#then got insta-killed when he got to the third phase

[foxstens]

YO I BEAT THE BOSS RUSH

[moral-turpitudes]

College Headcanons: Modern!Peaky Blinders Edition

Part 1 | Part 2

Grace Burgess:

Major: Criminal Justice Minor: Fashion Merchandising

10/10 would join a sorority. She has the look and loves the parties.

Has beauty and brains, surprisingly.

Works part time as the barista at Starbucks.

Loves sticking her nose in people’s business so her major is pretty fitting.

She loves a challenge so when she gets to know Thomas Shelby, she knows he’s gonna be fun to figure out.

Studies a decent amount but uses her spare time to try to look into the Shelby’s and why they practically run campus. A little birdy told her about them.

Knows Tommy’s coffee order by heart.

Always DTF.

Is suspicious of Tommy’s inability to use technology but goes along with it cuz she wants to get to know him more.

Didn’t think she’d fall for the mysterious man with a smoking problem but here we are.

When introduced to his family, she asked too many questions about their finances and such, making them think she worked for the cops or something.

Polly still didn’t trust her despite it being a while since they first dated.

Her professor likes her, and encourages her to keep investigating as part of her project on corrupt institutions. Only her professor is a little too enthusiastic. She passes the class, but tells Tommy about him being creepy from time to time.

The next day the professor isn’t there. Hmm. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Almost fought a guy who spilt his coffee on her new dress.

Dreams of being well-off and having a fashion line of her own. Envying Ada’s knack for clothing.

Gets drunk with her sorority sisters on the weekends at the bar and does karaoke. It’s not the best, but she gets an A for effort.

About halfway through her junior year she has to leave cuz she’s dramatic and Polly may have blown her cover. So in a rash decision, she leaves Tommy on his own, making him have a fit and almost getting himself suspended but it’s fine. Polly tells him he’ll meet someone else.

Esme Lee

Major: Horticulture

Her friends all have crazy majors but she wanted something simple, so she chose horticulture. It also lets her get out of the dull college life for a while, or so she thought.

Knowing she can get her mind set on her studies, they decided to help her out and invited her to a frat party.

Everyone who was popular was there so she felt a bit out of place, until she met John randomly when she went to grab a drink.

She’s a wild one kind of like John so they mesh well together. They ended up getting drunk and dancing the night away, letting all their college worries leave them.

In her spare time she can be seen roaming campus with John or hanging out with her friends, and occasionally yelling at some people to get away from her plants at the schools gardening area.

She got along with the blinders really well, except she liked to challenge Tommy at times.

She may be small but she’s one hell of a yeller. She intimidated John the first time she yelled at him.

No one messes with her unless they want to be beaten up by her boyfriend.

Polly likes to chat with her about the business sometimes, sparing some of the details, but she knows Esme can be trusted, and besides, Esme can always force it out of John if it’s something too shady.

Apart from her social life, she does quite well for her studies, and runs a small etsy shop where she makes jewelry.

Her favorite part is uploading aesthetic photos of them to her insta and trying to get John to model for her pictures.

She, like the rest of the family, knew Grace was a snake, and always got bad vibes from Linda…smh.

When she heard news of Grace leaving, she shared a glance with John and did a happy dance internally. In regards to Linda, she wanted to claw her eyes out a bit but she held herself back. Linda would eventually get what came to her. Karma really is that bitch.

As time went on, she found herself agreeing on a whim to marry John, and later falling pregnant with her first of many children. But she’s fine with this situation as long as he helps her live her cottage!core dreams with a bunch of chickens running around while they raise their 10,000 kids.

Linda Shelby

Major: Agriculture

Minor: Religious Studies

Unhinged™

Joined a philanthropic sorority, so she mainly focuses on serving people at shelters and charities instead of serving looks at frat parties.

Claims to be a Christian.

Has the eye for anyone with a penis.

Spends most of her agriculture classes daydreaming about shooting Arthur.

Prays she has the knowledge to pass her exams instead of actually studying for them.

Just wants to live on a farm and be a housewife.

Gives off major bitch vibes no matter how many crucifixes she wears around her neck. Polly tolerates her, and so does the rest of the family, but it’s only a matter of time before someone snaps.

Textbook good-girl-gone-bad trope. Everyone knows her around campus for preaching about no sex until marriage but she be doing the nasty with her side-bae after prayer night.

Enjoys eavesdropping on the Shelby family’s conversations. She supplies Grace with information in exchange for free coffee.

Gaslighting is her second language, speaking in tongues is her third.

When she’s not planning things, she can be seen talking to Grace at Starbucks or stress-baking. She hooks her friends up with weed brownies and later switches to coke because of her boyfriend’s family *cough* Arthur.

Binge drinks on Saturdays and crawls to church on Sundays.

Gets clingy and manipulative at times.

Loves doing her religious studies homework in the chapel or the huge library on campus.

She’d do okay up until finals week, then she’d have many a break down that only cocaine could fix.

Drunk calls Arthur and lets it slip she’d been sleeping with someone the whole time they’d been together. Has 2 working braincells at that point.

He goes off on the dude as they both went to the same bible study. He begged for mercy in the middle of the church floor for Arthur to stop with the punches but we all know hell hath no fury like a person who’s been cheated on. May have almost killed him but it’s fine.

Linda finds him bleeding almost as much as Jesus did.

After crying to Grace on the phone, she snorts a couple lines and downs some shots and heads to Arthur’s dorm. Sos Linda’s got a gun.

Gets shot and lives to tell about it.

She leaves to find god perhaps after all this...or more coke, and just says “fuck it” to her degree. College isn’t for everyone, it’s ok Linda.

Poor Arthur is confused in the weeks leading to the shooting and Linda leaving. Isiah tried to warn him since he was her partner for some projects but he didn’t listen. He wanted to question Tommy’s barista bae about her too but she dipped tf out. The world may never know.

Lizzie Starke

Major: English

She’d taken up an assistants job at the business college and so she worked for nonother than Professor Polly Gray.

She got along with her well, and on Friday nights when she’d be invited out for drinks, she’d overhear Polly divulge one too many secrets about her business.

She kept her circle small so she never felt the need to tell anyone, also fearing that she wouldn’t live to see tomorrow if she did.

Polly trusted her with all her paperwork, often having to proofread and go over Tommy’s insanely long assignments and political debate notes.

Tommy would often be seen around the office, talking Polly’s ear off about business and legal issues, all while she’d get lost in his eyes as he spoke.

She knew she was out of his league, at least while Grace had him wrapped around her finger, but Polly said her day would come so she believed it.

In her spare time, she’d read poetry and sip tea, and on occasion try to teach Tommy about the world of laptops, but even she gave up after a while.

Her major took up a good deal of her time, constantly writing papers and re-reading books, but there was always one silver-lining. Tommy would often skip getting Finn’s help and go straight to her. He said it was because she gave good advice, but his demeanor said otherwise.

When he’d arrive, she’d notice him gradually improving his appearance, much like he did with Grace. And when he’d leave, Polly would shoot her a knowing look.

She may be quiet, but she’s smart, and knows when to make her moves, which both impresses Polly and intrigues Tommy.

Ends up being one of the only ones able to call Tommy out on his shit.

When she’s not around the Shelby’s she’s with her friends or hitting up bars and bookstores.

When she and Tommy finally get together, some students turned their heads at first, but they were good for each other in the long run, it just took Tommy longer to see it.

Gina Gray:

Major: Business Management

Minor: Fashion Merchandising

She came in the picture shortly after Grace’s departure. She was studying abroad but decided to come back for her business classes.

When she first laid eyes on Michael she knew he was the one, but she had to go through Polly, her professor first.

They dated for a while until he popped the question one weekend, leaving everyone in shock.

When she wasn’t fooling around with Michael, she could be seen around campus with her sorority sisters and some of her close friends. Since she was a fashion minor, she always made sure she was dressed to the nines and turned heads almost as much as Michael’s cousin Ada, almost.

Gives off bitch vibes 24/7. No one can really tell if she’s genuine in her feelings, not even Michael, poor bud.

His family thought she was suspicious like Grace, and Polly still can’t put her finger on why she feels she may have a trick up her embellished sleeves.

Michael tends to follow her like a lost puppy of sorts, but she loves the attention, and when he mentioned how his family worked she didn’t seem very phased by it, coming from a somewhat dysfunctional and power-hungry family herself.

She tries to study a decent amount but she’s always hanging out with Michael or getting herself into trouble with the cops when her sorority sisters throw parties.

She’s smart and very convincing, but Polly sees right through her, leading up to a very heated discussion between the two women after class one day.

It’s safe to say that her grades for Polly’s class are holding on by a thread, much like Polly is to her sanity.

She loves a game, whether that’s messing with people’s heads, or trying to beat her friends on game night. She always enjoys watching how they work through their problems, picking out the weakest ones in order to beat them while they’re down.

When she’s not scraping by in her business classes, she’s brainstorming fashion ideas for her numerous projects she’s left until the last minute. Somehow she’s passing the class with flying colors though.

Like Michael’s cousin Tommy, she’s always scheming over something, and so it’s only a matter of time before she fucks something up.

Aberama Gold:

Profession: Philosophy Professor

Side Job: Hitman

His teaching styles are eccentric, often taking the class on field trips to immerse them in the experience.

Goes on for hours about various stories and theories, often losing the class after 30 minutes.

Sometimes he gets called out of class by the teaching assistant because he got an “important” phone call.

“Important” phone calls mean hits and he can’t turn them down unless he wants beef with his rival gang members or people involved in the mafia.

For these reasons, he has two phones. One for his usual work and family, and one for the dirty work.

His son always teases him about having hella phones, but he ain’t no drug dealer, although he most definitely knows some by association.

Asks hard questions to his students and expects good answers.

Doesn’t believe in homework, but makes the classes very challenging and hard to skip.

In his spare time he helps out at the boxing ring, teaching his son the ropes and prepping him for competitions. Other times he helps Arthur and Finn train, all in an attempt to get them to mention their aunt Polly.

He’s in love with the woman but is a bit shy like his son. It takes him a bit to get the courage to meet her but once he does they hit it off.

Polly wasn’t turned off by his dangerous lifestyle, in fact she was turned on by it as she’s lived the same life.

When he wasn’t with Polly or helping his son, he could be seen roaming campus in his signature hat, resting in alleyways or leaving campus abruptly, obviously to go kill someone.

He’d often spend nights away from home alone in the forest, away from Polly and his family, using “philosophy research purposes” as an excuse so he could stake out targets.

He always kept his end of the bargain up, even when he had to deal with Polly’s family and their gangly family business.

Bonnie Gold:

Major: Sports Management

One of the more quiet, reserved students on campus. He can get mouthy when challenged though so watch out.

Would definitely hang with the art and english students, they’re chill.

Can be seen carrying his boxing gloves between classes and doing routine jogs around campus.

All the bitches love him but he only has his eyes on his future. He just wants to win his matches and then he’ll think about love, or so he says. He has the eye for someone in class though and it’s not long until his dad finds out.

He’s health-conscious af.

Has never eaten Ramen noodles a day in his life and doesn’t plan on it. Even if his friends Finn and Isiah try to bribe him. It’s one of the peak college experiences after all.

May have gotten drunk at a frat party and fought a tree.

Would throw hands if someone was being a dick to someone he cared about.

Takes his major seriously. He studies decently well given his dad is always on his ass about it, but when he’s done he goes to parties or hits the ring.

Often has his head in the clouds, dreaming of being a famous boxer, or at least managing a very successful sports team.

Helps his dad on hits. Not many people know this so it’s hush hush.

When he’s not shooting at his fathers enemies, he’s in the ring practicing for the big competitions.

Often spends weekends with his dad, helping to plan attacks and meeting with his blinder friends.

Almost got suspended for knocking out a couple guys cuz they insulted his father.

Attends his dads lectures just to keep an eye on things for him and because he actually finds the subject interesting. May also have a “thing” for a girl in the class but most likely won’t make a move because he’s shy af most times.

Isiah Jesus:

Major: History

Minor: Religious Studies

Despite his wild lifestyle, he likes learning about religions and how they all came to be, given his dad is a preacher.

He may not be a saint but he tries to do well in the classes at least.

Can be seen fucking around with his buds Finn and Bonnie, and going to one too many frat parties.

Finn and him would do lines of coke as soon as Arthur helped move a new supply in, and he’d try to bribe Bonnie to try it but he’d refuse and say he “has to stay clean for his matches.”

When he’s not doing coke or studying for his history or religion exams, he’s out helping the blinders on various jobs.

He often gets in trouble with security because he’s always sneaking about the dorms with some girls he met at parties.

Call it divine intervention, but he couldn’t help but feel something was “off” with the girl Arthur was seeing, cuz he’d gotten partnered up with her for some religion projects in the past and her ideas were concerning. He told Arthur to be careful but we all know what went down.

He likes joining the blinders on their business trips, often leaving his schoolwork until the last minute, just to get the opportunity to help in the business.

He and Finn rant about them not getting enough exposure to the family business but Polly quickly shoves the ideas from their heads saying they need to focus on school, at least then maybe the family could have some other potential.

Daydreams of being a full-blown leader like all the ones he’d read about in his history books. He often looks up to Tommy just as much as Finn does, which sometimes gets them both hurt.

He can be seen often at the ring training with Finn and Bonnie.

He sticks up for his family and friends, even if it means putting himself on the line. No one messes with him unless they want trouble from him and everyone he knows.

[vermilionvector]

Tips for playing Nyx in Berthe Raid:

- If you have a CL in the party, after he uses Luminary, prepare your awakening bead and set your moon phase to Full Moon because Natal Chart is incoming. While his HA is active, ALWAYS have an awakening bead ready because you don't know when the next Natal Chart will come.

- Salvation is your greatest asset. Time your Salvation well to gain the most benefit out of it. For example, double cast with Half Moon > Full Moon awakening; refilling other character's special resources after they use their big skills; grant full 3 bead awakening to those who just revive, etc.

- If you know you're going to be hit by a powerful attack, awaken with Full Moon to reduce damage received. This saved my ass a lot of times when Berthe howled. You can predict when the howl will come in 15-6-2. They'll most likely come directly after the ban is activated. Time you awakening to align with Berthe's pre-howl animation. You can also awaken just before laser hits in 15-6-3.

- ALWAYS have 1 active to cycle through your moon phases. This is crucial during skills ban in 15-6-1 & 15-6-2. Only 1 is enough because you have other things to do. Preferably Winter Wind, Dance of Silent Night, or Backlight because:

> Winter Wind (super fast animation and low cooldown; use non-mod since mod messes up your position),

> Dance of Silent Night (personal pick; quick cast but slow attack animation; however it deals the most damage if many balls connect; very useful against pillars)

> Ear Ringing (has super armor and chance to activate Brilliant Moon but high cooldown; also slow cast)

> Backlight (non-mod; quick cast and chance to activate Brilliant Moon but high cooldown; mod sucks because it loses all benefit in non-mod and must only be used in mid-air; for me Backlight has a weird motion pause so I don't like it as much)

> Lost Child (too long cooldown with negligible benefit; 3 seconds super armor isn't long and also disappears upon contact with enemy.)

- Personal buff and debuff skill loop for me is: Verdict > White Dwarf > Moon Shards > Extinction. Verdict is always used first because it's a direct buff. White Dwarf is used second because it takes a while to cast. Moon Shards is used third because there's a slight gap between White Dwarf cast animation and the attack itself which you can use to add a quick skill in. Extinction is used last because you're locked into the animation for the entire skill. If the enemy cannot be debuffed, you can use only Verdict and support with other defensive skills. But Verdict is always the first to cast and must always be maintained.

- Use Moon's Origin in this priority:

1. Your party is in dire need of healing (also includes when you don't have enough MP to buff/debuff further). If you have low CD reduction/acceleration you should use this skill only when necessary.

2. All other buffs/debuffs are already active. If you have done everything else and still have some MP left, go for it.

3. If you wear Cerulean or have very high cooldown reduction/acceleration, try to use it in-between other skills. For example, Verdict > Moon's Origin > White Dwarf > Moon Shards > Moon's Origin > Extinction > THBDaW > Moon's Origin > rinse and repeat.

3.1. If you have done all buffs/debuffs and have very high CD reduction/acceleration: Moon's Origin > THBDaW > Moon's Origin > THBDaW > Moon's Origin > THBDaW > Moon's Origin > THBDaW > repeats until you need to buff/debuff again. (Yes. It's possible. You'll never see that HP/MP bars of party members go down.)

- Learn how to freeze. Timing is key. You can only freeze all Berthe Raid bosses once (except Berserk Berthe and Annihilator) before having to wait 30 seconds. But this is also a relief because you don't have to count how many seconds have passed like in Rosso Raid.

In 15-5-1, you can freeze the red boss after his Devastating Charge. For blue boss, his freezing window is during when he's not attacking, so it's quite hard to freeze him.

In 15-5-2, there are several windows to freeze him.

- use High Tide when he slams down from the air, then use Glacier when he is standing up.

- use High Tide during his attack, then use Glacier immediately after. This window is really small so it's not recommended. It's also susceptible to lag.

In 15-5-3, you can only freeze Haivan. The best window is after he uses the first Focused Fire. When he starts firing and it's not you who is being targeted, use High Tide on him. The last few hits will connect just after he finishes firing, then use Glacier immediately after. Throw some Wind Orbs here if you have. You'll have to wait roughly until after he uses carpet bombing to be able to freeze him again.

In 15-6-1, freeze ONLY WHEN YOUR PARTY IS READY TO PERFORM A BAN SKIP. Communicate when and how to skip his second half ban. After Berthe uses Counter Designation and it isn't Strength skills, immediately use High Tide and Glacier afterwards. Most likely the tide will hit first and the freeze will hit immediately after. But there's also a chance that Berthe will use Thorns which nullify the freeze. Don't worry about this, you can try again after he's out of Hyper Armor. ALWAYS use High Tide first. Without High Tide's debuff the freeze duration will substantially decrease. (But if Strength skills are banned, gl finding another pt member with freeze/petrify.)

- NEVER let Whale Ball (a.k.a. Silver Moon's Calling) disappears (unless Berthe bans it).

- Reduce your Benediction Stage 1 cooldown as much as possible. You will need to spam it a lot. Higher stages are not recommended because a) the buff only lasts 30 seconds and b) they lock you in place for a long time and if you got hit by an attack that bypasses invincibility then you'll definitely die. The buff range is kinda small so you have to position yourself as close to the party members as possible, unless they are directly above you. Please note that the invincibility after you revive can still be ignored by certain attacks so if you're hit by multi-hit heavy/insta-kill attacks there's no hope for you. Equip res title like Forginay's Fruit or Eclipse as a failsafe.

- Cast your Benediction in 15-6-3 carefully. You might need to use it after someone takes light orb during the ultimate flame attack. My suggestion is to cast it immediately after the stage starts > another time during the battle > then wait until the attack appears and use as necessary > rinse and repeats.

- Using Broken Seal of Time synergy is optional. But if you're not confident in your Benediction cooldown or your anticipation of events then it's a nice failsafe.

- Remember that YOU ARE NOT HERE TO DEAL DAMAGE. LET DPS DO THEIR THING. (unless you have 4m+ CP then that's another story but you'll probably be out-damaged by DPS anyway but if you're the one with the highest damage then god bless you cuz you're going to have a bad time.)

[angry-healers]

The demon and the little Astrologian

This happened to me a while ago but I feel like this needs to be shared. It’s kinda long so sorry in advance

It’s the good old 3.5 Era and Square Enix does a Zurvan Challenge so you can get yourself a nice shirt. Now, I’m no expert with Zurvan but it’s only Hard Mode so what can go wrong? As it turns out, a lot.

For those who don’t know, at these events it’s essentially duty finder in real life with Square Enix Helpers running around asking for specific roles to fill up the groups as you stand in line. The party I got was pretty chill. Practically everyone knew the fight and we joked how long people were taking in i270 gear and that we can do it in half the time… we spoke too soon. Everything went well until the third phase. A friend told the group to lb at 30% (why wouldn’t he? Everyone knew the fight after all) and of course, everything went to shit afterwards. Someone messed up the seals and we wiped. Demoralising but not the focus here. Oh no, this was just an appetiser for what’s to come.

So my friend and I were reluctant to wait in line again but luckily for us a few members of our guild were also there and sort of snuck us in the group behind them. So we asked what roles were needed and they said healers. Np, I can heal, not a healer main but I can hold my own. So I go AST and my friend decides to go WHM with half of the party being new to the fight. Usually I’m anxious healing at events like this but I know my co-heal so I’m pretty chill… until it’s our turn. Essentially they had designated places for tanks, healers and dps and when they asked what I played and I said healer, I got the pc for the second healer… but my friend was behind me so… why? Well turns out someone decided to screw our planning and go WHM instead of my friend… I get nervous because they were new but hey, maybe they know how to heal, right? …Right?

So we load in. Our party ended up looking like this: PLD - Not new. A normal player WAR - Only plays 14 at events like this. So essentially new BRD - The PLD’s friend. Also not new BRD - Same as the WAR SMN - Completely new, clueless and egi-less for the entire fight WHM - Also new DRG - My friend. Semi-hardcore player AST - My unlucky self

I could leave it at that and just let your imagination do the rest but I’m on a roll now. The fight begins. I go Noct (and I have never been more grateful for the Noct buffs I tell you), prepare my cards and cast protect. We wait a second, no stoneskin, and the PLD pulls. Everything goes well at first. But then the WHM eats the lovely line AOE. Np I rez them, throw them an ewer and continue healing, they were new after all and now they know not to do that again (despite us telling them the most important things before but hey, nobody’s perfect). Well they die two more times to that and it’s at this point I realize that I’ll have to solo heal this because they couldn’t regenerate their mp… fun.

Onto the add phase. We barely managed to kill the add before Meracydian meteor was finished casting and by this point I feel like havin a heart attack. Admittedly, I’m not the best healer out there. I often forget about the utility AST has or to frequently use my mp regeneration skill but during this fight I used it all. Gimme that mp, gimme dem light speed insta casts, I’m not wiping again! But determination only brings you so far. Not sure what exactly went down but from one moment to the other, two dps and my co-healer are dead. I hit lb3 before rethinking my decision and cancelling the cast. Better safe that for an actual emergency. And as if I’d have known, the emergency came. At this point only the DRG, a BRD and myself are alive. On top of that Zurvan casts Tyrfing. So my friend does what any responsible DRG should do, they tank Zurvan so I can lb safely. Bless them. Everybody’s alive and the DRG almost survived if it hadn’t been for the last hit of Tyrfing doing a crap ton of damage. I swiftly reprotect, reshield and rez our brave DRG and on we go. Then the seals come again… and one of them is empty. At this point I short circuit, I’m not wiping because of that again! So I sprint over there, intending to heal through the bleed but I underestimated the strength of it and apparently someone else messed up their polarity so bleeds for most of the party. In the end, I die, most of the party dies and because my co-healer has no mp they can’t rez me. Gg, I think, another wipe and stress and ptsd for a lifetime. Meanwhile only our tanks are alive and Zurvan is at 5% and I can only pray as they slowly beat him down. To top it all of, three seals spawn. Shortly before impact, the screen goes black. We did it. I do don’t know how and I don’t feel like we deserved it but we made it. I’m literally half on the ground by now and in utter disbelief and shock. I swear, I’ll never do Zurvan again.

(submitted by astralconstellation)

[shadowrx]

Kendra - Lv 00, Ch 01 by ShadowRx

Kendra - Chapter 01 - HFBP! (c) 2017 by Shadowriter (that's right, I wrote something this year!) ShadowRx.DeviantArt.com www.patreon.com/ShadowRx CONTENT WARNING: I don't need to give you content warnings, if you're in my gallery and bookshelf you have a pretty good idea what to expect. --- LEVEL: 00 --- She was really starting to hate mirrors. But in truth she wasn't sure whether it was the reflection or the tape measure that disgusted her more. "Happy fucking birthday, pig.", she said to the short, somewhat chubby girl staring back at her. '18 years old and I look exactly the same as I did at 15... maybe a little fatter, if that's even possible.', she thought shaking her head. Kendra screamed in frustration as she threw the tape on her dresser... she didn't even bother writing the numbers, they were the same as last year (with yet another inch on her waist!). "Why!?", she bellowed to the universe as she slammed her bedroom door and got into the shower. Why couldn't she be more like her characters? She was an Amazonian Warrior Goddess trapped in the body of a Dwarven Couch-Potato! She couldn't understand it. She watched her intake vigorously, taking in only half the recommended calories; she ran 2-3 miles twice a week; she had even tried more extreme measures and nothing worked. "Kendra...? What the fuck?!", she heard half-conscious whining from down the hall as she was undressing, "you know daddy needs his sleep after working graveyards at the warehouse!" "Sorry, Papa.", she shouted back, unable to stop from chuckling a little at accidentally waking him. Unlike her father, Kendra's accent was barely noticeable; she was a third generation Indian-American, but didn't grow up in a tight Indian community, so she never picked up his thick British-Indian vocal patterns. Probably a good thing, as it was one less thing she got teased for growing up; not that Scott Willoughby didn't try... cost him a trip to the ER and her a week suspension. Later on, when her father gently tried to scold her with, "Kendra, you know you aren't supposed to get into fights at school..."; she promptly retorted, "but Papa, its not a fight if its over in one punch", and an eight year old smile that evaporated what little anger he felt. He had a hard time believing its been 10 years already. "Happy birthday, sweetheart, we'll do something tonight when you get back from school." "I thought you worked at the store tonight", she replied. "Are you kidding? I told them it was a family emergency, I wouldn't miss your 18th birthday... my little girl's all grown up." 'If only', she thought to herself as she pulled the curtain closed and started the water. Her father worked two jobs to support them ever since... she wished she could remember her mother, she was so young when it happened and now she can't even recall her face. Did she struggle with her figure too, Kendra wondered. "Why don't we have any pictures of mother, P'pa?", she asked as she turned off the water. There was no answer, he must have fallen back asleep; she would have to ask him again later. . . . School was, well, school... she didn't like or hate it, though she felt quite awkward around most of her peers. She both loved and hated gym; loved that she was pretty good at it, hated the way her body looked as her belly jiggled and the other kids stared. Still, she had a bit of a reputation as someone you did not piss off, so no one dared tease her about it. She had gotten smarter since elementary... instead of getting caught on campus, she'd wait and catch them alone after school. It's been almost two years since anyone was dumb enough to try her, a fact she was quite proud of. Kendra couldn't quite figure out which was more boring, English or Math. Perhaps it was the fact that they required both for 12 years but only taught new material for 3 of them. Perhaps it was her teachers this year, both of them older and way too serious; she actually missed her kooky math teacher from the year before. He was both odd and off-putting until you got to know him, but he had an interesting way of problem solving and would engage the whole class. The possibly eighty year old Mrs. Olguin, on the other hand, well... she couldn't get mad at you for napping in class when she did the same. Or maybe, its the fact that she had both back to back right after gym, while her body still wanted to move. Science classes were always interesting, but that would have to wait till after lunch; for the next hour she'd have to sit through Electronics. Why did she take electronics? Well, with late registration the only electives open were that or Drama... and while she loves being dramatic, the idea of being on stage in front of everyone and looking like she did now- in third grade her school did Charlotte's Web, and she got to be the spider... if they did that in High School, she was pretty sure she'd get the *other* role.  Anyway, that's enough drama for now, Kendra thought, as she turned her focus back to this stupid breadboard that wasn't working. She followed the lesson exactly, but she couldn't get power through the circuit... its like something was eating it. No other kid had that problem, but every time she connected a battery it was instantly dead. The professor couldn't figure it out either, so he just wrote "pass" in the gradebook. Though lunch can be a terrible reminder of exactly how outcast one is, it never really phased her, she was a loner anyways and since joining the club she could usually find at least one of her teammates to eat with. That is when they weren't hiding out in some other building or classroom to avoid bullies; of course that's been happening less and less since she joined them- Sheila the Barbarian would never let a squishy mage face the hordes alone! As usual, Kendra spent the first 10 minutes on her phone, looking up all the items on her tray... then ate about half of them and let her fellow party members pick at the rest. Its funny, she didn't really get into role playing at first, but after watching a few sessions she went ahead and made a character. It wasn't the best day to join, frankly, as all the other players had been seriously pissing off Mark, the DM, for the past couple of sessions. The group was already above level 10, so he had her start there; she read the book carefully and thus made "Sheila the Barbarian!" ( the ! is on her sheet, its officially part of her name  ) Tired of the party going off the rails, Mark threw a Cave Troll at them, which not only regenerated, but had been blessed by the dark god of the abyss with resistance to all forms of magic. The party was all casters with pretty good DPR, and Mark even expected the new girl to roll a cleric, something the others badly needed. So when she handed him her completed character sheet after he'd already introduced her as arriving just as the fight began, he was quite surprised, but didn't think it would affect the outcome. Mark was actually kind of annoyed that she didn't roll what he asked her to, but whatever, the group is about to wipe anyway. This wasn't his first TPK, in fact he was kind of notorious for it, but as the only Dungeon Master on campus, he could do whatever he wanted and still have plenty of players; where else were these nerds gonna go, the football field? Having rolled initiative with advantage, Sheila went just before the troll. On her first turn she stunned it. On her second she knocked it prone and finished it; the others stared on in disbelief, not least of which being Mark. He tried to argue that it didn't happen, but she pointed out her math and her characters abilities and feats. Ugh, a rule-monger, he thought, alright... I can work with that. "Well, as the troll dies he spasms on the ground, his club knocking loose a keystone in the archway supporting the cavern", he quickly recovered. "Oh, not again", Chuck said, knowing where this was going. "Rocks fall-" "Damn it!", Chris screams. "everyone" "What the HELL, Mark? Crushing damage isn't even in the rules anymore", Tim shouts as he throws down his pencil. "die-" "Not so fast", Kendra announces, "Sheila braces the collapsing roof allowing the others time to escape!" "She can't do that!", Mark objects. Kendra wondered for a second if she had overstepped. But no, like Tim said, there is no insta-kill crushing damage, the DM was clearly writing his own rules. Looking around the table she knew she needed to act, all the other players were ready to quit. "Prove to me why she can't." "Because... its- look, I'm the DM, she can't cause I said so", Mark stammers out, feeling emboldened by his own troll logic. "Oh. Really.", Kendra said as she stalked closer to him, murder in her eyes. She didn't make Sheila to have some asshole tell her she failed and died on her very first adventure. "If you don't like it you can-", Mark suddenly felt the need to swallow mid sentence. "I. Can. What. Mark?", she began reaching for his shirt as he backed into the wall. "Roll... uhm, roll a natural 20 on a strength save with dis-", he felt her eyes burrow into him and paused to correct himself. "...er, I mean, with advantage", he weakly finished. "Okay!", Kendra said with entirely too much enthusiasm. She knew the odds were still terrible, but there was a chance. And as fate would have it, Sheila not only saved the party, but she managed to wedge the ceiling back into place and walk out unscathed. (though she did have to remind him that she also crits on a natural 19) Thus the legend of Sheila was born... and continued until the end of the semester, when Mark started a new campaign. Kendra didn't like leaving her first character behind, but accepted rolling a new hero as part of the game. So began "Captain Lucinda Killjoy", a veteran human fighter with no sense of humor; "Grace, the Amazing", a Psion who specialized in Psychosomatry- able to transform her own body at will; "Lilandra le Morrigan", a Tiefling Warlock who by the end of the campaign had forced a pact with every demon in the nine hells to grant her their infernal might; and her current character "Helga Hammerfist", a Dwarven/Giant Monk with a chip on her shoulder the size of the Lonely Mountain, and a right cross to match it... especially if its a comment about her height. Kendra loved every one of them, and wished she could be like them... more than anything. The bell rang signalling the end of lunch, and Kendra had no idea what Tim had been saying while she was daydreaming about past games. Anyway, she would see him after school for D&D Club. Maybe this school wasn't so bad, she recently learned that it was one of the test schools for Wizard's pilot program (to sell more merchandise through public schools). As she wandered the halls to Physics, she couldn't wait to play Helga again. Class flew by as her thoughts kept wandering back to the game... she vaguely heard something about a quiz. Oh well, she wasn't worried, Kendra always tested well. She'd been giving a lot of thought to LARPing, what she'd seen of it on YouTube looked like fun. "So, the Cat is... Ms Singh?", Mrs. Collins, Kendra's Physics teacher, suddenly inquired noticing her daze. "I've no idea", she replied coming out of her stupor. In truth she didn't quite hear the question. "And if you were paying attention, would you know then?", Mrs. Collins challenged with a playful smile and a raised eyebrow. "Likely not", she confessed. "Correct", the teacher laughed, chalking it up to luck, "until opened there would be no way to know for certain." Just then the bell rang, marking time for the dreaded history exam. It wasn't that she didn't know the material, its that she knew the US History book was full of omissions (was that an oxymoron?) and half-truths. There was what she was expected to put in the blanks, and what she knew from documentaries she had watched on Netflix. The book expects her to say the A-Bomb ended WWII, not the looming Russian threat approaching from the Northwest, and certainly not that the bomb wasn't necessary at all and had absolutely no effect on the war or surrender; what's more, should she feel the need to mention the war being primarily against CIVILIAN TARGETS and population centers, it would likely result in another trip to the Dean's office. God forbid anyone mention the US Government and War-crimes in the same sentence. (The school considered themselves above Principals, therefore they had Deans... they may also have thought themselves above Principles, given their refusal to acknowledge the errors in the textbooks and desire to make problems go away without open debate.) In the end, she gave them the answers THEY wanted, but she felt dirty as she handed in the test and left early for her next class. Health class went quickly, though Kendra did pick up another few ideas for nutrition; clearly cutting calories wasn't doing a damned thing for her except making her moody. (er, more moody... downright crotchety heading fast toward surly with an option on ornery) And, at last it was Club-time. Helga Hammerfist rides again! NEXT: CHAPTER 02 >