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dragonshost · 6 years

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Two’s Company

Look at me, doing my own challenge like a nerd. I love 50 sentence challenges, but this is my first attempt at one. It took a long time to finish, but I’m proud of and happy with the result.

Fandom: Fairy Tail Pairing: Minerva x Max Challenge: Link Dedicated to: @ahumanintraining & @lucienn

1. Frisky

That Minerva was even capable of being frisky was not something that Max would have ever thought possible before the Grand Magic Games, but somehow knowing that even her playful side had a somewhat cruel tinge to it made it much more believable.

2. Eye

Discount train fares were slapped proudly into Minerva’s outstretched palm, much to her shock; Max’s eye for bargains was not to be underestimated, she decided, and something she would have to make use of if they ever went on another joint job.

3. Cat

“I’m sorry,” Minerva apologized, running a lint roller over her evening dress, picking up red cat hairs galore, “but this is probably going to take a while – what do you think about eating in, instead?”

4. Rose

It was a cliché, certainly, but Max had always been a sucker for the classics… and more to the point, it seemed that Minerva was as well, if the blush rising in her cheeks as she inspected the dozen long stemmed red roses was anything to judge by.

5. Guilt

As a spoon rapped upon his knuckles, Max let out a yelp and guiltily withdrew his hand from the bowl of batter Minerva viciously guarded.

6. Heroes

Minerva envied Max his view of the world – so bright and full of heroes to look up to, whereas her own childhood had contained only villains.

7. Spell

He wasn’t anything special to look at, painfully average even – so how was it that Minerva found herself so thoroughly under the spell of his smile?

8. Flawless

A flawless gem of any decent size was more than a little out of Max’s price range, but maybe something flawed would be better suited for them, anyway.

9. Badge

There was a small scar on Minerva’s eyelid – a hardly noticeable, tiny thing, a memento of her time as a demon – that Max would place a kiss upon every night; a badge of merit worth more to Minerva than any the Council could ever bestow.

10. Foam

Minerva stood in the surf, her arms gripping Max’s, as she tried not to giggle at the tickle of foam around their legs.

11. Believer

Most of her days with him were spent waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the day Max would inevitably figure out that she was damaged and not worth the effort, because one day it would, and she had never been a believer of fairy-tale happy endings in the first place.

12. Dancer

Lucy’s impromptu lessons way back when had not really improved Max’s capabilities as a dancer, as Minerva’s sore feet soon found out.

13. Eastern

Max thought maybe there had been a little more enthusiasm than necessary in their kiss for the fake couple act they were trying to pull off for the eastern border patrol, but he wasn’t so sure he minded.

14. Obsession

The rate at which the scruffy Fairy Tail mage was overtaking her daily thoughts was beginning to border on obsession, much to Minerva’s frustration.

15. Gift

An accounting tome hardly seemed an appropriate gift after all the wonderful memories and happiness he’d given to her over the past year, but he certainly did seem extremely excited when he unwrapped it.

16. Plaid

Plaid was definitely not a style Max wore well, but he did wear it proudly, legs akimbo, as Minerva laughed herself silly at his ridiculously scrawny limbs sticking out of the kilt.

17. Weak

To love was to be weak, Jiemma had told her many times, and to be loved was to be pitied – though she was finding that Max’s love made her feel strong, instead.

18. Judgement

This scruffy Fairy had no right to sit in judgement of her, of the things she’d had to do to survive.

19. Fight

An inter-guild brawl was truly something else, Max thought, carefully sweeping bits of the fight debris away from the comatose former combatants, but the warm light spilling from Sabertooth’s kitchen was good company, and so was the gentle humming emanating from within.

20. Monarchy

Max couldn’t help but think it was a bit rich to hear about the faults of monarchy as a government system when it was coming from someone with a former king-complex.

21. Purple

It may have been a faux-pas of the highest order to don the color of royalty at a party which boasted attendance of the genuine article, but Max thought Minerva looked truly stunning in her dress all the same.

22. Crawl

The whispered words of her many detractors didn’t usually crawl under her skin this much, though Minerva suspected it only did so now because she had changed for the better, even if only a few people acknowledged that fact.

23. Hook

It was a strange feeling, of hooks sinking into his very being, and Max sort of wished that his heart had chosen someone a little less dangerous to fixate upon.

24. Rebel

The strength it must have taken for Minerva to rebel against her father in all the little ways that she had was something Max would always admire in her.

25. Feather

Feather-light kisses trailing up her neck, Minerva believed that there was no better place in the world to be than here and loved so much.

26. Ocean

Max inhaled deeply – the breeze carrying with it the scent of the nearby ocean – and he rejoiced that he and Minerva were able to spend their vacation in such a lovely location as this resort.

27. Cryptic

Puzzling out the cryptic reasons behind Minerva’s seemingly unprovoked rages could be a chore and a half; the labyrinth of Minerva’s horrible upbringing hiding more monsters within it than Max would probably ever be permitted to fully understand.

28. Disorientation

Minerva woke up violently, her heart hammering in her chest, cold sweat plastering her clothes and hair to her skin, and found herself in a place she didn’t immediately recognize; it was only upon seeing Max’s sleeping face that the disorientation left over from her nightmares faded, and she was able to calm down once more.

29. Aquatic

Monsters of the aquatic persuasion and seafaring criminals, Minerva discovered, were a lot easier to deal with when one’s partner could create a sandbar anywhere and beach them with ease.

30. Mysterious

Max’s ability to talk about nothing for hours on end would never cease to be bafflingly mysterious to Minerva.

31. Scheme

Concocting a proper scheme to surprise Minerva for her birthday was a tricky proposition at best, but Max was more than willing to rise to the admittedly daunting occasion to make it the most memorable one for her yet.

32. Horizon

Their future together had always felt a transient thing, much like the setting and rising of the sun over the horizon, and yet… it always seemed just as inevitable, as well.

33. Pale

“You need to leave your shop and get some sunlight once in a while,” Minerva lectured her beloved, “and don’t even try to convince me that you already have because you’re paler than Yukino’s hair.”

34. Cheerful

It was an unspoken rule in Sabertooth that under no circumstances were Max and Sting to be left alone with each other for any length of time, or else their equally cheerful dispositions would lead the guild into something catastrophic for them all.

35. Opposition

“How does it feel to be dating the opposition?” Jason inquired of the pair, his enthusiasm for the topic only damped slightly by Minerva’s glare and prior threats upon his person should he even consider uttering the word, “cool,” again.

36. Daydream

Sometimes, Minerva allowed her mind to wander to the future, her heart and soul filling with pleasant daydreams of a life spent happily with her favorite scruffy Fairy and children they might one day have.

37. Sprites

Malicious sprites were stomping all over her stomach, and Minerva wanted nothing more than to throttle them into submission, but that would have to wait until after she was done emptying said organ into the toilet while Max held her hair back for her.

38. Heartbroken

Her first miscarriage struck her harder than she ever thought possible, leaving both her and Max both utterly heartbroken, and unable to function for a long time; the second and third were, if anything even more painful.

39. Mother

Minerva wished that she had gotten to know her own mother, and some days she wondered if the woman was still somewhere out there in the world – and if maybe she’d be excited to know that she’d become a grandmother.

40. Birthmark

There was a small birthmark behind Max’s right ear that Minerva discovered one day – the blemish rendered extra fascinating by virtue of being in an extremely ticklish place for Max.

41. Amulet

It eventually came to pass that Minerva carried a small locket with her everywhere – an amulet of protection, containing the images of the people she loved most in the world: her husband and their child.

42. Metallic

Blood, metallic and warm, filled Max’s mouth – the unfortunate consequence of accidentally biting his own tongue in the middle of an impassioned retelling of how he’d met the mother of his child and a wound that Minerva would then proceed to tease him about for days.

43. Imprint

Their breaths hung in the air in pale clouds as they walked down the street together, bathed in the gentle glow of streetlamps and their feet following the imprints of frozen leaves on the cement laid out before them to mark the way to the guild celebration that awaited them at the end of their chilly trek.

44. Salt

It was a playful joke in their household that Max was generally discouraged from cooking meals due to his tendency to accidentally over-season anything he made rendering it inedible – though not with salt, but with the fine grains of sand that always stuck to his clothing.

45. Hybrid

Dread filled the pit of Minerva’s stomach – a gross hybrid of worry and foreboding clouding her thoughts as she ruminated endlessly on how Max should have come home from his job long before then, the feeling only alleviating when the welcome sight of his scruffy visage appeared in her doorway.

46. Ginger

Great surprise had consumed Minerva and Max at the sight of their newborn child, and the strange ginger-colored fuzz that covered the infant’s head; although it fell out eventually and was replaced with the same sandy blond as Max’s locks, they never figured out where that first shade had come from.

47. Bittersweet

Chocolate was best served up bittersweet, in Minerva’s opinion, but she would concede to making sweeter batches to suit Max’s tastes for Valentine’s Day, at least.

48. Tree

Flower-viewing beneath the rainbow sakuras was a must for the couple every year; Max insisted that the brightly hued petals sustained the soul and sitting beneath their splendor, Minerva was disinclined to doubt his words.

49. Bewitch

Although the flush of youth had long since faded from their bodies, Max found that Minerva’s smile could still utterly bewitch him.

50. Genuine

In a world where so little had been good for Minerva, the love and friendship she’d found in Max had been the most genuine thing she could wish for, and even at the end of it all, she knew she wouldn’t have changed a thing that had led to it.

#minmax #minerva orlando #max alors #fairy tail #fanfiction #50 sentence challenge #dragon roars

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moczothe1st · 6 years

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Let’s Play Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War, Part 10: Yarrrrrrrr!

Part 9

Welcome back to FEIV! I was originally not planning to update this week, since my appendix ruptured last weekend and that’s actually pretty incredibly awful to experience. I figured I earned a week off. However, I did not consider one thing: when you’re basically required to keep yourself in bed for 90% of the day, you have a lot of time to kill. After the first four or so days of pain and eating very little, I started playing Genealogy because frankly why not. I did have to wait until I got off the IV, mind you, because industrial painkillers and strategy do not mix. Not unless you want to get all your units beaten to death by pirates.

Speaking of.

I feel like I should just point out that last week they were worried about me coming up north to attack them, and yet they willingly start a fight here, even opening up a bridge for me to reach them.

Given that our army has, at this point, defeated two entire countries, I think we can handle a bunch of pissed-off sailors, thanks. Though the first members of the group actually take their shots by going northwest after Bridget.

This exact same battle happens three more times. Bridget is awesome.

The rest of the pirates do go South, but Dew is holding the bridge and they literally can’t hit him. They’re axe men and his dodging is amazing. So they don’t even try, just walk to him and stop.

Sometimes smart AI is really annoying. When our phase starts up, some familiar faces come with it.

Taillte: Just look around! There’ll be pirates all over us if we don’t get moving!

Claude: Be at peace, Taillte. This was quite the fruitful journey! Lord Bragi has answered my prayers and revealed to me the truth. It is precisely as I had thought. Not to mention, I even found House Edda’s long-lost sacred heirloom within the tower: the staff of Valkyria.

Taillte: What, that grubby little cane?

Claude: … Taillte, please. Try to mind your manners. This is a legendary magical staff with the power to restore life to the deceased. It is usable by only the direct descendants of Saint Bragi. That is to say, me alone.

Taillte: Huh. So what you’re saying is, with this rod you could bring my sweet old grandma back to life?

Claude: Alas, most likely not. Valkyria is limited in many particular ways, and so cannot be used on just any lost soul. You see, all mankind is born bearing a life force called quintessence, which-

Taillte: Yaaaaawn… er, what’s that? You lost me. Why are you still talking about this anyway? We’ve gotta get outta here!

Well. This will be interesting, at least. Now, before we show off our new characters, there is a conversation to be held. Ethlyn, you haven’t made me angry in awhile: take it away!

Ethlyn: Here. Take this.

Quan: A spear? …. What?! I-isn’t this Gae Bolg?! Why do you-

(Yes, Ethlyn. Why do you.)

Ethlyn: Your lord father entrusted it to me, Quan. He thought it prudent for you to have it at hand in case our battles grew too fierce.

Quan: Even just holding it, I’ve never felt so strong! Why did you wait until now, though?

(YES, ETHLYN. WHY DID YOU?)

Ethlyn: With the spear, your lord father also passed onto me its tale… I’m so sorry…

Quan: … Ah. Gae Bolg bears the baggage of a truly sad legend. But that is all it is: a legend.

Ethlyn: But-

Quan: Ethlyn, trust me. Triumph is within our grasp this day. I’ll not fall victim to an old myth. I’ll not let it stop me from returning home. Our dear little Altena still awaits us, and I’ll not allow some fairy tale to disappoint her.

Ethlyn: Yes… Quan, no matter what happens… we’ll never lose each other. Right?

Quan: Ah, you’re concerned about Deirdre, aren’t you? There’s nothing to worry about. It won’t be long until we find her.

Ethlyn: Yes…. I want to believe she’ll be okay, too. I wish I could. But…

Quan: Ethlyn? Come now, dry your tears. Do you truly feel so bad about this?

(… Okay, I’m still angry at Ethlyn over her withholding the Omni-Spear from me the whole game, but she kind of has a point here. Her sister-in-law has vanished. It would be kind of weird if she wasn’t worried, Quan.)

Ethlyn: Yes… knowing th-that Sigurd and Deirdre may never meet again… they love each other so much… why, Quan? Why did this happen to them?!

Quan: Ethlyn…

Deep breath

Okay, let’s look at our new stuff. Simplest first.

Quan now has the Gae Bolg, his Holy Weapon, like Eldigan’s Mystletain and Claude’s above-mentioned Valkyria. It gives him +10 boosts to Strength, Skill, and Defense while holding it; he was already a nigh-unbreakable juggernaut, so take that ‘nigh’ off and you get the idea. It also does ten more points of damage per shot than the Silver Lance even without the strength boost, while weighing only slightly more.

So. You know.

THANKS FOR KEEPING THAT IN YOUR POCKET THIS WHOLE TIME, ETHLYN. YOU BITCH.

Now, the new characters.

Claude of Edda is basically Aideen: Part 2. Same class, similar growths; his Major Bragi Blood (+20% HP growth, +20% Magic Growth, +20% Luck growth, +40% Resistance growth) push his in a better direction for their class, but she’s leveled up so great she’s basically his equal anyway, and he has fewer levels left than her to take advantage of them. He’s also promoted, so he can use offensive magic in addition to staves… but he didn’t bring any, so that’s not much of a comfort.

And his gear at the moment is just plain not great for the situation, i.e. alone with a teenager fighting pirates. The Fortify Staff is the best healing staff in the game, giving a huge amount of health back to not a specific target, but to everyvunit within 10 spaces of Claude. Amazing… but it only has ten charges. The Valkyria staff, meanwhile, is basically a one-use get out of jail free card if someone dies: Claude can use it in the main castle to revive them, at which point it will break and require a stupid amount of money to repair for one more use. So it’s nice to have as a fallback, but if you rely on it you’re going to end up bankrupting yourself in short order.

Taillte is… a unique character. On paper, she’s quite good; her growths are solid, bolstered by Minor Tordo holy blood (+20% HP, +30% skill). She can only use Thunder magic, but that’s okay, because it’s the second-best kind of magic and she can use it up to A-rank, and even comes with the A-rank Thoron tome, meaning she joins us with the equivalent of a Silver weapon in her chosen weaponry class. And she also has a very nice personal skill, Wrath, which turns all her attacks into guaranteed criticals if her health is below half, basically taking her already ‘glass cannon’ status and allowing her to upgrade to a much bigger cannon if she’s willing to take some extra glass on board. And her stats are quite good for her level!

Which is to say, for level 3. When the rest of the army is in their late teens at the lowest.

So, we clearly need to get someone over there to help those two, because Taillte is most definitely not going to be able to hold off all the pirates in her area alone, and Claude can only heal her ten times. But whooooo is nearby to go saaaaaave them?

sniff

Oh, Bridget you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, Hey Bridget. She’s also a little underleveled, being only 12, but she’s a pre-promote like Sigurd so if anything her stats are a little higher than most of the army; in particular, she actually has the third highest Strength stat of anyone in the army, after Quan and Lex. And a low level actually gives her more levels to gain bolstered by her Major Ullur Blood (+40% HP, +60% luck). She’s gonna be surprisingly durable for an archer class, with luck making her dodgy and plenty of hit points, on top of Strength, Speed, and Skill which are already enough to carry her the whole game. The only skill she has is Pursuit, but if you’ve been paying attention that’s the most important one for an offensive unit to have anyway, soooooo.

Let’s do this shit.

Bridget immediately begins moving west along the peninsula towards Taillte and Claude, who move toward the pirates around them to start working on things. Neither is, unfortunately, close enough to any enemies to make an attack… well, Bridget is, but she can’t run and shoot at the same time, and even the best Archer of all time can’t fight at melee. If she gets surrounded, even she’ll be in trouble. Everyone else, in turn, begins to move towards the units holding the bridge, while they themselves defend with all they’ve got.

Yeah, no, the bridge is going to fall. Horribly. The Orgahil pirates are so pitiful in comparison to Agustria that we might as well ignore them and go knit. The rest of the level is going to be entirely about Taillte and Claude’s survival. End turn!

Continues knitting

And over with Claude, Taillte takes a single hit, but survives. This leaves her in a somewhat dangerous situation because she’s fragile and will die at any slight brush now, but Wrath is now enabled and she one-shots her attacker in reply.

The rest of the pirates in her area are out at sea and will be coming ashore slowly, letting her engage them one at a time on her own terms, so. Picture that sequence of the Death Star getting ready to fire, and you have an idea what I’m about to do with Taillte. Bridget continues to move toward them as well, the edge of her movement range leaving an enemy in her sights.

Get used to screens like this.

For the bridge team, I actually don’t do any fighting this turn, because Dew is a perfect blocker, and he isn’t going to take a shot at anyone. Rather: Aideen is broke and his money is maxed, so he can’t rob any of these guys! I have her move forward to stand next to him reassuringly, and he in turn gives her 49,000 gold. I wish I had more friends like Dew.

Much better. Killing off all these idiots would have cost me so much money if I hadn’t done that. Dew will likely be right back to max money by the end of the map. The pirates, in addition, can move very slowly on water squares and some of them do go around Dew to reach other units.

Their next of kin will be reminded of the dangers of swimming. On our turn, it’s mostly movement. Quan and Ethlyn move toward our home castle, everyone else moves toward these dorks again. The dorks in question, mind you, are doing very well. I actually have Lewyn run back towards a castle because I don’t need him to hold these dorks, and his Elwind is about to break from overkilling. Instead, Jamke moves up to take a shot in his place.

For the pirates, this is kind of like saying ‘I send the killer bear home because his stomach is full, and replace him with the killer lion.’ Dew moves forward, continues robbing shit, and levels.

You know, he needs defense so badly I will take this. I have Ayra move up to back him up and soften the newly poor pirate up with her weaker Bolt Sword…

… and of course she uses Astra and kills it. I would have really liked Dew to get more kills, Ayra, he’s about to promote. Please try to be caring of me. Taillte also reaches her first victim.

“You may fire when ready, Commander.” End turn!

Dew… took a hit. From these idiots. How… why! You little jackass, your ability to make me money and your ability to dodge are your only good points right now! You better proc Sol next turn and get some of that health back, quicksmart, or I will be furious. More furious.

I also almost lose Taillte because I didn’t realize she was in range of the enemy, but unlike SOME PEOPLE she pulls off the dodge and destroys her enemy with extreme prejudice, gaining her first level. Not great, but she at least got Speed and since she certainly can’t take a hit, making her better at avoiding them is helpful.

Our turn takes over and Bridget continues to run towards the Dynamic Duo, her rage steadily building. Dew and Ayra team up to take out the first pirate in line…

And since I’m bored, I have Holyn run into this new empty space in the line and smack the guy behind it.

sigh

Holyn, I’m taking a fucking risk by putting you on the front lines. You could at least try. But on the bright side, this does open another new spot in the line for Jamke to move up and take a shot at the enemy commander.

Okay. Teach. Jamke, you ready to learn?

Yup, Jamke has totally learned fear.

Jamke also gets his personal little trinket, the Leg Ring, improving how far he can move each turn by 3 spaces. Jamke doesn’t get a horse, so he’s not a terrible choice for this, but I’m not totally sure if he’ll be keeping it or not. It’s definitely in high demand by units all over.

Erin, off on her own doing her own thing, stops at another of the villages.

Stranger with Candy: Don’t be shy. Drink up! Well, how about it? Feel the might swellin’ in yer muscles! Oughta make yer work out there so much easier.

Erin gains +3 to her Strength, another boost she sorely needed. You’re also probably realizing why I ignored most of the villages on the map; there are a lot of little gifts to be gotten on this one, and I wanted them to go to specific people. There’s still one left meant for Claude, in fact.

On the enemy phase, Jamke provides an assisted suicide and reminds me that all levels these people gain will be either flawless or the worst.

sigh No other combat happens other than some pirates missing Holyn with hand axes, and our turn begins. First, to the home base… Ethlyn, care to not disappoint me for once?

The first magic she’s gained all game! I also send Quan right into the top tier at the Arena, using his new toy. Let’s see how it goes.

Holy Weapons are the best.

Back up at the real war, I continue to break the pirates a little.

Nothing super impressive, but at least the bridge is now mine, so that battle is over and this team can start moving to flank the jerks chasing Bridget. Bridget herself has also reached Claude and Taillte; the general idea now is that she will be their tank, dodging 90% of all melee attacks and slaughtering the occasional archer while Taillte stands behind her doing her best death ray impersonation. End turn!

… I think the pirates are losing hope, you guys, this one definitely had targets to go after who wouldn’t have killed him as terribly as Holyn. Come on, pirates don’t give up! You can’t go out like Agustria!

Our turn begins, and the team that took Silvail begins to reach the pirate fight, turning it from a one-sided fight to a one-sided fight. Lachesis also gains a healing level.

I… really should have given her that Paragon band. At least Dew won’t need it much longer.

He gained a level from this battle, but I missed the stats. +1HP, +1STR, +1SPD, solid enough I won’t have to scream at his face. Aideen also levels from healing him.

… Kind of bad, but she’s gotten so many great levels on this map I don’t really care. End Turn!

… Nothing happens! A sword guy misses Bridget and an axe guy misses Beowulf.

On our turn, Lachesis gets home, and I send her into the Arena with her new Earth Sword to see if it helps her a little.

cue beating

Nope! But the fun part is that now there’s nothing to stop me from just having Ethlyn heal her and trying again next turn, so I’ll let you know if RNG turns her favor at any point.

Over to the west, my two little nukes begin their blasting away at the crowd pressing against Bridget.

Those two sword guys are the most dangerous; they’re not very strong, but are accurate enough to regularly hit Bridget. Most turns Bridget won’t actually be attacking, but I want those two dead ASAP. End turn!

WHERE THE FUCK DID HE COME FROM?! DEEP BREATH Well that scared the shit out of me. I had no idea there was a ranged enemy close enough to reach Taillte. If she hadn’t dodged I’d be up a reset. But, on the plus side, fine level! On the next turn, they both take their shots…

… For the second time this update I missed the stat screen. Bridget gained a level. It was +1HP. I would be furious if she wasn’t already basically endgame quality without any stat gains at all. Taillte is doing okay, though! And then Claude heals ‘em up.

There we go! And better yet, he instantly gains 85 experience from this; Fortify is a pretty rockin’ staff. I start moving the others toward them again; Erin is now close enough to help out next turn, and the others should arriving to reinforce soon.

Though they don’t need it, really, Taillte is dodging everything and its mom. Our turn begins again, and… slaughter?

Yup, slaughter. The enemy phase is basically just Taillte and Bridget continuing their brutal ascent to dominance.

Welp, there goes the enemy’s archer brigade. At this point the rest of the army is basically only heading their direction because I’d like Bridget and Taillte to get some trophy husbands. On our turn, Sigurd and a few others test the defenses of Orgahil itself.

It is not a test they pass well.

The western team continues their just… rampant slaughter, it’s almost humiliating…

You know, barring the horrible level. What is with you this run, Erin?! You started off so perfectly, too! Well, on the plus side, I also realize I completely forgot Ethlyn had Arena levels to challenge too, and she’s a Paladin now. Let’s see how this rolls out.

Ethlyn: Up to seven wins, gained one level: +1 HP

……………… I hate you so much, Ethlyn.

You fucking guys!

……. I want to leave Agustria.

Okay, I’m frustrated so I’m going to take Orgahill now. The boss is nothing special beyond holding the Strength Ring; I’m gonna try to give it to Sigurd, actually, since his Strength stat is actually somewhat on the low end for how high his level is. Luckily he’s a sword dude fighting an axe moron, so it shouldn’t be hard to arrange.

Yeah, this will be over quickly. End turn, and Duvall once again seeks to destroy us with all his skill and power.

See how much he needs that Strength? Duvall should definitely be dead by now. On our turn, it’s… basically… just kind of a pitiful slaughter again, you know the drill.

And Sigurd finishes off Duvall, ending his 27-minute reign as cap’n and gaining himself a sweet +5 to strength.

Welp, might as well end the turn here. Good times. The few remaining pirates all take swings at Bridget and… all hit? How the… no. No. Not engaging. Her defense is good enough it doesn’t matter, and they…

Will not be taking any more swings. One more turn of the same and the enemy army is gone forever, with Erin leveling.

If I had another Pegasus Knight to use she would be so fucking benched right now.

Anyway, there are no more enemies on the map, so from here it’s a matter of just cleaning stuff up. Like this village of ungrateful bitches!

Bitch: Why are you even here? We’ve absolutely nothin’ to do with Agustria or Grannvale! If you’ve really gotta fight, take it somewhere else, you thoughtless sod.

Take a close look at her village in that image. A section is burned, meaning we literally ran in and saved it from being slaughtered by pirates. Next time, we won’t.

More importantly, Aideen finally meets Bridget. Were yooooooooooou paying attention…?

(D’aaaaaaaaaaaaw. Yup, Aideen mentioned her sister Bridget way back in Verdane, and we finally reunited them. Heart: Melted.)

Aideen: Surely you recall me?

Bridget: What? How do you know my name? Hang on… you look just like me! Aideen, huh… it sounds kinda familiar. But where from…?

Aideen: Bridget, listen well. I am your twin sister! We lost you to pirates years ago, when you were just five years old. I’ve searched for you for years. I never lost hope we would meet again!

(D’aaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!)

Bridget: This is all so sudden… no. Weird feelings aren’t enough. I need proof!

Aideen: Proof, you say? Here. Draw this bow.

Bridget: Huh? Okay, a nice bow and all, but what’s it gotta do with anything? Well, I’ll humor you. So I draw it, and… Whoa! Wh-what’s going on?! The hell is this? This… weird feeling boiling within me… are these memories? Ah, my heart is on fire… Aideen? Yes… you’re Aideen... my sister...

Aideen: Oh, thank the gods! You remember! That bow is your birthright, Bridget. It is Yewfelle, the sacred bow of Jungby. Legends tell that the exalted weapons of this land, such as this one, can only be wielded by a single heir per generation. For House Jungby and Yewfelle, that rightful heir is you, Bridget.

Bridget: Oh, Aideen, come here… Let me get a good look at you. How is our father doing? And our brother… Andre, right?

Aideen: I’ve so much to tell you, too… Bridget. My sister.

Well. That was adorable. And Bridget also gets a hold of Yewfelle, which gives her a +10 to Strength and Speed, along with the natural ability Renewal to heal her a small amount per-turn. Not quite as great as Gae Bolg, but frankly Bridget doesn’t need much help to start with so this turns her from unbreakable to super unbreakable. From here it’s mostly last-second healing and warping around, to get Claude to the one village he still needs to get his holy butt to, and to have everyone else start moving the new dudes toward the arena.

Though Aideen does hit 20! Probably won’t promote her this chapter, though, I have no way to get her home quickly. And next, I trigger the secret event by moving Dew over to the sacred tower… no, once again, no hint to do this…

Dew: Mmm… nope, nothin’ over here. Over there, maybe? Aw man! What a boring little dump.

Strange Voice: Who… are you…

Dew: Huh?!

Strange Voice: … State your business…

Dew: Heh, maybe if I pretend I can’t hear it…

Strange Voice: How dare you… defile this sacred ground… BEGONE!

Dew: Kyaaa! S-sorry! Please don’t hurt me! Hah… hah… what just happened?! Hang on… a sword? What’s it doin’ sitting around a place like this? Eh, who cares? Guess I’m getting’ something outta this after all!

Dew gets the Wind Sword, a magic blade like Ayra’s bolt sword and Ethlyn’s light brand, and it will be put to good use over time. Also he’s an awful person. I kind of wish the event had been the ghost eating his soul and joining our army instead.

Over on the other side of the map, Claude grabs the final village:

Cool Old Dude: We can’t thank you enough, but mayhap this magic staff will help. They call it a Restore staff. If yer allies’ve been put t’sleep or silenced, one cast of this staff’ll get ‘em back on their feet.

See, village of northern bitches? This is how you thank the people who stopped your home from burning down.

Now, the last two things. First arena runs:

Bridget: 7 wins, Gained two levels: +2 HP, +1 Strength, +1 Luck, +1 Defense

Finn: Up to 7 wins, did not gain a level.

Erin: Up to 7 wins, gained one level: +1 Speed, +1 Defense

Dew: Up to 4 wins, did not gain a level. I shouldn’t have used him.

Taillte: 7 wins, Gained three levels: +2 HP, +3 Skill, +2 Luck, +1 Resistance

In addition, a few of the new recruits have conversations with Sigurd.

Claude: I’m glad Taillte was close at hand. We may not have survived, if not for her magic. More importantly, Lord Sigurd, my prayers to Saint Bragi were answered.

Sigurd: You have the trust of all this, then?

Claude: That I do. As I thought, Duke Reptor is behind all of this. On his orders, it was Duke Langbalt who killed Prince Kurth. The two then framed your father, Lord Byron, for the crime.

(Noooooooooooooooooooo, ya don’t saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.)

Sigurd: As we thought…

Claude: The pair’s treachery runs deeper still. The murder of Isaach’s King Mananan was also the handiwork of Duke Reptor. He feared a peaceful end to the war would end the sole excuse for the conquest of Isaach, so he had the king assassinated.

Sigurd: Is that so… Reptor’s filthy hands are all over this mess…

Claude: Not entirely. In the shade of his avarice, there’s something else at work. Something unsettling and terrifying. Not even Lord Bragi could scry this evil presence, obscured as it was by its great power.

Sigurd: An evil presence? Could it be that dark priesthood? … Wait! What of my father, Claude?

Claude: Lord Byron yet lives, but he is weak. I fear he is not long for this world…

Sigurd: Father… this can’t be happening…

Claude: I’ll hasten back to the capital. His Majesty needs to hear the truth. Lord Sigurd, for the time being, stay here and restrain yourself from rash action.

Sigurd: Understood. I can’t thank you enough, Father Claude. I beg of you, do everything you can to save my father and clear his name.

Sigurd: The villages told me of a woman who leads the pirates of Orgahil, and of her devotion to aiding the poor and weak. That would be you, correct?

(“Also you’re identical to my childhood next-door-neighbor, who has an identical twin named Bridget, so…”)

Bridget: You must be that Grannvale man… Sigurd, right? Guess this is it. Come on. Just get it over with.

Sigurd: Oh, no, you’re mistaken! I’m certainly not here to kill you. I just want to talk. I’d like you to ally with you. We’d love to add your strength to our own, to help us better fight the pirates. What say you?

Bridget: Wait. You really want me, of all people?

Sigurd: Certainly! You’d be a tremendous asset.

Bridget: You’re a strange little man, Sigurd…

Oh, Bridget, You have no idea. Let’s get the Hell out of Agustria!

Sigurd: Oifey, would you please gather our troops here? Now that this is all over, I’d like to ensure that everyone’s alright.

Oifey: At once, sire.

Langbalt: Seize these vile allies of Byron, accomplices to his murder of Kurth and his bid to take over our kingdom! It is the will of His Majesty! No mercy for enemies of the state!

Reptor: To think, he personally put an end to that miserable prince and nearly killed Byron as well… I’ve never seen such a bold ploy! And with Arvis using His Majesty’s trust, it all worked flawlessly! Convincing the king of anything is hardly a challenge, but to succeed with a tale of this scale takes quite the storyteller… and here we are, with the entirety of House Chalphy framed for the crime! Heh heh… our victory is all but assured. The throne of Grannvale shall be mine, one way or another. I’ll leave no pest who dares interfere with me alive…

(……. I’m going to assume Langbalt is loudly shouting to the army and Reptor is just thinking to himself. Otherwise, I got some questions.)

Sigurd: What in the blazes is this?! I’ve been declared a traitor and a Grannvale legion waits at our doorstep to arrest me?!

Oifey: Sire… and to think, the war here was over at long last, and you were about to go search for Deirdre.

(“YES, OIFEY, THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME”)

Sigurd: Gah… how could His Majesty believe Reptor’s lies? That my father, of all people, would kill Prince Kurth?! If only Father Claude had reached the capitol before they struck… Why?! Why is this happening?! I fought a pointless war! I let Eldigan die! And now this! What have I been fighting for all along?!

(The one and only time it will be a relief to see neutral units.)

Mahyna: Queen Rahna bade my corps and I to come and retrieve you. We invite you and your subordinates to retreat with us to Silesse, until your good name has been cleared in Grannvale.

(Lewyn’s mom! Finally, our habit of collecting lost royalty has paid off!)

Sigurd: … Queen Rahna of Silesse, you say? Why is Silesse willing to give aid to an alleged traitor like me?

Mahyna: Please, sir. Time is of the essence. The Grannvale assault is sure to begin at any moment now. My Pegasus knights will escort you across the sea to safety in Silesse.

And there we go! Grannvale, our ambiguously evil home, has outright turned against us. Reptor and Langbalt are in control, and the king thinks we killed his son. The only option remaining is to flee across the sea and regroup.

… We probably coulda solved the issue by having Lewyn stand near the enemy, but this is more dramatic.

Anyway, see you next week in the shining northern lands of Silesse, where I’m sure nothing will go wrong!

Part 11

#let's play fire emblem #Let's play fire emblem IV #Let's play genealogy of the holy war #fire emblem 4 #Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War #FEIV #LP #my writing

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unforgetabelle · 6 years

Text

Lords, Lies & Ladybirds :LadyNoir July

part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

ao3

Epilogue

When the light knock on the front door sounded through the hall, Adrien was instantly on his feet. Talking long strides towards the foyer, but trying not to run, he still reached the door before any of the servants. With a wide smile that hopefully concealed his nervous anticipation, he swung open the grand entrance and looked down to find his favorite person smiling back at him. For too long, he didn’t even dare imagine this moment, too ashamed of where he came from and then afraid that he’d ruined it all.

But things were changing. In the last month, his house was no longer the cold prison he’d come to regard it as, but a peaceful abode. While he and his father were by no means of the same opinion on all matters, he could tell Gabriel was genuinely trying to repair their shattered relationship, his crusades into town becoming less frequent and their shared meals more cordial. When Adrien had announced his engagement to the daughter of Thomas Dupain, Gabriel had managed a hesitant “Congratulations” in response. Even the mumbled it could have been worse Adrien picked up as he left the room with a strained smile was more approval than the boy had ever expected to receive.

And now Marinette was on his doorstep, knowing everything there was to know, and still showing up. For their date.

Adrien’s eyes glanced behind her to find her married cousin, Rose, watching them both with a smirk. No more unchaperoned meetings for them. Her parents had been as lovely as she had described, but they were no less outraged at the thought of their only daughter escaping to meet a man under the cover of darkness. In fact, they were more scandalized by that than the revelation that Marinette had been dressing as a man for the last month or so to work at the theater.

Because of all the earlier subterfuge and consequential chaos, Adrien had only seen her twice in the last month, her family deciding it would be best if Marinette at least publicly took some time after breaking with Luka before being publically courted by him. Adrien wasn’t exactly pleased, far too used to seeing Marinette everyday, but he knew her parents were right. Marinette would already be under enough scrutiny as his betrothed, and he was determined to protect her reputation however he could.

So they wrote letters. Adrien, sometimes twice daily. Their messenger boy was surely swimming in coin with the amount of notes he’d been delivering to Marinette on his behalf. But as much as he loved reading her thoughts, as much as he would cherish those physical manifestations of their courtship, nothing could compare to her by his side. Yet, when the day finally arrived and she stood before him at his front entrance, he froze. Marinette thankfully came to his rescue.

“Are you going to invite us in, minou?”

“Of--Of course,” Adrien backed up with a smile, sweeping his hand as he ushered the ladies into the entryway.

“May I take your cloak, M’Lady?” He asked with a grin and Marinette smiled back at him as she nodded. He moved to stand behind her as she unclasped her cloak and stole a glance towards their chaperone, who was being helped with her own garment by Maisie, one of the servants. Taking advantage of her distraction, Adrien rested his hands on Marinette shoulders, leaning down to quickly place a kiss on her cheek. She relaxed into his chest for the briefest of moments, letting out a contented sigh, before turning to allow him to remove her cloak.

“I missed you, chaton,” she whispered. “It’s been a long month.”

Adrien reached down and grabbed her hand, kissing her knuckles lightly, an acceptable touch as he felt eyes were watching them once again.

“You’re here now, Bug,” he whispered back, placing her hand in the crook of his arm. “And soon, these long separations will be over.”

She took a deep breath, her hand squeezing his forearm lightly, and smiled.

“In the meantime,” he continued in a louder voice. “Would you like a tour of your soon-to-be home?”

“Yes, please!”

“Where would you like to see first? The Grand hall? The Kitchen? The library? The--’

“The library,” Marinette and Rose responded at the same time and Adrien chuckled.

“Well, mademoiselles,” he stuck out his other arm in offering to Rose. “Follow me.”

~*~

Marinette strode through the grand house on Adrien’s arm, his words still ringing in her ears.

Her soon-to-be home.

It shouldn’t surprise her, but it did. She knew she wanted to marry Adrien, and with her parents’ and his father’s, however begrudging, approval, she knew that dream would be realized, but she hadn’t quite thought of what came after. She and Luka had been in such a different situation with their elongated engagement, she’d never had to. But with Adrien it was different. With him, everything seemed to be different.

Once they wed, she’d become part of the nobility. She’d be expected to appear in court on occasion and don just as many horrendous corsets as Alya had throughout the years. She’d become a wife, and as Adrien’s mother was no longer alive, she’d also become lady of the house, in charge of running the estate. All that she walked through now would be under her command, and while she found the thought intimidating, it also excited her. The house was dreary, but clearly steeped in family history. It was begging to be turned into a home, and Marinette could just imagine the walls dressed in tapestries, the fire roaring and windows thrown open.

She could take the slate gray palate of the walls and warm it with rich burgundies and calming greens. She knew how much Adrien loved being out of doors, and she could just imagine bringing those colors inside. To their home.

Marinette was still smiling, lost in her thoughts as she analyzed the dimensions of the room when Adrien’s light cough caught her attention.

“If you’re done costuming the room, Bertie, we’ve arrived at the library,” he said with a smirk and nod towards the door they’d stopped in front of. Marinette glared at him but didn’t contradict his statement.

“You’ll thank me when it’s done,” she raised her chin with a flourish and left his arm to push through the doors herself. Her flare left her as soon as she looked around the room though, its grandeur far outshining any attempt at dramatics she might even attempt.

Marinette moved throughout the library in a trance, the shelves stretching from the ornately arched ceilings down to the slate floor, luxuriously covered in the largest oriental rug Marinette had ever seen. There was a smattering of furniture, a lounge and two armchairs huddled around a massive fireplace situated on the exterior wall, and though covered in dense draperies, Marinette could detect two large windows framing its mantle. She immediately gravitated towards the light, throwing one curtain open and turning in awe as she took in the true splendor of the room.

It was all the warmth she had imagined throughout the rest of the house concentrated in one room. From the myriad of colored tomes that sat upon the shelves, creating a rainbow that enveloped the room, to the rich leather furniture and hearty hues of the wood throughout, the library was absolutely perfect.

She had moved to run her fingers lovingly over the spine of a crimson colored book when she finally looked back towards the door to see Adrien leaning there with a secretive smile.

“What?” She asked, brows furrowing at the look on his face, but he shook his head in response.

“You belong here already,” he said at last, starting towards her.

“You did mention this would be my home too soon,” she reminded him, absently noticing Rose settling in the far corner with a book. “Is that a bad thing?”

“It’s a wonderful thing,” he corrected her, laying a hand over hers where it still rested on the book. “Seeing you here...Marinette, you don’t know how happy you’ve made me.”

“Adrien…”

“Truly, Bug,” he continued, cutting off her words. “I never dreamed--And then for a while I feared--”

“That you’d ruined it?” She supplied.

“Yes,” he agreed with a sad smile. “We both know you let me off far too easy.”

“Of course,” she agreed with a smile of her own. They’d had this conversation numerous times through their exchanged letters, yet Adrien still seemed reluctant to believe that she’d forgiven him. Placing a hand on his cheek, she sighed. “It’s a good thing you’re so pretty,” she patted it once. “And wealthy. Your fortune doesn’t hurt either.”

“That’s the reason, is it?” His eyes slanted mischievously, holding her hand on the book in place even as she tried to pull it from its location.”

“Well, of course. It definitely couldn’t be that I was already hopelessly in love with you,” she smiled sweetly up at him. “Nor that over the last month you’ve incessantly apologized in increasingly imaginative turns of phrase.”

“You love my notes and my jokes,” he countered.

“I love you,” she responded, placing a swift kiss to the corner of his mouth and using his distracted state to pull the book out from under his grasp. “The jokes I merely tolerate,” she continued, spinning away from him into the center of the library.

Adrien blinked at her in a daze before darting after her. She quickly rounded the small seating section and plopped herself in an armchair. Adrien pouted, looking between her choice of seating and the lounge that would comfortably fit the both of them forlornly. After a moment, he came to sit by her feet, resting against the base of her chair. His shoulder leaned against her leg, and as Marinette opened the book, she let her hand fall to his head, fingers combing through his locks absentmindedly. Rose caught her eye from across the room, but said nothing.

Marinette relaxed into the chair with a smile, easily imagining an eternity of moments like this and a lifetime of this contentment.

Had she let him off easily? Probably, but her chaton was already too hard on himself. She had no desire to berate him further for his mistakes. Neither of them were perfect. They’d both made mistakes and would doubtless make more. A lifetime’s worth of mistakes and fumbles, if Marinette had anything to say about it.

And fumbling through life with Adrien by her side?

There was nothing Marinette had ever desired more.

~*~

Gabriel unclasped his cloak and handed it to the waiting servent with a nod. Inside the safety of his home, he let out a long-suppressed sigh, running a hand over his face in exhaustion. He’d been under mounting pressure the last few weeks, but despite his colleagues’ confusion at the seemingly sudden change in his practices, Gabriel offered no explanation. He was their superior, after all. If he decided that their accuse first ask questions later stance needed to change, then their job was to carry out his wishes. No hesitation. No questions. Thankfully, his carefully cultivated fearsome reputation saw it done with minimal hesitation.

Which was honestly for the best. Gabriel still had trouble explaining his change of heart to himself.

There was no fundamental shift in belief. He was still as devout as he’d always been and wholeheartedly believed in Queen’s law. The Catholics were still traitors and it was still his duty to capture them for prosecution...but not the way he had been. His son had been right, as loathe as he’d been to listen to the young man. Gabriel had taken it a step further, carrying out his own personal vendetta. He’d wanted--he’d needed-- to avenge Emilie, but his wife would have never chosen this for him. She would have never asked for violence in her name. And if she’d lived to witness what his relationship with their son had become… Gabriel shuddered to imagine her fury.

In his misguided attempts to find justice for his wife and create a feared reputation that would protect his son, he’d driven away exactly what he’d been so desperately trying to shelter. Adrien had no love for his work. He had no love for the cause Gabriel served and had no desire to follow in his footsteps. Gabriel had only succeeded in pushing his son away, pushing him to view his father as a monster and their house as a prison he needed to escape from.

Gabriel could practically imagine Emilie’s reaction to how they were now. Her boys, she’d always lovingly referred to them. When she was alive, they’d been a team. Gabriel was determined to make it so again; make it right...No matter how set in his ways he’d become.

Rolling his shoulders to release some tension, he began to unbutton the top his doublet when he heard a laugh echo down the hallway. No, not a laugh. A giggle. Gabriel felt his brows furrow, the sound so foreign in his home it took him a minute to register the reason.

Adrien’s betrothed was here today. He had mentioned the meeting at breakfast that morning, but in the havoc of the day, it had completely slipped Gabriel’s mind. He grimaced at the thought of forced niceties after the draining day he’d had, but left his doublet fastened and began to move towards the sound. He supposed it was high time he met the girl who had captured his son’s heart.

From what he’d heard, she was entirely respectable. The only child of a prominent man of middle class, no one seemed to have anything negative to say about the woman, save that she came of questionable heritage and recently broke off a betrothal. Adrien had told him as much, and her foreign mother concerned Gabriel far less than her recently jilted husband-to-be. He knew Sir Couffaine somewhat, and knew him to be a fine young gentleman, despite his father’s...questionable temperament. Gabriel could only hope that Adrien was correct when he relayed that the man was agreeable in the dissolution of his arrangement with Miss Dupain. That, and that the girl hadn’t jumped ship from Luka once she’d caught sight of Adrien’s much more sizable fortune, as he admittedly feared.

Locking his jaw, and attempting to place a neutrally pleasant expression on his face, Gabriel walked into the doorway of the library and froze in his tracks. The room was alight for the first time in...in Gabriel couldn’t remember how long. The curtains that covered the windows framing the fireplace had both been slid open and the room seemed to glow with the colors of the books and reflection of their gold lettered spines. In the far corner sat Lady Rose Lavillant, a cousin of Miss Dupain who had also married above her station. Book perched on her barely protruding stomach as she chaperoned the young couple, she looked in his direction as he entered and nodded before looking away.

What truly caught Gabriel’s attention was his son. Adrien glowed even brighter than the room under the gaze of Miss Dupain and Gabriel could do nothing but watch in awe. A genuine smile stole over his face as he watched the girl spin away from Adrien, calling some jab he could not hear, but causing his son to chase her around the lounge chair by the fire. With a satisfied smile, Miss Dupain fell gracefully into and armchair, the left armchair. After a moment, Adrien came to sit at her feet, leaning into her legs with a sigh as her hand came to rest in his hair, fingers lazily playing with the length of it.

Gabriel felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight of them, his mind being transported into the past and catapulted through a cacophony of memories. How many times had he and Emilie circled each other in this very same library? How many times had his wife sat in that very chair, her chair, as he lay at her feet contentedly. He remembered how she would kick off her slippers and bury her toes under his torso, claiming he was warmer and more efficient than any bed warmer.

He distinctly remembered sitting against that chair one day two decades ago, exactly as Adrien did now, as Emilie’s fingers brushed through his hair in a daze.

“What do you think of the name Adrien?” She’d asked out of the blue and Gabriel had groaned.

“Emmy, no more stray cats,” he responded. “We practically have an army in the backyard at all times. You get too attached when you name them.”

“So,” she hedged. “You don’t like the name?”

“It’s a lovely name,” he relented with a sigh. “Which cat will be Adrien?”

“Maybe the pretty black one,” she began, but Gabriel could hear the laughter in her voice. “Or...maybe it could be our son’s name.”

Gabriel remembered how his body had jolted, the world freezing for a moment before being thrown into a tizzy. In an instant, he was on his feet, pulling Emilie with him as he spun her in jubilation. Her laughter had echoed off the walls as she held him close, their unborn child nestled between them.

As he watched the two before him now, he knew his son had a chance at the same happiness.

Gabriel took a step into the room, and the young couple seemed to startle as one, Adrien jumping to his feet with Miss Dupain following quickly in suit. He watched as she carefully closed and set the volume she’d been holding on the side table with reverence, and decided he liked the girl even more.

“Pardon my interruption,” Gabriel began, taking a few more steps into the room. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Adrien gave him a quizzical look, but after a moment reflected his soft smile.

“Father,” Adrien said. “Allow me to introduce Miss Marinette Dupain, my betrothed.”

Gabriel couldn’t help but smile wider at the pride that echoed in Adrien’s voice, but his attention was quickly captured by Miss Dupain as she rounded the chair and came to a stop before him.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lord Agreste,” she curtseyed briefly, but broke with decorum as she lifted her eyes and held his gaze. Gabriel took her proffered hand, and bent over it as was customary.

“Likewise, Miss Dupain,” Gabriel responded as he released her hand, surprising himself by the sincerity he felt in the statement.

“Please, call me Marinette,” she smiled up at him, her now free hand immediately seeking Adrien’s as he came to her side.

“Then you must call me Gabriel,” he said, looking to his son and and giving his shoulder a quick squeeze. “We’re practically family after all.”

Adrien’s eyes shone in gratitude and Gabriel gave him a slight nod before excusing himself from the room without another word.

As he walked to his chambers, the faintest smile teased at his lips.

He stood by his earlier appraisal of the girl, but while it was still true that his son’s choice in bride could have been worse, Gabriel did have to amend his statement. After seeing the two together, he realized there was a more apt measurement.

He doubted Adrien could have made a better choice.

Despite the questionable beginnings of their courtship, Gabriel would have never found a better match for his son.

And with a pleasant ache in his chest he couldn’t ignore, he knew Emilie would agree.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #loveladynoir #ladynoir july #ladynoir #Shakespeare AU #unforgetabELLE #epilogue #that's all folks!#Hope you enjoyed!#Go binge if you were waiting for the end ;)

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theliterateape · 3 years

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Before You Go All-in on Antifa, Try Becoming Antifra First

by Don Hall

The laughter at my expense was not the kind of guffawing that accompanies a sense of genial ribbing but of Biff Tannen cracking up at the awkward geekiness of George McFly.

"What do you think queer means, Don?"

"I always thought queer meant gay."

Laughter. "No. Queer means refusing to accept the binary in sex."

"Isn't that bisexual?"

Cackles. "No. Bisexual is having a sexual attraction to both biological sexes."

"Who the fuck decided that? Was there a memo sent out?"

The evolution of language is, taken as a long tail concept, natural. When the Miriam Webster Dictionary enters finna (contraction. DIALECT•US, verb. finna: going to; intending to. "I'm finna make a scene") one has to grudgingly accept the fact. It is both the codifying of slang as standard and the pushing the envelope of common dialect. It can get confusing but it is as normal as language itself.

The term fragile is very popular in 2021 but I'm not certain the people who use it as a political label have an understanding of what it means. The redefinition seems to be a synonym for defensive but that isn't even close to the original so it doesn't play. Considering how loaded the term has become politically, I'd suggest we take a look at the pre-DiAngelo meaning and embrace it some before we continue forcing the evolution.

Back to that handy tome of mutual agreement of terms, the dictionary has a few definitions of fragile:"easily broken or damaged", "flimsy or insubstantial; easily destroyed.", and "not strong or sturdy; delicate and vulnerable".

A nine year old boy is enticed to have penetrative sex with his fourteen year old babysitter one afternoon while his little sister watches Joe Namath as "C.C. Ryder" on the television a room away.

This is either molestation or an uncomfortably early rite of passage. The argument can be made that a nine year old cannot give consent but that's not how I remember it. A more fragile person might see this experience as traumatic. He might internalize shame and let the shame fester until he finally explodes like a liter of Diet Coke and a Mento tab. An anti fragile person might see it as no different than playing in the streets when the sewers back up the neighborhood becomes a river in the rain. No stigma, no shame, no harm.

The anti fragile adult is going to have a happier life if not the attention lauded upon a fragile victim of circumstances beyond his control.

I was a latchkey kid.

We lived in an apartment complex on the less than affluent side of town. Mom worked several jobs and the step-dad at the time was a preening, disco-dancing domestic abuser. As such, I found myself out and about without a lot of safety nets in place. I played in a septic ditch just on the outer parameter of the complex. On the other side was an abandoned housing development and I frequently went over there alone to practice my karate (which I thought I was learning from watching David Carradine in Kung Fu, a popular episodic featuring a white man posing as an Asian man who saved people with his peaceful but forceful side kicks). I’d kick holes in the drywall pretending it was comprised of bad guys.

On the north side was, in my mind, a forest but in reality was just a bunch of trees in several abandoned lots. Whenever I ran away from home (a feat that usually lasted until I was tired or hungry) I would go to my forest and “read” the tattered copies of Playboy and Penthouse I had stolen from the aforementioned step-parent.

To the south was a playground for the kids in the complex. A rickety swing set, a teeter-totter, and a broken merry-go-round surrounded by garbage dumpsters. A cursory examination of the dumpsters—a routine activity for a vagabond third grader—revealed a coterie of used hypodermic needles, marijuana roaches, empty liquor bottles and fast food trash.

It’s likely that parents reading this have already crossed themselves or knocked on wood in deference to the fact that their children would never be put in these positions. That their children are safe.

One day, as I had exhausted myself from kicking holes into drywall villains, I headed to the playground. There was no one else around and I decided that I wanted to swing but not on the actual rubber strap. I unhooked the strap from the hefty S-hook it hung from and grabbed it like Tarzan on a vine. I started to swing around in circles holding as tightly as I could to the chain.

Slowly, I began to slide down until the S-hook punctured my white jeans and then into my scrotum. I felt some discomfort and looked down and saw blood on my crotch but I couldn’t disengage. I was hooked, by my ballsack, to the chain. I panicked and did my best to scramble up the chain but the S-hook was firmly in there and the chain just followed me up.

I screamed for help. No help arrived. I struggled and the blood started running down my left pant leg, flowering out like a Rorschach. It seemed I was hanging there for hours but the reality was more likely a few minutes until the hook, now greased with blood, slid out of my nuts and I fell to the dirt.

Leaping up, I dropped trou on the spot to inspect the damage but there was so much blood that I couldn’t see what was actually a small leaking hole. I cried. I squalled. With my pants around my knees, I ran home.

I smashed into the front door screaming bloody murder that my balls were bleeding. My mother, shocked by the sight of her 9-year-old kid, reddened pants around his knees, crotch covered in blood, and in high hysteria (I mean, who make among us wouldn’t be?), laughed out loud. A giggle turned into a laugh transforming to a barking guffaw.

The more dramatic I was about it, the harder she laughed. Out of shock, out of horror, out of knowing how melodramatic her son was prone to be. She giggled as she washed my junk off and saw the tiny hole. She giggled episodically as she put an ice pack on it and tossed me in the car to go to the emergency room. She stopped laughing by the time we reached the hospital and I received two stitches on the underside of my underside.

A more fragile person might grow up with this experience in desperate need to pay someone to listen to his trauma.

"My mother laughed at my bleeding scrotum!" he'd wail as the therapist did her best to stifle her own laughter. He might write a book much later after his antidepressants and struggle session with his mother commenced entitled "Men and The Mothers Who Giggled at Their Nuts" and an article in The Atlantic "Incels and Their Reasons."

An anti fragile person might see this as pretty fucking funny.

In 1992, I was mugged just outside the Granville Redline stop in Chicago. It was around 2:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. I had just played a gig on the Southside with a big band known as The Outcasts and, still in my tuxedo, decided to walk the block to an all-night diner for some breakfast when three young black men hit me with a two-by-four and then proceeded to kick the shit out of me on the sidewalk.

They stole $14.00 in cash and a check for $200.00 from the gig.

Bruised but not broken, when I told the police that I was mugged by three young black guys and what were the chances I'd get my money back, they laughed. Not like Biff Tannen but more along the lines of Denzel in Training Day to a naive Ethan.

Later, when I met with Gil, the drummer and band leader, to have him cut me another check, Gil muttered as he canceled the first "N****rs are the fucking worst." It would have been cause for some sort of reckoning except that Gil was black.

A fragile mind might find himself going over and over the incident, blaming himself, blaming black men everywhere, blaming the cops.

An anti fragile mind understands that shit happens and you can't dwell too much on it because that means you're spending a lot of time thinking about shit.

The more time one spends dwelling on shit, the worse the place smells. It's like living with five cats. At some point, you have no idea that your apartment stinks like cat asshole but your Tinder date sure does.

Commonsense Media has polled some info out and it seems that the kids are wallowing in catshit.

23% of 14- to 17-year-olds say they "often" came across racist comments on social media in 2020 — nearly double the number in 2018 (12%).

"Sadly, but not surprisingly, the teens and young adults who are most likely to be affected by such content are also most likely to encounter it — or recognize and remember it," says the study, which was done in partnership with Hopelab and the California Health Care Foundation.

Black young people are more likely than whites to see racist comments "often" (34% vs 23%). LGBTQ+ youth are more than twice as likely than non-LGBTQ+ youth to encounter homophobic comments (44% vs 18%). Females are more likely to encounter sexist and body shaming posts than males.

On top of all this feline fecal material, it turns out that both actual mental health issues as well as the frequently self-diagnosed PTSD cases are dramatically on the rise. Where, in my formative years, comparisons of how many push-ups one could do was common, today's kids compare anti-depressant cocktails.

Under almost any definition, this is the behavior of fragility. Fragile like a Fabergé Egg in the back of a pickup truck on a dirt road going 75 miles an hour.

Surrounded by catshit, constantly seeing the injury you're looking for and thus finding it everywhere, always feeling aggrieved and victimized. What the fuck can you do except feel like you need to be bathed in Bactine just to survive life's never-ending abrasions?

First, decide what's more important than your feels.

Most people let their every waking moment be dictated by feelings—both theirs and everyone else's. This is a one-way path to thinner skin, gentler sacks, and a general inability to live in a world outside of an echo chamber that has been hermetically sealed.

Becoming anti fragile is the process of understanding that there are a lot of things more important than your feelings. Romulans are fragile; Vulcans are not. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t have the feels—just don’t let them make your decisions for you. It might feel great to scream at the obnoxious woman at the Walgreen’s counter but it’s smarter to mind your business and buy your condoms and Zagnut bar while shutting the fuck up.

Second, get better at feeling bad and keeping it to yourself.

Just like most people allow their lives to be led by the nose by their feelings, most people think they are somehow important. They aren’t. You aren’t. The way skin thickens up is by taking some hits and learning that there are far worse things than being insulted, micro-aggressed, or shamed publicly. Grow a sack and a sense of proportion.

Finally, as the Stoics go, assume you have something to learn in every interaction rather than you have something to teach. I mean, who the fuck are you? To most people, you aren’t anyone of note so suck on the bitter teat of humility and join the throng, kiddo.

As Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī once wrote "Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself."

Be wise because clever people write for McSwenis and those assholes suck.

#fragility

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bloodthirstymoonstone · 6 years

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Walter in FE Heroes

So I’ve been toying around with the idea of making a mock-up of how Walter would function in Heroes, since that’s the verse most of his interactions happen in. For comparison’s sake, let’s take a look at Valter’s max stats.

Hp: 42

Atk: 32 (50 with Cursed Lance equipped)

Spd: 31 (33 with Cursed Lance equipped)

Def: 34

Res: 19

This adds up to the pretty average BST total of 158 with his weapon unequipped.

As for Walter, his stats would be...

Hp: 33

Atk: 17

Spd: 22

Def: 7

Res: 45

This would add up to the paltry BST of 124 -- the lowest, by far, in the entire game. He also has the lowest attack stat in the game, beating Azama who has 21 atk, and he has the lowest def in the game, beating Delthea and Lucius, who both have 13. However, he would have the highest Res stat by far in the game, handily beating Halloween Henry and Winter Tharja, who have 36.

Would that be enough to make him viable? Probably not.

His weapon would be a legendary, non inheritable tome called “Worn Fire Tome”. It would have 3 Mt (which is actually a point less than the regular fire spell you could go back and equip him with), and the weapon description would be “+1 cooldown charge. 33% chance 0 damage will be done to opponent”.

Like Halloween Henry and Winter Tharja, he will be an armored magic user, which might make him slightly more useful since he won’t be limited to special summons. If someone equipped the highest spell available to him -- Bolganone (which has 9 Mt), it would bump his attack up to 26. And with hone armor, he could get up to 32 Atk. Still not a lot, but enough to chip the paint off of some low res units, which might be handy for armor emblem.

The skills available to him right off the bat would be:

Support: Ardent Sacrifice

A: Close Def 3

B: Watersweep 3 (learnable at 4 stars)

Watersweep seems like a pretty good skill for him to have, but since you have to be faster than your target for it to kick in, it would probably only be useful against Winter Tharja, Sophia, and maybe -Spd variations of normal Henry, normal Leo, Reinhardt, and adult Tiki. That’s literally it.

And with Def as bad as his, Close Def 3 would only maybe be useful against dragons. Bumping 7 def up to 13 would be basically useless, not to mention most units also outspeed him. Chances are, he’d just get foddered for his skills, seeing as they’re both somewhat rare and he can learn Watersweep 3 at such a low rarity.

So I’m sure most of you are probably asking, “Munstone, WYD??? Why would you literally make a character that’s this useless, that’s basically only usable as a fodder unit?” Well, the answer is that it’s basically the point of his entire character. He’s frail, he’s slow, and he’s bad at basically everything, but he tries his hardest. For those who have the patience of a saint, they can actually help him achieve pretty impressive heights!

His Res is beastly -- so high, that even blue tome users and dragons would probably struggle against him unless they’re packing some significant heat (Odin would be practically worthless against him, despite the weapon triangle advantage, outspeeding him and having access to Moonbow). If you gave him Glacies, he’d do a whopping 36 damage with the bonus alone, which would give him incredible nuking potential. He could easily kill most frail mages with that special, and even some of the less chucky physical units like Kagero, Summer Tiki and Gaius, and Innes. Assuming he doesn’t die to them first.

And then you get to the weapon refinery. Amazingly, “Worn Fire Tome” isn’t just a joke weapon designed to just troll players. If there’s someone out there patient enough to send him through hundreds of battles, for 1,200 SP (three times the normal amount), 200 Divine Dew, and 500 Arena Medals, you can refine it into the weapon “Shining Bolganone”.

It would have 14 Mt, just like other legendary tomes, and its weapon description would be, “+1 cooldown charge. If user’s health is 100%, attack, speed, and defense are doubled. Does not include weapon might or buffs. Unit takes 4 damage after combat.”

So, just to reiterate, that means his stats would increase to

Hp: 33

Atk: 34

Speed: 44

Def: 14 (still pathetic)

Res: 45

This would put his BST at 170, which puts him just under Amelia, overall. Which is terrifying.

But wait! There’s more. Shining Bolganone prevents the weapon’s might or any field buffs from getting doubled, BUT THAT’S NOT THE CASE FOR SKILLS. Yes. You could slap Life or Death on this guy, which would bump his base attack to 44 and his speed to 54, at the cost of lowering his Def to 4 and Res 40 (which is still plenty).

If you gave him Bold Fighter along with it, he would raze entire countries. And that’s not even factoring in IVs. So a +Atk LoD Walter could get to 50 BASE atk. A +Spd LoD Walter could get to 60 BASE speed. Alternatively, you could give a +Def Walter Fortress Defense, which would lower his base attack to 28, but would raise his defense to a chunky 30 for one turn!

Also, yes, seals also get doubled.

(Decided to get rid of the “Skills get doubled as well” thing because I kind of forgot to take into account that merges will probably be easy to come by for a 3 star unit. There’s no way even I’m insane enough to put a unit with like 80 base possible speed in the game. Slight exaggeration, but you get me--)

(Merges will count towards the multiplication factor since they ARE technically a part of the BST. But skills and seals will NOT be. The doubled effect will be calculated before any of those get taken in effect.)

Yes, this makes Walter ridiculously broken, but only for one turn. The player would have to ensure he stays healthy and be sure to shuffle him out of danger zones since there would be no way for him to net a kill after the first phase of combat. And even then, it would be up to the player to get him to that point, anyway. They would have to endure the dull slog of leveling him up past a 3 or 4 star unit and have to endure relentless grinding to even get the weapon upgrade, and even more grinding to get him to the point where skills could come into play. So I think it’s fair.

I think the beauty of him would be the fact that he’s simultaneously the most broken and the most useless units in the game. That’s how I try to play him. He’s bad at everything not because he doesn’t have potential, but because his life has beaten him down to the point where he doesn’t think there’s anything worth saving. If he was around people that were encouraging and allowed him to grow on his own terms, he’d grow almost exponentially.

Comparing that to Valter, who’s definitely not a bad unit by any means, but who is more of a well rounded, jack-of-all-trades, Walter would be a heavily specialized unit that can only do one job, but who can do it exceptionally well. That’s because he’d be taking subjects that actually interest him. But that’s a story for another day.

#fe heroes #fire emblem heroes #some of my math might be off #but i think i did okay with it #mega meta #walter meta #walter post #meta post

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365footballorg-blog · 6 years

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Armchair Analyst: Your complete guide to the Week 14 MLS slate

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June 1, 201810:15AM EDT

Welcome to the first weekend of June, which doubles as the first weekend in which the full cadre of World Cup call-ups will be away from their MLS teams. Things have a chance of becoming very MLS-y.

Let’s dive in:

Friday Forecast

Colorado Rapids vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

9 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

The Whitecaps have, for the first time all season, dropped below the playoff line thanks to a stretch during which they’ve won just once in their past nine games. This has come – weirdly, I’ll admit – during a time in which they’ve actually gone out and played some of their most attractive soccer in years. They were devastating getting out onto the break against New England last weekend, and with Yordy Reyna and Felipe both quietly balling they have had more ideas than usual in the attacking third.

But their defense is a train wreck. Only Montreal have shipped more than the 27 goals the ‘Caps have conceded thus far, and it’s hard to imagine that number’s going to look much better now with Kendall Waston in Russia.

Even that might not be enough to wake up a moribund Rapids attack that’s scored just four goals in their last six outings, all losses.

Hard as it is to believe, though, it’s not the attack that’s been killing Colorado’s season. If you want the deep dive, I recommend Rapids Rabbi’s tome published this week. If you want the abridged version:

Here’s what happened right before that 2nd Timbers goal: Deklan Wynne pushes high. Boateng makes a terrible pass right to Arementeros. Rapids left 2v2, Armenteros/Valeri v Wilson/Smith. #Rapids96 #COLvPOR pic.twitter.com/VcOxP4ghjl

— Rapids Rabbi (@rapidsrabbi) May 30, 2018

There sure, sure sure have been a lot of passes like that. And there sure have been a lot of counterattacks when Colorado desperately and haphazardly throw their center backs forward.

Saturday Slate

Portland Timbers vs. LA Galaxy

5 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

The Timbers are good in attack. The Galaxy are… not… in defense:

Granted, that’s five levels beyond pretty from FC Dallas, but whether the goals are pretty sequences or simple service from out wide, LA have not been able to defend.

They’ve also become too reliant upon long balls in an attempt to advance the ball up to the attacking third, which doesn’t make a lot of sense given they have some actual ball-playing central midfielders. Bottom line is that they’ve had enough talent to sneak past the poorer teams they’ve played, but Portland, at home, aren’t that.

Atlanta United vs. Philadelphia Union

7:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

Philly have won three of four and four of seven, and are unbeaten in four, and have conceded just twice in that span. They spent the first 45 minutes on Wednesday night looking far superior to the Chicago Fire, and then the second 45 looking pretty lost for the first time in a while. Jim Curtin blessed his troops out, which is probably necessary heading into a game against the Five Stripes.

What do we make of this Atlanta United bunch? As of late, I think it’s safe to say they’re finding a way to leave points on the table with some poor decision-making and poorer finishing. That was the case in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at New England – not a bad result in a vacuum, but one in which they definitely, definitely should’ve bagged more than one:

#NEvATL xG. The Barco and Kratz chances towards the end loom large. pic.twitter.com/7XvRqTqTUE

— Ben Baer (@BenBaer89) May 31, 2018

They’ve now won just once in their past four. I think it’s a blip, and I think that someone – maybe Philly, or maybe NYCFC or Columbus in the coming weeks – is going to suddenly feel the business side of a bus as the Five Stripes rediscover their collective finishing touch.

Be super-aware of Keegan Rosenberry pushing up from right back, by the way. Atlanta like to flare Miguel Almiron out to the left in order to overload that side, and if the Union lose possession while Rosenberry’s way up on the front foot, they are in trouble.

Columbus Crew SC vs. Toronto FC

7:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

My take for the past month is that TFC will be fine once they get their squad to something approaching 80 percent health (or so). New England going into a slump (one win in five) and Orlando City doing the same (three straight losses) has given them a little more breathing room than they otherwise might have had, but here’s a simple fact that my colleague Bobby Warshaw pointed out on Wednesday night’s Instant Analysis: TFC likely have to take 41 points from their final 23 games, which is at or above a typical Supporters’ Shield-winning pace.

It is a big ask, even for this team. I maintain my belief that they are likely to be up to it, though a loss here would force me to at least begin to rethink.

I’m not sure what version of Crew SC we’ll see given their suspensions (Federico Higuain), injuries (Pedro Santos, Jonathan Mensah) and international absences (Cristian Martinez, Zack Steffen, Wil Trapp).

Don’t be tooooo shocked if they bunker-and-counter a little, especially given TFC’s recent lack of speed at the back. Gregg Berhalter’s done that before in big moments, including way back in the 2015 playoffs against the New York Red Bulls. There is an oft-underappreciated flexibility to how his team plays.

Montreal Impact vs. Houston Dynamo

7:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

The Impact have lost eight of nine and head coach Remi Garde is gaslighting his players:

After Minnesota game, Garde said Impact players lacked talent. Today he didn’t take back what he said: “We lack talent. I do not have to correct my remarks.” But on May 3rd, he said that saying things like this “would cause a lot of damage”. What’s he trying to do? #IMFC #MLS pic.twitter.com/QDPgWrmRWL

— Nick Sabetti (@nicksabetti) May 29, 2018

Houston once again dropped late points on Wednesday – this time they couldn’t defend a corner kick – and we all know how they struggle on the road. This time it’ll be on the road, on short rest, coming off a game at altitude, halfway across the continent. It’s not an ideal situation.

But I’ll say it again: Montreal have lost eight of nine and their coach is out there saying that his players are not good at soccer. The Dynamo have to figure out a way to win this one.

New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls

7:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

The Revs jumped out to a good start in March and April, taking 13 points through their first eight games. They’ve followed that up with five points from their subsequent five, including two very fortunate ones in their past two outings (a road draw at Vancouver, followed by Wednesday’s 1-1 against visiting Atlanta). There is one big reason why:

Matt Turner has been phenomenal. With all due respect to Tim Melia, Turner’s been the best ‘keeper in MLS this year.

He’s absolutely had to be because the Revs are still struggling to defend. They are a dangerous and organized team through their front six, but if you can play through their front six – through the high pressure that got them off to such a fast start this year – then you are going to force their defense to make plays that they’ve shown little ability to actually make.

Which is to say that New England have to win the ball in midfield or higher. If they don’t, it leads to the types of breakaways that both the ‘Caps and Five Stripes squandered (with some help from Turner) because there’s just a natural dislocation between the New England lines.

There is every chance the Red Bulls will see this and figure out how to put Kaku to work in that spot.

NYCFC vs. Orlando City

7:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

NYCFC won five of six to start the season, but are now in a stretch during which they’ve won just two of seven. That includes three blow-out losses, at Portland, at RBNY and at Houston.

Know what it doesn’t include? Many home games, or any dropped points at home. NYCFC are 5-0-0 at Yankee Stadium, the last remaining perfect home team in the league, and are officially staring at a stretch during which they play six of seven in the Bronx. I will make this prediction: By July 14 – the final game of that stretch – the Pigeons will be atop the Shield standings (provided David Villa stays healthy).

One change Patrick Vieira’s toyed with over the past month in his efforts to ensure that Villa does indeed stay healthy is playing some 3-5-2. The idea is for Villa to float off the frontline and let Jo Inge Berget get into the physical battles with defenders that are so draining. It’s a good long-term play, but it’s been a bad short one: Berget is doing his best Adam Nemec impersonation with just one goal in nearly 800 minutes.

It’s tough to justify putting him out there on the road, and not at all justifiable at home. My guess is it’s back to the 4-3-3, and a focus on splitting Orlando City’s central midfielders away from the ball:

This is a run Maxi Moralez makes.

The question is, “is this a run that Orlando City are now prepared to track?” And even if they do, the Purple Lions backline is now as banged up as anybody’s, TFC included. It’s damn near impossible to imagine that makeshift group riding the 6 train all the way to a result.

FC Dallas vs. LAFC

8 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

If you want our full take on FCD, watch the video embedded at the top of the page. Short version: I think they’ve become really good again, and if Mauro Diaz keeps playing as he has been, they’ll jump back up into the ranks of elite teams. You could argue they’ve already done so, given they have just one loss this season and given they’ve bagged quality wins both at home and on the road.

The same is mostly true of LAFC, though it’s fair to say they won’t quite be the same team that’s had such a good first three months of existence. Carlos Vela, Marco Ureña and Laurent Ciman are gone, to name three. Adama Diomande will likely make his first start at center forward. I’m not sure exactly how the backline will line up given Ciman’s absence and Dejan Jakovic’s suspension. Diego Rossi is carrying a knock and hasn’t been all that effective over the past six weeks.

These are the mostly normal trials and tribulations of a regular MLS season, but they hit expansion teams – which, almost as a rule, don’t have a ton of depth – harder than others. The Black-and-Gold deserve credit for grinding out some results recently, including a 1-1 at home against Dallas a month ago. They’ll have to grind again to get anything out of this game.

Chicago Fire vs. San Jose Earthquakes

8:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

Last week Bobby and I made a video examining San Jose’s weakness protecting Zone 14:

Jamon at QuakesEpicenter took that observation and ran with it. I’m going to crib a paragraph of his here:

In terms of passes coming into the golden zone, the Quakes sit dead last with the highest number of pass attempts against (27.2 per game) and completions against (18.4 per game). For passes within the zone, San Jose is 19th (10.3 per game) in attempts against and 19th (8.0 per game) in completions against. And for passes going out of the zone (the most dangerous), the Quakes are 22nd in the league in both attempts against (17.6 per game) and 21st in completions against (13.1 per game). There is no silver lining in this data. Against the Earthquakes, talented players know they can get access to Zone 14, move the ball within it, and then move the ball out of it (or shoot) when a good opportunity presents itself. Even WhoScored’s algorithms have figured out the Quakes have a big issue against skilled players rating them “Very Weak”.

Until San Jose figure out how to deal with this – and as per the video above, I still believe it’s their insistence upon a double pivot – they will be losing lots of games.

Of course, the Fire lack the sort of top-end skill players who’ve given San Jose the most trouble. But Aleksandar Katai has had his moments, and perhaps all he needs is a bit of breathing room to really settle in.

Real Salt Lake vs. Seattle Sounders

9:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

Let’s look back one week to see how RSL got their only goal in a 1-0 win over the Sounders:

While RSL have been mostly disappointing this season, they’ve found life recently by going to work down that left flank. It’s not a mistake that’s coincided with Danny Acosta’s re-introduction into the lineup. His ability to handle that spot (he shut down Alberth Elis on Wednesday – Elis’ goal came after he was moved to center forward) defensively, as well as his on-point distribution, lets Bofo Saucedo push up higher and that in turn gives opposing defenders less time to settle into their spots.

The other big change has been breaking up the Kyle Beckerman/Damir Kreilach pairing deep in central midfield. Sunny doesn’t have much passing range, but he’s mobile and committed, and his strength has now, in back-to-back games, hid the weaknesses of the guys around him (Nick Besler deserves some dap as well). The Claret-and-Cobalt have finally figured out how to be a little bit difficult to play through.

And I’m not sure any of that matters against this battered and punchless Seattle team. They’re 2-6-2 with 7 goals scored all season, and while a couple of guys might be back – Brian Schmetzer has been hinting at Will Bruin’s availability – there are zero excuses for RSL should they come away with anything but the full three points.

Sunday’s Finale

Sporting KC vs. Minnesota United FC

8:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & Streaming Info

So here we are, back to this old conversation again. Through SKC’s first eight games of the 2018 season, they scored 19 goals. They did so largely by having their center forward work hard to drag the opposing defense around, then hit the gaps that chaos caused with a bunch of wingers and a couple of goal-hungry midfielders. It worked and there was a lot of “yeah our No. 9’s not scoring, but this time it’s different.”

In the five games following that hot start, SKC have scored just five goals. Khiry Shelton – now the starting No. 9 – has one of them, which was and remains his only goal of the year. It was a few weeks back against the same MNUFC team Sporting will be facing this weekend, but it’s fair to wonder if this particular approach has hit the point of diminishing returns. It’s fair to wonder if the old conversation is once again the right conversation:

Shelton’s total chalkboard activity in the second half vs 10-man Crew. #SportingKC pic.twitter.com/wNIkttthVa

— Nathan Martin (@NMthenoise) May 29, 2018

Shelton wasn’t able to get Columbus moving around and chasing him, and thus SKC’s attack was once again unable to do much of anything.

To put a number on it: SKC’s attack hasn’t scored an open-play goal against an 11-man defense since April 20. If it’s not a set piece or not 11-v-10 (or sometimes, even when it is!), they’re looking nothing at all like the group that tore through the league in the first seven weeks of the season.

We’ll see if the Loons can trouble them again, even without their captain and backline leader, Francisco Calvo.

One more thing to ponder…

Anyways I got bored today and took a drone to an abandoned resort and cut that footage up into an advertisement. Enjoy.

Romance is dead. pic.twitter.com/tPYyRkAnV2

— Pablo Maurer (@MLSist) May 30, 2018

Happy weekending, everybody.

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ruffsficstuffplace · 6 years

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And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 19)

7:30 AM

“Good morning, dear students, and welcome to your first day in Ancient History class!” Freya said as sat behind a massive desk, several binders and folders to one side of her, a giant, thick, old leather-bound tome in front of her, and three more stacked on top of her chair, beneath her and mostly of sight. “I’m happy to see so many new faces, not so much the familiar ones I still remember from last semester, with one very important exception...”

Freya smiled and waved at Weiss sitting right up at the front row with the rest of her team, she smiled and waved back.

“Now, I’m sure the more observant and knowledgeable of you may have already noticed that my granddaughter, Weiss, and her teammates are attending this class with you,” Freya said as her gaze returned to the rest of her students, her expression serious once more. “You can be forgiven for assuming that I’ll be giving them special treatment, given the…” she sighed “...less than professional behaviour of many of my colleagues at the primary combat school level, and even some of my colleagues now, in the academy level, but I assure you:

“In this class, and any others where I am also their professor, the four of them will be treated exactly like any one of you, and they will receive no advantages or special perks by virtue of our being related. No, any good grades, extra credit, or considerations and exemptions will only be granted on the basis of excellent outputs, performance, and scores on quizzes and major exams.

“In short: you show me that independent of who you are, what sort of connections you may have, and however much money and luxury you can attempt to offer me, you deserve it.

“Before any of you try, by the way, bribery is against the rules of Haven, and I will take the appropriate action if you attempt that: reject your offer, report you to one of my colleagues at the Discipline Office, and leave your fate in the hands of their investigation.” Freya said as she hopped off her table, headed to the board behind her. “Just ask around if you doubt that I mean it, or really, just try and bribe me some time after class, and find out just how serious I am yourself.”

She pulled out some chalk from her pocket, started climbing up a rolling step-ladder. “For the rest of my rules, you can simply consult your student manual in whichever format pleases you, but there are a handful I want to emphasize:

“One: All communication during lectures will be silent, and without the use of Scrolls,” she said, effortlessly writing and rolling along as necessary. “Use a piece of paper, the margins of your notebooks, Atlesian Sign Language, even! So long as it’s silent, unobtrusive to your fellow students, and doesn’t compete with my own voice, it’s fine.

“I do have to warn you though!” Freya said as she sailed back to the left-most side of the blackboard.

Thump!

A few students jumped and flinched as she slammed her hand on the wooden frame, Freya gazed back at them with narrowed eyes. “Broadcast or spread answers to quizzes, or colourful, creative comments about myself, my methods, and especially that of your fellow students at your own peril.”

Freya turned back to the blackboard, started writing again. “Two: Deadlines are final, make-ups are a given. I want to instill in all of you the habit and the instinctive understanding that when someone says you only have until Tuesday midnight, you only have until Tuesday midnight.

“Out there in the field, or indeed, your other future careers if Grimm hunting does not pan out, opportunities have very strict closing times, and your training will be for naught if you can never get anywhere or accomplish anything on time, when you were originally expected to.

“The village that has been destroyed by a sudden Grimm attack will not care in the slightest that you really, honestly meant to save them, you were just too bogged down by all your other responsibilities,” Freya said, her ears and tail visibly twitching in annoyance.

She rolled back to the other side of the blackboard. “That being said, sometimes events just move too fast, misfortune rolls in like a sudden hailstorm that won’t yield for days, and all is not entirely lost, so I also want to instill in you the habit of figuring out if there’s anything you can still do, if not to make up entirely, then at least to mitigate the damage.

“Details on all your available choices for bolstering poor performance, lackluster outputs, and missing requirements will be given after class, along with number three: All sources will come from the whitelist, and be properly cited.

“Now, I’m sure many of you have heard of Haven’s reputation for taking advantage of our extensive library, and the city of Mistral’s being such a paradise for literature via their professors encouraging their students to source their researches on printed, and traditionally published materials,” she said as she climbed down the ladder, and climbed back onto her chair. “Some of the staff have abandoned this practice, however, letting their students source from wherever they like, CCT or print, so long as it’s reasonably credible.”

Freya’s eyes narrowed, her ears pulled back, and the deep wrinkles on her brow furrowed dramatically. “I am not one of them.

“With very few exceptions, all of your sources will be from print and traditionally published texts—that is to say, they have gone through rigorous peer review, the discerning and high standards of Mistral’s most respectable publishing houses, and are considered professional standards for research even overseas.

“CCT sites will only be used to double check the information for updates, outdated figures, and improved accuracy thanks to advances in technology; CCpedia is most definitely on the blacklist; and please, just try and copy-paste, and shift the words around in the hopes that it might escape my attention.”

Freya stood up and pointed to her eyes, two icy blue orbs, narrowed to fine points. “I will know, dear, students, I will know.”

She relaxed, and pulled out her scroll. “However, please take some comfort in the fact that I will be more than happy to use scrolls and the CCT for information dissemination, such as announcements, opportunities, and what are and where to acquire your prescribed textbooks for this class.

“Yes, plural—I don’t expect you all to read them cover to cover, but I beg of you, please read more than just the introductions and the after-chapter summaries...”

9:00 AM

Professor Lukić cackled ominously as she sat behind her desk, a thick, leather-bound book in front of her. “Laws...” she started, peering up at the rows of unnerved students in front of her. “They say they’re all that truly make us sentient; animals, the creatures of Grimm… both of them can think, can learn, can adapt, but it’s only humans and Faunus that decide to defy their natures, go against their instincts, what their biology compels them to, all in the service of ideas, of rules, of conventions, all of their own creation, yet treated as if it were some deity, existing beyond this world, some incredible ideal we could reach if only we mortals weren’t so flawed and limited…

“’The Common Good.’ ‘Utopia.’ ‘Paradise.’ Its names are many, but they all have one common theme: a world where everyone acts for the benefit of everyone, where man no longer comes to conflict with their fellow man, where everyone gets what they deserve—be it reward…

“… Or punishment.”

She cackled again, her laughter echoing throughout the classroom, suddenly covered in an ominous darkness, the students cowering and wondering if it was too late to try and transfer to a section with a different professor.

Lukić stopped, took a deep breath, then got up from her seat, slowly sauntering over to the blackboard. “The constitutions, the international agreements, and the treaties all of Remnant abide by are many, and this subject will be but a mere glance at the complexities and the depths of all the rules meant to curb our worst impulses, maintain peace in our society, encourage our better behaviours and punish those who go astray, however…”

She slowly looked over her shoulder, her face splitting into a wide grin. “… Don’t think that a mere glance at your textbook will be enough.”

10:30 AM

“Economics!” Professor Badcock said as she slapped the board with her pointing stick, caused the scrolls, the charts, and the graphs to ripple and wave back and forth slightly. “They say it’s the very heart of Mistral, the source of our power, be it the massive international convoys of resources and supplies that are a vital part of every kingdom’s chains of supply, or the day-to-day transactions between you and the vendors hawking grilled lizards-on-sticks in the streets!

“It is all around you, it is absolutely vital to our day-to-day living, it is key to the standard of life you are all accustomed to, but are you aware of it? No! Precious few of you understand the powers that influence the prices of the food at the markets; how your taxes and the support of our governments are absolutely vital to Haven running as efficiently and as well as it is; and why new copies of your textbooks are so incredibly expensive, how exactly the illicit second-hand market thrives, and what your money is really going to when you patronize the latter!

“By the end of this semester, I hope you at least leave with a newfound awareness and appreciation for how the movement of Lien, dust, and resources shape our world, and indeed, our individual behaviour; but for the moment, I expect you all to take advantage of our beloved library, the other generous resources the administration and the Council of Mistral has given us, and the CCT to give me a general report of the most commonly used and consulted economic terms, models, and reports...”

12 Noon

“Haaah…!” Akko wailed, her hands on her head, before she let head hit the lunch table with a “thud.” “I can’t do it! I can’t do it! This is way too many books, and way too much reading!” she sobbed into the wood. “There’s not enough time in a day or even three days for all this! And it’s only lunch and we haven’t been to all our OTHER classes yet...!”

Beside her, Weiss patted her friend on the back; across them, Diana sighed. “Did you seriously not know that the workload would be this incredibly heavy and comprehensive?” she asked as she dipped her sashimi in soy sauce.

Akko raised her head from the table, already weeping. “Well, yeah, Uncle Nick and Auntie Freya warned me there’d be a lot of reading and homework compared to combat school, and they talked all the time about their students complaining about all the reading they made them do—but, I didn’t realize it’d be THIS MUCH…!

“I just… you know, thought they always taught the classes that had the most reading! I didn’t realize it was literally EVERY class!”

“Not literally EVERY class,” Ruby said, just before she shoveled some more omurice into her mouth. “I mean we, we do have Trans-Nav later, and a whole lot of other practical subjects.”

Diana cringed. “Ruby, please don’t talk with your mouth full...” she said as she picked up some more vegetables with her chopsticks.

“Sorry!” Ruby replied, before she covered her mouth with her free hand, looked apologetically at Diana before she continued chewing.

Akko sighed. “Great, now I’ll probably be too exhausted to actually hit the books when it’s time, too...”

“Don’t worry, Akko,” Weiss said, patting her friend one last time before she returned to her fish filet. “We’ll just have study-buddy sessions again, like back in combat school!”

Diana put her vegetables back down onto her plate. “Actually, now that you two mention it, I don’t think that’d be a very good idea, you two studying together...”

Akko’s eyes widened, she slammed her hands on the table, making the pickled plums in her bowl jump. “Diana, I know you don’t know me that well, but I am not going to be able to get through all of this by myself! I just barely passed the academic side of combat school, and that was with Weiss, Uncle Nick, Auntie Freya, and Winter helping me out!”

Diana held up her hand. “Akko, I didn’t finish: I think it would be a much better idea if you two paired off with either myself or Ruby, instead. You two have been working together for over a decade now, we’ve only just known each other and Ruby for a few days; I believe it would be prudent for us to start familiarizing ourselves with each others’ study habits, methods, and capabilities, so we aren’t left floundering when one or more of us are inevitably indisposed in the future.

“It’d be a good chance for one-to-one bonding, too.”

Akko calmed down, but still looked uneasy; she turned to Weiss with pleading eyes, she frowned and put a hand on Akko’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Akko, but she has a point—it would be a good idea if we start learning how to work with Ruby and Diana, too, especially since the semester’s just started.”

Akko’s lip quivered, before she sighed. “Alright… I guess it’s not like we didn’t make plans if we didn’t end up on the same team… how are we pairing off, though?”

“How about Diana with Akko, and me with Weiss?” Ruby said through a mouthful of omurice. “Oh--!” finished chewing her food, then continued. “You and Diana are both really good at school stuff in general, me and Akko are, uh… not, so you two would kinda be like machine-guns for suppressing fire against us failing our classes, and keeping us from bringing our team grade down.”

“I’d say it’s more rounding out or competencies, Ruby,” Weiss said. “None of us are nearly as good at weapons and engineering as you are, and Akko always did excel in anything involving physical activity.”

“Yep!” Akko said, her chest puffing up in pride. “I’m not really skilled or clever like any of you guys are, but I’m definitely confident in my stamina, my ability to take action, and take hits!”

Diana chuckled. “Here’s to hoping we can harness all that energy to our benefit… so I suppose it’s settled then, that we’ll be splitting into two study groups later, myself and Akko, Ruby with Weiss?”

“Actually, any room for a third or maybe even a fourth there?” a fifth voice asked.

The team looked, Ruby cried out and jumped out of her seat, throwing herself at them. “Yang!” she cried, burying her head in her chest for a moment, before she pulled away and scowled at her. “Where have you been all morning?!”

Yang chuckled nervously. “Good to see you, too, little sis, and it’s kind of a really long story...” she muttered as the others scooted about and made room for her on the table.

“Then please, feel free to give us the abridged version,” Diana said, her and Weiss looking at Yang with wary, suspicious faces. “I seem to remember you tried to invite me to your ‘New Team Bonding’ as Sucy was unavailable…?”

Yang started sweating as she slipped in beside Ruby. “Ah, yeah, you see, things got kinda out of hand last night, and well... “

She trailed off as Jaune came up with a tray loaded with food for three, Amanda sheepishly walking beside him. The two of them joined the table, Yang and Amanda claimed their lunches from the pile and started eating, Jaune just seemed to blankly stare off into the distance, his noodle soup untouched.

“What’s eating you, Jaune…?” Akko asked.

“I have a criminal record now...” he responded, his voice hollow.

Diana and Weiss’ eyes widened, before they looked at Amanda and Yang with alarmed and appalled expressions.

“Yeah… like Yang said, it’s a really long story, and we’re not entirely sure how things got the way they did, so, you know… let’s just move on?” Amanda said as she picked up a grilled lizard-on-a-stick from her plate.

Jaune started sobbing.

Yang put down her chopsticks and spicy noodles, reached over and patted him on the arm. “Cheer up, Jaune, look on the bright side: for a first ever offense, yours wasn’t really that bad!”

Jaune started sobbing louder, his tears now dripping into his bowl.

“Uh… Jaune…?” Weiss asked.

“It’s okay,” Jaune blubbered, “I always have this with soy sauce, anyway.”

“… My apologies, Yang, but our study groups don’t have room for other teams right now...” Diana said as she pulled out a handkerchief, and handed it over to Jaune. “Your own affairs in order before meddling in others’, as they say...”

“That’s fine,” Yang said, “can you at least give us a briefing to what we missed out on?”

Akko sighed as she pulled out her scroll. “Oh my gosh, where to start? Here, I’ll send you the textbook lists, and all the other stuff they expect us to read and homework to do...”

Yang’s eyes widened as she opened her scroll. “Holy hell, this much, this soon?”

Amanda shrugged as she chewed on her grilled lizard. “Eh, look on the bright side: that’s what we’ve got Sucy for,” she said, before she swallowed.

“Excuse me…?” Diana asked.

“Oh c’mon, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how professors always form teams here?” Amanda asked. “Always a smart one, a people person, and the other two are a mix-up between specialized skills, combat effectiveness, or support skills,” she said before she ripped off some more meat from her skewer.

Diana sighed. “That may be so for majority of them, yes, but I still think it’s ill-advised to put the weight of your academics on Sucy’s shoulders.”

“Hey, it’s not like we’ll be freeloading!” Amanda cried with a mouthful of grilled lizard. “We’ll be pulling our own weight everywhere else, especially with me in Trans-Nav!” She chewed and swallowed her food, before she grinned. “I’m warning you now, though there’ll be no mercy from us once the races start.”

She and Yang shared smug, confident looks, Weiss frowned. “Amanda?” she asked. “Do you mind if I ask you question?”

“Shoot,” Amanda said, before she bit into her lizard again.

“Why did you enroll here in Haven if you don’t seem to have any intention of even putting an effort into your studies?”

Amanda ripped off the last of the meat, chewed as she said, “One, I’m from Vacuo, and living there has taught me that people only really only expect their huntsmen and huntresses to be able to kill Grimm, keep people and towns safe, and not much else; and two, you can’t really blame a girl for taking the chance to see a bigger, wider, more colourful world than the hot, dusty wasteland she’s known all her life, can you?”

She swallowed. “Look, I get it, both your grandparents make their living teaching this stuff, and I agree, it’s important! But not quite as important as the classes that teach you how to kill Grimm, and fend for yourself out there in the real world, where knowing how to win a write a killer research paper won’t stop the Grimm and bandits from killing you.”

Weiss’ mouth twitched, before she went back to her vegetables. “Thanks for answering.”

“You’re welcome,” Amanda said as she put down her empty skewer, and got a new one.

Conversation turned to much more mundane matters and friendly chatter, before they all went their separate ways for their afternoon classes...

Note: I will admit I had way too much fun with the “pairing off” conversation, and setting up how AWRD and JAYS will be colliding in the future.

#little witch academia #rwby #dianakko #white rose #and the awrd goes to #fanfic

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