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charms-cat · 5 months

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Thoughts on TBOSAS

Disclaimers:

my memory isn’t the greatest + it’s been a couple weeks since I watched the movie + I only skimmed the book after watching

I don’t have the book on hand so I can’t fact-check this (my criticism is based on what I remember – feel free to correct me)

Buckle up bcs I’ve got an overthinking brain and a lot of opinions.

Coryo = Good, Other Students = Bad

They only had less than 3 hours for a movie that had enough content to be split into two (imagine if they’d cut it right when Coryo finds out he’s assigned to be a Peacekeeper). So I understand why they couldn’t flesh out every detail of Coryo’s relationships.

But lack of time doesn’t really explain why they couldn’t give the students some nuance. Obviously, we have the dehumanising comments/actions from Livia, Arachne, Felix, and Festus; a horrifying truth that hasn’t learned to disguise itself under ‘generous’ sponsors and ‘faith’ in a specific tribute winning. But why did they change the scenes of Clemensia and (more importantly) Lysistrata?

If you’ve read the books, you’ll know that Lysistrata is one of the kindest students. As far as we know, she didn’t suffer the same poverty as the Snows did and she doesn’t feel the same sense of kinship as Sejanus does with the kids from the districts. Still, she treats Jessup kindly. She brings him medicine when he tells her he’s in pain; she gets mad when Coryo’s angle for Lucy Gray’s image (that Lucy Gray’s more Capitol than District) meant that her angle for Jessup’s image (showcasing the District 12 tributes as a pair) would be jeopardised and thus his sponsors might be less; when she sees Jessup suffering from rabies, she offers to end his suffering by sending the water bottles; her final word about him, when it wouldn’t have given her any advantage to speak kindly about him and the Capitol had (until recently) been on high alert for ‘rogue tributes’, was to tell everyone that Jessup protected her when the arena exploded, even threw himself over her to protect her.

In the movie, she had one ‘prominent’ scene: Jessup’s attack. Maybe they were trying to showcase Coryo’s future ruthlessness by having him demand Lysistrata send the water bottles rather than use his own sponsors. But in the book, Coryo tries to send his own sponsor gifts before Lysistrata stops him and offers to send hers instead. In the original scene, Coryo’s care/affection for Lucy Gray is made obvious by how he’s willing to give up their hard-won sponsorships just to make sure that he can save Lucy Gray from Jessup; Lysistrata’s practicality also shows itself by how she willingly mercy-kills Jessup after seeing him going rabid on screen. He’s her tribute so she used the gifts that they won together.

It would’ve taken the same amount of time (or an extra minute) to keep her mercy kill and her final words on Jessup. Instead, we have Coryo’s demand + Lysistrata’s few seconds of hesitation to follow his words, despite them having an even better view of Jessup’s increasingly rabid behaviour.

Now, let’s talk Clemensia. She’s not particularly kind. Tbf in the book, she wasn’t around too long before she got bit by Gaul’s snakes. The next time she (properly) reappears, she’s cruel in how she withholds helping Reaper until he’s actually done something to ‘earn’ supplies. In the movie, she straight up disappears after getting bit (either that or the effects of the snake venom weren’t as horribly memorable as they were described to be in the book; if she really did disappear, then it also lessens the suspense of “what will happen to Lucy Gray?” later on since we don’t know the full extent of the venom’s effects). But the thing that cements my idea that “Oh, they’re trying to make Coryo look good compared to other students” is that they changed the circumstances that got her bit.

There are three key differences to her and Coryo’s meeting with Gaul:

1: when Gaul asks who came up with the ideas on the assignment, book!Clemensia claims that they both worked on it, but Coryo went by himself to drop it off; movie!Clemensia claims all the ideas for herself.

The decision to make Clemensia a selfish credit-stealer already deteriorates her likability to the audience, especially since Coryo (aka the person she’s stealing credit from) is our protagonist and, at this point in time, has ‘done’ nothing wrong. Hell, since the movie audience doesn’t know his less-than-flattering thoughts about Arachne, they only see that he was the one to rush to help her when she got stabbed. Clemensia, on the other hand, admonished him for seeming indifferent to Arachne’s death (when he told her that he had actually finished the assignment) but then goes on to claim credit for said assignment that she didn’t actually work on at all. Then the movie made it worse by changing Gaul’s dialogue from the book, namely:

2: Gaul asks/allows Coryo to fetch the paper first and

3: Gaul doesn’t explain the snake’s sense of smell until Clemensia has already put her hand in the tank (I’m 99% sure of this scene because I distinctly remember going “TAKE YOUR HAND OUT NOW, CLEMMIE” right as I read the lines).

Imo by making Gaul explain that “they won’t attack you if they’re familiar with your scent” before either Clemensia or Coryo could put their hands in the tank, it both lessens the suspense and makes it seem as if Clemensia is a very prideful person that would rather risk injury than admit wrongdoing. Which brings me to my next point ⬇

Gaul’s Depravity

There are three things I remember being weird about movie!Gaul

1: the aforementioned explanation about the snakes. The fact is that Gaul asking/allowing Coryo to take the paper first was her trying to lure Coryo and Clemensia into a false sense of security. If you don’t believe she was 100% baiting them, just remember that she doesn’t explain that the snakes might bite unfamiliar persons until it’s already too late for Clemensia to take her hand out. And when Clemensia does get bit, Gaul’s assistants rush in to inject the antivenom immediately, like they’re used to doing it. Gaul dismisses Coryo’s concerns by stating that it’s simply part of research. Then (just to drive in her callousness), Gaul dismisses him from her lab by saying it’s teatime. Coryo himself thinks Clemensia’s condition is a harsh punishment for such a simple lie.

2: she stitches up Coryo. I might’ve just simply forgotten about this, but I don’t remember a scene in the book where she personally stitches him up. After all, Gaul was willing to risk Coryo’s death in the arena (when he’s rescuing Sejanus) just to teach him the lesson that even he, with his good name and good education, would revert to predatory instincts to keep himself alive.

3: “rainbow of destruction” broadcast. Movie!Gaul indirectly warned the districts that there would be retaliation for the death of an Academy student. Granted, no one (except Coryo and Clemensia) would catch on to what “rainbow of destruction” meant, but she still warned them. When the snakes were released into the arena, people would know why they were released, why they were introducing a sudden new obstacle. Book!Gaul didn’t do that. iirc the Capitol didn’t even want the districts to know that they succeeded in dealing a blow to the Capitol (killing one of their top students/son of a prominent figure). Book!Gaul, as far as the general public knows, released the snakes for seemingly no reason than to make the Games harder. Book!Gaul didn’t even warn Coryo properly; she said there would be retaliation, but she never indicated that she would be specifically using those snakes. Coryo chanced upon the snake tank during the transfer; had he missed seeing the tank after hearing those words, he might not have made the connection that would eventually save Lucy Gray.

Positive point for the broadcast: they kept her cruel classism. They cut from the scene of the tributes killing each other to the broadcast where her opening statement was, “An important life was taken today”. I could’ve strangled her right then and there.

Modern Hunger Games

I’m sure other people have put it more eloquently than I have, but the 10th Hunger Games resembles the more modern (e.g., 74th) Hunger Games too closely. Imo the resemblance kinda strips away the initial point that the Games (without all the fanciful performance surrounding it) is a cruel and brutal punishment to force kids who don’t want to kill each other to have to kill each other to go home (does this sentence make sense?).

1: Communicuffs. In the book, the mentors used a glorified watch but, in the movies, they used TVs. You might think this is a minor thing and maybe I am overthinking it, but imo the use of a big screen makes the Academy mentors resemble the Gamemakers in the 74th/75th Games, who used big holographic screens.

2: Bloodbath. Now, I definitely remember that the 10th Games had no bloodbath. iirc Reaper was the only one ready to fight, but he took too long to get ready/get a weapon and, by the time he was geared up, everyone else had disappeared into the corridors of the colosseum. When no tributes appeared after a while, Reaper disappeared into hiding too. So, the focus was on Marcus who’d been crucified. The first death was Lamina mercy-killing Marcus.

If anything, changing the start of the Games into an actual bloodbath destroys the thesis that these kids don’t actually want to kill each other. Yes, they want to go home but that doesn’t mean they’re eager to get their hands bloody to do it. If anything, the bloodbath proves Gaul right that people are inherently predators who would do anything to survive; that compassion can be easily discarded in the face of survival. That’s the antithesis of what the Hunger Games are meant to be. Because we see time and again that compassion can exist among competitors for survival – Katniss singing to Rue, Thresh sparing Katniss in turn, Cato rushing to save Clove, Haymitch staying with Maysilee, Jessup protecting Lucy Gray, Reaper making a makeshift morgue for the dead tributes.

A bloodbath is only understandable in something like the 74th Games. Since, as far as anyone knew, the Games were here to stay. So Career districts trained their children, non-Careers grasped onto whatever knowledge they could take advantage of (Katniss’s hunting, Rue’s climbing/tracker jackers, Peeta’s camo, etc.) There were possibilities for sponsors if you were promising and a guarantee of a life of luxury if you won. So, what better time to cut down the number of competitors than when no one has supplies? Compared to the lack of…motivation during the first Games. You’d have the same type of trauma, but nothing to “soften the blow” like securing a better life for your loved ones after you win.

3: Cameras. What was with all those camera angles??? I understand having camera angles for the movie audience, but why did the Capitol audience see the same thing? One of the problems of the Games was that it wasn’t interesting to watch. The Capitol wasn’t chomping at the bit to watch an arena of nothing, for tributes they didn’t actually care about. That’s why betting was introduced, to motivate the Capitol to watch out for the tribute they were betting on, if only to confirm that said tribute was still alive.

Being able to know everything in real time undercuts the suspense of certain scenes – why was Lucy Gray running from Jessup? Why did Wovey(?) suddenly die after drinking from a water bottle? Why did Coral betray Tanner(?) In the book, we learn all this in time with Coryo. When Jessup attacks, Coryo quickly connects the aversion to water (I think Jessup swatted away the bottle Coryo was trying to send to Lucy Gray) + the bite Jessup felt on his neck + the rat poison needed around the zoo to conclude that Jessup had rabies. He had to come up with a strategy on the spot vs. when he already had an inkling by watching Jessup’s aversion to water and sudden aggressiveness to Lucy Gray in the barricaded room. As for Wovey(?), Coryo figured that the bottle was laced with rat poison vs. when we saw Lucy Gray dump in the poison. As for Coral’s betrayal, we never find out why in the book vs. when we see them having an argument in the movie (this one’s more minor, but the thing about “knowing ‘everything’ that goes on with the tributes” plays too much into the modern Games perspective; personally, her sudden betrayal made it more shocking compared to when their movie!argument already starts hinting to future betrayal).

4: Gaul’s Snake Mutts. I hate the decision to make the snakes gigantic (or normal snake size idk). The book!snakes were about as long as a ruler and were so thin that a single normal-sized tank could hold hundreds of them. They were meant for Gaul to play around with in the lab. Gaul herself didn’t intend to use her snakes in the Games.

But the reason why I really hate the gigantism of the snakes is that it dramatizes the Games in the same way as the sudden appearance of the dog mutts in the 74th. The shocking burst of the tank feels a little too close to how the Gamemakers added in mutts to up the ‘excitement’ vs. book!snakes that never burst out; they simply slithered their way out their opened tank and began surging towards all the unfamiliar smells.

Extra negative point for trying to convince us that a tiny handkerchief maintained its smell long enough to travel throughout the entire tank; this without even considering that Coryo inserted the handkerchief from the bottom. What, were the snakes passing the handkerchief up?

Infallible Coryo

Again, might be overthinking on my part, but I feel like the movie made it seem like Coryo was more strategic than quick-thinking. One of the things that made me like him was that he was intelligent in the way that he could come up with solutions on the spot. So it’s a bit disappointing that they replaced that trait, especially since it comes at the cost of Lucy Gray’s own intelligence/agency (I’ll explain this in the next point).1

1: Coryo checks out the arena the night before the Games. Again, might be misremembering but I don’t think he ever did this. Or if he even had the time since I think a lot of the Academy kids were hospitalised after the bombing and then the Games took place right after.

2: Coryo collects the rat poison vs. Lucy Gray collects it herself.1

3: one thing about Katniss’s Games that made it more realistic imo is that part of her survival relied on luck. If her dad hadn’t taught her how to hunt, she might’ve not even found water during those first days in the arena; if Cinna hadn’t chosen to be a stylist in her year and Peeta hadn’t made her look desirable, then she might’ve had less sponsors than she did. So, I don’t like that they changed how Coryo found out about the snake mutts.

As said in my previous point: book!Coryo chanced upon the tank transfer. If Gaul hadn’t called him for a meeting; if the scientists hadn’t left him alone with the tank; if he’d taken out the handkerchief beforehand – had any of his circumstances changed, Lucy Gray might’ve died from the snakes too.

But thanks to movie!Gaul’s broadcast, movie!Coryo knew/had strong suspicion of exactly what was about to happen. He knew where to go, he had an excuse to see Gaul (ig you could say the lucky part is that Gaul didn’t turn him away/direct him to the hospital instead), he knew he needed the handkerchief; all he had to do was execute his plan. If they wanted Coryo to look smart, I’d say it was more impressive that he could connect the tank transfer to Gaul’s retaliation almost immediately after seeing the tank.

Lucy Gray = Good, Other Tributes = Bad, Coryo = Worse

1: when I say other tributes, I mostly mean two instances –

Jessup’s abandonment. Like I said in my first point, Lysistrata said that book!Jessup protected her during the bombing vs. movie!Jessup attempting to run away/escape. Between Jessup’s constant protection of Lucy Gray and that Lysistrata had no reason to lie (especially about a specific action), I 100% believe that Jessup really did his utmost to protect Lysistrata at the time. It feels like a slap to the face that, in their attempt of making Lucy Gray look good, they took away one of Jessup’s kindest, self-sacrificial actions. It almost feels like they’re making him a bit classist himself since he doesn’t hesitate to protect a District kid, but they changed the scene where he protected a Capitol kid. Point is: they did my boy, Jessup, dirty bcs he (at the very least) wouldn’t abandon Lucy Gray while escaping!

Coral’s alliance. istg Coral’s alliance starting the bloodbath and hunting down Lucy Gray and Jessup was mimicking the scene of Cato’s alliance murdering in the bloodbath and hunting down Katniss. Especially since they also had a scene where one of them (I’m so sorry idk his name, but it was the kid that said he was scared to go through the door flap/Cato) tried to chase after them by going through the door/climbing the tree.

Idk if they were trying to ‘foreshadow’ District 4 eventually becoming a Career district, but no. They could be ruthless (forcing Lamina to choose who to fight), but they weren’t the same kind of ruthless hunters as the Careers in the 74th. (Going to repeat my point that these changes only prove Gaul’s point that we’re all inherent predators.) The worst part is that their bloodthirsty alliance is contrasted to Lucy Gray’s kind camaraderie with Jessup (her worriedly searching for him and dragging him away from the fight asap). Both Coral’s alliance and Lucy Gray should’ve been at the same ‘starting point’ – kids who resorted to killing, not ones who were so eager to get home that they start murdering as soon as they get their hands on a weapon.

2: Coryo does the thinking for Lucy Gray. Gonna elaborate on my two previous points…

Coryo checks out the arena. This one bothers me so much bcs can they really not give Lucy Gray something as basic as knowing how and where to hide? Why is it Coryo that has to tell her exactly where she can hide and how to get there? + for some reason, they added an underground bunker? Imo they could’ve had even more suspense if they kept the fact that there was no bloodbath and all the tributes were hiding in the stands/corridors. It also would’ve been the perfect scene to showcase Lucy Gray’s smarts by making it so that she had to figure out how to avoid/hide from multiple tributes in a confined, unfamiliar space.

Coryo collects the rat poison. This one bothers me a lot too bcs, even though Coryo gave the compact specifically to hold the poison, Lucy Gray is the one who decides to bring it into the arena. I feel like making movie!Coryo collect the poison instead of her takes away her agency how she wants to survive the Games. Book!Coryo doesn’t see her in the zoo so he can only hope that she’ll risk cheating by bringing in the poison; it could’ve been easy for Lucy Gray to lie and say that nobody took the bait or that she didn’t bring in enough poison since he had no proof whether she did or didn’t have poison during the Games. The fact that movie!Coryo pleads(?) with her to take the compact, knowing that it’s carrying poison, makes it feel more like he’s forcing her to take a risk rather than letting her choose. If the compact had ended up being empty, then they could’ve bs something like he wanted her to have a memento of him during the Games instead of it being an instrument in cheating.

3: Lucy Gray’s calculated kills. One of the things that makes Lucy Gray nuanced is that she does bad things of her own volition. She’s trying to survive the Games so it’s not as if it’s a despicable thing for her to be cunning. But movie!Lucy Gray’s too good to even be that, as proven by how she kills. Book!Lucy Gray kills Wovey, Treech, and Reaper; movie!Lucy Gray kills Dill and Treech (there’s supposed to be a third, but I don’t remember who).

Book!Lucy Gray was deliberate. She knows she isn’t as fast or strong as some of the others so she preps to take out the other tributes through other means –

Wovey: iirc Lucy Gray poisoned a bottle and then just dropped it in the corridor to make it seem like it was a lost bottle. iirc she says something along the lines of “Poor Wovey. I was aiming for Coral, not her”. Intended victim or not, she baited a thirsty tribute into drinking what seems like their only source of water.

Treech: he swings a weapon at her while she’s trying to retreat. In self-defence, Lucy Gray reveals that she kept one of the snakes and releases it on Treech. I’m highlighting the fact that she kept it bcs Lucy Gray keeps it despite seeing the frenzied assault the snakes launched on all the other tributes. (idk if this is before or after Treech, but she also counts the corpses so she must’ve seen the effects of the venom). Either way, she kept it with the intention of quite possibly using it.

Reaper: iirc she admits to poisoning the puddle Reaper was drinking from. Then, she makes the poisoned Reaper use the last of his energy to chase her. Coryo himself says that she was trying to “run him to death”. Unlike the previous two killings, Lucy Gray knew exactly who she intended to kill and what she’d need to do to achieve it. He wasn’t drinking from a bottle so she found out which puddle he was drinking from; he was protective of his morgue so she made him chase her by running off with the flag.

Movie!Lucy Gray still did things intentionally, but it felt more hasty than calculated. She killed Dill the same way she killed Wovey, but it felt less like deception (making her victim think that she dropped a perfectly good bottle) and more like force (every other bottle is empty so there’s really no choice). Not really much to comment on Treech’s death since it’s quite similar, just that her ‘last resort’ is different.

I get that they were pressed for time so they had to hasten the end of the Games, but it feels like such a pity to lose Lucy Gray’s cunning in the process.

Mentors

Quick aside here, but why did they make it so that the Academy kids didn’t know that they were going to be mentors? They already knew that they were going to be assigned a tribute. iirc Coryo was worried since he wanted a ‘good’ tribute and, when all the ‘good ones’ were gone, he hoped that Dean Highbottom forgot him instead of assigning him a tribute from District 12. It seems unnecessary, but maybe I’m missing something.

EDIT: got some thoughts on this movie change

Translating Thoughts to Expressions

I understand that a lot of Coryo’s more rancid opinions remain as thoughts. Esp since he’s constantly trying to look not-poor and so that he can gain any advantage he can get. So he doesn’t say anything about Sejanus (Strabo Plinth could give him money), Ma (she gives him good, free food), Arachne (he has tact), Gaul (have you met the woman?). But there is one thing that stands out to me; a good chance to show the movie-only audience that he’s actually putting up an act: Sejanus calling him Coryo.

I think it’s more obvious in the book, but only Tigris and his childhood friends ever call him Coryo. It’s a nickname reserved for people he’s close to. So, the fact that Sejanus says it so casually takes away the momentum of the moment where Sejanus feels like they’ve grown close enough for him to use it. Book!Sejanus says it in a moment of apology – “I’m sorry. Coryo, I’m sorry” – bcs Coryo had to save him from the arena and, not only was Sejanus’s action fruitless, Coryo ended up killing Bobbin and being hunted by the other tributes. Movie!Sejanus says it when Coryo finds him in the arena. I can’t remember the line, but it’s when he was trying to explain why he was there. He just blurts it out in the middle of the sentence like he’d always been calling him Coryo.

Anyway, the reason why I say this is an opportunity to show Coryo’s true feelings is bcs this is one of the few times where Coryo has the possibility and ‘safety’ to slip up. When book!Sejanus calls him Coryo, he’s emotionally overwhelmed and physically exhausted. He’s horrified by his murder of Bobbin, anxious about the tributes chasing him and Sejanus, frustrated/angry that the Peacekeepers didn’t help them until the last minute on top of his annoyance at Ma turning up at their house, disdain for Sejanus (Coryo being his only friend meant that Ma turned up at his house specifically), and his initial worry/fear of going into the arena. Sejanus assuming he could use Coryo’s nickname would be the cherry on top of an already hellish night. And when I say ‘safety’, I mean that Coryo’s expression could’ve easily been hidden from Sejanus by making it so that the shadows of the colosseum shrouded him.

Over-explanation

This might be my most overthinking one, but I feel like the movie treats the audience like they’re a bit stupid? Like they’re explicitly explaining rather than just letting us make inferences. There’re three changes I can think of for this.

1: Snake mutts. I won’t explain this scene again, but movie!Gaul specifies that the snakes would recognise the “sweat on your palm”. She’d already explained that the snakes wouldn’t attack familiar smells, like the ones that they’d been around all morning. This explanation + knowing the tank had been lined with their papers was (imo) enough info to clue in that “the snakes won’t attack bcs they’ve been smelling the papers”. The extra tidbit just feels like they’re not sure we’ll understand how lining the tank = snakes not attacking.

2: “rainbow of destruction”. Not explaining this scene again either, but the broadcast did make it seem very in-your-face about what was gonna happen. It doesn’t help that Gaul emphasises that distinct phrase.

3: Jabberjays. So, jabberjays singing like normal birds to blend in, but turn silent when they're recording. And while Coryo uses this knowledge of how jabberjays work, the scene falls flat a bit. Bcs book!Sejanus doesn't know how the jabberjays work. Coryo cleverly turns on the recording function and then gets rid of him quickly after he gets the info bcs he knows it'd be sus if Sejanus figures out that "hey, why was this bird silent the whole time but suddenly starts singing?" But, in the movie, they repeat the fact that the bird falling silent means it was recording bcs Coryo replays the recording. (Maybe I’m misremembering this)

Still, Sejanus dies without knowing Coryo was the traitor. Or he should, but they reveal the recording again right before they hang him. Just in case we couldn’t figure out why he was being executed ig 🙄

Well, that’s the end of my vent. If you’ve read this far, thank you fro reading, but also feel free to correct me if you think/know I’m wrong about something.

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #thg meta #the hunger games #hunger games #ballad of songbirds and snakes #coriolanus snow #lucy gray baird #volumnia gaul #lysistrata vickers #clemensia dovecote #jessup diggs #tbosas coral #tbosas spoilers #reaper ash #the ballad of songbirds and snakes spoilers

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helly-watermelonsmellinfellon · 2 months

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hi. alot is happening. bumming off wifi rn. i'm copy/pasting someone from a doc i started in libra office with no internet.

A LOT IS HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENES AND I’M KEEPING TRACK.

The landlady has made excuses to not give us back the security deposit. She keeps having Dave’s boss call him in a foul mood will all kind of threats and accusations of things we supposedly broke/ruined.

1.) On our first night out of there she has already threatened to call the cops on us by claiming that we filled the house with perfume before we left so it’ll hurt her. What happened was we cleaned it because she demanded that it was clean like it supposedly was when we moved in(it wasn’t clean when we moved in). We used that Meyers shit, which has a pretty muted scent and is supposed to be safe for the environment. And it was just basic sweeping, dusting, and then doing up the ktichen and bathroom just to be safe.

2.) Today she has claimed that we filled the washing machine with motor oil to ruin it as punishment before we left. She swears the whole house smells of oil, after screaming about it smelling like too much perfume that was supposedly used to hurt her breathing. Mind you, mom is an asthmatic so we can’t use things with strong scents because it will fuck her up. If we bought oil, it would be for the van cuz that shit is expensive and we wouldn’t be wasting it on HER of all people.

By now, Dave’s boss is aware that she cannot legally withold the deposit and that she’s trying to use the fact that Dave is a dumbass, against him. Mom however, knows the laws, and the lease said nothing about not using scented cleaners OR perfumes, and she does not have a legit reason to not give us the $1600 back. If she took it to court it would not hold. She has to make an itemized list of her claims, Dave has to acknowledge whether or not they are true, and then it goes to court.

fyi I took videos of everything in the house. Bethy’s Room, Mom’s Room, Bathroom, Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen. All items that were hers, such as the Oven, Fridge, Washer, Dryer, Toilet, Sinks,Tub/Shower, random Recycle Bin, and Wall Hangings. Inside and Out. All details were recorded before we left. I even recorded us leaving at exactly 11:23 PM Feb 15th 2024, and recorded turning the light off.

Let’s see if she comes up with something else tomorrow. ~5:22 PM Feb, 17th 2024

3.)

Feb, 21st 2024:

I’ve just been informed by Bethy that Dave has gone on to further embarrass us. He insists that he’s got all these racing friends(and tbf they promised to help fund a big event to raise money for us 2 years ago, and then ghosted him AND Bethy when they asked what they had to do to help) who will help and has been harassing them for money.

One of them, an active dirt racer, posted a screenshot with Dave’s full name in a text convo begging for cash. And then half a dozen other dirt racers, active and retired, shared that he’s been hitting them up for money too. How he was in people’s posts about random shit beggn for money and then how he got swindled under his own comment by someone mocking him and posting the same thing he did with a small wording change about leaving an abusive house and Dave not only fell for it but then said he’d try to help them.

And now the greater dirt racing community is aware of this and are mocking him and us and some are making inquiries about Bethy’s well-being in connection to Dave. And their wives are having things to say about how he’s a bad parent and she should be taken away from him.

And I need to remind everyone that this is to pay off a blackmailer who is demanding $300 a week now. Bethy got a bit more info out of him on that and it apparently involves a photo. And there are only 2 types of photos that can get him in legal trouble(since he believes he CAN go to jail over this). So either he sent an unsolicited dick pic, which won’t receive much punishment cuz he’s a man who LOOKS white enough. OR it’s child p0rn, and he’s never given that vibe out of everything fucked up with him so I’m not exactly sure.

But he walks around demanding to know ‘did anyone give us money yet’ and people have donated to the GFM and Mealtrain, and I’ve earned about $100 on Ko-Fi recently, and we haven’t told him cuz he won’t use it for anything good.

He’s been bumming extra money off his boss despite knowing that the van need fixing, we need hot water and heat, and several other problems that need fixing ASAP. And his boss is asking questions and is getting nastier and nastier cuz he doesn’t trust Dave’s intentions and shitty lying.

There is no lease. The owner of this house knows Dave's boss and they supposedly came to an agreement that so long as Dave fixes up this house, we can stay here in the mean time for free. They supposedly made an agreement that Dave's boss will buy everything we need to fix the house up and then send all the receipts to the friend who will then pay him back.

And now Dave's boss is getting so fed up with Dave and his wishy-washy behavior and begging for all this money all the time that he does not earn, that he is now saying he never made any such promises. And he refuses to contact the owner of this house at all. There is no recording. No contract. No signatures. No proof that such a discussion went down at all. It is Dave’s word(unreliable) against the boss’(the one with money and power here) word.

Dave has no way to contact the owner either. Cuz he didn’t think that was necessary apparently. He was perfectly fine making his boss the go-between until his boss got angry.

So our ability to even stay here is hanging in the balance.

Can’t wait to see what other bad news I’m gonna find out.

#poverty

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gavin-reed-is-gay · 1 month

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I’ll be honest. While I do understand why the reverse au’s are so popular, being a fan of them myself, I find it hard to get invested in it besides art because, to me, the dynamics of Connor and Hank and Gavin and Nines don’t feel the same when swapped around.

Take Connor and Hank.

In canon, Hank is a grumpy, lonely android hating alcoholic. In the reverse au, Hank obviously can’t have that personality as an android so he’d have to have Connor’s personality but then he’s not Hank anymore. Sure he has his face, body etc but that’s it.

The Hank that we know stops being that Hank once he becomes an android. Android Hank is basically what Hank could have been before Cole’s accident but that’s it.

And then there’s Connor. In the reverse au, for the dynamic to be the same as its canon counterpart, Connor would have to hate androids. What reason would he have to hate them? I guess Cole could be Connor’s son in the au since Connor is modeled after someone in this 30’s so it’s not far fetched for him to have a son but what about his personality?

Connor in the reverse au’s is mostly characterised as another Hank. He’s a loner who either smokes or drinks, has terrible fashion sense and never sleeps properly but then that’s just the same problem all over again.

This Connor is nothing like the Connor we know. In reality, human Connor wouldn’t be another Hank and would be more like his canon self which is focused, wants to complete his missions/tasks, would show up to work on time, most likely wouldn’t engage in substances that could impair his body/functions etc.

Reed900 reverse au is also another example.

As we all know, Gavin’s main defining trait in dbh is that he hates androids. In a reverse au, to be consistent with his personality, he’d either have to hate his own kind, which makes no sense or he’d have to hate humans, which also doesn’t work cause what would be his position in the au?

He could be a police android but if hates humans, he’d escape first chance he got and never look back which negates the reed900 aspect as Gavin wouldn’t want anything to do with Nines.

Gavin could also be an android sent by Cyberlife but again, he wouldn’t be designed to hate humans, his creators, straight off the bat.

He could hate them over time but if the appeal of Gavin’s character is that he learns to not hate androids because of being exposed to one (ex. Nines) then what would be the point of reverse Gavin not hating humans, hating them and then not hating them again?

Also if Gavin was hostile towards humans, there’s no way that they wouldn’t destroy him first chance they got. Gavin can’t hate humans but then be a police android/android sent by Cyberlife.

Tbf, Nines still works as his personality is pretty versatile. He can still be his serious, threatening, no-nonsense self as a human but since an integral part of r9 is that Nines is an android and Gavin hates them, that means that Nines would have to hate androids for it to work and Nines could but then either Gavin would have to hate humans, which we’ve established he can’t because it just wouldn’t work or Gavin would have to not hate them, which also doesn’t work if you want his personality to stay consistent.

In the reverse au’s, the characters don’t really stay as they are and their positions are swapped. In the reverse au’s, everything is swapped, even their personalities. The only thing that mostly stays consistent is their ages.

Again, while I do like the reverse au’s, I don’t really engage with most of them, besides the occasional funny/pretty art because they just don’t feel the same. If their personalities could work in the au, the dynamics would definitely be better.

#detroit: become human #dbh #hankcon #reed900 #reverse au #mine #mine: texts #mine: dbh

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nadia-zahra · 2 years

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Deep Dive on Mike and his Gay Feelings

So a lot of people speculate when exactly Mike realizes he has romantic feelings for Will, and I’m jumping onto the snowball train. Lemme explain:

For the show’s pitch on the characters, Mike was insecure ab not having a girlfriend. From the start, the duffers wanted his character to struggle with not being heteronormative. All of the characters are type casted as being different in their own ways. But this let’s us know that Mike thinks having a gf is what’s going to make him normal. Lucas and Dustin didn’t have anything ab girlfriends in their description, so why Mike? Well, it implies that the duffers have always had the intentions of making him queer (ima gay mike truther personally), but I don’t think this means since s1 he knows he likes Will.

Season 1 shows us Mike and Will have a deeper connection compared to the rest of the party. Mike keeps a binder of his drawings, puts himself and the rest of the party in danger in order to find Will, trusts El solely because she says she can help find him, and was going to kill himself at the quarry because he had lost all hope in finding Will. I don’t think Mike starts developing romantic feelings for him in this season because tbf he’s 12 and it is really traumatic to have your bff of 5 year’s old disappear. But I will say that this behavior does show just how deeply he cares for Will and that his feelings definitely have some romantic undertones (again gonna mention the binder of Will’s pictures and drawings all over basement).

His relationship with El s1 also highlights how mike is queer. El is the only girl he’s ever became friends with that understands what it’s like to be an outsider. He’s in the mindset of normal=girlfriend, and since El is the only girl in his life he thinks they’re supposed to date. Even tho they are depicted as a blossoming romance, both Mike and El’s behavior isn’t romantic in the slightest. It more so reads as mike thinking him and El need to date because he’s a boy and she’s a girl, and El just going along with it because she doesn’t know better. The clearest piece of evidence that mike doesn’t have romantic feelings towards El is when discussing El living in the Wheeler house in 1x8. Mike says El would be like Nancy’s sister, but wouldn’t be Mike’s. This means that his feelings for her are platonic because he views Nancy and El as a sibling dynamic, but thinks the next step in their relationship is dating because of heteronormativity. If he didn’t view her platonically, he would’ve said El could become friends with Nancy or wouldn’t have mentioned Nancy at all.

Season 2 pre-snowball is when things pick up a bit more with byler because now we actually see how Mike and Will interact with each other. Will said Mike was the only one treating him the same. So before the ud, Mike was super affectionate and protective and was basically acting like a boyfriend? Cool, good to know. 2x2 specifically gives us the most insight into how they’re dynamic works. The whole Halloween episode let’s us know Mike thinks of Will and their friendship differently than the rest of the party’s. Him getting pissy with only Will for not talking to him ab max joining (even tho lucas or Dustin didn’t either), him immediately searching for Will after he’d left Will’s side for not even 3 minutes and then dragging Will back to his place to be alone, and, finally, the crazy together scene. Again, I don’t think the crazy together scene is when Mike realizes he has feelings for Will. This is when WE, the viewers, know Mike has feelings for him. That scene was the nail in the coffin in confirming these two clearly have romantic feelings. But for Mike, it was a turning point in their relationship. It confirms that they are their own individual team separate from the party. This scene probably had mike feeling all kinds of butterflies and just didn’t know why they were happening…yet 😏

His relationship with El s2, again, shows us that his feelings for her are platonic and also not has strong compared to Will’s. He doesn’t believe El is dead…but he also doesn’t search after her once, doesn’t bring up how he saw her out his window to the party (only to Will might I add), and, besides calling her everyday, Mike basically acts like she doesn’t exist. This is a complete contrast with Will’s disappearance!! This is the girl Mike supposedly has a crush on, the only girl he’s ever had a deep connection with—this behavior doesn’t add up with his character…unless he doesn’t feel as strongly towards El as he does Will. And the way Mike behaves versus how El behaves in their reunion is telling ab how they see each other too. It’s obvious that El feels romantically towards him now (she’s looking at him with heart eyes and is a little breathless), but he reads as platonic. Like if it had been Dustin or Lucas, he would’ve said and reacted the exact same way. He didn’t overreact (in my books at least) when finding out hop was hiding her either. Just really platonic and would’ve also started punching and screaming at hopper if it was anyone in that room.

THE SNOW BALL *duh duh DUHHHH*

I need to preface this beforehand: Mike didn’t think El was going to show up!! His reactions and responses of what’s to come are without El in mind.

Ok back to Mike realizing he like likes Will

When Dustin arrives late to the dance we see Lucas and Max together (presumably as dates) and Mike and Will…so he thought during the whole dance it was just going to be him, Will, and Dustin together once lumax started doing their own thing.

But then this random girl comes up and asked Will if he wants to dance and Mike pushes Will to say yes. Just noticed only Mike and Will turn to her when she comes up, Dustin doesn’t. this happens for two reasons 1) Dustin is heartbroken ab lumax so ofc he isn’t watching this happen 2) Mike isn’t heartbroken by lumax, and is also thinking “why tf is this girl coming up to Will?”. So when this random ass girl asks Will for a dance and Will looks at him for an answer, the only thing he thinks is to say yes because that’s what a good NORMAL friend would do.

Yet, even though he’s the one that told Will to say yes, he automatically starts sulking. He looks just like Dustin: heartbroken from jealousy.

but this is his face when he realizes what his jealousy is from:

YEAH THIS IS THE MOMENT HE REALIZES HE LIKES WILL

Sitting there, just processing his feelings, Mike realizes that his jealous insecurity of someday being replaced by Will’s future girlfriend is because Mike doesn’t want him have one and, instead, wants Will to be with him.

His face gives it all away!! He looks in shock. Eyes wide, mouth opened, and staring at nothing because he’s so deep in thought. He looks completely dumbfounded, like “I like like Will holy shit” is on repeat while he thinks about every interaction they’ve ever had. And this shocked face was intentional!! They stay on him with this face for almost 10 seconds before El walks in. This wasn’t just a quick cut to him looking bored (which is what it looks like if your just casually watching). They wouldn’t have stayed on him for so long if we weren’t supposed to notice his facial expression!

You might be thinking, why now? How does this girl coming up to Will and making Mike jealous get him to this realization? After all, he was super jealous when he thought Will liked Max, so why not back at the crazy together scene?

Heres the difference between him getting jealous over Max and Will versus the rando and Will: he saw unrequited feelings between Will and Max (she didn’t like him back), but not with Will and the rando (he says yes). Plus the crazy together scene leads Mike to believe their bond is stronger than anything else, but Will leaving him for a girl makes him realize it isn’t.

And this realization doesn’t help him mentally— it just feeds into his “I’m not normal” insecurity. Not to mention he thinks Will doesn’t love him back or even could. So guess who walks in and is able to save him from his gay crisis…

YUPPPP THE ONE AND ONLY EL

Even the mileven kiss proves mike knows he likes Will. Mike wasn’t originally supposed to kiss her— he duffers didn’t even want it, Millie did. She literally asked for it because she thought that shippers would be pissed (she’s the shipper) if it didn’t happen. The duffers don’t give a fuck ab what shippers want! Never have! And even tho it was her begging for it, I don’t think they would allow a 13 year old to make major decisions like this without it working with their vision. However…it does. They realized the kiss actually strengthens Mike pushing away Will, so that’s why they lit the green light on that impromptu kiss. The kiss is just Mike belly flopping head first into his new (fake) personality.

Mike begins his “I don’t like like Will, I’m normal 😃” phase that continues through s3 and s4. Except that phase takes a turn after he realizes he’s in love with Will in the season 3 finale, but that’s for another byler essay.

#byler #byler proof #byler theory #everything points to byler #byler nation #byler brainrot #byler for the win #byler is real #will byers #mike wheeler #mike is gay #mike wheeler i know what you are #mike x will #will x mike #stranger things #st2 rewatch #st1 rewatch

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nightgoodomens · 2 months

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I am answering a lot of asks RE: GT and AL below so please don’t click *keep reading* if you don’t want to read them.

It’s sad because you know how difficult it is to accomplish anything as an actor so to get everything just because you know the right guy is simply unfair on people who work hard and have talent but don’t have the privilege. Even in the most basic job it fucks you off when promotion goes to boss’ family member or bestie even though they don’t know anything while competent people get overlooked. This is what happens every time AL and GT get jobs that could have went to someone better.

However I also think that it says a lot that with such backup they’re still not becoming famous on their own - sometimes someone just needs a little help and then they do all the work themselves but the fact that the only roles they get is through nepotism says everything really.

I was pretty sure that they both would be with MS on red carpet so to see them within the audience not even acknowledged said to me that their roles have to be very insignificant. We will see I guess.

I honestly wouldn’t worry about them. Think of the fact that there’s still years to go and so many things can happen within that time. The nepotism would frustrate me a lot too but what would surprise me more is if they both jumped at the opportunity to act in GO3 knowing it’s pure nepotism. Well, maybe I wouldn’t be surprised, I guess.

I don’t have trust in NG that he won’t try to insert them for their fans sake but I hope everyone around him will remind him that this is suppose to be a quality show. Not a spot a family member show.

No point stressing when there’s nothing we can do about it to be fair…

I honestly doubt they’re actually friends. I mean… we all have friends. We know what kind of selfies we post, how we talk about each other, how it looks. Their whole thing only began when the photoshoot happened and suddenly they were wives and totally loved each other. Come on 😂

GT didn’t last long before going a little sarcastic on a fan saying they’re linked (😂) which makes me think it’s far from the warmth they’re trying to portray. Also I think she doesn’t like AL copying her. Which she does quite a lot actually. Pretending they’re wives is a huge reach when I doubt they are even more than acquaintances.

They went together to prepare for BAFTAs so it’s not exactly personal either tbf. Whether someone thinks they’re promoting everything about DT/MS out of love or to get attention themselves - either way they’re getting attention which AL needs desperately at the moment.

I wonder if she will be working overtime at the BAFTAs.

There are two ways to get a tick on insta, she either went through the whole verification process or paid them. I’m hardly surprised to be fair, she’s been begging to *be famous* for years now. Nothing has worked, so now they paid for the photoshoot and involved GT in her promo, she increased her visibility a lot, linked herself to Tennant’s, damn she was even allowed to post about David, but nobody is calling so she got a check to *be verified* now too which she hopes will help too. Honestly, as much as I doubt in her modeling career, let her try, I don’t know how many more miserable Michael selfies I can take!

Priorities eh 😂 Girl wants her fame, maybe she wants to escape too so she desperately keeps on reposting, using famous surnames, and now even grabbed her tick on insta to appear more established and trust worthy hoping for that job offer. It all started with her photoshoot and her PR was very obvious. I wish her luck but I think she’s looking in wrong departments.

There is a huge difference between her and MS and DT/GT in many ways - it is quite surprising how people who have two kids together can feel like such strangers five years later.

Well we don’t know who spent Valentines with who because both ladies posted their men without their women…

Maybe she is slowly checking out too?

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that AL is fighting very hard for a career suddenly and her PR is very obvious, and MS is making a point to show he is not happy when they’re together, and MS/DT rumours are increasing. All done by the four people in question.

Nothing that’s been happening since before end of 2023 happened for no reason.

Well there was a card, but I don’t know whether it was from DT to GT, from GT to DT, or from MS to DT 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Phewww! That’s all folks.

#NightGoodOmens talks Michael and David #well technically their partners #but I can’t be bothered to create another blockable tag #so I just hid it under read more

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grailfinders · 4 months

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Grailfinders Viewers' Choice: Mash 2, the Sequel to Mash

today on Grailfinders, we’re finally heading back to where it all began, and rebuilding Mash Kyrielight one last time. in the three years since we started this thing, we learned a lot about building characters in D&D- and the biggest lesson was that shields suuuuuck. “but Mash is a shielder!” you say, “she needs a shield!” to that, I scoff. Mash needs no shield. she needs to shield. to shield without a shield, this Mash will train her body like never before, and become a Kensei Monk. we also need some extra magic for the ultimate in shields, and for that we need to make a pact and become a Genie Warlock. her dad’s girlfriend has like, three, I’m sure she can give us one.

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Ancestry & Background

good news, sports fans! since the days of the original build wotc has in fact added Eternal Ray of Sunshine as a race! if you’re very generous with how you interpret Custom Lineage, at least. because of that, this Mash gets +2 Dexterity to start, as well as Survival proficiency for camping and the Fighting Initiate feat for Interception. now you can react to an incoming attack on an ally and reduce the damage they take, as long as you’re wielding a weapon. that’s right- shielding. without shields.

Mash is still a Cloistered Scholar though. you don’t have to worry, your History and Arcana proficiencies aren’t going anywhere.

Ability Scores

Mash’s highest ability this time around will be Wisdom. I’m sure most of her foresight comes from scanners or magical whatnots, but when half your dialogue in a singularity is “hey, there’s enemies coming” your passive perception is pretty damn high. second, Charisma. I dare you to look me in the eye and say you wouldn’t give Mash a kidney if she asked. third, Dexterity. that’s how you don’t get hit, and Mash’s giant freakin’ shield tells me she doesn’t get hit often. third is Constitution. I’d love for this to be higher, but everything else on the list is need for multiclassing first and foremost. it’s not ideal, but we’ll make it work. that’s also true for Intelligence, though in that case at least we’d only want it for skill checks. finally, we’re dumping Strength. yes Mash can lift cars, but in terms of servants she’s not offensively powerful. also, we don’t really need this for anything in-build, and we can cover everything strength can do through other means pretty easily.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: since we got that fighting feat, we need to start off as a monk to qualify. on the plus side, that gets us Unarmored Defense right away, adding our wisdom to our AC as long as we’re not wearing armor or holding a shield. so no problems there. mechanically, our “shield” for this build will be any simple melee weapon (or shortsword) as those all qualify as “monk weapons”, so our Martial Arts work on them. this means they deal a minimum of 1d4 damage, which grows as we level, and you can use your dexterity instead of strength to wield them. also, attacking with your action with either a monk weapon or your fists lets you make another fisting as a bonus action. again, as long as you’re unarmored.

(I know Mash is one of the few servants with actual armor, but tbf it’s missing some pretty key components. also, you can be summer Mash!)

also monks get proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as Athletics and Religion checks. now you have all the skills needed to ID servants, and your piddly strength score won’t be too much of a hinderance.

2. Monk 2: second level monks learn to harness Ki, and you get a pool of it equal to your monk level every short rest. you can spend one ki point per turn to dash, dodge, disengage, or attack twice as a bonus action, with dashing and disengaging also doubling your jump distance, again covering for your strength. Mash too is a fighting game character, and is not unaccustomed to sick combos.

she also gets Unarmored Movement, so as long as you don’t put on plate mail you’ll be faster than the average player.

3. Monk 3: at third level you set down the Way of the Kensei and learn the Path of the Kensei. the kensei are good at weapons, not naming things. now you can pick two kensei weapons, a ranged and a melee one. these will become the bedrock of later features, so hopefully you’ve picked out a “shield” by now. while holding a kensei weapon, you can attack with your bare hand to perform an Agile Parry, adding two to your AC for a round. almost like. your weapon is… shielding you, or something.

(you can also use Kensei’s Shot to add more damage to ranged kensei attacks but who cares about that)

finally, you can Deflect Missiles. if you’re being attacked by ranged enemies, you can use a reaction to block their damage- if this prevents the damage entirely, you can then spend a ki point to throw the arrow back. let’s see lancelot bring down a plane on you now.

4. Warlock 1: now that we have the basic functionality of a shield, let’s get ourselves an NP. since you’re kind of family with the Queen of Sheba, you can probably pull some strings and get a Genie to come help you power the Ortinax. right now, that gives you a Genie’s Vessel, a funky lil trinket you can swooce right into as an action. you can stick around inside it for a couple hours, but we’re using it as your invincibility- when you think a big attack’s coming, hold your reaction to bait it out, then let your vessel eat the damage. when it’s destroyed, you pop out like nothing happened. you can enter once a day, and you can make a new one by spending an hour to do so.

while it’s around though, you can use it once a turn to add the Genie’s Wrath to your attacks, adding your proficiency bonus in bludgeoning damage to one of your attacks.

you also learn Pact Magic, spells that use your Charisma to cast and recharge on short rests. Blade Ward is another kind of shield that gives you resistance to physical attacks for a round, and Minor Illusion is an easy way to play a hologram from Chaldea. for your leveled spells, Protection from Good and Evil will protect guda from being possessed, something that’s been happening with disturbing regularity. you can also shield someone with a Sanctuary, forcing a wisdom save on anything that tries to attack them as long as they don’t attack first. it’s a weird shield, but it’s still a shield. I mean Mash’s defense boosts still work if you put her in the backline, so ranged shielding is canon.

5. Warlock 2: second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, ways to customize your pseudoservant hell year and come away with a nice goodybag of stuff. you get two this level, but we’ve done this song and dance before- pick whatever you want for #2, it’s getting swapped out next level. still, do make sure you pick up Eldritch Mind now for advantage on concentration saves. tanks need to take hits, and your spells are about damage mitigation so it would be really bad if they went down from the first punch.

you can also Detect Evil and Good now, so you can find any gods or demon god pillars within 30 feet of you. Guda fights a lot of gods, and they’re typically the kind of enemy you don’t want to be ambushed by.

6. Warlock 3: third level warlocks gain a pack boon, and if we want Ortinax running at full capacity we need the Pact of the Blade. now you can summon just about any weapon you want out of the ether as an action, or you can store a specific weapon away for when you need it. speaking of, you can make your shield an Improved Pact Weapon now, an invocation that adds +1 to all your shield’s attack and damage rolls, plus you can use your shield to cast your spells. if you’re going to carry around a giant freakin’ shield, it had better be good for something, y’know?

speaking of shielding, you can now cast second level spells like Ray of Enfeeblement, halving damage from a specific enemy’s strength-based attacks, and making your interceptions and deflections all the more useful. it’s also a cool laser from your shield, so I guess this is the prototype black barrel?

7. Warlock 4: use your first Ability Score Improvement to round up your Dexterity and Wisdom for a much stronger AC and better attacks to boot. you can also Create Bonfire as a cantrip for camping, and you have Warp Sense, letting you detect nearby distortions in reality. this is only supposed to work on portals, but if your campaign revolved around finding seven macguffins from outside of time that were warping the fabric of history to the breaking point I’d say it should work on those too.

8. Warlock 5: fifth level warlocks get third level spells, and now we can shield against even the strongest of spells with Counterspell. if you use a spell slot equal to or greater than the spell you’re blocking, it automatically shuts down whatever nonsense they were planning. otherwise, you’ll need to make a check.

you also learn how to use your bunker bolt, or Eldritch Smite, as the game’s so insistent on calling it. spend a spell slot while hitting something with your shield, and you can send them flying with 4d8 extra force damage, that bonus only growing bigger as you level up.

9. Warlock 6: at sixth level Mash can finally summon supplies from Chaldea, letting her Create Food and Drink. it’s a spell, it creates food and drink, what do you want from me.

less self-explanatorily, your Elemental Gift gives you resistance to all bludgeoning damage to improve your tankiness, and you can spend a bonus action to fly for up to ten minutes. obviously Mash can’t fly, but she can jump good, so it’s practically the same thing.

10. Warlock 7: seventh level warlocks get fourth level spells, and you can finally start killing gods with Banishment sending them back to their home planes. if it’s good enough for Arjuna Alter, it’s good enough for Mash.

you also get a weird shield thanks to the invocation Sign of Ill Omen letting you cast Bestow Curse once a day with a warlock spell slot. that sounds out of character, but the spell does give you the option to enforce disadvantage on attacks against a certain target, so it’s just barely a shield in my book. it also uses a different save than ray of enfeeblement, so it’s a type coverage thing.

11. Warlock 8: now that we’re halfway through the build I can finally nitpick the series a bit. I love FGO, but why does everyone speak the same language? it’s not like Mash could cast Tongues and understand everyone… oh, I guess it is. never mind.

also use this ASI to bump up your Charisma for stronger spells.

12. Warlock 9: ninth level warlock equals fourth level spells. Wall of Stone is a wall… of stone. this is the closest to the classic Lord/Mold Camelot we’re getting, but it’s still a great way to block damage, enemies, or even cross gaps.

if you’d rather leave the gap after you’re done, you can use the invocation Otherworldly Leap to cast Jump on yourself whenever you want- by combining jump and monk’s step of the wind, your 8-strength ass can jump better than a 20-strength barbarian could. sometimes you want to fly, but this way’s practically free.

13. Warlock 10: I’m sorry for sticking extra attack this late into the build, but I thought it was vital that we get Mash to the tenth level of warlock as fast as we could- this is the level you learn Sanctuary Vessel as a genielock, allowing you to pull up to five willing creatures into the vessel with you when you enter it. this means that now you can save the entire party from a noble phantasm by yoinking them all out of existence in a move that would make Teferi proud.

also if they stay in the vessel for ten minutes they get a short rest, which, given how much you rely on those, is a godsend.

I also want Mash to use her sword at least once, so your last cantrip of the build is Sword Burst. why have a sword if you won’t use it.

14. Monk 4: now that we’re finally back in Monk, you can bump up your Constitution with this ASI. you also learn to Slow Fall, reducing fall damage as a reaction, but you can fly, so… yeah, sorry we took such a big detour.

15. Monk 5: with your Extra Attack in hand, you can attack twice in a turn, allowing you to make an unarmed attack to set up your shield, then switch to your shield for big dps. you can also turn any attack into a Stunning Strike, forcing a constitution save on your target or they’re stunned for a round. this both prevents them from making actions, and makes them easier for everyone else to hit. this isn’t in Mash’s usual kit, but if you got hit by a piece of cast iron the size of Rhode Island you’d be stunned too.

16. Monk 6: sixth level monks have Ki-Empowered Strikes, making your fists magical and avoiding a lot of resistances. you also become One with the Blade, making your shield magical as well (it already was), and you can make a Deft Strike once a turn, adding your martial arts die to the damage it does.

17. Monk 7: with your final level of Monk, you learn Evasion, which makes your failed dexterity saves block as much as most people’s successes (half of the damage) and your successes block twice that much (all of it). you carry a giant goddamn shield with you, everywhere you go. it blocks things.

you also get Stillness of Mind, rendering you pretty much immune to charming and frightening effects. you need to keep your wits about you to snap Guda out of them, after all.

18. Warlock 11: warlocks don’t get spell slots past six; instead, you get Mystic Arcanum, which work like regular spell slots from other casting classes, only working once per day. for your sixth level spell, Investiture of Stone grants you resistance to physical damage, and you can ignore difficult terrain made of rock, and also walls made of rock. servants are stupid strong, so walking straight through stone is completely on the table. if you really want to mess stuff up, you can spend an action to stamp on the ground (jump, jump, jump, jump) and move it all around, forcing a dex save on everything around you or knocking them prone. have you seen the FGO movies? it’s easier to list the stuff that servant fights don’t break.

19. Warlock 12: use your last ASI to improve your Dexterity for better attacks and a better AC. you’re a shielder, so those are naturally related. you also get one last invocation, and by now you’ve been using a cutting edge superweapon like a hammer long enough for it to start leaking bad shit everywhere- at least, that’s my explanation as to why it’s a Lifedrinker now. whenever you hit something with Ortinax, it deals extra necrotic damage to boost.

20. Warlock 13: our final level of the build will let us get rayshifting in the first place thanks to Plane Shift, letting us travel to other planes with allies. alternatively, you can weaponize this and try to send someone else to another plane. now even gods from the material world can get black barrel’d!

Pros and Cons

Pros

compared to the OG Mash build, this one has so much more offensive power than before, primarily thanks to the Ortinax coming with more damage bonuses and types to give us some flexibility in combat and a chance for burst damage when the opportunity presents itself.

you also play around short rests a lot, which means you’re never far from full power no matter how late in the day it gets.

the sanctuary vessel is hands down the most powerful defense we’ve ever given a build. when used properly, it can shut down practically any attack you throw its way. not only will it take all the damage from whatever is about to hit you, but it’s an extradimensional space, so arguably effects that only miss through planar shenanigans can be avoided this way. I think this could shut down almost everything I’ve called a noble phantasm in a build up to this point. almost.

Cons

that’s a big almost though- the cost of this extra power is less defense than the original, which admittedly does fit the character. while Ortinax is just as good, if not better, at fighting big singular attacks. however, it fails in two categories- your defense isn’t nearly as good at dealing with multiple smaller attacks, and your HP is so much lower than the original’s.

this is partially caused by the new classes not being full martials with d10s for HP, but it’s also because of how Multi-Ability Dependent this build is. even if we weren’t trying to be a tank, the multiclassing minimums for the build alone are pulling us in three different directions at once. this means that your spell saves are also pretty weak, so your magical blocking isn’t up to par.

when I said you were never far from full power earlier, that was true. buuuut it’s also true about being close to empty too. warlocks and monks are both famously bad at resource management, and if you go into two or more fights between short rests you’re liable to run out of resources no matter how carefully you play.

#fgo #fate grand order #D&D 5e #DND #Mash Kyrielight #Monk #Warlock

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