#'his basic attack is really weak' well have you considered the fact that hes a tank

[butterfly-writer]

(BNHA)

hey there! i'd like to request a story about a male/gn vigilante reader (teen), and they eventually get caught by the pro heroes. from there, they are basically forced into UA, class 1-A (reader has been a vigilante for a few years back and has quite the skills to become a hero, and reader does relatively well academically). everything from there will be up to you!

this is actually my first time requesting, so im not exactly sure if this will go through, I've read the guide and everything. no pressure, I hope you have a great year, bye!!

Little Rebel

CLASS 1A x Male!Vigilante!Reader Summary: Y/N, also known as his vigilante name, V/N, was sadly caught by Eraserhead. His punishment, due to him still being a minor, was to attend U.A as a student for his rehabilitation, with Eraserhead as his supervisor.

★☽A/N: I see! It’s your first request! Not to worry, your request is perfect and it aligns with my guide! I really appreciate that you read my guide first! I hope this is a nice first time!

Contents: FLUFF

Quirk: Similar to Inumaki from JJK, the user has the ability to make anything happen according to what he says. But unlike Inumaki, the user is able to control when he uses his Quirk.

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“Y/N L/N, is it?” A massive mutant dog read. He looked away from the papers and down at a young boy, frowning as he sat crossed on his chair from across the room. He scoffed and turned his head. “Considering you’re still a minor, your punishment won’t be severe. According to your records, your Quirk is quite controlled and your academics are actually quite impressive for a drop out…” The mutant read off the papers for the boy, who didn’t care at all.

“Very well, I decided your punishment.” Y/N couldn’t help but scoff and smirked. He dealt with worse when he started at the age of 13. What could possibly be so bad about this “punishment” ?

“You will be joining U.A as a full-time student.”

“Huh?”

“HUH?!”

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From that day forward, he became a student at U.A. He didn’t expect himself to be in the hero course, especially Class 1A. He had only heard rumors about them, about how they were attacked by villains during their trip to the USJ and a few mentions of some 1A students on internships.

To be honest, he was a bit nervous. He dealt with people, but not in a friendly way. He was scared, slightly, at the thought of being in the same class as some hero in training students.

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During his first meeting, he was still pissed by the punishment, especially the fact that Eraserhead, the one who “captured” him, was his supervisor. He stood outside of the class, his waist tied to a part of Eraser’s scarf to prevent him from running away.

After waiting for a while, he heard his name getting called out, but he didn’t respond. There is no way in hell I’m standing in front of a bunch of hero trainees! He thought to himself.

He didn’t have much of a choice, as he was pulled by the waist by the scarf into the classroom, his whole figure on display to 20 students. They all looked at him with curiosity, except a blonde boy.

“Are you saying a damn weak villain is going to study with us?! Fuck no!”

“That’s enough, Bakugou.” Aizawa groaned. Bakugou was ready to say something, an insult, but was stopped by one word.

“Shut up.”

His mouth suddenly closed up. He clawed at his own mouth, trying to get it open, panicking and angry at the situation. Y/N had to cover up his snicker with a cough. “How pathetic,” he commented with a smirk. Another struggle of words came from the blonde who was ready to throw a bunch of insults but couldn’t due to his forced closed mouth.

Y/N’s snickers couldn’t be stopped. His snickers were clearly heard by the blonde. He suddenly stood up and walked over to the H/C with heavy stomps. Before he could get his hands on him, he was stopped by Aizawa’s scarf.

His growls were like an angry dog, a chihuahua. He eventually got back to his chair and sat with a grumpy look on his face.

“As I was saying, Y/N L/N is going to be your classmate for this remaining semester. Please treat him with respect.”

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Now, how does this work out for Y/N?

I’m going to be honest, readers, it did not go well in the beginning!

Y/N, during times he wasn’t supervised thoroughly, would tease Bakugou into attacking him. He thought that if a hero trainee would harm him, he could act his way out of his rehab. Unfortunately, it did not work. Aizawa, being the smart hero he is, figured out his little act, and did not let him off the hook. (Lectured him for hours).

With time, he eventually got to know the students well. They were some he greatly disliked, (A certain purple grape boy..), some who he respected, and those he enjoyed spending time with.

It’s mostly believed that he respected Yaomomo, Tenya Iida, and Todoroki for their smart brains and analytical thinking. He mostly spends time with Jirou, Tokoyami, and Ojirou, who seems to be fine with him and didn’t care that he was only in U.A for rehab.

He would listen to music with Jirou, read poems with Tokoyami, and combat training with Ojirou. He truly enjoys his time with those three.

As for his academics and “hero training,” he has been doing well, almost excellently, with his academics, usually marking A’s and B’s and the occasional C’s, but his grades were much better than some students in Class 1A.

In terms of his “hero training,” he already has some experience of his own which helped him greatly when it comes to situations where he had to fight against other students. He was actually much more advanced than his “peers.” He was smarter, faster, and powerful in terms of Quirk use and combat.

Although he hoped for the principal to realize that he doesn’t need this rehabilitation, he knew the stubborn smiling “mouse” wouldn’t agree to his suggestions. Not to mention, he was a bit afraid of the rat… Something in his eyes just— creeps him out.

A lot of the students respect him greatly! Like Tenya Iida, Yaomomo, and Midoriya, who recognize his great skills and quick thinking! Of course, Katsuki Bakugou was the only one who seemed bothered by the vigilante. You could feel the anger radiating off him! Honestly, it’s hilarious to see his grumpy face whenever Y/N walks by him. After the amount of teasing Y/N did, it was without a doubt that Katsuki Bakugou hated him with all his guts! (But secretly respects Y/N, hehe)

Overall, I can say that Y/N L/N is having a nice time at U.A in Class 1A.

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[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Sheep Man

Debut: Mega Man 10

Most of the Robot Masters are too "Man" for my tastes. But this one? This one is Sheep! And that makes him so awesome. Sheep Man was created to be a sheep herding robot, which is rather silly, since humans have already created a guy to help with sheep herding. That guy's name is "Dog", and he loves to do it! Sheep Man, however, left this job to work as a circuit board tester, which makes more sense. I don't think any dog breeds have been developed to do that yet.

Sheep Man's job at the circuit board manufacturer was in their static resistance test division, since he noticed static buildup in his wool. And this got me thinking, is there really truth to the Electric Sheep concept? I mean in the sense of static wool, of course. I am well aware that, unfortunately, regular sheep cannot use Zap Attacks. Wool is indeed likely to give up electrons and take on a positive charge, but it is also great at retaining moisture, and thus can in fact prevent static cling from occurring! I guess Sheep Man must be inhabiting some very dry environments!

Considering his stage is a sort of Cyber's World, I guess it is a very dry environment? I don't know. I've never been in a digital world. Let me know if you have, and know how moist they are!

Unfortunately, as a Robot Master, you probably know that Sheep Man is sort of a Bad Guy. But it's just because he is sick, infected with Roboenza, and can be cured! I am happy that this funny sheepborg is typically a nice fellow. In battle, he demonstrates the awesome power of Sheep, by turning into four clouds of wool that float independently and zap the ground! (Shouldn't the metal ground be zapping him, if anything?) He's like a four-pack of wool dryer balls for reducing static in your clothing. When the first three do their zappies, they disappear, and the fourth turns back into Sheep Man. I'm over here trying to apply real-world physics to Sheep Man, and there he goes, generating infinite matter!

At least there is a bit of Physics Phun in that his weakness is the Rebound Striker, a rubber ball weapon. It hurts him extra because it's stealing his electrons! Give those back!

Generally, Robot Masters are "pretty neat at most" to me. You know me! I love creatures, and when robots are funny little guys that don't look like humans! So it is no surprise that I am VERY happy with the final Sheep Man design we got. The sleepy eyes are cute, yes, but I am so glad he was decided to be so much more Sheep than Man. It even looks like the design process was basically to give him more wool until he had no visible torso! Congratulations on your cephalothorax! A very excellent Man!

[extendedtimeline]

Batman: Bloodstorm & Queerness

READ: this has been posted on twitter aswell, so if you find that, it's me lol! This will be an even longer version of that, with more description as I don't have the pesky world limit here! I wanted to start this out by saying I may get some things wrong, and this was something I'd originally had posted on a Mastodon Server my friends are running so I wasn't checking it over very much, just wanted to get my thoughts out! There are probably a lot of different ways this comic can be read, but I'm particularly enamored by queer readings of comics so that's what I'll be focusing on today. This won't be exhaustive on the queer metaphors in this comic, and I'd be happy for people to add on to what I say! I'm not an expert on making analysis posts, so forgive me if anything is unclear or out of place. I'm also getting used to Tumblr formatting, but fans here tend to be more active so I really wanted to share here! With that, let's get into it

Brief Summary

Before getting into my reading, I thought it best to give a (semi-) brief Summary of the comic itself. There's also someone context from the previous comic (as this is part of a trilogy!) that I'll try to provide too, but a lot of the material I'll talk about isn't really dependent on the fact you have the experience of reading Red Rain.

In "Batman: Bloodstorm" Bruce has been turned into a vampire (the previous comic delves into how this happened, but just know he's sort of shed the identity of "Bruce Wayne" and has given in to being Batman more "full time"). Batman finds out there are vampires he has not "killed" yet (as he had killed a large sum of them in Red Rain)(Because Vampires are undead he does not consider it murder to take them out). While he hunts these vamps down he is heavily resisting the urge to suck blood, and because he has resisted it, he is getting progressively weaker, to the point it's hard to do much of anything. In the first comic, Tanya (a vampire woman he had become friends with) had synthesized this replacement for blood, that would keep her alive and well without the need to kill. Bruce tries to recreate this, but it's not enough for him and he continues to become weaker the most he resists sucking blood.

While this is happening Joker has started working with the vampires LOL he's just being Joker using his charm and stuff to get them to comply.

Cut to Selina who we see get attacked by a werewolf like creature, and she becomes a werecat from this attack (I'd like to note, the way this was framed it very much reads like sexual assault). She intends to get her male attacker back for what he did to her.

Selina attacks Batman believing him to be the man, but they clear it up fast that he is not. She wants to help him, but in Batman fashion he denies her help.

There's this woman who Batman has been going to, trying to gain information on these super natural occurrings. He asks her if it's possible for him to survive when he doesn't drink blood, and asks what an alternative may be. She basically says GET A BITCH! (he needs the loving touch of a woman or something)

When he runs away from the woman, Selina finds him and takes him to her apartment where they cuddle until morning, and he DOES feel better after this. Like a considerable amount. He feels like his weakness is going away. So he lets her in on his scheme to catch the Joker and the rest of the vamps. They go to find them and take them down.

During the scuffle Joker shoots Selina with an arrow and she's killed. Batman, filled with rage, finally gives in to his urge to suck blood, and he sucks the Jokers blood. Making sure to take the necessary precautions afterwards to ensure Joker doesn't come back to life as a vampire.

In this world, if you suck blood, you become impure, and start to have reactions to stereotypical vampire deterrents. Batman believes himself to be unsafe now that he's sucked blood, and tasks Gordan and Alfred with killing him.

How is this queer?

In this section we will operate under the assumption queerness and vampirism are inherently intertwined in this story. That is to say, vampirism is just a stand in for queerness or queer experiences. Vampires and vampire media has been queercoded and littered with queer subtext for DECADES. I recommend reading up on it, or if you're into Video Essays I really enjoyed this video about the bisexualness of Dracula, specifically!

In these next images Batman is talking to another vampire about his vampirism (or more like the Vampire is talking AT him and Batman tries to deny it).

Batman says that he does NOT drink blood, and the way the vampire responds seems almost erotic lol? He tells Batman that he knows he WANTS to drink blood, and that sooner or later he'll just have to give in to it. Again, batman denies, denies, denies, but it's because he knows it to be TRUE, the desire is only getting stronger.

The vampire calls him a "filthy blood junkie" (to me this seems akin to calling a queer person "faggot" perhaps). The way he says that the vampirism is just "tempting the natural predator in [him]." struck me as a way of saying "you've always been queer, but the urge (to do something about it) is undeniable now, so what are you going to do about it?" The vampire goes on to say he used to HATE the site of blood (perhaps that he used to hate his own queerness and hid from it) but now that he's a vampire he craves it. It gives him satisfaction, exactly what he needs, he can't get enough of it.

This whole interaction reads (to me) as this man describing his queer awakening to Batman, connecting his own experience to Batmans, recognizing the signs. But Batman doesn't believe this. He doesn't WANT to give in.

These next images I share focus on Batman denying himself blood.

He describes how he's become addicted to the idea of something he's never even had before. This resonated with me, when you're discovering your queerness it seems a lot bigger than it is (bc being queer would be something easy, if there weren't societal pressures), and craving to have this experience you've never gotten. He seems afraid of himself. He sees himself as a predator, as someone people should fear. He doesn't want to be "tempted" by Alfred. I dont think he'd ever do anything to Alfred here, in a queer reading, I'd say this is the result of being told by people that you are predatory for who you love, and it becoming so Ingrained in your sense of self you BELIEVE it.

Next, I want to touch on WHY Bruce is so comforted by Selina. Why she literally makes him stronger, I have two ways I think this could be taken in my reading.

After cuddling with Selina all night, Batman feels MUCH better. He is getting his strength back just from being near her.

1) This is an interpretation I think is sweet, above anything else, that I was thinking about while reading. Selina is a werecat, Batman is a vampire. They can relate to eachother. They're both queer. They're both feared for something they cannot control. The reason Batman finds comfort in Selina is because she is his community. Living in places where there aren't a lot of openly queer people, finding another queer person is a major comfort. You feel less alone. She is giving him something he's desperately needed, and that's the hope that his future isn't doomed because of who he loves.

2) The reason she comforts him is because she validated his heterosexuality. He is cuddling with her and doing things that are stereotypically romantic and that comforts him because it means he can still "mask" (for lack of a better way to put that) his queerness. When he is with her, he can pretend that he is not fighting this battle with himself. He can pretend he is what society deems "normal".

When Selina is killed, Batman refers to her as "[his] last hope."

I think my second reading makes sense in this context, she was literally his last hope at denying his queerness, but with her gone he no longer feels he can hold back what he's been dealing with.

Batman is shown resisting what would normally hurt a vampire because he is still "pure". He hasn't tasted blood (had a queer experience). he brings up Selina having selfless love for him, she made him stronger. (Side note: that's really fucking sweet and I love batman and Selina sm)

This next image made my jaw drop, because to me, if you replace the word "sane" with perhaps "heterosexual" or "straight" it would make A LOT of sense.

Batman has completely given up on hiding his queerness. There's no point in resisting it anymore (was there ever when he knew how this would end eventually?).

I'll leave a transcription of the cursive in the alt text for these next pages. I feel the experience is a lot better when you read them yourself.

So yeah, Batman describes (very erotically might I add!) sucking the Jokers blood. Literally saying the Joker has WON. And like, I feel like this is speaking for itself but I'll try to describe how I felt while reading.

Batman giving in to something he's always wanted, and immediately feeling Shame and guilt at what he's done. Much like how, when things stay in your mind, you can deny them, but when you act things out (like being queer with someone-) you can no longer deny what you desire. He becomes impure once he sucks Jokers blood, so he runs away from all that can hurt him, and asks Gordon and Alfred to end him. Because what is he supposed to do now? Live on knowing what he has done, what he will become if he keeps going? If it's just one person, he can destroy the evidence of it ever happening, continue to deny what he knows to be true, but if there were more? he simply wouldn't be able to stay in denial.

I think Joker being the character here too, adds so much for me personally (as someone who likes batjokes) because in the literal sense it is Batman giving in to his urge to kill Joker, but from a queer standpoint, it seems like something entirely different. He hates the Joker, but he cant help but give in to this hidden desire he has that has been taking over his mind. It makes so much sense it's the Joker, because he is his greatest temptation.

[pepsiiwho]

ROMANCE REAL!

I'm a heinous, devious multi-shipper and I always have been and always will be but for now I won't get into sleep's harem. Right now I'm just gonna word vomit about my two biggest Hypnos ships and what im thinking of writing for them with the information we have currently with the new teaser.

If you don't like Zagnos, Arenos or Hypnos getting some well deserved loving (in which case, you can fuck off now) then skip this one. If you'd like to avoid spoilers for my next possible wip (not that this is nearly coherent enough to explain anything I'll write) run away. Now.

Okay. Anyway. Hi true believers.

So, the dynamics of both ships are different to me fundementally but on the outside they look incredibly similar (I have a type). the basics being that Zagreus and Hypnos is more a will they/ won't they childhood friend romance with a twist of like "you stole my whole family and I resent you for that" and "you're the one person in this literal hell hole I can't just fix and it's driving me crazy". Initially Zagreus was like, the one constant nice, polite and understanding person Hypnos had in his corner. Because of like 3 lines of dialogue in the first game (of which I shan't even speak!) I fell out of love with the ship just because of how jarring and heart breaking it was. But I have love for them and have worked in tandem with cano, for once in my life, and can fix it all.

This was a long way to say, Zagnos exs. They dated and it was great. Very puppy love but after a point Hypnos got comfortable enough that he felt discontent with the fact his boyfriend was more beloved in his family then he was. They clash over it, Hypnos gets upset that zagreus gets THREE sets of families, HYP'S INCLUDED, while Hypnos can barely manage one on a good day and Zagreus just does NOT get it. Eventually they break up because they're just too different. Hypnos bows out, in his self-deprecating way, and they're done. Considering the second game, I think this happens shortly before Mel is born/ or conceived. One of the two because news/birth is a whirlwind that takes all of Zag's attention so they have a lot of unfinished business.

Obviously the titans attack only like a year or so after Mel is born and then everything goes to shit and my scene of the escape happens. At this point, Zagreus is still very in love with Hypnos— he never really stopped oops— but their time has run out and it's too late. He goes into the fray. Womp womp. We're caught up.

Arenos, on the other hand, was always an escape from the mess of the house and the family drama happening there. Hypnos the forgotten and unloved son paired up with Ares the forgotten and unloved son. They are very different yet have a shared loneliness no one else really gets? It helps Ares has his weird fixation on the chatonic gods and their entire lineage. So they meet at the post game dinner and Ares is instantly smitten and wants to wisk Hypnos away. This is, surprisingly, the significantly more affectionate and fluffier ship in my mind. He wants to adore his god and obsess over him as Hypnos deserves. Ares is a lover boy to me and Someone who's been deprived of such love his whole life needs someone who's too enthusiastic about his mere existence. Anyway, when the titans attack and Hypnos gets out with Mel, he loses contact with Olympus because they go off the grid and he's too weak to reach ares in his dreams or anything. Until Mel begins communication with her kin up top, Ares assumes Hypnos is dead. He is not normal about it. WOO!

Which brings us to now. The scene I have in mind is post game or like later in the game? In this idea Zagreus has been freed and olympians can come and go from the crossroads without alerting the enemy faction.

The concept for both ships is the same: X goes to crossroads and finds Hypnos sleeping, unwoken for (long period of time here) and unreachable. Im imagining the scene from Snow White. X walks up, ruminates on Hypnos and their past together and then kisses him before crumpling on his sleeping form, overcome with grief.

Naturally, the grief is different. Zagreus for lost love. For another thing lost to him through this conflict but due to his own negligence, not the Titan's whims. He chose to ostracize his love, he chose to ignore him when they were all of 30ft away from each other at any given time. His Hypnos, his sleep, who protected his little sister and (perhaps) helped guide his family to safety/defeat the titans whatever. The fates were as cruel as ever.

Ares, in my mind, would find Hypnos earlier. Before the titans are defeated fully. Seeing his lord sleep, his beloved, his heart and dreams left comatose and out of his reach enrages him. He has a new resolve coming out of the meeting, unable to do anything but wish for the utter decimation of any and all against him and the head of whoever put his love in this position.

The crossroad I'm at though (ha) is If true loves kiss can prevail... I love happy fluff good ends but tragedy is so lovely... Id love to hear other's thoughts as well. Feel free to send asks to continue the convo or reply ... or tags of course... sigh... they're so important. Also more Hypnos ships soon.. first on the block: Apollo and Hermes!

[toxicnick]

Rhys (pronounced: rise) was originally made to be a Bad Sans, part of Nightmare's gang, but I winded up changing things around when I remade his newest design.

Rhys' au is erased, it was attacked and destroyed by a group of skeletons. He doesn't know who, he couldn't make out their faces in time of the chaos. He managed to be the only one in his au to make it out alive, but due to now being au-less, he wanders in the void.

He has never met any of the other Sanses, but if he were to meet one, it would most likely be Error or Ink first, due to being in the void.

- - Rhys, lowkey is hoping someone would find him, recreate his au, or give him a new one that's already existent. A place to call home. He misses his friends, he's alone now.

Back in Rhys' au, before it got destroyed, before it was erased... something was lurking in his au, it was draining everyone's energy. Rhys found out the hard way what it was.

It's the reason Rhys' skull is cracked.

A strange smell filled the au, and no one knew where it was coming from, so people of course went out to look. Rhys was one of those people, and unfortunately for him, he found what it was.

A parasite was roaming freely, hiding in the shadows. It brought around a nasty smell wherever it went and was feeding off the peoples energy.

When Rhys found the parasite, he was attacked by it, and the parasite cracked a hole into Rhys' skull. It crawled into his skull, in his head, and rested there. It's eating slowly away at the inside of his skull, and the crack is slowly getting bigger.

Rhys refuses to eat, or claims he isn't hungry, because it'll just power the parasite even more. But, by doing this, he is weakening himself. If the parasite isn't removed and killed, he will die. Rhys cannot do it himself, he needs help from someone, and it requires magic to do which he lacks.

When it comes to magical power, the only thing Rhys can do is summon bones and move things with telekinesis. He isn't considered over powered in any sense, in fact he's really weak. He would be easy to take down if it wasn't for the fact that he was smart, and can dodge insanely well. When it comes to battle, Rhys just has to pray the other will eventually get tired.

Over time, Rhys began getting red marks over his body, probably from the parasite as he never had the spots before. If the parasite gets stronger, eventually Rhys' body will turn fully red.

Once the parasite is in control, Rhys will be considered "corrupt." With a red skeletal frame, and a thirst to destroy anything in sight. He is hoping he will be saved before this happens, as in the end, it'll be too late to save his soul. He'd have to be killed.

Rhys would do ANYTHING to remove the parasite. He would hurt someone if it meant he could be free of it. Even if he had to pass the parasite on to another, he would. It's hurting him too much, and he can't bare the pain. Rhys tries to ignore it, but whenever the parasite isn't sleeping and it's moving or feeding, it's nothing but pain.

- he would feel bad for the other if he ever passed it on to someone else, but if he could, he would.

Some basic information ;

- Rhys goes by he/him, he is bisexual with a strong male preference.

(NSFW:) In any sort of "sexual" take, he is a switch and is more than likely to lean to the opposite of what his partner prefers. (As in if his partner is a top, he will bottom, and vice versa).

Rhys' favorite color is red, while his magic is orange and yellow. -- when his power is activated, it could have slight pink and purple highlights.

Rhys' ribcage has red marks on it, too, just like his face and hands. Where a humans heart would be is a red mark shaped as a heart, a little deformed but still a heart.

- - - - - - -

I'm fine if anyones oc wants to save him!, I'll wind up adding it to the lore though, meaning if it happens-- you're my friend. That's it. You cannot ignore me I will STAB YOU EIWOEKW RAHHHH, /j

Anyway,, mwa mwa!

[be-with-me-so-happily]

Not What We Bargained For

PART 1 of 2

|| PART 2 ||

<< Request >> "If it's possible, could you make a story about harry hating you and you didn't know why and then one day you have to share a hotel room with him and you find him jacking off in bed!?! Smut obviously and a fluff ending please?" @pandisasterthatlived

~~~~~

Summary: Harry dislikes YN. She dislikes him. As long as they avoid each other, they can manage to be in the same office. But an unexpected work trip creates more tension than anticipated.

A/N: This was fun to write! I've been wanting to do an enemies to lovers story and this was the perfect way for me to dip my toes into that trope. Hopefully you enjoy it. Might do a pt. 2 later?

>> Warnings: some explicit language, workplace rivalry & jealousy, sexual tension, self-pleasure, oral (male receiving), mild fingering, unprotected penetration

~~~~~

She isn't supposed to be here.

Harry is cursing Doug for his weak immune system, which is currently being attacked by the flu. He should've sucked it up, this is too important. Of course, that's a selfish thought, and Harry knows that, but he can't stop it from popping into his head ever since he was told that YN will be the one to take Doug's place.

He can't stand her. He basically hasn't since the beginning. When she first walked into the office, it seemed like she would be a pleasant presence to have around, another pleasant person to work with. But he was wrong.

Right off the bat, she is rude, and ignores Harry if there happens to be a moment that they are near each other, which he tries to avoid as much as possible. He is one of the top associates. It would only help her career if she was willing to work with him. She doesn't seem to care about anyone else's ideas, she just presents her own as soon as a question is asked in a meeting, and she is constantly taking assignments that could be covered by anyone else. She just comes across as so arrogant, and it does nothing but annoy him at this point.

Why would he want to work with someone like that? To work with an outside hire who thought she was better than everyone else as soon as she got tnere? He wouldn't. He doesn't. And he can't stand the fact that he is being forced to work with her now. He can't stand her.

"Have you gone over the presentation? Read the notes?"

"Yes, Styles. I have. I am prepared."

She will have to prove that in the meeting. However, he doesn't really want to give her much of a chance to do so. This was his assignment. He deserves to present it. He deserves the credit and recognition.

"Just so you know, I'm taking the lead on this."

"I figured as much."

"Good." He responds. "I'm glad we're on the same page."

She sighs and out of the corner of his eye, he catches YN rolling hers.

"If you don't think you can handle it-"

"Seriously? I've done this plenty of times before. This isn't my first presentation!" She snaps back, taking him a little by surprise. He's never heard her raise her voice, but then again he isn't around her much to hear it.

"Sure. But I won't need much help, yeah?"

"Whatever. Fine by me." She responds, crossing her arms and staring out the window.

He rolls his eyes at the way she is pouting. She obviously can't handle that she isn't in charge of this assignment. It serves her right, always trying to one-up everyone else and not being a team player. This is a taste of her own medicine.

"I can pretty much close this deal on my own."

~~~~~

"What our company is presenting to you is an opportunity to grow your business with-"

"Growth, Ms. YLN? Can you guarantee growth?"

"Well, yes-"

"Thank you, Ms. YLN…" Harry clenches his jaw in her direction. "Mr. Tills, the data speaks for itself. What Downings & Co. can guarantee is that your business is worth the risk for the company. And if you consider the ramifications of a drastic change in the financial climate, I believe it is worth the risk for your business to let Downings & Co. oversee things."

Harry glares right at YN as soon as the other members in the meeting are distracted in conversation with each other.

How dare she? This was his presentation. He was the lead and she had no right to add anything else. In fact, she caused doubt and more questions to be raised. He just hopes that she has not ruined his chance to acquire this client.

"Let us have a moment to converse, if you don't mind." Mr. Tills requests.

"Of course." Harry agrees, gathering all of his notes and throwing another quick glare in YN's direction.

They both walk out of the conference room and take a seat just outside.

"What the hell was that?" He scolds.

"Excuse me?"

"You did not need to add anything to the pitch, YN! I had it under control." He begins to raise his voice, taking a deep breath as he notices the receptionist's quick glance in his direction.

"I was just trying to help."

"I told you that I don't need your help."

Although she is quiet, he can hear her scoff, and her body turns to face him.

"You know what, Styles?" She whispers, her eyes scanning the lobby to be certain that no one else is in earshot. "Fuck you."

"What?" He replies, his brow furrowing deep at her astonishing statement, especially in this professional setting.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I said fuck you."

"Me?" He pulls his lips in and does a scan of their surroundings too. "I had this. It was going perfectly, until you caused them to question the growth of their company."

"You weren't doing as well as you think." She quietly chuckles.

"Oh, because you think you can do everything better than anyone else?"

"No…" She huffs. "Because I saw what they-"

"I don't want to hear it, YN. You better hope we don't-... I don't… lose this deal now."

She turns her body away from his and they sit in silence, waiting for the board's decision to be made.

A few minutes later, the conference room door opens and the pair are motioned back inside.

"Mr. Styles and Ms. YLN, we have considered all you have proposed and have agreed to take up the offer."

Harry manages to keep his composure and continue with professionalism.

"Fantastic. I believe that this will be a very beneficial partnership, Mr. Tills."

Another meeting is set up for tomorrow to go over and sign paperwork, so the job is finished for tonight, and they both head back to the hotel.

~~~~~

As the silverware clanks against their plates at the hotel restaurant, the silence feels refreshing to Harry. At least he doesn't have to hear her speak or engage in any kind of awkward conversation.

He whines to himself as he hears YN suddenly clear her throat. He's not surprised she can't keep her mouth shut, or her opinions to herself.

"Look, I really tho-"

"Honestly, I'm not in the mood to talk about it. Yeah?" He interrupts. "I'm just glad it worked out in the end."

"Yeah." She responds. "Now you can celebrate."

"No." He shakes his head.

"Wait, what? You're not gonna celebrate because… why? Because you thought I was going to ruin everything for you? Even though I didn't…"

He wants to argue with her so badly. This is not all about her, as she makes everything out to be. But they are in public, and he is not about to make a scene. So, he decides to bite his tongue and give her a quick honest answer as politely as he can. He lowers his fork, wipes his hand on his napkin, and clasps his hands in his lap.

"No." He reiterates. "I don't celebrate 'til the deal is fully done."

"But we-... I mean, you…"

"I wait 'til everything is official. Signatures and stamps and all that shit."

"Oh." She sits up straighter in her chair.

"What?" He asks sternly.

"Nothing." She pulls her lips inward and drops her gaze. It might be the first time Harry has ever seen her look like this. She almost looks insecure.

"What?" He asks again.

"I just…" She shrugs, gaze still downward. Her new demeanor is completely throwing him off. "I celebrate too early, compared to the 'Styles way'... I guess."

Harry returns his hands to his utensils, shoving a large fork full of his dinner into his mouth.

"That's 'cause you're too cocky." He mumbles, enjoying the fact that his food is muffling his words.

"What's that?" She asks, leaning closer to potentially make out the statement she hopes he will reiterate.

"I said… I said that I guess I'm too cocky." He lies, starting to clench his teeth as he notices that her reaction is giving away that she agrees.

"Well…" She shrugs. "We have our own ways of doing things."

"Certainly do." He replies, beginning to see her shoulders relax a bit, but he quickly straightens up and pushes his plate to the side. "I'm finished."

"Oh! Okay. I'm almost done too." She replies, stabbing as much food as she can with her fork.

"No, please, don't rush." He holds his hand up to reassure her that she doesn't need to hurry, hoping she will listen so that there isn't an awkward elevator ride and walk back to the room. He shudders at the odd thought of how that scene would look to others. As if they were a couple. "M'just gonna take a shower. I'll see you back in the room."

"Right." She nods. "See you back there then."

~~~~~

With a shirt and sweats on, and a towel drying his hair, Harry walks out of the bathroom and almost collides into YN.

"Bloody hell!" He blurts out.

This obviously wasn't the original plan. Harry was supposed to be sharing a room with Doug, someone he would most likely have been spending time with at the bar, being wingman to each other whenever someone caught their eye.

But Doug isn't here, it's YN instead, and because the universe seems to hate Harry, the company wasn't able to find her a separate room.

"Oh shit!" She responds, taking a few more steps away from him. "I just got back. I didn't realize you were right there."

He is thankful he didn't risk it and walk out in a towel, or how he usually walks around. Naked.

"Right."

She places her jacket and bag next to her suitcase, and sits on her bed to remove her heels.

"Stupid fucking things." She states, tossing them to the side and massaging her feet. "Is the bathroom free now?"

He simply nods and she swiftly grabs some clothes, heading straight in there and closing the door.

While he hears the water running, Harry sends a quick, scolding text to Doug, and puts an alarm on his phone.

He puts it down on the nightstand and turns his lamp off before he brings his hands up underneath his head.

His eyes close, and he replays the meeting in his head. He critiques himself on the areas he could have improved, still mentally patting himself on the back for the win, and clenches his jaw as he remembers YN's interruption. One thing pops in his mind that he didn't think anything of before. It was the look of embarrassment on her face when he glared at her. He attributes it to the fact that she couldn't handle a bruise to her ego, but he can't seem to shake the small feeling that it may have actually been genuine.

The bathroom door suddenly swings open, with the scent of lavender and vanilla floating through the air as she returns her work outfit to her suitcase. He subtly opens his eyes, curious to see what YN looks like in a normal setting. Well, in a 'not-the-office' setting.

Harry can't help but notice the way her wet hair falls down and frames her face, no longer being confined into a ponytail. He notices the freckles on her cheeks that are usually hidden by her makeup. He also notices how smooth her bare skin looks, now that it's showing off as a cotton shirt and shorts sit nicely on her body.

He had already admitted to himself, on the first day they met, that she was attractive. She has always looked presentable and professional, and attractive. But this is different. He has never seen her look so natural, there's no reason he would have, and he is taken back by how much he likes seeing her this way.

He is brought out of his thoughts as soon as he hears the creaking of her bed. She turns off the lamp closest to her, but with the city lights peeking through the small opening of the curtains, he can just make out her silhouette.

"Goodnight." She softly speaks.

"Yeah. Goodnight." He replies, turning away onto his side and letting his mind wander as he drifts off to sleep.

~~~~~

Harry wakes up and notices that the sliver of the window he can see still displays a dark sky. He checks the bedside clock to confirm that he has only been asleep for a few hours. He is annoyed that he has randomly woken up, but more so than that, he is annoyed that he has woken up with his dick stiff and throbbing.

He's a man, this has obviously happened to him before, but tonight's is painfully desperate for some relief and he knows he will not be able to return to sleep without taking care of himself.

He turns over to evaluate YN's current position and finds her asleep, facing the other wall. He begins to weigh his options, but his hand uncontrollably makes its way down to the bulge in his sweats, and it feels too good to discontinue those motions.

He glances back over to YN, letting out a heavy breath to test her ability to stay in slumber. When she doesn't react, he slides his hand into his briefs and continues to palm himself, breathing out heavily at the touch.

It feels too good, and he is desperate for relief. He needs it now. He can be quiet, and can stop if he suspects she is waking up. Plus, the risk of getting caught is surprisingly making this all the more enticing for him right now.

He brings his hand out of his pants, pulling them down to free his throbbing dick from its confines, and spits in his hands for some lubrication.

As he checks on YN's position once again, becoming more aroused at the sight of an attractive woman laying there, he begins to stroke himself. The immediate pleasure that his motions create cause him to bite his lower lip and buck up his hips. His thumb rubs over his tip and he can feel himself leaking already. He manages to pull his other lip inward just in time to muffle a moan, and he begins to thrust his hips up to the rhythm of his strokes.

But as good as it feels, he can't seem to get himself over the edge. He spits in his hand for more lubrication and pumps faster, and an uncontrollable, but quiet, moan is released from his lips.

"Come on…" He whispers, tilting his head back further against the pillow and squeezing his eyes shut even tighter.

"Can't close the deal?"

"Shit!" Harry immediately stops stroking himself and his free hand flies up to slap his face.

This is just perfect. Not only does he need release from such an intense erection, but now the one person he can't stand has caught him in the act. Everything about this moment is painful.

He turns his head and peeks through his fingers, just making out her figure and her face staring back at him.

"I… fuck… I…" He stumbles, his ego fading and being overshadowed by embarrassment.

"Need some help?" She chuckles. "I can help."

"Oh fuck off, you're not making this any better for me." He states, an intense blush raging in his cheeks as the intense erection rages within his grasp.

"I could make it better. If you want me to."

"You're not serious! Are you?" He asks, astonished by what he thinks, and also sort of hopes, that she is offering.

"Well, if you can't do the job yourself…" She laughs. "I might as well take the lead on this."

He groans, aching for release.

She shrugs. "It's funny how you didn't need my help earlier in the meeting, but now you clearly do."

"It's not funny." He frowns as he experiences her arrogance yet again.

"It's just too damn bad I don't have the right skills for the job." She adds.

His frown turns into a smirk, actually delighted by her teasing nature. "I can sense your sarcasm."

She shakes her head, looking his body up and down as he lays there on the bed.

"And I can sense your desperation."

Harry clears the lump in his throat. He knows she is being witty, giving him the same back talk that he's given her, but god he thinks it's sexy. Saying she'll help him cum almost makes him explode right there, but he suddenly realizes that he wants what she is offering. Wants and desperately needs at this point.

"I'm very good." She chuckles. "But if you don't think you can handle it-"

"I can!" He interrupts. "I want to."

YN crawls her way onto his bed and closer to him, making her way to lay over his legs, as his breathing picks up its pace.

She gets positioned over his tip and flickers her gaze up to him as she bites her lower lip. He squirms as he lays there, desperate for her to please him.

Her gaze drops down to his dick, and she grabs ahold of his base as her smooth tongue glides up his length. He moans out, not meaning to make so much noise, but the way it feels against his skin sends him into a tizzy already.

"Oh my god."

She licks up one more time, before pushing her lips around him and taking his dick in her mouth. From the feeling alone, one hand jolts down and entangles in her hair, causing her to hum against him.

"Fuck, it feels good." He admits. And it does. It feels better than he would've thought. She takes him in so easily, her soft lips sliding around him as his dick enters between them.

She suddenly pulls off of him and sits back on her knees, pumping him slowly with her hand.

"You know, you're a major asshole to me."

His gaze immediately shoots down to meet hers.

"Umm…" he begins to pant, his dick twitching in her grasp and his heart racing at her statement.

"I haven't done anything to deserve that." She frowns.

He would assume she is furious, except he notices the way her teeth are digging into her bottom lip. Instinct wants him to argue, but his body wants him to shut up so she will continue the pleasuring she is giving him. His body wins over.

"No." He replies, his strong palms moving down to grab onto the part of her knees that are just within reach. "You haven't."

"And you haven't really done anything to deserve this…" She proclaims, squeezing her hand just enough around him to cause a buck up of his hips.

"No, I… haven't…" He breathes out.

"Good. I'm glad we're on the same page."

She quickly drops herself back down and wastes no time taking his dick back into her pretty little mouth.

The sensation flows over him and he throws his head back into the pillow.

"Fuck." He whispers.

The way she begins to use her mouth is as if she knows what he needs. She swirls her tongue exactly how he likes it, and moves her hand to cup his balls, which causes one hand to grab onto her hair again as the other grips onto the pillow underneath his head.

"YN… you're…" He grunts. "Fuck, you're good at this."

Once again, she hums against him, and the vibration ignites his body. It feels so good for him, and he feels his body tensing. He wants to last longer, but with his hand having started things off, and her amazing oral skills, he knows he cannot hold back much longer.

"Shit!" He growls.

"Hm?" She hums, her eyes snapping up to his as her mouth continues to do its work.

"I usually… last longer." He growls. "But m'bout to cum."

By the look in her eyes, he can tell she is smiling around his dick, and his body bucks up.

"Where… can I…" He tries to breathe out.

YN gives his balls a subtle squeeze and moves her hand on top of the one grabbing her hair. She stops her motions, stabilizing herself with her hands on his thighs, and he begins to thrust.

"Oh my god." He moans out.

He continues to pump in and out, as she effortlessly takes him as deep as he can go. It's perfect. She whines out, and his eyes shoot down to her in concern, but he sees her eyes closed. She isn't resisting. She isn't uncomfortable. She's enjoying it, and that sends him over the edge.

His movements get sloppy and his entire body clenches. He squeezes his eyes shut and bites his lower lip as his release rapidly spills down her throat.

He slows down his pace and hears her whimper as she keeps her mouth surrounding him, massaging his thighs as he works through the sensational orgasm coursing through him.

As he finishes giving her every last drop, he releases the hand grasping her hair, and she sits back up onto her knees.

"Fuck." He pants, eyes still squeezed shut. "That was..."

"Outstanding?" She chuckles, and he opens his eyes to see a wide grin displayed on her plump-lipped face, instantly matching it with his own. Usually her arrogance would annoy the hell out of him, but she has every right to be. It really was outstanding.

"Yeah." He nods.

She begins to move around his body, but he gently grabs her wrists and pulls her closer, causing her to straddle his waist.

"What are you doing?" She gasps, propping herself up with her hands on his chest.

"What if I told you… that I want to flip you over right now and give you a good fuck?"

Her mouth drops open slightly. "What?"

Harry's eyes take in her body. She's still wearing her cotton shirt and shorts, and he is so tempted to see what's underneath. He begins to softly glide his palms against her thighs, running them over her hips and up to her waist.

Her breath hitches and he smirks.

"You did something for me…"

"I did it out of necessity…"

"Really? It's not part of your job description to wrap those pretty pink lips around my dick and suck me off."

"Well, it was a lot of work." She smirks, causing his own breath to hitch at her quick wit. He's finding her sexier by the minute.

"Well, you have one satisfied customer."

"Of course I do! That was some of my best work. I knew you'd like it." She smirks again, causing him to grab tighter on her waist and she lets out a sweet subtle gasp. He can tell she is pretending to resist, because by the heat he can feel between her legs, he knows she wants it, and it makes him want it even more.

"I fucking loved it."

His hands dip under her shirt after seeing her smile, and he is enticed by the smoothness of her skin. Without warning, she grabs the hem of her shirt and swiftly pulls it over her head, tossing it to the side.

Harry licks his lips at the sight of her beautiful body, his eyes taking in every inch of the smooth skin. Never in a million years did he think he'd ever be watching her half naked body as it slowly begins to grind on him.

His gaze moves up to her lips. Those pretty, plump lips that were just taking him in and pleasuring him moments ago.

He can't help himself, wanting to know what they feel and taste like, so he pulls her down on top of him, their chests flush with each other.

One palm reaches around to the back of her head, and there is absolutely no resistant as he smashes their lips together. They do taste good, just as he thought.

An arm wraps around her waist and he swiftly rolls over, keeping their lips together as he hovers over her.

His index finger runs down her body and teases the hem of her panties. She bites her lower lip and he slips his hand inside, running it over her center.

"You're already so wet." He whispers, leaning down and placing another kiss on her lips. He smirks when she responds with a whimper, as he swipes his fingers along her folds once more.

He begins to circle her clit and she moans out, causing a twitch in his dick at the sound.

"Oh my god."

He plays with it one more time, then slides his fingers inside of her and curls them up. She moans again, bucking up her hips as he pumps his digits in and out.

"Fuck, YN, I need to be inside you." He exclaims, with a low and deep exhale. "I need my dick inside of you."

"Please." She whines. "I need it too."

He chuckles at her pleas. He has to admit, he likes seeing her like this- squirming at his touch, yearning for more of him, laying there exposed underneath him.

"You were so cocky before, YN. Now… it looks like you're the one who needs the help…"

"Come on, Harry, please!" She proclaims.

That's the first time she has called him 'Harry' and suddenly a rush of euphoria washes over him. It was such a beautiful sound. The desire to hear, see, and feel more from her begins to overwhelm him.

He sits back and grabs the sides of her panties, slowly removing them from her legs. It's a thong. A sexy, little thong. He's glad he didn't know that she was wearing this during the meeting, because he would've been dazed by the thought, and he's confident he will be distracted tomorrow thinking about another one sitting right down the middle of her ass cheeks.

Another twitch of his dick brings him back to the physical activities, so he quickly removes his sweats and briefs.

He teases his tip at her entrance, coating himself with her wetness before pushing himself in.

It feels good. Being inside her feels really good, and he immediately begins thrusting, as if he is smothering his dick with the feeling of her tight, coated walls.

She lets out a strong whine and he is instantly snapped out of the bliss.

"Shit. Y'alright?" He asks, keeping his voice tender with concern.

"Yeah." She pants. "It's just… I knew you were big, since my mouth was just on you, but… I just need a second… to get used to it this way."

The compliment leaving her lips makes his dick twitch yet again, and he adjusts himself so he can slowly, steadily slide in and out of her.

"That better?" He asks, gazing into her eyes to gauge her level of comfort.

"Yes." She nods in response. "And I want you deeper."

"Yeah?" He smirks. "Want my dick to fill you up?"

"Yes!" She moans, her chest moving quickly with each of his movements.

He pushes her knees closer to her chest as he begins to thrust in deeper.

"Yeah." She moans again, the sound inflating every part of his ego. He actually likes knowing he's pleasing her more than he thought he would. More than be usually does during sex. "Just like that, Harry. Oh my god."

"You're so fucking tight, YN. You're squeezing around me perfectly."

"It feels so good." She whimpers.

"How good? Tell me how good I'm making you feel."

"So good, Harry!" She moans, locking her eyes on his as the praise spills out of her mouth. "You're making me feel so good!"

"What else will make you feel good, baby?"

"Faster." She bites her lip for a moment. "Faster and harder."

Her request sends shivers down his spine. She wants it all and he is so intoxicated by her that he's ready to give it all to her.

"Fuck, YN." He grunts, feeling her straighten her legs to rest on his shoulders. "Fuck I'll do it all for you."

He grabs onto her thighs and begins to pound into her.

"Oh god, Harry!"

"Mmm. So fucking good."

He gives everything he has with each thrust in, pulling out quickly so he can do it all again.

He looks back down at her and feels the indescribable desire to be closer. He wants to feel every inch of her.

He maneuvers his hands between her legs and lowers himself down, resting one forearm on the side of her head, as he uses the opposite to hold onto the back of her thigh.

Both of her hands reach around and tangle themselves in his curls. As he continues his deep, hard, fast thrusts, his breath quickens at the intense desire to take her completely.

"God, I want to ravish you." He admits, unsure how his confession will be perceived.

"I can't guarantee I won't scratch and bite…" She replies, causing his hand to instinctually grab tighter onto the back of her thigh.

"But I can guarantee you'll cum."

His lips swiftly move to her neck, sucking every spot he comes in contact with, not worried about the marks that might show during tomorrow's meeting.

She grabs his shoulders and runs her nails down his back, shooting a sensation through his entire body. Once again, it's as if she knows exactly what he wants, likes, and needs.

He kisses back up her neck to her lips again, parting them with his tongue and gliding his in.

Their tongues move in synchronization, as his hands roam her body. His fingers meet with her nipple, and the high-pitched whimper that leaves her lips is enough to encourage him to play with it.

She squirms and moans, causing him to remove his lips from hers and join his hand. His tongue immediately licks her nipple, and a pleasure-filled shriek echoes through the entire room. His palm grabs her breast and provides a better vantage point to suck all around the breast.

Her breaths and whimpers are all he can hear as he moves over every inch of her smooth skin, and gives everything his dick can provide her.

"Ohhh. Harry, I'm…"

"Tell me." He grunts into her ear.

"I'm gonna cum."

"Cum… YN, I wanna…" He grunts again as his movements get sloppy. "I wanna feel it!"

He props her leg on his shoulder and brings that hand up to her jaw, pressing his lips firmly against hers again.

She lets out a vibrant moan, one that could set every fiber of his body ablaze.

"Oh my god, Harry!"

"Yes. Fuck yes."

Her hands run up and grip his hair, tugging on it as her body squirms beneath him.

"H-... Har… oh god!"

Her hips suddenly buck up, getting him as deep as he can go before she drops down onto the bed after one last, beautiful moan of his name.

"Harry!"

"I'm close, baby, I can… in you?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck I'm gonna give you… all of it."

"I want all of it." She whispers.

With that, he spills into her once again, reducing his thrusts as he melts down on top of her, kissing her neck as they both work through their orgasms together.

"Harry, that was…"

"Outstanding?" He chuckles against her skin and she breathes out a laugh of her own.

"Yeah. Outstanding."

He rolls off, leaving them both laying on their backs in bliss, and trying to catch their breath.

"You can, umm, stay in my bed tonight… if you want."

She rolls onto her side and props herself up on her elbow.

"Mr. Styles wants to cuddle?" She giggles.

The sassy, yet sexy expression on her face causes a blush to cover his.

"Forget it." He responds, embarrassment filling him as the reality, and original cause, of what happened reenters his mind.

She scoots closer, running one hand through his tossled hair, then cupping his cheek as she places a gentle kiss on his lips.

He can't fully comprehend what he's feeling, definitely not in any coherent matter at the moment, but he melts at her touch. Then he melts more as she looks into his eyes with the sweetest gaze.

"You want to be big spoon or little spoon, Harry?"

~~~~~

Harry is pulled out of his sleep to the sound of beeping and YN calling his name.

"What?" He asks.

"Can you turn off your fucking alarm?"

"M'sorry." He fumbles around on the nightstand next to him, barely opening his eyes enough to silence his phone.

"Thank you!" She sternly exclaims.

He finally blinks his eyes open to find YN laying in the other bed, hands covering her face and she begins to blink her eyes open. He frowns, not remembering when she left his bed, and a little confused as to why.

"Well good morning to you too." He chuckles, propping his head up on his hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh, happy that this deal will be done and that I can go back home…"

"Well, yeah." He chuckles again. "But, I mean, how are you feeling about last night?"

She twists her head in his direction and gives him an unsettling frown.

"Dinner was fine."

"Right…" He dramatically rolls his eyes.

"I had a good sleep… if that's what you mean..?"

His heart sinks and stomach twists into knots, as she raises up and gets off her bed, walking towards her suitcase and grabbing her toiletry bag.

Does she regret it? Was she actually disappointed? Or is she just that heartless? She can't be. Not the way she was treating him last night. That definitely wasn't heartless.

"Right, but-"

He scoots closer to the edge of the bed and his hip slides over a large damp spot on his sheets. He looks down and feels around for a clue as to what it is and why she is suddenly acting a little cold towards him.

He examines the bed, the room, and her figure as she heads towards the bathroom.

He suddenly realizes what's going on, and his heart stops as he buries his face in his pillow.

She is in her bed. She is wearing her cotton shirt and shorts. He is wearing his briefs and sweats, and there's a damp spot on his bed.

They didn't have sex.

He looks up to catch one last glimpse of her before she walks into the other room, and his stomach drops.

Nope, they didn't have sex.

He just had a wet dream.

~~~~~

If you like what I post, and want to just send some extra support, I have a ko-fi account. Even the smallest amount is greatly appreciated. There is no obligation or expectation to donate, because I am honestly just so grateful that you're here! 💗 Bee xx

~~~~~

Main Masterlist

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[lydiachan]

Dwarven Creation vs. Sotha Sil Creation

There are distinct similarities between the aesthetics of ancient Dwarven culture and Sotha Sil's Clockwork City. It is found that a big portion of Elder Scrolls players often have trouble identifying the differences between the two, and the idea that Sotha Sil's creations are Dwarven. This is not the case at all, but there is a reason why they are so similar. In Sotha Sil's lifetime, he was heavily inspired by the Dwarves as he came to power when they were in their peak in the First Era. (Sotha Sil died in the Third Era to the hands of Almalexia, as seen in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind). Dwarven science and architecture was at the base of all of Sotha Sil's research but he didn't completely steal all of their ideas. The architecture and automatons you see in Clockwork City are made out of a completely different material than what you would see in any Dwemer ruin. Sotha Sil used brass, the Dwemer used Dwarven metal that is completely unique to their kind. Another thing, Sotha Sil could take any Dwarven idea and make it better, turning it into an entirely new creation that is his own. For example, take a Dwarven sphere and a Factotum. A Dwarven sphere may be programmed to complete a task, but they have no intelligence and are rather weak. Factotums on the other hand are pretty much what people would consider to be a modern day robot. Factotums can complete several complex tasks, sense physical feeling such as weight being added or removed from their person, they detect and report crime, they can scan for resources, maintain a city, they can TALK, they can give the player tasks, and document important information such as citizenship and banking as seen in Elder Scrolls Online's Clockwork City DLC. Factotums are also usually in charge of the local guild traders, which is also an extremely important source of goods for any Elder Scrolls Online player. In greater and more powerful Dwarven automatons such as the centurion, they cannot function or "turn on" unless they are given a source of power, usually from a lever that is pulled. I remember the first time I played Skyrim, it took me so long to figure out that the centurions were not just decorations and that they could actually move and attack you. The Dwarven centurions Clockwork equivalent would be an Imperfect. Though imperfects are a lot larger in size, it is the same idea except that they can move and function on their own and the player doesn't need to manually power one on. Imperfects don't have as much dialogue as factotums, but they are a lot stronger than centurions. (Do not try to kill that one imperfect that is a world boss in Clockwork City alone, you will fail). Like the Dwarves, Clockwork City also has automaton spiders. Sotha Sil created two different kinds of automaton spiders: the Firepot Spider and the Dancing Spider. The Firepot one was created to be used as a barbecue for chefs, which is really weird but okay I guess. Could have just used a normal grill. There's not much to say about the Dancing Spider though, it's very similar to the Dwarven Spider except it's attacks and movements are a lot more dramatic hence the name "Dancing Spider". I will say though, both of the Clockwork spiders are incredibly strong in-game and are extremely annoying to encounter despite their small size. Sotha Sil also created an automaton dinosaur species but I'm not going to get into the details of that one because it can't be compared to anything Dwarven. Basically, the Dwemer didn't have dinosaurs. Another huge point that I should have brought up earlier before I started yapping about automatons is the fact that Dwemer cities were powered by steam and the Clockwork City is powered by Sotha Sil's magic alone. Well, it WAS powered by Sotha Sil but it is now powered by his artificial Heart of Lorkhan that he created to save the city during his death. If I see anybody else call Sotha Sil "Dwarven" I will redirect them to this post. Sotha Sil is NOT short, he's like seven feet tall. Nirn's tallest elf. Thank you.

[lumilasi]

I originally meant to first make all 4 House staff for Harrow's manor (the dad of my story's protagonist) before posting, but I decided to plop this out already. Did this a bit differently by basically just using the sketch again, no lineart.

IDK exactly why I decided that in this new form (while not born there) he comes from Romania, but I'm guessing its because I've seen glimpses of content related to the country a lot recently (A documentary on tv, that tumblr post about Romanian nuns helping out that kid scared of vampires, a game taking place there, etc), so it was in my brain when thinking of his origins lol

His bio below(W.I.P)

Name: Mihail (His surname is not an actual surname of his, he's just started using it jokingly when people ask, it is just the Romanian word for dog. Mihail has no surname as he doesn't recall his birth family)

Age: Unknown, but he is likely between 50-70, so among Grimmhounds he's considered to be an adult in their mid-to-late 30's, if converted to human years (Generally in this story, beings' lifespans tend to be measured in centuries, so they have a "true" age, and "human equivalent" age)

Family: birth family unknown, honorary little sister figure Scarlet Duffy

Friends: Harrow Araknos/Blackthorne (Soul eater & his boss) Thalia Swanson (The butler/head of staff) Roman Bosco (later, a former member of the same Grimmhound pack he was in)

Love interest: Aiden O'kelley (Human, their gardener)

Occupation: The chef/guardian of the Blackthorne Manor

Abilities:

Regeneration: His kind regenerate most injuries insanely fast, and are generally among the most durable land-dwelling beast types outside non-flying drakes.

Transformation: He has two forms; The humanoid skull-hound form, and a full black dog form the size of which he can change at will. He is insanely fast, stealthy and durable in these forms, with the skull-hound form being physically strongest, and the full dog form being fastest.

Shadows: He can merge with shadows to hide himself very well even in human form, and can attack you through them.

Bite force/claws: He has very strong bite force and can actually tear people's throats open even in human form. His claws can also be used to easily cut limbs off and damage metal.

Keen senses: Being a predator type of beast, his sense of smell is about as accurate as you'd expect from a trained bloodhound, he also has excellent night vision, and can pick up the faintest of sounds from hundreds of meters away. Also he's generally just very aware of his surroundings.

human weaponry: He's good at whipping out a knife and stabbing your eyes out with it when you least expect it.

Weaknesses:

Due to his disdain for his past self, Mihail tends to hold back too much in some situations, where he might get hurt needlessly. The same time though, in other cases he might use too much force, which may require some clean-up help from Harrow and Thalia.

He still has some bad habits from his past, namely he tends to come off as really rude and crude/blunt to people who don't know him well, even when he's not intending to do so. That's just how the group he was with talked. He tends to not realize when he's coming off rude either, and needs to be told about it.

Light magic spells are naturally effective towards his kind, as they tend to dispel the skull-dog humanoid form and force them to turn back to full humans, which is their weakest form. It does specifically need to be some sort of sacred type of light, you can't just whip out a flashlight to force them to transform. (Unless it has somehow blessed light-bulb I suppose...)

he's very protective over Scarlet, and would do anything for her.

Personality:

Mihail is very stoic most of the time, coming off very intimidating to most people. Despite this he is a fairly chill guy with a good - albeit sometimes morbid - sense of humor. He is mischievous and absolutely takes advantage of 1.) his natural intimidating vibes, and 2.) the fact he's attractive to many people (Within reason of course)

He has a fairly strong moral backbone nowadays, perhaps to atone from his past behavior, and generally tends to be willing to help people with things they don't want to do, even if he'd find the chore boring as hell and would rather be stabbing his eyes out. (he will admit this point-blank if asked whenever he actually enjoys doing the chore in question)

While he seems quite relaxed once you get past his intimidating exterior, Mihail is always keeping an eye out for any dangers, especially around Scarlet who is a troublemaker.

Fun Facts

He began flirting with Aiden pretty soon after they met, he just didn't realize Mihail was doing so, because it was disguised with jokey comments, such as the ones about the "Ghost Dog" lurking around the manor grounds. (Also Aiden is kinda oblivious)

He ended up in the Blackthorne manor, because Scarlet wanted to go steal something from there and they got caught. The house owner (Harrow) was amused and impressed enough by her bravery and trickery, that he ended up hiring her after finding out about her situation of not really having a home.

Mihail wasn't hired properly until later, when they found out he's a good guardian AND a cook, freeing Thalia from having to be responsible for so many things at once as the only staff Harrow initially had.

He has a Slavic accent, but no one can ever place exactly where its from, not even native speakers of the language family.

The languages Mihail knows include Romanian (naturally), English, Italian, and Japanese.

His name was given to him by the old woman & her daughters Mihail initially stayed with when younger, before they were killed in a house-fire that was accidentally lit by a stray spark. (Mihail was out at the time)

He and Roman had some tension between them initially, because while Mihail was never one that personally bullied him during his time with the pack, Roman was afraid of him due to him being one of the strong ones.

[purplekoop]

ok maybe zarya's is fine. Even if it was an ability, I'd only want it to have a 2 second cooldown. But yeah, Torb Cass and Zen alt fires are kinda lame, and I say the same for Widow Ashe Ana Symmetra and Winston. For those first three, Scope could just be a toggled thing imo. And in general I think everyone should have 4 weapons/abilities, one Passive, and obviously their uktimate. Reaper and Tracer are also examples of one's that I'd like fixed.

I mean at the point of a 2 second cooldown, that's almost the exact same uptime as normal, considering the slow fire rate and how you only get four shots per reload. It's just kind of an arbitrary change.

I also don't get how... toggling scopes would work? Like... you. already do that. with the alt fire. that's just arbitrarily adding an extra button, which I should point out because Overwatch is also a console game and thus must have a default controller scheme, is a limited commodity. And again, I don't really see much use when, like I explained, even Ana's scope with its minimal differences compared to unscoped fire, the kits of the heroes with those scope attacks are well rounded and really don't need an extra function.

Symmetra and Winston's alt fires aren't far off from Zarya's if you give it a thought, they're long-range shots that require extra ammo and have generally slower DPS than their limited range beam primary fires. Symmetra would be gutted if you got rid of either of her primary or secondary fire without proper compensation. Winston's meanwhile is more like a nice quality of life improvement that makes his somewhat basic gameplay loop a good bit more interesting, and lets him confirm kills by himself where he otherwise couldn't, which is important especially in OW2 where there's one less teammate to help finish off an enemy he couldn't alone.

As for the more general notion that every hero should have the full set of basic abilities and a passive... I mean... I get it... but I also disagree? at least a little? For one I think the requirement of everybody having a passive is just. Insanely arbitrary. It's a fun thought experiment, but to be frank it's also tedious trying to think of giving EVERY character a unique passive that has a meaningful impact on their gameplay, especially when they already have a well-defined kit. What even counts as a passive? I've heard the suggestion that Cassidy getting a headshot with revolver should take a second off his Roll cooldown, and while I like the idea, I don't know if that warrants being called a passive when you could just as easily call it a mechanic of Combat Roll or his primary fire. And again, I gotta reiterate, there's like 5 other "basic shooty fighter guys" that don't have passives and don't NEED passives. Soldier, Ashe, Cassidy, Widowmaker, Sojourn, Tracer. The "what to do" and "why to do it" just aren't there.

I do more so agree with at least wanting to give every character a full set of 4 abilities/attacks... kinda. See Reaper's lack of a secondary fire is not only mildly irritating for perfectionists, but also is an open space for something to address some of his weaknesses. While I think characters having flaws is fine and in fact very cool, Reaper's struggle past point-blank range is obscene, and despite his existing abilities getting tons of buffs over the years, he still struggles to exist if he can't flank into ambushing an enemy at breathing distance. How he hasn't gotten any kind of ranged projectile like a smoke grenade like in the initial reveal cinematic or something is beyond me. Tracer meanwhile... is fine. She's barely been touched over the years aside from minor tweaks to Pulse Bomb and her exact damage numbers in the shift to 5v5, and I think that more than anything speaks to how solid her existing kit is. She really doesn't need an extra ability, as tempting as it is to force one onto her. Similar story to Bastion, who's been much more hectic balance-wise over the game's history, but I think his recent dominance before getting nerfed shows that his kit is probably fine despite the fact he lacks an Ability 2.

I get the desire to make every character equally complicated for the sake of "fairness", I really do, but that's just not how game design works. Some characters are simpler and have less fancy buttons or traits than others, and that's fine and cool actually! It makes for a range of playstyles and design philosophies coexisting in a really cool way. The fact that a character as simple as Tracer can be just as respectable a pick as someone super complex in terms of ability count like Ramattra is really neat! So arbitrarily forcing "complexity" onto characters can just as easily help as it can hurt. Remember the recent Mei rework? She got a passive! And people didn't like it!

So yeah, while I think some additions to kit complexity are great, like Zen's kick and trading Hog's awkward alt fire for a new ability, it's not essential for every character to follow suit.

[nientedal]

1-22 for Megamind (just kidding, unless,) but particularly: 1, 3, 10, 15, 16

Oooooo! Lol, going straight for the throat on these >:3

Their physical weak spots The most obvious one is his neck. Look, Megamind is strong and his head is well-balanced, but his neck is quite long and that has some drawbacks. Less obvious weak spot would be his secondary respiratory system-- his gills vent between the bones of his ribcage, so if you got up in there, you could potentially do some serious damage. And you can induce a state of tonic immobility by petting back to front over his crown, which is NOT something he advertises (currently that's just in the Feathers&Fins verse, but I'm considering expanding it to my general headcanons). There is also a poorly-healed hole in the back of his skull behind his left ear, but it's VERY small, so it tends to be overlooked.

Scars or painful spots Megamind doesn't typically scar, but he does have a couple of scars on his chest from Metro Man's lasers. He will also start having some joint and spinal problems as he gets older.

Fears/phobias He doesn't 'do' doctors or medical personnel outside of the prison infirmary-- and after the doctor who treated him as a child retires, he also doesn't stay there for long. He and Minion have everything they need to treat him at Evil Lair, from basic first aid to major surgery. Having a mindtwin with mechanically-stabilized hands is useful for more than just fine electrical work! Hospitals are even worse. Too much white, and the smell is bad. Less viscerally, he fears losing the very few people who are important to him. Minion, Roxanne. Even Metro Man, in a way, although I think he only develops that fear (or realizes it's a thing) after the events of the movie. Also? Earplugs. Fuck if he knows why, but he HATES stuff in his ears. The whole business is just wrong. Show him some earplugs and he'll get the heebie jeebies.

What it takes to make them cry Megamind has walls, but there's like six inches of space between the bottoms of the walls and the ground. If you tunnel under them by doing certain things he (A) doesn't expect and (B) wants so badly he won't let himself think about them, you can get emotional reactions out of him fairly easily (just be prepared to deal with the aftermath of those reactions: displays of genuine emotion are going to freak him out after the fact). That said, actually getting him to cry would require a situation where he is already somewhat comfortable lowering the proverbial drawbridge or throwing you some climbing gear, OR he's coming down from a depersonalization episode, OR he's just really really freaking out. Otherwise, the most you're getting is probably just a couple tears without actual crying-crying. ...So, give him a panic attack, basically.

Dark secrets/’skeletons in the closet’ We're getting into this a bit in Undertow, but I headcanon that Megamind is not actually all that broken up about having to commit the occasional murder. The part that REALLY freaks him out is that he isn't freaked out. But like...he's a supervillain, yes? That's "villain" with a "super" in front of it? I'm sorry, but you do not get that title by building robo-sheep and typhoon cheese. The key is presentation, but there's a bunch of different places that could go. And in combination with the headcanon that he's also Overlord of Metro? Sometimes his hand is forced. He does typically give people a choice: death, or the Long Gallery. The latter is basically a reinforced bunker with sealed boxes of blue cubes in it, suspended over tanks of water. The boxes will disintegrate naturally in about two to three hundred years.

It takes him a lot to hit the point where he's ready to do either of those things, but sometimes shit happens. On a related note, he...also doesn't threaten to do anything he isn't ready to follow through on. This probably doesn't look like a "dark secret" until you remember some of the threats I've had him make :/ He protects his territory.

The rest of his "skeletons" are backstory-related and would probably require several content warnings, so! Not going into that too much here. Although I did very vaguely allude to one of the backstory things in the last paragraph of my response to this other ask (which nobody appears to have picked up on, lol).

[linkspooky]

Now heard me out.

The Nobody Dies AU is a pretty good name and such. But there’s one missing fact. Our Lord and savior Geto still dies in the AU. Thus the name of the AU doesn’t match!

Therefore, I petition for a new name. How about “The Struggles of the Weak” AU?

Yeah?

Since the main characters in your JJK fanfics are characters that are considered weak, or tend to overcome weaknesses itself (e.g. Michi, Junpei, Mai).

So it would be a perfect fit for all your fics!

…

Oh wait... Shoko isn’t really weak tho.

…

Hold on!

You can argue that since Three’s Company focus on Sigma and Delta, there’s a case that both of them struggle against the Jujutsu World and are too weak to fight against it!

Ha! See! I make great arguments!

Plz don’t take this ask too seriously, I just thought the name “The Struggles of the Weak” is pretty cool for the AU

Our Lord and Savior Geto may have died for our sins, but that doesn't mean there's no way he can come back or be alive at the end of the AU.

I can't say anything more though, that's spoilers.

That is a cool name!

A big inspiration for writing the AU was to focus on the more minor characters in Jujutsu Kaisen, the ones who do not get stronger, who get worse, and show them in a more sympathetic light. The idea actually started with Junpei. More or less my concept of Junpei's foiling with Yuji is that they both are idealists but Yuji is the type of person that can beat up any bully that ever tried to mess with him, but Junpei is not strong enough and gets beaten up instead.

Isn't it understandable then that Yuji who was strong enough to protect himself is able to keep his ideals and his positive attitude, whereas Junpei who was weak and beaten down becomes more of a disappointed idealist and spirals into negativity.

The characters I chose to focus on were characters who either died or were punished mercilessly by the narrative of Jujutsu Kaisen, for being weak. Junpei is shown sympathy despite turning into a curse user and attacking his class, but in the end he isn't saved and dies before he has the chance to redeem himself. That's part of the tragedy of the Jujutsu World, but you know that's what fanfic is for.

Basically the whole point of the AU is to deconstruct the ideas that "Strong = Good" and "Weak = Immoral", and show people much more complicated to be defined by that binary. After all, if Yuji did not have super strength and had to endure being beaten and then burned like Junpei did, then would he endure it better than Junpei had? A lot of what makes people weak or strong is often situational rather than some kind of internal quality. There's also a strength in weakness too, there's worth in enduring even if that's not all you can do and you don't have it within yourself to conquer your situation or fix your problems all on your own. One thing I wanted to demonstrate with Junpei is that despite how disappointed he is with people, the idealist inside of him still remains which shows in the way he treats Mimiko and Nanako. He is someone who much like Yuji wants to reach out and help others, but circumstances have not allowed him too and he can't really change those circumstances without outside help. And Yuji may have super strength, but he has also been helped by the people around him time and time again.

The fic continued and I decided to focus on Mai especially after she gave that dumb speech to Maki on her death that was more or like "You're never going to get stronger because I don't want to be strong" and then the fic 'Werewolf' was born out of my desire to show that Mai may not be able to punch people as well as Maki, she may whine and make excuses and blame others but she has her own strengths too. A person as weak as Mai struggling and needing help isn't any different from Maki, there's no weak or strong twin they're just both people with their own weaknesses and strengths. After all Maki is strong physically but you could make the argument she's weak emotionally, she's not even capable of having a basic conversation with Mai or showing her feelings because that means exposing herself to that vulnerability.

I think Shoko is weak in the fact she has no vulnerability at all, so therefore she forms no attachment to people. She's basically invulnerable with her RCT and yet she never gets close to people at all, and never tries to form deep and meaningful relationships and stays on the outside of things instead.

That's a good point about Sigma and Delta though, the real tragedy of Three's Company is that Sigma and Delta never really stood a chance to win because they sent the three strongest students after them to hunt them down. It's not really the individual choices of any single person involved in that story, but rather not a single one of them was really strong enough to change the world. Shoko, Gojo, and Geto all in part sympathize with the kids but they don't go against their orders and still bring them in. Sigma and Delta only want to live in peace, but they just don't have the strength to make that happen. Sigma loses not because he's wrong or immoral, he's just weaker than Gojo. Gojo at that point also is in his first year and isn't particularly concerned about doing the right thing he is just finishing the mission. Which is why more or less the story epilogue ends on Shoko and Gojo visiting Geto's grave, because after not saving Sigma and Delta, the next person that both of them were too weak to save was their own friend.

There's strength in weakness, and weakness in strength, that's basically the message I wanted to get across for the whole AU.

I might still keep the name nobody dies AU, because the AU was inspired by the fact I did not like Nanako, Mimiko and Junpei's death and found them unnecessary, and the bigger goal of the AU is to give screen time to characters like Mai who died before they ever had a chance to shine.

[dmclemblems]

ajsdhgjkh yeah sorry shinon! he's good but i don't remember him ever being top for me, though i've probably done por 4 times and rd twice. i started using oscar because the nintendo power strategy guide said to plug the one bottleneck in the map on the chapter shinon and gatrie leave, because he's a brick wall. and they were right. he would never let me down etc etc. i think i gave him a custom forged lance called the BadGuyKiller. Kieran got the OscarBane, which was hot pink.

YEAHHHH SHISHI!!!

For some reason no matter how much I love other FE games, I always keep replaying the Tellius ones. I guess maybe in part it's because growing up I took to PoR a lot more? I started with FE7, but 7 and 8 weren't as strong for me and didn't keep me as interested. Also, I was kind of the shy nice girl growing up who stayed out of trouble, so I kind of grew up really admiring Ike. Even if I don't play either game for a year or two straight, I always come back to them and end up playing at least one of them once or twice through before taking a break again. Even though 4 is my favorite FE game, I guess between Tellius' gameplay, the characters and how I felt about those games growing up ends up pulling me back to them all the time.

NINTENDO POWER LITERALLY SAID USE OSCAR? Damn, I didn't give them enough credit. My sister subscribed to that magazine and I never read it. They're RIGHT though, I love plugging bottlenecks with him and Shinon. Chapter six is a pain in the ass but I rely on the two of them to cover the front, and in chapter eight I similarly have Oscar handle the front. Oscar dodges enough and he takes very low damage if he gets hit. My strategy was to keep a javelin equipped for most of chapter eight since a lot of the enemies used them as well, so he was always able to hit back and he took out the enemies in the front all by himself (which is pretty impressive at that point in the game considering how many enemies he'd be fighting by himself).

It's actually funny to me because he has no trouble at the front, but meanwhile Titania and Boyd are handling the right side of the map and kinda having trouble. Soren and Ike handle the left side (and eventually Ilyana if she even makes it down there in time to do much of anything lol), and I have Rhys run around healing as much as he can with Mia using her turns to shove him out of harm's way if he's in range of an enemy's distant attack when he's behind someone. Mia's too weak at that point for me to use her for anything else, so she's kinda just Rhys' support to keep him safe while he heals.

Agreed, Oscar never lets me down. IN FACT, IT'S ALMOST ALWAYS BOYD WHO LETS ME DOWN LMAO. Last run I did with a friend watching was fun because we were picking on Boyd lovingly. He was actually pretty damn for me in that run but whenever he screwed up we'd poke fun at him.

THAT'S SO FUNNY LOL. I love giving Oscar forged weapons. Actually, since they're so expensive if you want them to be really unique and not super close to an existing weapon that I don't make forged weapons that often at all. Generally Oscar is one of the few if not the only one in a playthrough who gets one. I always make it insanely OP, like, as OP as you literally make it lol. I make it green for him and give him all sorts of names for his weapons.

KIERAN GOT THE OSCARBANE AND IT WAS HOT PINK JUST LIEK HIS PERSONALITY. Kieran no you're supposed to fight the enemies, not your allies. SIR.

My friend in the playthrough I played with them watching tried to convince me not to use Oscar in chapter 28 and I firmly refused LOL. He basically handles the whole left side of the map by himself or has like, one other person with him helping out a little bit while Ike, Soren and Ranulf take the center and everyone else takes the right side.

Also this has nothing to do with Oscar but LISTEN. Have you ever put Vantage AND Adept on Ranulf? They behave differently in RD so it won't work the same, but in PoR Vantage always activates so your unit will always attack first if they're attacked by an enemy. Combine that with Adept and it's literally so broken because the sheer number of times I had Ranulf attack first and use Adept, attacking first twice and killing the enemy just for initiating combat was so bonkers it was like easy mode lmao.

It's kinda like when I discovered that putting Gamble on Shinon was stupid broken because he'd keep getting a 100 percent crit rate with a killer bow.

Oscar and Shinon are already broken and I somehow always seem to find ways to make them more broken. Then I got to add PoR Ranulf to that list... and honestly, once RD Ranulf gets Rend, he's basically as much of a monster as those two (especially if you're playing the endgame parts and you give him a Laguz Gem to be transformed for the entire battle LEL).

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Mechakoopa

Debut: Super Mario World

So a very polite anon has humbly requested we write a post about Mechakoopa! They are apparently this person's favorite, so today's their lucky day! See I don't like to brag but, I'd definitely consider myself as part of the top 100 most qualified people to talk about Mechakoopas in the world! And who am I to turn down such a request?

Now the 90s you see, were a turning point for good Mr. Bowser here. With a brand new clown-helicopter thing to pilot around you might think he's all set, but what kind of self-respecting villain would he be without filling his evil lair with a number of Evil Wind-up Toys based on himself? So he does exactly that- a whole fourteen years before Mario stole his idea, mind you!

Yes, you read that right! Despite their name, Mechakoopas are tiny mechanical versions of Big Bowser himself, not just any run of the mill Koopa, which explains their green heads and funky hair! You know how Koopa is actually Bowser's Japanese name? Yeah! They could've localized them as Mecha-Bowsers, but Mechakoopa just flows nicer doesn't it? And he is still technically a Koopa!

"Yo, somebody rang?"

No!! Not you, Mecha-Bowser from Super Mario Sunshine (2002)!! You'll get your turn eventually! Geez! Anyway. Where was I. Oh! Yes!

This is the obligatory part of the post where I'm like “Get a load of this funky guy”! Get a load of this funky guy! Instead of reinterpreting Bowser’s design very literally in toy form, the Mechakoopa is very much its own beast, with its funny beak and little funny legs. Our aforementioned anon mentioned the wind-up key, and oh, what a wind-up key it is! And of course the raisin d’eclair- the fantastic little googly eyes! Oh where would we be without those googly eyes?

Naturally though, Bowser doesn’t just use his toys to populate his spooky castle- he always has to keep a few on his person! So he chucks them at you in the game’s final boss fight, but he didn’t account for the fact that, in this game only, Mario can throw upwards! Oh no! His one weakness! Being pelted with plastic!

By the by, I’ve always thought the original Mechakoopa sprite from Super Mario World looked super funky! The hair almost looks like its on fire! And I like the goofy grin. 

The Super Mario World cartoon decided to interpret this sprite by turning him into a horrible little man. No, I don’t want this! He shouldn’t have arms!

The Mechakoopa’s next appearance in a mainline Mario platformer was in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, where they act... exactly the same as they do in Super Mario World! Cool! This basically established them as modern Mario enemies, but there isn’t much to say other than that!

Like all our posts about Common Mario Enemies, it would probably be boring if I just listed off their every appearance, so I will just bring up the ones that are worth mentioning. For example, Super Mario RPG! In this game, Bowser’s strongest special attack is Bowser Crush, which summons a giant Mechakoopa to stop on foes! According to the Player’s Guide, this Mechakoopa was a top secret weapon developed by Koopa researchers... to stomp flowers and scare butterflies! Wow! That is so so evil! These big guys would definitely live up to the name “Mecha-Bowser”! 

“Hey guys, are you talking about me?”

NO, we are NOT talking about you, Mecha Bowser (with no hyphen) from Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003)’s Bowser’s Castle course! Get the heck outta here! Gosh, some people just don’t know when they’re not wanted!

I am sure after all this you are wondering, they may be mechanical toys but can they do math? The answer is yes obviously! This is Mechakoopa from Mario Party Advance, and they’re a mathematician! They invented Mechakoopa’s Theorem, the very real mathematical theorem that we all used in school! Everyone give them a round of applause!

I’d like to bring up their appearances in the Mario & Luigi games, not because it’s particularly notable, but because of how much I like their sprite and idle animation! Look at the wind-up key spin around and the eyes go up and down! So cute! Oh, and also because in the Superstar Saga remake they replaced the Mecha-Chomp enemies (may god rest their souls)!

Super Mario Maker 2′s final update was an epic win and a #1 victory royale for Mechakoopa fans anywhere, since it not only added Mechakoopas to all four main game themes, but also two brand new variants: the Blasta Mechakoopa (in red) and the Zappa Mechakoopa (in blue)! 

As you might expect, they can Blast (missiles) and Zap (lasers) respectively! I’ve no idea why they added these random functionalities to Mechakoopas specifically, but they’re a lot of fun and some of the most unique projectiles in the game! Zappa? I barely know ‘a! 

Oh, and I almost forgot! They are in Super Smash Bros. as well! Bowser Jr.’s moveset is a treasure trove of little references to Mario gadgets, and even though Bowser no longer tosses these guys from his Clown Car, his son has taken up the job! Only in this game, Mechakoopas explode. Uh oh! They didn’t do that before! Still, I really like popping a Mechakoopa out of its Mechakoopa Compartment just to see it wander around the stage. It’s fun!

Now that’s all I have to say about good old Mechakoopas, but I’d like to give a special shoutout to this guy in particular- the Micro Mecha-Bowser, from Super Mario Galaxy! For a long time, I assumed they were just Mechakoopas with a different design... But this definitely looks like a beefed up version of the Mechakoopa, with their big goofy teeth, their pig nose and their funky cross-hair eyes! These dudes can breathe fire too, so they really are more like Bowser! And if there’s a Micro Mecha-Bowser, there’s gotta be a normal one!

“Whassup? I heard somebody call my name!”

Harumph! Nobody called you, Mecha-Bowser from Super Mario Galaxy (2007)’s Toy Time Ga- Er... hold on a second. You actually are exactly the person I was talking about after all! My mistake! Though I do wish you’d at least give us a heads up when you’re gonna show up, given you’re the size of a small planetoid!

Yeah, the Micro Mecha-Bowsers are named after this big robot from Toy Time Galaxy, Mecha-Bowser (not to be confused with Mecha-Bowser or Mecha Bowser)! Though I have to say, there isn’t much family resemblance! He’s so blue and un-turtle like! Still, this must’ve been my favorite mission in Galaxy as a kid- I’d replay it over and over again just because the idea of climbing on a giant planet-sized robot and dismantling it piece by piece was so cool! It was like Shadow of the Colossus before I knew what the heck that was!

Well that’s about the extent of the Mechakoopa family. Isn’t it fun? There’s a moral to be learned here, and it’s that, uh... little wind-up toys are very charming! Um, I suppose. Look, writing conclusions is hard! 

Mechakoopa

[archived-kin]

caught in a twin courtship

note from kin: i’m going to be honest i only really wrote this because the title is fun to say, so it isn’t as cohesive as i normally would have wanted to make it

(this is an au where the twins aren’t separated by the unknown god! instead, just their world-hopping powers were stolen, and that’s why they’re journeying to find said god - to get their powers back so that they can go home. i’ve also excluded paimon since i kind of forgot about her while writing this haha)

(this doesn’t follow canon at all since reader and the twins just kind of start wandering about after the dvalin incident rather than heading straight for liyue oops)

fandom: genshin impact

character(s): gn!reader, lumine, aether, diluc, venti, jean

pairing(s): aether/reader/lumine

warning(s): i don’t think so??

genre: fluff with a little bit sprinkling of angst

you first meet the twins in the aftermath of the stormterror battle. it isn’t a glamorous introduction by any means - it’s pretty unflattering, actually - but it definitely makes a powerful first impression.

the group - aether, lumine, venti, diluc, and jean - are on their way back to mondstadt city, making small talk here and there, but mostly just walking in silence.

then they hear a yell in the distance.

jean and lumine both drop into a battle stances, venti leaps to hide behind aether with a very unmanly squeak of fear… but diluc, who arguably should have been the most alerted by this occurrence, just gives a resigned sigh and pauses.

a split second later, a figure comes speeding up to the group. you barrel up to diluc and immediately punch him square in the stomach, yelling “why didn’t you tell me you were going after stormterror?!”

aether and venti both give matching gasps of horror at the blatant disrespect, but diluc only shakes his head and catches your fist as it goes for another blow, this one aimed at his chest, and chastises, “calm down, i left a note.”

“i left a note,” you mimic, an absolutely awful impression that has you sounding more like a mosquito than the darknight hero, “fat lot of use that is when you aren’t even telling me where you’re going!”

diluc evades another jab at his arm and firmly sets his hands on both your shoulders, effectively anchoring you to the ground. you contemplate swinging your feet at his knees and knocking him over, or maybe shocking him with your electro vision, but ultimately decide that you might as well try to preserve what little dignity you have left in front of those three people you’ve never met before

so you stop with a defeated sigh and turn to face said three people to introduce yourself

it turns out that you’re diluc’s cousin and he’s been having to baby-sit you for the last few years after your own parents left on a ‘business trip’ to snezhnaya that they’re still not back from

you’re pretty sure they’re dead, killed by the fatui, and you say as much during your introduction without even the slightest sign of distress, which is a little unsettling

lumine’s first thought is that you’re quite the interesting character, what with the casual way you treat diluc, and how you don’t seem to question whatever situation lead you to meet in the first place

aether’s first thought is holy shit, they’re cute

one twin greets you in return with a lot more enthusiasm than the other, and venti the bard wastes no time in asking whether you have access to good master diluc’s wine storage

(you’d be shocked by the audacity if you weren’t just as bad as him when it came to shamelessness)

strangely enough, the fact that aether likes you so much actually makes lumine more wary of you than she was initially

aether trusts too easily, and from experience, that usually leads to disaster - and your flippancy regarding your parents’ apparent probable deaths rather inclines her to think that you might be a very dangerous person indeed

the three of you don’t see each other for a couple of days after that - you and diluc leave for dawn winery together, while the twins depart with venti to wrap their whole situation up, and jean returns to her duties in mondstadt city

all this time, apparently unbeknownst to even himself, aether keeps finding ways to bring you up in the middle of conversation

you’d only spoken to him for a few minutes and somehow that as enough to get him absolutely fascinated

lumine would be lying if she said she wasn’t still curious about you as well, but it gets annoying after aether somehow manages to mention how ‘mysterious’ your black cloak is in the middle of a conversation about why mitachurls are able to randomly set their axes on fire

luckily for these two, they happen to run into you the very next day!

you’re in the middle of taking out a ruin guard stomping around the thousand winds temple -  a ruin guard that the twins had been meaning to take down themselves, which is why they’re here in the first place

at first they move to help you, only to stop short and watch in awe as you plunge down at the ruin guard from atop one of the enormous pillars, your polearm held steady in your grasp as your entire body seems to spark and glow with a deep purple electro energy

the sharp blade of your polearm goes clean through the top of the ruin guard’s head and shatters its core, and it sinks to the ground with a massive thud that echoes around the temple ruins, massive wooden limbs twitching and jerking as the last of your vision’s energy disperses from it

aether and lumine are basically star-struck

from there you spot them and call them over for a conversation, show them how to take apart a ruin guard’s circuits to get at the good parts, and somehow end up agreeing to journey with them across teyvat in their search for an unknown god who stole their abilities to hop from world to world as well as their apparent true power that allows them to wield all seven elements at once

the details are a little lost on you, but what you’re hearing is that you get to go on a cool adventure with a cool gal and a cool lad, so you’re pretty much all for it

diluc isn’t too happy about you up and leaving without so much as two week’s notice (partially because he has literally no friends apart from you and he’d get lonely without his little cousin bothering him all the time) but you simply tell him to deal with it and go anyway

(you do give him a big hug and promise to visit, you’re not heartless)

from then on you, aether and lumine become a dynamic trio like no other

it’s actually pretty damn spooky how well the three of you end of working together

aether and lumine had long since formed a style of fighting that meant they made up for each other’s weak spots and could attack in perfect sync, but then you come along and somehow manage to make their already pretty flawless formation even better

is it witchcraft? they honestly don’t know

considering you fit so well into their battle strategies, it follows that you’d also slot perfectly into their every day life

lumine is cautious at first, wondering if your presence would disrupt her and her brother’s long since pre-established routines, but you fit in so naturally that it’s as if you were there all long

maybe it it’s this that makes both twins slowly start falling for you - the comfort of being beside you and the familiarity that you bring are things that they struggled to find, being trapped in a world far from their own with no way to get out, and they unknowingly latch onto you like drowning men clutching lifebuoys

aether is the most obvious about his feelings - he starts waking up earlier just because he knows you do, sitting beside you as you stoke a campfire and keep watch for any approaching monsters, making quiet conversation as lumine continues sleeping. he tells you stories about his adventures in other worlds, including an encounter with a rather bigoted individual who is the reason that he keeps his hair so long while lumine’s has been cut short

he even starts taking his hair out of its braid before he goes to sleep so that he can ask you to braid it for him when he wakes up

lumine is a lot more subtle

she finds excuses to stand closer to you when, deliberately brushing her fingers against yours when handing you something. she listens far more attentively to you when you speak than anyone else, and she smiles far more in your presence, hanging onto your every word and gazing at you so intensely that it’s almost unsettling

of course, the twins notice each other’s feelings pretty easily

at first neither acknowledges it - it’d be far too messy for both to accept that they’d both fallen in love with the same person, let alone actually admit this to each other

but it gets to the point where it just isn’t ignorable anymore, and finally the twins decide to talk

it’s about as civil and sensible as they could hope for with the subject at hand, and they eventually decide to talk to you about it

and so, we come to an ultimatum. what will your choice be?

if you reject both, it’ll be hard to continue adventuring with twins who can’t look in your direction. neither resent you, of course, but the atmosphere has become so stifling that they can’t even make eye contact

it’s as if an enormous gap has opened up between the three of you. the twins are avoiding each other as well, unsure of how to handle the fact that they’re both in love with the same person and have now both been rejected by that same person. if anything, they should be becoming closer out of solidarity, but it seems that they can’t stand to be in each other’s presence as much as they can’t stand to be in yours.

the three of you still work together as seamlessly in battle as you did before, but once the final monster has been cut down and your weapons are sheathed, that connection seems to disappear again.

it’s aether who finally breaks the stalemate. he starts trying to start conversations as the three of you sit awkwardly apart from each other around a fire, and while the first few attempts end in stony silence and an awkward cough on his part, eventually you begin replying with some semblance of the humour you used to

from there things only improve - the three of you come to a silent mutual agreement to leave this behind you, and soon you’re all laughing and joking as you used to

lumine and aether both know that they cannot force you to love either of them, and they respect your choice. if anything, they’re the ones in the wrong for springing something like this on you so suddenly, and they start to feel a little guilty that they were essentially pressuring you into making a choice that you were never obligated to make

so they return to treating you as a dear friend, just as before. things are different now, of course, but they can only be grateful that you continue to travel with them and stay by their side; this situation doesn’t make them love you any less, even if you don’t love them in the same way.

if you choose lumine, aether will be understanding. the twins have been each other’s only support for longer than they can remember, and as the older brother, he’s well used to giving things up for his sister.

he’ll still be friendly and amicable, but he won’t seek you out as much as he did before. he starts braiding his hair by himself again, and stays in bed as late as he can every morning so that he doesn’t have to be face to face with you. just because he’s accepted this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt.

sometimes, when the sky grows dark and you and lumine have long since fallen asleep beside each other, he wonders to himself - why is it that he has to give everything to his sister? he’s given away so much, so why couldn’t the universe let him have this one thing?

but he knows, deep down, that this is nothing to do with the universe - you simply fell in love with someone that wasn’t him, his sister at that, and he’s struggling to come to terms with it.

he wants to hate you, hate lumine, hate the relationship that the two of you have formed, but he just can’t. he loves the both of you in different ways that are just as important as each other, and he can’t stand to lose either of you. he’d rather throw himself off of starsnatch cliff.

so he’ll smile and bear it, even if it’s a battle to keep himself from breaking down every time he sees the two of you lace your hands together, off in your own little word, so near and yet so far from him.

if you choose aether, lumine will become cold. at first, that is. she’s never been as empathetic as her brother, always holding grudges and developing dislike much more easily. it had taken a lot for her to open up to you in the first place, and now that you’ve rejected her, it’s going to take a while for her to return to the same camaderie with you that she had before.

lumine does not begrudge aether for being the one you chose. if anything, she’s glad - aether is always putting her first and himself second, and she’s happy that he has someone like you, who lights his eyes up in a way that she’s never seen before.

but our hearts often betray our mind, after all, and lumine can’t help but scowl and turn away every time she sees her brother wrap his arms around your waist or press a kiss to your cheek. despite her best efforts, all she can think is why? why did you have to choose him?

she can’t bring herself to hate you, though. as much as it feels like her heart is threatening to split down the middle when she sees you smile and is reminded of something that she cannot have, there is an equal joy in the fact that her brother can be with the person that he loves so dearly. if anything, the two of you deserve to be happy together.

lumine would never do anything that could take that away, and so she forces herself to accept it. it takes several days of tentative conversation and barely held back tears, but eventually the two of you seem to return to the way you were before - all friendly jabs and light-hearted banter and little jokes exchanged over crossed blades.

but lumine knows that your friendship can never be quite the same as it was before. she’ll forever be holding you at arm’s length, terrified to let you get too close lest you see how much your presence affects her. she can’t let you know how much she loves you because she will never be the one who links hands with you as you walk down a long, winding path, or the one who holds you close under a darkening sky filled with stars - because that person is aether, and she would sooner die before she takes her brother’s happiness away.

if you refuse to choose, the twins will be at a loss at what to do. they hadn’t considered this scenario - that you had somehow come to love both of them.

the confusion becomes joy soon enough, though. they realise what this means - they both love you, and you love both of them! isn’t this perfect?

neither are particularly thrilled at the concept of ‘sharing’ you with the other, so to speak, but in the end they both equally want each other to be happy as they want you to be, so the logical conclusion is that they both become your partners.

they’re not too sure how this should work, nor what sort of label to put on it, but they come to you tentatively with the idea anyway

to their joyous surprise, you agree!

and from then marks the point of no return…

aether is definitely the clingier of the two. once he realises that he’s allowed to show affection and be close to you for no particular reason, he won’t stop - it’s as if he absolutely has to be holding your hand or be standing or sitting  as close to you as physically possible. he’s always buying you souvenirs at every place you stop by, scaling trees to pick apples for you when you mention a craving for fruit, presenting you little treasures that he’s found with all the pride of a golden retriever.

lumine is a more subdued kind of partner, preferring to demonstrate her feelings with little things like making your favourite food for dinner or bringing you sprigs of flowers that she’s secretly been collecting in order to present you with them. of course, that doesn’t mean she isn’t physically affectionate at all - she presses perhaps even closer to you than aether when you sleep beside her, and somehow her hand finds yours at every opportunity she has.

the twins clash every now and then, as siblings often do, except that you’re usually caught in the middle. their arguments are little more than playful squabbles, though - things like play-fighting over who gets to hug you first after a well-fought battle, or who gets to hold your hand on the way to the next village (you have to step in and remind them that you do, in fact, have two hands)

in conclusion: why choose one when you can have both and prevent the unchosen from having endless amounts of angst?

[mybg3notebook]

Astarion Analysis

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were made up to the game version v4.1.101.4425. As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information.

“Morals are all well and good, but power always wins.” 

“If all I want is shallow praise? Hardly, there is also gold, sex, revenge, quite the list, really. But failing any of those, I will always settle for shallow praise.”

--Astarion 

The majority of sources used for this article are in the game itself (including Astarion-solo playthroughs) and the dev’s notes and datamined information provided by pjenn. Astarion as origin is (almost) not taken into account since it’s not finished and is highly unpolished. 

The itemised list will show some instances of approval or disapproval as seen in the game. To make the reading of this article easier and shorter, you can skip them since they are basically the proof I use to sustain the introductory concept of each block. 

We can infer a lot of Astarion by analysing what he approves and disapproves of. Sometimes, we can even lightly infer some information from his neutral reactions, but let’s be honest: this way of analysing a char is pretty poor since it leaves everything to speculation. Neutral reactions can only be analysed by contrasting the same situation in other contexts, and seeing what other options Astarion approves or disapproves of. With these considerations in mind, we can proceed to describe this character.

Disclaimer: this is a meta with my personal interpretation of the character, sticking as much as possible to the facts and leaving little to “desires” or “projections” of what I want him to be. If I do so, I will state it explicitly in the text for the sake of analysis honesty. I want to be clear about what is canon (facts shown in bg3 EA), from what’s personal interpretation with little proof.

Also, this list is extensive, gathering as much as I could in my many playthroughs, but I’m sure it’s not absolutely complete. Some details may have escaped to me, but honestly, I believe they will be easily fit in these blocks once the pattern has been seen.

Understanding Astarion by enumerating his reactions

Astarion is usually seen as a character whose behaviour is the embodiment of “randomness”, and after several Astarion-solo playthoughts, I began to see the patterns that showed little randomness in my opinion. 

We can say that he likes gratuitous cruelty and murder. He has a special taste for animal cruelty too. He is greedy, but mostly if it leads to murder or to make little people suffer. Sometimes this greedy side comes from the fact that he doesn’t like to “work for free”: most quests should have a reward for him to be neutral to them. Accepting them without asking anything in return tends to earn a disapproval. He is more reticent to humiliate or outsmart NPCs that may be potentially stronger and more powerful than him. 

[[1]] Situations showing his greed:

He supports the robbery of the fishermen that were helping the mind flayer (MF) after the crash. 

Astarion supports stealing the “magical” ring from the tiefling kid (Mattis). This could be seen also as a gesture of outsmarting a person or mere trickster behaviour (see below).

He supports asking for compensation from the deep gnome we saved at the windmill.

He agrees to force Tulla (dying gnome in the myconid camp) to give you her magical boots.

Denying Baelen the scrolls because “they don’t come cheap”.

He approves pickpocketing Mirkon while being lured by the harpies.

[[2]]Situations displaying plain murder or violence:

He supports joining Lae’zel against the tieflings if you persuade them to free her, since this means killing (which is always an entertainment for him) creatures he considers lesser.

He supports killing Gimblebok and his gang near the Jergal ruins if you avoid any attempt of persuasion. This can be shown as a demonstration of power. (see below)

He supports killing Kagha without trying to persuade her or change her ways, not because he thinks Arabella’s death was an aberration (he enjoyed the show, as his approval and later comment confirm it) but simply because he enjoys murder.

He supports attacking the goblin camp. It’s a great spectacle of murder combined with his personal dismiss towards goblinoid races.

He approves of joining Minthara and massacrating the tieflings. It’s another great spectacle of murder, but in this time, of weak people (He detests weak creatures, and despises Tieflings in general).

He approves of killing Lae’Zel in the scene where she attacks Tav during the night, out of fear of turning into MF.

He approves of killing Rugan in the hideout. 

Still related to this level of violence and cruelty, he supports learning more about Shar once Shadowheart explains Shar’s teachings, all about violence and death, fighting against the illusion of safety.

He approves killing Ellyka, the tiefling spying on the Gith patrol, if Tav is a Githyanki (true or disguised as) and chooses “Attack.”

He approves of helping Glut in massacring the whole Myconid colony.

He approves of sacrificing one of the companions to the fish-people who worship Booal.

He approves fighting the fake god Booal because it’s a massacre; where there is bloodshed, there is Astarion’s approval. 

For the same reason he approves killing the Githyanki patrol: pure bloodshed.

[[3]] Situations of gratuitous cruelty: I understand that a lot of people confuse this trait of his personality as a “trolling attitude”. There are different archetypes of tricksters in DnD, and he is not particularly the silly-funny one (e.i. Jester in Critical Role), but the cruel-funny one. His “pranks” don’t cause annoyance or silly troubles, they usually end up in murdering the person he is pranking, or causing them great pain. What he considers “funny” is always related to a lot of blood and suffering. Examples of this:

He disapproves of diffusing the situation between Aradin and Zevlor after the first goblin attack. He is “missing” his show. This situation is also related to enjoying humiliation of others (see below).

After letting Arka kill the goblin and take her revenge, Astarion will approve the comment that refugees are desperate and they will do anything. He is enjoying the show of despair of weak creatures. And he is also expecting for some of them to become survivalist beasts.

He approves of telling Kagha that you enjoyed the show of Arabella’s death as an answer to her question about if she is a monster.

He also approves of telling Arabella's parents that Kagha will release their daughter when the Rite of Thorns is completed (while Arabella, in fact, has been killed by Kagha's snake). This is another example of Evil Trickster, a prank with a really dark taste. This also shows that Astarion likes to give false hopes [One of the most iconic characteristic of Cazador]

He approves of telling the tiefling kids training with Wyll that they are going to die, inspiring that despair he enjoys to see in weak creatures. (see below)

He approves of breaking Alfira’s teacher’s lute, leaving the tiefling heartbroken because that had been the only memento she got from her teacher, and could not finish her tribute song.

Astarion approves of interrupting the goblinoid couple having sex, which he considers disgusting. After killing them, Astarion will support the idea that it was funny. Another example of Evil Trickster where the prank ends up with the death of the pranked one. But we also know Astarion despises goblinoid races.

He approves of killing Crusher after humiliating him.

He supports Tav who volunteers to torture Liam at the goblin camp.

He supports of laughing at Lorin (the elf trapped in Ethel’s house) after pretending to be the monster he sees (psychological torture). This example can be part of the list of humiliation too.

He states that seeing Mayrina’s horrified face after resurrecting her husband was funny. Another example of false hopes [One of the most iconic characteristics of Cazador] On the contrary, if Tav kills the undead afterwards, Astarion will disapprove, since he missed the “fun” of seeing Mayrina tortured. 

He enjoys every state of Abdirak’s torture upon Tav. This can be seen as a fine bloody show he is enjoying, or as a way to put Tav in a humiliating situation (as he approved the dung-smearing or the foot-kissing instances)

Using the leader gnoll Flind to attack her own gnolls earns his approval. Asking her to devour herself increases approval once more. This situation could also be seen as enjoyment of animal cruelty (since gnolls are considered animals by Astarion too) but also as the reflection of Astarion’s inner desire of becoming a Master of bending wills.

 Probably the most innocent prank so far we saw, he approves of doing Baaa at the redcaps in the Bog.

[[4]] As I said previously, he suports any form of animal cruelty:

He approves of kicking and killing the squirrel Timber in the Druid Grove. According to the dev’s notes, he is “shocked and annoyed” because “you stamped a squirrel to death when he could’ve eaten it.” (DEN_General_Squirrel)

He supports prodding to death the bird that Nettie was healing during the dialogue (you need Speak with Animals for this).

He supports freeing the Owlbear cub at the Goblin Camp, and feeding it later, because he wants to bite the owlbear cub eventually (he uses the word “delectable” to describe him, and when the owlbear escapes, Astarions states “You‘ve scared off the little snack.”)

When we find Halsin in his bear form, Astarion will have two instances of approval: the first one when Tav tells the goblin kids that throwing stones with sharp edges would hurt the animal more, and then when Tav themself joins the goblins in throwing rocks at Halsin. 

We can also add the confrontation with Flind, the Gnoll leader, as another example of animal cruelty since he approves a smart yet twisted way of killing her by double-using the tadpole. First to command her to attack the gnolls, and then to devour herself. However, since Gnolls are considered aberrations lore-wise, this point could be left aside in this particular case. 

If we take into consideration that Astarion sees Goblins, Kobolds, and Gnomes as animals, killing them always increases his approval. This happens when we kill, out of the blue, most goblin NPCs, or simply attack the camp. (Datamined content) He will also approve of killing slave gnomes in Duergar Encampment (place you find after the boat). All these moments can be also seen as “animal” cruelty if we take into account Astarion’s perspective.

He approves of killing Priestess Gut in the Goblin Camp. It could also be interpreted as his usual dismissal towards goblins (he sees them as animals), since he never believed that she could help them in the first place. Or this approval can fit perfectly fine the cruel, murderous aspect of Astarion. As I said, many approvals overlap different aspects of Astarion, but all seem to fit his patterns either way. 

I suspect that the reason behind this particular kind of cruelty comes from those two hundred years of torture, in which he had to drink animal blood. Considering he was such an unfair magistrate, directing his rage against the ones who are not the root of the problem seems fitting. 

[[5]] Astarion is filled with racial bias and prejudices. 

He only sees elves and humans as the only creatures capable of thinking. (Scene after the bite)

However, he has strong biases against a particular ethnic group of humans: Gurs. He thinks they are all cut-throat, and probably would approve the rest of stereotypes that Gandrel added in that scene. (Scene of meeting Gandrel)

He mocks halfling and dwarf Tavs, who he thinks are naturally weak, until they prove him wrong. (Stargaze scene for short-sized Tav)

He supports the idea that tieflings have demonic powers just because of their heritage. (Speaking with the Grove halfling seller). During the party, he compares the lives of the tieflings with the lives of the goblins as something of similar value (which we know he considers as animal).

He sees goblins, kobolds, and gnomes as animals. (Scene after the bite)

After killing the goblinoid couple which was having sex, if Tav choose to say that the situation made them scrub their eyes, Astarion would add and extra “dehumanizing” comment against gnomes. “I’ve seen worse. Gnomes can be… ughh.” (Scene of interrupting sex)

[[6]] He finds pleasure in humiliating people or in outsmarting them, especially if they are trying to outsmart Tav. He dislikes weakness and loves to humiliate weak people in particular.

He approves telling Lae’Zel to say “please” when we met her again in the cage, humiliating her. 

He disapproves of diffusing the situation between Aradin and Zevlor after the first goblin attack. We know he is “missing” his show where one of them is being humiliated.

Astarion approves of telling Elegis that she is pathetic for being scared of a few goblins. Once more, humiliation due to weakness. 

He disapproves of telling Arabella's parents that the Druids overreacted when speaking in the Druid Grove’s stairs. He is disapproving for defending a weak and silly creature who was not smart enough to survive on her own. 

Astarion supports stealing the “magical” ring from the tiefling kid. This is another situation of humiliation of a weak person and outsmarting them. This could be considered a prank of a more silly-funny trickster doing an innocent prank.

He approves of telling the tiefling kids that they are going to die.

He feels disappointed when Lae’Zel did not kill Zorru, the tiefling that she forces to kneel and confess where he saw the Gith patrol. He approves the psychological torture of the interrogation.

He enjoys interrupting the goblinoid couple having sex. This is an example of the prank cruel-funny trickster. This “prank” ends up with the goblinoid couple being killed.

Astarion approves of smearing dung in the guard's face at the goblin camp entrance. The show of seeing someone being humiliated is satisfying.

He supports booing and humiliating Volo off the stage in the goblin camp. 

He supports licking the goblin’s foot (It could also be considered a prank).

He supports kissing the goblin’s foot while stealing the ring. This situation puts two things he enjoys in the same place: the humiliation experienced by Tav and how the Crusher was outsmarted in the process. Astarion will approve if Crusher is the one humiliated and forced to kiss Tav’s foot. 

He approves of laughing at Lorin (the elf trapped in Ethel’s house) when the elf is scared of Tav who pretends to be the monster that’s torturing him.

Humiliating “low people'' is an important aspect of Astarion’s personality, since it’s a small petty pleasure he can have now, when during the last two hundred years it had been done to him. Humiliation has to do with power as well, another symbol tight to Astarion’s personality. Through humiliation Astarion can taste a little bit of power, that power he lacked for two hundred years. That power that, if his backstory is not retconned in future versions or in the full release game, he had before turning into a vampire, abusing those groups he considered less.

[[7]] If we think in power, we also have to think in manipulation. And of course, Astarion is a great master of it. Sometimes the events that stand out his taste for manipulation overlap with the ones displayed in the humiliation section.

Since the moment we meet Astarion, we know he keeps working in turning himself into a pleasant and useful companion for Tav. Astarion knows he has bigger chances to succeed and survive staying with this group. A lot of his “neutral” behaviours respond to this goal: he doesn’t want to enrage Tav to the point of being kicked out of the party, it’s not about a hidden gentle side inside he is showing with an apathetic neutrality, it’s, once more, raw preservation and survival. During the first scenes of the game, when we don’t know he is a vampire, Astarion tries to avoid taking a position in the situations we face: he is just feeling the ground all the time: with Sazza and with Arabella’s death is clear. He doesn’t judge hard, he is testing Tav, he is trying to understand their mind, and acting as pleasant as he can according to what he sees. It’s a natural use of manipulation to guarantee his survival in a group of strangers. During the bite scene—when this façade finally ends—he is truly nervous of being killed for his vampiric nature, and tries to convince Tav of keeping him in the group using arguments that go from seduction to practical usefulness. 

The scene of stargaze also shows his usage of seduction as a manipulative tool to guarantee his survival (he weponises seduction and sex). Although he says mostly the same, he reacts very differently in tone depending on Tav’s approach. If Tav is wary, Astarion will act encouraging their ego and enumerating several feats, while getting uncomfortably closer. If Tav is already interested in Astarion, the elf will use softer manners to keep the seduction into a more intimate tone. This is a scene of a predator tasting his future prey as well (Dev’s notes are pretty clear about his manipulation). In this scene, also, Astarion is light-headed because he has not drunk blood in a while, and has “his head foggy” (something we can repeat during his origin as a personal tag). Exact words he will use as a narrative hint during the bite scene. Therefore, this scene has little of “Astarion falling for Tav”, and has everything of vampiric hunger combined with a raw sense of survival and usage of seduction to guaranteed it.

(potential interpretation) He approves when he is persuaded into sharing his dream with Tav. In any other character, we usually would understand this as an approval for caring about the character himself. In that scenario, failing the approval doesn’t cause a penalty (unless the character understands this failure as prying, as it happens with Shadowheart). In Astarion’s case, when you fail this persuasion, you are penalised with a disapproval. We can understand this in the same way we see it with Shadowheart: this is his annoyance for prying into his personal business. But there is another interpretation in this disapproval: he recognised a bad execution of persuasion as a manipulative attempt, and Astarion is in particular very sensitive to manipulations and mind games (see point [12]). 

Most of his “romance” is manipulation as well, keeping in mind the first point of this section: he becomes pleasant for Tav, using whatever shape he needs, so he can survive (this is especially noticeable with a good-aligned Tav). Astarion has weaponised seduction and sex without any hint of subtetly for the player (As the Dev’s notes say: “For Astarion, this is a game of power - one he’s played many times before in the taverns of Baldur’s Gate, trying to lure people back to his master. He’s an old hand at seduction, very self-assured at first, but the player might not go along with the script he expects them to follow.”) We can assure that Astarion will find more satisfaction in having “fun” with a high-approval Tav rather than a low-approval Tav.

If Tav is not evil enough (and therefore has a low approval), Astarion will need to be the one inviting Tav to have sex (to be sure the control is still in his hand, still pushing for “catching” Tav). If a low-approval-Tav invites Astarion, he will decline saying that he “has standards'', implying he needs to be the one controlling the situation (he is basically playing “hard to catch”. Astarion already knows that he “caught” Tav in this scenario since Tav was the first one showing their interest). If Tav is evil-like (and has enough approval), Astarion will not only weaponise sex, he may express some degree of personal desire in having “fun” with Tav. After all, evil characters can like one another. In this case, he would accept Tav’s invitation for more hedonist reasons such as personal pleasure and not mere survival. Still it’s always present the layer of using this situation as a manipulative tool to have control on Tav.

Approves persuading Crusher without a fight, understanding it as an approval earnt for the good manipulation tool used. Of course this scene is combined with the natural approval that Astarion gives when outsmarting creatures he considers lower or animal-like (See point [6]). 

Successfully persuade Lae'Zel to "play along" when meeting the Githyanki patrol, and pull off the deception.

I personally found funny that Astarion, without the intention of the writer, is so good in his manipulations, that he broke the fourth wall and ended up manipulating a good amount of players as well into believing him. 

[[8]] He supports revenge in all its forms and degrees, which is not strange since it’s his main motivation against Cazador.

He approves of letting Arka kill Sazza in the cage as revenge for her brother’s death.

He approves of the attack against Nettie when she poisons Tav.

He approves of telling Edowin's siblings to find the beast that attacked him as a way to avenge the True Soul.

Astarion approves of Arabella’s mother killing Kagha at the party.

He approves of helping the Sovereign to take revenge against the Duergars that killed their young. However, it’s not clear if Astarion approves the revenge itself or the method proposed, which is, according to his own words, “a bit genocidal” and therefore more entertaining for him (we need to remember he enjoys the display of murder and violence in all its forms, [2,3]). 

He approves of helping Glut in massacring the whole Myconid colony, since according to Glut’s words, they saw Glut’s circle being killed by the Duergars and did nothing, so Glut is looking for revenge. 

[[9]] He doesn’t like to get involved in anyone’s problems unless you can obtain a benefit or a reward for it (this is directly connected to his greed aspect [1])

He approves of telling Mayrina’s brothers that they are on their own, and actively disapproves if Tav agrees to help them find Mayrina.

He approves of declining to help Halsin in killing the Goblin leaders.

He disapproves of helping Wyll to save the Tiefling refugees in the Grove.

He disapproves of helping Zevlor.

He disapproves of finding evidence that confirms that Kagha is working with Shadow Druids. He will additionally disapprove again if, after exposing her, Tav asks her to change her ways. From Astarion’s point of view, Tav is basically meddling too much in the Grove’s problems for free, and ruining all the instances where murder could happen. 

He also disapproves if Tav agrees to help the two Zhentarim humans that are attacked by gnolls without asking for compensation.

He approves of not getting involved in the rescue of the Duke when Tav speaks with Florrick

[[10]] Despite having been a slave, he lacks of empathy for those who shared his fate and, instead, he supports slavery:

If we take into consideration what Swen said about his background in one of the first playthough he showed, we know that Astarion, as a magistrate, used criminals as food for local vampires, and in an attempt to outsmart them, he began to sell them into slavery (we can see in this brief background that Astarion has been greedy and cruel before turning into a vampire).

Although he disapproves paying for Oskar, the painter in the Zhentarim Hideout, he does it because of the money. When Tav buys the painter and demands him to stay silent because “slaves should speak when they are spoken to”, Oskar will think this is a joke (which is not the case, since none of those options has, in this patch at least, a (performance) tag). When Tav reinforces the idea that this is not a joke, and Oskar is now a true slave, only then, Astarion will approve. 

When seeing one of the servant Duergars of the Myconite Colony, Astarion will comment on how useful they are, and how Underdark drows should learn about these creatures, since these slaves are more efficient than the standard ones. If Tav brings awareness about the contradiction that those thoughts cause coming from an ex-slave, Astarion will justify his thinking saying that they are husks without mind, claiming that his feelings “may be different, had they been conscious beings. Or maybe not.” He emphasises in this dual possibility. And we can be sure that he certainly would not care slavery on conscious creatures, as we confirm it later with Oskar (A human who is not a Gur, and therefore, a creature that Astarion consider thinking acceptable beings). 

(Datamined content) When reaching the Duergar Encampment, once Nere is rescued, there is approval for killing the slave gnomes when the True Soul orders it. One can interpret that Astarion minds little for these slaves because they are gnomes, and therefore, animals.

[[11]] He looks for power and dominance, to have control over others and also as a way to guarantee his own freedom. 

In the discussion after every dream, Astarion supports the use of the tadpole's power in every opportunity, dismissing their effects. He is thrilling for the ability of bending everyone’s will (curious note, this is one of Cazador’s characteristics most hated by him)

He approves of letting the Koa-Toes bow before them as the Booal's chosen. This scene can be understood as a typical prank of a trickster, but also as a taste for being adored as a master/entity with more power. This scene shows that he and Tav are placed in the “Master” position. This reinforces the idea that Astarion wants to be a Master/Cazador, eventually. (Check post about Astarion and Power 1 and 2)

If Tav claims that the worship to them as True Souls can be useful after letting Edowin’s siblings leave, Astarion will approve. He shows in every instance more delight for having Cazador’s powers, making emphasis in the mind control ability, again.

Astarion approves of keeping the Necromancy of Thay tome. As we see later in his scene, he believes that there is something powerful hidden in it that may help him against Cazador. He wants to muster all the power of any kind he can.

Astarion approves of sparing Auntie Ethel’s life when she surrenders during battle because she will grant them power in exchange. He wants to muster all the power of any kind he can.

[[12]] Astarion is particularly sensitive to mind control. His expressions and the tone of his voice against any type of mind control are filled with feral ire (video here): 

He is angrily affected by the movements of his worm in his own head, 

He screams against Ethel’s control when using the mask, 

The insults at the harpies when he is lured, 

The way he is annoyed by the telepathic spores in the Underdark, 

He disapproves failed attempts of persuasion (understood by his character as failed, obvious attempts of manipulations). 

And, potentially, this is the reason why he disapproves of Priestess Gut cleaning Tav’s mind.

[[13]] Because he likes power, he also likes the demonstration of power whether his own or his allies’, therefore he likes most intimidation options in general

He approves of intimidating Gimblebok and the gang near the ruins. 

He approves of intimidating or provoking both Aradin and Zevlor at the Druid Grove.

At camp, when discussing preferred methods of death, he approves if Tav tells him "If I die, I'll take you with me." (after first picking "Try it and I'll spill your guts") . He also approves if Tav chooses a method of death (decapitation, knife, poison). Both options show resolve, strength, and freedom in deciding one’s fate. Since Astarion died at the hands of strangers, he values the freedom of choosing how to die. He will disapprove picking the option of letting others decide your death.

He approves if you intimidate the mirror into allowing passage.

[[14]] He is a survivalist character, and therefore, a lot of his approvals are related to elements that will guarantee his life, such as looking for his own freedom, the acceptance of his vampire nature, and the encouragement in looking for strong alliances or keeping alive strong individuals that can be useful as allies. 

He approves of being accepted with his vampire nature and allowing him to feed on Tav’s blood. He keeps approving if Tav defends him during the exchange of opinions in the camp. 

He approves if he has permission to feed on enemies. 

He approves of killing Gandrel. This approval is also mere raw survival.

He approves if during sex, Tav allows him to drink their blood. 

He disapproves of promising Nettie to take Wyvern Poison if you feel symptoms of the Tadpole, since it goes against his survival instinct.

When Lae’Zel is killed by the Gith patrol, he will state in banter that it was a waste since Lae’Zel was a powerful/strong specimen, so clearly he is lamenting the loss of a powerful ally. 

Despite appreciating his freedom, he has explicitly stated that he “would choose servitude over oblivion any day”, showing how extremely survivalist he can be.

[[15]] He likes to find a solution to their tadpole problem using unconventional ways, or at least, using options that may lead him to the twisted solution he needs (which is not exactly being cured of the tadpole, but to control it, he certainly needs more exceptional means)

He approves of telling Auntie Ethel about the tadpole in the Druid Grove simply because she “looks lunatic”.

At first, Astarion disapproves of Raphael's invitation to remove the Tadpole, claiming that he would not change one master for another. However, when the situation starts looking dire, he will approve of the idea, because anything “may be better than Cazador” adding later that he “would choose servitude over oblivion any day.” 

A bit contradictory when he was the first one claiming that Raphael used mind games similar to Cazador’s, games they know they have won before starting.

[[16]] He has a “soft spot” for helping people to escape their masters or killing/rejecting people that can be seen as Masters. However it’s requirement that those escapees could be seen by Aastarion as strong and capable creatures. He would mind little for creatures he sees as underlings. (Weak concept, seeing it with squinted eyes)

He approves of helping Karlach to get rid of the Tyr followers, since they are in fact working for Zariel, Karlach’s previous master. With all what Karlach explained about her past, she certainly qualifies as a strong person who is trying to get rid of her master.

He disapproves of Tav who tells Raphael that they would do anything to remove the Tadpole. This is probably resounding in Astarion: his past bad choice when he was at death's door due to the Gur attack and Cazador appeared to “save” him. He knows that going to that extent has poor results.

Astarion approves of Tav if they say that they won’t become Raphael's pawn (conversation in the camp after the encounter with Raphael). It’s true that when the other options narrow, Astarion starts to consider the possibility of changing a vampiric master for an infernal one.

This post was written on April 2021.

→ For more Astarion: Analysis Series Index

[lazyliars]

The Quackity Meta: a Tale of Two Absolutes

More than anything else, Quackity wants control, and to never, ever lose his own autonomy. And that is why he despises Technoblade.

But wait, how is Technoblade a threat to Quackity's autonomy? Techno is all for individual freedom! He wants to eradicate the government so that no one can be controlled!

There's the question though... How do people exercise control within the framework of a video game like m/inec/raft?

“a person exercising power or control in a cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary way.”

Power on the Dream SMP cannot be translated one-to-one with real  life power. In real life, yes, a government had infinitely more power than an individual, for numerous reasons. But on the Dream SMP, the government's power is always directly tied to the power of the individuals who are willing to defend that power.

Technoblade is powerful. This is not debatable. How he uses this power, historically, has been a mix of generosity and self-interest*, although primarily the latter.

Generously, He gains resources and then distributes them to his allies during the Pogtopia Rebellion, gearing everyone up and giving them a fighting chance against Dream. However, in the aftermath of Tubbo's being appointed president, Techno turns on them, swiftly and mercilessly. The moment that it becomes clear** that Pogtopia's interests don't align with his own, he crushes them with the aim to prevent them from ever recovering.

( *I use self-interest as a neutral term here. Everyone on the SMP is selfish to some extent – it doesn't make them evil, and in fact has been treated as a positive at times, as well as a negative.

**I want to note that whether or not Technoblade knew of Pogtopia's goal of reinstating the government is unclear. It would seem that from Techno's POV that he didn't know, or assumed that it was a minority who wanted another government. But on the other hand, no one was actively lying to him about their intent, and people like Tommy and Quackity made their goals very clear.  Further doubt is cast on the idea that Techno had no idea when you take into account that he enchanted the Netherite armor in the vault with worthless enchants like Fire Res.

Ultimately, there's no way to know until it is confirmed by cc!Techno himself, and it doesn't pertain that much to this analysis, but I'm aware that it's a hotly debated topic so I wanted to address it.)

It can be argued that Techno's destruction of L'manberg, both the first and especially the second time, was necessary. It can also be argued that it was cruel and a disproportionate retribution against both culpable and innocent parties. Extant of these arguments however, how does it feature into control?

Well, we can’t talk about control without mentioning the most controlling force on the server and the other person on Quackity's hitlist, Dream.

Dream is a tyrant. I don't think anyone can really make an argument against that in good faith at this point. He ticks off every box, no matter how vague or esoteric. This makes the interactions that Quackity and Techno have with him very interesting.

Quackity despises Dream. He's one of the earliest adopters of the hating-Dream-train, to the point that some people have compared him to Cassandra, a priestess who was cursed with the vision of prophecies that would always be true, but never believed. And indeed, Quackity's apprehension of Dream comes in as early as Pogtopia, and grows at a steady pace after the fact.

But despite his rightfully calling out Dream's hypocrisies and his controlling tendencies, Quackity was largely ignored on this front, especially when the time came to exile Tommy and Quackity basically predicted the next arc – If they gave Dream this concession, they would never be able to get out from under his thumb. Flash forwards to the Green Festival, and the moment Tubbo hands over the discs, any illusion of nicety drops and Dream proceeds to destroy them, side by side with...

Technoblade has always had an amiable relationship with Dream. From their first proper interaction on the server being Dream giving Techno some hefty resources, to their snap team-up on Doomsday, they've had a smooth time, with some notable bumps.

Techno fought against Dream during the Pogtopia rebellion, but when it became clear that Dream was more invested in chaos than his other allies, Techno temporarily allied with him to summon the Withers and drive the nail deeper into Manberg’s coffin.

The only time Techno has really bothered to challenge Dream directly is when he came for Tommy in exile. Techno went to great lengths to protect Tommy, hiding him and distracting Dream.

He did give Dream the option to call in his favor and take Tommy, but there are arguments to be made that he did this more as a challenge – that Tommy is worth the favor. Again, we probably wont ever know.

The difference in their relationships with Dream is polarizing. It also reflects the difference in personality – Quackity is an aggressive, ambitious person, whereas Techno leans more towards passivity and caution. Quackity is looking for enemies to challenge, where Techno is avoiding them, people who actually stand a chance against him most of all.

Technoblade is an individual with extraordinary amounts of power. Others have pointed out that he is rarely challenged by other characters or the narrative, and regardless of the merits or flaws in that, it paints him as nearly untouchable. His being in the good graces of Dream only adds to this.

And like with Dream, the only way that people have been able to threaten Techno is when they work together. The Butcher Army, for all it's flaws, managed to capture Techno through numbers – with Tubbo and Fundy (barely) holding off Techno's blood rage while Quackity snuck off to take Carl hostage. And they would have gotten away with it too, if the other most powerful person on the server hadn't stepped in – both by pointing Techno to a totem of undying in the days before the attack, and by getting Punz to cause a distraction and directing Techno to the final control room, where he could escape with Carl.

So, if the most powerful person in the world can only be threatened by people working together, and the most common form of organization is by government, then what does it say about Technoblade, who wants the government destroyed?

People like Tubbo, Fundy and yes, Quackity, all benefit from organizing and working together. They all tend to be less armed, less ready to defend themselves, and completely unable to stand up to titans like Techno and Dream on their own. It's safety in numbers, but it's also control, and control is power.

Ranboo's insistence that Snowchester is a Government is interesting when viewed through this lens. Ranboo is another person who is insanely rich, and able to defend himself and his belongings consistently. Ranboo doesn't need other people to defend him – he's living with Techno and Phil not out of necessity for his survival, but out of need for connection with others.

This seems to be the main difference he finds with Snowchester, which has a more structured environment, geared to defend itself and it's people, if harm should come their way.

Which makes sense, considering it's founder, Tubbo, holds no earthly belongings, and Jack, another prominent member, has made a character trait out of losing his things every other day. The two of them have no conceivable way to defend themselves against people who are stronger than they are. But together, holding the keys to nuclear armaments, they can suddenly play on the field of gods.

The anarchist commune, despite having all members working together and being on good terms, aren't really an organization, they're individuals with common goals and interests. They don't need to live together to be strong, they're all already strong, they choose to be near each other because they want to.

Snowchester is not a government and has no ruler, but together, it's members hold power. They have sway in the world when they work as a collective, and most members have a vested interest in keeping themselves and each other defended because of this. Consequently, the “identity” of Snowchester becomes more prominent, resulting in the flag, the uniforms and the, well, identity.

(Now, the more perceptive among you might have noticed that I basically just compared Techno Phil and Ranboo to the ultra rich 1%, which. Um. Is a pretty serious comparison to make about in a block game rp?

And I wanna say that I don’t think this was necessarily intentional on the parts of either the CCs or the characters, and beyond that, it’s just one way of examining the text. This analysis is by no means the “Right” way to view the story, just a different one.

Regardless...)

Techno uses his considerable power to further his own goals, first and foremost. This is not inherently good or evil, it just is.

Contrast with New L'manberg's cabinet; Four people, pooling their limited power to further their shared goals. Not good or evil, just a way of exercising power.

But power is not static. Power is fluid and changing, moreso now on the SMP than ever before, and Quackity and Technoblade are fighting to define what Power means going forwards.

Techno is fighting for the status quo, knowingly or not. Individuals with power should lead the world, and those without should strive to emulate their betters. He destroys all forms of government, which strip away the rights of the individual in exchange for hierarchy and consolidated power within that hierarchy.

At it's best, this is a very freeing ideology, where nothing and no one can hold back the individual. The world is your oyster if you are willing to work for it.

But at it's worst? “Violence is the only universal language,” is the key phrase. Where does this ideology leave people who aren't strong? Where does it leave those who cannot fend for themselves? If Violence is the only universal language, then the weak have no means to speak.

Quackity is fighting to get a foothold for a contrary ideology – One that prioritizes words over violence and offers alternative methods of gaining and exercising control, such as through currency and conversation. Quackity has tried to varying degrees of success to implement this on the level of his own individual power, such as during the elections, but his attempts at employing this on a grand scale have all been short-lived.

At it's best, this ideology can uplift anyone, regardless of their strength. It encourages more communication, more commerce, and thrives under, you guessed it, strong government.

At it's worst however, it creates a brutally controlling environment. Where a few people gain absurd amounts of power through the complex machinations of a fiat currency, and are then able to use their sway and influence with governing forces to exercise power that they would never be able to hold on their own.

Again, neither of these ideologies are inherently good or evil. They both have flaws and benefits, and benefit no one more than perhaps Techno and Quackity respectively, while hindering the other.

Techno is benefited by anarchy because he holds incredible amounts of individual power. He is the strongest person on the server, he is rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams, and on a meta level, he's straight up good at the game. The current status quo puts him firmly at the top of the food chain, and this is most obvious on Doomsday, when he and the other two most powerful individuals (Dream and Philza) come together and crush the combined forces of New L'manberg. They are not meaningfully challenged in any way, whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Quackity is deeply hindered by the current status quo. He's not strong, he's poor, and he's vulnerable to anyone who wants to bully him with brute force. On a meta level, cc!Quackity just straight up does not play m/inecraf/t as much as some of the other people that on the server. (To be clear, I do not mention that as a criticism, just to contrast Techno. Neither of their levels of play are better or worse for content, they just add to the experience differently.)

On the other hand, in a government? Quackity “Law Student” HQ is suddenly on top. He's charismatic enough to debate with Wilbur “Can Talk His Way out of Anything” Soot during the elections, and come out of that arena smelling like roses. Back during the days of El Rapids, Quackity held his men back from conflict with Dream, and talked him into a corner of technical truths where Dream had to concede that he viewed El Rapids as an independent nation if he wanted to get involved with their conflicts.

And Techno, while he is brilliant and an English Major, suddenly loses a lot of his intimidation factor if he has to respect laws preventing brutal murder. Techno can certainly debate, but his go to conflict resolution is usually violence, and if you take that away, you take away the threat of challenging him. Because make no mistake, challenging Technoblade right now? Is suicide.

And this duality, this grey morality and clash of ideals, is why Quackity is my favorite character on the SMP. He isn't strong. The power he holds is tenuous and balanced on a knife's edge. It would make more sense for him to stay quiet, keep his head down, and if anything, try to change things from the shadows, where he'll be in the least danger.

But he isn't quiet. He doesn't just challenge authority, he challenges the authority; Dream, Wilbur, and of course, Technoblade.

And in all but one of those matches, he's come out with a concession from his enemy gripped between his teeth. He schooled Wilbur in the debates. He forced Dream to grant El Rapids Independence at a time when he hadn't done so for New L'manberg.

But he failed miserably when he challenged Technoblade. Quackity lost that fight in the final control room before it began. He lost the moment he formed the Butcher Army. He would have lost if he managed to kill Technoblade, and he lost still when he died.

He lost because he conceded that the only way to achieve his goal was through violence. He decided that the only way to establish himself and New L'manberg as powerful? Was to kill Technoblade. And he lost that fight and he always will. There was never a way that he walked out of that fight with the victory; Quackity lost the ideological battle long ago.

But not the war.

As of writing this, Quackity is in the process of introducing an economy to the Dream SMP, on Sam's initiative. There is no action I can think of that is wiser for him to take right now. Now, when Dream has been deposed and there's a vacuum in power; Now, when people are getting tired of endless violence and the loss it brings; Now, when people are looking for something new.

An economy is a direct challenge to Might Makes Right. Trading, supply and demand, politics. It offers a new way for people to obtain resources and a direct alternative to brute force; other methods to pay for slights and breaches of honor and etiquette. No more will pet wars be fought with iron swords and shields, but with money! A healthy sum of cash for the murder of Fungi!

If Quackity can get this system off the ground (and with Sam's help, he definitely can,) the stage would suddenly be tilted in the favor of not just Quackity, but the people who he has associated himself with most closely – Tommy, Fundy, even Schlatt. They're all business men, all scammers. This could be Quackity's world, and he's damn well intending for everyone to live in it.

We’ll have to see what Techno thinks of this - Quackity hasn’t made any moves to start another government, and an economy doesn’t inherently contradict anarchy. But it does hold a potential threat to Techno’s current power.

And as for Quackity? What will he do once he’s at the top? Will he finally become a true tyrant? Will he usher in a new age of equality and justice? Or will he eschew all of that in favor of personal riches. For once, the cards are in Quackity's favor, and we might get the chance to see what he does when he holds real power.