#teleporting gangster husband

[wandawillkill312]

Apex Legends OC Bio: “Spellbinder”- Hypnotic High-Roller (Revised version).

The Apex Games were in for a rare treat; when they got Spellbinder: An actual Human, from planet Earth!

Hailing from planet Earth- which in my headcanons is still going strong and still doing well-; Hal Braxton grew up wealthy; due to his parents starting, owning and running a luxurious hotel and resort, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Yet he had one dream and one dream only: to be incredibly famous and have his name be known, chanted and cheered for, across the universe.

Fast-Forward to his early 20s; Hal was given a chance to make his dream happen, when he discovered future Hyperfighting Champion: Jimmy McCormick- better known as “The Forge”-, and became his manager, head coach and “Flame-Themed” hype-man, known as “Lord Vulcan.”

Hal also became a musician on the side; producing 3 albums, 4 gold records and a number of music videos- which Jimmy has starred in.

It was a struggle; but once Jimmy started moving up the ranks of the Hyperfighting Federation; life was smooth-sailing for both him and Hal.

Especially since Hal also became accustomed to the other side of the Hyperfighting world- the dark, seedy and ruthless side, filled with cold-hearted bastards, who have done a lot of shady things to earn their place.

Unfortunately for them; Hal also had a dream of living the life of a High-Rolling Gangster- like the ones in old movies and TV shows, he’d watch as a kid.

But here’s the twist: he wanted to do it legally- up to the point, where he was secretly celebrated for it by most of Olympus.

Once he and Jimmy traveled to Psamathe; to compete in the Olympus Circuit, Hal started making moves- on 7 of the most notorious crime families that ruled over the city- Plus a corrupt News Reporter and her equally corrupt Preacher husband.

Luckily for Hal; he found something that would help him- especially as “Lord Vulcan.”

History time!

Years before the events of the Apex Games; the planet known as “Eden”, was home to a large village full of battle-hardened former soldiers-turned farmers, who lived a life of peace and happiness.

They cared deeply for the planet the lived on and never paid any mind to IMC employees moving to their planet.

That is…until oil was discovered, there and the mining began- at the expense of half the planet.

Not wanting their livelihood to be ruined anymore than it already was; the villagers took up arms once again, started an organization known as “God’s Hand” and waged war on IMC.

Credit where credit was due; the soldiers of “God’s Hand” were actually formidable opponents- before and after they stole and quickly mastered IMC weapons, robots and tech.

They fought with extreme ferocity; withstood everything- including chemical warfare-, and saw through every one of IMC’s tricks- including their so-called “peace offering” of food- which was poisoned.

Unfortunately; nothing lasts forever and that rang true for “God’s Hand”, as IMC came up with a new line of robots, just for them: “Project: Hellfire.”

“Project Hellfire” consisted of these deadly assassin droids:

“Imps”: Saboteur drones fitted with teleportation technology programmed to leave behind small orbs of unstable energy that caused explosions liken to that of a car bomb.

“Hellhounds”: “Canine-like” drones outfitted with flaming bodies and rotating blades for teeth, that were designed to relentlessly pursue and kills their targets, no matter the distance and obstacles.

“Devils”: Winged assault droids equipped with built-in machine gun turrets, flamethrowers and grenade launchers- also served as Kamikazes.

“Orcs”: Heavily-armored, 4-Armed, Hulking Murder Machines fitted with enough weapons to supply an entire infantry- think Goro from Mortal Kombat, but bigger with armor and a variety of weapons.

“Furies (Fyu-Rees)”: Female assault droids that exhume and cover themselves in red-hot flames and thick black poisonous smoke and possess long and razor sharp claws.

“Banshees”: Female assault droids fitted with sonic technology; designed to shatter eardrums, pop eyeballs, rupture nasal passages and explode bowels.

“Succubi”: Female infiltrator droids that are equipped with built-in camouflage and shapeshifting technology, as well as the ability to distribute an airborne and highly intoxicating pheromone that renders their victims mesmerized and under their control- it also doubles as a flesh-eating virus that lasted for 15 minutes, before dying out, from starvation.

And finally…

“Ghouls”: Murderous droids able to burrow underground and rise up to either strike or drag you down to your death.

Equipped with razor sharp claws and built-in tentacles fitted with a different surgical tool, as they were also tasked with collecting the organs and blood from either dead or dying enemies.

Believe it or not; one Ghoul is present in the Apex Games- and this one is not an OC.

Guess who it is.

Give up? Here:

And no. Revenant doesn’t know about any of this.

If you’re wondering why he doesn’t have tentacles, claws and burrowing abilities, it’s because Hammond removed all of that, before downloading his mind, into the robotic body.

Project Hellfire; proved to be effective, by wiping out half of God’s Hand and capturing the others to be tried, sentenced and imprisoned.

Once their job was done; Project Hellfire was shut down, with the droids deactivated and placed in multiple storage facilities, all across the Outlands.

Back to the main story!

One of those storage facilities was on Psamathe- which Hal came across and purchased to use as part of his army- after making sure they couldn’t be hacked, of course.

Donning a hi-tech and terrifying, yet elegant Red Devil mask and injecting himself with nanotechnology that allowed him to generate, control and manipulate fire; Hal Braxton became “Hellfire Hal” and used his new powers and army, to wipe out the 7 crime families of Psamathe, by murdering the leaders in ways based on each of their personalities- which he linked to the Seven Deadly Sins- as well as committing two murders centered around the 8th and 9th Deadly Sins: “Fraudulence” and “Treachery.”

Hal had to take care of that news reporter and preacher, after all…remember?

He was very creative with colors, animals and punishments for all 9 of them.

Hal also used cold Mafia tactics to kill most of their underlings and spy tactics to expose and help put away just the right number of dirty cops, officials and politicians- not enough to draw attention from secret upper-class criminals, like Lifeline’s parents, that would force them to get involved.

Long story short; “Hellfire Hal” and his army known as “The Brimstone Cartel”, managed to drive out the remaining members of the 7 crime families out of Psamathe and was secretly celebrated, for it- little did he know, they would eventually join forces with each other and form “The Forgotten Families”- a group that Apex Legends character “Newcastle” would eventually come across and make a deal with.

So in a way…Newcastle’s arrival to the games, was Hal’s doing.

Hal did all of this; while maintaining his public image, keeping up with his rockstar career, moving to Olympus to form connections there and still managing Jimmy- training him, hyping him up and helping take him further to the top.

Speaking of Jimmy; they were best friends, as Hal had his back and vice-versa.

Jimmy knew of Hal’s “activities”, but was reassured by him, as Hal wasn’t part of the Mafia- which he wasn’t. He just utilized their tactics- and some of his own, against them.

Think “The Green Hornet”- your grandparents will probably know who that is.

Plus; not only did Hal make sure the Hyperfighting fights were always clean, when it came to fights against Jimmy, but he also made a deal with both Hammond Robotics and Octavio Silva and got Jimmy into the Apex Games, so it was all good- especially in an interview, where they took turns taking shots at some of the competing legends- especially Elliot Witt. AKA, “Mirage.”

They went all out on him…

Unfortunately; all good things must come to an end, and in this case, the end came in the form of Revenant killing Jimmy on live TV- which is canon, if you’ve read Forge’s bio.

Hal wasn’t present; due to him being arrested and in jail, for viciously assaulting a photographer for trying to see Jimmy showering.

Jimmy’s death caused Hal to become incredibly depressed; leave the Hyperfighting business and seemingly vanish from the public eye- especially after the heads of the Hyperfighting Federation, treated Jimmy like a replaceable tool and tried pawning his rival Ricardo Falcone. AKA, “Raging Bull”, off on Hal and he got angry.

2 years later; Hal resurfaced, under the name “Hypno-Hal”, after secretly returning to Earth, traveling to Egypt, Greece, Romania, China, Japan, Vietnam and India, learning their unique forms of mysticism and hypnosis techniques and then coming back to America and inventing hypnosis technology and realistic solid light construct technology.

He started a web series; as an assassin/bounty hunter and it became popular- especially after returning to Psamathe and started eliminating criminals and mob bosses, who crawled out of the woodwork, when Hal left.

During one of his contracts; he rescued Loba- who was on one of her “after-game heists” and they instantly hit it off, as partners- and lovers.

They struck a deal; where he joins the games and helps her get revenge on Revenant for killing her parents and for killing Jimmy.

Not to mention; he is also unsatisfied with Mirage and wants to show the public how it’s done, when it comes to illusions- meaning that he and Elliot will have a heated rivalry.

The same goes for him vs. Bloodhound and Catalyst, in terms of mysticism and him against Revenant, for obvious reasons.

Now going by “Spellbinder”; he auditioned for the games and got in, with his flair, flashy moves and impressive abilities- along with some star power and connections, he still had.

Whether they’re ready or not; the Legends are about to “See the Wizard”- and none of them will be prepared for the tricks Spellbinder has up his sleeves.

It’s SHOWTIME!!!

Real name: Hal “Hellfire” Braxton.

Age: 34.

Home World: Earth- later Psamathe (Olympus- but he also has his own backup luxury home on Dionysus.)

Class: Controller.

Tactical Ability: “Look Into My Eyes.”

Passive Ability: “Seeing is Believing.”

Ultimate Ability" “Wizard’s Wrath.���

Facial and body appearance: Hal is an “Adonis-level” handsome, 34 year old Caucasian-American male about with soft, smooth and polished, lightly tanned fair skin, glistening green eyes, shiny teeth, perfectly kissable lips, a rugged jawline, a cleft chin and a full head of thick, shiny and voluminous, Chocolate brown and butterbeer yellow swirl hair styled into an awesome, high and swirly- but not overly exaggerated-, anime pompadour with neatly-trimmed sideburns.

He also has a tall, lean and sculpted, muscular figure, decorated with a few circuit lines and an awesome 80s Power Metal tattoo mural, on his chest.

Costume: As “Spellbinder”; Hal’s costume consists of: a snap-on, metallic whitish-silver Elvis cape that stops in the middle of his thighs and has a metallic red interior, glittery gold flame embroidery and a bejeweled image of a Phoenix on the back.

This is worn over; a double-breasted, shiny white and metallic gold, hard leather biker jacket with gold zippers, shiny brass studs in the lapels, a big, wide and popped-up high collar- but not too high, that his head can be see from the back-, glittery gold, brass and bright copper fringe and iridescent whitish-silver mystic smoke embroidery on the sleeves and a logo of a sexy Angel-Siren made of gold light with glittery hypno swirl eyes, airbrushed mystic smoke and a Witch’s pentagram on her forehead.

A mid-thigh-length shiny lavender silk scarf/clergy stole; with a gold hypno swirl stencil design, is draped over the jacket “Elvis style.”

The jacket is zipped-up halfway and worn over a matching “Elvis Presley Aloha Jumpsuit-inspired”, hard leather racing suit with glittery flame embroidery, zipped-up halfway over a shiny candy apple red silk button-up shirt with gold flame designs, mystic smoke embroidery and the top buttons open- showing his pecs, a little.

Not to mention; he also wears; a burnt copper faux gator skin belt with a snap-on gold, white and obsidian buckle made to look like a Hypno-Swirl, a pair of shiny metallic bright copper, hard leather gauntlet gloves with gold flame embroidery- both the jacket and suit sleeves are tucked into them-, and a pair of knee-high, polished, square-toed, metallic bright copper, hard leather biker boots with gold zippers, bottoms and gold, flame-themed embroidery- the pant legs are tucked into them.

Finally; he wears a decent amount of dazzling, “Hypno-themed”, Rockstar/Magician jewelry- including a gold, white diamond-dusted platinum, ivory and obsidian medallion made to look like a hypno-swirl-, a pair of hi-tech, ruby-encrusted, gold-framed, glittery black and white hypno-swirl square goggles and a set of holsters and sheaths filled with hi-tech and compact gadgets, tools and weapons- half of them are made to look “magic-based.”

His costume also has some “Mystical Wizard Aesthetics”, to its design.

Abilities: First and foremost, let me just say that Hal is not OP!

For example; “Spellbinder” is weak against attacks from Caustic, Wraith, Fuse, Revenant, Bangalore, Newcastle and Ballistic.

Plus his tactical ability, takes 30 seconds to replenish.

Now with that out of the way; Hal is part of the “Controller” class and these are his powers:

Tactical: “Look into my Eyes”

Spellbinder can either use his nanotech implants, goggles or 3 drones made to look like beach ball-sized eyeballs surrounded by holographic mystic smoke; to hypnotize his enemies and make them his unwilling slaves.

One of his drones is inhabited by an A.I. named “Esmeralda”- or “Mera”, for short- you’ll find out why, she’s called “Esmeralda”, if you choose to RP, with me.

She can talk, think, etc.

Mera can also control the other 2 eye drones; and even hack into the drones of other characters, funneling her hypnotic powers through their ocular units and into the eyes of their owners.

Once they’re Hypnotized; Spellbinder’s slaves will act as a small “wall”, to attack other opponents/defend him and his team- or serve as ambush traps to get the drop on opponents.

This also works on robots, such as Spectres.

“Mera” and the other eye drones can also fire lasers and small missiles and hack into any broadcast system to use any large screen or holographic sign as another trap to hypnotize players.

She can also upgrade or rework the weapons of him and his teammates.

Take the “EVA-8” shotgun, for example.

She can make it a little bigger, give it a glowing purple aura, around it, give it a semi-bigger drum with extended ammo and equip it with an M203 Grenade Launcher, underneath the barrel.

Not only that; but rather than your typical single shot- or rapid 2-shot-; the upgraded Eva-8 would now fire multiple shots in a rapid pace, like a Thompson Submachine Gun- or “Tommy Gun”-, from the 1930s- which would be fitting, since it has a drum magazine, like one.

Spellbinder’s slaves can be awakened; if his Hypnosis wears off, after 30 minutes or if either all 3 drones are destroyed or if he’s killed, before it wears off.

As stated before; it takes 30 seconds to replenish.

Passive: “Seeing is Believing”

Like Mirage; Spellbinder can also create illusions.

The only differences are that Hal’s illusions are made of solid light- meaning they can and will kill you!

And they can be anything, not just clones of himself.

Not to mention; that he can create illusionary dream scenarios within the minds of his victims, to either torture them, motivate them or keep them complacent, while he’s commanding them to fight, in the real world.

Either by creating a nightmarish world for them to fight and survive or creating a fantasy world for them to indulge in.

Whatever he subjects players to; his illusions will trigger all five of their senses, making the experience highly real, for them.

He can also use his illusions to “hack” into his victim’s minds and use their memories, fears and desires as bases for his illusionary worlds.

Ultimate: “Wizard’s Wrath”

Back in his days as “Lord Vulcan”; Hal’s theme was fire- because Jimmy was called “The Forge”- which is associated with heat-, so Hal wore a lot of “Flame-colored and themed” clothing- which paired well with his mask, when he was “Hellfire Hal.”

Not only that; he also had nanotechnology injected into his body, giving him the ability to generate, control and manipulate fire- without burning himself.

As “Spellbinder”; he can utilize that on the battlefield, as a backup power, when his drones are out of commission.

Hal is also skilled in boxing, wrestling, Martial Arts, Karate, marksmanship, swordsmanship, acrobatics, hacking and engineering.

Heirlooms: Spellbinder’s Heirlooms, so far are:

“The Headliner”: A futuristic hi-tech “Scepter-like” microphone from his “Lord Vulcan” days- but given an upgrade to match his new theme- ; that is also a “Swiss Army-esque” weapon that has a backup hypnotic device/illusion-caster, a sound cannon, a laser ray, a plasma energy whip, a knife, etc.

Voice Actor: His VA would be Jeff Bennett- if you’ve heard of him.

Just picture Johnny Bravo, without the Elvis accent.

And then with an occasional Cajun one.

His Mom is from New Orleans and his dad is from Texas.

Personality: Hal is a master showman, treating every battle like a big performance.

He is also a flashy, loud and boisterous con-man.

A wheeler and a dealer; able to sweet talk you into doing what he says- without his hypnotic powers.

Hal is also good-neutral, but he can still be an arrogant jerk.

He’s like Johnny Cage, before he became humble.

This is especially true, when it comes to him and Mirage.

He can also be a bit hedonistic- especially when it comes to women-, but he would never cheat on Loba and is accepting of her being bisexual.

Hal also loves to sing, dance, paint, sculpt, learn magic tricks and mythology, collect military weapons and vehicles to copy and make working upgraded replicas of said items and cook.

He is also proud of his Cajun heritage- as well as his Texan one.

Though; he’s more of a Raiders fan, than a Saints or a Cowboys fan, like each of his parents.

Hal also has a bit of a short fuse and a fiery temper- especially towards people like Revenant.

He’s also racist towards simulacrums and regular robots- but not towards A.I.’s, Cyborgs and Androids-, as he believes that robots are meant to serve Humanity and nothing else.

Oh and he’s a huge fan of Elvis Presley- but not to the point of obsession.

That is all I have, so far.

@multi-muse-transect 

@trenhead 

@legendwoven​ 

((Yeah, I had to make a new revised version with a few changes and additions.

Sorry...))

[sodiumlamp]

Picard

Oh, fuck they're gonna have Section 31 in this show on top of everything else, aren't they?

All right, let's recap the plot of this one. Picard and Riker rescue Dr. Crusher, and her son, Jack Crusher. But before the Titan can return to Federation space, they're cornered by the Shrike, a powerful, unknown ship run by a bounty hunter. Shrike's commander demands that Jack Crusher, and gives Titan one hour to decide. Captain Shaw wants to do it, but Picard finally pulls rank and flees into the nebula they just got done escaping.

That whole business takes like 30 minutes of screentime. It's mostly characters bickering and Captain Shaw trying to preserve his pride after Picard, Riker, and Seven made him look like a dope. I guess the idea here is that Picard could have acted more decisively from the start, but he needed to hear from Beverly that he's Jack's father, which suddenly galvanizes him into action.

It's dumb as fuck, because Picard already cared about Beverly, so he should have just pulled rank in the first place to rescue her, before he even knew Jack existed.

This whole episode treats the chain of command like a joke. Shaw's the captain of the Titan, and he feels secure enough in his authority to tell Picard and Riker "no"... until the plot calls for it and then he has to back down. Seven defies Shaw's orders and barely tries to hide it, but it takes him forever and a day to relieve her of duty. Not that it matters, because she keeps giving orders anyway and finds Jack before he can teleport himself over to the Shrike to save his mom.

It's the same contradiction we had with the Romulans in Season 1, where they were simultaneously presented as a displaced, weakened people, and a fearsome galactic power. Captain Shaw is simultaneously too strong and too weak. He's strong enough to maintain command in spite of his shitty attitude, but he's weak enough that he's powerless to stop Seven and Picard from undermining his authority. It just depends on which one the plot calls for in a given moment.

In the end, the viewer loses all interest in Shaw as a character. He's neither an antagonist to obstruct the heroes' mission, nor is he an ally with a contrarian perspective. He's just there to slow down the story. He's mud in the road for Star Trek: Picard to spin its tires in.

The rest of the episode sees Raffi convince herself that she knows better than Starfleet Security when it comes to solving the mystery behind a recent terrorist attack on a Starfleet Recruitment building. Her anonymous handler tells her not to pursue the investigation, but she does it anyway, even asking her estranged husband to help her get in touch with a gangster who can give her a lead. He's upset that she's more interested in the gangster than trying to reconnect with their son, so he offers her a choice, and she goes for the gangster with both hands.

What's really sad about all this is that Raffi is really, really bad at her job. Like, she's clearly talented. She knows computer stuff and she's really good at swiping right on all those holographic screens. She can hold her own in a fight, and she bedded Seven of Nine, which is pretty impressive. The problem is that she keeps risking everything on some flimsy chance of a lead, and then her only plan is to bluff until everything sort of works out.

Raffi's ex-husband and son got fed up with her bullshit a long time ago, because she absolutely can not and will not walk away from the paranoid intelligence agent game. The game she constantly loses because she's terrible at it. I mean, if she were frighteningly effective at her job, then it would be kind of a neat conflict. She loves her work too much to give it up, or maybe she sees herself as the indispensable woman keeping the galaxy safe. But she's not. She hates her job because everyone tells her what to do, and she's really bad at it, partly because she won't let anyone tell her what to do.

She survives this episode because her handler shows up to rescue her, and it turns out to be Worf. So I guess this brings Raffi closer to the main plot, but I can tell it's gonna be a while before they get everyone in the same room.

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

More Yuri Thoughts Because I'm still not at the timeskip and can't provide those quality post timeskip Yuri screenshots:

I seem to remember he's one of the characters that has a bigger basket of sweets than normal during tea time. I wonder what sweets he's particularly fond of? Also he really enjoys cooking for people he cares about. I wonder if he's more about showing how much he cares rather than using words? (Because people's love language varies.)

Also it seems like he mostly spent his life in Faerghus and the Empire. I wonder if he was ever in the Alliance at all? (Why doesn't he have any alliance supports? Why Intsys?)

Since I'm playing Golden Deer again specifically I wonder what sorts of things he's going to say to certain events that happen after the timeskip.

Also I've heard none of the Ashen Wolves have Goddess tower events. Kind of feel like we were robbed there.

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

I have no meaningful musings today. I've just got a big stupid crush on Yuri Leclerc and I wish he had more content and goddamm I did not expect Intsys to straight up stealth bomb me like they did.

"Here! Have a new husband."

"Wait what- FUCK FUCK FUCK AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA."

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

Now that I think about it, Yuri and Mercedes not having supports is almost as much of a wasted opportunity as Yuri not having supports with Claude or Ashe. With Claude they have a lot in common and with Ashe of course there's the shared history and overlap of aspirations.

They'd have quite a bit to talk about especially with compatible goals and interesting comparisons that could be made regarding each other's backstories. But I also think it would have been a good opportunity to explore or showcase certain aspects of Yuri's character that while hinted at or mentioned briefly aren't really looked into as much as other aspects. Like, for example the fact it seems as though Yuri is somewhat religious or at least spiritual? At least from what I can tell based on some things he's said and that his favored gifts include the Goddess Statuette.

At the very least I think they would make for an interesting friendship.

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

You know how I said Yuri should have had supports with Ashe? Well he should have had more than just one Blue Lion support period. I would have loved to see supports with Yuri and Mercedes! Maybe Annette? Ooooh and Dedue and Dimitri! And for goodness sake, he should have had supports with Claude and someone else from the Golden Deer. Maybe Leonie?

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

Me: I need to play to chapter 13 of three houses again so I can take screenshots of my husband Yuri and post them.

Me: *still on chapter 7*

Me: ... ... fuck.

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

Can I just gush real quick on what a great job Yuri’s VA did? Like, I feel like they picked the perfect person to voice Yuri. 

Especially because (I think it was in his supports with Hapi?) someone in game mentions that he’s very good at getting people to let down their guard around him. And it made me think back to when I’ve listened to his tea party voice lines and how a lot of them actually made whatever anxiety I was feeling at the time start to lessen and my muscles start to relax.

I just think it really speaks to the quality of the voice work that I actually feel my guard being let down when I hear Yuri talk. Just. I feel the need to stop and appreciate how his VA absolutely nailed his character.

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

Does anyone ever think about the fact that Yuri being born and raised in Faerghus and that country’s whole honor and chivalry and doing things by the book might be another contributing factor to his self-loathing and referring to himself or his actions as ‘filthy’?

 And the fact his personal skill is called ‘Honorable Spirit’ and specifically involves him getting a bonus when he engages in one on one melee combat without allies nearby? 

Because I’ve started thinking about that.

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

It seems like there aren’t a lot of Post-timeskip Yuri Screenshots so I decided to take some myself! Unfortunately I’m not actually at the timeskip yet on my current playthrough, so it’ll be a bit before I can actually take some with his post timeskip dialogue portrait (since you can swap between the character models regardless of where you are in the game but not dialogue portraits). 

I like how these turned out though. It almost looks like he’s posing for the camera. XD