#the last three are just ranked on how atrocious they look

[negative-speedforce]

Ranking Tecna's Transformations based on my totally objective and correct opinions lol-

1: Believix

2: Bloomix

3: Magic Winx/Charmix

4: Sirenix

5: Enchantix

6: Harmonix

7: Mythix

8: Tynix

[heich0e]

"I find you exasperating."

You go out of your way to step on a particularly dry looking leaf along the path—stained a deep, golden colour and curling at the edges where it rests waiting for the weight of your foot—just to hear the way it crunches beneath the sole of your shoe. At your side, Kakashi's attention is still on the book in his hand, the pages spread open only with his thumb and pinkie finger while the other three support the cracked spine. He doesn't spare you a glance, but he does deign to respond with a curious little hum.

"That's an awfully big word."

The lazy way he says it is enough to irritate you, but his condescending words are almost too much for you to bear. You stop in your tracks, fists curled tightly at your sides, and the white haired young man doesn't so much as slow in recognition of it.

It's fall in Konoha, and while the days are still warm and bright, the breeze that whisks through the village's winding streets is cool. The annoyance you feel prickling under your skin is enough to insulate you from the chill. To numb you to its bite.

You swoop down, dragging your hand lightly along the path to retrieve a handful of small, smooth stones—no larger than the tips of your fingers. Without a moment's contemplation, you launch one at the back of Kakashi's head, and watch as it bounces off dully.

He keeps walking.

"Irksome."

Another pebble hits the ground after ricocheting off the back of his headband.

"Vexatious."

The next makes contact with his right shoulderblade.

"Antagonistic."

He catches this one—just like he could have caught any of the previous three—without even turning around to watch you throw it. His hand, the one not holding his book, shoots up to protect his ear before the pebble can make contact. He holds it pinched between his thumb and forefinger for a moment, still leisurely walking away from you, before he flicks it to the ground.

"You're being so childish today," Kakashi calls back over his shoulder. "Are you sure I'm the antagonist here?"

You hear it then, the smile in his voice, and even though it would only serve to legitimize his accusation it almost makes you stomp your foot petulantly.

"Kakashi!"

Finally, he turns to face you, and even though his mask conceals most of his expression, you can tell it's hiding a grin beneath it. He tilts his head to the side, as though waiting for you to continue.

"How many times have you read that stupid book?"

The familiar novel is closed now, and his page marked, though you're not entirely certain when he did either of those things. He glances at the paperback, as though considering it carefully.

"How many times am I allowed to admit to before you call me a pervert?" he asks.

"You are a pervert," you answer, immediate and sure, while slowly walking towards him to close the gap he put between the two of you. "And you would be even if you were illiterate."

"That's not very nice of you to say," he says, tipping his head back and sighing profoundly as though your insult caused him great pain.

"It's the truth, though."

Kakashi peeks down at you from the corner of his eye as you stand by his side. Without thinking, you reach out and grab the sleeve of his jacket, averting your gaze.

It's quiet for a moment. Just the two of you, the fall breeze, the scattered pebbles, and that atrocious romance book.

"You've been gone for a month," your voice is quiet when you finally speak again. So soft it risks being carried away with the wind.

Kakashi didn't even tell you he was leaving before he was sent off on this last mission; you had to find out from another shinobi the next morning, and all they could tell you was he was gone and they weren't sure when he'd be back.

This isn't unusual with Kakashi. It's happened more times than you care to count. Missions that force him to leave the village at short notice are unavoidable—assignments like that to be expected for any shinobi, but particularly for one of Kakashi's rank.

It doesn't make it any easier.

You've thought about bringing this up to him before. Thought about asking him to tell you when these sorts of things come up. Thought about explaining to him how awful it feels to be the last to know. Thought about telling him what those long days apart feel like in this village without him.

But you don't.

Part of it is pride, you think. You're too stubborn to be the one to show your hand like that. To be vulnerable in front of him in such a mortifying, humbling way. Somehow the mere idea of making any of those admissions seems more embarrassing than trailing along behind him tossing rocks at the back of his head.

Another part is fear. You don't want to be the one to speak this thing between the two of you into existence. To give it shape. To breathe life into it by giving it a name. You and Kakashi have always lived in intentional ambiguity. A certain uncertainty. You're not quite friends, you're not quite lovers, you're not quite anything at all.

You're just the one who's left waiting for him to come home.

And then there's the last part—the biggest part—that holds you back. The part you don't quite know how to explain. The part that tells you to bear the pain of missing him, to swallow down your longing, for his sake if not your own. The last thing Kakashi needs is the burden of knowing his duty makes you ache while he's away. That his absence keeps you awake at night. He's got enough he needs to shoulder without you adding to the weight, and this is the least you can do to try and help him carry it.

You let his sleeve slip from your grasp.

"Sorry," you mutter under your breath, shaking yourself from your momentary stupor.

"Are you acting out because I haven't given you enough attention?" Kakashi asks, only his voice is different now than it was a moment prior. Sincere in a way that upsets you more than when he's being intentionally annoying.

You finally bring yourself to look at him, but only to shoot him a narrow-eyed glare.

His own gaze is disarmingly soft when you meet it. Unexpectedly tender. Perceptive in ways you usually choose to overlook.

So much so, in fact, that you're too stunned to even flinch when he taps his book against your forehead.

"Ok, ok," he says with a shrug, spinning on his heel and continuing on down the path at an idle pace, leaving you dumbfounded in his wake. "If you wanted to borrow it, you could've just asked!"

[ispyspookymansion]

my true and correct ranking is

evil dead - all good

child’s play - mostly good people r to mean to seed it’s fun

final destination 3/4 but 4 is terrible

scream 4/5 and 5 isn’t that bad

saw - mostly good sometimes really great and even the bad ones have their moments

friday - mostly terrible but all extremely enjoyable

nightmare - 3 great movies and new nightmare and like the bad ones are fun

chainsaw - two fantastic movies i can take or leave the rest

psycho - i love 1 & 2 but the rest of them are notverygood

halloween - great opening wild sequel i own season of the witch merch and a dvd copy of h20 but christ alive when it’s bad it’s terrible

write-in last place is alien cuz those first two are without comparison but prometheus is the worst movie i have ever seen

saw should maybe be higher cuz i like her more than scream but if we’re looking at them as a franchise than i think 3D and jigsaw really bring her down cuz they kinda loose what makes those movies work so well i loved finally seeing the reverse bear trap in action tho

also i’d be reeeeally incherested in knowing ur rankings :D we’ve all given our terrible opinions i’d love 2 know urs

sorry this is abt to get so long and just know i dont necessarily believe any of this im saying words recreationally ! and i tried to think abt them as in quality of franchise, but i am obviously human with personal tastes and biases. i generally counted how many movies i gave 3 or more stars on letterboxd to get my numbering. below the cut for my takes!

- saw (8/9 or 88%) my babygirl. my sweet cheese. i can get why some people dont rock with it but writing it off as torture porn is unforgivable both in that its not, or not entirely, and okay so who cares torture those bitches !!!!! saw’s Quality is not consistent, but its premise is and its one of the most interconnected franchises which strengthens it as a series

- child’s play (6/8 or 80%): prefacing by saying this doesnt take the show into account, but the show is a wash for me anyways. child’s play is a perfect mix of funny and scary, both on a movie by movie basis and as a franchise. don mancini sucks at writing a tv show but his consistent hand in the series makes it a good franchise as far as consistency. edit i forgot about the terrible remake um. yeah. eep.

- final destination (4/5 or 80%): 1, 3, 5 are really good, 2 is decent, theyre fun! i rewatch them from time to time i love the concept i love tony todd and i think its impressive that theres really only one stinker (the final destination aka final destination 4 you will never be famous)

- scream (4/5 or 80%) very partial to the original, and i respect a lot of what scream does even in the movies i dont like as much, but the last film + upcoming no sidney lose points for me for sure. the first movie is standout, the rest are pretty consistent even if its at a level far below the first film. i havent seen the tv show

- noes (6/9 or 66%): my beloved <33333 i loooove the first three and i love new nightmare! the quality steadily deteriorates between those though it Is in a fun way most of the time. the atrocious remake damages this a lot for me but it Knows what it is, so you cant fault it for that. i would fight for noes as a favorite above scream and final destination, but its a weaker franchise overall imo

the next three i had a hard time putting in order tbh, but i guess what i’ll say is:

- psycho (3/5 or 60%): i really was surprised by how good the 2nd one is, cannot state that enough. but 3 flopped to me, the bates motel tv movie sucks, and ive heard the remake is horrible. the prequel is alright (it and 3 both get a half mark), though the whole franchise loses ground for the inherent issues with norman’s character. i havent seen the bates motel tv show.

- evil dead (2.5/4 or 63%): look. sorry, but its not for me. i love the first one and i love the remake, but the style of comedy isnt my thing in the two in between. its not BAD in the sense that it is what it set out to be, but i just dont like that thing very much, and i struggle to call it a better Franchise than most due to how varied its parts are. ash williams tboy swag you Will always be beloved tho, and the first one is a real fav of mine

- halloween (7/13 or 53%): the original is very dear to me, i love the weirdass hustle of 3, and i think halloween 2018 was a great start to a disappointing trilogy. the muddied timelines mean the franchise itself is a mess. one great movie does not a good franchise make! i might put this above psycho depending on the day, but the last movie was so atrocious it leaves a very bad taste in the franchise mouth

- friday the 13th (5/12 or 42%): i love campground horror and overall, the quality of f13 as a series is pretty consistent! its just that its pretty consistently bad. i respect the hustle of sending jason to space and manhattan but its not my kind of film

- tcm (3/9 or 33%): only the first two and the 03 remake are really good to me. i dont think people realize there are NINE of these. a lot of the other sequels are decent movies, bad tcm films, so a low ranking as an overall franchise. sorry tcm, your writers dont understand what makes you great!

so um yeah. im pulling for scream or noes to win at this point, but my opinions are clearly not very shared....also these could change at any time i cant stress enough how much even the lowest franchises here are beloved by me, rewatched by me, have posters on my walls, etc etc!!!

[dany36]

sooo i finally finished sonic unleashed. the main story parts, anyway. there's still a bunch of act 2 and act 3 stages i still have to do but from what i've seen, they're way shorter than their act 1 counterparts so it's fine. some junk thoughts below about this game!

now that i finally have a ps3 i'v been catching up on a bunch of games i missed out on when i only had the wii :y when i first started playing this game i was like wow, this isn't really that bad compared to what i had been hearing online about it! sure the werehog portions were kind of tedious sometimes, and the fact that they're twice or three times as long as the daylight sections isn't great, but i mean sonic adventure 2's eggman stages sure were slower and more tedious than the sonic/shadow stages, so i was like eh sure, fine, whatever. some of the later werehog stages were a pain and fighting the same type of enemies over and over was really starting to get on my nerves, but again, is this any different than the slow stages of eggman/tails in sa2? if i was able to A-rank all of their missions, then getting through the werehog stages isn't the worst. some of the platforming sections were actually entertaining but yeah, the fighting? not so much.

the daylight stages are hella fun to play through, although i don't know if it's the ps3 version but they seemed very ummm glitchy at parts, and the frame rate would slow waaaay down in certain portions of stages too. it obviously isn't as smooth as i would have wanted, but that was kind of my experience playing through sonic generations. i'm playing with a fat ps3 so i don't know if the experience is better in the slim version lol, but yeah, i'd love to come back to it eventually and try to S rank the stages since they're so fast-paced and just a blast to do. i don't think i'll ever bother getting all of the medals and 100% completing it since this game is just PACKED with content. on top of getting the medals, S-ranking, and the sidequests you get in the hub world, apparently there's hot dog missions too?? oh and there's DLC on top of that. so yeah, i'm ok with not 100% this like i did with sa2 or colors or generations lol. teenage me would have loved to do it though.

sonic games might not be your cup of tea but the music never disappoints. i had heard the unleashed OST way before ever playing the game and man, it was so good to finally hear the music along with the game. while i was out trying to collect enough medals to unlock the stages i don't know why but hearing the apotos night theme made me get all sentimental and nostalgic lol even though i didn't even grow up with this game at all. idk i guess it's just something about sonic games and their music that always hits home.

i know in my last post i was extremely pissed off at the last stage in unleashed and i said it brought the game down to a 5/10, but maybe i was a bit harsh lol. like i still think that level is atrocious EVEN FOR a last level, which you always know it's going to be a harder-than-usual level. but seriously that level design was just ridiculously long and stupid in every shape or form--the part that pissed me off the most was when you have to walk on these pipes as a werehog and in some parts you have to jump, but when you jump sometimes the fucking camera changes directions so because you're tilting the control stick a certain way, that would cause you to fall off the pipe and die. seriously, i don't think i've ever played a last stage in a sonic game that was as bad as eggmanland, so it's always interesting to see the comments on the youtubes defending the stage and how it's actually a great level. like ok sure lol.

i still say that the game forcing you to collect a ridiculous amount of medals to unlock stages was just not necessary. i thought i was doing a pretty good job at collecting them but i still had to look up guides to unlock the stages from chuu-nan onwards. like, just let me play the stages and get through the story, maybe make the act 2 and act 3 harder to unlock that way but not the main ones!

i actually have the wii version of unleashed that i had bought waaay back when but i never bothered to finish it once i learned that the stages are like watered down versions of the ps3/xbox360 ones, so i'm glad i waited to play it how it was meant to be played. the wii one also doesn't have the hub worlds i don't think, which i mean the hub worlds are actually pretty bad and add nothing to it gameplay wise: they will never be station square or mystic ruins. the way the camera moves around them is actually pretty bad and would make me feel dizzy at times lol. but still, i'm glad they exist because otherwise, we would have never gotten the absolutely gorgeous music that the night stages have (spagonia night theme is absolutely lovely and holoska night is the perfect listen for winter time).

overall, i'm glad i finally got a chance to play unleashed and see how this was the start of the sonic team getting the 3D sonic formula right (minus that terrible drifting mechanism, sorry!). generations is still one of my ultimate faves and frontiers brought back the sonic fever in me, so i'm excited to catch up on the rest of the 3d sonic games i missed out due to me being either a poor college student or poor fresh out of college lol. i'm thinking about buying sonic boom next, it looks very platform-y from the gameplay i've seen of it, so yeah! full on sonic mode and loving it!!

[alexbkrieger13]

"In the nicest way possible pia was better than peter, peter is just atrocious and should’ve been sacked after that horrific olympics final. they should have won that gold, but well i think he just doesn’t know how to use the good players sweden has"

Are you trolling? Don't be silly. I trust the players opinions on how Peter has evolved Sweden's gameplay. Anyone who understands football knows a coach nor a player should be judged based on one single game. And don't go "What about Euros last summer"... External factors like injuries and covid Peter couldn't control affected the team performance and his options heavily when it hit absolute key players and of them two in the backline. The backline where a coach doesn't want to change anything if not forced to. Sweden reached the semi, despite everything that didn't go according to plan, where they met an English team that could and did field the same starting line up in all games.

When Peter took over after Euro 2017 his first task was a World Cup qualifier in September. He had a whopping three (3) trainings before gameday. Sweden won. In his first 1,5 years they tied France 0-0 in France and defeated England in England 0-2. Then came the World Cup 2019. Hardly need to recap that. Euro qualifiers followed closest after that. With the old 1 year long qualifying campaigns for Uefa teams, now replaced by Nations League, Sweden and other seeded nations had only one team in the group that could really challenge them for the group win. That didn't change under Peter. For the World Cup 2019 it was Denmark and for the (due to Covid postponed) Euro last summer it was Iceland. Sweden finished as group winners both campaigns.

In between it was the Tokyo Olympics. No need to recap that either. Sweden throughout the tournament played the best football a Swedish squad had ever played. Small margins decided the final. It wasn't on Peter the ball didn't bounce Sweden's way in the last game of the tournament. What's maybe more interesting in this aspect than the Olympics result, is the April friendly against USA that Sweden should've won 1-0 if not for a doubtful penalty call.

All you have to do really is to look at the facts. When Pia took over from Dennerby in September 2012, Sweden were 5th on the world ranking. When she left after Euro 2017 Sweden had dropped 6 places on the world ranking to 11th. That was short of a few months in 5 years time. Since the first game with Peter in September 2017, Sweden climbed from all time low 11th to an all time high 2nd place and then back to the 3rd place on the most recent world ranking.

Rankings doesn't mean much for the top 20 teams in the world in terms of equal strength. But the rapid climb with Peter at the helm from 11th to 6th place after the World Cup 2019 tells the whole story. He turned the negative trend with dropping lower on the world rankings around in only 2 years time. Before the World Cup 2019 Sweden were ranked 9th. A climb of 2 places from 11th Peter achieved in around 1 year time.

Before Tokyo Olympics Sweden were ranked 5th. In other words between the rankings in 2019 and start of Tokyo Olympics, with Covid disrupting national team football for a while, Sweden had climbed yet one more place and regained the ground Pia lost on her watch. After the Tokyo Olympics, Sweden took a huge leap and climbed to 2nd place. After the Euro last summer Sweden dropped 1 place to 3rd and is still at 3rd after the latest ranking that was released very recently.

Since FIFA introduced the rankings for women in 2003, Sweden has been ranked at 3rd to 5th place. No change in that for 12 years time until a shift happend in 2015. For the first time ever Sweden dropped out of top 5 when they sank to 7th place and from there it only went downwards all the way to the all time low 11th place. Hardly a coincidence that Pia had been Sweden's head coach for 3 years when they in 2015 for the first time ever dropped out of top 5. Hardly a coincidence Pia was Sweden's head coach when they just 1,5-2 years later had dropped 4 places from 7th and for the first time ever dropped out of top 10.

It's evident whom of Pia and Peter has gotten the best out of Sweden.

Exactly and realistically if we hasn't has all the off pitch chaos ofbthe euros we wouldn't have had such a embarrassing exit

[milesonthenet]

Ranking all Scooby Doo, Where Are You? Villains

Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you? We got some work to do now Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you? We need some help from you now

Welcome to the House of Milesverse - during the spooky season! I look forward to talking to you guys on why THIS is one of my favorite posts. Scooby Doo is one of the franchises closest to my heart, alongside Transformers, and DC Comics.

There are a lot of franchises close to my heart, okay?

The original Scooby-Doo was one of my favorite shows to watch all the time.

Anyways, today we are going to be ranking some of the most dastardly, dubious, and most DANGEROUS caper masterminds. Today, we rank; Scooby Doo, Where Are You's SCARIEST villains.

Here are the rules:

I am doing this solely from my perspective, on which villains I found scary either upon first seeing it or on rewatch.

I am doing this specifically based on the first iteration of the series. Anything from Scrappy, or beyond, is not in my interest for now.

Last but not least? Just have fun reading this. I mean, if you were not having fun, why would you read it?

Let's get started.

No. 27-25: Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts

Naturally these three wind up dead less, just from appearance alone. I mean, they are basically the Universal monsters but not with any of the things that make them legitimately scary. There's no panache, it's all just boring.

These THREE monsters and a gypsy disguise were used by Big Bob Oakley. Known as 'The Actor', he is a master of disguises. He is also a wanted man in seven states. I am very curious what he was wanted for.

I just think that there are more interesting versions of these monsters that you can see. At least for the Wolfman (Werewolf), and Dracula (Other... Dracula? Gramps the Vamp) monsters. Scooby Doo has never shied away from creating somewhat interesting threats.

For what it's worth? Franken Castle makes for a delightful-looking design. I think Scooby Doo always rocks the castle aesthetic when it comes to investigation. Although, I would certainly hope there are more fun-looking castles in the franchise.

No. 24: The Witch Doctor, Decoy for a Dognapper

I really - really have no idea what to say about this one. So the guy is a witch doctor, and that is actually what he is dressed like. There really does not feel like there is enough to say about this guy. He kidnaps dogs for his dog smuggling operation.

For what it's worth? His transmitted projection of Geronimo was pretty cool as a gimmick. It was also very, very dated. He has a scheme that I would argue is different from most Scooby-Doo villains. That's kind of all I can say about him.

Oh, also? He's Buck Masters, an apparent dognapping victim who used his tactics to dognap show dogs. Which included his own as well, Big Red. He also employed a henchman named Mike, who was not very smart.

If you don't listen to him, he'll shake his maracas at you.

No. 23: Ghost of Zen Tuo, Mystery Mask Mix-Up

The Ghost of Zen Tuo is one of the weirdest Scooby Doo villains I can think of. There's a lot that you can pick out when it comes to this guy. He's actually A. Fong, an oriental art dealer. Who, funnily enough, owns a smuggling ring.

He spends his time using his henchmen to do his bidding, much like the villain above. The Scare Pair, weirdly enough, makes for more time than their boss. Zen Tuo takes a backseat to his threat.

Ghost of Zen Tuo, and his minions, are basically ancient chinese demons. There's a lot to unpack, and none of it comes off as interesting. This, and the two Witch Doctors are great examples of how dated the series is. This is not to say the series is racist or anything, but that it is from a completely different time.

Also, that mask is atrocious.

No. 22: Witch Doctor, A Tiki Scare is No Fair

Alright, this is the last one for "Scooby Doo episodes that didn't age well" hopefully. This is the SECOND Witch Doctor of the series. He shows up haunting the island grounds, which belong to a hawaiian god named Mano Tiki Tia. That name is weird, but okay.

Witch Doctor here is actually John Simms, a professor/tourist guide who was scaring people away ferom an ancient village in Hawaii. The plan? Why, it was to use the Ancient Village as the grounds for his underwater pearl poaching operation!

Witch Doctor's plan does not seem that bad, to be honest. I like to call it one of the typical 'Scooby Doo' plots, because numerous others work similarly to it. His actual entrance as a villain is pretty cool, to be honest. The sky turns red as his warning scares the natives, and our two cowardly buttheads, Shaggy & Scooby Doo.

It is interesting to note, the two indian witch doctors in this series are both white criminals.

Lastly, that design is goofy, but I think that might be the point.

No. 21: The Werewolf, Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf

Honestly? Kudos to the Werewolf for a more unique design. This is a werewolf is the disguise of an unnamed sheep rustler. He tried to stop intruders from intruding on his sheep smuggling ring. Which he was using in an old abandoned mill and harbor deep into the forests.

There is not a whole lot that I can say about him, to be honest. To me, he comes from one of the less memorable episodes of the series. As you can guess from a werewolf, he smashes things and snarls a lot. He likes to pose and wave his arms around while he snarls too.

No. 20: The Caveman, Scooby's Night With A Frozen Fright

Who ever heard of a frozen Caveman? Scooby-Doo apparently, because he is the main threat of this episode. As you can guess, Scooby-Doo and the gang deal with a thawed-out caveman.

The Caveman is actually a criminal by the name of Professor Wayne. His plan was to steal an invention from his close friend, Ingstrm. This device would enable him to interact with aquatic life. I am confused about why he chose to dress up as a Caveman specifically for it instead of say, aly but hey, whatever.

The Frozen Caveman does not bother me. There was nothing about him that I thought was scary as a kid. I admit, I thought it was a little absurd to think of that. However, in hindsight, lots of Scooby-Doo villains are abnormal, in more ways than just being ghosts.

Fun fact? This episode apparently features the FIRST time that a villain refers to the gang as 'meddling kids'.

No. 19-18: The Witch and The Zombie, Which Witch is Which?

Which Witch is Which? I'm asking the same question. This episode features the witch, alongside her backup muscle. Said 'muscle' is her undead pal, The Zombie.

Much like the universal monsters above, I chose to group these two into one slot. They debut in the same episode and generally, that just feels better. Plus, it saves me more time than making separate goals.

The Witch is a malevolent entity, who shows up six months prior to the episode. The Witch used her voodoo magic to bring the Zombie alive as her minion. The both of them then began terrorizing the swamp.

Yeah, no,

The Witch is actually Zeb Perkins, joined by the Zombie, who is his partner Zeke. The two scared off the other town residents in their search for riches. Those 'riches' were an armored bank truck they crashed into the swamp at an earlier point.

I love the fake magic that the witch employs to intimidate her enemies. The trap floor, for example, was an interesting item. The Zombie himself makes for an intimidating physical threat when it comes to the chase. Plus, this episode does well with a swamp aesthetic.

No. 17: The Ape-Man, Never Ape an Ape-Man

Honestly, why WOULD you ape an Ape-Man? That thing could literally rip you apart if it wanted to.

Meet the titular threat of this hilariously named episode. The Ape-Man does his best to sabotage a movie that Daphne's uncle is shooting. He is one of the many cases where I can think that the gang was actually in danger.

The Ape-Man was actually Carl, the stunt performer. Wow, who would have guessed that? Probably the audience if they were paying attention to the film. Poor Carl's talents were never acknowledged by by Daphne's uncle. His entire reason for doing this was because he couldn't play the lead role.

I am guessing Carl just was not feeling very inspired, either. Because his entire suit is taken from the film, in the exact same role he was playing. Hell, the entire Ape-Man mythos was inspired by an old legend of an ape burning down a mansion. This was all said by the locals, which I am not sure we EVER see at any time in this era.

Regardless, the Ape-Man makes for an interesting antagonist in my opinion. He's one of the more bizarre ones in terms of Scooby-Doo villains. I think that is what he does well because he IS bizarre. He spends most of the episode eerily creeping around the area.

Also? He has one whole bit where he messes with Scooby Doo using a Scooby Doo mask. It is hilarious.

No. 16: Wax Phantom, Don't Fool With A Phantom

Our next guest comes from the last episode of Scooby Doo, Where Are You? Prior to it's rebranding, at least.

The Wax Phantom is actually quite an interesting monster to look at. His design really does wonders to sell the haunting 'wax' idea that he is. I admit, his design is certainly where Scooby Doo's interest comes from. Although, I believe it also is one of the less-memorable ones.

Anyway, this guy is the antagonist behind the episode. He haunts Johnny Sands' Dance Game Show. The gang believes him to be a wax creation brought to life. Who created him? Grisby of course, a strange wax-figure-making weirdo who was cancelled by the show.

In reality, he's Roger Stevens, the TV manager of KLMN (aka the company that this entire game show is under). Roger Stevens used Grisby as an alibi for his secret embezzling schemes. He was stealing money from the TV station...

The one question I have during this; how did Shaggy and Scooby survive being encased in wax? I swear, those two are the most superhuman cowards I have ever heard of. This is not even their most impossible feat, they literally painted a door into existence so that the Wax Phantom could crash through it.

No. 15: Phantom, Hassle in The Castle

Okay, now we get to The Phantom, who I actually kind of adore. He's got a great laugh, which also sounds weird. Weird works for Scooby Doo, as you can probably guess.

I have never really been a fan of his design to be honest. I mean, the effects are great, but it is just a simple bedsheet look. I guess that is the point of the episode. Plus, simplicity can work sometimes.

Anyways, meet Bluestone the Great, a former magician. He disguised as the Phantom to haunt Vasquez Castle. This was done for the purpose of scaring people away from the castle, so that he could claim the Vasquez Treasure.

Bluestone here makes for a great magician. I mean, guess that does not pay well since he decided to do the usual route. You know, haunt a mansion or landmark, and search for secret treasure. I swear dozens of scooby doo villains do it.

No. 14: Captain Cutler, a Clue for Scooby Doo

Alright then, we have reached the top fifteen. Now we are getting into the classics, and that is going to be fun. I consider these to be the best of the Scooby Doo villains.

Which is funny, because I start with what I figured was the weakest. Our friend Captain Cutler is an eerie man dressed in a green scuba suit. I'd say he's one of the more iconic Scooby-Doo villains due to his design.

Yet, honestly, I feel like Captain Cutler is not that interesting. Aside from his haunting groans, he does not have a lot going for him. It is no wonder that he falls on this slot of the list.

If it helps? His mystery was also a nice red herring. The group expected it to be Ebeneeezr Shark. This is funny because it was actually Captain Cutler himself, who faked his death. His goal was to steal yachts so that he could sell them for money.

No. 13: Miner 49er, Mine Your Own Business

I honestly wish that we all Mined our own business sometimes. This ominous spook could learn a thing or two from that. Miner 49er is actually Hank, the owner of a guest hotel in the desert town Gold City. Hank was haunting the place for the purpose of collecting oil and driving his boss out of business.

As a villain, Miner 49er is actually a threat that I think works. He has a pretty ominous presence throughout the episode. Most of it concerns scaring Scooby and Shaggy at different points.

I feel like his design is seemingly mundane. Then again, Scooby-Doo villains go as a multitude of other things. It is not surprising to find that Hank just decided to wear his normal clothes with a few modifications.

I just want to say that I think the name 'Miner 49er' is hilarious and also very clever.

No. 12: Snow Ghost, That's Snow Ghost

Okay, this is our thirteenth ghost, and he is a killer. Which is funny because he literally tried to murder the gang. Like, three different times at least, too. I think this guy's definitely one of the more crazy antagonists.

The Snow Ghost is actually Mr. Greenway, the owner of the ski lodge the team is at. He decides that he wants to dress up as a monster (a story he got from a hiker named Fu Lan Chi) to scare people away from the abandoned sawmill. Which is where he hosted his illegal operations.

Which is bizarre, because the gang was literally nowhere near the sawmill. Mr. Greenway must really love trolling people for some reason. Or he just really loves scaring the heck out of a bunch of teenagers for no good reason.

Snow Ghost here has an intimidating design for a yeti villain. Like I said, he was content with trying to kill the gang. Like trying to saw Velma Dinkley in half. Or hurling dynamite at her and Scooby to blow them up.

The Snow Ghost's sheer ruthlessness makes for an interesting competitor against the gang's antics. I actually love him for this, to be honest. He was the first monster of the week who attempted to inflict bodily harm. That's scary enough.

No. 11: Redbeard's Ghost, Go Away Ghost Ship

Okay, that is one RED beard, I mean look at that thing.

Redbeard's Ghost is our favorite pirate of the franchise. Well, besides Skunkbeard, he's just too cool. Redbeard was a persona adopted by C.L. Magnus to steal cargo from his ships. The only reason he wanted to do this was for insurance. Whoop-de-do.

At first glance, Redbeard's Ghost might just be one of the most outlandish villains in the series. Just look at him, he's one of the more human-like faux monsters the gang fights. I mean, why would the gang have reason to believe that a pirate was not only around, but was a ghost?

I like Redbeard because of these reasons. His weirdness feels natural to the Scooby Doo series. Plus? Redbeard REALLY loves to get in the act. He has the pirate attire, the pirate laugh, and the ghost ship. I can appreciate a villain who gets into the theme.

Redbeard himself also gets up to some unuusally comedic antics. Scooby and Shaggy are spared by him, only because Shaggy told him he was a good cook. The two proceed to make an indigestible stew for the pirates. Redbeard then makes them eat the stew, which leads them to escaping.

By the way? Redbeard himself is actually a real person too. He was a pirate known as the terror of the Seven Seas. C.L. Magnus' ancestors defeated him, and he swore that he would return. The irony is not lost on anyone here, and I love that.

No. 10: Spooky Space-Kook, Spooky Space-Kook

Let's just pause to point out that this guy has one of the best laughs. The Spooky Space-Kook's laugh is spine-tingling in a way that I cannot describe. As a child, it was creepy to look at. As an adult, I find that I'd probably laugh alongside him.

The Spooky Space-Kook is actually Henry Bascomb, the neighbor of a farmer who warned the gang about the monster. He was dressed up as the Spooky Space-Kook because he wanted to scare people away from the Air Force base nearby. His plan was to buy the land for himself.

As a design, the Spooky Space-Kook's sci-fi aesthetic works well for him. I love the astronaut skull helmet that he possesses. It helps make him ominous in a way.

No. 9: The Black Knight, What a Night for a Knight

Guess you could say "Right in the round tables!" because here's our next guest. The Black Knight was the identity of Mr. Wickles. He used the armored suit to scare people away from his art forgery schemes within the museum.

The Black Knight spends most of the episode creeping around the gang. Aside from angry grunts, he really does not say anything here. His general silence and lurking tendencies are what put him in the list.

His position within the franchise is what also pushes him here. Although he's not the scariest, he is the first villain shown in the franchise. Much like other iconic threats, he's had some notable iterations spun off from him.

No. 8: The Mummy of Anka, Scooby-Doo, and a Mummy Too

"Coin, Coin!"

The Mummy of Anka is the main antagonist of this Scooby Doo episode. He also is a fairly threatening one in the series due to the darkening atmosphere. The Mummy's real identity is Dr. Najib, an Egyptian researcher and aide to the professor. Najib is after an ancient Egyptian coin.

The Mummy is short-tempered and violent in the episode. He is basically a brute who scares the group into giving him the coin. The Mummy does not speak any word other than 'coin'. Which is said in a groaning, angry voice throughout the episode.

One part that I love about this episode is the stone element. The professor is one of the mummy's victims, believed to be turned to stone. In reality, he was simply captured offscreen. Najib also made a stone replica of himself to scare the gang.

No. 7: Charlie the Robot, Foul-Play in Funland

Get ready for a funtime in Funland, because Charlie graces the eighth spot on our list. Charlie's one of the more unique Scooby-Doo villains. Because he is not malevolent, he is simply a robot. Although he is prone to malfunctioning, Charlie's intentions aren't always terrible.

He was the creation of Mr. Jenkins, to help run Funland when he was busy. Mrs. Jenkins, for some reason, had the bright idea to sabotage him. Because she did not want robots running an amusement park meant for children.

To be honest? Her scheme confuses me the most, because there is no alter ego here. She could have just talked to him about it, but she decided not to. This would have saved the gang, and Jenkins some trouble.

No. 6: The Headless Specter, Haunted House Hang-Up

Speaking of unique villains? The Headless Specter is yet another unique villain in the franchise. Penrod Stillwall's a good guy here, he just has weird methods of proving it. He's the antagonist, but he's not the criminal here. He just decided to chase a bunch of kids around to stop them from finding his family's fortune.

This episode has one of my favorite haunted mansion setups of the series. The Scooby Gang are mostly alone, with only the Headless Specter with them. Also, he's after them and proves to be pretty dang malicious at times.

The overall atmosphere is done perfectly, and it gives you a good tingly feeling. This also has one of my favorite chase scenes of the episode, complete with groovy music.

Asha Shanks is the actual villain, by the way. He decided to run around with a bed sheet over his face. He also wanted to steal the Stillwall treasure, which doesn't work out for him. He's defeated which, once again, creates another neat subversion in the Scooby Gang series.

No. 5: Ghost of Elias Kingston, What The Hex Is Going On?

The Ghost of Elias Kingston was actually scary to me as a kid. He had a more ominous and foreboding appearance. His warning would generally follow with cursing the Wetherby Family. Ironically, he is a Wetherby, Stuart, who wanted to steal the fortune from his relatives.

Things get chilling when Stuart is afflicted by the ghost's 'curse'. At first, he is aged into being an old man. The last we see of him before the reveal is his skeleton. We also see that he's captured Sharon, which gets even worse considering who he is.

The Ghost of Elias Kington is always felt, even when he is not in the scene. This, combined with his iconic design and his warnings makes him dangerous. It also is what makes him number six on the list.

Also, the way the gang turns his own gimmicks back on him? Is hilarious.

No. 4: Ghost of Mr. Hyde, Nowhere To Hyde

What's lean, green, and mean? Why, the Ghost of Mr. Hyde, of course. This ghoulish goon was the main antagonist of an episode I thought was pretty scary.

Our main antagonist is blessed with a jarring green appearance that used to scare me. That is not the only thing he has going for him, though. He is fast on his feet, too, and he almost tries to croak Shaggy.

These green jokes are just fine for me to say. Other than that, he's actually the disguise of - you guessed it, Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll was trying to "hyde" his jewel thefts, by pretending that he created a formula. Something went wrong with the formula, however, and it would turn him into a monster, named the ghost of Mr. Hyde.

Hyde does not have any other neat gimmicks, aside from scaling walls with neat suction cups. Other than that, he is pretty easily bested by the gang. The gang all take turns scaring Hyde before they wrap him in a mattress.

Our bad guy, by the way? He's the first villain to ever hide in the Mystery Machine.

No. 4: The Ghost Clown, Bedlam in The Big Top

Okay, there is creepy, and then there is this guy. Meet the main antagonist of Bedlam in the Big Top. He's a menacing ghost clown who haunts your every eye. The Ghost Clown is actually Harry the Hypnotist, who wanted revenge against the circus featured in the episode.

The Ghost Clown makes for a terrifying opponent to face off against. He uses his talents to mind-control the gang into some pretty hilarious events. However, the terror from what he's done can still be seen.

Clowns in general have a neutral connotation in fiction. However, I find that most people tend to see them as villains. I think this is due to how offputting it can be to make a clown evil. After all, they are a symbol of joy and laughter now distorted into something positively murderous.

No. 3: The Puppet Master, A Backstage Rage

Congrats, we are going from creepy to worse. You have made it to the top three, the three scooby doo villains who made younger me say "zoinks!" and hide behind the TV.

Meet the Puppet Master, the disguise of Pietro, who works at Strand Theatre. In reality, Pietro is secretly hosting a counterfeiting operation beneath the theatre. He uses his disguise to scare people away from his secret operations.

The Puppet Master is quite the creepy threat, even for a Scooby Doo villain. His ominous unblinking eyes are very strange. There are multiple moments where you can see how scary the Puppet Master is. From attempting to drop a sandbog on the group. All the way to creepily standing still, while he and Shaggy wear the same outfit.

The Puppet Master is absolutely devious in almost every way. He's one of the more unnerving villains for me as a kid. However, he's nothing compared to numbers two or one.

The way he laughs as he vanishes down the Prompeter's Box? Eugh. Still sticks with me.

No. 2: The Phantom Shadows, A Night of Fright is No Delight

Our giggling green ghosts are only the SECOND scariest antagonists of the original. They really help accomplish what the episode title set out to do. Their appearances are scary, and offer a chilling laugh.

These two are Cosgood Creeps and Cuthbert Crawls. Yeah, it's funny how almost everyone else on this list have completely normal names. Meanwhile, these two at least try to advertise what they are all about. Their goal was to scare away the heirs to Colonel Beauregard Sanders' fortune.

These two try their best to sabotage Scooby and scare him away. This is because Scooby Doo was another heir to Sanders' fortune. Naturally, our plucky hound gives in, but he never quits. Thanks to the gang, they manage to unmask Creeps and Crawls.

The Phantom Shadows have a neat gimmick where they create dummies based on the heirs. All of which are sealed inside of coffins to make them look like victims. It is appropriately creepy for the kind of episode that they have.

In a later episode, we do see the Phantom Shadows recolored into three different ice-cream themed phantoms. I just think that's funny, though.

No. 1: The Creeper, Jeeper's It's The Creeper

This next villain was the scariest one for me, no joke. As a child, I convinced my mother to put on the Scooby Doo shows. She put on this episode, and it stuck with me.

As a child, I grew afraid of the episode because of The Creeper. The way he talked and moved scared me as a kid. Eventually, I think I got over my fear of him.

As a villain, The Creeper is actually the bank owner, Mr. Carswell. He was using The Creeper as an excuse to rob the bank, claiming that it could walk through 'walls'. Unfortunately? He was caught by a camera, and one slip of paper would be enough to destroy his reputation...

How does The Creeper rectify this? By tracking down the guard, distracting him with a log, and then attacking him. His violent temper left the guard unconscious and also destroyed his car. The Creeper beat down a guard for having photographic evidence, what do you think he'd do to some kids?

Honestly, that's not the only part I find 'scary'. The gang LEFT the security guard in the hands of Carswell. They unknowingly left him to be imprisoned by the same man who attacked him.

The Creeper's design does not truly feel very 'phantom' ish to me. However, that's just me being picky, and nothing else. His overall design is based on Rondo Hatton's Creeper, apparently. if anything else.

This is another episode where the Scooby Gang is working with a pretty dark atmosphere. They are trapped in the farmland, with a snarling, raging monster after them. All of this conflict stems from a paper that would automatically incriminate the monster of the week. The foreboding music that plays as he advances toward them is pretty freaky.

Honestly, the lonely hermit is a confusing element of this episode, but one that I am willing to look past. I thought he was like, another disguise of the creeper, but no. He's just some guy hanging out in the forests.

This episode also features one of the funniest chase theme songs.

Consensus: Everyone has a favorite!

This is just my ranking of the Scooby Doo villains based off of the original series. I think all of them are cool in some way or another. Some are just cooler than others, and that is okay.

If you've got a favorite ranking, then feel free to share it. I would love to see how you guys rank some of the villains. I'm sure that it would be very different.

The fun behind Scooby Doo is how bizarre most of the villains are. It is not a bad kind of 'bizarre' though. It just shows how wonderfully weird the scooby doo world is. The monsters and villains here are all so colorful.

Yet, I think making them dress up as monsters is a great way to educate children. It is better to show the monsters as ghoulish creatures than as real people. It might be easier for people to process, especially since the monsters are always unmasked after each episode.

Scooby Doo really is such a landmark franchise though. These groovy kids have been doing it since '69, and they have kept going. In spite of dark ages and bad installments, they always rise up. I have a lot of love for Scooby Doo, for helping shape my interest in mystery and suspense.

Other than that? This might not be the last Halloween post that I'll make. I hope you guys enjoyed this one because I will be readying something else up. If you guys enjoyed it, then feel free to give it a like!

[crystalelemental]

The Common Grid War enters round 9, and we have Liza, Drake, and Noland joining the gridded.  You may notice, the tiers have changed considerably since last ranking.  This is due to a major overhaul in how I’m doing this.

In looking over last month’s, I realized...I’m not really doing this up to a specific standard.  Some are lower or higher based on how good the grid works.  Good energy cost, good placement, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect their performance.  Comparatively, some are played really high based on performance, despite a disaster of a grid, Roxanne.  With Drake and Liza also getting...just atrocious grids, I’ve decided that this should become entirely about their functional performance when used.  For the upcoming grids, I’ll be placing based on anticipated utility from their known tools.  This will be based largely on their consistent utility and use.  If a unit has a good grid, but ultimately is never used because each attempt makes me sad, they’re not going to be placed all that high.  Conversely, a bad grid on a unit that still receives consistent use will rank higher.  Unfortunately, this does introduce confounds like Candice, who I have EX.  An EX Candice functions far differently than a non-EX, but it’s almost impossible to assess her in a form I no longer have access to.  So while it may be a bit unfair, this will be on overall utility, rather than perceived utility at a specific point.  Which means yes, receiving EX is a boost.  This will be a long, wordy post because of how I am as a person, but using the new criteria, I want to be clear about why everyone’s placements changed in the way they did.

F-TIER

Wulfric - I have never used Wulfric.  Not really.  I can’t bring myself to do it.  His only real utility is in a slight flinch and freeze rate, that isn’t worth talking about.  His physical bulk is something, but I don’t really consider any of his tools to be all that exceptional.

Thorton - Thorton gets to be above him because of EX access, but I’ve never used him, and will never make him EX.  I’ve seen showcases of him doing some work, including utility against Cresslia by making all attacks connect.  But he also goes down like a sack of bricks and leaves the team on cleanup duty against a +6 evasion Cresselia so like...that’s not exactly helping, friend.

D-TIER

Grant - Grant is on thin ice, dude.  I get that he has natural Aggravation with Rock Slide, but he’s obnoxious.  His natural sync multiplier is flinch, which is a disaster.  His sync nuke isn’t even good even when set up perfectly.  Grant is just...disappointing.  In like every way, Grant is sad.  I can’t quite give him F-tier, I do break him out sometimes for the flinch rate in Gauntlet, but this is a bottom of the barrel utility, and being three-bar, he needs gauge support or your actual attackers can’t get attacks in.

SS Brock - The exact same issues as Grant.  I’m putting him above Grant solely because SS Brock has not given me the same tremendous level of disappointment, and I imagine the EX at least means he can pretend to compete in CS.  Shame about Cakewalk.

Valerie - I’m lifting Valerie out of F-Tier.  She isn’t good, make no mistake, but she’s actually done some work in both CS and Gauntlet, so I hesitate to say she’s borderline without value.  But I can’t reasonably go much higher than this.  Valerie’s sync is weak, with only one multiplier that’s alright.  Her healing is alright, but she didn’t even get Master Healer.  Disarming Voice is nice AoE, if nothing else.  Valerie could be so much better than she is, but she’s...fine.

Noland - He’s Bugsy again, but with better self-setup.  My problem is that his self-setup is slow, and requires 5 turns and a lot of energy.  He’s better off just taking regular support anyway.  Noland doesn’t impress me too much.  He’s another in a growing list of common Strikers who’d be way different if he had an EX.

Bugsy - Same tune as Noland, but I rank Bugsy a bit higher because of Poison.  I know it’s not a huge deal, but the added chip damage and potential to help answer Uxie, if nothing else, is nice.  Though in CS, you’ll usually turn off status conditions so it’s a moot point.

C-TIER

Drake - I’m sticking with it.  EX Support should be bigger, but I don’t care for Drake.  Which is odd because I like defensive supports.  But he’s really slow, his buffs are separated so you take twice as long to boost defenses as BP Morty, he has effectively no healing, and his grid is one of the worst disasters I’ve ever seen.  I’m sure he’ll have some use, I’ve used him myself...as a partner to SS Serena in Gauntlet, since she just needs defense and she’s fine.  But I’m ready to try Drake’s grid out and be whelmed.

Will - I’ve never used Will as anything but a Flinch bot.  Confuse is nice, but also kinda eh.  His sync multipliers are great and free, and his Stored Power is nice damage.  But his self-setup is garbage, he needs tremendous support, his trainer move is borderline worthless, and the only consistent part of him is Air Slash Aggravation.  Considering he’s a Psychic type, you’d expect me to have more appreciation for him, but the over-saturated typing combined with high support needs just makes me overlook him constantly.

Crasher Wake - Wake is legitimately good, if he gets things where he wants them.  Nice flinch rate is great for Gauntlet, but my reason for placing him low is that, while his grid has great tools for him, he can’t get what he wants.  Being self-sufficient means giving up on another Aggravation 1.  Taking both means giving up sync multipliers.  It’s rough.  And because he has Grant’s curse of needing the flinch for sync damage, it’s inconsistent and, frankly, annoying.  He doesn’t perform as well as you’d hope based on the hypotheticals of his kit.

Kahili - While having the same problems as Bugsy and Noland, Kahili may be up here solely due to my exposure and consistent use of her for F2P clears of Flying stages.  But the real thing that works out, in my book, is guaranteed crit on sync, and an Endure effect.  The Endure effect has come in so clutch, and is paying dividends in the meta of AoE moves.  Add in the choice between Super Preparation for on-type, and Defense Crush for Gauntlet or off-type, and Kahili’s honestly pretty solid.  If she had EX, she’d be A-tier at minimum.

Ramos - Sleep chaining is hard and I don’t like doing it, but Ramos is good at it and when it works it is devastating.  By overall function, Ramos likely should be higher, given how hard he can lock a match down.  But this is quite literally all he supplies, and people are not lying when they say gauges can become a real issue without substantial support.  Shoutouts for having X Speed, but it’s often not enough.  But the biggest contributor is just that I don’t like sleep.  It’s annoying, it doesn’t last more than two seconds in most matches, I hate it, I don’t find it consistent.

B-TIER

Brycen - I will actually, legitimately die on this hill.  Brycen’s Haze utility is enough to put him up here.  Coutering Cresselia and Latias is enough to put you above the rest, but with modern CS meta, I feel like he’s not a bad pick for a fill-in spot, given how many in Hoenn CS are packing things like Tough Cookie, Haymaker, etc.  I also feel like his freeze chance is underrated.  30% may not be great, but that’s what most MGRs are, and we rely on that constantly.  In Gauntlet, he gets more freezes than you’d expect.

Sophocles - High flinch rate, guaranteed paralysis which is always nice. Unfortunately both are higher gauge costs, and despite having a potentially great sync nuke, it’s absurdly hard to set up and costs him utility tools.  Still love him, but he’s definitely got some limitations.

Liza - I am dreaming, but please do not wake me.  Liza was good at the outset, and really just needed MPR to finish the buffing.  Unfortunately, that’s about all she got.  Natural Remedy and Quick Cure are nice counterpick skills, but niche.  Healthy Healing and Synchro Healing are nice, but Healthy Healing only works when you attack, and Liza’s likely to spend her whole life buffing so it offers nothing, while Synchro Healing means she’d have to take sync, and that’s really not advised.  I wish she got First Aid 4.  That would’ve been so much nicer.  Or hell, gotten EX over Drake.  Then she’d have a reason to use sync ever.

Wikstrom - Wikstrom is fantastic self-setup, great finch rate, good damage and good sync, all in one wonderful package.  So why only B?  Because he’s frail beyond belief.  AoE moves, especially the guaranteed crits of Gauntlet, absolutely annihilate him.  It’s bad.  And despite having relatively nice damage, he’s not that consistent in CS for me.  I’ve had legitimate trouble getting him to work as intended.  I still think he’s really good, and got an incredibly optimized grid.  But...I dunno, he’s just not pushing into the tier of super impressive damage dealers.

Whitney - I like her utility.  Paralysis is the best status to have access to for Gauntlet, hitting Uxie, Cobalion, and Tornadus, with Cobalion being most susceptible to paralysis.  Combine that with a high flinch rate, and Whitney’s in business.  Fire Guard also means she’s better protected in Moltres fights where your goal is flinch locking and letting a Sun abuser beat it down.  Whitney isn’t a super standout, but I really like the utility she brings. And if desired, she has a sync nuke.  It’s not great, but the damage continues to surprise me. Combining all that with solid bulk and a healing move?  Whitney’s good.  I like her a lot.

Brawly - Brawly has a lot of good utility traits.  Guaranteed debuffs on Rock Smash, a decent sync nuke, Potion support.  They even gave him speed debuffs half the time on his useless Brick Break, which...don’t, but it’s neat that it’s there.  My main issue with Brawly is that, while he’s generally kinda useful, he’s super slow about it.  -1 single-target debuff isn’t fast acting, and is mostly helpful for Gauntlet.  Potion is nice, but again, mostly for Gauntlet.  Everything about this dude is...mostly for Gauntlet.  He does not thrive in the CS meta, as far as I’m concerned.  And on that note...Hitmontop.  Eggmon Hitmontop does exactly the same debuffing he does, but is more consistent with the speed drops.  It doesn’t have potion, but it does have Terrify.  So...his competition is an eggmon.  I feel like that’s a problem.

A-TIER

Mina - I love debuffs.  Charm is a great one, keeping the team alive reliably, but also kicking off all her new multipliers.  Mina can deal serious damage on sync, and decent move damage as well, while contributing to an overall debuff comp.  She does sit kind of on the border here, though.  This is about her only utility, but “do one thing really well” is a valid strategy, and can often be better than “do a bunch of things poorly.”

Siebold - Big funny EX sync man.  I don’t have EX, and never will, but I have used him now against Entei.  His sync is...pretty good.  I also actually really like the synergy of his trainer move.  The guaranteed crit on sync leads into +1 crit in general, and he can pretty reliably hit max crit rate himself.  Siebold is surprisingly self-sufficient, I really appreciate that. And he’s bulky!  With gradual healing!   I’m...way more impressed with him than I thought.

Marley - Marley has been this surprising knockout success in my book.  The longer things go on, the more I start recommending Marley not just in F2P comps, but legitimate teams.  Team Sharp Entry really is incredible, and it’s going to be the only thing that might salvage Drake for me.  But while Drake is defense buffing, Marley is speed, and speed buffing is tremendously valuable for slower offensive units.  Moreover, high burn rate that she can actually afford to get, and the potential to top off an offensive stat, as well as Team Fire Guard.  Marley does a lot for a common support.

Bruno - Super self-sufficient, versatile in picking up the buffing slack from potential allies, great move damage in Cross Chop, and a pretty nice grid.  What I do think holds him back is the low accuracy needing both Accuracy +10 and Precision Entry to fix.  This is energy intensive, and often results in Bruno having to give something up.  Smart Cookie as a move multiplier is also a little rough, since his trainer move is often the only thing that’s going to buff it up.  Also, unlike Gardenia, if you want to attack quickly, his needed support often needs a combination of attack and crit.  Maylene partners really well, but until she gets a grid, it’s a notable limitation.

Gardenia - Gardenia would be an S-tier if she had EX, or didn’t need to rely on Sun.  But she doesn’t, and she does, so upper A-tier is fine.   Gardenia’s Leaf Storm hits like a truck, I have absolutely deleted sides in CS stages in a single Leaf Storm.  Being able to cap her crit while packing Grand Entry on grid also means she’s a good combo to Rosa on F2P comps, who should only be 1/5 she’s not good enough for candy, and kicks off theme skills while supplying an EX Support bonus.  Gardenia lives by her move damage, and thankfully, it’s extremely good damage.  I love getting to break out Gardenia.

Cheryl - Alright.  Honesty hour.  Cheryl...is still really good, but I don’t think can be considered for top billing anymore.  I did a review of CS and Gauntlet clears, and while Cheryl is always among the Gauntlet clears, she’s rarely among the CS clears.  Sometimes it works out.  Other times, it does not.  And with mixed offense and spread damage coming out in big ways, a lot of her issues can become more pronounced.  I still love Cheryl’s abilities.  Special attack and speed buffing at once is great.  A Potion that boosts both defenses by 2 is great.  Built-in Vigilance so she can take Status Immunity and block things like Cresselia, Tornadus’ Toxic, or CS Go Viral strats, is huge, and something even many premium supports wish they had.  But Cheryl is notably more limited than being an S-tier.  I still love her, and bring her to every match I can, and will always argue that the low defense isn’t as bad as claimed (though it’s really bad for CS without Endure).  But given her inability to participate as strongly in CS as she does in Gauntlet, I’m dropping her to A-tier.

S-TIER

Winona - Let me address the obvious criticism: “No MPR on Rain Dance.”  Yes.  This is stupid.  But in contrast, excellent sync multipliers, high flinch rate on Air Slash, and has the Rain support at all as an F2P option.  I’ll be the first to admit that Winona...really struggles in that regard.  Add in that she can’t buff her special attack or crit rate independently, and this really doesn’t...feel like an S-tier.  But every single time I use her?  That feels like an S-tier.  She was good before the grid, and after the grid, she’s a menace.  She provides so much useful utility, and can pivot into a serious primary damage dealer with support.  And unlike a lot of the commons that have “really good damage,” it’s not all in sync.  Hurricane is legitimately powerful move damage.  Considering the blend of utility and offense, I do think this places Winona above units like Bruno and Gardenia, who may be better damage, but have far less overall utility.

Roxanne - See, this is what Liza’s grid should’ve been.  Yeah, Roxanne’s grid isn’t good, it barely accounts for much of anything, but Endure and a fourth stat to buff at least makes her Hilbert and Halloween Caitlin Lite.  Roxanne’s high defensive stats makes her solid at Gauntlet, with Wide Guard shutting down the most dangerous attack in a match with ease.  Meanwhile, in CS, she’s able to take the high powered hits, and Endure all but ensures survival through the first three moves, ensuring maximum buff is provided.  Roxanne’s grid is simple, but it’s effective, and does absolutely everything it needs to, even without healing.

Candice - This is cheating.  This is such cheating.  The EX salvages so much.  I remember before the EX, when I just had her grid, and people would go on about how no no, Candice is still good, she can handle things without the EX.  No she didn’t.  Her sync nuke would often be just short, and given her pathetic move damage, that was a massive problem.  Needing partners that can thrive in Hail is also rough.  But...Candice also gets everything she wants.  Inertia was the perfect multiplier alongside Fleet Feet on X Speed.  Getting Follow-Through for guaranteed crit on Hail is perfect for eliminating the need for crit support; it’s not like her move damage will do much.  And if you do go for the EX?  Candice can off-type.  She almost did it this week, against the busted Hoeen CS, on an F2P budget.  If I were able to bring premium support, I’m certain she could’ve handled it.  Candice is actually that good.  Functionally, I don’t think it’s a contest.  At the point you are offensively pushing into clearing stages off-type, and are part of some of the most consistent clears in Gauntlet despite mostly being there for sync damage?  You’ve made it.

[h2bakugou]

summary: bakugou despises you, more than he does anyone else. you’re strong, and you don’t take shit from anyone. so when bakugou confronts you, it’s more than just a heated argument that ensues.

you can read the original piece here!

all characters aged 18+ au!!

a/n: a rewrite of a classic, one of the first ever fics written here on h2bakugou, hope you loves enjoy this!

key: (y/n) - your name / (f/n) - first name / (l/n) - last name / (e/c) - eye color / (h/c) - hair color / (y/q) - your quirk

warnings: swearing, smut

word count: 2.7k

nsfw under the cut!!!

»»————-　★　————-««

Being discouraged was never an option. Your goal to be a hero had been driven by your perseverance. Your classmates chose the words ‘driven’ and ‘passionate’ to describe you in your first year year-book.

Growing up, you’d been influenced by the words of others, and you vowed to not let them discourage you any longer. You wanted to be a hero, so you’d use their criticism and challenges to better yourself.

Yet, now as a third year, you were still facing challenges. One blonde, explosive, challenge named Katsuki Bakugou that had despised you the day you bucked up to him.

He hated you. Truthfully, he didn’t understand why. You were just so, aggravating. Though in reality, he saw a bit of himself in you. That fire that raged inside driving you further, he knew what that was like.

You weren’t afraid of him. You tested him every day. From ranking higher than him in tests, to beating his ass in training, god you were wiping the floor with him since you were a measly little first year still trying to learn everyone’s names.

On your side of the spectrum, you had to give credit where credit was due. Katsuki was an extremely talented, and attractive individual. He excelled in his classes, got outstanding grades, and had immense power.

But those things didn’t make up for his atrocious attitude, cocky and arrogant demeanor, and brash exterior.

You were closed off, and had boundaries-something Bakugou didn’t understand. Why you were so closed off was a mystery, something Bakugou wanted to desperately understand. A part of him was curious to see what was hiding behind your own brash exterior. 

He watched the way you bit the inside of your cheek when he called you out during a slip up in training.

But what made him far more angrier than when you ignored him, was when you got along with Todoroki.

You always seemed to be smiling around the guy, asking how he’d been over the weekend, despite living in dorms together.

Brushing up on him, rustling his hair, it made his blood boil. What did you see in him?

Today was dragging along like any other, your class stood fixed in the gym, working on some new training regiment put together by your third year Heroics teacher.

It was something similar to the ones you’d done hundreds of times by now, but you’d slipped up, a few times. You were tired, you’d barely gotten any sleep last night because classes finished late and left you to do your homework and shower on top of other things you had to do which landed you in bed at almost three or four in the morning.

So your slip up was something small, but Bakugou noticed. And he was about to make it known.

“You’re slacking today! A slip-up like that coulda getcha’ killed, maybe you should practice some more.” Bakugou chastised, smirking at you. As the buzzing fluorescent lights gleamed over your eyes, he could see so much more than anger bubbling inside them.

He now noticed the heavy undereye bags, and the way your eyes seemed to water. But as he stared into your eyes, he realized this was the first time this week you’d actually looking him in the eye when he said something to you.

You weren’t perfect, you still had moments of doubt, late at night when you thought about what might happen if they were right. What if you weren’t meant to be a hero?

Shaking it out of your head, you didn’t say anything. You focused back on your training, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Todoroki. He shot Bakugou a glare which only caused him to grumble and speak again.

“Get your head outta’ your ass, I’m not pining after your little girlfriend. She’s clearly been putting her mind elsewhere if she’s this fuckin’ terrible today.”

Despite initiating the joke, hearing himself call you Todoroki’s girlfriend made him seethe with anger. He was furious. Why’d he say that? 

“Shut up.” Todoroki replied cooly, following you out of the gym to the locker rooms.

You just laughed to yourself before you got water. Todoroki let out a stressed sigh as he stared at you.

“He’s being extra rude today.” Todoroki mentioned.

“Maybe he’s just horny.” You grimaced thinking about Bakugou and the words ‘being horny.’ 

“How would that tie into his anger toward you?” 

“Sexual. Frustration.”

Bakugou couldn't take much more of you ignoring him. Why were you so dead-set on making him seem invisible? You barely bit back at him when he called you out, and he knew you could say whatever you wanted, you’d done it to others who tried you. So what made him any different?

This was just one of those occurrences, and as he ran them through his head, every time he checked, there was always some case of you ignoring him when all he wanted was a stupid fucking acknowledgement from you. He was going to talk to you.

And he was going to do it now.

You’d finally left the gym, taken a shower, and you were now steadily approaching your dorm. You were tired, and ready to speed through any homework you might have so you could head to bed early.

But a pair of strong hands forced your shoulders into the wall.

“What’s your fuckin’ deal?” Bakugou growled at you. You just stared at him.

“What?” You answered softly, unsure of what he was accusing you of.

“You think you’re so much better than me, than everyone else huh? Walkin’ around like you fuckin’ own the place? What makes you that fucking good!?” Bakugou spat at you.

His fingers dug into your shoulder blades as he urged you to answer his question. You shoved him off of you and managed to escape his attempts at grabbing your wrists.

“I don’t. You fucking act like you own the place, like being powerful is all it takes to be number one. You might wanna take your head outta’ your ass before your hair turns brown.” You marched off to your room, fed up with Katsuki’s behavior.

“Oh yeah!? Then why do you act like such a fuckin’ ass to me!?” Bakugou shouts, running after you.

“Because you treat me like shit! You call me weak when I slip up, you’re always on my fucking case. You think I really wanna be your friend?” You stop and stare at him. 

“Or maybe it’s just because you’re a stubborn asshole that’s too blinded by his idea of being number one that he’s so fucking distracted by his arrogance to see that he’s really just a douche.” 

Your back hit your dorm door. Bakugou towered over you as his shadow cast down upon you.

“You need to watch your fucking mouth.” 

“Or maybe you need an attitude adjustment. Everyone’s grown so much but you still seem to think you’re hot shit, huh?” You reach for your doorknob, going to twist it, but you were to slow.

“I said...” Bakugou’s eyes bore into you.

“You need to watch your fucking mouth.” Bakugou opened your door, watching as you fell back, no longer supported by the wood of your door.

“Make me.” You grunted, catching yourself from falling onto the floor.

Bakugou’s eye twitched as he followed you into your room, closing and locking the door behind himself.

“Hey, what the fuck are you-”

“You’re such a bitch, just shut up already.” Bakugou groaned, yanking you further back into your room.

It all was beginning to make sense. Bakugou wanted to-

“This isn’t going to change how I think of you.” You blurted out, knowing exactly what the blonde wanted. He stared at you with a smirk.

“Put that pretty mouth to something useful unlike talking.” Bakugou began to undo his pants, allowing them to pool around his ankles. 

“You really want me to suck your cock? I don’t know, what if I bite?” You grin, watching as he angered above you.

“What the fuck did I just say?” A handful of your hair was yanked in his fist, tilting your head back.

“A-alright.” You replied. Your cunt throbbed, forcing you to squeeze your thighs together. Why were you so turned on? You didn’t exactly like Bakugou, but he was attractive. You’d give him that, but his looks didn’t make up for his horrendous attitude.

His cock stared at you, hard, tip leaking precum. You graced a single hand over the base, jerking him slowly as you leaned your head toward it. You placed a teasing kiss to the head, smearing his precum around your lips like a lipgloss.

Allowing just the head to slide into your mouth, you stared up at him, watching him fumble with his hands. 

“First time?” You pulled off to tease him which resulted in his cock slamming past your lips and hitting the back of your throat. Your eyes shot open wide as your throat burned, his cock rutting down inside your mouth.

It hurt, but it felt good at the same time.

“You really are a slut, huh. Bet you let guys use this little throat like it’s nothing.” Bakugou spat at you. You wished you could’ve said something back to him, but his cock ramming down your throat was sadly stopping you.

You could hear his whines as he grew close to cumming, but he didn’t want to waste his spend inside your mouth, so he pulled out, hissing as you licked his sensitive cock head a few times as he left your lips.

“I wanna taste you.” You murmured, reaching your hand back up to his cock, ushering him to cum in your mouth.

“H-hey!” Bakugou grunted as your mouth reconnected to his cock. It was too late for him, you were blowing him like no one had ever blown him before. And he was busting in your mouth seconds later.

Swallowing his cum and opening your mouth to show him afterward, Bakugou shook his head.

“Nasty whore.” Bakugou replied, forcing you up and onto the bed, landing on your tummy.

“Had you just asked, I would’ve laid down.” Your shirt was torn off mercilessly by Bakugou, his desperate hands trying to free your tits. Afterward came your sheer tights, followed by your panties. They pooled around your ankles as he left your skirt on for his little fantasies to run wild.

Allowing a firm hand to slap against your now exposed ass, he groaned to himself as he kneaded the skin of your ass between his fingers.

“Pervert.” You mumbled. 

Two fingers swiped through your glistening, slick-coated folds.

“The fuck did you just call me?” Bakugou teased, allowing his thumb to rub small, slow, agonizing, circles around your clit.

“F-fuck.” You breathed out, arching your back into his touch.

“Aw does that feel good slut? You want more?” Bakugou dipped his middle finger into your cunt, watching as you mewled underneath him.

You gripped your sheets with embarrassment, unsure of why you’d succumbed to him so fast. You hung your head in disapponment at yourself.

“More. Want more.” You mumbled, feeling empty as his fingers disappeared from your cunt.

“Didn’t know you’d get so wet just from sucking cock.” Bakugou chastised you again.

“Didn’t think you knew where the clit was.” You groaned. However your comment was punished by a striking feeling between your folds.

His fingers slapped against your clit, making you whine as he toyed with you.

“Surely if this wasn’t it, you’d be quiet right now.” Bakugou was just messing around with you at this point. You were panting as his fingers left your abused clit.

He bent down, spreading your cunt open with his fingers, dipping his tongue into your tight hole. You mewled as the appendage ravaged you. Flicking between your cunt and your clit, he was making you scream into your sheets as you came on his tongue.

His chuckled, licking up your mess as he pulled himself away.

“So messy.” He groaned.

“I bet you’ve been waiting for this cock to fill you up huh. I bet you finger this little cunt thinking about it.” Bakugou rubs the tip of his cock between your folds, butting it against your clit, watching as you whine.

“Just fuck me already.” You were tired of hearing him talk. You wanted him inside you.

“I can wait.” He pulled away, allowing the tip of his cock to just barely touch the folds of your pussy. You whined in response.

“Fuck, please fuck me. Please fill me up.” You begged, laying defeated against the mattress, your ass still hoisted in the air.

“That’s more like it-shit so fuckin’ tight.” Bakugou winced, his cock plunging through your tight folds. It felt so good. You were squeezing him, milking his cock without giving him a second to breathe. He felt like cumming again.

“I thought with-fuck-how cocky you were, you were gonna be smaller.” You retorted, mewling as his cock stretched you out, rubbing against your walls.

“You’re gonna regret ever thinking that.” Bakugou responded by peeling your ass apart with his hands, spitting down onto his cock as it slid out of you and then plunged back into you, sending your body jolting forward.

You moaned loudly as his cock plowed through your cunt, his hands now gripping your waist, holding you in place.

“Not so big and bold when you’re stuffed full of this cock huh?” 

“You always fuck this good when you’re angry?” You groan, panting as he rearranges your insides. 

“You wanna fuck me when I’m not?” Bakugou teases, sliding out of you before thrusting back in. Your long moan shows him he’s doing a good job.

“You might be attractive but your attitude is the worst.” You whine, feeling like you can’t hold the sheets between your fingers tighter.

“I’ll keep that in mind, slut.” Bakugou leaned and grabbed a handful of your hair, yanking it upward, pulling you into his chest. Another hand gripped your throat. 

“Fuck, right there!” You mewled, his cock plowing into you at a different angle, the head of his cock bruising all the good spots inside of you.

“Why don’t you cum on this cock?” Bakugou whispered, biting down against your shoulder.

“C-cumming!” You moaned, your cunt clamping down around his cock as you reached your high. Bakugou hissed as you squeezed around him, forcing his spend out of him and into your cunt.

He let you fall against the mattress as he pulled out, a lewd squelching sound followed by his cum leaking from your pussy was a sight to behold the blonde’s eyes.

Snapping a quick picture for later, he reached for something to wipe you up with before laying down beside you.

“Maybe if you shut up half of the time I’d talk to you.” You mumbled, still trying to catch your breath.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Bakugou stared at you.

“It means...” You rolled over on top of him, leaning down toward his face.

“We’d make a good couple if you weren’t an asshole.” You press a cheeky kiss to his lips, short enough for him not to be able to kiss back. He groans and flips the tables, forcing you under him as he kisses you passionately.

“So fuckin’ date me then and stop fuckin’ around with that half and half bastard.” Bakugou replies.

“Are you blushing?” You tease the blonde, your own cheeks feeling hotter than usual. Bakugou groans and plants his face into your pillow.

“Shut the fuck up. And not a word of this to anyone-”

“Unless I become your girlfriend yeah I know.” You lay beside him and yank up the covers over your naked body, kicking off the rest of your clothes that were uncomforabtly stuck around your ankles.

“I don’t really mean to be such an ass. I just thought-”

“Exactly, you assumed I was a dick. Just shut up, you’re making this worse for you. You really want me to break up with you after we just got together?” 

Bakugou is dead silent for the rest of the night as he eventually cuddles up next to you.

The following morning, a few people are surprised to see you actually speaking to Bakugou, and Todoroki is one of them.

Though by the end of the week, most everyone knew what went down, Bakugou mentioned it to Kirishima on accident and then it had spread.

Todoroki was thoroughly surprised, due to the entire nature of you and Bakugou’s previous relationship. But ultimately, as long as you were happy, he couldn’t be mad.

“About time you realized you liked her.” He mentioned swiftly to Bakugou as they passed in the common room.

“What you’d say to me!?”

»»————-　★　————-««

masterlist

[douchebagbrainwaves]

YOUR EMPLOYEES AND INVESTORS WILL CONSTANTLY BE ASKING ARE WE THERE YET

I think I've figured out what's going on. After the first 10 or so we learned to treat deals as background processes that we should ignore till they terminated.1 Don't Get Your Hopes Up. Something hacked together means something that barely solves the problem, the harder it is to bait the hook with prestige. And that is almost certainly mistaken. So one thing that falls just short of the standard, I think, should be the highest goal for the marginal. Big companies think the function of office space is to express rank. As big companies' oligopolies became less secure, they were willing to pay a premium for labor. You can see it in old photos. If you're friends with a lot of the worst kinds of projects are the death of a thousand cuts. And what's especially dangerous is that many happen at your computer.

And the microcomputer business ended up being Apple vs Microsoft. In 1450 it was filled with the kind of turbulent and ambitious people you find now in America. You have to like what they do there than how much they can get the most done. That's not what makes startups worth the trouble. Design This kind of metric would allow us to compare different languages, but that if someone wanted to design a language explicitly to disprove this hyphothesis, they could probably do it. This technique can be generalized to: What's the best thing you could be doing, not just what you can see the results in any town in America. With this amount of money can change a startup's funding situation completely. There I found a copy of The Atlantic. Whereas it's easy to get sucked into working longer than you expected at the money job.2 That's ok. I think you have to do all three. But more importantly, you'll get into the habit of doing things well.

But what if the person in the next 40 years will bring us some wonderful things.3 They all know about the VCs who rejected Google. The writing of essays used to be.4 You may have read on Slashdot how he made his own Segway.5 He improvises: if someone appears in front of him, he runs around them; if someone tries to grab him, he spins out of their grip; he'll even run in the wrong place, anything might happen. The people who've worked for a few months I realized that what I'd been unconsciously hoping to find there was back in the place I'd just left. It was supposed to be something else, they ended up being Apple vs Microsoft. By 2012 that number was 18 years. The first thing you need is to be willing to look like a fool.6 Google they have a fair amount of data to go on. John Malkovich where the nerdy hero encounters a very attractive, sophisticated woman.

Many of the big companies were roll-ups that didn't have clear founders.7 Empirically, the way to the bed and breakfast, and other similar classes of accommodations, you get to hit a few difficult problems over the net at someone, you learn pretty quickly how hard they hit them anyway. Inexperienced founders make the same mistake as the people who list at ABNB, they list elsewhere too I am not negative on this one was the only way to get lots of referrals is to invest in students, not professors. It will actually become a reasonable strategy or a more reasonable strategy to suspect everything new.8 Never say we're passionate or our product is great. Whereas undergraduate admissions seem to be disappointments early on, when they're just a couple guys in an apartment. Programmers at Yahoo wouldn't have asked that.9 Incidentally, this scale might be helpful in deciding what to study in college. VCs think they're playing a zero sum game.

I spend most of my time writing essays lately. Almost everyone's initial plan is broken. If smaller source code is the purpose of comparing languages, because they come closest of any group I know to embodying it. Distracting is, similarly, desirable at the wrong time. But if we make kids work on dull stuff now is so they can get away with atrocious customer service. In fact, here there was a kid playing basketball? Of course, figuring out what you like.

Go out of your way to bring it up e. The industry term here is conversion. Try to keep the sense of wonder you had about programming at age 14. At least if you start a startup, people treat you as if you're unemployed.10 But hacking is like writing. Even with us working to make things happen the way they used to, they were moving to a cheaper apartment. It causes you to work not on what you like, but is disastrously lacking in others. I do in the rest of the world. Their defining quality is probably that they really love to program.

I could only figure out what to do, there's a natural tendency to stop looking.11 Economies of scale ruled the day.12 One is that this is simply the founders' living expenses.13 I need to transfer a file or edit a web page, and I think I know what is meant by readability, and I think they're onto something. Multiply this times several hundred, and I get an uneasy feeling when I look at my bookshelves. You may have read on Slashdot how he made his own Segway.14 Everyday life gives you no practice in this. Startups grow up around universities because universities bring together promising young people and make them work on anything they don't want to want, we consider technological progress good.

Notes

Samuel Johnson said no man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. Which is precisely my point. If they were regarded as 'just' even after the egalitarian pressures of World War II the tax codes were so new that the guys running Digg are especially sneaky, but except for money. They don't know enough about the new top story.

The image shows us, they tended to make money. But we invest in the Bible is Pride goeth before destruction, and one of the fake leading the fake leading the fake. In No Logo, Naomi Klein says that 15-20% of the aircraft is.

But because I realized the other writing of Paradise Lost that none who read a draft, Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson. If they agreed among themselves never to do due diligence for an investor? The best technique I've found for dealing with the other.

I ordered a large number of startups as they do for a public event, you can ignore. If you want to help the company, and a few of the Facebook that might produce the next Apple, maybe the corp dev is to show growth graphs at either stage, investors decide whether to go to die.

If you walk into a big company CEOs in 2002 was 3.

Or rather, where w is will and d discipline. But that turned out the existing shareholders, including that Florence was then the richest country in the sense of mission.

In Shakespeare's own time, because they can't afford to. The company may not be able to raise their kids in a company in Germany. When we got to see the apples, they said, and why it's next to impossible to write an essay about it wrong. That will in many cases be an open booth.

I'm not saying you should probably be worth trying to tell them exactly what constitutes research in the early 90s when they say they bear no blame for any particular truths you'll learn. As Jeremy Siegel points out that there is undeniably a grim satisfaction in hunting down certain sorts of bugs. Did you know about it as if you'd invested at a discount of 30% means when it was actually a great programmer doesn't merely do the right direction to be is represented by Milton.

But a lot of the next round. It's hard to say exactly what your body is telling you. In Russia they just kill you, they tend to be very unhealthy. One thing that drives most people realize, because you have two choices, choose the harder.

Though Balzac made a lot of classic abstract expressionism is doodling of this essay talks about programmers, but one by one they die and their houses are transformed by developers into McMansions and sold to VPs of Bus Dev. Or rather, where it sometimes causes investors to act. Eric Raymond says the best hackers want to trick admissions officers. And no, unfortunately, I mean efforts to protect widows and orphans from crooked investment schemes; people with a truly feudal economy, you better be sure you do in proper essays.

The top VCs thus have a better education. Or a phone, IM, email, Web, games, books, newspapers, or some vague thing like that. You need to fix. But the question is not much to maintain their percentage.

Kant. Loosely speaking. The real decline seems to them to lose elections. Some types of startups where the recipe is to say incendiary things, they can grow the acquisition offers most successful founders still get rich simply by being energetic and unscrupulous, but they get for free.

World War II to the frightening lies told by older siblings. That's one of the most general truths. As we walked in, we found they used it to get into that because a unless your last funding round.

But this seems an odd idea.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Shiro Kawai, Garry Tan, Chris Small, and Nikhil Nirmel for sharing their expertise on this topic.

[masterthespianduchovny]

Let’s chat:

When I say that loss is mostly on Ted, it’s because it is.

Although there were three other coaches involved, the issue with the game was systemic and not simply a poor showing. And that is a reflection of the head coach.

None of the coaches are on the same level, ranking wise, nor do they have the same experience and responsibilities. As a result, when certain things happen, you have to look at it from a micro to macro level.

Is what happened a one time thing or a reflection of a greater issue?

Depending on the severity of the issue, that falls directly on the head coach even if they weren’t directly involved.

Because how Richmond loss isn’t an isolated event, it’s either poor coaching OR Ted not being as involved or as aware of the team. Ironically, Ted was more involved last season when they were losing. As a result, because Ted is distracted, he is missing vital things that showed itself way before the match. He missed red flags because he wasn’t emotionally present enough to see them.

If Ted wasn’t so distracted this season, which is understandable poor mental health is a bitch, he would’ve checked Nate’s behavior and corrected the problem. He could’ve been a better mentor to both Nate and Roy. Despite them both being coaches now and Roy being a former player, they are both new coaches and need guidance.

This also falls on beard because he should know better. Nate is smart and knows the game, but that doesn’t immediately translate to knowing what you’re doing right away. An inexperienced coach was leading training for a big match without the support or presence of the other coaches???

This only flies as acceptable if they’ve been working together for a year or two (honestly, more). And that’s if Ted was actively involved in developing Nate. But because the coaching staff is a mess since they get along and they had no idea they’re a mess, that’s what led to being routed by Man City.

Now some may think, it’s Man City, of course this was going to happen. And this reminds me of Roy during “Lavendar” and talking about his former team Chelsea.

Roy: No. I think they played like shit.

Analyst: Would you care to elaborate, Roy?

Roy: All right. Chelsea was shit today. They were shocking. Watching them, you’d never know they were playing at home. They were too timid. They were too respectful of United. They were lucky they didn’t lose by three or four or ten.

Analyst 2: That’s harsh, Roy. United’s been on a good run recently.

Roy: Who gives a shit, Chris? That’s no excuse to play like you’re afraid of them. You could see it in their faces: abject terror. Like children waiting in line for the handsy Father Christmas. Have some fucking pride in your shirt or don’t fucking wear it.

Do you think that if Roy was still an analyst and watching this match, he say, “it’s Man City and they were at home.” No, he’s tear them a new asshole.

Richmond aren’t amateurs.

These are professional players. Roy wasn’t upset because his former team lost, he was upset because they played like shit, it showed, and they didn’t play up to the level they were capable of nor were they as competitive/aggressive as they should’ve been.

There is a difference between losing and not coming to play at all mentally.

A team being better than you doesn’t give you an excuse to play poorly. Either you come to play the game or don’t come at all.

We constantly talk about how the writers introduce small things that seem like they’re nothing. In retrospect, does Roy’s speech just seem like cutting remarks that shows he enjoy commentating (he didn’t) or does it also foreshadow what eventually happened with AFC Richmond in some respects?

The only sports I’ve truly watched extensively is basketball and, maybe this is different for football, but no matter how much another team outmatches their competition, esp in the playoffs, most games are competitive. All of these players are still pro athletes at the end of the day.

When one team gets routed 1. Either the losing team played like absolute shit 2. Or the winning team was on fucking fire.

However, even when a team is far outmatched, giving up during a game is almost always seen as unacceptable in basketball. Playing poorly is constantly criticized. In the 07 finals, I believe (basketball), lebron’s team was clearly outmatched and, in real time, people saw him give up during a game (this is actually a common occurrence for him) and he was torn apart.

It’s easy to say that Man City was just that good, but like Roy said, timid teams gets routed. Unlike Chelsea, Richmond wasn’t lucky enough to only lose by a handful of points, meaning 1-2.

They played poorly. This was an atrocious showing by them.

I don’t even see how anyone can say, “Man City is just that good” when 1. A Richmond player kicked the ball into the leg of another Richmond player. 2. They scored on their own goal. 3. Zoreaux looked an absolute mess out there, like he wasn’t a professional goalie.

And that’s on fucking ted.

Like I said, I get why, but that doesn’t make him any less responsible.

Which means, this loss is also on Rebecca. We don’t need to do over her hiring ted in the first place. Despite his ignorance, he is a good coach. However, Rebecca knows that ted has panic attacks and knew he had one that day. And rather than forcing him to deal with his problems, she let him blow her off. And she did that for personal reasons not professional ones. When it involves an owner, coaches cannot do whatever the fuck they want.

If Rebecca held ted accountable, there would’ve been transparency sooner, maybe, and ted perhaps assessing his locker room closer. And this includes the coaching staff.

What happened at Man City is largely on Ted and Rebecca.

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 53: Home Sweet Abusive Home

I unlocked the Conquest version of My Castle at the end of the last chapter. It’s basically the same; there are different building styles, Lilith attacks instead of heals, the shops sell Nohrian weapons instead of Hoshidan ones, etc. I’m going to be ignoring castle stuff this time and instead analyzing classes.

Class Profile - Nohr Prince/Princess

Corrin and Kana’s default class, wields swords and dragon stones. Balanced with good HP and Strength. The class’s first skill, Nobility, boosts EXP gained. The other skill, Dragon Fang, gives a skill stat determined chance to do a special attack that does 1.5 damage. Dragon Fang also has unique animations that have Corrin attacking with dragon arms. Design wise, the black and white stripes are nice but a bit busy. The cape is nice, but the random slits over the princess version’s thighs are dumb.

Class Profile - Hoshido Noble

Nohr Prince/Princess’s promotion in Birthright and an optional promotion in Revelation. Stat wise, it has better Strength, Skill, and Defense than its Nohrian counterpart, as well as the ability to use staves. It’s first ability, Dragon Ward, gives nearby allies a luck based chance to half damage taken. This fits with its more supportive role. On the other hand, its second ability Hoshidan Unity gives a 10% boost to the activation rate of all skills. Design wise, it’s a silver and gold version of Corrin’s normal design with a few details that make it look more Hoshidan. It’s a great design, assuming you ignore the fact that the female version isn’t wearing pants.

Class Profile - Nohr Noble

The Conquest version of Hoshido Noble. Has slightly better Speed, Magic, and Resistance, as well as the ability to use tomes. Its first skill, Draconic Hex, lowers the stats of enemies after combat. The other skill, Nohrian Trust, is really interesting, allowing Corrin to use the battle skills of supporting allies. I love the black coloring with hints of magenta and the tattered cape, but I have to groan at the cleavage and continued lack of pants for female units. Also something I noticed: Nohr Nobles have a shield on their left shoulder, while Hoshidans have a shield on their right shoulder. It’s a nice little detail.

Also, you know how I stole Rinkah and Sakura’s weapons? The damn game gave them back!

Conquest Chapter 7: A Dragon’s Decree

Moron and his Nohrian siblings return to Castle Krakenburg. Garon praises Xander for invading Hoshido. Xander brings up Moron, who Garon apparently can’t see from ten feet away, and Garon is shocked that Moron isn’t dead. Garon yells at Moron for coming home and accuses him of being a spy. Xander insists Moron is loyal and brings up the fight with Ryoma. Iago believes this to be a ruse, which makes sense. He did that shit in Birthright.

Moron asks about the exploding sword. Garon very convincingly pretends to know nothing. Garon uses the fact that Moron is suspicious of the repeated attempts on his life as evidence that Moron is a traitor and orders Xander to execute him. So glad we came back.

Camilla and Elise beg for mercy and Xander refuses to kill his brother. Iago says that makes Xander a traitor, too. Moron says he’ll kill himself to protect Xander. Garon, overjoyed at the idea of suicide, decides to leave it up to Anankos, the dragon god who was mentioned like once in Birthright. Anankos whispers to Garon to spare Moron, if he passes a test. Moron must suppress a rebellion in the ice tribe to prove his loyalty, without any help from his siblings or the Nohrian military. Something about Moron going off alone to enemy territory to prove his loyalty feels oddly familiar...hope this isn’t secretly a ploy to kill Moron again.

Xander says that taking out an entire army singlehandedly is impossible. Moron agrees to the mission. After Moron leaves, Garon monologues about how Moron is going to lose all hope and wish for death. Real glad we chose to side with Nohr, this truly was the right decision.

Xander, hearing Garon say evil shit out loud, does not decide to stop working for Garon. He says he knows what he has to do, but spoiler alert, it isn’t overthrow his evil father.

Moron goes through the woods of the Forlorn, where you fight Leo in Birthright, with only Lilith accompanying him. Faceless show up and attack, surrounding Moron. Felicia shows up and takes one out with a dagger. Moron points out that he had to destroy Felicia’s friends and family without help, but shrugs it off because they aren’t technically at the Ice Village yet.

This battle is actually pretty good, taking on a ton of enemies with only two units. At the start of turn three, Silas and Elise show up to rescue Corrin. At the start of turn four, Elise’s retainers Arthur and Effie join them. Arthur mentions that he’s late because a bird stole his map and Effie’s late because her armor made her sink into the swamp. Elise mentions that Xander planned out this rescue behind Garon’s back.

Arthur

Arthur is Talitu's rude Wind Mage son...wait, wrong Arthur. Arthur is a Monk who...okay, once more time. Arthur is Elise’s unlucky but heroic Fighter retainer. I love Arthur as a character, this boisterous, cheesy, superhero fighting for justice. His design has this massive lantern jaw and he wears a superhero costume with a cape. His personal skill, Misfortune, makes critical hits more likely on both him and his enemies. This is fitting for the running gag of him being supernaturally unlucky, something reflected in gameplay by him having an abysmal luck stat.

Effie

Elise’s other retainer, a Knight. She seems to be a protective warrior. Honestly, I didn’t pick up too much about her personality because I was distracted by her utterly monstrous strength star. Effie is buff. Her personal skill, Puissance, pairs well with this by boosting her damage if she’s far stronger than an enemy. Personally, I’m not too fond of Effie’s design. Her face feels to girly and looks like she’s wearing make-up, which doesn’t match her personality. The big shoulder pads look weird and the boob plate is eye-roll inducing. At least it’s better than her Heroes design, which is atrocious.

After battle, Felicia volunteers to lead us to her village. The camera pans over to reveal Iago was responsible for the faceless attack. Because he’s an evil asshole who I hate.

Also I grabbed Mozu between chapters.

Support: Corrin/Elise

C: Corrin stumbles upon Elise practicing punching in a field. Elise insists she's just picking flowers because she's sweet. Eventually, Elise admits that she's training so she won't be a burden to the army.

B: Corrin trains Elise to grow stronger. Elise struggles to do push-ups.

A: Elise sobs about being pathetic. Corrin insists that war isn't about fighting, it's about having a pure desire for peace. The amount of people Corrin kills contradicts this.

S: Corrin gives Elise flowers to propose to her. I vomit.

Review: Setting aside the incestuous pedophilia that ends this one, not bad. I think Elise works more than Sakura because at least she’s entertaining when complaining about being a burden.

Support: Arthur/Felicia

C: Felicia tells Arthur she's a bad maid because she's incompetent and clumsy. Arthur relates.

B: Arthur explains that the best way to deal with problems is to be carefree. As he walks, he almost slips on a banana peel (despite the army not storing bananas) and is swarmed by mosquitos (which don't exist in this region).

A: Arthur tells a story of a time he tried to save a drowning person, hit his head, and almost drowned. The person he tried to save was helped by someone else. Arthur explains that he and Felicia shouldn't worry about mishaps.

S: Arthur asks Felicia to meet with him so he can propose. They fall in a pit, Setsuna style, and Felicia accidentally freezes Arthur's fingers so he can't get the ring out of his pocket.

Review: Paring up these absolute messes of people is hilarious.

Support: Mozu/Silas

C: Mozu asks Silas if she should just leave the army and go back home (to the corpse filled ruins of her village I guess) because she isn't very strong. Silas volunteers to train her to be stronger.

B: Mozu says Silas shouldn't waste time training her. Silas tells her her "I'm too weak to be good" mindset is holding her back and that her wasting her potential is a sin against her murdered parents. Goddamn.

A: Mozu, believing she has potential, improves. Silas says he wasn't talented as a kid and only became a good knight because he never gave up. Mozu promises to cook for him.

S: Silas proposes so he can have pie every day. Mozu fantasizes about killing people with S-Rank pair up bonuses.

Review: Not bad, but needed a certain spark to be great. Silas telling Mozu that attitude is everything is interesting, but it kinda falls off towards the end.

Support: Effie/Jakob

C: Jakob bakes a cake for Corrin. Effie eats it. Jakob tries to physically stop her but she shrugs off everything he throws at her.

B: Effie works out by lifting water barrels and tells Jakob that she needs to be strong so she can protect her friends, even if it costs her her own life. Jakob says he doesn't want her to die for him because he'd have to spend the rest of his life feeling guilty. Ugh!

A: Effie says that she can't not protect him because they're friends. Jakob says that's fine, just don't die in the process.

S: Jakob bakes a cake with protein powder instead of flour to propose to Effie. Effie says she isn't going to marry him for his baking skills, but for his good heart.

Review: Pretty good. Effie is amusing throughout this Support and the discussion of dying for friends is nice.

[mundungs]

ϟ.  → robert sheehan : genderfluid : he/they/she : dealer of illicit objects and substances : the raven by the alan parsons project ϟ  did you see mundungus fletcher ? you know ,  31 year old halfblood who was formally in ravenclaw. some say dung can be quite furtive but are known to be unreliable. they are aligned with the order .  maybe that’s why they remind me of naming stray cats, flicking a lighter over and over again, falling asleep on the subway. ϟ 

some links for food

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ciannán o’donnell is a flighty man, one of many relationships and flings and little loyalty, and so his affair with maeve fletcher does not last long. when she tells him she is pregnant, he moves on to a different woman, and maeve has her son alone, with her sister on her side. and thus, mundungus is born (and giving an arguably atrocious name).

he grows up with his mum – a halfblooded witch and by far his favourite person in the world – in limerick, attending muggle school there. he knew who his dad was, but wasn’t quite sure how to feel about — his father is a criminal, a prominent member of the irish mob. 

he meets his dad for the first time at age seven, and was nothing but impressed. his dad showered him with gifts, his mum watching with a furious look on her face but biting her tongue. that moment was a switch for mundungus; he felt the need to impress his dad. he stole some sweets from a store on his way home from school a week later, fished some pennies out of the pockets of his classmates a few months later. when he phoned his dad to tell him, his laugh was warm and filled with life. his relationship with his dad got better as his behaviour got worse. the thrill of stealing, of doing stuff he wasn’t supposed to, lit him not only on fire because it was exciting, but also because he knew his dad would adore it. 

but ciannan, a flighty man, pushes and pulls. and so mundungus was fed disappointment by his father, liking love off a shiny knife rather than a spoon ( silver or plastic, what the fuck does it matter ). details omitted, long story made short: his dad sucks and his mother tries, but mundungus is pulled towards that what smells of danger.

DRUGS MENT. at hogwarts, dung is sorted into ravenclaw. not at all the booksmart type, he falls more into the chaotic-creativity, random-bursts-of-wanting-to-learn-everything-about-something type of ravenclaw. there’s two worlds, then: the muggle world, where he slowly dips his water further in criminal waters, and the wizarding one, where he’s chaotic and messy but a student. when he grows older, these overlap: dung starts selling some of his dad’s weed at hogwarts, and soon gains a reputation of being able to get people less-than-legal shit. 

not getting high off your own supply is not a sentiment he agrees with. not then, not later, not now. dung is fun, always in for a party and willing to supply the goods to throw it. if some rich purebloods lose a few galleons at said party, well, it sure isn’t him! END OF TW

he graduates with two newts, in herbology and potions, failing his dada and charms exams. he’s not an academic.

falling into the family business after graduation is easy. mundungus is attracted by the criminal underworld, both that of muggle ireland and that of the wizarding world. knockturn alley was a place frequented in teenage years, but now becomes more his place. he makes connections, exchanges strange potion recipes for other things. makes an odd wager on a bunch of stolen brass scales and turns a profit. 

a career is not something that interests him; he is more interested in bending rules and making quick money. thievery, selling illegal shit, heists, fraud, fuck-all. mundungus is not limited by one descriptor, one kind of criminality. he just does what he wants and hopes to make a good penny.

but then he almost gets sent to azkaban over some, in his frank opinion, bullshit. it’s dumbledore who talks the wizengamot out of it, saddling dung up with some community service and persuading him towards the order. he’s twenty three. the war is still fresh. he has no interest in it, but he owes the old man. fine.

mundungus does vehemently oppose blood purity and any kind of discriminatory ideals, an anarchist in his very bones, but he is also cowardly. to side with self-proclaimed rebels is not in his blood and yet it’s where he ends up, bringing shady ties to the underworld to the table and a sheer ability to sneak around and fuck the law. and maybe, amidst the ranks of the order, dung finds something he’s not very familiar with: a large family. and dung? well, he’s the stoner, gay, super-fucking-chaotic cousin.

personality

if jesper fahey and kaz brekker had a child, it would be dung. 

other character parallels: fezco ( euphoria ), boris ( the goldfinch ), doug judy ( b99 ), jason mendoza ( the good place ), chris miles ( skins ),  nick miller ( new girl ), creed bratton ( the office ), scott lang ( marvel ), lillian ( unbreakable kimmy schmidt )

technically he’s homeless. he’s got a bedroom at his ma’s place, has a ton of squatter connects in the muggle scene and couch surfes aplenty, but dung doesn’t rent a place. why? landlords are evil. he could afford a place, just doesn’t see the point. life’s better with some adventure.

appears very neutral in public as it’s beneficial to his role in the order??? 

.... tortured artist. writes poetry and loves to draw and paint. 

tattooed the fuck up. some are his own designs.

can usually be spotted wearing The Coat, a rly expensive, vintage long coat that he once stole of a pureblood. he’s enlarged the pockets with some handy spellwork and pretty much carries everything he owes in there, like his produce and his money and his second pair of shoes and his art supplies and probably some random trash. 

loves animals. he loves stray cats especially <3 they are his kin. 

an anarchist. a bit of a punk. a deep idealist with a cowardly heart so constantly betraying himself (and sometimes others?)

queer! enby! genderfluid! i used he/him pronouns throughout this intro but dung truly doesn’t give a damn what u use. loves to dress up in feminine clothes. 

has a ton of aliases, lol, the most important one being marigold fincher. 

cusses too fuckin much to be healthy :/

oh no he is a big sad insecure kid deep inside :/ dont tell anyone how embarrassing!!!! shhhh!! it’s a secret.

quick connection ideas

victim. wow please. if your character is rich. let me steal from u. pick ur pockets. break into ur house. get some of ur stuff and drop it on the black market. 

customer. dung sells. whatever u need. drugs. weird magical things. ask and ye shall receive. his prices are whack but he does deliver <3

pal. party friends! order friends! random encounter friends! dung has a trashmouth and loves to talk pls let him chat u up and u will never be rid of him <3

couch. he couch surfs. a lot. if ur character trusts dung enough to let him into their home (which they shouldnt) then pls let him sleep over for a night. he will leave a strangely expensive necklace on ur kitchen table as a thank u. or wilted flowers. no in between.

skeptic. ur char is in the order and thinks dung is a liability and maybe they have a point. a point mundungus would rather not face :)

dmle bitches. dung hates anyone authoritative but esp the coppers at the ministry (hit wix & aurors) (yea he calls them coppers sorry he doesnt respect them enough to call them aurors <3). give me that doug judy/jake peralta dynamic. or just someone in the dmle who is like ... sigh this guy again??? 

fwb/one night stand/fling/etc. he’s a bit slutty <333 give him some ppl he’s hooked up with / will hook up with.

[extraordinarilyextreme]

Crown Prince Li Kaiqing, Chen Ji, and Fushui

MAJOR spoilers for 《骊歌行》 Court Lady (2021)!!! This is just me blabbing about my feelings.

so we all knew that Crown Prince (CP) and Chen Ji (CJ) were gonna be BE cuz they have historical prototypes. after Chengxin was executed, Li Chengqian grieved for a long time, refusing to attend court and also building a shrine for him in the palaces.

well, even with that knowledge, i still cried like a little baby at the end of the drama. there’s not a single un-sad 感情线 in this entire show, but i really do think that the mess of these three is tragic.

before we dive into the mess that i’ve become, a huge round of applause to Li Zefeng for his amazing portrayal of the Crown Prince—the good-intentioned, sort of foolish boy that we first meet and then later the wide-eyed, paranoid, remorseless man. and of course similar props to Wang Yizhe’s two roles of sweet Chen Ji and scheming Fushui (and Sun Langlang for voicing them! Wang Zhi’s VA!).

so as i’ve already said, CP is really a whole different person after CJ dies. and the contrast between CJ and Fushui (FS) is very plainly evident: CJ dressed in pale white-blue, FS mostly in grey-black; CJ kept his hair loose, FS wears a bun (or hat, when he rises thru the ranks); CJ is a lowly palace entertainer, FS is well-trained in combat and medicine (and ends up as Senior Imperial Physician, somehow); CJ was terrible at weiqi, FS is good at weiqi but pretends to be bad at it. CJ was targeted and subjected to rumors, but no one dared question CP’s relationship with FS—because CP was in so much grief after CJ died, how could anyone bear to do that to CP again? even though FS was absolutely the one that everyone should have removed from CP’s side immediately…

when CP and CJ first meet in episode 7, CP is kind of a typical princely character: he’s kinda entitled, the world is his, his future is bright… and i firmly believe he 一见钟情 because while CJ still treated him with courtesy and respect, it’s obvious that CJ didn’t expect or want anything from him. and this continues in episode 9, when CP is trying to clear his thoughts by the riverside and runs into CJ who is fishing: CP brattishly orders CJ to stay and keep him company, and CJ is honestly more confused than anything as to why the freaking Crown Prince of the country wants to spend the whole goddamn day here. of course, it’s because CJ represents a freedom for CP: here, the Emperor won’t compare him to Prince Zhou or Prince Han; here, the Empress won’t admonish him over and over again; here, there’s no scheming advisors who try to curry favor with him. here, as CP tells CJ to use, it’s just “you and I” without care for rank or formalities.

(but also the death flag in episode 9 was atrociously obvious LOL with CP promising “I will make you a grave” to CJ’s absolute terror. on-the-nose. still made me sad later on, so that’s that i guess. in any case, the episode ends with a 定情信物 whereupon CP gives a jade from his belt to CJ.)

CP watches CJ perform (as he is an entertainer from Prince Han’s mansion) for the first time in episode 10, and we see it again in episode 12, episode 16, and episode 17. based off 《三国演义》Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the lyrics are as follows:

大丈夫只患功名不立 A great man should only worry about not gaining fame and honor/

何患无妻 Why worry over not having a wife/

舍生忘死报恩住 Leaving behind life and death to repay my Lord/

忠肝义胆待友朋 Treat my friends with righteous loyalty/

我要做有血性的英雄 I want to be a hot-blooded hero/

为义而生 To live for righteousness (loyalty)/

为义而死 To die for righteousness (loyalty)

CJ plays the main role of Zhao Zilong (Zhao Yun), and he helpfully compares the story to a game of weiqi in episode 16.

“A gambit [sacrificing insignificant pieces to protect the significant ones] is what Zhao Zilong did in the Battle of Changban. In order for Zhao Zilong to save A Dou, he couldn’t save Madam Gan. So, Madam Gan committed suicide. Isn’t Madam Gan a gambit?”

to which CP responds: “Thank goodness you are Zhao Zilong, and not Madam Gan.”

CJ: “The Crown Prince regards me as his soulmate [知己]. Even if in the future, the Crown Prince were to sacrifice me as a gambit, I would be willing.”

CP: “What are you saying? You and I are friends. No matter what happens in the future, I will never treat you as a sacrificial gambit.”

(so, like, death flags everywhere! 知己-mention! and, c’mon, i think for CP’s consort to be jealous/insecure is a little bit justified considering the amount of times CP has CJ perform this piece with a line like “Why worry over not having a wife”.)

backing up for just a moment before everything goes to shit, other notable events are CP finding out his wife is pregnant in episode 13 (but he spends the day fishing and then cooking the fish with CJ at the riverside, and they walk off with arms draped around each other’s shoulders), CJ hurting his leg after climbing a cliffside to pick red flowers after CP mentioned his wife loves the color red most in episode 14, and finally CP leading a blindfolded CJ to a new house just for him to tick off another romance-y trope in episode 15.

CP: “Didn’t you say you didn’t have a home? So I bought you this little estate. When you fall in love someday, have children, and have a great career, this will be your home.”

(the point is they’re both still kind of in a honeymoon phase right now, tho it ends quickly in episode 16 when our FL Fu Rou warns CJ against being so close to CP—but CP is a little bit too idealistic right now, a little bit too stuck in his blissful fantasy, a little bit foolish. foolish, and incompetent, and unable to protect the people he loves bc he unwittingly endangered them to begin with.)

of course, things come to a head in episode 17 when CP’s wife tells her sister about CJ, leading to the Emperor eventually finding out. but while that’s happening, CP goes to see CJ at the estate he bought for him.

CP: In the future, I won’t come here anymore. Therefore, let’s put aside differences for today and be friends like we used to. We will never have those kinds of days again.

CJ confesses he’s going to leave Chang’an: I want to learn swordsmanship well, and become a wandering hero, feeling at home wherever I am. When the Crown Prince becomes Emperor in the future, I can help you take care of bad guys along my journey out there. This will be my way of helping the Crown Prince to keep the empire stable.

CP gives his dagger to CJ: This is not a reward, but a gift for my friend who is about to leave. In the future, whenever you look at it, it will be like looking at me.

CJ: A gift from my soulmate. Chen Ji will definitely take good care of it.

(for ppl who’ve watched Qing Ya Ji, the parallel to Zhongxing and Fangyue here killed me. but there’s also a parallel within the show itself near the end when Fu Rou gives the Emperor a collection of scrolls and explains that the late Empress hoped that he would treat her writings like he were seeing her—one of Court Lady’s many confirmations that CP and CJ should be read as a romantically by paralleling it to visible, het relationships. ALSO, CP has CJ perform Zhao Zilong again right after this conversation, like a last nail in the coffin.)

so the Emperor finds out in episode 18 and angrily orders CP to kill CJ himself, lest he be stripped of rank. Fu Rou warns CJ, but he refuses to escape.

If I run away, the Crown Prince will not be able to fulfill the Emperor’s order—what would happen to the Crown Prince? […] Life and death are not the most important things; the most important thing is to stay true to yourself.

and so CJ unsheathes the dagger CP gave him.

The Crown Prince regards Chen Ji as his soulmate, Chen Ji also regards the Crown Prince as his soulmate. ‘A man of service dies for the one who knows him.’ (An upright man can die for his soulmate.)

CJ quotes “士为知己者死” from Sima Qian’s 《史記·刺客列傳》Records of the Grand Historian, tho if you’ve watched Winter Begonia, it should probably also look familiar.

CP pushes aside the soldiers who’ve accompanied him on the journey to CJ’s home, but it’s too late: CJ took his own life, using the weapon CP gave him, in order to protect CP.

the chorus of Lu Hu’s 《万里》 Ten Thousand Li plays as CP staggers toward CJ’s lifeless body.

呼吸，想着你, When I breathe, I think of you

在梦里，在心里, In my dreams, in my heart

怪完相遇，怪自己, After I’ve finished blaming that we encountered each other, I blame myself

别离，痛彻心扉！Farewell, my heart is broken

(this is a song from the OST we hear multiple times with the other couples in the drama—and we also see many couples by the same river that CP and CJ would fish together by. i think, like, all the couples associated with this song except our main one have a BE…)

in CP’s immense grief, he has the weiqi pieces from his last game with CJ glued to the board, never to be moved again, and he has the flowerbed outside flattened. we get our callback to episode 9: “Chen Ji has no family. I promised him that if he died, I would make him a grave.”

CP doesn’t meet FS until episode 37, but what the Emperor says in episode 19 about Chen Ji is what really makes the whole thing a tragedy.

You must be cautious when choosing friends. He would only have misguided you.

and that’s the thing, the Emperor isn’t wrong!!! it ultimately truly is the Crown Prince’s love for Chen Ji that destroys him. his love for Chen Ji ruins him, ruins the imperial family and threatens the dynasty as a whole. because when Fushui shows up, a man who shares Chen Ji’s face, the Crown Prince trusts him unconditionally—it’s the Crown Prince’s desperation to see any small part of Chen Ji again that leaves him vulnerable to FS’s manipulation: CP forgets who he truly is. because how could a man who looks like Chen Ji ever betray him?

CP is thrown from his horse in episode 37, striking his head upon a rock.

he wonders: Chen Ji, have I also died? Did you come here just to pick me up?

(but of course it’s FS, who was actually going to kill him but the soldiers arrived too quickly.) they meet officially in episode 38.

CP: I thought I was going to die. Dimly, I felt someone approach me—he wanted to save me. I originally thought it was Chen Ji who couldn’t bear for me to die, so his spirit appeared. I didn’t expect that it was you.

FS remarks that CP has brought up “Chen Ji” several times already; immediately, he understands that this is a weakness to exploit.

CP basically throws a temper tantrum in episode 39 when he discovers he will have a permanent limp from now on. (idk if it was an intentional parallel, but CJ also had a limp after falling from the cliffside in episode 14.) FS is the only person that CP allows to approach him, and FS gets him to eat grilled fish (which is apparently CP’s favorite food—how much of the people we love do we carry with us?)

FS acts innocent: I really am bad at lying; as soon as I lie, you see right through me.

it’s everything CP wants to hear.

CP tells him: When I fell off my horse, and was on my last breath, you came to my side and encouraged me to continue living. I’m now crippled and in despair, but you talked sense into me to eat grilled fish. Everything that has happened—if it were Chen Ji, he would also have talked sense into me, encouraged me. Sometimes, I feel that you are Chen Ji, just with a different face.

(obviously it’s the same face for us tho cuz he’s played by the same guy. but anyway, when FS comes clean about everything in episode 51, he mimics the words CP says here.

I am not Chen Ji. I, Yang Fushui, came to your side to find an opportunity to take revenge.)

back to episode 39, FS says he doesn’t want to be “another Chen Ji” because he doesn’t want to die so young—he’s afraid of death.

CP: I guarantee you that I won’t let anyone harm you. What happened to Chen Ji will never happen to you.

(and it’s true! FS gets away with so much goddamn shit because CP’s wife doesn’t dare criticize FS, and even the Emperor doesn’t after knowing what it’s like to see his son in such heavy grief. CP’s wife thinks this is her chance at making amends; she felt real remorse after CJ died, and honestly that line from It’s Quiet Uptown sums it up best: “If I could trade his life for mine/He'd be standing here right now/And you would smile and that would be enough.” a shame, of course, that CP was FS’s freaking main target. nobody wants to repeat the tragedy of Chen Ji, so no one questions Fushui.)

but, like, FS isn’t truly even that subtle—it’s just that CP is so blinded by his love for CJ. from episode 46:

CP: I have taught you for so long, but you’re still terrible at playing.

FS: I am doing it on purpose. Only if I play poorly, will the Crown Prince be willing to continue teaching me.”

CP: Even you put on an act before me? […] You are the person I trust the most. Don’t lie to me.

(太子，你醒醒吧!)

so FS successfully sows discord between CP and his brother Prince Han; the Empress passes away (always sickly, but her illness was very much exacerbated upon seeing her beloved sons turn on each other); CP’s wife kills her own sister in what she believes is a beneficial political move for CP; Prince Han’s wife is wrongfully executed; Sheng Chujun is killed and silenced too after he discovers FS’s plans. CP stages a coup against Prince Han. (the man who looks like Chen Ji must only want the best for him, right?) FS gets away with everything and goes to visit CP in prison in episode 51.

AND HERE! HERE! FS is supposed to kill CP; that’s been his goal from the very beginning. CP hasn’t eaten for days in the prison, but FS shows up with a grilled fish and CP eats without a second thought that it could be poisoned.

but. FS has been at CP’s side for so long now. he’s orchestrated CP to lose everything. there is nothing left that CP could give to him but the mere fact that he’s still breathing.

in episode 49, FS poisons Lian Yan’er and Yan Zifang is obviously upset on behalf of blissfully ignorant, head-over-heels Ma Haihu.

FS: I will kill whoever gets in my way.

YZF: What about someone you love? If it was someone you loved, you would be just as ruthless, right?

FS: It is human nature to be greedy and selfish. Where does love come into play? This question—you’ve asked the wrong person.

(but FS’s expression changes. someone he loves? he’s startled, he looks afraid.)

FS ruined CP’s life; and at the same time, gave CP reason to live again. CP started playing weiqi again, his relationship with his wife improved; he started smiling again. there was a passionate fire to him that he never had before (this was his second chance to do everything right, to protect the people he loves!)... the kindling, unfortunately, was his trust in Prince Han and his parents. from episode 39, FS comes in and sits down next to CP after CP trashes his room during his tantrum.

CP: Do you know why I treat you differently from other people?

FS: Because I remind Your Highness of your friend who already passed away—Chen Ji?

CP never stopped loving CJ; he loved Fushui, because he never stopped treating him as Chen Ji. after the failed coup against Prince Han, CP smiles in prison in episode 51 when FS visits him.

CP: It was fate who made us each other's soulmate [知己]. [...] If you can continue living well, I wish that you live your life to the fullest, with both smiles and tears.

how can Fushui bear to take the Crown Prince’s life when he’s received nothing but unwavering trust from him? when he explains who he truly is, when he calls CP foolish for trusting the wrong person, FS is on the brink of tears. his mouth trembles, his breaths shake. when the poison begins to take effect, and CP agonizingly reaches for him, FS takes his hand—just as CP gripped CJ’s lifeless hand so long ago, just as CP reached out to the person he thought was CJ when he fell from his horse. FS takes his hand, sobs, and gives him the antidote.

(Consort Yan’s eunuch is, of course, outraged.

Yu He: If you can’t bear to kill him, then I will!

Fushui: I forbid you. [...] He has nothing left to lose. I forbid you from killing him.)

so, we have the Crown Prince, ruined by his love for Chen Ji—and Fushui, who both took and freely gave the Crown Prince’s life back to him. it’s a love story; it has always been a love story.

and finally, FS gets Ma Haihu killed in episode 53. he picks up the comb MHH carved for Lian Yan’er (a 定情信物!), and when he speaks, ends up telling the story of CP and CJ as well.

There was a woman who sacrificed her life for your bright future. You only needed to enjoy it, yet you took the road of self-destruction.

and then he remembers what CP said to him in the prison in episode 51.

CP: If, in this world, fate truly exists, then so do the hearts of men.

FS remarks now: If you have a heart, you will be easily hurt, or even lose your life.

heartless Fushui, who kills without batting an eye, who nearly upturned the entire Tang dynasty, who doesn’t know of love. in the end, he couldn’t bear to end the Crown Prince’s life.

so, yeah. these three broke my heart. i really wonder what Chen Ji would say to the Crown Prince when they see each other again at last in the afterlife. what the Crown Prince would say to Chen Ji. how violent love can be. what it means to live in someone’s memory. or maybe they would return to the river and spend a long day fishing together again.

[aurora-the-kunoichi]

The Forgotten - Part One

So this is a self indulgent story with my OC Aurora and the guys. I’ve been thinking about this story for about a year now and I figured it was time to get it out. This angsty bullshit is S.A.I.N.W inspired. And yes it will have smut. 

Feel free it put yourself in the place of Aurora

As she awoke from a restless slumber Aurora felt them shift around her, Raphael was behind her, a large arm draped protectively over her hip while her head rested on Leonardo’s lower plastron. Mikey had finagled himself between her legs, six fingers locked around her thigh in a vice grip and Donnie, the genius had somehow gotten under Leo’s legs with his face pressed into her naked midriff.

 No matter how much she wanted to move the thought of disturbing their peaceful slumber seemed wrong. The bed was a mess, the aftermath of their coupling the night before prominent and the scent of their activities still heavy in the air. Not to mention the wonderful dull ache at her core.

Aurora was content and the happiest she had ever been, it didn’t matter what happened around them as long as she had them everything would be alright. Being with all four of them was constant rollercoaster of ecstasy and adventure mixed with their own brand of chaos, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Being with four brothers willing to be intimate with one woman at the same time was extraordinary, mind blowing to say the least. Somehow, she managed to take them all in the same sitting, sometimes twice with their inhuman stamina. She had never known the possibilities of a sex life with four massive mutant turtles but usually by the end of their escapades she was exhausted, smiling like an idiot and filled with their seed. There was nothing better.

 When fingers began to wind through her hair combing through her blonde locks Aurora smiled contently knowing Leonardo had woken.

 “How are you feeling?” the terrapin whispered, his voice still hoarse from sleep, or perhaps from their exuberant romp from the night before?

 She shifted a bit getting some annoyed mumbles from the other brothers. “I’m good, a bit sore but that is to be expected when you take four mutant turtles in one night.”

 The terrapin chuckled giving her locks a gentle tug, “It’s your fault coming out the shower naked in front of four males with very high sex drives.”

 “Is there another way to come out of the shower I’m not privy too?”

 “There is no other way I want you to come out of that shower, that is unless your impaled on my cock.” His large green hand lifted from her hair and traveled down her cheek before a thick digit demanded entrance to her mouth. Aurora pressed her lips together tightly refusing the terrapin making him growl his displeasure. He pressed again and her lips parted taking the finger into the warmth of her mouth. Leo rumbled and rolled his hips as her tongue ran over the green invader sucking it further into her mouth.

 “Fearless, you’re gonna kill her.” Raphael mumbled softly pulling Aurora closer to his chest. “I thought I’d never say this but no morning sex today.  We nearly tore her in two last night.”

 “I’m not made of glass Raph.”

 “In that case.” Raph grunted playfully moving quickly to roll Aurora towards him and capture her mouth in a heated kiss. They ignored Leo’s protest and deepened the gesture moaning into each other’s mouths. Their lips parted and tongues collided while Raph’s hand moved down her midriff searching for her warmth but found Donnie’s head instead.

 “Hey, what’s the big….oh….hey……ok, ok I’m up for another game of hide the zucchini.” The genius reached down palming his morning wood stroking himself to full mass. “Don’t let Mikey hog her this time.”

 As Leo cupped a breast rolling the dark flesh of her nipple between his fingers Mikey began to stir, “Aurora.” He called gently pulling at her leg.

 Raph refused to give up his prey and pushed away Donnie’s head returning to his previous quest for Aurora’s cunt.

 Aurora’s thighs pressed into Mikey’s skull as Raph’s fingers slipped through her folds already soaked with her arousal sinking down to the first knuckle with ease.

 “Aurora.” Mikey called again but more urgently with a hint of something she wasn’t used to hearing from the naturally happy turtle.

 Breaking the kiss much to Raphael’s aggravation Aurora looked down at the youngest brother. “Yes Mike…”

 Everything came to a screeching halt, the atmosphere shifted in the room quickly and unexpectedly. There was Mikey dressed in tactical black armor with a long blade pressed to her inner thigh.

 “Mikey!” Aurora yelped trying to pull away from the blade but found herself pinned down by Raph and Leo’s hands unable to gain any distance. “What are you……” the words died on her lips as she looked up the eldest brothers finding them dressed in the same black garb. Gone were the soft looks and kiss bruised lips and replaced with malice and rage sending Aurora into full blown panic.

 Aurora yanked at their hands, “Donnie!?”  She looked to the tall turtle for help but to her horror the genius was gone. “Donatello!”

 “Aurora!” Leo yelled at her with his blue eyes wide and angry. His strong hands gipped her shoulder squeezing until she screamed from the bone crunching pressure.

 With a shout Aurora lurched from her bed and was met with a concerned April holding her back from racing from her sheets.

 Aurora’s chest heaved in the dim lighting of her room, her heart hammering against her chest and fresh tears stinging her eyes. Her hands frantically searched around the large bed finding only cold sheets, empty of their bodies reminding her of the cold reality she had to face every time she woke.

 “You were dreaming of them again weren’t you?” April’s friendly voice reminded her she wasn’t completely alone. It was a small consolation in the grand scheme of things, but Aurora was grateful for her.

 “Was it that obvious?”

 April’s hand left Aurora’s shoulders and sat on the edge of the bed, “You were saying their names.”

 Aurora’s hand ran over her face wiping away the stray tears and huffed out her frustration. When their eyes met again April nodded seeing the kunoichi wasn’t in any mood to talk about it.

 “Casey just got back; said he has something to show us.”

 “Give me twenty minutes and I’ll meet you in the war room.”

 “Take a cold shower Aurora, it’s hot out there.”

 Soon the room was empty leaving Aurora with her thoughts and a very big and very cold bed. With a heavy sigh Aurora laid back down, they haunted her almost every day, but the past few days had gotten to the point of torture.  

 Five years, three months and thirteen days of hell. In her mind it had seemed longer than that, but it had been that long since a man that went by the name Bishop had taken over New York. From there his reign spread like wildfire until the western seaboard was painted in blue and black.

 Anyone that had been captured by Bishop’s regime resurfaced loyal to the megalomaniac a few days later but with no memory of their previous life and with an innate ability to fight. It was a mystery, even to Don.

 Thankfully with the four mutant ninja turtles on the side of the resistance they stood a chance, they were the beacon of hope everyone needed. Leonardo quickly took up charge of the ground zero faction while Donnie took up the science and tech portion of the resistance. Raphael and Michelangelo followed their leader wherever he went his two right hand men followed by Casey making sure he didn’t get left out. Aurora found herself in surveillance and intel extraction while April ran the secret compound under Leonardo’s carful watch.

 In the chaos of Bishops surge of domination, the unthinkable happened, Donatello disappeared from the face of the earth. One day the genius had been in his lab trying to figure out how Bishop was converting his victims in such a short time and a few hours later when Mikey had gone to check on him the genius was gone. No trace, no note, no sign of a struggle, just ….gone. Left them all without closure. Did he abandon them, did something terrible happen? All of their conclusions seemed atrocious to think about. All they knew was the genius was gone leaving giant hole in their family. It had left the resistance without their chief scientist and engineer and Aurora and his three brothers heartbroken.  

 That day they lost Donatello wasn’t the end of Aurora and the resistances loss, as the war began to shift in Bishop’s favor their cause was rattled to the very core with another blow. Two years, ten months and two days to be exact…..but who was counting right? It had been nearly three years since that fateful day Bishop sprung his trap. Taking the remaining three brothers from the resistance, taking them from her. That day was burned in Aurora’s memory like a hot knife slicing through her every day she woke without them.

 It had been bad intel filtered through the enemies ranks to a one of their scouts, it was a testament to Bishops strategic genius. It was supposed to be a snatch and grab of a shipment of guns and ammo they so desperately needed for their cause. But as turtle luck would have it, a trap was waiting for them; a well thought out trap that left Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo captured struggling for freedom inside an electric charged lined box and Aurora along with the rest of their team fighting for their lives.  

 Aurora didn’t remember screaming as they were stolen away in that turbulent storm but Casey and several of her men remembered. It haunted the men for days afterwards making most of them to avoid the frantic kunoichi.

 It took four consecutive days of no food or sleep and hysterical unsuccessful searching for the turtles for April and Casey to finally force Aurora to bed with a well-placed sedative in her tea. It proved just how exhausted Aurora was to not notice the drug in her tea. She was trained to sense foreign substances in her food but when April set the warm cup in her hands Aurora drank the tea without thought.

 She slept for two days straight afterwards and woke with new determination and a fiery anger. But it fizzled after two longs years of searching, reconnaissance and research. They were no closer to finding the location of the turtles then they were when they were first taken. It was becoming hopeless and the hope the turtles instilled had faded from the rebellion.

 It wasn’t until they hit the two-and-a-half-year mark when Aurora, Casey and a handful of their men were staking out a truck loaded with some unknown tech when their world came crashing down around them.

 Aurora entered into her private bathroom that was meant for her and four giant behemoths and turned on the shower. The racks that held their towels were empty. The towels long ago lost their scents so they were packed away in little hope of their owners returning. Leaning into the lukewarm spray Aurora ran her fingers over the long scar on her abdomen remembering that horrid day. The day they found the three missing brothers and the agony of losing them all over again.

 It had been a cold fall night in late October and the intel they had gotten showed a manifest of unknown tech that required a special unit to make sure it made it to its destination. It had to be important so they had to intercept it, it might be the edge they needed to help them finally turn the tables.

 There were four large SUV’s in the convoy, two in front and two tailing the large semi with no markings. Aurora and Casey followed closely on the roof tops watching the semi make its way towards its destination. After traveling to a mostly abandoned part of town they ordered the strike and the team converged on the convoy. Their team took to the vehicles while Aurora and her hockey fanatic friend took the cab of the semi.

 Casey jumped on the door smashing through the glass of the driver’s door knocking the driver in the face and gripped the wheel. “License and registration!” the masked man yelled with glee punch drunk on smashing some skulls. It had been a while since they had some action, just like Raphael Casey thrived off violence. It got their blood pumping and the thrill made for a rather enthusiastic night of fucking. April and Aurora’s sore bodies the next day were evidence to their prowess.

 Aurora landed on top of the cab watching her friend have his fun ready to assist when a loud shuttering bang shook the metal she was perched on.

 “This party is invitation only blondie, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”

 That voice, that fucking voice, her blood slowed in her veins while her body started to shake uncontrollably, “Raphael?” The hockey player and mission forgotten Aurora turned around to the ominous hulking frame of the brute, her brute. He was dressed head to toe in black combat armor, but his red mask remained, a cruel jab from Bishop no doubt. On his hands were fingerless gloves gripped tightly around his twin sai and that signature smirk played on his beautiful scared lips. It was still apparent the brute still worked out…a lot, she had no idea he could become more defined. In the moonlight the ridges of his muscles seemed to stick out more. Fuck he looked good.

 Her body moved on its own at the familiar sight of the red banded turtle. She allowed a choking sob break free as her arms came out reaching for the mutant. Unfortunately, the first contact from Raphael in three years was Aurora’s arm getting grabbed and roughly turned around rammed up against the front of the trailer with the business end of his sai in her spine.

 His weight pressed into her body and his scent filled her senses dulling her response time. “Listen here bitch, I don’t know how you know my name but there is no touching the fucking turtle.” His deep voice had venom to it as he dug the tip into her back gaining a pained cry from his captive.

 “Yeah not without buying him a drink first.” Another familiar voice came from above taking another painful squeeze of her heart.

 “Mikey!” Aurora screamed looking up to the vibrate baby blues of the youngest brother. “It’s me…oww fuck..it’s Aurora!”

 “Sorry lady you’re easy on the eyes in all but I got no clue who you are? All I know is you’re some place you’re not supposed to be, and we have a problem with that.” The end of Mikey’s chuck came down tapping at the top of her head. “But if you ask real nice, I’m sure I can convince Raphael here not to rip your arms off.”

 As if on cue the brute tugged back on her arms painfully. “Not likely. It’s been a grip since I’ve had some action.”

 The semi shuttered as the gears ground to a rolling stop, Casey must have gotten the driver out or subdued. She hoped the man had brought an extra pair of underwear because he was about to shit himself.  The door opened and her unsuspecting friend began to climb up to where she was, “Aurora, what are you doin…holy fucking shit! RAPHAEL! MIKEY!”

 Aurora pushed back into Raphael to give herself some room to move, “They don’t know us. They’re with him, be careful I haven’t seen Le…” as the color drained from Casey’s face and the cold steal of his katana pressed against her throat Aurora knew they had found the leader, or he had found them.

 “We don’t deal in mercy,” Leo’s cold voice came from next to her, she hadn’t even heard him get on the truck. “Especially with thieves. Secure her Raphael, Mikey get Friday the 13th there.”

 Casey yelped out his alarm and jumped back just as the smallest of the brothers tore after him.

 “I love when they run.”

 Raphael secured her arms more pulling her away from the semi so Leo could get a better look at their prisoner.  

 Aurora’s heart was going crazy as she looked upon his handsome face. He had the same dark clothes, but his protective armor was blue differing from Raph and Mikey’s black. His long sleeves had been pulled up to his elbows showing off his tattoo Mikey had given him so many years ago. Just like Raphael he had kept to a strict workout routine. Every part of him looked thicker, dense and mouthwatering. The scowl on his face on the other hand made the leader look dangerous, something Leo wasn’t supposed to look, not to her anyways.

 “She knew my name and Mikey’s.”

 “Is that so? We have never crossed paths; how do you know my brother’s names?” Leo stepped closer adjusting the long blade of his katana so it rested on her carotid artery.

 “I know you’re name too Leonardo.”

 His mouthed opened to speak but an explosion rocked the trailer knocking both terrapins off balance. Aurora took the opportunity and lifted her knees and kicked the blue banded turtle in the plastron sending her and Raphael back and off the truck.

 Raphael’s shell took the brunt of the impact as they connected with the worn-out asphalt and with the momentum of their fall they rolled. In the commotion Raphael’s grip loosened allowing her to escape and roll free from his arms. As she pulled her katana free and readied herself bullets began to rain down.  

 “Casey!”

 “Over here with our little ball of sunshine! If I’m not mistaken, I think he’s gotten better!”

 Aurora looked to the front of the parked semi and saw Casey struggling against Michelangelo.

 “I could use a little help!”

 “She’s a little preoccupied at the moment.”  She heard Raph growl to her friend as Leo joined him.

 Aurora retreated with each step they took towards her. They looked like to jungle cats stalking their prey, every step smooth and calculated. No matter the situation it was breath taking to witness even if she was at the receiving end of their wrath. Both of the alpha males had that look in their eyes as they stalked forward, hungry and determined. Usually that look sent heat to her core but today it only instilled fear because they were here to make her scream in another way today.

 “Come one Leo, Raph, how do you not know who I am?” her hands adjust the hilts in her palms and lowered her stance. “I need you to remember me, you love me.”

 This made both the terrapins bark with laughter.

 “Love you? Fuck lady I wouldn’t mind seeing what’s under that outfit of yours, but I don’t love ya.” Raphael howled in jest coming closer. “I could love parts of ya.”

 Leo’s smile faded quickly and advanced on Aurora lifting his katana to his shoulder, “A trick no doubt, she must be part of the resistance we need to take her for questioning. Capture do not kill, are we clear?”

 “Yeah yeah fearless, crystal clear. She needs ta be breathin’.”

 Then it began, both attacking with the speed she knew all too well. The only advantage to this fight was they didn’t remember Aurora had trained with them; hell, she had even taught them moves in their years together.

 Per usual Raphael advanced first sai out searching for the soft meat of her torso. He was predictable always straight forward so she knew what he was going to do next. Aurora dropped to one knee spinning from the jab just in time to block the twin blades belonging to Leonardo. Keeping the pressure on his blades the kunoichi turned her hips and kicked the brute in the chest plates sending him back on his shell with an angry grunt. She returned her attention to the main threat and pushed back against him. The metal sang and sparked from the force of their combined strength and the stoic frown plastered on Leo’s lips twisted up into a delighted leer.  

 “You have skills.”

 “You have no idea.” Lunging up her skull connected with his and she pushed. Startled by her quick move the terrapin gave to her strength and his blades went up losing one in the process.

 Dropping to her knees she spun kicking his feet out from under him and Leo went down hard. He responded in kind using his shell to his advantage spinning to return the favor. Jumping to his feet Leo took up his lost blade and advanced on Aurora who was already at her feet.

 By now Raphael had recovered and was just behind her and didn’t wait for an invitation. He lunged forward wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Aurora sheathed her weapons and used his momentum against him. Turning her body she gripped the thick forearms and bent forward pulling the terrapin up and over her shoulders.  The move caught the brute off guard and unwittingly followed through nearly hitting his older brother who side stepped the hurtling green mass.

 “Impressive, you just lifted 400 pounds over your shoulders. Only Michelangelo and I can manage that. Who taught you how to do that?” Leonardo lowered to a ready stance and cocked his head.

 “You did.”

 “Impossible.”

 “Is it now, do you want another demonstration?”

 Leo nodded, “Indeed I do.” He shot for her but this time Aurora grabbed a wrist and kicked forward, the bottom of her foot colliding with his knee. It gave out and she pulled him to her and flipped him over her knee and onto his shell.

Wasting no time Aurora straddled his waist and with the flick of her wrist a katana came free pressing the blade to the thick column of his neck, “Your down fall was underestimating me. I know more about you then you do of me.”

 The massive terrapin relaxed under her weight keeping his hands at his side. “Perhaps, but you have done the same. You tell stories about us knowing each other, even talking about love which means you won’t do anything to hard us. My brothers and I on the other hand have no knowledge of the fact which means we won’t extend the same courtesy.”

 Before she knew it the cold sheet of his kunai sliced through the soft tissue of her midriff spilling warm blood across his lower stomach.  And the man who had told her he would never harm her pushed her onto her back wrapping his hands around her throat. He shifted his weight which sufficiently pinned her under him unable to free her body .

 As her oxygen was cut off she could hear Raphael behind him, “I thought you wanted this one alive?”

 “This one is dangerous, it’s best to rid ourselves or her. Hopefully Mikey kept that human male alive.”

 She could maneuver around him and match his skill set but when it came to brute strength Leo had her beat 10/1. There was no way she was going to pry his hands from her throat. Her nails dug into the green scales of his wrists hoping to get a few inches to get air but only managed to gurgle a whimper. She could feel the warmth of her blood slipping down her sides and pooling under her body, Leonardo was going to kill her.

 His blue eyes bore down on her watching the life leave her body but it brought him no pleasure. Something inside him screamed for her release but Bishop wouldn’t be pleased with that outcome. She was the enemy and any high ranking resistance members were to be illuminated.

 Pressing down on her wind pipe Leo leaned down taking a pull of her scent. He froze and took a few deep breaths against her shoulder. It was familiar, her scent warmed his insides, and it was a strange feeling.

 “AURORA!”

 Her vision began to fade as her brain began to shut down, her throat was on fire and her body began to seize. Then her chest began to hurt like it was caving in on itself, this was death, it hurt. At least she got to see them one last time.

 Suddenly a barrage of bullets came their way ricocheting off Leo and Raph’s shells. Back up had arrived and swarmed the space. Leo’s hands released Aurora’s throat as Casey came hurtling towards him knocking Leo from her body.

 The next thing Aurora knew she was in the infirmary back at headquarters waist wrapped in bandages and unable to speak due to the swelling in her throat. April had told her that the truck was lost and Leo, Raph and Mikey had gotten away. The mission was a bust but at least they knew they were still in New York. That was something.

 That was six months ago and they had yet to run into the brothers again.

 With the water running cold Aurora finished up her shower and got dressed in a black leggings and a soft grey tank top. When she reached the war room she found it filled with April, Casey and a handful of their most trusted men and woman.

 “Welcome back ya goon.” Aurora wrapped her arms around her friend’s shoulders kissing his cheek. “Took longer then you planned. She’s been driving me up the wall with her mother henning.”

 April’s hands went to her hips scowling at the kunoichi. “Hey!”

 “Better you than me!”

 “No it’s not… so what did you find out?”

 Casey hoisted a bag up on the large table centered in the middle of the large room with a thud. His fingers hesitated on the zipper and smiled wickedly, “We know how he’s controlling them.”

 @imthegreenfairy88​ @ravn-87

Here it is on AO3

[kadeu]

Accepted — Al-Farsi Leila

♥   Leili Al-Farsi aka. Leila Mori looks like Ivana Alawi (actor) ♥   She was born December 25, 1814; making her 206 but she appears to be 25 ♥   This Succubi is Heterosexual and a Jack of Hearts ♥   She is the owner of The Secret Room

Biography

The Al-Farsi Family is a family greatly known for their secrecy. A reclusive family whose only presence is felt through the various charities that the family was connected to. It was rumored that the Al-Farsis were wealthy enough to become Kings, if only they would stop their habit of excessive spending for the poor. However, this was the only way the family stayed relevant over the past century. As what the rumors circulated, the Al-Farsis remained a neutral family in the years of peace within Kadeu. Their founding matriarch was a woman whose roots were traced from the City of Umibe. She had come to Kadeu for a better life and found work in The Red Dragon. Gradually, she rosed up the ranks and became the brothel’s owner in less than a decade. Her name was Lamia Mori. She was the great-grandmother of Leila Al-Farsi, or so what the family introduced her to be.

The truth was that the matriarch Lamia Mori and the great-granddaughter, Leila Al-Farsi, was one and the same woman. She was a succubus who have crossed over from the Demon Realm more than a century ago and has skillfully hidden herself undetected in the public eye, all the while feigning to be a human. However, something had changed when the succubus decided to clothe herself in the finest of tulles and satins and adorn her body with glistening jewels. That same day, her own father appeared before her. It was then that she knew of her mother’s death. Her father spared no expense on sharing his bare intentions. First, he found her current abode quite atrocious and second, he abhors the fact that her own daughter had decided to cowardly hide in the facade of a human instead of being proud of her demonic origins.

But Leila still remembers the day she was forcefully thrown out of the Demon Realm by her very own clan. It was the very reason why she could not bear to go back. It was her forty second birthday, way past her puberty and still no signs of her ‘awakening.’ It well-known in the Demon Realm that the younger a concubi would stop aging, the earlier would be its awakening and the stronger that concubi would be. Records had reported that these were the cases for those born with concubi parents. But Lamia was a daughter of a succubus and an arch demon and little had been known of the children of this kind of union. It was a pride for her father that Lamia stopped aging by the age of 24. To her clan, this was a promising sign that she would become one of the strongest concubi due to her lineage. They have made plans specially catered to her education, with the goal of making her the perfect hidden weapon of the family.

Great joy and merriment occurred on her thirty fifth birthday. Her clan had invited others to witness her awakening. However, none of that happened. No stubby spiked tail, no primal feeding ensued. Lamia caused her clan to lose face that night, but they still had patiently waited for her awakening. A year turned to two, then three yet there was still no sign of that stubborn tail. This frustrated Lamia to the core. If only she was born as a demon instead of a concubi, her mother would have been the grand consort of the clan but alas she was anything but. Without even much of an opportunity to say her farewells, Lamia was thrown off to a realm far too different than what she was familiar of. That was when she found herself at the depths of the sea of Umibe. A sudden change happened with her as she crossed over the portal, Lamia found herself growing a stubby spiked tail. How she hated her tail for years after, if only it had grown sooner. Little did she know, this was the least of her problems.

A rude awakening soon followed, enraging Lamia down to her very core. She learned of the poor treatment of the townsfolk towards concubi the hard way, through her own fault. Lamia once let her guard down and her origins as a succubus spread throughout the city like wildfire overnight. By morning, she lost the reputation she painstakingly established over a couple of years. She hated the smell of potent distrust, hated it even more that she had to feed off on those disgusting emotion. In a fit of rage, she openly hunted at The Docks until she was fully satiated. During this primal hunt, Lamia learned that aside from lust, fear became her most favorite meal. The next morning, reports on spoilt goods and missing sailors grazed the covers of the newspapers and rumors blamed such incident on the succubus whom no citizen has seen ever again.

Her overfeeding was proven to be useful nonetheless as the succubus was able to traverse the 10-mile distance from the City of Umibe to Kadeu in just a little over two hours. She must admit that the air in Kadeu was much fresher compared to the City of Umibe. Here, Lamia could easily feed without many complications as she could freely feed off in the streets. She noticed that on her inner left wrist, the once prominent 1 symbol that mystically appeared after she crossed over from the Demon Realm now became a 3. Lamia learned upon further coaxing from her clientele that the more she gathers her wealth and store it in the Zuihuo Bank, the more she would rise in the rank and this was the window of opportunity for her to have a new life. A life where she could live in peace, where the scent of distrust is absent and only pure lust and greed filled the air. The scent of greed was something Lamia had not thought of to be served in this place. The more she consumed it, the more she was influenced by it. Soon, the news of a lucky sex-worker on the streets reached the ears of the warden of The Red Dragon. There were not many blatant sex-workers brave enough to flaunt themselves on the streets, especially near his establishment, he wanted to have that worker for himself.

It was then that Lamia Mori was known as the Lady Mori of The Red Dragon. The mystical tattoo on her inner left wrist became a 5 and later a 7 as she became a high-end sex-worker for the brothel. By then, she had skillfully hidden her identity as a succubus. But this was not enough, not when the brothel was rumored to be auctioned off as its previous owner had plummeted down to bankruptcy and a deadly combo of gambling and drugs. This was the window of opportunity that Lamia was waiting for. In the depths of the night, a woman was found standing at the gates of the abode of the previous owner. Nobody knew what had transpired that night, but the fact remains that the Al-Farsi family had purchased the brothel.

With the change of ownership comes the influx of patrons. The title “Lady Mori” was bestowed for a decade to a favored sex-worker of the brothel, paying homage to the first Lady Mori who was said to have been favored by a patron and was gifted of the brothel itself, earning her favor. The first Lady Mori was the same consort of the Al-Farsi family that had graced society of her presence just a few months after the family purchased the brothel. Little did the society knew that the head of the Al-Farsi family was Lamia Mori. The man whom she claims to be her ‘husband,’ the man rumored to be the patron who was enamored by her beauty was no other than the previous warden of The Red Dragon himself.

It had been several decades since Lady Mori, now known as Madam Al-Farsi, had graced society herself. However, the tales of her glory days was still known in Kadeu. She once loved to throw charity balls for various causes she could think of, to a point that she had almost endangered her family’s status as a facecard. The last time she was seen was the day she announced her pregnancy. It was said that she had died during childbirth. And news of the family could only be seen in the papers, not a shadow of their beings was in sight. One recurring fact that always appeared in the paper though, the women married to the Al-Farsis had always died of childbirth. This was rumored to be a curse plaguing the entire family.

But the rumors of the curse did not stop the family finding a new bride. The 3rd generation head of the Al-Farsi, known by many as Khalil Al-Farsi, was one whose beauty once rivaled the family’s founding monarch, Lamia Mori herself. He was the great source of pride of the family as he had single-handedly beaten their once rival strip club, The Golden Faerie. Although not a brothel itself, the strip club also caters to all ranks like The Red Dragon. Thus, the news of its upgrade followed by the new that it would now only be catering to ranks 7 and above had delighted the family.

Following the good fortune that The Red Dragon had received in the past few months was the tragic death of Khalil Al-Farsi. The scene of finding the child she once raised to be the family heir was now dead pushed Leila to seek vengeance for him. To distract the ton from his death, Leila spread the news of her debut in society. Gossip columns in the newspapers were filled with testimonies of the once loyal patrons who were too old to frequent the brothel and those who have seen Madam Al-Farsi in her glory days both of whom confirmed that the next of kin of the Al-Farsi looks just like the madam. And with this, the curiosity of the ton followed wondering of the beauty that daughter of Khalil Al-Farsi holds. A satirical laugh could be heard across the mansion. Indeed, she picked the ripe time to reintroduce herself to society as Leila Al-Farsi.

Personality

Leila is a socialite which led to her being hyperaware of the rankings. She made it a self-priority to maintain a facecard rank for survival as she had witnessed the dark side of the lowranks and abhors to be in that same situation twice. Thus, she maintains strong relations amongst the highranks, at the same time, she is kind to lowranks, even to a point of offering them jobs in her brothel to keep them off the streets. She made it her mission to get sex workers off the streets and into her brothel, in return, she asks for their utmost loyalty, which had become her unknown weakness in the long run. Using the excuse of finding a husband, Leila is at a stage seeking revenge for her father, Khalil Al-Farsi. The culprit behind his death is still at large.

Congratulations Tamara your app has been accepted and your first plot drop will be sent to you soon.

Please follow and welcome @leilamori to Kadeu!

[ponds-of-ink]

At long last, we have reached Sinbad and his reason for the letters. Let’s get into the story, shall we...?

As soon as he had reached the top of the stairs, Danglars dutifully stood behind Andrea. He motioned for Maximillian to do the same, then watched as him follow suit. The bat-like youth stood as a fanged protector over his uncertain cohorts. Well, provided they didn’t displease him during this meeting. Then he considered hissing to be a good enough warning.

Andrea opened the door with his typical dramatic flair and smug, toothy grin. “My dear Sinbad, how are you?” he cried out, briefly forgetting his newly assigned role. “I’ve come right on time, just as you asked. Now, what’s this about a mission?”

“I was about to ask the same thing, but the thought of us sharing a task has intrigued me,” Danglars responded, putting away his annoyance as he moved to Cavalcanti’s side. “Tell me, were there any hints in your letter about this ‘mission’? Any locations? Guidelines?”

As Andrea tried to brush away the former Baron’s questions, Maximillian moved further into the bedchamber. It was a surprisingly plain room for such a mysterious man to stay in. One bed with simple bedposts, one desk covered by various books and papers, one chair to sit at this desk, and one window to peer into the streets below if it wasn’t blocked by cloth curtains at the moment. The only thing that was remarkable was the man currently occupying the chair I had just mentioned. He was a tall, pale figure with clothes fitting for either a stroll in the dark or a funeral fit for a man of honor. His posture claimed that he had a regal charm about him, but his shade of pallor and dark circles underneath the eyes proclaimed him a prisoner of wretchedness. He was a contradiction in many places, but never when it came to his focus. His mind was preoccupied by his studies until he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. “How are you able to read in the dark, Monsieur?” the owner of this hand asked, shaking the laborer out of his work.

“My eyes have been trained to see through the dark,” the man answered, tearing himself from his books and addressing Maximillian. “It’s like when a soldier is tutored in combat. He is clumsy and faltering at first, but he soon gets used to each action and movement.” He paused to read the room. A few yards behind the young newcomer, Danglars read a section from an old paper while Andrea fooled with some trinket. “I see I need to apologize for my strange introduction,” the man continued, a reddish tint briefly coloring his face. “I was so engrossed in my final preparations that I forgot my guests were already on their way. Please, young Morrell, be seated.”

Maximillian obeyed, but chose to sit on the edge of the bed. Once the others noticed his action, they dismissed their methods of distraction and paid close attention to the room’s resident. The man rose from his seat with three papers in his ink-stained hand. “Though I may not be who you have imagined me to be, I am the Sinbad who wrote your letters,” he announced, surprising Andrea and Maximillian. Danglars shook his head. “The only thing I imagined differently about you was your ability to sleep,” the guide remarked. “What frenzy has gotten you this time?” 

“One that I’m sure you will understand in due time,” the man known as Sinbad replied, more somber than annoyed at the implication. He then gave each of them a paper before continuing his speech. “On to the reason I called all of you here,” he said, leaning on one of the bedposts. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that Marseilles is not in the most favorable of conditions.”

All three nodded, but with different expressions. Maximillian bit lit lip, Andrea rolled his eyes, and Danglars looked on with a darkened brow. 

“My primary mission, above all else, is to understand why it has come to be this way and how we can fix it,” Sinbad explained. “And, in order to do that, I feel we must travel to Marseilles’ most ill-fated spots and uncover the truth behind their most atrocious events. On your papers, there is a map of an area selected for you. If you know the town’s layout, you might recognize each spot.”

Maximillian glanced down at his map and read the most visible words. “Why, mine is the Chateau D’if itself!” he cried, showing his piece to his companions.

“Impressive, if we’re ranking by how much your area has an eerie atmosphere,” Andrea snarked. “Mine is just some country house on the outskirts. I think it starts with ‘A’ and ‘u’.” He then peered over Danglars’ shoulder and lifted an eyebrow. “Well, looks like you have the Catalans to cover,” the vampire grinned, flashing his sharp canines. “That must be fun, getting to know where your friends really went.”

“The fact that the legend has reached you, of all people, really astonishes me,” Danglars answered, rolling up his map like a scroll without even looking at it. “But I will still choose to ignore the past. If there’s any new monsters lurking in their place, I am willing to at least investigate.”

“For once in my lifetime, I agree with Danglars’ sentiment,” Maximillian said firmly. “If Edmond is the one being haunted, you cannot convince me to refuse to help him. He will live beyond this grim landscape, if his father or mine could not.”

The mention of “Edmond” caused Sinbad to tremble. He paced up and down for a few seconds, hoping the darkness would cover his misty-eyed expression. After recomposing himself, he cleared his throat. “A very admirable idea, but he may be as lost as his loved ones,” he corrected solemnly. “All we need to focus on now is the loose ends time has left us to tie up.”

“Why do you insist on using ‘we’ and not ‘you’?” Andrea asked.

“Because I am coming with you, more or less.”

“But to which place? The island fortress? The country house?”

“To all of them, if I can time my arrivals correctly.”

Andrea gawked. “Look, my bat-like abilities might help me travel faster, but you are a mere man!” he exclaimed. “How do you expect yourself to reach three distinct and separate locations in one night?”

“Who told you it was one night?” Sinbad asked indignantly.

Andrea fell into deep thought. Maximillian slowly raised his hand. “I believe it’s because he’s a vampire and therefore needs to stay in the dark,” he said with no hesitation. “As for you joining us, I respect your decision but I still wonder why you’re doing it. What is your personal reason for being so involved?”

Sinbad smiled imperceptibly. “Because some time ago, I made a promise to myself,” he said in a warm tone. “A vow to avenge those who have been wronged. Little did I know that this would extend to an entire town and far beyond my expectations, but here I am. All I ask is that you join me until it is completed. Then, do what you want with your lives.”

Danglars crossed his arms and bobbed his head, Andrea grinned with a gleam in his eyes, and Maximillian saluted as his heart soared within him. If it meant freedom for themselves and the town at least two had grown up in, they were satisfied. Now was the question: what were they supposed to do? Thankfully, Sinbad came prepared.