#No can we get ANY match with Stat actually.

[skull-and-bones-and-all]

Just because I can here's another lore drop. I like these ones.

#BIG THREE RAHHHHH #Thank you WWE for giving us black excellence finally... Now let them hold titles and never lose them. #PLEASE GIVE JADE A TITLE SHE WOULD LOOK SO GOOD WITH IT. #Rosa in the killbill gear changed me. #Why doesn't Willow have a current render... That is the CHAMP. #I'm an alien Stat believer until I die. Can we get an intergender match with her again please. #No can we get ANY match with Stat actually. #Pax titlerun when. Please. Please. #Love best friends drama but give me Kris.

[13leaguestories]

April 2024 Monthly Forecast

Ahh, I am still going strong on the monthly forecasts! 20 bucks say I will not be doing one next month. I know my inconsistent ass well enough to know that I just jinxed myself into actually putting one next month though.

Reverse-Verse-Reverse Psychology. You're welcome.

Moving on, March was productive.

Superstition

Alright, if you were following along on Tumblr asks then you may know that some shit has shifted. Superstition S1 is going to be updated to 4.0 due to two major reasons I'll list below.

If I don't bring Superstition up to date with my current style then it's going to die. I can already tell. It's my oldest ongoing project and the fact that it's ongoing means that it's in this weird in-between state. If any of you mf'ers say "then hurry up and finish it" I will do nothing but stare at you in disappointment. K, glad we can get past that.

To bring it up to date, it needs to match with some of my current visions of where the story has gone. S1 doesn't represent that well. S2 does but not 100% and S3 is pretty fine.

4.0 will be me fixing bugs, and introducing new ones *jazz hands*. Implementing the way I do relationships now: Disposition System + Loyalty. Tweaking variables and stats. Editing some of the story to better fit the current vision and hope to remove blaring plot holes. And anything else I feel is needed but don't want to vocally talk about.

This is why the guides were taken down completely. They were already out-dated but now they'll be even more outdated. They will make a return, my lovely friend Neri has volunteered to do it. She is also the one who handles the ToA Guide so a special thanks to her.

Throne of Ashes

Nothing much has changed here.

Sea of Stars

I just completed C5 and dabbled a little into Ch6. This is where my main focus of March was. The current word count is sitting at 156k. And my fingers have told me that I can gladly go and fuck myself.

#monthly forecast

[thydungeongal]

So I don't run a lot of TTRPGs besides d&d 5e since it's the one all my homies know and we enjoy playing, but I've got a few campaigns in the works that I think could do with a different system so I thought I'd ask the tumblr ttrpg guy. Any good systems for something like a JRPG themed game with class and skill progression? Rules light or crunchy is fine just so long as it's not like cyberpunk 2020 levels of crunch lmao

I don't quite know what you mean by Class/Skill based progression, so feel free to specify, but I see JRPG and my mind immediately goes to Fabula Ultima!

Fabula Ultima is a tabletop RPG explicitly inspired by JRPGs. At its core it's a very simple system where you have five stats, expressed as dice values from 1d4 to 1d12, and every roll in the game is STAT+STAT and rolling the two respective dice together, trying to exceed a target number. This is also the system used for the game's combat system, but with added depth taking into account weapon type (different weapons use different stat pairs for their attack rolls and have different damage values), status effects (expressed as boost and penalties on certain abilities), and character skills.

Character skills are gained via classes (I can't remember if that was the term used in the game) in a system that is like a simplified tabletop version of the job system from classic Final Fantasies. A degree of multiclassing is built into the game: you start at level 5 already and must have levels in at least three classes to begin with. Creating and leveling a character takes the form of mixing and matching abilities from different classes in order to make a character that fits your vision.

It's an absolutely beautiful game with a simple base system with a lot of depth built on top of it, and really speaks to the love its creators have for JRPGs.

Another one I could see myself recommending is Break!!, which is a very old school adventure RPG but with amazing presentation and myriad inspirations from various sources including JRPGs. It's sadly not currently available to my knowledge since it was Kickstarted, unless it's possible to preorder it somehow? But based on the Kickstarter backer files it is shaping up to be an absolutely fantastic game. Simple, purely stat and level based system with each level in a class (again I can't remember the actual word used in the game) granting a new class ability. Characters are single-classed by default and there are no multi-classing rules, but the classes in the game are very fun and strong archetypes.

Break!! is fantastic and, like, after I had finished playing Sea of Stars I was like "dang I should put a Break!! game together." So yeah

But yeah do get back to me with what you meant specifically with class and skill based so I can tailor my recommendations to you. Also check out @theresattrpgforthat, I wouldn't be surprised if Mint had already answered this exact question :)

#thydungeongal answers

[antimony-medusa]

HEY MCYTBLR HAVE YOU HEARD OF YULETIDE?

What's this? I have come once again to your dash to tell you about an exchange? Absolutely I have. And let me tell you, this one is a doozy.

Yuletide is The Big Multifandom Exchange. It is the king of exchanges. It happens every year, and the works reveal on December 25th, and de-anon on the 1st of January. Last year over 1,800 people took part in the exchange. A lot of people only do Yuletide from the roster of exchanges. It is literally so big that it's the reason we have the Ao3 matching algorithm, because the Ao3 algorithm was built to handle Yuletide, because you have to algorithm match that one, it is simply unfeasible to hand-match an exchange of this magnitude.

What makes Yuletide special is that it is an exchange for rare and tiny fandoms— specifically, fandoms with less than 1000 fics on the archive. So all these niche book fandoms that get 10 fics posted in them a year— these people sign up for Yuletide, and they get matched. And people sign up with SUCH small fandoms.

Commercials.

Tumblr posts.

Art.

Songs.

Reddit Posts.

TikTok skits.

Web comics.

Twitter threads.

Books published 30 years ago.

Anthropomorphic concepts.

Niche tv shows.

Video games.

You can look at the tag list last year to get an idea of the sort of fandoms that show up in it. I did it last year, and I signed up with two book fandoms, SMPEarth, anthropomorphic apple products, and the "humans are space orcs" tumblr post as my fandoms.

Wait, SMPearth? And yes, we have come to the point of why I am specifically talking to MCYTblr. I do the MCYT on Ao3 stats dive every month, so I happen to know that there are 35 canonized MCYT tags that are eligable, as they have less than 1000 fics.

Pirates SMP is eligable.

Ivorycello Prison Escapes is eligable.

Karmaland is eligable.

Rats SMP is eligable.

Witchcraft SMP is eligible.

New Life SMP is eligable.

SMPLive is eligable.

Mianite is eligable.

The list goes on.

So. Do you want to do Yuletide 2023 with me?

Please Please Please Please Please. It's just a 1k minimum and they give you six weeks to work on it. You don't even nead a canonical tag to nominate, you can nominated non-canon fandoms! Please Please Please so funnnnnnn.

They are in tag nominations now, so until 28 September, at 9am UTC, you can nominate the tags you want to match on. I just nominated SMPEarth Emduo and Worldbuilding. It's a fun time. Join Meeeee.

IMPORTANT TECHNICAL NOTES:

Yuletide is a BIG EXCHANGE and everyone there is very professional, but that also means that they have very specific rules for how things should be run. I would say read the rules, maybe twice, before you submit anything. If you have any questions, message me and I will do my best to answer them.

Yuletide blog here.

Yuletide collection here.

Nomination rules here.

(Especially take note of the stuff about disambiguation, and use mcyt best practice of using gamertag and not tax filing name, none of the | pipes and multiple names in there.)

Eligability rules here.

Nominate on the Tag Set here.

If there is something about your fandom that makes you think they might not accept it, you can explain your arguments here.

Note that people who have had over 1000 fics written about them in RPF are not eligable to be nominated in a RPF fandom, so depending on your guy, you may need to pop a message on that post to explain that Afterlife SMP is not actually Video Blogging RPF for example, and Smajor1995 (Afterlife SMP) is not the same as Smajor1995 (Empires SMP).

Go forth! Participate in a great exchange!

#mcyt #mcytblr #Ao3 #mianite #slimecicle cinematic universe #smpearth #smplive #scurvyblr #squeaksblr #karmaland

[blububblgum]

Daenerys as a D&D character!!

I love dnd to bits, and I spent a lot of time thinking about how certain asoiaf characters would be if they were made using dnd 5e rules. Obviously, i had to start with dany! She is a shadow magic sorcerer, with the elemental adept feat.

My long, winding thought process about dnd and dany is under the cut, in order to spare you all.

I'm kind of working with like, westeros in the forgotten realms as my base concept, since theres elements of both that are needed for this character build to make sense lol.

Sorcerer made the most sense, with how the targaryans are thought to have ancient magic, and since dany is quite charismatic, charisma would be her spellcasting stat. I think that the obvious sorcerer subclass is draconic bloodline, but i disagree, since the way dragons are portrayed in asoiaf doesn't match up with the dnd description of dragons. I could maybe see draconic bloodline sorcery for the Fire and blood characters, but for the "modern" targs, i'd honestly lean toward fire genasi (descendants from genies, with specific elemental powers) ancestry, since the immunity to fire is emphasized. Though technically dnd doesn't really work like that, i think as a character dany would be a fire genasi (though without the usual visual traits, i suppose)

since i elected against draconic bloodline, the sorcerer subclass that makes sense for daenerys is shadow magic! its maybe a bit on the creepy/edgy side, but i think aspects work well for dany's life. for starters, if you think of her gaining magic during her life, the deal she made to try and save khal drogo's life would be perfect timing for darker magic to make its home within her. however if you wanted her to have magic from birth, then the dramatic circumstances around her birth could be heightened by there having been shadowfell influences around. also!! at 6th level, shadow sorcerers can summon a "hound of ill omen" which can take any shape, and could easily be a small dragon.

The last aspect of why i chose sorcerer, is that while the spell casting sucks at lower levels, it then really gets good as you gain spell slots (limited per day and necessary to cast any spells) and sorcery points. the spell list for sorcerer is full of damage dealing spells, and dany kinda reads as a glass canon to me (i love sorcerers a lot but they are fragile). I did briefly ponder divination wizard, since daenerys seems to have an inclination toward being a dreamer, but i don't think she had time to study and practice wizardry in her chaotic childhood. whereas we see as she gains power and confidence while growing up, and sorcerer works well with that

last few details! i've portrayed her as higher level here, which is why she is so fancy. since she is upper level (in this i was thinking around 14th), she would have access to feats, and i definitely think fire elemental adept (gives bonuses to spells that do fire damage) would bring back some of the draconic aspects to her spellcasting. for metamagic options, obviously twinned spell (allows a spell that targets 1 person to be twinned to hit two people) cause its the best one, but i was also thinking subtle spell (allows a spell to be cast without speaking or moving) since it would be quite helpful for her. For other potential feats; inspiring leader (bonuses when you give speeches n stuff) and war caster (allows magic to be used better during combat) both make sense. For her stats, i was thinking in order of highest to lowest; charisma, wisdom, intelligence, constitution, dexterity, strength. Maybe i'm doing her a disservice by having her physical stats be her low ones, but i think her mental stats are just stronger.

Anyways if you actually read all this i love you and please message me any opinions you have about dnd/asoiaf

#my art #digital art #illustration #asoif fanart #fanart #digital fanart #asoiaf girls #asoif/got #daenerys targaryen #daenerys fanart #daenerys stormborn #dnd art #dnd 5e #valyrianscrolls #shadow sorcerer #dnd sorcerer #dnd character

[st-just]

hi I like your blog. I have a question that may be too personal so no hard feelings if you don't answer but could you talk a little bit about more about what you like/don't like about Halifax? im considering Dalhousie for grad school but have never been! and would like to have as much information about where I might spend the next 2 years of my life. thank you!

Oh sure! Though like, it depends on where you're coming from? Everything here is very relative. And also I'm absolutely certain I will forget numemrous vital things, do ask followup questions.

Most important thing is that the housing market is horrifying - the city's population started booming during COVID and the zoning and construction is only really starting to catch up now. Especially within walking distance of Dal getting a place to live at anything approaching affordable is going to be vicious. (This has unsurprisingly coincided with a large uptick in homelessness. Unremarkable to walk by a tent in a corner of some public park now).

Relatedly, the bus system is like - okay I'm not sure it's notably bad for a mid-sized-ish north american city, but it's damn sure not any better. You can get by bussing around on the peninsula, anywhere beyond 20 minute drives turn into 40-60 minute rides.

You will not have a family doctor, figure out the nearest walk-in clinic you can use for anything non-emergency.

The city's economy runs on some combination of students, tourists, sailors and soldiers. There are as many bars as you might expect (had the most per capita in the country for a while, don't know if we still do). Some of them are actually very good!

Relatedly, weed and liquor are both only legally sold by the crown corporation monopoly and a few weird specialty places.

None of them are massive, but there is a very nice amount of parkland and green space scattered throughout the city. The public (botanical) gardens are really beautiful in the spring-summer, and most are well-maintained (they just renovated and expanded the outdoor pool on the city Commons last year, even).

The waterfront has been thoroughly gentrified for the cruise ships over the course of my lifetime, but it's all still open to the public and grabbing one of the armchairs or hammocks to read in during the summer is lovely.

Provincially the government is the most thoroughly domesticated/red tory party in the country (they fairly literally ran to the left of the liberals). Full of corrupt backslapping, constantly getting into pissing matches with the municipal government, will probably govern for the next decade.

For reasons that I assume are downstream of all the students and having the closest thing to a regional theater scene east of Quebec, the whole city is IME very queer-friendly. For reasons I absolutely not understand, pride is in August here.

The public library system is basically the only part of the municipal government I think anyone involved should be unequivocally proud of, but it is great.

I don't really know the crime stats offhand but like, I left my apartment door unlocked probably 7 times in 10 through all of undergrad and it never bit me in the ass?

#hope any of that helps? #my beloved provincial backwater

[bleongambetta]

A singular rite in the life of a tabletop designer is the creation of their D&D heartbreaker. I’ve held off on it personally, in part by making near-misses like RADCrawl, but the siren song has proven to be a little too powerful and thus I’ve started on extremely temporarily named BL-G Hack. It is just coincidence that I’m additionally trying out blogging at the same time, after reading a Twitter (X?) thread with discussion of how much in the indie space is lost to Discord.

I’m starting from a framework of what I want the game to feel like and how I want to work on the game.

What I Want The Game To Feel Like

In terms of the table experience, I want the game to feel like playing a mostly theater of the mind D&D. I’m a huge 4e apologist, but for this I want to try to capture what it felt like to play D&D as a kid and we goofed around with world and city maps, but didn’t usually get out the grid for combat. I want to evoke some of the Catalogue TTRPG feeling, but ideally with choosing things pretty quickly. I want for characters to feel powerful and be able to do cool things, without feeling like bags of HP.

There’s definitely some merging of PbtA and D&D that I’m aiming for; but I don’t want it to feel like PbtA. I’m aiming for resolution systems that give interesting results, not full on Moves. You roll d20s.

I want to have players battling monsters and feeling like badasses. I want the game to feel ‘gamey.’ I’m developing a set of toys that tell a fantasy story.

I want to simultaneously have the joy and excitement of playing a West Marches game while avoiding the feeling of ‘go out and conquer.’ I love looking at a map, exploring it, battling things, and grabbing riches… but I don’t want to casually recreate the same approach of D&D of ‘orcs are evil, we are allowed to take their stuff.’ Balancing that is a little fiddly, but I think I have a solution that I am comfortable with.

How I Want To Build This Game

I want to approach this game in the style of blogs, Dragon magazine, and tiny splat books of the 3.5 era. Scenarios, skills, abilities, classes, monsters, etc should be able to be relatively stand alone; the kind of thing that I can sit down and crunch something out over the span of a lunch break or two. I think I’m going to try to keep barrier to entry on this low, the intent is to let people explore what kind of D&D I like to play.

That said, I’m aiming to be able to after initial release have some fun with zine-size releases that give some locations, some monsters, class options, etc. I’m actually truly hoping to get a group together to actually PLAY this game and have that playing inform design… but, let’s stay realistic here.

Core Systems

So, without further delay… the first bites of The BL-G Hack.

Characters have stats, probably six of them, probably the same D&D stats. When a roll is called for, the player rolls at least a d20 and tries to get under their stat for a hit. A basic roll is d20, a proficient roll is 2d20, and there may be higher bonus dice than that.

One hit (rolling under your stat) gives you a partial, marginal, or barely managed success. Two hits (rolling twice under your stat or your stat exactly) is a full hit, a heroic hit. Three or more hits (rolling thrice under your stat or an exact roll plus an under) is a truly superheroic hit.

Characters have classes, which give them proficiency in some scenarios which allows them to roll two d20s instead of one. They also give them a couple of Abilities that allow them to do cool things and a table for starting equipment. When characters level up, they’ll get new abilities which can come from any class or situational ones. Character classes will be specific (think prestige classes from 3.5 rather than base classes), but hopefully pretty mix and match.

Between adventures, are Map Phase and Company Phase. The GM will run the Map Phase where dark forces move, quests and landmarks are added, and the map is revealed by the player’s actions. Additionally, some player abilities will allow them to be invited to Map Phase or give input into Map Phase. Company Phase is run by the players, where they can share equipment, spend gold to roll for purchases, and take downtime activities.

Call to Adventure

The world is misted in a choking miasma; remnants from the Shattering when the death of gods sent magic running wild, slaughtering and corrupting all it burned over. In few seats of power the mages who did not succumb to the falling produced the Dimlight crystals that hold back the corruption and prevented all life from being burned out. The spells that produce these Dimlight artifacts destroyed the mages who cast them, turning their bodies into haunting, crystaline statues that radiate safety. In larger cities, where mages worked in circles, the protection may extend over neighborhoods. In rural areas, where only a single adept worked the protection may be as little as a room.

The world in miasma is dangerous; elemental monsters and corrupted humanity feeds on all who dare delve into the mist. The very air stings to breathe where Dimlight doesn’t clarify it and can have worse effects. There are refugees in the miasma and small enclaves that have gained access to Dimlight, but most are clinging to a solitary existance separate from the world. Those who live in cities where Dimlight is more plentiful have can live more normal lives, though communication with other cities and wealth remain exclusive to the hands of nobles and the wealthiest merchants.

The world just changed; Dimlight has been miniaturized. A new generation of Dimlight spells can be created without killing it’s user and requiring significantly less space for the artificial crystal. Dimlight torches offer the greatest possibility, an opportunity for adventurers to delve into the miasma and destroy the godsplinters that corrupt the land. The world is still dangerous, even when the miasma pulls back the monsters remain. But there is no end to the treasures that could be gained; abandoned riches, incredible power, and reclaiming homes long lost.

Roadmap

Currently I've got this, four out of five starting character classes, and some ideas that I've got to get into paper. The actual PDF of it is probably a little bit off, but I'm hoping to have an accessible, playable version available soon.

If you'd like to get it as soon as possible, consider backing my Patreon where I'll be doing an announcement post with a link soon! There'll be an itch page too, but it'll need to be more final before that.

So what do you think? Wanna play some BL-G Hack?

#ttrpg design #ttrpg #game design #blghack #dnd #osr #ttrpgdesigntwitter #ttrpgs

[slugdragoon]

Devlog #1

Ok, I've been working super hard on my game this week, and I have something to show off. Generally, I did not want to start doing Devlogs until I had what I considered a working prototype, and that's what this is. I think I'm at the point where a lot of basic things work, and I will be able to focus on building it out, which will make for more interesting regular updates.

So, what we're seeing in this clip is:

SPLASH SCREEN - just a test of animation and the flow of booting up the game, it will not be in there for long, I just threw random assets in.

SAVING & LOADING - The title screen is plain, the "Settings" option doesn't do anything yet, but the "New Game" and "Load Game" do! They currently go off of one filepath and save games are stored as JSON so I can edit them easily for testing, and they don't yet prompt "are you sure?", they just do it, and the functions work. I can save my game and all the party and player stats and values load in properly. [Not shown: there is a save button in the Pause menu, but that menu is very basic]

BATTLE UI - All is placeholder, and ugly, but I focused down on getting it to work. That means, while I was throwing buttons in there for testing early on, I spent major time reworking menus to work with controller instead. I may do KB&M support later, once the UIs are actually fully designed, but doing them in parallel while I'm changing things would not be nice. We can attack, you don't have to click "Confirm" anymore, just a controller button, we have spells/skill and items which can target either enemies or allies, and both single-target an multitarget skills exist and flash up corresponding selector arrows, after which you can confirm your target. Party members have an HP/MP display and the character whose turn it is will be highlighted on their turn

MESSAGE OVERLAY - As you can see, I've worked out the system to have messages give the player feedback in-battle which can also be used for dialogue out-of-battle. It works off of a queue containing both messages that auto-play and messages that you have to confirm before moving on, so I can mix-and-match as appropriate. I wanted to have this in place so I can soon implement NPCs and shops, and the battles make sense to both me and the player as I add more features to it.

When we load into this test dungeon, we see the old sprite for a demon, I redrew them, as you can see in the first random encounter. None of this is final though, these were also pretty quick I just wanted to discard the really lazy MS Paint-looking sprites If I'm going to be showing the game off more, I want it to be in a better light. I'm not even sure Demons and Bats will be common enemy types in the game, it's just for testing. Nothing that you're seeing is final, or even really fits the vibe in my, mind yet, but it's approaching something that looks like it has the potential to be a game.

After all all of this I haven't added any new enemy types, items, or skills yet, the assets aren't anywhere near what they will be like, no levels have been created yet, but I think what I have is a lot of the "structure" of a basic RPG. I ate my vegetables, the boring parts are functional, and it opens up a lot of doors for what I can develop next.

NEXT GOALS -

NPCs in the overworld (+Shops, need to have a way to acquire items, currently the inventory is hardcoded into a New Game)

Implement a method to recruit and dismiss new Party Members, they are also currently hardcoded for testing purposes

There are still lingering menu navigation bugs, but nothing that can't be fixed relatively quickly

Move the starting area to a safe-zone that can be built out as the main hub and create multiple dungeon rooms with different testing conditions

More visual feedback. Having enemies flash on taking damage and displaying damage numbers would be a good start, more complex animations can come later, including spell animations.

#slugdragoondevlog #slugdragoongame #gamedev #solodev #indiedev #rpg #drpg #game development #indiegamedev #indie games

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #25: Suzuka Gozen (Santa)

today on Grailfinders we’re finally striking back against arcade by building one of their unique servants! sure they finished their story and stopped releasing new servants almost a year ago, but it’s better late than never!

today we’re building Suzuka Gozen Santa, who is to date the only evil santa servant, afaik. she’s a Peace Cleric to inspire love in those around her, as well as a Divine Soul Sorcerer to get her demon fox magicks. there’s precious little arcade info available outside of official trailers and machine translations, so forgive us if we speculate.

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Ancestry & Background

once again, since we’re building an existing servant in a new outfit, her race and background are pretty much unchanged from the original. mostly because WotC still hasn’t returned our calls about adding a fox race to D&D, but I digress. Suzuka’s a Swiftstride Shifter, giving her Darkvision and free proficiency in the Acrobatics skill. she can also fox it up with some Shifting, giving her faux ears for up to a minute as a bonus action. while be-eared, she gains temporary HP equal to her level + her constitution modifier, and gains an extra 10’ of movement speed. on top of that, you can react to someone moving within melee range to run away from them without provoking opportunity attacks. she also gets +2 Dexterity and +1 Charisma.

as Santa Suzuka’s probably more of an acolyte than before, but it still gives her proficiency in Insight and Performance.

Ability Scores

her stats, on the other hand, have changed rather dramatically. this time her Charisma is as high as possible, with her Wisdom in a close second. everyone loves Santa, and you probably have four ears so you’re great at hearing things. spears are still Strength weapons, so that has to be decent, and I’m not going to be cruel enough to give you a +0 in Constitution, so those are third and fourth, respectively. that means your Dexterity isn’t great, but we’re dumping Intelligence. I don’t think Suzuka’s actually that dumb, but I do think she’d act that dumb to play the part of a high school girl better.

Class Levels

1. Cleric 1: if we want to be a lancer, we need to start as a cleric. that means we get proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as Religion and History. Saint Nick’s old as balls, and since you’re a Santa Cleric, I guess that means Santa’s a god now. not the weirdest basis for a religion I’ve ever seen. as a Peace Cleric, you are an Implement of Peace, giving you proficiency in Persuasion. Santas publicly admit that they watch children while they sleep and nobody’s creeped out by that, that’s some god-tier persuasion right there.

you can also give your party an Emboldening Bond as an action Proficiency times a day, choosing up to Proficiency number of creatures to bond with for up to ten minutes. as long as any two of those creatures are within 30’ of each other, they can add 1d4 per turn to an attack, check, or save. kind of like guidance, but through the power of love.

you also learn some Spells, which you prep and cast using Wisdom. since you can change spells to match the occasion, the exact ones you pick each day don’t matter, but I’ll give you some highlights. that being said, Clerics have one of the strongest spell lists in the game, so you’re definitely spoiled for choice.

that being said your cantrips are pretty stuck on, so let’s go over them, Light lets you make your spear all shiny, and since it doesn’t specify the light has to be a static color you can totally make your spear say something if you spin it around fast enough. Thaumaturgy will help your ho-ho-hos carry through the night, and Resistance will help you not die. nobody likes dying, so don’t do it, lest whatever killed you becomes the new Santa.

as a peace Cleric you’ll always have Heroism and Sanctuary prepped- the former gives a teammate extra HP and immunity to fear, while the latter gives a creature protection from attack for up to a minute, or until they attack first. honestly, who would punch santa? anyone who succeeds on their wisdom saves. you also get spells like Ceremony, which isn’t in character but it does mean you can marry people, which feels like a natural endpoint for the “make everyone fall in love” character. you can also Cure Wounds now. think of it as a little christmas gift to whoever has the lowest HP.

2. Cleric 2: second level Clerics can Channel Divinity as an action, either Turning Undead and making them run away, or delivering a Balm of Peace to your allies. with this, you can move up to your speed without getting attacked, giving every friend you pass a little pick-me-up as you go. and that’s how you deliver presents to everyone in the party in a single turn.

3. Cleric 3: third level Clerics get second level spells, like Aid and Warding Bond. aid makes extra HP for everyone, and warding bond lets you take hits for someone else. but you barely have positive constitution, so. don’t. you can also Calm Emotions now, which sounds like the opposite of what we’re trying to do, but it’s hard to let love into your heart when anger’s in there too, y’know? you could also Enhance Ability to make someone more charismatic, or make a Prayer of Healing for a group heal when you have the downtime.

4. cleric 4: at fourth level you become a dual wielder thanks to ur first ability score improvement! this one doesn’t improve your ability scores which makes the name kind of pointless but it does let you carry two spears at once! while doin that u get a +1 bonus to ac which you rlly need and you can draw both spears at the same time!

this is actually a pretty bad feat but we need it for lore reasons!

5. cleric 5: fifth level clerics get to Destroy Undead instead of turning it, instantly killing any undead monster of CR ½ or lower whomst fails their wisdom save. they also get third level spells or whatever.

Sending lets you direct tweet anyone 25 words or less and they can send a message back, though if you try to target someone on another plane, there’s a 5% chance the spell fails. Beacon of Hope gives as many creatures as you wish within 30’ of you advantage on wisdom and death saves, as well as maxed-out healing.

as for your chosen spells, Bestow Curse and Remove Curse are kind of like single-person versions of your NP, weakening obstacles to love, or freeing someone to find love, respectively. if you just want an AoE attack, get Spirit Guardians.

6. Cleric 6: at sixth level Clerics can channel divinity twice as often, and your bond is now a Protective Bond, so if any bonded creature takes damage while another one is nearby, the latter can teleport next to the former and take the damage for them. given that you currently have less than 30 HP and an AC of 11, you’ll probably get a lot of use out of this.

7. Cleric 7: seventh level Clerics get fourth level spells! you get Aura of Purity and Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere for free, and to be honest there’s not much else we need for the build here so let’s just enjoy the mercifully short level for a change.

8. Sorcerer 1: okay enough of that time to pile it back on. as a Divine Soul sorcerer, you’re Favored by the Gods, letting you add 2d4 to any failed save or attack roll once a short rest.  foxes are just cooler, it’s a fact.

you also get Divine Magic, which is like normal sorcerer magic, (cast with charisma, mixes with cleric magic so check the phb to see how many spell slots you have, spells only change on level-up,) but you can also pick from Cleric spells too! you could already pick from Cleric spells by being a Cleric, and with more freedom due to the preparation system, but it’s there.

in more useful news, you get Inflict Wounds for free, so now you can deal a lot of damage in a short amount of time. you also get another cavalcade of cantrips, like Friends to make friends, Mending to keep your unrealistic battle outfit in one piece, Message for more texting, and Sword Burst to spin around and poke stuff.

on top of that, you get first level spells like Charm Person to again make friends, and Fog Cloud to set the scene. I imagine reflavoring the fog to be a bunch of falling snow wouldn’t be too big a stretch.

9. Sorcerer 2: second level sorcerers are a Font of Magic, letting you turn spell slots into sorcery points and vice-versa. right now, this just means you have an extra 1st level spell slot every day you remember it exists.

you can use that spell slot to cast Mage Armor, so your AC is no longer terrible! now it’s just kind of bad!

10. Sorcerer 3: third level sorcerers can spend their sorcery points on Metamagic! it’s magic, but meeeetaa! you can make a spell Heightened to force whatever you’re hitting to have disadvantage on the save or Subtle so nobody can notice you cast the spell.

you can also turn one of your spears into a Magic Weapon, dealing +1 damage and gaining a +1 on all attack rolls. ideally your legendary spears would be given by the DM at some point, but if you need a magic spear, now its here.

11. Sorcerer 4: fourth level sorcerers get another ASI, and with Piercer your Strength can finally get evened out while also making all your spears better! now you can reroll one piercing attack’s damage die once per turn to avoid 1’s, and your critical piercing hits get an extra die of damage slapped on! I wouldn’t call suzuka a melee powerhouse, but she’s got more mightocondria now.

you can also cast Blade Ward now to not die on impact with an actual fighter, and Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm. Suzuka probably can’t summon snowballs at will, but it feels Santa-ish and nobody can say otherwise.

12. Sorcerer 5: fifth level sorcerers can spend their SP on Magical Guidance, letting you re-roll a failed check.  you also get magical magic like Slow, our real NP for the build. I’m sure the part in Suzuka’s bio that talks about hindering obstacles to love isn’t quite so literal, but for a third level spell it can seriously mess people up- up to six creatures can be affected, and if they fail their wisdom save they’ll have half speed, -2 AC and dex saves, can’t use reactions, and have to choose between their action or bonus action. on top of that, spells have a 50/50 chance to take two turns to cast. the big downside is they keep making wisdom saves every turn, but particularly unwise individuals can get slowed down for up to a minute.

13. Sorcerer 6: sixth level holy soulies have Empowered Healing- whenever you or someone next to you casts a healing spell, you can spend 1 SP to re-roll any number of dice you wish. dying is a pretty big obstacle to love. so are fireballs, now that I think of it, so grab Protection from Energy as well.

14. Sorcerer 7: our last level of sorcerer is just to pick up the fourth level spell Dimension Door. you gotta be able to take all your selfies at the best angle, after all.

15. Cleric 8: now that we’re back in our original class, you get a long-awaited ASI to spend on Wisdom. plus, you get a stronger Destroy Undead that kills anything CR 1 or lower, and Blessed Strikes! once per turn, you can add an extra die of radiant damage to any damaging cantrip you cast or attack you make. turns out jamming a glo-stick into someone’s ribs hurts!

16. Cleric 9: ninth level Clerics get fifth level spells, and again there’s not really much to talk about- though that’s because the one I really wanted you get for free. Greater Restoration can cure an ally of tons of different kinds of impairments to love, like exhaustion, petrification, or paradoxically enough, charming. true love doesn’t come from the magic of magic, it comes from the magic of christmas! you also get Rary’s Telepathic Bond if you want to put everyone on your cell plan.

17. Cleric 10: tenth level Clerics get one of the most powerful features in the game when it works, Divine Intervention. basically, once a day (with a week’s cooldown upon working) you have a 1/10 chance of calling up your dad and having him solve whatever problem you’re dealing with. given that he’s a demon king, that might end badly.

or you can use your last cantrip Guidance for a 1d4 bonus to an ability check for a bit after you cast it. if guidance could help I’d hold off on summoning a god.

18. Cleric 11: Destroy Undead hits CR 2 creatures now, and you get 6th level spells like Heroes’ Feast, one of the better party-wide buffs you can use. you spend a short rest chowing down with friends to cure all diseases and poisons, gain immunity to the poisoned and frightened conditions, gain advantage on all wisdom saves, and their HP maximum goes up for 24 hours. (also you could argue that combining this with Beacon of Hope’s healing feature you can max out the HP buff for a couple people, but that’s pretty close to rules lawyering)

19. Cleric 12: we get one last ASI, so bump up that Wisdom once more for stronger spells and harder to make saves.

20. Cleric 13: our final level of the build gives us access to Suzuka’s reality marble, letting her make a Temple of the Gods, or in Santa terms, a shopping mall. this spell takes an hour to cast, but lets you set up a 120 square foot complex of your choosing, and your temple can block out certain types of creatures, forcing them out if they fail a charisma save and reducing all their rolls while inside. it also blocks divination, and improves your healing to boot!

Pros & Cons

Pros:

this santa does a little bit of everything, with offensive spells for damage, weapon skills to fall back on if magic fails, healing, buffing, debuffing, and even social spells, you’ll never be a fish out of water. because you’re a fox, and a fox out of water is pretty standard all things considered.

while a lot of buffers tend to focus on making one character powerful, you have access to a suite of party-wide buffs to make everyone a bit better! love doesn’t play favorites, after all! (also you never know who the necromancer’s going to try and charm, even if it probably will be the barbarian again)

thanks to being a swiftstride shifter, you move a lil faster than most casters, and that means it’s easier for you to stay out of danger. you’ve also got access to plenty of ways to escape from melee range without provoking attacks, which can really come in handy when you resort to throwing spears around.

Cons:

you need all that speed, because if you do get caught unawares you’re going to go down easily. you have barely over 100 HP at level 20, and your AC is atrocious right up until you get mage armor at level 9. don’t get killed, we can’t take another santa clause reboot.

we didn’t have enough ASIs to max out your casting features, so your heightened spells are a godsend. unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of sorcerer points, so you can’t actually use them too much without burning spell slots.

on a related note, this build lacks focus. that’s not inherently a bad thing, but it means you’ll have to get creative to stand on par with more specialized builds.

#fgo #fate grand order #D&D 5e #DND #Suzuka Gozen #fgo arcade #cleric #sorcerer

[wardenparker]

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dating Your Ex - ch 6

Marcus Pike x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst

When Marcus unexpectedly runs into his ex-wife he is plunged into a world of complications where rekindled attraction and deep-seated insecurities reign. Unfortunately for him, it is also a world where his ex-wife is not the only ‘ex’ around, as a new case crosses his desk that will require all hands on deck. ✨💖Inspired by and based upon absurdthirst’s Tequila. 💖✨

Rating: Mature, but as always this blog is 18+ Word Count: 15.6k Warnings: **Blanket warnings for this series include: divorce, break ups, collegiate Greek life, underage drinking, food/alcohol consumption.** Gal pal gossip, tough conversations, a little bit of dirty flirting, and more of Patrick Jane being Patrick Jane. Marcus’s romance barometer is dialed up *high* and we love to see it. Summary: Brunch with the girls, Marcus and Teresa have a heart-to-heart of sorts, and Jane still somehow manages to make himself a nuisance. But it’s your second first date with Marcus, so you’re determined to make it a good one. Notes: I am not gonna lie to y’all...a lot of working on this chapter was just swooning over the restaurant’s menu. I need to get my ass to L’Ardente in DC stat!

Ch 1 ~ Ch 2 ~ Ch 3 ~ Ch 4 ~ Ch 5

“There she is!” Is the cry from your friends when they finally spot you across the rooftop of the restaurant where you have done Sunday brunch trivia every week for the last year. There are already mimosas and you can see a plate of cinnamon rolls out on the table which makes you grin.

“Sorry I’m a couple of minutes late.” You’re barely sorry, considering the reason you’re late is Marcus wanted to go for a second round in the shower this morning, but you’ll at least feign an apology.

“Mmmmmhhhmmmm.” There is definitely a devilish grin to your oldest friends’ faces as they pointedly examine you up and down. “That is the look of a woman who isn’t sorry one bit because she was too busy getting dick.” Angela cackles.

“Spill!” Jacqui insists, looking at you with bright eyes. Her own marriage is settled, and very happy, but the giggly giddiness of a new infatuation is so much fun to experience with a friend. “Did you finally hook up with that hot curator from Air and Space?”

“Um…” Sitting down between Silvia and Angela, you glance at your young coworker, only to be relieved when she offers you an encouraging if awkward smile. “Actually?” You have to brace yourself. Angie is going to lose her mind when she finds out. “It’s somebody I used to know. And…didn’t think I would ever see again…”

“Do not tell me that you’ve picked up that clown you told us about in France!” Angela had been upset when you left Marcus but she was your friend and supported you through that time with phone calls, international at times. She hadn’t approved of Henri. “What would he be doing here?”

“I—it’s not Henri.” You shake your head and immediately pick up your menu as though you don’t have the bar’s offerings memorized. As though you aren’t craving their amazing eggs cochon. “It’s…well…my ex.” Silvia only knows who your ex-husband is now because of what’s happened, but you don’t think you have ever actually said his name to Jacqui. Until now, it still hurt too much.

“Marcus!” Angie gasps, aware that you have never called any other man your ex. “You were in bed with your ex-husband?” Her grey eyes blow wide in shock, matching the way her jaw hits the table.

“Surprise?” Your laugh is awkward, embarrassed even though no one here knows about what happened with Silvia but you and her. “He lives in DC now…”

“How in the hell did you run into your ex-husband in D.C.?” Angela demands, her face lighting up in overwhelming happiness. She knew that Marcus was the one for you, even if you had been too stubborn to see it.

“Wait— ex-husband?” Jacqui wrinkles her nose in confusion. “This is a good thing?”

“He stopped by the office the other night. Some kind of case.” Silvia blurts out, seeing the restraint in your happiness written all over your face. She doesn’t want to make more drama by telling everybody that she was the reason you saw him again, but she wants you to be happy if that’s how you actually feel. “Does this mean…are you guys back together?”

“I don’t know,” you admit, reaching over and squeezing Silvia’s hand. “I think so? I hope so.” It’s obvious from the way that you light up at the thought that it’s what you truly want, and your young friend smiles encouragingly before you look back at Jacqui. “It was college. We were just kids and I…I got scared. He’s in the FBI now. Director of his department and everything.”

“So…nothing bad happened?” She asks, still cautious because obviously you don’t divorce someone over nothing.

“Oh no, Marcus worshipped the ground she walked on.” Angela huffs, shaking her head fondly. “Sappy. And it was the relationship to aspire to. I broke up with three different guys because they didn’t treat me half as well.”

“It was my fault,” you tell Jacqui honestly. “Marcus didn’t do anything wrong, I just…we were so young and when he started talking about houses and kids and school districts and 401ks, I just panicked. So like I said…it’s Marc that’s giving me the second chance.” You knew Angie would be excited. She had always thought Marcus was amazing and was legitimately mad at you for a long time after you asked for the divorce. You’re not above beyond admitting she was right. “We’re just…taking things slow right now.”

“Oh my god, sleeping together is slow?” Angela snorts and shakes her head before looking at Jacqui and Silvia. “Although that tracks for them. They slept together the first night they met and were inseparable for the longest time.” She reaches over and takes your hand. “Are you still getting noise complaints? Tell me he didn’t peak in college sexually.”

Your cheeks are burning as you studiously avoid looking at Silvia, but you couldn’t hold your grin in even if you tried. “Definitely did not peak in college.” That’s for goddamn sure. He’s got new tricks and everything. “And uh…I don’t know what the people in my building will think, but he has a nice house and everything so…maybe I should make his neighbors cheesecakes or something as an apology in advance.”

“Damn.” A low whistle comes out of your oldest friend, along with a sly grin. “In college, they were encouraged to not have sleepovers at the frat and sorority houses.” She explains. “Everyone would hear.”

“Everyone was very encouraging when we decided to move off campus.” There’s been so much reminiscing lately, and aside from the guilt it makes you practically giddy to be able to think of the happy times again. You’ll make it up to him. You know you will. You have to.

“You have to tell us how you ended up in bed together again.” She demands, eager for details.

“It wasn’t super dramatic or anything.” You demure as best you can, pausing when you feel your phone go off in your pocket. Expecting a text from Marcus, you instead see Silvia’s name splashed across your screen.

Silvia: It’s okay to be excited <3 We’re okay.

The unexpected sentiment really just shows how mature she is, and you’ll have to make sure that you and she have some time to talk it out on your own, without other friends or coworkers around, but right now you just send back a barrage of hearts as a return message and feel the internal sigh of relief as warmth and giddiness floods your chest. The smile spreading across your face is instant. “We actually…after the thing at the office…we ran into each other on Friday night. I guess neither of us wanted to spend our night at home alone so we both had the idea to go out…and ended up at the same bar.” It feels like a fairy tale, allowing yourself to get excited has you nearly vibrate in your chair. “We had dinner together. And then…I invited him back to my place. I honestly had no clue he’d end up staying over.”

“This is…I still can’t believe that Marcus is here. And you two are rekindling your romance.” Angela sighs wistfully. “It gives me hope that soulmates exist.” She grins at you. “Really hot soulmates that make your legs shake, right?” Her grin grows just a smidgeon. “Like mine.”

"You can't believe it? Imagine how shocked I was." Interrupted momentarily by your table's waiter, you add your order to everyone else's and sit back in your chair after the young man walks away. "It's...surreal. But...kind of wonderful."

The girls all murmur their own agreements, Angela nodding. “I imagine so. Have you two talked?” She asks seriously, sliding her own mimosa over towards you to have some since another round is on its way.

“About what happened?” You nod, grateful to have even a watered-down mimosa when the guilt hits. Someday, you hope, you’ll stop feeling these waves of horrible regret. But that day is not today. “Yeah. We’re talking through things. And we’re, um…we’re going on our first actual date tonight. Dressed up, out on the town, the whole nine yards. I don’t know where yet, but you know Marc. It will be memorable.”

She’s nodding, glancing over at the other two women. “He’s a great guy.” She promises them before she looks back at you. “Honey, I know you. I know you feel guilty, but he’s a big boy.” She reaches over and covers your hand with hers. “If he wants to give you another chance, don’t second guess it. Dive in and enjoy.”

“I’m trying.” She’s your oldest friend - having stuck around through the bullshit and long distance and telling you to your face when she thought you were making a mistake - and you know if Angela thought that pursuing this was a bad idea she would say so. But she’s encouraging and excited for you, so you nod your head and finish the rest of the mimosa she handed you, and try to smile. “I’m not gonna fuck this up twice. I love him too much for that.”

“You always have.” She reminds you, smirking slightly. “Henri had nothing on Marcus and neither did any of those other idiots.” She scoffs. “It’s been obvious that he’s never forgotten you. Just look at the song.”

“Okay.” You huff and puff, looking at her in wonder. “Did everybody know about the song but me?” Jacqui and Silvia both look on in confusion, exchanging bewildered glances before Jacqui also looks to Angela for an answer. “What song?”

Angela snorts, “Of course. Danny - you know, Dan Stevens, he’s the one who arranged to have the song looked at.” She explains to you before she looks over at Jacqui and Silvia. “Do you know that country duo, Dan + Shay?” She asks, making Jacqui frown slightly but Silvia nods. “I do.” She tells Angela. “Well, the song ‘Tequila’ is about our girl right here.” She states proudly.

“I’m sorry, what?” Jacqui’s jaw drops, her face drawn in surprise and awe as her attention swings back to you. “It is not?!”

“Wait that’s the song?” You’ve heard it before - it’s on the regular rotation at the coffee shop you frequent, of all places. One of the baristas always seemed to be playing country. It had always twisted your gut with memories before, but now? Now you’re on the verge of tears. “Marcus said he wrote a song but…he didn’t tell me it was that song.”

“Yeah….” Angela bites her lip, giving you a soft smile. “Danny saw it and knew it could be a hit. It summed up his relationship with you perfectly.”

“So Marcus is the reason we never get a pitcher of margaritas when we go out?” Jacqui smirks at you. They’re her favourite drink, so she always just orders for herself even though the other two women love them also. “I’m gonna have to have a little chat with this man.”

You can’t help but laugh, pulling out your phone in your lap again to send off a text after you shake your head at your friend. “I think we can do that now, from time to time. The memories suddenly don’t hurt so much.”

To Marc: You didn’t mention that you sold your song to Danny. Turns out I’ve been listening to it every week for ages. Miss you ❤

******

Marcus is far less relaxed, sitting at his desk, writing down notes and impressions on the case so that he doesn’t miss anything. When his phone buzzes, he picks it up, smiling when he sees that it’s from you.

To ❤ : Miss you too. You didn’t ask. 😇  Enjoy your girl’s day.

From ❤: Angela knew. Because of course she did. Can’t wait for tonight!

The reply text comes through almost right away, telling him that even while you’re with your friends, he’s at the front of your mind. Marcus smiles as he looks down at his phone, opening the emails to reconfirm the reservation he set. He wants to make sure that you enjoy the ‘first date’ with him.

A gentle knock on his office door startled him it off his thoughts, and when he looks up, Teresa is standing in his open doorway awkwardly. “Morning.” She murmurs, holding up the tray of coffees and bag of bakery treats she brought as a peace offering. “Wasn’t sure if you had breakfast yet or not.”

“Come in.” Marcus almost stands up, but he doesn’t. Overthinks it for a moment and wonders if he would stand if she wasn’t his ex-fiancée. And he wouldn’t, so he doesn’t. He does motion her forward and gives a polite smile that would be HR approved. “You didn’t have to do that.”

"Yesterday was tense." She observes, setting the drinks down on his desk and handing him the coffee, keeping the cup of tea for herself. "Consider it a peace offering."

“Tense might be a mild term for it.” Marcus accepts the coffee, opening the lid and noticing that it was exactly how he always took his coffee. She had apparently remembered. “It would have been less so if your husband hadn’t been so...himself.”

“He forgets that not everyone finds him hilarious or ingenious.” Teresa sits carefully on the other side of the desk, smoothing her tunic blouse over her bump as she does. The baby isn’t too active today, thankfully, which means the morning has gone fairly smoothly. “Patrick is…he’s just Patrick. And while I love him, I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea.” As if to prove the point, she takes the lid off her own cup and swirls the milky liquid around with a stirring stick.

“You could have been honest.” Marcus tells her after a moment. “I would have understood more than most would have.” He would have, that’s the irony. The you-sized hole in his heart had never healed, nor could it have been filled with anyone else.

“I didn’t really know.” Teresa admits, casting a look down at her own belly before looking back up at Marcus. What she put him through…he should despise her. Refuse to help on principle. But Marcus is a better man than that and she knows it. “I knew that I had hesitations, but I didn’t really know what or why until Patrick got on that damn plane.” She tilts her head, almost shaking it at herself and closing her eyes for just a half second. “I’m sorry. For what happened between us. Not that we had something, but…for how I handled it.”

It takes a lot to apologize and now he’s gotten two apologies in the same week from the two most important relationships he’s had. If he were a lesser man, he would see it as him being morally superior in some sense. Being a ‘good guy’ in the way that all men who are not good men claim to be. Teresa doesn’t have to apologize. She’s moved on in every way possible and he’s already helping with her case, so this isn’t some kind of exercising some pent-up guilt. Instead of basking in the apology, Marcus takes a sip of his coffee and nods. “I appreciate that.” His smile is softer this time. “Really. Thank you. Apology accepted. And I apologize for rushing you into things.”

"Apology accepted. Water under the bridge." The smile on her face is genuine as she takes an almond croissant out of the bakery bag that she brought and nudges it toward Marcus. "So...I have to ask. Your ex-wife? Really?" He hadn't talked about the first Mrs. Pike often while they were together, but she had always gotten a sense that she had hurt him. Badly.

“My ex-wife.” There is not the pang of sadness and hurt that had been there before. “It— there’s never been anything like being with her.”

"So you're happy?" He deserves that, after all. To be happy. Someone with as big a heart as Marcus Pike, she wouldn't wish anything else. "I don't mean to pry, I just – if you're happy, then I'm happy for you."

“Honestly?” Marcus bites his lip and looks down into his coffee, thinking about how he had pushed you up against the wall of his shower and made you cry out this morning. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve been this happy.” It’s his turn to give her an apologetic smile. “I think, deep down, it’s always been her.” He knows it’s always been you, but it’s still his ex he’s talking to.

"Then I'm happy for you." There's no point in feeling slightly hurt over not being the one that got away from Marcus when she was the one who made the choice to leave him, so Teresa sits forward with her breakfast and looks over the file on his desk. Learning to read upside down was a fun little trick that Jane taught her. "Notice anything new or interesting this morning?"

The moment seems to be over so Marcus spins the file around so she doesn’t have to strain herself. “Take a look and tell me what you think.” He has always respected Teresa professionally and now is no different.

"That is a lot of different places called Johnson's Ranch." The sheer number of possibilities makes Teresa cringe as she looks up and down the list. "I'll get a list of prior residences for the family and see what we can cross reference. Maybe we can at least narrow it down to a region and then use the pictures to pinpoint location."

“Perhaps it’s a family vacation spot?” Marcus kicks around, leaning back in his chair. “It would make sense that it would be somewhere tied to the family.”

"Could be." Teresa nods slowly, rolling the idea over in her mind. "I'll start with deeds and homesteads and move through rental properties and businesses second. Something of this place has to have survived."

“Could even be a place that was rebranded.” Marcus groans, shaking his head. “This is going to be a miracle to solve before you give birth.”

"Oh god," she laughs at that, huffing at the idea of still being on this case in that many months. "I'll text Patrick and ask him to bring us a map of the US and maybe...three or four different colours of pushpins? We can start mapping out possibilities and colour-coding the locations. It's going to take a while to get through." When she glances up at him, Marcus's brow is furrowed, focused on the list in the folder in front of him. "Tomorrow we'll use physical markers from the pictures to help narrow it down further, and hopefully your— Dr. Pike— will be able to help us figure out some more clues we might have missed."

“She’s good at what she does.” Marcus might have done a little professional snooping at your accolades. “If anyone would be able to help, it would be her.”

"We knew you'd have the right person to bring onto the case." Even Patrick Jane, who wanted to scrub most vestiges of Marcus Pike out of his wife's past, had admitted that he was the man that could help most effectively. "We just...had no idea it would be her."

“The irony.” Marcus can’t help but give a small chuckle. “If we hadn’t divorced, she might not have been where she is now to help. Our lives might have been very different.”

"You might not have been in the FBI at all." She points out, reaching for her tea again. It's particularly soothing today. "Law enforcement wasn't your original idea, if I'm remembering correctly."

“It hadn’t been, but it’s a good thing we are where we are.” Marcus can’t regret everything. He’s done a lot of good, and put some bad people away.

"They say everything happens for a reason." Though she isn't usually the kind of person to use aphorisms for comfort, this particular one is what she's really got to go with at the moment. Because if she hadn't said yes to Marcus, then Patrick might never had gotten the kick in the pants that he needed to tell her how he felt. Which, in turn, left Marcus single again to reunite with his ex-wife. It's all just...complicated. "Let's see what we can get done today. I know you don't want to be sitting here for twelve hours, and we need our expert to get through the detail work. So let's just prep and do some digging through land deeds and family assets today. When Patrick gets here with the map we can start charting things out, and we can all call it a night for dinner."

Nodding, Marcus agrees. “Not exactly the way I wanted to spend a Sunday, but I’m sure you feel the same way.” He snorts. “If you get tired because of the little one, just lay down on the couch behind you.”

"Thanks." He knows she isn't one for complaints or excuses, and that if she lies down it will just be with the file in her lap instead of on the desk in front of her. She doesn't however, miss the way Marcus glances over at his phone and smiles - the lines around his eyes crinkling ever so slightly. "You guys have plans tonight?"

“Dinner.” He nods and looks at his phone again. “She’s at brunch with her friends, but we are having a date tonight.” It’s still slightly surreal, but he can’t wait to see you again.

“Well.” Her own phone goes off - a simple text from husband acknowledging what she’s asked for, and then followed immediately by a picture of a bag of apples. Her current pregnancy craving. It lights her up unapologetically. “We’ll make sure you get to it,” she promises.

“Thanks.” Marcus nods, feeling like the air has been cleared between the two of them and he doesn’t feel like he needs to add anything else. He turns towards the notes and starts pouring over them again. Eager to get done for today and get ready for his date with you.

******

With no instructions except being told to dress up and expect him at six-thirty, you've been excitedly pacing around your apartment for the last ten minutes as you count down to his arrival. The texts back and forth with your sister have been animated, to say the very least, and with Angie's encouragements this morning and Leah's this evening, you're feeling about as dreamy as you have in a long time. A second first date with Marcus. The thing you've been dreaming of for years.

While he rationally knows that it’s a little silly to be this excited about a ‘first date’, he’s grinning as he parks the car. He’s always wanted to do this, from the first time he had really thought about you seriously, which was about day two of knowing you. Marcus wanted to take you out to a dinner he never could have possibly afforded by then. Picking up the gorgeous bouquet of flowers, Marcus exits his car and walks up to your building to hit the button for your apartment. Wanting to do this right.

You grin when the buzzer goes off, knowing he easily could have texted or called, but this is Marcus. He's always been determined to be proper whenever possible. You hit the button on the panel in your hallway to let him up and double check your appearance in the mirror one last time. The heavy thumping your heart is doing is just as eager as the first time he came to pick you up - though your apartment and sorority house are worlds apart.

It was probably about a week after the first party that Marcus had taken you out on the first official date of your relationship. Like you hadn’t been sleeping together for a solid week. He had taken you to Sonic for a burger and a grape slushie. All he could afford at the time, but he had wanted to do more. Always wanted to do more, and now - he could. Once he makes it to your floor, he strides down the hallway with confidence, a spring to his step that has more to do with seeing you than anything else and knocks quickly.

There isn't an ounce of shame in how fast you open the door. You're not going to pretend like you weren't right in the hallway when you were, but it stops mattering the instant you open the door. All dressed up in a perfectly cut suit looking like a dream, Marcus is holding a bouquet of your favourite flowers - he remembered, you sigh inwardly - with a bright smile on his face. "Hey love." The sight of him takes your breath away, and you really can't tell if you gasp or not before getting your composure back. "Do you want to come in for a minute?"

“Sure.” Marcus steps inside and offers you the bouquet. “I know you have a vase or ten to put these in.” He remembers how you used to admire the beautiful vases when you were window shopping. His grandmother had given the two of you a beautiful crystal vase when you had gotten married, and he wonders what happened to it.

“It’s an addiction,” you admit, cheeks heating a little but not really embarrassed. The soft pink and white ranunculus flowers deserve the best vase you have, especially because they’re from him. From the side cupboard in your kitchen, you dig through the smaller and more everyday vases you’ve collected over the years to come out with one made of gorgeous cut crystal. “You might recognize this one…” There were a few tokens that had gone with you to your new life, unable to completely let go of the one you had built with Marcus. Your wedding gift from his grandmother was one of them.

“I had just thought about that vase.” Marcus admits, grinning as he watches you unwrap the band from the flowers and move over to the sink to put a few inches of water in the bottom of the vase. There’s no hurt feelings over it, he had told you to take whatever you wanted when you were packing up, and he’s happy to see that you kept it. “It’s perfect, I think.” He hums. “Very fitting.”

“I feel very coordinated.” The flowers embroidered on the handkerchief hem of your black dress dance in the overhead lights from the kitchen as you set the vase in the center of your table and turn back to him. “What do you think? Is this appropriate for the mystery date?”

“Very appropriate.” Marcus agrees, stepping back slightly and dragging his eyes from head to toe. If it weren’t for the fact that he wants this date, he would be pulling you back towards your bedroom in a heartbeat.

“Later.” You point a finger at him and grin, being well-acquainted with that look in his eyes. “I’m pretty sure you’ll like what’s under the dress, too.”

“Damnit.” Marcus huffs, although he doesn’t mean it for a second. “Sonic doesn’t have reservations.” He’s done this to himself but he also knows you will be very happy with tonight.

“Sonic, huh?” Your eyebrow ticks up at him as you pick up your purse and open the door again. “Are we having a repeat first date?” That would be awfully sentimental and fairly on brand for the two of you.

“While I still say that the grape slushie is the best flavor, no.” Marcus chuckles and steps outside so you can close up your apartment. “I made reservations for us at L’Ardente for 7 o’clock.”

“L’Ardente?” The impressed noise you make has him puffing up slightly. “Well aren’t we very fancy tonight.” This is him, though, too a tee. Even when you were scraping by on pennies, he was trying to think of ways to make everything the nicest possible version of whatever DIY you could afford.

“Followed by drinks and dancing at Sax.” Marcus adds as you slip your keys into your purse and he takes your hand. “If you’re up for that after we try the forty-layer lasagna.”

“Dinner, drinks, and dancing?” Leaning into his side a little when you get into the elevator, you lend him a dreamy grin. “Cary Grant has nothing on Marcus Pike.”

“The experience I wanted to give you so many years ago.” He had, to an extent. Dinner was fast food or whatever you could afford at the time. Drinks and dancing was shots of tequila and parties on campus, but this is more mature. The way he had always imagined taking you for an anniversary dinner ten years down the road, still having that spark between you. “Now I get to.”

“You know I loved every date you ever took me on.” The boy he was would be so proud of the man he’s become, and it makes your heart swell knowing that you had been any part of it - though you push away the ache of knowing you could have been there for everything.

“I loved them too, but I always imagined this in our future.” He admits, the doors opening and both of you step out into the small atrium of the apartment building and walk by the post boxes to the front door. He had parked on the street in the ten minute parking so he could bundle you into the car and hurry off. “When we were ‘old and boring.” He teases.

“It’s a privilege to get to be old and boring with you.” You promise him, waving to your doorman on your way out of the building.

Marcus laughs as he opens the door to let you get in the passenger seat. “You mean we aren’t now?” He asks, winking at you as he closes the door to round the hood to slide in beside you.

“Maybe a little.” When he slips into the driver’s seat beside you, you lend him a grin. “If we tried partying like that again in our thirties we’d break something.”

“Hangovers.” Marcus moans. “Who knew they would get so fucking bad?” He asks rhetorically.

“I swear it’s why I’m pickier about what I drink now.” Years ago, the cheapest liquor in the world didn’t bother you. Now your home bar is carefully stocked with pricey splurges that craft beautiful cocktails. “If I’m going to deal with a hangover, I want it to be worth it.”

“Exactly. It’s why I try not to get trashed anymore unless it’s a special occasion.” Marcus jokes.

“And we have the dreaded work tomorrow.” Not that either of you dread your jobs, but it makes you both smile and you slip your hand into his as he steers the car into the flow of traffic. “How was today, by the way?”

“It was…interesting.” Marcus tells you, shrugging slightly. “Apparently when it comes to apologies from exes, when it rains - it pours.” He chuckles quietly. “Teresa wanted to clear the air.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Not that he deserves apologies from multiple people, but that things are getting cleared up. Making things less awkward will be good for everyone. “I take it her husband was not a part of that conversation? He doesn’t seem like the apologizing type.”

“No, he didn’t come for the apology tour.” He doesn’t really care, it’s water under the bridge. “But I also had to apologize to her too.”

“What for?” The only account of their relationship that you’ve heard places the end result squarely in Teresa Jane’s lap, but things are never that black and white in real life.

“Because while I cared for her…” he reaches over and takes your hand to bring it up to his lips to kiss it softly. “I was running away from the fact that she wasn’t you. And that there was still something missing because she wasn’t you.”

“I love you, too.” There really isn’t any escape to it - not that you want one. Not at all.

That sugary warmth that settles over him every time you say those words descends again and he looks over at you and smiles. “Good to know.”

“So…” You squeeze his hand and thread your fingers together easily. “Do you happen to remember my friend Angela? She was my roommate freshman year - black hair, grey eyes, supermodel tall?”

“Angela….” Marcus frowns for a second. “Angie Carter?” He nods. “Yeah. I hear she still keeps in touch with a lot of our old friend group. Marcus talked to some of them, but he had made it clear that he didn’t want to talk about you. It had been too painful. They had all respected it for the most part, obviously why he didn’t know you were in D.C.

“Angie Carter-Kim, now. She got married about a year ago to one of the other lawyers at her firm. But yes, same Angie.” The streets zip by as he drives steadily through traffic, turning up the length of Massachusetts Avenue toward the restaurant. “She’s extremely excited to hear we’re…doing this. She was over the moon at brunch.”

“She’s in D.C.?” Marcus isn’t surprised, Angie was always very driven and interested in the political side of the law, but it’s good to know that you have old friends who knew him as well as both of you when you were together. “That’s good that I have one person’s approval.”

“She wants to have us over for dinner so you can meet Harry, so I told her I would ask.” Truth be told, doing things like suggesting double dates with friends and giggling over Marcus at brunch made you feel so comfortable today.

"We can do that." Marcus agrees, knowing that it would be nice to have another person that wasn't work related that he knows in D.C. Especially since you were still close to her. "Tell her that we will set something up." It might be after the case, considering he doesn't know what is going to happen, but it would be something to look forward to.

“You’ll like Harry. He absolutely thinks the world of Angie and treats her like a goddess.” Just as she had said this morning - she didn’t settle for anything less after seeing the way Marcus had treated you. Which really should have proved a point to you, but hindsight is 20/20.

"She deserves someone like that. From what I remember she always had a good head on her shoulders. Even with us being dumb kids." Marcus hates letting go of your hand, but it's necessary to turn. "It'll be nice to catch up with her and meet her husband."

The restaurant has a valet, of course, and you slip out of Marcus’s plush SUV onto the sidewalk to wait for him. It’s silly - childish even - to feel like the few moments it takes him to join you is longer than you want to be apart, but when he steps up beside you and puts a hand in the small of your back to guide you into the restaurant, you’re home again just from his touch.

“I was thinking Le Diplomat, but decided that you might have been there and wanted to see what this place was about.” He murmurs as you both walk into the swanky restaurant and over to the sleek host stand. “Reservation for Pike.”

“Ah, of course.” The host smiles warmly. “Right this way, Mr. Pike. Mrs. Pike.” The table you’re led to is secluded, and the restaurant’s mood lighting is fairly obvious but not in a bad way. It’s inviting and romantic, which are perfect for tonight.

“That might be something you haven’t heard in a while.” Marcus is the one who holds out your seat for you, always feeling like the little gestures matter. “Being called missus rather than doctor.”

“I don’t mind.” It’s the first time in years you haven’t corrected the person, actually, and you love the way it feels, even if it’s not technically correct. “If you don’t, I mean.”

“I don’t mind it.” He admits softly as he pushes you in and rounds the table so he can sit down across from you. The candlelight is between you and he smiles as the menus are handed to you.

The host says nothing but to let you know your waiter will be over in a moment before he retreats, but you swear you don’t hear a word. Your focus is entirely on Marcus. On being with him again. “Is it really sappy if I tell you I’m a little misty about this whole thing?” You have to laugh at yourself a little, or at least have a sense of humor about it.

“I’ve been looking forward to tonight all day.” Marcus confesses with a laugh of his own. “I left the office early because I couldn’t get any more work done.”

"Angie came back to my apartment with me to help me pick out an outfit." It's such a silly thing, but you had been so excited and so nervous that your friend had jumped at the chance to do something so nostalgic as help you get ready for a date. "I almost had to remove her bodily from my apartment. I think she wanted to hang out long enough to see you."

“It good that she doesn’t hate me.” There had been a few of your sorority sisters that had been convinced that the story you had told your friends wasn’t true. That he had to have done something. It wasn’t something he had told you about, but it had been good that he hadn’t been on the market for dating for a long time because the well had been poisoned.

"She absolutely doesn't." You can promise him that with absolute certainty. "I'm the one she was pissed at, and rightfully so. She never approved of what I did."

"She shouldn't have been mad at you." Marcus shakes his head and frowns slightly. "You— you were doing what you thought was right, I know that you never meant to hurt me or yourself."

"I was an idiot, and she told me as much." There's nothing to do about it now but shrug, and you reach across the table to squeeze Marcus's hand. "Either way, I'm glad to be us again. Even if it took a while to get here."

"Me too." Sending you a small wink, Marcus wants to shift the topic of dinner. He doesn't want this to be a dinner of regrets, this is your new beginning together and he wants this to be positive. "Now, let's figure out what we are going to share for dinner." He teases. "Because I know we are going to steal bites."

"I don't know, but I think I heard something about a forty-layer lasagna?" You waggle your eyebrows at him, knowing how much he loves lasagna in absolutely any form. "So I think the question is what am I going to get that you can steal a taste of?"

"I am honestly trying to decide if you are going to choose the Duck Hunt or the Venetian Rosotto." He hums as he looks over the menu. "Duck ravioli and foie gras or riced calamari and king crab?" He asks teasingly. "Or do you want the Vitello Parmigiana? Stir things up with veal?"

"Oh, come on now." The menu is expansive and expensive, and you shoot Marcus a smirk. "The duck ravioli is under small plates, you don't think I would ever pass up duck as an appetizer in any universe, do you?" You had never had it before the very first fancy restaurant that his parents took the two of you out to when he brought you home to them, and it had been your favourite fancy food ever since.

"Then we split the Duck Hunt for an appetizer and then you order what you want." He sends you a small wink. By 'share' he means he will take one bite and then let you have the rest of it. "And we order a bottle of Krug to wash it down with. I think champagne is appropriate tonight."

"Krug?" One eyebrow ticks up at him from where you had been looking at the menu and your smirk turns to a glowing, slightly dopey looking smile that lights your whole face up. "If you want to celebrate, who am I to disagree? Just as long as you let me spoil you the same way from time to time."

He rolls his eyes at you, knowing it will be a debate later on down the road but he's happy he's going to get his way for now. "Let me do this tonight, okay?" He asks softly, wanting it to be a night you remember forever.

"As long as it makes you happy, baby." You really would give him anything. As long as it's within your power, you would hand over your whole life to make him happy. A bottle of champagne and a fancy dinner are the least of it.

It will, it will be the fulfillment of a promise he made to himself a long time ago. Nodding, he winks at you again. “I’ll make sure that I thank you for this later.” He promises huskily.

With all the stops he's pulling out, you should be the one thanking him, but you keep your mouth shut when the waiter comes over to take your order. Marcus orders the bottle and the first course and the waiter is gone again in a polite flash.

“Now...if we can fit in dessert, what would you want?” He asks, smirking at the dessert menu.

You hum like there isn't an absolutely obvious choice, if you can even make it that far into the night. "If we make it through two courses of pasta without bursting, there is a thirteen-layer chocolate cake that I think I might build a shrine to if it turns out to be as good as it sounds."

“You always choose chocolate.” He muses, smiling fondly at the memories of you thanking him profusely for the little Dove chocolates he would bring you when he had the chance.

"It was a miracle we didn't end up with a chocolate wedding cake." The decision had been close, but the beautiful strawberry and cream cake had been delicious. "We don't have to get chocolate cake, honey. It just sounds good."

“We can always get a slice to take home.” The mere mention of a wedding cake has him almost jumping to promise that the next one will be chocolate. To plan, to map out the future with you. Instead, he looks up at you to see if you agree. “Chocolate is perfect.”

"Marc..." You tilt your head and lean your chin on your other hand, trying to hold in the beaming smile that it threatening to crack the surface. "That's not what you were going to say first."

“And how would you know that?” His brow arches up playfully and he leans in, watching the candlelight dance in your eyes.

"You clench your jaw when you second-guess yourself." It's been his tell for his whole life, apparently, but the way he's looking at you is almost entirely distracting you from teasing him. "Your mother told me about that one."

“Damn.” He rolls his eyes slightly in good fun, and shakes his head. “Betrayed by my own mother.”

"What were you going to say?" If he really doesn't want to tell you then you won't push, but you don't want him to hold back. If either of you is tiptoeing on eggshells then you're only going to add to the communication problems down the line.

The answer is delayed by the return of the bustling waiter with a gorgeous bottle of Krug, along with a bucket to be placed on the table for easy access. Marcus leans back as the bottle is uncorked after he approves of it and two glasses of frothy champagne are poured. He nods his thanks as decides to answer you truthfully as the waiter rushes off. “I was going to promise you that your next wedding cake could be chocolate.” He admits as he picks up the thin stemmed glass. “To new beginnings.” He offers, giving you a chance to just ignore his comment if you wished to.

“New beginnings.” It’s a beautiful sentiment, and you tap the rim of your glass against his before taking your first sip. The crisp, bubbly liquid cools its way down your throat before it starts to warm you, and you hum at the sensation. “And I agree to a chocolate wedding cake only if we supplement it with fruit. Like those chocolate oranges you love at Christmas.”

Your comment makes him freeze. For a moment his entire system seems to shut down and reboot before he manages to smile at you. “You remembered those things?” He asks with a small chuckle.

“Of course I do.” How could you forget the little things that make him unique? They’re the things that make up the man you’ve loved for your entire adult life. “And I also remember that you like hot fudge on raspberry ice cream, and chocolate covered strawberries. So the pattern is unmistakable.”

“So we could always have chocolate dipped fruit as garnish around the cake.” He smiles, beams, at the fact that you knew him so well.

"We absolutely could." Any amount of dreaming from him has your insides twisting and filling with glee. "A piece of chocolate dipped fruit with every slice of cake. That would be gorgeous."

There’s a tiny portion of him that breathes a sigh of relief when he doesn’t see you hesitating or holding back. He knows what you said, but it’s hard to readjust after twelve years of believing he had pushed you away because of his need to give you everything. “Chocolate covered dehydrated raspberries are a current obsession of mine.” He admits with a grin. “There’s a little sweet shop around the corner from the Hoover building that sells all kinds of things like that.”

“We’ll have to go by sometime after work.” It’s pure encouragement, at least to you, when his shoulders drop ever so slightly and the warmth in his cheeks rises. Marcus without dreams isn’t Marcus at all, and you want to give him back that sweetness and joyfulness more than anything. “I want to share all of our new favorite things.”

“You would like it. They have all kinds of chocolate covered things.” He hums. Before, he had avoided thinking about you in there, but he knows you would like the chocolate covered rice crispy treats.

“Chocolate-covered-everything is my favorite everything.” He remembers that, apparently, and it makes you smile in the most pleased, adored kind of way possible. “I keep a container of chocolate covered sunflower seeds on my desk and I know it sounds weird, but they have a little candy coating on them and it’s the perfect combination of sweet and salt.”

“That sounds good, not weird.” He huffs. “Like a chocolate covered cashew or peanuts. But have you had a chocolate covered gummy bear?” He asks, raising a brow at you.

“Of course I have.” The look on his face is like he’s trying to keep himself from being positively giddy, and it makes your chest tighten with happiness to see him so relaxed again. “What do you think I put on my ice cream?”

“They are amazing. And I bet they are even better when chilled.” Marcus bobbles his head in agreement.

“I’ll build you a little chocolate-covered-gummy-bear scene on top of a cheesecake sometime.” You shoot him a grin and sip your champagne.

“What about in a cheesecake?” He tilts his head and considers it, looking at you for confirmation or disagreement with his idea. You love to bake, he could make cookies the density of hockey pucks.

“I bet that would work in a no-bake Cheesecake.” The idea is just silly enough to work and you stifle a giggle. “Now I have to try it.”

“Oh nooo.” Marcus groans, rolling his eyes. “You have to test something and I’ll be forced to try it.” He sarcastically tosses out. “What ever will I do?” He had always been willing to be your taste tester and had loved it.

“You’ll be at the gym more,” you snort, grinning and giddy at the lighthearted tone the night has taken. “It’s harder to just fuck away the calories than it used to be.”

“That’s way more fun than fucking running on a treadmill.” Marcus grumbles, sending you a small wink right before the waiter comes back with the appetizer for you to share.

I know says the twisted smirk on your lips, but you behave yourself with the waiter approaching.

The plating is beautiful and the smell makes his mouth water as he looks at the ravioli and foie gras. “This will be amazing.” He nods his thanks to the waiter and looks back over at you. “Well? Shall we try it?”

It tastes even better than it looks, which should be impossible, and the two of you dive back in for second and third bites with record speed so that it takes almost no time for the little plate to empty. You’d be mad that it’s gone except that it bodes such wonderful things to come. “Oh my god,” you moan softly, giggling happily. “That was insane.”

“Yes it was. And that forty-layer lasagna is going to be mouthwatering.” Marcus hums, sure that this place will quickly become a favorite. Just maybe not with the expensive champagne. “Have you decided what entree you are getting?”

“I’m torn between the Campanelle Nere and the carbonara they have listed.” Having told the waiter that you were in no rush, he had excused himself after your appetizer without taking your entree order. The night’s rhythm and theme are indulgence, so neither you nor Marcus has any intention of rushing. If you’re still dancing the night away after midnight, you won’t be surprised. Well… you might be surprised that you’re still awake, but not that you’re enjoying yourself.

“Ohhh pulling out the out of left field choices.” He teases, grinning at you and reaching for the champagne bottle to top off your glasses.

“It’s a special occasion,” you reason, laughing at his teasing tone. “I figured why do anything ordinary?”

Marcus grins. “So order both.” He suggests indulgently. “The leftovers can always be our midnight snack after we get home from dancing and…working out.”

You practically snort at the way his eyebrows lift with the suggestion, barely able to muffle it when the waiter returns to take your dinner order. Campanelle nere for now - carbonara to go. And it’s all you can do not to snicker behind the falsely dainty hand you’re holding in front of your mouth.

Marcus grins, ordering the lasagna with the short rib meat and hands his menu to the waiter. “Thank you, we just have…big appetites.” He offers, unrepentant at the double entendre in the statement.

The whole meal is as exquisite as that first plate, and half the slice of gorgeous chocolate cake is packed away in a bag with your pasta to be brought back to whoever’s house you end up at after tonight’s adventure is over. There doesn’t seem to be any question of the fact that you’ll be spending the night together, though, which sends a familiar thrill up your spine as Marcus leads you out of the restaurant. Yes, you’ve both grown up, but you’re still fundamentally the same people that you were the first time you had a first date — and those people are crazy about each other.

“Now, do we head to Sax now, or do we stop somewhere else for drink first?” He asks, trailing his fingers up and down your back as he asks what you want to do. Marcus of old would have planned everything down to the minute and hated straying from the plan, but he wants you to enjoy tonight fully.

“Let’s go to Sax.” Leaning into him on the sidewalk, you breathe in his cologne and sigh inwardly. There’s a comfort to this man that has not diminished with time, and it makes you so happy. “We can sit and scope the place out before we’re ready to dance.”

“There is bottle service there as well.” He points out, digging out his valet fob to give to the driver at the stand.

“Of course there is.” You raise your joined hands to leave a kiss on his warm skin. “It’s perfect, baby. Just a little over the top, but right from the heart. That’s the way you love, and I love you for it.”

He hums, warmed by the sentiment and he tugs you closer as the two of you wait for the car to be brought around.

The drive between places is only a few minutes and there’s another valet at the ready as you step out onto the sidewalk to wait for Marcus again while you take in the opulence of the club in front of you. It looks moody inside, dark and romantic and seductive - with jazz playing loudly and raucous laughter from the countless patrons already inside.

“Did you know that this is a restaurant most of the time?” Marcus asks as the two of you scout out a booth to snag for your private use. “They convert it into this place on the weekends.”

“We’ll have to come back for dinner some night.” It’s so easy to curl into his side when one of the waitresses shows you a clear table and sashays away with a promise to be right back.

“That sounds good to me.” The atmosphere is smokey, despite there being none on the air. The feel of it seems like you might have stepped back in time to war-time dances with GIs home from the front line. Marcus picks up the menu and hums. “What are you feeling now, baby?”

"Little bit turned on." You laugh, knowing that that wasn't the question he was asking. "Are we too adult to order a bottle of tequila?" It would be symbolically appropriate, but one of you does have to drive home tonight. And you both have to work tomorrow. So it might not exactly be safe.

“Do you want to order a bottle of Tequila?” He asks, arching a brow at you in surprise. A shot the other day was almost required, but he didn’t want to you to feel like it was a must.

"The only reason I stopped drinking tequila was because it made me miss you." That much, at least, is completely true. But you still tilt your head at him and smile. "But we also have to work tomorrow. So maybe we should stick to wine?" If he wants to reminisce over a bottle of tequila you'll join him in a heartbeat. You just don't want to pressure him.

Marcus smirks and looks back down at the menu. “I think we should do it. Our first date included tequila too.”

"We are tequila people, it seems." When you nod to the menu, you lean over a little and press a kiss to his cheek. "Let's do it, baby."

“We can have that hungover shower together in the morning.” A place like this was no stage for body shots, but Marcus orders a bottle of Don Julio when the waitress returns. Along with a couple of waters to make sure you don’t get too wasted.

"We used to be really good at those." Standing under a screaming hot shower with your arms around each other was a Monday morning special back in the day. "I bet we can get it back. Hangover shower, a gallon of coffee, and a stack of pancakes and bacon."

“Blueberry?” Marcus asks hopefully, loving blueberry pancakes when he feels like day old, dried up dog shit after too much drinking.

"Blueberry." You nod with authority. His smile is so soft and so genuine that you can just feel your heart bursting in your chest. "If you don't already have a favourite diner, there's one by my office."

“You always knew the good places for pancakes.” He agrees, nodding. “So I guess we just need to figure out which bed we are pouring ourselves into tonight.”

"Hmmm..." Even though the answer is easy, you tap your chin like it's something ancient philosophers might have muddled over for centuries. "Well. I'm thinking it's gonna be the place where we both have clothes. Which is your house."

“Maybe one day….” Marcus leans in and kisses the finger on your chin. “It can be called ‘our house’?” He asks softly. “Not now, I mean, but one day?”

"I have..." It takes a second to do the math, but the proximity of him makes you fuzzy and warm. "A little less than four months left on my lease. Is that too soon?" The annual re-signing of your lease isn't a bad thing, but you do want it to be your house together as much as you want to wake up beside him tomorrow and the next day, and the day after that.

“I think four months is a good time to decide if we are ready to move to the next step, don’t you?” Marcus asks. He would say tomorrow, but he knows that’s not rational.

"I honestly don't think we're going to spend too much time apart over the next four months." Maybe it's speculative, or just wishful thinking, but the flushed warmth under your skin is as honest as anything you've felt in a very long time. "But it sounds like a good amount of time for an official decision."

“Of course, we should probably make the decision before the last minute.” He teases and winks at you. “I’ll make you sign a lease if it makes you feel better.”

The second you open your mouth you shut it again, worried about pushing him or making him uncomfortable. "I don't need you to make a fakey lease for me," you tell him finally, nesting a little closer into his side. "But you do have to let me help with the bills."

“Groceries….” Marcus compromises. “And whatever else you want. How about that?” It was crazy to talk about combining finances, and he doesn’t want you to do that if you don’t want to, but one day you will have to have that talk.

"Utilities," you bargain when he puts his arm around you. "At the very least. We both make good money now, love. It's got to be equal somehow. A life shared, ya know?"

“We can talk about it when you— we decide what we want to do.” Marcus promises, taking your hand and kissing the fingertips of each finger.

"Can I tell you what my first thought was?" Tipping your head back lets you catch his eyes and you swallow down some nerves in an effort to be completely honest with him. Honesty is the thing that you're working on harder than anything else. You can't hold back this time. "When you said our house?"

“You can tell me anything.” Marcus tells himself that the two of you should talk often. Honestly and openness will go a long way. Even if it’s not exactly what he wants to hear.

“I was thinking…” It makes you sniffle a little, but your smile is beaming. “About how many firsts we’ll get to have there.” The specific image in your mind was domestic as hell - a scene of you and Marcus decorating for a kid’s birthday party. How excited and proud he would be every single year. “Including coming home from our first honeymoon, because we’re finally going to take one. But…I thought about how perfect it will be for parties.” You grin, squeezing his fingers a little in yours. “Especially kids’ birthday parties.”

Marcus closes his eyes for a moment, letting your dreams and ideas just seep into his soul. It's what he's always wanted with you, twelve years ago it had been his goal and he had thought he was going to have to live it with someone else. Now you are here and offering it to him again. Eyes still closed, he nods, almost ready to cry. "Yeah."

“Hey, hey.” You lean over to kiss his cheek and hold him a little tighter to your side. “Was that too much?”

"No." His denial is immediate, eyes flying open to lock onto yours. "No, I just— it's that I never imagined that I would be able to dream about that with you." He admits softly. "Just- just absorbing it. It's good, I promise."

“Okay.” Your voice stays soft and encouraging when the waitress comes back to deliver the bottle Marcus ordered along with a small but stylish tray of appropriate mixers, salt, and lime slices. You thank her and pass along an extra tip, but never take your real focus off of Marcus. “If you had said four months was too long, I would have agreed with you, for the record.”

"Baby....I'm trying not to rush you." He almost pleads with you to understand. "I just— I want you to set the pace this time."

"I know, baby. And I'm saying that my pace might be a little bit faster than what you expect." You set the bottle in front of him and pick up two shot glasses, wanting to bring the mood of the night back to something joyful rather than fretting. "Come on. Let's have a couple of drinks and dance. That's what we came here to do, right?"

He can agree to that. The last thing he wants to do is to turn this into another angsty debate about the future. “To the Tequila that brought us together.” Marcus offers taking one shot from you and holding it up.

"To second chances." The rims of your shot glasses tap together with a crystal clear tnk and you share a grin, lifting your other hand to cheekily offer him the salt you sprinkled on your skin.

Marcus keeps his eyes on yours, smirking as he leans down and laps at the salt with a slow drag if his tongue before he straightens up and tosses down the shot of tequila before reaching for his lime. “Still better off your tits.” He decides.

"Well yeah." And thanks to that comment as well as his unyielding eye contact, you're about ready to jump him right there in your booth. "You like everything better when my tits are involved."

“They are great tits. We could always take the bottle home.” Marcus coos, cock twitching in his pants. “Lick salt off your pussy and tequila off your tits.”

"Fuck, Marc." His name comes out in a whine and you pout at him as dramatically as possible. "You're gonna kill me."

He chuckles, smug in the feeling of you wanting him right now. “Drink your shot, baby.” He nods towards your drink. “I want to dance with my wife.” It slips out of his mouth before he can change his words, because it was what was running through his mind.

“Mmm.” You could tease him for it. For the slip of the tongue and how honest it is. But it fills you with such tangible joy that all you can do to keep from throwing your arms around him is hum and murmur: “I think I can arrange that.” Before taking your own shot with the salt ready and waiting on his hand.

There is a filthiness in the way your tongue flicks against his skin, making him groan quietly and shift in his seat. “Fuck.” He pants out quietly, his mind going extremely x-rated again.

“That’s what happens when you play with fire, Pike.” The wink you aim at him is unmistakable and devious, and you’re already sliding out of the booth when he groans in protest. “Come on, handsome. Dance with me.”

He lets you pull him out of the booth, standing up and letting you lead him to the floor. If he wasn’t an FBI department director, he would be dragging you to the bathroom to see about recreating a club quickie. He doesn’t think his boss would approve of the scandal.

The band on stage is playing something slow and sultry, the last strains of a love song cast out over the crowd as you step out together. You’re barely paying attention to what the song is, though, with Marcus’s hand tangled in yours and the notes morphing into something more upbeat. Less seductive but no less romantic. A very good combination for a second chance at a first dance.

Holding you close, Marcus soaks in the atmosphere and closes his eyes with a sigh. Everything is perfect, stars aligned in the skies, and he wants to live in this moment.

The Postmodern Jukebox-esque band on stage croons on, but your focus is entirely on Marcus. The way he cradles you close is near reverent and you keep close like you’re afraid he’ll disappear if you move away even a fraction of an inch.

The two of you had danced before. A lot of it had been the normal grinding on each other and used as foreplay. This was almost as intimate and twice as romantic. He turns and presses his lips to your temple and sighs softly. "I love you." He promises, lips near your ear.

“I love you.” Three words. Three tiny syllables. But enough meaning to shake you down to your very core. To feel like you’re being broken down and rebuilt every time he says it, and every time you say it back.

Marcus closes his eyes, resting his head against yours and keeps you swaying with him to the rhythm of the song. Lost in the little bubble of a world around just the two of you. Not even caring about anyone else on the dance floor.

It’s your own little world, being caught up in Marcus’s arms like this. No one else exists and the music playing all around you might just as easily have been the radio in the living room of your little apartment off campus where you liked to dance barefoot and squish your toes into the carpet. If you can manage to remember a single one of these songs beyond the rhythm of his beating heart, you’ll make sure you dance to every single one of them again when you marry him again.

Soon, the need for a drink, Tequila or water, makes him pull away and kiss you once more before guiding you off the floor. “We need a drink.” He murmurs when you give him a doe eyed pout.

“Okaaaay.” He’s on point, as always. You just hadn’t realized you were thirsty because you’re so wonderfully distracted. “Should we mix up something fun this time?”

“What do you have in mind?” Marcus asks, intrigued by your idea of fun now. Wanting to see what it consists of.

“Apparently the best kind of Dirty Shirley is one made with tequila.” Or so you had been told many times over, when Jacqui was trying to get you to dress-up your mocktail on nights you didn’t necessarily feel like drinking. “My friend swears by them.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those.” Marcus knows that after this drink, he will need to cut himself off or call an Uber. “Let’s try it.”

When you slip into the booth you pull Marcus after you, not wanting to be even a few feet away from him. The things on the tray in front of you are enticing, but not as enticing as he is, and the tequila will absolutely wait while you press your lips to his in the moody darkness of your private booth.

He’s surprised when you pull him to you. Not because kisses have been few and far between, but because of the urgency behind it. Slightly desperate and feeling like those early make out sessions when you first got together, Marcus crushes you against him with a moan.

Once, you absolutely would have climbed into his lap and completely blocked out the world. Right now there is something about the moment that feels invariably nostalgic and at the same time like you're clinging to the future. Each little sound that pours from one of you threatens to drown the other but it only makes you work harder, encouraged by the tight grip of his hands as he drags you close and the way your fingers bite into him to keep him pressed against you.

The whispering that is occurring to just the left side of the booth shouldn’t capture his attention. And it doesn’t, not when all he can focus on is the way your moan vibrates across your tongue to his. Not until there is a very pointed voice. “See? I told you he would choose this place after dinner.” Marcus’s eyes spring open and he freezes as the booth cushion depresses as someone slides into the bench seating. “Ohhh Tequila. I’d love a shot but we should get Teresa some water, huh?”

Fuck. Marcus cannot believe that Patrick fucking Jane is now interrupting his date with you.

You feel Marcus freeze against you before anything else registers, and a whine of protest is halfway past your lips when you open your eyes to see all the colour drain from his face. It’s another split second after that that you recognize another voice - and it takes everything you’ve got not to curse him out for interrupting. “You have got to be kidding me.” Mumbling under your breath, you try to rearrange your face into something less murderous before you turn around. “Well this is certainly a surprise,” you bite out, hoping you sound more surprised than angry.

For her part, Teresa is mortified. Half embarrassed at the way her husband is proving himself to the biggest asshole and half embarrassed that a man she used to sleep with was very enthusiastically making out with his ex-wife. “Patrick – let’s go!” She hisses, pulling on his arm before she throws you an apologetic look. “I am so sorry. I didn’t know he was – was— was—”

“Planning on crashing and ruining my plans with my wife?” Marcus fills in for her, finally able to speak again.

“Oo! Have we already gotten rid of the ex part of that title?” Patrick is already flagging down your waitress to request a bottle of water, acting like he’s crashed your book club instead of your foreplay.

“What are you doing here?”

“Patrick, let’s go.”

Marcus and Teresa speak at the same time, both of them sounding exasperated with the same man who is helping himself to the bottle of Don Julio on the table.

“He’s keeping tabs on us.” One of your eyebrows ticks up at Patrick Jane and dares him to say otherwise. To contradict you or play innocent. But this isn’t the first time you’ve met a man like Patrick Jane - and unfortunately it won’t be the last. “God forbid our reunion be more romantic or a better story than how he leapt onto the plane to bear his heart to the fair maiden and win her love away from the invader.” It would make you furious if it didn’t also make you feel sad for him. What a small, scared man he must be for that to be true. “Since he intended to gloat about his marriage and his growing family and can’t do that now that he found you happy, he had to think of a different way to feel superior.”

“That’s not—” Patrick frowns and shakes his head. “That’s not true. I—” He huffs. “I saw Marcus’s ideas written down in his office and it seemed like a good idea.” He admits. “Something better than sitting in the hotel room.”

“And you intentionally chose the one you thought was most likely to interrupt them?” Teresa sighs, shaking her head a little, but her fondness for her husband pushes through the annoyance and embarrassment. “This is his way of saying we should all go out together. By just putting us all in the same place.”

Marcus looks over at you, frustrated but wanting to see your thoughts on the situation before he says anything. Being cockblocked by your current boyfriend's ex-fiancée's husband wasn't exactly on your to-do list for today, but you take a deep breath to make sure you don't vent your frustration directly at Patrick Jane again after basically accusing him of narcissism to his face. "We were going to have one more drink and head home." You decide on a white lie, feeling that it's relatively harmless under the circumstances. "Why don't we have a round together and then you two can have the table?"

“That would be good.” Marcus jumps on the idea. “I’ve heard dancing is good for babies, so you should definitely take your wife out on the dance floor.” He smiles at Patrick like it’s a perfect solution.

“Of course.” Patrick Jane puts one hand to his chest like he’s offended that Marcus would ever doubt him.

“First I have to hunt down a bathroom.” Teresa looks embarrassed yet again, but shrugs. “The joys of pregnancy,” she laughs, rolling her eyes a little. “It’s in the back corner.” For as displeased you are that they’re here, you’re not going to fault a pregnant woman for having to pee. And honestly, you’re a lot pent up from nearly climbing Marcus like a tree on the dance floor…so it’s not a bad idea for you either. “Come on,” you offer, squeezing Marcus’s hand right before letting go. “I’ll go with you.”

Marcus waits until you are out of the booth, watching as you guide Teresa towards the bathrooms before he looks back over at Patrick. “Why are you really here?” He demands, pretense dropped and the beginnings of a scowl on his face.

“I find you utterly fascinating.” Jane deadpans, pouring himself a large amount of tequila lime along with lime juice and soda water. “Now that I don’t have to pry you away from Teresa, I am engrossed.”

“Why am I fascinating?” Marcus asks, completely bewildered by that answer. It had been the last thing he had expected to come out of Patrick Jane’s mouth. He waves off an offer of a shot of the tequila he’s paying for and watches as Patrick shrugs and lifts his own drink.

Jane leans back in the booth and smirks, raising the glass to his lips with a shrug. “A man as desperate to commit as you should have had this all worked out years ago. I always wondered why you were single when you obviously wanted so badly to be married.” In fact, the other men on the team in Austin had been sick of hearing about it. “But now I see why. It has to do with her.”

“I’m sure you’ve been in love at least once.” Marcus’s tone is just shy of snarky and he picks up his bottle of water. “The kind that never fades, no matter what.”

"I've been married twice." The other man reminds Marcus, frowning momentarily.

“Don’t have to love someone to marry them.” He retorts, scoffing slightly. His hard on is gone, the pleasant buzz he had is a thing of the past.

"Seems a shame to skip that part." Jane seems not to care about anything but his drink, watching the way it refracts the dim club lights in his glass. "You would never skip that part." He has to ask. To push the needle in just a little bit harder. "Would you, Marcus?"

“Are you asking if I loved your wife?” Marcus asks, stonily staring at Patrick. Wondering why the fuck does this have to be rehashed again. “And why does it matter? You are with her, like you should be. You’re having a baby, congratulations. Why does this matter now?”

"A curious man can never be satiated." With more enigmatic bullshit than sense coming out of his mouth, Patrick Jane seems particularly proud of himself and not inclined to make much sense.

Marcus’s sigh is half frustrated, half resigned. He reaches for the tequila bottle and uncorks it. “If I had been with Doctor Pike—” God, he loves saying that. “I wouldn’t have looked twice at Teresa, or any other woman. Ever.” He admits to Patrick. “She’s had a spell on me since the first time I saw her. And I’m the luckiest son of a bitch alive to have her back.”

“Funny.” A wry smile quirks to the corner of Patrick’s mouth. “That’s what she told Teresa about you.”

“What can we say?” Marcus shrugs slightly although his heart is bursting with pride that you were happy to have him back. “We love each other.”

“Yeah, we do.” You hum, appearing beside Marcus with a bright smile on your face. Teresa rounds your other side and slips back into the booth beside her husband while you nestle back in with Marcus. “Glad to see you two boys didn’t come to blows while we were gone.”

“I really think Marcus would like to punch me.” Patrick announces, looking hurt at the prospect. “But I’m going to be his best man when he remarries you.” He predicts, winking at you playfully.

“With no offense intended whatsoever,” you squeeze Marcus’s leg under the table to keep from bursting out laughing. “I don’t think the timing will probably allow for that. Unless you’re planning on moving to DC and this is how you’re telling us?”

“Oh God no.” Teresa manages quickly. “I think Marcus would transfer to the moon if Patrick were coming to D.C. permanently.”

Her husband huffs at her and shakes his head. “How little you trust me.” He gives her a wounded look. “And here I was trying to push them to do what he’s already dying to do.”

“We’ll remarry when we’re ready to.” You desperately need the cocktail you’re pouring for yourself, and you look to Marcus to see if he does, too.

“So you don’t know….” Patrick hums, smirking at Marcus. “Interesting.”

“You’re absolutely infuriating.” You tell Patrick flatly. He seems to thrive from pissing people off and at this point you’re trying very hard not to raise your voice. “Marc and I don’t owe you an explanation or a justification just because you’re morbidly curious about our relationship.”

“Don’t.” Marcus reaches over and takes your hand. “We don’t have to explain anything, and he likes poking. Just to see what he can get.”

“Maybe we should go home.” The defeat of having your first date invaded and the whole mood soured is starting to get to you, and making you doubt the whole thing. Like the universe is trying to tell you that just love isn’t enough.

“Please don’t.” Patrick urges you. “I would feel terrible.”

He should feel terrible, but you don’t say as much. “It’s up to you,” you murmur to Marcus, knowing that you’ll stay with him either way. If he wants to stay, you’ll stay.

“Baby, if you want to go home, we’ll go home.” He promises you, leaning in and brushing his nose against yours. “Do you want to go home?” He doesn’t want to push, but wherever you go, he’s going.

"I just want to be with you." The whisper is barely loud enough for him to hear because at this point you're convinced that Patrick Jane can read lips or has somehow planted a microphone on you. The night has been rudely hijacked but there is still time to get it back.

“That’s all I want too.” Marcus promises before he decides on what he wants to do. “Kiss me.” He demands softly, reaching up and grasping your chin.

Now that is a request that you will gladly agree to. It takes barely any effort to make it happen - just tilting your head backward and barely tipping your chin to press your lips firmly and eagerly to his. Your hand on his jaw just connects you a little bit more, focusing your energy entirely on him as you let yourself dissolve into the kiss.

Marcus ignores the sounds of approval from Patrick, focusing on the feeling of you, the way your lips melt against his. Forgetting in just a few seconds that they are even there. Whatever his endgame is here, you're not fighting it. The chance to give yourself over to the moment - to just have it be you and him with the rest of the world not mattering one single bit - is too good to pass up.

He’s not going to let Patrick ruin this, to take away from this amazing night that the two of you have shared. If it means making out in front of him and Teresa, so be it.

You don’t resist when Marcus deepens the kiss, sighing softly when he slides his tongue along the seam of your lips and letting him in instantly. All thought of the Janes has faded from your mind and the only thing left there is Marcus, leaving you in a perfect state of relaxation and bliss with your arms tight around each other.

He makes it soft and yet completely overwhelming, wanting to put the dreamy look back in your eyes. Choking your chin and tilting it up as he tangles his tongue with yours.

If not for air, you would never have stopped. If you could breathe in Marcus, you absolutely would. Unfortunately, the human body does require oxygen at a certain point, and you have to pull back even just for a moment. With your eyes still closed and your forehead pressed to his, you shiver a little in his arms.

Humming happily, Marcus just breathes you in. Unconcerned with what the two behind him are doing. “You want to dance again?” He murmurs softly.

All you can do for a second is nod, with your heart beating out of time in your chest and your blood pounding in your ears, you're just looking at Marcus like he hung the moon. "Yeah," you whisper when you remember how to speak. "Yeah, I do."

Marcus offers you a smile. One that says that he’s glad you said yes, because it was what he wanted. Not even bothering with the niceties of excusing the two of you - he hadn’t invited the Janes to this date after all - he stands and helps you out of the booth to guide you back to the dance floor.

The song doesn’t matter just like all the other people on the dance floor don’t matter, because the world may as well have ceased existing as long as you can still have Marcus here beside you. It makes you wonder - just days into this revived relationship - how you even managed the last twelve years without him. “Back in our own little world,” you hum softly, going to him like a magnet. There is nothing you want more than to be held in his arms.

“That’s what matters.” Marcus pulls you close and his arm around your waist keeps you anchored to him. “I’m sorry.” He murmurs quietly. “I was deciding what dancing venues would be best and had them written down. I guess he saw them when he got to the office today.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” The man who should apologize has probably never done so sincerely in his entire life. “Think of Patrick Jane as a test for the most annoying parts of having a child without any of the positive moments,” you joke, knowing what some of your friends and coworkers have said about their own kids. “If we can take the interruptions with grace now, we’ll be fine when it’s tiny people we love.”

“Tiny people we love.” Marcus instantly gets soft at the idea of mini yous running around and wrapping him around their fingers. “I like that idea.”

“So sometimes we’ll be interrupted.” You both hold each other a little tighter, melting into the idea. “That’s okay.”

“Hmmmm.” Marcus leans in and kissing you softly. The idea of kids is always something he’s loved but with you it’s extra special. The rekindling desires he had harbored when he was newly married to you.

“Love you, baby.” The soft murmur against his lips is more honest than anything else in the world right now, and you wrap one arm around his shoulders to keep close. “So much.”

The music is soft and slow, allowing the two of you to slowly sway side to side without actually moving your feet. Marcus is aware when Patrick and Teresa come onto the floor to join the two of you but he doesn’t even look over, too busy looking into your eyes.

“Think this band does weddings?” You can’t help the thought, imagining dancing to this same music in a hotel or vineyard somewhere. Something more mature and artistic than the wedding his gracious parents had thrown for you as literal children.

“I’m sure they do.” Marcus smiles, closing his eyes and sighing softly. “It would be nice. Although now you know we have to have a Tequila bar at the reception.”

“I was thinking tequila-based signature cocktail.” You admit with a grin. The thought had occurred to you this morning at brunch and made you smile. “Maybe both. Whatever we want.”

“You’re already planning our next wedding?” His grin matches yours and stretches a little wider. “I think I like that.”

“I’ve dreamed up a million different ways it could go.” Over the years it became the daydream that both haunted and uplifted you. Wondering if the day would ever come. Now that it’s within reach it feels like it’s lighting you up from the inside. “I want it to be perfect for you.”

“Baby.” Marcus shakes his head and leans in to kiss you again. “Only thing I need for it to be perfect is for you to be walking towards me again.”

“I promise.” Tomorrow on your lunch break you’re going to go and do a little shopping, you decide as you press your lips to Marcus’s. For something he would never expect in a million years. Something he deserves more than anything.

“Mmmmm.” He loves when you kiss him. He always has, reaffirming that men need to feel special as well. It makes him smile against your lips happily.

“This band. Tequila bar. Chocolate cake with fruit. I’m cataloguing it all away.” You promise him softly. “It will be perfect.”

“Now, the most important thing.” Marcus teases. “Where do we want to honeymoon?” The last time you got married, it had just been a weekend in a hotel but he wants to take you anywhere you want to go.

“This is a much harder question,” You laugh, still swaying with him even when the music picks up. “It could be somewhere neither of us has ever been before? Or we could go two places and share our favorite places with each other?”

“Honestly…” Marcus blushes slightly and gives a small shrug. “I’ve always imagined Paris with you.” He knows you have been, you lived there for awhile, but he wouldn’t mind going back. “But we don’t have to.” He adds quickly, not wanting you to mired in guilt.

“I can show you everywhere I wanted to share with you while I was living there.” Your tone goes dreamy, soft and full of warmth. You had dreamed so many times of showing him your favorite places - the chance to actually do it in real life sounds perfect. “And we can do new things, obviously. But I…I would love to share Paris with you.”

“Then that’s where we should go. Experience it together.” He sighs softly, imagining it with almost movie like clarity in his head.

“Perfect.” And if you happen to come back with one of those tiny people who you love on the way? You’ll just have to hunt down a Fabriqué à Paris onesie.

“So now that we’ve planned most of it out, we’re all set.” He knows these are vague fantasies, but they are helping him get more comfortable with wanting it with you. There’s no panic there for you, he’s gotten better at reading you with his FBI training.

“Oh yeah, planning a DC wedding is no sweat.” You practically snort, knowing how much work Angela and Harry’s wedding took to get right. You had never realized until then just how much of the work his mother had done for you.

“Honey, we plan what we want and hit we want.” Marcus winks at you. “And we can afford a wedding planner.”

“How very fancy of us.” You can’t help but giggle a little, knowing that you used to think vaguely of having a vow renewal fifteen or twenty years in the future. If you had only known then. “We’ll have to dream up just the right place, then. Some places have planners assigned to couples when you book them.”

“Wherever you want.” Marcus is easy in the venues and to be honest, doesn’t know D.C. like you do. “The people there are what matters to me.”

“I could get us a deal on a Smithsonian wedding.” You waggle your eyebrows at him, not above Throwing your seniority around to make sure your second wedding is unforgettably beautiful. “If you wanted to. It’s just an idea.”

“Is that what you would want?” Marcus asks seriously, intrigued by the idea. He’s never heard of a Smithsonian wedding, but it seems like it would be amazing.

“I’ve definitely thought about it before. A lot, actually.” Always him. Always wondering how many new friends would be added to the old ones and how many of your combined family members would be crowing ‘I told you so’. “Maybe we can make date nights out of visiting the galleries they rent out and seeing if we like any of them for us?”

“Whenever you want.” He agrees easily, nodding at the idea and looking forward to another date night. “I’ll let you arrange it so Patrick doesn’t find out.” He snickers quietly.

“We’ll leave a list of decoy ideas.” You laugh right along with him, smothering the spine but not the way your body shakes. “Send then to some very odd places.”

“Ohhh please tell me you have the address of a sex club or something.” Marcus begs quietly. “Something discreet so he doesn’t know until he gets inside.”

“I was thinking of the address for the Department of Sanitation or something.” But you burst out laughing, holding Marcus close as you shake with it. “I’ll have to see if Angie has had to do any interesting recon for a case that’s past. She might have something fun for us.”

“I like the way you think.” He chuckles with you, happy that the night had returned to being about the two of you and no one else. This is what he wanted.

“Anything for you.” Especially if it’s something to make him smile. Living without that smile for twelve years has only proven to you how precious it is to have back again.

Marcus might be the luckiest man in the face of the planet. “Let’s go home, baby.” He murmurs softly, ready to strip you down and make love to you.

"Absolutely." Home. With him. It's the exact place you want to be.

Marcus grins and glances over where Patrick and Teresa are dancing. “Let’s go.” He motions over to the coat check and bypasses the table where you had been sitting.

It almost feels naughty, to just skip right out on things, but you cling to Marcus's hand as he leads you to the door and passes off his valet ticket to the girl waiting by the door, but the only damn thing in the world is that smile on his face. When his car is pulled up to the curb you slide into the passenger's side and sit back in the leather seats with a sigh.

“He deserves it.” Marcus offers with a slight shrug if his shoulders and a slightly malicious grin as he throws the car into drive. Patrick will foot the bill, which is the least he can do for crashing your date.

"Let's go home, baby." His words were the perfect choice, and you giggle softly as he heads back through the winding streets of DC.

Home. He loves the fact that you think of it as home already. “Maybe- what do you think about spending all week at the house and then next week we can stay at the apartment?” He offers, not wanting to just make you stay at his place all the time if you want to be in your own space.

"You can see if you like any of my furniture better than yours." The grin you flash him while he's driving is excited and nothing less. "But I don't think it will take long for us to be spending our time at the house."

“As long as that’s what you want.” Marcus murmurs with a matching smile.

"I do." The word choice makes you fluster, like saying those specific words to him as a full sentence again is some sort of spell. "I mean, it is."

“Nah….” Marcus reaches over and takes your hand, pulling your hand up to kiss it. “I like your first answer.” He hums.

------ Master Tags: @pixiedurango @chattychell @winter-fox-queen @lady-himbo @artsymaddie @princess76179 @paintballkid711 @missminkylove @pedrosbrat @ew-erin @sarahjkl82-blog @sharkbait77 @justanotherblonde23 @lv7867 @recklesswit @mylittlesenaar @f0rever15elf @gallowsjoker @steeevienicks @athalien @sherala007 @skvatnavle @thatpinkshirt @jaime1110 @girlimjusttryingtoreadfanfics @goodgriefitsawildworld @greeneyedblondie44 @katheriner1999 @littlemousedroid @harriedandharassed @churchill356 @ajathegreats-blog @hardc0rehaylz @beardsanddetectives @kirsteng42 @ladykatakuri @adancedivasmom @madiebear @tanzthompson @emilianamason @bigsdinger @xocalliexo @pedr0swh0r3 @avaleineandafryingpan @charlyrmv @avidreader73

tCIGtDYE: @missmarmaladeth  @afro-hispwriter  @rosmarinus @mythrielofsolitude @jxvipike @avaleineandafryingpan @hnt-escape @supernaturalgirl20 @scorpio-marionette @bobafvcker @midnightevermore @dinoflower   @pearl-aqua-tears @itsbaehyungbitch   @pepperminticedcoffee @anticipayosbot @girlofchaos @speedynana @loveslide @noisynaia @just-here-for-the-moment @goodgriefitsawildworld @curiouskeyboard @iarellanouus @mymistery09-blog @seasonschange-butpeopledont @thenightdreamsballad @pondsofravenclaw  @sherlock221b114679797 @pimmyxyone @theredwritingwitch @ghostinhours @timpletance @strawberryjamcheesecake @amb11 @a-little-shade-of-kiki @wildemaven @tuquoquebrute @supernaturalgirl @ellenmunn @iceclaw101 @toxicfrankenstein @catsandgeekyandnerd @missmarmaladeth   @theincredibleinkspitter @agiroflee98 @lyonessofnarnia @we-could-have-been @totostits @scorpio-marionette @kikis-writing-world @trappistmonksofthefuture @danichz  @88dragon06  @scorpionerd @myrealmofchaos @movievillainess721 @firekissed13 @qseomik @acollectionofcells1 @captain-of-my-game1992 @alician87 @lovesbiggerthanpride @justgonewild @hiyorinatsuki   @pinkrosethorne @apocalypticwafflekitten @groovycass @rebel-fanfare    @d0cthunder @gooddaykate @purplerain04 @astridflowers @frasmotic @dornish-queen​

My Masterlist!  

#Pedro Pascal #pedro pascal character fanfiction #Pedro Pascal fanfic #Marcus Pike #Marcus Pike x reader #Marcus Pike x you #Marcus Pike x female reader #Agent Marcus Pike #The Mentalist #Mentalist fanfic #ex wife reader

[foundry-fabrications]

System Spotlight: Ironsworn

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first ever System Spotlight! Before we begin, let me explain a little about what this is and what to expect.

This is a series I've wanted to do for a while where I talk about RPGs other than D&D, their mechanics, and my overall thoughts on them. There are thousands of wonderful RPGs out there and I want to shine a spotlight on some of the ones I feel could use more love or just give my two cents on ones that are already popular.

This won't be a regular weekly series or anything like that, but I do want to write these so there's less of a gap between content posts. I also want to use them as a sort of primer/101 for future projects made for those systems. I'm known for 5th edition and it's likely the system you fine folk are most familiar with so I want to give you the basics of whatever system I'm working with so the associated project makes some sense. And hey, if even one of you takes in interest in a game I talk about then that's a win in my book.

I would also like to preface that I have not actually played every game I will be talking about in this series, though I have read about them and gone through whatever core rules they have at the very least. I will state whether or not I have played in each post for transparency and so you can judge my opinions accordingly.

Anyway, that's enough preamble, let's Undertake a Journey and talk about Ironsworn!

Are you the Forever GM and never get to play? Are you in-between games or groups and want something to scratch that RPG itch? Perhaps you want to try GMing your own game but don't want the pressure of other players. You're not alone! Turns out there is a huge community for the solo play of RPGs and I am fascinated by it. People have been finding ways to play RPGs by themselves for years and there are lots of tools to let people do just that (I'll get to those at some point), but recently there has been a certain game that has become very popular that is built for just such a method of play.

Created by the wonderful Shawn Tomkin, Ironsworn is game built from the ground up to be solo or co-op and entirely GMless, though you can play traditionally if you wish. It's based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system and is more narrative than mechanics focused unlike a lot of other RPGs, especially games like D&D. Basically, the mechanics are designed to be in service of the story. Speaking of mechanics, let's talk about ‘em!

Dice

Starting with dice, Ironsworn uses a d6 and two d10s for everything. The d6 is your Action Die and acts like a d20 in other systems. The two d10s are your Challenge Dice, which set the difficulty of whatever it is you're trying to roll for.

When you roll to do something, you roll the d6 and d10s together adding your relevant stat and any bonuses you have to the d6. If your action die is over both challenge dice, you get a Strong Hit. If it's only over one of the challenge dice, it's a Weak Hit. But if it's under both of the challenge dice then it's a Miss. Now, if both of the challenge dice are the same, you either have a Strong Hit or Miss with a Match. Matches are like crits in other games, making your Strong Hit or Miss way better or way worse for you.

Moves

So how do you actually do stuff? Like most PbtA games, you make Moves, each with their own mechanics that tell you how to resolve them. For example, let's look at a common move: Gather Information.

For this example, we roll our dice and get a 3 on the Action Die and a 4 and an 8 on the Challenge Dice. We'll say our character has a 2 for Wits and no other bonuses, bringing our Action Die total to 5. This would be a Weak Hit, revealing some troubling information and giving us +1 Momentum (we'll get to momentum in a bit). Pretty simple, right? Whatever you want to do, there's a move for it.

Momentum

Now, about momentum. Momentum is a really cool mechanic that gives you some much needed control over your dice when you really need it. Most moves give you momentum when you succeed, up to a max of 10. When you roll, you can burn your momentum to cancel out any challenge die that is less than your momentum, letting you turn a Miss into a Weak Hit or a Weak Hit into a Strong Hit. Your momentum then gets reset back down to 2 so you always have a little.

Characters

Ok, let's talk character creation! Characters in Ironsworn have 5 stats: Edge, Heart, Iron, Shadow, and Wits. Edge is your quickness and is for ranged combat; Heart is your courage and charisma; Iron is your strength, constitution, and is for melee combat; Shadow is your sneakiness and cunning; Wits is your intelligence and wisdom. You set your stats with a stat array, putting one number for each stat: 3, 2, 2, 1, 1. They even have alternate arrays with higher and lower numbers to make the game easier or harder, which is cool. Your stats will never change during a game so be sure to choose wisely.

Health, Spirit, and Supply

Characters have 3 meters to represent their status: Health, Spirit, and Supply. They each start at 5 and can be increased or decreased by failing moves or taking damage. Health and Spirit are pretty self explanatory, representing your overall physical health and stress levels. Supply is a little different. You don't have equipment, money, or resources in Ironsworn so Supply is used as an abstract representation of how prepared you are during your adventures.

Assets

Now it's time to pick your assets. Assets represent your skills and traits, giving you bonuses to certain things and letting you make new moves. There are 4 asset types: Companions, Paths, Combat Talents, and Rituals. Companions are pretty self explanatory. Paths are your background, skills, and training. Combat Talents let you do special moves with whatever weapon you wield. Finally, Rituals are how you perform big magic in the world of Ironsworn. You get any 3 assets of your choice when you create your character and you can get more through character progression. Assets can also be upgraded, unlocking new abilities and benefits.

Iron Vows

So how does character progression work? In Ironsworn, you earn experience by completing quests, or Vows as they're called. When you take on a quest, you literally swear on iron that you will do whatever it is you set out to do, hence the name of the game. But should you forsake your vow, there are consequences. You always start a game with a background vow, which is basically your personal quest and what drives your character, and an immediate vow to get the story going.

Once you complete a vow, you get experience based on how dangerous it was. Experience can be spent on upgrading your assets or buying entirely new ones.

Combat in Ironsworn

So how does combat work in Ironsworn? Well, a bit like everything else, using moves and with a greater focus on the narrative instead of the nitty gritty details. To be honest, I still have trouble wrapping my head around combat coming from a background of the crunchy, tactical style combat of D&D.

Basically, when you enter combat you Enter the Fray and roll to see who is in control of the situation. Whether or not you are in control determines what moves you can make. Rolling well means you gain or maintain control and you can mark progress towards ending the encounter and claiming victory, whatever that looks like for you. I know my explanation is probably woefully inept at best, so I encourage you to check out Matt Risby’s explanation and example. He does a much better job than I ever could.

The Oracles

Now that you have your version of the Ironlands, you need people, places, and things to populate it with. For that, we turn the the Oracle tables. The oracles are d100 tables filed with words and descriptors to help you flesh out your world and spark inspiration when you're not sure what to do next. There is even a dedicated move called Ask the Oracle, which many other moves reference to help you out if you're not sure what their results might mean for your character.

But what if you need to generate something? For example, say we just entered a new settlement and we want see what it's like and what might be going on there. For that, we turn to the Settlement Oracle tables. We roll a 45 so our settlement is named after a creature. Then we roll and 97, giving us the name Dragonshadow. Now let's see what's going on in Dragonshadow. We roll a 65, giving us “families in conflict”. Squabbling nobles perhaps? But I think you get the idea. There's 19 oracles in Ironsworn and you're even encouraged to make your own.

The Ironlands

Now that the basics are out of the way, where are we? Welcome to the Ironlands! The Ironlands are a low fantasy, low magic, viking-esque setting that honestly reminds me a lot of Westeros from Game of Thrones. It's a harsh, unforgiving land that has made it's people tough and hearty, people who have already dealt with great hardship after a cataclysm drove them from their homeland, or The Old World.

But the best part is that the Ironlands are yours to create. Alongside character creation you create your own version of the Ironlands based on a series of prompts. The basics remain the same as above but the details are up to you. You determine what drove the Ironlanders from their home, how society works, are there monsters or magic, what horror lurk in the dark, and so much more. And if you don't like one of the prompts, change it! Make up whatever you want, it's your world!

Hacks (or Homebrew)

But what if you aren't a fan of the Ironlands period? Perhaps you want something a little more fantastical or even high tech? Then hack it! There's an entire section in the game that encourages you to rework the game to suit whatever needs you have. Don't like the setting? Make up a new one! Want new equipment or backgrounds? Rename the existing assets or make new ones! Don't want to do the work yourself? There are dozens of hacks and hundreds of custom assets created by the community, most of which are free! Whatever flavor you want Ironsworn to be, it can be with a little tweaking.

Ironsworn: Starforged

Now I can't talk about Ironsworn without talking about it's sister game, Starforged. Starforged is a new version of the game with updated and expanded rules in a new sci-fi setting known as the Forge. All the basics are still there with only minor changes so if you've played one you can jump right into the other without much issue. Everything I've said before goes for Starforged as well so if fantasy isn't your bag maybe give it a go instead!

My Thoughts

I'll just come right out and say it, I fucking love Ironsworn. But sadly I've yet to actually sit down and start a game to experience it for myself, which is honestly a crime. It's completely changed my perspective of what an RPG can be and has really opened my eyes to the incredibly wide world of solo play, which I will be delving into further. I have nothing but nice things to say about the game, its creator Shawn, and its incredible community.

To get into specifics, the biggest thing I love is the simplicity of Ironsworn as a system and how easy it is to expand on it. The fact that you're actively encouraged to customize it is amazing too. The layout of the book is clean, simple, and explains things very well. It even includes examples of play. I love momentum as a mechanic, I think it's a brilliant way help keep the story moving and I would love to try and come up with something like it for other systems. And while low fantasy isn't my bag, I can appreciate it for what it is and I can always customize it to suit my tastes.

But the best part about Ironsworn is its completely free! You can download everything you need to play on the website at https://www.ironswornrpg.com/. Starforged on the other hand is paid, which you can get a pdf of on DriveThruRPG for 20 bucks, which is more than reasonable in my opinion. But should you get a physical copy, you get a pdf for free!

If you're not sold on the game just yet, or just want to see it in action, I highly encourage you to check out Me, Myself, and Die Season 2 (season 1 not required), The Bad Spot podcast, and Errant Adventures podcast. MM&D S2 is just Ironsworn while both The Bad Spot and Errant Adventures do both Ironsworn and Starforged. All of them are fantastic live play shows that are well worth your time in my humble opinion.

If you're still with me, thanks for listening to me ramble about a game I love for a bit. I know it's different than my usual content but different is good and I've wanted to do this for a long time so I appreciate you sticking around while I experiment. Let me know what y'all think, about this as a thing I do now, if you're familiar with Ironsworn, and what other games you'd like me to look at. I have one hell of a list already but I bet y'all have some gems I don't know about and it will help me gauge interest. Anyway, that's all for now. As always, stay safe, don't forget to love each other, and I'll see you again soon.

#ironsworn #starforged #powered by the apocalypse #pbta #shawn tomkin #me myself and die #the bad spot #errant adventures #system spotlight #tabletop #Tabletop Games #Tabletop RPG #tabletop roleplaying #ttrpg

[utilitycaster]

Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is the importance that mechanics and external factors have in understanding actual play, but how it's also really important to understand that the instant one leaves actual play as a medium, even if you are adapting the same story, you need to leave that behind.

I think the easiest example would be Scanlan's 9th level Counterspell. In the context of D&D 5e, we understand the following simply from the word "Nine": it is his highest spell slot; he only has one per day; and he has just expended an incredibly valuable and powerful resource that means he cannot use any spells that require it.

In an eventual adaptation, however, this is meaningless. That doesn't mean you can't depict something with a similar emotional weight and meaning; it's just that it will need to be portrayed differently (perhaps as an expendable scroll). The idea of "this is both very necessary to do and very powerful, and also is an immense trade-off" is what's important but the mechanics of it will necessarily fall away when you're no longer bound by mechanics. If you're adapting actual play or writing fic about it? You do need to have some degree of treating magic as a limited resource per day and staying true to broad abilities, but the idea of spell slots is "how can we provide limits to this storytelling system so that it is also a fun game" and the idea is that if you are looking at the story, and not the game, no one is saying "I have no more spell slots"; they're saying "I'm drained and need to rest before I can do more magic other than the most basic things."

(Note - this is fine in-game though. Like, yeah, ideally, no one would shout INSIGHT CHECK and would instead bring it up narratively but also...this is a dumb hill to die on, and I will die on a lot of hills. It is in fact fine while playing the game to acknowledge that you have spell slots and would like to make an investigation check instead of saying "I can do...some magic but not a lot, and I look more closely at the carvings on the wall.")

I think what also trips people up is that DMs in combat are limited by the rules of combat, but outside of combat, they really aren't. To give an example here, Ludinus casts a spell on Kadija that isn't clearly Feeblemind - she clearly has been reverted to the mindset of a young child or similar, but mechanically doesn't act as though she is INT 1, CHA 1. It has similar vibes but isn't quite the same.

This is totally fine and only the most stick-up-their ass pedant would fuss about it. It's a homebrew spell. It's a magical effect for a monster stat block. It is completely okay that it's not exactly a match for a spell that exists. The point is that it fits the broad logic of how magical effects work in the world (a targeted save that she fails; curable) and furthers the story. (Another example is Caleb's backstory re: Vergesson, or Veth being turned into a goblin; ultimately, it doesn't matter exactly what happened as long as we get the gist, because they both fit into, for lack of a better term, the vibe of the magic).

One last related thing is that metagaming in the sense of like, actively trying to twist the scenario to your advantage based on information you as a player know and your character would not is bad (eg: if you know a certain monster is vulnerable to a certain damage type but your character has never encountered it, and you use something extremely atypical for you to leverage this? not great); but I also think fear of metagaming kind of goes too far at times, and stepping back and remembering this is a narrative and not just a rule set helps here. To give an example here: Fearne and FCG hadn't met Caleb and Beau, but as eventually was actually discussed at the table, they still do know that Ludinus and Otohan = bad guys and so it's valid to say "hmmm, freeing their prisoners is like, not a bad idea if only for the chaos." Your character might not know the characters in-game, and they certainly don't know them out of game, but I think a lot of people overcorrect and you don't need to.

This is tbh another case in which I would recommend D&D Court from NADDPod, because they do handle a lot of metagaming-related cases where people are getting far too obsessive. The fact is there is a lot of metagaming happening anyway. If your players seem upset you stop even if the characters wouldn't likely be upset. The famous Sam Smorkel joke works specifically because, on some level, no normal person would speak to Sam Smorkel first, and your players are doing it because they have medium awareness. Metagaming is constant, perfect immersion is rare, and keep an eye out for it but usually metagaming that does cross the line is pretty egregious and the rest is overly concerned.

#long post #cr tag #i also have a separate thought on like. external factors a la ashley being absent and such #but honestly that shit isn't d&d specific and on some level when people are like SEEMS LIKE A COINCIDENCE #It's like. yes this is how fiction works. there are premises on which it rests that might seem far-fetched. can you understand this.

[stuffingprize]

Why ship Agon & Yoichi? Welcome to the 2nd portion of my long AgoHiru meta post!! I ended up having to break it into 3 parts because of the sheer amount of images. If you missed Part 1, please go HERE.

~~Part 2~~

TWO YEARS LATER - Agon doesn’t care about football.. except when he does

Agon is considered such a high-value player that scouts from University teams & Sports writers come see him play. Unfortunately for them, Agon doesn't actually enjoy football enough nor deems his participation important enough to play full time or train. And yet, when it comes to Yoichi’s new High School team, Agon makes exceptions.

During Sena’s first Deimon vs Ojo match, Agon makes surprising appearance. And he's not only keeping tabs on Yoichi, but also on any interesting newcomers to the team:

Checking out Mamori, downplaying Sena, insulting Yoichi.. tsk tsk

Remember how Agon insults Sena along with Ryokan during Riko’s interview? From the moment Yoichi’s football team begins to boast a new star, Sena becomes Agon’s new target of ire. Sena who, like Ryokan, lacks in areas Agon can excel. Sena who is currently Yoichi’s trump card.. the position that should be Agon’s.

Sena has no power, but his speed gives Deimon a chance at the Christmas Bowl, & Agon can’t stand that. Because at the end of it all, I think his issue isn’t the fact that Yoichi plays football, it’s the fact that he continues to choose his less talented friends to accomplish his goal instead of the "once in a century genius athlete" that is Agon.

For all his talk about playing football to crush those without talent, nothing personally motivates Agon more than playing for the sole purpose of ruining the dream Yoichi has with his friends..

An answer that evokes an image too similar to the one Agon saw the day he decided to join Shinryuji.. Even Riko can tell this topic spells a land mine, oof

Yoichi influences Agon: +2 points! (Agon hates Yoichi’s friends, specifically Ryokan & Sena.)

~

DEIMON VS SHINRYUJI - Dethroning the Gods

When the chance to play against Deimon finally arrives, Agon, of course, decides to play the game in full, much to the surprise of his teammates. And he quickly escalates to participating in ALL ASPECTS due to Yoichi's continued provocations:

When he finally faces off against Yoichi himself, Agon chops him down the same way he does everyone. But once Yoichi gets a hold of his leg, Agon smashes him to the ground so hard, the demon bleeds!

Such strong aggression.. like some seriously pent up UST

And five minutes after contact, Agon still can’t stop thinking about it hmmmmm

As the match goes on, Agon reluctantly begins to accept Sena as a formidable player, but nonetheless he continues to keep an eye on Yoichi, often bringing up his history with him to assess the potential of Deimon’s plays.

Despite not speaking to each other for two years & the fact that they mostly only hung out for blackmail, Agon knows quite a lot about Yoichi’s stats & play style.

Deimon's match against Shinryuji is SUPER DELIGHTFUL to me for several reasons, especially because:

We got a story of origins: how the Maou trio ended up in Deimon

The Shinryuji Nagas have been set up since vol 6 as the Best Team in all of Kanto, with 9 consecutive championships won

Agon is presented as a personal villain to the our protagonists, which makes winning against his team all the more sweeter

Yukimisu debuts!

It’s the only game where every touchdown was done by a different character

Agon, the once-in-a-century genius had the malicious intent in proving to Yoichi that his team was made up of losers. But he instead ends up getting owned by a variety of Deimon's players, even those who had never before touched the ball in an official match!

By the end of the game, guess what Agon thinks about?

His conversation with Yoichi, and the two players he bashed the most. The end result of this match crushes him so badly that he decides to do the previously unimaginable: to TRAIN.

Yoichi influences Agon: +3 points! (Agon plays a full match. Agon tastes defeat. Agon decides to train!)

And so.. after being bested by Sena, Monta, Ryokan, Katsuki, Manabu & Yoichi Deimon, Agon begins to take the sport seriously, fully intent in seeking another rematch. Another chance to once again prove he’s the best player & that Yoichi should've chosen him.

Oops.. Except that Deimon’s third years don’t get to participate in sports.

See, training soon proves to not be enough for Agon. Not only does Agon keep a close watch on Deimon's next matches, he even goes so far as to try out for Teikoku High after Deimon secures their ticket to their long-coveted Christmals Bowl. Because Agon doesn’t want to wait a whole year for a rematch. 

Maybe it's just drama to up the stakes, but taking his history with Yoichi & his tremendous grudge against Yoichi's friends into account, I posit he did it because he knew Deimon’s third years don’t get to play sports. Defeating Deimon without facing Yoichi would feel pretty pointless after all!

A year ago, Agon turned down Teikoku because of how committed he was to staying at Shinryuji specifically but decides to transfer once that wasn’t enough to ruin the dreams Yoichi build with his friends

In any case, Agon goes to watch Deimon vs Ojo in person once again, as well as the Christmas Bowl. As for the Hakushuu match, he only watches it through TV (maybe he couldn't watch Yoichi get crushed in person)

Yoichi influences Agon: +2 points! (Agon tries to get into Teikoku. Agon gets increasingly more invested in football)

→Continue to Part 3→

What’s it like when they finally play on the same team? Where do they go from there? And other bonus topics!

#es21 #eyeshield 21 #yoichi hiruma #agon kongo #agohiru #yoiago #osu post

[conntingency]

hey friends, i'm kay! i'm excited to write with everyone here. i have the bae canon - bae jiyul, gremlin of the forest. i've got some info under the cut about him if you want a quick read type of situation. though you can check out his profile + about page for additional info as well. hit me with a like if you want to plot (prob on discord is easier?? bc of the shadowbanning,,,,) and we can think up something fun. 😎

his family is in relatively good standing within the town, but he's kind of the black sheep and largely off-putting. he was born pretty late compared to his brother and was absolutely not planned.

didn't really help himself out by being like, one of those sickly runt children. he has asthma, will Usually have his inhaler on him. was kind of a weird kid too, he probably bit people in kindergarten.

considered himself Incredibly close to jeongbin, and considering he wasn't that level of close with a lot of people his death hit him hard (even if he wasn't actually the best of people/friends). instead of drifting away from the woods, he just became obsessed with it. spends a lot of time out there drawing and wandering around hoping to re-find the cabin or the weird rumor-ghost of jeongbin.

he does have like Constant nightmares though. his sleep schedule is whack. he's a freelance graphic designer so it mostly works out schedule wise even if he doesn't make a lot of money doing it.

if he were a dnd character he would have a negative 3 charisma stat. just not great at coming across as confident and put together and the opposite of weird. he also gets attached Way too easily if you let him. he's like one of those people that decide they're your best friend after you hang out at the bar together once. like bro, chill.

bad at regulating emotions in general. tends to kind of swallow everything down until it eventually bubbles up in something large that likely doesn't match the situation.

also not great with boundaries!!!! we could all see it coming.

his family is pretty religious and he used to be but isn't so much anymore. his parents aren't please about it, but let's be real here, they aren't pleased about most of his life choices, so does it matter?

kind of a mess and largely ambition-less. he kinds of just...does what he wants at any given moment. isn't really focused about getting a better job or bettering himself or creating a good reputation in the town. he mostly just cares about the woods and gets kinda anxious if he's away from it for too long (why he moved back, even though his stint away at a university was a better time for him socially tbqh).

okay yeah i think that's kind of the highlight reel along with the linked pages!! i'm open to plotting with everyone. ik he's a weird lil pariah type so no worries if you want a hate plot, i love them as well. and i'm forever looking for someone to punch him in the face (it would be funny, don't pretend it wouldn't be funny).

#index / ooc #eldrtch:int

[quartings]

My Big Pokémon Gen 10 Theory:

I've seen tons of speculation on what region future Pokemon games may be in, or what new flashy battle gimmick they'll have. And since I haven't heard anyone propose this theory , I thought I'd post it here for future reference!

TLDR: The Gen 10 Special Feature will involve getting rid of the turn-based battle system entirely and having manually-controlled Pokemon in real-time battles!

Why do I think so? Because they've been slowly testing it out over the last few years.

Legends Arceus introduced Strong and Agile styles, which allow Pokemon to attack multiple times in a row, breaking from the standard back-and-forth turn order already. Despite this, battles weren't in real-time in this game- enemies would still wait for you to input your attack before the rest of the battle proceeded.

But you know what IS in real time? Tera Raids in Scarlet and Violet. While internally the game still registers "turns" in these raids, if you don't input your attack in time during these raids, you can still easily miss out on attacking for a turn, while everyone else is still in the heat of battle.

Another minor but important change for this theory is battles now taking place in the actual overworld instead of a small arena that matches the environment. Allowing you to move around during the battle (Legends Arceus) or at least move the camera around freely (Scarlet & Violet).

And now with The Indigo Disk, they've introduced a new mechanic called "Synchro", that allows you to manually control your Pokemon and move it around, something that we know more from games like Pokepark and Mystery Dungeon. This I believe, is the second-last piece of the puzzle. Preparing us for the eventual game where rather than standing around clicking orders to our Pokemon once per turn, we'll instead manually control our Pokemon to move around, attack at any rate, and dodge enemy attacks just like in the anime! (I am a touch sad that this feature was introduced in the same games Ash Greninja got scrapped, but hey...)

But what is the final piece of this puzzle, you may ask? I believe it's figuring out what to do with the Speed and Accuracy stats. For the last 26+ years of Pokemon, the Speed stat decides who attacks first in a turn. But if turns are gone, then what now?

Maybe instead, Speed will now decide the actual movement speed of your Pokemon as they dash around the battle? A Regieleki would be able to become an actual blur of lightning, while a Shuckle would be practically immobile.

Or to make things simpler, Speed could maybe determine the attack rate of your Pokemon. An Electrode could maybe fire off 10 Thunderbolts in 5 seconds, while a Pincurchin might only be able to fire 2 Thunderbolts in that time?

Meanwhile, accuracy could tie into the literal accuracy of your moves. Moves like Magical Leaf could lock on to your enemies from across the map, while a Focus Blast could just fly off the map in the opposite direction you aimed it.

Or if they didn't want to go too overboard with this system, they could also just add a "charge time" setting to attacks. Where moves like Scratch can be spammed as much as you can tap the A Button, while moves like Solarbeam could take a solid 5 seconds or so to charge and fire.

But yeah, this is my big theory for the future of Pokemon! Let me know what you think, or if I missed any details! I can't wait to come back to this post in 3+ years when Gen 10 actually introduces "ZetaStretching" instead, where all Pokemon become oblong and all their moves become OKHO moves, haha.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #generation 10 #the indigo disk #theory #q speaks

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1147: Start of a New Vacation (SSBU X Wario Ware)

11:34 a.m. on Diamond City's La Glorious Cruise Boat........

Penny: WHAT!?

9-Volt: (Crosses his Arms) Yeah, you heard me.

Penny: (Glaring Down at 9-Volt with her Hands on Both her Hips) What I'm hearing is a heavy amount of bias and hoohaahs! What the heck makes you think Goku would stand chance against Saitama in an on-one-on match!?

9-Volt: Years of challenging, disciplinary training experience, incredibly durability and speed stats, has multi powerful techniques in his disposal, the guy even faced plenty of monsters, planet busters and literal GODS in the runtime of the series! He's easily one of the strongest fighters in the entire universe!

Penny: Strongest my foot! He's not even the Top 10 strongest in his own series! Need I remind you the time he lost to an ACTUAL god once? And some of the wins we DID achieved were thanks to pure luck and close clutches!

9-Volt: (Starts Glaring Back at Penny) At least he gave it his all in those fights! I don't see Baldy-McTwo Fists out there fighting any 9f the foes I just mentioned!

Penny: On the contrary, Point Dexter, not only has Saitama faced plenty of monsters, supernatural beings, and other heroes with planet busting feats, but he also managed to blow up Jupiter into figurines with just one sneeze.

9-Volt: No way he can do thar when Goku could easily do that with a single Kamehame wave!

Penny: Yeah, well look it up, genius! It's a certified fact.

9-Volt: Nuh-uh!

Penny: Yeah-huh!

9-Volt: Nuh-uh!

Penny: Yeah-huh!

Ashley: (Sighs While Watching 9-Volt and Penny Arguing with One Another and Sitting Next to her Boyfriend in the Background) The one time I get to enjoy my peace and relaxation on this trip and this is what I'm welcomed to.....

Lucas: (Turns to Ashley) Have they always get into these heated debates?

Ashley: More or less. One time they spent two hours and a half debating over a duck/rabbit picture. (Shows Lucas a Picture of a Duck/Rabbit Sketch on her Phone) See?

Lucas: Awww~ It look so cute~ (Smiles Sheepishly) Can't tell which one it really is though......

Ashley: No one here has a clue either. But that's neither here nor there. (Lay her Head onto Lucas' Shoulder) How are you enjoying the trip so far?

Lucas: (Smiles Brightly) I'm enjoying it a lot so far! The temperature feels nice out, the ocean looks so shiny and beautiful, I don't even think I remember the last time I rode on a boat before, this is great!~

Ashley: (Giggles Softly) I'm glad to hear it!~ I have no doubt that this week will be even more spectacular from here.

Lucas: (Nodded in Agreement) Yeah, neither do I. You think everyone back home will be okay without us?

Ashley: (Shrugs) I wouldn't worry too much about them personally. Their chaotic mannerisms are more than enough to keep them busy for a week at least.

Lucas: (Giggles a Bit) I wouldn't exactly say they're completely chaotic, but I will miss them dearly. I hope I have enough to buy them all souvenir gifts....

Ashley: (Hugs Lucas While Pouting at Him a Little) We'll worry about our vaction comes to it's closing point, mister~ You deserve to have as much fun and relaxation as the rest of us here.

Lucas: I know. (Happily Hugs his Girlfriend Back) Thank you.

Ashley: (Gives Lucas a Peck on the Cheek Before Smiling Back) You're welcome.

Wario: (In the Distance OI! Lovebirds! Quit having a relaxing hug fest and get over here! Team meeting's about to start!

Ashley: (Groans in Annoyance While Getting Up From her Seat Along with Lucas) He's holding a team meeting in the middle our time off?

Lucas: (Smiles Sheepishly) Let's see what he wants from us first. (Gently Grabs Hold of Ashley's Hand) We can go everything ypu want to do afterwards if you want.

Ashley: Sure. (Makes her Way to Wario and the Others with Lucas Right Next to Her) It probably won't be much though.

Wario: (Stands on Top of a Crate as He Sees Everyone of his Colleagues Arriving Towards his Area) Alright, losers, gather around and shut up! Before this little vacation adventure of ours starts, we need to break a few ground rules.

Dribble: (Raises an Eyebrow in Confusion) Ground rules?

Spitz: You serious, man?

Wario: Yes, MAN! I am. I'm your boss, I paid for the expenses, everything I say goes, which is exactly Rule #1. #2: Never ask me to buy you anything! You have money in your own pockets, use it. #3: There's a picture of a map made in the back of your brochures, so keep them close to you at all times. If any of you manage get yourselves lost by the time we head back home and are late get back on that cruise ship before then, sucks to be you.

5-Volt: (Gives Wario a Stern, Motherly Glare) If ANYONE gets lost, we band together to find them no matter how long it takes. No gets left behind on this trip.

Everyone: Yeah!

Wario: ('Sighs in Defeat') Fine! We'll set up a search party if that ever happens, moving on! #4: Any hidden treasure I potentially stumble upon along the way, will be mines in advance.

Mona: Always finding treasure, eh Wario?

Wario: Been a Treasure Hunter since day one, it's what I do. And the Fifth and Final Rule for the Day: Until this vacation this done and over with, none of you loser bother me. (Points at Lucas) That goes double for you, Sunflower boy.

Lucas: (Salutes to Wario) Yes sir, Mr. Wario sir! (Lowers hid Posture Down and Forms a Bit of a Nervous Smile on his Face) A-Also I just wanted to say how thankful I am for letting me join you guys this time around. I-I promise not to be a bother to you guys going forward....

Wario: Yeah, you better not, twerp! I didn't get my arm broken and have to pay extra on this trip JUST to deal with a snot-nose crybaby like you all day-

Wario........

The Fatman starts shivering in fear as he turns to see all of his co-workers giving him dark, soul piercing glares at his direction (with Ashley's hair turned white and 5-Volt turned into her demonic persona, slowly pounding her fist onto her palm)

Wario: Uh- ('Clears Throat') F-Forget everything I said just now. Glad to have you on board.

18-Volt: Look!

The gang turns to see that they've finally reached their destination, Caresaway Island.

Everyone: Hey, we're here!~

Wario: Finally!(Jumps Put of the Boat First) Outta the way, chumps, I'm going first! (Rushes Over to the Island's Staff)

Staff: (Happily Greets Wario) Greetings! Welcome to the island. Please take these precious stones as a hello gift.

Wario: (Smiles Brightly as the Images of Diamonds Appears on Both his Eyes) Ohhh! Diamonds!? Gimme, Gimme!!

Staff: (Presents Two Sets of Somewhat Familiar Looking Stones Along with Two of his Co-Workers) Actually, they're Form Stones! Moving around with these in your hands could bring you good luck.

Wario snatches one of the Move Stones from out of the wooden plate and examines both of them up close one by one before angrily chucking them.

Wario: Stupid rocks! I don't want 'em!!

Both of the rocks manages to hit the top of a parrot's head, causing it to screech in pain and flies away while indirectly bumping one of the tourists and making her drop her drink to the ground. It wasn't long for a blue elephant to slip on the spilled drink and uses his trunk to grab onto a flower coded sign before flipping himself over and accidentally kicking Wario hard enough to send him flying and crash down towards a faraway forest.

5-Volt: (Pinches the Bridge of her Nose While Sighing) Of all the lousy.....(Starts Bowing at Everyone Present in the Entrance) We are so sorry about all that, everyone.

Staff: (Smiles Sheepishly) I...take it you all know are acquainted with man in some way.

Ashley: Unfortunately.

Mona: (Smiles Sheepishly as Well) He's out boss from back home.

Penny: (Rolls her Eyes) Just as rude and impatient as he always is......

While everyone else agreeing to that motion, Lucas looks down at Move Stones and picks both of them up from the ground.

Lucas: So.....These Move Stones.....(Turns to Island's Staff) Do they really bring you good luck charm, sir?

Staff: (Happily Nodded) That's right! All you have to do is move around attracted to the grip of your hands and you'll surely be granted with luck in due time.

Ashley: (Lools Down at the Spare Move Stones in Front of Her) Hm.....Can't say I care too much about anything luck related. But given we're in vacation with Wario of all people....(Picks Both of the Stone Up From the Plate) I suppose it wouldn't hurt to put to good use eventually.

Penny: Ooh I'll take one too!~ (Happily Takes the Last Pair of Move Stones From the Other Plate) I can already tell by the craftsmanship of these beauties alone that they're research worthy.

9-Volt: (Starts Jumping Up and Raising his Hand Up) Ooh! Ooh! Can I get one too please?

18-Volt: (Raises his Hand Up as Well) And me too!?

The Gang: And us too?

Staff: (Smiles Brightly) Sure! It'll.....take a while to have the stones up and ready for you all though.

5-Volt: (Happily Bows at the Staff Members Once More) Take as much time as you need. It's the least we can do for what happened earlier. (Turns Back to the Gang) Right, everyone?

The Gang: Yeah./Sure!/ I don't mind waiting./ We can wait.

Staff: (Clasps his Hands Together with a Smile of his Own) Thank you all for your understanding. We'll have them out for you shortly. In the meantime, please, enjoy your stay at Caresaway Islaend! (Happily Waves Goodbye to Everyone Before Taking his Leave)

5-Volt: (Happily Waves Back at the Leaving Staff Members Before Taking a Deep Breath) Okay. With all of that out of the way. (Places her Hands on Both her Hips) I say we're all ready to get this vaction up and started!~ Oh and Lucas?

Lucas: (Looks Up at 5-Volt) Yes, ma'am?

5-Volt: (Gives Lucas a Sincere Motherly Smile) We're very happy to have you here with us, as part of our crew even. Please don't let whatever Wario says make you think differently about that or about yourself, okay?

Ashley: (Hugs Lucas' Arm) That goes double from me too, dear!

Penny: (Happily Chimes in) And from me too!~

The Gang: (Chimes in as Well) And from us too!!~

Lucas: (Giggles Ticklishly by all Hugs He's Receiving) Okay, okay!~ I promise not to think any of that get to me. (Smiles Brightly) Thank you all so much!~ (Eyes Suddenly Starts to Widened) But wait, W-What about Wario!? Is he gonna be okay-

WAHAHAHA!

The gang looks up to see Wario flying in the skies while riding on a poor parrot's back and holding two of the Move Stones.

Wario: These rocks rock! Get it. WAHAHAHAHA! AAHAHAHAHA!

5-Volt: He'll be fine. This IS Wario after all. But seriously this time....(Raise her Fist Up in the Air) Let this one week vacation adventure begin!

Everyone: (Raises Their Fist Up as Well While Cheering in Rejoice) YEAH!~

@cyber-wildcat

@albion-93

@caleb13frede

@bestpony666

#wario ware move it #mother 3 #super smash ultimate #lucas #ashley warioware #penny crygor #9 volt #5 volt #wario #warioware inc #vacation trip #sweet family moment #cute romance #humor #lucas x ashley