#i might be focusing more on an original piece for a while but we'll see what i get inspiration for
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When they keep secrets
We all have secrets, don't we? Some are just bigger than others
A/N: happy new year 💖
Taglist: @vvkingofgaybisciutsvv @thequeenofthewinter @thedevilshardy @mollybegger-blog @wandawiccan60 @cameleonhardyfan63 @inkwolvesandcoffee @liliac-dreamer @potter-solomons
What he wanted.
"You ready?" You asked, smiling at Tommy. "Yeah." Tommy replied, quiet and stoic as ever. You kissed his cheek before getting out of the car, taking a deep breath as you stared up at your childhood home. The idea of Tommy meeting your parents didn't make you nearly as nervous as the idea of your parents meeting Tommy, and if Tommy is nervous, he's certainly not letting it show on the surface, not that his flat affect allowed much to seep though anyway. You ran your hand along the railing as you climbed the front steps that seemed significantly smaller and less steep than they did when you were younger, the light sent of your mother's cooking wafting out of the partially open window. The memories of childhood came flooding back to you, your dad chasing you up and down the hallway, mom making your favorite meals, getting a hug and kiss from both of them as they wished you well before you got on the school bus. What more could a kid ask for really. You swallowed your nerves and knocked on the door. It flung open before your arm even had time to retract to your side, "how have you been, honey?" You're dad asked, swiftly pulling you into a hug. You giggled into his shoulder. It was always unclear who was more excited for you to return home, you or your parents.
"Come on in," your dad ushered the two of you inside, "Tommy, right?" He added, Tommy turned to him with narrowed eyes of slight confusion. He nodded. "Phil." Your dad smiled, introducing himself with an outstretched hand. Tommy shook it hesitantly. He wasn't used to being greeted so cheerfully. You grinned as your dad hurried off, to the kitchen to tell your mother of your arrival, no doubt. Shaking your head as you moved that direction yourself, smiling at the sounds of Tommy's heavy combat booted steps following along behind you. Tommy would trail you like a loyal dog whenever he was unsure what to do with himself. Your nose followed the sent of a delicious lunch in the making into the kitchen, where you saw your mother hovering around a skillet on the stove burner. "Hi mom." You smiled with a wave. "Oh, come here dear, I need a hug!" She exclaimed, making you giggle like you did at your dad earlier as she pecked your cheek lovingly. "Who's this nice young man you've brought with you?" Your mother grinned, flicking her eyes toward Tommy with a grin. "This is Tommy." You smiled, gesturing to him. Your mother's face lit up, "I'm Cassandra, we've heard several wonderful things about you dear." Your mom introduced herself. You could tell Tommy was a bit blindsided by her characteristic vigor. He remained silent for a moment before finally settling on, "Likewise." After a moment. "Why don't you kids have a seat in the living room, and I'll call you when lunch is ready." Your mom smiled, waving you off as she went back to the stovetop. You nodded and took Tommy's hand in your own, leading him to the end of the hallway. "You okay?" You asked quietly, walking slowly to keep your boyfriend's lumbering pace. "Yeah," Tommy started, "people are just usually more excited to watch me beat the shit out of somebody than they are to meet me." He added. "Oh, really? Because they've been biting at the bit to meet you. Every phone call lately as somehow involved being asked when they were going to meet you." You grinned. You watched Tommy's eyes shift between your face and the space over your shoulder. Turning around, you saw a picture of your mother with a baby on her lap hung on the wall, both wearing matching smiles to boot. "Well," Tommy said, grabbing your attention. "I can certainly see where that grin comes from." He said, looking between you and the picture, making you smile and nod.
Tommy remained in the doorway of the living room for a moment as you flopped on the couch. He began inspecting the mantel, a wooden box with a glass top that stood up on its side held medals and ribbons, including a pyramid of power and a purple heart. He moved to the side to eye down a picture of a man in a formal dress uniform, recognizing this man as Phil, your father. The inside of his head felt hazy, like when somber clouds became intent on blocking out the sun. The world feels grey, and those who can disappear inside out of the gloomy weather. Some find a dreary rainy day depressing. Others, like Tommy, feel rather at home in the gloom of a downpour. "Tommy." A voice cut through the haze of thoughts. A hand clapped down on his shoulder, "you were in corps?" Tommy asked quietly, turning to face Phil, who nodded. "I swear, this shit follows me everywhere." Tommy mumbled. "You active?" Phil asked. Tommy shook his head, "Not anymore." He murmured, "I have one of these," he started with a gesture to the display box of medals. "The purple heart." He added. Phil smiled, straightening his back and lifting his right hand in salute, Tommy returned the gesture. "I commend you, Tommy." Phil smiled. "I should be telling you that." Tommy said quietly. "I should be asking why this is the first time I'm hearing about any of this." You said from your spot on the couch as you crossed your legs. "Because I don't like to talk about it." Tommy grumbled, hanging his head. Your expression softened, standing and moving toward Tommy. You gently wrapped your hands around his wrists to guide his arms around your midsection, engulfing him in the comfort of a warm hug. Your dad padded him on the back, unintentionally making him pull away from you. Tommy eyed him oddly, you thought, like a half-hearted side-eye. "Lunch is ready!" Your mom called before you could really question this look.
Settling in at the table, you almost felt like a kid again. "How was your day, sweetie?" Your mom asked. You smiled, grabbing a piece of the fried chicken off your plate as you began telling them about your week. Tommy ate in silence, giving himself hell mentally after flinching at your sudden outburst of laughter at one of your dad's jokes. "Is something amiss, Tommy?" Your mom asked. You turned to see alarms going off behind Tommy's eyes. "No, everything's good, I appreciate this." Tommy said quietly, gesturing to the table, trying to redirect the attention away from himself. "You're very welcome, deary." Your mom smiled. Tommy nodded and continued to eat quietly. Watching you joyfully converse with your parents, he wasn't sure he'd ever admit it to you, but this is what he wanted growing up.
First date dilemma.
Eddie has always found getting ready rather stressful after being in front of a camera for the better part of his career. He had always felt the inescapable feeling of having to impress or prove himself to people, but preparing for a date was even worse. "Mmm," a deep rumble reverberated through his skull, making Eddie freeze in place, awaiting further harassment from his inner critic, but it didn't come. "Your heart rate has risen." The dark voice said lowly. "Yeah, no shit." Eddie muttered as he examined himself in the mirror. He sighed heavily and shrugged off the grey plaid long sleeve, "Nope!" He said, shaking his head. Vemon sighed, Eddie narrowed his eyes at the sound as he put the shirt back in his closet, feeling a pair of tendrils extending out of the midsection of his back. The feeling of the symbiote oozing through his skin was like warm water through a strainer. It was odd at first, but now it's hard to go without the warmth of Vemon coursing through his vains or the feeling of security that came from the symbiote forming around his body. Eddie turned away from his closet to see a navy long sleeve button-down and his leather jacket being presented to him, "Put this on." Vemon said. "Are you sure?" Eddie asked, taking the shirt in his hands. "Yes," Vemon exclaimed, "otherwise, we are going to be late." the symbiote added. "Being late is kinda my specialty, ya know?" Eddie deadpaned as he buttoned his shirt. "Idiot!" Vemon exclaimed, "being late on a first date is not a good look." They snapped. Eddie sighed as he picked up his keys and motorcycle helmet, "You watch too many Hallmark movies." He grumbled, locking the door behind him.
He arrived at the restaurant with exactly a minute and a half to spare, thanks to Vemon doing most of the driving. "Now, I need you to be quiet, alright?" Eddie murmured under his breath, glancing around nervously. "Of course, Eddie!" His alien earpiece exclaimed, "You are perfectly capable of messing this up without my input." They added mockingly. "Well, thanks for having faith in me, jackass." Eddie muttered, rolling his eyes. His feet were suddenly glued to the ground once he spotted you sitting on a bench by the door, waiting. You smiled widely when you saw him, "Hi Eddie." You beamed. Eddie remained in stunned silence, eyes traveling up and down your form. "Say something!" Vemon hissed, Eddie could feel them face palming. "You.. look amazing." Eddie managed, with Vemon threatening to force whatever they wanted out of his vocal chords if he didn't. "You're pretty dapper yourself." You smiled, making small adjustments to his windblown shirt collar. You turned and started toward the door, Eddie stood dumbfounded for a moment before he let out a small, breathy, "Oh." At the unseen force going to work once again, making his legs move with an irritated sigh. The restaurant wasn't busy, so you were seated quickly. Eddie's face split into a grin as he watched you smile at a baby that cooed up at you from his mother's arms, "Oh, aren't you just precious!" You awed, giggling as the mom jokingly asked her son if he was being flirty. You went and sat at the table the host led you to, "What an adorable little human spawn." Eddie hoped Vemon's words were not meant to be as sinister as they sounded. "Um, would you excuse me for a moment." Eddie said to you in a nervous haste. You nodded, and Eddie found his way to the restrooms. Once the door shut behind him, he leaned on the sink with a heavy sigh. The sound of almost liquid matter moving made him look up at the mirror, seeing the floating head of his extraterrestrial buddy hovering over his shoulder wasn't nearly as terrifying as it used to be. Eddie shook his head lightly, running his hands over his face. "What?!" Vemon exclaimed, Eddie narrowed his eyes at the symbiote with an audible huff. "You're on a date, and I'm sightseeing!" His alien counterpart insisted. "And I asked you to do it quietly!" Eddie hissed. Vemon tilted their head to one side, a soft hum vibrated through their being. Their pearly eyes and face, despite mostly being made up of an ungodly amount of teeth, held no malice. Eddie let out a defeated sigh, "I just don't wanna mess things up again, like I did with Anne." He admitted, so to speak, wasn't like he could exactly hide anything from the extraterrestrial anyway. Vemon sighed as they bowed their head, "Don't worry, Eddie, we can get through this." They grinned. "And if we don't?" Eddie questioned. "We can say we tried." The symbiote responded. "Well, let's aim to not screw up, then shall we?" The reporter agreed, Vemon nodded and disappeared beneath the surface of his skin to allow Eddie to finish his business in a sort of simi-privacy.
Eddie found Vemon's lack of commentary after their conversation in the loo disconcerting. It was unlike them and made their host anxious. As Eddie sat down at the booth, the anxious feeling seemed to disappear and was replaced by a wave of calm, and from where Vemon and he were connected, a vague sense and means of assistance. "So, how was it?" You asked, placing an elbow on the table and resting the side of your head on a closed fist. Eddie's brows attempted to touch as his features conveyed confusion, "You're meeting." Vemon murmured. "Ah, my meeting! Uh, good, it was good." Eddie exclaimed. "Well, that's... good." You smiled, making Eddie snicker. "Say, did you ever get that promotion?" Eddie asked, making you nod with a face splitting grin. "That's amazing!" Eddie congratulated you. You remained in touch with Eddie after working together, and you couldn't be more glad you did. He was funny, and miles more supportive of your career choices than your last romantic partner, even his quirk of talking to himself was endearing. Your food arrived shortly after ordering, "You put that in the article?!" You gasped. "Why not? It was the truth." Eddie responded with a smile. You shook your head with a laugh, "The ever controversial Eddie Brock." You smirked playfully. Eddie once again found himself stopped dead in his tracks by you, hearing his name on your lips provoked evocative things in the reporter. "We like this one." Vemon purred. "Yes, we do." Eddie whispered lowly into his drink under the guise of clearing his throat.
Crafty Bastard.
"Alright, fine! Just don't work too hard, love." Alfie groaned as you helped him settle into his armchair. A sciatica flair left him doubling over as he tried getting out of bed this morning. "I should be telling you that." You smirked, bending down to kiss the lips of your stubborn husband. After an hour's worth of arguing, he finally reluctantly agreed to let you fill his place for the day and that he would satisfy your insisting that he needed rest. "But now, don't go letting anyone think they can just go slack off just because I'm not fucking there!" He ordered with a stern pointed finger as he layed his cane across his lap. "Wouldn't dream of it." You smiled, pulling on his black coat and wide brimmed hat, earning a whistle from the London gangster. You scoffed at his actions and left the house. Alfie tapped his cane against the floor, idly for a few minutes, to make sure you had left the house. He stood with a start, leaning his cane against the wall by the coat rack. "Finally." He grumbled to himself, Cyril lifted his head with a whine. "What?" Alfie groaned. Cyril replied with another whine, "You're serious? I should've been an actor, pulling off a performance like that." He mused. Cyril's ears perked forward as he tilted his head to the side, "Don't look at me like that, you mutt! A little lie never hurt anyone." Alfie said in retort. "Come on, we've got work to do." Alfie called as he walked out of the room with the mastiff at his heels.
"Where's Mr. Solomons?" Ollie asked, eyes wide with worry, or maybe they were wide from being startled by you slamming the door behind you to announce your presence in the warehouse, Thomas Shelby may have been right when he proclaimed you to be as eccentric as your husband, not that you cared. "Home," you stated, "Sciatica's giving him problems again." Ollie's features lit up knowingly as he nodded with a smile, "Right," the young assistant chirped, "shall we get to work then?". You spent the morning sifting through the messy state, Alfie always left his desk in. Papers strewn here and there, pens discarded wherever they happen to be instead of being put back in their holder, an abandoned glass of what's left of last night's whiskey on the rocks. You picked up the glass and inspected it carefully, shrugging your shoulders and deciding you only lived once. You took a small sip from the glass. Ollie narrowed his eyes as you swallowed the unsavory and heavily deluded room temperature liquid with a grimace. "What?" You asked, noticing the odd look Ollie was giving you. "Why?" Was the only word he could utter. "Why not? I'll have you know Mother didn't raise a milksop." You smiled, leaning forward with your elbows on the desk, a finger pointed right at Ollie. "And I'll have you know, you're just like Alfie." Ollie said, shaking his head with a sigh.
"Hmm," Alfie hummed, making adjustments to his tie in the mirror. "What you'd think?" He asked, turning around to face his oversized lap dog that was rather at home, sprawled out on his dad's bed unapologetically. Cyril lifted his head with a grunt, looking at Alfie with half lidded eyes as he gestured to his black necktie. "Tie or no tie?" He asked. Cyril blinked at him a couple of times before letting out a long, drawn-out groan as he flopped his head back down on the bed and stretched out his legs. "Tie it is then." Alfie said, slipping a light gray wool button vest over his white dress shirt. So far, his plan was going marvelously. Everything downstairs was neat and tidy, just the way you liked it. He had even spent extra time on the showroom that you had become rather proud of, and now he was dressed for the occasion. All that was left was to cook and set the table, and maybe just maybe, he thought to himself, if he had planned this correctly, he would be done by the time you were to return. "Oh," Alfie muttered upon exiting the bedroom, "almost forgot." He added, returning to the dresser. He rummaged for a bit before shutting the drawer with a soft thunk, "Cyril, here boy." he called. The bull mastiff left his comfy spot on the bed, sitting down at Alfie's feet and wagging his tail with a lazy pace, and his large pink tongue hung out of the side of his mouth. "Now there's a handsome lad." Alfie smiled after attaching the clip on bow tie to Cyril's collar, giving his handsome lad some headpats because handsome lads deserve their headpats.
"Have a safe trip home." Ollie waved you off as you sat a bag of paperwork in the backseat. "To you as well." You returned the wave, sliding yourself into the car. "Homeward bound?" Your driver asked. "Indeed." You nodded. You leaned your head back, closing your eyes with a sigh, and finally allowed your tired limbs to go limp and just be for the first time all day. It had been a while since you ran the bakery without your husband on hand. Alfie often asked you to accompany him to his meetings, claiming it was because he wanted your opinions, which was only partially true. You could be just as business savvy as him, but you've also brought a certain air into any space you enter that Alfie decided he'd rather not do without. A smirk lined your lips when you recalled your first face to face meeting with the Shelby clan, Alfie waltzed into the Shelby estate and announced that any and all ill treatment of you would not be tolerated with his pistol on full display as he waved it around. Before you knew it, you were on your doorstep, fumbling with your keys. You sighed in satisfaction when the lock finally clicked open, stepping into the warmth of home and out of the chilly Camden air. "Alfie, I'm home." You called, setting the briefcase of papers by the coat rack and shrugging off your husband's jacket. "In the kitchen, love." You heard Alfie call back. You narrowed your eyes as they landed on his cane, leaning against the wall. Deciding to ignore it, you followed the mouthwatering sent of dinner into the kitchen. Alfie was leaning back on the counter with his arms and legs crossed and a warm grin on his face. You eyed him up and down, and Alfie nodded toward the candle lit table. "Well," Alfie asked, making you turn back to him. "What you'd think?" He asked with a loving smile. "Everything looks wonderful," you murmured, "especially you." Alfie's grin widened, and he moved toward you, his hands readily finding your waist as he leaned in for a kiss. "Did you do all this?" You asked, Alfie nodded, but then a loud deep bark filled the room. You both looked down at the panting mastiff that was staring up at you, awaiting his own kiss. "Cyril helped to." Alfie said. Your face split into a grin, "I'm sure he did." You stated, binding down to place a kiss on Cyril's wet black nose, which he gratefully returned, making you giggle. Alfie returned his hands to your waist, "Happy anniversary, love." Alfie murmured, holding you close. "What about your sciatica?" You asked, a slightly worried look in your eyes. "Well, I had to get you out of the house somehow." Alfie chuckled, making you shake your head with a smile.
"You crafty bastard."
Out of patience.
Prohibition era Franklin County was full of secrets. The Bondurant brothers knew this better than anybody. After all, more than half of the county's supposed law enforcement were paying them, and no one really knew who that new highfalutin deputy thought he was. Eighteen year old Jack Bondurant and his eldest brother, Howard, considered Franklin's greatest mystery to be their brother Forrest, more specifically, wherever he'd been disappearing to after closing time. Howard pushed Jack to follow when they spotted Forrest heading off into the woods. Jack pressed his shoulder firmly against an elm that was just barely wide enough to hide him from sight if he stood sideways. He peered around the tree and was met with a view of his older brother's back. Forrest moved through the fallen leaves with the ease of a predator silently stalking its pray. He came to a stop, turning around suddenly, Jack jerked his head back out of sight so hard he might as well have jerked it clean off his shoulders, he exhaled sharply. Peering around the tree again a moment later, only to see nothing. Jack narrowed his eyes in confusion and relaxed his stance. Suddenly, he was grabbed and roughly shoved back into the tree. "Gah!" He exclaimed, sighing when he found himself eye to eye with Forrest. "What're you doin' Jack?" He asked quietly but sternly. "How the hell did you..", "I asked you a question." Forrest snapped, cutting Jack off. "What are you hiding?" Jack asked. Forrest loosened his grip on his little brother's arms and reeled back slightly, mulling over the question in his head. "Me and Howard's been seein' you take off in this direction for weeks now." Jack added. Forrest glanced off to the side as he removed his hat and held it against his chest, "Now what makes the two of you think what I do is any of your goddamn business?" He grumbled, gesturing between Jack and himself. Jack furrowed his brow, opening his mouth to speak but was ultimately cut off by Forrest once again, "Why don't you go pay your preacher friend a vist, better yet, go help Cricket fix the car. Whatever you do, just let me worry about what I got goin' on, alright?" The older brother explained, stepping aside. Jack stood and stared suspiciously at Forrest for a moment. "Well, go on, get!" Forrest ordered, flicking his head back in the direction of the station. Jack hung his head, glancing up at Forrest as he pasted him, feeling rather disgruntled.
Forrest sighed as he watched Jack until he disappeared into the underbrush. Briefly entertaining the irony of effectively telling Jack to go sneak around with that preacher's daughter, with himself being in the same situation tenfold. If that new common wealth's attorney knew what was going on right under his nose, Forrest was sure he'd be hunted down and sent to the gallows by Wardell himself. He pushed on despite these thoughts. He wrapped calloused fingers around the jar, barely being contained by his sweater pocket, as he treaded the unstable ground. He'd promised a gift last time, and he'd damn himself to all eternity if he didn't keep his word. He allowed a smile to tug at his lips as he saw you at your usual meeting spot, rear end parked on a log, waiting. A twig snapping under one of his heavy boots made you jump with a gasp, "You came." You smiled, standing up to hug his neck. "Yeah, finally." He said quietly, "had to deal with Jack before I could get away from the station." He added. "I wish I could meet your brothers someday." You sighed, sitting back down. "Oh, I'd say you will, with the rate we're going." He replied, taking a seat next to you, his smile becoming more of a smirk. You rolled your eyes with a smile, and he scoffed at your reaction. Forrest reached for his pocket with a deep sigh, retrieving the Mason jar, inspecting the clear liquor before nodding and handing it to you. You cracked the lid and brought the jar to your lips, smiling as the burn of watermelon moonshine engulfed your senses. "I'll never understand how you drink that fruity stuff." Forrest teased. You smirked as you took another gulp, batting your eyes at him innocently over the jar. "Don't you go givin' me that, I've seen you put that stuff away quicker than Howard does, and that's sayin' somethin'." He chuckled, leaning forward. "What's in the box?" He asked, gesturing to the square shaped box with a red ribbon tied around it that you had brought with you. "That's your gift." You smiled, wedging the open jar between your legs. You picked the box up and placed it in his lap, "You didn't." He grumbled, eyeing the logo on the box after removing the ribbon. "You have wire wrapped around one of your boots," you exclaimed, "it's past time you got new ones." You added. Forrest stared at you for a moment, "Do I have to put'em on?" He asked you stubbornly. "Yes, you do." You giggled. Forrest shook his head lightly but moved to replace his old work boots nonetheless. "You know you have every lawman in three counties up your ass right now?" You questioned. "Yeah, but the government of this state ain't the only way that the sheriff gets paid, and I've spent the better part of my years doing this, so I've got a government of my own, and I can run quicker when there is no sun." He responded. A smirk laced your lips as you took another drink. Forrest finished lacing his new boots just as a metallic sound caught his ears, turning his head to the side. He saw you toying with a pair of handcuffs, folding them over in your hands repeatedly. "Where'd you get them from?" He asked. "Well," you said with a half-suppressed laugh, "let's just say Rakes is going to miss the pleasure of seeing you in these." You grinned at him. "You stole'em." He said, his voice wasn't accusatory nor was his statement a question, just a simple matter of stating a fact. "And here I thought I was the criminal in this mess." He mused, standing up to shrug off his sweater, making your eyes light up as you grinned widely, to give you better access to whatever you wanted whilst mentally trying to burn the image of your expression into his brain.
Forrest ascended the front steps of Balckwater station slowly with a heavy sigh, knowing his brothers would leave the side door unlocked to await his return, like always. His body still felt as if it were reeling from its exploits, but he didn't mind. The change of pace was nice once in a while, and at least he knew he would get some good rest once he finally made it to his bed. He shut the door behind him and clicked the lock in place. Another sigh left his lips as he struck a match and lit up a smoke. He was careful not to smoke around you. Less the smell got you in trouble. Not that Mason Wardell was any better a man than Forrest thought himself to be. They were both outside the law in a way, just with different backgrounds and upbringings. However, Wardell was viewed as more approachable to the public eye that Forrest preferred to stay out of. The light of the embers and the staunch smell of tobacco were the only things that seemed to fill the room. Everything appeared still, or so Forrest thought. "Where the hell have you been?!" Howard exclaimed as soon as Forrest entered the barroom. "Nowhere that's any of your goddamn business!" Forrest retorted, sitting the box with the red ribbon out of sight behind the bar, Howard didn't need an invitation to ask more questions. Forrest parked himself on a barstool. In hopes, taking the time to savor his smoke would be enough to wait out Howard. The eldest ran his eyes up and down his baby brother, searching for anything that was amiss. "What're you starin' at your boots for?" Howard asked, leaning back in his chair. Forrest mulled over his words, "Had to get new ones." He finally said. Howard narrowed his eyes. Something still wasn't adding up in his head. Forrest never buys himself anything unless he's forced to. However, the brothers returned to their separate indulgences silently, Howard likely to succumb to a drunken stupor before ever actually making it to bed, and eventually, Forrest smudged out the butt of his cigar and made his own way to bed without a single word of a goodnight.
Forrest stared into his black coffee with a heavy exhale, taking a small break from his ledger to let his thoughts that had been clouding his work consume him. You were back in your world, and he's still stuck in his. He still carried a stinging feeling of guilt over first impressions, "You send your clown with the bowtie 'round here again, I'll make sure you personally pull a clever out of his fuckin' skull." He growled, yanking roughly on the breast pocket of Mason Wardell's shirt. He locked eyes with you as you gave him what appeared to be an approving smile and a small silent wave. He approached you in town a few days later, making sure your daddy was nowhere to be seen. You followed him behind the general goods store for privacy. "I, uh.." He started almost nervously, removing his hat, "I do apologize if I frightened you at the station the other day, I have no qualms with you." He wasn't even sure why he felt the need to apologize to you. You smiled at him again, "Honestly, I dislike that prig of a deputy just as much as you do. Dad is just as bad. That man takes a shit and thinks half of Virginia falls out of his ass." You chuckled. You giggled again as Forrest' brows made an impressive attempt to touch.
"Thank you so much for all the help, dear." You smiled as the elder woman grabbed your arm and shook it lightly. "You're very welcome, Selma." You replied, loading the rest of her groceries into her husband's truck, making sure to help her into the passenger seat when you were done. "Need a ride home?" Glen, her husband, asked. "Do you need help putting the shopping away?" You asked. "No, deary. You've done quite enough already, don't need a youngin spending their whole life worrying over us old folks." She smiled. "In that case, I'll see you at Sunday dinner. I have one more stop to make." You smiled. The older couple nodded, sending you off with a wave. Along the way, you intercepted a runaway ball, stopping it with the side of your foot. You smiled and waved before kicking the ball back to the eagerly awaiting group of kids with a light laugh. "Good afternoon, Mr. Anderson." You grinned. The old man tipped his hat as you gave his two dogs ear scratches. As small a town as Franklin County is, it felt like home. The only place that felt more like home was that little out of the way gas station just before you hit the county line. You kicked the heel of your boots against the edge of the steps to knock off the mud, "Alright, you boys better keep up the good business!" A man exclaimed, letting the door fall shut behind him. His exclamation made you look up at him with a sharp inhale through your nose. "Well, I'll be damned," the stranger said, removing his hat, "last place I'd expect that common wealth's attorney's offspring." He smiled. "I'm here on personal business, sir." You said coldly. "Of course, I didn't mean to pry. The Bondurants are in, and tell your father Floyd Banner says hi." The man said with a smirk, opening the door and holding it for you. "I say hi for no one." You muttered, walking past him. "Well, at least one of the Wardell's has some sense about them." He said jovial, letting the door shut as you turned back to give him a disgruntled look. You sighed, turning your back to the screen door. You were being ogled by two men at the bar. The younger of the two was dressed sharply, and he appeared to have stopped in the middle of wiping down the bar counter at the sight of you, judging by the rag in his hand. "This must be Jack." You thought. The other was atop a barstool, brown curls were in disarray on his head, and a wild look filled his eyes, a jar of hooch in his large hand. "Damn." The wild-eyed man said. "I'm lookin' for Forrest Bondurant, either one of you know where I can find him?" You asked. The man on the stool smiled widely with a nod, "Well, you'd think I'd know where to find'em, seeing how he's my brother and all." He said with a laugh, stumbling drunkenly as he tried to stand, catching himself on the edge of the bar. "Ah, Howard." The realization dawned on you. "He's in the kitchen. You can go on back, good luck gettin' anything out of'em." He added with an amused smirk. "Much appreciated." You smiled, feeling less of need to be formal, considering what you've heard of these two. Howard raised his jar to you with a smile, Jack nodded and gestured to a doorway, and you nodded back.
Sure enough, you found Forrest. Fitting a crust into a pie tin, of all the things you thought you'd never see him do. "What's this then?" You asked, smiling so hard at the sight before you, your cheeks became sore. "Well, somebody's got to do something with these apples, ain't no sense in lettin'em rot." He responded without looking up, starting to fill the crust with said apple slices. You stood quietly, just watching as he placed the slices in a meticulous pattern, admiring him with a smile. Forrest could feel a pair of eyes on him. However, it didn't feel like either of his brothers, and Maggie only came to him with questions or when she needed something. This stare didn't feel unfamiliar, however. So, he looked up and let his closed fists land on the table with a heavy thump. "What the hell are you doin'?" He exclaimed quietly. "Forrest?" A voice called. "Oh," a red-headed woman appeared, covering her mouth with her hand. "I wasn't aware you had company." She smiled apologetically. Forrest glanced between the two of you, hurriedly getting the top layer of crust on his apple pie, cutting vent slits with a knife. "Put this in the oven, would ya Maggie?" He asked, washing his hands. "Sure, Forrest." Maggie replied. "I've got business to attend to." He grumbled, eyeing you as he dried his hands. Forrest led you into his office. He locked the door behind him and shut the blinds. He spun you around and grabbed your wrists in an urgent manner. "Now, I asked you a question. What the hell were you thinkin' showin' up here?!" He spoke hurriedly. "First of all," you started, gently freeing your wrists from his grip. "Calm down." You said. Forrest sighed, rounding the corner of his desk and running his hands through his hair. "Just for the love of God, tell me what your doin' here." He urged again. You began to walk toward him, a smirk on your face. "Uh... what.., what are you doin?" He murmured. Your hands readily found his shirt collar, pushing him back against the wall and capturing his lips with yours. His hands were on your waist in an instant. Both of you were out of breath when you pulled apart, staring into each other's eyes for a moment.
"Couldn't wait." You breathed.
One more second chance.
The Vandals could get rowdy without a doubt. You glanced back as a loud cheer erupted out of the crowd of leather jackets and vests that engulfed over half of the parking lot, only to see Benny whisking a doe-eyed Kathy into their midst. You shook your head lightly, feeling slightly bad for the poor girl. Wasn't that long ago the two of you decided a night out was long overdue. Now you wondered if your sheltered high school best friend would be able to cope in your world, well, used to be yours.
Your sights were set on a lone red bike, parked on the opposite side to the others. Not that there wasn't enough room, even if that was the case, the only thing any onlooker would've seen was a flash and blur of movement, there ain't a Vandal worth their weight in salt that would leave their leader out on a cold curb. Johnny was like that, always had been actually, staring up and down the highway with a cigarette between his fingers. You supposed the trucker in him would always shine through. "She's still running?" You asked, gesturing to his bike. You could tell your voice startled him by the split second wide-eyed look he gave you, "Yeah." He nodded, bringing his smoke up to his lips, evening out his features like nothing happened. Classic Johnny. "No, she's not," you said with a confused look, "she's right here." You exclaimed, pointing at the bike. "Heh, very funny." Johnny quipped.
"The old man wanted some alone time with his smokes, I take it?" You teased. "What old man? Where?" Johnny questioned, narrowing his eyes and making a show of looking in all directions, including up in the air. You laughed lightly as you watched the index finger of his right hand flick the side of the cigarette he held in his left, another quirk that hadn't changed. Your eyes became glued to his ring finger as the smoke once again reached his lips, "You're still married?" You questioned. An amused smirk appeared on Johnny's face, "Heh, not for long." He responded. "Still lasted longer than I ever expected." You smiled. Johnny scoffed and shook his head, "Well, that makes two of us." Comfortably resting a hand on your lower back as you joined him in leaning against his bike.
"How's the ink shop? Haven't been by there in a hot minute." He asked. "Business is good." You said. Johnny nodded, "What'd I'd like to know," Johnny turned back to you, "is where did that pal of yours, Benny, get my design on his shoulder?" You asked, patting the logo on the back of Johnny's jacket with your palm. "Look, if I'd known he was going to get it tattooed, I would've sent him to you." Johnny defended himself. It was readily apparent that Benny didn't know your history when he introduced you to Johnny.
Silence befell the night air for a moment, "How long have we known each other?" You questioned. "You ask me that as if we weren't drunk when we met." Johnny chuckled. You smirked and rested your head on his shoulder, right where you could feel the thump of his heartbeat against your temple, staring up at a star filled sky. Your countless offs and ons with Johnny ran through your mind. You wondered many hows and whys in the span of a couple minutes. "Do you think we gave us too many second chances?" You questioned, out of the blue. "Why would I?" He responded, "we may be bad for each other, but it's not like we're good for anyone else." He added.
The moment was interrupted by the rumble of bikes roaring to life, "Hey," Benny called, coming to a stop next to you and Johnny, Kathy hugging his midsection for dear life. "We ready to go, boss?" Benny asked, gesturing to Johnny. Johnny turned to you, unintentionally bringing emphasis to his knees, bowed to an extent from straddling a hunk of metal for so many years, in the process. This made you smile the same way it did back then. "What'd ya think?" He asked, offering his hand to you.
"One more second chance?"
The gangster.
London, east end. 1965.
Maybe it was the elegant suit. Maybe it was the fact that he was currently strutting down the middle of Ormsby Street with a sleek Ford Galaxy at his back, following along like a loyal dog, saying good morning to everyone he passed. You'd say Reginald Kray was a well distinguished business savvy man, but you'd also had to have been living under a rock for several years to say that. Wasn't a single soul left in London who didn't know who the Kray twins were, Ron Kray was a one-man London mob. Reggie was quite the opposite, really, suave, charming, but proved to be just as volatile. You could walk into any pub to hear a lie or two about them.
The radio played a sort of upbeat tune as you whisked around the kitchen, humming along around the hardboiled sweet in your mouth. The morning had started out ordinarily enough, hurrying around to finish the chores your mother gave you alongside the promise to grant you the rest of the day to do with as you wished, so the quicker you finished the more time you'd have to enjoy yourself, right?. Maybe you'd go to one of the local shops for a bit of browsing, or perhaps pop out for a bite to eat with some friends. These thoughts were disturbed by a pounding at the front door. "I'll get it!" You shouted, with you being the only one downstairs currently, made sense, you figured.
You were met by a pair of piercing blue eyes that narrowed and the man's forehead creased as his clear and bright orbs scanned over your appearance, "Frank about?" The man asked before the twinge of regret of flinging the front door open so eagerly could properly settle in your gut. It would surely rear its ugly head later. "Frank!" You called over your shoulder into the house and up the stairwell. You turned back to face the finely dressed man with faux confidence, leaning against the door frame, determined to make yourself appear unintimidated. The man ran his eyes over your frame once again unashamedly, "Who are you?" He asked, tilting his head to the side with a quizzical look. "Frank's my older brother." You stated. "Hang about, I know you, but you.. you were smaller then. You've all grown up, haven't you?" He said with a half-suppressed smile. "It happens." You said, stepping out of the doorway, relishing in the coolness of the cobblestone underneath your bare feet. You both looked up at the sound of a window rising, and your older brother's head popped out, "Half a minute, Reg. right down." Frank called down, ducking back in.
Thankfully, the man in front of you didn't seem to either notice or much care that you snapped your attention back to him. Reggie Kray, at your doorstep, you marveled silently in your mind. The corners of his lips curled downwards into a frown. He adjusted his tie as he checked his watch. "Is my brother in trouble?" You questioned. Reggie nodded, then tilted his head to the side, away from you. Narrowed eyes still aimed down the street. "Will you go out with me?" He asked seemingly out of the blue, turning back to you suddenly. Your eyes widened in surprise. "I'll take it easy on him if you do." He added, a warm expression spreading across his face accompanied by a half smile. "Yes," you said, rolling your candy around in your mouth with your tongue, making clack off your teeth, "but not for that reason." You added.
"What's that you've got?" Reggie asked, gesturing to you. "A sweet." You explained, pulling the sticky light yellow olive shaped drop out of your mouth, holding it between your thumb and forefinger. "Oh, now that's not just any sweat, is it? That's a lemon sherbet." Reggie said matter of factly. "Mind if I have a crack?" He asked, reaching for the sweet. "Alright." You smiled with a light chuckle. Reggie popped the sweet tasting drop into his mouth, "Mmm, now that's nice." He mused, "Saturday night?" He asked. You nodded with a smile.
Suddenly, Mrs. Shea, your mother, appeared beside you. "What's the matter with you?" She scolded, "You’re half dressed talking to a man in the door. Get back in the kitchen. Finish them dishes." She ordered, pulling at the end of your fuzzy peach colored sweater. Not that you cared, if Reggie Kray would openly ask you out in your lounge wear, bare feet and all, did you really need to dress to the tens twenty-four hours a day. You shrugged, turning to head deeper into the house. "Hold on," Reggie started, making you turn back to him. His eyes shifted to your mother as he took your lemon sherbet out of his mouth, "This is yours, init?" He asked. You nodded, taking the sweet, looking your mother directly in the eye as you popped it back into your mouth before you sauntered off. Much to her displeasure. She growled at Reggie as he licked the sticky candy coating off his fingers before slamming the door in his face.
"Hmm," Reggie hummed as he thought to himself with a smirk, glancing between the cobble and the door, "well, the mum seems lovely."
#when they keep secrets#tommy conlon warrior#eddie brock/venom symbiote#alfie solomons peaky blinders#forrest bondurant fanfiction#johnny vandal the bikeriders#reggie kray legend#tom hardy#hope you enjoy#guess you can consider this WIP Wednesday lol#i might be focusing more on an original piece for a while but we'll see what i get inspiration for
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Seelittle and Bron-nya
So with the next update (that I am vibrating about for several reasons) one of the upcoming things are these adorable little pillowcats that seem to be a mix of food and characters. These three are literally based on the starting trio of the game.
Someone else and I were joking about them and how Seele and Bronya would totally have ones of each other. I named Seele's Seelittle and they named them Bron-nya and I FUCKING CAN'T!
A couple of the silly things we came up with.
Bronya: What pillowcat? I have work to d-
Meow!
Not now Seelittle!
Seele: just finished brutally decapitating a man before holding out her hand for the pillowcat to land on it. Promptly puts it on her head before she heads off to her next job.
-
Bronya: Now Seelittle, this is a silver guards uniform. If you'll just put it o-no, no, stop! That's the third one you've torn to pieces.
Seele petting Bron-nya and relaxing: I feel proud and I don't know why.
-
Bronya: Seelittle does the strangest thing every day with bringing me transfer papers for some reason. It's not like I can transfer anywhere or the like.
Seele: sweating from having told the pillowcat about wanting to have an excuse to see Bronya more I have NO IDEA why they would do- Bron-nya hops up onto the table with a Silvermane guard badge and Bronya turns bright red about things she's told that pillowcat
Gepard in the distance: Where did my badge go!?
Both girls: Serval has it!
Serval with Servitty: Now, when I hit the power chord like this, you yell nya into the microphone and we'll make everyone scream!
That's all of them, at least for now. Felt like sharing something silly today. Like I said, I'm excited for the next update is already licking at the Simulated Universe out of excitement for another new mode to it and while I won't be pulling for any of the new 5 stars, I'm excited for when Kafka is available again because I was on a break from the game when she first came out and I'd like to have the DoT team juggernaut at least available to me. That and I am looking VERY respectfully at Black Swan so, you know, want to get that DoT strength going now. ^^;
Have a good day everyone and see you next tale!
======+++++======
I might try and do a harder sales pitch for HSR later today since while I talked about it before, it was me being kind of critical of its storytelling (besides Jarilo 6, my beloved) and doing my normal reviewer thing. I would genuinely like to see my favorite time killer flourish though, especially since I think it's a genuinely good turn based RPG. Also, for anyone curious, no, I don't spend much on it. I have bought three battle passes and one of its five dollar month long things. For the amount of time it has helped me deal with, I think that's more than fair myself.
I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!
I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past.
I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead.
If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.
A Twitter you can follow too
And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.
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{Nopal's 2023 Writing Round Up}
I will start by saying that 2023 was a pivotal writing year for me because it marked the start of sharing my writing online and starting this blog! With all of that came of course, the formation of my own little community 🥺
I've made so many lovely friends along the way, fallen in love with their characters and stories, and I just feel so privileged and honored to experience the worlds they've created. I'm so glad I took the plunge and met all of you, even if it was really scary at first! Thank you all for being so welcoming, kind, supportive, and for making space in your hearts and days for my silly little characters and their stories 💙
That said, lets take a look at some of my writing highlights from this past year! Throwing this under a cut because it got long (of course it did lol)
{Total Words Written}
160,512 (as of 12/27)
This excludes tumblr posts, miscellaneous notes, and outlines. It includes WIP work (AASOAF 3, M.O.W), WIP adjacent work (AASOAF 2 companion/release material and side stories like Chanterelles), and miscellaneous prose pieces (Pare, Fetch, and Bowl of Brown). I don't have much to observe here other than holy shit that's a lot LOL.
{Longest Chapter}
7043 (AASOAF 3: Axtapor - 16 First Seed)
This chapter is the first battle sequence of AASOAF 3 so it makes sense for it to be the longest so far! This category's runner up is the Part I finale of M.O.W, Halcyon, at 6663 words.
{Shortest Chapter}
638 (AASOAF 3: Mariel - 3 First Seed)
This chapter is a little go between chapter with a tiny bit of whump in the mix. It might get longer after I get to editing it, we'll see! For this one I excluded the prologues of both AASOAF 3 and M.O.W because it kind of felt like cheating otherwise. Both are <300 words.
{Most Loved by the Author}
Some Lines! (Snippet from AASOAF 3: Mariel - 27 Sun's Dawn)
I limited my choices to snippets I'd posted since it felt weird to make a new post and be like that one! I like that one! lol Appropriate content warnings have been listed on that post as, unsurprisingly, it contains body horror who could have guessed lol. The runner up in this category are the cryptic little monologues I wrote leading up to Tierra Madre (linking to the AASOAF 3 masterpost for ease if you want to check out all four pieces!). These link up the overarching story the prologues of each book are telling and hints at how they come into play in AASOAF 3.
{Most Loved by the Readers}
Covenant (AASOAF 3's Prologue)
For this category I excluded meme posts and the like, ranking the winner based on notes that piece received. As for the runner up, its actually a tie! It's between AASOAF 3's WIP Intro and, surprisingly, Lexlar's character intro lol. He would be so proud and flattered that he's more popular than his other Lizardfolk counterparts!
{AASOAF Original Telling vs. AASOAF Canon Telling}
475,524 (OT) | 381,725 (CT)
Now I know this wasn't all done in this year but it felt right to put in here since I'm getting closer and closer to finishing the canon telling of AASOAF with each day that passes so I can't help but look back to where it all started. These word counts include words in each version of the WIP and the dead darlings of each while excluding Fay's discovery writing (120k+), side stories, WIP adjacent work, spin-offs, and oneshots.
I'm really not sure if canon AASOAF will surpass original telling but that's because the story back then was a lot of Fay and Wilkes origin story work and the tale of their romance which isn't explored in canon and also includes Mariel and Axtapor's stories. Two reasons for this, Fay and Wilkes getting together all happens before canon begins and because canon focuses primarily on Mariel and Axtapor's romance. In any case, those are some FAT numbers holy mama. Putting this post together was actually the first time I saw them side by side like that.
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"It's 9 o clock," you announce for the flesh's benefit. You quickly set another alarm, the flesh watching with curiousity and lack of understanding that distinctly reminds you of your family cat watching you use your computer, and then put your phone away and focus on chat's next suggestion.
-Mm, that makes sense.
"..Hey, flesh, what if you tried to figure out how to get the plant key while I start carving the stone key? We're running out of time so I think it makes sense to split up..."
"Oh... hm... I'm not sure the walls, the floors, the ceilings, and everything within them would approve of me helping you like that..."
"But... haven't you already been helping? Giving me information and stuff?"
"It's not the same, I don't think. Not in its eyes. But, well- I suppose I could try it, anyway. I might be able to figure out something helpful, at least. I should make your reference key first, though."
"Alright then. I guess we'll just see what happens. ...I don't really have any more ideas right now, so just mess around, I guess. And thanks for helping."
The flesh smiles. You watch as it goes over to the false door and sticks a finger in, shaping a key just like they did before. It returns to the metal table, hands you the key, then silently slips out of the room. You turn your attention to the table in front of you.
I should make sure I don't mix up the two flesh keys...
You take the original flesh key out of your pocket to check. The two do look noticeably different, but still... Just to make sure, you pull out your sharpie and write on the new key: "STONE REF".
You're interrupted before you can get any further by the door opening behind you. The flesh is back.
"Oh, back already?"
"The room to the plant door wouldn't open for me."
"...Huh. Lemme go try."
The flesh follows you back into the pool room. The plant door swings open easily enough for you.
"...I suspect this means I was right that the walls, the floors, the ceilings, and everything within them doesn't want me to make the key."
"You're probably right. ...Although, is there anything stopping me from just letting you in?"
The flesh fidgets. "...You could. But if the walls, the floors, the ceilings, and everything within them doesn't consider the key 'valid', it won't let it work."
You sigh. "Alright. I guess we'd probably better leave it be, then. I think just having your company is still helpful for my morale, anyway." You're mostly saying it to make the flesh feel better, but it is true.
The two of you go back to the stone room. You collect yourself, grab a chisel and hammer, and start trying to get a workably large chunk of marble out of one of the pillars. It takes some effort, but after a few minutes you get a good-sized piece out of the pillar. Back at the table, you use the sharpie to trace the reference key, and then settle into the methodical rhythm of carving. It's not super comfortable working without a chair, but you deal.
As you work, you snack on the fruit, pleased to get something into your stomach, and you and the flesh alternate between chatting about mostly unimportant things and just quietly coexisting.
"So, I was thinking about this... I don't know if it would be a good idea or if you'd want to, but you might be able to come with me when I go back home." (You leave out the 'assuming this works out' part.)
"Oh... I hadn't thought of that. I don't know if that would work... I think the gate might only be for one person at a time."
"Huh..."
"What is your world like?"
"Um..." Your words lag a little as you have to think about how to explain it while still focusing on shaping the key. "It's a lot more complicated, at least based on what I've actually seen of this world. There's a lot more than four elements, anyway, and they work very differently... And then, where I live- Earth... America. America's a section of Earth. Anyway, it's, um... got a lot of problems. It's not really a good place to live for most people. Me included, although I'm doing better than I could be. If you did come, you might be in danger because you're so different from actual humans, and you wouldn't have any legal paperwork or anything either... That's, uh, too complicated to explain right now I think..."
You trail off, your focus back on the key.
"...Why do you want to go back, then?"
"Oh. I guess I could stay here, huh... there's food and water, at least- but, I mean, there's people I love back home, you know? I'd miss them way too much. And there's things I care about. Art I'd never get to experience again, or for the first time... And, also..." You take a moment to gather this elusive thought. "...It would be great to escape all the awful stuff, but, I... don't think I'd feel right leaving all those problems to everyone else... If I go back, maybe I can make a difference, help things get better. For everyone, not just me. I guess I feel an obligation to that."
There's a pause as it takes all this in.
"I think I can understand how you feel. I hope you'll be alright, though."
"I'll do my best, at least." You give it a hopefully-reassuring smile.
Sooner than you expect, your alarm goes off.
I guess I really got into it.
The key isn't finished, but you've made pretty good progress. Most of the shape is there, but you're still getting the finer details. You don't think it should take you more than another 15 or 20 minutes at most to finish it.
You take a little break, stretch and walk around a bit, while you watch the time tick down to the next hour.
...Okay, chat: the stone key is going pretty well, and I know what I'm doing. So, if you can come up with any more ideas about the plant key, it'd be much appreciated. ...Thanks in advance.
...10:00 am.
What now?
--HOUR NINE--
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why is masterpiece (first zexal op) the best out of all zexal openings? — asked, probably, no one ever, but it’s a very fine time to start brainrotting over it again.
but seriously, the lyrics are so good and i’m so mad i can’t understand the original, but the translations are also so good. i love how it’s generally focused on yuma and astral’s relationship, all these “to be honest, i was lonely before i met you” and “you were the only one to understand me”. obviously, it’s from yuma’s perspective and the whole opening, music and such, really fits his chaotic-good vibe. astral is described through “the kindness you gave me was strict, when we clashed i learned irritation”, which is honestly the best one-line summary of their relation i’ve seen so far. the fact that they’re so different, in almost every possible aspect, is underlined multiple times, as the main message is how these differences allow them to form something truly meaningful together (literally, “no one is exactly the same, because that's the reason for living” or “it can't be seen unless they're different, the landscape and the scenario”).
overall, the progress of their cooperation and mutual understanding is portrayed so prettily here: “it starts with recognizing our differences and dancing freely, the creation of heaven and earth”, is, well, just what the entire first arc is about. an alternate translation goes “we’re different, yet this is the wonder heavens have created” — i like to stick to something in between, i.e. yuma and astral’s union is what heaven and earth create; logically, astral stands for heaven because he’s from the astral world and yuma for earth. the thing created may either be zexal (as in zexal morph, you know the thing), or utopia, which is an even prettier metaphor. on the first duel they play together, utopia just sort of appears in yuma’s extra deck and while they create cards on the go multiple times afterwards, this is the first, original one that becomes the basis for everything else (besides: utopia is a philosophical concept of a perfect place where everyone can live happily without any disturbances and while the idea is realistically unattainable, it seems fitting for it to be “the creation of heaven and earth”. utopia itself (the monster) — aspiring emperor, hope — has some very-in-line connotations, if you ask me). either way, the title plainly suggests that whatever it is that they make together, it’s certainly a masterpiece (the lyrics back it up even more straightforwardly: “let's join together, piece by piece, it shines into a masterpiece”). i don’t think it needs much explaining, but a masterpiece is a) a work of outstanding skill (thanks, google) b) “a piece of work by a craftsman accepted as qualification for membership of a guild as an acknowledged master”. the latter is quite interesting in the utopia (monster) context, as it implies that the masterpiece they created marks the point of them switching to some advanced mode of work (more advanced dueling, for both of them) and gradually becoming more acknowledged in a way they can’t have achieved separately.
also the closing lines (when we disregard the chorus) — “when we reach the edge of the world, the view we see will be the truth”. once again, this imagery is just so damn pretty. i don’t know how much of it is made up in translation, but the first conditional/present tense contrast here looks so meaningful — they’re certain they will see a view at the edge of the world (whatever that one might symbolize, i’m not certain), but the view will be the truth (not e.g. the view we see is the truth, or the view we will see is the truth), like the truth part was a prediction — or it would be there only once they finished their journey and now they can only speculate (i’m digressing so much i hope it’s still understandable). the alternate translation here i really dislike (“towards the truth in the blue sky we glide, at this final moment we'll be right at each other's side”), as it loses all of what i’ve just mentioned. the second part is nice (i saw a “we’ll be together forever” version somewhere?), but now that i’ve finished the whole anime it just makes me angry because it turns out to be very much not true.
#ygo#zexal#yugioh#opening (over)analysis#i like it so much i could write ten times more on this#masterpiece appreciation moment#also keyshipping canon#long post
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Sonic OVA thoughts (Part 1)
OVA is generally beloved by the fandom as a cool piece of Sonic media in the mid 90s. What gets me is how different it was compared to typical none canon Japan Sonic media at the time
For the follow up we have;
-The 1992-94 Shogakukan Nicky manga of a timid kid
-The 1992 Sonic 2 promo manga, done by some of the artists in the previous Shogakukan Manga
-199?-1995 Harmony magazine exclusive art
-The 1994 TMS animated short featuring Eggman impersonating as Sonic out of jealousy
All of these typically depict Sonic (unless drawn by Oshima) as kiddier or cutesy, typically missing his attitude, or in the case of Nicky, is completely off base. This was even noted by Naka in development of Sonic Adventure, hence the need for the 1997 Project Sonic competition to reinvigorate edge and attitude
So OVA NOT being cutsey weirdly stands out for the period*
*While Junio/Toei's work for CD also isn't cutesy, that's core from games, not alt media, despite design difference
How does OVA stand out? Well...the prior context might've been why it didn't get to accomplish its goals
The OVA was initially rental tape only available between Jan 1996-March 1996, not getting a formal home release until May 1996. This is already odd, given rumors of it being intended to be a TV series but scrapped. The OVA was split into 2 parts originally, the first half focusing on going to the Land of the Darkness and fighting Mecha Robotnik, the latter focusing on Metal Sonic and the polar ice caps. The base story is concieved by Mayori Sekijima then scripted by Masashi Kubota, both having done full series by that point. Given 1997 Naka admitted that people in Japan didn't really know Sonic by that point (which was why Jam was made alongside lack of Sonic Saturn rep)...I have a feeling this wasn't that popular, despite ads
Anyway, the movie itself
We start with a dark room with monitors and a motionless floating mech of Metal Sonic. Eggman proclaims that he needs Sonic's DNA (more loosely called lifeforce essence here) to complete Hyper Metal Sonic. Note: Hyper Metal Sonic references the new mold he had for Chaotix in games!
We then cut to aesthetic landscape expanses of the Land of the Sky. It helps give us a picture of their world. Refreshingly, not just checker spam that 2nd game devs randomly did a lot despite Sonic Team doing other types of locales. We also see the Old Man Owl flying a spluttering ship, more on that later...
We end up at Sonic's island, composing of wrecked airplanes, buses-i-is that a Star Wars ship!? Pretty interesting, I wonder if they'll tell us where it came from-
But we get interrupted with Tails showing Sonic his newest invention to try out. Sonic isn't interested, so Tails goes out to try it for himself, splashing Sonic accidentally
Note: Tails does note Sonic can't swim here
We hear Tails calling for help soon after, which Sonic coldly ignores. This is something that gets me for this feature, Sonic has attitude, but is weirdly also dismissive of his friends that already run contradictory to games at the time. Even Tails screaming bloody murder doesn't do much as Sonic loudly tells him to shut up (Eng memes aside), only changing his mind when he see the old Owl Man crash through where Sonic was
Tails checks on the blue blur to see if he's ok, which Sonic is. He notes that they should help the Old Man, but Sonic again tells him he's not interested, flat out out saying "hey, you can fly bitch, you do it!", to which Tails calls him out, then takes it upon himself to save the old man. While at first it goes well thanks to surfing, both soon realize they'll crash into the cliffside, to which he screams. At that point Sonic realizes "oh, they might die", then saves them
Speaking of, they seemingly know of this guy before this event. Who is he? How'd they meet? We'll never know!
Afterwards, Owl Man is in shock, which Sonic gets a Crabmeat (wouldn't that still have a Flicky given this period?) to pinch him, bringing him back to his senses, then rambling about how he was an expert racer in his day that got chicks. Tails reminds him that he had something important to say, and we learn that the President wants Sonic due to an emergency. Sonic and Tails then have the aesthetic plane sequence and head out, leaving the old man to watch over Sonic's...well, wreckage is more apt
We have more aesthetic shots showing the capital city of the Land of the Sky, though there's a weird lack of people here... Inside it's revealed Eggman has taken over, shooting Sonic/Tails, and having the President and his daughter held as hostage. We-
Wait, this landmass is South Island!? What's with none canon Sonic media spamming South Island, when mainline games went to different areas
Seriously, most of the STI and Aspect Ltd 8 bit games do this unlike Sonic Team. Even Fighters by Sega AM2 did. Why? Sonic is noted to exploring other locales, likewise Eggman isn't too stationary if a plan fails one spot. It's just...why?
Also epic sub typo
Anyway, Eggman explains the history of the Land of the Sky and Darkness, and how they are 2 split halves. This bores everyone, so he demands Sonic to help him stop a generator in Eggmanland that's out of control, thanks to an upsurper called Mecha Robotnik (Black Robotnik in Japan). If it isn't stopped, the generator would destroy the Land of the Darkness, which would in turn destroy the Land of the Sky. Everyone again is bored, flat out sleeping, so he stresses that someone needs to bypass his taken traps and stop the generator. Sonic dismisses it, despite Sarah and the President begging, as he believes Eggman to be lying, which takes Tails to convince him to just do it. Sonic overall is pretty unhelpful here honestly. Eggman gives Tails a navigator (which Sonic questions way too late if it's rigged AFTER they fly out), and the plot's moving...
Oh nah, we just have Eggman and Sarah playing fighting games
Contrary to popular belief, this is not a Sonic the Fighters ref. This OVA came out well before that arcade game was out
Ignoring filler, everyone's pretty lax about the kidnapping here. Sarah even threatens to stop being hostage, which...doesn't make sense. She's surrounded by a bunch of robots. We then have a mecha crash in and open its hatch, so we now know Eggman's up to something (which was obvious)
Back to Sonic/Tails
Come to think of it, this all implies Sonic never fought Eggman there before. Which gives interesting implications of Eggman only causing trouble in the Land of the Sky, then retreating after failure to Sonic
Anyway, they crash land due to turbulence, and set out on a path straight to Eggmanland
We have a montage of Sonic going through the various landscapes, with him noting how many robots (no Flickies, huh) and traps there are. Tails assures that it is the quickest path, leading directly to a warp zone (?), and the two wound up in E 44th St. in an ancient city
We don't have much explanation for this area, and Tails confirms this isn't Eggmanland yet. Sonic scours the skyscraper to get a better view on their location, and the two head towards Eggmanland, only to be stopped by...
Mecha Robotnik, who attacks and gives chase
Note, Sonic's unable to hurt him
The two dodge its attacks, hiding behind a bus to figure what to do. Sonic notes that they can't waste time fighting it, and Tails notes the direction they should go....
Only for Sonic to moronically alert Mecha where they are by taunting it. Side note: contrary to rumors, this was never censored in English
This Sonic is stupid, I'm sorry. He lacks tact Game Sonic would have
So anyway, the two are chased through the highway, reaching by a broken edge near the water. Mecha shoots by their feet, causing them to fall, and the two take advantage of the obscurity to try to trick Mecha Robotnik him into thinking they fell fully and drowned. But Mecha isn't stupid, so they get further chased. Mecha Robotnik soon shifts to shooting glue from its ass
Due to a lightning shock, Tails gets scared and freezes, which gets him trapped. Before Sonic can save him, Mecha Robotnik shoots several missiles that home in on the hedgehog, with several causing explosions throughout the city as Sonic runs away. This alerts...
Knuckles? So Angel Island doesn't exist? Just unexplained like Triple Trouble I guess...
I swear these noncanon devs never legit played Sonic outside Sonic 1-
Rant aside
While it seems hopeless for Tails, it turns out that Sonic hitched a ride on one of the missiles, redirecting it to hit Mecha Robotnik
It's a clean shot, but the blast weakens the structural integrity of the area. Worse, Sonic lands on the sticky glue from earlier, and the collapsing ground floods from the lake nearby. Mecha Robotnik wobbles back, about to shoot him, but right at the last second, Knuckles flies in to stop it, then frees Tails
Tails unfortunately can't fly to Sonic as his tails are stuck and unable to spin for approximately 10 seconds before it becomes a literal none issue
While Tails reaches the drowning hedgehog and tries to pull him out, Knux is distracting Mecha Eggman. Unfortunately he gets stuck in glue as well
Mecha, running out of bullets, decides to crush the echidna. Tails finally manages to free Sonic
Who then-
Hey, his right arm wasn't hit hit by the missile! Don't bullshit suddenly being able to cut through it
Now fully disarmed (kicks self), Mecha makes a retreat. Thanks to somehow being able to fly, Knux gets Sonic close enough to hurl him at the flying mech, leading to Mecha getting skewered and split
Sonic and co leave, revealing Eggman and Sarah in the wreckage. The doctor fumes about how Eggmanland hosts something far worse than Mecha, which Sarah calls BS
Cutting to another scene, Sonic thanks Knux, with Tails mentioning this
Yeah you guys really need a TV series to flesh this out, there are too many unexplained points for char introductions given how different this is to games, yet casually act like this is status quo. Also why is Sonic the only one shaded there?
Sonic and co realize the sun is setting, meaning that time is almost up before the generator explodes. So they head out, leaving Knux to do his own thing...for about 5 seconds
Knux joins the two, defying gravity while Sonic constantly has to deal with awkward terrain. Given he's a dick, eh
This isn't even an animation error, even bios for this OVA says he flies and not glides for some dumb reason. He's incorrectly referred directly as a mole in dub bios as well (like cuz Harimogura out of context is directly translated as "spiky mole")
But fans like his hat, so Knux is apparently excused for unexplained adaptation changes
That wraps up part 1 cuz of image limit, my thoughts
-Sonic is too douchey and dumb personality wise. His feats mask that for a lot of fans, but I don't buy it. Tails and Knux are alright though, especially with Tails copying Sonic's poses at bits, astraphobia, and his tech prowess, but Knux is just there. Eggman's good though
-The plot is messy. They needed to flesh out char origins for some, and the city
-This won't be fixed, but despite the expanse landscape, there's no fauna or other people shown. Feels weirdly empty
-I'm watching the Bandai Sub version. Eng dub there aren't major changes to plot though, and the translation error is strictly for DVD bios
-Not a fan of South Island being focus for Capital. It weirdly shrinks the world. Insert rant of how everyone is ignoring Sonic Team themselves changing locales
It's aesthetic and fun, but broken and poorly paced when looking past that. I can't fault the Eng dub
@randomthefox @darklightheart @beevean
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Throwup Thoughts: "More Than Anything" Poster
(If you want to see the time lapse, click here for the original post!)
So you know how my usual art has a sketchy (and sometimes fuzzy) feel to them?
I decided to return to full on line art for the More Than Anything poster, partially because of Sam Haft's tweet, and partially because of Sam Haft's tweet (looking for poster-style fanart of Hazbin songs)
I probably wouldn't be as miffed if I didn't slave away a straight 9 hours (For comparison, that Rosie/Charlie only took at most 3 hours!), and the fact that I did not like to do line art at all... But you know what? Creating and posting art that didn't rely too much on cleanliness and instead focusing just on rough sketches and colors unironically helped me here, and it's really hard to explain how. For example, I was originally going for this shot as is:
Then midway through the sketch phase, my intrusive thoughts intruded: Why not shift the perspective? It would both serve as camera practice and to not just be a screenshot redraw (though you could consider it to still be one, depending on what you think it means)
I did also consider fully drawing both Lucifer and Charlie so I could have their own standalone renders, but I really only ended up doing that for Charlie since Lucifer's missing his right arm (his right leg... it's a perspective thing), and even then the way I did the composition wouldn't have worked for Charlie...
Adding in all the effects was fun though, figuring out what color treatment worked best (mostly linear dodge)! It just ends up becoming one big piece of eye candy. A very orange piece of eye candy. If you get orange diabetes from this, I apologize.
Angular Sharpness
I think one of the main issues I had with line art before was figuring out how to make angles appear as sharp as they appear, especially when considering the style of Helluva/Hazbin. I looked up how to make sharp lineart, and ended up on this short guide!
(Original DeviantArt post here)
I'm mildly conflicted now because now I feel like combining sketching and composition was already fun enough, yet now line art is actually fun. We'll see where this goes I guess?
Colors Are Weird
I noticed also Krita was exporting pics out as dull as Alastor's time, so I looked into a solution and the solution arrived:
So now colors should work the way I want them to be. Nice!
Off Topic Topics
I've been going back and forth on my post schedules a fair bit, figuring out what works and what doesn't. A couple early morning posts feels the most fitting for my style, so I might roll with that going forward, at least for a while
Hopefully I'm going to start to embrace the multifandom part of this blog and start making more of whatever. UT/DR? Lackadaisy? Who knows
The state of the Vox Alastor comic... it's in hiatus as of now. It's honestly that since the show was releasing at such a quick schedule that my initial ideas for how the comic would play out kind of got jumbled around? I don't know honestly, so for now it's on hold for now.
However, I got struck with an idea for another one...
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DA:D Leaked Image Notes Pt.1
From this image, I immediately see what looks like a dragon. Perhaps an Archdemon. I'd be pretty surprised if so, but I'm not sure what else it would be doing down there with. This is clearly Warden-related content, because we have Davrin, who we know to be a Grey Warden and we're at Weisshaupt, where the Grey Warden Base is.
Other things I notice is that this place is in ruins, which could be because of the dragon, but I wonder if it will fall to pieces while we're there or it was already in shambles. I would guess that it was already in shambles because there appears meat sacks or eggs on the right, which is reminiscent of the DA:O Deep Roads mission.
We are going to a library. Don't know what to do with that, but maybe we need information or whatever's going on has centered itself in the library. It might also be the most fortified location.
There is someone named Rook there. That could either be us or another companion. I'd be down for the player character being named Rook though.
Companions/possibly us mention there's worse than darkspawn on the way. That could mean a dragon, I guess or something else. I am more interested in what Davrin says, because for me it kind of implies there defending the place rather than attacking, which is not what I would have expected as the place is already in ruins.
We're much closer to our player character than in previous games. It's less top down, which is definitely different from previous games, but I think I prefer it that way. Idk how others feel though.
As you'd expect from a Warden-oriented mission, there's darkspawn, but there's also something called spawn boils (a totally gross phrase befitting of darkspawn). Red light could mean red lyrium and based on other information (the clip), I bet it does. Perhaps the boils are what's causing red lyrium darkspawn or maybe they're infected eggs that produce red lyrium darkspawn.
There's a lot here that's super exciting but let's start with the fact that the player character is a Grey Warden!! And based on the fact it says Level (blurred) Grey Warden, I would assume it's either a class, origin, or allegiance and not just what every player character will be. My best and most realistic guess would be class. That would mean it's more combat focused than story focused. I'd be most excited if it was an origin or allegiance, the difference being that with allegiance you could pledge yourself to a faction part of the way through the game as opposed to starting as a member of a faction. It might also be a mix of these.
We're either an elf or can choose our race, which is great. I'd guess the choose our race thing and not just that everyone is an elf. But I'm just happy because I'd probably end up playing an elf anyway. If we can choose our race and origin, I wonder if they're tied together or separate. Is every Warden origin an elf? Or can I be a dwarf Warden? Are some origins (again if there are origins in the first place) race locked?
Equipment system doesn't look all that surprising. We seem to be able to wear all the same stuff. Although I'd like to see the rest of the weapons menu.
It looks like we'll have fewer abilities we can equip at a time, which I don't think I'll have an opinion about until I actually play it. I think it depends on how combat goes and what sort of abilities there are.
The shield that's equipped is a Templar shield enchanted by the Mortalitasi, giving it an extra boost against spirits. Pretty much all this really means for certain is that we'll be fighting spirits, which isn't a shock. I'd be interested though in the backstory behind such a shield. You don't often think of the Mortalitasi and Templars together.
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This was originally a multiple chapter fic of some characters and their relationship over the years (the age gap was originally only like four years but oneesan had always been the assertive type which made her seem older), I might rewrite it into a proper fic or even manga one day but we'll see.
It was an extremely self indulgent fic, I made oneesan heavily implied she was mixed race since I wanted to see media of girls like myself (I'm so happy with how much media has become more inclusive over the years and can't wait to see where it goes from here on out!!!). Shota's race wasn't really focused on besides that he was pale compared to oneesan, she loved how red he'd get when she made him blush. There were a few chapters where he got a tan from being in sun during summer and oneesan would coo over his tan lines uwu
Anyway she'd dress up shota as a girl and they'd have dates in the next city over every weekend, to the average person it would have looked like two girls spending time together on the weekends (the dates were wholesome because oneesan knew she wouldn't be able to control herself if she went beyond hand holding and pecks, she promises shota once they're married that they'll do all that stuff).
Obviously when he got older it wasn't as easy but in private he'd wear the prettiest things for her because he loved her attention. He even grew his hair out long so she could do subtle feminization to him.
He starts middle school and decides since there aren't any fashion brands that make everyday clothing for guys/really tall girls that are pretty and feminine that he'll make his own fashion brand that specializes in subtle feminization! He takes sewing classes and even gets help from oneesan since she has more sewing skills, even helps him draw designs for the fashion.
Oneesan makes one of a kind outfits for him so they can go on dates as he gets older it got harder and harder to find pretty things that would fit him since well he beefed up over the years working hard on odd-jobs until his company took off, it hurt her heart to see her pretty boy so sad when something wasn't in his size so she'd make something herself 😤.
The wedding chapter was super long and sappy, even before the wedding night part, because they had waited so long to be intimate sexually and they did genuinely love each other sm and I remember being a teenager and getting emotional over these two because finally they're now married and they can express their love in a new and exciting way.
She always reassured him whenever he would get insecure about how he didn't "look" cute and feminine anymore, worried about how she'll leave him for a "prettier" man but oneesan tells him that she married him because he's her "forever pretty boy" which is why she built a life with him, he's so flustered and weepy and they have super soft and sensual sex.
There is a lighthearted part where I thought about a scene where oneesan says that she'll just dress her pretty boy up like a tomboy to compliment his figure and he's flustered by the suggestion since while she loves super "girly" things she also loves "tomboyish" things, cause to her clothes are just a way to express oneself much like hair. To her there isn't really a difference between genders cause it never made sense to her, if the clothes made a person happy then they should wear it regardless of what the original demographic was. (Unconsciously this is around the time I was questioning my own gender identity and eventually realized that I was gender fluid, foreshadowing this piece had for me is wild lol)
Right before the laptop bricked I broached on the idea of them having a third person in the relationship, sadly I don't remember what they decided on but at the very least they had made lots of friends who were into feminization/masculinization as well which helped the company reach a wider audience.
Man, I might genuinely rewrite this depending on motivation even though I'd need to rework some stuff to make better sense plus ya know be more with the times since well I've gained more experience and know how to make a lot of stuff flow better
This is a really interesting story! It's an interesting mix of problematic/wholesome with some gender equality thrown in there too which is wild (in an intriguing way). I'm trying to imagine the story in a manga style, it's very cute! If you do end up writing something for it, I think it'd be a really unique read, which is perfect for picking up readers attention because it's when we repeat something that's already been told that it won't stick very well. But I havent really heard of a story like this and its got a nice mix of tropes that I'm into! Its rly interesting, thank you for sharing!
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Any chance we'll see more of your writings on the Forsaken tribes? I thought they were an enjoyable way to learn about Werewolf's setting, in addition to being a satisfyingly in-depth look at the playable factions.
Hey, thanks for the ask! It genuinely makes me feel better that people are reading the original stuff I throw out,especially since it's been a rough week.
A lot of the reason I haven't been writing much here is because, well, I'm a philosophy major too now so almost all I do is write now, when I'm not reading texts so dense they might as well be white dwarf stars. Those are pretty high effort posts and I have a general idea of what I want to say but organizing it into something coherent and well-organized, even with a template, is...tough. Writing about mechanics is a lot easier for me so ironically the bits I do with Gifts and how I think a Tribe would use them/how they reinforce the group's identity is the easy part, which I think is the opposite of true for most people.
The second thing is up until a few weeks ago (ish) I was doing my final drafts for Requiem for Rome 2e. I would need to doublecheck what I wrote for Bloodlines: the Ageless but I believe RfR2e is the longest section I've ever written and even if it's not, it's easily been the most effort-intensive. Even factoring in having to hack Mergès into pieces to make it functional, interesting and distinct from every other poisoned-themed Bloodline power. I'm not entirely sure what my NDA allows me to disclose but it's prooooobably safe to say that the sections I wrote are the least surprising thing you could imagine if you know me at all.
Last factor: I don't want to guilt trip people into liking/reblogging posts but I will admit that a dip in interest/engagement is part of what made me take a pause on it and Mythology Mondays. I also still have the houserules posts to make which....yeah, that's still in the works especially since there's some games where it's extensive (trying to explain how I rejiggered The Pack's rules into Geist/Mummy/Deviant's organization rules. Pain. Suffering. Et cetera. I'll probably just have to scrap what I'm doing and just explain things in very general terms.)
If people want to see more of those I can try to brainstorm a more tenable way of doing things that means I'll post more than once every three months, likely breaking it up into multiple sections over a few weeks and focusing more on the mechanical aspects of how to play. I do still think this is a helpful niche because I know there's not a whole lot of Werewolf writers out there and the books have....I think left people wanting in some regards (which is fair, it's hard to fit in entire complex sociological constructs into a corebook.) I don't think I'm alone in thinking that Werewolf 2e got cruelly cut short and there's so much left to explore and talk about.
I'm morally obligated to pitch Chris Allen's Patreon in the meantime if you want more Werewolf content, he's probably my single biggest inspiration. I've never worked for or with him so I promise this isn't sponsored lmao. I've been subscribed at the 1$ tier for like three years or something now, and I can tell you it's easily paid off and then some.
The tl;dr is...yes, but it might not be until after exams are done and I'm on break and it might show up in a different form. I don't want to make any specific promises until then, because while there's going to be a lull for the next two weeks it's going to ramp up again a lot in April because of how my class schedule works.
#thank you for the ask!#again#jam i'm so sorry i saw your question i just had to ACTUALLY break out my textbooks to answer it and do proper academic research#it's in my drafts honest
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Metawatch Warhammer 40,000: January 2024
Alright! The long awaited Balance Dataslate for the start of 2024 is finally here! I'm glad they waited until after LVO this time. I'm so eager to see what's changing for this new season of 40K!
Currently, 40K balance is in a really nice spot. We have two contenders for the top army in the game with Craftworlds and CSM, both hovering just over the 55% win rate. At the same time, AdMech, Knights, Sisters, and Drukhari are struggling at or below the 45% mark. For Space Marines, Blood Angels and Deathwatch seem to be struggling the most, while Templars and Ultramarines are seeing success. Space Wolves are also doing really good, but they're not usually seen as Champions of Russ.
For mechanics, we're at a point where Indirect Fire weapons are either game changing or useless with no ground in between. Aircraft are near universally staying on shelves. Opinions on Battle-shock vary from player to player and army to army. I personally feel it's hard to argue that it's a very meaningful mechanic when it's basically Tyranids' whole schtick now, and they're one of the weaker armies.
There's also plenty of issues cropping up around internal balance. Now that we have more detachments available for some armies, some of them are clearly more powerful than others. This is particularly felt hard by Space Marine players, who almost universally are sticking with vanilla detachments. Only Templars seem to be regularly seen inside their unique detachment, and the temperature check for the new Dark Angels Codex suggests Deathwing might end up on tables . . . and that's about it.
Speaking of Codexes, we're genuinely not seeing any Codex Creep! GW seems to have legitimately focused on using Codexes to patch some of the problems the Indexes have had and provide players with more options. As I hinted above, this has had mixed results. But I definitely prefer this to the insane levels of creep that ruined 9th Edition.
So! With all that said, should I make any predictions? Well, I can't say anything about Drukhari, as the links call them out by name. But big surprise the current weakest army will be getting some love. I guess I'll predict that they will receive both points and rules changes. I'm predicting we'll see some rollbacks on nerfs to Knights and Custodes. I think we'll see one more focused rules change to Aeldari and probably some points bumps, especially for Night Spinners. I'm also expecting some form of rules nerf to CSM. The most obvious one will be something regarding how marks work and some of the crazy shenanigans that have been used. I'm also expecting a points buff to many of their most used pieces. For everyone else, I'm expecting GW will mostly focus on internal balance. I'm not expecting any rules changes for Detachments this time around, though it would be nice. I think all the other factions will mostly be focused around points.
I also think we need some mission changes. In particular, I think we're going to get changes to scoring Secondary Objectives. But I'm not sure if that will be addressed here, or if we're going to get something like a General's Handbook.
Alright! Enough preamble! Let's start with the article and video!
Video
Hello, Josh from the Design Studio! Apologies, Josh, but I can't help but feel the answer to "who better to do that with . . ." would be Stu. Still, it's nice to see more members of the team. It's also quite likely that Stu is now hard at work on 11th Edition, given GWs tight and frustrating schedule (three years between editions is too short, dammit!) So Josh might very well be the one in charge of 10th Edition balance right now.
We don't really know how GW gets their numbers, but 60+ percent for Aeldari's original win rate is . . . technically true. 70+ would have been more honest though . . . They're calling them at 57% now, which I think most stat keepers agree with.
We're getting a whole new Detachment for Drukhari! Well, now! I knew we were getting rules changes but I was expecting a patch to Realspace Raid. This doesn't mean that isn't happening, but that's still pretty big news!
And there's the rules change for Aeldari. Looks like we're getting another nerf to Phantasm. It very much needs it. Looks like they're making it random now. Wonder if it's going to be flat D6 or something like D6+1.
It sounds like Drukhari are still getting rules changes. So the new Detachment will be on top of this. Yep! They're buffing Realspace Raid! Congratulations Drukhari! And they're mentioning they might do this in the future too!
So they're using Daemons for the internal balance example. I'm still not sure how Daemons mostly stay off my radar, but I do know that Daemons are almost always focused around monster mash with a few units like Flamers and Nurglings thrown in. So it sounds like they're going to try and address this using points. As I suggested, I don't think they're going to use rules changes if they can avoid it. It's one thing to log into the app and see that your army has lost or gained points. It's another to be playing and get an, "Um, actually . . . that rule doesn't work like that anymore."
Yes! We're getting more rules clarifications and commentary! Please give us more FAQs too, I beg you! But it really sounds like they want to use the Commentary for this. It looks like they're finally addressing some of the Transport and Deepstrike questions, with these no longer count as moving for rules interactions.
They also say they're using standard color coding for points changes too. That'll make looking at these points changes so much easier! Balance Dataslate changes will be marked as new too. This sound very similar to how 9th Edition Dataslates worked, just with plus signs instead of colors.
They're covering a bit about LVO too, and in particular how they looked at it. It sounds like we're not going to see anything for Necrons this time around. This is another reason why I'm glad they waited for LVO. They can see a much larger pool of players and lists all interacting at once. I don't know if it caused them to change anything, but it gives them the opportunity at least. They do know to keep an eye on Necrons too.
I also like how they acknowledge that the tournament Aeldari list has really not change for at least three months.
Article
So the first thing in the article is that we're getting a change to the starting number of Fate Dice for Aeldari, in addition to Phantasm. Drukhari are getting changes to Power from Pain, and an all new downloadable Index! Their new detachment is the Skyplinter Assault.
It looks like many Battleline units are getting love, while the aforementioned Indirect Fire units are getting another nerf. They once again go over how they're showing changes in this dataslate.
Finally we're not seeing anything for Dark Angels this time around. Their new points will not be in this Munitorum Field Manual.
Oh, for the love of . . .
Please tell me this isn't what they're deciding balance with. I know they suggested they use other metrics, but this is not good at all.
They've got CSM at 54%! They're closer to 56-57%! They've got Deathwatch at 46%? Where are they possibly getting that number from?
Huh! Actually checking Stat Check, CSM has slipped a bit while Deathwatch is rising . . . Interesting! Looks like I'm the one who needs to pay better attention. Still, I hope they're making sure CSM isn't going to be the reigning champion with the new Aeldari nerfs.
Oh well. I guess I should have realized I would have slipped with how sick I've been lately. Let's dig into these and see what we've got. We'll start with Drukhari.
Index Drukhari
Power from Pain
So the first big change is to what happens to a unit you Empower in the Shooting or Fight phase. Now, melee weapons will get an additional pip of AP. This should help Drukhari melee finally hit the way it's supposed to!
The rule for Realspace Raiders remains unchanged. Maybe they're hoping the melee buff will mean Drukhari players will actually take their characters? Guess we'll have to wait and see. There don't seem to be any changes to the detachment that I can find. Let's look at the new one.
Skysplinter Assault
Oh. Oh nice!
The new detachment ability is Rain of Cruelty. This gives two meaningful buffs to any unit disembarking from a transport. The first is Ignores Cover, which in this edition might as well read "gain an AP." The second is Lance. Combined with the new Power from Pain, this will allow a melee unit Disembarking from a transport to hit really hard.
The catch here is that the unit needs to be able to Charge in order to get the full benefit from this rule. Normally, you can't charge if the Transport moved. So this means that most Transports have to move into position, then the unit has to wait to disembark. Let's take a look at the rest of the rules first, then we'll see if Drukhari have any transports with an Assault Ramp style rule.
Enhancements
Our first enhancement is Phantasmal Smoke. This grants the bearer's unit Cover and Stealth while wholly within 6" of a Transport. Cover is no big deal, but Stealth is a relevant buff. The problem is the "wholly within" part. That's gonna limit how you can use this enhancement. I'm not sure this even gets an, "if you have points left."
Next, we have Sadistic Fulcrum. This seems a lot more fun. If the whole goal is to run a bunch of units in Transports, then you can probably make pretty good use of this. I'm pretty sure at least one Transport has Dark Lances, so this might be auto-include if priced right.
Spiteful Raider provides some additional Pain token generation. It only triggers when you kill an enemy on an objective and only in the fight phase. But since Drukhari wants to do that, this could also be auto-include.
Finally, Nightmare Shroud provides one of the most relevant rules you can have in 10th Edition: preventing Overwatch! It's hard to oversell how clutch this can be. Especially if you're going to try and Disembark from a stationary transport to move and charge, this gives you two places where an opponent might try to gun you down. This might also be auto-include.
While Phantasmal smoke is a pretty big miss, the other three enhancements will probably all see use. This is all around a good start to this Detachment.
Stratagems
Vicious Blades is interesting. This is one of those rules that when you use it you're going to feel really good about it, but you probably won't use it very often. It's an interesting way to represent the Drukhari in a Transport striking and shooting out of it. If you've got 2CP, this combined with Tank Shock could just run over some units.
Wraithlike Retreat is awesome! Free moves are always good, especially during your opponents turn. There's a reason we're seeing a Phantasm nerf. Even if the target isn't a Wych unit, the whole theme of this Detachment is transports. This army wants to ride into combat, wipe out a target, then get back in and do it again. The fact you can make a Fall Back move is what really puts this over the edge. This means you don't even have to finish a unit off. You can cripple it and then move on, or just get your Unit out of potential danger for next turn.
But it's Pounce on the Prey that this Detachment will practically revolve around. If Drukhari doesn't have a transport that has an Assault Ramp rule, this gets around it. This allows you to use your favorite Transports to rush your units up the board and in your opponents face. Turn 1 charges are almost certainly a thing with this.
If charging isn't a good idea, Skyborne Annihilation can significantly up the damage from a shooting unit, especially if you empower them. I don't remember Kabalite Warriors being anything special. But if they see some love in the MFM, this could allow them to punch above their weight. It's also a Battle Tactic.
Again, we have some out of phase movement. Swooping Mockery allows Drukhari players to take some risks with their transports without needing to worry about easy reprisal. Like many of these rules, though, this only works if your opponent wants to come in close.
Finally Night Shield helps keep your Transports safe. Since you may want to have some units move up and not disembark, this will be essential.
Honestly the only problem with these Stratagems is CP generation. I can easily see Drukhari players basically always spending their CP on one of these each turn. They'll be wanting to use Pounce on the Prey or Skyborne Annihilation on their turn, then use Wraithlike Retreat or Swooping Mockery in their opponent's turn. Considering the potential mobility of this army, I'm guessing most players will want to take Tactical Missions.
Transports
The Raider makes for some serious reach and threat with its automatic 6" advance. With a 14" move, plus disembarking within 3", that's a guaranteed charge from 19" away. And its got Deep Strike to boot! It also has a Darklance and Firing Deck 11 to benefit from Sadistic Fulcrum.
Venoms come with that fun ability to split your units and Stealth. They can also swoop by and pick up units without needing to use Wraithlike Retreat.
And, um, that's it. Why did I think Drukhari had more Transports than this? Still, both are Dedicated Transports, which means you can take as many as you want providing you can start them with a Unit embarked. That's still not a lot of units to build an army around.
This is the first real sticking point for this. While it's mostly other units that will benefit from these rules, you'll need to make sure you have enough Raiders and Venoms for this to work. And you'll only be able to use your best tricks on one or two each turn (usually just one.) Making sure you've got the Transports you need while still having the units to punch and score objectives will be a real balancing act.
The Balance Dataslate
Adepta Sororitas
Wow! Sisters players are not going to be happy. They've recently seen an uptick as veteran players have learned to work with their unique rules to get increased performance out of their normally mediocre units. Acts of Faith are key to this. I'm sure the goal is to stop the Triumph from feeling so necessary to all of this, but the faction really didn't need nerfs.
Adeptus Custodes
This was extremely necessary. I'm still not sure what they're going to do to allow Custodes players to play other detachments, which was a huge issue in 9th, but for now they need Aegis to function against Dev Wounds to work. I predicted they might see one of the nerfs undone, but it looks like GW thinks this is all they need.
Aeldari
Six! They're only getting six Fate Dice now, and no re-rolls! Looks like GW has decided it's time for the nuclear option, because this is just the start.
Fates messenger now only affects the bearer, not the unit. Phantasm is D6, so it's not only less reliable but has lost an inch of movement. Night Spinners no longer stop a unit from Advancing. THANK YOU! The Yncarne can now only teleport once in each of the Aeldari player's turns. GET WRECKED! And Wraithguard can now only shoot back at what shot at them.
By the Goddess!
That's a lot of fixes. I'm actually hoping they didn't get much in the way of points increases, because damn! Surprised they didn't address Warp Spider in all of that, though.
Astra Militarum
Interesting! Officers can now issue Orders when they setup on the Battlefield. This will provide Guard players with a lot more flexibility as to when and how they deploy their Officers.
Blood Angels
Red Thirst now adds +2 to Strength, bringing the rule more in line with 10th Edition Toughness characteristics. Not sure this will bring Sons of Sanguinius to the the table, but it's a start.
Chaos Daemons
Honestly not much here. You now must include Battleline Daemons as allies if you take them. Since Nurglings were by far the most allied Daemons, I don't think this actually affects much.
Chaos Space Marines
GW did not ignore CSM. We've got a nerf to Transports, so you're no longer putting your Undivided Chosen in a Nurgle Transport just for Dark Obscuration. And that Stratagem has been nerfed to 18". Profane Zeal now only affects Chaos Undivided and only grants re-roll wounds. That's the better half, but still! Accursed Cultists are OC 1 now and only regenerate on your turn.
Again, it's a grab bag of problem units and stratagems fixed. It's nowhere near what Aeldari suffered, so unless there are more nerfs coming CSM are still in a good spot. But GW is not shying away from changing these rules!
Deathguard
You can now only use Grenade on one Biologus Putrifier per turn. Reasonable nerf.
Drukhari
We already know about Power from Pain, but we missed that Archons can now lead Incubi. They'll definitely welcome the re-roll wounds.
Grey Knights
Wow! We're really getting into it here! GW appears to be more than willing to actually change profiles and Datasheets! Did you think Dreadknights didn't hit hard enough? Well GW agrees with you! Enjoy your new psycannons and Nemesis weapons!
Imperial Knights
Just give them Bondsman back! Oh well. Code Chivalric is getting a buff and is now re-roll one hit roll and one wound roll.
Space Wolves
You can now claim a Saga at the end of any turn. This will make it much more easy to collect them, as you now have twice as many opportunities to do so. It's still the character model that has to perform the Saga, though, so this is still going to be a challenge.
World Eaters
Wow! Round of nerfs to World Eaters! Berzerker Glaive, Favored of Khorne, and Daemon princes were all nerfed! Somebody must be thinking World Eaters are in position to take the top spot with the nerfs to Aeldari and CSM.
That was a lot! GW really is willing to change rules when they need to, and they're willing to dig into the minutia. This was incredibly comprehensive, so with points the game stands to change a lot.
I don't know if the changes to Sons of Sanguinius and Champions of Russ are enough to get them on the board. But they're a start. For the factions themselves, we need to look at the point changes. Really worried for Aeldari here. They got sweeping changes! If the point changes are too severe, they might be where Tyranids were at the start of last year.
Biggest winner is Custodes though. That change is going to help them a lot!
Munitorum Field Manual
Adepta Sororitas
We've got a few nerfs here with increases to Arco-flagellants, Exorcists, and Morvenn Vahl. However, Paragon Warsuits have dropped 30 pts while Vahl went up 20 pts. So overall, that package actually went down 10 pts. But now Warsuits might be worth taking on their own. Other than that, a bunch of Sisters infantry got buffed.
Adeptus Custodes
It's all green! Some pretty substantial buffs to Allarus, Guard, and Wardens. Dawn Eagle Jetbikes have also gotten cheaper, though I don't know if it's enough. The Shield-Captain went down 40 pts though and now costs the same as the Allarus Shield-Captain. Custodes are in a good spot!
Adeptus Mechanicus
AdMech just go their Codex and GW doesn't seem ready to weigh in. While some dedicated players have had success, the general impression is they need some love. Hopefully they don't have to wait 6 months for it.
Aeldari
Almost no changes! GW decided they needed new rules and that's it! Night Spinners went up 30 pts while Wraithguard went up 4 pts a model. Warp Spiders remain untouched. This honestly leaves Aeldari with plenty of play. I don't think they're going to be in trouble, but they definitely won't be the top army anymore.
Of course I have said that before . . .
Astra Militarum
The Manticore has gone up 30 pts. While this won't kill Guard Indirect, it's still a nerf. GW does remember that Guard was at the bottom of it's stats, right?
Black Templars
Crusader Squads are now 15 pts per model and Grimaldus and Helbrecht have both gone up to 120. That's going to impact the Templars quite a bit! Those are substantial character nerfs, which always makes me wonder where GW gets these numbers from.
Chaos Daemons
That is a lot of green! Why do Daemons have that much green while Guard got nothing? And even though they talked about troops, there's a lot of characters grabbing buffs here. Great Unclean One, Kairos, Keeper of Secrets, Rotigus, Skarbrand . . . Nurglings and Blue Scribes got nerfed though.
Chaos Knights
Looks like GW is comfortable enough with Towering to start dishing out the buffs to Knights. Again, we've got a lot of green! Only the Brigand got nerfed, and only by 10 pts.
Chaos Space Marines
All the points nerfs Aeldari dodged hit CSM. If it was a tournament staple, it's been nerfed. Granted, I know there were some things here that people wanted pushed more, but I think this will do a good job of bringing CSM down just enough.
Dark Angels
Wait . . . I thought they weren't doing this here? Oh well, here are some buffs anyway! If these buffs carry through to the next MFM after Codex: Dark Angels is officially released, Deathwing could be in a good spot.
Death Guard
Got a few buffs, got a few nerfs. Deathshroud are now 40 pts per model, Bloat-drones are down 10, and the Lord of Virulence and Typhus are both down 20. But Plague Marines went from 16 pts bargains to more in line with other Space Marine profiles at 18 pts. The Plagueburst Crawler also went up 15 pts.
Deathwatch
Weird things are happening here recently, but I'm still surprised this is unchanged.
Drukhari
Was anyone actually taking a Voidraven Bomber? Other than this little bit of silliness, these buffs are some nice ones to go along with the new detachment. Also the cost for those Skyplinter Enhancements are very reasonable.
Genestealer Cults
GW says you are not bringing enough Genestealers in your Genestealer Cults armies! 16 pts a model is much more reasonable.
Grey Knights
Apparently, GW thinks they've fixed the baby carrier. So they're nerfing Librarians by 10 pts. And that's it!
Imperial Knights
Are you not a Warglaive, Gallant, or Atrapos? You got cheaper! It's all buffs for the chivalrous side of Knights!
Leagues of Votann
Apparently GW is worried the Kin are doing a little too good with their last set of buffs. To be fair, Sagitaurs needed a nerf. But they'd really like it if you ran fewer Thunderkyn and Hearthguard.
Necrons
Our soon to be overlords also escape any nerfs in lieu of their Codex having just dropped. If recent performances are predictive, get ready to serve your living metal masters. I know I said this last time, but that was before Canoptek Court and Hypercrypt Legion were a thing. Hopefully we won't have to deal with full power Necrons for 6 months.
Orks
Since the Boyz are still doing pretty well, it's time for more internal balance. Battlewagons are down 15 pts, but Trukks are up 5. Nobz have gone up to 22 pts a model and Squighog Boyz are up to just under 42 pts a model. But lots of vehicles have gone down, including the Morkanaut. Time to grab the red paint and wake up the Speed Freeks!
Space Marines
Oh boy! This is a lot of internal balance changes! Most stuff wasn't touched. But Aggressors, Devastator Centurions, Inceptors, Redemptors, Scouts, and Whirlwinds all went up. Infernus Marines, Outriders, Guilliman, Sternguard, and every variety of Intercessor went down. GW wants to see more Battle-line, dammit!
T'au Empire
With the new Tau box and book on the horizon, these won't matter for very long. Still it's mostly buffs. The lesser played Commanders, Crisis and Enforcers, went down 10 pts each. Riptides went down 15 pts. And Vespid went down to 13 pts a model. However your Crisis bricks just went up to 400 pts. I think Tau will be fine though.
Tyranids
Could we have waited until we weren't so close to the bottom before seeing the internal balance changes, please? Oh well. Big surprise, Deathleaper, Neurolictors, Pyrovores, and Gargoyles all went up in price. Those units were making nearly ever list, so we knew something had to change. In exchange we got buffs to the Broodlord and Genestealers to mirror GSC, Norns got significant buffs, the Screamer-Killer now has a reasonable cost, the Trygon got a little buff, and the Tyrannofex got a massive one to finally fit the rules nerf it took. Oh and the Toxicrene went down, but nobody cares.
World Eaters
GW must really be worried Khornes chosen were ready to claim Aeldari skulls! The Lord of Skulls and Forgefiends both got a buff, but Eightbound, Kharne, and the Master of Executions all got hit. Eighbound aren't back to the silly costs they had, but they're still at over 48 pts and 53 pts per model respectively.
The Rules Commentary
Wait, woah! Really? That's how they're ruling things? Wow! I just opened this and already we're off to a mind blowing start! You can stack the same buff/nerf on units multiple times! The only exception are for auras or for named effects like suppressed. This is potentially huge! Now I want to go through my book and see if there are any abilities I can do this with!
We get a quick clarification that if you add models to a unit on the battlefield, they must be in coherency. Don't think anyone ever played this differently. How models off the battlefield can ever be or not be in coherency, I don't know, but there's a clarification for that too.
We also get a clarification that says that if you can put a unit from Reserves on the table in Battle Round 1 as if it was Battle Round 2, the same unit doesn't act like it's Battle Round 3 if you do it the following round. Again, makes sense and I'm not sure anyone played it any other way.
We get some Battle-shock clarifications. Being destroyed doesn't end Battle-shock. So you can't bring a Battle-shocked unit back with a Stratagem, for example. I could have sworn they spelled this out before, but if a rule makes you take a Battle-shock test for being below Starting Strength in the Battle-shock step, you don't have to take another one for being Below Half-strength. Finally, destroyed units don't take Battel-shock tests.
They've clearly separated the Charge Bonus from other rules that trigger from charging. So if something kills your Charge Bonus, you still get any other rules. Doesn't looked like they've clarified charges when you can't get into Base-to-Base contact. Though again, I don't think anyone plays it so that you don't charge towards the enemy when you make a successful charge.
We get a slight change to the way Contested works to make sure that it applies at the end of a turn as well as the end of a phase. Again, makes sense.
They also clarify order of operations for scoring. Again, I don't think anyone was trying to score Victory points before checking objectives, but there it is.
Here's the first part of the clarification we were told about for Reserves and Transports. Basically unless you are physically moving your models, you don't get to count as having made any kind of move for any other rules. It just means you haven't Remained Stationary and don't get to move again.
Another one that I thought got clarified, if you have a rule that grants you CP in the Command phase, that is not part of CP gained at the start of the phase. So you can't gain anymore CP that battle round.
I could have sworn I saw this somewhere too, wonder if it was part of an event FAQ or something, but Dmg characteristics that have +1 or something in them are not being modified. That's just part of the characteristic.
Oh! Here's an interesting one and a new limit on rules stacking. You can't use two abilities that give you a flat Advance bonus to movement on the same Unit at the same time. Can't think of any faction that can do this off the top of my head, but again this makes sense.
And there it is! Finally! You can disembark from a Transport that arrives from reserves. Finally we get the clarification on this! This doesn't even affect me, and I'm still glad to finally see this!
Again, we have another common sense clarification. When you buy an Enhancement for a Character unit that has more than one model in it, only one model gets the Enhancement.
Oh! Here's an interesting one! Fight-on-death rules all trigger for the unit at once, you do not fight one at a time with each model by themselves. Additionally, all the models are still destroyed at once, so any abilities that are effected by unit strength apply.
Woah! Looks like we're getting some changes to Hazardous! Let's go through these point by point.
If you declare you're firing a Hazardous weapon, you take the test even if you destroy the target and don't fire the weapon.
You get to chose what models with Hazardous weapons suffer from failed tests. If a character fails a test, you can either destroy another model or have the Character take mortal wounds. It just has to be an eligible model with a hazardous weapon.
Mortals from Hazardous tests spill over to the unit normally.
If you allocate a Hazardous test to a Character, Monster, or Vehicle, you have to keep allocating Hazardous tests to that model until all the failed tests have been allocated or the model is destroyed.
When allocating Mortal wounds that have spilled over from a Character, Monster, or Vehicle in a unit, you have to allocate them first to another model with a Hazardous weapon. Once all models with Hazardous weapons are destroyed, you allocate any remaining failed tests or wounds to unit as normal.
Good good good! We now have some pretty clear steps for how to deal with this. Most of the time it's pretty easy, but again, it's nice to have it spelled out. Also, I don't really care much since Tyranids don't have any Hazardous weapons! Kekekek!
We get a little clarification for Objective Secured style abilities. Basically at the end of any phase, if your opponent has more OC on the objective than you do, they gain control as normal. Again, pretty sure everyone played it this way.
Wow! There's a clarification. Instead of trying to figure out or keep track of One Shot weapons and Firing Deck, you just can't use them! I did hear of people trying to cheese this, especially my GSC kin, and apparently GW decided they needed to stamp this down hard!
Redeploy has a quick clarification that yes, you can redeploy a unit with Infiltrators as Infiltrators. This was already there in the commentary, but apparently there was enough debate they needed to spell it out.
Really important with the new Drukhari detachment, we get some specific rules for splitting units. You can only split a unit once, and that split unit changes its Starting Strength to match.
We get some new exceptions to how Vehicles with bases work. You don't have to with 3" of a vehicles base to embark on it, you just have to be within range of the model itself. The same is also true for disembarking.
Finally, we get the much needed clarifications on Ignoring Modifiers. We get a list of characteristics that can ignore modifiers, which is very nice. Being able to ignore modifiers to rolls means all rolls for that unit. And again, they clarify this is not binary and you get to choose what modifiers you ignore.
New to this version is our first full Errata on the Core Rules. We only have three things here, but they're important. The first is the change to Command Re-Roll which rewords it so that it targets a unit and not a roll. This brings it in line with all other Stratagems.
Next we have a clarification on Rapid Ingress specifying the you can use Deep Strike, despite the fact it's not your Movement phase.
Finally, we have the updated wording for controlling objective markers that specify it occurs at the end of any phase or turn.
And that's it! Whew! That's a lot more than I was expecting all around!
Final Thoughts
This really was a lot! GW is not messing around here. However that doesn't mean there weren't any oversights. For some reason, Astra Militarum really didn't get much of anything. They're arguably worse off then they were before. Considering their competitive win rate is around 43%, this is really not good. But other than that, and what we were told not to expect, this is pretty comprehensive!
I guess with that mention of Guard, I should talk about winners and losers. Guard are one of the losers. They got a meaningful rules change, but nothing good enough to change their fortunes. In the mean time, they got a nerf to the Manticore and no buffs to any of their other units. I actually double checked that I didn't miss anything. This is so baffling!
Obviously Aeldari and CSM are also losers. Aeldari saw sweeping rules changes and CSM got a double tap in rules and points. I don't think it's enough to break either faction, but they're definitely not gonna hold their top spots anymore.
World Eaters also lost pretty big. Again, they got rules and points changes, though nothing like what the top dogs got. Still, they had only started to climb up the ranks last I checked. Again, I don't think this is going to drop them too much, but it's not gonna help them.
Templars also took a bit of gut punch. They only got hit in the points though. Many players will argue they were coasting on cheap Crusader Squads. I think Space Marine players will think twice about running them, but dedicated Templar players will probably be fine.
Finally, we have to acknowledge that the AdMech Codex just didn't give the faction the tools they needed. They've had no event wins since their codex dropped. While some of the higher tier players are having success, the faction as a whole needs love.
By contrast, Necrons are winning big for the same reason. With nothing addressing them in this Dataslate and two powerful new detachments, the Dynasties are ready to rise and claim their spot.
I think Drukhari will like their changes too. Their army can genuinely punch hard now, and their new detachment looks like a lot of fun. With the points changes they got, the faction probably got a bit more expensive to run, but a lot more tools to play with.
Orks are also looking good. They've so far managed to stick pretty close to the low 50s for most of this edition. While they saw some nerfs, I don't think they'll hurt most Ork lists. Now they may be able to take vehicles besides trukks with them. They can definitely benefit from the top dogs taking a krumpin.
I think Custodes will also like their changes. A Feel No Pain against Dev Wounds is going to help a lot. And they might be able to get a few more bodies on the board now too.
Knights are in tough spot. They got a lot of points buffs, but they really needed them. They also got a nice rules buff, though only to one of their Oaths. I think they should have just given them Bondsman back. We'll have to see if these change help reverse their fortunes.
Grey Knights are also probably grinding their teeth. The buff to Dreadknights is nice. This will help what should be their primary punching unit actually hit hard enough to matter. But I'm still not sure it's enough. Still, Grey Knights have a lot of room for skilled players to shine. Maybe that little nudge will help them.
All and all, it's going to be brand new meta starting today. It's a new season with new rules. My guess is we'll see something like a General's Handbook soon, and that might further shake things up. I'm excited to see how things pan out!
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It's Saturday and I'm in the mood, so let's talk about Elijah Kamski
Specifically about how he treats his Chloes. Obviously this is an opinion, and everyone is entitled to theirs, but as I read Chlonnor ship fics (they are adorable and I am unrepentant), I notice that a lot of them have Chloe becoming a deviant after Connor chooses not to shoot her. I don't have a problem with this, per se, but I have noticed several things in game that makes me think she's already a deviant.
1. The other two Chloes are already deviant
It's a small detail that tends to get overlooked because you're busy focusing on meeting Elijah and "OMG, Amanda's dead??" and later whether or not Connor actually shot Chloe. But these two girls right here?
They're talking. They're chatting with each other. I know that doesn't sound like much, but look back on the rest of the game thus far. Androids that aren't deviant don't converse with other androids because there's no reason they should. They have a job, and unless they're being addressed by a human, that job doesn't involve talking. You know who does converse? Deviants. Additionally, they're just lounging in the pool, and I guess that Kamski could have ordered them in there because he doesn't like swimming alone/likes to swim with his Chloes/some other potentially creepier thing, but it feels a little too natural for that.
2. Kamski pushes Connor toward his own decision
Looking back on the scene, it's clear that Kamski is trying to force Connor into making the choice of whether or not to shoot Chloe, against Connor's will. He directly pits Connor's programming against his collected software instabilities to see which is stronger. Yes, he is a scientist, first and foremost, so he's gathering data through his test, but I think he's strongly leaning towards - and pushing Connor towards - a pro-deviant standpoint.
His dialogue throughout the scene puts longer, more emotional, emphatic language on the idea of deviancy and the free will of androids - specifically of Connor. He pushes Connor to attempt an answer outside his programming ("Well, that's what you're programmed to say... but you...what do you really want?") and he places special emphasis on Connor's individuality ("Decide who you are. An obedient machine... Or a living being endowed with free will...") in the critical moment just before Connor decides whether or not to shoot.
That, combined with the fact that the two Chloes in the pool are conversing - and at this point, watching the scene, one notably with a concerned/uncertain look as she turns back around - tells me that Kamski is supportive of the idea of deviants.
3. Kamski closes off and expresses almost negative emotion if Connor does choose to shoot Chloe
If Connor decides that his mission is more important than Chloe and shoots, Kamski's attitude makes a definite shift. Where earlier he was toying with Hank and Connor, giving cryptic answers and sidestepping the main issue they were there to discuss, after Chloe is shot, he switches to straight answers and short replies.
Additionally, this post by @omentrash highlights Kamski's obviously upset expression when Connor chooses to shoot Chloe. Call it what you like, but to me, this says he absolutely did not want Connor to fire.
4. No matter what route you choose, Kamski tells Connor about the emergency exit
In any situation where Connor ends up in a place of partial or total deviancy, Amanda resumes control of his program and traps him in the white-out blizzard Zen Garden. In this case, the only way for Connor to escape is to use the emergency exit. But he only knows about it because Kamski goes out of his way to inform Connor of it (and we'll get to the ramifications of Kamski knowing about Connor having it later).
Obviously in the deviant best ending, Connor uses this to avoid shooting Markus and the surviving Jericrew in the back, and most of the time, this ending was preceded by Connor deciding not to shoot Chloe. So yes, it makes sense that Kamski would inform him about a way out, should something like what Amanda does happen to him. But he also tells Connor about it if Connor does shoot Chloe, which lets us know that Kamski is hoping that perhaps Connor will deviate somewhere later down the line. He didn't do it here, but he might when faced with the same situation at a future time. Kamski is looking out for Connor, even though Connor isn't a deviant yet, because Kamski has hope that he might become one.
5. Deviants are capable of acting like normal androids
I include this one to illustrate that just because Chloe appears to be a perfect hostess here
and shows no emotion when faced with life or death doesn't mean that she's not a deviant. We know that deviants can, when necessary, act like normal androids. Markus and North do it at Stratford. (Specifically pointing out the part where a human opens the bathroom door, and Markus snaps to attention at the side, like a good little obedient Android janitor.)
Kamski is the Man of the Century. He revolutionized life for everyone across the planet by successfully creating a robotic assistant species that walks, talks, and looks roughly human, while doing everything a human can do with far more efficiency. Of course he gets house calls. And if his androids are deviants - and at the very least, the two in the pool are, so why wouldn't his first android be one as well? - and people come calling, they'd need to act like proper androids. Chloe, especially, since she greets people at the door and is the poster child.
And you'll notice, even in her interview, she acts more human than most androids do. She stammers, she smiles, she's clearly nervous. She shifts back and forth, readjusting in her seat like a human would. Sure, she needed to do these things to pass the Turing Test, but there's a deeper feel to it than just good programming. I think she was leaning heavily toward deviancy at that point. Not there yet, but close. That was years before we see her at Kamski's house in the game. She must be a deviant by now.
6. Kamski left an emergency exit in Connor's program, meaning that he had some hand in Connor's creation
So Kamski leaves emergency exits in all his programs; I think we've beaten the dead horse enough at this point, but I gotta do it one more time because why would Connor have his program? Base code, sure. Okay, we can make that argument that every android has the same base code as the original program. But we can also make the argument - and it has stronger evidence - that Kamski himself had a huge hand in developing the RK series. Proof? Markus.
Markus was a gift from Kamski to Carl; we know this from Connor's scan of Markus at Stratford Tower. We also know that Markus was a unique prototype, since his police file not only states this but also doesn't have a picture of him. No photo at all. Just a blank face, and "Unknown series" and a DESTROYED.
If Markus was one of a small handful, then they'd have a photo of another. They certainly wouldn't have a "Unknown Series" on the file. This makes me think that Kamski made Markus on his own and then gifted him to Carl. I suspect this means that he still has connections at CyberLife, which he used to get the parts for Markus. By giving Markus to Carl, knowing that Carl would cause him to deviate, he set up the seed of the revolution. Now why would Kamski do that, unless he was pro-deviant?
Summary
CyberLife decides to create an android detective/negotiator with the most cutting edge technology and coding the world has ever seen. This model would hunt down deviants and bring them back, if possible, for analysis so CyberLife could lock down the problem and eliminate it with a software patch. It's a delicate operation; after all, Connor starts with his toes on the line of deviancy. Presumably, when he goes to rescue Emma from Daniel, it's his first mission, and already, he's struggling with software instabilities. To think like a deviant, you have to be as unpredictable as possible. That means that he's right on the edge, and he remains on that edge for most of the game, depending on what the player decides to do with him.
So CyberLife need some assistance getting the code ironed out to ensure their Deviant Hunter doesn't become a deviant himself (until the time is right), so they turn to the man who first invented androids and has already technically worked on the RK series: Kamski. They ask - or perhaps Kamski himself offers - and Kamski works on the code. Not all of it, not even the majority, just the few bits and pieces where their almost-deviant and anti-deviant codes clash. All of his work is surely checked - secretly, of course; no need to make him think they don't trust him - so there's really only one thing he can add to Connor's program: the emergency exit. And that's why Connor is his program, why CyberLife would allow the exit to remain, why Kamski points it out, no matter what you choose.
And Kamski would do none of this - it doesn’t make sense for him to do any of this - unless he's secretly cheering on the revolution from the sidelines.
#dbh#detroit become human#dbh kamski#elijah kamski#dbh chloe#chloe rt600#dbh connor#connor rk800#dbh markus#markus rk200#dbh carl#carl manfred#deviants#deviant connor#long post#dbh meta#pro deviant elijah kamski#deviant chloe
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What’s It Like In New York City?
Katsuki Bakugou x reader
Quirkless rock band au
Based off of the song, Hey There Delilah
Word count: 2913
Warnings: Slight alcohol use. Nothing to be worried about though.
After a long day at university you decided you deserved a night out on the town. Although you had piles of homework to do, you decided to put that all aside and just relax and have a few drinks. You grabbed your big winter coat and stepped out of campus into the swirling cold winter outside. L Street Tavern was one of the closest bars to your campus, so you decided to settle down there. Plus, they always have live music there, even better.
After a short walk through the blistering cold air you had finally arrived at the historic bar. You noticed a flyer on the window it read,
"Sex Bob Omb playing tonight."
You had never heard of them before. It was probably just some local band. You stepped through the bars creaking door and took a seat on one of the oak stools. There were only a few other people at the bar. Most of them were probably in their mid 40s or 50s. You had given them a slight wave when you sat down just to be friendly. They had waved back, but then quickly returned back to their conversations. You weren't really looking for people to talk to, you just wanted to relax after the stressful day.
After a couple of drinks you heard the tuning of a guitar in the corner. You looked over to see a couple people in the corner. They were dressed like classic teenage band members. Black jeans, skate shoes, a random t-shirt they found in the back of their closet. You examined each member. A spiky blond seemed to be the lead. He was tuning his guitar and had a microphone stood in front of him. Behind him was a short black haired girl behind a microphone. She seemed to be the backup singer. The last person was a crazy red haired boy at the drums. It seemed like your typical band that probably practices in the garage. You loved those types of bands. Something about them just seemed so raw and authentic.
A few moments later you jumped to the sound of the red hair banging his drum sticks together.
"ONE TWO THREE GO!" He yelled signaling the band to start.
You never really thought a band like this would be playing at a historic bar in the middle of a harsh Boston winter. But, bands really will play wherever they can nowadays. They have to try and get any recognition they can.
"This is the beginning of the song." The blond muttered into the microphone with his raspy voice. "I'm hearing voices, animal voices. The creme da la creme. the feminine abyss. And I'm reaching my threshold. Staring at the truth till i'm blind." He began lazily singing with the sound of a rough, badly tuned guitar.
The lyrics weren't too bad for just some random band. You actually thoroughly enjoyed the sound of such a band like this. You could see the the crazy red hair banging at the broken down set of drums releasing all of his anger. It made you giggle a bit.
"My body's stupid, stereo putrid. Spilling out music into raw sewage." The girl jumped into sing. She surprisingly had a pretty good voice, although it didn't really suit the vibe of the band.
"Reaching my threshold. Staring at the truth till I'm blind." They all sang together. They repeated the same verses a couple more times. When the song had ended you could tell they were all out of breath from the loud performance. They were panting like dogs on a hot summer day.
"WE ARE SEX BOB OMB!!!" The girl yelled out to the bar while raising her hands in the air.
"I hope you guys enjoyed, but we've lost all of our breath for tonight, peace." The blond said while walking into the back room. Most people started clapping and cheering, some people were booing them at the fact they only played one song, but you just returned to your bitter cold beer in front of you. The cold alcohol entering your stomach calmed you from your hard day.
A few moments later the band members took a seat at the bar near you. It seemed they just wanted a few drinks after that harsh performance.
"Miller Lite, please." The spiky blond said to the bar tender under his raspy tone.
"Same here." The other two members said. The bar tender poured the three drinks and slid them across the bar to them.
"You like the show?" The blond looked over and asked to you, as you sipped your cold drink.
"Yeah, wasn't expecting such a lame band to go this hard." You said looking over to him.
"Hey, we try our best to look professional here." He snapped back at you.
"I'm just teasing." You said focusing back on your drink.
"So, you from around here?" He said with his masculine tone.
"I go to university near here, but I'm originally from New York City." You said fiddling with the rim of your drink.
"The big apple, huh? Must've been rough living there." He responded.
"Not really..." You said taking a sip of your beer.
"We're from around here. Cambridge to be exact. We spend a lot of time over in Boston though. Trying to get a good gig." He explained while taking another sip of his Miller Lite.
"I'm sure you'll get a gig. You're pretty good." You said trying to sound nice.
"Thanks. Maybe you can come watch us here again sometime." He said passing you a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket with their schedule printed on it.
"Thanks, but I'm leaving the city for a few weeks to visit family back in New York. Maybe I'll see you after. My names y/n, by the way." You said looking into his bright crimson eyes while grabbing the schedule. You could see the disappointment in his eyes.
"Oh, well that's a downer. You must be pretty busy with school too..." He said trailing off.
"Damnit Bakugou, stop flirting with the poor girl." The red hair chipped in. The girl laughed along.
"Shut up you prick, at least she's not a whore. I'm not even flirting." He snapped at them while getting up to go to the bathroom.
After he had came back things were pretty quiet after the remark the red hair had made.
About a half hour later you decided you should start heading back to campus. It was 12:30 and you needed some rest.
"Hey, I'll try and come see your band when I come back." You said waving to them as you walked out the door.
"See ya!" The blond said with that tired voice of his.
"Yeah, see ya." The other two trailed along.
You knew you probably wouldn't see them again because you're always so hung up with school. It didn't really matter to you anyways, they were just some random band at the bar.
Little did you know, the ash blond, Katsuki Bakugou, thought you were absolutely stunning. With that perfect h/l, h/c hair of yours, your big, e/c eyes, and your little smile, you were nothing but perfect to him. You were stuck in his mind for the next few weeks. You weren't some crazy little fake fan girl looking to fuck for once. You seemed genuine.
You had pinned the schedule he gave you onto the cork board in your dorm. Although you didn't really care too much to go and see them again, maybe it would be nice to check and see if they're still playing at L Street Tavern when you get back.
Only a couple days later you got on the bus to New York. It was a long ride, but it was worth it all in the end. You desperately wanted to see your family after 4 long months of living alone at school.
~
A couple weeks after your encounter with Katsuki Bakugou you still hadn't left his mind. Your beautiful name was glued to his brain. He decided to tune up his guitar and start a song about you. He liked to get his thoughts out by writing songs. It calmed him. He started with a simple,
"Hey there y/n, what's it like in New York City? I'm a thousand miles away, but, girl, tonight you look so pretty." He thought it sounded cheesy, but he continued writing it anyways. He enjoyed the sound of a rough acoustic guitar against a sweet love song. He had never written a song like this before, it was all so new to him. He usually wrote songs about his anger or hate for people, usually engaging in more of a hard rock, or head bangers.
A couple days later he decided to find an open mic to play the song at. He was pretty proud of the new tune and couldn't help but share it. He found an open mic session at a small family owned restaurant right around the corner from L Street Tavern. He was worried you might show up and hear the song, but he remembered, you were staying in New York for a pretty long time.
The night of the open mic had come. He stepped into the tiny restaurant and sat down at a table with his guitar. There was quite a few people at the restaurant that night. He hoped they would like his newly crafted love song.
Eventually, he stepped into the space with the cheap microphone and pulled his guitar strap over his shoulder.
"I wrote this song for a girl that's been stuck in my mind for the past few weeks. I hope you enjoy." He said into the microphone.
Authors note - Hey, I would suggest maybe listening to Hey There Delilah by Plain White Ts during this part :) okay back to the story.
He started gently strumming his guitar to a rhythm.
"Hey there y/n what's it like in New York City? I'm a thousand miles away, but, girl, tonight you look so pretty. Yes you do. Times square can't shine as bright as you. I swear, it's true." He began the song with his lazy guitar playing. He continued the song. He could tell most of the people in the restaurant enjoyed the honesty behind the lyrics. It made him happy someone was enjoying his work.
"Hey there, y/n. Don't you worry about the distance. I'm right there if you get lonely. Give this song another listen. Close your eyes. Listen to my voice, it's my disguise. I'm by your side." He sang under his gruff voice.
"Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. What you do to me." He led on with the catchy bridge.
"Hey there, y/n. I know times are gettin' hard. But just believe me, girl. Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar. We'll have it good. We'll have the life we knew we would. My word is good." Bakugou carried on.
"Hey there, y/n. I've got so much left to say. If every simple song I wrote to you. Would take your breath away. I'd write it all. Even more in love with me you'd fall. We'd have it all." He went on, after that singing the bridge again.
"A thousand miles seems pretty far. But they've got planes and trains and cars. I'd walk to you if I had no other way. Our friends would all make fun of us. And we'll just laugh along because we'd know. That none of them have felt this way. Y/n, I can promise you. That by the time that we get through. The world will never ever be the same. And you're to blame." He sang emotionally while strumming along.
"Hey there, y/n. You be good, and don't you miss me. Two more years and you'll be done with school. And I'll be makin' history like I do. You know it's all because of you. We can do whatever we want to. Hey there, y/n, here's to you. This one's for you." After this he slowly ended the lovely song with the bridge,
"Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. What you do to me, oh oh, woah, woah. Oh woah, oh. Oh." He sang softly, ending the song by strumming all of the strings on his beat up guitar.
After he had finished the sweet tune someone came up to him.
"Hey kid, that song you played was actually pretty good. The lyrics and rhythm were amazingly catchy. No one can ever go wrong with a classic love song. Maybe I can help you get big. I know some people in the industry. I came here to find some new musicians, actually." The mysterious figure said to him.
Bakugou was in shock. He knew people liked his music. But not to the point where somebody like this would notice him. Especially this song. It was just some overly cheesy love song.
"Thanks." He said not knowing what to say. He was speechless.
"Here, give me a call." He said while slipping his business card over to the blond.
Of course later that night he couldn't help but call the guy. He had never heard anything like this from someone.
~
Y/n was nearing the end of her trip. She was sitting in her Mother's car on the way to the bus station back to Boston. She couldn't help but over hear the radio.
"Hey we have a new love song from this band called Sex Bob Omb. I thought it was pretty good, how about we give it a play." You couldn't believe what you just heard, so you immediately turned up the volume on the radio. You could hear that spiky blond's classic voice over the sound of a relaxed, acoustic guitar. It seemed very unlike the band to have a song like this, or even be on the radio.
"Hey there y/n, what's it like in New York City? I'm a thousand miles away, but, girl, tonight you look so pretty. Yes you do." The song started out gently. You jumped at these lyrics. You thought you were dreaming. But you weren't...
"Mom, I think this song is about me..." You said trying not to sound insane.
"Sweetie, it's just some song on the radio I'm sure you're over thinking it." She said calmly.
"No, Mom, I saw this band at the tavern a few weeks ago. The lead singer was talking to me at the bar." You denied her.
"I'm sure it's just a coincidence." She said keeping her eye on the road.
"Times Square can't shine as bright as you. I swear, it's true." You softened at these lyrics. The way he wrote them... It made you feel like you were the only girl in the world that mattered.
"Hey there, y/n. Don't you worry about the distance. I'm right there if you get lonely. Give this song another listen. Close your eyes. Listen to my voice, it's my disguise. I'm by your side." You couldn't help but feel like he was actually by your side, like he stated. You wished he could sing this to you, with that guitar of his, while looking you in the eyes. You really were falling for some mysterious guy. You would have never thought you would fall for some rebellious band member... or someone that you barely even knew. Music had never moved you in a way like this, it was so connecting, yet unexpected.
Finally, You had made it back to your campus. You rushed up to your dorm to see that schedule he gave you. You wanted to see him again. The lyrics of the song made you melt. It warmed your heart. Making you fall for the random blond even more. Thankfully, the band was booked pretty far ahead on the schedule.
A few nights later you caught yourself back at L Street Tavern hoping to see them there. You were sure they wouldn't be there now that they had made it on the radio. But it didn't hurt to try and see if they would be there.
Unexpectedly you heard the sweet voice of the girl scream,
"WE ARE SEX BOB OMB!"
You turned around and made eye contact with the blond. His face flourished red. You couldn't stop staring into his glistening crimson eyes.
"Wait, it's y/n." He said walking over to you, stopping the other band members.
"The girl you wrote the song about? I thought that was just a made up name." The red hair said furrowing his eyebrows.
"You came..." He said looking into your love struck eyes.
I really wanted to make a story inspired by this song so I hope you liked it. :)
Please comment some more songs you would like me to write stories about.
Also yes I got the name Sex Bob Omb and the song they sang is from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World hehe. Also, L Street Tavern is a real bar in Boston!
#bakugou#bakugou x reader#katsuki bakugou#katsuki bakugou x reader#katsuki x reader#quirkless bakugou#quirkless au#band au#mha#mha x reader#bnha#bnha x reader#bakugou x y/n#bakugo#bakugo x reader#boku no hero#boku no hero x reader#my hero academia#my hero academia x reader#mha quirkless#mha fanfic#bnha fanfic#bakugou fanfic#mha drabble#mha fanfiction#mha bakugou
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Legacies boss breaks down its most memorable monsters, previews a few to come
Just like every story needs a hero — or heroes — every Super Squad needs a good villain. On Legacies, that's something the series delivers on a weekly basis.
When Legacies first premiered, it faced a difficult task: As the third show in the Vampire Diaries universe, how would is both seamlessly fit into the world fans knew and loved while also creating its own identity outside of both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals? And one of the key ways it was able to do just that was through its monsters. While the series that came before it were much more serialized — and generally less adventurous when it came to their Big Bads — Legacies came out swinging with a creative monster-of-the-week format, along with a more serialized arc of course, that has given fans everything from a dragon to Krampus (and soon ... a leprechaun).
"We have an incredibly talented monster department between [Creative FX Department Head] Mark Villalobos and [Creative FX Assistant Department Head] Heather Mages," says executive producer Brett Matthews. "As writers we'll pull references to let them know what we're thinking — is this a scary monster is it a funny monster? — and we have a lot of conversations about that at the beginning, and then Mark and Heather go away and work with their team and produce a sketch that we give notes on. And a lot of times we see that sketch and go, 'You guys really think you can achieve this?' And almost every time they do and a lot of times they exceed expectations. But generally it ends up looking pretty close to that."
In the beginning, much of the monster talk focused around what was possible. Could they pull off a practical monster, a.k.a. a man in a suit, just as well as something that involves more visual effects? And that's where the gargoyle came in.
"That was one of our very early monsters so it was a stress test for the mythology of the show and what we could achieve practically. Because that monster's almost 100 percent practical," says Matthews. "That's a guy in a suit and could we do that in a way that didn't look cheesy, could we achieve the show more practically than going the visual effects route for everything? I think that's the great success of that episode is that creature design."
In terms of story, the gargoyle was also the series' first monster with a specific backstory. "They're historically protectors and we liked that about it, we liked that turn about him choosing not to murder at the end," Matthews says, teasing that fans might see the gargoyle again in season 3.
Seeing as how most monsters aren't brand new creations, Matthews says, "We start with history because that's the public perception of what something looks like and then we always put it through the Legacies filter." For something like the dryad, it was about finding that balance between her being "at once monstrous and incredibly beautiful."
The dryad wasn't what Matthews calls a "name-brand monster," but rather something lesser-known. "We try to play the hits, we try to play dragon and give you the merman and the mummies and the name-brand monsters but it's also fun to really poke into monsters that people just haven't heard of that have their own rich mythology, and that's something you'll see us continue to do in season 3. There are some very specific monsters from some very specific regions that people may never have heard of, but that's part of the fun of it."
One example of the show using a better-known monster, Krampus has been seen across pop culture many times. So then the question became: How will the Legacies version of a well known creature vary? "Our version of the Krampus was probably a little less horrific than public perception because he's stealing your children and taking bad children away and eating them, so we avoided that element of it," says Matthews. "But he was pretty gross. A lot of the Krampus stuff was too gross to use, so some of that didn't make the show."
Matthews is also quick to point out that for all of their practical monsters, the final piece of the puzzle is the performer in the suit. (And yes, sometimes it's the same person playing multiple monsters. ) "No matter how good the suit is, the person who goes in it is ultimately what gives it that personality, that life," Matthews says.
And often times for these monsters, the devil really is in the details, because nobody's going to forget the qareen's chin anytime soon. "Jason Voorhees is this scary guy who runs through the woods but the hockey mask is the thing that makes that character iconic, it is that detail," says Matthews. "Even the Krampus, his eyes are red and green, so they all have these hyper-specific things that hopefully stick with you because those are the things that make monsters memorable. We try to treat the monsters like a character and so it's always, 'What would make sense in this design and also on a technical level, what do we need this monster to do in this episode and how can we free the performer in the suit up to do their thing?' The qareen is a very extensive application of a suit. The chin and the details stay with you."
Some monsters have the look ... and just a little something extra. The Necromancer began as the show's version of Death. "We wanted to do a character in that sphere, somebody who had a hand in the living and the dead," Matthews says. Cut to season 3 and the Necromancer is still playing a large part in the show's story.
"When we got into the voice of the character, he became this pompous asshole of a guy and then he became a real character that we knew would have a live within the show rather than just an episodic threat," says Matthews. "He's got his own story. He's just really petty. He has a very small drive that he's willing to go to grandiose lengths to preserve, and the notion that his legacy is lost is enough to drive him to the heights of villainy. He's clearly a monster without equal in terms of screen time and the journey he's been on and it's a journey that will continue in season 3. Ben Geurens is just a brilliant actor. It's kind of like how Crowley became a major player on Supernatural. Sometimes you get an actor and a part that just fit."
Along with the Necromancer, Legacies' third season will also feature a few new monsters, including the Lady of the Lake, who escapes from Malivore in the season 3 premiere. "That one's kind of ripped from the headlines," says Matthews.
The episode is titled "We're Not Worthy," and will bring a very old legend to the show. "It was a fun way to do something very medieval that also fit very much into our world and gave the Super Squad, who are hopeless, literally and figuratively int hat episode, a very stiff challenge to overcome," says Matthews. "That one's a little more straight ahead and a little more classic than we often do, but as with all things, it devolves into the technicalities and has a fun wrinkle that makes it modern hopefully that people will enjoy."
EW has a look at some concept art of another upcoming monster: A leprechaun. "At a time where the Salvatore School requires funding, this leprechaun comes into the world and gives you a window into greed and what is right and wrong and what is the responsibility of people when it comes to using their supernatural abilities for good or for ill," says Matthews. "And in typical Legacies fashion he's like a grubby little monster and a more monstrous version of the creature we all know. This one has murder on his mind."
Legacies airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.
#Legacies#TheOriginals#TheVampireDiaries#TVD#HopeMikaelson#LizzieSaltzman#JosieSaltzman#AlaricSaltzman#LandonKirby#RafaelWaithe#MG#KalebHawkins#LegaciesSeason3#LegaciesSeason2#LegaciesSeason1#Malivore#MysticFalls#SalvatoreSchool#We’reNotWorthy#JuliePlec#TheCW
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Monsters & Pancakes
Pairing: Avengers x Enhanced!OFC
Word Count: 2,462
Warnings: Swearing, mentions of death and familial loss.
A/N: Welcome to Chapter 3! I hope you all enjoy the story as well as the characters! Image is not my own. All rights go to the original creator. Sorry this took so long to get out! I hope you enjoy reading it!
Series Masterlist
I slowly begin to wake and curl more into the couch. My body feels less heavy than it usually does, more alert. That alone has me feeling uneasy before I realize I'm on my couch... not my bed.
I shoot up in terror knowing fully well that he did something to me, that Loki made me pass out. Though, the fast movement throws me off balance and I end up tumbling to the floor. While pushing myself up with a groan, I hear hurried footsteps rush towards me on the floor.
"What in Odin's name are you doing on the floor?" He chides somewhere behind me.
"What did you do to me?" I sneer while turning towards his voice.
"Just a simple sleeping incantation." He tells me while nonchalantly crossing his arms.
"Why?" I growl while forcing myself to stand. He sighs while rolling his eyes.
"For one, I was brought, somehow, to this place, against my will might I add. So, my trust in you was not and is not very high. Another reason I kept you asleep, after I explored to make sure it was safe, was because it appeared that you needed it." He explains in a very frustrated tone. I take a deep breath.
"I guess we're even then." He looks at me curiously. "Both being kidnapped by the other..." I elaborate.
"Not quite..." He states while I cock an eyebrow. "Your name... I still do not know it."
I sigh while trying to run a hand through my very knotted dirty-blond hair.
"People call me 'Saddie'." I tell him while walking to my room to retrieve my brush.
"You didn't answer my question." He huffs.
"Yes, I did." The retort comes out more bitter than intended but I don't care to change it.
"I asked for your name, not a nickname. I told you my name without the added titles."
"'Of Asgard' isn't an added title?" He groans at the sarcastic remark while I carefully brush the wavy tresses.
"Your name?" He asks again, though annoyed.
I sigh, not wanting to say it out loud.
"No need to tell me, you just did." He chuckles darkly from the hallway.
"What?!" I yell.
"Don't worry, Sadira, I think it's a very unique name." I feel my face grow hot with anger and notice the lightbulbs starting to flicker.
I storm out of my room only to spot him standing frozen in the hallway, staring at the flickering bulbs.
"Do NOT use that name!" He turns around to face me quickly. "And stop reading my DAMN MIND!" I scream.
He holds his hands up in surrender.
"I give you my word, not to do that again." He tells me.
I scoff.
"I don't know if I believe you."
I brush past him and make my way to the kitchen. I haven't eaten since before I left for work, however long ago that was. As the thought of food crosses my mind, my stomach growls painfully and I resist the urge to groan because of it. God, I want something sweet.
As I begin to prep my meal. I see Loki leaning on the doorway, just observing.
"Do you want anything?" I ask, my head deep into the refrigerator.
"Sure." I hear in reply. "As long as you don't poison it." I half-chuckle.
"You never know..."
I begin to pull ingredients together and place them on the counter.
"Why did you teleport into the middle of the street?" I ask while focused on the food in front of me.
"Huh?"
"Well, you suddenly appear on Earth in the very early morning, looking very upset or unnerved for whatever reason, and then appear to want to blend in. Seeing as you're wearing... what do you call it... ah, Midgardian clothes, instead of what looked like a cape when I first saw you. It looks to me like you're on the run." I explain.
"You saw that?"
"I saw everything. The beam that brought you here and everything that followed until you spotted me." I say, while waving a spatula around as I talk.
"But why did you think I was on the run? Maybe you are yourself." My eyes snap up to meet his. "You have nothing personal in here. No pictures of family... friends, no images at all. Not even a plant." He pries while moving closer to me.
"Because I have none."
"What?"
"I have no friends or family." I growl while tightly gripping onto the spatula.
I move my eyes back onto the food I'm preparing in order to prevent the tears in my eyes from spilling. And I try so hard as to push them back.
"Now, are you on the run?" I ask through gritted teeth.
"In a sense... Yes. Are they actively looking for me? No. No harm will come to you because of it."
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in at his explanation.
"Who are you hiding from?" He asks, carefully.
"Too many people to list." I chuckle darkly as I put the mixture into a pan. "Mainly HYDRA though. Unfortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't been able to completely rid the world of them." I grumble.
"Ugh, S.H.I.E.L.D." He grunts with such distaste.
"I take it you've encountered them." I state while looking at him from the corner of my eye.
He hums in acknowledgement while I flip the item in the pan.
"Well I haven't, but I'm grateful for them nonetheless. If it wasn't for S.H.I.E.L.D, HYRDA would still have me. And I don't want to imagine the horrors that would come from that."
I begin to plate what I had prepared before washing and cutting up some strawberries.
"What is your favorite fruit?" I ask faintly.
"What?"
"Do you have a favorite fruit?" I ask again, though slightly annoyed.
"No, none that I know from Midgard." He says, very confused.
I hum while taking a can of whipped cream from the fridge.
After stacking two pancakes, I drizzle the cut strawberries on top before adding a spiral of whipped cream and a drizzle of maple syrup. I pass the finished plate to him along with a fork and knife before doing the same to my plate. I walk to the fridge and put all the ingredients away, but not before spraying some of the cream into my mouth.
I look back at Loki and notice he wears a disgusted expression.
"What? My house, my rules. And besides, it's for good luck." I defend while stabbing my fork into a piece of a pancake.
He scoffs but says nothing. I shake my head and continue eating. My thoughts begin to wander to all the events that occurred today, when I gasp.
Loki gives me a strange look as I run over to the living room and turn the TV on the first news station I find. The Q-Ship is still being played all over each network with the headlines reading "Attack on New York City". Various "experts" talk and give their predictions of what it means or what's going to happen. I scowl at the stupidity of those so-called "experts". The really have NO idea what the hell is going on.
Tony Stark's face shows up on the screen as the title reads "Missing". I hope that he's still alive, still in the fight. I know we'll need him. I mean, they'll need him.
Hpmh "we'll"...?
I am NOT getting involved in this anymore.
The image then changes to Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw giving their oh-so nauseating "rejoice because of our presence" speech. I growl at their faces immediately causing the TV and the lights to begin to flicker.
"You know the Black Order." It's not a question but a statement. I turn to face Loki who has an uncertain look on his face.
I sigh, but say nothing to confirm or deny before looking back at the TV. What's the point? The answer is already known.
"Saddie... How do you know them?" He says inching closer to me. I can feel the spike of his heart-rate, I can feel his fear as if it was my own. Though, some of it is my own fear too.
"I guess that's who you're running from." I half-heartedly say with a chuckle. Though, I'm not even sure I'm correct.
"How do you know Thanos?" He asks slowly, cautiously, scared of a reaction. My reaction.
And he should be, because at the mention of his name, I begin to shake uncontrollably.
"Please... Please, don't. You don't want to know." I croak, shutting my eyes from the new tears in my eyes pushing to be set free.
Before either of us can do anything, the screen changes to "Possible Alien Attack in Scotland".
"Now why the hell would they go to Scotland?" I ponder out-loud with tears still rimming my eyes.
My eyes widen in slight fear before I pivot to face Loki.
"When was the last time you faced the Black Order?" I question quickly, harshly brushing off the lone tear that fell.
He flinches from my sudden actions, but remains silent.
"You're running from Thanos and his children. What happened to cause you to run?" I push because I need to know. If this is what I think it is, I'm not safe anymore, no one is.
Still there is silence...
"Tell me!" I scream at him.
His face scrunches briefly before he sighs.
"The day I arrived on Midgard. Ragnarok happened to my realm, Asgard. Me and my brother, Thor, we escaped with our people. Then Thanos arrived, he wanted the Tesseract. Inside was one of the six Infinity Stones. They're-"
"I know what they are. But did you just give one of the stones to him?! Why would you even consider that?!" It can't be the same Thor as... No, no it's just a similar name. Focus Saddie!
"I didn't! Not at first! He already had one! He had the Power Stone, and he had my brother! And he was torturing him for the stone! You have no idea what that's like. To bargain for the life of someone you care about!" His words send a dagger to my heart and I feel the burn of tears in my eyes again.
"I have every idea what that is like! That is why I have no family left!" I scream, the lights start flickering again.
Silence envelops the room again except for our raging breaths slowly calming down from our shouting.
"Balance... That's what he calls it. Where there is an entire population, Thanos will leave half. Two planets in a system, one remains untouched. Two siblings..." I trail off and only one tear rolls down my cheek. "You were the sibling that should have died... weren't you?" My voice soft with sadness and understanding.
He says nothing, he doesn't need to.
"You need to tell your brother you're alive." I say choking back a sob.
"What? I can not simply do that! You have no ide-"
"STOP SAYING THAT! I lost my twin sister because of that monster!" I scream. "I am in your brother's shoes. I mourn the loss of my sister everyday! I blame myself! He needs to know, he needs to know you're still alive!" The tears have been rolling in uncontrollable waves down my face before I inhale a deep breath and exhale, slowly willing myself to calm down.
"There are more Infinity Stones on Earth... That is the only possible explanation for his presence here." I reason while the tears slow.
I kneel down and extend my palm on the ground. Reaching my power outward, I let myself connect to the Earth. It's over-powering and extremely painful to do because of my limited practice, but I persist.
"What are you-"
I let myself slip into the feel of the world, the magnitude of power it possesses, but I feel it. One form of power that exists above all else on this planet. The only Infinity Stone on Earth. I gasp, call back my abilities, and fall backwards. The power surges, then every electric source in my house flickers to black. I sit in the dark silence as I still can feel the stone somewhere in New York, somewhere close by. The power goes back on and I turn to a stunned Loki.
Tapping into the city's power supply, I try to recharge my energy as quickly as I can before sitting up, and pushing past the annoying man in my living room.
"Where are you going?" He calls out as I throw the door open to my room.
"There's an Infinity Stone still on Earth. Either the Black Order, or Thanos will be there. I'm going." I tell him as I drag a chest from under my bed.
"What?! Are you mad?!"
"Possibly..." I mutter to him as I throw the lid open.
Possibly? Try undeniably!
Yeah, I'm so not getting involved in this... dammit.
Inside the chest various knives, daggers, and even my bo-staff lie waiting to be used. Most of the metals are specifically designed for me by the Mad Titan himself. Smiling to myself at the comfort my weapons bring, I use my power to throw Loki out of the room and shut the door. After locking it, I begin to change, but not into one of the garbs I wore while my sister was still alive.
Instead, I slip on the suit HYDRA had made for me before I escaped. It's a navy catsuit that almost resembles Black Widow's own one. I zip it up to my neck then pull on black lace-up boots and my black fingerless gloves. I arm myself to the teeth with several small knives, four daggers (the two largest, from my time with HYDRA, rest on my thighs), and the bo-staff that extends into my favorite duel-bladed weapon.
Sealing the chest back up and returning it under my bed, I unlock and open the door to which Loki stumbles in. Apparently, leaning on the door was smart. A very, very, smart idea indeed.
He scoffs at my thoughts when he regains his composure. Though, I recall telling him not to read my mind anymore, I have more important things to do than to yell at him. Instead, I settle for an eye roll.
Looking me up and down as I place my long hair into a high ponytail, his mouth hangs open as he stares. I ignore the goosebumps that erupt under his gaze. Wow, do I need more male interaction or what? Mentally chastising myself, I clear my throat, bringing his attention back to me, or to my eyes.
"Please don't do anything destructive while I'm gone." I practically beg before teleporting away.
Chapter 4
#marvel#My writing#writers on tumblr#writers on wattpad#The Avengers#bucky#bucky x oc#Loki Laufeyson#loki x oc#loki odinson#loki#writers#natasha romanoff#nebula#gamora#infinity war#avengers x ofc#endgame#avengers x oc#tony stark#clint barton#thanos#wanda maximoff#the winter solider#winter solider#hydra#Thor Odinson#thor#Steve Rogers#captain america
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Y’know, I debated not answering you bc what you sent sounds like the typa shit that attracts unwanted discourse. So if that was your intent (and I mean this with all sincerity): go fuck yourself.
I’m not sure where you got the idea that I’m "still devoted to" C3, esp since the last piece of art I made for that ship was pre-KTGG -- nearly a year ago. That was also the last time, until recently, that I spoke about C3 at all. So ???
I will admit I didn’t answer that ask very thoughtfully when I originally responded -- mostly bc I assumed by now ppl understood my stance on this issue -- so I went back and edited for clarification. However, if you’d read my about page instead of jumping to conclusions, you’d know where I stood.
But since that clearly didn’t happen, I’ll spell it out for you: I used to ship C3. As of right now, I don’t. However, during the time in which I did, I was in the process of building an extensive backstory AU that I am still very much attached to and enjoy creating content for. It was designed specifically to establish Copia as an outsider -- not a member of the Emeritus family -- which has been my view of him since since day fucking one (x).
One scroll through my blog will show you none of this is new. Copia's underdog status plays a vital role in how I draw, write and headcanon him, as well my general attachment to his character. Sure, you can sit there and claim I dreamt all this up for the purpose of shipping, but you'd also be lying out of both sides of your mouth. If my development of this AU was nothing more than ""justification"" for C3, my blog wouldn't be littered with loads of art and comics focused on the rest of the family and their respective dynamics. (x) (x) (x) Not to mention the countless memes and shitposts that have goddamned nothing to do with any of this.
Anyway, for me, an AU only works if you can establish a very clear departure from what's been described in canon. KTGG presented several plot holes I had never previously considered, and these muddied waters made me unsure of how to continue world building. I don't want to publish anything until there are no surprises left, so until we get more official information regarding this lore, I have temporarily pulled the breaks on this project.
Still, none of this is reason to completely dismantle something I've been working on since 2018. Nor does it suddenly make the material itself "problematic". I should be able to keep my AU (C3 storyline or not) without ppl like you accusing me of being some incest-obessed fujoshi simply bc I chose to view the source material in a way you don't personally like.
From last summer forward, every time I’ve been asked about the topic of my AU, the answer never contained any mention of C3 (x) (x) (x) bc I don't currently ship C3. If by "devoted to" you meant "it's on the back burner and also the stove isn't on" then sure, I'm super devoted.
But even if this weren't the case -- even if the amount of currently unanswered questions didn't bother me and I plowed ahead with my story no holes barred, what exactly would my crime be? Why would an AU created to explore the non-canon backstories of Copia (a Catholic orphan) and Papa 1 (his unrelated mentor) suddenly become problematic just bc once in a blue moon a scene appears in which Copia has a boyfriend? Considering all content I've made for C3 sees them as completely unrelated and has also been 100% SFW, what line have I crossed? I know my lane. I'm not mlm (I'm not wlw either, which is what you're trying to peg me as) so I would never create explicit content for a community to which I don't belong. But if you think LGBT+ folks can only make material tailored to their specific identities in order to not be fetishy, then I've got some fuckin news for you and you're not gonna like it.
Anyhoo, I don’t believe for one second that you’re this casual by-standing "outsider" -- not least bc you knew exactly where to find the post where I first addressed the plot twist possibility, but lmfao whatever you say bubs. I also love that you’re on the "outside" while simultaneously in the know about what the fandom collective has decided re: What If Copia Is An Emeritus. You need to get your story straight.
Damn near everyone in this fandom has created some sort of AU -- whether that be a world where they self-ship, a universe in which none of the Papas died, or, I dunno, one full of dragons and dinosaurs :-) The fact that you're specifically honing in on my AU with insane and disgusting out-of-left-field accusations tells me everything I need to know about both you and your motives, so listen very closely: there is nothing wrong with creating an AU that diverts from canon. Despite what you think, viewing Copia as unrelated to the Emeritus family is pretty goddamned normal around here. And considering Tobias obviously wanted us to think of him this way (and let us do so for over a year and a half) it's easy to see why so many ppl prefer that concept to the story we'll probably get.
You are not the boss of me. You are not the judge of my character. You have no authority over me, and you need to stop talking as if you do. Your tone is condescending and sexist -- which is odd, considering you're not speaking to a woman. I'm definitely not a fujoshi, but you quite possibly might be a transphobe. Or is truscum a more accurate way to describe you? :-) Anyways, thanks for that. Getting misgendered in our own inbox? We love to see it.
This is the last time I’ll be addressing this topic. If you have any further questions feel free to call my personal hotline @ 1-800-EAT-MY-ASS.
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