#the unfortunate part of having everyone underestimate you because they think you're new is that it includes your teammates

[charbway]

i've noticed medics tend to bait me more when i'm not wearing any cosmetics which is very unfortunate because default heavy is just so funny

[khunyuki]

"I've lived my life with blade and you always in my mind"

ꜱɪᴅᴇ ꜱᴛᴏʀʏ: 𝚐. 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚝...

Synopsis: Narumi Gen is really frustrated at the fact that his crush, his soldier, his platoon leader, and his friend whom he thought he had something special with, was actually his rival's fiancee.

Pairing/s: Unrequited!Narumi Gen x OC

Note/s: Part 2 of side story d! Letter g for Gen!

Genre: Angst

Masterlist: TOC, Previous, Next

Narumi Gen and Uzui Kagami are friends despite their positions as captain and officer. It was something the rest of the First Division knows yet they think that there's something else going on. There were rumors that officer Uzui is dating the Vice Captain of the Third Division but they deem it as unreliable information.

Why? Well...

It's because they think their captain and her are secretly dating.

They watch as their captain sip on his four seasons shake under the parasol while leisurely leaning on his deckchair. Some unfortunate officers were fanning him like servants. It would seem like he's on a vacation at the beach but in reality, he's just barking out orders while watching the new recruits train. Once he got bored, he started playing on his game console.

'This is tyranny' everyone thought as they watch their captain chilling on the side while they suffer from the harsh sunlight as they train. They couldn't help but feel envy and annoyed as there is nothing they could do about it. Even their vice captain and other platoon leaders couldn't do anything as he gives out advice while doing so.

All hope seems to be lost as they suffer from who knows how long until they saw their savior. Their savior in the form of a woman whom they keep underestimating yet never relenting. She appeared like a ghost that is always there whenever she's needed.

They watch as their captain suddenly perk up like a dog seeing his owner. He started talking to her excitedly while she just listen to him calmly. Only after he finished talking did she respond to him, obviously scolding him for his wrong display of authority. It wasn't the shouting type like their vice captain but rather the gentle parenting type. Their captain must've said something as they saw her rub her temples and sigh, then she picked him up like a princess and left to their destination.

That is exactly the reason why they think those two are going out. Their captain obviously have a crush on her from how he reacts whenever she's around. Officer Uzui usually have this cold aura around her that makes one unable to approach but that seem to disappear whenever their captain is involved. Their closeness is evident, mostly because of the skinship they show. No normal person would carry and hug someone they don't like right???

"See! They're totally going out!"

"It's weird combination but they really compliment each other well"

"I ship captain Narumi x officer Uzui"

Mentions of them suiting each other and how they ship them together makes Narumi Gen feel so giddy like a teenager. He's proud yet a bit disappointed. If only there wasn't any Hoshina Soshiro around, he would've make a move on her a long time ago.

"You were just smiling then now you're frowning. Are you experiencing mood swings now, Gen-kun?"

Hearing her call him Gen-kun always gives him so much pleasure, he would squirm like a worm if he wasn't in her arms at the moment. He's really happy that she's comfortable enough with him to even joke around that he daydreams in her arms of what they could be, unintentionally ignoring her in tbe process.

"Weirdo"

Seeing as he wasn't responding, stuck in his own world, she just shook and head and ignored him. She couldn't guess why he was acting like that at all, rather she doesn't even try as most of the time he's like that. It's a good news for him that she doesn't know cause she would've broken his spirits if she did. This woman have excellent hearing that could reach far away yet she just lets it in one ear out the other. She doesn't bother listening or understanding what people say as she thinks it's just insults towards her yet again.

Narumi Gen thinks that maybe he would have a chance if he try but looking at her face, he's back in his cowardice. From what he read in his mangas and novels, arranged marriages that started from childhood doesn't work out in the long run. The protagonist's true love would appear and take her away from her fiance that she doesn't have a good relationship with. On one hand, she could ditch that bastard Hoshina and be with him instead. On the other, it could strengthen their bond and leave him alone in his misery. He didn't want to take that risk.

=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=

Hibino Kafka, otherwise known as Kaiju No.8, is someone Narumi Gen has yet to recognize. He's the reason Kagami no longer has any time for him and gets scolded by the higher ups every time she visits him. He also hurt the person he respects the most, the Director General of the Defense Force, Shinomiya Isao, right in front of his very eyes. There's no way he could forgive that so easily. Cuz what if he goes out of control again and hurt Kagami this time around?

Uzui Kagami was getting reprimanded for trying to befriend Kaiju no.8 for the 5th time this week. If she continues, there's a high chance she'd get suspended and no longer be capable of helping. But she perseveres as this was something her fiancee requested of her and she'll see it through no matter what. Even if she has to lie and make things up to other people, just so she could keep a close eye on Hibino Kafka.

As soon as she left the room, she was greeted by the sight of her captain leaning against the wall. She knows why he's here and it's for the same reason as the last 4 times she was summoned.

"I heard you're going to be suspended if you keep this up. Why go so far for that guy?"

No longer does he call Kafka as Kaiju No.8 in front of her since she'd frown and ignore him if he did. She wasn't normally so stubborn yet she keeps in insisting this time.

"He's interesting. A human turning into a kaiju. This is the first time something like that has happened"

Like a broken record, she repeated her reply o that question for the 5th time. She started walking back to her squad. A platoon leader like her should be watching over her squad right now instead of whatever she's doing.

"Is it because of Hoshina? I'm right, aren't I?"

She came to an abrupt stop and turn to her captain that was following behind her, maintaining an unbothered expression.

"I don't know how Vice Captain Hoshina is involved in all of this, sir"

Gen realized that he must've hit the right vein. It was just a suspicion as he couldn't really believe it himself. There's no way she'd be that stubborn just because it involves her fiance.

"He's your fiance, right? He must've asked you to risk your safety just to watch over that guy. You try to lie but you reveal yourself by calling me sir"

She looks directly at where his eyes are covered by his bangs as he stares into her own.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I am doing this out of my own volition not because he asked me to"

"You're so stubborn. I just don't want you getting hurt"

He pushed back his hair due to frustration. Can't she see that he's worried about her? He only wants her to be safe away from that kaiju yet she willingly goes in harm's way just because of her damned fiance.

"I appreciate your concern but I can handle myself. If you'll excuse me, my squad needs me"

She saluted as she left him alone in the hallway. In the end, she chooses to protect her fiance's name by keeping quiet. He hates it. Why? Just why can't it be him? Why can't it be him that she cares about?

He wanted to chase after her and hold her in his arms as he confesses his feelings towards her. He wanted her to look back and return to his side but as he gazes at her disappearing back, he realized that he's powerless and that there's nothing he could do. He's called as Japan's Strongest yet in front of her, his title is insignificant compared to the man he proclaimed as his rival.

=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=

Months after the Anti-No. 9 Eastern Divisional Conference that was held in Ariake Maritime Base, the Third Division kept having joint training exercises with the First Division.

That means Narumi Gen will see his rival's face over and over again. The rivalry between the two divisions are as clear as day and has become even more evident recently. Maybe because they all knew of the love triangle happening between Captain Narumi, Vice Captain Hoshina, and Platoon Leader Uzui. The First Division is filled with GenxKagami shippers while the Third Division roots for SoshiroxKagami.

All of the sparks thrown between them while the main cause of all this is oblivious to it all, having only her fiance in her mind. She always tries to keep it professional as she avoids the Third Division upon the insistence of the division. She'd still be her captain's babysitter who was even harder to manage whenever they're at the base. She tries, she really does but if Soshiro ever calls for her, she's immediately be by his side.

Uzui Kagami is professional while at work. She doesn't let romance go in her way but Gen knows. She'd bend and break the rules all for the sake of her love.

That's why he feels so sick to his stomach as he saw them stealing kisses with each other when they think no one is around. Maybe they know and that they're doing it on purpose. He wouldn't put it past that sly fox when he saw him looking at his direction as he watches them.

He hates it.

He hates this.

That should be him.

He could feel his heart breaking into pieces as that bastard tramples on it until it turns into sand and is gone with the wind.

He couldn't bear watching the woman he loves with another.

So he just walked away.

=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=

Notes/s: Thanks for the idea @imthecosmicbasball! I dedicate the last part to you!

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[gatitties]

hello! can i ask for one punch man headcannons with mitsuri-like (demon slayer) s/o? they could be a hero with love based powers, like for example when they fight their powers make their opponents fall in love with them. of course they also have mitsuri's personality; very cheerful and full of love and admires basically everyone! (plus, the only reason they became a hero was to find a lover, just like mitsuri lol)

i'd like to request this with saitama, genos and garou please! thank youu :3

- 🫧 anon

─Saitama, Genos & Garou x mitsuri!reader

─Summary: some headcanons of you being you trying to find your loved one

—Warnings: none

ohhh more content for opm, ty 🫧 anon!

—You met him during the entrance exams, you were only there because you thought it would be easier to find a fiancé.

—Though you ended up taking the tests and becoming an S-class hero unintentionally.

—At first you're like Genos, although you weren't looking for someone to train you because you were already someone with good resistance and fighting qualities, you liked to admire Saitama.

—The interactions were rather dry on his part, he still doesn't know why you flatter him so much if you ever meet in battle.

—Because you were so insistent, he let you go to his house from time to time for tea or coffee.

—Though whenever you start spilling information about your quest for romance, he ignores you.

—Let's face it, Saitama isn't interested in love right now, so if you ever confess, it's going to end up being a refusal on his part.

—But if he sees you too discouraged by his harshness (because this man doesn't know how to say things tactfully), he will cheer you up by saying that he will help you find husband material.

—Poor bald man, he's going to lose his eyelashes trying to help you, but at least he made you happy knowing you'd have help.

—Extra points because he will make comments about your physical appearance affect you less.

—You met in a meeting with all the S class, Genos being the new one greeted you without knowing that inside your mind you were fantasizing about marrying him.

—Just look at him! He's a cyborg, what more could you ask for? He sounded perfect and his steadfast and peaceful demeanor only made you fangirl more.

—He definitely doesn't understand your occasional blushes when you look at other heroes, he will ask you on more than one occasion if you're sick or something.

—He admires your strength and sometimes he asks you to train with him, you don't need more, as long as you can spend time with a possible future fiancé you will be there.

—Unfortunately, Genos isn't focused on love, his only goal is revenge.

—Although that will not prevent you from continuing to admire him, filling him with praise in your mind.

—He is much softer than Saitama with words, but his problem is that he can express himself badly.

—It's okay, he'll also promise to help you find the right person, he'll register you on all the existing dating apps before you know it.

—Don't worry about what other people think about your appearance either, Genos will be throwing his worst look at them and he will tell you that external appearance is not a determining factor when it comes to maintaining a love relationship.

—He was looking for S-class heroes and he ran into you, with the bad luck that he had fought and been badly off before.

—You defeated him and he became unconscious, despite being a villain, you felt bad so you decided to take him to the hospital at the very least.

—Garou is an attractive guy and despite being on the opposite side, you were not going to underestimate his beauty and fighting style.

—He will look for you after that because he feels that he has been humiliated by someone not as recognized as some other heroes.

—You won't take his evil character seriously because you saw him interact with a child in a completely peaceful way the day before.

—You will play cat and mouse constantly, you started fantasizing about a 'forbidden romance' because of that.

—Garou will soon notice how you actually like seeing him, confused as fuck because you look happy that he's spending another night trying to hunt you down.

—You feel admiration to see how determined he is with his goals despite not being your same ideals, seeing someone so passionate makes your heart race.

—Unfortunately you know that Garou isn't that interested in you, let alone romantically for now, but that doesn't stop you from fantasizing about him.

[sarcastictissy]

Hola :D I just wanted to thank you for being so positive lately and looking at things regarding the qstudio situation with nuance. It feels like people have been so stressed and angry after all of the admin stuff came that they began to take every bit of news we hear as some sign that bad things are to come . I think a lot of people underestimated just how long this process can take, there a lot of factors to be considered here, including: q's lack of experience, the union, the laws, the admins. And unfortunately there is no way to satisfy everyone when it comes to stuff like this. This was never going to take a week or two, I feel like people didn't fully understand that.

Some admins are going to be pushed out of the project due to the lack of funds and the fact that this is a legal issue first and for most. It's unfair but it's the law. Not everyone understands that and because of that people are going to say things without understanding the situation. Not every thing is black and white and sometimes things aren't going to work out the way we want them to. Nobody is perfect and we shouldn't expect people involved in this situation to act like that. Which is why you should always look at the situation from multiple perspectives before forming an opinion.

It makes me feel tired to see the same takes over and over agian with no nuance. So your post have really helped me feel better :) I've seen people from both qsmpblr and qsmptwt act like every ccs involved in this is a war criminal or like this is a admins vs quackity or french/brazil vs quackity. It's kinda drove me off most social sites and forced me to only watch YouTube and stuff (on the good side of things, I've been watching quackity's discord videos and some dsmp vods :D it's been fun)

What I am trying to say is that, scrolling through your blog feels like a breath of fresh air and has made me feel 8× more calm about this situation. I don't think doomposting is necessarily bad but after seeing so much of it, sometimes you just need to distance yourself and look at the good parts of life. No matter how much I complain, I am never changing the course that qstudio is headed and neither can any one else, The only one who can do that is quackity. I hope that he does the right thing and the studio gets better. I love the characters that qsmp has brought us and the community it has formed, qsmp is a beautiful project that I want to see thrive. For now the only thing I can do as a viewer is hope for the best <3

I'm sorry if this came off as a trauma dump, I just really wanted to thank you.

So, this has been in my askbox for a while because I was so grateful and happy to hear I've helped someone!! Thank you sm anon that means a lot to me and knowing I'm keeping others optimistic, helps me feel optimistic too! :D

This is a very complex situation with so many moral grey areas mixed with black and white. It's not simple, it's not easy. These things cannot be fixed in a matter of weeks, you're absolutely right about that.

I also agree doomposting isn't necessarily bad! It's a good way to get off some steam and vent/ rant for a bit. There's nothing wrong with that. We all need it at times. For me, personally, it becomes toxic when that's ALL I'm seeing in social media. When I go on my phone and all I see is negativity, that's when I need to call it quits and start blocking people or start taking time away (which is why I deleted twt off my phone) everyone's tolerance levels are different ofc, so, not everyone is affected by that negativity, but I certainly was. This is why I want my blog to be positive and uplifting and you know what? Each and every time I get a ask or a message thanking me for that, I gain faith in humanity and it just encourages me to keep being positive! I'm so thankful for your ask and dw it wasn't trauma dumping at all!! :D I hope you're doing well anon! Take care of yourself. You matter

[arttrampbelle]

Now that we see of liu kang ending and all of the garbage trainwreck of the new mk game

I bet y'all thinking

"Hmmm. Maybe shang tsung's ending in mk11 wasn't actually that bad and maybe he was *gasp* actually right all along about some things?!"

I mean this isn't just me as a shang tsimp.

This is sadly kinda true. I'd rather take my chances with big shangus. Then a pompus(and pooly and backhanded written) fire god liu kang. (Which in itself is sad. Because he never wanted that. Forcing him into a role making him miserable. Completely bastardizing his character. All for what?! Not my liu kang nrs. Not my liu kang.)

Anyways. Back to shang.

Liu kang vs shang is a klassic rivalry. But its as only as good as you actually write them on equal footing. But the have never truly done that. Liu kang has always had plot armor saving him and shang tsung has the unfortunate boxing in of "bad guy i beat up. Twirly mustache" which is horrible because that's not what he actually is. (Worse more when tagawa-sama never wanted that character he played,nor any villain he plays to be that way. Its always some nuance to his characters he portrays. And he said in an interview. He grew up with wimpy asian bad guys. He never wanted to ever see that again. So if he IS gonna be a buy guy. He is gonna be THE BAD GUY. Plus he hated seeing so many stereotypes but he had to trudge thru to be able to help make a better representation and positive impact. Tho nowadays he plays sweethearts,like himself mostly. Great actor,AMAZING man. Really cool. But for them to continue to make shang a "wimp" or to be "beat up by the "good" guys" is awful and a backhanded slap to the character as a whole even outside of the amazing cary hiroyuki tagawas portrayal.)

Again liu kang should be able to barely BARELY win against shang. Even if granted god powers. Shang is a stronk ass mofo. Bad,mean,nasty,in a fight. He wasn't champion formerly for nothing. He wasn't mk tournament master for nothing. He wasn't granted a seat under shao kahns heelboot for nothing. Granted that wasn't much of a choice but survival. But thats for another post. Like shang tsung is a BEAST! Not a heavy hitter. Not a beast in a way thats a tank. But a cunning,ruthless,and calculator. An opportunist fighter. He's cold in a fight. Like gives you chills. The serpentine gaze ready to strike. You gotta be quick...or you'll die. You gonna be careful and level headed otherwise he'll take full advantage of that opening and your soul? Is definitely his.

Look shang dont fucking play. (There is nuance and context depending on the situation but for the most part depends on who he's fighting and what the story is doing but overall he is not to be underestimated at all!)

Shang tsung Wasn't an og big bad for nothing!!!!!

Shao kahn was only a bigger bad and problems later. Then it became.

Better the devil you know then someone worse. Then we start to see.

Well fuck shang tsung actually is the only thing preventing shit from getting worse!

So yeah....you kill him....

Quan chi gets more power. Shao kahn gets free range. Onaga....welp. you're screwed. Dont even get started on shinnok! Oof. All the other bads?! Yeah they are gonna get WORSE AND MORE TOUGH AND BE MORE OF A PROBLEM. and honestly it would make things harder for everyone.

Yeah so think about it.

Take shang out ,you fuck up a whole ecosystem.

He only feeds on souls and of what he needs. Dont prevoke the man he wont steal your soul and go on a killing spree sucking souls for spite.

For the most part shang is best left tf alone. So as long as he has plenty in his soul well. He'll be fine. But the man is paranoid,traumatized due to shao kahn,many other things perhaps from his past. Oof cue my backstory for the death of his mother and his attachment issues and fear of decay,meaningless deaths,etc

But for the most part if you are respectful to shang. He'll be respectful back. Be genuine,be honest,and it will get you far. Dont be easy gotten either. Make it a challenge. Again this man likes a reasonable chase. Likes intelligence(not necessarily book smarts but people smarts,emotional intelligence) he values these things.

I could go on about this characters brain soup. I could add n talk about so much character analysis for shang. Unf 💖

But I'll leave it simple

Nrs fucked up a perfectly good rivalry. A potentially amazing story arch. And two amazing characters.

In short....i bet that shang tsung ending sounds really good about now right?

[the-cryptographer]

more asoiaf posting:

Something I'm really appreciating on this reread is the absolutely clueless murder mystery aspect of this first book. Like... when you're reading A Game of Thrones for the first time, you have so much more information than Eddard, you sort of feel like the answers he's coming to are a foregone conclusion. The question 'Who killed Jon Arryn?' so quickly becomes 'Why did the Lannisters killed Jon Arryn?' and we already know that motive - they're trying to cover up the fact that Cersei and Jamie are having an affair and Joff is not Robert's son. It is, of course, not until the third book, after everyone's already forgotten that we were trying to find out 'Who killed Jon Arryn?' back in the first one, that we recieve the belated answer: it was Lysa and Petyr. And /knowing/ that answer and watching Ned and Cat bumble around turning suspiciously at everyone they've already decided is a threat confirmation bias like and meanwhile entirely unaware of the actual culprits staring them in the face is *extremely* amusing.

I am unfortunately not at the chapter where Lysa herself makes an appearance. And I do remember her in general being creepy and unlikeable - and it would in fact cheapen the narrative to pretend she's not - but I think that sort of distracts a lot of readers and viewers from exactly how much Cat and Ned made their own bed here. It is in many ways Cat and Ned's romanticisation of the heteronormative and misogynistic marriage culture they are occupying that has led to them entirely overlooking the unhappiness of the people closest to them. Because their marriage match turned out happy and well, they underestimate the stress it places on people like Lysa - who is caught between two men trying to use her for their own aims (Jon and Petyr) and without even the power to assert to her father which one of the two she prefers. And Ned's continued exposing on how upstanding and beloved Jon Arryn was, despite being told he was 'gruff with his lady wife' really does not speak highly of him imho. Anymore than Cat's assumption that Lysa be untouched by resentment after all the years that have passed since their childhood together, and being forced to abort the child of the man she loved and then face countless miscarriages and childbirth issues at the hand of a much older man she clearly came to hate.

I think Ned's cluelessness is definitely thematic though. Another thing I hadn't quite put together so clearly first read, but is coming through very loud and clear. GRRM goes pretty far out of his way to establish that Ned spends his whole time in Kings Landing tightening the noose around his own throat. I am particularly enjoying the amount of prejudice he springs upon Varys for being a 'creepy eunuch' basically, though he'd of course never say it so tactlessly. He judges Varys entirely on appearance and image, and is then shocked when Varys visits him in secret having changed that appearance entirely. And another wonderful point is him cursing the fact that everyone closest to Jon who would know anything signficant about his death has skipped town, and never quite getting around to wondering if that's a fucking good reason /he/ should get himself out of town.

Also extremely fucking funny that Ned goes on this whole huge screed in his chapter about how much it offends him that this overpriced and frivalous tournament the King insisted on is being called the Hand's Tourney like it's his fault. And then within the first part of Cat's chapter she calls it the Hand's Tourney, too.

In other news, Petyr and Sansa have met, which is very exciting for me personally. Seeing this guy be a creep over his romantic obsession's daughter never fails to please me. I am paying more attention to the Hound this reread, though. And I think it was interesting Sansa's meeting with Petyr and her first significant interaction with Sandor are directly juxtaposed in the narrative. These two ships really are two sides of the same Sansa-being-taken-advantage-of-by-creepy-older-men coin. You have a witty softspoken manipulator obsessed with psychosexuality on one end, and an angry violent tox-masc guy who wants to dump his hidden manpain on you while also threatening to kill you if you let anyone know he has a softside on the other. And I think whichever you gravitate towards more does probably say something or other about what aspects of the patriarchy you find more compelling. But, yeah, idk. I don't really remember all the turns the Sandor thing takes in future books, but I am feeling like these relationships are probably best understood in relationship to one another.

First appearance of Ser Loras! Not much to say about it, but I am glad he is here. I very much enjoy the way he is juxtaposed against Jamie in later books. Am also very much enjoying him and Renly performing heteronormativity - passing out flowers to all the girls and getting all huffed up about a locket with Marg's picture. Idk, GRRM doesn't have a good track record with handling the LGBT+s given some of the stuff he pulls later, but the book does imho do a good job of not doing what the tv show did with Loras and Renly (ie. making 'gay' their only personality trait, making them a constant object of homophobic mockery, giving us uncomfortable scenes where Renly can't get it up for Marg, downplaying their dynamics with the rest of the cast, etc.)

Also there were some chapters with Jon Shnyoo. Got to meet Sam this time too. I read a good meta about Sam's relationship with gender kinda recently and it has increased my appreciation for Sam's character. But, ngl, actually reading this first Sam chapter, along with some of the stuff with Tyrion, a lot of GRRM's thesis about physically disabled and disadvantaged men being ridiculed by their hateful fathers is a bit too 'tell don't show'. Like... I wish we had gotten a version of the conversation where Sam tells Jon about his father written in actual dialogue instead of just summaried.

Yeah, ngl, I also feel like the sheer amount of attention Jon Shnyoo pays to the physical appearance of outcasts in the watch like Sam and Satin is a bit like... The options here are Jon is kinda piteously looking down on the freaks, or Jon is definitely empathising with and gay for them, or some mix of the two. But the more I think about that I wish GRRM had leaned into one of these answers because as is we just get a lot of Jon waxing poetic about how these dudes look and like, why GRRM? Tell me why?

Also got some of Tyrion. The currently most amusing thing about him is his sheer outrage about the fact that Cat outwitted him. Like he actively overshadows his outrage at having been taken prisoner with his outrage about the fact that this SHE-WOLF outplayed him. Like he is sooooo offended a woman outsmarted him. Makes his pain very amusing ngl.

[dentwy]

number 6: persona 5 tactica

i got this game a week before it came out because atlus in their infinite wisdom just so happened to release it a week before it was supposed to be out. genius! finished the game yesterday, so that's like, a month and 12 days for 30 hours of videogame. probably not too horrible considering i've been a bit busy, the thing is that it also felt like i've been playing this game for years. i did not feel like writing anything for this game originally, but since it ended up taking so long and kinda wanted to post one more thing before the year is over, guess this is it.

persona 5 tactica feels mostly feels like a nothing game. i wasn't expecting a lot before the game came out, i went in fully expecting it to be mediocre at best and i suppose my expectations were met. the unfortunate part is that a side of me feels disappointed this is what we're getting after scramble already set a good standard. if you're making a spin off it should at least add something to the original material (in my opinion). we already got a full-blown sequel with a different gameplay style that did all it had to do, and pulled it off right. tactica on the other hand is a game i honestly couldn't play for more than an hour straight at a time.

i love persona 5 so i can't complain too much about getting more out of it, but it obviously does increasingly feel like they're milking it as much as it can. joke's on me i guess since i'm still buying whatever they release and joke's on me when i play the phantom x if it ever does get translated. such is life.

tactica starts right after the events of royal, meaning the metaverse is supposed to be gone, joker is going back home in a couple of months and everyone's shit has already been dealt with. from the very start there is essentially, nothing to add to what we already know or to the characters we've already spent countless of hours with. i don't want to make this a constant comparison with scramble, but considering that game happened a bit further into the future, we got to see what was going on with their lives, how they're doing after a while of not seeing each other, how things have been treating them and how it feels to reconnect with those you care about (even if it's not like they've lost contact or anything). meeting with friends you haven't seen in a while is already nice as it is. what tactica has to offer is 2 new characters and like, xcom gameplay.

erina (or "elle" i guess but the localization team just picked a better name) is really fun. i like her design, she's a rebel, she's always been fighting for her freedom and you can tell. fiery spirit and forever confident attitude. even if she can get a bit too rash at times, she never means wrong and tries her hardest to help others, even at the cost of her own safety. toshiro while an entertaining character, he doesn't really leave a big impression on me. more often than not he feels like he's a plot device rather than an actual character. damn! it seems like he lost his memories, just like morgana. his rich fiancée is an asshole? haru can surely relate. his father is corrupt and strict; yeah, futaba and yusuke get that. ryuji too while we're at it. this is something i've noticed tactica loves to do. initially it seemed logical to have the phantom thieves share their past grievances with the characters going through the same as they once did. they understand what it's like and they are able to help them out, but as it keeps going it just underestimates what those moments actually mean to them and it mostly starts to seem forced.

however, if we're gonna talk characters, seeing futaba at the peak of her character arc might be one of the stand out points of the game. she gets along with toshiro really well and it's kinda just nice to see. also, lavenza, because since she only shows up nearing the end of p5 always getting to see more of her is cool.

the gameplay itself is fine? i think overall it's not that interesting. the enemies aren't challenging, you have way more options to do things to them than they do to you which always ends up balancing it towards your favor i believe. having 8 characters at your disposal from the start of the game while only being able to select 3 at a time is not something i'm fond of. in the end, i ended up using the same 3 guys throughout the entire game. joker is kinda the dude i'm used to always having so i like having him, erina seems appropriate to have on since she's the new one and most relevant to the plot, and then i just like yusuke so he stays on. the game does reward swapping out characters with extra hp and sp bonuses for the characters you haven't used, but it was never something that would make me feel i should change anyone. maybe if hp and sp were more limited level after level i'd have more of a reason to swap them out? but with the skills you have it's a bit hard to get low on either, and it just resets anyway after the level is over. i'm also not particularly into this kind of games so there's that too, take it as you will.

every character has a gun you can buy or create, every character has a persona you can assign to them and should probably fuse (even though fusion in this game is way less interesting as they can only have 2 skills at a time), every character has their own skill tree to upgrade and unlock stuff. added to the fact the ui feels cluttered and unintuitive, it doesn't really make the experience that much fun. you have a "prep" menu that has an option to select party members, another to change weapons, another to upgrade skills and another to change personas. it also has "quests" which is to view quests, not start them. the "hideout" menu you can replay missions, view a report of your stats or whatever, buy weapons, and, of course, a second quest button for actually starting quests. there also a "v. room" button because velvet room wouldn't fit. inside the v. room you can disassemble weapons and make new ones which you can't do in the same place and you also have to press the button at the top instead of the one at the bottom to disassemble because otherwise you're just gonna equip the weapon. obviously selling the weapons from the shop button wasn't logical, so instead you need to go into the v. room and do it from here every time you buy a weapon.

to add salt to the wound the quests aren't even good. there are really only 3 types of quests which imply killing everyone in one turn, getting to the end of the stage in one turn, or moving an object to the end of the stage. the one turn missions are specially bad because it's a bunch of trial and error until you figure out what the hell they were expecting you to do. some of them are fine to be fair, they need a bit of thinking but it usually takes so long for you to do and you only have one chance anyway that you simply have to think 12 steps ahead. first ever quest was specially bad because i just so happened to buy a skill that made my eiha stronger, thus, more expensive, which meant i simply didn't have enough sp to keep going. i had to leave the quest, go to the skills menu and remove it to then go back into the quest. delightful.

another thing that completely irks me off is the "memo" which you can open at any time just in case you forgot who the characters are. it is blatantly obvious that this is exclusively for the people that have never played persona 5 already so they wouldn't know who these people even are or what they're talking about. i am fully on board with accessibility, but, to me, it feels like they're spitting on my face. more often than not it gives you the sense that they're targeting first timers, rather than people that actually want to experience the story and want something extra from the game they already enjoyed. i'm not that naive i know they rather get more people to buy the game than limit it only to already established fans, but still.

something i must mention is that i do really enjoy the style of the game. the art and character designs are cute and work well in their own right. they don't particularly stand against the full body sprites and models of the regular game, but they manage with what they have. the places, backgrounds and cutscenes look good. the special event art that you get is really nice and i wasn't even expecting to see the animated segments so that's awesome. to my surprise, there's seemingly more blood in this game than in regular p5! i will always love seeing these little guys talk to each other, even if maybe not for long in the case of this game. the scene where joker has to imagine who he would marry is a bliss, and the same goes for later on when they have to disguise themselves as samurai and geisha. if there is something atlus will prove themselves to do well, is to fill these games with a unique style that stands in its own right.

here is where i start getting into spoilers for tactica (and some persona 5 royal later on!). if you haven't played either for whatever reason and happen to read this, no idea what you're doing here so whatever, i have to talk about the plot.

the "kingdoms" in this game happen to be inside of toshiro's head. i suppose everything in p5 always takes place inside someone's head, so not much surprise there. we get to learn that, wow, this guy's life sure sucks, but i don't particularly have a lot to say about the first two. his fiancée is bad, his dad is bad. it was nice getting the backstory with his mom, and again, seeing futaba connect with toshiro over it, getting him back on his feet and getting him out of the toxic mindset he's starting to develop, just how she once did.

the third kingdom is where things actually get going. mind you, this is 80% into the game already. so toshiro used to have a friend in high school, eri natsuhara. with her help, they tried to take down the shady vice principal of their school, way before the phantom thieves were even a thing. it ties well into the same scenario that presented itself into joker, ann and ryuji less than a year ago. however, it didn't turn out as well for them. they exposed his crimes, but then everyone's lives just turned for the worse. eri almost died and everyone blamed toshiro for it. now the thing that gets me about this is 1. she almost died because she got pushed into a moving train by the vice principal, toshiro didn't really have anything to do with it and 2. she didn't even die. i get that they insinuate that the students just latched the blame onto him for how the situation inside the school turned out as his actions did technically lead to it, but it wasn't even just him. he may have led the students to expose the guy, but never really forced anyone did he? in fact they came to them first to talk about it. besides, eri almost dying is surely traumatic, a life changing moment for her; yet she doesn't really regret their actions. all of this added up to him probably just blaming himself for everything more than everyone else did. you know, the mind plays tricks with us and he surely feels like it's his fault more than anything else. she still didn't even die though which like makes it less impactful? she proceeded to tell him he should not regret it and to stay strong. i suppose the fact his memories being hazy in this world means he doesn't recall her words until a bit later, but the fact they present it as such a turning point in his life to only show that she's fine and that nothing really happened after that puts a bitter taste in my mouth.

it would be fine if toshiro himself simply felt bad for it himself, and it meant so much that it changed him as a person. while some of this is true, the issue stems from this entire world being created by a god that really just felt like fucking with him. salmael, the god of stagnation, who was bored on a sunday afternoon and targeted toshiro of all people. i quote "he envisions a world of tranquility and peace for all mankind, but its utter disregard for agency threatens to amputate the possibilities of the human will." why toshiro? if it's supposed to be peace and tranquility for all mankind why is he doing it for this guy alone? even if persona always just needs to make the final boss a god, i like the idea of a god trying to break their will of rebellion, but he just made an entire world to fuck with his mind alone. why are the phantom thieves even here if that's the case? never explained.

as it turns out, erina is the memory that eri natsuhara left in his head all those years ago. which is nice. she also turns into toshiro's persona and now you have an extra party member for the remaining 12 levels of the game. which are really boring, and reuse the 3 bosses you've already fought. having a persona that is also a conscious being is a really neat idea, i dig it. it also does make it sad when she has to go once the battle is over, only leaving her will of rebellion behind. that is cool, i can't hate that.

i don't think there's much else i care about to talk in the main story, so i'm moving into the dlc. those motherfuckers at atlus knew that they could put the two most popular characters behind paid content and people would still buy it, and so i did. however, to be completely honest, the dlc was probably my favorite part of the game. besides the fact the royal trio will always be my favorite thing, it seemed a lot more put together at least.

to get stuff out of the way, i, again, do not enjoy the focus they put into making it as spoiler free as they can. i understand some people still haven't played p5r, but in the year 2023 i think persona fans can just get a game where kasumi is called sumire and akechi is his real self. akechi is a bit more complicated, i'll give them that, considering his ass is dead (duh). sumire i don't find much excuse. i suppose having to fit both them in the dlc asked for a moment in the story where they were both present and could actually fight alongside you, so before sae's palace it is. so pretty much, we have an akechi playing the role of the detective before he betrays you, and a kasumi without any memories of who she is, with her persona already awakened, while having turned down the invitation to join the phantom thieves. a bit of this creates huge plot holes in the story since neither of them knew the other one had a persona and was in the know of what the other one had to do with phantom thieves, but worry not, this is solved by amnesia, as once the dlc ends they simply forget everything. convenient!

another aspect of this that gets really weird is sumire talking about her sister while in this world, because as i mentioned, tactica loves to make the new characters relate to the ones we already know in one way or another. i believe you would know she used to have a sister by this point in the story? but not the details about it and having her reflect over it like that gets iffy within the timeline of the game, but i digress.

either way, the plot here isn't anything that exciting. you get transported into a different world; you need to help this girl fix her sister. what's fun about this is how there's actually some tactics involved into the stages (no way!). they apparently saw splatoon has been doing well and decided that's what should go for this mode as well, but it works surprisingly well. you shoot enemies and cover the zone in paint, if they're in your color you can hit them and get an extra turn, if they do it to you, they get an extra turn. there's no more covering here, just focus on where you stand and how you get the enemies in your paint. the fact you also can't even do anything while you're on enemy paint also adds an interesting factor to it. it's a lot more challenging and positioning actually matters here, so props to them for that. at the same time, you only have 3 characters to use which now makes complete sense, you don't need to buy to make any weapons as they simply give them to you, you only change personas you get from battles and you level up faster and can unlock skills much faster. the dlc is considerably shorter so it makes sense, but it at least makes everything way more straightforward and enjoyable.

the boss sucked though; it was not fun. as i was getting close to the end i thought to myself, "watch how they're gonna reveal this parrot is actually an evil god" and akechi says "don't tell me you're some kind of god?" and it was really funny. i also want to note that fairouz ai doing both sisters in the dlc is really fun, good for her.

let it be known #akechibouldering

in the end, persona 5 tactica is less than i expected it to be. not a cash grab, although it is $80 with the dlc you're simply gonna have to buy if you like these guys. i hope this marks the end of persona 5 spin offs, as much as i love the characters and i would play anything else they release (looking at you the phantom x), things have to stop at some point. even if this may not be the best ending, it may just be better than nothing. that, or just play persona 5 scramble for an actually fun experience.

[recurring-polynya]

can we hear more abt the annual captain/lieutenant retreat & how other squads do in the three legged race?

This is in reference to a throw-away joke I did in this post about the management of Squad 13.

So, I said that Rukia and Juushirou did not have a great showing, but they also did not humiliate themselves. The main problem was that, Rukia assumed that it would be pretty easy to synchronize with her captain because he's almost exactly the same size as Renji, without recognizing how much of the heavy lifting Renji does whenever they do sick combos.

Let's back up. After the Winter War, there was a lot of concern, both in and out of the Gotei, that three captains had carried on a century-long conspiracy and no one noticed, and no one knew what each other's zanpakutou did and half the lieutenants couldn't complete a "match each captain to their lieutenant" quiz. Also, there were some new guys. Sasakibe had the brilliant idea of holding the First Annual Captain/Lieutenant retreat, where they would all go to some scenic part of Rukongai and do team-building exercises. Yamamoto only agreed to this because he did not think he would have to go and was very upset when he found out he did. In any case, he only participated in the events he was interested in (namely the karaoke).

Sasakibe held an optional planning session where any captain or lieutenant who wanted to could participate. The only people who showed up were Nanao, Komamura, Momo and Renji (because Byakuya ordered him to).

The actual primary activities that took place were drinking and being hungover. There was a lot of speculation as to hook-ups that may or may not have taken place, but it was nearly entirely incorrect.

The three-legged race took place about the middle of the week. The night before, Renji and Iba, who were both very drunk at the time, got into a bout of intense trash talk re: the race. Simultaneously, Byakuya and Soi Fon, who were both stone sober, also got started talking smack about each other's speed. (Note: shunpo was not permitted the three-legged race). As a result, Squads 2, 6, and 7 all spent the next morning doing intense training montages. Now, you might think, that Byakuya and Renji might have a strong advantage, given that they had landed themselves in the soup on this one, plus there are only 3 inches of height difference between them, rather than 24 or jesus, 40, (wtf Komamura??). You would, however, be underestimating how hyped Komamura gets for his lieutenant's enthusiasm and how much Omaeda fears Soi Fon.

It probably would have been a pretty decent race, except that Shinji decided that it would probably compensate their height difference if Momo faced forward and he walked backwards. As Momo said, "that sounds like some bull hockey, sir", but she went along with it, because why not? It was, unfortunately, incredibly effective. Too effective. Everyone had to line up in Squad order, of course, so Byakuya had this great plan that he was going to swerve to the left soon out of the gate so they didn't risk running into Team Wide Load to their right. He greatly underestimated how fast Shinji can walk backwards and he and Renji ended up wiping out so hard that they took both Squads 5 and 7 out with them.

Squad 2 won so hard.

In case you're wondering how the rest of the field went:

Second place went to Squad 4, who also managed to look extremely graceful in the process.

Rose came up with this elaborate, dance-based movement scheme that he felt would coordinate his and Kira's movements. They came in third, much to Kira's embarrassment.

Fourth was Squad 10. They probably could have done better, but they weren't trying and also, Matsumoto was very hungover.

Mayuri didn't want to participate, but they made him. Nemu is obviously capable of matching his stride length perfectly, but he refused to walk faster than his normal walking pace. Please keep this in mind: Mayuri's normal walking pace snagged fifth place.

Kensei had to have a lieutenant tied to either side of him. Since he and Shuuhei are nearly exactly the same height, it probably would have made sense for Mashiro to try to double step and match them, but Kensei can't make Mashiro do shit. They ended up serpentining across the field about six times before they finally made it to the finish.

Kyouraku doesn't like to walk fast. Nanao was unexpectedly hungover. Seventh.

Squad 11 (Kenpachi tied Yachiru to his thigh, everyone just let him have this) had a great start, but had to dodge around Squad 8 and ended up running off the side of the field. They showed back up two days later.

Squad 13 was the last squad to actually finish, which meant that everyone stood around and watched them. Even the teams that ate shit at the beginning were prying themselves out of the dirt by this point. No one laughed at them because everyone loves Ukitake and because Rukia had pasted everyone in the lieutenants' division of the arm-wrestling contest on the first day.

[silverisbestboy]

Sonic Boom x Reader

Requested by @blackace1993: Conversation was accidentally deleted but from what I remeber of it, they wanted hc for the Sonic Boom characters who has a partner who frequently gets into trouble and/or captured by Eggman. They didn't specify which character they wanted so I just did all of them minus Tails. Hope you enjoy!

Sonic:

There's no denying it

Sonic was smitten

The moment you set foot on the island Sonic was taken aback by you

To him, you were drop dead gorgeous with a great personality so I guess you could say it was love at first sight for him

This boy is a fool for you

It's actually quite funny watching him zip across the island at the slightest remark that you need something

"Man, you what? I'm feeling kind of hungry"

"Say no more!" He'll say as he zooms away and reappears seconds later with a chili dog in hand

"Uhhhh"

But, unfortunately for you, being in any sort of relationship with Sonic is not wothout complication

Eggman sees you as a new oppurtunity to best Sonic and ends up taking you hostage on a regular basis

The first time it happens, Sonic all but destroys Eggman's fortress looking for you

But after it continuously happening, it starts getting kinda old

"Greeting Sonic! I see you've come to rescue your little girlfriend"

"Yeah, yeah. Can we just we just get to the part where I clobber you?"

It gets to the point where Sonic starts teaching you how to defend yourself so you can hold your own against Eggman

Not that he doesn't mind rescuing, it's just he can't always be there to protect

With the amount of times they've had to save you, the team are already very familiar with you and consider you apart of their friend group

But as you get better is self-defence, Sonic officially announces you as part of the team and you start joining them on missions

While Sonic does tend to stick to your side more than his other teammates during battle, he's glad to have you fighting alongside them

After all, he's happy to spend as much time with you as possible, even if that means having to bash Eggman's robots to do so

Knuckles:

You're not a bad person

So what if you have anger issues

So what if you get into fights from time to time

So what if you've been in trouble with the cops before

Doesn't mean you're a bad person, it just means you've.... got some issues

One day you're not in the best mood and have already had a pretty shitty day, and you're just a ticking time bomb waiting to explode

So it's no wonder that when a big guy bumps into you and causes you to drop the tray of food you're holding, you go off on him

Unfortunately for you, this guy is huge, a tall red echidna with bulking arms that looks like he could punch you into next week

But you're not one to back down from a fight, you've beaten up guys twice your size before and you're not afraid to do it again

"Woah, hey, sorry about that, didn't see you there."

What, is he dense?! Who does this guy think he is barrelling into anyone he pleases just because he's big? You bet he was just gonna walk off without even helping you. Well, you'd show him!

Without warning, you lunged at the echidna with the intent of knocking him over the same way he almost did to you

But you underestimated his initial strength and reflexes and he caught you midair with your legs kicking and your hands clawing for his face

"Woah, dude chill! I said I was sorry!"

He just kinda holds you up in air at arms length with you kicking and screaming until you eventually tire yourself out

The echidna stares at you cautiously

"Are you good now?"

After a moment, you reluctantly nod, and he gently sets you back on your feet

He then carefully leans down without takong his eyes off you and grabs your burger which is still wrapped in foil and reaches it out to you

"How about we start over? I'm Knuckles."

You thought after that encounter, that was the last you'd see of him

But one day, you've gotten yourself into another fight, and to say you're losing would be an understatement

It's once again, a guy twice your size and he's absolutely beating the crap out of you

But by some miracle, Knuckles happens to be walking by and immediately notices you

He steps in to save you, and the guy you're fighting knows about Knuckles being part of Sonic's team and doesn't even bother attempting to fight him

Knuckles takes your half conscious body to Tails's work shop where they fix you up

After that, Knuckles refuses to leave you alone

Even if you try to leave, he always ends finding you to make sure you don't get into more trouble

He helps you find outlets for your anger by sparring and working out with him

You grow a soft spot for Knuckles that you'd never thought you'd have for anyone

He's your big goofball that somehow always manages to calm you down and get you out of whatever trouble your in

Though it's beyond you why anyone would want to put up with you, eespecially a lovable ray of sunshine like Knuckles, you're so grateful that you have someone like himin your life to keep you in check

A/N: Might make more hcs for that because I absolutely love the idea of big, strong goofball Knuckles having a little ball of pure rage as a partner.

Amy Rose:

Some would say you're a pacifist

Some would say you care too much

Some would say you're too nice

But you like to think that you're just trying to do good in the world

You're definitely the type of person that hates conflict and wants everyone to get along, and you're more often than not a bit of a pushover

You like to give people benefit of the doubt and prefer to see the good in people, although sometimes, this affects you negatively

A kindly looking (or at least in your opinion) wolf with a showman's top hat and a certain glint his eyes one day stops you in your tracks and asks you ever so politely if you would kindly lend him some money to help feed his family

Of course, you're quick to help, but little do you know that this is none other than T.W. Barker himself, and he's been watching you carefully for some time

He notices the way you jump at the oppurtunity to help someone in need, and he being a con man at heart, decides to take advantage of that

But before you can lend the man all the money you have in your pocket, a certain pink hedgehog decides to interfere

"Hey, you leave her alone Barker! Go find your own ATM machine!"

Amy Rose herself stands not far behind you, hammer in hand and ready for trouble

"N-now, now, let's not be too hasty. I was simply accepting a generous donation from this unsuspecting-- I mean self-less young lady."

"Yeah right. Beat it before I hammer you into next Tuesday, punk!"

You're in utter shock as the seeming wolf in sheep's clothing (pun intended) makes his escape

"Gotta look out for scumbags. Seems this village is getting more and more of them everyday. Anyways, I'm Amy, what's your name?"

Since then, Amy keeps a close eye on you to make sure you don't become prey to anymore scam artists

Now Amy will never admit she has anger issues, but she does get... irritated from time to time

On more than one occasion, you're there to help her calm down and have a sleepover planned or a spa day for when things get particularly rough for her

Whenever she needs help choosing which paint to redo her wall with, or which dress she should wear to a party, she calls you up, because no matter what you're interests are or how inconvenient the timing might seem, you're ready to help a friend, even with mundane things

Amy has you become a part of the Sonic family, and while you never do join them in battles, you help keep the peace between the team whenever there's an argument

And Amy always makes sure your overly caring attitude isn't being taken advantage of

No matter the time or the place, Amy knows she can always count on you, and you know she's always got your back

Sticks:

Well this is quite the predicament you've gotten yourself into

A lot of people would descibe you as clumsy, but you knew you just bad luck

And to prove just that, here you were dangling upside from a rope trap after deciding to take a liesure stroll through the forest

What are we, nomads? Who sets out traps in the middle of the woods anymore?!

After about 20 minutes, the blood is rushing to your head and you're starting to feel faint

But just as you think that your bad luck will finally be the end of you, figure bursts from the bushes with a fierce battle cry

It's a badger girl with a boomerang clutched in her paw, ready for a fight

But after a moment she realizes just who's gotten caught up in her trap

"Hey, what's the big idea?! Why're you in my snare?"

"Why am I in your snare? Why did you put out a snare you loon?!"

After about 5 minutes of arguing, Sticks reluctantly cuts you down, begrudgingly explaining that she set out a trap for any woodland monsters

You run into her again on another walk, crossing a small stream before tripping on one of the stepping stones and almost falling in before a furry arm wraps around your waist

"You outta be more careful out here. The wilderness is no place to be a klutz."

"Hey, I'm not a klutz. I just have bad luck is all."

And what more to gain the attention of a superstitious badger than the possibility of supernatural forces at play

"You could've been hexed by a witch. Or worse, there could be a vengeful spirit after you! We gotta get you an exorcist!"

"I'm fine, I'm just unlucky. Always have been always will be."

"We should still burn some sage in your home just to be sure."

You let Sticks do what she wants with you, after all, her superstitious perspective is a nice change from everyone just thinking your clumsy

You think her attempts to "cleanse" you are endearing, she tries something new everyday, and you end up learning a thing or two about survival and the corruptedness of politics from her

Weeks later, her attempts slowly dwindle down, and she just comes to accept she's just gonna have to keep an extra close eye on you, especially when she sets out booby traps

The time y'all have spent together, although it was somewhat motivated by Sticks not wanting to get whatever curse you exposed her to, lead to y'all having a close bond

Everyone has their quirks, she's paranoid and you're clumsy, but you two always manage to work things out

And that's the beauty of a relationship

A/N: Sorry I haven't been that active lately, so take this as an apology. Four hcs for the price of one!

[marchioness-caprina]

Swapped

{ Part 3 }

Read ; {Part 1} , { Part 2}

Pairings : Katsuki Bakugou x Reader

Warnings : Cussing

Writing style : 3rd Person

Word Count 1843

3rd Person's POV

" I thought we were going out to patrol again" Uraraka muttered and a majority of the class nodded in agreement.

They were supposedly going to the agencies they were training under to do their daily rounds of patrol but a sudden shift of their schedule got all of them gathered in Ground Beta for another suprise Physical Test Exercise.

" You were supposed to but unfortunately; a Villain attack happened near the train station and it caused damage on the tracks. It won't be fixed until Tomorrow. Meaning you're all stuck here doing 'Kiddy stuff' " Aizawa replied in his usual bored tone; hands buried inside his pockets as his shoulders sagged. The dark circle under his eyes were clear indication that he didn't get any sleep last night.

" Aww But sens--"

" Stop complaining. If you wanna be a Hero then you got to take it slow, Don't rush things. Plus... You don't see me complaining when I have to put up with all of you... " Aizawa Cut Sato off as he rubbed his temples " And dealing with all of you is not an easy job" He grumbled the last part and everyone picked up on his mood and just shut up.

" So... What exercise are we supposed to be doing today? " Momo questioned and everyone seemed to be interested in what their te aver had in store for them.

They were up for anything. As long as the penalty isn't an expulsion, the fear of their first day with their teacher still struck everyone with fear knowing how ruthless he could be.

" It's simple... Android Bots " Aizawa called out and from the entrance; loud stomping noises were heard, the stomping wasn't from just one but an army of Robots came marching out of ye entrance, stomping their metallic foot with in perfect harmony.

" Woah! "

Gasps of awe were heard from a few students as they stared at the bots with wonder.

" Let me guess... We're gonna be facing those junks here? " Y/n stated in a matter of fact. Katsuki who was right behind the female with arms wrapped around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder just gave off a satisfied humm when y/n placed her hand ontop of Katsuki's own.

Aizawa who was too tired to give a sassy remark to his student's comment just nodded; and he won't even point out Bakugou's Clingyness seeing how the boy had reacted yesterday when he told him to minimize his Skinship with y/n. It didn't end well.

" This ain't cutting shit. Knowing you... There's a twist to this crappy test right? " Y/n countered and with a sigh Aizawa began to explain ;

" You're right Miss smarty pants. There's a twist. You guys will be judged individually, these bots can't do much damage but the bombs inside them are the ones you need to watch out for, if you destroy a Bot directly without dismantling the bombs first then... Of course you go Kaboom " Everyone flinched at Their Teacher's explanation especially with how nonchalantly he is as he did so.

" Ehhh!? B-but sensei... Isn't it a little bit too.... Cruel? " Mina interjected and aizawa shook his head.

" As a hero. You must always be prepared of every possible scenarios and surprises. Such as this, of course there are subtle indications whether a bot has a bomb or not.... So you gotta put your observational skills to good use and put that brain of yours to work. Spot the difference, dismantle the bomb and you're free to destroy it... Simple as that " Aizawa yawned as he waved off his student's shocked and terrified expression.

Everyone knew their team her isn't going to give them any more clues.

" He just wants to see us suffer.... " Jiro dead panned and everyone couldn't help but agree.

" You said we'll be graded individually.... So you're saying that we have to take out loud portions of those robots ourselves?" Y/n raised a brow when her sensei gave her a spine chilling smile.

" Yes, that's also part of the lesson. It's not everyday you'd get lucky to have another Hero to he paired with you... Sometimes you gotta work alone and most of the time The villain's you're gonna be facing won't be alone. So multi-tasking is the key... And since you're my 'favorite' student... You'll go first " Aizawa pointed at her lazily and she shot him a gentle smile.

A smile that seemed too gentle for this y/n to pull off. Something wasn't right with the way she smiled and everyone knew it.

" But... She might get hurt... I'll stay with her" Katsuki murmured tightening his hold around the girl.

" What? You think I can't handle myself? Get off me already loser. I need to release some stress and you're getting in the way. " Y/n without thinking much of how bad her words had affected Katsuki grinned as she pushed him off her roughly.

Katsuki tumbled back and he looked at her with a pained expression.

" Y-you think I'm a--"

" Get him outta here. He's fucking up my mood. " Y/n snapped as she jogged away from the group.

Katsuki who was fast to try and run up to her was pulled back by aizawa's scarf like fabric.

" Let her go Bakugou. "

" No! I Need Her! Y/n! " Bakugou whined and he had to be knocked out because he was starting to get aggressive.

"Everyone. To the Control room" Aizawa groaned and his students followed his command but go course they felt sorry for their classmate who was passed out cold.

_____________________

" Fucking Die! Hahahaha "

Everyone was silent as they stared at the screen; gawking at how monstrous their classmate could be. Was that even y/n? Because that screaming creature murdering those innocent robots while crushing them to pieces reducing them to junk was scarier than any villain they have ever seen.

" ..... Remind me to never piss y/n....ever" Kirishima gulped when 10 robots were sent flying off the ground with the girl wildly swinging a metal pole like a mad man continued her assault.

" S-she's doing a very accurate job at controlling that new quirk of hers though " Kaminari mumbled as he began thinking.

" But... That is not the opposite of her quirk... Unless.... Oh could it be? The quirk she has is a combined and mixture of mine and Bakugou's quirk ... I underestimated that villain's quirk " Kaminari began to mumble his thoughts out loud and it didn't go unnoticed.

" Well... What do we even call that quirk? "

Kaminari paused and gave a nod towards Uraraka " I suggest Electrical Combustion would fit the spunk" .

" She's doing a tad too good don't you think? "

" She's y/n. So it's no wonder "

___________________

Y/n slammed both of her hands on the ground creating an electrical current as well as a loud eruption of explosion to ensue underground sending the both flying before being completely engulfed and destroyed by either the flying debris, the roasting electricity or the destructive explosion.

With fluid like movement she shot out explosive electric bombs out of her palm that violently detonated when it came in contact with the robots.

She didn't have to worry about the exploding bombs inside the boys because she herself was more explosive than all of those bombs combined.

Her movements were accurate, powerful and spontaneous but her eyes showed how calculated and focused she was if people would ignore that sadistic grin spread out on her face.

She was merciless and with one final punch of the ground that sent a combined jolt of electricity and explosion that caused a mass breakage the fight was over. With no bots left standing at all.

The area was crumbling with ruined buildings and flying rocks and debris mixed with chunks of broken metal.

" Ahh... That hit the fucking spot " She grinned stretching her limbs after her little 'workout'

Meanwhile ------

Everyone was speechless at the display of power of their classmate. She was far too ruthless and she looked more like a villain---no monster from the screen.

And if you squint really hard earlier the students could see how the bots were running away from her instead of actually attacking her.

Y/n gained both the respect and fear of everyone after that bit of course they admired her for her brilliant performance meaning they didn't have to do the test because she destroyed all the bots in a blink of an eye.

" That..... Was so Manly! " Kirishima cheered and his cheer was joined by everyone else.

" Man! Who knew she knows some pretty sweet moves like that! I should ask her to teach me a few of those moves! " Sero commented punching the air.

" Well if you ask me that was rather terrifying.... The continuous onslaught of those poor robots was enough to petrify me for eternity. Not to mention she left us with nothing at all! " Iida sighed as he pushed his glasses up.

" Jeez, loosen up. She did all of us a favor " Jiro replied placing her hand on the slightly disappointed Iida.

Izuku on the side was vigorously writing down on his notebook with such intensity it made everyone pause for a moment to look at him; no doubt about it. He was taking notes about y/n.

Everyone was happy and Aizawa looked more like a proud father than an angry teacher.

But the same couldn't be said for Katsuki. He was sulking in the corner. Eyes dull and fists balled.

The little demon called jealousy was beginning to creep up again. He remembered the other day about Y/n wanting to be partners with Deku or Half and Half. And now that everyone saw how amazing his Girlfriend is, it made him sink deeper as his own insecurities began to swallow him whole.

" .... Do I even... Deserve her? " He mumbled to himself. Tears were already rolling down his cheeks while he pitifully sniffled.

His classmates were gazing at him. They looked inside of what they should do. They still couldn't get used to this new Katsuki.

Kirishima was about to approach and comfort his friend when suddenly Katsuki's body jolted from his spot before collapsing on the ground.

" Bakugou! " Kirishima exclaimed but another gasp was heard from the back.

" It's Y/n-san and Kaminari-san! " Izuku pointed out. Jiro was holding onto an unconscious Kaminari with the help of Tsuyu and on the screen it was pretty clear that y/n had also experienced the same thing and was now sprawled down on the ground.

Unmoving .

........ To be Continued.

[l1ana]

Imagine being able to hold Thors' hammer

Summary: Yeet, idfk I'm in a car thinking this up so yEAH—

———

You were the main one to usually tidy up after the messes that the rest of the avengers made in the tower; that included repairing destroyed parts of it. After all, it was the least you could do to repay Tony for letting you in as one of the family. Unfortunately, being let into the family also meant being the main target for idiot or cruel pranks cast upon you by the rest of the team. It was hard to get used to at first, but you eventually made way to accept that everyone were just as goofy and carefree on the inside as they were on the outside— They never meant you any harm.

Today was no different. Long story short: some idiot tried to attack the tower, lots of collateral damage to the tower, you going to clean up the tower. “[Name], you know I have money for a reason, right?” Tony asked, walking underneath the ladder you stood on with a coffee mug in hand. “Yeah but fixing things is my specialty. Consider it a second hobby besides helping you guys kick the shit out of bad guys.” “Language.” Steve groaned, relaxing into the couch. A smirk graced your face. “Figured you'd say that.” Tony took a seat at the dining room table.

“That guy was... Tough.” Clint exhaled an aggravated sigh. “Yeah, tell me about it.” Natasha added. “Are you all okay? I can fix you some cup of tea if you'd like.” You said, waving your hand upwards to have a multitude of tools make their way to the walls and initiated the cleanup. “No, no, [Name]. It's quite alright.” Bucky dismissed, still wondering how you could be in such a happy-go-lucky mood after what the hell just happened.

You reached your left hand downwards, expecting one of your tools to fly into hand. “Uhhh, I can't seem to find my hammer. Can someone get an extra from the closet?” At those words, an idea popped into a certain gods mind. Now he sure enough wasn't the mischievous type compared to his brother Loki, but Thor did enjoy teasing you as much as everyone else did. Clint stared at him with that knowing look in his eyes, fully aware of what the deity had in mind. It was quite obvious to everyone what Thor was thinking, and most of them groaned in dismay or laughed in agreement.

“You honestly can't find any other way to act smooth, can you?” Tony remarked with a sip of his drink. Unlike the others, the capabilities of Thors legendary hammer Mjolnir hadn't been leaked to you at all. And since you hadn't the slightest clue to whatever Thor was brainstorming, this only worked to his favor. “Of course he can't. The only way he knows how to is by telling his long tales of being a god and whatever.” Sam stated with a wave of his hand. To elaborate on what they were saying— Thor may have developed a small l̶a̶r̶g̶e̶ liking towards you. Just a little bit. But honestly, he wasn't the only one.

“You guys just can't leave the poor girl alone for one minute, can you?” Wanda laid back into the recliner while making said comment. “Hey, I'm not the one thinking it up.” Bruce waved his hands around in defense. “Nor am I.” Clint added before doubling with a, “But just in case, 30 bucks saying she'll hold it.” Que the loud and obviously ticked off groans from Steve. “That's a really low move,” He grumbled, throwing his left arm atop of his face. “..... 50 saying she will.”

Bucky threw a pillow at his companions stomach, scolding him for indulging in this idiot plan to make you swoon for Thor. “10 on her not holding it.” Until giving in himself for why not sakes.

Before they knew it, the team was all making quiet bets deciding whether or not your palm could properly wrap around the handle of the legendary hammer without falling. The good news if you couldn't hold it was that Thor could catch you —due to the weight of the hammer knocking you off balance and sending you quickly gravitating towards the floor— in one arm and his hammer in another, looking dashing and being seen in your eyes as ‘hero’. And even if you could hold it, to which he HIGHLY doubted, he'd be getting paid. It was a win-win on either side.

Snickers and moans, followed by a few discouraging comments courtesy of Sam, flew around as Thor aproached the ladder you stood at with Mjolnir behind his back. “[Name], I have the hammer you seek-” Once he turned his eyes up, he immediately dragged them back down to the floor with a crimson stroking his usual pale skin, not wanting to come off as ungentlemanly for staring at your rump. A cough came from his mouth as you opened a free hand and held it out, expecting the hammer to be set into your palm. “Thank you Thor.” Oh goodness your voice was like catnip to a catnip-starved street feline. He absolutely adored it with his entire heart and soul. Almost made him feel bad for what he was about to do. “E-ehem! You're deeply welcome, my dear [Name].” He said, pulling his weapon from behind him and holding it by the base, setting the handle within your palm. His head clocked back towards the team, who either gave a look of affirmation or one of disagreement to his action.

Thor sighed, his fingers releasing grip of the iron block and opening his arms out, ready to catch you.

Nothing happened.

It went dead silent in the tower, the only sound being you hammering the nail into the wall to finish hanging the picture. The amount of jaws that dropped was immesurable. Thor turned his head round to witness the shocked expressions written over his team mates faces. Oh yeah, they looked like all hell had been loose. Deciding to dart his gaze upwards to where they all directed their sights, he joined the rest of the avengers in this awestricken state.

There you were, twirling the hammer in your hand innocently as you wiped the sweat glands forming on your forehead. “There we go. Good as new.” You remarked with a chirp, pushing the picture frame to be straight and neat. You slid down the ladder as the tools fell back into your small toolbox, the top closing itself instinctively with a satisfying snap. “This is quite the odd modeling for a hammer. But nevertheless, thank you for the help. If I had moved, it might've been raining wrenches and iron bits, heh.” A gloved hand, your hand exactly, scratched the nape of your neck as you giggled nervously. Due to your close-eyed grin, you were unable to catch glimpse of Thors' undescribable expression that painted his face.

“I’ll get going to the outside now. Y-you all have fun!” With that you dashed through the living room on your way to the balcony, opening your eyes and taking notice of everyone's faces. “What's wrong? I can always lend an ear if need be.” You chuckled, leaving them all in wake of those words.

“She held it.” Clint was the first to speak up amongst the group, putting a wall between the quietness. “She actually held it.” His mouth was wide enough to stuff and entire pie in as he said that. “She actually held it.” Sam took a long hard stare at his drink, eyes furrowing. What the hell was in it? He wasn't drunk right now, right? Oh well, whatever was in it -or left in it- was gone, down his throat. Natasha just smirked in a know-it-all fashion, retorting “That's what you all get for underestimating the power of [Name],” “Aka the power of unrelenting kindness.” Wanda and Nat did a little fist bump. “Name's worthy... Totally didn't see that coming.” Steve said sarcastically with a smug look. He already foresaw the hammer within your threshold long ago after witnessing what a charismatic young lady you were, always willing to help whenever.

“See, this is the part where I wake up because I know I did not just let a 200 go to waste.” Tony said, pinching his cheeks. Everybody was stuck in conversation, dishing out surprised comments or bragging about the money they got simply from the bet. However, Thor wasn't making any comments at all. No gasps, no inhales, nothing. Just nothing. It was blatantly obvious that he was the most stunned of all. Bruce smirked. “What's the matter Thor? Someone finally picked up the claimed ‘unholdable’ hammer and now you're quiet?”

“To be honest, [Name] is probably the worthiest of us all.” Peter said. “I mean, she has a heart of gold. Literal gold.” He fawned over how much of a sweetheart you absolutely were. Pietro nodded in agreement. “She's a gracious girl with nothing but purity within her.”

It goes without saying that this whole idea of ‘worthy’ didn't define as much to everyone as it did to Thor. So many roads were being laid out before his very eyes revolving around you. This had so many different meanings, so many different futures. You could take place as a ruler of Asgard. You could possibly transend and become a goddess. The head attached to the mop of blonde hair was sent into a ditzy. He was in this state of rethinking literally everything that's eved occured in his life. His emotions were a mix of shock, rage, joy, and so much more— all of them swirling n him and creating a feeling he didn't even know existed. There was no way to even give it proper words. “Hey, Thor.” Rhodney snapped his fingers, eliciting the other to awaken from his daydream. “Oh, yes?”

“So, whatcha gonna do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“[Name] held your hammer. This obviously means something besides the fact that she's boiling with love to spread.” Bucky said. “Isn't there something more to it...?”

“I have to marry her.” Thor said without hesitation. “What?” Everyone in the room perked their heads up. “Asgard must be ruled over with those the hammer deems worthy, and [Name] is without a doubt worthy.” Oh how Steve was happy that he didn't pull the hammer off the table that time when they were all drinking. “Awww, so you finally get a shot to kiss wittle old [Name]y-waymey.” Tony mocked, making fake smooching noises. “He wasn't ever going to make a move on his own, I think it's good that the hammer got involved.” Pietro commented.

“Jeez it's blazing hot out there.” Speak of the devil, there you were, emerging from the outside with sweat running down your body, your clothes almost soaked in the substance. “I could use a drink right about now.” Waltzing your way to the fridge, you bent down and picked out a small glass of water, chugging it down in one gulp and releasing an ‘ahhh’ of satisfaction.

Thor felt something hit his head; A pillow. Glaring at the one who threw it, the god sighed at Clints childish act yet got the message. He inhaled, mustering all the courage he could and walking up to you. “Uhm, lady [Name], I could really-” “Hey Thor. Here's your hammer back.” You turned and greeted, opening his palm to place the hammer in it. “W-wait, you knew this was mines...?” He asked questioningly. “Yup. You always walk around with it after all,” A light laugh emitted as he took the time to process this. “It's pretty light for a hammer that only gods can pick up. Does that make me a goddess?” Everyone overhearing this in the living room snickered. No doubt about it, Thor was going to go crazy.

“Wellll, I guess since it's your hammer, that technically makes me your goddess!”

thor.exe has crashed

[aerascreamer]

A body without a heart

Part 1: Stranger

An Apex Fanfic

Fandom: Apex Legends

Genre: General Fic

Word count: 2854

Warning: violence and death mention.

Read here too (highly recommended because phone Tumbler screw my text format):

Wattpad

Ao3

----

New season, new competitor.

But this time, "the new guy" couldn't be more different than any of the Legend.

Revenant never interacted with anyone, leaving the dormitory early to go we don't know where.

And if he has to talk to someone, it's either with anger or despises.

The first game of the new season is gonna be full of surprises

----

Note: based on this idea that I brainstormed a lot

Part 2

----

The repetitive hits of Artur's beak on their cheek woke up Bloodhound nested in a hammock.

Above the treetops, the sky blushed in various shades of white, orange, pink and peach as the sun went up, while the fresh wind pushed the scent of the forest to the hunter's nose who detected mushrooms, moss, and flowers.

Disconcerted to find themselves in the middle of the branches and leaves, they remember in flash images to have sneak out of the dormitory late at night.

Speaking of which, the hunter could see one of the windows between two dead trees.

"Is Revenant behind it, staring in my direction?" They thought, gently petting the crow, listening to him singing along the other birds.

Since the robot joined the Apex Games, an oppressive atmosphere enveloped the place, leaving the hunter in constant disturb.

It prevented them from sleeping on their two ears so they decided to guard the corridors, sometimes all night and at the cost of poor reactivity the following day.

But with the new season right around the corner, they needed as much rest as possible...

Fortunately, they could count on Wraith's sixth sense or Crypto's surveillance drone to keep an eye on everyone.

"Caw?"

"Yes, you'll have holly berries later. Also, you need to do more exercises or you're gonna get fat."

"CAW!!"

****

The growls coming from the spaceship's motor echoed in all the rooms of the vehicle.

Tension ruled over the Legends' soul, as they approached the arena World's Edge.

With Lifeline's help, Bloodhound clipped their jetpack on their back right before Octane interrupted them.

"Sure you haven't seen my protection glasses?"

"No Octane, it's the third time you asked me."Bloodhound replied.

"Wait you lost them again?"

Lifeline raised one of her eyebrows with a judging glare.

"I... Guess?"

Both looked at the roof of the dropship in exasperation as the daredevil ran back to his room turned upside down.

"Come on I need them now! We're dropping in one minute!!" He exclaimed while stamping on his feet.

"You know what, take my spare ones and leave me alone." The hunter offered as they headed to their quarter.

They quickly grabbed the glasses in their wardrobe and tossed them at the young man.

"Nice! Thank you compadre!"

"Warning, drop zone ahead!" The IA lady announced.

Time has come... the new season has begun.

The new competitors started at the screens hanging in the middle of the ship, hoping to be matched with a veteran fighter like Bangalore or a trustworthy support like Lifeline.

Some faces lightened, others bit their lips.

Bloodhound headed to the descendant platforms, soon joined by Pathfinder.

"Hi, Bloodhound! I'm glad to have you on my team this time." The MRVN greeted, rising his hand.

"Me too felagi."

Although his personality showed friendliness, Pathfinder enjoyed fighting in the arena and his precise shots made him an opponent to never underestimate.

The frozen wind whirled around the Legends as the platforms pierced through the clouds.

"The hunt begins. May the gods bless you."

Out of nowhere, a scarlet figure landed with a loud bang between the two Legends.

It stretched its long smooth arms and looked at the MRVN.

"Revenant! Ready for your first match? I'm sure you-"

"Save me your breath, I work in silence." The newcomer reprimanded with a sharp tone.

He turned his head briskly to the hunter and stared at them with intensity, as he did with everyone.

Although his metal face didn't express any emotions, Bloodhound felt a deep rage and feeling of envy boiling underneath.

Revenant took the time to discover the arena before nosing-down, leaving a sad-screened Pathfinder behind.

The hunter tapped on his shoulder with compassion before the two jumped right into the red silhouette's diving trail.

The shadow of the Harvester projected its darkness on a totally devastated Capitol City.

Stunned by the damage caused to the landscape, Bloodhound couldn't keep their eyes away from the giant scar opened by the lava fissure scorching the earth.

Some buildings in which the hunter used to fight looked like they collapsed from the inside with fires still not extinct, saturating the air of ashes and dust.

The grey clouds filtered the light that shaded the sky in red, gold and orange, darkening the atmosphere.

Nevertheless, Revenant dived headfirst into the lost city, his tall figure blending almost perfectly into the chaos.

As Bloodhound landed next to him on top of a building standing with courage, the red shadow looked below at a supply bean in the middle of an open field.

"I'm going that way. Don't even think about following me." He warned

"Got it !" The robot went downstairs, oblivious to the bright eyes following his movements.

Watching Revenant dropping, Bloodhound asker themselves how their teammate ended up so full of animosity, especially compared to the blue robot...

Nobody knew where he came from. He popped in the Games like a ghost, without knocking at the qualifier's door.

"Do you need a Sentinel Bloodhound?, Pathfinder asked from a lower level.

"Yes, please."

*****

Revenant moved with silence and fluidity through the grass of a hill.

Following a few meters behind, Pathfinder and Bloodhound discussed the MRVN's journey to find his creator and what he learned on the way.

"And that's why he taught me how to cook Leviathan's meat, the robot concluded, walking with stiff movements.

"Interesting story. It reminds me of that hunt where I took down a Prowler."the hunter remembered.

"A Prowler?! They're really dangerous!"

"Yes but this one was pretty old and lost a paw unfortunately"

A gunshot cut the hunter in their story.

Two enemy squad exchanged fire behind the hill.

Pathfinder took his Peacekeeper and checked his grapple.

"What should we do friends?"

"Let's get closer to have a better view of the situation first"

But without consulting his teammates, Revenant darted in the direction of the fight.

"Wait!" the blue robot turned his to the hunter.

"Follow him." He grappled away.

Bloodhound ran as fast as they could, reached the top of the hill and observed the battlefield through their sniper scope.

Quick and stealthy, Pathfinder already knocked two members from one of the squads behind a large boulder and finished the last opponent with a punch, sparing any unnecessary injuries.

Close to a small house, Revenant fought each member of the second squad at the same time.

Ignoring the bullets hitting his chest like unpleasant mosquitoes, he grabbed a contestant's head, slammed it into a wall, rushed to catch his frightened teammate in order to cut her throat before punching the last member to the ground.

He fought and killed the targets with professional precision, trained... or even created for it without a doubt.

Moving naturally in the battlefield with ease, he glanced at each defeated enemies with an air of superiority, as if they stepped too far into his territory...

A new apex predator has taken the lead in his first try.

A leaf cracked under someone's step.

A fatal mistake.

Bloodhound immediately faced the new opponents coming in their back.

They shoot, hit a disoriented Mirage in the chest and rushed to cover.

Switching for their R-99, they climbed on top of a tall rock and emptied a magazine on Gibraltar who carried his fallen teammate to safety.

Taking the opportunity, Wraith sneaked behind the hunter.

They grabbed her arm, stopping the kunai before it pierced their chest.

She pushed their leg and the two fall on the grass.

Restoring their balance, Bloodhound leaped on the skirmisher and knocked her out.

"One squad... down..."

they panted

"Good job, " Pathfinder congratulated, "We're getting closer to the cham- Oh no! The Ring is closing!"

The hunter saw the giant wall of fire approaching quickly in their direction.

They hissed and started running right away, Pathfinder waiting for them.

Further away, Revenant's blood-red silhouette got smaller and smaller the further he ran.

A hundred knives pierce their lungs with sand rubbing their throat.

Their glasses clouded like in winter, while the breathing mask failed to provide enough oxygen to sustain the prolonged effort.

Bloodhound abruptly got grappled and pulled towards Pathfinder, who took them under his arm before they blacked out.

Part 2

[thedeadshotnetwork]

How to make yourself work when you're not in the mood Strelka Institute/Flickr LinkedIn Influencer Travis Bradberry originally published this post on LinkedIn . People procrastinate for a number of reasons including boredom and exhaustion — especially around the holiday season. There are ways to curb procrastination, like breaking your task into shorter pieces. It's a good idea to remind yourself of the consequences of procrastination. If the task itself is boring and uninteresting, you can turn it into a mental game. Procrastination affects everyone. It sneaks up on most people when they're tired or bored, but for some, procrastination can be a full-fledged addiction. They avoid all day the work that is right in front of them, only to go home and toil late into the night, frantically trying to finish what they could have easily completed before dinner. With the holidays approaching, the high season for procrastination is upon us. It's even more difficult to get work done when you're stuck at the office, wishing you were enjoying time with family and friends. Still, the procrastination cycle can become crippling at any time of the year, which is troubling, because recent studies show that procrastination magnifies stress, reduces performance, and leads to poor health. Psychologists at Case Western Reserve University conducted an interesting experiment where they offered college students a date range instead of a single due date for their papers. The researchers tracked the date that students turned in their papers and compared this to their stress levels and overall health. Students who waited until the last minute to turn in their papers had greater stress and more health issues than others did. They also received worse grades on their papers and in the class overall than students who turned their papers in earlier. A study published earlier this year by Bishop's University explored the link between chronic procrastination and stress-related health issues. The researchers found a strong link between procrastination and hypertension and heart disease, as procrastinators experienced greater amounts of stress and were more likely to delay healthy activities, such as proper diet and exercise. Procrastination is fueled by excuses. We cannot expect to overcome procrastination and improve our health and productivity until we're able to overcome the negative mental habits that lead us to procrastinate in the first place. What follows are the most troubling excuses we use to help us procrastinate. They're troubling because they're the most difficult excuses to conquer. For each, I offer preventative strategies so you can overcome procrastination and get productive, even when you don't feel like working. 'I don't know where to begin.' Paradoxically, we often find ourselves frozen like a deer in headlights when confronted with a difficult task. As well, much like deer, the best thing we can do is move in any direction, fast. When a task is particularly difficult, you need all the time you are given to complete it. There's no sense in wasting valuable time by allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by the complexity of the task. The key here is to not allow fear of the whole to stop you from engaging in the parts. When something looks too difficult, simply break it down. What can you accomplish in 60 minutes that will help you slay the beast? Then, what can you do in 60 more minutes? Breaking your task into shorter periods (where effort is guaranteed) allows you to move out of the "deer in headlights" frame of mind. Before you know it, you've accomplished something, and the task goes from way too hard to absolutely doable. When it comes to challenging tasks, inactivity is the enemy. 'There are too many distractions.' For most of us, getting started on a large project is a challenge. We stumble over all sorts of smaller, irrelevant tasks that distract us from the real assignment. We answer emails, make calls, check the news online…anything to avoid the elephant in the room. Being busy is not the same as being productive. When you find yourself avoiding a particularly sizeable task, slow down and visualize what will happen if you continue to put off the task. Distractions numb you by shifting your attention away from these consequences (a.k.a., away from reality). Reminding yourself of what will happen if you continue procrastinating is a great way to make distractions less enchanting so that you can focus on your work. 'It's too easy.' Tasks that are too easy can be surprisingly dangerous, because when you put them off, it's easy to underestimate how much time they'll take to complete. Once you finally sit down to work on them, you discover you have not given yourself enough time to complete the task (or at least to complete it well). If a task is too easy, draw connections to the bigger picture, because these connections turn mundane tasks into a fundamental (and do it now) part of your job. For example, you might hate data entry, but when you think about the role the data plays in the strategic objectives of your department, the task becomes worthwhile. When the smaller, seemingly insignificant things don't get done or get done poorly, it has a ripple effect that's felt for miles. Dedi Grigoroiu/Shutterstock.com 'I don't like it.' Procrastination isn't always about a task being too easy or too hard. Sometimes, you just don't want to do it. It can be very hard to get moving on a task in which you're disinterested, much less despise. Unfortunately, there's no foolproof way to teach yourself to find something interesting, because certain things will never draw your attention. Rather than pushing these tasks to the back of your plate, make it a rule that you cannot touch any other project or task until you've finished the dreaded one. In this way, you are policing yourself by forcing yourself to "eat your vegetables before you can have dessert." When you do get started, you can always turn the task into a game. How can you achieve your task more efficiently? How can you change the steps of the process and still produce the same result? Bringing mindfulness to a dreaded task gives you a fresh perspective. The task itself might not be fun, but the game can be. 'I don't think I can do it.' You are assigned a new project by your supervisor. In fact, it's one you've wished he or she would give you for a while. However, now that it's in your lap, you simply cannot get started. You cannot get past thoughts of failure. What's going to happen if I blow it? How am I going to do this? Could I be fired over this? It can reach a point where avoiding failure seems like the best possible option. After all, if you never engage in a project, you'll never fail. Right? Wrong. Procrastination itself is failure—failure to utilize your innate talents and abilities. When you procrastinate, you're failing to believe in yourself. Remember when you were learning to drive and you could only look straight ahead, because if you looked at something off the road, you'd unwittingly turn the wheel in that direction? Worrying about everything that might go wrong if you fail has the same effect. It pulls you toward failure. You must shift your mind in a confident direction by focusing on all the positive things that are going to happen when you succeed. When you believe you can do something—and you visualize the positive things that will come from doing well—you equip yourself to succeed. This thought process gets your mind headed in the right direction. Worrying about everything that could go wrong only binds your hands. Break the chains and get started! Fighting procrastination teaches us to fully engage in our work, get more creative with it, and, ultimately, get more done. NOW WATCH: The disturbing reason some people turn red when they drink alcohol December 2, 2017 at 09:16AM

[tortuga-aak]

How to make yourself work when you're not in the mood

Strelka Institute/Flickr

LinkedIn Influencer Travis Bradberry originally published this post on LinkedIn.

People procrastinate for a number of reasons including boredom and exhaustion — especially around the holiday season.

There are ways to curb procrastination, like breaking your task into shorter pieces.

It's a good idea to remind yourself of the consequences of procrastination.

If the task itself is boring and uninteresting, you can turn it into a mental game.

  Procrastination affects everyone. It sneaks up on most people when they're tired or bored, but for some, procrastination can be a full-fledged addiction. They avoid all day the work that is right in front of them, only to go home and toil late into the night, frantically trying to finish what they could have easily completed before dinner.

With the holidays approaching, the high season for procrastination is upon us. It's even more difficult to get work done when you're stuck at the office, wishing you were enjoying time with family and friends.

Still, the procrastination cycle can become crippling at any time of the year, which is troubling, because recent studies show that procrastination magnifies stress, reduces performance, and leads to poor health.

Psychologists at Case Western Reserve University conducted an interesting experiment where they offered college students a date range instead of a single due date for their papers. The researchers tracked the date that students turned in their papers and compared this to their stress levels and overall health. Students who waited until the last minute to turn in their papers had greater stress and more health issues than others did. They also received worse grades on their papers and in the class overall than students who turned their papers in earlier.

A study published earlier this year by Bishop's University explored the link between chronic procrastination and stress-related health issues. The researchers found a strong link between procrastination and hypertension and heart disease, as procrastinators experienced greater amounts of stress and were more likely to delay healthy activities, such as proper diet and exercise.

Procrastination is fueled by excuses. We cannot expect to overcome procrastination and improve our health and productivity until we're able to overcome the negative mental habits that lead us to procrastinate in the first place.

What follows are the most troubling excuses we use to help us procrastinate. They're troubling because they're the most difficult excuses to conquer. For each, I offer preventative strategies so you can overcome procrastination and get productive, even when you don't feel like working.

'I don't know where to begin.'

Paradoxically, we often find ourselves frozen like a deer in headlights when confronted with a difficult task. As well, much like deer, the best thing we can do is move in any direction, fast. When a task is particularly difficult, you need all the time you are given to complete it. There's no sense in wasting valuable time by allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by the complexity of the task.

The key here is to not allow fear of the whole to stop you from engaging in the parts. When something looks too difficult, simply break it down. What can you accomplish in 60 minutes that will help you slay the beast? Then, what can you do in 60 more minutes?

Breaking your task into shorter periods (where effort is guaranteed) allows you to move out of the "deer in headlights" frame of mind. Before you know it, you've accomplished something, and the task goes from way too hard to absolutely doable. When it comes to challenging tasks, inactivity is the enemy.

'There are too many distractions.'

For most of us, getting started on a large project is a challenge. We stumble over all sorts of smaller, irrelevant tasks that distract us from the real assignment. We answer emails, make calls, check the news online…anything to avoid the elephant in the room.

Being busy is not the same as being productive. When you find yourself avoiding a particularly sizeable task, slow down and visualize what will happen if you continue to put off the task. Distractions numb you by shifting your attention away from these consequences (a.k.a., away from reality). Reminding yourself of what will happen if you continue procrastinating is a great way to make distractions less enchanting so that you can focus on your work.

'It's too easy.'

Tasks that are too easy can be surprisingly dangerous, because when you put them off, it's easy to underestimate how much time they'll take to complete. Once you finally sit down to work on them, you discover you have not given yourself enough time to complete the task (or at least to complete it well).

If a task is too easy, draw connections to the bigger picture, because these connections turn mundane tasks into a fundamental (and do it now) part of your job. For example, you might hate data entry, but when you think about the role the data plays in the strategic objectives of your department, the task becomes worthwhile. When the smaller, seemingly insignificant things don't get done or get done poorly, it has a ripple effect that's felt for miles.

Dedi Grigoroiu/Shutterstock.com

'I don't like it.'

Procrastination isn't always about a task being too easy or too hard. Sometimes, you just don't want to do it. It can be very hard to get moving on a task in which you're disinterested, much less despise.

Unfortunately, there's no foolproof way to teach yourself to find something interesting, because certain things will never draw your attention. Rather than pushing these tasks to the back of your plate, make it a rule that you cannot touch any other project or task until you've finished the dreaded one. In this way, you are policing yourself by forcing yourself to "eat your vegetables before you can have dessert."

When you do get started, you can always turn the task into a game. How can you achieve your task more efficiently? How can you change the steps of the process and still produce the same result? Bringing mindfulness to a dreaded task gives you a fresh perspective. The task itself might not be fun, but the game can be.

'I don't think I can do it.'

You are assigned a new project by your supervisor. In fact, it's one you've wished he or she would give you for a while. However, now that it's in your lap, you simply cannot get started. You cannot get past thoughts of failure. What's going to happen if I blow it? How am I going to do this? Could I be fired over this? It can reach a point where avoiding failure seems like the best possible option. After all, if you never engage in a project, you'll never fail. Right?

Wrong. Procrastination itself is failure—failure to utilize your innate talents and abilities. When you procrastinate, you're failing to believe in yourself.

Remember when you were learning to drive and you could only look straight ahead, because if you looked at something off the road, you'd unwittingly turn the wheel in that direction? Worrying about everything that might go wrong if you fail has the same effect. It pulls you toward failure.

You must shift your mind in a confident direction by focusing on all the positive things that are going to happen when you succeed. When you believe you can do something—and you visualize the positive things that will come from doing well—you equip yourself to succeed. This thought process gets your mind headed in the right direction. Worrying about everything that could go wrong only binds your hands. Break the chains and get started!

Fighting procrastination teaches us to fully engage in our work, get more creative with it, and, ultimately, get more done.

NOW WATCH: The disturbing reason some people turn red when they drink alcohol

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