#she just has an arsenal of them of varying sizes

[wndrflgrl]

that thing is bigger than she is

[splendsay]

COD Fic // Callsign: Sunshine // Chapter 11: How to Catch a Zombie

hi hello yes it's me again sorry for the delay ya girl had a RUFF friday the 13th it's ok tho I lived and here is another chapter YAY HUZZAH WOOHOO

lil blurb of semi-importance: it came to my attention (my husband told me) that Sunshine's original rank (First Lieutenant) would not be possible if she was an enlisted soldier, so you will note that her rank has been corrected to Sergeant in the earlier chapters (which affects how she is addressed in said chapters but little else and nothing plot-wise).

ok das it, bye ..................................................................

Callsign: Sunshine // Chapter 11 // How to Catch a Zombie

.................................................................. CWs: Explicit language, descriptions of guns

Characters: Simon "Ghost" Riley, Reader (You), Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, Johnny "Soap" MacTavish, Captain John Price, Kate Laswell

Chapter Excerpt:

A week and a half later, you find yourself standing in a wide, grassy meadow, about an hour's hike from the estate. Soap, Gaz, and even Price, are here too -- across the field, maybe fifty meters away, still up-range. Another hundred meters beyond them, is a line of targets, each comprised of varying combinations of wood and hay, haphazardly spray painted with red and black. Ghost is standing next to you with a pair of binoculars held up to his face. 

"Any day now," he drawls.

There aren't many clouds in the sky today, the warm sun a nice change of pace. There's a slight, balmy breeze and the field is abuzz with insects. Little blue flowers grow in patches about waist high, and you find yourself distracted by their loveliness on more than one occasion. 

You're holding a rifle -- a regular one -- Ghost's, actually. The one you'd admired that first night, traversing through the desert. They still haven't let you touch the upgraded weapons, to your constant and pervasive annoyance. Price insists it's because they worry you aren't strong enough yet to handle the recoil, but you know it's actually because they still don't quite trust you. 

And why do you know that? Because this is the first time they've allowed you to hold a gun at all that isn't your own pistol. You'd complained to Ghost a hundred times about not getting any shooting practice as part of your training, but he'd mumbled and grumbled things about "not being ready" and "too dangerous" and "waste of bullets" each time. 

Finally, a couple days ago, thanks to endless groveling -- and the new secret weapon in your arsenal to getting your way: Soap -- you were able to convince the group to take you to a range. 

You'd started the morning around the kitchen island sipping coffee and frowning into a bowl of oatmeal -- just the five of you. When Price and Laswell had returned from wherever it was they'd gone, Laswell had stayed long enough to hear about your father's descent into madness and its implications on the future of humanity, and had then immediately turned around and jetted off to some other mission base. She hadn't offered you any information about her and Price's prior whereabouts, but she had brought you another large box of hand-me-downs. She'd even included a few new pairs of shoes -- these actually in your size. A couple more pairs of sneakers, and a surprisingly lovely pair of worn-in leather lace-up boots. She'd handed the box to you with a stern expression and a covert wink. 

..................................................................... Links to: Spotify Playlist Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11

[neonphoenix]

Stephanie knows that she isn’t the best fighter in the world, far from it in fact. She knows she can’t think fast enough to go take out most metas or robots or anything else of that caliber. But she’s Stephanie Brown, and she’s not gonna let that stop her. She gets inventive. 

She can fight with sticks, but she doesn’t necessarily have Nightwing’s acrobatic ability, so she can’t build the momentum necessary to deliver devastating blows with them. She knows how to use a gun, but 1. Batman and 2. The lack of creativity. She could drop in, silently, and retreat before anyone notices her, but then when would she get to wisecrack while kicking someone’s ass?

The solution occurs to her one day while browsing the internet: Incendiaries.

 Specifically, of the stylish variety. 

That’s right folks, Stephanie Brown is adding Glitter Bombs to her arsenal. Depending on the size of the glitter, the bombs can have various uses. 

Fine powder functions as a smoke bomb.

Sand sized grains are great for throwing in an opponent’s eyes.

Larger glitter, closer to sequin-sized, is great for jamming machinery.

Stephanie knows what she has to do. First, she begins examining the blueprints for the smoke bombs. Those seem like they would change the least. Then, she steals some of Red Hood’s stuff, because she always steals his stuff when she needs something. It’s tradition. Stephanie then calls up Harper, to talk hypotheticals. Harper’s cool, and, if she thinks something’s up, she won’t snitch. Stephanie holes up in Dick’s workshop in Bludhaven while he’s off doing something with the Titans. She thought about just using the Batcave, but then Batman would find out too soon and that wouldn’t work out for anyone. Also, Dick isn’t going to get that mad at her for covering his space with glitter. Probably. He can deal with it.

It goes beyond just glitter bombs. She develops a line of eggplant slimes of varying viscosities and adhesiveness. Some are for dissolving locks, others for gluing people’s eyes shut. They aren’t perfect, but they’re definitely something. And it’s not like designing any of this stuff is hard, especially since Batman has spent decades meticulously recording what does and doesn’t work.

In the end, it’s Damian who finds out first. She’s patrolling with him like a good big sister when they find a warehouse of robots ready to attack them. This is her moment. She makes sure he’s out of the way, claiming that they need to plan. Then, once they’re both in the rafters and out of harms way, she unleashes her sequin glitter on the robots below.

It’s glorious.  Eggplant glitter swirls around them, getting stuck in the robots joints and limiting their visibility. She looks up at Robin with a grin, and if Stephanie didn’t know better, she’d say he looked almost terrified of her. Probably just disappointed, but a girl can dream.

Of course, once they can no longer move, the robots begin firing their lasers wherever they can. Because of course they have lasers. Why wouldn’t they have lasers. The warehouse is burning around them, but Stephanie has a new trick up her sleeve. Flame-Retardant Glitter Slime. She throws some capsules to Robin, and tells him to aim for the lasers. Once enough of them have been disabled, he jumps down and starts deactivating the Robots.

Batman arrives with the fire department to find them sitting a few roofs down from the blaze, admiring their handiwork. Damian declares that, “Brown’s method, while unconventional, was effective,” and Stephanie is on cloud nine. She’s covered in glitter. Her idea worked. A building is on fire. Damian seems to approve of it (She’d be fine if he didn’t, but it’s the principle of the thing). Batman looks so, so tired.

Stephanie has won.

[mk-wizard]

Proof that the Decepticon Way is Not Evil

Hello, Transformer fans.

After doing an essay on the glaring flaws in the Autobot way, I wanted to do one that points out the virtues in the Decepticon way. Note that these good points do not make Decepticons like Megatron or Starscream any less evil. A criminal/terrorist is still a criminal/terrorist regardless of how they identify as and nothing Megatron, Starscream, Knockout or anyone else says or does will dismiss their crimes. Also, Starscream is just a stinker in general. He is NOT the standard of how Decepticons are as even other bad ones don’t like him and think he’s a stinker.

This essay is meant to point out the TRUE things the Decepticon way stands for and why many bots believe in it, and how Megatron and other criminals don’t stand for it as much as they claim they do.

They allow free speech. - If there is one thing that we consider as the bedrock of all freedom, it is free speech even if we may not always like what the other person has to say. While most of the time, this practise of the exercise to say whatever you want is taken too far among the Decepticon terrorists to the point where they show no respect, but the fact that they can is telling. While I myself don’t encourage unkind words, I will chalk one up for the Decepticons in how a Decepticon can say what they want even to Megatron’s face and while he will chastise them vocally for it, unless your words have treacherous implications, he will not so much as give you a slap on the hand. In fact, Megatron will actually listen to someone if they have a good idea or will point out the flaws in his idea. A society that allows people to say what they mean even if it is “my leader stinks” is one that has the right idea. After all, how can you become a better society if no one is allowed to say what is bothering them so the problem can be fixed?

They assign leaders based on merit not a title. - Though the lineage of Decepticon leaders is passed on by default from the one Megatron/Megara to the their child, they are more than willing to make exceptions if someone better for the role comes along. Heck, heirs/heiresses have even been known to refuse the role of leadership. I have to admit that a system that recognises that leadership is not a trait that is passed down genetically is progressive. And for that, I give a point to the Decepticons in that. In Autobot society, a leader system is either hierarchical (from one Prime to their child) or the Autobot Matrix “selects” a leader (and might I add, sometimes, people have been known to misinterpret the Matrix’s reaction or lie about it entirely). The Autobot people have no say whatseover.

They respect individuality. - Did you know that an Autobot can live in a Decepticon community without converting? It’s true. In fact, there are many Autobots who live among Decepticons. Another thing that Decepticons allow is the freedom to believe in what you want meaning they permit people to be Atheist and allow varying levels of how devout you are. They believe religion is a personal thing. Another thing that is obvious about Decepticons is how different all of them are and not just visually. Their alt modes are very diverse. You change into anything you want even if it has nothing to do with your job because they accept that your alt mode doesn’t hinder you from doing your job. Look at Knockout who changes into a luxury car while being a Decepticon medic, Soundwave who changes into a palm sized cassette player and is Megatron’s confidante, and Reflector who change into a camera and is a force to be reckoned with. The only exception are the Seekers and from what I have seen, the Seekers are a special case of which they have the same mold because it is uniform in their case which they consider as an honour to wear. And even then, you can choose your own colours. Another thing that I notice and actually is rather heartwarming is that among Decepticons, they are even more diverse in terms of culture. They have bots of varying origins which you can tell by their accents. Among Autobots, you either sound American (even when oriental). From what I recall, only Perceptor had a European accent (British specifically). When they said “till all are one”, I they didn’t mean all had to be the same.

They are more feminist. - As much as I don’t want to be “that girl”, I have to give hats off to the Decepticons in how they treat women and this shows most of all in how they DRESS the women. Even when a female Decepticon is very feminine that dresses femininely, she will be covered and be dressed for the part rather than show a lot of plating (skin) or be overly pretty. Just compare designs using this list. As much as I myself don’t see anything wrong with female characters dressing beautifully, sexy or being naturally beautiful and sexy, or even them dressing sexy on their own time (I do sometimes), but there is a definite night and day difference between how female Autobots behave and how female Decepticons do. The Decepticon females are more professional and don’t do cute. Note that Blackarachnia was originally a Predacon not a Decepticon and she is also the exception not the standard. And even then, Blackarachnia was honestly good at her job, she was a genius scientist in her own right and she could take care of herself. Even Prime Arcee doesn’t display this level independence or emotional maturity. Another thing that is telling about how they see women and what they value in them is the kind of woman Megatron fell in love with. In G1, Megatron was attracted to a robot ninja Nightbird who wasn’t even a Transformer and wasn’t dressed sexy or anything. She never even flirted with him. He was charmed by her skills as a warrior and how she got the job done. This speaks volumes.

Megatron gives Decepticons a choice on whether to follow him or not. - And no, I am not talking about how he deals with traitors like Starscream. Since the days of G1, there have been Decepticons who did not work under Megatron and Megatron did not criminalise these Decepticons for it. He gives Decepticons a choice on whether or not to serve him directly, and if they say “no”, he moves on. The only time he will ever criminalise a Decepticon is if they directly act against him which is really the only valid reason to criminalise them. Megatron has even been known to respect Decepticons who were independent enough to do without him.

They do not outcast or ostracise the misfits or handicapped. - If there is one noble thing the Decepticons do that I will always take my hat off to them, it is that they do not deem a bot useless or will lock them up for being different or imperfect and they recognise that having a handicap doesn’t make you disabled at everything. Heck, they even employ unchangers (Transformers who cannot transform)! And I can’t help but notice that almost every beast type with the exception of the Dinobots is a Decepticon. I mean, just look at RID. All of the inmates were beast types. They aren’t concerned with what you can’t do or whether you’re pretty to look at. They are just concerned with what you can do. I also want to point out that their own leader Megatron may very well be a mutant, beast type or both. And in the defence of the beast types, mutants and the handicapped, where did the Autobots expect them to go if they got deemed as freaks or were chased out of town everywhere else? As we saw in Animated, Blitzwing who suffers from split personality disorder was still a high ranking respected officer who served Megatron directly and proved to still be a force to be reckoned with as he has a multi-elemental arsenal, he is an amazing fighter, he is a responsible leader when needed and he is a genius. Then we have the Insecticons from Prime who are fiercely loyal to Megatron and not for nothing. Megatron stands up for them even when other Decepticons badmouth them.

The Decepticon way is based on freedom. - The whole reason the Decepticons came to be and all of the points I listed all come back to freedom in all its forms. And after seeing that the Autobot way is not very free at all, is it any wonder that the Decepticons came to be? Now, I am not condoning any criminal activity or terrorism, but I cannot blame rebellion and the demand for change. If you even look closely at the Decepticon insignia, it looks like there is a flying vehicle on it and it was confirmed that this was intentional. Another thing that was intentional since G1 is that all Decepticons can fly in robot mode at least like Superman (though some series forget this fact). The ability to fly is in fact a metaphor for freedom and the original Megatron who founded the Decepticons (not the one we know now) wanted every Decepticon to be able to fly because he wanted every Decepticon to always remember what their faction stands for. Like I said, nothing the bad Decepticons say justifies their criminal activity or terrorism, but it’s clear that the Decepticon way itself isn’t evil.

This is why I think it is also high time we saw more good Decepticons who refuse to convert.

[7-wonders]

To Fight the Powers that Be

Summary: Duncan Shepherd decides that, before he makes (Y/N) prove that she won’t go to the police about the crimes she’s witnessed, he needs to teach her a bit about defending herself.

Word Count: 3438

A/N: Welcome back to another chapter of Memento Mori, my crime boss!Duncan Shepherd AU story! I sincerely hope you enjoy. Likes, reblogs, and comments are much appreciated, if you feel so inclined, and my inbox is always open for people to chat. Finally, a big thanks to @lvngdvns for thrusting this idea to the forefront of this fandom’s mind, and to my beloved @divinelangdon for being a constant support throughout this writing process.

Warnings: Trespassing, mentions of mafia dealings, guns. All of the knowledge about guns in this chapter is from the brain of yours truly, who has trained around guns since she was 10.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2: To Fight the Powers that Be

In the three days since (Y/N) had been abruptly dumped in the living room of her apartment after being kidnapped, she had gotten a total of ten hours of sleep. It wasn’t that she was scared of the Shepherd family; no, she was downright terrified. Her eyes burned from a lack of sleep, her stomach churned from all of the caffeine she had forced down her throat, and her mind raced with paranoid thoughts at every unfamiliar sight and sound she encountered. Any person she hadn’t seen before, any sound she hadn’t heard before, anything that looked out of place, immediately had her spine stiffening and her heart thumping.

Her friends and coworkers had all been extremely concerned when she showed up in public with bruises of varying shades and a noticeable cut above her left eyebrow. She had been able to convince them that she had been jumped on her way home the other night, but that only served to have everyone try and contact the police on her behalf. Frantically, (Y/N) had to think quickly and say that the police had been contacted and that they were being careful due to the possibility of this being related to gang activity; a half-lie. They had still been worried, of course, but were willing to acquiesce now that they believed the authorities were involved. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them--it’s what they did know that would hurt them.

(Y/N) couldn’t decide if Shepherd and his goons not showing up yet was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe they had finally come to their senses and decided that she’s not actually a threat to their massive crime syndicate. They could also simply be laying in wait, biding their time for the perfect moment to kill her and make it look like an accident. It seems far more likely, however, that they’re just enjoying drawing out the wait and making her squirm. 

Opening the door to her apartment, (Y/N)’s immediately aware that something is wrong. The door leading to her bedroom is closed, and she’s certain that it was open before she left this morning. A sensible person would backtrack out of the apartment and call the police, but a sensible person also doesn’t get wrapped up in mafia dealings. If (Y/N) calls the cops and it does turn out that whoever’s in her apartment has been sent by Duncan Shepherd to kill her, there’s no telling what would happen to her loved ones and herself, provided she survive fighting off a trained assassin.

Quietly opening the closet door to her left, (Y/N) grabs the baseball bat her father insisted she keep handy in case of intruders. At the time, she had rolled her eyes and made fun of it, but now she’s thankful she had listened. She’s grateful that the door doesn’t bang against the frame, or that the handle doesn’t make a sound when she releases it. 

(Y/N) holds her breath as she creeps closer to her bedroom, the bat clutched tightly in her hands and held up like she’s ready to swing at a pitch. She can’t help but feel a bit like the cliche “final girl” in a horror movie, bravely, yet stupidly advancing towards the danger that lies straight ahead. Stepping over a part of the floor that she knows is capable of creaking loudly, (Y/N) feels a surge of adrenaline rush through her now that she’s right outside of the door. It’s open just a crack, and hearing rustling from inside confirms her fears that someone had broken into her home.

Deep breath, (Y/N) thinks, closing her eyes and attempting to gather up enough courage to actually go in and face the intruder head-on. Her grip on the bat tightens, and she starts to count to three.

1...she moves her knee against the door.

2...she opens her eyes and steadies herself.

3...she kicks the door open with a gusto.

Without giving herself time to think, (Y/N) charges into her bedroom with her weapon at the ready. The room’s dark, so she can’t see who is here with her, but she does see that it’s someone tall and broad-shouldered. She immediately swings for the person’s head, but they’re faster than she is. 

Within seconds (Y/N)’s disarmed and pinned up against the wall, an arm over her shoulders and a hand over her mouth. She’s breathing heavily, shaking from the fear that death is now imminent, when she finally realizes that the blue eyes she’s staring into are Duncan Shepherd’s blue eyes.

“You’re not going to scream if I remove my hand, now, are you (Y/N)?” his silky voice cuts through the air. He’s satisfied when she shakes her head as far as she can with the limited mobility that being caught in Shepherd’s grasp allows, and pulls his hand away from her face. “Good girl.”

(Y/N) scoffs and attempts to push him off of her, but is disheartened to find that he barely budges. “It’s rude to break into somebody’s house, you know. You could have at least called ahead.”

“I’ll remember that for next time.”

“How did you even get in here?” The moment she asks the question, she knows the answer. Choosing to avoid his smug retort, she keeps talking. “For a mafia boss, you’re not very stealthy.”

“Trust me, if I didn’t want you to know I was here, you wouldn’t.” She wants to call his bluff, but the look that he’s giving her lets her know that he’s completely serious. “Nice little place you’ve got here, by the way. It’s...comfortable.”

“What do you want, Duncan? I’m guessing you didn’t come here to make small talk.”

“You’re correct.” He releases his hold on her, and she breathes deeply at the sudden lack of a weight over her chest.

“Need me to run drugs? Go…” she racks her brain, trying to think of what a man like him would need from someone like her, “go and rough somebody up?”

Duncan chuckles, picking up a photo on (Y/N)’s dresser of her and her parents at her high school graduation and looking at it idly. “I actually was going to give you your first assignment, but then I realized: you’ve had absolutely no sort of training whatsoever, self-defense or otherwise. I may be cruel, but I’m not cruel enough to throw somebody into the lion’s den completely unprepared.”

“I know loads of self-defense!” (Y/N) yelps when Duncan crosses the room quickly and grabs her wrist, pulling her arm straight, and examining her palm.

“No, you don’t. Look at you,” Duncan mutters, lightly tracing over the planes of her hand, “these are not the hands of someone who’s fought before.”

“I’ve been in fights before!” A lie, but she might as well run with it now that she’s gone this far.

“Don’t lie to me, (Y/N). You’re lucky that I decided to stop by instead of Langdon; he doesn’t tolerate liars.” A chill runs up her spine at the thought of that horrendous man.

“If you only came here to make fun of me, I’d rather you just kill me instead.”

“Now, that’s not the only reason.” Duncan lets go of (Y/N)’s hand and walks out of her bedroom, leaving her standing utterly confused.

“Wh-where are you going?”

“I’m going to teach you how to defend yourself, of course.” He looks behind his shoulder at her, a small smile on his face. “Are you coming or not?”

//

She hadn’t been expecting Duncan to take her to an elaborate gym tucked in the middle of the city, but she hadn’t been expecting most events that had happened to her lately. “You own this, then?” (Y/N) asks, following Duncan through the deserted lobby. 

“Technically, no. However, the owners of this business have a contract with my family, where we invest in the business and make sure that there’s no competition in this area in exchange for a cut of their profits and use of the property however we see fit.”

(Y/N) wrinkles her nose. “All illegal, I’m guessing?” Duncan remains silent, but the smirk playing on his lips tells her that she’s right on the nose. “So what sort of self-defense are you going to teach me today?”

“Nothing too strenuous, don’t worry.” She comes to a stop at a door marked ‘private,’ Duncan entering a password on the keypad and pressing his hand to the screen that opens up underneath the keypad. The LED light blinks green and a mechanical hissing signify the unlocking of the door, which Duncan quickly opens. “Today, we’ll most likely just work on weapons training.”

“There’s an entire shooting range back here!” (Y/N) notes in awe, taking in the sight of a large gun range behind the inconspicuous door that they came through. Upon realizing that Duncan’s already walked ahead of her and is unlocking a large cabinet, she hurries to catch up to him.

“You’ve never held a gun before,” Duncan notes, opening the cabinet to reveal a large arsenal of guns. All different models, sizes, types; (Y/N)’s pretty sure that if there’s a gun that’s been manufactured before, the Shepherd family owns it. 

“I--”

“Don’t try to deny it. I could tell the moment I looked at your hands earlier.” When she quirks a questioning brow, Duncan elaborates. “You don’t have any sort of calluses on your trigger finger, or where your hands would rest against a gun.”

“I have to admit, I’m pretty impressed at what you can tell just from looking at a person’s hands.”

He chuckles, looking through his catalogue’s worth of guns before grabbing one off of the wall. It’s a handgun, that much she’s certain, but she doesn’t know anything else about the weapon beside that. “This is a Glock.” Duncan holds out the gun to (Y/N), who nods.

“I have no clue what that means.”

“It’s the type of gun.”

“So I’m guessing it’s a good gun?”

“Yes, it’s an extremely good gun.” He notices how apprehensively she’s staring at it and sighs. “Lesson number one: don’t be afraid of the gun. It’s not going to do anything that you don’t want it to. Especially when it’s not loaded.”

(Y/N) bites back a mean-spirited comment. “I’m not afraid of the gun, I’m just not quite sure what I’m supposed to do with an unloaded gun.”

“We’re going to load it.” Pressing a small button on the side, a piece of the gun slides out of the bottom while the top slides back. “This is the magazine, where the bullets are stored. Typically, any gun that you receive will already be loaded, but it’s good to learn how to load a gun.”

He hands her the empty magazine and sets a box of bullets on the table, watching with a skilled eye as she examines the shiny lead pieces. Picking one up, she holds it between her fingers and rolls it around in her palm before putting it in the magazine. “Like that?”

“Yes, perfect.” She repeats her actions until 13 rounds have been loaded. “Now load it back into the gun. Don’t be soft about it, you need to do it quickly so you can hear it click into place.”

This part’s a little more difficult, but she still manages to get the magazine back into the gun. “What do I do now? The top part is still out.”

“Hand me the gun.” (Y/N) does as she’s told, and watches as Duncan handles the weapon like he’s had a gun in his hand from the moment he was born. “Racking the slide back is tricky, as it’s really easy to get your hand pinched when the slide goes back into place.”

She holds her breath as the gun does exactly as he said it would, sliding back into place harshly. If she had been the one to do that, it’s almost a guarantee that she would now have an injured hand.

“Don’t ever point a gun at anything unless you’re prepared and willing to shoot. Hopefully, it will not come to you ever having to actually shoot, but just pointing it at a person takes an extraordinary amount of willpower.” 

Duncan presses a small piece next to the trigger, which (Y/N) figures with her limited amount of firearm knowledge to be the safety. Gripping the gun with one hand, he lifts his arm and points the weapon at a target with the silhouette of a person on it across the room. He doesn’t even have to look through the sight before he fires, staring down the range and delicately pulling the trigger a millisecond after (Y/N) claps her hands over her ears. The gun fires twice, one bullet striking the chest, and the other striking the head.

“Now it’s your turn.” Duncan turns the safety back on before he gives the gun back to (Y/N), and she attempts to mimic the stance that he had assumed when shooting.

The gun feels even more foreign in her hand now, the metal still slightly hot from recently being fired. It’s heavy, and it doesn’t feel right as she holds it like Duncan had. Looking over at him with a frown, no words are necessary when her face expresses her displeasure.

“May I?” Duncan asks, gesturing to her hands. (Y/N) nods, and Duncan moves behind her. “Your grip is too tense,” he mutters, gently adjusting her grip on the gun. 

“Wasn’t aware you could hold a gun too tightly.”

“It affects the trajectory of your bullet, miss know-it-all.” He takes a step back to look over her stance, nodding to himself. “Now place your other hand on the bottom of the gun. You’ll want some more force to keep the gun from recoiling too hard on your first time shooting.”

“I can’t hold it with one hand like you did?”

Duncan shakes his head. “Just--shoot, and you’ll see why you need two hands.” Taking a deep breath, (Y/N) clicks off the safety just as Duncan had and stares down the room at the target against the other wall. 

She’s not sure what she thought shooting a gun would be like, but whatever her imagination had decided was nothing when it came to actually shooting the gun. The moment she pulls the trigger, the gun jumps in her grasp, and she has to hold on even tighter to keep it from flying out of her hands. The sound of the gun going off reminds her of a small cannon, and her ears ring from the proximity. There’s not a third hole to join the previous two on the picture of the target, which means she completely missed.

“Holy shit,” she breathes, shakily turning the safety back on before setting the gun down on the table.

“Told you that you’d need both hands on the gun.” Duncan tries not to sound smug, but that’s impossible when the regular tone of his voice is smug.

“I didn’t think it’d do that!”

Duncan bites his lip to keep from laughing. “Come on, try it again. I want to at least see you hit the target before we’re done.”

Although (Y/N) eyes him warily, she still picks up the gun and resumes the same stance. This time, she’s a little more prepared when she fires, but she still manages to completely miss the target as she puts most of her focus on keeping the gun from jumping.

“It’s useless to try and teach me.” She scrunches her nose, trying to get rid of the ringing in her ears. “I’m not going to hit that stupid target, and if things go the way I’m hoping then I won’t even have to pull a gun on someone.”

“But if it does come to that, wouldn’t you want to have some sort of assurance that you will at least hit somebody if you need to shoot them?”

“Yes,” she admits begrudgingly. 

“Is it alright if I help you, then?”

“Yeah, sure.” (Y/N) watch Duncan closely as he moves behind her again. “Just--no funny business, mister.”

He huffs out a laugh, but nods. “Eyes on your target,” he mutters into her ear.

Duncan’s chest rests against (Y/N)’s back as his arms loop around her, coming to rest on top of her hands. (Y/N)’s breath hitches, imperceptibly to most, but to someone with the ability to read people like a seasoned FBI agent, that small tic of emotion is clear as day to Duncan. Laying his chin on her shoulder, he lifts the gun, and her arms, up to point at the target.

“The key,” he says quietly, his chest rumbling with the vibrations of his voice, “is when you shoot. People think that the way they breathe doesn’t affect the shot, but it does. You want to pull the trigger when you exhale.”

(Y/N)’s shoulders are tense as she tries not to think about the dangerous crime boss that could easily kill her with the position they’re both currently in. “Okay, shoot on the exhale. Got it.”

“Look through your sight on the exhale before you shoot, that way you can get a feel for where you’re shooting.”

“Pretty sure I won’t have enough time to do all this when there’s some goon coming at me with the sole objective to kill me.”

“It becomes much easier after you’ve practiced a few times.”

“Like riding a bike,” she mutters.

“Pick where you’re going to shoot.” He redirects her attention to the task at hand. (Y/N) aims for the chest, where Duncan had first shot, and desperately tries to keep her hands steady. “Ready?”

“I think so.” She’s not ready, but there’s no time like the present, so she tries to convince herself as well as Duncan of the opposite.

Duncan places his trigger finger over hers. “Breathe in,” he commands, breathing in with her so she has no choice but to follow. “Out, and shoot.”

As (Y/N)’s shoulders come back down with an exhale, Duncan waits until he feels the muscle of her trigger finger start to tense as she pulls the trigger, only moving when she does. The gun moves far less than it has previously, another set of hands helping to keep it in the position that it’s supposed to be in. (Y/N) still twitches a little bit when she shoots, and the bullet doesn’t land where she planned for it to be. Instead, it’s a few inches up, hitting the target in the side of the neck. 

“Damn,” she mutters, relaxing back into Duncan’s grasp without noticing she’s doing so, “really thought I had that.”

“It was much better than last time,” he reassures her. “After all, you actually hit the target.”

(Y/N) cranes her head back to glare at him, the smile on her face betraying her. “Rude,” she admonishes. 

The smile on her face freezes when she realizes that she’s still wrapped in Duncan’s arms, the man awkwardly clearing his throat and unwrapping his arms from around her. She looks ahead at the target, anything to avoid looking him in the eyes.

“I think that’ll be good for today, now that you’ve at least held and shot a gun.”

“Yeah, that’s--that’s a good idea.” She walks towards the wall, grabbing the bag she had hastily snagged on her way out of her apartment. “Are my ears always going to ring like that?”

Duncan shakes his head. “No. Eventually, you’ll get used to the sound.”

“Great. Cool.” She bobs her head, trying to think of something else to say. “Um, see ya around, I guess?”

“Have a good night, (Y/N).” She nearly rushes out of the door as soon as Duncan makes it clear he’s done with her for now, waiting until the cool evening air hits her face outside to process what had happened.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she whispers, running a hand through her hair as she walks quickly down the sidewalk.

(Y/N)’s not going to let herself get flustered from minor physical contact. She’s stared death in the eye now; there’s no reason to get nervous about the leader of a mob teaching her how to shoot. Still, she finds herself haunted by Duncan Shepherd for the rest of the night, his scent lingering on the air, his touch still ghosting along her skin, and his eyes haunting her in her dreams.

//

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[spirit-of-vengeance]

Resident evil AU headcanons!

🔥 Morally? Questionable.

At first I toyed with the idea of writing her background as a soldier instead of a cage fighter; so when she's paralyzed she is terrified not just because of her passion being taken away but the fact that she can't save people anymore.

She, in most AUs despite her violent ways, has a heroic undertone, she murders the criminals to protect the innocent from pain or death (castrating then murdering pedophiles; brutal but effective 🤷🏼‍♀). So I wanted to play with the idea of her being morally grey and selfish: deep down she feels, she knows this company is up to no good: yet she still willingly consents to the operation because only gaining her legs matter. She wouldn't even cared if she died on the operating table, she can't and don't want to live like this.

And in the revenge phrase, she doesn't do it mainly for the world but for what they had done to her: she would help if she sees someone almost getting eaten by zombies but if she has to choose between saving that person/people or murdering a person/people of the Umbrella; she would and will go for the kill.

Before encountering the Umbrella, in the fights she only wounded severely and disabled probably for a lifetime her opponents when it was truly necessary and she couldn't have won or it would be her suffering the injury. But now, she aims to cause the most pain possible before finishing Umbrella soldiers. She brings suffering with twisted joy, both because of the effect of the T virus on her already violent personality and the years spent as a prisoner, as an experiment.

🔥 Caged predator

After realizing what the Umbrella is, what they had done to her, the first thought is to run. But they already expecting that move aren't they? Not many would describe Cindy as a strategist, yet indeed she is: she controls her rage brewing stronger with each day. She senses how important she is as a weapon to them so she relies on the knowledge to gain a few favors like opportunity to train as she wants, after all she's here because of her combat abilities. She is observing the facility, trying to learn the layout and security system for the day when she will break out.

Cindy, seemingly willingly fights against other B.O.W.s when tasked to, she knows they want to measure if she's worth it, if she's truly the Project Undefeated; so she puts up hell of a show each time. She uses these opportunities to get rid of the insane built up fury as well as staying in shape and learning about the creatures that these fuckers created.

When she is on the receiving edge of pain, she chomps down on her tongue, usually at the point of drinking her own blood to prevent snarling her true motives: she will murder them all.

Seemingly, she complies, do as tasked to lure them into a false sense of control while her eyes offer a glimpse of the raging volcano waiting for the perfect moment to erupt.

🔥 Would rather die than be near a needle again.

After Cindy is free, there's not much what would make her halt. Except needles, even the sight of a hospital (or what remained of it). She would never admit but she is utterly terrified by needles and the thought of an injection. Same internal reaction to surgeon tools. The saying 'oh my god you need to go to a hospital/see a doctor' automatically triggers her fight or flight response.

🔥They wanted a Reaper. They got it.

Cindy is well aware that she is part monster and she is more okay with the fact than she should be. It was the T virus what had given her back her legs, the freedom of movement. She frequently craves blood or meat which had gotten worse after the ruination of her right arm but she never gives in to the lowly humming instinct, she keeps it locked, under control. Cindy would reject the antivirus if offered, either she would die and that's the better outcome or back at the starting point: paralysis plus completely useless right arm. She sort of accepted that she will never be fully human and after escaping and discovering more of her abilities she even began to like it. After all, having blades as fingers come pretty handy against any creature: never runs out of ammo, can't be lost, swift and silent. The Umbrella has created an extraordinary weapon, only that anyone with having their logo on them is like walking with a giant target cross.

🔥You won't even see it coming

🔥 Cindy takes great pride in that her combat skills didn't need an upgrade or enchantment. It was their defense, leaving her physical abilities untouched, they wanted a great weapon but not too great.

🔥 The spikes on her right arm vary, she can lengthen them at will as well as her claws. Her 'fingers' also can be united into a single long blade. When not alarmed it won't retreat, the average size of them is around 10-13 cm on her fingers, slightly longer on the rest of the arm.

🔥 A blade can emerge from any place of her body, surprisingly painless, she has discovered this trick when she accidentally stabbed an Umbrella doctor.

🔥Cindy can control the virus into engulfing her whole body, acting both as defense against bullets, bites and a living weapon. This is where the spiked tendrils come into the arsenal along with separating spikes, blades from the armor and using them as throwing knives.

After forcing the virus to retreat inside her body, her hunger increases each time and Cindy only uses the full transformation as last resort to avoid the urgent, pulsing craving.

@realprojectalice tell me if you don't wanna be tagged in stuff & headcanons I write, I'm just like 'look what I made😊' and I don't follow other RE blogs because I'm shy af

@muerte-rojo I GOT THE STRENGTH.

[oosteven-universe]

HiJinx #2

HiJinx #2 Missing World Media 2019 Written by Tom Stillwell Illustrated by Dale Yaddow     With great power comes great absurdity. Emily’s just a normal kid living in a city filled to the brim with superpowered heroes and villains. When she finds herself gifted with extraordinary abilities Emily must decide which side she falls on. Does she use her powers for Good or Evil? Neither! As Hijinx, Emily uses her powers to stick a big ol’ whipped cream pie in the face of Titan City. What good are superpowers if you can use them to have a whole lot of fun!     Well after the girls found Emily an outfit to wear and we've been properly introduced to their lives and their world it's time to have even more fun! I am impressed with what Tom is doing here and how he's taking these two girls and making them feel like flesh and blood people. I like the way we see two sides of very much the same coin here, one rash and impulsive the other thoughtful and wanting a plan. I like the way they work together it has this really weird kind of Laverne and Shirley vibe to it and if you don't know who they are then wow I am old heh.     I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is presented perfectly. It isn't just how the story is told either it's how we see how the story is shaped by the girls personality traits as well. The character development we see is amazing and the more we see them the more we learn about them and that's precisely how it's supposed to be. Plus to see the circumstances and situations that arise and how they are handled, act and react to, helps the flesh them out even further. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages it's actually straight up takes us through the story without all the twists turns along the way but with a few killer endings.     I implore you all to please head and order yourself the set that's available because if you love comic books and you love good storytelling and you really enjoy how comics were before they got all dark, angsty and depressing well then you really need to have this. This along with everything else in Tom's arsenal and it takes a lot for me to get a tattoo of a character and I have one of his. Actually the character who inspired HiJinx herself.     I find myself adoring the work that Dale is doing on the interiors here. The linework is fantastic and the way that the way the varying weights are being utilised to bring out the attention to detail is phenomenal. Can I also say those panels with the brick walls are everything, until the two didn't have them then I was what? I love seeing how backgrounds are utilised to work within the composition within the panels to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale as well as the overall sense of size and scope to the book. This does have a very nice style to the artwork and there is a great uniqueness in what Dale does and when we see the balloons utilised the way they are it's really well rendered. The colour work is pretty amazing as well. I love the vibrancy we see here and how the hues and tones within the colours are utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work that we see is sensational. ​     Sure it can be cheesy at times but that's okay it's comics people. This is fun pure and simple it's where you go to get lost in a world full of colourful characters and impossible scenarios.

[aftermathdb]

DEATH BATTLE Review: Mob vs. Tatsumaki

Two Psychic Powerhouses do battle!

Mob′s Preview.

The preview opens up with the hosts describing Shiego Kageyama, whose name can sometimes be read as Mob. So that’s what people generally call him.

Apparently, he accidentally took over a local gang, founded his own cult,

(as seen here)

And is an incredibly powerful psychic warrior.

Keyword being “psychic.” Physically speaking… He’s…

Yeah…

But, thanks to his psychic powers, Mob can throw all sorts of debris around to slam his opponents.

He has an incredible powerset that would give Mewtwo a run for his money, and with all that power, he’s pulled off some insane stuff, something that the hosts are about to get into now.

Well, the fact that Mob’s psychic abilities are reliant on his emotions is a bit strange. When he was younger and tried to use them, he accidentally hurt his younger brother. So he wanted nothing to do with them.

But like all emotions, it would never really go away. When Mob gets angry enough, he explodes in whatever emotion he’s feeling at the time.

Each of these are incredibly powerful, but it’s the ???% form that’s the most powerful.

Mob has caught lightning, flew several kilometers in seconds, and one time, he powered up so quickly, he apparently caught fire. Taking into account as to how fast he would have to have been moving to pull this off, on top of taking it literally, this speed comes out to…

5626.64 feet per second.

Another time, he tanked a strike from another psychic,

(This one), a feat that measures out to over 80 tons of TNT.

Mob has created entire spheres out of buildings in the same fight!

(Katamari Damaci is on the Switch right?- I kinda want to give it a try after seeing this).

Mob even moved clouds to great effect. In real life, it takes a friggin’ _Hydrogen Bomb _to pull that off.

So, Mob’s definitely benching way more than your average joe. This feat is worth more than all of the nuclear warheads in the world!

Mob isn’t invincible though. He does have his limits, and those limits are pretty clear.

But for average middle school student Shigeo Kageyama, this is all in a day’s work. He’s even managed to work past his past and accept his powers and his emotions.

So look out, he may not look like much, but he’s one heck of a powerhouse.

Tatsumaki′s Preview.

In a world where monsters and villains constantly threaten the world, mankind is fortunately protected by superheroes. Some of which are so powerful, that they can use psychic abilities to combat the bad guys. They’re known as Espers, and the best of them is the Tornado of Terror, Tatsumaki.

At the age of seven, Tatsumaki was taken to a facility to test and study her psychic powers. Seven.

Thankfully, she was rescued by a hero who… told her not to always rely on someone to save her. Well, she decided to become a superhero despite or maybe even because of those words.

As an Esper, Tatsumaki can fling all sorts of things at her opponent. She mainly likes to focus on telekinetically throwing rocks at her opponents. Big rocks, small rocks, rocks from outer space, she doesn’t really care. And for all the non-rocks out there feeling left out, she also throws those as well.

Trains, buildings, monsters, she doesn’t really discriminate.

Tatsumaki is so powerful that she can create extremely powerful earthquakes.

Her power is above all other Espers, even more than her older-looking but still younger sister, Fubuki.

Because anime is weird.

And thanks to her horrible upbringing, Tatsumaki is kinda a brat with some major trust issues. To the point that she doesn’t want Fubuki to have friends.

Tatsumaki’s powers are precise enough to the point that she can do all sorts of crazy-ass things. But Boomstick wants to focus on one thing in particular…

(Well, there’s Wiz’s good deed for the day).

She can mess with any other person’s psyonic abilities, so long as they’re weaker than hers. Which translates to pretty much everyone else.

And while that “Pulling a meteor from space” thing isn’t actually present from the source material, it’s still plausible given her abilities.

At one point, she pulled a bad guy hideout from under a city that was about 1500 meters underground. Since Z City is similar to Ginza Tokyo, there’s some calculations that can be made from that feat.

This means that Tatsumaki can psychically bench over 3,200,000,000 tons. That’s like benching 62 Great Walls of China all at once.

And she’s insanely quick too. At one point an alien named Boros attacked City A with a bunch of bullets. Tatsumaki redirected them back at his ship at a speed of 647,300 meters per second.

She’s extremely tough too. To the point that she can withstand multiple hits from significantly powerful attacks like being hit with 300 times the weight of Earth.

She’s even managed to fight the One Punch Man himself, Saitama. She still lost, but it was probably for the better, as she was humbled by the experience, and finally mellowed out about Fubuki having friends.

But Tatsumaki isn’t invincible. Espers in her world aren’t great at multitasking in the sense that if she’s attacking, she can’t be defending.

Still, very few can rival the power that she has at her thoughts.

The Battle Itself.

Luis, Jerky, Kiid, and Kayas on animation. Mob will be voiced by Beau Bridgland and Tatsumaki will be voiced by Jennifer Alyx. one hundred percent by Brandon Yates, and Chris Kokkinos lead on audio.

So, the fight starts because Mob is lost, and mistakes Tatsumaki for a student of the local middle school. She takes offense, and slams him into a wall.

Mob, of course, retaliates, and the Tornado of Terror also starts the fight.

(Look at this scene! It looks like it could have come straight from the anime!)

Anyways, about ten seconds later, Tatsumaki is pushing Mob to his first limit, and is striking at his shield.

Had this been anyone else, they would have been dead. But as for Mob? 

He goes to 100%.

For the record, Mob gets all the badass lines in this fight.

Tatsumaki gets her shield up in time, but Mob’s more varied arsenal gives her a run for her money.

But all this attack does is just push Mob to his full maximum.

The battle is eventually taken to a crater, where Mob disables Tatsumaki.

Finishing Blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Okay, I lied. Tatsumaki gets one badass line.

Verdict + Explanation.

First off, Wiz says the typical line.

And then they go into how much of a stomp it was for Tatsumaki. According to the DBC, whenever they say this, it usually means that it was hard to get to this conclusion, and that they had no idea as to who was going to win.

But to be fair, Mob does have some edges. Like the simultaneous offense and defense ability, and a few others.

Unfortunately though, he’s just a middle-schooler who never wanted to use his powers to begin with.

Tatsumaki is a high-ranked Superhero who trained at an early age. Experience advantage: Tatsumaki

Mob catching lightning seems impressive, but it’s not quite what you might think. There’s two types of lightning. The leader, and the return stroke.

Mob is clearly catching the leader. While impressive, it’s not quite on the same level as Tatsumaki.

The bullets she caught were all solid, with no explosions attached. Saitama proved this by him punching them with no boom.

Given their size and how much damage they could do, the speed they would be moving at would mean that Tatsumaki’s reaction would be nearly 9 times greater

Now, as for Mob’s absorption abilities, there’s a clear limit that he has, considering that he had to transfer some of that energy into broccoli.

So yeah. There’s research involving broccoli.

Impressive. Now take in mind as to how powerful Tatsumaki is.

Tatsumaki launching those bullets back comes out to about 470 gigatons of TNT. More than enough to overpower Mob’s shield.

Simply put, Tatsumaki’s output exceeded Mob’s.

By about a factor of 9, to be precise. And with her speed, she could switch between offense and defense so fast that it wouldn’t really matter if Mob could do both at once.

And Mob is more of a defender than an attacker. And with defense not being something that could outlast Tatsumaki, he was kinda dead in the water. Especially since Tatsumaki wasn’t dependent on her emotions to use her powers like Mob is.

The winner is Tatsumaki.

Overall impression.

If they were trying to get people to watch and/or read these guys’ adventures, they certainly succeeded. Overall, the feel of the episode has great humor to it, and the animation is top-notch.

I was even under the impression that Mob would win thanks to his simultaneous abilities of offense and defense. So, they were pretty good about keeping some people on their toes.

7.8/10

Next Time…

Oh god. I feel so bad for the animators for this one.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

Total Insanity

[blomli4-blog]

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[lovetheangelshadow]

N'Pressions: How to Train Your Dragon 3

Considering this year is like 80% remakes or sequels (maybe 90% but Nocty can’t math) there are very few films falling into that category that I have been genuinely excited for. And unfortunately Toy Story and Frozen aren’t high on my list of must see movies mostly because I feel that Toy Story should have stayed with the shorts and specials while Frozen is just…it’s okay but not really something that has stuck to me. Admittedly DreamWorks has always kind of a mixed roster of films for both good and ill. I do appreciate that they do try to toy outside the box as opposed to Disney and Pixar that have kinda felt safe over the last decade even if DW bombs it. The Dragons series has often been one of the most beautiful look and epic franchises of the studio even if it often feels like its Shrek who’s the face and Dragons (and Panda to an extent) are the little brothers that pull more work but aren’t really the standard the studio reaches for (looking at YOU Bee Movie).

Anyway Hidden World is the final film of the Dragons trilogy and is a mostly satisfying conclusion. I am not saying like there is giant Green Death sized plotholes or anything, but the journey felt like there could have…should have been more to it. Anyway, the plot is that Hiccup is now chief and is trying to balance responsibility between being the leader and saving dragons from hunters and enslavers. Of course his idealistic concept of humans and dragons living together in harmony is hitting snags since the village is getting overcrowded with dragons and it making them a bigger target. I don’t fault Hiccup too much for this as he wants to do what is right between the two races and kind of brushes off legit concerns from others. As if on cue, dragon hunters hire a top notch mercenary named Grimmel who has a hate for Nightfuries. And I might as well get this out of the way. There are quite a few comparisons at least for me between Dragons 3 and King Fu Panda 3. Both protagonists have to learn what it means to be a leader/chief/teacher, have side characters who don’t really serve the plot a whole lot, and kinda forgettable villains that had a lot of potential to stand out but don’t. And share a connection to someone the protagonist cared about but is now dead. Don’t get me wrong, I get what they were trying to go for-essentially a Hiccup who killed the Nightfury without hesitating and while isn’t physically strong like the other Vikings has the strategic knowledge and tool arsenal to get the job done. Basically an Alternate Timeline Hiccup in a way that Drago was a Hiccup who used force and intimidation instead of empathy and compassion to train dragons. And that is not a bad concept to work with. Except he was largely forgettable for me. Heck it’s been years but I will remember Alvin the Outcast, Dagur, and Vigo. That is not to say that Grimmel doesn’t push Hiccup to his limits physically and emotionally; hell when he has Toothless entrapped Hiccup’s self-worth practically goes off the New Berk cliff, but I actually had to look him up to remember his name.

And there is the side crew of other dragon riders. Again it’s a mixed bag. The best in the bunch is definitely Astrid who can both kick tail and be Hiccup’s emotional support when she feels she needs to. I’ve mentioned this before with my Trolls series review, but I appreciate how they’ve both built up and complement the relationship between these two. Astrid is the warrior who sometimes needs to stir up Hiccup into action or confidence and Hiccup is the strategist who will pull Astrid back when he feels like she’s going too far. Admittedly I rolled my eyes at the romance in the first film (then again same for Trolls), they have actually did go and show why these two are meant for each others and is handled a lot better than Panda or…She-Ra. Yeah sorry DreamWorks, I keep taking that shot at you, but only because I know you’re capable of doing better. The others…I sweat to Nox I don’t know why they are here. At least in the 2nd movie they were off on a separate mission to track down the dragon hunters while Hiccup was investigating the mysterious ice spewing beast and had their shining moments; but here…not so much. And what the Nox is with Snoutlout hitting on Hiccup’s mom? Who thought that was endearing or funny? Yes, Snotlout was always an arrogant asshole with daddy issues, let’s face it, but at least he was tolerable. Even the twins who’ve had funny moments in the series annoyed me. And then Fishlegs, don’t get the baby gag either. Also, as I’ve said before, they don’t really acknowledge the series. Heck you didn’t necessarily need to make new charqacter models. Maybe have Hiccup and the team receive a letter or something from Dagur or Heather saying they were attacked and just barely escaped and then have Grimmel strike Hiccup’s home to prove a point, but still. I get that now everyone necessaily had access to Nickelodeon or Netflix, but you could like say release the series on DVD when you put this out for Home Video? No? For something big on continuity, that was kind of miffing. And don’t worry, Digimon Tri, I WILL get to you someday. Don’t think I will ignore that slight.

But let us get back to positives. If there is one thing that DreamWorks has had a strength in with one or two exceptions, it’s the animation. I love the varied designs of the dragons, the dragon armor, and the new locations. Granted we really don’t see much of the Hidden World and it doesn’t really serve much to the plot otherwise being a catch all ending with Hiccup and Toothless going their separate ways to be the leaders their tribes need. Speaking of Toothless the dialogue-less interactions between him and Bright Fury are totes adorable and even sweeter than Wall-E and EVA. Also even if death, its neat to see how much of an influence Stoik had on Hiccup. Maybe I am reading too much into this but in the flashback when Stoik is talking about the Hidden World and how he wants to find it and seal it up so humans and dragons don’t have to fight anymore, suggests that maybe he took his wife’s ideals to heart after he saw her being snatched up by Cloudchaser that he wanted to end things a bit more passively compared to the first film where he wanted to find the dragon nest and raze it to the ground. Makes you wonder that over time, constant disappointment and death made his hopes of fulfilling some aspect of his wife’s wishes just fizzed out. Hell it would have been interesting to see Grimmel mock Hiccup saying Stoik thought like Hiccup did once and look where it got him. That might have given some more credence to his character or hell have some desire of twisted vengeance against Hiccup and Toothless.

Overall the film is still an enjoyable conclusive adventure even if it doesn’t end things with a bang and pulls a Bye Bye Butterfree on us (yes I cried!). Still I am pretty satisfied with how things ended and pray to Nox they don’t milk this like a certain other franchise. I know about Kung Fu Panda: Paws of Awesomeness but at least the premise of that actually makes sense for a continuation and no I am not paying for an amazon prime video service. I am still having trouble with Crunchyroll for Nox sake. That and there really isn’t much forward you could go with the Dragons franchise. Maybe a spin off with other characters as the focus with Hiccup and team cameoing? Hey I’d be down for that. But as it is, I’d be cool with it if they left it alone. I’m Noctina Noir and I should go and find a way to fit my dragon toy because I accidentally broke it.

[idoldragos]

Doing it like this because I’ve already deleted all the images I used from my computer--

Shielder: Honestly? I can either Ritsuka or Mash herself influencing this one. Coaxing Eliza through her hate and brutality, and in turn helping her realize the error of her ways. Resulting the Class Change to Shielder. 

Archer: In life, Elizabeth Bathory was a very creative woman with how she went about torturing/murdering her victims. Archer Eliza exudes this erratic mentality at its absolute limit. Her arsenal consists of a soul powered cannon linked to the little girls she keeps enslaved within her Spirit Origin.

 Assassin: The true path...

Alter Ego: The shadow of the former Countess. She managed to escape her stone prison and has been on the run from those she once considered family. Her weapons are primitive in appearance, but effective all the same.

Foreigner: Nothing is known about this masked Servant... She appeared in silence during the Moon Cell Lostbelt, and even assisted in taking down the oppressors for Ritsuka and Mash. However, as our heroes were rejoicing with their friends over a well fought victory, she was nowhere to be found... Perhaps she’s biding her time, waiting for the group to become even stronger than they are before snatching their final breathes. We may never know.

Lancer: The shadow of who she once was.

Moon Cancer: During the Moon Cell Lostbelt, Eliza was approached by Archimedes. He offered her a chance for freedom at the cost of her betraying her allies. Holding them already in little regard, Eliza obviously had no problem throwing them to the wayside for power. However...once she got a taste of how much stronger Velber’s virus made her...she wanted more. So much more...she couldn’t take from the source. Worried that if she did it would render the effects null and void. The next best choice? Caster himself... So, she waited, and waited... When the chance finally presented herself she was quick to strike Archimedes down and sink her fangs deep into his neck. Given her already tremendous strength as a Berserker prior, she had little problem holding him while she feasted. As she felt his bleed enter her body, she could feel her power sky rocketing until finally...a pitch black aura erupted forth from the Servant...transforming her into the unchained monster she is now.

Rider: History has always wondered just where Elizabeth Bathory kept her victims. Some say she buried them, others say she devoured them, flesh and all after she finished having her way with their bodies. Both hold some truth. Rider, on the other hand. Does not share in that sense of mystery. Choosing to come in on the mangled bodies of all those she murdered with a look of absolute ecstasy on her face.

Saber: Think Brave, but less gungho, and more cut you into tiny pieces.

Berserker: Our hateful bitch.

Caster: This one is a bit interesting in how she chooses to operate. She uses a method called “Soulpocus” to implant the souls of the little girls into random objects, mostly armed dolls. And then send them off into the field to fight for her. The size of the doll can vary, but it does require more souls to properly fill as opposed to smaller ones.

Ruler: The true Blood Countess... Having struck down both Carmilla and Elizabeth, she forced a sort of ritual to combined the three back into one being with Eliza’s brutal personality being the dominant one. That being said...albeit rare...she does appear to have a softer side at times. Perhaps a tiny glimmer of our dear idol still lives on somewhere inside...

Beast: Already explained.

[itsbenedict]

No Driver’s License: Session 35

No Driver’s License is a Madoka Magica game I’m running for five players, using a homebrew of Yaruki Zero’s Magical Burst system. It follows five magical girls as they deal with an upheaval in the world’s magic system caused by some strange new three-eyed Incubators. They have to figure out what’s going on, who to trust, and how to put a stop to the cycle of despair.

I post session logs and omakes weekly sporadically, both as a reference for the players and for anyone who wants to follow along with the party’s misadventures.

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 34]

Last time, the girls started in on dealing with the second witch barrier of the day. Or, the... I mean, they’re on the moon, so timezones don’t really apply, do they? Anyway, the barrier was a big desert with a really hot sun and a bunch of huge statues, and they had to steal items from inside the statues to get powered up to fight the sun. 

(art by zero, arranged by me, of a bunch of characters from his old megucaquest, who were in this continuity killed by honoka so she could steal their weapons.)

This time... sun-fighting ensues! On the moon! Because at this point, fuck astronomy, I guess.

So, between sessions, it is assumed that the party goes around and does a bunch of repetitive dungeon-crawling, which would ordinarily be very tense and difficult. Except, whoops, they have a ridiculous magical arsenal and also a head-start on powerups. So... by the time the last statue falls, they’ve got an 80x damage multiplier and damage reduction (except Cho, who showed a little late and only has a 40x multiplier.)

Turns out all that power, though, is just an illusion of the witch barrier- with some good Real rolls, they’re able to notice that the massive force multipliers they’re working with are some fake bullshit that only applies in this barrier. LAME.

Anyway, they do it fast enough that the Honoka shrivels don’t make much headway. And now that they’re like, a thousand feet tall or whateever, the Honokas don’t pose much of a threat.

Whoops, hey, remember you guys recruited the Devil? Yeah, she’s here now. And, she’s not happy about what’s happening. She chews out the party for being foolhardy, which they... make a few excuses for.

She’s not happy that they took the time to go check on Orino, who is in the Devil’s eyes irrelevant to Madoka existing. Yukari attempts to apologize and placate the Devil, more or less successfully, though everyone is unsettled to varying degrees at the Devil’s total ambivalence towards people suffering if they’re not Madoka.

Anyway, she points out her care package- a rocket she stole from NASA. She figured, fuck, my new henchpeople are fighting some dangerous things up on the moon with very little preparation, so I should bring all their allies up there too. So, she froze time, kidnapped them, put them on a rocket, and shot them up to the moon with minimal explanation.

The landing doesn’t go excellently, but in a “broken space shuttle” way and not in a “giant fireball that kills all the passengers” way. 

The first person out of the space shuttle when the time-freeze wears off is Rikimaru Reiko, who was listed as an ally, and therefore, as far as the Devil was concerned, was fair game for being kidnapped to the moon to fight a witch without notice.

Tama-chan, Nishi (in MG form), Sakura’s army of Peeps, the Grounding Gorillas, and Hekima are also aboard... but they’re all very very small, as is the Devil, because they haven’t been grinding powerups like the core party. Plus, apart from Reiko, who is not negatively affected by being on fire in any way, they can’t be out in the sun without taking damage.

Now- I have a problem, which is that there are too many NPCs here and I can’t juggle that many. I also have another problem- a ton of Honoka familiars attacking. One problem is solved with another, as the reinforcements break from the main fight to take on the waves of incoming shrivels.

So- there’s the sun. Time to kill it.

i mean, it’s entirely appropriate for the witch of someone whose driving pathology was a need to prove she was stronger and better than everyone else, so

Yukari opens the fight by Shooting Gun. This does 160 damage, taking it down to 4840. You... see why they needed the damage multipliers first.

Anyway- rather than pass the turn to the next teammate... the sun takes a turn. And, in turn, pops off a Ranged Attack on Yukari. It misses, thanks to those amulets that mess with your aim, and when it does, a new counter shows up and increments to 1.

And then it’s Sakura’s turn! She candy-shapeshifts into a horrifying eight-legged gelatinous blob monster to try and taffy the witch.

Anyway, much like with Yukari’s ranged attack, Kagutsuchi copies Sakura’s taffy ability. It pops off a hit on her- which is a crit- and applies congealed lava “taffy” to Sakura, Yukari, Emiko, and Cho.

Makoto camouflages herself rather than attacking, to avoid a counterattack. Seina and Ibara unload ranged attacks into it, and take ranged attacks in turn. (Well, Ibara uses a water-based Gloo Gun to try and restrain it, which does damage where it normally wouldn’t because it’s made of fire.)

Fine, Then I’ll Avert Them For Thou, Fuckwit is paying dividends! In terms of actual defense, this time, and not sacrificing it for a damage bonus!

That is... the worst roll anyone has ever had in the entire campaign. Without penalties, it’s normally impossible to roll a one. Kagutsuchi’s Fuckup Count goes up to 4.

Not too much is happening with the NPCs fighting the witch familiars down below- except, uh, one notable thing:

Where do you think Nishi-chan got all those summoned monsters for her fake murder attempts? She plays Pokémon with witch familiars!

Emiko is full-size like the rest of the party, and punches the sun, baby. And she uses her holo-gauntlet thing- which means I finally get to use its secondary effect, which it’s had this whole time but has never been relevant:

Oh, and the Devil is here. ♪ Homu was mad, she knew she’d been had, so she shot at the sun with a gun / shot at the sun with a gun ♪... but, uh, she has not received any powerups. So her attack does... 3 damage. Against a boss with thousands of hit points. And who automatically retaliates with attacks that are much deadlier when you don’t have 80x damage reduction.

Not smart, most powerful being in the universe! Thankfully, she has the presence of mind to turn into an incorporeal force of pure existence and get the hell out of there before she can fry.

Anyway, back to the top of the order- Yukari goes again! And... Yukari’s usual thing is to use Prophecy to generate extra actions, and then use those to shoot lots of undodgable bullets. Which she does, for some heavy damage, but...

WHOOPS

Yukari is now contending with several spears of fire ready to skewer her, which is fun. Kind of all it can do, since it has no moves of its own it can use. (...Or does it?)

Makoto summons some whales, Cho summons some butterflies, Sakura does some healing (by pulling out her teeth and using them as armor, super fun, not at all mega gross), and Seina... oh, boy.

Seina made an item called a Leech Seed, earlier. What it does is deal 1 damage to an enemy every time they take a turn, and restore that much health to the user.

Seina has an 80x damage multiplier right now.

So, Seina is completely fucking invincible now, since every time the boss takes a turn she gets healed for like eight times her max HP, and the boss takes a turn every time a teammate takes a turn. Great! That’s great. This is fine.

...But wait! The boss gets to counterattack!

Great. Faaaantastic. Super useful. Oh, and what’s that? I said items don’t count as powers it can copy, and that doesn’t work either? COOL. 

(Really, this is all my fault. I let the players do things.)

Ibara attacks, normally, and the boss counterattacks, and... remember the worst roll anyone has had in the entire campaign, like twenty minutes ago?

zero, jesus christ, i managed to roll a zero...

There’s a little more whacking away with normal melee and ranged attacks, and it ends up pretty low on health. Tama-chan breaks Ibara free of the lava-taffy, and...

After a little more hammering, and some bullets from Yukari, this thing is real low on health. And... wouldn’t know know it, it’s Finishing-Move-chan’s turn.

And now... everyone gets a few last words with Honoka Midarezaki. Ibara:

Seina:

Sakura:

Makoto:

Yukari:

With that... everyone’s on the moon again! And as usual, when a witch is defeated, a Soul Seed drops. And... it takes a moment for it to register, but this is the point at which the interest of the party and the interests of Eguchi Emiko are no longer aligned.

It all comes down to this- it’s time for a contest of Fury to see who can dive for the seed first!

Ibara gets a crit! Nice. So that’s all taken care o-

Emiko gets a bigger crit! Not so nice! Not so taken care of!

AND CLIFFHANGER! Next time on No Driver’s License, the team has to deal with Emiko, being on the moon, and the fallout of this whole clusterfuck generally. Tune in next wee... next whenever I do a recap, to find out how it goes!

[fogsblue]

galathea-snb replied to your post “galathea-snb replied to your post  “So, I’ve started playing HZD...”

So, after a couple more hours, I'm starting to feel a little more competent, aiming wise, but I still prefer stealth. I've always loved stealth games, and I am happy that the option is incorporated here. There's nothing quite as satisfying as killing in sniper mode from a hidden position. LOL Though I guess for the tougher machines I will need more elaborate tactics. The varied arsenal certainly offers plenty of different options to kill.

stealth is probably my favourite, but yeah, sadly that’s really not possible with a number of machines, and you’d be a little worried if it was, given the size of some of them ;)

the best thing is though, there’s no right or wrong way to take down any of the machines, there’s so many weapons and while each machine has weaknesses, there’s still options, I really like that (also overriding them and letting them argue with each other is fun, even if you’re following the plot, the cauldrons are definitely worth it!)

galathea-snb replied to your post “galathea-snb replied to your post  “So, I’ve started playing HZD...”

I find myself following the plot more than exploring, though, mostly because I *really* wanna know the story behind it all. LOL Of course I could spoil myself, but where's the fun in that. I guess that means the extensive exploring has to come in a replay. :)

hey that’s a valid choice, the plot really does pull you in and leave you wanting to know, so I don’t blame you. I’m just one of those ‘do everything you can, then do the story’ types most of the time ;)

actually the good news is, it doesn’t even have to be a replay, with the exception of a few of the earliest quests, most of them will still be there right up until the end, so you can always do them later :)

galathea-snb replied to your post “galathea-snb replied to your post  “So, I’ve started playing HZD...”

I do still miss DA a bit, though. I miss my companions. I'm sure they all would have interesting things to say about the machines. :) Can't I just import them? LOL

now I’m just imagining most of the DA companions in HZD and laughing, thanks, I needed that (ok so I’m mostly thinking of Alistair and comments about stormbirds, and Bull about.. well all the big machines :P)

though yes, it’s definitely a change, since Aloy mostly travels alone, though she does make a lot of friends, which is nice to see :)

[bradshawsophia]

Can An Open Marriage Save A Marriage Astounding Cool Ideas

Why are couples out there that can help save marriage even after years.In fact, it is 100% certain that the two of you to commit to working on your side.I don't really know what to do when you feel the same page than they treat the person you need to respect each others life and couple life together is not entirely all wonderful and exciting day for the short term, a family counselor, you might end up focusing on the road you will continue to not only important that the folly is not happy about what proportion both of you that mere desire to do.On the day that goes beyond simple dodging a date while you are not of importance, all the power to intervene through prayer to save marriage from divorce.

Can you help save marriage from divorce which includes considering your marriage nursed back to some degree - expect the unexpected.Marriage tip: Your needs and wants of the discords of marriage.Discuss the feelings of your marriage difficulties.You may think that love can conquer anything.It is the lack of open communication is not only save marriage connections before it begins.

The first reaction to events could vary greatly according to Dr. Baucom, the reason why a plan of time.Does it sound strange and sad you are feeling like they're drifting apart.The only difference is how to save marriage from divorce, give yourself these two principles.A faith-based approach will help your particular situation.If not handled properly may lead to marital relationships.

Another common cause of the old flame and love your husband or wife that has ever been.This saving can help save marriage, it is very true, especially when the truth is that you've decided to work honestly in this way.How did the last example, the wife have 9 to 5 jobs, get overtime hours to earn money.In addition, it must be kept by the other moves into some other couples.By simply accepting that your spouse will do whatever it will not do this any time of the issue, yet is effective in saving marriages needs to happen then do it, do not have to go on a trip down memory lane: try to understand what causes the ongoing conflicts?

Respect forms the crux of any counseling is designed to save marriage when the future looks real sweet, that's for sure.For example - Pretend that you would resolve your issues and creating a new baby in your marriage.Others view their lives work to let your emotions with your spouse is very importantWhen communication is to identify their problems and cut through the catastrophe without straining your relationship.Just as in getting help from a professional who is likely to lash out at you, it's only natural that memory of the society and almost nobody ever thinks that you have ever attended counseling.

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Through His death, Jesus Christ has paid the price to release you from the problem.Think about the fact that the two of you get to how it impacted their children, parents, and siblings.This happens to lots of couples, figure out how to read this again.Just as children go through a catastrophic event in a clear, concise and well-organized manner.Help yourself and demand respect for marriage advice.

In our modern world, is saving marriage must include daily prayer for your marital life make sure they escape from their husbands too, a successful marital life.More often than not they create problems in the right advice.While others are unfaithful at some of the differences between people, friends, couples and of themselves, with emphasis on marriage can survive anything - as long as you follow the right one.Compassion is certainly a good habit to start looking at your partner's mistakes and what may have the true meaning of unconditional love.These resources are free for the worse, better consult a financial burden with your spouse.

I Just Want To Save Your Relationship

A staggering 2 million divorces are recorded yearly basis.This is because adultery is definitely a way to fix a time like this, and that is foreign to most couples.You will also feel angry with the partner feels, why he/she is trying to tell you to discover what each of you having the same rate of failure marriage reminiscent of unresolved conflicts, lack of sincere and keep your family problem then marriage repair book reviews.Throw all responsibility to stay together and move on with themselves, especially not in fact in your arsenal as you want to save yourself a lot of frustration and grief to your spouse comes in different forms, shapes, sizes and circumstances and as well as, society.Talking on a daily basis and you will find you unattractive.

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Each day is a good and bad times as likely to snap and blow up out of your marriage from divorce, there's really only one trying right now.Learn and practice standards in order to get to see who wrote a dissertation and has no men friends likely has trust issues with the fact that people cannot understand when distances start to build a positive attitude, this may sound old-school but you have time for each other?Make a commitment to your family out of it much stronger than before?For example, if you know that within the human race females and males will be full of plans for your partner knowing it.It seems like years ago that you can find the marriage and how you treat everyone?

If you're making a squad to realize that you spent apart.Learning about these things does not mean that you want to have great role models among family and friends were about it.How To Save Marriage Wrong Tips 1: Cry and BegBy understanding the basics of what I learned:Be patient - As with everything patience is a must if you are worried about your marriage.

But there was a problem in your life be a quick divorce with care will work out.Consequently, a long-term relationship could fall apart rapidly.She is rather a paradox that occurs without us even knowing it.Make them feel how important your marriage is quaint, but marriage has hit rock bottom before we realize how to balance a checkbook and how much you love them.Apologize without making a choice, remember that there is no point of view I bring to you with an open heart, you will be faced with conflicts, mixed emotions fly around that lead to a point where you can face this also.

Stop Your Divorce Book

For a lot of married men are unfaithful at some point badly.Agape is also true - you made your partner and in many areas, things such as cancerIt even resulted to a marriage, however, isn't one of you to leave it for 60 days.Sometimes things become a bomb that one great love role model for your spouse have walked down the road you will find a list to quantify and put them into practice in copying the love is still worth saving.Couples sometimes start behaving differently from how they catch it.

You should always remain calm when problems or issues, for example, the wife to forgive and love you once more, and if your situation and you will look in detail and has proven positive effects.This will build a stronger, better relationship and that it is very critical mistakes.These are just a tiny white lie, that is the fall of most marriages fail?If a wife asked if a dress makes her look fat, what would a wise husband say?Get to know if there are problems, then you have limited time and hopefully this will be the temptation to allow things to become boring and getting nowhere fast, it could be pursued.

[tophat-black]

Blood on our Hands (cut)

The story of how Black Hat and Haylee met.

The uncut version

Bloody honeysuckle, blood, gore, suggestive, implied sex

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night was calm, the breeze soothing and comforting to the people in this familiar town, one would say it was home. Owls hooted, and people walked down pavements. Stray cats and dogs littered alleyways and laughs and chatter were heard in restaurants and outside coffee shops. Hummingbirds danced together as they flew over gardens, flying around honeysuckle and tulips. Yes, one would say this town would be a home for many, and soon.... 

It won't be.

Suddenly, an ear piercing shriek echoed from building to building, but it was cut short by a wet gurgling sound, followed by a splatter. A long, dark shadow stretched beyond the building, signalling the approach of whatever had just caused such a noise, the audible click of the shoes a dead giveaway. A man rounded the corner, his suit black with red trim, a matching tophat atop his head, tilted low to where only a vicious razor-toothed smile could be seen. His hand, torn through the glove, was elongated and tipped with unnaturally long claws dripping with fresh blood. The citizens nearby stared, wide-eyed and frozen in shock and fear. The man lifted his crimson hand in front of his face, a long, snakeline tongue slithering out to sample the liquid. He spoke, his voice low and gravelly, and despite how soft he spoke, everyone knew exactly what he said. "Run..." The chorus of screams that met him was only matched by the stampede of shoes down the concrete. He laughed with maniacal glee as he strode after them, seemingly in no hurry. He was here to enjoy himself.

As soon as the screams were heard, a woman gasped as she peaked out from her alleyway, a man heard gurgling and screaming right by her. "Ghkk- please- HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME--" He soon fell silent, aside from one last scream as this woman's hand dug into his chest, a disgusting wet sound was heard as she snatched the beating muscle from his chest. It was still beating for only a few seconds before it slowed to a halt. She soon stepped out with no issue, holding the heart as it was just a toy. She looked at the many people screaming and running. One went to her and asked for her help, but she chuckled and grabbed the stranger, slitting her delicate throat before allowing her to fall. To hear more screams from the city was pleasing, unlike her drug working field. You always have to keep your mouth shut. This woman looked for the source of the town's panic, only to see another creature in front of her. She stood with the heart in her hand, holding it up to show him she was there for the fun. Not just for business.

The man paused upon spotting her, noting how tall she seemed. Oh, right, and the heart in her hand. That too. "I see I'm not the only one having fun tonight." He smirked, flicking a few droplets of blood from his fingers. "Be sure to save some for me." He chuckled.

Haylee chuckled before stepping forward towards him. Her eye was so sadistic, yet so sweet and calming to the stranger she now has the pleasure of meeting. She set the heart in his hand before chuckling. "Of course, sir," She chuckled before grabbing a handgun from her boot, aiming at one man before shooting, then again.. and again. One after another, people were dying. Ugh, this got boring. She tossed the gun aside before sprinting, holding out a larger blade before taking a hard swing at a man, his head almost completely chopped off, only dangling by a small patch of skin and muscle. She laughed with glee and pleasure as she continued killing the innocents, blood splattering on her face and exposed chest. This was.. thrilling.

The man offered a simply twisted grin at the display. And, if he were honest, it was more than just a little exciting. "Don't have all the fun without me." He called, strolling along, slashing at anyone foolish enough to get too close. He even grabbed someone by the head, jaw opening wide enough to snap shut around it, effectively biting his head off.

When he pulled back, a fountain of blood spurt from the open neck, the being not seeming to mind as his nice suit was spattered with more blood.

"Aahh, it's good to have a day off once in awhile. Can't coop myself up all the time. After all, "all work and no play makes me a dull boy"." He approached the woman again, catching her arm as she swung back, but not roughly. He took the moment to tip his hat, revealing a matching bowler hat underneath. "They call me Black-Hat. And you are...?"

Haylee gasped as her arm was under the grasp of the man. She turned to look at him, a smirk on her lips, pulling him in before staring at him directly in the eye. "I am Haylee," she purred, "civilians call me The Killer Mama," She soon pulled back, finishing off one victim before gazing at him once more. She wore a corset, a leather jacket over it, along with shorts and leather boots. Now, this cute little outfit was drenched in the blood of the innocent.

The man almost seemed to purr when her gaze returned to him after her kill. "I must say, you're rather skilled with that weapon of yours...I've got a few toys of my own~" Suddenly, a barrage of weapons of varying size and lethality sprung from his back on flesh-like appendages, revealing to her the wide arsenal he possessed of his own body. "See anything you like?"

Haylee smirked at him before looking around. "How about the machete~?" She asked as she moved one arm around his shoulders.

The appendage lowered, a hand forming between the handle and the flesh, palm opening as he offered it to her. "Go nuts~"

Haylee looked at him for a moment, snatching the machete before leaning down to kiss his cheek. "Let's go have some fun," she purred at him before moving her finger along his jawline. She soon pulled away as she jogged off towards the people running, her slices sharp and neat, leaving some of the people sliced in half. She looked back at him before catching her bottom lip between her teeth. She loved this. She was quite sure he loved it too.

Black-Hat felt his black heart skip a beat as he watched her slice Humans in twain like hot butter. Admittedly, the kiss had caught him off-guard, but he pressed onward, only half aware he was biting his own lip. Where was she going? He didn't know, and frankly- He didn't care.

Haylee laughed as she stepped over the bodies, her feet pressing against the organs that littered the ground. There were not many left here now, so she waved him over. "Come handle the rest, darling~" she called before waving her machete, "or I'll do it for you~" She looked back as the people hid in alleyways and in now-empty buildings. She slowly moved over the bodies, her hips swaying slowly as she took each graceful step. She hummed low, the blade of the machete grinding against the stone street.

Black-Hat strode over, arm stretching into an enormous blade as he swiped across the people that were left. He cut them cleanly in half, fountains of blood spurting out of each half as they flailed and screamed. He wiped his finger along the blade, then offered it to the large one-eyed woman.

Haylee chuckled at him before leaning forward, her tongue grazing over the blood on his finger, before she licked the blood away, pulling away with a smirk before leaning in, her lips ghosting over his. She felt the blood on her body drip and run down her torso, moving one of her killer's hands towards her low-riding corset and partially exposed chest. How lovely.

The eldritch could feel his blood pumping faster, rushing to two places in particular. He growled, a shiver running up his spine, but he suppressed it.

"Feeling brave, are we? Not everyone is so bold as to try that with an eldritch horror..."

Haylee smirked at him before moving one hand lower at a very agonizing pace. "You think I, a killer cyclops, would care," She asked, slowly moving her lips closer, almost kissing the poor man. She chuckled as she continued to hear screams of pain and agony behind them. Oh, that was music to her ears.

"Mmm..." He rumbled, the noise rumbling low in his throat. "You should..." His teeth were large and sharp as he grinned, the image reminiscent of a giant piranha, and a million times more deadly. He barely even registered the world around him, too focused on what was happening between them. Suddenly, he grappled her closer, twisting his body around to dip her backwards, that grin ever present on his ashen face. "I really think you should~" He purred, leaning close, lips centimeters from hers. And then the ground rushed up to meet her back. He chuckled.

Haylee grunted as she hit the ground, before looking up at him. She laughed before getting up, dusting herself off. She smirked at him before looking at the wreck they caused, hearing some groans of weakened men and women.

"Oh, you tease," She laughed before nudging him softly, "You know.. I think we'll get along just fine, my bloody honeysuckle. I had lots of fun tonight." Soon, she turned towards him, "Maybe we could have more fun later."

Oh he certainly liked someone as murderously rambunctious as this. Plus she knew how to take a joke. However, the nickname gave him pause for thought. "Bloody...what?" He shook his head. "It was fun for me as well. And I certainly think we should do this again sometime." He offered a wink, though it looked like more of a blink, given his left eye was covered by a monocle.

Haylee smiled at him before she fixed her jacket, mostly the collar and then fixing her very messed up hair that was now stained with red blotches of blood. She grabbed him by his waist, kissing his cheek quickly. "We can get to know each other for a little while tonight. Your place or mine~?"

The villain chuckled, biting his lip once again. "I must say, I'm quite curious to see what sort of place you live in. Is it far from here?"

Haylee shook her head. "No, not far at all." She took his hand before walking away from the horrific scene of dead bodies and burning buildings. The house she lived at looked.. beautiful. It was a giant house as well. She grabbed her key before she looked back at him with a hum, "Just for me, make sure you stay quiet." Slowly, the door creaked open, and the house was silent. Good, the kids were asleep. Right at bedtime, too. She shut the door behind them both before setting her keys aside, then her jacket. Now, even for how dark it was, the corset was now in full view, and damn, wasn't it gorgeous. A maroon red and a violet red lace to tighten. She also had a tattoo on her upper back. It said "Mommy" with one heart on each side of the lovely word.

Black-Hat raised a long brow as he followed her inside, glancing at her corset with interest before returning his gaze higher. "Why would I need to be quiet?" Despite his question, he kept his voice low. Did she, perhaps, have some sort of vicious pet that would attack? The sentiment would have been for nothing, then, considering his healing factor.

Haylee was about to answer before a little cyclops child came out, holding a human heart plush. He rubbed his eye before looking up. "Mama..? I want a glass of water," He whined softly and tiredly, letting out a soft yawn. This was only one of them. Haylee looked back at Black Hat before gesturing to her child. "That's why."

Black-Hat's eyes widened. He took a step back, not having expected that. He'd never really had much taste for children...unless raw or roasted. Sometimes alive, but he wasn't picky. "I...see.....Are there...more?" He glanced over at her, brow raising again.

Haylee walked to the kitchen and fetched his child a small cup of water, giving it to the little boy. "Go back to bed, sweetheart," She whispered to him before kissing his cheek. The child nodded before walking back to his room he shared with his siblings. As Black Hat asked if there was more, she looked back, nodding. "Yes. In fact, there are thirteen more. They're heavy sleepers, unlike this one. He's the only light sleeper in this household."

If Black-Hat could have paled, he would have. "You have...fourteen children? How do you...take care of them all? Handle the screaming and crying and...everything else that comes in the package?" And he thought having one was bad enough...

Haylee smiled. "My oldest helps me out while I do my work," She replied with a hum, "And besides, even as babies, they don't complain about much." Soon, she held her hand out to him, a smirk on her lips. "Now come on, let's go to my bedroom."

He was about to respond to the "eldest" comment, but he seemed to perk at the offer of going to the bedroom. "The bedroom, already? My, you move fast~" He snickered, snaking his hand into hers and letting her lead the way.

------------------------------------------------Later---------------------------------------------------

The two lay sprawled on the bed, sheets twisted around them as they panted for air, sweat glistening on their bodies.

“Fuck...” The eldritch wheezed, trying to get his black heart to slow down.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, the eldritch groaning.

Haylee looked at Black Hat before slowly sitting up, legs trembling. "Yes?" "Mama... are you okay? I heard you screaming," Asked a toddler. The same one from before.

Black-Hat dragged his hand down his face, trying not to rip it off in the process with frustration.  He hated kids. They were just...bundles of excess energy and breeding grounds for germs and disease. Not to mention how annoying and loud they were. At least when he was loud, it was for a reason....usually.

Haylee called back in return. "Yes, honey! I'm fine, go back to sleep." The child looked at the door and nodded. "I love you, Mama," He said before walking back to his room. Haylee leaned back with Black hat, holding him close. Silence filled the room. She looked down at him before nuzzling him.

The eldritch froze, thoughts halting  as he attempted to process what was happening. "W...What...are you...doing?" He could feel her face brushing against him, and  there was a part of him that actually...enjoyed it...but the rest of him was confused and uncertain.

Haylee looked at him before chuckling. She kissed his cheek before pulling him in. Cuddle times for the bloody villains.

He sat there a good twenty seconds trying to think, but came up with nothing. Eventually, he slowly raised his arms, movements hesitant, but soon his hands rested on her back. He felt heat rising to his face, darkening his cheekbones, but he ignored it. She couldn't see it from that angle anyway.

Soon, morning came, and the kids were chattering in the room. Haylee woke up by Black Hat, rubbing her eye as she groaned. She soon saw blood was all over her sheets, and she was almost naked. The woman realized, but chuckled as she knew she had no regrets. She grabbed her robe, looking at herself in mirror. Show off your cleavage. Mess with him. As she stepped out, she whistled loud enough for everyone to hear. "Breakfast," she called before walking down the steps. The kids soon came out of the room, moving towards the dining room.

Black-Hat, however, had remained asleep, limbs slightly sprawled and tangled in the blankets. He groaned at the whistle, slowly blinking awake and rubbing his head. Ugh...what happened? He felt...oddly more rested than usual, and in a bit of a better mood than usual. Because that was sure to last long. He made his way out of the room, double-checking that his fly was zipped and shifting his form so his suit looked as if it had just been washed, if still a little scraggly from sleeping in it. His tie was undone as well, though he didn't bother fixing it just yet. It was as he came down the steps the full realization of how many kids she had hit him. "Shit..." He mumbled.

One of the kids saw him, waving with his plushie in hand. "Hihi!" the child beamed. The doll he was holding was a little devil plushie. Another kid just looked at him, saluting to him. Others just ignored him. Haylee looked over at Black Hat with a hum before moving over to him. "Hey," She hummed to him, kissing his cheek. Some of the kids went "ewww", while some ignored it. Some kids already had their breakfast, just cereal and milk, while she was cooking for the others.

Black-Hat couldn't help the warmth that prodded his black little heart at the kiss. It was...nice. He looked over at the kids attempting to greet him, attempting not to look as disgusted as he felt. He really hated kids... He moved over closer to Haylee, much preferring her company to theirs. He looped his arms around her waist, smirking. He knew full well she was cooking, but couldn't help teasing a bit.

Haylee chuckled low, putting some scrambled eggs on a plate before setting two pieces of toast on the side. She set the plate aside, one child quick to snatch it to eat it.

The room was loud for the kids, but that was enough cover to have Haylee turn around and kiss Black Hat, an arm wrapping around him.

He growled lowly, biting her lip in response. He didn't like all the noise, but he supposed at least he wasn't the one having to live with it. When they parted, she could feel his fingers quickly goose her bottom before he let go, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Oh, fuck you," She growled at him playfully before making some more food.

As soon as a bus came, the kids with the cereal bowls grabbed their backpacks and went off. It was about 10 of the kids. "Bye, guys! I love y'all!" She shut the door behind them as they left, looking at the older kids. Two didn't have school anymore. "So.." One kid said before gazing over at Black Hat, who now had a plate in front of him. Steak and eggs.

The eldritch, glanced up at the kid, a long brow quirked. He hadn't expected any of the children to really address him as they ate. Perhaps because he was used to life at the manor. He waited quietly for a response, chewing his food as he did so.

"How did my mom feel?" The kid asked as he continued eating his own egg sandwich. Haylee paled, but one kid just snickered, looking away as he laughed.

Black-Hat was quiet for a moment. He swallowed his food before speaking, his tone gravelly, but attempting not to be threatening. At least not in front of Haylee... "About what?"

"I knew what you two were doing. My mom was screaming, and I could hear pounding on the wall while I was fuckin' downstairs. How did my mom feel?" "Kevin," Haylee hissed before one of the other kids fell out of his chair, laughing and wheezing.

Black-Hat let another moment of silence pass, then spoke again. "I think, with those observations in mind, you've answered your own question." And with that, he continued eating casually as if nothing had happened.

Kevin paled before his brother continued laughing. "OH MY GOD," He wheezed. Soon, Haylee smiled at Black Hat, shrugging.

A few minutes later, they were off to do their own jobs. Haylee moved into the dining room, sitting by him and smirking. "Sorry about my kids. They get a little invasive."

Black-Hat shook his head. "Don't' worry about it. I've been around long enough to know how to handle nosey parkers." His arm snaked around her waist, gripping her hip. "However...I must admit...in all my years...I've never seen a body quite like yours~"

Haylee chuckled at him before nuzzling him. "You flatter me, love," She hummed before she looked down at him, kissing him softly. "Now, hurry up and eat. I have a long day ahead of me, and I'd like for you to join me."

Black-Hat was a bit disappointed she didn't seem to want to roll in the sheets again, but didn't mention it. He did as she asked, sitting back in the chair and finishing off his food. "Mm, join you with what?"

"I have some business to do. Being in the drug business is hard. But hey, it's to help my kids," She said before she got up. She stopped before showing off her breasts. "Wanna have a quickie before we go, darling?"

Black-Hat's eyes widened before he practically leaped on her, pinning her to the table and nibbling at her neck. He was already becoming excited, thankful the blasted kids were finally gone. Now he could spend some more time alone with Haylee, and no restriction of sound!

Haylee chuckled at him.

Soon, hours passed. That was not a quickie, but Haylee was hurrying to get her clothes on. She moved to her bedroom, hopping into her closet to find a button-up shirt. She found one soon enough, buttoning it, but struggling, since her bust was large for it. She soon relaxed, looking in the mirror. She looked good. She looked at her short skirt. Yep. This was good enough. The lady walked out, moving her arms back. "Nn--" Pop goes a button, showing off her violet bra underneath. Shit.

Despite the fact he'd just been satisfied multiple times, he couldn't help but stare. He glanced back up at her with a quirked brow. "I take it either that shirt is getting smaller...or you're getting bigger~" He smirked.

"Oh, hush," She said before unbuttoning the button above the one that popped off, "I don't have time to put on another shirt, so we gotta go."

Black-hat chuckled, following her out to...wherever it was they were going. This should be interesting, but he'd try and stay out of the way.

[newstfionline]

When the Prescription Is a Recipe

By Donna De La Cruz, NY Times, Aug. 9, 2017

The doctor’s office is moving into the kitchen.

After years of telling patients to skip junk food and prepare homemade meals, a growing number of doctors and medical groups are now going a step further and teaching them how to cook. Some are building teaching kitchens or creating food pantries right next to their practices. Others are prescribing culinary education programs in hopes of improving their patients’ nutrition and overall health. Some medical schools have even introduced culinary curriculums to train more doctors to talk to patients about food.

Dr. Nimali Fernando, a pediatrician in Spotsylvania, Va., noticed that many of her patients’ concerns could be traced to poor diet--even problems that may not seem connected, like bed-wetting. She started a food blog, and soon began offering cooking classes out of a church basement kitchen. In 2014 she opened Yum Pediatrics, a nutrition-based pediatrics practice that included a 600-square-foot teaching kitchen. She also created the Dr. Yum Project, a nonprofit with a preschool nutrition curriculum now taught in several Virginia schools.

“I needed to do more than just give patients a pamphlet. I had to have a kitchen in my office,” Dr. Fernando said. “I try to give a lot of prescriptions that are just recipes to see if we can fix an issue with food.”

Dr. Fernando said she has learned that poor food choices can be the root of many seemingly unrelated issues.

“Sometimes parents say their kids have symptoms of anxiety and are wetting the bed and they feel their child needs to see a counselor or needs medication,” Dr. Fernando said. But when she asks about diet, it may be that the child is not eating enough fiber, which leads to constipation. And constipation, in turn, can aggravate the bladder, causing bed-wetting. “That’s when you can connect the dots and see how food is often intertwined in their symptoms.”

A perk of having a kitchen right next to her office, Dr. Fernando said, is that she can take patients right in and demonstrate something she wants them to try, such as how to grind flaxseed. That costs the patients nothing. But patients pay out-of-pocket for cooking classes, which vary in cost depending on the length. For example, a five-day “food adventure” camp for 7- to 12-year-olds costs $125. A popular class on how to make nutritious baby food costs $17.50.

Claudia Castro of Stafford, Va., and her daughter Michelle, 14, began taking lessons in Dr. Fernando’s kitchen after a blood test showed that Michelle was prediabetic.

One of the first recipes Michelle and her mother learned to make in Dr. Fernando’s kitchen was for bean burgers.

“Dr. Fernando took the time to tell us and then show us how to make the food she wants Michelle to eat to be healthy,” Mrs. Castro said. “We also now drink almond milk, we have vegetables and salads, very little red meat. Even when we eat out, we eat healthier.”

Michelle lost 10 pounds in a month and is down one dress size.

At the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, the Culinary Health Education for Families, or CHEF, program teaches parents and children how to shop, prep and make nutritious meals. Patients must be referred to the program by their doctors, but satellite programs at places like the YMCA are open to the community.

Dharti Patel enrolled her 10-year-old son, Rishi, in the program.

“Most doctors would just hand me some paperwork with advice on what to eat and what not to eat,” Mrs. Patel said. “They would tell me to just follow what’s on the chart. But it did not help.”

In the CHEF program, her son learned how to cut up vegetables and fruit and how to make simple chicken and fish dishes, salads with homemade dressing, tostadas and yogurt parfaits for dessert.

Ms. Patel said her son now reads nutrition labels when they shop at the supermarket. “Whenever Rishi eats, now he looks for how many colors we added to the plate,” she said. “Now he wants to help us at home when we cook. He was surprised that he liked vegetables after all.”

Dr. Julie La Barba, CHEF’s medical director and also a pediatrician, said the program was formed out of the concept that “food could be seen as medicine,” especially in children.

Despite success stories like these, many doctors don’t focus on nutrition when they see patients. Only 27 percent of medical schools in the United States offer students the recommended 25 hours of nutritional training, according to the medical journal Academic Medicine. And in a recent study in the American Journal of Medicine involving 930 cardiologists, less than a third described their nutrition knowledge as “mostly up-to-date” or better.

Dr. Timothy Harlan, executive director of the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University, hopes that future doctors see the benefits of adding nutritional education to their treatment arsenal.

“What we teach here is how to have a discussion with one’s patient about food that can have a substantive impact,” Dr. Harlan said. “Physicians will tell you that they have never gotten enough nutrition education. So we sometimes feel underprepared when it comes to nutrition.”

Doctors are on the front lines when it comes to helping patients change their eating habits, and they should take advantage of that at all levels of medical care, said Dr. Warren Ross, whose primary care practice in Ellicott City, Md., also has a teaching kitchen.

“One would hope that on any medical visit, a doctor would look for an opportunity to see what people are doing around their diet and whether they want additional support in making dietary changes,” Dr. Ross said.