#we went in for their 8 week shots and a vet tech was like

[wherewolf]

quick update in the tags :3

[jbbuckybarnes]

Zerfall - 6/14

Pairing: Bucky x named!Reader (Agent Andromeda) Summary: After Hydra drops virus bombs in 7 major American cities in the height of summer, the team is locked in their emergency bunker for weeks. The virus commonly called the Summer Poison successfully brought the infrastructure to a halt in all big cities. When the virus slowly starts burning itself out SHIELD Agents and Avengers are sent out to bring back order into the cities and the international relationships. Not without hurdles. Warnings for this chapter: Pandemic, crime, canon typical violence, flirting, picturing killing as a positive thing, weird grammar. Not beta read. **Image credit goes to Ubisoft.

Zerfall Masterlist || M a s t e r l i s t

You’d been walking for about half a block when you were yanked towards a bus to hide behind. “There’s five of them, northeast,” he whispered and got the AR off his back. You scanned the area, “It’s not five. It’s 8, great,” you mumbled. “I go left, you go right,” he ordered and after a little countdown by hand you slowly sneaked your way from car to car until you were both close enough. You took the safety off two pistols before looking over and nodding. Both of you came out of your covers in perfect sync, killing 5 of them instantly. Three of them run to get cover and you ran EADA again to know where all of them were exactly. An easier thing to do if you had those damn contact lenses. “Damn agents!” One of them yelled. “Shut up, whiny baby,” you yelled back, getting out of cover in time to land a perfect headshot. “The Vultures will come for you, bitch!” Another one yelled. “Sorry, can’t hear you over how good I’ll land a headshot on you.” You smirked and landed the next one in sync with Bucky. “Don’t call my partner a bitch,” he said before walking to the cover of the last one, grabbing him with his metal arm and holding him up. “Help us or die,” he growled up at the young man. “No,” he croaked before going unconscious and being thrown onto the floor and hit in the heart by another shot. “I see, you like a little bit of the drama too.” You chuckled before helping him search through their weapons and ammunition. “Always.” He grinned over, picking up a few cartridges of ammo and chugging them into his bag on the back of his tactical belt. “Let’s get going then. We need to get to a safe house today.” You smiled and cut the dog tags off the dead bodies that had them. His brow went up, “Wanna count how many people betrayed their country. And maybe these come in handy if they have a boss that actually cares about them.” “Forget it, only psychopaths would start something like this.” He kicked the man that had insulted her earlier. It seemed to really annoy him. Maybe it was just his 40s brain that wanted the respect for a woman, cause he definitely had a foul mouth in the army and didn’t expect her to not curse like a sailor. He actually was kinda excited about that part for some reason.

On the way to the safe house you came across some groups of three, taking them down easily in less than a few seconds. You were already starting to work in perfect sync when it came to combat. You made note of the buildings that were clearly guarded and when you got to the Consulate General of Mexico you made note of all the guards and scanned the area. 12 people that you could see and scan for. “Guarding duty is the most boring thing ever.” One of them mumbled to the other and you looked over at Bucky who winked back at you while getting a grenade from his belt. “Hm, at least it isn’t patrolling.” Something clinked onto the floor in between the two guards on the left and the one on the right. Before they could even start a word there was an explosion and you got out your AR and he got out his. “Showtime.” you grinned while taking aim at all the suddenly alert and confused guards. One, two, three, four, five, all dead in less than a minute. 4 left in their cover. Bucky took the marksman rifle from his back and aimed up at where they were hiding. Hitting them with astonishing accuracy, hearing a thud after each one. “Wow, that was impressive, Barnes,” you said surprised at the actual level of skill he had from his tortured years. “Glad I can use it for good now,” he answered as if he was able to read your thoughts at that moment. “I’m glad too.” You smiled over at him before you both stormed into the building, checking for more guards inside and taking 4 out with silencers on your pistols or a knife into their throat. “I really got the best agent as a partner, huh?” He grinned as you walked toward a safety door. “I guess you do.” You grinned back before hacking the door open. As he wanted to close the door behind you, you gestured him to stop. “Loot the dudes outside and bring as much of the weapons and ammo inside of here for other agents,” you ordered him and got a serious nod back. Your eyes scanned the room for a laptop or computer with a drive attached to it and after a while of looking around you found it. “Gotcha.” You smirked hacking your way through the information, downloading it onto your EADA. While it was doing that you finally took the backpack that was sitting in a locker and went through it. “Finally.” You breathed out exhausted, getting a look from Bucky that was just dumping some guns into the room. You got out the SAID agent vest that was going to regenerate by itself and put it around your chest. Then you made a dig through the side pockets for the contact lenses, getting another weirded out look from your partner. “What the hell are you doing?” He finally spoke out what went through his head. “These link up to the watch and I can see where enemies are hiding and where friendlies are if they fight with us. I also have a scope attachment that can do that if you ever need that,” you explained to him with a proud smile on your face. He shook his head grinning, “You’re a nerd.” After you got both of your backpacks situated into one and everything was done with your equipment, you wandered back to the computer that had finished with the drive a few minutes before. “Holy shit,” you muttered at the screen and Bucky’s steps led next to you. “The red parts are enemy bases, the symbols above them are the factions of enemies, these are the shadow zones in dark purple and...there we have a settlement, a big one.” You pointed at the library closer to the Empire State Building, about two blocks down from where you were currently situated. He looked up from the map with a hopeful face directly at you, “Then let’s get there and help those people.” If there was one thing you had already learned about him, it was that he wanted nobody to suffer from something Hydra did to them and he’d do anything to help people right now.

“Why do I have the feeling that this day will be a long one?” He speculated while you walked down the first block. “Well, we’ll get a ton of new information on the current situation from them. That’s gonna be pushing us from now on, ain’t it?” You smiled at the road ahead. “Guess you’re right. I’m just afraid we can’t help that much,” he mumbled. “We can, don’t get into your own head about it.” Your hand landed on his shoulder. “I try.” He gave you a soft smile of appreciation. “I mean, key points of enemies to take over seems like a lot of fun to me if all of them are this bad at their job.” You giggled. “They are the worst, aren’t they?” He laughed. “Horrible, Bucky. Absolutely horrible.” You chuckled and then both of you calmed down again and went back into Avengers mode. “Check every backpack you find on the way, Bucky. They might need what’s in there,” you told him, knowing there might be tech, textiles and other things in them. They were everywhere on the side of the streets and in house entrances. By the dawn both of you finally reach the settlement, visible from afar by the guard towers and big gates they made with trucks and billboards. You saw them aim at both of you for a while before you heard someone yell and the weapons went down. “He yelled to get their boss.” Bucky translated next to you. “Thanks, super hearing dork.” You nudged him and had an arm on the small of your back a second later. “Probably a vet. I bet on it.” He looked down at you, feeling oddly protective towards you because of a possibly very stressed out military man. “He’ll have to follow my lead tho. It’s my specialty to unapocalypse.” You heard him chuckle as a few guards came towards you. “So good to see you, Agent. Hello, Mr. Barnes.” A young man welcomed you. “We’re glad we finally found you.” You smiled at them and scanned their equipment for a second. “Our Captain will be glad to finally see you too.” A girl smiled and nudged her head towards the gate. “A Captain, not bad.” Bucky nudged you as you walked in. “Probably the only reason this is still holding up. Let’s be honest, Buck,” you said looking around while walking into the library part of the building. What was a museum before was now used as a home. The bookshelves were freed from their glass casing. There were beds all around and a corner with food and water. “It’s probably nice to have all these books to distract you. Especially for the children,” you mumbled before a big door opened.

A big bulky man came through the door, not as scary as Bucky could look, but intimidating enough to keep this place together, you assumed. “Agent! Sergeant! Richard Davis. Nice to finally see you. What took so long?” He laughed and shook hands with both of you. “Stark didn’t let us out of his bunker until it was safe enough and some idiots were guarding the place our safe house was in. How’s it going here and where do you need the most help?” He chuckled, “That list is long. I did as much as possible with my Air Force and Agent background to train the men and women around here, but it’s only enough to defend this place and get the occasional food. We need as many buildings as possible around here cleared to have more supplies to make this a self-sufficient little tribe. We thankfully have the doctor's office across the street occupied but we need more stuff to make this a solid foundation. The school around the corner on 35th is still full of Vulture idiots. Could you clear that up? Would definitely earn complete trust from the skeptics here.” He looked around in the room. “With a bit of ammo and help from a few of your people, we can do that in about...30 minutes.” You looked up from your watch and saw a surprised but happy face. “I’ll get my men ready. Patricia? Show them where they can find ammo and other weapons.”

About 45 minutes later you were surrounding the school, EADA scanning the surroundings for anyone and anything. “You all stay back and let us do the main work, understood?” You looked back at the amateur shooters. “Yes, Agent.” One of them whispered. “Bucky?” You looked over and he looked up, “Go.” He took down two men with silenced guns, then gave another one a knife and kicked the fourth one into the next bush. It was magnificent to watch him do all of this with no sound coming from him. “That’s not a Sergeant. That’s a General, my dear.” Captain Davis watched the almost beautiful choreography of kills in front of him. “He’s something, isn’t he?” You grinned before getting up and following Bucky through the door he had opened up. “Getting the hallway safe, then you can do the rooms with your shotguns. Be safe,” you whispered into the earpiece. “Got it.”

Reblog if you liked this (or Alpine will haunt you!)

[in-the-business-of-souls]

Alright I guess i’m finally in a place to rehash this (under the influence).

Trigger warnings: Death, Veterinary malpractice

So on October 13, my childhood cat of 14 years died. The same day I got an application for a kennel tech job at the (emergency only) vet we took her to, and got the job a few days later. The kennel was kinda a dream, the other techs played the same music i liked, liked animals, etc. Then I met a few week old black kitten they found by a dumpster m. they had named him dracula, so i changed it to centipede. I immediately put a hold on him and payed in full to adopt him. $150 total, included a neuter, and all of his kitten shots. I took him home at six weeks instead of 8, mostly because the area they were keeping him in was a tiny metal cage in the hospital, so constant beeping and animals crying. He was found alone, and at the time I didn’t really know they needed to be bottlefed until 8 weeks. the Clinic put him on wet at four weeks??? So he turned six weeks on a tuesday, and i took him home that night. He was super curious, climbing up and down everything, running around, getting into shit, crawling all over me, anything you could think of. He was an absolute nightmare, always trying to bite you. I loved him with everything in me. So he got all his shots, and then they told me it was ok to neuter him at 4 months. On February 4, 2022, he was due to be neutered. I got diagnosed with covid a few days prior, so I couldn’t be there for his neuter. I was exhausted, so I woke up, gave him the medicine they prescribed to calm him down, and put him in the crate and outside my door for my mother to take yim. I still regret not holding him and saying goodbye while he could hear it. about an hour later my mom rushed into my room, and hands me her phone, saying “centipedes heart stopped.” I took the phone, and this is exactly what the veterinarian responsible said to me: “Centipedes heart stopped, we’ve been doing cpr for ten minutes, we can do it for 15 but it’s statistically unlikely he will come back and we need your consent to stop.” I just kind of went “oh my god i guess” and he goes “i’m sorry” and ovbiously i was in shock, so I didn’t respond right away. he hung up. So i had to hyperventilate for ten minutes screaming oh my god at the top of my lungs, and then call the fucking place back. I told them I wanted to fucking see him before they ship him off to be cremated. They say of course, and I get ready to go. once again i have covid, so i can’t go inside. The intern brings him out to me. One thing about this clinic, is that they have a special store of really nice clean donated blankets and such they put deceased animals in for the owners to say goodbye to. they brought him out in a nasty kennel towel and shitty little matted felt bed. I wanted his fur and whiskers, and i had trouble getting some because i was shaking so bad, so the intern twisted his neck to get some. I didn’t say anything because i was in shock, and i barely got to hold him before she took him baxk. When i got back on the phone with Dr Williamson, the man who overdosed his anesthesia, he said that centipede “probably had a heart defect”. I said no, Prove it. He said “I guess you can get a necropsy done” and centipede was shipped to UGA to be cut open and dig around in. Of course, the results came back that nothing was wrong with him. Just detailed the after effects of the cpr they did on him. I put in my two weeks immediately, and took off. The day after he died, my mom took me to the Cumming petsmart FCR adoption event. (I called the doctor and asked if i could be in public yet). That’s when I saw a tiny little black cotton ball kitten on the top row of cages lined up hoarder style. I almost left without him, but then my mom reminded me this was my only chance to get him. So i ran back in, and adopted a kitten born November 13, 2021. exactly one month after centipede. I named him hoss, and decided i was only taking him to Dr Globerman. She is a highly skilled cat specific veterinarian, and I trust her with any cat. She mentioned raising kittens in two is the proper way to raise them, and asked if we could find a littermate.(part 1)

[dailyarcticvaporeon]

Just an update on what’s going on with my ask blogs!

Personal stuff:

I recently graduated high school at the end of May. I’ve been going to a technical college to become a Vet Tech. I go weekdays from 8 to 12, which I wake up at 6 to get there on time. I am a night owl, I love to be awake at night. It’s been hard for me to wake up early. 

I’ve always have had trouble with fatigue. After going to a new doctor she’s put me on B12. I am taking supplements and go in to get shots. It helped a ton at first, but now it feels like I’m even more tired. Being a Vet Tech means being on your feet all day, which I’m 100% not used to. I went from sitting all day to trying to stand all day.

Now I either go to class or to a clinic to help out. I also work every Tuesday. Then I take care of whatever my mom or dad need me to. They have been gone off and on for three weeks. We have three dogs, one cat, six fish, and eight chickens. We also live in a decently large house. I have to wake up and let the dogs out, let them back in and prepare their food (three different kinds of food and wet food), get them back into their kennels, prepare the cats food (kibble and wet), feed fish, and then while everybody inside is eating and calm I go into the garage and grab the water bucket, back inside I fill it up, grab any left over food, their food, and a snack for them. Then I walk around the house carrying bags and two buckets to the chicken coop. I empty their old water and then refill it and then scatter food for them. After all that, its usually 6:30 and I finally get to sit down and eat. I do my hair, get dressed, and pack up my bag. I leave at 7:30 to get to class. In class I either am on my feet helping people restrain or enjoying time with puppies, dogs, cats, and different kinds of reptiles. Restraining a large dog can be really hard, even if they’re the sweetest. 

It may not seem like a lot to some of you who do a lot more, but this is my personal experience. I even have time in the afternoon to do whatever I want. I have a lot of choices to do in the afternoon; Skyrim, Splatoon, Pokémon games, Animal Crossing Games, sketching, drawing, coloring traditionally, coloring and lining digitally, study for my final, play Minecraft on the mac, play flight rising, play spore, sims 4, niche, and that’s a lot. That’s not even my excuse, my excuse is that I’ve fallen back into the haze of depression. I’d rather sleep than do any of the above. Laying in a comfy bed resting my body. I try hard not to sleep during the day so I can sleep at night, and lately I’ve been napping and then passing out at 10 until waking up for school. So I’ve been extremely tired, so I’ve had a hard time regularly drawing like a used to. 

Now to more interesting part:

I don’t even want to call this a hiatus, because I’m not taking a conscious break. I need more asks to motivate me to keep updated, so please don’t be afraid to ask my characters or even me! I’d love to make some deeper friendships! 

[jaemtens]

Rescue (Chapter 4)

seventeen | junhao | side meanie / vernkwan | chapter 4 of 10 | 15.5k

tumblr links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 ao3 links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

written with @bulletproof-bad-wolf | updates every saturday morning

summary:  When Soonyoung finally “agrees” to let Junhui get a dog for their apartment, he realizes that he needed something a little bit more than a puppy. Enter Minghao, the bona fide Bad Boy™ with tattoos and piercings. Oh, and he doodles puppies and kittens in their Probability and Confirmation class.

chapter 4: minghao

Minghao stood impatiently in front of their slow-ass printer, waiting for the old piece-of-shit to spit out the 13 sheets of paper comprising Jun’s contract into his hands. It said it was still processing the data from the computer, whatever that meant.

It was stupid. He was stupid. He knew how to work the goddamn computer, he had done it a million times. Yeah, yeah, Dokyeom was usually the one to process adoptions, but it wasn’t like Minghao had never worked the computer before. How many dogs had he adopted out? At least a few dozen. And yet he couldn’t work the computer. It wasn’t like he really needed Dino’s help for anything, considering he had done all of their jobs without Dino for the longest time. Hell, he trained Dino how to use the computer, how to keep everything organized on their spreadsheets. He was off his game, and he knew exactly why.

The first piece of paper finally started feeding out of the printer, the pleasingly-warm paper falling limply into his waiting hand.

It was fucking Wen Junhui. Again.

He wished he was fucking Wen Junhui.

Fuck! No, he didn’t really mean that. Sure, Jun was tall and handsome and cute and caring and thoughtful and just about every other synonym in the thesaurus for “boyfriend.” But that didn’t mean that he wanted to do anything with him, and certainly that he didn’t want to be his boyfriend. He was over him. He had told himself to get over Junhui, and goddamnit it was going great until Junhui just had to walk into the shelter again with his tall-slash-cute-slash-caring-slash-thoughtful self. Why did Junhui have to care about him? Why couldn’t he just move on and let MInghao sort out his one and only problem.

Okay, that was a lie. It wasn’t just Junhui. It was Soonyoung too.

Minghao looked down: page 6/13. Shit, can’t this thing just, like, not be a piece of shit?

God, fuck Soonyoung.

Minghao could feel his blood starting to boil just thinking about his classmate. Soonyoung seemed okay enough when he met him at the dance studio -- they would, like, nod to each other, which is more acknowledgement than Minghao bothered with for most people. He was a good dancer, he gathered; Soonyoung had a mind for picking up choreos fast. But all of that mutual okay-ness disappeared the second Soonyoung ruined the only good thing in his life right now, Junhui.

He knew it the second they walked in together: Junhui and Soonyoung were dating. There was no other viable explanation. Who the hell else do you bring along to adopt a dog with? Your parents, maybe -- if you’re 5. But if you’re 20? Your significant other, of course. He could tell that they were perfectly domestic, Soonyoung playing along with what Junhui wanted, which apparently was the cute Dachshund puppy that they rescued a few weeks ago. All they needed was the 2.5 kids in a few years and they’d be the ideal gay family.

Things like this didn’t usually bother Minghao. He didn’t care when Mingyu and Wonwoo practically made out in class with their stupid heart-eyes. But this was different -- because it involved Junhui.

To be perfectly honest, he was crushed when he saw Soonyoung walk in with Junhui, when it dawned on him what they were, what he would never be. Even now, he had this leftover sinking feeling knotted up in his stomach, like he was nauseous and lightheaded at the same time. Rationally, he knew it wasn’t Soonyoung’s fault, but he couldn’t help but get angry at Soonyoung for having the one thing that he wanted more than anything else right now. He wanted to be angry at Junhui. Why did he have to lead him on by being a good person when nobody else would? He wanted to be angry at him so badly, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. Even knowing that his snowball’s-chance-in-hell had been snuffed out by the existence of Soonyoung, even knowing that Junhui was probably never interested in him to begin with, even knowing that he would never, ever be good enough for an angel like Junhui, Minghao still fucking stuttered when Junhui asked him if he was okay.

He doesn’t stutter! He doesn’t stutter, period. That’s right, Xu Minghao lives a life of conviction, of no (outward) regrets, of not stuttering.

Minghao groaned out loud. Why did he even care anymore?

“Um, Minghao,” Dino shouted from the front, “are those papers done printing yet?”

Shit. Minghao looked down, seeing his hand holding all 13 pages of Junhui’s contract to adopt his new puppy. He grabbed the contract, exited the lounge, and went back to the front desk where Dino seemed to be chatting up a storm with Junhui about puppies and training and probably a million other things. Dino probably had talked to Junhui more in the past five minutes than Minghao had talked to Junhui in the past five weeks.

“Sorry, paper jam,” he lied.

Dino sighed. “We really need to convince Dokyeom to buy the shelter a new printer.”

“Dokyeom?” Junhui asked.

Minghao tried to ignore them, instead scanning through the contract and marking all the places where Junhui had to sign.

“Yeah, Dokyeom. He’s the shelter’s administrator and vet tech, he basically runs the place. Ordinarily he’d walk you through this, but he’s out sick today. Which is why you’re stuck with me and Mopey.”

Minghao shot Dino a Look while Junhui just giggled. Why was Junhui’s giggling so goddamn adorable, shit.

“Luckily, Dokyeom looked… Lilli?”

“Lilli,” Junhui affirmed. Lilli… what a cute name, Minghao thought.

“Lilli over for any medical problems yesterday,” Dino continued. “And, good news! She’s a perfectly healthy eight-month-old dachshund puppy. Cuteness very much included.”

“Did you hear that Soonyoung?” Junhui mused. Minghao perked up at the mention of Soonyoung and saw Junhui looking back over at his boyfriend. “Cuteness is included!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Soonyoung dismissively muttered, going back to texting on his phone. What an asshole.

“Don’t mind him,” Junhui explained, “it took me weeks to get him to agree to this.”

“‘Agree’ is a strong word,” Soonyoung interjected. “Coerce is more accurate.”

“Oh shut up.”

“Bullied?”

“Ahem,” Minghao interrupted. Dino seemed like he was enjoying the back-and-forth between Junhui and his… his boyfriend; he had his signature toothy smile. But all Minghao wanted was it for to stop, to get this all over with. It worked -- all eyes were on him, including Junhui’s discerning-yet-soft dark brown orbs.

“So, I’ve finished preparing your contract,” he started, turning the stack of papers around to Junhui. “Once you sign, she’s all yours, conditional on the short meet-and-greet going well. I’ll walk you through the contract now.”

Junhui looked up from the first page and nodded, a slight smile creeping across his face.

“Do you have a pen?”

“Y-yeah,” Minghao replied, his voice cracking ever-so-slightly. He was sure Dino -- and Junhui -- caught it because they both made a face. Shit.

“Here,” he spat out, taking extra care to get all of that out without sounding like a prepubescent boy standing in front of his crush. Goddamnit, he was a post-pubescent boy!

“The first page outlines the adoption fee. Because of a recent generous donation from a member of the community, all adoption fees have been waived for a few months. However, if you decide to bring her back for whatever reason, we will have to charge a $100 re-housing fee. Sign at the bottom.

“The second page says that, in the event that you can no longer take care of her, you will bring her back to us instead of leaving her on the street. At the very least if you’re going to break her heart, leave her in a good place.”

Minghao felt Dino punch him on the shoulder, making a confused face that was no doubt asking why the hell did you say that? Honestly, he wasn’t sure what made him say it; he just felt like he had to. Deep down, underneath all of the crushing-on-Junhui feelings that definitely did not just make his voice crack a minute ago, he felt bitter. A disgusting kind of bitter that came in waves, crashing into his psyche and making him nauseous just thinking about how Junhui was never going to be his.

Shit, Jun was staring at him.

“Uh, okay, so you signed that page. The next three pages say that, in the event of a health emergency, you will seek immediate medical care for the puppy. In addition, you promise to schedule regular vet appointments. Sign at the bottom of page six.

“Finally, the last seven pages are just some pointers about training puppies. We make you sign to acknowledge that you’ve read those parts of the contract, but you can read it later if you want.”

“It’s really a good idea to read them!” Dino piped up. “They have some good advice about breaking bad habits, building good ones, potty training, and so on.”

“Oh, cool~” Junhui sing-songed, signing the last empty space and looking up at Dino with an eye smile. Minghao just watched as Dino smiled back -- God, why does Literally Anyone Else have a more functional relationship with Junhui than him? Why is he such a loser?

“You can also have all…” Dino started, pulling out a few brochures they had behind the desk, “...of these!”

Junhui seemed a bit overwhelmed -- Dino gave him, like, seven mini-booklets on everything from grooming to puppy exercise to dog-proofing your rooms. It was undeniably cute, Junhui kinda internally freaking out about what he was getting into.

“It’s okay, I’m sure you’ll do great,” Minghao softly added.

Dino immediately gave him another look, this one also saying why the hell did you say that? Minghao was more focused on Junhui, though, who looked at him, then down and away, a light shade of pink creeping across his cheeks. Was he blushing?

“Um, I’ll go grab the puppy. Dino, do you want to make copies of the contract for Junhui?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Dino awkwardly responded, but Minghao was already halfway to where they kept the dogs.

Once Minghao knew he was alone, he let out a long sigh, trying to exhale all of the stupid feelings that were bubbling up randomly over the past fifteen minutes. It was stupid, how was he this dysfunctional around Junhui? Why couldn’t he just keep it together? One minute he was upset, loathing himself for not being good enough, hating Junhui for being too good for him; the next minute he was back in love, fawning over every cute thing about Junhui -- why couldn’t his brain just pick one!?

Why couldn’t he just hate Junhui like he was supposed to now?

His feet had stopped on their own in front of the eight-month old dachshund’s pen. No, that wasn’t a euphemism, too. The same anonymous benefactor who helped them waive adoption fees for several months also donated enough to renovate their pet enclosures, making them slightly larger and friendlier. Sure, it was still a kennel in the strictest sense of the word, but each pup had at least double the amount of space that they used to have, soft beds to sleep on, a few toys to gnaw on. It was still shelter life, but it was better than most.

The puppy he was here for seemed excited to see him. She had only recently been picked up by their shelter, and, like any puppy, she was quickly adopted by none other than Wen Junhui. She still had that puppy innocence when she came in, and Minghao tried his best to keep it alive, even though he knew shelter life was hard. It’s hard to go from having something to having nothing. Luckily for this puppy, her tail wagging with excitement and her big eyes staring at Minghao expectantly, everything was about to get a lot better. She was about to get rescued, a word they reserved for when the deal was done, for when their cats and dogs finally found a home.

Minghao didn’t even bother unpinning the gate to the puppy’s enclosure, instead leaning over and scooping her up. He also reached over toward her bed and grabbed what he assumed was her favorite toy (it was the most chewed-up one at the very least). It was shaped like a dog, fluffy, and covered in dried-up dog slobber. She was secure in his arms, but she kept wiggling, trying to get an angle at Minghao’s face to attack him -- with her tongue.

He walked back to the front, and he watched as Junhui’s eyes lit up with excitement and wonder. God, his heart ached thinking about how much he wanted that look to be for him. He circled the front desk and put the puppy down near Junhui. She was excitable, quickly scampering over toward Junhui with her short legs and sausage-like body. Junhui crouched down to her level and immediately picked her up, giving her pets all over while trying to avoid her tongue-attacks at his own face.

“Hi Lilli!” Junhui exclaimed, his voice an octave higher -- you know, the puppy voice that everyone has. Junhui’s was absolutely adorable.

“I have a treat for you, Lilli,” he added, fishing into his pocket and pulling out a small plastic bag with a few bone-shaped goodies in it.

“Did you bring food for everyone this morning?” Soonyoung asked. Minghao hadn’t noticed, but apparently Soonyoung was suddenly interested in what was happening, hovering near Junhui and the puppy.

“Sorry, Soonyoung, you’re not special,” Junhui clapped back, the rest of his attention devoted to Lilli.

“Guess I’ll need to find a new cuddling partner,” the shorter boy deadpanned. Junhui rolled his eyes.

Damn. That one hurt. Minghao felt his heart sink.

“You can play with the toys if you want!” Dino interrupted from behind, holding both copies of the contract.

“Okay!” Junhui, Soonyoung, and Lilli all moved to the opposite end of the room where all the toys and couches were, leaving Dino and Minghao at the front desk alone.

“What’s this?” Dino asked, setting the contract down and picking up the dog plush Minghao had picked up from the puppy’s -- Lilli’s -- old pen.

“Her favorite toy,” Minghao dryly responded. He didn’t want to care about what happened anymore.

“Are you okay?” Dino asked. He must have picked up on it, but Minghao wasn’t having any of it. Not even Dino’s worried expression, not even Dino, his closest friend, could break him right now.

“Fine,” he muttered. Minghao took off his leather jacket; it was suddenly hot, and he couldn’t stand it.

He and Dino sat there in silence, watching Junhui play fetch with Lilli. She looked so happy, so full of life -- it was probably the happiest Minghao had seen her, ever. He was happy for her, even through all the bitterness.

Junhui looked happy, too.

God, he’s so cute.

“What?”

Minghao looked over at Dino, who suddenly looked amused.

“Hmm?”

“You just said something.”

He looked back with a confused look. What was he talking about?

“He’s so cute,” Dino parroted. “Did you mean she?”

Shit. That wasn’t just a thought? He actually said it? And Dino heard it? Shit shit shit.

“U-um, yeah,” he sheepishly croaked out, it sounding more like a question than an answer. Dino’s eyes sparkled knowingly, like he could read right through his half-assed response. Luckily they were out of earshot of Junhui, who was too busy playing with Lilli to notice anything.

“You like Junhui, don’t you?” Dino whispered. Minghao had half a mind to smack that smirk off his face.

“No,” he flatly denied.

“Don’t lie to me, Hao-hao. You can’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Yes, you are!” Dino whisper-shouted, his smirk getting even more smackable.

“And how do you know that.”

“Because you’re trying your best not to show any emotion, Hao-hao.”

“Or maybe I don’t feel anything.”

“If it wasn’t true, you’d have said something snarky and mean by now.”

“Do you want me be snarky and mean?”

“And you’re trying to deflect, too.”

“Or maybe it’s just not true, and I’m telling you it’s not true, and pretty soon my hand will be telling your face that it’s not true.”

“You wouldn’t hit me!”

“Oh? You think so?”

“Maybe I’ll just tell Junhui that you like him…” Dino mused, glancing over at Junhui and Lilli.

“Do that and you die,” Minghao darkly warned, his voice barely audible.

“So you do like Junhui!”

“Enough,” Minghao warned again. He clenched his fist. Don’t push it, Dino.

“I have to tell him because you never will~”

“Enough!” Minghao shouted, slamming his fist down on the desk. “Stop pretending that you know me! Stop pretending that you know anything about me, that you know anything about what it’s like to be me, that you know anything about what I’m feeling! You don’t know anything, Dino. You’re a kid, you have no fucking clue what you’re talking about. You think this is fun, and it’s not! You’re a pain in the ass, and you need to shut the fuck up.”

By the time Minghao had finished his tirade, Dino looked hurt. Beyond hurt. He looked like he was about to cry. Minghao didn’t care -- the punk deserved it.

“I -- I’m sorr--”

“I don’t care,” Minghao interrupted. “I’m leaving.”

With that, Minghao aggressively leapt out of his chair and stormed out the back, stomping through the lounge to the back exit.

*

This was the second time in a month that Minghao ended up at this spot.

He was cold -- fucking cold. He left his jacket at the shelter, leaving him in nothing but a tank top, his arms bare and cold air creeping along his chest and back. It wasn’t raining, and that was probably the only good thing that happened today. Yup, that’s right: the only good thing that happened today is that the weather wasn’t even shittier than it already was. His head was pounding; he wanted to think about anything other than Dino and Junhui and Soonyoung and his shitty life.

Minghao was sitting against one of the brick buildings at the street corner where he used to perform. Yeah, that street corner that was right next to the convenience store. Back during his street-performer days, this was his spot, or, more accurately, His Spot. He basically owned it. This is where he learned his dancing skills, where he learned to B-boy just about anything his body could handle. He used to make good money, too. He was so good that the police didn’t even bother to kick him out; he was part of the area, an attraction for tourists to gawk at.

He didn’t perform alone. Minghao had a partner, a boy with long-ish blonde hair who would sing at the same spot. He was fiercely territorial about His Spot, but this boy was so good that Minghao couldn’t pass up the extra money that he earned by teaming up with him. It seemed like ages ago; he hadn’t seen Jeonghan in two years.

“Minghao?”

Fuck.

“Is that really you?”

Minghao looked up. It really was him; even after all this time, he instantly recognized him, his voice. His hair was shorter and black now, but the soulful eyes that Jeonghan had were still the same. Minghao didn’t bother with a response, he didn’t even know where to begin.

“What are you doing out here? Especially wearing only that?” Minghao could hear the disdain about the tank top seeping through his tone.

“Why does it matter to you?”

Jeonghan sighed. He unzipped his jacket, shedding the bulky layer off his frame and placing the jacket on Minghao’s shoulders. He wanted to protest, but Jeonghan had already sat down next to him, and his jacket was so warm.

“I see you got a new tattoo,” Jeonghan commented. “An infinity symbol? On your back? I could see it underneath your tank top,” he added.

Minghao rolled his eyes. “Why does it matter to you?” he repeated.

“It matters to me because you matter to me, Minghao.”

“Didn’t matter to you two years ago.”

Jeonghan didn’t respond immediately; he was right next to him, he wasn’t moving, but he also wasn’t saying anything.

“What happened, Minghao?”

“Nothing.”

“C’mon, Hao.”

No, he wasn’t going to tell him.

“Look,” Minghao started, looking over at Jeonghan. “You don’t really care, you didn’t really care, stop pretending that you care because I don’t care, and please just leave it alone.”

This time Jeonghan let the silence awkwardly settle between them for a few minutes. Jeonghan was always careful with his words. Minghao considered leaving, but didn’t know where he would go -- certainly not back to the shelter. He looked back down at the cement underneath him.

“Minghao, I do care. I’ve always cared. Do you know how I found you here?”

He shook his head in response. Minghao was sulking, but he didn’t care.

“Hao, I’ve come here every week for the past two years. Looking for you. I was so worried when you disappeared, when you stopped showing up. I know you were, and probably still are, upset at me about signing to that label. I pushed so hard for them to sign you too. They wouldn’t budge, and, honestly Hao? I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, despite how much I cared about you. It was my dream, and I thought you’d support me and I’d support you. It hurt when you pushed me away instead of talking to me about it. And--”

“--What was I supposed to tell you, Jeonghan? That I loved you?”

Minghao was seething, upset, bitter, confused, all of the above, a cornucopia of emotions. It was two years ago; he had gotten over it a long time ago, but it felt so raw right now. Especially with what was happening with Junhui. He could feel his voice breaking, his eyes glossing up with tears.

“And now I’ve gone and done it again and fallen in love with someone else who I can’t tell.”

Minghao looked over at Jeonghan again. Jeonghan didn’t look shocked. He just looked… like he knew. Like he had figured out what had happened after all these years.

“Hao, why don’t you come over tonight? You don’t have to say anything -- or you can say everything -- but I can’t let you stay out here by yourself. Especially in the cold.”

He wanted to say no. But when the first tear started rolling down his cheek, Jeonghan scooted closer to him, pulling Minghao toward him for a side-hug. He was really trying to fight the tears, but being here with Jeonghan made him feel so weak. Jeonghan didn’t say anything; he just let Minghao get his tears out, rubbing his shoulder while Minghao choked out muffled sobs.

A few minutes after Minghao managed to pull it together a little, Jeonghan helped him up.

“Come on, let’s go.”

Minghao didn’t protest.

[scdojo]

herO, the evolution of Adept / Phoenix Transitions, and the difference between GuMiho and aLive.

At IEM Katowice I was pretty outspoken about the need for Protoss players to transition out of Adept/Phoenix play in PvT as the game became longer. herO's play in the group stage was a great example of the limitations of the Adept/Phoenix composition. In many of his games he would have what amounted to a decent lead and eventually get grinded down by remaining on the early/mid game composition for too long.

Some Protosses, most notably Stats, were attempting to transition out of Adept/Phoenix, but that transition was not yet fully vetted. In both games during which he opened with Adept/Phoenix strategies against TY in the finals of Katowice, Stats attempted to transition out. In both of these games (game 2 on Proxima Station and game 3 on Abyssal Reef), Stats followed up the opening with Blink and Psi Storm, and in both of these games TY defeated him. Stats hung up the strategy for the rest of the tournament, as TY was clearly more prepared for these situations than he was.

2 Weeks Later...

IEM Katowice ended on March 5th. Let's fast forward almost 2 weeks later to March 18th. On this day, herO and Stats both showed identical transitions from the strong Adept/Phoenix early/mid game into a full blown, teched out late game.

herO vs Bunny @ Abyssal Reef - SHOUTcraft Kings March - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aADlJZtuA5o&feature=youtu.be&t=612

Stats vs Ryung @ Abyssal Reef - GSL Code S ro4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDaXcaURBZA&feature=youtu.be&t=730

Stats vs Ryung @ Cactus Valley - GSL Code S ro4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDaXcaURBZA&feature=youtu.be&t=3322

Here is a brief outline of their important changes to the transition of Adept/Phoenix into the late game:(please note that for these rules to hold, Terran should have taken a 3rd base and not taken or inflicted critical damage, i.e, a "normal" game)

- The transition happens in the area of 70-80 Army Supply for Protoss (40ish on ground units - mostly Adepts, 20ish on Mothership Core / Oracle / 7-8 Phoenix / Prism). Around this time the game is shifting. Either you have done enough damage that Terran is scrambling, or Terran is turtling well enough on 3 bases that you will get diminished returns upon any further attacks.

- The transition itself is into a 2nd Robotics, Colossus Tech, and THEN a 4th base. The second Forge and Blink can come around this time as well.

3 Weeks Later...

Now, strategies do not stop evolving in a game like StarCraft 2. As shown above, Adept / Phoenix went from no transitions / bad transitions into a highly regular and strong follow-up strategy in under 2 weeks time. Protoss vs Terran and Terran vs Protoss are, of course, still evolving. Certain base concepts of RTS will always apply, and as people use them in different ways or with different emphasis-es the metagame will continue to evolve.

Let's fast forward again, from March 18th, where a completely solid transition was showcased for Phoenix Adept, to almost 3 weeks later during GSL Super Tournament. As you probably already know, herO won this tournament, mostly on the back of his outrageously strong PvT. The two matches that I want to talk about are the ones which he had in the ro8 and Finals, against GuMiho and aLive, respectively. 

herO's Adept / Phoenix vs GuMiho - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhTGuHQGdto

Overall Score: 1-1

GuMiho's loss on Newkirk Precinct:

In this game, and overall in the series, GuMiho plays against herO's strong Pylon rush opener. Instead of the popular Gas before Barracks which is used to get your Factory and Reactor out right after your Reaper, GuMiho instead goes for a Barracks first. With this he skips the Reactor for a little bit and instead makes 3 Marines immediately, which do a fantastic job of shutting down the aggression.

GuMiho uses a "GuMiho moveout", as I call it in my head. He, like many other Terrans, will move out with a couple of Medivacs, some Marines, and 2-3 Widow Mines. Unlike many other Terrans, he won't engage with it. A key to understanding Adept/Phoenix is to understand that they WANT this fight. Adept/Phoenix is strong in small skirmishes, and especially strong against Marines. The lower the supplies, the stronger Adept/Phoenix becomes. GuMiho will not give you this fight. He will pretend that he is going to, often times baiting out an Overcharge. Then he will retreat over his Widow Mines, hoping that you will chase and lose a couple Phoenixes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The most important thing is that he makes it back home, not having donated his units towards a Protoss victory. Screen Shot below.

Behind this, GuMiho is just massing up on 2 bases. The push distance on Newkirk Precinct between GuMiho's natural and herO's 3rd is very short, which makes this a strong choice of strategy for the map. He is making sure to make Liberators, Marauders and Widow Mines. His push will begin around 110 Army Supply. The 110-130 Terran Army Supply range, generally speaking, is where Adept/Phoenix will start to deteriorate in value. Remember, Adepts are like Roaches. They can be scary, but the higher your supply, the less you have to worry about them. Here is a screen shot of the armies as GuMiho starts his push.

Now, I need to mention about herO's lack of transition here. GuMiho has forced this. As I mentioned above when talking about the transition into Colossus tech, it is used when Terran has 3 bases and has basically shut down harassment. In this game, GuMiho has remained on 2 bases, has lost very little so far, and feigned pressure multiple times. herO has been forced to remain on Adept/Phoenix. GuMiho would have some serious kill potential if he tried to skimp on units at any time in this game so far.

GuMiho sets up a pretty awesome looking push:

herO begins to push it back:

herO continues to chase but GuMiho rallies in and turns any time he feels advantaged (getting most units out of range of Adepts, over mines, etc.)

This approach from GuMiho is really quite brilliant. While he does eventually lose the game, he comes very close to defeating herO, and perhaps with a few different moves a bit later, does.

And just to cut off anyone who wants to say "oh, yeah, see! GuMiho played so awesomely and in a way you say is strategically sound, and Adept/Phoenix still beat him!" , I have this to say:GuMiho is a great player, but being upset that herO beat him with Adept/Phoenix is like being upset that Maru beat Trap with Marine/Marauder.

GuMiho's win on Echo:

GuMiho again, as he did on Newkirk Precinct, opens with Barracks - Gas, making sure to minimize damage from any Pylon rushes.

GuMiho again uses the "GuMiho moveout".

herO tagged the army in their encounter on Newkirk Precinct when the Mines were with it. This time GuMiho kept them behind and pre-burrowed:

He then waited around a bit longer and successfully baited herO into them. Remember, Protoss WANTS to fight right now. GuMiho uses this want against him.

Now even though these first two moves I bring up are similar to the other Adept / Phoenix game, the overall strategies of both players have changed. GuMiho decided to take a much faster 3rd CC, and herO had also taken a faster 3rd Nexus -- right after his Oracle, before adding additional Gateways. herO also grabbed an early Prism this game, and decided to try to kill GuMiho outright. GuMiho sat back defending, sending only a single Medivac onto the map to drop Mines while he was being harassed by the Phoenixes at his main base.

Now herO, taking a 4th base, is trying to kill a turtling GuMiho, who is taking a 3rd base.

What is wrong with this picture for Protoss? He has shaded in to a nice GuMiho arc. Many of his Adepts are not firing. Also, GuMiho has not actually lost basically any units this game. There is no real reason why a defensive GuMiho should die to herO's attack. What is herO trying to achieve? Even if he pushes the army to retreat, what is gained? There are no SCVs at the 3rd base yet, the best he can do is trade some units for units. Now, to be fair, he's lost some Probes to the Mine drop, and his initial Prism didn't work out. He could feel like he needs to take some risks to even up the game, which is reasonable. Still,  GuMiho defends this push very well, targeting down as many Phoenixes as possible.

After defending the a bit longer, GuMiho, not having sent countless drops out to their own doom, not having wasted units in skirmishes that the Adept/Phoenix player wants to take, moves out once again around 110 supply.

This push rolls through herO. There are lots of different reasons that herO may have chosen to play extra aggressively on this map, and just because he lost doesn't necessarily mean that he was wrong in doing so. StarCraft is complicated like that. This game, though, is a perfect example of the need for Phoenix/Adept players to transition vs a well defended 3 base Terran who knows what he's doing.

herO's Adept / Phoenix vs aLive - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds6ymGrIMMQ

Overall Score: 3-1

herO went 1-1 vs GuMiho with Adept/Phoenix play, and could have easily gone 0-2. So why, against a better Terran player in aLive, did he go 3-1? Let's take a look at the causes of aLive's losses.

aLive's loss on Echo:

aLive uses a different opening on Echo from anything we normally see in TvP right now. He opens with a Barracks first and skips making a Reaper, or any units. Instead he gets a fast Reactor while expanding, followed by a second Barracks and a Factory. This will allow aLive to have a much higher Marine count early on than most common builds in the matchup.

Next, at 3:25, aLive scouts a ridiculously fast Nexus. This Nexus is so fast that it's before the Oracle. This fast scout my account for what happens next, but there's no way to tell for sure.

aLive scans and sees a Stargate building an Oracle. It's actually the second Oracle. The first Oracle is almost to his base. He moves out at this point with a sizable Marine force, a Mine and a Medivac.

Of course with no units at home the Oracle flies in and does critical damage.

My guess is that aLive thought with how fast the Nexus was that herO maybe went 3rd base into a Stargate, which would maybe make him think that his scan reveal the first Oracle. Otherwise why would he leave his base completely unguarded vs an incoming Oracle? He just wouldn't.

aLive's push doesn't end up doing any damage. He splits up all of his units and then herO deals with them in two groups instead of fighting against them all at once. If aLive had kept them together its certain he would have at minimum killed the 3rd base. Regardless, he lost 10 SCVs to the first Oracle before 5 minutes into the game and did nothing of note with his initial push. This game isn't as much a loss to Adept / Phoenix as it is a loss to an undefended Oracle. If a Protoss loses 10 Probes to the first Mine Drop, normally it isn't the follow-up kill that gets complained about. It's the Mine Drop.

aLive's loss on Daybreak:

This game opens pretty well for aLive. herO expands quickly and immediately tries harassing with 2 Adepts, and an Oracle. He even brings a Phoenix across to tank Mine hits so the Oracle can get more damage. aLive deflects everything just about as perfectly as you can, taking minimal damage.

The next real action occurs as aLive is moving out. He goes across the map with a similar army to what GuMiho uses in the "GuMiho moveout". 3 Mines, 20 Marines, and 2 Medivacs. He's headed towards the 3rd base. On his way there, herO is harassing with his Phoenixes in aLive's natural. aLive sees this as an opportunity to get into an aggressive position.

herO doesn't see this incoming attack until the last second, but immediately brings all of his units and warps in on location. Note the army supplies right now: 52 vs 53.

Here is the engagement about to happen. Do 3 Mines, 20 Marines and 2 Medivacs beat 15 Adepts and 6 Phoenixes/1 Oracle? Even just comparing the supplies, or the army cost of these two armies... in no world does aLive's army ever win here.

At the pro level, Protoss wins this every single time. This particular time, aLive micros really well and herO is a bit off, even missing a pickup on a Mine. aLive actually ends up sniping off a few Phoenixes that make this fight not as bad as it could have been and often is.

Phoenix / Adept, as I've been saying throughout this article, is very strong in the early and mid game. We are all used to Terran being stronger in small skirmishes at small supplies than Protoss or Zerg, but Phoenix/Adept turns the tables on that. Attacks like this are, in my view, the primary reason that Terrans have a hard time against Adept/Phoenix.

This next drop happens right as aLive's previous attack was being cleaned up. 7 Marines, 2 Mines and 2 Medivacs are sent into herO's natural. I really like the fundamentals that aLive is showing here.

First, herO's Phoenixes are in aLive's natural, so aLive hits the 3rd. Then as all those units are getting cleaned up, aLive hits herO's natural to do damage while he's out of position. These are the types of moves that make aLive so damn good. This play shows aLive's multi-tasking prowess. I seriously think that the first attack at the 3rd base was a mistake, but based on the fact that he did that attack, this attack is a good idea. (for the record he ends up killing 8 Probes, 1 Oracle, costs a bit of lost mining time and unpowering 4 gates for slightly over the build time of a Pylon.)

OK, so now comes aLive's biggest mistake in this game, and what probably actually ended up costing him the game overall. aLive has traded ARMY for ECONOMY (and some tech units, i.e ~3 Phoenixes and an Oracle). When you trade ARMY for ECONOMY, that means that you now have LESS ARMY and your opponent has LESS ECONOMY. We can reword this to say that your opponent has a SUPERIOR ARMY.

As a StarCraft player, the moments after you trade your ARMY for ECONOMY are the moments during which you are most vulnerable. It inevitably means that your opponent should be looking to use this new ARMY ADVANTAGE. This is when you should be most fearful of a counter attack. herO knows that aLive just spent a lot of units to deal damage to him, but that herO didn't lose very many units at all. So here we have herO gathering his forces to see if he can punish aLive at all.

Here's what aLive is up to:

aLive, again, has a much smaller army. 24 Army Supply down. Not only that, but he has absolutely NO pressure on the map. Maybe if he had a Medivac in herO's main base or something, maybe then herO would be at home trying to clean stuff up. Instead we have aLive doing nothing but expanding after losing lots of units to injure herO's economy. This is the one time you can be certain of an incoming attack.

To aLive's credit, when he sees herO incoming, he wastes no time getting behind his Depot Wall and pulling SCVs to repair. Within seconds, though, aLive loses 15 workers and much of his bio force. aLive's economy advantage turns into a disadvantage, and the army supplies equalize:

This is a good spot for an Adept/Phoenix player. Adept/Phoenix wants to fight at lower supplies against Terran. Bigger economy = more production of Adept/Phoenix = easier to continually trade vs Terran. Continual aggressive trades with Adept/Phoenix is exactly what herO is going for.

The rest of this game is just wild. aLive does a great job fighting against herO, especially as his army becomes more technical. As his Maruader and Mine counts grow, aLive takes better and better fights. The game becomes an extremely down and dirty one, full of multitasking, harassment and micro -- with both players showing a great quality in skill.

aLive's loss on Cactus Valley:

This game starts out very different from the others. herO does a 66% chance of working Proxy Stargate and nails it, being very close to aLive's base. He sends the Mothership Core over and does a Pylon rush while flying in 2 Oracles. While he destroys the front Depots and Reactor, aLive's Reaper actually gets 5-6 Probe Kills over in herO's base.

herO takes a 3rd base while aLive defends his relentless harassment. With 2 Oracles and 3-4 Phoenixes, herO is able to pick off a a few units and SCVs, but then pulls back into a defensive arc around aLive's base, watching for any leaving harassment:

This is a great move to protect his economy back home. aLive has already invested heavily into tech units, so only a technical harassment threatens the almost unit-less (still on one gateway) herO. As herO adds on his tech and aLive becomes a bit too strong to contain so forwardly, herO pulls back into another arc around his home bases.

Now this game, aLive has been very much on top of his defense. He hasn't taken too much damage despite some really flashy harassment from herO. He's also gone up to 5 Barracks without a 3rd CC. The game is looking, strategically, a bit more like GuMiho's play on Newkirk Precinct.

As aLive's complexity grows, he begins to push out a bit and starts his 3rd CC. He is posturing though, and doesn't commit to an actual fight:

When herO scouts that aLive is making a 3rd CC and continues to turtle, giving away no units for free, herO decides to transition from Phoenix / Adept, knowing that the composition is doomed vs such play:

This is a very important moment in understanding the mind of herO while playing Phoenix/Adept. For a long time aLive was just sitting on 2 bases while building his army complexity. That is, for a long time, aLive was playing like GuMiho on Newkirk Precinct. herO was unable to do anything but continue making as strong an army as he could so that he could fight at the moment that aLive would come out. When herO sees that there is, in fact, a 3rd CC on the way, he sees that aLive is not going to be allin when he attacks. Thus, herO must transition. His main goal from here out is to not to fully engage until he has an army complex enough to fight against what aLive is making.

herO (I think accidentally) lets a shade finish at the wall-in, and aLive having a sufficiently large and complex army, in addition to seeing the Adepts close by and without their Shade cooldown active, takes the opportunity to move out. Notice the army supply once again for aLive:

Here is where it gets a bit messy. In this next screen shot, herO has just shaded the rest of his Adepts away, having some shaved off by aLive chasing. herO, knowing that he MUST buy time for this huge investment into Colossus, gathers all of his Phoenix together behind aLive's army which is in the center of the map:

Here is the moment that aLive turned back around to head towards herO again:

If aLive had not turned around, had he ignored the Phoenixes going back towards his base, he would be entering the 3rd base at this moment, with the Colossi half way done, the Phoenixes across the map, and the Adepts in the natural.

Now when aLive gets there, the Colossi are out and the Phoenixes are back. Another Warp-in round is occurring. Most importantly, perhaps, is that herO has jumped up a whole level of complexity. aLive's army right now is perfectly suited to fight against Adept/Phoenix, but has nothing to really deal with the Colossi:

They do a lot of trading in this battle, but aLive does not kill the base. So was chasing the Phoenixes back and regrouping with some important Liberators and Widow Mines a mistake? This is where the complexity of the game makes me uncomfortable in saying a simple "yes".  The further we get into a tight game of StarCraft, the harder it becomes to be critical of some of the more complicated moves the players make. On top of that, we are getting very few games right now that progress so well to this stage.

I do want to say that I think that this game, more than any other, is a testament to herO's skill and adaptability in the matchup and with the strategy in question.

In Closing

I do not think that this article has all the answers or clearly states exactly how you should or should not play against Phoenix / Adept as Terran, or even exactly how to play with Phoenix / Adept from the Protoss side. 

I do however think that this article shows many of the concepts and ideas that are being misunderstood about the Phoenix / Adept matchup against Terran at the moment. I think overall the Protoss side of understanding of this strategy is a bit more advanced than the Terran side currently, but that will swing over time, as it always does. It also seems to me, at least from the many, many games which I watch and study, that Terrans sometimes misunderstand their roll as the defender in early/mid game when playing against the strategy (as throughout the history of SC2, Terran has almost always been the aggressor, this is certainly a strange feeling change for at least some players).

Balance-wise, my gut tells me that this strategy will not prove to be imbalanced as play advances in the coming weeks. I'm fine being wrong with that, but to find out for sure we will need some more time for Terrans to continue to adapt to the strategy. 

As the old quote goes: “If you’re having trouble with the balance of Starcraft, you should first try to bring balance to your own mind.” - Me, in feardragon’s dream.

[glimpse-0f-insanity]

Glimpse-0f-failure

When I was younger I pictured how my life was going to turn out: 1. Go to College 2. Graduate & Go To Vet School 3. Get a Job at a Zoo 4. Get my own place 5. Make a lot of Money 6. Fall in Love 7. Get Married 8. Have two kids My whole life was planned out. But then again I was young, naive, and a dreamer. So when my life started taking some detours I kept on telling myself, it’s just a minor set back. I can get back on track. Well was I wrong. This is how my life actually went. Step 1 & 2 I got accepted to college and it was amazing. I was finally going to be the first person in my family to go to college. I was going to graduate and start my life. I flunked out of college. NEVER had a failed anything in my life. But here I was failing at least one class per semester. Ultimately, sealing my fate and getting the boot. But this also came with a second feeling. It was how my family looked at me. They looked at me with disgust. In their mind they were struggling to pay for my college education and here I was “just having a good time.” They no longer looked at me as a success they looked at me as a joke. This stuck with me until this day making me hate myself. I was stupid. I was a failure. I wasn’t good enough. I was a joke. Step 3 Having never finished I wasn’t able to apply to vet school. And thus never get my dream job. And once I got kicked out of school all the loan companies wanted a lot more money. I had my parents on my case and always making side comments how they put so much money and time into me and how I wasted it all. So that’s when I applied for a job. I went to the interview and waited to hear back from them. Oh, did I hear back they said thanks but no thanks. This sent me more into a depression. How could I not get the job to shovel and clean shit from cats & dogs. A couple months went by and then I got a call it was the place I interviewed at. They wanted to hire me. Needing a job and my parents to get off my case I took it. The job wasn’t hard and the boss liked me. I later found out that they went with someone else for the job and that person ended up being a nightmare so I was hired out of necessity. Big confidence boost for me. I later went through two additional bosses. This new boss was amazing. She knew so much and she was empowering us to do other things. She taught us how to give vaccinations and how to diagnose an animal. It was amazing. Here I am giving vaccines, pulling blood, making medications, diagnosing animals, etc. I’m feeling good. Then my boss comes to me and says that I should become an Animal Control officer because we needed one and she would give me the job. So I go and pay for the class with my own money and then apply for the job. A month later they tell me they went with someone else who had more experience. I was once again crushed. But I told myself it make sense. Then a week later I find out from my boss that they didn’t go with me had nothing to do with experience. Here I was busting my ass. Doing things that weren’t my job. Making sure that everything got done and you tell me this shit. A few months go by and a person gets fired so my boss then hires me for the position once again out of necessity. I once again took the new position because it was more money. Fast forward a little bit and I was yet again having to deal with a new boss. With this new one I was on top of the world. My boss treated me with respect and actually gave a shit about my opinion. I got so many more responsibilities. It was amazing, but as time went on I started seeing my boss start dropping the ball and not being able to actually handle the job and there was always a lie or excuse. So I started hating the job and despising the job. And to put the cherry on top the person who was originally hired first over me was a complete mess. They constantly made mistakes and their judgment calls were borderline dangerous. You went with this person over me! The only thing that made it a bit decent was that I got to work closer with our vet. She taught me so much and let me sit in surgeries. It turned out that at her hospital there was going to be an opening for a vet tech and she asked me if I wanted the job. Of course I said yes. HELLO!!! This would help me get back on track to my original plan. But this isn’t a story of happy endings. This is a story of reality. I walked into the hospital and get introduced to a new employee. No hey we decided to go with someone else, nothing. Step 4 Not going to college and not getting a job I wanted just left me in depressed state of mind. Not to mention my parents constant reminder that I was a failure. I needed something to make my life better. So when my parent’s 2nd floor apartment opened up a lightbulb went off. To make matters better they gave me a discount & utilities included and said they rather have me up their because I wouldn’t trash the apartment and it would be actually less utilities being used in the long run. Well I hopped on that opportunity. After a week living in it my mother just complained and complained. She said that my dogs made to much noise (mind you all they were doing was walking around or chewing on a bone); that my dogs cried & barked too much in the crate (mind you they made exactly the same amount of noise when we lived in the basement); and that I complained too much about broken things (mind you I was telling her what her old tenants broke that need to be replaced); etc. We constantly fight about and she even says that her biggest mistake was giving me the apartment. So instead of this place turning out to be a place where I could be myself and live on my own instead it was just another fight another headache another reason to make me hate myself and depressed. Step 5 So with my new position my pay increased immensely. I doubled my hourly pay. Then on top of that with all the overtime I was working I was basically get paid two salaries. My student loans, credit card bills, rent, internet & cable bills, etc. all of them were nothing. $300 dollars for you $500 for you $900 for you no bid deal. My bills were starting to get smaller and smaller. And now that I just got this apartment renovating and furnishing it would be no biggie. I would be able to do it all. Then once again I got shot down really quick. They cut my overtime almost entirely. So now my credit card bills that I could pay off with one paycheck now needed 6, plus rent and cable/internet, which needed a whole paycheck alone, and do even get me started on the student loans. My debt and anxiety rose higher. This apartment was killing me. And makes me think well maybe if I got rid of it I could recover from my immense debt. Step 6, 7, 8 So coming from a very controlling and overbearing judgmental parents the moment I went off on my own was when I would be able to find love. I was always a romantic person and just loved the idea of love. My last relationship was when I was 13. Does it even count? I ask myself the same question. At that time it felt like it did. Well regardless that relationship now that I’m older was just a hot mess. My gf and I were toxic for each other. One day we were together the next broken up over the most ridiculous reasons. Well we eventually broke up because she was transferring schools and it was a messy one. The next year I found out that she had a new boyfriend and that she lost her virginity to him. I felt jealous so I started a lie about a fake girlfriend. I made it pretty convincing. Everyone believed and never questioned. The reality was that I was actually discovering my sexuality. I started developing feelings for guys. I was also teased and bullied for being not “manly” enough. Just because I didn’t like the same shows or like sports I must be gay and was ridiculed and tormented for it. So in my head this new feeling that started surfacing was not good and needed to stay hidden. It was time to apply for high school so when my teacher and my parents both wanted me to go to one of the best private ALL BOY SCHOOL I was totally against it. If I went there then I would totally be gay (Now mind you this is what little 14 year old me thought at that time). All I could think was that I liked girls, I liked girls, I liked girls, but I also found guys attractive. But I ended up going to the high school anyway because it was a good school after all. Well as the years went on and being around attractive guys just about everyday I started liking them more and more. I still kept it a secret and still felt ashamed about because of how some of my friend reacted to guys who were gay or in my case who were bisexual. Not to mention of how I kept the lie about having a girlfriend going. My senior year my friend came out to me and told me he actually liked me. Me being an attention whore and horny teenage boy fed off of it. I would flirt with him and string him along. I even let him suck my dick multiple times. He eventually told someone at school. And of course it was the person with the biggest mouth and when they called me to confirm it I quickly denied it. I quickly turned it around that my friend was just obsessed with me and making up these lies and utterly destroyed him all to protect myself because I wasn’t ready to admit to myself that I was bisexual. After I graduated my other close friend came out to me and I finally decided to tell him that I was bisexual and like a leopard who can’t change heir spots I decided to make up a fake boyfriend. When I went to college I decided to stick with the fake girlfriend story for a while. Then when one of the girls on my floor broke up with her boyfriend I decided that me and my girlfriend would break up. How convenient right? Well she ended up dating some other guy on my floor. So now I had no fake girlfriend and no real one. So I decided to go back to the fake boyfriend story. It wasn’t until my junior year that I started to enjoy college. I had good friends and then there was the new kid. He was beautiful, a goof, flirty, a dork, everything I loved. Every time we hung out he would flirt back with me. He had no girlfriend but I still wasn’t sure if he liked guys. It wasn’t until a party we were at and he and I got drunk did I finally say yes. At these parties every time he would get very handsy with me. He would sit me on his lap and press me down on him or feel me up. He was so attracted to guys right? One day he said he had a secret to tell me but he didn’t feel comfortable to tell it. So me being such a brilliant person (sarcasm if you couldn’t tell) decided to tell him my secret about my fake relationships hoping he would tell me his. Instead his secret ended being not that he was attracted to men, but instead to older women. My world was crushed. Here I am thinking that this guy who I genuinely like also has some sort of feelings but it was all in my head. He wasn’t attracted to me he was just a flirty person who was secure with his sexuality. That same year I also got to meet a foreign exchange student from Ireland was was cute and gay. SCORE!!! He accompanied me to his first frat party and we both got drunk to the point where we made out and he was feeling up and down the entire night. This went on at every frat party. He would tell me he liked me and I would do the same. So one day when my friend and I were talking to him about the frat parties and stuff and wondering if he would remember anything he said no. He said he would black out and didn’t remember anything at all. Once again this guy that I was starting to develop feelings for only drunk liked me. So I just ultimately felt like I would never find someone who I liked and like me in return so instead I decided to keep the fake boyfriend alive. A fake boyfriend is better than none? Right? So that dream I had of my life being the perfect fairytale never becoming reality. Instead I’m broken. I’m a mess. I’m a joke. I’m a compulsive liar. I’m second choice. I’m stressed. I’m alone. I’m a virgin. I’m unhappy. I’m depressed. I’m at a low. I’m ashamed. I’m scared. I’m angry. I’m in over my head. I’m a waste. I’m a hypocrite. I’m an ass. I’m a disappointment. I AM A FAILURE.