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grailfinders · 11 months

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Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #16: Richard the Lionheart

Today on Grailfinders, we’re building the crusader king of Fate/Strange Fake, Richard the first, a.k.a. Richard the Lionheart. Richie rich is a Champion like Artoria, since he needs to be able to almost copy her noble phantasm, but he also dips into Cleric to summon his knights, Fighter for some extra swordplay skillz, as well as the Duelist Archetype to draw whatever he wields quickly and effectively.

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

Ancestry & Background

okay, okay, no funny business with ancestries this time. Richard the first is a bonified Skilled Human, even if he has blue blood. with this, he gets a boost in any two stats like Strength and Charisma, and he gets his riding skill early thanks to a free training in Nature, which also gets bumped up for free at level 5. beyond that, his Natural Skill gives him training in two more skills of your choice like Diplomacy and Athletics. Richard’s kind of good at everything, so expect a lot of spread.

at level five, Richard can Sense Allies within 60’ of you as long as they’re not hiding from you. you won’t know exactly where they are, but finding them is also a lot easier.

at level nine you become Multitalented, which is where that Fighter dedication I mentioned earlier came from. by that point you’re proficient in both athletics and acrobatics, so you learn Deception instead.

at level 13 your Advanced General Training gives you another general feat of level 7 or lower. if there’s something you really want by this point feel free to grab it, but I’m saying it’s for Powerful Leap. it feels like every servant can hop around like a frog on crack.

finally at level 17 your Heroic Presence bolsters nearby allies with zealous conviction. they get temporary HP, a bonus against mental effects, and you can make them do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t clash with their morals too badly.

of course your background is a Noble, giving you a boost in Intelligence and Constitution, as well as training in Society and Heraldry Lore, and on top of that, you gain Courtly Graces, allowing you to use society to make an impression on other nobles.

Class Levels

1. getting the proficiencies out of the way, on top of the ones already mentioned you’re trained in Perception, Religion, Reflex saves, your Class DC, Unarmed, Simple, and Martial Weapons, all Armor, Survival, and Stealth immediately, and you learn Intimidation, Medicine, Performance, and Thievery as you get smarter. that last one might not sound kingly, but you have to remember he was british first. he’s also an expert in Fortitude and Will saves.

as for the actual fun stuff, your Key Ability is Strength, and you start off with an Ability Boost in Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma. you also take on your deity’s domain, Family. I can’t really justify that domain flavor-wise, but mechanically you keep your allies buffed, and family is great at that. your Soothing Words are a devotion spell you can cast once per day, or you can recharge it by spending some time doing good deeds and the like. with it, you can give an ally a +1 bonus to all will saves, plus an additional +1 against emotion effects, for a round. this can also counteract a current emotional effect on that target.

as a Paladin, you have to follow the Tenets of Good, which don’t do too much mechanically but bind you flavor-wise to the side of justice and all that nonsense. this gives you the Lay on Hands devotion spell as well as a second devotion casting per day, and you can make a Retributive Strike as a reaction. this simultaneously gives an ally getting hit resistance to the attack’s damage and allows you to get a hit in on whoever caused it if they’re in range.

you also get trained in another skill here for some reason, so grab Crafting, why not. you’re also trained in Divine Spells, though it doesn’t matter much for our build.

finally, you can Shield Block, if you ever feel like carrying one of those around.

2. at your second level you can take a Vengeful Oath against evil creatures, binding you to defeating them if there’s a good chance of success. you did fight the king of england before becoming him. die a hero or become a villain and all that. this allows you to lay on hands on enemies who have hurt innocents or good allies as if they were undead, causing it to deal damage instead of healing it. it’ll be a while until your sword is properly set up. so this will have to do for now.

you’re also popular enough to have the Eyes of the City on your target, allowing you to use diplomacy and society to track creatures in towns and villages.

you also get the duelist dedication this level since you’re not wise enough to be a cleric yet. for now, that means you can quick draw as an action, drawing and attacking in the same move.

3. at level three you can stick a Divine Ally in your blade, allowing you to add a free property rune to one of your weapons at the start of your day. you can pick between disrupting (good against undead), ghost touch (its in the name), returning (if you like throwing stuff), or shifting (if you’re indecisive). you also get the critical specialization of that weapon, which for a sword means the target becomes flat footed for a round. that being said you can technically turn any weapon into your “Excalibur”, so feel free to… branch out.

speaking of diversifying, your Untrained Improvisation lets you add half your level to untrained skill checks, so you can do a lot more than you’d think. you’re also better in Athletics.

4. at level four your Aura of Courage can buff up your allies and keep them from being frightened. when that happens, the condition value is reduced, and you also reduce the frightened value of nearby allies at the end of your turn.

while we’re not going as hard in the paint for a horse as we did with some of the riders, sabers still have that Bonded Animal we gotta get, so now you can spend seven days with a regular animal, and if you pass a nature check they’ll bond with you and become permanently helpful, unless you fuck it up.

you can also only have one bonded animal at a time. can’t have a repeat of your last campaign, right?

finally, you can issue a Duelist’s Challenge as an action, turning one enemy into your dueling opponent. until they are defeated, they run away, or the encounter ends, any one-handed attack you hit them with deals extra damage, at the cost of you dealing less damage to other creatures. that’s why you have to learn delegation. not yet though.

5. at level five your Ability Boost boosts your Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom. you’re also better at Diplomacy now, go wild. finally, your Weapon Expertise makes you an expert in most kinds of weapons.

6. At level six, you can Smite Evil by spending an action to deal extra damage against a particular evil foe. if that foe attacks one of your allies, the duration of this effect continues into their next turn, ad infinitum.

You may also Glad-Hand new allies by making an impression on them immediately at a small penalty. If you fail, you can still try again with your normal impression roll after a minute of conversation.

Finally, you can use your Dueling Parry as an action to give yourself more AC while wielding a one-handed weapon.

7. At level seven your Armor Expertise will protect you just a bit more, and you’ll also gain the specialization effects of medium and heavy armor.

While we still haven’t been able to summon your knights yet, you can at least be sure your minions are doing a good job if you’re a Hireling Manager, giving all your hirelings a +2 bonus to all skill checks.

We’ll also increase your proficiency with Religion while we’re here, and give you a Weapon Specialization for extra damage with weapons you’re more proficient with.

8. at level eight your Advanced Deity’s Domain lets you teach your knights some Unity, giving you a third devotion point and letting you use your reaction so each ally within 30’ of you can choose between using their own saving throw modifier or yours. paladins have pretty good magic defense, so yours is usually the better option.

you can also Rapid Mantel now to climb easier. this level’s a bit slow, aside from the new spell.

just kidding, because now you’re a Cleric thanks to your new dedication! since you’re already “trained” in “religion” and all that, you get proficiency in Acrobatics and Arcana instead. you learn a couple cantrips now, but to be honest we’re entirely just here for the summons.

9. level nine is actually pretty slow. you get Champion Expertise to help you defend your pokemon title easier, as well as a Divine Smite to deal damage over time to whoever you hit with your retribution.

you’re also now better at Fortitude and Reflex saves, as well as Religion.

10. at level 10 you get another Ability Boost in Strength, Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma.

Excalibur gets a little more shiny this level thanks to your Radiant Blade Spirit giving you more options to pick from for your weapon runes. now you’ve unlocked flaming, which deals persistent damage; and Axiomatic , which deals extra damage against chaotic enemies. you also don’t have to roll damage when you score a critical hit either, just take the average damage for each die. (you technically get the Holy rune as well to fit Pathfinder Richard, but Fate Richard is actually lawful neutral, so I’m leaving it off the list. no not that Lawful Neutral.)

you can also say a Battle Prayer as an action, dealing damage of your alignment to an enemy of your choice. it’s not massive, and you can only use this once per day per enemy, but the damage triples when you become legendary in religion, so that’s cool.

you also learn Basic Cleric Spellcasting, which doesn’t get you the slots needed to summon celestials yet. baby steps. if you really want something to do here, you could pick up Animate Dead, if you don’t mind your Richard being a lot creepier than the original. Maybe this is the FGO arcade Richard? anyway, the base version of the spell doesn’t do much, but for your second level slot you can summon a Skeletal Soldier, so that’s pretty knight-ish.

11. at level 11, your Alertness and Divine Will increases the proficiency of your Perception and Will saves respectively, and you can choose to Exalt your allies when you make a retributive strike, getting them in on the fun. since you kind of always have Excalibur on you, you’ll need some Incredible Investiture to free up some attunement slots.

you’re also better at Heraldry Lore now. why not?

12. at level 12 Excalibur becomes a Blade of Justice, letting you spend two actions to smite an enemy who’s attacked an ally or innocent before. the attack deals extra damage against the evil, and regardless of their typing you can turn all that damage into good. as a paladin, you can also add to it any and all effects you’d normally get from your paladin reaction to boot!

if you’d rather play on defense, you can gain a Sacred Defense once per hour by making a rather high religion check. if you succeed, you gain temporary HP for a minute.

you also get Expert Cleric Spellcasting this level, so you’ve got high enough spell slots to Summon Celestials! pretty much anything with “Archon” in the name (aside from a Lantern Archon) can make for a good stand-in. You could also use Summon Axiom if you want to stick more on the lawful flavoring side of things, but almost everything from there is either a demon or something you can get from the Celestial list.

13. your next level’s a bit of a cooldown as usual, it’s mostly just getting better at what you already know: Armor and Weapon Mastery, plus a boost in Intimidation. is it the army of angels? I bet it’s the army of angels.

14. at level 14 you get the only reason we took a vengeful oath at all, the Aura of Vengeance. now when you call on your allies to gang up on something thanks to your Retributive Strike, they take less of a penalty for following your lead. considering how much of this build is about helping the party, this is right in line.

what’s not is letting you Consult the Spirits. though when you think about it, the grail grants you information about where the war is taking place, and the grail is pretty much one big spirit, right? yeah, that’s what we’re going with here.

you’ve also got your fighter archetype from your ancestry now, so let’s pick up the United Assault. it’s a flourish attack that lets you make a strike with a damage bonus for each other creature that’s hit it since its last turn. since you can use your gang-up command at will, this will almost always be a +4 bonus.

15. we’re now ¾ through this build, so you know what that means! that’s right, it’s another Ability Boost! this time, grab some Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, and Charisma.

you also have A Home in Every Port, mostly thanks to you waging war-sized tantrums about the fact that you didn’t before. yeah we’re truly on the cutting edge of political theory here on Grailfinders: “The Crusades: Not That Great”.

anyways, you’ve got a Greater Weapon Specialization for more damage with everything you’re good with, and speaking of being good with stuff, more Intimidation, go nuts.

16. at level sixteen you can stop all that painful thinking and become an Instrument of Zeal- whenever you crit with your retributive strike, you deal an extra die of damage and take away the target’s next action.

you can also force your foes to beat a Terrified Retreat for a round if you critically demoralize ones that are lower-level than you.

finally, if you ever do find a shield now you can form a Shield Wall with your knights. with this, you can spend a reaction when you and another ally have your shield up to give the two of you cover.

17. at level 17, your Champion Mastery makes you a master in, yes, champion-ing. you also get Legendary Armor and a boost in Religion. still not sure if crusaders are good at this whole “religion” thing, but boy howdy are they enthusiastic.

18. at level 18 you can Expand Aura for a round, doubling the length of one of your auras. you can only have one doubled at a time so you’ll have to choose between your aura of courage or vengeance.

you’ve also been in the field long enough to make an Assured Identification. even if you get something wrong, it won’t be disastrous.

finally, your Master Cleric Spellcasting lets you upcast your summons! you get a seventh level slot now, and an eighth level slot at level 20.

19. for our penultimate level, you can Quick Climb since I’m running out of stuff to give you. you also gain the Hero’s Defiance devotion spell, so now you have a guts! finally, bump up your Athletics so you can quick climb in the first place.

20. for your final level, Ability Boost your Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom. you also gain your third and final aura, the Aura of Unbreakable Virtue. with this, all evil creatures get a -1 penalty to all checks and DCs against your allies, or they get a -2 if they fall under your Oath of Vengeance.

you’re also religious enough to receive Divine Guidance, allowing you to spend 10 minutes reading the bible to get an answer to all of life’s problems if you pass a religion check.

finally, we pick up an advanced maneuver from the fighter archetype so you can Cut from the Air any ranged attacks coming your way. I’ll be honest I haven’t read Fate/Strange Fake, blame Nasu for never localizing anything, so everything I know comes from the wiki. so this is the only thing I know with 100% certainty Richard actually does in the book, everything else was interpolated from his skill descriptions. though tbf that’s how most of my builds work anyway.

oh right the actual mechanics of the feat: you get a +4 AC bonus against a ranged attack by spending your reaction slapping it out of the sky.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

I think I may have ended up making Richard’s Excalibur stronger than Artoria’s actually, especially if we count the damage caused by everyone else getting a hit in on a regular basis. Artoria’s got you beat on range though.

he’s really supportive of the party, protecting them from mind control and saving them from attacks. plus he literally brings the party with him thanks to summons!

thanks to being at least trained in almost everything, your skills can really pay the bills, giving you plenty of options outside of combat.

Cons:

while being a paladin can make you great at defeating evil, your tenets mean you have to defeat whatever evil you come across if you think you can handle it. great for your DM’s plot, terrible for actually living that long. most champions at least only have to worry about dragons, or undead, but you just picked anything evil, so good luck with that!

your exalted retributive strike eats up the whole party’s reactions. you’d better hope you don’t need anything counterspelled in the next round if you plan on going all out. also, as I found out 90% of the way through this build, summons don’t get reactionsat all, so your knights can’t actually fight with you as well as they should.

Yeah, let’s bring up range again. while you certainly have options if you’re willing to play fast and loose with the character thanks to smart summoning or using other cleric spells, those will run out real damn fast, leaving you with very little to fight flying enemies with. thank goodness you’re not a dragon slayer.

#fate strange fake #pathfinder #pf2e #champion #fighter #cleric #duelist

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buntsuki · 6 months

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Groot is still doing great bloodwork and checkup wise! He didn’t have a heart murmur this week, so the oncologist came up with a great plan she feels safe doing.

Instead of replacing the Doxorubicin we’ll be taking away the other meds, Doxorubicin is the strongest option! So instead of every 2 weeks and alternating meds, we’ll be doing another 3 or 4 doses of just Doxorubicin every 3 weeks.

This balances out the stress on his body, while still providing him the strongest treatment option. It balances out cost wise a little as well. It’ll be approximately $3500-4000 total for the rest of his treatment now, before it was going to be $5000-5500. It’s still hard on me financially, but a little more manageable.

Any and all help is still super appreciated! Now we have 3 weeks between each appointment to get the money, which helps give me more time to get the funds!

Thank you everyone for helping us get this far! 💜🩵❤️

And thank you for the patience on commissions! Keeping up with Groot and myself has been a lot recently, I have electro-current therapy today so hopefully I’ll be able to get a lot done in the next two days before it wears off!

Gofundme link below as always! Again anything helps, I’m hesitant to lower the gofundme goal right now as my mom took out a loan and is in debt for this, as well as everything that is now gone from me/my bank account. While I still have to pay for Groot and my food, bills etc! (His food is $60 a month + fresh ingredients for topper I’ve been making him —-I’ve been able to stabilize his weight this way!)

Im also adding an Amazon wishlist of food for Groot is anyone wanted to help that way! I’ll send a video of him going CRAZY for it if anyone buys anything for him! My Venmo is also @ Buntsuki (the fresh ingredients are cheaper at Walmart here, and they don’t have the stock etc I need that doesn’t have additive) again will send video of Groot going nuts for the stuff! ❤️🩵🩷 no obligations or pressure, I’m just putting whatever I can out here at this point!

#art #animeartist #any help is appreciated #commissions #emergency #chemotherapy #we rate dogs #dogs of tumblr #my dog #dogs #fundraiser #gofundme #donations #please #please donate

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sehnsuchts-trunken · 2 years

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I have no idea if you’re still taking these asks but.. could i maybe have a tolkien ship?

I’m a 24 yr old woman, unlabeled :). I work in the fashion industry and I am a very “fashionable” person, I love shopping (perhaps a little too much haha) and doing hair, makeup etc. I also adore just relaxing, reading a good book, listening to Lana del Rey or Mitski, taking a candle lit bath, picing flowers and having a picnic etc, I can however get a bit adventurous and I love traveling, and I try to go on atleast one trip a year and I would love to have a SO to adventure with but still settle down. I’m definitely a marriage girl, idk about kids maybe one or two? Would depend on SO opinion :). I really enjoy art, not just painting/drawing but looking at art and appreciating it, specially renaissance art. I love a good trip to the museum, art and historical (I’m a bit of a history nerd). I enjoy the winter a lot, even though I do enjoy the grassy fields and warmth of summer I love the snow, skiing, ice skating and snowball fights are big loves of mine.

Personality wise I am stubborn, loyal, playful and very sassy. I probably could not date someone who was overly serious but I would need someone mature enough to have serious conversations. The stubbornness I’m working on but if I believe I’m in the right I will not give up, even if it seems like I have I can be VERY petty and I do not forget haha. I’m very loyal. You hate them? No, WE hate them. I of course have my limits and when that trust is broken it can never really be the same for me. The sass is probably my favorite trait, I cannot go a sentence without saying something ironic or sassy, its my sense of humor. My worst trait is probably that at first sign of “danger” I kinda just say “nope” and thats that, so I would need someone understanding with that.

Some dealbreakers: I do not date people who arent feminists and believe in human rights like blm etc. I probably couldnt date someone who didn’t show affection or love towards me ( I need to know I’m loved 😫). Couldnt date someone controlling. Couldnt date someone who doesnt like animals and small children (I have smaller siblings). Respect is important to me and treating people with kindness.

I hope this is enough information, thank you so much and have a great day <33333

usually I don't anymore but omg, for you I will, I had sm fun reading through this!

I ship you with....

Prince Fili!

He's so definitely absolutely perfect for you!!! First of all, he fits your description so well: He's mature, but adventurous, he's able to let go and be childish but be serious all the same. He's definitely one for children and animals as well! like, I think he'd be fine with not having pets or children, but he'd totally want them and he'd be head over heels if you told him that you wanted to have children! He's so supportive as well.

Also, just, all that you talked about would be stuff he'd adore. You like to read? Would you perhaps like to read to him? Because he's gonna listen to you for years if you say yes. Do you want to walk through the halls of the castle and talk about history? He'd spend hours trailing after you and pointing out details and asking you what you think of them. You want a picnic? That's what he prepares for your anniversary. He doesn't gift you a bouquet of flowers, his present is going flower picking with you.

He would really appreciate you being fashionable honestly. Like, it's not something he'd ever expect, but since he's not really talented at doing stuff like that, he would love having you dress him for royal dance balls for example. And he has zero problem with you spending some money on clothes etc either! Actually really adores it, he'd probably tease you at times - just a little bit - but he'd pay for everything and he'd carry it all home. It would also just be a great addition because, well, you'll be the future queen. It's always a plus to look amazing in that position - and Thorin is a big fan of it too. So you got family approval!

Let's be real, Dis would love you. I don't need to say anything else here.

Just one more little detail: You said you'd need someone showing you that they love you, and don't you dare question whether Fili would do that. He'd be telling you and he'd be showing you and he'd be constantly bringing you gifts and it's so important to him that you know that he loves you. Whenever he's away (princely duties!) he makes sure to put a little present on the bedside table for you before he goes, and when he comes back, no matter what, he leaves being prince be for a day and spends it with you. Regardless of how long he was gone, whether that was a day or a month.

And because I absolutely can't stop myself: He'd propose in winter and spend a whole year calling you his "soon to be wife" only for him to marry you exactly 365 days later, also in winter, because he knows that that's your favourite season. He never ever stops calling you his wife after that. It's his new nickname and he will use it until the day he dies.

#the hobbit #fili durin #fili x reader #fili fanfiction #hobbit matchups #matchups #matchups Fili #fili durin x reader #hobbit fanfiction #the hobbit fanfiction

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itsamia · 1 year

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Christ in my Paganism!

I wanted to talk a little bit about Christianity in my Paganism.

I don’t identify as a Christopagan. I grew up evangelical Christian and many of our family friends were straight up fundamentalist Christians (like...hanging out with the Duggars right now would be a phone call or two away *barf*). I have a lot of trauma when it comes to Christianity and the Church. But it consumed my life, so I also have lots of great memories and think fondly on some of the traditions. So it’s a bittersweet relationship with this ideology.

At this point, I’m really mostly an atheopagan. I don’t necessarily believe in the supernatural - just lots of stuff that maybe science hasn’t caught up to yet. So I certainly don’t believe in the Biblical God or that Jesus was some kind of Messiah.

What I *DO* believe is that Jesus Christ was most likely a real person, a radical for the time that garnered a following & a lot of attention, and was ultimately killed for being a non-judgmental and open-minded lower-status person. I pretty much regard him as a great person in history, a fantastic philosopher for his time who was in fact way ahead of his time.

That being said, I don’t really give a shit about most of the Bible. It is irrelevant to me. If I don’t believe Jesus was a Messiah or even reject in the concept of God itself, that wipes out most of the Old Testament. Which - controversial opinion - even for believers, the Old Testament should be irrelevant anyway, only there for historical context. Even something like the Ten Commandments I’m pretty sure would be covered under the whole “treat your neighbor as you would want to be treated” that Jesus said, so....why is the O.T. still a thing? Weird to me. I do really enjoy Ecclesiastes, which seems to be a book of philosophy more than anything else.

And then....the New Testament. Modern Christians really should start calling themselves “Paulines.” I don’t feel they follow Christ at all. They really just follow Paul. Paul’s additions are so asinine and at times legalistic, it was such a huge mistake to include his writings into the Bible, even as a believer. His writings have overtaken the writings of the life of Christ. And imo, anything that takes away the focus from Christ is blasphemous. But what do I know, I’m just a heathen now.

So really I only care about very few, tiny parts of the Bible and even those parts I consider historical documents that contain either poetry or a little about the life of a radical (at the time) philosophe whose words are still wise today. I probably wouldn’t be jumping through so many hoops if I didn’t grow up with this. But this is where we get to traditions.

For example, I still really like celebrating Advent and Lent. Growing up, I always felt these were the times I truly felt spiritual growth. And now looking back, I don’t believe it was because of some “god.” I think there is magic and transformation in rituals, especially when undertaken by an entire community together.

Maybe I get into those a little more later.

That’s enough rambling for now. ;)

#christopagan #atheopagan

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lovers-in-japan-reign-of-love · 2 years

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I don’t really know you well and I could be well of the mark so I’m going to make assumptions. Also feel free to ignore this. 😊 1. you know what you enjoy. You’re probably one of those really cool people who know what they enjoy, and stick to it. Even though you may deny it and/or feel like there are so many better writers, you know that you are good. And you have the proof to back it up. 2. you’re very good at what you do, wether it’s naturally or through a lot of hard work idk. But you seem like you’d be crazy good at some stuff.

3. you seem really popular, like an intimidating amount. You have loads of people surrounding you who either make you feel great or make you feel lonely. 4. You have a cool or basic taste in music, no middle ground. Or you love musicals. Those are the three options I’m allowing myself to believe. People have probably complimented on your music and people ask for song recommendations. 5. you like Harry styles. Not Taylor Swift. Or you have no opinions on Taylor swift. Actually, I’m not sure how you’d feel about Taylor swift…. 6. you want to talk to people on here (like people who follow you) but don’t know how. 7. You write your messages like formal writing pieces. You just do, and that’s okay. I do that too. 8. you have one habit or comfort that you do that you can’t get rid of. I have no explanation for this one.

okay things I know/ my opinion on you:

You’re like hella talented at what you do. Like your writing is really good and original. You’re very creative and I find whenever I’m reading your fics I always am like “dam. This is cool.”. You go against the normal fics which I find cool.

you’re smart, I find that you’re very knowledgeable and wise and that reflects in your writing. You always seem to know a lot on stuff.

you seem nice, or friendly. But still kinda intimidating. But I think that’s just taking to people on tumblr for me lol.

Also, I’m so sorry if this seemed mean and this wasn’t what it meant loll. And if this didn’t make sense, I haven’t slept. Have a good day/night/evening and make sure to take care of yourself. xx

My love, this is incredibly beautiful, thank you! I’ve always wanted to know what people on this site think of me, and I really loved reading this 💕💕💕

I’ve always enjoyed writing, especially for the fandoms I write for, and it is something that’s gradually gotten better over time.

I’ve never seen myself as intimidating or popular or anything. I don’t really talk to anyone on here if it’s not a request, and maybe the way I respond comes off as intimidating?? Idk. I like to write, and if people like what I put out then I’m happy.

The reason what I write is the way it is, is because of the people who request them. They’re the ones who come up with all these interesting, creative ideas. Without them, I doubt my blog would be the way it is.

And some of what I know when it comes to my fics comes from what other users have told me. Like the one shot I wrote about the reader who was deaf/hard of hearing? The person who requested it gave me info on deafness/being hard of hearing. So I’ve got to credit every person who’s given me additional information on top of their requests. Everything else I either have vague knowledge on or did a little google search while writing.

Overall, I don’t think what you wrote is mean—I think it’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen! I love you, and I hope you got some rest and are staying hydrated. And in case I don’t hear from you again, have a beautiful morning, afternoon, evening, and night.

(And you’re kinda right about Taylor swift, I don’t really have an opinion on her 😂)

#anonymous asks #lovers-in-japan-reign-of-love #fanfiction #writing

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annakie · 2 years

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Mass Effect Legendary Edition Modding Post

*edit* - It’s been awhile since I made this post and there’s been a ton of great mods released, or ones that I just didn’t use that were out when I made the list. I have slightly updated with a few additions in late 2022, but as I haven’t played LE1 in awhile, I’m probably missing out on some cool newer things.

Consider this a starting point, and go find other things you like on Nexus Mods. This list mostly contains what I installed and used in the last quarter or so of 2021.

It is, by the way, super annoying that all Legendary Edition mods for all three games are at one space on the Nexus. Searching for “LE1″ will take you to most of the mods for this game, but not all. It’s annoying to have to trawl through everything each time you want to play one of the games, but that’s the decision the Nexus admins made.

This list will start with the bigger ones which are most highly rec’d, and end with the ones that are more about personal taste. Except for the bullet pointed sections near the end, the headline/title of the mod’s section on this post has the link.

General Advice: When installing mods, always check for compatibility patches you may need for other mods you have installed or are going to install. And be sure to check for incompatibilities -- they are usually listed on the mod’s description page. It may be a good idea to jot down a list of the mods you intend to use FIRST, and then you can check for compatibility as you download and install.

Mod Manager

First of all, you just need ME3Tweaks Mod Manager to install the mods. It’s pretty easy to set up, and to use. When running mod manager for the first time, it will ask if you want to make a backup. YOU DO WANT TO MAKE THE BACKUP.

After that, you can start installing mods. If you have a paid account to NexusMods, you can even download mods directly from the website to the mod manager.

Otherwise, download the mod then drag and drop the .zip file onto the mod manager.

Be sure you import the mod after downloading it, and then on the main menu Apply Mod to install it, and choose options, if available. You need to both Import and Apply for any mod you want to use.

Also, launching the game from the Mod Manager launches you right into whichever game you’re on in the MM at the time, bypassing splash screens and the game selection screen. Much faster.

BTW I’ve had a few people reach out for tech support for the mod manager because of this post. This is the most tech support I’m providing. There is an excellent Discord where they can be of actual tech help.

LE1 Community Patch

If you don’t install any other mod, at least install this one, and install it FIRST. Tons of bug fixes, lore fixes, etc. Hundreds of little things and many big things and glitches are fixed. Install, and enjoy a much more lore friendly and less buggy game. There is nothing more important modding-wise than installig the Community Patch first and foremost.

A Lot Of Videos (ALOV) for LE1

(Including optional Relay Jump Remaster) Psst... Bioware did not, in fact, upscale all the cutscene videos for LE. (I actually helped a little at the beginning of the ALOV project but had some stuff come up so I couldn’t finish helping, but I definitely saw how they were all still mostly in like 1440 or 1080.) So the ALOV team painstakingly did all that work which Bioware should have done in the first place. Truly upscaled 4k cutscenes, for all 3 games. Thanks modders.

Saren Stages

This is so good. It’s so, so good. One of the things that over and over again we’ve all said is how it should have been done in the first place is now... done. Saren starts the game looking just a little different than a “normal” Turian, but not obviously a guy with tubes and mechanics sticking out of him. When he meets with the council, he’s wearing a robe over body so what little reaperized bits he has are covered. He looks a little different on Virmire, before looking fully changed finally on the Citadel, where his appearance actually feels shocking. Really well done, actually lore-friendly, makes Nihilus and the Council not look like complete morons for not asking why someone they’ve known for many years is now half machine.

Pinnacle Station DLC

Where, once again, Bioware failed, the modders succeeded. Made a post about this recently with screenshots. But yes, the full DLC, some of it ported in, some of it completely remade, is now seamlessly integrated into the game. Sure, it’s a couple of hours of inconsequential fighting with a few rewards, but if you miss it, it’s amazing that it exists at all in the LE now.

Same-Gender Romances for LE1

You probably already know what this does. Do you want to play MShep and romance Kaidan from LE1? Or Femshep/Ashley? Here ya go, fully doable with virtually no difference from the het ship.

But even if you are romancing Liara, or doing Femshep/Kaidan or MShep/Ashley, or doing no ME1 romance at all, I still highly rec this mod.

Because of the way Bioware designed the dialog wheel, it’s really hard to know what lines exactly trigger the romances, thus accusations of being “ninjamanced” (or starting a romance with a character you didn’t want to just by being nice to a companion) were born. This mod really helps avoid that. Read the description and you can easily tell exactly what lines to avoid using to stop the romance from triggering. You’ll want to make sure you do this for all of the 3 companions you don’t plan on romancing.

There was also a bug in Liara’s dialog in the base game that DIDN’T stop the romance from triggering even if you selected the right dialog. The LE1 Community Patch fixed this, but even if you don’t install it, this mod also fixes it.

Galaxy Map Trackers

Marks UNC missions you’ve unlocked on the Galaxy Map. Definitely does get a bit cluttered until you start knocking out those missions, but really worth it.

Charted Worlds

Reveals ALL of the mineral and misc. locations on all the planetary maps from the start. No more driving around planets hoping you find everything, if you feel like you need to clear everything on every planet. I don’t have a screenshot of a planetary map, and you know what it looks like, so take this pretty Mako screenshot instead.

Mission Timings

“This mod delays the Council's message about Virmire until all three initial missions (Therum, Feros, and Noveria) are completed, rather than delivering the message after only two of the three are completed. It also delays Kahoku's message about Cerberus until Feros and Noveria are completed, since UNC: Cerberus features enemies introduced in both missions.“

The timeline feels more natural, and forces the Cerberus questline make more sense, imho. Enjoy the screenshot of one of the Cerberus bunkers since it’s hard to actually have a screenshot for this mod.

No Sexual Harassment

A few choices here to remove some of the sexism directed towards Femshep in various areas of the game, and another to remove the Consort stroking your face. I’ve always hated the face stroking, my Shep would have definitely taken a polite step back there. So to be able to have a calm interaction with the Consort, who I otherwise like, without the touching was great.

I didn’t remove Harkin the sexist dialog, I personally feel like it’s part of Harkin’s personality and just more fuel to dislike him, and I like Femshep standing up for herself. But I love that it’s an option for those who choose to install it.

LE1 Diversification Project

Brand new on N7 Day 2022 - huge overhaul of the Citadel, and significant changes to other hubs, to diversify the races and genders in the galaxy. Moves some favorite NPCs to better locations, does some lighting fixing, lots of new outfits and hair for NPCs! Requires Halcyon Hairpack and Advanced Weapon Models for LE1.

This is a HUGE mod and is going to make a huge impact on your game, visually. Can’t wait for further releases of the project!

Travel & Convenience:

N7 Mako and Unlimited Sprint and Boost - The Mako is better in LE1. These mods make planet travel much better. And also very long sprint (as long as your weapon is out) is really nice, if immersion breaking, to make it around the hubs faster.

Normandy Rapid Transit - Adds a Normandy option to Citadel Fast Travel to land you at the docking bay if you want to avoid the elevator. I didn’t use it much, since I like the elevator in LE1 now, but it was nice to have the option.

Skip Minigames - I saw the spinny blocks minigame exactly once the whole game (on Noveria while breaking into the office near Lorik Qui’in’s office.) Aside from that, every minigame cost 0 Omnigel to skip. It was so, so nice.

Equipment & Appearance:

Iconic Fashion Party - All companions stay in their Iconic armor look (N7 Onyx for Shepard, Phoenix for Ashley, Non-N7 Onyx for Kaidan, Agent for Garrus, etc.) no matter what armor you are actually wearing. Removes options of having your entire team in Phoenix armor if that’s your thing. But everyone has a consistent look throughout the game and nobody will ever have to sport banana colored armor just to survive. Will still change the look from Light --> Medium --> Heavy armor when you/companions can equip heavier armor though.

Morlan’s Famous Iconic Armor Shop - Adds another store to Morlan that only sells iconic armor (see above). Not really necessary if you just want to keep them in the look if you have Iconic Fashion Party installed, but it IS another shop where you can find better armor, especially for like, Tali, who can be really hard to find armor for if the RNG isn’t nice. So why not install it?

Black Market License - Adds additional armors and weapons into the game which, TBH, are probably overpowered, or at least equal to Spectre gear. The armor will override Iconic Fashion Party but the stats are great, and it’s a unique look that isn’t in the basegame naturally. Adds a license to the Normandy Quartermaster so that he sells these items, as well.

Elements of Comparative Weaponry - Makes weapon stats more accurate and make more sense.

There are many Hair Mods you can install and, following the instructions the mod has, using the Trilogy Save Editor, apply to your Shepard. You’ll want to do a search for “LE1 Hair” on the Nexus to see them. These are not texture mods, so you can install and swap them out at any time.

Companion Overhauls

Kaidan Alenko Overhaul - Gives Kaidan better textures, especially for his hair, which no longer looks like an overly-gelled mess. I love this one, a lot.

Subtle Face for Tali - There are a few Tali face/outfit overhauls on the Nexus, showing various amounts of her face. This is the most subtle. You can see a face behind her visor, but it’s not super clear. Check out the others and pick your favorite. They’re all animated and look good, it’s definitely a preference thing.

Casual Hubs for LE1

Lets you and your companions wear your Normandy outfit on the Citadel. The only thing is that you still have your guns on your back if you’re at a part of the game where you still might fight on the Citadel, so it’s a bit immersion breaking there. Will have you in casuals in Port Hanshan once fighting there is done (so like if you go back after completing Peak 15.)

Also puts Garrus and Wrex in casual outfits on the Normandy, as well as the hubs.

Dr. Heart Experiments

Just a small non-texture mod that uses a different model on Dr. Heart’s ships for the failed experiments. Does not un-vanilla the game. Sorry for the dark screenshot, THEY’RE ALL DARK. I took my photomode screenshots for color, not clarity. :)

ME3 Alliance Armor for LE1

Puts the generic marines (and a few named ones) throughout the game in more lore-friendly armor. A few good customization options in this one. I had my on-duty soldiers guarding the Normandy in Alliance armor instead of their casual blues as well.

Other Stuff

There is ALOT for all of the LE games, adding in even better textures where they could be better. As always, you cannot install other mods after installing textures without going through a restore process, so decide do do texture mods carefully and only when you’re done with other modding and have tested to make sure your game is stable.

I really didn’t feel like adding in textures for this run, though, so I could easily add more mods as they came out. Maybe next time I play, once the modding scene has slowed.

There are many non-ALOT choice texture mods, like one that gives Benezia a full outfit, complexion textures for Shepard and companions, new outfits, etc. Can’t wait to use them, later!

And again, there’s just like, a bunch of other mods on the Nexus that I didn’t use but others will probably like! Just because I chose not to use something doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome.

Anyway, once again, thanks to the modders for making incredible contributions to fix the bugs, tweak the game to taste, and restore entire cut content. If you’re on PC, I highly suggest giving modifying your game via mods a try. The mods are mostly built around using ME3Tweaks / Mass Effect Modder, which were written from the ground up to be as stable and friendly as possible, so it’s pretty easy to keep a stable game if you follow directions.

#mass effect #mass effect legendary edition #annakie's mass effect stuff #mass effect mods #mass effect modding #bioware #gaming #video games

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atlabeth · 3 years

Text

everything happens for a reason part 10 - zuko x fem!reader

I hate you for what you did, and I miss you like a little kid

part 9 | masterlist | part 11

a/n: i love y/n's friendship with sokka so much im sorry im gonna go cry

wc: 6.5k, these chapters just keep getting longer lmaoo

warning(s): canon stuff that happens in the chase, y/n gets burned, some feels over zuko, the usual ykyk

chapter title comes from "motion sickness" by phoebe bridgers!

So far, Toph had proven to be a good addition to their group. Her unapologetic attitude was rightfully earned because of her insane skill in earthbending, and she was also hilarious — at least, to Y/N she was. Just like with Aang, she felt like it was her duty to protect the younger girl. It was obvious that she could protect herself with her earthbending, but Y/N still had this odd sense of responsibility.

It hadn’t really occurred to her until now, but she and Sokka were the oldest in the group. No wonder things had been such a disaster; the two of them had unwittingly taken on the parental roles when they didn’t have a clue of what to do.

Between them, they each had a dead parent and an absent one. With that kind of guidance influencing their actions, it was a miracle that they made it anywhere at all — she had quickly realized that while their whole group was made up of concerningly powerful children, they owed a lot of their success to luck.

And though they all were unfortunately wise upon their years, that childish nature often held back in the name of survival was let loose — case in point, Toph.

It had been another long day of flying, and for Appa’s sake as well as wanting to be on solid ground again, they had decided to set up camp for the night. Y/N had volunteered herself to gather firewood and Sokka had decided to come along — it held a special place in both of their heart from that night shortly after she had joined the group, and somehow it had just become their thing — and when they reentered the grounds, Y/N was surprised to find themselves on the sideline of a budding argument.

“—that’s great for you, but we still need to finish-”

Her insistence was cut off by Toph, a slight bite to her words. “I don’t understand what’s the problem here!”

Katara looked like she wanted to say more, but she managed to hold herself back with a sigh and a dismissive wave of her hand. “Nevermind.”

Y/N gave Sokka a look of ‘I’ll handle this’, and once he nodded she added her firewood to his stack. She dusted her hands of residue on the front of her tunic as she made her way through the camp to Katara, offering a small smile that the girl returned. “What was that about?” she asked.

Katara sighed once more and shook her head. “Nothing. Toph is just… really hard to work with.”

She glanced back at the earthbender, unbothered underneath her rock tent, before turning back to Katara. “Well… she’s not really like us, you have to remember that. She’s a Beifong, and even though she did all that fighting, she’s still been pretty sheltered by her parents. I doubt they went on family camping trips much, being super rich and all.”

Her expression turned thoughtful with a hint of shame as she nodded, the subsequent smile slightly sheepish. “I didn’t think about that. She probably needs time to get used to this whole lifestyle — I’m sure she’ll start helping soon.”

Y/N grinned and nodded, patting Katara on the back before walking back over to Sokka, kneeling down to help him get a fire started. She felt a strange swell of pride as she saw Katara walking back over to Toph’s tent, and smiled wryly at Sokka. “I’m pretty good at this, huh? This must be what being a parent feels like.”

He snorted as he rubbed two sticks against each other in an attempt to get a spark, allowing himself a glance at the two girls before cocking an eyebrow. “First off, you’re barely a year older than Katara. Second, if anything? I’m the parent. And third, they’re arguing again.”

Y/N chuckled before his words sunk in, and when she whipped her head around she was greeted by Katara storming away from the still unbothered earthbender. She took a deep breath to tamp down on her annoyance then shook her head. “You know what? Not my problem right now. Let’s just focus on this fire.”

~~~~~~~

Though she might have deemed the argument between the two girls ‘not her problem’, something on the horizon was very much about to become ‘her problem’.

Y/N and Sokka had continued onto their various tasks after getting the fire started, and despite the spat between Katara and Toph the rest of the night was surprisingly quiet. Uttered ‘good nights’ were the only thing passed between the four of them (Toph had turned in her last talk with Katara) as they settled in.

Sleep came easily after the long day, but it was interrupted far too quickly. Dreams of the past were dashed from her mind as Toph started yelling, running out of her tent into the middle of camp. “There’s something coming towards us!”

“What is it?” Aang asked. They were talking at a normal level, but every word was like a rock hitting her skull when all she wanted to do was rest.

“It feels like an avalanche, but also… not an avalanche.”

“Your powers of perception are frightening,” Sokka said drily.

“Can’t it wait until morning?” Y/N groaned, turning over in her sleeping bag. When she opened her eyes, she was unfortunately greeted by the sight of everyone already packing up their things.

“I don’t think so,” Katara said, something decisive in her eyes. “We should leave.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Aang agreed. Y/N heaved a sigh, knowing this was a battle she wouldn’t win, and decided to join the packing party. Before she knew it, they were all gathered on Appa once more and flying through the night sky.

A yawn wormed its way out of her throat, causing her to lean against the side of the saddle. “I hope whatever’s following us loses interest.”

“I don’t think it has.” Sokka pointed out a billowing cloud of dust in the distance, the true nature of the problem unknown due to it.

“What is that thing?” Katara murmured, speaking the question on everyone’s mind but no answer available.

Fortunately, the silence didn’t stretch out for too long. Aang guided them to a mountain, far out of reach of whatever thing was after them, and she picked up the packaged tent to begin setting it up when Toph all but lunged off of Appa’s back.

“Ah, land! Sweet land.” She jumped up from the ground and began to walk off, most likely to set up in a corner like she had before. “See you guys in the morning!”

“Actually,” Katara said as she slid down onto the ground as well. “Can you help us unload?”

She scoffed, not even turning to look at Katara. “Seriously? You need me to help unload Sokka’s funky-smelling sleeping bag?”

“Well… yeah.” Katara looked up at Y/N for guidance and she offered a small smile along with a nod. “That, and everything else. You’re a part of our team now, and—”

Toph seemed to be making a habit out of interrupting the waterbender, pointing at her as she snapped. “Look! I didn’t ask you to help unload my stuff! I’m carrying my own weight.” Satisfied with proving her point, Toph started to walk away, but Katara wasn’t going to let it go.

“That’s not the point!” she insisted. “Ever since you’ve joined us, you’ve been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!”

“What?” Toph stood her ground and pointed her finger at Katara, fuming with each word. “Look here, sugar queen — I gave up everything I had so that I could teach Aang earthbending, so don’t you talk to me about being selfish!” She sat down on the ground and bent up rock from the ground to form her tent from before, turning away from Katara and once again trying to put an end to it.

Unfortunately, Katara didn’t get the memo.

“Sugar queen?” she cried, making it seem like the nickname was far more insulting than anything else the earthbender had said to her that night. Before Katara could get anything else out, Toph bent more rocks up to close herself off. “Did you just— did you just slam the door in my face?! Ugh— how can you be so infuriating?”

As Katara resorted to banging and kicking the rock tent, the remaining trio watched with wide eyes from a distance. “Wow,” Y/N muttered. “They barely know each other, but they sure know how to push each other’s buttons.”

“Should we… do something?” Aang rubbed his head, more concerned than anything.

“Hey, I’m just enjoying the show,” Sokka chuckled.

As Aang walked over to try and calm Katara down, Y/N let herself fall onto her back on Appa’s saddle. “I don’t even know if I want to unpack. I might just sleep up here tonight.”

He snorted and took his bundle of things off of the saddle, then slid down Appa’s side to reach the ground. “You do that.”

And she did. For all the trouble that Katara went through, they hardly set up a camp, the exhaustion hanging over everyone’s head ultimately winning over. Sleep came even easier than before, but she had just gotten comfortable when four words from Toph shattered her hopes for a peaceful night.

“That thing is back,” she said, earning a groan from Y/N as she sat up and protests from Sokka.

“Well, how far away is it?” he grumbled as he pulled the covers of his sleeping bag over his head. “Maybe we can close our eyes for just a few minutes.”

“I don’t think we can,” Aang murmured as he looked off into the distance, the telltale smoke cloud visible once again as it billowed up over the trees.

“I guess I was right for staying up here.” She rubbed her eyes as she scooted to her usual corner on the saddle, trying her best to blink the sleep out of them but to no avail. Soon enough, everyone was back on Appa and they were flying off into the night once more.

“Seriously, what is that thing?” Katara questioned, staring at their unknown follower as she rubbed her eyes.

“And how does it keep finding us?” Toph asked as she leaned against their packed supplies.

“I don’t know,” Aang admitted, though he tightened his grip on the reins. “But this time, I’m going to make sure we lose it.”

“Please,” Y/N agreed. She had shifted her weight so she could lean against the side of the saddle, and she allowed her arm to hang lazily in the open air as they flew. “I can make no promises to the kind of person I will become if we don’t get some sleep.”

Just as before, Aang found them a new spot deep within the mountains. They didn’t even have a chance to dismount because as soon as Appa hit the ground, he fell onto his side, spilling all of them off the saddle. Their sky bison was just as tired as they were, which was a great sign.

“Okay, forget about setting up camp.” Sokka crawled into his sleeping bag and shifted around in an attempt to get comfortable. “I’m finding the softest pile of dirt and going to sleep.”

“Good plan,” Y/N yawned. She laid her bundled sleeping bag under her head, too lazy to unpack it and also knowing that, with their luck, they would most likely be up and moving again.

“Yeah,” Katara muttered. “It’s not like Toph was going to help anyway!”

“Oh, I didn’t realize the baby still needed someone to tuck her in!” Toph shot back.

Y/N groaned and rolled over onto her stomach, hoping that she could somehow muffle out the noise. “Can you guys stop for two seconds? I can’t deal with this right now.”

Aang made a noise of agreement. “There’s something after us, and we don’t even know what or who it is.”

“It could be Zuko,” Katara suggested. “We haven’t seen him since the North Pole.”

Y/N let out a sigh at the mention of him, unable to stop the almost instinctive reminiscing that occurred. She wished she could say that she didn’t think about him anymore, but that was a lie — the prince of the Fire Nation crossed her mind at least once a day.

No matter how obtuse it might’ve seemed, she still believed that Zuko was good, that what happened at the North was a fluke. A dim belief, but one nonetheless.

And as much as she wanted to see him again, she was almost too scared to. That, when he came back into their lives as the same person he had been at the North, the carefully sculpted image of the boy she wanted Zuko to be would shatter.

She hoped it wasn’t him.

“Who’s Zuko?” Toph asked.

“Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail who’s tracked us all over the world,” Sokka muttered. “He’s also Y/N’s ex-boyfriend.”

“He wasn’t my boyfriend,” she grumbled as she rolled onto her back once more. She really was not able to stay still tonight. “He was just the boy that I loved more than anything else that led to my life becoming really fucked.”

She cracked an eye open, the sight of the two twelve year olds next to her reminding her that maybe she should try a little harder to keep her filter up. “Sorry. Really… messed up.”

Aang chuckled and Toph waved a half-hearted hand around to signal she didn’t care. Katara sat up, shifting her weight onto her elbow as she grinned at Sokka. “What’s wrong with ponytails, Ponytail?”

“This is a warrior’s wolf tail,” he defended as he pointed at his hair.

“Well, it certainly tells the other warriors that you’re fun and perky,” she joked.

“Don’t worry Sokka,” Y/N mumbled as she rolled onto her side. “I like your hair.”

He gave her a thumbs up as he rolled onto his back — it looked like not being able to stay still was a staple for their group. “Anyways, whoever’s chasing us couldn’t have followed us up here, so can we all just shush?”

She was more than happy to ‘shush’, but Momo didn’t particularly like the idea — and neither did she, when she realized what his chittering meant. She watched half-heartedly as he, followed by Aang, Katara, and Toph, walked to the edge of the cliff they had taken refuge on, and groaned when it became obvious their threat was back.

“Oh, don’t tell me...” Sokka buried his face in his hands as Y/N reluctantly sat up, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes before they got to moving again.

“That’s impossible!” Aang insisted. “There’s no way they could’ve tracked us!”

“I can feel it with my own two feet,” Toph said, confirming their fears.

Y/N contemplated hitting her head against the ground a couple times to vent her frustration but ultimately decided better, instead choosing to join the rest of her friends near the edge. She gasped, finally able to see the full image of their attacker — it was some kind of metal… thing.

Yeah. She still had no idea what they were up against.

“Let’s get out of here,” Katara said, the unease permeating the air filtering into her words.

“Wait.” Aang’s gaze sharpened as he pulled his staff off his back. “Maybe we should face them, find out who they are. Maybe they’re friendly!”

“People don’t chase you for miles in the dead of the night just to say ‘hi’,” Y/N muttered as she flipped open the cap on her waterskin. “But… I agree. We can’t keep running — we have to take a stand.”

Aang nodded, and Sokka joined them on the ledge as they watched the side of the tank unload. Three mongoose lizards emerged from the opening, and when Y/N caught sight of the passengers she felt her heart stop.

“Princess Azula,” she breathed, adrenaline battling fear in her frozen veins.

Y/N didn’t think there was anyone who scared her more than the Fire Princess. Maybe the Fire Lord had a hand above her, but there was something so utterly terrifying about a girl even younger than her that had been molded into a war machine. A firebending prodigy since birth, it was no surprise that this was who she had become. But she couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the princess.

The Fire Nation was good at that, she had noticed during her time there. Stealing the innocence from any child that showed a modicum of skill, then pushing until they broke to become more powerful than any adult they would face. Punishing those who didn’t go along with it.

...she knew that all too well.

Y/N hadn’t even realized she had lost herself in her thoughts until she felt Sokka’s hand on her own, tugging her away from the battlegrounds in an aimless state.

“Earth to Y/N, are you there?”

She blinked a couple times and shook the images from her head before giving a nod and running along with him. “Sorry, yeah! I’m fine.”

He gave her a strange look, but she guessed that he realized there was no time for questions as they hurried back onto Appa. Toph did some last-minute bending to buy them some time in an escape, and as soon as she landed in the saddle with them Aang took off.

“I can’t believe those girls followed us all the way from Omashu,” Katara muttered as she slumped against the side.

“If there’s one thing the Fire Nation has in common, it’s determination.” Y/N was barely able to finish her sentence before a fresh wave of exhaustion hit her, the adrenaline already wearing off. “And if there’s one thing I have in common with Aang, it’s that I need to sleep for a hundred years. Good night.”

It didn’t even feel like a hundred seconds before she was woken up again, this time with a strange sensation of falling.

Except it wasn’t a sensation, and they were actually falling. Nothing like the impending threat of death to get the adrenaline flowing again.

“Aang!” she yelled as she grabbed onto one of the grooves in her saddle, praying to Kyoshi that the rest of the group had woken up.

“What’s going on?” Toph cried.

“Appa fell asleep!” Aang yelled as he fumbled a bit, trying to keep his grip on the reins as their descent sped up.

“Well, wake him up!” Y/N shouted back. She reached out and pulled Toph closer to her, hoping to give the blind girl some sense of stability (as well as not wanting her to fall to her death). Judging by how Toph didn’t immediately throw her off, she took that as a sign that her help was welcome.

“That’s what I’m trying to do!” Using the reins he was able to crawl his way up to Appa’s head, and he continued his attempt. “Wake up, buddy!”

The only thought that Y/N could muster up in the moment was how lame it would be to die this way, so when Appa finally opened his eyes and leveled out she was very thankful. They were all cut up from flying through the evergreens, but she would take that over their barely-avoided fate any day.

She and Katara made quick work of the cuts — a little bit of glowing water was all it took for them to be back to normal — but Appa was out cold after the nonstop night of flying.

“Appa’s exhausted,” Aang muttered as he slid off his sky bison.

“So are we,” Sokka said as he threw his sleeping bag on the ground, Y/N following him. “We've put in a lot of distance between us and them. The plan right now is to follow Appa's lead and get some sleep.” She made a noise of agreement as she laid down on the grass, not even bothering to get her sleeping bag out.

“We could’ve gotten some sleep earlier,” Katara grumbled, “if Toph didn’t have such issues.”

“What?!”

Y/N groaned and hit her head against the ground in some kind of exhausted effort to get them to stop arguing. “You’re the parent, Sokka!” She pressed the heels of her hands against her forehead. “Do something!”

“I have no idea how to get them to stop!” he complained.

She tuned back into the argument just in time to hear four words that made her want to cry.

“I’m out of here,” Toph declared as she walked away, hitting the ground with her foot to bend her bag up to her.

That gave her enough energy to get up, hopping to her feet to block the younger girl’s way. “Toph, you can’t leave! We need you!”

She stomped her foot once more and Y/N was pushed out of the way with more earthbending. “You might need me here, but you don’t want me here. You can find another earthbending teacher.”

All they could do was watch her go, their one hope for mastering earthbending soon a speck of green in the distance. Y/N allowed herself to fall onto her back once more, having spent more time in the grass than her actual sleeping bag tonight, and groaned again. “Why did you guys have to do that?”

“What did I just do?” Aang lamented as he flopped onto the ground. “I can’t believe I yelled at my earthbending teacher — now she’s gone!”

“I know,” Katara muttered, her face full of regret. “We're all just trying to get used to each other. And I was so mean to her.”

“Yeah,” Sokka agreed. “You guys were pretty much jerks.”

“Thanks, Sokka,” Katara said dryly.

“No problem.”

“He’s right,” Y/N said, still not willing to get up from the ground. “If we can’t even get through one sleep deprived night without losing somebody, then this whole group’s gonna be gone by the time we reach the Fire Nation.”

Katara sighed and nodded woefully. “We need to find Toph and apologize.”

“Okay, but what are we going to do with the tank full of dangerous ladies chasing us?” Sokka asked.

Aang picked up a clump of Appa’s shedding fur, and they all watched as it blew off with the wind. “I have a plan.”

~~~~~~~

The plan was a bath.

A bath for Appa, more specifically, and with three waterbenders the process went by quickly. Soon, the river was more white than blue with all the fur that had been washed from the sky bison, and they all sat on the river bank while Appa dried himself out to talk through the second part of their plan.

“Toph was right,” Aang observed. “The fur was leaving a trail right to us. But now that he's clean, no more trail.”

“Are you sure he’s okay to fly?” Katara asked. It was a valid concern — the downtime they had enjoyed for the past half hour or so hadn’t done much for any of them, and though they had washed off his shedding coat they hadn’t been able to do the same for Appa’s exhaustion.

“He’ll be fine. As long as we leave his saddle and all our stuff here, he’ll be able to fly.” He opened his bag and stuffed some of the fallen fur into it before shouldering it and turning to the rest of them. “I’m going to use Appa’s fur to fake trail to lead the tank off-course. You guys will take Appa to try and find Toph.”

“I’ll go with you,” Y/N offered. “Make the teams even.” Aang nodded, the young boy giving her a grateful smile that she returned happily.

After some last minute preparations and bids of good luck to each team, they were all on their way — Sokka and Katara on Appa, and Y/N and Aang flying through the air with the help of his glider, one handle for each of them and white bison fur drifting down to the ground behind them. She was so worried about facing off against the princess and so utterly exhausted from their all night chase that she couldn’t even fully appreciate the sensation of flying.

“Fans of Kyoshi, I hope this works,” she murmured.

She hadn’t even realized the words had been said out loud until Aang responded, his hardened gaze trained ahead. “It will.”

And she believed him. Wholeheartedly.

~~~~~~~

The worst part was the waiting.

They had ended up in a deserted town, and after emptying the last of Aang’s satchel they each took a seat on the ground and waited.

Silently. Both of them were far too tired to discuss anything regarding the imminent battle.

And imminent, it was. Y/N remembered thinking that she just wanted them to show up so they could get it over with, but as soon as she caught the first glimpse of the mongoose lizard she almost instantly regretted it.

The princess dismounted and took a few steps forward before she stopped, standing at odds with the two of them.

“Alright,” Aang said. “You’ve caught up to me, Azula. Now, what do you want?”

She raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised by the knowledge of her identity, when her sharp gaze narrowed in on Y/N. “Ah, the servant. I nearly forgot that you existed, even more so that you were with them. I always did wonder how you managed to escape that night.”

“What do you want?” she repeated, her voice slightly gruff from a mixture of exhaustion and exasperation.

“Now? Now, it’s over,” she stated. “You're tired and you have no place to go. You can run, but I'll catch you.”

The smallest side glance from Aang caused them both to stand up. He planted his staff in the ground and Y/N flexed her fingers as she flipped the cap open on her waterskin. “We’re not running.”

She smirked. “Do you really want to fight me?”

Of course they didn’t want to fight her, Y/N wanted to say. But she didn’t think they had a choice.

Unfortunately, (or rather, fortunately — talking back never mixed well with Azula) she didn’t get the chance to, for just as she opened her mouth another voice rang out. One that, for just a moment, sent her back into the depths of the North.

Y/N knew who it was before she even saw him.

“Yes,” he growled. “I really do.”

He looked different. With his hair no longer in a ponytail and instead cropped close to his head and Earth Kingdom greens rather than the usual red of his nation, she might not have noticed him as the prince in a crowd. Her heart swelled with concern at his gaunt appearance, and she had to push down on that affection. Not now.

“Zuko!” Both she and Aang said his name at the same time, but the word was barely able to find its way off of her lips as they locked eyes for just a moment.

Just a moment.

Fleeting moments were all they ever got. Ever since the very beginning.

And that was all they got now. A single moment before it all came crashing down.

Azula’s sharp eyes passed between her brother and the waterbender, a light amusement dancing in her irises as if she knew what was going on in both of their minds. “I was wondering when you’d show up, Zuzu.”

“Zuzu?” Aang echoed, unable to stifle his laugh. Zuko finally broke eye contact from Y/N as he shifted into a fighting stance, arms held outwards towards both his enemies.

Because that’s what she was now.

“Back off, Azula,” he warned. “He’s mine.”

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere,” she drawled as she eased into her own stance.

The four of them stood at odds, each of them a second away from bringing it all down but no one quite wanting to make the first move as they knew what awaited them. But with a twitch of Azula’s arm and a bright blast of blue fire aimed at Zuko, the fight began.

Y/N’s body moved faster than her mind, managing to extinguish some of Azula’s flames before they could hit Zuko, but some still getting past her waterbending. Zuko conjured up his own wall of flames but it was a second too late as he crashed into the side of a house, and Azula’s anger was turned on her as her eyes flashed dangerously.

Thankfully, she was momentarily saved from the wrath of the princess. Aang opened his glider and attempted to fly away, but a wave of fire sent at him put a stop to it. Y/N extinguished some of the flames that were closer to her, but the boy was still knocked to the ground.

She allowed a quick glance behind her to see Azula and Aang locked in a deadly dance of bending, but as a red hot flame raced by her head her attention was once again drawn back to Zuko. He began to advance forward, but razor-sharp icicles wedging themselves in the ground millimeters away from his feet rooted him in place.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Zuko,” she began, her voice slightly unsteady under the weight of the ultimatum. “But I’m not going to let you lay a finger on Aang.”

“You don’t know what you’re dealing with,” he growled. He broke eye contact for a moment to watch the battle raging between Azula and Aang, but she quickly brought it back as she shot another icicle at his feet, having unconsciously moved closer.

“I don’t think you know what you’re dealing with,” she refuted as she drew a stream of water out from her waterskin. “Not another step.”

Just until Aang handles Azula, she told herself. You can handle him while he takes her down. Just think of it as one of your sparring matches.

The sounds of the battle in the distance and their own breathing were the only sounds between the two of them, their gazes locked onto each other’s. She truly didn’t want to hurt him, and judging by the fact that Zuko hadn’t made a move yet he didn’t want to hurt her.

But the sound of a scream belonging to Aang caused her to glance away for just a second, and that was a second too many. He shot a blast of fire at her hands, and due to her momentary loss of concentration, he was able to hit his mark. Y/N cried out in pain, the water flowing between her fingers falling to the ground as she cradled the injury.

Maybe her judgment wasn’t as good as she thought.

She tried to bend the fallen water up from the ground, but the burns festering on her skin weren’t cooperating. One sharp gasp was all it took for Zuko to run past her towards the battle, and though she had half a mind to follow him, her injuries were practically screaming at her to pay attention to them.

And so she did. She kneeled on the ground, biting her lip to stifle any tears that may have come, and did her best to heal the burns with what water she had left. She heard the sound of her name as someone ran towards her, and the relief she felt when she saw Sokka was almost overwhelming.

“Are you okay?” Sokka asked, concerned as she saw the redness on her hands. Thankfully, most of it had faded from her healing. Only the lingering sting of heat and betrayal remained, and she nodded.

“I’m fine,” she growled, her anger overcompensating for the betrayal and uselessness that she felt. She bent the water that had sunk into the dry soil back into her waterskin then leveled her gaze at Sokka. “Let’s end this.”

He nodded and helped her back on her feet, just in time for Katara to run out of the building near them followed by Azula. Sokka brandished his club and swung it at her, forcing her into a corner as well as buying Aang enough time to join them outside.

They began to close in on the princess, an unhealthy mix of adrenaline and anger pumping through Y/N’s veins. The four of them took turns evading Azula’s attacks, but even with the numerical advantage she was still more than holding her own. But just as she was about to fire something off once more, the ground shifted beneath her feet causing her to fall. The culprit was a suspiciously familiar girl in green.

“I thought you guys could use a little help,” Toph grinned.

“Thanks,” Katara said with a smile of her own.

Azula frowned as she hopped back to her feet, shooting blasts of fire at them as she backed away to keep them all at a distance. She ran down an alleyway once she had an opening, but in a move that none of them saw coming, was knocked to the ground by Zuko’s uncle. Y/N and the rest of the group took the chance to make their final stand, the five of them gathering in an arc around the fallen princess. Zuko and Iroh joined as well, and Y/N had to hold back a grimace as she forced her eyes to Azula. Focus.

“Well, look at this,” Azula said snidely as her eyes glided over each of them. “Enemies and traitors, all working together. I’m done.” She raised her hands to surrender in yet another move Y/N didn’t see coming. “I know when I’m beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor.”

In that moment of silence as they waited for the other shoe to drop, her adrenaline slowly began to fade as exhaustion took over once more. They had been moving non stop for almost two days, and she was sure it was weighing just as heavily on the rest of the group as it was her. Maybe that was why she didn’t notice Azula moving until it was too late.

A split second was all it took for the princess to generate a bolt of lightning and send it at Iroh, his vivid scream of pain causing her to wince as well. Zuko’s yell of agony was like a signal in a way as they all bent their elements at Azula (with the exception of Sokka throwing his boomerang) at once, and the explosion caused by the combination of their elements forced them all back a few feet.

Once the dust faded though, the princess was gone.

Zuko collapsed on the ground next to his uncle, his hands moving around frantically as if he wanted to do something to help but he was too afraid.

Against her better judgment, Y/N took a step forward. “I can help him. I’m a trained healer, I know—”

“You don’t want to help, you just want to feel good about yourself,” he growled, the glare he shot her way truly venomous. “Get out of here.”

“Zuko, she’s not lying!” Katara defended, stepping up as well. “We can help him, both of us.”

With a slash of his arm he sent an arc of fire at them, sending the two girls stumbling back. "Leave!"

Y/N still wanted to do more, but apparently she wasn’t very good at hiding her emotions. They all started to run, Sokka grabbing her arm to pull her along with them. “It’s not worth it,” he insisted. “He’s not worth it.”

She wanted to protest, say that he was worth more than anything, but the slight pain lingering under Sokka’s grip and her aching heart made her hesitate.

Once they reached Appa, the whole group piled on and fled the burning town. Y/N couldn’t help but let her eyes wander, the question of how the princess had gotten away nagging at her.

Who was she kidding? She was Azula. She should’ve known that girl was capable of anything. If her father asked her to bring the sun down to Earth, Y/N was sure the princess would find a way, even if it meant burning herself to a crisp in the process.

That shred of sympathy found its way back, but she pushed it away once more. Holding sympathy for the people trying to kill them wasn’t working out very well for her. She had to stifle a laugh at the thought.

Eventually, they were able to find solace in a mountain far away from the abandoned village. Y/N half expected that tank to start following them again, but they were in the clear. For now.

After a quick examination of her hands on Katara’s insistence and a little bit of healing between the two of them to fix up small injuries within their group, they settled in for the night. Too tired to set up camp, they stayed on Appa’s saddle. Uttered goodnights were once again the only thing between they all fell asleep.

Except for Y/N.

Despite the exhaustion running deep into her bones and eyelids that felt like fifty pound weights, her mind was far too loud for her to fall asleep. And it was all just Zuko, Zuko, Zuko.

Why she hadn’t lost hope in him after the North, after he captured Aang, she didn’t know. The idolized version of the prince in her mind, made up of moments from their childhood before everything became fucked, should’ve been shattered after the siege. Spirits, it should’ve been crushed to pieces after the burns he gave her.

But for some stupid reason, she couldn’t fully bring herself to hate him. Not yet.

She knew there was still good in him. The child that she knew years ago, there had to be some of that good left in the angry, rash boy she knew today.

He helped them fight against Azula, no matter the ulterior motives he may have had. He cared for his uncle, and though he may not have acted in his best interest after he had been struck by lightning, she understood it. He was acting off of his grief. He didn’t want to hurt her. He did it because he had to.

...right?

The night sky they laid under was a moonless one, and as the stars twinkled above them she exhaled deeply. She had to stop thinking about Zuko all the time. She was at her best when she was with her friends, joking and playing around with them without a care in the world. As if they didn’t have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

A small smile graced her lips as she looked at her friends next to her, the mere sight of them bringing her some solace from the mess she had created in her mind. The trio had been there for her endlessly from the moment they arrived in the North, and Toph had been like a little sister to her. They might not have always understood her, and they might not have always agreed, but they were always there for her.

She couldn’t forget about Zuko. Not yet.

But maybe it was time to focus on something else for a while.

okay i KNOW things are bad between y/n and zuko but. look. things gotta get worse before they can get better. just remember that

perm tags: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77

atla tags: @marianne1806 @brown-eyed-thang @akiris

ehfar tags: @chandies-sideblog @zacatecanaaaa @anzanity @randomthingssss @escapingthoughtsandsecrets @shanksfav @shephard17895 @ilovespideyyy @carisi-sonny @selfship-mishaps @i-belong-in-fandoms @ilistentotayswifttocope

#zuko x reader #zuko x you #zuko x y/n #zuko fic #zuko #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar fic #atla fic #avatar the last airbender fic #sadie writes #ehfar #look the burn wasnt going to happen #but apparently this fic is getting a mind of its own #so dont blame me

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aforrestofstuff · 3 years

Text

Chapter 149 Expert Review Time

Hey gamers what’s up time for another CHAPTER 👏 REVIEW 👏

It was looking kinda bleak last time for pretty much everyone so I’m hoping things improved this time around, but it seems Murata and ONE are kinda going through their “I’m going to put my characters through the MOST” phase so… that feels unlikely. But nevertheless… still excited to see my favorite boys.

The 10000th Psychic Sister cover. Murata, I’m begging you. There’s literally like 30 other characters to choose from. I know you like drawing boobs but imma need you to put the pencil down for a minute and take a walk because this just ain’t IT.

“Summer is coming” it is July. Summer has been here for ten years. I’m so fucking hot all the time. Everything has been evaporated out of me and I’m literally a raisin.

The Psychic Sisters covers are just so devoid of life a lot of the time… I wouldn’t mind if it was them fighting or engaging in everyday activities but when they’re posed for the camera and deliberately placed there to look sexy it just sucks all the human out of them. The cover/splash page is a great chance to show characters in a new light!!! It’s mostly set away from the story so you can do whatever you want! Choosing to make 80 fanservice covers is just wasted opportunity for what could be additional character development. It’s gotten to a point where even the smegma-slinging bitchboys on Reddit are complaining about the excessive sexy covers…. When PussySlayer384756 complains that there’s too much tittage being shown, that’s how you KNOW we’ve got a problem. Now, idk how the fan climate is in Japan but I can’t imagine they’re feeling much different over there either.

Also, her anatomy is… janky. Her tit is bigger than her head, her belly is too long, and she’s got like 4 spare ribs. Like, I’m by no means an art expert but it doesn’t take a chef to know the soup is shit, you know what I mean? I feel like page after page of Murata drawing obscene muscle men has made him rusty on what should be (somewhat) normal-looking people.

Darkshine learns what TRUE peak male performance looks like.

You’ve gotta wonder how Darkshine even got to the S-Class to begin with when he pussies out of nearly every single fight… except the one where the opponent was literal water. Everyone says that he just joined the association for additional validation, and I believe it… this boy is not cut out for actual hero-ing. 99% Of the time HE’S the one who needs a hero.

It kinda bothers me how useless he’s been post-Garou fight, especially when we spent like an entire chapter trying to console his ass. I get that’s part of his character and development… but it’s begun to slow things down. We get it. We don’t need to see him be insecure every time a new enemy pops up. One was enough. We would’ve gotten the same effect if he just sat out the entire time post-consolation, because everything that’s happened to him on the surface has been kinda redundant.

Here comes the boooyyy 🎶🎶

Nice callback. I’m glad Metal Bat is finally here. Bitch runs slow as fuck.

It’s nice to see him act on his own agency instead of orders from the hero association. He’s clearly much happier when helping out on his own accord, and has a ton of initiative too. The chapter he got with just he and King meeting up and slingshotting themselves to the fight was really a breath of fresh air from all of the fighting. It’s moments like these where ONE remembers that people like OPM for the characters, and not necessarily the pretty action sequences. I really like this duo. I like Metal Bat. I like it when they’re given time to be themselves and not just vessels for the next fight scene.

I know I said I wanted the heroes to die but Murata I’m begging you please don’t kill the child. You can kill Puri, though. I hate that fucker.

Child Emperor regularly visiting and eating with Bofoi even despite being his lab assistant would be a lot cuter if Bofoi wasn’t the human equivalent to a dog turd. I might’ve overstated that… seems like Bofoi is just using him as an errand boy. The clear lack of respect he has for CE is very indicative of his character and is not necessarily a bad thing plot-wise, but I would still like to beat him with a cane. Additionally, it’s clear that he’s not going to help the heroes here. At least, I don’t think so. His “fuck them kids” attitude seems to be a pretty big pillar in the building of his character and I doubt ONE would jeopardize that just because he’s written himself into a corner. Oh, well. We’ll see.

It’s very sweet that even when near death, CE still thinks of Zombieman. Aaaaghh it’s so GOOD when the characters actually LIKE each other. I know realistically not everyone is gonna be friends but man… it would be a lot cooler if we got more insight on their chemistry. Pleaz have more Metal Bat-and-King-esque chapters. I wanna see how everyone gets along.

Also, the concept of Puri just manifesting drilling powers and carving through solid rock with nothing else but pure strength and determination is so funny. A little convenient, sure, but I really don’t care because it’s actually done well. Their reunion scene is hilarious. More stuff like this pleaz….

I don’t even know what to say about Genos here. Dude, I know you made an oath to protect Tatsumaki or whatever, but there’s no shame in a good bail. You can’t even bail anymore because your damn legs are gone. See, this is what happens when you make promises. The secret to keeping your legs intact is doing the bare minimum. Hope this helps ❤️

He’s making a valiant effort but… I’m afraid he just ain’t gonna do much while roleplaying as a worm. Maybe he’ll make a chrysalis and come out as a butterfly. Wait, that’s caterpillars. Fuck. TATSUMAKI IS A GONER, BRO. WE NEED YOU TO BE THE DEUTERAGONIST!! IF YOU DIE WE LOSE 70% OF MERCH SALES NOOOOOOOO

Local man has a heart attack in front of thousands of little monsters and somehow saves the world, more at 5.

King I’m begging you please get that shit checked out that’s not NORMAL.

Yeah, I like this conclusion. Very tasteful cliffhanger. I mean we know King ain’t gonna do shit but SOMEHOW black sperm is gonna get punted like the little cumstain he is. Can’t wait to see the events that unfold next chapter… it seems like every scene that involves King turns out to be really funny and I’m super looking forward to black sperm seeing Jesus.

Also, a little off-topic but I just really like the way Murata inked his pants. Got a real comic book feel to it. I mean, he’s just really good at drawing clothes overall (save for Fubuki’s body-tight dress that is 100% not how women’s clothing works but I digress). Fucker understands fabric physics like I understand how to make a bomb ass chicken parm. I respect it.

In conclusion, lower everyone’s expectations of you and you might get to keep your arms and legs. This has been Life Lessons from Forrest. You now owe me 50$.

#one punch man #opm #zombieman #metal bat #child emperor #king #manga spoilers #I mean not really it’s been out for like two weeks now (I think)#Genos #Tatsumaki #puri puri prisoner #meta

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thelovelyghostwriter · 3 years

Text

Ranking the HxH guys in my Simping Tier: Countdown

Note: This is just for fun and lame-ass humour. You are free to like anyone in hxh and this tier doesn’t reflect how great the character is. It’s just a ranking based on how much I simp for them.

14. Meruem

Okay. There’s a reason why Meruem is at the last list. He’s an ant. He’s not even fully human FML. Can’t believe people wanna fuck this teenaged mutant ninja ant. Can’t even say those people are a furry because this ant has no fur. It’s a no for me.

13. Illumi

The Illumi simps are gonna hack me for having him too low. I find him cute and has really nice hair that can be for shampoo ads... but his eyes... it covers 70% of his face. It’s guppy eyes. It’s like he wore those coloured contact lenses that enlarges the eyes.

12. Shalnark

OKay. Shalnark is cute. He’s really one of the most good looking guys in the series. However, I don’t know why but his personality is kinda “ehh”. He’s a little psycho who controls people with his phone, but somehow his personality is overshadowed by a lot of extreme characters with Hisoka. Also, I try not to get too attached to him because of what happens in the current arc.

11. Kite

Okay. This is weird but... I find Kite more attracted when he’s a red-headed female ant right now. Okay. I know I went all like “MERUEM ISNT EVEN HUMAN” but female Kite LOOKS human. She has freckles and all that. It’s real cute. But I’d say he’s a little lower because he doesn’t really have that “oomph” personality so-

10. Pariston

Now, talk about a character with FABULOUS presentation of himself. Pariston shows himself off with extravagance. NOW, that’s a personality. He’s like one of those celebs that are just so extra like Lady Gaga that it’s amazing. I know he’s underrated in the simping world, but he’s essentially kinda like Hisoka (who has a big simping fandom), only he prefers to play with people’s minds rather than fight people.

9. Tserriednich

You might be wondering, why the fuck is he here? Okay, first of all, he reminds me of Hannibal who is by the way, charming. And yes I mean it in the Mads Mikkelsen AND the Anthony Hopkins way. Makes me wanna his Clarice but I’d rather have Theta have that spot. Secondly, he’s a prince so being his bride is literally a dream come true. Thirdly, yeh, Tserriednich is actually very handsome. Nice blond hair and that facial beard.

8. Gon

He’s quite low on the tier because I had always seen him as a cute green mini-Ging. Personality-wise, he’s really sweet and I can see a lot of girls liking him because he knows how to treat women respectfully. He can even handle the crazy ones like Palm. His alpha side came out during the Chimera Ant arc and his adult form is hella attractive.

Jokes aside, this character is really amazing as an MC. It’s sad that he gets overshadowed but I believe he’s a pretty unique shounen MC because most of the time, a shounen MC doesn’t kill or has a pretty much black-and-white morality. Gon Freecss breaks that stereotype and he’s truly appreciated.

7. Leorio

Listen to me. This man is supposed to be the type of man you’re supposed to marry. Doctor, loyal, caring and funny. This man is the total package. I think the reason why he’s a little lower in my simp tier is because well... he’s the type of guy that I will go for in reality. In fiction, that’s where all my crushes for crazy guys should be. My simp tier is based on my heart, not brain.

6. Killua

Okay. I was down bad for Killua when I was younger. DOWN BAD. So down bad that it was scary. I sort of got over him now. But what can you do? Killua is simped by a lot of teenaged girls or women who had a crush on him since the beginning of time. He’s fiercely loyal, has white hair and pretty blue eyes, is a fun mixture of mischief and seriousness. He’s the type of guy you can count on to get out of trouble and one to always treasure you. I do think that if I ever meet Killua though, that he’d bully me to oblivion.

Okay, we’re at the top 5. From here onwards, some real NSFW simping words.

5. Hisoka

I kinda do understand Hisoka stans, but at the same time, I do not get them. Like him or not, he’s a very flamboyant character. He stands out of the crowd and he just have that unexplained charisma.

He’s actually a really well-written character. He’s the balancing factor in the narrative of HxH. He’s like the joker in the deck of cards. Back to my simp tier, he’s very attractive ESPECIALLY with his hair down. There’s a certain aura that is addictive about him that I can’t pin-point. And for that, he earns my top 5 spot.

4. Feitan

I swear. This simping phenomenon actually manifested from Hiei. Yes, Feitan’s character blueprint, Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho. (The real OGs will know that Hiei is the character blueprint, not Levi). I know a lot of people compare him to Levi but let me explain why Levi and Feitan are alike: it’s because their character blueprint is Hiei.

Anyway, Hiei is HOT. And to me, the hxh equivalent is Feitan, with a huge addition of sadism and emo-ness. Okay, that makes it even hotter.

I have read some Feitan/Reader on AO3 and BOI. I enjoyed reading certain stuff that I never thought I would enjoy. I read a fic about Reader-chan getting whipped and basically all sorts of BDSM and OMG it’s heaven.

“They say all good boys go to heaven, but bad boys bring heaven to you”

3. Chrollo

At first, I didn’t really care about Chrollo until he wore that tuxedo and let his hair down (Is it just me or a lot of hxh boys look good with their hair down?). HE LOOKS SO GODLY HOLY FUCK.

I’m 100% sure that his character blueprint for the hair-down is Koenma. He also gives me Tuxedo Mask vibes. Overall, such chivalry and handsomeness all in one man. Not to mention, that sexy sexy voice when he recites his fortune-telling. I would say he has the sexiest voice among all hxh guys. He is just that HOT and charismatic. I wanna see where he hid that Spider tattoo and scratch his back.

2. Ging

Okay. Ging is hardly simp by girls. And I do not understand why?? He is motherfucking attractive. Even now. GAWD. I love him.

I think my attraction to him pre-started because he looks and acts SO much like my childhood crush Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho. I know he’s an asshat but he’s a CHARMING asshat. Yeap, I said it. He is actually highly intelligent and just acts like a total haggard because he can.

It’s not just when he’s young. I STILL think he’s hot even in his 30s. He’s not that old for me to me honest. I don’t care if he’s a decade older than me because I think that’s the appeal of it. I

It’s kinda sad that he’s not that popular because I need some Ging/Reader smut content. Like, I envisioned a smut fic where the reader is like in her 20s and is strangely attracted to Ging. He’s wildly confused over this but he’s seriously considering of tapping it because his old ass haven’t had any action lately. The other Zodiacs are also confused and are convinced that he must have given some sex pollen to the reader because who the hell is sane enough to be attracted to him? (But it’s just that you need some acquired taste to actually find this man alluring). He’s one of the most fuckable characters ahhh.

And... for the last one...

Drumroll please....

1. Kurapika

Seriously, was there even a surprise.

THIS MAN IS THE AKAKU GOD. He’s beautiful, he’s sexy and fucking dominant (yes, I say he’s domineering because do you see the way he throws a hot tantrum during the whole YorkNew arc, demanding shit from his enemies, taking charge of everything?) His chains drives me nuts. I love it when he gets angry. I know he’s kinky on the inside. When he wore that tuxedo... ooof. He looks hella fine. He’s the only guy in hxh that fulfills my ala Michael Corleone mafia boss kink. I want him to ^&*(%%%*%^ (to save myself from embarrassment, I self-censored) as we attempt to repopulate the clan and produce more scarlet eyed babies, as he whispers some real degrading and possessive shit in Kurta while he tells me what to do. AHHHHH. *bye gotta go write some kuraneon porn now byeee*

#hxh #hunterxhunter #sorry im just down bad during quarantine #kurapika #akaku #kurapika akaku akaku #akaku god #ging #ging freecss #chrollo #chrollo lucilfer #feitan #this is a shitpost

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queergodot · 2 years

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Now that I’ve finished the games, ranking of all OG Ace Attorney trilogy cases:

Farewell, My Turnabout: The primary reason this is my favourite is because I ADORE the way having a guilty client changes the gameplay. It's genuinely difficult to stretch the trial out when you can't actually press witnesses on contradictions because they aren't lying. You need to use completely different logic and it's fun and challenging. I also really like what this case did for Edgeworth's character, seeing Will Powers again was great, and I enjoyed Maya, Pearl, Gumshoe, Engarde, and Shelly the Killer's characters a lot. Lastly, I thought the way spirit channeling was used in this case was really clever, and I really liked getting to play as Maya, if only for a very short time. I do have massive issues with how it handled Adrien's mental illness, though, and don't think that the whole 'Phoenix learns the true meaning of being a defense attorney' thing was remotely well-handled. But all in all, I really enjoyed this case.

Turnabout Goodbyes: Yeah yeah I'm predictable. Not the strongest case when it came to the mystery writing imo (not in the least bc the DL-6 makes no sense), but the emotional core of this case is so strong that barely matters to me. A real roller coaster to play in a good way.

Bridge to the Turnabout: fantastic set-up, with great new characters and very good use of older ones, with high emotional stakes that genuinely hit. Has my favourite investigation sections of the series by a LONG shot; I especially adored Franziska as a companion. That said the second trial part consistently had Phoenix and the other characters lagging behind figuring out obvious stuff I could see coming from a mile away, which made playing it deeply frustrating. That said, Godot’s speech at the end alone justifies its third place spot.

Turnabout Memories: Single-handedly made me care about Mia as a character. Don't get me wrong, I never disliked her, but I found the frequent hand-holding using her rather annoying, and she just... didn't have much of any character beyond 'wise mentor' to me. But Turnabout Memories managed to successfully re-frame that as a persona, because she's just as much of a disaster as Phoenix, which I found REALLY entertaining. The addition of trauma stemming from court also added a lot to her character imo. I also liked Phoenix's character; he was adorable and this trial was a great showcase of how his savior complex can screw him up. Plus Dahlia is great and I love her. Even as a short tutorial case it’s one of my favourites.

Reunion, and Turnabout: MASSIVELY underrated imo. The only major issue I have with it is that the photograph Lotta took after the murder makes no sense bc Mimi had facial reconstruction to look like Ini, meaning the killer shouldn't have had Mimi's face. Aside from that, though, the case is great. I think Morgan and Mimi are great villains, especially Mimi. Pearl is a great character and I love her introduction. I also really enjoyed the look into the Fey family dynamics this case brought, and of course I'm always a slut for Maya angst.

Rise from the Ashes: AMAZING characters; probably the best case-specific characters in the whole series, imo, and older characters like Gumshoe really get to shine in this case. The mystery is engaging and I liked how it elaborated more on the corruption hinted at throughout the game. Edgeworth's development in this is great and it felt like a natural lead up to his sabbatical and eventual character switch in AA2. I enjoyed the parallels to Turnabout Sisters a lot, as well. I also enjoyed the minigames, simple though they were. The only real issue I have with the story is that if they wanted me to buy Gant being a 'dark mirror'/parallel to Edgeworth, they should've put more effort into it. That said, I thought this case was way too long. Idk if it has 'bad pacing' or if it's just my shit attention span, but I struggled to get through it and frequently found myself getting bored. That's the main reason it's not ranked higher.

Turnabout Sisters: I WANT to like this more because it's got the set-up for a real heart-wrenching case, but it was just kinda fine to me, at least on a first playthrough. I think it's mostly because I didn't know anything about Maya and Gumshoe, and next to nothing about Mia and Edgeworth, so the characters weren't really hitting for me, and by extension, the emotional stakes fell kinda flat. I also couldn't read Redd White as threatening no matter how hard I tried. That said, I think it was a good introduction for Maya and Edgeworth, and a great first real case of the game that establishes the rules of the world really well. I think I'll like it better on a second playthrough, now that I know more about these characters.

Turnabout Beginnings: This case REALLY suffers from the fact that Terry Fawles is a pedophile and we're just supposed to ignore that. Like this case really went 'yeah your defendant had a 'relationship' with a 14-year-old but LOOK how evil that kid was!! She's manipulating HIM!!' I could not care less about the trial's outcome as a result bc as far as I'm concerned Fawles deserved to die. That said, the saving grace here is that the outcome of the trial was never really the point. The point is to show a look into the past of Mia, Godot, Dahlia, and to a lesser extent, Edgeworth. And on that front, it's very good. I really love the revelation that Mia's 'a lawyer must always smile' mentality came from Diego, and found the scene where he crushed his coffee cup very impactful. And seeing Edgeworth in a palette swapped version of Von Karma's suit imitating his mannerisms was both very funny and very sad. Would be ranked higher of the AA writers had morals, but like, I've read shounen and DC comics, I've ignored worse.

Turnabout Samurai: filler cases time baby!! Okay 'filler' is unfair because they have a purpose in the plot but you get what I mean. Turnabout Samurai is incredibly fun, Will Powers is probably my favourite defendant of all minor characters, and the mystery has some holes if you pay attention, but is overall very solid imo. But the reason this case stands out above the other 'filler' cases is the way it builds on Edgeworth's character. There's a lot of little stuff that seems innocuous but gets a new meaning when his backstory is revealed, and of course, the part where he starts helping you is absolutely great. "I was hoping to come up with something as I was objecting.... I didn't" is one of my fave moments in the whole series. As good as this case is, though, it lacks the emotional stakes the others have, which prevent me from ranking it higher.

The Lost Turnabout: HILARIOUS execution of a tutorial case. Yeah just brain Phoenix in the head with a fire extinguisher, why not. It was so funny it carried me through the case. Plus I really liked the dream sequence opening. But ultimately, it's still a tutorial case, and the mystery is nothing special.

The Stolen Turnabout: Love the phantom thief gimmick, and Ron and Desirée Delite are great characters! I also thought that this was a very, very strong introduction for Godot. But while the mystery is solid, I wasn't terribly invested in it, leading to this case being just kinda fine. Gets points retracted for Larry constantly hitting on Maya.

The First Turnabout: perfectly serviceable first tutorial case, but there's not much to say beyond that. Outshined by almost all other cases.

Recipe for a Turnabout: I actually thought the mystery in this one was really strong, and I love Viola Cadaverinni. But with the creepy waitress thing, the transmisogynistic/homophobic caricature, the fact that Maggey is too young for Gumshoe, and Furio Tigre's Everything, there's just too little left for me to really enjoy. If I need to ignore at least 70% of the case to have a good time, I'm not having a very good time.

Turnabout Big Top: If Turnabout Big Top was a person I'd shoot them in the head and the jail time would be worth it. Fuck this case.

#long post #ace attorney #my posts #infodumping

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until2022 · 4 years

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Until2022′s Guide to Catching Up When You’re Drastically Behind in Study:

I. Assess the damage

The first step in the plan is to confront how bad the situation is and then make some calls about what you can realistically achieve in the time you have left.

List everything you have to do, down to exact detail - don’t write ‘catch up on readings for Virology’, but instead note down every chapter. This will make it a lot easier to gauge how much time and energy you need for each assignment or exam, and will help to motivate you as you work through.

Use an Eisenhower matrix to sort these tasks:

Important and Urgent: Any and all compulsory assignments, exams, tests, etc.

Important but Not Urgent: Lectures for upcoming exams, compulsory readings or labs, etc.

Urgent but Not Important: Additional homework or tasks that are due soon but aren’t worth much, like logbooks or small quizzes

Not Important and Not Urgent: Additional readings, nice lecture notes, and other ‘good-to-haves’

Now cross out everything that you can afford not to do. That’s going to be everything in your ‘Not Important and Not Urgent’ zone, and probably all of the things in your ‘Urgent but Not Important’ zone. I know that it’s annoying not to get everything done, or to sacrifice the 5% that you could have gotten, but unless you can do it in 10 minutes and it’s really worth it you simply don’t have the time to spare here.

Having said that, if a class has lots of small assignments due, don’t overlook them because they’re not worth much on their own - make sure you take a look at the overall percentage left to go in that subject. If you can dedicate a whole day to just that subject and smash through all those assignments in one, you’re crossing a lot of work off your list. For example, I have weekly quizzes and 2% labs in my Pathology course - if I’m behind, I’ll dedicate a whole day and do all of those assessments. That’s 20% out of the way and a big leap towards catching up.

II. Tackle the low-hanging fruit

Seeing the product of countless days of procrastination is probably pretty daunting right now. I could offer you platitudes here but it’s a lot easier for you to actually take some action and feel better about it yourself, so:

Do everything that will take you less than 10 minutes to complete. Reply to those emails, the messages in the assignment group chat, upload your peer assessment, do all the little things you need to do for someone else. That should cross out a big chunk of things from your list, and you’ll be left with the important stuff like finishing assignments and studying for exams.

If you’re panicking (seeing the huge list of stuff which you have to finish in an impossibly short time will often do this!) then try an easy square breathing exercise. Breathe in for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, repeat. Splashing cold water on your face is helpful too, as is having a glass of water. Do not use this time to procrastinate! It might sound like a good idea to relax by watching Youtube or Netflix, scrolling through Instagram or playing a video game, but you’re going to be sucked back into the procrastination game that got you here in the first place.

III. Create your plan of attack

You’ve left it too late to be regularly revising, so our plan of attack is basically going to be: cram every subject consecutively. This is the best way to get everything done when you’re pressed for time like this - don’t switch tasks or subjects. Interleaving subjects is great when you’re on schedule, but right now you don’t want to spend quarter of an hour getting into the groove of a certain subject and then switching before an hour has passed.

University is just one assignment after another, no breathing space in between, especially towards the end of the semester. All you need to do is work out what’s due first and what’s worth most, order everything according to those criteria and then focus on the first assessment until you’re done. Once the assignment is handed in or you’ve sat the exam, then you can move onto the next task.

If you have two different assignments due for different classes on the same day, plan ahead so you can dedicate a full day to each subject instead of working on both at the same time.

Plan out every single day - make sure you’re scheduling in time to eat, shower, sleep, and take breaks as well as to study. Be specific when planning your time out each day as to what tasks you’re hoping to achieve - don’t allocate too much time to any single lecture, but at the same time, be realistic about how much you can cover in one hour.

Choose wisely based on what you do or don’t know. There isn’t much point in spending this precious time revising the things you already know you’re good at, so suck it up and schedule in the hard stuff first up, but be prepared to move on if you can’t get it down. You’re far better off going into the exam knowing 10 things badly, than 1 thing really well, so focus on the basics and if you have time to learn the more complex details then go back and do that later.

You also need to be flexible and prepared to adjust - sometimes an assignment will take longer than expected or a day just won’t be as productive as you thought it might be. Don’t panic, just re-plan and shift things around so you keep moving in the right direction.

IV. Grind it out

Now that you have a clear idea of what you need to achieve and when, it’s time to get it done.

For once, you shouldn’t need to worry about simple procrastination. You’re probably already panicking, so turn that anxiety into motivation which will fuel you and let you focus for long time periods. Fear can be a great driver - when the threat of the exam is looming over you, it’s amazing how well you can knuckle down, assuming you don’t want to fail.

Pack a bag with everything you need - your laptop or tablet, your charger, headphones, a water bottle and a travel mug, snacks and meals for the day, and anything else you like to have with you when you’re studying. Then take yourself to the library, the local coffee shop, the office - wherever you like to study, but don’t sit at home. There’s too many opportunities for distraction and you cannot afford that right now. Being in an environment where other people are working will motivate you to do the same.

If you’re working on an assignment, the best way to get things done quickly is to let go of any preconceptions of doing a great job, or having a perfect draft, and instead just focusing on having a draft. Bash out the worst draft you’ve ever written, fill it with run-on sentences and spelling mistakes. But make sure you finish a draft. Then all you have to do is edit it, and it’s a lot quicker to do it this way than it is getting bogged down in the details before you’ve even begun.

When you’re studying for exams, the number one way to learn is through active recall. There is no point in wasting time writing out a full set of notes if you’re two days out from the test. Even if you feel like you don’t know a single thing, start off straight away by testing yourself - do past exams, drill flashcards, try and write outlines or mind maps and then check your notes or textbooks and fill in what you’ve missed. If you don’t know the answer or you get it wrong, look it up and try to understand it, and then test yourself again in twenty minutes.

It’s important to strike a balance here: don’t overextend yourself, but don’t continually take breaks. If you think you need a break, you probably don’t. Take two minutes to stretch your legs and drink some water, but do not pick up your phone. If you’re starting to feel mentally fatigued, especially after a few hours, it can be helpful to switch locations - go outside and study on a park bench, or shift to the dining hall. Sometimes the change of scenery is all you need to feel refreshed.

V. Rinse and repeat

This is your life now. Make sure you stick to a regular sleep schedule - aim for at least six hours a night - because otherwise your fatigue levels will seriously impact your memory, retention and critical thinking abilities. It’s not worth the few extra hours you might get in, and you probably won’t be productive anyway.

Remember that the advice I’ve given you here is based on what I do when I am severely behind, not how I study on a daily basis when I’m on top of everything. These tips aren’t all great for long-term learning, but are the most efficient way to cram when you’re behind and under pressure.

You’ve got this.

#until2022 #mine #advice #learn #study #exams #revise #catching up #studyblr #vetblr #vet school essentials #masterpost #study tips #studyblr promo #study guide

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monster-bait · 4 years

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Holt the Witch’s Familiar; M Cat Familiar x F Human, NSFW Monster Match

Monster Match for @moonlightreetops: What I usually look for in a partner is someone that is the equivalent to bedrock personality wise. I need stability and understanding in some sort of way to make me feel secure in a relationship...I collect macabre trinkets and spend most of my time doing little creative projects. I watch scifi flix, anime and play DND so big geek vibes here

I was *determined* to give him the name of an actual, historical familiar, and I didn’t name him Vinegar Tom, so YOU’RE WELCOME. Also, I left a TON of Holt on the cutting room floor, so there will likely be a sequel to this down the road!

The doll had a particularly creepy face.

“Miss Claudette is from the mid-eighteen hundreds,” the female auctioneer read, “once belonging to a privileged little girl of the era, she is a magnificent model of the expectations of a typical Victorian lady.”

You bit your lip in anticipation as hands reached into the frame, turning the doll on her pedestal to show off the detailing on the dress; the creepy, painted bisque face forgotten.

You had no idea who he was—he never spoke, never stepped into the frame, never did anything other than manipulate the items at the behest of the sultry voiced woman in charge, but you’d be lying if you pretended he wasn’t the reason you kept tuning in week after week to their oddity auction, his lovely hands and the banter afterwards.

Long and white and sculpted, veins and tendons standing out in relief, his hands were their own work of art, like a living sculpture. The endlessly long fingers were tipped in equally lengthy nails, painted matte black and ending in lethal-looking points, you supposed calling them claws would likely be more accurate.

You wondered, not for the first time, if he were a werewolf, or some similar creature.

He wouldn’t have the nails all the time, you reminded yourself, thinking of what Kenzie had said. The chipper werewolf had been in your gaming group for several months, a welcome addition, for geeky clubs tended to be overrun with guys, and you’d become friendly with her almost immediately, bonding over a shared love of anime and crafting. You’d casually wondered aloud if werecreatures retained elements of their bestial side, like sharp claws, perhaps, but the freckle-faced young woman had quashed your supposition.

“Nope,” she’d announced cheerfully, seating herself at the gaming table. “Unless it’s like, the day of the change, maybe.”

You had no idea who or what he was, but conversing with him after the auction each week had become a bright spot in your weekend calendar.

It had started when you discovered the wonderful, weird world of oddities auctions run weekly on Instagram. You’d always had a penchant for the macabre and had amassed a nice little collection over the years, but now small businesses were hurting and you could enjoy oddity shopping from the comfort of your phone. You’d heard of the Cat & Crow but had never made the drive to the neighboring city to visit the shop in person, and were excited to see what they had to offer.

“Welcome everyone to the Cat & Crow, thanks for joining us today.”

The woman before the camera wore the uniform of every other social media witch you followed—trendy, artfully tattered black clothes, her raven-colored hair done up in a crown of braids and dreadlocks; her eyeliner expertly winged, tattoos that appeared to be tree branches reaching across her clavicle, with half a dozen rings on each hand.

“Winners, Holt will be contacting you directly at the auction’s end, please be ready with your method of payment. We’ve got a lot of unique items to get through today, so let's get started!”

It wasn’t until the third week you’d tuned in that you’d chatted with the mysterious Holt. You’d been outbid on several of the items you liked, but managed to snag two others, including a victorian poison ring, and he’d recognized your screen name.

Hello again! What were you the big winner of this week? Lot 23 and 47...the onyx and gold poison ring and the pocket-sized surgical tool set. Hmm! Big weekend plans?

You’d laughed aloud at your laptop, cheeks coloring despite the fact you were alone. Nothing nefarious as all that, I swear! Although my table game group had better stay on their toes tonight…

Oh fun! I used to belong to one of those before I moved. So what are you guys playing right now?

After that week, he asked after your game group at the end of every auction. You told him of the hours-long game of Catan, the entire month of Call of Cthulhu, the bickering session that had broken out over a game of Azule.

That sounds great actually. I need to start doing fun things again, since we’ve started the auctions I feel like I’m working 24/7.

You bit your lip now, thinking of his words from the previous week.

After the creepy doll had been some Templar altar piece, a hand of glory with only one candle remaining, and a terrifying victorian wind-up toy, and the only thing to which you’d paid attention was his hands and his sharp claws, shifting things around as the witchy-looking woman spoke.

You’d realized your shopping habit had become more expensive than you’d initially counted on, and that for the last several weeks you were truly only bidding on items as a way to talk to him after the auction’s close. Just ask him. You don’t need to buy anything today, you don’t even like the stuff! Just take a deep breath and do it. Deciding the voice in your head was right, you did as it advised, sucking in a breath and leaning over your keyboard before you changed your mind.

Hi! Not a winner this week, nothing really caught my eye. You swallowed hard, pushing on. I wanted to invite you to join our group sometime! We meet every Saturday at the Melted Meeple, so tonight, lol! You grimaced at yourself, but persevered. We’re just playing CAH right now, but there’s talk of a D&D campaign starting up. The more the merrier!

You waited a minute, then two, before pushing yourself up from the desk. If he didn’t respond, it wasn’t a big deal, you told yourself. He was working, after all, and you really did need to get ready to go meet your friends that evening. Hair fluffed, clothes changed, the handful of dishes you’d left in the sink washed and put away...you went back to your laptop just before you needed to get going, holding your breath as you looked at the screen.

That sounds great! I have to finish things up here, but hopefully I won’t be too late. This will be fun, I feel like we’re old friends at this point!

You told yourself the bounce in your step as you left was simply because it was a nice evening, that you were happy to spend time with your friends and nothing more. That’s it. Just another normal night.

“So what are you going to do?” you asked him for the dozenth time that evening, before biting into a crust of melty cheese, your eyes rolling back in bliss. The Melted Meeple specialized in gaming and grilled cheese, and they excelled at both.

Holt shrugged, spearing a sweet potato fry. He was a finicky eater, carefully cutting things with a knife and fork, scrutinizing the menu every week as though it were the first time he’d seen it, before ordering the exact same thing. He took his time with things and could not be rushed—spearing his fries one at a time, swirling the straw in his drink until the ice had all but melted into the alcohol—and as a result, the two of you spent more time tucked away at your own little table than you did playing the group’s game, but you wouldn’t have it any other way.

You were smitten.

You’d been a nervous wreck that first night, raising your head anxiously every time the Meeple’s great doors were pulled open, but you did your best to hide it from your friends. You were used to being the steady one, after all, the one who gave advice and provided a ready shoulder for the whole group...you didn’t begrudge your friends their drama and woes, but it made it hard when you had your own anxieties and nowhere to turn.

Kenzie had dropped into the seat next to you, had been going on about the latest disaster with her boyfriend when her head had snapped up, nose wrinkled.

“Ugh, cat. It’s too close to the moon to deal with smelling that.”

You hadn’t noticed the door pulling open, and weren’t entirely sure how he’d managed to do it silently, but a man who’d not been standing before the entrance a moment earlier had stood there then, his citron-green cat eyes scanning the room hesitantly. You’d known it was him instantly.

Thick raven-colored hair and bone-white skin, slim black jeans and a black leather jacket atop a blood red shirt, he was a fitting counterpart to the witch who ran the oddity auction. One of his thick, arched black brows had cocked hopefully when they landed on you staring at him, and you raised a hesitant hand in greeting, smiling when his lips split, revealing a row of blinding white teeth. You took note of the long, hooked incisors in his smile.

“Is he a werecat?” you’d hissed to Kenzie as he made his way across the huge room.

She’d sniffed the air, wrinkling her nose again. “No. Just...just a cat. I don’t get it. I’m going to grab a drink before the next game starts, you want anything?”

He was a familiar, you’d learned. A witch’s familiar, a sleek black cat when he wasn’t the handsome, slightly goth-looking man sitting across from you. His witch, the auctioneer, Arabeth the mistress of Crows—“Bethany,” he’d corrected flatly, rolling his eyes—was his business partner and co-owner of the Cat & Crow, a naturally gifted witch with no direction or commitment to the craft, according to him.

“Let me tell you, working in retail was not a career ambition for me,” he’d laughed that first night, as the two of you sat at your own small table away from the group, sharing a basket of fries before joining the game. “But the shop is successful and it keeps me busy, since she’s all but abandoned her path.”

By the end of the night, your stomach had been a riot of butterflies. He was stable and confident, a sharp departure from the majority of your friend group, you’d realized. Stable and confident, and ridiculously good looking. You’d thought he was of a middling height when you’d been seated, but he towered over you, engulfing you in a hug at the evening’s end.

“This was a lot of fun, thanks for inviting me!”

“Every Saturday,” you replied breathlessly, trying to restrain yourself from burying your face against his solid chest. You didn’t know what Kenzie was talking about, he didn’t smell like a cat at all—he smelled like black musk and pine, making you think of a dark forest on an autumn night, masculine and sexual…“I hope you’ll join us again!”

“If you’ll be here, I definitely will,” he’d said, giving you another one of those sharp-edged smiles, his eyes glowing on the dark street.

That had been over a month ago, and you were head-over heels in your crush.

He’d joined you every Saturday, and it had become your custom to eat together, away from the group before joining in whatever game was starting. When both Kenzie and another friend had flaked on going furniture shopping with you, he’d taken their place, doing the heavy lifting, putting together a bookcase, and paying for dinner afterwards, despite your insistence to the contrary. It was a revelation, having someone there to hear your problems, and you were happy to do the same, whenever he came in grumbling about his deteriorating relationship with his witch.

When your gaming group began planning its Dungeons and Dragons campaign at last, you discovered Holt had never played and wasn’t familiar with any of the rules.

“First we have to decide your character,” you explained, pushing a character sheet across the table. “Race, attributions, what you’d like your strengths to be…”

“Tell me again why I can’t be a bard who’s also a sorcerer.”

“You can cast spells as a bard! We’ve been through this!”

“I want to be sneaky and magical and have everyone love me.”

You’d come to the Cat & Crow once, popping in unannounced, and had seen him in his cat form. Sleek and sinuous, jet black with bright green eyes, the black cat had rubbed up against your ankles as you’d stood there, after being greeted by the friendly-seeming witch, mewling determinedly before darting off into the back room. Holt had come breezing out a moment later, announcing to Bethany that you were going out for sushi and would be back in an hour.

“So basically you just want to play yourself,” you laughed, receiving a not-at-all angelic smile in return.

It was the first grownup relationship you’d ever had, you’d realized with a start that evening. You loved your friends and wouldn’t change a thing about them, but it was nice not playing therapist, having a solid give-and-take of support. Your first real adult relationship, and it’s completely one sided. Brava.

Still, you thought, when he slinked through the Melted Meeple’s doors that night, dropping into a chair gracefully and announcing he was officially a free agent familiar, you were glad for the opportunity to listen, knowing he’d be just as present and solid for you.

He shrugged at your repeated question. “Go to the agency on Monday, file for a new witch, I guess.”

“Does...does that mean you’ll have to move? What if they pair you with a witch on the other side of the world? What about the shop?”

His laugh was a dark curl, full of mirth. “Nothing archaic like that. This is where I live, the shop is my day job. We’re still business partners, but she’s quitting the craft entirely and I don’t have that luxury. The magic world is ninety percent bureaucracy and paperwork, it’ll probably be at least a year before they even get to my file.”

“Oh, that’s-that’s good,” you sighed in relief, not wanting to contemplate what would happen if he had to move away. “Good! You’ll have more free time now!”

Holt’s smile was wide, the light overhead winking off his fangs as leaned across the table. “And I know just who I’m going to spend it with,” he purred, before catching your lips with his own.

You hadn’t really known what to expect from the home of a familiar—a part of you was expecting some gothic lair with dripping candles and some ancient book of dark spellwork on a pedestal—but a completely average garden-level apartment on a tight lane of historic brownstones had not been it. The neighborhood was trendy: full of crowded little bistros with packed, street-side patios and bars boasting craft cocktails on swirling chalk signs outside their doors. You didn’t mind an occasional foray into adventure, but you couldn’t imagine living somewhere so noisy and bustling.

“Here we are,” Holt announced, tugging your hand and carefully leading you down the short stairwell in front of the dark-bricked building. “The neighborhood is great, but I love my little dungeon.”

You understood his meaning the moment the door closed behind you. The apartment was small but tidy, with plush-looking furniture and towering bookshelves, each crammed with curios, macabre trinkets and gimcrack. The street-level windows did little to illuminate the space, giving it a dim, cloistered feeling, amplified by the red-shaded lamps on either side of the sofa.

Long-fingered hands encircled your waist, claws dragging lightly over your stomach, sending a shiver up your spine and reminding you remembered why you were here. You were terribly aware of your own heartbeat when warm lips pressed to the back of your neck, hot breath and the glance of fangs moving over your delicate skin, and your head tilted on its own accord, giving him better access.

“It looks like a bordello in this place,” you mused, laughing when you felt his outraged gasp against your shoulder.

“Slander!” he exclaimed, the press of his hot tongue making your back arch, “calumny and lies. I demand restitution.”

It had been two weeks since he’d kissed you over your grilled cheese sandwich, two weeks of making out like teenagers and groping each other on the street corner every Saturday, two weeks of thinking about him every night, waking heated and flushed in your bed with an ache between your thighs and slick coating your fingers, and tonight you’d decided enough was enough.

He was steady and confident and reliable, but you’d noticed that he deferred to you in almost every matter. If you asked his opinion, he gave it; if you told him he was in charge of the evening’s plans, he already had one, but he let you control the direction of things rather than steamrolling you, and you wondered if it was something he was compelled to do as a familiar. You’ve got to be the one who makes the first move, you realized. Then he’ll take over and you can stop panicking.

“I think,” you murmured into his ear that night, as you sat on the edge of the gaming table, waiting to join in on the next round, “you should show me your apartment tonight, and we can work on your rolls.” The D&D campaign had started, and two sessions in the entire campaign had been entirely waylaid by a troublesome tiefling character who refused to follow the group’s initiative, and Holt had been smug that he’d not been the new player to cause problems.

“Hmmm,” he hummed, green eyes flashing, “we can do other things while we’re there.”

The apartment was dark, but somehow you were led to the bedroom without tripping over anything, the bedding beneath you cool and thick as Holt pressed you to your back. His eyes were glowing green orbs, rapidly growing closer until your lips were captured by his own, the kiss breaking off abruptly when he leaned over your body to turn on the bedside lamp.

“What do I need to roll for seduction?”

The bed rocked as he reached back from where he straddled your body, pulling off your sandals and sending them sailing across the room. “I’m serious!” he insisted when you laughed again. “This is a serious game, remember? I don’t want to be the one who gets the whole party kicked out of a tavern.”

“Well, if you’re serious,” you began, breath hitching as your top was pushed up your body, claws dragging over the newly-exposed skin, “then you should know you can’t actually roll seduction, it’s not a skill.”

“Oh, I beg to differ.”

You couldn't find fault in his words as your bra was deftly unhooked and pulled away, the heat of his mouth closing over the tip of your breast before you had a chance to be chilled. The tips of his clawed hand continued to move in soft patterns over your side as his tongue worked, teasing your nipple before sucking, biting ever-so-gently before releasing it with a wet pop.

“Are you sure I can’t roll seduction? I am a magical bard, after all.”

“Nope,” you corrected on a gasp. His mouth had moved to your other breast, giving it the same treatment until both nipples were pebbled and aching. “Seduction isn’t a skill. You can roll for deception, if you have ulterior motives.”

“Absolutely not. There you go again with the slander. What about...persuasion? Can I roll persuasion as a means of seduction?”

You unbuttoned the dark shirt he wore as he spoke, pushing apart the fabric to reveal the long, lithe shape of him above you. Broad shouldered but slender, Holt possessed none of the bulk the werewolf you’d gone out with a few times last year had. Tightly muscled and well-defined, your own clawless fingers moved down his chest, following the trail of dark hair down the hard plane of his stomach until you reached the thick bulge at the front of his jeans. The noise that emitted from his throat as you stroked the hard shape of him was very nearly a purr, and you smiled hugely, deciding to let him do his best.

“Sure, why not,” you smiled, pulling open his belt. “But I might want a perception check. Gotta check out your staff of persuasion first, make sure its on the up and up.”

You let out an undignified squeak when your skirt and knickers were pulled down as he rose, shucking his jeans before climbing over your body slowly, and you were clearly able to picture him as the giant, stalking cat you knew he occasionally was.

The soft drag of his claws over your thighs made you gasp, legs falling open, and the knuckle that pressed into your folds found you slick and eager.

“I’m glad you invited me to join the group,” he purred against your lips, sharp teeth catching them gently in a kiss. “Even if I don’t know any of the rules.”

The hard press of his erection was a molten heat against your hip and you shuddered out a breath, wanting to take him in hand but enjoying the press of his body against yours too much to force him to move. “I-I am too.”

Between your legs, his hand was buried against your sex. His sharp claws were tucked back, a finger on either side of your clit, knuckles kneading into the sensitive flesh until your hips were bucking upward to meet his hand, kneading and rolling, over and over until you were seeing stars. Pressure built behind your navel with every roll over the exposed bud of flesh, and you keened.

“I’m still having fun,” Holt went on, mouth stretching into a wide Cheshire cat-like smile, “and isn’t that the point of a game?”

The band of pressure snapped and you arched against him as throb after throb of pleasure pulsed through you. Your thighs tightened around his wrist, trapping his hand in place, and he hummed in amusement, fingers still moving as you gasped and shook, his lips pressing to yours lightly when you trembled with the aftershocks of your orgasm.

“I’d like to seduce you, please,” he purred, waggling his dark eyebrows. “I’m being as persuasive as possible.”

His cock was still hot when you wrapped a hand around it, giving his shaft a firm pump, dragging upwards until your fingers reached his swollen head. “You really are a big cat,” you observed when the repeated motion drew a vibrating rumble from his chest, before edging closer to the foot of the bed. His smart-assed reply was lost to another rumble when you licked a broad stripe over his exposed head, laving your tongue over the bead of moisture there.

There were several rings of nodules at the base of his head, you realized, mimicking the sharp barbs he might possess in his cat form, and you wondered how they would feel inside of you. The sharp points of his nails dragged through your hair as you sucked him into your mouth, swirling your tongue before lowering your head down his shaft, bobbing your head several times before his clawed hands were tugging you upwards.

You were reminded of his speed on the day the black cat in the shop had gone darting off to the back room in a blink of an eye when he flipped you, you cheek pressed to the mattress as he kissed up your spine, raising your hips. You felt the leaking tip of his cockhead press to your slick folds, sliding up and down before finally pushing into you, hilting himself in one thrust.

You hadn’t intended on finding a relationship, only some fun new additions to your curio shelf, you thought as has pumped into you, those textured nodules dragging deliciously over your inner walls. Claws dragged over your skin as you clenched around him, unable to stop the moan which broke from your mouth. You hadn’t been looking for a relationship, but one had found you anyway.

When his hand found its way back between your thighs, you were lost. Already gasping with every thrust of his textured cock, as soon as the rough pads of his fingers began circling your clit, you felt your tentative control slip, your core clenching and spasming around him before you were filled with heat, his rumbling purr vibrating against you as he came.

The comforter was thick and soft when he pulled it over you, once he’d withdrawn and quickly cleaned you up. Thick and soft and incredibly warm, snuggled against his chest.

“I have a confession to make.” You craned your neck up to find Holt peering down, one of his thick, dark brows cocked curiously. “You can’t actually play persuasion or deception against another player’s character. Everyone has their own freewill and agency, it doesn’t matter how silver-tongued the party’s bard is.”

“Do you mean to tell me I wasted a perfectly good persuasion play?”

“It was unnecessary but not without merit!” you yelped as he flipped you to your back, giving you his best glower as he straddled your hips. “You’ve convinced me!”

“Oh, just you wait. I am going to cast so many spells on you once once we finally get out of the bloody tavern.”

The bed, you realized, had begun to levitate, and now hung suspended in the air as you squealed. He really was a magical, sneaky bard.

“You can’t do that either,” you laughed after the bed dropped, shaking the walls. “No spells on teammates.”

“There are too many rules to this game,” he griped, pressing his cheek to your breast. You wrapped your arms around him, pushing your fingers through his thick hair. Give and take. Solid for each other.

“You have plenty of time to learn.”

His purr vibrated against you before he wriggled free from your arms to fix the blanket, pulling you against him as he resettled. “It’s a good thing I have an excellent teacher.”

#monsterbait writes #exophilia #monster boyfriend #monster lover #monster x reader #m monster x female reader #monster x human #monster match #monster matchmaker #witch's familiar #black cat

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duchezss · 3 years

Text

Buckle in folks cause I’m about to put more effort into this than an english assignment Presenting Why Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous is actually an amazing show

Now what defines the term amazing you might ask? I’m talking about a show that goes above and beyond in plot, characters, storytelling, and overall experience. Nowadays most adult shows don’t meet my standards much less a kids show so if that gives you an idea how good this show is stop right now and go watch it if you haven’t. Spoilers ahead ofc but as an aspiring film major I will be diving into just about everything I love and this is gonna get long.

For your convince I will start with a simple bullet point list and then extend on them below, so if you only wanna see the big points and not my thoughts behind them this first parts for you.

Black mc

Diverse main cast (4/6 are poc)

Actual plot lines and a lot of suspense

Very dark for a kids show

Complex characters that develop

Fits in with the main Jurassic World series beautifully

Body language and facial expressions are top tier

Have genuine relationships (platonically and/or romantically) between all of the main 6

Phenomenal camera angles and use of special effects

Great with details

Amazing VA’s

Continuity

So the nose dives begins

Black mc: To some people this might not matter that much but holy cow this is so important and such a big step. The people complaining are just weird middle aged white people, like do you know how big of an impact a black mc can have on young black children. It’s so important and it makes them feel happy because someone actually looks like them. Clear evidence of this was Into The Spider Verse (which is also an amazing movie oml). Come to think of it the only black mc I think I’ve ever seen in an animated kids show is probably Static Shock (also an amazing show ily). Somehow representation has got swept under the rug in this day and age which is ironic really, but this show does an amazing job with tackling that and I love it.

Diverse main cast: I can’t think of any recent kids movies/tv shows, live action or animated, that have this much representation. In animation is also very easy for the show runners to make a character poc and then have a white VA, but jwcc is quite the opposite. Honestly the characters look so much like their VA’s that something tells me the animation team based the characters off them and not the other way around. Not only that but their names actually match with their ethnicities. So for reference or just anyone that doesn’t know, Ben and Brooklynn are white, Sammy is hispanic, Darius is black, Kenji is asian, and Yazmina is middle eastern. Sammy’s last name is Gutierrez, Yazmina’s is Fadoula, Kenji’s is Kon and Darius’s Bowman. Gutierrez is a common last name in Mexico and Latin America in general. Fadoula is found throughout upper Africa and the Middle East, Kon is rare name of Japense origin, and Bowman is a common last name among black folks in the US. So not only do they have a poc cast, voiced by poc people, but all the characters have realistic names. Not to mention they are very good on skin tone in the show, personally I think Yaz should’ve been just a bit darker but hey I’ll take it and run.

Actual plot lines: This seem like stating the obvious but work with me here. Most kids and even adult shows have a very episodic format, there’s nothing wrong with that per say but having a plot and conflict build up and having little things matter is much more satisfying in my opinion. Most kids shows have some conflict but its very PG which is also fine that’s what it’s meant for. But every once in a while you’ll find a show that had plot wise beyond it’s years and those are the golden ones. Easily and rightfully the most famous is Avatar the Last Airbender or ATLA. This show to this day is still one my favorites and truly nothing will ever top it, but in my years of watching kids shows after it jwcc might just be second. We can argue all day about what’s the best and it’s truly a matter of opinion, but to me atla and jwcc just achieve such a level of complexity that 99% of kids and even adult shows don’t reach.

Very dark: While this might not be exactly the best for kids it’s great for an olderish audience. Honestly it having a much darker element makes the show enjoyable for all ages while still keeping it chill enough so that children may watch. But come to think of it it’s hard not to make a show about dinosaurs dark, the show runners do a wonderful job at keeping it intense and exciting, but still kid friendly, and to me thats incredibly impressive. Not to mention since the show isn’t afraid to go dark they can do more (such as ben’s “death”, the hunters etc) which makes it go from good to great. Reminds me a lot of atla and I know I keep mentioning atla but know that is the biggest compliment ever. atla is easily the best animated/kids show of all time so the fact that a bring it up so much is huge. There have been shows in the past that have tried to replicate what atla (such as voltron..) and it just hasn’t worked. I think this show nails the boundary between too dark and not dark enough.

Complex characters: Oh yes. If there’s one thing I love more than an ensemble cast it’s a cast that grows and develops as the series progresses. Sure the main 6 might start off as typical character tropes (Darius the super fan, Yaz the loner, Sammy the extrovert, Ben the underdog, Kenji the arrogant, and Brooklynn the influencer.) but they become so much more than that. I’d say at least half of them are completely different people between the 1st episode and the latest one. An easy example being Ben and Kenji. Ben started off as a naive, timid, and terrified person and has become confident, independent, and brave. Kenji started off as arrogant, selfish, and apathetic person and became compassionate, driven, and concerned. All of them have had some sort of change even if it’s not super dramatic and that’s important. It makes the storytelling better because they grow as they go.

Fits in with JP/JW beautifully: In terms of shows connecting to movies this has gotta be some clone wars level s-tier stuff. Personally I have never watched clone wars but my sister has and she always raves about how well this show connects to the movies, and from what I’ve seen I completely agree. A youtube channel by the name of Silverscreen Edits actually put together the scenes from every time they overlap, mainly in S1 but also the cold open from Fallen Kingdom. I’d advise you to watch it because it’s just incredible. The show runners nail ever detail of these scenes and it truly feels like you’re watching the same scene from a different perspective. The set up is beautiful and I cannot rave enough about how amazing it is, my favorite easily being the dome scene because of all the small details. Not to mention this show actually connect JW and FK because it shows us that the cold open was 6 months later while the rest was 3 years later. Quite honestly I had no idea these two scenes were that far apart from each other, I thought the opening was from a years or two later not 6 months, so this show really connected the dots between these two movies and made them flow together much nicer. And I love all the countless references too old and new JP/JW movies. Overall this show is a great addition to the franchise.

Body language and facial expressions: You might be thinking to yourself, hmph that is a really odd point to make, let me tell you it’s not and I’ll explain why. When analyzing films I usually tend to stick to live action because one of my favorite parts of films is how characters react to things, and we animation we really don’t get that. Most of the time even if shows get this complex they won’t use both the way jwcc. What impressed me so much was how amazing they are at this, the animation team seriously needs more praise. Jwcc is great at facial expressions which I will say other animated shows know how to do as well, but they are also so amazing at body language which is rare rare when it comes to animation. It’s because it’s so hard and often times it just doesn’t fit, but they do an amazing job with this and it makes the characters feel so life-like. When a character is sad or closed off their shoulders hunch, when they feel scared they stiffen up and cover their ears (which is another detail I love so much, I never realized till this show that hardly anyone ever covers their ears and it makes a lot of sense because these dinos are very loud) and when they feel hopeless their shoulder sag and their head drops, do you see what I mean? You can quite literally tell what these kids are feeling and thinking without them saying anything that is so impressive and it makes the show that much better. It makes it easy to analyze and if it wasn’t clear around I love to do so.

Genuine relationships between all of main cast: I will not budge at this point at all, gonna say it right now if you disagree argue with the wall. I might have some bias on this but one, if not my favorite, part of any media is an ensemble cast. It’s something I actively seek out, and when I say ensemble cast I don’t mean a trio, I mean a full cast, my favorite being 6 but 4 or 5 will do. So when I found out this show had 6 main characters I was immediately interested. Not only because I love ensemble casts but I also wanted to see how they handled it. Ensemble cast are so rare because they are extremely hard to do and do well. I will even criticize atla on this. At one point they had 6 main characters and they never elaborated on more than a handful of the duos and just focused on the group as whole. But this is typical and easiest to do without giving up individual character development so I get that. But jesus christ jwcc does a phenomenal job with this, and I mean phenomenal. Out of the 15 different duos you can get between 6 characters then have elaborated on 11 of them, and it could easily be more this is just from memory. I might make a post elaborating on this specifically because it’s just amazing. This time they take to flesh out these relationships truly makes them feel like a unit and a family, instead of just a group of people all working towards the same goal. This is easily the most impressive and rewarding of any of the points on this list in my opinion. (coming from #1 squad lover right here)

Camera angles and special effects: This shows downfall for some was that it had strange animation, honestly it never bothered me and since I’ve watched dragon prince and rwby, it’s clear that bad animation never stops me from watching a show. But I think people just won’t give it a chance, because when you do you’ll see it’s actually very good. To me the coolest part of the animation is the dinos. They look incredible and so so similar to the cgi used in JW. That’s hard to do so more claps for the animation team I love y’all. They also have to work around the PG side of this show and do a great job at implying what happens but never actually showing what happens. This is all angles, not to mention they do a great job at showcasing the park and the scenery so that magic from the movies really translates to the show. Finally my favorite scene of the show from an avid slow mo lover has got to me when Ben falls of the monorail (idk why it is cause he’s literally my fav and I was so upset) The scene is just beautiful and the set up before hand makes it that much more heart breaking. The use of slow mo is amazing I literally cannot rave about this scene enough. It builds so much suspense and they used just the right amount, to much and the scene would move to slow, and to little the scene would be to fast. I need more great scenes like this in S4 (idk if I want the angst that comes with it too I’ll get back to you)

Details: To me details, in any show in general, is what makes it go from great to fantastic. An example of this is Harry Potter, something that hooked me into this franchise was how much small details mattered and it’s the same with jwcc. There are so many throw away lines that end up coming back and all us are hitting ourselves for missing it. Such as Ben saying early on he knows where the tracker beam is and when he “dies” and the crew can’t find it it shows how important he was. Those are details I love to see. Or the three dinos, one of which Sammy released, coming back all season. Of course toro as well and he always kept his burns. Not to mention the animation team always kept Ben’s scar in and I think that’s an important detail because he shaped who he is. Keep up the good work animation and writing team because I love what you’re doing with this (also I’m 90% sure the compass is another one of these details I’m calling it rn)

Amazing VA’s: Honestly VA’s in general do not get enough credit and they really should. But these 6 are pretty amazing let me tell you. If I’m not mistaken Ryan Potter (Kenji’s VA) is the only one with a notable history of voice acting as he played the title character in Big Hero 6. (fun fact I had no idea and when I found this out I quite literally screamed). But the others have also done things as well, most of it being live action though, and voice acting is much different. Honestly I just need to make a post about the various roles they’ve had cause looking into this has been an experience. Anyway all of them do such an incredible job with this ahh. I think the times where you can really tell how different they all are is when they lash out. This happens quite often and honestly it’s expected, I mean they’re 6 teenagers in a stressful environment of course they’ll last out. But all of them have such a different way of doing it, Darius is hopeless, Kenji is nervous, Yaz is emotional, Ben is harsh, Brooklynn is stern, and Sammy is level headed. Usually everyone lashes out the same way so the fact that they’re so different in just one aspect shows you how good they are. Each character is so individual and all of them have different goals and morals which is not only realistic but it makes way for conflict which is always interesting.

Continuity: Now this could arguable go with details but it’s slightly different so I’m making this a separate point. Continuity to put it simple it basically not have the show be episodic. Honestly that completely what I expected from this show because that how most kids shows are. In this show the plot not only progress each episode but so do the characters and their trauma. Most of the time the plot will progress but anything bad that has happened to the characters will not show and is hardly talked about (COUGH VOLTRON). To me it’s something that has to be addressed because if the characters don’t grow what was the point of it. And they’ve shown that characters grow based on the events that happen and I love that. Another thing about continuity is when show runners stick a pin in something and actually go back to it (COUGH RWBY). Jwcc is amazing at this and make a point to bring back just about everything that gets sidelined in the first place. It’s so impressive and make the show that much more enjoyable. There have been countless times where I get so caught up with the pins that shows just leave there and it makes me so mad, but jwcc is good at for the most part because of course some things will slip through. But they always get back to the important things.

The conclusion: Overall this show is phenomenal and if my essay hasn’t convinced you I’m not sure what will. The show is amazing at storytelling and plot and the lovable main cast makes it that much better. It is so much better than a good chunk of kids shows and honestly part of me wishes it was rated PG-13 cause I really wanna see that. But they do an amazing job and keep it kid friendly enough while still discussing mature topics. It’s the next atla to me and something that many kids shows now days try to be and fail. It’s impressive and complex and truly one of the best shows I’ve ever watched. Film major mara out, and if you actually read all of this ily mwah.

#jwcc #jurassic world camp cretaceous #jurassic world #jurassic park #jesus why did I write so much lmao #I have issues I spend more than 2 hours on this..#hyperfixations go hard ig

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