#Master Class Tier

[petruchio]

literally any time i read anything on narrative construction im like oh yeah a perfect example of this is how the hunger games does it. like a good story should answer the question of “what does the character want and why can’t they have it” like well katniss wants to save prim and she can’t have it bc the conditions of the oppressive regime make that imposible no matter how much the stakes keep getting raised and that’s the central question the entire trilogy is concerned with and it’s the driving force for every single one of her actions. easy! and perfect. it’s the first line of the book. it’s flawless.

[superxstarzz]

i have a lot to say, but I'll try to condense my yapping for yall!!! basically, I was designing a combined classpect for a sprite oc that ends up god tiering, and I was like!!! omg this is so fun!!! I missed designing classpects sm!! soooo long story short, I'm opening requests for combined class designs!!! the inclusion of an aspect or combined aspect in these requests is optional btw :3

TLDR: gimme class combos to design!!!

Also, here's the classpect for said sprite oc:

[theguardianace]

✨✨✨50 MASTER MODE ALL PERFECTS!!!! ✨✨✨

[robogart]

"A wisened monk who in their youth was a powerful warlock over cosmic sorceries. In an ultimate act of disobedience to their patron, their tie to the magical weave was severed and left them bereft of all their spell-casting abilities. However, the compassion of a small amber star gifted them a single thread that yet tethers them into the cosmic weave.

For decades after, this monk has prayed to their star, using their tenuous connection to the magic now carefully woven within their own body, their very flesh and soul acting as a conduit.

They have become a master in the unnamed fighting arts, using their limited magical connection to enhance their attacks into powerful abilities. As a monk, they focus on touch-focused combat and healing, and serve as powerful combatants, independent from their more magically inclined/gifted counterparts. "

----

The voted LC Design for this round was Monk with Stars theme! ✨ Download and process is up for the Cutie Pie tier and is available for public use over on my ko-fi for $5! 🥳💖

Reworked the monk class sort of concept a little bit (which I might make a separate post to ramble about)! But this was really fun to design and I hope you all enjoy them too! 💖

[natalievoncatte]

The storm was blinding. A white torrent fell from the sky in a raging tempest, the likes of which Lena had not seen since she left Metropolis for National City. This was no mere blizzard, but a genuine thundersnow- lighting flashed eerily in the strange pink-white night as thunder buffeted the windows. The Tower’s balcony door was sealed shut against the driving storm.

They were all out there and Lena was here. There was no supervillain this time, at least, not directly- the freak blizzards rolling through Southern California and wreaking havoc on the unprepared people and infrastructure were caused by some asshole calling himself the Weather Wizard, screwing around with the Flash three states away. Lena had seen him on TV; he was a few clicks above a Condiment King-tier villain. One of the joke guys that some cape would take care of on their way to a real fight.

Or he had been, until he got his hands on some tech he wasn’t supposed to have and started punching above his weight class. Lena didn’t care about that. She was thinking about only one thing right now: Kara.

They were all out there. Kara and the others. The city was a mess; people needed heated shelters, the power was out across two thirds of the city, and Kara had already prevent hundreds of deaths on a bridge that was about to collapse from the unexpected weight of snow and the intense cold. The blizzard had come on so fast that the rush our traffic was almost literally frozen right in place.

The city needed its heroes and Lena… Lena was stuck in the Tower. Literally; there was no way to get her home in this mess and she wasn’t going to leave, and she’d sworn off the idea of putting on silly clothes and picking a made up name to go cast spells and deploy gadgets with the others.

She had a feeling… more of a quiet understanding, really, that Kara was against that, even if she never quite said it.

Finally, she saw a shape in the whirling snow as a caped figure walked up to the balcony doors. As Kara stepped inside, a blast of arctic air followed her, chilling Lena to the bone.

Kara was *shivering*.

“Kara?” said Lena. “What’s wrong? I’ve never seen you get cold before.”

“J-just exerting myself,” said Kara. “Alex wants me in the sunbed for a few minutes to charge back up.”

She clearly needed it. Her cape was stiff and crusted with frost and there was snow everywhere, clinging to her hair and brows. She paused for a moment, as she descended the stairs, and looked at Lena. Really looked at her- despite the chill and the frost clinging to her, her eyes were warm, the warm blue of the sky on a summer day.

“Kara?”

“Nothing, sorry,” she said.

Lena watched her pass, feeling a bit off kilter, then rushed to the kitchen. She whipped up some of Kara’s favorite hot chocolate and didn’t spare the whipped cream or a cherry on top, and piled up some donuts and cinnamon rolls beside.

Kara looked haggard, groaning as she laid down under the lamps. Her face lit up brighter than the false suns when she saw the tray Lena carried.

“Oh Rao, I could kiss you for that.”

Lena almost missed a step, smoothly recovering from her stumble instead of dumping it all on Supergirl’s crest. Kara looked at her intently, an unreadable but wide-eyed look on her face.

“I know you’re hungry. Come on, eat.”

“Can’t stay long,” Kara said, between eating entire donuts in two bites, “they need me.”

“I know,” said Lena. “They always do.”

Kara sat quietly for a while, eating, and it made Lena feel more at ease to see some color coming back into her cheeks, even if the snowmelt wetted her hair. Absently, Lena brushed a damp lock out of Kara’s eyes.

“Are you going back out?”

Kara nodded. “I have to. They need me in five places at once. The city is completely unprepared for something like this.”

“I wish I could help.”

“You are helping.”

Lena sighed. “I could do more, you know. I’m starting to master the magic, and now that the Foundation is going strong, I can whip up tech pretty fast.”

Kara sighed and sat up. “I know, but I need you here. I can’t be distracted by worrying about your safety all the time.”

“You wouldn’t say that to Alex. Or J’onn. Or Nia.”

Kara let out an exasperated sound, but her voice was very soft. “It’s different when it’s you.”

Lena tried to swallow but her throat clenched, and she fought down the sensation of her heart doing a backflip. Kara rose from the bed and stood to her full height, and Lena was once again taken aback by how dashing and heroic she looked in her suit, like a modern day knight. It made her feel strangely small in a way that she didn’t dislike.

Kara carefully took Lena’s hands in her own, tenderly rubbing the pads of her thumbs over Lena’s knuckles, sending chilling shocks up her arms.

“Stay here, okay? I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

Kara nodded and departed, rushing out of the Tower and back into the storm.

She was gone for hours again. Everyone checked in with Lena periodically, and eventually, Lena found a couch to lay on and curled up under a cardigan as a blanket. J’onn made this place much more comfy than the DEO, she gave him that.

Kara breezed back in sometime after dawn, trudging back inside, ice-caked and frost-encrusted, pale and worn down. She headed right for the kitchen.

Lena padded after her in her stocking feet.

Kara sighed. “Alex, Nia, and Brainy at helping with the shelters. J’onn is out there… there’s roof collapses and accordion wrecks and fires and people trapped. It’s going to be days of this, cleaning it up. How does a blizzard start fires.”

Planting a hand on the fridge, Kara leaned on it and sighed.

“How much time do you have?”

“Now that the sun is up, I don’t need the bed. I can just pop up above the cloud cover if I need it. I just wanted to get warm for a minute.”

“Sit,” said Lena.

Kara sat. Lena made more hot chocolate. The donuts had run out, so Lena tore open more of the little powdered cocoa packets and kept on making more until Kara waved her off.

“Are you getting warmed up?” said Lena.

The way Kara looked at her spoke volumes, but Lena couldn’t read them.

“Yes. I have to go.”

“Okay, but after this is over, you owe me some alone time.”

Kara smiled. “It’s a date.”

They both froze. It was a common phrase, an ordinary idiom, but it felt like something had just… unveiled itself, like fog rolling back from an unknown, verdant country. Kara was blushing scarlet.

“I’ll be back.”

“Wait,” said Lena.

She had to do this before she lost the nerve. She rushed around the kitchen island and rushed to Kara’s side, pressing a hand on her shoulder, and rose up on her tippy toes to press a kiss to Kara’s cheek- or rather, the side of her mouth, just this side of a real kiss. Kara went stock still and Lena thought for a moment that she’d done something terrible, misread the moment, but she could roll it back, play it off as a friendly gesture.

A hand, soft as silk and warm as honey, cupped Lena’s cheek and tilted her chin up, so her gaze met the boundless depths of Kara’s eyes, so full of welling emotion that Lena could drown in them.

“Wait for me.”

“I will.”

Then she was gone, giving herself back to the tempest outside.

Lena waited for her. It was hours again. The snow finally slowed, the sky beginning to lighten as the artificial snow weather patterns shifted back to normal and nature reasserted itself. The city would be in for a shock- it was going to be in the seventies by the next day.

Kara looked utterly worn out when she came back, finally, trudging down from the balcony with her shoulders slumped and her hair hanging in ragged wet clumps from her head as her cape drooped with moisture.

“You waited,” she said.

“I did. Let’s get you dry, huh?”

Lena worked a towel over Kara’s head, more than a little jealous as the effortless way her golden hair formed those beautiful lose curls as the water was wrung out of them, giving her a salon perfect finish with absolutely no work.

One that was done, Kara merely had to remove her suit to shed the rest of the water in a puddle at her feet, leaving her standing there in sweats and a cute fluffy kitten shirt that she had first ironically gifted to Lena and then stolen back, but only after Lena had worn it a few times.

“I’m so tired,” said Kara.

“I know, darling,” said Lena. “Plenty of places to get some rest here. J’onn made his superhero hideout cosy.”

“I don’t want to rest,” said Kara.

Lena’s heart began to pound. She knew deep down that she wanted this, but it seemed so distant and remote that she’d nearly given up even fantasizing about it. Now that Kara had revealed her identity, she no longer changed her posture or body language around Lena and stood tall, shoulders reared back and her lithe, impressive physique on full display even in cheesy loungewear.

Kara took the first step, drawing up into Lena’s space and crossing an invisible boundary, once first laid out over a brunch that was both tense and pleasant, and had been pushed and stretched and nearly broken so many times it could hardly be said to exist at all, and yet the moment she did, it was clear what was happening.

Kara was not putting her arms around Lena’s waist in a platonic gesture. The embrace she pulled her into was not what friends are for. The natural way they slotted together and Kara brushed her lips against Lena’s to ask permission was in no way friendly.

Lena rose a little on the balls of her feet and turned whatever this was into a real kiss, and Kara kissed her back. Kara’s hands roamed down over Lena’s backside before she realized what she was doing and the shot back up to a chaste spot on Lena’s back, prompting her to giggle into Kara’s mouth.

“Miss Danvers,” said Lena, “did you just grab my ass?”

“I… umm…”

Lena grinned. “Yes. Just say yes.”

“I actually wanted to ask you out on a real date first.”

Lena snorted. “Kara, we’ve been on a date for five years. Now, pick me up and carry me somewhere private already.”

Grinning, Kara picked her right up off her feet.

[tobiasdrake]

FUN FACT: Did you know that Vegeta wasn't blowing smoke on Namek when he claimed to have become a Super Saiyan?

Well. Not entirely, anyway.

And also the process of becoming a Super Saiyan is kind of complicated, and Goku is an enlightened martial arts master.

The process of becoming a Super Saiyan is complicated. The English dub got a bit confused on this point while they were frantically erasing as much spirituality and also martial arts and general power levels talk as they could from the series.

The dub was bad. I don't think that's a surprise to anyone. It was a 90's anime dub. It scrubbed the source material of a lot of stuff.

But specifically here, the dub confused matters when it said that to become a Super Saiyan, you have to be pure of heart. This confused matters, because being purehearted is a thing in Dragon Ball. You have to be purehearted to ride the Nimbus.

This concept of pureheartedness exists in Dragon Ball. But it has nothing to do with the Super Saiyan.

This isn't the same as that. To become a Super Saiyan, you need something else. Notably, the Viz manga also translates this idea as "pure of heart"....

But the idea being translated here is more along the lines of tranquility than innocent goodness.

Becoming a Super Saiyan is a bit of a process. To understand the Super Saiyan, we need to talk about limit-breaking. This is a concept that's expressed repeatedly throughout Dragon Ball. In order to become Dragon Ball Powerful, you have to break your limits. You hit a ceiling and that's as far as you can go, until you find some new way to push through and break that ceiling. The series is big on this idea.

As an example, Mr. Satan is an incredibly formidable martial artist. He is peak. Top-tier fighter. ...within human limits. But he doesn't hold a candle to Krillin because Krillin broke the human limit in childhood.

Mr. Satan is basically Panput from the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai.

Saiyans are in a different league from humans, and they have different set limits. Different norms, different standards, and different potentials. But, like humans, there's a ceiling. The first step to becoming a Super Saiyan is breaking the Saiyan limit.

Goku, as a low-class Saiyan trained on Earth in martial arts, was able to break through the Saiyan limit during his gravity training in space. This wasn't the goal of his training, mind; Goku had a particular goal in mind. He was subjecting himself to intense gravity so that he could acclimate his body to withstanding higher levels of Kaioken.

Not even realizing that was what he was doing, Goku was the first to shatter his Saiyan boundary and take the first step to becoming a Super Saiyan.

That Goku has transcended Saiyan abilities isn't lost on either Vegeta or Captain Ginyu, both of whom peg him as a Super Saiyan... before walking it back because Goku lacks the overwhelming bloodthirst and battle hunger that characterizes the legend.

Poor Goku has no idea what any of these people are on about. He might as well be listening to Game of Thrones fans infodump about the Lannisters.

But he wasn't alone. During his fight with Jeice following his third Zenkai of the arc, Vegeta finds himself trashing Jeice. Vegeta's as surprised as Jeice is, to be honest. Even with a Zenkai, he should not be doing this well.

Vegeta's last Zenkai wasn't just a Zenkai. It pushed him through the Saiyan limit.

You see, something happens to a Saiyan as they cross that boundary. Their ki begins to swell astronomically in preparation for becoming a Super Saiyan. Both Goku and Vegeta at this point have entered a sort of proto-Super Saiyan state. Their powers are passively being inflated.

Goku, too, eventually realizes that his power is growing at an astronomical rate that cannot be explained by his training or his Zenkai boosts or any phenomenon he's aware of. He's just. Swelling with power for reasons he can't fathom.

Neither of them are Super Saiyans yet. They still need the right spark to ignite it - and, despite knowing more about the Super Saiyan legend than Goku, Vegeta has no idea what that spark is. But they're both inflating like balloons in preparation for ignition.

Vegeta brings up the proto-Super Saiyan again in his first showdown with Frieza.

He recognizes that he is not yet the Super Saiyan. But he is a proto-Super Saiyan. He still feels it, still feels his power inflating within himself. He just. Needs. That. Spark.

But he won't find it. He said it himself: He doesn't think Goku and his "soft heart" can become the Super Saiyan. The Super Saiyan is supposed to be filled with rage and battle hunger.

But breaking the Saiyan limit isn't enough. You need the spark: A tranquil heart awakened by rage.

There are two pieces to that. The first is a tranquil heart. What does that mean? It means tranquility. Stillness. Peace. Becoming one with yourself and the cosmic universe.

During his training in space, with nothing to concern himself with and no distractions, Goku found tranquility. Alone in the void of space with only his beloved art, he achieved a measure of serenity and peace that he's never known before.

When Goku steps off that ship, he's different. He's entirely focused on the task at hand. He doesn't even want to fight the Ginyus, which is a stark departure for his character. He has no interest in the joy of battle; Only in doing what he came for and going home.

Goku asks the Ginyu Force multiple times to just go away. He does not care about this. He is thoroughly disinterested in fighting.

He's not even mad. They beat up his son and his best friend, and Goku does not care. Also, he can read minds now. Because he is the Heavenly Buddha, I guess.

This is a super weird moment, but its main purpose is to demonstrate that Goku has become... something else. He's not just "Goku but stronger"; he's changed on a fundamental level.

Goku is no longer a rash, impulsive student. He has become a master of his art. Do you see that kanji on his back? Kaio presented Goku with this new dogi after he got out of the hospital... uh... somehow.

You. Uh. You gonna elaborate on where the fuck that came from, Goku? No? Okay, man. You do you.

In any case, Goku's new dogi is distinctive because it erases the sigils of both the Kame school and Kaio. Originally, he would wear the Kame sigils on both front and back to reflect his status as a student of Kame-senryu.

Even if he did only technically study Kame-senryu for less than a year. It's fine; the Muten-Roshi filled him with a lot of philosophy that's guided him over the years so it still counts.

After he trained under Kaio, the sigil on his back was replaced with Kaio's sigil, to reflect that he is Kaio's student now as much as he is the Muten-Roshi's. Though he left the Kame-senryu sigil on Goku's front, because he is a student of both.

But from the moment Goku steps off that ship, both Kaio and the Kame sigils have been replaced by this new one.

This new sigil serves two purposes. First is that it's the first kanji of Goku's name. Both of his masters are now gone from Goku's expression, replaced by Goku himself; This symbolizes that Goku has, himself, become the master. His art is now fully his own.

Goku is at the peak of his journey. There is nothing more for him to learn. It falls to him now to cultivate, develop, and evolve his art for himself, using the knowledge and mastery he's acquired. And, as we'll see in the next arc, to ultimately pass it on to the next generation to come.

But, bringing this back to the tranquil heart thing: The kanji for 'Go' also represents enlightenment. Goku has found peace with himself and his place in the cosmic universe. That is why he, and not Vegeta, is ready to have his spark ignited.

He's broken the Saiyan limit. He has a tranquil heart. All he needs now is to snap, and have his tranquil heart awakened by rage.

But Vegeta still has a ways to go. Because his heart is far from tranquil.

The best he can come up with is "I Zenkai'd into this, I can Zenkai out of it!" Vegeta is very fettered, especially in conflict with Frieza. He is not one with the cosmic universe. He is a nervous wreck of emotions and wants and distractions. He was so close, but he could never have ignited here. Not under these circumstances.

No, Vegeta would only find his tranquility after becoming stranded on Earth. (No, anime, Vegeta did not have a spare spaceship on hand to leave immediately.)

Three years, living at Capsule Corp until he moved out and got his own place. Free from the yoke of Frieza and able to pursue nothing more than his own self-improvement. Driven by a desire to surpass Goku but in a low-stress environment...

...and apparently hanging out with Bulma in his downtime.

That's where Vegeta found his tranquility. And the spark of rage that ignited his tranquil heart? His own inadequacies, of course.

Never change, Vegeta. XD

[prettyboypistol]

How the TF2 Mercs Kiss! || TF2 x GN!Reader Headcanons

Scout

VERY eager, but VERY inexperienced. Spends more time hyping himself up by bragging to you about how he's totally made out with so many girls before.

Surprisingly shy at first, heartwarmingly innocent and wholesome in the beginning. Chaste and fluttering kisses that helo him gian confidence.

If you seem receptive to him, Jeremy gets a lot more bold and experimental. Yeah, he's never kissed anyone with tongue before but that ain't stopping him now.

Overall, he's adorably innocent. Playfully tease him while you show him the right way to kiss.

Soldier

Surprisingly amazing kisser and I will die on this hill. God tier SSS+ Class kisses every time.

Have you ever felt an all-consuming passion in one kiss? A man's entire feelings and being as you lock lips?

Master of subtle touches, there is no "just kissing" with Jane. His hands sneak to cup your face, a hand on your waist that pulls you ever so close to him.

This mf will give you the best make out session of your life and nobody will ever believe that you actually love SOLDIER. MISTER ROCKET JUMP HIMSELF.

Pyro

Pyro kisses more with their hands and with little rubs with their cheeks on your skin.

Has a huuuuuge thing for you kissing/taking their fingers into your mouth, and they find it just as affectionate and intimate as kissing. They like being able to see you fully, rather than feeling your lips on thier mask and vaguely seeing you.

They feel more of a grounding connection when they see you, holding them by the hand. It's like you can't be affected by their hallucinations when you are so close to them.

If you are blindfolded and like, DEEP committed into the relationship, you MIGHT feel cracked and warm lips against yours. It's loving and perfect, but weird. You much prefer the Pyro you know they're comfortable with, rather than forcing them to conform to the standard around you two.

Engineer

God, he kisses like warm chocolate. Languid, lovely, and fucking addictive.

Always a tad romantic to it, he'd never platonically kiss you on the mouth. Murmurs out a little "c'mere hun" or "there's my love." before every kiss.

HAND. HOLDING. This man cannot help how his fingers intertwined with yours as you kiss- even just a quick kiss! He tries to sneak hold your hand!

No matter the context, scenario, or pretense, as soon as you pull away he gives you this sappy ass lovestruck smile. Goofy half smile full of affection. The amount of LOVE in this mans EXPRESSION-

Demoman

Probably the most fun to kiss out of all the mercs. He's got an air of casualty about him that makes you feel comfortable- be it platonic or romantic.

His lips are always ever so slightly chapped due to the alcohol on his mouth, but his kisses are full and comsuming of all your senses.

Tavish and you just kinda view kissing as another form of affection between you two, just like cuddling or quality time. You taste more alcohol than him sometimes, but the little giggling hum that Tavish unconsciously lets out when he's content tells you all you need to know about how much he likes you.

Likes to kiss you randomly. Oh, gave him a cup of coffee? kiss. Passed by him in a match? kiss for good luck. Changed the channel on the TV? you seemed bored, kiss kiss kiss.

Heavy

This man kisses like the world will end tomorrow. Every single time. It's always heartfelt and possessive and like he put all his feelings into the kiss.

Minikisses are his favorite. After a long and devoted kiss, he breaks the gesture, only to kiss you briefly again, then again, and again.

Usually the minikisses travel around your face and neck as his hands wrap around your back and waist.

He wants to surround you- to drown you in love. He wants to make you feel safe and protected with every act of intimacy.

Sniper

This man is a coin flip between tender, earnest kisses and wildly possessive kisses.

Gentle handholds and private smiles meant only for you OR pinning you against the nearest surface with a bold grasping on your face as he claims you more than you could ever realize.

He loves claiming you in both ways. He likes when you give yourself to him as a gift and, in turn, offering himself to you. But that prey drive in him loves to chase you too.

Mutters between kisses about how much he needs you to live.

Spy

Knows exactly how to push all the right buttons with you. He puts his hands and caresses you in all the right spots.

Every kiss is deliberate, means something, and has the intention of making you wrap around his finger for him to completely his.

His kisses are languid and drawn out, as if he is that too-expensive alcohol he adores so much. Wave after wave of pleasurable class oozes from him as he dizzies you deeper into his web of affection.

This man is able to make you infatuated with a single kiss and he absolutely loves how he can make you sigh in exhiliration.

Medic

Imma be real with you chief, he's the worse kisser out of the bunch, but the passion is outmatched. This man is ruled by the tip of his tongue and the zipper of his pants when he's around you.

He's rough and overpowering, the need to drown you in pleasure flips in him like a fucking lightswitch. Hands all over you, wherever he can grab at.

Honestly? He'd be fine if you two weren't more intimate and only kissed, he'd be fine with that. He'd love to just spend hours making out with you.

Uses kisses to distract you when he needs to do blood tests on you or general needlework.

[queenpiranhadon]

ᴅᴀʏ ꜱɪx: April 19th

Syn: You make the cake and decorate for the party.

Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

A/N: I'm actually really happy about how this event turned out- all the fics written in this collaboration can be read separately, but it's recommended you read them all in order :) The master list is here, go check out the other writers because they're so amazing and talented AUGH.

Warning(s): Cursing (it's Katsuki what are you gonna do), bad baking terminology, maybe ooc idk, reader is referred to as female like once- Kiri calls her ma'am, reader compliments Katsuki's ass lmao, just fluffy in general though, class 3-A, reader is in the hero course.

This was it. Tomorrow, your plan would finally be put in motion.  

It was the 19th of April, and to say the very least, you were stressed.  

Stressed might not be the word for it. More like anxiety, excitement and fear into one overwhelming emotion that you couldn't convey into words. Tomorrow was Katsuki’s 18th birthday. And everything had to be perfect.  

You sat in your dorm room, thumbing the pages of the cookbook you so loving made him, picturing his own rough hands touching the book the same way when you gave it to him. Your heart warmed at the thought- your boyfriend never ceased to give you butterflies, even without intending to.  

Doubt plagued your mind however- what if he didn’t like it? What if he thought it was too dumb, or too simple- should you have done more?!  

No, you scold yourself. You needed to trust yourself. You knew Katsuki well- he excelled in the extravagant, but he still found joy in the smaller things.  

Still... you couldn’t help but worry. This would be a big day for him-a huge milestone. You didn’t want to mess it up.  

Setting the cookbook down, you finally place it into the bag you had for him, jet black with orange stuffing. The small action put the whole situation into perspective for you.  

This was finally happening. 

But you still had work to do today. Pulling out your phone, you open the messaging app, and click on the contact you needed.  

You: Mission Keep Katsuki Away is a go >:) 

Kiri🥊: Yes ma’am >:)) 

Turning off your phone, you pocket it, and leave your dorm room. All that was left to do was the cake.  

After slaving through the school day, you all return to your dorms, with the exception of Kirishima and Katsuki, the former dragging the latter away for something he called “a bro date”. You chuckled at his excuse, and left them to their own devices as you returned to Heights Alliance, sending a text to Kirishima as you walked.  

You: Hey! What’s your status? 

Kiri 🥊: Just got to the bus! I’ll keep him busy as long as I can 

You: Perfect!! 

You: Thank you so much again 

Kiri 🥊: No problem! He’s going to love it, you put so much work into making this special for him :D 

You: Aww...thanks Kiri! Fingers crossed 😭 

You weren’t terrible at baking per se, but you weren’t no Sato. And you would ask him to make the cake himself, but you didn’t want to ask too much of anyone.  

So it was up to you. You wanted to make a small two-tiered cake, it would be enough to feed all of 3-A and hopefully there would be leftovers.  

Sifting through the pantry you found what you needed one by one. Cocoa powder, dark cocoa powder, eggs, milk, butter, flour, baking soda, the list went on. You were making a chocolate cake, covered in dark chocolate ganache, drizzled with caramel. Katsuki wasn’t a big fan of sweets, and you knew that, but cake was cake. You also knew that he secretly did have a sweet tooth so he wouldn’t be too upset. Hopefully the bitterness of the dark chocolate would make the rest of the cake a little less sweet to align with the explosive blond’s tastes.  

Grabbing three large bowls and the mixer Sato let you borrow, you get to work, mixing wet and dry ingredients separately, cracking eggs, melting chocolate, and whisking like your life depended on it.  

While you baked, you popped in an earbud, sweet music, lifting your mood and dancing around the kitchen, in your own world.  

And hour later, the two tiers of the cake were in the oven, (not before tasting the batter yourself of course) and you look around at the kitchen, the adrenaline rushing out of you. It was a mess. The was flour in your hair, on your face, and you’re pretty sure the cocoa powder on your shirt is going to stain.  

You sigh, taking off your earbuds and pausing the music from your phone. At least the cake was done.  

Grabbing the cleaning supplies from the closet, you get to work, making sure the kitchen was spotless so no one (namely Katsuki, for obviously reasons, and Ochaco and the self-proclaimed Bakusquad because they would beg you to have a taste of their own) would know what you were up to.  

The cakes were done by the time you finished, taking them out of the oven and sealing the two layers together with some ganache.  

You had asked Mr. Aizawa to reserve Gym Gamma for you previously, getting his permission to decorate the space for the party, and so you made your way there now, deciding to decorate the cake in the Gym itself so you wouldn’t have to move it afterwards.  

You got Ochako to float the cake and the toppings for it to the gym itself, so in the meantime, you busied yourself with setting up all the food- something you didn’t want to do yesterday as it would’ve gone stale.

You recruited the help of Kaminari, Sero, Mina and Kyoka to help you carry everything- including the mini fridge you saved up to buy to store the food and drinks overnight. You’d take them out the next morning.

When you got there, you were surprised to see Midoriya, Todoroki, Tsu, Iida, and Momo there alongside Ochako who explained they all wanted to help. 

You feel your smile stretch across your face, happy to see so many people who wanted to give Katsuki the best birthday ever.  

Splitting up the work, Midoriya, Todoroki and Iida went to go find the plates, cups, bowls, and cutlery you bought with Mitsuki - something you thought may have been overkill, but she had planned everything down to a T.

The others flitted around, either helping to put food or drink items into the fridge, or checking to make sure nothing happened to the decorations overnight.

You took to decorating the cake. Pouring the ganache over the first tier, you used it as an adhesive of sorts and you lifted the second layer on top of it. Once you did that, you poured the remaining ganache over the entire cake, evenly, so it created a pretty coat on top that you were sure it would add a nice crunch to the cake itself.

You groaned, stabbing your spatula into the quickly hardening ganache, having to ask Todoroki to heat it up every few minutes so that it wouldn’t harden completely- an annoyingly tedious task, but you knew Katsuki hated the taste of frosting- so hopefully he would appreciate the favor.

You waited for it to harden, then adding drizzles of caramel everywhere, and strategically placing strawberries where you could for a refreshing change in flavor.

And then lastly, adding thin golden candles to the cake, ten on the bottom row, and seven on the top. Momo created a special candle shaped like one of his gauntlets that you put in the center of the circle of seven candles on the top. And finally, you were done.

Momo made another contraption for you, a tall glass dome with temperature settings that you would put on the cake to prevent the strawberry from going bad overnight. After setting the cake on its stand, you put the dome over it, thanking Momo for her help.

It was then when you received two texts.

You open the first one, snorting when you read what it has to say.  

Katsu 💥🧡: Oi, I know you’re up to something- Shitty Hair just dragged me to the damn movie theater to watch some stupid Crimson Riot movie. 

You: Aww it couldn’t have been that bad!! 

You: Can’t the all mighty Lord Explosion Murder God Dynamight survive a short movie date? 

You: Plus I told you- I'm not up to anything lmao 

Katsu 💥🧡: I call bullshit 

Katsu 💥🧡: Plus that movie was three damn hours- short my ass 

You: To be fair, you do have a nice ass 

You: I KID I KID  

You: But I promise you’ll get extra cuddles when you get back my big baby 

Katsu 💥🧡: Fuck off 

Katsu 💥🧡: Meet me at my dorm after dinner

Katsu 💥🧡: And don’t think I’m letting at comment about my ass go 

You can’t stop the amused smile from spreading across your face as you check the other text message, one from Kirishima this time.  

Kiri 🥊: Hey! We’re about 15 minutes away- we'll be back around 18:32 PM 

You: Kiri jesus christ- you tell me this now?! 

Kiri: Sorry!! 

You put your phone down, yelling at everyone to finish up and get back to the dorms as soon as possible, people scrambling around to put the finishing touches together before bolting out of the gym, you along with them.  

Thankfully, you all made it back in time, flopping down on the couches just at the door opens to reveal a beaming Kirishima and a grumpy Katsuki.  

The latter raises an eyebrow at all of you, sending a narrow-eyed glare at you. 

“Why’re ya so outta breath?” He grunts suspiciously and you chuckle sheepishly in return.  

“Mina challenged Kaminari and Sero to go a piggyback race against Todoroki and Iida.” You laugh, the lie rolling off your tongue as the others nod in agreement. 

“We totally won.” Sero says smugly, and Todoroki sends him a confused look.  

“But-”  

Kaminari cuts him off, slinging his arm around the heterochromatic eyed boy nonchalantly. “It’s not winning if you use your quirk Todo-bro.” 

Katsuki rolls his eyes, all interest in the conversation out the window, as he starts making dinner for everyone, something he started doing a while ago when he lost faith in 3-A's ability to not burn the kitchen down.  

After you all settled down and ate, you and Katsuki returned to his room, making yourself comfortable in his bed as he joins you, pulling you close and letting his sore muscles melt into your embrace.  

You, however, couldn’t force yourself to relax, your body buzzing with excitement as tomorrow would arrive.  

Taglist ~

@gina239 @azzo0 @slayfics @peachsukii @cashmoneyyysstuff

@xbabyd0lli3x @lowkeyremi @starieq @angels-fantasy

@ah-mya @food8me @katsuisbaby @meowze4r @bigsimpo343

@seonne @wheezdostuff @berryvioo @icedemon1314 @mystic60

@kit-katsukii @stoned-anime-babe @kukikoooo

@le000xxgrd @tr-mha-fan

[prideofcelestia]

❝ when you say that nobody got you a cake for your birthday ❞

« characters - lucifer, mammon, satan, leviathan »

« gender neutral reader »

« headcanons »

sol ver

LUCIFER

“What?” His eyes widen in disbelief.

“Yeah... so we would all put money together to buy a cake for my other friends but since my birthday fell during the summer vacation, I never really cut any cake with my friends.”

He declares an emergency family meeting where he orders Mammon and Asmodeus to choose a venue for a party, Leviathan to decide the food menu, and Satan, Beelzebub and Belphegor to look after the decorations. He personally hires one of the best pâtissiers in the Devildom to make a cake especially for your party. It will be a private affair with only the brothers attending.

Lucifer will get you another cake to cut in private later but first you must get a taste of celebrating with close friends who are also akin to your family.

When you see the cake, you are rendered speechless. It has a tier for every year of your age. Even if your time is fleeting, every second that has passed and is yet to grace you matters. You matter and they will do their best to remind you of it.

MAMMON

“What would ya say?!”

He is royally pissed at your friends. It's good that you have him in your life now. The Great Mammon will make everything right.

“O-Oi human! Come to my room after classes today.”

“Mammon? I thought you had to stay back for detention.”

“Well don't think about those stupid details, would ya?”

You sigh and accept the invitation. There's no saving one who doesn't want to be saved.

When you enter his room, you know something is off. It has nothing to do with the room itself. It's his nervousness that makes you suspicious.

“Mammon, are you okay?”

“I just- Close your eyes!”

“What? What's this all of a sudden?”

“Trust me and close your eyes!”

“Okay okay!”

You follow his instructions, only to be met with a shy plea immediately as he scurries across the room.

“Open your eyes now... Surprise!”

The cake he gets you is the colour of molten gold and looks like a Grimm from the top.

“Oh my Diavolo, Mammon! It's such a sweet gesture.”

“I couldn't just let my servant go without cutting a cake! What kinda master wo-would I be otherwise, huh?” He manages to say with blushing cheeks.

He can hardly look at you so you wrap your arms around him and kiss his cheeks in gratitude. He is ready to explode. Atleast he will explode as a happy demon.

LEVIATHAN

“Ehhh? EHHHH?! You?! Bu-But But you are so amazing and sweet! How can those normies ever forget about you?! It’s not as if you are a pathetic gross otaku li-like me?!”

He takes some time to process the information and feels sad about it. Even he cannot relate to you because his brothers had never let him celebrate a birthday without throwing a surprise party.

It has always been easy to plan for him because he hardly left his room and so the brothers held their secret meetings without a worry. Similarly, it was child’s play for him to plan a small party for you from the comfort of his room.  

Your DDD vibrates because of a message from Leviathan.

“Can you come to my room rn? I have something to show you.”

The moment the door opens, the sound of party crackers catches you off guard and before you know it, you are covered in party streamer.

“SURPRISE!”

You blink to find a cake shaped like a gaming controller with "Player 2" written on it in a cute style.

Levi has arranged some of his figurines and Henry’s fish tank to surround the cake. They have a small party hat on top of their heads. Henry swims around happily as if to show off in front of you.

SATAN

He shuts his book in rage.

“The audacity! How could they?” He mumbles to himself when he is alone.

He is only too well acquainted with the feeling of being excluded. It hurts. It hurts when he doesn’t supress his feelings well and the wrath that comes with it is not sweet either.

He feels sad and extremely offended on your behalf but he also acknowledges that his feelings won’t amount to a lot if he doesn’t act on it.

He decides on a small, intimate celebration with the two of you and some of your feline companions.

He gets you a cake in your favourite flavour, carefully listing your allergies, likes and dislikes. He ditches his first idea of getting one that looks like the head of a cake. It would be sacrilege to eat it!

The cats seem to understand the mood because they mewl and Satan sings when you cut the cake. He is awkward while singing so don’t let it get out of his room! The smile on your face compensates his embarrassment.

[zeravmeta]

it really is the funniest thing ever that gudas mere presence just summons powerful bitches. like right off the bat as the level 1 first battle master of chaldea they already contract a literal army of normal ass servants we’ve already seen before which in the wider nasuverse context is already fucking horrifying to everyone else but then we get shit like “guda sometimes just contracts triple s tier status servants like gilgamesh and karna and scathach and all these army of one historical clout goku powerlevel type servants” and “guda stepping into camelot was enough to naturally summon king hassan as a grand servant. it was just convenient that he was needed to beat tiamat later” and “guda keeps defeating beasts which in turn keeps making them fall madly in love and forcibly alter themselves to be summonable chaldean servants” and later on “oh yeah all the lostbelt kings after being defeated were really inspired by gudas resolve so now they kind of invited themselves to the throne to be around guda more.” and now “draco nero senses gudas ass from across the timeline and jumped because she needed a master and inadvertently guda just happened to be the most perfectly compatible and helpful one.” the real reason panhuman history locked the door, threw away the key and isnt letting guda back in isnt because of them using extra classes its because the moment guda steps foot back in the door theyll probably accidentally summon ORT again or some shit, discounting the version of ORT that guda already has summoned and romanced. guda would say “send dudes” and every dude ever would show up

[cetaceacyberia]

even MORE sillies from @superxstarzz's classpect fusions!! this time with a wee bit of analysis below the cut because i have the evil homestuck autism that makes me go crazy about this stuff. also the reason these guys look freaky is because theyre a human+troll fusion

OKAY SO generally i imagine fusedtiers would naturally be far stronger than a regular tier, though not quite as strong as a master class, at least depending on the development of each. They are also, of course, far more specific in nature, leading to highly specialized roles. Anywho, here's my interpretation of the classes featured here. I'll probably end up doing more later. Apologies in advance for my wordiness. I know there's a lot of speculation about the role mages play, so I'll provide a brief explanation of how I interpret them first.

Mages, in my opinion, are the active counterpart to seers, being able to take the knowledge they gain through or recieve from their aspect and put it into action. For an example, a Mage of Space as is a component here would be able to take the knowlege of the behaviors of elements and atoms, and be able to manipulate them at their will, provided they know what they're doing, and it's physically possible, alongside being able to ascertain. This can be seen with Meulins ability to form relationships out of seemingly nothing and Sollux's pension for causing doomsday esque events (aradia, sgrub, the like)

Prophet of Design

Prophets, in my opinion, would take the prediction abilities of the seer and the active knowledge mages can use and be able to speak events into reality.

Prophets tend to be extremely high strung people. The suffering that comes with being a mage and the all-consuming knowledge that comes so easily to seers create a scenario in which it's very common for them to slip into anxiety about the events they cause. The butterfly effect, if you will. Prophets do not use their powers carelessly, each move is thought out and incredibly calculated. Prophets are, naturally, blindingly intelligent, being the fusion of the two knowing classes. This can manifest itself in many ways, though the shortcomings mages often experience in relation to their aspect can often cut down their confidence, leading to a prophet underestimating themselves constantly. Despite their anxious tendencies and low self-conciousness, prophets can also be very snarky and sarcastic, when not gleefully oversharing about whatever piques their interest at the moment.

Design would be the merging of the concepts of fate and inevitability with the universe, creation and physics. Design players have domain over the physical outcomes of things. Reactions, from chemical to physical, even quantum at a higher level, all of that is within the control of a Design player. So!! i think a Prophet of Design would be able to speak into reality the outcomes of reactions they create or observe. For example, prophet would be able to do something like say "when i take a step forward, I will actually be twelve feet ahead of where i would have been" and just have that shit happen. As they get stronger, their prophecies can becomem more long term and more drastic, from being able to speak into reality an event that will happen some time in the future to prediting events that might not even be physically possible normally. Beholder of Birth

A beholder, a class that combines the insane growth potential of a page and the mage's expansive knowledge to produce a role of one that is able to expotentially build on the knowledge they have of their aspect. To create entire knowledge trees given the smallest bit of information. From a basic fact to the most niche, minute detail, none of it can escape the gaze of a Beholder. A fully realized Beholder would know, quite literally, everything there is to know when it comes to their aspect, which can be an enormously vast amount when it comes to Space or Time players.

Beholders are natural detectives, though it never comes easy. It starts as the beholder starts to make connections, faint at first but with a sure sign there's something more. Often ones to second-guess their findings, but once they dig deeper, and their ideas are validated, there's nothing stopping a beholder from uncovering everything there is to know from that one initial spark. For lack of a better word, beholders are quirky people, kind but stubborn, and their ascenion often is hindered by that trait due to the help they might need at first. They might get knocked down easily at first, but are wickedly determined, and bounce back quickly and eagerly learn from their mistakes, often brute-forcing their way out of problems. Thanks to the manipulation of knowledge that comes with their Mage counterpart, rising the ranks is far easier for a Beholder than a Page, though roadblocks are to be expected with their headstrong attitude towards growth.

Birth is the merging of creation, physics and the universe with the mind, logic and raw information. I think these would blend into birth players being in control of the inception of very nearly anything. How exactly they can control this depends on the class, of course, but birth players hold the essence of creation in their very soul,

A Beholder of Birth would have the ability to hold an object and see everything that lead up to its creation, how it was created, and everything that happened to it. Not just objects either, but people and other living things. A fully realized Beholder of Birth could potentially have the full knowledge of everything that has ever happened in the universe, from before the big bang to the very end of it that was no doubt caused by the activation of SBURB and everything in between.

[todomitoukei]

I went through the old chapters where Dabi and Ujiko are included to take a deeper look at the relationship between these two.

Did you translate the conversations between the two of them into chapters 221 and 222?

I find the way Ujiko speaks to Dabi in the English translation strange. I'm curious if that's really how he expressed himself in Japanese. If I remember correctly, it seems to me that you translated a line of Ujiko's related to Dabi and it sounded less strange than in the English version. That one with "Dabi, you've got sharp eyes!" or smth like this

Hi there!

I only translated that specific line way back when Ujiko and AFO being involved in Touya's backstory was just a theory (long time ago).

I also did a translation of chapter 350, where Ujiko tells us that part of Touya's backstory, which also features a short conversation between the two.

Going back to chapter 221 and 222, here's a breakdown of the parts before the "good eye", starting with this part in chapter 221 (the first two speech bubbles can be found in the other post I linked above)

「そうじゃ違うんじゃこの子らは中位下位とは違うじゃよ～

最上位（ハイエンド）じゃよ

より「マスターピース」に近付いたスーパー脳無じゃ！

凄いじゃろうこれまでとは違うんじゃよ！！！」

「そう ; sou 」 = so 「じゃ ; ja 」 = to be 「違う ; chigau 」 = different 「んじゃ ; nja 」 = explanatory particle 「この ; kono 」 = this 「子ら ; kora 」 = children 「は ; wa 」 = topic particle 「中位下位 ; chuuikai 」 = middle class, lower class 「とは ; to wa 」 = quotation particle 「違う ; chigau 」 = different 「じゃ ; ja 」 = to be 「よ ; yo 」 = emphasis particle 「最上位 (ハイエンド) ; haiendo 」 = High End (the kanji mean the most upper class) 「じゃ ; ja 」 = to be 「よ ; yo 」 = emphasis particle 「より ; yori 」 = than 「マスターピース ; masutaapiisu 」 = master piece 「に ; ni 」 = directional particle 「近付いた ; chikazuita 」 = approached 「スーパー脳無 ; suupaa noumu 」 = super nomu 「じゃ ; ja 」 = to be 「凄い ; sugoi 」 = amazing 「じゃろう ; jarou 」 = right 「これまで ; kore made 」 = until this 「とは ; to wa 」 = quotation particle 「違う ; chigau 」 = different 「んじゃ ; nja 」 = explanatory particle 「よ ; yo 」 = emphasis particle

＝"That's right, they're different. These kids are different from the middle and lower class ones~ It's a High End (top tier). It's a Super Nomu, close to a masterpiece! Amazing, right? It's different from anything up until now!!!"

You best believe he chose the word masterpiece to piss off Touya here on purpose. Unfortunately, and maybe on purpose, we never get shown Touya's facial reaction to that, and he most likely played it cool on the outside, while on the inside wanting to set the whole place on fire.

The next little bit of dialogue between the two occurs in chapter 222:

「ならば荼毘にはハイエンドのテストに協力してほしいのう！！

趣味が！！審美眼がとても合う！！接しやすい！！」

「ならば ; naraba 」 = in case; as for 「荼毘 ; dabi 」 = Dabi 「には ; ni wa 」 = directional particle 「ハイエンド ; haiendo 」 = High Ends 「の ; no 」 = possession particle 「テスト ; tesuto 」 = test 「に ; ni 」 = directional particle 「協力 ; kyouryoku 」 = cooperation 「してほしい ; shitehoshii 」 = want you to do 「のう ; nou 」 = explanatory particle (adds emphasis) 「趣味 ; shumi 」 = preference; liking; taste 「が ; ga 」 subject particle 「審美眼 ; shinbigan 」 = aesthetic sense; sense of beauty 「が ; ga 」 subject particle 「とても ; totemo 」 = very 「合う ; au 」 = to fit/match 「接しやすい ; sesshiyasui 」 = easy to deal with/attend to

= "As for Dabi, I want you to test out the High End for me!! (Good) taste!! Your aesthetic sense matches a lot!! It will be easy for you to deal with it!!"

Obviously, in retrospect, knowing that Ujiko would have turned Touya into a nomu too, the "matching aesthetic sense" line feels even more rude now.

And finally Touya's response:

「話聞いてンのか」

「話 ; hanashi 」 = story 聞いてン ; kiiten 」 = to listen 「のか ; noka 」 = question particle

= "Are you listen to my story?"

The 'story' being him just a second prior to this having said he will go off on his own since he is in the middle of recruiting someone (don't do it!).

[snowwolflover]

@nodin

The Day my wife started putting me in my place.

My wife and I had been together for a few years now, to be honest she was the head of the house and often told me what to do. We had planned a trip with some friends to go to Las Vegas and the day had finally come for us all to get on the plane. I had to work all week and even worked late the night before we left so although it annoyed my wife she did all the packing for our trip to make sure we were ready to. We all meet up at the air port and went to our gate. Just before we boarded the plan my wife told me I needed to swap tickets with one of her single friends who was coming with us because they wanted to sit together so they could talk. Her friend had gotten her ticket at the last minute and was not able to get a first class ticket like the rest of us so she was in coach. I did as I was told and we boarded the plan. I was now in the very back row of the plan while my wife, her friends and there husbands all sat up in first class. Once we all landed we got 2 big SUVs for the all of us to fit in since there were 4 couples and the single friend. We made out way to the Airbnb we had gotten and soon pulled in to the driver, it looked very nice and was only minutes from the strip. Once we all went inside everyone looked around and picked out which rooms we where taking, John and Kim took the Master bedroom. Steven and Lisa took the room just across the hall. Amanda (the single friend) took a small room just off the living room and Todd and Sandy took the last room over by the front door. My wife and I were able to take the attached "next gen" sweet that had its own master bed room, small living room and kitchenette. It was very nice because we were with everyone else but still had our own space. We all had planned to take some time settling in and then go get some dinner. I brought in our suitcases and started to get ready to put everything away but my wife stopped me, she told me she wanted to talk to me. She said that since I have been disappointing her lately and crying about everything she had something for me and point to a small suitcase that we had brought. I reach for the bag to open it up and see what she was talking about...

What is this for I asked. She told me she expected me to put one on right now and that I would be wearing them the whole trip unless I was told otherwise. I started to fight it but she slapped me and told me since I was such a sissy and a baby I needed to wear them and then made me remove my pants and underwear and put them one on right then. Once I had it on she told me to get everything else out away right now, and don't take to long. She was hungry! With that she walked back in to the main house and left me standing there. I started to get to work on putting everything away.

A little while later she came walking back in to our room and called out "hey sissy, are you done yet". I was in shocked that she yelled that out like that. She had called me that a few times before but this just felt different. She walked in to the room with Lisa in toe and again asked is it done yet. I turned and saw both of them standing there and jumped a bit that she would bring her friend in while I was in a diaper like this and out of instinct I tried to cover up. "Knock it off, sissy baby. No one in the house cares what your wearing. Now are you done we want to get food." I let her know I was not done yet but would be soon. She told me that they were all tiers of waiting and that they were just going to get food and would bring me something back I can stay and put everything away since they would be right back. With that she walked out and then I heard the cars pull out and leave. About a minute later I got a message saying that I needed to go help put away everyone else's stuff to since they didn't get to finish ether because they were to hungry. Me head dropped a bit from the new I was going to have to do this for everyone then a second message came in. This time it said I was not allowed to put pants back on while she was gone and not to remove that diaper for any reason. Also they had decided to go to a nice restaurant and would be back after. Almost in tears by this point I did as I was told and started on my long task of putting things away for everyone. It was hours later before they made it home. I was sitting in our small living room watching TV by that point and my diaper had gotten pretty wet by now. My wife had walked in and let me know dinner was great and that they had food for me on the main house. She walked over and told me she wanted to see my diaper. I stood up and she could see the sag of it and laughed at me. I asked if I could change now and she said yes but I had to do it because she didn't want to touch me like that. I got myself all cleaned up and we headed back in the main house. This time she did let me have pants on too. We got to the kitchen and I saw a jack in the box bag sitting on the counter for me. Again my heart sank seeing that was all I got but I was hungry. As I sat down and started to eat Amanda came in to the living room yelling that I made a mess of all her things and didn't seem to know how to put things away correctly. My wife stopped her and looked at me. "You had better get your butt in there and fix it now! Then check the other rooms and make sure they are done correctly too!' I set down the rest of my food and followed Amanda to the room and asked her what I had done wrong. She said things were not folded up nice and that i mixed up the order of things in the drawers, also her bathroom supply were not in there correctly. I spend the next hour going room to room asking each of the lady's what needed to be fixed and doing it for them as everyone else sat out by the pool drinking. Once I had completed that I went to get my food only to find they had already tossed it out as they "didn't want a mess in the kitchen". My wife asked if I was finally done putting everything away and I let her know yes I was. She said good but since I upset everyone but not doing it right I needed to be delt with. She dragged me in the house and made me stand in time out with my shorts off again.

This was so humiliating as everyone else was having fun and drinking but I had to stay just like this. I could over hear them talk and partying outside and they were starting to get wild. My wife came back in about 30 mins later and told me to go to bed. She was had gotten all worked up and was going to spend some more time with Todd and Sandy before bed. I got up and went to the room happy to just be out of sight from everyone and I went to bed. What did she mean spend more time with them because she was worked up I wondered. I got in bed and laid for a little while before I feel asleep. When I woke up the next morning my wife was not in bed. I got up and went looking for her in our living room and still couldn't find her. I got dressed and walked back in the main house still looking around but didn't see her. I was worried so I text her to see where she was. I heard the phone ring from the message and it came.out of the room by the front door where Todd and Sandy were staying. Then I got a reply back telling me to go clean up the back yard and she would be out shortly. Again I did as I was told and picked up the beer bottles and margaritas glasses that had been left out there. When I was done I went back in the house and waited for a few minutes. My wife and Sandy came out of the room laughing and talking, Neither of them were wearing any clothes. They were saying how much fun they had last night and this trip is already amazing. I was surprised to see them like that. My wife looked at me and told me to go in the room and strip the bed for them and wash the sheet. I quickly did as she asked to not upset her. I walked into the room and Todd was standing there getting ready to head to take a shower. He had a towel in his hand and nothing else on. He was fully erect and looked at me and said "she was great" and gave me a wink as he walked out of the room. I.looked at the bed and saw condom wrappers on it and even a used condom that was taken off and just left there. I called for my wife and she walked over and asked me what I wanted with an irritated tone. "Did you..." I asked pointing at the mess. "YES we all did have sex last night and again this morning. I need to have some real enjoy some times. I need a real man. Do you have a problem with that?" I was stunned. "Get the bed stripped and get it in the wash now sissy... And take off those shorts too. No more covering that fucking diaper." She snapped as she walked away. I stripped the bed and took it to be washed

As I was doing that I could hear them all in the shower. Was this what the trip was going to be? Was I just hear to clean up after everyone? Was my wife going to be having sex with the other? What am I doing?

[harrysmimi]

Professor

Synopsis: One where Harry pays for the consequences of ghosting the girl he was seeing for two months

More of my work

It was pretty late, but Harry was actually excited to finally get back in university and get his master's four years later!

It was his initial plan to do so but he kept putting it off as he was deep in debt, but now that's he's got his life back on track he was ready to get that masters because apparently the Management field looks for papers along with experience for better paying jobs. And honestly he hates his job as assistant to charted accountant now. Though he was already dreading this, his friends Niall and Liam were going with him, they were in the same Marketing and Business Law classes to put his anxious mind at ease.

Him and his friends would probably be the older of the demographic in the batch of this year, but who cares? He's there to learn and get that degree with his name slapped on it. Niall was coming over to pick him today as his car was in service for past one week.

"Oh, she's hot!" Niall commented the girl had seemed to heard it as she picked up her pace of walking, "hope she's in our class. She's got a marketing text book in her hand." He was apparently talking about this girl who just parked next to them and started running towards what he hoped to class.

Harry's heart skipped a beat when he saw her though. She looked awfully familiar to him. Shaking his head he proceeded to go to his first class which was Marketing Management.

The lecture hall was massive for the class strength to be of only 60 students, desks arranged in arranged in tiers to give the lecturer perfect view of the class. A projector set up for the lecture already. Harry and his friends had no other option than to sit on the very first desks, it would be pretty difficult of the trio as they've been the back benchers their whole life.

"Good morning class, I am sorry for being late to the class was about to begin ten minutes ago." The professor barged in with her text book and laptop and Harry almost shat his pants. "Settle down everyone, please." She waited for the class to get settled in their desired places.

"First day of academic year it's always exciting, isn't it? Then it all gets dreadful and by the end of the semester you're like "urgh! I can't wait to be done with this stuff!" but that won't be happening in my class, I'll try to not let that happen at least." The professor went on as she observed the class carefully starting from the very back, "let's start with introducing ourselves to the class, I'll start; I am YN YLN. I teach Marketing and Business Law, I've been teaching for four years now. I come from a family of professors, I mean even my great grand parents from my both parents side were teachers. That's something I like to brag about."

She smiled an adorable cheeky smile. She's really a ray of sunshine, Harry decided.

"Now you all don't have to feel pressured to introduce yourself though it is highly encouraged, if not we'll proceed with our first lesson today." She gave the class a moment.

Surprisingly many students stood up and talked about themselves, where they come from, what they like to do, and all the good stuff like that. The class was actually liking her that much even the shy ones tried to interract.

"Oh my god, she's definitely gonna hate me for calling her hot in the parking lot. She heard me!" Niall murmured to him.

But he's got way worse to deal with her. His professor.

Never in his life he thought he'd ever find himself in a situation like this, ever!

He met YN at the start of summer this year on a dating site. In all honesty he was just looking to get laid but for some reason he took it too far with her without telling her what he really wanted. Yes, he is an asshole for doing that, but he did not expected to have karma hit him this way.

Her dating profile was really what someone who was dating to get married would swipe right in a heartbeat. She was same age as him couple months younger even, she could cook (if anyone cared for that), she was well educated, and had a four year teaching experience at University — though the name of the university was not mentioned — she was a mum to an almost two year old boy.

Least to say he didn't wanted to hook up with her on the first date, she was just that sweet and humble. He just dropped her off to hers and asked if he could take her out for coffee and he did. He saw her over the weekend. Got laid as well. Led her on for five weeks straight. For the first time since he graduated he felt like wanting to get into a relationship, but she called off their date twice last minute because her son was severely sick.

Yeah! He totally feels awful for that. He knew she's a mother and he won't be on her first priority list probably for a very long time if he did not blew things up with her. He didn't even mind that she have a child in the beginning.

Maybe he got scared of the commitment? But she would have understood that as she had talked about getting stood up by dates for the reason, but also made it pretty clear in his opinion that she was looking for something serious if things led to other. He felt even more guilty. He just ghosted her.

And he was starting to like her, a lot. Seeing the way how she talked about her son in most subtle way, he found it very adorable and attractive in a way, she even paid all her mind when he talked about his own interests in his slow tone like he usually does which many find annoying. She had way too much patience to put up with him. She did come off as shy and introverted the whole time and not like as she is being in the class right now.

None of his friends knew he was seeing someone over the summer. That was the little down cor why Professor YLN had his heart running like a wild horse. He almost died when she finally noticed him as a sly smirk took over her pretty features making him sink in his seat like a melting ice cube of a burning iron skillet. He wanted to disappear. Throw himself against the wall.

"Anyone from the front desks? Very familiar faces from around the campus." She asked, eying him with a revenge being plotted in her mind. He is sure she's going to be petty with the look on her face like that. She even glared at Niall who commented on her earlier.

She proceeded with the first topic after two more introductions from the students. Honestly she was amazing at her job. Even more amazing than any of the teachers he's had his entire life (apart from his mother).

"Before we dismissed the class," YN said closing off the tabs on the projector for the class, "I just want to make you know that if you do not understand anything, you can feel free to ask away any of your doubts and please be free to give any feedbacks you have on my teaching methods, if I'm going too fast or too slow with the portion. I'm here to help. My office hours are from 3pm to 4.30pm, you can come in to get your doubts cleared if needed in the future."

"If you have any doubts from today's lecture, I'll be clearing those the first thing in the next class on Wednesday. From the next class onwards the first fifteen minutes would be to clear out any doubts and queries. And that will be all for today. Thank you so much for your time today. Hope you all have an amazing rest of the day." With that she dismissed the class, and left the hall.

"Move, move, move," Harry chanted getting up from his chair almost pushing Niall over who was had taken the aisle seat.

"Patience!" Niall stood up making a way for his friends who barged out like a racing car.

Harry ran straight to the bathroom and locked himself up in a stall as he threw up.

God he's going to have to put up with her for next six months. She's probably going to make his life hell in college. He's probably going to have to his arse off for her class. For a moment he thought he'd blackmail her if she tries to fail him but it won't work as he haven't seen her in a month and things came to an end before he even got accepted into this academic institution. His mind was racing with most stupid and fucked up possibilities as he emptied out the hearty breakfast he had this morning.

He finally got up and made his way out to wash his face but he felt like he was going to pass out if it weren't for Liam who came looking for him, he would have had fallen down and hit his head somewhere.

"You alright, mate?" Liam asked.

All it took was for him to shake his head. "Uhh, yeah!" He somehow pulled himself together.

"You want to go home? I'm sure none of the professors would be getting anything important done today." Liam suggested.

"No, no, I am fine." He shook his head again, washed his face and rinsed his mouth and drank some water Niall gave him.

He was going to have to put up with all this because he was so determined to prove his father wrong that he can actually do something with his life. He was still living in the same old studio flat since he moved out at the age of eighteen, now he's twenty-five, he works a job which pays him just enough to live on cheque go cheque. He had that pressure from his father because his sister was going amazing!

She had written three best selling books out there. She is doing so much better with her life than him. She was in a stable and healthy relationship. Had her own house, two cars. Even his step siblings were better than him in many aspects. But he's happy with what he has is always looked over at and he's compared to everyone who's figuratively doing much better than him at every family gathering.

He has even started to skip those now the best he can.

He went back home his cat Evie all tired and still feeling about shit he probably have put YN through. Even the cat reminded him of her now, Evie loved the girl more than him and she was over all for four times at his.

For fucks sake it was just a two months thing he shouldn't make a big deal out of it, man up and apologise to her.

And he did. He texted her, waited for an entire for reply just to remember she was really bad at texting, she admitted to it and that she preferred to talk on phone calls instead.

It was Tuesday night when he called her. It rang through twice but she didn't answer. He just tried to go to bed but he couldn't sleep all night. He wanted to drive upto her house but it would have it's own consequences if anyone from his class saw him. He did talked to many of his classmates on the first day who lived in the same area as hers.

On the Wednesday morning he got to know two his classes were cancelled for the day, which YN takes. That worried him because he saw on Tuesday on campus busy with her other classes. It took a text for him mum requesting him to take her to the hospital as she was having some sever allergic reactions, so he was more worried about that instead of dealing with the shit he had spread.

His mum was very sick to add to his worries, he drove her to the emergency room and waited for doctors to check on her outside. She was advised to stay there for the day and could go home in the evening if everything was under control with the medications she was given.

"You want me to get you something?" Harry asked.

"A bottle of water would be good," Anne nodded.

"I'll be back," he smiled, kissing her forehead he headed out. He had to walk all the way to the hospital canteen as there were no vending machines in this hospital which actually worked. He was already frustrated that he can to walk tem minutes to get his mother a bottle of water she needed. He can do no thing right!

"Can I get a black coffee with no sweetner and a bottle of water please?" He asked the cashier, already finishing for his wallet in his back pocket. He had to wait for his coffee so he took a seat at one of the table.

He decided to call YN again as he waited. She did answered it this time but a phone rang just behind him catching his attention.

"Hello?" He said.

"Hello, Harry if it is not anything urgent can I call you later?" She rushed in a murmur.

"Yeah, but are you okay?" He looked around to find her at the table just behind her, looking all tensed.

"Yes. I'll, I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay." He said and hung up.

He left her alone there, as she seemed to with a lady who reckoned to be her mother. He didn't wanted to bother her and he had his mother to worry about too.

......................................................................

It was the next morning he got a call back from YN just when he was about to text her again and go on to get ready for uni. His mum was doing good and was sent back home in the evening as expected.

"Hey, you needed any help that you called yesterday?" She asked, getting straight to the point, she sounded very tired on the other side of the call.

"Hi," he took in a deep breath, "ummm, I wanted to talk."

"If it's something related to class I don't know if I'll be help now, but I'll try my best, what is it?" She asked, politely.

"No, no it's not related to class. I, ehm, want to apologise for what I did." He said, "I shouldn't talk about this over a phone call, if we could meet?"

"I don't think that's a good idea now, Harry," she suggested, "and I can't see you right now. Whatever happened I'm just over it, you and I can move on from it and be professionals."

"You're going to forgive me that easily?" He asked. Hurt honestly that she's not going to hold anything against him because he truly believes he deserves that.

He heard a frustrated sigh from the other side, "I have got other things to worry about and what you did is honestly the least of my worries." She made it clear to him, "if you're worried I might fail you in either of your classes, I won't. I am not petty. You've got nothing to worry about just be good with your progress, I assure you will be treated as rest of the students." That hit him like a truck but with a whiff of cold air.

"I am not worried about that." Lie. A half lie. Or you can even a quarter lie. "I genuinely feel bad for ghosting you like that."

"And I forgive you for that, okay?" He was getting on her nerves now which was evident through her voice, "it's okay. Now if you're done, I have somewhere to go to."

"Yeah." He sounded before he heard the line go dead.

......................................................................

YN was miserable seeing her baby so sick. He had a surgery coming up this afternoon which had much higher rates of full recovery but it stung at her motherly heart that he even has to go through all of this.

He was born with atrial septal defect but doctors said it isn't fetal and he can live just normal. He basically had a tiny hole in his tiny heart. It wasn't until last month that he started getting sick and sick, that doctors suggested it was better to get the surgery done. Her insurance covered the costs of the surgery but the stay at hospital for next week was something she couldn't afford as she was paying off the rest of the loan for the house she lives in now.

Her parents weren't happy with having a baby, especially when she got knocked up by a random dude she hooked up with who refused to be involved with his life. She was going through her rebellious phase in college instead of going through it when she was teenager. Her parents being religious did not helped either when she decided she wanted to keep the child. They almost kicked her out and they did, but they came around sooner than she expected, helped her around until she got her life together. She is their only child.

YN was just so shocked when her dad called her one evening to give the house he bought for her to give her as a wedding present which he worked his whole life for. She was really grateful for that because she was really struggling with finances and raising a tiny human. Her parents do teach her lessons which are much needed but they're very supportive of her which she finds herself to be fortunate of.

She had no face to go ask for help from her parents now, her dad had given her everything, he bought her a house and furnished it for her, even her car was bought by him. She didn't tell them that her son has a condition since he was born, until her mother saw her at the hospital yesterday as she was there with her father to get her routine check up done. Least to say her father still loves her that he agreed to help her out in a heartbeat, though they've had a very rocky relationship from past almost three years.

The thing with Harry was least she can worry about. He was just a guy she met a few months ago. Her son was her life time commitment she made the moment she decided to keep her pregnancy. Which was definitely the best one she has made in her life.

She went to see her son who was resting in his room as the OT was being prepared for him. She didn't know how she was going to tell him what the doctors are going to do to him but she was going to try as the doctors have suggested it. A nursed was checking up on him as he had just woken up from his nap. He was a bit sleepy due to the medications or else he is usually tailing after her so she can drop him off at daycare so he can go play with his friends Justin and Sienna.

"How is my little Lion doing?" She asked, he was dressed in his Lion King PJs he threw a massive tantrum for in the middle of the store for, he was obsessed with the show for some reason.

"Mamma!" He whispered.

"He's doing great." The nurse said, "we'll take him to the OT in an hour."

"Yeah, thank you." YN nodded politely at the nurse as she left. "Did you had a good sleep?"

"Mhmm." He nodded pushing his hair away from his face, YN helped him with that. "Simba is there, Mamma look." He pointed at the wall art in his room.

"Yeah, you finally saw it." YN cooed.

"I wan, I wan go home." He looked at her with his big doe eyes, sad like a small puppy, he still stutters while talking even though his vocabulary for almost two year old much more advanced, YN found it adorable to say the least.

"We will go home soon, okay? I promise." She assured him, "do you want to cuddle?"

"Mhmm."

YN sat up on his bed, placing him in her lap careful of the IV on his arm. He immediately snuggled into her chest.

"When we goin' home?"

"Uhmmm, after you're feeling fully better." YN stuttered to answer him, "for that you know the doctor will have to operate on you so you can get better faster and we can go home."

"What is that?" He asked.

"That is a bit difficult for me to explain, my baby, but when you're sleeping the doctor will help your heart feel better so you can go play with Justin and Sienna." YN shared, "Mamma wants you to know that it is okay, I'm here with you, yeah?"

"Mhmm." He nodded, "I miss Daisy."

"Yeah, you miss her?" She cooed. Daisy was YN's Persian cat she has had since she was eighteen. "She said she misses you too, but she wants you to stay here."

"Why?" He whined.

"So you can get better to play with her too." YN reminded him, "you're feeling not well, right?"

"No well." The little boy shook his head.

"Yeah, she said she loves you and wants to play with you loads and loads when you get back home." She tried to hype her up the best she could. He's just two years old to say the most. "I love you."

"I love you." He repeated. "I wan ice cream please, Mamma."

"What else do you want?"

"A big Burger, please?" He chirped in excitement because she doesn't let him eat junk food as much as her friends let him.

"A big burger it is." She agreed using the same tone he used to describe the size of food he wants.

"I wan a lion toy." He demanded.

"You already have one." YN gasped.

"A big one!" He exclaimed the best he could lifting his free arm up to show his mother a size of a stuffed animal he desires. And proceeded to talk about all the animals he likes and randomly talking about food in between.

She wonders if he is going to be a zoologist when he grows up.

He did had a little breakdown, it was pretty obvious an almost two year old is going to be scared to be rolled on a stretcher by strangers to a scary looking room. But he did well. The surgery took three hours in total to be completed but it was a success and he was doing amazing!

"Your son is doing amazing, Ms. YLN." The doctor shared with her during the consultation after the surgery in his office, "he will be off the anesthesia by morning, we'll have to have him under observation for next five to six days — or less depending upon his recovery speed — before he can go home and have weekly check ins if needed for next six weeks."

"Oh okay," YN nodded, "thank you so much for your help doctor. I hope he wasn't too scared."

"He was but we talked about things he loves, he apparently loves animals a lot." Doctor shared the humourous moment with YN's son in the OT.

"Oh yeah, he does." She chuckled.

......................................................................

YN had to go back to work on the Monday as she could not take anymore leaves. Luckily her mother offered to stay at the hospital until she gets off.

She was dreading the office work she had to do, and she have to cover up the portion she missed for week as soon as humanly possible. First semesters usually tend to go faster for her for some reason. She had cut off her office hours for next couple of weeks now just so she can go back to her baby and have talk her ears off about a new animal documentary he watched with his Nani.

She was so grateful that her day came to an end at work, she still had to go home and pack a change of clothes for him and some food for her mother and herself. But he heard knock on her cabin, she saw the same frog face she was harbouring a massive crush on months ago. She wanted to smack that stupid of his when he ghosted though.

"Yes, Harry how may I help you?" She asked, gathering her stuff so she can work the time she gets when her is sleeping. He really had his notes printed in his hand.

"I have a doubt." He said, "do you mind if I come in?"

"Sure." She nodded. He's her student she's not going to ask him to leave when that's what she gets paid for. Turned out he genuinely had a doubt which she explained him in matter of ten minutes. "Is there anything else you meed help with?"

"No, that was all, thank you so much." He smiled. "Are you okay? Saw you at the hospital last week when I was there with my mum."

"I am fine, it was my son he's doing good now." She shared as she closed her laptop and put it back in her bag, "I will share the presentation on the classroom online do you can take notes from them, tell your friends about it too."

"I will," he nodded. "What happened to him if you don't mind me asking?"

"Actually I do mind." She smiled a forced thin lipped smile, "thank you for being concerned though."

"Sorry." He mumbled sheepishly looking down biting on his lip, "I'll take a leave now." With his head down he just left. YN instantly felt bad for talking to him like that.

......................................................................

It was three weeks later and YN's som was back home. He has been doing great and spending all his days with his grandma when his mum goes to work.

YN have finally gotten back on track with the portion she has missed on the days she took off. She had assigned the first assignments to her classes, and god it was going to be a hassle with double the queries coming in her way. She thought five classes including both UG and PG students and one extra class this semester as one of the professor is on a maternity leave.

"I clearly don't get paid enough for this!" She mumbled to herself as she frustratedly checked the first few assignments the students have turned in just to get over with.

Well, she get it. She was a student not too long ago and she is still studying for her PhD but this was atrocious how students actually treat their teachers. She had to turn all of the assignments back to the students with individual remarks on individual assignment.

Recently all she have been wanting to do is just spend time with her baby boy. But all she have to resort to from eight in the morning to six in the evening is just to look at his picture on her desk she recently put up on her mother's suggestion. The boy was doing amazingly, recovering faster than expected, getting back to starting to be active again and be his tiny human self.

YN was going to get him to get a hair cut in a long time now because he willingly asked for it this weekend. And he's been excited about it all week. It was also his second birthday.

YN had decided to go very lowkey on with the celebration unlike her and her father did for his first birthday. She doesn't want him to hurt himself because she knows how hyper he can get when around other children with adrenaline and run and jump around like there's no tomorrow. He still needs to be easy as he heals from a major surgery.

So it was just going to be him, his friends Justin and Sienna coming over for a play date later in the evening in the backyard. His Nana went over board and got him a slide and a swing set to add to plethora of his outdoor toys like a mini golf course and a basketball hoop he got on his first birthday. YN was going to take him out on a little date, buy him two new toys he wishes for and get a hair cut.

She had her day planned out with her baby, getting her all happy and giddy already.

And just when she is about to leave it was Harry coming to her office for yet another doubt. At this point she genuinely started to believe be never has any doubts because she sees him pay attention in class and she never speaks or asks questions, and he asks ber random questions like he did on their dates. He always manages to go to her office with doubts just when she's about to leave. YN finds it annoying because she figured he's always to everything and she thrives on time decipline since she was very young.

"I did not understand the Consumer behaviour." He said, not even bothering to hide his cheeky smirk as he walked in and took a seat on the chair in front of her desk, putting his half written notes on her desk.

"What do you not understand about it? I guess it have been repeated taught to business and management students for years." She reminded him.

"This is my first semester in college after four years of working as an accountant. I think my knowledge has been rusted a bit since." He explained. She took a look at his notes to know what he might have and not have understood. There was nothing but the title of today's lecture written with a black pen in block letters on an unruled page of the book.

"You have literally written nothing." She pointed.

"Exactly, my point." He shrugged.

"What did you not understand?" She asked.

"How does demand law come into play with consumer behaviour?" He asked.

"Because it is basically a behaviour." She said.

"How?"

"You know when prices go high the deman decline and that decline comes from customers desire for not wanting to spend that much on something and vice versa." She explained, hints of frustration now laced through her tones. "And that desire for not wanting to or wanting to buy a particular good is a behaviour by customers who are the consumers."

"Good, okay." He nodded, clicking his pen open, "can you repeat that, please?"

YN took in a deep breath and out, "I will explain this entire topic again, tomorrow morning the first thing in the class and I will be conducting a class test the very next day on the same. Now if you're done with your querie, my shift is already over."

"Hey, I'm sorry," he rushed chuckling, "now that your shift is over and you're no longer my professor, can I ask you something?"

"In premises of this campus, I am still your professor." She reminded him, "and Harry please I am begging you do not do something which both of us would have to regret and face consequences for. I have a son and I need this job."

"I won't, I promise. I just feel bad for—"

"I know you do and I told you I forgive you for that. Make peace with it and move on for gods sake?" She interrupted him. "So when we see each other again on Monday, we're nothing more than professor and student, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded as the dimples on his cheeks disappeared in instant. He just grabbed his book and his bag and left her office.

......................................................................

When YN got back home she couldn't help but shake the face of upset Harry off her sight.

She did started with her usual routine with asking her son clean his play area after she got freshen up and started preparing for dinner with him next to her. She had him fed, gave him his medications and tucked him in bed. She have now moved his bed to her room for the time being so she can keep an closer eye on her. She kissed him good night before she got into her own bed.

She went on to her phone after a very long time. Checking in on what her uni friends are upto now on Instagram. Most of them traveling for work whilst others were just having their own babies. When she stumbled upon stories of Harry.

She is still following him. Just when she was about to go to his profile and hit the unfollow button, she saw him partying with his friends. She recognised everyone from her class, especially the blonde named Hope, being inappropriate in the background as his two friends took shots. Least to say YN quickly unfollowed him immediately.

Yes, she fell for it quickly. She had a crush on him the moment she saw him on her phone screen really. It was her who had downloaded the dating app that one night, she's got no friends who would actually hype her to do so. All them are busy with their own shenanigans. Part it was pressure from her family and her extended family that she's unmarried and already has a kid and part of it was her loneliness.

She matched with couple of people she went on few dates on but none of them went further than one date until Harry. He actually did not judge her when she told him she's got a son even though she's his own age. She had many men and women just tell her that they're not interested in her after she'd casually mention about her son even though she had it mentioned on her profile.

Harry said he actually read that when she swiped right on her. The summer with him was amazing!

Especially when her son was spending much more time at her Nani's house as his cousins would be there. For the first time after having him she has that free time to actually give herself that much needed time. He actually seemed to care about her whenever with her, he'd even text her to check up on her but she is very bad with checking her texts.

......................................................................

The mother and son duo were dressed in matching black hoodies and jeans with boots as they headed out after a nice breakfast with Nana and Nani.

"Ohhh!" The little boy squealed a sound of amusement seeing the London Eye for the first time as they walked to the salon for his appointment. She was going to take him there the next day.

"Hello little lad," the guy who was going to cut his hair greeted him as he placed the boy on a chair and placed a cloak around his neck.

"You don't have to be afraid of the noises the machine would make, okay? It's not going to hurt." YN assured him. She explained the hair dresser how she wants her boy's hair to be cut.

For the longest YN did not understood why he had dark honey blond hair but later learned she had the same hair when she was born but her's darkened up before she turned one. His just decided to blond for a long time. All the while he sat there giggling and laughing, feeling ticklish from the buzz of the electric clippers.

"You like that?" YN asked once the hair cut was done.

"I love it!" He exclaimed raising his hands up in excitement to celebrate.

"Yeah? What do you say then?" YN suggested.

"Thank you." He looked at the hair dresser.

"You're welcome." The guy smiled.

Later the mother son duo went on shopping. They walked around the entire toy store.

"Mamma, I wan this!" The little boy hit at the box with a picture of a pretty blue doll house.

"Yeah, do you also want dolls to put in it?" She suggested.

"Mhmm." He nodded.

"Okay, lemme put that in our cart, okay?" She placed him in the seat on the shopping cart and strapped him before she put the choice of his toy in the cart. "Do you also want to get a few presents for your friends?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

After they headed straight to parking lot and YN drove them to a restaurant for lunch. They were having an amazing day really. They went back home and wrapped the presents they got for his friends and put them in individual bags like a little hamper. YN remember this was something her parents did on her birthdays up until her eighteenth birthday. It was a nice gesture and who does like gifts. That really taught her growing up that the world really doesn't revolve around ber even though she was quite spoilt as a child.

She wants her son to learn that early, the feel of being grounded even though he's twice as spoilt by her parents.

The kids had amazing time playing their to exhaustion. YN's parents got along with Sienna's mother who held same interests in English and Hindi literature, talking about things she's never heard of. YN never read a novel in her life even though ber dad is an English professor and her mother is French and English professor. It was never her cup of tea which her dad like to tease her about.

"He's seem to be doing really great now." Alex, Justin's dad said.

"Yeah, Sienna missed her friend too, she was asking about him." Marie joined in.

"Yeah, he's doing very well." YN nodded admiring her son laughing and giggling with his friends from afar. He just turned two and he's got more friends than her. "He was talking about Justin and Sienna too. They've become best friends, haven't they?"

"Okay, maybe we should discard that conclusion for a while." YN mum stood up immediately watching the kids now starting to fight over something. The fight was resolved and they were back to playing again. "They're best friends again!"

......................................................................

Everyone came in for a nice dinner YN and her dad made today. The kiss still wanted to play but were promised another playdate tomorrow at Sienna's house the same time. YN parents stayed after to help her clean the mess the kids had made before leaving.

She bathed the boy and put him to bed before she headed down to get herself a glass wine. Though she wasn't a big fan of drinking even a glass of alcohol but she needed it after stressful couple of weeks. Just as she was about to pop open a new bottle of wine Alex gifted YN and Marie after he returned from his trip from Italy like six months ago. He said it was something fruity, like berries. Just as she was about to pop open the bottle there was a knock on the door. She peeped through the hole as she was alone at home and it has gotten quite late at night. It was Harry to her surprise.

"Hi," she said after she opened the door.

"Hi," he smiled, awkwardly, "came to talk if you have a moment."

"I, ehm, do you want to come in?" She asked already stepping aside so be can walk in. He nodded and walked in, took off his shoes by the door. He was immediately greeted by Daisy trying to trip over as he followed YN in to the living room. "Please sit, would you like me to get you something?" She proceeded to walk into kitchen where he followed her to.

"No, I'm good." He said, politely, yet she got him a glass of water. "I want to see you again, I am sorry for ghosting you like that. I shouldn't have knowing you wouldn't do that on purpose unless it was something serious."

"What did you thought?" She was confused.

"I thought you didn't wanted to see me," he admitted, "you used your son being sick as an excuse. I know that was very childish of me and I am really sorry for that."

"Even if you are sorry nothing can happen now, you're my student, I can't pursue a relationship with my student." She kept tone was as low as he could hear with frustrated and upset undertone, "I would never make an excuse. Especially my son being sick. Thank you for telling how low you think of me." Her vision started to het blurry with tears, she looked down quickly to pick up the wine opener and putting it in it's place, next was the bottle

"I don't think low of you, YN, don't say that." He stressed on defending himself.

"Heydar, my son was really sick, okay. I am not going to give you an explanation but that's how I felt when you said that." She shared, "that's what I feel like is the truth. He had an open heart surgery not even a month ago and he turned two just today, you knew I was going to put him first before anyone, even myself. You thought I'm that much of a coward that I'd lie about an innocent two year old boy being severely sick just to get out of the situation with you?"

"I get it, I am so sorry about that." He apologised again with his head hung low, "I never dated since I graduated — well not this once before — so it was a rollercoaster ride to be with you emotionally for me because those were the best two months I've ever spent in a very long fucking time. I just thought after we slept together that you didn't want to have to do anything with me. We became really good friends if not anything more and I ghosted you at the time you needed all the emotional support."

He talks slow but YN stood there listening to him. Carefully. "I want to fix this. Really. But I don't know how to. I want to fix this."

Harry's never been hung up on anyone. Especially since that one time where his friends conned him to basically go on a date and set him up so cleverly. He actually started getting along with that girl and after they both slept together for the first time she just told it on his face she doesn't want to go any further with him. It was worse than being ghosted he felt that time. YN's situation was worse here. He also knew that the pressure from his family to do better in his career had something to do with it that it scared him off from the commitment.

All those times she's just take out even fifteen minutes for him if her son was with her parents, she'd go to see him after work. He knew she was a professor but he didn't know she worked at the University he applied and got approved at. The way she'd go over evey little text he'd sent her through the day, every little meme which sort of reminded of him she'd carefully reply each one of them at the end of the day when she'd finally get the time to look at her phone, entertainment herself to clear her mind for a little before going to bed.

And YN wouldn't lie, she needed that emotional support if not financial support from her parents and she didn't exactly had good friends to rely onto for that. Her brown parents aren't exactly best at showing emotional affection or any affection at all, and she even felt guilty to ask for it because she's put them through hell her entire life being rebellious and especially after getting pregnant by a hook-up.

Though it wasn't anyone's business but the cultural environment she grew up liked to make it their business anyway, very much so that people started side eying her parents, especially her mother for her upbringing. Especially criticising them for having their daughter attend the Sex Ed classes for her own good before she was married, which allegedly influenced her to get pregnant with a strangers baby.

Her parents are long over it but she still carries that guilt with her.

Having a part of her go through a major procedure drained her mentally and emotionally. It is surely a bad time for her (she's certain it is going to pass), she knows no one is entitled to make her feel good mentally and emotionally but herself. So she didn't let the thing with Harry affect her that much, though she did cried the night after he didn't answer her texts.

"I don't know what you want me to do with it, Harry, I am quite confused here." She shared, "I know that I have been clear from the very first time we talked that I am looking for a long term commitment. I've got a son and I can't go out and date every other person and drag him through all of it and scar him emotionally and mentally for his life. I still don't know why you ghosted me like that. That can not be the only reason. I was so hurt that you led me on for two months just to sleep with me. You ignored me the night after I went over to yours and we had sex."

She took in a long breath to calm herself from crying in front of him, she didn't wanted that. "Then again. We were only seeing each other for mere two months. I don't know why I let myself go hurt me like that. It was just a summer fling for you."

"No, don't say that, please." He took a careful step over to the kitchen island separating them. "What I feel for you is still very real, I wouldn't say what we had was just a summer fling for me, I simply got scared of the commitment. I know should have conveyed that in a proper way like a decent human. I am really sorry for that. Please gimme a chance to fix this, YN?"

"So you're not scared of commitment anymore?" She sounded amused.

"I am not." He answered in a heartbeat. "I've got my shit together now. I know fucked up." When she didn't say anything it hit him that they can't technically date because she is her professor now, amd will be even if the semester is over and even after he graduates. "There's no way we can get back to where we left, isn't it?" He sighed.

"I don't know." She said.

"What about after the semester ends? It's not like we got to know each other on campus. We were seeing each other way before." He started brain storming.

"I don't want to talk about this." She said, knowing it is going to hurt her even more with faux convincing.

The university can still hold it against her saying that she should have informed them earlier if they get back together, it's been over a month and half since the academic year started.

She was still not over how he ghosted her. He was the first person she was open to be vulnerable enough to be share something that intimate after having a child. He did broke her heart that way badly.

"Mamma!" YN heard a high pitched call of a whine for her, she looked up to find her little boy going down the stairs slowly, clutching onto the railing. She rushed towards him even though he had quite master going down stairs by now.

"What's wrong, my love?" She cooed to him immediately scooping him up.

"I scared." He shared hiding in her chest, "I saw a monster when I sleeping."

"It's okay," she assured him, "it was not real. Monsters are not real."

"Scared!"

"Okay, okay, Mamma is here with you. You can go back to sleep."

"No!" He whined clutching onto her like his life depends on her in that moment, "I wan Mamma!"

"Okay, I'm here." She assured her and almost went upstairs forgetting Harry was there. But she went down as Heyder clung onto her like a baby koala, dozing back to sleep.

Harry saw her coming back downstairs, he saw her son for the first time here. He never saw his pictures before. But the little boy was wearing mismatched Rapunzel and Iron Man PJs, with a small stuffed bunny tucked in his grip.

"Just stay here for a moment." YN told him as she walked back into living room. She was there for solid ten minutes as her son refused to go back to sleep, so she gave him a sensory book which made car noises to play with as she went back to kitchen after telling him they have a guest over. Heyder tried mimicking the sound of an engine starting which made Harry giggle. He looked at YN and stopped immediately, the same neutral look on her features hasn't left yet but he thought she found it offending.

"Sorry." He cleared his throat.

"It's okay." She smiled herself hearing her son in the living room. He stood there in silence between them two with weird car noises in the back for what felt like ages before he decided he better take his ass out of her house. She isn't going to kick him out or ask him to leave. He isn't going to get his answer, at least not in that moment.

"Alright, see you tomorrow in class Ms. YLN." He smiled, earning a nod from her.

"I'll walk you to the door." She said and followed him out, "umm Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Just don't talk about this to anyone, not even your friends please?" She requested, "I can loose my job and you can get expelled if the word goes to the faculty in a wrong way."

"You're going to talk about this?" He asked.

"I will have to. I have no other choice." She admitted, "don't want to face bigger consequences later for this."

"Okay. I won't talk about this to anyone." He assured her. It gave him hope for reconciliation with her.

As they walked to her front door he saw the little lad trailing begin YN close by. Harry also noticed the balloon and decoration and big Happy Birthday banner in the living room still up, a few unopened presents left on the coffee table.

"It's still his birthday?" Harry asked.

"Mhmm." YN sounded.

"Can I wish him if you don't mind?" He asked, they were already at the door.

"Sure."

"Hiya," Harry looked at her son, bending down to make himself appear smaller, "Happy Birthday little lad." He shied away behind his mother smiling.

"What do you say, Heydar?" YN encouraged him.

"Thank you." He mumbled.

"Of course, darling." Harry chuckled seeing him forward his small hand for a handshake which he returned gladly. He finally took his leave and walked out. It was slightly awkward he wouldn't lie. YN shut the door after he left and locked it before turning to find her son still stood in his place.

"Let's get your bum-bum back in bed now!" She announced, the little boy squealed as he started running around. But she caught him scooping him up in her arms tickling his sides. "Do you want to sleep in Mamma's bed?"

"Mhmm." He nodded.

......................................................................

Months passed by, quicker for YN and slow like a turtle for Harry.

Though he's really gotten his shit together. Set firm boundaries with his parents who always tried to put pressure on him to do better and compare him to his sister who is conventionally more successful than him.

He doesn't care if he's got a partner to settle with. He doesn't care what people think of his job, he loves it!

Harry learned he's been hating his job just because of his parents constant pressures to get a better job, or at least beg his way for a promotion. Well he's been working in that firm for just two years, he left the previous company for their unethical work environment. He's sure he'll get a promotion sooner than he'd expect, his boss is very impressed by it. He learned it was better to not let his work consume his life whilst he still has time to live and enjoy the best he can really.

Somewhere YN was the one behind it all even if she didn't know it. Her little pieces of wisdom in class to her student for occasional motivation really changed his perspective on life. Corporate was fucked and will be fucked for the rest of the days, you just don't have to let it fuck you over and ruin your life. She'd never talked to him about them yet though he knows he had talked to her higher faculty. He doesn't know what they told her, she refused to say even a word about it. She'd prohibited him for visiting her house since.

Harry's sister Gemma and one of his cousin's lived on the same street as hers. His sister liked to have him over for meals because he does eat well according fo her and she likes to spend time with him. They grew up apart from each other after Harry started his middle school and both of them were sent to different bording schools for higher studies so, it was her way to make up for lost time with her baby brother. She truly loves him, Harry came to realise sooner.

He couldn't help but be hung up on this situation with YN. He still haven't gotten over her yet and seeing her everyday does little to nothing to help him.

But once the semester ended, he'd gotten a call from her to meet her up for lunch at the same resturant where they went for their first date. It was her treat she said, celebration of him passing the first of four semesters.

A rather bright weekend it was, clear sky and perfect weather as Harry drove down to this little restaurant. She was already there he noticed. He still doesn't know how she does this even though she's got a toddler of her own to look after. But he saw a little black stroller besides her with his sun cover zipped up and she was busy reading from the University handbook. Thay scared him.

Gathering all his courage Harry went to greet her, the small talk killing him as they ordered their food. Her telling how her son had a doctor's appointment earlier and she doesn't have anyone to look after him for a couple of hours so she had no choice but to bring him with her. Little boy was fast asleep anyway, Harry didn't mind a little toddler around him. Especially one as sweet and well behaved as Heydar.

"YN what is it? You never called me to meet you like this before," he said cutting to the chase, "it's making me anxious."

"Sorry." She mumbled, "I talked to my head of department about, about you and I, and ehm..." She stammered.

"What's wrong? Is everything alright?" His enquiry gree more anxious.

"Yes." She rushed through a breath, "I explained it to her everything, Mrs. Davis, you might know her—"

"YN I'm not in your class anymore." He reminded her.

Caught. She couldn't look up, "okay, I explained it to her that we had been seeing each other since before and we never talked about you applying at my university. Since I didn't had any correlation with you getting approved in the uni, and I had to show her some proofs you can say."

"She said she'd evaluate everything because she doesn't want you to get expelled because you're an exceptional student and she doesn't want me to loose my job. She talked with the school board and they said it was okay." She said. Just her last word was enough to make Harry let out the breath he didn't know he was caught on. "But..."

"Why is where a but now?" His brows pinched together on his forehead.

"But they said they'd evaluate my non-biased judgement on you as your professor as it would be unfair for other students if I were to give the person I'm see a little extra help outside. That is why I asked you to not visit because there are many of my students who live in my neighborhood and new in institutions spread like wildfire." She continued, "they said I should just lay low until the semester is over unless you plan on taking any of the other classes I teach, or until you graduate. We both are going to be under strict eye, especially me as your professor."

"Is it illegal?" He asked.

"Not in the UK, no." She shook her head, "they said because we're of same age they don't see a problem of power imbalance, but there could be possibilities. They just want to protect their students."

He sat there, leaning his back on his seat as he let this all sink in. YN continued, "I understand if you don't want to have to continue us seeing each other, I had to tell them anyway. I know it's a lot to take in and I couldn't talk to you about this until now. I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't apologise." He rushed pushing himself up to sit on his chair, "I know how much you need this job, wouldn't do anything to put it at risk, I promise you that."

"Does this mean you're okay with this setting?" She hesitated to even assume.

"More than okay," he assured her, a toothie grin on his face showing off his front bunny teeth. "I've been hung up on you since little lad's birthday night. I was dying each day and seeing you all week for two hours didn't helped me one bit." He pulled his chair next to her careful to not knock the stroller in attempt to be closer to her, "I might have fallen for you already and easily it's amazingly the most insane thing I've gotten myself into. Let me make it up to you now that we've got ourselves a sort of green flag, yeah?"

"Mhmm." She nodded, opening her arms up so he can hug her. He the exact same wrapped his arms around her middle firmly.

They were going on a date soon!

N O T E:

1) just a fun one I wrote in a few sittings :)))

2) please do share your views in the comments and vote if you want to. It just really motivates me to write more.

Tag list:

@vrittivsanghavi @buckymydarlingangel @sweetwritingfanficfriend @theroosterswife24 @sleutherclaw @melllinaa @michellekstyles @sunshinemoonsposts

Lemme know if you want to added to the tag list

[wanderingnork]

Githyanki Deep Dive: Aberrations and Antiheroes in 4th Edition D&D

So according to the githyanki poll I ran a few weeks ago, this was the third most popular option for a deep dive. (After this we'll be hitting up the original Fiend Folio and Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone.) It's also one close to my heart, because it's the edition where I first fell in love with the gith--and especially the githyanki.

In 4th Edition, the githyanki that were virtually unchanged from the Fiend Folio through 2nd and 3rd Editions suddenly switched gears. They were still vicious pirates and terrifying opponents, but also developed another side that has lasted through to the githyanki we know and love in Baldur's Gate 3.

4th Edition Primer

Before we get into the githyanki, though, I have to give a crash course in 4th Edition D&D. Since so many people started playing in 5th Edition or came into the hobby through the gateway of Critical Role or Baldur's Gate 3, you may not know just how...strange...4th Edition was in the context of the game as a whole. I speak from a place of love, because full disclosure I prefer 4E to 5E as DM and as player, but I acknowledge that it was weird.

4th Edition was partially developed as a response to the goings-on of 3.5 D&D. (Don't worry about 3rd Edition, that is a whole other post.) In 3.5, there was a serious problem with system bloat. From the three core books (Dungeon Master's Guide, Player's Handbook, Monster Manual), the game exploded. Five Monster Manuals. Two Player's Handbooks. Two Dungeon Master's Guides. The eight "Complete..." books. Campaign settings. The list goes on and on and on.

It added up fast. Players had vast suites of rules and mechanics that could easily lead to a single character requiring three or four books to run. A single monster could be an entire page and a half of rules and require a DM to have access to three or four books just to understand what a monster's feats could do (because yes, monsters had feats, and they could take class levels). To put it mildly...it was a mess.

So along comes 4th Edition, a well-intentioned new mess.

4E set out to streamline the problem. While it would eventually introduce its own mess of system bloat thanks to the sheer volume of books, its origin maintained some control over mechanical chaos. Instead of vast lists of feats and abilities, players had "powers" that defined exactly what a given ability could do and how often. The sprawling skill list of 3.5 was drastically pared down. Monsters went from an entire page or more of abilities and feats to single "stat blocks" that covered, even for the highest-level monsters, half a page. Movement in feet became movement in squares. Non-combat abilities were stripped down to a bare minimum.

You can spot a few things that 5th Edition kept when it was released. We still have the tight skill list from 4E (minus the "endurance" skill which still makes me grumpy). The idea of the "monster stat block" is retained. The feat list has dramatically shrunk and while 5E has put out many more feats since, it's really, really not at the level of 3.5.

4E also introduced the idea of "tiers" of play: levels 1-10 were the "heroic tier," 11-20 were the "paragon tier," and 21-30 were the "epic tier." Generally speaking, the heroic tier was about fighting your typical mundane monsters. The paragon tier would introduce higher-level mundane monsters and low-level extraplanar monsters. The epic tier almost always required players to leave the Material Plane behind and head onto another plane to find level-appropriate challenges. (Yes, this will be relevant to the githyanki later!)

While the mechanical changes hit hard, the changes to the lore and default world of D&D were just as drastic. The default world of Greyhawk from 3.5 shifted to the "Points of Light" setting. This setting established a background--that two great empires clashed some centuries ago then fell, leaving the world mostly a monster-infested disaster, studded with small points of safe civilization--then set players loose. It also crushed older D&D cosmology. Gone was the Great Wheel of planes and demiplanes. In its place were the Feywild, Shadowfell, Astral Sea, Elemental Chaos, and Far Realm. What Forgotten Realms had to do to make this new cosmology make sense...I don't wanna go into it, but it's a lot to unpack.

This streamlining of the cosmology also changed a lot of monster lore. Many "typical" monsters of the heroic tier (goblins, magical animals, elementals, and the like) stayed largely the same. It's on the other planes and at higher levels that things got weird. The tarrasque was reskinned as an abomination, the spawn of the war between the primordials and the gods. The shadar-kai changed from messed-up shadow fey to eerie servants of the Raven Queen. And so on, and so forth.

On the surface, the githyanki didn't change very much in comparison to other monsters. They still lived on the Astral Sea. They were still piratical. They still hated illithids and githzerai. But, thanks in large part to the cosmology changes at the base of 4E, they were about to take on an entirely new dimension.

The githyanki were about to save the universe.

Githyanki, Old and New

The githyanki make their 4E debut in the first Monster Manual, on page 128. The first line of their writeup sets the stage:

Born out of slavery, the githyanki are fierce psychic warriors that ply the Astral Sea and fight with silver swords.

Hell of an opening line, that. It hands us the key characteristics that 4E wants us to associate with the githyanki. Compare it to the first introduction of the githyanki in the first Monster Manual for 3.5 (p.127):

Githyanki are an ancient line of humanlike beings residing on the Astral Plane, filling their armories for their next skirmish, raid, or war.

Right off the bat, we're dealing with two completely different perspectives. 3.5 tells us the githyanki are ancient, tells us where they live, and informs us that they spend all their time in preparing for war and plunder. 4E's language, on the other hand, frames them in a more...adventurous light. Ferocity, plying the Astral Sea, fighting with silver swords, not much different than any extraplanar adventurer.

Most importantly, the first WORDS of their write-up in 4E tells us their history: they are a lineage of freed slaves. Whose slaves, how they got free, all that is on the next page. (It's the same in 3.5, The Lore is on the next page.) But there it is: if you don't read the "alignment" tag in the stat block and see that little word "evil," what you'll see is freed slaves who adventure in the Astral Sea.

The next change is the art style. The githyanki illustration in the 3.5 Monster Manual makes the warrior look totally skeletal. She's wearing gloriously alien armor, many-colored gems, and has her hair in a strange style. Her knees have those weird bulbous knobs and her feet don't look remotely human. In 4E, our first look at the githyanki is completely different. No more shrinkwrapping here: these are just some weird humans. Their silver armor is elaborate and set with rubies, but it's very much armor a mundane warrior would wear. (Indeed, it's about identical to BG3 armor.) They look away from the viewer, presumably at the same foe, psionic powers and swords at the ready. The githyanki of 3.5 is a monster standing alone. The githyanki of 4E are an adventuring party fighting together.

Sailing the Astral Sea

Cut to The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea. This supplement focused on all things Astral Sea. Here, 4E finally gets into the deep parts of githyanki lore. The first illustration in the book is a githyanki knight riding a red dragon. From there, they appear frequently. Pirates, tenuous allies, the center of a dramatic campaign arc. The Astral Sea is their home, and as soon as player characters arrive they're trespassing.

(Side note: here we will be setting aside the Scales of War adventure path from Dragon magazine. Even though it's a huge part of githyanki lore, it's acknowledged in "The Plane Above" that the adventure path is an alternate history. It's not a core part of the githyanki story in 4E.)

The shifted characterization of the githyanki continues into this book. On page 12, in discussion of githyanki pirates, we get the following: "few of the githyanki of the Astral Sea bother with kidnapping. It might turn out to be profitable, but it's clearly a criminal act rather than a military operation, and thus beneath them."

So...according to this book, they're still thieves and killers, but within the D&D ethical framework these are often forgivable traits. There's no mention of slavery or other depravity in this or any other section of the book about the githyanki. Other Astral denizens are mentioned keeping and trading in slaves--not the githyanki. The Manual of the Planes mentions githyanki slavers precisely once, on page 110; in all other references, they're simply raiders and plunderers. Dragon magazine #377, "Tu'narath: City of Death," QUITE clearly and thoroughly establishes that the githyanki take and keep slaves. However, many D&D players didn't read Dragon magazine. If they only read The Plane Above, Manual of the Planes, or the Monster Manual, they'd come away with a rather nobler view of the githyanki than 3.5 ever left.

If you are, for some reason, following along with the book itself--skip what you see on page 13. We're gonna come back to that.

The githyanki get a mention on what feels like every other page. But the most focused discussion of the githyanki in this book appears from pages 94-97, in a deep dive on their culture, and from 142-149 with the new stat blocks--including one for Vlaakith herself. Here, we discover that in 4E the githyanki have been broken into factions. There's mainstream githyanki society, the group that lives in Tu'narath and generally behaves as we expect githyanki to behave. Then there are the Far Travelers, a group of githyanki who never settled in Tu'narath. With Gith's blessing, they became true nomads. They don't have silver swords or benefit from the red dragon pact, but they do enjoy immense freedom.

And then there are the gul'othran. While mainstream githyanki society enjoys superiority to other people, pillaging and then departing, the gul'othran take it a step further. They conquer other worlds and rule over them. It's repeatedly mentioned that githyanki players encounter on the Material Plane are probably gul'othran. Not typical githyanki, but extremists. Githyanki bent on conquest, perfectly acceptable opponents for any adventuring party.

Gith's Three Stratagems

The githyanki story in The Plane Above starts with the story of their liberation. Here, the war on mind flayers is defined: not just a perpetual hatred, but an Eternal Crusade decreed by Gith herself. Zerthimon, as usual, objects and the githzerai depart for the Elemental Chaos. The githyanki, left homeless, desperate, and fractured, sail into the Astral Sea. Here, Gith establishes a plan for the future of her people, founded on three stratagems.

First, she wanted a fortified capital. After a long time--anywhere from a few decades to centuries--the githyanki arrived at the One in the Void and founded the city of Tu'narath there. First stratagem, check. Second, Gith sought an alliance with another power. With the first Vlaakith's support, Gith reached out to Tiamat. She sold herself for a pact with the red dragons, who would be allies and friends of the githyanki so long as the pact lasted. (In the 4E Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons, we get to meet the "pact dragons," red dragons who've spent so long with the githyanki that they've taken on the magic of the Astral Sea.)

Finally, before leaving her people, Gith established the tradition of the silver swords. As has been true since the earliest githyanki lore, the silver swords are capable of cutting silver cords that hold Astral travelers to their material bodies. That makes them highly effective weapons against astral-projecting mind flayers and elder brains, which exist at once on the Astral Sea and the Material Plane. In a previous edition, there was even an incident in the mind flayer city of Ch'Chitl where a githyanki hunting party killed the Astral part of an elder brain.

But 4E takes this a step further. The greatest silver swords are forged to incorporate a tiny fragment of the Living Gate, a strange artifact that held back the Far Realm itself before it was destroyed. In the hands of a powerful githyanki, the swords are able to resonate with the Far Realm and aberrant beings. Fun fact: despite over a decade of separation from the publication of "The Plane Above," Baldur's Gate 3 retains this piece of lore. Talk to Lae'zel after she gets her silver sword. She'll tell you all about it.

What she doesn't tell you is just how important that really is.

4th Edition: It's All About the Far Realm

Throughout 4E, the setting steadily shifted gears and pointed toward the Far Realm as a sort of "ultimate evil." Why that happened is speculation for another post, but what matters here is that it did. The Monster Manual mostly presented your standard aberrant beings (mind flayers, aboleths, beholders, gibbering mouthers). They're mostly designed for paragon and epic tier heroes (levels 11-30), with the least powerful (carrion crawler, grick, and grell) being rated for level 7. Aberrations are high-level foes.

Then in comes the Monster Manual 2, with the fell taints (p. 102-105). These cute little blobs of tentacles and eyes, born from the contact of the Far Realm with reality, are rated for level 2. A low-level beholder, the gauth, is rated for level 5. Suddenly, aberrations and the Far Realm are acceptable foes for adventurers just starting out in their career. Ominously, this book also introduces the horrifying star spawn. They're the heralds of the aberrant stars, avatars in the mortal world. One of them, the Maw of Acamar, is literally A BLACK HOLE.

In the Underdark sourcebook, EXTENSIVE time is spent on mind flayers and their ancient destroyed empire of Nihilath. The gith only get a couple sidebar mentions, but for anyone who knows their lore they loom large. In that book, there's also a heavy focus on the aboleths and beholders, who have vast and bizarre realms in the Underdark. In the aboleth realm of Xarcorr, the stone itself flows like water and the laws of physics break down. A singularity somewhere in Xarcorr is even gradually devouring the substance of the Underdark. The Far Realm is tearing at the seams of reality.

And the Monster Manual 3 seals the deal. Cloakers, derro, more beholders, foulspawn, intellect devourers, krakens, PAGES of mind flayers with an elder brain. It all culminates in the star spawn, and what might be the ultimate creature to fight in all of 4E. You can take on Orcus, Tiamat, Lolth, Asmodeus, and that's cool...but this book offers the chance to fight Allabar, the Opener of the Way.

It's a star.

An entire fucking star covered in eyes and tentacles that wants to tear open reality and let the Far Realm devour everything.

Heroes and Villains

And this is what the githyanki are ultimately contending with. In 4E, their fight isn't just against the mind flayers. The Eternal Crusade the githyanki fight is against the Far Realm itself. The silver swords allow them to recognize the times when the Far Realm manages to seep into the Astral Sea. They marshal a "savage and decisive military response" that ends the threat immediately. Most people don't even realize how often this happens, because the githyanki are always ready.

The gul'othran, the faction that wants to conquer everyone? They do what they do because they want to deny the mind flayers a future empire by conquering everything first. It's horrifying extremism in the face of an apocalypse that could rip all of reality to shreds.

That "page 13" I said to ignore earlier is a description of a possible campaign arc where the githyanki finally go on a full offensive. They want to invade the Far Realm themselves and take the fight to their enemies. The players are tasked with stopping this invasion, because unzipping the Far Realm is a VERY bad idea in general, but in context of the rest of the 4E lore...well. Anyone who hears about Allabar, or experiences the trypophobia-inducing Hatchlands of the beholders, or bears witness to the ruins of the ancient mind flayer empire, might be tempted to let it happen. After all, even with all the horrible things they've done, the githyanki have the weapons, experience, and allies to hold the line. They've been holding the line for eons.

And everyone in the world of 4th Edition should pray to whatever god is listening that the githyanki keep doing that.

[vexwerewolf]

Hello, it is I once again, here with a weird meme build. How would you go about building a hacker Swallowtail at LL6? Standard or Ranger, it doesn't matter which

As it happens, Hacktail isn't a meme build at all - due to the Swallowtail's expansive 20 Sensors and innate +1 tech attack, it's an extremely viable Support pick.

-- SSC Swallowtail @ LL6 -- [ LICENSES ] SSC Swallowtail 2, SSC Dusk Wing 1, HORUS Goblin 1, HORUS Minotaur 2 [ CORE BONUSES ] The Lesson of the Held Image, Full Subjectivity Sync [ TALENTS ] Hacker 3, Spotter 2, Skirmisher 2, Field Analyst 1, Nuclear Cavalier 1 [ STATS ] HULL:2 AGI:2 SYS:2 ENGI:2 STRUCTURE:4 HP:15 ARMOR:0 STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:6 TECH ATK:+3 LIMITED:+1 SPD:7 EVA:14 EDEF:12 SENSE:20 SAVE:13 [ WEAPONS ] FLEX MOUNT: Assault Rifle AUX/AUX MOUNT: Nexus (Light) / Nexus (Light) [ SYSTEMS ] H0R_OS System Upgrade I, Neurospike, Metafold Carver, Personalizations, Lotus Projector, Manipulators

I call this one Hacking The Omninet.

Firstly, let's discuss the basics. This build is fragile, as all systems-first Swallowtail builds are going to be. This mech needs heavy co-ordination with your team to focus down threats. Employ cover rigorously, stay behind the lines and make liberal use of the Invisibility from Integrated Cloak. Low survivability is the price you pay for being able to turn an enemy comp inside out.

Your armament is not going to be used very much, and so is very simple - an Assault Rifle for Reliable damage, and dual Light Nexi for enemies with high Evasion. Oracle LMG-Is consume 1 SP a pop and we're not going to sacrifice system space for guns we might never fire.

We have Personalizations on there for a tiny bit of extra HP, and Manipulators for one simple reason: sacrificial system. We don't want to lose our hacking systems, and so if we take Structure damage and lose a system, we dump the robo-hands.

With all that out of the way, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this build: the hacking tools.

We start with H0R_OS System Upgrade I, possibly the best control tool in the game, definitely the best hacking tool in the game. Puppet System lets you reposition enemies in a straight line equal to their Speed any number of times, and unlike every other form of involuntary movement in the game, it triggers reactions, meaning you can open enemies up to Overwatch attacks from your allies. Meanwhile, Eject Power Cores inflicts Jammed, shutting down an enemy's weapons and tech attacks. It isn't repeatable on the same enemy, but this often doesn't matter - shutting down a heavy hitter's weapons for a single turn often buys enough time for your team to kill them outright.

Moving on to Neurospike, a much slept-on Invade system from the Dusk Wing. We're mostly in this for Shrike Code, which is a very powerful control tool in Lancer's mid-to-late game. At Tiers 2 and 3, a lot of enemy NPC classes get multiattacks, allowing them to use their weapon twice or even thrice every time they attack with it (including during Overwatch). But Shrike Code applies 2 heat per attack, not per action, meaning that a multiattacker who attacks twice will accrue 4 heat in addition to the (at least) 2 heat you put on them with Invade, which can put them close to or at their heat cap. Neurospike also provides the more situational but still useful Mirage, which allows you to make a member of your team (including you) Invisible to a member of the enemy team.

The third and final Invade suite, Metafold Carver, is the weirdest and most difficult to use correctly, but once you master it, it becomes one of the most effective support tools in the game. The biggest trick here is that the primary targets for both of its options are not your enemies - they're your allies. Your allies can choose to accept an Invade from you without taking heat and without it counting as an attack. Once you understand this, your third eye will open and the absurd power of Metafold Carver will be unlocked.

Ophidian Trek allows you to teleport your target a minimum of 2 and a maximum of seven spaces directly towards you. This is impossibly useful for yanking your allies out of melee combat or dangerous terrain, or summoning help if you're getting flanked. You generally don't want to use this on enemies who are already close to you, but pulling hostile backliners towards your team's melee specialist is exceptionally cool and funny.

Fold Space completely removes its target from the battlefield until they start their next turn. The problem with using this on enemies is that they can decide when their turn starts, and if they have an activation remaining, it will often be "immediately after your turn ends," wasting this power - although if they've already taken their turn, you can use it to ruin enemies that rely on reactions to be useful, such as the Sentinel or Archer.

The primary utility of Fold Space, however, is that it's without a doubt the most powerful ally-focused Invade in the game. This ability can quite literally be a lifesaver. Ally went too hard on their reactor and became Exposed? Fold Space. Ally took a bad structure roll and became Stunned? Fold Space. Ally being swarmed by melee NPCs? Fold Space. Ally messing up the shot of your team's artillery? Fold Space. Ally talking too much? Fold Space. You make them completely invulnerable at the "cost" of removing them from the battlefield, which they only even care about if they're a reaction-focused build, and they decide how long they want to stay on vacation, because they can return to the battlefield at any time by starting their turn.

In terms of other support abilities, we have a beautiful SSC/HORUS combo: at the start of an ally's turn, you can Lock On to an enemy as a reaction with Lesson of the Held Image and use your Prophetic Scanners frame trait to inflict Shredded as well. This lets you strip all damage reduction off an enemy just before your ally winds up to hit them, with no chance to react or clear it.

You also have Lotus Projector to help your allies deal with Invisible enemies - standard Swallowtail stuff.

As for talents, we have Hacker to give you even more Invade options (mostly Hack./Slash for shutting down enemy tech attackers) and help with heatgunning (Nuclear Cavalier 1 is in there too, just for kicks), Spotter to provide aim assist and hand out free Lock Ons and Field Analyst to help avoid "missed it by that much" situations.

As previously stated, this is a heavily team-focused build. You are a Support/Controller to the maximum here. Expect to go entire fights without doing a single point of damage. Coordinate heavily with your team to focus targets down and ensure that you stay safe while lighting targets up for them.