#seriously I had like 30 patch and pin ideas

[the-witchhunter]

You know, if Spider Punk gets people interested in punk, good. We all have to start somewhere and Hobie is a damn good representation. If he is what makes a person go “hey, this seems cool, I should check it out.” good. That’s one more person interested in punk and wanting to get into it. 

That being said, if you are new to punk(hi baby punks!) some things to keep in mind

1. Punk philosophy is largely anti-authoritarian. Individual and even punk communities differ on specifics, and some are more political than others, but the core themes tend to be resisting those who would control and oppress us, and supporting and including people in your community

2. Punk fashion SHOULD NOT BE EXPENSIVE. A lot of fashion companies will try and sell you jackets for a couple hundred bucks, but that’s just corporations trying to cash in on a subculture. A big part of Punk and its history is DIY because Punk should be open to everyone and putting that behind a fashion paywall is just not punk. You don’t even need to be dressing punk to BE punk, but thrift your clothes. Make stencils and use spray paint or bleach to give it a pattern. Use old jeans to make patches. Buy your spikes and studs in bulk and go wild. Turn your old t shirt that doesn't fit anymore into a back patch. Go crazy with some safety pins. You can make more with $30 than you can buy from a designer for $300. And skill is not needed, frankly if it looks a little wonky it makes it look more punk

3. Dental floss makes for good thread for sewing on patches. It’s good for thick, stylistic stitches and is both cheap and durable. Don’t know why I made this its own point but it’s one of the most common tricks for punk DIY besides taking paint to scraps of fabric to make a patch. Honestly, if you want to know how to do more, just ask other punks how they made their vests and jackets, they’ll probably be happy enough to tell you

4. Punk philosophy and music is closely related. The communities evolved around the music scene so it is closely linked. Give some punk bands a try if you haven't already. There’s a bunch of subgenres so you’ll probably find something you like. From OG “proto punk” where the sound was still developing into what we call punk, to pop punk, anarco punk, and folk punk. There are people who say you can’t be punk if you don’t listen to the music, and there’s a whole conversation to be had about all that, but it’s just a good idea to try listening to some punk music

5, Nazis fuck off

6. Seriously, nazis fuck off. There’s a whole history behind it and why we associate skinhead punks with neo nazis. Largely we’ve made it clear we don’t want nazis in our community and the street punk music scene that nazi punks became associated with has made strides to separate themselves from that.

7. Be cool and respectful of people regardless of religion, ethnicity, race, sexuality, gender, background, etc. Solidarity with our community is important and all sorts are welcome. Gatekeeping isn’t cool and frankly women and minorities have done a lot for punk as a whole. Respect for everyone

#punk #baby punk #spider punk #hobie brown #hobart brown #DIY #punk DIY #punk fasion

[angellbarnes]

sparks flying

day 1 - firefighter AU

pairing: firefighter!Bucky x reader

summary: a real life firefighter to crush on? say less. with you’re clumsiness you’ll definitely be needing him around a lot more

word count: 1.3k

warnings: just idiots with crushes fluff, (small) fires

A/N: so this is officially day 1 of my 30 day writing challenge! I’ve been gone from writing for wayyy too long. I’ve had a lot going on in life and in my head tbh but now I’m ready to saddle up again and hopefully this will be a good n fun way to bring back my writing! I think this is a cute one to start the challenge with. please like, comment and reblog, it means so so much🤍

•••

A couple of weeks ago…

“Wanda, stop!” you yell. “You know how ticklish I am!” You’re fighting against her as she pins you down. Nat is cackling beside you, laughing at your struggling.

“Say it! Admit you like him!” She cries.

“No! I’ll never!” You cry back.

A relaxed girls night seemed like a good idea before truth or dare was involved, and it led to both Nat and Wanda forcing you to admit your schoolgirl crush on Bucky, a firefighter in your neighbourhood.

“Then I won’t stop.” You’re fighting for breath at this point, before you kick your leg perfectly, or unfortunately, to knock over a candle on the side. It falls to the carpet and everyone’s eyes widen.

“Shit!” You exclaim. You grab a pillow and hit it over the flames repeatedly. You exhale heavily when it’s out. You turn and see Wanda and Nat smirking as Nat is holding her phone to her ear. “Wha- Nat, no!” You say sternly, you can see her plan smug on her face. She holds her finger up at you as she starts speaking.

“Hey, Steve, we just had a small fire over here, maybe you should come over to make sure it’s been put out properly… Yeah, just a candle, nothing major… Ok, thanks babe. Oh, and you should probably bring Bucky too, if he’s around. Cool, see you soon.” She hangs up.

“Seriously?” You deadpan.

When they arrive, you’re sitting on the sofa with Wanda and Nat opens the door. Of course, behind Steve, Bucky comes striding in too. Wanda wiggles her eyebrows at you, poorly hiding her grin. You simply roll your eyes.

“What’ve we got here then?” Steve remarks, blankly staring and, frankly being unimpressed, at the charred patch of carpet beneath you.

“I just knocked over a candle. It is absolutely no big deal and it’s clearly out.” You reply, tight lipped. Avoiding eye contact with the looming brunet beside him, as if you’d drop dead if you were to. “What would we do without you two though?” You sarcastically add.

“What even happened?” Bucky asks, and you finally look at him, in the eyes, as you silently die inside while searching for a reason other than the truth.

“Wanda pushed me into it, and then it fell on the carpet.” Bucky raises a suspicious brow at your answer.

“Ok,” Steve says. “Just maybe try to keep candles upright from now on. We should go, Buck, and get to that bar before it’s too busy.”

“You guys are going out? We’ll come with!” Nat jumps up and pulls Wanda from the sofa, stretching her hands out to you next.

“I would, but I’ve got an early shift tomorrow. A 6am start is not what I want on less than 7 hours of sleep.” You reply, honestly this time.

“Ugh, fine.” Nat whines. Everyone starts to head out as you hold the door. You say bye to everyone and wish them a good night as Bucky hangs back.

“Shame you can’t come tonight, maybe next time?” He leans in the doorway and you think your heart actually skips a beat.

“Yeah, sounds good.” You can’t help but smile as he flashes a cheeky grin. He begins walking out and you admire his frame. It’s a shame he can’t put out the fire roaring inside of you right now.

“Have a fun shift tomorrow!” He calls out.

“Oh, I will.” You shut the door and roll your eyes and the feelings he gives you.

Now…

“Ugh, stupid fucking lights!” You growl and the flickering bulb above you, which eventually goes out altogether. You know it’s not the lightbulb because you’ve only just changed it. The same thing happens in your bedroom and the kitchen. Determined, you set out to find the light panel for your flat, which is somewhere in the building. You finally find it and open it up. You see your flat number and, beneath it, some switches and screws and wires you’ve never encountered before.

“Fuck it.” You take out your screwdriver and just head into this unknown world. You try a few switches and screws when a couple of sparks fly. You jump back with a slight shriek. Your eyes widen and your hand covers your mouth as the sparks turn into a small flame.

“Nooo. no, no, no, no, no, shit, shit, shit.”

The flame begins to grow and you look around, with no luck, for some sort of fire extinguisher. The nearest thing is a fire alarm. Brilliant. 10 in the evening and now the whole building is going to hate you.

“For fucks sake.” You press the alarm and run away from the scene of the crime before people can see you near it.

Everyone is stood outside, cold and annoyed, when the engines arrive. With everyone in gear it’s hard to tell who’s going in. You’re all waiting for a short while before they tell everyone it’s taken care of and you can start heading back in. The firefighters begin taking off their helmets and masks. You notice Steve and – shit – Bucky. You don’t have time to get away before he spots you too. He heads over.

“Hey. I’m starting to get used to this building now.” He comments. You chuckle lightly. “I’m worried you’re heading towards becoming an arsonist.” Your eyes go wide.

“How did you know it was me?” You whisper-yell. His eyes widen in response, brows furrowing.

“We didn’t. I was just making a joke, but now I’m actually concerned about you.” He folds his arms and laughs as you slap your hand to your face in stupidity.

“Oh. Shit. Uhh, there’s no getting out of this, is there? Oh god, are you meant to arrest me or something? Ok, here’s the plan: I never said or did anything. Sound good?” You reason, realising you’re just continuing your idiocy. He just smiles in response before nodding his head toward the building.

“Should I walk you up? Just to make sure you don’t start any more fires.” He quips and you scoff, rolling your eyes and playfully elbowing him.

“Fine. Just to make sure.”

“You do realise I’m going to be telling Steve about this?” Bucky says when you reach your door. “And then he’ll tell Nat, who will then tell Wanda.” He smirks, leaning against the doorway again after you step inside. God, you love a man in uniform. Although, you’d like him more out of it–

“Oh, I’m prepared for that.” You look back into your apartment, and at that patch of carpet from last time, and why it happened. “Did you want to come in?”

“Uhh…” He begins. You mentally scold yourself. He clearly doesn’t want to. But then again, he’s still in uniform.

“Oh, shit, are you still on duty? Or you don’t want to. Either way, it’s fine. Sorry for asking.” You ramble.

“No, no, that’s not it. I’m actually technically finished now. I was just going to ask if you wanted to go to that bar now? As long as you don’t have another early shift tomorrow, that is.” You light up inside at his question, and can’t help the grin that spreads across your lips.

“Yes! Yeah, that sounds nice, I mean.” You shyly look at the floor and notice he steps forwards. He lifts your chin with his finger so you’re looking into his eyes.

“Uh, there’s actually something else I wanted to ask you…” He begins, and you both instinctively begin to lean into one another.

“Yeah?” You reply softly. The corner of his mouth lifts.

“Can I kiss you?” He whispers into your lips and your breath hitches.

“Yes.” You pull him into you with his jacket and his lips press against yours. Suddenly, another fire is igniting. But a much, much better kind. The kiss is deep and long-awaited, both of you trying to get closer, while already being flush against one other. Finally you part, chuckling and biting your lip.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long.”

“Thank god for my lack of my electrician knowledge, huh?”

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fluff #firefighter!bucky #marvel #bucky au #angellbarnes 30 day writing challenge #day 1

[arrowflier]

Oh! I have a prompt. Post-series, Mickey and Carl: destructive due, but like juuuust this side of legal and definitely morally ambiguous. Extra points if Mickey is protective because family's family

Okay this is definitely not what you were expecting but I was having such a hard time thinking of something for them to do lol. Of course now that I've done it I have more logical ideas but too late.😅

“Fuck, get the fucking—”

“I’m gettin it, I’m gettin it!”

“Well get it faster, I’m bleeding the fuck out over here!”

Ian groaned at the loud voices coming from the kitchen, stirring awake from where he had been napping on the living room sofa.

“The fuck is going on?” he muttered, sitting up and wiping at his dry eyes. The voices in the other room had stopped, but were replaced by loud crashes and slamming drawers as someone searched for something and, apparently, didn’t find it quickly enough.

Ian pushed himself to his feet, letting the scratchy hand-made blanket slide to the floor, and wandered on stiff legs toward the noise.

When he got far enough to see into the kitchen, he stopped and rubbed his eyes again, just to make sure he wasn’t having some kind of weird dream.

“Mickey?” Ian asked, and his husband started, looking both surprised and guilty. Mickey sat at the kitchen table, clutching a raggedy old towel around one hand, a towel that was slowly turning red with seeping blood.

“Mickey, what happened?” Ian prodded, waking up enough to realize that this was not a normal thing for a Sunday evening. They had come by the house for a late lunch and stayed to hang out and play with Franny—how had Mickey ended up bleeding in the kitchen when Ian had left him just 30 minutes ago to shut his eyes for a spell?

“Nothin’, man, everything’s fine,” Mickey answered gruffly, not meeting Ian’s eyes. “Just had a little incident, it’s all good.”

“All good?” Ian repeated, voice rising. “Mickey, you’re bleeding!”

His husband just shrugged.

“I mean, yeah, but not that bad.”

Before Ian could tear into his husband for playing down his apparent injury, Carl was returning from the bathroom off the kitchen, first aid kit in one hand.

“Found it!” he cried, waving the thing around like a victory flag. “Let’s get you patched up before Ian…”

Carl trailed off, seeing that Ian was, in fact, already awake and aware.

“Before Ian what?” Ian himself asked lowly, and Carl glanced at Mickey before offering a too-casual shrug.

Ian sighed, rubbing the last of the sleep from his eyes, and gestured to Carl.

“Give it here,” he ordered. “I don’t know what you two got up to, but at least let me fix it.”

Carl passed the first aid kit over without a word, throwing Mickey an apologetic glance. Ian just opened the box and set it on the table, digging through it for alcohol wipes and gauze, and sat in front of Mickey to unwind the towel from his hand.

“You promised me you’d stop doing stupid shit, you know,” Ian reminded his husband, and Mickey scowled.

“No, I promised I’d do less stupid shit,” he corrected, “and this wasn’t fuckin’ stupid.”

Ian raised an eyebrow at that claim, but Carl was ready to back Mickey up.

“It was so badass, Ian,” he gushed immediately. “You should’ve seen him!”

“Seen him do what?” Ian asked cautiously as Mickey avoided his gaze some more. Finally removing the last layer of the towel, Ian winced when he saw the cuts on Mickey’s hand. “Seen him slice himself up?” he added, but Carl shook his head.

“Nah, that happened after,” he said, then frowned. “Or during, I guess? But it wasn’t his fault, that thing had it out for him!”

Dare he ask? Ian wondered. Or, knowing his husband and his brother, perhaps the question should be dare he not?

Thing?” he made himself question, and Carl pounced on the opportunity to tell the full story. Or at least, the Carl version.

“Yeah, so there was this drone, right?” he started, and Ian was already feeling a groan coming on.

“A drone,” he said flatly, ignoring Mickey’s hiss as he wiped his hand clean.

“Yeah,” Carl went on, oblivious to Ian’s tone. “It’s been flying around here for days, always sneaking up on Debbie and Fran.”

“And did you report it?” Ian asked, already knowing the answer.

“The fuck would we do that for?” Mickey chimed in, and Ian rolled his eyes when Carl nodded his agreement.

“Carl, you’re a cop,” Ian said, exasperated.

“Yeah, but they don’t take shit like that seriously,” Carl defended, and well, Ian had to give him that. “But anyway, it showed up again just now, hovering around the pool while Franny was swimming, so we took it down.”

Ian let out a heavy breath, and closed his eyes.

“You took it down,” he said slowly. “Meaning you shot an unlicensed firearm, in the middle of the neighborhood, to destroy someone else’s personal property. And there’s probably video footage of you doing it.”

He reached for the gauze and started wrapping Mickey’s hand, tugging it just this side of too tight.

“Geez, fuckin’ relax, okay?” Mickey urged. “I didn’t use a gun, and I got it from behind. Besides, they were fuckin’ trespassing.”

“He’s right,” Carl agreed. “He got up on the roof outside our window, took it down with his knife once it was close enough.” Then Carl winced, and scratched at his head. “It just, uh, kind of caught his hand in the rotor when it went down?”

That explained the injuries, at least.

“Fine,” Ian relented, stroking a hand softly over the finished bandage and raising it to his lips for a brief kiss. “But if you ever do something like that again—”

The doorbell rang.

All three of them looked toward the front of the house, then at each other.

“Uh..” Carl voiced, and then they were all moving. Carl to throw the bloody rag in the bathroom and shut the door, Mickey to grab the knife that Ian now saw was sitting right there at the edge of the table, and Ian into the living room to answer the door.

Ian looked back once he got there, making sure Carl and Mickey were ready, and then opened the door with as casual an air as he could muster.

He wasn’t sure what he expected to see on the other side, but it wasn’t a middle-aged man with thinning hair and a thin-lipped expression.

“Uh, hi,” Ian greeted. “Can we help you?”

“You can,” the man said huffily. “I’m looking for—”

Mickey came up behind Ian, laying a steadying hand on his hip, and the man’s eyes went wide.

“You!” he hollered, pointing a shaking finger right in Mickey’s face.

“Me what?” Mickey grouched. “You got a problem, grandpa?”

“You killed my drone!” the man continued. Ian tensed, but Mickey just shrugged, unconcerned.

“So what?” he asked, not bothering to deny it.

“So I could have you arrested for destruction of property!” the man spit out, and Mickey laughed right in his face.

“Yeah right, man, try again,” he goaded. “You got no evidence.”

“I have footage,” the stranger hissed. “Of your face, when it fell.”

Mickey raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah?” he asked. “What else you got footage of, huh? My sister?” He stepped around Ian, halfway through the door, and added lowly, “my underage niece?”

The man went white. “That footage is…it’s purely academic…I…I could…”

“What, you could what?” Mickey countered. “Get lost, man, and find a new hobby.”

He started to close the door, but the man shoved his foot in, wincing when the heavy wood hit it and bounced back.

“I saw your knife,” the man tried in a last ditch attempt. “You can’t have things like that in public, I could have you arrested for carrying a blade!”

“What, this one?” Mickey asked, taking the aforementioned knife out of his waistband and holding it out. The stranger shrank away from it, but Mickey held it out further.

“Go on, take it,” he urged. “And get out your ruler, asshole, ‘cause even if this weren’t private property, that thing’s within legal requirements for concealed carry.”

Ian finally interrupted, pulling Mickey back and taking his place in the doorway again.

“You heard the man,” he said to the stranger’s shocked face. “Sorry about your drone, but we have other things to worry about here.”

Then he slammed the door shut.

Ian stayed facing it for a moment, just breathing, before turning to look at his smug husband.

“That was the stupidest,” he started, stepping forward, “most harebrained—”

“Hottest?” Mickey suggested.

“Hottest,” Ian continued, then shook his head when he realized the trick. “How did you know you’d get away with all that, anyway?” he asked instead, and Carl spoke up from further in the house.

“Like you said, I’m a cop,” he cut in with a smirk. “And I don’t think that guy’ll bother us again, since he basically just admitted to spying on Fran.”

Ian blinked. “But we’re the only ones who heard that,” he pointed out, and Carl grinned wider as he showed them both his phone screen, where a recording app was paused.

“Single-party consent, bitch,” he said, and met Mickey’s high five easily.

Ian sighed again, and Mickey patted him on the shoulder in commiseration.

“Hey, look on the bright side,” Mickey said. “If I do stupid shit with your brother, I won’t go down for it.”

“Because he’s a cop?” Ian asked, and Mickey snorted, shaking his head.

“Nah,” he replied in an overdone stage-whisper. “Because he’d be easy to pin it on.”

Ian thought for a moment, watching Carl trip over the coffee table on his way back to the kitchen, then shrugged.

He couldn’t really argue with that either.

#daily speedwrite #ian gallagher #mickey milkovich #carl gallagher #mickey and carl take on a peeping tom #tw: blood #this one is so weird lol #i'm sorry it's not serious at all #now I realize I should have had them like track down an evil ex or something instead that would have made more sense😂 #maybe I'll do that another time #fanfic

[yikesharringrove]

how do u feel abt doing smth like a modern au where billy is like , all this punk rock and teen angst and leather nd jean jackets kinda of thing and steve is the exact opposite of him with fluffy skirts and soft polos nd just really soft and they two have seen eachother but dont actually talk to one another until they have a school project and they just. fall in love overtime? basically , femme steve + punk rock billy falling in love.

(pt. 2) also!! happy 21st birthday 💓💕💗💖💕

The university had a strict core curriculum, meaning that Steve was ten minutes late for his Philosophy of the Modern Era class.

He couldn’t find the room, was wandering around in this basement with his schedule written on the back of his hand. He was peering at room numbers and muttering to himself 067 067 067.

“You looking for that philosophy class?” Steve turned around at the voice.

The guy was stomping down the hallway in big leather boots. His jeans were ripped and shredded, and he was wearing a black t-shirt with pink font reading Dog Park Dissidents. His denim jacket was covered in pins and patches and sharpie drawings. He had Silence = Death written on one of the pockets, Being nice IS punk rock was scrawled down one arm.

“Yeah, that modern era one?” The guy smiled and nodded, reaching forward to shake Steve’s hand. His eyes were a startling blue, lined with a thin smudge on black. His hair was wild and curly, shaved on each side into this beachy looking mohawk. He had his nose and his eyebrow pierced, along with several in his ears.

“Billy Hargrove.”

“Steve Harrington.” Steve could feel the tips of his ears go red as Billy looked him up and down. He was wearing something cute for the first day of class, a chunky white cardigan over a soft pink peasant dress. He had gotten up early to do his makeup well, and was late to class anyway because this stupid building was a fucking maze.

They set off down the hall together, looking at each door they passed by.

“Oh shit. Pretty Boy, I think I got it.” Steve flushed slightly at being called pretty, still not used to being able to dress like this in public. Billy wrenched open the door, and stomped in, not a care in the world for being twenty minutes late.

The professor raised his eyebrow.

“And what were you two doing out in the hall?”

“I’m sorry, we couldn’t find the room.” Steve’s cheeks were hot as he was standing at the front of the class.

“That’s okay. you have missed class introductions, to please say your names, pronouns and majors.”

“Billy Hargrove, he/him, double majoring in literature and social work.”

“Steve Harrington, he/they. I’m also a double major in education and early childhood development.” The professor made a note on his role sheet.

“Thank you, you may sit down.” Steve went for the back of the room, flopping into the first empty seat he could find, ducking his head as he quietly got his laptop out. Billy had stomped into the seat next to him, had gotten out a notebook and proceeded to doodle in it for the rest of class.

He sat next to Billy every Monday Wednesday and Friday from 9:20-10:35 and and outside of their ten minute search for the classroom, they had yet to say anything to one another.

It certainly didn’t help that Steve was harboring a little crush on the guy. He would watch him in class, the way he would doodle little sunflowers in the margins of his notes, smiling softly at them.

“So, for the rest of the semester you will be working in pairs. I want you to go through the readings we have completely and work together with the philosophers we have discussed to create your own system for the modern era. How do you believe society exists now?” Billy turned to Steve, grinning at him.

“You wanna be my partner?” Steve gave a sheepish smile, his heart racing.

“I, um. Yes. Yeah, I’ll be your partner.” Steve dug his phone out of the tight pocket of his skirt, trading with Billy. He put his number under Steve Harrington - Modern Era Philosphy.

“You wanna get coffee after class, start working through our beliefs?”

“Um, sure. I don’t have class until, like, 3:30 today.” Billy grinned again and fucking winked at Steve. He needed to calm the fuck down.

“So basically, a lot of my beliefs are based on the punk message.” Billy was sipping at his black coffee, had laughed and said should’ve fucking known when Steve ordered a large mocha with extra chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. “I’m a very live and let live person, but I believe everyone should live and let live. If someone is trying to dictate how others should exist, they’re fucking garbage.”

“Okay, I actually really agree with that.”

“That’s because you’re punk rock.” Steve laughed, but Billy’s eyes were serious. “No seriously, there’s nothing more punk rock than being unapologetically yourself.”

“When did you get into punk philosophy?”

“When I was in high school. My dad was a real prick, and I was angry, and a lot of punk is loud and pissed off and it helped, but then I started going to shows, and talking to people, and it’s not what you’d expect. Everyone at a show is like a weird family for a night. If someone comes in and tries to fuck with someone, the family deals. I can’t tell you how many fights I saw that broke out because someone was perving on a girl, and these other guys started protecting her. And that only grew as I started getting into queercore.”

Steve was listening to Billy, eyes wide as he described stories from shows, how he had jumped in on fights to defend the family, how he would walk girls home or to their cars parked a ways down the street, how he knew everyone would do the same for him.

“God, I wish I had a community like that. I didn’t really have anyone growing up. You know, token queer in a small town kinda vibe.” Billy smiled at him sympathetically.

“That why you came out to San Fransisco?”

“Oh yeah. Wanted to come somewhere where, this, didn’t matter.” He gestured to himself. “I just don’t get why it bothers people. I just do it because it makes me happy. I don’t know why it concerns anyone else.” Billy was nodding vigorously.

“Exactly. That’s the whole truth about being queer. People hate you for something that has nothing to do with them. It’s completely wack. Like if I’m with someone in whatever capacity, we’re both consenting adults. It literally doesn’t matter.”

“Do you think we could expand upon this enough for our project? Talk about how we feel the world should just stop caring about what other people do if it has nothing to do with them.” Billy grinned.

“I think we could make something happen.”

They began getting coffee after each class, taking through their project, finding resources to back up the ideas they had discussed. The more time they spent together, the more Steve liked Billy, liked how sweet he was, how positive. They talked about having terrible parents, how Billy’s dad had kicked him out at sixteen for being gay, how he had lived with friends, saving up to get himself through college. They talked about how Steve’s dad had found his stash of makeup and threw it all away, making sure it was ruined and broken. How disappointed his father was that he was studying to become a teacher.

There was one Friday they had met up and stayed all day in the coffee shop stayed until the 5 pm closing.

“You wanna come over? I have a single room. We can keep working.” Billy grinned at Steve like he always did, showing off all his white teeth. So they walked side by side to Steve’s room.

Steve kept his room neat, a habit left over from overbearing parents who would shame him into cleaning his room.

Steve’s room was exactly how Billy imagined.

He had soft white lights, a full length mirror on one wall. His bed was covered in pillows, duvets, and even a few stuffed animals. The wall above the bed was covered in pictures of Steve back home, several with a group of younger kids, and a lot with a blonde girl.

“This your girlfriend?” Steve snorted.

“No, that’s Robin. She and I are just really close friends.”

“What’s with the kids?” Steve blushed.

“I babysat all through high school, and those kids kinda adopted me as their pseudo parent. It was a lot of driving them all over town.”

“That’s cute. That why you wanna teach?”

“Yeah, I’m good with kids.” Steve had plopped himself on the made bed. He watched as Billy took off his heavy boots, placing them neatly by the door before stepping onto Steve’s plush grey rug. His socks were thick wool and had little cartoon dogs on them. Steve was in love.

Billy sat with Steve on the bed. He was taking a closer look at the photos.

“I could see that for you. You’re a caring type.” Steve looked down as his feet, could feel his face getting hot.

“Why did you pick social work?”

“When I was a kid, CPS would be called to our place like, once every few months. My dad was a real good schmoozer, so I would always just be left with him. I wanna be able to help kids get out of bad situations.”

“God, and you call me a caring type. You’re gonna save the world.” Billy laughed.

“The children are the future. I’ll save ‘em, you teach ‘em.” When Steve looked up, Billy was leaning closer into Steve’s space. He had a soft smile on his face. His eyes were bright and beautiful and so fucking blue. “Can I kiss you?”

“Can you, what?”

“Can I kiss you?”

“Why?” Billy still hadn’t leaned back.

“‘Cause I have a big dumb crush on you, and I think you have one on me.” Steve’s face was pink.

“I, uh, yeah. Go, go for it.” Billy laughed, taking Steve’s face in both hands. He leaned in, just gently pressing their lips together.

“So, was I right?”

“Yes. Very much so.” Billy laughed again, loud and sweet, pressing another kiss to Steve’s lips.

“You wanna go on a date? A real one? Not just us getting coffee and pretending we both weren’t totally into each other.” Steve snorted again.

“Yeah, I would really like that.”

#harringrove #yikes writes #harringrove ficlet #harringrove drabble #steve harrington #steve harrington x billy hargrove #billy hargrove x steve harrington #billy hargrove

[hey-hamlet]

BNHA AU Ideas: Genetics Prodigy

Also on AO3!

TL;DR:  

Quirks might be the coolest thing ever, but they aren't magic, they're genetic. So what's to stop one very stubborn quirkless prodigy from working out how to give himself some?

Ok so! Tech Genius!Izuku AUs are a thing, right? I love them to bits but my problem is I know nothing about tech so I can't write them, but what I do know is biology!

Biology/Genetics prodigy Izuku giving himself quirks!

Stays friends with Katsuki (They have a rough patch but they work through it), not sure if I want Izuku to fiddle with Katsuki's quirk or not - not sure if I'll make the quirk limit 1 or 2, but I've always headcanoned you can give more quirks to someone born quirkless, so Izuku will end up with a few

So, after the dawn of quirks, a lot of, if not all, genetic research stopped. Sure, tech marched onwards, but genetics became an even bigger taboo than it was before. Izuku is a little genius, and this his massive interest in quirks when he's told he’s quirkless? It's more of a “how do I change this” than a “can I change this”

Izuku has always been the smartest person Katsuki knows. They have a rough patch at the beginning where Katsuki is trying to claw this one thing he's better at Izuku than over his head, to make himself ‘better’ than izuku

People have always called the quirkless worthless. If he’s less than a quirkless kid, what does that make him? Izuku eventually manages to drag it out of him and tells him about all the things people did before the dawn of quirks. Katsuki changes his mind to instead believing that everyone else is stupid for thinking quirks are everything and is now very vocal about that. (He still loves his quirk though, as does Izuku.)

His first real trial is a bit of a silly one: he cures Katsuki’s lactose intolerance. They were both salty they couldn’t share their icecream.

Collection of quirks:

Bakugo:

Explosion

Fire Manipulation

Midoriya:

Telekinesis

Heal

Forcefield

Jump

I want Izuku to give himself a quirk aged like, 8, with bakugo there for the ride as a lab hand, and I want them to realise with mounting horror what they've managed to do

bakugo turning to izuku and whispering "how many quirks would it take to beat - be as strong as - all might?" and izuku just shrugs because he hadn't thought about that but what he's done could start a new breed of bioweapons

he knows enough about the brain to see that more than 2 quirks in a quirked persons body, or more than 4 in someone born quirkless would be seriously damaging, but he's really scared about what could happen if he did go over that limit.

he won't, but he's curious, and he feels a little sick because of it

Nezu catches wind of this baby bio genius, one of the red flags is the only recent research done into quirks was actually from the lab nezu was kept in, so when he sees someone digging into that research he's ready to rain hell down upon them

then he sees an 8-year old that gave himself a quirk and he's like "oh. son."

oh he also totally has a little collection of lab rats that he spoils to bits - he's careful not to give them any quirks that would hurt them / cause an ethical issue. mostly they just have colour changing and glowing quirks, one of them can photosynthesize

he's a very good boy and his little rat children love him

So, when one is as hopelessly heroic as Izuku, it tends to be hard to avoid ‘accidentally’ using your quirk in public. When you have a heal quirk? It’s basically impossible.

Healing quirks actually have a special provision under the vigilantism act, along with exemptions due to age, but when Izuku gets caught, the police don’t tell him that. They honestly just want to try and scare the kid straight because it was a ‘miracle’ (forcefield) that he didn’t get hit by the falling rubble.

So Naomasa is brought in, as usual for the Mustutafu area, and asks the basic questions: name, age, quirk. Izuku, being a genius but still like 8 and scared he's going to jail lies for the first two questions, and he doesn’t lie very well because the poor kid is chronically honest.

‘Um, my name is – Tsubasa! Yeah!.” “I’m 10!”

But the last question throws Naomasa for a loop. “What’s your quirk?” “I was born quirkless, I’ve got the x-ray to prove it.”

That wasn’t a lie. But he visibly used a quirk, they saw it happen. And Naomasa suddenly gets a terrible feeling, because there is only one person he knows that can take someone from quirkless to quirked.

“So you don’t have any quirk?” “No sir.” A lie. Fuck. He lets Izuku go because, despite the horror of a child caught in AFO’s clutches, he might be the most valuable lead they’ve ever had. So they keep an eye on him.

It doesn’t take long to see him using more than one quirk. The kid is creative and isn’t bad at disguising them as the same quirk, but using a forcefield to shield you and your friend from rain is visibly different from telekinetically doing the same, if you know what you’re looking for. And boy do Naomasa and All Might know what they’re looking for.

Their second heart attack comes from an absent “So have you been practising with flame manipulation?” “Of course, dipshit, I’m not lazy. We’ve gotta practise to become heroes, don’t we?” “I know, Kacchan! I’m just excited!”

They keep freaking out about it until they bring in Nezu. It takes him a week or so, but he quickly finds out whats going on. “So, I’m not sure if this is what you wanted to hear but: It’s not All for One,” general sighs of relief “But the child has worked out how to synthesize quirks.” PANICKED NOISES

I feel like izuku is def. the first to make a quirk suppressant chemical, which really interests overhaul. Unfortunately, so i assume he can counter than with something that could just speed up the metabolism to flush another chemical out and because aizawa's quirk binds to the quirk factor, he could just give himself a quirk that has a different biological mechanism - confusing the fuck out of everyone involved

Timeline of Izuku’s shenanigans

Katsuki: lactose intolerance cured, proof of concept – age 6

A very nice rat: Attraction of small objects, yes the rat used it and yes it was amazing because other rats counted as small objects – age 7

Izuku: Attraction of small objects – age 8 (Inko’s quirk)

Katsuki: Flame control, a portion of Hisashi’s quirk from Izuku’s genes – age 8

Izuku: Jump, from a detailed study about a quirked rabbit – age 8 (late)

Another very nice rat: given the ability to live to 10 years old. His name is Hermes – age 9

Izuku: Starts a medical degree – age 10

Izuku: Forcefield, partly from a study of a weak forcefield quirk from the beginning of quirks when genetic studies were less taboo, combined with some promoter sequences from Katsuki’s quirk – age 10

Izuku: Heal, something he’d been working on since the beginning, created without reference for a similar quirk, his masterpiece – age 13 (This quirk is not tied to the quirk factor and therefore can not be stopped by erasure or the quirk erasing bullets.)

Izuku: Finishes the medical degree – age 14

Katsuki tries to get him to write Dr. Midoriya on his application to UA but he refuses, sadly. Not that it matters, Nezu recognises the last name from some of the only quirk research since the lab he was kept in was shut down. He’s very interested about one of the boy’s earliest papers; a case study about a quirkless boy born to 2 4th generation quirked parents, and the conclusion he drew: it wasn’t possible. It doesn’t take a genius to work out the quirkless kid was Izuku himself.

Izuku and Katsuki walk to UA together, Uraraka still saves him from tripping, Katsuki was just laughing at his suffering. Izuku’s a little less awkward in this AU and actually manages to thank her. They all enter the hall together.

Izuku never exactly kicked him mumbling habit, Iida still tells him off. Katsuki is trying to fight the urge to fly down there and kick his ass. Not that they can see, but Uraraka is also glaring at Iida for being rude to the nice boy.

Iida tries to stop Izuku from saying hi to Uraraka but she blows straight past him, loudly thanking Izuku for stopping to say hi. She’s glaring at Iida, Izuku is blissfully ignorant of that. Iida feels like he's offended the wrong person.

The exam starts, Izuku jumps straight into the middle of the exam. His legs hurt but he's totally clear of the other test takers. He starts kicking butt. He yanks wires from ports, tears screws from joints, punches robots with forcefield protected fists, etc. He gets maybe 30 points like this.

All around him he can see people in danger, he throws up countless forcefields to protect his fellow test takers. The judges are impressed with the versatility of the quirk, All Might, even though he knows Izuku isn’t connected to AFO, is having a slight breakdown. Nezu is incredibly impressed. Izuku is flagging though, his forcefield quirk takes some serious energy when he doesn’t have much to spare.

The zero pointer is released. Uraraka is pinned, and, unlike canon, she isn’t unscathed. Her ankle is snapped under the rubble, her ribs are badly bruised. Izuku sees this happen and he just moves. He doesn’t trust his forcefield to hold enough weight, so he goes the other direction: brute force. Using his jump quirk, he rockets into the air, landing a solid, quirk enhanced kick to the face of the robot. As it teeters, he uses attraction of small objects on as many individual points as he can, flying over the back of the robots head. He lands with an impact that jars his teeth, just as the robot starts to tip backwards. He makes it to safety with seconds to spare.

He’s exhausted, so far into quirk exhaustion it isn’t funny, but he’s not done yet. He stumbles to Uraraka helps her lift the bolder off her broken ankle, and heals it. He collapses just as the test finishes, Uraraka catching him and keeping him safe from the last few bits of falling rubble. She’s so thrown by her healed ankle.

Recovery girl comes over, checking on Uraraka. She saw the injury on the cameras and felt bad for the poor girl, but when she gets over there’s nothing. Sure, there’s some blood, but under it all there isn’t even a single cut. Uraraka begs her to help the boy in her arms and she thinks she might know why. The boy looks half dead, likely quirk exhaustion. Still, she didn’t know anyone with a healing quirk was applying, normally Nezu would have told her.

#biology prodigy au #BNHA au #bnha #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #uraraka ochako #All Might #Iida Tenya

[you-a-southpaw-doll]

Buzzed - A Negan One-Shot

Summary: After an incident in the Sanctuary, Leigh takes matters into her own hands. What will Negan’s response be? 

Warning(s): Language. Angst. Attempted rape. Violence. Death. Slight Panic Attack. Anxiety. Leigh being a badass. Negan caught off guard (no pun intended). Mentions of what could be considered self-harm. Daddy kink, but not really. You’ll see. Protective Negan. Fluff. Sexual Innuendoes. Puns (Sorry Not Sorry!). Happy ending. Not Beta’d. I just finished writing this and had to post it! Sorry for any errors.

Author’s Note(s): 

I cut my hair myself, usually every 2 weeks, but no more than 3 weeks. I just can’t have my hair touch my ears; it makes my anxiety 10 times worse, and in a way, I kinda explain the reason behind that in this story. I was cutting my hair tonight, (it’s now 2:30 am, 5/24/2020) and I thought of this story idea and Negan’s reaction to the main character having short hair. 

Also, if any of the warnings are triggering for you, please don’t force yourself to read. The last thing I’d want to do is trigger someone into having a panic attack. Feel free to give me any feedback, thoughts, questions, comments and/or concerns you have with the story. I love hearing from y’all! 

As always, if you’d like to be added to my taglist, just let me know and I’ll happily add you!! 

Word Count: 5,301. (A lot, I know, but I think it’s worth it, and I just couldn’t get everything I wanted across in less words, so enjoy!)

Relationship(s): Negan x Leigh Sullivan (OFC)

Characters: Negan. Leigh Sullivan (OFC). Simon. Dr. Carson. 3 unnamed Original Male Characters. Sanctuary People.

Taglist: @negans-network @prettyboynegan @mychemicalimagines @spnnnxangelsx @rockinkel21 @misskittycat02 @band--psycho@ofxallxwexlost @iron-halt @thamberlinawrites @ravenwings73 @lettherebepink @stoneyggirl

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Story Time:

Leigh’s P.O.V. ~ Then

They’d caught me off guard, for once. 

Normally, I never let anything or anyone catch me off guard. Or at least...I tried not to. Due to having anxiety, I was usually hyper-aware of shit going on. But, today, my anxiety had eased off after the relaxing morning I’d had with my husband. We’d spent the morning, snuggled up in his big king-sized bed, just shooting the shit and goofing off. 

He didn’t have to go out on a run today, so there was no need to rush the morning like we normally had to 95% of the time. Eventually, though, the day had to get started. Dwight came knocking on the door, interrupting our relaxation time, saying he needed my husband for something. Being the man my husband is, he grumbled, cussed Dwight out, and then got outta bed while apologizing to me for the interruption and assuring me we’d finish relaxing when he got back later.

After a kiss, and a soft “I love you,” he was gone. Off to do what he did. It was my day off, so I laid in bed for a little longer before I too got up, dressed, and made my rounds. As the top female Savior, something I’d worked my ass off, fought for, and took seriously, I said hi to who I needed to, did what I needed to, and finally, sat down under my favorite tree out by the greenhouses. 

I laid my leather jacket on the ground next to me, leaving me in my usually black t-shirt, holey but patched up and well worn blue jeans, and faded brown leather boots. Strapped to each thigh was a holster. In the right one was my signature gun, a .357 Magnum, 6-shot revolver. In the left holster, I kept my handcrafted 6 inch blade that I made back when I was 15, well over half a decade, shit closer to a decade ago, considering I was almost 25.

Bending my knees, and pulling them close in a comfortable position, I propped up the notebook I usually kept in my leather satchel with two backup knives, an extra gun, ammo, and a spare notebook for work along with several pens and pencils. The writing equipment was a rare commodity these days, so I always kept them close to me.

As I was writing a story I’d started a few days prior, I zoned out just a bit, focusing on it. I’d started writing when I was just 12 years old, and kept the habit up, even now, 3 years after the world ended and the dead started walking back in 2020 after the Coronavirus outback after the new year, new decade had started. 

I was writing, losing myself in the words I printed on the paper in my chicken scratch. I say chicken scratch ‘cause, well...that’s basically what it was. As a lefty, my handwriting wasn’t necessarily the best, and a doctor’s prescription note was probably more legible. It was a mixture between slanted and curved print and semi-elegant at times cursive. 

But, it was my handwriting, and I could read it. My husband sometimes had difficulty reading it, but he’d always put his black-rimmed glasses on, and fuck if they didn’t make him look sexier than he already was. Because of that, I sneakily wrote a little sloppier when I knew he’d have to read something from my notes about the runs I went on.

It was all an excuse to see him with those glasses perched on his nose, giving him that sexy professor look. He thought they made him look ridiculous, but I loved it. Since I was writing and zoned out, I wasn’t nearly as focused on my surroundings. I didn’t think I had to be. The tree was my safe spot when I wasn’t with my husband.

The Sanctuary was a relatively safe place, and that was thanks to the rules that were in place. So, it’d make sense that I wouldn’t focus on my surroundings as much and relax a bit as I wrote. But, boy was I wrong. I just didn’t realize it till it was far too late. Before I realized what was happening, I was being punched in the right side of my face, slinging my head to the side, as my notebook and bag were jerked away from me and my hair was roughly pulled, jerking my head backwards.

I went to grab my gun and my knife, but they’d already been taken from me. My eyes flirted back and forth in front of me, trying to process what was going on. But, everything was blurry and I was dizzy from the hit. I could barely make out three men close to me, far too close to me. They were basically on top of me. 

Fuck. One of them actually was. I could feel the weight of him straddling my thighs, keeping me from standing. I couldn’t hear anything as the beating of my heart flooded my ears. I tried to fight back as best as I could, but the other two men grabbed my hands and jerked them away from my body and pinning them to the ground as they shoved my upper body down.

When they jerked my arms away, I felt, more than heard, my left shoulder dislocate. I clenched my jaw. The pain wasn’t anything new. I’d been dealing with a shoulder that dislocates when I fuckin’ sneeze since I was 13 years old. The pain, when it happened, was now at a tolerable level since I was so used to it happening.

I didn’t cry out. I knew not to. Plus, the wasn’t the type of person I was. I knew what was ‘bout to happen. It, like my shoulder, was something I’d had to put with for years growing. It wasn’t anything new either. But, that didn’t mean it was enjoyable. It was anything but. I barely processed my jeans being jerked down my hips and past my knees. 

I could just barely hear the men laughing and joking around with each other, talking ‘bout what they were going to do to me and wondering why the fuck I was wearing two pairs of boxers under my jeans. I watched them, as best as I could with my vision being what it was. When the blurriness faded just enough, I could make out their features and recognized them as members of the new group that was brought in last week. 

Members I’d brought into the Sanctuary. Into my house. I dropped my head back down to the ground and groaned to myself. I let my body go slack, waiting for the perfect time. When the men realized I wasn’t struggling anymore, they laughed and the two dumbfucks holding my arms down eased up on their grip.

The man on my legs lifted himself up just enough push his own pants down. Their easing up on their grip was their mistake and ultimately what led to their demise. Since they weren’t paying attention to me, thinking I’d just given up, and instead focusing on getting their baby carrot sized dicks outta their pants, I was able to strike back. 

I immediately brought both my hands up, fingers curled in to form perfect fists without worry of possibly breaking my thumbs, ignoring the protest of my left shoulder, and cocked both the men on my sides straight in the noses. I internally smiled at the sounds of their noses breaking and their screams of pain. 

They stumbled back just a little bit, hands covering their faces as they clutched their noses in an attempt to stop the extensive amount of blood falling. Clearly, I caught the man on top me off guard with my actions and he was shocked for a moment. It was perfect. I bucked him up off me, managed to jerk my pants up as I stood. 

All one fluid motion.

Since he was still obviously in shock at me suddenly fighting back, he stumbled, tripping, and falling backwards on the ground. He tried to scurry backwards as fast as as he could. Despite being 5’3”, I was able to stay with him. I slammed my boot down on his stomach, making him howl in pain and wheeze as he struggled to get the air back that i’d just forced outta his lungs.

I kept my foot on his gut, putting most of my weight on it, digging the worn sole into his abdomen. He let out a sad excuse for a grunt as I did. I just smirked. This fucked had no idea who he’d fucked, or tried to fuck with. I leaned down and started pummeling the shit outta his face, keeping him in place with my foot.

Since he couldn’t get fresh air back into his lungs because of the position of my foot, he was too weak to try and fight back. To say I was a little disappointed at not having a challenge, would be like saying the dead weren’t walking around. It was a lie. I was disappointed, and I fueled that disappointment in with the anger as I literally beat him to death. 

He kept trying to apologize, tried to plead with me, to not kill him, but I didn’t give a fuck. He was ‘bout to rape me, and I’d had ‘nough of that in my life. I wasn’t putting up with it. I eased up just before I knew he was about to die. Gave him false hope into letting him think his words had affected me. I let him get one last breath in as I completely lifted my foot off his torso. 

“Than-” He started to say, but I cut him off as I slammed my boot into his face, effectively crushing his skull. 

“Don’t fuckin’ thank me, prick.” I muttered to him as I wiped my boot off on his once clean but now bloody clothes. “You fuckin’ ruined my goddamn favorite fuckin’ pair of boots, asshole.”

Before I turned away from him, I spit on his crushed skull. Since it was destroyed, I didn’t have to worry ‘bout him coming back as a dean’un. I was a little sad that I wouldn’t get to kill him a second time, but he’d gotten what he deserved. Turning to the other two dumbfucks, I repeated my actions, and did to them exactly what I’d just done to their friend.

I knew my husband was going to be pissed that I killed these men, instead of letting him do it, but I’d deal with that. I wasn’t going to let these fuckers back inside the relatively safe concrete walls of the factory that was the Sanctuary. By the time I was down stomping in the skull of the third man, I looked up, as I finished, and noticed that I’d gathered quite an audience.

Including Simon. The right-hand man, third person in charge of the Sanctuary. His, and everyone else’s, eyes were wide, and everyone was silent. I knew I was gonna be in trouble since they’d just seen me stomp the life outta three men, but I didn’t give a fuck. I had shit to do. I gathered up my weapons, my jacket, and bag after shoving my shit into it and stormed inside the Sanctuary, flipping everyone off, not wanting to deal with their gawking.

Not caring ‘bout my bloody appearance, I made my way to the commissary, needing to grab a few things before I went back to my room. I found what I needed: a new pair of jeans identical to the ones i was wearing, a new t-shirt, undergarments, a pair of boots and a special item, an unopened, brand new boxed set of hair clippers. 

Once I had what I needed, I stormed up to the room I share with my husband, stripping down to my bra and one pair of boxers when i get there.

Leigh’s P.O.V. ~ Now

“What the fuck was that fuckin’ shit out there, Leigh?!?” 

I sigh as I hear my husband storm into our room, the door slamming shut behind him. I look at myself in the mirror as I lay the scissors down on the bathroom counter by the sink and pick up the clippers. Turning them on, I don’t reply to my husband. Not wanting to explain to him what happened at the moment.

I stare at myself in the mirror as I bring the clippers up to my shortened hair. I press the #2 guard to my head and move it backwards from my forehead to the back of my head, sticking to the once familiar hairline I used to see and live by religiously. I watch as the hair falls, joining the rest of my once long, curly locks, on the floor by my feet. I use my fingers to guide my movements, making sure I don’t go too high and completely fuck up my hair.

Once I have the hairline visible, separating what I want to keep and what I want to shave off, I move the guard down below my ear and with practiced ease, I shave the sides and back of head, getting rid of the hair. Keeping an eye on myself, making sure I don’t fuck up my haircut, not that I would since I used to do this every 2-3 weeks, I watch as my husband steps into the bathroom.

I watch as his eyes nearly bulge outta their sockets when he sees me. I watch as the anger vanishes from his face and body, being replaced with worry, sadness, and a hint of curiosity. I watch as his eyes traveling over the reflection of my face in the mirror, taking in my black eye, bruised and split open cheek, covered in blood and even the nasty black eye I’m now sporting.

I watch as he slowly moves his eyes up to meet mine in the mirror. 

“What...what are you doing?” He asks softly. 

My left eyebrow shoots sky high as I look at him. My husband rarely says a sentence without cussing every other word. And yet...he just asked a simple question without one sentence enhancer thrown in. 

“What the fuck’s it look like I’m doing? I’m cutting my hair.” I say. “Decided I needed a new fuckin’ look. Don’t you fuckin’ love it?” 

I know I’m being Captain fuckin’ Obvious at the moment, and a bit harsh, but I’m not ready to tell him what happened. That’s for after I get done. Cutting my hair is the only thing keeping me from completely shutting down and giving in to the panic attack that’s trying to take over. I watch as he lets out a deep breath as he slowly steps into the bathroom, padding across the tiled floor to me.

He places his hands on my shoulders and I do my best not to flinch. But he still sees it and quickly lifts his hands off me, holding them up in a surrendering pose. I know he’d never hurt me, and he was the one to save my life after this shit hole of a world started three years ago. But, I can’t help it. The feeling of those fuckers’ hands on me, plus the fact that my shoulder is still dislocated, keeps me from wanting to be touched.  

“Can...let me help. Please, sweetheart.” My husband’s soft drawl meets my ears.

“No. I need to do this myself.” I reply, tightening my grip on the clippers.

I watch as his Adam’s apple bobs up and down in his throat as he swallows deeply and nods. I keep my eyes on his in the mirror and finish cutting my hair. It’s been three years since I’ve cut my hair, but the muscle memory is still there. It’s like riding a bike. My husband watches as I finish shaving the sides of my head down to where there’s just a bit of peach fuzz. 

Switching the clippers off, I replace the guard with a #1 and go back over the bottom hairline on the base of my neck. Once I have that done, I take the guard off completely and just put the metal of the clippers to the back of my neck doing my best not to flinch at the burning heat coming off it as it meets my skin. 

I take that little strip down so there’s no hair there, running along along the hairline on my neck. I use the blending guard and even out the area, making the hair have a fade. Replacing the blending guard with the #7, I bring it up to the patch of hair on my head, and trim it down. When I finish, my feet are covered with a mountain of what used to be the long, thick, curly hair on my head.

My neck and shoulders are also covered with the little strands of hair that I buzzed off. Setting the clippers on the counter, I run my hands over the buzz cut I now sport and take in a deep, shaky breath. I let my head drop down, pressing my chin to chest and take another shaky breath in after letting out one. 

“Baby?” My husband asks softly.

I lift my head and look up at him. My eyes roam over the unzipped black leather jacket he’s wearing over his standard white t-shirt and down to the grey jeans he’s wearing, held up by two leather belts. I let my eyes rest on his feet, no longer hidden by his own pair of black combat boots, but rather a pair of white socks. 

Taking in another deep breath, I bring my eyes up to meet his. I can see the worry swimming in his muddy water brown eyes. I shake my head as i start to take my bra off and push my boxers down, stepping outta them as the pool ‘round my ankles.

“I need a shower.” I mumble and step ‘round him to walk to the stunning shower we share.

I grip the knobs tightly as I turn the water on, as hot as it’ll go. I need to feel the pain of the burning water over my skin. If I don’t, I know I’ll give in to that panic attack that’s already  on the verge of consuming me. Stepping into the shower, I glance back at my husband over my shoulder. 

“You can…” I mumble.

He nods as he understands what I’m trying to say. I look away, for the first time since we met, and eventually became intimate, not wanting to watch him undress. I know that if I were to watch, I’d see those assholes tugging their pants down, and I don’t want that. I don’t want my husband to be mixed in with them.

Standing under the burning hot water, feeling it flow over and pelt my skin, I bring my hands up and tightly grip what’s left of my hair, tugging on it. I feel Negan step into the shower, behind me. I don’t have to look.  I know he’s there. I can feel the heat rolling off his skin, along with the worry and helplessness. 

He hasn’t seen me like this in three years, and even then, it wasn’t this bad. I blindly reach for the bottle of men’s body wash he and I share and I vigorously scrub my body with it. Trying to get the touch and the blood of those men off me. It takes four harsh washes and rinses before I even begin to feel clean. 

Negan just stands behind me, leaning against the back wall of the shower. He’s giving me my space while still letting me know he’s right there if I need him. The bottle slips outta my hands when I go to pour more of the soapy liquid into my palm. I’d leave it there, but Negan gently reaches around me, picking it up. 

I hear the bottle open and can tell he’s pouring some into his own hands. I figure he’s just gonna wash his body until I feel his soft and gentle touch on my skin. I flinch and tremble at first, but eventually give into the feeling of him touching me. He takes his time, gently washing me, letting me get clean for the final time. 

Letting me know that it’s ok. That it’s over. That’s he’s got me. That he’ll take care of me. Neither of us say a word as he takes the removable showerhead from it’s dock and gently rinses me off after he turns the cold water on, letting the temperature of the water mix until it’s no longer burning, but rather warm and gentle.

He lets the showerhead drop and dangle as he turns the water off and steps out. I keep my eyes closed and feel him wrap a soft towel around me. I open my eyes and bring them to meet his, only to find him staring at my dislocated shoulder. He blinks and his tongue darts out just a little from between his lips.

“Want me to put it back in place, sweetheart?” 

I nod slowly. 

“Put your right arm ‘round my waist, baby, and I will.”

I follow his soft command and a moment later, I feel his palms against my left shoulder. He’s helped me pop my shoulder back into place enough over the last few years that he knows what he’s doing. I suck in a deep, shaky breath right as he pops it back into place. I bit my lip to hold back the whimper from the pain.

As soon as he’s done, he wraps both his arms ‘round me and just holds me close as I bury my face against his wet chest. We don’t say another word for a solid 10 minutes. He just holds me as we stand in the bathroom, water pooling ‘round our feet. Eventually, he gently scoops me up in his arms and carries me to bed. 

Sitting down on it, he just holds me in his lap, not saying anything. I know it’s his way of helping me get outta the panic attack and also letting me know that he’s listening when I’m ready to talk. It takes me a hot minute before I get the words out, and even then they’re just a whisper.

“They...they were trying to rape me.”

I hear him let out a growl and his arms tighten ‘round me, protectively. That’s his number one rule. Rape is not allowed. Followed by the prohibition of abusing women and children. He doesn’t say a word, letting me continue. I tell him everything that happened, as I tremble in his arms. He just holds me close, softly rubbing my back and taking even breaths to help me subconsciously focus on keeping my own breathing even.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, baby.” He finally murmurs after I finish recounting the events. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. They got what they deserved. I just wish I could’ve introduced them to Lucille.” 

My eyes flirt over to the barbed-wire baseball bat propped up against the wall by our bedroom door. She’s surprisingly clean. I guess Negan didn’t have to dish out any punishments today. Only I did.

“I’m so fuckin’ proud of you, though, baby.” He whispers in my ear.

I look up at him, confused. “Proud?”

He nods. “Mmhhmm. You shut that shit down, and kept your cool until you were up here. I don’t know how you fuckin’ managed that, but I’m not surprised. I heard what you did, heard how you described it, and fuck, baby. I wish I’d seen you go Rambo on their asses. You’re my badass girl. I’m proud of you.”

A small smile tugs at my lips. Despite the events of the day, and me doing what I did, my husband still manages to make me smile. He slowly brings one hand up, keeping it in my line of sight, and cups my good cheek. 

“Will you let me send Carson up here to stitch your cheek up and get you checked out?”

His eyes search mine, waiting for my reply, and hoping I’ll let him. I nod against his palm, and he lets out a deep breath. He reaches over to the nightstand and plucks his radio off it. His thumb pressed against the side button.

“Carson. Get your fuckin’ ass up to my room now, and bring your bag. Fuckin’ now.” He growls into the receiver.

“Yes, sir.” Comes the doctor’s reply not even  a moment later.

Negan then pushes the button down again and talks.

“Simon. Bring two plates of food up to my room. Now. And make sure it’s some good shit too.”

Simon replies in the affirmative and Negan sets his radio down. He looks back at me and places his palm back against my good cheek. A gesture that always makes me relax.

“Can I ask why you cut your hair?” He asks softly.

“I refuse to let another man tug me around by hair, guiding me to do his bidding,  especially during a situation like earlier. It was a flashback to my dad doing what he did. It’s why I’ve also cut my own hair. It’s the one thing I about my body that I can control. So, I keep it short and no man will ever be able to use my hair against me again.” I say, the truth just spilling out. “Plus, having it touch my ears, always made my anxiety ten times worse.”

He knows what my dad did, and he’s known that tugging on my hair was a hard limit for me. So, he never did it, which is why I let my hair grow out. I felt safe around him. I still do. But, having long hair is just a liability, and I refuse to be put in that situation again. He nods in understanding.

“I’m gonna miss your curls, though.” He says. “And waking up with a mouthful of your hair in my mouth.”

I can’t help but giggle at that. It’s true. Most mornings, he’d wake up, sputtering to spit out the strands of my hair that ended up in his mouth as we slept next to each other.

“I left enough on top so you can still play with my hair, babe. And, there’s still enough to run your fingers through it.” I assure him.

“Can I?”

I nod and a moment later, I feel his fingers on his other hand stroke through my wet hair, lightly massaging my scalp as he does. I let out a soft moan at the feeling and lean into his touch on my cheek, closing my eyes. He chuckles as he plays with my hair.

“If that’s your reaction to me doing that every single fuckin’ time, I could get used to it. And I’ll just have to get used to having an even stiffer hard on from the soft moans.” He smirks as he looks at me.

I blush and open my eyes looking up at him. “You're my husband. I think I can manage helping you out with the baseball bat you have in your pants.”

He laughs softly. “Yea?”

I grin. “Mmhhmm. You’re fond of Lucille. I’m quite fond of your own bat.”

He grins, showing off his dimples. “I’m fuckin’ fond of you, baby. Have been since we first met in the woods. Why else do you think I got rid of the wives years ago?”

I try not to grin as I shrug. “It was the only way you were getting in my pants and scoring a homerun.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “Not the only reason, baby. It was because I love you, Leigh.”

I grin from ear to ear and turn my head to place a soft kiss to his palm. “I love you too, Negan.”

Before he can say anything else, there’s a timid knock on the door.

“Come the fuck in!” Negan calls out, holding me close.

Dr. Carson comes in. He’s no longer as nervous as he used to be when I first showed up. But he’s still a little nervous around the man. I’ve gotten Negan to ease up on the fear of himself he’s instilled in people, and gotten him to be nicer in the way he treats folks. He’s not the bat-wielding lunatic he was when we first met. 

He’s the man I always knew he was.

A soft, 6’2” teddy bear wrapped in leather. 

My soft, 6’2” teddy bear wrapped in leather. 

After Carson checks me out, determines nothing’s broken, assures me that everything is good, and stitches my cheek up, he leaves. Negan helps me get dressed in a pair of his boxers under my new jeans and one of his shirts before he pulls on a pair of sweatpants. Simon comes in shortly after I finish getting dressed, holding a tray of food for Negan and I. 

His eyes widen as he looks at me, taking in my new appearance.

“What, Si? Never seen a girl with short hair before?” I ask, teasing.

He shakes his head. “I have. I just wasn’t expecting you to have cut your own. It looks good on you, fitting.”

I smile. “Thanks, Si.”

Leaning up, I kiss his cheek and then kick him out before Negan can Lucille him for staring at me. My husband knows Simon’s like a dad to me, the dad I never had, and that there’s nothing there. He just gets jealous and protective over me, not liking other men to stare. And, for once, I’m thankful, given the events of today.

As we eat, Negan and I stay on the bed, me snuggled up to his side. When we’re finished though, I look up at him. 

“I have to tell you something else.” I say.

His eyebrow raises and he looks at me, grining. “What’s that? You planning on buzzing anything else?” 

I laugh and playfully slap his bare chest. “No, asshole.”

He pretends to be hurt and rubs his chest, grinning. “Damn, girl. That hurt.”

I laugh and kiss his chest where I smacked him. “Feel better, Daddy?”

He grins that dimpled grin again and nods. “Mmhhmm. Now, what else you gotta tell me, babygirl?”

I smirk. “Well, Daddy…you see...”

He growls low in his throat. “Don’t tease me, little girl.”

I giggle. “I’m not, Daddy.”

I bring my hand down to rub my tummy. 

“You full from eating?” He asks, covering my hand on my tummy, rubbing what he thinks is a food baby.

“Nope. But, it’s nice to see you already rubbing my tummy. I can happily get used to this over the next 7 months.”

“7 months?” His brow creases in confusion for a moment before his eyes widen. “You...you’re...we’re…?”

I giggle and nod as I lean up to kiss him softly. 

“Yes, honey. I’m pregnant.” I say. “I’m 2 months along, and found out a few days ago. I was working on a story earlier, and that was gonna be how I told you, but shit happened, so I figured I’d just tell you.”

He lets out a high pitched squeal that I never would’ve expected from him, and pulls me right back into his arms and his lap. His beard tickles my neck as he grins against it, placing a soft kiss there. I giggle and wrap my arms ‘round him. Like I said, he’s a soft, 6’2” teddy bear wrapped in leather. 

My soft, 6’2” teddy bear wrapped in leather and I’m his buzzed haired girl. 

#Buzzed #A Negan One-Shot #Negan Fluff #Negan Angst #Daddy!Negan! #Negan with a happy ending! #No harem of wives #He's got the one he needs and wants #Negan #Jeffrey Dean Morgan #Jeffrey Dean Morgan Fluff #Jeffrey Dean Morgan Angst #Jeffrey Dean Morgan One-Shot #JDM #JDM Fluff #JDM Angst #JDM One-Shot #the walking dead fluff #The Walking Dead Angst #The Walking Dead One-Shot #The Walking Dead #TWD Fluff #TWD Angst #TWD One-Shot #TWD

[hookaroo]

Vocivore, Ltd. (38 of 45?)

Also on FFN and AO3 (ListerofTardis)

Tagging @ouatwinterwhump, @killian-whump, @sancocnutclub, @killianjonesownsmyheart1, @courtorderedcake, @facesiousbutton82 <3

***THE MOST WONDERFUL, HEARTBREAKING, and BEAUTIFULLY WHUMPY COVER ART BY @cocohook38 HERE and HERE!!!!!!!!!*************

***Chapter 12 animation and art that will absolutely astound you!!!!!!!!!**********

***LETHAL Chapter 19 art in all of its BLOODSTAINED GLORY!!!!************

**POOR STABBED KILLIAN falling into the sheriff station! Ch. 7 & 23 art!!**

****KILLIAN AND HIS MASTER IN THE GORGEOUS CATHEDRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!    CHAPTER 1 ART THAT KILLS ME EVERY TIME I SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*********

*CH 34 ART! A DEFEATED KILLIAN, HEAD BOWED BEFORE HIS MASTER!!*

***CH 36 ART! DETECTIVE JONES BOWS BEFORE HIS NEW MASTER!!!!!!***

***AAAAHHHH!!! THANK YOU MY WONDERFUL COCONUT FRIEND!!!!!!***

Present (Friday, continued)...

Emma couldn't hold back her tears as she crouched before the mutilated form of her husband. He'd been stabbed in the chest and through the hand, and his right shoulder hung grotesquely out of place. Blood caked his face and pooled in livid swellings from a recent beating. Red droplets dripped sluggishly off the tip of his nose and splattered, barely visible, onto the rust-tinged burlap on his torso. A haphazard mess of surgical staples did little to contain bone-deep lacerations on either side of his ankle. And a line of slowly oozing punctures trailed their way up both inner thighs until disappearing beneath the sackcloth smock.

She decided to take it as a good sign that everything still seemed to be actively bleeding. Killian did not appear to be moving at all; at first, Emma could not even see any sign of breaths. But as she reached out to seek a carotid pulse, she noticed a slight and labored rise and fall of his chest. Her relief caused a catch in her throat. He was alive... for the moment.

Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion and weighed down by the responsibility of keeping him alive until help arrived, Emma fumbled for the phone concealed in her pocket. If ever there was a time for magical healing… Once again, she strained to feel the tingle of light where her power dwelt, a reflex she’d already indulged several times since the Vocivore’s defeat. As before: nothing.

Well, no use bemoaning something she couldn't change. Her free hand automatically came to rest on Killian's arm, above the ring and stake, over an unraveling bandage. She was both heartened and dismayed when Killian flinched away from her touch with a whine.

"Killian, hey," she soothed. "It's just me." She hit the button to call EMS, then put her phone on speaker. "You're gonna be okay."

She kept a careful watch on her husband while explaining to the dispatcher what was needed: essentially every ambulance and emergency vehicle in the United Realms. As sheriff, she knew they would take her seriously, as well as listen to any special request. So while she did her best to direct them to the scene, she also suggested that they contact David, who knew exactly the route they should take.

In the midst of rattling off her father’s contact info, while also absently holding pressure against as many of the puncture wounds as she could simultaneously reach, Emma felt Killian begin to stir. He shuddered as he tried to drag his eyes open.

“Try and hold still,” urged Emma.

“Swan,” he whispered, wincing.

His recognition of her brought tears to her eyes once more. Another good sign. “I'm here, babe. Just hold on; we’re going to get you all fixed up.”

He shook his head, breathing faster now, trying and failing to reach up and push her away with his stump. “You have to... go…” he groaned. “The monster…”

A flash of extreme pain crossed his face, and the words fizzled out, evaporating into frantic gasps for air.

Emma felt her own breath catch at his obvious distress. “Shhhhh, Killian, shhh... calm down. The monster’s dead; it can't hurt you anymore.”

Every muscle in her husband's body stood taut as he fought for air.

“He's having trouble breathing,” she reported to the person on the other end of the line, as calmly as she could. She listened to the instructions but her attention was riveted on Killian. At long last, he managed to quell the panic and slow the gasping.

“D-dead?” he wheezed, sounding as if he couldn't even define the word.

“Yep.” She used her shirt sleeve to carefully blot some blood that was trickling into one of his eyes.

Killian finally managed to focus on Emma's face for the first time, and though he still had an alarmingly dazed look in his eyes, he immediately fixated on a small cut on her forehead.

“You're hurt.”

He looked as if he were about to raise his left arm despite the blade embedded in his chest. Emma held him down.

“Good to know your keen observational skills are still intact.” She rolled her eyes as he continued staring up at her in concern. “I'm fine. And you're ridiculous.”

He gritted his way through another wave of intense pain and seemed to forget that she was even there. It was then that she noticed how much he was shivering; whether it was from the practically nothing he was wearing, or from shock, she didn't know. How was she supposed to lay him flat and elevate his feet with his hand pinned to the frickin’ altar? More importantly, if he stopped breathing, how would she perform effective CPR in this position?

She pushed aside the thought that, with the paramedics at least 30 minutes away, any efforts at resuscitation would likely be futile.

Emma glanced back at Jones, who was gingerly unwinding the costume bandage from his wrist. He wouldn’t be able to provide much assistance, whatever she decided to do.

She felt Killian squirming under her hands and turned her attention back. He groaned and then, as if reading her thoughts, he hissed,

"Please, love... get me free of this... bloody thing..."

His fingers twitched in feeble emphasis. Emma bit her lip, reluctant. "I don't know, Killian... that may not be such a good idea."

"Please," he said again, eyes screwed shut against the pain. "It'll have to happen... eventually. And I think... it may make it... easier to breathe."

"It will hurt a lot less after you've had some morphine," she pointed out. But if it really did help him to breathe better...

"Please, Emma," Killian grunted. "Just do it."

The dispatcher on the phone asked for an update, and Emma explained the situation while she set squeamishness aside and studied the impaling blade. She had no way of knowing how long it actually was, or how much of it was embedded in the wood. Approximately three inches of sharp steel were sandwiched between the dagger's handle and Killian's palm. The heel of his hand and the underside of his forearm glistened with blood all the way down to the elbow. Pulling the dagger free would be inadvisable if she wanted to keep that trickle of blood from becoming a stream. The dispatcher concurred, advising that they wait, if possible. But Emma didn't know how bad the stab wound to his chest was; he could even have a punctured lung on that side, so relieving the tension on the other side may well be the difference between life and death for him.

As she was agonizing over the decision, she sensed movement behind her, and when she glanced back, it was to see Jones staggering up the steps toward them. He was breathing hard, looked pale and sweaty, but didn't stop until he reached the top. Grimacing, he knelt, landing hard next to his doppelganger, whose eyes snapped open as he cringed away. Expecting an attack. Emma squeezed his wrist in reassurance.

"Ahoy there, mate," said Jones softly. He faked a scowl and added, "You know, I haven't forgotten to be miffed at the pair of you and this insane plot of yours."

Gratified by the hint of a pained smile on Killian's lips, Jones turned to address Emma. "Suppose I should offer my help anyway."

Emma eyed him critically. The Ace bandage was now wrapped haphazardly around his injured shoulder, loosely covering the patch of blood spreading on the sackcloth over the bullet wound. She raised an eyebrow. “Sure you're up to it?"

Jones only gave a small, unconvincing twitch of his lips. Emma took her hands away from her husband's injuries long enough to grip the ends of the Ace bandage, which were merely tucked under one another. She gave a sharp tug to tighten it and tied a more secure knot, hissing,

“What the hell happened back there?”

“Not a clue.” Jones closed his eyes in a brief concession to the momentary increase in pain, then nodded his thanks.

The dispatcher on the phone crackled an update in ETA: 20 minutes, give or take. A long time, in which anything could happen. Most of which would be bad.

Emma gave a sigh of resignation. Then she squared her shoulders.

"Think you can help stabilize his hand?" she murmured, and Jones' gaze flicked to the afflicted limb.

"Yeah, of course."

Emma shuffled around to the other side of her husband's legs, closer to the impaling dagger. With a stifled grunt, Jones made room for her. Killian watched, motionless apart from his short, gasping breaths. Forcing herself to turn away from the pain in his eyes, Emma reached for the dagger's handle. Behind her, the detective gently wrapped his hand around Killian's wrist.

In response to the hissed intake of air to her right, Emma caressed Killian's cheek. "You sure?"

Her husband's eyes betrayed just as much fear and reluctance as anguish, but he managed a shaky nod. Emma tightened her grip on the dagger. "On three, then. One..." She heard Killian gasp a preparatory breath, saw him squeeze his eyes shut. "Two..."

On impulse, ignoring the blood and sweat staining his face, Emma initiated a furious kiss, at the same time yanking with all her strength on the trapped blade. The unexpected touch of intimacy worked as a distraction for approximately half a second, as a dazed Killian attempted to reciprocate. But then he was pulling away, howling his agony against her cheek. Emma cursed and braced her free hand against the altar as leverage; long seconds later, the dagger popped free of the wood, inevitably jerking inside Killian's hand despite efforts to keep it still. Though a smear of crimson revealed where a short length of steel had slid free, enough remained within his flesh to hopefully stem the worst of the bleeding.

"It's done; it's out," Emma breathed, reaching for his head and cradling him against her shoulder. She nodded at Jones and, moving in slow tandem, they lowered the impaled limb to rest awkwardly on the floor beside him, the dagger’s handle mere inches from his hip. And Killian's muffled groans were sweet music, proving his continued existence, his ability to draw enough breath to express his pain.

Even from her strange angle, even through the stained sackcloth, Emma could see the wrong position of his shoulder joint. She cringed and stroked the back of Killian's head. Then she gently pulled away, asking,

"Any better?"

Killian rested his head back against the altar and squinted up at her, nodding once but not wasting the energy to speak.

"Not touching that shoulder. Sorry." She spared a glance at Jones, who had sat back and was now massaging his chest despite the length of metal still burrowed into his arm. He grimaced agreement with her decision; even if either of them had the expertise to pop the joint back into place, it had been long enough for swelling and tightening of the tendons and ligaments to make an attempt not worth it.

"Do you want to lie down?"

At first, it looked as if Killian were considering the suggestion. Theoretically, lying him flat could be advisable for multiple reasons, and might make it easier for him to relax, but Emma wanted to leave the choice up to him. In the end, whether he thought he would find it harder to breathe, wanted to avoid the pain of changing positions, or feared the possibility that once he lay down, he may never get up again, Killian answered with a feeble shake of his head.

Emma peeled her jacket off and rolled it into a tight bundle, which she carefully slid behind Killian's head as a makeshift pillow. Her proximity allowed her a better view of the bulky new collar and its set of screws which, up until now, she'd been hoping weren't actually drilled into his neck. That explained at least some of that morning’s screams. Emma scowled, feeling sick; she'd granted that villain far too easy of a death.   

Killian didn't look any more comfortable, but grimaced his gratitude at her before suddenly catching sight of the slumped monster corpse in the distance. He seemed to grow somehow even more pale, warily watching the Vocivore for any sign of movement.

“It's dead?”

Emma rested a reassuring hand on his shin, inadvertently leaving a bloody handprint on a relatively unscathed portion of skin. Killian's eyes were locked on his tormentor, as if his vigilance were the only thing keeping it subdued.

“Shot it myself,” she growled. “So unless the damn thing can regenerate its ugly, pervert brain, we’re finally done with it.”

As she said this, she realized it may not have been the most comforting thing for Killian to hear: they still had a lot to learn about the creature, and the possibility, however slight, of the Vocivore coming back to life gave her a momentary chill. She could only imagine how it made Killian feel.

“Listen,” she said, “Jones and I both have our weapons and will keep an eye on it. But I don't think we need to worry about it.”

“And those slaves over there?” added Jones, his voice only slightly stronger than Killian's had been. “They're lost. Directionless. The first sign of renewed purpose, we’ll know to be on the alert.”

Emma stole a glance in the direction the detective was looking and saw the slaves, some of whom had been holding her captive just moments before, hunched on their knees, faces in hands. One or two lay stretched out flat, silent and still.

"He's right. Leave the guard duty to us; you just focus on hanging in there until the medics come."

Emma did not like the bleak hopelessness with which he reacted to her statement; she knew he was doubting his odds of surviving that long. But he rested his head back and soon had his eyes closed, either deciding to put his trust in her words, or simply too weary to do otherwise.

She tried to remain quiet as she reached across his body for the loose end of the bandage around his left wrist. It appeared to be the same one supplied by Storybrooke General; if its sole purpose was still to cover the wrist ring, it would be of better use staunching some of the oozing injuries on his legs.

“Killian?” she asked, some time later. “How far is Z's and would you be able to tell me how to get there?”

Her husband didn't respond.

“Babe?” A gentle finger on his cheek elicited no response, but he did pull away slightly when she got too near an inflamed abrasion by his eye. His breaths were shallow and quick but regular, and he seemed somehow balanced enough even without much supporting him upright. She was torn between staying to monitor his condition and heading off to see what she could find in the way of first aid supplies.

Watching through half-lidded eyes, Jones reluctantly sat up straighter, rousing himself from a pain-driven daze to offer,

“I'll keep an eye on him, Emma. Go do what you need to do.”

The detective was hardly in a fit state to offer that kind of service; Emma wouldn't have been surprised to watch him be the next one to pass out. But, grunting, Jones got to his knees and made his way to Emma’s side, dutifully nudging her hand away so he could take over the task of applying pressure. With a stubbornness so much like her own Killian, he even went so far as to use the scarred remnants of his left wrist to cover an additional wound, yielding nothing to the anguish that surely wracked his shoulder with the effort. Emma flashed him look of exasperation before clambering to her feet.

“Five minutes,” she promised, then jogged her way out into the desolate afternoon light.

*****

His Master loomed overhead. Large and menacing. A claw was embedded in his shoulder, another in his hand, severing tendons, removing sensation and function from each remaining finger. Killian whimpered, shifting under questing tentacles pressed hard into burning thighs. Emma, the rescue... all a wonderful, horrible hallucination. How much longer would his suffering drag on?

Tentacles dug deeper, and Killian thrashed with all of his remaining strength. He knew his Master demanded obedience, but he couldn't do it. Not again.

A startlingly good impression of his own voice floated down from above. "Hey, easy! Easy there, mate; it's only me."

Nearly hyperventilating now despite unprecedented agony in his chest, Killian continued to struggle; opening his eyes seemed a monumental task and he would only see that hideous face staring down at him anyway. He had no idea what his Master was up to, or how the creature had managed to mimic his voice, but it hardly mattered.

"Killian, mate; I promise I'm not trying to hurt you. I swear. In truth, I intend to wait until you're fully recovered. And then... well, after that, all bets are off. You bloody wanker."

Those words sounded nothing like any his Master had ever said before. Perhaps he was hallucinating this as well? Killian groaned quietly, then peeled his eyes open.

Detective Jones sat beside Killian's knee, holding pressure on some of the punctures to his inner thigh. The man looked utterly spent, had a blood soaked bandage wrapped carelessly around a shoulder, and wore a grim expression, but his eyes were soft. Upon locking gazes with Killian, the detective flashed a wan smile.

"That's it. See? Nothing to fear now."

Killian remained unconvinced that it wasn't a dream. He scanned the desecrated church, feeling dazed and slightly drunk; his eyes would not follow a steady path and he couldn't make sense of everything he was seeing. He winced and tried to relieve some of the strain on his shoulder, to no avail.

"If you're looking for Emma, she's just stepped out for a bit," Jones told him. "In search of bandages and a blanket."

"Emma..." croaked Killian.

"She'll be back soon," soothed the detective, hiding a wince himself as he shifted his weight. "And not much longer until other help arrives as well."

Killian brought his focus back on the face identical to his own, blinking heavy eyelids and fighting massive disorientation. "How...?"

Jones gave a wry grin. "Your Swan confessed. I know everything now. You great bloody git. You know your in-laws are going to murder you as well?"

"Can't murder... a corpse... mate..."

"No, no... you're not getting out of it that easily." Jones checked that his hand was still covering the wound before continuing. "You're obligated to stay alive; otherwise, who will we exact our vengeance upon?"

Killian's eyes fluttered closed against his will. "The Crocodile... it was his gadget... made this possible."

Jones laughed once. "Okay, I'm not averse to that idea... but as I understand it, he’s only one third of the responsible party."

Killian could not keep up the conversation. He was in too much anguish and found his concentration slipping. Jones seemed to sense this and fell silent, but after a moment of quiet, he murmured,

"I understand, mate. I do. And I can't say I would have done anything differently, given the opportunity you had."

Killian made an attempt at a grateful smile. But a sudden stab of pain took his breath away, stifling any chance at a reply. Through the gasping breaths that followed, he thought he heard the scrape of the off-kilter door being dragged open, but it could have been his imagination, as well.

It wasn't. Killian heard footsteps, urgent and self-assured, scuffling along the well-worn paving stones of the sanctuary in a manner very distinct from the ominous clicking he had grown accustomed to fearing. From an impossibly great distance, the garbled voice of his beloved called out,

"How's he doing?"

"Still with us," reported Jones, similarly remote. "I was just telling him how much trouble the pair of you are in."

Killian shuddered at the arrival of another being; it was so deeply ingrained that even the fuzzy outline of Emma's calmly worried face could not overcome the instinct. Her gentle touch on his knee sent a shock of pain and fear sizzling down to his toes. He hissed, then stammered an apology. Emma ignored the reaction. She had in her grip a ragged brown blanket, which she unfurled and gently spread over his lower body.

"Almost," she promised in a whisper. Unrolling other scraps of fabric intended as temporary bandages, she added, "I'm pretty sure I heard sirens out there. This is almost over."

Even in his near-stupor, Killian somehow made sense of the words. He exhaled once, closed his eyes, and began to silently weep.

#ouat fanfiction #killian jones #emma swan #wish realm killian #whump #bleeding #exhaustion #impalement #stabbed #difficulty breathing #passing out #crying #first aid #hurt comfort #Vocivore ltd

[thebrreview-blog]

2.2 BR Review

Hello Folks, I am the Phantasm known as p35SiGSrsA/iNSIDEoUT on the NA servers.  In Ranked I am a Roam main, but in Vainglory, I am a Battle Royale main.  I've played more or less nothing but BR since last spring season when it came out, I'd have to guess I've played a Thousands of games of it.  So today I intent to teach you how to play Battle Royale.  Note there are a lot of play styles to the game and this is just one, but I think you may enjoy it. I also think it's a great place to start from before spreading out into some of the more aggressive builds.  This guide will be kind of long, but hey, I'm going to tell you EVERYTHING I can manage to get written down before this bad boy needs to be submitted.

So, what's it all about, you might be wondering?  Can I get a TL:DR?  Yep.  Builds, positioning, and TIMING.  

Builds:  Defenses are what makes you scale into the late game.  As simple as that.  Hypercarries still exist and will ruin your day, but the game is very poke oriented, there's tons of little skirmishes and small tower pokes when the minions are in range to tank.  Going full Red no defenses no boots SAW may be amazing early (and may be one of the only champs that can successfully pull that off to a win), but eventually the enemy team will build Atlas, Build armor and then just dive on you and make you explode, 9 times out of 10 leaving your team in a 2v3 over and over before you have enough pushing power to end the game.  No defense champs explode like a air filled paper bag.  KRUMPF!

Positioning:  This applies as much to your orientation in the lane as the fact you need to DIE TO SHOP and ACE MINIONS ARE AMAZING IN BR.  BR is like any sport where you want to PIN YOUR OPPONENT DEEP.  You don't want to give them the ball in position to score.  You want to push them as far to their side of the map as you can before you die.  It takes something like 20 seconds in tier 2 boots to run from one spawn to the other.  Note in BR when you resurrect you get a speed boost that will last you (running straight there) near exactly to your own outermost turret.  It's quite a good distance.

Lets say you ace the enemy team.  You take 2 turrets, and one of your teammates is like, look, we're only down 1 turret lets go defend.  This may be a very wrong move.  Your opponent has just bought, and with enough pushing power the enemy can kill your 4 remaining turrets and end the game.  If you had kept pushing and died deep oftentimes they won't have the time to cross the map and end the game.  Likewise, then it's YOUR TEAMS TURN TO BUY and you can come back and utterly smash them with all your shiny new items.  It's a common mistake winning teams make feeling overconfident in their ability to defend with their current items after an enemy “mega” purchase, AKA hitting a ton of power spikes.

Timing:  In a MOBA timing is everything, and Battle Royale takes that to a whole new level.  The easiest path to higher BR ELO is LEARNING THE DEATH TIMERS AND KEEPING THEM ALL IN YOUR HEAD.  Seriously.  Until you have them down by heart, keep checking that leaderboard.  Also remember YOU HAVE TO DIE TO SHOP.  Maybe don't solo push that turret when you suddenly realize the Taka is up in 7 seconds and GETS A SPEED BOOST FROM RESPAWNING and THEN AGAIN FROM HIS BOX.  Get outta there unless you need to shop! Maybe your teammates are still dead for a few seconds and you don't want to give up that ACE?  Maybe push the turret a little so the Taka feels the need to take you out/knows you're still there and killable, retreat up lane, then juke him out and head back into his base, causing your death to occur after a teammate is alive and positioning him as far from your defenses as possible.  Sure, his respawning teammates might take you out as well, but the worst thing you could have done besides giving them ACE minions is die under or nearly under your own turret, allowing him to kill oncoming waves while his teammates bring their wave in from the back.  WASTE HIS TIME.  The 2 “Best” places to die are at positions 1 and 2, respectively.  IN THE ENEMY BASE!  NOT YOUR OWN!  1 When you cannot get past their inner defenses and 2 when you can.  Note you don't have to make it all the way to 2, just make it as far as you can.  In higher MMR Deaths occur here all the time.  Also don't feel the need to run to 2 and just stand there, you can make them chase you back and fourth.  BUT ALSO DONT WAIT TOO LONG.  An even more advanced timing would be to die in time to come up so as  to adequately defend your 2 innermost turrets with your teammates.  It may be a losing 1v1 for you with the other 2 champs pushing up lane to start the siege ASAP.  Perhaps you shouldn't screw around all day and just go home. They may even know of these tactics and just ignore you, especially if they don't think you can end the game before them.  In this case you have an even more crucial decision to make:

There comes a point in BR where it's “too late to shop”.  Just running up lane to get a shop in with 45 second death timers will lose you the game.  If you die now they'll have won by the time you're alive.  You may need to get back out of their base and engage them from behind.  

ELO?  MMR?  I'm lost.

Lets make a quick glossary.

ELO = Effective Ladder/Level Organization.  A tabulation system of points based on wins losses used to determine who you're matched with.

MMR = A secret stat, usually something to determine weather the game thinks you should be higher or lower placed in the ladder based on averages? that also determines who you're matched with.

WP: Weapon Power

CP: Crystal Power

Proc: "Proc" and "proccing" is used to describe whenever a random gaming item activates, or a random gaming event occurs. Particularly common for massively multiplayer online games, procs are random events where special armor or weapons provide the user with temporary extra powers, or whenever the opposing monster suddenly becomes more powerful in some way.  From https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-proc-2483498

Meta: What the most powerful things are you can do based on the latest patch's tweaks.  Not entirely known, develops over the patch.

Zerg: n video games, rushing is a battle tactic similar to the blitzkrieg or the human wave attack tactics in real-world ground warfare, in which speed and surprise are used to overwhelm an enemy's ability to wage war, usually before the enemy is able to achieve an effective buildup of sizable defensive and/or expansionist capabilities.

Also known as a zerg or zerg rush, the term originated in the StarCraft strategy game to describe a strategy that was effective with the Zerg race. An Easter egg of a simulated zerg rush is activated in a browser if "zerg rush" is typed into a Google search. [1][2][3][4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_(video_gaming)

Moving on from those earlier core mechanics, I'd state like casual matches I'm rather sure the game mode has it's own hidden number ladder system, and like Ranked when you don't play I'm rather sure your ELO/MMR decay.  I took the entire Winter offseason to mostly play WoT and Minecraft and I am near assuredly not in the same ELO as before I took a break (Maybe SEMC can confirm have no idea if they have or haven't before).  Edit from the future: I feel like I lost about 300 games worth the ELO/MMR.  I -think- I know where I am in the system.  As such, I'm also not sure I've ever seen the Top Meta/Gameplay or what it looks like, but I can tell you I've gotten to a place where everyone seemed to have a very good idea how the game is played (almost annoyingly so in the case of some champs, we'll get to that in a minute, -cough-), which was good enough for me!

The game, like standard mode, can be seen in terms of Early, Middle, Late and Late Late game.  These 4 stages can be seen in terms of WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET ACED AND THE ENTIRE ENEMY TEAM SURVIVES.  These stages can be rather fluid depending on the team's pushing power (Looking at you Baron, he absolutely destroys objectives, so does SAW) and Farm.  You can fight if you want, and you probably should quite a bit as that's the entire point of the game, but what really separates higher MMR from lower is farm, just like in the Regular mode.  For instance the other day the enemy team allowed my Lyra to basically free farm unharassed to 90 CS at around 4 minutes (note CS scores are double what they are in Standard, and the gold is doubled to to 80 per small and 160 per big), and 120 at around 5:30 when I took my first shop while they the enemy were not farming as efficiently.  At this point I had 11 THOUSAND gold, purchased ALL 6 ITEMS and while I was focused in the first team fight and killed (partly from my own overconfidence and mispositioning thank you), after that I just infused, came back and Triple killed the enemy team while they were distracted with our two tanks like a 10,000 degree knife though whatever.  At that point I had enough damage to break all of their remaining turrets (I believe they had 4 still) with BOTH of my surviving teammates (I think one had a Stormcrown as well) and shatter the vain around the 7 Minute mark. If that sounds ridiculous to you that's because it is, and I'll tell you why in a second.  Lets get to the breakdown.

Early game: This is from the start to about 4 minutes.  At the VERY start Death Timers are VERY low.  Aces can be hard to get because people pop back up in around 4 seconds. In this time frame people that have died will be finishing their first 1-2 items, usually at least 1 core damage item and farming with A LOT of harass and poking between teams usually.  An ACE at this stage of the game, depending on your respawn timers, how many people they have alive and their relative pushing power will lead from anywhere to no/negligible turret damage to losing the first 2 outers in a single ACE.  In very rare cases where they have say, CP Baron, WP SAW and a Captain Character that rushed Stormcrown they will have enough Minions, Momentum and Power to Push down the last outer turret, costing 3 Turrets for a Single ACE.  That's a very good team indeed!

Middle Game:  This lasts roughly from 4-7 or 8 Minutes.  In this time there may or may not be ACEs, people who have not died will near absolutely have to (yes I have had a handful of 0 death games and if memory serves one time the enemy team was so outclassed none of us died at all!  I've had it done to me too :frownieface:).  One tactic of veteran players will be to farm to around 5-7 thousand gold before basically suiciding on purpose to go pick up a very large power spike and moreso the necessary defenses that keep their character from getting 1 shot by champs that have bought several times.  If you've ever played Bots and seen them not buying items and how easy they are to kill, you know, WHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO.  DO NOT BECOME AN EASY BOT BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T BUY.  In decent MMR it's usually hard for one team or the other to reliably end the game in this timeframe.  In Higher MMR (at least about the top of where I've been) this stage of the game often ends when one team has outsieged the other and essentially takes down one of their 2 inner turrets, resulting in their deaths but gaining them access to Death Point 2, as labeled on the map the “best” place to die in the game.  This essentially ensuring WHATEVER happens, if they score another ACE or simply continue the Siege after a purchase they will end the game, while simultaneously screwing around with the enemy team long enough behind the vain Crystal to ensure they can siege on perhaps even no objective unopposed, even the outer most turret. Note that because of the Out of Combat Regen in BR the enemy team at this point is essentially forced to kill you, because if they don't you all can stand around, regen up and then simply take the last turret and win the game Shattering the Vain.

That all said, a typical Middle Game usually sees one if not both sides lose at least their 2 outer most turrets and often one of the teams will manage to take the final lane turret.

Late Game:  At this point, people are around the 4-5 completed item mark and this period lasts roughly from 8-10 minutes.  It becomes very, VERY possible in this time frame to 4 turret, that is, you get 4 turrets when you ACE the enemy, sometimes even before they respawn.  Games very often end in this time frame if they have not already.  Many “all in” fights occour in this stage where the winning team will absolutely end the game because Death Timers are so high and there's so much pushing potential on the table.  Also note Turrets in BR have no shield, so they become EXTREMELY easy to kill without any minions around.  So easy it's almost laughable how fast they'll fall.

Late Late Game:  I could call this 10 minutes+, but I'm fairly assured I'd be more accurate to call this the 6 Item mark.  Once one or both teams have 6 items a piece, barring they haven't all built potato (3 full tanks with 0 damage comes to mind, I've seen it) it becomes possible to 5 turret and Vain.  I believe this is actually how the game is balanced so as once you have 6 items if you ACE with everyone alive, it's essentially over, maybe even with time to spare, as long as you don't let them die piecemeal and spread the timers out forever running you around the back of your base.  And even then it might be done if they have something like Triple War Treads.  Between damage and the death timers, even a single death on one side can lead to the enemy winning the game with overwhelming pressure in the 2v3.  I've had many, MANY games in the higher MMRs where I'm sitting there at the Victory/Loss screen, one team was beating on the Vain of the other, got it to 10 HP and they all died and the other team managed to cross the entire map, kill all 5 turrets and end the game before they could be stopped.  There are failed Zergs here and in Late Game, though they seem more prevalent in higher ELO and in Late Late game.  Again remember there comes a point, sometimes based more on the players and the team comps, where it is TOO LATE TO SHOP.  THIS IS DEFINITELY ABSOLUTELY A POINT WHEN YOU NEED TO BE VERY, EXTREMELY CAREFUL ABOUT HOW YOU DIE, WHERE YOU DIE, AND WHY YOU DIE, EVEN IF IT'S TO FINISH YOUR 6TH ITEM BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN HOLDING THE BASE WHILE YOUR TEAM SHOPS, IT MAY BE TOO LATE!  IN FACT WE CROSSED THAT POINT A WHILE AGO IN THE LATE GAME POTENTIALLY.  And yes, I've totally cost my team the game shopping way to late.  More than once.  Thank you.

So, all of that aside, lets get into the builds.  I'll be ranking the characters by number, but please feel free to take this loosely.  Skye in the current META (read: Crystal heavy with no true weapon path) will be low, but a very talented Skye player is going to mess your day up regardless.  Also, please keep in mind I think the game is actually very balanced at the moment.  The only 2 exceptions are Skye and Kestrel, whose weapon paths I feel are vastly insuperior to their crystal paths, and even then there's bigger if not much bigger, depending on whose playing them, dogs in the yard.  Even then they're still TOTALLY viable, I just had to get out a microscope to pick this all apart and they seem awful small.  

As per why I build like this, I think perhaps because I take my beginnings from a humble Roam Main I prefer to build tanky.  I play kind of what I like to call a “wildcard” in BR.  You can attack, you can defend, you can assassinate, you can push objectives, etc.  ALL of my builds focus on being a jack of all trades, with 2 slots of damage, 2 slots for defenses, 1 slots for boots, and 1 slot for a 3rd damage item or an item we REALLY need, usually a contraption for a sneaky Flicker/Kestrel/Taka/Krul, or an Atlas for someone really uhm... lets call them annoying.

I also typically build 1 of 2 kinds of defenses.  Full Metal Jacket and Aegis on regular champs and Crucible/Heal on characters that benefit from the HP.  I'll be referring to them as “standard” and “HP” respectively to keep things brief.  Also, if they're going FULL RED or FULL BLUE, I'll build FMJ and FMJ/Atlas and Aegis and Aegis/Fountain.  KEEP  AN EYE ON THOSE BUILDS.  YOU DON'T WANT TO BE STARING AT THE DEATH SCREEN GOING WOW I BUILT AEGIS INTO FULL RED AND DIDN'T NEED THE REFLEX BLOCK, DUH!  In extreme cases that last utility slot will also be another AEGIS/FOUNTAIN or a FMJ/ATLAS, whichever one I don't have yet.  Keep in mind I also mainly play SoloQ, in fact an overwhelming number of my games are SoloQ, so things may change in an organized team.  

Lastly, I'm not the worlds biggest fan of Breaking Point, ESPECIALLY NOT FIRST, at least not in BR.  There's a statistic somewhere about how for a long time Sorrowblade first Krul had a higher win % than Breaking Point first Krul, even though near all the Pros would build BP first.  I feel like a dichotomy like this applies to almost all characters in BR.  I have a ton of lower ELO games where I'll go crystal, both the Vox and Blackfeather will start BP, and we'll lose the game before we even get to our second full offensive item.  Their damage output is just dismal and it gets us just wrecked.  I also noticed in Higher ELO a lot less people build BP first, there's a lot more Sorrowblades and a decent amount of Serpent's Masks.  It has to do with how much poke there is (tons) and that it's not always a team fight in my opinion, so the BP just generates that many fewer stacks.  I didn't forget, I'm just not a HUGE fan.  That said the ONLY character in my guide that starts BP happens to be my undisputed #1.  How about them apples?

A second note about Breaking Point and Myth: If your getting blown up, dying to Taka in 2 seconds and just obliterated, DONT BUILD STACKING DAMAGE.  Build DEFENSE or BUILD FLAT DAMAGE.  I see these Ringos that go Sorrowblade first (good) Breaking Point second (Ok) and EXPLODE to a Taka over and over (bad).  He got 3 shots off before he died, just saying, a second Sorrow Blade would have been more useful.  You should likely build defense in this situation, being dead the entire game with 10 grand worth the Blue/Red goodies helps no one.

On to the Characters and the Builds. EVERY CHARACTER USES LEVEL SKIPPING.  I never put a point in anything at 5, and when 6 hits I take the Ult and a 4th point in whatever is the more useful skill. You may see me referring to people's Ultimates as the C button.

God Tier – These 6 are basically interchangeable as to their number depending on who's playing them and the game your in.  Saw outside of what I'd consider high meta and certain builds is closer to #10.  I'll explain in a minute.  All said, a team with 3/6 of these characters is nearly impossible to defeat when the players are BR monsters.  In the highest Meta I've seen, these characters basically break the game.

1.  Rona.  Holy Freaking Guacamole!  In my opinion by far and away the best lower ELO Hero, and still really strong up top.  She's the most viable champion across all of the ELO ranges in BR I've seen.  It's all about 3 man team fights and assassinations in BR, and everyone is couped up in the lane, and she excels at both of these thanks to her exceptional kit.  This is where Rona absolutely dominates.  I start the game Heavy steel, tier 1 standard defenses and boots.  Her build order for me is Breaking Point, Serpent's Mask and standard defenses mixed in to taste, usually picking up tier 2 standards as we reach mid game and finishing them keep from getting absolutely wasted by Hypercarries and finishing War Treads last, unless we need to run from something. I usually start 3 points in B and 1 point in A.  Some folks prefer to start mask and then get the BP, do what you will I just prefer the BP.  I then take the 4th point in B, taking points in her Ult when available.  I max either her A or B depending on what we're up against and take 3 points in her Ultimate.  The fewer stuns/shoves/dashes/escapes they have the more likely I am to max her A.  I'll explain in a second.

Early game Rona is a semi all-in Monster.  Positioning is key, but the typical trade/combo is to Pop your B on someone, take 3 swings, use it's 2nd activation and then walk away.  Late game she's typically all about Red Mist when she transitions into a FREAKING TORNADO OF DEATH using her A mechanic to build Fury and C to DISH OUT THE PAIN.  It's really fun. I'm excited just talking about it.  However, some teams have enough CC (looking at you Lance and Cath) that they'll just toss you away/stun you whenever you try to get the spin off on their team.  In this case I find myself maxing B over C and sometimes not even spinning.  If it looks like it's going to be rough from the very start I'll start SB over BP, and then go mask.

For Crystal you have 2 options, starting Aftershock or something else.  Her early game Aftershock gameplay goes something like A onto them, hit them with AS, wait for the cooldown, Use your B for another AS proc, hit them with that and wait for the CD and then get a third proc off of the second activation of her B.  It's actually pretty Ok, the enemy just kind of seems to be stunned sometimes that it really does that much damage.

The Spin to Win build more or less Mirrors her weapon build.  Shatterglass, Eve and then Myth if you're not filling that last slot with something utility.  Alternately, I've seen some troll builds that just go triple+ SG and use her A's delayed rupture damage to explode people.  It's actually pretty OP if you can get it rolling.  If she lands on you you're in the pain.

2.  SAW.  Everyone's favorite madman. Crystal and Weapon feel like polar opposites, and he gets this top spot because of the Crystal side.  Weapon SAW starts Ok and goes flat like a sad tire. Crystal starts pretty good and gets AMAZING. Shatterglass Clockwork Myth is my usual go to with Chargers, I'm just not as good at dank shank SAW and feel kind of like it's a little underwhelming compared to the crazy late game power of a max crystal SAW.  I max his B and C, putting points into his B first.

As for his Weapon path... I've literally stopped building it.  Do what you will, maybe a SB BP and a TT.  He can get a BP stacked and get lucky.  They all just jump on you, you stab and leave the fight or you explode to their damage before you can do anything.  Either way late game you're dead weight. I'm not saying it's Impossible.  I'm saying SAW would have position 31 if his Crystal Path wasn't so viable.

The real problem with SAW that has him at #2 is at the High Meta, he's played Penta-Blue, 5 crystal items and where weapon SAW explodes because of his sad range and lack of ability damage, Penta-Blue SAW has hyper carry damage, mad range (seriously have you seen how far SAW runs for a shank?) with all the benefit of being a tank.  The Penta Builds usually go something like SG → Eve → Myth → AC → SG or SG/Myth → Clockwork/Eve → Clockwork/Eve → SG/Myth → SG. That last glass may also be an Aftershock, or if your dank shank inclined you may start Aftershock. Honestly I think a SG does around as much damage as an Aftershock until leter game, and even then only if they build HP.  With an Eve and all the damage output he gets in exchange for being immobile, he heals so much Ozo cries himself to sleep nightly in a weeping fit of jealousy.  He's like a Krul with a Broken Myth and 9 shatter glasses pounding on your team all game gaining a million stacks before he just smites you for a trillion damage to the end of the Universe.  

I max B and C crystal and A and B weapon.  Good luck denting this monstrocity, stay away, or hope for a...

3.  Koshka.  Shes great.  Her early game power is just flat amazing.  This kitty cat PROBABLY snowballs the game harder than anyone when played right, if not just as hard as a talented Rona.  More amazing, while most people associate her with Crystal Power, I find her just as viable when shes played as a WEAPON ASSASSIN.  Yeah, she does that too, making her super viable.  I always try to diversify damage on a team (a Reim with triple Aegis into a Blueberry flavored team can be um...disturbing) and she takes it in stride with the best of them.  For crystal, Double SG with standard defenses, Chargers and the 3rd slot for whatever you want.  Shiv?  Sure.  Eve?  Go for it.  Clockwork?  My favorite. Or get an Echo to really lock down the enemy Hyper Carry with double stuns.  Or just more defense or a heal or whatever.

For weapon I start SB and then attempt for a TT, unless I need a Poison Shiv for the enemy team healing.  A brief aside about PS, I think you need this against any team with native lifesteal/Eve/Serpents Mask.  For a third item I might grab SM or Tyrants Monocle.  A second brief aside, SB, TT, TM is basically the holy trinity, IMO, of BR weapon builds.  You can turn ANY character into a decent weapon carry with these 3 items (except maybe a SAW, sorry buddy).  And then Koshka dumps empowered attacks, stuns and her move speed bonus on top of it.  Yikes.  But seriously she feels just as successful weapon to me, you should give it a try.  In fact she may scale into the late game better weapon.  I max B and C. Meow.

4.  Lyra.  A decent Lyra is just ridiculous.  Why?  I told you earlier BR is very poke oriented, and I prefer flat damage in many cases to BP and actually even Myth, since early game stacks can be hard to come by and you can just pick one up later when it'll really make an impact.  Well, a decent Lyra will BASICALLY NEGATE ALL POKE AND HER TEAM WILL ALWAYS ENGAGE AT FULL HP. If that sounds OP to you, that's because it kind of is.  You really need to avoid your team getting poked low, or preferably at all against a Lyra.  A decent opening for me usually consists of a Heavy Prism, 2 Oakhearts, a battery and a pair of potions. I like making room for potions one way or another, I prefer to start with 6 anytime I can.  Lyra is so mana hungry early game you in fact may find yourself using them for the energy regen, and quite often at that. The core of any Crystal Lyra is more or less inarguably AC an a Myth. I build HP for defenses to buff her heal, usually finishing a Crucible first.  What happens with the last slot and the boots is kind of interchangeable.  War Treads give you more HP, and that 500 HP translates into another 60 Health Restored/second on her A, which means the battery finishes into an Eve or Clockwork.  Halcyon Chargers means you can finish that last slot with whatever you want. I prefer a Shatterglass for more damage, or a Clockwork if I'm finding myself running low on mana/I want to have more heals.  Some people prefer an Eve, it's all in good taste.  Regardless, only use her Imperial Sigil (A) on the enemy when you have to in my opinion (or if you're going penta blue or something there's really no point in the heal aspect) because the heal is OP.  Any team with a lot of poke and a Lyra has a formula for success, just let your team outpoke the enemy and heal off any damage they take in the process.  Shes the conductor of a BR objective taking freight train.

Lyra also makes a fairly decent Weapon Carry.  Her empowered attacks and lock on Mechanic allow you to zone for your teammates, essentially sit behind the front line and punish anything messing with your front liners (if you're lucky enough to have any).  Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger/BP/PS and a Monocle do her just fine, if they're building a lot of armor a bonesaw instead of the Monocle.  JUST REMEMBER YOUR A WONT REALLY DAMAGE ENEMIES, so save it and heal your teammates!

I max A and B.

5.  Adagio.  Lyra light, but devastating when played well.  He trades AOE heals and bright bulwark for a devastating when landed ultimate and an attack steroid, not bad.  I feel like he's best crystal, but his weapon build is likewise quite potent.

Crystal I start him with an Alternating Current, then go either SG or BM depending on weather I'm just getting poke damage in or managing to really lock onto the enemy.  I have a preference towards Shatterglass because it enhances his heals more than twice as much as a Myth would, and keeping your teammates healthy is a really strong advantage.  Regardless, I finish whichever one I didn't build last with HP for defenses and either Chargers or War Treads.

Weapon he's a different beast.    His ultimate basically just becomes an AoE stun, but his\fire + attack steroid gives some of the best early game damage money can buy.  His range is fantastic, making him one of the best poke artists in the game.  I usually do something like Sorrowblade, attack speed item and Monocle.  I avoid Breaking Point because he's definitely a poke champion, usually opting for Tornado Trigger to lay down as much punishment as possible in the small windows he finds to tease the enemy back.  Just abuse his range and in turn your enemies.  HP for defenses will work and keep his B from becoming utterly useless, but standard defenses will work as well, simply turning you into a long range carry.  Chargers for boots, his abilities are mana hungry.

I max B, A when weapon and C when crystal.

6.  Lance.  Lance can seem like the most vanilla of the characters in BR.  He's a CC Bot and there's little to nothing you can do about that.  Except make his A hurt as much as possible and maybe build some attack speed.  I don't build Breaking Point on Lance normally because of how I play him.  He's a poke champion that sets up kills for his teammates and generally just has tons of CC.  It's hard to really pick a “best” build for Lance, but he does definitely have a standard, and that's Double Sorrowblades.  In fact in the High Tier meta I think I saw him double Sorrowblade with a Clockwork about 50% of games.  They say he doesn't benefit from attack speed that much/as much as other champs, but honestly to me his scaling seems just fine.  In high tier meta this guy becomes a steel wall for his team, where people use the damage reduction on his B to faceblock mountains of damage and make it extremely hazardous for anyone to engage into his team.  This basically leads to a Lance with a heal blocking damage with B, healing with BR's enhanced heal mechanics and the lifespring buff, tossing away any attempt to engage, and ensuring his team only engages after he's made a catch his team can delete and move swiftly into a 2v3.

Crystal is a different beast, it's pretty uncommon to see, but when someone comes at you with one that's played well, it can be a total game changer.  Again there's a lot of ways to build a Crystal Lance, but the standard would probably be a Shatterglass, a Myth and a Clockwork or Aftershock.  If you're going Aftershock I'd build it first, otherwise a Shatterglass into a Clockwork can be pretty devestating.  

I always max A, B for more shield if you're adapt at using his damage reduction or landing tons of stuns, C for extra Aftershock procs and escapability.  

Pretty Stronk Tier

7.  Idris.  The poke this guy dishes out at any stage of the game is rather staggering to anything except a full on tank.  He also can flex which build path he's going.  He's either a Crystal Ranged Carry or a Weapon Assassin, which is an amazing choice to be able to make in BR, like 2 characters in 1.  I usually do not build him hybrid, I seem to find the most personal success with just going Red or Blue.

Going weapon I open with a Sorrowblade for the poke damage.  After this it's REALLY up in the air depending on your play style.  I personally like to poke with the Chakram A LOT, and then diving in with his A and your boots and ultimate when they're low an blowing them up.  For this my personal favorite build is Sorrowblade and Double Monocles with War Treads or Halcyon Chargers (for the Cool Down  Acceleration), usually War Treads and Standard Defenses.  While the Chakram damage cannot crit, each Monocle DOES have another 50 weapon power on it, and when you do dive into melee the Crits are HUGE, great fior blowing up squishies, not THAT effective against huge tanks.

Crystal starts with a Shatterglass, then usually adds a Myth and an Eve with Standard defenses and War Treads.  I max B and C.

8.  Blackfeather.  Like Idris, the name of the game is POKE.  Noticing a trend here?  In my opinion he's better crystal, then you just spam his B, get them low and blow them up with your Ult and A's execute. He opens with a Shatterglass, and from there his build path gets kind of up in the Air.  A Clockwork can be deadly for the spam, an Eve is pretty standard fare, a Myth works.  His final 3 item build is some Combination of single or double Shatterglass, Eve, Clockwork and Myth.  I build standard defenses and War Treads for extra tanky.

Weapon the guy sees a Serpent Mask and a Breaking point as his standard starting 2 items.  The third slot is really whatever you want, I think the best build is to put a Tornado Trigger in there.  You dive on the enemy Squishy with your Ult, gain stacks of Heartthrob and Breaking Point, then execute.  If the squishy panics, you run them down with the Rose Trail from his A and the second charge of your C.  Likewise, standard defenses and War Treads in the final slots.  I max B and C.

9. Ringo.  The game's most standard ranged carry is pretty viable at the moment.  He can build one of 3 ways, with the third being kind of cheeky.  I feel he is most viable Crystal.  For Crystal, I build AC, Myth and then a Shatterglass. Standard defenses and Chargers as your mana source.

Weapon has him doing a standard Sorrowblade into Breaking Point or Tornado Trigger.  The third slot is for a Monocle if they're not building defenses, otherwise a Bone Saw.

The Third way of doing things is basically a Crystal Zerg.  Shatterglass → Shatterglass/Myth and a Clockwork or an Echo, or just flat 3 Shatterglasses.  The damage that comes out of his A this way is startlingly huge, and his fireballs melt face.  The rest of his damage comes from the Crystal ratio he has on twirling Silver.  Standard defenses for all.  I max B and C.

10.  Samuel.  Sam has amazing range. Between that an the fact his Ult is sleeper OP, he's secured my 8th spot.  Seriously sleep in BR and a team that picks the enemy off 1 by 1 will and does absolutely win games.  It's kind of like Joule lazoring the entire enemy team.  I build Shatterglass, Eve and Myth basically in any order I like.  Alternatively you can do a Clockwork over the Eve.  Chargers and Standard defenses.

He CAN weapon, but it makes his A and B completely useless.  All your going to use your abilities for is the Sleep.  Sorrowblade or Serpent's Mask, a Breaking Point and Monocle should do him just fine.  Remember to buy a Poison Shiv any time they have sustain.  Prepare to be underwhelmed.  I max A and C.

11.  Krul.  This may be more of a person thing for me because I feel I'm actually a really talented Krul player, but he really does get work done in BR.  I feel like his Crystal Path is by far more viable.  AC → Myth and standard defenses.  This should be more than enough damage until Mid/Late game.  Run out of bush, apple slow, build stacks, save your A until you need it, don't chase them too far (read: suicidally far under turret) Smite them and then walk away.  Late game he really does feel sometimes that he needs a Shatterglass to continue to do good damage. I build standard defenses and Chargers for CDA/Mana.

Weapon CAN be a bit more of a struggle, but overall he's still pretty Ok.  In fact what has him as high as #9 is that he is so viable both weapon and crystal.  Sorrowblade is my favorite starting item, some people may prefer to go attack speed first, do what works for you, seriously.  Breaking Point is his likely second item, finish with whatever you need.  I max B and C.

12.  Reim.  This guy is similarly very strong.  He CAN go weapon, but Krul and him I feel are rather balanced as a pair at the moment, and Krul takes the higher spot because his weapon side is more viable.

I start him with an Eve, this is by far the most common opening on Reim, then build a Myth.  Like Krul, this should hold you for a while so you can probably finish at least 1 of your tier 3 standard defenses before he finishes with a Shatterglass or whatever you need in this third slot.  You can build Chargers or War Treads for Boots, but if you go Treads you MAY run out of mana, and then he's friend, so get a good feel for him and decide what you want to do.

Weapon Reim works surprisingly Ok.  A Mix of Sorrowblade, Serpent Mask and attack speed is standard fair. Lets face it, in my opinion there is no “right” way to play weapon Reim, just don't do something silly like build 3 Tornado Triggers and try to tickle them to death.  Weapon Reim works because of his passive Frostguard, weapon speed helps you spam the slow and then you just tar pit them to death since they can't get away.  This is part of how he gets away with the Serpent Mask, they literally can't get away so you just sustain.  I max A and C.

13.  Flicker.  This little guy might not be here for the reason you think.  It's his WEAPON build that makes him so viable.  I'm going to put him in the same tier as Reim and Krul because of his slow mechanic, and also while he has kind of sad crystal ratios, he has high base damages on those abilities, meaning you can get away with nothing but red items for damage and wreck faces.  Basically he's a weapon Reim on steroids.  His tar pit is amazing, and if that's not good enough he can get on top of you invisible, forcing the enemy to be endless ambushes or buy vision.

Weapon build is pretty standard. Sorrowblade, some sort of attack speed and a Monocle in the third slot if you don't need it for something else.  HP for defenses and Chargers for boots.

Getting him online Crystal is a little harder, and I'm not ENTIRELY familiar with it since I always always always prefer to build him weapon, but it is possible.  Personally I think the best Crystal build I've found for him starts with an Eve, then builds a Myth, then SG if permitted.  Still HP for defenses, your choice of Chargers or Treads for for boots.  I max A and B most of the time and when I remember, I honestly don't use his ult all that much.

14.  Alpha.  Lets face it reboot is pretty strong, and she can be quite a bit to handle.  MOST people I see playing here do not echo her ultimate, all though there's a couple of people out there that smell like Alpha mains that do, and that's because they land every explosion.  Yikes.

Crystal is -probably- her more viable build path because the Ult actually does damage then?  You just have to land it which isn't that easy.  Her typical finished build with 3 items is Aftershock, Shatterglass and Broken Myth.  You can really build these in any order it's more playstyle dependant.  Standard defenses and War Treads, since she uses no mana.

Weapon she's a different beast.  She can be build to spam attack speed or just a regular weapon path, Personally I build a Sorrowblade, she can go Serpents Mask intead, then a Breaking Point and whatever you want for a third item.  I actually prefer a Tornado Trigger for building BP stacks on her, I like the way it feels. I max B and C.

15.  Baron.  This guy is going to jump a spot over Gwen because he just pushes SO GOD DANG HARD.  Seriously he's not the easiest character to play, but weapon and crystal his Porcupine Mortars DESRTOY BASES.  I prefer him crystal more the longer range the enemy has and the more of a threat to him they might be.  SAW, Samuel, or Adagio on the opposing team and I feel you want to go Crystal with him.  If they're shorter range you can go Weapon, just stay out of melee range.  Weapon he almost turns into a ranged burst assassin type game play, hopping into position and using the attack speed steroid to get his Breaking point off the ground, then laying on the pain with a mix of AOE basic attacks and porcupine morters.  Salt to taste.  But seriously learning to land his ult effectively is a very important skill, especially crystal it's what gives him and edge over other champions.

Crystal I build Shatterglass, Clockwork and then Myth.  The Clockwork means more mana, more ults and more mortars, and that's basically all he needs.  Standard defenses and Halcyon Chargers.  WARNING.  He will run out of Mana without chargers pretty fast, and he can still run out WITH.  Careful with your spam.

Weapon is definitely, at least to me, the harder way to play Baron, however, it can be more rewarding.  You kill things faster.  Baron actually can do, to some success, a full attack speed build.  Tornado Trigger, Breaking Point and either a Shiv or Bonesaw.  This build may be more successful going Quad Red and dropping a Serpent Mask or Sorrowblade in at the end.  Jump forward and attack the living heck out of whatever is silly enough to stand in front of you.  It's really kind of a cheese snowball build.

Otherwise a standard build is Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and a Tornado Trigger or Monocle in the last slot, assuming you don't need a Bonesaw or get screwed buying the Contraption.

I max A and C.

16.  Gwen.  Having a reflex block that works after the fact for a B is pretty hilarious.  Gwen is better Weapon in my Opinion, but you can get her rolling Crystal.  Crystal Gwen feels LATE GAME though, she is REALLY not very good early.  The damage output is just too low, you either start with Shatterglass and have to deal with her A's long cooldown, or start Clockwork and have to deal with having NO CP!  However, playing Crystal Gwen into a SAW in the right ELO/situation can be very advantageous, it's also useful for keeping an Idris at bay in the fact the slow plus her range and having a turret to back her up can make her near impossible to engage into, and every time you try you get another face full of crystal-infused buckshot.  Yikes.  Personally I go Shatterglass → Clockwork → Myth with Chargers and standard defenses.  Alternately you can just Build a SG and 4 Myths and the damage is pretty troll tier.  Might be something you want to try in a Casual match first.

Weapon Gwen is a pretty potent sight. She wants to dance around the edge of the fight and gain stacks of BP like most weapon carries.  Use her A to help with positioning your enemies for maximum effect.  Pretty standard build, Sorrowblade → BP → Monocle or actually I believe I prefer a Tornado Trigger here as well.  Practice that stutter stepping!

I max A and C.

17.  Grumpjaw.  This guy could be rated higher, but people are still learning to play him, A and while his Ultimate is very strong, you HAVE TO MAKE YOUR OPPONENT DAMAGE IMMUNE to swallow them, oftentimes resulting in teammates missing skill shots or preventing lethal damage from connecting.  With a bit of teamwork and a high command of his skill shots he becomes terrifying. He's devastating in those stand and fight situations where he can get more than one rotation of his A and B off, pummeling the enemy with his very rewarding to land A and the potency of his attack steroid.

I prefer him weapon, in all honesty. Sorrowblade first, I'd DEFINITELY try to build a breaking point on him because his B has so much attack speed on it you can stack like crazy, and probably finish with a Monocle.  You can build whatever you want for defenses, if you go HP try to keep your stacks of living armor up for maximum synergy.  I've only run out of mana on him one in recollection, I've been building War Treads on him.

Crystal is kind of an unknown territory to me, haven't really solved the theorycraft on him yet, but Alternate Current, Myth, Aftershock seems to actually work really well.  Otherwise I'd probably build a Shatterglass on him.  The Aftershock negates his mana problems in my opinion, so you can build a war Tread, and the Aftershock adds to the potent punch the high damage ratios on his abilities offers.

Honestly wouldn't be shocked at a nerf as people get more familiar with him.

I've been maxing A and C, that could easily change to A and B.  At the moment the 135% attack speed just seems like overkill.  Yikes.

18.  Joule.  Joule's star is on the rise again.  She may be rated a little low for my taste, but shes still in the Pretty Stronk territory.  Honestly shes probably here because there's so much back and fourth in BR, you can't simply all-in her as her tournament Vainglory 8 play style has headed.  You constantly walk back and fourth and in doing do expose her weak back side, resulting in an amount of damage being taken usually. Regardless, shes still strong.  I don't groan when I draw her, that's for sure.

I prefer my Joule weapon, probably because I'm not very good with her ultimate and I find her weapon path very viable.  There's a lot of ways to build her, while I'm not good with her laser, I don't have any problems with her B so my build maxes Thunderstrike essentially.  Sorrowblade, Double Monocles, Standard Defenses and Chargers so she doesn't run out of mana.  Easy.

Crystal is a different beast.  Again I admit to not being good at it, but the standard build seems to be Shatterglass or Frostburn, Clockwork and finish with a Myth.  If you start Myth and then get the Clockwork I think it balances out near 1 stack, the Glass is just for the early game power before you get Clockwork.  Standard Defenses, Chargers for more CDR, Treads for HP.

I max A and B weapon, B and C Crystal.

19.  Glaive.  He's seen some quality of life changes since release and overall he still feels pretty darn good.  Him and Lance seem a lot a like for some reason.  I think because they typically build red and make mad assassinations/enemy member catches.

There are a lot of ways to build a Red Glaive.  Honestly a lot of this depends on your play style.  Honestly you can go crit, you can go lifesteal, you can go raw damage and poke with his B.  I usually go with option 3.  Sorrowblade is the opening item for sure, if I'm getting good poke damage in with my B, ie. The enemy team is overextending and I can get a lot of easy procs off, I'll flat consider going double Monocle for that bit of extra damage (since it's an automatic crit) and follow up damage (basically going super poke mode) but USUALLY my conscience get the better of me and I pick up that Tornado Trigger instead.  I build him really vanilla, he's another character that relies rather heavily on positioning and catches to execute well.  I mean they all do just  Glaive's Afterburn can really leave him hanging out without an escape.

Crystal he's a lot like Catherine and all those builds work.  I like to start Aftershock, after this you can actually also try a Myth into an Eve build.  It will work, he will heal an amount, but it's JUUUUST enough that I feel like if they have or build a shiv against it, you're losing your advantage.

Standard Defenses, Chargers when Weapon, if you have a Clockwork Chargers or Treads.

I max A and B almost always, when you go crystal with the Myth Eve it can be interesting to max C instead of B for an extra tiny bit of healing.

The Roams.  I main Roam so it's hard for me to rate these that accurately so I'm putting them at the bottom of the list.  If you aren't used to Roam champions or playing them in an offensive role, this may be where they belong anyway.  I have PHENOMENAL success on these champions.  :)

20.  Phinn.  This guy is great.  I actually prefer him weapon.  Learning to use his abilities is really key. Sounds kind of silly?  But his A is REALLY all about positioning.  Also the fact you can't be disabled, only silenced, can be kind of “abused” as a really potent and enjoyable mechanic.

Weapon Phinn seriously just builds the same old thing, Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger and Monocle with me, but remember you can get a bone saw to help a carry and Poison Shiv is a REALLY good item against healer champs, so it's more that characters play styles adapt to the situation?  Man Shiv is good against some things.  Maybe I should have done an item review and made SB TT TM a standard weapon build.  AFTERTHOUGHTS.  Weapon Phinn especially and just Phinn in general want T2 boots somewhat early?  Basically you drag them in or just catch them, Stun them if you can, pull them back with your Polite Company, then boots and run someone down.  I think there's few things more terrifying in BR than a weapon Phinn running you down with boots, but there definitely are.  O.O  He's slow so he really needs the boots, I find myself building War Treads over Journey boots.

Crystal he can be a bit harder to get rolling, but it's possible.  I start with an Aftershock.  Timing his abilities out so every time you use something you get the proc off of Aftershock is not easy and takes some practice, I'd start the rotation with my A anytime possible, also using Ult for damage and another proc can be something new to get used to.  From here I USUALLY build a Shatterglass or a Clockwork.  Clockwork for more Aftershock, Shatterglass for more I GO A, U GO SPLAT.  I usually third item a Myth, it's just too good late game when you can REALLY wade in and win a game with a Massive Myth stacked A.  It does TONS OF DAMAGE.  Likewise Chargers or Treads for Boots.

I usually build HP for defenses, if he goes the Standard route he ends up uhm, the tankiest character in the game?  I guess you could argue one way or another but his perk is amazing.

21.  Ardan.  This guy is actually a REALLY good going weapon.  His passive is just good and he punches stuff good.  Also, no mana.  What else could you want?

Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger and Monocle are pretty standard fare for me.  Get on top of a squishy with your B, Slow them with your A and go to town stutter stepping. Can always throw down a gauntlet to really lock them up.  With an enemy carry dead your teammates hopefully traded well in the 2v2 and you can go back and clean up.  Easy.

He CAN be played Crystal, I'd go Alternating Current and Myth, if they're walking into your gauntlet a lot, MAYBE a Shatterglass, but usually an Aftershock.  Honestly you can do any build order you want, but I wouldn't do the Myth first. Not a HUGE point to Frostburn unless you have a Current and want to become a slow bot on whoever your taking.  Even then the slow won't really reach full lethality until you get a little more Crystal Power, but it will work and people will kill you with it.

HP for defenses and Chargers to max his passive.  

As far as what skills to max this is basically personal preference. I usually max A or B and definitely C. The Cooldown on Gauntlet is killer and I enjoy that 10 second shave.

22.  Catherine.  The Stun Tank.  Nuff Said.  Kidding, Cath easily goes Crystal or Weapon until the Higher Tiers where nobody shoots her when her bubble is up and Crystal kind of just leaves you with that “oh that's where all my damage was coming from” taste in your mouth.  I actually prefer my Cath weapon ANYWAY so there's that.  Weapon is standard Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger, Monocle, but there's some cheeky stuff you can do. Sorrowblade Mask and a Tornado Trigger CAN be hilarious, get Chargers and as soon as you get the needle start to push on the enemy team every time your shield is up.  Most of the damage bounces and any target you can get your hands on heals you when you attack them. Something like an attack speed Ringo (or Vox hehe) will just pelt your shield down and start to lay on the burn.  Be careful when taking a route like this, it will work, but there's a time and a place and the trade off can feel kind of negligible and it may fall off late game.  Youll also run into and PROBABLY lose to, if you play enough, people going quad and penta red and just abusing her shield to abuse the heck out of you.  If it snowballs, it may already be too late.  Some teams just don't have the resources to deal with it.

Crystal is pretty up in the air.  I like to start Aftershock, Myth feels lackluster, Shatterglass is Ok. Honestly if they're building standard defenses I feel like there's more damage on the Glass, but the Aftershock has CDA and mana on it. If they're not building defenses you'll probably tear them up anyway. Myth and Glass can finish her build, some people like a Clockwork second item, I play this occasionally myself, and it does in fact work.  I'd finish a Clockwork second build with a Myth.  You can also do something like Aftershock/Myth or Glass or Frostburn/ Alternating Current and that has some interesting effects.  Just remember a lot of her damage comes from her bubble.  If they don't shoot you or figure it out late game, it can be game changing and even lose you a fight when they stop blowing themselves up.  Stay Vigilant!  

HP for defenses, Chargers when she goes weapon, Chargers or Treads when you go Crystal and have a Clockwork.

Weapon I max A and B (when I remember), Crystal I max B and C.  A note here, getting your points in A or B first is kind of a style choice.  They DO feel quite a bit different, have to learn the timings or you'll be wondering in with either no shield or no stun when you look for a  trade.

23.  Fortress.  In a word: SNOWBALL. His Winter skin is pretty hilariously fitting.  He works Crystal or Weapon, and I'M ACTUALLY NOT SURE WHICH I PREFER.  WOW.  (do you see what I did there?)

Crystal he's hilarious.  Start with both halves of an Aftershock, finish it ASAP, he needs 950 for it, farm to 2k gold maybe max?, die at an appropriate time and go buy. POKE.  Just abuse his A.  Jump on the enemy and start poking them down.  You don't even need to bother with a B, just can walk away, but if they're going to stand there or they're distracted with CS and not bothering you why not wait and then drop a second Aftershock proc on them for laughs?  If you can try to have a teammate near so your speed boost is on and you can run away.  Finish a Crucible or tier 2 standards, buy a Myth after this, learn to use his ult (blow it after a fight starts for maximum chaos and R U HAEVING PROBLM?).  Finish the Heal or start work on Tier 3s or War Treads or Chargers, finish a Shatterglass if you need more damage, maybe build another team utility item, maybe a Shiversteel, probably just finish a Shatterglass.  I've seen people also build Eve third for hilarious situations when the pop the wolves and they start procing.  Cross with attack speed Vox and give your enemies fits.  Fun.

Weapon he's pretty standard, AND YOU CAN BASICALLY DO EXACTLY WHAT YOU DO CRYSTAL JUST WITH A SORROWBLADE. Yep, start with a Heavy steel and some defense, maybe farm to 3k and go die?  Get more defenses and a Sorrowblade and just abuse his A. You can semi all-in him a bit more with weapon since he's less Aftershock reliant.  Apply the B and just go ham.  I finish with Tornado Trigger and Monocle usually, but I've been experimenting with Breaking Point and then Tornado Trigger and I like it quite a bit, I need to try it on Fort some more and see if I like it.  I've had some hilarious success with the Breaking Point lately.

He can build Standard or HP defenses, I actually lean towards Standards because he feels kind of too squishy with HP.  His A makes it easy to over extend and with his ult he wants to go even deeper usually.  I usually build Chargers.

I max B and C usually, even weapon, I feel like the 4% life steal on his A just isn't worth it and the damage isn't totally necessary.  HOWEVER, when you're doing the poke thing, if you feel like he's not doing enough damage (I run into these situations), max that A over your B.  I max the B because of wolves dropping multiple procs of his bleed in a big fight with the ultimate. If you're not good with the ult, you may want to max A over B anyway.

Not too Hot, Not too Cold.

24.  Taka.  Again, don't get me wrong. This guy will wreck you.  However, Taka is arguably NOT a late game champion.  He falls off when people get defenses, and BR progresses to what's considered late game in a hurry.  Also, unlike competitive play, there's no guarantee there will be anyone squishy on an enemy team, or even any true “carries”.  Regardless, if you go glass cannon this guy will tear you to bits.

Takas a strange creature.  You see TONS of Stormcrown on this guy in BR, and while I'm not usually a fan, it kind of just... works?  I've done it and it feels pretty Ok?  The more “standard” builds on this guy forego it for something like double Shatterglass and a Clockwork.  Aftershocks work.  He's very “this is how I like my coffee”.  I build standard defenses and usually Chargers, but War Treads for HP occasionally.

Also, he WILL work weapon just fine.  I think it might be one of the better ways to play him all told, but I'm not quite done testing with this dude and trying to make him work.  Weapon I do something like Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and Monocle or Serpents Mask, Tornado Trigger, Monocle.  I build Standard Defenses and Chargers or War Treads, usually Chargers.

I almost always max A and C, if I have double Shatterglass I may max B and C for the extra healing from his Fox Box.  

25.  Petal.  Shes been the subject of some uhm... COUGHNERFS lately for those of you not keeping score at home.  Shes Ok in her current state, I'd be curious to see her get half of the last round of nerfs handed back to her on the range/crystal side and see how that works out personally.  She is probably still better crystal, I'd have to do some testing to actually see, which involves getting done with this guide and playing some more so... ONWARD.

Crystal I'd have to do some experimentation on this too, over the last 2 patches I feel like the strongest move on her was not building Alternating Current.  I'd open Frostburn, get a Myth and then buy Shatterglass with chargers and just ABUSE THE LOVE OUT OF HER (actually my opponents).  This chick was OPRESSIVE.  She'd have the 1 position over Rona 2 patches ago with Rona and ThunderCrit Joule I outlined earlier as her 2 native counters.

I'm still building basically this but I've had to change up the build order a bit.  With her Munion range Nerfs and crystal ratio nerfs the Frostburn has kind of lost it's early value.  I'd start shatterglass and then get Myth or Frostburn, whichever you prefer for the situation before building the other.  I don't really have an Alternating Current build at the moment, but I'm curious if it wouldn't synergize into a good deterrent against enemies jumping on you since you have to play in so close (actually withing the range of enemy abilites and attacks!) now.  Get Munions on enemies, Ult for health or wait until the Myth stacks and then blow them all up.  Chargers for mana and Standard Defenses

Her weapon side recently got buffed, and I'm Ok with this.  Her weapon side should actually be pretty decent.  Weapon she plays like any standard carry, only thing you have to be mindful of is if your minions are actually body blocking for you, or if they're so weak they're just a free 2 gold and a MANA drain on you, wheres you are just spamming them out constantly and thusly won't have mana for her B.  There's a point in any game I feel where MAYBE you should just quit.  Maybe drop them out before a big fight for an added nuisance.  Also they still heal for 140 HP and do 300 damage when you manage to detonate them.

I'm not sure if shes not rated this low just because people want some revenge and have been gunning her up actually.  The first round of nerfs didn't really do much but HOT DANG DID THE SECOND ROUND GET HER so there's that.  I may need to move her up or down after some more play.

I build Chargers and Standard defenses

I max her A and C crystal, B and C weapon.

Hot and Cold.

26.  Ozo.  This guy would normally be picked in competitive draft when you have a healer on your team.  I'm also PREETTYYY sure he's my lowest winrate champ.  No lie, I'm not great at him, but I (and he) have been getting better! Unlike the carries we'll get to in a minute, I feel like he's still a work in progress and I'd have to check to confirm if his Arco Bounce is still bugged.  Ozo CAN and WILL work, part of it's whats driving him, part of him is just getting a favorable match up and snowballing.  In any MMR/ELO you'll have some people who tear you apart on certain champs, and some people that just can't play something, and if anything Ozo should almo.... hold on, Hot and Cold, done. :)  He just feels like he works or doesn't.  It's a really weird spot.  If anything he took 25 not because of my own play of him, but because some people just DECIMATE on him and I can't rank him any lower because of it.  

His rotation is something you just need to get used to.  I like to play him semi all-in.  Dive in, spam A as fast as possible and walk away, or then bounce and try to land the last, biggest shot on the squishiest/lowest enemy champion.  It takes a while to get the hang of his bounce down, I usually just spam the playing field and then try to line up the last bounce for where I want to land.  You can also use B to chase and escape a fight, bouncing to a teammate, etc.  I feel like he's high skill cap, moderate reward.  Then I run into these people that just tear me apart and I'm like... hats off to you, sir.  You know how to play Ozo, tell me your secrets please.  Seriously I need to just friend them and ask.  Lets just get to the builds, if you play quite a bit you'll probably notice these things on your own?  Edit:  Koshka lite, there we go, lite enough to be at the bottom of the list :(  Again, the healer thing...  If you got both Adagio and Lyra with the Ozo in Ranked/ Vainglory 8 I bet he's near unkillable.  I feel like he CAN snowball however, if this guy gets some kills and farms well, despite his kit and not being BR optimized (Perks! this will hopefully fix him), he CAN roll right over you and become pretty overbearing.  Taka can do this too.  AVALANCHE!  Also, if you get both healers and the Ozo in BR and can coordinate that out... LOL.  Yeah, it's not entirely a guaranteed win, but just wow.  He can become basically unkillable.  God is a Monkey King.

I prefer my Ozo Crystal and it's been an agreement among myself and some friends this is his better/ stronger build path for a while.  That better that I've been doing with him lately is because I started going Double Shatterglass, or Shatterglass Myth as his first 2 items.  After this I've been going with an Eve, I'm not really sure what the best build is however, it just feels too much like trying to put a square peg in a round hole and I've been doing BR for a year and still I can't get this dude to really roll.  Maybe triple Shatterglass or 2 Glass and an Eve?  These are probably things I'll be trying next.

Weapon, honestly whatever you can get rolling.  He DOES have a lot of play styles in this regard.  I believe the Dev stream/zekent had a build a while back where he started double blazing salvos and then build a Mask into a Breaking Point?  Third item whatever you prefer with attack speed?  I have had some success with this start/build in the lower ELOs, but higher up it becomes so poke oriented you can't catch someone out and really stick to them like I feel he really wants to.

If you have him figured out maybe let me know?  

I build Standard Defenses and usually Chargers, will go War Treads for extra tanky sometimes.  He CAN build HP for that extra heal punch, if that's your thing go for it, I actually prefer the extra tankiness of  the standard defenses.

I max A and C.

HELP, I'VE FALLEN AND I DON'T SCALE

The fact these folks are here is no fault of their own.  They're full damage nightmares in the Standard Game.  They just have a hard time only doing 3 items or if you're stuck with the Contraption and then are restricted to 2, (God help me) so lets not hope you also need an Atlas and end up full on ROAM CELESTE.  WOO.  I've experimented with going 4 item on them and just building a Husk, I wasn't very good at it and need some practice, I play too Tanky/Agressively.  I'M A TANK BABY, YEAH.  Even at 3 items you can just FEEL the growl in the belly, the power not being unleashed by these characters having a team to support them and JUST RUINING YOUR DAY.  Perks will Hopefully fix this.  It's the Hypercarries.  Also, all three of them basically have one of their paths Red/Blue closed entirely.  However, if you played them Quad something in BR they'd probably do better.  I just feel like they can't ENTIRELY pull the “all arounder”.  They scale at 4 items and I can feel it, and that LITTLE edge in the current balance of the game (did I mention I think it's REALLY GOOD at the moment?  Pls no break) is going to move them to the bottom of my list.

27.  Vox.  Don't get me wrong Vox is still strong, he's just a little hard to get rolling.  If you go Crystal he has a hard time making it with his team to late game, so Weapon in BR is the build path of choice. He almost ALWAYS builds Breaking Point and double Monocle, aka the “Cancer Build”  The idea is to use his mobility to build stacks, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just all about execution.  Honestly going quad red on this guy iand not trying to force the high defenses is probably better, I'm just not a very good at it.  I either do the so called Cancer Build, or just a standard Sorrowblade, Tornado Trigger, Monocle. ANOTHER way to build him is to just go straight Attack Speed.  Any Combination of Alternating Current, Shiv, Breaking Point, Tornado Trigger and Bonesaw basically (maybe saying Shiv, BP and Alternating Current work is a bit too far.  I've seen this tried and fall on it's face.  Crap I've done it.  Avoid.)  Apply resonance and go KAMEHAMEHA!  (Literally this works, not a troll)

Crystal seems him with a standard Alternating Current, Myth and an Eve.  Haven't seen much of this since Myth changed from 5 stacks to 9.  Hrmm.

Standard Defenses and Treads or Chargers for shoes.

I max A and C pretty religiously.

28.  Celeste.  You can make a mean weapon Celeste.  Maybe I've over spoken.  Her kit makes her somewhat Ok Red.  Lets face it though, this was never intended entirely.  At least not at the moment. She has a stun and  Vision and that's actually pretty good.  But when you're red Celeste, you want to be Red... practically anything else.

I feel, personally, her strongest standard Crystal build is Shatterglass, Clockwork, Myth.  Clockwork takes the cake over Myth because the spam is just oppressive.  In fact you can actually get her feeling pretty Ok.  Part of it is her ult though, it doesn't feel like it does enough damage to me compared to what happens when she goes Quad Blue and gets another Glass or an Eve.  Well, she might have Eve over Clockwork in that situation but... It's her ult.  Heliogenesis  with and mostly only with Glass Clockwork start feels Ok to me.  Also you can go Glass Eve Myth or MAYBE Glass/Myth Clockwork and Eve, but that's kind of risky.  The other thing that happens is I devote more resources to defenses, and you can kind of feel the power curve where shes JUUUUUST behind where she wants to be a little.  It's enough.  And also it's enough that I feel you REALLY need to get that late game Myth.  At the highest ELO I've gotten to you'll see Celeste go Myth first, Clockwork second, her team will get double Treads and she'll get Journey boots, and if you try to push they'll just RUN YOU DOWN, especially if you aren't used to having to all in her to prevent the situation from getting um... bad.  She'll stick to you all day, get to 9 myth stacks and just blow your team up.  So if you're headed to the top you have THAT to look forward to.  Until then you'll have to suffer with the rest of us.  Also, if there's an assassin and they don't build defense rushing the items they'll just explode because, yanno, Celeste and the defenses in her Kit.  Shes a squishy.

Weapon, I think going attack speed is pretty fun, Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and Tornado Trigger sounds pretty good to me.  You basically want to walk in, have them ignore you because HURR weapon Celeste and just drop in their face and abuse the fact people aren't used to what a Celeste's animations look like when shes built attack speed and hope they don't know they're getting shredded.  It works, at least to a point.  Pretty fun.

She basically needs Chargers weapon if you're using stars to check bushes, and you probably should be.  Kind of disappointing she can't really go War Treads, but hey, that's life.

Standard Defenses on this chick, she needs them.

Skaarf.  Same problem as Celeste. YOU CAN FEEL YOURSELF FALLING BEHIND AS YOU BUILD DEFENSES.  Also same as her with his Ult.  A lot of times it just doesn't feel like it does much or LITERALLY does not do much, way way less that what a Celeste Solar Storm does.  Like why aren't they melting it's a Skaarf ult.  I've practically stopped using it all together and I just fireball and goop on this guy.

The standard build is PROBABLY Glass, Eve, Myth, if you're fireball Jesus that Eve can easily become a Clockwork.  He needs chargers.  Just poke all day, and learn to goop and not set it on fire.  Tarpit your enemies for your teammates to burn down.  Especially useful when you're going...

Weapon.  Not the WORST thing in the world.  Fireballs... it honestly feels worthless to fireball an enemy and then weapon them down.  I feel like you do more damage in the time it took to cast than it does when you don't have any CP.  Tarpit enemies, Shoot them, use his ults inhale to slow fleeing enemies for your team.  That's... about it.  Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and Tornado Trigger or Monocle on this guy to maximize the tarpitting with his B.  Does it work?  Yeah.  DO YOU WISH YOU WERE RINGO REGARDLESS OF RED OR BLUE?  HIGH PROBABILITY.  

How to fix?  I think you could fix his weapon side a bit by maxing the goop toxic.  If you attack them and have more than say 150 WP when they're in the goop, add bonus damage, maybe mixed damaged, maybe green POISON DAMAGE that's half weapon half crystal.  Am I getting carried away?  Yeah.  We're done here.

Feel Like They're On Someone's Workbench.

We're not going to rate these 2.  I don't know where they'll end up but I'm happy to file some grievances ;)  Unlike Celeste and Skaarf, these two are meant to be highly viable in both paths.

-.  Skye:  Skye simply had what was her weapon pathing GUTTED.  The damage in my opinion on her A, Forward Barrage, is negligible.  It's literally like a joke.  I built Sorrowblade, Serpent's Mask and Breaking Point on her and couldn't believe my eyes when the base damage was 320 and all that Weapon Power only added another 203 damage.  I mean, shes just not the Skye of olde.  So far the slow seems pretty negligible as well, not sure what to tell you.  I guess the idea is to shoot them for the move speed boost and then (because of her short auto attack range) Forward Barrage them to put even more distance between yourself and them? I'm not sure.  Regardless, when I came to my senses and dropped the Barrage guess work and just UNLOADED in some poor schmuck's chest with the same build they simply exploded.  Guess they didn't build armor.  Fun game.  She's basically just a 5.5 range Carry that gets a move speed boost when you shoot someone, a re-position and a n ultimate that stuns if you land it and slows if not.  Not bad, no lie, that's an Ok kit.  I feel like the 5.5 range makes her a lot more tricky than before however.  Not nearly as easy to play.  A better ratio could do her just fine IMO.

Ok, with that off our chests, Crystal is JUST FINE.  Therein lies the problem.  With so many crystal-leaning or flat crystal-better champs on the fold today, I feel like it just damages your teams ability to diversify damage. That's actually (well, in part, we'll get to that), the main problem with all 3 of the Champs I'm dropping in this category.  Ok, so, for the builds.  Crystal starts with either a Myth, if they're lining up for you, a Frostburn, if they're slippery, or a Shatterglass if you're just grazing them and the fights are chippy and farm-oriented.  The next question is, if you didn't start Myth, do you build Myth second or Eve?  Honestly, personal preference.  Myth will probably melt faces, but I run into these Skyes that think they're Ozo, constantly repositioning and using the heal from the Eve to just 1v3 and crazy stuff like that.  Skye is High Skill Cap, High Reward, when played correctly.  Final build is some combination of Frostburn, Shatterglass, Myth and Eve.  I usually go Chargers, but with an Eve and being mana-conservative (try not to blow everything pushing on the waves, I've done this so many times, so dumb.  Not just on Skye either.  I never check and always build extra.  I'm just not mana-minded.  WHAAAA oh wow... I'm an idiot.  I burned all my mana on Phinn's Lunch...again.  Get someone else to do the pushing if you have to.  Heck I might even give up a turret and hope my teammates get the clue.  Shes worthless if you can't engage the actual enemy.), she can definitely swing Treads headed into that final fight of the game if you really need it, but I'll state again she WILL run out with only 1 battery.  Far faster than I usually expect.  You've been warned.  Standard Defenses.

Weapon, I guess preference?  Personally I kinda liked that build I mentioned earlier.  Not even sure if she needs Chargers or not when you're not using her A.  Haven't learned to play it yet usually someone knows her weapon side sucks so they'll go carry and just let me go Blue.  I'll probably look at doing some more SB, SM, BP.  

I max her A and C.  

Unranked status: Her Red and Blue builds are miles apart.  Literally flavor dependent.

-.  Kestrel.  Same as above.  Her blue side feels dynamic and rewarding.  Her red side, her stun is lackluster, and really hard to land without going stealth in their face.  Which is impossible when you're taking damage.  Hmmm.  I'm not even sure if there's a problem with Red Kestrel.  It may just be that going Blue is that good.  Also, her typical play style in regular games is not very conducive with how BR works.  In a regular game, I'd build Sorrowblade, Serpents Mask and a Breaking Point on Kestrel. Farm her to those 3 items and defenses, and then you either A. Unload on them with Glimmershot to build your initial stacks and then gun them down with Autos, or B. auto he heck out of them for Stacks and then blow them up with empowered Glimmershots.  You build a team around her, protect her, team fight with her.  Not EXACTLY conducive to BR.  With that said, in Brawl mode if she could get instant stealth and perhaps even longer stealth time without going crystal in her perks, she'll PROBABLY be back.

With all that said, her typical Blue build is built around...Stealth.  Shocker.  She starts as a semi-mana hungry poke mage-ish.  Early battery is good.  She really comes online when you get Clockwork.  She now has near permanent stealth. Near because she will eventually run out of mana.  With Chargers this basically becomes limitless.  For a third item I'm usually kind of up in the air.  SOME people prefer Shatterglass for mega traps.  No stacks required, stick your puddle outside their base at the broken first turret and BLOW UP whoever walks out and doesn't have decent defenses.  WHOOMP.  Personally I prefer a Myth, I'm not great with the traps and after I unload with glimmershots I go stealth to get 4 more and keep the stacks.  IF you find yourself quagmired more often than not and wishing you had auto attacks, I usually build an Alternating Current in that situation.  You CAN buy an aftershock and time out your arrows for all 4 procs, I feel like AC gives you more bang for your buck in the end.  Too many people build Aegis over flat HP and the AS shots seem to just diffuse.  Somewhat good against a tank, however.

Weapon, the typical player's build of choice is either Sorrowblade, Breaking Point and Monocle, or Double Sorrowblades and Breaking Point.  Personally I like to spice it up and go Sorrowblade, Mask and finish with a Breaking Point.  My playstyle of diving down their throats with no arrows left slamming them with Auto Attacks does well with the heal, but it IS situational. I might not build it if the enemy already has a Poison Shiv (or I think they'll buy one) and go with one of the other 2 builds.

Standard Defenses and usually Chargers. Shes actually kind of in the same boat as Skye.  Red she needs the boots, Blue you can forego them but again, you've been warned, she will run dry endgame.

I max A and C, some people max A and B for the Mist Duration and depending on the build the stealth duration, I'm not going to tell you you're doing it wrong if you can land those puddle shots.  In fact, I tip my hat to you, you've done well.

Unranked status: Her Red and Blue builds are miles apart.  Literally flavor dependent.

That's it for now.  Hope to see you in my games soon.  :)