#Double points if it's a villain because it's just really fun(ny).

[gridanian-red-mage]

The Darkness of Toto-Rak--Part 1/2

I think I got pretty excited here when Arielle finally came face to face with Lahabrea and was basically going "there he iiissss!" Also like villains bowing in greeting pisses me off but it's so cool when they do it.

[lurafita]

Petvengers (Or, how Peter tricks NY heroes into pet adoption)

Again, this is also on Ao3, but I want to have duplicates, just in case.

here is the link if you want to read it on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19139326/chapters/45486811

This is part of a series.  This is bordering on crack, seriously. It is a lot of fun to write though. I hope you will enjoy it.

Peter has decided that New York's heroes should all have (at least one) pet. Because pets are awesome. Now he just has to convince them of it.

Here a little bit to catch you up:

As with all the other fics in the series, Civil War got resolved peacefully (and Ross is out of office), and Infinity War and Endgame did not and will not happen. This fanfiction series universe is a happy place. Okay? Good.

Tony and Pepper share custody over Peter with May. Peter occasionally calls Tony Dad (he might also at one point refer to Pepper as Mom, but Aunt May will always be Aunt May, without the title diminishing the magnitude of love he feels for her)

Peter has a male Pitbull named Hope, a shelter rescue dog who was about to be euthanized.

Tony has spilled the beans on live TV about Peter being heir to Stark Industries.

Peter is acquainted with some of NYPD's detectives and the captain.

Tony, being the overprotective helicopter parent he is, has used his, so far limited, access to nano-technology to make a watch for Peter that tracks pretty much everything and can't be taken off by anyone other than Tony (or, in the event of Tony's demise, Pepper, May, Happy, or Rhodey) – See part 1 and 2 of the series for reference.

Tony and Pepper still own and live in the Tower, and the Avengers all have rooms (floors) there as well. Due to the events of the second story in the series (the wounds we see and the scars we don't) May and Peter have also taken up residence in the tower (more specifically on Tony and Peppers floor, where they have their own living spaces). Though right now this arrangement is temporary and the two might move back into their house in Queens eventually.

Since I ignore Infinity War and Endgame, neither Tony nor Peter have nano-tech-suits. (Though they might at some point)

Also, the identities of other vigilantes are known to the Avengers (part of the fixed Accords thing)  

Last but never least, my very favorite part of this series, Peter swears in food names. Shit = Skittles, Damn = Donuts, Hell = Hot Dogs, Fuck = French Fries or Fruit Loops, any kind of name calling, i.e. Bitch, Ass, Fuckface, etc = Licorice

Chapter 1

Steve

Edward 'Ned' Leeds loved his best friend. He truly, absolutely, did. Peter was his brother from another mother.

However, that didn't change the fact that sometimes, Peter could be a teeny, tiny, little bit ridiculous.

Because who else would ever get the idea of tricking earths mightiest heroes into each adopting a shelter animal.

-

MyfriendscallmeMJ: Peter, you can't lie to save your life. How do you plan on tricking anyone, much less the Avengers, into taking a pet home? Especially since they already have you.

DefinitelynotSpiderman: Okay, first, rude. I can totally lie when I want to. In fact, I'm a great liar. Like,... Just look at my chatname! If that doesn't scream 'Master of deception', nothing does.

Guyinthechair: Ô_o...

MyfriendscallmeMJ: Ô_o...

DefinitelynotSpiderman: And second, I have a fool proof plan.

Guyinthechair: Ô_o...

MyfriendscallmeMJ: Ô_o...

DefinitelynotSpiderman: Parts of a fool proof plan... like... 46% of a plan,... that is not at all fool proof... but we can totally pull it off!

Guyinthechair: Yeah, somehow I do not feel confident about this. At all.

MyfriendscallmeMJ: What do you mean 'we'?

-

And so it was that Ned found himself, armed with his trusty camcorder, waiting in front of 'A heart has four paws' shelter for Peter, on a sunny Saturday morning. Really, all Peter had said was to meet him there at exactly 9:30am, and to be ready to film what would become 'a promotional video'.

Ned had absolutely no idea what Peter had planned, but it was either going to be absolutely epic, or completely embarrassing.

A quick look at his phone revealed the time to be 9:27, which left his best friend three minutes before Ned was allowed to officially change Peter's chatname into 'ThetardySpider'. He was already typing in his friends password into the first of many social media platforms, when (happy) barking reached his ears. He looked up to see Hope and Peter racing each other to reach him.

"Not late!"

Peter wheezed out as soon as he came to a stop in front of Ned.

"I totally did not forget to ask Friday to wake me up early today and was absolutely not just woken up 35 minutes ago by Hope licking my face off. Completely on time, that's me. Mr. Punctuality."

He doubled over immediately after, bracing his hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath.

Ned checked his phone. 9:29. Donuts! Oh well, knowing his best friend, an opportunity for assigning punishing nicknames would present itself once again. So he bent down to give Hope some love, while Peter was finally regaining his lost oxygen.

"Okay! We all set? You got your camera, Ned?"

He held it up for Peter to see.

"What am I even supposed to film with it? And shouldn't you have brought at least one of the people you intend to con into pet acquisition with you, oh great master of deception?"

"Please, you make me sound like a criminal. I'm not going to 'con' anyone, just persuade them to do something I want by slightly bending the truth."

Ned gave him a deadpan look.

"Pete, that is the textbook definition of conning someone."

But the brunette waved him off, digging his phone out of his pants.

"Semantics. Now, Steve left for his morning jog at 5, the freak, and since it's Saturday and there is no mission to prepare for, he wanted to make it a full run 'round."

Ned's yaw dropped.

"Are you telling me Captain America is jogging through all of New York?"

Peter nodded distractedly while typing something into his phone.

"And he got up a 5 am to do it. 5 am, Ned! Sleep-hating-freak. Not even Sam and Bucky joined him for something this crazy. I mean, 5 am, Ned!"

"You know you have gotten up earlier than that. Actually, you have stayed up later than that."

His exclamation was waved away again.

"That was for Spiderman, and lab time with Tony,... and cartoons. You know, important stuff. Not to go jogging!"

Peter shuddered for effect.

"Anyway, according to his usual running speed, traffic, roadblocks, calculated detours and approximate number of stops he had to make to hydrate or take a selfie with a fan, he should be in this general area by now."

Apparently having finished with his first task on the phone, Peter then scrolled through his contacts and hit the call button for one 'Star spangled man with a plan'. He didn't have to wait long for Steve to accept the call.

"Hey Pete, what-"

"STEVE! IT'S AN EMERGENCY! COME TO LEE AVENUE 14! HURRY!" And then Peter promptly hung up.

Ned stared at him open mouthed for three long seconds, then he beamed and proudly patted his friend on the shoulder.

"You just lied to Captain America without stuttering, over-explaining yourself, or dissolving into a puddle of anxiety! Good for you!"

Peter's grin couldn't possibly be wider.

"Thanks! For a moment there I thought I was going to choke, but then I pulled through! Tasha practiced with me for two hours last night."

"The Black Widow knows about your plans?"

Peter nodded.

"Tasha knows everything."

"Does she know about the-"

"Yeah."

"And about the time when-"

"Yeah."

"And what about-"

"She knows that, too."

Ned let out a reverent "Whooow."

Then he thought of something else.

"What if the Captain calls the other Avengers for backup, thinking you are in trouble?"

"I told Karen to inform Friday to ignore any assemble requests made by Steve, right after my phone call with him."

"So that's what you were typing on your phone earlier."

Peter nodded, then suddenly looked down the street in front of them, Hope simultaneously lifted his head from where it had been resting on his paws.

"Get your camera ready, Cap is closing in."

Ned did just that, and forever captured on film as one (very sweaty) Steve Rogers ran full speed to the two of them.

"Peter!"

He didn't take long to reach the two teens, even with an excited Hope jumping up and around him to greet the super soldier.

"What happened? Are you hurt? Are you two okay? Is there a new villain? What's the situation? I called for backup, the others should be here shortly."

Knowing they would not, Peter grabbed for Hope to hold the enthusiastic Pitbull at bay, and waited for Steve to finish with his visual assessment of any possibly sustained injuries. Then he grinned.

"Quick, the one needing your help is inside!"

He grabbed the blonde's arm and unceremoniously pulled him through the shelter doors, a still filming Ned and tail wagging Hope right behind them.

_

Andrew was just getting some of the forms for new owners in order, when the automatic doors of the entrance opened with a ding, causing him to abandon his task for later.

He did a double take when non other than Captain America, Steve Rogers, in civilian (and kinda sweat stained) clothes was dragged in by a familiar looking teenager. Followed by another teenager holding a camcorder fixed on the american icon, and a familiar looking Pitbull.

Since his brain was obviously not equipped to sort through everything at once, he focused on the issue that was the easiest to resolve.

"Hey! You are that kid that was here with Tony Stark, right?"

Said kid grinned and proceeded to drag Captain freaking America to the front desk.

"Yes! I remember you too! I'm Peter, by the way. I see you did some remodeling with the place."

Andrew smiled and shook the teen's hand.

"Hi Peter, I'm Andrew. And yes, thanks to Mr. Stark's generous donation, we were able to expand quite a bit. Even got some space out back, for the bigger ones to run a little."

"That's great!"

"You aren't here to return your dog, are you?"

"Never! Hope is ohana, and ohana means family."

"Good, good. Say, quick question, kid. Is that man with you Steve Rogers, aka Captain America?"

"He is."

"Peter."

The authoritative voice of the living american legend, pulled Peter and Andrew out of their little conversation, and brought their full attention on him. Steve, for his part, after having scanned the buildings lobby for possible threats, or other dangerous things, and valiantly ignoring the camera Peter's friend kept trained on him the whole time, took a deep breath.

Calm, be calm.

"Peter, why am I here?"

The teen grinned brightly.

"Rescue mission."

Calm, remain calm.

"And who, exactly, needs to be rescued?"

The grin got brighter.

"Well, whoever you decide on taking home with you. Though I've always kinda pegged you for a dog person, so maybe we should start with them."

Calm, calm, calm, you fought in wars, soldier. Keep calm.

"Son, I'm not getting a dog."

The kid shrugged.

"Okay, the cats here are great too! Or maybe you want a bird? Some of these have a pretty long lifespan, you know? We can also look at the smaller animals. They have ferrets, and chinchillas, and rabbits-"

You fought aliens, and an insane robot, your boyfriend was brainwashed into trying to kill you and one of your best friends is Tony Stark! If you can live through all that, you can get through this insanity too.

"-though I really think you should get a dog. It just fits, you know?"

Calm, calm.

"Peter, I am not getting a dog!"

-

"So, this is Colonel. He is a mixed breed of unknown origins, though the shelter worker said that there is definitely some German Shepard in there."

Steve was met with the non blinking eyes of his fellow Avengers and friends, and their assorted families, who were for once all in attendance in the tower's common floor living room.

The Barton kids (minus Nathaniel, who was busy spreading mashed potatoes everywhere that wasn't his mouth, and especially his father at the moment) and Peter were playing with the two dogs.

Then Clint (who really didn't look at all intimidating with a toddler on his lap and mashed potatoes all over his face) was staring imploringly at his wife, Laura skillfully ignored her husband, Natasha went over to Peter to congratulate him on his successful manipulation of another human being, Sam groaned about not scooping up any poop, Bucky joined the kids and dogs on the floor, Pepper shook her head, May refilled both her, Laura's and Pepper's wine glasses, Bruce hid a smile in his book, and Tony almost fell off the couch, he was laughing so hard.

"Your dog has a higher military rank than you!"

-

end chapter 1

Next up: Bucky and Sam :-)

[bitchfromtheseventhhell]

tagged in some memes

Tagging anyone who wants to do any of these memes!

I - tagged by @gendryxaryatrash​

-> What made you sign up to Tumblr? I used to get into gif wars with my college roommates so I needed to be able to gather.

-> What did your blog start off as being? My old blog used to be a hodgepodge of stuff I liked.  When I rebuilt I put all ASOIAF content on this sideblog and my main is still a hodgepodge of stuff I like minus ASOIAF.

-> Have you ever received any creepy asks, and if so, what did they say? Not really.

-> Have you ever had a bad experience on tumblr? Yes, several, but I try not to dwell on it because at this point it was years ago and letting it still take up a lot of my thoughts is not worth it.

-> If you had to pick a favourite English monarch, who would you pick? ...I’m not sure I care enough.  I guess Elizabeth I because she is one I kinda know things about?

-> Do you prefer hot or cold? Cold

-> Do you have a special skill or talent? Writing.  I’m a decent singer. I can whistle through my teeth in a nonstandard whistly way.

-> Do you have a phobia of anything? Heights.

-> If you had to pick a favourite real life villain from history, who would you pick? Honestly most of the evils I see in the world are usually perpetrated by more than one person/not a person at all, so I’m not sure I know how to answer this.  Like individuals who do bad is less fascinating than societal ills and how they are enabled if that makes sense.

-> Do you have any dark traits? Probably.  Don’t we all?

-> If you could do anything, literally anything, like fly on a unicorn or something, what would it be? Apparating.

-> What is the scale of the worst argument you’ve ever had? IDK.  I like debating, so I wouldn’t call arguments a bad thing.  Fights can be brutal but fights and arguments aren’t the same in my brain.

-> What is your favourite slush flavour? I don’t think I’ve eaten enough of this to know.

-> If you could bring back any food or drink from your childhood that has been discontinued, what would it be? IDK what they’re called, but there was a strawberry candy I ate a lot that came in a tin and I can’t find it anywhere now D:

-> What is your favourite and most vivid childhood memory? When my dad was driving me and my brother in the rain and we rolled the windows down and stuck our heads out the window and my dad would drive into puddles to splash us. 

-> If you could bring anyone back from the dead who would it be? Max or Rachel.  

-> If you could go back to any time period and live there for a week, which period would it be and why? Nah.  I have no desire to live in the past.  I’d rather think about a future in which things are better than they’ve been in the past.

-> If you could visit any abandoned place to take pictures, where would it be? Not really sure.  I hope it’s mountainous though.

-> Do you have any particular, peculiar interests? Bulgarian folk music counts probably

-> Do you have a creepy/scary experience that has happened to you, and what was it? Not really

-> Do you like/read creepypasta stories? If so, what’s your favourite story? Not really sure what defines creepypasta tbh.  

-> If you were in the Wars of the Roses, would you be a Lancastrian, or a Yorkist? I....am not enough of an Anglophile when it comes to history to care.  It’s all fun to watch on TV but I can’t think about it without my historian cap on my head and I just don’t really have enough knowledge to pick a side here.

-> What is your recurring nightmare? I don’t have recurring dreams.

-> Have you ever had a lucid dream? I think so?  I’ve at least had a dream where I keep trying to wake up and then wake up but it’s still a dream and then I realize it’s a dream and try to wake up.  It was really jarring.

-> If you could go to another planet, which would it be? Mars would be cool.  I feel like Venus would be too warm for me.

->What is your religion, if any? I’m Jewish.

-> Have you ever got so drunk, that you did something really embarrassing, and if so, what did you do? I once vomited in one of the main auditoriums at my college during a drunken halloween concert.  I became that which I scorned my freshman year.  

-> Mike, Dustin, Lucas, or Will? Who??

-> Do you like Marina and the Diamonds? I’ve not aware of who/what this is.

-> Charli XCX? Ditto

-> Tag a blog that you’ve seen, and you love their posts, but have never told them, and would like to talk to them. Oof I’m not sure.  I’m slow to follow people, so usually when I do it’s because I feel comfortable talking to them already--or would feel comfortable just being like “Hi I wanna talk to you.”

-> Pick one thing you like/love from the 80s. Hopscotch

-> What year were you born, and name something cool from that year. 1991 - The Fall of the Soviet Union

-> What was your blog name originally? (If you had another blog name) I went by ​@crossingwinter​ for a long time because that’s my ao3 handle (I now use it as a fic archive and reblog all my fics over there) on my old main blog.  This sideblog used to be @thegoldofwinterfell​ after I did my rebuild.  

-> Do you follow any blogs that you know the user in real life? Yes.  Quite a few, actually.  Thank fuck I moved most of my fandom participation over here because they don’t see it haha.

-> If you are in the ST fandom, which is your favourite song off the ST soundtrack? No.

-> Finally, give your opinion on the person who tagged you! ✨ @gendryxaryatrash​ is always so supportive and honestly sometimes I feel like I am spitting things into a void so I’m really grateful to have you as someone who’s always enjoying the things I make since that’s why I make it :D

II - tagged by @savannsahstark​

Nickname: Some folks have called me Ceels, but it’s not that frequent.

Zodiac sign: Cancer

Height: 5'5″

Gender: female

Time right now: 11:35 a.m.

Last thing I googled: Double checking that the Soviet Union did in fact dissolve in 1991 (I get it confused with 1989 and the Berlin wall sometimes) (I’m an embarrasment to all historians who’ve studied communism :shame:)

Favourite music artist(s): the Bulgarian State Women’s Vocal Ensemble, Kitka, Jamila Woods, Chance the Rapper, undoubtedly more i can’t think of right now.

Song stuck in my head: This god help me

Last movie I watched: Sense and Sensibility

What are you wearing right now: an old Red Sox t-shirt that definitely is my brother’s and not mine but was in my drawer of clothes in NY so

Last TV show I watched: ....I can’t remember.  The Good Place maybe?

What do you post: ASOIAF over here.  GOT but more...curatedly.

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff/Gryffindor

Pokémon team: Valor

Why did you choose your URL: "Not me," the Lady of Barrowton confessed, "but the rest, yes. Old Whoresbane is only here because the Freys hold the Greatjon captive. And do you imagine the Hornwood men have forgotten the Bastard's last marriage, and how his lady wife was left to starve, chewing her own fingers? What do you think passes through their heads when they hear the new bride weeping? Valiant Ned's precious little girl."

When you created this blog: 2015

Do you get asks regularly: I find that it’s either floodgates or nothing.  probably because a lot of anons pile on about my responses to other anons.  I think also not necessarily taking anon fic prompts slows stuff down too.

Do you have any other blogs: this question is a fucking callout is what it is.

Religious or Spiritual: Oh boy I won’t bore you all with my Thoughts about my relationship with music and Judiasm and constantly interrogating what both mean to my life.

Favourite colour: Purple

Average hours of sleep: I aim for 8.  My fitbit shows that it’s more flexible than that.

Lucky number: Not sure.

Favourite character(s): Donna Moss, Leia Organa, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark (lol Sav I’m just keeping yours because Accurate)

Following: 419.  Most of those are inactive.

How many blankets do you sleep with: My comforter

Dream job: Writer.  I’m feeling pretty fulfilled doing some inclusion stuff at my current job though so that’s nice.

III - tagged by @baratheons​

Relationship Status: Single and hunting

Lipstick or Chapstick: Chapstick

Last Song I Listened to:  “Go” by the Civil Wars

Last Movie I Watched: Sense & Sensibility

Top Three Characters: Arya, Sansa, Bran.  It varies from day to day what the order is.

Top Three Ships: Arya x Gendry, SanSan, and lately Jon x Dany, but I’d say that third slot revolves a lot based on my mood.  The first two have been pretty solidly there for years and are unlikely to change any time soon.

[allinmycorner]

Happy Halloween! 

Dancing With the Stars had its annual Halloween episode and declared it “Villains Night”! Everyone went all out - Tyra wore a few costumes, Derek really got into his Jekyll and Hyde bit, Carrie Ann dressed as Pennywise and Bruno was Beetlejuice. Once again, they let Sasha loose on the unsuspecting stars. Carrie Ann sent all the contestants the dreaded “0″ paddle while Bruno tried to scare them with Scream-esque phone calls. But that fell flat when everyone was able to identify his voice and Kaitlyn also pointed out he should’ve also blocked his caller ID. 

Oops. 

So how did Villains Night go for our contestants? Let’s find out! 

Monica and Val: I honestly didn't think Monica was going to make it to the finals but I didn't really expect her to go home. In fact, I almost thought they would send Jeannie and Brandon home (but I'm glad she's getting another chance). Monica's elimination proves once again that all performances need to be strong because the weak one can be your undoing. I have to agree with the judges with her routine - she hit the moves right but she wasn't as comfortable embracing the character as the other performers were. If she really embraced Ratched, it would've helped with her movements and made the routine better. But she should be proud of everything else she's done this series and for making it this far!

Nev and Jenna: Nev and Jenna got the season's first perfect score for their paso doble paying homage to Black Swan. Nev shows how one can start out great and just get even greater. He works on everything the judges tell him and he throws his whole heart into the routine. And I love that he's such a big fan of ballet. Some fathers and sons go to sports events, he and his father go to the New York City Ballet. I am going to remind the readers that the New York City Ballet has cancelled its Winter and Spring seasons and productions are expected to resume until the Fall season. Which means many people will continue to struggle without their jobs. Please consider supporting them here. 

Johnny and Britt: Johnny bounced back after last week's low score and ending up in the bottom two. His Viennese waltz inspired by Dracula was intense and almost professional. It did put him back in a more comfortable zone but I think that will help him. It boosted his confidence for when he tackles next week's dances, whatever they may be. (More on why that's plural later). 

Nelly and Daniella: Damn, Nelly. He just keeps getting better and better. He really got into his Freddy Krueger character and I am impressed that he was able to dance with the famous clawed glove. I'm seeing him making the finals more and more. He and Daniella have a great relationship and he is definitely learning and improving. 

Skai and Alan: They performed an Argentine tango inspired by the Bride of Chucky - and Alan made for an interesting-looking Chucky. But their tango was great, something Skai definitely needed after last week. It seems Skai has learned to control her nerves, to just have fun and let what happens on the dancefloor happen. I think that will suit her as the competition gets tighter and tighter. 

AJ and Cheryl:  AJ and Cheryl had a scary moment rehearsing for their Psycho-themed tango. Cheryl took a fall and hit her head on Sunday and had to be taken for medical evaluation. AJ stayed with her the entire time the medical crew evaluated her in the ballroom and probably would've gone to the hospital with her if not for COVID restrictions. But Cheryl was cleared to dance and they delivered a fantastic tango. AJ still has a few things to work on but he is posed with Nelly to challenge Nev and Johnny for the top male spots. 

Chrishell and Gleb: Chrishell absolutely loved dressing up as Maleficent for her paso doble. The judges loved her dance but I don't know, it left me feeling cold. It was a good paso doble but I guess after her emotional dance last week, this one just felt lacking that category. She needs to work on marrying her emotional strengths with her technical strengths, at least from my perspective. 

Justina and Sasha:  Justina is not a fan of Halloween after spending the holiday getting pelted by eggs most years of her childhood. And that baffles Sasha. But she does love the movie Carrie and really enjoys their tango. She plays a prom queen raining down bloody vengeance on the star quarterback perfectly, the intensity perfect for their tango. She's still one of my favorites and I would love to see her go all the way to the end!

Jeannie and Brandon: Mama Mai was probably looking to cash out when Jeannie and Brandon ended up in the bottom two. I am glad that they were saved. I do think Jeannie has improved and brings a great energy to all her routines. And her Hannibal Lecter paso was no different. Does she still need to step it up to match the rest of the competition? Yes. Can she do it? I believe she can.

Kaitlyn and Artem: Once again, Kaitlyn and Artem danced a very good paso doble. And once again, they hit the bar that was expected of them but did not surpass it. Kaitlyn is really lacking in the "wow" category, something Nev and Jenna have been delivering on. Carrie Ann and Bruno both want more from her while Derek thinks she's doing great - but I have to agree with the other two. Yes, we know she's a great dancer. Show us more if you want to advance because everyone is getting better and better.

So why did I mention “dances” earlier? Next week, the remaining contestants will perform two dances. And the stakes will be even higher - there will be a double elimination next week. 

I’ll see everyone then - and remember, next week is Election Day. If you’re American and eligible to vote, please make sure you do. If you have not yet returned your mail-in ballot, please drop it off at approved sites. And if you vote in person, please be safe. I voted on Saturday when NY’s early voting period started and I hope you all vote as well! 

[dailydoseofcolor]

Taking Stock of Units in Fire Emblem Heroes, Part 3

I’ve already written a small novella at this point, but I have the motivation, so it’s time to keep going. Next is character archetypes in this game that I don’t yet have merged, and would be beneficial to my enjoyment of the game. At this point, I’m in T21 for Aether Raids, and consistently make T24/T25. I do not need to be T27, that’s just too much. On the other side, I’m usually T19.5 in Arena. I just don’t have the resources to keep up with Arena scoring. I actively dislike that mode, All I need are units that will get me through every aspect of the game and keep me from falling to T17 in Arena. 

Now for the hard part. I think what I would really love is to, one day, have a +10 character on hand for every combat role in the game across a large variety of weapon/color types. Obviously there’s Player Phase, Enemy Phase, Mixed Phase, and Support. But within those, I feel like there’s more niche roles: Player Phase:  1) Nuke / One Shot (Lilina, Lysithea) 2) Galeforce (OG Eliwood, Tibarn, Raven) 3) Double / Quad Builds (Maybe a subset of Galeforce, but serves a different purpose on maps with inflated stats; Est, Cordelia, etc)

Enemy Phase:  1) Retaliatory Nuke (Rinkah with Bonfire) 2) Sustain Tank (Aether Builds like Legendary Ike) 3) Stall Tank (Brave Ike and other more niche builds) Mixed Phase:  1) DPS (Special Spiral Builds like NY!Alfonse) 2) Duelist (Ross, Donnel, Itsuki, etc) 3) Omnitanks (More of an AR choice, but the characters that can dish it out either in PP or EP; Again, Brave Ike, Ross, Echidna)

Support:  1) Full Support (Dancers/Healers with zero combat prowess) 2) Tank Support (Tanky Healers that can be on the front lines with Close Counter; doesn’t always require actually high defense) 3) Closers (Those random characters that accompany you on maps that only see combat every now and again due to one very specific niche they handle, or are good at moving characters around the field, and can block an entrance for a hit or two if need be / or support characters with combat prowess, like Dance!Reinhardt and Dance!Ishtar). _____ 

So if we take those roles into account, the characters I already have fully merged or are Merge Projects are: Nowi (+10): Enemy Phase Sustain Tank Sothe (+10): Player Phase Double Build Ross (+10): Mixed Phase Duelist Lyon (+7): Enemy Phase Stall Tank Micaiah (+5): Enemy Phase Retaliatory Nuke OR Player Phase Nuke (Depending on the enemy type) Mia (+3): Her most obvious build is a Desperation build for a Player Phase Double, but I submit that her Res stat is actually pretty good, and she’d be a decent Mixed Phase Duelist OG Eliwood (+3): Player Phase Galeforce, honestly one of the best ones Joshua (+2): Mixed Phase Duelist (that high Res stat tho) Donnel (+2): His stats allow for so much flexibility: Player Phase Quad with his new Refine, Enemy Phase Sustain Tank, Mixed Phase Duelist....he fits a lot of niches now that I think about it. Rath (+2): Player Phase Double Build Saber (+1): Honestly more of an Enemy Phase Stall Tank, but he can move into a Mixed Phase DPS given the right build.  Black Knight (+1): Again, super flexible because of the Fighter skills; but likely a Player Phase Double build with Bold Fighter. I have plenty of Bold Fighter fodder, and would love to watch him delete things off the map.  Nephenee (+1): Best niche is as an Enemy Phase Retaliatory Tank with Bonfire/Ignis Altena (+1): Pure Enemy Phase as a Stall Tank, especially against Bows. Even some Green units just can’t touch her Young Minerva (+1): Again, super flexible because of her speed. I like her as an Enemy Phase Stall Tank, though Matthew (+1): Enemy Phase Stall Tank, although magic really kicks him in the ass

____

Okay. Zero support units and very few Player Phase units. I def have a preferred playstyle. Although, I’ll submit that the units I get a lot of use from that aren’t merged helps cover that. Let’s go through and see if I have any options for Merge Projects that are sitting unmerged right now: 

Sword: Roy: Roy’s our boy! Roy’s our boy! I have his merges available, but I’ve been waiting to bite the bullet. His Res is just on the underside to make him a full Omnitank, so he’s definitely more of a Enemy Phase Sustain Tank. But he is getting a Resplendent soon... Soleil: Major Player Phase action. Honestly, along with Mia, could be an actually good contender for any future Close Call/Repel fodder I get.  Ares: Unlimited Bonfire makes for a strong DPS candidate. I worry that merging him and Eliwood would be too much, even though they serve completely different purposed. I hesitate only because I don’t know anything about him, really.  Fallen Ashnard: Fuck. His design is just *chef’s kiss.* I need to build him, and I have time, since he won’t hit the Grail market for another two months at least. But I feel like Ashnard, Altena, Young Minerva, and Myrrh would be a hilariously physically bulky team. 

Lance:  Valter: Disgusting villain, one you just love to hate. Smaller grail cost than others, since he’s been around a while. And he has to be up for a refine within the next 6 months. He’s high on the list. He could serve as a strong Player Phase Nuke Cormag: Much higher grail cost than Valter, but with a more balanced stat-line. More of a dream than anything.  Effie: Is it past time to build Effie’s? She was all the rage a year and a half ago. Although she can still put in work with her attack stat, and her speed is more than covered by Fighter skills. I just really have a hard time with Armor units.  Est: I see Est builds floating around and people rave about her. I wonder if it’s time to bite the bullet and build one myself.  Ferdinand: Shitty stat line, character I detested from 3H...why did I even put him on this list.  Oscar: Before this: WHERE IS BOYD. For fuck’s sake, it’s been years. Boyd deserves to be in 3H if Oscar is. Again, not a character I love, but has a refine that gives a niche(?). I honestly never see Oscar builds around, which tells me all I need to know.  Axe:  Raven: Easy to merge, great refine, easy to use Player Phase potential. One of the stronger Galeforce infantry units. Worth consideration.  Cherche: Similar to above, but as a nuke. I’ve seen her just delete characters off the map.  Titania: Super strong support capabilities. Tactics skills are pretty fucking dope most of the time.  Bow:  Norne: Incredible stat line, and I have a Midori that I could sink into her if I feel so inclined....now I just need merges. Clarisse: Honestly, her new refine is pretty sick, although she’s a very high level Grail cost. Might need to wait and see on this one, at least until her refine is fixed. Claude: I legitimately think that, if I decided this is what I wanted, I could get a +10 Claude. But that would me a LOT of Lull fodder that I don’t use. I’d love this, but I don’t think so. Halloween Rolf: Fucking adorable character and design, Grail cost is too high. 

Dagger:  Kronya: Stupid character, amazing options. Hard to justify with Sothe and Matthew above her in priority of characters I love.  Tethys: I dismissed Tethys way back when she launched, but I actually feel like she’s found a niche with her high Res stat? Again, hard to justify, though.  Winter Jaffar: Great character art, honestly. Top Tier. Decent combat potential, but his green coloring hurts him pretty hard. Also he’s armor, I just have a hard time with armors. 

Red Mage: OG Tharja: She’s on a similar level as Nino, for me. But has a refine that gives her a really interesting niche. I go back and forth, I need to test her out in combat more.  Aversa: Incredible support, especially in large maps like Grand Conquests. Her merges would be mostly about getting that HP stat up. I don’t really need her to be combative.  Arvis: I love his character design and he can have some really fun builds with his special B skill. I’m waiting for a refine before I make any decisions, though.  Iago: New character that I don’t love in terms of base game, but interesting support potential.  Male Morgan: He’s shown up so many times I could build two +10 versions of him (which crosses my mind sometimes). I wish his defensive stats were higher, it would make for a slightly more interesting unit.  Blue Mage:  Fallen Delthea: I realize that I really do love a lot of the Fallen character’s designs...except for Celica. Delthea has a strong presence and she could be worth the Grails. Brunnya: I’m seeing Brunnya everywhere on Reddit. I should pay more attention to her builds, I think. Why are there so many decent Grail units?? Reinhardt: Not a hot take: don’t love Reinhardt. But fuck if he isn’t super useful sometimes. It’s really remarkable how well he’s stayed either inside or right outside the meta. Still not gonna build him.  L’Arachel: I love her character and personality, and I just have this sinking feeling that her refine is gonna suck. So idk, hard to tell at the moment. 

Green Mage: Soren: Also capable of the Triple Chill strategy, but with more Combat Prowess. I don’t have enough for a +10 though right now. Definitely on the backburner.  Halloween L’Arachel: A person can dream, right? I have one and would love more. Maybe in the future.  Staff:  Silque: One of my favorite characters from SoV. And I just love defensive healers. I could get her to +2 right now, and I think it might be worth it to have her be a long term goal.  Forrest: I don’t have enough to +10 Forrest, but I do love his design. It leans into the aesthetic very well. His stats are pretty lackluster, unfortunately.  Mercedes: Pretty sure I could just copy and paste from above. Mercedes is one of the best characters from 3H, but her stat line and a lack of copies at the moment...hard to justify.  Brady: Another great defensive healer. Easier to merge than Silque, but his personality is kinda meh for me. Pass. 

Dragon:  Myrrh: Myrrh was on my “most wanted list” with OG Ephraim for forever. I only pulled an pitybreaker Myrrh a month ago. Her refine is INCREDIBLE, and I would love to try to get more merges for her. She has an upcoming banner coming up, and if I can score a couple of merges, I’ll be a happy camper. 

Beast:  Reyson: I’m close to being able to +10 Reyson soon. He gets a decent amount of work just as a dancer, if I fully kit him, he’d be able to hold highly with L!Azura in terms of usage, if only because of his weapon effect. Good solid passive healing is always hard to come by unless you use the healing specials. He’s worth a further look. 

I’ll analyze the rest of this tomorrow...Part 3, Section 2 will have to wait. 

[canaryatlaw]

alright. so today was overall pretty good. I woke up to my alarm at 10:15 because I was scheduled to get a call from the DV clinic about potentially interning there for a while at 10:30. So I more or less just got myself to wake up until they called. It was fine, mostly what I knew already, going over what the responsibilities would be and how I could get to court and all that good stuff. I was going to ask if there was a possibility it would lead to a long term job, but I was never given the opportunity to ask questions lol which I’m sure was an accidental oversight on their part, but they did say that they hoped to have all their hiring done by the end of June, so that sounded somewhat promising. I told them I’d keep them updated about news on the New York job and how that may affect me going back to NY, but I could potentially work through the end of June. So that was good. After the call I tried to go back to sleep because I’m lazy and I like sleep, but it wasn’t happening, so I got up and made blueberry pancakes being that I was out of m&ms and other suitable chocolate substitutes. I tried to make the batter a little thicker than I had previously so it would be able to support the blueberries more and not just fall apart, and it worked pretty well and there weren’t any uncooked middle parts which is generally my fear with thicker batter so that I was pleased about. I had cut down on how much batter I actually made, so it only made about three small to medium sized pancakes but that was a solid breakfast. After eating I decided I should get a jump on going to the store since I had the phone interview later, so I got ready and grabbed my cart and walked down to the grocery store. Just stocking up on some essentials like eggs and milk and getting some random stuff (like more m&ms) I needed for one reason or another. Didn't take too long, got checked out and the cashier gave me 17 of the little monopoly game pieces, which I’m pretty sure was way too many for how much I actually bought, but I mean I wasn’t complaining lol. Idk if I’ve mentioned it before, but the grocery store in connection with a bunch of other grocery stores in different states is doing the huge monopoly give away game like the one they did at McDonald’s a million years ago if you remember that, you get game pieces based on how much you spend, and each little piece has 4 property pieces, and if you get all the property pieces for a certain section of the monopoly board you win a prize. So she gave me 17 of them (I counted) and they had 4 each in them, which means I now had 68 new game pieces lol. I got back from the store and started to work on putting my civil rights final info together (as in what to take into the open book final). I had tried to upload some outlines to the outline depot site I was talking about so I could download some, but the ones I had hadn’t been approved yet, so I figured I’d wait until tomorrow to see if they can get approved so I could get the outline. Otherwise I could pay $20 for it, which kind of seems like a lot, but in reality it’s in line with what Quimbee and such would charge for their outlines. Once I had established that, I went through my case briefs and did some editing, just so everything lined up all nice and pretty and deleted some extraneous information, and I managed to cut it down from 66 pages to 58, so that was good. I then added page numbers to the table of contents I had made for each section and case. Once I had all that done I printed both docs, which took a lot of printing obviously, the amount of trees I’ve killed in the name of open book exams is....plentiful, at this point. I pulled a binder out of my closet (where everyone keeps their binders, you know) along with the massive three hole punch I acquired somewhere along the way (love that thing) and set it all up in the binder. At 4 I got the phone call for the longer phone interview, which ended up lasting about 50 minutes. Lots of questions, most of them going along the lines of “can you give me an example of a time when blah blah blah” meaning I had to come up with a story and I am the worst at doing that, but I feel like i managed to come up with mostly true stories, and the more fabricated ones were at least based on fact, so I was more or less satisfied with that. They said the next step was they were going to select like 2 or 3 final candidates and have them interview with their full team, so we’ll see where it goes with that. not gonna lie, I have somewhat of a feeling of dread regarding the job, just because I’m worried that I would be bored out of my mind, but I mean, it’d be a job and it’d be here, which is good....I have mixed feelings, obviously. but we’ll have to see where that goes. Hopefully I’ll have an answer on the NY job before I hear back from them so I’ll at least have a better idea of where I stand with that. After the phone call I spent an absurdly long time putting all the monopoly pieces on the board, lol. The game has been going on for months now, so I have like 3 out of 4 pieces for a lot of the different prize spaces, but of course the thing is they make 3 of them fairly common and just make very few of the last one. But hey, it’s fun, so it’s all good. When I finished up with that I looked at remedies flashcards for about 5 minutes before deciding I wanted to bake cupcakes instead. I had the cake mix I bought last week, but I wasn’t exactly wanting to bake 24 cupcakes, so I decided to get clever divide the necessary ingredients to make a smaller portion. the recipe called for 3 eggs, and since you can’t really divide eggs as well as other ingredients, I figured I’d do 1/3 of the recipe, so 8 cupcakes. so I used my super handy kitchen scale to weigh the cake mix (it was 15.6 oz) and then measure out 1/3 of that (5.2 oz), then mix it with one egg, and a third of the amounts of oil and water. A few times previously I had tried some of the pinterest suggestions for making boxed cake mixes better, mainly like add an extra egg, swap the oil for melted butter and double it (no, really) and use milk instead of water, but in my experience the cake would come out of the oven looking really great and puffy, then literally right away it would just shrink into it self and not be fluffy at all, lol. it still tasted great, but felt kinda heavy, so I decided to not do that. I had to run out of my building and get my amazon package off the front porch, because I had just ordered a new cookie dough scoop since I managed to somehow break my old one, which wasn't actually working well at all anyway, so that wasn’t much of a loss. But I used the scoop to divide out the batter, which was fairly mess free and worked well. Box said 12-17 minutes for cupcakes, I checked after 12 and they were good to go, so I let them cool while I ate some dinner. I had grabbed a rotisserie chicken from the store earlier and had stowed it in the oven for a while so it stayed warm, then kind of ate some of it throughout the afternoon. By the time I sat down in front of the tv it was 7:20, at which point I realized Supergirl started 20 minutes ago and I’m very bad at this whole watching tv shows live thing. So I started the episode from the beginning. It was interesting, probably one of the better episodes lately, so that’s good. The Sam and Lena stuff is getting very interesting, and I know I said this last week but everything Lena is doing is so VERY Luthor, not even in an evil way, but like Lex would do very similar things on Smallville long before he turned evil and back when he was actually a good guy. It’s just very in tune with how their family handles things. I feel so bad for Sam. she’s in such a hard position of course, and I feel like one way or another this season is gonna end in heartbreak. The Supergirl and Imra stuff I was kinda meh on, mostly because I don’t fully agree with Kara’s no kill policy, like if you can avoid it sure but it’s not always going to be avoidable and I could definitely see where Imra was coming on this one. Mon-El was meh, but what else is new. But yeah, overall not bad. I went straight into watching The Resident afterwards, which churned out another excellent episode. ah, it was all just so good with them dealing with their colleague who was suddenly in a dire state, and how they worked so hard to find the actual best way to save him. I totally loved the subplot with Mina and the new doctor, I love Mina so fucking much haha she’s totally brilliant and she knows it and I LOVE HER SO MUCH. That plot was pure hilarity, I very much hope the doctor guy chooses to stick around. All of the stuff with Nic was getting pretty creepy, but we’ve known that was the direction they were heading in since they’re up to some super sketchy stuff. The whole grocery confrontation thing was.....weird, very weird, but I guess it served its purpose of being creepy. After that I tried to get my roommate’s apple tv to work so I could watch Westworld, but it was not cooperating, so I decided to frost the cupcakes instead. I had gotten an icing bag a while back I wanted to try using, but it was being uncooperative and not letting me actually get the icing to the tip of it and I eventually just gave up and iced one cupcake by hand and figured I’d get to the rest of them when I actually want to eat them. So I ate the cupcake and some frosting out of the can because that shit’s good. I didn't want to jump into a long GoT episode, so I watched more of A Series of Unfortunate Events just as a filler show even though it hasn’t been my favorite lately. I think it somewhat has to deal with me not liking Neil Patrick Harris in this role?? Like I’ve always liked him before this but in this show he just kinda grates on me, and not in the way that like a good villain was, he just feels kind of ridiculous to me, even in a show that contains a lot of ridiculousness, it’s just not working for me. I do love the kids of course, they’re brilliant and lovely and even though I know this is the entire premise of the show I feel myself growing increasing frustrated that they still don’t have a safe place to live, which again I KNOW is the point of the show, but like, it’s getting old for me. So we’ll see how much longer I end up sticking with the show. After an episode of that I started to get ready for bed and now I’m here. Tomorrow I have an “evaluation” appointment with a new PT guy at a new PT place (it’s the same company as my old one, and it’s not even very far apart, they’re literally referred to as the [neighborhood name] North and [neighborhood name] South clinics, so it’s not that big of a change really. I’m getting moved to this one because they apparently have a person trained in the type of PT the doctor wanted me to try, so I guess we’ll see what comes of this. I should be doing better with my home exercises, so maybe this will help motivate me with that. and yeah, other than that I’ll hopefully get a civil rights outline and prep the rest of my stuff for the final on Wednesday, should be good. Alright, that’s all for now. Goodnight peeps. Stay chill.