#and i wanted to do something fun/different with it! stats and notes are all based off PTC's knowledge and evaluation of each of them

[limesquares]

Persons of interest involved in a recent security breach incident. .Version1.1_2025_Update.

[destinationtoast]

Toastystats: Halloween fanworks!

So the thing is, I get to Blaze one post per month by virtue of having Tumblr Premium. And (while I have enjoyed Blazing pictures of my cats in the past) I thought perhaps this month people might enjoy some Halloween fandom stats + fic lists? So I threw something together. First, the stats:

Less that 1% of AO3 fanworks use the "Halloween" tag (or a subtag like "Happy Halloween" -- only 0.32%, in fact. But I found some big fandoms (10K+ works) that use a substantially higher-than-average rate of Halloweenery. (I couldn't look through every fandom on AO3, but I did look through all the fandoms with 10K+ fanworks as of January 2024. Note that some fandoms may write about Halloween a bunch without tagging it, and those aren't be captured here.)

Fall Out Boy leads the pack among these big fandoms, with nearly 1% of its fanworks using the "Halloween" tag or a subtag (0.93%). (I'd be curious to hear theories about why!) Some of the other fandoms shown above have a natural element of spookiness or horror (e.g., IT, Stranger Things), but many do not. The longer list is here. (These stats are based on pretty small numbers, btw, so please don't take these rankings too seriously. This is just a bit of fun.)

I also thought people might want to read some Halloween-themed fics from each of the above top 25 fandoms, so I highlighted works from each fandom that were complete and highly kudosed. If you're curious, the list includes this sort of info:

And I thought people might also appreciate Halloween-themed fics for different relationship categories (F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other, xReader). Here's a screenshot of some of the fics in the relationship category list, if you're curious:

More information about how I created these lists below the cut.

Before we get there, could I interest you in taking a quick poll, since I am Blazing this post and curious about the audience Blaze reaches? Thanks -- and happy Halloween season! :)

The construction of these lists was definitely not an exact science. For each fandom or relationship category, I filtered to only show works with the "Halloween" tag. I then looked for complete fics in each fandom that appeared to actually be about Halloween or a spooky topic (based on their summary and/or a quick text search), and had a lot of kudos. (I didn't actually read these fanworks myself, though.) I also tried to diversify and make sure that each category included a variety of ships/fandoms. I ruled out collections of one-shots and things that appeared to be part of a long series such that they couldn't be read as a standalone. I also ruled out things that looked like incredible bummers, and honestly a few things that had major grammatical errors in the summaries.

But I linked to more in each case, so you don't have to visit the example fics I highlighted -- you can explore more on your own!

Also -- I did a lot of copy/pasting, and there may be errors in here. Feel free to let me know if you find any. Thanks, and enjoy!

[sinofwriting]

Figlia Mia - Charles Leclerc

Words: 6,231 Summary: When she had met Charles Leclerc for the first time in 2017, she watched as her grandfather gave him the impossible task of restoring Ferrari’s greatness and her the task of making sure he does so. Note(s): This was a lot of fun to write. I got to do a lot of digging into Ferrari’s history in motorsports and F1, and make sure that the changes I made to the history of Ferrari made some sense. I also got to reignite my love for stats and things. I spent a lot of time looking at different circuit stats (which will be relevant in the second part of this fic) and just driver stats. Used a translator for the Italian but not google translate. Also, I shouldn’t have to say this but: How I write the drivers in these fics is not based on my feelings for them, it is just what I need them to be. So, please don’t send me hate because your favorite driver says or acts or is regarded in a certain way. Thanks! Hope you like this!

Masterlist | Support Me! | Part Two

Figlia mia - my daughter stella - star

2017

She eyes her grandfather wearily. He had called her home early from her classes and she had rushed home to Maranello.

“Nonno, what is the matter?” His gaze turns to her and he smiles, the solemn look on his face gone as he sees her. “My stella. You are back home.” His accent is thick as it wraps around the English words, always willing to indulge her. She sighs, leaning down to hug him. “You called me back. Did something happen?” He shakes his head, patting her hand when she straightens. “No, I have a meeting that I want you to attend with me.” She frowns. “It is late in the season for a meeting. Did Vettel or Räikkönen break contract?” “No. It’s for the team, but more of a future prospect.” Her frown deepens. “If it’s Hamilton, he won’t leave Mercedes and you shouldn’t entertain him, Nonno. You only have so much energy.” “I don’t want to take him from Mercedes. He wouldn’t be able to win with us anyways.” He groans as he thinks of how long it’s been since his team has won, and has achieved the greatness they are supposed to. “I just want your opinion, they should be here any minute.”

An uneasiness sits heavy in her stomach at how cryptic he’s being with her, something he never is, but she sits in the chair beside him. Taking his hand in both of hers and breathing a sigh of relief at the strongness still in his hands, no shakiness to be found. He was in good health, she reminded herself as they waited. He hadn’t even had a cold for three years, but still her mind worries.

“Mr. Enzo, Stella, your guests have arrived.” Anita’s voice says through the intercom. He presses the button to talk. “Please have Andrea get them and bring them back and tell him to stay as well.” “Andrea is here?” He hums, “I asked him to come. I have an idea.” She doesn’t say anything else to that and keeps quiet as she waits for whoever to arrive.

There’s a slight relief in it not being either Vettel or Räikkönen, she wasn’t keen to meet them for the first time right now, not when she had rushed home. She also didn’t want her grandfather meeting them now for the first time, so late in the year where he could catch an illness.

A knock sounds on the wooden door and she turns her head to look at it. Releasing her grandfather's hand from hers and moving to stand behind his chair. Her normal position in such meetings.

“Enter.” He calls and the door opens. “Signor.” Andrea greets, as he steps into the room, two, or rather one man and one boy following behind him with wide eyes. “I have your guests.” “Please sit, the three of you.” He tells them and they all quickly do.

Her eyes narrow as she recognises the familiar face of the man who is currently running the Ferrari Driver Academy and the just familiar face of the current F2 champion. The sight makes her want to lean down, to question why a F2 driver of all people is being allowed to meet her grandfather. A luxury he hasn’t afforded a single F1 driver since her father died other than Michael Schumacher. And even then he had won a championship first with them. But such a thing isn’t not her place, especially in front of guests, so she keeps quiet as her grandfather does as well, clearly waiting them out, letting the tension in the room build.

“Charles Leclerc.” Her grandfather says and the boy practically jumps. “You started winning in karting before you were even ten in 2005 and never stopped. A second place in Alps, then fourth in the European F3.” She watches as he winces at the reminder of what he clearly views as failures. “But you won your first year of GP3 and now have won F2. Truly impressive.” His eyes are still wide and they dart to the left before returning. “Thank you, Signor.” Her eyebrows raise at the way the Italian term leaves his mouth. He clearly had invested time in his Italian lessons. “Don’t thank me. You’ve done well for yourself. And now you have an F1 seat.” Her eyes darted to Andrea, “Nonno.” She hisses, stepping forward. “Andrea has signed the appropriate NDA’s and contracts, stella. There is no need for your worry.” This meeting seemed to be nothing but worrying for her. And suddenly the employment contract she had seen in her inbox for Andrea makes all the sense, especially since it had been sent to her directly, not cc'd.

“You will be joining Sauber this coming season. Are you ready?” “I hope and believe I am.” “And you have a team? A trainer, your own PR manager? A assistant?” Charles shakes his head, cheeks red. “I’m afraid not. I only signed the contract two days ago. I haven’t made arrangements.” “And your plans for the 2019 season? Still at Sauber?” “I only signed a one year contract with them. So I hope to stay with them if I can.” He hums and the tone if it tells her everything she needs to know and it takes everything in her to not show the horror she’s feeling. “There will be a spot open at Ferrari for the 2019 season. Show me you can handle an F1 car and perhaps it will be yours.” The three sitting opposite stare at him with wide eyes and Charles’ mouth is open, jaw dropped. “And Andrea will be your trainer. I have a good feeling about you Charles Leclerc, prove me right.” He then nods his head towards the door and the three scramble to stand and leave with rushed goodbyes.

She stands behind him for a moment before walking around the desk and flopping down in one of the seats.

“That boy is going to get destroyed.” “He is a boy to me. Barely a year younger than you, I believe.” She scoffs, “please, nonno. You have just put the biggest weight on his shoulders. Prove to me? And what if he speaks of this? Of getting to meet the great Enzo Ferrari when the man doesn’t leave his house and hasn’t met any drivers or even team principals in person since Schumacher.” “Then you will handle it, I suppose. And I will be proven wrong about the boy since he had to sign an NDA. Not a word of this meeting or this trip to Italy.” “And if people ask about Andrea? How they met? How he came to work with him?” “The academy put them in contact together. And no one will think anything of it. He is too distantly related to think that we have anything to do with it. Nor has he ever spoken of us.” His eyes soften as he really looks at her. “Everything will be fine, stella. I have a good feeling about this one.” She looks at him, worries still sitting heavy in her stomach, horror too, because god what if her grandfather had just sentenced him to forever chasing a dream he can’t have and faith in them that they are unable to deliver. She knows already that both Räikkönen and Vettel are feeling that way, their faith in Ferrari wavering if not gone. “I won’t be able to do anything to help him. Not for years.” “You will be able to help. Not as much as you will in a few years time, but you can still help. We still make decisions for the team and sign off on things.” “And if he leaves before then?” “He won’t.” His voice is quiet, but filled with unwavering faith. Faith she wants to feel herself. “He will be what our team needs to become champion and he won’t leave until he gets that.”

2018

“Vettel is not happy that he wasn’t told before about getting a rookie as a teammate.” She tells her grandfather, looking over the top of her laptop at him. “Sebastian will deal.” Enzo coughs. “And he won’t have a rookie as a teammate.” She makes a humming noise, looking at all of the articles about the announcement of Charles Leclerc joining the historic F1 team before opening her email again. “Should I cover Andrea’s costs again?” “Yes. As long as you aren’t in power with the team, I want Charles kept close.” “That won’t happen until the end of the 2023 season. You want us to pay for Andrea that long?” “Andrea is also family.” He reminds her, before lips twitch into a smile. “And there is a reason he doesn’t receive as large of a Christmas bonus as everyone else anymore.”

2020

“They want to sign Sainz for a two year deal.” He snorts, “and for what? Let me guess sponsors?” “They’re serious about this, nonno. His team has already approached us about a two year contract.” “And he can’t go to Aston because Vettel is going there for two years.” “And he’ll never go back to Red Bull. Mercedes won’t entertain the idea.” “But we are?” He groans, running a hand over his face. “God, what has happened to this team? He hasn’t gotten a single podium, a win! And he’ll hit a hundred races this year. That is who they want on the team?” “He was sixth in the driver standings last year.” “Could he handle it?” She frowns. “Maybe. We wouldn’t know until it happened. He’s older like Vettel, has more experience as well than Leclerc. But Leclerc already has wins under his belt, managed to get fourth in the standings in only his second year. He was teammates with Verstappen in his rookie year, so it’s possible he could handle it.” “A two year contract, huh?” “Two years.”

2022

“Sainz wants to be extended.” She rubs at her forehead, the email, moreso the wording was troubling. “And why should we?” “Because he finished ahead of Charles in the driver's standings last year.” “By less than ten points and due to our own team's failings. They way they embarrassed him in Monaco.” He shakes his head, the rage he felt that day watching it happen coming back. “Four podiums to one. And neither got a win.” “Who needs a seat?” “There’s rumors about Schumacher.” “No.” He shakes his head, fingers beginning to tap against his desk. “Maybe in a few seasons, but not now.” “Bottas, Guyuan, De Vries, Hulkenberg.” He scoffs at all the names. “A friend at McLaren said they’re looking to drop Ricciardo.” His fingers stop. “Ricciardo. He’d understand his role.” “And as long as we treat him better than Red Bull did or how McLaren are, we’d have him.” “Why do they want to drop him?” “Underperforming. Norris is doing better.” He looks at her disbelief. “Please tell me that’s a joke.” She shakes her head. “He gave that fucking fake British team their first win in a decade!” “He’s older and despite his knack for giving good development advice, they’re ignoring it for Norris’.” He rubs at his forehead. “Write him down. Maybe we can get a talk with him before another team manages to snatch him up. Who else?” “It’s all reserves and formers now. There’s Piastri who's serving as Alpine’s reserve this season, wouldn’t shock me if they’ve already signed a contract with him for the next year but haven’t announced it though. We or Haas really has Illot still under contract as a reserve.” He shakes his head. “Leave him in Indycar for a few seasons. Might try him in 2024 when we’re looking for another driver.” She nods, writing his name down with 2024 beside it. “And Piastri?” “No. Alpine probably has something signed with him already. They’d be stupid not to.” “That leaves Ricciardo and Sainz.” He frowns. “Reach out to Ricciardo. We nearly had him for 2021, we should’ve taken him.” “Understood.”

As she begins to type out her email to Ricciardo’s team and she wonders how Blake will react to seeing an email for Ferrari, Enzo speaks.

“How is Charles?” “Nonno.” “I can’t ask?” “You are fishing.” She replies, not looking away from her laptop. “But he is good. Ready for the season to start.” “Hmm. And will he be coming for dinner?” She pauses her typing, looking at him. “Are you asking him to come to dinner?” “I’d like to meet the boy that has made my granddaughter so happy.” “Oh, nonno. It is not a boy that is making me so happy. Just you. You have been in better spirits for the last year.” She laughs. “And isn't it interesting that it was only when you started seeing him that both of our spirits rose?” Her eyes narrow. “Don’t make me take the Leclerc name.” It’s a high insult to the Ferrari name, one that her grandfather has made sure that she knew better to even joke about, but he doesn’t react with his fiery temper, just smirks. “It’s serious enough for marriage but not for you to bring him to meet me?” Blood rushes to her cheeks. “You have met him.” “When he was a boy.” He counters. “One you had distaste for.” He reminds her not that she has ever forgotten.

She had told Charles on their third date about it, watching as his mouth gaped at her, unable to believe that the boy he was at the age could be distasteful. Now, he likes to tease her about it. About how she didn’t like him but as soon as he left the room and she was issued the challenge of making sure he got to Ferrari she did.

“I haven’t met him since. I haven’t met him as your partner. And we both know that you’ll be taking each other's names.” “It is too early to say that.” She tells him, voice quiet. “But I’ll message him. He’ll love to meet you.”

2023

“This is ridiculous!” “I told you that this would happen! You put your hopes and dreams on a boy and look at what has happened!” “I did no such thing!” “You did! And I told you that you would ruin him. That he would lose faith just like the ones before and now look.” She waves a hand at the TV in front of them, playing the lowlights of the season. “He didn’t just go to that meeting with Red Bull and then shut it down like he has before, he entertained it.” She scoffs, shaking her head. “He should’ve left us for them when they first fucking offered.” “You do not mean that.” “Look at what our team has done to him! Look at what you have done! I have no power there and barely do you. I get to vote on what drivers we add to the team, but it is one vote, against six others. Same goes for the general direction of the car, which we both were out voted in. And that is it, that is my power! I don’t get to give him the Ferrari team he deserves, that we deserve, because you signed it away when my father died until I turn twenty-seven!” She turns away from Enzo, taking in a shaky breath, before turning back to him. “And you will not ever bring it up to Charles that he considered leaving us or if he does. Because I set up that meeting with Red Bull for him.” He looks at her resigned, saddened, but not surprised. “You would let him leave?” “I don’t let him do anything. I love you, nonno. I love this team. But it is not just Charles that they are disappointing and letting down. It is our fans, our people, our family, our legacy, me, you. Next month, I get to finally take back our families power in the sport and it is already too late for this season and nearly too late for the next. I can’t even guarantee a good first season with me in charge because of where the car is already developed too. And the upgrades.” She shakes her head. “None of it would matter with the team that is working there.”

“What do you want to do?” She looks at him, struggling not to cry, and she folds herself down in front of him, taking her hands in his. “A new structure and house. The voting can stay, but it has anonymity, we don’t talk about who is going to vote for what, only after the votes have been cast we talk, discuss, but with us having the power to veto if decisions are being made too much on outside factors like money and perceptions. Drivers who have multi-year contracts starting next season can be present for the votes, hear why we voted for what we did and even jump in on discussions if they feel inclined. We change. We have been stagnant for too long. We need new blood and beliefs.” He starts to shake his head and she squeezes his hands.

“Nonno, please just listen to me.” She pleads. “We need a complete overhaul of the team, you know it and have said it yourself. I can’t just hire Italian first, not when that has ended with us where we are now. I can offer everyone severance packages, pay for it all myself, but no more Italian first. We take who is best suited for the team and hope they are Italian. Maybe we baptize them if they aren’t.” His lips quirk into a smile. “The strategy team needs to go, PR, social media, the race engineers.” “Sainz likes his race engineer.” “Sainz also likes to say that he comes up with the strategy used in the races but as soon as they fail, he backtracks. He is a fair driver, but he needs to be retrained in PR.” “His family needs a gag order.” Her grandfather huffs. “Yes, but that is not something we can do. What we can do is get him retrained and get a new PR manager for him, same with social media. Charles will be getting the same. He needs an image refresh.” “This is what you want?” “Yes. I want to bring our team back to greatness. I already have the people I want for the team, I’m just waiting for your approval and for the next month to pass before I start sending out contracts.” He sighs, looking in pain. “Can they at least speak Italian?” She smiles, standing to press a kiss to his cheek. “They can learn and they will quickly.” Another sigh leaves him but he smiles, warm and gentle at her. “Mia figlia, la mia stella, fai quello che devi. Il mio supporto è tuo, sempre.” My daughter, my star, do what you must. My support is yours, always. “Thank you, papa.”

October 23rd, 2023

She stands facing the back wall of the room, listening as the door opens and people trudge in. She tries to count the pairs of feet she hears. She knows how many are supposed to come to this meeting, how many she asked to come, but it wouldn’t surprise her if someone let slip that the new boss, and the big boss at that, had arranged a meeting that a few people would try tagging along.

It’s the sound of the door shutting and then locking from the inside that has her turning around, giving a nod of thanks to her bodyguard, Roman, who inclines his head before retreating to the left front corner of the room.

“I see you all made it.” She says, her Italian accent barely noticeable around the English words and she can see a few faces turn confused at the English. Ferrari was Italian, they spoke Italian, had meetings in Italian. And more importantly, she was not just Ferrari, but a Ferrari. One that only three people in this room had ever met in person, and only two others had seen her face because of video calls. “Good, let's talk about the dumpster fire that was yesterday.” She can see a few faces balk at her words, but it’s Sainz’s that gets her attention. “You don’t agree?” “It was an unfortunate thing that happened to Charles, but I still ended up in P3.” “Due to a disqualification. Which is also what happened to your teammate. This also is the third time you’ve ended up on the podium due to such a thing. Let us also not forget to acknowledge that while the FIA didn’t check your car, like they should have after finding that two of four of the cars they checked had issues with their planks, doesn’t mean we didn’t.” He frowns and so does a good majority of the room. “I don’t understand.” “Your planks were just like Leclerc’s. Just barely under what they should be. But still enough for disqualification.” Eyes widen and she continues. “Not that it matters, because I won’t be alerting the FIA of such a thing. Not when the teams didn’t get enough time to set up the car because of the sprint format and I don’t think we need to give McLaren more of a jump on us.”

Walking around the room, she nearly pauses behind Charles' chair. Wants so badly to squeeze his hand, to offer him comfort or a way to get his frustrations out, but she continues until she is at the front of the room.

“The FIA won’t get rid of sprint races, but myself and a few other team representatives, will be going to them with a new sprint format for the next season hopefully or for at least starting the 2025 season. I expect both of you,” she looks at Sainz and Charles, “to voice your support. And I’m sure Red Bull, Williams, Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin, Alpine, and Haas, will be saying the same to their drivers as well.” “You want us to support a format that could be worse?” Charles asks, and she can see a few shakes of the head at him. “No, I want you to support one that is better. For Sprint weekends, you will have free practice one and the sprint shootout on Friday. On Saturday, there will be the sprint, followed by second free practice, then qualifying. Sundays of course will just be race day. Does that sound worse?” “No. You think the FIA will go for it?” “The FIA won’t have much of a choice. And besides next year allows each team to have more tyre’s allocated, they’ll want something extra to help burn through them to make it more interesting.”

“Now,” She lifts the lid of one of the two file boxes she has. “Leclerc, Sainz.” Both grimace at the use of their last names, but she catches a glimpse of amusement from Charles. “I have meetings with both of your management teams after this. Sainz, you’ll be getting a new PR manager, Ana. She or her assistant Val, will be with you for every event, interview, or anything else PR wise. Sometimes they both will.”

She turns her head to look at Charles. “Leclerc, you're getting an image refresh. I’m not letting a driver for this team have a vast majority of people thinking there’s nothing behind your apparently good looks.”

“Why isn’t Charles getting a babysitter?” She raises a brow at the tone and question. “Ana and Val aren’t babysitters, they work in PR. They will be retraining you. Because at the moment I could be breaking your contract right now with four races left in the season due to the public clause and if you have to ask why, you need more help than I thought.” He looks at her in shock and she can see a few people in the room shift uncomfortably. “Also concerning both of you, you both will have new race engineers in Mexico. Your previous engineers were lacking.” They both look uncomfortable with the decision but don’t say anything and she turns her attention to Fred.

“Fred.” “Ms. Ferrari.” She smiles at the title, though there’s nothing polite or happy about it. “This is your team is not?” She gestures to the drivers, the heads of different departments that all sit in the room with them. “Yes.” “Then, why am I doing your job for you and handling them?” With that she starts throwing out the severance packages onto the table. When she runs out of ones in the first box, she takes the lid off the second and just tips it over, letting them spill out.

“Severance packages.” She states, seeing some people's confused looks. “Some are effective immediately. Others will be given after the last race.” “Fabio’s name is here.” “So is Gualtieri and Cardile. They have been given generous severance packages.” She reassures. “You will meet their replacements either later today or in Mexico.” “They are heads of their departments!” “And they have failed at their jobs. As has everyone who has been issued one of these.”

—

“How did they take it?” “Safe to say I haven’t made any friends.” “So, it's going well.” She snorts, smiling at Charles as he enters her hotel suite. “I’m fairly certain they all would like to burn me at the stake.” Charles frowns. “Not Charles of course.” “Is he there?” “Just got here.” She confirms. “Do you want to talk to your grandson?” She teases and predictably Charles flushes. “Yes, yes. I want to make sure that he’s taking care of you, protecting you.” She rolls her eyes at the last part but passes the phone to Charles, pressing a kiss to his cheek as she does before stepping around him to her open laptop.

Leaning against the desk, she stares at the list in front of her. A list of drivers, currently on the grid, reserves, and not yet on the grid. Before the halfway point of the 2024 season she’d either have to sign contracts for one new driver or two for the 2025 season and now it just came down to who she wanted to reach out to.

A good amount of them are already on the bottom half of the page under the bolded words, not an option.

Verstappen was there, both Mercedes drivers, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Magnuessen, Alonso, Ocon, Stroll, Perez, Norris. She chooses not to look too closely at the fact that she doesn’t have Piastri there. She’d buy out a contract if need be and she knew Mark. If she proved that Ferrari could improve and be a winning team under her, he’d be willing to help her break a contract or two.

She jolts when a pair of lips presses themselves to her forehead, her phone being set down next to her laptop. “Your list is interesting. No Antonio?” “He’s a good development driver.” She says, typing his name out under not an option. Charles hums, sitting in the chair and then pulling her onto his lap, carefully pulling her legs to hangover the arm of the chair. “You have two Indycar drivers under possible.” She shrugs. “I’ll watch closely as the first few races go for them. They only have contracts for the 2024 season.” “Not that it would matter.” She grins, huffing out a laugh. “Not that it would matter.”

She watches as he peers at the list, his hands rubbing at her calf. “You have a lot of no’s.” His eyes narrow as he scans it again. “Mick, Ollie, and Vesti all under maybe?” “Vesti’s done well for himself, Mercedes is just going to waste him. Especially if he’s any good in an F1 car. Bearman’s had a strong first season in F2. Schumacher,” She hesitates. “I’m not keen on the idea. Especially with two seasons out of F1, but there is the opportunity to put him in Alfa Romeo.” “But Valterri and Zhou.” “Valterri knows he won’t be promoted back up. He’s doing good for being at Alfa Romeo, but he also has a lot of other ventures and pursuits. I’d like to keep him for another year or two after for development if I can.” He hums, “Alex and Schwartzman?” “Albon is sticking to Williams like glue. Which is understandable after Red Bull, but there’s hope.” She doesn’t mention that she’d think that he’d be a good teammate for Charles. “Schwartzman is already under contract with us. Just as a reserve and for testing, but who knows.”

He presses a kiss to her shoulder and he reads the top of the list, the possibles. He had only skimmed it before, but now he gives it his full attention.

“I’m on here.” “Yes.” “But,” “You don’t have an extension with us. You are only contracted with us for this next season. And as much as I’d like to keep you as would the fans and nonno, we haven’t proven that we deserve to have you here. I have to keep my options open that there will be two drivers I have to sign for 2025.” “I don’t like it.” He tells her, frowning. He didn’t like to think about not being at Ferrari, at the possibility of it, especially now with her at the helm and already making drastic changes. He didn’t know yet if those changes were good or not, but it felt like they were, he hoped that they were.

Piastri, Ricciardo, Drugovich, and he blinks as reads the last name, saying it outloud. “Sargeant. You have Sargeant under possible? Not a maybe but possible?” “Sargeant would sign a contract with us in a heartbeat, no contracts to break. 2024 will be a one year for him.” “Something has been signed?” She shrugs, “it’s common sense to keep him. Otherwise they’d just be dealing with a whole other rookie.” He sighs, jaw twitching. “I don’t like it. He has only scored a point because of my disqualification.” “I know.” “He has cost them much.” “I know.” Charles pouts, “he is American.” She lets out a laugh, running a hand through his hair. “That will be your issue with him? His Americanness?” “Yes.” “Well, it’s just a possibility.” She smiles, before leaning down to press their lips together in a quick kiss. “Now, tell me out of everyone in the maybes and possibles who you’d want as a teammate.” “And what? You’ll make it happen?” “If I can give you a good season next year, I’ll do everything I can.”

He eyes the list, taking in the names he mentioned before and the few he didn’t.

Pierre would end in a dumpster fire and he was selfish enough to say that he didn’t want him as a teammate so they could keep their friendship, one so close to his heart. Lawson was an interesting idea, he had performed well for having to suddenly jump into a car. Alex would be a good teammate as well and he knew that Alex would also love the development side of things like he did.

He didn’t know enough about Drugovich or either of the Indycar drivers really. They had performed fair in F2 and were doing well in Indycar, but it was unknown. He could see them both though at Alfa Romeo. Ollie was too young to step into such a huge seat, maybe for him also Alfa Romeo in 2025 and by 2028 he’d be ready to step in and then take over a seat.

Oscar and Sargeant are both interesting for completely different reasons. He wishes that she had gotten power in the beginning of 2022 and when the Alpine drama happened, snatched Oscar up.

But there’s one name that he keeps on looking at, that’s circling in his head.

“Daniel. If I could have anyone, I’d want Daniel.”

There’s a shared pained history there and Charles knows that he took what was going to be Daniel’s seat in 2019 before Ferrari really started gunning for him while Renault took a keen interest in Daniel.

Charles could still remember around the fifth race of the 2020 season when Daniel had cornered him, looking nervous to be around him for the first time since their accidentally shared Vegas trip that made them break the ice. Daniel seemed so much smaller as he asked Charles if he’d be okay with them being teammates next season, and had seemed shocked by the relieved and happy grin Charles had given him.

She hesitates, “I never said anything, but I tried getting Daniel for 2024 and even 2023 when the rumors about McLaren dropping him started up.” “But Carlos?” “He asked for an extension, but nonno and me wanted to present a different option. But by the time I reached out, Red Bull had managed to snatch him back up. He’s only with them though for 2024. He’s free after that.” “So, you are saying?” He hopes. “I’m saying that, I’ve already reached out as of yesterday. Red Bull isn't in any hurry to get him under contract for 2025 and Blake has made it clear that Daniel isn’t signing any contracts until May or June to them and us.” “Which is enough time to prove that the team is improving.” “Yes.”

He stares at her wide eyed speechless. “What does that mean?” “If we improve?” He nods. “We sign you and Daniel until 2027.” She pauses, hesitating, but she won’t lie to him now. “We let you two battle it out at the beginning of the 2025 season. If Daniel is scoring more points, higher on the podium than you by break, you defend. We’ll ask you to let him pass if both of you can get on the podium or he has better pace and can get on it. We let him become world champion first. And it would go the other way around as well.” He rolls the idea in his mind, lets it sit in his stomach. “Daniel Ricciardo the 2025 world champion and Charles Leclerc the 2026 world champion.”

He lets them sit in the air, the idea of practically another three seasons before it could happen. Could he wait that long? Watch as Daniel got it before him? Watch as his teammate got it before him? Could he let himself be sacrificed for his teammates gain again? He thinks it over, because it is not fair for her to ask, to say, but that is what driving in Formula One is. It is not fair, with unequal machinery and only twenty spots available. To have to worry not just about your race but also your teammates depending on where the point standings are at.

But she is offering him something that he wasn’t before and with clearness, transparency. Not something that will be dropped on him in the middle of the race or as he’s about to finish lap ten or fifty. She’s telling him now what to expect and how it will go. She’s letting him know that it doesn’t matter which one is in the lead for the championship, just that whichever one isn’t when they come back from break, will be defending and he thinks now of her emphasis on the word. Not sacrificing, but defending. She wouldn’t let either of them be compromised so badly that they drop either low in the points or out of the points completely, but she would ask that they defend the other.

“I want it. Even if I do have to wait an extra year. It’d be worth it.” “And if you won in 2025 and then Daniel in 2026?” “We could trade off years, but I want it, I want that.” She smiles and there’s something sweet and dangerous about it. “Then I’ll make it happen.”

@eleetalks @cixrosie @badbatch-simp24 @darleneslane @fanboyluvr @teti-menchon0604 @eugene-emt-roe @gemofthenight @peachiicherries @lpab @copper-boom @topguncultleader @iloveyou3000morgan @boiohboii @benstormy @bibliosaurous

[notademon10]

UT/DR THEORY: HOW THE HUMAN SHIRTS MARK PURPOSE

.....So, have you ever wondered why Kris wears a Chara shirt ? Some of you might think it's obviously because Kris *IS* Chara. Others might say it's just a red herring or it's to signify how, one way or another, Kris is a fusion of Frisk and Chara. After all, Kris is the Dark World has Frisk's colors, as opposed to the Light World !

The thing is, Kris isn't the only human we're shown in Deltarune, we have another.

The vessel.

And interestingly enough, they have TWO stripes, like Frisk. Making a nice symetry between our vessel and Kris. That's nice !

Actually, it kinda reminds me that the vessel is our puppet, kinda how Frisk was.

Perhaps they may even be the true human hero.

Note that "Kris" isn't called by name.

And Kris seems to be in Chara's shoes.

...but there's more to this than that. Because the vessel isn't somebody we created, at least not fully.

When Gaster asks us to tell him how we feel about our vessel, he notes that it will not hear. Why should be worried about that ? Unless the vessel has a mind of it's own. A mind I very much believe we already met, in a different time.

Time and time again, they will appear.

No matter when.

No matter where.

The demon that comes when we call it's name.

Fun fact: the Vessel specifically has a max letter name of *9*, Chara's favorite number !, While your name can go up to 12 letters.

So, the vessel is the "Chara" of Deltarune. I would go as far to say that they ARE Chara. Why do I think this?, Well, I would like to bring attention towards the RED trait:

If Chara IS the demon that comes when you call it's name, then they are ALWAYS that demon. So when you name the vessel, you are ALWAYS calling Chara. The only way this can happen is if the Vessel is the Deltarune version of Chara.

But the problem is that KRIS already has Chara traits like affinity for knives, chocolate, and the focus of this post: their shirt. And the vessel has a shirt simiar to Frisk as well. . .

These two humans are mixes of Frisk and Chara in one way or another. So.... What traits are with who ?

Well, let's start with the shirts. Because there's something else I want to bring to the table. You see... There's another (?) human that is key to this point, one that most people don't like to talk about.

This THING. "chara", in the files.

Contrary to popular belief, this isn't Kris, as the skin is not similar. At least not Deltarune's incarnation of them. They are ALSO not beta Frisk, given how Frisk already had their design back when the demo released. And this is ALSO not beta Chara, given how Chara's design appeared as a mistake Temmie made early on, when she drew Frisk with one stripe.

This human is not a mistake. In all likelyhood, this was intentionally hidden for people to find in the files, much like Entry 17.

They only appear in debug as a reflection... And have a two striped shirt, like the vessel and Frisk. A literal reflection of them. I believe they are THE VESSEL, and by extention, Deltarune Chara. A younger version of them, pre-gonered. Although, they do seem to have no facial features, much like our goner. The difference in skin color and hair color can very much be explained by the possibility that Chara spent quite a while living in a cave deprived of sunlight, as well as the fact that the way they appeared in geno is supposed to look like a corpse.

This Chara has traits that Frisk has in Undertale, but which?

There's two options here: either these roles are based on their respective routes, and/or their role in UT in general. Let me explain: the only route in which Chara actively appears and interacts with Undertale's world is in genocide, the route where you increase ALL of the stats that Chara represents, and the mirror narration compares you to them with "It's me, Chara", as opposed to "Still just you, Frisk" in pacifist. In geno, Chara erases the world, while in pacifist, you take the role of hero. Do you see where I'm going with this? This could parallel how the Vessel is the hero, and how Kris might just cover the world in darkness one way or another.

There's also the other option, which plays on the role the humans have throught the entire game. Frisk's role was being the player's puppet, and we outright designed the Vessel to be whatever we choose, and to be the main character of the story, before being discarded. As I've already pointed out, there's a good chance our goner is the actual human hero, while Kris is must fulfill whatever role Chara had in UT, although Kris doesn't enjoy the weird route at all, so they don't represent the LV part of Chara. So what OTHER role did Chara have, that would be connected to Frisk's role one way or another?

I think Chara is the Narrator.

(Graph made by the ever brilliant @under-lore)

I understand if this theory sounds flimsy but it's not. As we can see here, the narrator PROGRESSES along with Frisk during the entirety of the game. Why would Toby put a bunch of insults in the narration, only for him to progressivly make them more infrequent until Snowdin, if not for NarraChara?

There's also THIS, in which the narrator DIRECTLY asks Frisk if they didn't laugh, after almost ranting about laughing until tears start forming. Where did this come from, if not from an entity that is neither Frisk nor us ?

The narrator very likely isn't just a representation of the game or smth given how it still shows signs of having it's own personality, like with the fact that the text you get by hitting with hitting the dummy with higher LV stops using "you", and says things like "Feels good" or "Who cares?", as well as the show puff descriptions, ending with the narrator sarcastingly asking us what they even are, or the licorice flavored candy, etc.

A bunch of the stuff Chara shouldn't know already is a thing even without NarraChara, given that you NEED to kill Snowdrake in order for geno to continue, even if you've never encountered him. Or how Chara can still feel how many monsters are left in Waterfall....

So, for the sake of this theory, CHARA is the narrator in UT. But there's a problem, and it's that DR doesn't have a diagetic narrator. So, how DOES this role of Chara's translate into Kris...?

Well, we need to think of something more broad, thematically coherent with Frisk's original role...

What about, let's say, a STORYTELLER ?

Dark fountains are allegories for fiction, so however creates them is, in a way, a writer. With this in mind, it's clear that Kris HAS this role, not just of the creator of chapter 3's dark fountain, but as the ROARING KNIGHT themself.

Now, this DOES bring up an issue. I've said that the VESSEL is our puppet, while Kris has another role. How then, is Kris NOT our puppet ? They even parallel Spamton!

Well, Kris IS our puppet, in a sense, but not our true puppet. This is because we don't have as much control over them as you might think. We can't stop Kris from saving Susie. We can't stop Kris from taking out our SOUL. It's only through Noelle that our choices matter. Everything else has little consequence, and cannot project ourselves into them as much as we'd like.

There's also somethimg very peculiar. The upcoming Twisted Sword LOWERS the Trance effect. The same effect that Noelle had in the weird route. Why ? It doesn't seem as if Kris actually LIKED the massacre at all, so this isn't lowering THEIR trance. In the other hand, if the Vessel DOES represent the LV part of Chara, either because if Kris didn't represent it, then it would, or just because it IS Chara, then you would already have no problem with grinding darkners. Unless, the trance effect lowers for... Us?

Think about it, we are effectivly reduced to spectators in the normal route, having many of our own decisions denied, simply following what others want. Kris is a puppet to us, but we may as well be a puppet to not just Kris, but the world. Perhaps by being in Kris' body we have this effect, and the clashing wills cancel each other.

So the Vessel is Chara in the pupeteer role that Frisk had in UT, and if you couldn't guess it, I believe Kris is Frisk in the storyteller role Chara had in UT.

There's one thing I've HAVE to talk about before I end this post.

This is the description of "Important Person (Kris)'s Shirt"

How could this tie into the theory..?

Perhaps, their love could be referring to the stories they make become yours. In a way, UT no mercy becomes a story in which killing monsters is encouredged, given how the supposedly objective narrator starts going off the rails and counting how many victims are left, even if they have regrets regarding the Dreemurr family.

In Deltarune, the perspective shifts yet again, and the Cyber World starts having frozen traffic lights even before Noelle freezes her first puzzle. The weird route alters Kris' story, to the point Lancer and Roulx Kaard turn to stone much earlier than they're supposed to.

To be blunt, this is the weakest point for the theory, and has stronger connections with the puppet role anyways. Unless the pattern isn't just referring to Chara and Kris, but Frisk and the Vessel as well.

There's also a much simpler explanation: it is tied to their main trait: LOVE. Basically, Papyrus implies in a phone call in Hotland in elevator L3 that Love is a cartoony fiery red human heart, so that makes me think that Love is the Red trait, which as I've already mentioned is associated with being oneself. Therefore, this could be saying that what makes you you, and what makes Kris them, becomes indistinguishible. As well as stating that Kris' relationships become yours.

[astronomodome]

Astronomodome's 2024 US Presidential Election Liveblog

First of all I want to say I have other stuff to work on today so I might not be super up to date with stuff but I'll try my best to give my thoughts as to what's going on.

So first, how do we tell who wins?

In the U.S., the popular vote doesn't decide who wins the presidency. Instead, we use the (much hated) electoral college. Here's a helpful visual.

Every state (and DC) is given at least three electors, usually more based on population (which is why states like California and Texas have so many). There are 538 in total. To win, a candidate needs more than half of these- half of 538 is 269, so a candidate needs at least 270. (Interestingly, it is possible for both candidates to receive exactly 269 electors, in which case the universe corrupts and we all die infinitely the House of Representative chooses who wins, with each state getting one vote.)

The national popular vote may not matter, but the popular votes of each of the states do. Whoever wins the popular vote in each state (except Nebraska and Maine bc they're weird but that's not too important) wins all the electors for that state. It's very all-or-nothing which is why a lot of people don't like it.

This is a map from election forecaster 538, one of many such organizations that use polling and algorithms and election magic or something to predict who is likely to win each state. They have a lot of good graphs and stuff to look at on their site if you want to learn more about the stats of everything. As the key notes, we can see which way each state is expected to vote, as well as a few states highlighted in bold as likely swing states.

Swing states are basically wherever the election is close and the number of electors is high enough to 'swing' the election. Basically, while all the other states are mostly decided based on precedent (though surprises are possible), these states could reasonably go either way. This is why both candidates hold so many rallies in Pennsylvania, for example- it's competitive, and they want to boost their chances of winning those electors by currying favor directly with those voters.

One thing this map doesn't show is what I lovingly refer to as the Bar. It looks like this. I bring it up because if you follow the election news you'll see it. A lot.

The arrows in the middle point to 269.5, the exact midpoint. Whoever reaches that midpoint by filling up the bar wins (the beige in the middle are the tossup states who could go either way).

For example, let's look at 270towin. (the forecast websites love their special numbers.) They have a fun interactive map where you can make the votes go wherever you want to see what would happen.

^ Here's their prediction based on consensus.

^ Here, I changed Florida so it votes blue. Not likely unless I can bribe enough officials to make it so my ballot is the only one that counts (fair and just). We can see that the Bar has shifted, and the blue side has almost reached the arrows. Let's see what happens if we add another blue state. Let's say... Georgia, for example.

Wow! If the states were to vote this way, the Democrats would win, even if all the other undecided states went red. Is it likely? No. But, well, how do we know that?

In short, we don't. But we can guess, and that's what polls are for. There are several different types, but the most important ones for right now are exit polls. They'll start coming out soon, I think. I'm not sure if they have to wait until all the polls close (so people don't see them and decide not to vote or something because of it) but I think they do, at least in some states. Exit polls are conducted right outside of voting locations as voters exit, which makes them more accurate than other polls. They're not free of bias, though, so as always take them with a grain of salt. They're the first indicator we'll have of how it went, but they're not the final numbers.

One ray of hope I want to point out is the currently infamous Selzer Iowa poll (not an exit poll but still relevant). Ann Selzer is a really trusted pollster, known for a long streak of accuracy. She published a poll a day ago that indicated that Harris was beating Trump (!) in Iowa (!!) by 3 points (!!!). Iowa is... not considered a Democratic state; it went for Trump last election by 14 points. So this is really surprising (understatement). And yes, it could mean absolutely nothing... but it certainly shocked a lot of people, including Trump, who tweeted angrily about it.

States count their votes in different ways. Some results will be out within the day, others might take weeks. But usually most states can be 'called' for a candidate before every vote is counted. This is because the leading candidate will have more votes than can be overcome by the other one, even if every vote counted was for them. The important thing is that, as polls close over the next couple hours, they'll be counting. I saw one report that said election officials in Idaho, for example, plan on counting every vote "before they go to bed that night," which I thought was kind of a cute way to put it. Most states will release vote counts in batches or by county, which means that other batches or counties might still be counting as others submit their counts. That last sentence had a lot of 'count' related words in it, huh.

One thing to note about vote counting is that absentee or mail-in ballots often take longer to be received and counted than in-person votes. This can cause a phenomenon called "blue shift"- basically, a lot of mail-in ballots are cast by college students (like me!) or people who live overseas, and those groups tend to vote more Democratic than in-person voters. That means that late in the counting process, totals will often shift more towards the Democratic candidate. Famously, this is how Biden ended up winning Georgia in 2020- initially it was forecasted to remain red, but it inched over slowly as mail-in ballots were received.

So, in short, that's how we figure out who will be president. I'll be keeping track of what happens tonight, but it's very possible we won't know who wins until tomorrow morning or even later. Let's hope for the best :)

[mas-arte]

DPxDC and it's predecessor (Miraculous Ladybug)

So.... if you're in the Danny Phantom fandom you are familiar with the subsection of this fandom obsessed with crossovers with the DC universe (especially with Batman & associates).

But I, along with many others, am cursed with the knowledge of the fact that there was/is another fandom that's crazy about crossovers with Batman. The Miraculous Ladybug fandom.

It's been driving me crazy thinking about the similarities and differences between DPxDC and MLxDC fandoms (don't worry I'm I an ashamed/proud member of both)

(I'm gonna be bringing up some AO3 stats later, so be excited nerds)

But first, I just wanna acknowledge that some similarities are just bc they are tropes common in a lot of crossover fic in general.

-Marinette/Danny is secretly related to one of the batfam

-Marinette/Danny escaping to Gotham to get away from Bad Situation

-My least favorite thing some fics have in common, (bc I find it unsettling and offputting) is that they have blue eyes and black hair so they're adoption bait for Bruce.

-a fun one (it's pushing it a little but whatever) is when it's revealed that to some degree the batfam is already a part of or connected to the other group in a non-familial way (ex: Alfred was Miraculous holder in the past, Jason is a halfa/revenant bc he died) . Although you could argue Jason being a halfa could also align with the tropes of training and bringing them into the group ala giving members of the batfam Miraculous.

-Mad at the Justice League for not intervening/ glad the Justice League isn't involved bc mind controlled super heroes would be bad

I'd love to hear what yalls favorite tropes in these are, as well as any parallels yall have picked up on.

Ships:

Marinette is, by a pretty wide margin, largely shipped with Damian Wayne (2024), with the next highest, Jason Todd, being way lower (850).

Meanwhile, Danny's biggest ship is with Jason Todd (604) with Tim Drake at second (399).

The 2 fandoms have a similar number of crossover batman fics (5935 vs 5400) so it looks to me like there is less shipping involved with the DPxDC fandom, but I don't want to do more statistics than I already have (maybe later?) so I'm not gonna say anything definitive for now.

I'm very intrigued by the difference in preferred batboy (???) and the difference in shipping content (maybe something to do with how often DPxDC like to de age/mentally destroy Danny ???)

Now it is time for the statistics!

So... Miraculous Ladybug is THE biggest non DC crossover the Batman tag has on AO3 (5935), but Danny Phantom is not far behind (5400). The third, White Collar, is not even close (1792). Batman is the most popular crossover in the ML and DP fandoms as well.

Of all the Batman crossovers, ML makes up 26.8% and DP makes up 24.43%. You might think that means that combined, ML and DP represent a little over half of all batman crossovers... and you would be right.

Even when you entirely remove the 91 crossover fics that include all 3 fandoms, they still make up 50.88% of the crossovers in the Batman tag!

At first glance, because they have more fics, it may appear like the ML fandom is just as, if not more, crazy about Batman than the DP fandom. But the the ML fandom is waaaay bigger.

Batman crossovers make up 7.82% of the ML fics on AO3.

DPxDC is on a whole other level with a whopping 22.6%. That's over 1/5. No wonder the crossover feels like it's everywhere! /neutral

Here's the table I used for most of the stats:

A couple notes:

-First, this data was collected late 03/24/25 so it may not be as accurate later.

-Second, the two boxes with asterisks have 2 numbers. The first is the number of crossovers with the fandom based on the Batman tag, the second is based on the crossovers with Batman in fandom's tag (ie, Miraculous Ladybug). I'm not sure why there was a discrepancy there. For my calculations I went with the numbers in the Batman tag, but I wanted to include both numbers in the table to be thorough.

Box D5 and D6 = what percent of the fandom are batman crossovers

Row 9 = what percent of all batman fics are crossovers with that fandom

Row 10 = what percent of batman crossovers are with that fandom.

[cupidzone]

˚꒰ 🏹 DISCORD FORUMS TUTORIAL♡

i'm not sure if people have seen or tested out the forums on discord but i thought i'd make a tutorial on how i use it for roleplaying since i found it super fun and helpful for organization purposes!

so what are forums? discord describes it as "a space for organized discussions". much like threads, the discussions can be contained in one post which makes it easy to keep your topics in order. the part that i find most useful is that you can organize your post by tags and filter through them! now in order to get forums in your server, you will have to enable 'Community' on your server. so let's start!

♡ . ) first thing you'll do is open your server setting. there will be an 'Enable Community' that you can click on and it will take you to a page like this

♡ . ) once you click 'Get Started' it will take you through a series of questions and system settings. you will need at least one "default channel" where discord will send automated updates. this channel is necessary if you want to use forums.

if you continue with the default settings, discord will automatically create two channels for you: one titled 'rules' and another titled 'moderators-only'. the announcements made whenever there's an update as mentioned above will be sent to the latter.

NOTE FROM CUPID ! i personally like to make a single channel titled something like 'updates' and keep it locked. this can be done before or after enabling community, you will just need to change the settings to go to the new channel first.

♡ . ) once you have community enable, you're free to make all the forums you want! when you go to create a new channel, 'forums' will show up as an option like this

for this example, i'm going to show how i set up my muses' profiles for 1x1 writing server like a roster, but you can also do this for single muse / threads / sms / etc.

♡ . ) when you click into the forums channel you created, you will see a landing page like this. there are instructions on how to navigate the channel as well so feel free to read those as well! the first thing i like to do is create tags. you can open that setting by clicking either of these buttons.

(navigate to the 'Tags' section and click 'Create Tag' if you need to) it will open a popup box like this. i like to create a tag for every muse that i want to add to my roster and you're able to add 20 tags!

when you're finished, they will be listed as you see below. there are other options in forums settings that you can play around with including a 'default reaction' emoji, 'slowmode', layout and sorting option, age restriction and 'hide after inactivity'. all these are based on preference!

♡ . ) once you've saved your setting changes, you can leave this page and are now able to make your posts by clicking 'New Post' on the upper right hand corner.

this is where you're pretty much able to do whatever suits your style including formatting how you like and adding photos, all you need to make sure to do is add the corresponding tag to the post! once you're finished making it look how you want, you can click 'Post'

they will appear in the channel like this!

♡ . ) and by clicking on a post, you will be able to open it in a side view like this. if you want to see the post in full view, you will click the three dots in the upper right hand corner of the side view and then choose 'Open in Full View'.

you're now able to add more messages within the post! for me, i like to add stats of my muses and headcanons that may be useful when i thread.

NOTE FROM CUPID ! one set back i found is that you are not able to use threads within a forum post so it may get a bit cluttered depending on what you send in a forum post. so if you are wanting multiple different sections for one topic, i suggest creating a forum instead. for example, if you are wanting to add musings, faceclaim pics, headcanons and stats all for one muse, i would create a single forum post just for that muse instead to avoid having important info getting lost!

and that pretty much covers how i use forums for discord rp! i encourage you to play around with it to find a style and format that best works for you. and if you have any questions, you're more than welcome to send it to my inbox. happy writing everyone♡♡♡

[mayflora-18]

Incorrect CoD Quotes #10

Sherlock: Sarge, I am way too sleep-deprived to deal with your negativity right now.

Gaz: -_-

---

Soap: We gotta get to the hospital and we gotta get there fast.

Ghost: Then, I should drive.

Soap: Why you?

Ghost: I've got nothing to live for and I drive like it.

Soap: Okay, let's do it.

[Later]

Ghost and Soap in the car: AAAAAAHHHH!!!

---

Sherlock: What if…

*Sherlock frowns in concentration*

Roach: Ooh, Sherlock's wheels are turning. Your brain baby is crowning.

Gaz:: Roach, please, that's disgusting.

Sherlock: No, it's helping, I am having a brain baby.

Gaz: Then push, babe, push.

Roach: *lets out deep breaths* Breathe.

Gaz: You can do this, you are so strong.

Sherlock: I got it!

---

Price: Quick, you're losing a lot of blood! What's your type?

Nikolai: Smart, brunette, British, you-

Price: Your blood type, Nik.

Nikolai: Oh! Red.

---

Nikolai: Sherlock is taking the day off so I'm gonna light something on fire.

Laswell: ...Why?

Nikolai: She's like 80% of my impulse control.

---

Price: Naw, bitch. I'm not being petty.

Gaz: You just said, "naw, bitch."

---

Roach: Okay, here are the ground rules: you can punch me, kick me, pull my hair. I am a-okay being stabbed. Biting and scratching are ON the table. You CAN use fire.

Soap: 😰 These are the ground rules? Is there anything off limits?

Sherlock and Gaz: 🤨🤨

Roach: Damn, man. You got something really sick you wanna do, huh?

Soap: What- Uh-

Roach: Oh, you little pervert. Alright, I like it. Don’t tell me. Surprise me. Ooh, this is gonna be fun!

Ghost: 🤦‍♂️

———

Sherlock: Did you just eat all of the powdered donuts?

Nikolai: …No.

Sherlock: Дядя, I can see the powder on your pants.

Nikolai, brushing off his pants: That’s cocaine.

(Дядя = Uncle in Russian)

———

*Sherlock’s phone rings*

Sherlock: Sherlock’s authentic stolen military police badges. How can I help?

Gaz: Hey, it’s Garrick.

Sherlock: Oh, hey Kyle.

Gaz: Hey, do you carry a hairdryer in your purse?

Sherlock: Of course, I’m not an animal.

Gaz, on the other end: Told you! You owe me 20!

Farah: …

———

*Graves escapes from the 141*

Price: This isn’t over! I will hunt you to the ends of the Earth!

Graves: I love you, too! 😘

———

Ghost: All right, you’re clearly not listening to me. I can say whatever I want.

Price, paying attention to something else: Tell me about it.

Ghost: I murdered Johnny this weekend.

Price: I feel you.

Ghost: Now that I have the taste for blood, I can’t stop murdering.

Price: Been there.

———

Gaz: Well, remember when you told me not to burn down the base?

Price: You burned down the base?

Gaz: No! I had the fire put out immediately. This is a success story.

Price: …

———

Alejandro: I need some 141 drama, stat!

Ghost: I don’t think we’re that dramatic.

Alejandro: We’ve been gone for one week. Gaz and Sherlock are dating, and they’ve killed a person.

———

Sherlock: This is where we came the night that I won our bet and you fell in love with me.

Gaz: Sherlock.

Sherlock: The night that you flirted with me for 20 seconds and I became obsessed with you forever.

———

*preparing to infiltrate on a mission with Ghost zip lining through a window*

Soap, over the comms: Is the equipment secure?

Ghost: Check.

Soap: Weapon loaded?

Ghost: Check.

Soap: Did you have breakfast?

Ghost: What? That’s not on the checklist!

Soap: I added it because I care about you.

Ghost: No, I did not have breakfast.

Soap: Unacceptable! Look in your pocket.

*Ghost fumbles through his pockets until he finds a granola bar and unwraps it*

Ghost: Hey, there’s little chocolate chips in this.

Soap: Yeah, I’m not an idiot, I know how to trick my best friend into eating his fiber.

———

I’m posting again! 🥳 Still working on the other fact drop, but I will post it ASAP. On a different note…

🎵Tomorrow, tomorrow! I’m 21, tomorrow! It’s only a day away!!! 🎵

[nabi-unveiled]

Ooooh okay PLEASE go off about DnD. Whatcha playing? Whatcha DMing? Got any good stories?

- also a DM and player 😊

Thanks for the ask!

As I said earlier though...don't expect me to know all the legitimate rules or be able to argue technicalities of rules/builds. We're the "if the DM allows it" kind of people and most of the people I play with are very casual players. We do have a lot of fun though.

Let's start with "Whatcha DMing?"

These days I primarily DM for 13 year olds 😂. I used to do it for high school groups too, but I don't volunteer there as much anymore. The game has gained enough popularity that they normally find a teenager to DM the sessions at the high school these days.

This summer I'll DM a couple of one shot sessions for my son and his friends. During the year, they are part of the DnD club at school and a different family hosts a small group of them fairly regularly to run a longer campaign. They have a session on their long campaign tomorrow.

But I'm the one that hosts the sessions with any of the "friends" that aren't committed enough for long-term campaigns and a place to add some variety and let them try out new characters and scenarios. For the kids, I typically modify one shot outlines I find online or in books. Most of my planning will get wasted. Kids are much less predictable than adults.

I'm currently planning the June session (modified outline). Child went missing in a swamp. They must find and rescue her. It has a bit of a Hansel and Gretel vibe. Given the players' ages, the tricky part is making them actually want to go rescue the child so the reward will need to be pretty sweet.

Whatcha playing?

Just like the board game Diplomacy, finding a good group to play DnD with can be tricky lol. I typically stick to one shots. It's less frustrating than prepping or getting excited and people bailing last minute. And honestly -> my own time is pretty restricted too. I don't want to have to bail on others either.

I should probably note that we mainly use the 2014 rules + any relevant expansions. None of us have invested a lot of time into the 2024 rules yet. I have the book, but I mainly use it as a DM (if a kid relied on that edition to build their character).

Last one shot I played was in March. We rolled for characters. As in the DM had us roll to decide our class, race, etc. We then got 30 minutes to finish creating our character (decide on our name, build our backstory, roll for stats). I do not recommend this route unless everyone you are playing with is very experienced. The variety and push to try something new was fun, but it turned out very badly for many of us individually and for us a party as well. People ended up with classes they didn't know well, and then they didn't have time to investigate and make good decisions. We had fun, but it would've been disastrous if you have a serious group of players. If you want to do it, I'd almost recommend rolling at a pre-session 0 so people have time to familiarize themselves with their character.

I ended up as a warforged artificer with the very obvious name of Ferric and minimal backstory as I spent my 30 minutes mostly reviewing mechanics and focusing on the build. And the one-shot had a ton of aoe and dexterity based traps so....😅

Any Good Stories?

Most of my stories are probably the same as other people and not very exciting.

You probably know the type -> The Barbarian decides to punch the bartender in the face for no good reason even though that was the person with the information we needed, and the DM had CLEARLY indicated they had the information and were amenable to sharing. But no, barbarian decides to knock them out instead of letting the high charisma character talk to them. DM got irked and we had to go "search for clues" for an insanely long time (for a one shot) before we found anything useful.

There was one session where we came to the edge of a ledge and could not see the bottom (seemingly bottomless pit). There were options (other rooms/paths to take, etc.), but one of the idiots (or geniuses) in my party decided to jump. Turned out it was some type of false gravity/gravity loop mechanism. DM had to throw out 3/4 of the planning/one shot because it was supposed to take us a long time to figure it out. That said -> I feel that was bad planning on their part. We easily could've thrown something down there if the idiot hadn't jumped.

Probably most unique (and homebrew) session was when I had to bring my daughter to a session (with permission). She was like 4 at the time. DM decided to make her a "pseudodragon" that tagged along with our party. We told her they couldn't talk and could only make certain noises, and she happily played along for the whole session. We used her as a scout, etc. The fighter decided to "throw her" to knock something off of a high wall. They said "why not?" Why not? Because she can fly 🙄. For the record, it failed. She loved the idea though and acted out bouncing off the wall.

Those are the ones that immediately come to mind. There are probably better ones, but...I'm tired.

Thanks again for the ask! I'm always up for hearing a good story myself ✨.

[giveafike]

TUMBLR WRAPPED 2024!

hi!

did i scare you? unexpected post, huh? I wanted to have something fun to wrap up the year before we move on so I thought, why not a "wrapped"?

Keeping it short & sweet with some insights too + i luv statistics and seeing patterns, so this is always super interesting to me. Without further ado, here's our wrapped together!

Stats Recap (nerd stuff):

As of 10/12/2024, I have 106 posts. 21 of those are actual fics, meaning almost 1/5th of my posts are works.

The rest is yapping - need to stfu got it! noted!

I received 1,901 notes and 149 followers.

You people are INSANE!!! I have a more emotional post due for New Year's but truly, that is wild, wild work. I'll save the tears and heartfelt stuff for that one, but I want you to know how eternally grateful I am for all of you. Being encouraged by you guys is not just inspiring—it’s addicting, electrifying, and everything in between.

Thank u for the outpouring love.

Inbox Recap (what to look for in 2025?):

Hold ur horses, there's gonna be a lot to write and get through! Thank you for requesting and trusting me to make your ideas come true, I hope to do 'em justice.

Here's a little "reading" so to speak (I HAVEN'T WRITTEN ANYTHING SO DON'T START @ ING ME):

Dominic Fike/Elliot:

sensing an alarming amount of unrest and horn*ness over here. Sensing two posts, both for elliot....smth smth... NSFW... something to do with Nate as well, joining....? Nate and NSFW has the same about of letters too, not a coincidence!!! Also sensing a blurb with a massively underrated song. u btches ab to pmo, why don't we listen to Açaí Bowl more as a collective get the streams up omfg- sorry got sidetracked. that's ab all I can say.

Jude Bellingham:

Pretending to be shocked when I say: more smut requests? Oh brother. But one's very sweet and cute and respectful awww-- SIZE K*NK? oh gosh guys um..the only way I can describe this one is...desperate smut. Anon... cmon now. I would say more, but anon owned up to it saying "This is a long and sick request but I believe you are the only writer on here that can bring this to life 😭😭" which makes me giggle so FINE i'll let it slide, I'll try to do as best as I can (luv u don't u worry I got ideas brewing)

Ben Shelton:

phew. lot of nsfw. like a lot. like a crazy amount. Talking ab that damn car (I'm gonna do smth DRASTIC to that fkin car if he posts w it one more time) talking ab being a munch, ab a supermodel, talking ab scratches, talking ab laver cup (THROWBACK!), about ben showing off.... it's getting hot under the collar, oh gosh. Ahem. We have some sweet fluff ones too! including reader getting insecure/jelly. Ben being irrational, one about....homesickness? a LOT of pregnancy asks. like A LOT. SHELTON NATION DON'T GET KNOCKED UP. PLEASE. One I'm very excited to write, Ben x a certain Doja song...heheheheehehe oh and also, Ben and a 'knock-on effect' w his precious little car, ykwim? no? you'll find out. shush. A very exciting story ahead, the first one with NSFW incorporated - thank u 'D' for the prompt!! Also, I finally got my hands on them tiktok editors and I've made a promise or two to do something w their works.....catch my drift? you'll see soon. Special little hints as to who: victim no 1 and victim no 2 🙂‍↕️😝😙🥰

Post Recap (what went on the billboard charts for u?):

IN 6TH PLACE:

At 85 notes each, we have a tie between "Yours" and "Come Here". Both Ben posts, one SFW the other NSFW. Writing "Yours" was super fun, writing jealous/possessive and sassy Ben kills me laughing, IJBOL and writing Carlitos too? SO funny (wonder how that'd go down differently since we saw them being bff besties at Garden Cup) - Possessive Ben is a guilty pleasure, hehehe. Writing "Come Here" was really interesting since it was my first NSFW of Ben. Also based off of my fave Dom Fike song that's just as h*rny. Thigh riding being my FIRST one off the dome is lwky crazy lmao. Sometimes, I wish I could write more in my NSFW posts, i feel a bit insecure in my NSFW writing? I believe in quality>quantity in fics always, but I hate how short mine are for NSFW posts...sigh. Maybe I should build up the tension more? Go deeper (no pun intended)? you let me know, that would be incredibly insightful!!

IN 5TH PLACE:

At 93 notes, we have my baby, "Shattered"!!! "Shattered" ended up becoming a mini-passion project for me (clearly). What was meant to be a mid-sized blurb ended up progressing to 10k words - how that happened is beyond me. Everytime I thought I was done and ready to close up and conclude, there'd be another part, another bit that I'd want to add. It even got to a point where I'd be on my bus home from work or college, almost falling asleep when I'd get woken up with more inspo, lol. It was my first time writing angst in a very, very, very long time but looking back now, I really truly enjoyed it and I'm quite proud of it! Maybe more angst reqs in my future? I’m leaning towards YES

IN 4TH PLACE:

At 102 notes, we have the "NSFW Alphabet with Ben" - you people are so horny omg. This was the first EVER NSFW thing written about Ben from me. And honestly? my least fave hahahahaa. I deadass have this blocked out of my memory, like I haven't gone back to read it after I posted it. I feel like I'd read it and cringe, or disagree w it or be like "erm acshully ....that's not canon" it prob needs to be redo - I'd never hate any of my children but I'm just saying if this one went missing, idgaf. If you want a crazy NSFW reading thats prob more accurate than anything, check this reading out. Feral, bye.

IJBOL what in the equality is my top 3 posts- I MEAN, here's the top 3 that you people ate tf up!

IN 3RD PLACE:

At 142 notes, we have the "When it Rains, it Pours" - smut always wins here huh? My 2nd fic post! This is a whole nasty NSFW post w Elliot from Euphoria (aka Dominic Fike) mixed with friends w benefits, rain noises, a homemade fort and w**d! Amazing trio imo. Literally as I'm writing this, I just got another like for that freaky ass blurb. As much as I'm excited to write more Dom/Elliot stuff, ALL OF YOU PEOPLE ARE SOOO HORNY? LIKE EVERY SINGLE INBOX REQ IS SMUT? EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Idk how many times I can reinvent the wheel, so to speak, but I'll sure as hell try....hehehe

IN 2ND PLACE:

At 143 notes, we have "Game, Set, Match" part 1 - Ben Shelton. AWWWW MY BABY, MY LOVECHILD! This was the first ever STORY and I'm so glad it became a 3 part story too. Triple Platinum, I know that's right!!! I really loved making this, I didn’t plan to add the Instagram element, especially since I’m usually terrible at fake IG fic stuff (finding the right images is so limiting). But for GSM, it just felt right. I think my writing has improved a lot since then, too. I always laugh at my Ben posts because my A.Ns are always like "oh brother a LONG ONE HERE" and then my next post is even longer 😭 Thank u fr for the love on this one, because THAT'S when I really got a whole lottaaa support and love and it rly blew me out of the water, I could cry.

And finally....IN 1ST PLACE:

At 147 notes, it's no surprise that we have the "Waves", a Jude Bellingham blurb.

No surprises here, it was meant to be. I say that because I had this ask sitting in my inbox and decided to do a poll asking what I should post first - after tagging all the tags, I should've known it'd be crazily ratio'd by the Jude community on here, hahahhaha. I think it was something like 80% for Jude and the rest scattered throughout? This was my first ever Jude blurb, and I think it'll be one of many. I have a couple in my inbox but the future is there for me and writing about that silly guy.

Final words:

Was that as interesting for you as it was for me? I've been meaning to talk and reflect to u all inbetween the whole "Advent Calendar" series.

If anything, these stats tell me more about you guys, what you want to see and how I should continue going forward. I always want to write about things that matter the most and stick with you, fics that have you coming back to reread and enjoy.

Having representation in my characters and creating a world where you can sink into time and again is one of the best and only things I can give, so you bet by all means neccessary I don't want to half-ass it.

I might not know where your headspace is at, or what's going on in your life but I hope whatever happens, I can have a little space right here, make you laugh, smile and feel things that take your mind off of reality. At least until you finish reading.

As for the rest of the year, I still have my finals and work this weekend and as the season comes closer, I'd like to spend it with my loved ones while I still can :) The "Advent Calendar" will continue as per scheduled!

I hope to write some more before NYE comes round but we'll see. It's never a burden to write, it's always a destresser, but you bet I'll be enjoying company with family and friends too. That's all I've got for 2024, I can't wait to continue creating silly little imaginary situations in 2025 <3

- lots of love,

azzie.

[rui-drawsbox]

Okay obligatory DnD person as per the Dungon Meshi post(dnd/fantasy au + our life is amazing and I love it) but also I just wanted to say that there is a subclass of elves in dnd called aquatic elves that are kind of a happy mix between a mermaid and a, well, normal elf. I stick more towards spooky rather than nautical campaigns myself, so I’m not too familiar, but if I remember correctly they’re amphibious but with two legs rather than full mermaid.

Also obviously please ignore if you have different ideas but based off of what people have written about battle roles I could absolutely see some subclasses for the four!

Derek I could absolutely see as a Paladin(subclass possibly being oath of devotion or glory) basically the more defensive tank guys bound by an oath they make to themselves or someone important to them, which gives them a little spellcasting as well as actual auras that buff their allies later on.

Baxter I could see being a Bard (College of Swords), or what I kind of think of as a sort of battledancer. It would be a little less of a full spellcaster, but you can do special flourishes when fighting with a rapier which I always imagine as pseudo-dancing, plus he’d still get all the flashy bard spells. And to top it off, Bards actually use their charm(charisma stat) to cast spells which just screams Baxter to me.

Cove is a little harder but if you were going with him having a fish/animal companion while still being a melee fighter a Ranger(Beastmaster or Swarmkeeper) would be a good fit IMO, obviously with the Cove Creater he’s harder to pin than Baxter or Derek, but Ranger is pretty flexible. You basically get to choose a companion that’s from the land, air, or sea; and they can help you out in battle and follow you around, or as Swarmkeeper he could have his swarm be a school of fish.

Ruri is obviously a bit harder because you know your OC best, but if you really wanted to lean into more into the familiar/animal buddy route. Druid(circle of the shepherd) is always a fun choice! It’s kind of like the more spellcaster version of rangers’ Swarmkeeper where you can summon a lot of critters while still having some super strong elemental spells.

But anyway! I hope this wasn’t too long, I saw some (kinda) DnD our life content and I couldn’t resist! But thank you again for the adorable art of the main boys(and your lovely OC!) in a fantasy setting!

Second ask from dnd anon:

Oh! DnD anon part two!

But basically the theoretical party composition would look like:

Derek = Tank/Damage

Cove = Weapon Damage/Companion(s)

Baxter = Spells/Weapon Damage

and Ruri = Healing/Spells.

Also one last note about Druid is while druids have a lot of elemental spells (create water, spike growth, etc.), they also have the ability to do something called wildshape, where they can shapeshift into an animal for either out of battle(wildshape into a mouse to get under the crack in a door, then returning to normal and unlocking it) or battle (at later levels imagine fighting a spellcasting bear or even dragon) but also has more silly implications like wild shaping into a songbird to sing with Baxter, or a cat or sloth to ride on Cove’s shoulder.

got these asks a few days ago but i let them marinate in my brain hope you dont mind anon KJDSAUH

anyways AQUATIC ELF THATS PERFECT i tried to stick to what i knew about dumenshi rules in that post but for my first fantasy AU ideas i was going to do Cove a half mermaid (Cliff human x mermaid Kyra or elf Kyra [shes just so pretty its insane] x mermaid Cliff) that lived in a house right on the beach lmao, im happy that actually makes sense somewhere in dnd

i tried to look at the aquatic elves wiki from the forgotten realms fandom and omg so much text in the main page

also paladin Derek canon‼‼ imagine he does his oath to his brothers right after something dangerous happens to them when they were kids (im not saying his parents should die but im not saying they shouldnt--)

and bam!! tragic backstory 10x worse than his canon that is already bad enough :DD (try to make him feel less responsable now i wanna see that)

baxter turn rn. DO YOU THINK HE WOULD PLAY VIOLIN? I WANNA SEE THAT (<-this person didnt thought about drawing him with an instrument until it was time to write her thoughts) anyway it would def be a fancy instrument, daddy and mommy wanted to keep appearances i bet

one his spells makes his sword and moves shine and when hes under the sun his enemies become fucking blind

everything about him screams I HAVE MONEY but everytime people try to rob him he just rolls a nat20 in persuasion and they end up giving him money

and omg just imagine Cove's school of fish are all his pet fishes from the game JGASDFJK

im also. not discussing roles when the most i know about dnd is bg3 and i just finished 2 playthroughs. if you say ruri is a druid she's a druid, she makes super artsy flower fields and decorates every tree she sees with organical paint or smth jkfhds

Ruri's forest has a tree that connects with the ocean and they both just hangout sometimes (as if theyre not together 60% of the time already)

DRUID RURI THAT LIKES TO BRAID COVE'S HAIR WITH LITTLE POPPIES‼‼‼

MERMAID COVE THAT LETS RURI (otter form!!) RIDE HIS BACK WHILE HE SWIMS‼‼‼‼

mermaid cove humming a song and ruri falling to the river in trance/j

anyways anon i agree with everything tbh, there's so many ways to do a fantasy AU and i adore the dnd version (id kill for a dnd group or smth in my city)

i also have another fantasy au more vanilla but not-really. basically isekai baxter LMAO mostly an excuse to make ruri and baxter being domestic but before baxter developed any real domestic skill JHASFD

[wordsandrobots]

Been up in Harrogate for this year's Thought Bubble convention, during the course of which, @thedancingwalrus-blog and I got talking about how you might do a Gundam (specifically Iron-Blooded Orphans but probably generally applicable) TTRPG.

Because, while I have flicked through Lancer, that seems to follow a very combat-focused Armoured Core-like model, which is not how Gundam tends to operate. I'm not saying one couldn't adapt it (and I'm sure some people are already on that), but at base, I think you'd want a system that would allow you to incorporate a lot more non-pilot roles into a party. Your C&C, your mechanics, and so on. Essentially, if you actually wanted to capture something akin to how Gundam has traditionally operated, you need to be able to do both Epic Giant Robot Fights with appropriate aircraft carrier support, and the obligatory dramatic/homoerotic fencing as you corner your rival in an exploding space fortress.

I think, based on my limited experiences and @thedancingwalrus-blog's considerably greater knowledge, that means skewing more towards character-based gameplay than machinery. Obviously, the mecha are important, but in Gundam, it's always the pilot that makes the difference, and there's always more than pilots contributing. (I'm aware of Mekton, which I think did something similar, putting character-building first; it just doesn't sound like my idea of fun.)

Thus maybe a three by three set of attributes like Vampire the Masquerade?

Physical

Endurance -- what can you take?

Reflex -- how fast can you react?

Training -- do you know what you are doing?

Mental

Intelligence -- how smart are you?

Awareness -- are you paying attention?

Education -- did you go to school?

Social

Social standing -- how does society view you?

Charisma -- how do others react to you?

Experience -- do you know what's going on?

I think this probably captures most of what you'd what to quantify from a Gundam character, with its spacenoid/earthnoid, earthian/spacian, colonist/core kind of divisions and all manner of silver-tongued aces and psychic teenagers.

Then you could have Newtype powers to boost awareness, Alaya-Vijnana systems to boost reflex, being the president's daughter to boost experience, and so on. You could do backgrounds that would set bonuses or penalties to various attributes e.g. for social standing: Human Debris = -3, Martian war orphan = -2, space colonist = -1, Gjallarhorn aristocrat = +2 (or the equivalent). And you could do experience gain -- quite literally -- by boosting the 'learning' stats.

But then of course at some point you have to weld this to a combat mechanic and I'm not sure of that part. Certainly I think having some kind of initiative order where you can have mecha fighting, captains surveying the battlefield and directing ship fire, mechanics doing repairs/optimisation and so on, and having the order they go in mattering. Like, a pilot can race ahead of their captain, but that'll mean not getting the help of a tactical overview. That could model something like Judau charging ahead of the Agama, without getting a full view of what's actually going on, leaving Bright to frantically play catch-up. Or they could wait, holding their turn until their captain can give them a better idea of what they're up against.

Beyond that . . . well, mecha specs would obviously have to play some a part. IBO has the frames, which could provide discrete base stats like Lancer, that you then build out with armour and weaponry. I don't think you'd need much in the way of scale variation. Then again, I suppose mobile worker -> mobile suit -> mobile armour would work as another division.

I'm thinking some sort of base power stat (Ahab reactor) that then gets split between attack, speed and defence . . . but really I need to work out what kind of basic mechanic to adapt before I try to go further with this idea.

(Please note: I am not a big TTRPG person *at all*. But it might be fun and I really like the Post Disaster setting would be good for running games in.)

[forthegothicheroine]

Let's make a Villain!

Last time we made a henchwoman player character for Henchwoman RPG, a hack of Maid RPG. This time we will make a villain the players can work for! You don't actually have to fully roll up a villain for this game- as an NPC, they can be limited to a general concept and a few stats- but it's always fun to see what the dice give you.

By popular demand (my husband's) we will be making Mr. Sparkplug! But how seriously should we take this often-rebooted criminal? There are two things to determine this, their Level and Tier. First, the level- how long have they been at this?

To determine this, roll 1D6. We rolled a 3, meaning he's an Apprentice! If he keeps this up, maybe he'll get all the other villains not to laugh at him!

Now for the tier...

On 1D6, we rolled another 3, making him a C-Lister- which is frankly better than he should have hoped for. He's not a complete joke, but a lot of his villainous schemes will probably be about improving his name recognition.

Next up, let's give him two Special Qualities!

Roll 2D66 to determine special qualities! We rolled 2 and 4 for Musical, and 3 and 2 for Ridiculous Prop! Wow, what a guy! Let's say he carries around a big, silly steampunk lightning rod, and oh how he likes to make it sing!

But what, exactly can he do? Let's give him a Power or two! A villain starts with two powers by default, though I may change this to add or subtract powers based on level and tier. For now, Sparkplug gets two of these.

Roll 2D6 twice for this table. In our case, we got 2+1 for 3, Brilliance, and 6+4 for Wackiness! (I promise I didn't fudge that roll!) He has a very stupid gimmick of making electrical outlets turn off and on, but damn it, he's going to find the cleverest uses of that power he can!

Now we go over to the Henchwoman tables to finish him up. First, his Stress Explosion.

Rolling 1D66 for this, we got 2 and 2, meaning he burns off stress by Gambling! Let's hope he gets away with rigging the slot machines' power outlets before the mob catches him.

Now, the Color table.

Rolling 3D66, we got 1 and 6 for vermillion eyes, 6 and 3 for gold hair, and 6 and 2 for an indigo outfit. Looks like he's aiming to be the next tumblr sexyman!

Finally, his actual Attributes. This is important to understand- a villain's stats will almost always suck compared to a henchwoman's. Villains are meant to be cool but useless, reliant on their henchwomen to pull off pretty much anything. Athletics, Charm, Skill, Cunning and Luck are each 2D6/4, and Will is automatically 2 (Spirit is 20, based on this.)

Rolling down the line, Mr. Sparkplug has Athletics 2, Charm 1, Skill 2, Cunning 1, Luck 2, and Will 2. He's going to need those henchwomen if he wants to get ahead in villainy!

A few notes at the end:

We rolled a Theme for our henchwoman, and it makes sense if all the henchwomen and the villain share that theme. However, that is not necessarily true. Sometimes villains put together teams of minions with different wacky gimmicks. Sort of like some kind of "high risk of death gang" or something...

Once upon a time, villainy was a boys club, and being a henchwoman was the next best thing for a villainous woman. Times have changed, and the field of big time villainy is much more egalitarian now. Henching remains a pink-collar profession, however. Obviously your characters may be any gender, and can care about default expectations as much or as little as you want.

Next up, I'm working on the lair creation and random event tables. Updates to come!

[cadaverviper]

Daytona USA (Sega Saturn)

This game was panned on release for simply being not as good looking or feeling as the arcade version. After playing this badboy for myself I can understand where the animosity may come from. The graphics for one thing are just not near as good as the arcade in anyway. The other thing is the constant pop in and the render distance is quite poor. But I would like to look at this game in a operate light from the arcade. It's only fair if this game is judged standalone without looking at the arcade version. But I just wanted to note that I do indeed acknowledge that these to games are different and at one point that was a huge issue.

Now to start the game has a 2 main okay modes. Arcade which is where you pick 1 of a total of 5 racetracks all of ascending difficulty level and try to beat all the racers and get the best time. Time attack is much the same but without any other racers the only thing you are shooting for there is a good time. You also have a bunch of cars to choose from with differentiating stats to change things up. For me I stuck to arcade and chose the base Hornet stock car as my choice and then hit the race tracks.

At first I had to restart because I found out quickly that A is not accelerate. B is Accelerate and C is for the break. Only thing really needed to okay this on effectively. Also when picking a car you can choose manual or automatic. I went with automatic because my little baby brain could not handle much more than just that. The first track is a simple one and the one I was able to actually beat. It's a traditional oval shaped track and 40 racers are in this one. The car controls kind of funny at first but you get used to it after awhile. I learned that around sharp turns the brake is mandatory and definitely not something to be taken lightly. Make sure you use it wisely. If you hit the wall or go on grass your car will skid or slow down a bit so you need to limit that as much as possible. The other racers are your main obstacle. They all sometimes move erratically in ways that don't make alot of sense constantly changing up and down all the time and it's very annoying. Also if you hit the wall hard enough, and I mean going like 200mph you could end up completely crashing. When this happens your car very cartooshly launches into the fucking air and does a couple flips. It's hilarious but also a total race killer if it happens at all.

Also got to pay attention to the map on this one because it will always let you know where the 1st place driver is. You'll be spending most of your time lapping other drivers and such and usually the 2 laps is when you'll be coming up on the 1st place racer. I also realized that this game has a checkpoint timer much like in Sega Rally but here i never really had any issue hitting any of them the times are super generous. After playing the first race it's all the others where the true challenge comes it what with them being more than just your traditional oval shaped. Racing fans I feel will love this one. It's very quick fun and the variety of tracks and things to do with the car really make this one a super great time.

So all in all i feel this game is unfairly hated. Looking at it separately from the arcade and now in hindsight it is very fun to play and a good racer on Saturn. Though i will say there are so many great racing games on the Saturn that i can understand anyone who wanted to skip this. If you have an easy means to get this booted up and your into arcade racers I say why not give it a try. Also side note the music is so so good, it's a classic.

Rating: DAYTONA!!!!(in the funny announcer voice)/10

[meta-squash]

Just for fun, yet another fic commentary inspired by @shamelessdvdcommentary

We Drag Ourselves Hand Over Hand Summary: Maybe it would have been better if he hadn't come back. Because absence apparently makes the heart grow fonder and at some point he realizes he's fallen in love with Ian Gallagher. At some point he realizes he fucking hates camouflage. At some point he realizes he wishes Ian could stay. In which Ian actually goes into the Marines.

Give us some stats - (when you wrote it, word count, how long it took to finish, is it a one-shot/multi-chapter, etc) It took me 3 weeks to finish this fic. I only know this because I mentioned it in my authors note. The fic is a 33,014 word oneshot.

What was the initial inspiration for your story? I wondered what would have happened if Ian had actually joined the Marines, but with Ian and Mickey actually kind of on the same page about their feelings. I had three scenes that I wanted to connect: Ian coming home from training before being deployed and reconnecting with Mickey and the two of them realizing that they want to be together but now can't be, Mickey and Ian saying goodbye at the airport a different time, and Mickey breaking his hand.

If the story is written from a character’s POV, why did you choose this character? It had to be Mickey, because Ian is gone. I really really wanted to go more into how the military exploits poor people, but I think I would have been better able to do it with an omniscient POV, not a fixed one. I don't think Mickey really gives a shit about (or is even aware of) the military targeting of low income communities for recruitment.

What was your favourite scene to write? It's a tie between Mickey breaking his hand/in the hospital/the moments after or the scene where Mickey picks Ian up at the airport and pulls him in for a kiss by his dogtags.

How did you come up with the title? Genuinely I have no idea. I don't remember at all where it came from. I'm absolutely terrible at titles, most of them have nothing to do with the fic and are gibberish. It's my biggest weakness.

Are there any little moments or references you hope readers will notice? I 100% stole the bit where Ian puts his face in Mickey's armpit and later Mickey doing it back from the film Lilting, starring Ben Whishaw (a beautiful but also very sad movie go watch it).

Was there anything you struggled to write? If so, how did you overcome this? I wasn't sure how to make the moments where Ian was home not repetitive and/or boring. I think I succeeded, just by injecting the constant awareness that Ian will be leaving again soon and this is so fleeting. I think it also kind of works to show how he's home for such short periods of time that it never feels like they can get closer or spend a lot of time together, it's either too shallow or too deep.

Favourite line in the story? Mickey wanted everything. He never wanted 'at least,' not with Ian.

Did the storyline change in any way as you wrote the story? Definitely. I was connecting 3 totally different scenes and I didn't really know where I was going. I don't want to totally spoil the fic but I actually didn't have the major climactic event planned from the start. I wasn't sure what I wanted to have happen. I originally had Ian coming home only once, but then I added a second time because it felt like I needed the relationship to develop more. I also added a bit more to one scene after I posted the fic, just based on the reactions in the comments. It was a scene I didn't realize was going to be so emotional for people, so I wanted to add some stuff to heighten that.

What are you most proud about in the story? (plot, characterisation, dialogue, twist/cliffhanger, etc) The twist, which I shall not spoil. I also really loved writing the Mickey and Fiona friendship in this fic, which is something I think was tragically denied us in canon.

Are there any deleted scenes that didn’t make it to the final story? I think I had Ian and Mickey talking on the phone another time, but I decided it wasn't interesting enough. I think I also had a much more fleshed out scene with Mickey and Fiona just being friends and shooting the shit, but it broke the flow of the story enough that I deleted it.

Are there any ‘behind the scenes’ info you’d like to share - e.g. what’s going on in a characters head in a certain scene or how you came to write a certain line? I actually did "research" and research for this fic. I don't know anything about the military and military leave and shit like that, so I did a little bit of googling and reading of blogs and articles so I could be at least vaguely correct even though I handwaved a lot of it. I also somehow found a youtube channel of a gay couple where one partner was in the military and the other was not, and I watched some of their videos and vlogs to kind of get a sense of like the interactions and events when people are deployed/come home or the feelings the civilian partner goes through, stuff like that.

Reading back the story now, is there anything you’d change or add? Again, I wish I'd made the scenes where Ian is home a little more emotionally charged and stuff. But I also kind of like the distance, because I think the feeling of "too little, not enough time to make it more" fits with what the actual characters are feeling.

Would you ever write a sequel to this story? Someone asked me to, but I definitely wouldn't. I just wouldn't be able to write a realistic sequel and I wouldn't really know what to do with Mickey's character development except maybe more friendship with Fiona. But I think the end of the fic implied that, so I don't even need that.

Were you nervous or excited to post this story? Neither, but I'm incredibly surprised by how many hits it's gotten. I expected it to be a fic that got nothing because it's an AU and it's sad as shit and full of pining. But somehow it's my 3rd most popular fic.

Anything else you’d like the readers to know about the story? I wanted this fic to capture the mundanity of missing someone; how after a while it starts just being a normal everyday thing until you realize you're treating it like a normal everyday thing, and then suddenly it's not anymore, and then you just go through that over and over. Also, season 5 of the show seriously squandered the potential for having the Gallagher siblings accept Mickey into their fold and become friends/a support system/partners in (mild) crime with him, so I really wanted this fic to have that, particularly with Fiona and Debbie.

[a-dark-sanctuary]

Bean

The time has come

The blorbo posts are moving out of tellius, who knows how long it will be until they break even the fe containment

CRAB BLORBO NR. WHATEVER I FORGOT!

ANNA!!!!!

Back to the basics, list time!!!

She is in literally every game except fe2 and it's remake fe15

I adore her little finger chin touch that she does in every game

Every iteration of her is actually a different person and they're all a big family of sisters

^this also has the implication that Anna has interdimensional travel powers (and also time travel)(this is also hinted at in engages epilogue)

I believe there's two eras of Anna, pre and post-awakening. With pre-awakening being more down to earth and existing a lot more as the menu and secret shop person, with post-awakening being more high energy, and I don't want to say one-note, but more, let's say focused on a specific gimmick, which in Annas case is being a cuttthroat buisnesswoman, and this often comes along as borderline psychopathic (/pos imo), but I don't think this was the intention. I love both versions

Post-awakening she's actually a playable character in almost all the games, including Awakening (Very fun to use, trickster class which is staves and Swords, she does especially well with Levin sword and that's always fun), Fates (haven't used her, dlc), Three Houses (kinda sucks and has no supports, also dlc and one of the other dlc characters is just better in everyway gameplay wise) and Engage (also very fun to use, uses axes at base and bows on promotion which is very nice, she also has great magic and can be very good as a mage)

Sells you drugs

So Anna huh, the most reocurring fe character by far, and I love reocurring characters. She's a shrewd buisnesswoman and always have been, but she's a pretty chill gal pre-awakening and just hangs around and gives you tips. And sells you drugs, don't forget about that. Then in awakening she returns once again, but now with a more, high-energy personality. The reason I called her borderline psychopathic is that she here begins to make a lot of quips and jokes about killing people in ways that are some kind of money puns in a very lighthearted tone, "prices aren't the only things i slash" for exampel. I personally find this kind of endearing (this holds up with my other blorbo Henry also from awakening). Then in engage she shows up as a child who has been lost from her family (her anna sisters) Here in engage she has a wonderful childlike feel when doing all her merchant things, while still having that dash of psychosis. And I find this very endearing as well.

She also has a boyfriend who is also reocurring, just not as much has her. Meet Jake! His personality and looks vary a bit.

Then there was the final dlc to awakening, bringing one final challenge to all who played the game. Apotheosis, featuring the final final boss...

Anna the merchant

This is an insane boss, probably the single strongest boss in all of fire emblem, with insane stats like 99 hp, 60 str, 50 mag, 70 skl, 70 spd, 65 lck, 55 def and 55 res. So insanely much.

But that's not even the worst part, her skills are. Counter dealing all physical damage back, Vantage+ to always attack first, Aether which is usually only a main character skill, dragonskin (????????) which halfs all damage dealt and RIGHTFUL GOD

RIGHTFUL GOD????????

rightful god gives 30% extra proc chance to all proc skills

BUT EVEN THE FACT THAT SHE HAS A SKILL CALLED RIGHTFUL GOD IS SCARY ENOUGH AND HAS SOME WEIRD IMPLICATIONS

yeah, insane boss

But overall yeah I just like her, great vibe tbh.

I think me liking her might also have something to do with that she reminds me a lot of an oc I made a loooong time ago with pie who has a special place in my heart.

Anyway finishing picture of all of anna

I find it extremely hilarious that Anna just. has time travel powers. The single constant of the fire emblem universe is the presence of silly capitalism gal

ALSO SHE’S A SUPERBOSS?????????? RIGHTFUL GOD?????????? WH?????????? WHY DOES THE FUNNY SECRET SHOP LADY HARBOR THE POWER OF THE HEAVENS