#once you hit level 20 in the story things PROGRESS

[lil-xiao-200bc]

NIGHTBRINGER?????

[applegameisprollytaken]

PEOPLE OF TUMBLR. I need help. Don't care if you are a mutual, or some random who found me by accident. I need help balancing some perk ideas I had

Survivor: Nicolas Appleflame

Perk 1: Big Bones

Description: Your large stature and heavy build make it somewhat difficult for the Killer to carry you. When being carried by the Killer, your struggling slightly slows them down by 5%/8%/10% (based on perk level).

Perk 2: Boon: But What If...

Description: Your resourcefulness allows you to restore broken objects temporarily and create portals to replace them. When within a 24-meter radius of a Boon Totem, you can interact with the location of a previously broken pallet. By channeling your energy through the totem, you can open a portal that creates a new pallet in its original position. The newly created pallet functions like a regular pallet and can be used by survivors. However, the portal's connection is fragile, and if the pallet is broken again, you lose the ability to replace it for the remainder of the trial.

Perk 3: Practical Problems

Description: You have a knack for finding practical solutions to repair generators, even without proper tools. Once per trial, you can use any non-toolbox item to repair a generator. However, using the item in this way completely consumes it. The effectiveness of the repair is increased based on the rarity of the consumed item:

Common (brown): Repairs the generator 5% faster.

Uncommon (yellow): Repairs the generator 10% faster.

Rare (green): Repairs the generator 15% faster.

Very Rare (purple): Repairs the generator 20% faster.

Ultra Rare (pink): Repairs the generator 25% faster.

Killer: The Paradox (Nikolas Applesmith)

Bayonet Charge:

The Bayonet Charge perk enhances the botanist killer's ability to close the distance and decrease the stun effect when hitting a survivor who is about to drop a pallet on them. In the story, the botanist killer can exhibit a swift and powerful charge, covering greater ground and catching survivors off guard.

Hex: Hidden Rage:

The Hex: Hidden Rage perk reflects the botanist killer's ability to harness their anger and frustration to unleash devastating effects on the survivors. Whenever the killer gets stunned, they gain a token. Once they accumulate a certain number of tokens (7/5/3), all survivors in the match are afflicted with the blinded status effect, impairing their vision and making it more difficult for them to evade the killer.

Additionally, the last survivor who stunned the killer becomes exposed, making them vulnerable to being downed with a single hit. The perk also grants the botanist killer the undetectable status, further enhancing their ability to surprise survivors and maintain the element of surprise.

Scourge Hook: The Hanging Coward:

The Scourge Hook perk empowers the botanist killer in situations where survivors attempt to rescue a hooked teammate while remaining hidden. If the killer is in a chase with one survivor and another survivor is crouching near the hook, the survivor on the hook loses progress faster, putting pressure on the survivors to act quickly.

Simultaneously, the botanist killer gains a temporary speed boost, allowing them to close the distance swiftly and potentially catch the rescuer off guard. If the hooked survivor is successfully rescued, the killer gains a token. Accumulating three tokens enables the killer to see any survivor sneaking near the hook for the rest of the match, ensuring they have increased awareness and control over the area.

Quotes:

Big bones: "For once, this is a good thing"

Boon: but what if...: "What makes you think you would always do that?"

Practical problems: "A surprisingly high amount of this stuff can help"

Bayonet charge: "You cannot escape the inevitable. Not can you escape me"

Hex: Hidden rage: "When I'm done with you, they won't stop finding you."

Scourge Hook: The Hanging Coward:

"I was too cowardly to go through with it. Or maybe too spiteful."

(also, I need ideas on what the perks would look like, because I have no clue. What would the icons even be?)

[disappearinginq]

You ever get to the point in a show, where you’re not sure if you’re accurately seeing what’s really there, or if there’s so much influence from fandoms and headcanons that it permanently skews your point of view? 

I’m still watching Yellowstone, though at this point, I don’t know why. It’s edging towards Game of Thrones level of “There Are No Likeable Characters Why Am I Watching This?”

I used to really like Beth. Honestly, I did. But the more I rewatched it, and the more that the story progresses, the more I just want to slap the shit out of her, because she is a modern day Antigone, and it’s driving me up the wall. 

I am more than willing to admit that a huge chunk of that is because I personally hate the narrative of the only love you can have is for your spouse, or your biological family. Like somehow sharing DNA or a bed is the only way you can ‘truly’ love someone. Because fuck that narrative. I don’t see my biological family except once every 20 years (a few, next time I see them, will be their funeral, because they’re twats). My godchildren have no biolgical ties to me whatsoever, and my parents treat them like their grandchildren. I love them as if they were my own. I have never, ever wanted biological kids but I want to adopt at some point, and I will go to jail for assault and battery if anyone ever tried to tell me the vile crap they spew on TV shows regarding adoption. 

But at this point, I want Beth dead. I want her dead, and I don’t want a miracle walk away, because I draw the line at threatening children, especially toddlers. I don’t give a fuck what happened - this does not make the case of ‘Well, Beth would be nicer if she had her own kids’ because we’ve seen she absolutely would not. She’s undiagnosed schizophrenic psychopath at this point. The beginning of the season she’s telling her father he needs to move on from his wife, which is fucking hilarious given that she has sabotaged every attempt at a relationship her father has like some deranged Elektra complex with the justification that ‘they’re not my mother, and they can never compare’ (up to and including arranging to have one of the women thrown into prison for 10 years). She has a husband who loves unconditionally, and has point blank said he doesn’t want kids, he doesn’t even like dogs. She winds up with a teenager that comes to live at the ranch that desperately wants her to be his mom, she has a job whenever she needs one, her father loves her and still - she is a fucking horrible human being. The kid she ‘adopts’ - she and Rip throw him in the basement, and the first time she gets mad at him, she assaults him in a store, and another mother films her and threatens to call CPS (which she should’ve anyways) and the mother is shown as the nosy-busybody Karen who should mind her own business. Beth has the patience of a honey badger on meth. She has zero impulse control. None of which would magically be fixed if she had a biological child. 

But that seems to be where the narrative is heading. Like oh, it’s because of her brother that she’s this upset/unhinged/self-loathing....if ONLY SHE COULD REPRODUCE, SHE WOULD BE FULFILLED. Are. You. Fucking. Kidding me. And everything in the fandom is how great Beth is, and how relatable she is, and then going through fanfic, the she’s written so completely out of character you would assume that it was a mis-labelled AU, and it makes me wonder if we’re watching the same show. If the character they’re writing is what they identify with, they’re not the same person, and the more I watch the show trying to see what they see, the more I know we’re not watching the same thing. 

At this point, if Jamie doesn’t eventually snap and kill her or at least hit her with the car, I will be amazed.  

[ginshariboy]

#3 and #7 for those video game asks 👀

3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed Pokemon Scarlet

i genuinely loved this game which was a difficult thing for games to accomplish after i was consumed by elden ring and didn't want to wriggle free of its grasp on me lol. i think it has its flaws of course, i'm not going to be delulu about that but i dont know unpopular opinion but i like open world games!!! i dont know if this scale and direction will be the best to stick with in the future for pokemon but i really loved having a generous amount of freedom in where i went and the order in which i did shit. it was wild to wander off to casseroya lake and just frantically try to juke around all of the dragon pokemon a shit ton of levels above mine while screaming until i managed to get to the other side. i also just really loved the story and characters (except for SOMEBODY), got me really emotional also arven best boy

Silent Hill 3

bought the game for the first time when i was like fourteen, just finished it basically fourteen years later lol. loved the idea of horror games as a kid but i was so bad at playing them, they were mostly just prime sleepover games at the time 😂 but it was great to revisit the game after getting a lot more context for themes and the overarching story of silent hill. while i'm not as susceptible to getting scared by these games anymore, i feel like knowing more about them on top of just having a lot more uhhh life experience than i did when i first got the games helped to elevate the horror from oo spooky scary to oh god oh fuck that's the dread isn't it oh no it's hitting awful close to real life now oh shit. also it was just cool to see how bizarre and clunky silent hill could be compared to like…Nostalgia Glasses Silent Hill. it sounds like something that's all sorts of bad but i honestly liked how weird and disjointed progression could be in the games.

Baldur's Gate 3

i mean......come on i think this is everyone's choice if asked lol BUT.....plot twist, i really didn't want to touch the game initially. i loved the original games, they're literally my top favorite games, but for me, i'd given the series its kiss goodnight and i couldn't really figure out what a third game would add to the main storyline. it was pretty wrapped up and i don't know this new studio and everyone was pushing me about it and trying to make me trust the new studio but it didnt change the fact that i didnt know them, i didn't know what they were going to do with my favorite game and i was like eugh i dont wanna roll the dice and i just wanted to be left alone about it, and the bear shit happened and i was like ohhhh the legacy is gonna die because this is all people are going to focus on oh jeez scoob no one talk to me about this game ever again, baldur's gate is at rest in its tomb and i will hear no more!!!! then i played it. and i'm still working through it. but once again i was Consumed to a degree that i hadn't been consumed since elden ring. i keep making new characters because its just fun to try the game out from a completely different character from the beginning, i don't know how they fit it all in there. i know its a huge game but holy shit there's so much to it i dont even think the actual size of the game sounds feasible for all of the shit going on. i didnt think i'd give a single shit about any of the new companions but i love them dearly and i'm so happy to see my old pals minsc and jaheira but it's so hard to form a proper party because i just want everyone on my team because i love them all!!! i think if i had to choose, i do still love the original games about gorion's ward, it's a hard story to beat and i mean i've loved the game for like 20 years for a reason, but i do think 3 is a great addition to the series and manages to pay respectful homage to its predecessors for old players while still bringing the world and mechanics up to speed for modern day. anyway my first character fucked the guy who turns into a bear so whatever in that department i guess.

7. A series you’ve lost interest in Fallout

i don't say this in a bad way but i think i've lost a bit of interest in it in the sense that it's just not really at the forefront of my mind these days? i still really love the games but i mean my favorite one is 3 and i don't think i've gotten the same exact feeling from the games afterward. i know new vegas is a fan favorite and 4 was good but i was consumed by 3 lol. so it's less like eugh ew eauaugh hate it and more just i tucked it into bed and kissed it goodnight and it will awaken when it awakens.

[jandjsalmon]

2023 FFRC - August ⚔️🛡️

Hello friends! Autumn is my favourite time of year because the weather is lovely and there is no snow yet - unfortunately it doesn't last long here but I'm going to enjoy it while I can. I hope you're able to find things that make you happy!

I've had quite a few new followers, so I'll explain what this is. I participate in the @fanfic-reading-challenge every year and once a month, I share my reading progress and give a few fic recs that I particularly enjoyed this month. The challenge has various completion levels - and if you're looking for something to help motivate you to read new things or expand your range - or even if you just want to challenge yourself, you should come take a look. You don't have to wait until the new year to start - and there are a bunch of us on the Discord server (none of whom read any of the pairings/fandoms that I read btw😂) and it's a really nice and encouraging place to be.

August 2023

I read lots of really great stories this month - lots of Fexi at the beginning of the month and then I slid into reading a bunch of GoT fic because we're rewatching the whole series with our daughter (she's a big Tyrion fan). I finally cracked 15 million words read and with a few months to go I'm hoping my year-long goal of 20 million won't be out of the realm of possibility - so go me!

I’ve also gathered a couple recs. I hope you enjoy them. If you have favourites that you'd like to suggest to me (or if you've written and want a guaranteed review) - please hit me with the link. 💖

–*–

Three Weeks, Ten States, and One Million Reasons to Fall for You by @leftennant (Darcy/Bucky - E 14/14)  Summary: When Darcy considers all the things she never planned to do, going on a ten state road trip with the Winter Soldier ranks right up there with jumping off the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier sans parachute. Falling for said Winter Soldier somewhere between New York and New Orleans? Never. Gonna. Happen. Probably, at least. I mean, he is pretty damn sexy when he's not glaring at her. Whatever. She's only in it for the taser batons. Notes: Who doesn't love a Road Trip fic? It felt summery. And it's funny - Steve and Natasha also feature and they are adorable.

–*–

(please) be my baby by @myztify (Fez/Lexi - E 4/4)  Summary: Wanted: California farmer(s) willing to take part in journalistic research. Looking to understand a day in the life of California’s farmers. Possible two week placement on a farm. Please contact lexihoward@ buzzfeed.com for further details. or: journalist lexi stays with farmer fezco for two weeks to write an article and maybe fall in love Notes: This was exactly the amount of fluff that I needed after last month's horrible news. Fez is a farmer! And Lexi is so cute in this. Read it right now - you won't regret it.

–*–

Though Lovers Be Lost, Love Shall Not by @middleagedresidentofriverdale (Bughead - E 1/1)  Summary: A meditation on love and the end of life as they sit in the park on the last day of Betty's life. Notes: The perfect post-finale epilogue. I don't generally consider the last three seasons canon (Riverdale ended in 4x16 with a future of Yale and pizza and mysteries to me) - but if we have to deal with the mess that they gave us - at least there are fic writers who write amazing and glorious stories for all of us. Love this - and I love all of you, friends. 💛💙

–*–

See you back here in a few weeks! Happy reading! 🖤

[themysticsword]

Genshin Impact Review

I've been playing this game for quite a while now, so I figured I might as well write down my thoughts so far, and dissipate some false assumptions about it.

Core Gameplay - pretty good, but not for everyone

It's a rather casual game, mostly limited by the fact that it's available on mobile, so they have to sacrifice some potential gameplay complexity to avoid making the mobile controls a mess.

The main things you do in the game aside from advancing through the story are exploration and fighting.

The exploration aspect is nice. Just check out every corner of the world and collect all kinds of things, all while admiring beautiful scenery and listening to calming overworld music, and get rewarded for it. (Or 100% an entire region just for the sake of it. I personally didn't even care for the rewards. I just wanted the funny number to go up.)

The combat system is interesting. You have a party of 4 characters that you can instantly switch between, with only 1 currently active character at a time. Each character has their own element that they inflict on enemies. Inflicting two different elements triggers an Elemental Reaction, with each reaction doing something different, e.g. fire + electricity triggers an AoE explosion, ice + fire triggers "Melt", doubling the damage from the attack that triggered it, water + ice freezes the enemy, and so on. Some of your characters will be more proficient at certain reactions than others, depending on how you build them. Therefore, if you want to get the most out of your party, you should also learn the best order in which to rotate the characters.

Lore and Music - extremely good

I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm not going to say anything about the lore. But it's very good. Trust me. It is kinda meh in the first half of the first region (because that part of the game mostly focuses on getting you acquainted with the game's mechanics), but it does get really good after that.

As for the music, well, I'll just share some of the more underrated tracks to avoid spoiling you on the grand ones.

Character and Party Building - very interesting!

This is an RPG, so, naturally, you are encouraged to make your characters' numbers as high as possible.

Characters have experience level progression, an upgradable Weapon, Talents that can be levelled up, and equippable Artifacts with set bonuses.

Artifact sets have a vast range of effects. Some of the more notable examples include:

Whenever this character heals a party member, a bubble grows near this character and pops in 3 seconds, dealing damage equal to the total amount of healing done

Increases healing by 15%, and whenever you use your Elemental Burst, increases healing by another 20%

Increases Elemental Skill damage by 25%, and by another 25% for the first few seconds after this character enters the field

Weapons have special effects in a similar fashion:

Killing an enemy with this will restore health

Repeated hits will increase damage

Even some crazy stuff like "This weapon will absorb healing equal to 10% of your max HP before you can heal again, but will also increase damage once that heal gate is bypassed"

Or "When you use your skill, a leaf will drop, and any other character that picks up the leaf will gain a stat bonus"

This adds extra layers of complexity to character building. Do you want them to be a very effective healer? Or maybe you want your healer to also deal damage? Do you want a general reliable stat-up on your DPS? Or maybe you want higher but conditional damage?

And it doesn't end there. Once you have decided on what your characters do individually, you put four of them together in one party. The ways you can mix and match various characters into different teams are numerous. And all of that is in addition to the Elemental Reactions system I mentioned earlier.

Daily Energy System - the only thing I hate

Fully building a character will usually take around 1-2 weeks. Not because you have to grind it out every day for 8 hours, but because there's an energy system (think of basically any modern mobile live service game; limited per day, refills over time). This prevents you from farming Domains (basically this game's "dungeons" that drop level-up materials and artifacts) for more than ~15 minutes per day, stretching out the amount of days that you'll spend on fully building a character. You cannot just blitz through it in one day.

However, keep in mind that this energy system affects only Talent/Weapon levelling and Artifact farming. Every other aspect of the game is unaffected by it, and you could, in theory, go through the entire game in one (extremely long) sitting if you wanted.

Gacha - not as bad as people make it out to be

The game does not require you to pay to actually enjoy it. Every character is viable, and the game itself is easy.

You get a lot of free pulls for literally just playing the game. Plus, you are guaranteed a 4-star character every 10 pulls.

I have ~300 unused pulls right now + ~100 pulls I've spent previously and 17 characters I've gotten from them. That amount of characters is more than enough to make 1-2 well-paired teams that you will use for the rest of the game. I have not spent a single dime.

The thing that some people infamously sink money on are 5-star characters. 5-stars have the rarest drop rate, and are only guaranteed once every 90 pulls. They are obviously better than 4-stars, but, remember, 4-stars are just as viable. Think of it like this: 4-stars are good, and 5-stars are extremely good. You don't get an advantage over other players for having a 5-star, because this is a singleplayer game - there's nobody to have an advantage (or a disadvantage) over.

Conclusion

You'll probably enjoy this game if you like a relaxing in-game experience and deep out-of-game character minmaxing. However, if you're expecting Dark Souls-level of difficulty or something, this game may not be for you.

Anyway, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

[liquidchocolatecake]

curious now, what was everyone's max capacity for their cult before and after the dlc update?

just wondering because like. happened to get the "build three decorations" quest, and i always use that as a chance to sort of reconsider how my base is laid out. and i realized that like. before the update, i was able to pretty easily sustain over 20 followers at a time (the population cap was exactly 26 just due to lack of housing space, but typically the actual population tended to hover around 23-ish)

but now that god tears are a thing and divine inspiration is no longer just a money printer once you have all the unlocks, my cult's dropped to just around 15 people, despite me having practically tripled the number of houses in the base due to the shared housing. i was relying solely on just Buying An Entire Ocean's Worth Of Fish every now and then that it's become pretty difficult to adjust to that suddenly becoming much scarcer again. not difficult in a bad way, i actually appreciate that the management side of the game is a challenge for me again, just something i found interesting.

and like. midas stealing your money, right. while you CAN hit him to get your money back if you react quick enough, if you're like me then you probably didn't even realize you had control as midas was running away until you looked at the steam achievements. if you assume it's like a lot of other cutscenes where you're locked in place, you're going to lose that money. and if you're playing the update on a save file that you completed the game with previously, meaning you had access to The Money Printer, that's likely going to be several thousand gold taken directly out of your pockets.

which IMMEDIATELY helps push the postgame back to the level of difficulty it's supposed to be, because you just lost All Of Your Printed Money.

just something i find neat. game design is neat.

if i have one major gripe about relics of the old faith (aside from that one rant about the shield cultists, those guys are still annoying), it's what happens when you give god tears to ???.

because like.

massive monster. guys. you made a fast paced, hectic roguelike where you're constantly incentivized to do dungeon runs to gather the resources you need to sustain your cult. this is a gameplay structure that's already very easily to accidentally sink entire days into due to "just one more run" syndrome.

You Did Not Need To Add A Fucking Gacha.

AND NOT EVEN JUST THAT

LIKE

the reward for beating a bishop in the main story (aside from story progress and A Bunch Of Money)? a PERMANENT upgrade to your character, as well as a very cool trophy you can build and (iirc, i remember this happening for the leshy fight but that may have just been because i hadn't unlocked everything for darkwood yet) a follower form

the reward for beating a bishop rematch in the postgame, aside from the obvious money and bishop follower?

three gacha pulls.

THAT SUCKS SO MUCH OF THE IMPACT OUT OF BEATING THOSE FIGHTS AGAIN. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE, IF YOU'RE LIKE ME, YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO USE HALF OF THE SHIT YOU GET FROM ??? BECAUSE YOU HAVE A FAVORITE FLEECE AND YOU CAN ONLY EQUIP ONE NECKLACE TO ANY GIVEN FOLLOWER.

LIKE. IT'S NOT EVEN THAT GOD TEARS AS A CONCEPT ARE INHERENTLY FLAWED OR ANYTHING. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE INFINITELY MORE USEFUL?

A STORE. A STORE UI LIKE THE ONE YOU USE TO EXCHANGE GOD TALISMANS FOR FLEECES.

THERE IS. NO NEED. FOR THIS GAME TO HAVE A GACHA MECHANIC. ZERO NEED. IT'S JUST NEEDLESSLY ANNOYING FOR A MECHANIC WHERE THE REWARDS SHOULD ACTUALLY BE USEFUL AND ENCOURAGES ADDICTIVE HABITS EVEN MORE IN A GAME THAT'S ALREADY ADDICTIVE AS HELL.

[jkflesh]

GODFLESH — April 20, 1991 Country Club, Reseda CA

Photo by Kevin Estrada.

[...] There was a lot of anticipation for this L.A. area show as it approached. I don’t know where they come from, but there would be masses and masses of death metal Latinos that would come to these shows – I’m talking hundreds of them. The violence inside and outside the venue started even before any of the bands hit the stage as three of the most notorious gangs in Los Angeles were in attendance. And to make things worse, they were all rivals. If that was not enough, add handfuls of concert-goers high on PCP / Angel Dust. I’m not kidding, this show was out of control.

As each band played their sets and the night progressed, so did the level of violence. I began to notice that there were less and less photographers as the night went on. Just before co-headliner Napalm Death hit the stage, there was just me and the photographer from the Los Angeles Times left in the barricade. As soon as Napalm came out, a horde of kids rushed the stage… The stage was filled with dozens and dozens of crazy, violent kids, you could barely see the band – and they were using us as stepping blocks to get on the stage.

At one point, during Napalm’s first song, the L.A. Times photographer started freaking out, totally panicking. He started grabbing me and pulling on me. Then he started screaming that we needed get out of there. The venue was way out of control and he feared for his life – and mine. He must have thought I was nuts, because I was getting off on the chaos, my adrenaline was so high, I did not want it to end. I looked at him with a crazed smile and screamed back at him that I wasn’t going anywhere. He grabbed his gear and ran…I never saw him again.

By the time Godflesh hit the stage, I was the only photographer left. I was either the bravest photographer that night, or the stupidest. I am sure it was a fine line between the two. My passion for the music just took over, and I was in it ‘til the end. I noticed that the PCP usage really kicked in during the Godflesh set. There were people freaking out, hallucinating and hurting people right behind me.

As I was snapping Godflesh, I began to feel a cold, tingling sensation on my back. Every once in a while, I would need to scratch or rub my back as the sensation grew more and more frequent. A few songs later, I again rubbed my back, this time I noticed that the top of my hand was smeared with blood. I had no idea what was going on. Was it my blood? Was it someone else’s blood?

Then I saw it. One of the kids, out of his mind on Angel Dust, had an exacto knife and had been slicing my back. The back of my shirt was in strips and I had about eleven bloody slices on my back. I started screaming at the kid and I knocked the exacto knife out of his hand with my camera. Just then, one of the other PCP freaks started biting the kid’s cheek. He then ripped a handful of hair out of his head and pounded him in the face until he was in a bloody daze. The whole scene was surreal to me…it was almost like Godflesh was playing the most amazing soundtrack music to the most out of control, violent, drug induced movie that I had ever seen. But this was not a movie, it was real, and it was exploding right in front of my face. Godflesh finished their set at about 2AM and I was still standing, camera in hand. I went home, feeling like I had been run over by a bus, but I knew I got some killer photos.

The next morning, my telephone woke me up. It was the publicist at Earache / Relativity Records – Godflesh’s record label. It turns out that the Los Angeles Times heard how out of control the show was and they wanted to do a story on the show and on the Grindcore movement – but they had no photos because their photographer bailed. I was the only guy with the photos that they needed. I tried my best to negotiate with the L.A. Times – I got a whopping $60 – I was lucky to get paid at all. Nevertheless, my photo and my name made it onto a full page in the Sunday Calendar Section – the biggest entertainment section that the L.A. Times runs. It was a huge success for my career and me. I might not have been paid very much, but this photo and this story gave me street cred that you just can’t buy. Talk about having to pay your dues.

[ot3]

do you still play guild wars2? Is there a big learning curve like a lot of other mmos, or is it easy to hop right in? I’m kind of interested in playing it but idk anyone else who does- Is it solo friendly? sorry for so many questions! again, dont know anyone who plays it lol

i haven't been able to play guild wars 2 regularly for quite some time because my photosensitivity has gotten worse and it gives me migraines to play for more than 20 minutes or so :( i miss it dearly

its very easy to hop right in imo! there's a lot of stuff to do but almost all of it is horizontal progression once you hit max level so you really just need to worry about leveling up, which i really like how they let you do that. guild wars 2 has no formal quest system which i really love because completionist disorder made me HATE missing/abandoning quests in other mmos. i also find it a kind of dry and railroady. the way you will get the most XP in guild wars is by just wandering around blindly and doing dynamic events in the open world or completing renown hearts, which are essentially one-time quests tied to a physical space in the open world that unlock a vendor when you're done. basically you just walk wherever seems interesting, kill whatever seems fun to kill, and put on whatever gear you get that has higher numbers and that'll get you up to max level with no problems.

guild wars 2 is incredibly soloable! the open world and (completely optional) main story missions are all designed to be done solo. the exception to this is world bosses, which you WILL need a group of people for, but it doesnt need to be an organized group; people just gather at these things, theyre on a specific game-wide timer. you dont need to talk to anyone you can just stumble in there and whack the boss a couple times and take your loot. since all loot is instanced to each player, theres zero competitive element between players outside of structured pvp game modes so you dont need to worry about carrying your weight in non-instanced group content either. fun game, definitely give it a try. the expacs have been really great.

[crystalelemental]

Plot is actually happening in Class of Heroes. In as much as we're going to get plot.

I've taken on and defeated all the Advanced quests. They were, uh...a mixed bag. Most were really easy, but the Thievery one was bullshit. It's on the same floor as the Advanced Combat one, which was stupid easy we rocked its shit, but then we encountered the Thief who hit everyone for Fear so I couldn't cast, and hits like a truck so we wiped. I was not happy.

I also completed the quest for the Labyrinth. That was. Irritating, if I'm being honest. There's no map, so you rely on spells to make the map appear, which isn't the worst thing. What is the worst thing is that the first labyrinth relies on those pure dark zone tiles where you can't see anything, including your map, but it's actually a maze and the only way to push through is turning on volume and listening to the anime girls screaming about bumping into walls. If it wasn't clear, I disagree with the pure dark zones. The boss was hilarious, though. Big thing pops up, level goddamn 20, I get ready to get blasted to hell. Throw up my Impenetrable Wall team maneuver, get ready to buff and cast all my best shit...and my Celestia girl swung her +5 super hammer that has a max damage threshold of over 200 and we killed it in two hits. It didn't even attack. Despite a rough start, I feel like we've kinda blown past the "I understand but am struggling a bit" straight into "very little seems able to stop me." But, overconfidence got me once before.

They seem to be setting up the Labyrinths as the big focus, and I'm now on my way to get the next key. They're doing this thing that some of the Etrian Odyssey games do that's really funny, where they're like "Wow, you're so good, no one's ever made it this far!" and you're like super early in the game. It's very funny.

Right now my big exploration issue is one of inventory. They do not let me hold enough stuff, man. And the cluttered inventory spaces create major issues, as far as organization. I have gotten some good gear, like the aforementioned hammer, a bow which lets my human mage deal good damage, some funny +8 armors, and a Scrap that I literally cannot identify. No seriously, I must've tried like a hundred times with the Bishop, and no luck. I assume identification relies on your level, and the level 1 Bishop I hired just to appraise stuff couldn't do it. I checked, and it's like 12000 gold to identify it at the shop, so I am assuming it's roughly endgame equipment. Maybe, similar to Etrian Odyssey, bosses drop big stuff when you defeat them.

I haven't yet changed classes, but we're getting close. I wanted to get my characters access to all eight levels of spells before transitioning. We're up to rank 6 spells right now. My intention is to look at shifting everyone to new spell types. I'd like to get some Psionics going, and I might aim to get my Gnome into Summoning. I think those magic circles are for summons? No one can get them to do anything, which implies to me that they're for summoning beasts into this dimension or something. I've seen quite a few, so I'd like to do that. Human will likely go for a Psionics class, and I think my Elf is going to go into Wizardry so she can cast both healing and damaging spells. Not sure on the Celestia one, still deciding. Felpurr is my Thief, and I'll likely push her into more combat-oriented classes, though I am a bit hesitant to do that. We rely so heavily on Thief to crack chests, but there are spells for that too.

Progressing smoothly. I feel like I need to just charge the main story, because most of what I'm encountering is still easily blown away. Apparently, bosses included.

[zydrateacademy]

Current Activities in Baldur’s Gate #5

Spoilers for Act 2 ahead.

My progress on the game continues to be a general crawl as I am constantly rolling new class and racial combos to experience what Act 1 feels like as say, a Drow or a Gith.

I also rerolled my warlock for possibly the third time. I didn't quite like some of the story choices I had made for her to some extent; I wanted to grind out (hurr hurr) Lae'zel rep a bit more than I had on her before with a wiki guide on the side, hitting all the right dialogs for it. Suits the warlock just fine, she's no soldier but still has that asshole mentality. Also I didn't like her face being completely covered with those runes so I went for the lighter option.

(weird bubble thing from some particle effects in character creation)

Other than her skintone being variable between rerolls, she remains fairly consistent. But it's always something purple-ish.

The furthest character I have continues to be Sinji herself, my Dragonborn Bard/Rogue. I almost lost her as a save file, because I have a mod that allows you to get to 20 as long as you multiclass. However you can't just beeline straight to 12 as your main chosen class; because the game's interface doesn't account for that and you'll crash. You need to go 11 and then multi the rest of it. Karlach was a pure 12 barbarian and I kept crashing when trying to level her up... But the game is mostly fairly generous with its autosaves, though at times you can lose an hour or two if you don't go somewhere it deems as a checkpoint.

I lost maybe an hour but I still had a nearby autosave with Karlach still at 11 so I could splinter her off into rogue for some extra bonus movements and might effectively be my partner in crime in Baldur's Gate proper as Sinji pops a performance, draws people to her, and Karlach can break into their stuff. Sinji's stealthy bonuses are better but unless I spec Shadowheart into bard... Karlach can do just fine as long as I get those red vision cones off of her.

I piddled around Act 2 a bit, originally thought I was half done but now I wager it was more of a third. I just discovered two Thorm's, sons or creations of the Act's big bad and... casually persuaded them both to kill themselves in odd ways. One guy let his students stab him to death because I twisted his Shar teachings against him. The other drank himself to death. Both had beefy hit point pools (much more than I'm used to yet, both had something to the effect of 280hp) so my other characters may be in for a hell of a fight.

I want my warlock and Dark Urge to also catch up with Sinji to some point. I found out that Durge has the potential to get a pretty cool monster form that I might have fun playing with. My Durge file is a bit wishy-washy. She's not necessarily going all-in with her urges but it's a case by case basis, truly. I just wish I had a choice with the bard somehow. I would have liked an actual bard teammate with dialog and stuff. Most of the time I let her admire her work but in the day to day adventuring, she's a fine and friendly sort.

My warlock is chugging ahead, approaching the goblin camp (again). As usual she'll wipe it out.

I have a side-drow that sided with the goblins but I found the grove sacking to be uninteresting on a gameplay standpoint. Taking down the goblins is usually a fun room by room clear, damn near military like. The grove attack is more one-sided in your favor and you only fight a few tieflings at a time. And I've fought Kagha before, when revealing her shadow druid affiliation. She's not difficult.

At this point in my experience I really do feel like I should try act 1 on tactician. I'm starting to rush through it but I'm sure I'm missing things. So far I've only fucked around the underdark once and I found the gameplay there more taxing than anything else. At least Act 2's shadow management is... manageable. I put the special lantern on Shadowheart (who's my warlock and eventual semi-bard), but it would be good on any caster because weapons thankfully don't affect spells at all. So she's carrying it around while my three melee chug through the content.

I have a very easy way to count my 'true' hours in this game. I had 52 hours during early access, steam says I have 148 hours played. So that's 92 of post-release hours played aaannnddd... I've only gotten a third into act 2 on a single character.

I'm just having so much fun experiencing all the dialog.

I still don't have a character who's going all in with the Illithid powers and wisdom checks. Might be an interesting idea for a future sorcerer. Like I need more character ideas :/

[namjooningelsewhere]

Fic Recs❤

Since i love fic recs so much and I am literally hogging each one of them, I thought it would be fun to have one of my own, These are the ones that are my absolute favorites and I have literally lost count of the times I have been going back and re-reading them. This is just one part of it though and these are all series. I have a separate list for one-shot, I don't know if this is how a fic rec should look, ?But ive tried to keep it simple.💖❤🤞

Completed:

The Pact - By @alpacaparkaseok

This is the first ever fic that i had read on tumblr, It just popped on my feed and i am glad it did. Its really beautiful and to be honest THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DATES I HAVE READ OR HEARD ARE RIGHT HERE.

Organic - By @ppersonna

This ones a social media au, Its sassy, super fun since the start and there isn't a dull moment. I had almost died laughing at the OC and Jins chemisrty and the rest of them as well . My all time go to if i am feeling super dull.

Who's Your Daddy? By @ppersonna

This is another social media au and my goodness this is as silly as sweet and mind you as sexy as it gets. This is altogether another level. Everything is perfection amplified here❤❤

Inevitable By @ahundredtimesover

This one hit home. I read the first chapter and god damn i was hooked like nobody's business. This one is super super close to me, One because Mimi has literally done magic out here on this fic and i think I'm the person who has chewed her brains the most with my 10 pager essays about what i felt. And secondly it is something very personal to me, Literally i have read it 20 times so far. My Absolute fav.

Perfectly Wrong By @xpeachesncream

This is a one hell of a interesting fic, Its absolutely beautiful. The emotions are so pure, So real and so precise to be honest. Absolute surreal. This one definitely makes you crave for friendships like them.

Bands By @xpeachesncream

This is the sweetest love story i have read. It had kept me hooked from the start to the end. There are moments which will make you literally cry, have a fluff attack (I use this term when the fluff is extremely good, So good that makes you giddy with the sweetness in a good way.)

CSG By @sunshyngal

This ones from my favorite writer, This story is so beautiful yet so delicate. Shyn has a way of portraying emotions too well and mind it it can be felt. This is one hell of a love story, Intense as ever.

Muse By @lavishedinjimin

This one will sure leave you in awe of the way its written, Super intense and oh damn you will literally feel chills as thwe story progresses. Its an art masterpiece, And Tae!! Ahem❤🤷‍♀️ He is a a different level hot and intense.

Falling From Grace By @sunshyngal

This is an epic fic, The hate and friction is intense AF and hottest ever. Its sinful AF and one of the hottest ones ive read❤🙌

Ongoing:

I Hate You, I love You By @borathae

This is a roller coaster of a story, One of which i can write a million words to describe how amazing it is. Its one of the fics that makes me jump with joy when i receive a notification of update. Its one of my ongoing favs and also one of the fics that i actually have lost count of the times i have gone back and re-read till date. This is the first ever story that makes me want to fall in love once again, After having given up the idea of it a long time ago. Its a fluff attack as it progresses. The emotions are on full swing in this one.

Death Valley By @bangtangalicious

This is one hell of a Netflix worthy fic! Period. If anything, I even have a list of actors for the OT7 and OC as to who can play who!😉🤷‍♀️

It will fucking keep you on the edge with suspense and it will blow your mind, head and whatever is left in you to bits!! I have literally never built theories or literally never spent connecting dots as i did for this one. Im not giving out spoilers, But this one right here had my heart beat racing every time there is a update. Mind-blowing is the proper word for it though.

Cyberslut By @kimnjss

Yoongi is another level in this, One of my fav social media au's. Its got everything, Mind-blowing and amazing. No matter how many time I've read it, still feels new like I'm reading it for the first time.

Silk and Lace By @sunshyngal

This is the epitome of perfection. I have never seen such characters. Intense is the least of it. Something about Shyn is she writes such female characters that are so head strong and courageous. You cant help but fall in love with them. Its an equal here, A story of two equals in their own ways.

Sadness of things By @sunshyngal

This is one i wait for updates like nobody's business yet i have no words to describe it. This story is something else, Actually something else. So many emotions are so perfectly written, its a memorable one. Its beautiful. Truly! Another example of a strong female character.

Abundance By @angelicyoongie

This fic is abundance of everything, Its as real as it gets. Its like built from ground up and it is nothing less than perfection. A perfect hybrid au.❤❤ If OT7 is your thing, You will definitely fall in love with this one.

I'm Not Yours By @hantaev

This is still starting, But i fell in love with the first teaser and hooked with second teaser and whipped with the First Chapter, No kidding its a beautiful story, with even beautifully written.❤🤷‍♀️

Maybe I Do By @chateautae

This is the first fic that I'm thankful for having long chapters. Every time i read it i just cant get enough. Its prefect example of how love has no definitions and you can even find love in the most unconventional ways. One of the sweetest love story I've come I've ever read. Maybe i just don't have enough words.

Incoming: Elite Chatboy By @kookingtae

This is so good that it should be illegal. One of the hottest ones ever. Chemistry, sass and sexual tension runs high in this one and keeps on edge. Interesting AF and hot AF!!!

Kanalia By @xjoonchildx

This is one hell of a fic, set in ancient backdrop! It intrigued me AF and then I couldn't stop myself from reading it again and again. The chemistry in here runs deep, one of the fics that I'm desperately waiting for the next update. It's going to be a masterpiece that I'm sure of!!

Lowkey By @xpeachesncream

I am eternally apologetic about not stumbling on this fic earlier, Thank heavens I did today. One of the most realistic ones yet most touching ones I've come across on tumblr❤❤❤❤

[moon-light-jukebox]

Learning Styles - [Reid x Reader]

Summary: Reader has worked hard to get to the FBI, but a misunderstanding has her feeling insecure. 

Pairing: Spencer Reid / Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Genre: Fluff

Rating: PG

Content Warning: Mention of normal criminal minds stuff briefly. 

A/n: I got these two requests and they were so similar I decided to combine them. I hope that’s okay, but I feel like the stories would have been almost identical. 

Requests:  - I have a fic suggestion. Reader pretends to be dumb but is actually really smart. I’m thinking of that quote about marilyn ”you have to be really smart to pretend to be dumb”. One day spencer realizes that reader is smarter than she lets people know.

- Hi! Can I request a spencer reid x reader fic where reader isn't great with numbers but brilliant with behaviour and humanities (i.e. literature, history, sociology, up to you)? Maybe a dash of insecurity to spice things up?

-- Learning Styles -- 

My favorite professor in college told me that everyone learns differently; what works for one person won’t work in the same way for another. We are all different human beings that are shaped in different ways.

I had always been oddly insecure about my intelligence level. One of my earliest memories was my mother yelling at me while I sat at the kitchen table when I was in first grade. I was the only kid in my class who still hadn’t learned how to read. I just didn’t understand. All of my friends were progressing so much quicker than me and my mother was losing patience.

It wasn’t until my grandmother stepped in that everything changed. My elementary school teacher was training children to read by memorizing sight words, a concept I didn’t understand. When my grandmother sat down and taught me phonics. I distinctly remember everything snapping into place.

I was in 1st grade and reading at a 7th-grade level by Christmas. Once I finally understood my learning style, I really began to thrive.

But no matter what I did, I could still hear my mother yelling at me, telling me I was stupid.

In my line of work, I see just how much the throw away comments that parents make can shape a child’s development. Luckily, those comments just made me a bit insecure, not a murderer.

Up until I was 22, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do beyond this desire I had to help people. SSA David Rossi had come to guest lecture in one of my abnormal psych classes during undergrad. After I heard him speak, I was done. I couldn’t have done anything else with my life. I had obtained my master’s in psychology before I joined the FBI.

It took some time, but I was finally assigned to the Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico. I was so excited on my first day that I remember my hands physically shaking.

Until they weren’t.

I can still remember my first day so clearly. SSA Hotchner had introduced me to the team, saving the “best” for last.

“And this is Dr. Spencer Reid,” he had said. “He’s our expert on…well, everything.”

Reid was my age and he had his Ph.D. I remember feeling awed by him.

Until I didn’t.

"I hold 3 Ph.D.'s in Chemistry, Engineering, and Mathematics. I also have BAs in psychology and sociology."

I remember my jaw almost hitting the floor. While I was impressed by him, I wasn’t insecure about my place on the team.

Until I was.

My grandmother may have helped me master reading, which opened the door to me mastering anything else I put my mind to…except math.

I was fine at statistics, luckily. You couldn’t get a psych degree without a ton of statistics work. But statistics was different, I could see the practical use of statistics. I just couldn’t wrap my head around calculus or algebra.

On my first case with the team, Reid had calculated some insane mathematical equations on the whiteboard, running down the probabilities and applying a mathematical formula to the unsub’s behavior.

It wasn't until later, after the case was solved when I was standing in front of the whiteboard that my confidence was hit. Reid had come into the room and saw me looking at his work.

“Don’t bother trying to understand it,” he had said. “You’d have to be a genius to understand what I do.”

I didn’t have a word to describe the feeling that settled in my stomach at his words, I wasn’t sure such a word existed. The feeling was cold and heavy, but also made my body burn with shame.

I had just offered him a tight smile before I left the room.

On the plane home I had made a decision. I was no match for Dr. Reid, I doubt anyone was. So, I would take myself out of the competition. I couldn’t get hurt if I wasn’t playing the game.

And that is how the next year of my life went. I allowed Dr. Reid to explain things to me that I was an expert in, never saying a word. I acted like I didn't understand concepts that I had written papers on. The only thing I didn't dumb down was my profiling skills. Those were necessary for my job and for saving lives.

I don’t think anyone realized what I was doing.

Until they did.

--

The team had been called to Colorado to assist in capturing a serial rapist.

All of our cases bothered me, every last one…but something about ones with this vile element really struck me.

We had the unsub’s name, Tyler Childress. He had spent time in prison for sexual assault and burglary. It seems while he was in prison, he spent time perfecting his methods; it was only by pure luck that we found his fingerprint inside the victim’s house, making him the main suspect.

When we paid Mr. Childress a visit, he had managed to get the drop on Prentiss and Morgan, allowing them to escape. Morgan was furious.

All of us were sitting around a conference table in the local prescient while we let Dr. Reid talk.

I was trying to be calm, I was, but my nails were digging into my palm so deeply I was worried I was about to draw blood.

“Guys,” the expert on everything said. “He has to have some sort of accomplice.”

Rossi just sighed. “But the profile doesn’t point to him being the sort to do well with others; he’s a narcissist.”

Reid wouldn’t budge. “I know that, but he isn’t intelligent enough to pull this off alone. He’s just not. He had an IQ test done when he was 20. He scored in the mentally handicapped range. I’m telling you he has to have help.”

“Are you sure, Reid?” Hotch asked.

“Positive. I have his results right here.”

“IQ tests aren’t a good measure of intelligence on their own.”

I was so startled that someone had contradicted Dr. Reid that it took me a second to realize it was me who had contradicted him.

He turned to face me; his brown eyes wide. “What?”

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. “IQ tests aren’t a good measure of intelligence.”

Dr. Reid laughed. He laughed at me like my comment was funny. “I don’t know where you heard that,” he began.

But I interrupted him. "IQ tests are classist and oftentimes racist. The man who invented the IQ test never intended for it to be used as a complete measure of intelligence. He regretted making the test.”

Reid sputtered. “You…it’s not racist!”

“Yes. It. Is.” I ground out. “If it wasn’t it wouldn’t be illegal to administer an IQ test to a black child in the state of California.”

"Wait, it's illegal to do that?" JJ asked, her brows drawn together.

"Yes. There was a court case in the 1970s over it. Teachers were using tests to separate white children from black children. The black children were put into special education classes they didn’t need to be in. Just because the teachers didn’t want those children in their classrooms.”

I should have stopped, but I was on a role. “They’re also inherently classist. How can you expect a child to answer a question about Romeo and Juliet if they haven’t heard of it?”

That had Dr. Reid scoffing. “Everyone has heard of it.”

I shot to my feet, unable to hold back anymore. “No, they haven’t. Children in underfunded schools that don’t have access to resources might not have heard about the most famous play in history because their school wasn’t able to provide the materials to teach them about it. There was a study done in a remote part of Russia right after the IQ test was invented. Every. Single. Person. Scored in the mentally handicapped range. Because they didn’t understand.”

I knew my voice was rising but I couldn’t stop myself. “Once the researcher took the questions and applied them to things they understood, they all scored as above average. They didn’t understand math as an abstract concept, but they understood it when it was applied to their businesses, to something they actually knew about.”

I cleared my throat. “The test isn’t fair, it’s not equal. Tyler Childress didn’t go to a good school and he didn’t have a stable home life. You can’t use one measure to calculate his intelligence. He’s gotten away with 7 assaults so far that we know of. He’s not stupid.”

The entire room was silent once I had stopped speaking. I couldn’t bring myself to regret it though. What kind of person was I if I played dumb because I was afraid of being mocked when a monster was out there attacking women? No, those women deserved to have me at my best.

And I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t give it to them.

Rossi spoke first, his eyes twinkling when he looked at me. “Took you long enough,” he said. “But y/n is right. We trust the profile; we don’t let personal bias cloud the way. That’s how we catch this bastard.”

--

Later that day, we were cleaning up the conference room while the local police processed Tyler Childress.

Pathological narcissism is a complex disorder, but we followed the profile and Rossi was right. Hotch set up a press conference in which JJ and Prentiss took center stage. They tore Childress’s ego to shreds on live television.

His narcissism wouldn’t allow that to slide. He got angry, he made a mistake, and we got him before anyone else got hurt.  

While the cat was out of the bag about my intelligence and that made me nervous, I couldn't regret any of it. I got to be the one to tell our last victim that we got him. I got to hug her while she cried because now that he was locked up, she felt like her healing could begin. I wasn’t sure if my rant about structural racism and the classism of IQ tests actually helped anything, but that didn’t really matter. There was one less monster in the shadows.

Today was a good day.

I was alone in the conference room, untacking photos from the evidence board when I heard someone clear their throat from behind me. I turned my head to meet the wide, honey brown eyes of Dr. Spencer Reid.

Oh boy, I thought. “What’s up, Reid?”

He shifted from foot to foot, his hands twisting in front of him before he crossed his arms over his chest. “I asked Garcia to look into you.”

My eyebrows drew together. “I’m pretty sure any nefarious things I had done would have popped up on my initial background check.”

“Right, I didn’t mean like that,” he mumbled, the apples of his cheeks turning pink. “I asked her to look into you academically.”

Shit.

He went on. “You double majored in psychology and sociology before you got a master’s in cultural psychology. She pulled your thesis. I just read it.”

“I see.” I turned my attention back to the board.

“You also guest lecture on cross-cultural psychology at Georgetown several times a year. And you’ve co-authored two papers since I’ve known you.”

Meh, it’s three. But that doesn’t matter. “Did you read those too?”

I took his silence as confirmation.

He was so quiet I almost thought he had left, but the crackle of energy I felt in the air told me he hadn’t. “Do you need something, Dr. Reid?”

"Why didn't you get your Ph.D.?"

I had answered that question many, many times. “I didn’t need a doctorate to do what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to waste time. Once I figured out what I wanted, I charged at it.” Which was a far more honest answer than most people got about that from me.

“W-why did you pretend to be dumb?” he rasped out, causing me to look back at him. “32 days ago, you let me explain the long-term effects of gerrymandering and the complex causes of poverty.”

“Of course, I did,” I said, frowning. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“One of the papers you authored was about generational poverty.”

“Just because I know a lot about something doesn’t mean I can stop listening to information. That sort of thinking breeds ignorance.” I smiled, unable to not tease him just a little bit.

Reid took a step closer to me. “You didn’t answer my question.”

I just shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t have a good answer.”

In all the months I had known him, Spencer Reid had never touched me, not even so much as a finger brushing against mine when he handed me something. That fact is why I was so startled when I felt his hand on my upper arm, turning me towards him.

He licked his lips, his eyes darting around. “Did everyone else know?”

I shook my head, my teasing mood long gone. "No. I mean, clearly, Rossi suspected but…No, I didn't tell anyone else."

“I just don’t understand. You’re brilliant.”

I scoffed. “No, I’m not. I’m decent a psychology, sociology, stuff like that. I can’t apply math to behavior to find patterns. I can’t even calculate how much something is gonna cost when it’s on sale without a calculator half the time.”

‘What do you…” Reid trailed off. “Wait. The very first case. You were looking at the evidence board.”

Goddamn eidetic memory.

The boy wonder was on a roll now. “I told you that you’d have to…is that why you didn’t tell me?”

What else could I do? I just nodded.

Those brown eyes closed, and he let out a groan. “I said that because I thought you were going to…I was worried…” He huffed out a breath and opened his eyes. “I wanted you to like me. I didn’t want you to think I was just a nerd.”  

Now I was confused. “Why?”

Spencer Reid’s blush went all the way down his neck. “Well…I just…Morgan said I should just talk to you. But I’m not…I’m not good at that. I panic, then I start to ramble. Like I’m doing now…”

“Reid,” I interrupted. “I’m not playing dumb now. I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I like you,” he blurted out right before he smacked both of his hands over his face. “Oh my god. I sound like a child.” I thought I heard him mutter idiot under his breath. “Emily says that my IQ gets slashed to 60 whenever I see a pretty girl.”

Much like that moment all those years ago when I was a child, I felt everything click into place. Oh.

I couldn't suppress my smile any longer. I rose up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Well, we've already gone over how IQ tests aren't a good measure of overall intelligence."  

With that, I quickly stepped away and hurried out of the conference room, leaving a stunned genius in my wake. When I turned back to look at him, I saw his fingers brushing over the place where my lips had just been.  

--

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[twh-news]

How the VFX Team Behind Marvel’s ‘Loki’ Brought Miss Minutes to Life | Variety

As Marvel continues dipping its toes in TV — snagging 28 Emmy nominations in the process — its latest venture, the Disney Plus miniseries “Loki,” is being hailed as one of the studio’s most unique anti-hero stories to date.

While Tom Hiddleston steals the show as the titular character, perhaps most captivating is the Time Variance Authority (TVA)’s cute, conniving animated mascot, Miss Minutes.

The character voiced by Tara Strong, starts off as warm and bubbly, but as the series progresses, she’s not all she seems to be.

With only a couple of rough sketches of the character, Marvel recruited Luma Pictures to bring Miss Minutes to life, in all her wonderful (and terrifying) forms. Luma VFX supervisor Jared Simeth spoke to Variety about the inspirations behind Miss Minutes and how the team’s animation styles evolved along with the character.

Marvel gave you sketches of Miss Minutes and basically said, “Bring her to life.” Tell me about that process.

Marvel gave us two concept images of Miss Minutes and some animatics for different sequences as a starting point for motion. The brief was basically, “Here’s the character, we’re trying to figure out exactly what the movement should be. Find some inspiration, do some tests and we’ll start figuring out what the character of Miss Minutes is.”

They mentioned Felix the Cat as a starting point, which has a very steppy motion — not very fluid. We also found a lot of different references, earlier animations from the ’20s and ’30s like Betty Boop, which has a much more fluid animation and stretchy arms. We did a bunch of tests and then focused more on a Felix the Cat-type motion, which is what we ended up with.

Miss Minutes’ animation style changes throughout the show, from a more hand-drawn vibe to this glowing 3D model. What was it like creating completely different visuals for the same character?

It was fun in general just working on Miss Minutes, who looks very different from any other Marvel cartoon. And it was fun to play around with the different ways we could adapt her. The first time you see her is in the propaganda video, where we keep it very basic and very steppy. Once she comes into the real world as the holographic portion, she is a little bit more fluid, not quite as steppy, but still in that Felix the Cat vibe for the first few episodes. But as you learn more about the TVA, we see her not just as this mascot, especially toward the end of the series when we understand that she knows more about this than we do and she has an agenda of her own. When she becomes more sinister than we initially think, she starts getting a bit more naturalistic, a little bit more dramatic. Instead of having everything be keyframed, we actually did some motion capture to get a little bit more nuance into the role, which is not normal for cartoon characters. So we’re kind of playing those two things against each other, because she is a cartoon character with a more nuanced performance.

The propaganda video has become a fan-favorite scene of “Loki.” What was the inspiration behind animating it?

Marvel basically gave us a rough animatic, with cut together film footage and little clips from old propaganda animations with a voiceover. We had to come up with how to make it into a 2D animated version that has a nice clean look throughout.

At the same time, they’re also working on the script and figuring out what points they want to hit in the video — what is the TVA, how the world works within the Marvel Universe, etc. — so we had a back-and-forth about which points can be clear and which can be a little bit more ambiguous and whatnot, so there’s also a back-and-forth with the style. Early on, Felix the Cat was the style for both the animation of Miss Minutes and the visual style of the propaganda piece. But that was deemed a little bit too kind of kid-sy, so we started looking into something more grown-up, like “Jonny Quest” and Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

We’d do a design for the Timekeepers in that style, and it seemed too realistic, so we ventured into the style of “The Flintstones,” and that seemed too familiar, so we went for more obscure references. There are these propaganda pieces from the 1950s called “A Is For Atom,” which are about atomic energy, and “Destination Earth,” which is about oil and made by the same company. It has a 1950s style but still feels unique, and so that was our Bible in getting the historical feel. It was really fun to make it almost like a period piece film but in the Marvel Universe.

How did you go about creating facial expressions for the character?

We had to come up with all those nuances just from a few concept images. Her performance goes to so many different levels of character, and whether it’s angry or sad or conniving, it was fun to come up with those looks.

We did a first pass, which was just 2D, of all the main expressions she might have, and then we took that and fleshed it out into our 3D version of Miss Minutes. It was rendered as a 2D-looking character, but we created it all in 3D. It was fun to take one concept, figure out all the different expressions and how our character evolves, and then build that into our assets.

What was the most challenging part of Miss Minutes?

Getting the 3D version to feel hand-drawn was a challenge. We have a lot of tools, but making sure that it looks like a 2D creation and not a 3D creation was definitely a challenge. And it was a fun challenge to figure out all the different versions of her.

At first glance, Miss Minutes serves a similar purpose as Mr. D.N.A. from “Jurassic Park.” Was that a reference?

It was definitely on our minds from the beginning when they sent us the rough animatic. Miss Minutes has a similar role, but it’s more expanded upon than Mr. D.N.A. But they both don’t quite jive with everything going on and feel a little out of place. Especially for the propaganda film, we referenced Mr. D.N.A., as they’re both little helpers who are showing you the way.

[synoxshots]

The Master KOTFE Adventure

My latest project has been playing through KotFE on master mode.

Why ever would you want to do that? you may ask, and I have asked myself the same thing. In short, it was a mix of having a light sided empire toon that I didn't want the autocompletes on, and the fact that he is also the best geared character I've ever had and the discipline I've had most experience playing. And I've run through KotFE quite a few times so, freshening it up I guess? 

So this is how it went. This isn't a guide - more, a record of my experiences as I went through. As ever, some things I found easy others might find hard, and (more likely, lbr) vice versa. 

The gamer:

I play a Rage Jugg, wear Descent of the Fearless set, gear level 306 with a full set of 286 augments. So - very well geared, but not fully optimised stats wise. Experience wise for this - I'd done a few chapters on vet mode before with a Guardian (Focus) and Powertech (Pyrotech) though not always at max gear (probably in the 290s when I first gave it a go), and I like trying to solo group content like vet fps (master for Red Reaper only) because I don't love myself, I guess. A smidge of ops experience. I'm reasonably competent as a player but also prone to stupid, I don't claim to be great by any means.

Chapter I

All went smoothly, died on the last fight against the BD-148 elite skytrooper - but that was just because I forgot about heroic moments existing, given that half the chapter is spent without a companion. Used my enraged defence a few times but never really felt at risk of dying. Apart from the one time when I did, obviously. Marr goes up to 28 influence automatically. Lots of mobs can be skipped as they're already engaged in fights.

Chapter II

Quite a few mobs you can skip around. Valkorion heals you though he's not a companion so no heroic moment. Last monolith did get me close to death sometimes, so there was a bit of running away so I could heal up a bit more, and making good use of defensive abilities. But no deaths on this one!

Chapter III

I died twice on this one, both were easily preventable. The first was against the Ground Assault Walker (massive droid before the bridge) and pretty much because I hadn't raised Lana's influence yet, so I upped it to 20 before starting the fight again and cleared it very quickly. Sidenote: a while back I bought a bunch of Spiced Aric Tongue from the Jawa scrap peddlers as I didn't know what else to do with all that, Lana accepts it so it's a nice quick way to up her level (Koth likes it too, a lot, which is handy). Second death was against like, a handful of skytroopers when I was shutting down the reactor and really it was mostly because I wasn't paying attention properly, though Lana died both times at this point. There's another fight where these prototype skytroopers keep swarming and I was a bit nervous because there were kolto stations there and I couldn't entirely remember how intense it got. The answer was...not intense at all and I definitely didn't need them. The final fight on this one is the two Zakuul knights but they didn't cause me any problems. All in all I'd say the deaths I've had so far have all been my own fault.

Chapter IV

This...did not go as well. And I'm not entirely sure why, just bad play on my part I think mostly, sometimes there are days when I just play like trash *shrug*. Not timing things like enraged defence, heroic moments and so on very well which meant I died a few times to wildlife - twice the larger bosses, twice mobs of normal/strong ones. Yeah... Kept upping my companion influence so all three (Lana, Koth and HK by this point) got up to 27 but I think even higher than that may be needed as they just didn't seem to be healing well. 

Chap V

I was a bit wary heading into this one, as it was one I'd run before on vet mode and remembered having trouble with the skytrooper waves. I was less geared then though, and had less companion influence doing that, having now taken everyone up to about 32. I didn't record any deaths on this though had a near miss - but I had saved my enraged defence/heroic moment and so on and hit them at the right time. Hey, I'm playing smarter! 

Chapter VI

I found this chapter easy when I'd run it on veteran not long before, but that was not the case on master. Died the first time against Oggo, that was my own fault though, although he does have one particular ability that hits very hard. Then came the Scions. Ohhh boy. The first two you face killed me, fair enough I hadn't had a chance to raise Senya's influence yet. The second two, Venat and Berusal, caused me pain. The good thing is that when fighting the pairs and you take one down, if you die the other doesn't respawn. The other good thing is that Venat and Berusal can be pulled separately, the bad news is I found this out after a few attempts. And Berusal still killed me on his own the first time. I was not having a fun time. And then you face Heskal without a companion. It takes a bit of tactics. I tried to damage him whilst he was doing Debris Storm, though still had to avoid the red circles. Turbulence gives a lot of damage, so had to hastily get out the way/interrupt it. He also stuns you which isn't fun. Valky pops up and offers you an out after the first phase, unfortunately I decided to stay true to character and not take it. Bad times were had. I went to lunch. I asked a friend to help. My internet got switched off before that could happen. I found out I was able to summon a companion...I know I'm not supposed to story wise, and I'm not sure if you can normally (there's a lot of times when companion summon buttons are greyed out due to story restrictions) or if this was only because I'd previously logged out...but suddenly the fight became a lot easier. Funny that. Sigh. Moving on...

Chapter VII

Honestly not much to say about this one, nothing that caused me trouble. A lot of it is in the open world so regular difficulty rather than scaled to master. 

Chapter VIII

This one wasn't much trouble either, did die once when stuff was on cooldown, once in the final Arcann fight. Kiting him over and hitting the conduits there is a big help as they stun him, that is probably very obvious but I've literally never bothered with them on story or vet mode. We're halfway there!

Chapter X

This one also gave me a Time. The problem I had was when you come up against Faedral and Zaamsk. My first thought was the difficulty was because I hadn't raised Kaliyo's influence (oops, but you get her on the spot and I didn't have gifts handy...or at least the ones I thought she liked she didn't actually) (this is how I found out that agent!Kaliyo and alliance!Kaliyo have different preferences, apparently this will also apply to other - but not all - returning companions). But I raised her to 28 and still kept dying. It's a bit of a nasty fight honestly, and the guide I looked at said that juggs...aren’t ideal for it. Crowd control and interrupts are very handy. I kept getting really close to getting one of them down and dying just before I could, super annoying because it's another of those where if you take one down and die, you only have to face the other one. I took a break and read the guide more closely, watched some videos, and ultimately just decided to bring someone along to avoid the pain, or maybe share in it. I still died but we got through them. The fight against Tayvor Slen, the boss fight of the chapter, took a couple of tries with two of us - the first time I got stuck in a red circle and pretty much insta-killed. There was a bit of a close call on the second attempt but it was under control really. The achievement then comes through for chapter completion, all you have to do then is get out of the Overwatch, all things rosy right? Oh how wrong they were. A bunch of Zakuul Knights came along and literally just slaughtered us, full on, one-shotting us both - it was hilarious and extremely confusing because why?? how?? Did the bonus mission to get the prisoners to escape (look out for the glowing terminal, it says 'Overwatch Prison Logs' when you hover over it) - they one-shot a few Knights but then disappeared on us too. Who knows. But we got through it.

Chapter XI

A much nicer one though still had a handful of deaths. Where you meet up with Havoc Squad there's ambush of Skytroopers, followed by a couple of walkers - and the walkers beat me. They cast circles that I just couldn't get out of in time to save my health, even with my defensives. I'm not sure if they were the type to follow you or a sort of stamp move (I should have looked at the cast bar, come to think of it) - I suspect though it was the latter and so it wouldn't be an issue on a ranged character. The fight though does continue around you if you die so you don't lose the progress you make, just use the med probe, revive and rejoin. I only took Jorgan to level 7 because that was all the gifts I had, but most of the mobs were just regular trash, typically 3 at a time, which was no worry. When you attack the base the Knights are a bit harder - there's one round the back that does stealth strikes and that's a difficult one to face. I died - the respawn to medbay actually puts you inside the part with the forcefield you're supposed to take down, and then you can't get out of it...I maintain that I did find a way past the forcefield but it doesn't work as a cheesing method. Use your med probe, otherwise it's quick travel out and re-enter your phase. The final battle is a big droid (I forgot the name of it). It spawns a bunch of smaller droids, just ignore those and go for the boss - I didn't the first time and that's why I died - I lost Jorgan, I had two Knights chasing me whilst the droid put up shields, it didn't go well - second time I did it in less than a minute whilst using a heroic moment.

Chapter XII

This one you don't have a companion for, though it's not a big deal - for the most part my main enemy, as tends to be the case on this chapter, was the map. I think the regular mobs are scaled down a bit for playing without a companion. You can pick up an animal to help you as well, which you may as well do as things just die quicker. It runs off in caves. Valkorion does take your health down a fair chunk before he gives you his beat down but it wasn't so bad. Vaylin though took quite a few attempts. You can't interrupt her so you have to be on the ball with your defensives and timing them all, which includes the shield and medpac given in your temporary bar for the chapter. Really the medpac isn't that effective so don't count on it. There's a lot of running around as she casts red circles. Probably easier with a character with more self heals. I got through it after a few efforts, after getting close a few times, though even then I was still low on health by the end.

Chapter XIII

Yeah, this one was no trouble really, and that was with Gault at only level 4 influence. If things get hairy whack a bit more on him, there's no real mechanics to pose problems. As ever, good practice to stay out of circles on the boss fight, you have Vette there as well so a bit of extra damage going and yeah. Nothing to worry about.

Chapter XIV

Another that was nice and simple, I didn't even have any gifts to give Torian so was wandering around with him on level 1. Just a matter of timing defensives and heroic moments in that case. Lots is open world, too. Final boss fight was no problem at all.

Chapter XV

Reading guides for this put the fear of god into me, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it better than expected. The bosses were the toughest parts. The first is the Skytrooper Constructor, that one does spawn adds after a while as well. It killed me a couple of times but really I'm not sure what the best strategy was so I just went for the classic, burn it as fast as I possibly can and making use of heroic moment/defensives as well. The GEMINI droid at the end had me worried. That took 3 attempts (maybe 4, I think it was just 3 though), one of those my heroic moment was still on cooldown and Senya died quickly on it too. It was really just about managing defensives effectively as well, running away when she has the red cone in front of you, using the heroic moment for extra speedy damage. It was a close call in the end but my enraged defence came off cooldown at the perfect moment, thank you Grit Teeth. I wouldn't say this was an easy chapter by any means so quite proud of myself for getting through it on my own! The other thing I would say is watch out for the lasers - they don't do lots of damage on story mode, but on master they one-shot you if you get caught in them! The other various traps I probably got through easier than I have on the lower difficulties which may just be a testament to this being like, my fifth complete kotfe run at this stage haha.

Chapter XVI

The final chapter...and the one I was the most scared of. Took Lana up to lvl 50 in preparation...she duly died early on in the first boss anyway. KJ-931 is the first boss - I say first boss, there's still a high rank enemy immediately before that I died to a few times anyway and needed a heroic moment to beat. First attempt against KJ I actually came really close. Stay out of the aoes - there's a white circle and a yellow cone, as well as a big red laser thing where you have to rush to the corner and if you can - micromanage Lana well enough that she doesn't get caught up in them too. So I learnt that I am not good at micromanaging companions like that. Take the turrets rather than the shields, definitely - apparently the shields also have limited use, the turrets pull aggro as well as giving you damage so they're very handy. Sometimes on this fight I got one-shotted very quickly, others I managed to hold on a bit - but it was the first attempt that was my best run until I actually did it. Honestly I can't say what the trick was to finally getting it right...just a lot of blind panic and luck. Second boss is Dara Nadal - I found it easier to just go for the intense burn on her - put down the turrets, use a heroic moment, set Lana to damage as well and burn. Still took a few attempts on her but each time I was getting very close so I knew I would get there.

And then came Arcann. Ooooh boy. I'd been reading guides and watching videos in preparation but there's still a lot to keep on top of. I decided to use the Marr & Satele Special Saber rather than my usual one - having the benefit of being able to run around quickly was handy, and the other ability reflects damage from his saber attack. This took many attempts - some that went very quickly, some that got him to his final phase. Rather than going into specifics I'm going to link to this video as it probably explains what to do best (it’s handy for all the bosses). You really have to watch for the moment he gets to ~25% and stands in one spot - if you aren't able to do the shield whacky he will kill you straight up. My first time running towards him with the shield in that very last phase I died on the way up. It took me a long time and a lot on repair bills but this is another one I was very proud of for getting through on my own as there were times I didn't think I would.

General stuff:

I would say doing this is not for the light-hearted but it’s certainly possible! Apart from one chapter where I grabbed a friend I got through them all on my own

Some classes fair better in certain chapters than others. I went with my Jugg all the way through, but if you have the characters geared and you know them well enough - and you're doing this for the cheevos rather than going through the storyline - you're likely better off mixing and matching as you go. There were many occasions I wished I had range.

You will die to trash mobs. It is a fact of life. It feels embarrassing in the early chapters, you come to accept this and move on.

Companion influence helps a lot. Koth, Lana, and Senya all like delicacies (especially Koth, that man can eat) - you can grab these from the Jawa vendors in the cartel bazaar on fleet.

Med droids are also a booming industry thanks to the amount I've spent on repairs in the course of this.

There are more mechanics compared to story mode, and some that exist in story mode that you just notice more on master. But apparently the difference between vet and master is just artificial - more health and hitting harder. 

Going Commando is another good resource for their experiences playing through.

[oddlyhale]

IronQrow Villains AU

Ironwood and Qrow as villains in the RWBY show AU.

Ironwood is based off of the Three Snake Leaves fairytale, a story about a man who revived his dead wife with Three Snake Leaves. However, reviving her only brought him betrayal, as she lost love for him and tried to kill him with her lover. Able to survive, the man went to the King and told everything the Princess had done. She was then punished with her lover to be drown in sea on a sinking ship.

Qrow is now based on The Juniper Tree fairytale, a story about a young boy who was killed by his greedy step-mother that wanted the inheritance he would get from his father. She killed him, cut him up and served him as dinner to his unknowingly father, and forced her daughter to bury his bones under a juniper tree next to his real mother. The boy became a bird, singing about his story and received three gifts from strangers that listened. He gave the gifts to his family: his father got a gold necklace. His sister got lovely red shoes. And his evil step-mother got crushed under a millstone.

In this AU, for Ironwood:

He fakes being a good headmaster, only to reveal his true identity once the fall begins.

He is a man masked under oxygen, for his first death caused him breathing problems.

His semblance is to revive the dead, however he tries not to use it often, as it causes him immense pain and can run his aura dry.

HIs goal is to find his wretched ex-wife and murder her for what she did to him (she’s not dead in this one.)

In this AU, for Qrow:

Qrow is a bit psychotic. Not theatrically insane, like Tyrian, but he’s on a level of kalopsia (delusions of seeing things more beautiful than what they are.) He is quietly energized by mayhem and distress.

His semblance is shapeshifter, accommodating by being handsy with building his own crazy weapons. HIs favourite weapon is a giant hammer made of millstone.

He plays the ‘nice uncle, playful drunk’ for a while, under the Fall hits. Turns out his ‘drunkard antics’ were just him covering up his manic laughters and bursts of rage.

He doesn’t try to kill Ruby or her friends, but he warns her to not come for him, or he will kill them without hesitation.

His goal is to live ‘beautifully’ and die in the deepest pit of bliss. By that, he wants to live to cause harm and art, and die a masterpiece himself.

About the relationship:

Ironwood and Qrow are married (James proposed.)

Qrow is utterly in love with Ironwood, as is James for Qrow.

James finds Qrow to be the most endearing psycho he’s ever met, figuring out how Qrow has a hidden humanity about himself, as he cares deeply for music and art.

Qrow was smitten the first time he met James, immediately wanting to be his.

The two men met each other years ago, back when James was to be happily wed to his queen. He was thrown off the ship by the crazy woman and her secret lover, nearly drowning, had it not been for the single loyal servant that saved him. James’ semblance unlocked that day out of panic, thoughts of dying only fueling his semblance to be released. His body revived itself, waking James on the raft that the servant was on, but the act left James badly injured.

The servant was weeping, both in joy to see their master was alive, but in horror as to what had happened to James’ body. His right arm, his right leg, gnawed off by the active sea beasts in the water. His hip was chewed at, nearly severing him in two. Despite being alive, the only thing his semblance couldn’t do was regenerate some new body parts. And yet James was conscious, despite the bleeding and pain. Alive and pissed.

His lungs were filled with water, only a dead person could carry so much. Once they arrived at shore, finding no persons in sight to help, the servant ran out to the land to see if there was any civilization nearby. James laid in the raft in pain, waiting for the servant to return.

Somebody finally came, but it was not the servant. It was a lithe and tall man with dark hair and pale skin, eyes bright red like rubies. He stumbled onto the beach after seeing the frantic servant run into the village nearby, curiously wanting to see what the fuss was about.

“My,” Qrow smirked down at James. “You look like you need a hand.”

James stared blankly at the man, as if he were incredibly unamused. Until he replied, “are you pulling my leg?”

Qrow couldn’t help but burst into a short fit of laughter. James did too, but not for long as he was cut short. His back was killing him.

“I can get you a new body. And some.” Qrow assured. “Come with me. I know somebody.”

“At this point? Fine.” James huffed. After being betrayed by his queen and almost eaten alive by sea beasts, he could hardly imagine this stranger could make anything worse.

Qrow took James to the Whale, to Salem. After some convincing, Salem allowed Qrow to let James stay, so long as he was the one watching their new guest. Qrow agreed happily.

Qrow’s story was only filled with pain. He learnt from a young age that he was never loved by his step-mother, and being left behind by his sister. His step-mother murdered him in his sleep, cutting him up and serving his flesh like he was grade-A beef. His soul took the form of a crow, fueled by the rage he had for his step-mother. He wanted her dead, and by luck, he met Salem. She granted him the wish to have his vengeance, helping him turn back into a human. He was only a little boy still when he met Salem, growing up to look to her as his new mother.

After killing his step-mother, Salem took him in and had been at her side since.

James was soon recovering, but his rage was building deep within. All he could think of was his wretched wife, who was almost successful in killing him. She knew he couldn’t swim. How the sharp teeth of the massive sea monsters would eat at his body. He was ready to kill her, avenge himself.

James’ internal injuries couldn’t be fixed. He had to constantly wear a breathing-mask to help inhale more oxygen that his fragile lungs couldn’t take in normally. It was pain, feeling like he aged 50 years, even though he was only 20 at the time. From what he learned, Qrow was also the same age, at least feeling comfort in knowing somebody his age was around.

During James’ recovery - while Salem was mildly interested in this loner - it was Qrow who was the most intrigued. He loved coming to see James, see his progress so far. A new robotic arm, a new robotic leg, and some new parts had to be added in. Unfortunately, it meant much of James’ lower-half had to be remade, Half of his waist was not salvageable, meaning he’d have to lose a hip and his genital area. James didn’t care, wanting to be fixed already, and out of the stupid medical bed. Wanting to be strong again.

Though, he made a joke about giving him a massive metal cock, barking out laughter when he saw Qrow’s reaction of giggling like an embarrassed old woman. But, his wish was curiously granted.

As James was back up on his feet and trying to adjust to this new body, it was still Qrow who helped him. To the others that were residents of the Whale, they were surprised at how much time Qrow spent with James. Knowing the guy, Qrow could hardly process empathy. He would laugh at burning houses full of orphans, and dance on a dying man while he’s down.

But now, he was the most gentle, tender and kind to this perfect stranger.

Would you believe it when this story ends with the two marrying? After knowing each other for 5 years? Well, that’s how the story went. The two men fell in love, not caring for how crazy their lives would become. James loved this psychopath. And Qrow loved this vengeful man.

James was quick to become compliant in Salem’s plans, to start a new world and have their wishes granted. What he wanted was that bitch of a wife dead, and anybody else that associated with her existence. He didn’t care anymore if they were innocents, they had to be taken out. Feeling the same pain he felt.

Qrow had no goals, other than to live and serve Salem. To be the perfect little dog and grant her every wish. But now, his devotion turned to James. He loved him to bits, and would kill anybody for him. Already, James had killed quite a few people for Qrow, and that was probably one of the most romantic things he’s ever received. The only painful thing he could think is to live a life without James. Even his devotion for Salem couldn’t keep him alive.

Despite their chaotic life, the two surprisingly had a well-adjusted marriage and relationship. It was contentment, understanding and fun. They adored each other the same way they first met, and it seems that their honeymoon phase never ended, after 15 years together. They’d have a wedding dance next to a pile of dead bodies if they could, and they’d still be completely enamored by one another.

During the years together, the two had begun building their false identities among the people. Qrow had contact with his family, still there as Ruby and Yang were young and had grown to attend Beacon Academy. Ironwood had stolen the identity of a previous soldier of Atlas, taking their place and soon becoming the headmaster and general of Atlas. Their appearance was nothing to be judged, coming off as noble and normal.

When the time came for Beacon’s Fall, Qrow was the first to act. After the death of Penny 1.0, he had gone to murder the others in the Beacon Vault. He was successful in killing Glynda, Ozpin and the Maiden (transferring her powers to Cinder who is still in the gang), but he pretends to have no success in killing Ironwood, giving false hope to the heroes that at least one of their own is OK.

After that, he went out to go kill some more civilians of the Academy. Ruby and Yang realized their uncle was part of the evil team, and are broken by the betrayal. Qrow was quick to dismiss them as his family, skipping off merrily back to Salem.

When time passed and it was time to arrive at Atlas, it would be Ironwood’s turn to betray the teams. While cooperative and kind, Ironwood legitimately had no remorse for any of the kids. Quite frankly he wanted them dead, as well as the Ace Ops.