that Yusaku can use Storm Access. And even then, Ai says it's because if Yusaku loses, Revolver will kill him. But that's been their entire dynamic for the season anyway? Why is this positioned as the emotional moment where they become partners?

By the end of season 1, they're... allies. The same as the rest of the characters on Yusaku's side. But if there was one character Yusaku should have made friends with, it's Ai. Especially if they are positioning for a humans vs. AI conflict.

His design is cute though.

Go

Go's problem is that he needs to be integrated into the story and cast. Aoi at least has a relationship with her brother and Ghost Girl. Go is connected to... some nameless orphan children, a nameless manager, and a childhood orphan friend who shows up for 5 seconds, is put into a coma in order for Go to have a motivation to duel Genome, and never appears again.

Go isn't a best friend character, and he's not a rival either. He's not even a friend character, period. He really just seems there to be a third duelist.

Does he even know about the Lost Incident, or why Playmaker is even fighting Hanoi? Go has no clue what the plot even is, how can he be involved in it? My guy is living in a different story.

It's a shame, because Go does have some interesting bits to his character. Being a charisma duelist is central to his character (unlike Aoi, whose relationship to charisma dueling seems to end at being a cute idol girl), which could have been used to explore the culture of Link Vrains and the performativity of online spaces.

This is tied to some kind of theme he has going on of dueling for others vs. dueling for yourself. It's brought up in contrast to Yusaku, and why he initially dislikes Playmaker. All of that could have been interesting, but it doesn't really get a full treatment.

Revolver

Revolver is fine as a season 1 antagonist. He's not really a character yet, but I'm interested in where they take him from here. His backstory is sympathetic honestly. It's a pretty familiar and tragic situation, where a child narcs on their parent, who isn't even a good parent, but then comes to regret it.

I also think Revolver is sympathetic because I would nuke the internet in a heartbeat.

His Link Vrains design is cool. Mirror Force is funny, so are the gun dragons. The final duel vs. Yusaku was sick honestly, I loved the extra extra link.

Anyway, I still enjoyed season 1 and think there's room to take a turn for the better. In my experience, there's two kinds of yugiohs, the ones that start off strong, and the ones that end strong. My suspicion is that Vrains is the latter.

On to season 2! Time to meet everyone's favorite Salad king :^)

Hm? Was there someone I missed?

ha ha...... you get your own post, Aoi.

[metabolizemotions]

The timeline is broken 😭

The structure both worked n didn’t work? I think it’s really more for Tully than Vic, cos Vic already has sufficient backstory, n buildup -only a trigger is nec. Esp that late into the last season when we’re eager to see where the characters r going, not where they’ve gone or rehash some things? 704-5 worked well cos there was a balanced focus on the main not guest characters. Also imo flashbacks work better when anchored by familiar events, not vague period of multiple timeframes while jumping back and forth to the present?

I think due to the time crunch they want to condense the indiv arcs into single episodes. Like 703 for Travis with his dad, 706 for Vic & Tully with Morris, 707 for Maya with Mason.

The non-linear structure did allow for building a sense of history with Morris n the emotional impact that came after. It was a better way to incorporate the story of the guest actors, and it allowed for the inclusion of as many of the main cast as possible. The team hasn’t been really like a team since Maya was captain. There hasn't been any sort of real, shared n lasting experiences.

Imagine if we had a format like that that tied a season together, instead of the captainship n political drama, n tonally different n sometimes inconsequential scenes strung together to make up episodes, which went on to make up seasons. 704-6 r better than 701-3 imo, in an already better season, despite some issues. Sadly only upon cancellation r they focusing their resources n efforts to make it more dynamic n cohesive... n we didn't get more much-needed fresh takes from new writers n directors sooner...

We got to see the progression of how Vic came into her own as the leader for Crisis One. How it led to her emotional burnout n compassion fatigue - she truly cared for people, taking on their pain, while not being able to release her own unresolved pain or seek help when she needed it. A reality of mental health professionals, of women, esp woc.

The Travic scenes are the best scenes in a while now. It resonates the most when the writing felt true to the characters. Underneath the goofiness, they tell each other brutally honest truths. Like how they fought over their way to cope with trauma - Travis feeling the full brunt of the grief over Michael's death n struggling to really move on. While Vic quickly tried to move on after Ripley cos to let herself feel the pain fully was impossible. Or when they talked about the blatant racism/ homophobia or microaggressions each faced n how they buried instead of dealing with the pain.

Their friendship is my fav of the show and it took a backseat for a long time. Barrett n Jay have great chemistry n they always crushed it in their scenes - the emotional ones, the funny ones... But Travis hasn't been Travis, Vic hasn't been Vic, n Travic hasn't been Travic. The show tends to put relationships on hold and isolate characters n shoehorn their actions to fit the multiple new storylines they start, but don't always follow thru. A waste of the talent of the actors. When given good material like this, see them shine, case in point - Barrett here.

In a way it also felt like part damage control.

Tully thru Boris's eyes...

A rose-tinted look at a relationship built on conflicts which the show is working around instead of facing head on? Just like how OOC Vic was written in s6 when it came to Maya. It's like they realized they went too far, n now they are retconning instead of ever addressing their attitudes n actions towards Maya.

Filling in some blanks to substantiate their relationship in the lead-up to their wedding? It's valid for the shortened season - to some extent. They had been writing them as very selfish n egoistic people. Now they want to show their better sides to make people like them as a couple ... so the show can end in a big celebration of them? But just showing their good side doesn't work for me if they don't also acknowledge their darker sides.

Basically a chief n a captain ganged up to haze a junior colleague for months. An ex-battalion chief watched on n mocked - the same person who rallied the team behind him n gave him a job when he had none; the same person whose job he tried to steal. But after the extended saga, only Maya should apologize repeatedly?

I find it hard to root for Tully as a couple. The same reason why I don't find Beckett's arc fully earned. If they want to move on, yet keep making Maya be the only one addressing her own actions directly after she faced devastating consequences. While finding other ways to justify/ explain away/ minimize/ ignore/ retcon etc the actions of the others... It just makes for a very conflicting watch.

// b/w the new mayor n Ross? Also is it considered her growth? Since the brief Maya's "sit-down" of immediately shutting her down and calling her insubordinate... To when she later reconsidered and praised Andy about the "mutiny" which she jumped to conclusions to reprimand with no context... To now being okay with insubordination towards her boss cos she thought she was fighting for the right reasons... ?

Is that subtle subtext again? Is it me or is the writing for her confusing? Or is she a conflicted person who's not very self-aware?

[lumi-klovstad-games]

Warhammer 42K: The Age of Reclamation

So, I have been working on a Warhammer 40K alternate timeline (and have been for a little bit) that incorporates my fanon Lost Primarchs and their Legions. AND IT'S FINALLY DONE. ISH. Well, the sandbox is ready for play, at least.

The return of the Lost Second Primarch, Ailani and her Second Legion, the "Imperial Hospitallers", in the waning days of M41 was accompanied by a shriek of psychic jubilation across Human Psykers throughout the galaxy. "The Time of Ending is challenged!", they cried and laughed, "The game begins anew!"

This was followed in the 42nd Millennium with a further psychic event, in which Psykers and Adeptas Sororitas both were overcome by a vision of unparalleled glory: "They have been reclaimed! The Age of Reclamation is imminent!" it was pronounced.

To the great confusion and interest of nearly all galactic powers, loyalist versions of the Traitor Primarchs and their respective Legions, iterations that represent the "Best Possible Version" of each, utterly lacking in the flaws that led the originals to Chaos during the Horus Heresy, subsequently appeared, engaged in battle against the enemies of Mankind. Over a scant 3 decades, they have been reintegrated into the Empire, though not without suspicion.

The presence of these "Reclaimed" Primarchs and Legions promises to move history in a VERY different direction as new versions of those who once fought to destroy the Imperium now rise to become its greatest champions. However, the threat presented by the Chaos Primarchs is not ended: the original Traitors still persist, unchanged, and most assuredly will not take kindly to the news of their uncorrupted and incorruptible doppelgangers.

Each of the Reclaimed Primarchs maintains a memory of what their original selves did up until the end of the Horus Heresy, but, rather than a lived memory, their knowledge and experiences are more like a bad dream they have just woken up from, and it is only as they open their eyes once more and look out at the state of the Galaxy do they realize the horror and the shame of what their original selves had done. None of the Reclaimed felt the guilt more keenly than Horus and Lorgar, who looked at the state of mankind and the Galaxy and wrestled intensely with the knowledge that it is largely their handiwork from another life.

Horus perhaps felt the need to do better most keenly. Casting aside his old name, he embraced the name "Osiris", and soon came to believe he had risen from the dead to embrace his true destiny of redemption. The Sons of Horus restored their name to the Luna Wolves, and reported for duty, embracing the Crusade to come, ready to burn their path to forgiveness and absolution across the stars, even as they were divided up into Codex Compliant Chapters by their Primarch — all the better to never to be in a position to threaten mankind ever again. But though the Luna Wolves now consist of many packs, they know how to assemble and fight as one, if needed, and the day may come sooner than they think whence such a reunion is needed.

Refusing all offers of a position of leadership out of shame, Osiris has sent himself into a grueling never ending Crusade of redemption, pushing himself to his limits to, in some way, atone for sins that are not even fully his. He does not shoulder this burden alone, and his Marines follow him on his endless quest, hoping to one day right the scales, and wipe the name of the Horus Heresy from memory and relevance, determined to atone for the Heresy, even if the quest might devour him wholly in the end. If it takes their very lives to wash away the stain of the Heresy, then they will give them freely. In the end, their aim is to ensure that the name "Horus" becomes a relic of history, supplanted by "Osiris," a symbol of redemption achieved through sacrifice and undying loyalty to the Imperium.

Lorgar has taken it upon himself to seize control of the Ecclesiarchy, and now seeks to undo the cultural damage his prior work, both as Loyalist and Traitor, had done to the Imperium. Adopting the name "Gregorium", he works tirelessly, to say nothing of working carefully yet diligently, seeking to unravel the Gordian Knot of tyranny, paranoia, and repression the Lectitio Divinatus unleashed. The Word Bearers became known as the Truthbringers, which maintained close ties with its successor chapters. All Space Marine Chapters of Truthbringer stock serve effortlessly alongside the Sisters of Battle, each side galvanized by the other's zeal and commitment to the Imperial Truth, even as High Father Gregorium steadily tries to reform and redefine that Truth to become ever closer to the Emperor's original vision.

Unfortunately, such is the ten thousand year rut that the Imperium has existed within that many prefer the backwards beliefs and the regime that is beyond even the concept of cruelty. They refuse to leave the dark hovel that has been the Imperium of Man for generations upon generations, for to risk anything else is to lose all they, and anyone who has ever lived, have ever known. And so Gregorium must move much slower than his sense of duty impels him. Ironically, this has rendered the Truthbringers’ original methods from the Great Crusade more useful than ever: no mere transhuman butchers, but builders of cities and societies, preachers of good news and pious goodness. That which originally vexed the Emperor of Mankind now serves the original plan, and Gregorium is a patient man. Whether it takes ten years or ten thousand, his soul burns bright with the sense of purpose he had always desired; he will work until the work is done, however long it takes.

Magnus assumed command of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, and began working to improve the lot of Psykers around the Imperium. He makes his immense knowledge of the Warp and the threats therein a weapon, one that is wielded by many a branch of the Emperor's Imperium of Man to terrific effect. The Reclaimed Thousand Sons take up the name of "Warpwatchers" and they and their new successors devote themselves wholly to eradicating demonic threats, wherever they may be found. Magnus does not change his name because he, famously, did nothing wrong. He does, however, adopt the title "The Just" to distinguish himself from "The Red".

Unfortunately, while Warpwatchers and their Successors who undergo the Rubicon Primaris or are born as Primaris Marines in the first place see moderately to significantly reduced rates of mutation, their gene seed remains flawed to the point of gradual but inevitable non-viability, forcing these Marines to rely upon their Father and a host of Tech Magi trained in the art of Gene Seed crafting by Belisarius Cawl himself, to provide regular donations of freshly cultured gene seed, lest the Legion and its many sons be eventually swallowed up forever by the insidious twisting of their flesh. Magnus the Just has given some consideration to the thought of taking his Father’s place on the Golden Throne as he now believes the plan had been for his original self, but has so far been dissuaded by Guilliman – there is no guarantee even the Emperor might eventually recover from such decay as his body has undergone thus far; he may simply die if removed from the Throne. Or, as the Cawl Inferior has theorized, the worst case may be that the Emperor DOES recover, but what emerges from the Throne Room may not be what went in 10,000 years ago.

Magnus has spent many hours trying to reach his father’s psyche, beseeching him to tell him what to do, and how best to apply his gifts. So far, he has gone without an answer, and perhaps that is best for his very soul. Whether this absence of communication is due to the Emperor's fading state or some deeper purpose remains unknown. Perhaps the lack of an answer is a trial for Magnus, a test of his patience and judgment, meant to force him to chart his own path and prove the worth of his gifts on his terms. For now, Magnus holds his course, his dedication unshaken, trusting that the path of righteousness and redemption will eventually reveal itself in full.

Pertuabo stepped, perhaps a bit too effortlessly, into the shoes of the MIA Rogal Dorn as Master of the Defense of the Imperium. Adopting the name "Aegis", he collaborates with Roboute Guilliman in overhauling the defensive lines of the Imperium of Man. Though Aegis is a much improved man compared to the original Pertuabo, he still takes a well earned and perhaps smug satisfaction of not just restoring Dorn's great defensive works and strategies, but also improving on them. His Iron Warriors took the new name of the "Steelforged" to indicate that they have been "reforged" without the impurities that led to their original counterpart's fall to Chaos, and made better and stronger for it. They begrudgingly accepted being divided up into myriad new chapters, acknowledging the value in smaller unit tactics, but like the Imperial Fists, retain protocols to temporarily reassemble, even so far as to full Legion Strength, should it be deemed tactically or strategically necessary. To the great chagrin of the High Lords of Terra, the Steelforged and their many successor Chapters have been significantly more liberal with these “reunions” than the Imperial Fists have been, though typically only a handful of Chapters temporarily join together, united by shared lineage and common cause. As of this time, the Fourth Legion has NOT seen fit to reassemble.

The Steelforged have once more become the tip of the spear in many Astartes operations; unwilling to sit idly by and wait for the call to react. Like the Black Templars, they and their successors are nearly always on Crusade, with each Crusading Chapter many times the regularly proscribed "full strength" of the Codex Astartes, an engine of war certainly and surely working its way from one end of the galaxy to the other towards the Imperium's greatest threats, with massive secondments to the Deathwatch and Solblade initiatives, including whole Chapters enthusiastically volunteering for the latter. Their deep involvement in these organizations stems from their belief that the Imperium must strike at its foes preemptively rather than simply react to attacks. For Aegis, the defense of the Imperium is not just about reinforcing walls and waiting for enemies to come; it’s about pushing out, taking the fight to the galaxy’s greatest threats, and ensuring that every world held in the Emperor's name is worth defending.

The Reclaimed Angron took more time than his brothers to shed himself of the expectations of pain from the Butcher's Nails that no longer afflicted him. Indeed, the memory of those torture devices now seemed like a distant nightmare that he had finally awoken from. Free to think, free to FEEL as he wanted, he shed his name of rage and violence, and took the name "Archeos", after a famed and just warrior prince from Terra's distant past. Even so, even freed to feel the scope of the complete human experience, Archeos knew he was a warrior at heart. But, no longer a rabid dog of war or a devourer of worlds, he could choose for the first time what kind of warrior he wanted to be — and his heart wept upon learning Sanguinius' ultimate fate. And so Archeos stepped up as best he could to fulfill his fallen brother's legacy, to be for the Imperium what Sanguinius had once been. His steps thus far in the role have been uneven and inexperienced, marked by a warrior’s eagerness to act and a lack of experience with statesmanship and empathy. Yet his sincerity is undeniable, and his effort to bring a new kind of honor to the Astartes is genuine.

The Reclaimed World Eaters reformed as the Spartican Brotherhood, taking their name from an oppressed underclass rebellion from ancient Terra, and symbolizing how they now exist to fight for all those who exist in the gutters of the Imperium, the selfsame gutters from which they were once lifted from to glory. The Sparticans in particular show a streak of selfless nobility and empathy towards even the lowest citizens of the Imperium in their operations that rivals even the Salamanders, though they bring with them still the same boisterous love of savage and intense combat that once defined the War Hounds and the World Eaters.

The last thing Konrad Curze remembered was his death. It was as final an end as any might have hoped for. Yet he awoke, and felt life in his lungs. And the nightmares… the nightmare visions that had plagued him from his childhood, were now tempered by visions of beauty and nobility. Somehow, the whole scope of the future now finally lay open to him. Taking the name "Lucian" to distance himself from the monster that had preceded him, he became the Master of the Adeptus Arbites, finding an outlet for his intense drive for justice, as well as an advisor to Guilliman, counseling his brother with the contents of his myriad visions.

Lucian believed strongly in reforming the Arbites and Imperial Justice, so that it might be more just, but this clashed with his strong need to punish the guilty. In the end, a massive overhaul of Imperial Justice was conceived and executed by Lucian and Guilliman, creating the Departmento Justito, in which those of the Imperium who had grown fat and corrupt feasting on the Imperium's soul like a parasite would finally all face justice, one after the other. Due to the scale of corruption and hypocrisy within the Imperium's bloated structure, it's ever maze-like and cavernous endless bureaucracies, and unwillingness to look too closely into the precise dealings of its noble houses and Rogue Trader dynasties, this might prove to be perhaps an impossible task, doomed to last another ten thousand years, but one which feeds Lucian's never-ending craving for justice. The Reclaimed Night Lords, free of their darkest aspects, took the name "Duskbringers", and became once more a force of frightening intimidation, shock and awe, and psychological warfare, much as a lone vigilante might use theatricality and deception to create an effect on a city's criminal population far greater than what he typically could have accomplished alone. The Duskbringers are more than a Space Marine force; they and their successors have become an Icon, an Idea, and one which has taught all those enemies of the Imperium which hide in shadows to fear the dark.

The Reclaimed Fulgrim and the Reborn Emperor's Children were discovered by the 3rd Company of the Redemptor Roses, a loyal Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes forged from the original Fulgrim's gene seed in the late 40th millennium. After much diplomacy, Fulgrim managed to convince his sons of the reality: that Traitor and Primarch were now two VERY different men. Taking the name "Caelum", he guides his Reclaimed Legion, now known as the Exalted Sons, down the difficult road of reintegrating with the Imperial forces, dividing into myriad chapters, and adopting the Codex Astartes into their existing combat doctrines. The Redemptor Roses, led by their Chapter Master, Gautier Boudreaux, have largely taken the lead in managing this integration, giving the Exalted Sons the benefit of their long experience and commitment with being heirs to the legacy of the Great Crusade-era Third Legion while wrestling with the knowledge and the reality of what that legion ultimately became, and their pains and efforts to avoid the same fate.

Caelum himself has taken to lending Roboute Guilliman his expertise as a natural polymath, with the keen intellect that once saved and united Chemos without firing a shot now turns to assisting his brother in reforming the Imperium and helping coordinate its massive war machine, though on campaigns of particular importance, he will depart Holy Terra to join his Sons in battle. Much of Caelum's time on Terra has been spent fussing over the quality of life of the Imperium's Citizenry, and the struggle to convince them to accept better standards than the regime has permitted them to even WANT for ten thousand years. Caelum seeks to introduce art, music, poetry, and the finer things to every level of Imperial Life, though he frequently finds his efforts stymied by the quagmire that is the Adeptus Administorum, the Ecclesiarchy (despite Gregorium's best efforts), and the Inquisition.

The Exalted Sons, meanwhile, have integrated the Redemptor Roses' fierce commitment to banishing the chance of Chaos Corruption, and they and their successors have joined in many campaigns alongside those of the Luna Wolves and the Ultramarines and their kin, and have reminded the galaxy precisely why they were once considered the apex of what it meant to be a Space Marine during the Great Crusade, so long ago. Caelum’s presence on Terra and in the Imperium’s war efforts serve as a constant reminder that redemption is a path of both creation and destruction—destroying the old to create something better. He constantly advocates for the acceptance of beauty as a fundamental aspect of life, not a distraction from it, striving to make the Imperium a place where the human spirit could thrive, even amid endless war. It is a struggle that consumes him as much as the martial demands of leading his sons into battle, but one he pursues with the same fervor he brings to every aspect of his being. In this way, Caelum and the Exalted Sons seek not only to reclaim the legacy of the Emperor's Children but to transcend it, leaving behind a legacy far brighter and nobler than any they had once imagined.

Mortarion claimed the name "Thanatos" for his own, and the Death Guard were reborn as the "Pale Hawks", the Imperium's first, and best, line of defense against the forces of Chaos and its insidious corruption. Ever watchful over the areas of the Imperium long ago neglected by the Administorum and Departmento Munitorum, the Pale Hawks rove in great Casts across the fringes of the Imperium, bringing hope and protection to long isolated worlds that have not had them in ages. To that end, the Pale Hawks and their Successors find themselves working alongside the forces of the old Second Legion, the Imperial Hospitallers, in a reborn version of the Great Crusade of ancient times - bringing the God Emperor's protection, and his intended standard of living, to even the most distant and forgotten worlds. And where Chaos might be found, the Pale Hawks find themselves working closely if uncomfortably alongside the Warpwatchers and their sons, with the sons of the 15th Legion holding much wisdom and knowledge in the matters of the Warp and its inhabitants, and bring a gift for killing them, not simply banishing them. Thanatos, though not a particularly politically-minded Primarch like some of his brothers, often advises Guilliman and the other politically active Primarchs on matters relating to Chaos incursions, plagues, or other threats that require quick, decisive action. As much of his Son's duty and role has them ministering their talents to the Dark Imperium, he must rely on the Psykers of the Astra Telepathica to communicate his advice to his brothers on Holy Terra, which, even free of his corruptive traits, is a reliance he still would vastly prefer to not have.

He must also work alongside Ailani in dealing with the various Rogue Trader dynasties and fiefdoms of the Dark Imperium, fiefdoms which, while still loyal in the broadest sense, have developed an uncomfortable ease with their own way of doing things in their long isolation and independence that frequently conflicts with Thanatos' own sense of what loyalty ought to look like. Despite the difficulties posed by these challenges, Thanatos and the Pale Hawks remain steadfast in their mission to cleanse the Imperium of Chaos’s taint. They act not only as warriors but also as healers and guardians, seeking to mend the wounds left by ten thousand years of war and neglect. For Thanatos, redemption is not an end in itself, but an ongoing struggle to make the Imperium a better place, a struggle that will continue as long as the galaxy remains a battlefield. In this endeavor, the Pale Hawks would not falter, for they had become more than mere soldiers—they were the shield against the darkness, the bringers of hope to the forsaken, and the harbingers of humanity’s rebirth.

The Reclaimed Twin Primarchs of the 20th Legion, Alpharius and Omegon, took the names of Kaleidos and Janus, though both answer only to Kaleidos for anyone but each other. Together, they are once again the Ghost Who Walks In Many Places, and their Alpha Legion has been reborn as the Lernaean Serpents, a further reference to the Hydra of Myth and Legend. The Twins have taken command of the Solblade Initiative, finding the Tyranid threat both a clear and present danger to the Imperium, but also a shifting, ceaseless foe that is truly worthy of their talents and warfighting intellect; a chance at long last for the 20th Legion to show its quality and earn glory long overdue since the Great Crusade.

While the Lernaean Serpents took to the splintering of their legion into chapters the easiest of all the Reclaimed, nobody who knows their methods is convinced for even a minute that the Chapter has TRULY divided – they are simply doing what they have always done best: breaking up into decentralized warbands, each committed to its task. Among the Solblades, Kaleidos and his Marines impart that same knowledge and wisdom to the constituent forces, teaching even the lowliest Guardsmen and PDF volunteers how to be effective combatants no matter how many "heads" are "sliced off" by such a foe as the Tyranids -- to the Solblades and Imperial Guard units trained by the Primarchs and their Sons, whether their force is 2 million men strong or just 20, they will always have a strategy to be as effective as possible, even in environments where traditional communications or the chain of command collapses entirely. “Every soldier a rifleman, every grunt an officer.” Everyone knows everyone else's job well enough to do it effectively, should the need arise to do it.

The Lernaean Serpents and their myriad warband Chapters also specialize in rapid reorganization and shifting battle plans, essentially becoming the Imperium's foremost experts on warfare against hive-minded opponents. The Twin Primarchs have seen Holy Terra precious little since their return. Their place is not on the benches of politics, but on the battlefield, proving their ingenuity and strategic brilliance time and time again against the largest, keenest mind the Imperium has yet encountered. And what’s more, they appear to be gradually winning, offering hope that, even against the ceaseless onslaught of the Tyranids, newfound ingenuity and resourcefulness can yet prevail. With Kaleidos’ leadership style finally proving its mettle under fire, their leadership is beginning to influence other Imperial forces, encouraging a more flexible and resilient approach to warfare across the galaxy. While their methods do not suit all factions or chapters, the lessons learned from the Lernaean Serpents may yet shape how the Imperium adapts to future threats, proving the wisdom of Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar: “Rules should never make a prisoner of intelligence.”

Saorlaith, the Lost Eleventh Primarch, has been the most recent Reclamation alongside her Legion, the Black Eagles. Motivated to return at long last by whispers in the weave of time, overheard in her scrying at the far edge of space. The Sorceress Queen has decided that now is the proper time to return, for it is now, and no other time, in which her people, ten thousand years in exile, finally have a future they might call their own, but such a future demands decisive action on Saorlaith's part. The dread wailing of the Carnefex now drones across hundreds of worlds, the harbinger of the Crow Queen's return.

Arriving, as Ailani did, to an Imperium who has no memory of her very existence, and led not by the Emperor, but by his struggling sons, Saorlaith casts her lot in with her siblings, for she is older and wiser, and recognizes that she can either protect her people's culture and interests from the inside, or be forced to go it alone in exile once more. Unwilling to deny her people the worthy future she had seen in her dreams, she swallowed her pride and prepared to bend the knee to Roboute Guilliman, Lord Commander of the Imperium. To her shock, Guilliman did not accept her subservience, telling her instead that she "would best serve the Imperium as you are: a Primarch, not a puppet", and that her input would always be welcome. Heartened by acceptance she had never had before, Saorlaith became a staunch ally and confidante of Guilliman, and has found that her reincarnated brothers are MUCH easier for her to find common cause with. She also took quiet relief that, at least for the time being, Leman Russ was nowhere to be found, though she does not doubt for a moment that the Great Wolf will one day return on his own, for her sorcery has told her that "the Reclamations are not yet complete."

The Black Eagles follow the Codex Astartes in some form, though it is broadly interpreted and often recontextualized by the savage and mystic warriors, resulting in one of the loosest interpretations of the text to date, but still one fairly in line with the spirit of the thing. Their roving warbands have delighted in the strength of the enemies they now face across the galaxy, a fitting trial for some of the mightiest and most competitive fighters in Imperial History, long may the crows feast on the bodies of their enemies.

As the Age of Reclamation unfolds, the Imperium finds itself on the precipice of hope, a stark contrast to the desolation that followed the Horus Heresy over ten millennia ago. The emergence of these Reclaimed Primarchs and their noble Legions reignites a flicker of optimism among humanity, rekindling faith in a future where unity, redemption, and purpose may yet claim triumph over the chaos that has plagued the galaxy for so long. The specter of the past looms large, yet the actions of these reborn champions suggest a path forward—a path illuminated by the potential for healing and the restoration of the Emperor’s vision. While the mechanisms of the Reclamation of the Traitors is not understood, for the first time in ten thousand years, the Imperium glimpses the possibility of renewal, a chance to reclaim its lost glory and forge a brighter destiny amid the stars. The Age of Reclamation is not merely an era of war, for while in the Grim Darkness of the 43rd Millennium, there is only war, hope now dares bud from beneath the corpses. Perhaps, just perhaps… all is not yet lost.

[e-pluribus-unum-e]

Haunted (1/?)

A/N#1: This is a Mattheo Riddle x OC fanfic, I did this just because I struggle with writing "Y/N" over and over again. I feel like an actual name for the reader helps you connect better, and I already struggle with being a personable writer. Please forgive me. The OC is named Veralynn Post, she goes by Vera. Idk her middle name yet so don't ask. She has long curly blonde hair, it reaches to her mid to lower back, it's also very poofy (think Hermione Granger). She has amber eyes, almost like whiskey and honey. She's 5'2 and a Hufflepuff. And she's from the US of A 🗽. It probably doesn't make sense why she's in a wizarding school in England but bare with me. Also I'll probably have smut in this at some point but that won't be until they're well into their 7th year.

Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Mattheo 🥵, my terrible writing, eventual smut but not until much later in the series

Pairing: Mattheo Riddle x Fem!OC

Summary: Vera's best friend finds herself in a whirlwind romance with none other than Theodore Nott. Vera reflects on her own love, how ever unrequited it is, and wonders when she'll finally confess to the man that holds her heart in his hands. 6.0k+ words

A/N#2: Dear Reader, Hello! This is the start of my very first attempt at a series LOL. I've written for my own enjoyment for years, but never on a blog or anything even similar to Tumblr. Last night at 2 AM I was hit with inspiration after hearing a series of songs play one after the other that reminded me so much of our baby boy Matty <3. So I have a timeline worked out and a list of songs I want to incorporate, one song per chapter, but that list is constantly changing because I'm trying to find the best ones possible to make this work. Also I'm starting them off in 6th year because yes, while they are minors, I need the time afforded to me by starting them off that young. No smut, NO SMUT, will happen before they're both well established 18 year olds in year 7. Please let me know how I can improve with my writing, it means a lot. It is my absolute pleasure to present you with the very first chapter in my Haunted series, When Emma Falls in Love. ---Sincerely, Me

When Emma Falls in Love

When Emma falls in love, she paces the floor Closes the blinds and locks the door When Emma falls in love, she calls up her mom Jokes about the ways that this one could go wrong She waits and takes her time 'Cause Little Miss Sunshine always thinks it's gonna rain When Emma falls in love, I know That boy will never be the same

Emma Hemlock is my best friend. I met her at Platform 9¾ on our first day at Hogwarts, and ever since then, we've been joined at the hip. With her dazzling blue eyes and her straight brown hair, her tan complexion, and her warm smile, she drew the boys' attention immediately. They would scramble to write her love letters, asking her on dates and whether or not she'd give them a chance. And she never said yes. Until, now.

Theodore Nott had been asking her out since 3rd year, always being met with a resounding "NO." He even asked me for advice!-- "C'mon Veralynn! What's her favorite flowers? Does she like butter beer? When does she-" "PISS OFF THEO"-- (spoiler alert: we didn't get along). But it seems he finally 'wore her down.'

That's such a terrible expression. At least, that's what Emma says. She explained that 'no, he didn't wear me down, I just finally had the courage to say yes.' Or something like that. In all honesty, her hesitation to say yes in the first place made sense. Theo had gained the reputation of a ladies' man, him and the rest of his crew. Draco Malfoy, Lorenzo Montague, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Mattheo Riddle.

Mattheo.

A man who could simultaneously get my heart racing out of fear and attraction. Fear of him, fear of the attraction, attraction because of the fear, however, you want to put it I don't care. But we'll get back to him later. Right now, it's all about Emma and her love life.

Emma finally said yes to Theo's persistent nagging, making him quite literally the happiest man in all of Hogwarts. No seriously, he ran into the Great Hall shouting "SHE SAID YES! WE'RE GETTING MARRI- OW, DAMN IT VERA!" (I may have thrown a dinner plate at his head).

So here I am. Waiting, sitting on the couch in our dorm, my arms wrapped around a pillow as I sat on my legs, watching the door in anticipation. They started dating in the summer. Emma's family had decided to spend their two months break on vacation in Italy. They ran into the Nott's while they were there. I have a theory that Theo caught wind of where the Hemlock family would be that June, and he begged his parents to let him go spend the summer in their family villa.

All that being said, they had had a whirlwind romance that didn't end when the warmer months came to a close. It's only the second week of our 6th year and they've gone on a total of four dates. It's almost hilarious how utterly whipped Theo is for her. That boy will never be the same.

Creeeeak. The door was pushed open—interrupting my thoughts—and Emma slipped into the room. She locked the door behind herself, her face looking... oh that's weird. She paced across the floor, closing the blinds, effectively putting an end to the bright sun I was basking in. I had expected her to come in, huffing and annoyed with the latest story on Theo's escapades. But this time, no, this time was different. Her eyes held a different story. "Vera..." Her grip on the window loosened as she turned towards me. Her lip trembling, and her eyes squinting. Suddenly her face split into the widest grin she's ever given me. "Vera-" "I know." We smiled at each other, one sincere and one feigned.

"I need- I need to send an owl to my parents. I need to ask my mom- oh shit this has never happened to me before. Vera, what do I do? What is this?" She started rambling, all the while her smile remained and she ran over to her desk. She pulled out her stationary and began her letter to her mother. "Ughhh I shouldn't even be writing to her about this, it's going to end in disaster anyway!"

What made me chuckle was the way she said it. The words were foreboding, but her smile never slipped. She didn't really expect this to end in a 'disaster.' "Write your letter, Em. Tell your Momma you're falling in love." I encourage softly from where I remain seated, nuzzling my face further into the pillow between my arms. Emma nods at me, eyes crinkling yet again as she leans back over her letter.

Okay, sure, maybe I don't sound as excited as I should for my closest friend. That's not the case, I am excited for her! But now's the time when we finally get to talk about Mattheo.

Chocolate eyes, curls the color of rich dark dirt, dimples when he smiles, and the scent of cigarettes and rain that clings to him no matter where he's been. To be frank, the man is liquid fire. And everyone else in Hogwarts noticed that too. And he took advantage of that fact. He had a new girl on his arm almost every day, never coming up empty in the 'love department.' But it was never love. Everyone understood he was never and would never be interested in anything serious. The problem with this?

Well that requires a bit of explanation.

I met him the same day I met Emma. Before her, even. I had gotten lost in the muggle train station trying to find the right platform, getting bumped into by grown strangers who didn't seem to notice the lost little girl tripping under their feet. I was born and raised in America until being invited to Hogwarts, and unfortunately, my parents couldn't afford to come with me to this wild train station. So I was all alone, trying desperately to find my way to Platform 9¾.

~flashback to that day~

I huff, dragging my luggage behind me as I try my best to push through the crowd. I couldn't see many children, which gave me my first clue that I wasn't in the right place. It was mostly muggle adults going to and fro, not glancing down to notice the small poofy-haired kid all alone. My thoughts were interrupted as someone slammed into me, "OW" I cried as the luggage slipped from my fingers. It hit the pavement floor below my feet, buckles popping open as the contents spill out. I shake my head in disbelief, looking up to see who knocked into me. All I saw was the back of a grown man walking away from me, seemingly the culprit, and also seemingly ignoring the fact that he just ruined an 11-year-old's day. "Hey wanker, watch where you're going!" I jump, startled at the grumbling voice ringing in my ear.

That wasn't my voice. No, that was behind me. Turning around, I gaze upon—for the very first time—the boy who would turn my whole world upside down. He was wearing jeans, and an almost too-big-for-him flannel, his curls falling effortlessly over his forehead as he glared past me at the man who just Kool-Aided into my back.

His eyes flickered from over my shoulder to my belongings on the ground. Wordlessly, he crouched down and started folding up the clothes and slipping them back into my suitcase. "Oh- no no that's okay you don't have to- I mean- agh this is such a mess." I scramble, trying to stop him from helping any further. 'This is so embarrassing.'

I squat down next to him, working side by side to get everything packed away. His hands stopped moving at the sound of my own voice, his head turning toward me as he took in my appearance for the first time. "You're American?" "Uh-" I blush, distracted by his pretty frown. "-yeah." I finally answer, a bit dazedly. "Cool." He responded. We just sat there, chocolate eyes looking into amber, until the distant sound of a train's horn broke us out of our trance. "Riddle. Mattheo Riddle. Where are you headed?" The boy asked, sticking his hand out for me to shake.

"Oh! I'm Veralynn Post, um, you can call me Vera. Everyone does." His eyebrow raised at that. "E-Everyone back in my- HEY!" I gasp as he starts laughing. "I was just teasing you Anna, no need to fret. But seriously where are you headed?" He tried to quiet his chuckling as he lifts my bag from the ground, carrying it along with his (and refusing to let me take it off his hands).

I took out the letter in my pocket, looking at the information it contained. "Platform 9¾." He seemed to ponder that for a minute. "I don't think that exists..." My eyes widen. How could I be so stupid? He's a normal not-wizardy-boy and here I am, spilling all of Hogwarts beans to the first person who would listen. Maybe if I play it off like I'm a dumb tourist he'll just forget all about it. Wait- is he laughing? OH THIS BOY- "Man it's easy to trick you. Lighten up, Vera."

My blush deepens, but not out of embarrassment. No, I was mad. "That's not funny Mattheo, I'm genuinely lost and alone and you're laughing at me." He seemed to soften at that, his laughter quieting down. "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you." "I'm not laughing." "Hmm... touché." The way he said it made me want to punch him in the face.

Mattheo seemed to notice the anger in my eyes as he straightened up. "All jokes aside, I'm headed there too. We can walk together?" He offered, looking at me apologetically. "...fine, but no more teasing." "That's too high a price." "Fine," another huff from me, "you can tease if you want to but at least make it obvious you're not being serious."

His grin grew. "You're funny, Vera."

~end of flashback~

I met Emma when we got onto the train, and ever since then, I've had an unrequited crush and a best friend. Emma was everything I could have asked for; a dear friend, a confidant, and a sister. And I will always remember that day in fondness for when I met her, but alongside the sweet memories of a friendship comes the tainted recollection of a lost love.

Mattheo and I have remained friendly up to this very moment, as I watch Emma fall in love with his best friend, Theodore. But after I was sorted into Hufflepuff and he into Slytherin, we went our separate ways. Never being close but always painfully aware whenever he walked into the room. In his defense, it's not like he ignored me or anything. We were amicable with one another, just not in each other's core friend group.

The sad truth is, is that girls tripped over themselves because the kind boy I met seven years ago grew into Adonis reincarnate. They notice him because he's effortlessly good-looking and always seems to get great grades, even when he's constantly skipping class to smoke or make out with some girl in the broom closet.

His chiseled abs, strong jawline, and generally Greek-god-like physique (thank you Quidditch) made him a heart throb.

However, the female population of Hogwarts treat him like a piece of meat. Even though they're aware that he’ll cast them aside after just one night of being in his embrace, not only being aware but wanting it because no one really wanted to love him. Him. I've had to watch as everyone acted as if he really was just a carnal beautiful body and not a soul.

Sure, his core friend group (Pansy, Theodore, Blaise, Enzo, and Draco) didn't care about his looks. From what I've observed, they genuinely care about him. But after years of almost the entirety of Hogwarts not caring, I've noticed how it's worn on him.

And it's not just Hogwarts and their obsessive drooling over him, it's his home life. His father in Azkaban, his mother dead, his brother ignoring his existence. He had an abusive childhood and the roughest of up bringings. The very same women who will beg him for one night in his bed, turn around to gossip about how he's the next Voldemort.

So very few people cared about him.

And I've noticed how it's worn on him.

I've noticed lots of things.

I've noticed how when he walks through the food line, he never takes the last of anything, always leaving it for the person behind him. How he hangs behind after dinner to pick up the plates and trays our fellow students were too lazy to clean up themselves. I've noticed that whenever a girl in our year comes into class with bruises on her body, her boyfriend is in the infirmary the next day and there are cuts on Mattheo's knuckles. How he slips treats to the magical creatures when everyone's too busy listening to Hagrid's lecture to even notice the exchange. Everyone is too busy to notice, except for me.

I've spent my entire Hogwarts career falling in love with a boy, who grew into a man, all while I remained unnoticed.

I hang on to every word I hear him mutter to Theo, to every nod he sends my way as he walks past, and the rare time he asks me for my notes after he misses class.

So here we are, back in my dorm, watching my best friend's love life blossom before my eyes. Yes, I'm happy for her. But yes, I'm also, admittedly and ashamedly, jealous.

'Cause she's the kind of book that you can't put down Like if Cleopatra grew up in a small town And all the bad boys would be good boys If they only had a chance to love her And to tell you the truth, sometimes I wish I was her

I tried to listen as Cedric droned on, talking excitedly about this new book or muggle movie or something. To be honest, I've missed about 90% of what he's said. I slept roughly two hours last night, staying up to be Emma's sounding board. 'She really has fallen hard for this guy.' I think to myself as I glance across the Great Hall. Theo was sitting at his usual table, with the usual people. One of those people is Mattheo...

Mattheo laughed at something Enzo said, leaning across the table to grab food off of Pansy's plate (much to Pansy's protest). 'I hope he has a good day.' I sigh, looking back down into my cup. I had my hands wrapped firmly around the mug, sipping the warm black nectar. Emma still teased me after all these years, calling me a "Yank" for preferring just plain old coffee over tea.

A masculine rumble broke me out of my thoughts as my eyes flickered up again to see what was happening. Oh. Theo was here. And he was yapping, per usual. What, when did he get here?

The man in question was leaning his hand onto the table to my right, looking down at Emma who was in between us. "Hey, honey..." He muttered, their voices getting collectively quieter as they got wrapped up in each other's presence.

I rolled my eyes, sitting up slightly to grab Cedric. He leaned forward, but not willingly. My hands firmly grasped his collar to pull him halfway across the table. "AH- Vera let go-" "Not until you get me a new dorm and a new table. I can't handle it anymore, DO YOU HEAR ME? TOO MUCH THEO! TOO MUCH!" I shouted, sleep deprivation getting to me.

Theo stopped whatever poem or other crap he was reciting for my friend, looking up just to glare at me. "Oh stop being the anti-Cupid just because you're jealous." I turn my head, poor Cedric still being subject to my grasp, just to glare right back at Theo.

"Jealous? What the hell would I be jealous of? The fact that y'all effortlessly behave as if you got SLEEP LAST NIGHT?" "No, jealous that no one got you flowers." "Flowers? What flow- awwww Emma those are so pretty!" I push Cedric back down, turning fully in my seat to see the pretty roses in her hands.

She smiled up at me, nodding. "Someone told him they were my favorite." Her lovesick grin made me crack a genuine smirk. I sigh, feigning disappointment as I respond, "Too bad they lied."

"WHAT?" Theo exclaimed, eyes widening in horror. "Veralynn Post quit lying to my boyfriend!" Emma cried out as I just laughed harder. "Sorry, sorry, I had to."

I straightened up my posture, leaning back over my food, finishing the rest of my coffee as the lovebirds said their goodbyes. We both watched as Theo made his way back to his side of the Hall, sliding in to sit next to Mattheo.

Mattheo.

He was looking right at me. I smiled hesitantly at him, but he just looked back at his own friends, conversation continuing like it never stopped.

Oh.

My heart skipped a beat and not in a good way. This happened sometimes. I'd think he was encouraging me, I'd make an attempt to reach out, he'd go back to acting like I barely existed. My thoughts wandered to Emma. Emma. She seemed to be a natural at taming the 'bad boys.'

She had broken down the walls of her man, her man who was so misunderstood and underappreciated. Theo wanted to be good for her. It was like she was a drug he couldn't walk away from, a book he just couldn't put down.

My final thought echoed in my head like a constant ringing in between my ears as my eyes felt glued to the man who held my heart. And I knew—I knew that while I was happy to be myself—that sometimes on the coldest of nights and loneliest of days, when the absence of his love and affection rang the loudest... sometimes I wish I was her.

Well, she's so New York when she's in L.A.​​ She won't lose herself in love the way that I did 'Cause she'll call you out, she'll put you in your place When Emma falls in love, I'm learning

It was only the start of our 6th year, but every morning felt as if I was waking up on death row. Like my days were numbered, and with each passing minute, the executioner took another step closer. I've always been able to comfort myself by saying, 'It's okay that I can't hold him in my arms. At least I can be near him.'

Being in his presence alone has always been enough for me. His aura, his being, his soul being in the same room as mine has been enough for me to be content. But with graduation comes the end of it all. The end of us. The end of him. You might be going, 'Ah but graduation is just next year! You have time!'

Time? Time? It's taken me six years to get to this point and you think one more will be the difference between my anguish and my happiness? The time needed to cause a change? When him and I, two separate souls, intwine to become just us? No. There's never enough time and I'm too much of a coward to try it now, with another year in Hogwarts, where I would have to suffer not only 6th but 7th year in embarrassment and rejection. Because Mattheo Riddle doesn't want an us.

'Who am I even kidding? There is no us, there never will be. I sound like a fucking stalker.' I scoff, aggressively zipping up my bag. Potions had ended a while ago but apparently, I spaced out, only coming to when Professor Snape closed a desk draw rather loudly. It was only me and three other students in the room with him, taking our time to pack up and clean our workstations.

"-Vera. VERA." My eyes snapped up, noticing Emma waving her hand in my face. I grimaced, pushing her hand away. "How long...?" "A few seconds." She answered, frowning. I squirmed under her scrutinizing overlook. Her eyes swirled with a flurry of emotions; confusion, doubt, concern, etc. "What? Do I have something on my face?" She frowned deeper at that.

Chuckling nervously I hiked my bag over my shoulder, leading us into the hallway as we began our trek to the courtyard. Once a week we always pack lunch ahead of time, and then walk down to the Black Lake to have a picnic together. It was the highlight of my day and the pick-me-up I've really needed this past week. 'I just hope we can get there before we run into Theo.'

Theo's been really good for her, and he's been really good to her. Honestly, never thought I'd say it, but he's become like a brother to me. I usually look forward to our playful banter and then watching him whine and pout and tell Emma she hasn't spent enough time with him, but something's been off with him lately.

His behavior is as if he's walking on eggshells around me. His glances were full of concern. His questions, 'How are you?', 'Do you need to talk?', etc., etc. have been way more persistent. Nothing about me has changed, at least I don't think it has. I have no clue how he's somehow gotten the skill to look right through my mask.

I risk a glance over at Emma, eyes narrowing. She was chewing her lip, her fingers tap tap tapping. It was a trait she picked up from me. She used to complain about how fidgety I was, constantly having to at least drum my fingers or shake my knee to be able to focus. Something that became more incessant as I would get nervous or uncomfortable.

And then I noticed her doing the same thing whenever she got... nervous. 'You must have rubbed off on me,' she'd say. Well, it's a two-way road, Emma. Because your annoyingly empathetic self rubbed off on me too.

I left her with a habit she hated, and she left me with the ability to read her emotions like a book. It had it's benefits. We push through the bustling crowd, making our way to the ‘glass room,’ as we so eloquently coined it in our 1st year. It was a room with an entire wall made up of windows and an almost simple back-patio-like door that worked as one of the many exits that led to the courtyard. It was our favorite, just because of how homey it felt.

I twist the doorknob, pulling the door open for her before following her outside. There was a small friendly match of quidditch being played on one side of the courtyard, some kids were studying, and there was just a general bustle of life out there. Both from the students and from nature. As we walked down the steps and into the grass, further past everyone, weaving through all the hubbub and finally getting away from all the prying ears, I turned toward Emma. We continued down to the lake but now we finally had privacy. 

“Emma, what’s been up with you? You and Theo, now that I mention it. It’s felt as if you’ve both been… watching me. It’s kinda weird.” I nervously laugh, running a hand through my blonde curls to push them out of my face. Our black robes with yellow accents swished with our movement, though Emma’s posture noticeably stiffened when I spoke up.

She slowed to a stop, hand reaching out to grab my own and making me halt right alongside her. “Em?-” “I know.” “Know what?” “I know you’re in love with him.” Time seemed to slow. My heart quickened and my hands started tap tap tapping. I tilted my head slightly, looking at her closer. I never told anyone, I never spoke a word about my feelings.

Which means she noticed, she caught on, and she figured it out. She’s the only one who could’ve figured it out. Theo’s too dense to have- she told him. “Love who?” I spat out, anger simmering just below the surface. She caught on to that too. “Matt-” I yank my hand from hers, stomping away from her and towards the water. “Vera! I’m not judging you- stop just stop running away!” “Running?!” I whip back around. “You told Theo!” 

Her eyes looked wet, her lip trembling as she took in my ruffled appearance. “I didn’t.” I scoffed. “I didn’t.” She repeated with a firmer tone this time. “He knows you enough to know something is wrong, but he doesn’t know what is wrong.” “My- my love isn’t wrong. It’s not the end of the world for someone to be loved by me.” I shutter out running a hand down my face as I try not to spiral.

I know she didn’t mean it like that, I know she didn’t mean to have that heart wrenching look of pity in her eyes. But I could just hear what she was thinking, my insecurities clanging like a gong in between my ears, ‘Oh Vera, how could you ever think he’d love you back?’

We stood in a field. Surrounded by tall grass and beautiful wildflowers, a lake just a few feet to our right, a tree about two yards to the left of us, and the sounds of our school echoing down the hill and filling the uncomfortable silence that fell upon us.

“Vera…” My friend’s words cut through that very silence, voice sincere. “...you love with a love so loyal, that you are content with standing on the sidelines for years. You love, with a love so fierce, that you will defend and fight and protect even when the object of your desire doesn’t take notice. You think I haven't noticed your absolute adoration toward the boy? I picked up on it back in 2nd year. You can’t keep secrets from me, you know that.” We both laughed through tears at that one.

I looked at her in shock, not knowing what to say. 

But she quickly spoke up before I could even fully process what she said before, “You love with a love anyone would be blessed to receive. But the fact of the matter is, you absolutely suck when it comes to confessions.”

My eyes narrowed at that sudden change in tone, getting whiplash from how fast she went from serious to downright insulting. It would be funny if the situation wasn't so emotional.

“You watch him from afar, you love him at a distance, but graduation is closer than it's ever been and you’re letting him slip through your fingers. I’ve watched you lose yourself in this love for long enough. It’s time, Vera. Tell him or move on but I won’t let you throw away our last years at Hogwarts just because you were trying to hold on to something you’ve never had.” I flinched at that, looking back toward the ground.

“I-I don’t know what you’re saying…” Evidently, Emma crossed the distance separating us, and I felt her hands comfortingly squeezing my shoulders. “I’m saying… it’s time you come clean. It’s time you tell Mattheo you’re in love with him.”

Emma met a boy with eyes like a man Turns out her heart fits right in the palm of his hand Now he'll be her shelter when it rains Little does he know, his whole world's about to change

So I told him I love him. 

KIDDING. After Emma surprise attacked me in that field, I ran back to our dorm and hid until noon the next day. She gave me her notes and we caught up on all the classes I missed, and then we talked for hours about him. And I told her everything.

Everything I felt toward him, everything I loved about him, everything I knew about him. She just smiled at me and rubbed my back during it all, giving nods of encouragement as I stuttered over my words.

The days went by as I tried to figure out what to do. I’d sound absolutely bonkers if I just went up to him and professed my undying affection. I’d become every other girl! ‘Except this time, it’d be a girl who truly cares about him…’ I thought bitterly to myself.

Every time I started to brainstorm on how I could run into him or get his attention, I felt like a crazy person. Like someone could peer into my thoughts and watch as I spiraled further and further into the madness of conspiracy theories and red string. It felt wrong to be so… calculated with him. He deserves better than that.

So I stayed quiet, waiting for an opportunity but not pushing it. Waiting for the stars to align and him to drop in my lap. Waiting like I’ve been waiting for the past six years. My frown deepened at that thought, heart weary as I walked into Transfiguration. Three things immediately drew my attention to the far corner of the room.

The object of my affections was actually… attending class.

He was sitting in my seat.

He was staring right at me.

I gulp, hands flexing around the strap of my satchel, nervously and uncomfortably holding eye contact with his gorgeous chocolate pools, the windows to his soul. The only way to describe the emotions swarming in those very same windows, was… curiosity? Amusement? Warmth? It was hard to tell at this distance—the occasional student walking to their seat or passing by to meet up with their friends making it hard to gaze wholly into his eyes.

‘Oh how I wish I knew what you were thinking…’ I shake my head, breaking that train of thought as well as the spell Mattheo and I seemed to be under. A shoulder bumps into me, reminding me I was planted in the doorway. I crossed the threshold, walking towards Mattheo— my desk.

“I’d say I was happy to see you but I’d be happier if I had my own seat.” I prodded jokingly as I sat down rather heavily in the seat to his left. A laugh slipped out of his lips, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile, throwing his head to the side to look at me. “Your seat? I’ve never seen you sit here, baby.” Mattheo teased, eyes glinting with humor.

I felt my cheeks burn at that comment. He said it so casually, that term of endearment that I would give anything to hear him say with meaning.

Our interactions always went this way. He'd shamelessly flirt with me (making me feel as if I couldn't breathe), I tried my best to meet his challenge (occasionally I got him to blush too), and it always ended with him walking away without a backwards glance. ‘Stop, stop thinking that. He’s talking to you, talk back!’ My inner Jiminy Cricket chides.

“You’ve never seen me sit here? Well, darling, I’d have to say this is the first time I’ve seen you in this class. It’s no wonder you’ve never noticed me sitting here.” Mattheo’s eyes widened slightly at that but his smile never faded, pleasantly surprised respond with your own pet-name. 

“Wizards and witches, quiet down!” Professor McGonagall called out, dropping a heavy book onto her desk. The sound of the loud thud echoed as the surrounding voices hushed to a silence. She had everyone’s attention. Well, everyone except for the two kids in the far corner.

We continued gazing into each other’s eyes, brows furrowing into an almost challenge to see who’d turn away first. “Ah, Mr. Riddle. Glad to see you bothered to grace us with your presence.” The older woman clicked her tongue, effectively pulling us apart, our eyes breaking contact as our heads whipped toward her. “Talk to me after class.” McGonagall made sure to stare point blank at Mattheo, voice steady and tone devoid of humor. “Fuck, she looks mad.” I put my hand over my mouth, holding in a snicker at Mattheo’s whispered comment as our teacher begins her lesson. “Stop, you’re gonna get us in trouble.” I scold, opening my notebook and reaching into my bag looking for a quill. Oh crap.

My eyes widened in panic. No quill. I started unzipping the different pockets, rummaging around, hoping that with enough silent begging and prayer, one would just magically appear. ‘It’s fitting we’re in Transfiguration… maybe the lesson will be on “Making Your Own Quill.”’

I’m pulled out of my inner grumbling with a tap on my shoulder. I was bent over toward the side, in between Mattheo and I’s tables, searching as silently as possible for anything to write with. So the sudden feeling of two fingers tapping my arm made me jump slightly.

I glance up, seeing the prettiest and most annoyingly smug grin. “If I lend you a quill, will you lend me your seat?” He asked, tapping on the chair he was leaning back in. I frown, eyebrows furrowing yet again as I sit back up. “You not only brought one, but two quills? I didn’t know you owned a notebook.” I whisper back, happily shocked to find out he had planned to pay attention today.

“No, I brought one. And trust me, it was a spur of the moment decision. Deep down we both know I wasn’t gonna use it anyway. Just take it.” He finally pulled out the writing tool from his bag, sliding it onto the wood slab in front of me.

“Mattheo I can’t take your onl-” “You can, and you will.” He smirked, insisting. "Well..." I sigh, nodding as I picked up the feather. "...Mattheo Riddle. You are my hero." "Call me any day baby, I'm happy to rescue such a beautiful damsel." His eyes glinted with amusement at my burning cheeks.

He turned back to face the front of the class, his heart stopping stupid ass grin staying plastered on his gorgeous stupid ass face. ‘He called me bea-HE CALLED ME BEAUTIFUL. What the heck is happening.' I close my eyes, breathing in and out a few times to try to get control over my racing thoughts.

'Will I ever get used to the utter heart palpitations this man causes me to have? It’s like a rabbit is trapped in my chest.’ I shake my head, looking back down at my journal.

I didn’t even know where to begin, utterly lost in this day's lecture as the past however-many-minutes was spent paying attention to Mattheo and panicking over my lack of writing tools rather than the actual subject Professor McGonagall was droning on about.

My thoughts wander back to what I was thinking of before I saw the beautiful boy to the right of me. I’ve been waiting for six years. For six years I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to drop in my lap, or for Riddle to come profess his love to me, or something, anything. I can’t even remember at this point.

I was tired of it all. Tired of waiting, tired of not knowing, tired of not living just because I yearned for something I didn’t have. I dip the quill in the ink, hesitating as the tip hovered over paper. The ink gathered at the point, almost falling off and splattering on the white page.

I glance to my right, gazing fondly at him. His profile, his curls, his general posture as he tried to pretend he was paying attention but he was simultaneously fighting sleep. His eyes kept fluttering shut and he was slumping further and further down into his chair.

I look back down at the paper. I’m tired of waiting. And so I began writing.

I met a boy with eyes like a man Turns out my heart fits right in the palm of his hand Now I’ll be his shelter when it rains Little does he know, his whole world's about to change

[oracleofdiscord]

possible ninja ages/timeline thing

(note: the reason i say possible is because in general i think trying to find a fully definitive age for any of the ninja is ultimately a futile effort.

there were actually pieces of information that i ignored in this because they contradicted other information i was using, and it's possible i missed something entirely. in general, i tried to ignore twitter and focus on in-show stuff. there are also fan theories i incorporated and fan theories i ignored, so if you subscribe to a different set of headcanons/theories you could easily come up with different results than me)

this isn't me saying "hey guys i cracked the code!" this is me saying that this is a possible timeline for their ages)

okay so this is something i worked out recently when i was trying to develop my ninjago oc, estrella, to help me figure out an approximate age for her.

it uses as a base this rough timeline by @destinysbounty (both in the sense that i used it as a guide and in the sense that when i needed to start visualizing things, i wrote on/drew on/edited this picture)

now, one theory i'm going off here is something that was proposed to me by @destinysbounty when i got confused about how harumi could be roughly the same age as lloyd both in flashbacks and in the present: the idea that after the tea, lloyd's body stopped aging until his mental age caught up with his physical age. this catch-up happened during the timeskip between s7 and s8, which is why his voice got lower

so this assumes that from s8 onwards, lloyd's mental and physical age match. other assumptions/pieces of evidence that i used:

kai mentions being a teenager during the oni trilogy, and thus is 19 at oldest

thanks to the flashback with baby nya, it can be assumed kai is at least a couple of years older than her

thanks to having seen nya and lloyd during s1 (where they have different body forms), it can be assumed nya is a least a couple of years older than him

(i've simplified this down to 2 years between each in my timeline, but there could definitely be an argument for more years. in my case, i felt like 2 years each made things line up in a way that made sense to me. feel free to make your own version and experiment with increasing the gap between nya and her siblings on either side but i've picked a number and i'm sticking to it)

@destinysbounty mentioned that most age estimates they'd seen for the pilots had nya in the 13-14 range

so, let's call nya 13 in the pilots/s1/s2 (the green chunk on the timeline). if lloyd was 2 years younger, he'd be 11, which works with the body form he had. if kai was 2 years older than nya, he'd be 15, which feels reasonable.

and let's call kai 19 during the oni trilogy. this would make nya 17 and lloyd 15, and also mean that 4 years have passed since s1. let's look at our rough timeline above. if the green chunk all takes place within a single year and there's a confirmed 1 year timeskip between s7 and s8, than for 4 years to have passed since the green chunk, the red chunk would need to be 3 years. which is a little on the short side, but within the bounds set by our rough timeline!

if lloyd was 15 in s8, he was 14 in s7. so going back to our earlier theory about his age, his chronological age caught up with his body in-between 14 and 15, and he started aging again. apparently 14.5 is kind of the upper boundary of when boys' voices change, so i'd say this checks out!

and here's my visual diagram of that

(i only included the characters that i used in figuring this out - lloyd and harumi's age relative to each other, lloyd and nya's age relative to each other, kai and nya's age relative to each other, kai saying he was a teenager, lloyd's voice changing...

but i would assume all of the core 4 ninja are about the same age except zane, who has his own thing going on. maybe jay is a year younger than kai, putting him closer in age to nya.)

assuming that the rest of the initial timeline is correct (s11-s14 being a year, the post-seabound timeskip being a year, the merge timeskip being 5 years)...

in crystalized, lloyd would be 17, nya would be 19, and kai would be 21.

in dragons rising, lloyd would be 22, nya would be 24, and kai would be 26.

[dustedmagazine]

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention — Whisky-A-Go-Go 1968 (Zappa Records/UMe)

Photo by George Rodriguez

In late July 1968, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention brought a three-ring circus to Los Angeles’s Whisky-A-Go-Go nightclub. They had some history at the club. They had played there early in their careers, but by this point they were an established act: they’d toured Europe, released four records and Zappa was in the process of starting his own record label. This July evening was a showcase not just for the Mothers, then, but also for acts he’d signed: The GTOs, a group of singers who doubled as groupies, street musician Wild Man Fisher and Alice Cooper. The show was recorded for possible release.

That album never materialized in Zappa’s lifetime, but some 56 years later this evening’s events are here on Whisky-A-Go-Go 1968. It’s not the full night, just the Mothers sets, boiling down a five-hour show to just under three.

As far as live Zappa albums go, Whisky-A-Go-Go 1968 is a mixed bag. There's moments where Zappa guitar shows him growing into a compelling soloist and there’s few songs here that never made it onto a previous Zappa record. But when compared to something like The Ark or Ahead of Their Time, this never quite gels: there's a sense of hesitation or maybe the band wasn’t having a good night. It’s interesting and occasionally really good, but it’s not as exciting as you might hope.

The first half of the set wavers between free-form jams and the Mothers goofing on 1950s doo wop: “Oh In the Sky,” “Memories of El Monte,” “My Boyfriend’s Back.” Zappa did have a genuine admiration for this kind of music, but between Roy Estrada’s strangled falsetto and Zappa’s deadpan delivery on these, it’s hard not to read these as the Mothers goofing around. It’s definitely more for hardcore fans. The improvisations are fine, too, with the little flourishes that pop up on Mothers records: stomping rhythms, vocal shouts, harsh bursts of sounds.

Some moments you had to be there for. “Della’s Preamble” incorporates audience participation that doesn’t come through on record. During moments of jamming you can hear shouts and yells and Zappa calling people up on the stage to dance. There’s even a bit where he’s presented with a pair of wings.

As the first set winds down, the band starts to stretch out on instrumentals and flex their muscles. “King Kong” has some wild blowing from the band’s brass section and lets both Zappa and Preston stretch out for solos before the band deftly segues into Edgard Varese’s “Octandre” and more improvisations.

The second set is more focused on the Mothers instrumental side: two takes of “The Duke” (actually an early version of “Little House I Used To Live In,” not the similarly named “Duke of Prunes'') that have Zappa taking completely different guitar solos, then the band moves into “Khaki Sack.” It’s a loose R&B groove with lots of room for solos, showing the band’s chops extended to far more than just goofy rock pastiches. Then the band moves into a lengthy performance of “The Whip,” where Zappa’s guitar playing takes on a nice psychedelic tinge, before the band moves on into some extended jamming for “Whisky Chouflee.” Finally, the disc ends with a nice treat: the first live performance of “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It,” from 1967’s Absolutely Free. It’s a little rough and the way it jumps around exposes some of this group’s limitations on stage, but the band pulls it together when they go back to the theme on “Brown Shoes Shuffle.”

In some ways, it’s best to compare this to 1974’s Roxy and Elsewhere, another live record that was recorded basically like an on-stage recording session. There, Zappa played several shows with the same set list with the intent of editing the best bits together for a live record; it’s similar to the approach Zappa refers to on here occasionally. But that project never materialized in his lifetime. One small excerpt came out on Uncle Meat, another on You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 5. Was he unhappy with this session? It’s impossible to say at this point. But this set documents a pretty significant occasion for the band, both as a homecoming and as a nice audio document of this group. Indeed, there’s not much live material from this early in Zappa’s career, let alone in this high quality sound.

Hardcore Zappa fans should consider Whisky-A-Go-Go 1968 an instant buy, but more casual ones may find the first half a little bulky. Those who enjoy the live bits of albums like Burnt Weeny Sandwich or Weasels Ripped My Flesh will find a lot to dig into here.

Roz Milner

[pessimysticrw]

The Watcher DLC - Personal Dissection

[SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED BASE GAME/DLC] Oh goodness me, Videocult has decided to drop a nuke on my already rotted brain due to this game and now I shall dissect this yummy meal bit by bit like the picky eater I am (in a good way this time though). And yall are coming with me because I said so. Really, this is just a great place for me to get my thoughts in order... cough. A lot of this is speculation! If I can find anything confirmed, I will try and write about it when I can.

Steam DLC Description

Let's start with the obvious- this basically confirms new creatures, regions, etc. This place seems to be in a completely different area than both the base game and Downpour slugcats, with new creatures to boot. I will go over the revealed regions/screenshots in more detail further down.

The descriptions states "the world beneath your feet cracks and crumbles", and while this could be linked to the Void Sea, the thumbnail art and font for the DLC's steam page and trailer depicts the Rot, and I am doubtful such an obvious detail would be thrown in there without it being present. Rot is only present where iterators are, and the only iterator we know of (in detail) to have the Rot is Five Pebbles, who got it by trying to rewrite himself. SRS gave him the pearl, but whoever wrote it is unknown, and I am highly doubtful it is 5P or SRS where this slugcat takes place in. It could be a pre-existing iterator like NSH/SOS (doubtful, but i suppose NSH would explain how Hunter got the rot if that is canon), a new one that also read the information that 5P and SRS did, or maybe even the one that originally wrote it that failed the experiment themself. This is a lot of speculation though and we will only really know for sure when more information is revealed. Take all of this with a grain of salt! I am just rambling possibilities.

New Regions

New regions are seen via screenshots on the DLC's Steam page. I will be attaching the screenshots here as well as what I speculate on what they may be/entail.

Starting with these two regions here, as it seems to match the most with the thumbnail art. At first I thought it was the foggy region below, but upon closer inspection this wall-like region incorporates more blue colors, fog/clouds are present, and would make the most sense for the rot to be present if this is indeed an iterator's wall.

Credits to shrinkshooter on Reddit for the enhanced image to the right.

This region looks reminiscent of 5P Memory Crypts, only in daylight. Whether this region serves a similar purpose to ancients is unknown. I considered the possibility of it being in a similar placement like 5P, but I am unsure if that would make sense due to the fact that 5P's shaded citadel is underneath his superstructure- hence why it is so dark in that region- when it clearly isn't here. (It could be completely separate from and not relating anything to Shaded Citadel entirely though!)

Mysterious looking underground region filled with green water. It's water guys. It better be water. Please no more acid, I'm begging.

This area immediately made me think of Spearmaster's start of their campaign, or it could be something reminiscent to Moon's Submerged Superstructure. Drainage System/Undergrowth also comes to mind.

Two desert-like regions are depicted here! While some speculation on the region on the right is it being a snow biome- I personally believe that this may be in face a dust/sand storm. Dust storms were planned during Metropolis' development in Downpour, but were scrapped in favor for the day/night cycle instead. Additionally, the snow particles present in Saint's campaign look drastically different compared to what is shown here. Additionally, there is Developer Commentary that talks about these dust storms for Metropolis. The dust storm effect looks different compared to what is shown, but it could have been possibly reworked to suit the region's look. Who knows though! Could just indeed be snow- but the entire area for this campaign looks to be generally warmer.

This region looks reminiscent to Sky Islands from 5P. Something to note is the lack of nearby iterator cities. This could mean two things: this campaign takes place far into the future, with surrounding iterators having already collapsed. Or...

It could be located on an desert island, right next to an ocean. Where all the water could have gone from this area will honestly be up to speculation until more information presents itself- however the seemingly coral-like structure to this region seems to point to this. It would also explain the lack of visible iterator cities in the background of the previous mentioned Sky Islands reminiscent region.

Additionally in one of the thumbnails for the DLC, water is present below the slugcat. (Then again, rain/water is present for all of em besides Saint eh?)

Additional Notes

An echo-like effect is seen around the slugcat in the previously mentioned thumbnail, as well as in the ripples in the water around it