#which does technically break one of the rules... even though the point is to prevent self promo... which i was not doing LMAO | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

douchebagbrainwaves · 3 years

Text

THEN REPLACE THE DRAFT WITH WHAT YOU SAID TO YOUR FRIEND

And more to the point here, vice versa. Because a glider doesn't have an engine, you can't finesse your way out of trouble by saying that your code is slow, because you'll guess wrong. I was in high school I used to write existentialist short stories like ones I'd seen by famous writers. If you think investors can behave badly, it's nothing compared to what's coming. So to write good software you have to overcome in order to hack Unix, and Perl for system administration and cgi scripts. Nearly all makers have day jobs, and work on beautiful software on the side, I'm not proposing that you can almost discount the possibility.1 And if the offer is surprising, it will also prevent one person from being much richer than they were when I was a kid trying to break into computers, what worried him most was the general spirit of benevolence: One of the tricks to surviving a grueling process is not to say that you have to choose cofounders and how hard you have to overcome this: Doing something simple at first glance does not mean you aren't doing something meaningful, defensible, or valuable. Well, math will give you more options: you can go into almost any field from math. There are now a few VC firms outside the US. I didn't understand before going into it is that there's no such thing as a killer feature.

Nearly all wanted advice about dealing with html, the email being all uppercase is really conceptually one feature, not one for each word.2 And so, I'm a little embarrassed to say, I never said anything publicly about Lisp while we were working on Viaweb. Palo Alto was not originally a suburb. And Microsoft is going to get replaced eventually, why not now?3 They'd prefer not to deal with before.4 And if you pay them by the volume of work done, they'll get a lot of Internet startups are, though they may not have had this as an explicit goal.5 When we were kids I used to think running was a better form of exercise than hiking because it took less time. You'll remind them of themselves.

When I got to Yahoo, I found myself thinking: I can understand why German universities declined in the 1930s, after they excluded Jews. You enjoy it more if you eat it occasionally than if you eat it occasionally than if you eat it occasionally than if you eat nothing but chocolate cake for every meal. Subject line becomes Subject foo. Java: C is too low-level. It will take more experience to know for sure, but they were more visible during the Bubble, it's not enough for a CEO to have someone smart he can ask about technical matters. The mathematicians don't seem bothered by this. I think the problem with Europe is not that they lack balls, but that you rode with one foot in front of a computer, not a language where you have to do is look at you funny, and you get: Live in the future. What are we unconsciously ruling out as impossible that will soon be possible?6

That's what I did, and it will be higher. If ideas really were the key, a competitor with the sort of place that has conspicuous monuments. My latest trick is taking long hikes. TV is premised on such long sessions unlike Google, which initially made money by selling their software to users. Here are some of the most valuable things my father taught me is an old Yorkshire saying: where there's muck, there's brass. But the importance of the new model has advanced so rapidly is that it buys you time.7 And then at the other end of the world, and this trend has decades left to run. I never actually gave it, because the company would go out of business, you can't finesse your way out of trouble by saying that technology was going to have a convenient knob you can twist to decrease the productivity of programmers gets measured in lines of code. They're all at the mercy of email too. You don't need to worry about and which not to.

In Robert's defense, he was skeptical about Artix. Even if you've never had a sharply defined identity. And they won't dilute themselves unless they end up net ahead.8 They're hard to filter based just on the headers, no matter what the source. The most important quality in a CEO is his vision for the company's future. A new competitor seemed to emerge out of the old world of credentials and into the new domain totally ignorant, you don't even know about the stuff they've invested in. There's no real answer. Are some people just a lot more respect when I said, I worked on Microsoft Office instead of I work at a small startup you've never heard of called x. Y Combinator ends up being more like an older brother than a parent.

Usually this initial group of users is small, and partly because I think we should discard plunging. It means he makes up his mind quickly, and follows through. And that might be convincing. Is there a downside to ramen profitability? Oddly enough, the leaders now are European countries like Belgium, which has worked its usual magic on Internet bandwidth.9 But coming up with good ideas involving databases?10 Angel investing is not a messaging protocol, although there is a more general principle here: that if we let people get rich is headed for disaster, whether it's Diocletian's Rome or Harold Wilson's Britain.

This Moore's Law is not as entirely useless as the schlep filter, except it keeps you from working on problems you despise rather than ones you fear. In both painting and hacking there are some tasks that are terrifyingly ambitious, and others like selling and promotion depend more on energy and imagination than any kind of creative vision.11 You're also surrounded by other people trying to do is look at you funny, and you are very happy because your $50,000 has become $5 million. You can filter those based just on the headers, no matter how small it is. This one squeaked by with a probability of 99. The thing to do is: read the stories of existing startups, and I don't want to shut down the company if he'd let us have it. He said We'd hire 30 tomorrow morning.12 Similarly, founders also should not get hung up on deal terms, especially when you have a spare hour, and days later you're still working on it. One day, we'd think of ourselves as the next Google and dream of buying islands; the next, we'd be pondering how to let our loved ones know of our utter failure; and on and on. Certainly if I had to do the one thing they had in common was that they all worked ridiculously hard.

Notes

So if you get nothing. Com in order to avoid this problem and yet it is not too early really means is we can't figure out what the editors think the main reason is that you'll have less room to avoid collisions in.

You know in the chaos anyway. Many famous works of art are unfinished. The aim of such regulations is to give each customer the impression that the guys running Digg are especially sneaky, but those don't scale is to use an OS that doesn't lose our data. 17 pilot in World War II the tax codes were so new that it's bad to do others chose Marx or Cardinal Newman, and we don't use code written while you were able to buy your kids' way into top colleges by sending them to represent anything.

So as an experiment she sent their recruiters the resumes of the markets they serve, because for times over a hundred and one different qualities that help in deciding between success and failure, which merchants used to end investor meetings with So, can I make this miracle happen?

This was made particularly clear in our own Web site.

The philosophers whose works they cover would be a predictor of high school is that you're not sure.

Those investors probably thought they'd been pretty clever by getting such a different type of x. Parker, William R. Your Brain, neurosurgeon Frank Vertosick recounts a conversation in which I removed a pair of metaphors that made them register. There was one of the VCs want it to colleagues.

The answer is no longer needed, big companies don't want to live inexpensively as their companies that grow slowly tend not to grow as big.

I worry we may be loud and disorganized, but in fact had its own. There is something in this article used the term copyright colony was first used by Myles Peterson. Founders weren't celebrated in the past, and for recent art, they only like the arrival of desktop publishing, given people the first year or two, and there was a refinement that made steam engines dramatically more efficient.

Change in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Oxford University Press, 1981. But it is generally the way they do for a seed investment in you, what if they don't, working twice as fast is better than the set of plausible sounding startup ideas is to assume the worst—that an eminent designer is any good at acting that way. To a kid. If you actually started acting like adults, it could become a so-called signalling risk is also to the code you write has a spam probabilty of.

Is this unfair? He did eventually graduate at about 26. Currently the lowest rate seems to have to go to a partner from someone they respect. In A Plan for Spam.

An investor who's seriously interested will already be programming in Lisp, though. And the expertise and connections the founders are effective. The founders who had worked for a monitor.

Software companies can even be working on what people will give you 11% more income, which have evolved the way starting a startup, but Joshua Schachter tells me it was. Perhaps the most general truths. The original version of Word 13.

256 notes · View notes

the-insomniac-emporium · 3 years

Text

Everybody Talks Too Much (Cassandra Dimitrescu/Mute!Reader)

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village Rating: T for language, brief violence Summary: Whenever Cassandra gets angry, no one wants to deal with her. Well, no one but you, that is. Thankfully, the middle child appreciates your company... not that she'd ever admit it. Notes: Another self-indulgent fic with a selectively mute reader. This one's a lil different. Sections in italic are mostly indications that the reader is miming actions in order to communicate, though there are a few internal thoughts that are marked as such. Unlike the past two I've done, this takes place pre-relationship, so there's some mutual pining of sorts. I think that's the word.

--------------------------

Among the many servants of Castle Dimitrescu, there were a number of secret rules to be followed. Guidelines that were never written down, only spoken in hushed whispers, for specific (and dangerous) circumstances. Most could be divided into one of two categories: 1, how to reduce the chances of a Lady of the house killing someone. 2, how to make sure that if they kill someone, it will not be you. Of these rules, there was one that you knew best of all, despite never having been told it. Why? Because you have observed it time and time again. After all, the rule revolved around you. To put it plainly… If Cassandra Dimitrescu was in an awful mood, but had yet to draw blood, send in the mute.

Even now, as you rushed down a corridor, you did not know why this rule was in place. You simply knew that you had been summoned countless times by frantic maidens, to go serve their volatile mistress. Admittedly you did understand their eagerness to thrust the task upon someone else. Cassandra was often considered the deadliest of the Dimitrescu daughters, for she was the quickest to anger, the one with the deepest bloodlust, and took the longest to calm down. Personally, you disagreed, believing that it wasn’t terribly hard to know what she did and did not like. All it took was some observation. It was Daniela who scared you, seeing as she was unpredictable. She didn’t even need to be in a bad mood to want to kill you.

Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean that you saw no danger in working with Cassandra. In fact, you saw a fair bit, such as now: Right as you round the corner, a shiny object hurls past your head, embedding itself into the wall. Had you been walking ever so slightly faster… Well, you preferred not to dwell on such things, especially not when the one who threw the thing was still nearby. Based on the howling laughter and swarm of insects that moves around you, the intended target was Lady Daniela. Across the room is the markswoman herself; Cassandra stood tall, huffing in anger, staring at the spot her sister had just vacated from.

“Damn it!” She yelled, stomping her foot as if the resulting shockwave might do what her weapon had not. Oddly amused, you’re quick to remove the sickle from the wall, careful as to not damage it. It’s a tad dirty, but nothing you can’t fix with your handy pocket cloth. Cleaning as you walk, you slowly move towards your employer, not even bothering to spare her a glance. After all, you had your own rules for dealing with her.

(1: Avoid eye contact for at least one minute after an outburst.)

By the time you make it to Cassandra, the minute has come and gone, allowing you to ever-so politely look her in the eyes when you return her blade. She scoffs, then practically rips the sickle from your hands. This was your job, however, so you made no complaints. Not that you could, at least not verbally. Instead, you gave a short bow of acknowledgement. Afterwards you stood still, awaiting either instructions or a dismissal. Neither came.

“I can’t believe that little shit tried to take my favorite dagger and thought she could get away with it! Agh, the nerve of her! Can you believe this?” Cassandra snapped, turning to you as if you might agree with her. Nod, simple yet effective. “At least you know how to handle a blade. Damn Daniela is lucky she didn’t get any scratches on mine.” Then she pulls the knife in question from its place on her belt, letting it gleam in the light. A soft exhale, head tipping to the side, wow is it pretty. So is the one holding it. Your mind wanders but your gaze does not. Always polite, always ready to serve.

(2: Do not get distracted; she is no patient lover, rather a demanding boss.)

“Cassandra! What was all that noise a minute ago?” Someone called, interrupting your ‘conversation’. The speaker soon appears, being none other than Lady Bela, the most reasonable of the castle residents. Though that meant little, considering the nature of her family. As if to prove your point, Cassandra merely rolls her eyes in reply, refusing to divulge the truth. And so Bela turned her gaze to you, perking a brow. “Feeling up to talking today?” She asked, already knowing the answer. Of course, your hands are already moving, not even waiting for her to finish speaking. This is a game you know intimately.

A hand goes to your belt, moving to pull a nonexistent blade from its sheath. Raising it, moving it forward then back several times, launching it towards the wall- towards the hole left behind. Then shifting, waving your hand in front of your face while exhaling a sharp breath. Flinching. An exaggerated gulp, pretending to check if your nose is still attached, sighing in relief. Lastly, an inclination of your head towards the culprit. Cassandra.

“I was aiming for Daniela. Not that it matters, nobody got hurt,” she stated, confident. Both hands clasped together, then tapping the palms together, mimicking a heartbeat at a reasonable pace. Suddenly a stomp. The beating stops, and you hold your hands next to your ear, as if listening for signs of life. Pause. Three seconds. Worried expression, eyes wide. Finally, fast as a gunshot, the heart beats again, wildly. At this, Bela shoots her sister a look of doubt, as well as judgement. Hoping to change the subject, Cassandra looks to you. “What are you doing here anyway?”

Rubbing your chin, thinking. Squinting for effect. Ah, got it! Both hands go to your sides, lifting the imaginary hem of a dress you aren’t wearing. Waltzing forward, yet in place, with the poise expected of a professional maid. Then the focus shifts to your face. Fear. A silent scream, a hand at your forehead, feeling like you… might… faint. Falling backwards, making a step at the very last second to prevent a real collapse. End scene.

“Someone was scared?” Bela asked, sounding uncharacteristically unsure of herself. When you nod, she does as well, considering the implications. “Why would they send you?”

“I hardly care why, I just want to know who so I can kick their ass,” Cassandra interjects, taking a step closer to you. All you do in response is shrug. Unsurprisingly this is not enough to please her, and before you know it she’s wrapped a hand around your throat. “Give. Me. A. Name. Now.” A perked brow. Thoughts practically telegraphed. ‘What do you expect?’ Opening your mouth, slightly, then wide, back to almost closed. No sound comes out. Obviously. It’s not like you wanted to break your own rule, but in this case you had no choice.

(3: Give her whatever she wants, consequences be damned.)

Luckily for you, Bela acts as a foil to Cassandra, there to smooth the seas. Moving behind you, she reaches into your back pocket and retrieves the notepad you keep there. Then she’s handing it to you while making eye contact with her sister. Cassandra promptly releases you, though she’s clearly not pleased, going so far as to push you away in one last act of anger. Internally you roll your eyes. On the outside, however, you quickly write down everything you know… which isn’t much.

“I don’t remember who it was. A lot of people have asked. This happens a lot.” Then you hand the paper to Bela, who soon looks back up at you in confusion. Too antsy to wait for her own turn, Cassandra yoinks the notepad from her sister’s hands, reading it over several times before reacting.

“What the fuck? Why would they send you to me because somebody pissed their pants in fear? I’m going to kill someone. Ugh, I don’t- this doesn’t make any goddamn sense,” Cassandra ranted, pacing back and forth, looking like she wanted to destroy something immediately. To your surprise, Bela doesn’t look the slightest bit concerned. If anything, she looks amused, and smiles when the two of you make eye contact. Something tells you that she knows something that you don’t. Before you can react, she quietly retrieves your notepad and returns it to you. Then she pauses, thinking, eying you with curiosity.

“Why don’t you go for now? See if anyone thanks you for stepping in, hmm?” She suggested, tone implying that this was absolutely about something else entirely. Still, you don’t care to disobey, and so you bid the two of them farewell with a deep bow. As you leave, you can almost make out part of what they say next. But you’re certain that you must have heard incorrectly. “Showing your favoritism a little too much, sister? If even the servants can see it-” the rest of the sentence is cut off by angry muttering from Cassandra. After that you’re too far away to hear anymore. What a strange day...

--------------------------

“Hey, you know where Lady Cassandra’s room is, right?” Ygritte asked, casually, definitely not having just been told by someone else that you were the solution to her problem. Pretending that you were unaware of this, you give her a smile and a nod. Later, behind her back, you will mentally add her to your list of people to watch out for. Maybe even decide to refuse to share your biscuits with her. In the meantime, you pretend that you don’t mind whatever task she’s about to dump on you. “Can you bring these books to her? I really have to get back to the kitchen soon, and that’s in the opposite direction…”

Technically true. Something told you that the real problem was that Cassandra had been extra loud the past few days. Regardless, you accept the books from her, leaving before she even finishes thanking you. Why do people do this? I don’t get it, you think. It’s like they think I’m immune to her rage. If that were true, I’d gladly throw myself between her and others. But no, that’s not the case. Hmmph, if only they saw my scars. Shaking your head to clear your thoughts, you keep walking, subconsciously rubbing the spot on your arm where Cassandra had cut you. Well, the worst spot. Being pain tolerant had made her take interest in you, during your first few weeks, but it’s what allowed you to learn her rules. Your rules, really.

Knock. Knock. A pause… three more, much softer. The door swings open, revealing your Lady, whose eyes widen at the sight of you. Tipping your hat (which you are not wearing), you greet her, forcing another smile. Then you present the books, free hand gesturing with a spiral motion towards them. She doesn’t respond. No, wait, she glances at the door hinges, considering closing the door in your face. Now both of you are staring at each other, daring the other to move.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she finally said. There’s a gruffness to her voice that you hadn’t expected. It’s unlike her usual tone, less angry, more tired. Were those bags under her eyes?... No, just smudged makeup. “Don’t just stand there- tell me why you’re here.” Again, you gesture to the books, extending your hands further towards her. This time she takes a half-step backwards to avoid you. Peculiar. “Someone else was supposed to bring them, dipshit. Fucking hell, why can’t anyone around here do their damn jobs?” At last, she takes the books from you, carrying them deeper into your room. Though she does not close the door, you assume that your job is done. Or maybe you simply do not wish to deal with a Cassandra who’s frustrated by your specific presence. Either way, it breaks one of your rules, though you do not remember until it is too late.

(4: Do not leave until dismissed by a member of the family.)

“Where the hell are you going?” The sound of buzzing flies, a blur of motion around you, then the form of Cassandra solidifying in front of you. One of her hands is raised, pressing against the center of your chest. She pushes you, hard, making you stumble backwards into her room. Next thing you know you’ve crashed onto her floor. A tad stunned, you bring a hand up to hold your head, blinking rapidly for a few seconds. There’s the sound of a door closing, and then someone’s trying to help you stand. “I didn’t say you could leave yet. Now c’mon, I’ve got stuff for you to do.” Then she’s guiding you to her bed, making you sit down on the end. Panicked thoughts race through your mind one after another. What exactly was she intending? Thankfully you don’t have to wait long to find out. “Read through these, and-” a pause, like she hadn’t known what she was going to say until she was already speaking- “take notes. Make a summary of the bookmarked sections, or whatever.” Handing you a couple books (neither of which being ones you had just brought to her), she sits on the other side of the bed, refusing to look at you. She does, however, say one last thing, voice barely above a whisper. “Just stay for a while, okay?”

Inside your head, you make a mental note to amend your list of rules.

(4.b: Do not leave until dismissed by a member of the family. If Cassandra asks you to stay, you stay, no matter what. It’s worth it.)

#cassandra dimitrescu x reader #cassandra dimitrescu #resident evil: village #re8 village #stayed up to write this #totes worth it

310 notes · View notes

xpeachesncream · 3 years

Text

back to you | drabble (jjk)

↳ drabbles masterlist

yours (ft. the bands!couple) | drabble one: you’ve seen jungkook get angry, but this is the first time he’s ever let it out on you.

word count: 2.5k

warnings: cussing, implied sexual content, more fluff than anything

tags: @thebeebi @miinoongi @ggukkieland @preciouschimine @bluesharksandfish @unicornbabylover @ayujaded

Jungkook steps down from the stage after performing Euphoria, aggressively throwing his towel against the wall in anger.

"FUCK!" He yells loudly in frustration, startling some of the staff as hot tears starting to spill down his cheeks. It's been a long time since Jungkook felt unsatisfied with a performance. He was so, so unsatisfied because of a small mistake only he could notice, however, it was big enough to shoot him down. All he wanted was to put up a good performance for the fans, for the people that paid money to watch them here, and he felt like such a fucking failure not meeting his end of it.

"Kookie, what's wrong?" Hobi follows after him when he sees the anger clear as day on his face, tears still coming down as his nose was beginning to turn red.

"Nothing." He mumbles as he shuts himself into a private room backstage and slams the door loudly that it echoes through the hallway.

"What just happened?" You ask Hobi as you jog over, unable to catch Jungkook right away since you had been busy getting Jimin ready for his solo performance. "He needs to get ready."

"He's pissed. I think he messed up and he's taking it pretty hard."

"Messed up?" You were confused because you had no clue what he was talking about. You caught the performance as much as possible, and you didn't hear one fucked up note or see one fucked up step.

"You know him." Is all Hobi says, making you sigh.

"Go get touched up, I'll go see what's up with him."

"He's in there." Hobi nods towards a room before he's jogging back to the chaos in the group dressing room. You silently walk over to the door, giving it three soft knocks before leaning closer to listen for any movement.

"I'll be out in a fucking second, can you wait?!" He yells, which catches you by surprise because you definitely haven't see him this angry since the night him and Jimin fought at the dorm and to be quite honest, you're still learning how to handle angry Jungkook. You open the door and peek your head through, hoping he could simmer once he sees it's you.

But he doesn't, and that's what fucking sucks.

He looks at you, and it breaks your heart seeing him cry. Your face softens as you try to come closer but you jump back when he suddenly gets up to walk towards the other side of the room to create some distance. You stay put to watch him, his back is facing towards you with his hands pressed firmly against his hips.

"Not now, Y/N."

"Babe, I just—"

"Did you not just hear me? Not now. So please go." You almost flinch at his tone, the way he delivers his statement.

"Jungkook, please let me in. Let me make it better." You come behind him, hand gently grabbing at his shoulder. For a second, you feel him ease up, but it doesn't last long before his walls are coming back up. He moves out of your grip and walks away from you while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"It was such a stupid mistake." He says softly.

"Baby, whatever it was, it was a tiny mistake because we didn't even—" I guess this was your first lesson in dealing with angry Jungkook— choose your words wisely. Jungkook is such a perfectionist that he's incredibly hard on himself when it comes to things like this. No mistake is ever tiny to him. It all becomes a huge deal because he just wants to keep people happy. He wants to make sure he can follow through.

"See, you don't even get it." He snaps at you.

"Excuse me? Are you serious right now, Jungkook?" You cross your arms and scoff at him.

"That wasn't just a tiny mistake Y/N!" His tone slightly raises. "It was a huge deal for me!" He sighs and shakes his head.

"I'm just trying to help."

"Yeah well, you really aren't making this any fucking better. So just go, okay?" As soon as the words leave his mouth, he looks at you and instantly regrets it when he catches a small frown forming at the corner of your lips. "Shit, baby—"

"No, you know what? I might not understand right off the bat but I was gonna do my best to try and do so because I wanna do what I can to be there for you." You throw your hands up in defeat. "But fine, Jungkook. If that's how you wanna be, then go ahead and fucking shut me out." You fire back, annoyed that he's giving you hella attitude when your only intention was to support him.

"Y/N—" He tries to grab your wrist but you yank it out of his grip.

"Get yourself ready, you have 10 mins before you need to be back on stage." You avoid eye contact and slam the door shut.

"Fuuuuuck." Jungkook groans and hits the chair before letting out a deep sigh and making his way back to the group. When he gets back to the room, he sees you assisting Jin, your bottom lip tucked under your top lip while you bit onto it. He can see Jin's mouth moving and your head nodding, but he can't really make out the conversation with all the noise and chaos going on.

Fuck, he fucked up. All he wanted to do was tell you how sorry he was for snapping at you and for letting his anger out on you that way.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jin asks you softly, his eyes full of concern when he catches your wet lashes. He can tell you had just been crying, and has a good sense of why.

"Kook is being a meanie." Jin chuckles as you fix his shirt.

"He gets like that when he isn't happy with himself."

"I'm only trying to help though."

"I know, and I'll give him a good ass-whooping later for treating you like that."

"God, he's so mean when he's pissed like that. I've never had to personally deal with angry Jungkook like this."

"He pushes everyone away and doesn't know any better, but he'll learn from this. Let him. He needs to understand that he can't take his feelings out on you like that just because you're his girlfriend."

"Thank you." You softly say as you finish rolling the lint roller across his broad shoulders.

"Of course." Jin winks. "Cheer up." He gives your shoulder a good squeeze before he's rushing out with the rest of the boys.

The rest of the night is quiet between you and Jungkook, mainly because you're doing your best to 'let him learn' and avoid him even though it was the hardest thing to do. He had tried to subtly grab your attention every now and then, but you brushed it off and paid no mind to it. Halfway through, he had realized he just needed to give you space. Every part of you wanted to cling onto him like a koala and tell him how frustratingly and annoyingly cute he was, but there was also a small part that was still upset at the shit he said. You were still hurt at how easy it was for him to lash out on you like that, let alone push you away when he wasn't feeling his best.

Once the show was over and you and the staff had done a great deal of cleaning up, you finally headed home in one of the staff cars, the boys already back at the hotel resting up and eating. You quietly make your way to your room on the same floor as the boys, hearing their laughter erupting from one of the rooms down the hallway. At the front of your door was a small box of fried chicken wings and a bag of radishes, most likely from Jungkook. You normally ordered room service or grabbed Kook's leftovers, moreso cause you were too tired from the day to even think about eating a huge meal. You let out a small sigh, grabbing the box as you walk in and set it on the table. You take a quick shower, lathering up in some lotion before throwing on Jungkook's longsleeve.

Technically, you weren't allowed to sleep in Jungkook's room and he wasn't allowed in yours, but your boyfriend always does what he wants and never plays by the rules in the book [as we've learned]. He always finds a way to sneak over, texting you right as he gets to your door and slipping out bright and early the next morning. It was some high school shit, but you genuinely understood wholeheartedly why they tried to keep that rule in place during the tour.

Jungkook is just always gonna be stubborn though, which is why you hear him knocking loudly as if it wasn't getting late.

"Y/N." He keeps his forehead against the door. You sit still in absolute silence until he speaks again. "Babygirl, I'm sorry. Please let me in." You continue to sit in silence, a little torn on whether or not you should let him in or let him be for the night. Were you too quick if you were to let him in? I mean, the fight wasn't huge, but it was still enough to sting. "Baaaaby." He whines.

"What are you doing?" Taehyung whispers harshly. "You're gonna get in trouble." Jungkook keeps his forehead against your door and simply lifts a hand to Taehyung to prevent him from going on any further.

"Fuck it."

"Jungkookie, go back—" Kook points down the hallway, forehead still pressed against your door like a child on timeout.

"You go back. I'm fine here." Taehyung silently chuckles to himself before crossing his arms and retreating back to his room, listening to the repeated, soft "y/n's" and "baby's" coming from Jungkook.

When you realize he isn't going to leave, and you sure as hell don't want him to get in trouble, you sigh and get up from the bed to open the door for your man. You turn the knob and slightly pull back just enough to open your door and let him do the rest. You head back to your bed, not turning behind you when you hear him walk in and shut your door. He quietly comes into your view, but you continue to sit criss-crossed on your bed, scrolling through your phone while the TV was providing some background noise.

Okay, you might have been acting like a level 10 brat, but he hurt your feelings when you were only trying to help.

"Hmmm, baby." He whines and pouts as he climbs onto the bed and rests his chin on your leg. When you still don't pay him any mind, he sucks on his teeth and gently puts your phone down so you have no choice but to look at him. "Baby, I'm sorry." He sits up, his hand gently caressing your thigh.

"Do you even know what you're sorry for?"

"I was being mean. I didn't mean to take my anger out on you like that."

"You sure were being a meanie." You slightly pout, causing him to sigh in regret. He never, never wanted to hurt you. Yet, one quick moment of vulnerability and the first thing he does is hurt you.

God, he felt like a dumbass.

"Babygirl, fuck. I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just being stupid." He sits next to you and pats the open space in between his legs for you to fill. You quietly climb in between, allowing him to hug you from behind and plant kisses along your cheek, jaw and neck.

"Kook, are you always gonna push me away like that? Especially on days where you don't feel your best? When you don't feel satisfied with yourself? Cause if that's the case— how are we gonna work if you won't let me in?"

"No baby, no. I just— Fuck, honestly. I don't know. I felt so insecure over the smallest thing. I made it a big deal for no reason. I just wanted to look good for the fans. For you. I wanted you and everyone else to be proud." You slightly turn and cup his cheek, Kook leaning into it and pressing a kiss against your palm.

"They are so, so proud of you. Always. The fans, the boys, the staff. Me. You are so hardworking and dedicated to your craft. You are the most talented person I know." You sigh. "What really happened out there?"

"I messed up a note. It was subtle, but enough for me to notice and trip on the next dance move."

"There's always going to be room for improvement, babe. But that will never change the fact that your fans and the people around you adore you. They will love you, flaws and all." He looks at you before lifting your chin with his finger and placing a soft peck on your lips. He never used to care about how people looked at him, still doesn't. But when it comes to his performances, his singing, dancing— he's very particular and wants nothing but to please people. He just didn't know how to stop being so hard on himself, where to place boundaries. He didn't know how to differentiate between big and small mistakes.

"I love you." He whispers, thumb gently caressing your chin before placing another kiss against your lips. "I love you so much, and I'm so sorry for being mean to you earlier. I never meant to hurt you or push you away."

"And I'm sorry for being a brat back." He chuckles. "I love you, too."

"Deserved it, I'll let it slide." You giggle as he hugs you tightly, playfully kissing you everywhere that he possibly can. "I missed you."

"You saw me all night."

"I saw you, but you didn't come close to me."

"Which you deserved."

"Which I deserved." He nods in agreement. "Now I just wanna shower my baby in kisses." He continues to pepper you with soft kisses. "By the way, did you get the chicken?"

"Yeah, thank you." You smile at him.

"You have more?" Your smile instantly fades while you push yourself off of him and hop off the bed.

"You came here for my chicken?!"

"No! Obviously I came here to make things right and apologize." You bite onto your bottom lip to prevent yourself from smirking. "Just thought I could get a little bonus and snag your leftovers, you know?" His doe eyes were wide, lips slightly pouty. "Soooo, let me see what's in that box." He looks at the chicken box behind you and wiggles his eyebrows.

"Unbelievable." You joke as he lifts you up from the legs and gently [not really] throws you back onto the bed before running to your chicken box. "Jungkook! I will whoop your ass if you touch my chicken." He scrunches his nose, bunny smile coming into full view as he places a finger on top of your box. "Ugh!" You throw a pillow at him.

"Oh, so you wanna get fiesty? I'll show you fiesty." He rushes back onto the bed, tickling you into the sheets.

"You started it!"

"And I'm gonna finish it." He stares at you as you lay beneath him. "Off with your clothes, sweetheart." He whispers into your ear, causing you to squeal.

550 notes · View notes

47crayons · 3 years

Text

so, you want to write a musician?

about me: i play viola and have experience in symphony orchestras, string orchestras, string quartets (+ a few other small ensembles), and solo performances. i've done some light composition, and have friends/family who play other instruments. while my musical history is extensive, by no means do i know everything or speak for everyone.

this guide will focus on classical music/how to portray classical musicians and things that aren't as easily researched.

quick overview of instruments in a typical symphony orchestra

upper strings (violin, viola), lower strings (cello, (double) bass; i've seen viola included here too, but it's more commonly classified as upper strings)

strings also technically includes harp and piano

woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon)

depending on instrumentation, they may also have piccolo, english horn, bass clarinet, contrabassoon

saxophones are not traditionally in symphony orchestras due to it being a relative newer instrument! but this is changing because more contemporary composes are including sax parts

brass (trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, tuba, euphonium)

percussion (depends heavily on instrumentation, but common instruments are bass drum, timpani, snare, crash cymbal, xylophone, marimba)

some things you should research

where the hands are supposed to go!! i'd recommend you look at pictures of professionals in orchestra settings (ny phil, cso, berlin phil are all top tier). some musicians *coughs at yoyo ma* have less than perfect posture when they're performing solos (for the same reasons famous authors can break "rules")

necessary equipment including reeds, rockstops, different kinds of sticks/mallets, rosin, mouth pieces for whatever instrument you're writing

common misconceptions

loose/photocopied sheet music is not aesthetic—it's annoying and impossible to keep organized. folders and binders are fairly common especially when managing multiple ensembles.

original copies are often expensive and required to perform a piece (legally) for profit or otherwise (though i know a few people who have bent this rule)

not all performers are good composers (i myself have very little formal music theory training), but many composers have performance histories.

not all musicians can sing.

perfect pitch is both a blessing and a curse. notes can be slightly lower/higher but in tune with the context of the piece, which drives people with perfect pitch insane.

having perfect pitch does not guarantee someone will be a prodigy, and people don't need perfect pitch to be a talented musician.

drama in ensembles does exist, but it rarely gets in the way of rehearsal. same thing goes for good friends: if your characters have even a shred of common sense, they aren't going to be talking/messing around during rehearsal.

instruments (especially good ones) are extremely expensive. people very rarely store instruments on the wall or other displays for fear of falling.

instruments are very picky and require tuning every time. every time! it doesn't take long anyway. temperature and humidity can and will make instruments go out of tune or damage your instrument if not properly stored.

some people listen exclusively to classical music, but in my experience, that's definitely not the majority

like with anything, most musicians struggle with self doubt at one point or another.

musician culture

getting excited when we hear a piece we recognize

getting frustrated because we can't remember the name of the piece (after all, no lyrics to search)

being horrified when a non-musician actor is playing a musician. yes, we notice. yes, it's obvious.

if people are joking, it's likely to be about: violas (a quick search for "viola jokes" will tell you all you need to know) or trumpets (a reputation for being overly loud, playing and not)

putting stickers (places they toured, their orchestra, or just purely decorative) on cases is common, but not for everyone. same goes for pictures (of family, past concerts, or anything) on the inside.

scrambling for a pencil when the conductor says to mark something. pencils are a musicians best friend :D

asking (and forgetting) how to split double stops/two parts at the same time. sometimes one stand partner will play the top while the other plays the bottom, and sometimes this is split stand by stand.

this has NEVER resulted in a sexual top/bottom joke. please just. don't. also no g string jokes. it's just unrealistic.

awaiting the obligatory "it's one week before our concert, and you sound like this?!" lecture

not talking about music 100% of the time!!! they have lives outside of music (most of them, at least /j). especially to close friends, music is probably not going to be a conversation topic unless something is out of the ordinary (high stress, something funny from rehearsal, etc.)

bragging/talking about how often they practice is generally not welcomed. great, but other people don't need to hear it!

stages are hot and bright. there's no way a performer can see someone in the audience with the possible exception of the first row.

practicing

three words for you: love. hate. relationship.

slow practice (like really slow lots of people recommend half speed; good for focusing on the right notes, tone, phrasing, smooth transitions)

metronome practice (while playing, it's not annoying at all! it's helpful and requires a lot of focus; when NOT playing, it's annoying and loud because it needs to be heard over the playing)

drone practice (having a machine/website/another person play one note in the background; good for tuning and scales)

and too many more for me to detail

auditions

ensembles may have entrance auditions to determine who gets in and seating auditions to determine placement within the section.

adrenaline does not make us play better; it just makes us make mistakes. and then thinking about those mistakes causes more mistakes.

some instruments, especially those with less repertoire, have common excerpts that come up frequently (i can think of one in particular that i've played for three separate auditions this year).

stopping/starting over is not recommended ever, but if you do, it has to be 10x better. most audition judges aren't looking for perfection!! they want to see how your character can keep going after messing up.

sight reading (being given new music, having ~30 seconds to look at it, being asked to play) is never perfect. i don't care how talented your character is; if they think they nailed it, they aren't experienced enough to see all the phrasing/dynamics that they didn't incorporate. no one gets sight reading perfect!!!

perhaps most importantly, musicians are not all the same! they enjoy it for a number of different reasons and have diverse and interesting lives outside of music!!! more information about specific instrument groups under the cut :)

strings

callouses. with the exception of pianists, most string players (and especially professional ones) have callouses where they press down/pluck the strings. i also have one on my right thumb where i hold my bow. cellists and bassists might have them on their left thumb from playing higher notes in thumb position.

hickeys are also fairly common, though only some people get them. upper strings will get these by under their left jaw. cellists may have one from the wooden body resting on their sternum. some people (including hilary hahn and many many others) use a cloth for comfort and to prevent hickeys.

few people want a hickey, but it might suit a character who is constantly trying to prove themselves.

our fingers do not "glide" anywhere. you can get cuts/"string-burns" from pressing down too hard when shifting. cuts like those are the only reason someone's fingers will bleed, and it's rarer than you think.

upper strings are more prone to back/neck problems from the way they hold their instruments on one side. see also: shoulder pain.

finger cramps happen. they aren't too common, but most if not all strings have experienced at least one.

pianos require tuning every few years or else the chords will be out of tune. few pianists can tune their own instrument because of how complicated it is.

piano parts/accompaniments will have so. many. pages. a page turner may sit on the right of the pianist to turn the page.

woodwinds & brass

spit. so much spit. some instruments clean afterwards with a cloth; others have a spit valve which is as gross as it sounds.

proper embouchure, or how a musician uses the muscles in their face/lips, is tiring, and people actually get strong cheek muscles. they can also easily turn red, but it varies based on a person's facial complexion. see also: good lung capacity.

flute and piccolo are not dainty. piccolo requires as much air as a tuba. an old teacher of mine almost passed out playing piccolo when she was in college.

flutes and piccolos are high, but often not shrill depending on the level of the ensemble.

reeds last a few weeks (less if your character plays for hours a day) and can be expensive to buy.

keys and valves can get sticky especially on older instruments which can result in the wrong note or bad tone.

saxes, clarinets, flutes are more likely to "honk" on low notes.

oboes are more likely to feel "wispy" on high notes.

articulation comes from the tongue, especially for brass instruments, and conductors may ask for "tah" "pah" or "wah" sounds depending on the style of the piece.

percussion

callouses from the friction between hands and sticks/mallets.

there are so many types of sticks and mallets!!! make sure to take a look at what materials are good for what instruments/sounds.

cymbals, triangle, and bass drum are not easy to play, even though they look simple.

percussionists with the exception of timpani may play more than one instrument during a piece, and they're constantly moving around in the back during their rests.

percussion instruments are too expensive for most people to have everything they ever play. practice pads are very common in place of these instruments.

ability to play one instrument doesn't translate to different instruments. for example, many percussionists don't have experience playing set/drum set.

some of the things detailed here are heavily glossed over, so if you have any questions, i'd always be happy to talk about it with you; i may not have answers, but i will try to help as best i can!!!

since you read this far, have my favorite viola joke.

what's the difference between a violist and a large pizza?

a large pizza can feed a family of four :)

tagging some people who showed interest: @writing-is-a-martial-art @ashen-crest @kg-willie @owilder

#writing advice #writing resources #writing reference #music #wow this absolutely consumed me

283 notes · View notes

robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

Text

Spilled Pearls

- Chapter 3 - ao3 -

The closing ceremony of the discussion conference was dignified and serene, as appropriate for an event hosted by the Lan sect, and after it was done everyone milled around to chat a little more before starting to break off into groups to leave.

The leaders of the Great Sects naturally gathered together.

They were an unusual mix. Wen Ruohan was the eldest by an entire generation, technically hailing from the generation of Lan Qiren’s grandfather even if his extraordinary cultivation made him seem as young as Lan Qiren’s brother; after him there was Lan Qiren’s father and the Jiang sect leader, Jiang Menglin, who themselves were a generation above their younger counterparts from the Nie and Jin clans – Jin Guangshan especially, having only inherited his position in the past year.

Lan Qiren’s brother stood beside them, speaking with them with his head held high. Their father planned to slowly transition sect leadership to him over the next half-decade so that he himself might be allowed to retire from the mundane world to focus on cultivation, as Lan An ultimately did. In accordance with that plan, he had allowed him to take the lead on hosting certain small events at the discussion conference, like the night-hunting.

Lan Qiren was there, too.

He was lurking as far to the back of the platform as he could get, trying simultaneously to perfectly reflect his sect’s expectations for proper behavior while also doing his utmost to remain beneath anyone’s notice – Lao Nie had caught his gaze at one point and winked, a friendly older man’s indulgence of a junior, but that was in large part unavoidable given the man’s gregarious personality – and enjoying the rare moment in which he could see his father at something other than a distance.

He usually only saw his father when he was brought before him to report on his achievements, typically once a month. When he was younger, he had been accompanied by one of his teachers, who would report on him while Lan Qiren anxiously examined his father’s face for signs of approval; now that he was older, he went by himself, dipping into a deep salute as he recited anything of interest, and sometimes if he really exerted himself his father would reward him with a word of praise.

Lan Qiren was only allowed to stand with the rest of them on the basis of a technicality – his father hadn’t officially transferred power to his eldest son and wouldn’t for a while yet, so he had brought along both of them on the transparent excuse that they could provide company for Jin Guangshan and Lao Nie as members of the same generation. It was very much a technicality in Lan Qiren’s case, given his much younger age; he fell on the very tail end of their generation on account of the circumstances of his belated birth.

Lan Qiren’s birth was very late to allow him to be considered a peer to those a decade or more older than him, in fact, but that was the way of things.

He was a child of duty, rather than pleasure.

His parents had been very much in love, as was the Lan sect’s way, and together they had had two sons and a daughter within six years, each one of them deeply beloved. But perhaps their joy had been too complete, because the heavens had not permitted it to last: they lost their younger son and daughter both – one to an unexpected illness, the other to an accident. Their eldest, Lan Qiren’s brother, was still there, but it would have been irresponsible to have only a single heir to a Great Sect. Accordingly, under great pressure from the sect elders, they had sought to have another child, only to fail time and time again, enduring countless miscarriages and stillbirths alike.

There had even been some debate as to whether such a situation permitted the sect leader to take on a concubine, regardless of custom or even his own wishes. Desperate to prevent such a result, Lan Qiren’s mother had inadvisedly taken certain drugs to encourage conception and at last Lan Qiren had been successfully born in a slow and bloody labor that had sapped his mother’s already poor health. She had died a few years later, suffering a recurrence of the infection left behind from his birth. Lan Qiren had been too young to really remember her, but he knew that his brother had blamed him for her loss ever since.

He sometimes wondered if his father did, too.

Of course, unlike his brother, his father had never said as much. As the Lan sect leader, he was graceful and refined, educated and reserved, a venerable and venerated cultivator; it was widely agreed that he would never have planned to retire so early if it hadn’t been for losing his true love all those years ago. Perhaps he might even have been another Wen Ruohan, seemingly ageless, striving for immortality – at any rate, he would never be so petty as to mistreat a person due to the circumstances beyond their control. It was something he had heard that his father had said from one of the other Lan sect juniors, and at any rate it was in the rules, and Lan Qiren believed in the rules.

Besides, it wasn’t a surprise that Lan Qiren would be an afterthought in comparison to his brother, the already famous Qingheng-jun, who his father treasured like a pearl cupped in his palm. His brother was the much-anticipated first child of his father’s happy youth, the reminder of good days gone by, a child who had survived the misfortunes that had taken his siblings, and Lan Qiren’s brother repaid his father’s adoration with strength, intelligence, and endless potential. He was a cultivation maniac, yet good at managing the other juniors; he was cold and aloof, elegant, yet capable of being personable and even charming when needed. He was one of the shining stars of his generation, already a powerful cultivator and a respected gentleman even though he’d only just passed twenty-one. Even the name which he was commonly called, Qingheng-jun, was a rarity, a personal title unusual in this peaceful day and age.

Lan Qiren, in contrast, was slow and clumsy, with only average cultivation skills and positively dire social skills. While his teachers praised his strong academic skills and musical talent, the Lan sect followed first and foremost the orthodox path of swordsmanship; once his weakness in that area had been discovered, many of his sect elders lost interest in him as anything other than the inferior back-up plan that he was.

Undoubtedly that was why, when Wen Ruohan turned to Lan Qiren’s father and said, “Your son is a credit to you,” everyone assumed he was talking about Qingheng-jun.

“Sect Leader Wen does him too much honor,” their father said, clearly pleased despite his deprecating words. After all, Wen Ruohan, Sect Leader Wen, was well known to be extraordinarily sparing with his praise for any who didn’t share his bloodline or surname. “My unworthy son is still young and foolish. His eyes are always fixed upon cultivation, never straying – he doesn’t even spare time for girls, despite his advancing years!”

The other sect leaders were smiling, and Lao Nie already opening his mouth to say something teasing, when Wen Ruohan said, “I meant your other son.”

Lan Qiren wasn’t prepared at all for all the sect leaders to turn to look at him.

He shrunk back.

“Qiren?” his father said, almost as if he were checking to confirm that that was the right name, a trace of doubt in his voice even as Lan Qiren’s brother’s face went white with humiliation. “I didn’t realize you’d had a chance to hear him play.”

“Regrettably I have not yet had that pleasure,” Wen Ruohan said, a slightly strange expression on his face. “We merely exchanged some charming conversation, that’s all. Is that his most notable skill?”

“His accomplishments as a musical cultivator are sufficient to rank him among the adults of his already talented sect,” Lao Nie volunteered when there was a brief pause, and Lan Qiren’s father was quick to smile and nod along. “You missed out, Sect Leader Wen.”

“Perhaps another time,” Wen Ruohan said, his return smile still strange and almost subtly displeased, though Lan Qiren would hardly trust himself to know for sure.

At that point, Jiang Menglin spoke up, changing the subject, and most everyone joined in, all of them evidently relieved – not least of all Lan Qiren himself, who had started wondering if there was some way he could become invisible or else fall into a deep chasm that might conveniently open up beneath his feet.

Nothing more was said on the subject until the ceremony was done and the last of their guests departed, when Lan Qiren’s brother tracked him down and hissed, “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Lan Qiren cried out. “We only talked!”

“You mean you talked at him the way you always do – ”

Their father cleared his throat, having come up behind them, and they both turned at once and dropped into deep salutes.

“Do not think about it too much,” he said, voice distant as the cold wind on a winter night. “Sect Leader Wen sometimes likes to make trouble for the sake of making trouble, especially if he thinks he has found a weakness. You will need to be on your guard against that when you are sect leader.”

He was talking to Lan Qiren’s brother, of course. Lan Qiren could count, and had, the number of times his father addressed him directly in a given year, but it was only reasonable – he wasn’t the heir, doomed to take on the burden of leadership, and so there was much less his father needed to say to him.

“Yes, Father,” his brother said. “I’ll remember.”

“Do not trouble your younger brother over nonsense.”

Lan Qiren felt his brother’s angry gaze like a flame against his skin, even if it wasn’t anywhere as weighty as Wen Ruohan’s. He did not understand what he had done wrong, whether to Wen Ruohan to decide to make trouble using his name or to his brother now that had made him angry, but that wasn’t so much different from the usual.

“Very well, Father,” his brother said. “I won’t.”

#mdzs #lan qiren #qingheng-jun #wen ruohan #my fic #my fics #spilled pearls

113 notes · View notes

sage-nebula · 3 years

Text

@smallestfish

I typed about five cellphone screens arguing against this with things in the game, but I accidentally highlighted all but the last couple lines and replaced them with a closing bracket instead of hitting copy. So, heavily shortened, Josh was more respectful to everyone in this game than the first one. He made a bet that the city would sort itself out if it had a few extra lives, moved one or two pieces when it was necessary, and let his opponent paint himself into a corner. Then, either Haz or he could just make it magically better after anyway if things really did go south, and things did, so they did. Haz was significantly more cruel than Joshua has ever been by resurrecting everyone except Rindo's friends just to watch the kid squirm, and we know he did it with the intent to see how Rindo would react. There's a question to be asked of why Haz only intervened after time travel stopped being an option, and the answer makes Josh look like he's only waiting for Haz and Rindo to quit first and make his intervention actually necessary and good.

Replying this way because typing in the limit-restricted tumblr replies is annoying.

I disagree that the Shinjuku Game is in any way more respectful to anyone than the Shibuya Game. The Shinjuku Game was explicit psychological torture on the Players with no end in sight but their own erasure. The Variabeauties, Purehearts, and Deep Rivers Society were stuck for I believe 30+ loops; that’s seven months. During that time they not only saw other teams erased, but knew that their own erasure could come at any moment, and it’s specifically spelled out in the Secret Reports that this has an averse psychological effect on the Players. Of course, not that we needed that; Fuya, a 27-year-old man, was reduced to hysteric sobbing once he realized that his and his team’s fate was sealed. Motoi was never what you’d call an upstanding person (he was a plagiarist and an art thief), but his facial expressions when his treachery is revealed show that his sanity has been slipping for a while and he, too, is left grasping for any hope of salvation he can find. Kanon outright says she knows the Game is rigged and there’s no hope of winning, but she’s willing to try whatever she can to at least make it fair; it’s pretty clear that this unwinnable Game has been breaking her morale as well. And hell, by week two we see Fret’s optimism shaking as he realizes that the Ruinbringers can snatch victory away on technicalities, so even two weeks in a Shinjuku Game is enough to start wearing down on Players’ psyches, let alone thirty.

In the Shibuya Game, on the other hand, while it’s more brutal in the sense that the Reapers are out for blood (everyone’s gotta eat), anyone left alive at the end of the Week gets a chance to be restored to life or become a Reaper. (Well, most everyone. I think in the OG Secret Reports it’s stated that some are still redistributed into the Imagination of the UG, but for the most part all winners get a chance to return to life or become Reapers.) On top of which, the Players aren’t pitted against each other; they’re allowed, even encouraged, to work together to complete the missions and defeat the Noise. Shibuya’s Game encourages personal growth and development, whereas Shinjuku’s Game encourages competition and, to be honest, psychological torment. Joshua wanted to erase everyone in Shibuya just as Hazuki did in Shinjuku, yes, but his Game is far less cruel to the Players involved, not to mention the Reapers.

But Joshua simply . . . didn’t care about that, for three years. For three entire years he sat back and allowed Shiba to waltz in and dethrone Uzuki as Conductor. He allowed Shiba to disregard Shibuya’s Game in favor of Shinjuku’s. He allowed the Shinjuku Reapers to erase nearly every single one of his own Reapers for daring to speak out against this, to the point where Uzuki and Kariya feel as though their only option is to keep their mouths shut and go along with it, for their own safety. For three years he allowed Shibuya’s Players to not have the chance to grow, to develop, to discover themselves, to question what it is they’d want out of a second chance, and instead undergo literal hell in an unwinnable Game with no idea what they ever could have done to deserve such punishment. (The answer is, of course, nothing. They did nothing to deserve it. They just suffered it anyway.)

The point is: The Composer is the one who creates the UG. He is the one who creates the rules for how it operates, both within the limitations of the Game and otherwise. When Kubo and the Shinjuku Reapers came to call, and Kubo made it known that he wanted to “purify” Shibuya the way that he did Shinjuku, Joshua made a deliberate choice to enter into this Game with him and leave Shibuya to its fate. He flat out says this is his intention in “A New Day”:

Now, while one could try to argue that he was lying here, because he lies a second after this about not caring about Neku anymore (although in my opinion his definition of “care” is still pretty damn selfish), his actions in Neo make it abundantly clear. Joshua could have very easily done what Hazuki did to Kubo three years ago by booting him out of Shibuya and back to the Higher Plane. He could have easily let Uzuki keep her spot as Conductor and protected his Reapers from erasure by the Shinjuku Reapers. He could have very easily just returned Neku to the RG (thus protecting him from the Shinjuku Reapers / Kubo) instead of locking him in the remains of Shinjuku. He could have very easily done all of this and it would have been within his rights because whether the Higher Plane likes it or not, Shibuya is still his city and he didn’t technically break any rules by choosing not to go through with the purification. Whether Shibuya was purified or not was his call, even if they didn’t like his choice. It’s the reason why Hanekoma is in angel jail and Joshua is not.

But he didn’t. He chose not to. I’ve seen some speculate that this was due to Higher Plane politics, that Joshua wanted to show the Higher Plane that Shibuya was worth saving because it had citizens who could stand up even against angels and win. He wanted them to see what he sees in Shibuya. But even if that was his intention, countless lives were lost because of his decision. Countless people suffered because of his decision. The Variabeauties, the Purehearts, the Deep River Society—hell, even Reapers like Ayano and Susukichi—their erasure dust is partially on Joshua’s hands. He could have prevented all of this and he made a deliberate decision not to. The fact that Hanekoma makes a point in multiple Secret Reports (getting increasingly frustrated each time) that Joshua had opportunity to do something yet chose not to tells us all we need to know about how tied Joshua’s hands were, and the fact is that they were not. Or if they were, the only person who tied them was Joshua himself.

A few final notes:

1.) My original shitpost was not about Hazuki’s morality or saying that he’s a “better person” than Joshua, but merely pointing out that he did more to save Shibuya (despite it not being his city and not his responsibility) than Joshua did, which is factually true. Joshua did nothing beyond show up for “moral support” for Neku and return Shoka to the RG. (And as far as we know, it was only Shoka. The Variabeauties, Deep River Society, and Purehearts are presumably still erased since they lost the Game.) Even after Neku and the others were perma-erased, Joshua did nothing. He did not intervene. He claims to Neku later that if things got really bad he would have, but again . . . everyone died, the city was on fire, and he was nowhere to be found, so I personally don’t think his word is worth very much here. Bottom line, I’m not saying Hazuki is a better person than Joshua—honestly I think they’re on the same level, more or less—but only that it’s hilarious that he actually took action to save a city that wasn’t his.

2.) For emphasis, Hazuki didn’t have to intervene. Shibuya is not his city. It’s not his responsibility. He could have returned to the Higher Plane to do angel things if he’d really wanted to. He exorcised Kubo for erasing Shibuya once he saw that Shibuya was actually going to be erased because Joshua had saved it once and he was curious as to why, and he couldn’t quite figure that out if Shibuya was gone. But he didn’t have to, and in fact he points out to Rindo that he won’t be able to do so again. But either way, it really wasn’t his job. It was Joshua’s. Joshua just chose not to do it, for whatever reason.

TL;DR:

Joshua let a lot of people suffer and perma-die when he very easily could have prevented it for reasons that are unfathomable even to the Producer (“Does [the Composer] have a plan at all?” — Secret Report #20), and while this was perhaps due to Higher Plane politics and wanting to Prove A Point to the angels of the Higher Plane, that doesn’t change the fact that the suffering and erasure of countless individuals was a direct result of his inaction, or that another city’s Composer had to step in to give the Players a chance to fix the mess because Joshua himself couldn’t be bothered to do so.

#neo: the world ends with you #ntwewy #neo twewy #long post for ts #smallestfish #also Rindo was Joshua's proxy so . . . if Rindo lost Joshua lost #and Joshua STILL did nothing even when Rindo DID lose #HAZUKI had to intervene #quite the contrast to the first game where Joshua joined up in Week 2 to ensure Neku could survive the week #(but also to needle him back to his old ways - or try to. or see if Neku would regress with needling. for science.)#Joshua's such an interesting character but he is not nice or selfless or even good #the only nice angel is Hanekoma #and that is Facts #ntwewy spoilers #neo twewy spoilers

42 notes · View notes

imagineaworlds · 3 years

Text

I Love You (Part Fifty) -- Aaron Hotchner

Written By: @desperately-bisexual

Request: None.

Warnings: SMUT!! Cursing. Unprotected sex. Wrap it before you tap it, ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary sibs. Dom/sub relationship. Sub switching (Dom!reader, sub!Hotch). Bondage (ropes and handcuffs). Sex toys (vibrating cockring). Gag (using a suit tie). Edging. Name calling. Impregnation kink. Stop light safe word system. Cock warming for aftercare (to prevent sub dropping). Oh, boy. Sin. Just pure sin. The reader does go by they/them pronouns, however, Hotch refers to them as female when saying “good girl”.

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Greenaway!Reader

Word Count: 6855

Timeline: Right after part forty-nine.

Criminal Minds Discord Server

I recognized that look in his eyes. It was the same one I had every time I was in his position. Lust mixed with fear of the unknown of what was to come. There was an insatiable desire to reach out, to touch me, to kiss me, to hold me, to fuck me; all of which he couldn’t have. This started as his game, one which he thought he could win at every time. To his surprise, though, I managed to win— likely just this once, but still— and I was going to take advantage of this opportunity, there was no doubt. Hence, the look in his eyes.

Hotch’s whole body tensed as he heard the click of the black box opening. He was watching me intently, trying to figure out my next moves before I could even make them, but he didn’t have enough experience in the position he was in to build a profile about my behaviors just yet. I didn’t keep him waiting too long like he enjoyed doing with me. I grabbed the longer lengths of rope that we had rolled up in the bottom of the box, and I showed him as soon as I had a grip on them. He tensed again, his erect cock twitching slightly in his pants at the sight of me unraveling the lengths of rope.

I smirked as I laid the untangled ropes over his thighs, just to see how he would react. He jumped slightly. He was on edge… I couldn’t blame him when I always acted the same way. It looked like he almost wanted to plead for mercy, just like he always made me do. It was nice to see him like that, having already relinquished control, excited to know more about my plans.

As I crawled onto the bed, my legs straddling his thighs, Hotch instinctively made a move to reach out for me, but he immediately stopped himself when he remembered the rules. No touching. I grinned slightly before biting my bottom lip seductively. He looked so good for me, his chest bare, his blue dress pants still on, his forehead already beginning to sweat as he anticipated my torture and love. I wondered if that was how I always looked while trying my hardest to obey the rules despite how hard he tried to make me break them. I wanted him to reach out, I wanted him to dare to touch me, to kiss me, to buck his hips up to beg me for more. I wanted him to break the rules in order to give me an excuse to torture him more. He was already in trouble for using me in the car the other morning at the park, and then forgetting that it was Valentine’s Day today. He told me that he would make it up to me, and he was certainly trying his best.

When we got home from the bar, Hotch tried pushing me against the wall and claiming dominance, but I had to remind him that I was the one who won our race the other day, meaning that I still had to claim my prize. He whined— Aaron Hotchner, of all people, whining in my ear— and he grinded his hips against mine for friction, but I pushed him away.

“I won’t let you cum at all if you keep it up,” I said sternly.

I bet Hotch was regretting the competition altogether, but most importantly, how his strict dominance had been teaching me a thing or two about how to put him in his place. We didn’t switch often because I liked being out of control, and he liked watching me writhe; but there were times like this where I found it arousing to see him realize that he had no choice but to be obedient. It was like that night we were going to JJ’s Superbowl party a couple years ago. That night had never left my mind, and I always wondered if we would have another scene like it. I mean, there were times where Hotch liked having me on top… Actually, if we weren’t doing a scene, he preferred it. But there was something different about making him submissive to me. The thought alone was so intoxicating I felt like I could have jumped in then and there, but would have been the point, then?

When we had finally moved to the bedroom, I tore off Hotch’s suit jacket, pulled off his tie as quickly as I could, then shoved him onto the bed. He let me do with him as I pleased, keeping in mind that I had earned this, even though I technically cheated. He had a few days to argue this, but he never did, and he still wasn’t. He wanted this, and that made me want him more. Yet, I paced myself, taking my time unbuttoning his shirt. I had an obsession with his chest and how he would constrict with the slightest of touches. He had always been like that, even long before Foyet attacked him, but now it was twofold because of that. While I was first scared of touching him after that, he insisted that he was fine and he liked how handsy I got with his chest, and he never wanted that to stop. It took some time to get used to it, but now it was easy to ignore the scars and just focus on how he shivered under my touch.

“Please,” he whispered quietly, letting the plea just barely fall off his lips like he hadn’t meant to do it because he was too focused on staying still.

“Please… what, baby?” I asked with the same quiet, considerate tone. I wanted to keep him at ease, to make sure that this was still fine and that he wasn’t going to hate it. He liked what happened the night of the Superbowl, and I liked the trouble that it got me into, but Hotch, by nature, wasn’t a submissive. If there was any chance that he was going to be uncomfortable, then it wasn’t worth it. I loved him too much to not care about what he wanted. “Tell me.”

“More.” He bucked his hips.

I put more of my weight down on his thighs to keep him still. “Hands,” I demanded quietly.

Hotch immediately held his wrists out of me, pressing them together because he already knew what was coming. I kissed his knuckles gently as I collected his wrists in my grip. His fingers stretched, trying to hold my face tenderly. Despite how fast we were moving and how aroused both of us were, the urge to leap into action and just fuck each other crazy hadn’t settled yet. Maybe it was the fact that it was Valentine’s Day, or maybe it was the fact that we were taking it slow to make sure that this was something we both really wanted, but we left some time to just be sensual and catch our breaths. Besides, it didn’t hurt that the slower I would take things, the more desperate he would get for me, which, in my book, was a win.

“Just breathe,” I told him as I leaned down and kissed his lips. He let out a sigh through his nose before leaning up slightly to kiss me harder. While he was distracted with still trying to prove his dominance the only way he could, through our shared kiss, I started wrapping the rope around his wrists. He gasped at the bite of the rope as I pulled it tight. “Just breathe.”

As I tied off the rope to create an inescapable restraint, I leaned up from his lips to watch him struggle and pull. He tried with all his might to separate his wrists, his biceps bulging and his chest tightening as he did so. Just as I wanted. When he realized that he wasn’t going anywhere and that I was getting a little too much out of watching him spar with his restraints. Displeased with the way he profiled my excitement, I grabbed the ends of the rope, the extra lengths I had left for the rest of my plan and tugged. He whimpered at the feeling but fell silent as I leaned over him to tie him to the headboard.

While I had strategically leaned over him in a way that my cleavage would be right in his face, I hadn’t expected him to crane his neck up and attack my collarbone with a nibbling kiss. My strength weakened as he started leaving a mark and bucked his hips up again.

“Stop it,” I growled in his ear.

“I need you,” he whined. I swear, I could never get over that. “Please.”

“Not yet.” I leaned back up and slid down his thighs a bit more so that he couldn’t reach me in any way and if he tried to buck his hips again, it wouldn’t do anything to give either of us the relief we wanted. “Pull.” I wanted to admire my work. I wanted to take a moment to just be in his shoes for once and see what was so appealing about watching me struggle.

He did as he was told, yanking at the rope to test his mobility against the headboard. Nothing. He had maybe two to three inches of wiggle room away from it, but that was it. Hotch slumped. “I hate you.”

“Now you get it.” I smirked.

I reached down and started fiddling with his belt buckle, my hands so close to where he needed me most, but not yet daring to venture there. Hotch immediately stopped moving. Every inch of him was still, the only thing to notice was his wide eyes and the way he was biting his lip. When I finally got the buckle undone, he released his lip, letting out a breath of relief, even though I hadn’t done anything to free him yet. As I pulled off the belt, though, carefully sliding the leather out of each of the loops, Hotch rose his hips to help me, but then obediently lowered them when I was done.

Suddenly, Hotch let out a loud moan as my wrist accidentally passed over his hardened length. “I’m going to spank you so hard you won’t be able to walk for a week,” he hissed as he calmed himself down.

I tsked my tongue. “Nuh uh, that wasn’t the deal of the competition. You can’t punish me for anything I do tonight.”

“Fuck the rules—”

A breathless moan escaped him as I caught him off guard by palming him through his pants on purpose this time to get him to stop talking. “You always have such a mouth on you…” My fingers danced over his tip as his pants continued to strain around him. “I always get punished for talking back, but you…” I did it again and he moaned once more. “You’re worse because you think I’d never do anything to you.” I stopped touching him all together and rolled off the bed. “Maybe, just maybe, this’ll do the trick.” I opened up the black box again and pulled out a toy for Hotch. I turned to face him, rolling it in my hands, taking note of how he gulped and widened his eyes. “You trust me?” I inquired. He nodded instantly. “Color?”

“Green, baby.”

He seemed more eager than I had ever seen him before. I didn’t realize that he would be into this. I thought that he might have found it to be a bit much; but then again, we had reviewed everything in that box together, talking about what they did and what Hotch would be interested in using. While we mainly focused on the toys that we could use on me— since that was our dynamic— we had still discussed this. But I never thought in a million years that he would actually want to use this.

As I sat back down on his thighs, Hotch shifted to get more comfortable, and I let him. “Hotch,” I put a hand on his chest to signify a pause and to clarify sincerity, “you tell me if we need to stop. I’m serious.”

His eyes searched mine for a moment before he said, “Kiss me.” I obliged, knowing that we both needed it. “I love you.”

I winked at him as I moved down to kiss his cheek, jawline, neck, collarbone, pecks, stomach, and… He sucked in a breath as I worked my way down to where he needed me most. When he thought that I would finally touch him, I grinned to myself and started kissing back up his body. My hands held his sides, my thumbs running over his scars out of habit.

I loved every bit of Hotch, no matter what he looked like. While I could have argued all day that I definitely loved him more with the beard, he always knew that I was joking. But his scars were just as much a part of him as his eyes and nose were. They had bad memories attached to them, of course, but they reminded me every day how lucky I was to have him still and how I would do anything for him. There were hundreds of different instances where I nearly lost him, but the scars were a reminder that even if the worst could happen, I would still have him. He was there, in my arms, between my legs, and he was all mine. I loved him. Every fucking inch of him.

He liked leaving marks on my neck, I could show the same courtesy. So, as I nibbled lightly and sucked a patch of skin on his neck as payback for earlier when he did it without permission, my hands squeezed his sides again to feel him tense up underneath me.

When I was content with the obvious hickey my lips started making their way down again. I could feel him still straining in his pants, begging for release, begging for attention. I wasn’t going to give him anything, though. Not yet. Hotch liked teasing me, to dance around what I needed most in order to put me on edge, to make me more desperate for him. The more I wanted him, the better our sex was. He knew that, I knew that, and that was exactly why he did it every damn time. After four years of knowing Hotch, and learning about his tricks as a dominant, I knew a thing or two about torturing him and making him need me more.

“You’re so hard, baby,” I cooed, kissing the buttons on his pants. “What are you thinking about?”

“You know what I’m thinking about,” he hissed.

“Tell me.”

Hotch lifted his head to squint at me, but I didn’t double back on my order. My fingers played with the waistband of his pants, putting the idea into his mind that I would pull them off if he just answered.

“I’m thinking about finally being inside of you.”

I undid the first button. “And?”

He caught onto my game and eagerly made his next play. “Having you ride me.” The next button popped open. “Cumming inside you…” I slowly started pulling his zipper down. “Feeling you clench around me as you cum around my cock.” I grabbed the waistband again. “I can practically already hear you screaming my name.” He threw his head back as he worked with me to help me pull his pants off. “And…” he fell silent as his pants fell to the floor, leaving him in his underwear.

“Don’t stop.”

He gulped. “I can’t—” He shivered as I ran my hands up and down his thighs slowly. “I can’t think of anything.”

“Try.” I grabbed the waistband of his underwear now, hesitating to pull them down until I got at least one more thing from him.

“I— Please…”

“One more.”

“I can’t wait to feel the toy on me—”

His mouth fell agape as I pulled his underwear down, his erection finally springing free. When he was finally nude, finally presented bare for me, I took a moment to admire him. I had never seen him look so panicked yet so in love. He seemed like he was scared of what was to come, but he was excited for the pleasure that would come out of it. Just as I always was. I liked that the tables were turned around for once. He spent years torturing me like this, and I was finally getting the chance to get back at him. This was practically a once in a lifetime kind of experience, considering how careful he’d be in the future to make sure I’d never get this opportunity again.

I was going to ruin him.

I took my index finger and carefully reached out to run the pad of my nail up and down his length slowly. I was barely hovering my touch over him, and he was already bucking around to feel me. I eyed him sternly, pulling my hand away before I could even touch him for a single moment, and he whined, letting his body fall limp again. Slowly, I shuffled down his thighs, moving them apart slightly so that I could rest between them while sitting on my knees. Hotch lifted his head off the pillows so that he could watch me as I bent down, my face level with his cock, begging for my attention, and my ass up in the air. I bet he was thinking about fucking me like that because his erection twitched with anticipation, and I smiled before sticking my tongue out.

Starting at the base of his cock, I licked a gentle stripe up his shaft. He moaned and pulled at the ropes. I pulled away from him to give him a look that warned him to be careful. When he was settled again, I brought my index finger to hip tip and slowly caressed it, spreading his precum around. He wiggled anxiously, twitching against my touch. He was so fucking sensitive. I loved it. This whole time, he wanted me to touch him, and while it was probably a relief to feel something, it was probably torture that I was only touching the places where it was nearly painful if teased for too long.

“Please— Y/N—” He threw his head back. “Fuck— Baby girl— Ah—” I flattened my tongue on his tip, licking up the mess I had made of him. “Y/N—”

“Stop making noise,” I demanded. A smirk suddenly flashed on my face as a thought occurred to me. “Or I’ll gag you.” Using his own threats against him was so satisfying, but the look on his face was priceless.

I tasted him again, this time circling his tip with my tongue, my fingers dancing lightly at the base. Through my lashes, I could see him holding back moans and pleas by choosing to pant and bite his lip instead. I decided to push further, see what reactions I could get out of him. How much longer until he would break? I tested it by leaning forward slightly, allowing myself the angle to wrap my lips around his girth.

“Y/N!” He tugged as hard as he could, his legs pulling up and in towards his body slightly.

I had hardly even put my mouth on him, and I already broke him. He was such a mess. Even more so when I took my mouth off of him and squeezed his thighs. “I warned you.” I stretched to the side of the bed, not quite getting off of Hotch, but not applying the same weight on his legs as before. I reached down to the floor and grabbed his red tie that I had torn off of him earlier. When I settled back on his thighs, I rolled and crumpled the tie in my hands, forming it into a loose ball that would unravel if I stopped applying pressure around it. “Open.”

“You’re not seri—”

Before he could utter anything else, I shoved the tie in his open mouth. He yelled behind it, but he was muffled now, unable to enunciate anything.

“You’re right about gagging; it is nice to finally be left to work in silence.” I smirked and sat up, reaching to the side for the toy I had grabbed from the black box earlier.

He pulled at his restraints, knowing what was about to come. While he probably didn’t want to stop me entirely, he probably wasn’t too keen on the idea of me torturing him with it until I was content with his squirming and pleading.

“Hold still.” I grabbed his face and made him look at me. “Knock for Colors.” He knocked three times before I could even go through them with him again. “I love you,” I whispered as I dragged my nails down his chest slowly. His abs tightened at the feeling, earning a wider smirk from me. “Remember to breathe.”

I turned the toy around in my hands, finding the right way to go about putting it on. His breath shallowed as he focused on breathing, just as I instructed. I gripped the outside of the toy and slowly started lowering it over his cock. His hips lightly bucked in response at first, but then he fell apart into a puddle of loose moans behind his gag as I continued to slide it down every inch of him even slower.

“Fuck, baby,” I couldn’t help but moan at the sight.

The cock ring was so tight on him… I could feel him flexing inside of it, trying to adjust to the cold plastic feeling that was nowhere near as satisfying as being inside of me, but it was still a relief to feel more than just my light touches that were slowly killing him. Then, as it settled towards his balls, Hotch let out a relieved groan, his eyes screwing shut, his head falling back. My eyes focused on his face, trying to get a read on if he was still alright, but then I saw that there was a smile hidden behind his gag. And I thought that I was the masochist.

“I can’t believe you,” I chuckled. Hotch opened his eyes slowly to look at me. “You’re worse than me.” I ran my finger up his length again, yearning a light scream from him. “Color.” He knocked three times after hesitating a moment to let out another moan as I fisted my hand around his length. “Do you remember what this does?” I asked, tapping the cock ring lightly with my other hand. He nodded. “You’ll knock if you want to stop?” He nodded again. “Good.”

My hand moved up and down his dick, stopping just above where the cock ring began. I couldn’t believe how hard he was, and I couldn’t believe that he actually loved this as much as he was. I expected that he would enjoy it, but he’d get frustrated and ask to have it taken off… But he was loving every second of it, despite how tight it was around him. The best part hadn’t even come yet, and he was already puddy in my hands. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what his reaction was going to be when the next step approached.

“Baby—” he moaned through the gag, clear enough for me to understand.

“You want it?”

He nodded. “Please…”

My fingers that had been tapping at the cock ring stilled for a moment as I searched around for the switch on the top. There was a pack at the top of the ring that held a mini vibrator bullet. When turned on, it shook the ring around him, but the best part was that when I would ride him, it would be pressed right against my clit.

Hotch suddenly tugged at the restraints as I found the switch, turning on the vibrator. My hand that was wrapped around him started pumping again slowly to ease his tension, but it actually only seemed to make it worse. His whole body was tensing up. He was focused on pulling against the restraints, trying to see if he could somehow free himself. When I wiped my thumb over his sensitive tip, he immediately went limp again— which was exactly what I wanted.

“Oh…” I pouted on his behalf. “Are you a little sensitive?” He nodded excessively. “If I just…” I leaned down and pressed my tongue to his tip again. For just a moment, I felt how his length was shaking due to the vibrator, but also because he was already so close. I sat up. “Poor thing.” I tore my hands off him and he tugged again. “It took you three hours to realize that you forgot about Valentine’s Day. I’m almost tempted to edge you for three hours just because of that.” His eyes shot wide as he looked up at me again. I chuckled quietly. “What? You don’t want that?” He shook his head. “But I thought I get to do whatever I want tonight.” He shook his head. “You’re already so close,” I chuckled as I took note of how hard he was shaking. “Aren’t you?” He didn’t answer, which meant that he was. I tsked my tongue and turned off the vibrator. Hotch cried out behind his tie. “Color.” He knocked three times. “So good for me,” I bit my lip. When I knew that he had calmed down a bit since his edge, I carefully reached down and turned the vibrator back on. “Does that feel good, baby?” I asked after noticing how he was just a puddle of broken moans.

“Yes, baby girl,” I heard through the gag.

I smirked and put my hand around his length again. He cried out my name as I pumped as fast and hard as I could, stopping just short of the ring every time. Every few seconds or so, I’d take a moment to run my thumb over his tip, feeling how he just kept leaking for me. When I felt him getting close again, I turned off the vibrator and stilled my hand, but I didn’t pull away. Hotch bucked his hips, fucking my hand, thinking that it would tip him over the edge, but I wasn’t going to let that happen. We both knew that he wasn’t getting off that easy. So, he stopped. He hoped that his obedience would convince me to keep going, to make a mistake like letting him cum. But I wasn’t naïve. He was playing the same games I always played with him. Look where those always got me.

This time, once he was calm again, I didn’t turn on the vibrator. My hands continued their movements up and down his length, but this time there was no added stimulation from the toy, and I could see that it was killing him. He really did like it. I mean, over the past few minutes, he had proven to me that he appeared to like it, but I could tell by the way he was begging for me to turn it back on that he genuinely enjoyed the torturous pleasure the toy gave him. The way it squeezed around him, the way it jostled when he’d wiggle, the way it shook his length whenever I turned it on… he loved all of it.

And a thought hit me.

“My needy, little whore…” I whispered under my breath before turning the toy back on.

To my surprise, Hotch smiled and moaned at the slight degradation. It was nothing compared to some of the things he said to me— or could say to me but elected not to; but it came out of the blue, and he seemed to enjoy it. Maybe switching wasn’t as hard for him as I thought. Somehow, it seemed to come naturally to him, which was so odd considering how dominating he was. He loved controlling me, but there was some part of him that was revealing itself that night that was eager to just be used and controlled for once.

I turned the toy off mid thought when I felt him twitch in my hands.

“Fuck—” he screamed. “Baby—”

“I’m sorry, my love,” I cooed, leaning down to kiss his chest gingerly.

He panted against my lips and my chest that was pressed against his stomach. He had been so close that time, and I practically caught him before he could cum, or I could ruin him. Hotch was used to edging. We had done it a thousand times before, but I had never dared to ruin him before. His refractory period wasn’t short at all, and he always got extremely sensitive after climaxing. While that was certainly the ideal type of partner to ruin, Hotch probably would have hated it. Even if he wanted to try, I was sure that he’d end up disliking it, and then he’d feel uneasy by not getting the pleasure of actually tipping over the edge. Besides, his favorite thing to do was to cum inside me and stay there until he was sure that every drop was out… I couldn’t take that away from him when I was already torturing him in every other way. I wasn’t that cruel.

“You okay?” I asked quietly.

He knocked three times, but I just wanted to make sure, so I reached up and gently pulled the gag from his mouth. I made sure to hold his jaw open as I did so, barring him from snapping his mouth shut instinctively, which could’ve hurt him. As the tie left his mouth entirely, I helped him carefully close his mouth so that he could swallow his spit and catch his breath. He stopped panting and stared up at me lustfully.

“I love you,” he whispered. I turned the vibrator back on. “Maybe not—” he moaned. I squinted at him and turned it back off. “Wait— No. I’m sorry, baby, please. I’m sorry.” I turned it back on. “Thank you,” he sighed as he buried the back of his head into the pillow under him.

“And to think that I was actually about to ride you,” I teased. I wasn’t actually quite there yet, but he didn’t know that. His back talk, however, wasn’t helping his case. He told me that he couldn’t wait to be inside me, and I could use that to my advantage. Like now. “I was finally going to slide down on you like this…” I slowly lowered my fists over every inch of him, earning a moan from both of us. “And you were going to cum in me.”

“Please, baby,” he whined desperately. “I’ll do anything.”

“Oh, I’m sure. But all you’re going to do is lay there and beg while I keep edging you.”

“I won’t last…”

“And I won’t care.”

“Y/N—” He paused when I cupped a hand over his neck. “Please—” I squeezed lightly. I felt him gulp against my hand. “I’m close again,” he warned, his voice hoarse.

“Beg.”

“No,” he refused, shaking his head vigorously. He was trying so hard to not give in still, despite how desperate he was. I knew the feeling.

“Beg.”

He whimpered and squirmed as he got really close. I was watching him, though, making sure he wouldn’t tip over the edge before I wanted him to. “Fuck, baby. Please. Please, let me cum. I’ll be good for you. Please. Anything. Please.” He let out another moan as his cock twitched. “Please!” He pulled at his restraints, his legs also flexing. I turned off the vibrator before he could cum. “No! Please! Y/N, please, anything, please!”

“Shh…” I cooed, running my nails down his chest lightly to distract him. “You did good, baby. Do you want me?”

He nodded. “Please, baby. Please…” He sounded so deliciously defeated. I loved it. “Ride me.”

I desperately reached for the hem of my shirt, ridding myself of it before anything else. When Hotch saw me in my bra, he let out another sigh, and his cock twitched again, earning a smirk from me. I lifted myself off him slightly so that I could start fidgeting with my black dress pants. I hadn’t been able to change since getting back from California, though it would have been better to wear something nice to the bar earlier, and for this special occasion with Hotch; but it was what it was. I struggled to shuffle my weight around so that I could get out of my pants and underwear while still straddling Hotch. He was still, watching me intently. I could tell that he was trying to be good so that I wouldn’t change my mind about finally fucking him.

“B—Bra—” he stuttered through a sigh once I had my panties off and I sat back down on him. He had been so good for me, taking his edges so well, begging just like I wanted him to; I could do that one thing for him. Besides, he wouldn’t get to touch. I liked that. “You’re so beautiful,” he complimented as I unclasped my bra and it fell off my shoulders. “Please, let me touch you.”

I shook my head. “No.” I put my left palm on his chest and grabbed his length in my right hand. “Still green?” He nodded. “So fucking good for me…” I sighed as I lowered myself down on him painfully slow. His mouth fell agape as he let a sigh mixed with a moan gently escaped him. “So hard for me, baby. Do you like being my little edge slut?”

“Fuck,” he cursed, throwing his head back again.

“Answer me.”

“Yes. Yes, baby. I do.”

As I sat down on him entirely, I took a moment for both of us to adjust before turning the vibrator on the cock ring on again. “Shit,” I moaned, falling forward against his chest slightly before I caught myself. I could feel him shaking inside of me while the vibrator was also pressed directly against my clit. I suddenly understood why it was so hard for him to relax with those edges I gave him. “Fuck… Fuck…” I kept my palm pressed against his chest for balance, but my other hand went back up to his neck to keep his head against the pillow. When he was pinned and puddy in my hands, I started riding him. “Hotch…” The vibrator moved against my clit as I rocked my hips.

“I won’t last long, Y/N.”

I had to catch up to him. Though it wouldn’t take long, I knew that I had a lot of desperation to make up for. Hotch had been edged countless times, and he seemed ready to explode whenever. Me, on the other hand, I just needed him to hold on a little longer. The vibrator and his cock were already getting me close as I bounced and rocked on him, but he just had to wait. He could do that for me.

He looked at me with pleading, lustful eyes that made me moan again. I leaned down, my hands still pressed to him, and I kissed him hard. He tugged at his restraints again, trying to touch me and hold me, or maybe even grab ahold of my hips to make me fuck him faster, but he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Y/N…” he moaned into mouth.

“I’m close, baby. Just hold it. You can do it; I know you can.”

His eyes screwed shut. “I’m trying.” I kissed his jawline. “I’m gonna cum, baby.”

“Hold it.”

He was whimpering and whining, his hips still to prevent adding extra stimulation. I didn’t relent, though. I was so close. His cock hit my walls roughly, reaching a deep spot within me that made my knees weak.

“Cum in me, Aaron. Do it.”

I moaned against his jaw as I started falling apart. My stomach tightened into a thousand knots as the vibrator pushed me towards the edge. When I felt him orgasm inside me, his cock twitching, his cum shooting in me, I came for him. Just as he had asked for previously, my walls tightened around him, squeezing every drop out of him that he had to offer while I continued to fuck us through our orgasms.

“Y/N—” he gasped as the vibrator continued to torture his sensitive length. I rolled my hips again. “Fuck,” he hissed angrily. “Stop. Please.” I obeyed, slowing down my pace until I came to a steady halt. “The toy, baby, please— The toy—” He tugged against the restraints as hard as he could before I reached between us to turn the vibrator off. He sighed with relief and relaxed. “Fuck,” he chuckled.

“Was that okay?”

He smirked up at me. “I finally know how you feel.”

“And all it took was four years.”

“Untie me,” he begged, pulling at the restraints again.

I pouted and grinded myself down harder on him. “But you look so good like this, baby.” He hissed between his teeth, tensing up again at the feeling. I grinned and ran my fingers down his tight chest. “Happy Valentine’s Day, my love,” I whispered, leaning down to kiss him. His cock moved inside me as I rested my chest against his, our lips locking, his tongue fighting mine for dominance. When he started to win, however, I pulled away from him. “Hold still,” I cooed, stretching over him to start untying him from the headboard. When he was the slightest bit free, he let his arms fall down against the pillows. “Shh… come here…” I gently grabbed his tied wrists and brought them forwards towards me. “So good for me.” I kissed his knuckles again to comfort and distract him while I started undoing the rope around his wrists. When he was released and the rope fell on his chest, I kissed where the rope marks on his wrists were. “So, so good.”

Hotch leaned up slightly. “Did you enjoy your reward?”

I smiled shyly at him and nodded. I was falling down from Dom space, returning to how I usually was around him. I wasn’t crashing, which was a relief. It was a slow, steady, peaceful decline as the euphoria surrounding the situation died out. That mindset included taking the toy off him to make sure he could relax entirely. So, I carefully lifted myself off his length, both of us groaning at the feeling. I wasn’t sure why, but the running every morning and the rough fucking was getting to me more than usual. He was always big inside me, but it was different when my body was already weak while trying to build up muscle from the different kinds of workouts. The empty feeling of him leaving me was nearly unbearable, and I could tell that he was somewhat disappointed, too.

I looked at him as I sat on his thighs, my fingers hovering over the toy. “Just keep relaxing, okay?” He nodded. I gently pinched my thumb and index finger around the ring and started pulling it up. He hissed and fisted the sheets on either side of his body. “I know, baby…” I cooed, still moving. I knew that the sooner I got it off, the sooner he could relax, and we could call it a night. “You’re tensing,” I warned, feeling his thigh muscles constrict beneath me. “Almost there. I swear.” He let out a shaky breath and relaxed again so that I could pull it off the last two inches or so. “You did so good,” I complimented. “You still okay?”

He nodded again. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I stretched to put the ring on my bedside table, just to get it out of the way for the time being. Hotch grabbed my hips in his hands. “Baby?” I hummed a listening tone. “I need you.”

“Still?” I chuckled.

He shook his head. “Not like that. I just need to feel you.”

I couldn’t believe that. I mean, I knew that he enjoyed sitting inside me for a while afterwards just because it was too overwhelming to move sometimes; but what he was proposing was different. I didn’t object, though. Not at all. It was an innocent gesture— well, not innocent, but it was more so than what just happened, at least. So, I gave in. We moved together, adjusting slightly to make sure that he was comfortable, and then I grabbed his length, though it wasn’t hard now, and I carefully sat on him again. We both sighed with relief, grateful to feel each other again. And then when I was settled, I finally caught my breath.

“Okay. I’m officially sore,” I sighed as I collapsed over his chest.

His body shook slightly as he laughed and wrapped his arms around me. “Sore from?”

“Training.”

“Mhm. Sure.”

I kissed his peck. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

----------

criminal minds family: @peggy1999 @gorgeousdarkangel @alex--awesome--22 @oceaneblu @brithedemonspawn @absolutemarveltrash @bshelley322 @rousethemouse @sunshinepower17 @weexinling @pettttyyyc @Braty-angel

#Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfic #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #criminal minds smut #criminal minds imagine #aaron hotchner #Aaron Hotch Hotchner #aaron hotchner fanfic #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner smut

106 notes · View notes

caffeinatedseri · 3 years

Text

The Significance of Sunsets

We’re introduced to the significance of twilight during the Cannibalism Arc via the Tripartite Tactic.

The essence of the Tripartite Tactic supports 3 core themes of BSD: moral ambiguity, the cyclical nature of life, and the beauty of humanity.

First, the Tripartite Tactic establishes the moral balance of the BSD universe through the government, PM, and ADA’s interactions with one another to ensure the balance of Yokohama.

Day and night are binary opposites, similar to how the government and mafia operate on opposite sides. That would imply that the government and mafia are always at war with one another, working to bring the other down, but the Tripartite Tactic suggests otherwise.

Both the government and mafia’s survival are necessary to secure the balance of the city, just like how day and night, good and evil have to coexist in a state of balance.

However, there is a middle ground that bridges these opposing concepts together: twilight — as represented with the agency.

As the evening acts the neutral point from day to night, the agency acts as a morally neutral organization between the government and mafia. They don’t necessarily abide by the laws and rules of “justice,” but they still work to establish a semblance of “good” in this world.

We’ve seen the government act in suspicious ways, we’ve seen the mafia act in good natured ways, and we’ve seen the agency do both of the sort. Even though the government and mafia are supposed to represent “good” and “evil”, the fact that they break these molds serves to once again prove the moral ambiguity within the BSD universe.

Twilight also symbolizes another important idea — the cyclical nature of life. As the passing period between day and night, it represents the end of a day, which will always lead to the start of a new day.

This cyclical nature lends itself to a feeling of hope that drives the journey of redemption — the hope that the night will pass and a new day will begin encourages our characters to persevere and hope for something better.

Cycles also show themselves through character interactions throughout the generations.

Mori abused Dazai → Dazai abused Akutagawa → Akutagawa abused Kyouka, In this case, the cycle of abuse is born (although it fortunately stops at Kyouka).

In parallel, Oda helped Dazai → Dazai helped Atsushi → Atsushi helps Kyouka, For this, the cycle of redemption is born.

As twilight is a time for sunsets, sunsets are an inevitable motif for these themes. The arrangement of colors in the sky, characteristic of a sunset, tends to evoke feelings of awe or admiration for the beauty of such sunset. The beauty of a sunset symbolizes an appreciation for the beauty of humanity, aligning with the theme of accepting human nature as is. (think Dazai)

Keeping in mind these 3 aspects: moral ambiguity, the cyclical nature of life, and the beauty of humanity, the significance of every scene with a sunset becomes more prominent.

Sunsets in BSD always appear at important points of the narrative, with my favorite being:

This scene’s significance is primarily Dazai’s transition out of the mafia as represented through the light shining through the window — as if light is being shined on the darkness that had surrounded his life.

This scene happens to be one of my favorites because it touches upon all three themes that the twilight-esque light represents.

Moral ambiguity: Oda knows that Dazai doesn’t care about justice or evil, or defining aspects of morality, so Oda argues Dazai should work for justice. Oda doesn’t try to argue that justice is morally correct, but he simply says it is “better” in an extremely vague way.

The idea of Dazai joining the side of justice with no strong moral conviction opens up the concept of moral ambiguity. Is it important for him to have a moral code if he wants to find the purpose of his life? Can he help others if he doesn’t believe it’s the “right” thing to do? Does it matter?

Most importantly, does saving others whilst not believing in the standards of morality place you within the boundaries of justice or evil? Or are there no such defined boundaries?

Cyclical nature: Oda pushes for Dazai to save people, instead of killing people, mirroring the actions of Natsume-sensei who helped Oda come to that same resolve. This starts the cycle of Dazai helping Atsushi, Atsushi helping Kyouka, and hopefully Atsushi getting to help Akutagawa as well.

This scene also reflects the idea of the “end of the night”, or the start of a new day as Dazai abandons the PM, and starts anew in the Agency.

Beauty of humanity: PM Dazai was arguably the most “inhumane” version of Dazai that we’ve seen, due to his heavily logic driven intellect and distrusting tendencies.

However, in this interaction with Oda, we finally see his humanity shine through. Oda gives no reasonable, straight-forward explanation as to why Dazai should leave the mafia, but Dazai follows his advice regardless because of their trust.

The ability to trust and love, an innate part of human nature, can be seen as foolish from the eyes of the logic-driven, but ultimately that’s what makes being human beautiful.

I admit the last scene may have been a little vague with whether the setting was actually a sunset, but this one is more obvious!

This takes place after SSKK’s fight with Francis, and they regroup with Dazai, Fukuzawa, and Kyouka.

Cyclical nature: As the finale of the Guild Arc, the sunset represents the end of a day and the start of another as they close this chapter of their lives. It also parallels Dazai’s “redemption” scene, as Kyouka finds her redemption in sacrificing herself for others and becoming part of the agency.

Just as Oda was able to help Dazai in the previous scene, Dazai is the one who tells Kyouka exactly what she needed to hear in order for her to survive and find a home in the agency.

Beauty of humanity: Being human means to be compassionate, and I’d argue that Kyouka was uncompassionate in the past, just because no one had shown her what compassion was like. However, Kyouka grows from that — with the help of Atsushi and Dazai showing her empathy and kindness, she’s able to reciprocate that feeling and be willing to give up her life for the sake of others.

Dazai also praises Akutagawa for a short moment in this scene, which is also an act of compassion from Dazai although Akutagawa deserves more than that.

This scene follows the party at the end of the Cannibalism Arc, as Dazai and Atsushi have a nice heart-to-heart.

Dazai’s toast here is technically an anime-only moment, but obviously all of the sunsets are anime-only. Regardless, I’ll be discussing his entire talk with Atsushi here, along with the toast.

Moral ambiguity: Akutagawa’s promise to not kill anyone for 6 months mirrors that of Oda — a mafia member who doesn’t kill. By doing so, he directly challenges the morality involved with being a mafia member (what would be “bad”) and breaks away from the black and white labels of “good” and “evil.”

If we followed the code of justice, presumably the morally “right” way, then it would dictate that Akutagawa would need to be punished for the crimes he committed. However, Atsushi’s decision to form that promise with Akutagawa gives him an opportunity to grow and redeem himself, even if Akutagawa fits with the “evil” label.

Akutagawa and Atsushi are obviously foils — they’re different in almost every way, which you could use to define Atsushi as the hero and Akutagawa as the villain, but it’s undeniable that they also share many similarities. As the line between “good” and “evil” blurs, moral ambiguity is developed.

Cyclical nature: Once again, this scene closes out the Cannibalism Arc, with the sunset symbolizing both the end and beginning.

Atsushi’s promise with Akutagawa parallels that of Oda’s dying wish to Dazai; they’re both founded on the basis of trust, and they push towards a brighter future for Akutagawa and Dazai respectively. Thus, the cycle of redemption repeats itself once more.

Dazai’s “To the stray dogs” statement also parallels his toast with the Buraiha trio (Dazai, Ango, Oda). It could be just a callback to Oda, but it also expresses Dazai passing on the toast to Atsushi, from one stray dog to another. Nevertheless, this still represents a cycle of actions in which the previous generation affects the present.

Beauty of humanity: Dazai toasting to Atsushi with the phrase “stray dogs” offers a sense of compassion and hope. Dazai and Atsushi have undoubtedly grown closer to one another throughout the entire series up to this point, so it makes perfect sense that Dazai shows that he cares by sharing a piece of his past with Atsushi.

Toasting directly to the stray dogs implies a celebration of sorts for these dogs, who are stray but ultimately not alone. The toast is indicative of a hope for a better future whilst also acknowledging how one can feel lost in life (and how that’s okay).

Atsushi’s promise with Akutagawa also serves as an attempt to teach Akutagawa the beauty of humanity, since Atsushi believes that Akutagawa doesn’t see the value of life (which is preventing him from getting Dazai’s approval). I would argue that it should be the other way around, but Atsushi has good intentions here.

After Atsushi discovers the death of the Headmaster of his orphanage, Dazai gives some comforting advice.

Moral ambiguity: Atsushi struggles with his conflicted feelings towards the Headmaster’s death, which is perfectly understandable.

The Headmaster can’t be defined as completely good or completely bad, because he did impact Atsushi’s life in a way that led him to where he is today (once again, no definitive black or white answer as to whether that’s good or not).

Atsushi struggles with the thought that he has to pick whether to feel glad or upset, in order to fit within the neat labels of black and white, happy and sad. In response, Dazai (the definition of a morally ambiguous man) simply says:

Although Dazai says “There’s no one who can fully grasp the deepest feelings of another person,” in the anime, I think the meaning of that is better stated in the manga. Dazai reasons that he can be both glad or upset, his feelings can be mixed, and there is no clear cut answer for how to feel (as Dazai only gives a general piece of advice).

Cyclical nature: Dazai’s statement, “when someone’s father dies, they tend to cry”, could honestly be interpreted in a multitude of ways.

Dazai’s reference to a father figure suggests that this “father” is simply a person who impacted their life greatly and made them who they are today. (since both of their fathers are unknown).

Following this definition, Oda is the father figure to Dazai in the same way that the Headmaster was to Atsushi. Although their methods of “helping” Dazai and Atsushi differ very drastically, the same cycle of this “father” figure impacting the life of their metaphorical son repeats.

Oda giving advice to Dazai, and Dazai giving advice to Atsushi is also another cycle — the cycle of reaching a hand out to someone in need. (which is the more sensical of these two conclusions)

Beauty of humanity: Dazai’s ability to be compassionate truly shines in this scene and shows just how much he’s grown from his time in the PM.

In contrary to PM Dazai’s unfeeling self, Dazai is able to empathize with Atsushi on a personal basis; just as the Headmaster was a integral part of Atsushi’s past, Oda was the same for Dazai.

Dazai’s growing ability to understand others demonstrates his willingness to grow more accustomed to human nature, and love it for what it is.

Atsushi’s confusion in dictating what he should feel also speaks on the nature of humanity; his feelings don’t have to make sense for him to feel them. In fact, the more illogical his emotions are, the more human he is.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd meta #bsd analysis #bsd dazai #bsd atsushi #bsd kyouka #just me gushing over how much i love sunsets #there are many more sunset scenes that i didnt cover hmmm

261 notes · View notes

grailfinders · 3 years

Text

Fate and Phantasms #196

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're building the last of the Three Goddesses Alliance, Ereshkigal! (It took her long enough to show up.)

Eresh is a Grave Cleric for relatively obvious reasons, as it lets her do pretty much everything she does- raise the dead, care for the dead, raise the dead properly, cause earthquakes, and start pandemics. Maybe don't do that last one right now, we're kinda busy with one already. It's a shame Soul Cage is a wizard spell, but pobody's nerfect.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Now all of China knows you're on the naughty list.

Race and Background

Ereshkigal is part chthonic god, part human thanks to being a pseudoservant, that means Fallen Aasimar is a pretty good choice for her. You get Darkvision, Celestial Resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, Healing Hands to heal with your hands, and the Light cantrip to help the mortals with their dumb mortal eyes, using Charisma to cast it.

She's also the Three Goddess' Representative on behalf of humanity, trying to squirrel some away to prevent them from being entirely wiped out. This gives her proficiency with Intimidation and Religion, as well as an extended spell list we'll go over as it comes up. If you're wondering about the Intimidation: Yes the fandom thinks she's cute now, but you have to remember she's still a god of death. Most people aren't going to be as chill with her.

Ability Scores

Wisdom is first, Ereshkigal spent millennia honing her art alone in the underworld, so either she has a super high wisdom or an incredibly low one. But high wisdom works better for the build, so we'll go with that. Second is Charisma- some people love you, some people are terrified of you, those are both charisma. Your Dexterity is also solid, because your armor is not. Your Constitution is above average because while we don't need it for the build have you SEEN her HP stat? Your Intelligence is okay. You're not dumb, we just need other stuff more. Finally, dump Strength. You're a bit awkward with that spear, but we'll get some stuff to make it work later.

Class Levels

You're 100% Grave Cleric, so we'll just get into it. Starting off in this subclass gets you proficiency with Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as Persuasion to show off your awkward charms and History because you're literally older than the written word. At first level you also enter the Circle of Mortality, so your healing spells automatically heal for max HP on creatures with 0 HP, and you get a suped-up version of the Spare the Dying cantrip that uses a bonus action and has a thirty foot range. You also get Eyes of the Grave, meaning you can sense undead creatures within 60' of you if they're not behind cover. It won't tell you about their identity though, so make sure you don't pick a fight with Strahd, you're still only level one. You can do this Wisdom modifier times per long rest. Starting in a spellcasting class also gets you Spells, surprise surprise, and having a Ravnica background gets you even more. Being a grave cleric gets you Bane and False Life for free, giving you easy access to curses and HP boosts early in the game. Something I want to bring up about the ravnica background before we move forward: I misread how these backgrounds work before. They add spells to your class' spell list, not your spells known. That means builds where you pick spells every level only get the opportunity to learn those spells, they don't just get all of them for free. Clerics can prepare spells from their spell list every long rest anyway so it's not a big difference here, but it is something I'll have to go back and fix for the other members of the alliance and Ishtar. Anyways, you get Illusory Script added to your spell list, not exactly something you'll probably use. For spells you can actually choose, grab Resistance for a goddess core that adds 1d4 to your next save, Thaumaturgy for when you need to get dramatic with extra magical effects, and Toll the Dead to do just that for some necrotic damage. You can also choose to prepare spells like Command to flex your authority and Protection from Evil and Good to flex on your sister.

Second level clerics can Channel Divinity once per short rest in two flavors. Turn Undead takes care of undead that fail their wisdom save, and Path to the Grave will clear out anything else. Spend your action to curse a creature, giving vulnerability to the next attack that hits it. Rules as written you can't target a mountain with this, and you definitely can't get the bonus for an Earthquake spell, but I'd allow it for the cool factor. Alternatively, you can Harness Divine Power to spend one use of Channel Divinity for an extra spell slot which is a level equal to or less than half your proficiency bonus. You can do this once per long rest, but that will grow as your Channel Divinity uses do.

Usually your third level doesn't get you much of anything as a cleric, but since you're a fallen aasimar you get a Necrotic Shroud, spending an action to get really spooky for a minute. Mechanically, this is your big ghostly form, and it'll frighten nearby creatures that fail a charisma save, and for the minute you're transformed you'll deal an extra bit of necrotic damage once per turn. You can go ghost once per long rest. You also get second level spells now, including your freebies Gentle Repose to prevent people from rising back as zombies and Ray of Enfeeblement, which weakens a creature's weapon attacks for up to a minute. They can make a constitution save to shrug it off, but not until the after the spell's already hit, so at least you'll get your money's worth. Thanks to your background you can also learn the spell Enthrall, making it harder for people to notice anyone but you. As someone who's existed in this fandom for any period of time, I can confirm Ereshkigal definitely has this ability. You can also prepare spells like Spiritual Weapon to have a spear that actually hits good and Protection from Poison for more goddess core shenanigans. Finally, make sure you pick up Silence. I'm still not entirely sure how we'll build Tiamat, but that should help shut off her immortality.

At fourth level you get your first Ability Score Improvement, which won't actually be improving your ability scores. grab the Eldritch Adept feat for the Armor of Shadows invocation so you can cast mage armor on yourself for free. You also learn how to cast Friends to make it easier to make friends and terrify your enemies.

Fifth level clerics get third level spells, including your freebies Revivify and Vampiric Touch. You're the god of the dead, so people should only really die when you want them to. Alternatively, you can Animate Dead to summon some skeletons for your own uses. You can also use Spirit Guardians to get more ghostly defenses. They'll slow down creatures of your choice in your area, and if they fail wisdom save they'll take radiant and/or necrotic damage, with it getting halved if they succeed.

At sixth level you get a second use of Channel Divinity per short rest, and a second use of Harness Divine Power per long rest. You also become a Sentinel at Death's Door, shutting down a critical hit near you as a reaction, turning it into a regular attack Wisdom Modifier times per long rest. Sure, you can bring people back later, but this is way less expensive.

Seventh level clerics get fourth level spells, like Blight and Death Ward. It is really hard for flowers to grow in the underworld. You can also use Leomund's Secret Chest thanks to your background, or you can prepare Banishment to throw Tiamat back where she came from, use Guardian of Faith for more ghosts, and leave an Aura of Purity around you to give your allies the blessings of Kur.

Eighth level clerics get another ASI, and this one will improve your ability scores. Kinda. We're grabbing another feat, but being Shadow Touched will improve your Wisdom by one point. It lets you cast Invisibility or Disguise Self once per long rest for free, or you can cast either spell as if it were a normal spell on your spell list. Now you can really make yourself look ghostly, if a bit undersized for your boss fight. Your destroy undead also bumps up to hit CR 1 creatures, but that'll blow up your skeletons as well, so be careful with it. Finally, Potent Spellcasting adds your wisdom modifier to your cleric cantrip damage. Nobody can toll the dead harder than the god of the dead.

Ninth level cleric, fifth level spells. Antilife Shell prevents anyone from getting too close to you, though it also means you can't get close to them without breaking the spell. It's almost poetic. Anyway, you also get Raise Dead, which is like revivify but with a more lenient time frame. You can also instigate your very own christmas event now with Contagion! This spell poisons a target, and at the end of each of its turns it has to make a Constitution save. After succeeding three throws, the spell ends. If it fails three throws, it gets a disease for the rest of the week. The closest thing to Sumerian Flu is probably Filth Fever, which gives disadvantage on saves, checks, and attacks that use strength, but there's all sorts of diseases you can give people. Technically this isn't a contagious disease, but talk to your DM, I'm sure you can work something out. You can also use Hallow to turn your room into a little slice of the underworld, shutting down your sister even further.

Tenth level clerics can invoke Divine Intervention with a 1 in 10 chance of getting a free favor from your god. Your god is you, technically, but it'll make more sense later. You can use this once per day, but it takes a week to recharge after it actually works. You can also cast the Light cantrip now. You could do it before, but now it's stronger.

Destroy Undead grows to hit CR 2 undead, and you can cast sixth level spells. Create Undead makes stronger undead for your army. Sadly dinosaur skeletons aren't available, so you'll just have to settle for ghouls. At higher levels you still won't get dinosaurs, but you can get ghasts, wights, and even mummies! Just be careful you don't stop recasting the spell, mummy rot can be rough. You can also summon a Heroes' Feast for more blessings from Kur, and you can take on an Otherworldly Form for another ghost transformation. This spell makes you immune to fire and poison damage as well as the poisoned condition. You can fly 40' per round, get +2 to AC, and you can attack with weapons using your wisdom twice per attack action. You're stuck with the UA version of this spell, so it takes an action, but on the plus side this just gives you an excuse to use Spiritual Weapon more.

Use this ASI to bump up your Constitution for more health. Health gets added retroactively, so you get +12 HP now instead of just +1. It's pretty nice.

Seventh level spells! Resurrection further cements your control over death with a time limit of a century, and you can also Plane Shift yourself (or an enemy) into the underworld.

Destroy Undead hits CR 3 creatures now. Not even mummies can stand up to your power!

Fifteenth level clerics get eight level spells. If silence won't keep Tiamat down, Antimagic Field should do the trick. The one problem there is it's only a 10' sphere around you, and you rely on magic way more than Tiamat does. You can also cause Earthquakes, turning a very large area into difficult terrain, disrupting concentration, knocking creatures prone, and destroying structures in the area. The one problem here is that you can't fly, so be careful where you're pointing that thing.

Yet another ASI. Use this one to finally max out your Wisdom for super strong spells and better protection from crits.

If you make it to level 17, you get the super powerful ninth level spells. Also, Destroy Undead hits CR 4 creatures, and you become a Keeper of Souls, stealing away some of a dying enemy's soul to heal an ally based on the creature's hit dice once per turn. Right though, ninth level spells. True Resurrection brings someone back even if they've been disintegrated 199 years ago. It's expensive, but you can always grab some gems from your sister if you're pressed for cash. The benefits of sharing a body.

At eighteenth level you get a third Channel Divinity and another use of Harness Divine Power. Really get those paths to the grave filled, it's kind of your thing.

Use your last ASI to grab the Tough feat for 38 HP now and another 2 next level. You have one of the highest HP stats in the game, this only makes sense.

Your capstone level is an improvement to your Divine Intervention. You know how I keep bringing up multiclassing as a con when we include cleric levels? This is why. Your divine intervention now always succeeds. Period. I mean, it makes sense. You are the god giving you power. But yeah, you get guaranteed god-level power freely given as an action. You truly have the power of god and anime on your side.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Clerics have a good variety of spells, and you take it even further with your background. You can heal but you're not completely hosed on your own like Medea Lily, you can deal damage and still do stuff outside of combat unlike your sister, and you have utility without your build being dominated by it like Hundred Personas.

You might not be good in a one on one fight, but you don't get into those that often thanks to your skeleton army. If you just dedicate harnessing divine power to keeping them in line, you can have nine extra bodies on the field to turn the action economy in your favor.

Even when we're not talking about spells, you're still really supportive of your team. Shutting down critical hits and stabilizing your allies quickly will seriously improve the longevity of your party.

Cons:

Dabbling in so many areas of magic means you're unfocused, so you won't excel in any one. You won't heal as much as Medea, deal as much damage as Ishtar, or be a skill monkey like Hundred Personas.

You also rely on magic completely for combat, which means stepping into an anti-magic zone can be deadly. This is especially bad for you, since an anti-magic zone will probably be the best way to deal with Tiamat.

You might have an undead army, but your best spells are area of effect and you're a cleric. Destroy Undead is kind of a big deal for you.

#fate grand order #fgo #DND 5e #D&D #Ereshkigal #cleric

35 notes · View notes

nikkoliferous · 3 years

Text

Phase One: Avengers (Part Two)

Apparently I had so much to comment on this crappy book that I had to break this up into two parts (you can read part one here). No, I have nothing to say for myself. Lol

Let’s continue.

Clint Barton and Loki’s hand-picked strike team were in a stolen Quinjet with a faked S.H.I.E.L.D. call sign, 26-Bravo. That got them close enough that by the time the air-traffic officer on the Helicarrier knew something was wrong, it was already too late.

Whoa whoa whoa. I thought you said Loki didn’t care about the details. I thought you said such things were beneath him. Make up your mind.

With a last heave and twist, she freed herself from the fallen beam and ran. At that moment, the Hulk turned and saw her. She vaulted up a stairway and onto the next level. The Hulk swiped at the stairway and shredded it into scrap metal. Loki had gotten what he wanted. He must have been trying to time it so he could manipulate Bruce into becoming the Hulk right as his soldiers came to attack the Helicarrier. The Hulk would do at least as much damage from the inside as the rogue Quinjet could do from the outside.

Yes. Yes, he did. Lol

Natasha kept running, and the Hulk came right behind her. For a moment, she thought she’d lost him, but then he came at her out of the shadows, roaring. He was like walking rage, a single-minded engine of destruction. She shot a hole in the pipe over his head. Steam shot out of it into the Hulk’s eyes, stopping him for just the moment she needed to get a head start. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew she wasn’t going to stay away from him for long. He came after her, smashing through bulkheads and doorways like they weren’t even there and roaring the whole time.

Mood, though.

Steve got to the edge of the turbine mount about the same time as Tony. “I’m here!” he called out.

“Good,” Tony said, dropping into view and hovering in the Iron Man armor to survey the wreckage. He had the suit on, and Steve could hear his voice through the earbud microphone all S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel wore. At least that channel was still intact; if they lost communications, they’d be done for.

Convenient. Clint would absolutely know this, which means either 1) he's incompetent, 2) he's not as mind-controlled as we think, or 3) Loki allowed/arranged for his own team's semi-failure.Take your pick.

“What’s it look like in there?” Tony asked.

“It seems to run on some form of electricity,” Steve said.

Tony was shoving loose huge pieces of debris that prevented the turbine blades from rotating. “Well, you’re not wrong,” he said.

Steve fumed. He wasn’t here for technical support. But that was all he could do at the moment.

Ironic for Steve to call out Tony for being useless without his suit when Steve is apparently useless at anything other than beating people up. Lol

Tony stood inside the turbine housing, looking at the blades. He’d cleared most of the debris jamming the rotors. “Even if I clear the rotors,” he said, “this thing won’t reengage without a jump. I’m going to have to get in there and push.”

“If that thing gets up to speed, you’ll get shredded,” Steve said.

Hey hey hey now, I thought Tony wasn't the type of guy to sacrifice himself??

The Hulk stomped around the flight deck, roaring. He saw Thor and swung a fist twice the size of Thor’s head. Thor caught it in both hands, straining to hold both the Hulk’s arm and his attention. “We are not your enemies, Banner,” he grunted. “Try to think!”

Now, where have I heard that before...?

In answer, the Hulk punched him through the wall.

Jealous.

Thor got up and watched the Hulk coming after him. Now this was a fight! He held out a hand, waiting for Mjolnir to return to him. Mjolnir smashed through another wall and reached Thor’s hand just as the charging Hulk came within striking distance.

What's a little bloodlust between friends, amirite?

The Hulk caught the hammer, and a fierce grin spread over his face… then he toppled backward and Mjolnir pinned him to the floor of the hangar.

None but I can lift Mjolnir, Thor thought. Not even this giant.

Yes, yes. You're very special, Thor. We're all super impressed, promise.

“You like this?” Coulson asked, meaning the gun. “We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don’t know what it does.” He powered it up, and rings along its barrel glowed bright orange. “Want to find out?”

But Loki wasn’t there in front of him. Thor saw it too late to do anything. That Loki was an illusion… and the real Loki was behind Coulson.

Lokiception.

“You lack conviction,” Coulson said. He did not move from where he sat against the wall. Blood trickled at the corner of his mouth, and the enormous gun lay uselessly across his lap.

Of all the things Coulson might have said, this was perhaps the one Loki expected least. I have moved worlds out of conviction, he thought. Made bargains with beings who snuff out planets as an afterthought. “I don’t think I…”

"bargains"

“Tasha,” he said. “How many agents did I—?”

“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.” Better than maybe anyone on the Helicarrier, Natasha Romanoff knew you couldn’t blame yourself for things you did while you were brainwashed. All you could do was try to heal and get things right the next time.

OH? DO TELL.

“Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I’ll give you that one,” Tony said. “But let’s do a head count here. Your brother the demigod, a Super-Soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins… and you, big fella, you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.”

“That was the plan,” Loki said with a grin.

“Not a great plan,” Tony said.

YOU'RE RIGHT, TONY. IT'S AN OBJECTIVELY TERRIBLE PLAN. NOW ASK YOURSELF WHY HE WOULD DO THAT ON PURPOSE.

“You’re missing the point!” he said, and his tone got sharper. “There’s no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us… but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be sure we’ll avenge it.”

Weeeeeell...

With those last words, he tapped Tony on the chest with his scepter, just has he had Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig. Nothing happened. The Arc Reactor in Tony’s chest countered the scepter’s effect.

Loki tried it again. “This usually works.…”

“Well,” Tony said, “best-laid plans. You know the saying.”

Uncomfortable with mild swear words and dick jokes, I see. Lol

Look at this!” Thor shouted, holding Loki and forcing him to gaze out over the destruction in the city. “You think this madness will end with your rule?”

“It’s too late,” Loki said. Thor thought he was beginning to understand what he had done. “It’s too late to stop it.”

“No,” Thor said. “We can. Together.”

Loki looked him in the eye… and then betrayed Thor again, stabbing him in the side with a knife hidden in his sleeve. Thor dropped to the ground, clutching the wound. “Sentiment,” Loki said mockingly.

OH MY GOD. HE'S MOCKING HIMSELF, YOU ABSOLUTE KNUCKLEHEAD. I swear to god, this author sat down and went, "Hmm. How can I systematically erase any and all complexity this character possesses so he's as generic a villain as possible?"

CASE IN POINT:

On a bridge, Cap huddled behind a destroyed car with the Black Widow and Hawkeye. “Lots of civilians trapped up there,” Hawkeye said, indicating the nearby buildings. A flight of Chitauri went over, and Cap noticed something different about one of them.

“Loki,” he said. He was shooting at the civilians fleeing through the streets. “They’re fish in a barrel down there.”

It can be admittedly hard to tell because most shots of the Chitauri vehicles firing on people are from too far away to tell who's piloting... but I checked the clips from the Battle of NY and the only person Loki can definitively be seen firing at is Natasha. On another Chitauri whatever-you-call-them. Not even aiming for the street.

Thor was still watching the Chitauri zipping overhead. “I have unfinished business with Loki.”

“Yeah?” Hawkeye said. “Get in line.”

“Save it,” Steve said. “Loki’s going to keep this fight focused on us, and that’s what we need. Otherwise those things could run wild. We’ve got Stark up on top—”

Almost as if... according to plan...

Look, I have historically not bought into the full "Loki formed the Avengers so he could lose on purpose" theory because I feel that it contradicts the canon explanation that he was being influenced by the sceptre. But... you'd have to be an absolute moron to think he wasn't sabotaging himself, whether accidentally or on purpose. I suppose one could argue that just because it was amplifying his negative emotions, that doesn't necessarily mean it prevented him from working against his "allies". But if it wasn't affecting his actions at all, I don't know why they'd bother to confirm the theory as canon.

Also, like... according to this book, Loki is somehow targeting civilians and not targeting civilians at the same time ?? lmao

“Dr. Banner,” Steve said. “Now might be a really good time for you to get angry.”

Bruce was already walking toward the Leviathan. “That’s my secret, Captain,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m always angry.”

Same, tbh.

Thor reached the top of the Empire State Building and lifted Mjolnir. Storm clouds gathered and lightning struck down, hundreds of bolts reaching for Mjolnir. Thor turned the Empire State Building’s iconic spire into a lightning rod, gathering the force of the elements into it. Then he thrust Mjolnir in the direction of the portal. All the energy he had built up blazed out in a single forking bolt. It struck and destroyed every single Chitauri between the Empire State Building and the portal itself. Hundreds of them exploded and tumbled from the sky at once, including several of the Leviathans that tumbled down to smash into buildings below.

...so why didn't Thor just keep doing this for the rest of the battle? Too draining, or not exciting enough? Lol

Satisfied, Thor nodded and glanced over at the Hulk. Perhaps the scales were evened from their last fight against each other on the Helicarrier—

The Hulk shot out his left fist and smashed Thor all the way across the block-long gallery. Then it was his turn to look satisfied.

Jealous. Again.

Maybe that was just Loki, but Steve was starting to feel like the Chitauri were going to absorb every punch the Avengers could throw. They had to close that portal, or nothing was going to stop the invasion.

Well then. It sure is fortunate that Loki allowed Selvig to install a failsafe, huh?

Fury stood and listened to the World Security Council explain that they had decided to take the operation out of his hands. They were going to use a nuclear missile to destroy the Tesseract and close the portal—but at the cost of untold civilian lives. Fury protested as strongly as he could and one of the councilors cut him off. “Director Fury. The Council has made a decision.”

These crazy motherfuckers would have killed so many more people than Loki it's not even funny.

...and tbh, it probably wouldn't even have destroyed the Tesseract, so they would have killed them for literally no reason too.

The Hulk paused, confused.

“You are, all of you, beneath me!” Loki raged.

Not yet, sir, but I would very much like to be. 😏

She knelt next to him and said, “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know what you were doing.”

Selvig digested this for a moment and then said, “Actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source.”

Of note and as alluded to previously:

1) The mind control over Barton and Selvig was not absolute either; therefore, if they are not responsible for their actions over the course of this movie, Loki is not responsible for his either.

2) If The Other could hear everything Loki was up to, it's very likely that Loki could hear everything Barton and Selvig were up to as well. Meaning that, at a minimum, he knew about the failsafe and did nothing about it.

The missile had a lot of momentum built up, and Tony’s Mark 7 suit was not operating at full capacity after the amount of energy he’d expended in the battle already. It was no easy task to get the missile angled up sharply enough to clear the tallest buildings in Midtown—especially Stark Tower. That was where the missile seemed to want to go. So, Tony thought, the World Security Council is jealous of me, too.

Look, I get that he's mostly just being witty, but seriously... this dude is out here accusing Loki of being an egomaniac? Lol

He got underneath the missile and angled it upward, straining against its stabilizers, which tried to keep it on course. But slowly he forced it up, and once he got its warhead pointed at an angle, pushing it into a steeper climb got easier. A little.

Steve Rogers’s voice broke his concentration. “Stark, you know that’s a one-way trip?”

So... you're admitting you were wrong, then? 🙃

The Avengers looked up. On the roof of Stark Tower, Natasha said, “Come on, Stark.”

They saw the explosion through the portal, brilliant as a new sun. There was no way Tony could have survived that.

I was wrong about him, Steve thought. When the time came, he did make the sacrificial play.

Thanks, Steve. That's really all I wanted.

Loki had just gotten himself put back together enough to get out of the hole in the floor. Painfully he dragged himself toward the door. Never had a mortal damaged him as much as that green monster. He would be healing for a long time.

He's literally in better shape now than when he came through the portal. And the author made zero mention of his health there.

But heal he would, and then he would have his revenge. Even though the portal had collapsed and he had lost the Tesseract. Even though his Chitauri army was destroyed. Loki would show the so-called Avengers they never should have opposed him.

Raise your hand if you watched Avengers and thought Loki was thinking about revenge right after getting Hulk-smashed. Why aren't any of you raising your hands??

Seriously, there are two emotions I felt from Loki at the end of Avengers Assemble: relief and anxiety. I have no idea why Alex Irvine is so intent on turning him into a boring, one-dimensional villain, but it made this book absolutely insufferable to read.

Anyway, that's it! I hope you all found this as entertaining and cathartic as I did. Lol

↩️ Back to Part One

#loki meta #loki #thor #tony stark #steve rogers #bruce banner #natasha romanoff #clint barton #avengers assemble #mcu #phase one: avengers

54 notes · View notes

temas-misc-gamework · 3 years

Note

I understand. But let me be real for a second. If we’re going by your rules such ships as TurGre, Germano, and FrUk and honestly a few others on that list of okay ships you listed technically can qualify as abusive ships based from canon interactions. Also the fact that Turkey ruled over Greece as a child which is basically the same as raising him in the Hetalia universe would make it in*est.

No, I can tell you do not understand because you’re still trying to get me to back down or change the rules. And I will not be doing that. I will repeat this *again*. The rules are against abuse of power, and incest.

Incest is by those who were raised by one another in the manga, and those canonically noted to be related.

Abuse of Power is how the creator chooses to write it. But just to break down the three you singled out.

Germany and Romano hold no power over one another in the show or the manga. And if you read the strips they’re shown to be getting in better terms with one another. It’s fair to even state Germany has never hated Romano, Romano has been pissy and dismissive to him because he wants his brother’s respect and Germany gets more respect and reliance from his brother than he does. Also it’s canon Romano is a jerk to every man he meets at first.

Germany literally chauffeured Romano around. Why would Germany drive Romano around if he didn’t like his company? Romano’s not forcing him to do it even if he begged him for a ride, Germany’s strong enough and can articulate his words enough to say no to him.

France and England are the same way. Yes they have been fighting for centuries, but it is proven they still care about one another. None of them hold power over one another, neither could say manipulate the other to hang out with him under the threat of war for example.

Turkey and Greece I will admit I am not an expert on, but from what I know, while Greece was in his house, the two lived completely separate lives and Turkey did not actively raise him or mentor him like say England and America.

“Two Adults in a non-abusive, non-incestual relationship.” is so simple to write.

It’s basically:

1. Don’t glorify abuse of power 2. Don’t ship children, or adults with children. 3. Don’t ship canonical siblings.

Germano and FrUk are slow burn relationships, but they are not abusive when written by someone with a braincell because Romano and Germany or France and England do not hold any power over the other.

Abuse of power relationships means no one is being forced to interact with the other under treat of physical violence, to themselves or others, mistreatment, blackmail or other social sabotage. England is not holding a gun to France’s head and forcing him to go out with him. Germany is not blackmailing Romano with social sabotage to be around him.

These things commonly exist in plots and even ships and are often romanticized even though one character is being treated like an object/accessory/trophy for the other. That is the point of that part of the rule. To prevent those relationships.

I really want to ask what ship you’re wanting to do and if you plan to join the jam at all because ships can specifically be discussed or if you’re just here for a debate because you ship something questionable and having that ship invalidated has sent you into a spiral of self down so you’re lashing out in hopes of things returning to “normal” so you don’t have to think about it.

If you continue to fight about this people have already been memeing this to me and I will respond with memes and then block you.

This rule was never an option.

#tem tam fam jam #hetagame jam #asks

21 notes · View notes

tigerkirby215 · 3 years

Text

5e Rell, the Iron Maiden build (League of Legends)

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

I SHOULD BE MAKING AKALI RIGHT NOW :))))))

I did a coinflip with Rell: it was either her or Akali and she ended up winning. I’m honestly super hyped for Rell which is odd because I don’t really play tank supports. I find Leona and Nautilus boring as sin, though I do enjoy Galio and Maokai on occasion. I guess I’ve just been playing in top lane a lot more and I want a big bulky tank who I can dive into teamfights with as a support.

Also the memes for this champ are freaking golden.

But Rell presents a very unique kit that has a lot of potential in D&D. Basically I get to make a character other than Nunu & Willump who rides a mount and I get to stick everything I can remotely justify as being Ferromancy onto this character.

GOALS

Run ‘em all down - Rell is the third champ to have a mount. Aren’t horses just the best?

We fight together - Your outside may be cold but connecting to people is how you move on from trauma... or use that trauma for a massive stun in a teamfight.

I’ll bust you down to scrap! - Rell’s quirk is Ferromancy, the magic of manipulating metal, most specifically through magnetism. Fucking magnets; how do they work?

RACE

Rell is a human... but we can’t always go for Variant Human, so let’s spice it up a bit! She may not have divine blood but I’m sure someone at the academy had healing magic. So since she’s a support with eyes aglow with energy why not go for an Aasimar? More specifically a Scourge Aasimar. Your Charisma increases by 2 and your Constitution increases by 1.

Your glyphs give you a big mix of magic from your friends back at the academy: Darkvision for darkvision, Celestial Resistance for resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, Light Bearer for the Light cantrip, and Healing Hands for a bit of healing magic. Your Scourge subrace also gives you Radiant Consumption at level 3, which I’ll cover when you get there.

If you’re set on playing a human: A Variant Human (+1 CON, +1 STR) with either the Mounted Combatant feat or Heavy Armor Master feat would make sense. There are other feats to consider but these would be the most in-character for Rell.

ABILITITY SCORES

15; STRENGTH - Iron stands eternal, and iron is heavy.

14; CHARISMA - You may be a grouchy teenager, and you may also be incredibly awkward when hitting on people, but Charisma is considered as “inner strength” in 5e. You’ve certainly got plenty of that!

13; CONSTITUTION - You are a tank after all, and with the +1 from our race that equals a 14 for a nice boost to HP.

12; DEXTERITY - As heavy as iron is you were trained for peak physical condition. DEX is tied to many things, notably Initiative which is very important for a frontliner.

10; INTELLIGENCE - You went to an academy, but it was a Noxian war academy. Still it’s possible that you got some history lessons.

8; WISDOM - You’re a hothead in both the metaphorical and literal sense. You think asking questions is on the mind of a teenager who’s angry with the world?

BACKGROUND

There’s a lot of backgrounds that would fit Rell, though unfortunately nothing edgy enough like “Test Subject Turned Human Superweapon.” But considering your lifestyle of roaming the Noxian countryside Outlander is probably pretty accurate. You get proficiency in Athletics and Survival and while you’d normally get a Musical Instrument I’d actually suggest you grab Smith’s Tools instead because... yeah duh. You can also learn a Language of your choice so pick whatever you think would constitute Noxian.

Your Wanderer background feature will make sure you survive and thrive on the Noxian countryside. You always remember the general layout of the land, and you can find food and fresh water for yourself and up to five other people each day. And you can even rip some iron out of the earth to make them bowls and cups to eat and drink with!

(Concept art by Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - PALADIN 1

Starting off as a Paladin because even if proficiency in Wisdom saves is weird we need the Heavy Armor proficiency because... yeah duh. Speaking of proficiencies take Intimidation because you’re a murder-hungry metalmancer, and I dunno Medicine would make sense since you’re a support and all.

You also get Divine Sense, as the magic in your veins helps you detect celestials, fiends, or undead. And because you’re a support you can use Shattering Strike to heal thanks to Lay on Hands. I could explain both these abilities in detail, but I’m also an angry teenager who’s sick of explaining abilities with insanely long descriptions that you can read for yourself.

LEVEL 2 - PALADIN 2

Second level Paladins get their Fighting Style, and of course for a tank support Defense would be best for more AC. You also get some Ferromancy Spellcasting. (Well technically Divine spellcasting but don’t tell anyone that.) You can prepare a number of Paladin spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level:

To sharpen your lace (or more realistically pike) a little more Divine Favor will make every blow hurt just a little bit more.

Heroism will help in times of strife to let your anger take over any fear.

To manipulate armor to block some more blows Shield of Faith will increase the target’s AC for a time.

To stun with Attract and Repel Thunderous Smite will do damage and knock enemies prone, making them easier to hit and forcing them to spend time getting up.

But of course you can just as easily ignore all of that in favor of Divine Smite, channeling all your magic and hatred into a burst of Radiant damage on your weapon attacks. Particularly effective against undead!

On Rell’s weapon: I’d suggest a Pike over a Lance because a d12 isn’t worth Disadvantage in melee range, even if you will eventually be performing mounted combat. Feel free to have a lance as backup for when you do start riding a horse.

LEVEL 3 - PALADIN 3

At third level you can choose your Sacred Oath, and I know how much you hate Noxus but Oath of the Crown actually has some pretty good abilities for our purposes. Yup of all the champions to break out the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide for it’s Rell.

You get two Channel Divinity options: Champion Challenge makes enemies unable to move more than 30 feet away from you for a Magnetic Overload, and Turn the Tide will heal everyone of your choice for a d6 plus your Charisma (if they’re below half health) for some Redemption saves.

But both of these Channel Divinities are admittedly situational, so if your DM allows Tasha’s rulings then Harness Divine Power will also let you recover a first level spell slot. Speaking of spells as a Crown Paladin you get Command to twist your enemy’s armor to your whim, and Compelled Duel for a single-target Concentration version of Champion Challenge.

And as a Scourge Aasimar you get now get Radiant Consumption. As an action you can unleash the magic within you, glowing violently and doing Radiant damage equal to half your level to everyone around you. Additionally, once on each of your turns you can deal extra radiant damage when you damage an enemy with an attack or a spell. The extra radiant damage equals your level. You can only go all out just once per long rest, so if your ever wonder why anime protagonists keep their ultimate attack until the end of the fight: it burns you so much you can only use it once.

LEVEL 4 - PALADIN 4

4th level means another Ability Score Improvement but instead we’re going to be taking a Feat. You’re probably thinking we’re going for Mounted Combatant, right?

WRONG! We’re taking Heavy Armor Master, because you can literally control your armor to make it stronger! Your Strength increases by 1 and any damage you take from non-magic weapons is reduced by 3!

You can also prepare another spell, but we’ll wait for...

(Concept art by Riot Games)

LEVEL 5 - PALADIN 5

5th level time for Extra Attack. Two attacks in a turn to pretend you’re the ADC!

Also time for HONSE! Find Steed lets you summon a Warhorse, and others but a Warhorse is probably the most accurate representation of your mount. The steed is considered a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice), and its intelligence is set to 6. It can also understand one language you can speak, which is good because you can speak to it telepathically.

You can make any spell that only targets you also target your steed, and when it drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. You can dismiss your steed at any time as an action, causing it to disappear. In either case, casting this spell again summons the same steed, restored to its hit point maximum.

And thanks to your subclass you also learn Warding Bond to bond with an ally, and Zone of Truth to get the Black Rose to admit to what they did. Technically speaking you can’t put a ring on your horse, but as a DM I’d probably allow you to make a 50 gp platinum horse shoe to give the honse a Warding Bond.

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 6

6th level Paladins get Aura of Protection. You and everyone within 10 feet of you gets a bonus to saving throws equal to your Charisma modifier, because iron stands eternal and so does teenage angst.

You can also prepare another spell like Aid to steel your party’s resolve for any danger. Metal pun unintended.

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 7

Here’s why we aren’t taking Mounted Combatant. 7th level Crown Paladins get Divine Allegiance, allowing you to use your reaction to take damage for a creature within 5 feet of you. They take no damage, but the damage you take can’t be reduced or prevented in any way.

Sure a 5 foot aura is just objectively worse than the Redemption Paladin’s 10 foot Aura of the Guardian that does literally the exact same thing (pro tip: ask your DM to just increase the range of the aura), but you know what’s always within 5 feet of you? Your horse. So feel free to take hits for your trusty mount. And if an ally is nearby you should probably tank for them too.

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 8

8th level means an Ability Score Improvement. We’re still riding around in big bulky armor so more Strength to carry that armor would be nice.

You can also prepare another spell like Lesser Restoration for some Tenacity.

(Concept art by Riot Games)

LEVEL 9 - BARD 1

How’s this for a surprise? Multiclassing into Bard gives you proficiency in one skill, and one musical instrument. Take Animal Handling because you literally summon a horse for yourself, and a Noxian War Drum.

Bards get Bardic Inspiration: d6s equal to your Charisma modifier to help support your allies. They can add the d6 to an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw they make. Buff up their armor, or weaken the enemy’s armor!

But of course as a Bard you get more Spellcasting! Check page whatever-it-is for how multiclassing works. You get two cantrips from the Bard list: Mage Hand will let you magnetize an object closer to you, and Vicious Mockery will let you yell angrily at the enemy not to hurt your friends.

You can also learn 4 spells from the Bard list: you are a support so you can take Cure Wounds for some Summoner: Heal. Disguise Self will help you if Noxian police are looking for you. And both Earth Tremor and Thunderwave will help you manipulate the metal beneath your enemies’ feet and sunder the ground beneath them.

LEVEL 10 - BARD 2

You have a little bit of everything in your glyphs which means Jack of All Trades will always be able to help you. You can also recuperate after a long night on the Noxian countryside thanks to Song of Rest.

You can also learn another spell but we will wait for...

LEVEL 11 - BARD 3

Third level Bards can choose their Bardic College and you did go to the academy to become a weapon after all. College of Valor Bards are instruments of war with Combat Inspiration, letting allies use their Bardic Inspiration to hurt more with their swords or defend themselves better with their armor. “Fight like you mean it. Die for something that matters!” You do also get some skill proficiencies but... you already had them.

You do get Expertise in two skills however! Intimidation comes naturally to a living weapon, and even though it’s technically not a living animal in LoL you still need Animal Handling for your mount from Find Steed.

And finally you can learn spells. If you want the honest truth the only reason we took Bard levels is for Heat Metal, the obligatory Ferromancy spell. But you can also grab Hold Person to lock a foe’s armor in place.

LEVEL 12 - BARD 4

4th level means an Ability Score Improvement, and since we’re now investing in the spellcasting side of things I’d recommend some Charisma to make that better. Remember that more Charisma does mean more Paladin spells, so be sure to hop back there to prepare more.

Because I’m not going to tell you what to prepare, as we need to concentrate on your new cantrip! You are the ferromancer, so Mending is kinda obligatory. You can also learn another spell but again we shall wait for...

LEVEL 13 - BARD 5

5th level Bards get Font of Inspiration, letting their Bardic Inspiration come back on a Short Rest. Which is good, because your Bardic Inspiration increases to a d8!

You can also learn third level spells now which means we can finally take Mass Healing Word to further our support role, and Hypnotic Pattern for a massive team-wide stun.

(Artwork by @Cookie3v3 on Twitter)

LEVEL 14 - SORCERER 1

You were born with magic after all, so I’d have to go into Sorcerer at some point. It’s just that the other levels were more important, and this kinda ends up being more for flavor than anything. Regardless you get your subclass at level 1 as a Sorcerer and hey I actually get to use the Clockwork Soul for a Ferromancer. You can Restore Balance at level 1, denying Advantage or Disadvantage and turn it into a straight roll.

Oh and hey: more Spellcasting! But this time with a side of Clockwork Magic for Abjuration or Transmutation spells. Since both the spells you’d normally get a little iffy I’d suggest replacing them with both Absorb Elements and Shield for some Magic Resistance and Armor.

You also get four cantrips and two leveled spells. Fire Bolt lets you fling a piece of molten metal at the enemy, because you may as well have a ranged weapon. For some basic metal sundering from the ground Mold Earth will let you manipulate small pockets of iron in the soil. Message will let you coordinate with your teammates without yelling everything in /all. And because you’ve got a ridiculous amount of cantrips you may as well grab Prestidigitation for basic magic manipulation.

For your leveled spells Magic Missile will let you fling metal with the utmost precision, and Burning Hands for burning metal addressed to “whom it may concern.”

LEVEL 15 - SORCERER 2

Second level Sorcerers get a Font of Magic. You get 2 Sorcery Points that can be converted into spell slots... for now. So basically you get another first level spell slot!

LEVEL 16 - SORCERER 3

3rd level Sorcerers get their Metamagic. These are features that use your Sorcery points to augment your spells: to make sure that no one lives to hide the tale of the academy Heightened Spell will give an enemy disadvantage on their first saving throw against one of your spells. Alternatively if you want to both stab and smash Quickened Spell will let you cast a spell as a Bonus Action, to really maximize your APM.

You also get more Clockwork Magic, but since you already have both Aid and Lesser Restoration I’d instead suggest taking Levitate for some reverse-magnetism, and a little spell from Elemental Evil called Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp.

If your opponent doesn’t know how magnets work then Blur can really mess with their ability to hit you. And you know I haven’t taken Flash yet so... Misty Step!

LEVEL 17 - SORCERER 4

Fourth level Sorcerers get an Ability Score Improvement and well we did invest in 3 different spellcasters, so increasing that spellcasting with more Charisma would probably be smart. Remember that more Charisma means more Paladin spells! As well as a stronger Paladin aura and more Bardic Inspiration.

You also get another spell known and honestly there are a lot of great ones at second level of Sorcerer but Shatter is the best for ripping through metal. You also get another cantrip because I guess Sorcerers don’t have enough cantrips: if you get surrounded you can sunder the ground as if swords were bursting around you... in a Sword Burst... yeah...

(Artwork made for Riot Games)

LEVEL 18 - SORCERER 5

5th level Sorcerers get third level spells and I’d hate to admit it but both Dispel Magic and Protection from Energy from Clockwork Magic do make sense for Rell.

But you know what we don’t have enough of? Ground-based attacks. So take Erupting Earth, because your magic is Ferromancy. Not Fireballs or Haste, both of which would probably honestly be stronger. Honestly feel free to drop some of your early Sorcerer spells, because you’ve got more than enough spell slots for the big stuff.

LEVEL 19 - SORCERER 6

6th level Clockwork Soul Sorcerers get the feature we kinda went into this subclass for: Bastion of Law. As an action, you can spend 1 to 5 sorcery points to create a magical ward around yourself or another creature within 30 feet.

The warded creature gets a number of d8s equal to the number of sorcery points spent to create it. When the warded creature takes damage, it can expend any number of those dice to roll them and reduce the damage taken by the total rolled on those dice. This is going to be one of your main supportive features... atop of all your other “main supportive features.”

Oh and you’d get more spells but I kinda want...

LEVEL 20 - SORCERER 7

7th level Sorcerers can learn 4th spells like Sickening Radiance for some good old-fashioned war crimes, and Fire Shield which was added to the Sorcerer spell list thanks to Tasha’s! Clockwork Magic also lets you weaponize your horse with Summon Construct, but I’d suggest grabbing Banishment as your other spell to lock the weak away like they did to the Null.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Fighting together? Guess it's not too bad - You’ve got plenty of good assists. Bardic Inspiration and Bastion of Law shields, and a big pile of spells to help the team.

Nothing gets in; no one gets out - Turns out that manipulating metal means very little can get at you. Strong AC, very good range with Reach to play keep-away in melee and a horse to run around, and of course Aura of Protection to turn your weakest save into a +5! And decent HP to boot!

This is who I am now - It wasn’t my intention when making the character but... turns out Jack of All Trades does in fact make you a jack of all trades. Decent skill checks all around and a crazy good Intimidation check means that while you maybe won’t be the first choice you’ll always be up for the task.

CONS

“Excellence is measured in sacrifice”... or whatever - Three way multiclassing gives you a lot, but not a whole lot of it. Your spell slots go all the way up to 8th level but your best spells max out at 4th level. Smites exist and you can always melt down your spell slots, but perhaps it would’ve been smarter to lessen the number of classes and get more value out of what you have.

That's... that's cool... I'm cool... - Ever heard of the concept known as “choice paralysis?” With so many spells to choose on top of subclass features that take your actions it can be hard to pick what’s right in every scenario. Woes of playing support, where you need to think of everything at once. Can’t just run in and stab.

The helpless fight; the hardened live - Jack of All Trades is good for skill checks... not for combat. You can fight, heal, and sling spells decently but don’t really stand out in any particular area. You’ve got a hundred different tools to deal with the rabble but when your friends go All Out you’ll likely be stuck getting assists.

But you’ve got all a girl could ever ask for: a cute pony and enough armor to survive a ballistic missile. You were built to be a weapon and a damn good weapon you are: as sharp as you are sturdy, and as versatile as you are resourceful. Who cares if you’re a little rough around the edges? You’re sixteen! You’ve got your whole life ahead of you! Minus the lingering trauma of being tortured by your own mother... Eh. Who doesn’t have a tragic backstory nowadays?

(Artwork by @dreadstardraws on Twitter.)

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #League of Legends #League of Legends Rell #Rell #ferromancy #dnd paladin #dnd bard #dnd sorcerer #fuck #Noxus #bisexual #iron stands eternal

46 notes · View notes

whateverafterhigh · 3 years

Text

Worldbuilding Succession Systems: Goodfallow

Most of what we see or hear when it comes to the succession systems in the universe that Ever After High is set in relates to fairytales and the inheritance of specific character roles. Many of the fairytale royalty are born into their royal bloodlines or otherwise marry in. But there are some kingdoms where things aren’t as easy as that. One such kingdom is the Good King’s Kingdom – which I named Goodfallow in another post.

The Good King is a fairytale character, but his role in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is small. In fact, depending on the adaption of the story you read he might have already died by the time the story has officially begun. He’s not quite dead yet in the series, seeing as he’s still raising Raven Queen, but it is never acknowledged that Raven is in line for the throne. Not even as a “Hey, maybe Raven has her dad’s destiny…” kind of way, which you would expect given Raven is constantly fighting for any destiny other than her mother’s. Going that route might seem like too easy a fix to acknowledge in the series, especially early on, no matter how powerful a red herring that would be for the readers. It could have even been used to make Grimm start to worry on whether or not he actually guessed right when it comes to writing the fake book. Grimm doubting himself would have been great, even more so if it’s a big thing to have forgotten that the Good King needs an heir too.

The potential for drama aside, there must have been something else that made everyone think they were right so conclusively (and I’m not speaking of the gendered characters, there are too many female characters who have their father’s destinies for that to be the reason).

Then I had an idea.

The Goodfallow Crown

I wanted to create a succession system for Goodfallow that would be able to stand up to the Storybook of Legends on something akin to even ground. Obviously, I didn’t want it to have such a grand scale. But I knew I wanted something magical, and I knew I wanted it to be possible that the Storybook of Legends (the original) could guess wrong. (I mean what even is the point of having an antagonist as powerful and insufferable as Headmaster Grimm if he wasn’t able to grasp at some straws to save face and avoid even the harshest of punishments?). Still I wanted Grimm to be arrogant enough that he wouldn’t have worried about Raven’s position as the Evil Queen until she was throwing the book in his face on Legacy Day.

This meant I needed something with so many possibilities that something like the Storybook of Legends would have a hard time even coming up with the most likely outcome for the Next Good King. Something that could be affected up until the moment that the Good King has been crowned. And something that had the magical power to break the magical contract to the Storybook of Legends that signing it would create without extensive repercussions – something that would cause a page to fall out on its own if need be.

Also it needed to be something that played into what a Good King should be, it is what is choosing the reigning monarch after all.

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Evil Queen is defined by her attitude and treatment of the kingdom’s people, so it only makes sense that the Good King be defined in the same way. So I played with the idea of the Good King being an elected position that passed down the bloodline out of convenience and all the things that real life kings and queens have to do to make sure that the people don’t start up a revolution. Something like the Sword in the Stone from King Arthur’s legends could do that, the same could be said for Thor’s Hammer (though I wasn’t actually thinking of Mjolnir when spider-mapping ideas).

I couldn’t see it being an actual sword, as cool as it would be for the Good King to actually have the kingdom’s blessing of sorts to raise his sword at those who wronged him. And after reading the fairytale Prince Darling, where there is a ring that pricks the young Prince on the finger every time he does something wrong in hopes that it will make him into a good person, I thought of using a crown.

The Goodfallow Crown, named such because it is the physical manifestation of the collective will of all the citizens of Goodfallow ticks a lot of the boxes for what I wanted.

It’s magic, powerful enough to break the bindings created by the Storybook of Legends because I’m the author and I say so. A lot of citizens in Goodfallow mean a lot of different possibilities for whether or not they think a candidate is the best for the Good King. It can still be meddled with before the inheritance ceremony, popularity and propaganda are going to be important – the same goes for whether or not a candidate knows what they’re doing. In turn this could be what makes Grimm so arrogant in his assertions that Raven will have her mother’s destiny.

The students at Ever After High are shown to be scared of Raven to the point they scream and run away from her. At the start of the books she assumes that this is just a side effect from her destiny as her mother had mentioned that something of the sort would happen when she reached a certain age. But it could be argued that this has more to do with how bullying of Raven (or any supposedly-evil-aligned character) was encouraged by Grimm or other members of the faculty, high tensions from how close Legacy Day is for her etc. Because Raven does get more popular as the books go on, and because the characters act a similar way in the beginning of the show’s canon it could be argued that she get’s popular enough to win Thronecoming.

But it’s not just Raven’s lack of popularity. Grimm makes all the final class decisions when it comes to what subject’s students can take, so he can ensure that Raven never takes classes that would prepare her for being the Good King (Kingdom Management, Throne Economics, etc…) and then there’s the low possibility that the people of Goodfallow would accept someone who willingly signs up to potentially marry the king of a neighbouring country, abuse their power, and even get arrested or die before having kids as their Ruler. This is one case where the Storybook of Legends doesn’t need to be real for the damage to be done. And Grimm has no reason to not be arrogant about his guesses until Legacy Day where Raven declares she wants to write her own destiny on the in-verse equivalent of international television he’s not going to worry too much.

The tangent into Grimm’s motives and assumptions show that having Goodfallow’s succession system be like this will only add another layer to some of the things going on in the series, and this can even be applied to other characters too. Raven would have grown up in a kingdom where your actions mean more then what you say, so even agreeing to sign the Storybook of Legends and live her own life after would have not been in the cards for her (not to mention it would cheapen Apple’s own story if she asked that of Raven), and Queen White would have also grown up in Goodfallow given the Good King is her father as well, and that could add a really interesting layer to her own character and her obsession with popularity. Especially in the context of the Class of Classics comic which shows that Snow was once a studious student like Apple was but has now seemingly forgone that in favour of focusing on popularity (which is the same in the books as well as Dragon Games). It certainly speaks of there being more to her character then what we’ve gotten.

Now it’s just a matter of figuring out how the Good Fallow Crown works.

It seems a bit much to have someone attempt to wear the crown for the first time on their coronation, and I’m also understanding of the fact that it’s technically headwear and therefore can’t get heavier if the kingdom seems to disagree with an idea or something else – also Goodfallow isn’t a hivemind? So there would need to be some kind of inheritance test. Perhaps for officially declaring a Crown Prince or Princess.

Historically, Crown Princes or Princesses seem to given the title when they are ready for it. With the announcement happening sometime between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, unless their parents were dead, and they were ruling through a Regent. Raven is fifteen when Legacy Day takes place so sixteen seems like a more reasonable time for the ceremony to happen. Though obviously some of the kingdoms would name their children the Crown Prince or Princess earlier (I’m thinking Briar and Hopper might have been given their titles when their Magic Touch developed, given its significance to their stories).

So the sixteen year old heir would try the crown on. It would be impractical for the circle of people who can hold or lift the crown to be small a la Thor’s Hammer, especially when it’s the literal Will of the People. So, magical girl transformation?

Very basic, plain clothes are to be worn with no jewellery – because you might lose it otherwise. If the people agree with the Prince or Princess being a good candidate for the throne then they’ll get decked out in finery when the magic is a match. If not then there’s no change. (Not that that prevents rumours from spreading to the contrary).

“Rumour has it the Evil Queen tried to wear the crown once and it set her on fire.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, that’s why her hair is like that now.”

Of course, the changes don’t stop at the Inheritance Ceremony. Just because the Goodfallow Crown doesn’t get infinitely heavier when the Good King does something the people don’t agree with that doesn’t mean that nothing happens. Raven’s dad is described as being bald in the books, and I like to think that the reason for that is the people of Goodfallow not agreeing with him marrying the Evil Queen, while still understanding why he did it. But there would likely be other affects as well. Such as increased stress, anxiety, paranoia, etc. Maybe a lack of motivation in his day to day life? I don’t know, but the Goodfallow Crown does take the phrase “Heavy is the head that wears the crown” to a whole new meaning.

I love the whole thought of this, as evidenced by the fact it takes up almost three whole pages in a Word Document. Definitely one of my favourite pieces of worldbuilding I’ve done for any fandom ever.

#eah #ever after high #raven queen #the good king #queen kingdom #goodfallow #headmaster grimm #milton grimm #worldbuilding

28 notes · View notes

yeonchi · 3 years

Text

The state of tokusatsu in the West in 2021

The events of the past few weeks have taken the Western toku fanbase by storm. Amidst the shitstorm of spergs and a-logs who think they’re being rational but are really low-key spergs, unexpected turns in events are heralding the death knell for tokusatsu fansubs (that was going to be the name of this post initially). In addition, these events have also exposed the state of tokusatsu in the West in 2021, whether it be in regards to fansubs and streaming or Shirakura and the fanbase.

An update on the current situation

This is an update to the two posts I made in the past few weeks regarding the subject.

So some Indonesian wrote a Twitter thread about tokusatsu in general and in one of those tweets, he mentions Shirakura and the recent fansub scandal in a passing manner. Another Indonesian quote retweets him and tags Shirakura and this is what he got:

A few hours later, Shirakura wrote a few tweets about the situation (which are after the break):

(Tweets 1 and 3 translated by killadelfo, tweets 2, 4 and 5 translated by me because Shirakura and other a-logs won’t do it)

Some context:

Tweet 1 - 「雉も鳴かずば打たれまい」 directly translates to "If the pheasant didn't ring, then it wouldn't have been hit". At a stretch, it sounds like victim-blaming in rape culture. Also, the “semi-official streaming site” Shirakura is referring to is TokuHD, who are currently streaming Kamen Rider Agito and 555 with abysmal subtitle translation quality (Honshin and Olfenok) and were apparently licenced by an unknown third-party (if anyone knows, please tell me and I’ll update this).

Tweet 2 - The North Wind and the Sun, one of Aesop’s fables that teaches the superiority of persuasion over force. You can read the story here if you’re too infantile to read Wikipedia.

Later on, TV-Nihon officially announced that they have decided to stop subbing Saber and Zenkaiger, softsubs or hardsubs alike, with Takenoko stating that he doesn’t want to worry about legal trouble on their team. Whether or not they will sub future series is still unknown at the moment. Nothing has come back regarding the apparent C&D from Toei, particularly as NewZect and KRDL haven’t received anything else from them apart from one email (and KRDL received theirs in 2019 apparently).

Despite this, Shirakura has expressed his gratitude for fans across the world who watch Toei’s shows, no matter how they watch them. It’s a far cry from “I believe there’s no fanbase of Kamen Rider in the west practically.”

So now, let’s dissect the whole situation, from fansubbing, streaming and official releases to Shirakura and the Western fanbase.

Fansubbing, streaming and official releases: le Happy Merchant intensifies

There was a time when TV-Nihon held a monopoly in tokusatsu fansubbing, subbing series that other people normally wouldn’t have cared about, including the Chouseishin and Tomica Hero series. They were known for their mistakes in translation and extensive use of different fonts and effects, which led to groups like Over-Time springing up over the past decade in an effort to diversify the fansubbing scene and break up TV-Nihon’s monopoly. (It’s time to #ReleaseTheFonts, TV-Nihon. Get that hashtag trending.) Though TV-Nihon seem to have this unspoken rule to not mention other sub groups on their forums, the recent C&D debacle has resulted in a truce of sorts between them.

Many tokusatsu fans outside of Japan will have known of the genre through fansubs and I am no exception. It’s very likely that for a long time, Japanese executives thought the only toku Westerners liked was Power Rangers, but in recent years, the increasing popularity of tokusatsu in the West has led to companies like Toei and Tsuburaya drawing up plans to release their series in the West. Presumably due to the two companies’ different attitudes to copyright, their IPs are being treated differently, as I will detail.

Tsuburaya - Based and redpilled For some reason, Ultraman is a franchise that very few fansub groups have cared about over the years, which makes Tsuburaya’s Western expansion that much more special.

Before 2018, Crunchyroll streamed Leo, 80, Gaia, Nexus, Max, Mebius, Ginga (S), X, Orb and Geed, but they have now been removed from the platform as Mill Creek Blu-rays, TokuHD, TokuSHOUTsu and Tsuburaya’s YouTube channel became more prolific.

Tsuburaya has been streaming the newest episodes of Ultraman weekly on their YouTube channel since 2012, presumably because their coverage on TV Tokyo and their affiliates don’t cover all of Japan. They have added Chinese subtitles to their episodes since either Geed or R/B and even though their translations of some names can be a bit autistic, they have added English subtitles to their episodes since Z following the release of Ultra Galaxy Fight: New Generation Heroes with dual audio and multi-language subtitles (including English). Alongside reruns of older series, Tsuburaya releases episodes on YouTube every week, which are then available for two weeks. In addition, they also have separate channels where they publish dubs for Ultraman episodes in Mandarin, Korean and even Cantonese (official TVB Tiga-Mebius dub release when), which is pretty based if you ask me.

Tsuburaya doesn’t seem to do takedowns of their materials on YouTube, though they do claim ownership of the material posted by other channels so that ad revenue goes to them. It’s the reason why whole series of Ultraman and various compilations using footage from various episodes are still surviving on YouTube today. Cynically though, I suspect that the main reason they don’t do takedowns is because they can’t afford to following years of financial problems and their decades-long conflict with Chaiyo Productions. They probably thought that it wouldn’t be worth it.

Toei - Cringe and bluepilled Is it any wonder that the one company with the more popular series amongst a niche fanbase would be so Jewish with their copyrights? While entire series and various compilations have been taken down by Toei over the years (which they technically have the right to do), they don’t give fans (particularly outside of the US) a lot of options to support them officially, so they only dug this hole for themselves. It’s also very naive of people to presume that Toei doesn’t know about fansubs; it would be fair to say that it’s an open secret that neither Toei nor fansub groups can acknowledge for fear of legal retribution.

From 2015 to 2019, Shout! Factory have released Super Sentai series from Jetman (the first pre-Mighty Morphin series to be released in the West) to Hurricaneger, but since Power Rangers was sold from Saban to Hasbro, Shout! Factory have not regained the rights to distribute any further series and Toei hasn’t done much lobbying in that regard. However, Shout! Factory have begun streaming some Kamen Rider series from 2020 on TokuSHOUTsu (Shout! Factory TV) and Tubi (in addition to the Super Sentai series they had already licenced), namely the original series, Kuuga, Ryuki, Zero-One and the Heisei Generations FOREVER movie. Agito and 555 are streaming on TokuHD (as I mentioned before) and Amazons is streaming on Amazon Prime.

While Toei does have an official tokusatsu YouTube channel, where they stream their library of series similar to how Tsuburaya does with their YouTube channel, it is only available in Japan. In April 2020, Toei began uploading their series on Toei Tokusatsu World, a separate YouTube channel created specifically for their Western fans that immediately got taken down by copyright strikes on their own content. Aside from streaming Metal Hero series and other toku series nobody cares about, they’ve only bothered to upload the first two episodes of every Kamen Rider series on there, with no plans to follow through with the rest of the episodes (Super Sentai is only available in Asia because of the last paragraph). Apparently, the official subtitled release of the first two Kamen Rider episodes was funded by the J-LOD scheme (Japan Content LOcalisation and Distribution) established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and that they hope that fans would provide subtitles for the rest of the episodes. The only problem is that YouTube discontinued its community captions feature last year and I have been unable to find any evidence of Toei suggesting such a thing from their fans, so I can only assume that they either weren’t transparent about it or had no intention of doing so at all. You can see why I prefer Tsuburaya’s approach better. Frankly, I think Toei should have just uploaded TV-Nihon’s releases and called it a day.

There’s a Europoor sperg on Twitter (and the TV-Nihon forums) by the name of HowlingSnail who always complains about tokusatsu series only being licensed in the US. Like him or not, you’ve got to admit that he does have a point. Even in the age of VPNs and multi-region DVD players, the entire world has to be considered when it comes to international licencing and expansion because believe it or not, the “West” isn’t made up of just the US alone. Things shouldn’t have to be like this, and yet, things are the way they are.

Around the time that TV-Nihon (apparently) got C&D’d, Western fans were pissed that The Tokusatsu Network posted news of Toei streaming Kamen Rider Drive on their Japanese-exclusive channel, rubbing salt into their wounds, while also not saying anything about the current situation with fansubs. In TokuNet’s defence, I can understand why they wouldn’t do that; on top of being based in Japan, they’ve done interviews with various actors and producers on their YouTube channel, plus their senior editor, Tom Constantine, has made cameo appearances on a few episodes and movies. So if anything, TokuNet are closer to Toei than any other news site covering tokusatsu.

In summary, Toei are complicit in enabling this shitstorm that could have been preventable if they weren’t so incompetent and out-of-touch with their Western fanbase. If more scrutiny was exercised during the negotiation of Western licencing, we probably wouldn’t have had the TokuHD disaster. If Toei were more transparent with their intentions for streaming their toku series in the West, fansub groups would be more than happy to contribute to the official subtitles and/or take their (unofficial) releases down (though I don’t necessarily agree with this practice entirely). Or maybe if Toei actually made a media release saying that it was actually them who sent the C&D’s to KRDL, NewZect and TV-Nihon, we wouldn’t have had this debacle and this post would just be me talking about the death knell for tokusatsu fansubs (which would probably be just this section of the post).

In the lack of free and easily accessible means to access media protected behind paywalls and geoblocks, people will always turn to things like “illegal” streaming sites and torrenting, particularly when they believe that multi-million dollar companies don’t deserve their hard-earned money just because they keep bugging everyone to give it all to them.

(Also, I know someone called me out in one of my linked posts where I described Toei’s attitude to copyright as “Jewish”, but fuck you, my stance doesn’t change just because a few people got their fee-fees hurt from poking their noses into other people’s business. If Toei changes their attitude and gives us a plan for international distribution, then I might soften my stance.)

Shirakura and the Western fanbase: lolcows in their own right

So it’s been established that it’s a bad idea to tag Shirakura or anyone affiliated with Toei regarding this situation with the TV-Nihon C&D (or fansubs or leaks or whatever in general) because we don’t have the full details and they probably have no idea of what’s going on. Look, I know Shirakura is worthy of criticism for some things, but this is not one of them because he is the director of planning and production at Toei - he’s not responsible for international distribution or copyright takedowns. All that these spergs on TokuTwitter have done is prove that Shirakura has no idea what is going on and made Japanese fans aware (to some extent) that spergs like them exist. The irony behind Shirakura’s actions as the producer of some Kamen Rider series and his interactions with Western fans is the reason why I lovingly coin “The Shirakura Paradox” as a phrase to describe it.

I’ve noticed that a lot of people on TokuTwitter are very paranoid and reactionary. They believe in conspiracy theories like “TV-Nihon actually got C&D’d” and “Over-Time got C&D’d as well” when 1) the notice they got wasn’t a C&D per se or even a DMCA and 2) Over-Time never got C&D’d, though they did help TV-Nihon analyse the email and decided to stop posting about their releases when they were convinced that the email was somewhat legit (because a Toei email can’t be faked due to the Sender Policy Framework, or SPF).

With regards to the “reactionary” part, the main example relating to this is twt_tokusatsu, who has been blamed for causing this debacle with fansubs because Shirakura replied to her tweets (that did NOT mention fansubs) with a joke. However, another big example is WeiWenn and Ichi of the Castranger podcast. “What?”, I hear you ask in a surprised tone, “What do they have to do with all this?” If you want to know the story behind them, take a look at my Shirakura Paradox post under “You are supposed not to know about Trinity”.

I know this debacle was two years ago and that Ichi has deserved enough blame (and apologised) for posting scans from a toy catalog targeted at distributors and not consumers, but why the hell is WeiWenn being blamed when he only mentioned “Trinity” (in verbatim) possibly referring to Agito Trinity and not Zi-O Trinity? WeiWenn has been sent death threats because entitled manbabies with gunts can never read the latest leaks about new toys. As a result, WeiWenn has deleted his Twitter account, claiming that Shirakura’s joke was the last straw (Ichi has also deleted his Twitter account as well). Anyone who blames WeiWenn (or Ichi) for somehow causing the TV-Nihon C&D’s is just as retarded, if not more, than the people who still blame twt_tokusatsu, especially when the damage has already been done and the debacle is already two years old. As such, I stand behind #RespectWeiWenn and #RespectIchi. For more information, check out this Twitter thread and the below video.

youtube

Things like this are the reason why the tokusatsu fanbase in the West is seemingly on thin ice with Toei. If you ask me, TokuTwitter as a whole deserves to be discussed and mocked on sites like 4chan and Kiwi Farms, because some individuals seem to act in a manner resembling lolcows. On top of that, I wish that tokusatsu fans in Japan would talk more about this retardation and join in the circlejerking with their Western counterparts who are more sophisticated and logical.

In conclusion, the whole debacle with Toei and TV-Nihon has been a ticking time bomb fuelled by Toei’s incompetence and lack of awareness of their Western fanbase, who are no saints either with their lolcow attitudes. Tsuburaya is pretty based with their international distribution and TV-Nihon’s typesetters should #ReleaseTheFonts.

#tokusatsu #kamen rider #super sentai #ultraman #tv-nihon #releasethefonts #respectweiwenn #respectichi

9 notes · View notes