drcondominiosblog

[vinelark]

I grew up in Texas and most people my age don't have Texan accents, but some of my classmates in school had conditional accents (it would come out if they talked to people with a Texan accent and/or older folks).

Anyways this I'm bringing this up since I wish Kansas had a more country accent because it would be sooo funny if not only Clark but also Kon did this. Kon rescues an old lady originally from Amarillo or something idk and starts yes ma'am-ing and losing diphthongs left and right and YJ is like OH he is a country boy who happens to like punk aesthetics

my best friend has a conditional southern accent and it’s always a treat to watch the switch flip to On. that said, there’s also potential for similar scenarios with a kansas/midwest accent. consider kon in all his leather jacket punk rock glory sweeping an old lady out of the way of some alien ray mid-battle and going “ope, sorry about that” before blasting back into the sky

[robiinurheart33]

Part 1

The next time Soap wakes up, he isn’t screaming anymore.

He sort of felt that after passing out from the pain of Ghost’s touch along with the stitches that he was gonna wake up in a shitton of pain but surpringly he felt…comfortable. Soap opens his bleary eyes to take stock of the situation. He’s obviously in one of the rooms in the safe house, the room completely void of light. Not even the moonlight is able to pierce through the blackout curtains. No doubt Ghost probably would’ve also dead locked the windows. He feels the cooling touch of a bedsheet under his fingers, the whirring of a fan blowing on his face. He can hear shuffling downstairs, Ghost probably settling down for a few days at the house before they’re cleared to go out.

Johnny sits up with a soft groan, hand patting his side where his stitches lie. His mind feels blissfully silent, like for once a higher being is allowing him to rest, if only for a short while. He feels 10 again when his socked feet slide across the ground as he stands, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and opening the door to the bedroom. Johnny isn’t completely sure of where his bedroom is located, but he manages to find the living room easily and by extension; Ghost. He looks ethereal and deadly in the moonlight, sitting on the couch and cleaning his guns.

“About time you woke up.” Christ, he sounds exhausted. Has he rested even once when he patched Soap up?

“How long was I out?”

A pause. “Long enough.” Ghost sounded more gravely than usual. Soap tries not to dwell on it, what it implies. He knows that even if he tries to get Ghost to rest, it would end up fruitless. He knows other ways to trick him into resting.

Johnny spots his phone on the table and checks the time. 2:37am. Shit, it’s been quite a while since he passed out. They left for the op at 4am, and arrived at the safe house at around 7:30am. He’d been sleeping all this time. He sighs and perches himself onto the couch arm. Far enough that he isn’t invading Ghost’s personal space, but still remaining within his reach. He stares at the generic wallpaper his phone is blinking back at him. His real phone is back in his bedside table at base. The wallpaper is of his family about 8 years ago, all of them grinning at a eyefish filter Johnny’s sister took. Johnny looks ridiculous, his mowhawk not yet making its debut, and an old phase of a beard is evident on his face, bushy and proud. This was taken when they were all on vacation together, a rare occasion when he was able to save enough offs and before all the kids, complications and death. There were the MacTavishes, once upon a time. His mother, two older sisters and a little, blue eyed John. Remember John, His sister hissed, wagging a finger in his face. You’re a Mactavish. When we get down we get the fuck back up again. He’s always admired his sister. he misses them both so, so, much.

“Do you sometimes ever wonder if this life is really worth it?” Johnny suddenly blurts out. He feels his face immediately start burning. God, that’s embarrassing. “Being in the military, I-I mean.”

He knows that Ghost, out of all people would be the worst person to talk to about feelings. He’s an important person that has more responsibilities to lie his focus on, much less his feelings. Shit, can he take back the words? No, that would be even worse. Can Ghost just ignore him? No, wait, that might be even worse if they just stay in this stupid awkward silence Soap subjected them to-

“All the time.”

Johnny whips his head around so fast he’s sure he has whiplash.

“A-all the time?”

To be honest, Johnny never really thought Ghost has a life outside of the military. He never talks about family, friends or maybe even a girlfriend. He doesn’t like to think of the implications or anything about his past. It just felt invasive and inappropriate to do so, even if they were close. Price had told him one late night, smoke curling lazily behind his ear, with low murmurs and blood shot eyes that Simon has no one left to mourn him. Johnny didn’t ask for the details. He didn’t have any right to.

“Yeah.” He doesn’t elaborate. Johnny doesn’t blame him.

He turns back to staring at the wooden walls deprived of any decoration, not even a small potted plant. He takes a deep inhale and sighs, breathing in the stale air. Fuck it. Whether he wants to hear it or not; Johnny can’t take the pain of awkward silence.

“My mom back home, she…” He wet his lips, thinking for a moment. “She writes to me, sometimes. Tells me every single detail of her day, that old hag.” Johnny chuckles, tracing the gnarly stitch work Ghost had done on him over his shirt. “But that’s just because she doesnt have anything else going on in her life. Which, I mean, it does sound depressing, but she’s in her own little bubble y’know? She goes to her yoga class, book club, she bakes, and she’s just fine with that life.” He looks over at Ghost, who’s now looking right at him, gun hanging loosely from his hands.

Soap thinks it would probably be a nice way to go. If Ghost shot him in the head right now.

“She’s…. Happy. I think. I hope so.”

“Hm.”

Soap scratches at the base of his neck, looking out the window. The grass seemed to stretch on forever, into the horizon. The moon is just a sliver today, peeking over from its shadow, casting a light blue tint over everything. He thinks if he stood on the road and looked straight ahead, it would look something like those pictures they make you stare at when they check for eyesight at the doctor’s, but without the hot air balloon.

A soft click alerts Soap back to reality, watching Ghost place down his gun.

“Let me get dinner.”

He blinks.

“You haven’t eaten?”

“No.”

“Why?”

Soap hears a few pots cutleries clink against one another.

“…was waiting for you.”

And fuck, if that just makes his intensities melt and swirl together. Ghost was waiting for him? He was waiting for Soap to wake up to eat dinner together? Jesus Christ. He manages to crack a smile, and a little too tender “aww, Ghostie.” Gets breathed.

He comes back around to face Soap, handing him his MRE with a plastic fork sticking out of it, stream curling from the packet. He can smell the curry chicken and he almost sobs.

“You got me my favourite?”

“Don’t sound so emotional, Sargent. It just happened to be in my bag.”

Ghost plops down onto the couch and pulls off his mask to scarf down his bag, barely stopping for a breath.

Soap chuckles. “Goddamn animal..” He ignores the way his ears feel hot and his chest feels itchy, just holding the packet in his hands.

He fidgets around with it, letting the heat seep into the palms of his hands, wondering how long it would last, if it would stay there forever, cupped in his skin, his bones. Wonders if he could press it to his chest and the heat would spread throughout his body, into his head. If he ate the food would it warm him from the inside out, would it taste as delicious as how Ghost’s considerations made him feel?

“Jesus Christ just eat the fuckin’ food Johnny, before it gets cold.” Ghost grumbles, speech a bit muffled due to the food in his mouth.

He giggles before picking up the fork, scooping up some of the rice and shoving it in his mouth. He lets out an appreciative hum, scooping up more rice and chicken, stuffing more and more into his mouth.

Eventually, Johnny slides from the armrest to the actual couch cushions, tossing the empty packet onto the table with a content sigh. Ghost had resorted to staring out the window now, arms resting on his knees with his hands clasped together as if deep in thought. The Scot lays his head back on the cushions, closing his eyes for a bit. He doesnt want to disrupt the silent peace they have going on right now.

“Soap.”

“Hmm?”

“Let me check your stitches.”

He opens one eye to look at Ghost.

“Mkay.”

Before he could shift his body towards him though, Ghost already slipped to the floor, sitting cross-legged in front of soap’s legs.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s easier this way. I don’t want you to turn any more than you have to. This’ll be quick.” he says, like Soap isn’t currently fighting for the air to go into his lungs at the way he just with no hesitation start to go for the hem of his shirt.

“Jesus, okay! Fine, i can do it myself.” He grumbles, slapping Ghost’s hand away before quickly pulling his shirt off.

Now, it isn’t the first time Ghost has touched him, nor will it be the last. For fuck’s sakes, he was screaming in anguish just less than 25 hours ago, and Ghost was touching him in the exact same spot. But this time, it was different. It wasn’t physical contact for the sake of keeping all his organs intact, it was more out of concern for his safety. It is also a helluva lot more intimate the last few times they’d touched. (Not like he was keeping count) The moonlight hits him from the back of his head, making his brown eyes shine in the dark. He always looked like he was on the verge of tears, Soap noted a long time ago. They were constantly glassy, waterline reddish-pink an eyelashes longer than a damn horse. His pupils always looked intense and scary, black in the sunlight, caramel in the moonlight. Soap’s sweating now, more so that he’s actively pinning Soap under that stare, watching for any painful expression.

As he reached forward, big bastard he is, knocks his knees apart so that he’s more in between his legs than in front of them. Johnny breathes. His ears are definitely red now.

The first touch felt more like a jolt than anything, cold fingertips pressing into his side.

“Fuck, Ghost, you don’t have any blood in ya?” Johnny cracks a nervous smile, trying to lighten the mood. Ghost doesnt reply, eyes now trained on his midriff.

His left hand cups his waist, their contrasting temperatures slowly making its way to even themselves out. Soap can’t help but shiver, Ghost suddenly whipping his hand away like he’d burned him. He blinks, looking up at Johnny.

“Sorry.”

“S’ okay, sir. Just didn’t know you have the touch of an ice princess.”

He slaps his ribs, pretty eyes narrowing as he focuses on his stitches again. His left hand comes back to cup his waist, thumb right above the stitches. His right thumb is below the wound, hand resting on his belly, pinkie on his military-issued shorts.

In all honesty, Johnny’s completely losing it. The touch is like liquid nectar spread across his middle, settling under his ribs and squeezing his lungs. He feels indulgent, gluttony taking in the form of Ghost’s touch. It’s so much more than he’s expected it to be, and he feels a bit light headed. The thumb tracing so, so carefully along the uneven stitches almost feels like it could be mistaken for care, for love. Johnny’s light headed, and his limbs feel heavy like it turned into lead. It felt feather light, and all too special. Like if Soap wasn’t completely honed in on whatever the hell is happening right now, the moment would slip away and he would regret it for the rest of his life. So he savours. He memorises the touch pads of ghost’s fingertips against his skin, the light framing his body, his eyes fixated on the stitches. Fuck, fuck. What Soap would give to feel like this all the time.

In spite of his internal turmoil, Ghost looks up at him, eyelashes fluttering.

“You good?”

Johnny swallows, Ghost’s eyes following the motion.

“Yeah- yeah I’m good.”

please touch me more. please hug me. please cup my face and touch me as gently as you do for my wounds. please take care of me. please care.

Soap’s flushing hot now, he doesn’t need to look in a mirror to know. Ghost’s eyes hone in on him, pupils trained onto his body for what, soap doesnt even know. He tries to look as normal as possible with your CO’s hands on him so warm, so gently, like he belongs there.

Whatever Ghost is looking for, he finds as he sighs softly, letting his hands drop and now resting on his hips.

God fucking damn it Ghost is driving him crazy

“You got any siblings?” His hands absentmindedly squeeze him, and Soap mentally checks out. He’s done. He’s actually dying. This is heaven. Or hell. Either way, he doesn’t ever want to leave.

“Two sisters.” He manages to squeeze out as much as he can without his body moving. He’s tuned in with every nerve, so, so scared that if he moves Ghost will take away his hands.

“Youngest?”

“Mhm.”

“Can tell.”

“Haud yer wheest.” He grumbles, looking at anywhere but Ghost. Why hasn’t he moved yet?

“Tell me about them.”

Johnny scrambles for any kind of information on his sisters to tell him.

“Well- uh. Marjorie is my oldest. Uh- oldest sister. She hates her name. Has a bubbling little husband little ways from our home. Lovely guy, has no backbone. Honestly could not tell you how he managed to bag my sister. He even says it’s a miracle, heh.” The more he talks, the more he relaxes. “Middle sister, Gwyneth, she.. uh. She has a little rascal running around at home. Little runt, that kid. Fuckin’ love her.”

“Sounds like your mom has a knack for naming her kids.”

“Yeah right, imagine a Marjorie, Gwyneth and then just John.” He shakes his head, chuckling softly. “Lame name.”

“It’s a okay name.”

“Ghost, i can literally name you 10 guys I’ve met with the same name as me. Our captain is named John.”

“Yeah you’re right there. John is a shit name.”

“Shut up!” Johnny giggles, raising his hand as if he was gonna hit Ghost.

“It’s better than Simon.”

A pause. “What’s wrong wit Simon? Right bonnie name, there.”

Even with the darkness, Johnny can feel Ghost’s eyebrow raising.

“Am’ serious! Simon…. Yeah, it’s a good name. Solid.”

He huffs, as if not believing it, one of his thumbs tracing patterns absentmindedly on the soft part of his midriff .

“Who wouldn’t love a Simon in their life, hm?” Soap hums, tapping the cheekbone of Simon’s mask with a finger.

“Simon.” He whispers again, just for good measure, and Ghost looks up at him, eyes shining so, so brightly. He looks almost wistful, hopeful if he looks too much into it. The hands at his hips squeeze.

Fuck.

“Simon.”

I love you.

I love you so much I can’t bear it sometimes.

Johnny says nothing else.

“We should probably go sleep now. We have to get up in less than 5 hours.” He whispers.

Ghost hums an agreement, but neither of them move for a long time.

“Okay.” Ghost mumbles, breaking the spell first. He climbs up to his feet and looks down at johnny one last time, hooking an index finger to his chin. “I’ll see you in the morning, yeah?” Johnny can feel the rumble deep in his chest. He doesn’t reply, only nods as he watches Ghost disappear down the hallway.

Once he’s out of sight, Soap buries his face in his hands and groans softly. God, his whole body is alight. How’s he ever gonna sleep now? How’s he going to move on with his life knowing how ghost’s hands felt on his waist, his hips, his chin? His face feels hot, and he scratches at his chest, wringing his shirt he picked up in his hands nervously.

He lays his head back, staring at the water stains on the ceiling.

He’s fucked.

[star-wars-radar]

Hey there! The quick and easy TLDR? I reblog fanworks every day and I love when people submit stuff I haven't seen. Under the cut is an FAQ (including instructions on how to submit fanworks or let me know if I reblogged stolen art). Please read before you send something! Here's links to the askbox and submit.

How does this work?

I track the tags for animations, coloring books, comics, commissions, cosplayers, dioramas, edits, icons, fanart, fanfic, fanmixes, fanvids, filk, gifs, merch, moodboards, podcasts, podfics, poetry, sculptures, and zines. When something new shows up in those tags, I add it to the queue!

Some fanworks aren't put in my tracked tags, or are posted to other sites, like AO3 or Instagram. You can submit links to them, and I'll add them to the queue with the rest. (Just a note: don't try to put them in the askbox! Links and media can only be submitted.)

If you know of an art form that's not mentioned here, I'd love to see it! Send me a link to its tag and I'll keep an eye out for new stuff.

Do you reblog XYZ?

Probably! If it's a fanwork, and it's related to Star Wars, I'll reblog it. Crossovers, fusions, AUs, translations, and non-English works are welcome. I reblog works that contain triggering content or are rated R/Mature/Explicit, and this is a proship blog, including master/padawan and clone/clone. Everything is tagged so it can be filtered out if you don't like it.

That means you're going to reblog some character/ship/trope/creator I don't like!

I don't give a shit.

But it's gross/immoral/hurts my feelings!

I still don't give a shit.

What's your tagging system?

Non-fanwork posts are tagged #admin talk and answered asks are tagged #ask. All fanworks are tagged with their type, as listed in the first question's answer. "#nsfw (violence)" and "#nsfw (sex)" are used for mature content. I tag triggers and am happy to expand my taglist, just send me an ask. Current trigger tags: abuse, death, flashing, sexual assault, and smoking.

Works are tagged with the creator's username. I tag the names of all the characters and relationships, and if a work is character-critical or part of a series. Relationships are tagged with character names in alphabetical order, using "&" for platonic and "/" for romantic. AUs are tagged with their type, and crossovers and fusions are tagged with their other fandom(s).

I also tag 'creature' for works with animals, 'droid' for works with droids, and 'ship' for works with spacecraft and vehicles. 'The Bad Batch', 'Jedi', and 'Rebel Alliance' are tagged for group-themed works. Original characters are tagged with their type: Chiss, clone, droid, Jedi, Mandalorian, Sith, Twi'lek, Wookiee, etc.

If a tag is missing or wrong, please let me know! I don't read or listen to everything I reblog, as I simply don't have the time or spoons. All written and audio works are tagged based on the OP's tags. Let me know the chapter (for written) or timestamp (for audio), and what should be tagged. Submit that with a link to my reblog.

How do I submit something?

First, please check the blog for everything tagged with that creator's name. It might already be here! If not, the rest of this answer will walk you through the submission process. Submit as much as you want!

There's a link at the top of this post to submit. You can also check beneath the blog's banner on mobile or desktop. To the right of the Ask link is a meatball menu (three dots in a row). Click or tap that, then 'Submit'. However you get to the submit page, you'll see this:

1 is the drop-down for post type. 2 is where tumblr will prompt you to put your name and email if you're not logged in. Do not put your real name. "N/A" or "nothing" will work for both fields. 3 is where you put a link to what you want to submit. You'll have to check the box by 4 (and do a captcha if you're not logged in) before hitting the Submit button.

Don't worry about providing the information that I tag with! I take the link and do all the formatting and tagging myself.

You might not see a work posted in the same day or week that you submitted it, due to the length of the queue. If you want to make sure that something gets shared, you can DM me or send an ask, to check if it's in the queue. Please don't resubmit unless I ask you to.

How do I tell you that you reblogged stolen/reposted/uncredited works?

Submit a link to what I reblogged with a link to the original artist's post. If you don't see the work removed in three days, feel free to follow up by sending a DM or ask. Please don't resubmit unless I ask you to.

I still have more questions/want to tell you something/I like the nuance poll option.

No problem! My askbox is open to whatever you want to share, and anon is enabled. I aim to check the blog at least daily so I can reply to things fairly quickly. Please only DM me if you're checking whether I saw your submitted post!

This is a cool blog!

Thanks, I think so too :) It's my hope that having a 'one stop shop' for fanworks will help creators reach a wider audience. The best way to support them - and me! - is to reblog the stuff you like. Especially with some enthusiastic tags!

[animebw]

*patiently waits for the list of titles you're giving a chance this Fail season*

WELL WAIT NO LONGER MY FINE FRIEND

Must-Watch

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really Really Love You

Listen, do you know how good a harem anime has to be for me to recommend it? This was one of the funniest manga I've read and the adaptation does it justice and more.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Yeah, it lived up to the hype. Let's see if it can match the strength of those incredible opening episodes for its whole run.

Spy x Family Season 2

THEY GOD MASAAKI GODDAMN YUASA TO DO THE NEW OP WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME

Runners-Up

Firefighter Daigo: Rescue in Orange

I guess Brain's Base has decided that making Kennjirou Tsuda narrate everything is a recipe for success, lol. But this is shaping up to be a really strong mix of character drama and disaster movie, with the courage to really take its time and let the weight of its sequences settle.

Migi and Dali

I don't think I can properly describe this one except to tell you to watch the first episode knowing nothing about what to expect.

Overtake

Good season for adult workplace drama between this and Daigo. More of an inspirational sports story for F4 racing, but done really well so far.

Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions

Honestly the detective side of this one is kinda weak so far. Thank god the characters are so entertaining and the production is so wonderfully energetic so you barely mind.

Shy

I was initially gonna recommend just reading the manga on this one, but then the second episode turned out lightyears better than the first, so hey. If you're looking for a superhero show to tide you over until MHA's next season, put this on your list.

Undead Unluck

Now this is a much better use of Fire Force's director than Fire Force was. Also, I have it on good authority that the gross groping gags vanish pretty quickly into the manga, so breathe easy on that front.

If You Have Time

Arknights: Perish in Frost

I'm still waiting to see if this can follow up on the first season's actually really good finale or if it'll settle into being just kinda boring again. Fingers crossed!

I'm in Love With the Villainness

I remember bouncing off the manga for this one, and the adaptation isn't exactly a stunner. But it's breezing through the most annoying parts of the opening chapters at a strong clip, so here's hoping it gets to the good stuff soon!

Stardust Telepath

Look, the main character's voice being really squeaky and annoying is usually a dealbreaker for me, but this has enough charm for me to stomach it for now. Love seeing CGDCT shows with this much energy in the production.

Uma Musume Season 3

I'll admit, that was probably the strongest opening episode we've had for an Uma Musume season. Will this be the moment the weird horse idol show finally clicks for me? Let's find out!

On Thin Ice

Ancient Magus Bride Season 2 Part 2

Ugh, this is really turning into a drag. I want to be on board with more Magus Bride, but the increasingly limp production and complete lack of focus on the main relationship are running my interest into the ground.

My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer

I would very much like the main female character to gain a second personality trait beyond loving her daddy please and thank you.

Shield Hero Season 3

I... have no excuse for myself.

Already Dropped

16Bit Sensation Another Layer

Like I said:annoying squeaky moe voices are usually a dealbreaker for me. I made it seven minutes into the first episode before I couldn't stand listening to the protagonist for another second.

Bullbuster

I'll give you this, Bullbuster, it takes effort to take a premise like mecha vs monster battles filtered through realistic corporate and engineering bureaucracy and make it boring.

Faraway Paladin Season 2

God, did I really use to like this show? I'm sure I did, but this first episode really make me question what was ever interesting about it

Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess

It took all of five minutes for the show to get into an extended sequence of the main character almost peeing herself in her pajamas. Hard pass.

[fluffyhellspawn]

How do you come up with your color palette/ color scheme for your drawings PS your style is so pretty

AHHH thank you so much :D hope you dont mind the ramble! <3

colour pallets and such, i have a few different ways to get what i want with it. If i'm basing a drawing off a certain reference/vibe (like a real picture for example), I make my own colour pallets directly from the photo.

I'd import it into my software filter>effect>mosaic

and then just choose the colours i like from the cubes provided!

For my character pallets, I usually do this with them! (Was actually taught to me by a post i saw eons ago, i cant remember the OP, however, i can remember what the steps were!) I pick a skintone and a few other colours i really like. put a new layer and set the opacity to around 50%, overlay it the other colours. and there, a pallet that goes really well together!

and finally, I use a shit ton of gradients. thank clip studio paint for this sick feature that lets you remap the colours. i basically mess with those and see what fits with the blending layers :D (i also increase the saturation to like. max amount when needed. i love me some bright colours)

and the secret option: i just go with whatever scratches my brain and don't really think about the colour scheme. (evil option)

[pinkprettycure]

I was thinking that Crunchyroll is a really bad site for kids anime because it lacks any good age filters or categories but now that I'm browsing the site it's just dogshit for anime fans in general imo??

this is the genre tags we have, it's extremely small and general tbh The shows also aren't properly tagged all the time so you might click on something and not see it in there because it wasn't tagged.

For example A Sign of Affection is tagged with "Romance" ONLY. so you can't find it in the shojo tag at all. The way they're defined is up to god as well because they have shows that aren't shojo under the shojo tag and whether or not a show even gets tagged with it seems based on if they remember it exists cuz you might argue maybe My Love Story isn't tagged shojo cuz the protag is male and there's a misconception that shojo = female protag, but Super Lovers is a BL and it IS in there.

It's not based on the magazines they ran in (Skip and Loafer is under shojo but ran in a seinen magazine) and it's not based on the protagonist's gender because Super Lover's is a BL and tagged shojo, and its not even based on like, whether or not the demographic is female regardless of if it's magazine (Precure is a girls anime first series and IS tagged shojo but Brother's Conflict targets girls as well and ISN'T tagged as shojo.)

Under shojo is a subcategory for magical girls which you already see a large glaringly obvious problem here right off the bat, only the very first precure is even in it.

Since MG is a subcategory of "shojo" it means that any non-shojo magical girls aren't in it, not that it matters since it's utterly lacking in shojo magical girls as well, this is NOT their only selections, they have for shojo magical girls, they have a bunch of Precure of course, Creamy Mami, Fancy Lala, Minky Momo, a few Pretty series shows, and Acro Trip off the top of my head.

Magical Girl IMO shouldnt be a subcategory at all, it should be it's own genre category and they should include everything under the umbrella in there regardless of demographic and then have subcategories such as shojo, ecchi, or idol underneath THAT. Madoka, Spec-ops Asuka, and Boueibu SHOULD be possible to locate under the same category as Sailor Moon and not just by digging through a massive generic tag like "Fantasy"

Mecha is a similar problem where it's a sub category under Sci-fi instead of it's own genre tag, I do think Mecha makes sense as subtag way more than MG does and at least it has a healthy amount of shows in its subcategory but it really should be it's own thing with it's own subtags, doesn't have to be just like, super and real robot it could be for stuff like whether it has heavy romance or the settings like if the battles primarily are in space like Gundam 79 vs in a fantasy isekai world like Escaflowne.

There isn't a tag for BL or Yuri at all, Super Lovers like I mentioned before is tagged as Shojo but Junjou Romantica is tagged as Drama and Romance and Love Stage is only tagged with Romance.

These shows are all way too hard to find if you don't know where to look or what to look for, and a fan who wants to find something new to watch will have little luck since their favorite genres either don't exist or aren't tagged properly, you can't really search unless the genre is in the name and you still get irrelevant shows in the search. So looking for "Yuri" gets you "Yuri on Ice" and not Strawberry Panic, and the "more like this" carousel is hit or miss on if it shows anything relevant. I saw Quintessential Quintuplets and Rent-A-Girlfriend under the recommendations for Citrus and I imagine anyone watching infamous yuri anime Citrus is not interested in a het harem with a male lead or whatever the fuck is going on with rent a girlfriend.

like its one thing imo for Hulu and Netflix to just slap a bunch of anime under one tag and call it a day but a site targeted specifically toward nerds that's trying to be THEE one stop spot for all things anime and japanese media? this is fucking embarrassing.

[vxn3lla]

https://www.tumblr.com/creature-wizard/761018683964424192/the-law-of-assumption-isnt-a-cult-mmm-are-you?source=share

Hm? I supposed it depends on who in the community you interact with.

Me personally I don't see there being a founder. All forms of manifestation are connected in a way, the only difference being terminology and way of applying the knowledge. People in the community have a tendency to act like Neville Goddard is some all powerful being when he's just a dude who wrote about his experiences

The original post linked an article about "demystifying the double slit experiment": personally I've never heard of it or seen it be connected to manifestation. I've seen things about quantum physics yes...but not that, I've also seen things based on neuroscience.

Noble Prize winners

The Reticular Activating System (RAS):

The Reticular Activating System, a network of neurons in our brainstem, plays a vital role in filtering information and directing our attention. When we set clear intentions and consistently focus on our goals, we activate the RAS. This mechanism helps us notice opportunities and information related to our desires that we might otherwise overlook (Psychology Today) (Psychology Today).

The Influence of Belief:

Our beliefs have a profound impact on our reality. When we have faith in our ability to achieve something, our brains release neurotransmitters like dopamine, which boost our motivation and confidence. Conversely, negative beliefs can trigger stress responses that hinder our progress. Manifesting encourages individuals to cultivate positive beliefs and reshape their thought patterns to support their aspirations (Live Your Best Life Now)(Dr. Kinga Mnich).

(There's plenty more science)

I'm not sure about the religious aspect, but from what I've seen, it's more similar to Gnosticism, which the original poster probably wasn't talking about and probably referred to modern-day Christianity. Yeah, I just read one of their other posts, and they seem to be very "Christianity is only this way," saying Neville Goddard's misinterpreting the Bible and lying. However, there are over 3,000 versions of the Bible.

"The beliefs and practices can supposedly never fail the followers; followers can only fail the beliefs and practices." I personally don't think failure exists, it's just that people give up

Followers are told to suppress their doubt and their critical thinking skills. People who ask critical questions are shamed and invalidated.

Not once have I seen this on any social media platform (I don't have twitter or tiktok) critical questions should get legit and helpful answers...and no one said to "suppress critical thinking skills" CRITICAL THINKING IS IMPORTANT

Evidence - why would someone be shamed for asking for evidence? And "all evidence" being faked or a coincidence is possible but not all.

Dehumanization. Everyone Is You Pushed Out effectively claims that other people lack true agency and interiority, and are essentially mere puppets you can control however you please.

THIS IS SO WRONG WHO TF SAID THIS?! EIYPO JUST MEANS THE PEOPLE THAT SHOW UP IN YOUR LIFE ARE A REFLECTION OF YOUR ASSUMPTIONS OF THEM

NONE OF THE PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY I HAVE INTERACTED WITH BELIEVE WHAT OP SAID AND CALL IT "STUPID TIKTOK BULLSHIT" also mentioned an sp youtube but not gonna name names.

ok so now for the people being "shamed, harrassed, victim blamed" um sure there might be toxic people in the community but that goes for anything. However, me and plenty of other people I've seen put links for those in need or crisis hotline numbers. This actually happened recently. Not once did anyone victim blame.

The original poster of course only put evidence supporting their idea that Law of Assumption is bad, however most things have a good and bad side and I've seen, and experienced more good than bad.

They also only talk about the good side of Christianity, which seems like the "Christianity is the only true religion but we "respect" other beliefs, also only THIS Christianity is real"

They also blame people for their results being a coincidence or fake or random...so can literally any religion but they don't say that about Christianity.

Claimed to know the "real history of the bible/Christianity" but with how many versions there are and how much it could've been altered and mistranslated that's nearly impossible. Also only put one scientific article supporting their claim however that was only one experiment, usually multiple experiments are done resulting in the same result and making sure to have variables and a control group.

"The double-slit experiment has not been disproven; it remains a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, demonstrating the wave-particle duality of light and matter, where particles can exhibit wave-like behavior under certain conditions, and is considered a fundamental experiment that has been repeatedly verified through various iterations and variations." is it possible for it to be proven or disproven in the future? Of course,

People are free to their own beliefs but if you're gonna use double standards to make your beliefs "better" and only show people what you want them to see then you aren't really "open minded"

(I am and have always been Catholic with my great-grandmother working in her local church and with Christian relatives and friends. Literally none of them shame or judge other people's beliefs except for one)

All I'll say in the conclusion is believe and apply in LOA or don't, it's your life and no one is forcing you but don't be a hypocrite and have evidence as to why loa is fake but not anything about Christianity or any other religion.

ok so op believes in magic and is Pagan, but while believing in magic believes alien and other space related sci-fi esque beliefs are bad and believing them make you a n@zi...just another example of double standards and hypocrisy imo

NO ONE SHOULD FORCE THEIR BELIEFS OF SOMETHING BEING GOOD OR BAD DOWN YOUR THROAT

AND IF YOU NEED SERIOUS HELP CALL THE HOTLINE NUMBER FOR THE SITUATION IN YOUR COUNTRY

[notemily]

actual guide for new tumblr users, from Twitter or otherwise

yeah so I decided to do one of these. I'm just someone who has been here since 2007 and wants to help people who are new to the site and have no idea what's happening. Twitter seems to be in its death throes as I write this, and while the posts about driving down the property values are funny, I'd like to actually try and help out.

many people have made posts that are like "get an icon and post something or else people will think you're a bot" so I'll just assume you've seen one of those already. I want to focus more on the things you need to know to acclimate to tumblr culture. so:

general tips:

like things if you want to like things. people will tell you liking doesn't do anything, that only reblogs do stuff, but that's not quite true. only reblogs will get the people who follow you to see it on their dashboard (circulating the post further through the tumblr ecosystem), but likes will let the OP know you liked it, let the person who reblogged it onto your dash know you liked it, and probably do something complicated involving the "based on your likes" algorithm but I really don't know how that works. also, the like will stick around, so if you see the post reblogged from someone else much later, your little heart will still be highlighted in red.

you can control a lot about what you see on your dashboard from the settings page! on desktop, go into settings - account and settings - dashboard to change things. most people turn off "best stuff first" and just use the chronological feed, but you do you, new user. I personally hate endless scroll, so I turned that off, but I love timestamps, so I turned those on. for bonus fun, go into settings - labs and there are extra tabs you can add to your dash.

but what about turning off anonymous asks? on desktop, this setting, weirdly, is in the "Edit appearance" page for your blog. you can also turn replies off there, allow only people you follow to message you, and hide your blog from search results. there are a lot of random settings in there, so make sure to take a look. (app results may vary.)

you might notice that one of the settings is for filtered tags and filtered post content. this is why it's important not to censor things here that might be triggering for some folks - because someone out there has "rape" filtered, and if you go around saying "r*pe," that's not going to be caught in their filter. also, at this time there are no word police who will come after you for saying "kill" or "die," so you don't need to use euphemisms like "unalive" on tumblr. you can also swear as much as you want.

blaze: tumblr blaze is a relatively new feature where you can pay actual money to have your post forced onto random people's dashboards. beware, if you use this for something people don't want to see, you will get mocked. if you use it to show everyone your cat, you're probably fine.

there are two basic uses for #tags: organizational (putting your post into a category, like tagging it with the name of the fandom it's relevant to) and editorial (adding extra commentary that you don't want to add in the post itself). a lot of people will use both, a lot of people will use neither. when people like your editorial tags enough, they'll copy or screenshot them and add them to the body of the post. this is known as "passing peer review" and is a compliment.

memes and inside jokes You Should Know:

do you love the colour of the sky? is an extremely long image post (showing all the colors a sky could possibly be) that takes a long time to scroll past, and back in the olden days (2012) it was ubiquitous on tumblr. these days you can shorten long posts automatically using your dashboard settings (see above), or use the "j" keyboard shortcut to go directly to the next post if you're on desktop, but we still remember it fondly and refer to it constantly because nothing dies here, especially not memes.

the color theory children's hospital post is another one of those things you'll see a million references to if you're on here for any length of time.

you cannot kill me in a way that matters is a post that you might have seen in screenshots elsewhere online, but it started here! other memes that originated on tumblr: spiders georg, me an intellectual, graphic design is my passion, etc.

blorbo from my shows is a phrase used to refer to your latest favorite character. it started as a joke, but tumblr has a way of taking jokes and making them a thing, so now it's a thing. see also poor little meow meow.

tumblr holidays: anything people on tumblr can make into a holiday or anniversary, we will. most of them you'll see as they happen, and they're often self-explanatory, but you should probably read up on November 5 2020 if you don't know about it already.

horse plinko: tumblr loves this one for some reason.

I like your shoelaces / thanks, I stole them from the president: this was supposedly the "secret code" to identify a tumblr user in real life. (you can buy shoelaces directly from tumblr now, but that's a recent development.)

then perish: speaking of the president, if you see Obama's eyes with a very orange tint, this is the meme it's referencing.

ball-shaving ads: ads from the personal grooming company Manscaped were/are(?) ubiquitous on tumblr, to the point that some have theorized that tumblr was deliberately saturating people's dash with the ads so that they'd be more likely to pay for ad-free browsing. and one of the ads for ad-free reads "shave off ads from your dashboard," so like, they might be onto something.

world heritage posts: there are various tumblrs that compile the best of tumblr, anything that's particularly iconic or has become a meme. there are even heritage post blogs for specific fandoms.

tumblr history:

there are three basic eras of tumblr history:

classic tumblr era 2007-2013: David Karp started tumblr in 2007, and it grew in popularity and weirdness for many years. porn was allowed: the original tumblr adult content policy read "sure, go nuts, show nuts, whatever."

Yahoo/Verizon era 2013-2019: Yahoo famously bought tumblr in 2013 for $1 billion. ads started showing up on tumblr in 2012, so this is also around when tumblr started to monetize. Yahoo was eventually bought by Verizon, and in December 2018, they announced they were banning porn, which sucked. everyone predicted the death of tumblr, but it limped on, with about a 30% decrease in traffic. (source for that statistic)

Automattic era 2019-present: in 2019, Automattic bought tumblr from Yahoo for like $3 million or something. Automattic owns WordPress, and they seem to understand tumblr's userbase better than the Yahoo folks did. they've recently instituted a more nuanced adult content policy, but because of Apple's strict policy for what gets included in the App Store, credit card processors refusing to process payments for porn, and other restrictions, tumblr can't go back to being the porn-allowed free-for-all it once was. see this post for a full explanation of why.

various April Fool's jokes have included Coppy (2015), Mishapocalypse (2013), and most recently, the button that makes crabs. expect April 1st to be extra chaotic on tumblr.

Tumbeasts - the tumblr version of the Twitter Fail Whale, designed by Matthew Inman of the Oatmeal. not sure if they're extinct now, or if the site just doesn't go down like it used to.

Dashcon - tumblr tried to have a convention once. it didn't go well. the photo with the sad ball pit is used as shorthand to reference the disaster that was Dashcon.

SuperWhoLock is a name for the fandom crossover between Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock, which were all juggernauts on tumblr at one time. the fandom supposedly "died off" after 2014, but see above re: nothing dies here.

female presenting nipples - when tumblr introduced the Porn Ban in 2018, they used this phrase in the community guidelines. they've since updated their nudity policy, but the phrase will live forever, because come on, tumblr is a website full of queer and/or trans folks. if you think you're getting away with a weasel phrase like "female presenting nipples" without being mocked all over the website, you're extremely wrong.

John Green: an author who used to be on tumblr, back when you could edit someone else's tumblr post when you reblogged it. his text posts were regularly edited to make it look like he had said things he didn't. someone edited one of his posts to be about how much he loves a certain sex act, which was probably not THE reason they removed the ability to edit others' posts, but like, it didn't help. John Green was eventually harassed so much he left tumblr. opinions are divided on whether this was hilarious or sad. (something I discovered while researching for this post: the author of the Your Fave Is Problematic tumblr [which was part of the wave of anti-John Green content] wrote a confessional New York Times article in 2021. pull quote: "I just wanted to see someone face consequences; no one who'd hurt me ever had.")

XKit: used to be THE browser extension for tumblr. it was made by "the xkit guy," who seems to have been harassed off the site in 2015. the extension was replaced by New XKit, which worked for a while. these days a lot of XKit's features have been either rendered obsolete by tumblr adding them to its settings, or broken by tumblr interface updates, and the new hotness is XKit Rewritten. want to block a specific post from ever appearing on your dash, see who your mutuals are, stop seeing notifications on one specific post (great feature for if you accidentally go viral)? install it and play around with the settings. there are accessibility features too!

...and now I've made it look like people regularly get harassed off tumblr. WELCOME, NEW USER, TO THE HELLSITE! but for real, part of why I put this post together was so if someone starts in on tumblr Discourse and mentions people who have been harassed off the site, you can nod wisely and go "ah, yes, I have heard tell of this." just to give you some kind of context for things.

anyway, I'm always happy to Explain The Joke, provided it's a joke that I get, so if you see something that looks like a tumblr in-joke and want context, my ask box is open. just don't ask me about Homestuck. I know nothing about Homestuck and at this point I'm not sure I want to.

in conclusion, new user: go forth, be weird, become a part of the culture. I hope this guide has helped!

[carpisuns]

Hey sorry reddit refugee with a quick question, I dont really identify with the super-fandom side of tumblr. A lot of my feeds get a lot of random like (character)x(character) fanfics and I'm wondering if there are a few common tags i could block to minimize seeing them?

Hey there, welcome to tumblr! Sorry if I tell you something you already know but I think this info is really important for curating your experience here.

While tumblr does have an option for a feed based on an algorithm, I’d say like 90% of users don’t use it. We use the “following” option, which shows only posts from people you follow, in the chronological order they were posted—with no additional posts chosen by an algorithm. If you’re on mobile it looks like this.

I just wanted to make sure you knew about this because if you are not interested in seeing certain kinds of content, I’d say the best way to not see it is to not follow people who post it a lot. Fill your dashboard with content you enjoy by following people who post the kinds of things you like.

That being said, of course no one is gonna share your taste 100% and the people you follow will likely post about things you don’t care about. Blacklisting tags will definitely help with that. People usually tag fandom posts with the fandom name or an abbreviation for it. so for example if you don’t want to see posts about the owl house you could block the tags #the owl house and #toh. (Also, if that’s the case, you should probably unfollow me, since I post about that a lot lol.)

Most shippers use a specific ship name, usually a combo of the two characters’ names, so figure out what it is and block it if you don’t want to see that ship. So for example, #zelink for zelda x link. I think that’s a much more common way of tagging ships here than character x character or character/character.

When you come across a post you don’t like, it might be helpful to check how the reblogged or the op tagged it and then block those specific tags.

If you don’t know how to block tags on mobile:

Tap the person icon on the bottom right of the screen. Then tap the gear icon on the top right. Go to general settings > filtering and add each individual tag you want to block. (On desktop I recommend downloading XKit—it has a lot of helpful customization options.)

There really isn’t a way to guarantee you don’t see any shipping fanfic posts on your dashboard in general, but again, if you don’t want to see that, don’t follow people who post it a lot. And don’t feel bad about unfollowing if you need to. I feel like the culture here is a bit different from something like twitter or Insta because our follower counts are private so they’re less of a focus. I wouldn’t worry too much about someone being offended that you unfollowed. Most people understand that we’re all trying to curate our experience.

Hope this helps! Have fun :)

[elektrischemaidchen]

Lisztober #9: Blind Grief

“Hey, good news, Drosselmeyer has made an 11 minute long weird ballad about Liszt.”

“Oh, COME ON!”

@franzliszt-official : We have TWO songs for you today.

One, from a noble spirit with a sense of beauty, the other is a roast, written by a Maiden without a heart, frivolous and wicked. There's a nice German expression, decribing the latter: What does it matter to the proud oak tree if the bristling cattle rub against it? ;)  I laughed my ass off anyway. For real. Chapeau.

Here we go: A Liszt-(Aleksey Konstantinovich, not Leo) Tolstoy-Ballad! (No translation, this time. Really, that’s too difficult for me and would destroy the beautiful spirit of it. I didn’t find an English translation either, but here’s a link to the whole poem, maybe you will be able to translate the site via Google)

See, even tumblr itself hates it:

If there's one unwritten rule in the Maidchen Fight Club, it's: no song without a twist or a joke. I've already broken this credo 4 times this week alone, mea culpa, I accept my punishment ;)

Enjoy this lovely pasquil, a nasty tribute to our single „Zeitmaschine“:

(So baby, take a time machine now and fly away for a month / You cheeky little bee Stay in the past / until Franz finally crowns you with a laurel wreath She bangs Franz Liszt, Oh yes Oh yes But he doesn’t  hear her plea She bangs Franz Liszt, oh yes We know You have studied/ now give it a rest otherwise our listeners will be all gone in a flash We have to save our honor now And jet to the next destination... Which is not Franz Liszt, oh no oh no Not even as a young gentleman Nor from eighteen-thirty or how old he would have gotten

Franz looks at her and says Praise to my listeners! Leave me here with thanks and we'll leave very quickly She bangs Franz Liszt! And I also greet those who have not heard my song. May only salvation befall them! Long may the prince reign happy and honored! May the people be granted a carefree life And peace to the noble boyars!” [I don't even know what boyars are, Bro])

And now for my defense of the “most boring piece of Maidchen history ever written”, with the “ROFL speech filter” that you “hoped someone would get to the point at minute 5 and would just take pity on the guy and slap him, but then the bullshit went on for another 6 minutes” and whose “last verse is so ironically abt that you could have put it at the very beginning”:

1 The text is not mine, it's Count Tolstoy's. Liszt himself set it to music autobiographically in 1875. And hardly anyone knows it. A pity. This time the song is not based on his notes. More on that below. You can skip it ;)

2 There is no poem that could appeal more to musicians. Because the blind singer is also you, my friend. At least sometimes. Not even our friends and fellow musicians hear this, so why should boyars?

3 I find the poem heartbreaking-beautiful and so sad that I actually shed a tear. I'm a sentimental bitch. Go ahead and laugh!

4 Any shortening would have ruined the story. Especially if it had been cut down to “two verses”. Philistines.

5 The filter is really cringeworthy. Sorry. The time pressure, the time pressure.

6 As for the boyars: Google is your friend, „Bro“

Now to Liszt himself:

I originally wanted to write something about Daniel and Blandine. But that didn't really seem appropriate.

When Franz set “The Blind Singer��� by Count Tolstoy to music, he probably didn't know that his eye condition would get worse and worse six years later. Oh, the irony. :( But the text must have spoken to him differently: It also reflects his entire musical life with such bitter sweetness that I was truly awestruck. He, the blind singer, originally called to entertain the nobles at dinner; he, who makes the most beautiful unearthly sounds, doesn't realize that no one is listening to him. And just carries on. Even when he finally realizes that nobody is around anymore, This.

It's a bit like in this place, you see ;)

[miloscat]

[Review] Antonball Deluxe (NS)

Wario meets Arkanoid meets Punch Ball Mario Bros.!

Having wrapped up my Wario Land fest, I picked this out of my backlog due to it taking some inspiration from the big goof. Summitsphere had previously published Annalynn, which models itself on arcade classics of the early 80s, and this likewise remixes ideas from retro games both popular and niche. Their next game is actually a direct Wario Land homage, but it's not out yet!

Antonball started as a pair of Game Boy homebrews made in just a few days: one a mashup of brick breaking platforming, and the other an expansion on Hudson's Punch Ball Mario Bros., which is itself a neat little remix of Mario Bros. but with a ball projectile. Antonball Deluxe fleshes both of these out, and adds a head-to-head brick-breaking Pong-esque multiplayer mode reminiscent of one of the faux-retro games in the underrated Game Center CX 3. All in all it's a nice package.

The Wario inspiration comes in the design of the main character Anton and the general tone, as well as a shoulder-barge attack that can be used in mid-air. You can also do a high-jump that looks a bit like the backflip in Donkey Kong 94 (you see, this game is very citational!). In the primary game mode, you use your moves to platform around the single-screen stages in order to body block the bouncing ball and break all the bricks. Sometimes there are enemies or hazards to avoid, and powerups to claim. There are 30 stages but I wasn't able to finish them all, as it gets super hard and it's all too easy to let balls slip past you.

I had a better time with the Punch Ball mode, whose story focuses on Anton's coworker Annie. Annie was specifically added as an equal but feminine counterpart to Anton's Wario-like depravity and goblin charisma, something the Wario series itself has always lacked. There are actually a bunch of unlockable characters, by the way, that you can freely use in any mode including the Waluigi-esque Danton, versions of Anton in different art styles, Anton's dog and Annie's cat, guests from other indie games, and—my favourite—the punny "Ant on Ball". It's an ant on a ball.

Punch Ball by its nature is less twitchy and more about carefully manoeuvring and stunning enemies with the ball so you can knock them out, with a variety of foes with different behaviours, some even interacting with the ball in interesting ways. Some clever level design gives you another 30 stages of fun in a quite different format, even though it uses the same movement engine and controls. The Switch version I played also comes bundled with what was DLC on PC, with two extra joke characters and level packs based on the original Game Boy homebrews.

Silly designs and jokey art permeate this collection, and the interstitial cutscenes add a lot of character to this wacky little world and its denizens. Full disclosure, the illustration and some cutscene art was done by my friend Cameron Reigle (hire him! commission him!), but even if I didn't know him I would be in love with the art in this game, from the goofy cutscenes to the moody backgrounds to the chunky pixel art. It's actually a shame for me that the sequel is going in a slightly different direction artistically, because the look of Antonball is so much fun (there's a grid filter on by default, but it looked better to me when I turned it off)!

I'm impressed by how Antonball was able to hone in on specific mechanics from retro games and remix them in such fun ways. It comes together really well in this package, even if I think the progression in the Antonball mode could have been a bit more merciful. I couldn't engage much with Vs. mode on my own, but I have no complaints for Punch Ball mode, it's great. Actually speaking of multiplayer, both of the solo modes can be tackled in simultaneous co-op with up to four players, which is nice. What else can I say? Check it out!

[quetzalpapalotl]

💚💛💕

@gaysontodd 👀

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

Oh boy. Well, I'm the only person who understands IDW1 Optimus (I'm joking... but also) but I think the most commonly and easily disproven thing that fandom gets wrong about him is the idea that the narrative supports his choices and portrays him as unequivocally good.

And to be fair, James Roberts does portray him like that and I have a lot to say about it. But Barber does not, and I think the text alone is enough to understand that, but Barber himself says in an interview that he just writes what happens and is up to the reader to judge character's actions. But I feel that for a lot of people who read Mtmte first they retain that idea of how JRo writes Optimus and carry it to exRID/OP—which is much more explicit about Optimus being a jerk and a hypocrite—and think that we're supposed to still think of him as an ideal hero.

And also people blame the issues with his character on everyone but JRo, and look I basically only like how Barber writes him so I can't say the phase 1 writers did a great job but the most glaring issue, namely, the cop stuff, was all JRo. People attribute that to Metzen and Dille, but Autocracy is actually phase 2 and came out after Chaos Theory and this is not a good comic but it is far more honest about what being a cop entails. Orion does police brutality in both, but while Chaos Theory insists on portraying him as The One Good Cop, Autocracy openly depicts him lashing out and using unnecessary violence. And of course, the comic that bears his name opens his narration in issue 1 with "Before I was Optimus Prime, I was part of the problem" and dedicates half of an arc to put Orion's job as a cop under scrutiny.

I think people just don't know what to make of Optimus' character because Barber portrays him as someone whose primary motivation really, genuinely is "to do good" BUT this does not mean that he actually does good, and he's also influenced by his own temper, his biases, and that after all this time he doesn't trust anyone else to do the job. It seems that when people see his condradictions instead of figuring what makes him tick, they disregard his internality and reduce him to just a holier-than-thou jerk... and he's not not that, but there's a logic to it.

For example, in fandom, I often see his anger issue flare up when he's disrespected. But Optimus is disrespected many times in canon and he's not happy, but he often shrugs it or responds a bit rudely. Disrespetc alone is not enought to make him lash out and often results in violence is having his core ideals challenged. When he puts faith in the good in the world and the world dissapoints him, especially if it reminds him of his own shortcomings. Because he wants to believe in good more than he actually does and often doesn't even know what shape this good would take and he's angry at himself for it and the mistakes he has made because of it and he can easily externalize this anger.

I could go one but I should probably stop now, hehe, sorry, you know how it is that I get with my boy.

💛: What is a popular ship you just can't get behind, and why?

Jazzprowl. It's just... not based on anything?? Or more like, it's usually based on their fanon personalities and not in any particular canon so I feel there's nowhere for me to grab. And because it's so ubiquitous there's not an attempt to sell it despite the lack of basis, so every time it shows up it's like there's something I'm not seeing, I don't get it. It's also kinda annoying that's everywhere, but I have it filtered so it's fine.

💕: What is an unpopular ship that you like?

Read my whirlop fic people. One of this days I will also have to write a rodibee fic-manifesto-

[divineerdrick]

Warhammer 40,000 Core Rules Changes for June 2024

Alright! We've got two big documents to go through here. The first is the Balance Dataslate. Then we have the new combined Core Rules Updates and Rules Commentary. It sounds like a lot, so let's get started!

Oh wow! That's not quite what I expected!

The first part is exactly what they talked about in the Metawatch article. All Rites of Battle style abilities are going to -1 CP instead of 0CP. This is a far more balanced, and easier to keep balanced, change than the Battle Tactics one.

The second rule is much better than I thought we were getting. It essentially introduces a new USR that replaces all abilities such as Reign of Confusion or my Malign Presence. This is potentially a significant buff to these abilities, especially for units that want to be in combat like the Swarmlord. This is also a potential nerf to the Callidus Assassin, as she can no longer run around outside of Lone Op range and still Vect a Stratagem.

Repeat Stratagems are dead. Good riddance. This was mainly important for Units that could grant both free and repeated Stratagems such as Rites of Battle or Will of the Hivemind. Again, units that have rules that allow them to use a specific Stratagem can still always use their Stratagem.

Also mentioned in the Metawatch article, this was another one that had caused issues before. Now it's gone from a targeted nerf to CSM to a blanketed nerf on all armies. The mentioned Haloed in Soulfire is kind of painful, as I know Grey Knights heavily relied on this. This also appears to only be Stratagems. Other abilities can still protect a unit outside of 12".

There's a big nerf to a few Strats and a few detachments with them! Unending Swarm just got much less unending. Makes sense as this can result in quite a few extra points of units. This means they have to balance those Units around the existence of these Stratagems and not around the Army as a whole. Gritting my teeth at this one, but probably good for the game.

I want to note that this is the entire Core Rules section. This isn't all the changes, as the article clearly mentioned more, but those rules are probably in the Core Rules Changes. This has an interesting implication.

We can now see the Core Rules changes in the Balance Dataslate, such as the changes to Stratagems, as experimental or temporary balance patches. But if those changes are in the Core Rules Changes, they are likely permanent. This means that if Fire Overwatch, Insane Bravery, or Ruins aren't mentioned in those changes, those changes may just be gone. Since these are the only Core Rules changes in the Balance Dataslate, let's move on to this new document.

Updates & Errata

Oh wow! There really is a lot isn't there. Whelp, let's get started!

Okay! While not exactly new this is pretty clear now and I think there has been a priority change. So now all redeploys take place at the same time. You can no longer have a redeploy that takes place after you roll to see who goes first. Additionally, you alternate using these rules starting with the Attacker. This essentially makes redeploy a USR.

Clarification that I'm pretty sure had been mentioned in the Commentary before.

Again, I'm pretty sure this isn't new. It's now just been added as new in this document or being spelled out as part of the core rules here. You can't use rules that happen in a different phase to affect units doing out of phase things.

I think many of the "new" things in this document are just new because it's a new document. I'm gonna try and filter out things I'm pretty sure were discussed in the Rules Commentary before.

We come to our new rules for moving units. The new additions are exactly as was explained. It should be noted that "Pivots" are spelled out pretty explicitly. The model is always supposed to be turned in place around its center. This may not always be clear for models without bases and may be difficult to enforce and subject to a lot of fudging. While it may be important if you have to be precise, this is definitely a place where Playing By Intent will be important. Make sure you and your opponent agree ahead of time where you Pivot your model and where it can fit. Again, you only have to pay the Pivot Value once, so you can Pivot your model during the move as many times as you need otherwise.

The introduction of a "Pivot Value" stat means that this is something they can potentially play with in the future if they want some models to turn more slowly, or even if they find this makes bigger models more agile then they want.

The diagrams clarify Straight Lines and Pivots further. Moving in a straight line is not the same as moving forward. If you have the room and want to drift your model without turning it, you can totally do that. This technically means that tanks can strafe sideways if you want. While this may not make a lot of sense for some vehicles, it helps keep the rules simple. Remember this is a miniatures game and all of these are abstractions for things that might happen during a battle. Your Warlord isn't standing there stock still on that tactical rock while being shot at, and these vehicles aren't actually Tokyo drifting around the battlefield.

There are a lot of diagrams to detail out how these new movement rules work. Hopefully this should clear up this new change. On the whole though, your big guns just got a whole lot more agile.

I don't remember them actually clarifying this, but it still makes sense. You can't shoot with a Unit that doesn't have targets, and likewise can't trigger rules that take place when a Unit shoots. The rules further note that this still doesn't effect eligibility to shoot, that's a different thing.

Alright! Here are the new Mortal Wounds rules. In addition to the new clarification for Dev Wounds, we also get clarifications for Precision and Hazardous. For Precision, they specify that you can use Mortal Wounds to snipe a Character. I think most people already played it that way, but it's now spelled out here. Hazardous weapons also got simplified. They now don't spill over either, so your Psyker may blow up but they won't take anyone with them.

The rules go on into timing, which is unchanged. You still resolve all of your attacks first, then you resolve any Mortals. If an attack inflicts both normal damage and Mortals, the Mortals still go through even if the normal damage is saved.

Indirect Fire

The new change is just a single phrase inserted at three points in the Indirect Fire rules, "an unmodified Hit roll of 1-3 always fails." With this, Indirect has been further nerfed. Again, I really just with they'd go back to worsening BS and AP by 1.

Okay so I guess they do still need to spell out Hazardous a bit.

This is mostly the same as it was before, but there's one massive change. Models that fail a Hazardous test are no longer automatically destroyed. Instead they suffer 3 mortal wounds. I'm also pretty sure the specific timing on Fire Overwatch is new. No sacrificing models to make your opponent fail their charge!

After some changes to the wording for Extra Attacks and Devastating Wounds, we get a ton of changes in a row to put all the minimum values for Characteristics into their descriptions. Again, it would be really nice if they just re-released the Core Rules with all these changes.

Again, I'm pretty sure everyone played it like this but it's nice to have it clarified. This will be especially important with the new Rapid Escalation Mission Rule. Normally you wouldn't put a Deep Strike unit in Strat Reserve, as it would take up room you could use for other units. But with Rapid Escalation units like Gargoyles will occasionally find themselves in Strat Reserve instead of just in Reserve.

I honestly don't know if anyone ever played this differently. This does sound like something someone would try to abuse but I don't think I've ever heard of it happening. Either way, now it's spelled out.

Stratagems

Insane Bravery and Fire Overwatch retain their changes from the previous Balance Dataslate. In addition, multiple Strats have also seen changes.

Command Re-Roll now officially can be used with fast dice rolling, the same way players have always used it. In addition to the afore mentioned change that Grenades can no longer be used on a unit that Advanced or Fell Back, you now select a model in that unit to throw the grenade. That model must now be within 8" and LoS of the enemy unit. No more spotting with a model that can see the unit so that a closer model can throw the grenade. Tank Shock now just uses Toughness and you don't get extra dice for being "tougher" than your target. Rapid Ingress now specifies that Deep Strike works normally. And finally, Heroic Intervention is now only 1CP.

Ruins

Everything here is the same as was previously changed. But now we get our exception for Imperium Primarchs and Belisarius Cawl. Apparently the Archmagos has learned a thing or two from Guilliman.

FAQ

We've got a lot here, so I'm just going to try and call out what strikes me.

The first is I guess I have to eat some crow. Although I thought I'd been vindicated when the wording was changed on the Hexmark, apparently GW really does want models that can shoot or fight out of phase to be able to do so indefinitely. I would think they'd want to nip that, but then as Josh and Kenny said, FAQ is not errata. Just because that's how the rules say it should play out doesn't mean that's what was intended. They've been putting in hard limits on all the Codexes that I know of, such as the classic Hexmark. Maybe that's how they intend to fix this verses a rules change.

Still, that means that some Index units may have just gone up in value!

Oh! Here's another one I've been doing wrong! Battle-shock does not negate previous Stratagems. I thought the wording meant that it could not benefit from any Stratagems, including ones already used. But apparently the effects are separate from the Stratagem and still apply.

Here's another one I've been playing different, though this time on someone else's interpretation. When you have multiple optional or choice based abilities and those choices happen at the same time, since these abilities aren't active yet, the active player doesn't decide their priority. Instead you alternate starting with the active player. So for example, if it's my opponents turn and they're playing Space Marines with Guilliman and I'm playing Tyranids, and they have no other Command Phase choices to make, they have to choose Guilliman's Codex ability before I decide if I'm going to use Shadow in the Warp. If they've got another optional ability though, they can decide to use it first, then make me choose to use Shadow or not, then choose Guilliman's Codex ability.

They go into a bit more detail on overhanging models. In addition to the battlefield edge, they discuss models being deployed. In general, your models can't overhang the deployment zone. The only exception is if your model couldn't otherwise fit in the deployment zone. In that case, parts of your model can overhang the deployment zone, but you must put as much of the model in your deployment zone as possible.

Here's a weird one that's apparently in the rules commentary. If you have a model that lost a unit but left the battlefield, then that unit returns to the battlefield mid phase, you can't return models to the unit that are returned during that phase. That's a really weird edge case, but I can see situations which it might happen (Stratagems interacting with units in Transports for example).

Here's one I've seen debated where I was right finally! If a unit moves out of phase, it can still embark in a Transport. Still not the best record, but good to know I'm not completely off base.

Oh! Here's an interesting one I haven't seen discussed before but that still caught my eye. You can target Units with a Stratagem that are off the battlefield in Reserves, as long as they are still a legal target. Note, this will be exceptionally rare, but that's still interesting!

Another one that is probably important for rules and timing is that a Unit that fights and can Consolidate does so. You don't actually have to move your units, but the unit still Consolidates.

We get some additional clarification on what counts as a Psychic Attack. The answer appears to be yes. If it's psychic, and it did damage, it's a Psychic Attack. This includes mortals caused by a failed Hazardous test from a Psychic weapon.

Rules Commentary

Whew boy that was a lot! Hopefully we don't have as many changes to the Rules Commentary. As I said, I think I'd already seen most of those before. So I think a lot of it is just the fact this is a new document and format. Still, let's see if we have anything new!

Yes, you can turn your models to face down your opponent. Though there might be some advantages when it comes to visibility, that is mainly what this gets used for.

More clarifications for overhanging models. Again, I'm pretty sure everyone played it this way. If you've got an old Hormagaunt that's lunging half off it's 25mm base, you still get to be in base-to-base when fighting. This is repeated again in the rules for Charging.

Again, this is clarifying something that's already in the rules but not directly stated. Big Guns is specifically invoked during your Shooting phase. It doesn't work out of phase.

Yay! More codification of Fast Dice Rolling! Everyone was already doing this, but it's nice to see it spelled out.

We then get a few I could have sworn had been spelled out before. But it is late and I'm really starting to get tired, so maybe I'm imagining things or these have just be rewritten slightly. Basically Fight on Death gets spelled out as meaning you Pile In and make melee attacks as normal, CP gained from discarding a Tactical Mission count towards the one additional CP you can gain each turn, and the hull is any part of a vehicle model that isn't a Walker.

There's also some synonyms spelled out. This is why you need to formalize your vocabulary for when you write rules.

Good to know for when you're about to lose a unit. You can allocate damage so that your last model Destroyed is outside of the range of any rules that might get invoked (or within if it's to your benefit).

Important clarification for those that serve our Four Armed Emperor. If a model is returned to a unit, it's still used any One Shot weapons it already fired. If it's a new unit created by a rule, they haven't fired any of their One Shot weapons yet.

Repositioned Units

We have a new set of rules with a new definition for something that already existed. Basically this is the new catch all for any time you pick models up from the battlefield and put them back without using a Transport.

What's new here is that repositioned units keep their movement status. If they Fell Back or Advanced, they still count as having Fallen Back or Advanced that phase. Otherwise they've made a Normal move. Additionally, they count as reserves for setting them back up on the battlefield, and rules that block reserves block them too.

I think this is meant to refer to things like modifiers, but it feel like this can apply to more. This is a good one to keep in the back of your mind.

I mentioned this way back when on the old Blogspot when the Rules Commentary was first released, but sometimes you just have to spell things out. "Round Bases means circular bases," may seem inane, but it's the kind of thing that does eventually come up.

The fact that discussion is inevitable is still not an excuse to be That Guy.

Here's another one that shouldn't need to be spelled out, but here we are!

By contrast the fact that a unit that was selected to shoot, but didn't shoot, hasn't shot is less obvious. While it makes perfect sense this game is full of cases where just invoking a rule means you've done it. This exception probably exists for all those situations where you can select a unit to shoot, but your opponent has a rule that lets them stop you in one way or another. You're still eligible to shoot and haven't shot.

We then get a couple of new clarifications. Table quarters are always measured horizontally, so you don't gain extra depth into a quarter from being on a building. A vehicle is in base-to-base contact if it is within 0" horizontally (touching or under/over the model) and 5" vertically of a model.

Modifying Characteristics

First we get a bunch of additions of the phrase, "After all modifiers are applied." You don't stop doing modifiers mid operation. You carry out all the modifications through the order of operation, then you clamp them down as stated here. This is exactly the same as To Hit and To Wound modifiers. Other than that, the rules here remain unchanged.

And with that, we're finally done with all the changes to the Core Rules!

That was a lot! Granted, yes much of it was clarifications. I didn't even dignify most of those FAQs. But that was still way more that I think anyone was expecting.

This is really starting to feel like a whole new game. 10.5 is here!

[courtana]

I finished the MWIII campaign and here are my thoughts 💭

Obviously, MAJOR SPOILERS below. Remember to filter #mwiii spoilers if you want to avoid them from me.

The Structure & Ending

I finished the campaign in one sitting, which I usually never do with games. So, my initial complaint that it felt short might be because I literally rushed my playthrough of it. But if others felt the same, l'd love to know!

The ending felt incomplete. I feel like it's basic/traditional writing knowledge that you don't end the story on the climax unless it's like a major cliffhanger. This was not a cliffhanger. We ended it after Soap being killed in cold blood by Makarov, and we see the rest of the 141 mourning and spreading his ashes. The only way I could be nice about this, is if we just describe the story not as a triumphant story of military victory and defeating evil but as a tragedy. A story that ends in failure (a la Ghosts [2013]). But the rational part of my brain says, no, this was just the writers cutting the story in half so that they can bank on a Modern Warfare 4 in the future—and use MP seasons and co-op/raids to tell the rest of the story.

Still, I'm glad we're actually moving along with the Makarov story and what was actually the story for MW2. The reboot timeline is so slow and slow delayed because of adding Farah's backstory and Los Vaqueros. We're finally getting to the good stuff from Modern Warfare, that classic story that everyone loves. So, that's a plus.

Los Vaqueros & El Sin Nombre's Absence

My major complaint about MWII (2022) was that for a game that bases itself on a lot of real-life geopolitical conflicts, the inclusion of Valeria's storyline as a female narco boss in relation to Hassan, an Iranian villain, didn't really make sense (and this is from me, someone who has multiple degrees studying Latin America). So I'm glad Valeria and her cronies did not re-appear in this campaign. They just do not fit.

I liked Los Vaqueros in MWII, but I think the writers were right not to include them either—at least for this installment—just because they would've had to juggle too many things at once. Already, we have to juggle a lot with Farah's forces and Shadows being our allies. Having to deal with additional characters would've made the game lose its pointed focus. I wouldn't be surprised though if for "modern Warfare 4" both groups make a comeback.

It's just funny how much fans and Activision were hyping up Valeria so much, including in MWIII's live-action trailer, just for her to not make even one appearance.

Open-Combat Missions

Not gonna lie these missions stressed me the fuck out. I could NOT stay in stealth no matter what. But I think that's somwhat good, since a lot of grouchy fans who follow COD complain that every campaign is essentially the same—just move up, aim, and shoot—with just a slightly different plotline about either some Russian or some Arab villain. And I think we can commend COD now for try to shake up the campaign a little, even if I'm not a fan of Warzone (lol) and OCMs are essentially Warzone-ified campaign missions.

But mixing traditional campaign missions with these Open Combat Missions felt like a bad idea. I get that they're trying to gradually gauge our reaction to them by slowly introducing it. But it also felt disorienting switching between just following directions in one mission to in another having total liberty to do whatever by scavenging for guns or certain field-upgrades.

Either make them mainly all OCMs or all traditional.

Makarov as a Villain & Soap's Death

Yuli's work as an actor is totally praise-worthy! It's hard to step into the shoes of Makarov after the notoriety the OG Makarov gained in the original games. I think he isn't as cartoonish and weak as some of the other COD villains have been so far in the reboot—a complaint I once again have of how the narco villains were written in MWII. He actually generates fear and intimidation and we can see his power and resources—unlike villains like Hassan and whoever the generic Russian general was in MW2019. They were not memorable at all. If MW4 gets developed, it'll be great to see Yuli work with that character more.

Now, Soap. I AM HEARTBROKEN as well as PISSED. I'm pissed because we got to see Soap in the OG games grow & develop so much. Hence why so many veteran COD fans love Soap, perhaps more so than Ghost even though the latter has gotten more popular recently. We saw him going from just entering under Price's wing to becoming a Captain; and that growth of him as a character made his death so much more painful. It warranted Price yelling out in horror and shock when he realized Soap was dead before his eyes in the OG MW3. Even the background music to his OG death has become so iconic too.

We only got introduced to reboot!Soap last year with the release of MWII. We did not get to see him in the campaign in MW2019. He's still a very new character and the writers did NOT develop him properly enough in my opinion to warrant a tragic death/killing scene. I think that's part of why his death here hurts so much for me. Because it was also a killing of his potential as a character. And it sucks that Neil won't get to work with this character more in a MW4 storyline unless they do more memory/flashback scenes.

Hell, Farah gets more development and more screentime than Soap and the rest of the 141 task force aside from Price. I understand she's a main character now, but it sucks that first in MW2019 we sidelined Price as a character (in my opinion) for Farah's storyline. Now, Farah is taking up a lot more of the agency and space in the story once again at the expense of other characters taking less charge. This is honestly just me having a hard time accepting this new dynamic with Urzikstan with the rest of TF141 that the writers have been trying to cement with the rebooted series.

-

In sum, it does feel like some of the grouchy COD fans who were saying off before release that this was going to be a glorified DLC were right in hindsight. It's clear they put a lot of work into the geography, the missions/game-play, and I genuinely enjoyed playing it. And of course, the VAs put a lot of work into their craft. But plotwise it does feel like they gave us only a partial campaign with a very abrupt ending... but I also liked it anyway and had fun. And that’s what matters :-)))

[galaxywarp]

hello! wrt your post about tagging climate change, is there a tag in specific u would like used? i don’t want to tag outside what you’ve already got filtered. assuming itll just be #climate change but i wanted to be sure! hope you are well :)

Yeah just climate change is fine! Tumblr seems pretty good at filtering that for me even if that particular reblog doesn’t contain that tag. I dunno if it filters also based on OPs tags or what but. Yeah

Thank you!

[amostdelectablescribbler]

WIP Intro: Steel Horses and Hot Irons

As requested by @tea-and-mercury, i am writing up a wip intro for the big ‘un. 32k words deep as of writing this. Sooo:

Genre: Action

Setting: South USA, Arizona-Texas-Nevada area. The Mojave, pretty much.

Tropes: Bigass guns, physics that doesn’t really get addressed, a whole bunch of mental illness (poor Becca), romantic sideplot, big plot twist, secondary antagonist scarier than the primary.

Tag (so i can see it): #STHI (it’s gonna work a bit like a signature for me)

Imma just put the prologue and the character work i did in because it’s just that much easier.

Prologue

5 years ago, 2035, the atom bombs were dropped. First at the USA, then Afghanistan, Russia, China, most of the EU, France shone like a strobe light before the nuclear power stations finished exploding. They all fell in the face of nuclear armageddon. All that was left were craters, rubble and uranium. A few survived and began reclaiming the barren, toxic wasteland. In Utah, there was a lot of this. The Krugers, based in Arizona, were dangerous and silent assassins that disappeared into the night when they left. The Mob, the surviving criminals from the surviving prisons. The lowest of the low and barely organised. The Survivors, who can walk off just about anything and were mostly left alone by everyone else. Wandering bands of close friends also formed, finding work as hired guns.

The Motliest Crew were renowned the best. A group of 5; 3 men, 2 women, all balls-to-the-wall insane. They had no known names, only specialties. The Marksman, Rebecca Johansson “Pew.” A sniper who allegedly never missed a shot, but was very shy, anxious and probably depressed. This is to be confirmed as there are no therapists left in Arizona, or in Alberta, Canada. The Scout, aka, Sorren Clark. “Keep up, $#§/stain.” A speedster with a mouth and a shotgun, one get’s him into trouble, the other get’s him out. Not the most useful combo in Australia, but out in the wastes, invaluable. The Brawler, aka, Claudia Vander. “I’m gonna punch him.” A large frame packed with muscle and grit hailing from South Korea and California. Her fighting skills are near unmatched. 

The Demolitionist, aka, Callum Henderson. “I had a dog and his name was… Bingo!” A drunk, black, tartan-clad Scotsman with a grenade launcher and a rocket launcher. And a claymore, he has a sword too. The Gunman, aka, Rasputin Romanov. “Shoot first, ask question while reloading. Spetsnaz 101.” A man of few words and a Spetsnaz soldier from Russia, with a really heavy accent and a really heavy gun. 

Each of these wandering guns-for-hire wore a face mask or helmet to both obscure their identities and filter the noxious cocktail of chemicals in the air in some places. They were all armoured to various degrees with assorted run-down military kit that had been scavenged. The Gunman was clad in hulking Juggernaut military gear, the Demolitionist in assorted pads and plates, the Scout in Moto leathers and a bulletproof vest, the Brawler wore similar kit to the Scout and the Marksman was in ill-fitting, minimalist spec-ops kit. Minimalist because only a third of what they found came close to fitting her. Each suit was tailor-made (except the Marksman) by it’s wearer, each adding their own personal flourishes and decorative elements, like sketchily-woven tartan, tally marks, oil crayon, the works.

Now, the character work i did (and added):

Rasputin and Becca:

Callum, Sorren and Claudia split up to go and have fun, leaving Becca with Rasputin. They sat in the hotel room, looking at each other quizzically. Becca had curled herself up in a blanket nest across the room from Rasputin’s massive frame that was posted on a bed, leaning into the wall, staring blankly into the space between air molecules. He looked around, registered Becca’s comfort ball, cracked his back and shifted his posture to something more relaxed.

“So.”

“Mm?” Becca mumbled from her nest, poking an anxious head out into the dim light.

“Why are you hiding?” 

Becca paused in thought, eyes darting from Rasputin to the floor, to the roof before finally talking, her own indecision caving to his patience.

“I’m worried.” She whispered into her blankets, “I’m worried about them.”

“Hmm. In Spetsnaz, we had a good cure for worries. We would sit and talk about worry. You want to try?”

“Mhm” she slowly heaved her miniature frame out of the blanket nest and towards Rasputin, who lay down on the bed fully, shuffling along to make space, further dwarfing Becca. She curled up next to him, heart rate going from cardio to moving. Listening to his huge heart slowed down hers, his relaxed body position relaxing hers. There was a security in being so close to something so large, like swimming with a whale.

“So. Why are you worrying, Becca?”

“I- I’m worried for Callum and Sorren and Claudia. I don’t know what might happen to them. Even if I was there with them, I would just slow them down, but I like knowing where they are so that I know they can protect me if they have to.” Rasputin’s huge bald head turned around

“I will tell you this, Becca: I have protected all of them before. I can protect you.”

“There are monsters out there than can hurt them?”

“But none them can hurt me. I am Russian. I am Spetsnaz. Nothing hurt me.” Rasputin’s gravelly, broken English was somehow comforting. 

“Really?”

“Da.”

Callum:

Another cold, dark night came as the red sun plummeted below the horizon. In the town, there was a bar. A man sat alone, at the end of the bar, drinking from a flagon of foamy beer and people-watching and checking his watch, waiting. For something or someone to spur him into action. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. 

An hour passed and he finished his beer, ordering another from the barkeep. The night crept on fruitlessly for the man. The stream of people coming in and out slowed to a trickle as he waited in the dark bar, wooden flagon in hand, beer getting colder, patience wearing thinner. Finally, one man entered who caught his attention. A tall, burly figure with a tartan kilt and sash over his impressive armour and helmet. The man held himself proud and tall, confident in himself and his abilities, but not arrogant. He walked with a muted swagger as he progressed to the bar and made his order, shifting the claymore on his back to avoid the seat. Some whiskey or other on the rocks. He had an enormously Scottish accent and as he removed his helmet to drink, it was revealed that he wore an eyepatch and had a nasty burn scar plastered on the left side of his face, sprawling under the eyepatch and barely visible in the shadow. 

The man stalked forwards silently, sitting beside the Scotsman without making a single quiet sound. 

“So, is it really you?” The hooded man had a smooth, melodious voice, with a noticeable Mexican accent.

“Who’s really who?” Callum replied, unflapped by a stranger randomly appearing beside him. In the better light, the man saw belts of grenades wrapped around the scot’s waist and bulges from beneath his sash. 

“You. Are you really the famous Callum Henderson? Legendary demolition man for the Motliest Crew?” The stranger’s voice somewhere between admiration and mockery.

“So tha’s what they’re callin’ us. ‘The Motliest Crew.’ ‘Bit demeaning, no?”

“Not at all. I’m a huge fan of yours. I’ve been watching your antics for a while now and i was wondering if I could get an autograph?” The strange man spoke from beneath a hood, eyes glinting red in the gloom, a crocodile grin on his face as he reached i to his poncho and coat,

“Aye, sure. Tell me where tae sign.” Callum turned to get a pen from his pocket and when he turned back around, a tattered, sun-bleached “wanted: dead or alive” poster of him was placed on the dark wooden bar. The wind whistled as the man tapped the ‘dead’ part, “Just here, please.”

“Yer a bounty hunter, eh?”

“I am. One of the best, too. The Wolf of District 13.”

“So, wolf, is this the best yeh have? Vague, indiscernible threats and uncanny looks?” Callum replied, showing no fear of the man beside him, as he downed his scotch, putting a 5€$ bill beneath the glass. The Wolf chuckled for a second, before going dangerously calm, retreating into the dimly lit bar and drawing himself up to his full, enormous height. 

Cybernetics whirred to life from beneath the wolf’s poncho and hood, as his eyes glowed red and a hiss of steam whistled from his elbows. Callum stood, grabbing his sword, “So this is how yeh wannae do this?”

“Yes.” Hissed the wolf, as his mechanical legs grew a third joint, making them look like the legs of a wolf, lean and strong and good for chasing. Callum stood, taking the poster to inspect it. He looked for a while, put it on the bar, signed it, pocketed his pen and walked out of the bar. The Wolf lowered his guard in disbelief, hunching back over to examine the wanted poster. He had circled “Dead” and signed it at the bottom. The wolf finished his beer and sulked off into the night, after paying his tab.

Claudia:

The Wolf of District Seven stalked down the back alleys of the Last City, following the cheering to a dingy looking warehouse with lights and shouts coming from within. Loud, aggressive music blasted from huge speakers, the bass shaking the walls. The Wolf entered the building by walking through the front door guarded by bouncers without being noticed at all. In the centre of the building, a ring had been made, inside of which, there were two fighters. One was a large man with massive arms and cybernetic reinforcements on his elbows and shoulders and he wore brass knuckles on his ham-fists and a metal plate on his jaw. The other fighter -the Brawler- was a smaller woman with broad shoulders and strong, lean arms. Claudia was still tall, but this other fighter was massive, yet her confident stance, and side-guard indicated extreme proficiency in her trade. The large man wore brass knuckles, she wore steel boxing gloves haphazardly manufactured from scrap sheet-metal and cast-iron. 

The man brought a standard boxing guard up and his opponent steadied herself before bouncing on her toes. The large man angled himself to his opponent and swung a huge haymaker which was caught by the woman, pinned to her side and she started slamming him with crushing blows to the liver and ribs. Each blow made a cracking and a clanging as steel smashed bone. With one final powerful uppercut, she released the mans arm and slammed him in the chin, knocking him unconscious before he hit the cold stone floor.

The Wolf came through the crowd without detection or suspicion of a tall, hunched figure in a black poncho and hood hiding the figure’s face. She called into the crowd, “Who’s next? C’mon, dude! It said fight ring on the poster, not warm-up gym!” The Wolf took his chance and approached Claudia, weaving through the crowd, “I will fight you, if nobody else wants to, that is.” The Brawler looked at her new opponent, weighing up the fighting skills of this strange hooded figure, “Bring it, big dude!” she tapped her chin with her glove, taunting the Wolf. “You know, I’m a big fan of you and your crew, Brawler. Before we start, can I please get an autograph?” The Wolf asked, crocodile grin spreading beneath his hood, red eyes catching the light as he withdrew a pen and wanted poster from the folds of his poncho. His metal limbs glinted in the spotlight, clawed steel fingers on full display. He handed her the pen, “Just here please.” He tapped under ‘DEAD’ in ‘Dead or alive.’

Claudia signed the poster in pen before she realised what it was, stepping back as she realised, “Trying to bring in the reward money?”

“Have to make a living somehow. It’s not personal.” The Wolf removed his black poncho to reveal a body made mostly of metal and machine parts. Steam hissed in the shining pistons operating the Wolf’s arms and legs. Guards were raised and it began.

The Wolf dropped low, correctly anticipating a jab to the face, claws grating on the cold stone floor. “Slow.” He cackled with glee, swerving past a knee aimed to the gut and sweeping the supporting leg from below her. “Sloppy.” He taunted from behind Claudia as she got up and readied herself to fight properly. He took the next punch that came for him, a misdirect left hook into an elbow to the chin and a slam to the ribs. Both massive blows made a sickening clunk as metal was slammed together violently. “Weak.” Growled the Wolf, as steam hissed. Before she could process it, the Wolf’s metal fist was an inch before her face, and promptly slamming hard into said face, pushing her backwards. The next blow came before she was done staggering. A monstrously powerful ridgehand to the lower back, snapping the Brawler back up, only to take a huge uppercut to the liver and a sweeping kick to the back of the knee, bringing her down into a spinning back kick. She was out before she hit the floor. The Wolf drew his clawed hand into a stabbing blade, winding up to deliver the killing blow, before the referee stepped in, stopping the fight. “That’s enough. You’ve beaten her, prize ‘s in the pot.” 

“Fine. I’ll take your bribe, but that doesn’t pull her bounty off the board.” The Wolf growled, cursing under his breath as he left the dingy arena. 

and finally, Sorren:

The Wolf of District 13 sat at the end of another bar with another mug of beer. The MotoGP was on the TV, engines roaring through the abused speakers. One man sat watching, he had a beer in his gloved hand and a confidence in his demeanour. “I know you’re there, mate. I’ll get to you when Ducati finish this lap in first.” The Scout waved a hand in the Wolf’s direction, before retreating it and sipping on a gin. The Wolf stared in awe and bitterness at the scout’s arrogance, he had never been dismissed by a target before. Ignored once or twice, acknowledged every time, but never dismissed. This was not going to fly. The Wolf advanced silently towards his quarry, making no sound, red eyes glowing with malice. The Scout waved his hand again, tutting. “No, I said I’ll get to you in a bit. I keep my word. Sit back down, finish your drink, and put the knife away.” 

“And if I don’t?” The Wolf muttered under his breath.

“Them you’ll go down in history as the most boring assassin ever. If you want to kill me, you’ll do it on my schedule.”

“Idiot.” 

“No, you idiot, I’m reckless. The difference being one is being thick as bricks and the other is having no regard for your own safety.”

The Wolf was a very patient killer, he would wait for days for his quarry to show themself, but after 5 minutes with this intolerable little man he had very much lost it. He went in with his knife and went straight for Sorren’s spine. He missed the spinal cord because of the Scout’s impossible reaction speed, but instead his blade was buried in his lumbar. 

“Ouch. Welp, I’m off to die somewhere pretty. See you in hell.” Sorren groaned as he got up from his stool, blade still stuck in his back, and walked out of the bar bleeding everywhere, hopped on his motorbike, and caned it back to the Hotel California deep within the sprawling city.

-end-

Btw i got more wips to do more intros on, since you’re so desicated and insist on reading to the end of these :3