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gorgonarcher · 1 year ago

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13th Game - City of Mist

All right, time to get to the third of my four favorite games. (The last is Monster of the Week and will likely do that one late this year or early next year because there's a thing I'm waiting for).

(and just so it is the picture in the thumbnail, here's a City of Heroes made picture for this character)

So, City of Mist is a game of noir superheroes takes place in a city where people are empowered by connections to a story. This story can be any sort of thing ranging ancient myths to comic books to overall concepts. As some examples, here are some other characters I've made or seen in games:

Arachnae

Arthur Dent

The concept of names

Count of Monte Cristo

Dracula

D&D Cleric

D&D Wizard

East India Trading Company

Echidna

Euryale

Evangeline A.K. McDowell

Evil Queen

Frankenstein

Gamemaster

Lamastu

Lilith

Mathematics

Medusa

Movie Monsters

Orpheus

Perseus

Peter Pan

Pompei (the volcano)

Puppet Master

Stheno

Tengu Swordmaster

In any case, the characters will have a combination of a Mythos, the supernatural aspect that gives them power, and a Logos, their day to day normal life. Though "normal" here is relative because you could be a "vigilante" or "lab test subject" as easily as "housewife" or "fire fighter". The only thing is that it is something that we could reasonably see being a situation that someone would be in, in the real world.

From there, you choose four themebooks. There are Logos and Mythos themebooks and you need at least one of each. So you would have one of these combinations:

Touched: 3 Logos, 1 Mythos

Borderliner: 2 Logos, 2 Mythos

Legendary: 1 Logos, 3 Mythos

Within the narrative, a Legendary character is substantially more powerful than a Borderliner or Touched character, but gameplay wise all three are balanced in the amount of bonuses they can get to rolls. As explained here:

Each of the four themebooks represent major character themes. Perhaps you have a signature piece of gear, that would be Possessions themebook for mundane gear like a sports car or a Relic for a magic weapon. You might have a formative event from your past. That's a Defining Event. If you have powers to alter the world around you, that's Expression. So on and so forth.

Step One: Concept

So, to start with, I've done a build of this before, and that was Yuri Ayler, a competitive archer whose sister had died recently. I don't want to re-use that because it will prevent me from actually thinking through the idea. So I'm going to make a new character and I'm going to name her Steffani Noel. She goes by Stef.

Now, for her mythos, the obvious choice would be Stheno, given the name. But we're not required to do that. We could have Stef's mythos be Stheno specifically, Gorgons in a more general sense, or even the specific gorgon of a different story like Clash of the Titans.

In this case, I think I am going to say her Mythos is the idea of Gorgons in general rather than any specific one.

So now, let's consider the Logos. Let's think of some real world roles or occupations that could work with the idea of an archer. Yuri Ayler was a competitive sport archer, which is an option, of course, but I want to do something a bit different. City of Mist also mostly takes place within an urban environment, but there's accounting for having nearby semi-rural areas. So park ranger isn't completely out of bounds, but feels a bit meh. What I think I'm going to do is have her as a sporting goods store owner.

So that presents the following:

Name: Steffani "Stef" Noel

Mythos: Gorgon

Logos: Store Owner

Step Two: Themebooks

Now, we have to choose four themebooks. The options are as follows (themebooks from the Shadows and Showdowns supplement are marked as such):

Mythos

Bastion - Defensive powers

Divination - Sensory powers

Expression - Alter the world

Mobility - Movement powers

Subversion - Stealth powers

Adaptation - versatile powers

Relic - magical artifact

Conjuration (S&S) - summon creatures

Destiny (S&S) - Luck, fate, curses, prophecies, etc

Enclave (S&S) - Magical location

Familiar (S&S) - Magical companion

Logos

Defining Event - Formative event or experience

Defining Relationship - Mundane relationship

Mission - A chosen duty and drive

Personality - Manner of behavior

Possessions - Signature items

Routine - A set sequence you engage in regularly

Training - Skills you have acquired

Struggle (S&S) - Personal adversity

Turf (S&S) - mundane domain or reputation

I think Stef is going to be a borderliner. So, two of each. I'm actually going to make her a very locational based hero and give her both Turf and Enclave. Yuri didn't have the gaze, but in this case I think I will go for that and give Stef an Expression. For the fourth themebook, I'm going to go with Defining Event.

So now, we complete each of the Themebooks answering certain questions associated with each book. So, for each Themebook we're going to have the following:

One title for the theme.

One Concept which doesn't have much mechanics but forms a guideline for what makes sense for you to be able to do with that theme.

One Identity/Mystery, a statement of self that anchors you to your life or a question that drives you. Mythos themes get Mysteries, Logos themes get Identities.

Three Power Tag questions

One Weakness Question

A relationship with one of the other crew members.

In addition, we will choose one Theme to get an extra Power Tag and extra Weakness.

For the purposes of showing the History, we're going to give her four Crew members, one for each theme. This is a fairly large group to play this game with those. Anyway, that Crew will be:

Maxine Itami - Rift of the First Person Shooter and Online Gamer

Kylie Swift - Rift of the Banshee and Street Musician

Ada Sainz - Rift of the Hell Hound and Veterinarian

Mika Lala - Rift of Blahaj and Therapist

I'll explain the mechanics of Tags and Weaknesses after character creation.

Step Three - Use the Themebooks to choose theme components

So, we're going to start with the Logos themes.

Logos Theme - Turf

So, the themebook gives some basic questions to help inspire you about your concept for a themebook. I'm not sure I really need them and they don't particularly have mechanics attached, but I'll look through them anyway to see if it gives some ideas. Rather, there's a single question and three example answers.

The question is "What is your Domain?" and the answer is going to be a variation of "I am the head honcho at _________". And we're going to use the name of the shop as the title of the Turf.

Let's see, the mythical Python was a great serpent associated with oracles and a child of Gaea. They laired at Delphi and were slain by Apollo who set up his own oracle at Delphi.

So, we're going to go with "Gaea's Girl - Sporting Supplies". With a concept of "independently owned sporting good shop."

For the Identity, we can't just say what the Turf is, we have to make a statement about our relationship to it. Ambitions for its future, strong emotions attached to it, or other sorts of statements that can be threatened in game play. I'm going to say "This was Mother's gift to me and I'll make her proud." So, I'm going to say that her mother funded her to buy the land and building for her shop.

So, now we get to Power Tag and Weakness questions. Each Theme has ten possible Power Tag questions and four Weakness questions. Of these, we will answer the question marked with the letter A and choose two other questions and then we will choose one of the four weakness questions.

So for Power Tags, I'm choosing the following questions. (Again, question A is mandatory.

A: What area or domain do you control?

D: Who in your turf follows your orders?

I: What advantage do you have over your competition in your Turf

And for the Weakness, I'm going with:

B: What negative behavior or quality did you develop in your role as leader?

So, the answers should short statements, things that can be easily quoted as a catch phrase, or easily worked into a narrative description. And I'm going with the following.

Power Tags:

A: shop full of sporting gear

D: enthusiastic and well-paid team

I: loyal customer base

So, if she has a need for rope, tents, pitons, ammunition, or anything in that vein. She can get it easy enough from her own shop. Her employees are friendly and well-paid, so they are eager to be there. Finally, she has a lot of repeat customers and they lead on to other customers via word of mouth.

Weakness:

B: "No time to relax."

I envision that Stef puts everything she has into her business. She's probably the sort of owner that will cut her own pay rather than that of her employees and she probably doesn't delegate nearly as much work as she should.

Now Crew Relationships will provide either a Hurt or a Help related to the named Crew member. A Hurt is used to give a crew member a -1 to a roll while a Help is used to give them a +1. As a note, there are times when you can use a Hurt to prevent a crew member from doing something that you think will be bad from them in the long run. And you can use Help to push enable them along a self-destructive path. But these do generally represent lingering emotions between the two of you.

For this case I'm going with

"You once caught one of them operating in your turf. Tell them what you said. If they complied, take a Help point on them. If they ignored you, take a Hurt point on them."

What I think happened is she caught Kylie Swift busking outside her store and asked her to not do it so close to the entrances. However, Kylie refused to do it. Stef didn't want to resort to trespassing her team mate, and people have started to chuckle at or ignore the repeated low-stake arguments between the two. So Kylie continues to busk there and the result is a Hurt on Kylie.

Now we do the same for the other three themes.

Logos Theme - Defining Event

The inspiration question here is "What happened to you that changed your life forever?" So, what I'm going to say here is that her shop was robbed by a man with a couple of thugs with a gun and a Molotov cocktail. When the cocktail was thrown at one of her employees she moved to shove them out of the way and was badly burned as a result.

Title: Robbery and Arson

Concept: I was burned in an attempted robbery.

Identity: I'd do anything to protect my people.

Now for the Power Tag questions I want to answer:

A: What kind of strong emotion did your defining event leave you with?

F: What skill or mundane ability did you pick up during or due to your defining event?

H: What approach to life did you adopt following your defining event?

Next, the Weakness question:

D: What is now broken within you, physically or mentally, due to your defining event?

And the answers to the Power tags will be:

A: fierce rage and protectiveness

F: mastered the bow

H: "I can't let them down."

The whole event set a cold, snake-like fury into her veins. She will protect her people and her territory as much as she can. To do this, she picked up the bow, figuring it was a quiet weapon that was less regulated than guns. Finally, she has burdened herself with the need to make sure she lives up to the expectations of her family, employees, and customers... even if some of those expectations are ones she decided they should have of her.

Finally, the Weakness answer:

D: severe burn scars

Stef's face and body was severely burned, which comes with occasional spikes of pain and a decidedly shocking appearance that new people aren't used to.

For Stef's crew relationship here, I'm going to go with the following question:

"One of them is trying to help you (or make you) get over your defining event and move on. If you appreciate it, take a Help point on them. If you resent it, take a Hurt point on them."

I'm going to say that Mika has been trying to be there for Stef and be someone to listen to. She provides counter points to some of Stef's most self-destructive arguments and thoughts on the matter and is basically trying to slowly chip away at the damage. Stef appreciates this and thus she takes Help on Mika.

Mythos Theme - Expression

So, where as Logos themes get an Identity that anchors things to the character's non-supernatural life, the Mythos has a Mystery which is a question that drives them forward into adventure. The Expression theme is all about how the character's supernatural power influences the world around them. This can include things like mind control, weather control, super strength, fire powers, or anything of the like.

The inspiration question is "What change does your Mythos wish to effect in the world?"

The phrasing of that is important. It is unclear what exactly the Mythos is. Possibilities include:

The truth of a supernatural being that has forgotten who they are.

The influence of an entity reliving itself through a human.

A metaphysical modeling of powers via a familiar tale.

The game calls the heroes "Rifts" but notes that the term is mostly for game-mechanic purposes, to have something in text to refer to, and that in-universe there's no common term that all the Rifts go by. Some Rifts have never even heard of the story they gain power from, while for others it is a well known story they have long thought about.

What is consistent is that the Mythos is more about repeating its story than about seeking the goals of the beings in that story. As such letting the Mythos rampant and override the Logos, called becoming an Avatar, is never something you want to last very wrong. An Avatar has lost connection to humanity and it will do everything to recreate its story on an epic scale. A Rift of a legendarily kind entity still becomes a monstrous danger because the Mythos doesn't have the entity's morals... it just wants to repeat the rehash the story.

So, how does the Gorgon wish to change the world? Let's say the Gorgon wants to punish everyone for her suffering.

That said, let's look at this:

Title: Gorgon's Gaze

Concept: The gorgon seeks to punish the world for her suffering.

Mystery: Why did this happen to me?

For the Power Tag Questions:

A: What is the most common way you use your Mythos to affect the world?

G: What additional expression, not necessarily related to the main one, does your mythos have?

J: How can you use your power to shield yourself, especially from similar effects?

And the Weakness:

A: What situations or conditions weaken or suppress your Mythos' Expressions

The Power Tag answers will be:

A: petrifying gaze

G: vipers for hair

J: bulwark of rage

So, of course, the primary expression is her ability to turn people to stone with a look, but she also has vipers for hair which she could attack with or use to spot trouble coming. Most people wouldn't notice the snakes because the Mist hides the supernatural aspects of the world from most people. Finally, she is protected by the vast amount of rage she now harbors in her heart. This makes it especially difficult to affect her with emotional attacks or to stop her through mere pain.

With the Weakness answer being:

A: They have to see me.

Unfortunately, if someone can't see her, they're not going to be affected by her gaze. They can still be bitten by the snakes, but a significant portion of her power has been avoided by people that can't see her.

Crew Relationships for Mythos themes talk about how the two crew members have interacted with or relate to each other's powers and Mythoi. Perhaps one Mythoi feels a kinship or suspicion with another. Perhaps one Rift has helped you protect or deal with your supernatural abilities. For this I'm going with the following question:

"To your Mythos, one of them seems like the modern-day version of a character in its legend. If they were your foe in the legend, take a Hurt point on them. If they were your ally or loved one, or if you were their rescuer, take a Help point on them."

I'm going to say that they have mixed feelings about Maxine Itami, they recognize Maxine's past and near death experience is similar to their own situation with the robbery. However, the Gorgon part of her (assuming it is part of her and not an eldritch other) looks at Maxine and is reminded of the various adventurers that come to their lair to slay the monster. So, she takes a Hurt on Maxine.

Mythos Theme - Enclave

The inspiring question for this is going to be "What location serves an important role in your mythos?" In this case I'm going to say it's a Statuary Garden full of the trophies of past victories and places to hide and ambush foes. As we want Stef to be a hero, I'm ambivalent on having the garden fell of actual petrified enemies. It could be that a representative trophy is made when a victory occurs. On the other hand, this game tends to be on the gritty side, so she might very well store the statues of people she found too dangerous to let live.

It's important to remember that every hero in City of Mist has the seeds to become a villain.

So, for the concept section:

Title: Statuary Garden

Concept: A place that carries reminders of pain and conflict.

Mystery: "How can I bring life to this ruin?"

So now we go to the Power Tag questions:

A: What or where is your Enclave?

C: How can you access your Enclave quickly, discreetly, etc?

J: What item, skill, or quality do you keep when you leave the Enclave?

With the Weakness question of:

B: What happens when you've spent too long in your Enclave?

The answers for the power tags are as follows:

A: ruin of dark shadows and terror

C: walk through lonely places

J: instinct for stalking

The statuary garden is a lonely place that appears to have been abandoned for centuries and allowed to become overgrown and falling apart. There are statues of people and animals in poses of terror all over the place. Stef can access the garden, or lead people to it, by walking through lonely areas, like an abandoned building, or an unknown alleyway. She probably has a basement storage mostly forgotten about in her shop that she can use to reach it as well. This means that if she plans her route, then she can lead enemies into the garden for a battle. Finally, she has learned how to stalk enemies through her time in the garden.

Finally the Weakness answer comes as follows:

B: depression and self-loathing

The garden as it currently exists is a place of death and destruction and does nothing to remind Stef of anything good about her life. Staying too long in the garden will deepen the negative ways she views herself. Especially as her Mystery drives her to find out how she can bring life to the place again and make it something different.

For the crew relationship question I'm choosing to answer

"When your Enclave was in danger of being discovered or damaged, one of them stepped up to cover for your or had your back. Take a Help point on them."

I'm going to say it was Ada Sainz and say that in an early case when some thugs managed to get into the Garden somehow while Stef was busy, Ada followed and took care of them.

Extra Tags

Now we come to one Theme that will get an extra Power Tag and an Extra Weakness tag. And I feel like I've got most of the Themes where I want them for the start of this character, but I feel like the Statuary Garden could use more filling out.

So, we're going to get a fourth Power Tag and second Weakness for Enclave. These are going to be:

Power Tag D: What protects your Enclave?

Weakness Tag D: What could hinder you from accessing or using your Enclave?

And these will be the Answers:

Power D: serpents and shadows

Weakness D: too many bystanders

So, now we can further see that the garden is full of shadowy places to hide in and many serpents which will help her defend the place by attacking intruders. Unfortunately, if there are too many people around, she won't be able to reach it. So if she leads enemies through what she expects to be an empty warehouse and instead finds a rave, she'll be stuck in the mundane world.

Crew Theme

A Crew theme is like any other themebook with some differences. Every character in the Crew has access to it and its Tags will "burn" when they are used. What this means is that whenever the team uses a Crew power tag to add a bonus to a roll or introduce something to the story then that tag cannot be re-used until something is done to refresh it. A character's tags can also burn, but usually that's as a result of making a desperate gamble or as a consequence of bad luck.

There's also only one set of Crew theme questions, though there are a lot of example ways to create them.

As with the other themebooks there are some inspiring questions before we get to Power Tags and Weaknesses.

What is our shared goal?

Who or what brought us together?

Why do we work together? What does each member contribute to the cause?

Where do we meet? Where do we collect our evidence or prepare for action?

What sort of resources do we have at our disposal?

Three of the stories I chose are related to violence or death, and are similar in many ways to each other. The fourth member I deliberately made an outlier to anchor them and made it a story about the kindness of a shark bringing food to an old man. I'm thinking the group is trying to resist the gentrification of their neighborhood and have found that there are supernatural forces at play in the situation.

Also, note, that for a Crew theme, you can give it either an Identity or a Mystery. We're going for an Identity in this case.

Title: Peach Circle Protectors

Identity: This is our home and nobody's going to take it.

Concept: A crew of superheroes resisting gentrification and other threats.

For the Power Tag questions, we can choose any three questions and are not required to answer the A question... but I'm going to anyway. I'm choosing:

A: How do you help, assist, or support one another?

C: Who is guiding, backing, or assisting your operation?

H: What sort of reputation or name have you made for yourselves?

The Weakness tag I am going for will be the following:

D: What places or situations do you find tough to handle?

So the answers to the Power tags will be as follows:

A: understanding and honesty

C: Countess and Princess

H: reliable and down to Earth

So, despite everything, the four have all experienced tragedy and initially came together through a support group before learning that the four of them all had some supernatural things as well as the public trauma. As such, they have gained a habit of trying to be honest and supportive of each other. It's not a 100% successful thing. Things are still hidden and feelings are still hurt, but they have a better connection than most.

The Countess and Princess are a reference to one of my past played characters (Patricia Althius, Rift of the Count of Monte Cristo and Lamashtu) and her girlfriend (Hayley Hayami, Rift of Medusa) who later in the campaign would have come back as mysterious rich people to start to carry out their revenges on various evil-doers. I felt these two in late game would make a good support for this vengeance-focused team.

Finally, the local neighborhood may not know everything the team has done for them, heck they might not even know who the team is if secret identities are going on, but there's an ongoing reputation that the local heroes have a good head on their shoulders.

And next is the Weakness:

D: "There's never enough money."

Even with patrons like The Countess and The Princess, there's only so much money the team has available. And most of their backer's resources are mythical and supernatural anyway, that's hard to convert into a bank account.

Tags and Weaknesses

So, what do tags do? Whenever you apply a tag to a roll you gain a +1 bonus to that roll. When weaknesses are applied then you instead apply a -1 to the roll but you also grant that Theme one Attention and after three Attention you can give the Themebook an Improvement.

Tags also apply narrative justification for certain things. For example, Stef is going to have snakes for hair, and that will justify her attacking someone and giving them a venom related status as a result. Other characters would have to explain where the poison came from first.

Now, what's stopping you from using all tags on every roll? First of all, the tag has to apply, "petrifying gaze" isn't going to do anything to help breaking down a stone door, for example. Second is that you can't apply the same tag twice to the same situation. For example, say you had the tag "Bomb Disposal Expert" and added that to a roll for disarming a bomb but the roll doesn't completely end the danger. Well, you won't be able to use that tag on the next roll, because you've already applied those skills to this problem.

For Stef, she could apply the "petrifying gaze" to attempt to turn a hitman to stone, but perhaps she doesn't quite finish him off. On a future attack she would still be applying the petrifying gaze narratively, but she couldn't use the tag for a bonus to the roll because she's already thrown that in there. The stoning is still happening, yes, but the roll needs support elsewhere.

In combat, we tended to work this out by saying repeatedly attacking with no variation was just doing the same action over and over again and thus you would have a slowly dwindling supply of tags to use in the fight. Every so often, we'd then try to change up the strategy and create a new situation to justify refreshing all those tags.

As another note, it is possible to use a Weakness for a +1 (doing so would not grant Attention) or a Power tag for a -1 (doing so would grant Attention) if it makes sense. For example, Stef could use her "severe burn scars" to help her out intimidating someone or maybe even empowering her "petrifying gaze". Or the GM might poke her tag about "I can't let them down" as a -1 due to her being worried about someone getting hurt because she failed.

As a note, the same Tag can't be used for both a +1 and a -1 on the same roll. Similar to the "Bomb Disposal Expert" example above on using the same tag twice, that fact is already influencing matters.

Breaking Themes

It is also important to note that themebooks can go away and change. Mythos themes can Fade as that part of your legend is forgotten and Logos themes can Crack as that facet of your life is shattered or left behind. This is not a bad thing and exists for the most part at the control of the character.

When a theme cracks, the character will receive some "Build-Up" which allows for taking a global improvement called a "Moment of Evolution". Unlike with Attention to improve a themebook, global improvements require five Build Up and the only way to gain Build Up is to lose a theme.

Once a theme is lost, it will be replaced with a theme of the opposite type. A Mythos theme will be replaced by a Logos theme and vice versa. If the last theme of a type is lost then it will not be replaced and the character will instead have three Logos (becoming a Sleeper) or three Mythos (becoming an Avatar). These are both meant to be temporary states of being and once the character comes out of them, they will vanish for a while before returning as a basically an entirely fresh character, rebuilding themselves from scratch. A character who went Avatar will come back as a Touched and a character who went Sleeper will come back as a Legendary.

This mechanic allows for some of the deepest mechanical support of character development I've ever seen in any RPG. Look above at the two pictures of Patricia and Hayley to see the gulf in how they begin the game and how they end it. And the best part is that these changes are very very rarely dictated by the dice. They almost always come as a result of informed player choice. And even when dice cause it, the player is informed of the possibility of the risk before they roll.

All that said, here's the collection of themebook cards for Stef Noel. I used the character sheet template on Roll20 for this graphic. Also note that I write down the letter of the questioned that is answered for each tag so that if there's question of what context the tag exists in we can look it up.

#ttrpg #gorgon archer #tabletop rpg #archer #gorgon #tabletop rpgs #gorgons #tabletop roleplaying game #character creation #roleplaying games #City of Mist #Son of Oak Games #urban fantasy #superheroes

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weirdmageddon · 2 years ago

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i was thinking of this again on my drive back from school today (turns out i didnt have classes today)

one of the things that really pissed me off with the epilogues is how dirty they did jade. they made her into a sexually promiscuous puppet of the narrative. ok she was sort of a puppet of the narrative in homestuck but she was NOT sexual at all. and its NOT the dog hormones she was NOT like that in homestuck. they just refused to fucking give her the justice she deserves after being a plot device in homestuck which is why i ignore the epilogues except for the dave and karkat moments because theyre the straight men (even though theyre both bi lol) stock character archetype to the absolute fucking circus that is everybody else in the epilogues. i cant see how being alone growing up and being isolated from friends necessarily leads to being horny when the seeds for horniness were never established early on which is why epilogue jade feels so off. craving human contact sure yeah i can see, like just being around others, but thats different from being fucking horny all the time. ugh theres so much more to her than that

so instead i propose that jade and dave are a creative force on earth c and are constantly collaborating on something creative. its better narratively and closer to their actual essence in homestuck

we’ve already seen in the comic how jade and dave collaborate and create shit together, more than any other character duo. i feel like this connection to their aspects should continue even after the game. theyre still bound to those aspects no matter what

i can imagine a 3(+) person band

dave on drums, percussion, keyboards/synthesizers, and maybe backup vocals. he can split himself into multiple time travel copies in the same time and place so long as he adheres to the loop which he is of course responsible about. like

DAVE: yeah i gotta play vibraphone with jade KARKAT: DIDN’T YOU JUST SAY YOU HAD TO PLAY A SYNTHESIZER WITH HER AN HOUR AGO? WHAT THE FUCK DAVE: yeah but last weekend KARKAT: WHAT DAVE: i have to go to last weekend to play with her KARKAT: BUT YOU ALREADY DID? DAVE: dude i play more than one instrument DAVE: i was there last weekend beating the shit out of those drums and saw two other daves there on the moog and the vibraphone DAVE: and i was like guess im going to come back here at two different points in the future to play a moog and a vibraphone in this jam session DAVE: so thats what im doing

and they can have matching outfits like the dead shuffle dress and four aces suited. except the other daves might be wearing something different to differentiate them for dave’s own timeloop sake so he knows when the right time to go back is

jade on guitar, bass, woodwinds, and vocals. but wait, how can she do all of those at once? the two commissioned dirk for a new jadebot with a musical capabilities, but he just did it for free because theyre all trillionaires it wouldnt matter lol

normal jade by necessity must play vocals and woodwinds since jadebot doesnt have lungs. jadebot also has those extra arms and fingers like her dreambot once did so she’s better for stringed instruments anyway. jadebot can play guitar AND bass at the same time… WOW!!!! but if jade doesn’t need any woodwinds for a song she can have either a bass OR guitar and jadebot will play the other one. versatile band!

who wants to draw this

im still so happy dave and jade made awesome music together in canon…… they should start a band.

both of them can use synthesizers in canon (or at least DAWs) based on the music theyve made together

i can imagine jade having a good singing voice for some reason in addition to bass and guitar (she can upgrade to distortion with an amp too). and maybe she learns that damb flute with practice!!! i can also see her being a saxophonist too she just has those vibes

dave starts out with drum machine but i can imagine him learning drums and percussion themselves since he has such a good grasp of time. could probably do some cool improv jazz fuckshit. and he owns all the fx and mixing

#hs #davejade #my hs dialogues #they probably do some phish-like stuff?#the general notion is just they got instruments ideas and improvisation

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mahoushojoe · 3 years ago

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10. if you were a jounin team leader, who would you want as your genin?

hi lyn!!! also this is an interesting question thank you!!!!

naruto asks

i know everyone's gonna think my response is gonna kneejerk be neji, but actually no

i love neji but i'd have a really hard time irl tolerating his attitude so no. plus there's not much to teach him.

but i need a well rounded team and someone with a lot of potential, so maybe hinata, and then making her learn medicine ninjutsu bc it goes well with the byakugan. so with hinata, i'd have med-nin and taijutsu/close range covered. plus ofc her sight would come in handy as a scouting device/anti genjutsu mechanism. (realizing hinata could have been sooo overpowered)

next i need someone mid-range or versatile. in versatility i'd ask for tenten. she knows a lot of weapons so she's really versatile, plus later she learns fuiinjutsu and space-time ninjutsu, so that makes her a really flexible sort of fighter. generally i think she's underexploited.

finally i need a long range person. this leaves me with shino, shikamaru, kankuro, ino, and sai. i cant do insects so its a no for shino. ino's powers have a handicap that i think would be difficult for her prospective teammates to manage so no to that.

that leaves kankuro, shikamaru, and sai. it would be cool to see what can be achieved between kankuro and tenten, but i dont know why i just cant teach tenten to use puppets/chakra thread, since she already has a grasp of that sort of thing, so kankuro's redundant. sai would be great and useful but ultimately he's just not as expoitable as shikamaru. while shikamaru's attitude would be annoying to deal with, shikamaru has the long range shadow ninjutsu, PLUS he's a rational thinker to counter hinata and tenten's recklessness/lack of confidence. plus it would be fun to put him in an all girls team and see how his misogyny thing would work out. i think he'd have an interesting dynamic with tenten and hinata.

so yeah! clan inclinations aside, i think my team would be hinata, tenten, and shikamaru! i'd train them to have as many different skills as possible and their strategies would mostly rely on the specialized position they hold in the team. i'd REALLY milk the byakugan and shikamaru's shadow technique thing and i'd also push tenten more into space-time ninjutsu.

this ended up being a whole essay HSJDKDKSOISKDKS but its fun i enjoyed!!!! thank you for this really fun question hejdkdkfkskdks

#tenderlysizzlingfart #ask game

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idiocie · 4 years ago

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ᴀ ʜᴇɪꜱᴛ ᴄʀᴇᴡ? ᴡᴇʟʟ, ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ 'ᴇᴍ ᴜᴘ, tell me who we’re dealing with here. it’s hard to say, 𝙸𝚃'𝚂 𝙰 𝚂𝚃𝚁𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝙱𝚄𝙽𝙲𝙷. . .

JADE TAO. the graduation from master thief to criminal mastermind was inevitable despite her reluctance. with a bright and creative mind, jade has been changing up the grand larceny and confidence artistry game even as she was being brought up by the old world’s criminal legends. now, she is a pioneer in the latest thieving, conning, and intelligence gathering fields. she leads her carefully curated crew with a careful balance of caution and chaos. [ NOTHING EVER GOES TO PLAN ANYWAYS. ] in all senses of the word, jade is the head of this heist crew. her plans are often elaborate and layered; she engages the diverse talents of her crew and pushes the limits of what is generally considered impossible. she works off of gathered intelligence, advanced profiling, socioeconomic patterns, and the bending of laws ( both legal and natural ).

JACK. as a master confidence trickster, he has played every game there is to play, seen all there is to see, and still wants more. known for his relentlessly cheerful and upbeat energy, jack is an amiable man whose huge network of contacts reflects his friendliness. this is a man who enjoys his work along with every good and bad thing that comes with it. his oldest working relationship is with jade tao; they have known each other since they were infants and have been making trouble together since then. he operates as the jade’s right hand man on the crew. because he thrives in the midst of maddening dynamics and growing chaos, jack easily navigates the elaborate plans set before him, making sure that every small goal is hit and the crew remains on schedule. he often has a hand in the creation of these plans and remains the most versatile member of the crew ( moving seamlessly between helping lead, running several cons, spying, and hands - on labour ).

LUCILLE BAZIN. initially, lucille joined the crew as a part of a deal [ PROVE IT TO ME. give me a reason not to turn in right now. ] and only stayed after realizing what exactly it was that jade is attempting to do with her work. lucille’s education spans the fields of criminal law, criminal and moral philosophy, and abnormal psychology. a job which often gets written off as superfluous or unnecessary for a heist crew, both lucille and jade argue that having a person designated to looking after the moral and mental health of the crew is absolutely necessary. her analyses of crime patterns, criminal history, criminal profiles, and interpersonal dynamics are invaluable to not only jade, but the rest of the crew as they attempt to navigate whatever tasks they’ve been assigned. she is often found helming the central controls and coordinating communications during active jobs.

OLGA KOWALSKA. she, a woman who could hold the world and its future in the palm of her hand if she wanted to. she is the only child of an incredible and ancient business empire, brought up to lead, to innovate, and to disregard all worries about morality and sentimentality. what she honed, instead, was a mind of her own; and it is a brilliant one. although olga is only a MECHANICAL ENGINEER by formal education, her abilities reach far beyond that. she has spent her life surrounded by the whirring of magnificent machines and the latest technologies. quite the inventor herself, olga is happy to work with her old childhood friend as the crew’s quartermaster; she provides weaponry, special equipment, materials, and demolitions. anything that the crew may need, if she can’t acquire it herself, then she will find a way to assemble it anew. nowadays, she finds time between helping run the empire she will inevitably inherit to join in on the occasional job or con.

AMINA LAMARI - LABELLE. on paper, there’s nothing special about amina. she is exactly what you would expect of a former mercenary. [ highly trained in a combination of disciplines, deadly with a diversity of weapons, hard - hitting, brutal in execution, and a kill count so high it’d make you dizzy just reading it. ] but that’s the least of it. over the years, with every kill and contract done, amina realized it wasn’t enough to kill just for the sake of killing; the answers she wanted weren’t found in the bloodshed. she found those answers in love, in mercy, and in refining what it means to operate in the grey area. 𝙺𝙸𝙻𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝙿𝚄𝚁𝙿𝙾𝚂𝙴. amina is the crew’s weapons and combat expert, often protecting the others or performing physical takedowns during jobs that involve a high volume of militarized security or high likelihood of physical confrontations. she advises jade on combat strategy and the dossiers of other assassins or mercenaries.

NIKOLAS LABELLE. a man with no name, no face, no history; when you are as good of a spy as he used to be, there is no such thing as mere existence for you. he’d like to think the lines blurred so slowly that he never noticed, but there were no lines to begin with, were there? he operated like [ A GHOST, A PAWN, A PUPPET. ] anything they needed him to be, anything for the intel, anything to manipulate the reality of the world into whatever they wanted it to be. but he was a ghost with a memory outside of the loop, he was a pawn which had learn the ins - and - outs of the game, and he was a puppet who knew how to pull his own strings - and theirs. nikolas did not disappear right away, he stayed and he festered inside the system until it rotted apart from the inside - out. A NEW MAN, A WILDCARD: exactly what this crew needed. cunning yet good - hearted, his skill - set is varied and well - rounded, a master of reconnaissance and secrets, and he aids in running cons, providing back - up, and connecting discordant intelligence.

AVA J. MONDAY. being excommunicated from several universities worldwide and getting labelled a DANGEROUS AND AMORAL FUGITIVE OF NATURAL LAW freed up a lot of time for ava monday. as a result of this and additional funding from a mysterious benefactor, she has expanded her scientific expertise beyond the fields of biology, evolution theory, biochemistry, and botany which were her original areas of interest. although she was incredibly reluctant to give her name and number to jade ( and jade being equally reluctant to include her ) she couldn’t deny the curious and exciting work the mastermind had to offer. given that she is no stranger to activities which are not strictly speaking legal, ava often provides her knowledge and scientific know - how whenever scientific files, objects, situations arise and jade needs a reliable translation of the material. she also creates and advises on the effects and uses of certain sedatives, poisons, and bioweapons.

LIAM QUINN. a man who has so far lived a life marred in conspiracy, privilege, and drama, liam quinn had resolved to make a life of his own, something to be proud of and enjoy. he first turned to education, filling his head with the knowledge he thought most exquisite in this world: the liberal arts and history, the fine arts and mythology, the hidden arts and the occult. a savvy man, he was able to build a criminal enterprise based on the acquisition of rare and strange artifacts or information. for a long time, liam acted as a client, consultant, and fence for jade tao; eventually, he was in and around jade and her work so often that they figured it’d be best to bring him on officially. ALTHOUGH HE’D NEVER ADMIT IT, HE WOULDN’T’VE WANTED IT ANY OTHER WAY. liam’s criminal skills run towards the white collar sort. he continues to help move product, verifying the quality of artifacts and information, and occasionally throwing around his name and image to round out more difficult cons.

TALIBA. hers is a complicated story, beginning abruptly when she woke in a hospital bed without her memory. A BLANK SLATE. for years after waking up from a decade long coma, tali worked for a shadowy crime syndicate that has embedded itself in intelligence agencies worldwide. with an iq that is rumoured to be record - breaking, tali applied herself to computer engineering, advanced calculations and mathematics, and theories of probability. these talents are remnants from her old self, the only things carried over to her new self. when there was a small attack mounted against one of the smaller cells of the syndicate by jade tao and her crew, imagine her surprise when she learned that they had come specifically for her. known by the moniker [ MONUMENT ] she operates as the crew’s hacker, computer and communications expert, and resident mathematical genius.

#* DOSSIER [ . . . ] OUTSMART : the heist crew .#* note that the LaBelles and Tali are currently NPC status.#* otherwise - yes! here are how most of the muses on this blog are connected as team :D #long post *

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aftermathdb · 5 years ago

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DEATH BATTLE Review: Venom vs. Crona

Two on two that are within one! Who will win, who will lose?

Venom′s Preview.

We open on a history lesson, about the Klyntar. And how they were a peaceful race that kicked out a loser named Venom. Who went through a multitude of different hosts. From heroes, to villains, to… Deadpool.

And then the Symbiote met Spider-Man.

And, after a lot of adventures, Peter got rid of the thing because it was a creepy goop monster. After this, the Symbiote bonded with one Eddie Brock.

Whose life was screwed from the start.

Between an abusive dad that blamed him for his mother’s death, and having terminal cancer, the guy had nothing to lose and everything to gain by joining with the Symbiote.

Aside from the powerset he got from Spidey, the hosts go over his other abilities, like camouflage, shapeshifting, and 360° vision, and all that other stuff. We get into our first animated segment.

Now, to be fair, Wiz is kinda right.

After going over their feats, they go over his past a bit more.

After accidentally killing a kid after stealing his dad’s car, he was told to plead innocent, and rig the jury. So, he’s been carrying around that guilt ever since.

And on the road to redemption, Venom and his host have fought and gone through a lot of crazy things. From fighting off most of Spidey’s rogues gallery to tanking a sonic blast that shattered glass miles away.

And… Some really weird convoluted comic book bullshit.

After fighting the Symbiote God that tried to turn them all into living weapons, Venom has proven himself a hero in his own right. Even teaming up with Spider-Man on occasion.

Sure, he’s always hungry for brains, but with Eddie’s influence, he’d rather bite the head off of a criminal than an innocent.

Crona′s Preview.

The hosts open up on the history of the world of Soul Eater, which, for those of you unfamiliar, is very… weird. Death is a goofy-looking dude who opened a school where warriors trained to stop evil.

Of the many characters, Crona Gorgon… Was not one of them.

Crona basically had your typical power-hungry abusive mother, who basically tried turning the poor kid into a living weapon… And by living weapon, I don’t mean the ones that actually turn into weapons, I mean the… uncomfortable kind.

Crona’s weapon is Ragnarok (Which I have now recently realized I misspelled numerous times in the captions, so… Apologies).

With all that power at their finngertips, Crona and Ragnarok became a formidable team. And that leads into the animated segment.

And after going over some bonuses of how the powerset works, what with the whole “eating souls” thing, we go into even more powers. Specifically, of the Black Blood.

From being able to project Madness onto others, to shapeshifting, to all sorts of sonic attacks, Crona has some major firepower under their metaphorical belt.

In addition, they go over how Crona has gone up against plenty of Death Academy students like Death the Kid, Maka, and Black☆Star (And for those of you wondering, yes, the star in his name is the official spelling.

Now, Death the Kid could reach supersonic speeds, and Black☆Star is eveen faster.

Since Crona can keep up, this means that they’re in the same ballpark of speed.

And all that Black Blood is also really damn powerful and plentiful.

It could cover this entire city, given similar comparisons to other similar cities in the area, that’s nearly 10,000,000,000,000 tons of Mad Blood.

Thankfully, through the power of friendship and good feelings, Crona ended up saving the world. And made a new kind of Madness that… made everyone obsessed with boobs.

The Battle Itself.

Luis is lead on this fight. Venom will be reprised by Adam Wennick, Crona will be voiced by Sarah Anne Williams, and Ragnarok will be voiced by John Van Doren. “Madness Envenom” by Brandon, and audio led by Chris Kokkinos.

We open on a church, where there’s a single person praying before Crona comes in.

Now, I gotta say: Mad props to the animator who is working on Ragnarok, that is some quality movement. You can’t tell because this is a screenshot, but the animation on Ragnarok is pretty fluid.

Anyways, it turns out the person who was there first was Eddie. And, in true Season Seven fashion, the fight starts because of food. Because why not?

After a very brief back and forth, Venom manages to trap Crona.

But, they’re a tough cookie, and they manage to blast away and make some distance.

Now, this being a sound attack, it deals some significant damage to Venom.

I am so glad I managed to pause it here. This is an epic shot.

And I guess Luis was watching some Jojo, because we get a punch clash.

Venom manages to get by, and camouflages to get the drop on them.

Five Nights at Venom’s.

Venom manages to get in a hit, but the Black Blood is a bit too tough for Venom to beat.

Fitting for a Halloween episode, there’s blood everywhere.

Anyways, the fight takes to the skies, where neither seems to have a specific advantage… Aside from Crona managing to get in a few more licks in and block more hits than Venom.

Crona manages to take the fight back into the church.

Five Nights at Crona’s.

Venom decides to boast one more time before, uh, well…

Yeah, finishing blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Verdict + Explanation.

Anyways, Boomstick makes our second Lucy vs. Carnage callback.

Now, Wiz notes that the only advantage Venom had was shapeshifting, camouflage, and weapon versatility. That’s literally it. Venom was screwed everywhere else.

Crona could match Black☆Star, who could get to Mach 9000.

Compared to Venom matching Spidey 2099, who only has Mach 2000, that’s a pretty clear speed difference.

Strength was another. Venom hasn’t displayed anything comparable to Crona opening the Moon’s mouth.

And really, with the Black Blood, Venom couldn’t pull any puppeteering tricks.

Now, the big one: Could Venom survive Crona’s sonic attacks?

Now, the sonic attack that nearly killed him that shattered glass miles away is a good high point to gauge. That clocks in at about 244 dB. Crona’s feat of covering the moon clocks in at 275dB.

And if you remember anything from Black Canary vs. Sindel, sound changes on the logarithmic scale. So Crona’s attack was over a thousand times more powerful than the blast Venom barely survived.

Overall impression.

Magento vs. Robot Man anyone?- I mean… That’s the impression this episode gave me. Like… I know that Ben was largely unfamiliar with Soul Eater going in, and I can assume that the same can be applied to a few of the other team members, but… really? Why not pit Robotboy against EMP Man? How about seeing who wins between Sandman and Juvia? The only way this can feel like it wasn’t “My Weakness is Sound man” vs. “Has Sound as an Explicit Weapon Person” is if the big question was “Could Venom survive Crona’s sonic attack?” They don’t put much emphasis on it, so it feels like they knew going in that Crona would utterly destroy Venom. And while I’m not inherently against fights that are basically stomps (Hell, I still enjoy Flash vs. Quicksilver), they really should have put more emphasis on that question if they didn’t want it to feel like it was one-sided.

I’m happy that Soul Eater is getting some rep before the inevitable Ruby vs. Maka fight (Uh, more money on Maka please), but I was honestly expecting Black☆Star to make it in before Crona. And even then, I would have thought that they would do something more creative than “Black Goopy buddies that bonded with a human host”

I tend to rag more on matchups than I do on animation, and I’ll be real: The animation is still good. Ragnarok is well-done, and they definitely landed the creepy factor quite well.

My own first viewing was a bit tainted because my own mother demanded that I not spend time for myself and instead sit at a table listening to her and my dad talk about whatever, so my own feelings are a bit skewed because I had to watch this in a rush. Just a little disclaimer.

8.7/10

Next Time…

Speaking of ragging on matchups…

Can anyone vouch for having wanted this? Or, failing that, can anyone vouch for having seen this as a suggestion in the comments section?

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

Red vs. Red… Blue vs. Blue… It’s I against I, and me against you…

#Death Battle #Deathbattle #review

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themalhambird · 6 years ago

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Fanfic asks, multiples of 3?

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

I’ve never written reader inserts, so OC’s. I don’t tend to like reading reader inserts because they just feel unnatural to me.

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

I have two versions of the same multi-chapter fic that I really wish I could erase from existence because I’m never going to finish it—I’ve lost interest in the fandom.

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

It’s not my favourite, as such, but that bit in Richard Suffers Chapter fifteen when Exton tells Edward what he’s done to Richard was the most intense thing I have ever written and I’m glad I decided to include it because I very nearly didn’t.

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?

Richard. He’s very versatile and he goes through the wringer so well…

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?

Oh god, naming. I HATE NAMING. I CANNOT DO IT. Names just sort of…spring up and fit and this is giving me problems at the moment because the OCs for my novel all have names like Richard, Edward, and Henry and I feel like I’m just writing really OOC fanfiction in a fantasy au.

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

The two I talked about earlier- basically, when I started writing them, the fandom was really small and I was getting basically no feedback, it just…didn’t feel worth the effort. Plus, I had exams and stuff going on. And then…I stopped writing, and lost interest in the fandom concerned, and now that fandom’s getting bigger I just…still can’t bring myself to care. And I mean there are more, way more- my original work about a couple of gay regency naval officers that I gave up on because it was too much research, stuff I abandoned because it got overly complex or I wrote myself in to a corner. If it spans more than one chapter, I’m more likely to abandon it than not.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

You, @nuigiliath , @shredsandpatches : the amount of historical accuracy and detail that does in to all your fics is really impressive and the kind of thing I want to get better at doing myself….

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?

Okay, so. Here’s the thing. Theoretically, it’s fine, I quite enjoy it. In practice…I have to be in a very specific mood. And then…the moment I read it back after it’s been posted a while I am very embarrassed by it the quality seems very very bad and awkward (this may also have something to do with the fact that feedback for smut fic is lot lower than for any other kind…)

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

There’s a general outline that exists for two seconds and then is tossed aside. I’m awful at planning. I’m too impatient…

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Nope.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

The general outraged “noooooooooo poor baby” I generated with Richard Sufffers. I LOVED IT.

36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s?

For the novel which I’m thinking about starting: if you’re going to attempt to smother your boyfriend’s legitimate child, make sure your boyfriend’s wife doesn’t walk in- it’s a sure way to ruin the friendship that was kind of springing up between you.

39) Do you prefer first, second or third person?

Third. Every time. I can barely stand to read first person, let alone write in it.

42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx.

I don’t do song fics, I’m not really that into music generally.

45) What spurs you on during the writing process?

Attention. Richard Suffers TM was essentially a month long high. Write a chapter. Get feedback. Feel happy. Write another chapter, get more feedback. Start writing even more quickly, get two chapters out in a day get even more feedback and also people being impressed about the speed of your writing….this has its downsides, of course: Richard Suffers was, at the end of it, a rush job that could have been far more effective if I’d taken my time, hence my plans for an extensive rewrite. The other problem is that this gives me very little motivation to write my own original stuff: no existing fandom to impress and anyway I don’t want the whole thing posted on line if I’m going to publish it….I might have to give NaNoWriMo another go this year…

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

Idk…I’m currently enjoying inverting the “there’s only one bed” trope in puppet king! AU, where the fact that Henry and Richard end up in the same bed drives them further apart rather than getting them together, but I don’t know if that counts or not.

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wannabealexjenningscoffee · 7 years ago

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From Alan Bennett to Unforgotten: how Alex Jennings became the most chilling man on TV

“Next time, spare us the Hannibal Lecter schtick.” So said DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) to killer GP Tim Finch (Alex Jennings) in Sunday night’s finale of the superior ITV whodunit Unforgotten.

It wasn’t just one of the most memorable lines of a mesmerising series but also an apt comparison. This was a doctor who had abused his position of trust; a manipulative multiple murderer who displayed the cold-blooded cruelty of a sociopath; who spooked viewers and on-screen adversaries alike as he sat in prison-issue clothes, calmly detailing his sickening crimes, a sly smile of satisfaction playing across his lips.

It’s testament to Jennings’ chillingly charismatic turn that he bore comparison to Anthony Hopkins' Oscar -winning big-screen bogeyman. And all the more impressive that Jennings conveyed Finch’s unsettling secrets without any scenery-chomping histrionics or even on-screen violence. This was a slow-burning performance of rare subtlety. One of a group of four old schoolmates who’d rented a country cottage for Millennium Eve, Finch initially seemed the least likely suspect to have murdered local teen Hayley Reid, then buried her body under the central reservation of the M1. Predatory TV presenter James Hollis (Kevin McNally), swindling salesman Pete Carr (Neil Morrissey) or homeless, bipolar artist Chris Lowe (James Fleet) all behaved more erratically and looked better bets.

As the six-part drama unfolded, though, Jennings’ sinister creation gradually moved front and centre. We heard how Finch had violently threatened an elderly patient. His traumatised first wife Derran (Siobhan Redmond) insisted he’d mentally, physically and sexually abused her, with the Polaroids to partially prove it.

His daughter Emma (Jo Herbert) began to realise her father wasn’t as even-tempered as he appeared. His meek, mousy second wife Carol (Amanda Root) was in denial yet knew deep down that something was badly amiss. Finch was arrested on suspicion of murder in the penultimate episode but Sunday’s finale delivered a queasy twist. The “trophies” found in his cellar - a pair of knickers, a scrunchie and a necklace - didn’t belong to Hayley Reid as detectives had assumed, but to another, earlier missing girl.

In hypnotically intense police interview scenes, Finch impassively confessed to more murders - on the gloriously prosaic proviso that he got a cup of tea first. By the time the credits rolled, we knew he was a serial killer who had claimed at least five adolescent female victims, probably many more. His horrifying lack of remorse even contributed to heroine DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) taking a sabbatical from the force. From his self-contained body language to the unconvincing way he called people “mate”, from his rural leisurewear to his reptilian movements, at first Finch’s villainy was hard for viewers to put their finger on. He just felt... not quite right. With his 6ft 2in frame, dancing blue eyes and enigmatic smirk, Jennings eventually revealed the true monster beneath the Barbour jacket and false bonhomie. Showing Lecter-like levels of self-regard, Finch was quick to point out the difference between paedophilia and hebephilia. He took time out to discuss the nature vs nurture debate. “I’m pretty much a textbook psychopath,” he confessed, barely batting an eyelid. “Above average intelligence, superficially charming, zero empathy.” Brrrrr. Don’t have nightmares.

Unforgotten was Jennings’ second show-stealing TV performance so far this year. He had already attracted rave notices in the BBC’s hugely entertaining dramatisation of the Jeremy Thorpe affair, A Very English Scandal As Liberal MP Peter Bessell, confidante and right-hand man to Hugh Grant’s rakish Thorpe, Jennings had one eyebrow permanently raised in amusement at his leader’s antics. Jennings was wonderfully wry as the womaniser, chancer and closeted homosexual who ultimately testified against his friend at trial - only to be castigated for having already sold his story to The Sunday Telegraph.

Coincidentally enough, it was in Grant’s defining role that Jennings himself almost found film stardom. He was originally cast in the lead role of hapless Charles in Four Weddings And A Funeral, only for financing to fall through. By the time the production got back on track, the goalposts had moved. “Bugger,” as Charles would doubtless say. Before this breakout year, 61-year-old Jennings was best known for roles as real-life royals. He has played both Richard II and George III. Opposite Helen Mirren in 2006 film The Queen, he gave an unexpectedly empathetic portrayal of Prince Charles. More recently, he stole scenes as the side-burned, scheming Leopold I of Belgium in ITV’s lavish costume romp Victoria.

This arrived on our screens at the same time as his excellently oily, embittered turn as David, Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) in hit Netflix epic The Crown . Like the rest of The Crown’s roles, Jennings’ part has now been recast with an older actor and admits he “won’t like” watching his replacement. “I was attracted to Unforgotten partly because it meant not playing a member of the royal family,” he cheerfully says. “And wearing modern clothes, which I never do. I had to de-posh myself. I’m not posh at all, actually, but I’ve sort of acquired this poshness as the years have gone on. And I have done a lot of posh.” Born in Essex and an alumnus of his local comprehensive in Hornchurch, Jennings is indeed no toff. Instead, he does actual acting. He mastered the Leeds accent to portray playwright Alan Bennett in 2015 film The Lady In The Van, opposite Maggie Smith in the title role. “I grew up revering Maggie and Alan,” he says. “I have to pinch myself that we’ve become friends.”

Three years earlier, he played the writer on-stage in Untold Stories, based on Bennett’s childhood. “Alan was on at me not to be too plaintive or cosy,” Jennings recalls. “He doesn’t want to be seen as the sort of Wind in the Willows, moley kind of person some people think he is. He wanted me to be tougher with it.” Lady In The Van director Nicholas Hytner, with whom Jennings has a longtime collaborative relationship, ranks Jennings among the pre-eminent actors of his generation and has hailed him as “a John Gielgud for the 21st century”.

With his greying curls, care-worn features and subversive twinkle, Jennings has a face that lends itself perfectly to period roles. He has also inhabited other real-life figures, including former US president George Bush Nazi architect Albert Speer, Dad’s Army actor John Le Mesurier and composer Benjamin Britten. He has said the key to playing such roles is to act, not impersonate becaue the characters “mustn’t become Spitting Image puppets”. Before the screen royals and rogues, Jennings enjoyed a stage career remarkable for both its versatility and success. A revered regular with both the RSC and the National Theatre, he’s a three-time Olivier Award winner for Too Clever By Half, Peer Gynt and My Fair Lady, making him the only actor to have won in the drama, musical and comedy categories.

Whether it’s on-stage or in supporting screen roles, Alex Jennings has spent more than three decades being consistently brilliant. He has earned this late-life flowering as one of our most compellingly creepy TV actors. Let’s hope that Unforgotten’s Doctor Death is just the latest in a long line of meaty parts to get his teeth into. And on that thought, we’re back to Hannibal Lecter again...

Credit: By Michael Hogan 2018 Telegraph.co.uk; London

#alex jennings #unforgotten s3 #unforgotten #interviews #uk actors #british actors

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utilitymonstergirl · 5 years ago

Text

Answering lewd asks from my main blog (Part 3)

Anon - KM: tentacles, on you, your partner(s), or both

I’ve never felt much thrill for tentacles themselves, but tentadicks are cute and I’d be willing to give it a try, since I suspect the appeal is in the sheer versatility

Anon - lifelong relationship with two people conducted solely over text except one of them is actually a computer trying to convince you that it's a human and it's your goal to sort out which is which?

As stated, this doesn’t really do anything for me, but I like the idea of dating someone who I’m genuinely not sure is a human or AI, and if their physical form is an autonomous human, a puppet, or a hired body double (And bonus points if they compellingly try to convince me that I’m the AI)

Anon - kink meme: public sex is legalized. either you have public sex sometimes or if you don't want to you get to see others fucking sometimes

As I’ve said before, I like this premise, especially if it’s 100% fine in some areas and surrounded by weird, opaque social rules in others

Anon - what do you think about mpreg

Doesn’t really do anything for me, pregnancy itself can be hot but it has to do a lot with the geometry of the breasts and belly all together, and also the lack of a vagina just distracts me with very troubling questions

@veequoi - Mind control?

It’s not really one of my favorites, but I love a well-written mind-control story where it’s not tension-ruiningly perfect, it can’t completely negate someone’s sense of wrongness, but it’s an elaborate cat-and-mouse game

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holytheoristtastemaker · 5 years ago

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Having some self-hosted services and tools can make your life as a developer, and your life in general, much easier. I will share some of my favorites in this post. I use these for just about every project I make and they really make my life easier.

All of this, except OpenFaaS, is hosted on a single VPS with 2 CPU cores, 8GB of RAM and 80GB SSD with plenty of capacity to spare.

Huginn

Huginn is an application for building automated agents. You can think of it like a self hosted version of Zapier. To understand Huginn you have to understand two concepts: Agens and Events. An Agent is a thing that will do something. Some Agents will scrape a website while others post a message to Slack. The second concept is an Event. Agents emit Events and Agents can also receive Events.

As an example you can have a Huginn agent check the local weather, then pass that along as an event to another agent which checks if it is going to rain. If it is going to rain the rain checker agent will pass the event along, otherwise it will be discarded. A third agent will receive an event from the second agent and then it will send a text message to your phone telling you that it is going to rain.

This is barely scratching the surface of what Huginn can do though. It has agents for everything: Sending email, posting to slack, IoT support with MQTT, website APIs, scrapers, and much more. You can have agents which receive inputs from custom web hooks and cron-like agents which schedules other agents and so on.

The Huginn interface

Huginn is a Ruby on Rails application and can be hosted in Docker. I host mine on Dokku. I use it for so many things and it is truly the base of all my automation needs. Highly recommended! If you are looking for alternatives then you can take a look at Node-RED and Beehive. I don't have personal experience with either though.

Huginn uses about 350MB of RAM on my server, including the database and the background workers.

Thumbor

Thumbor is a self-hosted image proxy like Imgix. It can do all sorts of things with a single image URL. Some examples:

Simple caching proxy

Take the URL and put your Thumbor URL in front like so: https://thumbs.mskog.com/https://images.pexels.com/photos/4048182/pexels-photo-4048182.jpeg

Simple enough. Now you have a version of the image hosted on your proxy. This is handy for example when you don't want to hammer the origin servers with requests when linking to the image.

Resizing

That image is much too large. Lets make it smaller! https://thumbs.mskog.com/800x600/https://images.pexels.com/photos/4048182/pexels-photo-4048182.jpeg

Much smaller. Note that all we had to do is add the desired format.

Resizing to specific height or width

What about a specific width while keeping the aspect ratio? No problem! https://thumbs.mskog.com/300x/https://images.pexels.com/photos/4048182/pexels-photo-4048182.jpeg

Quality

Smaller file size? https://thumbs.mskog.com/1920x/filters:quality(10)/https://images.pexels.com/photos/4048182/pexels-photo-4048182.jpeg

You get the idea! Thumbor also has a bunch of other filters like making the image black and white, changing the format and so on. It is very versatile and is useful in more scenarios then I can count. I use it for all my images in all my applications. Thumbor also has client libraries for a lot of languages such as Node.

Thumbor is a Python application and is most easily hosted using Docker. There are a number of great projects on Github that have Docker compose setups for Docker. I use this one. It comes with a built-in Nginx proxy for caching. All the images will be served through an Nginx cache, both on disk and in memory by default. This means that only the first request for an image will hit Thumbor itself. Any requests after that will only hit the Nginx cache and will thus be very fast.

To make it even faster you can deploy a CDN in front of your Thumbor server. If your site is on Cloudflare you can use theirs for free. Just keep in mind that Cloudflare will not be happy if you just use their CDN to cache a very large number of big images. You can of course use any other CDN like Cloudfront. My entire Thumbor stack takes up about 200MB of RAM.

In conclusion I think that Thumbor is a vital part of my self hosted stack and I use it every single time I need to show images on any website or app. Once you have this working properly you never have to worry about image formatting ever again since the Thumbor is always there.

Hosted alternatives to Thumbor: Imgix, Cloudinary Self hosted alternatives: Imaginary, Imageflow

Searx

Searx is a self hosted metasearch engine. It will strip any identifying headers and such from your searches and then it will use one or many search engines to run your query. It can search on for example Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo. What makes Searx great as a self hosted service is that it has a simple JSON api. Simply tell it to use JSON and your query will be returned as JSON. This will enable some pretty neat combinations, but more of that later. It can also search for images, music, news and more.

Searx in action

This is another killer service. The JSON formatting is what really sells it for me since it can be combined with other services in lots of different ways.

Searx is another Python app and is easily hosted through the use of the official Docker image. It uses about 230MB of RAM on my server.

InfluxDB + Telegraf + Grafana

InfluxDB is a time series database. It is built to receive time based event data from sensors, servers and so on. For example it is very good at things like storing CPU load data every 5 seconds. It also has built-in ways to makes sure it doesn't fill the disk with all this data and much more. There are client libraries for most languages as well as a very simple HTTP API for adding data. It goes very well together with Huginn where you can create agents to poll data from somewhere and then use the HTTP API in InfluxDB and a Post Agent to store it . There will be examples of this later on!

Telegraf is a service that will collect data about your server and send it to InfluxDB. It can also send the data to other databases and such but for this we use InfluxDB. It can collect just about any data about a server that you want, include statistics from Docker containers. It has a very simple out of the box configuration that you can tweak if you wish. I install it on all my machines to send data to InfluxDB, including my at-home NAS.

Grafana is a graphing, analytics, and monitoring tool. It can graph the data from many different sources including InfluxDB, AWS Cloudwatch and PostgreSQL. It also has alerting capabilities for Slack for example. It is a delight to use and you will quickly be able to create some very nice looking graphs of your data. You need to be careful though because I find that it is very addicting to graph all your things.

A Grafana dashboard for server monitoring

There are many Docker setups for this stack that you can find on Github, so hosting this is easy.

Grafana is truly delightful to work with and it is probably the slickest graphing tool I've ever used and it can easily be compared to commercial projects like Datadog.

Docker Registry

This is a simple one but oh so useful. It is good to have a place to store your own Docker images and this is what you need. You can use Docker Hub for this but private images cost about $7 a month. It is however very easy to host your own registry. A Docker registry is a requirement to be able to use OpenFaaS.

Ghost CMS

Ghost is an open source publishing and blogging platform. It was originally kind of a replacement for Wordpress but it has since grown to be something more. I use it as a headless CMS for this blog as well as other websites. It has a great GraphQL and REST API that you can use to pull your articles and pages out to use in a static site or show on another website. I have another article about how my blog works with this if you want to know more.

The Ghost editor while typing this

Ghost has a great editor that makes it very easy to include Twitter posts, images, Spotify links, and so on. It is also hosted on your server so you can write from anywhere. You don't have to deal with markdown files if you don't want to and I find it to be a delight to use and write in.

OpenFaaS

OpenFaaS is self-hosted functions-as-a-service aka serverless. I have another article about OpenFaaS so I won't go into too much detail here. You can use OpenFaaS to easily deploy functions in any programming language without having to setup a microservice. Also, I understand the irony of self-hosting a serverless setup, but it is a strange world we live in so just go with it.

It is very useful for a number of tools and combinations. I have a number of these functions and here are some examples:

Readability

Python function that uses the newspaper3k library to pull out metadata and the article content from any URL. I use it to render snippets from articles, prepare for sentiment analysis, and things like that.

Puppeteer renderer

Sometimes websites will not work at all without Javascript or they have systems in place to prevent scraping and interacting with the sites automatically. Rotten Tomatoes is such a site that will fight back against any automation attempts. Enter Puppeteer, the headless Chrome API. This function simply takes a URL, renders the page with Javascript and returns the resulting body. This is then ready for processing in a scraper for example using Huginn. There will be examples of how to use this later with Huginn later so stick around if you're interested in that.

OpenFaaS is hosted on its own server because that made sense to me. It is a tiny little thing though and doesn't use much resources at all.

Combinations

This is where we unlock the real magic of having all these things. You can combine these in clever ways to create something really neat. Here are some examples to get you started:

OpenFaaS+Searx = First image

This is a combination that I really like. Create a function in OpenFaaS in any language of your choice, I used Javascript, that will search for the given query in Searx, making sure to return the result as JSON. Then parse the results in the OpenFaaS function and return the URL for the first image result.

You now have a function that you can call with any query and it will return the first image result. This is useful in a number of different ways. You can for example search for bryan cranston site:wikipedia.org to get a good image of actor Bryan Cranston. Now you can use some cool Thumbor filters and such to process the image if you want!

Suggestions for improvements: Add more functionality to the OpenFaaS function. For example you can add probe-image-size to your function. You can now reject images which are too small for example.

OpenFaaS+Huginn+Trello = Movie recommendations

This is a simple one which adds movie recommendations to my Trello inbox daily. Steps to create:

Add a Website Agent to Huginn. Use the URL for the Rotten Tomatoes front page and add the OpenFaaS Puppeteer function to render that URL with Javascript enabled. Scrape the section with new movies.

(Optional) Create a Trigger Agent in Huginn to select movies with a minimum score. Perhaps you want only the movies which have a score of 80 or better in your inbox.

Add a Post Agent to Huginn that will post the movie names to your Trello inbox using the Trello API.

Suggestions for improvements: Add another step that will also link to the IMDB page for the movie. You can use Searx for this. Simple search for the movie like so: "fried green tomatoes" site:imdb.com

RescueTime+Huginn+InfluxDB+Grafana = Productivity graph

RescueTime is automatic time tracking software. It keeps track of what you do on your computer and will tell you when you are being productive and when you are slacking off on Reddit. You can use a Web Site Agent in Huginn to access your productivity data on RescueTime. You can then use a Post Agent to add this data to InfluxDB. Finally you can graph it using Grafana. I use something similar to get data about our hot water bill and such. Once you have Huginn and InfluxDB you can graph almost anything.

Huginn+Slack = Notifications center

If you're like me and you have a lot of notifications then you might want to use Huginn to sort these out. Instead of interfacing directly with Slack or whatever notification system you use, you can instead use a Webhook Agent in Huginn to create an API endpoint. Post your notifications to this endpoint. You can then use for example a Slack Agent to post the notifications to Slack.

What is the point of this then? Well, you can very easily change to using something else than Slack for your notifications without changing it on every site that creates them. Perhaps you want to delay some notifications? You can do that with a Delay Agent in Huginn. Perhaps some notifications should go to Trello instead of Slack? No problem using Huginn. You can even use a Digest Agent to group low level notifications and send them all at once by email or something. Don't forget that you can also graph all of this using Grafana.

Conclusion

This is by no means an exhaustive list of things you can self host to make your life easier as a developer. Do you have any favorites that I've missed? Please reply in the comments below

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