#(use mind magic on zach)

[mage-witha-glock]

Literally Zach and Zorian (the og reel)

[felassan]

Compilation of snippets from the DA:TV acting talent panel at SDCC (Dragon Age: Meet the Heroic Companions of Thedas) today (July 26th). DA:TV spoilers under cut.

Huge props and tysm to the users who live-tweeted and clipped this panel, you are heroes 🙏💜!!

The panel was moderated. In attendance were John Epler, creative performance director Ashley Barlow, and the actors of Lucanis, Neve, Emmrich, and Harding - Zach Mendez, Jessica Clark, Nick Boraine, and Ali Hillis respectively.

The panel ended with a Q&A session.

(BioWare have stated that a recording of the panel will be made available at a later date.)

Edit/update: I've now been through this post and tidied it up :)

---

Here are some pictures from the panel [source]

Here are some more pictures from the panel [source]

In this Twitter thread there are also some video clips of parts of the panel [source]

BioWare tried to avoid spoilers in the panel [source]

Key points/summary of DA:TV: hunting Solas, found family companions, stop the elven gods [source]

When auditioning the companions, BW were specifically looking for character chemistry [source]

BW used motion capture for the game [source]. Mo-cap was mentioned a lot in the panel [source]

Lucanis sees assassination as a job. His mind is as dangerous as his knives and he is also "kinda hilarious" [source]

There was mention of other Crows [source]

Zach Mendez read Tevinter Nights like three times [source]

A clip of the actors doing mo-cap was shown [source]. Photos of Zach mo-capping for other characters was shown [source]

BioWare said that Zach brought a certain darkness to Lucanis [source]

Zach is excited for the romance and is looking forward to the stats [source]

Zach mentioned that he used his own relationship with his brother in his portrayal of Lucanis [source] (surely this means ILLARIO.. ?👀)

Zach played a lot of darkspawn originally while auditioning [source]

Ali Hillis really welcomed Zach into the DA family [source]

Neve is from Minrathous. She has fun banter and is a cynical detective with a heart of gold. They want to show a rebellious side of Tevinter [source]

Jessica Clark loves Neve's loyalty, dedication, and different vision of Tevinter

Neve is fighting for the people [source]. Jessica: "She is really really fighting for those people, and she loves those people. So, yes, she's cynical, and yes she's kind of tough and brusque and all these other things, but when they say there's a heart of gold, there really, like, to have that kind of a passion and dedicate your life to something like that, I think that's definitely my favorite part about her" [source]

Jessica loves how much Neve loves Docktown and its people [source]

Neve sees a different vision for Tevinter than what has previously been depicted in the series [source]

The actors were separate from one another while recording lines but still bonded really well and organically [source]

There are several Veilguard gc [source] (groupchats?)

Ali is an angel and very supportive of the new cast [source]

Emmrich is a "stone cold silver fox" (this is a quote from the panel moderator) [source]

BioWare knew the reaction they would get about Emmrich from the fandom [source]

Nick Boraine feels like he's been preparing for Emmrich all his life. He's obsessed with death (as a comfort and not scary) and enabling people to transition into death. He is attracted to this aspect of the character [source]

"You're gonna need a dictionary for Emmrich" for all the magic spells [source]

"Interesting how this character caught fire compared to the other sexy characters" [source] (I think this was said wrt Emmrich?)

BW had a great time recording with Nick, he is a very consistent actor [source]

Nick and Matt Mercer have never met [source]

Manfred plays off of Emmrich. "I set the tone" [source]

What has Harding been doing in-between DA:I and DA:TV? She's been working closely with Varric and the Inquisition remnants. She and Neve already met in the comics [source]

Ali vividly remembers the beginning of voicing Harding, she says it's brilliant writing. She really thought of Harding's personality and traits. She's so happy to be back [source]

wrt the Covid-19 pandemic and the year 2020, BW had to pivot with working remotely and were able to push through their projects. [source]

"[Harding] chasing Solas for a decade..." "that was a great relationship that [you] developed... and now I'll stop talking now". Ali was excited [source]

John Epler talked about how companions may but heads, and won't be predictable [source]

There are thousands and thousands of lines and so many characters to meet [source]

Zach "unfortunately has been around the DA Reddit before recording as Lucanis" [source]. He feels inspired by all the fans and cannot wait for us to play it [source]

[new textblock due to character limit!]

John Epler on Emmrich: "I mean honestly, I will say, like, we expected a great reaction to Emmrich. Went beyond what we expected for sure. But it’s been fascinating to see, because again, Emmrich is this character, he’s more of the professorial, more, he brings a wisdom and kind of a calmness to the group, so even when things are at their worst, there’s that one person in the group who is kinda like, ‘okay, y’know, we've got, let's figure it out, let’s take a deep breath’. And just his journey through his character arc, and his interactions with the others, it’s been fantastic to see. Even just finding opportunities for him to bounce off the other characters, you know, the way he talks to Bellara, the way he talks to Neve, it’s all so different, but it’s also just, again, based around this core of this warm, kind-hearted, professorial necromancer. Which, again, is not something you see a lot of in media. I mean, usually, necromancers are depicted in a very specific way. But it’s been, it's awesome to see how Emmrich has grown and just, really one of the most, one of my favorite experiences has been just working with Emmrich’s writer, working with Emmrich as a character." [source]

All the actors are excited about the dialogue and narrative, and for us to explore DA:TV [source]

Ali says that we will really find ourselves in this game [source]

During the recording process, the actors all hear the previous person's recording and react or respond to it [source]

Due to Covid-related lockdown, a lot of recording was done over Zoom, and the writers besides Ashley Barlow (creative performance director) would jump in on the call to talk about the previous person’s lines [source]

A question was asked about the background factions. "Characters not causes". [source]

You can work with the Grey Wardens in the game (for example) [source]

The actors all met this weekend. They are an "un-chosen" family [source]

Zach stood in for multiple characters for mo-cap, for example he was Assan [source]

Lucanis has a heart but is stubborn and stuck in his ways. Zach is excited for fans to help his character open up as the story progresses [source]

Jessica is incredibly honored to join the DA universe. She is new to voice acting for video games. “This is play pretend. Playing Neve allowed her to step into her power.” [source]

A question was asked on what their first exposure to fantasy was, and do they implement this into the acting? John talked about Lord of the Rings and how every media you experience will seep out into your work [source]

Ashley didn't want the dialogue to sound modern [source]

Zach loves Theseus and talked about the symbolism in DA [source]

Jessica loves Greek mythology and lore [source]

Nick talked about The Hobbit and how he would dress up in big boots and a cape when his mother would read to him [source]

Ali recently went to Greece and felt like she saw DA everywhere [source]

A question was asked - "From your companion's perspective, which previous companion would you romance?" Zach kind of has a thing for The Iron Bull, saying "oh that awakened something inside of me". He also likes Dorian. Jessica was too overwhelmed to answer. Nick was also overwhelmed by the question, but thinks Solas is sexy [source] [source]

Ali fangirled over Lucanis and Emmrich [source], prefers Emmrich [source]

A question was asked - "Is DA:TV and DA:I streamlined together?" [paraphrased]. Answer: DA games are not as streamlined as Mass Effect and act almost as standalones [source]

The cast were asked about which aspect of their character is their favorite. Ali loves the little quirks about Harding. "Lucanis is a good cook!?" ** Neve is very dry and pretty closed off about it. For Emmrich, it's the "exploration of the idea of death and necromancy" [source] (** FINALLY CITATION for this? :D)

A question was asked: "How do you decide to introduce the lore in each game?" BioWare answered that it depends as they build each game. They always know the base lore, and see opportunities through game mechanics and characters. They try not to infodump [source]

A question was asked: "Any favorite party banter?" Ashley Barlow said to listen for "hand to bone combat" [source]

The game takes place approximately 10 years after the end of DA:I. You start the game hunting for Solas. The game is built on some core principles: be who you want to be in a world worth saving and with characters that matter. The companions are always at the heart of DA and they are at the heart of this game too. [source]

The moderator asked John Epler about what is bringing this party of people ("this rogues' gallery") together. John: "I mean, it's the end of the world, and each character that you bring into your party understands that the world is ending, that they need to stop that, and you're really building, what I would say is, more of a found family. These are characters who may not start off liking each other, may not even start off liking you, but over time they grow to understand the importance of what they're doing and just, how critical it is to stop the elven gods" [source]

"He is kind and has some spectacular lines. He is a natural nerdy scientist. He loves learning." [source] (Emmrich? ^^)

Ali didn't realize that Harding was such a beloved character. She thanked fans for bringing this character back [source]

Ali is super excited that the game is releasing. She said that there has been an evolution to Harding's character and that she's been chasing Solas for like a decade at this point [source]

Jessica loves the writing in the game [source]

Nick loves its narrative [source]

Ali said that this game is going to take you into a world that will blow your minds [source]

On Manfred: Nick was asked what it was like having another character to bounce off of. He said "Oh man! I mean, that is such a hard question, because Matt and I have never met, and we worked completely separately, and, I, I mean I know that the rapport is really great, but it's in the ether, I mean it is just, the magic that these guys create, telling us how to respond, how to do that, but it's, I can't wait to meet Matt" [source]

BW still said that the game's release window is Fall 2024 [source]. Nothing more specific was given [source]

There are also more snippets here in this Tumblr post, go check it out!

[source, two]

[the-raven-and-the-tower]

Before their friendship developed, Harding was hella suspicious of Lucanis out of protectiveness and mean about it.

Harding: The Demon of Vyrantium, huh? And they called you that before the demon.

Lucanis: Ah. You don't have that enchanted barbed arrow in your quiver because you think it's pretty.

Harding: It is though, isn't it? The red shimmer is the enfeebling magic. And the spiked tip is designed to splinter inside the target.

Lucanis: Very nice.

Refusing to be baited. He's called the situation out for what it is and now he refuses to rise to a taunt as barbed as her arrow. Lace is just being protective of her people, and he seems to recognize that. Worse, he may think he deserves some level of suspicion, based on what we find in his mental Ossuary later. But further... Lucanis just left behind a year of torture and imprisonment, he's no stranger to being taunted with his own death. Harding isn't getting a rise out of him that easily.

Harding: I thought you'd like that! I really hope I don't have to use it though. It cost me a lot of gold.

Lucanis: That's why you only have the one.

Harding: Well, I only need one. Especially from this close.

Lucanis: You cannot help but flinch whenever I use my skills. You think, "Ah, this time he's definitely gone full demon."

Harding: It's not personal.

I read this as progress from where their relationship was last time we heard them speak. "It's not you I don't like, I just don't trust the demon you have in you."

Lucanis: If you're watching me in battle, you leave yourself open to our actual enemies.

Logic and reason, using their shared goal as the hinge. Wise Crow.

Harding: The power of the demon-possessed assassin should make up for how twitchy everyone else gets, right?

^ Cranky or not, she listened. Right after this, we got into a fight with some Darkspawn and Lucanis was actively cheering Harding on when she kept her focus on the fight. And he does it by praising her ferocity. "Harding, that was terrifying!" but in an almost proud way. It was great.

His response is kindness.

When we go on his "getting to know Lucanis' quest to the markets in Treviso, he does this-

Lucanis: Ah. Here. (finding what he was looking for)

Rook: A potted plant?

Lucanis: For Harding's garden. Spearmint is supposed to calm bad dreams. It's good in desserts, too.

He's brand new to the team at this point and we know he's rejecting sleep, avoiding it at all costs. Meanwhile, Harding is brand new to having nightmares - it's not hard to picture her stumbling into the pantry for a cup of something bracing and forgetting Lucanis is there. The same person who has openly threatened to kill him and gone so far as to tell him how she'll do it, and he's getting her a potted plant. I love seeing how he uses his carefully-honed skills of perception to help instead of hurt. She likes plants, so he gets her one. She has nightmares, so he finds a way to help that fits into her likes already. It's a beautiful thing.

They develop a friendship later and we get a lot of great banter from them around dreams, but even so, when we go into the Ossuary of Lucanis's mind, we find this;

HARDING: Don't worry, Rook. I've got my eye on the prisoner.

Still a prisoner in his own mind. I also have to wonder if a little of Lace's early treatment of him reminded him of the guards in the Ossuary. I appreciate that Harding was just being protective of her people, but to a man who has just left a year of torture in an underwater prison behind, anyone who describes how they're planning to kill him if he steps out of line has to remind him of it a little.

ROOK, displeased: You've conjured up a friendly face, Lucanis. But your real friends and allies need you, in the real world.

HARDING: Rook, are you sure Spite isn't tricking you? What if there's no Lucanis - just the demon?

Lucanis's impression of Lace's fears earlier was 'You cannot help but flinch whenever I use my skills. You think, "Ah, this time he's definitely gone full demon."'

ROOK: After a year in the Ossuary, you might believe that. But you're no demon.

HARDING: Look around. This isn't the mind of a human being, let alone an Antivan Crow.

It's Harding's voice, but Lucanis's thoughts. It makes me think of the scrap of a thought we found in the Ossuary; I didn't want you to see that. Again... -I'm not this. I cannot be this-

ROOK: You're still the man you were, Lucanis, even buried in this pain. No demon would punish itself like this.

HARDING: You really shouldn't trust anything you find in the Fade.

ROOK: I trust you, Lucanis, and I trust myself to get you home. Let me.

HARDING: You know that's the kind of attitude that's gonna get you killed, right?

ROOK, still to Lucanis and not the projection: I'll risk it. I have a master assassin on my side. Don't I?

HARDING, fading into light: Just... be careful.

And because I have no idea how to end this thread other than angst, I present to you this;

A Lucanis who has finally escaped the Ossuary of his own mind with Rook's help and begun to believe that he can have a future with Rook, maybe even a happy one. Free from the mental shackles of his mind, he starts to build a real friendship with Lace even as they stop having as many midnight talks after each of them starts sleeping through the night better.

Losing both of them in one night when Lace sacrifices herself to save Rook from Ghilan'nain after Lucanis gets slammed into a rock and has to watch helplessly as Lace dies. And then the bitter triumph of making his kill after she buys them a distraction... only for Rook to be snatched into the fade by Solas's betrayal.

Rook was in the Fade for weeks. Imagine that first night, with Lucanis alone with nothing but his guilt-ridden thoughts and Spite's screams.

[just-another-random-cloud]

Hello, I have a question. What are the rest of the villains in your Creature Chris au are they like monsters or human? And I hope you have a good day or night.

I have been thinking a lot about them, tbh, but I couldn't figure out some of them, only the main three so far.

Starting with Zach, he would be a dragon-like person (dragonborn... kinda???).

I like to think he created a whole business and even got a few buildings and houses while in a human disguise. He collects and hoards treasure, that he then uses to make automatons (basically the Greek Mythology version of robots and devices) that hunt for him and serve him. Here, he's way less of a villain, working for any side that pays him best, and usually leaving the scene before it can blow up in his face. He was born a human, but never reveals how he became like this.

I think he and Chris met when they were teenagers, they are not exactly friends, but aren't enemies either.

WARNING FOR ARACHNOPHOBIA

Human with traits of spider, it's not very realistic, but just to be safe.

Donita would be an Arachne-type spider creature, that lives in a big cave deep in the forest. She makes beautiful clothes with her silk, but the only problem, is that it's magic and can be used to control people's minds. She mostly uses it to make humans be obcessed with her clothes and want to buy more and more, but sometimes she can use it to make them work for her.

Gourmand, honestly, is the one that changed the least. He is a human, and a chef, but instead of hunting rare animals, he goes after... bigger fish.

A creature hunter, in a few words.

I still have no idea of what to do for Paisley, Rex and Dabio, and haven't decided about Koki and Jimmy, either (Aviva would be a human), and yes, I'm accepting suggestions-

Also, thank you! Have a good day/night, too!

[ersetu-gazette]

Brainstorming the Mother of Learning TTRPG

So every once in awhile there are forum posts or questions asked about what tabletop roleplaying system would be best for playing in the Ersetu universe. Usually I say that something like Pathfinder or D&D 3.5e would be best because they are the most popular rpgs that MoL at the very least alludes to, with a crunchy gameplay style that the narrative references. There's obvious deep complexity and lots of magic spells. At one point Zorian wonders out loud why some first circle spells aren't 0 circle spells because they don't seem to be more complex and the other character says "marketing" (read: a joke about spell balance). And any missing components could easily fixed with homebrew and hacks (my opinion at the time).

But as I explore more indie ttrpgs and otherwise step further outside of D&D hegemony I realize that it might be that there is a more appropriate ttrpg out there for Mother of Learning. So let's go over the wishlist of what I think might be needed for the system to emulate the world of Ersetu correctly:

Core Mechanics:

Spell points instead of spell slots, no vancian magic.

Partial spell point regeneration in about an hour, mages have options other than needing a full 8 hours to recharge.

Class and character options are mostly magic user focused. No fighters with normal swords. The only martial users of note is a sword user using an obviously magical sword (and also did magic themselves iirc?), and the gun users that individually can't do much: they're only a threat in numbers.

Crunchy and extremely deep range of spells.

Magic item crafting that allows for simple things like spellcasting aides up to complex stuff like automatons.

Counterspelling and dispelling is a core thing most mages are expected to do.

The more the better wishlist:

(These mechanics aren't all necessary but at least some are needed)

Bloodlines and unique abilities reducing spell point cap (how it's done, whether that's through the "vanilla" classes just being assigned more or that taking bloodline feats outright reduces, doesn't exactly matter. As long as it's balanced somehow)

Magic defenses being divided into body, mind, and soul.

The expectation for players is that they're all humans. Shifters and Morlocks seem to be types of humans, cultures and races (shifter might be a class), as opposed to a fully different species like an elf.

Capped base ability scores and spell point growth. No Hercules with a magic pool that continues to grow after hitting the cap. Instead progression past early levels is using what you have more efficiently.

Epic/Mythic optional system to represent the divine abilities/items. (ex. Zach's special mana reserves, the divine crown, high level angels with access to divinity, etc.)

And a skills system that can be invested in.

So, is there a "perfect" ttrpg system we can use for Ersetu? Or are there systems that work better than others that we might need to homebrew?

[jokerislandgirl32]

How to Describe Violet?

@foolsworldsblog asked this in response to this post ⬇️ from ages ago! I am so sorry it took forever to get to! I decided to interpret this in an interesting way. With each letter of Violet’s name signifying a word Zach associates with her, and a blurb about how Violet accurately represents all of those things.

Zach’s Truth:

V - Vibrant - Violet is such an energetic and enthusiastic person. She is always bright and bubbly. To put it simply: She’s vibrant. Violet is like the rising sun… she is full of life, warmth, and feelings of joy and happiness. Her smile lights up a room, her presence lights up everyone’s lives.

I - Intelligent -  Violet’s intelligence is unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed. Not only is she book smart, but she’s also got an incredible sense of emotional intelligence. She can go from helping me build an invention to figuring out why I’m grumpy in a matter of seconds. She just knows how people work. Honestly, sometimes it’s like she knows how everything works. She even puts my intelligence to shame, and I’m the greatest inventor in the world! I’m the world’s greatest mind! Well… maybe! Don’t tell her I said that!

L - Loving - Violet loves with everything in her being. She loves her friends, family, me, and our children with her whole self. She showcases her love in everything she does. In her words, her actions, her smile, her body language, her intuition…Everything. Violet would do anything to protect the ones she loves, whether it may hurt her or not. Her love knows no bounds. She showed me that love truly is possible, after I’d nearly given up on love of any kind. She showed me that love defined us all, and her love has made me a better person.

O - Optimistic - Violet’s the eternal optimist. She always hopes for the best and won’t rest until she’s done everything she can to make whatever she’s hoping for possible. Granted…she can get down, she can get upset, but often she’ll bounce right back, put on her best smile and go right back to being her happy, optimistic self. She truly believes that there’s a light at the end of every tunnel. That happiness and joy will find their way even in the darkest moments. She uses this to her advantage to help me stay positive…even when the Wild Rats are making my life miserable.

E - Enchanting - Violet is enchanting. There really is no other way to describe it…she’s like a fairytale character or something with the ways she looks and acts. She’s got this presence that’s otherworldly. She’s the song Enchanted by Taylor Swift paired with a flower garden, moonlight, stars, and magic all in one beautiful, lovely, enchanting person. She just draws people in, she just enchants them…or…at least she did that with me.

T - Trustworthy - Violet is the most trustworthy person I know, she will never lie to me or purposely betray me…she might foil my evil schemes because she’s a goody-two-shoes and love stinky varmints almost as much as those Wild Rats, but her loyalty and sense of honor to me and our relationship is unsurpassed.

If anyone wants to send additional truths or dares as per the attached post above, feel free to!

[firadessa]

Quick thoughts on Bleakwatch Chronicles: Tink and the Lost City (spoilers of the heaviest amount)

And on the Ring of Belief riddle, I will reveal more about Silvermist's quest soon, then I will do more riddles on the other character quests and general post. Just know that Silvermist's early characterization is not what it seems for a Water fairy!

General thoughts of Book 1

Worldbuilding:

-The touches of worldbuilding are just extremely well done. The writer really dug deep in the movie lore and did a good job bringing magic to the movie universe. Zach remembered the moonstone being the source of pixie dust and how it transmuted pixie dust from the moonlight. Even touches like Bartleby being a Tinker Bell type who wanted to prove Tinkers had a place and had a private audience with Clarion to do so. (unlike Tinker Bell's fuck around and find out approach) Supposedly.

-Bleakwatch is a capitalistic society, with a commerce system. There is a lower and upper class, the aeronauts with the suppressed talents with magic bracelets. Suppressed who suffer from "dust deperivation" meaning their wings are brittle, and do not have touch with their talent. Then there's an upper class with technology with an artistic side. It is very interesting these undertones in an 8-12 *Disney Fairies* book when you see Tinker Bell question what being a fairy really means to her and how different Pixie Hollow is from Bleakwatch/Clockwork Capital. How she is surprised by the commerce existence. but it just shows how much the author realized how much could be done with the original movie series. including using deleted concepts and a supposed early plot rumor from the early Pirate Fairy (Mythical Island) into the story. It makes me think he recieved archives and art from now defunct Disneytoons. A while ago I thought how a flying machine could be involved in Tink Meets Peter, because like how did Peter become an elf sprite thing in this universe? It's up to question what kind of adventure could have happened, so I imagined Tink building a flying machine for him, a regular child later turned mythical.

-Bleakwatchers do not trust the Never Fairies and view them as "rustic" hippie types, Quin teases her with these stereotypes even though it would be better for them NOT to know about Never Fairies. It's to control them. Think about it. Like its not even city/country in the way you'd expect as they are characterized literally as nature folk who run their society poorly. I believe this is the one of the strongest concepts in the book. I believe this society (or rather Bartleby) believes human society is the best way to run society, to decieve and lie and put up a front. Knowing he was a mastermind behind the talent supression, I think he was able to manipulate the magic as a Tinker and was a rogue* fairy like Zarina. I believe he was a Tinker, but his analytical mind wanted more and he wanted to manipulate the talent ceremonies in Pixie Hollow and wanted to "fix" things that were not objects. There is a ruse happening here, and I believe Bartleby got in touch with magic manipulation (fairy magic is a thing stated in TLT) behind talents and such and figured out to way to basically start his own society by basically creating his own moonstone that can transmute light into (blue) pixie dust. He seems the type to believe certain talents are better than others, yet lies and acts shock letting Maddox, his proxy (I dont know how that term is really used) take the fall for him. Maybe between books we will see Bartleby take more of the authoritative position (aka rise to "full official dictatorship"), and play 4d chess with the fairies of Bleakwatch/CC. Maybe he will release Maddox, and we will find out whether or not he was in on it or not. Do they have like... a magic crystal ball that predicts the rebellion of the fairies and who is loyal to who? How will this unfold.

-Not traditional steampunk which I love! It is very fairycore, natural steampunk. It feels both a fairy society and a humanistic society, combining both attributes. They feel like they are repressing their fairy selves, but it shows up in their architecture, industrialization, and overall consumption habits. Feels like an improvement from what we could have had.

-Very happy to know finally what happens with the laughs that don't make it to Pixie Hollow. But also, very sad.

-There's the idea clearly shown of repression vs freedom. The people of Bleakwatch and to an extent the elites no one can trust themselves and each other. Everyone is out for themselves. Yet those eccentric Never Fairies, are able to realize their truest selves and use the tools of nature to the advantage such as insects as commonly used as alarm clocks, volleyballs, lighting etc. Yet, Bleakwatch only uses a little but of fireflies and bioluminsent mushrooms heavily, and Bartleby has a connection to mushrooms with the Golden Dustcap. And they don't believe the Pixie Hollowians are accomplished and hardworking, that division is already sown.

-Dream talents and shadow talents as the "new talents" is getting me taking notes.

-The fairy doors, and how all the bracelets lead to Bleakwatch is interesting because the upper class fairies dont wear them and presumably live only in the capital, yet they are an integral piece of technology for the Bleakwatchers.

-The key to the talent bracelets was cold to the touch when Tink touched it and gave her a literal shock, almost like it has a security system or some arcane power

-The bracelets show "true self" when unlocked, oddly

-Bracelets reminding me of those Disney magic bands

-Gnome lore is cool, but probably a time issue with Big Ben maybe... him

Bartleby:

-Pixie Hollow exiles are canonically a thing? Was Tink almost one then? I suppose so, but it seems like the condition for exile is being 1. rejected by your talent group 2. leaving after feeling rejected by society. Maybe we will see shall it truly means to be a Pixie Hollow exile in book two.

-Dream manipulation/dream dross. Oh my gosh. What is with that. What does he know. Will this connect to the greater Peter Pan/DF lore of Never Land basically being a dream pocket dimension. Will they finally explain the connection to Neverland as like the magic pocket dimension and the Mainland and the oceans as lost human objects always appear there. I really hope they expand on that in a future installment.

-Disabled villain trope?? Bartleby has mechanical wings and has others do his work for them. But his wings almost seem prosthetic, and this makes sense as his weakness surviving in the human world, when Quin's makes *their wings go fast. (edit: to be honest I'm not even sure if they really explain what's going on with the wings)

-Bartleby might be more powerful, and possible a Tinker that can manipulate fairies, magic, and society. I believe she views Clarion is so sensitive, especially with the whole Milori thing which happened when Pixie Hollow was "very young".

-Weirdly conservative energy from him. He calls Tinker Bell a "reformer", this slip up shows his nature as an antagonist. And he uses the term "isolation" from PH instead of "protective measures"

-He called Pixie Hollow a Never Land colony (🤔🤨‼️💭⁉️)

Maddox

-I call the nature of his birth into question heavily, and believe he is either a creation of Bartleby (through dream energy) or his accomplice, a very talented dust keeper just like Zarina who worked with him closely. The parallels of Tink and Terence and her and Zarina to them are very high then.

-He is an interesting character, who seems to pride in "necessity" and "necessary evils"

-He takes a liking to Quin, perhaps he has some perceptive ability because he seems to pick them out as someone who will be loyal but also confused. I don't see any romantic undertones there just condesention.

-He targets people who he believed are the most useless in the society, and calls out garden and water talents but words it differently, calling water "water shaping." Humanization or just blatant ignorance?

-Seemed to have direct control of the talent ceremony, and limited the amount of talents a fairy could be. Dust talents play a crucial role in arrival day

Quin

EDIT: (2/7/25) Forget all the times I used she/they for Quin please! I was mixing them up with another character from Tinker Academy. Somehow. I was tired just like them. As evidenced how many times I repeated myself with just different wording...

-Best character here to me no question

-The unloyal soldier

-Heavy shipping material with Tinker Bell

-Definition of "keep your friends close and enemies closer"

-Wants the best for everyone, but is tired and exausted

-Leader of the Flutterpunks, emotionally fragile, untrusting, confused

-A dreamer who won't admit it

-Backstory was especially interesting

-Six is a crowd hmm

-Flutterpunks are family

-Has a weird "business relationship with Maddox", but its not an equal partnership and *they are basically being spied on and making unfair trades. Possibly Maddox playing with his food, believing the Flutterpunks could desent one day

-Attached to their coat and pocket watch named Little Ben, given by Maddox to "pay off a debt"??

-"Even a stopped clock is nice twice a day." Stop. OMG.

-Modified wings for speed (?), shows how talented they are as a fairy

-Will write Tinkquin fanfic now.

-Calls Tinker Bell "sprocket" which is just so cute

-Got a cool little fairy loft

Danveers and Darwin

-Cuties

-Same but different trope (i eat that up)

-Their wings didnt glow because of the talent supression, meaning talents and wing glow are of the same magic.

-One is a shadow talent and one is a light talent. Is shadow a natural byproduct of living on the mainland?

-Fashion oriented

-Twintuition

-Fira and Iridessa as sibling dynamic

-One of my favorites

-A package, do not seperate

-Light talents hair has a natural glow and shadow talents have a natural aura in their hair

-Easily scare

-The glue in the group

Ozwald

-Nerd who overanalzyes

-Perceptive

-Book smart

-Scribe talent, specifically code breaking?! Good non nature talents focused on for once. And I wish he was just called a cipher talent or something but its movie universe rules so

-Dismissed as the nerd in the group (by the twins mostly) and just wants someone to listen to him, who's intellectually curious

-Nickname is Oz to who he lets in

-Gives paper hairclip to tinkerbell, even when they didnt have a good haul which could mean... things

-Enjoys mystery novels, which might not exist in Pixie Hollow bc no robbers ig??

-Close to Quin

-Tink makes a comparison to scribble

Axel

-Hate the way he was written, or at least Tink's narration of "even feeling this" as a very stoic guy. It's giving the quiet kid phenomena from many US public schools, when extroverted kids are surprised when people who dont normally talk actually do and are all surprised when it's common for someone in that environment to just not want to talk cause it sucks to be there. As a result, i initially hated many aspects of how he was written as Tink was always surprised when he expressed any sort of emotion. He was always feeling a certain way, but TB was always surprised that he was which just took me out of the story a few times

-Described to be sort of a "gentle giant"

-Theatre enjoyer

-Wanted to see the masked singer who rebelled, who is likely Elmira

-Dream talent, possibly secretive and naturally perceptive because of this

-Private fairy who keeps to himself, independent

-Works out possibly to fight back and protect himself

-Mechanical hand?

Elmira

-Voice was supressed as a singing talent

-A storyteller singing talent allegedly who sung tragic songs, storytelling is considered unnessary

-A key player in this story (get it)

-Seems to be related to Elips from early Pirate Fairy rumors

-Hoping she isnt forgotten because of the lack of official art

-Can work a plane despite being a music talent

-Knows more but has a plot related injury

Tinker Bell

-Just taking it all in

-Ignorance and culture clash

-Trying to blend in

-Made me actually interested in her character

-Awkward

-The right way to do a Tinker Bell solo story (looks at TLT who used friends as plot device instead of a little world dressing..)

-Rule breaker who's curious

-Invented balloon carriers which are used throughout the hollow

Other characters

-Clank and Bobble show up at the beginning and were very cute

-Someone told me they were setting up Clank and Tink but i really dont see it, he just complemented her literal bedhead (also thanks for lending me your book scans!)

-Terence is Tink's best friend. He's in the friend zone honestly because Tink is a natually anxious person and so his he. They will not be canon ever on that basis I'm sure

-Friends are mentioned and show up in the end. Certain characters id if they found out she was going to the mainland alone, would tie her to her bed. Love it

Comparisons to other media

-The story reminds me heavily of the story of Arcane, havent played LOL at all but in Arcane there are two societies of the rich and poor and the way both are described in the book reminds me of Arcane, and I'll basically be calling this Fairy Arcane now. Quin specifically reminds me of Vi, of meeting an outsider and not understanding what to do in this sort of society suffering from exaustion. The ambassors and higher power reminds me of Maddox

-Bartleby reminds me of Belos from the Owl House, and Maddox feels like his Golden Guard. Got control of his (own) society basically to have others speak his messages with his own agenda, having his inner circle receieve all the benefits. And Tink reminds me of Luz here in this scenario, being manipulated. So does Quin, who reminds me of Amity too.

-Bartleby reminds me of Principal Reverend from Monster High's Haunted movie. In this movie, the worlds of the ghost world and monster world are far apart. Reverend is being punished and uses chains on everyone to make her punishment easier, and lies who she is. The ghosts are afraid of the "solids" from the monster world. When Spectra, a ghost investigator tells her about Monster High, a multiple monster school she calls Monster High a "progressive" school with a sneer under her breath. Tink is also like Spectra here, fish out of water.

-The fashion sense of many Bleakwatchers reminds me of the Capital from Hunger Games, and of the elaborate looks as the colors are very saturated, it seems like the beauty and the shopping confuses people. A lot of people dress boldy but also do very difficult technician work, it seems to be a lot like our society and I think that's on purpose.

Overall thoughts:

This is a wonderful book with a confusing marketing campaign and unfortunate release timing. It has so much depth, and if I have to emphasize, for a book of it's kind and it does a lot to elevate the existing material. I was surprised at the "French" clothier fairy a little. I loved the use of imagery and was surprised on the twists in turns, expressions (one I feel like didnt have a family friendly equivalent which is funny- they say "just jam it" like jammed gears and i was like wha). I would give the book a number rating of 9.9 out of 10 and a star rating of 4.8 stars. I'm confused on the illustration aspects especially with what we have and what we don't. I hope with AI taking such a strong hold in the industry, AI wasn't considered for imagery in the book to which there is very little.

What I wish will happen in the next installment(s)

-Tinker Bell and company being a private investigator team in Pixie Hollow

-Involvement of Zarina and another character

-Fixes and expansions on Pixie Hollow lore

-Lore for islands outside of Neverland past the second star

-Expanded Pirate Fairy lore

-Expanded Lost Treasure lore (like the mirror shipwreck etc) and fairy magic

-Battle between the others

-Close calls

-Bleakwatchers in balloon carriers and seeking refuge in Pixie Hollow

-More illustration

-Others seeking refuge in the hollow

-Getting caught by humans

-Expansion on dream and shadow talents (an early reader who got it said they were to protect them from humans, dont know where they got that from)

-Fairy rebellion

-Flutterpunk secret society

-Bartleby lore

-Pocket watch lore (both human sized one and little Ben)

-Talent expansion

[onlymurdersintheafterparty]

OMITB S4:E3 ‘Two for the Road’

This episode was interesting and raised even more questions. While we start off and end the episode with the trio, in most of the episode we watch them branch off with their respective actors and have their own mini adventures. I thought it was a great idea to give us a better idea of who Zach, Eugene, and Eva are in this universe and to delve more into the main characters’ personalities apart from each other. There were several bombshells dropped so as always spoilers are behind the cut.

At the beginning of the episode, we find out from Detective Williams that the FBI has taken over meaning she won’t be on the case. That doesn’t stop her from giving them what information she does have as well as breaking the fourth wall in reference to the three previous seasons which was hilarious. We also learn that she’s a fan of Zach Galifianakis when she discovers the actors are also in the apartment and threatens Oliver not to let him get hurt and implies he’s her hall pass 🤭 Honestly same bc the man is not only hilarious but handsome as well. Shortly after she leaves is when everyone branches off so I’m going to break up each segment based off the duo.

Oliver and Zach don’t do any intentional sleuthing this episode. Oliver is fed up with Zach’s indifference and lack of desire to connect so he lies saying they need to monitor the ham radio and whisks him off to his apartment. I know Oliver is a mess but I really don’t like the way that Zach treats him like a loser. At some point they appear to bond as Oliver teaches Zach how to snort, grunt, and dress like him which seems to have gone well until Zach is overheard saying otherwise. Howard tries his best to stand up for Oliver in that passive aggressive way and we know he means well but it ultimately does nothing to change Zach’s impression. I agree on one thing though: Oliver’s resilience and choosing to wake up happy every day despite the chaos is admirable. That’s what life is about because every day is a chance to change your fate.

Charles and Eugene’s dynamic was different. Are they buddies? No but they both have the same goal in mind which is to get Vince to take off his eyepatch to see if he’s hiding damage from the gun recoiling. These two clearly share one brain cell because every attempt failed. First they come up with a story about Charles having a cousin who is an eye doctor with magic eye drops that they swear will work wonders. Instead of taking off his eyepatch then and there, Vince instead goes into the privacy of his bathroom. Take two goes even worse because Eugene’s idea of doing a spit take to get the eyepatch off leads to him getting punched in the face by Vince after he spits water on him. It does lead to a clue though. When they all hug it out, Eugene notices a photograph and signals for Charles to view it. It’s all the Westies and a figure with their face scribbled out. What in the world is going on here? Is Dudenoff Moriarty? Is Dudenoff not even involved and someone else just utilized his apartment as originally suspected? I’m so confused.

Mabel and Eva were giving frenemies. No actual hate, just two people forced together with nothing in common. Though her methods were unconventional and unhinged, Eva did manage to get a lot of info for Mabel.

The gun on the mantle is a movie prop that shoots nerf gun like ammo

Christmas Guy HATES Christmas; now this had me shook ngl; this man is a fitness influencer who has been typecast into a Christmas role and is basically held hostage by his decor 😭

The tinsel is not tinsel!

A few days ago I made a post about a theory regarding the killer(s) and whether or not they were in attendance at the party in the S3 finale and @bbeeebbo brought up a really good point about the tinsel being a red herring for Christmas Guy and that it very well could have been from the party. While we have yet to confirm if it was from the party, we now have confirmation that it’s actually not tinsel at all!

The sleuthing with the two ends shortly after this reveal and we see Mabel get the idea to look up squatter’s rights and temporarily move into the Dudenoff apartment. When they all reunite at the end for Mabel’s housewarming party, they put their clues together and realize that 445 is a radio frequency. Earlier when Mabel and Eva were sleuthing they discovered a ham radio in the Christmas apartment as well so clearly the Westies have some secret communication going on. When Mabel turns on the radio to the right frequency, a woman responds and tells them to stop snooping because the last person that did so is dead (Sazz). She also was in a hurry to disconnect giving the impression she’s on the run. Is she the mysterious Dudenoff or a tenant we have yet to meet? I’m so confused!

Final Thoughts

I feel like the writers have caught on to how smart the redditors are because a lot of theories were confirmed or debunked this episode. Someone theorized Mabel might end up squatting in the Dudenoff apartment which she does at the end of the episode and another theorized that Vince’s eyepatch was to cover a bruise from the gun’s recoil which is false (he actually does have pink eye and it’s gnarly 🤢). I’m bracing myself for the moment in the season finale where everything was obvious af and I was just overthinking everything 😂 What do you guys think so far now that we’re 3 episodes into the season?

[crimsonlyinglilly]

May 15. "Please, just kill me."

still on catch up and trying to post two a day to finish before June but i'm struggling to keep my eyes open.

Saving Elijah - a Saving Hope crossover.

Day 15 for @may-lancholy 2025.

---

Joel liked his job but sometimes it was difficult.

Like today and the multi-car crash downtown which had been announced halfway into his second shift, injuries including pedestrians from where one car had been sent onto the sidewalk.

It was managed chaos, loud and tense.

There had already been fatalities and it was Joel's job to prevent anymore and reduce the chance of today’s injuries from crippling anyone for the rest of their lives.

—

“My legs!” The teenage girl cried from the bed.

Eighteen, she had been on a morning jog when a car had been sent onto the pavement and crushed her against a wall.

Joel offered her a comforting smile as he stepped closer.

“Hi there, I’ll be your doctor for your stay.” he said in his most charming tone, however her next word made him freeze.

 "Please, just kill me.” she told him, grasping his hand with desperation.

‘No! Let go! Let go! Please let go!’ Desperate screams echoed around his head, and for a moment didn't see her, he saw Davina Claire.

Begging him not to interfere with her protection, not to abandon her to the witches on the other side.

‘No, please, let go! Marcel! No!’ 

Crying out for her protector after Elijah had snapped his neck.

The harvest girls, Elena Gilbert, countless girls, little more than children that Elijah had killed or stood by as his family did during their long life.

“Now I think it's too soon for that.” he counted, keeping a warm comforting expression on his face as he spoke, he wasn’t Eijah and while it had been these hand, it wasn’t him, he healed and saved.

“Running is my life.” she explained her grapes tightening around his hand.

“And it is my job to save that.” he replied, squeezing her hand back.

He can see even before they get the x-rays there’s a lot of damage to her lower half, legs misshapen, possibly more than he can fix but he has to try.

“It hurts,” the girl choked on a sob.

First he had to help her with the pain, since the medicine wasn’t working.

Joel swallowed, reaching for a power he had never used.

The thing with sharing a mind is they never really had to explain, they did sometimes to maintain the idea of distance between them but Elijah knew what Joel wanted to do the moment it thought it and after a second hesitation Elijah gave in and helped, taking over to do just what Joel wanted sparing him from using the power he had decided he hated while allowing him to choose the words.

He looked into wide pain filled eyes and spoke,

“You can’t feel the pain,” he told her, watching as her pupils reacted to his, before adding “just an ache where it hurts, which you’ll tell us.”

Pain was necessary, they needed her to know where it hurt so she could warn them but there was no need for it to overwhelm her with it.

“What?” Zach asked deadpan as they stepped back to allow the x-ray.

“Would you believe I did a course on hypnosis?” He offered with a grin.

Zach rolled his eyes but there was a ghost of a laugh on his face before the x-ray was handed over. Joel swallowed the guilt even with Amalia’s spell Zach still had nightmares about Joel's death, trauma beating almost reality altering magic.

Joel tried not to think about it waking up in the body bag, body raw and burnt as it healed, was unpleasant to both him and Elijah who had the experience Joel didn't but he knew he was likely a pile of charred and bloody pieces of flesh barely recognisable as human when they places the pieces in the body bag and Zach had seen that.

Watched him die.

 The x-ray revealed a ruptured spleen and Joel watched as she was wheeled away to surgery and looked down at the test in his hands and trying work out a plan for fixing the girl’s pelvis, femurs and the rest in the quickest and safety way, he wanted her back on her feet but without any prolonged pain.

They would reverse the compulsion once most of her injuries had been treated.

---

He knew he was hoovering but he couldn't leave her, compulsion was new to him, rewriting-overwriting someones mind was wrong and a terrifying power to have.

Elijah Mikaelson’s familiarly and confidence in it was ruined but his guilt under it and the other Elijah’s everything.

The power had taken all he was from him, leaving him lost, alone, confused and hungry.

He shook the memory of those feelings and focused on now.

His patient had come out of surgery stable and was now completely his. He had the breaks secured but he couldn't book the OR without a plan.

“What was that?” Charlie hissed lowly, Joel blinked at the man, his patient’s medical chart and the x-rays in his hands.

He gave the taller man a look with a silent question, no idea what he was asking

“I heard the rumours, Dr. Goran hypnotised a patient.” Charlie told him.

He sighed unlike Zach Joel couldn't brush him aside so easily, besides Charlie knew everything.

“Compulsion.” He admitted, handing over the x-ray automatically, the surgery to fix her pelvis and legs would require at least two of them and Charlie was the best besides himself.

“The thing you were going to do to my ex wife?” Charlie asked coldly, yet despite his anger he gave the test his attention and Joel was about to remind him that was more Elijah's plan and Joel had been honest with her as well as he could without complicating it when a voice interrupted them.

“Excuse me?” 

They both twisted and Joel ignored Elijah's reminder that he wouldn't have been surprised if he used his actual hearing, instead of deafening himself.

Dawn, the aforementioned ex wife, stared at them both with a cool look and raised eyebrow.

“My office.” she said before glancing at the chaos around them “Once things have calmed down.”

Before any of them could say anything else, a call went up.

[raevenlywrote]

Forbidden Skies 2

Part 1

Jenny was having the butterfly dream again.

She wandered lost through an oppressive mass of wings, so dense and thick it was a wonder they were able to keep aloft at all. She knew her cousin, Zach, was also lost somewhere in the press, but no matter how she pushed forward, there was always more. If she opened her mouth to call for him, they would only swarm her, filling her so she was all butterflies from the inside out. They burned, the press of so many wings scorching her like fire. The air was hot and tight, and it was only a matter of time before one small spark caught the whole thing ablaze.

“Ugh. Not the damned butterflies again.”

Dee muttered in her sleep, her serpiente’s sensitive aura disturbed by Jenny’s nightmares. She wrapped an arm around Jenny’s waist and snuggled back in, determined to cuddle the bad dream away. They were all napping in the sun, after a picnic lunch on the cliffs high above the Wyvern’s Court, where no hoverhawk adults could care that she was sleeping in a big pile with her friends, boys and girls alike, serpiente and avians alike. No telling which would be considered more scandalous.

Dee would happily spend the whole day lounging about doing nothing, arms and legs draped over her friends and telling stories out of the pictures they found in the clouds. Jenny didn’t mind the touch exactly, not now that she’d gotten used to it, but her avian blood already ran so hot, and the burning dream left her sticky and restless. She sat up, knowing Dee would just roll over into the group, melting into the hole made by her absence.

She wasn’t the only one already up. Audrey sat with her back to the group, posture dancer perfect, crossed legs so very near to the cliff’s edge. Jenny recognized it as a prayer posture, and sat down quietly next to her friend so as not to disturb her friend.

Both looked out over the whole of Wyvern’s Court spread out below them, though Jenny didn’t think Audrey actually saw any of it. When she went like this, Audrey’s gaze went hollow, like she was watching the echoes of ghosts no one else could see. Jenny looked too, imagining the future ghost of what Wyvern’s Court would become - sakkris, her serpent friends called it. No one spun the old magic of the Dasi anymore, but more and more, stories of them were coming out, as the serpent dancers and the avian loremasters came together to compare notes.

What Is stretches in one long line, Michael had once explained, sketching the rune that his teachers had called Ahnleh and hers called Alasdair’s Seal. And What Could Be and What Might Have Been spiral off of it in elegant arcs. What Never Could Have Been watches from the shadows, and What Is Made By Our Will pulls at the line of Fate.

Each line had its own corresponding name and god in the old Dasi pantheon, but most of the group had grown bored of Michael waxing scholarly by that point, and were easily pulled into Audrey’s distraction of shaping each line in the dancer’s gentle stretching dance to greet the dawn. But the image of it had stayed with Jenny, and she thought of the thirteen Dasi every time she looked down onto Wyvern’s Court, and tried to see the lines the city was being built on. One long, strong, proud line dividing north from south, growing blurry and less distinct around the edges as folks - like her parents - took advantage of the natural formations in the rock as they built, and cared less about which side of the line they lived on. The main street of Wyvern’s Court would bend and be blended, like the elegant lines of the Ahnleh being pulled away from the rigid course of Fate by people’s will.

“I thought I was supposed to be the one who was always lost in thought.”

Audrey’s cultured voice broke through Jenny’s musings, rich and rolling and musical. Avians were taught to blend their voices in the elegant harmonies of a chanting chorus; serpiente were taught to make their voices carry through the close dark of a sleeping nest. The feathers at the nape of Jenny’s neck raised to hear it. It wasn’t fear, not exactly, though there was an edge of that to it. It was more… an unknown promise. A serpiente’s voice held promise, whether that was the promise of violence, or sex, or something else entirely. Jenny liked it, she just didn’t have a lot of context for it. Not yet.

“I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Her own sparrow’s voice was light and airy, a trilling chirp so like the call of her second form. Zach’s voice was the harsh scrape of his dark crow, Tom’s the husky croak of his raven. Jenny didn’t know yet if Dee’s grumpy rumbles were an affectation or part of the difference between her python and Audrey’s viper, or if serpiente voices didn’t carry the element of their animal halves like avian’s did. Maybe their second forms showed in other ways, like Dee’s thick, corded muscles, and Audrey’s lithe dancer’s form.

Audrey’s thoughtful hum cut through Jenny’s distraction again. She was always a little distant after the dreams.

“Not to sound ungrateful, but the dreams you and your cousin bring our afternoon naps are more disturbing than your mere company. I’ll take waking Jenny over dream Jenny any day.”

Audrey dipped her head to rest on Jenny’s shoulder, a gesture of comfort. It was more for Aud’s benefit than Jenny’s - the casual affection of this group was relatively new to her, but not unwelcome - so Jenny leaned over too, rubbing her jaw along the top of Audrey’s head.

“I’m sorry. They always seem to be worse when Zach and I are both here, don’t they?”

Her crow cousin had been spending less and less time with the group as his training for the Wyvern Guard took up more and more of his time. Jenny also thought that maybe he didn’t want to subject everyone to the weird dreams the pair of them had shared since childhood. When they’d shared a nursery as children, Jenny would often crawl into bed with him, each taking turns soothing away the sweats and shouts of that awful dream. It was probably why they were both so comfortable sleeping in the serpiente style now, all curled up together and atop one another. She wished Zach would still allow himself the comfort of it now. But as he grew older he grew distant, shaping his softer nature into the hard, disciplined mein of the soldier he was trying to become. She wished he’d stayed an artist; it suited him better. But the Thornbrush’s had all been soldiers, and even though there was no war on, it was still an honorable profession to serve in the Wyvern’s Guard that kept peace in the city.

“Don’t worry about it, lalintoth. You know we’re always glad to have him. He so serious of late - is he alright, or just trying to look good in front of the princess?”

She wasn’t surprised the serpiente dancer had noticed the shadow of worry on Zach’s already grave demeanor. The avians of their group did their best to let their reserve - a habit of holding their auras close and shielded- drop around the auratically sensitive serpiente. It was considered just as rude in serpiente culture to hide your emotions as it was for avians to be overly demonstrative in public. Just one more drop in the sea of differences between them. Still, it wasn’t that hard to make concessions, if both sides were willing to actually talk about it. And the gains were more than worth it. Like Zach having a place he was actually allowed to wear his worries, even if he wasn’t ready to talk about them yet.

“It would mean a lot to him,” Jenny said slowly, “to be accepted.”

Her surface words meant “into the guard”. But unspoken was his desire to fit in. His foundling status was not one their avian nestmates had ever let him forget, though they’d never been coarse as to speak of it directly. No, they’d needled at him in the subtle, sideways way of the avian courtier; they always found ways to turn the talk to the long, proud, unbroken lines of their families, and how Silvermedes and Aniketos had always been guards and soldiers and of course they would be trying out for the honor guard which was of course really a step down from the Royal Flight but such was the price of peace, and so on.

It was small wonder the pair of them had sought out better friends.

The group had come together slowly, from Dee working with Zach to get his skills with the serpiente spears on par with his proficiency with the avian bowl. From Michael working with Tom to chart out the best goods to bring to the central market from their respective sides of the court to stock their little stall by the fountain. From Summer dragging Jenny down to see Audrey dance, the younger girl too shy to go watch dancers alone but loving the beautiful twirling colors of their melos. From Jenny baking each of them a special cheres cake for their birthdays, because these people were important to her, and she liked the excuse to bake. Each unique person made up a sparkling facet of the jewel that was Wyvern’s Court. She loved their little group more than anything else in the world, and was grateful they’d been born in a time where they could be friends instead of enemies.

“He’ll be fine,” Audrey said, pushing away from Jenny with a stretch. “Dee won’t let him rest until he’s in. That is, if she ever wakes up from her eternal nap.”

The way Audrey pitched her voice made it clear she knew Dee was awake, and so their ceaseless teasing fight could resume. Michael had informed Jenny that this type of flirting was common between the dancers and the guards, the friendly rivalry left over from a time when each vied for importance in the eyes of the royal cobras. Now, with both the royal hawk and the captain of her guard taking lessons from dance master Aisha, and the war between their two peoples finally over, the dancers were enjoying basking in their superiority. That didn’t keep Dee from carrying on like she was Anhamirak’s gift to the world, however. And watching both women move, Jenny had to admit choosing between them seemed an impossible task.

So she didn’t. That was the point of Wyvern’s Court, wasn’t it? To have both and have more than the sum of its part in the sharing.

“It’s my day off,” Dee groused, but she did come over to sit with the pair of them, dangling her long, dark legs right over the cliff’s edge. Jenny wasn’t bothered by heights - why would she be, when all she had to do was think it and her gentle sparrow’s wings would carry her to safety?- but Dee seemed to flaunt anything that others might consider a source of fear. Like she could cow fear itself into backing down from her. Jenny admired her indomitable spirit in the same way she admired Audrey’s grace, as pieces of beauty she wanted to take into herself. She didn’t understand Beauty as Divine in the same way the serpiente who had grown up with Anhamirak did, but she liked the idea of it, and liked the idea that enjoying things that pleased her could be an act of honoring the gods.

Tom thought her devotion to a goddess she’d never grown up with was silly, but he was more than happy to capitalize on the serpiente desire for beauty. He and Michael poured over the jewelry he brought down from Hawk’s Keep when they came to visit, like he had today. Jenny didn’t mind so much having an alastair that lived so far away, and if Tom cared that she lived in Wyvern’s Court instead of the “safety” of Hawk’s Keep, he never commented on it. She liked that he wasn’t a hoverhawk of an alastair, even if he didn’t quite understand her fascination with the serpiente she shared her city with. He did his best to understand them, and appreciated her friends because they looked out for her, and planned to be courteous when he moved to the Court in a few years when he’d finished out his apprenticeship with the Aureate jewelers.

Everything would change then. They all knew it, and none talked about it. By then, Zach would be in the Guard with Dee, Tom would be in the Market with Michael, and Jenny would be at home, raising their little ones. She would probably still see a lot of Summer, who lived next door and would have little ones of her own. But these lazy afternoons of sunny naps on the cliffs would be gone.

That was alright. That was growing up. She didn’t mind it, not exactly. It just made her savor days like this while she had them. Will might pull Fate a little, but not fast enough to change the life Jenny had laid out before her.

And what would she do different, anyways? It’s not like she had any big dreams of becoming a dance master like Audrey, or a caravan head like Tom. Her biggest dream was to watch Wyvern’s Court grow, to see it sprawl and overflow the valley it had started in. And to make her friends birthday cheres cakes every year.

Part 1

Part 3

[mage-witha-glock]

[felassan]

Post on the Dragon Age website:

"Journal #2 The Voices of the Veilguard Get acquainted with some of the voice actors and join us for our upcoming character panel at SDCC! --- Hey everyone, We're packing our bags and heading down to SDCC this week and alongside that comes more Dragon Age: The Veilguard reveals! Today, we're excited to reveal some of the voice actors who bring our characters to life - a few of whom will be joining us for our character-focused panel at the convention. ICYMI, our SDCC panel "Dragon Age - Meet The Heroic Companions of Thedas” will feature Creative Director John Epler and Creative Performance Director Ashley Barlow as they discuss bringing the cast of Dragon Age: The Veilguard to life. Moderated by Lucy James, host and video producer at GameSpot, panel attendees will hear from Neve, Emmrich, Harding, and Lucanis’ voice actors as they discuss their motivations and inspirations that have lit up the personalities and uniqueness of each companion. The panel will be held on Friday, July 26 from 3:15PM - 4:15PM in Room 6BCF.  If the panel isn't enough to satisfy your Dragon Age cravings and you'll be at SDCC in person, join us at the Dark Horse Comics booth (#2615) where we will have swag to give away as well as talent & developer signings. Keep an eye on our social channels for more information on this. Discord members who drop by the booth and show us that they're a part of the server will receive a Romancer pin while supplies last. For those of you who will be keeping an eye on SDCC coverage from home, we'll have the full panel video available at a later date. Stay tuned. With that said, let’s get into our cast."

-

"Four Rooks are Better than One Featuring the most comprehensive character creator in Dragon Age yet, your character, nicknamed Rook, debuts with four different voice overs to make this story truly your own. Rook is Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s leader in the making who has to bring the Veilguard together to take down the threats on Thedas. Immerse yourself even further by picking your voice, with two options from US/North American personalities and two from the United Kingdom/EU.  Rook’s voices have been provided by iconic television, film and video game personalities Alex Jordan (Cyberpunk 2077, The Amazing World of Gumball), Bryony Corrigan (Baldur’s Gate 3, Good Omens), Erika Ishii (Apex Legends, Destiny 2), and Jeff Berg (Battlefield 1, NCIS). What even is Dragon Age: The Veilguard without the Veilguard? These 7 companions stand ready to join the fight to restore order to Thedas. We're happy to announce that our cast of companions includes: - Ali Hillis (Mass Effect 3, Naruto), returns to the fray as Harding, the dwarven scout, a Dragon Age: Inquisition hero with a big heart, a positive outlook, and a ready bow – as well as unexpected magical powers. - Ike Amadi (Mass Effect 3, Halo 5: Guardians, Insomniac's Spider-Man) as Davrin, a bold and charming Grey Warden who has made a name for himself as a monster hunter. - Jee Young Han (Perry Mason, Unprisoned) as Bellara, a creative and romantic Veil Jumper obsessed with uncovering ancient secrets. - Jessica Clark (True Blood, Pocket Listing) as Neve, a cynic fighting for a better future, both as a private detective and a member of Tevinter's rebellious Shadow Dragons.  - Jin Maley (Star Trek: Picard, Silicon Valley) as Taash, a dragon hunter allied with the Lords of Fortune who lives for adventure and doesn't mind taking risks.  - Nick Boraine (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Black Sails) as Emmrich, a necromancer of Nevarra's Mourn Watch who comes complete with a skeletal assistant, Manfred, voiced by Matthew Mercer (Critical Role, Fallout 4). - Zach Mendez (Horizon Forbidden West, Married Alive) as Lucanis, a poised & pragmatic assassin who descends from the bloodline of the House of Crows, a criminal organization renowned throughout Thedas.  Last but not least, we’re excited to let you know Gareth David-Lloyd is returning as Solas, and Brian Bloom as Varric. We have so many more people to introduce you to, including some returning characters, but we’re not quite ready to reveal all those yet, because of you know - story spoilers.  While that’s all we have for now, we’re eager to meet those of you attending SDCC and to continue our summer filled with reveals from Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Talk soon. — The Dragon Age Team"

[source] [Twitter post]

[viperdarkness]

So, I thought about a Menevolent Mother of learning AU and I mean the obvious choice is just Zorian possesses Zach. I mean they literally already had parts of their souls fused, you can easily go further.

(Since I believe that like in the original Zorian wakes up first) book one would probably go like this:

Ah wtf I woke up in Zach’s body! Wtf is going on?

WTF is Zach’s norm how am I supposed to act!?!?

Oh Man the month is repeating too…

I really need to learn soul magic my control over this body is crap!

Why don’t I get Zach’s humongous mana reserves

Oh fuck my real body is dead and my family is holding a Funeral (I think is soul was ripped and his OG body just got enough to have the marker imprint on it and then eminently die every restart)

Realizing how much Zach was fucked over and having to deal with the lack of resources

[…]

Ah fuck Zach has woken up and now we have two minds in one Body

Anyway at a certain point Zorian has mastered all the soul and mind magic enough to just use Zach’s body as a philactery (like a fucking Litch) and mainly uses his own (self possessed) body and his simulacrums to exist. But it’s gonna be an uphill battle to get there

[inthefightgarden]

something i'm really enjoying in my mother of learning re-read is the schrodinger's forshadowing.

there are so many times i've noticed when zorian ponder's something and is correct. [eg. the time he wonder's if red robe has a similar history to zach after learning about tensen from tinami aope during arc 1 [i have noticed this pattern quite a few times, but i can't remember them now cause i keep forgetting to take notes :( [yes i did use a square bracket scheme just so i could include a sad face, what about it?]]] or when he's thinks about learning/doing something in the future, and then down the line he does.

but there are also so many times it goes nowhere. like the medical magic thing. it comes up so many times as something he should do at some point and he just never gets round to it.

i really enjoy that method of storytelling. it feels very true to life to me.

something which may or may not be related, but is in the same box in my head so is going in the same post.

i love how reccuring the conflict is of whether zorian should be more liberal with his mind magic. i've noticed several times where he has essentially the same thought of "should i use mind magic on innocent person/family member/friend when i don't really need to? no, that's a bad habit to get into." it comes up so many times, and it can feel kinda repetitive. but. that's how morals are. you don't just have a conflict once and be a moral person with that exact line for the rest of your life. you have to keep making the same choices over and over. you have to keep deciding that it's worth it to hold that line. so i really like that it's written that way.

[bunnyychi]

A Heartstruck Collision

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: None

A/N: This is gonna be a slow burn fanfiction and Zach won't show up til some chapters in so I hope you can have a little patience for me :> This is super self indulgent btw as you can see from me making Game Grumps an intrinsic part of the story

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Living in L.A was.. different, to say the least.

Don't get it confused, it wasn't horrible but it certainly was a different experience from what you had known of a “normal life” up until that point.

If you had to use just three words to sum it up, you'd probably say: loud, busy but fun.

You had moved there a few weeks ago after landing a job as an animator at the Game Grumps Company. Your bosses, Arin Hanson And Daniel Avidan, had, after years of only talking about it and never acting on it, started working on an animated Series called “Game Gyaru”.

The ad hadn't just drawn you in because you had been a fan of them for many years, but also because of the style that they were going for. 90's anime with all the good stuff: Magical Girl Transformation, feel good humor and beautiful sparkly, saturated images.

Not only the job offer was great in and of itself but the pay you were about to receive would definitely make up for some of the left over student debt as well as the fact that your apartment was being paid for you by Arin or rather, his company.

They say “never meet your heroes” but in this particular case, you might've just gotten extremely lucky.

You had your first meeting with the Grumps just a week ago. It hadn't been anything special. A few awkward handshakes, tripping over your own words and an introduction to your new workspace (which featured one of the most expensive and fancy drawing tablets you had ever seen by the way) and of course, a brief meeting with your future colleagues. Well- a brief meeting with their names so to speak.

Apparently Ross O'Donovan, which you had been following as well, would be working on the project alongside you in addition to some other names that you haven't had a face in mind to connect them with.

They were most likely cut from the same cloth as you, other kids who just graduated from an art school that totally drained them and that have been begging for a stable job and finally getting a chance to put their degree to something useful.

As you had gotten home after your first day there, it had felt surreal. It still did even a week later and the mere thought of what your younger self would say if they saw you working under their favorite content creators was definitely tripping you up (hence the periodical screeches you had let loose whenever you thought about the matter at hand)

Much to your dismay though, all of the excitement for your new job was not enough to get you to finally properly move into your home. There were still about a dozen boxes standing around, just waiting for you to finally confront all of the useless stuff you had bought and acquired over the years.

Then again, you justified the leftover boxes by saying that you had already unpacked all of the very important stuff like dishes or clothes and yet you knew that someday you would have to face the consequences of your own procrastination.

“Did you just move in?”

“Oh no I uh.. I've been living here for a year now”

You could already hear the conversation happening in real time if there ever came a moment where you invited someone over.

‘Not today though” you thought, a sleepy yawn accompanying It. The last few days had been spent wandering around L.A or doodling various characters to try and get yourself in the right headspace for the coming months. An Art-Block would definitely be the worst thing that could happen right now so drinking in the entirety of a new city should hopefully keep your inspiration going.

Deciding to wrap up for today though, you finished your glass of water and closed your sketchbook, letting the pen collide with the hardcover of the book.

The apartment wasn't really big, yet that was absolutely fine. It meant that keeping the place clean was going to be significantly easier and the chances of losing your keys or important letters sank by at least 5%.

Just as you closed your bedroom door behind you, your phone vibrated in your pocket.

>>Hey there! Arin wanted to text you himself about tomorrow but he got kinda caught up so I just wanna make sure you're ready for tomorrow? :D<<

The text you had gotten was from Ally. She often aided Dan and Arin with their endeavors and all of their projects so it was no surprise that she also assisted with this one. Your encounter with her last week had been quite short lived yet her welcoming personality had you immediately feeling like this was going to be a comfortable working environment and one of the first things she had said to you was:

“And if there is anything you need, you can always come to me, I've got an ear for everyone”.

If that wasn’t the sweetest first thing you had ever heard while being somewhere completely new, you didn't know what was.

>>Hi :) Yeah I'm good, a little nervous but I'm sure I'll manage o7<<

You threw the phone onto your bed, pulling out your pajamas and putting them on, another vibration from your phone telling you that Ally had probably responded.

>>Oh yeah I totally get that dw! Just for your own peace of mind though, you really don't gotta get caught up with putting on a show or acting super professional, we're all friends here :D<<

You couldn't help but smile at that message. That interaction alone contradicted everything that you had heard about working life. Your parents and teachers had done a great job with the whole “that won't fly later in life” and yet here you were, using emoticons while speaking with one of your superiors.

Part of you was excited to rub it in their faces the next time you would call and yet you knew that they probably wouldn't look at animation as being a serious job. At least not if you weren't working for an actual company that had their shows playing on public tv.

Even though it was a sad thing to think about, they'd probably be more impressed if you were working on Family Guy.

With a tired sigh you plopped down on your bed, the slatted frame squeaking beneath your weight.

You contemplated for a second about whether or not you should cover yourself with your blanket. Another aspect that needed adjusting was the heat.

Luckily your apartment had air conditioning but you didn't want it running the whole time. Just because someone was paying for your place didn't mean that you had to max out every cost as much as possible.

Before drifting off to sleep, you decided on the old “one leg covered and one not”, using your body's built-in AC system (which actually worked quite well).

As you slowly succumbed to your own tiredness, your head was filled with all kinds of different images. Some were familiar, clearly influenced by the events of the past days but there were some which didn't quite fit into any picture.

You had met one of your, up until now unknown, colleagues. His face was obscured, your mind clearly leaving out the one part which would make it realistic.

You couldn't really make out what the conversation was about, only the feeling of butterflies to indicate what it was about.

Your hands had touched briefly as he took the pen from your hands, leaning over your shoulder from where you were sitting at your desk. You swore that your body actually started to heat up from what was just a random dream.

He was correcting your drawing a little and then he looked at you, his face so close to yours now and even though he had no face you just knew that he was smiling at you, his gaze softly looking at your lips and back into your eyes.

Gently, he put the pen down onto your desk while you were slowly closing the distance between you.

You felt his breath on your skin, his lips ghosting over yours, almost, finally touching-

“Ughhh what the fuuuck…”

Alright, your first paycheck would buy you an alarm that doesn't sound like an army drill.

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you slowly sat up in your bed. Motivation to start your job wasn’t necessarily the issue, of that you had enough. Sadly though, your sleep schedule had a mind of it’s own. Still remembering all the nights you had spent up and working on your portfolio only for some company that ended up using the Chairman’s son (who had no degree or any creative abilities whatsoever) to design their new bougie logo.

Some might say that there was bitterness attached to memories such as those.

Deciding that huffing and puffing over previous job opportunities wouldn’t get you out of bed though, you finally stood up. Immediately regretting it as you felt your head spin from the sudden movement.

Maybe a little less motivation?

You slowly made your way toward the small kitchen, coffee being the only thing on your mind when it came to the matter of waking up. As you waited for the old machine to get started, you went back into your bedroom. Opening the wardrobe and looking at it. Contemplating.

You wanted to seem put together but also not too much - didn’t want to set expectations that you would only be able to hold up for a week maximum.

A simple t-shirt and jeans. Yeah, that is business casual, right?

In a way you felt stupid for even having to think about the whole thing. It would most likely be no issue if you showed up in sweatpants and a tank top for your whole time being there, as long as your work was good nothing else mattered.

Especially working as an animator, you had learned from personal experience that after 30 minutes your body seemed to magically shift into the most absurd positions anyway. So better be comfortable than not.

After donning on the not so carefully planned outfit, you walked back to your now steaming coffee. One look at the watch on our wrist told you that you had about 20 minutes left. Downing the beverage in a span of time that would definitely result in stomach issues, you opted for the bathroom. The mantra here was the same as with the clothes: Not too much but not too little.

***

The office was nicely cooled, a stark contrast to the humidity outside. You already heard many unfamiliar voices coming from your workspace, nervousness bubbling up inside you. ‘What are these other people like?Would they be way better at this whole stuff?’ Would they fire you if they saw that the others were more qualified? Usually you wouldn’t talk so negatively about the degree that you had worked so hard to get and yet in moments like these you always felt so inferior.

“Yeah, (y/n) should be here any minute now as well.”

As you heard Ally’s voice, you took one last deep breath. ‘It’ll be fine, just play it cool. You’ve come this far’

Turning the corner to the animator’s space, you were met with three unfamiliar faces. They weren’t scary looking or anything, the whole scene itself just felt comical and intimidating. As if you had been intruding on something even though they had been waiting specifically on you.

“Hey, sorry, hope I’m not late or anything?” You glanced at your watch once agin. Just on time.

“Oh no, we all showed up more or less right now so nothing to worry about!” Ally showed you a sympathetic smile to which you couldn't help but reply with one of your own.

The introductions luckily went by quite fast, leaving little room for any awkward silences that you always dreaded when it came to meeting new people.

For one, there was Hayley who seemed to come straight out of the hipster era from the 2000’s. She had long blonde hair that went far past her shoulders and was contrasted starkly by the red beanie which she had pulled halfway over her head so that a lot of the fabric was casually hanging down at the back of her head. It was already clear as she introduced herself that she was an energetic type of person. That and the fact that she had been living in L.A for 3 years now, definitely made you feel a little inferior, even though she seemed friendly.

Jackson, a tall brunette guy whose style was very normal (in a good way), had also been living here with his girlfriend for about one and a half years now. The way he talked and the ease with which he spoke made him appear confident and yet there was something very humble about him. Perhaps a sort of ‘gentle giant’?

Lastly, there was Raphael. He came over to the USA all the way from France and although his english was as good as that of any foreigner who dismissively says that their “english wouldn't be very good” (which was the universal sign of their english surpassing even shakespeare), he still had a french accent which drew everyone in as he was talking. It sounded so much more fancy even though it was just a regular introduction. His hair was tightly coiled at the top and what especially stood out about Raphael was the white tattoo on his right forearm. The white ink stood out like it was some magic seal and depicted a moth breaking out from its cocoon, one wing already free'd.

Out of the other two, he was the most timid one and the only one that felt like he felt as out of place as you did.

“Alright, now that all of us are here, I just wanna make sure that all of you got the mail about the concept for the Pilot?”

Everyone agreed in a half-unison “yeah”.

The Idea for the Pilot was quite simple in and of itself. It was no secret that the whole series was heavily inspired by shows like Sailor Moon or Cowboy Bebop which is why it was set in a sci-fi world which still felt all retro-y. The episode was supposed to start with a little sequence in which Arina was playing an arcade game in their little spaceship and of course, she was losing and punching the machine. Then, Daniella was supposed to come into frame and tell her, in typical Dan-fashion, that it was alright to which they’d have a little banter.

Afterwards, the actual story of the series was supposed to begin. Their superior, a man who coincidentally had a lot of similarities to Barack Obama, informs them about a mission. A woman apparently paged them because her son was acting strange.

The whole episode basically forms about one bit where Arin pretended to be a monkey child called Franklin that was out of control. With the crucial detail that this behavior was caused by some cursed jewelry. The Pilot should end by Arina and Daniella stopping the main villain's henchman who was hexing said jewelry - meeting the big bad guy in the end as well. Typical foreshadowing.

After the brief recap of what was about to happen, all of you sat down on your desks, getting comfortable with the new equipment. Since Arin and Dan had already evaluated some of your concept art and decided upon which would be the best way to start, it was basically just piecing together the puzzle. Well, a puzzle which had to be drawn up and then cleaned multiple times but still.

After a while of experimenting and Jackson and Hayley actually getting somewhere with their segments, Ross also entered the office.

“Sorry I’m late everyone, I had to work on this other thing as well. I'll try to be on time in the future.”

All four of you reassured him immediately, partly also because you all had immense respect for the guy and his abilities.

“What have you gotten so far?”

“Me and Hayley just finished sketching up like three frames of our scenes.”

Ross nodded, trying to see where he could fit into the picture.

“You guys are still getting used to the program?”

His gaze fell onto Raphael and you who could only reply with a sheepish smile in return.

Was it bad that you weren't working as fast?

“If we have to hurry up you can tell us, it's just like new and all. I for one never worked on an actual series up until now.” Raphael spoke up, his accent naturally swallowing up certain letters.

Ross immediately put up his hands:

“Oh no, no, all good! I just wanted to check where everyone was at.”

He scratched his chin, seemingly in thought.

“Okay, this might sound super stuck up and shit but should I maybe take on the role of director? If I remember correctly from your portfolios, none of you have worked on a series so far, which isn't a bad thing-” he hastily added in between.

“I'm just saying cause I've been here the longest as well. Might make things a tad bit easier for all of us.”

It really didn't sound arrogant, it was just the truth after all. No one opposed the idea of having someone as an actual director, seeing that it would probably help the entire flow of the team in the future.

After a brief discussion of how the program worked and how to approach the whole project in the best way, the tension that had been present in the room before practically dissolved immediately.

Ross, having worked with multiple animators already, was definitely educated in how to make beginners feel alright with their abilities and there was a silent aura of thankfulness surrounding all four of you as you continued to work.

***

“Whew, good job everyone! Holy shit that is like so much for one day!” Ross looked at your screens with an astounded expression.

Very much exhausted from concentrating and your hand having cramped up like five times today, you finally stretched. It was one of those that made you feel dizzy and like you were ascending into another plane of existence.

“Do you guys have any plans now?” Ross asked, cracking his fingers one by one.

“Nope, not really. Well, aside from sleeping.” Hayley let out a breathy laugh and got up from her chair.

“I’d invite you guys out for a drink if you want to, some team building and what not.”

That offer would definitely not be turned down.

Ross had mentioned a pub that was actually in walking distance (a miracle from what you knew of American cities). And so, after telling Arin that you'd be finished for today, you guys made your way over there.

The conversations were held light, except for Jackson who saw this as a great opportunity to shower Ross in compliments about his works. The Australian seemed to be slightly overwhelmed by the onslaught of support but he hid it quite gracefully.

You stayed behind everyone as you walked, your social battery needing to be refilled a little before entering a place where conversation was inevitable. You weren't opposed to social interaction, you pretty much appreciated it and realized that you needed it and yet being in a new environment with what were basically just strangers (no matter how famous they were online), was absolutely draining.

As you entered the bar, you were immediately hit with the smell of alcohol and sweat. It wasn’t irritatingly strong but it was recognizable by everyone as you entered, faces twisting for just a split second.

Ross sauntered over to the counter, it was clear that he knew the barkeeper behind it. She vaguely gestured to a corner of the establishment, a little round booth where you were supposed to sit down.

You were leaning back against the soft cushioning off the wall, stretching your legs beneath the round table. The bar looked quite nice, you had to admit.

The whole place looked like it came straight out of another century but not worn out or scuffed. No, it looked fairly well looked after and it seemed that there was definitely no shortage of customers. If anything, you had gotten lucky that Ross had connections or otherwise the plans of a drink after work would have been quickly snuffed out.

The conversations started flowing once again after everyone had gotten their drinks. You mostly decided to listen, chiming in here and there if you had anything in mind that you thought would contribute nicely to the conversation. Otherwise you just sipped on your beverage from time to time, letting the alcohol relax you a little bit more, your fingers still hurting a bit from the way you were holding the pen the entire day.

“Yeah, my parents weren’t really happy with me moving across the entire world.” Raphael confessed, a look of guilt on his face. “I can imagine, you gotta tell us what it’s like in France, I’ve always wanted to go!” Hayley exclaimed, interest clear in her voice.

“It’s not super special, although the cities look nicer, no offense!” Raphael giggled. That you had to agree with. The beach was about the nicest thing in L.A that you had seen so far. Not to mention, walkable cities, who?

“I’ve been to europe once and yeah, it’s like entirely different with how the streets are and all-”

“Ross?”

You all looked up to the voice that interrupted the conversation.

“Oh Chris, what the fuck? What are you doing here?”

Ross got up and hugged the guy whose name apparently was Chris. Could that be the guy from DoodleDoods back then? You remember enjoying the creepy things he used to draw up seemingly on the spot. Didn’t he also have a gaming channel? What was the name again? Oney or something?

“I wanted to come here with Lyle but I think the fucker forgot or something cause I can’t find him anywhere.” He half laughed, he didn’t seem to actually be bitter about it.

“Aw that sucks, well yeah I’m here with my new animation team!” He excitedly pointed toward the four of you now awkwardly sitting in the booth. You gave a little wave to Chris who showed me a little smile in return.

“Animation- oh yeah right! The Game Gyaru thing I remember.” Ross nodded.

“Yup, that’s Raphael, Hayley right next to him and there are Jackson and (y/n)”

“Awesome, nice to meet you, I’m Chris!”

“Wait, you do OneyPlays right?” Jackson spoke up to which Chris threw up his hands in a gesture of feigned defeat. “You got me.”

After another minute of standing around had passed, Chris decided to simply sit down along with all of you, Lyle wouldn’t be showing up anymore anyway - his own words.

What surprised you about him was that talking to him felt very.. normal.

With the Grumps for example there was this feeling of “Oh my god they are internet legends” and although they were just regular everyday people, it still felt surreal talking to them.

The atmosphere in the bar was casual, like you couldn’t make any mistakes and as everyone was agitated in conversation, you realized that living here and working with all of them might actually turn out to be a really fun experience.

[ersetu-gazette]

Celestial Warlock Zorian

My mind keeps on wandering to an idea of an au I had, not sure if this would be during specifically the time loop in MoL, or other time loops, but I love the idea of Zorian being recruited (read: extorted) by the angels to forever be an assistant to the time loops. A template is permanently created for the Sovereign gate that is created at the beginning of each loop. This is to give the main controller a friend across all loops, an advisor, and a resource to do the ethically ambiguous things that they can't do due to the contract. I'm not exactly sure how it would out, but I just really like the idea of a Zorian after being a loop copy escaping to the real world instead of circumventing punishment is forced into service by the angels, and this cynical, curious, and otherwise normal boy is forced to be the angel's lapdog. Basically a dynamic not too dissimilar from Celestial warlocks in d&d but the patrons are much more involved and controlling. In each loop Zorian is created whole cloth, with the angels visiting the real world before hand to set up ways for him to integrate into society like they prepared the Sulrothum in the book. He primarily spends a few loops getting used to the cover story and the new culture & time period he finds himself in and then approaches the main controller once they've properly adjusted to the loop. he's been giving orders to help them with everything but he has his own spite, reservations, and rebellions to this, exercising his free will whenever possible.

Zorian and the new controller getting closer together is never a question of if but how long, since they're the only two that will never lose awareness of the loops. It also is a point of tension if the controller empathizes with Zorian's permanent servitude or not. No matter what the controller will hide some of the joy and gratitude they have they'll have a permanent friend (Zorian's empathy powers make the attempts to hide useless) A couple of thoughts on how this could work: 1) Zorian is recruited after the events of Mother of Learning and is forced to be the advisor/guide/confidant of the next controller, but somehow the time loop is fucked up even more and he and the new protagonist have to scramble to fix/ survive this mess. This is with a new cast of characters in the future focusing on how the world modernizes and changes to cultural norms. 2) Zorian actually was recruited and existed before the events of MoL and inverses the dynamic of Zach and Zorian, where Zorian is the more experience time traveler of the two. Zach almost definitely harbors a puppy crush at the cool nerdy archmage in his corner and Zorian appreciates a controller that is more on his side than others. Zorian is initially suspicious of Jornak and Zach dissmisses it as jealousy. When Zorian thwarts Jornak's scheme Zach embarrassingly sits through an "I told you so lecture" (and maybe the two talk about why Zach assumed jealousy was the key motivator from Zorian). 3) Zorian's service is timeless and he's forced to be there for all loops, even in the ancient past. He has to be the assistant to Shutur-Tanara as a young person, and deals with the crisis of being there for so much ancient history. (Also in this version Shutur-Tanara is a trans woman. No reason specifically why but I think it'd be great if Zorian's main concern is trying to stop imperialism and colonization and his modern cultural norms meanwhile Shutur-Tanara's main thought's are "man I wish I was born a woman." Eventually when Zorian is educating her on modern concepts he mentions trans people and that catches Shutur's attention. ST: "Wait, that's a thing? What magic is needed to change my body?" ZK: "I will cover that later once you agree that conquering continents and colonizing other cultures are bad." ST: ". . . make me a woman and I'll try to listen with a more open mind.") Zorian also meets some of the eleven immortals and a young Quatch-Ichl who he ends up taking a partially mentor/parental role within the time loop. Idk, there's a lot in this idea that I'm really interested in and would be curious to hear everyone else's thoughts.