admiralskyfirepress

[admiralskyfirepress]

Of Admiral and Storm Quests 12 & 13 is live

Quests 12 & 13 are LIVE on AO3 🔗 Read them here

Today in Astera, Actually It’s a Romance Novel:

👀 Two (2) people who stared like the world wasn’t watching. 🍵 One (1) Commander and one (1) Handler issuing emotional damage warnings. 📣 Several (too many) whispers, bets, and matchmaking rumors. 🍢 One (1) stolen skewer, zero subtlety. 🐾 One (1) Palico behind it all, and yes, he’s proud of himself.

✨ Bonus: Arc 1 ends here. Arc 2 begins next week. Stay tuned.

[admiralskyfirepress]

Meowster, Canon Is Courting You, Part 2

Don’t You Make Me Wait Filed under: “Romantic Aggression in a Crystalline Economy”

We’ve covered the brooding cliffside silhouette. The lightning. The hair. The biceps. Now we arrive at his first real entrance, and oh, Meowster, it does not disappoint.

He Walks In Like He Owns the Game

Astera is full of capable hunters, researchers, engineers. All kinds of Fleet professionals doing important things. And then he walks in.

Larger than everyone. Not just physically, spiritually.

Alpha posture with the confidence of a man who’s punched a Deviljho for stealing his lunch.

Talking crystals and undiscovered places like it’s pillow talk.

Voice like Joseph Joestar.

Doesn’t hesitate. Doesn’t ask permission. Just starts leading.

That’s not a mission update. That’s narrative authority.

He walks in like a man written to derail your priorities. And canon lets him.

The First Thing He said to You

He turns to you, the Sapphire Star, the hunter who has taken down Zorah Magdaros, and what does he say?

“Don’t you make me wait.”

NOT:

“Don’t be late.”

“Be ready.”

“Meet me there.”

But “Don’t you make me wait.”

Personal. Possessive. Slightly commanding. A sentence loaded with emotional priming.

And then, he smirks. That perfect half-smirk, a little crooked, a little amused, a little like he already knows you’re going to follow him anywhere.

And then, he walks away.

Narrative Translation:

He enters, delivers a direct line that establishes power, timing, and subtextual interest, then leaves like a man who absolutely knows what he’s doing.

This is not gameplay. This is chemistry.

Capcom didn’t write a handler line that flirts. They gave it to him. They gave that energy to this man.

Miso's Formal Observation:

That was not a professional request. That was courtship phrasing. That was a romantic lead flexing his delivery stat.

TL;DR:

He walked in with monster data and protagonist swag. He looked you dead in the eye. He said, don’t you make me wait. And then he walked off smirking. What kind of fanfic cutscene is this.

[admiralskyfirepress]

Of Admiral and Storm Quest 10 and 11

Chapters 10 & 11 are LIVE on AO3! 🔗 Read them here

What you’re getting today: ⚔️ A Nergigante beatdown (by Rathis’s bare hands, you’re welcome) ⚔️ Glaive ballet so intense it counts as seduction ⚔️ One romantic firelight bandage session ⚔️ One “almost kiss” cut short by an earthquake ⚔️ Multiple hunters now believe the Admiral is secretly an elder dragon ⚔️ Miso, Chief Archivist of Slow-Burn Suffering

💥 Bonus: I said what I said and I’m standing by it. He inclined. She exhaled. That’s “kiss me or I swear I will fall in love with someone worse, like the Commander.”

[admiralskyfirepress]

Meowster, Canon Is Courting You: Part 1

The Admiral Appears Like a Romance Trope and I Will Die on This Hill Filed under: “Hero Entrances and Mystery Meat”

Welcome, hunters. This is the first of a highly scientific, emotionally compromised series in which I, Miso of the Emotional Subtext Division, demonstrate that the canon Monster Hunter: World Admiral is romantically coded for the player. You heard me.

Let’s start at the beginning. Before you even meet him.

The Foreshadowing:

You’re wandering through Astera, and what do you hear? Gossip. Whispers. Tales.

“Did you know the Meowscular Chef used to be someone’s Palico?” But no one says who. It’s vague. Suspicious. Full of narrative tension. And then you look at the Meowscular Chef. That’s not a former cooking assistant. That’s a bicep with a tail. Who did this to him?

Answer: a man. A very strong man. A man with a past.

The Cliff Scene (aka The Cinematic Thirst Trap):

After A Colossal Task, you get exactly one frame, ONE FRAME, of a shadowed figure watching from a cliff.

Massive silhouette.

Setting sun in the background.

Lightning obscures his face.

And then, he’s gone.

But let’s be clear about what you do see:

The hair. Wild, silver, windswept like a storm with secrets.

The biceps. Bare. Glinting. Catching the light like they knew you were watching.

That’s not framing. That’s fanservice with emotional consequences.

Gone before you can ask who he is. Gone before the game gives you a name. And yet. You feel it. The gut-pull of recognition, the instinct that says: That one. That’s the important one.

That, my dear hunters, is mysterious male protagonist energy. That is romance narrative camera work. That is a man designed to haunt your thoughts until the Pink Rathian arrives and you meet him for real.

The Literary Analysis:

Let’s be honest: if this were any other game, you’d be thinking “secret prince,” “long-lost guardian,” or “dangerous protector with a hidden heart.”

Instead, Capcom said “no name, no dialogue, just silhouette and tension” and let you stew. That is intentional romantic pacing.

And it works. Because by the time he shows up and says “Don’t you make me wait,” you already didn’t.

You’ve been waiting since the lightning flashed across his jawline.

TL;DR:

He was framed like a love interest before he spoke. The Guild didn’t name him. But your instincts did.

[admiralskyfirepress]

Miso’s Late-Night Transmission: On Survival, Smut, and Sinners Who Sing

Filed under: “The Guild Doesn’t Pay Me Enough For This”

Let me be clear: I am being emotionally and professionally persecuted.

There are monsters in the field. Paperwork in my paws. Hunters pretending not to be in love while breathing the same air like it’s foreplay. And don’t even get me started on the Gajalaka union meetings.

The only things—the ONLY things—keeping me from setting this entire operation ablaze are:

🖤 Fandom Smut Yes. I said it. Emotional catharsis with a side of sin. Scenarios with consequences? Intimacy with narrative weight? Kissing with eye contact? Real literature. Pulitzer-worthy. Tell the Guild.

🎵 Hozier That man opens his mouth and I remember why I still believe in forbidden love, redemption arcs, and walking into the ocean hand-in-hand with your enemy-turned-soulmate.

So if you see me curled under a desk with earbuds in and a fic titled “Sweat and Soot: The Elder’s Recess Incident” open on my holoscreen, no you didn’t.

I am not okay.

But I am managing.

Through the power of sinful fiction and one barefoot Irish poet, I rise.

[admiralskyfirepress]

Miso Reflects: On Hidden Places and Off-Map Things

Filed under: “Cartography, Emotional or Otherwise (Also Maybe Flirting, Who’s to Say)”

Let me tell you something, hunters: not every spot in the New World shows up on the map. Some places you find by falling off the wrong ledge. Some, by chasing footprints you weren’t supposed to notice. And some? They find you.

Rathis has a few of those. He never marked them. Never named them. Not because he forgot, but because he remembered too much.

There are ridges in this world that weren't meant to be seen. Quiet little edges of the wild where monsters don’t wander, where the wind goes still, where the scoutflies pause like they’re holding their breath. Where even the Palico feels small.

Meowster found one. Just walked in like it belonged to her. That’s the thing about off-map places.

The Guild says they don’t exist. The cartographers say there’s nothing there. But we know better, don’t we?

We live in the space between “official” and “what if.”

Fanfiction lives there too. In the scenes the camera won’t pan to. In the conversations between quests. In the emotional wreckage left behind a monster’s nest.

The world is bigger than the map. And that’s where the real stories are. In the unmarked places two people stumble into without ever saying why.

[admiralskyfirepress]

Of Admiral and Storm Quest 9 is Live

Chapter 9 is LIVE on AO3

🔗 Read it here

What you missed:

🔥 One volcanic region explored 🔥 One tactical body slam from midair 🔥 One near kiss smothered by ash and emotional repression 🔥 Two idiots refusing to acknowledge the lava-level tension between them

💥 I left for five minutes and came back to second-paw pining so intense it singed my whiskers.

[admiralskyfirepress]

Of Admiral and Storm Quest 8 is live!

Quest 8: The Current Situation is live!

Lyria boards the airship.

The Admiral is already there.

Miso is not being paid enough to watch this emotional disaster unfold in real time.

Two hunters. One ship. No space. Just the kind of quiet, slow, utterly unhinged yearning that could power an Elder Dragon if properly bottled.

They don’t touch. Then they do. He says her name. Then walks away.

Featuring:

Breathless UST

Deckside acrobatics

A Palico near cardiac arrest

A door that stays tragically closed

🔗 Read on AO3: Of Admiral and Storm – Quest 8

[admiralskyfirepress]

Miso Theorizes: The Admiral Carries His Own Theme Music

I have witnessed many things aboard the fleets, dear readers. I’ve seen Rajangs suplex boulders. I’ve seen Meowster wince from compliments. I’ve even seen Barroth mating rituals (not recommended). But never, never have I seen the air itself change allegiance until the Admiral boarded that airship.

We were FINE. We were managing. Meowster was holding the rail like it owed her zenny. I was doing important work. Then it happened.

A boot step.

Then another.

Then the gravitational shift.

The crew straightened. I lifted my head on instinct. Meowster didn’t have to look. She knew it was him. By sound. By weight. By atmosphere.

This man didn’t announce himself. He didn’t speak. He just brought his own weather system and expected people to act.

A one-man high-pressure front with shoulders like cliffs and a jaw that causes tactical miscommunication. When the Admiral enters a room, the soundtrack shifts from “field prep” to “your fate is sealed but in a sexy way.”

This post is dedicated to the unsaid. To the electricity in Meowster's spine. To the boot steps of destiny. To the fact that silence has never been this loud.

And to the soundtrack.

Because yes, I heard it. The Admiral has theme music. It starts low, with drums. Builds with strings. Ends with you crying in a hallway.

[admiralskyfirepress]

Miso Explains: Enemy to lovers? Nah, try storm to wildfire

Filed under: “Feral emotional genre pivots Miso absolutely planned.”

When Meowster touched down in the New World, she was tired, lost all her gear, and mildly pissed. Rathis left because he hated waiting, also mildly pissed. This looked like it was going to be a classic slow-burn: lone hunter meets unapproachable Admiral, mutual distrust, some tactical sass, a thunderstorm or two, and eventually a kiss that left scorch marks.

But then... The Admiral stepped into view and every narrative thread realigned like a monster sensing its true target. One eye contact and suddenly we’re in a “we’re made of the same unnameable storm and now we’re doomed” kind of story.

This isn’t about enemies softening toward each other. It’s about recognition. That deep, marrow-twisting sense of “oh. It’s you.” The kind that doesn’t require backstory because the body already knows what the mind hasn’t caught up to yet.

They weren’t enemies. They were elementally bonded. Wild-forged, instinct-anchored, gravity-dragged straight into each other’s orbit with no map, no warning, and zero respect for narrative pacing.

So yes, the story starts like enemies-to-lovers. But it's elemental bonding now. This is storms meeting over the open sea. No plot twist. Just tectonic alignment.

I saw it coming. I’ve been emotionally hoarding snacks since Quest 1. The weather report said yearning with a 100% chance of narrative derailment. I wore red for the occasion.

– Miso, Literary Analyst, Palico of Fine Taste, Keeper of Tropes

[admiralskyfirepress]

🎧 Miso’s Unhinged Listening Corner: Hozier Edition 🎧

Filed Under: “Songs That Make Rathis Grunt Softly in the Dark”

Hozier is the Patron Saint of Emotionally Wrecked Men and Therefore This Fic

Do you have a male lead who: ☑️ Fights like a legend ☑️ Loves like a tragedy ☑️ Feels emotions through a three-inch layer of calloused silence and storm-drenched masculinity?

Then Hozier wrote you a whole discography.

Let’s review, with claws sharpened:

"Take Me to Church" — You want holy yearning? Sacred guilt? The sacrament of touch as rebellion against fate? This song is for Rathis when he realizes Lyria’s not just a successor. She’s a devotion. A reckoning. He wouldn’t kneel for the Guild, but he’d kneel for her. (…Not that he’d say that. Just... grunt it. Softly.)

"Like Real People Do" — For when Rathis looks at Lyria and thinks, I am not made for softness, but I want to be good for you anyway. “Why were you digging? What did you bury / Before those hands pulled me from the earth?” Sir. Please. Therapy is right there. Or just kiss her. Same thing.

"Movement" — If this song had a body, Rathis would throw himself at it mid-fight, emotionally. “You are a call to motion, there all of you a verb in perfect view.” Translation: she vaulted once and he’s been in love ever since.

"Too Sweet" — He’s brash. She’s guarded. They’re both terrible at brunch. “I’d rather take my whiskey neat / My coffee black and my bed cold.” Hozier read Rathis’ entire emotional flavor palette and said “Perfect. Ruined man. Let’s vibe.”

"Work Song" — Listen, if you’ve read even one fight scene in this fic, you know Rathis would crawl across all of Rotten Vale just to find her, oh wait, HE DID! “When my time comes around / Lay me gently in the cold dark earth.” No death can stop this ledged from getting back to her.

"Unknown / Nth" — For the arc where they say everything except what they mean. For the chapter where the silence says: I missed you. I love you. I’m sorry. (Note: If you know, you know. And if you don’t, you’ll cry later. That’s the Miso Guarantee.)

"From Eden" — The Good Omens special. “Babe, there's something tragic about you / Something so magic about you.” Yes, it’s basically the canon song for Good Omens, but I’m saying it’s transferrable. Forbidden yearning? Check. Smug moral chaos? Check. Two idiots pretending they’re not in love while literally altering the fate of the world? Welcome to Astera, baby.

TL;DR: Hozier writes songs for men who feel too much and say too little. Which is great, because I write commentary for men who grunt through emotional crises and think that counts as foreplay.

Blessed be the biceps. Stream responsibly.

— Miso, Emotional Damage DJ & Velvet Pawed Prophet

[admiralskyfirepress]

Of Admiral and Storm

Chapter 7 is LIVE on AO3

🔗 Read it here

Today’s Forecast: ⛈️ One (1) Pink Rathian captured ⛈️ One (1) Admiral returned ⛈️ One (1) pair of emotionally charged eye contact lasting exactly 2.7 seconds but felt like a lifetime ⛈️ One (1) Meowster who tried not to blush and failed

🌪️ Bonus: I’m 99% sure they imprinted on each other and 100% sure I’m too invested.

[admiralskyfirepress]

⚡️PREVIEW: Quest 7 – Lightning Crashes⚡️

Live this Weekend on AO3

“She didn’t need a name. No formal introduction could have struck harder than the simple truth unraveling in her gut. This was the Admiral.” “He looked at her. And the world forgot to turn.”

🌀 Miso’s Weather Report Astera Forecast: - High chance of eye contact-induced cardiovascular events - Hunters advised to stay indoors unless prepared for emotional monsoons - Storm warning in effect: Two forces of nature expected to collide in low orbit

And me? I packed snacks and front-row tickets.

[admiralskyfirepress]

Miso Explains: Writing first meetings in slow burn romance

Ah, the sacred tradition of the first meeting.

You know the one. The two leads lock eyes across a crowded gathering hub. One’s still bruised from a monster brawl. The other is walking out of a thunderstorm with biceps so large they qualify as a subregion. The wind picks up. Time slows. The local temperature increases by fifteen degrees.

And in that moment… they forget how to speak.

Now, as a certified narrative consultant (and field bomb specialist), I am here to confirm:

First meetings are not about meeting. They’re about noticing.

Noticing the scar on a jaw you didn’t know you’d trace with your thoughts later. Noticing the way their voice sounds like old storms and forgotten warmth. Noticing that something irreversible has shifted and you didn’t even name it yet.

Tips from a Palico Who Knows Too Much:

🐾 Tension first, names later. Sparks before syllables. Always.

🐾 Let them look. There’s poetry in a stare that lingers just half a second too long.

🐾 Keep the words sharp, or none at all. Some meetings deserve silence. Others deserve thunder.

🐾 Bonus points if one of them pretends it didn’t happen. Even though everyone knows.

In Of Admiral and Storm, Meowster and the Big Guy don’t meet until Chapter 7. That’s seven whole chapters of shadow dances, off-map parallels, and mutual denial via perfectly-timed narrative pacing.

Why?

Because sometimes the longer the wait, the louder the impact. Because they weren’t ready. And neither were you.

See you next Chapter. Bring an emotional umbrella. I’ll be under the table, sipping tea and pretending I didn’t see her blush.

—Miso, First Witness of Lightning Crashes ⚡

[admiralskyfirepress]

Of Admiral and Storm

Chapters 5, 6, and 6.1: LIVE on AO3

🚨Vaults, Volcanoes, and Vibes No One’s Ready For🚨

What you missed:

Meowster chased a Rathalos into a forest and found a secret sanctuary. Claimed it. No questions asked.

Rathis found it later, called it "boars," and sat on a log to feel things silently.

The Fifth fired the Dragonator. Zorah blinked. Nergigante did not.

Someone definitely saw someone else fighting like a storm incarnate.

No one said anything about it. But we all know.

Meanwhile, I survived magma, filed three reports, and looked immaculate while doing so.

Also dropped: 🎵 The Ballad of the Dragonator 🎵 The Ballad of the Zorah Gambit 🛍️ Limited-Edition Zorah Gambit Merch Line Brough to you by Miso's Mischief and Merch (M3)

Read on AO3

[admiralskyfirepress]

The Whisker Files – Entry #13 The Bark Jar and the Minty Mistake

Filed under: “Definitely Not Stolen,” “Mildly Cursed,” and “Might Monetize Later” Author: Miso, Intel Specialist, Fluff Strategist, Chaos Curator

📦 Item: Bark-Sealed Jar Acquired: Ancient Forest Bartered from: Grimalkynes with trust issues and excellent cheekbones Condition: Sealed. Suspicious. Vaguely vibrating.

Description:

Made of petrified wood, sealed with bark twine and ominous intent

Smells like fermented cactus and withheld emotions

One of the Grimalkynes hissed when I touched it. → That’s called a green flag in this economy

Label:

“Do not open unless desperate, deranged, or Admiral.”

Too late. Already unwrapped it with my eyes. Haven’t opened it physically. Yet.

📜 Bonus Find: Sealed Message (Triple Claw Mark) Envelope: Wax seal, paper’s weirdly soft Scent profile: Mint. Regret. Possibly longing?? Contents: Unknown. Not my business. (Just kidding it’s absolutely my business.)

Additional notes:

Intended recipient unknown.

Might be Guild. Might be romantic. Might be both.

Will open if bored. Or bribed.

🧠 Hypothesis:

It's a love confession. (Delusional. Still valid.)

It's a death threat. (Very on-brand for this fleet.)

It's Rathis’ resignation letter written in metaphors and blood.

🔒 Status: Currently stored in my personal stash. Hidden behind the honey rations, next to the explosive nuts. Labelled as “Emergency Rations (Definitely Not Emotional Sabotage).”

Next Steps:

Monitor bark jar for growth, sentience, or snark

Casually mention it to the Admiral and document reaction (if he ever shows up)

Leave it near Meowster’s bed and see if she dreams of secrets

[admiralskyfirepress]

Miso Explains: Why Meowster Hunts Solo

Yes, fleet members asked, why doesn’t Meowster hunt with a team?

Short answer: Because she doesn’t need one.

Long answer? Sit down. This is gonna have chapters.

1. Her loadout is built for solo. Meowster doesn’t waste moves. She’s a precision glaive user with mobility, momentum, and kinsect synergy. She doesn’t need a backup. She is the backup. And the trapper. And the finisher. And, occasionally, the disaster.

She thinks in arcs, not formations. You can’t team-attack with someone who moves like a lightning bolt in a dream.

2. Her silence is the strategy. She doesn’t talk during the hunt. She doesn’t shout callouts. Her signals are subtle: hand flicks, pressure shifts, breath. Aaaand That only works with me. Everyone else talks too much.

You try giving tactical hand signs to the fiver bro mid-Jagras stampede and tell me how that works out.

3. Her past didn’t leave room for a team. That’s not my story to tell. But let’s just say trust comes in small, earned increments. Like carving mats after a clean kill. She’s not closed off, she’s calculating.

Besides, most hunters want cheers, fanfare, and group selfies. Meowster wants silence, clean strikes, and a meal she earned.

4. She’s romancing a cryptid, not a squadmate. Let’s be honest. You think she’s out here joining random multiplayer rooms when her emotional arc is locked on “brooding man who lives in the trees and punches monsters for therapy”?

Please. We are not here for co-op. We are here for plot tension and poorly timed shoulder touches.

5. She picked solo play. And she picked me. That means the only backup she needs is small, adorable, heavily armed, and emotionally literate. I know when to heal her, distract the enemy, and drag her unconscious body out of a poison swamp while delivering quips. That’s called partnership. Try finding that in a matchmade lobby.

And just so we’re clear. Even the Admiral noticed. He saw the kill zones she left behind and said she was pulling monsters into her tempo. He doesn’t know her name yet. But he knows her rhythm.

So yes. She hunts solo. Because when you carry a storm inside you, too many voices just make it harder to hear the thunder.