#in a way you never see because usually once you have weapons in a game you have lots of uses/ammo

[inbarfink]

Any analysis of how Undertale deals with Pacifism and how it tries to guide the Player towards it has to take a deep look at Papyrus. Because Papyrus is the one character in the game who will never kill, the one actual ‘True Pacifist’ in the game’s main cast. 

I mean, the Player can be an even bigger Pacifist. Papyrus does still FIGHT, and the Player can get through an entire run without draining a single sliver of HP. But… they can also be the world’s biggest murderbastard and literally stab reality to death. 

Toriel would very much like to not kill, but she is also fully capable of doing so.

Same with Asgore, but he has a lot more actual blood on his hands. Undyne and Mettaton are both fully 100% willing to kill to accomplish their goals. Sans is non-violent in most runs because he’s too lazy and depressed to do anything, and when he is motivated into actions - it is in the form of a FIGHT to the death. Alphys… the timeline is a bit fuzzy cause both she and Mettaton love lying so much, but it seems like she did sincerely add deadly weapons to Mettaton cause killing humans would make him more 'useful' and then had second thoughts once she developed a parasocial relationship with the Human Child and THEN she and Mettaton started hatching their little play-acting plan. I think??

With Papyrus there is NONE of this ambiguity, we know for sure - no matter what timeline or what may come - The Great Papyrus will always choose MERCY.

And the interesting thing about that is on a Meta-Sense, Papyrus is a very rare example of the game giving MERCY towards the Player. 

Because the game starts out being really obtuse with the Sparing mechanic and how it works. If you want to be a Pacifist in Undertale from the get-go, you’re gonna have to work for it. You're gonna have to figure it out on your own and commit to it and believe that it's possible. It's basically a test of your own belief in non-violence and your moral integrity. Then, the RUINS end with the Toriel boss battle - in a way, that’s probably the hardest Sparing puzzle in the whole game. And it’s very very easy to accidentally kill her. (I’d almost say that’s the intention of the battle, to try to goad the Player into Resetting so they can see how the game remembers across RESETs)

And then we have Papyrus, and it’s not just that his ‘Sparing Puzzle’ is something as simple as outlasting him and letting him run out of dialogue - and it’s not just that he’s the only boss that will just give up and let you continue if you lose to him enough times. it’s also that, just as Papyrus is the only boss incapable of accidentally killing the Player - he’s also the only boss that the player is incapable of accidentally killing.

(Okay, fine, to be pedantic, there’s also Asgore)

I mean, the Player can certainly kill him if they want to - but draining Papyrus’s HP just makes him skip through his battle dialogue right to the end of it. It’s designed in such a way that, no matter what Route you're on and no matter what approach you take with Papyrus - you will always end up on this screen.

Unlike basically any other Monster in this game, including the major boss battle just before him - you can’t kill Papyrus accidently. You can't kill him without also having Sparing him as an option. The game kinda treats killing Papyrus as one of the Worst Things You Can Do because killing Papyrus will always be a deliberate, considered action done to a person who will not kill you and who has stopped wanting to FIGHT and has extended a hand of Mercy. With the game clearly communicating what you need to do to Spare him at that moment.

And that means that - even if you killed before, even if you don’t have the patience of a True Pacifist, even if you spent all this time in the game without even trying to engage with the Sparing mechanic… as long as you don’t want to be a Huge Rat Bastard, the game is basically gifting you with the very very easy option to not be. Being a Pacifist in Undertale is usually a challenge - a puzzle to be solved, a test to pass. But as long as you aren’t intentionally trying to be the Worst Person - the game is basically giving you Papyrus. 

If you accept his Mercy, you are accepting the game’s Mercy. That sort of benefit-of-the-doubt assumption that maybe all of the LOVE you might have accumulated so far was all due to honest mistakes or panic or an attempt in self-defense. That you still deserve this one chance to prove that you are not intentionally, maliciously cruel - or at least not like the Worst Person in the World. Even if you did kill before, you still deserve at least one friend.

And Sparing Papyrus leads you to his wonderful Hangout/Dating Sequence and to his Phone Calls and they all add so much wholesome charm to the Undertale experience and no matter what happens Papyrus will always think the best of the Player and he will always trust them and it also makes Sans also kinda your buddy by default. And more than just adding a little bit of wholesome charm into even the more LOVE-filled Playthroughs, I think this is meant to try and incentivize these players into trying out the Mercy mechanic a bit more.

Whatever it’s, like, for future playthroughs or Resetting the game right there to try a True Pacifist Run right there and then or just trying to be a little kinder for the rest of this current playthrough - especially since there’s an emphasis about the close friendship Papyrus has with the upcoming boss Undyne, and to a lesser extent with his idol and next-next boss battle Mettaton. It’s like “well, if you didn’t figure out how to spare before, this is how you do it? And isn’t it nice to have a friend? Isn’t it nice to not have to kill this lovable skeleton man? You should do this more often wink wink nudge nudge!”

And it’s like… all of Papyrus’ loved ones care about him so much but they also look down on his pacifism. They see his inability to kill and desire to make friends as simple naivete and that’s why all tend to hide the truth from him all the time. About what will happen to the Human he will capture, about what his new Human friend might’ve done, about the fact that they view him as so naïve. 

They admire it on some level, that’s why they want to protect it, but they also see it as a weakness which is why they want to protect it by lying to him all the time. But, you know, Undyne says that if Papyrus goes into battle he’ll be ‘ripped into little smiling shreds’ and that is certainly what happens every time a Player chooses to refuse Papyrus’ Mercy and the game’s Mercy and press that FIGHT button…

But have you thought about all the times that doesn’t happen? All the careless or violent players who were offered that skeletal hand of friendship, accepted it and then carried that offered kindness forward for the rest of the game? All the players motivated to do good for the sake of their buddy Papyrus? All the Murder Routes stopped because the player just didn’t have it in them to kill someone who believes in them so earnestly?

Like, no, it’s not a surefire thing - especially since Papyrus has so much less narrative power than the Actual Unkillable Time God that is the Player. But it happened, and it happened many many times to many players. Papyrus offered Mercy, the game offered Mercy. And much like Frisk’s Pacifism, it comes from a place of seeing the honest goodness in your ‘enemy’ and can inspire them to become a better person - this little sparkle of goodness being passed forwards. 

And I think that’s beautiful, even if it didn’t happen in every timeline. Any potential future where Papyrus’ kindness can have such an effect on the Player and thus the entire trajectory of the Underground validates his kindness and pacifism on some level - even if there are also always the potential worlds that it backfires completely. 

And there’s also one other way in which the Great Papyrus Proves Pacifism Pays. One that is a bit more practical, perhaps. And one that Papyrus himself is not even aware of. 

Papyrus’ boss battle can be a surprisingly challenging one specifically because he is the only one who doesn’t kill the Player.

Like there is a reason why Papyrus will just offer you to skip his Fight after you lose to him three times, because if he didn’t do that - there’s an honest risk that the Player can get stuck in a much stuckier way than anywhere else in the game. 

Because, like, for basically any other character in the game, being killed is the Worst Thing that could ever happen to them. For everyone except the actual Player Character because we are an Actual Unkillable Time God and dying is nothing more than a minor annoyance that sets you back to your last SAVE Point. So, leaving aside Papyrus’ admirably kind intentions - there is not much material difference from the Player’s perspective between getting Captured and getting a more traditional GAME OVER. Except…

Except getting Captured does not undo everything that happened in your inventory during the battle. In every other Undertale battle, if you use all of your items but still lose - the GAME OVER at least means you get your stuff back. But because Papyrus doesn’t kill you, any healing item you’ve used during the battle is still used. I have watched so many Undertale Let’s Players waste all of their valuable items on their first Papyrus battle and then have to face him again without them and thus do even worse in their second go… and then their third go... and thankfully then Papyrus offers them to skip the fight.

And while that technically can be circumvented by just manually closing the game and opening it back again on their pre-battle SAVE Point, a lot of players are gonna reflexively Save over it if they pop over to the Shop or the Snowed Inn before their second attempt at the battle. If Papyrus didn’t offer that chance to skip his battle, it could’ve easily become a softlock situation for a huge chunk of players - because he doesn’t kill the Player.

Most of Undertale deals with the value of non-violence from a standpoint of morality and kindness and personal connections. Since most people do die when they get killed. But when dealing with an Unkillable Time God like the Player, Papyrus proves that not-killing might actually be the most practical solution.

Of course, it doesn’t seem like Papyrus is aware of any of this. From his perspective, he is just offering genuine mercy to a being just as ephemeral as he is. But it accidentally turned into one of the most effective methods of blocking the Player’s way… at least he didn’t offer us an opt out so soon after that. 

And it’s interesting when comparing him to how his brother Sans - one of the few people actually aware of the existence of SAVEs and RESETs - deals with the Player. Because the Sans boss battle at the end of the Murder Route is entirely based on the concept that death is nothing but an annoyance to the Player. Sans is less trying to kill the Player (the way Undyne the Undying did), he is simply trying to annoy the Player into a ragequit. But he is still killing the Player.

Now imagine a Sans battle where he has all of his usual annoying tricks, but also instead of killing you - he captures you just like his brother would’ve in a happier timeline. And while it’s not a fool-proof plan to stop the Player in their tracks - he could very easily stick them in that sort of softlock situation where they have to battle him again and again without any Healing Items. Forcing them to either abandon the game or RESET the whole world back the way it was - just like Sans wants them too. 

But instead, by killing the Player, he is just allowing that perfect second-third-fourth-fifth-sixth-try where they get all of their Stuff back. And he does actually knows that. And why doesn’t he do that? (Speaking here from an in-universe character study perspective. Obviously the Doylist answer is that the game doesn’t want to Softlock you even in the most deliberately-frustrating part of the game).

Maybe, even though he intellectually knows that killing the Player will be of no help - he still does it because he wants to. Because he just wants to get back at the evil murderous monster that took his brother from him and destroyed his entire world even if he knows it’s actually ineffective. And this thirst for bloodshed is, ironically, blinding him from a new exciting way to actually practically stop that murderous bastard who is themself motivated entirely by bloodshed. 

Maybe he just can’t do something like that. Reducing an enemy to exactly one HP and then stopping is not a feat anyone else in the game is capable of pulling off - even the ones who would obviously use such a thing (like Toriel or a Player with a Pacifist intentions). Maybe it’s something that requires a lot of hard practice and discipline and carefulness, that Sans never thought to put in because he didn’t see it as a useful skill the way Papyrus did. 

Maybe that wouldn’t have worked anyways. After all, and that’s something I kinda touched on in a previous Overly Long Rambly Hot Take - Sans’ War of Attrition against the Player is greatly helped by the fact he can’t remember every single previous try and so he can’t get exhausted the way the Player can get. Obviously, without a GAME OVER induced RESET that will not apply. Which is especially notable because… Sans’ laziness is literally what brings him down at the end of that Boss Battle. 

So maybe, while Papyrus, as long as you decline his offer to skip the battle, is capable of offering just the same Battle as before over and over and over again.... It’s possible that Sans just won’t be able to pull off two or three or more battles of the same intensity and difficulty in a row without a RESET to undo his own exhaustion. 

But I think it’s at least worth considering the option, y’know? That after all this time of viewing Papyrus’ kindness as sweet-and-yet-kinda-foolish-naïveté - that exact viewpoint made Sans overlook the perfect solution to dealing with his little Murderous Time God problem. Cause he just never considered that while killing might be fully morally justifiable in this situation and very very satisfying, that does not necessarily mean it is actually the most practical solution. And that maybe, in a weirdly twisted way, Pacifism WAS the answer.  

#undertale #ut #utdr #under tale #papyrus #the great papyrus #papyrus undertale #papyrus ut #sans #sans undertale #sans ut #sans the skeleton #papyrus the skeleton #undertale analysis #undertale meta #genocide route #genocide run

[euaphora]

hi sorry to ask but do you mind writing about more about Dave Lizewski (I think that’s how u spell it?)

summary: usually he’s sweet and acts right, but today he wanted to act nonchalant towards you so had to remind him where he stands.

Before you two even dated, he would follow you at night from a distance and watch you through your window. If someone else saw it in any way they wanted, they’d think he was stalking you. Which wasn’t the case.

He would hurry up with any work needing done with the new weapons that were going to be used for the next mission and ran out the door just in time to see you get ready for bed. He had done this for months before you asked him to come over to do the project your teacher assigned you to do, leading on from there.

He hated that class but always seemed to be passing since he really had no one to talk with to get distracted with the work. Once he started talking to you more in that class, he would slip with his grades and even got into a small argument with his dad over him failing.

The morning after the argument with his dad, he felt so upset with everything, giving attitude towards everyone including his teachers which almost made him getting sent to detention—even though he was completely unfazed with the security guard taking him to the office after Dave insisted that he wasn’t going to do the work. Which that even got him more upset because his dad had to come in and have a conference meeting with the assistant principal. Around lunch time he sat across from you which made you ask him, “everything okay?”. He just shrugged his shoulders, which slight pissed you off. You went about your couple minutes left for lunch by eating you homemade pasta you have packed for the two of you—which he didn’t eat since he had been daydreaming on how he would get back at his teachers and father— you up from your small bento lunch kit bowl and see him staring down at a random stain on the table. You were so confused but mad that he didn’t even give an explanation.

He walks you to your next period after lunch was over but stayed quiet the entire time and just made small hums when you would ramble about your day.

He could never be mad at you but he would get quiet and just mumble little things to make sure you know he was listening. You fixated your for eyes up towards his hooded ones, “did you get enough sleep, baby?” you ask him while running your thumb across a small part of his forearm while the rest of your hand is wrapped around his left arm.

Walking towards his last period of the day, he gets pulled into an empty classroom and gets pinned to the wall, whatthefuck?

He sees you with your arms crossed and with a pouty look, making him smile a little. “What’s up with you?” He asks, trying to keep his act. Which only made you even more mad but you decided to take that to your advantage since apparently we are acting what we aren’t.

“I missed you . . so much in class, baby.” You say, voice getting softer with ever word as you slowly get on your knees. “Yeah?” He asked, looking down at you, getting the hint on what your going to do next. “Yeah, can I show you how much I love you?”

He just nods— pissing you off already with the ways he keeps trying to push his act even further— watching you pull his pants along with his briefs as you pull it out. He slightly groans as he watches you tease the tip then slipping his cock into your mouth. “Mmm— keep going, baby.”

Head game was so strong he felt his hips stutter while trying to shove more of him deep inside.

As soon as he says that, you pull him out your mouth— making him furrow his brows in confusion— looking down at your naked figure which just made him hard all over again as you watched his tip get a dark red shade and his cock bolt up again.

“W-why did you do that I thought-”

“What? You thought what, huh, that you were gonna be able to cum in my mouth with how filthy yours was when I asked if you were okay? No sweet boy, you don’t deserve anything. Especially after being so rude to me, you should feel bad for the way you acted towards me.”

You get off your knees and fix you makeup— all smudged from the amount of sucking you were doing which made everything come off— he watches you look at yourself in your small mirror while he’s leaned back against the teachers desk with his cock still out, giving it small strokes while he watches you.

“I never meant any of that, I was just…eing a dick and I’m sorry but please do something,” he says with those little whines he always makes at the end when you tease him, clearly referring to his little problem.

“Fine but we do this my way. Starting off with you on your knees this time.”

He must have heard you talking in some sort of secret morse code manner with the way his body was completely frozen, he watches you stand still— not moving an inch to prove to him you weren’t messing around— and slowly goes down to his knees while still making eye contact with you.

He automatically feels a hard sting across his right cheek and immediately holds it, looking up at you and furrows his brows. You just look down towards him and told your head. “This doesn’t even come close with the way you acted today.”

“Why did you have to slap-” then another one across his left cheek now,”you don’t seem to get what’s going on here david.”

He slightly widens his eyes at the name, “I messed up and I know that but don’t call me by my first name you know I hate when you do that.”

You kneel down to meet his eyes and wrap your hands around his tip as the pre-cum is being used as lube, “I’ll call you whatever I want and your just going to have to deal with it just like the way you acted the way you wanted to.”

He lets out a simple hum, approving of your previous mentions. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t mad mad at you from the start, he shouldn’t even be acting like that around you.

He quickly whines and start moving his upwards to create more friction. With your other clean hand you play with his curls in between your fingers and give him a warm smile before pulling harshly at his tip and harshly on his curls.

He doesn’t say anything this time but gives you a small smile before feeling your soft lips crash with his, following your lips once you pull away, “does that feel good, baby?”

“A-amazing but I’m almost close…” he whimpers out, breathe sounding heavy and pants coming out of him. Before you could tell him how good of a job he was doing you feel hot ropes of white liquid splatter all over your hands and thighs.

He slowly gets up and pulls out his hand, helping you by getting tissues off the teachers desk. “Im sorry for the way I acted, I had no right to put my anger out on you..even if I was just ignoring you, it still wasn’t right of me.”

You just give him a small nod and walk out.

#euaphora #i love nerds #boyfriend #kick ass #dave lizewski smut #dave lizewski x you #dave lizewski x reader #dave lizewski #dave lizewski x y/n #smut #kickass #Aaron Taylor Johnson smut #aaron taylor johnson #ethan landry smut #ethan x reader #ethan landry imagine #ethan landry #ethan landry x reader #ethan landry fluff #scream ethan #scream smut #twt links #evan peters smut #tate langdon #tate langdon smut #ahs murder house #ahs asylum #tate langdon x reader #tate langdon x y/n #tate langdon x you

[prettyboypistol]

How the TF2 Mercs De-stress/Manage Anger

Scout

Actually a stereotypical movie bad boy about it. Cigarette, batting cage, and punching bags his emotions out. Shouts at people and shoves them out of his way, throat closed up in welled up emotions, his lungs refusing to give him air as the tightness of slamming against the metaphorical wall of frustration feels like it kills him inside. You know what? Being so tired you can barely register the world around? It's better than feeling like an elephant trapped in a jam jar.

Soldier

Works out and represses the expressions unless he's in battle. That's actually where he gets most of his energy. He thinks of all the shit that pissed him off or made him feel small and uses that flicker of rage as the start of the firecracker of a soldier on the field. Doesn't talk about his emotions much and doesn't see any need to. Yeah, a few drinks in and he gets sappy, but that's normal. Anger usually gets metal pipes bent or people's faces bashed in. Usually both.

Pyro

Expresses anger and stress as overexcitabiliy and hyperactivity. A constant overstimulation mode. Referencing the comics, Pyro won't hesitate to kill a bitch knowingly if they are pissed off. They're the reason it's called a "crime of passion". High spikes of anger followed by a low simmer of calmness. Actually pretty good about deep breaths when it comes to mild annoyances or daily stress, but the over the top bullshit absolutely gets an over the top reaction.

Heavy

Intimidation and powerplay is the name of Heavy's game. Sharp glares and a clear body message of "I will snap your spine if you breathe near me." This comes from his time in the gulag, when he had to keep himself and his family safe. Looking murderous when upset had a lot of advantages. When it actually comes to relieving the anger, he's an isolationist. Def thinks over the situation over and over again as he distracts himself with one of his hobbies. Usually not reading because his mind wanders off too much to focus on the pages.

Engineer

Hyperactive workaholic. He locks himself in his workshop and doesn't leave until he makes something either revolutionary or a man made horror you could only fathom in your nightmares. Whatever, he can sell it to the Administrator as a torture device. Who cares. Engie isn't much of a talker so much as he is a ranter. He grumbles and shouts to himself in a one way conversation as he tightens that one bolt that gave him trouble. Only once has he dented one of his sentries with his wrench when the energy was too much to comprehend.

Demoman

As is his usual solution, he drinks. He drinks and he talks. It doesn't matter to who or even if people are with him. Talking and bitching helps him to understand the situation, get his feelings validated, and develop more points of view. If that doesn't work, there's always testing his explosives. That release of emotions as he watches the burn pile explode is cathartic in a way. Pyro usually joins in and watches the fire, giving Demo someone to talk to.

Sniper

Also an isolationist, but you couldn't tell either way unless you pissed him off while talking to him. If it's just him, then you wouldn't even know that motherfucker was milliseconds away from starting a fight. Mutters to himself softly, barely able to hear the words himself as he shoots at sodacans and empty food containers all lined up by his van. Long drives while music plays in the background is one of his guilty pleasures when he can get away with it. If you ask what's bothering him he'll have a 50/50 between shrugging and saying a dismissive "it's nothing, just woke up wrong" or will barely explain it, but get the just of it accurately.

Spy

Tries to work through it physically, not emotionally. Man's has never talked about his emotions in his life and you won't make him start now. Usually very bitchy when something pisses him off, and his weapon of choice is personal insults. It's a funny thing really. He needs to feel superior by putting others down because the anger and stress makes him feel weak. There is only one good way to snap him out of a bad mood: casually praise him. "Nice work, Spy." "I knew I could count on you." "Thanks Spy, you're a lifesaver." Are instant soothers. It's nice to be acknowledged.

Medic

Workaholic worse than Engie. This man is really out here about to create an elderitch horror because he stubbed his toe and spilled his coffee. Strained smiles and snide comments are his language when he's had a bad day. If someone directly irritates him, that man is a solid 6'1 minimum and is built. He will and continue to physically intimidate people. Has violent fantasies as a cope.

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2 sniper #tf2 x reader #fanfiction #tf2 medic #tf2 spy #tf2 demoman #tf2 engineer #scout tf2 #tf2 scout #tf2 pyro #tf2 soldier #sniper x reader #tf2 headcannons #prettyboy pistol

[pendarling]

Do You Like Me?

Villain's attention shifted when they realized Hero was blushing. It was a soft stain of pink showering on their face despite the life-threatening circumstances they were in.

"Are you… seriously flustered right now?" They tightened their grip on the weapon as they stood in front of an abandoned warehouse. Hero had been knocked to the ground fairly easily tonight, and now Villain stood hovering above them, pointing the blade at their throat. They'd been determined to kill one of their longest adversaries, and even now, they still couldn't entirely figure them out.

This doesn't usually happen with all of Villain's other enemies, and something always told them that Hero, in particular, should be treated a little differently.

"W-what?" Hero's eyes widened, and they turned their gaze away.

They smirked slightly and pulled the blade away from Hero, "You really are enjoying this aren't you?" They chuckled as Hero stumbled on their words to find a counter-argument. "You a freak?" They leaned in and pulled their chin toward them. Hero's face lit on fire at the unexpected guess.

"Get off me!" They blushed feverously and batted away at their hand, but Villain hadn't budged at all; their eyes kept calm at the sudden nervousness of their enemy. 

"Hahaha, you seriously like me? I thought you just had a strong vendetta."

"I'm not interested in you, okay!?" 

Villain's hand combed through their hair until Hero's focus was back on them. "Oh? But you were blushing."

"I panicked!" A long silence came across them, and Hero lay silently.

"Hmmm..." Villain shrugged and stood away from them again to let Hero rise from the ground. They could tell they'd gotten on Hero's mind and decided to entertain it. "It's a shame, actually; I kinda thought it could work... theoretically speaking, of course, since..."

Hero dashed their eyes back at them. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's not gonna work."

But it already did, and without them knowing too.

"You really don't think of me in any way?" They leaned in closer again, their teeth bearing a predatory-like reminder of their positions, but the sudden closeness only made Hero's cheeks darken in excitement.

Their nemesis refrained from speaking, too stunned to fight but too embarrassed to clue them in further. Their aloof expression was rather unconvincing. 

Villain circled their frame with an ominous air surrounding them, a soft breeze passing behind them sent shivers across Hero's body. "My, my... I never knew I'd see the day you'd get so riled up because of me." Villain sounded confident in their words as their hand slightly traced down their back as they worked their way into Hero's vision once more.

"You're awfully cocky..." They mumbled, still frightened at the concept of harbouring any feelings for what was supposed to be their greatest opponent. 

"Am I?"

Hero felt their heart hammering in their chest when Villain's eyes lingered on their lips unexpectedly. They instinctively licked them in response, feeling an unfamiliar submissive nature surface just by being so near to Villain. "You are."

"Are you still scared of me, little hero?" They tilted their head in a taunting manner and observed their reaction at being called upon so playfully.

It took all their strength to shake their head without appearing intimidated, but the power dynamic had already attached itself to their heart. Whatever Villain was doing had left them nervous, unlike any others before. It was a type of fear that stopped them from pursuing dangerous territory before they went and got hurt. This was Villain, after all; they were capable of much greater things than just wasting time with them.

It could all be a small game, toying with Hero's emotions before they took what they hid so well.

"Good." They murmured against their ear, and Hero stopped themselves from flinching; they were so caught up in their thoughts that they hadn't processed Villain's movements. "Because I have much greater things I plan to do with you, love."

~~~ MASTERLIST

#fluff prompt #pining prompts #villain x hero #hero x villain #villainxhero #heroxvillain #cute prompts #soft prompts #imagine your otp #enemies to lovers #angst prompt #unrequited love #one sided love #pining scenarios #pining prompt

[vashtijoy]

something suggestive about balls: pool table proxy wars in akechi's confidant, rank 7

There's only one thing you really need to know about rank 7 of Akechi's confidant, and it is this: it happens on the day of the incriminating murder phone call.

We know this for several reasons:

It can't be locked for the name change ("family-name-kun" to "given name")—Akechi never calls Joker by name in conf 7. In fact, unless I miss my guess, he never calls Joker by name during the confidant at all, other than when you say hello in Kichijoji—probably because his term of address changes on 10/31;

Futaba will later tell us the call was recorded "a few days" after she bugged Akechi's phone on 10/29. From 10/29 to 11/2 is four days;

Given the importance of confidant 7, especially the rivalry discussion at the end, it's inconceivable that it happens before Joker hears the phone call. He goes there in full knowledge of what Akechi is, and what he intends.

Lastly, 11/2 can be summed up as "absolute chaos":

First, Akechi meets you on the train platform before school. He tells you he "won't be seeing you privately like this any more", once your deal is concluded—well, of course not, you'll be dead.

But this chat is so important that it appears to have two forms, unlike all the rest of Akechi's train platform appearances. One, the one I got in my playthrough, is quite gentle in tone. The other is much less so, much more dismissive, almost third semester in its bluntness. Assuming they're both in game, I'd guess the first is if you have the confidant levelled, and the second is if you don't. It's not legacy dialogue from vanilla P5; this scene looks to have been added for Royal. IDK, I don't know what triggers the two different chats, or if the other is even in game—but I'd like to.

If you haven't yet been to the hideout since 10/29, Morgana will force you to go after school. That's to say: you must have done Akechi's first hideout meeting, the first hideout of the Sae's Palace mission, by this date;

Last of all, Akechi texts you in the evening, for confidant 7 and its violent change in tone. "After all, losing doesn't sit well with either of us. Am I right?"

If 11/2 isn't the day of the phone call, I'll eat a nest of wasps.

boys and their toys

So. Joker walks into Penguin Sniper for confidant 7, in the a. full and b. very recently acquired knowledge that Akechi is a two-faced killer who's gleefully planning his murder. And what does he do?

Akechi has a lot of revealing things to say about balls in this scene, but we're not really here for him. Because look at how Joker is standing.

[screenshots below the cut, yo]

That's his usual "I have a pool cue" stance, with the cue held in front of him. Here he is doing it with the squad (plus one traitor):

See the difference? When he's with the others, Joker's facing the table—like you would at a billiard table, like Akechi is doing in the picture at the top. But in the confidant, when he's just learned exactly how malicious Akechi's intent is, Joker's not facing the table at all. Joker is facing Akechi. And that means he's keeping that cue firmly between them—whether as a shield or an impromptu weapon.

Now, like we said before, that's a standard pose—if Joker is holding a pool cue, he will hold it in that way. But it's the strange angle he's standing at, facing Akechi and not the pool table, that turns it into a message of sorts.

What happens next? Akechi leans down to take his shot, laying out his extended listen-I'm-going-to-murder-you-soon-and-I-haven't-fully-rationalised-it-yet metaphor all the while. Joker's eyes follow his to the table to watch. But he never turns to the table. He stays facing Akechi, and he still keeps the cue between the two of them:

The next thing is that you answer his question—"Hm, that sure sounds like a psychotic breakdown to me"—and Joker uses his hand to gesture....

... but then he gets the cue back between the two of them again, lickety-split:

The next thing that happens is that Akechi—probably deliberately, as part of his extended metaphor—misses his shot. The two of them pause to stare at the cue ball—in the Japanese text, Akechi has explicitly mentioned it as the ball you strike that starts everything unpredictably rolling. But Joker still keeps the cue between them, and still hasn't turned to the table:

(BTW, here's our old friend the sad sprite—there are some really interesting uses of it in this scene, that are worth watching out for.) But now we get to the point. "But even knowing all of that, you're still not going to quit, are you?"

Their eyes meet; the cue is still between them....

You can say "I've made up my mind" or "I won't miss my shot"; both mean, essentially, "fuck you"; both get the same result.

But now. Only now, as Joker goes to take that shot, does he finally turn to the table, exposing himself to Akechi. (coughs)

He nails it. And then they head out into the street to talk about rivalry. But take a look at their positions now:

Note that Akechi has not moved; only Joker has moved. But now the picture looks different. Now, it looks like Akechi is the one defending himself.

Joker has moved in and taken his shot, dropping his defence and opening himself up to attack in the process. Akechi hasn't moved or altered anything he was doing, yet now he's on the defensive.

And Joker's shot was successful, of course. Just like it will be on 11/20.

this is reaching, you should be ashamed

I see your point! Let's go back in time and have a look at confidant 2, for comparison. Here are the boys in happier times:

See? Joker is facing the table. Even though he's talking to Akechi, and looking at Akechi, he's turned to the table.

Here's another. This one's more dubious because of the angle, which means he does have the cue in front of him—but again, you can see Joker is pointed at the table, not at Akechi:

Funny you should say that, kid. Rank 7 Joker is on to you.

#persona 5 #p5 meta #ren amamiya #akira kurusu #goro akechi

[izzyhandswhore]

Would love to see your hcs of reader taking Izzy out on a date at the beach! :3

((What a cute idea!! Poor man needs to relax a bit. Also is anyone going absolutely FERAL at that new clip?? Because sdbaekfasjfd)) Taking Izzy for a date at the beach!

So after arguing with Stede that pirates don't actually take vacations and time spent docked at a beach is time wasted, Izzy turns to you for backup.. Only to find you've already swapped your weapons for one of Stede's lace parasols. With a heavy sigh, he's defeated.

You take him by the hand and happily drag him away from the rest of the crew to have a private beach day away from the explosives testing, quite public make out sessions and makeshift, boisterous games (not naming any names). You even bring along some sandwiches Roach made, a bottle of rum and some other beachy supplies all carried in a little bucket (that's a secret mousketool we'll use later).

He still tries to argue that this is pointless and the two of you have seen a million beaches over the years, but you still point out how nice the sunshine is, how beautiful the sea looks and generally how peaceful it all is. He'd usually find relentless optimism annoying, but it's different with you. Eventually you get him to admit that the quiet is nice at least.

The two of you sit on the sand and look out at the horizon, hand in hand, letting him have his peace and quiet for a while. You toe your boots off and dig your feet in the sand, just enjoying the feeling. Izzy argues that him taking his shoes off would give him a disadvantage if an ambush or something was to occur but of course he can never really say no to you. If you pay close attention you can see him visibly relax as his feet sink into the sand. He squeezes your hand just that little bit tighter.

After some rest, food/drink and light conversation it's like Izzy is a completely different person in the best way. You didn't realise how much you missed his laugh and smile until now... He laughs at you even more when you take the bucket and start teaching him how to make sandcastles.

Okay hear me out. At first Izzy is laughing at you and insisting that this is completely childish and affectionately calling you mad.. And then you lose him to the sandcastle. The man is running back and forth to the sea to get water for better structure. He's digging moats. You hunt down seashells and driftwood and he makes little windows and defenses from them. He has such an intense look of concentration on his face but you can tell that he's so happy.. This is probably the first time he's allowed himself to "play" since he was a child, though of course you don't point this out to him or he'd probably stop.

By the time you're done you've built an entire sand fortress which is pretty impressive considering your lack of tools. You've both also got yourselves hot and sweaty, especially Izzy with his leather. So next stop is a quick dip in the sea. He may also need a bit of coaxing for this one, but it's a lot easier than it was at the start of the day. You take him by the hand again and the two of you step into the cold water, taking the piss out of each other for any gasps or hesitations, daring each other to go further and further..

Once he's up to about his knees he insists he's not going any further until you go beyond his reach and "lose your footing". Immediately he's by your side and pulling you up, seriously worried until he sees that you're laughing. You think he's going to be angry with you but instead he initiates what becomes a full-blown water fight. You're both splashing each other and hurling stupid affectionate insults and eventually it devolves into just wrestling each other into the water. He wins every time of course, but he never actually hurts you. Eventually you call a breathless truce and are left just holding each other in the water as the sun starts to set.

Izzy looks at you like you're his whole world then. He touches your face so gently and thanks you for the day, telling you he knows what he's like and how it's been worse since joining the Revenge and everything. He tells you he's not ungrateful for you and everything you do for him. He knows. You just smile and shut him up with a kiss that tastes like salt and rum. He only pulls away when the sea breeze finally makes you shiver and he realises he should get you home.

The two of you leave your sandcastle standing and return to the crew. You notice him sneaking glances at you in your wet clothing and the way it clings to your skin.. He stammers and gets all flustered if you or the crew point it out though. He takes you back aboard the ship to change clothes and get you all warmed up.. How you guys go about that is up to you <3

The night ends with a big bonfire on the beach with the whole crew. Frenchie starts a sing-along, rum is shared around and all in all it's just good vibes.

#izzy hands #izzy hands x reader #ofmd #our flag means death

[a-reader-and-a-writer]

The Middle of Nowhere (Part 3)

Fandom: Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick, dark!Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, dark!Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Reader (no relationships) Summary: While he waits for the timer to count down, Bradley reflects on the game, how it all started, and his plans for you once he finds you. That is if Jake doesn't get to you first. Word Count: 2705 TW: Kidnapping, Language, Mentions of Murder and Mutilation, Hunted for Sport, Getting Off on Thoughts of Violence/Death, Bradley's POV Notes:I am EXTREMELY proud and excited about this series and hope you enjoy! Huge thank you to @loverhymeswith and @green-socks for all of your help!💕

Series Masterlist

Bradley watches his little fox scamper off into the darkness, silently counting down the seconds until he can begin the hunt. Usually, they have a strict rule against selecting their prey from the employees of the restaurant or bar they were scouting out, however, the second Bradley saw you, he knew you were the one, yet he could never have guessed you were even more than you seemed or that such a fiery, determined vixen lay hiding behind that stunning face. 

He licks his lips, tasting the blood still slowly dripping from his nose, and he smiles. You had made him bleed—something only a handful of prey had managed before—and he can’t wait to repay the favor.

Three minutes to go.

Jake has wandered over to the back of the truck and laid out his vast collection of knives on the tailgate as he tries to decide which ones to carry with him on the hunt. To Bradley, they all look the same, but he had made the mistake on more than one occasion of asking Jake the difference between them. Even after several forty-five-minute lectures on tip points, serrations, length, grips, guards, and fuck knows what else, Bradley still didn’t really understand the difference, nor did he care. The only weapon he liked to use was his hands. He needed to physically feel bones breaking beneath him, blood bubbling through his fingers and staining his nails, that last fragile flutter of a pulse before it stilled forever, and he couldn’t get any of that using a gun or a knife–or in Jake’s case–a rope.

That is yet another of Jake’s quirks that Bradley just can’t understand. Why anyone would want to step back and watch their prey take their last breath from afar just baffles him. There is nothing in the world that compares to the high he gets hovering just over his prey and inhaling their last breath into his own lungs—

Oh god, he is so turned on right now. 

Bradley takes a few long, slow, deep breaths of the frigid night air as he tries to calm the fire racing through his veins. This lust-filled adrenaline rush can be helpful during the hunt in small doses, but currently, the speed at which all the blood is rushing from his head is leaving him woozy and he needs to be clear-headed for what comes next. Otherwise, he’ll get sloppy and Jake’ll find you before he does and he can’t let that happen. Not this time. Not with you. 

It has been a long time, possibly even years since he has wanted a prey this badly and he plans on doing whatever it takes to ensure that his is the last face you will ever see. Even if that means bending the rules of the game and stealing you away from Jake. But the way Bradley sees it, Jake already got a taste of you back in the bar, so now it's his turn.

It had taken everything in him not to leap out of his seat and tear Jake off you as he was forced to watch his best friend shove his tongue down your throat. And what made it worse was how much you had seemed to enjoy it. Bradley had to grip the edge of the bar until his knuckles turned bone white as you slid Jake’s hand up from your hip to rest on your breast. He nearly missed his chance to spike your drink because he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him. But he remembered at the last minute and everything else had gone according to plan. 

Two minutes thirty-six seconds to go.

It’s amazing to think how far he and Jake had come since the first time they did this, back when it was an accident. 

It had been their senior year in college and they decided to go camping for the long Veteran's Day weekend to try and relieve some of the stress they were under. Jake was being scouted for several professional football teams and since the playoff game was coming up soon, his coach had been riding him extra hard lately. Bradley had just had yet another fight with his godfather about his plans for his future and he was so tired of feeling like he had no control over his life anymore. So a weekend away from it all with nothing but each other and the forest around them seemed like the perfect escape for both of them. 

All in all, it would have been a pretty forgettable weekend had a pretty young hiker not stumbled onto their campsite on their second night. Bradley and Jake managed to coax her into staying for a drink or two and one thing led to another—but then Jake took things too far and the girl fled into the woods. 

They knew if she made it back to town and reported what happened, Jake would be expelled–if not arrested–due to some past…questionable conduct that had only been overlooked at school because he was a national champion quarterback on his way to a professional career. But an official police arrest wouldn’t be swept under the rug as easily as a campus complaint, so they went after her to try to convince her not to say anything. 

The next thing Bradley remembered was kneeling over her body, his hands still around her throat as she stared up at him with wide, unseeing eyes. Jake was huddled beneath a nearby tree, vomit puddled beside him as he rocked back and forth, his eyes locked on the motionless girl. He might have been horrified at first, but Bradley….Bradley had never felt more alive. What's more, once they found a way to hide the body and it became clear no one would ever discover what they had done, that feeling only grew. And Bradley needed more.

It took a lot of convincing to get Jake on board, but once he had a taste of it himself, he too began to crave the thrill of the hunt, the rush of the kill, and it soon became somewhat of an obsession for the pair. A few weeks before graduation, Jake announced he was retiring from football and Bradley told his godfather he was done letting him make decisions about his life and blocked his number. 

As soon as school was over, they both found work that allotted them flexibility in their schedules and frequent time off so they could make their hunts a monthly event. Whatever they did didn’t matter; it was all just to serve the next hunt, the next kill. That was all that mattered to them anymore. And soon, the pair figured out the one thing that could make it even better: turning it into a competition. 

Over the next decade, they perfected their game. Trial and error taught them the best places to start their hunts, how to select their prey, how to transport them, how to dispose of the bodies once they were done. After a few years on their own, they had found others who shared in their bloodlust and the game had expanded. Now they had a network of seven or so people who would come in and out of the games based on availability, though a single game would never consist of more than four hunters. They couldn’t risk the attention bigger groups might attract. Each hunter brought different skills, different tactics, and different assets to the dynamic, and it was a great way to keep the games fresh and interesting over the years.

But tonight, it is just Bradley and Jake and their little fox hiding in the woods waiting for them to take chase.

One-minute fifty-two seconds.

Bored of just staring into the darkness of the trees waiting for the time to expire, Bradley slowly saunters over to the truck. Jake glances over as he approaches but never stops shifting through the knives. 

As he picks up one about the length of his forearm to examine it, he says, “Looks like your nose finally quit bleeding.”

“Yeah, but it still hurts like a motherfucker. I can’t wait to get my hands on that bitch and show her what real pain feels like.” Bradley grins, but then shakes his head as he starts getting lightheaded once more.

Jake chuckles as he puts down his knife to pick up another one twice its size. “Yeah, good luck with that. You’ll have to find her before I do, and I have a good feeling about tonight.” He chuckles, “I mean, my odds of winning have already increased from 25% to 50% with just one phone call.”

“And so have mine,” Bradley reminds him, then sighs. “I wish they would have called sooner and we could have postponed until the road cleared up. It’s weird they waited until we were supposed to start to let us know. Some of the others, maybe, but it’s not like them.”

Jake shrugs, "Apparently they had been trying to call for a while. Honestly, I'm surprised it made it through it all. The signal out here is shit." He pulls out his phone and quickly flashes it so Bradley can see the large warning signal with the words “No Service” below it on the screen before he returns it to his jacket pocket. “And, don’t get me wrong, I love getting to go head-to-head with you again, but it’s kind of a shame it’s just gonna be us tonight. I really wanted to see how they dealt with the snow.”

Bradley scoffs as he checks his watch. “Probably a lot better than you, Texas boy.”

Jake throws down the knife he is holding, the metal clattering loudly as it crashes against the rest of his blades, and he turns to face a startled Bradley. “Make up your mind, man. Earlier you were yelling at me for not thinking it snowed in Texas—which obviously I know, I just meant it’s still warm there this time of year. And now you are ragging on me for not being able to handle the snow because I’m from Texas. You can’t have it both ways!”

“Woah, chill out, Jake,” Bradley says, holding up his hands. “I was only messing with you.”

Jake sighs and scrubs his hand over his face before grumbling, “Yeah, I know. Sorry. I’m just so keyed up to go, I’m a little on edge.”

“Yeah, I get it. So am I.” Bradley chuckles and glances at his watch once again. “But only fifty-seven seconds to go.”

“Can’t we just…you know.” Jake jerks his head in the direction you had fled. “It’s not like we left her her watch so she knows how much time has passed.”

“You know we don’t do that. We have our rules for a reason. And besides,” Bradley laces his fingers together and stretches, cracking his knuckles, “that would take away some of the fun. We want her to get far enough away there is some skill in tracking her down. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

“The point is, I want to have some fun with her. God, I can still taste her lip gloss and feel her sucking on my tongue. Once I find her, I’ll give her something else to suck on.” The knife in Jake’s hand begins to twirl as his eyes glaze over. “I can’t wait to stick one of these in her and listen to all the pretty noises she makes. I wonder how many times it’ll take to make her cry.”

Bradley physically bit his tongue to stop from growling at Jake that you were his. Just listening to him daydreaming about winning is making a different kind of fire course through his veins, this one possessive and dark. But he silently reminds himself that Jake has a tendency of getting carried away and overly cocky as he drags out his teasing with his knives which, more often than not, allows his prey to slip from his fingers. Bradley had stolen quite a few wins from him this way by just waiting and watching, and he has a feeling that might be the case this time too if Jake somehow reaches you first. 

And maybe that will be the best outcome. While finding you first guarantees you will be his, Bradley can’t help but think how much more delicious it would be to find you cut up and bleeding, thinking you have escaped one horrible fate just to fall into his deadly embrace. That look of fear and anguish when you realize something far worse than Jake has found you. The knowledge that he won’t let you slip away. The way the fire will dim in your eyes as you realize there is no escape and he is about to—

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Twin grins of excitement spread across Bradley’s and Jake’s faces as the alarm on Bradley’s watch goes off. It’s showtime.

Scooping up his rejected knives, Jake quickly tosses them into the backseat of the truck while Bradley slams the tailgate shut. After one final glance to the front to make sure they aren’t forgetting anything, Jake shuts the door to the truck and locks it before sliding the keys into his jacket pocket next to his phone. Another thing they had learned from experience was to never leave the keys with the vehicle—that had almost been a disaster. 

With everything ready, Jake walks over to Bradley and warmly clasps his hand. Giving it a tight squeeze, he smiles. “Ready?”

Bradley squeezes his hand back. “Ready. May the best hunter win.”

“I plan to,” Jake winks at his friend and releases his hand. Walking over to the spot where you had disappeared minutes ago, he bounces lightly on his feet a few times, shaking out his limbs as he does so. With one final grin in Bradley’s direction, he calls into the darkness, “You better run. Hangman’s coming.” And in a flash, he disappears into the trees.

Bradley rolls his eyes and calmly walks over to the edge of the clearing. Jake had charged out following the trail of footprints you had left behind, but Bradley decides to wait. That idea of finding you only after Jake has already had a little fun with you is too tantalizing to pass up, so he’s going to hang back and let Jake think he has won, only to swoop in and steal the prize at the last minute. 

After about another ten minutes, Bradley calmly steps into the darkness and begins following Jake’s trail. He can’t wait anymore, and if Jake hasn’t found you by now, then screw it. He’ll just have to settle for being the first one to reach you. He’s not worried about you getting too far away or somehow finding help, not while you are still barefoot and affected by the remains of the drugs in your system. However, Jake’s concerns about you succumbing to the elements is more of a possibility than Bradley wanted to admit earlier. The only thing worse than Jake killing you is the cold killing you, and Bradley can’t let that be the way your story ends.

Suddenly, Bradley hears a loud whoop of joy in the distance to his left. Jake found you. For someone who dubbed him “Rooster” because of his crooning over his prizes, Jake sure liked to announce his finds just as loudly.

Tearing off in the direction of the shout, Bradley ducks and weaves around trees and branches as he tries to locate the two of you. This forest is huge and only having one brief cry to navigate by isn’t easy.

After a while, Bradley thinks he sees something up ahead. At first, it is nearly impossible to identify, just a swaying shape up in one of the trees. However, as he gets a little closer, his heart freezes in his chest and all that fire rushing through his veins is instantly extinguished. Jake hadn’t screwed up this time, and Bradley took too long to find you.

The darkness still shrouds the majority of the hanging shape, but the orange jacket wrapped around it is unmistakable against the trees and snow. 

Part 4 coming soon....and the real fun begins 😈

Taglist: @lorecraft, @nerdysuperchick, @heart-0n-fire, @mayhem24-7forever @the-untamed-soul, @inglourious-imagines, @straightforwardly, @srry-itshockeyszn, @flyinlove, @fandomhopped, @wanderdreamer@callsign-phoenix, @forever-sleepy-sloth, @notroosterbradshaw, @dezthegeek, @cherrycola27, @phoenix1389, @smells-like-perfect-senses @boringusername3, @petlaufeyson, @cycbaby, @topguncortez, @fantasticcopeaglepasta, @writercole, @onebigfangirlworld, @wkndwlff, @ravenmoore14, @clancycucumber230, @kmc1989, @ohtobeleah, @sunlightmurdock, @sparrows-corner, @ryebecca, @slightly-psycho-multifan, @mads-weasley, @trencher4lyfe, @merlehs, @sunshineflowerchild789, @je-suis-prest-rachel, @tellrock35, @shanimallina87, @mak-32, @blue-aconite, @deppresseddyslexic, @horneybeach1, @desert-fern, @withahappyrefrain, @roosterforme, @dingochef, @littlestatesman , @boringusername3

#the middle of nowhere #fic #dark!fic #rooster #hangman #bradley rooster bradshaw #jake hangman seresin #bradley bradshaw #jake seresin #reader #f!reader #dark!rooster #dark!hangman #dark!bradley rooster bradshaw #dark!jake hangman seresin #top gun #top gun maverick #top gun: maverick #tgm #angst #whump #language tw #hunted for sport tw #murder tw

[vshushmshu]

pickup lines

usually the red eared slider’s flirts and compliments were flowery, over the top with heaps of silly, and you would roll your eyes at each and every one. grand sweeping gestures, an arm slung around your neck, or running his thumb over your knuckles with a wiggle of brows that didn’t actually exist. it was entertaining, something you would never actually admit outloud, so you never really shut down his teasing. you only let it happen for the hell of it. yeah.

a wink that looked as if his eye momentarily had an uncontrollable spasm, “i would never play hide and seek with you, because someone like you is impossible to find.”

you grimaced as he walked over to sit beside you on the rooftop, “i honestly wish i could hide from this.”

finger guns, “are you from tennessee?? because you’re the only ten-i-see!”

a huff, looking over the city once more before you stopped patrolling for the night, “new york, buddy.”

“you never humor me…”

“you have no idea.”

an irritatingly wide smile, leo splayed out on your bed, “this might sound cheesy, but i think you’re really grate.”

you turn from your homework to cock a brow at him, “…puns? really? you’re stooping to puns now?”

“hey, a turtle’s gouda do what he’s gouda do.”

“i hate you.”

“awww, i love you too!!!”

you were drawing with mikey when your self-proclaimed bestie barreled in, “i seem to have!! lost my phone number!!!! can i have yours?”

the orange clad turtle seemed to be holding in the fattest cackle, so you ignored him to look at leo with a fairly neutral expression, “i thought you already had my number?”

“yeah, but i kinda… deleted it just to make this work..”

“…you’re stupid. i’m friends with an idiot.”

he pouted, until his phone lit up at an unknown number’s message, “and i’m friends with a meanie pants… oh! thanks!”

you shoved your phone back in your pocket while mikey eyed the two of you, his red striped brother already tapping the number into your contact once more, “sure, mhm.”

nabbing a piece of popcorn from your bowl, eyes scrunched from his simper as he glances at you, then lets his eyes land back on raph and april’s mario kart game once more, “it’s a good thing i have a library card, because i am totally checking you out.”

“…aren’t you illiterate or something? do you even know what a library is?”

“shut the fuck up….”

he looked up from his comic as you flopped onto his bed, just having listened attentively to another one of donnie’s infodumps, “did you just come out an oven?”

you huffed, draping an arm over your eyes, “no, leo.”

said turtle leaned over to poke your cheek with a snicker, “‘cause you’re hot.”

“goddammit, leo.”

“is this hogwarts express, because it feels like you and i are going somewhere magical.“

you stared at him as he gestured to a newly opened portal, “man, i swear, are you getting these from buzzfeed articles?? ain’t no way you pulled a harry potter line out your ass like that.”

“…is your name google? ‘cause you got the answers for everything i’m searching for.”

you swore you saw the face of a slider caught, and your eyes twinkled in amusement, “so, you are.”

“LEAVE ME ALONE.”

“your hand looks lonely. want me to hold it for you?”

you readjust your grip on your weapon, eyeing him in a sort of flabbergasted way, “lee, we are literally in the middle of a FIGHT.”

“right, whatever.”

you both were on your phones, the turtle laying on you scrolling through god-knows what, while you watched a video essay on something you were to inevitably forget about. you snickered at an elaborate joke about something or other, and the slider grinned a little, “roses are red, violets are blue. with a smile like that, looks like i’m doomed.”

“…”

you were tempted to kick him off, something inside you churning, but you just refocused on your video once more. his face seemed a little surprised in your peripheral vision, but at what, you couldn’t be sure.

leo sat beside you in blankets, barely conscious in his goofy pajamas during the latter end of a movie night, everyone else already asleep (except for donnie, who could care less about anyone else as his eyes stayed glued to the screen projected on the wall, hyperfixated on a jupiter jim movie he’s no doubt seen a thousand times over), “are you- did you fell from heaven- cause- fuck. i forgot how that one goes.”

you hid a grin behind a facepalm, equally fatigued as his head dipped to rest lightly on your shoulder, neck giving up on keeping it upright, “of course you did.”

sometimes though, those bits of flattery are uttered so quiet, barely above a whisper, the turtle holding such reverence in his tone. like now, just before he drifts off to sleep to no doubt drool all over you, the slider makes himself comfortable buried in your side. you still when his cheek rubs against your shoulder, a content sigh escaping leo while he wraps his arms around you in your shared blanket nest, “hm mwarm… i wish this would last f’rever..”

you can’t doubt that it’s sincere when it’s said like that. you look away from the movie to stare at him with tired eyes, face warm while you fiddled slightly with your fingers, buried under the blankets wrapped around your own body. leo started snoring in record time, light chirps coming from him every time he shifted in his sleep, and you rest your head on his. maybe you wished that too, maybe your mouth twisted into the smallest of frowns, but you decided not to dwell on it.

letting your eyes drift close, and pulling the red eared slider closer, you knew you were going to wake up to dumb pickup lines that held a bit too much sincerity in them. maybe you were glad.

#guys i had to get this out of my head. #my chest and everything inside it is caving in from how much i love this dumb turt #rottmnt leo x reader #..still in the confines of ryana #the fic i will always talk and think abt #but never write #rottmnt #rottmnt x reader #rottmnt x you #help #rottmnt x y/n #head in hands sobbinf #save rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles

[zodiactalks]

These Zodiac Signs get Really SCARY when MAD

It isn’t fun to be on the opposite side of someone’s anger. It feels awful to be the target of a friend or family's ire. Even a stranger can cause people to shrink if they are sensitive.

It can be easy to brush off certain people when they are mad. They are all bark and no bite. Then there are the ones who will take action on their anger.

There are a couple of zodiac signs who are downright terrifying when they are truly angry. Don’t make them mad, you don’t want to be the focus of their anger.

Let’s take a look at the zodiac signs who get really scary when they are mad.

#1. Capricorn

Capricorn is known for their vindictive nature when they are wronged. 

It can take a while for Capricorn to truly reach their limit and become wrathful. But when they do, they are out for revenge. 

All bets are off the table and Capricorn will get as low as they have to, to get back at someone. If harsh words had no effect, they can find themselves turning toward sabotage.

It could be they are catfishing the person online or spreading rumors to ruin their reputation. Capricorn wants to see the person's downfall.

If they aren’t first in line to watch the world burn, they won’t feel satisfied with their revenge.

#2. Taurus

Taurus is known for their explosive rage.

Taurus has an extremely long fuse, but everyone has their limits. When Taurus has finally been pushed too far, they can use all of their knowledge of a person to verbally thrash them.

It hurts more than expected because nothing Taurus will throw at them will be a lie. Every single word will hit on the person's deepest insecurities with sharp accuracy. 

Taurus is usually a safe person to talk to about sensitive subjects. But if they are pushed to the point of rage at others, everything ever said to them becomes a weapon. And they are a master of wielding it. 

Now, Taurus doesn’t enjoy having these violent reactions. This is why they take so long to explode. They know they can destroy other people's self-esteem by exposing them. 

But sometimes, someone deserves it. And when they push Taurus too far, they will get what’s coming to them.

#3. Scorpio

Scorpio is known for their unforgiving nature. 

Once someone has wronged Scorpio, it can never be taken back or remedied. What’s done is done, and now Scorpio is an enemy. 

Scorpio has very little patience when it comes to being targeted by others. Passive-aggressive jabs will be met with head-on hostility from Scorpio. They don’t have time or interest in playing behind-the-scenes games with people.

If someone has an issue with Scorpio, they should just say it. Forcing them into a cat and mouse game will not end well. 

Scorpio may decide to get physically violent or scheme revenge plots. It depends on if they decide the source of their anger is worth it or not.

Scorpio can hold grudges from childhood to their grave. 

#4. Cancer

Cancer is known for their hot and cold nature.

It is easy to spot an angry Cancer. They will embody the phrase “like a walking storm.” Everyone around Cancer can feel it.

Whether Cancer is angry at a specific person or a situation, their reaction can be hard to predict. 

One moment they are giving others the cold shoulder, the next they could be flinging an object to the floor because it kept falling over.

It’s not out of the question that they cried out of anger in the bathroom before returning to work. 

It is extremely hard to pick the best way to support an angry Cancer at any given moment. Best to let them know someone has their back and wait for them to come to you.

#5. Sagittarius

Sagittarius is known for their live and let live attitude. Until they are royally done.

Already a blunt person, Sagittarius can use their words as a bludgeon when they want to. It isn’t in their nature to intentionally hurt others. But when they want to, boy, it is effective.

When Sagittarius snaps, they will verbally rip the other person apart. In public. 

It takes a special kind of person to push Sagittarius over the edge. Usually when they’ve been relentlessly targeting a friend of Sagittarius. 

Sagittarius is an extremely protective friend and can become surprisingly scary when they are angered. 

Not only will Sagittarius become verbally anger they will also commit a crime without a second thought if their friend asks. 

Sagittarius isn’t all that worried when someone comes at them, but for their friends, they will go to jail. 

#Zodiac Signs #ZodiacFact #Zodiac #astrology #Aries #Aquarius #Cancer #Capricorn #leo #libra #scorpio #taurus #Pisces #Sagittarius #Gemini #virgo

[shoto-chann]

Izuku’s Lee Mood

My Hero Academia

Lee:

Ler:

Summary: Izuku can't help but find himself in one of his love/hate moods: a lee mood! How will he ever deal with this lovely curse all day?

*Warning: Contains small amounts of swearing

Izuku Midoriya woke up today in a lee mood. He knew it right away the moment he woke up. He couldn't stop giggling no matter what he did. "Dahahamn ihit! Whyhy tohodahahay of ahahall dahahahays?!" Izuku said as he got up to get ready for class. He loved/hated when he was in a lee mood. Ever since he was a kid, he's always had random lee mood days when he wanted someone to tickle him crazy. He assumed he grew out of it after attending UA, but he was proven dead wrong today. He didn't know how to handle this. He could never bring this up to his friends. They tease him about his ticklishness already. If he were to admit something like this to them...but then again, if his friends did know about his lee mood, then he could get wrecked with tickles, his favorite activity. "Ugh, stop it, Deku! You're an adult now, stop acting likena child!" Izuku managed to say before leaving for class.

Izuku wished he had stayed in his room. The day has been one close call after the other. First, after one of Aizawa's lectures, Uraraka and Iida walked up to Deku. "Hey, Deku! Iida and I have a question for you!" Uraraka said as she lightly tapped Deku's shoulder. Izuku’s brain interpreted this to scream like a girl and almost laugh. Both Uraraka and Iida were taken aback by this sudden action. "Midoriya, are you okay?" Iida asked. "Yesimtotallyfineokaygottagobye!" Midoriya said quickly as he left in a hurry. Both of them were left in shock.

Next, during lunch Deku was talking with Todoroki. "I heard that our next lesson's gonna focus on combat training against people who put us at a disadvantage" Midoriya said. "Interesting. I wonder who I would be put up against. Hunter outmatches me in power and abilities. Yaoyorozu can create weapons and defense to counter my ice. Your Quirk allows you to outmaneuver me. There's also Bakugo, with his insane agility and raw power" Todoroki answered back. During their conversation, Kirishima accidentally bumped into Deku. His brain, once again, interpreted this to scream and giggle. "Midoribro, you good, man? That was-" "Yeahimtotallyfinenothingtoworryaboutkirishimaokaygottagobye!" Midoriya once again ran out, leaving his friends confused once again. "What's wrong with Midoriya? He's been acting more awkward than usual" Todoroki asked, to which Kirishima shrugged.

What really made the day a lot more embarrassing was combat training. Midoriya was put against Hunter, who was playing a villain in this scenario: Midoriya was attempting to save a hostage (Mirio) from a villain who outmatched him and had to find a way to get the hostage to safety. During their combat training, Deku's sparring game way totally off, not just because Hunter had better versatility and combat ability, but Deku's lee mood was slowing him down, and it was showing. Usually, Midoriya had no problem fighting against Hunter and won five times out of ten, but he had to concentrate on not breaking down laughing while also keeping Hunter away from the hostage at the same time. Not an easy task for the One for All wielder. Toward the end of the training, Hunter slid in on ice and pushed Deku back with wind. He then caught Deku with a new move he made: lighting ropes, tying Deku up in midair. Deku struggled to get out, but he couldn't help but get that feeling again. His body was tingly all over and he couldn't help but laugh. Hunter, still playing the villain, smirked and decided to mess with the hero for a bit. "Looks like I caught me a hero. Let's see if I can make this hero talk" Hunter walked up to Deku with his shit eating grin and chuckled. "Let's see if you know anything useful, little hero" Hunter poked Deku's chest, and in return he got a full on screech laugh. Deku's screech laugh was so sudden and loud, Hunter jumped back and lost his grip on the rope, too shocked by what happened just now. Everyone else in the class just looked at Deku like he was crazy, including Aizawa. Deku just turned red on embarrassment and stayed quiet the rest of the day.

Once the day was over, Izuku immediately went to his room and plopped on his bed. "Damn it, Izuku. What is wrong with you? You shouldn't be like this. You completely embarrassed yourself today!" Deku groaned as he buried his face in his pillow. Just then, he heard a knock on the door. He decided to stay quiet, not ready to face anyone after today. The door opened slightly, and Shoji walked in. "Hey, Midoriya. May I come in?" Shoji asked. Deku didn't respond, but he didn't say no. Shoji sat down next to him and looked at him. "What's up with you today? You've been jumpy and very weird all day." Deku didn't want to answer. "Come on, Midoriya. I'm worried about you. You're not acting like yourself. Well, you are, but not in a normal sense. You get what I mean?" Deku just sighed and sat up straight to look Shoji in the eye. "It's...complicated," Deku finally said after a moment a silence. "Complicated?" "Yeah. I...I don't know how to explain it." "Well, take it slow. Try to describe what's wrong slowly. Start from when you woke up." Deku thought about this for a moment, afraid but excited to tell Shoji. "Well...I woke up today feeling...strange. It was like..." Deku had to hold back a powerful giggle in order to not embarrass himself...but he also wanted to giggle to give away to Shoji what was wrong. Aaah, this was so confusing for Deku!

Shoji noticed Midoriya trembling slightly, as if holding something back. A sneeze maybe? A cough? Or maybe...

"Midoriya, can I try something?" Shoji asked. The question took the young hero in green off guard. "Uh...sure?" "Okay. Lay down please" Delu did as he was told reluctantly. He was a bit confused but also excited to see what would happen. Was it possible Shoji knew? No, he couldn't know. Deku has never told anyone about this. The only one who knew about his lee mood was Bakugo, but even he would never openly admit something like that to anyone because of how ridiculous it is. "First, do you want me to do what I'm going to do?" Shoji asked. "What?" "Do you consent to what I'm going to do?" What are you going to do, Shoji?" "You'll see, if you consent" "Uhum...I guess I consehent-" And just like that, Izuku couldn't hold back his giggles any longer and just burst out giggling.

It was mainly Shoji's fault. It was he who started tickling Izuku’s sides the second he consented. "WAHAHAHAHA! Shohojihihi!" "So, I was right. You do have it" Shoji tickled Deku's sides a little faster, making Deku squirm violently. "SHOHOHOJIHIHI!" Deku screamed. But...this is what he wanted. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to run. He wanted to stay and let Shoji wreck him.

It seemed Shoji understood what Midoriya wanted because what he said completely shocked him. "You've been having a lee mood, haven't you?" Midoriya only laughed loudly at that, confirming Shoji's guess. "No wonder you've been jumpy at touch. You just wanted a little attention." Shoji decided to switch it up. He grew six other arms and looked at Deku with an evil smirk (not like he could even see the smirk, but Deku could just feel Shoji smirking at him). "Well, I know exactly how to solve your problem" "HOHOHOW?!" "How else, Leezuku?" Shoji teased as he went absolutely ham on Deku, tickling every inch of his tickle spots without rest. Deku, being the energetically ticklish baby he is, screamed bloody murder and laughed so loud the window in his room broke. He couldn't help but wiggle and giggle like he's never done before, but he never tried to escape. He was in heaven! He loved Shoji's fingers wiggling in the hollows of his armpits. He loved the way his fingers traced his ribs and his small belly button slowly. The way his fingers danced all around his knees, teasing him more and more as he got closer and closer to his death spot. Shoji was also having some fun, wrecking Midoriya like this. "Having fun, Leezuku?" "YEHEHEHEHES!" "Good" Shoji said as he stopped. Izuku, although still dying like a hyena, noticed that Shoji stopped and started complaining. "Whyhy dihid you stohohohop?" "Because you're having fun" "Buhuhut thahat's not fahahair!" "Sorry, Midoriya. That's just how it is" "NOHOHO! Plehehease keheheep gohoing!" Deku begged. Shoji's ears perked up hearing this. "Come again?" "I wahahant mohohohore! Mohohore more mohore!" Deku laughed while complaining and whining like a brat. Shoji chuckled. "I don't think you do" Deku whined even more. "Oh...it seems the little brat doesn't like to be told no" Deku kicked Shoji's leg in retaliation. "That's it, you brat" Shoji scooped Izuku in his arms and went to town on his hips, squeezing and scribbling them. "BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"Midoriya quickly started crying from laughing so hard, his squirming and wiggling never letting up. Yet he still intentionally opened up his other tickle spots for Shoji to attack, and Shoji obliged. Both of them started laughing as time passed on and on.

Twenty minutes later, Deku had enough and called it quits, but Shoji continued to tickle him to ensure that all of his lee energy had left his body, which took another ten minutes. Once Izuku calmed down enough after the tickling, Shoji sat down on the bed with him. "Is that better, Midoriya?" "Yeah...thanks..." Deku answered. "How did...you know-" "You're not the only one I've met with a lee mood." "No?" "No. You'd be surprised by how many of our friends here have lee moods." Like who, Shoji?" Shoji sat and thought for a bit. "Well, Ojiro has a lee mood and comes to me every time. Then there's Kaminari, Uraraka, Ashido, Koda, Kirishima, Tsu, Hunter... I can name more if you'd like" "Wow. So many of our friends have lee moods too...I thought-" "You were the only one? Not even close" "...And what about you, Shoji? Do you have a lee mood too?" Shoji didn't answer and looked up for a moment. Midoriya could've sworn Shoji was embarrassed because of his small blush. "You must be tired after all of that" Shoji said. Midoriya wanted to protest that he didn't, but he yawned in response. "You're right" Deku said. Shoji chuckled and ruffled Deku's hair. "Okay, I'll leave you be. Get some rest, but remember that you have homework to do" Deku nodded. "And remember, anytime you have one of those days again, just come to me, and I will help you. Okay?" Deku nodded again. Shoji got up and left the room, leaving Deku to sleep. As Midoriya drifted off to sleep, he felt much more at peace knowing that Shoji was here to help him with his lee mood. He would have to thank Shoji properly later once he was awake...

And after he buys a new window for his room. Oh boy, Aizawa's not gonna be happy with this one.

The End

I hope you enjoyed reading my first fic of 2024. I can't wait to put out more stories for everyone. If you made it to the end, here's a little teaser for the next story coming soon:

🗡 🌊 🗡 🔥 🩸

If anyone can guess which characters and what fandom I'll be using for the next story (besides the lovely person who requested this story), they will get a free tickle monster character created by yours truly. Good luck to you all.

That's all for now. Until next time,

❄️🔥shoto-chann🔥❄️ out

#mha #tickle #fun #lee! Deku #ler! Shoji #leezuku #todoroki #kirishima #uraraka #iida #hunter

[sukimas]

A Spoiler-Free Guide for Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

With a short introduction, mechanics, and notable sticky situations.

(A PDF version of this guide is available upon request.)

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War is a SRPG (Simulation RPG) for the Super Famicom, released in 1996. You have likely arrived at this guide either because someone has recommended it to you or because, far in the future after I have written this, a remake of it has released and you want to go back and play the original to see what has changed and what hasn't. Either way, you were likely inspired to play it from its strong story- rumored or experienced- and aren't too clear on what the mechanics of it are. Maybe you've played a number of Fire Emblem games, but are nervous about this one due to its reputation as an odd duck. Maybe you've never touched a SRPG before, and have a very excited Jugdral fan of a friend shepherding you into playing it. Either way, this guide is for you.

This guide will attempt to avoid spoiling any story events, but for those who mind gameplay spoilers, it is organized in ascending order of how obscure each gameplay feature is to stumble upon- the last two sections (Sticky Situations and Secret Events) in particular are not usually encountered by an unspoiled first-time player. Nevertheless, I highly recommend at least reading up to the fourth to last section, "Recruitments"; it contains no identifying character information besides time of encounter and class, and you will likely reach no end of frustration attempting some of them without foreknowledge (or some very good guesses). NOTE: List of Conversations (Section 8b) does contain spoilers for recruitable characters. Peruse that section with caution if you do read past the Recruitments section.

This guide is meant for use with the Project Naga patch, though some characters will be referred to by their more modern names; these will be indicated with a slash mark between the two. (E.g. Edain/Aideen.)

Table of Contents: Section 1. The Small Differences of Genealogy of the Holy War Section 2. Main Objectives Section 3. Finances and Resource Management Section 4. Skills Section 5. Side Objectives Section 6. Genealogy Section 7. Recruitments Section 8. Conversations Section 9. Sticky Situations Section 10. Secret Events

Section 1. The Small Differences of Genealogy of the Holy War

Genealogy of the Holy War is similar to most other Fire Emblem games in the broad strokes of its mechanics. It has general gameplay of fighting enemy units with your army on a grid-based map, chance-based unit growth, most of your usual classes and weapons, et cetera. However, it has a number of differences, large and small, with later (and earlier) Fire Emblem games, some of which may make gameplay more difficult if unknown. The small differences are catalogued here.

1a. Movement

There are two principal differences to movement in Genealogy compared to in other Fire Emblem games. Firstly, all mounted units may move with their remaining movement after performing any action except conversation or seizing of a castle. Secondly, though terrain in this game that decreases movement exists as usual, there is also some terrain that increases movement; when walking on roads, all units may move 1.4x as many spaces as usual, rounded down. So, for example, a paladin (9 mov) on roads may move 12.6 spaces, but this is rounded down to 12. As a trade-off for this, roads, like some rare terrain seen in other Fire Emblem games, lower the avoid of any unit standing on them by 10% (represented by the small shield icon in the terrain window):

1b. Follow-up Attacks

While units in most Fire Emblem games can attack an enemy unit twice if they are faster by a certain amount, units in Genealogy require a skill to do so. This skill is called Pursuit (or Follow-Up, depending on your translation.) There are ways to attack more than once without Pursuit, but they are either more rare or not guaranteed. Pursuit allows for a follow-up attack if a unit's attack speed is greater than that of their opponent by 1 or more points.

1c. Critical Hits and Effective Damage

Much like follow-up attacks, units in Genealogy cannot naturally perform critical hits. There are four ways to perform a critical hit on most enemies in Genealogy: Being next to an immediate family member or lover (flat 20% critical hit rate bonus to anyone, including those who cannot naturally crit); having the Critical skill (skill% chance); or using a weapon that has been used to kill at least 50 enemies (skill% chance, plus 1% for each enemy killed above 50, up to 50% bonus at 100 kills); or having the Wrath skill (guaranteed critical hit as long as you are at 50%+1 HP or lower).

Critical hits in Genealogy follow the damage formula of doubling a unit's attack power before subtracting enemy defensive stats, rather than the more common tripling of a unit's damage output after enemy defense is subtracted. They are generally much more useful in the hands of units with lower Attack than normal.

Effective damage in Genealogy (bows vs. fliers, etc.) is simply calculated as an automatic critical hit on the target unit (if the attacking unit hits, of course.)

There is no critical avoid (dodge) stat in Genealogy.

Also, the minimum damage for any attack which lands is 1.

1d. Weapon Weight

All weapons in Genealogy have a weight stat. This stat is subtracted from the attack speed of the unit wielding the weapon. There is no way to counteract this speed penalty, and attack speed may be decreased below zero when utilizing particularly heavy weapons. This can lead to a negative Avoid stat.

1e. Weapon Repair

Weapons in Genealogy are infinitely reparable at any castle on the map. The price of repair is equal to the weapon's price, divided by the number of uses the weapon has when new, times the number of uses to be repaired.

For example, repairing a 38 use Silver Sword to full durability costs 5000 (sale price) / 50 (maximum uses) * 12 (uses missing) = 1200 gold.

Each weapon in the game that the player can receive is unique.

1f. Weapon Triangle

The weapon triangle in Genealogy of the Holy War is generally similar to in other Fire Emblem games. However, it is notably stronger; units gain Hit/Avo ±20 for advantage/disadvantage. Additionally, there is a magic "triangle", which functions similarly.

The weapon triangle is Swords>Axes>Lances>Swords

The anima magic triangle is Fire>Wind>Thunder>Fire

The interaction of light and dark magic with other varieties is Light=Dark>Fire/Wind/Thunder

1g. Experience Gain and Class Change

Units gain experience based on their level in relation to the enemy's. The lower their level is in comparison to the enemy's, the greater their experience gain. Class changes don't affect level; you will gain equal experience as a level 1 Knight Lord and a level 1 Troubadour.

Class changes can be performed once a unit reaches level 20, if they are not already a promoted class. They can be performed using the Class Change option at one's home castle. There is no reason not to promote as soon as possible; all classes have a flat level cap of 30.

The stat caps for each class are each class' stat bases plus 15, excepting HP which caps at 80. There is data out there on the base stats; however, I won't go into it here.

1h. Weapon Level

If you've played Engage, you'll be familiar with this, but if not: weapon level is inherent to the class a unit occupies, and can only be changed by class change or personal modifiers (more on the latter in the Genealogy section.) So, if your paladin has B swords, he will never have A swords, even if other paladins you encounter might have the latter.

1j. Enemy Reinforcements

Reinforcements generally do not spawn on the map as in other Fire Emblem games; they will almost always appear from the mouth of a castle. If you defeat all of an enemy commander's allied units and said commander is capable of movement, they will return to the castle they came from, enter it, and 1-2 turns later exit it with a squad of new units statistically identical to their previous squad.

1k. Saving

At the start of each turn, before you have moved any units, you can save in the map menu (i.e. the menu that appears when you press A on the map.) It's highly recommended to keep at least two saves; one save every turn, and one save after you capture a new castle. You can set the game to save automatically each turn in the Options menu by scrolling down to Autosave and selecting a slot (1 to 4).

Section 2. Main Objectives

2a. Seizing Castles

Chapter progression is made by seizing enemy castles after defeating the boss standing on them. Theoretically, castles may be captured in any order that you like; in practice, in most cases the way ahead to the next castle will be blocked until you capture the previous castle.

When you seize a castle, a short cutscene will play and the enemy units whose allegiance lies with that castle will disappear (allegiance can be checked in the second page of the unit menu; this same page contains skills and weapon level). At the start of the next enemy phase, the "[Name] castle seized" map events will trigger; formerly neutral castles may turn red, enemy and ally units may spawn, and terrain may be changed (for example, a bridge may be lowered or raised, a path may appear through difficult terrain, a gate may be opened, etc.) Keep an eye on castles you have not yet seized due to this.

Allied (green) and neutral (yellow) castles cannot be seized, and may lack some amenities of allied castles upon entrance.

2b. Losing Castles

Any enemy unit who reaches the entrance of a castle (that is not their own) will capture it. Allied and neutral castles will become enemy castles when this happens, and can be recaptured by your own units; however, player castles will be pillaged and will no longer be able to be recaptured.

If the player's home castle (the castle where you start the chapter) is captured by the enemy, it's game over, and you'll have to restart from your last save.

Section 3. Finances and Resource Management

3a. Unit-Specific Gold Pools and Trading

Unlike in every other Fire Emblem game to date, units in Genealogy have their own specific gold pools. They cannot trade gold with other units, unless those units are their lovers; if so, they can use the Give Gold command to give their lover all of their money.

Units also cannot trade with each other. In order to exchange items, they will have to sell them off at the Pawn Shop in the castle menu, where another unit may rebuy them for twice the sale price. Therefore, it's best to think carefully about who should defeat enemy units when a droppable item is in play. The money cap in the wallet is 50,000 gold; if you're reaching that cap, consider spending it on something so you don't waste any new money you earn.

3b. Thieves

Thieves are an exception to the above gold rules. Though they still can't receive gold from just anyone, they can attack enemy units to steal all the gold in their wallet. Additionally, they can give gold to any unit in the army.

3d. The Arena

Each chapter, beginning with Chapter 1, has an arena. This arena consists of seven opponents per chapter whom, upon defeat, will give the unit who defeated them experience and 1000-4000 gold (beginning with the weakest and increasing by 500 until the strongest is reached.) All units can enter the arena as many times as they like until they've reaped all the rewards- each and every unit in your army may face and defeat the seven opponents, rather than just one. If your unit's HP hits zero in the arena, they won't die, but their HP will be reduced to 1. However, winning a match in the arena restores a unit to full HP.

It's recommended to challenge the arena each chapter with all the units you intend to use, but you don't have to in order to complete the game. So, if you start getting tired of it, you can skip it... but it might be best not to.

Section 4. Skills

4a. What are Skills?

Skills are abilities that a unit can activate- generally in-combat, though sometimes they have out-of-combat effects. Various skills have various chances of activation (some are guaranteed, some rely on specific stat thresholds), so be aware.

4b. Skill Types

There are two different skill types- "Class Skills", those granted based on a unit's class, and "Personal Skills", those a unit has innately. All skills can mechanically either be class or personal skills- though most skills are only personal. Class skills, however, apply to every unit that is a member of the class- including faceless enemies. So watch out, and check out the skills present on the unit menu to make sure you do not meet a dire error.

4c. Skill List

(Note: Attack Speed is here abbreviated as Aspd.)

Pursuit/Follow-Up: Allows a unit to strike again after an enemy counterattack (or twice in a row if the unit themselves is counterattacking). Trigger: Unit's Aspd > enemy unit Aspd.

Critical: Allows a unit to perform a critical hit in combat, doubling their attack before enemy defense. Trigger: Skl%.

Adept: Allows a unit to attack twice in a row. Trigger: (Aspd + 20)%.

Accost: Triggers another round of combat upon the completion of the prior round. Trigger: [Unit Aspd - enemy Aspd + (unit HP/2)]%.

Pavise: Negates all incoming damage for 1 hit. Trigger: (Unit Level)%.

Steal: Takes all of an enemy's gold upon hit and adds it to the unit's personal wallet. Always activates.

Vantage: Unit attacks first when enemy unit initiates combat (treats it as if unit initiates combat). Trigger: Unit HP ≤ (50% of unit's Max HP + 1). When conditions are met, always activates.

Wrath: Unit always performs a critical hit (if unit hits). Trigger: Unit HP ≤ (50% of unit's Max HP + 1). When conditions are met, always activates.

Astra: Unit performs 5 attacks in a row. Trigger: Skl%.

Luna: Unit negates enemy defense for 1 strike. Trigger: Skl%.

Sol: Unit recovers HP equal to damage dealt. Trigger: Skl%.

(Note: Only one of Astra/Luna/Sol may activate at once. Additionally, they are only usable by infantry sword units.)

Nihil: Prevents the activation of Astra, Luna, Sol and critical hits against this unit. Always activates.

Bargain: Shop prices for this unit are reduced by 50%.

Charm: Hit and Avoid +10 to allied units within 3 spaces.

Dance: Grants another action to all adjacent allies.

Miracle: When unit HP is ≤10, increases unit's Avo by [(11- Unit HP)*10] points.

Paragon: Double's unit's gained experience.

Renewal: At start of turn, unit recovers 5-10 HP (random).

Section 5. Side Objectives

5a. Villages

Visiting a village gives a unit 5000 Gold and may also grant an item. Bandits will attack villages; a village will be destroyed when a bandit attacks it for 10 turns, and every turn that a bandit attacks it will subtract 500 Gold from the total that a unit will gain from visiting it.

5b. Combatant NPCs

NPCs ("green units") that have normal classes will grant items when spoken to by certain units of yours. Their status screen will tell you who they should talk to.

5c. Civilian Rescue

NPCs who do not have normal classes (i.e. their class is Civilian) will grant 100 EXP when interacted with.

Section 6. Genealogy

6a. What's All This About Children?

Like Gaul, Genealogy of the Holy War is divided into two parts... Er, it seems I've misread my notes. Gaul is divided into three. Nevertheless, Genealogy takes place over a long period of time- 24 years, in fact. As the characters you recruit at the beginning of the game are in the prime of their lives, it's only natural that, over such a long period, some of them will marry and have children. However, the latter half of the game takes place over two decades later than the beginning- the characters that you've recruited back then, such as Edain, may be in their forties by that point. By no means can characters in their early middle ages not fight in the early middle ages, but this IS an anime- the timeskip calls for a new cast of teenagers, the children of your early units all grown up.

6b. Can Love Bloom on the Battlefield?

Units can only have children if they become lovers. Some units will be- or become- lovers automatically, such as Quan and Ethlyn. In this case, their children will always be theirs. Some units do not- take, for example, Edain. She will not automatically take a lover, and you'll have to get her to fall in love with another (male) unit in order to have children. (Evidently, Jugdral has not yet invented magic that allows for cloning or IVF. Sad.) Even if she doesn't fall in love, however, you'll still have the same number of teenagers fighting for you later in the game- two of them will simply not be the child of any of your own units, and will be "substitute" characters with their own backstories. However, the children of early-game units will have some gameplay advantages, which I'll explain in a bit. Either way, each potential mother has two associated children, one of which will take after her to a greater extent and the other of which will take after her lover to a greater extent. No male unit has any associated children without falling in love.

As for how units fall in love, it's quite simple. Units have a certain number of "love points" with each other- all of them start with a certain number of points shared with each other unit. Once a unit reaches 500 love points with another unit, they become lovers, and can have conversations, gameplay interactions, and children. Units gain +5 love points per turn from standing next to each other, as long as they are the only two units standing next to each other; there is a bug that can cause units to gain love points meant for other units if they stand next to another unit who is standing next to that unit's prospective lover. There is a more detailed explanation, but it would involve some spoilers, so I'll leave it at that for now. Units also gain a certain number of love points by being on the same map together; this can be as low as 1 and as high as 10 per turn for a given pair. Finally, units gain love points by having conversations with each other- conversations between unrelated men and women often come with love points attached.

Perhaps this explanation has been tiresome, and I haven't convinced you you shouldn't just toss up your hands and go for the substitutes. Well, there are many gameplay benefits to kids, starting with the following...

6c. Holy Blood

It's hard to miss, considering how constantly it's talked about. Some of your units are descendants of the Twelve Crusaders, who destroyed the darkness about a hundred and twenty years ago. This has numerous story implications. However, it also has gameplay ones!

If you open up a unit's Holy Blood menu (press A on the unit menu) you'll see a circle showing all twelve of the Crusaders' weapons and their names. Some of these will have green dots next to them; when a green dot is next to a Crusader's weapon, that means that the unit has Minor holy blood of that crusader; when the green dot is glowing (there's a yellow light surrounding it) that means that the unit has Major holy blood of that crusader.

Minor holy blood boosts a unit's rank in the associated weapon by 1 letter grade. For example, Troubadours naturally have a B rank in swords, but because Ethlyn has minor Baldr blood, she starts with an A rank. Meanwhile, Major holy blood boosts a unit's rank in the associated weapon to the maximum, and allows them to use the associated holy weapon if they can get their hands on it. For example, because Sigurd has major Baldr blood, he can use any sword in the game (excepting other holy weapons), including Tyrfing. This isn't just a nice bonus- most holy weapons give a total of +30 to a character's stats, spread out across a varying number. Some give more or less, or have other special effects (for example, Mystletainn grants the Critical skill), but they are universally extraordinarily powerful. A unit with holy blood can turn the tide of battle on their own, in both gameplay and story.

Holy blood also increases a unit's growths. Depending on which holy blood they bear, various stat growths are boosted; a list is shown below. Note that minor blood cuts these boosts in half.

Baldr: Associated with swords. HP+20%, Str+10%, Skl+10%, Lck+10%. Od: Associated with swords. HP+20%, Skl+30%.

Dáinn: Associated with lances. HP+20%, Spd+30%.

Ullr: Associated with bows. HP+20%, Lck+30%.

Bragi: Associated with staves. HP+10%, Mag+10%, Lck+10%, Res+20%.

Thrud: Associated with thunder magic. HP+20%, Skl+30%.

Fjalar: Associated with fire magic. HP+20%, Mag+30%.

Hoðr: Associated with swords. HP+20%, Str+30%.

Njörun: Associated with lances. HP+20%, Str+10%, Spd+10%, Def+10%.

Nál: Associated with axes. HP+20%, Def+30%.

Naga: Associated with light magic. HP+10%, Mag+20%, Res+20%.

Forseti: Associated with wind magic. HP+20%, Spd+30%.

Children will inherit their parents' holy blood, but only partially; both children will inherit minor holy blood, if it is held, but only the child which most resembles the parent will inherit major holy blood. The other child will again receive minor holy blood, unless both parents share a holy blood type, in which case they will both bear major holy blood. This is the case even if both parents' holy blood is minor.

6d. Weapon and Skill Inheritance

Units will inherit the weapons and items of the parent they most resemble, but only if they can use them in their base class. The exception to this is Holy Weapons, which will be inherited even if the child unit can never use them.

Both parents' personal skills pass on to both of their children. However, their class skills do not. Check carefully to see that the skills you want to pass on actually belong to the unit innately!

6e. Growth Rate Inheritance

Child units' growth rates are equal to 100% of those of the parent they resemble most + 50% of those of the parent they resemble less. Therefore, all child units will be equally or more competent in battle than their resembling parent.

Section 7. Recruitments

7a. From Enemy to Friend

Units in Genealogy of the Holy War won't always be on your side from the start. Oftentimes, they'll start out as green allied units, or even enemy units. While talking to enemies to recruit them is common in Fire Emblem games, Genealogy has some more esoteric methods on its hands. Therefore, a list of (non-automatic) recruitment methods and chapters (without mentioning unit names) is below.

7b. Spoiler-Free Recruitment List

Chapter 1.

-Speak to the swordfighter with your lord after seizing Genoa.

Chapter 2.

-Complete all seven Arena matches with any unit.

-Speak to the princess with your lord.

-Speak to the free knight with anyone holding more than 10,000 Gold.

-Speak to the pegasus with the bard.

Chapter 6.

-Speak to either the axe fighter or the axe knight with the lady swordfighter.

Chapter 7.

-Enter Dahna castle with the cavalier who worries for it.

-Speak to the mage girl with the other mage.

Chapter 8.

-Speak to the archer with the thief.

-Speak to the sage with your lord.

Chapter 9.

-Seize Luthecia while the general still lives.

-Talk to the general with the cleric from Luthecia.

-Talk to the wyvern knight with the prince.

-Talk to the wyvern knight with your lord.

Epilogue.

-Speak to them with your lord after seizing Velthomer.

Section 8. Conversations

8a. Communication is Key

Though supports weren't introduced into the Fire Emblem series until Binding Blade, that by no means that units did not talk about their past and present with each other prior to it. Units in Genealogy of the Holy War can talk to each other on the map for lore, love, stats, and items. The "Unit" section of the map menu contains a list of all units who can speak to each other on page 4 ("Personal Data"). It's highly recommended that you utilize this; though all units will have who they can talk to listed on the second page of their unit screen, it's easy to miss conversations without this.

Conversations have several triggers, but the most common one is the seizure of a castle. A list of all conversations between allied units, triggers, and results (things obtained from said conversation) is below. Initiator of the conversation is listed first, who they speak to is listed afterwards, trigger conditions third, and rewards fourth.

8b. List of Conversations, Conditions, and Results

Note that all events that can cause love point gain will not occur if either participant in the conversation already has a lover.

Prologue:

Azelle->Sigurd, Azelle recruited Lex->Sigurd, Lex recruited Ethlyn->Sigurd, Ethlyn recruited Quan->Sigurd, Quan recruited

Chapter 1:

Quan->Finn, from start of chapter, Finn gains +1 Str/Skl/Def Sigurd->Edain/Aideen, Edain recruited Midir->Edain, Edain recruited and Azelle has not spoken to her, +100 love points Azelle->Edain, Edain recruited and Midir has not spoken to her, +100 love points Edain->Ethlyn, Edain recruited, Ethlyn gains Return staff Quan->Ayra, Ayra recruited Dew->Edain, Genoa seized, 50 love points + Edain gains Warp staff

Chapter 2:

Deirdre->Ethlyn, from start of chapter, Ethlyn gains Light Brand Dew->Raquesis/Lachesis, Lachesis recruited, +50 love points and Lachesis gains Thief Sword Quan->Finn, Heirhein seized, Finn gains Brave Lance Sigurd->Lewyn, Lewyn recruited Beowulf->Lachesis, Anphony/Infini seized, +100 love points and Lachesis gains Str+2, Skl+2, Def+1 Alec->Sylvia/Silvia, Infini seized, +100 love points Silvia->Sigurd, Silvia recruited Fury/Erin/Erinys->Sigurd, Erinys recruited

Chapter 3:

Lex->Ayra, from start of chapter and Chulainn has not spoken to Ayra, +100 love points and Ayra gains Brave Sword Holyn/Chulainn->Ayra, from start of chapter and Lex has not spoken to Ayra, +100 love points and Ayra gains Brave Sword Ethlyn→Quan, Sylvale seized, Quan gains Gae Bolg Sigurd -> Brigid, Brigid recruited Edain→Brigid, Brigid recruited, Brigid gains Yewfelle Midir-> Brigid, Brigid recruited, +100 love points Claud->Sigurd, Claud recruited

Chapter 4:

Taillte/Tailtiu->Azelle, if the two are not lovers, +100 love points and Azelle gains HP+5 Sigurd->Claud, from start of chapter Edain->Midir, if the two are lovers, Midir gains Brave Bow Edain->Jamke, if the two are lovers, Jamke gains Brave Bow Edain->Azelle, if the two are lovers, Edain gains Rescue staff Silvia->Claud, Thove/Tófa seized, +100 love points Lewyn->Sigurd, Silesse seized Erinys->Lewyn, Silesse seized, +290 love points

Chapter 5:

Edain->Brigid, from start of chapter Claud->Edain, if the two are lovers, Edain gains Rescue staff Sigurd->Ayra, Lubeck seized Lex->Azelle, Lubeck seized Dew->Jamke, Lubeck seized Tailtiu->Azelle/Claud/Lex, if the two are lovers and Phinora seized Erinys->Lewyn/Arden/(Noish/Naoise), if the two are lovers and Phinora seized Silvia->Claud/Lewyn/Alec, if the two are lovers and Phinora seized Lachesis->Beowolf/Naoise/Dew, if the two are lovers and Phinora seized Ayra->Lex/Chulainn/Arden, if the two are lovers and Phinora seized Brigid->Alec/Jamke/Midir, if the two are lovers and Phinora seized

Chapter 6:

(Scathach/Ulster)/(Roddlevan/Dalvin)->Larcei/(Radney/Creidne), from start of chapter, Larcei/Creidne gains Lck+1 Lester/(Dimna/Deimne)->Lana/(Mana/Muirne), Lester/Deimne recruited, Lana/Muirne gains Lck+1 Oifey->Seliph, Oifey recruited Lana/Muirne->Julia, Julia recruited, Julia gains Mend staff Fee/(Femina/Hermina)->Seliph, Fee/Hermina recruited Arthur/Amid->Seliph, Arthur/Amid recruited Julia->Seliph, Isaach conquered, Julia gains Nosferatu tome (recommended) Julia->Seliph, Sophara conquered, Julia gains Aura tome Seliph->Lana/Muirne, Sophara conquered, +100 love points

Chapter 7:

Shannan->Patty/Daisy, from start of chapter, +100 love points and Shannan gains Balmung Oifey->(Dermott/Diarmuid)/Tristan, from start of chapter, Diarmuid/Tristan gains +1 Str/Skl/Def Seliph->Shannan, from start of chapter, Seliph gains +1 Skl Larcei/Creidne->Shannan, from start of chapter, +100 love points and Larcei/Creidne gains +2 Skl Patty/Daisy->Seliph, Yied/Aed is seized, +100 love points and Seliph gains Brave Sword Leif->Seliph, from start of chapter Diarmuid/Tristan->Nanna/Jeanne, from start of chapter, Nanna/Jeanne gains +1 Lck Ares->Seliph, Ares recruited Lene/Laylea->Seliph, Lene/Laylea recruited (Tine/Tinni)/Linda→Seliph, Tine/Linda recruited Finn→Nanna, if he is her father, Nanna gains +5 Spd Finn-> Lana, if he is her father, Lana gains +5 Mag Finn-> Larcei, if he is her father, Larcei gains +5 Skl

Chapter 8:

Julia->Seliph, at start of map, Seliph gains Lck+1 Arthur/Amid->Fee/Hermina, from start of map, +100 love points and Fee/Hermina gains +3 HP Finn->Leif, from start of map, Leif gains Str +3 Faval/Febail->Seliph, Febail recruited Seliph->Tine/Linda, Connacht seized, +100 love points and Tine/Linda gains +3 HP Nanna->Ares, Connacht seized, Nanna gains +2 Str/Def Ced->Seliph, Ced recruited with Lewyn as his father, Ced gains +3 Lck Fee/Hermina->Ced/Hawk, Ced/Hawk recruited, Fee/Hermina gains +1 Lck

Chapter 9:

Febail/Asaello->Patty/Daisy, from start of map, Patty/Daisy gains +1 Lck Patty/Daisy->(Coirpre/Cairpre)/(Sharlow/Charlot), Coirpre/Charlot recruited, +100 love points and Coirpre/Charlot gains +3 HP Seliph->Hannibal, Hannibal recruited Lene/Laylea->Coirpre/Charlot, Hannibal recruited, Coirpre/Charlot gains +1 Lck Julia->Seliph, Grutia seized, Seliph gains +3 Res Finn/Hannibal->Altena, Grutia seized, Altena gains +3 HP

Chapter 10:

Lester/Deimne->Patty/Daisy, from start of map, +100 love points and Patty/Daisy gains +3 HP Nanna/Jeanne->Leif, from start of map, +100 love points and Nanna/Jeanne gains +3 HP Shannan->Seliph, from start of map, Shannan gains +3 HP Febail/Asaello->Lana/Muirne, from start of map, +100 love points and Lana/Muirne gains +3 HP Oifey->Seliph, Chronos seized, Oifey gains +3 HP Leif->Altena, from start of map, Altena gains +1 Lck Seliph->Fee, Rados seized and Lewyn is her father, Fee gains Str +5 Seliph->Lene, Rados seized and Lewyn is her father, Lene gains Def +5 Seliph->Tine, Rados seized and Lewyn is her father, Tine gains Mag +5 Coirpre/Charlot->Altena, Miletos seized, Altena gains +5 Res

Epilogue:

Arthur/Amid->Tine/Linda, from start of map if neither has a lover, Tine/Linda gains Lck+1 Tine/Linda->Seliph/Ced/Hawk/Leif, if the two are lovers, Seliph/Ced/Hawk/Leif gains Mag+3 Patty/Daisy->Seliph/Shannan/Lester, if the two are lovers, Seliph/Shannan/Lester gains +3 HP/Spd Daisy->Deimne, if the two are lovers, Deimne gains +5 HP Jeanne->Leif, if Edda is seized and the two are lovers, Leif gains +5 HP Muirne->Asaello, if Edda is seized and the two are lovers, Asaello gains +5 HP Nanna/Jeanne->Seliph, if Edda is seized and the two are lovers, Seliph gains +3 HP Nanna->Ares/Leif, if Edda is seized and the two are lovers, Ares/Leif gains +3 Def Lana/Muirne->Seliph/Scathach/Dalvin, if Dozel is seized and the two are lovers, Seliph/Scathach/Dalvin gains +3 Res Lana->Febail, if Dozel is seized and the two are lovers, Febail gains +3 Res Larcei/Creidne->Seliph/Iuchar/Iucharba/Shannan, if Dozel is seized and the two are lovers, Seliph/Iuchar/Iucharba/Shannan gains +3 Str Fee->Oifey, if Friege is seized and the two are lovers, Oifey gains +3 Skl Fee/Hermina->Seliph/Arthur/Amid, if Friege is seized and the two are lovers, Seliph/Arthur/Amid gains +3 Skl

Section 9. Sticky Situations

9a. Large, Progressive Maps

Portions of the maps in Genealogy open up as you progress through them and seize castles. While this does lead to some impressive storytelling, it can also lead to you being caught in an unfortunate situation because you're halfway across the map for where some new event is happening. I call this a "sticky situation", and have provided hints for dealing with them below.

9b. Hints for Sticky Situations

Chapter 1. Leave a unit to guard your home castle. The young man won't attack the woman he saved, but his fellows will.

Chapter 2. The northeast passage will open when your lord is in the least convenient location for it. Consider preparing for the worst beforehand, and sending a particularly moralizing young artist home ahead of time.

Chapter 3. Be prepared for sneak attacks from the west and the north, again when you're in the most inconvenient location for them. Think of the feelings of your recently-recruited units about the ones closest to them- maybe communication is the answer.

Chapter 4. If you like money, don't abandon the northeast entirely when duty calls elsewhere. Just don't leave your best units there. It's only provincial. Thieves can pick any lock, even when it's that of a drawbridge. If one were to be raised, they could lower it in no time.

Chapter 5. Units will automatically equip plot-relevant weapons. Even if they're broken.

Chapter 6. Better movement options don't necessarily result in a better outcome. Weigh all the pros and cons first.

Chapter 7. Your unlucky number is one greater than the number of Crusaders. Get a move on! Pegasi are broadly applicable to understaffing situations.

Chapter 8. Just because someone doesn't have Pursuit doesn't mean they won't attack you twice. Use more reliable methods. Thieves work in exactly the same way when they're your enemies.

Chapter 9. Never trust convenient roads that you didn't ride in on. Keep your guard up at home.

Chapter 10. If you're not willing to abuse critical hits and avoid stacking in the face of insurmountable odds, you'll have to either make sacrifices or count tiles very precisely. Consider sending winged beasts as close as you can to the cliffs east of your homeland before arriving there yourself.

Epilogue. Keep the one who inherited a blessing they knew not of until recently close to home. If you give a sage a magic ring and the right tools to use it wisely, you might be able to minimize your distress from enemies who mirror their abilities in the final stages of the war. Beware movement ranges.

Section 10. Secret Events

10a. What Is A Secret Event?

Secret events are events that the game does not outright inform you will occur if you perform certain actions. Some of these events are meant to be easy to infer (the Not-So-Secret-Events) and some a player would only figure out by looking them up in the manual (the Truly Secret Events). The Not-So-Secret Events are highly recommended for all players to prioritize due to their notable gameplay impact, and are difficult to miss if you read every conversation. The Truly Secret Events are fun, but if you wish to stay as unspoiled as possible, consider skipping them.

10b. Not-So-Secret Events

Chapter 4: After seizing Silesse, have its heir enter it. They will receive an important item.

Epilogue: After seizing Velthomer, have the most recently recruited character enter it. They will receive an important item.

10c. Truly Secret Events

Chapter 1:

A. Have Lex wait on the marked spot with an Iron Axe equipped. A conversation will occur, and he will receive a Brave Axe.

Chapter 2:

A. Have Arden wait on the marked spot. If he does not have a lover, a conversation will occur, and he will receive the Pursuit Ring.

B. After capturing Heirhein, have a male character wait next to the neutral soldier just north of Evans castle for a conversation to occur.

Chapter 3:

A. Have Dew wait directly in front of Bragi Tower and he will receive the Wind Sword.

Chapter 4:

A. Prior to seizing Tófa/Thove, if neither Silvia, Lewyn, or Erinys have a lover, a conversation will occur if Silvia waits next to Erinys. Silvia will gain a large number of love points with Lewyn, while Erinys will gain a smaller number.

B. Have Silvia visit the second-most right-hand village on the map. An event will occur, and Silvia will receive the Safeguard/Defense Sword.

Chapter 5:

A. Have Arden wait on the marked spot. If he has a lover, he will gain 5 points of Skill.

Chapter 6:

A. Have Seliph visit the village directly northwest of Isaach castle, and a different conversation will occur than usual.

B. Before conquering Ganeishire, Lester, Deimne/Dimna, Diarmuid/Dermott/Delmud, or Tristan can speak to the neutral soldiers of Sophara or Isaach castle.

C. If Deimne enters Isaach castle, a conversation will occur, and his Strength will increase by 5 points.

D. If Johan/Iuchar or Johalva/Iucharba waits next to Radney/Creidne for 10 turns, a conversation will occur, and Creidne's Strength and Luck will increase by 2 and 3 points, respectively.

Chapter 7:

A. If Laylea visits one of the villages south of Leonster, a conversation will occur, and she will receive the Barrier Blade.

B. After the boss of Ulster castle has been defeated, if Daisy waits next to Shanan, a conversation will occur, and Daisy's Skill and Speed will increase by 3 points.

C. After Melgen has been seized, if Tristan and Roddlevan/Dalvin are both below level 10, having them wait next to each other will cause a conversation to occur and both of them to gain Strength +2 and Def +1; Tristan will gain Speed +1, while Dalvin will gain Defense +1.

Chapter 8:

A. If Fee waits on the marked location before the character guarding Munster castle is recruited, a conversation will occur.

B. If Linda waits on the left-hand marked spot, a conversation will occur, and she will gain Resistance +3. If Amid waits on the right-hand marked spot, a conversation will occur, and he will gain Resistance +3.

C. If Asaello visits the village northwest of Connacht, a conversation will occur and his Strength will increase by 3.

D. After Connacht has been seized, if neither Seliph nor Muirne/Mana have a lover, and if all characters recruited from chapter 6 onwards have survived so far, have Seliph wait next to Muirne. A conversation will occur, and Muirne will gain Luck +5.

Chapter 9:

A. If Hawk enters Luthecia, a conversation will occur, and he will gain +3 Magic and Resistance.

B. After Grutia is conquered, have Charlot/Sharlow wait next to Hannibal. A conversation will occur, and he will receive the Berserk staff.

C. If Femina/Hermina or Janne/Jeanne visits one of the northwest villages, a conversation will occur and she will gain +3 Defense.

Chapter 10:

A. If Seliph defeats the boss of the final castle and before seizing it waits next to the water on the beach below, something will happen.

#fe4 #hi! i am normal about this video game. #guides #fire emblem

[a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all]

The Middle of Nowhere (Part 3)

Fandom: Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick, dark!Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, dark!Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Reader (no relationships) Summary: While he waits for the timer to count down, Bradley reflects on the game, how it all started, and his plans for you once he finds you. That is if Jake doesn't get to you first. Word Count: 2705 TW: Kidnapping, Language, Mentions of Murder and Mutilation, Hunted for Sport, Getting Off on Thoughts of Violence/Death, Bradley's POV Notes:I am EXTREMELY proud and excited about this series and hope you enjoy! Huge thank you to @loverhymeswith and @green-socks for all of your help!💕

Series Masterlist

Bradley watches his little fox scamper off into the darkness, silently counting down the seconds until he can begin the hunt. Usually, they have a strict rule against selecting their prey from the employees of the restaurant or bar they were scouting out, however, the second Bradley saw you, he knew you were the one, yet he could never have guessed you were even more than you seemed or that such a fiery, determined vixen lay hiding behind that stunning face. 

He licks his lips, tasting the blood still slowly dripping from his nose, and he smiles. You had made him bleed—something only a handful of prey had managed before—and he can’t wait to repay the favor.

Three minutes to go.

Jake has wandered over to the back of the truck and laid out his vast collection of knives on the tailgate as he tries to decide which ones to carry with him on the hunt. To Bradley, they all look the same, but he had made the mistake on more than one occasion of asking Jake the difference between them. Even after several forty-five-minute lectures on tip points, serrations, length, grips, guards, and fuck knows what else, Bradley still didn’t really understand the difference, nor did he care. The only weapon he liked to use was his hands. He needed to physically feel bones breaking beneath him, blood bubbling through his fingers and staining his nails, that last fragile flutter of a pulse before it stilled forever, and he couldn’t get any of that using a gun or a knife–or in Jake’s case–a rope.

That is yet another of Jake’s quirks that Bradley just can’t understand. Why anyone would want to step back and watch their prey take their last breath from afar just baffles him. There is nothing in the world that compares to the high he gets hovering just over his prey and inhaling their last breath into his own lungs—

Oh god, he is so turned on right now. 

Bradley takes a few long, slow, deep breaths of the frigid night air as he tries to calm the fire racing through his veins. This lust-filled adrenaline rush can be helpful during the hunt in small doses, but currently, the speed at which all the blood is rushing from his head is leaving him woozy and he needs to be clear-headed for what comes next. Otherwise, he’ll get sloppy and Jake’ll find you before he does and he can’t let that happen. Not this time. Not with you. 

It has been a long time, possibly even years since he has wanted a prey this badly and he plans on doing whatever it takes to ensure that his is the last face you will ever see. Even if that means bending the rules of the game and stealing you away from Jake. But the way Bradley sees it, Jake already got a taste of you back in the bar, so now it's his turn.

It had taken everything in him not to leap out of his seat and tear Jake off you as he was forced to watch his best friend shove his tongue down your throat. And what made it worse was how much you had seemed to enjoy it. Bradley had to grip the edge of the bar until his knuckles turned bone white as you slid Jake’s hand up from your hip to rest on your breast. He nearly missed his chance to spike your drink because he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him. But he remembered at the last minute and everything else had gone according to plan. 

Two minutes thirty-six seconds to go.

It’s amazing to think how far he and Jake had come since the first time they did this, back when it was an accident. 

It had been their senior year in college and they decided to go camping for the long Veteran's Day weekend to try and relieve some of the stress they were under. Jake was being scouted for several professional football teams and since the playoff game was coming up soon, his coach had been riding him extra hard lately. Bradley had just had yet another fight with his godfather about his plans for his future and he was so tired of feeling like he had no control over his life anymore. So a weekend away from it all with nothing but each other and the forest around them seemed like the perfect escape for both of them. 

All in all, it would have been a pretty forgettable weekend had a pretty young hiker not stumbled onto their campsite on their second night. Bradley and Jake managed to coax her into staying for a drink or two and one thing led to another—but then Jake took things too far and the girl fled into the woods. 

They knew if she made it back to town and reported what happened, Jake would be expelled–if not arrested–due to some past…questionable conduct that had only been overlooked at school because he was a national champion quarterback on his way to a professional career. But an official police arrest wouldn’t be swept under the rug as easily as a campus complaint, so they went after her to try to convince her not to say anything. 

The next thing Bradley remembered was kneeling over her body, his hands still around her throat as she stared up at him with wide, unseeing eyes. Jake was huddled beneath a nearby tree, vomit puddled beside him as he rocked back and forth, his eyes locked on the motionless girl. He might have been horrified at first, but Bradley….Bradley had never felt more alive. What's more, once they found a way to hide the body and it became clear no one would ever discover what they had done, that feeling only grew. And Bradley needed more.

It took a lot of convincing to get Jake on board, but once he had a taste of it himself, he too began to crave the thrill of the hunt, the rush of the kill, and it soon became somewhat of an obsession for the pair. A few weeks before graduation, Jake announced he was retiring from football and Bradley told his godfather he was done letting him make decisions about his life and blocked his number. 

As soon as school was over, they both found work that allotted them flexibility in their schedules and frequent time off so they could make their hunts a monthly event. Whatever they did didn’t matter; it was all just to serve the next hunt, the next kill. That was all that mattered to them anymore. And soon, the pair figured out the one thing that could make it even better: turning it into a competition. 

Over the next decade, they perfected their game. Trial and error taught them the best places to start their hunts, how to select their prey, how to transport them, how to dispose of the bodies once they were done. After a few years on their own, they had found others who shared in their bloodlust and the game had expanded. Now they had a network of seven or so people who would come in and out of the games based on availability, though a single game would never consist of more than four hunters. They couldn’t risk the attention bigger groups might attract. Each hunter brought different skills, different tactics, and different assets to the dynamic, and it was a great way to keep the games fresh and interesting over the years.

But tonight, it is just Bradley and Jake and their little fox hiding in the woods waiting for them to take chase.

One-minute fifty-two seconds.

Bored of just staring into the darkness of the trees waiting for the time to expire, Bradley slowly saunters over to the truck. Jake glances over as he approaches but never stops shifting through the knives. 

As he picks up one about the length of his forearm to examine it, he says, “Looks like your nose finally quit bleeding.”

“Yeah, but it still hurts like a motherfucker. I can’t wait to get my hands on that bitch and show her what real pain feels like.” Bradley grins, but then shakes his head as he starts getting lightheaded once more.

Jake chuckles as he puts down his knife to pick up another one twice its size. “Yeah, good luck with that. You’ll have to find her before I do, and I have a good feeling about tonight.” He chuckles, “I mean, my odds of winning have already increased from 25% to 50% with just one phone call.”

“And so have mine,” Bradley reminds him, then sighs. “I wish they would have called sooner and we could have postponed until the road cleared up. It’s weird they waited until we were supposed to start to let us know. Some of the others, maybe, but it’s not like them.”

Jake shrugs, "Apparently they had been trying to call for a while. Honestly, I'm surprised it made it through it all. The signal out here is shit." He pulls out his phone and quickly flashes it so Bradley can see the large warning signal with the words “No Service” below it on the screen before he returns it to his jacket pocket. “And, don’t get me wrong, I love getting to go head-to-head with you again, but it’s kind of a shame it’s just gonna be us tonight. I really wanted to see how they dealt with the snow.”

Bradley scoffs as he checks his watch. “Probably a lot better than you, Texas boy.”

Jake throws down the knife he is holding, the metal clattering loudly as it crashes against the rest of his blades, and he turns to face a startled Bradley. “Make up your mind, man. Earlier you were yelling at me for not thinking it snowed in Texas—which obviously I know, I just meant it’s still warm there this time of year. And now you are ragging on me for not being able to handle the snow because I’m from Texas. You can’t have it both ways!”

“Woah, chill out, Jake,” Bradley says, holding up his hands. “I was only messing with you.”

Jake sighs and scrubs his hand over his face before grumbling, “Yeah, I know. Sorry. I’m just so keyed up to go, I’m a little on edge.”

“Yeah, I get it. So am I.” Bradley chuckles and glances at his watch once again. “But only fifty-seven seconds to go.”

“Can’t we just…you know.” Jake jerks his head in the direction you had fled. “It’s not like we left her her watch so she knows how much time has passed.”

“You know we don’t do that. We have our rules for a reason. And besides,” Bradley laces his fingers together and stretches, cracking his knuckles, “that would take away some of the fun. We want her to get far enough away there is some skill in tracking her down. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

“The point is, I want to have some fun with her. God, I can still taste her lip gloss and feel her sucking on my tongue. Once I find her, I’ll give her something else to suck on.” The knife in Jake’s hand begins to twirl as his eyes glaze over. “I can’t wait to stick one of these in her and listen to all the pretty noises she makes. I wonder how many times it’ll take to make her cry.”

Bradley physically bit his tongue to stop from growling at Jake that you were his. Just listening to him daydreaming about winning is making a different kind of fire course through his veins, this one possessive and dark. But he silently reminds himself that Jake has a tendency of getting carried away and overly cocky as he drags out his teasing with his knives which, more often than not, allows his prey to slip from his fingers. Bradley had stolen quite a few wins from him this way by just waiting and watching, and he has a feeling that might be the case this time too if Jake somehow reaches you first. 

And maybe that will be the best outcome. While finding you first guarantees you will be his, Bradley can’t help but think how much more delicious it would be to find you cut up and bleeding, thinking you have escaped one horrible fate just to fall into his deadly embrace. That look of fear and anguish when you realize something far worse than Jake has found you. The knowledge that he won’t let you slip away. The way the fire will dim in your eyes as you realize there is no escape and he is about to—

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Twin grins of excitement spread across Bradley’s and Jake’s faces as the alarm on Bradley’s watch goes off. It’s showtime.

Scooping up his rejected knives, Jake quickly tosses them into the backseat of the truck while Bradley slams the tailgate shut. After one final glance to the front to make sure they aren’t forgetting anything, Jake shuts the door to the truck and locks it before sliding the keys into his jacket pocket next to his phone. Another thing they had learned from experience was to never leave the keys with the vehicle—that had almost been a disaster. 

With everything ready, Jake walks over to Bradley and warmly clasps his hand. Giving it a tight squeeze, he smiles. “Ready?”

Bradley squeezes his hand back. “Ready. May the best hunter win.”

“I plan to,” Jake winks at his friend and releases his hand. Walking over to the spot where you had disappeared minutes ago, he bounces lightly on his feet a few times, shaking out his limbs as he does so. With one final grin in Bradley’s direction, he calls into the darkness, “You better run. Hangman’s coming.” And in a flash, he disappears into the trees.

Bradley rolls his eyes and calmly walks over to the edge of the clearing. Jake had charged out following the trail of footprints you had left behind, but Bradley decides to wait. That idea of finding you only after Jake has already had a little fun with you is too tantalizing to pass up, so he’s going to hang back and let Jake think he has won, only to swoop in and steal the prize at the last minute. 

After about another ten minutes, Bradley calmly steps into the darkness and begins following Jake’s trail. He can’t wait anymore, and if Jake hasn’t found you by now, then screw it. He’ll just have to settle for being the first one to reach you. He’s not worried about you getting too far away or somehow finding help, not while you are still barefoot and affected by the remains of the drugs in your system. However, Jake’s concerns about you succumbing to the elements is more of a possibility than Bradley wanted to admit earlier. The only thing worse than Jake killing you is the cold killing you, and Bradley can’t let that be the way your story ends.

Suddenly, Bradley hears a loud whoop of joy in the distance to his left. Jake found you. For someone who dubbed him “Rooster” because of his crooning over his prizes, Jake sure liked to announce his finds just as loudly.

Tearing off in the direction of the shout, Bradley ducks and weaves around trees and branches as he tries to locate the two of you. This forest is huge and only having one brief cry to navigate by isn’t easy.

After a while, Bradley thinks he sees something up ahead. At first, it is nearly impossible to identify, just a swaying shape up in one of the trees. However, as he gets a little closer, his heart freezes in his chest and all that fire rushing through his veins is instantly extinguished. Jake hadn’t screwed up this time, and Bradley took too long to find you.

The darkness still shrouds the majority of the hanging shape, but the orange jacket wrapped around it is unmistakable against the trees and snow. 

Taglist:@valoraxxx-blog, @m3laniehearts, @autumnleaves1991-blog, @rule107, @vintageleather, @impossiblebagelcowboyfreak, @sugarcoated-lame, @slutforadambanks, @americaarse, @reneki, @ynbutbetter, @imagineadream, @sadpetalsstuff, @salty-thembo, @rachelizabethgraham, @duckandrobin, @queenbbarnes, @grincheveryday, @uselesslyromantic, @chouricojr, @king-of-milf-lovers, @high-fidelities, @shaded-echoes-recs, @dempy, @nik2blog, @dumb-fawkin-bitch, @uselesslyromantic, @choochoo284, @littlebadariell, @thescarletknight2014, @gigisimsonmars

#the middle of nowhere #fic #dark!fic #rooster #hangman #bradley rooster bradshaw #jake hangman seresin #bradley bradshaw #jake seresin #reader #f!reader #dark!rooster #dark!hangman #dark!bradley rooster bradshaw #dark!jake hangman seresin #top gun #top gun maverick #top gun: maverick #tgm #angst #whump #language tw #hunted for sport tw #murder tw

[ynvariant]

Trying something a little new

I love how with social media we can all be ourselves, simping over masked men from a game, unashamed lol. So here's a small piece of a new story I'm writing, let me know what you think!

I don't have a title yet, sorry!

Song of the Chapter: WASTE by Kxllswxtch

“Go ahead!” I shout at his back. Why is he packing so fast?

“Go ahead and leave!! Cause that’s all you ever do!! Leaving me and never saying anything! Leaving and never telling me when you’ll be back!! Go ahead and leave because I never want you back here! Don’t ever come back!” I go to the closet and start throwing his clothes on the bed.

We’ve been, whatever we are, for three years. In those three years he barely told me anything about himself, what his job is, nothing. In those three years I’ve never seen his face. I fell in love with a mystery. Sometimes I wonder if I’m even alive and this is all happening or maybe I’m dreaming, or dead, or in a coma, dreaming of all this.

“I’m not going to explain this again to you.” His accent comes out hard, a sure sign he’s getting irritated.

“No, you never do! I have given myself, my home, my heart, my soul to some random man I met three years ago who’s face I’ve never seen! Even though I live with him and share a bed with him!! I have been told close to nothing about you in three years. I barely know what you do, who you are, or what you’re going to do!”

I walk back to my side of the bed, I can’t take it. I watch him pack his bags, throwing on his gear as he goes.

"But I still love you."

“You knew exactly what you were getting into three years ago. I’ve told you enough and you understood what it meant. You know the risks and why everything is the way it is. You know you can't see me. It p-”

“Puts me at risk. Living with you is risky enough. Loving you is the greatest risk I’m making here. Seeing the face of the man I love and want is a risk I’d take every day. No matter the price.” I walk over to my vanity and take out the ring.

I run my fingers over it a few times before turning to him. It’s a simple, thin gold band with Riley engraved on the inside. Usually I wear it every day but I had been working in the garden and I didn’t want it dirty. It’s a plain and simple ring, but it’s worth a million diamonds to me.

He picked up his bag, finished packing, and was walking out of our room. All his weapons and other gear are packed and sitting by the door. I wonder when he did that.

“You are young, Y/N. Live your life and take a future you’ve dreamed about. Make your own future with no burdens, no dangers, no pain. Give yourself a life you deserve.”

I follow him silently as he takes his bags out to his truck. He's always had an issue with our age gap. Why does he always dwell on something so little?

He tosses most of his stuff into the back seats. Most of his gear he puts in the bed of his truck, secured and hidden by the metal cab cover.

“I’m leaving and not coming back. We will never meet again. Goodbye.” He walks to the driver's side of the car, but I yank the passenger's side open, pausing him. I take the ring and set it on top of the bag closest to me.

“Leave. If you really want to and you can’t find a sliver of love for me in your heart, leave. If you never meant any promise you made me, if you didn’t mean every word you ever said, go ahead and leave. If those nights where I did nothing but love you, if those most intimate nights don’t mean anything to you. If I was just some game, something to play and past the time with, leave. But once your tires leave my driveway never come back. I don’t care if it’s the end of the world, I won’t welcome you back, Simon.”

I step away from his truck and close the door. I walk back up the porch and stand at my front door. I watch him stand there. His eyes darted between his truck and me. I look down, away from his beautiful blue eyes that pierce me every time he looks at me. His beautiful, perfect crystal blue eyes.

I stand behind the screen door, waiting for him to close that damn door and walk over here. I know it’s selfish of me to hope he chooses me but people need him. People's lives depend on him, the secrets of our country depend on him. But my world depends on him too.

After what feels like an eternity, he closes the truck door. He doesn’t make a move for me. I see his breath come out of his balaclava, the cold December air making his breath visible.

“If you love me then your soul has been damned since the beginning. I am not a man who can love, who will ever love. You are asking the impossible from me, knowing it could never happen. I cannot choose you when there is nothing between us. I will not choose you.”

That’s all I needed to hear. I didn’t watch as he got in his truck and drove away. I didn’t pick up the balaclava he left behind. I closed the door, locked it and armed the security he installed.

Today I mourn this pain, but tomorrow I burn the memories of him.

#simon ghost riley #ghost cod #simon riley x reader #simon riley x you #simon ghost x reader #romance #agegap #age g4p #cod mw2 #cod mwii #simon riley #konig cod #konig fic #ghost fic

[sidesteppostinghours]

The Puppets

(picrew used to make this)

this is a masterpost on my main steps puppets and their relationships with them! all of their info under the cut.

Hark - Caine Lynzal

hark is caines refuge. hes the one they turn to when they need to take a break from their telepathy for a while, or when they need to feel real again. harks snarky, flirty, and sharp. for all his bravado, he gets the job done well. whether or not that makes him more frustrating or less is up to you. he has an eerie sense of intuition, so its difficult to catch him off guard with anything. he has a cordial working relationship with dr mortum, but jake has his eye on him. as for ranger relationships, ortega flirts with him regularly, though chen is never quite so pleased to see him. he truly doesnt know why– a bruise at the back of the head is a much more agreeable outcome than a bullet in the gut, no? its strange to watch him, really. hark and caine are almost(?) different people; where caine prefers to stick to the shadows, hark revels in attention. caine rarely shows emotions, but hark uses them like a weapon. ortega doesnt have a clue that theyre connected. high puppet individuality, high puppet comfort. practices aikido.

Argentine - Cyrus Becker

argentine is a tool. nothing more, nothing less. shes a useful asset to help cyrus gather information anonymously, but hes not going to sit here and pretend he cares for her any more than what she can do for him. she goes to meet with hollow ground instead of cyrus, and was stuck being treated in the hospital before dr mortum went to break her out (cyrus had no idea she was getting kidnapped, he was busy regene revealing to ortega while it was happening). she started out flirting with the good doctor in an attempt to manipulate him, but quickly came to realize she enjoyed his company more as a friend. the guilt of lying to him chewed on cyrus until he finally revealed who was behind the mask. dr mortum requested some time, but hasnt cut the chord completely yet. she flirts with jake, and spies on ortega under the guise of being his close friend. low puppet individuality, low puppet comfort. practices jogging.

Ace- Cecilia Rider

ace lives lavishly. shes an excuse for cecilia to flaunt her wealth and have her own fun. it allows her to let loose in ways she cant normally indulge in. cecilia also hates being ace. every second she can avoid it, she does. it isnt her, even though they may think and act the same way. the prospect of hiding under the mask ace provides gives her hives. shes no coward, shes willing to face the consequences of her own actions, and she refuses to live her life in somebody elses body. ace is friends with dr mortum and ortega, though shes revealed to mortum. however, she has a strong tension with jake because of her tendency to get into fights whenever hes around. oops. high puppet individuality, low puppet comfort. practices boxing.

Eden - Cynthia Garcia

eden is not cynthia. shes soft spoken and mostly reserved, but professional and polite. Technically speaking, the game registers her as a mirror image puppet, but thats not completely true– eden doesnt look like what cynthia does currently, she looks like how cynthia looked back when she was sidestep. sometimes, looking in the mirror gives her vertigo as she tries to remember who (when?) she is. eden avoids mirrors as a result, but she cant deny that this body feels better than her usual one. like shes turned back time. the fact shes dating ortega only exacerbates this (ortega also called eden 'cynthia' which. Ortega. could you please stop dating both at once and giving both(?????) your gfs an identity crisis). mortum considers her a friend, but theyre not very close, and jake couldnt care less about her. low puppet individuality, high puppet comfort. practices aikido.

#ive been itching to do one of these because i realized all of their stats are different from eachother and that got me. mmmm #i fucking love hark #my sweet bastard son #hes the part of caine thats sick of everybodys bullshit and he finally gets the chance to say it #edens isnt entirely true #sometimes she has less puppet comfort so i can get that sweet sweet regene-copy angst #it depends on the run #but cynthia always likes being eden #im so happy with how these all came out goddamn #they all look like how i imagine them #picrew #caine lynzal #cyrus becker #cecilia rider #cynthia garcia #sidestep #fhr #pulp speaks

[evita-shelby]

They didn't know we were seeds

Chapter 3

Cw: violence, murder, death,

@justrainandcoffee @call-sign-shark @emotionalcadaver @peakyswritings

Tigris is the only person allowed with her in the stockyard where she is to prepare for her last moments on this earth.

The arenas are specially done in advance for the games, the entire thing is usually attributed to the Head Gamemaker and only used for this momentous occasion. Afterwards it is a tourist attraction that pays for itself because to the Capitol this is entertainment.

Eva's Launch Room is not like her room back at the tower nor even the cabin on the train. It is a dressing room where she will go to her televised death at the 61st Hunger Games. Eva hopes it’s not Dustin nor Laurie who kills her. Nor Lacey from 8, nor Daisy from 11, nor any tribute she made sort of friends with this week.

The tracker had been injected into her forearm. Breakfast was eaten by her almost entirely because Tigris only eats raw meat like a real tiger. Tigris who never felt human and became a tiger despite her family’s protests.

Eva has little family to speak of.

Her cousins married and moved away, and Eva’s aunt would follow after now that her husband is dead from cancer and the last mouth to feed is here in the capitol awaiting to be slaughtered. Olivia is a strong woman; she won’t be like her only sister who couldn’t cope with losing her children.

Some say Eva resembles her more than her dead mother even if she doesn’t have Olivia’s auburn hair. But both were tall, deemed beautiful by all those who know them and shared the sharp brown eyes everyone in their family inherited from Eva’s grandmother.

No one stood in Olivia Souza’s way not even death. This last part Caesar had liked, said she should aspire to be more like her aunt.

And if she is to be like her aunt in that regard, Eva asks Tigris what other strategy the mystery girl from twelve used to survive.

“She ran away from the bloodbath just like your mentor did. Her sponsors kept her fed and she used all her tricks to stay alive. She only killed one person. The rest was just a disease in the arena.” The tigress whispers as if it were illegal for them to speak of a previous game.

When Eva is raised onto the arena, she laughs while a voice countsdown the seconds and she takes a look around to plan her escape while Dustin plans to take the hunting knife put amongst the temptations of the cornucopia.

Maybe Dustin wasn’t wrong in thinking he could win them, Caesar in his bubblegum pink hair had said she was selling herself short and he was right.

They are in a desert, just like the one her district shares with part 2 and 5.

Just like home.

Eva doesn’t stick around once she’s secured the meager offerings nearest to her before running as far as she can from this.

Dustin made a mad run to the weapons and paid the price for it when the careers overpowered him, she doesn’t know who killed him and doesn’t want to know. And yet she’s foolishly hoping it wasn’t Laurie as she hides in the overgrown grasses having tripped over something on her way to the thicket of trees that she knows only grow like that near water, even if you must dig to find it. There isn’t much place to hide, most trees do not grow tall in the desert and the tributes are picked off like flies by careers and other tributes alike.

There had been one who ran in her direction only for her to lose her footing and bash her own head on the many rocks hidden under the grass, the arena is as inhospitable as a real desert meaning it will have all those critters that don’t need man to be lethal.

Eva crawls on her hands and knees careful to avoid the ants, the scorpions and the snake hole she tripped on until she reaches the first of the trees. A scraggly mesquite bleeding sap and enough pods to see her through the night until she can find the source of its water.

There is an oasis where the careers will take over with their supplies as they always have, but her backpack ---which she kicked the boy from eight in the balls for--- has a metal canteen for water, a spigot and iodine. It has a good enough sleeping bag that might be useful for the cold desert night, some food she could make last a while with her foraging and only matches for a fire.

She needs a weapon, but she can make do with what she has while the killing dies down and whoever sponsors her sends her a gift. For now, she stuffs herself with the sap and the pods as the canons go off.

With not much here to give them cover, the toll is rather high and the display on the false heavens feels unending. Twelve have died just today.

Tomorrow morning there will be more canons, not from murder or even the animals in the desert, but from hypothermia. Eva will be lucky if she sees morning.

But she does and is rewarded with a tiny little runnel that is enough for her to fill her canteen and nourish the wildflowers, some prickly pear cacti or two and the trees she uses for shelter. The girl fills her backpack with what she has foraged before making a suitable walking stick from the tree she slept against.

She could stay here, hidden and safe until the Gamemakers corral them to get the games going, Eva thinks as she finds a pinyon pine with enough leaves and branches for her to hide in for tonight. Desert trees don’t grow very tall but this one is old enough to cover her and have some pine nuts despite it being late mid July.

Eva sets her first trap, on a cactus that she knows not to tap water out of she leaves the spigot knowing someone is bound to drink from it.

Three more during the night and its barely dawn when she hears the laughter from the career pack led by Laurie and his golden sword. They are hunting down tributes going by their talks. The girl from One laughs at her own jokes about the boy from 5 begging for her to spare him.

Only nine tributes left. Both tributes from 1, 2 and 11 who hailed from the southern part of her district, the boy from 4 who stayed behind to defend the oasis, the boy from 9, and Eva.

Eva would be casualty number 16.

“I told you Evie would survive, 10's part desert, remember.” Laurie acts as if he isn’t here to kill her.

The boy gives her that same charming smile he gave her when they first met at the training center and extends his hand to her. “Hi, gorgeous, how would you like to join us?”

He is counting on her losing.

Despite the growing animosity between them, Tigris is the last person alive who truly knows the man before her.

Coriolanus is so confident that Laurentius will take after his brother and win that he never considers Eva could kill the entire career pack with the poisons she can make with the flora of the arena.

Her grandmother was an apothecary, her mother as well and now she put her lifelong knowledge of living in a place like that with her healing training to the test. Even the trainers were impressed with her skill.

Now as the girl who snagged herself an alliance with the leader of the pack yesterday, she is safe from the others. Especially from the tributes who look down on her for being from a poor district and know her hold on Laurie Nelson spells death to them.

The spigot she left had tricked the boy from 9 and the girl from 11 because all the water from the runnel had dried up the day Eva left her trees. These two deaths happened while Eva lacked for nothing in the safety of Laurentius’ arms. The boy gave her the long hunting knife Dustin tried to fight him for and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

She will make the games interesting, interesting enough for her to rack up sponsors and bets.

“Nelson may be able to keep her safe from other tributes, but can he save her from the Gamemakers?” There is a bit of blood from his sore on the drink and some on his lips that curve into a snake like smirk. It disgusts her along with the smell of the roses.

Grandma’am’s never smelled like these artificial yet real creations that fail to hide the rot in Coriolanus’ soul.

“We shall see, Coriolanus. It is only the fourth day, and these games can last up to twenty days.” The feline woman hides her distaste for the smell of his roses well enough to get him to think her ploy to turn Eva into the ghost of Lucy Gray was just a way to secure sponsors for her new ‘pet.’

Eva lives to see Laurie kill the girl from his district when they try to drown Eva and the career pack officially dissolves at the sixth day. Eva Smith somehow convinces Laurie to destroy the stockpile of supplies ---after stealing what they will need--- and leave his former teammates to starve or risk meeting them at the Feast that will surely come.

On the Seventh Day, the snakes come out exactly like the ones Coryo Snow once tampered with to save Lucy Gray Baird just as the Feast is laid out in the arena.

#evacore #jack nelson x oc #hunger games au #peaky blinders fanfic #tigris snow

[hunting-songs]

Muse Bravery Checklist: Senritsu Döne Reblog or repost and fill out the form all about what your muse would/wouldn’t be brave enough to do. Then tag any friends you’d like to see do it as well! Note that some of these aren’t smart things to do but in this case, bravery and risk are both included.

Tagged By: A little Wildbirdie ! Tagging: @rake-rake @skarletchains @bewitchingbaker @nephytale @gyofukuki @jxgi @uzumakiuser @kiigan @distortedkilling @yeonban @swxpped @zealctry @muddsludge @curseisms @saiakv ....AND YOU!

My muse would ... [X] Spend the night in a haunted building [X] Go into a burning/collapsing building to save someone [X] Take a shortcut through a dark alleyway [X] Stay calm with a weapon pointed at them [X] Be confident defending themselves from an attack [X] Touch a dangerous exotic animal [X] Take someone else’s punishment to protect them [X] Travel to an unknown place by themselves [X] Spend a night in the woods alone [ ] Witness (or join) a seance [X] Play a scary video game in the dark alone [X] Explore a pitch black catacomb with only one light [ ] Contact the spirit of someone they once knew* [X] Spend the night in a cemetery [X] Sit in a room with one hundred creepy dolls [X] Hang their feet over the edge of a tall building [X] Swim in dark, murky waters without being able to touch the bottom [X] Be covered in spiders, snakes, or other insects [X] Go looking for the source of a mysterious sound late at night [X] Spend an hour sealed up in a coffin [X] Go sailing miles from shore without any communication [ ] Use a Ouija board* [X] Go diving in a dark, underwater cave [X] Climb through a long tunnel just big enough to fit through [X] Explore a spot where cult rituals were performed [X] Go walking late at night, alone [X] Spend the night in a home where someone was murdered [X] Go surfing on the Dark Web [X] Play an urban legend game (bloody mary, the midnight man, etc...) [X] Stay home alone with a suspected killer on the loose [X] Climb a dangerous mountain where many others have died on their way to the top [X] Explore ancient ruins where strange things have happened [X] Touch a supposedly cursed object [X] Check out a creepy cellar or attic [X] Cross an unstable bridge over a huge drop [X] Pick up a hitchhiker in the middle of the night

Apparently Senritsu is Fearless! Which is in itself for one thanked to her personality and recklessness. And on the other hand it is really hard to duprise Senritsu, as she usually gets a very fair warnng beforehand throug her keen eyes, so most things do not scare her as she easily always knows more than othe rpeople about a situation. Senritsu also might be reckless on her own, but she is also a deeply caring person, so when someone is faster at announcing their reckless plans she will quickly step up and put her foot down to keep the other person from doing the reckless action to protect them and also correct her own behaviour to not lead the other person on. However if she is on her own and with noone to look after, Senritsu very much is a Hunter through and through with the survival-instinct of a Lemming.

Contact the spirit of someone they once knew+Use a Ouija board: Senritsu does not believe in an afterlife. She knows that when someone dies there sometimes is left behind parts of their aura. However, that aura is not sentient and only goes after the strongest emotion they had at the time of the owners death. Accordingly what is left behind is never "That Person" the aura belonged to. It is a wish and a feeling that is left behind but never "That person". So Post-mortem-Nen is not a Ghost but an abstract echo without own thoughts or motives. Therefor Senritsu would never try to contact spirits or use a Ouija board because she simply thinks that something like ghosts does not exists.

#hunting-songs: headcanon #hunting-songs