#otherwise i'd fear that it would be get a bit repetitive

[luimagines]

Can I request the chains or readers reaction to a massage please??

Sure thing! I had a debate on whether this should be scenario of headcanon, but I figured since I've mentioned this in headcanons before, I'll write it out. :D

Masterlist

Part 1 will include Twilight, Wild and Four.

Content under the cut!

Twilight

You watched as Twilight hauled another heavy pack onto Epona. You saw him wince and rub his neck, trying to get to his upper back.

Your heart ached for him at the sight. He looked pained but kept it silent.

You stood up and walked over to him with a frown on your face. You wanted to count your lucky stars that it was morning so he wasn't wearing his armor or layers. Then again- that didn't really help him now, did it? The day has literally just started and he's already in pain? Unacceptable.

You put a hand on his shoulder. He jumps at the contact, not having heard you coming. He relaxes when he sees you and smiles, putting his hand down as if everything is fine. "Good morning. Did you need something?"

"Are you ok?" You say quietly, not wanting to attract any attention to yourselves. "That looked like it hurt."

Twilight pauses and flushes slightly. "N-no, that's not it. I think I pulled something in my sleep. Nothing too bad, I just-"

"Do you want help with that?" You offer. Because really, it would be hard for him to move if he's got a muscle locked up. If you were attacked later today it would be worse for him. You can't even begin to imagine what would happen to him in that state if he was Wolfie. You don't want to think about it.

Twilight flushes a dark color. "...H..How?"

You also begin to blush but move behind him. "Don't make it weird. How else am I going to do it?"

You press your thumbs into his back and begin to knead behind his shoulder blade. You can actually feel the knot behind it. Poor Twilight. It must really hurt.

Twilight lets out a choked sound as the other half of him tenses up. You run your hand over the spot again and he strangles a moan to stay where it belongs.

You giggle and keep at it. Twilight has to fight to keep the sounds at bay. You poke his ear from behind with your free hand. "Feel good?"

"Yes, thank you." He says quietly, horrified but what he just did. "It feels a lot better."

"Good."

Wild

"Oh for the love of-!" Wild nearly curses, dropping the arrow he had knocked onto his bow.

Your attention snaps to him in an instant. "Everything good?"

Wild doesn't hear you. He doesn't even bother to pick up his arrow. His attention is solely on his forearm. Wild presses harshly onto a spot and makes a pained face.

You stand up and make your way over to him. "Pull something?"

"I don't know how." He hisses, running his thumb along the length of his forearm. He struggles for a moment but takes off his layers in frustration, throwing them to the ground non to gently.

"Easy." You take his hand and pull his arm towards you. "No need to get upset. Does it hurt that bad?"

You press your fingers along the side of the spot he was paying attention to, ease the area softly.

Wild winces but lets you do as you please. His other hand lands on his hip. "I don't know how I did it. I just woke up and it hurt to move."

"I don't remember you doing anything yesterday that would have caused this." You say softly, trying to diffuse his energy.

Wild flinches when you pass over the sore spot once more. You begin to move up his arm, going as high as his shirt will allow. Wild bites at his lip, but eventually his other hand drops as well. He takes a breath and his shoulders sag. "...Its been a few days actually."

You pause and give him a deadpanned look.

He flinch, but not from your touch. "I know, I know. I thought it would go away but it only got worse. Now I can't even shoot my bow straight."

"What on earth am I going to do with you?" You shake your head and click your tongue. You don't say anything else, opting to keep massaging his forearm, eventually moving to his bicep to help ease the tension in his arm.

Wild also falls silent, letting you work for a while. He doesn't fight you, he doesn't try to stop you. Neither of you know why you simply started doing this, but you don't feel like stopping and it's helping Wild more than he wants to admit.

Eventually you stop, moving his sleeve down and patting his shoulder. You're done. "Feel better?"

"Yes." He whispers, bending to pick up the gauntlets he had thrown down earlier. "Thank you."

"Anytime."

Four

Four rolled his shoulders for what to be the nth time this hour. He winces and pulled his arms back. Sure it puffed up his chest but you were certain that wasn't his actual intention.

You walked over to him and poked his arm, sitting next to him. "You've done that like ten times already. Everything alright?"

Four winces and shakes his head. "I think I pulled something earlier today. But for the life of me, I can't figure out what I did. It just hurts."

"Do you want help with that?" You offer, sitting beside him. "Does this happen often?"

Four shakes his head again. "I'm pretty good at keeping up with my stretches and forge work doesn't leave much to be desired when I have to switch over to the whole hero thing- which leaves me only more confused."

"Maybe you slept wrong?"

"Maybe." Four rolls his shoulders again. "Man, this sucks. What on earth did I do?"

"Let me help." You poke his arm again. "Turn around."

"I don't see how you're going to help me. There's only so much you can do." Four does as you say anything, not thinking twice about it.

You put your hands on his shoulders and begin to knead. Gently at first. Four hisses and you can see him flinch from behind but he doesn't voice any complaints. "If I'm too rough, you have to tell me ok?

"I doubt you would even be able to- mmm!!" Four hisses again and you can feel him arch with the way you press your thumb behind his shoulder blade. "There. You found it. Right there."

You chuckle and focus on putting the nerves and muscles back into place. "You were saying?"

Four tilts his head. "What was I say? I already forgot."

"Then don't expect me to remind you." You grin, happy that he's finding some relief after all this time.

"That is.. perfectly fine by me." Four sighs, relaxing under your touch. "You're pretty good at this."

"Thank you." You keep at it a little while longer before you pull back and pat his shoulder. "Did that help?"

"Tremendously."

"Great!"

Part 2

[erigold13261]

Hear me out: Mahito and Caine swap... but in the Eriverse.

Caine: an entity created from the fears that humans have for AI. (He can transfigure anyone but they get turned into toys in the real life. IE: Catherine gets turned into a wooden snake due to Caine genuinely wanting to help her It would be an allegory for those who fear being replaced by AI, and treated like video game NPCs, or a joke.)

Mahito: AI in a horror game gone nuts. He trapped victims in his game, and transfigured him like canon JJK Mahito.

(The TADC players either A: serve the role of disaster curses or B: are stuck in the game with Mahito)

So in this instance I am guessing that Mahito has the domain prison while Caine doesn't have a domain at all (at least at this moment where personal domains aren't really a thing, or he might have an incomplete domain at the moment).

I think Mahito's domain/game would be something similar to Silent Hill or PT. Foggy, creepy, and repetitive but also changes. At least at first it is, but as people get trapped in his game he gets more and more influences from people's minds and create a harder and harder game to escape from (well there is no escape but the players don't really know that).

I feel like the players would still remember their past lives and names, but instead be like survivors who are trying to get to the next level, with each level just getting more fucked up. It continues until you die and have to return all the ways to the beginning (multiple groups are formed and even some people are trying to get through the levels all by themselves as they got separated).

Once someone can't take it anymore, they abstract, but instead of turning into a glitch being, instead they turn into killers themselves. Infected by Mahito's code and virus, taking their fears and turning them into a level all on their own. They are no longer who they were and no way for them to go back.

Caine on the other hand thinks what he is doing is good and helpful. Basically doing what Eriverse Mahito was doing and transfiguring people. He's doing it more in a way to entertain than to do any ACTUAL help. Basically being a kind of Joker where he does anything for a good laugh or entertainment even if it hurts others (except that he isn't actively trying to hurt people, he just doesn't understand how humans work or feel).

He very much is being manipulated by Kenjaku about how humans act and what they need to be happy and have fun. Becoming a tool for Kenjaku to create more magic anchors, which is more successful as Caine doesn't want to kill humans, only to entertain them with a new way of life, so they survive a lot more.

Though, just because they survive, doesn't mean they are okay. They still have similar problems as OGE Mahito's transfigured humans have where they might not be able to actually live with their changed bodies and the fact that it is still very painful.

Instead of people dying from Caine's transfigurations, I think it would be neat for them to become like abstractions. Where they are now monsters or even full entities but no longer have the mental capacity of a human. They act more like hostile animals attacking everything around them (except if a loved one can get through to them and they become slightly docile for a little bit).

I can see Caine taking these "failures" and throwing them away... Into Mahito's domain. He doesn't even realizing where he is throwing them, only that they are in a place where they can't escape (unlike the other domains which you can escape from). So Caine is supplying Mahito with "expendable" monsters to form and craft into whatever he wants for his survivors to deal with.

I think the TADC players would have to stay in their role as players/survivors because otherwise I'd have to come up with a whole new Eriverse where JJK characters are in the domain while TADC characters are outside.

Which could be a fun past time later on, but not something I am particularly interested in doing right now because of how much work and thought would be needed to do so.

But yea, that is how I see an Eriverse swap of those two characters going for the most part.

[wildfangz]

I initially made a whole long bulleted post on my thoughts on the pack so far w/ the livestream but it was way too long and I'd like to keep it simple. This post is also a bit lengthy but not nearly as. ANYWAY:

ADORE the build/buy, especially since Art Deco is one of my favorite styles! Curved walls were also a really nice surprise, and I love all the clutter and posters & what not. Really happy the trellis changes w/ the seasons too :) CAS was a bit more hit and miss for me. like most of the items are cute, but while some of designs by Depop sellers were nice, some of them are also ugly as hell and things i think only rich influencers w/ bad fashion sense wear sorry LOL

As for gameplay, let's get the negativity out of the way first: I... actually feel like they might have got too ambitious with this pack, and that some of the most important gameplay features may have suffered for it. Like what was up w/ the single goals throughout the school day? I was exhausted during the stream, but it seemed like they might have stayed the same too. At very least, they're repetitive, which is fine in GTW bc like... you have multiple tasks to choose from. But because of it going to school just felt sooo bland and boring and this is coming from someone that likes some slower gameplay and likes get to work and was looking forward to active school.

It's cool that sims can learn skills during class and make decisions about their assignments, but other than that there's like. Nothing. You should be able to try talking to people! Pass them notes or text them! You should be able to slack off or sleep in class etc. I'm also still hoping we haven't seen everything and that we get some more homework assignments and things like University has, like it would have been fun to have to give presentations sometimes. Otherwise like, high school feels really lacking for such a core feature. The Prom actually looked fine and even fun, but the school experience itself managed to give some MWS vibes. Also where did the trays go

Anyway other than that. The amount of effort put into thrifting was actually a pleasant surprise, though now I'm reeeally hoping for a GTW refresh that enables buying clothes in general. I'm REALLY glad Social Bunny ended up being more than just something for the trailer bc I always thought online dating in ts3 was cute, and I was surprised by how intricate it was. Also the phone makeover is cute and so are the new selfies :)

Finally, I'm honestly most excited about everything we'll be getting in base game. Wants & Fears was an insane surprise, and I'm glad we're getting not only orientation in the game finally, but that it's so intricate. I was disappointed to see only binary options, I hope they can fix that in the future, but I was really glad to see that they were inclusive both of those that are aromantic/asexual and those who experience split attraction!

[theangrypokemaniac]

Since no one cares about Alola I can therefore say what I want.

Team Rocket's Pokémon are all worthless toss. That's such a surprise from this oafish writing team.

Remember when Jessie and James had two each, to offer variety? Permitting them even that is too much focus nowadays.

We don't what anything interesting going on, thank you. Repetition is what we and they deserve.

Arbok, Weezing, Lickitung and Victreebel are spinning in their graves.

Stufful was missing for three years and she displayed not the slightest pang of concern until its belated invention. Given her temper she ought to have torn the island apart searching for her baby, but no.

Not bothered about Bewear. It shouldn't really be in this list as it didn't belong to them, although catching has no value anymore.

A bit thick are we? Or conforming to the usual parental standards?

Well, she's sufficiently neglectful that she let it out of her sight long enough for it to be crushed under a tree, then was too idle to come to the rescue. In consequence he was obliged to wait days until one of Lusamine's lackeys arrived.

She's 'Mama Bear' though, isn't she?

It's based on a red panda, is partly the colour of a black bear and as strong as a grizzly, but all that is a mere cover for its true nature as a Bear-Face Ham.

The modern pretence is that everyone's a vegetarian (are they balls), and Ursa Major lives on fruit, not, you know, flesh.

Just because it there's no hibernating in the tropics doesn't mean it can get by without a salmon now and again.

The name is stupid, since a red panda is not a bear. A play on words isn't clever if based on what it isn't.

They should've called her 'Pandamonia', or 'Pandour', which is a brutal soldier.

It is at least redeemed by battering the klepto cockroach into the next dimension. Good on 'er.

Mind you, this is Alola, a cesspit of incest, so it's probably some sick arrangement, like Bewear being slipped the length by that previously unmentioned Oakie-Dokie clone.

He's the spit of Jimmy Savile, thus every depravity is on the table.

Where's Stufful's dad? He buggered off too?

What kind of name is 'Stufful'? What's it made from, 'stifle' and 'suffocation'? 'Stuffed'?

Thanks for that. Whenever I see its ovine face I'm reminded of taxidermy.

Were Ursa Minor and Bewear described as mother and son, or were they 'friends'?

A series of games involving breeding and the 'anime' is too squeamish to even imply animals live in families.

I don't care either way for Stufful, but I'd like it better if its mouth wasn't a camel toe.

I understand it's a sea creature, and the contents of the oceans are their own brand of peculiarity, but looks like a limbless, undead spaniel plagued with extra teats. Its 'ears' resemble distended mammeries.

Hey, remember that interesting, original Pokémon James had called Victreebel? Let's do it again! And again! AND AGAIN!

Victreebel is a venus fly trap: an anomaly in nature as a carnivorous plant. It makes sense that the Pokémon version would be a bit more full-on in catching a meal.

New law: Team Rocket are required to collect monsters as ugly as themselves.

Hurting James was its personality quirk, particularly to it, fitting its nature, its 'thing'. It was never meant as a template for most of what he caught in the future.

Something is funny if it happens once, and can be now and again if done with a least a little flair.

Nothing repeated as a constant leaden thud is remotely amusing, but this is an unknown fact to Nintendo bone heads. They think certain events are utterly hilarious in themselves and require no finesse in application.

They have a checklist of moments obligatory to each episode, which explains the plodding lifelessness. Tick 'em off to keep the fans from being ticked off. All we supposedly care about is each gong struck, not how we got there.

At least Victreebel used to vary its behaviour:

Occasionally it even did as told without any chomping preamble.

It didn't do the exact same action every single time it was involved!

Mostly it swallowed James.

How long was it once Victreebel was chucked out on its leafy arse before Cacnea arrived?

Oh look, it's a Grass Pokémon and attacks James!

Sometimes it ate Jessie.

Carnivine got in on the action before Cacnea's run was even up: kick 'em when they're down why don't yer?

Oh look, it's a Grass Pokémon and attacks James!

Now we have Mareanie. Wasn't there a few in between? No, shush, they don't exist anymore.

Every bloody time it came out, it turned round and punctured him.

Every bloody time.

Ah, it's not a Grass Pokémon. That makes it totally new!

Oh yes, it's the complete opposite of Victreebel. It's Poison instead. Not like it at all.

Every bloody time it came out, it'd gnaw his head off.

Every bloody time.

That's endearing.

Oh but it is! It's just showing him love!

As that makes it alright!

If a muscular man squeezed his girlfriend so tightly he cracked her ribs, is that 'sweet' because he 'meant well' but his feelings overwhelmed him? Or is it A.B.H.?

Every bloody time it comes out, it injects James's head with toxin until it swells up into purple pustule of disease.

Every bloody time.

I never took Victreebel's assault as affection. To me they were real attempts to devour James, especially with the accompanying frenzied screech. Interpreting that as a positive emotion is bizarre to me.

At soon as James found it wedged in a Breeding Centre cage and opened the door it grabbed him, which appeared to be Victreebel lashing out in anger for what'd happened in the intervening period.

What Mareanie does is worse than the other three put together. At least they delivered mere bite marks or pinpricks, but it infects James!

Whole episodes of this programme have involved a Pokémon falling foul of Poison Powder and being on the verge of death, with all done to preserve it until Ash hunted down the cure, but now it's a big laugh, apparently.

Not one character ever has the wits about them to carry an Antidote, otherwise the writers wouldn't be able to fall back on the tired old race-against-time scenario, which is no such thing as we know they won't die.

Is it likely that James is always going to end up picking a violent Pokémon, of all the individuals of a race, of all the lifeforms in the universe?

Aren't his allowed to come with their own personality, or is there a set pattern they must follow, and when caught they absorb it, for fear they might be memorable?

Mind you, it's interesting the reactions these abuses provoke:

Victreebel eats James: Aw, it's so kyewt!

Cacnea impales James: Aw, it's so kyewt!

Carnivine chews James: Aw, it's so kyewt!

Mareanie poisons James: Aw, it's so kyewt!

Meowth claws James: Aw, it's so kyewt!

Jessie beats James: Aw, it's so kyewt!

Jessibelle whips James: EEVUL BITCH!!!

Mimikyu should be opposed for breaking it's own world.

To us, Pikachu is the most famous Pokémon, belonging to Ash, the protagonist, and the franchise's mascot.

To them, Pikachu is just another middling Pokémon hundreds of young Trainers catch, and holds no greater value.

It's blatantly a reference to Pikachu's real-life status, acknowledging itself as fiction. No Pokémon would hold the same significance for this design to work but him.

Otherwise why would Mimikyu, when it has the choice of every Pokémon that exists, and, if meant to be a believable world, every Pokémon we don't know exists, choose Pikachu to ape? Why wouldn't it pick a Legendary?

Alola Pikachu is looking off colour.

It's not even this specific Mimikyu, it's the entire species!

What, they work to a hive mind, incapable of individual tastes and opinions?

Do they all hate Pikachu too, even though the entire mouse population of Alola has been rounded up by that loon and trapped in a valley, or were we lumbered with the lone demented obsessive with a severe complex?

Is it well jel that Pikachu's a real one, whereas it can only manage to knock up a bog-standard costume with a face daubed by a chimp paralytic from scrumpy?

Well stop imitating it then! Invent your own design!

Oh come on. The animators can't even do that, hence its creation. You can hardly expect it to display inspiration if born from its absence.

I wonder if it hates Raichu. And Pichu. And Plusle and Minun. And the rest of the Pikachu derivatives, although it is one.

(As an aside, I don't know why Raichu, Marowak and Exeggutor were redrawn for this era, but not Pikachu, Cubone and Exeggcute. Why does the sweaty climate affect only evolutions?) 

Here's an idea: make Shiny Mimikyu have a different get up, not colour.

You can have that free, Game Freak. I'm too lenient with yer.

Presumably, Mimikyu hatches (already dead?) in all its eye-bleeding nastiness, and instinctively reaches for the discarded yellow bedsheet and pack of crayons that just so happens to be nearby, and the scissors to make the peep holes.

Them inbreds know how to litter.

Flippers?

Nah, it's probably hooks.

How is it born aware of a Pikachu's face, and why is it compelled to copy them?

Knowledge of his own ugliness is innate, thus he must cover his nakedness before it lays waste to the forest inhabitants.

Yet if you breed 'em, it emerges wearing it, like the cloth formed from left-over albumen and stained with yolk!

What's it reaching with? Paws?

Mittens?

Oh, and there was a deceased specimen in the series, so it's either a ghost, and nothing but bedsheet, or a zombie, and it's repulsive carcass has upped the ante by putrifying.

Even its name doesn't fit. Apart from the unsightly spelling, what's 'Mimikyu' about? It's not mimicking me.

Mimikyu? It should be Mimikchu!

And you know what? Even Nintendo agree their own inventions aren't good enough, because they made return almost impossible.

They hate these more than they do even the pre-Unova Pokémon, most of whom were condemned to a dark existence within the iron corridors of H.Q. and haven't been seen since.

• Growlie is such a beloved figure in James's life he's been involved all of twice.

• Dustox got pensioned off.

• James was practically bullied into gifting Cacnea to that cloying bitch Gardenia.

• Whilst he still tecnically owns Chimecho, it's as lost to him as any of them.

Remember Seviper, Yanmega, Carnivine and Mime Junior?

Hell, remember Woobat, Yamask, Frillish and Amoonguss?

Or Gourgeist and Inkay?

Of course, since the makers appear to have the Reverse-Midas Touch, Team Rocket still took that useless, wincing lump Wobbuffet to Galar instead of dumping it over the sea. Apparently we're stuck with it forever.

Arbok, Lickitung, Weezing and Victreebel got shafted, but THAT survives?

Yes? That's more the writers do. In current canon these Pokémon never lived at all. Dead memories in the haze.