#First time ever drawing omega I think I did pretty decent

[princeofheartsss]

Doodling shadow every day until Sonic 3 day 13

[thethespacecoyote]

Did the prompt for day 5 of the omegaverse challenge! “Protective instincts” with some semi-badass Rhys!

Rhys is very tired.

Being Jack’s PA can hardly be called a thankless job—the pay is better than anything he could’ve hoped for back when he was first interning, not even when he and Vaughn had high hopes not yet crushed by middle-of-the-pack drudgery—and honestly as much as common sense tells not to date one’s boss, Rhys feels it makes things easier. There’s no fear of airlock or random strangling or anything like that that hangs above the necks of everyone else who works at Helios. At this point, Rhys is a part of Jack—his right hand man, at this point crucial to his success and function as Hyperion’s apex alpha—and as cruel as Jack can be Rhys has a hopeful feeling he won’t harm someone he considers so intimately his.

But that doesn’t mean he can’t be an obtuse, self-centered asshole who fucks Rhys over on accident.  

Jack had “forgot” to tell Rhys they needed to put together a presentation for the surveyors they’d contracted to scour the woodlands of Meliae. Jack was working on a hunch, a rumor from settlers on the planet regarding the sap from the native trees. Apparently it’d provide excellent lube for Hyperion’s —and some other things, Jack had said with an eyebrow waggle—so all right, Rhys had spent all of last night doing research and slapping together a decently pretty presentation over a latte who’s foam had long collapsed in on himself. When he’d texted Jack thinly veiled annoyance, he’d only gotten a laugh and a barely comprehensible “inspiring” message that told him Jack was probably drinking.

Thankfully, the CEO had shown up to the late morning meeting with no sign of a hangover, unlike Rhys—who’d subsisted on a couple hours sleep and the dregs of his cold coffee and still managed to pull himself together under a crisp shirt and straight tie. Rhys didn’t know what he would’ve done if Jack hadn’t arrived.

“Wow, you look like crap.” Unfortunately Jack’s flippant remark and quick up-down of Rhys’ haggard state doesn’t exactly improve the omega’s mood.

“At least you’re being honest now….seriously, just say that, rather than the half-assed ‘motivation’ from last night.”

“Did I text you? Haha, whoops,” Jack brushes his hand over his head to emphasize. “Didn’t even remember. Last night got a little….fuzzy.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Rhys rubs the bridge of his nose, trying to ward off a building headache. Someday Cybernetics would figure out how to install something to inject pain meds directly into the brain.

The meeting hasn’t begun yet, but the representatives from the survey company are already milling about the door of the room, taking coffee and pastries from the table set up. A series of oohs and ahhs spring up as soon as Jack shows up with Rhys tailing behind him. No one talks to him, and for once he’s thankful of his fairly invisible position as Jack’s assistant. They’ll all have to listen to him present in a couple minutes anyway.

Rhys has the whole thing downloaded into his brain and honestly just wishes he could plug himself into the podium and have the whole thing present itself, but research says audiences respond better to a live human voice—though from the looks of it, these representatives won’t need too much convincing. Rhys folds his arms, watching the other men and women take turns lavishing Jack with all kinds of platitudes. He wonders if the presentation is even necessary, but they’re all gathered with catered breakfast anyway, so they might as well follow through with it.

Rhys’ stomach is gurgling, upset with only cold coffee to sustain it. He fists his hand into his shirt, trying to quell his twitching middle.

He considers grabbing a croissant or something from the table set up for the meeting, when he notices another one of the other company’s entourage approach Jack. Rhys’ nostrils flare, picking up on the softer scent characteristic of an omega. This isn’t unusual—smaller companies often bring along a conciliatory omega or two whenever they meet with Jack, to soften the alpha’s mood and maybe even swing the decision in their favor. Rhys doesn’t fully understand it this time, however, considering Hyperion is soliciting them for their services—so maybe this is just an overeager fan like the others?

That raises his hackles.

Rhys pauses and puts the croissant back down on the serving platter, redirecting back towards his boyfriend just in time to hear a snippet of their conversation.

“—would be an absolute pleasure to work with you, sir, really hope we can reach an understanding here—“

Boy. Rhys does not like that flirty tone in the omega’s voice. He stalks right up to the pair of them, hoping to catch a disapproving or disinterested look on Jack’s face, but to his horror he finds that his alpha has an easy smile that doesn’t go away even when Rhys moves next to him, his own expression tight. Jack nods in recognition but says little more as the omega continues. Rhys’ fingers clutch tighter against the fabric covering his stomach.

He feels he can hold his frayed nerves and frazzled instincts together, but then the omega reaches out and touches Jack’s face.

Rhys likes to think of himself as a fairly well-put together omega. Even though he’s dating the top alpha on the station, he doesn’t give into baser instincts—at least outside of the bedroom.

But seeing this omega touch Jack—with such obvious intentions and right in front of him, when it’s well known that he and Rhys are dating, just makes him snap.

He doesn’t realize what he’s doing until his teeth are buried into the omega’s hand, so he has no means to stop himself.

Rhys’ fangs aren’t particularly large, but they are sharp, and though he doesn’t usually bite people, especially not during work-hours, he’s almost surprised at how easily he pierces the flesh of the omega’s hand. The tips of his fangs dig in deep, splashing blood inside of his mouth as screams ring in his ears.

Something hard bashes against the side of his head, knocking his brain around and making his eyesight flash in little popping lights, but instead of coaxing him into relaxing his jaws he only bites down harder. His jaw locks into place as his eyes squeezes shut, all anger and frustration crunched out into the offending omega’s hand even as blows and scratches rain on his head—at least until a familiar roar of anger stops them.

Rhys shakes his head, still keeping his teeth clamped on the bleeding hand until he feels warm, steady pressure on both of his shoulders. His eyes remain closed until a soothing, musky scent starts to filter in from around the smell of blood and enemy omega, followed by a steady voice speaking right besides his head.

“C’mon sugar. Easy. Let’s let go now.”

Only after a couple more moments of calming words does Rhys’ finally unlock his jaw and let his fangs slid out of the omega’s hand. It instantly falls out of his mouth but Rhys no longer cares about the man he’s bitten as soon as he opens his eyes and saw Jack’s face.

He looks surprised.

Cries of indignation erupt from behind him as Jack straightens Rhys up by the shoulders. The CEO exchanges a couple heated words that melts into goo in Rhys’ ears as he tries to calm down. An angry slam of the door moments later, thankfully leaves them in silence and isolation, apart from Hyperion security who are so ever-present they may as well not even be there.

Jack lets out a low whistle, tune unreadable. Rhys flinches, feeling his hackles rise as the reality of what he’d just done weighs into him proper.

“Rhys.” Jack tries to start, but the omega shakes his head.

“No, don’t lecture me,” Rhys gasps, his voice tight as if drawn over Jack’s thigh, frayed by his boyfriend’s inconsideration. “You lumped all this crap on me last minute, then you’re over here flirting and I—I just—“

He drops his head, feeling stupid. He’d let his emotions, his instincts get the better of him for one moment. But one moment is all it takes for an omega on Helios, before one gets branded as jealous and shrill and incompetent and—

“You’re mine, you’re mine, I don’t want anyone else to have you, I—“

“Hey, baby, shh, shh shhh shhhh.” Jack’s fingers touch against his cheeks, a little more firmly than Rhys expected. His cheeks squish up slightly at the pressure, making him feel even more self-conscious of his childish outburst. But in all honesty it’s hard to feel too badly when Handsome Jack is paying all his attention to you and looking at you like you’re the most precious thing in the galaxy.

“Sorry…” Rhys mumbles, feeling the swollen tears in his eyes start to reach their breaking point. Jack’s thumbs swipe between his eyes though he’s not quite crying yet.

“Don’t, don’t sweetheart—“ Jack shuffles a little closer, their fronts brushing up against one another. “I should’ve—I didn’t think it was a big deal, but you were really obviously stressed and ready to snap, huh?”

Rhys chuckles dryly. His throat and nose feel filled with gunk.

“Was it that apparent?”

“Well, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you nearly take someone’s hand off. I mean, I didn’t know you in your youth—maybe theres a bunch of one-handed interns out there I don’t know about.”

“N-No, not many…or at least if there are, they’re not because of me…” Rhys sniffles, inhaling more of his alpha’s comforting aroma as Jack draws him closer. As much as he likes to downplay the whole animal side of his endotype, he can’t deny the calming effect that comes whenever Jack scented him.

“I’ve gotta be honest though.” Jack brushes his finger against Rhys’ lip, coming away with a smear of red on the tip. “Ripping into that other guy’s hand…that was pretty hot.”

“Means we’ll probably have to find another company to do the survey, though…”

“Eh, that’s cool. Honestly, I was thinking of just drumming up some volunteers and doing it in-house anyway.” Jack shrugs. “Some of these kids will do anything for a handshake and a lil’ bonus.”

“I-It’ll probably up costs to do that sort of training…” Rhys mumbles, only for Jack to lean in and press a kiss to his nose.

“Probably. But that’s all later talk, sugar. C’mon. Think my omega deserves a day-off of pampering for his little outburst.”

That sounds just about okay with Rhys.

[persianflaw]

a short cullrian rec list, for @starsinew but also for anyone else who enjoys good fic! this is mostly porn because i am a creature of simple tastes, and it’s pulled from my ao3 bookmarks from two years ago so it’s certainly not a complete list. i’ll try to remember to add my kink meme bookmarks later as well but they’re not as well organized so that will take longer. (anything in italics is over 10k words)

one, two, magic - flirting over chess leads to inappropriate usage of magic

always the quiet ones - [sequel to above] cullen is bad at sexy roleplay

three kisses - (~1k) dorian runs tests to see if he can help with cullen’s lyrium withdrawal

waking dream - (~1k) cullen realizes dorian is hot and jerks off about it

feathers - longfic (75k), haven’t read it since it came out so i don’t remember the plot but i assume it was good

leather and steel - cyberpunk / urban fantasy / shadowrun au fic

a-ma-tus - dorian accidentally calls cullen amatus and things get sappy

to beard the lion - medium length (24k), dark, unhealthy relationship, draws heavily from cullen’s characterization in da2 and his history as a templar

our prayer and proof of love - [sequels to above] (7k, 8k)i haven’t read these but presumably they’re the same tone as tbtl, so pretty dark

side effects - omegaverse au with alpha dorian and omega cullen

hypnagogia - (7k) a desire demon tries to tempt dorian by impersonating cullen

all the right places - (3.5k) cullen’s first time and dorian is sweet

wicked eyes - (1.5k) dorian finds a man and cullen finds his inner voyeur

wicked hearts - [sequel to above] (~1k) dorian sleeps around and cullen is Super Into It

a first time for everything - (3k) public affection is weird and confusing

the inescapable risk of intimacy - (29k) haven’t read this in a while either but i think it’s ust-centric

transfigurations - (1.5k) some good ol’ prayer fucking

a safe port in a storm - (20k) after the fall of haven, cullen gets half frozen and oh no how will he ever get warm ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

deep blue - (24k) they fuck, dorian catches feelings but cullen doesn’t. pretty sure this one has a sad ending so be forewarned

bounty - (10k) au; dorian is captured by a southern raiding band and ends up the prize in a tourney with a bunch of sweaty muscular men fighting over him

human sacrifice and mass hysteria - (2k) dorian has a soft side

not a terrible way to start the day - (~3k) morning sex

!! compelled by good alone !!- (74k) dorian helps wean cullen off of lyrium with literal healing cock !! this is a conditional rec!! the author took down the last ten or so chapters of the fic at some point with the intent of reworking them, but the fic has since been orphaned and marked as complete. it is a decent ending point and it’s still an amazing fic (just finished rereading it this morning) but i did want to note that before recommending it.

[lubdubsworld]

Hold me close ( Keep me warm ) ( Hoseok x OC)

Part 2 of the Mine till midnight Series. 

Part 1 is this  ===>Make it hurt. ( then Kiss it better )

Universe :   A/B/O Dynamics. <== Click this if you’re unfamiliar with the universe. 

pairing : hoseok x Oc

Setting : this is set in a small province near Daegu . unlike in the yoongi story there’s not a lot of progress for omegas here. They are mostly prostitutes or maids. The protagonist is a sex worker as well. omegas are sometimes bred in omega mills to be forced into prostitution. 

hoseok is a cop who thinks omegas should also be treated fairly. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

prologue

The first thing that strikes Hoseok when he steps into the alley, is that the small crowd gathered around the huge trash can is made up of all betas.

 No Alpha. 

It makes him heave a sigh of relief because he doesn't want to deal with an aggressive opponent at the moment. The gun at his waist was effective in most situations he faced but he didn't enjoy using it very much. the lack of scent from the onlookers may be the reason why her scent hits him like a two ton truck on the highway. 

It sweet and motherly. The scent of heated vanilla oil and sun-dried rose petals. He can feel long-buried instincts threaten to surface and he takes a deep shuddering breath and calms himself down.

"What the problem?" He says gruffly and the betas immediately pull away from the trash can. He can hear whimpers from inside and he feels his gut clench as the scent of fresh blood mingles with the smell of urine, trash and almost fully masks out the scent of rose and vanilla. Almost but not quite. 

"She's got a pup. It's male." One of the betas, a rather frumpy looking women hisses, her tone dripping  with fury. He can understand the vehemence. The woman was clearly sterile, evident from the small blue band on her wrist. No doubt the thought of an omega giving birth to a male pup is driving her insane.

"It can't be hers. She's obviously stolen it!" Someone else growls and Hoseok resists the urge to snarl. Most betas were ignorant but their arrogance never failed to startle. 

He pulls his badge and gun out and points at the trash can. All of you, leave now.

"She assaulted me!" A voice yells. " I want to file charges!!" 

Hoseok raises an eyebrow at that.

"The omega assaulted you?" He frowns. 

"Yes.. she has a knife." The man shouts. That makes Hoseok pause in surprise. What the hell?

"Let me take a look. If i decide she's too weak , you'll be the one facing charges instead. Is that okay?" He says coolly and the man immediately backs away, moving back and leaving along with the others . Hoseok takes a deep breath, removes the safety off his pistol and carefully inches to the trash can. 

When he flips it open, an inhuman sound comes out to hit him.

"i'm a cop!! " He quickly says, "You're safe..."

The woman...girl really, at the corner of the trash can is almost naked. There is, blood and grime all over her and she's clutching a knife, wild panic written all over her. She's small, even for an omega and her hair is matted with blood. It's the pup that catches his attention. The little baby is cradled between her thighs, right at the V of her legs and he feels nausea rise up when he realizes that she couldn't have given birth more than a few hours earlier. 

The blood and tissue remnants in her thighs and the surrounding surface of the trash can were clear signs. His heart clenches when he sees the birth cord from the baby's bellybutton still uncut, disappearing into her body. He swallows in disbelief and horror. What kind of a world was this, he thinks faintly. What the fuck kind of world was this , that did this to a young girl??

Trying to get his bearings , he pulls out his radio and quickly calls for help. 

Afterwards, he grips the edge of the trash can and gently lowers it to the ground. She panics for a second but when it's done he holds a hand out.

"Come here. I won't hurt you. We'll get help..." He says gently and she looks at his hand like it's a snake poised to strike. And then she swallows and shakes her head.

"The.. b-baby.."

"Okay. Wait a second." He quickly went to the back of his car got the first aid kit and returns, rubbing the knife in his hand with some rubbing alcohol before turning to her. She's still cowering, legs drawn up the baby held cautiously, wailing for milk, the bloody cord still connecting it to her. He's had enough training to know what to do. Slipping on gloves, he gently cuts the birth cord , ties it off in a knot and gently helps her expel the remnants of the cord and the placenta by pressing against her lower abdomen. He then helps her hold the baby against her chest, vaguely aware that her gaze is completely catatonic. She's in shock. 

Once the baby is secure against her body he pulls both of them into his arms and carries them to the squad car. 

The baby continues to wail and she finally blinks, staring at him in distress.

"i don't..klnow what to do.." She chokes out and he feels his stomach clench. 

"it's okay... Come here...I'll help you.." He says awkwardly, helping the baby nestle in  the crook of her elbow, mouth at level with her breast before leaning back. Afterwards it's smooth sailing. The baby easily finds the nub of the mother's nipple and latches on feeding voraciously. The omega whimpers a little and then quiets down, curling against the seat and slowly her eyes drift shut. Hoseok hesitates before pulling out both the neck pillows from the front seats and nestling them around the pup, to make sure it didn't fall.

He didn't have the heart to shake the omega awake. 

Fifteen minutes later the ambulance draws up and Jimin jumps out of the back door, looking worried. 

"I freaked out when Taehyung told me you'd called for medical help. Thought you got shot again." His friend said nervously and Hoseok shook his head.

"I found her in a trash can . She's unclaimed and clearly gave birth just a few hours ago." 

Jimin grimaces in genuine sympathy.

"Can't have been easy for her.Come on let's get her to the hospital." 

"Where's Tae? isn't he supposed to be helping you?" 

"He's stuck with an emergency case at the hospital. Don't worry I'll be fine. Is she conscious?"

"She fell asleep but i checked her for injuries and well, she doesn't seem to be hurt otherwise." Hoseok says firmly, as he watches Jimin, gently reach out and stick his pinky fingers against the baby's suckling mouth, freeing the omega's nipple. Hoseok holds his breath waiting for the pup to start wailing again but he doesn't , sucking on air for a few seconds before happily nuzzling into Jimin's embrace.

"That's a beautiful sturdy pup. Fathered by an Alpha no doubt." Jimin says firmly. Hoseok glances down at the omega who is now fully asleep, mouth slightly open, buried in his coat which he'd draped over her. Hobi gives him a little nudge. 

"She's pretty. Are you sure she's unclaimed..." He says confused. Hoseok nods. As a beta , Jimin wouldn't be able to sense whether an omega was unclaimed or not. Hoseok feels both envy and sympathy for his friend. 

"She's unclaimed. But I'm more surprised that she's managed to birth a male pup. Alphas don't sleep with Omegas. " He says frowning. It could be rape, he supposes, but alphas were rare . Very rare . And very coveted. They seldom had to go about committing rape. Beta women would always be willing to warm an alpha's bed. Omegas were generally considered worthless. They were weak, easily influenced, malleable. A definite liability. Most of them worked as housemaids or prostitutes. A few of them were claimed omegas, claimed either by a client in the heat of the moment or by their employers. A claimed omega would have a modicum of protection because whether they wanted to or not, Alpha's tended to be very protective and territorial of their omegas. 

It was the unclaimed ones, like the one currently lying in the ambulance, that ended up getting the short end of the stick. 

Recently the government had made a clear rule that any unclaimed omega birthing an omega would have the pup confiscated if the pup were an omega. It would probably bring down the omega population drastically. Most of the omegas were unclaimed after all, and omegas were only ever born to other omegas. 

"You okay, Hoseok?" Jimin says, strapping himself in after checking the omega's vital's one last time.

"Yeah...there's no report to file so I'll probabaly head home. "

"Should I let you know what happens to her?" Jimin says casually, already monitoring the pup who was beginning to stir. 

Hoseok thinks about it for a second.

"No." He says firmly, before turning around and walking back to the car. 

Chapter 1

 The air was stale, fetid and it made me want to stick a finger inside my throat and puke all of my insides out. Trembling a bit, more fear than cold, i burrowed a bit further into the huge coat and breathed in the comforting grounding smell of the Alpha who had rescued me. I didn't know his name, only that he smelled like something that made me want to smile and cry at the same time. 

But he had left his coat behind with me and the scent that lingered behind was enough to keep other alphas and betas away. I had my pup nestled deep into a small makeshift carrier, tied tight around my back and shoulders. I had named him Yunsu. The Alpha had left an impression on my son as well, and the little one wailed any time I took him away from his coat. 

Sighing, I tried to focus on the task at hand. I had started working again and somehow, the alpha's scent helped me get clients who were a bit more decent than the usual ones. Most of them thought I was just a house wife looking for some fun and not an actual prostitute. And that made them treat me a little more gently than usual. But it was okay. I was set for the next week or so. All I had to do was buy some supplies for Yunsu , diapers and some baby formula and i could stay off the streets for a few days. The convenience store was about nine blocks away from the small apartment I stayed at, and the distance was covered , on foot easily. But i still felt jittery and nervous.

To make matters worse, Yunsu was an Alpha. I was proud. Of course i was. I'd been so terrified he would be an omega. Male omegas were considered abominations. He would have been killed in the streets once he presented. But as an Alpha my son would be revered. Worshipped almost. But the problem was, no one would believe that an Omega , and unmated omega would give birth to an Alpha. 

Three times, last week I'd been stopped and questioned by some patrol men for carrying a male pup. If it hadn't been for the Alpha's scent , I was pretty sure Yunsu would have been taken away from me. 

Which meant that I was in trouble now. I had to find the alpha again and ... I don't know, maybe request a few more items of clothing? Or ask him to mark me. Marks could last for months. But i didn't know his name. Didn't even know where he lived or worked. He was a cop but then almost all Alphas were cops. It was one of the best professions for temperamental, violent men who couldn't really control their own strength. I cowered a bit at the thought of falling into the wrong hands after the Alpha's scent faded. 

The convenience store was relatively empty and I was grateful that no other Alpha was in sight. I moved slowly, wary of waking Yunsu who had a very loud mouth on him once he woke up. I barely finished paying for the purchases and bagging my things before the scent came in, wildly enticing and completely surprising. 

"That's an Alpha. What are you doing with an Alpha pup?" 

The beta's slow drawl made my entire body bend in defense. It was a physical reaction, something beyond my control and yet i felt terrified , burying myself deeper into the coat. 

"I.. I.." I stopped when Yunsu stirred . I quickly, balanced him, wrapped an arm around him and he peeped over the fabric of the carrier to growl lightly at the Beta, a slender women in probabaly her early twenties. She was accompanied by three or four other women , all betas. The look of contempt on her face was so obvious, the disgust emanating from her almost tangible as she stared at me. 

"Wait... why is that scent so familiar ?" One of the ladies said suddenly and then froze. The beta who had confronted me suddenly rounded on me, eyes blazing. 

"You filthy little whore...Were you with Hoseok?" She snarled and reached for my throat. i reacted instinctively , pulling Yunsu closer and dropping to my knees, curling my body in a way that would make sure he would be spared the impact of the blow, if the woman hit me. What were the odds of this woman actually knowing the kind Alpha who had helped me. Another thought struck me and I deflated further. Was the woman , his mate? He had smelled like a mated Alpha. 

"Sowon, wait. The pup smells like him too..." One of the woman said and she stopped, sniffing the air again. 

"Impossible. Jung Hoseok would never touch an omega with a ten feet pole. Let alone father a pup with this filth..." She spat at my feet and I felt some of my bravado return. 

"That's none of your business. Leave me alone..." I said nervously.

"Not if you're running around with a kidnapped pup. there's no way trash like you could bear a male pup. An Alpha , at that!!" Sowon growled. I glared at her. 

"It's my pup... Leave me alone!!" I said angrily, feeling my inner omega begin to whine in protest at the threat. Sweat was beginning to gather on my hairline. 

"Call the police..." One of the women said quickly and I froze.

"Wait..no..." I said panicking. Police officers were always Alphas and while Hoseok ( was that his name?) had been kind not all Alphas were. Especially not to an omega who wasn't mated. I panicked, pulled Yunsu closer and the pup felt my distress, reacted by mewling into the curve of my neck. I stayed crouched while one of them pulled out her phone and dialled quickly. It was horrible, having to stay low in front of women who were definitely not good people. 

I hadn't done anything wrong. You don't choose your biology. I was born an omega. I hadn't chosen it. But I would eternally be punished for it. 

When the squad car pulled up I could feel myself shrinking further while Yunsu started growling. A natural reaction to another Alpha. Even though he wasn't even a year old, his instincts were strong. I stayed low while the man made his way over. He was mated but clearly a mature alpha and my body began to tremble in submission even when he was a few dozen feet away. The betas began preening at once , standing straighter, pushing their breasts out provocatively as they stared at him. 

"What's going on here?" He said roughly and I wanted to close my eyes and never wake up. 

"Officer, we think she's got a kidnapped Alpha pup... " Sowon said swiftly and the Alpha made his way closer. His breath caught in his throat and nostrils flared , Irises turning red momentarily and I swallowed. He was about the same age as Hoseok. Late twenties or early thirties, with pewter colored hair and slanted eyes. He was tall, built lean and strong and I dropped my gaze quickly when he came to stand in front of me. 

"Are you a house wife?" He said briskly and I almost lied.

"No..." I admitted finally. 

"Whose pup is it then?" He said softly. 

"Mine.." I said stubbornly and Yunsu growled. The man's face softened a bit. 

"He's an alpha...? Where is his father?" He said quietly. And then he reached out and lightly grabbed my upper arms, lifting me to my feet. I stumbled a little, quickly balancing Yunsu against my chest. 

"He's not.." I stopped , biting my lips in distress. 

"I'm sorry. You know the rules, you can't have an Alpha pup without an Alpha mate. You're going to have to come to the station. We will contact your pup's father and sort this out." 

I stopped breathing for a second. 

"No..No.. you don't understand... he..." 

"No arguments. It's the rule. You're going to have to come with me." He said briskly. I could feel protest building up inside me at the unfairness of it all , but my body rejected the idea of antagonizing an Alpha, so I nodded and followed him to the squad car. He actually helped me in, which was surprising in itself. Once I was settled down he started the car and then turned around to offer me a smile.

"Are you a friend of Hoseok's?" He said casually and I blinked in surprise. 

"Uh... I'm not.." I said nervously.

"It's just that, I know that coat. i bought it for him last Christmas." He laughed. 

I gripped the coat tighter and he chuckled a bit.

"Hoseok's my cousin. At first i thought you may have stolen it, but it's worth a few hundred dollars. If you'd stolen it for money you would have sold it by now, right? I'm guessing you're wearing it to mask your unmated scent?" He said thoughtfully.

I swallowed.

"You're very smart." I said finally. 

"I'm a detective. I kind of have to be. I'm Kim Namjoon by the way. And don't worry, I won't try to contact your pup's father if you don't want me to." He said kindly. I felt relief flood me in a whoosh. 

"Thank you..i..."

"But you would have to enroll in one of our omega protection Programs. Many NGOs work to find you employment. You can get yourself hired in a nice Alpha household with.."

"No.. !! No! I...I'm fine by myself . Please, I don't want to be in any program..."

"I'm sorry...It's either that or contacting your Alpha. " He said apologetically and I bit my lips in frustration. How could I explain to this a man who had likely never been threatened by anything in the world. All these so called Omega Protection Programs were nothing more than preying fields for the rich and powerful.

 You were never safe until an Alpha actually claimed and mated you. Made you his own. Bile rose in my throat at the thought of becoming yet another Omega in the system, exploited and used by rich Alphas who were too ugly or old to attract beta mates. At least , alone, I could pick and choose who I allowed to touch me. 

"I wasn't doing anything wrong.." I tried to keep the tears of frustration at bay but failed. "I was only buying food for my baby..." 

He didn't say anything to that and i sank further into the seat, absently turning around to bury my nose into the lining of the coat, sniffing the calming scent of the Alpha. It was a little faint now but still there, and it calmed and grounded in a way that was, come to think of it, a little dangerous. i couldn't become dependent on something like that. 

The police station was huge and the confusing scent of too many Alphas was enough to give any omega a headache. Sighing i huddled a bit more, Yunsu, nestled in my arms, his baby head stuck out comically as he peered all around with warm brown eyes that were full of eager curiosity. 

"Wait here." Namjoon made me sit in a small enclosure and I dropped my gaze quickly when no less than four Alphas crowded around me, all looking very curious, teeth bared and nostrils flaring. 

After what felt like an eternity a very familiar and soothing smell reached me and I felt my bones melt with relief when I caught sight of the Police Officer from five months ago. He looked as handsome as ever, dark brown hair combed neatly and his perfect skin glowing as he stared at me, pleased recognition on his face. 

"Oh, hello there. Nice to see you again." He smiled by and I was struck by how handsome he looked. Not bulky, but strappingly tall and intimidating the way most Alphas looked but  also with a rather  quiet sort of strength which fairly radiated from him. 

More protective than aggressive. 

"Hello. " I said, not sure what else to say. 

"where's the little imp i saw that night? Ahh...there you are...!!" 

Hoseok lifted the pup out of my arms and Yunsu went wild, nipping and nuzzling Hoseok's neck with exhausting fervor making the Alpha laugh loud . Namjoon raised an eyebrow and most of the other alphas looked very curious as well as they stared at the pair. When he had the pup firmly nestled against his chest he turned to give me a smile.

"There's some forms you just need to fill out, don't worry about it. i'll sign a witness form that your Alpha is no longer in the picture. We'll get you a formal certificate that you're the sole custodian for this little terror. He's very active. A first class Alpha in every way. "

There was a hint of pride in Hoseok's tone, almost like the pup was his and I flushed.

"that would be a great help, Alpha." i said politely and he made a noise of impatience. 

"Please call me Hoseok." He said easily," Jung kook , why don't you take..." He stopped and stared at me, " i never got your name..." 

I blinked, hesitant. The truth was i didn't have one. 

"I don't... have one. " 

Hoseok frowned.

"I'm sorry?"

"I was born in an Omega mill. We weren't given names." I said quietly. "I was called Nabi." I offered. 

"Butterfly?" He said in English and the words were foreign on his tongue,his  wrapping around the sounds in a way that was rather beautiful. The way he said it made heat lick upwards from my stomach to my throat. his heated gaze lingering on my neck for a split second before he turned away. 

I nodded.

"Okay. Jung kook will work that out. Go ahead..." He said. " I'll take care of this little one." Yunsu yelped when Hoseok nuzzled his head against the pups soft belly. 

I hesitated but I could tell that Yunsu trusted Hoseok and my own instincts were telling me that Hoseok was one of the good guys, though I hadn't met a whole lot of those. Taking the arm that jung kook offered, I slowly followed him to the end of the corridor , through a small hallway into a nice big office. jung kook made me sit in front of a huge oak desk and went behind another door to fetch a bunch of forms. The next hour or so was spent carefully filling out a bunch of forms. Most of the questions were easy and monotonous almost.

About half way through , Hoseok came in , standing behind me and watching Jung kook fill out the form. He kept a steady stream of instructions , helping out anytime I hesitated while filling the info.

"occupation." Jung kook smiled and i flinched. 

"uh..."

"it's okay. Leave it blank. " Hoseok said at once and i suddenly felt acutely embarrassed. i wished i had been anything but a prostitute but that was what I was. Hoseok lightly squeezed my shoulder and then said some other stuff to jung kook about forms and clauses and I sat still . 

Once it was done, they both signed and sealed the paper. 

"This should be processed in about two weeks and-"

"By tomorrow." Hoseok interrupted and Jung kook  blinked. " I'll go get it signed from the Captain, personally and drop it off at your place tomorrow. Why don't you tell me your address." He looked at me and I quickly wrote it down on a piece of paper. 

"it's getting late. Let me take you and your pup to dinner..." Hoseok said brightly 

i panicked. 

"You don't have to do that , I..."

"I want to." Hoseok said curtly. " Come on..." He smiled encouragingly and there was really nothing else to say. 

We stopped for dinner at a small diner and Hoseok balanced Yunsu on his lap before ordering rapidly. He was clearly a regular and the waitress, a pretty blonde beta with grey eyes couldn't stop staring at him. 

"Didn't know you were seeing someone Hoseok.." She drawled, after delivering our orders and shooting me a glare. 

"Just a friend of mine, Sowon. Where's Yerin?" He smiled.

"Out with friends..."

Hoseok frowned. 

"It's almost eight. Shouldn't she be home by now..." He shook his head but waved Sowon away, before turning to me. " Yerin was one of the kids we rescued from an Omega auction last year. She's seventeen now and i helped her elder sister, Sowon here, and Yerin get an apartment and a job. Yerin goes to school now. Tell me a bit about yourself. " He said with a smile and i felt admiration bloom inside me . it was rare to see an Alpha sticking up for omegas. 

"It's nice. I... I don't have a family. it's just me an Yunsu now." I said with a shrug. 

"His father?" He said bluntly and i shrugged. 

"He was one of the guys running the mill. It's based in Daegu... He used to pimp me out to a few of the rich guys in Daegu...When he found out i was pregnant he wanted me to get rid of it, so I ran." I said softly. 

Hoseok frowned. 

"Daegu? I thought most of the mills there were closed." He said , eyebrows furrowed in concentration. i shook my head. 

"there's a lot of drugs and omega and even pup prostitution there... It's worse when one of the omegas get pregnant. There's... tests to check if the baby in the stomach is an alpha or omega. They kill the betas and the Alpha pups, but they send the omega pups back into the ring, for pornography right from when they're three or four years old.." I said, hands shaking a little as buried memories surfaced. 

Hoseok had stopped eating and was now staring at me in disbelief. 

"What the actual fuck? Are you serious? How come I've never heard about this shit..." He looked stunned .  

"It's an underground thing. A lot of really important people are ...the clients, you know. They're very careful about keeping the cops out." i said softly. 

"Do you still have any contact with them?"

I froze. I didn't want to go back there. The look on Hoseok's face was scary on so many levels. 

"it's alright. you're safe. I won't put you in harm's way..." He said suddenly, reaching out and wrapping an arm around me and I felt my breath catch as his scent hit me deep and hard. He pulled away at once but his scent lingered and I felt a bit drugged. 

"I do know the place. it's in Daegu..." i said nervously, unwilling to get involved. it had taken me such a long time to manage to escape the place. i had no intention of being sucked into that again. 

"Okay. Don't worry about it. Listen, my cousin...you met him right? Him and his omega have an apartment in my building. Would you like to stay with them tonight? there's some stuff i want to check out and I would rather you stay somewhere safe while i get things done. Seokjin's a great guy, he'll take good care of you and Yunsu." He said firmly. That made me frown. Namjoon's omega was a male? I felt like I'd fallen into a rabbit-hole. Apparently in Hoseok's world omega's weren't treated like filth.

"It's alright. You don't have to..." i said nervously but Hoseok waved it off.

"It's no trouble. You look really drained, I'd rather you don't return back to the streets like this." He said firmly. " Just for a few days. Then you can leave , if you still want to." He smiled. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Namjoon's apartment was big enough to fit ten of mine. i stood outside, stunned, while Hoseok took his shoes off and held the door open. He had a key and i realized he must be a frequent visitor here. 

"Hoseok, you better not have brought a guest without telling me!!" A loud voice called out and the next second a breathtakingly beautiful man came into view wearing a soft pink sweater and white jeans. He had strawberry blonde hair and cotton candy pink lips, pouty and full , with huge brown eyes. I stared with my jaw slightly unhinged. He was the most gorgeous omega I'd ever seen. 

He looked at me and his face split into a wide smile.

"Oh hello there!! Namjoon just told me... Are you the one our Hoseok fell in love with five months ago? He couldn't shut up about you for a whole month. " He laughed and I stopped, surprised. 

Next to me, Hoseok went red. 

"what the hell, Kim Seokjin, I'm going to kill you!!" He hissed, stumbling over the threshold and launching himself on the bigger omega. I smiled hesitantly before Seokjin peeled away from Hoseok and held his hands out for Yunsu.

"Give me that little cutie and come in. Sit down. " He cooed and Yunsu frowned only for a second before happily hugging the omega and tickling his neck with his nose. I felt a little smile tug on my lips when i noticed that Hoseok avoided meeting my eyes. Had he mentioned me to his friends? I felt oddly flattered and shy at the same time. i looked around and sat down on one of the chairs. 

"Hoseok lives on the apartment overhead. You can stay there if you like . He has more room.." Seokjin had a teasing smile on his face and Hoseok growled at the back of his throat. 

"Please don't mind my immature hyung. He's a grown ass man but has the personality of a ten year old. " Hoseok shook his head in disgust and i smiled at him. 

"i don't mind." i said cheerfully and Seokjin cooed again.

"You're adorable. No wonder our Hoseok was charmed. Anyway, I already made dinner. i just Namjoon to get some wine for us. We'll have dinner and I'll fix the guest bedroom for you. Will Yunsu be okay on the bed.?" Seokjin smiled and I nodded. 

Namjoon returned about ten minutes later and afterwards I just sort of sat there in the chair, observing the rest of them. they were clearly very close to each other, especially Namjoon and Seokjin who touched each other frequently and well, tender little grazes that let me know how much they loved each other. they were clearly mated and the scent of soft peaches hung all around them wherever they moved.

 Hoseok sat on the floor, balancing Yunsu on his knee, laughing each time the pup tried to sit up and rolled away in failure. But Hoseok was encouraging and Yunsu was persistent and before we knew it a whole two hours had passed with Hoseok and Yunsu playing on the floor while Jin fixed dinner and Namjoon kept a steady stream of chatter through the house. 

I felt oddly out of place but at the same time, welcome. Especially by Hoseok who kept telling me things about Yunsu like I didn't know them already. Little phrases like , ' he's really persistent'. ' he's stubborn too.' 'he's trying to sit up.' ' he's got knobby knees.'. It was odd, watching someone else take so much pride and joy in Yunsu's little actions. 

Dinner was literally the most delicious meal I'd ever had. I ate embarrassingly fast, but Jin seemed content to sit next to me and keep feeding me extra helpings. When we were done, Hoseok and Namjoon disappeared to the study with a glass of wine each and Jin hoisted Yunsu into his lap and led me to the balcony of the apartment. I followed quietly noting the beautiful koi pond in the corner and the many different plants. 

Yunsu began dozing off and Jin sighed contently, stretching out on the lawn chair and i settled on the small love seat nearby. 

"Hoseok is a nice guy. He told me about your circumstances. I'm very sorry you had to meet such terrible people in life. " jin said somberly and i smiled at the beautiful omega. 

"It's alright. I'm glad i could meet you tonight. It gives me hope, somehow, seeing you so happy. I used to think that all omegas are cursed. But clearly some of us are happy." I smiled and Jin wrinkled his nose. 

"I wish I had some tale of woe to make you feel better. i was just lucky. My parents are rich and Namjoon was a family friend. We've known each other from childhood. i was a male omega so they lost no time getting me mated the moment i turned sixteen. But it helped that Namjoon liked me. Loved me even. He's kept me safe and happy." Jin smiled . 

I nodded. It was funny but true. omegas didn't really crave money, or wealth or a career. A mate and happy home usually was enough to keep us happy. 

"Hoseok is..." i stopped suddenly embarrassed. i had no business talking about him to Jin. 

"Mated? You can smell him right? He was actually. Mated to namjoon's sister. She was a beta, a year older than Hoseok. But then.. she died four years ago in an accident. Hoseok's never been the same afterwards., He used to be really talkative and funny but now he's just a little too somber for my taste. But he's healing. These things take time after all. So none of us really talk to him about it. "

in other words don't bring it up. 

i nodded, feeling an oddly painful twinge in my heart at the thought of someone like Hoseok losing a mate. He had been so caring to me, a stranger. i could only imagine how much he must have loved her. 

Suddenly the entire situation stuck me as surreal. Today morning i'd been in my crumbling apartment with no money to buy food. But here I was in a penthouse , tonight. What was happening? Why had Hoseok brought me here? He didn't have to, did he? 

The Daegu omega ring. 

He'd wanted to investigate that. 

of course. 

Somehow in the course of the night, I'd forgotten why i was here. 

Hoseok only wanted my help with doing his job. I had to keep that in mind. 

COMMENTS ARE LOVE! I FINALLY GOT AROUND TO WRITING A HAPPY HOSEOK FIC...I WANTED TO DO THIS SO BADLY...ALL THE FLUFF FOR MY HOBI.... 

[some-sort-of-sidewalk-slam]

The Big Wrestle Kingdom 12 Thoughts Post

Some spoiler-free thoughts before we get into specifics under the cut. I thought it was an overall excellent show. This is the second Wrestle Kingdom I've ever watched, and while I thought 11 was better, I still think this is probably going to be the best wrestling show of the year, and I feel sorry for the Royal Rumble having to follow it later this month. I thought the undercard matches, especially the various tag matches, were better than 11's, but the major singles bouts were not quite as good. I did like the end of the main event because it makes me curious and interested for the future, and it was also just a fantastic match to boot. The Junior Heavyweight Championship four-way match was probably my favorite of the night, though the NEVER Openweight Championship and United States Championship came damn close to being my favorites. I wouldn't say there were any bad matches on the card per se, but a couple of them were disappointing for various reasons, which I'll get into in the spoilery section. Considering this was a four hour show (five if you include the pre-show rumble, which I didn't watch), I was entertained the whole way through, which is no small feat. Get New Japan World and watch this show.

I'm going to go through this match-by-match, and give a sort of general summary at the end.

Match 1: Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships- Roppongi 3K vs The Young Bucks

I should note that I'm generally not a fan of the Bucks, but they really impressed me here. Sho and Yo are a team I'm not super familiar with but I saw two of their matches before this and I was on board with them almost immediately. So I was expecting this match to be like... fine. Not great, but not bad. Just fine. But color me surprised, this is probably the best Young Bucks match I've ever seen. They set up a storyline pretty early in the match where one member of each team had a back injury and they would struggle with doing certain moves that require a lot of lifting. It's simple stuff but it's effective nonetheless. The only downside I found is the result. I'm not sure The Young Bucks needed a 7th run with the belts this soon, and I feel like they were wasting some of the momentum that Roppongi 3K had built from their strong debut. I only hope that this is the start of a larger feud that sees Sho and Yoh reclaiming the belts.

Match 2: NEVER Openweight Six-man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet Match 

This match was a mess, but a fun one. It's still one my least favorite matches on the card, mostly because it doesn't feel like a lot of care went into the booking. Trent getting the pin was a good for him and a good sign that his transition into the heavyweight division is going to go pretty well, but he didn't actually do a lot of wrestling. I mostly remember him breaking up a lot of pins. It was nice to see War Machine again, especially considering it's rumored that this is their last match with New Japan. Wasn't crazy about them teaming with Elgin, though. Like, visually it makes sense but ever since I read the news that he's a dong in real life, I've gotten real hesitant to watch him. I also don't feel like Suzuki-Gun brought their A-game. Aside from finding Zack Sabre Jr. a boring wrestler, I feel like they should have maybe replaced Iizuka with El Desperado or something to have some more athleticism. Also a side note: in the graphic for Taguchi's team, it said David Finlay was on the team, whereas it was actually Juice Robinson in that spot.

Match 3: Cody vs Kota Ibushi Special Match

I think this is my least favorite match on the card, which kind of hurt because Kota Ibushi is in it. I put this mostly on Cody's shoulders, who has slowly started to become one of the most embarrassing acts on the indies. He left WWE with all the hype in the world, and everyone was so excited to see the creativity and in-ring prowess that he wasn't allowed to show. But then he just sort of became a cog in the Bullet Club machine, who is a shockingly average wrestler, and gets pissy at Roman Reigns on Twitter. Brandi calling everyone who doesn't think she's the most attractive woman in wrestling “marks” while on the way to the ring really set the scene for this slightly mediocre match with an admittedly impressive Cross Rhodes off the apron onto the floor. If you can't have a good match with Kota frigging Ibushi at goddamn Wrestle Kingdom, you might not be as good as you say you are, Cody.

Match 4: IWGP Tag Team Championship- Killer Elite Squad vs EVIL and SANADA

I wasn't super hot for this match in the beginning. Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. are both really big dudes who are excellent at being dominant powerhouses, which was definitely the case in this match. I do admit to being slightly annoyed at how long SANADA spent on his back while Archer and Davey Boy kicked the hell out of him. SANADA and EVIL's strengths are sudden explosions of athleticism, which was good counter to KES's slow style. SANADA and EVIL didn't get to do as much as I would have liked in this match, but they got some great moments to shine, and I think putting the title on them was a good move.

Match 5: NEVER Openweight Championship Hair vs Hair Match- Minoru Suzuki vs Hirooki Goto

This match was rad from start to finish. There wasn't a lot of flashy stuff in it, but flashy is not the strong suit of either of these guys. This was an old-fashioned, no-nonsense fight. Minoru Suzuki looked like the monster he is, coming out of most exchanges on top. But slowly but surely, Goto managed to make comeback after comeback. It's a pretty simple story of an underdog overcoming a powerful adversary, but as I said before, simple storytelling works. The whole match was stiff and powerful, as expected, and they told a hell of a story through the match. It built to an excellent crescendo of Goto hitting a backwards and then a proper GTR for a well-earned victory. I also very much enjoyed the moment where Suzuki walked away from his faction to shave his own hair. It's a character-defining moment that shows that even sadistic heels like Minoru Suzuki still have a sense of honor.

Match 6: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Four-Way Match- Marty Scurl vs Will Ospreay vs KUSHIDA vs Hiromu Takahashi

This is probably my favorite match of the night. It was fast-paced, exciting, full of storytelling, and had some frankly ridiculous spots. I loved watching the storylines between KUSHIDA and Hiromu, Ospreay and Scurl, and even Ospreay and Kushida, all woven through this match, with a sprinkling of excellently devious heel tactics from Scurl. Seeing what he's capable of, I refuse to believe that Will Ospreay is a human being. He has to be some sort of human/cat hybrid or something. Seeing KUSHIDA incorporate some of Hiromu's moves into his own is a great callback to their feud. Probably my favorite moment was the brief unspoken alliance between Ospreay and Scurl. I think I would have preferred Scurl to retain here, but I would have been 100% fine with anyone winning this match, and I think this way Opsreay and Scurl can continue to have a one-on-one feud, which is always exciting.

Match 7: IWGP Intercontinental Championship- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Switchblade Jay White

I missed the build to this match but the video package did a decent job explaining the kayfabe reason for this match. What I can't understand is the out-of-kayfabe reason for it. His character is supposed to be an assassin of some kind? Or at least some sort of violent dude with a knife fetish. I do like that he's not part of any factions. It helps sell the lone wolf thing he's got going on. But once he takes off the leather coat and knife necklace, he just sort of looks like a scrawny dweeb. He just doesn't have the experience to carry a big feud like this yet. They want to make Jay White a big deal right off the bat by putting him up against Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom but I had a really hard time believing it. He's a pretty good in-ring worker, and he had some pretty good smack-talk in the ring, but this was not a Wrestle Kingdom-worthy performance.

Match 8: IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Match- Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho

This was probably the biggest draw for most of us Western fans. To see Chris Jericho in a New Japan Pro Wrestling ring, and wrestling one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, was something we all wanted to see. And... I wish I liked it more than I did. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was very good, and the biggest reason that I wasn't a fan of it wasn't the fault of the performers or the match. I'm just generally not a fan of weapons and hardcore brawls, which the first part of this match definitely was. I understand that it was an important part of the match's story that needed to happen. It's Jericho's American brawling style contrasted with the second half of the match, which was done in Omega's cleaner Japanese style. Despite the stuff I didn't like about it, it was still a phenomenal match that told an awesome story.

Match 9: IWGP Heavyweight Championship- Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito

The one for all the marbles. This match had a lot to live up to, having to not only follow last year's 6-star main event, but also the four-year build of the Tetsuya Naito storyline development. This one was a conflicting one.  First thing's first: it was not better than last year's main event, but that was going to be hard to top so I'm not holding that against it. The match was excellent in its own right. I watched it in stunned silence as it built to its crescendo, watch two of the best wrestlers in the world go at each other. But the finish was conflicting. On one hand, it felt like it made narrative sense for Naito to finally win the belt at Wrestle Kingdom, as a glorious payoff for a four-year storyline, and having Okada retain instead feels kind of like wasted potential. On the other hand, the impression I get from the promo Okada gave after the match, and the way Naito smiled as he walked away from the match is that this story is not over. I, personally, thought the ending was fine. If nothing else, it intrigued me for what's coming next.

Wrap up

Wrestle Kingdom 12 was a spectacular show. It had some hiccups, as all wrestling shows generally do. I enjoyed 11 more because I liked its last three matches better. But 12 had better undercard matches, and I understood more of the stories going into it because I've actually been watching some of the stuff leading up to it. If nothing else, this confirms to me without a doubt that New Japan is the best wrestling in the world. The match quality is so high, the stories so effectively told, even in a language that I don't speak. Pro wrestling is so goddamn cool, and New Japan is the best place to watch it. If there was anything you wanted to convince you, let this be it. Start watching New Japan Pro Wrestling. It's so worth your time.

[ftpbtw-gbf]

6.5 week update

account start date: 1/31/2019

Table of contents:

General progress

Grids/Weapons

Characters/teams

Summons

Other notes

General Progress

I’ve been working on clearing out those arca badges while collecting screenshots for this update so those numbers will be a tad off.

For what it’s worth, evidence that I’ve never pulled from the gacha still:

compare with the free draws for the current anniversary event:

I haven’t used the weapon ticket yet, but I think it’s fair game to do so. Haven’t decided what to use it on, however I’m not in a rush since it’ll be around probably longer than I plan to play this account famous last words. 

Probably a grimnir harp though, since we have two xenos coming up in just a week or two (and I don’t need to grind either of them for my other accounts).

Story wise, ch 63 is a major moment, both in terms of the story and what becomes available.

 After ch 63 there are only a small handful of important, but not crucial raids to be unlocked, namely primarchs and huanglong/qilin. There are two pretty good story characters as well that I have not unlocked yet, however I wanted to take time to develop grids to be able to better tackle some of the upcoming story fights without relying on pots and the retry bonuses (which I did use for a few earlier story battles).

Working through arca as I mentioned. I should be on track to recruit monica as early as next week, assuming I’m not screwed over by some encounters. I did just clear my first hard mode puppet boss and it was a slog, but I did make it through. I’ll talk more about it later, but water and dark still feel exceptionally weak even though their grids are roughly on par with my other elements. Some of it is character related, but I haven’t been particularly scientific about it yet.

Grids/Weapons

imgur album of grids

The above grids are specifically for mechanic teams for each element. Since I’m collecting arca points for monika, I have not bought a water arca gun and am just hoping one will drop when I get to Bellator path (there’s a decent enough chance at it anyway).

Between freebies and good luck with drops, I have mostly workable if not 100% meta base grids, now only requiring skill levels to finish off.

I’ve intentionally slotted hp weapons into many of my grids. The prevailing philosophy of many high ranked players is to go all in on offense and ignore hp,but that’s never really sat well with me. “Punch it harder,” has never really been a feasible short term solution to a battle that new players might struggle with. Additionally, many of the grids above already have 5-6 magna atk mod weapons so I found space to include hp weapons so that I’m not investing in atk weapons that would eventually be victim to “diminishing returns,” not that I’ve ever really heard a satisfying explanation for that in gbf context.

As of the time of publishing this, there are still no freely available earth ex weapons pre-hHL

Some more notes on other specific weapons:

Can probably get most of these up a few more uncaps by now, but I’ve been neglecting them a bit.

Picked up two axes last gw before realizing I should instead be getting these, so I switched over and managed to grind out enough boxes to mlb this one and have one 0* extra. 

Still a tad on the fence whether or not I want to actually make any eternals on this account or not, but I’m starting to lean towards yes. That being the case, I originally started grabbing axes because Sarasa is always a great starter choice, but Quatre and Six might be better options to bolster elements that have weak ftp char options. Earth isn’t doing amazingly better than dark and water, but enough so that I’m not struggling with water enemies in arca like I am with fire and light foes.

Through perseverance, good timing on the addition of the Love Live collab to side stories and otherwise good free fire chars, I was able to grind out an mlb windhose. The FLB step requires elemental centrums and urns, that I don’t have access to pre-HL, so for now, it stays mlb.

Pre-HL, Water sabers are roughly as bad off as earth sabers, and having the windhose for wind prospects, I ended up picking water for my atma from the “wmtsb 3: 000″ event. Earth might have been a slightly better choice, but it’s not a huge deal wither way. Both elements have an LL char that can provide elemental atk up, and both elements have alternates that are mediocre. As you can see, I haven’t touched it yet though, because outside of 000, new players would not have access to an atma at my rank (72). However, once rank 80 rolls around, you can bet I’ll be trying to sneak into a UBaha normal train to get meteorites for a key. For now, gonna work on collecting the host mat.

I only just today noticed that I had the mats needed to flb the silver bow however, while I did that, I have not had a chance to upgrade it any further. I’m also probably going to be directing skill fodder elsewhere before coming back to this.

Characters/Teams

Since this post is already going to be super long, here’s an imgur post with my currently set up teams and notes on specific characters. There are some other fringe set ups, I’m interested in trying at some point or another, but these cover 95% of my needs. Commentary included in imgur post.

Here’s an album with my overall character levels.

Since only a few of my chars are max uncap + max level, I haven’t amassed a lot of emp points on most chars and therefore haven’t looked at emp quality for most.

Summons

It fortunately did not take too long to mlb all six magna ssr summons, especially with the first one given out for free.

Some notes:

- Fafnir and Phoenix are both usable - the former has a fire def down which would be more useful if I didn’t already have characters that could also inflict it, while the latter has a heal albeit a very weak one.

- Robomi is a dispel, with the unfortunate side effect of dispelling one of your own buffs. The not having to bring dispel in my own subskill slot though is enough reason to keep her around.

- You get one wind buncle from pinboards and there’s another in treasure trade for some satin feathers and tia silver anima. There are four more in the casino, but for now, I’m keeping the two I have separate since I don’t have a ton of other great summons.

- Ebisu’s water def down, is more valuable than fafnir’s because there are fewer characters (among free chars at least), able to inflict the elemental def down. At mlb, the aura loses it’s data penalty, too.

- With WMTSB2 in sidestories, I’m able to use Sandalphon summon for it’s atk up and heal. I’m already at a point where chev is the better main summon, but Sandalphon’s call is still fantastic, compared to the other healing summons that have half as much potency. He also gives his character version a small dark damage cut as a secret effect.

- For anyone who didn’t know SR Luminiera and SR Celeste both provide 20% damage cut against their strong element when mlb. So mlb SR Celeste’s call, for example, gains a light damage cut.

- There are no good elemental summons for Earth or Dark in side stories - Midgardsormr and Albacore both are ~25% atk boosts justified by having hp boosts alongside them, but for practical purposes, the damage loss isn’t worth the hp gain. I’m fortunately at a point where I’m using magna summons for all elements normally, but arcarum may still get better results from an elemental summon (maybe? I haven’t been scientific enough about the numbers). Unfortuantely, getting all four copies of Dark flame Scion out of the side story shop is going to take something like fifty runs of Sandalphon showdown because the WMTSB doesn’t give out a free mlb summon at the end unlike most other side stories. It gives out the mlb light ex harp, but not the summon. And my dark team is not great, as seen in the previous section. I can beat the showdown, but it takes effort.

- I was able to farm an mlb and 0* copies of WMTSB3′s Dragon’s Rage Summon, however, since it won’t be around all the time (till next year presumably), I can’t use it however great the 50% all element/10% hp boost would be to alleviate my elemental summon woes.

- Once I unlocked arca, I bee-lined for Hanged Man, and was fortunate enough that he was the boss I encountered at the end of that path. Hanged man provides me with a clarity in my summon grid, which is useful in the same way Robomi is as a dispel, but better, because Hanged Man gives a random buff in addition to clearing a debuff, instead of taking away a buff like Robomi.

Other notes

As implied by my grid showcase and story progression, I unlocked Mechanic as soon as I was able. Earlier on, I lucksacked a silver centrum from a primarch raid leech but even without that, by rank 50 it’s within the player’s power to leech grand order raids for feathers and redeem 25 for the first shop centrum, thereby acquiring the hardest part of the energy maneuvers robot part. I casino’ed enough to get the red bricks and brightstones so I was able to get those turn 1 full bursts right out the gate as soon as possible. Doing so greatly improved the speed at which I could handle my own hard primal raids and thus helped collect omega anima for magna raid hosts - which in turn led to more ssr magna drops. 

At rank 60, I took my main and tackled as much of ex co-op as I could so I had the achievements to unlock swordmaster and mystic, though I have not leveled them yet. I have both arca wind sword/katana so I can slime, though I haven’t sat down and done any yet.

After Dark Fencer, I went for Holy Saber among the T3 classes, then Bishop, then Hermit:

I haven’t been focusing on leveling classes since, and focusing on some of the specialty ex classes was a noticeable drain on my cp supply, but Hawkeye, Weaponmaster, Valkyrie, and Superstar, roughly in that order are next on the to-do list when I get back to it. All of those classes provide useful if non-essential subskills for those rare cases I might not need miserable mist (such as actually playing dark fencer).

At one point, I was hoping to sell this account around the time it reached a spark’s worth of crystals, but after looking into some examples of account selling, I’m already at a point where this account wouldn’t be appropriate to sell to a new player, which limits my potential clients. That being the case, I’m a bit less concerned over preserving all of the options, such as gold bar usage, though I may change my mind in the future still. I picked the sunstone from WMTSB2: summon cradle, and it’s tempting to use it on a magna summon like Tiamat.

Anyway, if there are any questions, feel free to ask here (use the link at the top that starts: “Ask me about...”) or if you know how to reach me on discord, that’s fine, too.

[thisisbud]

All the numbers coward

Oh goody, I was beginning to think no one was going to ask me to do any :)

1. First game you played obsessively?I think the first game I played obsessively was Pokemon Ruby. This was before I actually new anything about strategy (like 3rd/4th grade) or even how to swap out pokemon, but I remember running through the whole game with just my trusty Swampert, up until the Elite Four beat my unbalanced ass ; u ;

2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc.I don’t draw or write much now, but I do remember really liking the boxart of LoZ: Link to the Past enough to try doodling it and a few items.

3. What did you play as a kid?As a child I was like exclusively nintendo. Pokemon Ruby and Emerald, Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga, like every single Pokemon Mystery Dungeons Game, and LoZ: A link to the past

4. Who do you play with now?Mostly League of Legends and indie games on the PC. Shooty Bois on the XBox one and a few games on the Switch

5. Ever use cheat codes?Yes because my child self is a degenerate. 6. Ever buy strategy guides?nope. Any money I had went to games, if I needed strats, I begged to use a computer.7. Any games you have multiple copies of?I have Skyrim on my ps3 and computer, and boarderlands 2 on my computer and xbox. not because I really like boarderlands, but because it was on sale for steam, and then my friends wanted to play on the xbox instead :)8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection?I still have my original Pokemon Emerald cartridge, and a link to the past gba cartridge9. Most regrettable purchase?oof. Probably Splatoon 2. Great game, wonderful aesthetic, but I realized I spent $60 for a game that held my interest for like a week because of my friends.10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours?Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire release. It was just a really good time with friends and then a bunch of nerds playing pokemon together after.11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games?Video games is like the reason I have any friends today.12. Ever get picked on for liking games?just the usual snide comment from some family members, but not like stereotypical school bullying.13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has?Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Sports games 2Kyear14. Favorite game music?Persona 3 and 5 soundtrack15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick?probably some kind of arcana card from persona. yeah, that sounds neat.16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL?Smash is #1, but The Jackbox games are a close second.17. Ever lose a friend over a game?ummm I think golf with your friends got close, but no.18. Would you date someone that hates gaming?I’d date @kamichamachu-iloveyou19. Favorite handheld console?nostalgia: GBA, Currently: 3DS. switch doesnt count20. Game that you know like the back of your hand?Modern Warfare 3 but like exclusively multiplayer21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now?League of legends technically.22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories?I have pokemon pajama pants and a really nice D.VA backpack that one of my bestest friends got me @the-giant-made-of-stone but that’s it.23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into?either COD Modern Warfare 3, or Black ops 2. Hit master prestige in both of them.24. First Pokemon game?either red or blue, but I was too young to play them or even remember.25. Were you ever an arcade game player?I went hard in peterpiper, but these days I’m a tiny bit smarter with my money26. Ever form any gaming rivalries?well more like salt driven blind rage from smash, but that only lasts like an hour or two27. Game that makes you rage?League of Legends.28. Ever play in a tournament?I played in like one smash tournament and got bm’d so I stopped going.29. What is your gaming set up?I have a dual monitor pc setup, but one of the monitors is bigger than the other, so it also doubles as the screen I use for my xbox, switch, and ps430. How many consoles do you own? 5 if you include the 2ds31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches?never played the Virtual boy, and I’ve never used the 3D setting long enough for it to do anything weird.32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic?when I was a smol babby, I had Power Rangers Light Speed Rescue for the nintendo 64.33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games?when I was in middle school, a family friend hooked us up with a fancy ds cartridge that had a slot for a microSD card that we could put roms onto. it was lit. I also had a lot of plug and plays as a bby34. Do either of your parents play video games?my dad has a playstation something, but idk what he plays35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop?I want to work at gamestop, but they hate me or something. Gamestop is also my favorite game shop because it’s the only one that still exists.36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game?sweat and tears sure, I think I picked at a scab while playing a game, so technically blood too I guess.37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination?I’ve seen those articles, never played it.38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like?like the entirety of my H-Game collection.39. A sequel that you would die for them to make?eh don’t really have any, if they remaster modern warfare 2 and 3, that would be pretty neat.40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls?sounds like fun, but I don’t think I’d ever buy any until I have my own place and a lot more room.41. A genre that you just can’t get into?sports games that involve real sports teams (not including tennis)42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness?Pokemon Mystery dungeons series was like the first games that actually made me feel anything emotionally.43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else?When I was still in school that’s pretty much all I did.44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters?that one that’s like a half a bubble and the inner rim is a ring of light bulbs, and you have to hit the button on jackpot otherwise you get however many tickets is on the number you stop at. You feel?45. How are you at Mario Kart?I’m decent. definitely not the best.46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon?I need to be in the mood for it. I played like 30 hours of stardew valley but now that game makes me sleepy.47. Do you like competitive games?love em, unfortunately.48. How long does it take your to customize your player character?not crazy long. I just try to make the cutest girl possible, but really I just want to start playing.49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character?I lean pretty heavily towards the stealthy classes. with the stereotypical paladin/fighter as a secondary50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create?bitch if I had enough creativity to think of a gaming masterpiece on the spot, I’d be writing or something.51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep?League of Legends.52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid?Pokemon Platinum. It was really good.53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days?I don’t care for it. If it’s a game I like, I might drop a bit (every month) on microtransactions, but as for solo games, they need to be really really good for me to spend another $20 on it.54. Do you give in to Steam sales?oh god yeah unfortunately. Speaking of which… the stream summer sale is up right now…55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them?never played the sims, and I’m glad to say I’m not that petty.56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests?never played Roller Coaster Tycoon57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements?only once, and it was Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds.58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick?League of Legends. and that’s like it. I can’t think of any other game that will hold it’s value for the rest of my life.59. Do you play any cell phone games?I played a lot, and honestly had a problem, but now it’s kind of like a rotating roster for me. Used to be those Gacha pay to win RPG’s now I have basic games to play on my breaks at work because I get no signal in the break room.60. Do you know the Konami Code?up up down down left right left right b a start cha cha real smooth two hops two hops - - two hops two hops - - hands on your knees hands on your knees61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever?my games are constantly rotating. When I stop feeling it for a game, and it still has value over $15 it goes towards a new game.62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game?Technically I got the switch just for breath of the wild, but I am enjoying the other titles coming out for it.63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? I went to a tournament and got bm’d so I never went back.64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming?no but I kind of want to one day.65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file?I had an action replay because I wanted to cheat in pokemon pearl, and it let me for a bit, but I kept accidentally erasing all the data on the action replay itself, so yeah.66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it?I actually did. When one of my old flip phones broke, I needed a cheap replacement.67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share?for this question, we’re gonna pretend “childhood” encompasses freshman year of college. I remember telling my best friends about a smash tournament that was going on while I was away, and that I would be back for the last half of it. They were telling me about how well they were doing on the way back and I got more and more hyped. Then when I got there for the grand finals, I asked the guy that everyone considered to be the best player there to play some casuals with me. and I absolutely obliterated him. I could go more into detail but yeah, that’s like my most memorable gaming moment.68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool?god no, I really wish I learned to be that frugal, but anytime I went to a place with tickets, those tickets would be gone literally the same night, no matter how cheap the prises were.69. In your opinion, best game ever made? I think my personal favorite is Pokemon mystery dungeons: Explorers of Sky. story line, gameplay, music, everything about it made me so happy.70. Very first game you ever beat?I think it was pokemon ruby, but honestly, I’m not super sure.

[the-giant-made-of-stone]

you as well have to do all the numbers, todd coward ass binch

First of all, I’m no todd you muppet.1. First game you played obsessively?Modern Warfare 3. Get all the things, do all the challenges, get the good guns, every now and then remember to actually try to do well.2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc.I’ve never really written or drawn much but I think aesthetically speaking Star Fox 64 got me down the path of Sci-FI and star ships and such. I never actually owned it which just furthered my intrigue whenever I could get my hands on it.3. Who did you play with as a kid?I didn’t play with anyone really. I’d occasionally play against my brother but he would only ever want to play Sport Game 2kYear.

4. Who do you play with now?@thisisbud Tanner who deleted his tumblr @delicontessa @charizardon5. Ever use cheat codes?Usually only the funny ones. Or costumes. And unlimited webbing in Spider-man the game cause it made it actually playable.6. Ever buy strategy guides?I distinctly remember having two strategy guides. One was the official Donkey Kong 64 strategy guide, and the other was this strange off brand Mario 64 strategy guide that had, like, how-to draw-anime-characters looking dudes telling you tips.7. Any games you have multiple copies of?Bioshock and Bioshock 2 thanks to the purchase of the full remaster collection.8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection?The Metroid Prime Trilogy Collector’s Edition for Wii. Bought it on a whim when it came out and never looked back.9. Most regrettable purchase?Either Mirror’s Edge Catalyst or Star Wars Battlefront. I wanted both of them to be so good and they just absolutely did not execute. At least I got Mirror’s Edge Catalyst once it got cheaper though.10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours?The Smash 4 Wii U/Pokemon Alpha Omega midnight release. Just a bunch of people standing in the cold playing other Pokemon games. I was there exclusively for Smash though.11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games?I probably owe it to Smash for having my best friends.12. Ever get picked on for liking games?In general? Not recently. Occasional crap from a family member. As for specific games I don’t really have any guilty pleasures besides Brink but I absolutely stand by it.13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has?Any Final Fantasy game, Pokemans Red Blue Yellow, basically anything that only went to a Sony system like Spyro or Crash or Uncharted.14. Favorite game music?Splatoon. All day every day. If I have to be specific Splatoon 2 has passed it’s predecessor.15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick?Probably something Metroid related. Like the screw attack emblem.16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL?Smash Bros every time. Fun skill game that can be made lighthearted with a few item switches.17. Ever lose a friend over a game?Not for more than a few hours. Yes in Smash.18. Would you date someone that hates gaming?I would date @delicontessa19. Favorite handheld console?You can just say favorite portable Nintendo console. DS. I have no nostalgia for the Game Boy (and Switch doesn’t count)20. Game that you know like the back of your hand?Mario 64. I don’t know any glitches or anything but I can 100% that with relative ease.21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now?I didn’t get Tetris at all cause nobody told me you were supposed to clear lines by filling them. Now that I have that information I like to indulge in some Tetris every now and then.22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories?A frankly ridiculous amount.23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into?Modern Warfare 3. I really. REALLY. like clearing challenges.24. First Pokemon game?Diamond. I am like little baby. 25. Were you ever an arcade game player?Physically am not old enough to have been to arcades that aren’t located in a pizza based restaurant26. Ever form any gaming rivalries?That’s pretty much what Smash was for my friends when it came out. A lot of these are Smash based.27. Game that makes you rage?League of Legends. Other than that I tend to avoid anything I know makes me mad.28. Ever play in a tournament?Smash Doubles for a club in college. Think we won? We didn’t go back.29. What is your gaming set up?A TV, four consoles, one HDMI port, and a Macbook that has served it’s purpose in getting me through school.30. How many consoles do you own?5 counting a 3DS I probably should use more. 6 counting a Wii that was made obsolete due to the power of backwards compatibility.31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches?Can’t speak on Virtual Boy but 3DS only happens after like several hours.32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic?I absolutely did. Who hasn’t? Movie tie-ins are pretty much always bad. Show tie-ins are usually the same way. The comic games tend to be fun though. Like Ultimate Spider-man or the Arkham series.33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games?I had some of the Namco plug n plays that did like Galaga and Pac-Man and Pole Position. They were pretty solid.34. Do either of your parents play video games?My dad used to play our NES and sports games with my brother. My ma recently picked up a Disney themed candy crush clone for her phone.35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop?Nope. As for favorite game shop, if you can call it being the only game store for miles being my favorite, GameStop36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game?Sweat, a lot. Palms sweaty when stressed. Definitely no blood. I have cried when I was younger but that’s cause I would get kicked off the games I was playing via force from my brother.Oh. And bile. I used to get headaches if I played games too much. These would make me vomit.I would get headaches a lot.37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination?I have not. I have seen the footage. This is fair.38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like?I don’t really have game shame so here’s a hot take: Nintendo Land is one of the most criminally underrated party games ever and should get a sequel.39. A sequel that you would die for them to make?Dying is a weird kickstarter donation tier. That said, Jet Set Radio Future. I need it. And Sega knows it exists cause it’s in that damn racing game so WHERES THE GAME SEGA?40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls?HTC Vive looks lit. So much so it makes everything else look inferior. That said I also think augmented reality headsets are crazy cool.41. A genre that you just can’t get into?Sony as a whole due to shored up bitterness that I’m trying to tone down. Also sport games besides WWE.42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness?Probably either Mario 64 or Donkey Kong 64. Both were the first ones that really game me clear cut objectives in a game that I paid attention to.43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else?Most of the time I’m playing games I should be doing something else. Especially sleeping.44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters?Tron. Good game. Fun game. A E S T H E T I C.45. How are you at Mario Kart?I can usually podium if I try. 46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon?I used to like Animal Crossing more but it’s such a hassle to move from entire real life to entire fake life these days.47. Do you like competitive games?I like competitive games with friends and the occasional shooter.48. How long does it take your to customize your player character?Usually a decent chunk of time. The simpler the customizer, the more time I’ll spend making adjustments as well. Back when I played Halo if I saw anyone using the same armor or same color scheme I had to immediately change.49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character?Nah I like to mix it up. I constantly rotate on wanting to be an immovable object of strength, a stealthy sneaky boy, or some ridiculous meme. Fallout 3′s Rock-It Launcher is the best weapon in the game and I’ll argue about this.50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create?Jet Set Radio Future sequel. It needs it. It deserves it. In glorious 4k cartoon rendering.51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep?Yes. Enough that it isn’t worth mentioning all of them.52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid?Guitar Hero World Tour. No regrets. Quality game with a banging soundtrack. That said I always had to be on drums at parties and stuff cause everyone else sucked at them.53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days?Most of the time it sucks. Seems kind of shitty that you can tell me the contents of the season pass several months before the game releases. Maybe just add that content in? Hmmmmm? Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2 is a treasure though.54. Do you give in to Steam sales?I have a Mac so most Steam games won’t run for me. That said I expect to fall victim to them soon.55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them?I literally never played the Sims before. So no.56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests?Did not play Roller Coaster Tycoon. Maybe I should add these to the “never played but everyone else has” list.57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements?Any game I like that has a mildly realistic 100% is one that I will 100%. I’ll even do it for games I don’t like that much.58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick?League of Legends, Overwatch, Smash Bros. Ultimate. If I can only play them for the rest of my life, I want to make sure that they’ll at least keep getting updated and let the servers keep running.59. Do you play any cell phone games?I am not a fan. I don’t like the way the kill my battery and most of them seem pretty shallow.60. Do you know the Konami Code?Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start Slide to the Left Slide to the Right Right Foot Lets Stomp Left Foot Lets Stomp FREEEEEEZE.EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever?I used to do trade-ins but I realized that months later I would want to play them again. So now I keep them forever.62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game?Nope. I got several games for every console.63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? I don’t think Comic Con counts but Immah count Comic Con.64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming?I have not. I’m not too picky graphically.65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file?Nope and nope.

66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it?My grandma did. I did play it a lot.67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share?I mean they’re pretty much all happy.68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool?I’ve saved up a bunch of tickets and got something so shitty I can’t remember what it was.69. In your opinion, best game ever made? Hey how about fuck this question. I’d probably have to say Breath of the Wild. In terms of games, it was absolute top quality, excellent writing, and a very unique experience.70. Very first game you ever beat? I actually don’t know. It very likely was on the Xbox though. It’s possible it’s The Godfather but that might just be the one I remember clearing most earliest.

[ladytitanium]

1,2,7 to 17, 19 to 23, 25 to 70

OKAY SO this got suuuuper long and I’m gonna answer it under a readmore but thank you so much for asking!

1. First game you played obsessively?

Definitely Minecraft. I got it around 2012 and played it whenever I could, although shortly afterwards I moved on to playing a lot of TF2 with some online friends.

2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc. 

TF2 and Portal 2 were the first things I ever wrote fanfic for, so I’d say those two are big and important for sure. More recently, though, Transistor and Pyre have been inspiring me to pursue more art and music.

7. Any games you have multiple copies of?

I have Portal 2 for xbox 360 and PC.

8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection?

I had a copy of Link to the Past in great condition, but my ex stole that and my entire SNES so :/

9. Most regrettable purchase?

No Man’s Sky is the obvious answer but I think I have some steam games lying around that I bought and played once, or just never touched. Not sure which ones, though. Usually if I’m going to spend actual money on something, I try to make sure it’s good first.

10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours?

No, but I’d like to someday.

11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games?

Not in the sense of meeting people in an mmo or anything, but I’ve definitely bonded with people I’ve met over a mutual love of games.

12. Ever get picked on for liking games?

Nah, not really. I’ve been picked on more for not having played enough games, honestly.

13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has?

I’ve never played Overwatch or most online competitive games, or any MMOs aside from like 5 hours of gw2.

14. Favorite game music?

Anything Darren Korb, the composer for Supergiant Games, has made. Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre OSTs will always have a special place in my heart. Honorable mention goes to the Portal 2 soundtrack.

15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick?

I……. have a triforce tattoo…….. on my left wrist……………

16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL?

I tend to like watching people play games rather than doing competitive or couch coop type things, so it’s hard to say. I used to hang out with my friends while we all did playthroughs of the Mass Effect trilogy, though, which was wonderful.

17. Ever lose a friend over a game?

Nah. Had some arguments over the Souls games, though.

19. Favorite handheld console?

3DS, definitely, although I do have some nostalgia for the good ol’ GBA.

20. Game that you know like the back of your hand?

Portal 2, although it’s been a few years since I’ve played so I might not be as familiar with it as I once was. Barring that, Stardew Valley.

21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now?

I can’t think of any, honestly, since I almost never played anything as a kid.

22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories?

The occasional Zelda t-shirt, and my old Aperture Science tanktop. I’d wear more if I owned more.

23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into?

TF2, I think? I used to play for hours every evening.

25. Were you ever an arcade game player?

Sadly, no. My mother thought arcades were giant wastes of time and money and would corrupt me and make me stupid. 

26. Ever form any gaming rivalries?

No, I don’t get competitive much. 

27. Game that makes you rage?

Any kind of roguelike makes me angry just thinking about it. I hate losing progress. Really difficult platformers make me frustrated and angry too.

28. Ever play in a tournament?

Dear god no.

29. What is your gaming set up?

Currently, none. I have a shitty, half-broken laptop.

30. How many consoles do you own?

I own a Switch and a 3DS. I have access to an XBONE though.

31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches?

I’ve never tried a Virtual Boy, but leaving the 3D on high on my 3DS is something I’ve only done once due to the nasty headache it gave me.

32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic?

I don’t think so, no.

33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games?

I had a Sonic handheld game from a happy meal, does that count?

34. Do either of your parents play video games?

My dad does, a lot. Mostly MMOs. I think my mother did too, but mostly Civ, some ancient Egypt themed MMO, and Guild Wars, from what I can recall.

35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop?

I worked in a game store for about six months late last year/early this year. It’s the best job I’ve ever had.

36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game?

Oh, tears, absolutely. Plenty of games have made me cry. FFXV, Persona 5, Transistor, Portal 2, the list goes on.

37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination?

I actually have played it! Perks of working at a game store that sells Ataris. I was utterly baffled by it, so I think “worst game ever made” is a fair title.

38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like?

I really enjoy all the walking simulators/art games I’ve played. I know a lot of people say they aren’t real games or whatever but I think most of the ones I’ve played are genuinely enjoyable experiences.

39. A sequel that you would die for them to make?

...Portal 3, but with the same writers+VAs+team in general. I know that’ll never happen now but I need it like I need air.

40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls?

Motion controls can be hit or miss. I think they need to be integrated well and very functional to be enjoyable. Like, wii sports and stuff? I loved it. Those tilt puzzles in the shrines in BOTW? Absolutely horrendous. As for VR, I really want to try it someday. I think it’s neat.

41. A genre that you just can’t get into?

Roguelikes, Souls-like (where the only purpose of the game is to be as difficult as possible so people who master it can be snobs about it), and any realistic online-only FPS things like Call of Duty are the three main things I will never, ever touch.

42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness?

Pokemon Ruby, absolutely.

43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else?

All through the second half of high school, tbh.

44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters?

I’ve never actually gotten to play arcade games much.

45. How are you at Mario Kart?

I’m only decent at Mario Kart Wii, because I played it a lot.

46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon?

Absolutely! Animal Crossing New Leaf and City Folk are games I love dearly and have spent a LOT of time on over the years.

47. Do you like competitive games?

Almost never. I only ever played TF2 with friends, and that pretty much extends to any competitive game I might play. Only with friends, and only sometimes.

48. How long does it take your to customize your player character?

So. Long.

49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character?

Yeah, mages are kind of my thing. I get jumpy when I have to do a bunch of melee so I tend to prefer to stand back a little. I always went full biotic in Mass Effect for that reason.

50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create?

That’s a tough one. I’ve had a few concepts over the years, but none that have really stuck with me.

51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep?

Yeah, definitely. I lose track of time really easily if I’m absorbed in something.

52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid?

All Pokemon games from gen 4+5.

53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days?

Any DLC that adds characters or plot necessary for the full enjoyment of the game should be free imo. Skins/weapons/maps/non-essential quests and missions can be behind a paywall. Like, ME3′s From Ashes DLC should have been free, and I go back and forth between whether it was cool to have Citadel and Omega DLCs behind paywalls, but all the weapons/armor/alternate appearance packs I’m totally fine with being paid DLC.

54. Do you give in to Steam sales?

Only when I have money.

55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them?

I never played any Sims games.

56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests?

Never played Roller Coaster Tycoon either.

57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements?

Minish Cap, I think? I tried to 100% Super Mario Galaxy but I couldn’t ever quite do it.

58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick?

Oh, shit. Uh. Animal Crossing New Leaf, Pokemon Sun (or Moon), and... I can’t pick a third one. Probably something with multiplayer.

59. Do you play any cell phone games?

Yeah, but most of them are just little time-wasting puzzle games.

60. Do you know the Konami Code?

Yes!

61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever?

I’ve never traded in a game but I might if I bought a physical copy of something I didn’t like.

62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game?

Does the Switch count, since till Splatoon 2 came out I only had BOTW on it? I’ve considered getting a PS4 just for P5 and Horizon Zero Dawn.

63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? 

I went to GenCon a few times when I was really young but I barely remember it, and I’ve tagged along to a handful of Warhammer 40k tournaments with my dad, but that was also like 10 years ago. So no, not really.

64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming?

I’ve never bought a TV or monitor myself.

65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file?

I had an Action Replay for shinies in X and Y.

66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it?

No, my first phone was a Windows phone when I was 14 because my mother hated technology and wanted to control me so a phone was way too much freedom and entirely out of the question :/

67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share?

I remember the first time I beat Portal 2, sitting on the floor in front of the TV and crying tears of joy. That was pretty great.

68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool?

I wanted to, but didn’t go to arcades enough.

69. In your opinion, best game ever made? 

Transistor. Can’t think of a single bad thing about it, honestly. Persona 5 and Horizon Zero Dawn are near-flawless too.

70. Very first game you ever beat?

The first game I beat was Pokemon Ruby, but idk if that counts since I shared with my brother, and I think my dad had to help us beat the Elite 4 because we were young and didn’t grind enough. I took turns with Portal 2, too. Portal 1, maybe?