#then got hit again and got brought down to 3 hp | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

captainmullin · 15 days ago

Note

Rackam scolding Mullin on sleeping habits?

ACTUALLY really funny you say that cause I’m pretty sure that was one of the original ideas I had for these two idiots (affectionate) immovable object vs unstoppable force … them <3 also I had full intent to answer this and then I um. passed out for three hours

"Sheesh, when was the last time you actually slept?" Rackam's voice lingered in the back of Mullin's mind, their headache starting to take on more of a searing pain than a dull ache. A reminder of the hours lost to the paperwork and organization that they had to continuously do. Their hair had started to grow out again, and with it, knots began to appear as Mullin twisted their fingers around their lavender locks - nervous habits even a haircut couldn't break.

Snapping yet another quill from holding it too hard, Mullin sighed and slumped back in their chair. Their desk was littered with black and blue ink, and the stack of papers seemed to never get smaller. They rolled their wrist, wincing at the pain. Rackam had visited, as well as Gran, but neither of them stayed for long. It was already... wait.

Mullin squinted at the candle on their desk and then looked outside. Oh, no. It's probably... four in the morning? Shit. That means... night shift changes in an hour, and the morning crew will be up. Including me.

Mullin groaned and reached for their water - only to find the cup empty. (It probably had been for awhile, but they just now noticed. When was the last time they even... nevermind). Sighing, the captain steeled their resolve to brave the kitchen, and stood up from their desk.

Ow. Ow. Ow, ow- A hiss escapes from their clenched teeth as Mullin stood, all of the pain and fatigue hitting them at once. Their wrists and knees hurt the worst, a shockwave of pain aggravating their migraine. Damn this desk. Do I even need water at this point? They sighed and stretched one last time, and then made their way into the Grandcypher’s kitchen. Hopefully no one was awake.

To Mullin’s relief, no one was in the kitchen. Unless you counted Lowain, Tomoi, and Elsam, who were in the back pantry prepping for the day’s menu - thankfully, the trio was too engrossed in conversation to hear the captain enter to refill their cup of water. Their hands shook with the effort; Mullin hadn’t noticed how bad their dizziness was until that point. The five minute walk down the hallway seemed like it took ages. Mullin, now unsteady on their feet, gripped the sink hard enough to turn their knuckles white. They grit their teeth to try and keep some semblance of control with them, but-

“Woah, captain down!” Lowain’s voice echoed in Mullin’s ears as they swayed on their feet, and promptly passed out.

~~~

“Look, bro, all I know is that they were chilling, and then bam! Zero HP.” Lowain said, crossing his arms. Elsam nodded.

“Yeah, totes. The water was running, I think they got dehydrated.”

“Dehydrated…?” Rackam mumbled as he watched Mullin sleep. Their hair was a mess, and you didn’t have to look close to see the dark rings under their eyes. Their brow was furrowed as well - are they having a nightmare? Rackam thought to himself. Tomoi and Elsam exchanged a look. The trio had brought Mullin back to their room but had bumped into Rackam as he was waking up for the day. At seeing the captain, Rackam immediately dropped what he was doing to help them back to their room. Tomoi was about to say something, but Lowain held his hand out.

“So… uh, yeah, we should probably let them sleep. Looks like they need it,” Lowain ventured. Rackam stayed silent, having taken a seat next to Mullin’s bed a few minutes prior. “Rackam, man, I don’t think they��re-“

“Ah, it’s okay. Gran and Djeeta can tell everyone we’re stayin’ an extra day.” Rackam replied, almost brushing off Lowain. The trio exchanged looks again.

“Yeah, sure. Okay.” Lowain and the other two went back outside the room - and immediately broke into a huddle.

“Dudes.” Tomoi began. Lowain nodded.

“I know, man. Rackam’s acting weird, and Captain’s out cold. What d’you say about us making them a banging meal?”

“Hell yeah! I’m on board!” Elsam agreed, and the three put their hands together. Elsam ran off to find Gran, and Tomoi went to Djeeta. Lowain sped off back to the kitchen - hopefully Mullin would be awake around lunchtime.

Back in their room, Mullin stirred in their sleep. Blinking away tiredness, their vision focused and found Rackam staring down at them, hands in his lap.

“What… um…?” They mumbled, voice hoarse.

“You’re awake? How are you feelin’?” Rackam said, quietly. He didn’t move.

“Oh-!” Mullin suddenly sat straight up in bed, then winced as their migraine tormented them again. Rackam also moved when they did, guiding them back down.

“Hey, easy, don’t move. You fainted earlier in the kitchen. What the hell were you doing, stayin’ up that late?”

“I…” Mullin began, then glanced away from Rackam, “I was working on the finance report. Sierokarte needed it so she could pay us back.”

“And?”

They bit their lip: “I also had to finish payroll. And finish the requests for time off- it was all due by the end of the month, I had to-“

“Mullin.” Rackam sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “When was the last time you ate? Or drank? Or maybe slept a full night?”

“Uhm…” Mullin trailed off, a little embarrassed that they were being scolded by their peer. “I ate yesterday, I think. I haven’t slept in a couple of days.”

“A couple of- why?” Rackam said softly. I shouldn’t pry, I should leave so they can rest, but…

“…I have nightmares.” Mullin confessed, looking back at the helmsman. “About Dad. About Gran, and Djeeta, and- and a lot of other things. But mainly Dad.”

“Ah…” Rackam nodded in sympathy. There was a distant look in Mullin’s eyes as they turned away from him again. Rackam said nothing, but reached out - he wasn’t sure why, but he just felt like he should. Rackam then noticed the knots near the end of their hair, little snags that probably should be dealt with before they got worse.

Wait. I can’t just. Can I? I shouldn’t. But their hair…

“…You don’t have to stay here. I’m fine.” Mullin mumbled, voice clearly drowsy again.

“I know. I want to stay, though. Can I- geez, this is awkward-“ Rackam said, stumbling over his words.

“What?”

“Can I- Would you let me brush your hair?”

“Oh. Um. Sure,” Mullin replied, voice even quieter. “Sure. My brush is by the nightstand.”

Flustered, Rackam quickly grabbed the brush and Mullin sat up - still facing away from him. Their migraine had subsided somewhat, but it had been replaced by a flush on their cheeks that spread to their ears. It was faint, but still visible. Rackam gently took the ends of Mullin’s hair into his hand and began to brush out the tangles - at least he could do this to help. He couldn’t do much with the nightmares, or the bouts of insomnia, or even making sure they were eating, but he could at least brush their hair.

A small laugh escapes Mullin’s lips, “Hey, that tickles.”

Even if he wasn’t the best at it.

#does granblue have pens or is it quills. cant remember! <- lore only the most deranged would think about #the sillies <33 #this also got longer than expected oops #ty anon <3 #《 anonymous 》#《 the journal of captain mullin 》

3 notes · View notes

zaptap · 4 months ago

Text

got back to pokemon xd last night. fought ardos, one of the hardest bosses in the game

half of his team is shadow pokemon, and two of them (swellow and electabuzz) know shadow half, which halves everyone's hp. and snorlax has shadow end, which halves the user's hp in recoil damage. so if you're not really careful, you can accidentally kill any of them before you snag them

so i'm thinking ok, seems the best strategy would be to bring a bunch of potions and focus on taking out the non-shadows while i wait for the shadows to get themselves into a good hp range to catch

....but, in practice, swellow just kept using shadow break to one shot my pokemon. i brought shadow starmie to hopefully resist some of the shadow move damage but heracross immediately got it in one hit with megahorn

before i knew it i was down to my last pokemon. a massive disadvantage in a double battle. i considered resetting and trying again right there, but i kept going.

at that point it was just the three shadow pokemon left. i revived one of my pokemon so i could have two turns again (i had to revive it a few times actually) and somehow managed to catch all three of them

only 5 more battles between me and the final boss...! 15 more shadow pokemon in the game. 7 of them from the final boss. including lugia and the legendary birds. that's going to be tough (the birds have their catch rate boosted to 25 though. but lugia's is still 3)

#pokemon xd #pokemon

2 notes · View notes

whatisurgatepolicy · 10 months ago

Text

My best friend challenged me to figure out what my various Tavs would be like as origin characters, and it's been a very fun thing to consider. So here's something overly in-depth.

So let's start with Rhea Dancer (Seren Lowell), as I just finished playing her through for the second time, hahahaha.

Initial Class: Paladin (Oath of Vengeance), occasionally receives [ex-bard] dialogue options when controlled by the player due to her past.

Quest Title: Nevermore Rhea was the youngest princess of a small kingdom to the east of the Chionthar. She took part in a failed rebellion, was exiled into drow slavery, and returned to try and kill the king again, only to die because he's a level 18 archwizard and she was a level 7 bardadin. Her twin brother, a Chosen of The Raven Queen made a deal with his goddess to bring back his sister. Unfortunately, she was brought back to life about five minutes before the Nautiloid swung by. Found: hiding from intelligence devours in the crashed nautiloid, pretending she isn't hiding from intelligence devours.

Tent: Plain, blue, blue rug. A hammock on the inside. No personal effects, unless the player gives them to her. She's not used to making decisions.

Big secret: the part about being a dead royal. Rhea currently exists in a half-life, under the auspices of a death curse, and her HP will go down every day while she's in the Shadow Cursed Lands. Small secrets: her mother's family worship Sehanine Moonbow, the elven aspect of Selune. Shadowheart's occasional references to Shar worshippers killing Selunites fill her with...something.

Charming quirks: Rhea has todo lists for every occasion, and regularly writes them out for her fellow party members and the player. She has an almost criminally bad taste in men (Aradin, Volo, Barcus), gets flustered around mean women, and will absolutely and shamelessly hit on Nine Fingers if you take her to the Guild in Act 3. Is disconnected from her emotions. Got her fake name from a strip club.

Ways they embody their class: Originally a College of Lore Bard, Rhea is great at history and religion checks, and her high charisma makes her a great persuasion/deception tool. Ways they are the antithesis of their class: Rhea's low con and strength vs high dex/charisma makes her a terrible fighter unless you have her in the back with spells and archery.

Personal quest/choice: In Act 1, in the Underdark, the player is introduced to Rhea's Revenge Todo List: after escaping from the drow, she found a myconid who looked after her. Its grove was destroyed by a demon, whose name is on the Revenge Todo List. In Act 2, an option is offered to Rhea by the Raven Queen: die, become a full revenant, get strong, and finally tick off every item on her todo list. In Act 3, you can find another of her remaining brothers in Wyrm's Rock Prison. If you rescue both him and Florrick, they're eventually able to break the curse keeping her half alive and bring her back - as a bard, who'll likely never be strong enough to overthrow her father.

Live and let go of vengeance as a bard, or exist as a revenant and finally fulfil the queer dream of killing one's father. (Secret third option if romanced: you can convince her to let you go back to Lowell with her and help her assassinate her father. If she's a revenant, she'll die for good. But if she's a bard, the player can help her wrest control of the kingdom and take over. It's implied she's not super happy ruling and would prefer to be doing more important stuff. Like a ton of shrooms. If she has a good ending and neither are romanced, she'll go live on Shadowheart's farm and be entirely useless as a homesteader.)

Green Flags: gives approval options on anything around freeing others, chasing self-freedom, or protecting others. Will critique Raphael's poetry. Is immediately ride-or-die for Wyll. Loves cats and rabbits. Will do anything for a slice of afternoon tea and some cake. Red Flags: is the only companion to not give approval when the player pets Scratch. Gives approval on anything that involves parent/sibling murder. Will talk endlessly about economics and/or the philosophy of statecraft if you let her, until the only person willing to talk to her is Gale. Is definitely stealing books from the other characters.

Relationships with the others:

Lae'zel - Rhea thinks very highly of Lae'zel, and wants to be her best pal. Their parallel is that they're both part of societies ruled by an evil magic user who wants to be a god. They're foils for each other because Lae'zel is an active part of that society, whereas Rhea was a rebel. Shadowheart - Rhea has an obvious crush on Shadowheart but also doesn't want her knowing anything about her. Their parallels involve being half-elves with a history with Selune who turned to a goddess associated with ravens and shadows and have fake names. They're foils for each other because Shadowheart had her memories taken away by her goddess, whereas Rhea now works for a goddess obsessed with memory. Rhea's original name, Lowell, also means little wolf. Gale - Rhea pretends she and Gale don't get along and always has choice words for wizards, but they share a lot of the same academic references and party banter often includes them having excited discussions to the horror of the rest of the group. Their parallel is that they are both nerds. They're foils for each other because Gale accepts his nerd title, and Rhea is in denial. But also because Rhea hates wizards and the weave, and Gale is a wizard who has fucked the weave. Astarion - Rhea keeps Astarion at arm's length at first because she has the blood of an undead. But it's clear they agree on more things than not, especially vis-a-vis murder. Parallels: weird family dynamic might be the key to overcoming your current undead limitations. They're foils for each other because Rhea's could be brought back by her family, whereas Astarion could use his family to ascend. Wyll - both Rhea and Wyll are from noble families. While King outranks Grand Duke, Rhea sees Wyll as being higher up the pecking order, and a lot more put together. Despite being around the same age, she looks up to him. Parallels: noble background, both exiled by their fathers. Foils because: Wyll wishes to reconcile with his father. Rhea wishes to murder her own, and his too, actually. Karlach - Rhea is clearly intimidated by Karlach's power, but enjoys spending time with her and playing songs for her. Later, can offer Karlach comfort about dying. Parallels: both on a fast track towards death. Foils: having been through death before, Rhea is very accepting of it. Minthara - so many toxic noble in-jokes, or comments about drow culture. Rhea warms up to Minthara very quickly when she realises she hates Lolth. Parallels: both vengeance seeking lil murderers from a noble background. Foils: Minthara was high up in drow society, but Rhea was a slave under the House Mizzrym. Their experiences of the drow are very different. Halsin - Rhea refuses to acknowledge Halsin because his height makes her very insecure. Jaheira - new mammy, who is doing her best to keep her new kids in check. Parallels: both are nobles who had to leave their seat of power. Foils: Jaheira has long accepted this and embraced being a druid. Rhea would give Gale's left arm to get out of the wilderness and never sleep on the floor again. Minsc - Rhea speaks only to Boo and doesn't seem to be aware that Minsc exists as anything other than a hamster puppet. Minsc approves.

#rhea dancer #bg3 tav

4 notes · View notes

darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght · 1 year ago

Text

Chapter 3- Part 3

So back to the outside we go! Before embarking on some level grinding for Streak, I remember seeing another cop up on Opal Bridge, north of here, who I didn’t talk to. Well, time to remedy that!

I wonder- does that way also lead into Obsidia Park or…some other Obsidia thing? Or is it somewhere else? I guess we won’t know until later.

But for now, we’ve got other priorities. Namely, getting Streak to Riptide and Breeze’s levels to some extent! I decided to move the Quick Claw to Ritpide- not only because Riptide’s lower Speed means he can really benefit from Quick Claw, but it allows Streak’s Pickup Ability to actually…you know, do stuff.

Anyways, let’s get fighting.

One partial grinding montage later…

OKAY SO I WAS GRINDING AND THIS POPPED UP:

Something different from the Normal-types I’ve been encountering in the grass next to Grand Hall! And a Poison-type at that, now I can be the one inflicting Poison on my enemies! Assuming I can catch it, at least.

Aaaand success! The snake is ours! It wasn’t easy at all- it tanked Streak’s attacks and Poisoned him, but Breeze was able to come in and lower the Ekans’s HP enough to catch.

Her name is Glare, and I’m gonna train her up alongside Streak.

And speaking of Streak- literally just when I brought up letting Pickup work, right after this fight, it procs and gives us an Oran Berry!

I didn’t manually put it in the Bag by the way- apparently, items found with Pickup get placed into the Bag automatically. I also got a text box message after the battle that told me Streak had found an Oran Berry, which is how I knew Pickup activated at all. Both of these are very nice QOL changes made with regards to Pickup, small changes, but good!

But enough praise, back to training.

More grinding later…

Anyways, now the team looks like this:

And with this, I think we’re good to head back into Lower Peridot Ward. Streak and Glare can get more experience from any new Trainers we run into.

Back here again, and…look up there. Do my eyes deceive me?

My eyes are right! The cops are gone, and 4th Street is open! We can see the rest of the ward now! What about 3rd Street- that one’s gotta be open too, right? Let’s go check. Just go down the path here, and-

AH, EXCLAMATION POINT!

Hey, that’s the lady who was vibing before! What, now she wants to have a fight??

Cute Cleffa, but…”Doxy”? What the heck is a doxy? Sounds like a slur from the 1950s. Alright, hold on, lemme look this up-

…Ah. I see. Yeah, that’s to be expected in a place like Reborn City, I suppose. Let’s just focus on the battle again.

Cleffa here tried to Encore Streak- and it did, but it Encore’d him into using Sand Attack, meaning the Cleffa’s having trouble landing any hits. Fine by me, that’ll just make things easier once the Encore ends-

HEY WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE LADY WITHDREW??

Aaaand she’s got a Panpour, yeah, okay-

The Panpour isn’t exactly more dangerous, it just keeps using Scratch, but with Streak’s attack reduced from Cleffa’s Charm earlier, it’s a bit slow-going.

And then Lindsey withdraws again, back into Cleffa!! Which keeps Charming Streak’s attack down!! But it’s FINE because Streak wins anyways!!

For the Panpour, I’m gonna give Streak a break, let’s give Glare a try…actually, I could have just used Glare for Cleffa too, Cleffa’s a Fairy-type- oh well, too late.

Intimidate’ll make sure Scratch doesn’t do much, so let’s just Wrap and Poison Sting in the hopes of poisoning, to deal damage bit by bit…

And the Poison procs!! Oh, it’s so nice to be the one doing the poisoning this time.

Ma’am, I was just walking here, you did not have to throw down like that. Listen, we respect sex workers in this house, but that doesn’t mean I wanna get ambushed into combat when I’m just trying to do some exploring in an area I thought was free of Trainers!

At any rate, back to the entrance to 3rd Street-

And indeed, it’s open now! So let’s take a look at what’s in this newly opened area.

And the first thing is a…sprite of some kind…? I don’t think that’s a human NPC, probably, but still…what is that?

Oh, it’s a Teddiursa! Is this an event like what happened with Zigzagoon? I’m always willing to accept new creatures into the party!

Uh- it…ran off? Okay, uh- bye, I guess? We’ll probably see it again, but still, weird…

Also, more street signs, just to confirm that we are, in fact, in a whole new area with new stuff to see.

2 notes · View notes

tobiasdrake · 2 years ago

Text

Gym #5: Larry the Exceptional Everyman

Here we are at the Normal gym.

Here's the team I've rolled up.

Gabite (Sand Veil) w/Smooth Rock: Dragon Breath, Earthquake, Sand Attack, Sandstorm

Hariyama (Guts) w/Punching Glove: Drain Punch, Thunder Punch, Sleep Talk, Rest

Hypno (Forewarn) w/Twisted Spoon: Zen Headbutt, Hex, Hypnosis, Disable

Mabosstiff (Intimidate) w/Black Glasses: Crunch, Comeuppance, Play Rough, Charm

Coalossal (Flame Body) w/Rocky Helmet: Power Gem, Flamethrower, Will-O-Wisp, Tar Shot

Gyarados (Intimidate) w/Shell Bell: Waterfall, Ice Fang, Crunch, Dragon Dance

Being unevolved, Gabite is our weak link, but I think his Sand Veil might just make him scrappier than his stats would otherwise imply. I would have given him Eviolite, but the Smooth Rock seemed more important.

I'm trying something with Hariyama. He's going to be our strongest contender against a Normal gym. His ludicrously high HP is his strongest attribute, though his Physical Attack is a close second. I think if I can keep him healing with Drain Punch and Rest, plus getting Guts boosts every time he triggers Rest, he could go a long time in that ring.

He might even be able to sweep the whole fight.

Hypno's really more of a saboteur. He hasn't been able to learn Dream Eater yet, so he can't fire off in the specific way that Hypno was designed to do as a Pokemon. But I'm hoping Disable, Hex, and Zen Headbutt can help compensate.

Coalossal is a brick wall who can paint a Fire weakness onto any opponent she goes up against. I predict her being the #2 strongest in this upcoming fight.

Anyone who read the fight against the Water Gym remembers Intimidate shenanigans ultimately winning a match that I had no right to win. Well, this time we've got Mabosstiff and Gyarados as a pair of Intimidaters. XD Hopefully won't have to resort to that again, though. I'm feeling really good here.

Ordinarily, I would save my strongest Pokemon as an emergency fallback. But honestly, I think Hariyama's strong enough to sweep this whole thing so let's go with him in front.

Larry's Pokemon #1: Komala

Starting off decent. Komala's got high Special Defense to compensate for low HP, but her Physical Defense is lacking. She's also not very fast. Her main gimmick is always being asleep but being able to act normally despite it.

So, basically, her main gimmick is being immune to status ailments. I respect that. But her low HP and lack of PHY DEF is going to crush her.

Komala gets the first move: Yawn. Ha! Hariyama's built to lose consciousness anyway. Hariyama, meanwhile, oneshots Komala with the first Drain Punch.

Larry's Pokemon #2: Dudunsparce

Hahaha, what? I forgot they gave Dunspace the silliest possible evolution.

Dunsparce is fairly well-balanced, with high HP and low Speed. It also has Serene Grace, so secondary effects are easy to trigger. Not sure that's going to be relevant. I assume Dudunsparce is the same but more.

Hariyama's got one turn before he passes out. I'm going to use it on a Drain Punch. Dudunsparce actually manages to tank the hit. She responds with Glare, paralyzing Hariyama and ironically cancelling out the Yawn.

Now free to move again since Paralysis nerfed Hariyama's speed, Dudunsparce uses Hyper Drill. This hits for about 40% damage, while Hariyama's next move gets blocked by the paralysis.

Alright, this is why we brought Rest. Hariyama takes another Hyper Drill, going down to 14 HP, and Rests. Now cured of paralysis and no longer Speed-debuffed, Hariyama gets the next move: Sleep Talk to Thunder Punch. So long Dudunsparce.

Larry's Pokemon #3: Staraptor

Larry's on his last Pokemon and Hariyama's going full-steam. Staraptor's Intimidate cancels out the buff from Hariyama's Guts, sadly. It's going to do more than that when Hariyama wakes up.

Of course, Larry Terastalizes Staraptor. He actually might have been better off not doing that. Staraptor just lost the STAB bonus to his Flying attacks, which would be good against Hariyama, as well as his Flying resistance to Fighting that cancels out Normal's weakness to Drain Punch.

That being said, Staraptor's still blindingly fast compared to Hariyama, and Flying attacks are still really strong against him nonetheless. One Aerial Ace knocks off 2/3 of Hariyama's HP. This is no longer sustainable.

Hariyama Sleep Talks to Rest, which fails because he's already Asleep. That Sleep Talk will be ineffectual 1/3 of the time is an unfortunate consequence of the Rest/Sleep Talk tactic, and it just hit in the worst possible way. A Drain Punch definitely would have ended this.

Well, too late now. You done good, Hariyama, but it's time to change things up.

It's Coalossal's turn. She hits the field and takes chink damage from Aerial Ace. Staraptor takes as much damage from Rocky Helmet!

Larry doesn't seem to have an answer for this. Staraptor goes for Facade, smashing his face into the Rocky Helmet again. I could literally just do nothing, let this play out, and wait for Staraptor to KO himself. Instead, I use Tar Shot to manufacture a Fire weakness.

One Facade later, Staraptor's successfully dropped himself to 50% HP. The follow-up Flamethrower brings him down to about 10%.

Well, I guess that's that. It doesn't even matter what I do next. I do Flamethrower, but it doesn't matter. Staraptor slams his face into Coalossal's Rocky Helmet so hard he knocks himself out and hits the floor. I wonder what Larry's boss is going to think of that.

Following this Gym Challenge, Senpai wants to fight! Bonus battle!

Nemona's Pokemon #1: Lycanroc (Midday Form)

Bad news for Nemona: I've still got Hariyama at the head of my party, and he's back in full form. He drops Lycanroc with a single Drain Punch. He takes a Quick Attack before he can, but the Drain Punch fully restores what paltry damage he takes.

Nemona's Pokemon #2: Goomy

Nemona. What? You had that whole Gym Battle to select an appropriately-leveled team and you picked something that doesn't left its baby stage yet by this level?

The only stat Goomy has that's even halfway decent is Special Defense. This is embarrassing. Hariyama nukes Goomy with a Drain Punch. We can move on and pretend this never happened.

Nemona's Pokemon #3: Pawmo

Well, now I just feel patronized. Pawmo's final evolution isn't even decided by level. There was literally nothing stopping you from coming here with a Pawmot. What the hell, Nemona?

Again, Hariyama nukes this embarrassing insult with a Drain Punch. He takes a Spark beforehand, but that little cherry-tap from this half-evolved Pokemon gets immediately healed up again.

Nemona's Pokemon #4: Meowscarada

There we go. At least this one is properly evolved and powerful enough to fight. Unfortunately, he's also acquired the Dark type from his final evolution. So. Uh. Drain Punch.

Oh, right. I was honestly so offended by the previous rounds that I forgot Terastalizing is a thing. Meowscarada immediately sheds his weakness to Fighting before the first exchange can be thrown, then hits Hariyama with Flower Trick.

I've evolved a Meowscarada, so I'm familiar with this shenanigan. Flower Trick has 70 base power and auto-crits, and right now it's getting boosted by Meowscarada's Grass Terastalization. It cuts down about 2/3 of Hariyama's HP before he can land his Drain Punch - which only brings him back up to about 50% thanks to Meowscarada losing the Dark type.

Okay, this one isn't going to be an easy win. I don't think Hariyama can survive another exchange. We've got a Flower Trick incoming and we need to switch.

Not only that, but Meowscarada's got us between a rock and a hard place. Gabite, Coalossal, and Gyarados have all somehow managed to, despite very different Type pairs, have one Weakness and one Resistance to Grass, cancelling each other out. That's honestly kind of amazing.

Not only that, but because Flower Trick auto-crits, it will ignore any debuffs from Gyarados and Mabosstiff's Intimidates. This is ugly.

Coalossal has the strongest natural Physical Defense in the group, as well as Flamethrower. If anyone can bully through two Flower Tricks to put Meowscada down, it's going to be her. Let's go.

Coalossal hits the field and immediately proves me wrong, taking over half of her HP in damage. And Flower Trick isn't a Contact move, so the Rocky Helmet fails to trigger.

Alright, I hate to lose a Pokemon but Meowscarada is just too fast and Flower Trick hits too hard. I have to let Coalossal get knocked out, then beat Meowscarada on the next round.

Next round, I bring out Gyarados. Intimidate triggers, not that it matters. Gyarados trades Flower Trick for Ice Fang, taking over 100 HP in damage but landing the final blow.

Well, that was a hell of a thing. On reflection, I realize there are two things I could have done:

Mabosstiff tanking Flower Trick and retaliating with Comeuppance may have been able to oneshot Meowscarada.

Since Meowscarada was so predictable, Hypno could have Disabled her Flower Trick. That would have dialed down the overwhelming power.

I gave in to panic and didn't check my notes thoroughly enough. Takeaway for next time. Well, at least I finally got the challenge that I was so pissy about being denied in rounds 2 and 3.

#pokemon #pokemon sv #pokemon scarlet and violet

3 notes · View notes

ikaelto · 2 months ago

Text

Slight Content warning: Mentions of Kidnapping and Slavery (it's in roleplay, not real whatsoever)

Alright DND story time, as expected I did forget to post on here about the first session lol, no matter, here we go:

So to start off I got confused with when when we started, I'm 1 timezone ahead so when everyone said 1 I thought "oh so 2" and then a couple seconds later my ADHD was like "wait when? 2? so 3? cool" so I was an hour late for the first session lmao

I'll actually start now, while I wasn't there a couple things happened Shavoss (Dragonborn Paladin) and Nut (Kobold Druid) met Lucien (astral Elf Druid) they were all visiting the village of Goldreed for this festival. They decided to join the hunting competition which offered 150 gold to whoever brought the largest beast, Shavoss being a chef also gave him an opportunity to cook whatever they hunted. Caught the track of a Griffin and they ended up finding it's nest that had 2 eggs and a young Griffin, they scared the baby so that the mom would show up.

And this is when I come in, Kaelith was also traveling to Goldreed for the festival, but I took a woodsy route so I was a little late and on top of that a nearby Griffin decided I looked like lunch and swooped down and grabbed me. While in the air we heard a distant scream and the Griffin bolted towards it.

As we reached the rest of the party the griffin dropped me off (how nice of it, 3 stars would grab a ride again) and we rolled initiative as combat started. I'm gonna go over the bullet points of combat really quick:

• Shavoss does insane damage

• I did really low damage with burning hands and then I helped Lucien by having him reroll his guiding bolt

• A second griffin showed up looking pissed off (family reunion ❤️)

• I landed the killing blow on the first griffin that kidnapped me, pissing off even further the second one

• It charged at me, I failed to cast Halt (homebrew chronurgy spell) to stop it and Shavoss and Nut tried grappling it to stop it, they failed and it reached me and slashed me across my chest, making me lose half my HP

• Nut cast enlarge/reduce on Shavoss making him Large and he used his newly found size to drag the griffin away from me

• I cast shatter dealing pretty decent damage and I avoided hitting Shavoss and Nut who were right next to it

• Shavoss and Nut absolutely obliterated the griffin and me and Lucien kinda stood there and watched

First encounter went pretty well all things considered, I almost died, we cast some fun spells, it was good. They then grabbed the eggs and Shavoss (still large) carried the larger griffin on his back, he also handed me an egg as thanks for helping them. I decided to follow them since they were heading into town.

When we reached Goldreed they turned in the griffin and were crowned the victors, Shavoss handed me 25 gold as thanks (which to my homeless ass is insane) and then he decided to make an omelette with the griffin eggs. Him and Nut then spotted Barnaby (Shavoss's pet Bison that they had apparently lost track of earlier) Shavoss charged me and Lucien with cooking the omelette as they ran after Barnaby.

We rolled alright and the omelette turned out ok. When they returned with Barnaby Shavoss decided to cook the griffin for the festival, he did such a good job anyone that ate gained a +10 to their movement (I'm basically the Flash now)

Then as the festival subsided we stayed at the inn and had ourselves a long rest as we leveled up (we killed 2 god damned griffins tbf) and Nut came across a note on a nearby board, he can't read so he passed it to Shavoss, who also can't read, who then passed it to me and thankfully I can so reading it out, it was a help wanted written from someone who got mugged for 40 gold, requesting back his wallet, money and revenge. I was definitely willing to help and we decided to go and help.

We followed the address listed and headed to the north side of Goldreed at a little house, we knocked on the door and were greeted by an older man, as we told him we're here for the job, he invited us in for tea as he had just poured some for him and his wife. Lucien questioned him about what happened and we learned that near the southwest of here he was pulled into some dark alley and he gave his wallet that contained roughly 40 gold, a picture of him with his family and some old receipts. Lucien casted locate object and saw that it was a couple hundred feet towards the southwest and it dropped a couple feet down as well.

We followed Lucien after promising the safe return of the wallet and ended up at the docks, Lucien told us that it was at the bottom of the water about 50 feet down and I decided I could grab it, I jumped in about 20 feet and casted Mage Hand, got the wallet and brought it up.

It looked like the wallet but it was filled with rocks and had a semi destroyed photo in it, I decided to make sure and I casted Dilute Time (homebrew chronurgy spell that allows me to minorly disrupt time for a shirt time) and I reverted the picture temporarily to make sure this is it, it was.

Nut then decided to try and track the thieves by smelling the wallet, he rolled well so we headed in that direction and ended up in a dark alley, presumably the same one as the old man was robbed. Shavoss decided to cast thaumaturgy to make any unlocked doors swing open (we're rulling magic a little more creatively after we talked with the dm on session 0) and a trap door swinged open throwing a trashcan right at Shavoss, he managed to dodge it and then I pointed out "if this is their hideout or something, we definitely lost any element of surprise we had and we should be a little careful".

Nut then decided to ignore me and go down the ladder head first which he was met with the sharp end of an arrow (surprise surprise) shot by a very frightened bandit (which is really funny to me, cause all bro heard was a really loud BANG, someone large jumping and a trash can hitting the ground, bro probably thought it was a monster or the entire guard) he ran away and we rolled initiative. So same as before, bullet points:

• Shavoss angrily jumped down running after the bandit to a room on the left, there were 2 bandits in there and he just used his breath weapon immediately, setting everything on fire, including a bookshelf that was in there

• I decided to follow that energy and jumped down, ran to the room on the left and casted burning hands at the second level, decimating the bandits and turning everything to ash

• Lucien and Nut had uneventful turns as they spent them looking for more bandits in the other rooms, Nut did find 2 of them and one of them got a shot off on him, in retaliation he wild shaped into a War Horse and got out of the room, they followed him

• From on of the other rooms their Captain showed up and decided to join the fight going straight for the war horse in the middle of the room

• Shavoss attacked the Captain as did Lucien

• I decided to cast shatter in the 2 bandits that followed Nut and I rolled good damage, enough for it to actually just blow them up to pieces

• Nut used the war horse ability to charge the captain and pin him against the wall, attacking him with his hooves as well before he turned back as he took damage hitting the wall, enough for the wild shape to end

• We all had another round to attack the Captain (me and Lucien missed, even after I tried rerolling my attack) Shavoss and Nut finished him off, it was Nut really, bro ripepd his throat off

And that was the bandits, really fun (I got to melt 2 guys and then blow up 2 more 😁) we then investigated around, I specifically looked for any gold and valuables as that was really our objective, I have a really high investigation so I rolled a 24 and found everything, it was about 300 loose gold coins, some jewelry and some unidentified gems, I put them all in a pouch so we can deal with that later.

And I also found a safe, that was hidden behind the bookshelf me and Shavoss had accidentally burned down (lol) Shavoss broke the door like the strong boy he is and we found a bunch of letters in there and since I'm the only one who can read, I read them. I found out that these were in fact almost a ledger of the gangs dealings with tither gangs, nothing very interesting, but the most recent letters were. Apparently a gang to the south in a different town had kidnapped some people after a random fire had taken place there, 5 kids and 2 adults, 7 people in total and they were planning on working together to sell them at some slave ring they mentioned. They hadn't done a deal yet, so it presents with an opportunity for us to ambush them, I fear I'm the only one that really cares, so I might have to convince the rest of the party.

So that was it, really fun stuff, it felt like the first time I've played a proper DND session, genuinely excited to play again this Sunday.

#dnd #d&d 5e #dnd story #d&d story #long post #i love playing dnd man #that's it #bye

0 notes

goosetrainer · 5 months ago

Text

Mari's Tera Raid Guides #16 - Swampert

Heh, at least its ability is useless. You're NOT bringing Explosion to tera raids, right?!

Bellibolt works but Bronzong is mighty fine too!

Bellibolt lv.100

Tera type: Electric

Ability: Electromorphosis

Item: Magnet

IVs: max HP, defense, special attack, special defense

EVs: 252 sp.atk., the rest spread between defenses (max defense or half defense/half HP work best)

Moveset:

-Parabolic Charge (egg move)

-Acid Spray (TM)

-Electric Terrain (level up)

-Mud-Slap (move reminder) / Reflect (TM)

Usage:

Quite an easy opponent, Swampert doesn't have stat boosting moves, no debuffing save for the secondary effect (not guaranteed) from Muddy Water and Liquidation. Yawn is not as annoying as Sing. Only one stat&status reset for each side.

Bellibolt however has a weakness to Earthquake, so an Intimidate NPC (Arcanine, Staraptor, Tauros) will go a long way!

This fish will nullify all his negative stat modifications at 75% life left, so we have time to use the usual Acid Sprays to charge the tera orb + drop his defenses to the minimum. You will need to hit 4 times, because after a couple of turns Swampert steals one unit of charge; if you brought Mud Slap, you can use that as your first move (will help you survive the first phase), followed by 3 Acid Sprays. It's easy to go KO in this part, but it's ok! And, actually, it brings the benefit of resetting the eventual accuracy drop from the scripted Muddy Water at the start.

Then, terastallize (if you have enough HP left, just about more than what an Earthquake would take - if not, try to heal with a cheer first) and use Parabolic Charge. It should bring you back to full HP, and possibly trigger the opponent's stat reset.

When that's done, we gotta bring Swampert's special defenses back down, but it's not advisable to do it all at the same time, you're gonna die again. Alternate 1 Acid Spray and 1 Parabolic Charge instead. At 60% time left there's gonna be a Yawn, but only on one of the four partecipants to the battle: if it hit someone else go ahead and ignore it, if it was used on your Bellibolt take note of how many HP you got left. If you're at full life you can use Electric Terrain to neutralize Yawn and boost your offensive power all at once. If not, use Parabolic Charge instead and allow Bellibolt to fall asleep, and only then use a healing cheer to wake it up.

When Swampert's sp.def. is minimized again (so, 3 Acid Sprays after the reset, meaning 6-7 Acid Spray PP used up in total) just keep attacking with Parabolic Charge. It's gonna be close but I've seen worse.

As for Reflect: I didn't really find a point in which it needed to be up, but I think it would be nice to have at the start of the battle, especially when there's nothing with Intimidate to keep Swampert's attack down. I wouldn't waste a turn on it in the post-reset phase though, it's probably better to keep yourself healed with the Acid Spray-Parabolic Charge combo instead.

TL;DR: 1 Mud-Slap + 3 Acid Sprays OR 4 Acid Sprays (might faint, it's ok); terastallize, Parabolic Charge until Swampert's stat&status reset. Alternate Acid Spray and Parabolic Charge x3 times (Acid Spray first); if Yawn is used on you, either use Electric Terrain (if your HP bar is full) or keep going with whatever you were doing and wake up e/ healing cheer after you fell asleep. More Parabolic Charges until KO if needed

Pros:

-look it's always the same pokemon. I'm gonna nickname mine 'Passepartout'

Cons:

-the KO at the start may be scary

-not guaranteed to work at the first try

-----

Bronzong lv.100

Tera type: Psychic

Ability: Levitate

Item: Leftovers

IVs: max HP, defense, special attack, special defense

EVs: 252 special attack, 252 HP, 4 defense

Moveset:

-Stored Power (TM)

-Iron Defense (level up)

-Calm Mind (TM)

-Safeguard (level up)

Usage:

This is basically the Cinderace-Raid-Slowbro, revisited. Same strategy, different font.

It works like this: Stored Power becomes esponentially stronger each time one of your statistics is raised. The stat-raising moves in this set all boost two stages each. Bronzong, as long as it has Levitate, is immune to all of Swampert's moves except the water-type ones.

There are two issues: Leftovers wastes time, and the stat reset on you that happens at 80% time left. We're gonna mitigate both by waiting idle ✌️ just do nothing until your stats gets reset.

This means we don't have much time to do our magic, so get to work. Start with Iron Defense, then 2 Calm Minds, then repeat everything twice more (Iron Defense - Calm Mind - C.M. - I.D. - C.M. - C.M. - I.D. - C.M. - C.M.). This way your defenses will go up while the Leftovers do their thing and keep you healthy, but if that's still not enough do use one healing cheer, you don't wanna go KO after all that work!

Keep an eye open every time you get attacked with Liquidation: it has a chance to drop your defense by one stage. If it happened just once you can let it be, but if it happened twice use one extra Iron Defense. You want to be at +5 or +6 defense (check with Y, out of the move selector menu, and select Bronzong. You should see 5-6 green upwards arrows next to defense, and 6 next to special attack and special defense each).

Also keep your eyes peeled for Yawn. If you're the target, and you can survive one more hit, use Safeguard to neutralize it, but you can also wait to fall asleep and wake up with the healing cheer.

When you're done setting up, you can start using Stored Power. Can't terastallize yet, and we couldn't use it at the start of the battle because it would have spelt certain death (we DO need those boosted defenses) and eaten up even more time. Now you just gotta attack relentlessly, Stored Power will deal a bunch of damage even out of terastal and with Swampert's shield up, but eventually you will be able to Terastallize and that will do even MORE it's so satisfying.

At this point you should be out of danger, but do be ready to throw another healing cheer in if your HP are looking too few - criticals happen.

TL;DR: wait and do nothing until player's stats reset; alternate 1 Iron Defense and 2 Calm Mind for 3 times in a row (total 3 Iron Defenses and 6 Calm Minds), be ready to use Safeguard or Heal Up cheer if Yawn hits you. Use more Iron Defense(s) if Swampert lowered your defense more than once with Liquidation. Then 3x Stored Power, terastallize, more Stored Powers until the end (heal with cheer as needed)

Pros:

-another common pokemon, common ability, tera type same as one of the native types of the line

-not supposed to go KO, and very good at not dying

Cons:

-needs a lot of turns

-Leftovers is a time sink

-the fact that it doesn't faint means that any accuracy drop from Muddy Water (used twice) will stay for the whole battle. It only affects Stored Power, but it's annoying (and if you're unlucky, it may make you run out of time and fail)

#pkmn #pokemon #gen 9 #tera raids #guides #pokemon sv #swampert #bellibolt #bronzong

0 notes

sacred-stanning · 8 months ago

Text

Chapter 7 Part 2: Neimi stops crying and just goes apeshit. (Also, Sommie math)

So we left off with Ross about to take on a soldier, and Joshua about to take on a fighter and (maybe) dodge a mage's attack.

Fighter result: Dodged, almost finished him off

Pretty good

Soldier result: Dodged, did some good damage in return

(But you need to work on your form, Ross. I don't think that's how you hold an axe.)

Mage result: Dodged

Excellent!

So the next step is to have Neimi move up towards the ballista. On her way there, she shoots the fighter with 1 HP out of existence.

I send Vanessa up to take out the mage. She's got good res, and she needs to be up here to ferry Neimi across the river later. Joshua's job up here is done, and he'll be joining the rest of the army.

Oh boy! We got another pure water!

I put Ross up on this hill to attack the soldier to give him more avoid, but he has 100% accuracy and takes the guy out in one hit, so I didn't really need to do this.

Nice. The only thing I want to see from him is more speed at some point. You need +4 speed to double in GBA FE, so with only 3 speed, even if a unit isn't weighed down by their weapon at all, there's no way to double since effective speed can't go below 0.

The mage to the right moved towards us last turn, so I put Lute up front to trade with him.

And to prevent Moulder from getting totally left behind, I send Seth back to pick him up.

The mage moves in towards Lute and does some damage, but gives her a level up.

Unusually, she didn't get magic, but she got speed, which is her other important stat.

Also, defense?? Lute has like a 15% def growth, but in four levels, she's gotten two points of defense.

I want to keep moving forward, so I move Lute slightly to the side and hit the mage again.

Notice that she doesn't double him. Why is this?

Well, I will take a moment to do the other thing--aside from checking enemy ranges--that we all love doing in GBA FE:

checking stat screens and doing basic math! Yeah!

So a fire tome weighs 4.

(4 what? Good question. I personally think that the unit of measurement for weight in Magvel is "peaches". So since Sommie in Fire Emblem Engage weighs as much as 2 peaches, the fire tome is the same weight as 2 Sommies. That clears everything up, right?)

Lute has only 3 con on joining, and since you can't level up con in this game, she is stuck with 3 con until she promotes into an advanced class.

This means that she loses at least one speed no matter what when she attacks since even the lightest tome in the game, the fire tome, is heavy enough to weigh her down.

Lute currently has 8 speed, so her effective speed with the fire tome is actually 7.

The generic mage on this map has 6 speed, so Lute wasn't going to double him even if she hadn't been weighed down. But notice that this scrawny little dude still has 6 con.

So this guy can run around with 3 Sommies in his pockets without even noticing, and Lute gets out of breath from only 2 Sommies?

I still love Lute, but she is absolutely a skinny, little nerd.

At any rate, Lute not doubling the mage means that she sets him up so that Ross gets the kill and a level up.

I still want speed, but I'm pretty happy with strength and defense.

Now, as the title promised, it is time for Neimi to go from being the bullied, to the bullier.

Once she's in the ballista, she has this big range to work with.

I check out her hit rates and decide to go for the left one since she can hit him more easily.

And she hits!

Yeah, get him, Neimi! Shoot that fool!

So then I take a look at this mage and have an idea.

Checking his range, I see that he can indeed reach farther than either of the soldiers thanks to his two range weapon.

I check his stat screen. I'm pretty sure he won't hurt Vanessa too badly, but I just am curious about the numbers.

Wait, what? He has an energy ring!?

...I guess I should have brought Colm after all.

Oh well. I'm kind of upset about the energy ring, but not enough to start the map over.

I put Vanessa just in range with a javelin equipped, and then I remember that she has a pure water that we just picked up!

YES. Come at me!

"Bring your pitiful 12 attack against my mighty 13 res!!!" <- Vanessa, probably

Meanwhile, on the other front, I send out Franz to tank a hit from the axe fighter.

Next time: We continue to punk on soldiers with Neimi

#fire emblem #sacred stones #fire emblem the sacred stones #fe8 #ファイアエンブレム #聖魔の光石

0 notes

bhawk-goose · 11 months ago

Text

the next game in this series is 64 vs CipherBot. This is a game without very strict rules, they both cast spells at eachother and if it's not too powerful they get to cast it, and if it's too powerful they lose that turn.

first, CipherBot goes with arcane barrier, blocking 64's arcane bolt and deflecting it. I rolled for the deflection and got 13, meaning CipherBot failed to deflect it back into 64.

Next, CipherBot cast tempest winds and 64 cast chain lightning. CipherBot's description of it flinging 64 around was too powerful, as there's no way to avoid the wind, so I vetoed it. 64's chain lightning connected and hit Cipher Bot.

next, they both tried to cast frost nova, so I counted that as a counterspell.

then, CipherBot cast ethereal echoes to create lllusions of itself and make it harder to hit the real one. It didn't matter, as 64 went for flamestrike, trying to engulph CipherBot in a fiery explosion. I interpret that as being a melee strike that creates an explosion, which is too fast for the power.

CipherBot cast Mystic Missiles, which hits as 64 went for detect magic, allowing it to find out which CipherBot is real.

Now knowing which one is real, 64 attempts to use arcane barrage, but CipherBot dodges it with shadowstep, teleporting right behind 64.

64 tries to copy CipherBot's illusions, but CipherBot is close enough to keep track of the real 64. CipherBot casts mindflame, creating disorienting illusions for 64.

64 attempts to cast time stop to freeze CipherBot in time temporarily, but that's too powerful normally, and with the disorienting illusions they can't cast as powerful spells as they normally can. CipherBot casts mystic surge, but since they're like a foot away from eachother they're both hit and brought down to 3/5 HP

CipherBot casts arcane tether, linking them and 64 together, which works out perfectly as 64 casts arcane whirlwind, flinging them both around and bringing them both down to 2/5 HP(I know I didn't allow a similar move earlier, in this context it's fair)

CipherBot uses elemental imbalance, a move that's just too unique to disallow. This makes 64's spells more likely to misfire. Sadly for CipherBot and me 64 cast dispel magic, thinking it would get rid of the arcane tether, but the tether and whirlwind both only last one turn, but correcting chatgpt usually just makes things worse so I went with it. I rolled the die, and it got a fucking 3. 64 misfires, and casts restore magic, meaning the field will last an extra turn

64 tries to cast arcane shield, but they rolled a 9 so it misfires into arcane burst, which would damage CipherBot but they cast shadow aegis, defending them from the burst.

64 casts mystic ward, which succeeds now that the field has dissipated. They are now more resistant to damage. CipherBot's arcane grasp is too powerful, especially considering the powerful moves they've recently cast.

64 casts arcane sanctuary, blocking CipherBot's disruption beam

CipherBot casts astral projection, creating an illusion of themself, which is immediately dispelled by 64 who apparently thinks CipherBot has enhanced abilities, and tried to target that as well as their powerful spells, even though they don't have any active to 64's knowledge and it can't dispel uncast spells.

CipherBot casts arcane bolt as 64 casts arcane surge, both are direct attacks, and arcane surge is more powerful while still being allowed so it destroys the arcane bolt and hits CipherBot, bringing them down to 1/5HP. It took so long for either of them to hit the other again.

CipherBot tries to distort reality around 64, which would be far too powerful even if they had some kind of magical buff, but they don't. 64 goes for a much more tame move of arcane vortex, which I normally wouldn't allow but compared to altering reality it's fucking nothing, so it passes, bringing CipherBot down to 0/5 HP and winning the game for 64.

#ai cagefight

0 notes

crystalelemental · 1 year ago

Text

Part 3 of the Roxannening: Legendary Gauntlet. I think I'm starting to hate Gauntlet, but may as well focus on it here to show off how good Roxanne is.

Vs. Tapu Bulu This is a fairly easy one. Roxanne can debuff attack as well as defense, and with the speed control, is in a pretty fantastic position. She's literally one recovery or evasion skill away from being able to solo this one. But without that, we need someone taking hits, and this is my opportunity for Lodge Leaf. Who is. Pretty alright in Gauntlet. Defensive buffs on TM, evasion boosting on Metronome, pop recovery in Moonlight and gradual healing in addition. With the combination of these two, Leaf's effectively invincible, and Roxanne an absolute powerhouse.

Vs. Latias I did the obvious one next. Roxanne inverts buffs when she hits sync, absolutely devastating Latias. Fun fact: the inversion occurs after any buffs they popped from damage post-sync, so that's really fun, you get to do things like hit Latias' speed boosts or evasion boosts at half-bars. This is much the same, but with a noted problem: Leaf cannot protect Roxanne. Leaf doesn't heal anyone but herself, which leaves Roxanne in a precarious position overall. Frequent AoE moves can and will wear Roxanne down, as you can see by the HP bar at clear.

Vs. Tornadus I was struggling to think of interesting partners for Roxanne, and wound up on Nita first. Nita gives a quick injection of Atk/Spd, which is quite helpful for Roxanne's pacing of a fight. The Mini Potion All was also a needed assist for Roxanne, given the healing situation. Roxanne is plenty capable here, but it's not my favorite clear.

Vs. Terrakion This one I like even less. Terrakion needs a field effect, which is...problematic for Roxanne. Supports with Field Effects are either too valuable to pair with her, or are the Eggmons and will die. The good news is, Roxanne easily handles the other half of this fight, by inverting Terrakion's buffs. Any field effect works, so I brought a throw-away Eggmon. If you pick up Sand Shelter, Roxanne can manage with a Tech Kabutops instead.

Vs. Cobalion I got a little overconfident and went with a Burn support. Turns out, this was fine, as Roxanne still powered through the fight. It was here I discovered Lana, and the joys of Gradual Healing. Lana operates similarly to Nita, in that her buffs are a pop benefit, but unlike Nita, the Speed isn't wasted. Roxanne works best with slow as dirt supports, because girl needs like no gauges ever.

Vs. Azelf Lana once again with the gradual healing. This one I feel is a bit more justifiable, on the ground that Roxanne really needs to move quickly on this one, and you desperately want Stalwart/Unbending, which...I mean, Evelyn can do it, but it's not exactly pretty. Plus, Lana has Leech Life, which is great recovery.

Vs. Uxie Evelyn's turn. Roxanne can buff her own attack as needed, making her perfectly self-sufficient. With a Trap effect by default, she's a good answer to Uxie, so long as status can also be applied. There are some options, but Surge felt wasteful, and V!Agatha is premium, so the only F2P approach I had in mind was Evelyn. Who is great. The special bulk really keeps Roxanne going, and the Burn perfectly complemented Roxanne's trap effect.

Vs. Latios I figured we'd give Cheren a try. It worked, but it wasn't exactly clean, and this very much hinged on Roxanne having the Strike Role. Cheren is what you use when literally all you need is gradual healing. He can supply it, and effectively do nothing else.

Vs. Registeel Okay, hear me out. Jasmine. While Jasmine can't heal Roxanne either, this duo has some interesting traits. First, the +2 accuracy means Jasmine can hit with Iron Tail. Second, the block of crits circumvents Roxanne's issues as well as healing will; there's no threat if Earthquake bounces off you for like 50 damage. Third, Jasmine is another slow as dirt support, who has no issues with gauge because of Roxanne's speed boosting. They work well together.

Vs. Regirock But not as well as Roxanne/BP Morty. Morty's flinch rate is the big difference here. Stopping Regirock's attacks cold gives Roxanne time to set up her full power, and you really need to move quickly in later phases, because it can become immune to Trap if it recovers. It's not a great fight, but it gets the job done without too much hassle.

Vs. Entei Now for one that should've been easy, but wasn't. Morty effectively messed up at every critical moment. Got himself trapped, got himself burned, etc etc etc. We won, it wasn't that bad, but it is annoying!

Vs. Raikou Cheren's back, but this time in a more dangerous clear. Raikou is trouble because it has consistent pressure; it doesn't pack the same down time as Latios between attacks. As a result, Cheren goes down just before Bar 3, and Roxanne...well, as you can see, she does it, but it's spooky.

Final Thoughts Roxanne works really, really well for Gauntlet. Her debuff cluster is divine, and her sync packs a lot of damage. But by far what sells Roxanne is her gauge-free nature. Roxanne does not give a shit. Once Sand Tomb hits, it's on. I did try out Moltres, and because Trap can work against it, she's able to clear without weather changes. A good flinch bot would carry her, but...it's Moltres, so I gave that one shot and then left when the 60%s didn't work out, because that fight is the worst in this game. Her speed buff happens regardless of whether the debuff connects, so she's a good response to its slow-down bullshit.

Roxanne turned out really, really well. She's a great team supporter, and a fantastic nuke. The Strike Role on her is about the funniest thing in the world. If anything holds her back, it's that without the cake, she's limiting a lot of potential. The added offensive stats really do contribute to her total damage, while the spread effect is instrumental in handling Latios and Latias effectively, to say nothing of how it impacts her CS performance. I'd also say her DPS can be a bit disappointing? The lower BP of her move has some significant drawbacks when attempting to quickly get through a phase of the fight, such as Entei's first phase to avoid Fire Spin. She's not able to push through as immediately as others might.

#sync pair testing #gauntlet sweep #halloween roxanne

1 note · View note

your-turn-to-role · 2 years ago

Note

Okay so, for everything that went down last episode technically the only pieces of lore from past episodes that are relevant to what happened is that 1)while a Lot of other stuff ended up happening while here, the Bell's Hells are in Basurus to capture & bring back Armand Treshi cuz he did crimes and is on the run, 2)they know Treshi is hiding out in a mercenary group, called the paragon's call, & have managed to get accepted to the group/set up in their headquarters, 3) that the leader of the paragon's call Otohan Thull featured in one of Imogen's moon dreams & talked to her in it. 4) ruidus (the red moon) Isn't A Moon & has a city on it, is surrounded by a sort-of divine gate type lattice, & is maybe connected to two forgotten gods of Exandria (and all of that is probably why there are people/a whole ass cult attached to it)

The 1st half was very chaotic as it opened to the paragon's call being attacked by an unknown group of people (we still don't know exactly who they are), and our crew in the chaos managed to grab several interesting items, Treshi, and attempt to get tf out of dodge (more happened than that technically but it's not what the yelling was about)

The 2nd half is where shit gets real, as they left the paragon's call headquarters they were stopped by Otohan & she of course demanded to know who sent them/what they're trying to do. There's a little back-and-forth (where we learn she can reach into their heads & grab info) that quickly turns into combat. Now, Otohan turns out to be an Echo Knight (with the magic coming from a weird techno backpack she has) & that's real bad cuz she gets 1st in the initiative and Hits Hard.

She knocks Ashton out on her turn and we quickly discover that she has legendary actions & resistances. Most of the rest of the fight is the Bell's Hells trying to run away but being stymied by how hard she hits & the fact that they're all not at 100% spell-wise (& don't quite want to abandon each other). Several people go down & are brought back up, and go down again. Otohan is also somewhat fixated on Imogen, as she wants her to "give in" to Ruidis' power/influence (and is using her hurting Imogen's friends as a way to force the issue). Near the end of the ep, the status check on everyone is just Bad. Ashton is up but has booked it a ways away, FCG is up but hiding (both have Real Low hp), Orym and Fearne are Dead (Otohan killed them because they kept popping back up & to affect Imogen) Chetney is down with 2 failed death saves, Laudna is as well but her going down triggered something greater (Otohan before attacking her asked Imogen "is this one your favorite?" prompting Imogen to immediately beg Otohan to spare her, saying she'll give in). When Laudna went down Imogen had to roll a wis saving throw & rolled a nat 1, giving into whatever power is within her.

Matt described Imogen's hair fully levitating, the area around them going still and ruddy red, her skin turning crimson, and the fractal marks on her hands spreading to whole parts of her body and shedding light. She screams in grief and rage and the space around her distorts, dragging the surrounding buildings apart, and with one final wave everything goes white. And that's where we left off! No idea what's gonna happen next.

(Fun facts, Orym's last thoughts were a sense of failure but also knowing he'll see his husband and father figure again, and Fearne's was "boy. That was one heck of a run" or smthing similar)

Hope this helps, I didnt include every bit of everything so if there is anything that isn't clear I can try & elaborate!

since others apparently also want to read, posting the explanations i got in asks that aren't on the post itself

(and thank you for writing!)

#cr spoilers #cr3 #c3e33 #ask

15 notes · View notes

pokemon-card-of-the-day · 2 years ago

Text

Pokemon Card of the Day #2566: Mewtwo (Wizards Promo #3)

Basic Pokemon saw most of the play right at the start of the TCG. From the Base Set, where Hitmonchan and Electabuzz were dominant, to Scyther’s release in Jungle, high-HP Basic Pokemon with solid attacks saw the most play. This was especially true when people were actually playing in 1999, as stall was generally ignored and Wigglytuff didn’t really catch on until 2000. Mewtwo brought another one of those cards, being released near when Fossil was when the first Pokemon movie was released. It was notable for not only having a good attack (though for a bit of Energy), but a way to get Energy out of the discard pile. Fitting the typical mold of a strong Pokemon while having a way to work against Energy Removal meant a Pokemon that got a lot of attention and play, and even the many changes to how the formats are played in modern times probably aren’t enough to stop Mewtwo with how much good there is here.

70 HP was very nice for a Basic Pokemon, and was notably high enough to take a hit or two from the top Basic Pokemon while also making Wigglytuff use a PlusPower to get the KO. Later attacks might be able to break through, including Rocket’s Zapdos’ Electroburn, as could the more modern star that is Arcanine. The Psychic Weakness meant that a Mewtwo mirror brought both sides Pokemon that could KO each other and required watching out for Mr. Mime, Ditto, and the more niche Mew. It did also need 2 Energy to retreat, and while Energy Absorption did help with that, it also meant that Scoop Up was a great pairing to prevent a KO when you could just get Energy back from that as well.

Energy Absorption was one of the more important attacks to show up in the first year of the game. The requirement was low, at just a Psychic Energy, and while it didn’t do any damage it did set up for a bigger hit. It let you choose up to 2 Energy cards from your discard pile to attach to Mewtwo, potentially setting up for a turn 2 Psyburn. Such a thing against a deck that didn’t resist it could be rather devastating, though it could be slowed down by Energy Removal for at least a while. The issue with that was this not only did a Mewtwo user usually have that as well, but Energy Absorption could simply be used again and this meant that it was just stalling for time. It should also be noted that Mewtwo could sometimes work with Rainbow Energy in decks not using too much in the way of Psychic-types, with Venusaur decks being notable as Mewtwo could get back Rainbow and Grass by using it.

Psyburn was a very solid attack. 40 damage was good at a time where many Pokemon had 70 HP, and 3 Psychic Energy was more achievable when you had Energy Absorption. Just look out for everything that had a Psychic Resistance, which included things like Wigglytuff, Kangaskhan, Lickitung, and Chansey to name a few.

Mewtwo was amazing simply because it paired a way to deal with Energy Removal with a solid attack on a Basic Pokemon. A large number of decks used Mewtwo, as it would make progress against any deck that didn’t have a batch of Psychic Resistances (or, if Muk wasn’t being played, Mr. Mime). Mewtwo did absolutely require a partner to work with it to deal with those. The classic choice, that saw play at first, was Electabuzz, but HItmonchan is a pretty popular choice now to deal with the Fighting Weaknesses that Colorless-types bring to the table. Working alongside Wigglytuff was always an option as well as long as you had something to help deal with Mr. Mime and Ditto, and any deck that used Colorless-types and could fit Psychic Energy, including stall decks, could make use of Mewtwo to have some form of offense when this was required. Mewtwo was by no means perfect, but you’d still want it in a ton of decks since it was the first way to really deal with losing Energy and was a solid attacker that took little enough deck space that covering for its weak points was rather easy.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #card of the day #wizards black star promos #mewtwo

16 notes · View notes

dreaming-about-fanfictions · 4 years ago

Text

Don’t Steal My (Frog’s) Heart - Draco Malfoy x Reader

Summary: Draco Malfoy - the boy who flirts with you in Potions and ends up becoming the love of your life.

A/N: The only good thing about this sickness is that I get to write so much lol. Enjoy!!

Inspired by this post

Words: 1.174 Pairing: Draco Malfoy x fem!Reader Warnings: none

Potions Classroom, Fifth Year

“You know, when you stole my heart, I wasn’t expecting you to lose it.”

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Malfoy, stop it and get down here to help me look for it!”, you hissed and almost hit your head.

“You can feel lucky, that’s the first time I’m getting on my knees for a girl.” He groaned as he dropped down and crawled underneath the table.

“It’ll also be the last time if you don’t shut up right now.”

Malfoy chuckled in response.

You ignored it – this was the reason you hated working with Slytherins in Potions. Well, not Slytherins, him. Ever since your friend drunkenly announced that you used to have crush on him in the second year, Draco Malfoy made it his mission to drive you to insanity whenever you had Potions together. He chose that subject because of Snape’s brilliant idea to pair you two up permanently for the rest of the year. Now, you couldn’t escape him if you wanted to.

It didn’t bother you because you didn’t like the blond-haired idiot. If anything, his constant teasing brought back any feelings that you thought had already left. No, it bothered you because you were certain that he just did this for his own amusement. You heard the rumors of him and Parkinson dating again and you were quite sure that he wasn’t interested in a Hufflepuff girl when he could have her.

“There I see it!”, Draco exclaimed and pointed underneath the cabinet next to the table.

“Shit,” you whined. “Why do frogs hearts have to be so small?!” You laid down on your stomach and tried to reach for it, unsuccessfully. “Can you try? Your arms are longer.”

Draco looked at you dumbfounded. “Just use your wand.”

You admitted – his idea was better. Both of you crawled back out from underneath the table and got up. You patted down your skirt and robe, getting rid of all the dirt and dust. In the meantime, Malfoy pulled his wand out of his bag.

“Accio, frog heart,” he mumbled and pointed in its direction.

Looking back on this day now, his idea turned out to be the worse one after all. The frog heart shot out from underneath the cupboard and flew up to him with extraordinary speed. You saw how his eyes widened before he grabbed the heart right out of the air with his free hand. You heard the disgusting squishing sound and then blood followed, running down his wrist and dripping on the floor.

Malfoy looked at his hand and back at you, who still stared at him.

You finally just shrugged and turned around to start packing up the rest of the ingredients for the potion.

He cleared his throat at your reaction. “Why aren’t you yelling at me?”, he asked, suspicion hiding in his voice.

“I’m trying to think of ways how you can make this up,” you replied and put apple tree wood back in its container.

“Make what up?”

“Well,” you began sharply but stopped yourself. You wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of being mad right now. You continued in a softer voice: “Well, Snape was clear and not giving us a second heart in case some bullshit like this,” you pointed at his hand, “happened. Which means, we failed this assignment. Which means, you might have cost me my grade.”

“If your grade solely depends on this assignment, that’s not my problem,” he shot back.

“Shut up, Malfoy, and clean yourself.”

Draco didn’t move. He watched you from the side – even though you didn’t look at him, you felt his glance lingering on you. Like an itch you weren’t supposed to scratch, you tried to ignore him.

“I might have an idea on how to make this up,” he said.

This peaked your interest. Your hand movements slowed down, and you glanced at him from the corner of your eyes.

“Go with me to Hogsmeade next weekend.”

***

Entrance Hall, Seventh Year

You found him on the stairs, sitting between the ruins and ashes, staring at his dusty shoes. The sight of him threw you off and a whimper escaped your throat. You stopped abruptly which caused some guy from the ministry to almost run into you. He cursed at you and you mumbled a distraught apology.

There was dirt on his face mixed with blood, and it left you wondering whether or not it was his. After a moment, you began to approach him – carefully, cautiously. When you stood in front of him, he looked up and you saw the dried tears on his cheeks.

A confusing mixture of relief and pain washed over you and you suddenly dropped down in front of him. You pulled him into a hug and he held on to you so tightly, you were scared he would break you. No sounds left your mouths, no tears wetted your shirts – only ragged breaths were heard as you held one another, trying to understand if this was real. If it was really your bodies against each other, your hands gripping the fabric of your clothes.

“You left,” you whispered when the two of you finally separated.

“I’m sorry,” his voice broke and he raised his hands to cup your cheek. You leaned into the touch. “I-I … I came back,” Draco stammered. “I’m sorry I left, I …”

“It’s okay.” You leaned forward to rest your forehead against his. “You came back. It’s all that matters now.”

He let out a shuddering sigh. “I’ll always come back for you,” he mumbled. “You have to believe me, I’ll always come back for you.”

“I believe you,” you replied softly.

“Because you know … when you stole my heart, I wasn’t expecting you to keep it.”

And for the first time in weeks – you laughed. You started to shake and before you knew it, in the middle of all this madness and terror, you truly laughed. You couldn’t get yourself to stop. All of the pain and fear of the last hours, watching your classmates die in front of you, seeing Potter defeat Lord Voldemort – the realization that all of it was finally over, hit you, and your body reacted in the weirdest way possible. You let yourself fall back on the gravel, giggles still escaping as you covered your mouth to muffle the sounds. Draco watched you with a smile, a sad and defeated one, but a smile nonetheless.

“How long were you sitting on that one?”, you asked him once you had calmed down. You wiped away the tears from your cheeks. Tears from laughter, you realized and couldn’t remember the last time that happened.

“Since the day I asked you out,” he admitted. “I wanted to say it when I’d propose but I figured … the day we survived a war was a good alternative.”

You shook your head in disbelief, warmth spreading in your chest. “I love you so fucking much, Draco Malfoy.”

The smile on his face widened. “Same, little Hufflepuff, same.”

***

A/N: Thank you for reading <3

HP Masterlist General Masterlist Tag List: @writerdee1701, @zpandaqueen, @ladylizzieofdarbyshire, @aspiring-ginger, @nobleking, @harpersmariano, @dracos-slut, @destiels-assbutt13, @justmesadgirl, @bbeautyybbx, @hermione-stark @dracosathenaeum, @avaluriaa, @drxcomvlfx, @natsiboo, @theanxietyqueen17, @amelialilypotter @harry-and-draco-loves, @bellagrayson-wayne, @dracomalfoyswifey, @donttellany1iusetumbler, @beiahadid, @lavenderblossom12, @weasleytwinswheezes

If you want to be added to my tag list, let me know or use this form! <3

#draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy x you #draco malfoy #draco malfoy imagines #draco malfoy fanfiction #harry potter #harry potter imagines #astrids fics #draco x reader

730 notes · View notes

thedeathdeelers · 3 years ago

Text

just a little bit of magic (you know the rest by heart) ✨

my take on a Juke HP AU for the lovely Taryn @pink-flame on her birthday 🥰🎂 may you have an amazing day/week/month/year, you wonderful human being.

hope you like it!

----

Luke eagerly pulls Julie along as they walk down several corridors, up moving staircases and through low hanging archways. The deeper they walked into the castle, the quieter it got.

He had been jittery all morning, too impatient to pay attention in any of his classes as he counted down the hours and minutes until he was free to find Julie and drag her to his surprise. He’d lost his house countless of house points, his leg bouncing and his mind wandering whenever any of his professors called on him in class.

Alex had tried to help a few times whispering the right answers to him, but unfortunately nothing could help Luke when he got in one of these moods. He was just too excited.

Julie trips on her feet behind him, a reminder that her legs were shorter than his. He shakes his head, bringing himself back to the present as he focuses on the girl next to him. Luke slows down his pace, squeezing Julie’s hand once in apology as he gives her a few seconds to regain her balance.

The last thing he wanted to do was mess this up by having her trip and fall right before his big reveal.

Alex had already nearly blown the entire thing when they had passed him on the fifth floor coming out of the prefects’ bathrooms, forcing Luke to very loudly and purposefully talk over him to stop Julie from hearing anything. When he had realised his mistake, Alex had quickly gone quiet, his features morphing into a sheepish expression as he waved at them, walking away and back towards the Hufflepuff common room.

“Luuuuuke, where are you taking me?" His lips twitch at her whine, finding it to be very endearing. "It’s nearly past curfew and as Prefect I really can’t afford to be caught sneaking around by Harrison again.” He sees her look down at her outfit from the corner of his eye, a look of frustrated confusion taking over her face. "Also why did you tell me to change into my normal clothes under my robe?"

Luke snorts at her words, hopping onto the stairs leading them towards the seventh floor, Julie quickly following suit as the staircase starts moving.

“First of all, Harrison absolutely loves you — she'd probably thank you for being you and then very politely ask you to head back to your tower, and then turn right around and give me 3 months’ worth of detention in the same breath.” He turns his head towards her, throwing her his signature grin. “You’ll be fine. And second of all, you ask too many questions. We’re nearly there -- be patient Young Padawan."

"Young-" She shakes her head, cutting herself off, the muggle reference clicking. Luke grimaces at his choice of words, thinking might be spending a little too much time around Reggie lately. "And where is there, exactly?"

Luke tries very hard not to take the stairs two steps at a time.

"Nuh-uh, I already told you - it's a surprise."

He smiles at the disgruntled noise she makes, knowing just how impatient Julie can be. He sneaks a look at her face from over his shoulder, nearly tripping over the stone steps when he sees a little pout on her lips.

At his fumble, a smirk replaces the pout, her voice coming out cockier than usual. "You good there, Patterson?"

Luke whips his head back around, his eyes flying to his feet and staying fixed on the steps in front of him.

"Yeah," he clears his throat before continuing, "yeah, I'm fine. We're uh- we're nearly there."

"It's what you keep telling me," is her teasing, sing-song reply, her mood apparently shifting at his fumble.

Luke keeps his eyes forward, hoping Julie can't see his reddened cheeks as they reach the seventh floor landing. He stops for a second to let her catch her breath before pulling her along with him again, taking the first left corridor they come across to head towards the Troll tapestry.

He'd been taking this route so many times in the last few weeks, he could probably do this with his eyes closed. He had wanted everything to be perfect, practicing again and again until he was sure he had nailed the process.

Only the best for his Julie Molina.

Their steps echo as they make their way down the seldom used corridor, the flickering lights from the torches casting long shadows on the stone floor ahead of them.

"Merlin, this castle is so creepy sometimes," mutters Julie to his left, shivering slightly as her hand tightens its hold on his.

Luke squeezes back, his eyes zeroing in on the tapestry up ahead. His heart starts to beat faster, the excitement reaching an all-time high, only slightly tainted by the nerves that fought to make their presence known.

Taking a deep breath, Luke slowly lets it out as they reach their destination, stopping and turning to face the large tapestry.

Julie stands next to him, confused as she takes in the scene before her - a group of Trolls in tutus attempting to learn the ballet. He watches her as she follows their movements, zeroing in on Barnabas the Barmy as he attempts to direct the Trolls to his left, while the ones on the right pull out their clubs ready to hit him over the head.

Luke loses focus for a second, too taken by Julie - by her furrowed brows, her scrunched up nose as she leans forward to inspect the design on the tutus, and especially by the way her lips twist before her bottom lip slips between her teeth.

He's only shaken out of his daze, his eyes flying up and away from her lips, when she suddenly turns to him with a quizzical look on her face.

"Is this the Barnabas the Barmy Tapestry? Why are we- wait..." She turns her head back towards the Tapestry, taking in the scene with new eyes. "I remember reading about this in Hogwarts: A History years ago...It was the chapter about the many hidden magical rooms in Hogwarts and..." She trails off as she looks at him, her eyes widening. She lets go of his hand, slowly turning in place to face the wall behind them - the one right across from the Tapestry.

"Wait....Isn't this-"

Luke rushes to cut her off, quickly turning around and stepping up in front of her to block her view of the wall, in a hurry to derail her train of thought.

"Okay! So, if you could stand right," he places his hands on either side of her waist, pulling her forward as he walks backwards, positioning her right in the middle of the corridor. "Here."

His hands don't move once she's in place, his fingers brushing against smooth warmth right where a sliver of skin peaks out between her t-shirt and the top of her jeans. He had somehow slid his hands under her open robes without even realising it.

His eyes fly up to meet hers, already wide and staring. They stand there in the quiet space, both locked in each others' gazes, neither one of them daring to move. Within seconds Luke can already feel the now familiar thrum of electricity that always crackled whenever they were both together. Only this time it felt even more surreal.

If he could, Luke thinks he could stay this way for the rest of the night, of the school year, but he brought her here for a reason, so he loudly clears his throat, effectively breaking some of the tension that had built between them. He lets his hands slip away from her waist as he takes a step back, his fingers still tingling from the contact.

"So just...yeah just stay there for a few seconds, while I..." He trails off as he looks away, turning around to face the bare wall in front of them and trying very hard to refocus on the task at hand.

He closes his eyes, clearing his mind until all he has left is the image of the room he wants to recreate.

Taking a deep breath, he pivots on his right foot and faces the direction they had just come from. He takes a few steps forward then abruptly turns back around and walks back down the corridor, making sure to keep his focus. He stops again once he reaches the edge of the Tapestry, turning back around and repeating the process until he starts hearing the sound of crumbling walls that always preceded the emergence of a large wooden door, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

Luke opens his eyes to take in the transformation in front of him, only turning to look at Julie when he hears her surprised gasp.

"Luke-" she's cut off by the increasing creaking sound of the door hinges slotting into place, the loud grating out of place on the deserted floor - until suddenly - everything stops. A deafening silence follows, only broken by the crackling of the torches nearby.

Coughing quietly to get her attention, Luke speaks up.

"So...Reggie told us about this room he read about a few weeks ago when we were trying to find a new rehearsal space to use, since, you know, Covington kicked us out of the fifth floor classrooms 'cause he obviously has no taste whatsoever when it comes to real music and loves making everyone miserable, especially Hufflepuffs and-" Luke cuts himself off when he realises he's rambling, rubbing the back of his neck before clearing his throat to continue.

"Yeah well, I asked around to check if this place actually existed and then Willie, you know how Willie likes to listen to us play - although honestly I think he just likes to hang out so he can watch Alex - but anyway, what I'm trying to say is that one of the ghosts from down by the dungeons owed Willie a favour so....ta-da," he finishes lamely, his arms coming up to point towards the door in front of them while wiggling his fingers.

It's quiet for a few seconds, Julie presumably taking it all in.

"You- you found the Room of Requirement?" She asks quietly, sounding almost awed.

"I mean- I had a lot of help from the guys and then Willie and the Bloody-"

"You found it," she cuts him off, her fingers reaching forward as she moves close enough to touch the door.

Luke scratches the back of his head, suddenly feeling shy in her presence.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I did."

He keeps his eyes on her, tracking her movements as she traces the patterns on the door, following the curving decorative loops down the length of the doorframe until her fingers wrap around the protruding metal handle.

"Luke, this is incredible."

The tone of her voice makes his cheeks grow warmer.

"Nah it's nothing," he tries to brush it off, shuffling on his feet, glad that she is too preoccupied with the door to see his continuously reddening cheeks.

She turns to him then, her hand still latching onto the handle.

"It's not nothing! There's a literal betting pool over at Ravenclaw tower to see who can find this place first, and so far no one's done it..." She shakes her head at him, a smile making its way onto her lips. "But you did."

Luke scuffs his shoe against the stone flooring, not sure what to do with himself. He's always been awkward with compliments, especially when they came from Julie.

Apparently Julie eventually takes pity on him, speaking up again.

"So Patterson, what am I going to find behind this door? A record store? That dodgy hot dog place you told me about? I saw you pacing back and forth three times in front of it, so I'm assuming you already have something or somewhere in mind."

She quirks a brow at him, her eyes shining bright with curiosity.

"Yes! That's actually why I brought you here," he chooses to ignore her little digs as he bounces closer to the door, coming to stand right next to her. "So I remember you saying at the start of the year how you've been struggling with music and...y'know...because no matter where you went you just never felt comfortable enough? And then I remembered the studio you always talked about, the one where your mom taught you everything you knew..."

He watches as her expression slowly morphs, her eyes getting wider and her lips parting ever so slightly.

"I asked Flynn to show me if you had any photos of the space and well..." Luke wraps his fingers around the metal chain hanging off his jeans underneath his robe, squeezing tight to keep himself from fidgeting.

Julie continues to stare at him, her expression frozen on her face. It only made him more restless.

Shit, did he take it too far? Was this not what friends did for each other? Sure he had been in love with Julie for years now, but he's been trying really hard to keep it strictly friendly between them, not wanting to ruin anything, especially after having lost her mom.

And Luke likes to think this is definitely something he would have done for either Reggie or Alex.

But maybe her studio back home was something too personal to her? Maybe she wasn't ready?

"Oh Merlin Julie if this is out of line we can just forget this whole thing happened and-"

Suddenly Luke is cut off by a small bundle of limbs and soft curves throwing themselves at him. His arms reach up reflexively, wrapping them around her, his hands coming to rest on the small of her back.

"Thank you," she says, or so he thinks, being the only words he can barely make out, muffled as they are against his t-shirt.

"Of course Julie." He moves his hands up and down her back, a gesture he knows is comforting to her.

The arms wrapped around his neck tighten for a second before she releases him, taking a small step back and wiping at her face with the sleeve of her robe.

He takes in her face, her expression so vulnerable, unsure about what to do next. But then a small smile appears as she nods at his unanswered question. He reciprocates, nodding back with a smile of his own.

He gestures towards the door. "So, want to do the honours?"

He watches as she nods again, taking in a deep breath before turning to face the door once more. With slightly shaking hands, Julie reaches over and wraps her fingers around the handle, twisting it before pushing. The heavy wooden door creaks at the movement, slowly swinging open until they were both standing on the threshold of a brightly lit garage-turned studio space.

Luke only takes a second to check that everything inside is as it should be, before turning back around to look at Julie.

Her eyes widen at the scene that welcomes her, the steps she takes as she crosses over into the space small and tentative. Luke slips in right behind her, taking her hand off the handle before easing the door shut behind them. He keeps her hand in his as she looks around the space, her fingers brushing over everything within her reach - from the throw covering the armchair that greets them on the right, to the trinkets covering the corner shelves on their left. As they gradually move into the studio, the sound of their footsteps alternating from loud to muffled as they cross over the various rugs decorating the space, Julie’s eyes move upwards, her attention momentarily shifting to the ceiling. Luke follows her gaze to see the three hanging chairs he’d debated leaving out, glad to have included now that he sees a wistful smile take place on Julie’s face.

With the late afternoon Californian sunlight streaming in through the windows, the studio almost looks magical, a warm golden glow enveloping the space. Julie’s gaze comes back down as she pulls Luke along with her further into the studio, walking around the baby grand piano, her finger lightly trailing its side, to stand in front of the wall of plants nestled against the glass back wall.

"My mom..." Julie starts, breaking the silence before trailing off as she reaches over to touch the leaves hanging closest to her. "She always said that plants were sacred. She used to tell me and Carlos all these stories about these spirits that lived in each and every single plant on Earth, protecting those who cared for them. Nurturing all those who treated them with love and kindness and respect." Luke takes in the sight of the green foliage, noting how beautiful it looked. "Said tjat our loved ones’ spirits somehow lived in the very roots of these plants.

“Our house has these pots and vases full of flowers and all sorts of plants all over the place - even our garden looks like a jungle!" She lets out a watery laugh, sniffling as she gets on her tiptoes as if on instinct to pull down a green watering pot resting on a shelf above them.

Luke, seeing what Julie wants to do, hurries to pull out his wand from his back-pocket, muttering a quick Aguamenti as he taps the watering pot. Julie shoots him a grateful smile before she starts watering the plants one by one, Luke tucking his wand away into his robe pocket.

“We used to take turns, each of us spending a few minutes or hours watering and pruning every single plant in the house and in here - but my mom was always there anyway, singing to us, to the plants. Keeping us company.” Julie leans forward as she tries to reach the back row. "But when she...when she wasn't around anymore, I- I stopped. I couldn't bring myself to think about her plants or her music or her stories — let alone come in here where everything about this place reminded me of her." Luke gently rubs the back of her hand with his thumb, not wanting to cut her off, but still finding a small way to try and comfort her.

"I guess my dad took care of everything last summer..." Julie trails off as she finishes watering the remaining hanging plants, before placing the watering pot back in its place.

She turns to him, a peaceful smile lighting up her face. "I forgot how soothing it felt to do that. Thank you."

Luke's smile widens at her words, nodding at her in response.

She keeps her eyes locked on his for a few more seconds before averting her gaze, turning back around to face the piano they had walked past earlier.

Julie lets go of his hand as she slowly makes her way towards the instrument, only stopping when she reaches the bench. Luke takes note of her hesitancy to touch the piano, only to then take a deep breath and slip onto the bench, fingers poised over the fall-board.

He slowly walks up behind her, squeezing her shoulder once before moving away.

"Julie, if you need some space or want me to go I can just-"

Her eyes, which had slid shut, pop open at his words as she cuts him off before he can even finish his sentence.

"No! No, this is- Stay. I want you here, really." She looks at him with so much open trust and something else he can't quite place, that Luke doesn’t really know what to say. So instead he just nods at her, pointing at the black couch behind him.

"I'm uh- I'll just go sit there? Give you a few minutes to yourself, yeah?"

At her nod, he takes a step backwards before spinning around on the spot, his shoe squeaking against the wood flooring, jumping over the coffee table and landing on the old weathered couch cushions.

He hears a little giggle behind him, his head whipping up in time to find Julie attempting, and failing, to smother the sound. His pokes his tongue out at her in response even as warmth blooms in his chest at the sound of her laughter.

She shakes her head at him before averting her eyes and focusing the piano before her, slowing reaching out to lift the fall-board.

He can see the anticipation and fear and love and grief and happiness swirling in her eyes, noticed the way her fingers shake as they hover over the keys. His own fingers dig into his knees, forcing himself to stay still, to stay quiet, as he witnesses a moment that truly is monumental for Julie.

He watches her as she takes another deep breath, squaring her shoulders as if ready for battle. She nods to herself once right before her fingers land on the keys, music instantly filling every corner of the studio, every corner of his soul.

Luke has always been sensitive to music - he thinks that's why he's always been good at picking up new instruments so quickly, at finding the right words and melodies and blending them together to create something new and exciting. But the feeling that courses through him as he listens to Julie singing takes him completely by surprise. It's like a physical punching him in the gut, squeezing his heart and taking his breath away all at once. He sits there, stunned, as he listens to Julie inadvertently command his full attention, singing her heart out.

He thinks it must be an original, because he doesn’t recognise it at all.

Her face goes through a rollercoaster of emotions, pain leaking through as she makes her way through the first pre-chorus.

And you use your pain,

‘Cause it makes you you,

Thought I wish I could hold you through it

I know it’s not the same

You got living to do

And I just want you to do it

But then just as she reaches the end, gearing up for what feels like the chorus, Luke sees determination take its place.

So get up, get out, relight that spark,

You know the rest by heart

Julie dives into the chorus, full of energy and hope, another one of her many smiles suddenly changing the tone of the song.

She makes her way through the second verse, pre-chorus and chorus in the same vain, the energy around her building and building, Luke’s heart beat matching it.

The song reaches its crescendo, her voice climbing as it builds on every note it hits, Julie getting to her feet, spreading her arms wide as she gets to the high note. A look of peaceful acceptance crosses her face before she eases the songs to it’s final chorus, settling back down onto the bench, singing and playing softly as the song comes to an end, the last two words ringing in the quiet studio.

Wake up

All Luke can do is stare with his mouth hanging open as Julie lowers her hands onto her lap, her eyes closed, chest heaving. He had always known that Julie was a powerhouse, always known that music coursed through her veins right along her magic, but he had never heard her sing the way she just had. Not with the full force of her voice as so many raw emotions filtered through.

It left him reeling. He needed to catch his breath.

If he wasn't already in love with her, he knows he'd be head over heels for her after what he had just witnessed.

He's pulled out of his daze when Julie moves, her eyes open as she stands up and steps away from the bench, slowly moving towards him.

Luke scrambles to shuffle down the sofa making space for her to sit, only to be surprised when she chooses to sit on his lap, her arms wrapping around his neck as she burrows her face in his neck.

It takes him a few seconds to react, his body frozen and unable to process.

"I know I keep saying this but....thank you," she whispers, voice unstable, her lips sending shivers down his spine as they brush against the skin of his neck.

The movement snaps him out of his stupor, his arms coming up to fully wrap around her, pulling her closer to his chest as he leans back against the couch cushions.

"I told you," he says, resting his chin over her head of curls, "anything for you, Julie."

Her fingers curls into the fabric of his t-shirt, pulling herself closer to him at his words.

They stay that way for a while, Julie’s breathing eventually easing into a calm rhythm.

Luke stays quiet, understanding her need to absorb everything she had just gone through, happy to just hold her in his arms. When she does break the silence, her voice comes out a little more composed.

"I- that was a song my mom wrote for me before she- when she found out..." Her whisper trails off into silence, the pain in her voice squeezing at his heart.

Luke tightens his arms around her.

"You don't have to explain it to me, Jules, it's okay."

"No I- I want to."

Luke relents, nodding at her words as he patiently waits for her to continue.

"I found the song right before leaving home back in September, and when I saw it...it just hurt too much. I couldn't even get past the title." She releases her grip on his shirt only to start tracing random patterns on his arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind.

“I packed it up and brought it with me thinking I’d be able to read it once settled in my dorm, a space my mom’s never been in but — it took me months to even take it out again, and then a few more months after that just to read through the whole thing. That first time I was a mess," she laughs, a small quiet sound. "Flynn was so close to dragging me to Madam Pomfrey but I managed to convince her I was okay-ish. And then after that it slowly started becoming a little easier every time I read through it until one day I just knew the full song by heart." She stops talking for a few minutes, lost in her own thoughts as she continues her ministrations on his arm. "But even then I still couldn't get myself to sing it, I was always so scared that once I did, it meant that my mom really was gone, that the last piece I had connecting me to her was over and I couldn't bear it..."

Luke's heart drops at her words, an apology ready on the tip of his tongue.

"But the minute I walked into our studio again, this studio, after watering those plants and being able to share all of her stories about spirits and magic and life always being around even after death with you, it just...clicked." She lifts her head up from her hiding place, finally locking eyes with him. "I carry her with me, in everything I do. And I know that I would have eventually figured this out myself, probably once I went back home over the summer, maybe, but..." Julie places her hand against his cheek, her fingers warm against his skin. "It wouldn't have been the same, and I- well, thank you. Again." She tilts her head, looking at him from under her lashes with a smile so radiant on her face, all he can do is nod, turning his head to press a kiss against the palm of her hand.

He feels her fingers twitch against his face, a hitch in her breathing as he looks back up at her.

He finds her looking at him, eyes wide and open, looking both tired and fully awake with dried tear tracks down her cheeks, her bun falling apart with loose curls bending at weird angles from a long day of classes, but all he can think is how beautiful she is. How much he loves her and everything she is, and he tries to hard to stop himself but-

"I love you.”

The words spill out, unable and unwilling to stay locked up anymore. His own eyes widen at his confession, regret flooding in the second he says it.

"I- I- I," he tries to backtrack, to fill the silence, anything, but now that the words are out in the open, his brain and mouth seem to have detached, neither one wanting to cooperate with the other.

Julie stares at him, her eyes somehow growing larger, her mouth forming into the shape of an "o".

“Oh.”

Luke braces himself for her rejection, prepares himself to feel the cold air rush in the minute she moves off of his lap.

But instead, Julie brings up her other hand to fully cup his face, her mouth stretching out into a full blown grin.

"You love me?" she asks, breathless.

Luke, too stunned to do anything else, simply nods at her question.

“You love me," she repeats, this time more of a statement than a question.

She surprises again him by laughing, a lovely melodious sound that pulls the laughter out of him, joining her in her mirth as he chuckles quietly along in his confusion.

"I'm sorry I'm not- I'm not laughing at you," she tries to get out between laughs, her smile still present on her face. "I'm just in disbelief, I-" She shakes her head, laughter quietening down as her thumbs swipe along his cheekbones.

"I love you too."

Those four words take him by surprise, affecting him in a way even her singing hadn’t, his mind spinning, heart racing, entire being vibrating.

Julie Molina loved him.

She loved him too.

He takes his time to commit this moment, her face, the feel of her weight on his lap and the warmth of her hands against his cheeks, to memory. His eyes roam her face, taking in every detail, before they finally land on her smiling lips.

He briefly thinks back to all the moments he had wished he could kiss her, taste her smile and her joy and happiness - and share in that glow that always seemed to be uniquely hers.

He now smiles at that thought, thinking that maybe he might actually be able to experience the one thing he had always craved but thought was off-limits.

Lifting his eyes back up to meet her, Luke leans slightly forward, in askance, in invitation. When she reciprocates his movements, Luke brings both his hands up from behind her back, cupping her face as he pulls her closer to him, ending years’ worth of pining.

That night was the first time of many that Luke Patterson was given the privilege of tasting Julie Molina's smile.

fin

#jatp #juke #julie and the phantoms #jatp fics #luke patterson #julie molina #julie x luke #luke x julie #HP AU #my fics #thedeathdeelers fics #guys this thing is 5k #this is the longest thing i have EVER written #im-#ya #the power of juke

80 notes · View notes