#the scales on your ass? not my big concern

[astracora]

Just imagining modern day Sylus losing control of himself and his dragon features pop back up, and he's there in the corner of the room trying to hide it. 'I'm a monster don't look at me'

Which is heartbreaking... but then it's like... bro I've watched you kill people, if I can still stomach your normal face after that, I think some scales? Pretty easy to handle 😭

[wildheartsalwaysburn]

OP men taking care of their SO

Gn!Reader (I tried)

Characters: Trafalgar Law, Eustass Kid, Sanji, Bartolomeo, Corazon

CW: mentions of ED (starving, vomiting, overexercising), bad body image/body dysmorphia, cursing, SH, slight nsfw for Kid

Notes: I'm in a terrible mental state rn, kinda relapsing. OP hyperfixation fixes stuff so I decided to write some HC how they would act when noticing their SO is struggling with an ED.

Trafalgar Law

he had a bad feeling about your eating habits a while ago

noticing you rush to the bathroom after every meal and "showering" excessively

but didn't mention cuz he knows to leave people alone (he's the same tbh)

it hit him during the monthly physical examination

he listens to your heartbeat and notice it being really low

"y/n, would you step on the scale?" he asks in a cold but also concerned tone

as he notices you getting anxious when standing in front of that thing, he sighs and puts a hand reassuring on your shoulder

"it's ok. I'm here. Just step on it, please." his voice still concerned but warm and soft

he looks at the low numbers in shock and takes you carefully from the scale before you can see the numbers

"y/n-ya. What's wrong?" he'll take your cold hands and sits right in front of you

if you break out in tears, he'll just sit there and hug you tightly, til you calm down by yourself

if you stay cold and stubborn, he'll get annoyed but also takes care of you

either way, you talk a lot and will make a rehab plan, he'll watch over you as much as he can

he won't miss a moment to show you how much he loves and cares for you

"you're the most beautiful soul I know, y/n-ya."

"I know it hurts, but I cannot lose someone I love dearly, again."

"We get through this, ok?"

all in all, he's a doctor and acts like one, but he'll support you whenever needed

Eustass Kid

he notice during working out together

the last times you'd been skipping meals and even alcohol, working out without him even in the middle of the night

first he thought you'd simply want to get stronger than him and teases you daily

but on that day you've overdone yourself, your body can't take it anymore and you get dizzy and weak all of a sudden, letting the weights fall down with a thud

"y/n?! Fucking seriously?" he first yells at you (rule: never let weights fall down)

you sink on your knees, mumbling sth like you'd be fine

"Fine my ass!" he swears and lifts you up to carry you to his room

"what the hell are you thinking?!" he's clearly pissed

he'll put on his too big warm clothes and coat, still staring at you angrily

forces you to drink water and hot tea, he still stares at you

"so what the fuck is wrong with you, y/n?" angry, annoyed tone

when you start to cry, he's overwhelmed and feels bad not being able to help, so he just sits there and pets your head

when you glance back and pout/get angry you'll get into a fight and storms out throwing the door

just to come back and hug you tightly after finally understanding

his soft side comes out when you tell him you feel weak and ugly and fat

he laughs: "stupid girl/boy! you're the strongest pirate I know! and the sexiest! besides me"

if you don't or don't smile enough (which will be most likely the case), he'll just tower over you and wrap you up in his arms, roaming with his hands over your body and repeat how amazing you are

he'll get overprotective, remind you to eat enough through the day (sometimes forces you to)

He makes you different playlists to lift up your mood

also he'll seek help from Killer from time to time (but won't tell you)

Sanji

He’ll notice when you stop joining to cook in the kitchen

Notices your rapid weight loss really quickly

Sits down next to you, lights up a ciggy and asks worried what’s wrong

Poor boy thinks it’s his fault

Eventually he’ll tear up and just hug you, telling you how much he loves you

“You can tell me everything, ma chère!”

You instantly felt understood and tell him

He’ll look at you in shock, not understanding how such a beautiful person can think of themselves like that

“But you are the most beautiful woman/man, I know, y/n-swan”

He cups your face and gazes into your eyes before kissing you softly

“We get through this, together. I promise.”

And he’ll make it true. He’s the most supportive boyfriend

Forehead kisses, reassuring soft hugs and touches, always keeping an eye on you

Spa Days, telling you every second how much he loves and adores you, would never force you but beg you to try his food at least

Makes the most delicious looking meals

Reads all about EDs so he won’t accidentally hurt you even more

Will hold you in his arms when you’re freezing or crying

Hides the scale

All in all the perfect man

Bartolomeo

He’ll notice when following you to the bathroom after dinner

Already had a bad gut feeling about your bruised up and red hands

He holds them all the time so he knows their appearance by heart

“Y/n-chan? Are you ok? I’m here for you! Are you sick?”

Music plays from inside and the tab runs

When you came out after minutes, eyes swollen and red, hands wet and even redder than before you’ll earn a concerned look

“Don’t tell me you’re fine, y/n-chan.”

Weirdly sniffs and notices the smell of vomit

Eyes in shock and starts crying

“No no no no my dearest y/n-chan!! Please don’t tell me it’s true!”

Wraps his arms around you in a tight embrace, crying his eyes out

Overdramatic as fuck

Eventually taking your weak body to a quiet room, cleans your face and gives you something to drink

Will listen to each of your words really carefully to understand

Always pleasing you, always bring you water and tea, will not force but desperately beg to you eat something

Will accompany you to the bathroom any time, watching that you don’t hurt yourself anymore

Around you 24/7, will provoke and beat up everyone just trying to say something bad about you

Literally overprotective l, like a guard dog

Will try to lift your mood by telling stupid jokes and stories, tattle about Law and other “not cool non strawhats”, showing off his collection

Proud as hell every time he’ll make you laugh and forget that illness for a second

Corazon/ Rosinante Donquixote

He’ll notice when picking you up as usual

“Y/n, you’re so tiny?!”

Shocked at first and lifts you even higher

Can’t believe you’re that light, you’ve always been to him, but now it’s different

Immediately throws you over his shoulder, covering you with his warm feather coat

“We’re going to a doctor, no back talk.”

His tone is stern but also warm and caring

Carries you to different doctors and hospitals, always holding your hand or thigh to show you he’s there

Will yell at anyone who says that can’t treat you

Throws literal tantrums at some doctors for being “incapable”

Will end up trying to fix and heal you himself

Showers you in love and care, eg bringing you water, tea, let’s you borrow his lighter to fidget with (even lend you his cigarettes if you smoke)

Will always smile at you and be more clumsy on purpose to make you laugh again

Will cook for you, whatever you want, burns it a few times by accident

Let’s you wear his clothes, when you feel bad about your body

Or wraps you up in them to get you warm

Will be extremely careful when touching, hugging or lifting you up

Afraid he’ll break you

Will inform himself about EDs to make the best of it

Never leaves your side, towering above or behind you, so no one can hurt you

Even lends you hit hat from time to time if he can’t be around for a moment, so you won’t feel alone

Gets sentimental when you sleep and he drinks, petting your head, sits right next to you talking about how beautiful and amazing you are

"I love you so much! You deserve everything in this world, my heart!"

[jamdoughnutmagician]

Teenage Dreams (13 going on 30 AU) - part 1

Eddie Munson x Reader

Being 13 sucked, all the cliques and groups in school, fighting for popularity and all you wanted to be was 30, flirty and thriving, just like the cool girls in Star Magazine.

Next Part ->

Word Count:2,763.

SERIES MASTERLIST

Masterlist // Eddie Munson Masterlist

*dividers by @saradika-graphics

Thirteen, what a terribly awkward age for anyone to be. Never quite sure about where you were supposed to fit in. All the popular girls would pour over the latest gossip magazine, nattering about which heart-throb of the month they thought was hotter. You couldn’t help but overhear the shrill giggling about how far they’d gone with their boyfriends, with a scandalised scream from the group when Stacy Evans revealed how she had made out with her boyfriend at Jessie Miller’s party last week. The boys weren’t much better either, all hanging out in their groups, guffawing and joking, rating seemingly every girl in the cafeteria on a scale of one to ten.

And you weren’t an exception to this, no. As you carefully weave your way through the bustling school’s cafeteria, balancing your tray in your arms you catch the attention of Jason Carver, the most bone-headed of all the boys, but he was a promising young talent in the school’s basketball team, so he got away with a lot of the stuff he did and said, with nothing more than a light warning breezing past him.

“Nice Hello Kitty shirt, did your mommy pick that out for you?” comes Jason’s shouted remark, high-fiving his crew when they laughed at his joke.

“Hey, Carver, leave her alone! All you care about is throwing balls into laundry baskets anyway!” and there was Eddie, your best friend in the whole world, always at your side through thick and thin. He slings a friendly arm over your shoulder as he walks with you to your usual seats. “How’s it feel to be turning the big one-three, you’re officially a teenager now!” He laughs playfully.

“Don’t remind me!” you squeal back, shoving his shoulder with a laugh of your own.

As you walk with him to your seats, you are once again stopped in your tracks, confronted by Nancy Wheeler, the school’s resident popular girl and her small army of followers who went with her everywhere.

“Hey, bestie can I talk to you for a moment?” she narrows her eyes towards Eddie “Y’know, just us girls.”

“Alright, I can take the hint, Wheeler. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” Eddie smiles before walking off.

“The girls and I were so excited about coming to your birthday party tonight, and I told Steve Harrington about it and he said he wanted to come with us,” Nancy started, twirling a dark, bouncy curl around her finger.

“Really?”

“Yeah, but Mrs.O’Donnell is up our ass about this group project, and Steve said he would help us out, so I guess nobody is going to be able to make it, which is a shame, because we really all wanted to come.” she says with a tilt of her head and an almost pleading look in her blue eyes.

“I could write your report for you.” you offer.

“Fabulous!” she cheers, her pink lip gloss glinting under the fluorescent lights “Then I’ll see you at your party I guess.” She smiles, and with that, Nancy is gone, her gaggle of girls following closely behind her.

Eddie walks beside you as you make your way home, your backpack slouching down your shoulders with every step.

“Y’know I can’t believe you invited Nancy and her army of girls to your party tonight.” Eddie grumbles

“They’re my friends!” you defend.

“Nancy and her clones are not your friends, okay?”

“Well not yet anyway, but they’re so popular and I just think if I could get them to like me, maybe I could hang out with them.” you explain. “I mean it’s middle school, right? And not being popular is like, total social suicide.”

“I thought you didn’t care about that stuff! Why would you even want to hang out with them in the first place? You’re way cooler than them. They’re always so concerned about following “the latest trends”, they’re all so unoriginal!”

“I don’t want to be original, Eddie, I want to be cool!” you whine.

Eddie shakes his head at you dismissively, before reaching into his pocket.

“Want some skittles?” he asks, pulling out the brightly coloured packet.

“Skittles are for kids, Eddie.” you scoff with a laugh before holding your hand open to him.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” he smiles, dumping a handful of skittles into your palm. “I’ll see you at your party later, birthday girl.” 

You wrap your arms around him in a hug, saying your goodbyes,  before going your separate ways.

You fluff your hair in the mirror, swiping on a sparkly layer of strawberry pink lip gloss and adding the finishing touches to your baby blue eyeshadow. The electric sound of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ stream through the tape player in your bedroom, it was a mixtape Eddie had put together for you for your birthday last year full of all the songs that he knew you liked plus a few more that he thought you might enjoy.

You turn yourself around in the mirror one final time, smoothing down the wrinkles on your flouncy pink party dress with your hands before putting down your lip gloss on your cluttered vanity table when you hear your mother knocking at your bedroom door.

“Honey! Can I come in?” she calls out.

You offer her a grumble of affirmation and she swings her way into your room.

“There’s my little birthday girl!” she squeals, pinching your cheeks.

You pull away from her, groaning with embarrassment.

“Mom! Stop teasing me, I’m not a little girl anymore, okay! I’ve got to look perfect if I want to get in with Nancy and her friends!”

“Oh, darling, you don’t need to worry about stuff like that. Just because you don’t look like the girls in Star Magazine, doesn’t mean that you’re not beautiful in your own way.”

“But I don’t wanna be beautiful in my own way!” you whine. “I wanna be like these girls.” you say, pointing to the beautiful, fashion model in the magazine spread out on your bed. They seemed to have it all figured out, always looking so effortlessly beautiful and carefree, without the stress of teen angst looming over them at all times. Thirty, flirty and thriving, the article had read, and that’s what you wanted. To be a flirty thirty-year-old without a care in the world.

“Sweetie, there’s a reason you don’t look like these girls, they’re models.” comes your mother’s response.

“I want to be thirty.” you pout.

Your mother hugs you close, placing a kiss to your forehead.

“You’ll get there one day, but until then, you’re my beautiful thirteen-year-old daughter.”

You’re alone in the basement of your house where it’s been decorated to within an inch of it’s life, brightly coloured streamers hang from the ceiling and a sparkly ‘happy birthday’ banner is plastered to the wall.

Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ music video plays from the small tv in the corner of the room, and you can’t help but join in with the familiar dance. When the music video first came out, you and Eddie had spent ages learning the routine religiously, it was one of the few songs that you both liked, the music being fun and funky enough for your tastes, whilst the music video was the right amount of creepy and spooky to capture Eddie’s attention.

You get lost in the music, the dance moves so ingrained in your brain that they come second nature to you, so much so that you fail to hear the creaking footsteps as Eddie descends his way down the steps to the basement.

“Happy Birthday!” he shouts, carrying a large pink box in his arms all neatly tied up with a sparkly bow. “I’ve got you a special present!”

“Oh my god, Eddie!”  you beam. “You know you didn’t have to get me anything!”

“And come to my best friend’s birthday party empty-handed, come on, you know that’s not my style.” he smirks as he sets down the box on the table. 

“What is it?” you look at him eagerly.

“Well it’s your birthday present, why don’t you go ahead and open it up and find out?”

You pull at the ribbon bow and lift open the box to reveal a carefully hand-built princess castle dollhouse. It’s carefully made with lots of little cardboard boxes stuck together, painted a soft baby pink, complete with hand-painted twirling vine flowers climbing up the spiral towers. Inside the walls are lined with lavender paper and colourful candy wrappers in place of stained glass windows.

“Remember, how you said you wanted the Barbie princess castle for your birthday last year? Well I wanted to give you something better than Barbie’s castle, and give you your own castle.” he smiles. “Look, and there you are, the birthday princess in her castle!” he smiles, nodding towards the miniature princess figurine, painted to look exactly like you in the mock-up throne room. “It was a D&D miniature I had been saving for this exact moment!”

“Oh Eddie this is beautiful!” you bubble, this was the sweetest thing that anybody had ever done for you.

“Wait! I almost forgot the best bit!” he smirks, reaching into his pocket to pull out another miniature D&D figure. “Can’t have a princess castle without a knight in shining armour to protect it now, can you?” It was a small knight, painted to look like Eddie, with his long dark curls, holding up a sword and a shield. “Thought you might need me to help protect you and your castle from those pesky dragons.”

You marvel at the amount of thought, care and attention to detail that Eddie had put into your present, your smile beaming across your face.

“And for the finishing touch, just a sprinkle of wishing dust!” he says, sprinkling a small amount of iridescent silver glitter over the castle.

“Wishing dust?” 

“Yeah, wishing dust knows what’s in your heart of hearts, your true desires and will make all your dreams come true.”

You and Eddie have a moment of peace, before the doorbell sounds out across the house.

“Oh they’re here!” you squeak, rushing around to tidy up as best as you can before letting Nancy in. “I’m just going to put this away for a moment, just so there’s room for everyone here.” you say picking up Eddie’s hand-made castle and putting it in the broom closet.  “Put on some music, please Eddie!”

You make your way to the front door, quickly smoothing your hands down your party dress before opening the door to Nancy and her gang of girls.

“Come on in, the party’s downstairs.” you smile, gesturing for everyone to make their way into your house. One by one all the girls follow Nancy inside, everybody shedding their jackets and dumping them into your arms as they go.

Just as you were about to close the door, Steve Harrington rolls up, with his friends Tommy and Billy trailing closely behind him. He was so cute, way more popular than you’ll ever be, but it never stopped you having a crush on him. He was the boy that all the girls wanted, with his head full of soft, shiny, bouncy hair and charming smile, it wasn’t hard to see why he had all the girls falling at his feet. The most popular guy in school, and he was coming to your birthday party. 

“Hey, Steve!” you wave him in, trying to play it cool. “The party's just getting started, come on in!”

Downstairs everyone was gathered together, and Eddie had put on his music, a noisy mix of screeching guitar strings and heavy drum beats. I suppose in leaving him in charge of the music, he was bound to play a little Metallica.

Although, however much Eddie was rocking out to Master Of Puppets, everyone else turned their nose up at his music choices. Particularly Nancy, who took it upon herself to wander over to the stereo, flick the switch off and eject the tape from the player, filling the room with immediate silence.

“You know, it’s only you who actually likes this music, freak.” Nancy sneers, pushing the tape into Eddie’s hands.

“Whatever,” Eddie shakes his head, making his way over to you “I’m going to head next door, go get my guitar, okay?” 

“Do whatever you want, Eddie. It’s not like I need a play-by-play of everything.” you tell him, in an effort to look cool in front of Nancy and her friends, which earns you a tittering giggle from the group.

“See you later, loser!” comes a whining laugh from one of Nancy’s friends as Eddie walks away.

“Hey, I have an idea of how we could spice up this party!” Nancy pipes up, flouncing across the room. “We could play Seven Minutes in heaven!” 

Everyone nods, a murmur of agreement sounding.

“..And since you’re the birthday girl, it’s only fitting that you go first.” she smirks, taking her satin scarf from around her neck and tying around your eyes as a blindfold, before walking you towards the open door of the broom closet. “You just go in there, and we’ll choose some lucky guy to follow you in, and then he gets to do whatever he wants with you for seven whole minutes. I know Steve is dying to spend some one-on-one time with you” comes her bubblegum sweet voice in your ear.

Nancy steers you into the closet, her hands on your shoulders.

“Before I forget, you did write my project report for Mrs. O'Donnell's class, right?” she asks.

“Yeah it’s on the table.” you nod.

“Thanks. Remember, keep that blindfold on and no peeking! Oh! And by the way, Steve’s big on going to second base.”

Nancy quietly locks the closet door, leaving you stuck inside waiting for your perfect first kiss with Steve Harrington.

Nancy and her gaggle of girls, along with Steve, Billy and Tommy make their way out of your basement, walking back up the stairs, passing Eddie as he comes back down.

“What’s going on?” Eddie asks, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

“She’s waiting for you in that closet over there!” and with that Nancy leaves, quickly dashing from the party in favour of something more her scene.

Eddie shakes his head, Nancy had been bitchy enough to think that it was funny to leave you locked up in the cramped space of the broom-closet. He unlocks the door to see you sitting on the floor of the cramped up space, with the scarf tied around your eyes.

“I thought you weren’t going to come.” you say softly, thinking that finally you were going to get the chance to kiss Steve Harrington. “Where are you? I can’t feel you.” your soft voice comes out as you reach your hands out to find your man of mystery.

Eddie quietly allows himself the moment to reach his hand out to yours, letting his fingers interlock with yours.

“Oh Steve, I knew you were worth waiting for.” you sigh dreamily.

“Sorry to burst your bubble” Eddie laughs uncomfortably.

“Eddie?! What are you doing here?” you gasp, pulling the blindfold from your eyes. “Where’s Steve? Where’s everybody gone?” 

“They all left!” 

“What did you do?” you ask accusatorily.

“I didn’t do anything! I just went to get my guitar, and when I came back everyone was leaving!” Eddie defends.

You feel the red hot flare of embarrassment eating away in the pit of your stomach. Embarrassed that Nancy would actually want to be your friend, embarrassed that someone like Steve would actually go for a girl like you, but most of all upset at the fact that in reality, nobody wanted to come to your birthday party.

“No, get out!” you cry, pushing Eddie away from you.

“Wait! Please just let me talk to you! Please!” he pleads, but it all falls on deaf ears as you sink back into the closet, closing the door, leaving you to sit with your emotions.

“Leave me alone Eddie! I hate you, I hate me, I hate everybody!” you cry out shrinking into yourself, bringing your knees up to your chest, and slumping your head in your folded arms, letting your frustrated tears fall freely.

“I want to be thirty!” you cry out. “I wish I was thirty, flirty and thriving!”

A glistening sparkle washes over you, as you hug yourself tighter, wishing so hard that all of this was just a bad dream, that you were going to wake up from this and be living your dream life.

Thirty, flirty and thriving.

@paybacksawitch @penguinsandpotterheads @ali-r3n @aphrogeneias @eddiesxangel @mrsjellymunson @munsonology @onegirlmanytales @xxbimbobunnyxx

[brightdarkness-2013]

Chapter 19: Welllp...

Summary:Things aren't going well...

Notes:Warning here. This is bad.

Barricade was less like himself. Sure he’d growl and he’d threaten anyone who came by, but it was done in such an odd mix of exasperation and a tired fashion that it was a cause for concern. He tore at the bandages and everything, but it was with less drive. It was more out of stubbornness and habit than anything that he kept doing it. He seemed far too tired to try much harder. He spent a lot of time on the sandy bottom and barely moved. He even just let Prowl rewrap the bandages without a fight. To make things more worrisome than they already were Prowl had taken to laying with him rather than within his nest.

Barricade glared at me as per usual when I walked up to the tank. I chewed on my lip as I watched him back. His eyes didn’t have as much fire in them as per usual. I touched the tank and he just narrowed his eyes. No growling. No lunging. He did not look well. Thankfully he had another appointment today. I leaned on the tank with a sigh.

“Just what have ya gone and done to yourself this time? All ya do is cause trouble. Can’t ya just… I don’t know, not? I mean look at yourself. You’re not doing that well the way you’re going it. Prowl’s worried. Aid’s worried. Arcee and Blurr are worried. Everyone’s worried about ya here. I mean this is starting to bother me. Sure I’m more worried about Prowl if ya kick it, but I don’t want ya to just die either.”

He hadn’t moved through my little one way chat. He just watched me. Prowl had draped himself over Barricade long ago and had refused to move. He would occasionally pull out a loose scale. Barricade normally didn’t like it when he tried to groom him and would make little grumbling noises until he was done, but he was silent this time around. Just letting him check and recheck without so much as a twitch. That had been a big red flag. Then of course there was the fact that their neighbors had been looking over at them more and more often. Now it was near constant watch. Prowl didn’t pay them any mind. He had been ripping apart the fish and bringing the scrapes to Barricade for a while before he even stopped doing that.

“Ya know maybe if ya actually tried to heal you’d be fine right now. I don’t know what possessed ya to go and do this, but you’ve really got yourself in a bad situation now. I can see the signs here. You’re really not yourself and add that to the guys next door watching ya and being more passive toward ya and I’d say with confidence that ya ain’t doing so well. I really hope ya didn’t do any permanent damage here. That’ll be another reason for Ratch to curse ya. Ya know you’re his worst patient he’s ever had. He keeps cursing ya and swearing that you’re Trying to kill yourself. All he does now days is complain about ya. That just means he cares though, but then again once ya get better he’s gonna hit ya so hard you’ll forget what ya did. I mean your ass is grass. No joke.” I chuckled to myself as I let my gaze linger on the door. “Ya had better pull through though. I mean think about it. Ya can possibly have another go with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Then of course ya could see the sea again. Just Think about it. Traveling the ocean with a complete pod again. Hunting and finding a new spot for a nest. There’s a lot of things ya will be missing out on if ya kick it now.”

He didn’t so much as twitch. That halfhearted glare had fallen like he was far too tired to keep it up. He just stared back at me with a dull and near lifeless expression. He really needed some help and hopefully he’d let them help him this time. Barricade didn’t even move to fight us. Prowl on the other hand had. Though it wasn’t aggressive and he didn’t do any damage physically. He whined and pleaded and followed us up to the top. He gave a heartbreaking cry when we took him. The other mers watched silently and it was a relief to finally shut the door.

44444444444444444 The Fours Are Gaining More Numbers! Fight Back! Take Back The Writing Government!4444444444444

Prowl paced and whined, looking at anyone who came in for answers that we didn’t have. Nothing that was good anyway. Barricade had opened and reopened his wounds so much that he had left himself open to illness and infection from what normally wouldn’t have done any damage. Pair that with the blood loss and how he refused to eat and was forced on a regular basis and he was in worse shape than any of us had thought. His wounds leaked a sour smelling pus and he whined when they were cleaned. His wing fin had a deep infection due to the damage. It was easier the prevent infection than to get rid of it, even I knew that.

He didn’t fight them and Ratchet was unnaturally quiet as Aid rambled on and on to himself under his breath. That was enough for us and we didn’t know what to tell Prowl. But Prowl had caught on and made it clear that he didn’t want to wait. His neighbors that had recently lost a pod member watched him intently as he leapt from the water onto the feeding stand and pulled himself down the steps and to the door. He had apparently been watching us and had figured out the doors because he pulled down on the handle as he leaned on the door as we rushed toward him. He dropped when he got it open a crack and pushed it open the rest of the way. He shoved at us with hisses as we dragged him back to the tank. He had done that on more than one occasion and now we had to have someone there at all times to watch him when the doors weren’t locked.

Barricade on the other hand was quiet and none of us were even mildly surprised when he passed. When we brought the corpse to Prowl he didn’t move for a while. When he moved to look over his pod member he froze halfway there. Then he did something that none of us expected. He jumped up onto the ledge with us and shoved himself into me with a broken cry. Clinging to me when I moved with another broken sound. Begging me not to leave him... So I held him.

Notes:I spent two days going over pros and cons. Even though he was an asshole it kind of hurt to kill him off... But if he stayed then Prowl wouldn't have been able to get close to Jazz again even if he did forgive him.

Then one day I went to my doctor for anxiety and work and then another day I spent eating pie and watching netflix. So... That's why I'm late. And it's not over yet so relax.

Next

First

Masterpost

patreon.com/BrightDarkness2013

[mysticmiav]

I wanna talk about Inej cuz GOD I love her so much. Her intro scene is one that I think goes not talked about enough which I think is a crime against humanity and I WILL be making my case your honour so buckle up.

This concerns scenes from SoC as well as CK, so be warned, a load of spoilers ahead.

So in that first chapter of SoC we are introduced to this absolute badass of a girl. She walks silently, steals secrets and defies gravity. The name they call her? The Wraith. How badass is that? God spared yall (and maybe even me but especially my parents) cuz if I was still doing gymnastics I would've broken my ankle trying to be a fraction of as cool as she is cuz fuck you Newton and fuck your gravity laws.

She is smart and quick witted; the whole scene at the exchange, Kaz counting on her to take care of the second guard, knowing she'll figure it out and manage, and her indeed making it on time.

But no, not only that. This deadly storm of a girl not only holds this guard at knifepoint, saving Kaz's ass from an embarrassing plan gone awry, being shot and possibly even death. She goes on and says, and I quote, "I like it when men beg, but this isn't the time for it."

????? Weird way of asking for my hand in marriage but all the same, yes.

We get to see that deadly, fear-worthy side of her, we see how she's an actual threat people take into account, cue the slippery edges so as to make her climbs harder (fools really, as if some grease and oil would stop her of all things)

But as if that wasn't enough, we also learn of the beliefs she holds dear and her kindness. The way she hesitates about leaving Big Bol alone after everyone else leaves, torn on saving him, getting him help or putting him out of his misery, and ends up sparing him a parting prayer.

She's someone who's been through unimaginably lot of shit, never seemed to catch a break, from being literally ripped away from her family, sent across the ocean and sold to the menagerie, a never ending stream of painful and shameful experiences in her life as an indenture there, and then trading that life for one of killing and stealing, and despite it all, despite all she's gone through and all she's seen, she holds dearly to her faith, to her memories and her hopes of better days, of a world free from this kind of pain. Arguably even more so because of her experiences.

She wonders if her Saints would forgive her if she took Van Eck's life not out of necessity, but out of revenge. Either way, she was willing to spend a lifetime of repenting and take that chance.

But even beyond that, she's faithful beyond belief. Jan-if I ever commit a hate crime it'd be against this miserable excuse of a man-van Eck, while not having actually broken her legs (although his only reason for stopping being Inej's words) it was evident he was willing to, he was going to, and he made it clear he still might on the next day if she doesn't talk by then.

Fast forward to the one and only "I would have come for you, and if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you," scene (am combusting as well I know).

I find it to be heavily implied which lengths Inej was willing to go before Jan managed to draw a word out of her; her asking Kaz if he would have come for her when she couldn't scale walls or steal secrets for him anymore implies, in my opinion, what she already saw as the outcome of her captivity at Van Eck's hands. She already was thinking of that future, not just because of that growing, nagging doubt of her role in Kaz's life (whether she really was only an investment or if he'd cared in any way more than that about her), but also because no matter what, she wouldn't have given her crew away like that. She already made up her mind; she'd give that icky bastard some locations that had nothing to do with this, and Jan could break every bone in her body but will find no words of hers helpful, and I just worry of and for that girl.

She made that six-story high climb up a burning chimney with a tight time span, she climbed silos that are twenty storys high with an even tighter window of time, she walked a wire on that height and would've walked many more had things gone according to plan (thanks, Dunyasha), she climbed up shipping containers with a knife stabbed at her side, more or less to ensure she did her best for the crew that was counting on her. She would rather end it herself than find herself captive in those enemy's hands, this playing both into her loyalty as well as her history with captivity and what it meant for her.

She is the Wraith, with a reputation that proceeds her, and she also knows how crucial her skills are, how much her crew depends on her, how many of the plans center on and are weaved around her abilities, but she is also fully aware of her limits, fully acknowledging of her betters (Dunyasha you scare me, genuinely). She is religious and holds her faith very dear, but has made peace with the lives she's taken and will continue to take.

Many people see her as Dirtyhand's Wraith and fear her for her association with him, for his uses of her and the things she does at his bidding, but she is scary in her own light and I don't think people should fuck with that.

When she came for Pekka that night, carved in knife right above his heart, promised him a second slash if he thinks of coming back to Ketterdam, she made the once-proclaimed king of the barrel remember pain and fear.

And as if that didn't shake the man enough, she also made sure to replace his son's lion stuffed doll with a fucking crow, so that he'd see it when he inevitably ran to check in on his kid amidst his blood and panic. She gave this man enough mental damage to warrant endless psychiatric help and a lifetime of cowering, fear and paranoia (totally warranted am 100% in support)

She wears her heart on her sleeve; not in the sense of being naive, but in the sense of not being scared of displaying her emotions and thoughts. Her sentiments aren't random, because she always made it clear she cares for the people around her, she will go out of her way to protect them at her own expense and she will nurture those friendships she's built. Her suli subverbs and beliefs don't come off as a surprise, not to anyone around her and not to us as readers because she proudly displays her faith.

Many times, it felt like people, even Kaz, saw her faith as her weakness, something to be exploited, her sentiments something to poke fun at and use to taunt her with, but it's what makes her stronger. It's these thoughts and feelings that keep her going and keep her fighting. It's these friendships and heartfelt moments that she pushes herself over the edge for, and it's that dream just out of reach that rekindles her spirits even brighter than ever, and there's something so beautiful and heartwarming in it and about her that I can honestly spend this new year dissecting and talking about because am insufferable with a rotting hyperfixation. Why are you still here? Jkjk thankyou for reading this brain vomit of thoughts see you in my next tedtalk maybe. Btw if it wasn't glaringly clear I love SoC and Inej lol

[crimsonroxq]

How to Train Your Dragon… to Shut Up 🤬

FANDOM: My Hero Academia

SHIP: Katsuki Bakugo x Eijiro Kirishima 🐉

TAGS: Teen & Up Audience — Dragon Kirishima, Dragon Hunter Bakugo, Flirting in the Middle of a Fight, Bakugou Doesn’t Know How to Deal with Flirting, Power Dynamics, Kirishima Is Too Hot For His Own Good, Bakugou Being an Angry Disaster, Bakugou Lowkey Wants to Punch Him, But Also Maybe Kiss Him??, Sassy Dragons, Reluctant Attraction, Bakugou Is Trying So Hard Not to Like Him, “Why Do I Like This Idiot?”, Enemies-to-Something-More (3.6k words)

CW’s: Violence/Fighting (physical combat and explosions), Sexual Tension/Flirting, Suggestive Content, Strong Language/Profanity.

SUMMARY: Bakugou hunts a dragon, but when he finally finds it, he’s not prepared for the smug, infuriating man it transforms into—especially one who won’t stop flirting with him.

💥 HAVE FUN READING ! 💥

The dense forest stretched out as far as the eye could see, a sea of green dappled with spears of sunlight filtering through the canopy. Katsuki Bakugou trekked through it, pushing past branches and leaves with practiced ease. His scowl was set in place, like always, as he moved, his hands twitching towards the axe at his back out of habit.

He wasn’t here for trees, though. He was here for the beast.

That damn dragon.

Rumor had it that one had taken up residence near the outskirts of the village, somewhere deep in the forest’s heart. That was all Bakugou needed to hear. A challenge? A dangerous one at that? It was right up his alley. And it wasn’t like anyone else in the village had the balls to deal with it. So here he was, on his day off, stomping through the forest like an idiot, hunting a dragon.

“Fuckin’ perfect,” he muttered under his breath, kicking a root out of his way.

As far as Bakugou was concerned, curiosity might have killed the cat, but it could definitely injure the shit out of dragons.

The thought of slicing through scales, hearing the roar as he slayed the beast, lit a fire in his chest. It’d be a good fight, he knew that much. And it’d be a story to tell the village idiots who’d doubted him.

If there even was a dragon.

He’d been walking for hours now, through the thickest parts of the forest, and still no sign of the thing.

And honestly, Bakugou was getting pissed.

“Where the fuck are you?” he growled, stopping to look around. His sharp eyes scanned the area, waiting for a hint of movement, for a gust of wind that would signal wings, something to tell him he wasn’t just wasting his damn time.

He was about to keep walking when something moved. A flash of red between the trees, so quick he almost thought he imagined it. Bakugou narrowed his eyes and stalked towards it, his senses on high alert.

Then, all at once, the trees opened up into a clearing, and there—curled up on a rock like he was napping, of all things—was the dragon.

And fuck, if it wasn’t a sight to see.

Scarlet scales glimmered in the sunlight, each one edged in a darker crimson that looked almost black. The dragon’s body was massive, but not in the way Bakugou had expected—its form was more… compact, almost like it was built for speed and agility rather than pure bulk. It had a tail that looked strong enough to take out a tree in one swipe, and claws sharp enough to cut through steel. But the most striking thing was the eyes—when they opened, they were a burning, molten gold.

And those eyes were watching him with way too much damn interest.

Bakugou grinned, the thrill of the hunt shooting through him as he unsheathed his axe. “Well, well, well. Looks like I found you, you big-ass lizard.”

The dragon blinked slowly, like it wasn’t the least bit concerned. Then, in the most casual voice Bakugou had ever heard from a creature that could breathe fire, it spoke.

“You’ve been stomping around for an hour now. Took you long enough.”

The axe in Bakugou’s hand almost slipped. “The fuck?”

The dragon chuckled. And then, in a flash of movement that Bakugou barely saw, it shifted. One moment it was all scales and claws and fangs, and the next, the dragon was gone, replaced by—

“What the hell?”

There, sitting on the rock where the dragon had been, was a guy. A human-looking guy. Except for the red hair, the horns curling from his forehead, and the long, fucking ridiculous tail swishing lazily behind him. He had the same molten gold eyes as the dragon, though, and a grin that could only be described as shit-eating.

“Surprised?” the guy asked, clearly enjoying himself. He stretched, like this whole thing was a game, showing off his toned, shirtless chest. “Didn’t think a dragon could look this good, huh?”

Bakugou just stared at him, trying to make sense of it. “You’re the dragon?”

The guy grinned wider, showing off sharp teeth. “Obviously.”

Bakugou’s brain stalled for a second. Then he barked out a laugh. “You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

The dragon—no, the guy—looked offended, crossing his arms. “What, you don’t think I look like a dragon?”

“Hell no, you don’t look like a dragon! You look like a dumbass who skipped arm day.”

The dragon snorted, clearly unimpressed by the insult. “Well, you don’t look like a hunter. You look like some angry dude with a lot of issues.”

Bakugou felt the vein in his forehead throb. “What did you just say, asshole?”

“I said—” the dragon drawled, leaning back lazily, “—you look like you’ve got a stick up your ass. Bet that’s why you’re out here. Trying to prove something, huh?”

Bakugou’s grip on his axe tightened. This guy was pissing him off—more than usual, even for someone he was about to kill. The thing was, though, the longer he stared at the dragon—or whatever the hell this guy was—the more Bakugou realized that he didn’t want to kill him. Not right now, anyway.

Maybe it was the fact that he was talking and not, y’know, trying to burn him alive. Or maybe it was the cocky smirk that kept Bakugou’s attention.

Fuck.

He didn’t have time to think about it, though, because the dragon-boy hopped down from the rock, landing lightly on his feet. He stood there, maybe a head shorter than Bakugou, still with that smug-ass grin on his face.

“What’s your name, anyway, human?” the dragon asked, eyes gleaming with mischief.

Bakugou scowled. “Why the fuck do you care?”

“I just like knowing the name of the guy who’s obviously trying to impress me.”

Bakugou bristled, glaring. “The fuck did you just say?”

“You heard me.” The dragon’s tail swished behind him, and he stepped closer, like he was sizing Bakugou up. “You came all this way, hunting me, didn’t you? Now here I am, in all my glory. Go ahead, tell me how impressed you are. It’s okay, I won’t judge.”

Bakugou’s blood pressure skyrocketed. He was gonna murder this guy.

But instead of swinging his axe, he found himself stepping forward, right into the dragon’s space, until they were practically nose to nose. “Listen here, shitty dragon,” he growled. “I didn’t come here to be impressed by some scaly bastard who thinks he’s hot shit. I came here to kick your ass.”

The dragon just grinned wider, apparently loving this. “Oh yeah? Is that all?”

“And maybe,” Bakugou added, feeling his own smirk curl at the edges of his mouth, “I’ll shove that tail of yours up your own ass for good measure.”

The dragon’s eyes darkened with something Bakugou didn’t want to acknowledge, and he leaned in closer, his breath brushing Bakugou’s lips. “Careful, hunter. You might like where that leads.”

Bakugou froze, a weird heat rising in his chest. He blinked, then shoved the guy—hard—back into the rock.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Bakugou growled, stepping away, his face burning.

The dragon only laughed, rubbing his chest where Bakugou had shoved him. “What? Don’t like a little flirting?”

“That wasn’t flirting, you dumbass.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Bakugou cursed under his breath, turning away to calm himself down. This guy was a fucking menace.

Bakugou clenched his fists, trying to push down the stupid heat in his face, but it wasn’t fucking working. He wasn’t used to getting this riled up—well, not in this way, at least. This whole situation had gone sideways the second that dragon turned into some cocky asshole with a smart mouth.

He didn’t know what to do with that.

Meanwhile, the dragon—who was clearly having the time of his damn life—sauntered around Bakugou, tail swishing lazily behind him as if he had all the time in the world. Like he wasn’t supposed to be a fucking dragon. Bakugou tried to ignore it, but it was hard when the guy was just there—like a goddamn itch he couldn’t scratch.

“So,” the dragon started casually, leaning against a nearby tree like he wasn’t pissing Bakugou off just by existing, “are we gonna keep up this little chase, or are you gonna admit you like me?”

Bakugou’s head snapped up, eyes blazing. “Like you? I don’t even fucking know you!”

“Sure you do. I’m the badass dragon you’ve been dreaming about hunting, right?” The dragon’s smirk was back, smug and irritating as hell. “And now that you’ve found me, you can’t stop looking.”

Bakugou stared at him, mouth opening and closing, trying to think of something to say to that. “You—you’re—”

“The guy you can’t get out of your head? Yeah, I know,” the dragon finished for him, clearly entertained. “Can’t blame you. I mean, look at me.” He gestured to himself like he was showing off, flexing his biceps in a way that made Bakugou roll his eyes.

“You’re fucking delusional,” Bakugou muttered, crossing his arms. “Ain’t nobody impressed by you, shitty lizard.”

The dragon chuckled, that low rumble that somehow got under Bakugou’s skin and made his stomach do weird flips. “I’m pretty sure you are.”

“Pretty sure I’m about to knock your teeth in, is what I am.”

“Uh-huh,” the dragon drawled, eyeing him up and down. “Is that what you’re calling this? ’Cause from where I’m standing, you look like you’re trying real hard to keep your hands off me.”

Bakugou nearly choked on air. “The fuck?!”

The dragon laughed, sharp and amused. “I mean, look at you. You’re practically vibrating with tension.” He cocked his head, golden eyes gleaming. “What’s wrong? Can’t decide if you wanna fight me or—”

“Finish that sentence, and I swear to fuck, I’ll burn you alive,” Bakugou cut in, feeling heat pool behind his eyes as his palms crackled with tiny sparks. This dragon—this guy—was gonna get his ass handed to him if he kept this shit up.

But the dragon didn’t back down. In fact, he stepped forward, right into Bakugou’s space again, like he wanted to get hit. His face was close, too close, and Bakugou could feel the warmth radiating off him like a goddamn furnace.

“Go ahead,” the dragon said, voice softer now, but no less teasing. “Try it.”

Bakugou’s heart was pounding, his body tense, and he didn’t know if it was because of the threat or… something else. But his mouth ran ahead of his brain, as always.

“You’re not scared of me, huh?” Bakugou asked, his voice low and dangerous.

The dragon’s grin softened into something more… playful. “Nah. You’re all bark, hunter.” He flicked Bakugou’s chest with one finger, his touch light, teasing. “I think you like the chase too much to end it that quick.”

For a second, Bakugou didn’t know what to say. Because—fuck—was he wrong? There was something about this guy, this dragon, that was fucking infuriating, but in a way that Bakugou couldn’t just ignore.

Hell, he kinda wanted to punch him just to see what would happen. Or… do something else. But he wasn’t ready to go down that road yet.

Instead, he gritted his teeth, determined not to give this asshole the satisfaction of getting under his skin any more than he already had. “You think you know me, huh?”

“I know enough.” The dragon’s eyes glittered with amusement. “Enough to know you’re not nearly as tough as you pretend to be.”

Bakugou’s eyebrow twitched. “You’re about to find out how tough I am when I rip those horns off your head.”

“Ooh, kinky,” the dragon teased, eyes flashing. “Didn’t know you were into that.”

Bakugou was going to combust.

“Shut the fuck up,” he snapped, his face burning, but the dragon was laughing again, that deep, rumbling laugh that Bakugou hated to admit he didn’t completely hate.

The dragon was still grinning when he held out a hand. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop for now. Name’s Kirishima, by the way. Since we’re probably gonna be seeing a lot of each other.”

Bakugou eyed him warily. He didn’t shake hands with people he didn’t trust. Especially dragons. “The hell makes you think I’m gonna let you live?”

Kirishima just shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal. “Call it a hunch. You don’t strike me as the type to kill someone you’re flirting with.”

“I’m not flirting with you!” Bakugou yelled, finally snapping. His hands sparked again, and he had to force himself not to blow something up just to relieve the frustration bubbling up in his chest.

Kirishima didn’t even flinch. “Sure, whatever you say, Bakugou.”

Bakugou paused. He hadn’t told him his name.

“How the fuck—”

“Dragons know shit,” Kirishima said with a wink, folding his arms behind his head. “We’re kinda awesome that way. You’ll figure it out.”

Bakugou was, for once, left speechless. He stared at Kirishima like he couldn’t quite believe this guy was real. And maybe he wasn’t. Maybe this whole thing was some kind of fever dream caused by exhaustion or whatever. But there Kirishima was, standing in front of him, still wearing that stupid grin like he owned the place.

“So, are you gonna keep staring at me, or are we gonna get this fight over with?” Kirishima asked, tail flicking in amusement. “I know you’re dying to see if you can actually take me.”

Bakugou’s eyes narrowed. “You’re on, scaly-ass.”

Kirishima’s grin grew even wider, if that was possible, and he stretched his arms out, cracking his neck. “Sweet. Let’s see what you’ve got, then.”

And then, faster than Bakugou could blink, Kirishima was back in his dragon form, scales gleaming under the sun, muscles coiled and ready for a fight. His molten gold eyes locked onto Bakugou, but there was no malice there—just challenge, and maybe something more.

Bakugou’s lips curled into a savage grin.

“Bring it, you overgrown lizard.”

The clearing exploded into action as Bakugou lunged forward, ready to finally blow off some steam—and maybe, just maybe, figure out what the hell he was going to do with this annoying, ridiculous, impossible dragon.

Bakugou didn’t hesitate—he never hesitated—but Kirishima was fast. In the blink of an eye, the dragon leaped into the air, wings unfurling with a massive gust of wind that sent leaves scattering across the clearing. Bakugou’s eyes locked onto the movement, his instincts sharp, and he planted his feet, hands lighting up with crackling explosions.

“You think you can dodge me all day, you shitty lizard?” Bakugou growled, launching himself upward with a blast from his palms, closing the distance between them.

Kirishima twisted in midair, the sheer grace in his movements something Bakugou hadn’t expected from a beast that size. But he wasn’t backing down. He didn’t back down from anyone, especially not some cocky dragon who was enjoying this way too much.

“You’re really bringing that puny little firework show to a dragon fight?” Kirishima teased, his voice booming as he hovered above Bakugou. “I thought you were tough, Bakugou.”

“You wanna talk tough, shitty scales? How about I blow you out of the fuckin’ sky?” Bakugou barked back, spinning mid-air to hurl a concentrated explosion toward Kirishima’s chest.

The blast hit dead-on, but instead of sending the dragon flying, Kirishima let out a rumbling laugh, his scales shimmering as the explosion rolled off him like it was nothing more than a gentle breeze.

“That all you got?” Kirishima taunted, diving downward toward Bakugou with a smirk so big you could see it even in his dragon form.

Bakugou cursed under his breath, darting sideways as the dragon swooped low, missing him by inches. “Fucking indestructible scales, huh?” Bakugou muttered, annoyance bubbling up. His usual bag of tricks wasn’t cutting it.

“Come on, Bakugou,” Kirishima’s voice rumbled from above, the dragon circling back for another pass. “You gotta hit harder than that. Otherwise, this is gonna be too easy.” His wings gave a powerful flap, sending a gust of wind down that nearly knocked Bakugou off his feet.

Bakugou gritted his teeth. He wasn’t just pissed now—he was pissed-pissed. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m about to make you regret ever taunting me.” He raised both hands, sparks building in his palms as he charged up for something bigger.

But Kirishima had other plans. He swooped down again, faster than before, and with a quick shift of his body, he swung his tail like a whip, aiming straight for Bakugou’s legs.

Bakugou saw it coming and barely managed to dodge, flipping sideways with an explosion that propelled him just out of range. But the force of the tail swing still knocked him off balance, sending him skidding backward across the dirt.

“Fucking hell!” Bakugou spat, pushing himself up quickly, heart pounding. Kirishima landed in front of him with a heavy thud, the earth shaking beneath him.

“Almost had you there,” Kirishima said, his voice deep and smug as he shifted back into his human form—well, mostly human. His horns and tail remained, but his body returned to that of a tall, grinning, annoyingly ripped guy who was way too proud of himself. “You’re pretty fast, though. I’ll give you that.”

Bakugou glared, dusting off his pants. “You didn’t have me,” he snapped, fists still sparking with tiny explosions. “I was just warming up, asshole.”

Kirishima tilted his head, his smile lazy but challenging. “Warming up, huh? Well, I’m here all day, so if you wanna keep trying—”

But Bakugou was done talking. He shot forward in a blur of speed, aiming a punch directly at Kirishima’s stupidly smug face.

Kirishima reacted quickly, blocking the punch with his forearm, but the explosion that followed was enough to send him stumbling backward with a grunt of surprise. Bakugou didn’t stop there. He followed up with a flurry of punches, each one laced with small blasts that sent shockwaves through the air.

“Still think this is a game, dragon?” Bakugou snarled, his teeth bared as he kept swinging, each punch harder than the last.

Kirishima was quick, though, dodging and blocking with the kind of fluid movements that shouldn’t have been possible for someone with his bulk. “You’re fast, I’ll give you that,” Kirishima said, his grin not faltering even as Bakugou’s punches rained down. “But you’re gonna have to try harder than that if you wanna take me down.”

“Shut up!” Bakugou roared, throwing another punch aimed straight at Kirishima’s jaw.

This time, though, Kirishima caught his fist mid-swing, his hand wrapping around Bakugou’s with a grip that was way too strong. Bakugou felt his arm lock in place, his momentum coming to a halt as Kirishima’s grin widened.

“Nice try,” Kirishima said, voice dropping lower, a teasing edge to it. “But I think you’re forgetting something.”

Bakugou growled, trying to yank his hand free. “And what the hell would that be?”

Kirishima leaned in, their faces close again, his golden eyes practically glowing. “I’m a dragon. You can’t win by brute force alone.”

“Who says I’m just using force, shitty dragon?” Bakugou sneered, yanking his hand free with a burst of explosive force that sent Kirishima stumbling backward, smoke curling up from his palm.

For a second, they just stared at each other, both breathing hard, the clearing silent except for the faint crackling of residual sparks. Bakugou’s heart was still pounding, but not just from the fight. Kirishima wasn’t even breaking a sweat, standing there with his chest rising and falling steadily, like he was more amused than anything.

“Alright, you win. You’re tough,” Kirishima said finally, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “I’ll admit it.”

Bakugou blinked, thrown off by the sudden shift. “The fuck? What are you talking about?”

“I mean, I don’t know a lot of humans who can go toe-to-toe with a dragon and actually keep up,” Kirishima explained, shrugging like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re not bad, Bakugou.”

Bakugou gritted his teeth, the compliment feeling weird in his chest. He wasn’t used to getting praise from people, least of all from a dragon who’d been annoying the hell out of him all day.

“You’re still a pain in my ass,” Bakugou muttered, crossing his arms defensively.

Kirishima just grinned, like that was exactly the response he’d been hoping for. “And you love it.”

“Hell no,” Bakugou shot back, even as his pulse raced for a reason he couldn’t explain.

“Whatever you say,” Kirishima teased, stepping closer again, his expression softening a little. “But seriously. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”

“Fun? You call this fun?” Bakugou growled, still on edge, but not quite as angry as before. He was too busy being… confused by the way Kirishima was looking at him. Like this wasn’t just a game. Like he actually meant what he was saying.

Kirishima nodded, his smile less cocky now, more genuine. “Yeah. Most people are too scared to fight me, let alone talk back. But you…” He trailed off, eyes flicking over Bakugou with that same damn amusement. “You’re different.”

Bakugou’s mouth went dry. He didn’t know what to say to that, and it pissed him off. “Tch. Whatever,” he muttered, looking away like he didn’t care.

But Kirishima’s tail flicked playfully at Bakugou’s ankle, like he was trying to catch his attention again. “Hey. Don’t be shy. I’m saying you’re pretty badass.”

Bakugou almost blushed. Almost. He fought it back with a scowl instead. “You’re fucking insufferable.”

“And you’re fucking adorable,” Kirishima shot back, his grin widening.

“What the hell—” Bakugou sputtered, his face heating up for real this time, and before he could stop himself, he threw a weak punch at Kirishima’s shoulder.

Kirishima just laughed, the sound warm and bright, and Bakugou hated how much he didn’t actually hate it.

——————-

AUTHOR’s NOTES: Heyyy! So this is my first MHA fic ever, but I’ve been writing fics for ages now, mostly for K-pop groups. 😋 I know I’m kinda late to the party, but I just started watching MHA, and I’m totally obsessed with Bakukiri! 😭 If you enjoyed this fic of mine, let me know in the comments, through reposts, or hit me up in the ask box! Love you all, and thanks a ton! ❤️

[queenvidal]

I'm Sorry

Chapter 1:

Chapter Summary: The last thing Shepard wanted was to have her ex-boyfriend aboard, but little did she knew how much she'd regret what she's said.

Wordcount: 2855

Chapter Index: Chapter 1 / Chapter 2/ Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 - COMING SOON!

Masterlist

With quick steps, Shepard strides toward the cockpit. Joker’s announcement about the jump through the mass relay sparked her excitement, she wouldn’t miss this for anything. She passes Pressly with a big smile on her lips.

Suddenly she stops dead in her tracks and her smile vanishes. A tall figure is standing behind the pilot seat.

Suppressing a groan, Shepard rolls her eyes and steps into position beside Joker, completely ignoring the turian standing nearby.  Nihlus glances at her for a moment before returning his attention back on the screens in front of the pilot.

“Hey, Shep,” Joker greets with a grin, knowing she wouldn’t miss the jump. But his grin also is short lived and soon disappears. The turian's looming presence unsettles him. Joker hates being watched and the turian breathing down his neck is making him nervous.  “Coming for the show?” he asks, his voice a little strained.

Shepard chuckles. “Always.”

Joker adjusts his cap and announces, “Alright, fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen. We’re going through.” His fingers fly over the console as the Normandy accelerates toward the mass relay. The sheer scale of the relays never fails to impress Shepard, who watches intently as Joker counts down. The cockpit bathes in brilliant blue light as the Normandy launches into the relay’s energy field.

Suddenly the blue sigts into a stunning sea of millions of stars flashes before them, painting the cockpit in a tranquil glow. Shepard’s lips twitch into a small smile as awe briefly replaces her earlier irritation. The sight is simply beautiful.

Moments later, the Normandy slows down, the stars of their destination stretching out before them. Joker’s hands fly over the controls as he runs post-jump diagnostics. “Thrusters check, navigation check. Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift just under 1500k.”

Nihlus nods approvingly. “1500 is good, your captain will be pleased.” He turns around to take his leave, glancing at Shepard for one final time before exiting the cockpit. 

Joker quickly looks over his shoulder, waiting until the turian is out of earshot. “I hate this guy.” Shepard smirks, holding back laughter at Joker’s visible frustration. Kaidan, who is sitting at the co-pilot console, is shaking his head. “Joker, come one. He just gave you a compliment.”

“Compliment my ass.” The pilot girths through his teeth, “I just jumped us halfway across the whole galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. That’s not good, that's incredible.” While grumbling some curses, Joker's focus returns to his displays. “Besides Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him around.” Neither do I, Shepard thinks to herself. Nihlus belongs on the Citadel, not Andersons ship. Kaidan argues, “The council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment. You’ll just have to deal with it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Joker sighs as he enters in new codes. “That's the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story, right, Shep?”

The Commander finally relaxes her posture, letting out a deep sigh. "Honestly? The Council could have sent anyone to supervise the operation, yet they not only sent a Spectre, but him out of all people. They are not truly concerned about the Normandy. The sooner he’s off my ship the better.”

Joker looks at her with a shit-eating grin, “Well, technically it’s Captain Anderson's ship.”

“And technically-” Shepard whispers as she pushes Joker's cap down, right into his face. “You know what I meant.”

“Hey, that's mean!” He complains. He takes his cap off to readjust it properly. “Since when are you sensitive? Pissed you two can't share your bunks anymore?”

Shepard’s glare could set fire to steel. “Don’t test my tamper, Mr. Moreau.” As much as she loves Joker, sometimes he doesn’t know when he’s going too far.

Irritated by Shepards sudden bad mood, Kaidan turns his chair to look at the Commander. “Okay, I feel like I’m missing something. What’s going on?” Joker just huffs a laugh. “Yeah sure, Aleko. As if you don’t know about it.”

“About what?” He asks, raising his brows in question.

Joker stays quiet, leaving Shepard to decide whether she wants to tell Kaidan or not. After a moment of consideration, Shepard explains what’s been going on. “You’ll probably learn it from the others anyway, so I might as well tell you. Kryik and I were involved… romantically.”

Kaidan’s jaw drops to the ground. “What?”

“Yep.” She sighs. “Have been just until a few months ago actually.”

“Well, given your mood, I guess it didn’t end well?” Kaiden asks carefully.

“That’s one way to put it.” Shepard crosses her arms in front of her chest. “We’ve been dating for some time and then things moved quite quickly. Everything was peachy until, from one day to another, he changed. Suddenly he treated me like a stranger and when I confronted him about it, he told me that it was all a big mistake, that turians and humans shouldn’t be together and that he regrets it.”

Kaidan looks at her with wide blown eyes, stunned into silence.

Shepard casts him a sad smile. “That’s exactly the look I had, when he told me all of this.” A ping on her omni tool announces a new message. “For fuck sake.”

“Speaking of the devil, huh?” Joker asks.

“Yup.” Shepard deletes Nihlus message without even bothering to read it. “It’s bad enough to see him strolling through the ship the whole day, can’t he just have the decency to not annoy me even further?”

Suddenly Anderson's voice sounds over the speakers. “Commander Shapard, I need to speak to you in my cabin.”

“Uh!” Joker smiles brightly at her. “Someone’s in trouble.”

Shepard just rolls her eyes, tempted to mess with his cap again. “Bite me, Jeff.”

Quickly the Commander makes her way to the elevator. Once inside, she hits the button for the mess hall a bit harder than necessary. She lets out an irritated sigh before rubbing her eyes. Whatever Nihlus is actually here for, she’s just hoping it will be done as soon as possible. 

Eventually the elevator doors open again, releasing her. Shepard goes straight for the Captain's cabin. She knocks on the door before it wooshes open. “How can I be of service?” She asks, while entering.

Captain Anderson is sitting at his desk. He turns around to face her. “Lynette.” is all he says in greeting. He signs for Shepard to sit on the seat across from him. “I have to talk to you.”

“Of course.” She says as she’s taking a seat, crossing her legs.

The captain sighs deeply. He is visibly uncomfortable. “Lynette, I’ll be blunt—this conversation isn’t easy for me, and I doubt it will be for you either.”

Shepard tilts her head slightly, her brow furrowing.

Anderson takes a deep breath. “You’re familiar with Alliance regulations about fraternization aboard a ship, I assume?”

Shepard groans, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Oh, Anderson, please don’t.”

“I have to,” Anderson says, his tone almost contrite. “Look, I’m not here to pry into your personal life. But with Nihlus aboard, I need your assurance that… whatever happened between you two won’t interfere with missions or ship operations.”

“Of course not, Anderson.” Shepard affirms. She might hate Nihlus guts but she won’t act on her ill feelings, she’s too professional for anything else. “I promise.”

Anderson nods slightly in approval. “Good to hear.”

“Allow me a question, sir?” Shepard crosses her arms casually. “What’s the actual reason for a Spectre to be here?”

Anderson falls back into his chair. “That’s classified.”

“Oh?” Lynette’s eyebrows raise, a small smirk tugging at her lips. “So there is another reason?”

The Captain narrows his eyes for a moment as he realizes his slip. “That’s something we will discuss tomorrow, Shepard. That’s all I can tell you at the moment.”

“Very well.” She says. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

Anderson hesitates again, his voice softening. “Actually, yes. It might not be my place to ask, but… have you and Nihlus ever talked about what happened? Afterward, I mean.”

“Nope.” Shepard shakes her head.“ After he blew on me, I packed my things and left. Haven't seen or heard from him ever since and as far as I'm concerned, I'd like to keep it that way.”

Certainly she knows the space on the ship is limited and therefore the chance of running into him is pretty high but that doesn't mean she can't  at least try to avoid him.

Anderson just nods silently. “Just do me the favor and keep it low, okay? This is not meant to anger you.”

“Yeah, sure.” She whispers to herself when she stands up. “Sir.” She salutes casually at her Captain before leaving his cabin again.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A new cycle has started on the Normandy. Breakfast has started to be giving out in the mess, which is slowly starting to get crowded. Soldiers shuffle through the line, grabbing trays of rations, some exchanging groggy greetings while others simply nurse their coffee in silence.

Kaidan sits at a corner table, chatting with Doctor Chakwas. Anticipating the morning rush, he’s already picked up an extra tray for their Commander, placing it at the empty seat beside him. He hopes the small gesture will help lift her mood, which has been notably sour since Nihlus arrived.

The tables conversation drifts between topics, focusing on Kaidan’s latest episode of headaches, when Shepard finally appears. “Morning, Commander!” Kaidan calls, spotting Shepard as she strides into the mess.

Mid-yawn, Shepard perks up slightly at the sound of his voice. Her eyes dart to the tray waiting for her, and she gives him a tired but genuine smile. “Kaidan, you’re too good to me,” she says with a tired smile, sliding into the seat.

“I live to serve,” he replies, the corners of his mouth quirking into a small grin.

“Good morning, Commander.” Doctor Chakwas her kindly.  “Slept well?”

“Well enough,” Shepard replies, though she’s already diving into her breakfast.

The conversation between Kaidan and Chakwas resumes with Shepard not contributing much, her focus is entirely on her meal. The calm is short-lived though, as a familiar voice breaks through the low hum of the mess. 

“Lynette, do you have a minute?”

Shepard freezes mid-bite, suppressing a groan. It’s far too early to deal with him. Without looking up, she responds in a clipped tone, “Good morning, Spectre. The correct form of address is Commander Shepard, and no, I don’t.”

In an instant the air is becoming tense. The surrounding tables go quiet, soldiers suddenly finding reasons to focus on their food or shuffle away. Kaidan shifts uncomfortably in his seat and Chakwas raises an eyebrow but says nothing. Both share a quick uncomfortable glance. Nihlus pauses, clearly weighing his options. Finally, the turian straightens. “Commander,” he says simply, before turning on his heel and walking away toward the elevator.

Once he’s gone, Chakwas sighs as she looks at Shepard. Her voice carries a hint of disapproval. “Was that really necessary?”

“No,” Shepard admits, spearing a piece of food. “But a fork to his eyes might be.”

“Shepard!” Chakwas scolds, her eyes wide blown. “You’re an adult woman, for heaven’s sake.”

“I’m kidding, Karin." Lynette replies, raising her hands in mock surrender. “Probably.”

Before Chakwas can retort, Joker’s voice crackles over the speakers. “Commander Shepard, you’re needed in the comm room.”

Shepard exhales heavily, dropping her fork onto the tray with a clatter. “Of course I am.”

Quickly she rises to her feet. While gesturing to the tray, she’s giving Kidan a nod. “Thanks for grabbing this, Alenko.”

“Anytime,” he smiles, watching her retreat toward the elevator.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

It was late in the morning, almost midday, when the Commander returned from the meeting she had with Anderson and Nihlus. Seeing Joker was the first thing she did. As annoying as the Pilot can be at times, he is still one of Shepards closest friends. He was the first and only one she broke the news to. 

“Spectre, I can't believe it.” She says while looking at the stars, swaying gently from side to side in the chair, her tone softening. “I really can’t believe it.”

It’s an honor, that’s for sure. Becoming the first human Spectre is nothing Lynette could have ever imagined would happen in her career. She’ll definitely have to give her mother a call later.

“Yeah, about time, huh?” Joker asks, his voice full of sarcasm. “About time the Council added humans to their puppet show. You know, gotta make sure every species gets tangled in their strings” The Commander frowns at him. “Sorry, Shep. I really don’t mean to shit on your accomplishments. It's just…”

“You’re not fond of the council. I know.” She smiles lightly.

“One way to put it. My point is I don’t like you being dragged into their political bullshit. I mean, see what they did. They could have sent about any Spectre to test you, yet they’ve sent King Asshole.”

“Yeah, I know.” The woman agrees. “Let’s put her under a real stress test. Why don’t we force her and her racist ex into a small tin can of a ship for a week?”

That elicits a laugh from the Pilot. "Exactly. Politicians, man. Bunch of jerks in fancy robes.”

Lynette snickers in return, shaking her head. She’s not too fond of politicians either. After stretching her arms, she leans back into the co-pilot seat more comfortably, hr eyes fixated on the stars outside the window. The tension in her shoulders begins to ease, but the sound of approaching footsteps in the corridor snaps her out of it.

“Commander Shepard, I need to talk to you.” Nihlus comes to stand right at the entrance of the cockpit.

Shepard glances at him quickly, before replying. “I'm busy.”

But Nihlus is not having her defiance right now. “That is not a request.”

Joker looks at the both of them. Sensing trouble, he quickly decides to remove himself from this situation. Carefully he stands up from his beloved seat.  “Know what, I was just about to grab some coffee in the mess. My cockpit is all yours.”

Lynette glares at him for abandoning her but Joker just gives her a knowing, apologetic smile before disappearing down the corridor.

Once Joker is out of earshot, Lynette stands up as well. “Alright, what do you want?”

Nihlus stands tall, his hands clasped behind his back, the picture of turian discipline but the subtle flare of his mandibles betrays him. “Shepard, believe it or not, this situation is just as unpleasant for me as it is for you.”

“Oh, ‘s that so?” Her voice is full of sarcasm as she's leaning against her seat.

Nihlus marbles flare again. His eyes leave her for a second, before he calmly states, “This is temporary. Just until the mission is complete. Once it’s done, I’ll file my report, inform the Council and take my leave.

Deciding to reduce the hostility, Shepard reflexes her arms again. “Well, sounds good.”

After a long and silent moment, the turian straightens up. “Shepard, despite what happened between us, I need you to stay focused once we’re planetside.” 

Lynette can’t help but to narrow her eyes at him. “What?”

“Your ill manners towards me on board the ship are one thing but we can’t have your feelings interfere with the mission.” Nihlus’ voices lacks any emotion,“ We have to-”

“Stop.” Shepard cuts him off, visibly getting angry. “Are you really doubting me and my capability to keep my emotions in check?” 

“I am just giving you well ment advice, Commander.” Nihlus states dryly. “This mission and the opportunity for you is way too important to be risk by emotional breakdowns.”

That’s it. Now it’s getting insulting. “Don't you fucking dare to tell me how I should feel and act.” Shepard hisses through gritted teeth. “You're not in the position!”

Nihlus’s voice drops, cold and clipped. “You think this is easy for me? Do you have any idea what it’s like to be caught between your feelings and your duty?”

She takes a step closer, her voice icy cold, “Don’t you dare play the victim, Kryik.”

Nihlus just shakes his head lightly, “Lynette, look-”

“Don't you Lynette me!” Shepherd's voice rises in volume, gaining attention from nearby standing officers. 

“Spirits, woman.” Nihlus exhales, visibly frustrated. “I know I’ve hurt you,” he says, his tone gentler now, “I know I’ve hurt you, I know you’re still angry and by the stars, you have every right to. I am sorry-”

The speakers on the bridge light up. Captain Anderson orders the ship to prepare for entering the planet's orbit and for the ground team to gear up.

Following the command, Shepard pushes past the turian to get away. Her voice is dripping with venom, when she glares at him one final time,  “For all I care, Nihlus, you can just drop fucking dead.”

Chapter Index: Chapter 1 / Chapter 2/ Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 - COMING SOON

[magic-is-something-we-create]

HI I AM COMING TO BEG U FOR HELP HOW DO YOU MAP OH MASTER OF ART

HELLO HI I AM HERE TO AID U MY BROTHER IN ARMS!!!

this got very long and i tried to cover things that helped me when first getting into hand drawing maps, but if there's any other places where you're struggling let me know!!!! ive got a lot in my brain im just going from broad to narrow here :)

BIG SCALE:

great ways to make continents that look like continents include

- peeling an orange or equivalent citrus messily and laying out the pieces of peel, and copying those shapes pros: realistic coastlines that would fit together like in real life, if you get into the nitty gritty these can also serve as tectonic plate templates. cons: messy. might not have oranges on hand. can be hard to scale up and transfer to digital - getting some paper and pouring a bunch of doodads of some kind on it, then clumping them in vaguely the shapes you want and tracing the coastlines. things i have used in the past include dry macaroni, beans, dice, and paper stars. pros: potentially less messy than oranges, more control over the shapes, scales up easily cons: coastlines will be less realistic tectonically if that's a concern (for both of those i usually then take a picture of what i get and start editing in my drawing program of choice from there)

other strats to try: taking a grungy brush in your drawing program of choice, making it Huge, and scribbling a few clumps, then on another layer going in and tracing around the edges to make the coastlines. using a map from real life and cutting chunks out and rearranging/copying/warping them to make a collage you can trace for coastlines. etc

SLIGHTLY SMALLER SCALE:

country borders were, until quite recently, determined mainly by geographical obstacles like mountain ranges, rivers, canyons, oceans, etc that are very hard to cross. also borders will be highly disputed when it comes to warring states or eras without, like, satellites and bureaucracy and such!! making them fuzzy or jagged or having areas where both colors mix or stretches of land where no one knows where either country ends is in fact very fun and cool and sexy

mountains usually are chains, and so are islands. i like to make big curves across the world map where i think it would be cool to put mountains, and when those curves extend into oceans i like to put island chains on those as well. if you choose to do whole ass tectonics with your orange then do those on plate borders

biomes can get really specific in their placement if you want to be hyper-realistic, or you can put them wherever you like. personally i like a little realism a little "fantasy world can have whatever you want in it". deserts are usually on one side of mountains, and on the other is really lush. the higher the mountains the larger the areas and more extreme the difference between the two. outside of that case, youll usually get forest > grassland > desert in a gradient. also remember there are multiple kinds of everything

HOW TO DRAW THESE THINGS

good ways to draw rivers include: tracing blood vessels from photos where you can see someone's veins through the skin, dead trees or lightning, or cracks in stone. theyre all fractals and how detailed you want to get is up to you. BUT they always flow downhill and eventually meet the ocean (the ultimate downhill), usually starting in the mountains. also those fractals all go kinda reverse of what you might think; the ends feed into the main river, not the other way around. i used to mess that up a lot

PROTIP: canyons and the like are almost always old riverbeds. use the same method as you do making rivers, just widen the brush, maybe draw a border around the shape instead of just a line

mountains: personally i prefer using premade brushes for mountains just because the one (1) time i did them by hand it took me like four hours for one mountain chain. this video has some tips on different mountain styles if any of those look good to you, otherwise there are about a bajillion videos like that out there!!

biomes in general: just a little texture is usually plenty! doing some bushy edges on deciduous forests, pointy bush edges on pine forests, a few little grass lines and sand dunes, etc etc is usually plenty to get the point across :)

SMALLER SCALE

roads are personally the bane of my existence. i try to treat them like rivers just a little straighter, depending on what time period you're emulating you might go curvier. also they dont care about maintaining width or what direction the fractal goes in humans just put those shits wherever they walk a lot. in contrast railroads are usually pretty straight, simply because trains are built different than cars or wagons or people

cities are almost always on a source of freshwater and a valuable resource that draws people for work in the early days. also they'll have like 10-20x the landmass of the city itself in farms around them, less if theyre on the coast and have access to lots of seafood, more if theyre more landlocked. those farms can be farther away if theyre more industrialized and can transport the food en masse easily. you also dont have to draw the farms just kinda mention them in the story if relevant

towns can be on smaller rivers, lakes, or even just by natural springs. you wont find permanent settlements in places where water isnt accessible (unless you have magic to fix that which is always a cool detail)

EVEN SMALLER SCALE

city maps i have 0 advice on other than roads get thinner the fewer people travel on them, industry will be on a very different side of town than the rich people for smell and noise reasons, and especially when emulating pre-car times, think about how far you would feasibly walk in a day. if you want characters to be able to know pretty much the whole city that they live in, it's gotta be reasonable for them to walk to the farthest edge of their knowledge and back home (or to an inn) in a reasonable timeframe, if they have a home. also big cities tend to have colleges, trade schools, and a bajillion and one jobs that need doing. magic cities might need mages to maintain infrastructure, non-magical cities need people who light the streetlamps when it gets dark, waste disposal is Hugely Important, etc etc etc

it can sound boring at first but coming up with the odd maintenance jobs people have to do in cities can be a really fun creative exercise, and it might inform how the city is laid out, too!!

IN CONCLUSION

think of the world in layers. landmasses + oceans -> biomes and geographical landmarks -> countries and borders -> settlements -> districts. i literally have those on different layers in clip studio so i can futz with them more easily.

also realism is not the be-all-end-all of this. there's lots of room for symbolism and environmental storytelling in maps, as ive ranted about in the past, and stuff doesn't have to make absolute sense in the real world to work well for your world. breaking the rules is like, art 201 and it applies to ever part of the art in question <3

i hope this helped!!!! again pls let me know if you have any more questions i love helping out :D

[suenitos]

this is definitely controversial but i don’t really get why people get so fussy about reddit here… the content there isn’t gonna be happy stan stuff it’s gonna be discussion about topics that ppl avoid around stan areas (also please learn the difference between complaining & discussions/healthy criticism, not everything is a personal attack and sometimes it DOES come from a good place)

not to mention dream himself said he goes to reddit for criticism because he knows it’s more unbiased than twitter and he can get a better scope of differing takes

dreams a grown ass man he can ignore reddit if he wants to but if he’s still there it’s bc he wants to hear out the criticism and maybe just maybe incorporate it (again he can ignore it if he wants or if he thinks it’s good criticism he can add it like he did when ppl discussed the first titan vid there)

found the redditor LMAOOO listen i think we very obviously are coming from different angles about this.

minus the fact i think youre putting words in my mouth about the "personal attack" bit (and if youre not, sorry. but surely youre aware how it comes off right? i think most people here as adults understand that difference perfectly well come on) because i even said i know a lot of it IS coming from a good place (allegedly), and i understand the concerns. im not saying dteam are even above criticism about content or anything either. and i thank god every day dream doesnt go on twitter for opinions about anything actually, but i fundamentally disagree with you with the reddit being more "unbiased" in the sense that yeah i guess a lot of the "discussions" can come across as less biased if you arent restricted to 240 characters and can use longer words than "parasocial". you may be right about differing takes in a sense but there is a big sampling bias there too, in that not all opinions are even represented on the reddit because you really do have to be a certain type of person to even have a reddit and go on that subreddit specifically in the first place (which is not a diss!! im just pointing out that platform is much more niche and smaller in scale than youtube where the ACTUAL majority of fans are. and i dont think the majority of opinions on the reddit is even a tenth of a representation of the general opinion about content because most fans are essentially casuals, so i would even disagree with dream there in assuming its less biased etc).

i also dont think youre right in saying reddit is specifically a place people discuss things they normally wouldnt in "stan areas", the only difference is people either ignore or weirdchamp the takes in the stan spaces as they should because its weird to say!! im aware not every criticism is an attack but a lot of them are parasocial as FUCK /neg. i think that sort of business analysis(?) is doubly weird to say TO dream (because thats how the post i have a special issue with is structured, but this applies a lot even when the direct address isnt to dream, because most are still written with the intent, or knowledge that he sees it). again im not even saying we need to censor ourselves, my personal issue is the lack of social AWARENESS or couth people have in saying these things because it DOES come off as demanding every single time (from a fan perspective) and its bizzare because we all know why certain things dont happen or fall through etc if you've been here long enough. and if you even know of the reddit's existence you have definitely been here long enough.

but in fairness to you, im also coming at it from my own experience being here and on twitter where people can flip on opinions at a drop of a hat so obviously im going to be naturally distrusting of peoples intentions with "critique", knowing that a sizable chunk of people even within fan spaces are at times a bit too intense and overly critical of dteam because of invisible demons, or even real ones. obviously dream can ignore it if he wants, but he cares so much, thats what makes him good. i think hes very patient and at times a bit too kind in giving dumb takes (or ones that take 30 seconds to dismantle with added information/nuance) grace and attention, but that is also exactly why he has 30 million subscribers and i dont lmaooo. like he obviously is built different if he can still say the internet is good after getting doxxed and nailed to the cross ten bajillion times. but that feedback loop of giving those same "we want more content" takes attention and people continuing to do it more and more, even when we actually GET content, is just so dumb like i want it too but im not gonna start talking about dwindling audiences and what they can do to get 20k viewers on every stream again TO THEM, because thats unrealistic and again. its weird to me. thats mostly all im saying, it's weird. but to each their own i suppose you dont need to agree with me

[averywiseanimatedcat]

Rewatching Good Omens season 2 liveblog

Episode 2, ‘The clue’ post 4

Link to previous post

Starting off strong with

FUCK

OFF

GABRIEL

Step in a puddle with socks on.

*when my boss is watching me work and I don’t know what I’m doing*

Azi and Crowley were such a disaster in this scene, just winging it. But Azi LIED for the first time!! This was so important because we saw him have to make a choice, and he had to do it quickly. So he went with what his true ethnical orientation is-to protect Jobs family. So this part of the flash back is really quite poignant for Azi. It’s the moment he feels like he fell, and was suddenly no longer safe.

Then when we’re back in the bookshop we find out Crowley just left at some point while Azi was staring at that picture? Did he try to get his attention? Does this happen allot? Crowley doesn’t seem at all concerned so I feel like it does happen a fair bit that Azi gets kinda lost in something and Crowley just goes out for a stroll until his Azirphale is ready to talk about whatever it was.

His lil concerned/traumatised face I can’t.

FUCK OFF AND BANG YOUR FUNNY BONE ON THE DOOR AS YOU LEAVE GABRIEL.

I’m sorry that was an automatic reaction. He’s actually kinda cute in this scene with his lil ‘am I bad now?’

‘Gotcha’

GOTCHA. David really killing it with the line delivery this season. I love Nina’s character because she just rolls with it, and Crowleys like ‘oh a human who isn’t completely put off by my weird ass’ and I think that’s why he respects her and listens to her later on when she tells him to talk to Aziraphale. She’s not put off by him even though she literally saw him skull 6 shots of espresso, get hit by lightning and then ask her about rain and the girl who has a crush on her over the road? Like this is the weirdest mother f-er she’s ever met and she’s like ‘ok and what?’ He respects that. We respect Nina in this house.

STOP HIS LITTLE HEAD POPPING OUT. And did he miracle out there? There was the miracle sound when his head popped up. Why is he so cute. And I love how we can see Crowley was just wandering around waiting for Azirphale to come find him, he didn’t go anywhere he just waited for Azirphale to be ready. I just reminded myself of the final episode…shit…

“Oh.” Again. This is like the fifth ‘Oh’ Crowleys done when Aziraphale says something clever this episode it’s fucking cute.

This is apparently the Good Omens book this absolute FUCKWIT is holding. I’m sorry I’ll try to tone down the aggression he’s Jim not Gabriel Jim not Gabriel…

#season 3 vibes with Azi sitting alone? Lol I’m in pain.

But this ending scene was…oof. The symbolism of Aziraphale sitting alone, thinking he’s fallen then Crowley comes to be with him. He didn’t have to do that at all, he could’ve just left. But he went and looked for Aziraphale knowing he must be struggling.

He’s such a sweet not-lad who pretends to be big and scary but really he’s a softy.

Their conversation was so sweet and we again see how Crowley is kind to those who he can tell have good intentions. Crowley teased him in the cellar about going to hell but he could see this was a time to be serious. He was honest and admitted it was lonely to be on your own side. I think this is the moment where they really connect for the first time. They were very much themselves here, with no walls up.

On their characters-Crowley doesn’t seem to have much sense of self worth and I think that is what allows him to be so brash and confident. He doesn’t think he’s worth anyone caring what happens to him. And he is working within an impossible system so figures he might as well do what he wants and deal with the consequences later. He’s bitter and has mostly given up trying to make any big change, he just does the best he can with what he has at the time.

But Aziraphale is very idealistic and believes he can do good on a large scale. He believes he has potential and has tainted that by lying/going against gods will. And he believes this because he lacks confidence in his own judgement. He’s very intelligent, but still stuck in a very closed cycle of thinking. And honestly, that hasn’t changed a whole lot since. He’s made some headway, but he is still holding onto the same ideals more or less.

But despite Aziraphale idealistic side he is drawn to the confidence and freedom Crowley seems to possess. He appreciates his honesty and straightforward nature. Crowley says and does the things Azirphale knows is right, but can’t/won’t admit. I think in a way he also needs Crowley to give him permission to do ‘bad’ things, he wouldn’t do them alone but Crowley is an accomplice that gives him confidence.

Crowley is drawn to the pure hearted nature Aziraphale possesses. He’s drawn to Aziraphales unending hope that things can be good in the world. Aziraphale is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. And it’s a very forceful Ray of sunshine. He respects Aziraphales desire to do the right thing. Again, same with Muriel and Jobs kids. He is drawn to those who remind him of himself before he fell. He sees himself before he was hurt, before he lost all his hope and before he became bitter and angry. Maybe he thinks it’s to late for him, but it’s not to late for him to preserve those who still possess what he’s lost.

Long story short I’m obsessed with this flashback. And it shows just how LONG Azirphale has been struggling. Crowley had his moral compass pretty well oriented even back then. But Azirphale is still struggling all the way up until the last episode where that struggle really explodes and causes them to fly apart.

Ironically, this flashback illustrates how the thing that caused them to fly apart was also the thing that brought them together in the first place!

And I’m sad now so here’s a cute smiling Crowley bc he deserves the world

Link to episode 3, post 1

[ariel-seagull-wings]

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: RAY STANTZ

Asked by anonymus

@amalthea9 @angelixgutz @thealmightyemprex @goodanswerfoxmonster @spengnitzed @bixiebeet @themousefromfantasyland @stantzed @filmcityworld1 @professorlehnsherr-almashy

Favorite Thing About Them: Ray is one of the first dorky geeks that was proud of his geekness in visual mass media. He is optimistic, resilient, outgoing, curious, sometimes shows concerns and reservations, but when pushed into a new situation, he jumps with entusiasm at the adventure, and he loves to share his passion about the supernatural with people, and even if he appears at the wrong hour, or some people are just not interested and may judge him as a "weirdo", he never looses his entusiasm or acts ashamed of who he is. A lot of people in the audience would love to have him as a friend because of how quick he is to embrace new people into his life, and he is also one of the first plus size characters that many fans to this day consider phisically atractive, wich should be considered an important mark in the Body Positivity movement.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: When in the novelization of the 1984 movie, there was an insertion of "Innocent Insensitivity" in his character in a scene where he reacts surprised for Winston being black, saying that "the supernatural reacts more strongly in the presence of black people". I hope Winston had a talk with Ray about the concepts of positive discrimination and exotification, and why they are harmfull, in private after that.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

*I enjoy the taste of roasted marshmallows as a comfort food;

*I love comic books;

*I have a fascination with mithology and folklore from around the world;

Three Things I Don't Have In Common With Them:

*I'm too easilly frightened to want to make physical contact with a ghost;

*I don't drive;

*Both of my parents are still alive;

Favorite Line:

From the October 1983 Script Draft:

"Drop everything; Venkman. We got one."

"Peter, at 1:40 this afternoon at the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, ten people witnessed a free-roaming, vaporous, full-torso apparition. It blew books from shelves at twenty feet away. Scared the socks off some poor librarian."

"No, this one's for real, Peter. Spengler went down there and took some PKE readings. Right off the top of the scale. Buried the needle. We're close this time. I can feel it."

"Spengler and I have charted every psychic occurrence in the Tri-State area for the past two years. The graph we came up with definitely points to something big."

"What do you mean by "seen?""

"Well, I was at an unexplained multiple high-altitude rockfall once."

"I told you it's real."

"Okay. Okay. I got it. I know what to do. Stay close. I have a plan."

"Okay, now do exactly as I say. Everybody ready?Okay... GET HER!!!"

"I guess I got a little overexcited. Wasn't it incredible! I'm telling you, this is a first. You know what this could mean to the University?"

"Then we were right! This is great. And if the ionization rate is constant for all ectoplasmic entities, I think we could really kick ass - in the spiritual sense."

"You said you floored ‘em at the Regents‘ meeting."

"My parents left me that house. I was born there."

"But at nineteen percent interest! You didn't even bargain with the guy."

"Wow! Does this pole still work?"

"Are you troubled by strange noises in the night? Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic? Have you or your family actually seen a spook, specter or ghost? If the answer is yes, then don't wait another minute. Just pick up the phone and call the professionals —— Ghostbusters."

"Everybody can relax. I found the car. How do you like it?"

"Just needs a little suspension work...And a muffler...And maybe brakes."

"You know, Peter, this could be a past life experience intruding on the present."

"I just realized something. We've never had a completely successful test with any of the equipment."

"All right. Let's cool the negative vibes. These things can sense them."

"Sir, what you had there was what we refer to as a focused, non—terminal repeating phantasm or a Class Five Full Roaming Vapor...A real nasty one, too."

"I couldn't help it! It just popped in there!"

"It can't be! It can't be!"

"It's...It‘s...It's the STAY-PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN."

"I tried to think of the most harmless thing...something that could never destroy us...something I loved from my childhood."

"The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man! He was on all the packages we used to buy when I was a kid. We used to roast Stay-Puft marshmallows at Camp Waconda!"

"Either way we're history."

From the novelization of the 1984 movie by Richard Mueller:

"It's not a car, it's an Ectomobile."

brOTP: Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, Janine Melnitz, Dana Barrett, Louis Tully, Slimer, Jake, Buster, Louise, Irena Cortez, Bryan Welsh, Ilyssa Selwin, Melanie Ortiz, Kylie Griffin, Eduardo Rivera, Walter Peck.

OTP: Winston Zeddemore, Elaine Phermon, Jenny Moran, @amalthea9 OC Peggy, @spengnitzed OC Michelle.

nOTP: Kylie Griffin.

Random Headcanon: In the 2009 videogame, Ray briefly mentions that he went to study in a Seminar, so I assume he was raised Catholic.

Unpopular Opinion: I wish he made use of the camera that he appeared at the beggining of the 1984 movie more often, as a way of documenting the ghosts behaviours, maybe even interviewing them. Is a pity that this filmaker side of Ray never went furter explored.

Songs I Associate With Them:

Frankenstein Twist

Monster Mash

I'm a Believer

The Night

Ghostriders in the Sky

Favorite Picture of Them:

Dan Aykroyd in the 1984 movie

His design in the pilot and first two seasons of The Real Ghostbusters

[xcryinginguccix]

Buckle up nerds, today were doing something fun.

Do y'all remember that very tiny game from Bethesda, the one that came out in 2011 called Skyrim?

Well on tonight's episode I'm ranking quests. Not all of them, just the big faction quests. I'm not that insane (yet, it will come eventually).

I can't believe I'm making a Skyrim post in 2024.

Anyways, let's dive in (spoilers ahead)

Number 5: Collage of Winterhold

Well... I have some opinions. It's underwhelming to say the least. I expected to learn some extremely fun spells, schemes, mystery and general feelings of walking into the coolest campus you have ever seen. What we got was... meh.

You could breathe towards Tolfdir and he would still call you the greatest mage in the history of mages. You can find more magic going into a random cave somewhere near Riverwood than you will find AT THE MAGIC SCHOOL. You also, don't learn anything... Or at least anything of value, and then the principal dies and you take his job. You can literally complete this quest with no more than 3 basic spells in your arsenal. Bethesda should fix this quest line instead of re-releasing this game every 6 months to upgrade the visuals of a single tree. Anyways let's go to the next one, this one is just getting me angry.

Number 4: Civil war shenanigans

Stormcloaks

Ahhh civil war. Viva la Revolution... Expect from no.

If 10 year old me was ranking it, it would be much higher (let's just say my tiny brain didn't understand what "Skyrim belongs to the nords" implied). Generally said it's a pretty solid quest. Ulfic sends you to kill some ghost in order to prove yourself, the Whiterun attack is fun, genuinely pushing against Imperial legion by doing some smaller scale attacks is fun, concerning Solitude was great... And you get a pretty funky bear armor. I like funky drip.

Pretty solid but I don't like nationalism sorry. So on the other hand we have...

Imperial legion

... I think this is one of the few games where I agree on pushing against the revolution. Too bad those guys also suck ass... It's like European politics, I'm choosing the lesser evil.

Generally this questline is pretty similar to the previous one, with the exception that you're fighting in some other areas. Defending Whiterun is extremely fun, I love this city so much. All my points from the last one stand, except this quest has worse drip but more enjoyable npcs.

Also lmao Ulfric fucking dies x D

That alone makes it a better branch.

Number 3: Jorrvarskr questlines

Oh yeah, it's lycanthropy time baby.

This questline is fun, so much fun. You get introduced to the gang right outside of Whiterun while they are trying to fight off a giant.

Fun dungeons, fun story, extremely enjoyable npcs. Progressing the companion quests enough will allow you to turn yourself into a werewolf, which is an automatic bonus for me. Going nuts on a random dragon in werewolf form will never stop being funny.

Also you can marry Aela and for that I would french kiss Todd Howard on his corrupt mouth. Live laugh love Jorrvarskr. Solid stuff.

Also if you suddenly decided that you "no no wanna :(" be a werewolf anymore you can heal yourself by... Cutting off a hags head and preforming a cleansing ritual with it.

Yeah no I have no idea how that would work but sure.

Number 2: The dark brotherhood

Words cannot describe how much this questline had me in a chokehold at the ripe age of 10.

This is so so so good. I love egdy shit. This questline starts as a banger from the introduction. I will never forget the feeling of walking into this creepy ass house in Windhelm, and seeing a child doing a ritual.

So much fun stuff right off the gate. I could write an essay about his whole questline. Fun missions, plotting and scheming, funky assassinations that get progressively harder with each contract and the plot twist and the end... Just the right kind of edge I always need. I love it so much.

Each of the members of the dark brotherhood have so much charisma. You get an emo horse, and a wonderful looking armor. Evil twink Cicero forever in my heart.

And finally, creme de la creme... Number 1: Thieves guild

My. Fucking. God.

There is a reason why I choose any type of rogue class anytime I play anything. This whole quest is living rent free in my head.

The introduction, the location, the npcs... The collage of Winterhold WISHES it had an atom of greatness this quest has.

I love everything about this questline, from start to finish. Every time I see Brynjolf in the market of Riften my heart gets filled with genuine happiness. The whole thing with the Nightingales and Mercer and KarIiah. I love how you can bring back the thieves guild to its former glory once again.

Every single npc is fun to talk to. When I say that I remember almost no one from the shitty wizard academy quest, I meant it. This tho, all of them are engraved in my mind.

Also, you can get ultimate drip, which is the Nightingale armor.

Best armor in the game, argue with the wall you cannot change my mind.

God I love thieves. God I love the guild.

Anyways that's all. Someday I will rank all the daedric quests once I'm bored at 4am again (spoiler alert: The mind of madness is in first place). If you want to change my mind... Well you won't bc I played this game since I was a child.

Special thanks to Todd Howard for my gay awakenings: Aela and KarIiah.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

I think some PJMs are on a rampage today, though thinking this is a large-scale, planned deal is giving them too much credit, when it comes to deal with antis, strategic isn't a word that comes to mind. With this person's claim, while I haven't gone through your blog with a fine tooth comb, I've looked at a lot of your Jimin content and I have not seen any 'shady' comments ("shady" is just vague enough and I'm sure is partially based on 'vibes' that they can't provide real proof of these claims). Half the time when PJMs say stuff like this it isn't that you've been shady to Jimin, it's that you've been shady to PJMs, and, in their mind, that must mean you don't like anyone who supports him, thus, Jimin anti...(that's the best I can do getting into their thought process).

When the reality is there are plenty of antis they could be worried about, creating new ones helps no one.

Wow, if that's one possible explanation, then I'm amazed at the logic. Anon, I'm sort of done with being understanding and accepting because time and time again I'm being proven that it's impossible to reason with radicalized people.

That big ass ot7 army was the damn blue print and every other fandom subsection is following the same pattern of cult radicalization. If I'm a fan of one member or two, I'm like 2 degress of separation of ending up in radicalized spaces. I tried that with Jimin biased people and pages on tumblr and all it's fine and next thing you know, they're reblogging the most insane conspiracy theory from their main thinkers. And I go back to my spot and give up. I'm not even trying with JJKs and never have because I'm not touching that group with a 10 feet pole when the majority of them are taekookers and/or really whinny and vile people just like KTHs. I'm not even gonna start about shipping spaces cause that's another mess.

Radicalized hardcore fans or solo stans are fanatics, ready to attack other people based on some imaginary wrong doing. Army and other solo stans have been continuously dehumanizing Jimin on a level that I didn't believe it was possible, but my posts about Jimin are a concern? I'm an anti that makes shady comments?

I don't give a fuck about fan groups, they can all rot. I'm not coming here to be concerned daily about idiots, I'm here to talk about an idol that I like, in this particular context. And I fucking hate how pjms are sometimes using Jimin and the way he's treated by the entire bts/kpop fandom as an excuse for them to be just as vile as any other solos. That is so fucking wrong. But if I criticize them, it means I hate people supporting Jimin and then by some logic twist, I am a Jimin anti. What's next for me because I'm saying this? Stoned in the public square and made an example of? Getting an avalanche of death threats? All stuff that I have received from army and the other solo stans and shippers. Nothing new under the sun.

I look through blogs (not just back alleys on twitter) with a big reach here and I have to run in the other direction because I see some of the most insane posts. And if I go and look through another solo member community, I see the same "arguments", only the names are different.

I can barely follow blogs here focused on someone I like. And I wish I could. But the landscape is fucking bleak because they take immense joy in perpetuating toxic narratives and being overall dicks. I'd rather have a one on one conversation through anon messages like this on my own blog because even if I might figure out what type of fan someone is, I only have to work with that one message and that's it. Easier to deal with.

[stardewthoughts]

Lewis

These are some ideas/headcanons/whatnot about Lewis that I’ve had. This is no end all be all, just my ideas, please share your own

To preface, I dislike Lewis, for a handful of reasons, but I will try to remain objective

firstly, Lewis doesn't know or care about like half his job. I know no 2 places are the same and often have differing roles and responsibilities and such but here are the general duties of a mayor

to be CEO (chief executive officer)

to execute and enforce the laws of the city/municipality

to hire municipal managers and employees

to preside over meetings/cast votes

to provide public services to the town and ensure they work

to give information and recommendations to the city council on improvements to be made

To serve as the official spokesperson for the city government and build a sense of community

To speak with constituents and listen to their concerns and questions

Lewis seems to only cover the easier or more enjoyable parts, he decides things for the town then has others do them, he sends information and reports into the local city/governing body, he acts as a spokesperson more to build up pelican towns name than that he actually believes half of what he says as well as speaking with the townsfolk (some more than others lol) he half-asses at public services, the town has power, water and waste management, but no public transport in a town where (as far as i remember) only 2 people have some form of vehicle, or no industries to help keep the town alive (mining, lumber and such) he's a paper mayor at best

but here's the thing, just looking around, you can tell it wasn't always like this, there is lots of decayed mining infrastructure, and with how the forest near marine's home grow's, its closer to a new regrowth forest, which could hint at a small scale logging business, as well as all the broken down or decayed infrastructure. at one point the town was thriving, likely early in Lewis's career, but now everything is broken and supposedly the town is lacking in funds. the one commonality, Lewis

now I'm not saying he was the only factor, but he holds a lot of power to change said issues, its literally in his job description to fix the town but he relies on the goodwill of a private citizen to fix and build up the town, or is willing to sell land to a megacorporation that would flatten pelican town to build a factory in a heartbeat. now for disliking Lewis I don't think its laziness or pure greed-corruption that led him to what he is today, I think somethin may have happened, early on, he may have lost a loved one, or some similar heartbreaking experience, that left him depressed or distraught, and while id say he's possibly worked to manage it, it changed him, the happy man who wanted t help his hometown became a sad man alone in a big house who couldn't make the hard choices anymore and began skimming by life.

all that doesn't change what he's done but may explain it

[aeondeug]

so ff16 fucks hard. really liking the combat thus far. as much as i did like the ff7r combat i will admit i found the menuing a bit weird and clunky. so it's nice to have a game that just killed that dead and which has settled squarely in real time arpg territory. the combat itself is fun albeit fairly easy thus far. i am intrigued by the combo system. especially with the dog and aerials it seems like you can do some wacky shit. i will admit i keep pushing the shift button instead of the dodge button though. i assume i'll get used to it. there's apparently alternate control schemes but we'll use the one we've got thus far.

loving the tone of the game thus far. it's nice to have ff back in a fantasy realm instead of things like 15 or 7r. it's a very different feeling sort of world from like your ff5 or 9 though. the tone especially. i can see why some people have been comparing it, even if jokingly, to asoiaf. since it is very politics based and has a grim, gritty edge to it. also people say shit fuck damn.

music i really, really like. it i think is one of the things that really makes it feel properly final fantasy. soken's stuff is really good. also the strings in the main battle theme reminds me of stuff i adored about the ff13 soundtrack, which is by far my favorite soundtrack in the series.

i've not yet messed with the difficulty setting stuff but i am interested in hearing how it works out for those not into action games or who struggle with them. since it's not just a story difficulty but also additional items that alter specific parts of the gameplay to make them easier. which honestly i think is something needed? because like reducing the health of a boss does diddly dick if what the player struggles with is being able to time dodges.

also, most important for me perhaps, the spectacle of the game is very on point. the segues from gameplay to cutscene are nice and it does seem like the game has a lot of what i liked about 13's pacing. namely that shuttling you through very pretty hallways into high octane fights and then into more cutscenes. but unlike 13 it is offering side activities, towns, npcs and the like to explore. i am wondering how open the the environments will get and how large. thus far they've been small, but i am in the start of the game admittedly. i can't imagine they get too open though. not with how the game appears to be pacing its cutscene and battle balance.

my big concern is if there will be annoying ass forced side quest shit like in 7r. playing 13 made me never want to replay 7r despite how much i loved it that first time. because it's like i just want to go do the big cool fights and see the big cool cutscenes. i don't want to hunt down cats and do stupid ass busy work. it's nice to have those things around as options, but the important bit here is that they are options. they're hardly side quests if the game forces you to fucking do them before you can get back to watching 20 hours worth of squeenix cutscenes interspersed with dumb action set piece bosses. i prefer my ff side content to be side content. not mandatory. easily skipped. i've not seen any indication of being forced to do sidequests, but 7r's forced side quest segments burned me hard.

away from pacing the actual spectacle on offer is super hype! the eikons are big dumb things that fuck shit up super hard and you get to see people just get demolished while big ice spikes and stuff explode out of the earth. there's also the sheer scale of the battle scenes. lots of little dudes running around and siege weaponry and stuff. also the battle between phoenix and ifrit had like lots of big dumb spectacle shit as you zoomed around and stuff. and i am liking the spectacle based nature of the qtes. though i can see the qtes being an irritant for some players. they do appear to be fairly generous windows though and they seem to be limited to pressing attack or dodge during the windows depending on the sort of qte. so none of that bayonetta horseshit where you didn't understand the fucking prompt and now must restart the entire ass boss fight.

anyway ff16. good game thus far. on a very strong foot, which the mainline series desperately needed after 13 and 15.

[crystalelemental]

“emrylurkeroftheloch: Yea, I think this is more or less where I settled on it as well? I enjoy it for what it is (some of the regional varients are cool), and I enjoy some of the battles (post game you get access too an absurd trainer who brings a L99 T-Tar), but like. Overall it's kinda fine, and it's a good proof of concept, it just needs more polishing to smooth out the rough edges (trainers not scaling, etc)”

I think that dude exists beforehand.  When I went off to face the head of the biker gang, all the trainers I beat that way refreshed, and there was a new hiker guy who had a level 70 Tyranitar.  I beat his ass with Hammer Arm Metagross after he outsped Perish Song Jynx and locked himself into Thrash.  GG EZ, moron.

But yeah, that’s basically where it’s at.  I think the big components are:

Smoother level curve, possibly interspersing things more. Ranks 3-8 happened in the span of like.  An hour.  I unlocked vacations and then could never go on one because stuff kept unlocking.

On that note, your reputation scaling is borked.  Getting from rank 1 to 2 took forever, but only because I completely forgot to check my mailbox for like a week.  When I did, there were like five new gym trainers, and adding each of them must have been what kicked off the whirlwind of rank increases that followed.

Remove scaling of random encounters.  You have enough methods of catching up on level available that, with the money factor, it’s not hard to catch up.  Random encounters make it a lot easier to determine roughly what level trainers will be at too.

Though if you want, there’s probably a better way to make a formula for money.  It’s the lowest priority.  I’m more concerned with “Where the hell are all the other TMs?”  I get that Ice Beam and Earthquake and such are likely the other type specific specialties, but like...they’re kinda big deal moves that a lot of sets go to, so it’s rather annoying to not have them.

A bit more dialogue for your gym trainers would be nice.  All but the first one you select have exactly one stock phrase, and even the first pick only has like three unique lines they’ll talk about.  I dunno.  A bit more would be nice.