#something something super effective against ice types

[just-a-mod]

had to edit this twice to make it small enough for tumblr to handle uwu

a silly bunch of headcanons between @honeycomb-cacube and I about some halloween/trick night costumes for their Percy and my Zalla

shenanigans, as they are want to do, ensued

meanwhile i just love the fact for most of the years, Zalla made her outfits functional in some reguard as things that could do silly or cool things and special effects

a magicless princess has to get her kicks some where B)

[adobe-outdesign]

Snom review! :3 (and frosmoth too ig)

Snom basically became a hit as soon as it came out, and that's no big shock. Based off a jewel caterpillar, Snom replaces the usual gelatinous covering with icicles and some matching ice-typing, which is a nice twist on the original organism.

As an added bonus, the fact that icicles are made of water means that its spikes are semi-transparent, and you can see its body through them. Not only does this match the actual caterpillar, but it also just makes for a cool effect.

Outside of that, the design is super simple. The compact, fruit-gummy-esq body is super cute, and I love that it just has a tiny dot eye located far back on its head. The stylized mandibles are also fun.

This line is one of the ones that skip the middle stage in favor of jumping straight to the moth. I don't have any problems with Pokemon doing this (they're fantasy creatures, they don't need to match real life all the time), and this line does feel good as a two-stager.

That aside, I do find Frosmoth fairly forgettable. It's not really a bad design or anything; it's just that we've gotten tons of moth Pokemon over the years, and there's not much going on conceptually with Frosmoth to really make it stick out (compared to Snom, who's status as a jewel caterpillar instantly makes it look pretty different compared to the other caterpillar 'mons out there).

Visually, I do like how chunky its body is. It's more akin to a silk moth than an actual jewel moth caterpillar (which tend to be very fluffy but with smaller abdomens), but it is something very moth-like. It also has little "paws" hidden against its body, which I wish we saw more often because they're very cute.

The shape of the antennae are also very pretty, as are the snowflake-like patterns. And you can't tell it here, but the gray areas of its design are actually semi-transparent, which is a nice callback to Snom:

But there's just no singular element that really stands out to make it memorable; Volcarona, for example, has six wings. I don't know what its thing might've been (maybe it could've retained some spikes somewhere in the design), but it does feel like it's missing something. regardless, its still a pleasant design from a visual standpoint.

Anyway, overall, Snom is adorable and has a fun concept and design. Frosmoth is a bit more generic, but still pretty, and both designs are nice and simple.

[goldensunset]

trying to brainstorm cool challenges and gimmicks in pokémon that could make for difficult and interesting moments:

•de-evolution. imagine you’re in the middle of battle and your opponent pulls some devious new trick on you and suddenly your final evo is a baby/teenager again. granted there may be advantages to this in certain situations but generally i think it would be a problem lol. could be a brief temporary issue that lasts the duration of the battle or it could be a thing where it’s actually difficult to get it back up to an evolution level of exp. if not de-evolution it could just be like a reduction in levels and stats. perhaps it even forgets certain moves (but you’re at least prompted to remember older weaker moves)

•arrogant cheating trainer who just keeps sending out more pokémon even after you’ve defeated their six. yes i’m thinking like volo but on crack. just keep going straight up and give no indication of when they’re gonna stop. perhaps it’s even nearly infinite and it’s a fight you’re not actually even supposed to win; just a battle to see how long you can hold out. someone in this universe other than the player character who has several boxes full of pokémon and somehow manages to access those files during battle so they can just draw out hordes of pokémon almost infinitely

•something where you as the trainer temporarily lose the ability to command your pokémon, and for a few turns they just wing it and try using any moves they know on their own. i’m thinking like horrible ai here. you can act otherwise (really just use items) but you can’t call out to your pokémon to either tell them to use moves or to switch them out, and there’s no item to fix whatever happened to make it this way. the reasoning could be something like your pokémon is experiencing a special type of confusion (like a lack of comprehension of human speech. or it could just be temporary deafness), or it could be like some sort of magic barrier got put up in between you two, or someone karate chopped you in the throat and now you can’t speak lol. or there was interference with the bond you two share within your hearts or w/e idk. maybe it was never about physically speaking at all idk how it works. you basically just have to wait and pray for a couple turns in a row that your team can act intelligently on its own. bonus if your success in this is dependent on preexisting friendship/affection

•not even a gimmick just. trainer with a good ai who can use all the same items in battle that you can. including revives. also their mons all have good held items

•again not even a gimmick but. trainers who specialize in a type should have a lot more dual types on their teams

•something where the type chart gets randomly shuffled around- suddenly you actually don’t know what’s super effective against what anymore. every move is a gamble. you click water against fire but reality has been turned 45 degrees today and for some reason fire is immune to water. ice is now good against normal. universe is having a silly goofy day and your ground type gets completely eviscerated by an electric type move. flying is weak to fire. bonus points if this isn’t just like the new normal in whatever gimmick region/game this is, but if it literally does change every time. bonus bonus points if there really is a secret pattern though that you can study to at least give you some idea

[drartemysia]

Emily Kaplan about Jack again-- get your tissues ready

Notable quotes from the article linked above (June 13, 2023). The main topic is Jack's injury, surgery and rehab:

How the injury came to be

Eichel can't pinpoint exactly when the issues began. "A few years ago, I started dealing with some symptoms," he said. "It wasn't necessarily something that was going to keep me out of the lineup, but I was dealing with it and playing through it." In a March 2021 game against the Islanders, Eichel hit his head against the boards, which resulted in a herniated disk in his neck. He missed the rest of the season.

2. What the spinal fusion surgery (the one Jack didn't want to have and the Sabres were insistent on) would have entailed (emphasis mine):

"The spine has three curves, and the reason it's shaped like that is because it's for movement," Lindsay said. "The best athletes in the world move with these transition areas in the spine. Guys like Connor, Cale Makar, [redacted because ick], Jack, the outliers, they move really well there." Lindsay rehabbed several NFL players who had the fusion surgery, and he didn't like the resulting rigidity in a segment of the spine. "In hockey, you're moving and the puck is moving," Lindsay said. "When you see it with Jack on the ice, he's very fluid in his movement. He would have lost that, just to make it super simple, he would have lost the accuracy to make those nice passes that he makes."

Have you ever seen Jack skate circles around other players? Because you should. This is the first example that comes to mind.

3. How bad things got:

Time was of the essence as he felt increased numbness in his arm from the constant pressure to his disk. 

I repeat, his fucking arm was going fucking numb. I'm going to feel sick. He has talked elsewhere (especially in this interview with Chris Weidman, a UFC fighter) about some episodes of numbness, which started to be more and more frequent. How terrifying that must be, he was 23 years old.

4. The rehab process:

"I wanted him to get back into the natural flow of skating and movement as soon as possible," [Dr. Mark] Lindsay said. "He was pretty rigid at first. Pretty stiff. I had him on the ice three days a week, just stickhandling. It was an emotional change for him. The frustration of dealing with everything he had to go through, being sidelined for so long. Getting back onto the ice was significant for him, emotionally." But Lindsay knew Eichel's body was a mess after having overcompensated for his neck for so long. "His pelvis needed a lot of work," Lindsay said. "He was inefficient in overall movements, and that's what I had to unwind."

Finally (emphasis mine):

"The hardest part is some people want you to fail in some ways," Lindsay said. "But someone had to be the pioneer. Years from now, we'll be talking about this as the Jack Eichel surgery, in the same way as Tommy John."

In conclusion (emphasis mine):

"The fact that an institution or team has trump value when you have to invasively cut somebody open, I think that needs to be changed," Prusmack said. "It's why Jack's story is so important. You now have elements of coercion based off economic agreements, which should not be part of our health system. Jack did what he did for the right reasons. I'm proud of him; that's hard to do in our culture."

Eichel said he doesn't feel any effects from the surgery at all; the only sign is a pink scar on the front of his neck.

(Emily have you been in my drafts, because "the scar, a pink horizontal line dividing Jack's life in before and after" is something that I wrote months ago)

[collabwithmyself]

Something about Hito using charm on Aoi to keep safe and replacing it with mystical fire, a move super-effective against ice-types.

YOU GET IT. Enough fawning we are FIGHTING BACK.

[gigglingsoftly]

We Bare Bears Tickle HCs

A/N: I’ve been rewatching We Bare Bears. I just wanted these headcanons out of my head. And I would add more every time I would get an idea. I’m pretty sure there is nothing else for me to add. So now I’m sharing them with you. I was originally going to keep them to myself but finding out there was practically no wbb stuff made me sad so I’m taking this into my own hands.

If you were a fan of the show I hope you like them and think they are accurate or at least some what accurate!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grizz

The residential tickle monster.

He wants his brothers to do something? Tickles! They’re being sassy/jerks? Tickles! They need cheering up? Tickles!He just wants to be annoying and bother them? Tickles!

He’s been like this since they were cubs and there truly is no escape.

He remembers where his little brothers are most to least ticklish like it’s literally embedded in his mind.

Ice Bear and Panda have literally had to gang up on him and make him promise to STOP.

They all know he can only keep that promise for so long.

Pan Pan and Ice don’t have to tease him really. Reminding him that this is for years of torment is usually enough.

Mimicking teases or things he’s done to them kills him.

He’ll take it in stride and usually he’ll admit that he deserved it.

Sometimes he’ll get cheer up tickles and his brothers will just remind him that they’re just returning the favor. He’s always so willing to cheer up his brothers.

It works but this usually just causes a massive tickle fight. He has to remind his brothers at all times he is the tickle king.

He definitely makes his brothers say he’s the best big brother ever. Like I just know he does bc that is literally such a him thing to do.

Panda

He’s literally soooo ticklish. Like he’s the most ticklish out of his brothers.

They tickle him all the time.

He’s also such a cutie that they can’t help it. Okay, Grizz is the one who can’t help it

Like he’s so giggly and he becomes such a wiggle worm. He gets super blushy. And if he laughs too hard he gets the hiccups. And he gets teary eyed. Like he’s so precious.

And pointing how cute he is just makes the tickles worse.

He’s going to curl into a ball and protect himself. It’s two against one a lot of the time and even if it isn’t he’s way more ticklish than his brothers will ever be. So he might as well just protect his most vulnerable spots and hope they get bored soon.

He has no issue getting his brothers back. They deserve it! Of course tho, that means he’s right back where he started. And he kinda knows that but revenge is always worth it.

Ice Bear

He will try not to laugh! He told Panda that if he doesn’t laugh Grizz will eventually just get bored. But Panda is too ticklish for that advice lol

It only works sometimes anyway. I mean Grizz already know he’s ticklish. It just depends on how determined his big brother is that day.

He will def try to escape.

He is a fighter! His brothers know they can’t go too far or someone will definitely get hurt (most likely them)

He’s not much of a beggar. He’ll just squirm around a lot and eventually just tap out. Or his brothers have to see he is literally dying in order for them to stop.

One time tho Grizz was like “I’ll only stop if you say you quit!” Panda had to tell Grizz he was going too far but he was equally amused. It’s what Ice what gets for being the strong silent type

Usually Grizz and Panda’s go to teases for him is reminding him he’s the baby and that he’s their baby brother. Incredibly effective.

His brothers will tickle him just to see him smile since he doesn’t smile often. And they know that’s just how he is and it doesn’t mean he’s sad but still they want to see him smile.

After his brothers give in then he’ll say something like “Ice Bear is the ultimate tickle monster.”

[bellafragolina]

How about some challengers for Milo, Nessa, and Gordie? They are a type specialist to Pokemon weak against the Gym Trainers. (Ground, Fire, Ice)

you didn't specify whether they win or lose or such, so i'll make it a bit of both, okay?

🍓🍓🍓

Milo:

Milo is impressed to find you approaching with a belt of Dive Balls. He knows you know of the typing advantage, so he's curious what you've got to show. How are you going to make up for the difference between you?

Gyarados, Cloyster, Araquanid, Qwilfish. All of your Pokémon, while primarily water types, have secondary typing that are effective against his grass types. It's not all a shoe in, not for either of you. You have skill, strategy, and a curious bundle of items to help you against him.

Milo loves it. The battle is thrilling, and you look like your having a ball. Your wide smile as you conduct your Pokémon, confident in the face of type weakness, it's inspiring! Milo wants to give it all, and honestly, wants to see you succeed. Wants you to win against him at his best, just so you keep that pretty smile of yours.

And you do win, and Milo nearly plows you over in his excitement. He’s got endless praise for you, and with how cute his smile is, you’re making plans to visit again and again, with new teams and strategies at hand

Nessa:

Rock types, of all types. Nessa cocks a brow at you when you approach, a claimed rock type wielder that rivals the champion himself, only with one typing. You’ve come here to battle Nessa, to show how strong your team is even against a type advantage such as Nessa’s water types

An Alolan Golem, an Omastar, a Kabutops, a Cradily, a Barbaracle, and a Corsola make up your team. Nessa calls cheating on you, with how many of your Pokémon have water typing. They’re still rock types first, you counter, playfully mocking her for nitpicking your team. The following battle is ruthless.

And sadly, despite your typing strategy and fierce fight, you lose. But it’s not an easy win, and Nessa shakes your hand all the same. You shake back, and chatter about some new strategy ideas, now that you’ve seen her power in action. Nessa cocks her head at you, but you just wave goodbye, giddily leaving to start a new training regimen with your team

Nessa thinks about you a lot between your first and second battle. You’re something else, something new. She enjoys the way you stirred up her life, crashing through un-apologetically with your unconventional but still super strong team. She hopes you keeping coming back, even if you manage to win in the end

Gordie:

The last thing Gordie expects is for you to inform him your team is entirely bug types. He asks if you're aware that rock is super effective against bug (didn't his people say you were in line to, like, rule the world with how good you were?), and you nod. You toss our your first member, and Gordie thinks, okay. This is happening

Your team against him includes a Parasect, a Scizor, a Heracross, an Armaldo, a Durant, and a Araquanid, all with typings to either buffet his super effective moves, or to throw the super effective moves back at him. Gordie's confusion wanes with the realization that you're doing this on purpose, showing the world that sometimes, main typing doesn't matter, if you're a good trainer.

And you're a good trainer. Your team hits hard and hits fast, using moves and strategy Gordie's never considered before. He learns from you as he attacks back, learns new ways of defending and attacking that get him excited. He almost doesn't want your battle to end, but end it does. In a tie.

You shake Gordie's hand, blazing like the sun in your giddiness over the outcome. Gordie grins back, and wants to talk to you about your team and your training, but he has other challengers. But you'll be back, you announce it loud and proud before you leave, so Gordie resigns himself to daydreams and training, wanting to impress you how you impressed him

🍓🍓🍓

this was hard to write, i'll admit. i didn't want them to all sound the same and i also had to figure out how they'd put up a fight with the typing disadvantage. hopefully this is close to what you were wanting!!

have a great day!

~Renee

[go-go-gadget-autism]

If you could create an ultimate team lineup of Pokémon that would be the best team, who would they be? Also they don’t have to be from the same Pokémon game. (Sorry if this is a weird question, I only know a little bit about Pokémon)

To start off, this is a very broad topic. there are 1025 pokémon, so i’m going to try to make a team without legendary or mythical pokémon as they tend to be overpowered. also i’m just making a team based on something i’m most likely to use, because there are so many strategies, move combos, and many many factors that make finding the “best team” essentially impossible. it’s all up to each individual person and how well they use their pokémon. so this is just tailored to me mostly!! <3

I’m not great at strats or EV and IV training, but I’ll try my best. don’t judge, I’m also partial to pokémon I like. also i’m really bad at using items so im not going to include those! please do research based on what others say and websites such as Smogon, Serebii, and Pokémon Database!

Garchomp. Ground/Dragon. Good attack and speed stats, can learn swords dance to boost attack sharply. Resistant to Electric, Fire, Poison, and Rock type attacks. Its hidden ability is Rough Skin, which does 1/8 of the attacker’s max HP upon using a physical move (i.e something like Tackle or Bite, but not like Thunderbolt or Fire Blast). Garchomp has access to moves of various types when used by TM or HM, which means that being well prepared for a fight will work very well in your favor.

Metagross. Steel/Psychic. Okay, i know, two pseudo legendary pokémon on one team. talk about unique. But Metagross pairs well with Garchomp, resisting some of its weaknesses like Fairy and Ice. It has a high attack stat and naturally very bulky, so it can tank hits, making up for slower speed due to its weight.

Gengar. Ghost/Poison. Good speed and Attack stats. It’s weak to Dark, Psychic, and Ghost types, but ghost type moves are super effective against Psychic and other Ghost types, and poison is super effective against Fairy and Grass.

4. Greninja. Water/Dark. Has great Special Attack and Speed stats. Its Water type moves are super effective against Fire, Ground, and Rock types, while it’s Dark type moves are super effective against Ghost and Psychic types. Greninja is weak to Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Electric, and Grass type moves. The other pokémon in this list counter these decently well, with Ground resisting electric, Gengar being able to learn Fire Pumch resists Grass and Bug, and Metagross’s Steel and Psychic typing counters Fighting and Fairy types.

Heracross. Fighting/Bug. It has high Attack and Special Defense stats, and a decent Speed stat. Its Hidden Ability, Moxie, raises its Attack stat by one stage (50%) each time it KO’s another Pokémon. It’s weak to Fire, Psychic, Flying, and Fairy types, all of which can be countered by this team. Heracross being a Fighting type can counter Normal type Pokémon, and Fighting is the only weakness of Normal types. Fighting is also super effective against Dark, Ice, Rock, and Steel types, while Bug types are super effective against Grass, Psychic, and Dark types.

Aegislash. Steel/Ghost. With its stance change, it can have very high Attack and Defense stats. A lot of the points i’ve said for other pokémon that have similar typing such as Gengar and Metagross stand here, and I honestly just like Aegislash. Very cool pokémon 10/10 sword

[slymewitch]

A little pokemon rant about dragons and why Charizard and Gyarados likely weren’t given the typing:

Charizard and Gyarados aren’t dragon type because of what dragon type’s role in the original games was, which was to be a final boss of sorts. Resistant to all starter types meaning if you’ve been leaning on them the whole game you’re in a pickle. Charizard was made flying instead of dragon because that would have been unbalanced, and for a similar reason I theorize that Blastoise was planned to be water/rock or something but that was scrapped because it would have made him super effective against dragonite, the big regional dragon. I also think Gyarados was planned to be dragon (would have been satisfying to have weak lil magikarp evolve into a final boss level threat) but ended up not being one because of a fun little quirk in gen 1 where the only damaging dragon type move had a fixed damage. And because water resists ice, that would leave Gyarados with no weaknesses. And so it was scrapped for balancing purposes. However the added flying type let it still have the draconic starter resistance since water resists fire and water, and flying resists grass.

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 33- Part 3

Pretty big area, there's bound to be some interesting stuff around here.

Well, they can't all be winners, but at least the purple is fitting for this area. 

Now…hey, that area down there…that looks like where the Field Read-Out is. Are these side ledges? Can I have Xera jump down and-

Yes!!

And there are other hidden items too!!

Wasteland…y’know what, I don't know what else this Field would have been called, fair enough. Now let's see what this is all about…

Affects a lot of Abilities, but they all make sense for the environment- Effect Spore, Poison Point, Merciless, Liquid Ooze. I feel like some of these effects have some overlap with Corrosive Field, but I don't feel like cross-referencing that right now, I'll check later.

I am surprised by some of the moves that get boosted, though- like, Vine Whip and Power Whip? Not to mention giving a select few Ground moves a secondary Poison typing, that might negate the Ground-type weakness for Poison-types (like how giving Ancient Power a secondary Ice typing made it no longer super effective against an Ice-type). And certain other Ground attacks being weakened, but the wasteland ground might be squishy so that one makes sense.

But some of these other effects…gosh! Like- new effects for entry hazards?? And random status effects for several Poison moves?? Now that's terrifying!

Oh yeah, don't think I didn't notice the chemical tank from Corey's Gym over here. I'm sure interacting with it doesn't do anything this time around, but it…it brings back memories, it's familiar, y’know? I'm having Xera pay respects to the man, let her live.

Anyways, time to head back around and find a way to move forward.

Lots of great items! Maybe this Wasteland and its quirkiness are good for more than just Shards after all!

Alright, so there's another building and some stairs to investigate…but let's check what's south too, just real fast.

Oh! That's the Healing Shard! Well then! Looks like I know where the plot is now- and that means I know everywhere else is safe to explore! So let's look around the rest of the Wasteland as best we can, starting with the rest of this area!

Already off to a great start, that could be useful in the future.

And this is my coping mechanism.

Now then, into that one building-

Another opening in the wall, but this time I feel fine looking around inside it, now that I know where the intended destination is. But first- is there anything in this little area here?

Oh shoot, yes there is! The Black Sludge, that's a great item! I can give that to Glare!

And with that, we head inside the hole!

…Hm. The save menu calls this the Wasteland Wall. Yeah, this is…definitely the inside of a big wall, no doubt.

…Riveting exploration! This was a great use of time!

Alright, what's next…? Maybe checking that other entrance, the one with the stairs?

Oh, these stairs are a lie, they don't lead anywhere. Okay. Guess I'll just…check that other opening in the wall? While investigating anything I may have missed along the way?

I'll be honest, me picking up that Carbon was a total accident- I thought I could get around the tree, I couldn't, I was just kinda zoning out and pressing buttons- frankly, it's a miracle I caught a screenshot of it. But the other entrance is over here, so…

And hey, that rock is one Xera actually can get past!

Nevermind, we're going to the left instead!

Good to see the region's supply of toxic waste sweets is still going strong.

Huh- that's interesting, I didn't even know that was a door. Probably something to be investigated later.

Previous

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[leviathanlazarus]

Reaching for Stardust - Part VI

Read Looking For Space here // Playlists here // Read on wattpad

Word Count: ~2700 (why so short?? I don't know. I wrote this what feels like ages ago lol)

Warnings: none...but buckle up for later?

This is super late because I was 1) busy writing that GVF slash mini-series 2) busy being out of town to see OUR BOYS again 3) busy writing that new Sam fic I just posted. Anyway...

---

Morning began with a tangerine sun suspended in a hazy, buttercup yellow sky. The clouds seemed to come to life as the sun got higher, moving past the orange glow in such gentle, soft movements that it was hard to even keep track of the changes, at least from mine and Josh’s spot on the porch. We were both hungover worse than we’d experienced in, well, we weren’t sure–it was hard to remember anything with our heads pounding, throats parched and stomachs lurching.

“Fuck. We fucked up,” Josh lamented with a little groan. He shut his eyes and leaned against me, a mug of coffee in his hands. “We should’ve bought food yesterday. I’d take a single saltine cracker right now.”

I felt the same. Hindsight was always 20/20. “Yeah, we fucked up,” I agreed. I tried to shut my eyes in solidarity and to just bask in the warm glow of morning but, when I did, I felt the earth spin beneath my feet. “I need Gatorade or something, jeez.” 

“I shouldn’t have suggested shots,” Josh went on, sounding off a louder groan to punctuate his statement. “It’s all my fault. Are we going to survive?”

“We’ll survive,” I assured him, though the coffee from the Keurig machine was too bitter on my tongue and too hot in my stomach. I was dreaming of an ice-cold blue sports drink from an air conditioned gas station, chased with an iced coffee loaded with cream and sugar. “Nothing’s gonna stop us from going to the beach today.”

“Tybee Island, yes,” Josh concurred. He sat up straight and brought the mug of coffee to his lips, eyes half-lidded as he sipped again despite the enthusiasm in his voice. Once half of his coffee was gone he was up and moving, shuffling away from the porch, beginning to sing to himself as he carried on into the bedroom. If it’d been anyone else, that relentless cheeriness and resilience would have irritated me, but it was Josh, so listening just made me laugh to myself.

I was still excited for our beach day, though at the moment the thought of baking in the sun made me feel even more queasy. I diligently sipped the rest of my coffee and groggily hauled myself into the kitchen to chug lukewarm tap water, which tasted so different than the water back home. I did love Savannah so far, but I still couldn’t imagine living there. In my mind, home was where our most beloved people were and that was back in Michigan. 

That thought reminded me to check my phone for a reply from Jake. He had texted back later in the night and I immediately smiled huge and delirious at the picture–a selfie taken with the help of Danny’s long arm that showed all three of the boys that I missed so badly. The text read: First birthday without Josh was weird. He sent me a text that was half gibberish did you guys go out?

I typed back, relaying that we went to the rooftop bar and got absolutely wasted and that Josh’s birthday seemed a little weird without Jake and Sam and Danny, too. As I migrated to the bedroom after Josh, I realized how it was also the first birthday of Josh’s that felt so empty after the fact–normally, the whole “one year older” and effects of whatever party we’d had trailed into the next day. I didn’t feel that at all. Was it yet another product of actually getting older? Sometimes in my head, Josh was still the same 23 year old I’d met in that poetry class, both of us so fresh and green, with him so ready to fall headfirst into something new with me. I’d been so apprehensive and fearful and now, looking back, it felt so silly. Josh was a dream come true.

The beach was also a dream come true. We had nothing to compare it to back home, not even close–the ocean right at our literal fingertips was enough for Josh and I to drop our bags and hightail it to the sea, running through the foamy waves until the water reached our knees. The sun was partially hidden by some of the morning clouds that had stuck around, but what sunlight pierced through hit hard and beautiful, turning the water into an infinite expanse of glittering blue and green that melted into the pale blue horizon. Seagulls circled overhead; pelicans coasted in the water; boats floated on by far off in their own little worlds and our little world seemed to be a seaside fairytale that I was content to live in for much longer than we actually had. 

The wind caressed our damp legs as we stepped back out onto dry land. My heart was beating fast, even faster still when I looked at Josh–the strips of white clouds were reflected in his eyes and his smile was bigger and brighter than any sun. I was sure of that. We watched each other more than what our hands were doing as we held the big beach towel we’d packed between us and spread it out in the air, trying to get it straight and taut to lay flat on the sand. Josh smirked; I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed.

“This is perfect,” he remarked once we were getting situated on the ground. He laid back, putting his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. “I could stay here forever.”

I grabbed his sunglasses from his backpack and slid them over his eyes. “It does feel like a little slice of paradise. We just need some fruity cocktails.”

“A little hair of the dog that bit us wouldn’t be such a bad idea right now, actually.” 

I laid down next to him, shielding my eyes with my hand to look at the sky. “We used to be able to drink all night and be relatively fine the next day. I miss that.”

“I think Jake, Danny and Sam drank all night. Sam sent me a video of Danny drinking straight from a bottle of tequila.”

I chuckled. “Those two degenerates have ruined our good boy.” 

“Sam singlehandedly corrupted Danny years ago, I’m sure of it,” Josh said, turning his head to look at me. His bare skin was already so naturally tan–I could imagine how much more rich and glowy he’d become with the extra sun we were getting. “He’s just good at keeping it under wraps, that Daniel of ours. Well, sometimes. Seems like the most debauchery comes out when Sam peer pressures him and Danny can’t contain himself.”

It was true–so many nights of Sam practically pouring shots down Danny’s throat himself. It seemed like Danny only tried to hold back because he knew he’d end up having to take care of Sam later on.

“I think they’re in love,” I said.

Josh laughed. “Me too.”

I sat up to retrieve a bottle of water from my backpack. “But really–none of them have girlfriends. Is it because they’re touring now? I just can’t imagine any of them not finding a girl to click with.”

“Well, we are their best groupies. I don’t think anyone else can compete with us in that regard,” Josh said, still lying flat, lounging beneath the penetrating sunrays. “But I do think the fact that they’re playing shows all over now is a factor. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to commit to someone you’re not going to see even every week.”

“Not gonna lie, I wanted Sam and Bev to work out.”

“I think he was a little too young then. It might be different now.”

“Well, maybe it’s a good thing.” I took a drink then settled back down, moving closer to Josh. “They should just be focused on the music and having fun. Relationships complicate things.”

Josh raised his sunglasses and winked at me. “Not if they’re perfect.”

I smiled. “We’re not exactly perfect.” 

“Close enough.” 

I’d considered the idea that Josh really would propose to me during our vacation. The beach seemed like a good place for it–though there were people around, we had plenty of privacy, no way to make a big public fuss about it. The weather was perfect and the whole ambiance of the ocean and sky made for a picturesque setting. He was too relaxed though–if Josh were to propose now, I would have had a real inkling. Still, the impending mystery proposal and the subsequent unplanned wedding was on my mind again.

“Where would you want our wedding to be?” I asked. “Obviously outside somewhere. We’ve already agreed on that. But where specifically?”

Josh reached between us to take my hand, still lying idle by my side. “I’m not sure, darling. I’m not privy to the venues and what have you that are in our area. Why, did you have a particular place in mind?”

“Not really. But some place quiet and open would be nice. Lots of flowers and trees and whatnot. That’d be pretty, right?”

“Very pretty. Though it sounds like we’d be waiting another year if we wanted the greenery and sunshine.” Josh squeezed my hand lightly, let it go to roll onto his side and look at me. “I don’t feel like waiting another year.”

I knew as much, but my heart still skipped a beat at hearing the words. “It takes time to plan a wedding. Even if you proposed to me right now, the planning would take months.”

“We have months as it is. But don’t worry–I’m not proposing today.” Josh leaned in and cupped my face, giving me a kiss. “It’s still going to be a surprise. And I have to get the timing right.” 

“Oh?” I quipped, reaching out for him, tugging on his hair to bring him back and kiss again. He tasted like sunscreen and coconut lip balm. 

Josh propped his head up in one hand, remaining on his side. “I know you have your bridesmaid all figured out. Kirsti would be your maid of honor, naturally.”

“And Jake would be your best man. Naturally.” 

“You’ve told your mom we’re planning on getting married, right?”

“Josh, she started pressuring me to marry you like two years ago,” I reminded him with a laugh. “Once she came around to you, she came around hard. And I’m pretty sure she’s desperate for just one of her kids to get married.” 

“Oh, that’s right! Last Christmas she asked me where the ring was.” Josh laughed too, turning to look up at the sky. “I didn’t tell her I had it already. Maybe I should’ve.” 

“Since I already know you’re going to propose, isn’t most of the surprise moot anyway?”

Josh laid back down. “Not at all. People should talk about it beforehand. It doesn’t kill the romance. It just makes things more solid.”

“You know what’s also solid? A house,” I replied, giving his nose a tap with my finger before I laid back down, too. 

“Seen any around here that you like?”

“I’ve seen some back home that I like.” I quickly considered spilling about the house from the estate sale, but I didn’t know if that was a sure thing yet. And anyway, I didn’t want to get caught up in thinking about being home when we were on vacation. Josh was so skilled at enjoying the present–I was going to do the same. 

Once we were feeling the burn from the sun, Josh and I waded back into the cool Atlantic. This time, we went far enough out until the water reached our necks and the waves were gentle and stirring around us, crashing loudly behind us; I gazed out at the blue horizon, thinking of how the ocean seemed as infinite as the sky itself, as infinite as the whole universe, really. I laughed when Josh decided to swim out even farther, kicking and paddling along until he called out that he couldn’t feel where the bottom was and I told him to watch out for sharks. He tipped back to lie flat beneath the sky and float atop the water, arms out at his sides and eventually looking too much like a dead body that I swam out and dragged him back by his hand. 

We took our damp and slightly sunburnt selves to a very late lunch at a little seafood shack afterward. It was quite literally a shack, actually, and it was situated down a curvy road, far more in the grasslands than the actual beach, but I could still smell the ocean when we stepped out of the rental car and moseyed up the wooden ramp to the doorway, where inside it smelled like, not to either of our surprises, fish, crab and fryer oil. 

After our greasy and satisfying lunch, we headed out to the shops lining the island that were even more blatant tourist money grabs than what we’d encountered downtown, and we loved it. The sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, keychains and the beach-inspired hemp necklaces and bracelets fit the energy of the island and our sun-soaked bliss; neither Josh nor I cared about how silly the purchases were. We walked out with plastic bags full of mementos and soft hoodies, our hair stiff from salt water, my heart full of undeniable happiness.

While Josh drove us back over the bridge to take us back to our temporary home for much-needed showers, I got a text from Jake: How do you like Savannah? 

I love it. It’s beautiful! We’re having the best time. Where are you guys tonight?

Cleveland. So far so good. Josh hasnt been texting me much so he must be enamored with the city haha 

He is! But we miss you guys. We have so much to tell you when we get back 

Same here. Wish you guys could see the show

We’re your biggest fans. Don’t forget it ;) 

“Jake misses us,” I announced to Josh, who had a very pleased smile on his face when I looked at him. 

“I know he does,” he said while we glided over the bridge back to the city. “I miss him, too.”

-

When night fell, we were one of four other couples and one trio during the ghost tour, which took us from the starting point outside a diner, long shut down since its last dinner hour, around what felt like far more than just a couple miles of the city. The guide was a witchy woman who had the right energy and charisma to make all the stories–surely, some more exaggerated than others–come to life in the warm night and the yellow glow of the street and house lights and the abundance of Spanish moss hanging from so many of the trees surrounding our steps added to the spookiness of it all. Josh loved it, as did I, and we were wired by the time the tour ended, wanting more ghost stories–really, wanting to find some ghost stories of our own. 

But instead of ghosts, we found ourselves back at the airbnb, sipping wine with our limbs tangled together on the porch. I couldn’t see the stars–the lights of the small city were still too many and too bright to get a good view–but the brightest star of all was right there next to me. I said this to Josh and he laughed lovingly at the cliche, wrapped his arm tighter around me and pressed his wine-stained lips to my cheek: “Thank you for coming with me on this journey,” he said. 

“To Savannah or just, like, life?” I asked, happy and mutually grateful either way.

“All of it.” Josh sighed softly and rested his cheek on my shoulder. “I just wish it were longer.” 

“We have tomorrow,” I reminded him. “And a whole lifetime.”

Josh clinked his glass with mine. “Infinity.”

I ran my fingers up his back, tracing each vertebrae. “Infinity.”

---

Tagging: @jjwasneverhere @colorstreammind

Want to be tagged? Let me know here! (or just DM me lmao)

[puffballcat]

I made a Xion team as well

I did have a theme for this one, that being beach-y and ocean-y pokemon. The beach means a lot to her, so I think her team would reflect that.

Silvally-Okay, so this one tied back into the Vexen/Even and the replicas all having Type:Nulls and they evolve at important moments for the characters. Hers evolves when she first develops her own identity. Between the ending of Days and when she returns, it hangs around in Twilight Town keeping it safe. Usually is either Fire or Ice with a Ground Tera type to help deal with things that are super-effective against the other members of the team.

Pyukumuku-It’s a pokemon that’s found on beaches and is an adorable little critter, which feels like the kind of pokemon she would graviate towards. I feel like she’d be a bit weirded out by the whole spewing it’s innards out thing at first, but after giving it a treat and seeing it give a little thumbs up, she’d absolutely fall in love with it. It’s her weird little friend and she wouldn’t have them any other way.

Pelipper-Still keeping with the beach and ocean vibes, but also love the idea of her using it to carry letters and presents. Her favorite mail designs are Bloom, Glitter, Harbor, Mosaic, Snow and Wave.

Starmie- Starfish are the first thing that comes to mind for me when it comes to ocean life. It also just felt right, it seems like a pokemon she’d like. I wanted at least one shiny for this and Starmie had the nicest one out of the team.

Alolan Exeggutor- I wanted to get at least one more pokemon that wasn’t a Water type. It’s such a silly pokemon and cheers her up whenever she sees it. How can you not be happy when in the presence of something that goofy?

Corsola- Another one that just felt right. She doesn’t care that it’s not a strong pokemon, it’s her little friend and it’s going wherever she goes.

Other pokemon considered: Kingdra, Dachsbun, Granbull, Stoutland, Luvdisc, Alomomola, Slowking, Lumineon, Floatzel

Note: To be honest, New Pokemon Snap was a bit of an influence on my choices here.

[snoruntfan]

It’s funny how the Ice type was initially designed as the “Dragon killer” type. Like it was the ONLY type (besides Dragon itself) that is super effective against these beasts.

I remember when I was playing HGSS trading with my partner the Eevee I got so that I could evolve it into a Glaceon in Diamond so that I had something for Lance XD

Like the Ice type has a lot of issues (only resists itself and had quite a lot of weaknesses) BUT it at least had the consolation of being the “Dragon killer” (especially when Dragon was the best type in Gen 5)

…

Then Gen 6 happened lol

[goldensunset]

if i were re-balancing the pokémon type chart i’d start with the obvious ones like giving ice and maybe grass more resistances. then i’d move into slightly more controversial territory such as taking certain resistances away and perhaps making fairy only resist dragon instead of being immune. finally i’d do something insane like making grass super effective against fairy. it’s getting too boring around here

[lunarbard]

I realize this is influenced by it being one of my favorite media series, but I have a firm belief that most Metroid games have a lot of design elements to look to for inspiration when designing an adventure-oriented ttrpg campaign, especially one with anything resembling a dungeon in structure.

While scenario design that facilitates exploration is vital for those types of games, I also think that Metroid has another gameplay element in the upgrades for some of its games that offers an avenue of solution to a problem in specifically D&D 5e campaigns: beam stacking.

Metroid: Zero Mission & Super Metroid especially are generally designed in such a way that once you get a strong enough beam upgrade (especially the plasma beam), they make back tracking easier because you can just sprint down a hallway firing away and you'll deal with any enemies before they can hurt you. It makes backtracking easier & rewarding.

AM2R easily has the best take on this with how it gives you the ice beam last and made it the super weapon of the game for clearing out corridors as you move about. Prime 3 is a close 2nd with how the x-ray visor + nova beam explicitly let you one-shot certain enemies.

Metroid Dread is the antithesis of this, since the main damage upgrades you get for your arm cannon are immediately followed by every enemy in the environment getting buffed. Dread also has the problem of sucking to backtrack in since enemies are designed to be killed by countering (requiring you to have to wait to bait out their counter-able attack), rather than just the "run down with your arm cannon pointing up and kill everything" style of a game like ZM. (I enjoy Dread, but Mercury Steam seems to really struggle with the exploration element of Metroid).

Before we apply this to D&D though, a disclaimer: I do not hold any of my encounters or monsters as precious; I do not hang my sessions on a single combat for how "cool" I think it will be. Combat is just one procedure for overcoming an obstacle, and a risky one at that; it is more often than not the fail state of the party's primary plan going awry.

In a lot of D&D games & off shoots, the game incentivizes a power treadmill as players go from killing goblins at level 1 to dragons at level 10. Throw those same goblins at a level 10 5e party though, and your barbarians, fighters, rangers, and paladins will feel like shit as in 10 levels, while their wizard friend can fireball a horde 8 times before needing a back up plan, they have barely doubled in their effective ability to reduce the enemy's numbers. Throw something bigger, like a bugbear, and it might only be an improvement to 2 turns instead of 3 needed to slay it.

So, beam stacking: as the party explores the world, they can improve their weapons (and implements) to more effectively deal with previously troublesome enemies. Vital to this element is that foes are components of a recurring faction, rather than one-off fights. This has no effect if the party never fights the same type of foe and so never sees how much more effective they are against them.

For my current campaign, the general structure I have in place is that magic weapon enhancement ranges from +1 to +5. At each even number (+2, +4) the weapon gains an additional die of damage (so a +2 mace deals 2d6 damage, instead of 1d6). The heroes' weapons will also improve when they accomplish legendary deeds, increasing the renown of the tools they carry (and thus the power of those tools).

A weapon can bind a number of additional special properties up to 1 + its enhancement bonus. Properties can be granted by obscure magic or by an arcane smith forging special materials into the weapon.

Monsters have a lot of tags - see an Eternal Ogre, which is a mutant brute in the army of demon-magic soldiers in this campaign:

fiendish & monstrous apply for a ranger's favored foe, while the miasmic and metamorph tags indicate its type for vulnerabilities.

Metamorph creatures are those who have been wholly mutated by magic. Weapons infused with lunarium are twice as effective against them.

Miasmic foes are those who have been infused with or made of dark energy, such as demons & undead. Radiant damage is twice as effective against them, and weapons infused with Celestine are thrice as effective against them (the radiant component a paladin's smite with a celestine weapon would deal x4 of its normal damage).

The party has been skirmishing with eternals a fair bit in the area they're currently solving, and after fighting some eternals, including an ogre, they managed to get some of their weapons infused with lunarium. The next time they faced eternals, they required fewer resources to deal with the ogres (which was good, since they needed those resources to deal with the hellhounds & Eternal Elites in the fray).

Eternal soldiers are the occupying force of the dark lord in this campaign, so the party will be dealing with the many soldiers of their ranks throughout the campaign. As the heroes become legends and find ancient magic & materials to improve their equipment, they'll have a progressively easier time cleaving through the forces of evil.

[a-tale-of-legends]

Hmmm...for sound I imagine if they made it a type it would reclassify a bunch of normal types like the whismur line. perhaps a few keep their type but get the sound type slapped on, maybe kricketune would become bug/sound. perhaps regional variants like a sound/flying zubat based on echolocation

Yeah, I've thought about this. And I need to clarify, I do think that sound type would be awesome. It fits a lot of pokemon and could potentially give them an edge that they didn't have before. Loudred line, Chatot, wigglytuff and others would benefit from this type and it could make sense. I just feel "sound" is often seen the theme to design a pokemon, since with the normal types kinda encompass all of that.

But that's enough of being a downer, let's get into the nitty gritty: a hypothetical sound type type chart.

Right off the bat, I know that Sound would most likely be resisted by steel ( so if a steel type gets hit with a sound type move, it would do literally nothing. If we want to take it a step further, no damage at all). However steel,I think,would be super effective against Sound types. Maybe. I can see it either not having an effect on it, or being super effective against it Sound, but for now we'll say it does neutral damage.

Next up for sound type weaknesses, I would say dark? Cause like. Most nights there is no sound. And when there is a sound, it's usually to scare you. Does that makes sense? But yeah, sound weak to dark types in this hypothetical.

Dragon could be a weakness, bc it's a motherfucking dragon. Saying "begone foul beast" isn't gonna actually make the dragon go away lmao.

I want to give the ice types win for fucking once so! While the ice type doesn't do super effective damage to sound types, it does resist it. I know, I know, "it's nice. It can shatter at high pitches or something" and to that I say: let me be delusional. Ice types need a win damnit.

As for strengths, at the top of my head, ghost types are weak to Sound types. You know how ghost hunters try to tell if a ghost is there by trying to communicate with them? Yeah that's why. Humans have the ability to "hear" ghosts and thus are able to know what to do to them.

Fighting too, because you can't bunch sound lol. Everyone's weakness is a screaming child/j. So fighting types would be weak to Sound types, and fighting types can't even hit them for it.

....fairy types are weak to Sound types????? Cause while the fae does have power over words, they also have as much power if given to them? So in a sense that makes them weak to it. I guess you could have it in a case where Fairy and Sound do super effective damage to each other, which is very interesting. Actually yeah let's do that, cause pixelate hyper voice is a thing. So maybe the sound type has the ability to make be like pixelate but for sound types....I guess I dunno.

Uh. Honestly that's all I can think of lol. I might have given the sound type too many weaknesses maybe. Might take back the dragon type weaknesses.

Anyway this ask went in a direction that I was not expecting but should have. Uh. Sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting either, I tend to ramble lol. Thank you for the ask!!!