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#young!ironman
nakurumok · 1 year
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toxxenn · 2 years
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sibmakesart · 2 years
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HAPPY LATE PRIDE
on red bubble :D
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jwnchstr · 2 years
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Kevin Dockry vs. Robert Downey Jr
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underburningstars · 2 years
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Winteriron request where Howard saved Bucky from hydra. twentyish tony helps him getting healed up and teach him with a modern world.
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This is bigger than I originally planned it. But I really enjoyed writing this.
on ao3
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Pairing : Tony Stark/James 'Bucky' Barnes
Tags : Canon Divergence, Howard and Maria live, Bucky Barnes recovery, Young Tony Stark
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After hanging up the phone, his mother's words kept ringing on his mind.
Say something, if you don't you'll regret it.
Oh god, Tony was regretting his whole life right now. He should've told his dad that he loved him. That he knew that his mom did her best. But now they were attacked and Tony might never get that chance at all.
This is how Jarvis found him, shaking and barely breathing. It took him almost an hour to completely calm down.
Through out the ride to the hospital, he didn't say a word. Ana kept stroking his hair softly and Jarvis kept glancing at him in concern.
Any other day, he would hate to be coddled. But he almost became an orphan. He deserves some coddling.
Instead of going to a hospital, they reached some kind of facility, government or not he couldn't tell. He looked at Jarvis in question but didn't get an answer.
They were greeted by Peggy on the entrance. Seeing her made him relax a bit.
He goes to Peggy and ashe instantly pulls him into a hug, "Where is this place? Shouldn't they be at a hospital?" he asks after breaking apart.
"This place is safer than a hospital." Peggy answers as he leads him to his parents.
"You didn't answer my question. What is this place, Aunt Peggy?" they stop in front of the room.
Peggy sighs and looks at him, exhaustion clear on her beautiful face. For a moment, Tony feels bad for being so difficult but he doesn't relent. "Ask you dad, okay? Now go in."
Going inside he sees dad sitting by mom's side, holding her hand. Seeing him dad stands up but before he can say anything Tony pulls him into a hug, "I thought this was a simple getaway. Who gets almost assassinated during a getaway?"
Tony feels strong hands closing around him, "People like me do, I guess."
They stay like this for a while before breaking apart and he turns to his mom. "Is she going to be okay?"
"She has a concussion. Nothing too serious. She'll be fine in no time." dad clamps a hand on his shoulder.
"What is this place? Aunt Peggy said I should ask you?"
Dad sighs before he turns to me. " This is Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division" at Tony's unimpressed look he added "You can call it SHIELD. It's government organization only few people know about. Me, Peggy and Colonel Phillips are the founders."
"So, it's--like a spy agency?"
Dad furrows his brows thoughtfully and then nods, "Yeah, it's like a spy agency."
"Wow, who knew you had such a cool streak."
Dad ignores that comment and continues talking, "You had to know about this someday. Better now than later. Let's go see Peggy."
They walk to an office, which he assumes is Peggy's. Inside she's sitting behind a large desk looking more than stressed.
As they enter, she looks up, "Learn to knock Howard." Tony bites back a smile at that. Even after so long she's just as awesome.
"Did you find anything?" dad asks.
Peggy doesn't answer. Just looks and Howard and then at Tony.
"I told him. And it's time he knows how things work. This attempt on me and Maria is reason enough." Peggy sighs and motions them both to sit down.
"The person who attacked you is called the Winter Soldier. He's a ghost story. You and Maria are probably the only people who have lived after seeing them." Tony tenses at that. The possibility of what could happen doesn't escape any of them.
"How did you survive anyways?" Tony asks. "If he's that good, then what did you do that he failed?"
Dad sighs and rubs his face, "He was Sergeant Barnes." he and Peggy both look at dad like he's gone crazy.
"Did you hit your head, or something? Do you have any idea what you’re saying, Howard?" Peggy exclaimed.
"I know, I know it's hard to belive but that's how I managed to live. When he looked at me and I called him Sergeant Barnes he didn't seemed to recognize me but there was a brief hesitantion. Like a glitch and that's when I tasered him. By the time I was done checking on Maria, he had been gone." dad explained. Tony was still trying to cope with all the onslaught of information.
"But survival from a fall that high, especially from a moving train. Is that even possible? Can a human body take it?" Peggy looked confused and upset with what she was hearing, having personally known Sergeant Barnes.
"A regular human body can't." Tony piped up, "I mean, Captain America would probably survive it. Because of the serum."
"But Sergeant Barnes was never given the serum." dad turned his whole attention to him.
"We don't know that." Tony shrugged, "Wasn't he captured by HYDRA once? Did they not do anything to him?"
"We medically tested all the soldiers rescued from Azzano. He was completely fine." Peggy replied.
"No, no no. We tested to see if theyvwere being used as bio-weapons. There was no way of knowing if any of them were injected with the serum, or at least a bastardized version of it." Tony felt smug about being right but his smugness morphed to shock hearing dad's next words."We were taking the renewed version of the serum to Leipzig. He came for that."
"Dad, let's say everything you just said is right. Then, doesn't it mean that-that HYDRA is still there." both dad and Peggy tense up. "Or at least some organization like that." he added.
A grim silence filled the room, until Howard broke it. "I'll go talk with the intelligence team. Tony, if you want to know something, ask her." he pointed at Peggy and left.
"Hey Tony, how do you feel about being a trained spy?"
Tony grinned. How hard could it be?
-
The answer to that is 'very hard'. Being a spy can be very very fucking hard. Peggy warned him, that although Nick Fury is the best trainer, he has a shit personality. Shit personality, Tony can handle but Nick Fury's an absolute asshole.
On top of that, his fellow trainee, who uses medieval arrows (what the fuck) is already experienced. So, he's lacking by miles.
Fellow trainee - my name's Clint, pretty boy - is also kind of an ass. But at least he helps Tony with practice. Which Nick-who always has a stick up his ass-Fury doesn't bother with.
But Tony's nothing but determined. He'll be the best fucking agent of SHIELD. Even if it's just to throw on Nickie's face.
-
Nickie brought him to a park today. Assessment, he was told. "What kind of assessment are we doing in a damn park, Nickie?"
Nick ignored him and kept looking around, "That man." Nick pointed at a grumpy looking man reading 'The Hobbit', "Make him give you his bank balance. You have an hour."
"What the hell? Okay, okay. I'm going." Tony wanted to protest but he wanted good marks in his assessment papers more than anything.
Tony bought a magazine from from a vendor and sat beside the guy. He pretended to read the magazine for a while.
"Hey, are you reading The Hobbit?" Tony asked casually. The guy eyed him suspiciously before replying.
"Yeah." From Texas. Living here for a while.
"Cool. Me too. I'm a big fan. I'm Eddie, by the way." His body turned in interest. Bingo.
-
Fifty minutes later, he sat on the bench Nick was sitting on. "So? Found out anything, Stark?"
"His name is Carl. He's 29, from Texas. His mother's name is Jennie and father's name is Victor. He has a younger sister named Cassie, age 15. He works as the sales manager in Target. He loves baseball, hates basketball, favorite food is Chinese, favorite color is Green, his average GPA in high school was 3.42. He lives in 164-08 Long Island City. Oh, his bank balance is 1,573 dollars. You're most welcome." Tony tilted his head at Nick with a smirk.
Nick was looking at him with something a keen to amazement, "Good job, Stark."
Tony laughed, "I'm the best!"
"Don't get cocky. You've a long way to go." Tony was too lapoy to pay attention to Nick.
-
In one year Tony was impeccably trained in hand to hand combat, any kind of weapon handling, information recruitment, advanced driving skills, lying his way through absolutely anything, reading people like a champ and psychological manipulation, several languages and episonage operations.
And in three years, he was one of the best agents SHIELD had ever seen.
In tthe meantime, Clint also made a name of himself and joined Tony's tight circle of friends (which only had Rhodey before Clint joined).
They're still searching for Sergeant Barnes. They've kept the investigation a secret and only few trusted agents know anything about this. Aunt Peggy doubts that there's not one but several moles inside SHIELD.
Tony didn't contribute to that investigation. He kept studying for his third doctorate and completed whatever mission was given to him.
So his meeting with Sergeant Barnes was a total coincidence.
It was an easy mission. Just some info collection from a Romanian businessman. He flirted with the guy and got him drugged him enough to give Tony more information than that was required.
He still had day until he had to report, so he thought he would look around the market a bit. He could buy something for mom. She liked the handmade souvenirs.
Right then, he saw a figure he'd seen several times in a grainy CCTV footage. Sergeant Barnes was buying plums from a vendor in a olive hoodie and baseball cap. His metal hand hid my gloves.
He watched as Barnes's body tensed up and Tony knew that his presence was noticed. Barnes started walking forward and forgetting all self preservation, Tony followed him.
He lost Barnes in a crowd of people. As Tony was looking for Barnes, he was pulled into a dark alley, a hand pressing on his mouth and a knife on his neck.
"Who are you? Why are you following me?" Barnes's voice was scratchy, as if it hadn't been used for a long time.
Tony bit his hand, thankfully the flesh one and Barnes pulled away hissing. "If you cover my mouth bow will talk, dipshit." Tony pushed up from the alley wall and straightened himself. "You tried to kill my parents. Isn't it natural I look for you."
Barnes eyed him critically, "You're Stark's kid. Tony Stark."
"Yep, one and only. I really shouldn't be doing this but right now you don't look like you wanna kill me and my dad and my aunt are looking for you. So, wanna come to New York with me?" Tony hoped Barnes would say yes. This guy was so hard to find. He couldn't afford losing him now.
"There are people after me. Can your father and aunt keep me safe?"
"We'll keep you at a SHIELD safe house." Tony promised because he knew they would.
"SHIELD is compromised. It's not safe at all."
"What?" Tony's eyes widened gearing that. He knew his dad and Peggy had doubts but having confirmation was totally different. "Compromised by whom?" Tony asked.
"Not here." Barnes shook his head.
Tony sighed and gestured Barnes to follow him. Soon they were in the studio apartment he was staying in. "Now tell me." Tony demanded.
"HYDRA." Tony inhaled sharply hearing the name. Four years ago his suspension was right. Shit, Tony hated being right i this situation.
"Sit down. Don't go anywhere. I need to make a call. Finding you is a personal project and not many from SHIELD know about it. We'll keep you safe." as Barnes sat in the bed looking around as if something was gonna pop out anytime, Tony made a call to his dad.
"Hey, all okay? Aren't you on a mission?" Dad questioned.
"Yeah, the mission went fine. I've everything I needed. It's something else. Dad, I-I found Sergeant Barnes."
There was a uneasy silence on the line and then a loud, "What? Are you crazy? He's a assassin. Get out of there, Tony. Jesus Christ."
"Dad, dad listen to me. And let me explain, okay? No interruption." Tony tried to calm him down.
"Okay, go ahead."
"He's not trying to kill me. He told me that SHIELD is compromised. By HYDRA." Tony heard his dad curse from the other end of the line.
"Tony, I'm arranging a private jet for you both. Leave for the airport right now. From there Nick will bring you both to one of my estates. Me and Peggy will meet you there, okay?" Dad's plan seemed good so he easily agreed.
"Yeah, okay Dad."
"And Tony, please be careful."
"Yeah dad, I love you."
"Me too, son." That was awkward but a kind of awkward Tony loved.
Tony looked at Barnes and found him looking back, "Time to go."
-
Nick picked them up from the airport and now they're in one of Howard's personal safe houses.
Peggy and Howard, both are there. They're sitting on the couch and Howard and Peggy can't seem to take their eyes off Barnes. Feeling nasty, Tony clears his throat, "Is no one gonna say anything?"
That seems to break the others out of their trance, "Do you...remember now? You didn’t seem to before." Howard talks first.
Barnes looks around uncomfortably, "Yes, I-I remember now. Not much, but that we met. A long time ago." he clenches his fist, "I'm sorry. Fo that day."
"What...happened, Sergeant Barnes? Can you tell us?" Peggy asks.
"Maybe you should leave, Tony." Howard interjects.
"Excuse me! I found him. And I'm not some rookie agent who'll cry hearing about a little violence. I'm staying." Tony argues. Howard narrows his eyes at him but allows him to stay. Like Tony needed his permission.
And Barnes tells them. About how HYDRA gave him a version of the serum in Azzano. How it saved him from the fall. About his hand. About The Chair. The cryo.
At the end a deafening silence settles on the room, none of them knowing what to say.
Howard takes a deep breath and lifts his head up, "So, how did you escape?"
"The Chair, I told you about. They used it on me to wipe my memories, since I recognized you. But, I don't know how, maybe because I was already starting to remember but the wipe didn't work. Instead of removing me recognizing you, it removed the triggers. If the triggers don't work, they can't control me. So, I escaped."
"And the thing about SHIELD. Is it really compromised?"
"Yes, it's infiltrated by HYDRA. If you go to the west wing of Camp Leipzig, you'll find everything."
After discussing it for some time they concluded that it would be best that he lives in that safe house. The problem was deciding who'd live with him in the meantime.
Sergeant Barnes was given a room to rest. Peggy, Howard and Tony were in the office discussing the matter.
"We should let Tony stay with him." Peggy suggested, making Tony beam.
"Absolutely not." Howard rejected the idea, making Tony deflate.
"Why not? I'm the one who brought him here."
"He's right Howard. He's one of the best SHIELD agents. And we also don't have any other option. Nick is working on the insides and Barton is on a long mission."
In end Howard reluctantly agreed, seeing no other option.
"Send all my lab stuff. And DUM-E too." Tony said as Howard was leaving.
"I will. And if anything happens, even the smallest thing call me instantly. Got it?"
"Yes, sir yes." Howard ruffled his hair and drove away.
¦
Bucky didn't know how to feel. Everything was happening too quickly. After bring a HYDRA puppet for so long and then bring on the run for four years, rest had become a foreign word to him.
Now he was laying on the softest mattress he'd ever seen, eating the best food and occasionally being pestered by the Stark kid who has no self preservation at all.
Bucky doesn't know what to make of all of this.
Once, the kid - Tony - went out with Howard and came back looking all kinds of annoyed.
"Did you know that HYDRA programmed Arnim Zola inside a computer? They made an AI before me. How dare they!" Tony kept talking too himself, pacing around in frustration. So Bucky thought he'd make him coffee. Tony seemed to like that a lot.
As he lifted his hand up to take out a mug, a sudden pain flared through his hand and he hissed.
That instantly got Tony's attention and he stopped pacing, "What happened? Are you alright?"
"Yes, it's the arm. It happens sometimes. No need to worry."
"Is your arm hurting?" Tony stepped closer, brows furrowed.
"It always hurts."
"What?! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Um-"
"No, that doesn't matter. You're coming with to the lab right now. Let's go." and with that Tony started walking and Bucky dolled him quickly.
The insides of the lab was quite different from the HYDRA labs. It was filled with parts of machines and computers rather than people in white coats.
"Sit on the couch. I'll check your arm." Tony brought the equipments he needed and sat he side him. "Hmm, that's weird. How do you take it off?"
"I don't?" Bucky was confused. Why would he want to take off the arm.
"You don't? Then how did they do maintenance?"
"They just...opened it up and fixed it if anything was wrong." Tony was silent for a while, just looking at him with a unreadable expression on his face. It made him uncomfortable, not being able to read him.
"You know, I don't even know why I'm surprised that they would take off the arm and not cause you pain. Son of a bitches." Tony sighs and rubs his face, "I'll make you a new one."
"You can do that?" He thought Tony was a field agent, not a mechanic.
"Yep, that and much more. Now tell me, what's your favorite color, snowflake?"
Bucky startled at the question, "I don't know? I don't remember that."
Tony pouted hearing that, "Huh, then I'll just use my favorite colors. And, I've been meaning to ask you, how much do you remember about your old life? And did you remember anything new?"
"I...remember living in Brooklyn. And my sister? There was also a small kid, blonde hair, blue eyes."
"Yeah, Captain America." Tony nodded.
"He didn't look like someone who'd be a captain."
Tony laughed brightly hearing that (he really was beautiful, Bucky shook away the thought as soon as they came) and hummed, "You probably remember the Steve Rogers before the serum. He looked different later." Tony stood up and patted his shoulder, "Tell me if you remember anything else, okay?"
Bucky nodded.
-
The next day, Tony gave him some comics to read, "Hey, I know we should take you out to the museum and all but since we can't right now, you can learn a bit about Captain America and your time in army from these."
Bucky took them gratefully and read through them. There were some aspects he was sure were exaggerated but overall, it was nice to read. And, he also remembered that before joining the army he had a knack for baking.
He told so to Tony and later in the day the kitchen was filled with all kinds of baking products and equipments.
Bucky used the cooking books Tony bought for him and started making things again. At first, they weren't too good. Sometimes they got burnt and sometimes they were undercooked.
But he was determined, especially after he noticed how Tony worked several hours in his lab and didn't eat or drink anything other than coffee.
He started simple. The first day, he made two fruit sandwiches with apple juice and took them to Tony's lab.
Few hours later, when he went to retrieve the plate and glass, they're both empty.
It felt good. Taking care of someone instead of hurting them. And the smile Tony gave him each time he made something new was a great added bonus.
-
Tony made him an arm. Bucky knew he was working on that for sometime but it still made him feel weird.
Not bad or uncomfortable. Just...weird.
It was sleek black with red and gold outlining the plates. And it didn't hurt. Not at all.
Tony was looking at him nervously, waiting for his reaction.
Bucky smiled at him and Tony’s eyes widened with something that looked very close to awe. He realized, this is the first time he smiled in more than fourty years.
-
Things...changed a bit after that. Bucky baked more and more and Tony brought lots of books for him, mostly historical but there were some fictions too.
Bucky remembered more and more each day.
But now, they would watch movies together. Sit slightly closer, when Tony would check on his arm. Smile more, touch more. It felt different. Affectionate. Good.
-
Two months after Bucky started living there, Tony came running to his room.
"Dad, called me a while ago. You won't believe what they just told me."
"What? What happened? Is everything okay?" Bucky springed to his feet, body tense.
"Yes, yes everything's more than okay!" Tony was looking excited now, increasing Bucky’s confusion.
"Are you gonna tell me what's going on?"
"HYDRA's down." Bucky froze, "They took HYDRA down and also have enough evidence to get you pardoned. Bucky you ca-mffmm" Bucky didn't let Tony finish the sentence, kissing him with all he had.
Tony kissed back instantly, much to his relief, raising on his tiptoes to kiss him better. When they parted they pressed their foreheads together, "Dad's gonna kill you."
Bucky laughed and agreed.
-
It wasn't easy. No matter how many times Tony would tell Bucky that it was HYDRA, it him, it was his hands that killed the people.
The government had pardoned him but there were a lot of hiccups. Howard a d Tony worked day and night for that and he was placed on mandatory therapy sessions for a year. Bucky thought he got off lightly.
And, Howard did try to kill him, if the suspicious tasting coffee said anything. But Bucky couldn't blame him. The position he and Tony were in when Howard found out about them was less than ideal, to say the least.
Howard was planning on retiring and live on some island with his wife for a while. So, Tony was busy preparing to take over the company and also rebuild SHIELD after rooting off all HYDRA connections.
In the meantime, Bucky visited several museums and met his sister. He had also gained back most of his momeries.
Happiness was now a emotion he was fairly familiar with.
¦
Tony was doomed.
He knew Bucky was probably planning his murder now. But if Bucky had been late for their date third time in a row, Tony'd kill him too.
Reaching the small restaurant he immediately spotted Bucky. He was hard to miss. His hair was short now, unlike the time Tony found him, his stubble styled rather than unkept, sitting there in a blue short sleeved shirt, not ashamed if the metal arm anymore.
Tony loved him so much.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be late. But Pepper gave me a file last minute-" Tony started apologizing as soon as he sat down on the table.
"Babe," Bucky cut him off, "It's fine. I'm not angry."
"You're not?"
"No. But I need to talk to you about something."
Oh god, is he breaking up with me?
"I'm not breaking up with you."
"What? Why would you say that? I wasn't thinking about that."
"You were. But, Listen to me. This is important." Tony nodded and stopped talking.
Bucky took a deep breath and started talking, "The situation when we met weren't exactly ideal and you were an idiot to take the assassin who tried to kill your parents with you just like that." Tony laughed a bit at that, "But I'm very glad that you were an idiot. Because, that day I met my greatest blessing. You are my saving grace Tony. My morning star. My heart and my home." Bucky pulled out a ring, "Anthony Edward Stark, would you give me my greatest gift and add a Barnes to your name?"
He was crying now. He tried to stop crying and talk but he couldn't so he just nodded his head really hard. Right way, Bucky was at his side, sliding the ring on his finger, kissing all over his face.
Tony would've preferred it if Bucky hadn't have to go through so much pain. But, he was glad that life had given them the chance to have each other.
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batastrophe7 · 2 years
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I think what dc does not understand is that young justice was the only cinematic universe I needed
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agentofagony · 1 year
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Okey so a question poped into my head? who's in the marvel universe is more likely to be a threater kid? Loki, amora, lorelie, Wiccan, Clea, doctor doom and doctor strange are obvious answers , they just have that thing about them that screams obviously threater kid.
Megnato is a maybe? But not so sure.
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bottomstrange · 1 year
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タ ⋆ 🎡 ᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜɪs❤️? ᴍᴇᴏᴡ ꜰɪʀsᴛ. ٦🧣 ₍ᐢ..ᐢ₎ ˖ ࣪⭑
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spidey-portilla · 1 year
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Fallen Son The Death of Captain America (Captain America-Negociación)
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supercap2319 · 5 months
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Being surrounded by five people in Avengers' tower was something that Y/N hadn't expected. He had been battling Kang with the others, when Kang tried to escape to the future. Y/N had followed him and ended up getting sucked into the portal.
He flew to Avengers' tower to see if anyone could help him and tell him what happened, but he didn't expect people to take up residency inside the tower. Especially when the blonde in purple spandex had an arrow notched at his chest.
"Listen, I don't know who you guys are, but I do know you came to the wrong place to take over. Get out now, and I might not have to kick your asses." Y/N warned.
"Wrong. This place belongs to the Young Avengers. You're the one who's trespassing, pal." Arrow guy said.
Y/N took a long look at them. The girl was wearing an Ironman suit like Tony's. The blonde had Steve's shield. The guy who looked like Bucky had a knife in his hand. And the other blonde, who looked like a golden retriever, was wearing purple spandex pants.
"Young Avengers? You guys are seriously messed up in the head. This is where the Avengers live. And you're making a big mistake."
"I don't think so." Golden retriever guy started to grow bigger and turned green as he looked similar to the Hulk. He let out a roar. The girl hovered over him, repulsors ready. "Stand down. Finally warning."
"Oh, this is gonna be fun." Y/N smiled as he moved the arrow away from him and moved as he ran and slammed the Hulk imposter through several walls of the tower as the others followed him.
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fallynleaf-gifs · 1 year
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Wherever I go... whatever country I go to... I want the Golden Lovers to fight with the same emotion and one heart. —Kenny Omega
“What would Kota think?”
2019-2021
This is a long-overdue gifset. I meant to finish it in November 2021, then I meant to finish it in early 2022, then, well, May 2022 happened, and the Golden Lovers story effectively got put on ice, so I shelved the gifset, too. But now we have reason to hope again, so here it is. The Golden Lovers’ path has never been a straightforward or easy one.
I’ve seen Kota Ibushi described as a “ghost” that haunted Kenny Omega for those few years, but I don’t think that’s quite accurate. Kota has been part of the fabric of AEW itself since the very beginning. Despite the fact that he has yet to make an actual appearance, he has been present in direct references and allusions, in the Golden Lovers symbol on the shoulder of Kenny’s gear, and in the golden “E” in “AEW”, which originally came from the Golden Elite.
Without Kota Ibushi, AEW as we know it would not exist. Of course, a large part of that is his continuing influence on anything and everything that Kenny does. Kenny Omega only really tells one story. It’s the same story that he has been telling his whole career. Sometimes it’s a quiet, subtle story, and sometimes it’s a very loud one. Sometimes it’s both at the same time.
The first direct, unmistakable reference to Kota in AEW happened in an infamous Undertale-themed VTR on October 30, 2019. In it, Kenny is plagued by his own insecurity (which was not helped by Kota’s recent G1 win, in contrast to Kenny’s recent failures in AEW), and a seductive voice tries to prompt him to let it take control before his other tag partners leave him, too. But Sans steps in to stave off the inevitable, and Kenny manages to keep it together—for about a year or so.
The next reference happens a little over a week later, at Full Gear on November 9. Kenny has an unsanctioned match with Jon Moxley, and he brings out all sorts of weapons, including a horrific bed of barbed wire that Hangman Page and the Young Bucks were reluctant to help him with. But what gets him in the end isn’t any weapon, but a failed Phoenix Splash (Kota’s first finisher) onto the exposed wood of the ring. From there, Mox hits a Paradigm Shift and pins him. Kenny could endure broken glass and barbed wire, but the one pain he couldn’t withstand is the pain of a broken heart.
After that, he tries to retreat back into the only comfort he knows: tag team wrestling. He pressures Hangman into tagging with him, and the two of them set their sights on tag team gold. Miraculously, they manage to make it work, winning the titles a scant month and a half or so before the world shuts down. Kenny’s main focus is on tag team wrestling during this time, but in order to fix one major blemish on his singles record, he ends up wrestling Pac in an ironman match on February 26, 2020. One of the moves he pulls out is unmistakably a Kamigoye (Kota’s current finisher).
A few days after that, on February 29, Kenny and Hangman defend their titles against the Young Bucks at Revolution. It’s a match with quite a few references and callbacks (especially to the Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks match in 2018), but the most striking moment was the Bucks hitting Kenny with a Golden Trigger (the Golden Lovers’ finisher), which Kenny kicks out of after a mere 1-count, prompting a massive response from the crowd. No one can weaponize the Golden Lovers’ own love against him like that.
The end of that match portends division and betrayal between the four men, but before the story can continue as planned, the covid-19 pandemic hits, and everything in the world of pro wrestling changes.
The year that follows is a hard one. Kenny’s AEW tag title run has a cruel symmetry with Kota’s concurrent NJPW tag title run. Just as Kenny and Hangman finally find their equilibrium, FTR arrives to sow conflict, The Elite fractures, Kenny and Hangman drop the titles, and Kenny gives up on tag team wrestling. Everything in the Undertale VTR had come to pass. Having nowhere else to go, he goes to an old family friend: Don Callis.
Then, at Winter Is Coming on December 2, wrestling in frigid 40°F weather at the open-air Daily’s Place, Kenny beats Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, thanks to Don Callis helping him cheat. The two of them abscond with the title after the so-called “golden screwjob”, and Kenny takes it somewhere the Young Bucks aren’t willing to follow him—Impact Wrestling.
Thus kicks off the Belt Collector arc. Kenny soon acquires two new/old goons: Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, both former members of Bullet Club. He starts considering himself part of Bullet Club again, and declares his intent to collect more belts besides the AEW one (and the AAA Mega Championship, which he already had), starting with Impact.
On January 4, 2021, Kota Ibushi wins the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships at Wrestle Kingdom in NJPW. A few days after that, Kenny posts an Instagram story wherein he looks at Sports Illustrated’s list of the top 10 wrestlers of 2020. Kenny is number five on the list, and Kota is number eight. We can see that Kenny was looking at Kota’s entry before he looked at his own.
Then, on January 28, on the three year anniversary of their reunion, Kota tweets at Kenny, proposing that their two companies change the industry together. Kenny replies, using Nak’s translation as a mediator, and says, “Already feeling lonely in the Kingdom I left for you? Shall I destroy it? Take my hand, we’ll build a new one”. Kota responds to him, but receives no answer.
A few days after that, on February 3, Kenta appears on AEW Dynamite, blowing the so-called Forbidden Door between AEW and NJPW wide open. From that point on, we’re truly in uncharted territory.
Kenny challenges for (and wins) the Impact World Championship in April, but leading up to that match, Don simultaneously stokes Kenny’s ego and tries to gaslight him into erasing Kota from his own history. He encourages Kenny to repeatedly say that no one has ever kicked out of the One Winged Angel (only one person actually has: Kota Ibushi. He’s the source of Kenny’s greatest strength and his greatest weakness). However, no matter how much Don tries, Kenny’s age-old insecurity emerges on March 23, when Don names a long list of wrestlers that Kenny is supposedly better than, and Kenny yells out “Bigger than Ibushi!”
Kenny names Kota again in a AAA promo on August 31, listing him among the best high flyers in the world. It’s abundantly clear that to Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi is the greatest wrestler in the world. No matter how far Kenny goes, no matter how many belts he collects, no matter how many accolades he receives, Kota Ibushi will always stand above him in his own mind. Kenny will never be able to outrun him or let go of him. He can’t fill the hole in his heart with a new tag partner, and he can’t fill it with belts, either.
While all of this is happening, Kota is unfortunately not having the greatest summer of his life. He loses the IWGP belt to Will Ospreay on April 4, then gets aspiration pneumonia in July. He participates in the G1 Climax tournament in September and manages to make it all the way to the finals, but he dislocates his shoulder after a failed Phoenix Splash while facing Kazuchika Okada on October 21.
Kenny’s own injuries come back to haunt him, too, but his autumn goes a little bit better.
Adam Cole—an actual ghost from Kenny’s past—comes back to sow trouble for the Elite (though it takes a while to actually manifest), debuting at All Out on September 5 along with Bryan Danielson. Bryan wrestles Kenny a couple weeks later in his first match as an AEW member, on September 22 at Grand Slam. He forces Kenny to fight him with everything he has, and for just a moment, Bryan is able to draw out the Best Bout Machine instead of the Belt Collector. As he always does in his moments of greatest need, Kenny reaches for Kota Ibushi, and once again executes a Phoenix Splash, which, as always, he is unable to actually hit. This time, it doesn’t end in tragedy, though. Instead, the match goes to a full time limit draw.
The death knell for the Belt Collector looms near, however. Hangman Page earns himself a shot at the AEW World Championship at Full Gear on November 13. Three days before the match, they hold a contract signing for it on Dynamite.
Hangman, who knows Kenny very well by this point, is able to read the subtext. He finally figures it out. He realizes that everything Kenny said to him, everything that he did to him and with him, it was never actually about Hangman. It all sprung from a deeper wound that Kenny has carried with him all this time. As soon as Hangman figures this out, nothing Kenny does to him can hurt him anymore. "But if I remember, you once had another tag team partner who maybe you felt like you didn't measure up to either."
That one line also does something else that’s very important: it brings Kota Ibushi out of AEW’s subtext and into the main text. He’s part of the story now. And he always was. (The man himself liked a gif of Hangman’s “you once had another tag partner” line on twitter shortly after it happened. If there was ever any doubt that he’d been keeping up with what Kenny was doing in his absence, it’s gone now.)
Maybe the best illustration of this is a front row sign that a fan brings to Hangman and Kenny’s match at Full Gear a few days later. “What would Kota think?” Kenny stops to stare at it for a long moment before entering the ring. Years earlier, he’d talked about being so surprised and thrilled that the fans had managed to pick up on the Golden Lovers story leading up to their reunion in NJPW. He was so touched by the fact that the fans had known their history, after all that time. I wonder if he felt something similar here. It was in many ways the culmination of his efforts. The story made deeply tangible, here at the climax of its most difficult chapter.
As was always meant to happen, Kenny loses to Hangman and drops the AEW title. He makes one last onscreen appearance on November 17, 2021 before temporarily stepping away from AEW and away from wrestling so that he can recuperate from years of overworking himself. He says, “I feel like... there’s things I gotta fix, there’s things I gotta change, and I can’t do it here.” Is his relationship with Kota one of those things he had to fix?
Here’s where the story gets a bit hazy. Unfortunately, the year that follows does not go particularly well for either of the Golden Lovers, and plans have to get rewritten. Their respective injuries take longer than expected to heal, which leads to Kota having a falling out with NJPW in May 2022 after they try to force him to come back to the ring too soon. Kenny is finally able to make his own return in August 2022, but he returns to a troubled backstage environment, which finally boils over during the media scrum after All Out on September 4. Kenny and the rest of the Elite are forced to vacate their freshly won Trios Championships, and they all get suspended for a few months during the investigation.
But even in the darkest of moments, things aren’t all bad. The Golden Lovers reunite in a restaurant in Japan on September 15. They reunite on their own terms, outside of any company. The future is still a bit unclear for them, but wherever the story goes next, they want to do it right. “Because the tag team with him is more special to me than anything,” Kota says. He asks Kenny to wait for him, and Kenny assures him that he’ll wait as long as it takes. They both proclaim that the Golden Lovers aren’t over.
One day, the stars will align for them again. If it happens in AEW, the stage is already set. "What would Kota think?” was the question posed at the end of 2021. Maybe one day we will get to hear his answer.
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dyinggirldied · 1 year
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Socialites and paparazzi are excitedly watching the battle between Bruce "Brucie" Wayne and Tony Stark aka Ironman, equally rich and both in control of innovative machinery engineering, fighting over Danny Fenton. A young but talented and secretive scientist/engineer who comes from an equally secretive and creepy small town called Amity Park.
The battle only gets more heated once Vladimir Masters, notoriously infamous (because manage to get your rivals to sign your contracts without their consents or getting blackmails from them is enough to make Vlad a terrifying business tycoon in the wealthy folks world, especially if he is originally just a normal middle class young sickly boy before) also joins in the battle.
Much to Danny's exaggeration and amusement.
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hwasvervain · 12 days
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INTERNSHIP | characters.
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summery.. everything was going great for Jeong Yunho. He got back into college to continue studying science, moved into his own apartment with his girlfriend, and the holiday's were coming up so he could spend time with his aunt finally after a long semester. he thought nothing in the world could mess this up.. until he took up that damn internship at the Kim's Industries. shit always starts to hit the fan when you're in the presence an avenger, doesn't it? you don't even know them, yet a sob story is waiting to happen.
note.. i do not own any of the ateez members (obviously lol) and none of the marvel characters!! nor do i own some elements of the plot, this is just my OWN creativity with a mix of things that are already used! credits to kisami89 on deviantart.com all of the coloring used here !!
tags.. @starkers-lair (only pookie rn LMAOO)
INTERNSHIP masterlist
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01. JEONG YUNGO | SPIDERMAN
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- 24
- college student
- “i’ll take this to my grave rather than tell her what happened to me.”
02. KIM HONGJOONG | IRONMAN
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- 27
- young CEO of Kim’s Industries
- “this is your job, what do you think you’re doing?”
03. PARK SEONGHWA | DR. STRANGE
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- 28
- guardian of Seoul Sanctum
- “the sanctum isn’t going to protect itself, now will it?”
04. CHOI SAN | CAPTAIN AMERICA
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- 23
- ex soldier
- “being frozen in ice seems so fun right now.”
05. JUNG WOOYOUNG | THE FALCON
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- 22
- private dance instructor
- “i can kick your ass out if i truly felt like it, try me.”
06. KANG YEOSANG | VISION
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- 23
- hongjoong’s assistant
- “..okay.”
07. CHOI JONGHO | HAWKEYE
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- 21
- archery instructor
- “i didn’t request for your presence, why are you here?”
08. SONG MINGI | DEADPOOL
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- 24
- unemployed
- “i live off of orange juice and sandwiches.”
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imagineandwrite · 1 year
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𝘖𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘷𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 - 𝘐
I'd Rather Not
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Word Count: 2.6k Words Warnings: Cussing, Terrible Humor, Reader is a player, Shuri has a staring problem
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Y/N L/N has built her reputation amongst the students and teachers. Teachers knew her as a young lady with a bright future, while the students knew her as the school's fuck girl and dealer.
Yesterday marked the third year since she left her kingdom, and she still hadn't gone to visit. Three years since she last spoke to her grandparents, three years since she'd seen her sister, Nuru. Today was the anniversary of her and her roommate's friendship.
Riri Williams is a young woman busying herself with small and big projects. She got into MIT with a scholarship granted by the late Ironman, who paid for her books, dorm, tuition, and everything.
"Happy Anniversary," Riri hums and flops onto the floor next to Y/N. She took pride in knowing everything about Y/N, like her real name, where she was from, and more. She even knew about how her parents died and when she lost her virginity. They developed a pattern of Y/N doing random things at odd hours of the night and Riri attempting to stop her. Like yesterday, Y/N drove to glue chicken nuggets to her least favorite teacher's desk.
"We sound like a couple," Y/N scoffs as she lifts her body onto her bed, dragging Riri with her. They sit with their backs against the wall and a laptop playing Scooby Doo in front of them. Her eyelids are heavy, and she feels like she's floating.
"We ain't ever gon date, said so yourself," The shorter girl denies, leaning into her friend's side as she remembered when Y/N turned her down. Y/N told her she would never date her, not because she wasn't attractive, but because it wasn't in her nature to date. She never fully dated anyone, only sneaky links.
"That don't stop you from liking me," Y/N chuckles as she shifts the two to lie down. 
"Go to sleep, T."
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The first three classes were easy minus random girls coming up asking for a quick meet or boys asking when Y/N would swing both ways. As usual, she turned the heads of both students and teachers, men and women. Y/N knew she was pretty, had since she was six after she batted her eyelashes at the cook so he'd give her two cookies instead of one.
It didn't help that she carried herself with masculine confidence, or at least that's what Riri said.
"It's something about a masculine woman with confidence that just butters our biscuits," She chuckled, her lips pursed as she tried to stop the smile from showing.
"Never say that shit again," Y/N deadpanned.
"I gotta stop hanging with Kayla."
She had one more class today, then she could sleep, but before that, she needed to get her textbook. The teacher, Mr. John, was her least favorite teacher of all. He was your stereotypical creepy teacher. Telling girls off for showing skin, giving remarks that made girls giggle uncomfortably, and he always seemed to be looking at the girls' legs.
It took eight minutes for Y/N to get to her dorm. She was stopped by a group of boys paying her for supplying their party and two girls throwing compliments at her.
Though the dorm was also Y/N's, she still knocked on the door. It felt wrong to barge in. It was like your sibling barging into your room, and then leaving the door open.
"Ri," She knocks twice, pressing her ear against the door. "I left my textbook, and Mr. John is on my ass. Can I come in?"
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"Took me a couple of months, but I had my friend- Did we piss off Wakanda?"
"Not just us, this place is no longer-"
Knocking on the door interrupts Shuri, and the two glance between the door and each other.
"Ri, I left my textbook, and Mr. John is on my ass. Can I come in?"
"Just tell me where it is," Riri shouted, shoving past the shocked princess and looking around for the thick book. She hears Shuri asking her who it was, she ignores it in favor of stopping the door from opening.
"You got somebody over or something?" The person whispers, her filed fingernails poking over Riri's head to wave into the room. 
"Just tell me where it is and I'll-WOAH!" Riri stumbles back, barely avoiding being hit by the door as it swings open.
Shuri and Y/N stared at each other before the woman glared at her while reaching back to slam the door shut. "Who is this woman?!"
"Why didn't you stay outside?!" Riri shouts back, running around the two to grab her bag.
"Why is she here?!" Y/N interjected, following after Riri as she waved her hand towards Shuri, narrowly avoiding her face. Riri sighed, she should've known her roommate would come back soon.
Her eyes widen in realization before spinning back to point between the two women, "She helped me build it! Why you ain't here for her?"
"Build what?" Y/N demanded, twisting so she could look between the two. Shuri tilted her head, her eyes trailing the taller woman's figure before shaking her head clear of any thoughts.
"Ms. Willams built a vibranium detector. Did you help her?"
"I did a little razzle-dazzle," She admitted, scratching her head as she looked to the side. Riri shouted at her, reaching over to smack the woman's arm.
"Razzle dazzle, my ass! You helped me find parts and made corrections," She corrected, using her fingers to list each task. "You used that thing from your alarm clock to make it work."
"Will you shut the hell up?!"
"I need you to pack your things and come with me right now," Shuri demanded, glancing between the two.
"I have class in like fifteen minutes, and Y/N's late for hers," Riri protested as she shared a look with her roommate. Flinching at the glare Shuri gave her, Riri sighed as she looked around the room.
"Ok, just let me go to the bathroom real quick," Riri said as she crept around the princess who watched Y/N. Faintly she hears her roommate mumble, 'Why is she staring like that?' Halfway through the door, she looked up and cursed, "Shit!"
She ran to the corner of the room, glaring at the bald black woman who entered from the bathroom.
"I had it under control," Shuri insisted, slightly irritated. Okoye shrugged, her eyes never straying from Riri, "You asked for five minutes, I gave you six."
Riri watched as both of them crept towards her, and Y/N stepped in front of her. Shuri held her hand out, "Calm down." She pleaded.
"Get out," Riri demanded as she waved her hands towards the door, peeking around Y/N's arm. "Get out of our dorm."
The shorter girl looked around for something and settled for the speaker on the desk. She snatched it and held it in her arms, ready to throw it. "I swear, you better not take another step towards us."
"Mmph see how they teach the children here to treat their guests," Okoye said to Shuri in mock disappointment. Riri took the opportunity to shove her roommate and heave the speaker towards them. Okoye whipped her hand out, and a small metal rod extended into a full spear, slicing the speaker in half.
Shuri and Riri's mouths dropped open in shock at the action, "You brought a spear in here?!"
"I like her," Okoye chuckled. She grunted when Y/N threw a pillow at her, and she shouted, "We don't like you, this is a completely one-sided relationship!"
A breathy chuckle to her left drew Okoye's attention from the panicking duo and toward Shuri, whose eyes were still on Y/N. Riri lifted a heater over her head as the general stepped forward and grinned at them, "You small small girl, you can either come to Wakanda with your giant friend, conscious or unconscious."
"You need to be conscious of the way that you look, walking 'round here all that ash on your head," Riri sassed, glaring at the offended woman.
"Since the ash has been acknowledged, I'm offering you help," Y/N grinned, stepping around Riri to grab a small bottle of oil. She spun back toward the glaring woman with a smile and presented the bottle, "Use this hair oil to get rid of the rolling in baby powder look."
Shuri laughed as she leaned forward slightly before she stood straight to avoid Okoye's glare. "That's funny?"
"No, no it's not," she answered, trying to control her laugh.
"Mhm, I told you," she said, hitting Shuri's arm. The princess smiled in assurance, "You look good."
"Now, wait a minute," Y/N shouted, stepping and glancing between the two. "You knew she was walking round here looking like that?"
"She knew!" Okoye shouted, pointing at Shuri over Y/N's shoulder. The two shared a chuckle at the general's obvious distress. "Sweetheart, that is just foul."
"Riri!" Y/N started, quickly spinning to the startled girl. "If you ever do that to me, I will shave you bald and put baby powder on your head, so you twinning with black Caillou over here."
"Who is this Caillou?" Okoye scoffed, looking over at Shuri, who shrugged.
"It don't matter, we not going," Riri chuckled, adjusting the heater when Okoye went to step forward.
"You know what?" Shuri began, stepping back to grin at Okoye, "Let's leave them here and let them deal with the merman with winged ankles, who wants to kill them, alone."
"You're right," Okoye nodded as the pair walked towards the door. Just before they opened it, Shuri turned back with a grin and danced, "You got this."
"Mhm, with your heater," Okoye grumbled.
"Hell no," Y/N groaned, shuffling around before running around to pack her things.
"T, what're you doing?" Riri asked, watching the girl put folded clothes into a bag. She spun around to glare at Riri and waved her arms at Shuri, "Did you not just hear what she just said?"
After a moment, Riri sighed and went to pack her bag, "We'll need to stop by the workshop, all our projects are there."
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They walked towards the car with Okoye in front of them and Shuri behind them. A girl walking past grinned at the group, "Hey, Y/N, you got a new toy for yourself?"
Shuri raised a brow but continued to walk. She could hear another person running up to them. "Y/N, wait!"
They paused right at the car and turned to look at the approaching woman. She was average height with braids in a bun. Y/N rolled her eyes with a huff as the girl reached up to hug her. Her hands stayed in her pockets as she leaned down slightly for her, "What's wrong now, Nat?"
"Just wondering where ya going?" Nature pouted, huffing when the taller girl shoved her away.
"Not like it matters, 'cause we ain't together, I'm working," Y/N murmured, scratching her neck as she glanced at the group behind her.
Okoye was checking something on her beads while Riri was staring at the pair. Shuri seemed to be glaring at the two of them, looking away when she caught Y/N's eye.
"Who is that?" She whispered, staring at the pair out the corner of her eye. Riri sighed as she shook her head, "One of her crazy ex flings, she got tired of the girl following her around and getting jealous. They ain't fucking no more, but Nature has a bad habit of telling everyone she's dating her."
Noticing the way Shuri's jaw clenched, she quickly spoke, "They never were and still aren't."
"Ready to go, sweetheart?"
An arm wrapped around Shuri's shoulders and pulled her into Y/N's side. She could see Nature glaring at her over her shoulder and grinned. Wrapping her arm around Y/N's waist, Shuri snickered, "Of course, Sthandwa."
Y/N smiled to herself and opened the door to let Shuri in. "This is the passenger side," Shuri argued as Riri and Okoye got in the back.
"Do you know where the garage is?" Y/N asked, lifting Shuri into the car and closing the door after checking she was in her seat correctly.
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Tags: @kgao
STORY MASTERLIST | NEXT PART
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yes-i-am-happyaspie · 25 days
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I know that Tony had the arc reactor removed in Ironman 3(I love all those movies btw🥰 ironman is one of my favorites 😊) but what if in a alternate universe Peter has to replace it whenever Tony asks one day??🤔 What do you think 🤔
There are so many fun prompts regarding Tony's arc reactor. I can't say I've seen one like this before!
My first thought is, I don't think Tony would *want* Peter to have to do that for him. The arc reactor is literally keeping him alive. Pepper as an adult, was a little freaked out when she had to help him with it. (Remember when she pulled the wrong wire and he went into cardiac arrest? O.o) I think he would hesitate to ask Peter. Because, to him, Peter is still so young; a 'kid.' He'd worry Peter would feel scared or intimidated by the process. He wouldn't want to put that kind of pressure on him. And God Forbid anything happened... Peter would fall apart.
BUT! I think it could still work. In a very angsty sort of way. :D
There's always the chance that there is NO ONE else available. Maybe it's during a mission, maybe captivity is involved... Maybe something happens, spur of the moment- No one else is around and there is no time to wait.
-
I'm not 100% sure this is something I would write, but will add it to my every growing list of ideas!
Until then, maybe someone else will see this prompt and be inspired by it!!
(Tag me if you write!! I'd love to see it!!)
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phantasyhalation · 1 year
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I've had quite a few uneducated conversations about Engage meta in the last couple days, and left enough obxnoxious FETuber podcasts on as background noise over the past month and a half to have some opinions on Engage units start to form. Tiering Fire Emblem when you understand how Fire Emblem works is a fucking nightmare, but here's my rough ordered ranking of units and Emblems based on an ironman, a fair bit over half of a Maddening run, and thinking too hard about characters and maps for too long. Given how complex Engage is, this is extremely subject to change. Needlessly exhaustive explanations for most picks, tiers, and general philosophy are below the cut. Control-F recommended for casual inquiry. Replies/additions are encouraged! I love Fire Emblem.
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Mutuals, please view this as the height of my Engage mania. I feel like a few of you will get a real kick out of this. The rest may look on in amusement, or perhaps horror.
Basic Outlook
Despite some striking similarities to and clear evolutions from Fates, Engage is the least RPG-like entry we've had since DSFE. Given the strong enemy quality on Hard and Maddening, tighter map design owing largely to lower base movement, and most significant unit customisation coming from interchangable Emblems rather than a class or proficiency-based equipment skill system, I believe dynamic tactical utility to be more important to 'efficient' (both safe and quick) strategies than total juggernauting potential. As the game is both young and incredibly complex, new strategies are emerging on the daily: I am assuming reclassing, creative Emblem assignment, and skill inheritance can make some of the best units better, and will make some of the earlygame units potentially screwed by C11 Emblem loss/suboptimal SP gain appear in a better light come replays. All units in this game are viable, especially with the advent of Ancient Well SP books. Some just try very hard not to be.
If you see the above for the photorealistic cardboard cutout of an informed position it is, please understand I am judging units in terms of ease of use, immediate and continued utility, and personal qualities, all with fair respect to join time. Assume units are judged purely on fixed growths unless stated otherwise. Potential for juggernauting or extreme lowmanning is not considered. The Hard/Maddening gap does not feel hugely impactful upon effective playstyles in Engage, so I'm going off vibes for both.
Tiers
Units are organised based on deployment value. This gives Alear a free pass (but their fantastic Dragon Emblem boosts help). The same goes for Veyle: while she joins with lower-than-ideal speed, Misericorde and extra Dragon utility make her the most competitive option for your shiny new 13th or 14th lategame deployment slot. Ordering within tiers was considered, but is less significant than the tiers themselves.
No-brainers are units who excel from base. I'll spend some time here, as they are the units I am arguing are most useful. The dragons were justified above. Kagetsu is quickly gaining infamy as one of the most needlessly busted prepromotes in the series, and rightfully so. Those bases are absurd in Swordmaster and he only gets better if reclassed. However, I chose to place Merrin above him for her immediate and versatile utility, and to be vaguely controversial. If you disagree, please don't hurt me. Consider mentally switching the order! I can really see the counterarguments. However, Merrin's personal bases are fantastic, and she joins as a highly competent six-range knife user with fair bulk who benefits immensely from any bones you can throw her. Levin Swords are hot property in this game, but she's one of the best contenders for your free C12 one and any later additions: she has little use for most swords, and her decent base and the absurd might typical of Engage Magic Weapons gives her a great option for breaks and anti-armor. A Seraph Robe and choice engraves can make her a highly resistant defensive unit thanks to her decent avoid and good bulk, especially if using the following suggestion. If not using Corrin on Alear/Veyle for the terrain wheel, I'd argue Merrin is her best holder. Calvary Water is a solid disruption which heavily restricts most mobile bosses and solves C19's miasma trenches, and using knives in conjunction with Corrin's bulk and her Engage debuffs trivialises most generic mobs and sedates all bosses. I don't have as much to say about Pandreo: his bases are fantastic, he's a strong combat mage in a game with few who only needs a reclass for tome proficiency to remain viable, and he's fully equipped to staffbot until Endgame from moment one. He's just a frat boy Pent in a game with better staves. Without significant favouritism, he is sure to outclass your earlier mages. I have nothing new to say about the latest Fire Emblem dancer. You know the argument.
Units in Good with Low Investment are as described. I would like to note Yunaka/Zelkov, Alcryst/Fogado, and to a lesser degree Panette/Rosado are pairs who 'compete' with one another for the same limited resources: those being significant forges, engraves, and Emblems. I'm not considering EXP: they're all strong and versatile enough to justify doubling up on basic role. Zelkov's Strength at base most likely outperforms an invested Yunaka's: her advantage is much earlier access to Marth's Avo+ inheritance, which serves both of them far better than the Corrin Fog Machine strategy due to enemies ignoring impossible hits. Zelkov also tends to join with more SP, but that's unlikely to be critical. You will be using your Yunaka before he joins regardless: I hope this is uncontroversial. If there's no gear to go around, make the judgement according to playthrough. Neither of them require priority Emblems during the Ring Depression. For a comparison of greater significance I want to put forward the radical case that Fogado outclasses Alcryst despite the latter's slightly greater Strength, strong Dexterity, and complimentary exclusive Luna access. Why? Radiant Bow.
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I'm going to be blunt: this thing is straight up sickening. Weighing Alcryst's Magic base of 2 and class-inclusive growth of 10 against Fogado's 7 and 25 with only a seven-level gap, he is the superior user at base and will continue to benefit. Alcryst's Dexterity offsets the bow's unforged hit rate, but Fogado's greater Speed and offensive capability ensures it will reliably slay anything without exceptionally high resistance. The forges are cheap, too! Alcryst is a strong unit, but Fogado is the best Radiant Bow user. Engage's Radiant Bow is a forgotten Jugdral Holy Weapon stuffed in a corner in C14 like it's a novelty. Its 75% base hit is more reliable than Alcryst's Luna, and Fogado has no issue patching it up further through Secret Books nobody else needs, the free Lyn or Lucina who both enjoy his strengths greatly, or junk Bond Rings (Claude S is a particularly lethal option for DLC owners: 2-3 range!). You can always forge Alcryst a spare, but Fogado's the better user, and it's almost always overkill. This thing is fucked up. Moving on, Panette is an offensive freak of nature, Rosado is an incredibly solid flier who joins at a time with little competition for resources, and Hortensia has exclusive access to World Tree, automatically securing her position within the Game With Good Staves But Highly Limited Uses. Rosado is the weakest by virtue of offering the least free destruction at the latest point, but his solid Speed/Build combination and great strength give him more than enough breathing room to make the most of his low internal level (only 17!) and great growths. Given the established criteria we're working with, a compliment to a unit's growths should not be taken lightly. They are fantastic.
Good with Precise Investment units are, broadly, everyone who's hungry for the early Master Seals. Let's take a detour to discuss early promotion in Engage, because this is a meta ramble, and FE metagamers love their early promotion discourse. Typically, early promotion is most valuable for the stat boosts. Kaga fans in particular love it: for the uninitiated, Sage promotion bonuses in FE5 involve +5-6 to Magic/Skill and +4-6 to Speed in a game with a universal stat cap of 20 - and that's ignoring the bonus staff proficiency. The supposed downside is typically a lowered level cap and reduced EXP gain: thanks to second seals and the internal level system dictating EXP, this is a non-issue. Class upgrades also provide slight boosts to growths in Engage!
However, most Engage promotions award only one to two stats in any given area, and growth gains are negligible in the long run: promotion might get you 3 more of your primary combat stat... after another 19 levels. Compared to Emblem and food bonuses, it's really negligible. Poor Céline, for instance, is only getting 1 in every stat. For her, it's mostly about the Movement.
Really, movement's the best thing most promotions tangibly offer... but a few stats can really count. I know I just spent a paragraph downplaying their value, but let's rephrase: you can view the early master seals as stat boosters permanently boosting a given unit's stats by 1-2 across the board: including Movement. Not only that, but they open up far better second seal opportunities: proficiency in regards to reclassing is trait-based and inherited cheaply from Emblems rather than relying on active weapon use or sustained instruction. This is something of a game-breaker for units like Kagetsu, who can go full Wyvern Emblem and skip the pegasus stage entirely with minimal effort once Ike coughs up Axe Proficiency. If ignoring reclassing for whatever reason, though, it's still definitely a considerable boost: most early units don't have many stats to play with, after all.
Finally, onto unit discussion. Let's keep this brief. Chloé is extremely hungry for the first Energy Drop you can get your hands on. For clean 1.0.0, that's Goldmary in C10; for most others, it's from first Somniel visit. She'd like the seal, but the strength boost does wonders. To keep her going long-term, she loves the Levin Sword as much as Merrin if reclassed into a Sword-Griffin as some recommend; otherwise, she can always Physic-bot, but will be limited by C staves without reclassing. Smart forges and engraves make her one of the easiest early fliers to make a long-haul warrior - but a Levin Sword really does help. Remember that you can invest in several! Ivy is your first powerful mage unit. The flying mount seems alluring, and is useful for select terrain instances (miasma and the subsequent C12 quicksand, I find), but fliers aren't as exceptionally strong as previous entries due to lacking class bonuses, weak bulk on the mages, and prevalent anti-air. She has some issues with doubling lategame which can be solved with a choice Emblem, tonic spam, and/or a Speedwing: she'll certainly serve you well from join and for the long road after if you give her the promotion she requires. She wants good movement, a good Thoron, and some patience and leeway with kills: given Hortensia's combat and mage-fliers all being restricted classes this time, she'll fill a unique niche. Plus, she's cute. I don't think she's as fantastic as her sister or Pandreo, but she fills a very nice niche with very fair stats. Diamant has his strengths, but can't do much Kagetsu can't do better without the love required to make good use of his personal class; thankfully, this love is essentially a master seal for early Sol and some liberal tonic use while those 50/45 Strength/Speed growths play a little catch-up. Alear tends to fall off as a combat unit, so you might value having a nice physical alternative with bonus axes and great self-sustain. Or you can let Kagetsu slay everything alone. Always an option. Citrinne and Céline are your other base magic options in general discussion. I'm going to be honest: Céline is a weirdo unit. Her Strength growth outperforms her Magic even after her class bonuses, and 25% is a weak prospect for reclassing to suit the latter. We've already humiliated her for her promotion bonuses, and the Celica Emblem is highly competitive. So why is she here? ...she wants a Levin Sword. Who doesn't, really. It fixes a great deal of her issues and comes just in time to make up for the baffling midgame Magic Emblem drought. In contrast, Citrinne is just easier to manage. She joins later, and thus gets less time with Celica: however, she's low maintenance. If you want to gamble or savescum, she's the best Dire Thunder user with Olwen S, which makes up for her significantly weaker speed (a pathetic 30% in Sage, compared to her competitor's 50% in Vidame). Both of them are perfectly usable. However, Ivy will likely outperform them both at her join with thanks to her superior bases, but there is still room for one more after her and Pandreo. He is also a factor worth considering: you might not want to invest in Olwen if you don't intend to use Citrinne long-term, where Céline's greatest boon comes in C12 with fierce competition and an easy pre-promoted replacement for the girl herself. Please perform a situational analysis on your magegirls c. Chapter 9: whoever may get a chance to relax in Somniel for the rest of the game will thank you.
I won't spend too long on units who are Good with Fair Investment - these are units I feel are perfectly serviceable from their jointime without providing any fantastic utility or strength uniquely their own. Amber and Goldmary are perfectly serviceable physical units. Servicable bases, strong enough growths, both versatile enough to reclass: and with the kind of middling Speed that demands some luck or extra help. Amber gets priority as a ready-to-promote Lance Cavalier set to very slightly outperform a similarly-invested jobber prince Alfed on Fixed in Strength and Speed at jointime: his speed growth isn't fantastic, but it's helped well enough by Paladin and certainly the Wolf Knight option - his personal strength is an impressive 45%, too, so he can definitely go places if given the care for it (but to reiterate: he wants that seal bad). His bulk isn't a real issue: chuck a brave weapon, Lyn, Ike, or any other creative way to ensure your Paladin isn't getting routinely blasted by magic in a game with minimal siege constructs and fewer tomes. If you want a bulky, balanced cavelier, try Alfred and tell me how that goes. We'll get to him. I've also seen some people just turn him into an early Panette to significant success, but I'm yet to try that myself. Factoring in his jointime and personal qualities, I'm confident saying he's the best one here, but he's hungry for love at a very competitive time. Goldmary has personally fared very well for me, but she joins late and with nothing to recommend her but herself. I do believe she is strong enough to recommend, but not emphatically, especially compared to Rosado and most earlier prepromotes. Unless you're on a rough ironman, you're likely to have several other units in active use who can do everything she's capable of. Either of these guys can do the same jobs as the others, depending on your preferences or how the random growths fall. As such, I'm giving them priority on jointime.
Mauvier is a different case. He wants a Speedwing about as badly as Veyle, but has the base SP to inherit a quick fix from Lyn without issue if skill slots are not a concern. For all sane use cases, consider the Flame Lance his weapon: from what I can only assume is a balance decision based on his persistence on charging the player with it every other chapter, it's no Radiant Bow. It's also no Levin sword... not even a Hurricane Axe, really. This would be a very sensible use case for a Prf., IS. Please consider doing so in future. Point is: he wants forges. He wants speed. You can trade 2 magic for 2 speed for the cost of a second seal into Griffin, if that appeals, but either way, you have to make compromises to make the most of Mauvier. That said, he is a very fun unit to make the most of - and that's all I care about, in the end. You won't have to sacrifice too much, but it's more than the above tier demands.
Okay, first weird tier! Significant Situational / Temporary Utility units are long-term jobbers I cannot discount. They are all casually viable, as every unit in this game is "viable"! That said, two of them need a lot of work and maybe a little luck, two of them are in direct competition for the scraps of other middling units and God-King Pandreo, and the fifth is Vander. I'd say the new source of SP Books gives Vander a better chance than he had before, but he's still Vander.
So, who's Vander? Early-game meatshield. Iron Axe on join! The statline and experience growth of the classical Jagen, without even the equipment to sell as an unambiguous good. He's certainly the casual's Jagen, though: this fourty-year-Old Man is not killing anything, even on Hard. Give him six chapters and he's already succumbing to terrible hitrates, competition in damage numbers from a weak set of growth units, and getting thoroughly shown up by an earlygame armor knight. It's pathetic! That is, if you don't respect his role. Vander is not here to kill or carry. Vander is here to pull, chip, and break. He doesn't need to last long, because by the time you realise how awful he is, he's already made your life much easier through subtler contributions than raw damage during the roughest stretch of most FE games. Louis picks up the slack, especially if undertaking the infamous Sigurd meme strategy, but struggles to hold on long-term thanks to the core ingenuity of Engage's map design: sensible enemy placement. Louis will never double, and he'll likely be wanting for a good greatlance until after you've already been handed the equivalent sword- you get the Iron one from Amber, for reference, and it needs more than a little help in the forge. Louis will be blindsided by losing Sigurd, and with it, his map control and primary magekilling option to secure himself for overextension. And most importantly, Louis will never survive a competent mage. Now, I'm actually going to discuss Jade with Louis, as I feel it'll be awkward to circle back despite being placed in different tiers. I'm comparing Jade to him not because I believe Jade provides any unique hidden utility of her own, but because I genuinely do not know how to tier her otherwise. A balanced statline isn't exactly what you want from an armor knight, and she's middling enough to possibly land behind Mauvier in the above tier if we let her leave it. But, is she that much worse than Louis in the time after her join? I really can't say. I'm leaning towards a yes, but with much hesitation. They both struggle immensely during the Ring Depression, not helped by Ike allowing any old fool with nothing better to do to outshine them in their initial role (while hardly benefiting from any new toy themselves, besides a creative Lyn for doubles if either is overly defensive). For now, I saw Louis is superior for his strength in the earlygame Jade is absent from. Jade is a funny character, though, so that's still huge points from me: she's definitely not unsalvageable regardless. I've already placed her in isolation. She's the only unit I feel notably weak judging.
Framme is good. She's your earliest staffer and comes with the ocassionally useful break and chain guard utility. Calling her filler would be a similar disservice as Vander, but she remains useful for longer and with less luck or investment. Jean is similar. Jean can easily replace Framme, in fact: there's not much she does meaningfully better than him. However, he comes around after Framme's had a good few chapters of use and growth. You will be using Framme, but she is easily replaceable, and Jean is your first enticing option. He's not a particularly strong trainee on paper, but the fact he has the same access to staves and Micaiah for Great Sacrifice grinding as Framme means he can easily catch up and make some use of his potential. Are either of them particularly strong? No. I'd argue all of the later staffers outperform them, and most of your mages will learn to do double duty. However, either one is invaluable for the earlygame. Jean can perhaps take his growths further, and Expertise gives him some real flexibility (remember: it doubles class growths!), but whether that goes anywhere good is mostly up to how your other units have fared on Random, or the turns and resources you're willing to invest in him early on Fixed. Etie is essentially the same song: almost every map gives her something to do before Alcryst rolls around, and her growths, especially in strength, get good use from her early jointime, the free kill fliers throughout the earlygame, and doing chip or taking 2/3-round kills if you wish. However, Archer and Sniper really aren't her best roles: she doesn't benefit from Covert terrain bonuses, and she can secure a better long-term outlook if put into Warrior. You could even consider Bow Knight if you're in the market for a discount, Radiantless Fogado. She's certainly functional enough, and you'll want her until Chapter 9 or so at minimum regardless.
We're now getting into units I cannot sincerely recommend, sorted into Firine and Later-Game Filler. Alfred is better than the initial backlash against him suggests. His problem is that Calvary isn't particularly strong in this game, and his growths are only barely above average and can't meaningfully make up for his poor bases in the long term. His speed at level 5 is 6. His build is bad enough to weigh him down with an Iron Lance. The doubling threshold in this game is five. It's not good. His stats in Noble and Avenir play at being some sort of mounted tank, but Golden Lotus is unreliable and he doesn't have enough going for him in bulk or avoid to survive reliably on this game's Hard enemy phases, let alone on Maddening. A reclass to patch up his speed is always an option (Avenir's base is only 6), but he'll be wanting a master seal to skip unpromoted bases and a second on top of that during a contested earlygame. I really hate to crush his dreams, but he's mid. Boucheron is similarly bulky, but with a fair build stat and an abysmal personal Strength growth. Fighter and Warrior can patch it up somewhat, but it's still not impressive: he can't play his own role as well as Etie does. He's running off weapons, and axe forges don't come so cheapy as daggers. Your best bet is sealing him into Wyvern early, which is a significant investment to get yourself an early Rosado with a far weaker damage output. Having an early backup is useful, but they come in greater supply and with better prospects throughout the midgame, so he can struggle to justify himself, especially on the deluge of lower-deployment paralogues opening up around there.
Timerra is a weird one. I feel quite guilty putting her down here, as I feel she has some potential. Unfortunately, her stats are too weird to make the most of it, and her personal class isn't the best lance infantry we've ever seen. She's just too strange! Her Strength starts unimpressive and combining her class growths with a personal of 25% is unlikely to lift it far. I believe she's designed to function more as a backup support you don't have to fret over on enemy phase, who is theoretically assisted in combat by Sandstorm procs, but it's too unreliable to do much to help. Her Build is also abysmal for a lance user, and given the Flame Lance situation and the weight of Spears, she has no 1-2 range offensive option to maximise her usefulness as a backup until Brionac, which she monopolises while having zero way to make good of its might given the 17 weight problem. A well-forged or engraved Javelin/Brave Lance combination might help her in base, but it's not a strong role to begin with. All her personal qualities work to optimise an exclusive class she can't reliably do well in. She's a milage-may-vary character to her core, but unfortunately we're talking about a game with forced Fixed on the first Maddening run. I don't think she's a good option for that gamestate, and there's still so many exceptional units joining chapters 11-15, including her own retainers, that there's little she can do to stand out herself.
Bunet is a masterclass in Ironman Filler Design. His personal is incredibly specific, and synergises exclusively with the Packed Lunch inheritable from a Celica Emblem he never wants to have equipped, and his personal bases are alright at best. Great Knight doesn't do him many favours unless strength-blessed or otherwise boosted with an invested greataxe (a bolder poster might say it's a bad fit), but reclassing is a perfectly fine option with his average growths and serviceable bases. I don't see much reason to recommed him.
Lindon and Saphir are just decent lategame filler units. I don't see them replacing any of their invested competitors. Lindon has decent enough magic and staves; Saphir has backup bow utility. They can both work fine. That's all there is to it, really. You should watch their supports, by the way: they're both good characters.
Alright, onto the bottom tiers: Significantly Flawed, Viable with Care. Read that again. I'm not saying they're garbage. You can take all three of this lot to endgame, likely with less pain than Vander or Bunet. However, they don't justify the pain required to do so, and don't bring enough to any situation to justify being up with Vander. Clanne's a controversial unit. A glance at his personal growths does not make him seem promising. I'd argue this is because he is not. A 10% personal growth in Magic for a C2 unit locked into Mage is, plainly, abymal. Mage improves it! Promotions and reclasses do even more to. And a 50% in personal speed is quite strong, although not exceptional. But good grief - 9 or more levels in the mage path is not easy to fix (and it is a matter of fix: he kills high-DEF units fine enough earlygame, but quickly starts to struggle in the role). His early niche is more limited than Etie's, and he has far greater issues to surmount in the long-term. Clanne does not keep up without being RNG-blessed early or significant favouritism with early seals and a combat stat booster of choice, which all have fierce competition. You could say he has about the same utility as Etie on an efficient or optimal run, but I'm putting him down here to stress how limited and short-lived that utility is: remember, Céline joins in C4.
Lapis, Lapis, Lapis... poor Lapis. Lapis isn't bad. She is just very overtly outclassed at everything she can try. Not only does she compete with Diamant next chapter, but she's got Kagetsu coming just around the corner to demolish her in her own niche. She can reclass to try and make use of her growths, but it won't take her further than it can Kagetsu. She is unlikely to excel in any support role beyond being an extra hit through backup, which she'll need to switch into an axe or lance class to make the most of. Her bows can do some good, but not as much as even Etie's. She is perfectly useable. Her problem is being a useable unit joining during an incredibly competitive period, while being immediately followed by two units who thoroughly outclass her in her base niche. Poor Lapis. Please make good use of her - she deserves the self-esteen boost.
Anna... holy shit, poor Anna. Where do I begin. Anna's problem isn't so much a poor long-term outlook like the other two: she is just poorly designed. Functionally, she's an odd trainee. She does not have any skills to support this. What she does have is the highest magic growth in the game... when forced to spend 9 levels in axe fighter. Hurricane Axes are not great - they're heavy weapons by design, and suffer from all the typical ailments. The Bolt Axe is not currently in the game. Her Speed and Dex can help her, but a 15% strength growth will curse her. Now, she does have her personal skill, which may seem appealing with how tight cash can feel in this game. I hate to offer empty notebook advice, but simply make better forge decisions. Make A Killing triggers on a Luck% basis - at Anna's base, this is 3%. For 500G. And you have to use a very uncooperative and squishy trainee to make kills to get it. Jean can staff himself up easily - Anna also can, if given Micaiah, but this cannot last, and Great Sacrifice will greatly impede her ability to get any kills at all on the front lines. She suffers from two additional caveats for those unfamiliar with the game's mechanics. This, of course, is not relevant to tiering, but I feel they are worth mentioning: to make the most of her growth spread, she both needs to gain the profiecincy from Celica before the surprise loss in C11, and promote before reclassing to an advanced Magic role. Why do I specify the latter? Internal level. To promote from base mage, Anna will need to spend 10 levels with Mage's lower bases and lack of staff or weapon utility before . Even if accounting for these factors, she will need to be trained with care and rigor for a significant period, possibly taking Micaiah from the healers and being given resources and experience which could help Yunaka . The end result is settling into a fairly decent magic role sometime after Céline, Citrinne, Ivy, and Pandreo. She is not a cooperative unit.
...God, you're still reading? The Emblems deserve their own post, but let's run through some points... please remember this is regarding Emblems as equipment, rather than Emblems as skill inheritance pools. Sigurd and Lucina would do much better for themselves.
Byleth is a free adjacent dance to slap onto any unit you want, and it works on Seadall: that's really all you need, but I personally like his +2 range on Mysticals, too. Pandreo gets good use out of him.
Corrin goes above Lyn for me, as I believe Draconic Hex/Dreadful Aura to be such central skills for crowd control that they blow every other Emblem besides Byleth out of the water for boss management: and her other benefits (pair-up, great engaged bulk) make her a lovely candidate for any unit. She's also the only one who is functionally required for use in various situations, and that extends beyond her jointime, even.
Lyn fixes any unit's speed problem and then some while providing the best free decoy in the series. Extremely powerful panic button, and a better tactical tool.
Micaiah is vital to all LTC strategies thanks to (Re)warp/Rescue shenanigans that feel just as fun to execute casually, but she's also here for Great Sacrifice grinding.
Sigurd makes Louis into a monster for all of ten hours and then disappears until Veyle clutches his retrieval. I think the devs knew he's the most beloved and missed ring - that or it's FE4 remake bait. Please.
Lucina's backup support is very strong, free utility, making her one of the better generic attack rings, but she offers skills that are better as inheritables. Certainly indispensible during the midgame, though: just not so strong as Lyn.
Celica leaves early, and she takes the magic proficiency. What were they thinking. Regardless, she's a nice ring to slap on Anna, Céline, or an Olwen-less Citrinne in the meantime, or anyone else you want to rush ahead if feeling bold. Warp Ragnarok is incredibly fun, and quite useful early, but Micaiah can do skip strategies far more reliably and for longer overall.
Roy's a strong stat backpack, and the Binding Blade is as excellent as ever - there's not much exceptional physical 1-2 range, given throwing axes and lances were balanced properly for once. Probably the best of the Emblem swords! That said, Blazing Lion isn't great as far as attack skills go: it makes a poor showing for terrain and boss control compared to Corrin in the lategame, and it's barely present in the earlygame.
Ike's nice. He essentially turns any better physical unit into Louis on a toggle, which is nice, because being wholly incapable of doubling would be a serious issue for anyone past Chapter 10 or so (see Alfred, Bunet). Great Aether is rather awkward, and his Engage weapon lineup isn't the strongest, but he's certainly useful, and one of the only ways to make most stronger units without exceptional health or dodgetanking survive a risky enemy phase without issue.
Eirika is pretty alright. Her brother offers some nice help, too. They butchered her character like always, but that's not relevant to her gameplay. Gentility and the Braces are both nice passives to have, but are unlikely to change the game. Fine enough burst damage Engage Attack, and Sieglinde's anti-corrupted effectiveness is useful for the overwhelming majority of lategame enemies.
By some accounts, Marth should be higher than Eirika: he offers some strong passives while being the first you get. Unfortunately, he's pretty widely outclassed by the time you get him back. Lodestar Rush is alright. No one benefits too greatly from the Speed and Evasion while he's around in earlygame, and no one really needs it by the time he returns.
Leif is also in the generic burst damage camp, but with the coolest passive. He's the Build ring, for some reason? Unfortunately I must tier him low, as Adaptable AI can't read minds, and as such often makes poor decisions - no, Rosado does not need the Light Brand to counter an axe hit, he has a 94% chance to crit with his own Killer one.
Emblem Alear is a no-brainer by virute of being a completely separate mechanic. They are untiered for this reason. Situationally useful with extremely overkill burst damage. Overrides their and their partner's Emblem, which is ocassionally problematic. Unlikely to see much use, but isn't costing you anything to bring out when suitable.
I... think we are done?
Well, that was roughly 5700 words and a long night of delirium, give or take. If you read any of this, thank you - I'd love to hear your own thoughts. I didn't talk much of most personal skills, and my impressions are based on limited experience with and knowledge of reclassing, so I'm sure you can make arguments to most of this lot up or down a tier or two. Except Kagetsu and Seadall, of course. If you read all of this, you're either exceptionally bored, one of the few mutuals I'd expect to take some interest, or both. Likely both! Thank you for your time - I hope I entertained.
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