#he’s not just a grass type he’s ALSO a reptile | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

umbry-fic · 9 months

Text

Dwarven Potluck… Surprise?!

Summary: Lloyd's given the mysterious task of gathering materials... But for what purpose?

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters: Lloyd Irving, Dirk Relationships: Dirk & Lloyd Irving Rating: G Word Count: 1545 Mirror Link: AO3 Original Post Date: 04/01/2024

Notes: A secret santa gift for Pink--Reptile! They wanted Lloyd and Dirk cooking together :D

~~~

"Materials, materials... But what materials?" Lloyd mumbled, contemplating the mysterious assignment Dad had given him.

Dad hadn't revealed much of anything to him. He'd simply dragged Lloyd out of bed as he did every morning, ushered him to the dining table and then loudly proclaimed that it was time for him to learn before chasing him out of the house with the simple directive to gather materials.

His enquiry was swallowed by the forest that surrounded him, leaves casting shifting shadows under the midday sun. He waited for a few seconds, but all the answer he got was silence, and some rustling from animals crawling about in the undergrowth.

Squatting down to swat at the grass that poked at his ankles, he frowned as he caught sight of a few pebbles, nestled within the endless sea of green like treasures awaiting his perusal. They were the usual drab grey like every other pebble he’d seen before, but their surfaces were smooth, reflecting the sunlight at him. Morning dew still lingered upon them, making them shimmer.

Scooping one up from the dirt, he weighed it upon his palm, bringing it close to his nose to give it an intense once-over. It's what Dad always did when appraising the various minerals and gems he had successfully extracted from the mine after hours of back-breaking work. Doing this would allow him to glean the true value of this pebble, supposedly...

"It's round enough," Lloyd declared with all the confidence a nine-year-old could muster, which was to say, a lot.

Tucking the pebble into one of his many, many pockets with no care for how the remaining droplets still clinging to its surface soaked into the fabric of his shirt, he turned on his heel, scanning the forest for the path back home.

Maybe Dad was finally going to teach him how to make stuff in the forge? It was fascinating, watching him work. The rush of molten metal, the clang of the hammer, the delicate manner with which those large hands could shape an intricate design into existence… It was all so awesome, and he wanted to learn as soon as possible, so he could be just as cool as Dad!

Then maybe he could make two swords! And another two swords! And -

But Dad had insisted they wait another year, and he wasn't the type to ever fold. His will was like the tallest mountain - solid as its bedrock and insurmountable, much to Lloyd’s chagrin at times. Besides, the kitchen table had had a large pot sitting on it this morning...

"Maybe I should also get something more interesting," he mused.

A familiar bark drew Lloyd from his thoughts. Noishe bounded into view, tongue lolling from his mouth as he cocked his head, curious as to what his young master was up to.

Peering at the green and white fur that covered Noishe, Lloyd arrived at a sudden idea for a more interesting material. "That might actually work!" he cheered, a grin growing on his face as he took a step towards the large dog.

As if sensing the danger, Noishe took a hesitant step backwards, ears drooping.

Unfortunately, it was already too late for him.

~~~

"There you are, Lloyd!"

Dad’s loud and cheerful guffaw was there to welcome Lloyd back into the house as he stumbled through the door.

"What do you have there?"

"Oh, just a bit of fur!" he waved around the tuft of fur clenched securely in his hand. "Woah, what's all this?" he exclaimed, making a bee-line to the dining table. Now, arranged in a circle around the singular pot that had been there this morning, was an entire array of objects. From raw meat, to a hammer, and even a boot, crusted in dirt!

"Why, didn't I tell you to gather some materials?" Dirk heaved out another rumbling laugh, his thick beard shifting with his voice. "You're gonna learn how to make Dwarven Potluck Surprise today!"

"Really?!" Any and all thoughts of smithing flew right out of Lloyd's head as he crowded closer to his father. He'd had Dwarven Potluck Surprise many times over the years, usually as a celebration for some special occasion or when he invited his friends over. He didn't care what Genis said, the dish was amazing each and every time he tried it!

"Listen closely!" With a few steps and a quick tug of the hand, Dad released the thick curtains that had been bundled up beside the window, pitching the room into almost complete darkness. "The first step is to get rid of the lights. Wouldn't be much of a surprise if we could see, now could it?"

Squinting to take advantage of the scant light filtering through the gap between the curtains, Lloyd noted that the ingredients were now impossible to make out. All he could see were murky shapes that seemed to waver in the darkness.

"Now then, get your hands on whatever you can and throw them right in the pot!"

Scrambling to follow Dad's instructions, he leaned over the table and grabbed the first thing his fingers brushed against. The texture felt like wood... Maybe the handle of something?

Not that it mattered! With an enthusiastic flourish (visible to no one), he flung whatever it was into the pot of water, a satisfying thunk echoing as it hit the bottom of the pot.

"That's the spirit, Lloyd!" Dad encouraged, slamming him on the back so hard that he almost became part of the stew himself. "Now keep on it!"

And so, he dashed in circles around the dining table, blindly flinging whatever he could find. While he barely dodged the objects wildly flying around, he crashed right into Dad a few times, sending him to the floor and right back to square one, their laughter mingling in the air. Thankfully, the pot never capsized off the table.

Gradually, the two of them created a hodgepodge whose taste could only be guessed...

~~~

Steam rose from the deep bowl filled to the brim with stew placed on the table before him, a strong aroma wafting into his nose. Even peering intently into its depths did not reveal its contents - they were thoroughly hidden beneath the surface.

“Smells good, Dad!” Lloyd grinned, giving a thumbs up. He couldn’t wait to try out this pot of Dwarven Potluck Surprise that he’d a hand in making. It was sure to be incredible.

Following Dad’s cue, he cupped the bowl with both hands and brought it up to his face, preparing to gulp down everything in one go -

“Ow!” he hissed, recoiling as he nearly chipped a tooth on something large. Hurriedly placing the bowl down, he gingerly fished out one of the pebbles he’d picked up this morning. “So cool,” he murmured, plopping it back into the bowl. What were the chances he’d gotten something he gathered as one of the secret components in his bowl?

Glancing at Dad to gauge his progress, Lloyd couldn’t help but burst into a fit of giggles. A few strands of green fur had gotten tangled in his bushy beard, giving the impression that he was midway through dyeing it.

“Here you go,” he whispered, holding the bowl under the table to let Noishe have some of the stew. It was with his help that this was possible, after all!

The dog lapped it up, perking up just a little at the… unique taste.

Lloyd was glad to know he’d been right. This was an incredible meal!

~~~

The sounds of running water filled the space as Lloyd helped Dad wash the pot, scrubbing it until the metal gleamed under the amber light of the sun that had begun to make its descent, once again let in through the open windows.

"Hey, Dad?" he piped up, grabbing the towel from the rack over the sink to begin drying the pot. "Thanks for teaching me."

Dad’s large hand came down on his head, ruffling his hair as he sputtered in protest. He wasn't a little kid anymore! Well, at least there was no one here to witness this, since Noishe had slunk out the front door some time ago.

So he could smile, and tip his head up just a little…

Discreetly, of course!

"No problem, Lloyd. I remember my own father teaching me when I was a wee lad. What kind of father would I be if I didn't teach you this?"

A toothy smile stretched across his face, so wide that his cheeks hurt from it. His heart warmed at the thought that Dad would trust him with any of the Dwarven traditions, and deem him worthy to carry their legacy. Just as he had already been entrusted with the Dwarven vows.

He would carry their weight with pride. He’d make sure that his children, and even grandchildren, would know how to make this dish by heart! He'd make it with them, again and again, until they'd gotten it into their skulls, just as he was sure Dad would do with him. He’d ensure the recipe would never die, long into the future.

But for now, the only thought that ran through his head… was that he was really looking forward to making this dish with Dad again, sometime soon.

#fanfiction #tales of symphonia #one shot #dirk #lloyd irving #this was fun to write aye

7 notes · View notes

jays-supersonic-dynamo · 1 year

Note

BLEASE elaborate on lloyd's team!!! (and. huh. fairy-types are the usual counter to dragon-types, nowadays, since ice-types tend to keel over from a flamethrower. why is sora a fairy-type specialist when her mo seems to be protecting dragons at all costs?)

DUDE i’d love to elaborate on lloyd’s team!! its probably the team where i have the most thought on each individual choice LMAO so its the most interesting

- Gallade is Lloyd’s starter, and i think they’re the combo i’ve consistently drawn the most together, lmao. Ralts is a small pokemon with a green bowl cut, so i like the image of itty bitty baby lloyd running around with his ralts and causing trouble, and the two growing up and maturing with each other. also gallade is a sword pokemon, and lloyd is a sword guy. also also gallade just feels like a transmasc pokemon to me . yeah.

- Haxorus is Lloyd’s second pokemon! admittedly haxorus is here because unova is my first and favorite gen. this is a common reason why i choose pokemon actually. but haxorus is also a green dragon pokemon! and it’s shiny form is black… which is a color associated with lloyd’s dad….. my thought is that in between s2 and s3 Garmadon gives Lloyd an egg from his haxorus, and it hatches into an axew that lloyd makes part of his team

- Togekiss is the third! i have a fic outline (that will likely never get written anytime soon, or at all) about this baby, but basically. after s5, Lloyd would have trouble taking care of himself, because of s5. so he’s gifted an egg that hatches into a togepi, and he relearns how to take care of himself for this togepi! i also like the idea of togepi refusing to evolve for a long time — she only evolves into a togetic during s9, and a togekiss sometime after s10. stubborn queen <3

- Sceptile is number four! Lloyd catches him as a grovyle between s7 and s8, and he evolves a season later. ok girl. sceptile is here because he’s green and reptile like, and also because his mega evolution has a secondary dragon type! (and is also the coolest mega of the hoenn starters, who said that? anyway) also. maybe also the blade aesthetic? sceptile can know leaf blade right?

- Whimsicott is number five! all of the ninja have a surprise pokemon added to their team for s11, and whimsicott is that surprise pokemon! i have the weakest reason for why whimsicott is here, he’s green and i like him! (and “energy” or “life” might could probably be argued as reasons for giving lloyd another grass type?) tho i like the suggestion that whimsicott’s here because he looks like a pillow mint, haha

and admittedly, a lot of my teams are chosen for pretty surface-level reasons — initially i just had one pokemon for sora, just like arin’s one pokemon, and it was Sylveon. because sylveon matches her colors really strongly, and is a catlike pokemon heavily associated with the colors of the trans flag — it just felt like they fit! dedenne i added last minute because i wanted to pull in something from her being a mechanic and to match sylveon’s typing, so it felt really good!

ur not the first person to point this out, you’re right!! i think some dragon pokemon on her team would make sense too — my thoughts for candidates would be altaria, the goomy line, or dratini/dragonair. i feel like she’d go for more cutesy pokemon, but idk, thats usually the pokes i go for too

#asks #anonymous #pkmn au #thank you anon for giving me means to ramble about pokemon :3

6 notes · View notes

slashingdisneypasta · 4 years

Note

Hello. What about a villain SO who adores animals for Captain Hook, Hades, Dr. Facilier, Bill Cipher, Beetlejuice, and Jafar? Thank you hun😊🍯

Hope you like these ^^

~~~

Beetlejuice:

· I wouldn’t put it past him to make one or two beastiality jokes…

· But apart from that, he doesn’t half mind animals either! (And he finds it endearing to see you playing with them, not that he cares to identify at all the warm, soothing feeling in his chest when he sees you boop your nose against a tortoise’s.) He’d love a dog, or… a tiger. A dinosaur would be ideal.

· But actually, its animals that tend to have a problem with him.

· Cuz of course animals are a lot more sensitive than humans tend to be to ghosts, and demons, and souls. And his soul is pretty damn mucky. BJ has met exactly zero animal’s so far (Since his death) that haven’t taken an immediate dislike of him. They hiss at him, or growl, or try to wriggle away even if they aren’t being held by him; Just nearby to him.

· He scares them because they can feel his evil and want nothing to do with it.

· So your dreams of adopting a dog with your new ghostie bf will need to be put on a back burner. Maybe he can lasso a sandworm and y’all can name her Rose and she can be your pet? He absolutely does not want you to be sad because of him!!

Bill Cipher:

· “ooOOH, what kind? Anglerfish? Clown fish? Sharks? Lobsters? Giant Squid? Wolffish? The Textile Cone Snail’s native to the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Oceania waters? Octopus? Lock Ness Monster? Mermaids? Shrimp? Koi? M E G A L A D O N S? OH OH- THE KRAKEN?”

· “Wow, that was a lotta underwater stuff. I mean, yeah, they’re all great but also land animals and birds… And I don’t think all those are actually real?”

· “Heheh, that’s what you think… “His body loses its colour and becomes like a Bill Shaped screen, like he does sometimes when he’s brainstorming, and you just catch a picture of somewhere under the ocean and a beautiful, purple tale flapping out of the picture and a flash of soft, human skin just above it. Your eyes blow wide open. “Y/N, remember 80 percent of the ocean is unexplored.”

· SO, yeah. Bill’s really into underwater creatures. It is the most mysterious part of earth and in it lives some of the world’s freakiest creatures.

· He’ll install a whole aquarium in your house out of excitement, and inside? Nothing but angler fish, giant squids to watch you while you sleep and beautifully coloured sea snails climbing up the glass walls.

· Land animals though and birds? Very little interest. Birds get points only for being close to dinosaurs (You ask about reptiles in that case and his eye inverts in its colouring. His ‘skin’ goes red. “Those jerks know what they did.”), but still he’d much rather talk about star fish! Get ready to be more educated about the ocean’s weirdest creatures and mysterious happenings then you ever wanted to be.

Captain Hook:

· He has very confused feelings about this- especially when you act so chummy with Tik Tok who, naturally, loves you and your T-Bone steak snacks.

· On one hand, if you’re feeding Tik Tok then Tik Tok probably won’t feel the need or be able, to eat him.

· But on the other- bEtrAyER! How could you feed and love that monster, that has plagued his life for years and made his existence a living hell?

· But then again, the fact that Tik Tok is now often too full to bother with him rears its head again and he calms down.

· Because of this, its typical that he says nothing when you have animals around (Any animal. They all remind him of Tik Tok. Scales, fur, or feather). He’ll want to. Gosh, the need to speak will overflow in his throat and he’ll take a deep breath- … but then no words come out. He forces it down. Because he can’t mention his dislike without mentioning his relief also, so speaking at all would really just make you confused and feel bad and leave him frustrated because he doesn’t know how either of you could change to make this better for anyone, so its just not worth it.

· So then he just walks away.

· Its pretty humorous to see, actually. Because he’s just all grumpy and slouching off, maybe shaking his head and muttering, and you’re all wide eyed and confused. Holding, like, a budgie or a snake or something.

· The other pirates are keeping a tally.

· Bonus point: He’s not scared (Or allergic) of any other animals apart from Tik Tok, so you don’t have to worry about him being skittish or anything.

Dr Facilier:

· Frogs are a difficult subject for him so enjoy amphibian cuties somewhere that he is not, please. Also rabbits- there was an incident before you came along that he does not speak of.

· Other then that, Facilier is basically a normal person about animals. He can appreciate a nice zoo visit every now and then and pet the odd dog or cat but with you in his life he never wants to go to a zoo again. And he’s bored as hell by everyday pets.

· But he won’t tell you he’s sick of all the animals. Nay, nay. Its one of those things where you love the person, so you put up with the crazy/annoying shit they love. Like ‘Yes, yes. Very interesting, cher… ‘ when you talk about it, while he’s actually reading the newspaper and he hasn’t heard anything you said. After all, you stay quiet when he’s plotting or cackling over something he did to a victim that day. Its only fair.

· He is fascinated, though, when he’s just watching you (Sometimes he just sits back and observes you doing your thing. Its relaxing for him) and he notices little quirks you’ve picked up from various creatures. Like the way you curl up when you’re lying down on the couch and how you shrink back from things that happened to surprise you, similar to a big cat. Your eyes are focused like a wild animal, too. Very cute.

· Lots of animal-themed nicknames.

Hades:

· “You know, some tell me I’m a kinda animal, babe… “He wiggles his eyebrows at you over his mug of whatever-he-drinks (You fear asking, after watching him eat a bowl of worms), offering his best (And funniest) bedroom eyes to you.

· “Yes, but are you as cute as this snake Hades?? Are you?? Look into these eyes and tell me this snek is not as cute as you are.” You lift the little grass snake gently from the table and onto your arm, letting him wrap its body around you and lift his head to look around; Checking out what’s up. He was getting his scales stroked good; Why has it stopped?

· “Pfft,” Hades rolls his eyes, returning to the chess board in front of him (He likes to play both sides and challenge himself).

· Okay so, Hades can take or leave most animals. But it’s so cute that you love them, so he lets you keep them around. Whatever animals you like (Don’t worry, you also have the proper equipment and enclosures for them, and Hades makes another God, who is an expert on all things animals, come by whenever you have a question), and however many you like. I mean, what’s the good of being a God if you can’t spoil yourself and your preciously excited, human significant other?

· So you have, like, Reptiles at the west end of his underworld castle, nocturnal animals on the east, more pet-type animals like dogs and cats and rabbits in the living area part of the castle, etc.

· The animals give Pain and Panic a hugely hard time, which Hades thinks is a great bonus to doing this for you.

· He really loves it when you call him and yourself the animal’s parents. Yes, call me Daddy, babes. Its fine by me!

Jafar:

· Oh my god, the disdain in his voice when he looks from you, practically bouncing on the heels of your feet and to the fluffy white kitty you’ve gently shoved in his hands- which he holds at nearly a full arm’s length away from him. “Eugh. Really?”

· “What’s wrong! ? Isn’t she the cutest?”

· “She’ll get fur everywhere.”

· “Oh, that’s rich… “You say, side eye-ing Iago, who’s making a face at the cat from Jafar’s other shoulder. “Iago stress moults- and you stress him out all the time!”

· A dramatic, offended gasp erupts from one of the two males (Not gonna tell you who). “It is aesthetically pleasing mess!”

· So basically if the animal doesn’t speak a language he understands, he doesn’t care for it. You’re going to be fighting him on this for the rest of your life, Y/N. (Or his. I mean, I heard evil double crossing sorcerer vizier’s are dying at an accelerated rate these days. Hm, mysterious.).

222 notes · View notes

vbee-miya · 4 years

Text

[Rating Anime Hair]

✥︎ neji, nagato, orochimaru, and rock lee || m.list

type: rating + headcanon

warnings: slight swearing

a/n: this is all just my opinons if you disagree it’s fine. if you want i’d love to hear your opinions about this.

Neji Hyūga

HOLY HELL IM ON MY KNEES FOR HIM IDC

I’m bowing down and praising him.

He’s the KING OF SOFT HAIR

His hair is just the RIGHT amount of thin and thick hair.

It’s the perfect balance of both and it’s sooooo YES

Neji takes care of his hair. Because he does.

He’s probably got like a whole hair care routine.

Hair mask with Neji? Count me in idc.

If I run my hands through his hair it’ll probably feel like silky clouds.

His hair is the mixture of silky smooth hair and fluffy soft textured hair.

And that combination is just absolutely *chefs kiss*

Who wants to snatch Neji’s hair with me? Because I want that type so badly

His hair smells like febereze powered. Or like you know those deodorants that smell like powder like that’s literally the scent name ‘powder’

Yeah that’s how I feel like Neji’s hair would smell like

overall rating : we’re getting a little political here I’m sorry but his hair is a ∞/10

Uzumaki Nagato

Okay the gif really doesn’t correlate with what I’m going to say about his hair.

But you know what I’m getting tired.

Anyways Nagato’s hair is .

Please it’s well maintained it’s soft but rough.

It’s the right amount of thinness so tangles and knots won’t really exist to him.

Konan 🤝 Me

Jealous

Similar to Kabuto’s but except Nagato’s hair is straight straight so running your hands through his hair is immaculate

He probably doesn’t hold hair ties only because I feel like he wouldn’t want them.

Though imagining Nagato with his hair clipped up is .

His hair smells like rain.

And I stand by that statement .

Plus I feel like his type of hair seems easy to maintain.

overall rating : 13/10

Orochimaru

Another man I’m on my knees for

Please his hair

Yes I said Itachi is king of silky flawless hair and I still stand by that.

So for Orichimaru he’s the GOD of silky flawless hair.

Please his hair is thin, but like his roots are strong.

Okay hear me out, but hear me out him and Kabuto probably do like nightly hair mask routines.

Please he’s got long silky shiny hair like those Pantene commercials.

Because Strong Is Beautiful

And it’s true for this god

Anyways his hair smells like a fresh moist cave.

Like when you first walk inside a big mountain cave in like the forest or the tropics regions.

Yeah that’s what I’d imagine how his hair smells like.

But I’m also brutally honest and his hair probably smells like reptiles like whatever a snake smells like.

overall rating : 100^100/10 just the idea of running le hands through his hair

Rock Lee

Okay he’s got short hair, but like if Madara, Orochimaru, and Neji are here Lee has to be too.

Anyways his hair is course and rough

It’s like soft, but also oddly rough at the same time.

Like it’ll feel soft but the more you run your hand through his hair it’ll oddly start to feel like the hairs of a broom.

His hair probably smells like grass and sweat. Because man is always training.

No pain no gain

Big gecs moment.

overall rating : 3/10 but I swear I love him

part one || part two || part three || currently on || part five

#v-rated✾#naruto headcanons #nagato uzumaki #nagato headcanons #nagato #neji hyuga #neji headcanons #orochimaru #orochimaru headcanons #Rock Lee #rock lee headcanons

64 notes · View notes

reversemoon255 · 3 years

Photo

(From September 2020 to February 2021, I worked on a Pokémon themed Dungeons and Dragons campaign for a few friends. We didn’t get very far, but I put a significant amount of work into the world, story, and several Pokémon that would appear throughout, including an original set of starters. I want to to leave some record of my work, so I thought I’d write a few summary posts. And while I designed these Pokémon, their fantastic art was done by @extyrannomon on Twitter. I highly recommend you check them out.)

Dungeons 'n' Dragonites - Phase 1: Hello Stelopy City

Our story starts in Stelopy City, located in the Wellou Region. We get a brief introduction from DJ Tomomitsu, a radio host, before each player got their own brief story segments. Our first player was Ethan, as aspiring chef, who lived on campus at his high school. Ethan was approached by one of his dorm mates with a favor (to get him out of the building), as well as having an attractive girl meandering around the kitchen (if he wished to try flaunting his culinary skills). He would then get to choose to either finish up his side-quest or go to the local fisher's market, with him transitioning between those locations taking him to the area where he would meet his starter Pokémon:

"As you enter the alleyway, the walls are covered floor-to-ceiling in moss that seem to appear as soon as the shadows overtake the sunlight. The farther you walk, the more weeds you see popping through the cracks. Once you reach the half-way point, you come to a small open space. With the sunlight now flickering down through the plants brave enough to venture off the verdant walls, the entire area shines a bright, emerald green. In the center of this area is a decently sized fountain. It's no longer flowing, but there's a decent amount of rain water filling it up close to the brim. As you approach it, even through the murky iridescent waters, you can see a thick, fuzzy amount of lichen growing all throughout the inside of the basin. As you pass by the fountain, you hear an audible sploosh. Do you turn around? (Y/N)"

There he would meet the first of our new Starter, the Grass-Type Flymph. I kept it secret that I was doing original Starters. Part of my personal excitement in planning everything was the eventual reveal of these designs I had created. Kept me going when things started feeling like a grind.

Our second player, Johnny, started off at home, woken by his father asking him to run an errand. After being able to talk to his family a bit, he proceeded to a somewhat beaten-up house on the edge of the Pokémon-overrun abandoned district where he would receive some boat parts before leaving and the sidewalk underneath him collapses. Stumbling around the abandoned subway tunnels for a bit, he would run into our second Starter, the Fire-Type Calfyre.

Johnny's player wanted to become an entertainer, which didn't give me a lot to work session one, so a lot of his opener was focused on expanding the world and giving everyone an idea of areas they would be exploring later.

Third was Orion who had a quiet morning at home before being provoked via text messages from his siblings to chase down a mysterious "Wailord in a Top Hat." This pursuit would also lead him to the fisher's market and the nearby docks, where, after just catching sight of his quarry, he would encounter the Water-Starter Squisque.

Orion's player wanted a lot of his story to be based on his relationship with his father, so most of his opening was based on reinforcing his family dynamic. Not home, everyone’s busy, focus on work. This particular Saturday was strange in that Orion didn’t have anything going on.

Our last player was Arthur, who also lived on campus. While our other three players started their segments in bed, Arthur was playing lacrosse. After having an opportunity to show off (or fail), he would be told by a friend that he had upset his girlfriend that morning (kitchen girl from Ethan's story), and needed Arthur to pick up her favorite dessert while he attempted to woo her for the rest of the day. After doing so (while being given a chance to explore some of the local stores) he encountered a hungry Houndoom who proceeds to chase him up a fire escape. Once up there he encountered our final Starter, the Fairy-Type Utaw.

After each player met their Starters, they would have a brief tutorial battle against three Pokémon they were advantageous against before running into each other, and were subsequently arrested for "stealing" Pokémon, which would cap session one.

=====

Let's talk design. Stelopy City is loosely based on Chicago, is a portmanteau of "Steel Canopy," and Wellou is a joke on Illinois. The vast majority of the campaign was to take place in this location. Most of my players had very busy schedules (so busy it took us three sessions to get through the above opener), so DJ Tomomitsu was a way for me to easily start each session with a list of things to do (side-quests), and they as a group could decide which they were the most interested in based on time. Tomomitsu himself was based on DJ Sagara from Kamen Rider Gaim, with Tomomitsu being the name of the actor who played him.

As for the starters, I tried to stick to the reoccurring themes we’ve seen over the past 8 Generations. Flymph's name is a portmanteau of Dragonfly, Errol Flynn, and Nymph (the larval form of a Dragonfly). He's meant to be a special attacker, but, like an early DND Wizard, doesn't have access to a lot of them so he brandishes his sword-like arms to intimidate his foes instead. His diet consists entirely of lichens, algae, and similar flora, storing them in his transparent stomach pouches, and can be seen sunbathing in the water, belly up, feeding the plant matter the sunlight they need to grow. He also does not like Bug-Types, and isn’t Bug himself because of Grass/Bug’s myriad of weaknesses (for balancing), plus he changes Types after his first evolution. The theme of Grass Starters is extinction, which won’t become clear until his final evolution, but you may be able to guess how he relates.

Fire Starters are themed after the Chinese Zodiac, and of the remaining four yet to be used (including Snake, Ram, and Horse), I went with Ox. Calfyre's name is a play on Calf and Fire, and is meant to play like a Barbarian. When it comes to personality he's very timid and unsure of himself like a first-time DND player might be acting in a group. Unlike most Fire-Types, Calfyre lacks a Flame Sac. Instead, his spiral horns are filled with a freon-like liquid that, when swirled, rapidly absorbs energy from the air, which he uses for attacks. This chills the air around him, and makes him one of the few Fire-Types that are cold to the touch. Which sucks, because he’s a snugly sleeper.

Water Starters are usually themed after a weapon or character class. This usually shows in the later evolutions, but it's pretty obvious Squisque (a portmanteau of Squirt, Squire, and Bisque) is themed off a lance and shield. He's a paladin in both role and personality, charging in at the slightest sign of trouble, even if there isn't any real danger. It's the typical non-nuanced idea of what people think when they hear "Paladin." He was to a degree supposed to play a catalyst role, charging into situations the players may not want to in order to force them into helping people or combat if need be. He was also the first design I settled on, being based on an old Kaijin idea I had of a lobster-knight using its asymmetrical claws as different medieval weapons.

Utaw is unique, not just in that he was a fourth or Fairy Starter, but in conception. I was only supposed to have three players, but ended up with four. As such, his design is responsive to the others. Why a dinosaur? Because I had a mammal, crustacean, and bug, was unsure if I wanted a bird or reptile, and decided to meet half-way. Why is he Fairy? Because it has very little interaction with Fire, Water, and Grass, while still having defined weaknesses and resistances to certain types. (Also, this player wanted a Dragon-Type.) He’s based on a Utahraptor, hence the name, and is misspelled to include “Claw” or “Caw.” He’s meant to play team Bard, and uses sound moves. As for personality, he's a bit of a birdbrain who enjoys fighting. Not maliciously; it’s just fun, again acting like a new DND player who’s more interested in combat than role playing.

The idea with the personalities was that each Pokémon was supposed to start out like a rookie DND player on their first campaign. Not knowing how to play their class, being uncomfortable acting in front of a group, leaning too hard into your role without bending, or just fighting everything you see without diplomacy. It felt like a fun extra layer to each of these Pokémon that tied them just as much into the DND side of things as the Pokémon.

=====

Back to our story, after being briefly detained (mostly as an excuse to give the players time to introduce themselves to each other, something my DMs have struggled with), they meet Professor(-in-training) Bianca. The four Pokémon had been found by Silph Co., and had decided to donate them to the Unovan Pokémon Research Lab. However, after seeing the Pokémon interacting with these people, Bianca decides to give them up instead. "Pokémon should be with people," after all.

I had three side quests set up following this (after they all go to the DMV to get their Trainer's licenses). The first was a general "there's wild Pokémon here" quest where they could train and catch things. There was a sale at the mall where they could get some cheap held items and have their first trainer battle, and an event at the fisher's market where they could win some free items and would lead into their first dungeon.

The dungeon was what I was hoping they would pick, and would have them chase a group of Poipole through a warehouse, with them having different battles if they chose to enter from the front or the back. After defeating them, the Poipole would be sucked through a spontaneously generating Ultra Wormhole, with a high enough perception check revealing a strange laugh, or on a 20 have them catch a glimpse of a grey Charizard O_O

From there it was a matter of coming up with (or possibly recycling unused) side-quests until we reached the point where the Starters were about to evolve. I had a few things planned; introductions to a few reoccurring NPCs, a field trip to the local museum where they would be able to catch a Yamask (and possibly learn something about the origins of their Starters), and a raid battle against a group of Onix who would recur through the campaign.

The end of Phase 1 would come about with another dungeon. In the middle of the night, Ethan and Arthur would be awoken by their Pokémon to a group of Durant having busted through the floor of the dorm and raiding their kitchen. Easily driving them off, their Pokémon would encourage them to pursue. Later, full party in toe, the four of them would explore the Duranthill. There would be a number of possible encounters, but only one mandatory fight before reaching the depths. In said encounter, while being surrounded by a group of Durant, they would receive unexpected help from this Pokémon:

With some interpretation, they would discover that this Princess Durant was afraid for the sake of her colony. A new queen had taken up residence there, and was commanding the Durant to attack the surface and steal food for her. With additional party member in toe, they would descend further with better direction, eventually discovering the lair of the Queen Durant...

#Pokemon #Dungeons and Dragons #DND #DND Homebrew #durant

9 notes · View notes

writing-gifts · 4 years

Text

datura (moth!bruno x butterfly!reader)

—–

A/N: !!!Please read this part!!! I want to list some warnings for blood and description of injuries

if you want better details or want to skip over it you can DM or send me an ask and i can set up an edited version of the fic without it and just quick summary of what happened

this chapters rlly long compared to the others and also i made art!

First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter

Reader is gender neutral!

—–

[Mid Fall]

Tightening the blanket closer to your body, you slowly make your way towards the daybed. It was another overcast day and the lack of sun made even the inside of your home feel dull. You place your cup on the table before laying down.

The weather was still tolerable but you couldn't always bring yourself to go out when you could easily stay warm in your home. But you still did your best to keep up with your gathering overall. You had a decent supply so far and as long as you didn’t go overboard with drinking, you wouldn’t be eating grain at Abilene's house for the last couple weeks of Winter. Again.

Even though lately you wanted to sleep most of the day it didn't exactly feel great or refreshing and with Bruno showing up less and less, the days seemed to be blurring together. You try to stay productive working on the moth’s sweater or gathering, but the last couple days you really couldn’t bring yourself to do it.

You sigh and force yourself to get up. Perhaps you should try going out for a walk today, just to change things up.

You go to your room and find a sweater to slip into. While wrapping a scarf around your neck, you see one of your canisters laying next to bed and decide to take it with you just in case you run into a flower you like.

You weren't exactly sure where you wanted to go so you let your legs lead you where they please.

At first you walk past your neighbors home, greeting the ones you saw along the way. Then you take a detour and venture somewhere more quiet. The pathways aren’t as clean so you have to navigate over the giant dead leaves that have accumulated all season.

While flying over the leaves you end up in the orchard. All types of fruit grew here but only apples, pears, pomegranates and surprisingly strawberries were currently available. A good amount lay scattered around at various rotting stages so this was a perfect time for a break.

You find fruit that is mostly fresh but just decomposed enough that you can easily get to the inside. Managing to find free fruit so easily available and uneaten was a good thing about Fall you suppose.

After getting tired of sitting around, munching on fruit and staring at the cloudy sky, you continue your stroll. The farther you go the more leaves there are. Soon the occasional mushroom turns to many, some of them ridiculously huge or strangely colored. At one point you pass a log covered in them.

You weren't too keen on the fungi but for some reason you always get the urge to take a bite when you see them. Of course you don't though. You can't tell the safe ones from the dangerous ones.

From there, the stroll is overall uneventful and the sites familiar but eventually you find yourself in an area that was completely new to you. The path you’re on begins to narrow, the grass gets taller and the trees get denser around you. Once it’s too thick for you to see well, you fly out of the thicket and up above so you can better scope where you're going.

It takes a while of flying, but the trees begin to disperse and the grass isn’t so overwhelming. In fact you start passing spots that lacked any. Other than the occasional dandelion and bush It was pretty bear compared to where you just emerged.

You decide to continue forward, curious about the area you've happened upon, and it doesn't take long before a wooden structure in the distance comes into view. It looked like some sort of home, and even from where you were you could tell that it was giant.

Whatever lives there must be huge….

Your self preserving side warns you to stay away since you never seen anything like it before. But your curiosity reasons that it should be okay. There were no large bodies of water in sight, and it was definitely the safest this time of year for insects as most cold-blooded predators would be much less active due to the cold. So in the end, you meet yourself in the middle and decide to go forward but keep your exploration a good distance away from the house like structure.

Once you're close enough, you find a wide dirt path and follow it, admiring some of the different flowers that were growing alongside it and in between the bushes.

Other than the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind, it was quiet and you couldn't find any other insects. You readjust your scarf.

After some time, you find something even stranger than the structure. They were all various sizes and shapes with different flowers sitting on top. You fly up to better observe the flowers and see that the things were some type of giant containers filled with dirt, and the flowers weren’t necessarily sitting on them but actually growing out.

It was definitely peculiar, but the delicious scent coming from a certain cluster of flowers quickly distracts you and beacons you closer to their white petals. It doesn’t take long for you to place the flowers’ name--Tuberose--and a certain moth immediately pops into your mind when you do. You quickly push the thoughts away though, ignoring the heat forming in your face.

You frown, noticing the plant's condition. The petals look slightly frail, some of them are even missing, so you cautiously place your weight when you land on one of the flowers. It didn't look like it was due to the weather so you couldn't tell why they looked so pitiful.

You couldn't exactly do anything about it, so instead you grab your canister where it's hanging from your hip since you hadn’t drank from this particular flower in a while.

After filling and shutting the canister, you land on the dirt in the container and everything slightly wobbles. You gasp and immediately remove your feet off to keep yourself from falling. You then fly back down in front of the containers to steady ground.

Who managed to set this up? Perhaps a swarm of insects or something huge? It had to be the latter if the house was anything to go by. You're sure you’ve heard about something related to this and you rack your brain trying to remember but can't seem to recall anything.

While thinking, you notice the container holding the Tuberoses looked quite lopsided next to the others, which caused the flowers in it to lean more to one side. You walk around the container and find long, giant cracks forming up it. Some of the dirt within it had even spilt through. You still admire the colors and patterns on the container. Even though it was damaged, it was the one that caught your eye the most.

While you trace your finger along the rough and chalky surface, the sound of rustling leaves prick your ears. You turn and look behind you and realize that you had gotten a bit too close to a giant fernbush.

You freeze, anxiety filling your whole being as you stare intently into the dark spaces within the fern. You wait thinking maybe you haven't been spotted or even better, there wasn't any danger.

The moment you see something shift in the darkness, you immediately try to take flight. Unfortunately, the creature is quicker and manages to climb part way up the container to catch you by your right leg. It tries to pull you down but you use your upper body to latch on to the edge of the container the best you can.

You scream out from the multiple sharp teeth pressing harshly into your calf but keep fluttering your wings in hopes that it will give up. Unfortunately the gecko isn’t one to give up on potential prey so easily. It continues to pull knowing that you’ll eventually tire.

But before that can happen, the container starts to lean and you yelp when you lose your grip. Your breath is knocked out of you once your head and back hit the dirt. You feel the lizard let go momentarily to bite further up your leg. Gritting your teeth, you try to kick at it but that does nothing to deter it.

Before the predator can try to take more of your body into its jaws, the container completely loses its balance and falls heavily on the gecko's body, pinning it to the ground. However, this isn’t enough for the creature to release you.

You clutch the back of your head and push your upper body off the ground. Looking at the gecko holding your leg hostage, your body begins shaking when your eyes focus on the blood seeping out of the side of its mouth. It was hard to assess the damage properly but your stomach twists seeing the multiple sharp teeth embedded into your thigh.

You swallow thickly and kick at its face with your left leg once more hoping it will give up but it just makes it bite down harder. Grimacing, you try moving your trapped leg within it but only agitates the reptile and makes it shake its head causing the rest of your body to be moved around harshly. You scream from the pain before it goes still once more. Tears begin welling in your eyes once you realize you can't escape without causing more damage.

“L-Let go.”

The gecko’s head twitches and it stares at you with a slitted pupil not processing a thing you said.

You look around trying to see if there was a way you could get out of this. But there was nothing and no one nearby. You feel at your hip and realize that your canister is also gone.

You whimper unsure what to do next. You try to think but your mind can barely form a coherent thought other than escaping.

Shit.

While you stare blankly at the gecko as it struggles to get from under the container and spiltdirt, you hear steps approaching. You look around hoping that someone that could help had wandered by, but instead your eyes land on an albino wasp instead.

Your body stiffens in fear. If the gecko didn't finish you off first, the wasp definitely would.

He approaches you completely ignoring your meek warning to stay back.

To think you were actually happy that you had forced yourself to go outside today.

You squeeze your eyes shut and wait for everything to go dark or whatever happens when an insect dies but instead you just hear a deep voice speak.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

You reluctantly open an eye and see the wasp standing near you. If you could you would have jumped back. The gecko had seemed to take notice of him too, not trying as hard to escape so it can focus its attention on the wasp. It still made it clear that it wouldn’t let you get away when you try to move your leg again and it applies force to its bite.

You grit your teeth not wanting the wasp to see you in pain.

“Stop moving before it manages to break your leg,” he warns.

You feel your blood run cold from the thought.

The gecko’s pupil follows him as he moves closer to its head.

“I'm going to get the gecko to open its mouth, then you need to move away quickly once it does."

“H-Huh?” Was the moth helping you?

He glares at you. “Just be ready to move your damn leg after I sting it.”

You tense and immediately nod your head from his harsh tone.

Right after you agree, he climbs up on top of the lizard's head. Before it can try to shake him off, the wasp presses his stinger into the crown of its head and his clawed fingers into the sides of its mouth.

The reptile resists for a moment before releasing its grip on your leg and trashing its head around to get to the wasp instead.

You quickly flitter backwards out of reach and the wasp jumps off before it can grab onto him next.

You immediately look down at your leg. Now that the teeth were out, more trials of blood pooled out of the wounds and down the sides of your thigh and onto the ground. Your calf was also in a similar condition.

Your breathing becomes labored and you barely register the wasp talking to you.

“--Let me help you back.”

He tries to get closer but you shake your head and try to scooch backwards. “No! Stay away! I--” you choke on your own words.

He watches you with furrowed brows as you try to stand up. You accidently press weight onto your wounded leg and pain shoots up the limb causing you to fall onto your side.

"Wait--"

You ignore the wasp and prop yourself up. You then quickly fly away from the area leaving him behind.

Shudders rack your body so badly you can barely fly straight. You feel the blood dripping down your leg and you yank off your scarf to press it to your thigh hoping that it would help even a little.

You fly faster not thinking about where you were heading, you just needed to get away from that place. Fortunately, you find yourself in front of Abilene’s home.

You weakly knock. Dark spots were forming in your vision but you try not to lean against the door. And it feels like forever before it finally opens.

When Abilene sees the state you're in, the amount of worry and fear that flash in their eyes is the greatest you’ve ever experienced. But that doesn’t stop them from jumping into action. They lead you inside and direct you to the couch before running into a different room.

At this point, the blood has seeped through your scarf and onto your bottom pair of hands. You try to lift your leg to avoid dirtying the couch even more but you only last a couple of seconds before you have to drop it. leaning back into the couch, you try to keep the exhaustion from putting you to sleep.

Your friend quickly comes back with cotton, water and strips of cloth.

After they place the bowl of water onto the table next to the couch, they crouch in front of you.

“I'm going to try to help stop the bleeding and then go get the medic.”

You weakly reach out for their arm. “N-No don't leave me.”

“You're safe here ____. I need to get a doctor to check out your leg and I’ll be right back, okay?”

They gently remove your hand after you nod but don't let go.

Abilene does their best to deal with your leg without causing you too much pain. But even a light graze was enough to make you flinch, so they were constantly whispering apologies throughout the whole process. You can see they were distressed and disturbed by the giant bite wounds on your leg but they don’t stop until they manage to get the bleeding to slow. They do a quick clean and hastily wrap a piece of cloth around your thigh and calf before they go out to find someone to help.

Once they leave, you feel much more tense even if your eyes were desperately trying to shut. In an attempt to keep yourself from panicking, you think about the random wasp that helped you. At least you're pretty sure that's what happened. You didn’t intend to stick around to figure it out, but now you partially feel guilty for the way you acted towards him.

Either way, if it weren't for him you’d probably be dead by now. Or one limb short.

You squeeze your eyes shut, as pain throbs behind your head. It had been hurting for a while but you were only really taking notice of it now. Your stomach turns, and all that fruit you ate before was starting to seem like a mistake.

Abilene doesn't take long at all so you luckily don't have to sit in your regrets for too long. The ladybug medic that they brought back immediately gets to work. She asks what happened and you explain vaguely while she carefully unwraps the bloodied cloth to inspect your thigh and calf.

After finishing cleaning the multiple wounds for you, the doctor applies a weird smelling cream that completely stops the bleeding and neatly rewrapps your leg with new bandages. She then leaves a jar of the cream, and a few rolls of cloth with you and tells you to change the bandages daily.

After the doctor’s gone you're still in pain but it feels much more controlled. Abilene approaches you.

“I'm going to set you up in my room for the next couple days so I can keep an eye on you.”

You nod. You didn't want to be left alone in your home anyways so this saved you the trouble of asking. “I can sleep on the couch--”

“Sorry, I’m not leaving you to sleep on this thing when you're injured,” Abilene says.

You were too tired to be stubborn so you decide to take a different course. “Let's compromise and share the bed.”

They sigh. “Okay but if I start getting restless at night I'm moving to the couch.”

The grasshopper helps you into their room and makes sure you're completely comfortable. They don’t show any worry on their face as they most likely wanted to keep the mood positive, but the way they fret over you is loud and clear so you do your best to assure them that you're doing okay even if that isn’t exactly the case.

You spend most of the day drifting in and out of sleep--your upsetting dreams being the main cause of waking you up. When you aren’t sleeping, Abilene keeps you company. Even though it had made you feel safer and made it easier to relax, part of you is dreading explaining how you even got in this situation. Not only did you not want to upset your friend but you also felt like it would be admitting to doing something wrong. Maybe you didn’t make the best choice but you weren’t sure if it was necessarily an incorrect one.

You try not to think about it, but later in the day these worries are proven to be valid.

“____?”

You turn towards Abilene sitting next to you on the bed. “Yea?”

“What--What exactly happened? “

Your shoulders tense and you bite your lip. You were hoping they would never ask but that was definitely foolish to expect.

“You know there was a gecko…”

“But there’s more right? How did you manage to escape?”

You hesitantly nod but struggle to speak.

“You know what it’s okay you don't need to tell me. I shouldn’t have asked so suddenly.”

“W-Wait, it’s okay. You asked cause you're worried. I just don’t really want to think too much about it is all." You fiddle with your fingers but continue. "I was taking a stroll around and found myself in an unfamiliar place. I was exploring and got...distracted.”

Abilene looks disappointed but you're not sure if it’s even directed at you.

“And an insect managed to help me. A wasp.”

Their expression goes from disappointment to shock. “A wasp?”

You nod in affirmation. “I was shocked too, and I’m actually still confused.”

Abilene looks like they're trying to process the information and you look off to the side not knowing what else to say.

“Well it’s a good thing they helped you. I’m r-really glad!” They smile to try to ease you but it isn’t a full one and their eyes look wet.

They completely change the subject. “What do you want to eat or drink? I’m sure you're hungry”

You decide not to point it out, lest your friend burst into tears, and simply smile back instead. “Actually, for once, I'm not.”

“Well let's still try to find something that's easy to get down, even if it’s just water.”

You nod. “As long as it isn’t wheat.”

They stick their tongue out at you. “Yea, yea no wheat.”

They get off the bed. “I'm going to go wash your scarf for you before it completely stains, then we can figure out what to do.”

-----

Unlike Abilene, you can't sleep. You stare at the ceiling watching the random shapes form in the dark while listening to your friend’s soft snores.

It was your second night at Abilene’s home and you were struggling with falling asleep again. And it wasn’t due to your friend’s snoring, and other than their arm accidentally smacking you in the face last night, you were fine sleeping next to them.

You reasoned the lack of sleep the first night was fair considering what had happened. But now you think it might be a mix of other reasons. Your body was already exhausted but it wouldn't go to sleep, like it wasn’t ready. But you were almost desperate to since sitting in the dark wasn’t exactly appealing.

You turn on your side. You at least wish you had someone to talk to to pass the time.

You spend a good chunk of the night staring at nothing in particular. By the time you finally fall asleep, dawn light is seeping into the bedroom.

Abilene shuffling around their home quickly wakes you up and you realize that you definitely need more rest but you also don’t want to spend anymore time trying to go back to sleep. You sigh and get from under the covers.

You rub at your eyes while you slowly fly into the main room.

“Morning…” you mumble.

“Morning!”

You almost grimace from their energy. Abilene was always a morning insect. Well most diurnal insects were. You were just becoming an anomaly apparently.

“You don't look too hot. Are you okay?”

You land on the couch. “...I’m struggling to go to sleep and the dark’s not helping.”

Abilene hums, thinking for a moment. “Didn't you say Bruno gifted you a glowing lantern?”

“Yea?”

They nod. “Okay I’m going to go pick it up for you later today, and hopefully it should help.”

You stutter not expecting that. “Thank you…”

“No problem. Now let's get some food in ya!”

Later in the day, Abilene places the glowing lantern on the small table next to the bed.

“Thank you for getting the lantern for me.”

“You’re welcome. I also picked up some other stuff for you too.”

They place your satchel they were carrying with them in your hands. You unbutton the bag and find your knitting supplies along with the sweater you had started for Bruno.

Your grin and Abilene returns it. “Oh my god, you're too good to me.”

“Oh please, I just saw your stuff sitting in the main room. It was nothing.”

“But still!”

You pull out the uncomplete sweater carefully unfolding it so you dont cause any of the knits to come loose.

“Is that for Bruno?” Abilene asks.

“How did you even manage to guess that?”

They shrug. “I haven't seen you knitting for awhile so...”

That was true, the last time you really did it was for a scarf that you gifted to Abilene and that was probably over a year ago.

“He walks around topless even in Winter! I had to do this.”

Abilene laughs, “I’d do the same if I had a body like that.”

You groan loudly, “STOP!”

Abilene laughs even harder.

You spend the rest of the day knitting on your own while Abilene continues preparing for winter. You tried to help but floating for long periods of time was tiring so your friend forces you back into their room.

The sweater was coming along. Bruno didn't seem like the type to wear loud colors to you so you decide to use an off white wool. You predict the most difficult thing would probably be the sleeves for you since you wanted to make the forearm parts removable, but a couple of buttons should suffice.

When it starts to get dark your lantern begins glowing allowing you to continue working. By the time Abilene comes to check on you the front and back are completely done. You’d do the sleeves when you went back home.

“Woah you worked on the sweater the whole time?”

“Yep!” You fold up the sweater and put it on the table next to your lantern. “It's really easy for the day to get away from you doing repetitive motions.”

“Well it looks like it will be nice and comfy.”

“I sure hope so. I want Bruno to never want to take it off. Also don’t worry, I’ll make you one next!”

“You already made me one though?”

“That was a long time ago though. I can make a better one.”

“Well, okay if you want,” they say. “Lets get your bandages changed.”

You carefully move your legs off the side of the bed so you can unwrap the cloth. It honestly looked gross but it was healing. And as long as you didn’t move it too much, press on it or bump it into anything, there wasn't too much pain.

After applying the cream and rebandaging up your thigh and calf, you leave the room to find something to drink and move around a bit before it’s time for what you were somewhat dreading--bed.

Abilene gets comfortable next to you. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

They yawn. “If anything’s wrong just wake me up.”

You nod but you definitely weren't doing that. You were already taking up half their bed, so you really didn't want to disturb their sleep anymore.

They pull the cover over their head to block out the glow of the lantern and you move from your sitting position on the bed to lay down. It doesn't take long for you to hear their snores. They had to be the fastest being in existence at falling asleep.

As you stare into the mesmerizing glow your worries of the day seem to drift away, but inevitably your mind drifts to the one who gave you the lantern.

Were you going to explain this to him? No part of you wanted to but you weren’t sure if hiding it was the best idea or if you even could. You didn’t want him to be upset, but you mostly feared disappointment. All of this made you feel like you lied to him when reassuring him that you weren’t doing anything dangerous.

I was just exploring...

You force the thoughts away or you would start going in circles. You’d just have to cross that bridge when you got there.

You spend the next several days at Abilene’s. They keep you company while helping you tend to your wounds.

It was pretty nice and the routine was comforting. And slowly your sleep schedule transitions back to something more reminiscent to what you had before you met Bruno.

Sitting on the couch bundled in thick covers, you work on a new item you were knitting. It was another typical day. Another chilly day actually. Probably the coldest so far. Abilene sits at the other end of the couch, bundled in a collection of their own covers, reading one of their supernatural books.

It was pleasing hanging quietly together like this so often, but you were already trying to figure out when it would be best to leave. You couldn't keep encroaching on your friend like this even if they didn't think you were.

You hear knocking on the front door and Abilene complains before untangling themselves from their covers and leaving the room to go answer it. They come back pretty quickly but you continue your knitting without looking up.

“Um ____.”

“Yea?”

“Bruno’s outside.”

Your heart almost jumps out of your chest. “Wha--Don’t let him in here!”

“But--”

“No buts! I just--just tell him I'm okay!”

Abilene looks unsure. You can tell they don't want to turn away the moth but they nod reluctantly.

You breathe a sigh of relief. You weren't ready to cross the bridge yet!

The longer it takes the grasshopper to return the more you want to run into their room and hide.

Finally they return with a concerned expression.

“Bruno’s definitely not happy ____.”

You frown. “I-I’ll deal with it later…”

You didn't know exactly when ‘later’ would be though.

-----

“Are you sure you're okay by yourself?”

You try to give a reassuring smile. “Yea. Thank you for everything you've done for me, but I cant stay at your place forever.”

Abilene places down your satchel on your daybed for you while you find somewhere to put your lantern. “I mean you could,” they joke. “Well you know what to do if you need anything. And no wandering please!”

They give you a very stern look which you return with a nod. You definitely wouldn't be leaving your home much for a while.

They start to walk towards your door and you fly after them.

"Also don't forget your bandages!"

"I won't."

"And make sure you drink," they add.

"Now you're just stalling."

“Okay, okay...”

Abilene pulls you in for a hug which you gladly return. You do your best not to hold on too long though.

But you didn't want them to leave.

"See ya!"

"Bye Abby."

You shut the door behind them and let out a long sigh.

You do your best to keep yourself busy the whole day. With working on the sleeves of Bruno’s sweater and on your own top, you don't have much of a problem accomplishing that. But that leaves your mind open to wandering to various things and it usually ends up back on the wasp.

You couldn't stop thinking about him. As much as you preferred remembering as little about that day as possible, the wasp just stook out as weird. The way he acted, the way he even looked.

Along with him being albino, you had never seen a wasp with hair as long as that, or least not tied up in some way. There was also something else strange about him but you were struggling to place it. It bothers you so much that you have to stop what you're doing to dwell on it. When you finally place what was off you almost drop your sewing needle.

His wings. They were missing. You gulp considering the implications of this. Feeling more and more worse about how you acted towards him by the minute.

You continue sewing, but the thoughts won’t disperse. You have no idea how you're going to get through the night.

-----

After changing your bandages you lay down on your daybed and stare at the lantern. Maybe you'd sleep here instead of your bedroom.

You don't know how long you've been laying there, your mind completely blank, before you're brought back to reality by knocking on the door.

You sit there for a moment. There was only one person who would be here at this time. Maybe if you were quiet he’d go away.

You hear muffled speaking through the door. “___ I know you're in there I can see the light through your window.”

You almost facepalm yourself.

Sighing, you get up and go open the door.

Even though you had been avoiding him you couldn't help the relief you felt from seeing the moth. You missed him way more than you had realized. It hadn’t been that long right? Was this normal?

You hide your body partly behind the door so you can keep your weight off your right leg.

"Hello," you say but you can't hold eye contact.

"Hi."

Bruno doesnt say anything more and just stares at you like he's trying to read your mind, leaving you nervous and awkward.

"Um….do you need something?"

"It’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other and I was wondering if you want to go back to the forest clearing with me.” He gestures towards his bag. "We can even gather.”

"….I don't want to go outside right now."

Bruno’s expression slightly softens and he holds out his hand to you. “I know. It’s okay I won't let anything touch a single scale on your wings.”

You know that's supposed to reassure you but it almost does the complete opposite. Bruno definitely knew more about what happened than you would like, but for some reason you try to convince yourself otherwise.

You swallow your discomfort and nod. “O-Okay, let me just get my stuff."

"Need help?"

"No just wait here…"

Bruno tries to say more but you gently close the door. You didn't want him to get suspicious of you constantly flying to do anything.

Once you have your bag and canisters you take a deep breath and meet the moth outside once more. You ignore the pain in your leg as you walk towards him. Bruno insists on taking your bag so you hand it over since you really want to get off your feet as soon as possible.

"Oh wait, let me get my lantern!"

After you go back to get your lantern, Bruno grabs your hands and pulls you up to immediately start flying and he looks like he wants to say something.

"What's wrong?" you ask.

"I know what happened."

You almost feel a cold sweat form on your back. "...What do you mean?"

Bruno's frown deepens. "With the gecko."

You accidently clench your hands in Bruno's. There was no point denying anymore. "H-How? Did Abby tell you?"

"Abbacchio told me."

You squint trying to figure out how that worked, but realization dawns on you in a matter of seconds. The wasp you saw--that saved you.

"Shit."

Bruno suddenly drops your hands. "Lets go."

That catches you off guard but you follow after him. He's very quiet the whole flight and you think he might be mad but it’s somewhat hard to tell.

When you both reach the forest clearing it's even more beautiful than the last time since it was more visible with the moon out. The two of you land on one of the Daturas and the moth immediately starts gathering, but you just watch him for a while.

The tension in the air was too hard to ignore.

"….Bruno?"

He quietly turns towards you waiting for you to speak.

"Er…Are you mad?"

He raises a brow at you before sighing. "I was worried when you weren't at your home for a few days. So I asked around and came to Abilene's house--” His brows furrow. “--but they wouldn't let me see you--you didn’t want to see me.”

You grimace from your behavior. In your attempt to not have to explain and upset Bruno you just made things worse. You already knew this would happen but you decided to keep going.

And for what?

You look down, unable to look the moth in the eye.

"That was definitely not my smartest moment. I-I'm sorry. I caused you all this stress."

His hum sounds unconvinced.

"I'm really super sorry, I swear!"

His frown deepens and he looks hurt. “Why’d you try to pretend with me?"

You feel the familiar burning behind your eyes but you try to keep calm, you didn't want to do that. You wanted to keep this as a coherent conversation.

"I didn't want you to worry or be disappointed in me but I definitely made it worse."

"You did." He pats the spot next to him "Come here.”

You fly over and sit next to the moth, glad to stop flying.

He’s quiet for a moment before speaking. “Sorry I'm not trying to upset you, I’m just a little frustrated. Even if I’m “disappointed” I care more about your well being.”

You nod. “I shouldn't have done that to you...I guess I still need to work on the ‘being forward’ thing.” And you had been doing pretty well too.

“We’re both working on that. I’m not exactly an open book.”

The moth leans back on a hand and looks down at your leg. “How’s your leg?”

You guess he was done talking about this. At least you know the air was clear now. You're kind of surprised that it didn't take that long to resolve and it makes you internally sigh at you hiding your injury so adamantly in the first place.

“Well..it's healing. The doctor gave me some strange smelling cream. It hurts when I walk on it though but it’s getting better.”

“Yea I could tell from how you were grimacing before.”

You awkwardly smile. Guess your acting could use some work.

“But that’s good...I hope you're being safe.”

“I definitely won't be wandering again anytime soon.”

The moth squints his eyes, skeptical. “So you're going to do it again?”

“Well definitely not by myself that's for sure.”

“____, you're going to give me a heart attack.“ Bruno says. You can hear the warning tone seeping into his words though.

“Kidding! I'll stick to places that aren't abandoned.”

“That sounds better….Oh by the way--” Bruno digs out a very familiar canister from his own bag and hands it to you.

“Ah! I thought this was gone for good! Did Abbacchio get it?”

It even had the Tuberose liquid still in it.

Bruno nods. “Once we pieced together that it was you he ran into he gave it to me.”

“Oh. Uh can you tell him thank you. Like really thank you, he saved my life and I’m sorry for yelling at him. I was really afraid…”

“He already figured that, but I’ll give him your thanks and that you're okay. I'm sure that will make him happy.”

“Really?”

“Of course.” He smirks, “He loves praise, even if he tries to act like it doesn't matter to him.”

You laugh a little. “I'm really glad he happened to be in that area, when I was there too!”

“With all the pots right?”

“Pots? Do you mean those colorful containers with the flowers in them?”

The moth nods. “Abbacchio likes to hang out there during the Autumn, because it’s quiet.”

“I’m not trying to tell him what he should and shouldn’t do, but maybe he should pick a better place…”

“That's what I said but he won’t listen.” The moths slightly frowns, “And If he wants to go, I can't stop him.”

“B-But he doesn't have--he can't fly.”

“I know. At least I know he can defend himself.”

You nod thinking how he managed to force the gecko to let go, but still there's only so much someone could do if they're actually grabbed. And it was much harder to get away for insects who couldn’t fly. You were sure Bruno already knew this though. But at the same time you could kind of see why the wasp went over there though. If it weren't for all that happened you’d have visit the place several times by now.

“I think, maybe one day I should meet him, properly. I mean if he wants to...”

Bruno’s eyes widen, “Really?”

You nod.

“Oh...okay.” Bruno gives you a bit of a goofy smile, and if there were any feelings to back out, they're completely gone now.

The moth gets to his feet.

“Are we leaving already?”

“No I’m going to fill our canisters.”

You move to stand too.

“You can sit there, it won't take long--And no point trying to argue.”

You close your mouth and exhale. You were tired anyways.

“Fine...and thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

----

A/N: I’m sorry, I had planned that for a really long time!

#i just found a way to make posting 50 times easier!#bruno buccellati x reader #bruno bucciarati x reader #bruno x reader #Bruno Bucciarati #Bruno Buccellati #reader insert

43 notes · View notes

justabstractthings · 4 years

Text

Pink Delphiniums | Midoriya x F!Reader

Pairing: Midoriya Izuku x Female!Reader

Quirk: Nature-control type. You can control nature around you and can grow plants out of your body, but it requires you to use your blood.

Warnings: Angst to Fluff. Cutting. Blood.

Word count: 2.4k

A/N: Hello everyone! I wrote this for @bnhaclaimedmysoul BNHA Spring Time Event! It was a lot of fun being able to meet new people! Give it up for them for setting up such a thoughtful and fun event!

Without further ado, this is dedicate to my new friend @sunkissedneptune !!! I almost gave myself away a few times 👀But it was a lot of fun writing Midoriya for the first time and I really hope you enjoy it! Also...

🌺🌺🌺BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! 🌺🌺🌺

It was an ordinary day like any other.

Well… not really.

It was your birthday! Today was your special day and you’ve planned on spending the whole day with your boyfriend. Saying that you were excited for your birthday was an understatement.

This was your special day and nothing was going to ruin it for you.

But life never made things easy for you.

That’s because your boyfriend happened to be Midoriya Izuku, a magnet for disasters and chaos. Big or small. Intentional or accident. Villain or Bakugo. It seemed that your boyfriend was always in the middle of a fight (or disagreement).

But you wouldn’t change a thing about him.

You admired his spirit and his tenacity to make other people smile. While you knew about the secret behind his quirk, you watched as he trained day in and day out in order to use the gift he was given to save lives. He always sought out the truth and put others before him. His personality drew others toward him. That’s how he caught your attention in the first place.

Now here you were.

On your birthday.

Sitting outside a little cafe that was right across from a park.

Waiting for your boyfriend to meet you for your special day.

And he was 30 minutes late.

You checked your phone for the 50th time. Still no text or calls. You felt the slow creep of anxiety running up your spine. This wasn’t like Midoriya. Even if he was running late, Midoriya would make sure to let you know.

With a deep sigh, you decided that a walk around the park would help calm your nerves. It was still a beautiful day and it was still your birthday. You weren’t going to spend your birthday worrying and moping around.

As you were crossing the street, you heard a shrill scream. You looked towards the sound and saw a large man standing over a group of school girls. “Stay away!” one of the girls cried.

He stood a good five feet taller compared to the girls with hard scales surrounding his whole body. You noticed a large tail swishing menacingly behind him. His sinister smile showcased sharp rows of teeth. When you saw his equally sharp claws reach for one of the girls, you shouted, “Get away from them!”

With quick reflexes, you grabbed your knife out of your purse and sliced your palm open. Blood ran down your hand, but the pain quickly disappeared as vines grew out in place of the blood. The distraction gave you the opportunity to have your vines wrap tightly around the villain. With a heavy cry, you threw the villain away from the girls towards the large iron fence that surrounded the park.

“Call for help!” you ordered as you watched the crocodile-humanoid slowly rising.

Your throat constricted as you tried to gulp down the fear rising from your stomach. There were no other pro-heroes around the area. Even with your hero license, you couldn’t do this alone. Crocodile man was too large and too powerful for you to subdue without backup. Something in the back of your head told you to run, hide, anything but fight.

But you weren’t going to let a villain get away.

As you slowly walked towards the crocodile man, you sliced your other palm and splattered blood on the grass by your feet. You felt the soothing connection with the plants around you with the help of your quirk. The branches swayed to your will. The grass grew under your feet. Rose thorns multiplied as they slithered around your form.

Not really how you planned on spending your birthday. But what can you do? All you needed to do was last long enough for the pro heroes to arrive.

Happy birthday to you.

With a loud growl, the crocodile man ran towards you at full speed. You threw your left hand in front of you as a tree branch snapped against the villain’s chest. With a flick of your wrist, sharp blades of grass flew straight to the villain. Crocodile man roared and turned his back to you. He used his back as a shield while the grass bounced off without leaving so much as a scratch.

The villain used his tail to swipe the grass away. Before you knew it, the villain had his arm cocked right in front of your face. With a gasp, you shielded your face with your arms. In turn, tree branches created a form of a shield in front of you. Unfortunately, the villain punched right through the branch shield and landed a solid hit against your arms

Your body flew through the air and landed against a solid trunk. The impact pushed the air out of your lungs as you gasped in pain. Thankfully, the moss growing on the tree grew in size and cushioned some of the impact. Some.

You bit your lip as tears began streaming down your face. Everything hurt. Intense throbbing pain enveloped your back. Sharp pain stabbed against your chest with each breath you took. Your body screamed for you to run away.

The villain walked towards your form as you struggled to stand up. “Stay out business, little girl. Wanted good time. Settle with you.” His sinister smile sent a shiver up your smile.

Your vision began to blur and your head throbbed with each beat of your heart. You were losing too much blood. You cursed as you felt the connection start to dwindle. You just needed to last a bit longer. Just enough for the pro-heroes to show up.

“Not today, jackass.” With a swipe of your knife, blood gushed onto the grass. You pushed through throbbing headache as you raised both arms.

Thorn vines shot out of the ground and wrapped around the villain’s wrists, torso, and ankles. While the vines didn’t cut through the villain’s hard scaled, they held against his insistent pulling until he couldn’t raise his arms. Millions of leaves started surrounding the crocodile man like a tornado. He shouted in frustration as more and more surrounded him until he disappeared behind the leaf tornado.

You did it.

You captured a villain.

All by yourself.

Happy Birthday to you.

As a relieved smile began forming on your bruised face, a sharp pain shot through your head. Next thing you knew, you were lying face down on the grass. You felt the sickening sever of your connection with nature. All at once, the leaves and vines subduing the villain wilted away.

The crocodile man grinned at his freedom and focus his yellow reptile eyes on your vulnerable form. In a few steps, he was standing in front of you. You gasped in pain as the villain squeezed your throat and lifted you to his face. With what little strength you had left, you clawed against his grip.

Tears streamed down your face as you fought against the villain. You felt mind slowly losing consciousness. No, you had to stay awake. The heroes are coming. He’s coming. He’ll save you. He’ll be here any minute.

“Weak little girl,” the villain taunted.

‘I’m sorry, Izuku.’

“Y/N!”

The grip on your throat suddenly disappeared and you inhaled a quick deep breath. Before you lost consciousness, you saw a blur of green and felt his warm arms wrap around your body.

You smiled. He’s here.

❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁

For the first time in his life, Midoriya was silent.

Your birthday was supposed to be a happy celebration. He had everything planned out. It was going to be perfect. However, everything took a nosedive when he found out there was a villain attack by the cafe he promised he would meet you at.

When he arrived, his vision bled red as he watched the crocodile humanoid lifting your struggling body off the ground. In a blink of an eye, Midoriya appeared beside the villain and landed a strong blow against his face. He gently pulled you against his chest just as you lost consciousness.

Thankfully, other pro heroes arrived on time. While the pro heroes fought against the villain, Midoriya quickly took you to the nearest hospital. His heart pounded against his chest as he watched your battered body being taken away from him. He numbly waited outside the room for hours.

For the first time in his life, Midoriya was silent.

This was all his fault. He should have texted or called you that he was running late. He should have been there to protect you. He should have been there.

What kind of hero couldn’t protect one person?

Pathetic.

When the doctors left your room, they explained that you suffered from severe blood loss due to the overuse of your quirk.

Weak.

They told Midoriya that he saved her in time.

Unworthy.

It’s been a week since your birthday. The day Midoriya almost lost you. The image of you dangling against the villain’s grip haunted Midoriya every day and night. It didn’t matter if he was sleeping or not. All he could see was your bloody and bruised body.

Midoriya made his way to your hospital room. He faithfully visited every day; and every day, he would bring the same gift, hoping that it would somehow give you enough strength and hope. He knew that it was your favorite and he researched enough websites to know what it meant.

He stood outside your hospital room as he gripped the gift tightly between his hands. He took a deep breath and pushed your door open. But the sight he saw caused his breath to hitch.

There you were. As beautiful as the day he saw you for the first time.

And you were awake. Awake and smiling brightly at him. Even with bandages wrapped around your arms and dressed in a white hospital gown, you were breathtaking.

“Hello, Izuku.”

Before the gift hit the floor, Midoriya has you enveloped in a tight hug. You ignored the dull ache as you let Midoriya’s presence soothe you. You felt water soak up your hospital gown as Midoriya cried waterfalls. You could hear him profusely apologizing against your neck. You smiled as you rubbed small circles against Midoriya’s back and whispered assurances that you were okay. Eventually, his cries quieted down to soft sniffles.

You held Midoriya a little longer as you looked around the room. Your smile widened.

“Pink Delphiniums.”

You pushed Midoriya away from you as you looked into his watery green eyes. Green eyes that you loved so much. “You remembered.”

Midoriya nodded shyly as he grabbed the flowers that fell on the floor. “They’re your favorite. You also talk about them and how they would grow in a meadow by your backyard,” Midoriya explained. “Pink Delphiniums symbolize youth and renewal, but they’re also meant to-”

“Protect.” You finished for him as you saw him looking down at his hands.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” His shoulders began to shake as another burst of tears began streaming down his face.

You grabbed his cheeks and forced him to look at you. “Hey, don’t be sorry. I’m fine now.”

“But you got hurt! You lost a lot of blood and broke multiple bones! Not to mention the concussion.”

“And where did I learn that from?” You scoffed, recounting the number of times you stayed by his side as his bones healed from severe injuries. “I’m fine, Izuku. You saved me, remember? You’re my hero.”

You saw the permanent frown and scrunched brow etched onto Midoriya’s face. No matter how much you reassure him, you knew your boyfriend would worry about you endlessly. That’s just how he is.

And you wouldn’t change a thing.

Midoriya sighed and softly grabbed your hand, scared of breaking you even further. “I-I know I’m not as smart as Bakugo. I’m not as brave as Kirishima. And I’m not as strong as Todoroki. But I promise to keep you safe. I promise to protect you. I promise to keep that smile on your beautiful face.”

Before you could reply, Midoriya had his lips pressed against yours. You felt you butterflies in your stomach and your heart race. Electricity ran from your lips to the tips of your toes. Unfortunately, you didn’t react fast enough before Midoriya pulled away.

When he realized what he had done, Midoriya resembled a tomato. He stuttered apologies and other things you couldn’t understand when he talked too fast.

You rolled your eyes as Midoriya kept muttering to himself. This wasn’t going to stop until you did something. You grabbed his shirt and pulled his closer to you. He finally stopped when you pressed your lips against his own, reciprocating the feelings and promises he made earlier.

When you separated, Midoriya was still red, but at least he stopped.

“So, why were you late for my birthday?” you asked.

This time Midoriya gulped in fear. He chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “W-well, I was finishing up from last-minute things for your birthday.” He looked at you with an apologetic grin on his face. You stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. He sighed and revealed his surprise. “I planned for us to spend the whole day together. I figured we could bake a cake for your birthday. In the afternoon, we would have a picnic in the small meadow behind your house. Then if you were okay with it, we would go camping and spend the night staring at the stars. Then, in the morning, we would wake up early to watch the flowers bloom. I know it’s not much, but I wanted to do something special for you. Maybe I should have planned something smaller. I wasn’t even sure if that’s what you wanted to do for your birthday. I know it’s cheesy and stupi-”

“Izuku, shut up.” Midoriya clamped his mouth shut as you pulled him into a tight hug. You inhaled his calming scent as you felt his arms wrap around your waist. You hummed as you tightened your arms around his neck and rested your head on his shoulder. As you looked at the multiple pink delphiniums decorated around your room, you knew.

“I love you.”

#bnha spring time #bnha #spring #midoriya izuku #midoriya x reader #midoriya izuku x reader #izuku x reader #midoriya imagines #midoriya fic #bnha imagines #bnha x reader #mha #mha imagines #mha x reader #tw: cutting #tw: blood #just abstract things #my writing

178 notes · View notes

nevtelenwriting · 4 years

Text

Epithet

Okay I’m working on, uh, 6 fics atm because ADHD but here’s a snippet/HC/shitpost from a Dolcetto-centric fic about Greed, his Devil’s Nest crew, and their suspiciously alcoholic names. (156 is Dolcetto cause it’s the number on his hospital gown in the manga)

Becoming the lackey of a functionally immortal gang leader was the least surprising life event from the last two years.

Greed immediately put them to work and honestly, after being prodded, electrocuted and straight up vivisected, being made to stand guard was both a godsend and mind numbingly boring. 156 had no intentions of looking a gift horse in the mouth, he never expected a grandiose height of living after going to war, but still. He was back to entertaining himself counting the edges on his new teeth and trying to guess colors in the wash of blue-yellow-browns. It was a unique type of torture, trying to process something his brain no longer could. It was growing more difficult to remember what made purple purple or what made grass green different than leaf green than he thought it would be. He had no problem remembering the color of fire, or of blood.

Probably best he found a new hobby.

“Hey, puppy!”

156 snarled out of pure reflex, “Don't call me that.”

It was also ill-advised to bare teeth to his boss, but Greed hadn’t quite fallen into the trust category yet, and every hackle rebelled on the inquisitive alpha? his brain prodded towards.

Greed looked up at him from his perch on the ledge, slitted eyes actually visible for once beyond those absurd sunglasses.

Greed shrugged dismissively. “Your numbers are hard to remember.”

“Not my problem.”

Greed smirked, then jerked his head to the door. “Get in, Bull and Lizard need help with the shipment.”

Greed was a man of enigmas. For all intents and purposes the bar was a front, the only customers half the time being his repurposed henchmen and Dublith's finest lowlifes. Even then Greed remained meticulous with his maintenance of the bar, actually kept it stocked and cleaned for genuine use as much as he peddled black market fare. For a man boasting avarice their paycheck was also fair—better than nothing, which they all assumed—so 156 had no room to judge.

156 helped unload the crates with 133 and 168, which ended up being a shipment of alcohol both legitimate from sanctioned stock in Amestris and illegally imported from Aerugo.

On the last crate 156 dumped behind the bar he caught the tail end of the newest conversation; apparently, names were the hot button topic today. The crates remained stacked on the bar, unloaded and untouched. 156 sighed and set to work with 168, the one crossed with a bull, if 156 remembered correctly. His size certainly implied it.

“You can’t just keep calling us by our animals,” 140 challenged their boss with his arms crossed tight over his slender chest. He had a shortened face, with a bit of a muzzle like 156. He couldn't remember what he was, but he thought it was a type of weasel.

Greed grinned, a perpetual look on his inhuman face. “Why not?”

“Well, for one, there are six reptiles including me, and three of ‘em are crossed with lizards.” 154 chuckled, a small smile pulling on her mouth. She also apparently decided work was a suggestion.

Greed thought about that for a moment. “You mean Gecko, Lizard One and Lizard Two?”

“That’s not confusing,” said 133, or apparently, Lizard Someone. Gecko pulled his hood over his face.

Greed scoffed, “Well none of you will tell me your names.”

“Fuck our names,” 156 snapped, “Can we just work?”

Greed rolled his eyes.

“Most of us don’t remember, boss,” 168 said softly from where he loaded new bottles behind the bar.

“Okay fine. I should name my things.” Greed pinched his brow with a sigh. He scanned the bar, cheek in his hand, and said off-handedly, “How about Roa, big guy?”

168 blinked, and tilted his head, “Roa?”

“Yeah, that sounds good to me.”

The newly-minted Roa creased his brow, and then shrugged. “Sure.”

Greed grinned, “Great! Otter, you’re Morgan now, Lizard Two, you’re Reyka.”

Reyka arched her brow, “How are you thinking of these?”

Both of Roa’s eyebrows arched, but said nothing, and 156 narrowed his eyes. Their boss sounded amused and delighted by what he was doing.

Greed leaned on the counter and purred to 154, “And you, darling, can be Martel.”

Martel stared at him, unblinking, and then her jaw dropped, “Oh my god, you are not.”

“You think Lynx will like Carvo or Remy more?”

Martel started laughing, “Name him Carvo, it sounds badass.”

Why did these names sound familiar? It was niggling at him now, but—

“Are you naming us after the closest bottles you can see?” Now-Morgan sputtered, and Greed’s grin was entirely too indulgent.

“They’re fun names, aren’t they?”

156’s eyes rolled so hard to the ceiling they hurt. “Great choice, boss, real innovative.”

“Just for that, you’re Dolcetto.”

156 wrinkled his nose, “Why?”

“Because it’s the sweetest, bitterest whine I know of.”

Martel started guffawing her laughter and Dolcetto—god, really?—did not flush.

“Hey Gecko, do you like Bidault?” Greed craned back to look at the hiding figure.

“What? No,” Now-Martel huffed, “you make him sound like a stuffy prince.”

“And?”

Martel pinched her chin in her fingers, “Bidault, Bid…Bido?”

Greed laughed. “It’s cute, it suits him.” Greed looked back, “Hey, Bidault or Bido?”

Gecko, it rather Bido now, peeked out from under his hood. It was the first time Dolcetto—kill him—had ever seen him look anywhere but at the ground.

His eyes were wide in disbelief, and immediately after he tucked his head again, tail twitching against the floor. “I like Bido.”

Shit, they got him to speak. Even from here Dolcetto could see a smile pulling up on the little guy’s face.

Dammit. Alright, maybe he could deal with Dolcetto.

#fullmetal alchemist #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #dolcetto #devil's nest #greed the avaricious #martel #roa #idk how to tag this man #shitposting from the great gay beyond #my writing

31 notes · View notes

troutfishinginmusic · 4 years

Text

The story of Grass Records: From Brainiac to Wind-Up and Creed

Images via Grass of ’96 compilation

Everything isn’t available in the streaming era. There are notable gaps in the seemingly bottomless amount of music currently available. Some of the most noticeable exclusions are albums released on Grass Records.

If you’re a fan of ’90s indie music, this short-lived New York label mattered. Though sometimes dismissed as a sibling label to Homestead Records, Grass released over 60 full-length albums ranging from pop to punk to noise to experimental music. It raised the profile of influential bands like Brainiac, Toadies and the Wrens.

The amazing thing about the label is how consistent it is. Every time I thought I was done with this article, I would listen to a band like Baboon and be completely blown away. These are all fascinating, idiosyncratic bands. This is more incredible considering the label was only around for about four years.

Much of this music is hard to find. The odd song might be lingering on YouTube, but you’re almost better off looking at your local record store or ordering from Discogs.

Why are the albums in this weird limbo? Mostly because the monied interest who bought the label in 1996 thought it wasn’t yielding a big enough return on the investment. Grass was gutted and rebranded into post-grunge/nu metal giant Wind-Up. Money poured in and these wonderfully weird records were swept to the side.

The following interviews were conducted via email, Facebook messenger and phone over the last few months. Quotes from the interviews have been edited for style/clarity. I’m eternally grateful to everyone who got back to me. I am also willing to expand this story if more former Grass artists want to reach out. If you’re one of these artists, my email is at the bottom of this story.

Seedlings

“I started in the music business purely by chance,” said Camille Sciara, who founded Grass Records.

Sciara got her start working at Record World in New York as a second job and became friendly with the store’s buyer. After attending a manager training program, she moved on to become a manager of the store. Her second job became her first.

“Then, after two years there, I became bored managing a record store and my friend Mike, the buyer, told me about Dutch East India,” Sciara said. “I started there as a salesperson and, after a year of sales, became the buyer when that position opened up. I never envisioned starting a label.”

While working as a buyer at Dutch East India Trading a friend sent her a Toadies cassette. She “loved it” and started Grass in 1993 to release it.

Grass released the Toadies EP Pleather soon after, which contained an early version of the band’s inescapable alternative hit “Possum Kingdom.” After Pleather, the band scored a major label deal with Interscope. The platinum-selling Rubberneck arrived in 1994.

“They did really well on their first major release,” Sciara said in an email interview. “But then it appeared that Interscope just dropped the ball or lost interest. They were such a great band live, I never understood how they weren't huge stars. And super cool people.”

undefined

youtube

Tall grass

Sciara would go on to sign unique and influential bands like Brainiac and The Wrens.

“Since I had never run a label before, I was going purely on how much I liked what they submitted,” Sciara said. “Obviously not the best business model for running a label, but for the money we offered it worked to some respect. The longer I ran the label, the more I understood what was needed from them [the bands] regarding can they tour etc.”

There were few bands of the 90s that radiated weirdo energy as brightly and brilliantly as Brainiac. The documentary Transmissions from Zero chronicles the significant impact the band had on the music scene at the time. It also shows a band on the brink of mainstream success. Brainiac released two albums on Grass, Smack Bunny Baby and Bonsai Superstar, before departing for Touch & Go. The band’s forward motion was sadly cut short by Tim Taylor’s death in 1997. Prior to this, Interscope was expressing interest in the band.

“If Tim hadn't passed I'm pretty sure they'd have been the biggest [band on the label],” Sciara said.

Original Brainiac guitarist Michelle Bodine said Grass’ association with Dutch East India made the label initially attractive.

“[Camille] was super excited about us and we had total creative freedom,” Bodine said. “We also liked the 2-record deal with the option of 3 contract.”

After leaving Brainiac, Bodine would go on to play guitar and sing in O-Matic. The band released its lone album Dog Years in 1996. The album is one of the overlooked gems of the ’90s.

The Wrens’ influence reverberated in more subtle ways. The band’s first two albums, Silver (1994) and Secaucus (1996), provided a blueprint for much of the post-Pixies landscape of ’90s indie rock. They could’ve been much bigger, but still made a significant impression.

“The depth of realization in this record is unparalleled: every angle is perfected,” Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber said about Secaucus. The band’s third long awaited album, Meadowlands, dropped in 2001 and received a “Best New Music” tag from the same publication.

Rumblings of a follow-up to Meadowlands have been thrown around for the last 10 years, but a record has yet to materialize.

The level of talent the label had was staggering. A few groups Sciara thought would be bigger ranged from the Irish dream-pop band Chimera to Georgia punk band Sunbrain. “There's more, it would be long list,” Sciara said.

undefined

youtube

New shoots

Baltimore

Baltimore punk band Liquor Bike had released one album before signing a two-record deal with Grass. The band’s first release on the label was Neon Hoop Ride in 1993. Liquor Bike was excited to be on the label because of the Homestead Records connection.

“We loved being on Grass, we toured like crazy,” singer/guitarist David Koslowski said. “We had great booking with Creature Booking.”

Between the booking agency, which had done work with Nirvana, Helmet, the Lunachicks and Jesus Lizard; and the new label things were looking up for the band. The band would have posters up in whatever towns they were playing in and mentions in the local paper. The label would keep them up to date if they had to do things like impromptu radio interviews. When they got off the road, they entered the studio to record The Beauty of Falling Apart. During this time Alan Meltzer, who bought the label from Sciara in 1996, entered the picture.

“At the onset we were pretty psyched because this guy’s got major label distribution,” Koslowski said.

It also helped that Sciara stayed on after the transition.

“We could still work with Camille, who we love,” Koslowski said. “We slept at Camille’s house when we would play up in New York. She’s an amazingly nice, sweet person and very giving.”

Koslowski said the band was given significantly more to record the follow-up based on buzz the band was getting at the time. J Robbins, of Jawbox and Burning Airlines fame, did the cover art and Drew Mazurek produced the album. The band even hired John Lay, who had previously worked with Squeeze, to manage the band.

“By that point we were having decent guarantees,” Koslowski said. “Those two years when I was on Grass I barely worked a real job. I wasn’t making a rockstar living or anything, but I was certainly able to pay my rent and utilities.”

Liquor Bike went on tour with Gas Huffer to promote the forthcoming record. On the tour Koslowski noticed there weren’t posters out and the band didn’t receive write-ups in the local press. To make matters worse, they never received CDs of The Beauty of Falling Apart to sell at shows. Koslowski said Grass had promised this.

“We were pretty confused," Koslowski said. “I mean our record had been mastered already, everything had been sent to the factory.”

Lay soon informed the band Sciara had been fired and the band had been dropped. Koslowski said the band decided to stay on the tour even after being kicked off the label. The band had old records and T-shirts to sell. They had put a lot of work into the tour and didn’t want to waste it.

Liquor Bike eventually released its third album on Merkin after failed meetings with Amphetamine Reptile, Columbia and Interscope. It was the band’s last before the members went their separate ways.

Seade was another band on on Grass that was unfortunately overlooked. Their lone album (Perf) is an underrated ’90s classic.

Prior to Meltzer, Koslowski said that he didn’t think there was any favoritism toward any one band despite the label being so prolific.

“I just think the woman loved music and wanted to spread that out to people,” Koslowski said of Sciara. “I think she legitimately wanted to help people, you know, help these bands out. She was nothing but giving.”

undefined

youtube

Omaha

Mousetrap, an Omaha-based punk band, hoped to initially get a deal with Homestead when it sent in two 7” singles.

“Camille really liked our singles and got in touch with us.” Patrick Buchanan, Mousetrap’s singer/guitarist said in an email interview. “We developed a great relationship with her, and eventually she offered to sign us — we were given the opportunity to sign either with Homestead OR with Grass, which was a brand-new label at the time.”

Buchanan said the band thought it would possibly get overlooked in Homestead’s large stable of well-established bands and decided to sign with Grass. He also said Sciara made a large difference.

“Camille was one of the coolest people we had ever met in ‘the business’ – she just seemed really genuine, straightforward and honest,” he said. “Those are the types of people we wanted to work with. So our relationship with Camille was probably the main thing that made us sign with Grass.”

Mousetrap would go on to release three albums on the label, starting with Cerebral Revolver in 1993. The band was a big influence on Commander Venus, an Omaha band featuring a young Connor Oberst.

“They were definitely a big deal in Omaha and everybody loved them,” Oberst said of Mousetrap in an episode of the Turned Out a Punk podcast earlier this year.

Commander Venus came in contact with Grass through Mousetrap. The band signed to the label when Oberst was only 14. The band also featured Rob Nansel, who would go on to co-found Saddle Creek Records. Oberst said the band recorded its first album, Do You Feel At Home, in 1995.

“That was a good experience and a learning experience,” Oberst said. “I also think it kind of made it more apparent that even if you do get an opportunity like that, you know, you’re a little fish in a big pond. And maybe people aren’t going to work as hard or care about it.”

He said that this was mitigated by having the support system of a local scene in Omaha. The band ended up releasing its 1995 debut on Lumberjack, which later became Saddle Creek. The band released one more album, The Uneventful Vacation, before Oberst formed Bright Eyes.

undefined

youtube

Promoting growth

Alan Meltzer came into the picture with a retail background. He had previously owned Titus Oaks Records in Long Island. He went on to found CD One Stop in 1985, which was purchased by Alliance in 1993. Meltzer became Alliance’s president during this time but left the company in 1995. Meltzer acquired Grass in 1995 from Dutch East India Trading (the label’s owner/distributor), finalizing major label distribution through BMG in 1996.

“When I heard the Grass repertoire, I almost fell down,” Meltzer said in a 1996 Billboard Magazine article. “I heard so much good material.”

“Alan was shopping around looking to purchase an established label with an extensive catalog that he could pour endless money into,” Sciara said. “He originally wanted Homestead Records. A great label owned by Dutch East as well. But once he saw the contracts and issues with some of the ‘grey’ areas in them, he then moved on to Grass.”

Meltzer did have some legitimate interest in the label as an artistic venture.

“He absolutely was obsessed with the Wrens once he heard them and Commander Venus,” Sciara said. “He was sure with all his resources, money and big ass staff he could make them huge stars. He failed. Not the bands’ fault.”

Grass would have the name (and credibility) of an indie, but the corporate reach of a major. Meltzer looked at the new situation as the best of both worlds.

“We’re not a major label, but we’re not an undercapitalized, disorganized independent that’s out there on a wing and prayer,” Meltzer said. “We’re somewhere in the middle. We’re staffed, we have the organization, and we’ve got the know-how. I opted for major distribution because the majors are better at it.”

Grass kept Sciara on as a VP of A&R (artists and repertoire) and expanded Grass’ workforce to 20 in-house employees, according to the Billboard article. The label’s future looked bright. Bodine left Brainiac and formed O-Matic (also signed to Grass) when the change happened.

“…It seemed better – they had a nice office in Manhattan with an open stairwell area and glass walls,” Bodine said. “It was very modern and cool. The budget was much bigger. They hired more people and we felt like we had a good support system.”

“When we went there it felt like money,” Koslowski said.

Koslowski only met Meltzer once at a Grass Christmas party.

“He was a typical New York money guy when I met him,” Koslowski said. “I didn’t get a good vibe. He didn’t have that indie spirit that Camille had unfortunately.”

The meeting didn’t go well.

“I remember drinking a bit and messing with him,” Koslowski said. “I said ‘hey Alan I wanted to see if I could run this by you. You know that new Liquor Bike record we’re working on? We got the artwork but we just wanted to run the title by you and make sure it’s cool. We want to call it Eat My Fuck Asshole.’”

Meltzer and his wife were horrified, according to Koslowski.

Yellowing, patchy

In an oral history with Stereogum, Wrens bassist and singer Kevin Whelan said the band was picking up steam.

“So Secaucus came out and it started to do somewhat well and “Surprise Honeycomb” was starting to get recognized and played on different shows, and we thought that international fame was around the corner,” Whelan said.

And then the call came in.

“He [Meltzer] said, ‘Well, boys, I’m not going to give you any more money. If you don’t sign with me today, it’s over.’ So, I remember, we sat in the van, we looked at the empty gas tank and we were like, ‘Well, I guess we’re not signing, let’s get the credit cards out and see how we can get home.’”

According to the Wrens’ website bio, Meltzer wasn’t pleased.

“[Meltzer], infuriated, commences layoffs of involved record company personnel and vows that ‘the next band to walk through that door will be made famous – at any cost,’” the bio states. “The next band through the door is Creed. Grass Records becomes Wind-Up Records. Creed becomes famous at any cost.”

By the time of the Wind-Up transition, Moustrap had already fulfilled its contract when it released its third album The Dead Air Sound System.

“At that time, Mousetrap was not very active,” Buchanan said. “I think we had become rather disheartened by how much time and love we put into the band, while getting very little recognition on any type of national level. At that point we were physically and mentally exhausted by constant touring and recording, with very little in the way of tangible success to show for it. So we didn’t really have any relationship with the label by the time it became Wind-Up.”

When the label wasn’t as successful as Meltzer thought, he brought in Steve Lerner. This was effectively the end of Grass Records.

“I was let go along with 8 to 10 others when Meltzer brought in Steve Lerner to run the company,” Sciara said. “The new staff felt Grass was too much related to me so hence a name change.”

“With Lerner serving as his right-hand man, the duo transformed Wind-up into a $100 million-plus sales operation with multi-platinum acts like Evanescence and Creed,” a 2007 Billboard article said.

Death, new high-yield crops

Grass was rebranded as Wind-Up, a key player in the nu metal and post-grunge universe, in 1997. Many of the Grass bands were dropped to make room for the likes of Finger Eleven, Creed and Evanescence. Meltzer, who ran the label with his wife at the time Diana, finally found his cash machine.

“I was extremely happy because, although Creed was a mega-seller and saved his label, I wanted nothing to do with that and the direction the label was taking,” Sciara said. “Not knocking it. You need artists like that to sustain a label that had an enormous payroll and nice offices. I totally get it, it’s a business. But I was happy running a small label with smaller contacts and cooler bands that didn't have to compromise their sound to write a ‘hit.’ That’s what he was always looking for.”

The transition to Wind-Up in 1997 did have some overlap with former Grass artists. The second Commander Venus album was released by Wind-Up and Thick (with a later release on Saddle Creek). Pollen, a rough-edged pop-punk act that had released two albums on Grass, dropped Peach Tree on Wind-Up. Baboon’s sophomore album Secret Robot Control was also released in 1997 on the new label.

Slowpoke’s Virgin Stripes, the final vestige of Grass Records, was a co-release with DGC in 1998. The album didn’t break the band, but it’s not a stretch to imagine it could have (especially since it boasted a song as infectious as “Belladonna”). The album retains some of band’s outsider noisy energy, but delivers it in a package palatable enough for the post-grunge crowd. Past this point, Wind-Up focused mostly on its new sound.

Koslowski didn’t initially know Wind-Up was the successor to Grass. One day someone mentioned to him that he was labelmates with Creed.

“I was like ‘wow, OK I guess he got his hit,’” Koslowski said.

Meltzer died in 2011 at 67. He made headlines by leaving $1 to his chauffeur and $500,000 to his doorman. Bodine saw this as frustrating because of how he left things with other Grass bands.

“He owed lots of bands money so it’s just really fucked up that he didn’t pay them/us. Liquor Bike did get theirs before he died only because they were persistent,” said Bodine.

In 2013 Wind-Up was purchased by Bicycle Music Company with distribution by Concord Music Group. In 2015 the two companies merged to form Concord Bicycle Music. Craft Recordings manages the label’s reissues.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/wZBpr1tDktI

Rare strain

Aside from Brainiac and The Wrens, many of the bands on the label aren’t on streaming platforms. The physical releases on Grass are mostly out of print. A sea of fantastic experimental indie music remains in this gray area. This doesn’t seem to be changing.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t a clue about if there are plans of Wind-Up re-releasing any back catalog,” Sciara said. “It’s sad really. Holding peoples’ artistic work hostage or just ignoring it seems cruel. Hopefully Wind-Up did the right thing and gave them back their masters, rights etc. Or at least license it to someone else to release.”

The three Mousetrap albums are stuck in this place.

“I wish more people had the chance to hear our music, so yeah I wish it was easily available,” said Buchanan. “Sure, we wanted to be popular — but the most important thing for us was that we made the music we wanted to make. We always did things our way — for ourselves, with no regrets. So even if the albums are harder to get, we’ll always have the memories — and those who were there to witness it will, too.”

Liquor Bike’s lawyer was able to secure the master tapes and artwork for The Beauty of Falling Apart with no questions asked. The band also has the master tapes for Neon Hoop Ride.

“Crazily enough, Grass did not make us buy Beauty of Falling Apart from them,” Koslowski said. “I have heard from some of my fellow Grass artists that they wanted to charge an incredible amount of money.”

Neon Hoop Ride was remastered and briefly available on streaming services. The album was only available digitally and did not get a physical rerelease.

Greener pastures

Following her departure from Grass, Sciara started Ten23 (Oct. 23, 1996 was the day she was fired from Grass). The label released The Wren’s EP 1135 before folding.

“It seemed like a great idea,” she said. “Didn't put out anything else after that release. It was an expensive endeavor starting a label from scratch, so to speak, and at the time I was unemployed.”

From there she went on to work at the Knitting Factory label group and eventually Narnack Records. She uprooted from N.Y. to move to L.A. to work at the latter. She eventually ended up back in N.Y. where she was a manager at Petland Discounts for 12 years until it closed in 2019.

Buchanan has gone on to release music as Vicious Lovers. Mousetrap has plans to release new music for the first time in 20 years according to Buchanan. Some of Mousetrap’s music can be streamed here:

Michelle Bodine went on to play guitar in Shesus, which was signed to Narnack. The band released an album and an EP before splitting up. Bodine has since been participating in Brainiac reunion shows and was featured in the Brainiac documentary Transmissions from Zero.

David Koslowski went on to play in the post-rock band Vivid Low Sky and the power-pop band Gerty. He currently owns a coffee shop/record store in Baltimore called Baby’s on Fire.

“I loved every aspect of being on Grass, except for the very end,” Koslowski said. “I also loved how diverse Camille had the label. A lot of friends from that time from those bands, I’m still friends with them. It was like a really cool little group of people that all got to share in something for as brief of a time period as it was.”

If you have questions, information or concerns I can be reached at [email protected].

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article spelled David’s last name as Kozlowski. It’s actually Koslowski. Also, J. Robbins just did the cover art for the band’s third album. Drew Mazurek actually produced it. Godplow is a great band but they’re from Minneapolis, not Baltimore.

#grassrecords #indie #90s #brainiac #thewrens #mousetrap #liquorbike #baboon #toadies #omatic

8 notes · View notes

metalrequiem · 4 years

Text

having trouble remembering what type is strong against what? look no further!

its always easier to remember things when you know WHY, wouldn’t you agree? so here’s my method of remembering the type advantages, just for you. i do so hope it helps :)

bug > grass : this is the reason why your tomato plant never gives you more than two tomatoes come harvest time.

bug > dark : one time, when i was like six or something, i was wandering around the college my dad worked at (as the head of the it department) with him because he had to do something in one of the tech closets. it was just wires and computers super disorganized; ran the network or something idk i was six. anyway the floor was like, black when we opened the door, but then when he turned on the light it turned fucking white as the carpet of roaches just fucking scattered. i forgot where i was going with this.

bug > psychic : bugs are one of the three most common fears. this will come up again. guess how many times.

dark > ghost : ghost summoning is dark magic (think warlocks). considering they’re the one who summoned it, the dark sorcerer would obviously be more powerful than the ghost.

dark > psychic : once again; dark is one of the most common fears.

dragon > dragon : trust nobody, not even yourself.

electric > flying : the only thing worse than being zapped and paralyzed is being zapped and paralyzed 20 feet up in the air.

electric > water : i mean, this one’s pretty obvious. water + electricity = bad time. (actually, fun fact, distilled water doesn’t conduct electricity - it’s the stuff typically in the water that makes it conductive. i think.)

fairy > fighting : wizards are just inherently more powerful than fighters, i guess. keep that in mind next time you play 5e.

fairy > dark : My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Season 1; Episodes 1 & 2

fairy > dragon : i’m pretty sure this was the reason they made fairy type a thing in the first place? anyway, the knight slaying the dragon to save the princess is like, THE classic fairy tale trope.

fighting > dark : so google tells me that this is a good vs evil thing, where dark is “fighting dirty” (which makes sense considering the moves like nasty plot, sucker punch, etc), and the advantage is that fighting dirty doesn’t mean you’ll win, it actually means you’re more likely to lose. or whatever. fighters are better than rogues is the explanation, actually.

fighting > normal : go ask a black belt to fist fight you. i dare you.

fighting > ice : strong man punch through ice block.

fighting > rock : strong man punch through rock.

fighting > steel : [visibly distressed] s... strong... strong man punch through... steel???

fire > bug : you know how a bunch of kids have that weird part of their lives where they think using a magnifying glass to set a bug on fire with the power of the sun is the neatest shit?

fire > grass : i mean, duh. the more specific example that usually comes to mind for me though is wildfires in like, the savannah. or australia.

fire > ice : fire melts ice. i seen’t it with my own two eyes.

fire > steel : jet fuel can, in fact, melt steel beams.

flying > bug : i mean, bugs do compose most birds’ diets. except for the bearded vulture. that motherfucker eats bones.

flying > fighting : have you ever tried to punch a bird out of the sky?

flying > grass : i guess cause, like, birds live in grass? and they use it to make up their nests? like this type advantage comes entirely from intimidation factor. “i live inside the remnants of your second cousin,” and all that.

ghost > ghost : in basically all ghost related lore/mythology, while they struggle to interact with the corporeal plane, ghosts can interact with other ethereal beings/objects just fine. i guess that extends to beating the shit out of each other.

ghost > psychic : finally, the third of the 3 most common fears.

grass > ground : plants literally grow out of the fucking ground.

grass > rock : saw a dandelion growing out of a crack in the pavement on my walk today. effervescent.

grass > water : water is one of the two required molecules (reactants, kinda? ish?) for photosynthesis. this was a really complicated way of saying plants go glug glug.

ground > electric : ground is a bad conductor. its much easier to punch someone when their powers are completely useless.

ground > fire : throwing dirt is a pretty good way of putting out a fire, actually. it suffocates it, and since fire needs oxygen to burn,,,

ground > poison : rub some dirt on it. also i heard once that if you put dirt/sand/whatever on a wound with poison (like a bite i guess?), it’ll soak some of it up or out or something. its not a solution, but it would buy you some time i guess. please don’t test whether this is true or not.

ground > rock : honestly? i got nothing. rock come from ground. dust to dust. there.

ground > steel : for one, steel is derived from ground stuff. that seems important? you could look at it from like, a natural vs artificial scenario. like, no matter how invincible we think something we build is, the earth will outlast it and reclaim itself eventually.

ice > dragon : the classic dragon breathes fire, and dragons are generally accepted to be reptiles (which are cold-blooded), so if a dragon’s body temperature fell too low, it’d be a massively crippling blow.

ice > flying : i’m pretty sure that birds can fly if it’s too cold? i mean, it makes sense. you know how it gets harder to feel and control your fingers when it’s cold? i imagine that’d be pretty disastrous for a bird’s wings while it’s trying to fly.

ice > grass : this is another kinda common knowledge one. most types of plants don’t do well in cold weather.

ice > ground : i don’t know exactly how to articulate it, but my head is screaming the word “PERMAFROST” at me repeatedly, so let’s go with that.

poison > fairy : poison is a pretty common weapon of choice for fairy tale villains? like, snow white instantly comes to mind. the princess bride, too. in older stories, there’s, like, the witches in macbeth.

poison > grass : so at its core, this is “poisoning nature”, which could go any number of ways, really, but i think specifically of pollution. there’s no joke for this one. eat the rich.

psychic > fighting : “brains over brawn”. everyone knows this one, lmao.

psychic > poison : i mean, there’s that trope where the protag just wills their way through being poisoned. more realistically, some cultures believe meditation can expel poison/impurities from your body. which is where the idea for the pop culture trope came from in the first place?

rock > bug : do you know that scene in d*sney’s hunchback, sorta in the beginning, where frollo is giving phoebus his absolutely batshit monologue about his plans for genocide and he lifts up a stone to show all the ants under it to visually prove his point about a hideout somewhere in the city and then he flips is and crushes them all to really drive that point home and phoebus is like “with all due respect, jesus fucking christ sir”? yeah.

rock > fire : recall the “put out a fire by suffocating it” thing. rocks work too. i guess.

rock > flying : let’s go throw rocks at birds!

rock > ice : ice melts, but rock is forever. (honestly, i personally think the advantage should actually be the other way around because when water gets in even the smallest crack and freezes, it expands and makes the crack even bigger, rinse and repeat. but there’s nothing i can really do about that lmao).

steel > fairy : y’know, the whole “knight in shining armor” bit. we’ve been over this.

steel > ice : you know what happens if you freeze a sword? you get a cold sword (ignore the fact that it gets brittle - that’s future you’s problem). you know what happens if you hit an ice block really hard with a sword? you wind up with more distinct pieces of ice than when you started.

steel > rock : i guess rock is just. more brittle than steel? weaker? less versatile? who fucking knows.

water > fire : ._.

water > ground : mudd....

water > rock : erosion! don’t think about it too hard.

normal > nothing : that’s the fucking point.

BONUS: the no effect matchups!

normal/fighting X ghost : go punch a ghost.

ghost X normal : go get punched by a ghost.

poison X steel : i mean, this makes sense. steel is the only wholly artificial pokemon type, so it wouldn’t be affected by having something nasty thrown at it. unless it’s salazzle. in which case, fuck you.

ground X flying : can’t get hurt by an earthquake if you’re in the sky. this is where i’d put that meme if i wasn’t too lazy to go find it.

electric X ground : grounded things can’t be electrocuted! or something like that. i don’t know. i told you, my dad’s the it guy.

psychic X dark : so, i actually think about this a lot. think about common fears. the one thing they all have in common is they’re linked with the unknown, somehow. like, basically all fears boil down to the fear of the unknown. people fear animals and bugs because they don’t know what they’re capable of doing to them, or what’ll happen to them if they DO do something to them. people fear drugs/alcohol (like me) because they don’t know what they’ll do or what they’re capable of doing with less self-control. so, that’s cool and all, i hear you say, but what about the fears typed in pokemon? well, ok, bugs. that’s the easiest of the three: you can just research them?? lmao go google that beetle, you’ll be fine. yeah, you’ll still be scared of the ones that you now KNOW can hurt you, but you can psych yourself up and away from that, really. or just avoid them. when it comes to ghosts, it can go one of two ways: either you can explain away whatever it is sparked the fear at that moment in the first place and calm yourself by believing they aren’t real, or you can just accept that, hey, that was a ghost, and coexist with it. chill with the ghost. offer it some cheez its. so again, you can will your way past that fear. the problem with the dark, though, is that it’s essentially the purest form of the “unknown” you can get while also keeping it physical rather than conceptual. if you’re in a dark room, or a dark forest, or the basement with a single, flickering, bulb, you can’t will that fear away. you either fear the dark, or you’re lucky enough to not. there is no way to know whether you’re alone or not. there is nothing to research, nothing to explain. there’s nothing but you, your mind, and the suffocating blackness. in this situation, really, your mind isn’t on your side anymore (again, assuming you have a fear of the dark), so how can you be expected to do anything against it?

dragon X fairy : and they all lived happily ever after :)

29 notes · View notes