#or like pull a gun on you as a threat maybe not outright shooting cause now that i think about it ive only seen ppl pull guns out

[grain-my-beloved]

Honestly though I have seen a lot of takes that seem to really overstate/oversimplify Grian's negative- or perceived negative- personality traits and it feels very odd to me. Like, obligatory disclaimer that im new to the yhs fanbase and and as such don't know how old most of the fan content ive found on yhs is so if I ever mention character debate ive seen and y'all are like "I ain't seen anything like that recently???" It's cause I don't discriminate on new stuff, five year old stuff, or anything in between, mostly cause I don't know how old any post or whatever I stumble across is.

But like. I see Many posts implying Grian is rude, disrespectful, manipulative, vindictive, arrogant, and violent. And I don't *get* it.

I mean. Throughout yhs Grian is actually one of the characters most averse to violent or criminal action. His typical pattern of behaviour actually consists of Grian trying to completely avoid involvement in wild dangerous activities and objecting immediately both on logical and moral grounds, giving in only under outside pushing and often threat of serious harm to himself. And, well, duress is an actual legal defense in criminal cases that can get criminal charges cleared or reduced. "In criminal law, actions may sometimes be excused if the actor is able to establish a defense called duress. The defense can arise when there's a threat or actual use of physical force that drives the defendant—and would've driven a reasonable person—to commit a crime. A classic example is someone holding a gun to the defendant's head to force the defendant to break the law. Some courts use the term "coercion" or "compulsion" for this defense". Which is why it's immediately very odd to me for Grian to be assessed as just violent/criminal period as if that's an active part of his character. Most of the time when we see Grian commit a crime or physically harm someone he has reasonable cause to feel like he's in danger if he doesn't do so and would not take the same actions otherwise. Hell, legally speaking sometimes he's got an outright case for violencd self defense even beyond the cases for duress. Some examples of times Grian was involved in criminal activity include cases of robbery under duress, shooting in self defense, that kind of thing. This is a young highschooler with very minimum history of wrongdoing before getting stranded in a seriously abusive relationship in an incredibly crime heavy city and getting pulled into a string of crimes pretty much all with potential coercion/self-defense defenses built in. Literally everything about Grian's situation- from his age to his decently clean criminal history to the abuse he was suffering at the time to the use of threats/attacks against him to convince him to commit any crimes he was involved with- are likely to be a point in his favour on a legal standpoint and certainly should be notable when it comes to moral judgement. Quite frankly there aren't many characters in the series that id feel individually safer around because independently inciting violent encounters just isn't something he typically does. And having the survival instincts to bend under serious threat just isn't the same as being a violent person in your own right and saying Grian's just a violent or criminal person overall feels really weirdly oversimplified.

And beyond that is the idea that Grian's arrogant/disrespectful/manipulative/rude/vindictive. Which just feels out of pocket honestly. Grian can have a cynical streak, but that usually manifests in calling out genuinely inane bs or like...insulting his abuser(s). Stuff like being touchy and annoyed about their teachers not teaching them anything or calling Sam "literally the worst person who's ever lived" or making snide comments about how fucking insane Yuki is or similarly pretty justified grievances. Grian plays into the trope of the Only Sane Man, which, ive quoted this in the past but imma do it again, here's a quote from yhe tv tropes page on the Only Sane Man. "Alice is a Psycho for Hire, Bob is a Cloudcuckoolander, Henry is an Empty Shell, Charlotte is a Chaotic Stupid prankster, Daniel is the Annoying Younger Sibling, Emily is a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk, Maria Rhymes on a Dime, Franklin is a Mad Scientist, and Gardenia is a Holier Than Thou Lawful Stupid. Looks like your standard Dysfunction Junction. But then you have Isaac. Isaac is actually a very well-adjusted individual. He reacts with appropriate horror to things like Alice's finger collection or Franklin's experiments to revive the dead with science, and the crimes against nature that Gardenia calls pets. Isaac is the Only sane Man and The Only Voice Of Reason in the room". That's what Grian is. Pretty consistently. Grian's the guy that calls out the cruelty and incompetence and stupidity of the other characters because their general community is fucking *insane* and nobody else seems interested in questioning it. Grian isn't wrong about these observations though and it can't even be a case of "you're not wrong you're just an asshole" because he's not calling out harmless silly stuff, he's usually calling out shit like police corruption or the school neglecting their student's education or people consistently forgiving/excusing his abuser or the frequent unnecessary violence and crime going on in the community generally? And when he's in a situation where he's engaging with a kind or reasonable person Grian is actually typically prone to being polite and level headed in return. He's not typically, like, talking down to innocent people for harmless quirks/choices, he just shows a level of dismay and frustration towards the constant awful shit going on around him and in his interactions with people who are behaving like normal functional human beings he tends to have a pretty decent head on his shoulders?

Like. Grian isn't always in the right 100% of the time with no flaws and no incidents in which he's done something wrong. But he's definitely not some arrogant violent unempathetic prick who loves getting into fights and mocking undeserving people. The latter of which ive actually seen implied (maybe not quite as intensely/directly but ive certainly seen the words arrogant, violent, manipulative, unempathetic, disrespectful, and rude ascribed to him as general personality traits he has which just isn't accurate) way too many times for comfort.

#yhs #yandere highschool #yhs grian #to be fair a lot of the times ive seen this take its been paired with attempts to defend how sam didnt blatantly abuse the heck out of grian #which makes sense i suppose cause what better way to defend sam not being abusive than to make his victim look like the real villain #or at least like just as much of a villain

[bunny-wk-fanfic]

Hey I am glad you are doing okay, I was worried for you. I would like to request a Kagome and Dante (Devil May Cry). Maybe Dante thinks he needs to save Kagome from some demons, but Kagome got it covered with her abilities? I love when Kagome kicks ass. Stay safe.

Been a long time since I’ve done anything DMC wise, hope this still entertains you.

Leaning against the tree, he could honestly say he was enjoying the show. How could he not? It appealed to every part of him.

The job he had taken had been slightly restricting in that it brought him to Tokyo, a sudden increase in missing young women and high school girls had become a cause for concern. Especially since there were no ‘normal’ explanations behind the disappearances. So when he had been asked, he took the job.

Arms crossing over his chest, he smirked when the petite figure easily took down a brute at least three times her size, wincing in male sympathy when she brought her knee up sharply between his legs only to give him a quick kick in the head. He bet those heels gave an extra sting to the sudden blow.

If he didn’t know half the women in his life, he would question how this woman was able to do half the stunts she was pulling off in those heels. But damn, if they and her pants didn’t make her legs seem endless, the pants being skin tight also didn’t leave much to the imagination. Though he did wonder how her breezy little top didn’t shift or reveal anything so far.

He tensed when the ugliest of the bunch launched itself at the woman, it’s intent to outright kill rather than kidnap as had been obvious in the beginning. Hands reaching for his guns, he barely drew them when the woman spun, arms out and a quick burst of bright light filled the area. The creature’s screech quickly ended to echo eerily in the air as a pile of ash landed at the woman’s feet.

“What the fuck are you?” the ‘brains’ of the group cried out, quick to scramble away from the woman when she turned back to face them.

Face set in an upset scowl, the woman scoffed. “If you have to ask that, then you’re about a 100 years too young to think you can take me on.” her stance shifted ever so subtly, a stance he was familiar with, it spoke of experience in fighting. Not that he doubted she couldn’t, if what with the past 15 minutes were anything to go by.

Shivering, he felt the lingering traces of that ‘light’ it was the oddest sensation he had ever felt from a human, and he was sure she was completely human as he sensed nothing demonic from her.

“So, I’m giving you this chance and this chance only.” fingers flexed  at her sides, gaze locked on the leader of the group.

“Oh yeah? To what?” said leader scoffed, wiping a small trail of blood from his chin.

“To release the women you’ve already stolen, if they’re still in your possession, and you’ll have the ability to walk away alive.” a brow ticked when the group snickered and laughed at her proposition.

He would have taken it, knowing when to cut his losses. What the woman was offering was more than gracious, he would have simply beat the information out of them, and depending on their answers, may or may not of let them live. It would depend on his mood upon learning the truth.

“I’ll enjoy breaking you personally.” the leader smirked. “First one to get her, I’ll let them have my seconds.”

Tensing at the words, he slowly withdrew his weapons, fully intent on getting rid of the muscle and maiming the leader. He wouldn’t need the use of certain parts of his anatomy to reveal where the women were, which was hopefully holed up somewhere alive.

“Trust me woman, you’ll be a sloppy mess when I’m done with you.” he made a show of licking his fangs, cracking his knuckles to draw attention to his claws.

With a flick of her wrist, her hair was tossed over her shoulder. “How juvenile.” and just like that, she was taking them on single-handedly. Her moves were graceful, using the bare minimum of energy, in fact, she used her enemies energy against them. It was actually sort of seductive, though not in the way Trish fought, but it had its appeal. There was nothing hotter than seeing a woman kicking ass in his personal opinion, so he was content to watch. That was, until he saw one of them sneaking up on her from behind, and he finally saw fit to step in.

Drawing his weapons, a shot rang through the air causing all to turn and face him.

“And who the fuck are you?” the leader spat, snarling at this point and losing control of his human appearance.

“Just someone out for a night stroll and saw this attractive woman in a spot of trouble, so I thought to lend a helping hand.” he used Ivory to give a mock salute, grinning at the last three as he had just taken out one of the brutes.

The leader lifted his nose into the air, making it obvious he was actually scenting the air. “Helping hand my ass! You’re trying to pouch our target!”

A snort from the woman drew their gaze to her. “...like that was going to happen.”

“I gotta agree with her, looks like you were getting your asses handed to ya.” he smirked, being sure to wink at the woman when he stopped next to her. His smirk grew at her obvious confusion.

“No bitch-!” before he could complete his comment, the leader gagged when a fist landed a solid hit in his throat. Hands scrambling at the now bruised flesh, he chocked and attempted to direct the two next to him. They appeared to have some form of intelligence, if their immediate jump into action was anything to go on.

“By the Kami, he complains a lot.” the woman slipped next to him, easily keeping up to his own fighting style.

“Well you did say he was young, and brats do enjoy pitching fits when they don’t get their way.” smirk still in place, he observed the smaller brute eye him, though their gaze would shoot to the woman that was easily handling the larger of the two with some trepidation.

There was a soft snort from behind. “Speaking from personal experience?” if it weren’t for the teasing tone in her voice, he was sure she was taking verbal shots at him.

“The likes of which you wouldn’t believe, Honey.” stepping back, he folded his arms over his chest when he saw that the two brutes decided to take on the bigger threat. A woman as tall as 5’5’’, he was sure at least a couple of inches were due to her shoes.

“Honey? I wasn’t aware that we were on close terms.” with a wave of her hand, a shimmering barrier popped up around them, leaving her time to turn and face him, blue eyes shining in the dim light from the distant lamp.

“Would you prefer babe? Sexy? Gorgeous?” with a slight waggle of his brows, he chuckled at her scoff and eye roll.

“...red clad, silver haired jerks… I’m surrounded by them…” her mumbled words were curious, but he didn’t get a chance to ask what she meant as she pulled out a cell phone, making him wonder where she kept it hidden. Any attempt to find a pocket had her snapping her fingers. “Oi! You want to keep those pretty eyes in your head?”

Leaning down to be closer to her height, his smirk grew when a cute blush colored her cheeks. “You think I got pretty eyes?”

She didn’t deign to answer him, instead choosing to talk to the person on the other end of her call. “Yeah, found the one responsible, he’s here with two others. Just track the GPS from this call.”

Realizing that his attempted catch was actually bait, the leader croaked out in an attempt to call the others into leaving. No sooner had they turned their backs to flee, did the barrier shift to encase them instead.

“Nifty trick. How are you doing that?” a low hiss escaped him when he wrapped his knuckles against the semi-solid surface of the barrier a few time. It stung a lot more than he thought it would!

“I thought with you being half demon, you would know what a holy person is capable of.” her cell phone was mysteriously tucked away again. Where, he had no idea though he seriously wanted to know.

“Honey, I’ve met my fair share of ‘holy’ people,” he made a show of eyeing her from top to bottom. She was attractive. Long black hair, that now looked wild from fighting these demons, framed her delicate face that housed her surprisingly vivid blue eyes, surprising in her obvious Asian features, and plump lips. She was slim, though there was subtle definition that spoke of a more active lifestyle than most women. It wasn’t as defined as Lady, but it was there. “And let me tell you, I’ve never seen a nun dress like you do.”

“I’m not a nun. I’m a miko; shrine maiden, shameness, holy warrior. Take your pick.” at his low whistle, a brow rose in silent question.

“A miko? Didn’t think any were still around. You're my first.” he stroked his chin, attempting to recall having met another like her.

Head canted to the side, she rolled her eyes. “...bet that doesn’t pass your lips often…”

Grinning at hearing the words, once again leaning down closer to her level. “Honey, you’ll need to buy me a drink and dinner before asking about my lips and their possible activities.”

Blue eyes narrowed on him, not in anger, but in contemplation. Her nose quickly wrinkled as her lips pinched. Soon she flinched back as she shook her head, as if attempting to shake off some thought, groaning only for it to end in a whine.

“You okay there, Honey?” he was honestly amused by her expressions. Trish, due to her nature, was poor at expressing herself save for extreme moments. As for Lady, she also seemed to have a set of emotions that she was willing to publicly display, everything else were kept private. But this woman, now that the three were contained, was easily expressing her thoughts and emotions.

“Please, shut up. With your words and appearance, my mind went down a forbidden path.” she quickly pinched the bridge of her nose, once again muttering under her breath.

“Miko, your ability to attract riff-raff with little effort never ceases to entertain me.” the voice drew their attention to an approaching male.

Dante whistled lowly at the amount of power this male carried with ease. The male was obviously not human, demon of some kind, wore a business suit that was tailored to his size. Despite his apparent Japanese appearance, he was tall, standing perhaps at his own height.

“Does that include you, Sesshoumaru? Remember, you came to me in the end, not the other way around.” there was a tilt to her lips, a teasing tone to her words.

A brow was merely raised as the now identified male stopped next to her, golden eyes slowly closing when he seemed to realize that her words must have held some truth. Dante blinked when those eyes turned to him. “...I’ve heard of you, son of Sparda.”

“Same, son of the General.” smirking at the slight narrowing of those golden eyes, he turned his attention back to the Miko when Sesshoumaru approached the three contained males. “He always this excitable?”

“You don’t know the half of it.” her attention was more focused on her acquaintance and the three males, waiting for a signal from Sesshoumaru. The moment she had it, the barrier was down and the three were being escorted by more of Sesshoumaru’s agents.

While he was happy that the threat was taken care of, the reason he took on this job was an attempt to find those that went missing. “What about the missing women and girls?”

“They will reveal where they are.” Sesshoumaru spoke up, pulling out a wallet as he approached them. “One way or another. I believe this was the amount this ‘job’ offered you in finding the females.”

Dante didn’t accept the money, though it was tempting. “Why give me this?”

“Allow the families to keep their money, they will need it upon the conclusion of learning the truth of what happened to their females. This paltry amount is of little consequence to me.” the money was once again offered.

Going over the words, Dante figured it was true. Learning that demons were real would be traumatizing for those women and girls, the medical bills for any injuries they suffered was also going to add up. “Alright. Guess I can take you out to dinner now, Honey!”

“We never agreed to any such thing. Nor am I interested in learning of your illicit affairs.” offering a mock salute, she spun about and began walking away, no doubt home being her destination at this hour.

“Miko.” the single utterance had the woman freezing, shoulders hunching as she turned to toss a stink eye at the stoic male, it darkened at seeing his smirk.

“Fine!” the words were growled through clenched teeth. “Come along, Oh great son of Sparda! I shall direct you to where you can receive the best accommodations in payment to seeing to the return of our missing women folk!”

Snickering under his breath, it became outright laughter when her ire was quickly directed at him. It didn’t stop him from make his way to her side, following her out of the park and to where said accommodations were no doubt going to be. “Honey, you’re a sure spit fire, I’m gonna enjoy getting to know you.”

“Don’t, you’re free to leave at your earliest convenience.” she was practically stomping along the pavement, grumbling under her breath about brats and the males in her life. “I already babysit one silver haired idiot with a fondness for red, I don’t need another in my life.” she gave him a quick look over, brows pinched. “Do you always use guns? Or do you have other weapons?”

“I have a sword, why?” he was honestly curious, wondering why what weapons he used had to do with their current conversation.

“Great. No doubt you’ll meet each other sooner rather than later and start a fricken pissing contest about who has the bigger sword.” she started mumbling again, her anger causing tiny sparks to fly from her.

Dante was honestly entertained, and so glad that this job didn’t go as planned. Normally when things didn’t go as planned, the shit hit the fan leaving him with more work to do. “Well, size is great and all, but it’s useless without technique.” smirking at the look she tossed him, it was downright venomous, and she looked ready to spit fire, he relaxed as they continued on. “But don’t worry about that, Honey, you still have to buy me that drink first.” tossing a wink at her, he laughed as she sputtered for any sort of come back.

#fanfiction #games #Devil May Cry #inuyasha #Kagome Higurashi #Sesshoumaru #Dante #Dante Sparda

[silver-wield]

Omg. Your body language analysis is so on point it makes me go uwu. If you're still doing it, will you make one for the scene where Cloud catches Tifa while Barret shoots his damnest at the heli? I have my own analysis but very curious what's your take on it.

Heya, I'm guessing you don't mean the scene with the hand catch, but the one after it where they reach Barret's position on the stairs. Although I have many thoughts about Rude too and why he first of all directed Reno's attention to Tifa, but then noped them away when Reno was about to shoot her. He had an interesting microexpression – teeny facial tic – that hinted something different to the OG “he's crushing on her” angle.

A lot of these “action touches” get discounted by you-know-who because in those situations it's impossible not to touch? I don't get the reasoning and I'm not gonna try and figure out just what counts and what doesn't. It's non-optional. Isn't that the only argument that matters?

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven't played (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it's gonna be a long one so prepare to scroll.

Also, this is one person's interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that's cool and we'll agree to disagree.

You're also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I'm grabbing them from Youtube and it's frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone's interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis) 

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog) 

Tifa character analysis 

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory) 

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti) 

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis 

Cloti reunion analysis 

The Promise Analysis 

Andrea's approval (Cloti ask response) 

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Quick recap. Cloud and Tifa are reunited after that hand catch scene (smug? Me? Nau) and they're heading up to find Barret after seeing Jessie “die”. The mood is not good. This is not romantic, okay? This is war.

Ok, so already we have touchy touching here. You can argue it's high tension/stress moment and Cloud is making sure Tifa's safe, but he doesn't do that with Barret, is all I'm saying.

Cloud's got hold of her entire arm, not just her wrist or hand, he's got hold of her as securely as possible giving they're in motion. He doesn't want to lose her. She's got her arm on him, braced and using his body as a shield, which he is clearly fine with because he positions her partly behind him while he turns to check the threat from the stairs – possible further collapse of the platform they're now on. He's protecting her. Obvs. I shouldn't have to spell this out. It's not romantic, but it's telling of their trust and reliance on each other as partners. This is a clear pair.

Ok, so moving on from Cloti – cause action scene and this isn't a romance game – we get Tifa hearing Barret behind her. She turns and there's her concern for her friend. Obviously, she cares. It's her entire motivation for leaving the safety at the bottom and hauling her ass up those stairs.

Her face here hits me hard in the feels. She's so grim and worried and doesn't want to lose anyone else. She's caught up to Cloud, but then she lost Jessie – right in front of her and she couldn't do a thing about it. Now, she sees Barret facing down a helicopter.

Take that in. It's a dude – ok he's got a machine gun on his arm – fighting military spec weaponry on a fucking helicopter. Of course she's frightened and worried that she's about to see him get shot. Someone else she couldn't save.

Remember, FF7 has themes of loss and failure. The heroes don't always win or if they do there's a cost. How much of that threads into Remake is still to be seen, but since this scene is following canon we can assume it stands for now.

Tifa's character is often motivated by the desire to not lose people. She even says as much to the Shinra middle manager that she doesn't want anyone else to die. She stops Cloud killing the security agents and Johnny. This is a girl who fights because she wants people to live, not die.

Ok, so now we've got her running to reach Barret, leaving the safety of her bolt hole beside Cloud, who immediately turns and is all wtf when he sees her playing chicken with a chopper. Tbf, Barret doesn't sound that pleased about it, either. It's a crazy impulsive move likely driven by the desire to not lose her friend. If they're together they can stop whatever's coming. Tifa is very teamwork oriented if you recall all her actions from chapter 3 and how demoralised she was when she had to agree to disagree with Avalanche.

Cloud for his part doesn't take too long to dive to the rescue again. I think by now he's pretty much fulfilled that childhood promise and this is way more than just helping out a colleague or friend. He's not hesitating for a second to put himself in front of her with nothing but a sword for a shield.

Sorry, I just stopped the vid on this moment and it looks so damn cool I couldn't resist adding it. All it does is reinforce the above statement that Cloud has zero reservations of putting himself between Tifa and certain death. He's her hero without even stopping to think about it. The framing is stunning. Barret in the background, Cloud in the middle distance and Tifa in the foreground. Cloud has lined himself up with Tifa so that she's as protected by his position as he could possibly get. That takes skill. Tifa's half crouched to make herself a smaller target, but Cloud's body language is open, defiant. He's basically saying “come at me”.

Ah and now I'm sure some people will be all “but Cloud left her in the middle of the platform”. Well, yes, it's called diversion. He's the bigger target, the better target. And by making the chopper follow his progress, he's taken its sights away from Tifa's position. It now has less chance of hitting her when it next fires. Remember, Cloud knows tactics. He's not a dumdum. You can see that on his face as he's deciding his next move. The chopper won't wait for him to stop and explain what he needs to do, it's gonna fire. He's gotta move quickly. He also needs to trust that Tifa can get herself out of trouble. So many people's complaints about how she's not a damsel and should take care of herself. Well, this is Cloud trusting her not to be a damsel. He helped her out, and now he's gotta rely on her helping herself too. If he took her by the hand at this moment and dragged her along with him, she probably would've died. Tifa got herself to his position alone, she's clearly capable. He knows how much ass she can kick.

After that we've got the typical checking for danger and guy banter. I'm loving the development of Cloud and Barret's relationship. They went from outright hating each other to friends over the course of this game. It's beautiful and develops even further in their resolution – I love their one, it's so sweet and sad and such a guy bonding moment. Male friendship is important too, especially to Cloud who doesn't have many friends.

Now, despite the banter, Cloud's head turns at this point, back to Tifa. He's made sure the immediate area is safe, checked in with Barret and now it's back to his primary focus.

I love that Barret calls himself the leading man. It reminds me of Balthier in FF12.

And you'll see that Barret is still in the middle of that line while Cloud is stretching his hand out for Tifa. Could be a “I gotta grab my teammate” move, but I mean, really? Are we that delusional? He didn't have to do any of this. He could've relied on Tifa to get herself over there and not put out a hand for her. Barret didn't grab him. You could say that Barret doesn't like Cloud enough for that, but it's a high action moment. They're comrades and being shot at. Any helping hand is appreciated. Maybe Barret thought Cloud was capable enough not to need help. But then wouldn't the same apply to Tifa? Why does she need helping just cause she's a woman? She can kick ass.

And what about Barret? His attention isn't on Tifa at all. His focus is the helicopter, so he's either relying on Tifa to be ok without that level of help or he's expecting Cloud to support her.

Yes, she is literally throwing herself into his arms. That's how much she trusts him to catch her. Again, Cloud is going for a full arm grab – a hand or wrist isn't secure enough in this situation and he wants to keep her safe.

Tifa. Well, she looks scared. Shocker. She just got shot at by a helicopter. Ofc she's scared and leaning on Cloud. She's taking strength and reassurance from him. I mean, she could've just grabbed his arm and pulled herself to safety. There's no need for this depth of touch.

You'll notice this all happens within miliseconds while Barret says that leading man line. This is very quick action, very decisive. No hesitation on anybody's part.

I mean, this is full upper body contact between them. I don't know what else to say about it. There's no need to get this close. He could've pulled her over and then let go. He didn't. They both prolonged contact. This is relief they're ok for the moment. They’re united in how they feel.

Oh look, eye contact. I've pointed out before that Cloud doesn't do eye contact with people very well, but he does with Tifa, no matter the situation. Looking at this I'm like damn get a room. It's an intense look between them and even though there's shit hitting the fan around them you can see they have attention for each other, too. He's pulled her to safety and now he's meeting her gaze to gauge if she's ok. She nods. He nods. Back to the action. They don't have time for a drawn out romantic bit. They've got more serious things to think about, but even during the most high tension action scenes they have this energy about them that speaks to their close bond and affection. He's comfortable with her touch in every situation – if I'm wrong about this then someone point it out to me so I can see plz. He's still got his hand on her after they separate from their action hug and then when he drops his hand he braces it against the pipe beside her. Still close to her, though not actually touching.

After Barret asks if they're ready, Cloud looks around then looks at Tifa again. Did he need to do that? Idk, but he didn't look at Barret before they hauled ass.

Conclusion:

Kinda obvious. Even in high tension situations Cloud has part of his attention on Tifa. He's hyper aware of where she is and whether she needs him at any given time. It's sweet af how much he focuses on being her hero without even really knowing why. This instinctive need to protect her comes from the real!Cloud part of him. The one that made the promise to her. The one that has a crush on her.

Some people can say these kind of moments don't count because Cloud has no choice(?) but to touch her, but actually, he has no reason to touch her the amount he does. There's ways to execute these moments without this much unnecessary touching. He does it this way because of an instinctive need and desire to touch her this much. It's what he wants to do.

#final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #final fantasy 7 remake analysis #cloti #action romance scenes #battle couple #there's really no need for them to be this touchy #unless they wanna be #they act like a couple already

[pinnithin-writes]

Good Jokes

Chapter 9

The next day brought sharks and gunfire, squids and murder. Dr. Coomer, with newfound vigor from the previous night’s rest, was racking up a pretty impressive kill count, growing in power as more of his clones were eliminated. Tommy drifted away in his head most of the morning, dwelling on his father’s words and the guilt that came with them.

He kept an eye on Benrey, as always, but there was little need to. The entity had chosen to cooperate for the most part, aside from pestering Gordon every step of the way. Gordon had learned to just go along with Benrey’s gags, giving him space to blow off some steam until he got bored. It was a surprisingly effective method of dealing with the guy, and Tommy once again found himself struck by not only Gordon’s strength and tenacity, but his remarkable resourcefulness. Maybe that doctorate from MIT really was worth something.

Controlling the entity (as far as the entity would allow himself to be controlled) was pretty much the only win they had that day. The rest of their journey had them swimming through drowned, claustrophobic tunnels, avoiding the jaws of the creatures that slithered within. Tommy wasn’t a fan, but Gordon outright hated it, coughing and spluttering every time they surfaced, waterlogged and exhausted.

The adrenaline in Gordon’s blood was pretty much the only thing keeping him moving, yet he fought on, intent on making his way to the Lambda Lab. Right. The Lambda Lab. Find the lab, close the rift, and then they could all go home.

Tommy very, very badly wanted to go home.

When Gordon nearly had a panic attack after mistaking a soda can for a grenade, Tommy finally pried himself out of his mental fog. Knock it off, dude. Now wasn’t the time to zone out and brood. People could die, and one of them in particular did not have the ability to regenerate himself if that happened.

Bubby and Benrey had begun whispering among themselves, which was a cause for concern. Tommy listened in when he could and caught mostly insults -  something he was inclined to dismiss - but the way Benrey’s eyes glinted when Tommy looked his way didn’t quite sit right.

“Can’t friends talk?” Bubby had asked hotly.

That was it. Benrey didn’t have friends. Tommy let his gaze slide away, swallowing his words but keeping his suspicions close.

After rendering a perfectly good server room completely useless, they came upon one of Dr. Coomer’s clones, who had posted himself up outside a heavy lead door. He actually recognized Gordon, which was unexpected. You’re the guy in the HEV suit, he told them. We’ve been tracking your progress, he told them.

Dr. Coomer scratched his chin and swept the group with a troubled look. “Gordon, that means you’ve been leading the military to us this whole time,” he concluded.

“What? But - I mean I can’t even take it off.” Gordon gave himself an up-and-down gesture.

“Oh,” Benrey noted flatly. “Maybe you need to die.”

“What?” Gordon demanded. “I don’t need to die.”

Benrey responded by nonchalantly raising his firearm. He pulled the trigger and contents of the clone’s skull splattered against the wall. Gordon took a step back, nauseated.

“I was gonna ask him a very valuable question,” he uttered, averting his gaze.

“I’ve absorbed his power, Gordon,” Coomer brightly informed him. “Ask me.”

Tommy was staring hard at Benrey as Gordon went back and forth with Dr. Coomer about the possibility of ditching the suit. The entity’s pupils were haloed with reflected light as he returned his gaze, baring his razor smile in a challenge. Tommy didn’t say anything, his eyes wandering instead to the peculiarly shaped door. Something radiated from the back of his skull as he studied it, as if the heavy barricade itself were a warning.

“This door is ominous,” he murmured.

When the science team all cast him curious looks, he realized he had spoken his thoughts aloud. “It’s shaped like a B,’ he elaborated. “What could that mean? ‘Buh’ door?” That was a silly thing to say, he thought in retrospect, but it was what came out of his mouth.

Gordon gave him a mystified smile. “‘Buh’ door?” he repeated.

“No, I think those are glasses,” Benrey said.

Gordon shook his head, passing a glance between them. “What are any of you saying?”

Tommy raised his eyebrows at Gordon, smiling despite his unease. “Buh,” he reiterated, just to make him wheeze with laughter.

Benrey and Bubby began repeating the sound, too, and Tommy wasn’t sure if they were having fun or mocking him. At this point, both options were plausible.

Gordon was still grinning. His teeth were so even; he had definitely been a braces kid. “Working on your phonics, Tommy?”

Sure. Yeah. That was it. Most people didn’t look at a B-shaped entryway and immediately feel a crawling beneath their skin. Well, except for some very particular interior designers, perhaps. He held Gordon’s gaze and didn’t respond.

Dr. Coomer, restless, was already heading through the door. “The B stands for ‘bye!’” he called cheerfully.

The room that followed was freezing, the floors slick with ice. The creatures within were a low threat, slipping and sliding around as they were on the frozen surface, but that meant the team of scientists was equally ineffective at shooting them.

“Whoah, guys, it’s icy!” Gordon called, flinging his arms out for balance.  

“It’s cold as hell in here.” Bubby observed with exasperation. He fired at an alien, corrected his aim, and fired again.

Tommy made a deal with the laws of physics for a brief time, allowing him to traverse the frozen room with relative stability. Benrey was more brazen and simply sauntered on through as if the ice wasn’t even there, paying the creatures no mind as he went. Weirdly enough, they seemed to be ignoring him back. Before Tommy could think on that much longer, Gordon’s excited voice drew his attention.

“You guys like ice skating?” he asked, eyes alight as he slid across the room. “I was never one for it. I don’t got really good balance.”

Laughing with delight, breath fogging in the chilly air, Gordon whirled with his arms above his head in a wobbly pirouette. Tommy watched him, unable to keep the smile off his face as he did. The fact that Gordon was still finding joy after almost three days in this hellscape nearly made the ice melt beneath Tommy’s feet.

Bubby’s irritated voice came from around a pillar. “Gordon, now is not the time for jokes.”

With some effort, Gordon stopped spinning. “Bro, lemme have a little fun,” he shot back. “It’s serious, but like-”

“My life is in danger!”

“So is mine!” Gordon insisted. “But like, when you guys have fun, when you’re fucking with me-”

“Your technique is sloppy, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer chimed in, sliding into the vicinity with a flourish. “Perhaps we should practice once we get out of the Black Mesa facility.”

Gordon’s smile returned in earnest. “Oh?” he asked. “Show me your form.”

The old man spread his arms wide, as if gearing up for a complicated maneuver, and then collapsed dramatically onto the icy floor. Tommy bit down on his knuckles to hide his laughter while Gordon waved him off, chuckling.

The three of them caught up to Benrey and Bubby, Gordon keeping up his skating routine as he went. Tommy trailed after him, gunning down encroaching extraterrestrials so the guy could have his fun. At one point, Gordon spun and stretched out a hand to Tommy, bowed at the waist, mouth quirking in wordless invitation.

Tommy paused, staring at his open palm, wishing more than anything that he could take it. Just forget about the creatures and the soldiers and the rift in space for one fucking second and let himself get swept away by this charming gentleman in front of him. He felt his throat tighten. He positively ached for it.

Declining with a polite smile, he shook his head. Perhaps once this nightmare was over, when they were no longer concerned about staying alive. Something to look forward to, something to make horrors they fought through worth it. Tommy owed him a dance. For now, however, he offered Gordon something he could always give.

“B stands for ‘below freezing,’” he quipped.

Gordon laughed, warm and genuine, and withdrew his hand. “Oh, now I get it.”

---

The price they paid for seeing the sky again was an onslaught of new adversaries. They were fast . Bubby scouted up ahead and immediately scampered back to the group, a wild look on his face as he murmured, “Oh my god.”

Gordon was peering around a crate, eyes narrowed. “Did you see that?” he asked. “Was that a woman?”

Tommy’s eyes could barely track their movements, agile as they were. They didn’t really look like anything to him, much less women, and he was about to turn his head to say so when Coomer charged ahead of them with fervor.

“Look out, Gordon!” the scientist exclaimed.“Hotted boobs up ahead! Tits, big ones!”

Gordon’s subsequent shriek of laughter was so forceful he almost misfired his weapon. Beside him, Tommy could hardly keep it together enough to provide cover fire. When Gordon sprinted after him, calling a hesitant, “Dr. Coomer, I don’t think that was very respectful,” he lost it all over again.

Bubby and Dr. Coomer took out the majority of the nimble creatures, while Gordon mostly missed his shots and Benrey slouched indifferently through the crossfire. After checking themselves over for injury (and a moment of questionable target practice on some moths), they found the surface access switch and kept moving.

Tommy felt that dark prickle near the base of his skull again as he habitually brought up the rear. They were going the right way, right?

“I’m a little nervous,” Gordon said, vocalizing Tommy’s unease. “What about the airstrikes?”

Oh, right, that was a good point, too. The threat of heavy military artillery sometimes slipped Tommy’s mind. Perhaps they could find another route to the lab.

“What’s there to be nervous about?” Bubby asked, striding ahead with confidence. “We’re going home.”

Benrey idled in the back next to Tommy, fingers laced behind his head like he was lounging in a hammock. “Look at all - all that room,” he said, shooting Tommy a sly look. “We’re going on a mystery walk.”

Nothing about that sounded good to Tommy, and he was suddenly on edge. He gave Benrey a piercing stare, but the entity only showed him his shark teeth and meandered after the party. Tommy followed, pulse on the upswing.

“Gordon, if you play it carefully, this will cut down our travel to the Lambda Lab by about three hours,” Dr. Coomer declared.

“Down to thirteen minutes!” Bubby added.

“Oh,” Gordon remarked, taken aback by such fortuitous news. “That’s the whole duration. That’s the entire thing.”

“Yes!” Bubby went on excitedly. He pointed to a room down the hall. “And look, there’s even a medical station in there.”

Gordon considered. He had taken a few hits in the last fight. Nothing life threatening - Tommy had made sure of that - but it was likely still painful. “A med station… I could probably-”

“Medical stations can be used to recover from wounds, Gordon,” Coomer interrupted helpfully.

Benrey was apostrophe shaped as he lounged against the doorway. “Wow,” he murmured, tossing a look inside the adjacent room. “They got TV and Blu-ray… high definition…”

Gordon waved him off in disregard. “We don’t need that. I’m-

“They got a couch,” Benrey added, as if this would sweeten the deal.

“I’m not interested.”

“I heard Blu-ray is better than DVD,” Tommy couldn’t help commenting dryly.

He didn’t like this. This was weird. Well, on par for Benrey, but Bubby’s firm insistence that Gordon enter the room before he did was setting off alarm bells in his head. His fingers tightened around the grip of his handgun.

Gordon was still bickering with the two of them, hampered by the semantics of laser disc technology. Tommy quietly moved closer, darting his eyes around the area for anything indicative of danger. He caught the gaze of Dr. Coomer, who was just standing there patiently with an idle hand on his crossbow. He looked unbothered as the argument escalated.

Benrey’s eyes were beginning to flash in a wordless threat. He leered at Gordon, revealing his pointed teeth. “You wanna go in?” He was no longer asking. “Please?”

Gordon, who had learned by now to pick his battles with the entity, relented. “Alright,” he sighed. “Okay. I guess… I’m gonna go for it.”

Something was wrong. Something was wrong. Something was wrong, wrong, wrong. Panic shuddered like a javelin down Tommy’s spine, and as he reached out a hand to pull Gordon back, the lights cut out. Some outside force locked onto Tommy, pinning him to his position in space like an insect on a corkboard.

Gordon faltered. “Okay, uh, who’s fucking with me?”

“What the hell?” Bubby asked, voice lined with a facetious edge. “What is happening?”

Benrey, on the other hand, sounded like he was having the time of his life. “Ohhh, it’s dark in here,” he groaned, barely attempting to hide his glee.

Tommy, nerves alive, fought against whatever had nailed him to the spot. This didn’t happen. Tommy didn’t just get stuck, and there was a very short list of beings who could make him do so against his will. He cast his gaze around frantically for any clue of what was happening, but it was so dark he may as well have been blindfolded.

Gordon was irritated now. “Who the fuck knocked out the lights?”

Dr. Coomer’s response was as neutral as it was useless. “Hello, Go- Has anyone seen Mr. Freeman?”

Heavy footsteps came barreling at them, accompanied by Bubby’s cry of, “there he is - get him!”

There was the sound of impact. The rush of air being forced from a pair of lungs. Then… Tommy didn’t remember much of what happened next.

Shouting. There was plenty of that. Tommy thought maybe he yelled something, but he couldn’t be sure. All he could register fully were the sounds of Gordon crying out in pain and the feeling of his own doomed grief as his muscles failed to work.

And help. Help. Gordon was pleading for help, and Tommy thought his heart would stop if he had to listen to it anymore.

The blade cleaving through bone was the loudest sound in the world.

Gordon fell horrifically silent. The scent of blood saturated the air like a stain. Tommy’s stomach bottomed out as he heard the soft slide of a body being dragged away.

“Now, gentlemen,” Dr. Coomer’s voice echoed off the darkened walls, “let’s get out of here before they peel us apart.”

Footsteps dispersed as the team made itself scarce. Whatever had been holding Tommy in place finally released him, and he dropped numbly to the floor, trembling in the dreadful aftershock. His hands slicked through blood and he almost threw up. The truth, heavy and unrepentant, settled in on his shoulders.

He was alone.

Alone.

Alone.

Chapter 8 <-----> Chapter 10

#ink #fanfiction #good jokes #part of my endeavor to relocate all my ao3 work #violence #guns #blood #gore #amputation #hlvrai

[pynkhues]

If done right couldn’t the fallout from the shooting fix some of the issues between Beth and Rio? Force Beth to be more open and honest with herself and Rio about her feelings, maybe talk about more than business. Get them to a place to where they want to explore a personal relationship. Or is this wishful thinking?

I absolutely think it could fix some of the issues between them, anon! In a lot of ways, it actually puts them on the most even playing field they’ve ever been on. Rio’s always had physical threats and intimidation on his side in a way that Beth’s never had, and while he’s never been outright physically violent with Beth, he did shoot her husband and he’s certainly defaulted to violent threats whenever he’s wanted to position Beth in the way that he wants her or put her in her place (holding the gun beneath her chin in 2.06 in particular springs to mind). 

What the events of 2.13 does do is prove that Beth is capable of causing as much physical harm as him (and if you want to talk about it just in the sense of the two of them, more physical harm, since that ship seems to have sailed for him), and that gives her an extra bit of pull in the game of tug of war between them. Which, funnily enough, puts them back in a bit of a stalemate. There’s only so much you can go toe-to-toe on when you have a sort of equal means of negotiation - and I think that’s where we look like we’ll be starting in S3 - with both of them still reeling from professional and personal losses, both in the process of rebuilding, both with limited resources and the same negotiation tactics, and right in the middle of it, this huge, ugly, traumatic thing. 

Something’s got to give eventually, you know? And given they’re both completely awful disasters, I can see them both boiling over with sheer emotion at some point. 

#gg season 3 #gg 2.13 #gg 2.06 #nbc good girls #beth x rio #beth boland #rio #power plays #i actually kind of love the idea of them building something from the ground up together #all bitter and needy and angsty #yes #give it to me #welcome to my ama #dis/armed

[storiesandgarbage]

Jealousy

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x reader; Peter Quill x Reader (platonic)

Style: One-shot

Warnings: Uhm, drinking, swearing, jealousy (it’s in the title), laser tag, smut: teasing, begging, possessive Bucky 

Word Count: 4k

Summary: Reader’s childhood best friend, Peter Quill, comes for a visit and let’s just say Bucky is feeling a little insecure

A/N: Hi lovelies! I’m back to posting!! This one shot has been sitting in my drafts for... months and I’ve just been afraid to post it so I’m sorry for my radio silence! I hope you enjoy, I’m writing more, I have some WIPs ready to post, I’m hoping to get active and stay active! 

As always, my taglist is open, just send me an ask!

——————————————————————————————

“Peter Quill as I live and breathe!” The man standing in the doorway had his back turned to you but the instant he heard your voice he spun around, smiling wide and caught you in a hug.

“Y/N,” he said into your hair, “how are you man?”

“Missed you,” you were hesitant to let go, fearing that Peter would disappear into nothing if you did. He hardly ever made it to your side of the galaxy and you constantly missed him. Peter had been your first friend, growing up in the same neighborhood and going to the same school. When he had been taken, you had lost a part of yourself. Having him back, even for the shortest of periods was like being able to breathe again.

“I missed you too,” he stepped back and took in the sight of you. “You’re looking buff, have you been lifting with Thor or what? That man will just turn you into a meathead.”

You laughed at him. His intense jealousy of Thor never ceased, even after knowing him all this time but it was so endearing to see him jealous when there wasn’t even a threat to be had.

“No, I haven’t been lifting with Thor, but Bucky’s been training me for a while now.” You stuck your thumb over your shoulder at your boyfriend who was standing a few feet away, talking to Steve and trying to act like he wasn’t bothered by your interaction with Peter. He had heard you talk about him before and he was okay with you having friends, of course. But there was something about the way he looked at you, Bucky could tell Peter saw you in the same way that he did.

He may not have felt the romantic pull toward you but he truly saw you. It was evident in his stature he knew how strong you were, he knew the intellect you carried, and he respected you in a way that you deserved. Bucky tried not to be jealous but he was losing the battle with his insecurities. It only got worse as he listened to you making plans with Peter for that night.

“You’re here! We have to!” You were insistent and Peter was shaking his head.

“Ah, I don’t know sweetheart.” His arm was around your shoulder as you walked him through the compound to his guest room. “Don’t you think dinner would suffice?”

Every visit you took Peter out, got him hammered and then took him to laser tag. It was a tradition for degenerates but by god, it was your tradition.

“If you think I’m budging on this you’re wrong. Nat is already making teams.”

“You have all of the people here brainwashed.” He laughed and pulled you in a little closer. “Fine, but we are eating dinner first this time.” You hid your embarrassment at the memory of your last excursion where you had slammed back enough whiskey to make even a sailor blanch and then blacked out during laser tag itself. Both you and Quill waking up the next morning with the toy guns that you apparently had stolen from the company. When you had returned with a group of the Avengers a few months later they had promptly kicked you out and told you to never return.

“Yeah, dinner is probably a good idea.” You laughed and dropped Peter off, demanding he be ready at 7 sharp to leave and went off to inform the rest of the group who were joining you.

When you found Bucky he was sitting in your bed, a laptop in front of him and files for a mission splayed out over the comforter. He looked up when you entered the room and gave you a soft smile before returning to his work.

“It’s past the work day,” you pouted, crossing your arms over your chest and leaning against the closed door.

“Sorry doll, I’ve got a lot to accomplish for this debriefing,” he didn’t even look up as he spoke to you and you sighed. 

“Well, just make sure you’re ready by 7 for dinner and laser tag.” You made your way toward the bathroom, kicking off your shoes and peeling your shirt off on the way, casually tossing it in Bucky’s direction.

“I’m going to get in the shower.” This was obviously an invitation to join you, which Bucky never turned down, but today he sat ever still, reading his computer screen and taking notes. You crossed the threshold to the bathroom and stripped off your jeans, throwing them back into the bedroom, followed by your underwear and bra. Even Bucky at his highest concentration on missions was unable to resist your teasing so when he didn’t come to the bathroom you scrunched your eyebrows before slamming the door shut and turning on the water.

 Bucky sighed when he heard you get in the shower, knowing he had hurt your feelings but he was unable to shake the feeling he had had in the pit of his stomach all day. Watching you with Peter had made him incredibly insecure despite his efforts to not feel that way so when you came in the room he had planned on giving you the cold shoulder to make you beg for him a bit.

He would have done well to remember that you weren’t the type to cave and certainly would not have asked him outright to step away from his work even though you were desperately craving him. He put his papers away and got up to join you in the bathroom, hoping to apologize and maybe even get in a little bit of personal time with you when he realized that you had locked the door.

“Dammit Y/N,” he mumbled under his breath before turning around and getting to work on a new task.

Bucky surprised you when you got out of the shower by already having everything laid out for you. Tony had insisted on treating Peter to a nice dinner despite your desire for foolish shenanigans so Bucky had picked out a nice dress, shoes, and a matching handbag for you and slacks with a colored button up to compliment your dress for himself. Off to the side was a bag that he had packed so you could change for the bar and laser tag. The sight of his effort had made you smile in spite of yourself and you planted a kiss on his cheek before shooing him off to the shower by himself.

By the time the ten o’clock hour had hit you were several drinks and a few more shots in at a bar across from a laser tag building which you had rented out for the night. You were waiting on another drink as you spoke to Bucky and Peter on either side of you, trying to gauge if people were intoxicated enough for laser tag. Nat was in the corner strategizing for a game that hadn’t started yet, she had already revealed to you that she brought comms units for your team which consisted of Nat, Bucky, Tony, Thor, Sam, and yourself. The other team consisted of Peter, Steve, Pepper, Wanda, Bruce, and Clint all of whom you kept having shots delivered to in an attempt to get them more intoxicated than you yourself were. Ultimately, by the time you stumbled across the street everyone was more than enough drunk to enjoy the experience and the poor kid who was working the front desk looked mortified to realize the people he knew as the Avengers were drunkenly climbing around on the tables in the snack sections and singing loudly to the pop music playing over the speakers.

“Alright gang. Gather ‘round.” You eventually commanded and everyone surrounded you, you were all in vests with the plastic guns in hand. Nat handed out comms units to your team and Steve to his own, you rolled your eyes at them when they fought over who got to be on which frequency.

“Kids!” You interrupted their bickering. “Okay. So, basic rules, you’re shot, you’re out. If someone on your team gets more than one kill, you get to bring a player back in. No using your extra enhancements to get ahead. I’m lookin’ at you Thor, Wanda,” Both individuals rolled their eyes at you, “that’s it. Play ball.”

The entire group filed into the small “arena” that was set up with different blockades and passages to run through or conceal yourself behind. The shaking voice of the teenager working the desk came on over the speaker.

“Once the lights go down you have two minutes until your guns will activate. Match is over once one team is left standing. Red team ready?” Peter’s team cheered, “Blue team ready?” Your team gave a yell. “Time starts, now.” The room turned black with neon lights lining the structures causing a black light effect and making your clothing glow.

“Alright guys, spread out and give ‘em hell.” Nat commanded before disappearing into the shadows.

Bucky turned to you and whispered in your ear, “gonna see if I can get any high ground. I love you.” You gave him a quick kiss and watched as one by one everyone else spread out until you were alone with Peter.

“Well Peter, care for a stroll?” The two of you laughed and chatted, walking through the maze with one another until the voice came back over the speakers.

“Guns on in 10, 9, 8,”

“It’s time,” you shook Peter’s hand and immediately took off running as the voice kept counting down.

“3, 2, 1. Guns on.” You heard the sound bite of the lasers shooting all around you, you continued moving though, knowing that if Peter kept to his typical tactic, he was already on the search for you. It took almost 15 minutes for anyone to be shot, Bruce being the first man down despite Clint’s attempts to snipe Thor from afar before he shot him. Things began to fall in quick succession then. Steve shot Tony, Sam shot Pepper, Steve shot Sam, bringing Bruce back into the game. The back and forth went on until you only had Nat and Bucky left. The screen showed you that Peter, Steve, Clint, and Wanda were still all in play and you heard them whispering to each other in their comms. Your team however was silent on their comms, opting for stealth in light of being left outnumbered and on account of it happened to be a strong suit for the three of you anyways.

You peeked around a corner and saw Wanda facing the other direction. You took a deep breath and checked around you before firing a shot, which landed on her back sensor and she huffed before informing her team where you were and heading toward the holding area. You ran from the spot you had been in, two lefts, one right, jump on top of the wall and freeze. From your perch you caught sight of Nat who was camping out with eyes on Clint but scanning for the unassuming passerby.

Not hearing anyone coming your way you slid down from the top of the wall and straightened your vest, planning your next move when you heard it. Peter stepped out from behind the barricade that had been shielding him.

“Hands up sweetheart.” He commanded and you put them up, the fact that Peter wasn’t already shooting you meant that his team had a plan.

“So who has multiple kills that can bring someone back?” You asked sarcastically.

“So smart,” Peter chuckled and walked up to you, “gun please.” He held his hand out and took the toy, shoving it in his jeans pocket and then promptly lifted you over his shoulder.

“Quill!” You squealed as he ran off with you. “Bucky! Nat! Help!” Your laughter consumed you despite the competitive air in the arena and Peter was laughing just as hard when he put you down in a far corner and then caged you against a wall with his arms.

“Got her,” he spoke into his comms and looked down at you, searching for a way to get free, though you would be useless without your gun. Your comms were still silent and you wondered if Bucky or Nat were going to try to rescue you or if you were just collateral damage.

“See, and you didn’t want to come.” You teased Peter who had a huge smile on his face and had obviously been way too into the game as he was sweating, beads dripping down his face which he wiped away with his sleeve while still managing to keep you pinned down.

“Alright, it’s a good time. It’s always a good time when I get to kick your ass at something.” You guffawed and rolled your eyes.

“Too bad Barnes is behind you,” you whispered and he refused to break eye contact with you, sniffing out your bluff. You were useless at lying to him.

“So, who’s got the kill streak?” You asked, knowing that the other team could hear you through his comms.

“Steve,” Peter answered, and suddenly decided to move you again, slinging you over his shoulder with ease and taking off in a new direction. You wondered if this was part of their plan or if Peter just couldn’t stay still for that long. Likely the latter.

“Well, you can tell Steve,” you huffed as Peter sat you down again and used his body to block you in, “to fuck off.”

“The mouth on this one,” Steve laughed as he rounded the corner and came into view, “no hard feelings doll, all’s fair in love and war right?”

“Steve, you talk too much,” you laughed as Peter moved to unshield you and left you a sitting duck for Steve to take. He shook his head at your antics before aiming his shot which he never got to take because Bucky was there, taking him out and then aiming for Peter who instantly grabbed you from behind, wrapping his arm around your waist and using you as a human shield. He backed around the corner and then was picking you up again, causing you to groan and call out for Bucky once more.

“I am not drunk enough for this anymore!” You shouted into the room and Peter pulled out a flask from his pocket to hand to you. “That’s my best friend!” You shouted as you attempted to drink from the flask while partially upside down. Peter finally rounded a corner and sat you down on the floor, joining you and breathing heavily.

“So what’s the plan now?” You asked breathless. Your teams were even but you were unarmed and at the mercy of Peter who could shoot you whenever he felt like it.

“I say, we let them take each other out and then I’ll give you your gun back and we can go one on one.”

“Ah, but you’re outnumbered, and Nat’s had eyes on Clint for 10 minutes,” you took another drink from the flask and on cue Nat and Clint started firing at one another. You watched the reflection of the screen as Nat’s name was crossed out and cursed.

“Well, if you kill me, you still have Barnes to deal with. I don’t think he will be too happy to have to avenge me.” You both heard Bucky moving around, searching for the pair of you. Peter shared the remainder of the flask with you and you sighed heavily, resting your head on his shoulder and relishing in the moment of having your best friend next to you.

“Missed you Pete.” You whispered and he kissed the top of your head.

“Missed you too, sweetheart.” You relished in the moment for just long enough before shouting out.

“OVER H-” Was all you managed to get out before Peter covered your mouth and made you stand up, keeping his hand over your mouth and holding you close to him from behind. You squirmed but to no avail until Bucky rounded the corner behind Peter and shot him quickly, ending the game and setting the lights back to normal.

Peter let you go immediately after being shot but you could see in Bucky’s eyes that he was not happy about how close he had been just seconds prior. You ran to him and kissed his cheek, thanking him for being your hero to which he smiled for only a split second. He went into a stony silence while everyone left the building and piled into cars driven by FRIDAY’s automated control. You were starting to worry as you pulled into the compound and he still hadn’t said anything to you, despite you being curled into his side.

Everyone was off to bed, the alcohol wearing off and sleepiness setting in. After forcing Peter to agree to see you before he left in the morning you dragged your feet the entire way to your room, feeling exhausted. Bucky followed you to your shared room and closed the door silently behind him, watching you the entire time.

You stretched your arms above your head and then turned, catching Bucky leaning against the door, watching you. Smirking at him, you began to undress yourself, watching as his pupils turned dark with lust as each layer came off your skin. Finally, when you were in only your bra and underwear he spoke.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He asked, his tone deep.

“I’m getting ready for bed?”

“I don’t mean right this minute.”

“Well then I don’t know what you’re referring to.” You turned your back to him and walked toward the chest of drawers that held your pajamas but he stopped you, grabbing your arm and pulling you into him.

“Shall I enlighten you?” He asked and you nodded, mesmerized by his proximity and the sensation of his clothes against your skin.

“You were very bad today. Trying to make me jealous, flirting with Peter.” He was whispering in your ear, his breath hot on your neck and you arched into him, desperate to feel his lips on your skin but he gave you no such pleasure.

“I wasn’t flirting with Peter,” you feebly stated.

“No?” You shook your head, “So you didn’t stay attached to him all day? Didn’t let him hold you like I know you like me to?” He had you there. You loved when Bucky held you from behind, his strong arms closing around you, you loved even more when Bucky took you from behind, your hot skin touching as he thrust into you. Your body ached at the memory of all the times that had happened and your panties were getting wet at just the idea of it.

“It was just for the game,” you rationalized and he laughed, a low sound from the back of his throat.

“But you knew it would drive me crazy anyways, didn’t you?” You nodded and whimpered as Bucky’s hands started to roam your body, feeling your curves.

“Baby girl, I am going to remind you now, of who you belong to. Do you understand?” You nodded your head. “You know your safe word if you need it?” You nodded your head again. “Good girl, now, go lay down on the bed.”

You followed his instruction and watched as he stripped off his jacket and shirt before coming to the bed in only his jeans. He hovered over you before leaning down and placing a sweet kiss on your lips. When you parted he waited for you to nod, as he always did before he fully indulged his dominant side. Bucky always let you be in control overall as he was terrified of hurting you but you liked it when he took control like this, playing a jealousy game was a thrill for both of you.

Bucky’s hands began to trace your skin, up and down your bare legs, causing goosebumps to raise all over as he got closer and closer to your sensitive spots, still covered in fabric but never giving you the satisfaction until you were a squirming mess under him.

“Oh sweet girl,” he laughed huskily as you arched your back to find his fingers again, “you’re so desperate for me, aren’t you?” You nodded but he shook his head at you, taking his hands away from you completely.

“I want to hear you tell me how much you want me to touch you.”

“Bucky, please, let me feel your hands.” You whined and he smiled down at you. Letting his hands run over the fabric of your bra before squeezing lightly and reveling in the way it made you react to him. He reached underneath you and undid the clasps, helping you pull the straps off your arms and then went to work kneading the skin and pulling your nipples as you moaned underneath him.

Despite your pleasure he moved on quickly, tracing only his fingertips around the edges of your panties and sliding one under the band just to snap it against your skin.

“Bucky,” you called out at the sensation and he smirked.

“Yes love?”

“Need more,” you were panting and he waited until you elaborated the way you were supposed to, “need your mouth on me.”

“Tell me who you belong to.” He commanded.

“You, I’m yours.” His mouth was on you then, leaving searing kisses down your neck, his tongue swirling around your nipples, leaving marks on your skin with his teeth, he kissed up and down each of your thighs, getting just close enough to your panty line to drive you crazy. He could smell your arousal but he wasn’t giving you anything without you telling him you needed it so he continued working around every other part of your body until you bucked your hips into him and he paused to look up at you.

“P-please?”

“What do you need from me baby girl?” He rubbed your thighs while you tried to form any sort of coherent words.

“I want you to, eat me out, please Bucky?” You always felt so uncomfortable asking him to perform this action, though he would spend days between your thighs without any complaint. Hearing you ask for it outright caused him to growl deep in his throat and before you could react he was tearing your panties in half to get them out of his way.

All of his teasing had you reaching your peak before he even had a chance to truly get started on you so he drew another orgasm from you for his own pleasure.

It wasn’t long before you needed to feel him inside you, the ache in your lower abdomen was growing the more he teased you with his fingers.

“Bucky,” you moaned but couldn’t find any other words as his mouth was still devouring you. So you tried again.

“Mmm, Bucky,” he paused for a moment and let you catch your breath. “I want you inside me.” He pushed his fingers deeper into you and you shook your head.

“I want your cock, please?”

“You want me to take what’s mine?” You nodded profusely as he straightened up and slid his jeans off, letting you take in the sight of his erection.

“Tell me, baby, tell me again.”

“Please take me, I’m yours, only yours.” He was on the bed now, teasing you with just the tip  and you tried to squirm and force him to give you what you desired.

“You know you were a bad girl.” You whined at his teasing. “Maybe I shouldn’t give you my cock, to punish you.”

“I need you, please James?” You knew using his given name would send him over the edge, he was quickly thrusting into.

“You’re mine, Y/N, no one else gets to have you.” He grunted out between his thrusting into you and you cried out with pleasure.

“You’re mine.” He repeated and leaned down to leave kisses wherever his lips could reach.

“I’m yours.” It wasn’t long before you were cumming again, squeezing around his cock and triggering his own orgasm.

After, as he nuzzled into your neck and the bed covers surrounded you both like a cocoon he whispered out into the dark room.

“I’m yours too.”

“I know James, I know.”

#marvel #marvel fanfiction #stories writes #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #fanfiction #bucky x you #bucky imagine #peter quill #best friend #laser tag #drunk laser tag #smut #bucky is jealous #bucky needs reassurance #bucky smut #read read read #Winter Soldier

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Miles, Barbara loves you. And Peter is not telling why he believes keeping your identity secret from loved ones is important. In fact, if you ever sat down and talked to him about it, you’d realize that exactly what you are doing is how Gwen Stacy died.

Miles needs to realize that this idolatry of one Peter Parker is misplaced. He’s wrong about sharing your superhero life with a significant other and you need to realize that maybe Peter is a tad chauvinistic and controlling and has a massive guilt complex. Maybe Peter would have fared better if he told Gwen Stacy who he was or MJ and he would have been married sooner.

For once, Miles, take the advice of someone other than Peter Parker in how to be Spider-Man.

@marctheaveragecomicnerd

a) Peter Parker is literally Spider-Man. Who else would he listen to on that front? Attempted genocidal maniac Doc Ock or attempted genocidal former maniac Ben Reilly?

b) That assessment of what Gwen killed is just....misinformed

c) Miles is doing the right thing here

I’m going to expand on the last 2 points.

First of all Gwen was a target of Norman Osborn’s because he blamed her for what happened to Harry. She AND MJ were on his hit list, but lower down than Peter was. Norman is a man of spite who isn’t rationale when it comes to his vendettas. He blamed MJ for Harry’s drug problem, he wanted people he’d never even met dead (like Ben Urich) and people who had never actually done anything that would piss him off like Angela Yin.

So Gwen could’ve been out of the country and not dating Peter at the time Norman snapped and had he beaten Spider-Man he would’ve gotten around to her and MJ and probably Flash eventually too. In his head she was a culprit in Harry’s illness.

Second of all let’s say for the sake of argument Peter did tell Gwen his secret. Let’s say she did know who he was, who Norman was, and accepted both and the risks that came with that and was aware that she should by rights be on the alert from threats, specifically from Norman.

How. Would. That. Change. What. Happened?

This is what happened. Norman went nuts, Norman went to Peter’s apartment. Gwen was waiting for him there. He knocked her out and took her to a bridge. Spider-Man found them. He and Gobby battled. Norman knocked Gwen off the bridge. Spidey caught her, but snapped her neck.

How does Gwen knowing who Peter and/or Norman is ahead of time change any of that?

In Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11-12 Norman Osborn abducts MJ from her and Peter’s home, knocking her out and takes her to a bridge. During the battle MJ wakes up, pulls out a gun and shoots Norman helping/saving Peter. The recoil causes her to fall however and Spider-Man, remembering what happened to Gwen saves her using a different method than he used with Gwen. The Goblin is still kicking though and Doc Ock and a lightning bolt ends the battle.

From these two scenarios MJ does fare better than Gwen but only because

a) She had a weapon. Which she only had because gwen served as an example to her of her possible fate if she didn’t prepare

b) She woke up in time to do anything

c) Peter knew what not to do because Gwen died

MJ KNOWING who Peter and/or Norman was though had little bearing upon the state of affairs.

She wasn’t able to prevent Norman from abducting her. She wasn’t able to defeat him. She wasn’t even able to definitively save Peter.

If Gwen, who was less street wise, less tenacious, less tough, outright a crybaby and noticably younger than MJ was in MKSM, had known who Peter and Norman were it would’ve affected...nothing.

She is unlikely to have carried a firearm or other weapons on her person and if she had it’s less than likely to have amount to much.

Norman’s costume isn’t just spandex or latex, it’s a form of armour designed to give him protection from high impact attacks, including bullets. There is a reason it took a jet powered piece of jagged metal at close range directly aimed at his heart to seemingly kill him.*

He also had a natural durability lent by his super strength, which itself meant Gwen, even if armed, was at an innate disadvantage. And that’s before you get to the fact that Norman has a whole arsenal of weapons at his disposal designed to kill, slow down or incapacitate his targets.

Again in Marvel Knights Mary Jane had known who Norman and Peter were for years. She was taking precautions. She was on alert for Norman specifically in that specific issue and he still snuck in and hit her with knock out gas. 

So a Gwen in the know, a Gwen who is even prepared, was never a Gwen who was going to survive. And I must again reiterate that even if Gwen in knowing the truth of who Peter and Norman were had chosen to distance herself from them, she’d have still been a target. Norman has targeted people who in his own mind have wronged him but in reality haven’t. Had Gwen stayed in London or something but Harry gotten sick again he’d have still blamed her for letting Harry down in someway, probably by not being there to help him or if she hadn’t broken up with him he’d have never gotten with MJ whom he more directly blamed for Harry’s addiction. 

Gwen was a target come Hell or high water.

Now though let’s dive into the bigger issue.

Miles lying to the girl he likes and the notion that this is a bad move on his part, particularly a bad move because it emulates Peter’s history of bad moves of keeping people in the dark.

Let us put aside how, last I checked, Barbara wasn’t Miles’ long term girlfriend whom he’s discussed marriage with and thus comparing her and MIles to Peter and Gwen’s relationship is a massive false equivalency.

Instead let’s consider that it’s utterly bone headed asinine for any hero with a secret identity to trust anyone unless they are absolutely certain they are trustworthy.

The BEST, and least likely, scenario for Miles if his secret gets out is that the authorities arrange protection for him and his friends and family, they start new lives somewhere else upending everything they’ve worked for thus far.

The worst case scenario that is much more likely? Miles is dead, his family is dead, his friends are dead, their homes and lives in general are wrecked beyond repair.

Remember Daredevil and Spider-Man basically had to employ magic to put their lives back together after their IDs went public.

And unless you have known someone for a long time, you’ve got no clue if they really would be able or willing to carry this burden for you. In fact telling someone could innately make them view you differently destroying your relationship with them and thus increasing the chances they will not be loyal to you and keep your secret. Karen Page loved Matt Murdock and dutifully kept his secret...until she didn’t. Until she fell into drug dependency and sold him out for her next fix, thus beginning a chain of events that caused Matt to lose everything short of his life (but including his mind) and work hard to rebuild himself. Indirectly this also caused a massive terrorist attack on Hell’s Kitchen and the Kingpin to continue to hit him hard for years thereafter.

That was what happened when one person who seemed trustworthy at first walked out of Matt’s life and gradually devolved into someone untrustworthy.

This is not something to be taken lightly whatsoever. It’s a secret that can kill!

It is particularly short sighted to throw out this criticism at Miles considering that he ALREADY has experience of love guiding him towards trusting the wrong person with his secret. 

He trusted Kate Bishop and as a result HYDRA learned who he was!

So no. Miles wasn’t making a mistake. Peter advising him to do this wasn’t making a mistake.

*Which is another thing. Retoactively what the Hell was Gwen going to do? Norman’s healing factor would’ve saved him from anything short of a beheading and Gwen wasn’t going to pull that trick out of the bag. Nobody, not even Norman himself, knew he even had a healing factor so even if Gwen was taking precautions she couldn’t have stopped him.

#Miles Morales #Peter Parker #Gwen Stacy #barbara rodriguez #Ultimate Spider-Man #Spider-Man #green goblin #the green goblin #Norman Osborn #mjwatsonedit #Mary jane watson Parker #Mary Jane Watson #mj watson

[survivorsunsetrodeo]

Ep 8 Pt 1 | I Am The Loop! - Taylor

THE WAY I PLAYED MYSELF OMFGGGGG

If I had just fricken voted for Chloe lmfao!!!!! God I am the worst Survivor player ever.  The good news is that I think everyone kept me on the revote????

Frankly, I may have fucked up my game, but at least it was the round before merge maybe??? I don't know if jury will start after this next tribal, but my goal was merge and I am PRAYING to all that is holy that I made it.

Holy fuck!!! Megs going and two idol plays!!!! We love the drama!!!!! I manifested Megs going before merge and here it is! 

Just so y'all know what went down....

I voted for Jacob, BUT I told Jacob I voted for Ali and I also told Ali I voted for Ali.... lmao BECAUSE ALI SAID HE VOTED FOR ME!!!

This is honestly the most crackheaded thing I've ever done. Ari knows that I voted for Jacob.... which could be bad? but I trust them not to expose me just yet. 

Y’all making merge is such a fricken relief honestly. But also I’m scared af. I think there are a lot of eyes on me. I’ve survived so many tribal councils. People have to know I’m connected. I am not gonna down play it necessarily but I’m gonna try to blend in.

It seems like there are quite a few people mad at each other frim the other tribe. I can see Nic and Brandi being targets quickly bc of their tribes last tribal council. I need to minimize my target as much as I can now. I need to like meditate on it and see what I think is best.

First impressions of the two people I haven’t met yet are:

Jabari - very outspoken, had great energy. I think jabari is likely fiercely loyal but not afraid to play dirty when she has to. I wanna pick her brain a little bit about her swap tribe dynamics. TSL - I really like her! She has a good spirit and seems like a really strong social player. She is someone to watch out for but could be a good person to have on my side.

My plan moving forward is to stay swap tribe strong for as long as I can, but also, if Ali needs to go home.... he needs to go hone 

WE DID IT I MADE MERGE I CAN FINALLY BREATHE AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

oh my god oh my god okay. so tonight HAPPENED and i sure did predict it right from the start! i sure did tell ali not to do it and he sure did it anyway! but it's fine this is actually kind of excellent because it means me and jacob look entirely innocent, dan now trusts me even more fully and feels guilty for not telling me what he was doing, i have less of an obvious connection to ali, and we can go into merge with the idea of drama / discontent in order to more effectively mine intel.

so anyways. all that aside, let's talk about MERGE itself! here's where i am at, should i choose to believe everything i've been told: -jacob and i are bffs final 2 until we die -ali and i are also obviously gucci always -dan allegedly trusts me more than anyone and constantly thanks me for being so amazing -josh and i are a secret pair beware where we'll have each other's backs even if we end up on different sides of the numbers -taylor is absolutely thrilled to have me back and acts like she's just regrown a missing arm about it -brandi wants to get to know me and is working with tsl so might actually mean it -nic and emma are ???? dont really care tbqh sorry -jabari is also very ?????? that's [checks notes] six out of nine people who at least have expressed interest in wanting to work with me, if not outright proclaiming their undying love & affection. do i believe all of it? hell no - but it's a pretty good starting point!

i think this season twist is actually going to work really well for me because usually when i make it to merge, the sequence of events is: a) ari wants to work with everyone, b) ari tries to work with everyone and play the middle hardcore, c) ari eventually gets caught playing the middle and sent home for being a threat. BUT this time there's so much more room to maneuver about the votes because i can literally tell anyone i voted however they wanted me to and there's no proof against it. so i guess my primary objective = get everyone to love me and be my bff jenna-style, then tell them what they want to hear, then pull all my puppet strings to get all of them out. listen, it's the first night of merge and i am allowing myself to dream big. while we're at it then, let's have my ideal bootlist!!!!

10th place: jabari. nothing personal, i just think she's the hardest person to connect with socially and strategically from my past experiences. maybe she'll prove me wrong, but from what others have told me about how she's been on the new beeho, it doesn't seem like it. also this round jacob wins immunity. 9th place: emma. i said it day one and i'll say it again... galapagos has spoken and they've gotta go. i win immunity this round and tsl buys a gun and tells nobody but me about it. 8th place: nic. this is mainly because i think dan has some kind of attachment to him that'll be hard to shake for a bit but by this point nic will have gotten himself into enough hot water and dicey scenarios that dan won't find him worth the trouble and will be happy to let him go. jacob wins immunity again, probably in a really cool big-brain live challenge. 7th place: this is where we get down to people i actually want to work with so it'll be interesting to navigate but i think josh has to go here. he hasn't been doing enough socially and i was never gonna take him to the end anyway. sorry host bestie! we'll mix it up this round and let dan win immunity just to feel good about himself bc he's probably had a rough few days and needs a break. 6th place: ali. ily bb but you gotta go sis, you're gonna drag me down with you if i let you get too far! i'll act like this is a big shocker to me but jacob will have found out about it. also i think an idol will get used this round for sure and maybe even another secret advantage. 5th place: this is the last time i can use my gun and by chance it happens to also be an idol so i am going to use it to shoot tsl outta this game. we'll let jacob win immunity again. 4th place: brandi. honestly you stuck it out way longer than i expected and it's been an honor getting to know you but you're far too likeable to get close to ftc! there will be some unnecessary drama but it won't actually matter that much. oh and jacob won immunity for the fourth time but he gave it up to me. 3rd place: i can't believe i let dan get this close to the end! sneaky sneaky! if it's a final three that's fine because i can attribute his early survival and merge moves to myself, but if it's final 2 then he's gotta go and tell the jury how great i am (i cried during the live tribal it was very emotional). i think we all forfeit immunity here as it's the only fair thing. 1st and 2nd place: ari and jacob will split the prize in a first-time-ever deadlock tie and will both share the rodeo crown. i win the fan favorite though obvs. tsl is player of the season and ali is the best villain and brandi is the hero that everyone loves. all the hosts pick jabari as their fave.

I made merge!! Yay! Me and Ari bout to secret pair beware this game #TeamLasagna

me josh and nic are the cutest alliance i feel so bad for megs but oh well she gonna win retirement home second chances she highkey ate thats why she had to go i feel like rn my chances are low rn of winning but im here to cause chaos have some fun and have me or my allies win special shout out to josh without them i would wanna quit but that would suck and shout out to nic too i am kinda scared for merge but im really excited i dont think these people would take the easy route if not thats not trying to win but who knows tbhh i kinda want old pearl back together lowkey but im not sure im trying to think of my target list rn so rn im just gonna try to be more social then i was a few rounds ago make sure that i can get my footing back like i did pre swap!

mmmmmm MMMMMMMMMMMMM this is starting to look very fun and festive over here! the more intel we gather the more it's becoming clear that this first vote is gonna be a taylor/brandi versus nic/emma/josh/jabari bonanza with the four of us sitting pretty getting to decide who we want to work with. i'm personally more inclined toward the taylor/brandi of it all, what a coincidence that the four people i was least enthused about are also all working together... gonna call with dan and compare notes more later but i am feeling very optimistic

also people i want to work with to people i want out v soon OG: Pearl Josh> Nic> Dan> Brandi this is tough i really love og pearl probs the fav og tribe i ever been on like ever...

og beeho Ari > Taylor (she a threat i think taylor is lovely and like them alot )but i dont wanna go super far with them ) > Jacob > Ali >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jabari.. Jabari is nice but idk if i can work or trust with them tbh i like everyone left haha also im aware or think that ari is the biggest threat but would i maybe die on my sword for them.. if i work with them yeah.. im not that person that i was a few years ago 

Why is everything I know a lie? Apparently Megs never wanted me in her alliance of her, Brandi, Jabari, and Taylor to begin with and only added me because Jabari requested it? Which I guess is why they thought her and I were a duo? I'm having trouble understanding what Meg's vendetta was against me. I literally have spent the entire game trying to socialize with her and Brandi and I thought it was going well?????????????????????????????????? What did I do to her?????????????? Genuinely????????????????????

Anyway. Jabari is so kind. I really feel like I can trust her now. I feel like this merge vote will come down to Me/Emma/Jabari/Josh vs. Ali/Taylor/Brandi with Dan, Jacob, and Ari somewhere in the middle. I have the most confidence of Dan working with us but even with his vote it'd be 5-5, not to mention Brandi has a double vote. But atleast our side has an idol.

It seems like I am once again on the bottom for no reason. Even in her absence Megs is fucking me over. 

My headspace is so fucking bad rn about this game. I just feel like even tho I’m probably in a decent position that this competition will be won by more dominant people than me. This challenge definitely doesn’t play to my strengths and idk wtf to do.

I talked to Ari about it and they really want me to try hard but I just like really don’t care... if I’m the next to go, I’m the next to go. I must be such a horrible ally bc I am seriously checked out rn.

Dear Jsh, if you have any brain cells now is the time to use them. I need to speak to Brandi and Dan and solidify something with them. I also have to reach out to Ari to see if working with them is an option moving forward. I got the vibe last round that Taylor was only using me to survive the Megs and I mean....fair I was doing the same to her but I’m hoping she doesn’t find out that I’ve been lying to her by saying I voted Nic. I really hope Ari doesn’t snitch. I don’t think Ari is a rat but...you never know!

The way I see it me, Emma and Nic have two options. Work with Ari, Ali and Jacob or work with Brandi and Dan. Working with New Pearl seems like a no brainer since we hold majority easily but the question is if they ARE willing to work with us. The problem with solidifying an OG Pearl alliance is Brandi doesn’t trust Nic and I don’t trust Dan. What Nic wants to do is bring in Jabari and kick out Dan and have a 5 person alliance with AARP (me Nic and Emma) + Dan and Jabari which I am defenitely not on board moving forward. I can work with them for one round but I honestly would rather work with Ari and Jacob both who I actually talk to regularly. I just really need to make this alliance to happen because I like to work with people I actually get along with.

As far as the vote is concerned...Ideally I would like to vote out Taylor or Ali this round because I can’t figure out where they stand but Ali is an unlikely person to be voted out because Ari is protecting him.

first merge boot be lookin good for me if people dont put in effort into speaking to me why should i try? jabari i dont want to target them anymore its not smart i need to talk to brandi alot more also idk im kinda tired thank god i got the idol.

dan is having a rough time today and i feel bad :( it also doesn't help that ALI decided to tell nic that he thinks dan is a threat which ofc nic ran and told dan right away so i had to be like ali wtf don't do that!! and he was like no but its good for us bc they'll think we aren't close...... that is NOT THE POINT RIGHT NOW ALI!!!

#confessionals #AintNoGloryInTheWest

[thathomestar]

“Hey Zavala, wanna know what a transmat zone on the Dreadnaught looks like?” “You landed a Guardian on the Dreadnaught without authorization?!” “Oh right. Can I have authorization?”

Destiny is a first person shooter crossed with MMO elements made by former Halo developer Bungie and released in 2014 by Activision. While Destiny had a shallow launch and a lukewarm reception in it’s first year, it’s since had two mission packs and two full fledged expansions that have really helped the game come into it’s own. If you passed Destiny by on it’s launch, or dropped it within the first year, maybe it’s time to give it another chance!

BEFORE WE BEGIN...

There’s two things you ought to know before I lay down what Destiny is about. The first is that Destiny requires an online connection to play, and also requires a paid subscription to Microsoft’s Xbox Live or Sony’s Playstation Plus to play any of the online/matchmaking content, like co-op Strikes and Crucible PvP. The second is that the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of Destiny have stopped receiving support and updates since August 2016. However, you can transfer your save file to the next-gen version of your respective platform (but not across different platforms), and keep your characters and progress.

This can be a dealbreaker for some, especially the always online thing. It’s just how the game is. If you buy the game new physically, it typically comes with a free 30 day online trial though.

With that out of the way, let’s get into this proper.

EYES UP, GUARDIAN

You have been dead for centuries.

Long after the the collapse of humanity from their Golden Age, a small diamond-shaped drone floats around the remains of Old Russia, searching for something. For someone. As luck would have it, that someone is you. As the curious robot resurrects you from death, it bestows you with Light and explains that it is a Ghost, born from the Traveler’s dying sacrifice to protect humanity from those who seek to destroy it.

You make your way to The Last City, and begin your journey to fight against the biggest threats mankind has ever known.

At it’s absolute core, Destiny is a fairly standard modern first person shooter. It kinda controls like a slower-paced Call of Duty, what with the aim-down-sights and the sprinting and all that. That’s not to say it’s a bog-standard controlling game, far from it. If you played Halo 3 or Halo Reach, then you already know that Bungie are the masters of high quality core mechanics. Destiny’s gunplay feels effin’ great. Running and jumping has a good weight to it, and the many, many guns are all fun to shoot for the most part.

Where Destiny really starts to come into it’s own is with the different classes. While they don’t play that differently at a core level, the three classes wield their Light in different ways, in the form of three unique subclasses that only they can use. Each subclass based off of the elemental damage types in the game. Arc is Lightning, Solar is Fire, and Void is Gravity/Dark Energy.

---

HUNTER

Armor: Medium

Recovery: Low

Agility: High

Jump Type: Double Jump

Class Item: Cloak

Hunters are scouts, exploring the wilderness and carving their own path. Quick but relatively fragile, Hunters are generally all about either staying back and picking off targets from afar, or jumping in, doing damage, and getting out before retaliation comes. The Hunter subclasses are:

Gunslinger (Solar): Summon your Golden Gun, a three-shot revolver, and rain fire on your enemies

Bladedancer (Arc): Wield the Arc Blade and cut down any who stand before you

Nightstalker (Void): Fire the Shadowshot bow and tether your foes to weaken them and restrict their movement

---

TITAN

Armor: High

Recovery: Medium

Agility: Low

Jump Type: Lift

Class Item: Mark (butt towel)

Titans are the defenders of the Last City, patrolling the Wall and stomping out anything that might pose a threat to humanity. Titans can typically take more punishment than the other classes, so more often than not just jumping in the fray and drawing attention (or outright killing the enemy) is a good strategy. The Titan subclasses are:

Striker (Arc): Slam the ground with Fists of Havoc, wiping out everything surrounding you

Defender (Void): Spawn your Ward of Dawn, a protective bubble shield that provides your allies with various buffs

Sunbreaker (Solar): Throw the Hammers of Sol at your foes, causing them to erupt into flames

---

WARLOCK

Armor: Low

Recovery: High

Agility: Medium

Jump Type: Glide

Class Item: Bond (bicep band)

Warlocks have dedicated themselves to understanding the true potential of their Light. Kinda like cross between a scholar and a mad scientist. Warlocks are kind of in the middle of the Hunter and Titan as far as playstyle goes, but the sheer power of their abilities give them an edge above others. The Warlock subclasses are:

Voidwalker (Void): Hurl your Nova Bomb to obliterate any enemy caught in it’s blast

Sunsinger (Solar): Fill yourself with Radiance, greatly reducing your grenade cooldown time and, fully upgraded, allows you to resurrect yourself after death

Stormcaller (Arc): Activate Stormtrance and become Emperor Palpatine, shooting lightning from your fingertips

---

While different classes can’t wear each other’s armor, weapons aren’t tied to classes outside of a small handful of specific ones, so no worries on missing out on those. Obviously there’s more to the subclasses than just their super abilities. Each subclass gets a choice between three grenade types, three jump augments, three melee augments, etc. With this system, there’s quite a few ways to play a single subclass!

When you initially begin the game for the first time, you’ll be prompted to pick a class and create a character. You can choose between the Human, Awoken, and Exo races. Humans are, well, human. Awoken are humans who underwent a strange transformation while trying to escape the Collapse, for unknown reasons. Exos are sapient war machines, constructed for a long forgotten conflict during the Golden Age.

Aside from race, you can also choose your face shape, skin color, eye color, hair and hair color, and various markings. Be aware that you cannot change your class or appearance after finalizing your choices, so make sure you’re happy with what you have!

In Destiny, there’s two different levels you have to keep track of: your Character Level and your Light Level.

As you kill enemies, complete quests, or turn in bounties, you gain experience. Gain enough experience, and you can level up your Character Level. Leveling up doesn’t honestly do a whole lot in Destiny outside of letting you wear better gear and access more difficult missions, as the gaining of experience itself is what levels up your subclasses and gear perks. The Character Level cap is at 40.

Your Light Level, AKA your gear level, is determined by the average of the various Attack and Defense scores of your gear. While you’re still leveling up your Character Level, your Light Level doesn’t matter as much, as you can just equip whatever has a bigger number. After you hit the Character Level cap though, your Light Level is what determines how much damage you can deal and how much damage you can take. The Light Level cap is at 400.

So how do you get better gear? The main way is through these curious shapes called Engrams. Occasionally when you kill an enemy, an engram will fall out of them for the taking. While you’re able to see what equipment slot the engram will be for, what’s actually inside is a complete mystery until brought to a Cryptarch. When given to one, they will decode it, turning it into a piece of gear, and give it back to you. The quality of engrams goes like this:

White - Common

Green - Uncommon

Blue - Rare

Purple - Legendary

Gold - Exotic

Of course, there’s other ways of getting gear, but this is the main method. If you have some form of colorblindness, there are options in the game that color these things and other HUD elements differently to help you out.

WEAPONS OF LIGHT

With the general gameplay, this is what you’ll be seeing for the most part. Your health/shields are at the top, and there’s a motion tracker at the top left. The bottom left has your more critical information, like your current ammo and your ability cooldown timers.

I’m not gonna go over what buttons do what, considering the game’s first mission is also a tutorial that goes over all that, but I will tell you how to switch between your three weapons, since I don’t think the game ever outright tells you. Switching between your first and second weapons only requires a single press of the Triangle/Y button, but switching between those and your third weapon requires you to hold down the button.

Pressing the select/back/whatever Xbox calls that button or the touchpad on PS4 brings out your Ghost. Doing so lets you view your current objective, view any quests or bounties you’re tracking, return to orbit, or summon your Sparrow (a speeder bike type of vehicle).

I suppose I ought to go over the kinds of weapons you’ll get to use in Destiny as well. Weapons are separated into three categories: Primary, Secondary, and Heavy.

PRIMARY

Auto Rifle: Pretty standard assault rifle. Hold the trigger, and it’ll keep firing.

Scout Rifle: Semi-auto. Fires one shot per trigger pull.

Pulse Rifle: Fires in three round bursts per trigger pull.

Hand Cannon: More than enough to kill anything that moves. The amount of rounds in the chamber isn’t just limited to six shots either!

SECONDARY

Shotgun: Close range, large spread. Most shotguns are pump-action, though a few specific ones can be fired rapidly.

Sniper Rifle: Long range, big scope. Aim for the head.

Fusion Rifle: They’re kind of like a close-medium range shotgun that you have to hold the trigger to charge up.

Sidearm: SPACE GLOCK BLAT BLAT BLAT

HEAVY

Machine Gun: Hold the trigger, lay waste to anything in your vision.

Rocket Launcher: Good for clearing groups. Watch out for the splash damage.

Sword: SWISH SWISH SWOOSH

Different “archetypes” exist for the various weapons. An example of this would be one Auto Rifle having a high fire rate, a large magazine size, but low impact, and another Auto Rifle having a low fire rate, a small magazine size, but higher impact.

Like I mentioned in the image above, unlocking gear perks requires you to just go out and gain experience. Once unlocked, you need to slot in some materials and money to actually acquire the perk for the weapon. Planetary materials are found on the various planets, either as a raw collectable out in the wild or in chests that randomly appear in the various zones. You can also get them as rewards for completing specific events or bounties.

KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE

Let’s talk about your allies as well. You have friends out in the world, eager to help supply your crusade.

THE TOWER

Watching over the Last City is The Tower: home of the Guardians. This is will be your main base of operations. Many different factions and vendors reside in The Tower, supplying Guardians with the tools they need to fight against the hordes of Darkness.

The Vanguard are the main coordinators of efforts against the various things that threaten mankind. Commander Zavala, the Titan Vanguard, is the main leader of the group, with Warlock Vanguard Ikora Rey and Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 supporting him and offering their consultations. Together, they help train new Guardians, sell class specific gear, and offer radio support during some missions.

Complete bounties and patrol missions, and you’ll rank up with the Vanguard, which scores you a free faction package full of Vanguard-flavored goodies.

Lord Shaxx rules over The Crucible, a warground that pits Guardians against each other as a way to train them and test their mettle. Shaxx sells Crucible-styled gear and offers Weekly Crucible bounties. He also personally acts as the Crucible’s announcer for all matches, and is known for being very... enthusiastic. Many legends have risen by making a name for themselves in The Crucible, and rising in the ranks yourself can earn you Crucible Packages, as well as gear that can only be obtained as an end-of-match reward.

Resident Gunsmith Banshee-44 aims to keep Guardians supplied with the arms they need. Alongside selling guns, he also sells upgrade materials and ammo packages, offers special weapon orders, and has a field-testing program. Field test enough guns, and Banshee will offer you a Gunsmith Package as a reward.

Xander 99-40 is the Bounty Tracker for the Tower. Accepting and completing the daily bounties are an essential way to make money, gain experience, and get faction reputation. Initially you only have Vanguard and Crucible bounties to pick from, but after getting to the higher Light Levels, Elite Vanguard bounties also become available. Check back every day for more bounties to complete!

Aside from the Vanguard, in which you are automatically enrolled into, there exist three joinable factions for you to choose between. They each have their own political agenda, and they each offer their members exclusive gear you can’t get anywhere else. You can only be a member of one of them at a time, though you can leave and join them without any consequences. You can only change factions once a week.

The New Monarchy aims to bring back the lost glory of the Golden Age, and seek to establish the leadership that will do so. They are fiercely loyal to the City, almost to a fault. Their colors are Red and White.

The Future War Cult believe that all-out warfare with The Darkness is an inevitability that must be faced, and seeks to arm any who decide to pledge their allegiance. At least, that’s what they say. Their colors are a deep Purple, with stripes of Gold, White, and Red.

Dead Orbit believes that humanity must abandon Earth and The Traveler, and find another planet to inhabit altogether. They believe that the Darkness can be escaped, and that hiding beneath the Traveler will doom them all. Their colors are Black and White.

Ranking up in the factions is the same as the Vanguard and the Crucible, for the most part. Complete bounties, go on patrol missions, or compete in Crucible matches in their name, and you’ll get their Faction Packages as well.

Amanda Holliday is the local shipwright, performing maintenance on all assortments of Guardian vehicles. She also sells ships and sparrows for you to buy. During the wintertime, she’s the organizer of the Sparrow Racing League, where Guardians compete in high-speed races for prizes and glory.

Once a month, the Iron Banner is brought forth by Lord Saladin. The Iron Banner is a Crucible event that only the strongest will prevail in, and be rewarded with unique gear. What sets it apart from the normal Crucible is that the higher level you are, the more of an advantage you have. This is different from the Crucible, where players of unequal levels can still compete equally against each other. Gain enough reputation during Iron Banner week, and you’ll be able to buy exclusive gear from Saladin.

The Speaker has resided in the Last City long before the first walls were ever formed. He preaches of the Traveler, how it blessed the Guardians with Light, and how protecting it and reviving it are the only hope for The Last City, and all of humanity. Alongside issuing the occasional quest, he also sells Class Items, Ghost Shells, and trades in various special upgrade materials.

These are but a few of the allies you’ll come to know in your journey. The Tower isn’t the only place you’ll get to visit, after all. Know them well, and they will help you through your darkest times.

THE DARKNESS CONSUMES YOU...

Outside of the City’s protective walls, on Earth and throughout the Solar System, is an intensely dangerous environment, crawling with hostile alien forces who all too eager to finally snuff out what remains of humanity.

There are four major alien races in Destiny that you will encounter, each one visually distinct and structurally different from each other.

FALLEN

The Fallen are a race of four-armed pirates and scavengers, ruthless and cutthroat. Different factions, called houses, exist within the Fallen in the Solar System, each one flying different colors. The houses all have different views on how to approach their battles with the other races, and while they can feud with each other, they generally work together to fight for their kind. Fallen typically only really appeared around Earth, but they have since started showing up on other planets around the Solar System as well. The Fallen you encounter will consist of:

Dregs: The low-tier grunt of the Fallen. Small in stature and hardly ever armed with anything more than a pistol and a grenade. The worst they can honestly do is get in your face and try and cut you with a knife. Dregs are hardly ever a problem, and go down very easily.

Shanks: Sometimes the Fallen deploy Shanks, unmanned drones that hover around and generally annoy anyone it fires at. Shanks go down extremely easily, but there are variants to them that can be extremely dangerous if not dealt with.

Vandals: The next tier up in the Fallen chain of command. Vandals take on a variety of roles as far as combat goes, from distant snipers to medium-range foot soldiers to up-close-and-personal with cloaking stealth tech and dual swords. Certainly not a foe to underestimate.

Servitors: Another machine the Fallen deploy, Servitors are big floating spheres that mainly act as support for the other troops, giving them a minor buff and shooting from afar with it’s eye. Servitors are quite tough and take quite a bit of damage to go down.

Captains: The head honchos. Captains lead the charge with a variety of weapons and fearlessly attack any who oppose them. They’re also equipped with a regenerating shield and a short range teleport, so they can be a bit slippery as well. Captains come in various sizes as well, based on their political role within their house. The largest Captains in order of political power are Kells (House Leader), Archons (House Priest), and Barons (House Shipmaster).

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HIVE

The Hive are almost a complete antithesis to Light. They are an ancient race, pre-dating humanity by millions of years. Made of bone and chitin, shrouded by Darkness, and infested with worms, Hive are intensely bloodthirsty and will do anything and everything they can to consume Light. The Hive have almost completely overrun Earth’s moon and carved miles upon miles of underground tunnels into it, and have started assaults on Earth. The Hive you’ll encounter consist of:

Thralls: The cannon fodder of the Hive. Thralls are almost always in large groups and will rush down their enemies to tear them apart with their claws. However, they are extremely brittle and go down with not much effort.

Acolytes: The HIve’s main foot soldiers. They’re a lot like Dregs, honestly, though their weapons are quite a bit more lethal. They go down fairly easily.

Knights: The elite infantry of the Hive. Tall, imposing, and tough as nails. Knights are typically either equipped with a grenade launcher type of weapon or a huge sword. Sometimes, after taking enough damage or seeing a grenade heading their way, they will summon an impenetrable Wall of Darkness to hide behind, which also lets them regenerate a little bit of health. Knights are a force to be reckoned with.

Wizards: The schemers of the Hive. Wizards fly around the battlefield and fire successive blasts of high-damage energy from a distance, as well as lay down clouds of poisonous smoke near them. On top of this, they have a regenerating shield. When their shield depletes, they will flee to cover and wait for it to recharge before coming back out. Wizards are a huge threat, but they are not as tough as Knights.

Ogres: Hulking monstrosity. Ogres are said to be formed from Thrall that have undergone experimentation from Wizards. Regardless, Ogres are huge in size and can take a significantly large amount of damage. Their main way of dealing damage is shooting a rapid fire beam from their giant eye, as well as slamming the ground if you get too close.

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VEX

The Vex appear as bipedal robots for the most part, though their entire race is a hivemind machine. They’re essentially cyborgs: their bodies are all mechanical and are controlled by a brain of liquid mush in the abdomen area. The overall goal of the Vex is to convert everything into the perfect machine. They ritually convert entire planets into machines, for purposes unknown. On top of all this, they also have limited control over the flow of time. The Vex mainly reside on Venus, though they have recently been seen trying to gain a foothold on Mars as well. The Vex you’ll encounter are:

Goblin: The grunt of the Vex. Goblins are typically found in groups and basically act as a distraction away from the more powerful units. They go down easy. Shooting off their heads sends them into a frenzy, and they’ll try and rush you down.

Hobgoblin: The snipers of the Vex. Hobgoblins keep their distance and snipe from afar. If they sustain enough damage they’ll lock themselves down, becoming immune to all damage for a short time. Really annoying to deal with.

Minotaur: The heavy infantry of the Vex. Minotaurs are equipped with grenade launcher type weapons and use short-range teleportation to close the distance between them and their foes. Minotaurs also have no specific weak point you can target for critical damage, unlike most other enemies. They’re protected by a regenerating shield, as well.

Harpy: Quick and speedy, Harpies act as flankers, giving covering fire for the rest of the Vex troops. They are extremely weak and go down very easily. That being said, their shots do quite a bit of damage, so be careful around them.

Hydra: Less common but tough to kill, Hydras are large machines sporting a rapid fire energy bomb launcher and an impenetrable shield that slowly rotates around them. Even in death, their bodies explode with enough force to kill an unaware Guardian.

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CABAL

The Cabal are a race that only knows war and conquest. Their appearance resembles a weird anthropomorphic rhino, but in the shape of a Space Marine from Warhammer 40k. Their culture completely revolves around waging war and conquering territory, to the extent that they are not allowed to return home until they achieve victory. The Cabal are masters of attrition warfare, able to continue fighting long-term conflicts to the bitter end. They’re currently occupying Mars, mining it for resources. The Cabal you will see are:

Legionnaires: The common soldier of the Cabal. Equipped with jump jets and a heavy carbine, Legionnaires are typically front and center, constantly positioning themselves to give their squad an advantage.

Phalanxes: The defense of the Cabal. Phalanxes hold a large shield that they plant in front of them to use as cover while they fire at their targets. They’re more dangerous up close, as Phalanxes can swing their shield at you, more often sending you flying to your death.

Centurions: The leaders of the Cabal. Centurions have the command over their troops, but keep their distance to fire from afar with their launchers. They use their jump jets often, constantly looking for advantageous positions to fire at you from. They have a regenerating shield that protects them, as well.

Colossi: The heavy infantry of the Cabal. Colossi are clad in extremely thick armor that allows them to shrug off even the most damaging of attacks. Not only this, but they’re equipped with heavy machine guns and a backpack that can fire homing missiles. However, all this equipment makes them very slow. These guys are no joke.

Psions: Unlike the other Cabal, Psions are small and agile. While they are fairly weak and attack with a fairly weak weapon, they can employ a shockwave attack that does quite a bit of damage if you get hit with it. The higher rank the Psion, the more damage the shockwave can do.

NO TIME TO EXPLAIN

There are many stories that are told in Destiny. Unfortunately due to the nature of how the game was developed, most of them did not make it into the actual game. Instead, these stories are relegated to Grimoire Cards. The Grimoire is essentially a database of various information in Destiny, whether it’s more mundane stuff like a brief bio on a character or something grand in scale, like the entire written history of an enemy faction.

Unlocking Grimoire is fairly easy: just play the game. Whether it’s getting kills with certain guns, finding Dead Ghosts and reactivating them, or obtaining new pieces of gear, these things typically contribute to some counter that will reward you with a new card. However, Grimoire can only be viewed on Bungie.net (or on the Destiny app), and only after linking your Bnet account to your PSN ID or XBL Gamertag.

Of course, if you want to read these stories without having to unlock all of these (after all, the more interesting ones are often quite a pain to get), there’s many sites online that just have all that information compiled. Is it a shame that this stuff isn’t in the game? Absolutely, it’s one of Destiny’s weaker aspects that the interesting lore and world-building is hidden away outside of the game.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t there, and that it doesn’t have some influence over the game. There’s a lot of great stories in there, from the diary of the humans who first encountered the Traveler to the philosophical quandaries of the Vex Simulations, from the Faction Wars that waged within the City to Osiris and his heretical ventures to find the truth between the Light and Dark.

There’s also small stories like how Cayde-6 once briefly fought alongside a Fallen Captain against a swarm of Hive, or how Lord Saladin was once thrown like a javelin straight into a Fallen Walker tank. And then there’s stuff like the Fallen’s tale of the Great Whirlwind, the Hive’s Sword-Logic, or the Vex and their Vault of Glass.

It’s all quite interesting if you take your time to sink your teeth into it. But you have to be willing to go out and find it for yourself.

THE AGES OF DESTINY

Destiny first hit the shelves on September 9th, 2014. This game was hyped up to hell and beyond, in that kind of “No Man’s Sky” way that it could have never exceeded expectations. It was billed as this huge, sprawling game where you can go anywhere and do anything.

In reality, the campaign was pretty short, and there wasn’t much to do after that besides grind for better gear. The leveling system and gear level stuff used to be much more convoluted as well (leveling your character level past 20 required gear with higher Light Levels). All in all, Destiny was not so hot on release.

The first event was Queen’s Wrath, which happened a few weeks after Destiny’s release. Petra Venj, an emissary for the Awoken Queen in The Reef, offered special bounties and gear for those willing to give her some of their time. It briefly returned a week before the House of Wolves add-on was released.

The Dark Below came out on December 9th, 2014, just a couple of months after the initial launch. I wouldn’t call it a full expansion, but more of a DLC mission pack kind of thing. A new character, Eris Morn, has escaped the pits of the Hive on the Moon and brings a terrible tale: Crota, the Hive Prince, is coming back. It added a few new missions, a new raid, a new faction, some new gear, a new level cap of 32, and some minor tweaks. A modest add-on, but pretty much just more of the same.

The House of Wolves was released on May 19th, 2015. The Awoken in the Reef have requested the help of Guardians to hunt down Skolas, a Kell who has escaped their Prison of Elders, in new missions and strikes. It introduced the Sidearm genre of weapons, and increased the level cap to 34. This is also where Destiny started to actually develop it’s own personality.

The reclusive Awoken have opened their gates to Guardians, and the Vestian Outpost, a new social area in The Reef, can be accessed. The Prison of Elders itself is now a new wave-based PvE mode that can award huge prizes for those who hold a Treasure Key. Fight four waves in arenas based on the different enemy races, and then fight a final boss!

Alongside this is a weekend-only PvP event called the Trials of Osiris, which pits teams of three against each other. Respawning is disabled, you must be revived by a teammate to jump back into the fray. Kill all three opponents, and the round is yours. Win three rounds, and you win the game. Win nine games without a single loss, and you can gain access to the coveted Lighthouse on Mercury and score some extremely rare gear.

Destiny’s first major expansion, The Taken King, arrived one year after release on September 15th, 2015, and is almost effectively a new game in of itself. Oryx, God-King of the Hive, has heard of the fall of his son Crota, and has traveled to the Solar System to take revenge. Alongside an entirely new campaign of missions, strikes, and a raid, there’s also a new area to explore: Oryx’s Dreadnought.

TTK also brought with it major changes to various mechanics in the game. The new Character Level cap was 40, and Light Level, capped at 320, is now it’s own thing instead of being tied to the Character Level. Three new subclasses were introduced, as were Swords. Also introduced was a proper Quest system, where you can keep track of quests in an actual quest log. Believe it or not, quests were not really a thing in Destiny until TTK came out. Crazy.

However, the main new addition was the Taken, in which all existing enemies now have remixed Taken version of themselves, with entirely new attacks and AI. This essentially doubled the number of different enemies there are to fight in the game. Of course, alongside all of this was a huge slew of new gear to acquire. There’s also a new gear slot called Artifacts, which, I’ll be honest, doesn’t do a whole lot.

Later in October of 2015 was The Festival of the Lost. This Halloween event let players collect and wear masks, as well as complete a new quest. It also returned the following year in 2016, with new masks to collect and a new quest to complete.

During the winter in 2015 was the Sparrow Racing League. Players could race their Sparrows through two tracks, and get prizes like new Sparrow-related racing gear and different Sparrow horns to honk.

The racing itself is based on gates that racers must pass through in order to maintain maximum top speed. Miss a gate, and your overall top speed goes down a notch until you pass through another gate and gain that speed back. Going through gates also gives you more boost energy you can use to sideboost around tight corners or obstacles.

On the week of Valentine’s Day 2016, the Crimson Days event went down. A special 2v2 Crucible playlist could be played, and cute candy-themed Ghost shells could be obtained. This event did not return in 2017.

On April 12th, 2016, an update aptly named The April Update was released. The Light Level cap was raised to 335, and the Prison of Elders got a Taken update. A level 41 version of PoE was introduced, as well as Challenge of the Elders, which requires a special sigil to play. You also no longer need a Treasure Key to access the big treasure chest at the end.

It also introduced new gear called Chroma, which can be outfitted with a neon underglow, and Desolate, which is colored like the Taken are. It also updated some first year Legendary gear to be in line with the new Light Level system. All of this was completely free!

The Rise of Iron expansion came out on September 20th, 2016. Lord Saladin has left his post at the Iron Banner to stop a threat he thought had been long dead. The Fallen have gotten their hands on SIVA, a self-replicating nanotechnology able to consume and rewrite matter extremely quickly, and Saladin has employed Guardians to stop it.

Rise of Iron not only features a new campaign and raid, but a new social area, the Iron Temple. The Cosmodrone area on Earth is now under a thick blanket of snow, and a new area called the Plaguelands can now be accessed as well. New Fallen enemies called Splicers have appeared as well, having infused themselves with SIVA. A huge number of older strikes now have remixed versions of themselves as well.

This expansion also marked the sending off point for last-gen hardware, as the 360 and PS3 versions of Destiny did not get this. It wasn’t quite as big as The Taken King, but it still added quite a bit of stuff to the game.

2016′s winter event was called The Dawning. Alongside a few new little quests and some new gear, the Sparrow Racing League makes a return, featuring two new circuits and loads more Sparrow-themed goodies to get. It also introduced a new currency called Silver Dust, which let you buy all sorts of weird and specific items from the Silver Dust kiosk. Lemme tell you, SRL was a good way to rank up in the Crucible and quickly get good gear.

This finally brings us to Destiny’s final update, the Age of Triumph, which released on March 28th. This introduced new hard mode playlists for story missions, raids, and Challenge of Elders, as well as raid-specific loot to obtain. It also has a giant record book full of challenges and accomplishments to fill out.

SEE YOU STARSIDE

Destiny is one of those games I gave up on originally. I became bored of it a couple of weeks after launch. But when I picked it back up in March of 2016, I was kinda stunned to see how much better the game had become a year and a half later. I legitimately had a hard time putting it down. I eventually got my friends to get back into it as well, and we had a load of fun tackling the more difficult challenges in the game.

I dunno. After being such a dedicated Halo fan up until it changed hands, and after finding both Halo 4 and the original Destiny to be disappointing, I was feeling pretty down about Bungie and their 10 year plan for this new franchise. But I’m glad it bounced back, I’m glad I’m able to say that Destiny is a great game you ought to play, especially if you can find a good group to play the raids with.

If you’re going to buy the game, I’d recommend the “Destiny: The Collection” edition, as it includes all of the game’s content in one bundle. It’s regularly on sale for $40 or less for brand new as well. Buying it used might not be a good idea, as the codes for the expansions will likely have been used, requiring you to buy them digitally for full price.

If you only have a 360 or PS3, the Taken King version of the game comes with everything up until right before Rise of Iron came out and is typically less than $20, especially in Gamestops I’ve noticed. Plus, you can always move your character to the current-gen version of the game if you choose to upgrade in the future.

Regardless, please give Destiny a chance! I know Destiny 2 is on it’s way, but this game is also a good time and worth checking out. Thank you for reading!

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