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feetoffire · 3 years

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Captain Christopher Pike, the rec list

I had this almost finished and ready to post, and then the kitten wiped everything, so here it is, a gazillion years later than I wanted. Yay.

Ongoing - the fic is complete, but not all chapters are posted

WIP - fic isn’t finished

Incomplete - last-updated-more-than-a-year-ago WIPs

recs under the cut; spoilers abound

AOS

Gen

Pike’s Office by AnxiouslyGoing. Poor Jim has a Tarsus related panic attack, and ends up sleeping in Pike’s office/on Pike’s lap. Academy Era, bonus appearance by Spock, dad!Pike. 2k oneshot.

Another Life by LullabyKnell. Time travel fix it for ST2009. As ever, LullabyKnell gave us a spectacular, delightfully well-written fic. Dadmiral Pike, even if he’s technically a captain at this point. No pairings, everything is platonic. 12 chapters, 61k, T. Complete.

Watching the Cloud of Dust by AngelQueen. Pike runs into Spock Prime while seeing the Enterprise off. Cue melancholy fluff (it follows Spock Prime around like a dog). 1.7k oneshot, G.

Phil Boyce/Chris Pike

horizons universe by gracieminabox. Massive, massive series spanning the whole of Chris’ life. Not canon compliant, i.e. Pike Lives. “Christopher Pike, in word and in deed.” Series, 263k in seventeen parts, G-E.

Altered Horizons by InsaneSociopath. The bar fight goes very differently because Chris gets elbowed in the face. Featuring depressed!bipolar!Chris, who is Not Having A Good Time, Emergency Department (ED) doc Bones, and mother-hen!Jim. Phil is essentially Sir Not Appearing In This Fic, but he and Chris are married. Seven chapters, 14k, G. Incomplete. I adore this one.

When Darkness Drifts by InsaneSociopath. Tarsus fic. Jim gets adopted by Starfleet but still ends up on Tarsus, except Chris is there. All Tarsus-related warnings apply. Jim and Chris centric; Phil is most present in the last few chapters. Six chapters, 44k, M. Complete.

Kinktober 2017 by nerdqueenenterprise. What it says on the tin. Series, 13k in eight parts, T-E. Complete.

A Vacation Long Overdue by nerdqueenenterprise. Reunion sex, mostly. They haven’t seen each other in six months, so they take leave on a remote beach. ~9k oneshot, E.

The Weight of a Man by imachar. Another huge series charting the evolution of Chris and Phil’s relationship. Both canon compliant and canon non-compliant, so there’s a choice if you want it. Series, 174k in sixteen parts, M-E. Complete.

shatterproof by gracieminabox. Will Make You Cry. Phil’s POV, STID compliant, featuring a picture from their early days. 4.3k oneshot, M.

Winged Desires and Veiled Persuasions by imachar. Post-Narada, ignores/was written before STID. Bones ends up hanging out with Phil and Chris at Spuhura’s wedding reception, and then the three of them have sex in Phil and Chris’ hotel suite. Pretty much pure smut. 12k oneshot, E.

McPike

The Wind and Its Satellite by severinne. Long series, some BDSM, eventual Bones/Jim/Pike. Something of a McPike classic. Series, 186k in twenty parts, M-E.

Partridge Fallen From the Pear Tree by severinne. Post-divorce Bones works as a prostitute to make ends meet. Pike comes to town to recruit him, ends up paying for a night without knowing Bones is Bones, and then they both freak the fuck out when Pike realizes who he is. More-or-less just smut and angst. Pre-canon. Three chapters, 12k, E. Complete.

Singularities Verse by FrancescaMonterone. Bones and Pike fall in love, Pike adopts Chekov, Jim is Jim. Bonus Admirals Archer and Reed, and Archer/Reed. Mostly pre-canon, ace Pike. Series, 81k in six parts, T. WIP.

Need by Noranem. Post STID, Pike and Bones invite Jim into their relationship and their bed. Established McPike, early days Bones/Jim/Pike. Four chapters, 12k, E. Complete.

Pirk

See All The Stars by HoneyBeeBritt. Chris and Jim fell in love some time before Daystrom. Fluff and angst, with a happy ending promised in part four. I come back to this one regularly, especially part one. Series, 6.2k in three parts, T-M. Ongoing.

Shining On The Quay by topaz. Post-Narada through Beyond, ignores STID. Chris and Jim fall in love, get together, and figure out how to keep a relationship going when one of them is in space and the other is an admiral. Series, 32k in three parts, E. Complete.

You Still Got Wheels, Kid by withthepilot. Yes, this is partially on here because it’s one of the few (good) fem!Pike fics. Pre-canon, Pike finds out Jim’s alive because she (not Winona or Sam) is listed as his emergency contact. Prostitute Jim. Takes place two years before canon, I think. 12k oneshot, E.

Moments along the path by InsaneSociopath. Jim, through no fault of his own, is assigned to Pike as an aide bc Command thinks he’s a loose cannon. Pike is delighted /s. (he warms up eventually.) Some Tarsus PTSD; also a fair amount of fluff. Academy Era slow burn that goes right through to (immediately) post-Narada. 46k oneshot, M. Second chapter is artwork. Long but 100% worth it.

How Do You Want Me, How Do You Want Me? by babykid528. Get together via smut. Feelings abound but talking about them does not. 3k oneshot, E.

The Ocean Between Us by severinne. They get a drink in a bar. They’re both dead. Something of a get-together fic. Can and Will sucker punch you with feels. STID compliant. 1k oneshot, T.

Mutual Profusion of Good Feeling (aka Wherein the Aliens have a Flair for Mood Lighting) by kayliemalinza. This doesn’t really count as Pirk, but it’s not platonic enough for the gen category. Away mission, the premise is ‘aliens made them do it’ but there’s no sex or fade to black. Romantic, I guess? I really don’t know, but the prose is gorgeous. Also a Pike Lives/returns to the Enterprise AU. 5k oneshot, T.

Timeline Shenanigans

In plain view by IceCream_Junkie, Killermanatee. Pike/Pike. What can I say? The image of Greenwood’s Pike and Mount’s Pike together is very pretty. 2k oneshot, E.

Out of This World by TheAsexualofSpades. Space Puns. That is all. 1.1k oneshot, G.

Discovery/quasi-SNW

Gen

A Small Storm by EKthered. Spock goes to visit his captain and ends up comforting him instead. Post Boreth. 2.3k oneshot.

you were never broken by ordinary things by SiderumInCaelo. Michael Burnham & Chris Pike. Michael has only an inkling of what’s going on, but she manages to comfort Chris anyway. Post Boreth. 1.2k oneshot.

Piler | Chris Pike/Ash Tyler

the chair and the badge by ninjamcgarrett. The boys are soft and in love. Lots of smut, but a fair amount of plot. Their respective traumas are addressed too, so there’s plenty of h/c. Honestly? My favorite from this pairing. Series, 59k in five parts, M-E. Ongoing.

Reality by aishahiwatari. Initially a take on how these two idiots settled their differences, and evolution from there. Part two is post-season two of Disco. Series, 5k in two parts, E. Complete.

survival is insufficient by topaz. Post-Disco; they get together to remember Discovery’s crew, and then they get together. Traumas are addressed. Part two is a sort-of case fic, TW starvation. Series, 33k in two parts, E. WIP.

Feeling Too Deeply by NightOfTheLand. Established Piler, post-Disco season two couch sex. 6k oneshot, E.

dancing to a beat of our own, flying with the speakers blown by wolfhalls. Neither of them want to talk about anything, aka Horrible Coping Mechanisms TM. Bottom Pike, quasi-hurt/comfort. 2.7k oneshot, E.

Christmas in Sickbay by lah_mrh. Chris is accident- and injury-prone and has a new reason to hate spiders. Ash just wants to spend time with his boyfriend. 1k oneshot, G.

The Pillow Will Disappear When I Forget I Put a Pillow There, Worry Not by prototype_malice. Sleepy fluff and cuddles. (they deserve it.) 665 words, oneshot, G.

Chris Pike/Una | Number One

it will take place without witnesses by love_in_the_time_of_kohlinahr. Post Disco, Pike is struggling with the knowledge of his future, so he and Una play chess until stupid o’clock in the morning (as one does), and then he lowkey has a panic attack. Una POV. Also features sleepy sex, but it isn’t plot-important and can be skipped over, if you wish. 2k oneshot, E.

Overtime by Astronoddingoff. Una has Thoughts about Chris working doubles for the better part of a week. Also men get pegged. Definite sub!Chris. 7k oneshot, E.

Terminal Velocity by Astronoddingoff. Una pegs Chris and drags his favorite fantasy out of him. Chris is On Board with all of this. Implied poly!Chris (i.e. Boyce/Pike) and hardcore switch/sub vibes from Chris. 6.8k oneshot, E.

All for One by knightinmourning. D/s universe, where Pike had/has to hide the fact that he’s a sub to make (and stay) captain. Mostly reccing for part two, which has a fair amount of hurt/comfort (and also hints at threatened sexual assault and definite torture; be forewarned). Technically also Chris/Phil and Chris/Spock, but there’s no pairing sex, and part two is entirely Una’s POV. Series, 4.2k in two parts, M-E. Probably incomplete.

A Gentle Touch by jedi_harkness. Chris and Una shower together. Body worship, no sex. So Much Fluff (and also happy tears). It’s super sweet. 1.7k oneshot, T.

Phil Boyce/Chris Pike

Decompression by Astronoddingoff. Chris is elated by a recent treaty success and the time spent dirtside. Phil does his best to make him even happier. Lowkey sub Pike. Implied poly!Chris (i.e. Pike/One). 3.5k oneshot, E.

Most Pike/Boyce fics fall under the AOS tags

Una/Phil/Chris

Triangulate by Astronoddingoff. Sex pollen, but they’re already-kind-of-mostly in an established relationship. Recent miscommunications lead to angst. They all love each other and they’re all idiots. Lowkey sub Pike. Two chapters, 20k, E.

Holy by Astronoddingoff. Self-actualizing featuring religious guilt/conflict, i.e. Pike is a sub and religion is weird about enjoying yourself. 2.7k oneshot, E.

Happy Birthday by MeganMoonlight. It’s Phil’s birthday. Cue breakfast in bed. 530 word oneshot, G.

#christopher pike #star trek #trek aos #trek dis(co)#fic recs #christopher pike fic recs #pike/boyce #one/boyce/pike #pike/one #piler #mcpike #pirk #a couple disco-aos crossovers for funsies #captain dad pike #dadmiral pike

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magnificent-nerd · 3 years

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Why Naqib in The Boys sucked

Image description: fictional character Naqib in Amazon Prime’s show The Boys.

(Is the fire in the background an excuse to use racist Yellow Filter to show how exotic he is? Hmm.)

I first posted this on my blog in Dec 2020, and since nothing in superhero media has changed for the better at this time (September 5th, 2021), I’m going to keep talking about it.

Because nobody else does. So, without further ado:

WHY NAQIB SUCKS.

I was a big fan of The Boys season 1; I love superheroes, I love deconstructing a genre. Sure, it has its problems, but overall I enjoyed season 1 and thought the show had potential.

(That’ll learn me for being hopeful!)

When season 1 ended with this big build up of mostly nameless brown and background characters as Muslim terrorists (deep sigh) we the audience are left thinking this one Muslim character (Naqib) whose superpower is to blow himself up repeatedly (insert another long deep sigh here) is going to be The Big Bad of season 2.

I had my misgivings about that direction. Firstly, as you can see from the image of Naqib, he is highly exoticised and is walking around bare chested with Arabic writing on his chest. He looks more like a generic western media depiction of a genie than he does a supervillain.

And yet he's the first prominent Muslim character in superhero media I've seen in YEARS.

(See my post about MENA and Muslim character good guys, including Joe played by Marwan Kenzari in The Old Guard, which is technically a comic book movie but it’s not what I’d call ‘caped and costumed’ superheroes so it’s more... superhero adjacent.)

I follow superhero content closely and as far as I'm aware the last time we saw any named Muslim characters in superhero movies WITH SPEAKING LINES was:

Instance 1) Iron Man 1 back in 2008 with The Ten Rings in Afghanistan, showing multiple Muslim characters as baddies/terrorists, but only two of them as a named character and with any meaningful lines to say. And despite one of them, Yinsen (actor Shaun Toub), being a good guy he still dies! Which is common in western media for Muslim and MENA characters.

Note: Fellow Iron Man 1 castmate, actor Sayed Badreya, makes an important point in this GQ article: "I die in Iron Man, I die in Executive Decision. I get shot by everyone. George Clooney kills me in Three Kings. Arnold blows me up in True Lies…" (x)

Instance 2) A more recent instalment in Batman V. Superman in 2016, with some unnamed 'General' character and mercenaries/terrorists in Nairomi, Africa, referred to only as "the desert" throughout the movie. All reference to the General's actual name are available in an extended/deleted scene only, so a very poor and vague depiction in the final cut.

Instance 3) The generic and badly written ‘bad guys’ in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020 movie), which was honestly such a racist depiction of Arabs and Muslims that many critics pointed out we hadn’t seen a depiction this terrible since 1994′s True Lies. (At least most critics were in agreement that WW84 movie was generally terrible, so there’s that.)

And that's it, those are the only major instances showing any Muslim actors or characters in a caped and costumed superhero movie.

Some other fleeting glimpses of Muslims onscreen:

Glimpse 1) I spotted a girl wearing a hijab among the nameless and unspeaking background characters of Peter Parker's class in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). A first for Marvel movies, apparently.

Glimpse 2) Disney Plus show Falcon and Winter Soldier (2021) had two nameless Muslim characters walk by in a scene that’s supposed to be Tunisia (using Yellow Filter), and ‘thank’ the present American Air Force (eye-roll).

Glimpse 3) Netflix show Jupiter’s Legacy (2021) had a nameless Muslim sailor conversing with one of the main characters in a scene, with meaningful dialogue about racism. (WOW. Really good.) Bonus: no yellow filter. It’s a pity he’s a nameless background character because this brief instance is the least problematic MENA rep I’ve seen in ages, but it is very brief.

I just wrote about Glimpses 2 and 3, and how the Netflix show outdid Disney when it comes to these nameless walk-on Muslim characters.

This is pretty pathetic overall, these small crumbs, especially compared to better rep and probably the only instance of legit MENA superheroes in a ‘costumes and capes’ style superhero show, the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Anyway, now I’ve listed what crumbs are available across the live action superhero genre, back to The Boys.

I was intrigued about how season 2 would handle Naqib and any characters relating to him, and what storyline they'd use.

Was I excited at the possibility of seeing Muslim supers onscreen? Damn straight I was. Did I mind that they were baddies? Well, yes and no. When you only ever get crumbs or no crumbs at all, you tend to get excited over one stale old crumb.

After the build up for season 2, I eagerly sat down to watch the first episode, only to have the first five minutes of episode 1 Trigon him.

Note: who's Trigon, you ask? Well if you didn't watch the DCEU's Titans show, Trigon was The Big Bad who was hyped up throughout season 1, introduced in the season 1 cliff-hanger episode as this big 'oh shit!' moment for the cast of heroes, only for him to fizzle out like a wet fart in the first episode of season 2 while the show pivots wildly in another direction.

Exactly what happened to Naqib in the first five minutes of The Boys season 2.

Erm, so, Naqib. Farewell, I guess? As a character you briefly appeared in 2 episodes, portrayed by a different actor in each (Krishan Dutt, and Samer Salem). It seems the writers used you as a plot device when they needed a cheap cliff-hanger for a direction that ultimately went nowhere.

Am I disappointed? Yeah, I am. Overall I thought season 2 of The Boys was weaker than season 1, but I'm not here to talk about the whole season: I want to talk about Naqib and this missed opportunity.

The Boys and its showrunners sell the show as being a satire of recent and well known superhero content, of all the big movies and TV shows. There's been a lot of patting themselves on the back for calling out overused tropes in superhero media (and sometimes they've done this satire well: see the LGBT marketing scene with Queen Maeve in season 2), but my issue with the show on their Muslim rep, or should I say lack thereof, is if your show has even less Muslim character rep than the content you're trying to parody, how is this a win for satire?

Naqib and that whole angle came across as a lazy, half-assed swing from the writer's room. Sure, perhaps a lot of the non-Muslim and non-MENA audience won't even notice, as we've been ignored by western media or made into nameless, generic, vacuous baddies for decades now. Non-Muslims and non-MENA just accept that we're always the baddies for no particular reason at all (which feeds into Islamophobia, by the way) and The Boys' writers could say they are simply satirising the tropes already present in media...

But, and this is a big but, the media that The Boys is satirising has already made a step toward better inclusion and representation: Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Marvel comics' first Muslim superhero, is entering the MCU as a lead character in her own Disney Plus show, debuting in 2022.

Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan is also cited to appear in upcoming Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels (2022), which will be a major movie.

The MCU has also cast a Muslim actor (Mahershala Ali) as the lead in a reboot of Blade. That's going to be big news when it starts filming.

So to the showrunners on The Boys, I say this: now you've done this small angle of 'all Muslim characters are terrorists, yuckity-yuck!' like we've seen in major superhero movies thus far, and you've brushed that aside in favor of focusing on other whiter villains, my question is will you come back to Muslim and MENA characters again? Or is that all you got?

Because if that was ALL, then the current score is Disney/MCU:02, Netflix:02, DCEU:02, and The Boys: a big ZERO as far as Muslim and MENA rep goes.

Originally posted on my blog, magnificently nerdy.

If you, like me, are always on the lookout for onscreen Muslim and MENA characters in superhero media, and have spotted any characters in superhero TV shows I haven’t watched yet, let me know about them!

Here is my post on good guys, featuring Old Guard’s Joe, and Blindspot’s Rich Dotcom.

Here’s my post about the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow TV show.

And, if Marvels’ Eternals gets released on schedule for 2021, we will have a MENA actor portraying a supporting character. I just hope Marvel gives him a name.

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tigerkirby215 · 3 years

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5e Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness build (My Little Pony: FIM)

(Artwork by SophiesPlushies on DeviantArt.)

Like, it took me a solid 5 minutes to find the first image in this post and I had to sift through so much softcore porn to find it. I didn’t even find it by searching DeviantArt I had to go on fucking derpibooru oh my lord.

Anyways: here’s another shit brony build because people don’t hate me enough! Well that and I do genuinely love the characters from My Little Pony, and think that they’d be fun to make builds for. But feel free to call me a garbage brony at your leisure.

These are the words of a man who has been beaten down after being a brony for around 10 years.

GOALS

I'm just good with animals - Fluttershy talks to animals. That’s one of the main things she does really.

I'm doing this because you're my very best friend - As the element of kindness we of course need to share our heart and soul with our friends.

Nopony pushes new Fluttershy around! - MLP Wiki makes an express point of mentioning The Stare in Fluttershy’s powers, so of course we’ll do our best to include that.

RACE

Before you say anything no I’m not a pegasi stan just because I did both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Regardless Aaracokra still makes the most sense for Fluttershy unfortunately because there’s few bird races and fewer flying races.

As an Aaracokra you +2 to Dexterity and +1 to Wisdom which we’ll be keeping because I don’t know if your DM will allow Tasha’s rules. You also get 50 feet of Flight but you can’t be wearing Medium or Heavy Armor to do this, which means I don’t get to say “something something Medium Armor.” And finally you can buck someone to deal damage equal to a d4 plus your Strength; technically their Talons which deal slashing damage but feel free to view them however you want.

If I was to build Fluttershy I’d honestly use the Owlfolk UA race (which will hopefully be out in Wild Beyond the Witchlight and / or Strixhaven) for a multitude of reasons, the most notable of which being the fact that you can fly with Medium armor as an Owlfolk. But the Detect Magic Ritual ability is also nice as is the reaction to stop yourself from falling. Unfortunately Aaracokra technically made more sense since Fluttershy can’t detect magic.

Basically even I have to make choices which are suboptimal in order to ensure maximum roleplay, and even when I play my builds I change them to make them better to play.

ABILITY SCORES

15; WISDOM - You are compassionate and good with animals: both those things are Wisdom skills!

14; DEXTERITY - Since I can’t go “something something medium armor” for this build (yay Aaracokra) I guess getting a 16 in DEX thanks to your race is a good call. If playing an Owlfolk or something you can afford to having 14 total in DEX, as you can then wear medium armor.

13; CONSTITUTION - Look, roleplay stats are great and all but so is not dying.

12; CHARISMA - You are cute small pony... bird... Pony-bird...

10; INTELLIGENCE - Most of your time was spent taking care of animals and most of your knowledge comes from on-hand training as opposed to studying. Basically you’re not Twilight.

8; STRENGTH - As a young filly Rainbow Dash would do most of the heavy lifting for you. As a young mare Rainbow Dash still does most the heavy lifting for you. She is a Barbarian after all!

BACKGROUND

Most ponies know to come to you if their pets are in trouble, and if you’ve ever had pets you know the doctor that helps them is a true Folk Hero. As a Folk Hero you get proficiency in Animal Handling (yay) but I’d swap the Survival proficiency out for Stealth because well... you’re very good at hiding. You also get proficiency with Land Vehicles (most Land Vehicles in D&D are controlled by animals; usually horses! Wait... aren’t you a horse?) and an Artisan’s Tool of your choice: go for Carpenter’s Tools to make some bird houses and chicken coops!

After living in Ponyville for so long most ponies are willing to give you some Rustic Hospitality, giving you a warm place to rest and recover... as long as you can get over your crippling shyness! Eep!

(Artwork by probablyfakeblonde on DeviantArt.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - CLERIC 1

Starting off as a Cleric because I thought Wisdom and Charisma saves were more fitting for Fluttershy, and for the Insight and Medicine skill proficiencies.

As a Cleric you get to choose your subclass at level 1, and there’s nothing you love more than a little bit of Peace and quiet. As a Peace Cleric you get proficiency in Performance thanks to Implement of Peace, for those great MLP song numbers. But more importantly you can call on the power of friendship for an Emboldening Bond!

As an action, you choose a number of friends within 30 feet of you (this can include yourself) equal to your proficiency bonus. Your friendship bonds them together for 10 minutes or until you use this feature again. While any bonded creature is within 30 feet of another they get a d4 they can add to an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw once per turn. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

And finally we can talk about the Spellcasting! You get three cantrips from the Cleric list at level 1: Guidance is always welcome among friends, and Spare the Dying can be a literal life safer! Other than that you are still expected to fight in D&D so take Sacred Flame to defend yourself. You can also prepare a number of spells equal to your Cleric level plus your Wisdom modifier. As a Peace Domain Cleric you can inspire Heroism among your friends, or protect yourself (and hide!) with Sanctuary.

Other than that Healing Word is a staple healing spell (we aren’t taking Cure Wounds right now for reasons but feel free to prepare it), Shield of Faith will let you defend your allies, Protection from Evil and Good will help you invoke the Elements of Harmony against the big bad of the season, and Detect Evil and Good will help you find the Elements of Harmony!

You could also take Bless, but I’m not going to tell you to take Bless because optimizers would crucify me for telling you to double up on d4s.

LEVEL 2 - CLERIC 2

Second level Clerics get their Channel Divinity once per short rest and you have a variety of options to choose from:

Turn Undead will make skeletons and zombies not want to hurt the cute little ponies, which will force them to run away for awhile.

Balm of Peace (the main reason we took the second level in Cleric) will let you run around and heal all your friends for 2d6 plus your Wisdom modifier.

And Harness Divine Power (ty Tasha’s) will let you recover a spell slot, but can only be used a limited amount of times per Long Rest.

You can also prepare another spell and be a little less nice with Command. Telling your enemies to “LOVE” isn’t going to be that effective, but making them grovel or drop works just as fine.

LEVEL 3 - RANGER 1

When you spend enough time around animals you’re automatically either a Ranger or a Druid. Quinn? Never heard of ‘em. Regardless multiclassing into Ranger gives you proficiency in a skill from the Ranger list and it’s good to know about Nature so you can find plants to help your fluffy buddies! Deft Explorer also gives you two language proficiencies (again: pick your poison) and Expertise in a skill. You’ll never guess which skill we’ll be getting... it’s Animal Handling. You’re good with animals.

We actually aren’t going to be taking Favored Foe because we aren’t using weapons for one, but more importantly despite it’s name Favored Enemy is also good for tracking friends! You have advantage on Survival checks to track your favored “enemies”, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. Go for Beasts to easily find a feathered or fluffy friend! Oh and you also get more languages because I don’t know why, so again pick your poison.

LEVEL 4 - RANGER 2

Second level Rangers get their Fighting Style, or as I like to call it your Helping Style because we’ll be going for Druidic Warrior! You can pick up two cantrips from the Druid list: I opted for Druidcraft (you can grow some flowers for your friends; yay!) and Mending to tend to your cottage.

And of course with cantrips we also get more Spellcasting! You can learn two spells from the Druid list: you’re never not going to want Cure Wounds (which is why we didn’t take it earlier btw) and Animal Friendship is an obvious must.

LEVEL 5 - RANGER 3

Third level Rangers get to choose their Ranger Archetype and we’ll be going for the Gloomsta- Ah you all know it’s going to be Beast Master. You get a Ranger’s Companion not from the PHB but from Tasha’s! The Beast of Land would make the most sense and while it’s probably expected that they be a wolf or something you can pretend that you’re playing Fighting is Magic and have Angel Bunny fight for you! Anyways here’s a crash course on your new fluffy friend:

Their AC is equal to 13 plus your proficiency bonus (currently 16.)

Their health is equal to 5 + five times your Ranger level (currently 20) and they have a number of d8 hit die equal to your Ranger level.

They have a 40 foot movement speed and a 40 foot climbing speed.

You can command it to attack with your bonus action; it has the same hit chance as your spell hit chance (WIS mod + Prof Bonus [currently 6]) and deals a d8 + 2 + prof bonus damage.

If they move at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hit with an attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 slashing damage and must make a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC (if they’re a creature.) If they fail they’re knocked prone.

You can command the beast to attack, dash, disengage, or hide with your bonus action.

If you don’t command it they take the dodge action.

You can revive them with a spell of first level or higher 1 hour after they die, and can change your beast after a long rest.

Man, who knew that taking care of a pet was so difficult? Well you also get Primeval Awareness (because Primal Awareness actually doesn’t work that well for this build.) You can use your action and one spell slot to sense the following types of creatures within 1 mile of you: aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This lasts for one minute, and doesn’t reveal the creatures’ location or number.

And you learn another spell: Goodberry is good to feed yourself and all your friends! As long as they’re okay with eating berries, of course. C’mon... they’re good for you! Pleeeease?

(Artwork by AssasinMonkey on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 6 - RANGER 4

Finally an Ability Score Improvement... or Feat? We’ll be going for Eldritch Adept, which is admittedly weird but it’s the only way to get Beast Speech so you can Speak with Animals at will! Is total level 6 a little late to finally be able to speak with animals? Yeah, but this is unlimited so it fits better and doesn’t spend your spell slots.

LEVEL 7 - CLERIC 3

Finally back to Cleric land which means finally we can prepare some second level spells! As a Peace domain Cleric you automatically get Aid and Warding Bond prepared, both of which are very good for keeping your friends alive. You can also finally get Hold Person to finally have The Stare!

LEVEL 8 - CLERIC 4

Level 4 in Cleric means another Ability Score Improvement: Wisdom is still your core stat so increasing that by 2 would be your best choice.

You also get another cantrip at this level, and can prepare two more spells! For cantrips I’d recommend Light to see with your dumb bird eyes unless you’re an Owlfolk, and I’d recommend preparing Lesser Restoration and Enhance Ability to further boost your friends.

(Artwork by Koveliana on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 9 - CLERIC 5

5th level Clerics can now Destroy Undead of CR 1/2 or lower with their Channel Divinity. Don’t feel too bad about it; they were big dumb meanies anyways!

You can also prepare third level spells too! As a Peace Domain Cleric you get Beacon of Hope to help with healing, and Spike can send letters out for you with Sending. You can also prepare Dispel Magic in case Twilight needs help with more dangerous spells.

LEVEL 10 - CLERIC 6

6th level Peace Clerics get Protective Bond. When a creature affected by your Emboldening Bond is about to take damage, another bonded creature within 30 feet of the first can use its reaction to teleport to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the first creature. That creature then takes all the damage instead. It’s worth mentioning that since this specifies “creature” you can actually bond with your beast companion and have it use its reaction, or have others go in to defend angel.

You can also prepare another third level spell like Revivify, so you don’t lose any friends. And to top it off you can use your Channel Divinity twice per short rest! Woohoo!

LEVEL 11 - CLERIC 7

7th level Cleric, 4th level spells. As a Peace Domain Cleric you get Aura of Purity to protect your friends, and Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere to put your enemies in time out. You can also prepare another spell like Freedom of Movement, in case you need to run!

LEVEL 12 - CLERIC 8

8th level Clerics get a variety of features. To start off you get an Ability Score Improvement, which means we can finally cap off your Wisdom for maximum spellcasting! This also means you can prepare more spells, but we’re actually going to hold off on getting more spells for now.

You can also put a little more LOVE into your spells with Potent Spellcasting, adding your Wisdom modifier to the damage of your Cleric cantrips. And finally your Channel Divinity will now Destroy Undead or CR 1 or lower.

LEVEL 13 - CLERIC 9

The reason we held off on getting more Cleric spells last level is because now we get those big 5th level spells! As a Peace Domain Cleric you can help your friends out of any jam with Greater Restoration, and know what they really mean to say thanks to Rary’s Telepathic Bond.

You can also prepare some of those big hitter spells like Mass Cure Wounds to save your friends, and you can cast both Dawn and Summon Celestial to call on Celestia herself! Isn’t that Twilight’s job? Well, it’s still good to have contacts!

(Artwork by CigarsCigarettes on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 14 - RANGER 5

Now that we’ve got all the support we could need for our friends it’s time to return to our roots and focus on Angel! Feel free to focus more on Ranger instead of Cleric if you so desire when building this yourself; I simply opted for more healing instead of damage.

We’re finally 5th level with Ranger which finally means you’ll be getting an Extra Attack!... Which you probably won’t use because you can use cantrips instead. Well it’s still nice to have?

The good thing though is that you can learn more Ranger spells like Healing Spirit, which is a really strong healing spell that was kinda gutted by erratas. But it’s still nice and efficient regardless of what spell slot you casted it at, effectively being a 6d6 heal for a second level spell slot!

LEVEL 15 - RANGER 6

6th level Rangers can now add Roving to their list of skills from Deft Explorer. Your movement speed increases by 5 feet, and you get both a climbing and swimming speed equal to your walking speed. Is total level 15 a little late to get a 30 foot movement speed? Yeah probably, but every little bit helps!

Speaking of another little bit you get another Favored Enemy... I mean friend! ...I don’t know pick whatever you think will be relevant for the campaign. Also yes: you do get more languages, because Ranger.

LEVEL 16 - RANGER 7

7th level Beast Masters have Exceptional Training with their Animal Companion. You can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn... which you could already do anyways thanks to Tasha’s.

I’d say that after Tasha’s this feature would work even if you don’t command your beast, but as always discuss the rules with your DM.

Well at least Angel’s attacks count as magical to overcome resistances, which is good because you were probably dealing with nonmagical resistance for awhile now.

You can also prepare another spell like Pass Without Trace, so you and your friends can sneak around unseen. Pass Without Trace is one of those spells that is always useful regardless of what level you are, so picking it up now is still useful!

LEVEL 17 - RANGER 8

8th level Rangers get another Ability Score Improvement. You’ve probably noticed our uneven Constitution score by this point: yeah that was because we were going to grab Resilient Constitution at some point. Increasing your CON gives you a nice +17 to your health and makes your Constitution saves (and concentration saves!) a +8 total.

You’ve also spent so much time on the ground moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement thanks to Land’s Stride. You can also pass through nonmagical plants without being slowed by them or taking damage from them. Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede movement. You may be able to fly but that doesn’t mean being able to move on the ground isn’t useful!

(Artwork by AssasinMonkey on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 18 - RANGER 9

9th level Rangers can learn third level spells, and you’ve probably spent enough time training with Rainbow Dash by this point to make a Wind Wall to protect your friends! (Basically the Ranger spell list sucks and we’re only really going down Ranger still for more subclass features.)

LEVEL 19 - RANGER 10

You get a new feature from Deft Explorer at this level: you are now Tireless! As an action you can give yourself a number of temporary hit points equal to 1d8 plus your Wisdom modifier (so 5.) You can use this action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Additionally whenever you finish a short rest your exhaustion level is decreased by 1.

You’re also a master of avoiding social interaction. Nature’s Veil lets you turn invisible as a Bonus Action until the start of your next turn. You can also use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

LEVEL 20 - RANGER 11

11th level Beast Masters can invoke Bestial Fury! With 11 level in Ranger and 20 total levels in this build your Animal Companion can now... attack twice! Look Beast Master is playable now, I never said it was good.

At least you can learn one last Ranger spell: in your ultimate stand against darkness Daylight will help you banish the dark! ...Or something. Look again: the Ranger spell list sucks.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

You do not hurt my friends! You got that? - Even with the multiclassing you still get spell slots up to 7th level, and have more than enough magic to shake a stick at. Not to mention that Angel will always be by your side to pump out a bit more damage with your Bonus Action!

You’re the cutest thing ever - Maxed out Wisdom was rather expected from a Cleric, but Expertise in Animal Handling combined with unlimited Beast Speech means that you can easily make friends with any beast you come across! Just make sure your DM is okay with you giving a hydra belly rubs.

Whatever you wanna do is fine... - You’ve got quite a good mix of features that will help you both in and out of combat, meaning that there’s plenty that your friends can rely on you to help with! In fact there’s a lot of things that only you can do as a Ranger which are quite helpful!

CONS

You’re such a loudmouth... - Most of your class resources only come back after a Long Rest, with only your Channel Divinity coming back after a Short Rest. You’re still plenty capable with just Angel by your side but don’t spend everything in one fight, or else you’ll be left with nothing but Sacred Flame and Animal Companion attacks.

Are you coughing because... - So let’s talk about Angel: even with 11 levels in Ranger they’re not great. AC of 19 is pretty good but they’ll probably max out around 60 HP. Your average Wizard will have more HP than this by level 20. Two maul attacks will do decent damage but you could get equal value out of Spiritual Weapon, and you only get the second attack with Angel at total build level 20. And yeah for most of this build Angel is going to be sitting around 25 max HP, meaning they’re likely to go down a lot. Aid can help keep your pets healthy and happy but don’t be upset when your level 4 Ranger companion keeps going down.

Awful, just awful! - We kinda miss the best of both worlds for the sake of a build that’s “in-character.” No 10th level of Cleric means no Divine Intervention (even if it’s only a 10% chance it’s still good to have), and no 12th level of Ranger means no ASIs. One good thing about this build is that it does peak around level 10 or so where the multiclassing doesn’t start to damage it, but if you really expect to run all the way to level 20 I’d sooner play either a straight Ranger or a straight Cleric.

But you’re coming along to share your kindness with everypony around you, and guide your friends to victory! Use your expertise to keep your friends alive while Angel kicks some major tail! Get down and be assertive, but remember not to push yourself too hard. Everypony already loves you for who you are, even if you’re in fact a little shy.

(Artwork by Rodrigues404 on DeviantArt.)

#dnd #dnd build #dnd guide #My Little Pony #Friendship is Magic #mlp: fim #brony #dnd ranger #dnd cleric #fluttershy #flutter pony #animals

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dazais-guardian-angel · 4 years

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I finished Curious Village again the other day, so here are some random thoughts. This is my first time replaying the main series since my... mid-to-late teen years? (though I guess it was later than I thought, if AL didn’t come out till 2014... I’m 25 now) so my memory of the fine details of them is a little hazy.

Flora really is wasted in the next two games, isn’t she... She’s introduced as part of the crew by the end of the game, especially with the additional epilogue cutscene in the hd version, but she literally gets the Kairi treatment, being left behind or used as a damsel for no discernable reason, when she could easily be just as capable as Luke... I mean she’s older than him, there’s no reason she couldn’t handle herself on their adventures if he can. -___- And like Kairi, I want to be more invested in her, but she barely has any focus and development, and it’s just ugh. I kind of like that it makes sense why Hershel would be so distant with her/not know how to parent properly, but I wish that was actually explored, and it’s not, so everyone ignoring her is just annoying and unnecessary-feeling instead. Tbh I’d rather her have just stayed behind altogether in the next two games instead of showing up just to be kidnapped or impersonated, if she wasn’t going to be made a main party member permanently.

People have said this before, but the main trilogy is honestly made so much better with knowledge of the prequels, in both emotional and absolutely buckwild ways, and it’s the funniest with CV - going from Azran Legacy straight into the mundane Curious Village is absolutely fucking HILARIOUS, as completely unintentional as it was by Level-5 lmaoooo

Hershel, after the shitshow that was Azran Legacy: “oh thank god, just an inheritance dispute.” Luke, who is easily impressed and apparently gets selective amnesia after every game: “THIS IS THE BIGGEST MYSTERY WE’LL EVER SOLVE-” Hershel, this close to murdering Luke a second time:

Can we make some connection between Bruno’s robot-making abilities and the Azran technology. And does the whole robot thing seriously trigger the boys as soon as it’s revealed because DEAR GOD NO NOT THIS AGAIN-

And related to that, I’m sure that was why Hershel could easily guess the robot thing early on; like seriously, nothing should faze this man anymore after what he’s been through (and yet, hilariously, the most ridiculous has yet to come, depending on how you look at it)

But he doesn’t have the faintest idea why Don Paolo would want revenge on him, which, like, even if he can’t think of anything specific... my dude, your family history is fucked up a;lsdlf;fd, there’s PLENTY OF OPTIONS (even if the actual reason is much less severe lol)

I’m sure we also all headcanon Descole to be slinking around in the background of the three main games somehow just because it’s more fun that way, so now that he’s no longer the rival, he’s the rival-turned-secret helper who makes sure everything goes right for Hershel (but he doesn’t do everything obviously cause he knows he can handle things himself), and probably bitchfights with Don Paolo some because that mental image is hilarious to me lmao

Post-UF scenario where Desmond helps Bruno with the robots with his technical prowess

and while we’re on that idea, Uncle Randall nerds out over everything robot in St. Mystere because let’s be real he would (Azran 2.0: Electric Boogaloo, But Without The Danger Or Trauma)

That scene when the tower is collapsing and Flora almost falls and Hershel catches her. Level-5 how could you completely accidentally and unintentionally create something so utterly painful out of such a small moment; I lie awake at night thinking about this!! :)))

Also Hershel yelling to Luke in that scene “I HAVE AN IDEYAHHH!” with his accent going off the rails on “idea” is an underrated iconic moment

Am I the only one who got the quiz question about Chelmey’s favorite food wrong because the answer was cakes something, and whatever the newspaper said it was was definitely not what I’d consider a cake

I love the implication that Pavel(?) is the only person in St Mystere besides Hershel, Luke, Don Paolo, Flora and Bruno who’s not a robot, and he just somehow ended up there by unknown means while trying to get to America??? and then somehow ends up on a high floor of the LOCKED tower, and still has no idea where tf he is. what a madlad

I never liked Luke’s squeaky UK voice, but I’m realizing his US one isn’t much better... and Flora’s voice in the new epilogue cutscene with the same voice actress years later is oof. why do the PL games just. reuse the same vas constantly for different characters. It’s obviously a thing in anime and games, but it’s especially noticeable in this series imo

fuck those puzzles with troll-y answers. also fuck that one with the chocolate bar and the coded letters with the bite marks

Matthew is probably one of my favorite npcs now; he’s just adorable <333 his little arms waggin’

Gordon needs to get a life

Pauly why are you the way that you are

“I’m not a detective”, Hershel continually says, as he unveils ridiculous plots that no one could have thought up in their wildest dreams, while gathering everyone together and pointing out the culprits dramatically, Agatha Christie style

I was tapping around for the exact pixel on painting Flora’s neck because it was ridiculously precise on the mobile version, and I never knew that if you tap her chest area, Hershel scolds Luke for not being a gentleman I-

Luke’s chubby head in the anime cutscenes sure is something... so glad it didn’t last. along with the front-facing Hershel sprite.

The ferris wheel attack is so great, I never really appreciated it before. The music, and the rain at the end with the rainbow 👌

We needed more of Hershel constructing things from random objects he finds lying around; iirc the only other time he does it is in Eternal Diva, though I guess the slot machine gun in UF counts too

I solved every slider puzzle in this game without a walkthrough, even the bonus ones. I do not expect this to last in the next games.

Overall I like Curious Village, though it remains one of my least favorites; there’s nothing wrong with it, and it was the very first so I’m not surprised it’s not very complex, with the mechanics and style still not fleshed out yet, but it doesn’t really hit me with The Feels™ as the best ones do, so it’s just okay. it started this wild ride of complete emotional devastation off, so I can appreciate it for that at least.

#professor layton #professor layton spoilers #watch me come back and edit this games later once i realize/remember more things about the series #'AND ANOTHER THING-'

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romancingromanoff · 5 years

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Imagine Being In The MCU And Going On Ellen Part 1/3 (Scarlett Johansson x reader)

Part 2

You’re a guest on the Ellen show and also currently dating Scarlett Johansson. I just really love Ellen and pretending that I’m a part of the Avengers cast family like it’s a huge fantasy of mine that will never come true (rip my hopes and dreams) so I decided to make it three parts haha. BONUS POINTS IF YOU KNOW WHERE CARLA SHAW IS FROM. Reader is of an unspecified gender, I use they/them pronouns. Also, part 3 of What Happens At Disney is coming soon :)

Jumping up and down in front of the mirror in your dressing room you kept trying various dance moves to see how they looked. It was Ellen so of course you had to dance out onto the stage when she introduced you! Though you had technically met with her before at Chris Hemsworth’s birthday party, it was really just a quick “hello,” “how are you,” and a funny comment from her that made you laugh. So nerves were naturally part of the reason why you were so angst at the moment and felt like you had to get rid of a bunch of pent up energy.

Your door opened which almost made you choke on the sip of water you had in your mouth. “Y/N, you’re one in five!” the crew member tapped her watch and you could only respond with a noise that sounded a little bit like “mmhmm” with your mouth still full of your drink. Taking one last glance in the mirror, you flashed some finger guns at your reflection, immediately regretted that cringed decision, then stepped foot out into the hallway where another crew person was waiting to escort you to your place.

From stage right behind the curtain you could hear the audience’s hysteria gradually calming down after they had all won $1000 Target gift cards and Ellen sat down to introduce you. “Our next guest has taken the world by storm since we fell in love with them as Obie’s hilarious best friend, Mason, in the Netflix Original Series ‘Time To Dive.’ After a suspenseful appearance in the modern remake of ‘High Noon’ with John Hamm they joined the Avengers as a recruit with some pretty neat morphing abilities in Marvel’s newest film which is coming out next Friday. Please welcome Y/F/N Y/L/N!”

You were so overwhelmed by everyone in the crowd jumping up and down that a huge smile covered your face as you tried waving to them all while also keeping a beat in your step, which was hard to do when you couldn’t hear the music very well. Approaching the couches that you had watched all of your favorite celebrities sit in was just surreal and Ellen opening her arms up to hug you was the cherry on top. “Hi, how are you?” she said underneath the wave of all the cheering so that only you would hear.

“I’m good, thank you so much! Thank you so much for having me,” you repeated what you last said as you sat down and the clapping had died down.

“So, this is your first time on the show,” Ellen smiled.

“Yes, yes it is. And I’m so happy to be here!”

“Well, thank you so much for taking the time to stop by. I know the press tours Marvel has you doing keep your schedule super busy.” The audience let out a series of “whoos” at the sound of Marvel being mentioned.

“It’s certainly crazy and I never could have dreamed about being a part of something like this but really it’s the fans that keep it going. We owe so much to them.”

“You must have your fair share of crazy run-ins since you, you know, signed a contract with them and everything. How has going out in public changed for you?”

“It’s funny, actually,” you laugh a little bit remembering an incident that occurred about a month ago. “I mean since ‘Time to Dive’ I’ve always had fans come up to me asking for pictures and autographs; stuff like that just at restaurants and a few public places. But since I was announced as a part of the Avengers cast and started filming the run-ins have gotten a lot more frequent and I’ve found that the Marvel fans are very... um... adamant,” you laugh. “They definitely know their stuff which never fails to blow my mind.”

“I guess ‘adamant’ is one way of putting it,” Ellen jokes and you chuckle along with the crowd. “But you actually had someone like demand to take a picture with you after you had just gotten out of surgery? Is that right?”

“Oh my gosh,” your pitch got so much higher when you turned around and saw the picture from that day on the giant screen behind you. “Yeah, so it was just wisdom tooth surgery, nothing super serious but I was pretty drugged up on painkillers and loopy to say the least. Wow, okay, yeah you can see how swollen my cheeks are, aw man, and that gauze in my mouth I just look completely dead!” you remarked on the image of you with your messy bun, glasses, and sweats on as you were being pushed out of the hospital in a wheelchair.

“But you were 100% fresh out of the operating room where you were under anesthesia and a complete hot mess?” Ellen laughed as you squirmed in your seat from a mixture of embarrassment and just laughing at how hilarious you looked and how strange the situation was then.

“I don’t know if ‘hot mess’ is how I would put it, but it was definitely strange.”

“And they drug you up pretty well for this surgery, right? Like there are a lot of people who film themselves or get a relative to film them post-surgery because they’re prone to say really crazy things.”

“Honestly, I think that a part of me just thought it was standard procedure,” you admit which makes the audience crack up. “I don’t remember it too well but the fan who’s crouching next to me in the picture basically stopped me and asked for a picture and I was probably just like ‘sure, why not?’ you know? Like everything was normal.”

“Speaking of pictures, there’s a photo of you and one of your co-stars going around that’s been building up a ton of talk over the last six months,” the audience cheers as the screenshot of your instagram post comes up. It’s probably your most favorite photograph in the whole world and you can’t help but smile upon seeing it. You are your girlfriend Scarlett weren’t too public with sharing all of the details about your relationship and you both valued privacy pretty highly. As a celebrity on instagram you were pretty inactive compared to a lot of others your age since you never went live, rarely posted on your story except to promote big press events, and would go weeks or even months before you’d upload something new to your feed. Even though the photo was from six months ago, it was actually the 4th most recent on your profile. Scarlett, of course, didn’t have any social media at all and you respected her wishes to try and keep a low profile online by never posting any photos of her and you, but this picture was the one exception that she had allowed.

“That is just adorable,” Ellen smiled and the audience followed with a giant “awwwwww” which made you blush. “So this was taken on snapchat?”

“Yeah, that’s the dog filter,” you point to Scarlett’s face which has the staple dog ears and nose on her in the center. But she’s also laughing so the big pink dog tongue is sticking out with her face all crunched up as you’re giving her a big kiss on the cheek. “We’ve been dating for a little over a year,” a lot more “awes” and hoots instantly follow which makes you laugh. “But that was the first time we both felt okay with posting a photo of us just being together. It was a surprise for a lot of people; including myself too.”

Ellen gets a mischievous look on her face and leans in really close to you. “You know, it’s funny that you mention surprises because I-”

“Oh no,” you gasp suddenly clutching the arms of the chair really tight and spinning your head around to check behind you. Absolutely EVERYONE in the cast had warned you about the pranks Ellen loved to play on her show that almost made some of them pee their pants in fear. A couple of years ago when you were just another regular Marvel fan that followed all of their talkshow appearances you had watched the videos of the Chrises or Scarlett being surprised by someone in a crazy costume on repeat. It was hilarious of course, but now being in a position where it might happen to you was terrifying. You were embarrassingly easy to scare and in that moment you took back all of the times you had laughed at others being surprised on the show.

“You can relax, nothing’s back there,” Ellen reassures you while chuckles and excited squeals fill the studio. “Or maybe there is.”

Your eyes widen again and your heart drops as you turn back around.

“But, no, no there isn’t,” Ellen corrects herself. “Or is there? I don’t know.” You anxiety keeps dropping then shooting back up as she plays with you and by now your neck is hurting from straining it back so much. “I’m just kidding, I do know. And there isn’t anything,” she finally settles the tension before looking straight into one of the cameras. “But we do have a good surprise and it is not scary, I swear, coming up after the break.” You’re clutching your speeding heart in both your hands as the Ellen theme music plays cueing the commercials. The clapping dies down quickly as a bunch of set workers being moving cameras and lighting and you follow the blonde you’ve admired for so long as she stands up and goes in for another hug.

“Hey, Y/N, you need some water?” she picks up a bottle from behind her chair and you nod. “HERE you go!” she pretends she’s about to splash it all on your shirt and you jump back making a panicked sound before you realize that she’s kept the top of it on and there’s nothing on you.

“Scarlett said to watch out for you!” you laugh and are happy to hear that your mic is off.

“Really? She did?” Ellen smiles like the two of you have known each other for years and it makes you a hundred times more comfortable. Most interviewers were so stiff and acted like robots off camera but you were finding Ellen to be extremely friendly and caring. “Me and Portia love you guys by the way.”

“Wow,” you can’t believe what you’ve just heard. “Thank you. I mean, thanks that is just crazy to hear. We love you two as well and I’ve always been a fan of your show; it’s what got me through school, haha. And, yes, Scarlett almost made me too scared to come on but I really wanted to meet you.”

“Well I’m glad that you came too. Hey, I heard that you and Scarlett were thinking about adopting a new pet?”

“Yes!” you nod your head excitedly. “We really want a dog. I grew up with two but I’m just worried about having to leave the little guy or girl at home for long periods of time or having to make them travel a lot with us.”

“Yeah I totally understand. But like for me, going home to my cats every evening and just laying on the couch with them and Portia is what keeps me sane.”

“Absolutely, same for me.”

“Woah, okay, can you just come stand over here for one second?” she pulls you to the side as a set worker instantly lifts your chair up and takes it away only to be replaced by two other crew members that have a full sized couch. That was strange. Usually you’d be told if there were going to be guests or fans that you’d have to interact with on shows but you just shrugged it off and assumed that a fan from the audience would be coming up to meet you and it was just a surprise. “Thanks.”

“And we’re back on in ten!” one of the producers yelled and you and Ellen took your seats. “Five, four, three....”

The audience was cheering once again as the music played. “Alright, we’re back with Y/F/N Y/L/N,” Ellen said looking into the camera. “And before we left we told you that there was a surprise for you.”

“Yes, and I’ve noticed that you’ve expanded the seating area so- oh wait,” you interrupted yourself to turn around to check and make sure nothing was behind you again which made the audience laugh.

“No, there’s nothing there. We actually have someone in the audience today who is a huge fan of yours that would just love to meet you.”

“Cool beans!” the audience starts shrieking and jumping up and down not knowing who it’s going to be.

“So the fan is actually completely blind but is a part time worker at Barnes & Noble and also operates rollercoasters at six flags during the summer.”

“Oh.... oh my God, I mean, that’s amazing I’d love to meet them,” you were suddenly very nervous about meeting this person.

“In a letter they wrote to us, they said ‘even though I cannot see my only dream in life is to see Y/N in person.’ From Duluth, Minnesota, please welcome Carla Shaw!”

Scanning the audience you finally catch sight of a very timid woman with frizzy red hair and dark sunglasses get up towards the top and smack dab in the middle of the aisle. Not so sure of what to do, you almost get up from your seat when you don’t see any crew members going over to help her as she shuffled her way past other audience members who are simply clapping and leaning away from her as she feels the tops of the chairs to walk towards the stairs. “I should probably help her,” you get up and jog off the stage to go assist this poor woman who’s waving her cane around feeling for where the steps are. You are shocked and almost appalled that no one else getting up to help her and you jog up the steps carefully and go to lock your elbow into hers so you can guide her down.

“Allow me,” you offer before she completely spazzes our in front of you tripping down two steps and throwing her cane in the air. “SHIT!” you scream and forget that this is daytime television. You immediately fall to your knees and go to try and help them up when you notice that they’re just sitting there laughing. That laugh. You know that laugh.

“Oh my God-“ you breath as they reach for their hair and pull off what is actually a wig and then take off the giant black glasses. “I cannot believe you!” you yell at Scarlett who’s laughing hysterically at your dumb face.

“Hey baby,” she says cheekily and you roll your eyes as the two of you get up together. The crowd is going completely bezerk and girls all around you and covering their faces with their hands, mascara dripping with tears of joy and disbelief. She pulls you in for a hug and the screams get louder which you didn’t even think was possible.

“Scarlett Johansson everybody!” Ellen is clapping from the stage as your girlfriend waves to some fans and the camera. You playfully bump your shoulder into her and she pushes you back like you’re two bumper cars as you walk down towards the stage. Once you’re up there, the two of you turn around to wave at the audience some more and you’re certain that your eardrums are permanently damaged.

“I’ll sit on this si- AHHHHHHH!”

“AHHHHH SHIT”

You both scream with horror in your eyes as you see the cushions from the couch launch into the air as a beastly looking guy dressed like a yeti explodes two feet in front of you. His growling almost gives you a heart attack and you and Scarlett instinctively clutch into each other with both of you trying to hide behind the other.

Your grip on your girlfriend is so tight and you don’t let go until the yeti guy has completely disappeared running offstage. Ellen is in a complete fit of laughter that has rendered her unable to stand. She’s laughing, struggling to take breaths when she needs to from her chair while high pitched screams continue to get louder and louder.

“WHY!?!” Scarlett looks at the blonde woman in horror and your fingers are up by your neck feeling for a pulse.

“Is that all the surprises? Please tell me there are no more surprises,” you cry for mercy.

The next part will be an interview with you and Scarlett where you discuss the upcoming movie, choose your favorite Chrises, and talk a little bit about your relationship

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sepiadice · 4 years

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DiceJar 0 END: what could have been...

Being completed ghosted for a scheduled session once again, I suppose I should finally face the facts and call the campaign. Which is, of course, very disappointing.

Let’s review the experiments I attempted in this campaign.

Experiment 1: Using a published module/adventure.[1]

I thought I might gain some valuable insight by analyzing a ‘professional’ product. By using an adventure I’d previously played myself, I’d hoped my experiences would smooth out my figuring out how to run it. Eventually, I learned the value of bullet pointed action plans, because the formatting of Crypt of the Everflame was not good for skimming, as vital information was hidden in the middle of information texts so I’d miss it during the game if I didn’t make sure to call, say, dice roll mechanics for going down a slippery hillside. It also meant I could look ahead and edit out rooms and mechanics that didn’t move the story of dungeon.

So, this experiment was technically a success, even if the lesson I took away was ‘modules don’t work well with my improv style, but provides inspiration sometimes.’ More on that later.

Experiment 2: Get a group to meet regularly.

So I’ve been wanting to do an actual play show since… well, before Critical Role and The Adventure Zone made it cool. For that, I need players willing to collaborate and also respect call time. As you can easily conclude from the time stamps, I couldn’t manage that, even when a freaking pandemic swept in and made being home for online sessions theoretically easier![2] Admittedly, my work schedule is not exactly ideal, as my Saturdays are permanently called for, and my Sundays are a wild ride of inconsistency, while my peers are moving to more conventional work life.

So, the experiment failed, and to a degree that I doubt a career or just schedule change would help. I did learn that a biweekly schedule works well for me, since I can spend the off week on planning, and still have time for my pre- and post-performance need to separate thoroughly and enter a neutral state.[3]

Experiment 3: Finish a dang narrative arc.

Ha ha. This also failed! Couldn’t get to the end of the dungeon. Welp.

Other lessons learned

I don’t online play well! Just get distracted by other internet tabs. It’s not as bad when I GM, since the stress of running the game keeps me more focused, but both the Curse of Strahd campaign I quietly quit[4] and IndigoDie’s Troika session[5] showed that I’m a garbage player online. Possibly an adoption of webcams and faces would assist, but I can’t ask for that.

People still hard! Still haven’t figured out how to get anyone invested. Can’t really be upset at the silent cancellations because I’m technically doing that with Curse of Strahd, and thus would be a hypocrite.

What was planned!

It’s only fair I give some amount of closure.

Session three ended with Bean dying, and there wasn’t a narratively consistent way to introduce a new party member…

Well, I guess if NavyDie consented to playing a bandit, or rewriting the scared dungeon prepper the party skipped…

What I decided was thus:

Bean's eyes open. The sharp pain of the punctures and tears, and the slow ache of liquid passing through those openings are gone, as is much of the world's color. The torches and other sources of light shine blue.

His companions are gathered around him, their mouths moving as if speaking, but Bean hears nothing.

For some reason, Bean feels at peace with this. This is correct.

Footsteps echo from the stairs, growing louder. A figure emerges from the floor below. When it enters the light, at first it is blurry, like many images projected upon the same space. Within the time that Bean's now still heart would have beat, the many silhouettes fade, leaving one form: Bean's father, though not the frail man Bean saw before he left Kassen, nor how bean's father looked before he was ravaged by illness, but the impossibly tall, strong, noble figure that Bean remembers his father being.

Though this man's smile has none of the warmth, and his eyes glow with an eldritch light.

"Seems you've come to some misfortune, Bernard Dipp," says this Mr. Dipp-who-is-not-Bean's-father. "Would you like some help with that?"

This mysterious fiend would become Bean’s patron for a level of Warlock, and ride around his head for the foreseeable future, threatening death if Bean didn’t do as ordered. You know, an excuse for Bean to continue adventuring instead of taking over the family farm.

As for where this fiend came from… well, I easily adapted that into the dungeon’s lore.

Kassen, whose visage is all over the crypt, is not the only one entombed within. There are also those who perished alongside him during his final battle, as well as those who perished facing him in the final battle. This includes Asar, who once adventured with Kassen until the two became bitter enemies or whatever, ending when Asar lead the charge against Kassen.

Anyways, an amount of time ago, bandits stumbled upon Kassen’s Crypt and started looting, and disturbed the coffins, looting a pair of medallions.

Here’s my adjustment: the medallions are now artifacts sealing away a fiend, and reuniting them freed him, whose presence radiated enough necromantic energies and roused Asar, who was deeply offended to be interred in a shrine to his enemy. Stupid, egotistical Kassen. Let’s channel this necromantic magic laying away and get some skeletal minions and kill those who bother me.

Which wasn’t great for the bandits, then later the advance party from Kassen, sent to make the trial safe for the youths. Blood was spilled. It wasn’t great.

Then our heroes arrived, and (hypothetically) resolved matters. Kassen’s ghost would then appear, thank the party, probably convey embarrassment at how the place is decorated, and grant boons to the party[6] before sending them on their way with a lit lantern.

Back in town, a grand celebration would turn somber as word of what happened in the tomb occurred, by it would be mixed and a feast would still be held.

The module ends with someone inviting the party to join the Pathfinder Society, but I’d cut that.

As for the fiend? Well, he’s transferred his tether from the amulets to Bean, so now he can ride the boy to wherever.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything particularly exciting planned for the others, as Bean was the only one who I got the opportunity to saddle with a commitment.

IndigoDie quit anyways.

Delilah I could motivate with eagerness to be free of her parents.

Yot… is a mercenary, so maybe Delilah could’ve paid him.

I could’ve figured something out if the players insisted on continuing with their characters. That would’ve been a discussion for after the module was completed.[7]

Moving forward!

So DiceJar waits evermore. I don’t want to admit that it’s an implausible goal, but I’m not in a great headspace about it. I still crave role-playing, but I think I’ll wait for someone to start their own campaign, or I guess see if I get a turn-over of my friend group.

NavyDie mentioned wanting to try a Powered by the Apocalypse system, and it’s only fair I actually try the mechanics before completely writing the rule set off.[8]

The next experiments I want to run when I return to behind the GM screen relates to system: Savage Worlds (once the most recent edition is back in print) as I search for a generic system that fits my needs, and Ryuutama, because Ryuutama just looks fun.

But… I don’t know what to do from here.

Until next time, may your dice (and whatever dice governs me) make things interesting.

[1] The correct terminology isa matter of pointless debate. [2] Charisma and Constitution are obviously my dumb stats. [3] Not sure my meaning is conveyed correctly. I’ll probably nail it down in a future write-up. [4] The group was too large, and after IndigoDie quit there were insufficient participants I knew and was comfortable performing with. [5] Which didn’t get a write-up because I didn’t have anything of substance to say. [6] Which, in the original Pathfinder, was something the each player can evoke for a temporary stat bonus, but in 5e I was going to change to a free Inspiration recharge. [7] Though I would not send them to Last Wall. It would’ve been time for me to spin off to my own stuff, and Last Wall… is not something that needs to be repeated. [8] I’ve never heard an Actual Play where Powered by the Apocalypse wasn’t either a hindrance or irrelevant.

#SepiaDieGMs #crypt of the everflame #Dungeons and Dragons #Fifth Edition #NavyDice #IndigoDice #limedice #VermillionDice

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robininthelabyrinth · 5 years

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Fic: An Internal Affair - Chapter 21 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: The Flash Pairing: Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: Leonard Snart, the CCPD Captain of Internal Affairs, is known as Captain Cold for a very good reason: He hates corrupt cops with a merciless vengeance, and once you’re on his list, you’re in serious trouble.

His next target?

A CCPD lab tech named Barry Allen who’s developed a suspicious habit of disappearing at random intervals.

—————————————————————————————————

"Again, Lenny?" old Mad Magpie cackles when Len limps up to her at her usual post near the CCPD. Most members of the cardboard brigade wouldn't care to be so close to so many cops, or wouldn't dare, but Magpie is an old homeless veteran who lived in Gotham before coming to haunt the streets of Central, and she doesn't fear much of anything. Len's been sending Danvers over with hot chocolate on a regular basis, though, so Magpie's usually willing to talk to him. "Don't you have any self-preservation?"

"Don't mention it," Len says. "Really. Don't."

"You can fool that secretary of yours -"

"Admin assistant," Len interjects.

"- and you can fool that new boytoy of yours, but you can't fool old Magpie," she says. "You've ripped those stitches again."

"Like I said," Len says, suppressing the wince of pain at the mere mention. He's pretty sure he's bleeding - getting thrown around by a murderous speedster was definitely not on his physical therapist's list of approved activities - but he's wearing enough layers and stayed in lurching forward movement enough that no one has had a chance to notice it yet. "Don't mention it."

She laughs. "I knew it," she says. "Can't fool an old bird of prey like me! I don't tell people things till they ask. But if anyone asks, I ain't promising nothing. Now, I see you're back to your wicked old ways, hanging around with that Allen boy - back together now, are we?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, good on you. He's cute. And I bet he goes pretty fast, if you know what I mean."

Len arches his eyebrows. He knows exactly what she means, and she's not advising him on how long it'll take to get Barry into bed. "You selling that info?"

"Hell no," Magpie cackles. "Like I said - he's cute!"

"Good. Lemme know if anyone does start selling that, will you?"

"You'll get first word, Lenny. You've been a good enough customer to us all these years, paying more than your fair share and never turning us in for vagrancy; we can do you that much."

"Much obliged," Len says. "Hey, if I manage to surprise even you, do I get a bonus going forward?"

She arches her eyebrows at him. "I'm listening," she allows.

"Mick's better."

"I already heard that he's awake," she sniffs.

"Not awake. Better. See?"

She squints around him in the direction he's gesturing at. Len can see the exact moment she spots Mick standing there, looking healthy as a horse (well, with some nasty burn scars, but those look years old already) and arguing cheerfully with Iris and Danvers about something or another.

"Well, I'll be," she marvels. "Yeah, Lenny, you get a bonus for that - assuming that being healthy means he's gonna be cooking up his usual free-for-all July 4th bash this year. News of that getting uncanceled'll buy quite a lot."

"It's definitely on," he assures her. "Assuming we haven't all been murdered by the Families, of course."

"True that," she sniggers. "Now, what're you going to do to stop them?"

"As much as I can," Len says honestly. "But for that I need help - you remember when I was looking for intel on speedster stuff?"

"Yeah?"

"I need to find a speedster. The bad one, in yellow; he was at STAR Labs, but we don't know where he is now -" Danvers checked STAR Labs and reported no success. "- and we need to put him down if we're gonna put any of this down."

"He's the one doing the disappearances?"

"He's the one doing the hits," Len agrees, since technically Barry caused some of the disappearances. Though he supposes that if you think about it a certain way, Wells was behind those, too, in an indirect sort of way... "Can you yank your chain and get me an answer?"

"Don't need to ring up the community, Lenny," she says, grinning. "You know they used to call me the Oracle, back in Gotham? Always knew what was going on, I did, and it's the same now: I already know where he is."

"And I'm guessing I won't like the answer?"

"Come now, you robbed him of his revenge or whatever; where else is he gonna go other than Central’s home away from home for the criminally inclined?" she asks, amused. "The place where everyone knows your name - and record."

Len experiences a distinct sinking feeling in his stomach. "Ah," he says. "Iron Heights."

Central City's one and only maximum security prison.

Len's been in a few times, to ensure his cover was appropriately legit. He doesn't remember it very fondly.

"He's getting jealous, he is," Magpie says complacently. "You've got an army, the Families've got an army, who doesn't got an army? He doesn't. But he can fix that."

No kidding.

Especially since - and Len is remembering this with a wince - the metas from Barry's secret prison have just been transferred there pending trial, along with the specifications of the Accelerator needed to maintain the anti-meta-powers effect of their cells.

They'd even recruited Ramon to advise on the process of transferring the tech, with the recommendation that his cooperation in converting one of the wings (now dubbed the Metahuman Wing) would go some significant distance to reducing his eventual sentence.

Len hadn't been involved with that personally, being busy with Mick's recovery at the time, but he'd set one of the DAs he'd always liked - an ardent prisoners' rights advocate in her previous life - on the task of making sure Ramon gave adequate thought to how what they already had in place in STAR Labs could be expanded such that the metas could enjoy their constitutional rights, however limited.

Len’s not entirely clear on the details, but whatever it was, it was only a temporary solution. Ramon is reportedly working furiously on developing some sort of meta-dampening cuffs that seem significantly more humane.

All well and good in theory, yes, but it's now occurring to Len that what he saw as a grotesque human rights' violation, and the so-called Team Flash saw as a temporary convenience, Wells saw as more of -

Well, as a useful storage container.

As in, where you store things for later use.

(The image of tiny metahumans being placed into a pantry and pulled out at need by a giant Wells is deeply disturbing. Len sure is glad that no one's invented some sort of shrink ray...)

"Thanks, Magpie," Len says, shaking his head to help him get rid of the unwanted mental images. "Appreciated as always."

"I'll let my people in Iron Heights know to expect you," Magpie offers. "There's always a few old cardboards in there for some reason or another. If you need something pulled, you just ask. You've got that bonus to spend now."

"Hopefully not necessary," Len assures her. "But thanks."

The resources of Len's task force, as they stand, are quite few in number, but fairly decent nonetheless: Len himself (mostly useful for tactics given the current state of his body), Mick (and his heat gun), Barry (and his powers), Danvers (and her powers), Detective Thawne (who Wells won’t kill), Iris, Snow and Ramon.

Of the latter four, Thawne and Iris are trained in conventional weapons, and Ramon has invented some sort of vibration-based gun he claims can stun people in a humane matter (he emphasized that three times over - whatever that DA told him has clearly stuck). Snow doesn't have any offensive capabilities, but she's a doctor with some emergency care training, and Len's not about to turn that down.

Especially given the fact that if his side doesn't stop bleeding soon, he's going to need some of that training to be employed on him.

"You good?" Barry asks when Len rejoins them.

"Peachy," Len tells him, and ignores the way Mick suddenly focuses in on him. Stupid tell, using a word he only uses when things are not, in fact, good; he should've remembered not to use it around Mick. "We have a location for Wells: he was last seen in the vicinity of Iron Heights."

"Wait," Ramon says. "Where we just put all our metas?"

"He was keeping them on purpose," Snow exclaims, realizing. She's not slow, that one; just a bit naïve. "They were always going to be Plan B - except now they're in Iron Heights, not STAR Labs, so he needs to go get them."

"And the rest of Iron Heights if he can," Len confirms, shifting a little bit to a more comfortable position on his crutches. "Barry, Danvers - can you take us all to the little hill right outside the Heights? One-by-one should be fine."

"Boss and I go first," Mick suddenly says. "Then the rest. Let's go."

Before Len can say anything, they're in sudden transit.

It takes about twenty seconds to reach their destination, which Len suspects is a polite attempt to go nice and slow by the speedsters but which only makes his side and leg throb.

Then he and Mick are alone, standing in the overarching shadow cast by the hulking hexagonal pit of despair that is Iron Heights.

Everything seems quiet from here, but that could be an illusion.

"Mick -" Len starts.

"You're injured but don't want to sit out the fight," Mick says. "I know."

Mick always does. Best partner ever.

"S'not why I wanted to talk to you, since I know I won't be able to change your stubborn-ass mind on it," Mick continues. "I wanted to check in on what I said earlier."

"What part?"

"About us still being partners. I mean, now that you're a cop and all that."

"Mick, as long as you still want to be partners, we're partners," Len says firmly. "I wasn't kidding about not picking the job over you again. If you don't wanna be partners with a pig, I get it. It's fine. I'll just quit my job."

Mick snorts. "Twenty years undercover and you'll just quit? Now?"

"Hey, it means I've got a decent resume, don't it?"

"Ex-thief, ex-cop, please hire me -"

"I'm sure that set of skills appeals to someone -"

Mick's laughing.

Len likes it when Mick laughs. He's missed it.

"Nah," Mick says. "Don't quit, not unless you want to. Hunting down bad cops is perfect for you. And I'll figure out some way that I can still be your partner."

Len grins at him. "Sounds like a plan, partner."

"Just do me a favor and don't die, boss."

"Says the guy who just woke up from a coma?"

"Hey, I got magic-future-tech-healed by the bad guy, I'm fine. You, on the other hand, are doing your healing the good old fashioned way, except you keep tearing your stitches."

"Shut up before anyone else gets here and hears you."

"I heard him," Danvers says, floating a few inches above them and still holding a dangling Ramon in one hand. "And I'm very disappointed in you."

"Crap," Len says. "Listen, Snow can give me a patch job, but there's no way I'm letting you guys go into Iron Heights without me, got it?"

Snow gets dropped off next. By Barry. Without another word.

"You're in trouble now," Mick crows. "Skirt's got moxie."

"Traitor," Len says, but it turns out Snow can in fact patch him up pretty quickly - a staple gun, some bandages, and a dermaplastic seal, plus instructions to keep from twisting too much if possible so that his back brace can try to keep his spine from popping out of place or something - so it turns out all right in the end.

While they're doing that, though, the rest of the team stares at Iron Heights.

"God, I hate this place," Mick says.

"It's - quieter than I thought it'd be," Danvers says.

"Have you never been?" Barry asks. "I - well, you know, with my dad - I've been plenty of times."

"Hate to break it to you, but you're the odd one there, Barry," Ramon says. "I'd never been here before I came to help install the meta dampening tech."

"Really? You invented…?"

"No, no," Ramon says, looking embarrassed. "I haven’t had time to come up with something new. What we did was basically just port over a mini-Accelerator, looping around the walls of the place – luckily the hexagonal hallways around the outside that the guards use for patrols is close enough to being round to work. It works on the same set of principles as the Particle Accelerator in STAR Labs does."

"Any chance that it'll block Wells' powers, too?" Iris asks.

"No, not unless he goes into one of the cells and closes the door. The entire system's not even noticeable until everyone's locked away - not enough energy. We're just running electrical energy through it, not accelerated particles, so it doesn't quite have the same effect."

"Probably for the best," Thawne says. "One Particle Accelerator explosion is more than enough."

"Yeah, that's true..."

“Does Wells know about what you’ve done?” Danvers asks curiously. “With the mini-Accelerator, I mean?”

Ramon frowns, considering it. “No, I don’t think so,” he says slowly. “This was after the whole chest-in-hand – er, that is, hand-in-chest –”

“Her eyes are up here, buddy,” Iris jokes.

Ramon flushes. “It was just a slip of the tongue!”

“I bet you want to slip someone some tongue –”

“Iris, leave him alone,” Barry says, hiding a smile. “Be nice. You’re making poor Kara blush.”

“He’s not my type,” Danvers says primly. “Sorry, Cisco.”

“I’m not actually interested,” he says crossly. “I like my women a bit more – dangerous.”

“You know Kara can lift cars, right? And fly? And probably crush your head like a nut? How is she not dangerous?”

“An aura of danger, you know what I mean…wait, how’d we get on this subject?”

“I don’t know, but I want off,” Thawne says dryly. “You were saying about whether Wells knows about the mini-Accelerator?”

“Yeah, right. No, I don’t think so. When the police showed up to STAR Labs, he wasn’t there, and they had me shut off the surveillance system before we started moving tech around. I certainly didn’t tell him, and I don’t think Caitlin did –”

“Wasn’t even aware of it,” Snow says, still focusing on Len.

“Right. So, yeah, no. I don’t think so."

"Okay, you're as good as I can get you," Snow tells Len. "Now up you go; we need you to tell us what the plan is."

"There is no 'plan'," Len says, getting back up. The painkillers Snow had brought with her are amazing. "We've gone well into the stage of the plan where everything goes off the rails."

"Len," Barry says, mildly censorious.

"What?" Len asks. "It's true. You want a plan? Okay. Plan is: we go inside, find Wells, subdue Wells. If necessary, fight other people in the process."

"I think I was happier without knowing that that was the plan," Ramon mutters.

"Second door forward?" Mick asks, focusing on practicalities. "That's the least guarded - though I gotta admit I never thought I'd be using that to break in."

"Yeah," Len says wryly. "We live in interesting times."

Getting into Iron Height isn't hard - they know where the door is, they know how it's opened, and Len can pop it in under thirty seconds (how's that for "out of practice", Danvers?) - but the lack of any security on the inside is a very bad sign.

"Dead?" Thawne asks, his face set. He's taking this ancestor stuff very seriously.

"Maybe, maybe not," Ramon says. "He's got superspeed and this is a prison, right? He might've just put the guards in the cells."

"Probably the only way they're going to survive a massive prison riot," Mick says. "Speaking of, I hear noise - main hall's this way."

"Is that the riot?" Iris asks. "Not to borrow Kara's words from earlier, but that's a lot quieter than I expected."

"It is," Len says, equally puzzled. "Let's go find out why."

Sure enough, the main hall was full to bursting with prisoners - far more than get let out in any one shift - but they're not really rioting. More like milling around confusedly.

Len and Mick share a perturbed look.

Still, there's only one way to find out what's up, so Len hobbles over to the first prisoner he even vaguely recognizes and smacks him on the leg with his crutch to get his attention. "What's going on?" he demands.

"Snart?" the guy - a con called Joey Monteleone, but mostly nicknamed Tarpit for reasons Len has never wanted to learn - asks, blinking at him. "Ain't you a cop now?"

"One with no sense of self-preservation," Mick growls. He might be right; Len'd totally forgotten that he can't just ask people (well, criminals) things anymore. "That a problem?"

Tarpit considers for a second. "It true you got a job fucking up corrupt cops for a living? Instead of snagging cons?"

"Yeah, it's true," Len says cautiously. That doesn't sound like the prelude to a call for lynching. "Not really interested in a job snagging cons, not unless they're doing something real bad where I can see 'em. Same rules as before, really."

"Cool," Tarpit says, then suddenly turns around and shouts, "Hey, everyone! Snart's here! He'll know what's up!"

And suddenly everyone is turning to look at him, the room breaking out into whispers.

Len sees Barry and Danvers both tense up, ready to run him away, but he waves at them to hold off. No one seems violent - yet.

In fact, most of the whispers that Len can hear don't concern the fact that he is (and was) a cop; they're more focused on his career as a very good freelance thief.

A very good thief that was pretty well known for not being affiliated with the Families.

"Listen, Snart, it true what they're saying about the Families taking over?" one of the cons asks.

"I mean," Len says, nearly falling over with surprise when Tarpit pushes him up onto one of the tables so as to better see and be seen, "I don't plan on letting 'em, but they’re certainly trying their best."

"And there's riots in the streets?" another one asks. "Anti-Family riots?"

"Well, yeah -"

"And they're calling in their cards? All of 'em?"

"Whatever they can, sure. But there's an amnesty -"

"An amnesty?"

"Only for anyone manipulated by the Families in the lead-up to this," Len warns. "Or, I guess, involved in the riots afterwards."

He's a little bewildered by the fact that everyone keeps looking to him for answers in this impromptu little Q+A.

Luckily, in his time of need, Mick is there for him.

"Hey, assholes!" he bellows. "You know what that means? That means no extra sentences for anyone fighting against the Families, and the Families too busy to call in any cards they have on you. So tell me - who wants to go fuck up some Families?"

The roar of enthusiasm is very near enough to flatten Len backwards.

Ah, Central City.

Where even the criminal underworld hates organized crime.

Len's never felt more at home.

It helps that the whispers (not really whispers, now) are about Len's recognized skill at prison escapes that don't end badly.

There are also, here and there, some comments about not wanting to work for that, quote, "yellow Family fucker".

Right.

"Can someone point me to where the asshole in yellow is?" Len calls. "And in the meantime, let's get you guys outta here - we've popped one door, but let's try to avoid a riot - nice and orderly exit, that's the trick of it - and while we're at it, does anyone know where the guards have gone..?"

The guards, it turns out, are in fact locked into the same cells the prisoners have been liberated from, in what Len assumes was meant as a cruel bit of irony but which probably ensured that they weren't murdered by vengeful criminals.

The rest of the exodus is pretty swiftly organized - Len makes them pair up in the buddy system, using their cellies as buddies, in order to make it a bit less chaotic, and it works like a charm - and before anyone really understands what's happening, he's being helped off the table and whisked off back to his task force to focus on their Wells problem as the criminals file out of the prison.

"We've been discussing the issue," Iris tells Len when he rejoins them. "The prisoners don't know where Wells is, but we're pretty sure we do."

"Oh? Where? The meta wing?"

"No," Ramon says. "We figure he won't want to risk being stuck in any of those cells, just in case; he probably got the metas out of there and took them with him."

"Took them with him - where?"

"Wing C," Barry says, voice unusually grim. "The low-security wing."

Len frowns.

"That's where Barry's dad is," Iris says, equally grim.

Ah.

Old Doc Allen. The good man, who was framed and sentenced to prison for a crime he did not commit - by Wells.

Who is obsessed with Barry.

Not good.

"Right," Len says. "So this is probably a trap, but we're going to have no choice but to spring it. All agreed?"

"With any luck, Wells won't be expecting all of us, and not this fast," Thawne says. "He's a planner, but we've thrown his plans off the rails; he's playing it all by ear now."

"Just means he's desperate," Mick says. "Desperate men are dangerous."

"Still, I don't see that we have a choice," Len says. "Let's go - er, in the interests of speed, Danvers, could you..?"

He ends up getting a piggyback ride from her while Mick carries his crutches.

It's humiliating.

"I could probably carry you bridal style," Barry offers oh-so-innocently. "If you wanted."

"Just because Mick has my weapons -"

"Crutches aren't weapons," Ramon objects.

"You'd be surprised," Danvers and Iris chorus.

"- doesn't mean I'm taking any lip from you," Len finishes, ignoring them. "So shut it."

Barry proceeds to mime zipping his mouth shut, though that doesn't get rid of the grin.

Getting close to their destination does that.

"His cell is this way," Barry says, looking down a deserted corridor. "Supposedly. But -"

"He's definitely not there," Danvers says. "Sorry, Barry. The only people here are in the main hall."

"How do you know that?" Ramon asks.

"Uh," Danvers says. "Would you believe me if I said X-ray vision?"

"What," Len, who knows what Danvers sounds like when she's being evasive, says. "Really?"

"As it happens..."

"We talking medical level x-rays," Mick asks interestedly, "or can you peep under peoples' clothing -?"

"No!"

"Quick denial," Mick says wisely. "You know what that means, right, boss?"

"Boss! Make him stop!"

"It means 'leave off teasing until we’re not in the middle of a firefight', Mick," Len says mildly. "We're checking the main hall next. Everyone got weapons out?"

"Except you," Snow says. "You're not fighting - no, not even on the crutches!"

"I'll keep that in mind in the event I have a choice," Len says dryly, getting off of Danvers' back and leaning back on his crutches. "But I'll try to stick to the back. We ready?"

"Ready," they chorus.

And then they walk into a trap.

Wells is lounging on an impromptu throne constructed shoddily out of prison tables, smirking at them, and all around him are the metas Len vaguely recognizes as being part of Barry's kidnapping.

They probably all bear a grudge.

A very reasonable grudge, but perhaps a less-than-timely one.

All but one of the current inhabitants of the main hall are metas. Only one exception: a cage, constructed out of twisted cell bars, placed immediately to Wells' left, and in that cage sits a terrified but defiant-looking Doc Allen.

Definitely a trap.

"Welcome, my friends, to my little hell on earth," Wells says. His smirk fades. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

The metas charge forward.

As the guy bringing up the rear, Len can see the battlefield unfolding almost immediately.

Barry disappears, replaced by a streak of yellow lightning, and a second later Wells, too, disappears, and the yellow and red lightning bolts zip around the room in perfect tandem.

Mardon - Len recognizes him - summons balls of ice into his hands, grinning meanly and throwing them at Thawne. Not a surprise, really; Thawne's Joe West's partner, and Mardon would know that. Unlike Iris, Thawne's a policeman; Mardon would consider him fair game. Thawne ducks away, shouting something about them not meaning any harm and coming in peace, but Len doesn't lay high odds on that approach actually working.

One of the metas turns into poison gas - Len remembers hearing about him - and flows forward, gaseous tentacles reaching out to strangle them all, but Danvers takes a deep breath and literally blows him back away from the others, flying forward to confront him one-on-one. It's still a little discordant, seeing his secretary (admin assistant) floating a few inches off the ground, still wearing her red skirt and mesh leggings and that ridiculous puppy-getting-ice-cream sweater she likes so much, her hands balled into fists and a fierce expression on her face, but Len can't help but grin in pride.

A second later, Mick steps up to join her, shouting, "I got this guy, go help the others!" and aiming a burst of his heat gun at Nimbus.

"But -"

"My gun only kills, Skirt, and the boss wouldn't want me to murder prisoners. But this guy's got a death sentence, so he's fair game for me."

Danvers nods her understanding and backs off, turning back to the fight just in time to snag Ramon out of the way of the guy shooting lasers out of his eyes.

Len wonders what name Ramon gave him.

"Deathbolt coming in hot!" Ramon shouts, solving that mystery. "Caitlin, watch out -!"

Snow, who was 'Deathbolt's next target, disappears.

Literally disappears - Baez, the only female-presenting meta (Len hadn't noticed the gender disparity before, he wonders why that is), appears next to Snow in a burst of smoke, grabs her around the waist, and they both disappear and reappear elsewhere, out of the line of fire.

"You saved me!" Snow exclaims.

"You gave me all your old medical textbooks and talked to me while I was stuck in the Accelerator," Baez says. "I'm still pissed at you, but you don't deserve to be - wait, Deathbolt? Why does he get 'Deathbolt' and I get 'Peek-a-Boo'?! What the hell, Ramon?!"

"He has laser eyes!" Ramon shouts back from where Danvers has dropped him off and where he's aiming his vibration gun at Deathbolt. He shoots off a burst, which Deathbolt ducks. "What was I supposed to call him?!"

"I don't care what you call him," Baez says indignantly. "I care what you call me! Peek-a-boo is a kid's game! Or a stripper name! I want a badass name!"

"Is now really the time -" Snow starts.

They seem to have Baez well in hand, and Ramon is now exchanging vibration blasts with Mr. Laser Bolts in a game of stalemate.

Iris -

Iris is fine. She has her hands on her hips and she's scolding a guy three heads taller than her, with steel skin, and much to Len's surprise it's working surprisingly well.

It helps that she clearly tasered him first - he still looks groggy.

Danvers, meanwhile, has flown over to confront the last meta, a relatively non-descript man in black with sunglasses; Len's not sure what his powers are, but he has no doubt Danvers can handle him.

That's all the metas handled.

Barry -

Barry's still not winning. He's keeping pace, barely, and he's keeping Wells' attention on him, but that's it.

Wells is still faster. Wells is still stronger.

Wells is still going to win, and then he's going to murder everyone else in the room at a speed that ensures no one but Barry and maybe Danvers even knows it's happening.

They won't be able to stop him.

This isn't a television show, where Barry could use the power of romantic love (Len), familial love (Iris, Doc Allen), or even platonic love (everyone else) to inspire him to greater speeds to squeak out a win.

Even Danvers' help can only do so much - she's admitted that she's out of practice, and now that Wells is anticipating her, he'll have thought of something.

They have to find another way to stop him.

They need something creative.

They need something out of the box.

They need -

What the hell is Charlie doing here?

He's peeking in through the door, barely visible, but to someone who knows him as well as Len does, he’s unmistakable.

Len hobbles himself over as quick as possible. "What the fuck, Charlie?" he hisses. "Get outta here! Get - why are you even in here?"

"Attempted assault," Charlie says, unperturbed. "Someone I invited home overreacted."

"You tried to eat them, didn't you."

"They didn't say no until we got there," Charlie replies, as if that makes any sense at all. "Anyway, I've got a message for you, from the cardboard brigade. Magpie said it's your bonus."

Len's eyebrows go up. "I'm listening."

"Magpie says to tell you that while most of what the Accelerator did was give people powers, but that there's a few people - joined the brigade recently - that seem to react badly. Like something's been taken away."

"Well, yeah," Len says. "That makes sense, I guess; you win some, you lose some -"

"She also said to tell you that Hartley Rathaway did or reviewed almost all of the construction on STAR Labs' version," Charlie continues. "Along with Francisco Ramon. All the hardware and tech, they knew it all in and out, just the two of them."

Len's about to ask why he cares when it suddenly hits him.

You win some, you lose some.

There's a mini-Accelerator built into Iron Heights. They already know that it dampens meta powers. If they get both Rathaway and Ramon on it, could they jury-rig it to try to undo the grant of powers it gave before?

Len has no idea if that's even remotely possible, but what the hell, it's worth a shot.

"Thanks, Charlie," he says. "Now go away, get somewhere safe."

Charlie disappears down the hallway.

Len turns back, but before he can do or say anything, a giant dining table comes crashing into the wall only a few feet away from him.

Danvers is standing there, her eyes bright red, her expression furious and deadly and aimed at -

Well, mostly aimed at the guy currently cowering at Len's feet.

Non-descript meta man of the unknown powers, now no longer wearing sunglasses indoors like an idiot.

"What did you do?" Len asks the guy.

"My powers," the guy squeaks. "I cause people to become enraged, which distracts them."

"You...you realize there's nothing else here for her to get distracted by, right? And that the major target of her rage would be you?"

"I realize that now!"

"Well, stop it! I need her for something."

"I can't stop it! She'll kill me!"

"At this rate, she's gonna kill you anyway," Len says dryly. "Here, listen, how about this: you undo it and I'll arrest you. Nice, safe police custody pending trial -"

"Deal! Deal!" the guy yelps as Danvers tears another table - longer than she is tall - off the ground, where it had previously been screwed down hard enough to resist the strongest felons' joint attempts to lift it up.

A few seconds later, Danvers is bright red with embarrassment, but not with metahuman-inspired rage. An improvement.

"Can you take him and that Deathbolt guy back to STAR Labs for the time being?" Len asks her. "And then bring me Hartley Rathaway. The cardboard brigade will know where he is."

"Sure," Danvers says, then flies up behind Deathbolt to pop him one on the head - rough, but effective - and disappears a second later.

"I had him on the ropes," Ramon, who most definitely did not, protests.

"Whatever," Len says, gesturing for him to come closer. "Listen, question: can we use the Accelerator here to create another dark matter pulse? Preferably reversed or something, to try to drain people's powers?"

"It doesn't work that way," Ramon objects. "This isn't Back to the Future, you can't just reverse the polarities and -"

He pauses.

"What?" Len asks.

"I mean, you can't do that," Ramon says slowly. "But you can cause another pulse, if you had enough energy. As much as I hate admitting it, Wells built the original Accelerator with the intention of it blowing up with dark matter the second it had enough power, and we didn't have any choice but to use that same design here."

"Wouldn't that just give them more powers?"

"It might," Ramon says. "But the original explosion put Barry into a coma for months, remember? That dark matter's a real shock to the system. Even if it would be giving him more powers rather than cancelling them out - which it might, who knows, dark matter's weird - it still might disable Wells for the time being. That's what you're thinking, right?"

"It is, yeah."

"Good idea, in theory, but two problems. A, I don't know everything about the system -"

"Danvers is going to get Hartley Rathaway," Len tells him, and has the amused pleasure of seeing Ramon pull a face.

"Yeah, that'll work," Ramon says through gritted teeth. "That guy was a total jerk, but he did know his stuff. Stupid, pretentious -"

"You can sue someone for torture and kidnapping, you know."

"- extremely intelligent person whom I'm going to be very nice to and work well with?" Ramon tries.

"That's better," Len says, suppressing a laugh. Now's not the time. "You said two problems - what's the second one?"

"We don't have enough energy to cause a pulse," Ramon says. "It's like I said earlier, we're only running electricity through the system, not -"

"Extremely fast-moving particles?" Len asks archly. "Like, say, those?"

He jabs a finger at the streaks of lightning still bouncing around the room.

One of which is his boyfriend.

"Oh," Ramon says. "Uh, yeah. That'd work. I - wait, wasn't that Wells' plan all along, though? For Barry to run through the Accelerator and power it for him to time travel with?"

"I have no idea," Len says, because the technical aspects of Wells' time travel plan mystify him. "But even if so, he was planning on STAR Labs, not the mini version you installed at Iron Heights - which, according to you, he doesn't even know about."

"Okay, that makes sense," Ramon says. "But - if they're both running through the system to power it, then there won't be any way to stop both of them from getting hit by whatever new pulse we create. Whatever happens to Wells will happen to Barry: they might both lose their powers, or get hurt."

"Yeah," Len says, all humor fading. "I know."

He swallows.

He doesn't want to say it, but he knows it's true.

"That's a risk Barry's just going to have to take," he says. "You know he'd agree, if we asked him. If it meant saving the city -"

"And stopping Wells," Ramon says. "Yeah. You're right."

He squares his shoulders.

"I'll do it."

#coldflash #barry allen #leonard snart #kara danvers #iris west #mick rory #cisco ramon #Caitlin snow #eobard thawne #eddie thawne #Shawna baez #mark mardon #roy bivolo #tony woodward #henry allen #Hartley rathaway #kyle nimbus #my fic #an internal affair

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 5 years

Text

Love Potion Extravaganza Bonus

Thanks as always to @pizzansunshine for editing what I promise to be the final of the love potion extravaganza. As I said before, I wanted to include the sirenas. And thanks to Crazy Ex Gf releasing one last song on love, it inspired me to write this. As you can guess from the song, Love is not a game https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G9VnIL33TvI There is plenty of bets. Hope y’all enjoy.

Marisa ran to the post office of Buena Vista, waving frantically to the elderly post man who was shifting through his bag, “Hi! Hello! Is there anything for us? It would be in a royal document sealed with the Avaloran crest and-”

“Sí Princesa, I know what document you are waiting for. You have been stopping by every morning and afternoon to see if it has arrived.” The postman said smoothing his grey mustache in a torturously slow fashion instead of looking at his letters for a document for her.

“Well?” Marisa asked eagerly, clasping her hands together in an effort to keep from grabbing his bag and looking through the letters herself.

“No, no letters this morning from the central area. Try again in the afternoon.” The postman shrugged, “Oh but here are the postcards you wanted.”

He handed three blank postcards with dazzling images of Cariza, Tir ná Nög and Brazendale.

How she would love to visit!

Ever since the peace treaty was signed between the Avalorans and the Sirenas and the subsequent Royal Retreat Marzel attended, her parents had become more open to the idea of travelling around to another sea and visiting. So Marisa started planning the trip by asking the postman for postcards of other kingdoms so they would get to see what they looked like today. Mom had told them stories of what they were like when she was young but she had only heard rumors of what they were like, she had mainly resided in Avalor when she was human and only visited Cordóba once.

From the postcards she had so far, Marisa was more partial to visiting Napurna it looked gorgeous with the image of the Salt Sea and Marzel had said King Raj was a very bubbly fellow to be with.

But despite the postcards, it didn’t make up for the loss of curiosity and excitement she had for the Avaloran’s upcoming letter.

Elena had had a trade meeting recently between Paraíso and Cordóba that almost ended in chaos thanks to Carla Delgado setting off a love potion through the town. Elena had been sending episodic letters about the entire situation, who fell in love with who, how they acted, what Carla had been doing, etc. and they had just arrived at the second to last letter where everyone drank the antidote and was back to normal even though Carla escaped.

Elena had finished the letter promising that her last letter would detail what had come out of the circumstances and Marisa was dying to know!

“Wow, Marisa,” Marzel panted, running up next to her to rest his arm on her shoulder, “Slow down. You have a lot more practice on legs than me. You’re too fast.”

“Here’s your hat señor,” the postman broke in between them to hand Marzel the fedora he requested. Elena had also been giving him fashion advice for how to blend in with humans and he had been obediently ordering them from local stores as she had suggested. Last week’s letter told him to get a fedora and get rid of the loud purple sombrero and feather hat that he had been keeping in his room.

“Cool!” Marzel spun the rim of the snazzy black fedora on his head, and almost missed hearing Marisa’s jibe.

“I’m not that fast on legs. You’re just clumsy.” Marisa retorted narrowly avoided the jab Marzel aimed at her ribs for the insult.

Before Marzel could fire back at her with his own comment on her walking skills, Marisa changed the subject to the important topic, “No letter this morning.”

“Come on!” Marzel cried, “I need to know if Elena ended up with Gabe!”

“Gabe?” Marisa wrinkled her nose as they turned to walk back through town to the seashore, “Do you not know, Elena? She’s obviously into Mateo. She’s going to tell us that they are dating right now. I know it.”

“She was only into Mateo because of the love spell.” Marzel gave her a condescending look.

“No! The love spell paired people who had some feelings for each other! That’s why she was all over Mateo. Why would she choose Gabe after all that anyway?” Marisa argued.

“The answer is threefold.” Marzel jabbed the air with his finger assuming his obnoxious fancy voice, “One, she felt bad for rejecting him-”

“Because she was hurting his feelings and she felt that she had no time for dating.” Marisa interrupted.

“She felt bad for rejecting him because she felt like she had to not because she wanted to. Two, they balance each other out. He’s the calm to her impulsivity. He’s knows the laws, she makes the laws.”

“Hmm... sort of like how you balance me out, Brother?” Marisa pointed out, exaggeratingly tapping her finger against her chin.

“Let me finish. And number three, they balance each other out as pointed out in number two.” Marzel finished proudly crossing his arms.

“So your argument is twofold.” Marisa smirked, knowing her comment was riling him up.

“It’s threefold.” “Twofold.”

“Threefold.” “Threefold.”

“Twofold-argh!” Marzel cursed when Marisa’s switch-up caused him to accept her answer.” Fine then, why do you think Elena is into Mateo?”

“You should have seen them together after Elena defeated Shuriki. He was hanging onto her every word to make sure she was okay.”

“Sounds like a good friendship to me.” Marzel interrupted mocking her voice from her earlier comment but Marisa ignored him.

“They danced together at the party. And I swear when Elena put on the kelp shirt, she took a peak at Mateo..”

“Psshh that did not happen.” Marzel scoffed.

“You weren’t there.” Marisa crossed her arms, “I saw it with my own eyes.”

“No way. That’s not enough evidence. Why wouldn’t Elena like Gabe? He has it all. Good looks, he’s cautious, he has excellent fighting skills, he’s charming, the girls like him..”

“Are you rooting for him because he’s like you? Biased much.” Marisa mocked.

“What are you two arguing about?” Cuco asked as the sirenas approached the shore where Cuco, Ocho and Daria were waiting.

“Whether Elena will end up with Gabe or Mateo.” Marisa answered, emphasizing Mateo’s name. They knew what they were talking about since the royal family plus they had been eagerly reading the letters during lunch and dinnertime.

“That’s great.” Daria snapped curtly as to leave no room to continue the conversation, “Marzel, your dad wants to go over some public relations topic with you, and Marisa, you have to keep your promise to help the children’s singing group. It’s at lunchtime, but you insist on playing with them beforehand so you better get going now.”

Due to her role in helping Saloso and the rest malandros almost invade Coronado and the ensuing rescue, King Pescoro had demoted Daria’s army commander status to being a personal guard for the siblings for the time being. Which was for the best because with the human-sirena peace treaty, there was no need for an army commander unless they were suddenly called to war again.

Now Daria spent her day hounding them to keep on schedule and make sure they...technically Marisa... did not try to sneak off to the mainland when they were needed elsewhere for lessons or other obligations. She took the job as seriously as she took her last position, but they had all noticed that Daria mellowed out a little bit too. They heard her make a joke! It had only happened once though because the event had surprised Marisa so much that she nearly choked on her kelp taco.

“What about Alonso?” Cuco pointed out completely ignoring Daria’s instructions for them to head back to Coronado.

“What about him?” The siblings cocked their heads to the side in unison.

“Elena and Alonso.” Cuco said as if that cleared things up.

“Elena and Alonso are not here. Let’s get going.” Ocho commanded.

“No. No. I can’t picture Elena and Alonso together.” Marzel laughed,

“Remember that part where he sang that awful song to Naomi. And he slept with the malvago. No way would Elena date a guy like him.”

“You can finish this conversation later. You have duties to attend to.” Daria reminded them, impatiently slapping her fin against the water.

“Alonso showed no interest in her. With or without the love potion.” Marisa argued with the large hippocampus.

“But who knows. Maybe they both had a change of heart after the love potion. He was going all over the place because he had no true love. Maybe Elena is the one for him. The prince and the princess” Cuco sighed dreamily.

“No.” Marisa and Marzel insisted in unison.

“It’s Mateo.” “It’s Gabe.”

“Will you two stop? Elena is going to say she is dating Mateo in her next letter. Now let’s go do important things then speculate about your friend’s love life. Marzel, take off that hat, we’re leaving.” Daria finished the argument for them.

“What? No you can’t think it’s Mateo too!” Marzel cried, completely ignoring her order to take off his fedora.

Daria rolled her eyes, “It’s obvious. They look at each other with complete trust whenever I saw them interact. Love is just adding tenderness to the equation.”

“No-but-no. What do you know about love?” Marzel shot back.

“I know a lot more about love, and war, and life than you do.” Daria raised an eyebrow in challenge.

“Hmm then you’re willing to put your money where your mouth is? I bet 50 sand dollars plus 3 gold doubloons that Elena ends up with Gabe.” Marzel challenged, slipping some golden doubloons from his leggings to hold up.

“I’ll bet 100 sand dollars.” Daria answered with a smirk at Marzel’s nervous gulp.

“105.” Marzel said.

“Oh oh I wanna get in this too. I’d give you 20 doubloons if you’re right. No sand dollars.” Ocho scooched up with get on top of Daria’s shoulder.

“Guys? I don’t know if we should do this. It’s one thing to debate, but betting?” Marisa said, nervously listening to the escalating numbers.

“10 sand dollars that she ends up with Alonso.” Cuco added.

“30 doubloons that if you’re right, she’ll dump him within a week.” Marzel scowled.

“I say 134 sand dollars that Alonso would get bored before Elena would dump him, and so dump her.” Daria contested.

“This is just getting mean.” Marisa vocalized as the one sound of reason but to no avail.

“Elena would dump Gabe. Who wants to bet 10 doubloons that Elena dumps Gabe?” Ocho hollered.

“Guys.”

“Elena dumps Mateo.”

“Eight sand dollars plus three copper doubloons.”

“Mateo dumps Elena!”

“Four doubloons.”

“They get married.”

“They’ll divorce.”

“Alonso would so cheat on her.”

“300 sand dollars.”

“Eighteen sand dollars.”

“GUYS!” Marisa yelled, freezing everyone in the middle of their frenzied betting.

Marisa walked across the shoreline looking at each of them square in the eye as she sang, “How dare you play with love? Have you no decency?

Love is what created him, and him, and her, and me.

How dare you play with love?

Is nothing sacred to you?”

Marzel and Cuco looked guiltily to the ground, Daria stared stonily ahead but tensley rubbed the doubloons in her hands, Ocho scowled.

“Love is what unites me and you and him and her and him and him and me as well.”

Marisa stared at them and their ill-at-ease postures before letting them off the hook.

“JK LOL!”

The four stared at her in confusion. Both from the odd human slang Naomi had taught her and for her sudden change of heart.

“I want in on this too. But can we be discreet about it? It feels wrong and our parents would probably say it’s wrong to place bets on Elena’s love life... It’s just I have a good feeling that I’m going to win!” Marisa squealed, holding up a sand dollar her brother dropped on the sand, “Let's do this!”

They all immediately scrambled to gather up their currencies so no straying beach goers would find them. They had decided the copper doubloons would be used for any Mateo bets since it was the closest to the color red. Silver would be Gabe and Alonso was gold.

Meanwhile Marisa began to hum a jaunty tune, “Love's not a game, love's not a game.

None of us would ever say love's a game.

That would be bad, you can be sure-a.”

“But I'm in the mood to wear this cool fedora,” Marzel rhymed before Daria snatched it off his head.

Marisa and Marzel jumped into the water to transform to their normal form, “Love's not a game, love's not a game. We would never play with love like it's a game.”

Ocho swam up next to Cuco, unofficial racing him to the next rock, “But if we did...”

Cuco winked, “And that would be wrong.”

They crowed together as they whipped around the kelp beds, “We'd put 30 doubloons down that Gabe has the biggest schlong.”

Marisa raised her eyebrows at that image but shrugged, “Oh, interesting, I'll double that!”

Daria put her nose in the air, “I'll triple that!”

Marisa took up the next chorus as they swam through the shipwreck graveyard, “Love is not sirenas swimming down courses. They're our dear friends, they are not seahorses.”

Cuoco galloped ahead of her, “Their love is pure, groom meets bride,”

“So we'd never soil it with a death pool on the side,” Ocho added nudging Marzel who flinched at Marisa’s “that-is-so-wrong” glare.

Daria handed Ocho a sand dollar, “Alonso, age 52, parasailing accident.”

Ocho gasped, “That's so smart. Same.”

Marisa shook her head at that sick bet even though she kind could see it happen. Marzel started the next line of their song, “Love's an endgame, but it's not a game.”

“Our mouths keep saying that, but our hands need change,” Marisa admitted when she placed an IOU for 60 sand dollars and a pound of doubloons with Cuco that if Mateo and Elena got married in the future, Mateo would be the one to propose.

“Put 30 on red, poetically...For red's the color of a heart that beats free.”

“Red is also Mateo. It's going to be Mateo.” Daria yelled as she zoomed off ahead at the sight of the coral alarms so she could recheck them.

The closer they approached the castle, the more jittery Marisa got. It was like being near the presence of her parents reminded her how wrong this was. She looked to her side and saw that Marzel had a similar anxious expression. She swam up next to him, suddenly wishing to stop the group so she could return her bet money.

“We definitely shouldn't do this,

We definitely shouldn't do this.

This is bad, this is bad,

We're going to hell, this is bad.”

Yet the moment they arrived at the palace Marisa and Marzel’s worries dissipated. They were immediately whisked off to their respective duties and temporarily forgot about their betting and their money until dinner time came.

“Marisa, do you want to see if Princess Elena’s letter arrived yet?” Queen Camila said nonchalantly, but the way her tail twitched underneath their dinner table signaled that she was a lot more excited than she let on about hearing the conclusion to the long saga.

Marisa hesitated for a second when she heard her father come swimming up eagerly, “Is the letter here? Did Elena end up with Gabe?”

“No, honey. There’s no letter about Elena not ending up with Gabe.” Queen Camila corrected with a soft hand on his.

The moment that clinched it was when Marisa spotted her mom mouth, “It’s going to be Mateo,” and her dad shook his head patronizingly.

“Marzel, Daria, Ocho, Cuco, we’re going to see if there is a letter!” Marisa whooped, not even looking behind her to see if the others were following.

When Marzel was able to catch up to her Marisa sheepishly turned to him to say, “Uh um can I get in on the Alonso parasailing bet. I think it’s very likely to happen.”

“Oh that’s off. We all agreed that Alonso is likely to die parasailing.” Marzel waved it off dismissively.

Marisa giggled a little at the thought that was the one bet they could all agree on. Then she got back on task to swimming as fast as she could.

They were going to find their answer in a matter of moments. Hopefully today!

Once they reached the shores, Marisa and Marzel jumped up, crashing into each other once they were on the sandy ground. Heads bumping, but too animated to feel the pain they raced to the town’s post office as Ocho yelled behind them, “Don’t open it without us!”

Marisa was the one who arrived at the office first after Marzel tripped over an old lady’s cane and she nearly knocked over the elderly postman herself.

“Steady there, señorita.” The postman warned, chuckling grittily, “I have what you wish.”

“YES!” Marisa prompting Marzel to run faster in her direction.

“Thankyouthankyousomuch!” Marisa babbled hugging the man before ripping the document from his hands.

As she turned the corner, she crashed into Marzel turning the world upside down with dancing starfish around her head.

“IS THIS IT?” Marzel crowed in amazement, taking the document reverently from her, earning the disapproving glare of a man with a baby at his loudness.

“YES IT IS!” Marisa screeched, grabbing it back from him. The creamy white document had a red seal of a jaquin’s head. It may have been her imagination but it just seemed to glow and sparkly like the gold doubloons and sand dollars she was bound to collect after they read it.

“SHHHHH!” The man shushed them.

The siblings scrambled to their feet and ran to the shore leaping and singing excitedly.

“Love's not a game, love's not a game.

That being said, let's make it rain!

While Cupid descends from above...”

“They have it! They have it! I’m going to be rich!” Ocho shook Cucoa’s shoulders with exhilaration and even stone-faced Daria was smiling in anticipation.

“Can you even spend it?” Cuco innocently asked the octopus earning a smack on the cheek from the irate sea creature.

Marisa and Marzel knelt down to the knees and sang their song as they slowly opened the letter. “The group mind has decided to bet on love!”

The song began to grow in volume as the three others joined in repeating the refrain, “Love's not a game, love's not a game,

Love's not a game!”

Marisa cracked open the seal and Marzel slipped out the letter, “Alonso should be wary of parasails!”

They all scanned the letter, reading as fast as their eyes could possibly go. Marisa was skimming so quickly that she reached the “Love, Elena” part without even understanding what she had read and nervously went back to the beginning to read again.

Nothing was jumping out at her. No Mateo or Gabe or love.

Was it possible that Elena ended up with no one?

The nagging guilty feeling that Marisa had forgotten came back again to form a pit in her stomach. They all had gotten so caught up in her love life, they had forgotten the true sight of it all. A love potion did not mean Elena was going to make it a big focus of her life from now on. She had other things to do, a kingdom to run and they were busy making bets on a part of her life that was only hers alone to care about.

It wasn’t even like they cared about Elena’s love life for the sake of her happiness, they just wanted to get money out of the bets.

No, this disappointment served them right.

“What?” Ocho screeched indignantly, “This is useless. It has nothing!”

“She-she didn’t end up with anyone?” Marzel moaned disappointedly.

Marisa looked frantically at the parchment even at the little side bars to see if there was any doodles or invisible words, but nothing!

“Wait!” Daria grabbed the paper ad flipped it to the back.

“And Mateo?”

Marisa snatched it back, “Love Elena” she flipped it to the back, “And Mateo! With a heart next to. I think they’re together.”

All those regretful feelings about how wrong Marisa felt it was to bet on Elena’s love life disappeared with a snap. She’d won! She was getting so much money! She had bragging rights over her brother! Yes!!

“Oh goodness, they’re together. That means I’m right! HA, I’M RIGHT!”

“Noooo!” Marzel and Cuco yelled out when Marisa began her celebratory dance, high fiving Daria and all of Ocho’s tentacles.

“Pay up!” Ocho sing-songed, gesturing to Cuco.

“Fine” Marzel grumbled handing each of them two sand dollars, “I’ll give the rest to you later. So you can give it back to me when they break up.”

“There not breaking up.” Marisa laughed, “Also I hate to say it, but I told you so. “No you’re not.” Marzel rolled his eyes, huffing with outrage at being proven wrong.

“Nope cause I’m rich!” Marisa cheered and then booped Marzel on the nose, “Aww don’t get all pouty just because I’m better at matters of the heart than you.”

With that final smug comment on her victory, Marisa leapt into the water to go tell her mother the fabulous news.

#love potion extravaganza #bonus #princess marisa #prince marzel #daria #ocho #cuco #eleteo #elena of avalor #my fanfic #my fanfiction

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mbcarmac · 3 years

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Things Blood Bowl 3 can borrow from other esports games

If you are reading this, then you found me for one of two reasons: you either know me as the ESL guy that runs major esports tournaments or you know me as a Blood Bowl 2 player with 3,500 hours under his belt.

The combination of the above may justify the arrogance to write a wish list for Blood Bowl 3 ahead of its release. I probably know what I am talking about.

As esports titles go, Blood Bowl 2 is a fantastic product that I consider very polished and feature-rich. Their out-of-the-box engine to run tournaments is fantastic (some people that actually run leagues might cringe, but I am looking at BB2 relative to other titles), tuning in to matches is easy and watching your own replays isn't hard either. On top of this, you can make custom teams play against yourself which is a massively useful feature if you want to prepare for specific matches.

This does not mean that Blood Bowl cannot learn lessons from other titles that would make it an even better game with the release of BB3.

Before we go on, let's acknowledge that every game developer needs to balance the time and money spent on developing features vs. how many users it would provide value to. In practice, if there's a killer feature idea that delays the shipment of the game by two weeks and the feature "only" helps the top 1% of players, then that feature might not get priority or it might not make it to the game. For that reason I am focusing on features that I am guessing are trivial to add or would positively affect more than just the elite (that, and the fact that I'm not an elite BB2 player).

So, here we go:

1) Resume from replay (a StarCraft II feature) One of the best RTS games of all time has this neat feature where you can resume a game that was interrupted for a technical reason. The game can be restarted from the point it broke which has obvious applications for running tournaments, but it also has tremendous potential for learning to play Blood Bowl.

Imagine that you can load up a replay of your own tournament game and try to resolve certain situations differently. Massively useful for strategy as well as set plays like attacking or defending on one turn touchdowns.

I wish there was a save round button in the game which basically allows you to start a new match (against yourself, against AI or a live opponent) from a specific point. You could practice all kinds of one turn tochdowns without wasting time on recreating the setup of the defensive team every time. You could condense your practice to practically any other element you want.

I have had a good BB player analyse a demo with me on Discord once and it was a very valuable experience. How much better it would have been if he could have told me "play this round out differently" instead of talking about how the round would / should go.

Storing such "start files" could then allow the community to build resources where people could find all sorts of setups and play them out rather than reading about them.

The easier it is to get players to a higher level of competency, the more players are decent players and the more enjoyable the game experience will be. The added bonus of helping tournaments resume matches makes the feature worth adding into the game in and of itself.

2) Different clock mechanic (my own idea yay!) There is a balance to be struck between keeping the game manageable and fun to play and giving people enough time to make crucial decisions. The Championship Ladder turn clock has been set to 2 minutes after being at 3 minutes for a while, presumably as a response to dwindling player numbers (it's a guess, not a fact). Shorter turns are more fun for more casual players and longer turns are better for cerebral elite players.

A good balance might be if each player received an additional cache of time. It could be done many different ways, but perhaps the most elegant one would be if there were three "+1 minute" cards (similar to rerolls) available for each player per half. That would mean that when you really need the extra time, you can use it and the cards also become a resource to manage as well.

Alternatively, players could simply have an overtime clock that every extra second spent comes out of, but the "card system" has the advantage that you need to trigger receiving the extra time. If you have to actively trigger additional time, you know it won't be wasted by people that go AFK.

3) Player behaviour management (League of Legends) It seems to me like the developer would prefer to release the game and then keep it up with minimal resources. This means that ordinary players will have to deal with absolutely toxic people from time to time. I can take the abuse, but it isn't fun.

At the same time, I have met a number of players that gave me tips during the match that helped me become better. I wish such behaviour were more encouraged since meeting helpful players online can be a tremendous tool to help new players improve (a lot of players never ever leave the bubble of the game itself to find resources on YouTube, Twitch or BB2 websites).

I would like to see two buttons available to me after a game where I can label player as a toxic one or a helpful one. If a player on ladder gets reported by five (random number) different people, the game should be able to react. For example by displaying a message letting them know that they are shadowbanned from chat and no one can read their hateful shit for the next 25 (random number) games. Of course "toxic reports" should be automatically discarded if the player hadn't typed anything since it's hard to be toxic if you hadn't typed anything.

The same mechanic could apply to helpful players and it could automatically start displaying a reputation marker next to their nickname (the more positive reports you get, the better your "positivity rank" - and it shoud decay over time). Some other type of in-game reward could be instated as well, but I don't know what the developer's plans are for in-game currency or custom rewards.

I know of some players that would confuse the hell out of the above system, otherwise known as helpful ragers, but maybe it would be a good start. And the best thing: it's automated with no manpower required.

4) Observer features (DOTA 2, Chess)

Give us basic telestration tools in the game. The ability to draw arrows, move players (as shadows) etc. to illustrate what the player should do, where the player should be moved, etc. It is not uncommon for a turn of Blood Bowl to last two minutes before a player is moved or a die is rolled. Commentators being able to mark things in the game they are watching and displaying them for their audience would make broadcasts much more compelling.

I cannot stress enough that there's time for it in most big tournament matches. It would be massively helpful with "newb streams" as well (something I've recommended for the REBBL team to organise for their playoffs) since that can bring players into the community as well.

5) Promotion of esports (League of Legends & others) The first major title to really do this well was League of Legends. Whenever a big event was going on, they would put a link to the stream into the game client. I cannot stress how much this has popularised LoL as a professional esport and given its community the idea that they're casual players of not a game but a SPORT. Even if they did not watch the esports tournaments, they were given a sense that there was so much more depth to that world.

This is another feature which might require post-release management from the developer (which automatically makes it not-so-desirable), but creating some kind of in-game billboard and working with whitelisted popular leagues to fill it in for the publisher under strict guidelines is probably doable. I am aware of the news section on the loading screen, but without an image and headline to attract my attention, I ignore it 90% of the time.

The community does tremendous work for the publisher, creating rich, vibrant places to learn, play and enjoy Blood Bowl. The least they could do is allow the trusted ones to promote themselves inside the game. It's for the mutual benefit of the publisher and the community leagues.

Welp... This is more writing than I've done in 5 years. And all it took was for me to win the first round of the REBBL Challenger Cup. I hope you've enjoyed this read and that you have suggestions of your own that could help Blood Bowl 3 become a fantastic game.

#bloodbowl #espors

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tapatapreview · 3 years

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November 04, 2020 at 06:32AM https://ift.tt/2I7pdbM Gaming

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope provides me somewhat hope for the way forward for Supermassive Games’ horror collection. Some sensible gameplay tweaks make sure that Little Hope nonetheless highlights Supermassive’s important function within the trendy journey house, but it surely additionally highlights why the studio’s future video games have to be higher than this for these sensible adjustments to actually shine.

Little Hope, like its instant predecessor Man of Medan, is a mashup of horror tropes and subgenres. It borrows iconography from The Blair Witch Project. It borrows its Puritan-era paranoia from The Witch (and Arthur Miller’s non-horror play The Crucible). And its conceit, which finds a gaggle of faculty college students and their professor stranded within the woods after their bus crashes, hangs on a premise that will probably be acquainted for followers of Stephen King’s The Mist or John Carpenter’s The Fog. As the sport progressed, I grew to become more and more skeptical that these threads would come collectively in a satisfying approach. In the top, they do not, however I nonetheless had fun on the journey to that disappointing conclusion.

Little Hope begins with a flashback to the Nineteen Seventies and a quick introduction to a troubled household of six. Dad is a heavy drinker. The older sister feels remoted and depressed. And, in a touch on the religious warfare that may dominate a lot of Little Hope’s second half, the youthful sister has been held again repeatedly after church to talk with the reverend. These glowing embers of drama quickly blaze up right into a literal raging hearth when the youthful sister leaves her doll on the stovetop. In the following blaze, each member of the household meets their grisly demise, save Will Poulter’s Anthony, who helplessly watches on.

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Our focus quickly shifts to a different group–a professor, John, and 4 college students, Andrew, Angela, Taylor, and Daniel–who try to regain their bearings after a bus crash leaves them stranded within the woods. The bus driver liable for the crash is lacking, and the field-tripping group finds themselves surrounded by a mysterious fog that sends anybody who ventures into it again within the course they got here. Each member of this group is a useless ringer for a member of the household from the sport’s opening. And, because the group ventures into the deserted city of Little Hope, they start to have visions of earlier doppelgangers, former inhabitants of the city caught up within the deadly paranoia of Seventeenth-century witch trials.

Despite the sprawling solid, you solely management the present-day variations of the characters. As you do, you make dialogue selections by pointing the needle of a compass at considered one of two spoken choices or the ever-present possibility to only be silent. Your decisions have an effect on the dynamics of character relationships and in addition trigger adjustments to their character traits.

As this story unfolds, it turns into more and more clear that Little Hope’s time-hopping ambitions impede its capacity to do a lot profitable character work within the right here and now. I’ve solely obscure concepts of who John, Angela, Taylor, Daniel, and Andrew are. In earlier video games, Supermassive has introduced characters as well-acted archetypes, then allowed gamers to additional outline their personalities inside these boundaries–playing to or towards sort. Here, the kinds are so ill-defined that it turns into tough to even have an opinion on what every character would or would not do. In a bonus unlockable interview with Will Poulter, the actor described his character as socially awkward. “I guess he was socially awkward,” I believed. But, as I believed again via the sport, I spotted that impression got here from a line the place his character, in impact, informed one other character that he was socially awkward. There is not practically sufficient within the moment-to-moment character interactions to floor these particulars. As a consequence, Little Hope’s central solid do not feel like three-dimensional characters. Some of them aren’t even profitable archetypes.

As you discover, you management your character’s motion and flashlight beam because the digital camera frames them in old-school Resident Evil-style angles. This is considered one of my favourite quirks of Supermassive design; it is one of many few studios in trendy mainstream video games carrying the torch for fastened digital camera horror. But the truth that a lot of Little Hope takes place on a lonely street signifies that Supermassive would not have as a lot room to mess around with viewpoint. Most of the time, Little Hope employs what quantities to a barely zoomed out third-person perspective, which looks like a missed alternative given Supermassive’s expertise for shot composition.

There are some optimistic adjustments, although. Little Hope appears much more technically sound than Man of Medan, and the story handles Supermassive’s trademark branching paths extra easily than ever because of this. While Man of Medan noticeably hitched at occasions because it tried to convey every little thing collectively and, presumably, cycle between totally different variations of cutscenes relying on which members of your get together had been nonetheless alive, Little Hope feels prefer it’s telling one seamless story. Little Hope genuinely nails the sensation that every little thing that’s occurring is authored. For instance, in a single scene that might play out with burgeoning couple Taylor and Daniel alone or with the pair accompanied by older nontraditional scholar Angela, Daniel says one thing to the impact of, “We’ll both get out of this, you’ll see.” It works as is when it is Daniel and Taylor alone. But it turns into a character-building second when Angela is current and, excluded from Daniel’s “both,” pointedly clears her throat. In this fashion, Little Hope manages to make use of the constraints inherent to its versatile narrative to do some good character work, even when that work is squandered of their total growth.

Additionally, the QTEs that outline Supermassive’s adrenaline-pumping method to life-or-death motion are at their greatest right here. Instead of simply popping up randomly, the timed button presses now seem first as a warning–smartly positioned on-screen to reflect the position of the button on the controller–before you might be required to press them. This would not take away the strain, but it surely does offer you a greater likelihood of succeeding with out first spending a number of playthroughs studying the timing.

The Traits system, nevertheless, pushes the opposite course. As you make selections, the character traits, like “Fearful” or “Reckless,” are accentuated. If you make sufficient selections leaning in a single course, a padlock image will seem subsequent to that trait in your character profile, indicating that that trait is now an unchangeable a part of your character. I can clarify it now, but it surely took me two full playthroughs to grasp how this method works as a result of none of that is defined upfront. This system, which is opaque and never tutorialized, has main penalties late within the sport. But as you play, no context is given for the lock showing subsequent to the trait, and it is immensely irritating to see a personality’s destiny tied to a system the sport did not clarify. Tying character traits to a personality’s destiny could make narrative sense, but it surely’s introduced in such a murky approach that it ends in sure late-game character deaths that really feel fully out of your palms. While the UI has been improved to its greatest iteration in Little Hope, the Traits system ensures that shepherding your characters via the sport remains to be a irritating five-hour-long train in trial-and-error.

Still, regardless of its faults, Little Hope can not help however remind me of the explanations I really like Supermassive’s tackle the trendy narrative journey sport. The studio is masterful at producing pressure via gameplay so simple as a well-timed button press, and Little Hope is a high-water mark for the studio’s technical proficiency. While the story and character work are uncharacteristically lackluster, Little Hope nonetheless manages to supply a strong basis for Supermassive’s future.

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#November 04 #2020 at 06:32AM

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