#they do agree there needs to be some rebalancing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imunbreakabledude · 1 month

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I probably am being too hard on 2007scape in all honesty but besides what you've said about it, which I agree with pretty heavily btw, the main thing that gets me is the relentless shitting on rs3. I'm not saying rs3 doesnt have its issues, it certainly does, but a lot of it completely ignores a lot of the legitimately good parts of rs3. Which like why would any of them know about it they don't play rs3. Like I get that shitting on rs3 is a pretty sacred pastime for both sets of rs players but the joke is so played out on the osrs side at least. It just seems there's this vitriolic hatred for a combat update that happened well over a decade ago for a game none of them play anymore. And I understand that I shouldn't care what randoms on the internet say, especially randoms on reddit, but whenever I see it my first reaction is just 'really this again?' And there's the entire thing of people shutting down discussions about rebalancing xp rates or whatever else to not be the worst thing ever with 'if you want ezscape go play rs3 shitter'. I understand i'm complaining really hard about something that is pretty inconsequential but i dunno, despite rs3s numerous flaws there is still such love for it in my heart and it sucks to see it get shit on by people who don't even care about it. I dunno, enough of me whining though. The multi-million dollar company doesnt need me defending it

But on the point of eoc i think the original story is that the CEO and investors at the time forced eoc because they thought runescape needed to copy other mmos at the time. It truly was a shit show on release, and I actually remember being one of the few f2p beta testers at the time, but it's certainly shaped up with time and updates and last time I played it I actually liked it. I'd be interested to see what the osrs team would do with a complete combat expansion but I dont think it would ever happen, it'd completely change the core of osrs and wouldn't keep that vibe really. Plus it would never get past polling. But what they've been doing lately is pretty interesting, I like perilous moons and I feel like they still have some ideas left in the bank. They could look into things aside from bosses too, maybe world events could make a come back. The Bandos and Armadyl/Battle for Lumbridge one was a lot of fun in rs3, I remember the Tuska one being sick as all hell as well. But that sort of has it's own issues in being temporary content that osrs doesnt do outside of like holiday events and hot fixes plus possible lore complications. Maybe a proper big multi skill skilling boss more complex than Tempoross or Zalcano? Those god aligned prayers that were talked about a while ago really interest me. But I think eventually something will have to give, although I might be pretty biased as a previous rs3 player. Combat achievements are an amazing addition though I really like that update

I don't know if im apart of the group of players that wants more and more varied updates but I do feel like I certainly lean that direction. I'll admit though that I should not get my way, it'd certainly strip away the special identity of osrs and I could just get that from restarting rs3 again. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is still more osrs could take from rs3 while still keeping that identity osrs has and I trust the current dev team to do that and with polling to help keep it in line

Also funny thing happened while typing this response my laptop completely bricked for no reason so I had to retype it all on my phone. So please excuse the shit response, I'm not really holding up my half of the conversation but if I didnt respond to something i just didnt have anything interesting to add and just generally agreed. Unfortunately I am just generally a boring person. Hope everything is well with you though

Yeah, I agree that "rs3" is used as kind of a boogeyman word in that community. Which on one hand, makes sense - this version was brought in specifically to NOT be rs3, and "rs3" broadly represents all the "bad changes" that made individual players stop playing that game. but I do think it's a bit much sometimes, even as someone who hasn't played rs3 since... maybe a couple brief attempts in ~2012 before OSRS released. but it's also funny how "EoC" is used derisively as the thing that "ruined" runescape, when it really wasn't just that, it was a lot of updates that were controversial to different people for different reasons. Removal of free trade/wildy, obviously; summoning and dungeoneering were both kinda polarizing; EoC, yes; but also the increased emphasis on MTX over the years. I remember when squeal of fortune was first added... yeah. But anyway, even if there are valid criticisms to be made and valid reasons for people to not want OSRS to go in any direction like that, people can be mean-spirited about it - i've heard mostly good things about rs3 from people who play it, recently, and tbh I think 2007scape has gotten nicer about it as a whole due to more players who play both (rs3 players picking up osrs, mostly)... and maybe also due to this community feeling less "threatened" now that it's clear OSRS is successful and here to stay (vs earlier days when there was an underlying fear jagex head honchos could pull the plug any moment). but I'm sure it is very annoying as someone who actively plays rs3 to see all that, I get that. It's a different game now. Different doesn't have to mean "worse".

the sentiment towards rs3, or i suppose "pre-eoc era" RS2 has definitely warmed up over the years in the 07scape community though. as evidenced by new skill polling passing... and as evidenced by the number of osrs updates that are basically things that existed in RS2/RS3 but are just reskinned... Some people are aware of that, some are not, but it's happening nonetheless. and I don't think that's a bad thing. as long as there's still polling and lots of community feedback, I don't think changes should be off the table just because "that was in rs3"... also because what feels "old school" or not is soooooo subjective so like. voting on it. voting is good.

also I am so sorry for your laptop what a tragedy! and no need to apologize, it's not a "shit response", agreeing is always welcome with me lol and just general chatting about osrs here is fun, don't really have many people to talk to about it tbh which is why i just end up typing my thoughts on here assuming no one is reading a lot of the time. but cheers, fun to have a convo about it :)

#anonymous #ask #osrs sp

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casspurrjoybell-29 · 10 months

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Frayed Ties - Chapter 11 - Part 2

*Warning Adult Content*

Danya liked Liam's touch well enough and it was doing the job of slowly rebalancing him but he wasn't Simon.

His energy was a softer, more compromising thing.

He could see why Cailan found comfort in it but he ached for the strength and solidity of Simon.

Even so, when Liam reached a hand up and started stroking it through his hair, Danya leant into the touch.

As much as he wished he could have this from Simon instead, he knew it would never happen.

Danya heard the front door open and shut, felt Simon's presence enter the room and slowly opened his eyes.

He tensed when he realised Simon was watching them, his expression cold and flat.

"What's this?" Simon asked in that too calm voice that tended to precede his anger.

Liam's hand was still on Danya's head but he was no longer petting him.

"What exactly do you take issue with here, Simon?"

"I just came home to find you stroking him like he's some sort of pet. You wouldn't do that to a human."

Liam's hand had retracted by now and Danya took the opportunity to shuffle away a little.

"Humans stroke each other's hair all the time, Simon. It's just a harmless expression of affection."

"Between a mother and a child or lovers, maybe. Do you think I would have found this scene perfectly normal if it had been Hamish in his place? Or any of the other men?"

"I think you wouldn't be scolding me right now if it were Hamish. You would at least respect him enough to speak to him about it first."

"Because I know that, though he rarely utilises the word, Hamish knows how to say no. Do you think when he was sixteen and pursuing adult men I didn't have words for anybody? I am assuming the absolute best case here, that you asked and he said yes and I am furious because a yes is meaningless from somebody who cannot say no."

"I understand what you're saying. I can see where you're coming from, and though I'm not sure I agree with it..."

"Don't touch him again," Simon said before turning around and leaving the room.

Without thinking, Danya hurried after him.

He caught up with him outside of his room.

"I..."

Danya's heart was beating so hard.

He didn't know what to say.

"I can say no. To him. I would have, if I had known it would bother you. I'm sorry, Simon. I promise it won't happen again."

"You didn't..."

Simon gave a rough shake of his head.

He seemed determined not to look Danya in the eye.

"Don't be sorry. I just..."

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair.

"Look, if I try to have this conversation right now I'm definitely going to lose my temper and make things worse. We'll talk later, okay?"

"Okay."

Simon disappeared into his room, and after a few seconds of staring at the outside of the door Danya retreated to his own.

He flopped face down on his bed and just lay there for a few minutes, trying to calm himself.

Simon cared.

Whatever his motivations were, they clearly were not indifference.

It was unfortunate that the thing he seemed most determined to defend Danya from was something he was not the last bit concerned by, but even so...

Danya let out a long sigh.

He wanted Simon so badly and he had foolishly accepted Liam's affection.

Had allowed Liam to start balancing him even though he only had Simon's permission to seek out his company when he was out of balance.

Now how long would it be before he could justify it?

Danya rolled onto his back and chewed at his lip.

Maybe he could lie?

Simon hardly even knew what being out of balance was.

He could tell him anything he wanted about what he needed and he would be unlikely to question it.

That wasn't something he would ever lie about, though.

It was too important to taint with dishonesty.

But...

Danya flicked up a small shield and then let it fall again, feeling a tiny amount of energy drain out of him.

He felt no obligation to be honest about how he came to be out of balance.

It was good practise, anyway, he told himself.

It was a secret for now but maybe one day it could save all their lives.

He practised pulling it up as fast as he could, changing its shape and angle, throwing himself against furniture and letting it cushion him.

He let himself forget about why he was doing this at all and focused simply on strengthening his power.

By the time he tripped and collapsed on the floor, head spinning, the hotel was dark and everything was quiet.

He was badly but not catastrophically, out of balance.

Finally he could set wants aside and honestly say he needed Simon's touch.

Danya crept out of his room and opened the door to Simon's, then just stood there in the doorway staring at Simon's form in his bed not knowing what to do.

Simon turned his head and the moonlight from the window picked out the contours of his face.

"You okay?"

Danya shifted.

"Yes. Umm..."

"You wanna come over here?"

Danya nodded. Simon lifted the blankets.

"C'mon, then."

Danya shut the door behind himself, then walked over and crawled onto the bed.

Simon flung the blankets over him, then held his arm up for Danya to crawl under if he wanted to.

Danya did.

Simon wasn't wearing a shirt.

Danya desperately wished he'd slipped his robe off before coming here, wished for bare skin against bare skin but it would be weird if he did it now.

"This umm... the thing with Liam earlier?" Simon asked. "Guess I did just assume it was his idea."

"No, it was his idea but he was just trying to be kind."

"Hmm?"

"I was upset. He said I could cuddle up to him if I wanted to."

"And you did want to?" Simon murmured.

"Yes," Danya admitted, though it felt traitorous. "It just... helps. I used to have Duran and Fanner and they were always there. I've never been alone and..."

Danya stopped and swallowed thickly.

"Sorry. I really am out of balance now and it's making me a bit emotional."

"S'okay," Simon said, his arm tightening around Danya just a little.

"I know I've been, hmm... shitty. I get that. If you want to go to someone else for this stuff, that's fine but I'd rather you go to Hamish. I trust him. Liam... not so much."

"No, Simon, I don't want to go to someone else. Please? I want you."

"Then why the thing with Liam?"

"Because I didn't need you, I just... wanted you. But that's not our arrangement. You've been kind enough to give me what I need but what I want isn't your problem."

That question certainly filled Danya's mind with some very explicit images but he wasn't about to broach that particular topic with Simon.

He wanted many things and those ones could remain unspoken.

"I want to fall asleep like this every night."

"Hmm. Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah. That's fine."

"Ohh... Okay."

Simon yawned and stretched out and when he relaxed again they were pressed just a tiny bit closer together.

"Come out with me tomorrow. Gonna start checking the perimeter of the city. Promise it'll be safe."

"Okay."

"Good. Sleep now."

"Okay."

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tobiasdrake · 1 year

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Orange League, Episode 31 - Winner's Cup! Full Battle 6 vs. 6!!

Final Destination: Kankitsu/Pummelo Island, where the Winner's Cup awaits. It's time for Ash to take on the ultimate challenge of the Orange League.

This is going to be Ash's first time in an all-out 6v6 battle. He needs to think very carefully about his team composition. He's finally built a partnership with Charizard but he hasn't quite cracked Snorlax, so he needs to swap them for another Pokemon.

Ash selects Tauros to replace Snorlax, surprising everyone except me who agrees with that choice. Kingler would be redundant with Squirtle, though personally I'd suggest Kingler over Squirtle; Ash's team is too heavy on Special. Muk would give him Poison coverage but he's already got Charizard for Grass Types. Tauros is a lateral move.

With that settled, Ash feels confident in facing the Dragon Master Wataru/Lance Head Leader Yuji/Drake in the championship match!

Round 1: Pikachu vs. Ditto

Mm, it's hard to go wrong when you're fighting Ditto. They're pretty trash. Still, Ash probably should have led with something stronger. Ditto's Achilles Heel is that their HP doesn't transform with the rest of their stats. They can copy, say, Snorlax and attain all of Snorlax's power. But HP remains trash and they go down in one punch.

Pikachu can't take advantage of that, however. Due to being specialized around Speed, his HP is even lower than Ditto's.

Nonetheless, this match is just a slugfest. Pikachu and Fake Pikachu wail on each other until Pikachu's higher level wins out - At the cost of exhausting Ash's highest-level Pokemon.

Round 2: Squirtle vs. Onix

Drake uses Onix to force Ash to withdraw Pikachu. Ash obliges with a solid pick. Do I even need to elaborate? Onix has 4x weakness to Water and only 30 points of Special. Their greatest asset is their phenomenal 160 Defense, which isn't a factor here. Squirtle should eat them alive.

But, of course, Type Chart isn't everything and neither are base stats. Drake raised Onix's Speed EVs to maximum, giving him guaranteed turn priority over Ash's Squirtle. When Ash tries to checkmate via Water Gun, Onix evades with Dig and nails Squirtle.

Ash freezes up, freaked out by this upset, and forfeits his second turn - His only chance to land that Water Gun. Before he knows what's happening, Onix wraps up Squirtle in a Bind.

Unfortunately for Drake, we appear to have upgraded to the Gen 2 ruleset at some point during Ash's trip through the Orange Islands. Trapping moves have been rebalanced and no longer prohibit attacks, so Squirtle can still score that easy win with Hydro Pump.

Sorry, buddy. Gotta update your strats when a new gen comes out.

Round 3: Tauros vs. Gengar

Oh, Ash, what have you done? Tauros and Gengar have mutual invulnerability to each other's primary Types, but that hurts Tauros more than Gengar. For Gengar, that basically just means "You can't Night Shade." Hypnosis/Dream Eater is still on the table, as are any number of Special TMs like Thunderbolt, Psychic, or Mega Drain that they may be packing.

There was a logic to this plan. Ash listened to his coaches, who reminded him that Gengar's Poison subtype gives them a weakness to Psychic and Ground. He brought in Tauros for Ground moves, and you know what? A solid hit from an Earthquake TM would easily carry this.

Unfortunately. Ash gave Tauros Fissure. The guaranteed instant KO attack with 30 accuracy. Obviously the attack misses and Ash takes a Confuse Ray for his trouble. You dolt.

Realizing his folly, Ash switches rather than risk letting Gengar have free reign to dodge Fissures and tear Tauros apart.

Round 4: Lapras vs. Gengar

Ash and Drake can now hit each other with STAB moves. Ash is going to be battling uphill against Gengar's 130 base Special, but Night Shade's going to struggle against Lapras's 130 base HP. Lapras does have Physical options but. Um. They're Normal moves. So.

Drake tries for the easy win with Hypnosis, but 60% accuracy isn't much of an improvement over 30%, so he misses too. This gives Ash a chance to score a free Water Gun.

Episode ends on a cliffhanger between Lapras's Ice Beam vs. Gengar's Night Shade. I'd be shocked if Gengar wins that exchange. I'd expect them to be able to tank Lapras's Ice Beam, but Lapras also has a ton of HP so they should be able to easily weather Night Shade's set-damage.

#pokemon liveblog #pokemon #orange league #yuji #drake #ash ketchum #satoshi

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olko71 · 1 year

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New Post has been published on All about business online

New Post has been published on http://yaroreviews.info/2023/02/nissan-warns-costs-must-fall-to-make-new-electric-cars-in-uk

Nissan warns costs must fall to make new electric cars in UK

Getty Images

By Simon Jack, Annabelle Liang and Peter Hoskins

BBC News

A senior boss at Nissan has warned the “economics have to work” for the company to make new electric models of its Juke and Qashqai cars in the UK.

Ashwani Gupta, chief operating officer at the firm, told the BBC the UK faced a challenge to remain competitive with other car-making countries.

He said manufacturing costs in the UK were higher than others due to higher energy bills and overall inflation.

Nissan employs more than 6,000 people at its Sunderland manufacturing plant.

Mr Gupta warned having lower production costs was key to keeping the UK competitive. He added other tools to keep the UK attractive to car-makers were ongoing government support in the transition to electric vehicles, as well as robust supply chains.

Nissan has already committed to producing the successor to its Leaf electric car at its factory in Sunderland, but Mr Gupta said that when it came to allocating production of new Juke and Qashqai models between its 44 global plants, the company “needed to have the economics to justify it”.

The decision of where to build the new Juke and Qashqai does not have to made for a couple of years yet as the next models of those big Sunderland-made sellers are not due until 2027-28, and decisions are usually made two or three years in advance.

Car makers often press governments to provide more support. Nissan recently secured about £100m in public money towards a £1bn investment in expanding a Chinese-owned battery plant located right next to its Sunderland plant.

But the map of global car manufacturing is being reshaped and the US is offering tens of billions in subsidies to car makers who move production and supply chains there. The EU is also expected to respond with carrots of its own.

The comments from Mr Gupta come as Nissan and Renault unveiled the details of a major shake-up of their often strained 24-year-old alliance, after months of negotiations between the motor industry giants.

In a joint statement, the two firms said they had “rebalanced” their relationship by agreeing that Renault would cut its stake in Nissan.

Under the deal, Nissan will take a stake in Renault’s flagship electric car unit Ampere.

The companies also said that they will work together on electronics and battery technology, as well as making savings from joint projects in Europe, India and Latin America.

The agreement will see Renault cutting its stake in Japan’s Nissan from more than 43% to 15%, the same size as Nissan’s stake in its French counterpart.

The companies also said that Nissan will take a stake of up to 15% in Renault’s new electric vehicle venture, Ampere.

EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Christopher Richter from investment group CLSA said the changes were necessary to keep the two-decade partnership alive.

“It’s a last ditch attempt to save an alliance where the two partners don’t get along very well,” he told the BBC.

“Hopefully, by equalising their status in the alliance, they can put some of the rancour behind them, and find a limited number of activities where they can cooperate and add value to each other,” Mr Richter added.

The move comes at a time of huge change for the motor industry as it transitions to electric vehicles and adopts new technology.

“We all know that auto firms will be amalgamated into five or six globally, especially due to the big changes occurring in AI technology,” Seijiro Takeshita from the University of Shizuoka in Japan told the BBC.

“In that context, Nissan and Renault need to find a good partner, and that’s what they are, at least nominally. They cannot and do not have the luxury of going alone in this battle,” he added.

Soviet-era car brand revived at ex-Renault plant

Ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn says he wants a trial

The alliance was formed in 1999 when Renault rescued Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy.

In 2016, they were joined by Mitsubishi, after Nissan took a major stake in the struggling Japanese firm.

The alliance was rocked in November 2018 when Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn was arrested over allegations that he had understated his annual salary and misused company funds. Mr Ghosn denied the charges.

At the time, Mr Ghosn was the chairman of the Japanese carmaker. He was also chairman of France’s Renault and the boss of a three-way alliance between both carmakers and Mitsubishi.

More on this story

Soviet-era car brand revived at ex-Renault plant

23 November 2022

New £10m battery assembly line begins manufacturing

26 September 2022

Ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn says he wants a trial

22 April 2022

Cylinder head production to stop at Nissan

23 August 2022

Nissan signals the end of the road for Datsun cars

25 April 2022

The downfall of Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn: An insider’s view

4 August 2021

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bandjili · 2 years

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Shakedown hawaii release date switch

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#SHAKEDOWN HAWAII RELEASE DATE SWITCH UPDATE#

The overall changes make acquiring the island feel much more rewarding, and give further room for varied strategies to calculate an optimal speedrun. Properties are more widely affected by inflation, multipliers give a more balanced boost, and shakedowns give higher rewards to encourage a broader approach. The empire building metagame has been extensively rebalanced under the new difficulty setting. It breathes a whole new life into the experience and I definitely think it makes a second playthrough worthwhile. I'm incredibly happy with how the new difficulty setting's turned out, especially as someone who's played through the game more times than I can count. You'll need to start to pay more attention to where pick ups, shops, and vending machines are so you can replenish your health. There are also fewer health drops, which encourages a more strategic approach and steers you towards more exploration. Trying to take them out with a vehicle won't always do the trick anymore either, as many will blast you out and force you to continue your battle on foot. When they arrive, ordinary weapons will no longer do, and you'll need to dodge, jump stomp, melee, or throw things to defeat them. New bulletproof and even fireproof enemies will appear as the game progresses, necessitating the use of more varied attacks. The new normal mode is designed to offer more challenge, but not to the degree of being experts-only.Īmong the many other changes, the added difficulty mode boasts new and more challenging enemy types across its story missions, sidequests, and shakedowns. Since the original game was specifically designed to be on the easier end, it made more sense to label it this way, rather than calling the new mode "Hard". The original experience remains available as the "Easy" difficulty setting (and will remain the setting for your previous save games). The newly added "Normal" difficulty setting is a top to bottom rebalancing of the game. It also brings a long list of little tweaks and refinements that've gradually made their way into the game since the previous console update.

#SHAKEDOWN HAWAII RELEASE DATE SWITCH UPDATE#

This brand new update is a major one, adding a whole new difficulty mode, new types of shakedowns, a quick menu for upgrades, and much more. The Nintendo 3DS update's also just around the corner, and should be through Nintendo certification shortly. Continued abuse of our services will cause your IP address to be blocked indefinitely.The latest Shakedown: Hawaii update, titled "The Shake-Up Update", is now available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS3, and PS Vita. Please fill out the CAPTCHA below and then click the button to indicate that you agree to these terms. If you wish to be unblocked, you must agree that you will take immediate steps to rectify this issue. If you do not understand what is causing this behavior, please contact us here. If you promise to stop (by clicking the Agree button below), we'll unblock your connection for now, but we will immediately re-block it if we detect additional bad behavior. Overusing our search engine with a very large number of searches in a very short amount of time.Using a badly configured (or badly written) browser add-on for blocking content.Running a "scraper" or "downloader" program that either does not identify itself or uses fake headers to elude detection.Using a script or add-on that scans GameFAQs for box and screen images (such as an emulator front-end), while overloading our search engine.There is no official GameFAQs app, and we do not support nor have any contact with the makers of these unofficial apps. Continued use of these apps may cause your IP to be blocked indefinitely. This triggers our anti-spambot measures, which are designed to stop automated systems from flooding the site with traffic. Some unofficial phone apps appear to be using GameFAQs as a back-end, but they do not behave like a real web browser does.Using GameFAQs regularly with these browsers can cause temporary and even permanent IP blocks due to these additional requests. If you are using Maxthon or Brave as a browser, or have installed the Ghostery add-on, you should know that these programs send extra traffic to our servers for every page on the site that you browse.The most common causes of this issue are: Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests.

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#Shakedown hawaii release date switch

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stitch1830 · 3 years

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97 “I will always protect you” Zutara and steambabies 🥺

I might’ve rambled a bit in this one, but also I could’ve droned on so I stopped myself from doing that... does it make sense, though? I hope it makes sense lol.

......

Zutara & Steambabies - #97 - “I will always protect you”

Zuko and Iroh were walking through the palace together. Dinner time was soon, and the boys needed to be somewhat presentable after a fun day spent outside.

Iroh skipped next to his father and decided to ask a very important, but rather random question as they went inside to wash up.

“Baba, why is my name Iroh?”

Zuko looked down and smiled at the three-year-old. “Because my uncle’s name was Iroh. And your mother and I thought it fit you well.”

“But why?”

Zuko playfully sighed and picked up his son to carry him. Iroh was entering his curious phase, and every question posed always had a follow-up. “Well, when Mama and I wanted to start a family, we agreed that if we had a boy, we’d name him after Uncle Iroh.”

“Why?”

“Uncle Iroh was a very important person in my life, your mother’s life, too. We wanted to honor him,” he explained.

“Oh,” Iroh replied. “Why was he so special?”

The Fire Lord smiled at the young boy and set him down so he could wash his hands and face. As Zuko knelt down to help the boy scrub his hands, he responded, “He helped me through many tough times, and he always protected me. Uncle Iroh was a very good man and taught me everything I know.”

Iroh nodded seriously, absorbing the information his dad provided him. After he finished washing his hands, Iroh spoke up again. “I want to meet him! Can we visit him?”

Zuko gave a sad smile to the boy and replied, “Uncle passed away before you were born.” He meant to say more, but it still pained Zuko to talk about him. For the longest time, Uncle was his keystone; losing him meant finding his center once again and learning to navigate the world without one of his favorite people. A large hole was left in his heart after Uncle died, and there were days immediately after where he worried he wouldn’t fill it.

Thankfully, he wasn’t alone in the journey. He had Katara, his children, his friends, and so many others in his life to support him. Rebalancing his life after Uncle took time, certainly, but not as long as one would have expected. And eventually, the hole grew smaller and smaller, until it didn’t hurt as much as it used to.

Zuko looked at Iroh. His son’s face carried a stoic look, and Zuko knew that either another comment or a question would come up.

But then Iroh said, “It’s okay, Baba. I’ll protect you now,” and Zuko’s heart stopped. Here he was, remembering and thinking about the gap in his life left by Uncle Iroh, and his son was there, ready and offering to take Uncle’s place.

It made him tear up, and his heart filled completely. Zuko tried to respond evenly, but he knew his voice would still be shaky with emotion.

“Thank you, buddy,” he replied, pulling Iroh into a tight hug. “And I will always protect you.” He kissed his son on the cheek and asked in a more cheerful tone, “What do you say we get some dinner? Mama and the girls are waiting.”

“Yeah!” he exclaimed, making Zuko laugh. “Let’s have some tea, too!”

......

Send me a prompt and a ship to write about! (for ATLA).

Or just send me asks lol

#zutara #atla #zuko #katara #zuko and katara #steambabies #oc iroh #quote writing prompt #part 4 #my asks #thanks for the ask!#send more lol #sorry/not sorry if this is a meh one #thought id ramble on a bit and... yeah #this is the result lmao #baby iroh being cute and tough #zuko being a softie with his kiddo

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justanotherpersonsuniverse · 3 years

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Game Master Akuma AU by crisisdparity

Xavier Duchamp was rather proud of himself. What he had before him was an absolute masterpiece of a campaign if he did say so himself. The product of over six months of study, research, and rebalancing efforts followed by two weeks of discussion with his five players to hash out schedules, meeting times, characters, backstories, potential character arcs, and getting them set up with a messaging app that was really good for sending discrete messages between the GM and the players. Valentine and her boyfriend Justin were onboard in an instant. Within days, he’d greenlighted their Half-Elf Bard of the College of Glamour whose spell list was 100% Illusion spells and Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight) who was focusing entirely on Abjuration as Rena Rouge and Carapace respectively. Olivia had spent a few days coming up with a Halfling Rogue and debating subclasses with him until settling on Scout. Along with some discussion over how her special magic item’s stunning and paralysis effect would work with Sneak Attack, the campaign had its Vesperia. Jeanette had gone back and forth with him for a week looking at various homebrew subclasses for her Gnome Artificer before they both agreed on one particular Master Tinkerer entry that would be balanced and do the character justice. And with that they had their Ladybug. Even Matt was on board with a stealthy human Chat the Barbarian using the Path of the Beast. The class choice was something Matt had insisted on (and that Xavier would have suggested anyway just for the high hit point totals given Matt’s history with characters dying) and he’d even come up with a backstory that Xavier felt was quite compelling compared to Matt’s usual efforts. Morally ambiguous, likely to be tempted by promises of power, but with a great deal of story potential to work with. Which was a relief. Getting a new player into their group to replace Matt was not something Xavier really felt comfortable with. There were too many unknowns with introducing a new person, far too many for him to risk his masterpiece on an unknown factor. He knew Matt. He could work with Matt. Despite the history. He’d put everything he had into this. Every known Akuma ever fought by the heroes had been made into a boss-tier foe. He’d carefully documented each and every power the heroes had shown to craft special legendary magic items based on the Miraculous. Hawkmoth and Mayura themselves were going to be the final bosses of his campaign. In response to criticism about the difficulty of his campaigns (he tried to make them fair, but still challenging enough to be memorable), he’d made several guest NPCs based on every other hero that had ever been called upon, statted out like player characters that might show up in a pinch to help. He even had a genuine Deus ex Machina that he was ready to use to get the players out of a truly impossible jam if they found themselves in one. Not always, but a few times at least. Enough to get them to the point where they wouldn’t need it anymore. —– It was thirty minutes in, right in the middle of exposition from the Guardian NPC, when Xavier got his first message on the app. Matt/Chat - Chat’s going to wait until everyone breaks up and follow Ladybug stealthily. Xavier/GM - Starting party conflict on the first session? Not what I’d advise, but it’s your character. Go ahead and make your Stealth roll now. Matt/Chat - <photo> 17 Xavier/GM - Yeah, that beats everyone’s passive Perception easily. You’ll sneak off handily without anyone noticing. —– “Jeanette, Ladybug is grabbed from behind by an unknown assailant. Roll to resist the grapple.” “Geez, already? Okay, what did my assailant get for their grapple? How screwed am I?” Xavier pretended to roll a die while consulting the message from Matt. “19.” “Okay, difficult, but not undoable… Crap.” “What’d you get?” “Nat 1…” “Hah! I rip off her earrings and claim them for myself! The Wish is mine!” “Seriously Matt?! What the hell?!” “Because it’s payback time! Payback for every character of mine killed in these hellish

campaigns!” “Oh, come on! You’re not the only person whose had a character die at this table! <GM> runs some pretty challenging campaigns, but they’re always fair!” “What about the time he killed Allric the Allmighty in a single round of combat?” “Dude, you tried to Leroy Jenkins straight into melee with a 4th-level Wizard that had a CON penalty. Even at full health you had like 10 hp.” “14!” “Not much better, dude.” “Guys, it’s fine. I can handle this. Okay, Matt. Chat the Barbarian managed to get the earrings-” “Yeah, Ladybug screams bloody murder when he rips them out. Good luck getting out of this in one piece.” “The moment Rena hears Ladybug scream, she bolts for the sound.” “So does Carapace.” “Vesperia too.” “-and with their current locations and movement speeds, I assume you’re all using the Dash action?, you’ve got maybe one round to decide on your Wish before they’re all over you, so choose carefully. And be aware that I plan to grant whatever you wish for in the worst possible way, just as I would if any of the others pulled this.” “Rena screams ‘What the HELL, Chat?! We’re supposed to protect the Miraculous, not use them for our own selfish purposes! Didn’t you listen to the Guardian? Such actions always bring misfortune upon those who misuse the Miraculous!’” “Because I am Chat, avatar of Destruction and I WISH THIS WORLD NEVER EXISTED!” There was dead silence at the table. “Matt… What… just… WHAT?!” “Hah! You like that?! How does it feel now that the shoe’s on the other foot, huh?!” “What the hell is your problem, Matt?!” “My problem? MY problem?! Do you know how much time I’ve spent making characters for these shitty campaigns only to have them turned into paste in one session?!” “Because you made primary spellcasters and played every last one of them like a barbarian, charging in headfirst without thinking! All of us breathed a sigh of relief when you revealed that your character finally matched your playstyle!” “I HATE BARBARIANS! THEY’RE BORING! I SHOULD GET TO PLAY CHARACTERS THAT CAN AT LEAST CHUCK FIREBALLS!” “THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP RUNNING THEM FACE FIRST INTO ENEMY SWORDS!” “NONE OF YOU COULD EVER HANDLE THE FACT THE I MAKE MORE AWESOME CHARACTERS THAN ANY OF YOU, SO YOU JUST LET THIS DOUCHEBAG KILL THEM OFF SO YOU WOULDN’T GET OVERSHADOWED BY HOW AMAZING I AM! WELL NOW I KILLED SOMETHING YOU ALL WORKED HARD ON, SO SUCK IT! I’M DONE WITH ALL OF YOU FOREVER!” “MATT! HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU JERK! MATT!” “Crap, I think Olivia might actually kill him this time…” “It’s going to take all of us to stop her from getting arrested at least.” Xavier just watched numbly as the rest of the group ran out of his apartment. Over six months of work. Gone in less than an hour. He’d given so much to making sure this would work. He’d apologized to Matt at least twice for every character of his that had died to get him to come back. He’d agreed to demand after demand just to keep a familiar face on board, never dreaming he’d pull something like this. He’d nearly gotten fired from his job trying to rearrange his schedule to fit with everyone else’s. They’d somehow, miraculously, gotten the whole day with no other obligations among any of them and decided to make the first session a true marathon. They’d meet in the morning after breakfast and eat both lunch and dinner at the game table before calling it a night late in the evening. It was barely 10:00 in the morning and the whole campaign he’d slaved over for months was kaput. He never noticed the butterfly landing on his custom Miraculous-themed Game Master screen and being absorbed into it. “Game Master, I am Hawkmoth. Few people appreciate the kind of effort that goes into making something truly grand and memorable. I shall give you the power to bring your entire world to life and in return, I ask only for a few simple things.” This was wrong. Hawkmoth was the worst of the worst. The kind of person who would be at home among all the final bosses he’d ever made for his campaigns. Heartless, manipulative, cruel. “Not

enough? Ah, but what is a game without players? How would you like to have the Miraculous heroes themselves run your great campaign? Surely they would be far more appreciative than those ungrateful peons that left you alone with nothing but the broken remains of your efforts.” He knew all these things, but the allure of bringing the world he’d spent so much time on to life… What creator could ever turn down an offer like that? “I, the Game Master, accept… Hawkmoth.” “Excellent. And in exchange, you shall bring me one of two things: The Miraculous, or the identities of their wielders.” “No.” Hawkmoth was silent for a moment. “I beg your pardon?” “I said no. I am the Game Master. I make the world. I craft the challenges. I decide the rewards. But I do not do anything for anyone. If you want these things, get them yourself.” “If you refuse me, it shall be very unpleasant for you.” “No. As Game Master, I decide the limits of all powers within my realm. And I decide that you have none over me.” And with that, he unleashed his creation over all of Paris, drawing everyone and everything within into his sphere of influence. —– Ladybug blinked the spots (ha) out of her eyes as the flash of light died down and looked at herself. She didn’t remember transforming, but she was clearly in her spots. Except her red and black superhero uniform didn’t usually look like it was headed to a steampunk convention. Looking around, she tried to figure out what had happened and her eyes landed on a familiar belt and pants combo. Problem. Whoever this was, their groin was at eye level for her. She looked up. And up. To find a grinning Chat Noir, sans anything resembling a shirt and having put on at least a foot of height and apparently a hundred pounds of pure muscle, grinning down at her. “How’s the weather down there?” Chat Noir chuckled as he flexed his unfairly attractive muscleman physique. “I WILL END YOU!” the heroine snarled, already 100% done with whatever new insanity Hawkmoth had cooked up. Characters: Ladybug - Gnome Artificer (Master Tinkerer - Homebrew) Chat Noir - Human Barbarian (Path of the Beast) —– Vesperia had to admit, as Akuma attacks went, this was pretty dope. She was currently a halfling. A halfling! If it wasn’t for her fantasy ensemble being yellow and black, she’d have thought she stepped straight out of Lord of the Rings. Of course, fantasy setting or not, there were still things she’d have rather left back in the real world. Like racism. And stigma against mixed couples. Not directed at her, but rather at the two walking down the street next to her. “You know, people are staring…” she said as she craned her head to look at her companions. “Let them,” the Half-Elf Rena Rouge (who looked like a cross between a musician and a belly dancer) said from her perch atop the shoulders of the heavily armored (and surprisingly buff) Half-Orc Carapace. “They’re just jealous because their boyfriends can’t carry them everywhere.” Characters: Vesperia - Halfling Rogue (Scout) Rena Rouge - Half-Elf Bard (College of Glamour) Carapace - Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight) —– Ryuko blinked as she studied the apparent snake-man-thing before her who claimed to be Viperion. She lifted a hand to study it and found what appeared to be bronze scales covering every inch of her skin. She sniffed herself, smelling the sharp tang of ozone. What was she? And why did she appear to be wearing wooden armor? Characters: Ryuko - Dragonborn (bronze) Druid (Circle of Storms - Third Party) Viperion - Naga Sorcerer (Divination Magic - Homebrew) —– Polymouse giggled as her friends ran over her. Okay, she’d freaked out a little to find a swarm of mice (with hair like hers no less) crawling all over her surprisingly mouse-like body when she’d come to in the middle of some forest somewhere. But she’d gotten over it pretty quickly. It helped that her new friends were adorable. It might help more if she could figure out where she was. Or find another person. Characters: Polymouse - Kobold

(rodentlike) Ranger (Swarmkeeper - Reskinned) —– Purple Tigress sighed as she felt the hair (fur?) on the top of her head being shifted around and twitched her new catlike ears in mild annoyance. “Are you quite done?” “Almost!” Pigella’s cheerful voice answered. “Your fur is so comfy!” Tigress sighed. Of course Pigella would end up being a fairy, and having her normal cheerful enthusiasm cranked up to previously unimagined levels. “I love you dearly, but if you start shouting 'hey listen’ I will stick you in a bottle.” “Aw, I love you too! Hey, what’s that?” “I think it’s my character sheet?” Characters: Purple Tigress - Tabaxi Paladin (Oath of Glory) Pigella - Fairy Cleric (Order Domain - Reskinned) —– “According to my analysis, we have been placed into what appears to be a Dungeons and Dragons campaign under 5th edition rules,” Pegasus stated in a mechanical monotone. “I am apparently a Warforged Wizard using the School of Conjuration whose spells create portals to bridge dimensions and summon or banish my intended targets. You are what is known as a Simic Hybrid, with the class of Monk, following the Way of the Drunken Master.” “Aweshum,” King Monkey slurred, his generally human appearance clad in monk’s robes marred by his monkey-like hands and feet as well as the monkey tail swishing behind him. “Why do you keep slurring like that? According to my sensors, your gourd is filled with only water.” “Gotta keep up appearanshes!” King Monkey grinned as he continued faking drunkenness. Characters: Pegasus - Warforged Wizard (School of Conjuration - Reskinned) King Monkey - Simic Hybrid Monk (Way of the Drunken Master) —– Hawkmoth studied the dark red horns growing out of his head in the mirror. The change in appearance was disconcerting, but he felt a rush of power in this new form that he’d never felt before. “Hmm… perhaps I can work with this…” “Speak for yourself…” Mayura muttered off to the side, ruffling her peacock-like feathers in annoyance as she tried to glare at the beak on her own face. Characters: Hawkmoth - Tiefling Dark Lord, Warlock Patron, Contracted by Lila Rossi, Volpina, Queen Wasp, and many others. Mayura - Kenku Assistant to the Dark Lord, Creator of Monsters —– “Oh, come on!” A figure in a cyan and white hooded robe complained as they waved a similarly colored umbrella around angrily. “Everyone else gets to be part of this adventure, why can’t I join them?” “Because you’re too OP. You’d completely break everything and remove all challenge from the adventure.” “But sitting around is no fun at all!” “If you like, I can put you in the position of the main quest giver. Your job would be to direct them towards their enemies and means of becoming stronger.” “That’s it?! I’m on 'mysterious hooded figure’ duty? Boo! Why can’t I fight with them?!” “Because you’re too OP. But if you insist, I’ll allow some Deus ex Machina interventions.” “YES!” “Five.” “I’m sorry?” “I’ll allow five interventions at your discretion to aid them when they are in peril. Once you have come to their aid five times, I will allow no more meetings save to impart quest information.” “That’s it?” “Yes. Choose your interventions wisely.” “So… if I manage to save one for when they fight Hawmoth and Mayura in the final battle…?” “Then I would allow you to join them of course.” “Score!” Characters: Bunnyx: Mysterious Hooded Figure, Deus-ex-Machina (5) Game Master: Akuma Lord of the Miraculous Campaign —– Addendum When the Game Master is finally purified and the damage reversed, it turns out that he took the effort to trap all of Paris in a temporal stasis bubble so that no matter how long passed inside no more than a few moments passed outside. Meaning that after what seemed like months in the bubble, it’s basically less than a minute after he was akumatized when everything is put back. All his friends, minus Matt, come back in bringing a new person named Zack that they vetted themselves to take Matt’s place in case he pulled something like what he did. And while he

has a similar playstyle to Matt, he’s savvy enough to know what kind of characters that is suited for and he loves playing barbarians. They all sit back down and restart the game they were all looking forward to.

—-

oh wow- that’s- wow. good job dude, seems like you worked on this a lot. Next time You should post this on your own account though, as this isn’t getting tagged or anything. Thank you though, you did a good job with this.

#submission

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ffxiiiapologist · 2 years

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Altho I have to say even as someone who agrees the late-/endgame is in need of rebalancing it’s so weird like trying to read what other people are saying on it like Who is making the criticisms and What exactly those are and how they tend to contradict each other

Like I agree boss combos often go too long, with too little downtime in between and with a few too many feint openings, leading fights to drag on since it takes way longer to find a real opportunity to get a hit in, especially with slower/heavier weapons. Those should actually be viable and not just set-dressing

Yet some of the people making this complaint seem very…Purist in their approach to playing this game, which I feel like runs counter to the lessons earlier bosses are “supposed” to teach. Like Margit being so punishing for a first boss is an indication (imo) to thoroughly explore, set yourself up well, and assemble a multitude of tools and potential approaches to evaluate and use as needed in different situations. So trying to brute-force everything in melee with no ranged options, crafted items, or other buffs etc does feel like deliberately making things harder by not using the provided mechanics

Of course there are people defending the current design and damage numbers etc and telling people to git gud the old way, and in these threads they’re (rightly imo) dismissed as FromSoft fanboys who refuse to process any kind of negative word without being condescending assholes. But it’s also strange since you would expect the purist/“This is how we did it in Souls” crowd to have a lot of overlap with them, yet they’re evidently rather less monolithic

There’s also just this weird contradiction between people simultaneously saying “The game, especially later, feels balanced around using the ash summons, which are Cheese and for casual players” and “Wait until the casual players who only do like an hour a day reach the Mountaintops and beyond, there’ll be an uproar,” like do the summons trivialize everything and let you speed through the game or not?

But anyways some people’s defense of “It’s the late-game, it’s allowed to throw out any sense of balance, back-and-forth, and worthwhile struggle” just doesn’t work for me, and the limited availability of summons means they don’t really mitigate how mobs at that point kill in 2 or 3 hits but take 5 or 6 themselves regardless of your equipment/setup. And I’ll repeat I think the “meta” level consensus will at some point go even higher than 150, given how much higher the softcaps are

#elden ring #analects

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lady-raziel · 4 years

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also, just as a sidebar, i’d like to say that if you’re an of-age American voting in this year’s election (and you SHOULD), it’s super important to pay attention to stuff beyond just the presidency.

like, yes, the battle for the white house is a VITAL part of this election, it’s also very, very important to pay attention to and be informed about every single issue and candidate all the way down the ballot this year. keeping the House and flipping the Senate are MAJOR wins for standing up to corrupt policies coming from every direction in Washington and taking power away from Mitch McConnell is a major check against those who continue to abuse the system. Flipping the Senate is also key in the whole Supreme Court battle that’s going on right now-- if no new justice is confirmed before the new session of Congress, having a Democratic senate could change the game. Or if the seat does get filled, a Democratic senate could be key to adding more seats to the Supreme Court (the Constitution doesn’t actually specify how many justices there need to be) and rebalancing it. Also, a balanced court is gonna be CRUCIAL in case of a nightmare scenario like the Bush v. Gore election where the Supreme Court actually decides the outcome of this election. (this article from the Financial Times is super good in explaining how this election could go down)

Here’s a list of some of the key House races this year, and here’s an article about some of the ABSOLUTELY VITAL Senate seats that could be flipped this year. If you live in an area where there is one of these key races (or there’s any federal candidate on your ballot this year), make sure to do some research on your own and not just believe any of the TV ads about the candidates, because they certainly aren’t the best source for truthful info. Many candidates publish their platforms on their websites, so for both federal candidates and the state ones I talk about below it’s worth just browsing through to see if you agree with what they’re proposing or not.

Also, it doesn’t end there. State House and Senate seats are also super important. Not only are these local representatives gonna probably have more say in your day-to-day lives than some of the more federal positions, they also might be key especially in states that currently have Republican-controlled legislatures. Trump has made indications that in certain states he plans to order legislatures to send electors that will vote for him regardless of the outcome of the state’s popular vote, so it’s best to err on the side of safety and put as many Democrats, Independents, or Third-Party members in there to bolster the argument that a current state legislature isn’t representative of the majority if they are trying to unlawfully send Trump electors.

Next, JUDGES. It can sometimes be difficult to decide what the heck it means to vote on a Judge, since they aren’t supposed to be political. There’s two things I’d say to look up if there’s a judge on your ballot and you have to decide whether they should stay in office or not. First, if you’re in one of the six states that provide Judicial Performance Evaluations, definitely look that up. This review will tell you whether a judge was found to be satisfactory in demeanor and knowledge to a review board. Hawaii and New Hampshire provide general summaries instead, so look that up. If your state doesn’t provide you info or reviews on judges, it’s probably worth it to give their name a quick Google so you can see if any info about cases they’ve ruled on pops up and get a better feel for how they rule. The other thing I’d suggest for judges is to look up who appointed them and how long they’ve been in office. If they were appointed by a public official you trust or if they’ve been in office a long time, those are probably good indicators that they have good judgement and you can vote to keep them.

Last but absolutely not least, PLEASE pay attention to ballot issues. These can take many forms from state constitution amendments to general laws, but they can have more direct impact on your life than pretty much anything else on the ballot. These can be confusing and difficult to read (some of them on purpose) but they are CRUCIAL to pay attention to because they can impact the legality of stuff like abortion at certain points in pregnancy, recreational and medical drug legality, tax cuts/increases, and other super important stuff. Some states like Colorado, where I live, send out comprehensive info to voters highlighting the pros and cons of these ballot issues, but that’s not the case everywhere. If your state doesn’t do this, what I’d try is go to the website of a local news source like a tv network stationed in one of your major cities or a newspaper and see if they’ve written any info on the ballot issues or a pro/con list to help inform your opinion.

This turned out to be a bit longer of a post than I thought but I just really wanted to speak for a second on how important EVERY item on your election ballot is, not just the presidency. All of these things have to work together to fight corruption and abuse of power and all of them are very powerful tools in making sure you are able to assert your rights and protect our democracy.

#politics #politics tw #i know i said i don;t want to focus too much on politics on here #but i want to just emphasize to ppl my age or first time voters how important some of this OTHER stuff is too when you vote

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tickle-bugs · 3 years

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I Dot the I in Your Name with My Heart

Summary: Lunch breaks between classes lead Simone and Eleanor into the silliest not-quite-argument they’ve ever had. AU where they’re professors at the same University.

@peachytickles HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELOVED!!!! Ilysm you light up my life and my day. I hope your day is as incredible as you are. Have some Laid Ease as a present and I will continue to be annoying in your dms as a further gift <3

“Babe!” Eleanor threw open Simone’s door, adjusting the comically large satchel on her shoulder.

“Nope.” Simone didn’t look up from her computer. One day her wife would learn to knock. One day. Eleanor sighed, spun on her heel, and exited the office, grumbling under her breath all the while.

A cheery knock absolutely dripping with sarcasm sent Simone into a quiet fit of snickers.

“Dr. Garnett?” Simone could hear Eleanor roll her eyes from the other side of the door. She stifled her smile. The fact that their breaks aligned this semester was a true gift--though Simone did miss lurking in the back of Eleanor’s classroom like a high schooler waiting for her prom date.

“Come in.” Simone hid her face behind her computer monitor when Eleanor once again flung the door open.

“I’m gonna grab coffee. Want anything specific?” Eleanor pushed the door shut with her heel, cutting off Simone’s unspoken complaint by sticking out her tongue.

“I left you a sticky on your desk,” Simone frowned, fingers slowing on the keys.

“I couldn’t read it.”

“Wh--Eleanor.”

“Don’t Eleanor me. You have a horrible case of doctor handwriting.” She hung her satchel on one of the chairs in front of Simone’s desk. She rolled up the sleeves of her fraying sweater, continually stopping to untangle her wedding ring from the threads it pulled. Simone’s gaze lingered on her arms--clusters of freckles were starting to dust her pale skin. Cute.

“No I don’t. It’s perfectly legible.”

“Simone. Babe. Love of my life. Your handwriting is unreadable.” Eleanor pulled her clutch out of her satchel. She thumbed through it, lighting up at something in the overstuffed bag--probably her rewards card. She loved free stuff.

“Maybe you need to learn how to read.” Simone drew her brows together in a signature grumpy pout.

“What does this say?” Eleanor slid the sticky note across the desk and Simone snatched it. God, she must’ve been in a rush because her handwriting looped way more than usual. Did that say carnival? Caravan? Shit.

“Obviously...this says…”

“Oh my god. You can’t read it?” Eleanor came around the desk to lean over Simone’s shoulder. Her warm hands slid around Simone’s arms and she leaned subtly back into the embrace.

“Shut up! I totally can. It says…”

“I’m waiting.” Eleanor laughed softly into her ear and Simone’s cheeks grew embarrassingly warm.

“Why do you bully me like this?” Simone whined. Eleanor pecked her on the lips with that insufferable grin and a fluttery warmth nestled in her chest.

“You make it easy. Caramel frappé?” Eleanor brushed her thumb over Simone’s cheekbone.

“Don’t forget the muffin. Love you.” Simone squeezed her hand.

“Mhm.” Eleanor squeezed back, letting Simone’s fingers trail over her palm as she pulled away. Simone yanked her back, using the momentum to tug Eleanor down for a kiss. She looked up at her expectantly until Eleanor smiled.

“Love you too,” She sighed fondly, adorning Simone’s forehead with a light lipstick print that she then carefully thumbed away. She drifted out the door, blowing kisses like a celebrity bidding farewell to her adoring entourage, and Simone returned to her work, a silly smile etched upon her lips.

The waiting time flew by rather unremarkably--silence triggered a meditative, boundless focus in her that she could nurture into a completed to-do list, if she was precise about it. Her focus tended to veer like a first-time driver, but she’d gotten rather skilled at placing tasks in the way of her swerving brain. Eleanor’s presence usually helped her stay on track, unless she was doing something distracting, like holding a piece of paper three inches from her face.

“What’s that?” Simone leaned around her monitor to get a better look at her wife.

“Our grocery list. Tahani showed me this delivery thing for the grocery store near campus. Figured we could try it out.” Eleanor held the slip of paper closer, squinting between it and her equidistant phone screen as if it contained the universe’s untranslated secrets.

“Why are you looking at it like that?”

“...No reason.” Eleanor put it down on the desk, trying to read normally, but she was never good at hiding her emotions. Or her ‘I can’t understand this’ squint. Simone narrowed her eyes until Eleanor felt compelled to speak.

“It’s your handwriting. It’s just so…” Eleanor trailed off, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture, but her hand kept looping and twirling until she’d drawn the world’s most complicated pretzel in the air.

“So what?” Simone knew what she was trying to say, but she wanted to hear it out loud.

“Listen, the data is against you. So many doctors have bad handwriting.” Eleanor patted her hand across the desk, a cheeky grin dancing on her lips.

“Say that again.” Simone narrowed her eyes.

“Doctors have bad handwriting?”

“Eleanor, it’s data, not data.” Simone moved around the desk and sat next to Eleanor. She pulled her chair close, so their knees touched, and eyed Eleanor while she committed a crime against linguistics.

“That’s what I said.”

“Say it slowly.”

“Dah. Tah.” Eleanor frowned.

“No.” Simone held her face between her hands and squished her cheeks.

“What do you mean, no? That’s how you say it. Data.” Eleanor’s voice came out a little muffled but she didn’t seem bothered.

“Okay, Elle-ee-ay-nor.” Simone rolled her eyes, dragging out every vowel to the point of extinction. Eleanor pulled Simone’s hands away from her face and held them in her own.

“Now the data suggests that you’re being mean.”

“Am I being mean or are you being American?” Simone booped her nose and Elly wrinkled it, eyes crossing for a moment while she tracked the offending finger.

“It’s not your fault y’know. Your snipsnaps are misfiring, so you don’t have fine muscle control. So, your handwriting is bad and you don’t know how to pronounce data.” Eleanor booped her back, all smug grins, and Simone promptly decided that only she was allowed a monopoly on mischief.

“Snip--y’know what? That’s it.” Simone pulled Eleanor into her arms, catching her with an oof. Eleanor went to make a flirtatious joke--Simone could see the gears turning in her head--but it died on her tongue when Simone’s nimble fingers pressed into her stomach.

“You owe me a handful of apologies, Dr. Shellstrop, because your handwriting is no better.”

“M-my penmanship is--no!”

“I agree, actually. You are not immune to doctor handwriting, ma’am. Your equations are adorably messy.” Simone squeezed up and down her sides, pulling the squeakiest, most endearing giggles from her. God, she was so cute.

“You’re adorably--”

“Thanks, babe. I know.” Simone grinned, fingers mapping every inch of the slight-plushness around her waist. Eleanor growled through her next bout of laughter.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” She yanked on Simone’s immovable hands until they slowed.

“Good.”

“Your handwriting is...unique and I love it.” Eleanor draped her arms over Simone’s shoulders. Simone better secured her arms around Eleanor’s waist, pulling her close.

“Nice save. But what else are you sorry for?” Simone eyed her expectantly and sighed at the silence.

“Let’s just say I forgive you for tainting my office with ‘dah-tah’. What is the structure that lets nerve cells pass signals called?” Simone raised her brow. Eleanor knew this. Simone knew that she knew. She’d taught her herself.

“Snipsnap.” Eleanor nodded sagely.

“Synapse.”

“That’s what I said.” Eleanor pouted--pouted!

“Try again.” Simone murmured, peppering fluttery kisses along her throat. Lovely, panicked giggles bubbled out of her, taking their rightful place between every breath.

“Spintaps?”

“Ooh, almost got it. One more try.” Simone buried a laugh in Eleanor’s neck, her hands sliding upwards to latch onto Eleanor’s ribs. That really kicked things up a notch--Eleanor went from cutesy giggles to borderline screeching, unable to decide whether she was clinging to Simone for dear life or trying to run from her. She kicked her legs, heels drumming against the chair leg, and Simone snuck in a few cheeky squeezes to her exposed knees.

“Slimcats? Syntax? Synapse!” She squealed, finally deciding on shoving Simone’s face away. She was nearly horizontal now, using the last of her core strength not to fall over the chair’s armrest and have a most unpleasant reunion with the floor.

“I’m so proud of you.” Simone rebalanced her with a strong hand across her shoulder blades, pulling her close with a shit-eating grin. Eleanor huffed, but a few airy chuckles found their way out with it.

“Shut up. I should tickle you while you try to do calculus. See how you like it.” Eleanor swatted her shoulder.

“I love you so much.” Simone singsonged, looking up at Eleanor through her lashes.

“Mhm. I love you too. Even when you bully me.”

“Bullying? I prefer ‘showering my wife with love.’” Simone rested her cheek on Eleanor’s bicep, puckering her lips until Eleanor leaned down to meet her.

“Bullying. I forgive you, though.” Eleanor pinched her nose until Simone made a nasally ‘waah’ sound that left both of them wheezing. Eleanor reluctantly scooped up her satchel at the chime of her phone--time for class, unfortunately.

“See you later.” Simone smiled. Eleanor slid her a yellow sticky note, folded into quarters, and winked on her way out the door. Simone unfolded it--in tight, coiled letters, Eleanor had left her a note.

I love you, sunshine.

Aw. She married a sap--a sap who dotted her ‘i’s with hearts, no less.

Simone stuck the sticky note to the framed photo of Eleanor that she kept on her desk, smoothing out the adhesive until she was certain it would cling. The picture was starting to get covered now, but the notes adorning the frame were just as important as the contents. She brushed her thumb over the frame and returned to work, Eleanor’s laughter lingering in her ears all the while.

#my fics #the good place #elmone #ticklish!eleanor #Eleanor Shellstrop #simone garnett #theyre MARRIED #no fr I dug this from the depths of the server like a gay little geologist unearthing precious gems...'yes...finally..all according to plan'

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morwensteelsheen · 3 years

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@tinacharles replied to your post:

where would the kings of rohan essentially having to hold together the east and west fold fit in do you think? makes it seem even more precarious than gondor which despite the provinces etc feels a bit more centralized?

Yes!!!! I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately (and holy shit I am NOT a military historian so please forgive however many inaccuracies I'm about to include here, BUT…), and one of the things I’ve been wondering about is if this popular vision of Gondor as structured as a Western European feudal state is a little misleading. Insofar as I can see it now, the fanon take on Gondor’s governance is a little bit like England post-Magna Carta, which is to say it looks like this:

You have a King/Steward at the top, who is imbued with some element of divine justification for his rule. The land of the kingdom is his (in essence--and I mean that definitionally, the essence of the land is his), and is rented out to various other actors, namely...

The aristocracy beneath him. Though the land is technically the king’s and leased to them, in practicality the land (and the peasants attached to it!) is theirs, and because of that, they have an immense amount of power. The bigger and the more resource-rich the land, the more important and wealthier the lord who maintains it. The landed aristocrats (because it is possible to have non-landed aristocrats!) have enough power to effectively “check” the King—and a big part of that power comes from their ability to raise armies. As far as raising armies are concerned, they are led by the aristocrats who raise them, and those aristocrats are in turn loyal to the King (but can just as easily not be, hence the somewhat weakened power of the central authority).

Then you have the non-landed aristocrats, so these are mostly perfunctory titles given to make people feel good.

And lastly the soldiers, the peasantry, the urban poor, etc.

I think that that take is wrong for Gondor—if it’s not technically canonically wrong, then it’s certainly less interesting—but right for Rohan. Importantly, that level of inequity engendered between the power of the aristos and the power of the King would explain, for example, why Éomer (as heir to the Lordship of Aldburg, according to the UT) could be leveraged so effectively by Gríma as a threat to Théoden and Théodred’s power, and it would explain why (at least in part) all of Théoden’s family were so hesitant to do anything public with getting Gríma the fuck out: admitting the King had shown any weakness at all could be seriously risky business. Plus, as you point out, it fits in nicely with the Eastfold and Westfold pulling away from one another—different areas, different interests, and less overall allegiance to a central authority (and a weakened “national” narrative to boot) meaning the King himself really needs to have a vise grip on the regions to keep it all together.

The one place where this falls down somewhat is the decentrality of the army (sorry I'm just making up words every five seconds here lol)—we know Rohan’s army is at least somewhat centralised based on, well, every description of it that we get. We can account for it in this model by saying that while the army is centralised, the economics (grain production, taxation, etc.) are not, so the Kings are still fairly beholden to their vassal lords, AND, we can point to Folcwine having substantially reorganised the Éoherë and say that while he split it into roughly three-ish columns of riders, all he actually did was shift around the numbers for the regional lords to muster and institute an unlanded title (the Marshals of the Mark) to take up the task of administering the army, without substantially rebalancing power within the kingdom. So the bulk of the power to raise the Éoreds still rests with the regional lords, meaning keeping them happy and in line is a major part of the work of the king.

So that set-up works for Rohan, but not for Gondor. Gondor, I think, is probably best organised around [byzantine gondor klaxon] the Eastern Roman themata system. After the 600s-ish, the Byzantine Empire began to make more extensive use of a system put in place by Diocletian that is, as far as I can tell, basically a variation on the US Homestead Acts with a military component. It goes something like this:

Land is granted to soldiers (and it’s important here to note that they start as soldiers first, not farmers), to farm. The soldiers’ pay was docked for having the land, but the farming land was typically more valuable anyway, so it was a good deal. As long as the soldiers agreed that their descendants would continue to farm the land AND serve in the military, all was good. And this descendant stuff is important because it means even the people on the lowest rung of the power structure have some sort of emotional tie to the state—they grow up expecting to be part of it in some small way, and so generally feel a greater sense of allegiance to Gondor™ than, for example, in Rohan where they’re tied to the land that’s owned by, say, Lord Erkenbrand of the Deeping Coomb, who is broadly loyal to the Kings but could at any moment flip, leaving the peasantry functionally disconnected from the King and the Riddermark generally.

The theme system is also important because it means you don’t need to do conscription (which is kinda sucky and unpopular) and you have guarantees on both farmers and soldiers, which is an excellent way to occupy your able-bodied population pretty much round the clock, reducing both the likelihood of rebellions and maximising your population’s general efficiency—sounds to me sort of like what Faramir’s on about in Window on the West! It’s also great because it means you can settle conquered lands quickly and easily.

Above these farmer-soldiers in the power schema was something like a regional governor, who was in charge both civilly and militarily. This looks a lot like your classical Western European feudal lord, and is functionally pretty similar, except in that they don’t own ALL of the lands the peasants work, most of that actually belongs to the central authority and is leased directly to the peasantry. This sort of explains how Faramir can credit the expansion/maintenance of Gondor explicitly to the Stewards (“but the Stewards were wiser…” in TTT) instead of having to acknowledge the underling lords—and assuming he’s not just being a blowhard about it—because that leasing of the land would actually be the prerogative of the Steward (in the name of the King) and not the Lords of the Pinnath Gelin or the Prince of Dol Amroth or whoever.

Then there’s an ENORMOUS bureaucracy and administrative wing to the central state. Genuinely enormous, filled with lots of vanity titles (Warden of the Keys, anyone?) and basically helps to keep the administrative state running, reducing the amount of actual clerical work both the central authority and the outlying lords/governors have to do. This makes the bureaucracy quite powerful, but makes the central authority (King/Steward/whoever) even more powerful because he leads it.

Then there’s the interesting pseudo-democratic element inherited from the Roman Empire, which actually goes some of the way to explaining some of the subtext to my initial question about Faramir’s behaviour at the coronation; there's the remnants of the Senate, which technically elected the emperors of the Byzantine Empire (though had waning influence as the centuries wore on). A senate, obviously, is quite different to whatever the fuck it is that Faramir does, but that sort of popular approval for the king is nonetheless interesting and notable, and we can probably assume Tolks knew something of it when he was writing.

Sorry I wrote... way too much here, I am procrastinating v hard from work lol. Anyways yeah I think this is basically where I'm at vis a vis their relative governmental structures. I'm having a bit of a moment as well because Dante Alighieri has this whole take on the Empire and Catholicism, and I think that's actually probably influencing Tolkien somewhere along the line (and is definitely relevant, if nothing else, for how I think about the governments in LOTR), but I haven't had the brain energy to try to incorporate that yet lol

#lotr #gondor #rohan #meta #i think?#i can never remember what the definition rules are lmao #long post

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syms-things-5 · 4 years

Text

Clear The Area - Chapter Seventeen

Previous Chapter Here

Warnings: Strong language and an air of discomfort.

Notes: I hope this reads OK as it’s quite dialogue-heavy.

Tags: @kelbabyblue @jennmurawski13

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The night shifts weren’t all bad. From time to time, they were even as good as “pretty straight forward”. They proved especially useful when trying to finish patient notes and random admin that always got left to the very end of the shift. Perhaps they’d endure a tidy-out of the stock cupboards if the crew was feeling generous. Since O’Brien had taken up his post at the hospital years earlier, he had insisted upon mandatory training updates for the ER units every three to four months (the national average was about once a year) so the team were regularly reminded not to set fire to their computers and not to leave boxes in places people could trip over. You’d be surprised how often both those things happened in an emerging crisis.

“I swear he thinks we’re idiots half the time.” Complained Jack, his head now glued to the palm of his hand. Jack was hurtling towards an early retirement thanks to an ever-increasing distrust of the corporate environment ER departments found themselves in. We trained to save lives, he’d say, not file stat reports. He was so right, it hurt.

The crew was sat round the reception desk. The ER was empty except for a local homeless man the team allowed in from time to time to sleep off his latest drunken adventures.

“Who doesn’t know how to bend their knees when lifting something heavy?” Jack asked again.

“Ryan for one.” Sarah joked, pointing her cold cup of tea towards the fellow nurse in question. Ryan was a tall and skinny guy, not dissimilar to Alexander Skarsgard in the right light but with less charm although he had left a few of the interns swooning of late. Shanna quite liked him, too.

“One time, Sarah. One time and I suffered for it greatly.” Ryan remarked, spinning a full 360 in his swivel chair. “Did you tick ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ for question eleven?”

“Oh, if you don’t tick ‘strongly agree’ even if you only ‘agree’, they mark you down a couple of percentage points.” Entered Audrey, slamming down a pile of files on the desk beside Sarah. Their nightly routine just got more interesting. “Just get it over with. It’s not worth the effort. It’s just O’Brien being obsessed with stats again. He turns everything into a competition. I swear it’s unhealthy.”

Ryan looked momentarily confused before returning to face his computer screen. He re-read the question for the fifth time and rubbed his eyes in resignation. Something about 3am made this far too complicated.

“When did you even find time to do this, Aud?” Jack asked, turning back to Sarah and Audrey in time to witness their shared look self-satisfaction. “I’ve been sat here for half an hour and am still only part way through the first section.”

“I logged in at home earlier.” she responded before catching Sarah’s quizzical look. “Well, Michael did most of it for me.”

“Fucking hell!” exclaimed Jack, chucking his pen on the table, giving up. “Got no chance then, have I? Michael’s a bloody genius. Hey, how much for him to do mine?”

“Normally I’d say $100 but he’s pretty cheap these days.” shrugged Audrey. “Probably a fancy cigar would do.”

“He still grumpy about the you-know-what?” whispered Sarah to her friend when the guys started joshing between themselves.

Audrey leaned back on the desk beside her and took the mug from Sarah’s hands to take a sip, grimacing slightly at the sweetness. For some reason, Sarah had to have at least three sugars in her tea if she was drinking it post-midnight. It helped to keep her more alert apparently. She didn’t drink it like that at any other time of the day. “No more than usual. Seems like we’re both unlucky in that department at the moment.”

Sarah smiled at her in acknowledgement, lips thin before biting the inside of her cheek.

Following their last meet-up, Chris had been decidedly quiet. Too quiet almost. It was weird. He hadn’t messaged her. He hadn’t called or visited their apartment except to collect a parcel he had left. Sarah has been out for a run at the time and had felt silently glad to have missed him. He hadn’t updated his twitter and there had been multiple sports events occurring that would have guaranteed a humblebrag or five. Shanna had pledged to buy rib-eye steaks for a Saturday night meal during a Celtics game and he had cancelled at the last minute citing an interview he had conveniently forgotten. Even Audrey thought it was weird. If anything was guaranteed to get his attention and bring him out of whatever funk he was in, it was the promise of sports and a ‘Grade A’ barbeque.

Shanna merely put it down to his laziness or him having something better turn up. Scott had started replacing Chris around their apartment, wanting to get some of his own distance from the tricky Zach situation and it helped her feel better knowing he was at least in touch with him if Shanna wasn’t. He was evidently still alive.

Sarah decided to swap a couple of daytime stints to partner up with Audrey for the nights. She needed the comfort of working with a good friend to calm her down from whatever ledge her anxiety had placed her on.

“You know that he’ll come back, right?” Audrey interrupted her thoughts. Maybe Sarah spoke too soon. “Haven’t you got that birthday thing for Lisa coming up?”

That trip was a couple of weeks away yet. She was trying to bank some reasonable excuses but everything sounded lame in the cold light of day and Lisa was never going to accept her not coming as well. Surely things would have smoothed themselves out by then?

“This won’t just fix itself, hun, you’ll need to speak to him eventually. And the sooner the better.”

It was like Audrey had a hotline straight into Sarah’s psyche. It was unnerving at the best of times. Sarah knew she was right of course. It’s just, a little bit of distance would be a good thing, right? Even Chris himself had offered that advice from time to time, and stressing herself out at this point almost seemed counterintuitive.

“I reckon you could go in an hour or so if you wanted.” Audrey offered, nudging her friend with her elbow to bring her back into the room. “It’s dead out there.”

“I hope not.” Sarah joked, trying to lighten the mood. “We’d be shit at our jobs if that was the case.”

Audrey laughed for the first time since Sarah could remember that day. It was moments like this that reminded her of why she enjoyed working alongside her so much, and why she didn’t mind if it resulted in overtime.

“You wanna take patient referrals while I take the EPRs?”

“How can I refuse an offer like that?” Sarah picked up the dozen or so documents sat in front of her and grabbed the nearest chair. Audrey told her she’d put the kettle on and nudged the guys still glued to their screens. Ryan had pretty much given up logical thinking and was now ticking random boxes. Jack was cursing under his breath. O’Brien was going to be in for a real treat when he could finally tabulate the responses.

It was nearing 6.20am when Sarah and Audrey finally packed up to go. Matt and Stephanie had just arrived to take over for the morning, bringing a fresh perspective for the day. There wasn’t much for them to catch up on so it should be a smooth few hours at least. Sarah even ran a mop through the staff locker room as an added gift – Steph was a notorious clean freak – nearly tripping Greg up in the process.

He’d been on leave for the past fortnight and his hair was a little longer than she remembered. A five o’clock shadow graced the lower part of his face and it suited him more than she thought it would. He had kept up with the informal tie-less attire and he seemed to be, dare she it, enjoying himself.

“God, I’m so sorry.” She held her hands up in a mock mea culpa. “I was just gonna put it away before heading out. It was a stupid place to leave it.”

“Did you not take the Health and Safety refresher?” he joked, rebalancing himself and trying to play down the redness creeping into his cheeks from the embarrassment of temporarily losing his footing in front of her.

“You gonna rat me out to O’Brien? ‘Cos you know as well as I do that he doesn’t need yet another reason to know he’s right.” She shifted the mop and bucket and placed them back in the supply closet before reaching for her bag again.

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” He moved passed her before turning to face her again. “Tell you the truth, I ghosted the last couple of tabs myself. Who knew there were so many ways to ask questions about standing in elevators?”

Sarah rolled her eyes in acknowledgement. “Yeh. I can’t wait to have the team meeting when he realises we’ve all pretty much done the same thing. That’s gonna be fun. I might finally take some of my holiday.”

“Yeh, good plan. Hey listen,” His words stopped her in her tracks, feet from the exit. “Um, I know it’s been a while but I was wondering if you might want to reschedule that tennis match some time? Or if not, we could get some dinner or something? There’s that new sushi place on Reagan Street. It’s meant to be really good if you fancy it?”

She was indeed familiar with that very restaurant thanks to the glowing reviews she had been unable to avoid since it opened. Audrey had only mentioned it a mere thousand times in her presence. Word was that bookings were now months in advance so she wasn’t sure how Greg was hoping to find a table unless he wanted to make plans with her in November. Given the number of commitments he always appeared to have going on, it wouldn’t be completely outside the realm of possibility.

“Wow, I thought that place was fully booked?”

“Yeh, it is, but I went to college with one of the investors and he’s promised me a one-off.”

Of course he did. Sarah bit her bottom lip to stop herself from chuckling out loud, imagining Audrey’s face when she would inevitably find out. To be honest, she was genuinely surprised he was still showing a minor interest in her. When she finally made eye contact with him, his earnestness was practically shining. Had he always had perfect skin?

“Um…” That was a good start, she thought.

“Honestly, it’s not a big deal if you’d rather not.” He helpfully pre-empted her awkward rejection but she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. “I’ve been meaning to go is all and I knew you liked sushi and figured it might be fun? They have live Jazz on Sunday nights.”

When did he find out she liked sushi? And live Jazz? Just how much had Audrey told him about her?

Realising she probably looked perplexed, she shuffled her shoulder strap back up onto her shoulder and tried to relax the awkwardness setting in between them. It was still quiet and no one was within earshot that she could figure out of her peripheral vision.

“It’s not you, Greg, I promise. It’s just, I’m not really looking to get into anything right now. With anyone. Plus, we work together and…I’m sorry. I hope that’s OK?”

“Hey, look, I promise it won’t be awkward. There’s absolutely no expectations from me and if you change your mind, just let me know, yeh? I literally know no one else who likes Sashimi so I can’t waste my only chance to get a table.” He chuckled and she felt more at ease.

“If it’s any consolation, I’m a pretty crap date.” She smiled at him as she edged herself down the hall, putting space between them both literally and figuratively. “You wouldn’t be missing out.”

“Oh, I doubt that somehow.” He returned her smile. “I’m serious, though. Just let me know. Anytime. No expiration date.”

And with that, she had been left dumbfounded by two men in the space of a single week.

It would have been easier to get the early morning bus home at this time, as tired as she was starting to feel. She hadn’t slept well in the last few days and she had a creeping nausea from the lack of proper rest. The walk and crisp, fresh air might do her some good. It was practically full daylight even at this hour, and it was sometimes fun to watch people on their own way to work, huffing along, trying not to drop their coffees.

The out-of-town school bus passed her a few minutes out from her apartment and as she rounded the corner, she got this weird sense that someone was watching her. Another corner turned and she could see her building in the near distance. Still, she couldn’t shake it. She stopped, pretending to fumble for her phone in her pocket and turned around swiftly to see a sweaty Chris stop a few steps behind her.

It took her a moment to register it was in fact him, his beard fuller and a Red Sox cap pulled down low over his eyes. He had sweats and sneakers on and looked like he was on a run. Honestly, if someone else had spotted him from this distance, they would have worried he was going to attack her.

“Hey,” she said, turning to fully face him. “What are you doing out at this time?”

He didn’t respond at first. He shuffled from one foot to the other before grounding himself and taking a couple of steps towards her. Again, he shuffled back a step like he was rethinking his move. She didn’t appreciate seeing him like this, so unsure of himself.

“Five months out from filming some pre-shoots so figured I’d make a start.” He finally spoke. Not a really a smile but he at least sounded OK.

“Cool.” She said, nodding back at him. “Um, I’m not sure if Shanna is awake yet but do you want to come inside for some water or coffee?”

“Yeh, that’d be great. Thanks.”

She turned to continue walking on. For a few long moments, he stayed walking slightly behind her. A couple more strides and he had decided to catch up. The last time it had taken this long to walk this same street, she had been so drunk she had narrowly avoided falling into her neighbour’s front garden.

“Five months? You’re not that out of shape.” She tried to make a joke. It was the only thing she could think of. Audrey would be eye-rolling like a champ if she could see them now.

Chris knew she was trying to make small talk now so he decided to indulge her. It was a fair response, he thought - he was doing OK - as he followed her up the stairs deliberately keeping two or three behind her in an effort to keep it casual.

“Oh, y’know. I fluctuate pretty easily. A few pizzas here and there and it’s game over.”

They walked into her kitchen and she had been right in assuming Shanna was still asleep. Unless she had awoken really early but that was highly unlikely, unless there was a sale at Ted Baker she didn’t know about.

He lingered in the doorway while she searched the fridge for a bottle of water. Grabbing one from the back, she turned to hand it to him expecting him to be within an arm’s reach from her but he had been distracted by something down the hall before turning back to her. Gratefully, he accepted it and walked into the kitchen to take up his usual spot leaning against the counter.

“Sorry, did you say you wanted a coffee?” She offered.

“Nah, I’m good. Can’t really take caffeine until this afternoon.”

“Sorry. I always forget how strict it is.” She apologised, offering him a sympathetic smile.

He took a long swig from the bottle, not breaking eye contact from her. “No need to apologise. You OK? Night shift?”

“Yeh. Pretty quiet, thankfully.”

“I’ve always meant to ask but what is it like, a night shift? I can’t work out if it would be worse or not.”

She understood what he meant and laughed. “It can go either way to be honest but it’s been quiet the last few nights. Nothing crazy. I caught up with some paperwork, so…” She shrugged again, acutely aware of how boring she must sound.

He nodded at her. “Aren’t people supposed to be crazier in the summertime?”

“Well, kids are around more and families tend to spend more time together, so…”

The apartment was unnervingly quiet now which was weird. She could hear the uptake in traffic outside which provided some relief that perhaps he couldn’t hear her heart beating out of her chest. She could make out some small sweat patches on his hoodie and it did something to her that she wasn’t expecting. Shaking the thought from her head, she turned to switch the kettle off.

“What?” He asked.

She jerked her head back around to face him. “Huh?”

“You were thinking of something. Your neck just went red.” He smiled, tilting his head at her and relishing the look of surprise making its way over her features, knowing he’d caught her out.

That was news to her. She knew she had “tells” but a red neck was not usually one of them. How come no one had ever told her about this?

“I can’t tell if you’re joking with me or not.” She inquired, playfully narrowing her eyes at him in an effort to lighten the mood.

He shrugged a shoulder at her, a smirk starting to cross his fine features. Joshing with her was good. She’d take that. A small step in the right direction.

“Sometimes, it’s really obvious. You get it when you’re embarrassed about something, or when you try to lie. I’d never really noticed it before, but...” He paused. His expression started to turn more thoughtful and she wished he’d just continue to make fun of her instead.

“Guess I won’t be playing poker anytime soon.” She finished the thought for him.

“Yeh, no, you’d be rubbish at that. Just terrible.” He took another swig from his bottle and waited for her to throw something at him.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

The room went quiet again. She stirred her mug of coffee and offered him another chance at one which he politely refused although his discipline was waning slightly now he could smell it.

“So this is fine.” He said after a couple of minutes, nodding in a slightly exaggerated manner. He looked out of the kitchen window. “We can do this, right? No awkwardness. No embarrassment. Just normal, everyday conversation.”

“’Course,” she nodded in agreement.

“Start as we mean to go on, right?”

She nodded again. This felt like a trap and she couldn’t put her finger on why. Chris had a knack for saying and doing two different things at the same time, an intimidating ability that often put people on edge if he thought it would serve his purpose, whatever that may be. Probably the actor in him. When you called him out, he would aggressively defend himself which only served to prove the point you were making in the first place.

Scott was the only one, truly, who knew when it was happening. It had taken Sarah years to get to a similar position but now, she wasn’t sure she was remotely close to it.

“It’s as good a starting point as any, I guess.” She shrugged again, sipping from her cup.

“So there’s no need to ignore me then.”

“I haven’t been ignoring you, have I?”

“You tell me. I’m just pre-empting it is all. I’m just saying we can still interact, you and me, if we need to. Like, it doesn’t always have to be in social settings with other people around.” He took a final drink from his bottle and turned to locate the recycling pot stashed away in the corner. Even with a mundane task, he always looked cool doing it.

“So don’t worry about it.”

“Alright then. That’s good to know.” She shot him a raised eyebrow which he caught and returned with a sly smirk. “I’m just trying to be sensible. We have to get this right or else there’s no point.”

“I know, I get that, too.” If he wasn’t attempting to be serious before, he was now. He had a hand on his hip and seemed to have grown a few inches in height. “What do you think I’m trying to say?”

“I…think I’m on the backfoot again and it’s weird.” She held a hand up in defence.

“Hey, I’m just doing what we agreed, OK? I’m just following your rules.”

“They’re not rules.” She struggled to regulate the volume in her voice in case she disturbed Shanna. “And you’re making it sound like I’m controlling the situation when I’m not. We both agreed on this. There’s no point being difficult about it.”

Was he being difficult? Yes. Obviously, he was. He wasn’t happy. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling but happy definitely wasn’t it. Things were out of sorts and he hadn’t been able to eat carbs or sugar for four days so the withdrawal symptoms certainly weren’t helping. He should go easier on her. She was doing the thinking for the both of them. He should learn to be more grateful for that.

He scratched the back of his head and let out an audible sigh in frustration. “I’ll try harder, I promise. We’ve got that cabin thing coming up with Mom, so…I promise I’ll be good.”

He imitated the scout salute and she smiled at him, a smile not quite reaching her eyes.

Another night shift and Audrey and was starting to get suspicious. No one willingly switched for a night shift. For one thing, there was a disproportionate amount of recovery time. A couple of night shifts often took in excess of a week to recover from; a week that a nurse definitely did not have to spare.

“He been buggin’ you?” she asked, finally growing tired of the silence.

“Who?” Sarah looked up from the cabinet. “No, not really. We haven’t really spoken.”

“So why are you ignoring him?”

“I’m not ignoring him! Why does everyone think that?”

“Who’s everyone?”

Crap. Audrey had her there. Sarah open and closed her mouth without a sound coming out. She took a breath. “He’s not bugging me. He’s not. I’m just trying to limit the times we’re in the same place at the same time.”

“Huh, you’d think he would at least allow you to have peace in your own home.”

“Well, to be fair, he hasn’t been around all that much, but…at least I don’t have to worry about him showing up unannounced. It’s stupid but I feel way more awkward about him than I thought I would. It’s like I can’t even stand to be under his gaze.”

Audrey glanced at her friend, wishing she could offer some words of comfort. Even for someone as verbose as she normally was, she was finding it a struggle. Sarah wasn’t much looking for words of comfort at the given time either. She was all too aware of the predicament she was in and how much responsibility laid at her feet. In her mind, waiting it out was the only logical solution she could come up with. The only logical solution that didn’t require more conversations with someone who could feasibly run rings around her “theory” that if they just stayed apart for a little while, they would suddenly and magically forget about the past couple of months.

They stayed filing documents in silence again, the air seemingly getting thicker.

“You ever spoken with someone and it’s like they’re thinking the complete opposite of what’s coming out of their mouth?” Sarah huffed while shoving the cabinet drawer closed.

“Not really. That person’s usually me.”

“But why?” she asked. “Why can’t you just be normal?”

“I mean, it’s not my go-to response of course. It’s normally reserved for occasions when I am trying to indulge someone because I know they’re talking bullshit. Like, when I know Mike has been gambling but he tries to deny it? It’s just easier to figure him out that way.”

Sarah froze to the spot, looking at her friend. She breathed a heavy sigh and turned to lean back on the table behind her and crossed her arms. She stared at her shoes for a second.

“Chris is a smart guy. I’ll give him that.” Audrey muttered loudly so she was sure Sarah could hear.

“Give me something! I’m your friend here.” She implored her before chuckling to herself at Audrey’s face and her own apparent lack of self-awareness.

“You know what I think? You’ve probably got withdrawal symptoms from the all the amazing sex you’ve had and now you’re sulking. I think you should get back on that horse and let him fuck you again. That’s what this is.”

Sarah eyed her friend again. For once, she would love to hear someone tell her that she was right. “That’s really not helping, y’know.”

“And this is?!” Audrey’s shriller tone cut through the dry air, smacking Sarah right in the face. “Honey, this isn’t healthy. You hiding out in the hospital and treating it like your own solace is not healthy at all. I love you but you are your own worst enemy.”

“Alright, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for your unswerving efforts to be honest with me at all times and not, like a normal pal, be comforting in any way.” Sarah comically bowed to her friend before considering leaving the office. She would have followed through with the idea as well if it wasn’t for the cosy warmth of O’Brien’s office versus the coldness of the ER department thanks to a leaking pipe. “It’s difficult. I’m sorry. I don’t wanna fall out with you, Audrey.”

Audrey just smiled at her. “I don’t know why you think you have to be the beacon of morality all the time, Sarah. Take a look around. No one else is. We all out here just trying to live our lives as best we can and a part of that is taking advantage of moments of happiness when we find them.”

Something about what Audrey was saying did resonate with her but comparing two months of happiness with Chris to ten years with Shanna was not something she could in good conscience do. Shanna was her security blanket. She provided a comfort of living with someone with shared life experience, of knowing how little you thought about yourself because you were given up as a baby. Honestly, from the very first day they had met, Sarah felt lucky to know her.

Yes, Shanna could be immature at times. Maybe a little selfish. She would often get carried away with trivial things and wasn’t the most reliable person, but what Sarah got in return was worth that and more. Her family enjoyed highlighting the maternal care Sarah would have to provide to someone who was seven months older than she was, but honestly it didn’t matter.

Maybe this was one of the rare occasions where Audrey was wrong.

Chris was a fling at best, Sarah told herself, when she was lying in bed struggling to fall asleep. When she was cold and missing his arms around her. They were both having shitty times and they both got something out of it. That was what Chris had said himself at the very beginning.

Chris 08.15am: You home? Shanna said you were working late again

It was like he knew she would be thinking about him.

Chris 08.17am: I really dont want u ignoring me all the time. This is hard for me right now as well

Fuck.

Sarah 08.21am: I kno. I’m so sorry I made you feel like that :(

He didn’t respond. She thought she saw the tell-tale three dots of him writing something but nothing appeared. Giving up on sleep, she got up and headed into the kitchen. Shanna had left her some bacon in the fridge and a fresh bread bun on the side so she turned on the grill and set about making some coffee.

She felt strangely awake for this time and the apartment was nice and warm from the bright sunshine streaming in from all corners. Maybe a run would help. Or a cold shower.

Chris 08.44am: I wanna be honest with u but I dont think u want that

Chris 08.45am: so what do i do??

Fuck knows.

Chris 08.51am: Can I come over?

Sarah 08.54am: that’s not a good idea

Chris 08.55am: cos you know what will happen?

Chris 08.56am: what does that tell you??

She was sure he was nursing some kind of hangover or, quite possibly, he was still a little bit drunk. There were two responses she could give, she figured. The first would be her usual denial and perhaps an excuse that she was busy or working later than planned. The second, and ultimately the one she opted for, was to agree with him.

Sarah 09.05am: I know what it tells me. That’s why I’m saying you shouldn’t come over

Another three dots followed. There was only so many times they could go around and around in circles and as much as Audrey’s words made sense to her, it felt like she had to make the effort to regain some normality.

He didn’t respond. She stared at her phone for an age but nothing came through. Maybe he got the message? Maybe he had fallen asleep. She was both relieved and suspicious; Chris wasn’t someone who backed down from an argument when he thought he was right. He had said as much himself.

She turned the grill off, having lost her appetite. A run might make more sense and could help clear her head.

She couldn’t sit around waiting for Chris to make his next move.

#Chris evans #chris evans fic #evans fic #fanfiction #clear the area #sarah bernette #chris evans x original female character

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crisisdparity · 3 years

Text

Game Master Akuma AU

(Note: Originally submitted to @justanotherpersonsuniverse, on their advice I will be using my own tumblr for anything in the future related to this AU.)

Valentine and her boyfriend Justin were onboard in an instant. Within days, he'd greenlighted their Half-Elf Bard of the College of Glamour whose spell list was 100% Illusion spells and Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight) who was focusing entirely on Abjuration as Rena Rouge and Carapace respectively.

Olivia had spent a few days coming up with a Halfling Rogue and debating subclasses with him until settling on Scout. Along with some discussion over how her special magic item's stunning and paralysis effect would work with Sneak Attack, the campaign had its Vesperia.

Jeanette had gone back and forth with him for a week looking at various homebrew subclasses for her Gnome Artificer before they both agreed on one particular Master Tinkerer entry that would be balanced and do the character justice. And with that they had their Ladybug.

Even Matt was on board with a stealthy human Chat the Barbarian using the Path of the Beast. The class choice was something Matt had insisted on (and that Xavier would have suggested anyway just for the high hit point totals given Matt's history with characters dying) and he'd even come up with a backstory that Xavier felt was quite compelling compared to Matt's usual efforts. Morally ambiguous, likely to be tempted by promises of power, but with a great deal of story potential to work with.

Which was a relief. Getting a new player into their group to replace Matt was not something Xavier really felt comfortable with. There were too many unknowns with introducing a new person, far too many for him to risk his masterpiece on an unknown factor. He knew Matt. He could work with Matt. Despite the history.

He'd put everything he had into this. Every known Akuma ever fought by the heroes had been made into a boss-tier foe. He'd carefully documented each and every power the heroes had shown to craft special legendary magic items based on the Miraculous. Hawkmoth and Mayura themselves were going to be the final bosses of his campaign.

In response to criticism about the difficulty of his campaigns (he tried to make them fair, but still challenging enough to be memorable), he'd made several guest NPCs based on every other hero that had ever been called upon, statted out like player characters that might show up in a pinch to help. He even had a genuine Deus ex Machina that he was ready to use to get the players out of a truly impossible jam if they found themselves in one.

Not always, but a few times at least. Enough to get them to the point where they wouldn't need it anymore.

-----

It was thirty minutes in, right in the middle of exposition from the Guardian NPC, when Xavier got his first message on the app.

Matt/Chat - Chat's going to wait until everyone breaks up and follow Ladybug stealthily.

Xavier/GM - Starting party conflict on the first session? Not what I'd advise, but it's your character. Go ahead and make your Stealth roll now.

Matt/Chat - <photo> 17

Xavier/GM - Yeah, that beats everyone's passive Perception easily. You'll sneak off handily without anyone noticing.

-----

"Jeanette, Ladybug is grabbed from behind by an unknown assailant. Roll to resist the grapple."

"Geez, already? Okay, what did my assailant get for their grapple? How screwed am I?"

Xavier pretended to roll a die while consulting the message from Matt.

"19."

"Okay, difficult, but not undoable... Crap."

"What'd you get?"

"Nat 1..."

"Hah! I rip off her earrings and claim them for myself! The Wish is mine!"

"Seriously Matt?! What the hell?!"

"Because it's payback time! Payback for every character of mine killed in these hellish campaigns!"

"Oh, come on! You're not the only person whose had a character die at this table! Xavier runs some pretty challenging campaigns, but they're always fair!"

"What about the time he killed Allric the Allmighty in a single round of combat?"

"Dude, you tried to Leroy Jenkins straight into melee with a 4th-level Wizard that had a CON penalty. Even at full health you had like 10 hp."

"14!"

"Not much better, dude."

"Guys, it's fine. I can handle this. Okay, Matt. Chat the Barbarian managed to get the earrings-"

"Yeah, Ladybug screams bloody murder when he rips them out. Good luck getting out of this in one piece."

"The moment Rena hears Ladybug scream, she bolts for the sound."

"So does Carapace."

"Vesperia too."

"-and with their current locations and movement speeds, I assume you're all using the Dash action?, you've got maybe one round to decide on your Wish before they're all over you, so choose carefully. And be aware that I plan to grant whatever you wish for in the worst possible way, just as I would if any of the others pulled this."

"Rena screams 'What the HELL, Chat?! We're supposed to protect the Miraculous, not use them for our own selfish purposes! Didn't you listen to the Guardian? Such actions always bring misfortune upon those who misuse the Miraculous!'"

"Because I am Chat, avatar of Destruction and I WISH THIS WORLD NEVER EXISTED!"

There was dead silence at the table.

"Matt... What... just... WHAT?!"

"Hah! You like that?! How does it feel now that the shoe's on the other foot, huh?!"

"What the hell is your problem, Matt?!"

"My problem? MY problem?! Do you know how much time I've spent making characters for these shitty campaigns only to have them turned into paste in one session?!"

"Because you made primary spellcasters and played every last one of them like a barbarian, charging in headfirst without thinking! All of us breathed a sigh of relief when you revealed that your character finally matched your playstyle!"

"I HATE BARBARIANS! THEY'RE BORING! I SHOULD GET TO PLAY CHARACTERS THAT CAN AT LEAST CHUCK FIREBALLS!"

"THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP RUNNING THEM FACE FIRST INTO ENEMY SWORDS!"

"NONE OF YOU COULD EVER HANDLE THE FACT THE I MAKE MORE AWESOME CHARACTERS THAN ANY OF YOU, SO YOU JUST LET THIS DOUCHEBAG KILL THEM OFF SO YOU WOULDN'T GET OVERSHADOWED BY HOW AMAZING I AM! WELL NOW I KILLED SOMETHING YOU ALL WORKED HARD ON, SO SUCK IT! I'M DONE WITH ALL OF YOU FOREVER!"

"MATT! HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU JERK! MATT!"

"Crap, I think Olivia might actually kill him this time..."

"It's going to take all of us to stop her from getting arrested at least."

Xavier just watched numbly as the rest of the group ran out of his apartment. Over six months of work. Gone in less than an hour.

He'd given so much to making sure this would work. He'd apologized to Matt at least twice for every character of his that had died to get him to come back. He'd agreed to demand after demand just to keep a familiar face on board, never dreaming he'd pull something like this.

He'd nearly gotten fired from his job trying to rearrange his schedule to fit with everyone else's. They'd somehow, miraculously, gotten the whole day with no other obligations among any of them and decided to make the first session a true marathon. They'd meet in the morning after breakfast and eat both lunch and dinner at the game table before calling it a night late in the evening.

It was barely 10:00 in the morning and the whole campaign he'd slaved over for months was kaput.

He never noticed the butterfly landing on his custom Miraculous-themed Game Master screen and being absorbed into it.

"Game Master, I am Hawkmoth. Few people appreciate the kind of effort that goes into making something truly grand and memorable. I shall give you the power to bring your entire world to life and in return, I ask only for a few simple things."

This was wrong. Hawkmoth was the worst of the worst. The kind of person who would be at home among all the final bosses he'd ever made for his campaigns. Heartless, manipulative, cruel.

"Not enough? Ah, but what is a game without players? How would you like to have the Miraculous heroes themselves run your great campaign? Surely they would be far more appreciative than those ungrateful peons that left you alone with nothing but the broken remains of your efforts."

He knew all these things, but the allure of bringing the world he'd spent so much time on to life... What creator could ever turn down an offer like that?

"I, the Game Master, accept... Hawkmoth."

"Excellent. And in exchange, you shall bring me one of two things: The Miraculous, or the identities of their wielders."

"No."

Hawkmoth was silent for a moment.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said no. I am the Game Master. I make the world. I craft the challenges. I decide the rewards. But I do not do anything for anyone. If you want these things, get them yourself."

"If you refuse me, it shall be very unpleasant for you."

"No. As Game Master, I decide the limits of all powers within my realm. And I decide that you have none over me."

And with that, he unleashed his creation over all of Paris, drawing everyone and everything within into his sphere of influence.

-----

Ladybug blinked the spots (ha) out of her eyes as the flash of light died down and looked at herself. She didn't remember transforming, but she was clearly in her spots. Except her red and black superhero uniform didn't usually look like it was headed to a steampunk convention. Looking around, she tried to figure out what had happened and her eyes landed on a familiar belt and pants combo.

Problem. Whoever this was, their groin was at eye level for her.

She looked up.

And up.

To find a grinning Chat Noir, sans anything resembling a shirt and having put on at least a foot of height and apparently a hundred pounds of pure muscle, grinning down at her.

"How's the weather down there?" Chat Noir chuckled as he flexed his unfairly attractive muscleman physique.

"I WILL END YOU!" the heroine snarled, already 100% done with whatever new insanity Hawkmoth had cooked up.

Characters:

Ladybug - Gnome Artificer (Master Tinkerer - Homebrew)

Chat Noir - Human Barbarian (Path of the Beast)

-----

Vesperia had to admit, as Akuma attacks went, this was pretty dope.

She was currently a halfling. A halfling! If it wasn't for her fantasy ensemble being yellow and black, she'd have thought she stepped straight out of Lord of the Rings.

Of course, fantasy setting or not, there were still things she'd have rather left back in the real world. Like racism. And stigma against mixed couples. Not directed at her, but rather at the two walking down the street next to her.

"You know, people are staring..." she said as she craned her head to look at her companions.

"Let them," the Half-Elf Rena Rouge (who looked like a cross between a musician and a belly dancer) said from her perch atop the shoulders of the heavily armored (and surprisingly buff) Half-Orc Carapace. "They're just jealous because their boyfriends can't carry them everywhere."

Characters:

Vesperia - Halfling Rogue (Scout)

Rena Rouge - Half-Elf Bard (College of Glamour)

Carapace - Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight)

-----

Ryuko blinked as she studied the apparent snake-man-thing before her who claimed to be Viperion. She lifted a hand to study it and found what appeared to be bronze scales covering every inch of her skin.

She sniffed herself, smelling the sharp tang of ozone. What was she?

And why did she appear to be wearing wooden armor?

Characters:

Ryuko - Dragonborn (bronze) Druid (Circle of Storms - Third Party)

Viperion - Naga Sorcerer (Divination Magic - Homebrew)

-----

Polymouse giggled as her friends ran over her. Okay, she'd freaked out a little to find a swarm of mice (with hair like hers no less) crawling all over her surprisingly mouse-like body when she'd come to in the middle of some forest somewhere. But she'd gotten over it pretty quickly. It helped that her new friends were adorable.

It might help more if she could figure out where she was.

Or find another person.

Characters:

Polymouse - Kobold (rodentlike) Ranger (Swarmkeeper - Reskinned)

-----

Purple Tigress sighed as she felt the hair (fur?) on the top of her head being shifted around and twitched her new catlike ears in mild annoyance.

"Are you quite done?"

"Almost!" Pigella's cheerful voice answered. "Your fur is so comfy!"

Tigress sighed. Of course Pigella would end up being a fairy, and having her normal cheerful enthusiasm cranked up to previously unimagined levels.

"I love you dearly, but if you start shouting 'hey listen' I will stick you in a bottle."

"Aw, I love you too! Hey, what's that?"

"I think it's my character sheet?"

Characters:

Purple Tigress - Tabaxi Paladin (Oath of Glory)

Pigella - Fairy Cleric (Order Domain - Reskinned)

-----

"According to my analysis, we have been placed into what appears to be a Dungeons and Dragons campaign under 5th edition rules," Pegasus stated in a mechanical monotone. "I am apparently a Warforged Wizard using the School of Conjuration whose spells create portals to bridge dimensions and summon or banish my intended targets. You are what is known as a Simic Hybrid, with the class of Monk, following the Way of the Drunken Master."

"Aweshum," King Monkey slurred, his generally human appearance clad in monk's robes marred by his monkey-like hands and feet as well as the monkey tail swishing behind him.

"Why do you keep slurring like that? According to my sensors, your gourd is filled with only water."

"Gotta keep up appearanshes!" King Monkey grinned as he continued faking drunkenness.

Characters:

Pegasus - Warforged Wizard (School of Conjuration - Reskinned)

King Monkey - Simic Hybrid Monk (Way of the Drunken Master)

-----

Hawkmoth studied the dark red horns growing out of his head in the mirror. The change in appearance was disconcerting, but he felt a rush of power in this new form that he'd never felt before.

"Hmm... perhaps I can work with this..."

"Speak for yourself..." Mayura muttered off to the side, ruffling her peacock-like feathers in annoyance as she tried to glare at the beak on her own face.

Characters:

Hawkmoth - Tiefling Dark Lord, Warlock Patron, Contracted by Lila Rossi, Volpina, Queen Wasp, and many others.

Mayura - Kenku Assistant to the Dark Lord, Creator of Monsters

-----

"Oh, come on!" A figure in a cyan and white hooded robe complained as they waved a similarly colored umbrella around angrily. "Everyone else gets to be part of this adventure, why can't I join them?"

"Because you're too OP. You'd completely break everything and remove all challenge from the adventure."

"But sitting around is no fun at all!"

"If you like, I can put you in the position of the main quest giver. Your job would be to direct them towards their enemies and means of becoming stronger."

"That's it?! I'm on 'mysterious hooded figure' duty? Boo! Why can't I fight with them?!"

"Because you're too OP. But if you insist, I'll allow some Deus ex Machina interventions."

"YES!"

"Five."

"I'm sorry?"

"I'll allow five interventions at your discretion to aid them when they are in peril. Once you have come to their aid five times, I will allow no more meetings save to impart quest information."

"That's it?"

"Yes. Choose your interventions wisely."

"So... if I manage to save one for when they fight Hawmoth and Mayura in the final battle...?"

"Then I would allow you to join them of course."

"Score!"

Characters:

Bunnyx: Mysterious Hooded Figure, Deus-ex-Machina (5)

Game Master: Akuma Lord of the Miraculous Campaign

-----

Addendum

When the Game Master is finally purified and the damage reversed, it turns out that he took the effort to trap all of Paris in a temporal stasis bubble so that no matter how long passed inside no more than a few moments passed outside. Meaning that after what seemed like months in the bubble, it's basically less than a minute after he was akumatized when everything is put back.

All his friends, minus Matt, come back in bringing a new person named Zack that they vetted themselves to take Matt's place in case he pulled something like what he did. And while he has a similar playstyle to Matt, he's savvy enough to know what kind of characters that is suited for and he loves playing barbarians.

They all sit back down and restart the game they were all looking forward to.

#game master akuma au #miraculous ladybug #fanfic #writings

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tanoraqui · 4 years

Text

[previous]

so right here is probably where you get your obligatory “Wild Hunt follows our hero back to the human realm, forcing them to go on a high-stakes, high-speed chase with their romantic interest as their (fantasy, no cars involved) driver.” Tylweth Tyg Lan Wangji, flying yarrow stalk, clinging tightly together, natch.

their goal is the Duchy of Butchers’ Hill. They probably crash-land in a courtyard

quick history of Butchers’ Hill: a merlin so lowly she had a job in the human world as a butcher, before she saved a monarch’s live and so earned the use of a Hope Chest, and through further service, a duchy. In the face of lingering scorn, she named her new demesne after her mortal career, because fuck you

the current duke, Nie Mingjue, is Tuatha de Danaan through and through, child of happily divorced parents - well, one’s dead, now - because it was an amiable political marriage and his mother had a barony to inherit on a different continent

however his brother and heir, Nie Huaisang, had. Daoine Sidhe mother (everyone knows, though she more or less wandered in one day and left a few years later when she’d stopped her dancing). He has fine Tuatha features, but his hair is the dark dark red of a cursed rose, his eyes are yellow rather than copper, his magic is scented of roses as well as Nie stone. He’s never been able to open a portal. His mother was sickly, they say, and something went wrong in the childbirth; she recovered, but not for long

their goal today is not the duke but in fact his younger brother. “Wei-xiong!” Nie Huaisang says cheerfully, with the air of someone who’s about to get some ~gossip~. “And Lan-er-gongzi! It’s good to see you! You look like you need a drink.”

Lan Wangji accepts tea, Wei Wuxian accepts wine, and takes a deep sniff - not of the wine. He cuts through the burgeoning small talk. “Nie-xiong, your mother wasn’t a Daoine Sidhe.”

(if I was writing this properly, I would’ve foreshadowed this with more recent historical context, with descriptions of everyone’s magical scents at that first confrontation in Glamour Hall. Suffice to say: his magic smells like his grandmother’s)

“...No,” Nie Huaisang says, after a particularly long sip of wine. “She wasn’t.” He leans forward, because if they’re doing real gossip, then they’re doing real gossip. “Neither was yours, right?”

“Ah, busted,” says Wei Wuxian. “So, can you open a Rose Road?

Hold up, you might ask at this juncture. How does he know about that? Did Captain Pete tell him? For that matter, he knew his exact relation to her - Toby didn’t know this stuff, circa her own fight with Blind Michael! What gives?

Well, here’s the story...

Wei Wuxian is already feeling pretty shit, wandering the streets of Yiling with magic overuse ache like he’s been run over by a tractor, which needless to say is the only reason Wen Chao gets the jump on him

the Burial Mounds is an abandoned iron mine. I think Wen Chao shoots him, first, too, with, like, a gattling gun full of shards of iron (please don’t ask about the technology level of this setting). Anyway, it’s an obvious death sentence. A cruel, slow death sentence, iron poisoning with a fun side dose of, like, broken limbs from being dropped down a mineshaft. Wen Chao laughs and leaves; Wei Wuxian lies here in agony and waits to die

Except...he doesn’t

and then he continues to not

or maybe he does, or comes as close as makes no difference, and wakes up again anyway?

the first time that happens, the Night Haunts arrive. expectantly. There’s only room for a couple of them, and they won’t stay long because of all the iron, but they do their duty; they come for the body

But the body is still living

hallucinating, a little

definitely he assumes the night haunts are a hallucination, at first

he starts talking to them, and eventually, they talk back (maybe one who wears the face of one of the Lotus Lakes squires).

it’s not in the night haunts’ nature to aid the dying but it is acceptable to wait with them, and trade stories with them, or perhaps simply give them, as a parting mercy...

but it’s not parting. For three months, the Night Haunts take shifts perching on the few iron-free spots in this hole in the ground and waiting for Wei Wuxian to die, and letting. him coax them into telling stories with memories as old as Faerie. He needs something to focus on other than the pain - and thirst and hunger, when he remember them. He does his best to pick shards of iron out of his skin, passes out and would die save for the power in his blood, and wakes up and picks out more iron. “Liar’s child”, they call him, and enjoy talking to someone living once more.

Eventually, he gains enough strength to start crawling, climbing, falling, pushing himself up and crawling again towards the exit.* Eventually, he breaks into the open air again, rolls over on clean grass and turns his head sideways to spit a last (for now) mouthful of blood.

He keeps some of the iron scraps. He forges them into points for his new trident, the Wens having confiscated his old one. He introduces Wen Chao to it a couple months later.

[fastforward out of the flashback!noises]

“I caaan,” Nie Huaisang says reluctantly, tapping his fingers on his wine glass. “But it’s really hard and I’m not very good at directing them, and you just want to use it to help a Wen.”

(here’s more history of Butchers’ Hill: not long after his second wife passed away, the old duke was elfshot. The poison in it was slow-acting; only after several decades did he start to fail. This turned out to be a mistake on King Wen Ruohan’s part, because it meant Nie Mingjue had had time to grow in his own power and military experience. the Sunshot Campaign began not long thereafter)

(there were arguments for Nie Mingjue to take the crown of Golden Sun, after, but it was Jin Guangshan’s changeling who killed Wen Ruohan, and the Daoine Sidhe are ever hungrier than the Tuatha de Danaan)

“I’ll owe you one,” Wei Wuxian promises. “If you want, I can even shift your blood to one side or the other - I can’t imagine it’s comfortable, being half-plant, half-mammal.”

(it’s an honest offer, not a threat. But also: Wen Zhuliu died in agony, at the hands of the Yiling Patriarch. Rebalancing the blood hurts more than anything in the world, except maybe 3 months of death by iron poisoning.)

“I don’t think so,” Nie Huaisang says consideringly. “I mean, yes, it’s terrible sometimes but...could I claim the favor for someone else, if they agree to it?”

“If you can get me on a road to Blind Michael’s realm and back, sure. You don’t need to worry about aiming me.” He flips a compass out of his pocket,

once again: do I need o dwell on Blind Michael’s dark realm, night without the hope of moon or stars? There’s running, there’s chasing, there’s fighting...rather more fighting than Toby, actually. As established: the Yiling Patriarch isn’t popularly called a Hero (yet), but he is known for his bloody battlefields.

There’s negotiating. Blind Michael is predictably cruel; Wen Ning is sitting at the foot of his throne like a dog, though he hasn’t grown much more than fur and sharp teeth. So far. Wei Wuxian bargains one soul for another and presses rose-wrapped candle and compass into his friend’s already-less-paw-like hands, whispers, “Think of your sister and follow it. Tell her we’re even. Don’t look back, accept any help you’re offered but not ask for it, and you have...” He checks his watch. “About 2 hours.”

He watches Wen Ning go - for a moment. Until Blind Michael calls, “Take him,” and someone hits him very hard on the back of the head, and the empty sky swallows him up.

TBC

#mdzs #the untamed #october daye #my fic

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