Tumgik
#I love her but if she can survive to do her NP more than once I will be surprised
grailfinders · 2 years
Text
Fate and Phantasms #287: Brynhildr (Berserker)
Tumblr media
Ah yeah, now this is the good stuff. I won’t lie, I love berserkers, and it’s been so long since the last one! A whole… four builds! Ridiculous.
Anyway, today we’re building up Brynhildr (Berserker), and I promise this one has all its levels the first time.
To make a battle couple throwing a sword larger than either of them around, we’re going Rune Knight. I promise that’ll make sense in a sec. We’ll also grab some Totem Barbarian levels for that funky swan outfit you’ve got going on. Also so you can survive wearing that funky swan dress into battle. No matter how cool a build is, if it doesn’t survive contact with your DM’s monsters it’s not gonna be fun.
Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!
Next up: Yu mei think we’re reusing a joke here, and yu’d be right!
Race and Background
Nothing new here, you’re still made by the gods and we need flight somehow, so that’s a Protector Aasimar. You get +2 Strength and +1 Constitution, plus Darkvision, Celestial Resistance against necrotic and radiant damage, some Healing Hands to help Sigurd get back on his feet after… well, you happen, and the Light cantrip to turn your chainsaw into a lightsaw. She has a chainsaw.
She’s also still an Acolyte, so you’re proficient in Insight and Religion. You work with those people, of course you know which gods are which.
Ability Scores
No surprises for this berserker. Your Strength is high. Again, chainsaw. After that is Dexterity, then Constitution. You make massacres look good. Charisma is middling, you’ve already landed your catch. This means your Intelligence and Wisdom are going to be low. Shockingly, her berserker form is somehow more stable than the original.
Class Levels
1. Fighter 1: I’d love to start as a barbarian, but fighter has more of what we want, like proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, as well as Athletics and Intimidation. We also get a Fighting Style like Great Weapon Fighting, so you can re-roll ones and twos on damage caused by two-handed weapons. That chainsaw I keep gushing about is your weaker weapon. There will be blood.
You also get a Second Wind so you can spend your bonus action to heal yourself. Nothing’s more relaxing for you than spending some quality time with your beloved! Plus your healing is turn by turn, so we needed at least two ways to do it for consistency.
2. Fighter 2: Second level fighters get an Action Surge once a short rest, letting you take two actions in one turn. Rev up your chainsaw and slash while you slash, fun for the whole family.
3. Fighter 3: At third level your study of Norse runes makes you a Rune Knight and also a Rune Carver. When you finish a long rest, you can add one of each rune you know to a suit of armor, a weapon, jewelry, or a handheld item. Then, when you wield the runed item you get the benefit of the rune, and once per short rest you can invoke the rune for an extra bonus. Any saves from runes use your constitution bonus.
(Rules as written this only works for you, but… that’s dumb. You’re making stuff, why wouldn’t people be able to use it? okay, editorial over.)
To start off, you can craft the Fire and Frost runes. The former doubles proficiency with tool checks, and when you invoke it, you deal extra fire damage to a creature, and force them to make a strength save or be restrained for up to a minute. The latter gives advantage on animal handling and intimidation checks, plus you can invoke the rune for a +2 on all checks and saves involving your strength or constitution for ten minutes. You’re surprisingly powerful given your physique, though that’s true for most servants. DW really needs to add more variety, tbh.
That’s not all though! Your Giant Might lets you grow big for a minute, up to proficiency times a day. While transformed you become large if there’s space for it. You also get advantage on strength checks and saves, and you deal a little extra damage once per turn. When Brynhildr breaks out the NP, she and Sigurd team up to really bring the pain with a bigger weapon. More people means more space taken up, plus that sword’s big enough I wouldn’t want to get within 10’ of it either.
One last bonus- thanks to your Aasimar upbringing your Radiant Soul lets you fly for a minute each day. While flying you can add radiant damage equal to your level or proficiency bonus depending on your source. You’ll end up flying faster but dealing less damage if you pick the Monsters of the Multiverse, and you’ll fly slower but hit harder if you trust Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Whatever your DM lets you get away with.
4. Fighter 4: To make your chainsaw run even hotter, use your first Ability Score Improvement to pick up the Slasher feat, rounding out your Strength and reducing a target’s speed once per turn when you hit them. Getting sawed in half really slows people down. When you score a critical hit, they get disadvantage on all attacks for the round. Again, getting sawed in half? Distracting. But don’t worry, they’ll be all right.
5. Fighter 5: Fifth level fighters get an Extra Attack each action, so you can attack twice per turn, or four times with an action surge! We’re still a bit off from a proper chainsaw, but we’re getting there. (and with giant might up that’s practically an extra half sword per sword, so the damage is even bigger than you’d think.)
6. Barbarian 1: Hooking up with your hubby is nice, but we still need to get dressed in the most literal sense. That’s why we’re hopping over to barbarian for some Unarmored Defense, letting you add your constitution modifier to your unarmored AC.
For even more survivability, you can also Rage as a bonus action, giving you advantage on strength checks and saves, bonus damage with strength-based melee weapons, and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. This lasts for up to a minute as long as you keep attacking or taking damage each turn, and you have a limited number of rages per day.
Valkyries are warriors made by the gods; they’re not going down that easily.
7. Barbarian 2: At second level your Danger Sense will keep you out of trouble, giving you advantage on dexterity saves you see coming. You can also get into trouble with Reckless Attacks, giving you advantage on all your attacks this round at the cost of everyone else having advantage to hit you. The perils of having a weakness to all classes, I guess.
8. Barbarian 3: As a Totem Warrior, your swan dress gives you a couple extra boosts. You can cast Beast Sense and Speak with Animals as rituals, but the big draw is your Totem Spirit. I’d have loved to pick the eagle totem to stay with the bird theme, but sadly the Tiger Spirit is simply more in-character. It lets you add 10’ to your long jumps, and 3’ to your high ones while raging. You might only have one chance at flight per day, but now you’ll at least be a little more airborne.
You also gain some Primal Knowledge, so you’re proficient in Nature now. Camping’s great for expanding your horizons, huh?
9. Fighter 6: Barbarian’s a great class, but sadly they don’t get much of a bonus to their damage after level 5. That’s why we’re heading back to fighter for another ASI, so we can pick up the Great Weapon Master feat. If you’re using a two-handed weapon and score a critical hit or reduce a creature to 0 HP, you get an extra attack on your bonus action. But if you really want to do some chainsaw-tier damage, you can take a -5 penalty to hit for an extra +10 to your attack’s damage. You can do this with every attack you make, for up to a +20 boost normally, or a +40 with your action surge, maaaybe a +50 if you scored a crit or killed something. Which, like, c’mon, you’re pumping out crazy damage now. It’ll happen more often than not.
10. Fighter 7: At seventh level you can make a Runic Shield, forcing a nearby enemy to re-roll their attack against someone else. You can do this proficiency times per day. Try to avoid using it on Sigurd too much, or else people might think you’re playing favorites. Though to be fair his high AC makes him a pretty good partner for this feature.
You can also carve a Storm Rune each rest now, giving you advantage on arcana checks and you can’t be surprised. It’s pretty easy to see the twists coming when your enemies follow horror movie rules. Also, you can invoke the rune to enter a trance for 1 minute, during which you can use your reaction each turn to force advantage or disadvantage on any attack, check, or save made within 60’ of you. Yeesh, rune magic is some powerful stuff.
11. Fighter 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Constitution for more HP, a higher AC, and stronger runes. All ‘round good stuff!
12. Fighter 9: Ninth level fighters are Indomitable, so you can re-roll a failed save once per day! I’d save ‘em for death saves though, your wisdom saves are never gonna be great.
13. Fighter 10: A tenth level rune knight has a Great Stature, growing a couple inches taller but also increasing your bonus damage with Giant’s Might to 1d8. I, like, big girls! …no that’s it I like big girls. Now you’re up to one foot bigger.
You can also carve a Stone Rune now, so you have advantage on insight checks and darkvision up to 120 fee away. On top of that, you can invoke the rune as a reaction to force a creature ending its turn nearby to make a wisdom save. If they fail, they’re charmed for a minute and incapacitated, repeating the save each turn. Hey, save that kinda stuff for your cabin!
14. Fighter 11: Eleventh level fighters get a second Extra Attack for three per action and up to seven per turn. Now that’s a lotta damage!
15. Fighter 12: For even more damage, use this ASI to max out your Strength for accurate chainsawing. You’ve got like, anime-sized swords. Not like an anime sword, like a sword as big as the whole anime. We’re talking a One Piece-tier sword here.
16. Fighter 13: Thirteenth level fighters are Indomitable! Again! Now you can use it twice a day.
17. Fighter 14: Bump up that constitution again with this ASI for more health, AC, and rune power!
18. Fighter 15: Speaking of doing stuff you can already do but twice, a fifteenth level rune knight is a Master of Runes, so you can invoke each rune you carve twice a short rest! There’s probably a zombie movie in this event somewhere, so make sure you double-tap those nubbins.
You can also carve a Hill Rune now, so you have advantage on saves against being poisoned and resistance to poison damage! You can also invoke the rune to get your rage resistance for a minute without actually raging. They don’t stack though, but it would be fun! Nothing wrong with being extra tough- that’s why you’re the head Valkyrie after all.
19. Fighter 16: Use your last ASI to max out your Constitution for the most health possible! It’s a shame we couldn’t spend more time as a barbarian, but sacrifices must be made for chainsaws.
20. Fighter 17: Our final level of fighter is even more of the same, with an extra Action Surge and Indomitable. Speed up and toughen up!
Pros and Cons
Pros:
You do the big damage, with up to seven attacks with max strength, perma-advantage, and rage boost for a cool 14d6+7d8+35 Slashing damage, and with your Great Weapon Master feat providing a cool +70 as one hell of a cherry on top, for an average of 186 damage in a single turn! You’re also good at surviving on the front lines, with over 200 HP, a decent AC of 17, and just enough healing to be annoying.
Another benefit: runes aren’t magic, which means if you’re raging and don’t trigger an extra attack from GWM you still have plenty of stuff you can do to help out in the middle of a fight. Shackle people up, charm them, force disadvantage, all without breaking your rage!
Thanks to your flight and jumps you’re surprisingly mobile given the giant sword you’re swinging around, giving you juuust enough reach to surprise people and turn them into mincemeat.
Cons:
Your soft stats are terrible. You’re bad at talking to people, noticing stuff, and knowing things. Plus, a lot of nasty spells use soft saves, so you might end up fighting Sigurd when you get charmed! How awful.
While you can fly, you can’t do it too often, so if someone stays out of the range of your big sword you might have a problem.
I know we don’t bring up power-building too much, but… you could’ve had the bear totem. There’s a reason it’s so popular, resistance against all types of damage is good, better than jumping, even.
37 notes · View notes
rex101111 · 3 years
Text
Whenever I have a really strong Caster to deal with:
Tumblr media
85 notes · View notes
varusai · 3 years
Note
who do you think is the most dateable dark matter thief?? i know you have an opinion and i need to hear it
sorry for the late response anon i honestly had to think abt this one for a few days lmao, but yeah i have opinions. below the cut bc fr i have opinions, all of them have major pros and cons (based on my characterization at least) and really i just have to break it down for u
Boros, everyones obvious first choice, but certainly not mine.
Pros: rich, tall, pretty, fun af, passionate, will kill for you np, give you anything you want, literally anything.
cons: has a god complex, doesnt respect you, not his number one priority at all, will forget about you once its not interesting for him anymore, probably argumentative/combative af, is very very smart and has no problem manipulating you in all the worst ways, is very entitled so he will never feel bad about anything, cant win arguments either bc he’ll want to settle it with combat, will get offended over little things just to argue bc he thinks thats fun
this is a relationship you’d get into if you literally have nothing to lose and dont care about your mental health. like hes hot but this shit would be toxic af and he will ruin your life and leave you to go fuck around and fight someone on the other side of the universe. this will be the best of times and the worst of times for you and you will never be the same afterward mentally or emotionally. the only way i would even consider it is if i lost my damn mind. The only way a relationship with him would ever work long term is if you were physically stronger than him and were capable of putting him in his place OR you were smart enough, suicidal enough, and interesting enough to him to engage in some psychological warfare and reject him if he asked you. Make him chase you for years, say yes, then decide that /he’s/ boring /you/ and leave him for another member of the squad to just destroy their established hierarchy and humble him to the point that he’s obsessed with you.
i dont have the energy for all that, so i’ll just smash and pass.
0/10 completely undateable
Geryuganshoop, also a probable second choice for many:
pros: cute, nice, tentacle alien (obviously), will respect you np, will also give you anything you want, not antagonistic at all, telepathic communication so no risk of miscommunication, emotionally intelligent and available, loyal to a fault,
cons: horrible boss/best friend that you will have to listen to him vent about for at least 3 hours a day, complete yes man as well so he will not tell boros no or cut him off and you will be stuck dealing with this no matter what, severely mentally ill and wont go to therapy bc he thinks hes handling it well, workaholic, needs a lot, and i mean A LOT of attention
this relationship would be great if not for boros lol. boros sabotages his social and romantic life but geryu has been friends with him too long to either cut him off or establish boundaries. he has no backbone (figuratively and literally) and wouldnt even consider it. he’ll ignore you in favor of his job too, to a massive degree. also i think that while the telepathic communication would be a major plus in most cases, here i feel like i’d have no less than 16 different, never before seen on earth, mental illnesses projected right into my brain just from being within a certain radius of him.
im already fucked up enough in that sense so pass unfortunately.
it would be a yes without boros in the picture tho lmao
so prob like 4/10 iffy datablillity, 1 level increase with each decade of therapy he gets tho so a lot of potential :D
Groribas, my fav girl:
pros: straightforward, realistic, very clear expectations, will not fuck around with you whatsoever like there is no mind games or anything here, will kill for you, rich and non materialistic so she’ll basically just let you do whatever with her money since she doesn t care about it, cares about her job but like...a normal amount. she absolutely has a good work/life balance, highly organized so she will not forget important dates, loyal af and will defend your honor under any circumstances, mean but in a funny way, a ton of fun to hang out with if you’re into that, no eyes so i dont have to worry abt eye contact ever
cons: extremely high expectations, like exhaustingly high, and not even a bit of flexibility there, if you dont meet the cut its a no, she’ll let you know and leave same day, she will also bully you, you need a thick skin and great sense of humor to survive, bad at feelings if you need emotional support???? go elsewhere, shes mega emotionally unavailable, will probably want to share bodies as a form of intimacy
overall its a solid 6.5/10 dateability for me i love the directness and no bs approach, we would def get along well. however, while im not sensitive, shes def gonna hit on some insecurities at some point and it will cause an argument lol. but i mean whatever. it happens. the body sharing would be an issue though, same reason i wouldnt be chill with having a symbiote despite being a major venom fucker. i need my space i cant deal with that. so thats a possible deal breaker if she couldnt get over that lol. and she wont, so we wouldnt work out. i wish it fuckin would tho😭😭😭 i would take whatever crumbs of attention she would be willing to give me
Melzalgald, my fav they/them bastard:
pros: amorphous and shapeshifting aka extremely attractive according to my taste in monsters, tall af but could chose to be a more reasonable survivable size lol, self contained and self-entertaining so they dont need a ton of attention to be happy, funny af, rich, will give you whatever you want and probably a bunch of shit you didnt know you wanted, very fun, built in friend group if you didnt already have friends, extremely emotionally intelligent and great people skills due to living in a collective, stupid af by choice, like some of em are very smart, but they dont claim that, will say fuck work and tell boros to eat shit to spend time with you, will kill for you as well, but only if you ask them to bc their first inclination is to just bother someone to death, very loyal, once they like you they like you really forever, it would take some pretty extreme circumstances to make them dislike you
cons: annoying af and its unavoidable, will talk over you, all of them at once will talk over you and do so loudly, no respect for personal space, they dont even know what that is, will probably accidentally manhandle you, they act stupid but arent so they can be manipulative, even if it isnt bad and they dont really mean to be, impulsive, forgetful of the needs of organic creatures so they will bother you at all hours of the day and night if you arent firm with boundaries, disgustingly extroverted and will bring randoms to your place without asking, or just...make new cluster members and you have to roll with it, will eat or absorb literally anything you have, will antagonize and bother you for fun, major jump scare risk since sometimes the forms are....fleshy
this ones hard for me like theyre hot af and i feel like they’d be super fun and good partners, but god....the noise. idk how long i could deal with that lol i dont like people in my house. it would drive me up the wall, but then again...i can simply kick them out when ive had enough. they arent projecting mental illness directly into my brain or requiring me to share a body sintelligento major plus. creepy thing/symbiote style hot monster without any of the invasiveness so tbh 8/10 dateability
some people date loud annoying extroverts who dont understand personal space that /arent/ rich, loyal, or emotionally intellegent so i’d be winning on a few different fronts lmao
11 notes · View notes
Note
Which 4 star would you recommend? 🤔
Sorry for the late reply since I’m currently studying a part-time course on the weekday ^^;
I’d say it’s always boil down to what you really need the most in your party? A particular class like Saber, Caster, Extra Classes? Or more of, DPS, Tank and Healer? If you’re going for husbando/waifu, again, all the following above are irrelevant and just grind for QP. Because raising a waifu/husbando isn’t cheap
I’ll put the rest under the cut for Servants (sort by classes), numbering are based on what I used most or feels good which is debatable before anyone starts murdering me. And also some I have yet the chance to try because they are not home for me after rolling/i didn’t pick them at all
Sabers:
ST NP:
Lancelot
Yagyu Munemori & Rama
Diarmuid Saber
Papalot will always be my number one no matter who says, and been saving my ass in both FGO JP and NA. His own skill alone is summary of enjoying hearing him crit his enemies to death. With support like Tamamo and Castoria, he makes the pain twice as fun :D
Unfortunately for all his attacks, he’s your glass canon. So you don’t have either of the two support or just any support in general, he’s going to die ASAP. Munemori’s 2nd and 3rd skill are a headache with them being mixed together, especially that Evade + increase attack
Munemori is the one I feel should actually be on par very closest to Lancelot with both sharing the same NP type. In terms of surviving longer, this old swordsman is your choice. But in terms of consistent attack, it’s Lancelot.
Oh my sweet Rama, while I’m sorry DW is a dick in putting your wife in Arcade (BECAUSE FUCK YOU DW, THAT’S WHY). You’re worth to grind and have on par with Munemori. So far in LB whether or not having any Demon enemies, his damage especially on crit is as good as Lancelot. But unortunately, this skill is a one-time effect, so need to know when to make use of that burst to kill your Boss. Lastly, he’s got the Guts in terms of own survival kit.
As much as a husbando you are my dear Diarmuid... You’re also fucking expensive in terms of grinding 180 stakes to raise you. NP damage is good which is unfortunately held back that your defense buff removal comes AFTER dealing damage to your enemy. He’s more in need of a good support like Skadi to put him to his fullest potential (or heck hell you might as well take Caesar since he does better than him being in the same NP quick category)
AOE NP:
Artoria Alter
Siegfried
Suzuka & Nero
Gawain
Artoria Alter being first aside story-locked, her damage output for me is the highest among all I have used just using her skills alone. But may or not need strengthening to upgrade Intuition, have her more crit-based attack? (dude, everyone getting their intuition replaced.)
Siegfried ranked higher to me because he’s still hits hard enough in my opinion to replace AOE saber that I don’t have such as Artoria Alter in JP. However, he’s still easily replaceable once you got better AOE Sabers. And, you’ll still want him in some event and main story mobs where dragon-type enemies show up.
Compared the two above after using Suzuka, she’s definitely ranked third with lower NP damage. Charm, well, may or not work but LB debuff immunity is saying otherwise for all male servants. But her skill of generating her own stars help her in criting and gaining NP slightly more faster.
For Nero’s case, she’s more on survivalist skill thanks to her 3 times Guts skills. Arts AOE NP Saber are limited until you get budget Jason next year which, yeah, Jason works better than her if you want NP damage. Her attack boost is based on RNG probably either want to love or have hate sex with you to get that buff out. Again, if you want more of surviving long duration fights in LB thanks to break bars, she’s your good choice.
While Gawain is story-locked issue too, he’s heavily reliant on his skills. Which those skills are also can be highly reliant on field to be Sunny before strengthening. But charging of NP will take a long while with his current deck set, so you’ll need a better support or AOE Saber to do the work
Support:
Chevalier D’eon
If you haven’t grinded Georgios or Leonidas, they are your best replacement for tank support. The two I mentioned will do a far more better job than D’eon, aside wanting their NP to debuff.... Which unfortunately also not that useful in current LB difficulty, too many servant bosses are putting up debuff immunity.
Archer:
ST NP
Chiron
Tomoe Gozen
Emiya Alter
Tristan
Chiron-sensei as per his lore is more of a support due to his skills revolving mainly in supporting your party. Castoria and Tamamo may or not fix with his damage output but you definitely want that remove defensive buff which comes BEFORE dealing damage at your Boss enemy.
Tomoe’s burn debuff makes her one of Arjuna Alter’s best friend if you’re aiming for him in the future. But aside from that, her skills are quite generic of attack + np damage buff, crit gather and drop (lacking of crit dmg to make her good on her own right) and guts to survive. However she isn’t story-locked, so if you can wait for her to spook...
Emiya Alter: I haven’t tried what’s the changes aside increased in damage output with Castoria. But he’s more of a staller in removing enemy gauge by 1 and if you have those annoying enemies with tons of defense buff, he’s your Servant against to fire a hole in them. Only issue his normal version Evade and star drop rate is gone and replace with a defense buff, so may or not need support to keep him alive
For Tristan I didn’t put him high because if you have David, he’ll do a more slightly better job than him? Reliant on Skadi if you have her to boost his damage for NP, which... If you’re doing NP charge from his skill, do remember he has that unfortunate debuff of NP seal that blocks him from using NP during or not the same turn. Though if you’re getting him to complete your Knights of Round Table Servants collection urgently and not caring about gameplay, go ahead :D
AOE NP:
Mama Emiya
Atalante
Now that’s my mom who raised me :D But anyway, Emiya’s investment especially 2 years later with that one last NP strengthening, he’s a nightmare of Arts AOE Archer once Castoria joins into the party. Right now before strengthening, he still crits hard in single attacks with his own star generation + also having evasion to survive.
Without Skadi especially, Atalante both damage output of normal and NP is very weak. Her NP more or less served as a function to gain a one-time burst of 60+ stars. But if you have Skadi and your friend support does, then get her for one of your Quick Archer Servant farming if you don’t have her.
Lancer:
ST NP:
Li Shuwen
Vlad III EXTRA
Medusa Lancer
Li Shuwen will be one of decent choice Arts Crit Lancer before Kagetora kicks in next year. A good burst of his NP helps to kill your enemy Boss ignoring that he also have a instant death NP. Though said burst is relying on both 1st and 3rd skill which... they should have just kept either one (preferably ignore invincibility) and pointless for them to stack. 2nd skill however is ok with your evasion to survive and increase star gather rate.
Vlad III EXTRA’s NP... Pretty much gonna see more Evil Servant in the future so he’s good to keep around. And that ignore invincibility is good until DW being a dick and put Archer Servant with Solemn Defence in the future LB. Despite lacking skills to survive, he has his own HP recovery that also buffs his defense and attack. And a decent taunt if you haven’t got Leonidas ready, for 1 turn. Though damage output you’ll need support like Merlin to increase.
Maybe just me without Skadi, Medusa Lancer ranked low due to her damage output. But having Skadi will increase her rank with 1 skill keep her alive (invincibility + guts), 1 skill to stall (charm and provided it’s male servant), and 1 last skill for one-time burst in attack.
AOE NP:
Parvati & Artoria Alter Lancer
Valkyire
Fionn
Elizabeth Bathory
Nezha
Artoria Alter Lancer being another Servant who like her Saber, does well in her AOE NP damage. And a good debuff of NP seal to stall + def buff ignore damage. However trying to gain NP for her is problematic if you don’t have support like Merlin to do so.
Parvati will be one of the many Servants recommended to have if you’re going for Double Skadi farming. She’s got good NP refund and good support to other Servants. But make sure your Skadi or support having a star generator CE to get her loop going.
Like Parvati, you’ll need Valkyire if you already got the former for double Skadi farming. She’s more on a defensive in surviving if not use for farming, and definitely Skadi regardless to improve her damage performance. Beside that, her NP is applied with good buff such as ignore evasion and instant death for demonic enemies (excluding them working on enemy Servants)
If you’re aiming for Castoria next two years, Fionn is one of the Servants to invest for farming. And latest strengthening has upgrade to give more of NP charge to himself and your party. His own NP buff to mental debuff immunity is good to prevent him from being stun like charm, etc. However if you’re in need of Rare Prism and any other reason or so, feel free to burn him.
Elizabeth doesn’t rank high since she’s more support and debuff oriented Servant than damage. Support being attack that gives additional boost to female servants and debuff lower defense and curse. Unless you’re urgent to complete your Eli-chan collection, she’s not in a hurry to get and can spook anytime.
While Nezha has a good skill kit of own Quick + Buster buff, increase star weight and remove debuff, and guts + NP charge.... Most of her skills are best used if they are at max level. And even at max level, her low NP damage isn’t that a viable choice with better AOE NP Servants above be it farming or attack.
Rider:
ST NP:
None of the above
This is the only rare case I really don’t recommend getting, especially mary and anne. The two are definitely meant to be glass canon which unlike Hijikata, there’s no guts for them to survive if you want to utilize their NP at its fullest. Welfare and 3 star like Ushiwakamaru and Ryouma, Mandricardo in the future does a better job than her.
AOE NP:
Astolfo
Martha
Marie
In terms of damage output among the 3 Riders, Astolfo hits hardest and also perfectly compatible with double Skadi farming. Has 2 rank up on strengthening their NP and 3rd skill to improve farming performance. However outside farming, they definitely still need Skadi to keep that performance.
Martha is one of the more recommended Servants when it’s come to Challenge Quest. Mainly her instant team debuff removal and enemy buff removal targetable, and additional healing. Damage output may be easily fix with Merlin and Waver to deal more. But, as of now her status whether being useful is debatable as most LB debuff on your team are permanent thus rendering her to rank lower.
Despite sharing the same NP type, Marie ranks lower using more of a support for herself and her allies on her damage. Her NP buffs while it’s provide good support, it can easily be replaceable with either Jeanne, Merlin, Waver, etc. But if you’re not concern for her and already got Astolfo, you can still get her to invest on Quick farming. Or raise Medusa who could do about the same like Astolfo...
Caster
ST NP
Queen Sheba
Circe
Sheba while story locked, she fits well in both support and own DPS of herself for CQ and in LB. NP damage may be concern but having Tamamo and Castoria will makes up for it, especially in surviving for long fights. Her excellent NP gain with good crit buff helps her to refund NP easily for spam.
Circe while provide good support (debuff removal and star gather) and debuff (poisoning AOE), she ranked lower from a few things. One being very bad NP gain (if your NP charge skill on CD), low NP damage which can be compensated with good support, and debatable stun NP effect. If you already have Xuangzang or Caster Shuten, you’re better off with them. 
AOE NP:
Nitocris
Caster Gilgamesh
Nursery Rhyme
Helena
Thomas Edison
Nitocris ranking top for her being the best farming Servant to have, and remained that spot with now Castoria boosting her damage. NP Charge skill at full 100% when needed, increase death chance (can be RNG and not effective with some enemies) and Guts + Buff removal making her a Servant recommended to have. And of course being the best.... You’re gonna need to offer her 180 bones of your dead enemies to upgrade her skills to the max, making her one hell of an expensive material grinding Servant to have.
Caster Gilgamesh with wisdom now considered one of the recommended Arts Support Caster if you don’t have Tamamo or Castoria. While damage can be lacking, his NP debuff of lowering defense helps your other Arts DPS to crit to death thanks to his skillset. Despite that, he still additional support and composition which preferably best work when the team deck in total has higher percentage of Arts cards.
When paired with the right team, Nursery can be one of the good damage dealing and staller for AOE Caster. The latter however is RNG dependant which praying it works in your favor. She also have good NP refund and self-charging with her skill making her easily spamming her NP. But she’ll need good support to boost her damage and star generation to utilize her.
If you still haven’t gotten Waver and willing to wait for that SSR ticket in the future, she’s your alternative with all cards type buff, 20% NP gauge charge and own crit star generator. NP deals good damage, which further improve with either Tamamo and/or Castoria. However, many may turn away of choosing her because of notorious long skill cooldown even at max level. Also if friend support already got your main 4 or now 5 support of Caster, you’re better off with other Servants unless you want her for farming.
Thomas gonna need his strengthening to increase his rank here, mainly that 1st skill to reduce skill cooldown which is targetable. While his NP and normal damage is weak, he makes up by being the best stalling support (provided no debuff immunity), having skill seal, NP seal to stall enemy Servant. 3rd skill of his provide a good buff to your main DPS to overcharge their NP level. And, also being a story-locked servant some may consider getting him if you can accept the long cool down (2nd skill at 10 turns CD on max level) on his skill.
Support
Medea Lily
If you’re wondering who is the White Mage/Healer in this game, that would be Medea Lily. Pure healing + Debuff removal and now a targetable buff removal resist? That’ll be her where many sought her in Challenge Quest. But her skillset is overshadowed easily by your Top 5 Caster (Merlin, Waver, Skadi, Tamamo & Castoria) who can do those said job if not better than her.
Assassin:
ST NP:
Yan Qing & Emiya Assassin
Wu Zetian
Carmilla
Chiyome
Yan Qing while I put him first, he can easily replaceable with Jack who does better star generation. Or pair them to generate even more stars while you watch them burn your potato phone. His recent skill upgrade increase his damage making him more usable in fights, but will still need Skadi to invest him well.
Emiya Assassin, with good NP damage buff like Ignore Defense + Invincibility and NP drain, own Arts buff, and targetable taunt, he’s one of the recommended Servants for Arts DPS with Castoria when she’s out. And especially needing Castoria because of his horrible Arts card NP generation... If you got Shiki who’s doing better along with Hundred face Hassan, you’ll want them for damage and own survival kit.
Wu Zetian would be in line with Kiritsugu if not better for damage, but is heavily reliant on her Imperial Privliege RNG to work with her. Skadi support and buff removal NP makes her one of the recommended Assassin Quick NP DPS to pick if you’re lacking..
Carmilla is low rank while despite having good NP gain, charge and own healing with a staller..... You’re better off having other Servants like Wu Zetian. Or even Jack who does more better than her on the Anti-female damage.
Chiyome definitely her low damage despite NP spam and charge, make her least wanted for SR ticket. Even NP seal can be ineffective with those having debuff immunity, which many other Assassins are doing their job including the 3 stars one.
AOE NP:
Katou Danzo
While waiting for Gray next year, Danzo is your currently only 4* Assassin with more on the support side. Having both targetable evasion and invincibility, she can keep either DPS or support Caster against enemy on their attacks and NP. AOE damage may not be boost a bit with the help from said support caster, unless your enemies are demon to work against.
Support:
Stheno
Aside additional Rare Prism to exchange, Stheno acts more of a support if you want to challenge yourself with a Divine Servant theme in CQ, etc. She along with Gorgon Sister are known for their notorious Charm Lock in CQ, and NP now easily spammable to remove buffs on enemy. Stheno together with Euryale is why Gawain is having nightmare every night ever since his humiliating defeat in Camelot. But in terms of damage output, you definitely want alternative Servant than her. And support wise, you’re also better off with others if you’re not that into Divine team routine.
Berserker:
ST NP:
Heracles
Penthesila
Beowulf
Atalante Alter
Ibaraki
Aside being bias because that’s my boy I raised and grailed him, Heracles will be your number 1 must have Servant to have for all Master. One of the best surviving Servant for long fights, may need a little boost from support Caster. His investment to get Bond 10 will be a long while but will definitely be worth it once achieved. Now, with the latest strengthening his Guts Skill and own CE makes him the monster on why Lancer ga Shin Da and Emiya in Saber Route one of a nightmare to fight with.
Penthesila while ranked second despite lacking of Greek Males (doesn’t include Achilles avoiding her), she provide a good Buster support for all team, own NP charge and debuff immunity for herself that brings out a high NP damage. However, without Merlin... She’ll die before finding and killing Achilles.
I swear to god DW has a grudge against you, Beowulf. But hey, after his strengthening next year, good bye intuition, hello Inspired Hero that increased crit damage and gather rate! If you’re looking for a more general damage unlike Penth, he’s your boy. High NP damage and Guts to keep him in the game longer, but requires support to boost NP gain and normal damage.
Like many other Quick Servants, Atalante Alter is Skadi compatible. A ST NP with staller and curse debuff, her own crit generation, gather and damage allow her to produce good NP damage. Yet like all Berserker she falls harder in terms of glass canon like lacking of survival skills. Her critical dmg is hard to maintain with her 1st skill merely providing her a one time burst.
Probably the one Servant who fits truly as a glass canon is Ibaraki, NP damage can be comparable with Heracles, Penth and Beowulf. Removing own debuff and enemy buff is a good thing, but defense buff alone may not save her from enemy Servants who hits the poor banana like a truck. NP gain may also need boost from support due to her triple BBB in her deck.
AOE NP:
Lancelot Berserker
Frankenstein
Tamamo Cat
The most recommended yet also possibly need additional whaling is Lancelot Berserker. The moment Skadi appears, he’s on the top list of having in party to do farming. Own NP create large amount of sum and massive crit boost helps to refund NP. But, without Skadi and needing NP2 at least, he’ll be ranked lower.
Frankenstein will be your alternative to berserker Lancelot if you already have him. But like Berserker Lancelot, you’ll need Skadi to do the looping. Her own NP Damage boost and increase gain helps for the loop, but unfortunately you’ll need Servant with debuff removal to remove her stun after using her NP. Aside farming....You’re gonna want other Servant to save her from getting killed within few turns.
Tama Cat aside being one of Chaldea main cook, she’s more utilized for farming after abusing poor Waver and Caster support. And poor Waver everyone will have to do their best to protect Tama Cat who took a few turns of napping (stun) after using her NP. Beside that, she does provide an RNG of NP drain and own defense and attack boost. However other than farming, you’re better off with other AOE Servants for survival.
Avenger:
Situational between Gorgon or Hessian Lobo
Because a Ruler enemy is very rare to find aside coming LB3 without mention spoilers on who, it’s more or less situational. Do you want for the sake of it? Want to do your own CQ rules to experiment against? If so, AOE or ST NP?
AOE being Gorgon where she got a a decent AOE NP Damage with a stun but definitely need support to survive (guts may not be sufficient) and star generation. She’s also story-locked which if you want to get her before Babylonia, might as well do so.
Hessian Lobo is compatible with Skadi and alternative if you don’t Avengers like Jeanne Alter. Good crit gather for 3 turns with Skadi or any other Servants provide star generation. NP damage has own boost of ignore evasion and additional crit damage, excluding your instant death. While having buff removal is one and atk decrease, your death resist is still ineffective on enemy Servants boss.
9 notes · View notes
yallreddieforthis · 5 years
Text
Impossible Things
Fandom: It Chapter Two, It (2017)
Pairing: Richie Tozier/Eddie Kaspbrak
Rating: Explicit (in later chapters)
Words: 1.9k
Also on AO3
“What the fuck,” he mutters, trying his key one more time. His therapist always says he’s too quick to jump right to the doom and gloom. Maybe he didn’t get evicted all of a sudden. Maybe he just put the key in upside down or… Nope. His key straight up does not work.
And then suddenly the door swings open and Richie whacks him in the shoulder with a frying pan.
August 7, 2013 was the worst day of Eddie Kaspbrak’s life. He got dumped on a breakfast date by this guy he was kind of very into at the time, he totaled his brand-new Dodge Dart...by hitting a cop car, spilling iced coffee all over himself in the process. And that was just before work.
When he got to work, he was informed by fucking Claudia of all people that his favorite patient who was supposed to make a full fucking recovery had died during the overnight shift. He spent the rest of the day completing paperwork for his now-deceased buddy over in 44G, and playing a super fun game ferreting information back and forth between one of the endocrinologists--who was on a cruise with almost no reception--and her crazy bitch of a patient who insisted that Dr. Google told her she could cure her diabetes with a combination of like six essential oils and lemon juice. And also fighting over the phone with Marcus from Geico. Fuck Marcus from Geico and his manager Suzanne.
Anyway, yeah, that day was fucking nothing compared to this Saturday, when he went back to his shitty ass hometown, watched the first guy he ever loved die in his arms and then wiggled out the back door of a collapsing house containing all his childhood friends.
He’s pretty sure he hasn’t completely processed the awfulness of the whole thing yet. He’s done a decent amount of crying, but like… God, where to even begin? There’s literally no one alive who he can talk to about what he went through. The idea of keeping all this shit to himself for the rest of his life makes him want to consider pulling a Stan. Not that he ever would, actually. Because he’s a stubborn bitch, and when life tells him to go fuck himself, he usually just yells it right back.
Also he got stabbed in the fucking face by Henry Goddamn Bowers. And like, Ben did a decent job patching it up with gauze and superglue, but Eddie hauled ass to Urgent Care and got some actual stitches once he realized there was nothing else he could do at Neibolt. He’d been a fucking mess...like, crying and shit, but even in that state he could tell that the standard of care at Derry Clinic was subpar at best and he kept having to correct the NP who was sewing him up until she finally snapped and asked if he’d rather just do it himself. Actually, he normally would have preferred to, but his hands had been shaking too badly. He definitely plans to have it looked at by Dr. Lim, who will for sure know the best way to keep scarring to a minimum, as soon as he’s back at work.
Also, he was hoping that all the weird shit that had been going down with Pennywise and stuff would have fucking stopped after they killed It, but when he got back to the Derry Townhouse and went to get his shit from his room, there were three goddamn suitcases in there and he couldn’t figure out why. The first one had enough crap in it for like a three week trip, although the clothes weren’t all his. Also, the second one was filled with a bunch of pill bottles with his name on them for prescriptions Eddie has never needed, and his actual medication, amitriptyline, was not among them. But to be totally honest, by that point, he was so fucking tired and upset that he just kind of went fuck it and hauled everything into the back of a cab and got the fuck out of there.
And now he’s standing on the curb at LAX waiting for an Uber to take him back to his apartment in West Hollywood, where he can cry in private and maybe eat a pint of frozen yogurt from Whole Foods. Greek yogurt, of course, for the probiotics.
The first thing that strikes him as amiss back in LA is when he gets up to his apartment and there is a mat that says WELCOME TO THE SHITSHOW on it that he definitely did not buy in front of his apartment and his list of instructions for delivery men has been taken off his door.
Then he tries to open the door and his key doesn’t fit, which makes no fucking sense at all, unless Ms. Slavkin changed the locks while he was gone, which would be super illegal and also mean. Like, they’re on good terms, he thinks, especially since she barely speaks English and he knows exactly no Russian. They’ve never had a problem, though. His rent is always paid up on time. She brought him vatrushka two weeks ago and he referred her grandson for a volunteer position at Cedars Sinai over the summer. They’re good.
“What the fuck,” he mutters, trying his key one more time. His therapist always says he’s too quick to jump right to the doom and gloom. Maybe he didn’t get evicted all of a sudden. Maybe he just put the key in upside down or… Nope. His key straight up does not work.
And then suddenly the door swings open and Richie whacks him in the shoulder with a frying pan.
“Ow! What the hell?”
Literally everything about what just happened is impossible though, because Richie is:
Dead. He died in Eddie’s arms under the Neibolt house less than 48 hours ago after telling him he fucked his mom one last time for good measure. Like...even while he was bleeding out he couldn’t… God. Anyway…
A resident of Illinois, last time Eddie checked. He even said some shit the other day about security at O'Hare. That’s… that’s the one in Chicago, right? It’s not LAX, Eddie knows that for sure.
Richie looks about as dumbfounded as Eddie feels. He does not apologize for hitting Eddie with a frying pan, although it’s not exactly cast iron. At best, it’s aluminum.
Which is another weird thing. Eddie uses exclusively cast iron or enamel cookware in his apartment because he’s not some kind of idiot sauteing his veggies in perfluorinated chemicals. The frying pan Richie is holding right now is undoubtedly riddled with BPA that would seep into his food and cause thyroid problems.
And honestly the only reason he’s probably getting hung up on that is that he expects Richie to disappear as soon as he blinks, because what the fuck would he actually be doing here. It’s going to hurt a lot more than that frying pan did when he evaporates, and Eddie’s going to feel like he lost him a second time.
Any second now.
Nothing else happens though, except that Richie manages to squeak out, “Eddie?”
And it’s corny to think, but it’s his voice that leaves no doubt in Eddie’s mind that it’s really him. Because Richie Tozier can sound like almost anybody in the world, but there’s no one that can sound like Richie. Even Pennywise never tried to imitate him. Because no one can. That, Eddie is sure of.
Dead is… Eddie is a nurse, and he’s no stranger to death. Richie was dead. No one could survive that kind of blood loss. But that also doesn’t change the fact that Richie is standing in front of him, in his apartment somehow, alive and breathing and miraculously free of giant holes in his chest. Also, this past weekend has had Eddie really rethinking his personal beliefs on what is and isn’t possible.
“Oh god, Richie—” Eddie reaches out and places a hand on Richie’s chest. Richie doesn’t stop him, but he also doesn’t react other than staring at Eddie’s hand, like he’s still unconvinced that Eddie is really Eddie.
Also he’s apparently speechless for the first time in his life.
“What the fuck,” he breathes out. His heartbeat is pounding beneath Eddie’s fingers. “I… we had to leave you. God, I tried to—”
“What?” Eddie interrupts him. “You died. Right in my arms, like, right in front of my fucking face and then you all got sucked into that pit and I—”
“What? No. Wh--wait. Wait wait wait. How did you find my apartment?” Richie demands.
“Uh, excuse me, this is my—”
But Eddie doesn’t finish that sentence because at that moment he looks past Richie into the living room and his point dies on the tip of his tongue. This is not his apartment. The doormat wasn’t lying. This is some kind of bachelor pad nightmare. One sofa, no art on the walls, a TV that’s too big for the room. Eddie glances up at the number on the door. Seven. It’s the right number, the outside of the place looks right… 
“What did you do to my house?!” Eddie cries, because of course he’s happy Richie is alive—too happy to even process it properly—but he’s not going to pretend he won’t be pissed if Richie donated all of his good Pottery Barn furniture.
“Your— I live here, dipshit,” says Richie, apparently kind of snapping out of it. “I’ve lived here for like ten years.”
“You told me you lived in Chicago and—”
“Yeah,” says Richie. “Well, like kind of. I have an apartment there, usually sublet it. Didn’t think I needed to get into my whole real estate history, cause it’s not like we had bigger things to worry about.”
“Just—”
“You know what?” says Richie. “Just fucking come in. Let’s...can you call Mike?”
“Mike isn’t dead either?!” Eddie cries. What--How--
“Of course not,” says Richie. “I mean he better not be, I’ve been texting him all day.”
Eddie takes his phone out of his pocket and goes to his recent call history. He taps on the Derry number that called him the other day, back in another fucking lifetime, while rolling his suitcase into this like sham of an apartment that apparently Richie lives in. 
We’re sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed…
“You try Mike,” Eddie says, shaking his head. “My phone says his number is disconnected.”
Richie is texting furiously. He sinks down into the couch.
“Does that thing have like bed bugs?” Eddie asks, because the couch looks kind of suspect if he’s being honest. Like the kind of thing Richie might have dragged in off the sidewalk.
Richie makes a face. “No, what the fuck, of course not.”
Eddie sits down next to him on the edge of his seat, still not entirely convinced about the bed bug situation.
“I’m gonna FaceTime Mike, cause…” Richie shakes his head. “Fuck, I don’t know. Mike’s the crazy bitch with all the answers, right?”
Richie then does something kind of un-Richie-ish. He turns to the side and drops his head on Eddie’s shoulder, inhaling shakily and deeply. It’s then that Eddie notices his coffee table is littered with tissues.
“What?” Eddie asks him. He gets the distinct impression that Richie is about to cry, maybe, which is terrifying. And that’s stupid because Eddie works in a goddamn hospital. He deals with crying people every day. But there’s something about being around Richie that just… He feels like they’ve fallen back into the dynamic they had when they were kids. And teenage Eddie wouldn’t have known how to deal with Richie crying and so adult Eddie is kind of panicking over the thought of trying to figure that shit out on the fly.
If Richie starts crying, Eddie probably will too. This situation is… Honestly, it’s super overwhelming. He doesn’t feel equipped to deal with this fuckery.
Just then though, Mike picks up. Like a flash, Richie lifts his head up off Eddie’s shoulder and shoots Mike a shit-eating grin.
“Explain this shit, Mikey,” he says, and turns the screen to face Eddie.
Mike immediately drops his phone.
181 notes · View notes
funkymbtifiction · 4 years
Text
I’ve been going back and forth between infp and isfj for ages (bought books, scrolled through your blog endlessly) but your recent infp post gave me pause.
‘INFPs have trouble wrapping their head around what most of the other types “settle for” – finding a job that pays the rent, even if it’s crap, and doing what you love (like write) in your spare time as a hobby. Their idealism and need to do what they love for work makes it hard for them to cope with the idea that realistically, that may not work out.’
I could barely relate to that. Even when I think I can incorporate my creative side I’m very realistic about it. I could be a hairdresser at a friend’s salon but I’m very sensitive to smells and have horrible allergies. I wonder if Ne would instantly be trying to figure out ways around that not just be ‘yeah, that’s off the table’. I’m a (almost forced) problem solver and do try to find loopholes in things but that’s more fear based than anything else ( that sounds so 6 XD ). Plus I keep wondering if I followed my passions as a career would that kill my joy of them. Would business and deadlines kill the creativity? Would people even like and respond to it (this ways heavily on me. The fear of disappointment and rejection).
Add a critical view of my talents and I’m going ‘settling’ is more than okay since you need to survive and keeping passions alive is needed as well so find time to do that during the day. Make it the best part of your day. A reward for making it through and if you can make some money from it then great.
Long story short if someone can’t relate to that is it a red flag that you’re not infp or you can be and my Ne decided to send me down rabbit holes - again.
Since everyone is different, you will relate to some things about your type and not others, and you can always factor in your Enneagram type (being a 6 tends to make people less risk-taking, more concerned with how others feel about them / considerate of others in general, and more practical) … but ultimately, you should be able to recognize your dominant function given your blind spots (lower functions). Being unable to detach from their strong need to do what they want to do, and not do what they don’t want to do, is an issue for INFPs. Most of the ones I know either work for less money, or took a pay cut, to leave a job that makes them miserable in order to do one that fulfills them in some way. The ISFJs learn the system they are working with, and do it, because there is no Fi-dom need in them to be “authentic” to themselves, and their stronger Si is aware that some jobs are boring. That’s life.
Given that nothing you said here has a strong sense of “I see things through how I feel about them,” and that still bleeds through even with 6s, I’d say you have your judging axis in the middle of your stack rather than at opposite ends. Your careful, meticulous questioning suggests perception > judgment. That would support ISFJ, if you are sure of being an introvert.
I suggest reading the “learn mbti page” and reading all the dominant function posts carefully. An INFP should somewhat relate to the ENP post (at least in the sense of “yes, that’s how I am… fanatical with an interest and then it disappears… and I no longer care about it… I want to change the world with my ideas / idealism / beliefs…”) AND the IFP post. IFPs are rather famous for shutting down anything they don’t want to talk about, whereas IFJs are more willing to discuss it, as perceiving dominants (less instant NOPE). If you are an ISFJ, you should somewhat relate to the Fe-dom post (in terms of seeing others in terms of “we” and wanting an emotional consensus, for others to agree with you, etc) and also Si (in your own interests, points of expertise, and the way you learn).
Just an example – I know two artists. One is an INFP, the other is an ISFJ. The ISFJ, being a Si-dom, is willing to meticulously work on one area of her art, until it is perfect. Si-dom artists are the ones who create the teachable art books, which tell you to keep drawing an eye until it’s perfect, then learn the nose, and so on… in so doing, their meticulous repetition establishes a base of learning that is an ‘expert’ not just in fingers or toes, but all elements of the face, and then of the body. That is Si learning. Methodical. You do it over and over, until you get it perfect. You learn it a piece at a time, to make the whole.
The INFP artist refused to use the book that taught drawing techniques through that repetition, since “I don’t WANT to draw that way.” She refused to use any books at all. She had to do it her own way. She drew for awhile. Then she made / decorated fandom hats. Then she painted doll faces. Then she went into sewing. She doesn’t really use patterns, either, that much. She just  looks at it, draws a design based on what she knows she wants, and makes up her own pattern to get it to do that (often just by eyeballing it, cutting it, and then moving fabric around). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But she did not methodically learn to draw. She moved on to making Rey’s staff for Cosplay, used it for awhile, then sold it and went on to Victorian stuff. Because as an NP… she loses interest and moves on to other things. ;)
Low Si finds repetition boring and just tends to intuitively leap into things. So, for example, they may be a gifted writer with zero awareness of how writing as a technique (grammar, sentence structure, avoiding certain words at the ends of sentences) actually works – and they may not even care, until it in some way impedes them getting published. Then they will learn too much all at once, in the process skim-reading / not learning it properly, and missing half of it, as opposed to the ISFJ writer who carefully studies writing techniques, reads 20 books on writing by successful novelists, does the practice work, and then has all the knowledge in place to move forward and do it.
Not everyone is going to do this, obviously, but I’m illustrating how SiNe is much more methodical in how they learn something, vs how NeSi just haphazardly does it – often well, but it neglects learning the important fundamentals, and then later has to go back and fill in gaps in its knowledge.
- ENFP Mod
42 notes · View notes
Text
Kijyo Koyo Analysis!
Earth Max HP: 11,250 Max ATK: 9,177 (Effective ATK: 10,095) Star Absorption: 9 Star Generation: 4.9% NP Charge ATK: 0.85% NP Charge DEF: 5% BBBAQ Buster = 3 hits, Arts = 3 hits, Quick = 3 hits, Extra = 5 hits Base NP Gain: A = 2.55%, Q = 2.55%, E = 4.20%
Shapeshift (Dinosaur) C: Increases own defense for 3 turns. (20-30%) Increases own critical star absorption for 1 turn. (3000% - 5000%). 7 -> 5 turn cooldown
Nine-Headed Dragon's Fire A: Increases own Quick performance for 3 turns (20-30%). Increases own Buster performance for 3 turns (20-30%). Overcharges one ally's NP by 1 stage for 1 time, 3 turns. 8 -> 6 turn cooldown
Rope of Life B: Recovers party's HP (1000-2000). Removes one debuff from party. Grants party Instant-Kill immunity for 3 turns. 8 -> 6 turn cooldown
Mad Enhancement A: Increases own Buster performance by 10%. Magic Resistance C: Increases own debuff resistance by 15%.
Momijigari Buster 10 hit Inflicts Burn with 500 damage to self for 3 turns. Increases own attack for 3 turns. (20-40%, OC) Deals damage to one enemy. (600-1000%).
Primary Role: DPS Secondary Role: Situational Role: Medic, Cleric
So, the dino wife. I love this girl. She's beautiful and adorable and a blushy T-Rex wife. Her kit has often been compared to Ibaraki, but if you think that's a good thing, I'm here to tell you it is not. I'm not a huge fan of how Ibaraki plays personally, and that extends to Kijyo. Kijyo in a lot of ways is a logical extension of Ibaraki, but it doesn't make her particularly good.
First of all we have Shapeshift (Dinosaur), which is a modest Def buff and a 1-turn Star Absorb. This skill isn't particularly good, and honestly is arguably pretty vanilla in terms of power. She has no hard survival which means that her Def buff is her only form of survivability. The Star Absorb is also weirdly placed, as even Ibaraki's Shapeshift would have been better. Kijyo just doesn't have good star gen in which to abuse this skill, with her NBQE chain generating on average 15 crit stars with her second skill up. 15 is just too little for this short-lasting of a star absorb.
Her second skill on the other hand is really pretty good. A 30% Buster and Quick up, which becomes a 40% Buster up factoring in her Mad Enhancement, and the ability to boost Overcharge. Usually this will be used on herself, but it can be used on other Servants with good overcharge affects as well. A good steroid skill that also does marginally help her NP gain and lasts for 3 turns. There isn't a lot to complain about here, this is just a good skill.
Her third skill is pure support, providing a party heal, a single debuff clear, and 3 turns of instant death immunity. The problem with this skill is that none of these effects are particularly amazing, and there's often an incentive to use this skill after Kijyo's NP (protip: don't). Instant Death immunity rarely comes up, and this skill could have healed all debuffs. It's certainly usable but a lackluster skill overall.
Her NP is pretty good though. A 10-hit ST NP that boosts her Attack before doing damage, this NP will generally do pretty decent damage overall and makes her hit pretty well for the next couple of turns. It also inflicts a Burn, but that basically doesn't matter all that much considering command codes exist.
Looking at it overall though, Kijyo isn't a particularly standout Berserker. Her stat spread is high HP and low ATK, which is always bad for Berserkers given their defensive disadvantage, and while her NP gain on her Arts is quite good, her lack of an NP charge or hard survival option makes her pretty inconsistent. You can probably get her to NP once on her own, but getting her to NP multiple times before getting rushed down will be a problem. Perhaps a bigger problem though, however, is justifying using Kijyo over Berserkers in her similar niche, such as Jalter, Beowulf, or Lu Bu, who generally do a lot more damage. That comes down to her support, and while its notable in its own right, generally she's not the best ST Berkserker to use.
Supports: Kijyo generally benefits from most Buster supports given her gorilla card set, but because of her unique support, servants like Merlin can be considered more synergistic because of her ability to overcharge their NPs. She also works well in more defensive teams with servants like Mash, Chen Gong, and Waver thanks to her Def buff. Her decent hit counts also make Servants who can provide Stargen buffs, like Nero Bride, useful as well.
CEs: Kijyo really wants access to starting NP, considering that her Attack boost helps to keep her damage higher than expected. She'll also benefit from Buster up CEs a lot. She's pretty straightforward in this regard.
Pros: -Long lasting steroids mean that her overall card damage is pretty decent compared to some other Berserkers. -Decent support in her 3rd skill and 2nd skill that open up some interesting options -Her Arts card is quite good which makes her NP generation less bad than it might initially seem
Cons: -Her survival options are limited to a small heal and a decent Def buff, making her fragile compared to other Berserkers with Evasion and/or Guts. -NP damage is more middling compared to standouts in her role -Star Absorb is largely wasted on her own as her star generation is poor -Requires support to really shine
Kijyo is a decent Servant. She can certainly work as your ST Berserker, as she's not especially bad. She's not especially good either though, lacking many of the options that are generally needed to make a Berserker succeed in the current game state. However, she is the only Servant who can also be a T-Rex, which is something to keep in mind.
5 notes · View notes
kinetic-elaboration · 4 years
Text
January 27: Thoughts on The 100 2x09, Remember Me
...For some reason I was really angry at the beginning of this? Also there’s a lot of Lxa bashing. Sorry. And some Clarke criticism but in the latter case, I mean it well.
Also this is really long whoops.
*
So...I miss when killing off main characters was a big deal and people actually reacted to it.
I truly cannot take Lxa seriously I’m sorry. I don’t find her... intimidating at all.
I’ve already complained repeatedly about her complete bad faith deal making at every turn so I won’t go into it again but nevertheless, here she is, again, moving the goal posts of the negotiation. ‘I’ll withdraw my army if you cure the Reapers. No, if you give up your friend. No, if you give me his body.’ Clarke should have double crossed her immediately.
Also I know that I ultimately did think it was reasonable for Finn to face Grounder justice (except insofar as that justice was itself morally untenable--that is, the Torture Porn) but now that he’s dead, I think there’s no real moral argument to be made that the Grounders deserve his body. I understand their traditions, which in fact I found quite moving when I first watched this ep, but surely his people have, or could make up, some traditions for his burial also. He is still their friend. This seems like little more than an excuse to be cruel. And Clarke’s so fucking broken she just goes with it. It’s truly awful. I mean she’s doing the only thing she can do I guess but it’s laughable that she sounds as if she has any sort of upper hand, you’re getting played bitch.
(Yeah I know, Lxa is being ‘groundbreaking’ and ‘revolutionary’ by even semi-accepting capital punishment without torture and taking his body is a way of appeasing her harder line advisers but like cry me a river--she’s either the all powerful commander or she’s fucking not.)
“We want the same things.” Lol if you wanted the same things you would have stuck to the original deal. No I’m not over this at all I guess.
I also still can’t get over how Clarke has literally never earned true leadership in the eyes of her own people and yet she continues to be randomly viewed as a leader by the Grounders and thus retains pretty much full de facto control over her own people’s power structure.
Also Kane shut the fuck up. I completely forgot about this but they really did put him through an off-screen 180 where all of a sudden Lxa is a God to him and can literally do nothing wrong and to this day we have never been given an explanation how that came to be. Guess it’s easier to tell not show huh?!?
ALSO I get we’re suppose to see a sort of racism-corollary to lines like “I don’t think they know what peace is” like obviously this rubs one the wrong way automatically. But Abby’s not really wrong. And despite what Kane thinks, Lxa has given, again, NO indication at all that she is interested in peace. She has given a lot of indications that she wants to do whatever she can to wring as much from the Sky People as she can without giving anything in return and hey we’re only halfway through the season and she’s already psychologically broken Clarke (also the only person she acknowledges as the leader even though she is not, cannot emphasize this enough, the leader of anything... and thus the only person L really has to break) and sunk-cost-fallacy-ed her into submission. Now that Finn is dead Clarke would cut off her own tit to make Lxa happy because anything else is “letting him die in vain.”
...Why am I so angry lol?
I understand the positions of both Clarke and Raven in this scene, which is fucking brutal, but I sympathize more with Raven. Clarke’s basically just a messenger, but what the Grounders are demanding is (I know I already said it) cruel, and cruel to Raven above all. And Clarke is almost all business. I think that’s what she needs to be for herself but it’s not helpful to the situation.
Anyway here are my faves in Mount Weather. It’s almost hard to watch these scenes because I want to, like, memorize them. Partially for the C/M story and partially just because. Today’s adventure is getting to a radio to send a message to the Ark-wide channel, which is a term for a thing that exists. Also I forgot how snarky everyone / Miller was to Maya. Which, I get. But--are they not thinking about how her own people have experimented on her? Like she is expendable to them, this is just a known fact at this time. So yes, there is a real risk to her, Nathan.
“Oh, is that all?” / “No--there’s more.” Monty’s so one-track he didn’t even hear the sarcasm. I love him.
“Their army has been getting their ass kicked by Mount Weather forever.” Bellamy speaking the truth. Do they need the alliance, or do they just need the Grounders to back the fuck off from attacking them? (Spoiler: they do not need the alliance.)
Ah Bellarke, always quick to reassure each other. Blindly, even.
“Since I don’t take orders from you, I’m going to need a better reason” is one of my favorite lines, and underrated. Finally someone reminding Clarke she’s not actually in charge of everyone and everything all the time. (I realize this sounds like I dislike Clarke. I don’t. I just find certain traits of hers frustrating. But this just makes her a good character.) Also you can see that, rather like her moment with Raven, she falls back on being business like and direct and issuing orders to avoid talking about feelings or breaking apart.
The United States War Room survives the apocalypse.
I’m sorry but it’s ridiculous to think that Lxa invented the concept of an alliance lol.
I guess Clarke needs to go all in on the alliance because of Finn, but... I also think this is part of who she is. Her sense of practicality outweighs any human desire to hold a grudge, and I think she assumes a level of practicality in others too, automatically, such that she underestimates wariness in others. Like Bellamy and Gustus and everyone is right to be uncertain about this literally hours-old alliance--not even an official alliance, since L’s latest demand hasn’t technically been met!--and Clarke’s like ‘yeah I’ll sleep next to people who would have killed me six hours ago np!’ because now that she’s in, she’s in. She’s neither angry nor afraid.
Linctavia like “Google Earth, always taking pictures.”
Is Lincoln wearing Ark clothes?
I know Raven is made to look kind of wan and sunken and sad but yet this scene where she’s being disarmed is honestly like peak hotness for me and I don’t know why. I like my women sullen and covered in knives?
Interesting how allegedly only the warriors knew English and yet Lxa’s big announcement re: get in line with me or die is made in English. Just going to point out yet again what a big mistake that throwaway S1 line is.
What a sad life to lead, where random declarations followed by “or death” have to form the entirety of your belief system “Don’t be upset that your wife and child are dead...or I’ll beat you to a pulp.” I truly don’t understand how we were ever supposed to get in line with this society as sympathetic or interesting. So much so that they get a whole prequel I guess???
I’d rather have a Mount Weather prequel except not really, don’t ruin it for me.
I love Miller’s canonical insane superhuman strength. This is a trait often overlooked in fics.
The usual comment on Mount Weather scenes: I love all of it.
The thing is that if everyone were on board with the funeral ceremony, it is touching. Murderer and murdered together, and the people who’ve been hurt, on both sides, saying goodbye as a group. It’s just that Clarke’s people were coerced into this--they weren’t convinced it would be a fitting ceremony, just told ‘well this is how it is and if you don’t like it, we could perhaps... KILL YOU?”
Is this a new revelation that Mount Weather crashed the Exodus ship (still a really satisfying belated explanation imo)? Or did we know that because, unlike Monty et al, we knew about the jamming signals already? Can’t remember.
You can see how L came to believe what she believes but nevertheless this is bad advice lol. “Don’t care about other people.” Okay, I’ll just stop doing that then.
Mmmm, a feast in a subway station. Delicious. Fucking full pig head as the centerpiece. Very DC.
Kane (handing over pure space moonshine probably): Just don’t drink too much of it. Clarke (five minutes later): Guzzles whole bottle at once. #partygriff is officially canon.
Waiting until tomorrow to start the war? Procrastinators. Clarke didn’t kill Finn for this.
I love Certified Dramatic Ho Bellamy knocking the cup out of Clarke’s hand even though she had made no move whatsoever to drink it.
“When you plunged your knife into the heart of the boy you loved, did you not wish that it was mine.” Lxa, also a certified Dramatic Ho.
Clarke kinda deserved to be punched in the face given that it wouldn’t actually make sense for Raven to try to poison Lxa--and make Finn’s death mean nothing? And put them all in danger in enemy territory? Nonsense. Nevertheless it’s hard not to feel bad for her when she follows this accusation up with a psychotic break.
Hmmm, do I think Abby turning in Jake was the same as Clarke killing Finn? Not really. She didn’t directly kill Jake, that was Jaha, and Jaha is who Clarke should really be mad at. That said, I don’t think she was really saving anyone in the direct way Clarke was. So, apples and oranges. Crazy awkward moment to bring it up, though lol. “Oh Clarke, you’ll feel better eventually--remember that time I killed your Dad? I got over that! Wait--does talking about your dead father upset you? That’s a surprise!” Nevertheless I appreciate major actions having consequences as that’s a semi-rarity on this show.
Monty Green: hero.
“Lxa needs this alliance as much as we do.” - True, if she intends to get her people out of MW. “She’s shown herself to be flexible.” - Not true. She’s given the bare minimum of concessions. Kane, please crawl back out of her colon for like 5 seconds, get some air.
Interesting that Raven and Bellamy are chilling near each other. I wonder what they were discussing. Tbh Bellamy’s feelings on everything in this episode are rather opaque. Other than understanding why Clarke mercy-killed Finn and being skeptical of the alliance.
“Kill one person and destroy the alliance” is literally only merciful because the default in this society is “kill everyone all the time for any reason.” Like, I guess??? That’s mercy by comparison?? But forgive me if I am not moved to admiration.
“This time justice will be done” says the woman who used the barest sliver of evidence to decide that a random person was guilty so she could have a public execution. A public execution to replace the other public execution, in fact, not to avenge a death because Gustus isn’t dead. (Yet.)
Kane’s really okay with letting Raven be tortured to death, huh? Gah he’s fucking annoying.
Bellarke: Crime Solving Duo. That’s some satisfying teamwork. Clarke figures out how the scheme worked. Bellamy figures out who’s behind the scheme. With all the evidence put together, the motive becomes clear. (Honesty, they should have been suspicious that the poison not only didn’t kill Gustus, it barely harmed him lol.)
Check out all the Department of Homeland Security stuff on Monty’s computer. This is perhaps Dante’s log in? There’s a set of “personal” files too. And a set of President’s Office files, which one would assume not everyone would have.
Anyway, I have a Thing for tense sequences of hackers...hacking.
When I first watched this season I was often so tense my whole body hurt and it’s mostly because of MW scenes like this one where Monty is caught. Like aaaaah it still gets me. He almost makes it... and then almost makes it again, with his silly little salute... (Never forget that he is A Dork.)
On the one hand, Raven being tortured and then seeing Gustus tortured to death allows her to see why Clarke killing Finn was an act of mercy, to forgive her, and to move on, so the narrative can continue with them as allies and nominal friends. And it works, basically. But I also think there’s something to the theory that they were never the same, that the wound never really healed.
I’m sorry but Octavia’s face when Clarke’s like “Yeah B, you’re expendable, go get yourself killed, have a map!!” is hilarious. Like, he’s just said that Gustus doing anything for Lxa made sense, and Octavia responded with “Look at the thanks he got” which seems to me like She Knows and then 5 seconds later Bellamy is basically thrown away by the person we all know he’d do anything for... I mean the face is fair. Also this is Bellamy’s idea and it’s a good idea and so he was right before and Clarke is also right now, but it’s still so... annoying.... like “okay, I’m done caring about you lol bye.”
And Raven’s just totally confused. It’s been a damn long day I guess.
Why are they all such fucking hotties? It’s hard to pay attention to “the plot.”
So the ashes Abby tries to give to Clarke are the same ashes, perhaps, that Jasper scatters in S3? This vial looks smaller. Why did she not immediately give them to Raven? That would seem to be the obvious thing to do.
And here we see Clarke, under L’s direct influence, becoming Increasingly Insufferable. I love her but this is obviously supposed to be her descent into the abyss: she treats her friends like little expendable minions, she turns her back on Finn’s memory, and then she ends the episode by dramatically walking into a dark room in slow motion to creepy chamber music. I mean this is the hero’s fall guys!! That’s what it always was!!!
If only they’d handled Bellamy’s hero’s fall in 3A, and Clarke’s rise again in 3B, as well.
That ending is a straight up horror movie thanks that’s why this is my favorite season.
5 notes · View notes
fandammit · 6 years
Text
With sorrows to impart (12/?)
[A/N: I’m sorry this took a while, but in return, I have given you 7K+ words of struggles and snuggles. Strap yourself in y’all -- this chapter is a rollercoaster of emotion. I had so much fun writing it, so let me know what you think! Also, shoutout to @actuallylorelaigilmore​ for her lovely beta work and cheerleading!)
Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 6 || Part 7 || Part 8 || Part 9 || Part 10 || Part 11
The door barely has time to click shut before Lawrence shifts in his chair, his expression smoothing out to something almost pleasant. Not friendly, exactly, but that professional kind of niceness a realtor might greet you with -- the kind that smiles because it wants something from you.
“I apologize that you had to witness that, Ms. Alvarez. Now you see why I thought it might be better for you to spend your time in a more pleasant way than what you just had to sit through.”
“No, I'm glad I stayed. It…” She tips her head back and forth, trying to find a way around saying what she's thinking, which is that it gave her a quick and easy way to see what a complete asshole he is and apparently always has been. She gives him a tight lipped smile. “It was enlightening.”  
He arches his eyebrow and nods at her.
“So, Ms. Alvarez. Would you like a drink?” He stands up and walks over to a side panel in the unit behind him and opens it up. “I don't keep anything alcoholic in the house when I know my son will be visiting, but I do have plenty of soft drinks and juices at your disposal."  
“Uh, just water is fine, thanks.”
“Sparkling ok?”
She nods, watches him take out green bottle and pour it into two separate glasses. He comes over and hands it to her, then stands just off to the side of the desk.
“So, how is it that you know my son?” He asks, looking at her from over his glass.
She takes a small sip of her water, then sets the glass down. She's not sure why he's asking -- it feels like there must be a purpose other than the obvious -- but can't think of any reason not to answer him truthfully.  
“I live in the building.”
Lawrence raises his eyebrow slightly before he nods.
“And how long have you known him?”
Again, she's not sure what he's looking for, so she just goes for the truth.
“We moved in about seventeen years ago, but it was mostly my parents living in the apartment while my husband -- ex-husband now -- and I were deployed.”
He purses his lips, and she has the feeling that he's impressed without really wanting to be.
“What branch of the armed forces?”
“Army Staff Sergeant, deployed as a medic.”
“And now that your enlistment is done, you run your own clinic?”
She chuckles.
“It sometimes feels like I am.” She takes another drink of water. “I'm a nurse at a doctor's office and going to school to become an NP.”
He nods.
“That's an admirable career path.”
She gives him another closed-mouth smile.
“I think so, too.”
Lawrence walks back over to the drinks cabinet and opens up a bottle of ginger ale.
“And my son?” He asks, topping off his glass before looking up at her. “Who is he to you?”
He asks in the same easy tone as before, but his stance has changed -- his shoulders squared, his feet firmly planted. Almost like he's ready to go into battle.
Alright then, she thinks. Bring it on.  
“Your son is important to me,” she says, meeting his gaze directly, making sure her words are firm and direct. “He's someone I care about deeply.”  
It comes out easily, as though this isn’t the first time she’s ever really had to think about or say out loud what Schneider means to her. And why shouldn’t it, though? Both those things are true, and have been for a long time now.
“Hm. And what is it exactly that you see in him?”
It's a strange question and she really doesn't know what he means by it or what he's trying to figure out, so she replies with the most honest answer she can give.
“He’s a good man.”
He arches his brow.
“I see.” He tilts his head at her and studies her expression. He comes back around and sits down at the desk, setting his drink down in front of him. She works on keeping her face as passive and neutral as possible. Whatever it is he's hoping to find, she wants to make it as hard as possible on him.  
After a long moment, he nods, tapping his fingers across the top of his desk.
“You know, being a good man has never been the problem for my son. It’s certainly never what I’ve found myself wishing for.”
“So what is?”
He shrugs.
“There are times I would’ve rather had a stronger son. A smarter son.” He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms in front of him. “A sober son.” He makes an acquiescing gesture with his hands. “And yes, he's sober now -- though I always wonder for how long -- but I've had to give up on the other two.”
She shakes her head, not bothering to hide the distaste she feels towards him.
“You're wrong, Lawrence. Schneider is both those things.” She holds up a hand. “Maybe not book smart, but smart enough to keep that building running, to fix anything that breaks himself, to know what it is that people need -- whether that's a new faucet that won't leak or an extra hour every afternoon so they aren't lonely.” She blows out a harsh puff of air, allowing herself to fully sink into the frustration and anger she held back on the entire time he and Schneider were arguing. “He is so much stronger than you give him credit for -- so much stronger than even I ever really gave him credit for. And you know how I know?”
She doesn't expect Lawrence to say anything -- and he doesn't -- just raises an eyebrow.  
She gives him hard stare.
“I know because now I've met you and I understand what it was like for him when he was growing up, and despite all that, he still grew up to be kind and caring and so incredibly loving. He was strong enough to not just be a better man than you, which would be easy, but to be a good one.”
He gives her a long, thoughtful stare. He doesn’t even seem offended at her words -- more curious than anything.
“How serious is it between you and my son?”
She doesn’t say anything. Partially because she doesn’t really know what to say -- it’s a question that’s both too soon and too late, really -- but also because even if she did, this man in front of her is the last person she’d talk to it about.
He tilts his head, studying her closely.
“You’re here with him at an emotional and difficult time in his life, which means that you understand the importance of emotional support and that he trusts you to be that support for him. He’s never brought anyone with him back home the few times he has visited, which means that you must be something different to him.”
She nods, but otherwise tries to keep her expression impassive.
“Like I said -- he’s important to me. And not just to me -- to my kids, to my mom. To basically everyone in the entire building.”
He tilts his head at her.
“So you have children.”
She nods.
“I do.”
“And yet you don't approve of the way I chose to protect mine.”
She shakes her head, not even bothering to deny it.
“No, because this wasn't about protection, it was about control.”
Lawrence scoffs.
“And what makes you so sure of this?”
“Because there are a lot of other options you could’ve taken before you went full Bond villain.” She draws herself up in her chair as she leans forward. “If it was really just about protection, you could’ve granted her parenting time when he was a child based on having her take a drug test. You could’ve written sobriety testing and drug interventions into the custody agreement. After he turned 18, you could’ve tied the trust account to her continued sobriety or given her the opportunity to amend the agreement if she ever showed progress in staying sober.”
She shakes her head.
“But you didn’t do any of that. Because it was never about his protection, it was about you getting to control the people around you.”
He presses his mouth into a firm line before he clears his throat.
“From the way you feel at liberty to criticize my own choices, it would seem as though you have some experience with something similar to my own circumstances.” He shakes his head. “But your choices are your own, just as mine are my own. I don’t regret what I did, and I doubt I ever will.”
She huffs angrily and shakes her head.
“Of course you don’t, because damn whatever it did to the people around you as long as you got to do what you wanted.”
Lawrence takes a deep breath, real anger flashing in his eyes for a moment before his face smoothes out to that infuriating stoniness once again. He steeples his hands in front of his face and she has to bite down hard on her lip to not point out the fact that doing so only reinforces what a villain he is.
Briefly she wonders if maybe that's the whole reason he does it.  
“Ms. Alvarez,” he begins, his voice frustratingly placating. “Say you have a dog and that dog wants a piece of chocolate cake. But you can’t give that cake to your dog because you know it’ll poison him. You know it may kill him. And while that dog may beg and plead and cry, while he may hate you for not giving him that cake, you know that that dog cannot survive eating it.” He brings his hands down in front of him and leans forward across the table. “So you do what your dog cannot understand -- you take his ability to have the cake away from him. For his own good.”
“Schneider isn’t a dog or a pet or your plaything!” She cries out, feeling like she has never before understood the phrase tearing out my hair like she does at this very moment. “He’s your son, and you had no right to take away his choice to have a relationship with his mother.”
Lawrence shakes his head.
“Surely you’ve noticed by now -- my son hasn’t done so well making his own choices.” He lists each point out with a tap of his finger against his thumb. “No college degree, no career, no real direction in life. Nothing to show, despite a life filled with every opportunity money could buy.”
She stands up in her chair, her palms flat on the desk.
“Maybe none of those things would’ve happened if he knew someone cared about him. If he knew that someone loved him -- that he was someone worth loving!” She knows her voice is rising but she doesn’t care. It’s beyond her to think that someone like this raised Schneider and can’t see what a shitty job he did of it. “Maybe it could’ve been different if he knew that his mother hadn’t just abandoned him for thirty years of his life for no reason, if he knew that his father loved him!”
He scoffs.
“Please, Ms. Alvarez. I’m far too old and you’re far too smart to think that love can solve problems like these.” He taps his fingers across the top of the desk. “His mother was an addict. My son is an addict. Love wasn’t going to solve either of those things.” He shakes his head. “And as far as how I treated him, it wasn't love that he needed but money. It was money that needed to be applied to that issue. Money that kept her from him, money that got him sober, that got him that building, that is responsible for the man he is today.”
She shakes her head angrily, her next words cold and low in her throat.
“Schneider is responsible for the man he is today.” She leans across the desk at him and glares at him. “Not you, not your money. He is the man he is today because he worked for it.”
Lawrence huffs out a harsh laugh.
“Really? Then it would be the first thing he’s ever really worked at.”
That one in particular hurts, in part because there is some version of her that would've once said the same thing. But that was before she took the time to understand how difficult of a journey his sobriety had been, before she knew what kind of man he might have been and actively fought against becoming.
“What do you think my son is going to do with free reign and five million dollars?” He leans back in his chair and shakes his head. “If I were a betting man, I’d say he’s back in rehab by the end of the year.” He tilts his head at her. “And I also bet that you’ll be nowhere to be found at that time. And it’ll be me once again, who’ll pick him back up, to get him better and to get him back on his feet.”
“You’re wrong, Lawrence,” she says, the words jagged and angry. "He's so much stronger and smarter and better than you think he is, and the fact that you never thought that is part of the reason why he’s struggled so much to stay sober. Which means you're part of the reason he struggled so much to stay sober.” She sits back down, her knuckles turning white from the force of her grip on the table. “And you know what? He’s going to be just fine. Because even if -- God forbid -- something does happen, I’m gonna be there for him. I’m gonna be with him and support him no matter what. And my daughter is gonna be there, and my son is gonna be there, and my mother is gonna be there. And he’s gonna be ok. For the rest of his life, he's gonna be ok, he's gonna know that he matters, he’s gonna know that he’s loved, no matter what. You better believe that I'm gonna make damn sure of it.”
Lawrence lets out a bitter laugh.
“If that is true, Ms. Alvarez...” He tips his head to the side as he looks at her with slitted eyes. “Then I have to wonder if you would've been so inclined had he not just inherited five million dollars.”
“Are you kidding me?” And she just barely manages to keep herself from adding an expletive right after the word 'you’. “Not everything is about money, Lawrence! We are not all you!”
“Ms. Alvarez, my son is an absurdly wealthy yet weak-willed man desperate for affection. You're a divorced single mother who is -- I assume -- the sole provider, or close to it, for two children and an aging mother. It isn't difficult to see what's going on here.”  
“What's going on here,” she says through gritted teeth, her body nearly vibrating with anger, “is that I care about Schneider and I want to be there for him no matter what. I couldn't care less about how much money he has in his bank account.”
Lawrence barks out a sharp, grating laugh.
That's how I know how calculating you are, Ms. Alvarez.” He shakes his head. “The way you said that was almost enough to make me believe that you aren't a liar.”  
“That’s enough, father,” Schneider snarls from the doorway, the words cracking through the air, propelled forward by cold fury.
He advances towards his father with his fists clenched at his side, his eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched so tightly she can see the muscle working in his cheek. For a brief moment, she actually thinks he's going to hit his father.  
Maybe Schneider does too, because he stops abruptly at her chair and grips the back of it tightly. She immediately reaches back to rest her hand on his and feels him shaking with rage.
“I don't care what you say to me, but you will not talk to Penelope that way. Understand?”
Lawrence doesn't say anything, just looks curiously at the two of them, like they're a math problem he can't quite figure out.
She feels Schneider getting ready to push off from her chair and -- what? Throw something against the wall? Fist fight his 70 year old father? She's really not sure, and she really doesn't want him to do anything he'll end up regretting, no matter how much she thinks Lawrence has it coming.
So she wraps one hand around his wrist, rests the other heavily on his hand and squeezes.
He takes a deep, shaky breath, and she hears him grinding his teeth together so loudly that she winces at the sound of it.  
“Do. You. Understand.” He repeats, the words a grating rasp, ripped out through gritted teeth.  
His father levels a long, long look at him, then barely inclines his head.
“Apologies, Ms. Alvarez.”
She doesn't say anything to that -- she'd be pretty ok if she never had to say anything to him for the rest of her life. Instead she nods and picks up her clutch from where she set it down by her feet and stands up. She immediately moves next to Schneider and laces her fingers with his, wraps her other hand firmly around his forearm.    
She feels him relax a little at her touch and moves closer to him. She can still feel the waves of rage and emotion radiating out from him, and she wants to make sure she can keep him grounded enough to get out of here as quickly as possible. Of course, she's angry too that Lawrence would assume some kind of manipulative ulterior motive behind her actions, but, at the same time, the notion that she'd ever be interested in anyone -- particularly Schneider -- solely for their money is so absurd it comes back around to honestly being hilarious.   
“The paperwork is all signed and I have an appointment with Aunt Emily regarding mom’s will, so we’re leaving.” His voice is pitched low, the words taut with tension. “I’m sure anything else can be handled through our lawyers.”
There's a finality to his words that makes her think that he means them to be about more than just the trust account. She tries to see what Lawrence's reaction is, but Schneider apparently has no similar interests in such a thing. He doesn't wait for his father to say anything, just turns around and heads for the door.
She tilts her head back slightly so she can catch anything he might say -- a plea to wait or an explanation or even a goodbye -- but the last sound she hears from the room is the door thudding shut behind them. 
Schneider has about a full foot of height on her, something she's noticed before but never really thought about with too much depth.
She's thinking about it now as they walk down the hall, and she has to break into a half-jog to keep up with his pace. He's taking the longest possible strides as quickly as he can, like he can't get out of the house fast enough.
She doesn't say anything, even though she's pretty sure she's currently developing blisters from the pace. She watches as the tension fades from his shoulders every step away from his father that he takes, sees the way his expression relaxes -- eyes losing their dark ferocity, the line of his mouth softening, the furrow between his brows smoothing out.  
Still, she's glad when he stops at the top of the steps and takes a deep breath before closing his eyes and turning his face up towards the sun. She's a little bit out of breath as it is, and there's no way she could've kept up with him going down the steps in heels.
“I've never talked to father like that before,” he says quietly, his eyes still closed. He takes another deep breath before opens his eyes and looks over at her. “But I felt like I needed to say it.”
She nods and leans into him.
“I'm glad you said it to him. He deserved to hear it.”  She squeezes his hand. “How do you feel?”
He chews the corner of his lip, then tilts his head and meets her gaze.
“Weird but...good. Lighter, I guess, if that makes sense? Like maybe I should've said a lot of those things to him a long time ago.” He turns around and stares at the house for a long moment. “I don't think…” He clears his throat. “I'm never coming back here again.”
It's a goodbye and a promise wrapped into one, melancholy and satisfaction chasing one another across his features. He turns back around to face her.
“There is one place I wanna go before we leave though.” He gestures to a gravel path just to the left of them. “You wanna walk down to the beach? There's a little walkway down to it -- it's not far.”
“Yeah, definitely.”
The corner of his mouth curves up before he turns and leads them both towards the gravel path.
“My mom would take me down here all the time when I was a kid -- we’d spend hours swimming and playing and building forts.” He gives her a small smile, though it's shaky at the edges. “Even when she stopped coming around, I still loved it. I stayed out here the whole night before I had to leave for America.”  
They stop at the top of a flight of narrow stone steps. Schneider squeezes her hand before he lets go and walks down in front of her. She reaches down and takes off her shoes before starting down behind him, holding the handrail as she looks out at the landscape before her.
It’s different than the beaches she’s used to -- miles of open sand with a skyline dotted with palm trees. Here, the stairs wind down into a thinly wooded area with a rocky, log lined beach just on the other side of the treeline. The smells here, too, are different -- earth and pine mixed in with the salt spray of the sea.
Schneider reaches the treeline and looks back up at her, the wind brushing his hair, the edges of his wool coat ruffling out behind him. He’s set against a backdrop of trees, the sun breaking through the clouds in the exact right place to frame where he’s standing. She’s never really considered herself as having much of an eye for photography, but as she stares down at him, hands in the pockets of his long, dark gray coat, his tailored black suit perfectly fit to his frame, she thinks -- goddamn, that’s art.
“Everything ok?” He asks, his blue eyes made brighter by the cool tones of the forest around him.
She smiles.
“Just appreciating the view,” she calls out, and maybe she lets her tone dip into something that might be described as flirtatious.  
The uncertain look on his face fades into a grin. “You know, it’s even better up close.”
She lets out a delighted laugh, partially because it’s the kind of cheesy line that would make her laugh, but mostly because it’s the exact kind of cheesy line that Schneider would say and the fact that he’s saying it now means that he’s feeling more like himself. The grin on his face blooms into a full smile, the remaining tension leaking away from his shoulders as he takes a deep breath and leans against the railing. For the first time since they got to the house, he's back to looking like her Schneider.
Whatever it is that means.
He waits for her to come down to where he’s standing before he starts down again. The last step drops off onto the beach and Schneider hops down before reaching up and holding his hand out to her.
“Wait, you should take off your shoes first -- so you don’t get sand in them.”
He nods, toeing them both off and stuffing his socks in them, then leaving them up on the last step. She sets her shoes next to them before she takes his hand and jumps off into the sand, threading her fingers through his the moment that she lands.
“There’s something really relaxing about feeling the sand beneath your feet, you know?”
He smiles down at her and nods. She leans into him as they walk towards the ocean trying to steal some of his warmth as a shiver running up her spine as a gust of wind whips off the ocean.  
He glances down at her with a worried look on his face, then tugs her over to row of bleached logs.
“Over here ok? It looks like the one sunny spot on the beach right now.” He frowns as she tries -- and fails -- to suppress a shiver. “Or we can just go back up. I forgot how cold it gets close to to the beach -- I’m sorry, Pen.”
She shakes her head.
“Schneider, it’s fine, I’m just being a wimp.” She bites her lip as an idea pops into her mind, then before she can change her mind she decides to just go with it. “Here, I have an idea -- sit down right there -- .” She points to a sunny patch of beach right next to a large fallen log. “You can lean back against the log and I can lean back against you, and that way we’ll both be warm.”
She’s says it matter of factly, as if there is no other possible way to keep warm on a windswept beach other than the cuddle close to one another (and, really, it is the best way to stay warm and therefore stay down at the beach). Schneider, too, takes it in stride, his eyes only widening momentarily before he nods and drops down to the sand, his coat flaring out beneath him as he settles back against the log.
His legs are splayed out in front of him, knees bent, with his elbows resting on top of his knees.
She smiles before she walks out in front of him and carefully sits down on the ground in between his outstretched legs. She eases herself back until she’s right up against his chest, his arms immediately moving down to wrap around her waist. She sighs and leans back into him, and she rests her arms on top of his as she laces their fingers together.
“Are you warm enough?” He asks, his breath ruffling the hair against her cheek.
She nods even as another shiver lances through her.  
“You sure?”
She chuckles before sinking further back into him, his arms tightening around her as she does.
“This is perfect.” She rests her head back against his shoulder. “In fact, you might not be allowed to ever move from this spot again.”
He hugs her close to him, and she can feel him rub his cheek against the top of her head.
“That’d be ok with me.”
They’re quiet for a long moment -- just listening to the crash of the waves against the shore, the gulls crying out in the afternoon sky. Schneider sighs behind her, his whole body shifting with the gesture.
“I’m sorry about father.”
She turns her head so that she can meet his eyes as she shakes her head.
“Don’t be, Schneider. It’s not your fault that he’s the way that he is.”
He looks away from her and lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug.
“I shouldn't have left you with him.” He chews on the corner of his lip before he glances back over at her then away again. “I’m sorry that he said those things about you.”
“Hey.” She reaches up and rests her hand against his cheek, turns his head so he’s facing her again before resting her hand back down on his thigh. “I was fine. And you don’t need to apologize for the things that your father said. I don’t care what he thinks about me or says about me.” She tilts her head, wondering. “How much did you hear?”  
He clears his throat.
“You were both pretty loud -- I could hear you two down the hall.” He looks down at her. “I heard him say that he thought you were using me. I heard him say why he thought so.”
“So then you also heard what I had to say about that line of thinking?”
He nods, and suddenly seems bashful and unable to look her in the eye.
“You didn’t have to say those things about me, Pen.”
“Why wouldn’t I? They’re true.” She tips her head down and angles it so she can meet his gaze, but he keeps shifting his eyes so that he looks out towards the ocean instead.
“Father thought that we were together. Not just here together but -- you know -- something more.” He takes a deep breath before he looks at her. “I’m really, really sorry about that, Pen. I’m sorry that he thought that.”
It’s the strangest apology, mostly because she’s not even really sure what it is exactly he’s apologizing for. She studies his face, trying to puzzle it out. He won't meet her eyes, but she can read his expression well enough to see the self-loathing and uncertainty lingering in the downturn of his mouth and in the corner of his eyes.
She narrows her eyes as she realizes what it might mean, and it makes her want sprint back up the stairs and confront his father all over again.
She shifts in his arms so that she can more easily face him and reaches over and lays her hand on his cheek and waits until he finally looks over at her.
“Hey.” She brushes her thumb against his cheekbone. “You know that your father thinking that we’re together isn’t an insult to me.”
He looks away from her again.
“He meant it as one.”
“Well, it’s not. Schneider, hey.” She trails her fingertips across the curve of his cheek, which has the intended result of making him look back over at her. “It’s not an insult. At all.” She shrugs and gives him a small smile  “And it’s not even that crazy of an assumption to make -- the two of us being together. I’m here with you, and I’m here because I do think that you’re important and I didn’t want you to go through this alone. So however he meant it, that’s true.”
He stares at her intently, his bright blue eyes suddenly the color of the sea in a storm. The sound of the waves and the wind and the gulls drops out behind them completely as he flicks his gaze momentarily to her lips before he lets out on unsteady breath.
“I feel like I should tell you that I really, really want to kiss you right now.” He swallows, then forces his gaze back up to meet her eyes. “But I don't think it's a good idea.”
She laughs and drops her head forward, shaking it from side to side because this whole situation is absurd and intoxicating and a little bit scary.
She takes a sharp breath in and lifts her head to look at him. Sees the uncertainty and fear and hope warring across his features and decides that he deserves the same kind of honesty and openness he’s offering her -- that he’s always offered to her.
“Well, then I'll say that I really, really would like to be kissed by you --.” His eyes go wide and he starts to lean towards her, and it’s only the loud cry of a gull that jolts her out of the moment enough to hold her hand up towards him. “But I agree that it's not a good idea.”
He takes a deep breath and nods slowly, though he’s still staring at her lips.
“Uh, ok. Just --.” He bites his lip and looks intently at her, and that movement is way more attractive than it has a right to be. “Can you tell me why you think it wouldn’t be a good idea?”
“Because in the past four days, you found out your mom had died, that she was a recovering addict, that your dad had set up a contract forcing her to stay away from you and that because of it, you'd inherited five million dollars.” She tilts her head up at him. “That's a lot of emotional turmoil, Schneider, and I once heard that you shouldn't reply to someone when you're mad, make promises when you're happy and make decisions when you're sad.”
He narrows his eyes at her.
“That sounds like it was something you would’ve posted on your Instagram.”
“It wasn't.” Schneider raises a brow at her. She huffs and presses her lips together firmly to try to keep from smiling. “Ok, it was but it doesn't make it less true.”
“Yeah, no, you’re right, you’re right.” He lets go of one of her hands and runs his fingers through his hair.
“Why did you think it was a bad idea?” She asks, mostly to distract herself from the sudden, ill-timed desire to run her own fingers through his hair.
He bites his lip and shrugs.
“Well, first of all, I didn’t think you would actually want to kiss me back. I kind of thought you’d say ugh or that is my nightmare or have you been bodysnatched while you were in your father’s house, and then of course I’d have to convince you that I hadn’t been bodysnatched by answering a bunch of questions that -- .”
“Schneider.”
“Yeah, yeah, right.” He clears his throat. “So, that was before. But now that I know that you would in fact kiss me back I think it’s probably a bad idea to kiss you because then…” He takes a deep breath and stares at her with some absurdly attractive mix of tenderness and longing. “Well, If I kissed you now, I would never stop kissing you.”
She stares at him for a long, heady moment then scrambles away from him and stands up, her arms outstretched in front of her.
“Yeah, I cannot be in this same --.” She waves vaguely in his general direction. “I can’t be that close to you right now,” she finishes up, shaking her head with her hand out in front of her like she’s trying to ward him off. “That was too good a line.”
“It wasn’t a line, but I agree.” He gets up enough to sit himself down on the log and then scoots over to the far side of it. “I should probably just be over here for -- uh -- a bit.”
“I mean, yeah, right?” She spins her hands in front of her in a circle as she begins speaking. “There’s a lot that’s happened, there’s a lot of changes that have been going on, and this feeling is just so new for the both of us -- what?”
He folds his arms across his chest and shakes his head.
“Nothing, I think you’re totally, absolutely, 100% right, I definitely agree with you on everything you just said.”
“You made a face.”
He squints at her and tilts his head to the side, his arms flung out on either side of him.
“Maybe this is just my face?”
She shakes her head.
“No, I’m pretty familiar with all the Schneider faces.” She walks up closer to him, her eyes narrowed. “You made a face, Schneider -- what was that face?”
He sighs heavily and uncrosses his arms, holding his hands out in front of him plaintively.
“Just, uh - this feeling -.” He motions to the space between them. “It’s not exactly new for me.”
She draws her brows together.
“What do you mean?”  
He takes a deep breath and lets it out again slowly, his hands burrowing deep into his pockets.
“Well, uh, you know. It’s kind of like the moon -- sometimes it’s full and out there and it’s all you can think about. Sometimes it’s just a tiny sliver and you can almost forgot it’s even there. And sometimes it can seem like it’s not there at all.” He shrugs. “But even at those times, even when you can’t necessarily see it, you know it hasn’t really gone anywhere. And you know...” He gives her a small half smile. “You know that having it around makes everything in your life better.”
She tilts her head at him and smiles, because even if her emotions are a jumbled, confusing mess right now, she still can’t help but think this whole thing is unbearably adorable.
“We’re still talking about the moon?”
“Yeah, the metaphor kind of fell apart there at the end.” He huffs a laugh, then runs his hand over his beard. “The point is -- wanting to kiss you...it’s not new to me.” He shakes his head and looks at her helplessly. “Sometimes it’s all I can think about.”
She bites her lip and takes a deep breath.
“But you’ve never said anything. Before, you know, all this.” She makes a vague gesture towards his father’s house.
“I mean, you never...did anything or hinted at...something. At least nothing that --.” She stops abruptly, because what she means to say next is ‘nothing that I would take seriously’. 
And maybe that’s the problem -- that it never really occurred to her to take him seriously. She takes a deep breath, then walks slowly over to him and wraps his hand in hers. 
“How come you never said anything before now?”
He looks down at their clasped hands and hunches his shoulders up towards his ears, his next words so soft that she has to lean in closer to hear them.
“Because you’re the moon, Penelope.” And the way he says it makes her think that her name has never sounded lovelier. He looks up at her, his blue eyes soft and tender. “Beautiful, but always out of reach.”
Holy shit.  
She doesn’t mean to say that out loud -- doesn’t even realize she has until Schneider’s eyebrows shoot up and he starts laughing.
She feels her face warming up before she starts laughing too. She tugs him forward and up onto his feet, moving towards him and wrapping her arms around his waist. She buries her face in his chest as his arms settle on her shoulders, his chin resting on top of her head.
“Your talent is wasted on your Instagram captions.”
Schneider chuckles softly.
"I'm just happy that you're finally admitting that you actually like my Instagram captions.”
She moves back from him enough to look up and meet his eyes.
She means to tease him and point out that his Instagram captions don't necessarily seem like the thing he should be happy about at this moment, but then she sees a melancholy kind of uncertainty in his eyes and realizes that she’s avoided answering the question he didn’t even mean to ask.
She steps away from him -- still close enough to see the worry flare up in his eyes, but far enough away where she isn’t distracted by the warmth and closeness of him.
“So you know there are footprints on the moon, right?”
He furrows his brows -- though the uncertainty in his expression lifts, a desperate kind of longing pushing in at the edges of his gaze.
“Yeah, I know.”
“So that means it isn’t out of reach.” She laces their fingers together and smiles at him. “And neither am I.”  
Schneider’s eyes go wide as a slow grin starts to crawl across his features.
“So you’re saying I’m an astronaut?”
She laughs and thinks that she really must be in deep because his response makes her want to kiss him instead of want to roll her eyes.
“I’m saying that we have some things we need to figure out.”
“And you want to figure them out with me? Together?”
She nods, the smile on her face so broad and bright that her cheeks hurt. The only reason she doesn’t feel completely ridiculous about it is because Schneider’s is equally -- if not more -- wide and bright.
“Yeah, I do.”
He nods at her, an almost dazed look of happiness on his face.
“You do. You do. Ok, wow. So you -- um -- wow. I mean, what -- uh. How --. Huh. Um.”
He shakes his head and looks so completely and adorably overwhelmed that she laughs out loud and steps forward again to give him a hug.
“I don’t mean that we need to figure it all out -- you know -- right at this moment.” She rests her chin on his chest and looks up at him. “I’m not sure one of us even can figure it out right now.”
He smiles as he brings his arms up around her.
“No, probably not.” He sighs deeply, a brief look of apprehension flashing across his features. “And we don’t really have the time, either -- we’re gonna be late to meet Aunt Emily as it is.”
She blinks rapidly up at him.
“Oh, that's a real thing.” She grins at him when she sees the confused expression on his face. “I kinda thought it was just a thing you made up to give us an excuse to leave.”
He shakes his head.
“No, she really is expecting us.”
She nods, then steps back away from him.
“So, we should get going then?”
“Yeah, we should get going.” Again, that look of apprehension flickers across his features, so heavy and dark that she could get away with calling it dread. Before she can ask about it, he clears his throat and gives her a grin that she can only describe as (and really, thank god for that SAT prep book) -- salacious. “But we could also just stay here a little longer and figure things out.”
She scoffs and steps back from him, mostly because it seems easier to say no to temptation if she’s further away from him.
“Please. You are not that cute.”
He tilts his head at her, his grin softening into something less suggestive and more charming.
“Nah, you think I am.”
She rolls her eyes at that, though she can’t fight the smile on her face as she does.
“Shut up,” she says, reaching out towards him with intention of pushing him away.
He catches her hand in his, his long fingers wrapping around her own. Slowly, his eyes never leaving hers, he brings her hand up and softly kisses her palm.
It makes her literally go weak at the knees.
“So you're sure you don't want me to kiss you?” He asks, his voice soft, rough with emotion -- or maybe, the holding back of it.
It’s almost enough to make her shake her head no -- to make her close the gap between them and press her lips against his.
But then she thinks about that look of apprehension on his face, the dread that flashed across his features, and lays her hand on the side of his face instead.
“It depends. Do you want to kiss me to kiss me, or because you want to avoid thinking about going to see your Aunt Emily?”
He closes his eyes and sighs as he leans his face into her palm.
“Both, I guess?” He sighs again before opening his eyes and giving her a rueful look. “Yeah, ok. I see what you're saying.”
She smiles, soft and warm, and lets her fingertips trace a line down his jawline.  
“When you kiss me, I want to kiss you back knowing that I’m not just a way for you to forget that you’re sad or angry or worried.” She brushes her thumb across his cheekbone. “And I think that’s what you want, too.”
He nods, his hand coming up to cover hers as he turns his face to kiss the pulsepoint at her wrist.
“Yeah, you’re right. That is what I want.”
She brings her hand down from his face and laces her fingers through his.
“So we should get going?”
He nods and smiles at her, and even though that same look of apprehension flickers in behind his eyes, she can tell the smile is genuine.
“Yeah, we should get going.”  
They walk quietly over to the steps. Before he pulls himself up to the first step, he turns around and looks out across the beach. He lets out a long exhale, and she thinks he looks sadder to leave the beach than he did leaving his father behind.
She squeezes his hand.
“We could always come back.” She smiles up at him. “I mean, not to this beach, but some other one. Or whatever other places you love in Vancouver.” She leans against him, reaches over with her other hand to wrap both their intertwined ones. “It’d be nice to come back with you when it’s not so cold.”
He looks down at her and smiles, wide and bright and incandescently happy.
“Ok.” He says quietly, that one simple word brimming hope and happiness and affection. He lifts her hand to his mouth and presses his lips to the back of it. “We’ll make sure to come back when it’s not so cold.”
86 notes · View notes
wtfneopetss · 6 years
Text
Masterpost of Padfoot’s OCs
This is long because I have a LOT of pets... So I’m gonna put it under a read more. Including their current customizations/any artwork associated with them. Going to group them by character storyline, starting with my one-offs. AKA not really developed characters set by themselves or with one or two other pets.
Stand Alones/No Real Character Development/Need to work on:
Tumblr media
Amethystira aka Sis. Affectionately called my Queen of Bones. Sis was adopted as a baby xweetok and started being trained for the BD back when the obelisk was starting to be whispered about. She had a character along with some other baby pets I had but I scrapped them all but hers, adopted out the three other babies and morphed her into a pirate draik. Then I was sick of looking at her as a pirate draik so I painted her green. Then I realized I didn’t actually like draiks so I started zapping. Then the lab decreased a few of her stats. I didn't want to waste NP so I started fucking around in DTI and customized a Transparent Blum and decided I needed her. She’s also my booktastic books pet and will eventually be my gourmet pet. She doesn’t have an actual character yet, unfortunately. 
Current HSD: 1735 Currently training: Defence, supplementing with FQCs. Booktastic Books read: 138/161 JN Estimated Cost to Complete: 36,760,000 NP
Tumblr media
Alaeri. I got Alaeri from Happy Zappers (idk if they even exist anymore, but they were like ZYDP) on April 4th 2013. I really love chocolate pets. Back when Neoschool was a thing here on the Neotag, Alaeri was a small part of it, but she doesn’t really have a character. Just that she’s a laid-back, outdoorsy lesbian. That’s literally it.
Tumblr media
Efflie. I created Efflie 5 years ago and used an FFQ on her. I love aishas, I love chocolate pets. Her homepage is also home to the UC Trading Guide /~Efflie. She’s Alaeri’s girlfriend. But she’s more uptight and prissy. And that’s about it for her character.
Tumblr media
Axella. I created a custom for a halloween guild challenge and fell so in love with it, I had to create her. I adopted Axella recently after seeing him UFA and shot off a quick NM app. He needs a gender change which I’m too lazy to send him to another account rn, but he’ll get it. Aside from that, no character at all.
Oracle Story Line
Oracle is being totally reworked right now. It was originally a storyline that I worked on with my friend Jezza who had a place called New Earth with her OCs. Oracle was founded by New Earth scientists on a planet far-yet sorta close by- and terraformed. Things went south in New Earth and all communication was cut off from Oracle. Oracle flourished for a quite some time and then had a crash in their stock market which prompted a civil war. When the dust cleared, Oracle was seized by the four remaining wealthiest families who promised to rebuild Oracle into her former glory. Unfortunately, they did not and they split Oracle into four quadrants to be headed by each family. Ravaged by the civil war and now basically a dictatorship with each quadrant ruled by a family, a rebellion begins to form by a group of the citizens, held up by two idealistic young adults. After nearly 30 years of fighting what seems to be a losing battle, these two adults are captured, tried for crimes against the land and executed. Their only child, a daughter who ran away in her teen years, is now called upon by the remaining rebels to become the new face of the resistance and give hope to the remaining members.
I’m reworking this with some friends to be set in a Neopian-centric land. I think what we’re going to do is make Oracle a province of Moltara, since it’s a steampunk post apocalyptic setting, and we’ll work in the Oracle lore with Neopia lore.
Tumblr media
Drisit. I’ve had Drisit for longer than my 6 year old daughter has been alive. When I was pregnant with Lily, I got REALLY back into Neopets. I used to frequent the gifting boards back then (they were a lot different than they are now) and at the time, I really liked white xweetoks. So a user, who’s UN I still remember, gifted me Drisit. (I was able to later repay her by gifting her a female rb draik) Drisit is the pet that inspired me to create neo OCs and start doing art of my pets.
Drisit is the daughter of the fallen rebel leaders. As a child, she was trained in fighting by her father and in advanced military tactics by her mother. They groomed her essentially to take over the rebellion when she was old enough. Resisting their demands, Drisit ran away at sixteen years old. She survived on the streets, but just barely. For the poor, Oracle is a very hard place to live. But it gave her street smarts, sharpened her reaction time and many other things. After hearing of her parents death, Drisit returns to her childhood home to find it vacant. After a few days of staying there, mourning, the rebels made contact with her, asking her to return, to be the new face of the rebellion. Conflicted about it, Drisit does return and quickly finds herself as the head of the rebellion.
Tumblr media
Symblor. I adopted Symblor from an UFQA board. She’s getting a complete customization overhaul. Depending on how the steampunk aisha looks, she may get that or she may just be painted silver. 
Symblor is Drisit’s right hand woman. She was sold by her parents to a group of bandits at a young age for drug money. After being put through many many horrors she was found by Drisit’s father near death. Drisit’s father was able to essentially keep her alive by turning her into a cyborg. The government that rules Oracle has outlawed cybernetic enhancements so it’s very hard for her to find replacement parts when her rudimentary parts given by Drisit’s father start to fail. She’s terrified of being caught, tried for treason and executed, so she’s mostly behind the scenes. Very intelligent and cunning, Symblor devises most of the rebel attacks/missions. She’s the one who contacted Drisit after her parents death and the two became quick friends. She’s a few years younger than Drisit.
Tumblr media
V5S aka V. V was another UFQA acquisition. I love chocolate pets a lot. They’re fun to draw :3
V was an orphan found as a young child by an elderly couple who owned a bakery in Oracle. The bakery was passed down through the family and was once very prosperous many many years ago. Now, however, it is quite run down although V still provides treats when she can through illicit means (stealing stuff so she doesn’t always sell stale bread lawls) V is quite the risk taker and mostly uses her bakery as a front for the rebels to have meetings in her basement. She’s also the one in contact with Ave’s palace being the go between with Ave and Drisit (more on Ave later). She’s also skilled in medicine and often patches up the rebels after a skirmish. Her character needs much development however.
Tumblr media
messr_m00ny aka Moony. I created Moony before the conversions. He was always destined to be a werelupe like his namesake, Remus Lupin. I took a hiatus before conversions and came back and unfortunately, had not painted him before then. Eventually I just sucked it up, despite preferring the UC version and made him into the werelupe he was always meant to be.
Moony is one half of a bandit duo. He’s the talkative, charming one. Growing up on the outskirts near the roughest part of Oracle, he had to steal and conive to survive. Although he has a way with the ladies, often seducing them for information, he is indeed very gay. Depending on how steampunk lupes look, he may get a repaint. Unsure.
Tumblr media
Trelm was a stuck pet. I adopted him and painted him Stealthy myself. He’s the second half of the bandit duo and Moony partner, both in crime and romantically.
Trelm used to be a wisecracking, never serious, always jolly type. Despite having it hard growing up, he tried to hold onto a positive outlook. He and Moony found each other as young teens, orphans who grew up on the streets of Oracle. The two were always out for adventure, getting into scraps and fights, stealing, all sorts of illicit things to survive. And they were fairly good at it as well.
Until they met with the wrong group of raiders. After a fight that they nearly lost, Trelm had his throat cut and vocal chords severed. With some quick thinking, Moony got his partner to the bakery he had heard of where the  owner was able to save lives. After this, Moony decided for the two of them they were done with their banditry ways and were talked into joining the rebels by V. Trelm is now mute. He’s petpage also hosts the UC/BD trading guide, /~Trelm.
Tumblr media
Iramkayim aka Iram. Iram is a funny story. A long long time ago, I came up with a character set in Oracle for an UC Grey Lupe that I was applying for. The owner eventually disappeared and I still stalked the Lupe for years. I saw him on a new account and apparently, the old owner had returned and traded at some point. Into a permanent home *sad face*
So a few months ago, I happened across a user adopting out their UCs. It was the lupes owner! He wasn't one of the ones that were UFA but I mailed the owner and told her I had applied for him and was wondering if she would be willing to trade. Instead, she offered to let me adopt! I was over the fucking moon. I had loved and watched this lupe afar for six or seven years.
Well. Long story short, he was from a compromised account, TNT reversed the adoption and the real owner got him back. Which is bittersweet. I’m glad she got her accounts/pets back, but he was once again in a permanent home.
So I started rethinking things. The character I made was very tragic, which is why I wanted an UC Grey Lupe. They are sad. But then, after thinking about it, while his character is tragic he’s ready to fight. Mostly because of revenge. So I decided on an UC Mutant Lupe cos they’re designs are fucking awesome.
So meet Lieutenant Iram Kayim. Iram grew up in the worst place of Oracle with poor excuses for parents. He fought throughout his life, always in some sort of trouble and as he got older, spending nights in jail. He was ruthless. Catching the eyes of some government officials, he was eventually drafted into their military. Quickly rising through the ranks, eventually, Iram becomes one of the inner circles most trust, often tasked with dangerous and immoral tasks.
Until he meets a young woman, the daughter of a man in the government. Iram falls in love with her, who softens his heart and makes him rethink his cruel ways. Eventually, they have a child, a daughter. Unbeknownst to Iram, his wife is secretly involved with the rebellion, a close confidante to Drisit and before her, her parents. She is able to give them information she learns through her father and Iram. One night she sneaks off to be a part of a raid, her daughter following closely behind her. She dies and Drisit finds Brenna, their daughter, crying over her mother's body. Trying to escape with Brenna in her arms, the two are shot and Brenna dies. Iram finds out the next day at work and immediately goes into a rage, and after inflicting some damage on one of his coworkers, quits his job.
He begins to drink his life away, living in the house, haunted by the ghosts of his wife and daughter until one day, Drisit shows up and offers him a proposal he can't refuse. Fueled by revenge, Iram becomes a soldier for the rebellion and eventually, he and Drisit fall in love.
Tumblr media
CountessAvenge aka Countess Avenge aka The Countess aka Ave. Ave was my longest goal on Neo. It took me many years of trading to finally achieve her.
Ave is the daughter of one of the four families. She grew up not knowing the plight of the Oracle people. In fact, the only time she ever ventured beyond the castle gates was the day of her wedding. She was entered into a prearranged marriage to the leader of one of the four families. After the wedding took place in Ave’s castle, she journyed by carriage to her husbands palace and her heart broke at seeing her fellow citizens as she traveled across the land.
Once she reached her destination, Ave vowed to somehow, someway, change circumstances for her citizens. End their poverty stricken lives and give them and their children a future. Little did she know her new husband was a cruel man who delighted in his power. Growing depressed, Ave thought of ending her life since, as far as she could tell, she would not be able to help her people. Until she meets V, who is delivering some baked goods to the castle once a month. After talking in secret, V convinces Ave to supply the rebels with invaulable information.
Ave is the reason I am reworking Oracles storyline to be included in Neopia. Eventually, she meets Elle. Elle is the character my friend Coral has for an UC RG Kyrii she hopes to own one day. The two fall in love and carry out a secret relationship. Since the story is being reworked, I don’t have much info on the two yet, but they are hands down my OTP.
Twins of Shenkuu (and other characters)
These characters are based in Neopia and are RP’d with two of my friends and their characters. We’re working on getting a hub up at some point. There are actually two character groups involved in this, the Twins being the first.
Tumblr media
Juni_Kava aka Juni. Juni was the crown princess of Shenkuu. Her father is Princess Lunara’s brother. We’re still working on the lore. She’s the only daughter with six brothers, one being her twin. Chase is the stand-in name for her twin, an UC Fae Wocky that my friend Gromit hopes to have one day.
Juni was born with a magical ability to influence air/mist. She was in line for the crown, along with her twin. Juni always followed her parents instructions, excelling at anything she tried. It was always thought she would become the next Queen. 
Until one day she is approached by the Moon Pheonix, a legendary creature that many stories were told of. However, everyone chalks the Moon Pheonix up to just that, a legend. Kyukuon (an UC Fae Pteri owned by my friend Coral) is the Moon Pheonix, charged with being a protector of sorts. It seems the Guardian of Shenkuu, another creature thought to be that of legend, is dying and Kyu has been tasked with finding the next Guardian. Unbeknownst to the twins, they have been observed in secret for quite some time by Jo, (UC Fae Xwee owned by Gromit) who is Kyu’s apprentice. When the time comes, Kyu makes contact with Juni and explains the situation to her, explaining that she is destined to be the next guardian. Fashioning a secret gateway between realms that will connect Juni to the castle and her family, Kyu convinces Juni to come with her to begin her training, leaving her brothers to vy between themselves for the throne.
Tumblr media
AdaWong aka Ada. For generations, Ada’s family is one of the families tasked with protecting the Queen and King of Shenkuu, along with their descendants. Her mother and father are the current guards to the King and Queen and Ada was born at the same time as Juni. Growing up as best friends, Ada’s destiny was always been that she would become Juni’s protector. Eventually being sent off in her teenage years to begin her training, to a very very secret place, Ada and Juni are devastated to be separated. Secretly, they were in love but knew they could never be together due to Juni’s responsibility to the throne and the inevitable marriage and children she would eventually be expected to produce.
When Ada returns to the palace, she finds her friend gone and must make the decision, should she stay and become the protector of whichever brother inherits the throne, or follow her true love into an unknown adventure. Ada’s character has much to be worked on, but I think it’s a no-brainer what she chooses to do.
Tumblr media
KittyRTM aka Katrina Rose aka Kitty. Kitty was born into a well-respected, but slightly lesser noble family. The family was known worldwide for providing some of the best produce from Faerieland, but they were most famous for their position in working alongside and assisting Queen Fyora. They were growing strong in Faerieland and were accumulating power through both their high ranking position with Fyora, and their thriving industry, but when Faire's father unexpectedly passed, things changed for the worse for Kitty and her family. Faire's mother had to sell their many farms to keep the pride of the family, the High Garden Estate, secure within the family.
There is quite a lot going on with Kitty’s family and it’s waaay to much to type up here. But if you’d like to know more, I’m currently in the process of changing my former project page for an UC Fae Aisha into her actual character page located on /~KittyRTM. I am very much in love with her character.
The Supernaturals
These pets also cross over into the Twins storyline and are RP’d with Coral and Gromit. They arent as prominent as the above characters and are also their own stand alone group. Many of them need character development.
Tumblr media
Stariea aka Star. Star was an apprentice of Sophie the Swamp Witch when she was young and also worked for a time under Jhudora. She ties into the above characters through Sil and Jess (an UC Dari Eyrie and an UC Dari Lupe) that are owned by my friend Coral. 
Star is an exceptionally talented sorceress. She is feared by many, but instead of actually being malicious, she’s moreso out for herself than anyone else. After leaving Jhudora due to a disagreement, Star greatly dislikes the dark faerie and will do whatever she can to disrupt or irritate her. She still has a good working relationship with Sophie, however. Star is accompanied by Bonnie and Clyde, her bearclops. Bonnie was a meowclops and Clyde was a bearog. After an experiment gone wrong, they were fused together. They’re about the size of Jhudora’s pets, Daisy and Sarah. 
She is also accompanied by Bernard, a swamp ghoul she picked up on her travels. Bernard is not his real name, Star doesn’t know it. Although she treats him as a lowly assistant, he is quite terrifying in his own right, but he sticks with Star because she’s one of the few he’s crossed paths with that doesn’t run screaming from him on sight.
Tumblr media
Falxo is a necromancer who was captured by Jhudora with the hopes that she would learn his magic. Disfigured due to her many experiments, since he wouldn’t just give up the information, Falxo and Star became close when she worked under Jhudora and Falxo was her prisoner. In fact, Falxo (alone with Sil and Jess, although Star doesn’t like Jess) was the reason Star rebelled against her teacher. Helping the three escape, Falxo opted to stay with Star. He’s somewhat silent and keeps to himself. The two are in a relationship and enjoy learning from one another. His character needs to be worked on as well.
Tumblr media
Morovo aka Oro. Oro is akin to a crossroads demon. She’s able to make deals, promising fame and fortune to those that summon her. All she asks in return is something very simple, their soul. She meets Star when she’s summoned during an experiment Star and Falxo are attempting. Her character also needs heavy work.
Tumblr media
Solariasae aka Solar. Solar is a young, clumsy witch who hounds Star to take her on as an apprentice. Her character will most likely be further developed based on what happens after The Wraith Resurgance. 
Tumblr media
tocanini aka Toci. Toci is a druid who strives to protect all life. That’s literally all I have for her. Sorry Toci. We’ll work on you, I promise.
Tumblr media
Spiritox aka Spirit. Yea Idk about him. He’s bad. But that’s all I got. Does magic. Or something. 
Tumblr media
Liliaise aka Lili. She summons stuff. Idk anything else. Just that shes gonna be involved with all the above pets. 
Tumblr media
Ryzzal and his partner Trikil (more on her next) are also tied into the Twins and Supernaturals through my friend coral’s pirate eyrie, Izi. Ryzzal ran away at a young age from his fathers home due to fear. He’s biologically male but is nonbinary. Fearing his father would find out, Ry left home. Eventually he ends up on Krawk Island, securing a job as a wench that serves the Food Club. He’s the prettiest girl in the room and has a slight fear of being found out to be male, but is generally accepted. Flirting around with the pirates, Ry loves his life. He still needs much development and I’ve never had a nonbinary character, so please don’t crucify me if I write him wrong. I’m always looking to learn more and happy to take critiques and suggestions!
Tumblr media
Trikil aka Trikky aka Trik. Trik is an adventurous pirate who is always on the lookout for new treasure and adventure. She’s a regular on Krawk Island, especially since she met her partner Ryzzal, after frequenting the Food Club for fun and drinks. Although she isn’t always around, she has come to call Krawk Island home and looks foward to returning just as much as she looks forward to engaging on her next adventure. Sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. Her character also needs work.
The Space Explorers
These two are completely on their own, not touching any of my other pets. I do have a slight work around with @grobleen’s character, Cregan and some interaction with my friend Shanna’s space based pets. If you have spaced based pets, get at me! I’d love to expand this to include your pets as well!
Tumblr media
Nirohean aka Niro. Niro is a fun loving bounty huntress. She can either be found bebopping around space looking for her next bounty, or stopping in on a nearby planet looking for the next party. She’s talented at her job, but loves having fun as well. She takes bounties that are interesting to her and isn’t ALWAYS on the side of the law, although she tries to be. She’s accompanied by her childhood best friend and pilot, Criliu and her Mechanized Laboratory Assistant Ridgewell that Criliu built for her. Ridgewell is a mixture between Portal 2s Wheatley and Fallout 4′s Cogsworth.
Tumblr media
Criliu aka Cri. Cri is Niro’s best friend and pilots her ship. He’s a huge tech nerd and helps Niro with her bounties often by hacking into things and getting her information that other bounty hunters aren’t privy to. While Niro is an extrovert, Cri prefers to be alone with his ship and his gadgets. He’s secretly in love with Niro, but doesn’t know how to tell her.
Exhales Whew. That’s a lot of OCs. A lot of them need a lot of work. But I’m always open to friendships/relationships with other people’s OCs. Feel free to ask questions or whatever else with any of these babs!
11 notes · View notes
grailfinders · 4 years
Text
Fate and Phantasms #26: Boudica
Tumblr media
Welcome back to Fate and Phantasms! Today we're building the interestingly titled "Queen of Victory", Boudica! In this build, the true queen of England is a Fighter/Barbarian mix and has a strong defensive focus, making her excellent at holding the line and keeping the squishier party members safe.
As always, a spreadsheet of the build can be found here, and a level-by-level breakdown is under the cut!
Race and Background
Like 90% of servants, you’re a Human, giving you +1 in every stat. You used to be a noble, but your country’s gone now, and modern Englanders’ disposition towards you would make you more of a Folk Hero, giving you proficiencies in Animal Handling and Survival. 
Stats
Put your highest ability score into Constitution. We’re not totally sure how your NP makes you so tough, but it does. It’s just wheely good like that, I guess. Next will be Charisma; you’re the mom friend, and everyone loves the mom friend. Third is Strength: you aren’t exceptionally strong, but when roman’s step up, you stomp roman asses. Following that is Dexterity: again, you’re not exceptional, but you’re not bad either, and we need that. Penultimate is Intelligence: you’re pretty smart, but we need other stats more. Finally, dump Wisdom. You did trust the romans once, and that kind of black mark sticks around.
Class Levels
1. Fighter 1: First level fighters get proficiency in two skills: pick Athletics and Perception. You also get a Second Wind, healing yourself as a bonus action, and a Fighting Style of your choice. Grab Protection to make yourself a bigger target.
2. Fighter 2: At second level you get one use of an Action Surge, adding another action to your turn once per short rest.
3. Fighter 3: When you pick your subclass you become a Cavalier, gaining a bonus proficiency in Persuasion because you’re just that nice. You’re also Born to the Saddle, giving advantage against being dismounted, falling off your horse lets you land on your feet, and mounting or dismounting only costs you 5 feet of movement. You can also apply an Unwavering Mark to enemies when you hit them until the end of your next turn. A creature marked this way has disadvantage on attacks against non-you targets while within 5′ of you. If the marked creature still doesn’t take the hint and attacks someone else, you can make an extra attack on them as a bonus action next turn. This attack has advantage, and deals extra damage equal to half your fighter level. You can mark an unlimited number of creatures, but you can make that extra attack a number of times equal to your strength modifier per long rest.
4. Fighter 4: To further the theme we have going, use your first ASI to gain the Mounted Combatant feat, gaining three advantages while mounted. You have advantage on attacks against unmounted creatures smaller than your mount, you can force an attack at your mount to hit you instead, and your mount has evasion.
5. Fighter 5: At fifth level, fighters get an extra attack each round. This means you can mark two creatures per turn, or three if you get the bonus attack. Or five if you really put your back into it.
6. Fighter 6: Use your next ASI to round out your Dexterity and Charisma.
7. Barbarian 1: If DW won’t make avenger Boudica, I will! First level barbarians gain Rages, giving you all sorts of neat goodies that I’ve gone over ad nausea, as long as you don’t wear heavy armor. You’re not one for armor (or really clothes, for that matter), so that works out fine for you.  Speaking of, you also have Unarmored Defense, giving you an AC equal to 10 + your dex mod + you constitution mod.
8. Barbarian 2: Second level barbarians gain Reckless Attack, giving your attacks advantage for a turn in exchange for enemies having advantage until your next turn. You also gain a Danger Sense, giving you advantage on dex saves caused by effects you can see.
9. Fighter 7: 7th level cavaliers have a Warding Maneuver, letting you react to add a d8 to a creature(including you)’s AC when they’re attacked within 5′ of you. If they still take damage, they have resistance against the damage. You can use this a number of times equal to your constitution modifier per long rest, and you also need to have a shield to use this feature.
10. Fighter 8: Speaking of Constitution, guess where your next ASI is going?
11. Fighter 9: You are now Indomitable, meaning you can reroll a failed saving throw once per long rest.
12. Fighter 10: 10th level cavaliers can Hold the Line. Creatures now provoke attacks of opportunity whenever they move in your reach, and hitting a creature with an AoO reduces their speed to 0 for the rest of their turn.
13. Fighter 11: You get another Extra Attack, letting you hit three things per turn without breaking a sweat.
14. Fighter 12: Max out your Constitution with this level’s ASI.
15. Fighter 13: You get another use of Indomitable before needing to rest.
16. Fighter 14: Now that you’re as healthy as possible, use this ASI to work on your Strength.
17. Fighter 15: You’re good at holding a line, but now it’s time to break them. At this level, a cavalier becomes a Ferocious Charger. Regardless of if you’re mounted, you can force a strength saving throw on creatures you attack with a DC of 8 + your proficiency  + your strength mod or they’re knocked prone. You have to move 10 feet in a straight line before attacking, and you can only do this once per turn.
18. Fighter 16: Use your last ASI for more Strength training.
19. Fighter 17: 17th level fighters get another use of both Action Surge and Indomitable between rests.
20. Fighter 18: As a final gift from the cavalier class, you become a Vigilant Defender. You now have an extra reaction on each creature’s turn that can only be used to make an opportunity attack. You can still only make one reaction per turn.
Pros: Boudica’s pretty good at defense, making it much harder for enemies to attack other party members. She’s also good at surviving all that extra attention thanks to her high HP and AC.
Cons: Most of Boudica’s abilities require the party to stick near her for protection, which can be an issue against spellcasters or if one member of the party is much faster than the others. (Say, one of them is on a horse.) Boudica also totally lacks any magical or ranged damage, making high level fights an issue if your DM doesn’t like to hand out magical weapons.
32 notes · View notes
rex101111 · 3 years
Text
Oichi Servant concept:
So yeah had this idea in my head for a long while so I thought I’d just share all the thoughts I had on it; so here you go!
Traits:
Class: Lancer.
Attribute: Man
Deck: QQAAB
Q: 3, A: 4, B:2, E:5
Skills:
1.       Crest of The Shibata (Ruin) A-:
Increase Party Defense by 50% (1 turn)
Delayed Buff: Increase Defense 20% (3 attacks) once per turn for 3 turns. Stacks.
7-5 cool down
2.       Crest of The Azai (Bleed) B+:
Grant Ignore Defense (3 turn)
Increase Party Attack 20% (3 turn)
Increase Party Crit Damage 50% (3 turn)
8-6 cool down
3.       Crest of The Oda (Burn) EX:
Increase Party Arts 30% (3 turn)
Grant on attack Debuff (3 attacks): Burn (1000 per turn for 3 turns, can stack)
Charge NP 50%
7-5 cool down
/
Passives:  
Riding B+:  Increases own Quick performance by 9%.
Territory Creation B+: Increases own Arts performance by 9%
Wilted Higanbana: Mental Debuff Immunity (Charm, Stun, etc), Damage Cut 200
/
Noble Phantasm:
Ghost of Kitanosho Castle (My Husband’s Spear Won’t Miss This Time):
Single Target, 5 Hits, Arts
700%-1000% damage modifier
Grants Peirce invulnerability (1 turn, activates first)
Increase NP Damage 20% (1 Turn, activates first)
Bonus Damage against Burning enemies (tied to overcharge)
/
Profile:
Default: As she died in the ruins of Kitanosho castle, she realized how small she was. She loved her husbands, and yet they both died. She was loyal to her family, and yet it burned to the ground. She had given her body, her heart, her soul, and she had changed nothing.
Nagamsa sent her away with their children, her pleading doing nothing to dissuade him from the side he chose. Ketsuie tried to do the same, but she was so tired of running, and all she could offer him was to die by his side.
As her final home collapsed around her, as she fully understood how little she mattered, she screamed.
Though she accomplished nothing, this supreme sorrow and directionless anger was said to be felt even by the besieging army as they celebrated their victory.  A story such as hers is not easily forgotten, and as such even such a small figure could find herself imprinted on the throne.
Bond 1: Height/Weight: 160cm, 60kg
              Origin: History
              Region: Japan
              Alignment: True-Neutral
              Gender: Female
Bond 2: The anger she feels is without purpose, it is not a consuming madness, simply a simmering resentment. Not for one person, or one group; she resents the war for destroying her family, Nobunaga for her ceaseless and blind ambition, Mitsuhide for his reckless treachery, herself for accomplishing nothing. Thus she is not consumed by it, and thus is no Avenger, and her mind is whole, and thus she is no Berserker. She is simply Oichi, nothing more.
Bond 3: The spear she wields belonged to her first husband, Azai Nagamasa. When Nagamasa decided to side with the Asakura clan and betray the Oda, he kept Oichi and their children confined to their room in Odani castle so she would not send a warning back to Nobunaga. Oichi managed to send a warning anyway, a sack of beans tied at both ends (or so the story goes), and Nobunaga survived.
When Odani castle fell under siege, Nobunaga requested that her sister be allowed to leave. Nagamasa, knowing his death was near, agreed. Oichi, torn between loyalty to her family and love of her husband, needed to be knocked out before she and her daughters could be taken out of the castle. (Or so the story goes.)
When she awoke, Nobunaga awaited her with a bloody spear in her hands. “The spoils of war, I think you’ve earned it.” Her sister’s grin was as brilliant and empty as ever, but all she could do was bow her head and accept the spear with trembling hands.
Nobunaga turned her back to Oichi, and it took all the loyalty she had left and all the love she had for her daughters to keep her from running her through with the spear. (Or so it goes…)
Bond 4: Crest of The Shibata (Ruin): A-
Katsuie Shibata was a mighty man, whose fearsome visage would discourage all but the bravest of soldiers from raising their blades against him. Many of those who did simply had their swords broken against him. This skill is but a fragment of that strength, the only thing remaining of the promise he made to protect her from anything…
Crest of The Azai (Bleed): B+
Nagamasa was a man of honor, but his tactics of war were as brutal and bloody as any other. He had planned to crush the Oda force from both sides until there was nothing left of it, an attack to which no defense could be brought forth. This skill is a memory of the glimpse she had caught of him relaying this information to his generals, those precious few seconds before he had caught her looking from behind the door…
Crest of The Oda (Burn): EX
The Oda clan were a people forged in fire. Fire to forge swords, fire to burn battlefields, fire roaring from a strange new weapon brought in from the west. This skill is hers, and only hers, a manifestation of what little of her anger she can wield in her sorrow. Her fire is nothing compared to Nobunaga…but then again, even the Demon King fell to flame. Thus are the Oda, from fire they came, and to fire they return. And little Ichi was no different.
Bond 5: [Ghost of Kitanosho Castle]
Rank: B+
NP-Type: Anti-Personnel
Range: 1-50
Maximum Target: 1
A Noble Phantasm which finally unleashes the rage and sorrow held within. A manifestation of the crumbling castle appears, entrapping both Oichi and her target. The memory of her death is vivid and unchanging, and so she can easily dodge the debris of her collapsing and burning home as her target tries to protect themselves in vain. As they are crushed by the boulders from above, and burned from the fires to their sides, she strikes from below with all her strength. Thus, an attack from every angle, a truly indefensible position. Without prior knowledge or great enough agility, there is no escape.  Her power as a servant is relatively low, and her magic not much higher, so the castle is soon gone from sight, and she cannot command it again without rest, if at all.
Extra: Her love and loyalty to both her husbands were genuine and true, no one greater than the other. Her heart broke with each of their deaths, and so she is left a cold woman. A beautiful ghost. And yet, her heart still remains, somewhere. She was not only a wife, but a mother, and her daughters too became beautiful and famous. Like their mother they found themselves sitting beside men of great power.
And, like their mother, they too found themselves buried in the collapsing ruins of what was supposed to be an impregnable castle.
And so, her heart breaks once more, and her fire burns brighter.
And that’s it! Her being a Lacer is a reference to another game see if you can catch it :D
3 notes · View notes
phawareglobal · 3 years
Text
Emma Olson Jackson, MS, ARNP - phaware® interview 342
Emma Olson Jackson is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Seattle Children's Hospital. In this episode, she discusses her history in helping develop pediatric pulmonary hypertension programs across three different specialty centers. Emma also discusses the challenges that pediatric programs face in treating this disease.
My name's Emma Olson Jackson, and I am a pediatric nurse practitioner in pulmonary hypertension here at Seattle Children's Hospital in the heart center. I've been a pediatric pulmonary hypertension nurse practitioner since 2012, where I started at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, developed that program there, and I was there almost four years and then I moved up to Portland, Oregon and was at Doernbecher Children's Hospital, which is an affiliate of OHSU Medical Center, and did pulmonary hypertension there, and now I'm at Seattle Children's. I was a bedside nurse before I was a nurse practitioner in the cardiac ICU at UCSF, and I knew Jeff Fineman, MD really well. When I was finishing my graduate school education and getting my NP license, he was also at the same time trying to get funding to hire the first pulmonary hypertensive nurse practitioner at UCSF. He convinced me that this was the field that I should go into and work with him, and it was an awesome decision. I didn't really know what I was getting into, but he such a wonderful provider, and he's done so much research on pulmonary hypertension, and he's a wonderful teacher and just in general, a great team member. Starting in that environment was really wonderful, so I just learned so much. Then once I dove into the world of pulmonary hypertension, I knew I never wanted to leave it, and that's kind of where my passion has been. So the whole time I've been a nurse practitioner, I've specialized in pulmonary hypertension, which has been really valuable for me. I am from the Pacific Northwest. I grew up in a town called Bellingham, that's north of Seattle, and the program in Portland, kind of cold called me and had heard my name, and had a position opening within cardiology in pulmonary hypertension. They were wanting to grow their pediatric pulmonary hypertension program. At that point in time, I really was not looking to leave UCSF. I was very happy at that program and I felt like we had accomplished a lot and we had a lot of momentum, and the program was growing and I felt really close to my patients there and the team, but at the same time, I knew eventually I wanted to be back in the Pacific Northwest to be close to my family. I had a sister in Portland and when the opportunity presented itself and I started to be recruited there, I felt like there might not be another opportunity. There's very few pulmonary hypertension nurse practitioner positions in the nation, and to have one open up kind of where I thought eventually I wanted to end up (was a important). I wasn't really ready to leave San Francisco, but I was worried that if I didn't take the opportunity, I might not have another opportunity to move closer to my family. So that's why I decided to take that position. Once I was in Portland, it was a big difference just from going from a really big pulmonary hypertension program to a much smaller pulmonary hypertension program. I pretty quickly realized that I wanted to be part of a bigger program, and lucky for me, Seattle Children's actually got funding for a nurse practitioner when I was in Portland. People already knew that I was there, and so Seattle reached out and then recruited me up to Seattle, which was a pretty easy recruit, because I wanted to be in a bigger program, so it was awesome. I think it was a really good experience for me to be also in a smaller program to see the challenges. There's still patients in Oregon and everywhere else that do end up being seen in smaller programs, and they need to have strong pulmonary hypertension program, as well. I learned a lot now that I've been in three different pediatric pulmonary hypertension programs. Everybody does things a little bit differently, and every provider has a different style of care. I think it's been really amazing for me to learn from all those different providers and teams and take what I like and what I don't like from every place and just learn more about how to best take care of this pediatric population that's really challenging. I think pulmonary hypertension is rare, as you know. In pediatrics, it's even more rare. I think it's a really niche specialty. One of the things more people are recognizing is that there kind of does need to be centralized care for these patients, because it's complex, and there needs to be experts caring for them. I think because the numbers in general are small, because it's a rare disease, that there's just less comprehensive centers that have enough volume to justify having advanced practice providers in that specialty. Seattle Children's is both a comprehensive care center through the PHA for pediatric pulmonary hypertension, and they're also part of the PPHNet, which is the Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Network of North America. I think in general, the pediatric pulmonary hypertension world is small, and it's a really close knit community. That's something I love about this field of medicine, is that we're always communicating with each other and sharing ideas and protocols and guidelines and getting advice from each other. There's no secrecy from program to program about how people are doing things, and there really doesn't seem to be very much ego, which I think is sometimes rare in medicine between programs. We're not trying to compete with each other. We're really trying to be cohesive and collaborative to provide the best care for this population, which I love. Some of the challenges in this field is because it's rare, and the numbers are relatively low when you compare it to other types of heart disease, that it makes it hard to really figure out best practices or best medical systems. We might think what we're doing is best, but actually we don't know what someone else is doing, or when we're comparing all the numbers together, it's really difficult to do randomized controlled trials to figure out what combination of medicines are the best. Working with a rare disease, it's challenging to have enough numbers that bring valuable research. So it's imperative that we form these different networks of multiple pediatric pulmonary hypertension centers, because that's the only way we're going to really answer big questions is by collaborating, putting together all of our data to figure out what's the best practices for this group of patients. But it's also a challenge, because that also takes a lot of time and effort in enrolling patients and putting in their data into these big registries, and then at the same time, it takes years of putting in that data and then multiple more years of interpreting that data before there is a change in practice. We're doing such a better job of treating pulmonary hypertension than we were even 10 or 15, 20 years ago, and these patients are doing better and they're surviving longer and they're having higher quality of life, and we have more medications available. I think we're treating earlier and more aggressive and giving kids a really fulfilling, healthy, longer life. It's great that we do see these patients transitioning, and that's something we think about, and it's really imperative that we are working with adult centers that we trust and that we have our values and the way we care for patients aligned. We really work really closely with our adult colleagues, and really do the transition to adulthood in a thoughtful manner and in a way that prepares the child for the differences in an adult center, and at the same time, still offering our support. We tend to do a staggered transition where they meet the adult provider, sometimes we try to have them meet the adult provider before they actually go and transfer care. We're hoping to work through a system where then maybe we actually attend maybe the first appointment at the adult center so that we can act as a buffer and fill in the gaps of the clinical history that maybe didn't make it in the record change. Another big piece of transitioning to an adult program is making sure that the child or adolescent really understands their disease and their medications, and getting them independent as possible, because once you transitioned to that adult program, there's much, much less ... I don't want to say handholding, but they assume that you take charge of your own care and that they're not double checking that you understand every piece of it. It's our job as pediatric providers to make sure, in the years before transition, and we start talking about this sometimes when a patient's 11 or 12, even though they're not going to be transitioning until they're 18 or 19, sometimes 21, is that every time we see them in clinic, we try to think of a new topic to teach them of part of their disease, and are working with them understanding their disease and understanding their medications and being able to tell us what their medications are instead of us telling them and having them agree. When we go over medication lists when patients are younger, we just say, "Are you taking this, this and this?", and as they get older we say, "You tell us what you're taking, and what's the dose, and how frequently?", to empower that child to really take charge of their own health and understand their disease and the medications and why they're taking them. The diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension is a challenging diagnosis to receive, and I think that when you're a newly diagnosed patient it’s really to try to think about one thing at a time and to remember, especially in pediatric, that every patient is really different, and the etiologies for pulmonary hypertension can be very different from kid to kid. I find sometimes that patients, especially newly diagnosed, kind of compare themselves to other patients with pulmonary hypertension, and that's a really challenging thing to do, because I think every case is so different to really hone in on your own child and their issues and level of disease and medical management and try to get to know that and really learn what's best for your child before you try to compare your child to other cases, especially cases that have had pulmonary hypertension for a long time, or that have really different reasoning for having pulmonary hypertension. I think one of the challenges I see over and over again with newly diagnosed pulmonary hypertension is that because it's rare, parents want to reach out and find similarities with other pulmonary hypertension patients almost too soon before they really get to know their own child and their own child's disease, and that's not to discourage connecting with other parents, but that's just to learn your own child and their own disease and their own medications before you start to compare another child to your own. Every parent wants to do their best for their child, and every care provider wants to do the best for their patients, and sometimes it takes time to figure out what that best practice is, and what I like to tell patients, especially new patients, is that we need to have patients and us getting to know the child and the parents getting to know their child with this new diagnosis. It takes time to figure out which medications or combination of medications work. Sometimes there's not really quick, fast answers, and it's a process that we get to do together, and it takes time. So sometimes there's not answers right away. My name is Emma Jackson, and I'm aware that I'm rare.
Learn more about pulmonary hypertension trials at www.phaware.global/clinicaltrials. Never miss an episode with the phaware® podcast app. Follow us @phaware on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube & Linkedin Engage for a cure: www.phaware.global/donate #phawareMD #ClinicalTrials @seattlechildren
Listen and View more on the official phaware™ podcast site
0 notes
Note
Rank the Limited servants(Knight class edition) best to worst: Sabers(Okita , Nero Bride, Void Shiki , Musashi , Proto!Arthur , Sigurd , Beni and Astolfo) , Archers(Gilgamesh, Summer Artoria , Ishtar , Moriarty , Summer Jeanne , Superhuman Orion and Sei Shonagon) and Lancers(Scathach, Brynhildr , Summer Tamamo and Eresh)
…….. I’m not sure if I’m the one to be answering this……. And I can’t vouch for ALL of them because RNG hates me, and depending on who I managed to get. And I’m basing this all on the current Lostbelt difficulty, so opinions may varied which before you kill me if I don’t agree with your waifu and husbando…
Please by all means ignore this post and continue using them
Sabers:
Art ST Spamming: Nero Bride > Beni > Medb. 
Maybe Beni is better, but from skillset I feel Nero bride wins both support and using for herself. 
Medb I put lower due to every FUCKING MSQ Boss fight is having a debuff immunity, but her other 2 skill is decent to help. Spamming not sure, since my criteria for this is based on Lancelot Saber in both CRIT hell and charging of NP
Quicks ST Saber: Astolfo => Okita > Fran
Unless Okita is getting an upgrade, Astolfo for now wins. Excluding stun most are good for both damage and surviving long for Lostbelt hell. 
Okita as I’m still using her… Still Ok with Skadi’s support, which both are. 
Fran… Not sure why to me, tricky to use and her demerit outweighs more… Which extremely dangerous to survive in Lostbelt situations
Buster ST Saber: Musashi=Sigurd
Both are situational to me. Musashi is more for general Bosses while Sigurd is more towards Boss with Dragon-traits. 
But Musashi may be more preferred, since Sigurd you’ll need to bring best boi George to debuff enemy with Dragon trait. Both have good surviving skills of invincibility and guts respectively
AOE Sabers: Arthurs > Void
Because everywhere in every Lostbelt will at least have one fucking Large-trait monster to deal with. And Arthur having a now crit strengthen, hits enemy real hard without his AOE NP. 
Void, unless she get one more buff for her AOE damage… You can still bring her mobs to insta-kill, but you’re going to time when to heal because her third skill drains quite an amount of NP
===
Archers:
Arts ST Archers: Orion => Artoria
Both are good at spamming their NP… But let’s face it, it’s a Grand Servant vs normal Servant. His whole skillset + NP outwins King Golden Asshole says pretty much how wanted he’ll be when his own banner returns again. And GSSR will be hell to get him among all the other Archers. But if you have, you’re a lucky bastard to have them and I want your luck right now!
Calamity Jane: I haven’t got the chance to use her… But if your team isn’t the kind that generates 30 stars minimum per turn, you can still get up to evasion from her skill. She’s very situational because it all dependant on the turn you want to use of how many stars you have. Otherwise, NP skill of ignore evasion is more than welcome on those evading bosses
Buster ST Archers: Fujino > Moriarty > Anne & Mary
Fujino: NP gain not much of an issue if you have her first skill up, good survivability of defense and mainly guts, NP also hit hard with main focus on buff block on the turn when enemy boss buff themselves like ignore invincibility before using their NP… But now can be dependant if the boss is not permanent buff with debuff immunity
Moriarty: After his strengthening, it’d be best for 2nd skill > 3rd skill to fully utilize his support buff in the team. But he’s dependant with a min of 10 stars to activate his skill. His NP hits even better with his first skill, helping to generate stars along the way. But has a problem of surviving so you’ll need support to keep him alive
Anne & Mary: Unless you have guts buff on them via third skill/support/Mystic code, LB’s situation ain’t that welcoming in terms of enemy doing higher amount of damage to them before they could use their NP. Glass canon with decent NP gain similar to their Rider version… I’d say not impossible if you have the relative Servants, but it’ll be very risky to be able to utilize to their fullest
AOE NP Servants: Gilgamesh = Ishtar > Osakabehime = Sei Shonagon = Jeanne > Helena
Gilgamesh: As the oldest king got dethrone on damage output for overall limited Archers… You still gonna need him, which unless really been datamined, as majority of the Servants are weak to Enuma Elish, including himself. Still a strongest hitter for AOE output like Ishtar. And getting him signifies you wasted this year whole luck, and subsequent SSR after him are just you selling your soul to the devil
Ishtar: The goddess which Archer Gil no doubt want to have her head. And with her strengthening and good support team, she can hit real hard as Gilgamesh. Just remember to time her 3rd skill well before the usage of your NP preferably too
Sei, Osakabehime, Jeanne: They are mainly used as a support with a decent hit of their NP. 
Jeanne: Jeanne onee-chan with self invinciblity, Arts + NP damage + Crit if your field waterside and attack buff to Good Alignment Servants if your roster is them mainly. Plus Onee-chan beam can give crit stars by overcharge for 3 turns.
Osakabehime: A bit tricky by 2nd skill, if you’re running with a ST NP servant in, you’ve got 3 turns to deal with that one target, unless said target remove the debuff themselves. Decent damage dealing, but otherwise she’s your good support Archer to have
Sei: She may be higher than both Jeanne and Osakabehime, with decent amount of Servants who are Neutral and/or Man Attributes. A great support Archer for both her party and herself with all three of her skills and decent NP damage.
Helena: Similar to her Caster version, she’s got NP charge to support your team. But unfortunately she’s got low NP gain and damage, which many other Archer outclassing her. Slightly better in terms of cooldown, but unfortunately her most important 1st skill takes the longest cooldown. You’re probably better off with other AOE NPs Archer for farming
===
Lancers:
ST NP: Scathach > Raikou > Tamamo no Mae = Brynhildr > Ibaraki > Kiyohime
Scathach: Together with her Caster version, she’s definitely one of the most welcome ST NP against Divine Enemies. While insta-death is obviously useless in MSQ fights, her stun is useful but situational if debuff immunity isn’t there. Her first skill may be RNG, but evade is still there for surviving in boss fight
Raikou: A strong case of Glass canon, but her damage outweighs over her lack of defense buff. With strong support skillset for self and both party, she’s definitely one of your best general-trait boss killer against their insane stacks of defense buff. With Summer BB in for support + star generator CE, her whole self is fully otmpized for a painful buster brave or just brave chain itself to the enemy boss
Tamamo no Mae: Strong hitting Anti-male NP with decent support skill set. But in regards to her demerit, you’ll need to time right of when to use unless you have her up on debuff immunity and debuff remover ready. And for her second skill, make sure you have your defensive skill ready if said enemy Servant are near to full NP bar
Brynhildr: One of the good supports for star generation and skillset wise. NP damage while it hits hard, it’s situational because not every Servant we’ve seen is Brynhildr’s Beloved trait
Ibaraki: With SO MANY GOD-DAMN-FUCKING-HELL Servants having defense buff, she’s one with the most welcoming ignore defense to beat shitless out of them. Decent skillset but third skill is really your RNG hating or loving you. Especially worst if you’re facing an enemy who enjoys throwing debuff at your team. Demerit of her NP I feel isn’t that much of a problem, unless you’re also relying her to do star generation. But she does make it up with overcharge of crit stars, which if you’re a whale, best to have it at NP5
Kiyohime: Despite a strong hitting NP, she’s got a problem for NP gain and debuff kit is really dependant… Which now not in her favor again: Debuff Immunity. And lacks of defense and survivability for herself… Especially most mobs are Berserker or mixed class mobs
AOE NP: Romulus Eresh = Melt
Romulus: Yep, our lord and savior. Even with his release.... He’s actually tied with Eresh. Both have the same strong support + defense + overkilling NP with their own support with them (especially pair with Boudica ironically, but gender buff don’t work on Roma via datamine and lore reason). Romulus mainly boils down to his Roman trait debuff stacking on his enemies... But both Eresh and Romulus shares the same problem in current Lostbelt hell: 
Ignore Invincibility
Buff Block
Buff Removal
Debuff removal
Debuff Removal Success Rate (ask DW fucking why)
Debuff Immunity variations
And both play a different role at the end, depending on which you prefer. If you’re looking for a more support-oriented SSR Lancer, Ereshkigal is your girl. If you’re looking for a more AOE ROMA Overkilling Stacking NP, the lord and savior will answer your call.
Eresh: By far still the best AOE NP Limited Servant to have, with both strong party support, surviving yet decent AOE Damage dealing NP but mainly enough for farming. However, she’ll need support on NP gain if you’re planning to do spamming out of it. Though once she do get an NP damage buff by chance… She’s going to become one of the most wanted limited SSR Lancers
Melt: Again, her second effect NP is one of the more welcoming to have in LB hell hole: ignore defense. Her first effect is only activated if you have her 2nd skill active, which is really crucial. Skillset is pretty good, and with NP being Arts, you can have it both spamming and crit hell to your enemies. But do note when you use her third skill, your other 2 Servants’ NP is drain quite a number as she charged herself… So her on double Tamamo team or Tamamo + Casgil + Paracelsus… You get your catch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9tJH9HDEyc
8 notes · View notes
grandfates · 7 years
Text
A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO...
Tumblr media
Hi all! With the upcoming NA release of Fate/Grand Order on June 25th, I thought I’d write up a beginner’s guide on how to get started! There’s a lot of things I wish I knew when starting the game, so I’ll compile some advice into this post!
This guide will assume that you have finished the tutorial and will have three parts:
1. Terminology - What Does X Mean? How Does It Affect Battles? 2. Powering Up - Craft Essences, Skills, Interludes, and Grailing 3. Team-Building - Picking a Team You Like, and Some Suggestions
If you want to peruse the information yourself, some helpful resources are below. I’ll do my best to keep this updated, so keep checking back on the original post.
-Fate/Grand Order Wikia (X) - Provides tons of guides and explanations for beginners. Acts as a database for Craft Essences, Servants, and more!
WARNING, THE BELOW SITES CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE GAME’S STORY AND FUTURE EVENTS.
-Cirnopedia (X) - A database for Craft Essences, Servants, and more! Provides guides for events. -Reddit (X) - The F/GO Subreddit thread. Usually provides helpful guides on events and Servants and whatnot. May be spoilers heavy.
Now, without further ado, let’s begin!
1. TERMINOLOGY In Fate/Grand Order, Servants have skills. Some of these skills buff or debuff things like “Star Absorption Rate” and “Debuff Resistance.” These are all referring to traits, some of which are hidden. Let’s use two examples: Hans Christian Andersen and Child Gilgamesh!
Tumblr media
All Servants have Passive/Class Skills, which are visible on their profiles! (Don’t worry about the Japanese, if you’re playing the NA Version it’ll be in English.)
Tumblr media
Passive/Class Skills typically give you boosts to damage, resistance against certain status effects, or increase the likelihood of casting a debuff on an enemy. The descriptions will generally be self-explanatory!
Hidden Stats are a little trickier. You have to go digging for these because they aren’t located on a Servant’s profile! But having a general understanding of them can help you make a good team.
Let’s compare Andersen and Child Gil. Using Cirnopedia or the F/GO Wikia, we bring up their hidden stats:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Whoa! There are some huge differences in those stats! But what do these numbers mean?
NP Gain (Attack/Defense): How quickly you fill up your NP bar when attacking or being attacked. The higher this is, the faster you can smack your enemy with your special move!
Star Weight: The rate at which you absorb critical stars. This is also affected by star absorption abilities. Each turn, your Servants can produce critical stars which are then distributed next turn, allowing you a chance of a critical hit! The higher this is, the more stars your Servant will absorb.
Star Rate: The rate at which you produce critical stars. The higher this is, the more stars you’ll create!
Death Rate: The lower this is, the lower your chances are of being insta-killed. This doesn’t come into play too often, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Traits/Attributes: Only comes into play with certain attacks or skills. Again, I wouldn’t worry about it too much unless you have a Servant targeting a specific one.
“Wait!!” You cry out! “I don’t want to pull up a wiki each time I make a team! That’s an absurd amount of work!”
Not to worry! You don’t have to memorize the actual numbers unless you want to play a little more hardcore. All classes possess a certain propensity for certain stats. In general...
Casters have the fastest NP Gain. Riders have the heaviest Star Weight, followed by Archers. Assassins have the highest Star Rate.
But I cannot emphasize enough that everything depends on the unit you use. For example, the Caster Irisivel has abhorrent NP Gain -- only 0.42% when attacking! Ouch!
Furthermore, skills and team set-up may mitigate some weaknesses. Putting a Rider and an Assassin together allows your Rider to make tons of critical hits while your Assassin makes it rain with stars! If you don’t want to look up the numbers, the best way to figure out which unit works for you is through trial-and-error. Think of it like Pokemon ;)
2. POWERING UP Now that you’ve received a crash course on Servant stats, let’s talk about how to make your Servants the best they can be. In the game, you may roll something called Craft Essences from the free or paid gacha!
Tumblr media
Think of these as equipment for your Servants. All CEs confer an extra “skill” to your Servants while giving them a lil stat boost. They may boost your attack, boost your defense, allow you to heal more, and so much more! It’s all in the description, so this section will be fairly short ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
I cannot emphasize this enough: participate in events! Events typically have limited CEs that they give out for free or in the paid gacha. And a lot of these are super useful!
You’re also capable of doing something called Limit Breaking. This means you combine 4 copies of the CE in order to boost its effects. This also raises its level!
In regards to max leveling CEs - I don’t suggest it. It uses a lot of time and resources that you could be better spending on your Servants.
The rarest of all CEs are Max Bond CEs. These are only unlocked after you’ve achieved a full 10/10 Bond with your Servants. Depending on your Servant, they may possess powerful effects beyond normal CEs! The only downside is that they must be equipped to the Servant they’re attributed to. You can find them all on this page. 
Skills are abilities Servants can use in battle! You’re able to level up skills much the same way you can level up a Servant, through materials and QP. Since these are self-explanatory--and somewhat expensive to raise--my suggestion is to raise the skills you use the most. The difference between a Lv. 1 (10%) and a Lv. 6 skill (15%) may give you that edge you need to win!
Interludes and Strengthening Quests are a series of battles you can undergo in order to strengthen your Servant’s skill or NP! I highly suggest these since a) Interludes include a mini-scenario where you learn more about your Servant’s personality, b) you typically gain a Saint Quartz from completion, and c) it makes your Servant stronger in battle.
Finally, Grailing basically raises your level cap for your Servants. You receive a Grail each time you complete a chapter or participate in certain events. This is especially helpful for 3* and below Servants, whose survivability are often limited by their HP!
There is no right or wrong way to Grail. Some people use their Grails on only their most powerful 5* while some use their Grails on 2*. It’s wholly up to you and it depends on which Servant you love the most. The best thing about F/GO is that smart team building can often overcome the absence of a certain unit. There is no “one super powerful” Servant, so choose who you want to raise!
3. Team-Building As you play F/GO, you’ll find yourself changing your teams frequently. Some bosses require a different approach than others, so plan accordingly! And don’t be frustrated if something doesn’t work out. Some battles are a matter of trial-and-error.
Since everyone’s Servants will be different, here are some general tips:
1. How Am I Dealing Damage? Are you using a Berserker? Will you rely on NPs? How you build your team will depend on how you choose to beat up the enemy! If you want a Berserker/Buster-oriented team, choose Servants that can buff your main attacker or whose card set-up can create Buster chains. If you’re aiming for a critical-oriented team, don’t put multiple Riders on your frontline! All those stars will go willy-nilly and that’s asking for trouble.
2. Does the Enemy Have a Gimmick? Are they an Assassin whose NP gauge fills up rapidly? Is it a Demon Pillar, which makes it strong against Sabers, Archers, and Lancers? Do they have a dodge skill? You won’t always know what enemies have in store for you, but once you’ve had enough experience with certain maps you’ll have an idea of how to prepare.
3. Does My Team Synergize? “Well,” you say, “if it’s a matter of damage why don’t I just put ALL my 4 and 5 stars into the same--”
Stop right there!! Attack isn’t the only thing that matters in F/GO. If your team synergy is terrible, the fight won’t go smoothly for you. Furthermore, Servant costs add up very quickly if you’re relying solely on 5 stars.
Tumblr media
The above team, while full of SSRs, doesn’t give much in the way of CE choice. Even if it does work, you’re relying primarily on brute force. Which, granted, isn’t a bad way to play but it can only get you so far. For one, almost none of these 5* skills aid each other. If your team needs a boost, they won’t get that increase needed for maximum damage.
Tumblr media
Keeping Tamamo in our roster, we use her ability to boost Arts and combine her with some fellow Arts boosters! Since Robin and Kuro have powerful single-target Arts NP, the idea is to spam as much of their NP as possible. Caster Gilgamesh and Andersen are capable of providing stars, so this essentially creates a nifty Arts-Critical team meant to kill Saber bosses quickly.
And the cost is just right!
4. Get Yer Mystic Codes Get all of them as soon as you can! Different Mystic Codes allow you to cast different buffs on your Servants, which in turn allows you to diversify your team set-up.
And finally, the one question everyone wants to know: Which Servants should I roll for?
Keep in mind that a 5* rarity =/= a good Servant. I have several 5*s on my Japanese account which I don’t use because they’re extremely niche and don’t perform as well as my 4*s or even 3*s! I’ve listed some free gacha Servants my friends and I have found helpful, but this is by no means a solid guide.
1. Mashu (Shielder) - 3* Raise. Mashu. As much as you can. With 0 cost, invulnerability, defense up, AND a taunt that raises your NP bar, she’s one of the best Servants you’ll ever have. And you get her for free! Don’t neglect your kouhai. Love her.
2. Cu Chulainn (Lancer) - 3* There’s a reason why so many people use Cu even when they’ve gained higher star Servants. With Guts, Dodge, and Debuff removal, Cu is legendary for surviving almost any situation you throw him into. With the right support, this dog can outlast anything.
3. Hans Christian Andersen (Caster) - 2* A cheap and versatile healer. His NP provides ATK, DEF, and Star Gen up while also healing 1000 HP per turn. His skills also provides critical stars and increases critical damage.
4. Robin Hood (Archer) - 3* Easily one of the best Archers in game, and with his possible damage output, it’s easy to see why. Provide him with a good Arts support team and he’ll kill any Saber you point him at with ease.
5. David (Archer) - 3* With his group-wide Dodge Buff AND removal of debuffs--not to mention his ability to increase the party’s attack--David is an excellent support Archer who can fit on most any team.
6. Euryale (Archer) - 3* Euryale fits a specific niche: killing male enemies and doing it well. With her charm and powerful NP, she’s able to stall off the enemy’s NP and attacks while killing them with a smile.
7. Sasaki Kojirou (Assassin) - 1* If you need a cheap Assassin who can deal a huge amount of critical damage, Koujirou’s your man. There’s a reason why he’s called the Savior of France when the game first launched.
8. Any Event Servant - 4* In events, you sometimes gain a free Servant that’s fairly easy to level up and final ascend. Collect as many of these as you can. The developers themselves have said they intended these Servants to act as 4.5*s and they’re sometimes powerful enough to overshadow some 5*s in certain situations.
I can’t really speak for which paid gacha Servants (4*/5*) you should roll for. From my experience, the ones most people want:
Sabers: Lancelot, Nero Claudius, Altera Archers: Tristan, Artoria Pendragon, Ishtar Lancers: Elizabeth Bathory, Scathach Riders: Martha, Francis Drake, Anne Bonny & Mary Read, Ozymandias Casters: Zhuge Liang, Tamamo no Mae, Merlin Assassins: Carmilla, Jack the Ripper, Shuten Douji Berserkers: Hercules, Nightingale, Cu Chulainn [Alter], Ibaraki Douji Extra Class: Jeanne D’Arc, Jeanne D’Arc [Alter], Martha [Ruler]
Some Servants are story-locked, which means you’ll have to clear a certain chapter before you can roll for them. You can check this by looking up their page on a wiki.
Again! Keep in mind that rarity =/= usefulness. It all depends on what you need as a player.
Tumblr media
And that should about wrap up my guide! Don’t forget, the most important thing is that you have fun. Fate/Grand Order is a unique experience in that it combines a visual novel with a gacha game. There’s so much to read for almost every character and I hope you find a character you love while playing this game. And, of course, that you enjoy the wonderful story that lies ahead of you :D
And if you’ve got any game-related questions, send me an ask at my main blog, @tackypies! I’d be more than happy to help!
42 notes · View notes
populationpensive · 7 years
Text
PAblr Specialty Series: Oncology
I am pleased to announce that @siridei is our latest featured PA-C of the specialty series! She offers a fabulous look into her specialty with great insight.
Tumblr media
1. Why did you choose to work in your specialty?: At the risk of sounding flaky, it was kind of an accident. Most of my experience and training before school and during clerkships was geared towards some form of high-octane specialty. I loved the rush of stepping into a lively trauma bay. I love procedures to the point of obscenity. The problem was there weren't any good positions available anywhere closer than six hours away. So here I was nearing the end of my clinical year, struggling to decide what to be when I grew up. I made a very short list of "absolutes": elements of my first job that were non-negotiable. There were only a few items on that list. One, I needed a job in the big city. Two, it couldn't be entirely outpatient. Three, it needed to be mentally stimulating. I had already applied to a wide swath of specialties, from neurosurgery to cardiac critical care. One day I stumbled across a listing at a cancer center. It was for an immunotherapy advanced practice provider. I contacted my clinical coordinator and asked her if she knew anything about the gig. She got me in contact with one of the cancer center directors, who took me for a tour and interview. I liked the place and the people instantly. Interestingly, it met all of my self-imposed criteria. Oncology was the last specialty I could imagine taking up, but it's been one of the best professional decisions I've made.
2. What is your scope of practice as a PA?: We have a pretty egalitarian setup between us APPs (PAs/NPs) and attending physicians. On the inpatient side of things we are the primary contact for anything and everything with the patients. We do our own pre-rounds, orders, interpretations, medication reconciliation, admissions, discharges, consults, progress notes, H&Ps, death notes, and so on. Each of us has our own panel of patients. There’s a relative dearth of attending physicians (i.e. one per service) compared to the patient load. As a result, the attendings function in more of an overarching supervisory role. They're the ones primarily responsible for modifying treatment regimens, meeting with families, and "steering the ship" so to speak. Many of them also have ongoing clinical trials, so when they disappear after rounds I have the distinct impression that they're off unleashing all the brain powers us mere mortals can barely comprehend. Privileged APPs can perform bone marrow aspirations, lumbar punctures for evaluation and intrathecal chemotherapy, Ommaya access, moderate sedations, and first-assist during bone marrow harvests. The outpatient side is fairly similar; the only difference is the attending physicians often drop in for shared patient visits along with the APPs.
3. Describe your first few weeks: what would you change about the experience?: I really didn't do much during my first few weeks. I wasn't even credentialed until I was working there two months. I ended up studying a lot and working my way through the didactic curriculum that's provided to new APPs. There's a very structured training that lasts around six months. I shadowed various teams during the first month or two. I think if I could've changed something, it would be more aggressive clinical privileging. An APP requires three supervised experiences per procedure before they gain the privileges to run them solo - getting a lot of the paperwork squared away in advance would speed up the whole process.
4. What do you enjoy most about your specialty?: It’s challenging. This is a specialty where we first need to build ourselves a solid foundation in internal medicine. We need to know how to manage patients medically both inpatient and outpatient. Building on top of that is the oncology component. A lot of times we’re dealing with consequences of chemotherapy the patient underwent before entering our service. Then we give even more chemotherapy to tamp down their hematopoietic system before we can transplant. I made a post recently about my first day on the wards where I had no idea how quickly chemotherapy can cause all sorts of shenanigans. Chemotherapy can do some nasty things, and later on you have to worry about unusual infections due to immunosuppression. Next, above even the oncology component is the actual transplant element. We’re doing weird stuff to these patients. We give them a brand spanking new hematopoietic system. My background is in wildlife biology, so I kind of compare it to releasing wolves back into an area. You hope they’ll survive and propagate, but you also have to worry about what happens if they start doing too well and overrun the local critters. That’s my graft-versus-host-disease analogy. Like it?
5. What are the potential struggles and downsides of your specialty?: We obviously end up seeing a lot of refractory cases where transplant is kind of a Hail Mary. In the majority of cases we trade a cancer for graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), where the new immune system decides not to play nice with the host cells. This can be a huge impact on quality of life, and we can never fully predict who will get it and to what degree. GVHD is a spectrum. It can be hyperacute and fatal, or can be chronic and very mild, or anything in between. Occasionally there’ll be patients who don’t get it at all. You talk to some patients with the chronic form who can barely get around due to fascial sclerosis, whose eyes are so dry they need specially constructed scleral lenses, whose sense of taste never returned, who need extracorporeal photopheresis to reduce the amount of immune cells attacking their bodies so they can function; you talk to these people and some of them wonder if it was worth it. Maybe they should’ve enjoyed what they had instead of eking a few extra years of life in exchange for what they have now. Aside from GVHD, we have a high mortality rate compared to some other specialties. It is oncology, after all.
6. Describe a typical day in your specialty?: We rotate between inpatient and outpatient, each stint lasts several months. Outpatient also can be further divided into autologous and allogeneic patients. For simplicity I’ll use outpatient allogeneic as an example. You’re assigned an average of 15 patients total. Depending on what stage of treatment each patient is in, you may see a particular patient once a week or every day. Your daily patient load is usually 3-5, with each appointment lasting at least 45 minutes. Patients are followed very closely, and often get labs drawn so results are available before every clinic visit. You do a lot of medication adjustment and therapeutic fine-tuning. Many of your patients see you at least once a week for three months or more. Depending whether you have your privileges, you might break away from the clinic occasionally to supervise moderate sedations, perform lumbar punctures, or aspirate some bone marrow for diagnostics.
7. What advice would you give to a PA-s on rotation in your specialty?: Read up on the standard hematologic malignancies. Popular flavors around here include Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL), Multiple Myeloma (MM). Spend some time with the team that deals with GVHD! Even if you end up in another specialty, most providers out in the wider world don’t know what GVHD looks like or how to deal with it. Get in to observe some marrow harvests if they’re available. Find out what protocols the center uses for chemotherapy conditioning and read up on common adverse effects.
8. Any other thoughts?: If you like the idea of working in what is essentially applied immunology, you might enjoy this specialty. If things like soluble protein trial drugs that competitively bind to CD80 and CD86 to block CD28-mediated T-cell activation get you all hot and bothered, check it out!
16 notes · View notes