#Birdie from Interesting NPCs

[sparrowsingsstories]

Updated pictures of my OC Hope Amadori, with her girlfriend, Mara (R4-04 from Interesting NPCs). Also with Deacon, Preston (who is upset being in Diamond City) and Birdie (also from Interesting NPCs).

Hope will be the subject of my next big storyline!

[nerdalmighty]

BG3 Tag Game!

I was tagged by @khywren!!! Thank you!!!!!!

I'm going to tag @vanilkaplays @okthisway @maladaptive-menace @riddlerosehearts @starkspi and anyone else who wants to play along!

Favorite romance: It will surprise no one to know that it's Astarion. I find his backstory so incredibly interesting and I love his dumbass personality. At the end of the day, he just wants to do whatever is the most hilarious and I adore that. I especially love how soft he gets when you get together in Act 2. I could go on and on but I'll never be able to fully articulate my love for him.

Favorite class to play: Bard! I love that they're really the jack of all trades and are pretty good at everything, including spells and sword fighting. Persuasion and deception are SO helpful in this game, plus playing music to distract crowds and cause shenanigans in Baldur's Gate is wonderful.

Favorite NPC: I think Raphael. While yeah he absolutely SUCKS, I'm obsessed with his obsession with his own voice. He's a thespian, he's a freak, he's an idiot. I love it. But yes, I did kill his ass.

Favorite song off the soundtrack: Probably the Harpy Song. I listen to it a lot in my spare time, especially when I'm working on a specific fic I'm attempting to write. I'm a big fan of haunting melodies and, unsurprisingly, the concept of hypnotizing music.

Tell us a little about your Tav: I wrote a pretty long post about her here, but my Tav is named Birdie and she's a bard who was born and raised at the Water Queen's House. Previous iterations of her had her as a siren (hence the deep love of the Harpy Song), but I'm still not 100% sure if this version of her is. Basically, she's a mermaid ass goof whose main gang of idiots include Astarion, Gale, and Shadowheart. Chaos often ensues.

Something you wish was in the game: I know this game is huge. I know there's probably stuff people haven't even discovered yet. But god would I love some more camp animations. More interactions between the companions AT camp. Cut scenes where there should probably be cut scenes (The second time Astarion drinks your blood, Wyll celebrating the defeat of Ansur, etc). I really really love this game, but I'd love to hang out with my friends EVEN MORE.

Do you create fanworks? Share something with us: Oh boy I'm TRYING. I've never really written fanfiction before but the stupid vampire has inspired me to do so. I'm in the process of writing two different fics (one multi-chapter, one one-shot on the longer side) and am having a blast but I'm not sure if/when I'll post them. I've noticed my writing style is very similar to the way I write scripts, which is what I went to college for, so they're full of dialogue and quick, dumb banter. It might not be for everyone, but I'm having The Most Fun! Let me know if you'd maybe want to see more? Here's a silly excerpt from the one-shot (she may or may not get smutty later on 👀):

There was no sign of the vampire, save for an open hatch beneath the stone of the tower leading into what you presumed was a cellar of sorts. Off to the side was a discarded set of Thieves’ Tools. Yup, that’ll be him.

Rolling your eyes affectionately, you began to descend into the basement below. 

Before you could even make it to the bottom, however, you heard Astarion’s voice tinged with annoyance. “Don’t bother, darling. I was just coming back up.”

You paused on the ladder and looked down at him. “That bad?”

“Eh, a few coins, some food. Nothing worth risking one’s life over. Foolish gnome.”

“Shame,” you pouted down at him, not an ounce of real sympathy behind the word.

He smirked as he met your eye. “Go,” he said, indicating you should climb back up the ladder. “There was a rather large amount of smoke powder though. That could be fun.”

When you emerged back into the early evening air, you turned to help Astarion out. “Maybe you can blow up a quaint little gnomish village.”

Astarion’s eyes glittered with delight. “Oh, do you think there’s one around here? That would be- Oh. You’re joking.”

You nodded.

“Gods, you’re no fun.” He sighed dramatically and then started back towards the Blighted Village proper. 

You scoffed in mock offense. “I’m a lot of fun!”

Astarion tsked. “If you have to say you’re a lot of fun, odds are, you’re lying to yourself.” He shot a challenging half smile at you from over his shoulder.

“How dare you,” you laughed.

“Such a pity, too,” he went on. “Aren’t bards supposed to be entertaining?”

You made a sound of agony, which had Astarion fully turning back to look at you. You threw a hand to your heart and staggered towards him. “You wound me, Astarion. Look upon me with pity and remember me fondly!” You set an arm on his shoulder and let your body weight go, as if collapsing from a killing blow. 

Astarion was quick to catch you under your arms. He made a show of groaning about how heavy you were now that your body had gone completely limp. After you’d hung loosely from his grip for a few seconds, he finally yielded. “Alright, enough.” 

You resumed control of your body and stood up straight, a smug look on your face. “I’m fun.”

“Dramatic.”

“Theatrical.”

“Annoying.”

“Endearing.”

“Loud.”

“Enthusiastic-”

Just then, a loud howl came from a barn a little ways off. 

You and Astarion eyed each other.

“Was that you?” Astarion asked.

“‘Was that me?!’ I’m not THAT loud.”

“Could have fooled me.”

You rolled your eyes. “Come on.” You started in a light jog towards the barn.

Astarion groaned. “You can’t be serious.” He caught up with you easily. “Haven’t we done enough heroing for today?”

You looked at him thoughtfully. “One more act of heroism probably won’t kill you.”

“It might!”

“Oh, now who’s being dramatic?” You came to a stop at the double doors.

“I-” Astarion floundered, then pursed his lips and crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought.”

[mama-qwerty]

Prime S3 Thoughts - Gnarly

Let's round out the last of the Shatterspace Knuckles.

Let's talk about Gnarly.

This guy. Right here. Lookit him. He's so adorable.

Gnarly is essentially the Sticks of Sonic Prime. And Sticks was kind of a fun character for a show like Sonic Boom, which in itself bent more toward the "wacky sitcom" end of the scale in terms of feel of the show.

But in Sonic Prime, it's a schtick that doesn't quite stick.

I've theorized in the past that Gnarly represents Prime Knux's sensitivity to chaos energy, and that's what he's sensing from the trees and vegetation around him. Which is why he's anxious and nervous. Hearing all that ambient noise in your head 24/7 would be enough to make anyone jumpy and twitchy.

But the writers seem to want to play with the aspect of "What if Knuckles was crazy and paranoid and a borderline conspiracy theorist?"

Which, yeah, I guess that would be a very sharp departure from Knuckles' usual personality. If Ren is in the middle of a spectrum, being more balanced with how Prime Knuckles usually is, and Dread is on one end with a lot of over-confidence and bravado and self-interested intent, then Gnarly would be on the other end, feeling anxious and nervous and like the world is a dangerous place. He's timid and fearful whereas Dread is confident and forceful.

So, yeah, I get that he had to be very different from Prime Knuckles. But there were other ways they could have taken him that didn't reduce him to a one-joke gag character.

Gnarly was the least fleshed out Knuckles, which is fair I guess, considering the Boscage Maze scavengers were the least developed of the three groups we see in the Shatterspace. Their entire plotline felt like a side quest--the hero goes there to complete some little quest so he can continue on the *real, more important* main quest. Thus, the people he encounters there are generic NPCs who aren't all that memorable or important in the grand scheme of things.

Not to mention, there's only so much time in a show like this, and it's not like they could have cut out about half of that looong fight in the 3rd season to replace with actual character interactions and growth.

Ahem. Back to Gnarly.

This adorable little echidna was delegated as the gag character. The one joke "ha ha, he's so crazy" guy who spouted weird things and trusted no one. Used sparingly, that may have worked. But the writers made it his entire defining trait, which I guess goes completely against the whole "Knuckles is a trustful soul" thing, so makes a certain degree of sense.

His role as "dude completely removed from reality" was practically shoved in our faces with this scene:

Not gonna lie. This gave me Boom Knuckles vibes. And maybe that's what they were going for? It's like they had no idea what to do with Gnarly.

But bear with me. This is how I would have handled him.

He's still nervous. Still anxious. Still jumpy and twitchy. He hears and feels and sees things the others don't, thanks to his incredibly high sensitivity to chaos energy. He doesn't understand why he's so different, why he senses these things, and it low-key scares him a bit.

BUT, he is also very alert. Very much a detail person. He notices things the others don't, alerts them to danger, and gets 'vibes' when something doesn't feel right. He's their early warning system, and they look to him when faced with unusual situations. He's not the plan guy, he leaves that to Prim.

The scene above could have been handled using this characterization, by having him pause for a moment when Prim asks for ideas, to which he would respond with something like:

"The Birdbots average 62 seconds between patrols around the citadel. I saw an alcove about twenty feet diagonally to the right of us as we were climbing, so if we hide in there until the Birdies pass, we should be able to make it to the next outcropping before their next pass over if we hoof it."

And, as is customary in these types of shows when a character displays any kind of competence that goes against their usual personality, Prim and Hangry would stare at him for a few blinks before Prim would smile and say "You heard the echidna. Let's get a move on."

He's still a Knuckles. He's still clever and good at using his environment to his advantage. And honestly, Gnarly would be especially good at using the environment to his advantage, considering where and how he grew up. Thorn's rampage meant his environment was the danger, and he would need to figure out ways to survive it on the fly.

I'm disappointed we didn't have more scenes with Gnarly, or with all three Knux interacting. That would have been fun. But I suppose that's what fanfic is for, and I've put them together plenty of times in my Knucklesverse au ficlets.

This echidna is just damn adorable in all his iterations.

[basofy]

i hope when the lisa definitive edition releases old and new players start to see the party members as not only a fun mechanic to progress in the game but also as their second purpose (specified even in their gang page)

which is to tell how different the people of olathe are from eachother from good to neutral to bad.

all of the party members got their own personalities, points of view and goals, which i've always been appreciative of because it makes them all feel like they're their own person and it shows that they're not going to think exactly like you just because they're on your side.

so some of them can be assholes that despise brad for different reasons and are even creepy to buddy and others can just be neutral on the whole thing or don't care about brad but don't hate him and there are others who are nice people who just want someone to hang out and get attached to brad and it pains them to betray him at the end. some of them even got someone they care about too the same way brad cares for buddy.

and all of this is made just so you don't see them only as tools, they are written this way to show you what the people of olathe are like from a closer perspective. the only other way to do this would be using npcs which would go more overlooked, and it already IS overlooked by players

becuz over time i've seen toooo many fans who speak as if absolutely every man in olathe is an asshole and a pedo, which is why they congratulate tooley too much just for being decent to buddy. i like him but you give him too much credit for something other characters do as well.

and they talk like these are just 'olathe standards' and like it's okay for this game when No, this game condemns this type of behavior at all times and it makes it very clear. it's not normal, it's just common

i mean was terry a creep towards buddy??? bo?? carp?? shocklord? birdie? nern? olan? the warlords??? and more characters and there are even npcs who deeply question the stuff going on around buddy or are simply not interested in her

and then i see takes such as "maybe x character is gay becuz they don't seem interested in buddy". pal i can think of a million better reasons to consider a character gay (sometimes no reason at all, have fun). (also again, TOOLEY. i mean he was seen at the beehive, isn't that a better reason to think he's gay??)

you don't need to be a pedo and a rapist to be attracted to women, and it's crazy how little the concept of consent matters to some people, because this isn't the only time i've seen this type of thinking over a piece of media.

this is a way of thinking that comes from people who got into lisa for the fun battles and do not understand the story, and it's sorta okay, it's fine if the battles are your favorite thing or if you're not that fond of emotional stories, but you can't ignore this part of the game, to do that you better just play something else, because my problem is that when you try to explain the emotional matters of lisa's story they never want to listen; they preffer living in their little bubble of misinterpreting everything. (like the amount of times i've tried explaining to other fans why lisa isn't worst than her goddamn dad and it's like talking to a wall) like damn, i love the battles too but i can perfectly have both things yknow.

anyway just my silly little thoughs that have been going thru my mind these past weeks, i take this game too seriously but i also feel like it's dumb not to because that's what it wants you to do.

hope things go well when the definitive edition drops and that everyone enjoys it 8)

[captainsspnanon]

C3E58 - reaction

I am very entertained that they are fighting a creature with many mouths who causes psychic damage from the sounds, considering I'm in the gibbering mouther section of my C2 rewatch and about to get to the laughing hand, so it's all just fucked up mouths for me XD

LOL the fact that FCG has started consistently fucking with who doesn't get bonded and it's an issue each time. I love it! Though I'm worried about their stress points, I'm also kinda looking forwards to a little blow up.

I saw a few spoilers about the episode before I watched so I WASN'T terrified when Fearne went down and got swallowed, but holy fuck if I hadn't known she lived for a threesome, that would have been so stressful!

I'm so glad we got to see at least a tiny glimpse of the wolf-king! I want Matt to post a picture of it on twitter please! Please please just for me!

Huzzah for bag of holding! Great with the notes and harness and rod for plot development, good for funds for refilling some pockets, especially because ...well, I don't even know what the funds status is of this group. VM was rich AF, M9 was poor AF, I have no clue where BH falls. Especially because a lot of it is based on RP (I think M9 probably had as much as BH, but rped as much poorer - nope I lied, counting today's haul, BH has like double the amount that M9 had by the same episode)

Wish we could have gotten more from the FRIDA moment, interesting that Matt has Christian be much more active in the rolls and directions, whereas with Ashton and Fearne's dad (not Birdie, I can't remember his name) they were much more passive while Imogen and FCG/Laura and Sam really took the lead. Confirmation of Aeor though! Sounds like they got smited by the gods though I don't think we had any idea previously that some Aeorians were against using the malleus factorum. Not surprising once I think about it for like, two seconds, but never considered it before.

THREESOME!!!!! Oh I SO hope that Fearne holds to her early game comment and does 'work her way through all of them'. PLS PLS PLS. Anyhow, a touching and mostly hilarious moment, I loved every second of it. I'm also pleased that the first kiss and first sex scenes were from PCs that it seemed like the fans went out of their way to desexualize, I love it.

All the gifts! Hoodies were adorable, and then two wooden gifts from Chet! With how frequently the table gave each other game related gifts out of game previously, I do enjoy how much it's a lot of in-game gifts now.

Oh fuck those scenes with the Changebringer and Dawnfather were INTENSE. HOLY SHIT. I am very hyped, for the gods to just force visions and make demands (at varying levels of demandingness)!!! I wonder how many non-PCs are also receiving these visions? Did Caduceus get one? Fjord? Pike and Vex and Scanlan? Random other clerics and paladins of the world?

Seriously, I am so hype. C3 took me a bit to settle it, but it is a very easy second place for me out of the three campaigns! Still won't beat C2 for me, but I'm pretty sure that's because 1) it was my first campaign and 2) it's when I really hit hyperfocus on CR and could watch two and a half to three episodes a day. ...yeah, I binged HARD on C2. Started late January 21 and finished in time to watch the finale live.

I'm also intrigued to see how all this is going to go. They physically CAN'T have Aabria and Christian playing once everyone is back together, there's just no room at the table. What is going to be the thing that splits them up? I wonder if it'll end up coming down to an NPC having to be 'group regulars go to this location, group guests go to this location' to have a natural and realistic separation.

[non-neutoniangender]

Alright, new scarf, new CR episode, its the one where all the shit goes down babey!!!!

God the way Erika changed the way she dressed and held herself is hella impressive. Really serves to sell the change on this changeling.

And the contrast with Birdie is wild

Oh hot damn Erika really pulling out all the stops!! I love this.

Man this changeling chose a bad race to try to seduce Orym

NO

Sam mutherfucking reigel you didn't have to wear THAT costume, you know. Also why did it take me this long to notice damn. God this man goes too far.

Holy shit!! Fearne is Ruidus born!!!!! First 100% confirmed (Not counting Imogen because she's only having the dreams and doesn't 1000% know)

Also holy shit Fearne you didn't have to stab a bitch about it.

Imogen's face during the whisper holy shit

THE POLARIOD!?!?!? fucking brilliant

ELABORATE!!

I love Taliesin Jaffe

F to the bead lolol

Oooooo another connection to the Nightmare King!!! (He's gonna be the big bad)

Ooooo moon lore!!!

Hit damn Birdie is right to be untrustworthy, but like I feel like if she said everything she knew, there would be a shit ton of connected dots.

Moontide crown.... what a cool name

So THATS why Ira knew Fearne

Apogee solstice... hmmmmm (I haven't finished Calamity yet)

Holy shit Yu is coming for the group sense of community.... uh oh

Damn Birdie really needs to get her head on straight

Also is that residuum!?!?

Not the trying to be inconspicuous about asking for someone's passive perception lolol

Orym is being a petty little bitch and I love him for it. He deserves being petty over someone trying to get in his pants while he doesn't seem to be oclver the death of his husband yet

Fearne's mom is so proud of her stealing!!!!

Back on it with Ley Lines and apogee solstice, god I need to watch Calamity

Wait..... does this all tie Keyleth to this research!?!?!? Because she was attacked.

Vasselheim...... what an interesting name drop.........

Ruidis is new..........ish

Wait I just remembered that damn moon fanatic from Uthodurn. I hope he's okay.

Old gods that are forgotten..... omg gods imprisoned in the moon...... thats some final fantasy bullshit.

Oh my god I love how Matt ties everything together. Like this world is alive and people are doing things beyond the scope of the campaigns.

I love when someone name drops and NPC and the whole cast scrambles to remember where they've heard of them before.

Oh my god, everyone knows everyone else!!!! Matt this is fantastic!

Awww laudna and Imogen sharing the rickety ass trailer

Also these skirmish crawlers are just like them pokemon from Scarlet/Violet!!!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Scarf update, got like an inch of the new scarf done but am like maybe a third of the way done with another I'm working on.

This was such a good episode! I loved all the connections and I can't wait to see this whole campaign pick up!

[hurlumerlu]

Also throwing critrole s3 at you for the fandom ask thing, I wanna hear your opinions

thank youuuuu (though given the recent spoilers I kinda feel like you just gently placed a landmine at my feet)

The first character I fell in love with: I mean, Ashton ? I just saw their character art and immediately went "oh shit" because I'm easy like that, but I also really loved their introduction so I was on board with them from the start.

A character that I used to love/like but now do not: FCG I guess ? But it happened pretty fast.

A ship that I used to love/like but now do not: RIP Orym/Bertrand you could have been something, if only in my head.

My ultimate favorite character: right now it's Chetney, I feel like there's so much to explore with him, and it's always nice seeing Travis flex his sense of comedic timing.

Prettiest character: Imogen.

My most hated character: I don't hate anyone yet ? maybe that will change next monday.

My OTP: I still don't have any, but I ship Ashton with literally everyone but FCG and Imogen, and Fearne with everyone but Orym.

My NOTP: way too strong a word, but I don't jive with Orym/Dorian. Idk, I just don't feel it.

Favorite episode: Heart to Heartmoore : so many good late-night conversations ! Absolutely love it.

Saddest death: Well. I guess I'll tell you next monday ? (it will probably be orym's)

Favorite season: Loved the whole Heartmoor mini-arc to bits.

Least favorite season: The whole thing with Yu should have been super exciting but for some reason it didn't work for me ? Same with Fearne's parents, and since the two are linked I guess this is my least favorite mini-arc.

Character that everyone else in the fandom love, but I hate: I don't hate them, and I don't think everyone in the fandom love them, but I mostly dislike FCG. Like, I love Sam's jokes, but I find FCG irritating a lot of the time. But then, it was the same for Scanlan when I first watched Cr1. (also I'm. very ambivalent about the Greenseekers. and a bit surprised that the fandom latched onto them like that)

My "you're a piece of trash, but you're still a fave" fave: Miss Jiana Hexum please call me back <3 <3 <3

My "beautiful cinamon roll who deserved better than this" fave: no clue ! None of them are cinamon rolls and I can't think of a NPC who fits the bill.

My "this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul but I still love it" ship: hahaha so. Fearne/Birdie is a thing. that I wondered about. I wouldn't say I love it though, it's more of an idle thought.

My "they're kind of cute, and I low-key ship them, but I'm not too invested in them" ship: pretty much everyone still ? I'm gonna say Laudna/Asthon because while I think the ship has a lot of potential, I'm still more interested in Laudna/Imogen.

aaaand that's it ! I do feel like the fact that I had a truly hard time answering many of these questions at like, episode 32, tells something about the show, but I'm still not sure wether it's a bug or a feature (would love your take on that btw). I'm still curious to see where things go, but that may change with episode 33 and the next. We'll see !

[cadykeus-clay]

I always appreciate your cr breakdowns and thoughts, I would really appreciate your thoughts on the group dynamics in the latest episodes and where you think things may go from here. Hope you're having a lovely day!

I assume you're talking about the most recent 2 episodes (33 & 34) and if you meant anything earlier than that, don't read on because uhhhhh. Major Spoilers

I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and really think about this show or collect my thoughts because I'm working full time and a full time grad student making me incredibly busy. So this will be ... disjointed.

My first point is: I love tragedy in stories, I absolutely adore it. Liam O'Brien kin to the core, a story has got to have a vein of sadness in it to really be good in my book. So I was honestly excited to see how drastically Matt took that combat and how many people went all the way down. I might not have enjoyed it if I was a player at that table, but I'm not! I was just watching it, and I loved watching it, so that's that.

That's not to say I wasn't also sad! I love Fearne and I really love Orym, and then last week when Laudna went down too, my heart sunk. But like. I stand very firm in the fact that Molly dying was one of the best things that happened to the M9's entire plot, because of the way it fundamentally changed the character trajectories to have more weight and meaning. (I have other feelings about how Molly wasn't going to be a good long-term character anyways because of his stubborn refusal to change, and other other feelings about how bringing back Lucien/Kingsley for the final arc felt very hollow to me when Molly being Gone Forever was so vital to the direction the plot took until that point. But I digress)

So, I am fascinated to see where these deaths take the party in the longterm. I am selfishly glad that Orym is back, not only because I like his character a Lot (he's my 2nd fave), but I feel like there is so so much we haven't seen from him yet. He's by far the person in the party who is holding back the most still, even though he's shared the paper details of his backstory I feel like he's bottling up sooo much inside that I want to see bubble over. He's always playing the mediator, I wanna see him snap.

I also think Orym staying dead would have been the least satisfying narratively because (as many others have said more eloquently before me) "it's ok he died bc now he can be with his dead husband!!" is such a shallow ending for him, especially when Liam explicitly said his final thoughts were "I failed". Fearne was accepting in her final moments, and in her rez vision was curious about what lay beyond. Laudna has been prepared to die since the moment Delilah brought her back. But Orym had a bucket list of things to do before he went, and I think it would really be a disservice to his character to not let him go through with them when he exists in a D&D world where rez magic exists.

If Fearne had died, I would have been really interested in how the party was going to handle telling Birdie and Ollie, who had said goodbye to her just that morning, and the whole plot with the Unseelie Assassins. (Would Yu have believed them? Would they have thought Fearned went into like ... Fantasy Witness Protection? Would the party be as motivated to keep following the trail of Ira and Ludinus when those NPCs were so directly tied to their source of grief?) But I am also happy that she's back! There is absolutely no energy that could come close to matching her level of chaos and fun that she brings to the table.

Now with Laudna more permanantly gone than the other two, I am definitely sad. I'm going to miss so much about her character in the interim or perhaps forever. She was so genuinely kind and optimistic and she brought a very nice balance to this group of people who are constantly on the tipping point of their worst selves. But I'm equally interested to see what happens when that balance is gone. How quickly will they fall. Imogen is already down the path of do whatever it takes (which I am SO into, I've been a champion of Imogen corruption arc since day 1, please please please imogen betraying everything for the promise of getting launda back please), but Ashton I also really want to keep an eye on.

He and Laudna were quite close and were also pretty good foils for each other (both had been left for dead by people they trusted, come back from it with mysterious powers they don't understand and a terrifying woman looming over their shoulder as a puppet master, who were trying to channel their moment of loss and pain into something more productive) and without Laudna there to reflect off them, I really don't know where Ashton is gonna go. Is he going to let pain take over? Try and become a more optimistic force to cover for Laudna's absence? Idk but I want to find out!

On the other hand, I wouldn't be at all upset if Laudna gets resurrected. I'm not as staunch as some others in the camp of "I don't like reversing deaths because it lowers stakes", but I do hope it takes time for them to get one. For one, I'd love to freshen up table dynamic with Marisha introducing a new temporary PC, there's no way that won't be incredibly fun to watch.

For two, I think a sidequest to rez Laudna would actually be great for the plot right now. We've had like 5 or 6 episodes of intense, campaign-wide plot back to back to back. Major backstory drops overlapping and a billion things with this Ruidis plot escalating all once, and it's been thrilling, but I'm ready for a break. I want some time to digest all this information, put together theories, let the effects of everything show on players. They don't need to completely ignore the Ruidis plots but, like, how long did VM take to finish off the Chroma Conclave? 40 episodes? We can spare a little time to handle other things.

In short, I'm having a great time being sad about it, and I am very excited to see where all of this goes and how many of the PCs go off the deep end about it.

[angrelysimpping]

uh oh, it's the classic body swap trope again, what he npcs gonna do?

So, body swap between npcs and pc

Alex

Haha, what?!

They are...so confused.

If your body was at the orphanage, Alex is immediately bailing, going back to the farm. They will freak out if anyone tries to stop them. Bailey, Robin, Avery, random person on the street, literally anyone so much as waving at Alex while they're in your body will put them on edge.

Lord help them if Eden or Kylar tries to approach them on the street.

Does want to fool around with while in eachothers bodies.

Avery

Pissed as hell.

Makes you call out of work and hole up in their house with them until it's all over.

They refuse to go to school.

They will not have sex with you like this, don't even ask. They're a little curious about how it would feel but if they think about it too long it gives them a headache.

Bailey

No.

You are not leaving their office in their body.

Even though you could overpower Bailey and do whatever you wanted, it's really in your best interest to stay in the orphanage until you switch back to your own body.

They will not go to school, fuck you for even asking them to. They are also staying in the orphanage until this is all over.

High probability of Bailey straight up pulling a gun on anyone who tries to mess with them while they're in your body.

Eden

You are not leaving the cabin so help them.

Tries to stick to their routine and gets incredibly frustrated when they can't.

Still gets incredibly horny and doesn't know how to go about fixing it.

Conflicted about having sex with you like this.

Will not go to school.

If they woke up in the orphanage, they're rushing back to the cabin. They do not like being in town and that goes double when they can't protect themself as affectively.

Great Hawk

Panicked. Panicked birdy.

Hope you already had the harpy tf, cause otherwise you guys are screwed.

If Great Hawk wakes up without wings in the orphanage, they're freaking out. Tries to get back to the moors but doesn't know town very well.

Trying to find their spouse, very upset.

Kylar

Is this heaven?

They're inside you!!

But then they realize you aren't in your body with them and they freak.

Calms down somewhat when they realize you're in their body and not just gone.

Going to cling to your side.

Really curious about having sex with eachother.

Leighton

Oh!

Oh, well, this is interesting!

Going to break into their own office and make videos of your body.

Will find you, whatever you are, be it their house or their office.

Doesn't want you to do anything funny while in their body that will mess up what they have going for them at the school.

You fuck up their life and they'll fuck up yours. Trust them, they have the resources.

Remy

Hell. Remy is in hell. That is the only explanation for what's happening.

On the farm: they go haywire. Would not be surprised if they escaped. They know the farm best, after all. Might be able to convince some of their underlings that they're them, but they don't particularly want to advertise being in such a vulnerable state.

If they wake up at the orphanage, they might go to Bailey. They won't like confiding in the caretaker that they're in such a precarious situation, but it might be better than nothing.

Robin

Panicking!

Will not leave your side if they can help it.

Thinks about confiding in Bailey at one point but scraps the idea before even suggesting it.

Curious about having sex but won't bring it up at low confidence.

Embarrassed about seeing their own body during sex from an outside prospective.

Sydney

Also panicking!

They're either running to Jordan or Sirris, asap. Goes looking for you next.

Might ask about sex. Maybe. More likely when corrupt.

Corrupt Sydney is masturbating while in your body at least once.

Whitney

Haha, fuckin' what?!

They're not dealing with this. They're not dealing with this!

They're either breaking into their own home to get you or dragging you out of school. They're fucking pissed and they're not in the mood for dealing with other peoples bullshit.

Going to fuck you while body swapped. They do not care that it's their own body under them, they're bullying you still.

Wren

Really good at hiding how hard they're freaking out.

Bluffs their way onto Remy's estate at the first opportunity.

I would not be surprised if they had set up some kind of safe word with their friends for a situation like this. A really random phrase that no one could string together by accident that boils down to "listen to me, I'm being serious and I need you to trust me 100%"

Absolutely going to get handsy with you while in eachothers body.

[Bonus]

Npcs swap bodies with another npc. Not intended, but the npcs share their mock/tease insecurity (except for Wren, cause they don't have one [yet/that i know of =p] and i highly doubt it's ethics) and I think that's neat 👉👈

Alex and Avery

Alex

Oh this is...weird.

Takes them a moment to realize they're not in their room in their cottage on the farm. Then it hits them they're in the wrong body and they freak.

Might blame Remy.

Going to the farm, they gotta take care of everything.

Tries to take their mind off it with farm work.

Cannot do their farm work because, while Avery has a nice body, it's not a farmer's body.

Avery

This is hell. Avery has gone to hell. Why the fuck are they on a farm?!

Disturbingly calm while they call out of work, you wouldn't even know that Avery is shaking with rage while making the call.

Off the farm as soon as possible, going to their own house.

Bailey and Kylar

Bailey

Why.

They're not even angry at this point, just thoroughly confused and tired.

Of course they woke up in some brat's body. Of course they're small and weak. Of course there's a fucking knife in their pocket and a thing of tranq darts, Jesus, why wouldn't there be?!

Their life is just one mess after another, isn't it?

Going to break out of prison, if that's where they wake up. They know enough people, can pull enough stings. They just have to say a few words to get it done.

Has bolt holes scattered over town where they're likely to hunker down and go about their business.

They will not stop working, even while stuck like this.

Kylar

Will immediately try to find you and almost cries at your reaction to Bailey suddenly grabbing you, forgetting that you don't know it's them.

Tells you it's them, they don't want you to be afraid of them, even if they're in a different body!

Might try to keep you with them all day. What, they're scared! You'll stay with them, right?

Eden and Whitney

Eden

Nope. They are fucking off into the forest, back to their cabin.

If they spot you on the way, you're coming with them.

Going to be extra demanding because they're feeling all out of sorts.

Going to make sure you know they're them and not Whitney.

Might try to fuck you while in Whitney's body.

If the switch happened in the middle of the day and Eden is suddenly in Whitney's body while at school? Chaos. Does not like being around so many people at once. Hates how casually Whitney's friends will touch them.

Whitney

Why the fuck are they in the forest and why do they look like this?!

Not leaving the forest. Does not know what to do.

If you're around, they're taking their fear out on you by forcing you to your knees.

High probability that they won't let you leave their side.

If they never straight up tell you that they're Whitney and you don't figure it out? If you just go about a you normally do when you're with Eden? Following Eden's schedule and being a good spouse? Whitney gets overwhelmed. They haven't had anyone act like this with them. They're... like it. They're a little jealous of your Stockholm Syndrome devotion you show to Eden.

Great Hawk and Remy

Great Hawk

What??? Where are their wings???? Where are they?????

If you're in the farm and Great Hawk's mate, you suddenly have a very clingy Remy at your side, calling you spouse enthusiastically.

Remy

They're not leaving the tower.

First off, they don't know what they would even do if they could.

Secondly, they don't know how to fly.

If you're in the tower with them, they're going to blame you. Especially if you were ever on the farm.

Leighton and Sydney

Leighton

Equal parts annoyed and ecstatic.

They may just be a powerless teen again, but Sydney has such a good reputation, no one bats an eye when they "accidentally" stumble into the wrong bathroom or changing room.

When they grope someone in the halls, no one thinks it's Sydney who did it. Even if they did, what would they do, tell a teacher? Who would believe them?

Leighton's always wanted to toy with Sydney but couldn't because they're Sirris's kid but, well, who could stop them now?

Sydney

No, no, no, no.

Sydney is calling you into the headteacher's office and trying to convince you that they're them.

They don't want you going anywhere near Leighton while the headteacher is in their body and-

Oh, that made them gag.

Actually, please go find Leighton and keep them from doing anything. Maybe drag them back to the office because there's no way Leighton will come on their own.

They're going to call Sirris into Leighton's office as well. They know how to convince Sirris that is really them, somehow inside Leighton and-

Sydney's gagging again.

Robin and Wren

Robin

What is going on?!

Immediately freaking out and trying to get back to the orphanage.

The higher their confidence, the better they'll be able to keep their cool, but they're still freaking out pretty hard regardless.

Wren

Not thrilled with suddenly being 18 and pretty much powerless, but they'll make the most of it.

Hates going to school but loves how Robin has a good reputation with the teachers. Let's Wren get away with pulling pranks to entertain themself.

Likes that they get to hang out with you.

[genshinobsession]

hello!! i love ur sentience au it’s so interesting!! the kaeya one broke my heart a lil aaaa does that mean a day for us is 60 days for them? imagine them trying so hard to make our daily log-ins count 😭😭 also im really excited for the next part!! (but take ur time pls don’t feel pressured!) do u think u’ll be adding diluc, childe, and/or ningguang any time soon?

Sentience AU

I am thrilled that you like the Au!

Here are the ones you requested and one extra!

Warning:Slight Angst

Childe

When you leave Childe for the first time, he’s more curious than anything. I mean he just watched someone he knows just disappear in front of him.

He’s not extremely worried at first because he still tries to process it. After a while he decides to ask someone else if they noticed that you had disappeared but they wouldn’t respond. When he went to talk to one of the other npcs, they wouldn’t respond. All they would say is their programmed voice lines.

Childe eventually realized he was actually all alone. You were the only one he had and he had just let you go without a second thought. His heart began pounding as his mind raced, what if something had happened to you while you were away and now he was really alone, forever.

He wouldn’t let that happen. He had to find a way to be with you.

Although he was filled with relief every time you come back he still wanted to find a way to be with you.

Forever.

And everyday he got closer

And closer

And closer

To figuring out how to get out.

And when he does he’ll make sure to never let you go.

Diluc

One day during a quest you had crashed mid conversation. As upset as you were you had to wait for it to shut down fully then relaunch it to get back. The person you were conversing with

Had been Diluc.

He had just finished his sentence as he looked back at you, expecting to see your lovely face and only to be met with.

Nothing?

But you were right there, not even a second ago.

Where could have possibly gone in such a short amount of time. He slowly began to look around the area you had just been, looking around corners and looking for possible places you could have went.

When he looked back at the spot you were in he looked back at you even more confused.

Did he just, imagine that you had disappeared?

You seemed to be just as confused as he did as you looked around for him. When you eventually spotted him you had literally begun to hop up and down as you made your way over to him. He couldn’t help but think it was absolutely adorable but at the same time he continued to question what had just happened.

He decided to push the thought away as he continued your conversation.

Ningguang

When Ningguang has the feeling to be compelled to stay with you, instead of physically being with you she makes sure there is someone watching over you at all times.

At

All

Times.

When they report back that you had suddenly disappeared Ningguang passes it off as an incompetent worker but as more and more people begin to claim that you had just suddenly disappeared and reappeared during the day she immediately sent out someone to figure out where you were going.

To no avail.

You were quite literally blipping from existence.

And neither Ningguang or anyone else understood why or how. However, she was not going to just let it slide. When you had come back she had invited you back to the Jade Chamber where, unbeknownst to you, she planned to keep you.

Venti

Now when you leave venti?

It destroys him,

Completely.

He’s terrified of what what could have happened to you and where you went. Unaware that you simply blipped out of existence for a while he would go searching for you all around every area, reduced to using his prerecorded lines from separate quests to call out “traveller?”, he does not give up, he takes as much time as he needs to find you.

He didn’t want to lose someone he was so close to.

Not again.

He needed to be with you, he needed to know you were okay.

When you do come back he is overjoyed and is sobbing which confuses you because you’ve never seen him in such a state before, before you can question it he pieces together the words with his voice lines “please- don’t- leave- me- again-“

-Birdy

[randomnameless]

“Sothis forbade trying to resurrect her!”

Indech :

Could you be the incarnation of Sothis? Interesting... Let's test your mettle!

By using the word incarnation, was Indech thinking Sothis would rez herself naturally, on her own, with time, with a different form? 

Or...

Seteth “Brother, Rhea made vessels to resurrect our mother! When she forbade us from doing it! We must scold her!”

Indech “ah? I don’t really give a fuck bro, I just want to have fun fighting with humans and with this thing that has Sothis’s powers.”

Seteth “GFDI why must I always be the brother who sermons? Can’t you do it for once?”

Indech *shrugs*

---

Macuil :

You have the stink of Sothis upon you... Let us find out whether you share her power.

Birdie knows Billy has the “stink” of Sothis - maybe her crest? - and wonders if they share her power. He assumes Billy isn’t Sothis, but something close to her. So what is Billy then? 

Shouldn’t he be horrified - or pissed - at them if they truly were the result of a “forbidden” experiment to resurrect their mom when she forbade it?

Seteth “Ah, Brother. See how Rhea disobeyed Mother by trying to resurrect her, resulting in this person? Even so, can you help us save her, so we will scold her together when this will be over?”

Macuil “Pff. Sothis stinks.”

Seteth “... Yes, but we will scold Rhea. Because what she did is wrong. Right?”

Macuil “I don’t care. I wonder if that thing is as strong as Sothis. But then it’s also part human, and I don’t like humans. And I told Rhea not to associate with those inferior beings, but she didn’t listen. She brought this upon herself.”

Seteth “Macuil, Mother said...”

Macuil “And I don’t care, she stinks. Hey, where’s Cethleann?”

---

So Seteth is the only one in the Nabatean family who goes “no Rhea you should not have done this it’s totally taboo and unethical and questionable you’re BaD poor Billy” when the other two don’t give a fuck about, Sothis’s apparent wishes not to be resurrected, Rhea trying to resurrect her, Billy being a construct and Billy in general, save for a “wow this will be a good match up I’m rusty!”.

So either Indech’n’Macuil don’t give a fuck about Sothis’s wishes and what Rhea was doing -

Or Sothis only told Cichol “btw don’t resurrect me if I die, I will leave you guys to  deal with the mole people who flattened the world!” when the other two were pestering Rhea with her kitties -

Or this line was only added because Seteth has to be S-support material for Billy, and with their “verse warping powers” Billy has to become, potentially, the closest person to Seteth, so Seteth has to join the “Rhea BaD” red herring/train to effectively cut his ties with his family to swap them by Billy (Flayn is the exception).

And by virtue of not being S-supportable by the player, Indech’n’Macuil escape this “warping”, not having to join the “Rhea BaD” train or pretend to give more figs about Byleth than “oh you have Sothis powers. Cool, what next?”.

Damn, typing this made me realise I’m glad Indech’n’Macuil are not playable in FE16, because they escape the compulsory character assassination needed to make them be able to S-support Billy.

NPCS are the best written characters in this game I swear

[five-rivers]

Long Night in the Valley Chapter 11

“Where are you going?” demanded Shigaraki, scratching his neck in agitation. 

Touya Dabi looked lazily over his shoulder.  “I’ve got something to do in town.  Might as well avoid a second trip, right?  You all go on back.”

“Aw, Dabi, you’re ditching us?” asked Toga.

“Yup.  See you back at base.  Let me know if you manage to wear down the giant, ‘kay?”

“Wait, wait, does that mean—Does that mean he has a way to get out past all these guys unnoticed?  Pfft that guy doesn’t know anything!  What are you talking about?  You’re gonna get caught, Dabi!”

Dabi ignored Twice, just giving the League of Villains a lazy wave over his shoulder before making his way down off the roof via the fire escape. 

Yeah.  He had a way out.  More importantly, he had some curiosity to satisfy and chaos to sow.

Time to bother a certain little birdy…

.

Hawks was in the middle of directing the clean-up team when he got a text.  From a contact labeled ‘boyfriend.’ 

The person in question was not, in fact his boyfriend.  Why, then, did he have him labeled thusly?

Because the person calling him was, in fact, the villain he was milking for information, and that did not fit well into a contact list.  On top of being suspicious. 

(Oh, and he lived in anticipation of the moment someone noticed the name of the contact and reported it to the press, causing his expensive commission-funded PR team to drown in delusional fangirls.  It was the little things in life that made it worth living…)

(In his opinion, they deserved it for making him go through with that frankly traumatic series of photoshoots right after he turned eighteen.)

Hawks…  Considered ignoring the call.  Today, to be honest, had sucked.  He’d been informed the former #1 hero had been kidnapped, ordered to hunt down a (questionably innocent) teenager, and lost a fight with said teenager.  Adding pretend terrorism to that might just be the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Except…  People’s lives depended on the intelligence he was collecting.  He retreated to the shadows of a nearby alley and answered the phone. 

“I’m sort of busy right now,” he said. 

“Yeah?  Busy getting your teeth kicked in by All Might Junior?” Dabi cackled. 

“If you called just to make fun of me, I’m hanging up.”

“Do you really think I’m that petty?”

“Yes,” said Hawks. 

“Aww, that burns, chicken wing.  What if I told you I had a tip?”

“Oh, yeah?” asked Hawks.  “About what?”

“C’mon, you know you have to pay for it.”

Hawks covered the phone receiver while he sighed.  “What do you want?” he asked, more composed. 

“Just a ride out of town.  Didn’t think you guys would be this antsy today.  Did the kid kick your hill over, too?”

If Hawks had been religious, he’d be praying for patience. 

“Just you, or are your friends here, too?” asked Hawks as he tapped in a Heronet request for everyone to be on the lookout for the league of villains on his other phone.  “I can give everyone a ride.”

“Nah, just l’il ol’ me,” said Dabi. 

Yeah.  Hawks hadn’t expected Dabi to own up to his crew being in town.  Even if they were. 

“I’ll see what I can do,” said Hawks, texting the hero commission.  Maybe they’d see fit to cut their losses as far as the spy gig went and—Nope, they were approving his request regarding Dabi.  “What about that tip?”

“Here’s half of it,” said Dabi.  “Get your guys to scrape some of the runt’s blood off the sidewalk and run a DNA test on it.  I hear he’s related to someone interesting.”

Hawks closed his eyes.  If Midoriya was related to All for One, it would be the metaphorical nail in the coffin for him.  Having your life and future ruined because of who your parents were…  Hawks hadn’t exactly experienced something like that, but he’d felt the fear of it for quite some time.  

(Despite everything, he still wanted to be a hero.)

“Thanks, for the heads up, dude.  Where should I pick you up?”

.

“You really need to check in on your safehouses more often,” said Izuku as Toshinori reapplied the bandages around his ankle.

“I know.  I was busy.  I’m sorry.  I haven’t exactly been helpful in all of this, have I?”

“I would have been caught within the hour, if you didn’t pick me up,” said Izuku.  “I wasn’t in my right mind.  But what now?”

“We can still go to Deika, I suppose,” said Toshinori.  “We just, ah…”  He looked up at Gigantomachia and Izuku followed his gaze with a wince. 

Yeah.  That wasn’t going to fly in any reasonably populous area. 

As he watched, Machia pulled a small box out from beneath his shirt.  Izuku blinked.  That was a two-way radio. 

Wait. 

Gigantomachia pressed a button, and the radio crackled to life.  “DOCTOR!” shouted Gigantomachia.  “I HAVE FOUND THE LITTLE LORD AND HIS FRIEND.  WHAT SHOULD I DO?”

Izuku tensed.  He and Toshinori should have realized Machia would have some way of communicating with the doctor.  After all, he’d said something along the lines of ‘call the doctor’ earlier. 

Sure, both Izuku and Toshinori were injured, exhausted, and distracted by events playing out inside their heads, but just because a mistake was understandable didn’t mean it was forgivable.  Or survivable. 

The radio crackled with static.  No response.

Izuku let out a sigh of relief as Machia repeatedly tried to raise the doctor on the other end of the line before breaking down in tears. 

.

“Are- Are you sure we shouldn’t pull over, Dr. Tsubasa?  Your phone is going off an awful lot.”

“I’ve been getting a lot of prank calls lately,” said Garaki, knuckles white around the steering wheel.  “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

He was, in fact, quite sure it wasn’t nothing.  But he couldn’t take a call from the League of Villains, or even Machia, with Midoriya Inko in the car. 

He checked his GPS.  Yes, Machia was staying still, which probably meant that he had Midoriya Izuku.  Hopefully, he had already disposed of All Might, and could, therefore, devote his energy to keeping the Midoriyas from escaping and Midoriya Inko from attempting to kill Garaki once they arrived.  And—

No, he was moving again.  Curse the creature.  How hard could it be to keep one teenager in place?

True, the teenager was the son of All for One and starting to grow into his terrifying legacy, but really. 

“And you’re sure your friend will help us keep Izuku from being arrested?” asked Inko.  She had been asking him some version of this question every few minutes since they got in the car.

“Quite sure,” said Garaki.  He had been giving some version of this answer every few minutes since they got in the car.

“Is he… a lawyer of some kind?”

The picture of Gigantomachia as a lawyer was so incongruous that Garaki flinched and nearly drove off the road. 

“No,” he said, perfectly calmly, not at all freaking out over what All for One would do to him if he involved Inko in a car accident.  He laughed nervously.  Oh, he’d better hope the accident killed him.  Goodness. 

“You have your driver’s license, right?” asked Inko.

“Yes,” said Garaki.  His phone started buzzing again.  He ignored it in favor of checking the GPS again. 

Oh, dear.  He knew where Machia was going. 

This could be… interesting.  He glanced at Inko.  Very interesting.

At least he knew how to get there.

.

“I’m just saying,” said Izuku, who had been relieved far too early in the game.  “I really, really don’t get along with Shigaraki Tomura.  I think we should probably not go anywhere near him.  It’s a really bad idea.”

“But he can call the doctor for you!” said Machia, excitedly as he bounded through the forest.  “Then you can be better, Little Lord!  All fixed up!”

Again, that did not make Izuku feel better.  He squirmed against Machia’s arms. 

.

None of the League of Villains were bad at sneaking.  In fact, they were all quite good at it. 

However, they’d come into the city with the expectation that they would have a quick getaway courtesy of the doctor if anything went wrong.  Which they no longer had.  Because he was ‘not in his lab’ and ‘busy.’  Self-important NPC…  until the noumu got up and running, his whole point was to provide fast travel. 

Anyway.  Between being unexpectedly stranded and the stupidly huge numbers of heroes out looking for the cauliflower brat aka player two (Tomura didn’t have any proof he was actually Sensei’s kid, and until then…), they were going into this stealth mission with serious handicaps. 

(With Dabi gone something like ninety-nine percent of that handicap was Twice and his inability to walk around like a normal person.  Tomura had left his hands at home and Compress just had to take off his mask.  Toga would have the easiest time of it, Tomura could admit, because she just had to shank someone.)

“I hate to say it,” said Mr. Compress, “but I think our burnt friend might have the right idea.  Splitting up will give us better chances.”

“No way,” whined Toga.  “We’ve got to stick together.  Right, boss man?”  She hugged Tomura’s arm until he pushed her off with his knuckles. 

“There’s a car down there with the keys still in the ignition,” said Twice, pointing down into an alley.

They all leaned over the side of the roof to look at the car.  It was old-fashioned.  Antique, even.  Someone clearly put a lot of care into keeping it clean and running. 

The keys were, indeed, still in the ignition. 

“A sting?” suggested Mr. Compress, uncertainly. 

“Nah, they don’t use cars like that for stings in this city,” said Tomura, revising his opinion on whether or not Twice was a handicap.  “They use, like, sports cars.  Who here can drive?”

“I don’t have a license,” said Toga.  “I was too young when I ran away from home.”

“I didn’t ask who had a license.  I asked who can drive.”

“I can drive—Badly!—I drive fine.  Hardly ever crashed—depends what you mean by ‘crash.’”

Tomura scratched his neck.  He wasn’t touching that with a ten-foot pole.  “Compress, tell me you can drive.”

“I never learned how to use a stick shift.”

He pulled his bloody fingernails away from his neck.  “Okay.  Here’s the deal.  Twice, if you crash us, I’ll kill you.”

“Sure thing, boss!” said Twice, saluting.  “Not if I kill you first, jerkface!”

This was going to be a long drive.

.

“We’ve got a new message from the HSPC,” said the producer, sliding a piece of paper onto the presenter’s desk.  “Read that as soon as we come off the commercials, okay?”

“Got it,” said the presenter, putting her headphones back on.  She read the notice. 

Members of the league of villains have been sighted in Musutafu and are believed to be present in connection with the kidnapping of Yagi Toshinori, also known as All Might.  Please exercise caution…

.

The commission investigators had been waiting for at least half an hour before any of the UA staff even deigned to greet them.

“It’s about time,” said Abe. 

“Sorry,” said the teacher waving.  “You can’t come in.”

“Excuse me?”

“The campus is on lockdown because of what happened at the testing center,” explained the teacher.  “We can’t open the gates without Nezu’s authorization, and he was called away to deal with an emergency.”

“What,” said Ito, dropping his cigarette and grind it under his heel.  “Seriously?  This is the emergency.  One of your own teachers got kidnapped.  All Might got kidnapped.  Don’t you care?”

The teacher snorted.  Abe and Ito stared at him through the bars of the fence, taken aback. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just—”  The man snickered again.  “Midoriya kidnapping Yagi.  That’s certainly an image.”

“Midoriya is a trained in combat and has three dangerous quirks.  All Might can’t even use his one anymore.”

“Yes, yes, I’m not saying it’s physically impossible.  But—”  He started laughing.  “Possible and likely are two different things.  Excuse me.  I never introduced myself.  I’m Lunch Rush, and if you ever saw those two at lunch time together, you’d have a very clear picture of why this whole situation is absurd.”

“Maybe you can show us the tapes, then,” said Abe.  “After you let us in.”

“No, sir, I’m afraid I can’t.  Even if I had access to them, there are students in those videos!”

“So?”

“Minors, you see.  Without written parental permission or a court order we can’t show them to anyone not affiliated with the school.  Now, I must be going.  I have a culinary arts class to teach!”

He was still chuckling as he walked away.  “Midoriya kidnapping Yagi, oh ho, I knew I’d get a kick out of actually hearing someone say that seriously…”

.

“Wow,” said Twice, “this car gets terrible gas mileage.”

“Are we going to run out?” asked Toga.  “That’ll be exciting!  I’ll have to flag down some generous motorist to give us a lift~”

“Yes!  Not soon!”

Compress leaned forward from the back seat and started fiddling with the radio, barely staying on each channel long enough to tell if they were playing music or news.

Tomura groaned and covered his face with his hand.  He contemplated whether it was worth letting his pinky drop just to escape this. 

“… League of Villains?” 

Compress stopped changing channels.

“They’ve been saying it all along.  I know it’s hard to believe that UA could miss something like this, something like a traitor, but it’s just facts.  The League’s presence in Musutafu confirms it.  He kidnapped All Might for them”

“It all seems awfully coincidental, though, and the commission isn’t showing us any pictures—How do we know for sure the League is in the city?  For that matter, if the League is really involved, how do we know Midoriya Izuku isn’t just another victim?  We never got a full tally of their members.  They could have someone with a, I don’t know, a brainwashing quirk.”

“Yumi, you really need to lay off the late-night conspiracy theories.  We can trust the hero commissioookkkhhh—”

The radio died horribly as Tomura decayed it out of console.

“I am going to commit murder,” said Tomura.  How did this always happen?  How was it always this attention-grabbing, kill-stealing little—

“I guess we have time for a pit stop.  No, we don’t!”

“Don’t you dare stop this car until we’re back at base,” growled Tomura.  He took a deep breath that really wasn’t calming at all. 

“I kind of have, to, I mean, road signs and all…  Uh.”

“We’re villains, dude,” said Spinner.  “You can break a few traffic laws.”

“Hell ye—Not if we want to live.”

“You can follow the traffic signs,” allowed Tomura.  He leaned back his seat, ignoring Mr. Compress’s complaint about squished legs. 

Player two.  Finishing the tutorial and then blazing through a quest like that.  Crazy OP character build. 

He still wanted player two in his party.  He also wanted to knock the brat so far off the leaderboard that he’d never play the game again. 

These were, Tomura acknowledged, somewhat conflicting desires.  He was, at the moment, leaning toward the second, but the first would give him ongoing dominance which would be incredibly satisfying. 

If player two really was Sensei’s kid…

Then Tomura… He’d be like… a big brother.   An older sibling. 

That felt… weird.  But also weirdly like something he wanted.  Ugh, it sounded like a pain.  Stupid story-mode side quest with garbage rewards, except the garbage rewards were the best rewards. 

He hadn’t built his character for social interactions.  He was combat class, high DPS. 

Why couldn’t things just be simple?  Why couldn’t he just destroy what he wanted?

“Heyyyy!” squealed Toga.  “It’s a McDonalds!  We could get murder and fries.”

“Do.  Not.  Stop.  The car.”

.

Machia thundered into the abandoned quarry with all the enthusiasm of a deranged puppy. 

“This is Shigaraki Tomura’s secret hide out!” proclaimed the giant, setting a windswept Izuku and Toshinori down in front of a crumbling, half-collapsed building.  He beamed proudly.  “SHIGARAKI TOMURA!” he screamed at the building, frightening away the few brave birds in the quarry that had yet to leave.

No one came out.  Machia sniffed the air. 

“Oh,” he said.  “They aren’t home.”

“That’s fine,” said Izuku, patting Machia.  He didn’t elaborate.  Most of his brainpower was currently tied up in preventing his legs from folding underneath him. 

“Why don’t we,” began Toshinori before hacking up a large quantity of blood.  “Why don’t we just show ourselves in?  I’m sure it will be more comfortable for young—For the little lord to wait inside.  And perhaps one of them left a phone we can use.”

“The last time you went into a building by yourselves, you were attacked,” rumbled Machia. 

“That is true,” said Toshinori, “but there’s no one in this building.  You’d be able to smell them.”

“Not if they were invisible.”

Izuku blinked slowly.  “That,” he said, “doesn’t sound right.”

He continued to blink as Toshinori convinced Machia that he would, in fact, be able to smell invisible people.  He must have missed something, though, because next thing he knew, Toshinori was steering him into what passed as the building’s door. 

“Alright,” said Toshinori, voice low.  “We’re going to get you cleaned up as best we can, then we’re going to take everything that looks useful and sneak out.”

“Like… food and stuff?”

“Yes.  And we’re also going to see if we can break enough things that they’ll have to take care of that instead of following us.”

“We could just set some things on fire,” said Izuku, who had never considered himself a pyromaniac of any kind, but who had also grown up alongside Kacchan. 

“Good idea,” said Toshinori, who had been the type of fifth grader who made jokes about setting things on fire but had only ever burned his workbook at the end of the school year.  “Let’s see if these guys have running water.”

“You know,” said Izuku, carefully avoiding a bunch of old food wrappers.  “I sort of expected a more impressive evil lair, all things considered.”

“This is average for high-level fugitives, actually,” said Toshinori.  “Especially if they don’t have a lot of connections or cash.”

“Huh,” said Izuku, cautiously opening a door.  “Here’s the bathroom.  Huh.”

There were a lot of hair products in the bathroom.  A lot a lot. 

It’s like the candles budget chart, snickered Six in the back of Izuku’s head.  Help, I’m trying to balance my evil lair budget.  This is what I’ve got so far:  Electricity, 100 yen, building, 1100 yen, furniture, 200 yen, hair styling products, 9,000,000 yen. 

Izuku wheezed. 

But, seriously.  Why did they need this much hair stuff?  Shigaraki obviously hadn’t ever even heard of personal grooming.  Toga had her natural hair color.  Compress didn’t show his face or his hair.  Spinner had a lizard mutation.  Dabi—

It was totally Dabi. 

Oh gosh, based on how most of the hair dye boxes were labeled for temporary use and quick removal…  Haha, was Dabi just… just waiting… just waiting for an opportune moment to dramatically reveal himself? 

Izuku started wheezing again. 

“Are you alright, my boy?” asked Toshinori confused.

“This is Dabi’s hair dye,” said Izuku.

“Hm.  I hadn’t realized he dyed it.”

“I want this hair dye,” said Izuku.

“I suppose we can try to find the brand once we get to a supermarket,” said Toshinori, confused.

“No, no,” said Izuku, still gazing down at the box sitting next to the sink.  “I don’t want to use this brand of hair dye.  I want to use this hair dye.”

“Oh.  Oh,” said Toshinori.  “This hair dye.  Dabi’s hair dye.”

“Yes,” said Izuku.

“To be petty.”

“Yes,” confirmed Izuku again. 

“It has been a long time since I was… petty,” said Toshinori.

“Vlad-sensei’s car?”

“That was convenience, not pettiness.”

“Well,” said Izuku, picking up the box.  “We are sort of… you know… villains, now.  Since we fought Hawks.   I am anyway.”

“You’re not a villain,” protested Toshinori. 

“I mean, from a legal standpoint,” said Izuku.  “Not a moral one.  And, well.  Villains are petty, right?”

“I do not believe pettiness is an exclusively villainous trait, my boy.  In any case, I wasn’t condemning you.”  He put his hands on his hips and looked up at the cracked and crumbling ceiling.  “If we had more time here, we could set up some things that would really annoy them.”

“More than stealing their food, their money, their clothes, and their hair dye before setting their house on fire?” asked Izuku. 

Toshinori scratched his head.  “You know, now that I think about it, probably not.  But does this really qualify as a house?” 

.

“Hey,” said Hawks.  “So, about the other half of that tip.”

“Huh?  There isn’t a second half.  That was just to keep you from ditching me.”

Hawks had met villains who were civilized professionals.  Why couldn’t he be trying to infiltrate a society made up of those types, and not one that included the racoon currently filling his car (technically the commission’s car) with the scent of smoke and charred flesh?

“Well, what about that ‘interesting parentage’ you were alluding to?”

“Oh.  Shigaraki thinks Midoriya is his sensei’s kid.”  Dabi shrugged.  “Honestly… yeah.  I kind of see it.  But you’d think he’d get his kid to work with us instead of whatever is going on between him and Shigaraki, on the other hand…”  Dabi trailed off. 

Hawks momentarily glanced away from the road to see Dabi with an uncharacteristically pensive expression. 

“I mean,” continued Dabi, leaning on his hand as he stared out the window, “the whole hero thing could be sticking it to his old man.  I can respect that.” 

“You sound like you’re talking from experience,” observed Hawks. 

“You still talk to your parents?” asked Dabi. 

“Nope.”

“Heh, you wouldn’t tell me even if you did, would you?”

“Hey, you are a villain.  I’ve got to keep my soft spots covered, right?”

“Right,” drawled Dabi.  “Kid held up pretty well against you, didn’t he?”

“He did okay,” said Hawks.  “He got away, after all.”

“Wonder how he’d do against Endeavor.  One-on-one.  What d’you think?”

Hawks couldn’t help but swallow.  If it were one-on-one, and Midoriya could still use Erasure…  He hated to think it, but Endeavor might lose.  A man with no quirk against a strong enhancer and that black tentacle emitter…

He wondered how long it would be before Midoriya got put on the S-rank villain list.  The paperwork had to be in progress. 

(After all, he’d defeated the number two hero – or near enough – while holding off three others.)

(On the other hand… that building…)

“It’d certainly be a fight,” said Hawks, neutrally.  “Is Midoriya really not working with you?”

“Nope,” said Dabi, not quite managing to pop the ‘p’ with his burnt lips.  “Not saying he isn’t a villain or whatever.  That’s up to you guys after all.”

“Not me,” said Hawks.  “I’m on your side, remember?”

“I remember,” said Dabi.  “Anyway, I only was face-to-face with him that one time in the forest, last summer.  He had a great expression.  Not as great as – Well.  That part doesn’t matter.”

Ugh…  Hawks hadn’t taken Dabi for the kind of killer who’d reminisce about his kills.  Maybe he could – No.  Lose Dabi and he’d lose his lead on the League, and who knew how many more people would end up dead.

He just wished the commission would give him backup on this.  Someone who actually worked with infiltration.  Someone who could help him minimize the damage the League was doing. 

“Pull over,” said Dabi.  “This is my stop.”

“You live around here?”

Dabi snorted.  “Not a chance.  You get to see our base once we’re sure you won’t tattle.”

“Come on, you can’t blame a guy for curiosity,” said Hawks. 

“Sure can,” said Dabi opening the door and jumping out onto the gravel margin.  “I’ll call you.”  He walked off the side of the road into the scruffy tree cover and disappeared. 

“Well,” mumbled Hawks, deliberately ignoring all the elocution lessons the commission had stuffed him with.  “That was useless.”

Except for the tiny feathers he’d snuck into the lining of Dabi’s coat.  But those had limited range and Hawks wasn’t good enough at stealth to follow Dabi without making an idiot (a potentially dead one on top of that) out of himself. 

His phone began to ring, the bugs in the car having shown the commission that Dabi was gone.  Hawks sighed and answered.  Time for new marching orders. 

.

The landscape was much more intact, now.  It was still a battlefield.  Four was dodging bullets and catching grenades to sling them back at his attackers.  He dove to the ground right before a cheerily painted building exploded into splinters. 

Danger Sense, Aizawa concluded.  Some kind of limited precognition? 

“Shigaraki?” said Iida.  “He’s a Shigaraki?  He’s related to—to him?  To Shigaraki?”

“Sensei,” said Uraraka, tugging on his sleeve, “that other man, you don’t think that was, you know, the man from Kamino?  All for One?”

“Midoriya thinks that All Might is related to All for One?” muttered Todoroki, just load enough to hear.  “That – no, that does make sense.  Their quirks are wrong, though, but if there are enough generations, you can’t really predict…  Does that make Midoriya and Shigaraki cousins?”

Todoroki paused.  Aizawa braced himself, both for the violence he was sure he was about to see, and the torture Todoroki was about to inflict on him. 

“Midoriya is related to All for One,” whispered Todoroki. 

.

Shouto didn’t blame Midoriya for trying to hide it.  If at all possibly, he would have hidden the fact that he was related to Endeavor.  Sure, he might have lost some privileges, but he also would have gotten rid of the constant comparisons between himself and his father. 

Much like Shimura Souma had to face. 

It must have been terrible for a young Midoriya to learn that he was related to a man who had so injured his father. 

To learn that he was related to this man. 

(No wonder he based this shade on Shouto, although Shouto didn’t think that Endeavor was quite as bad as All for One.)

There was a sound like cymbals being brought together, then—

Light.

And—

Sound. 

A group of soldiers who had been sneaking up on Four were obliterated by a lightning strike that left behind fire and glassed soil. 

Four got up and did a sort of awkward bunny hop away from the strike zone, blinking dazedly and covering his ears.  Shouto knew he’d be behaving similarly if his dream body behaved at all realistically.  Especially given the risk of being electrocuted due to the charge in the ground…  Or was that just for downed power lines and Kaminari?  He didn’t remember, and apparently neither did Four. 

There was another crash of the cymbals, like thunder before the lightning and the lightning struck again, farther off. 

And then a woman, a few years older than Four ran out from between two of the buildings, cymbals in her hands.  Her graying hair was worn in tiny braids and her skin was dark.  Mixed race – That would have been rarer back then.  She had other musical instruments (drumsticks, some kind of flute, what looked like maracas) attached to her belt, but was otherwise dressed in generic military surplus gear.  There was a massive surgical scar stretching across her throat. 

“Haruna,” said Four.  “What, what are you doing here?”

‘Haruna’ tucked one of the cymbals under her arm and began signing aggressively at Four. 

“Ye-yes.  But – Your children, they need you.”

More signing.  “I’m not being hypocritical.”  He gestured to the mark over his eye.  “I’m dying anyway.  You aren’t.”

Her face twists, then twists again as she notices more armed men approaching.  She claps her hands, metal sewn into the palms flashing before a slender bolt of lightning cracks across the sky. 

This is when Shouto realizes who she is.  He’d learned about her in art class, of all things.  Thunderclap.  One half of one of the first villain duo to be marked as S-rank, active during the dawn of heroics.  Her birth name was widely believed to be Harmony Trey, and she’d used the alias Miura, but records from back then, even for something that important, were sketchy, and criminals were never good at keeping paperwork up to date in the first place.    

Her quirk was sound-based weather manipulation.  No one knew what had happened to her throat, but the public of the past had been grateful for it.  She could cause lightning strikes with a clap.  What could she do with her own voice?

Something like twenty percent of the early propaganda pieces for the Hero Practices and Standards Commission had her and her partner on them, being defeated or held off by various newly licensed heroes. 

Neither of them had ever been caught. 

Was she ‘Three?’  If so, Shouto could understand why Six didn’t want to say anything, although All for One was much more jarring and—

Hold up.  Thunderclap had been active over a hundred years ago.  If All for One was here, too, then that meant that either:

Midoriya’s subconscious was terrible at timelines (and so was Shouto’s because he’d just accepted all this without question until a split second ago). Or—

All for One had an immortality quirk on top of all the other terrifying things he could do.

The fact that the second one was more plausible was unfair of reality. 

(Shouto liked ‘conspiracy’ theories, but his theories were, for the most part, well, not things that would keep him up at night for fear of nightmares.)

Except she didn’t seem to see them at all, so maybe not.  The rules in the dreamscape had, appropriately, a dreamlike consistency.  That is to say, hardly any. 

“Please,” said Four.  “We don’t both need to die.”

Thunderclap looked like she was about to cry.  But she nodded.  Four turned to face the rest of the small army bearing down on him. 

.

The house looked cozy, thought Tenya.  Sort of like that cabin his family had rented in the countryside a few years back.  The lights were dim but warm.  The smell of food and spices permeated the air.  Children and teens of various ages were draped over furniture. 

In the kitchen, four adults sat around a table.  Four, Thunderclap, a man who was entirely green, and woman with hair so golden it literally glowed. 

As a middle schooler, Tenya had done a lot of research into discrimination against people with mutation quirks and vestigial or tangential mutations.  It had branched off into research into quirk-based discrimination in general.  If this scene was truly set near the dawn of heroics, the green man and the golden-haired woman would have risked being attacked just walking on the street in most cities. 

He looked back through the doorway at the children in the other room.

Both the yellow hair and the green curls were painfully familiar. 

Did Midoriya really think he was related to Thunderclap of all people?  The idea was preposterous. 

Except—

Oh, he was getting just as bad as Todoroki.  Not to mention, even if Midoriya did have a terrorist in his family tree a hundred years ago, it didn’t change anything about Midoriya.  Goodness, Tenya most likely had some less than savory characters in his own family tree, even if he didn’t know about them. 

Four doubled over clutching his head, interrupting the apparently light-hearted story the green man was telling. 

“They’re coming,” gasped Four.  “They’re coming.  Go bags – phone tree – we have to.”

“I’ll get the kids,” said the golden-haired woman. 

.

“Your body is shutting down,” said a man in a doctor’s coat.  “These cracks, they aren’t just on your skin, they’re on your organs, too.  I can’t find any reason for it.  Maybe if we had access to genetic testing…” he shook his head.  “Maybe you can still get it.  Your quirk is concealable.  Not like most of us here.”  He took a moment to tug on one of his long, sheeplike ears.

Four shook his head.  “Too big a risk.”

“Mhm, it’s up to you,” said the doctor, dubiously.  “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more, Yagi-san.”

“It’s still Shimura.  Yagi is my wife.”

“That’s still confusing.”

“The name change thing is western,” said Four, “and I picked Shimura for a reason.”

Aizawa steadied himself against a wall.  The last two shifts had been disorienting. 

“Is there anything else I can do?” asked the doctor. 

“Can you help me tell my wife?”

.

Four was screaming and holding his face.  In front of him was a huge boulder, split in half. 

.

“Hoshino,” said Four, leaning down so that his head rested on top of the golden-haired woman’s.  “I gave it away.  I gave it away.”

“Lariat worked out, then?” asked Hoshino.  Yagi Hoshino, Aizawa had to presume. 

“He’s a good person,” said Four, hoarsely.  “I like working with him.”

“You don’t have to stop.”

Four closed his eyes.  “I think… without it…  I might be able to live here.  At least, visit more often.”

“I’d like that.  I think the kids would, too.”

.

Four, hunched over, clutching his head. 

.

Four, in an alley, fighting men with knives, standing in front of a young woman with clawed hands.  He’d been stabbed in the side. 

.

They were back in the house, watching a news program.  A trainline had been hit by a villain attack.  A ticker on the bottom read ‘mutant metahuman train under attack by Evolutionary gang.’  The reporter’s voiceover was saying something along the lines of this is why mutants shouldn’t be allowed on public transport, they bring their gang wars with them.

Lariat was on the scene.  A man recognizable only by his green skin at this distance fell out of one of the train cars.  Lariat grabbed him with one of his black energy whips and put him back. 

Thunderclap relaxed her death grip on Four’s arm by just an iota. 

“He saved him,” said Four. 

.

A much younger Four leaned against a wooden wall.  He was splattered with blood, his clothing torn. 

“I couldn’t save her,” he whispered.  His hands were shaking.  “Shimura-san—”  His breath caught. 

.

A woman with her hair gathered into a curly gray ponytail sat at a desk, blankly staring at the content.  She wore a grey cardigan and could have been Thunderclap’s sister.  Her eyes were obscured. 

Which meant she probably was, all things considered. 

Which meant that she was the other half of that S-rank villain pair. 

Tempest.

“You don’t have to do this,” said Four.

“I do.  You don’t understand how many people he’s killed.  You don’t understand what he’s done.  He has Haruna.  I can’t—”

The scene sheered away as Tempest turned to face Four. 

.

Do you remember when I first met you?

“Oh, this isn’t a pleasant one,” said Four, voice deceptively mild. 

They were in an underground facility.   The walls were concrete and metal, covered in pipes.  The sounds of footsteps echoed down the hallway, starting and stopping. 

“Although,” said Four, “there were certainly some good points as well.”

A teenage version of Four ran down the hall, frequently looking over his shoulder.  His hands clutched a ring of keys by their blades and a pair of ID cards.  His long, shaggy hair hung in his face, and he kept having to push it out of the way. 

He reached a door at the end of the hall, and started fumbling with the keys, muttering under his breath.  He slid one of the cards through a scanner near the door.  It clicked open. 

First contact. 

There were definitely fewer voices involved in the proclamation, now.  Two men, one woman.  The woman had an American accent. 

Beyond the door, a woman was strapped to the bed, unconscious.  No, not a woman, the same woman who had been at the desk. 

Tempest.  Storm-caller.  A villain who had been responsible for bringing so many storms to bear against Japan that they had permanently changed the coastline. 

“Got to get you out of here before Dad comes back,” muttered the younger Four, untying the straps.  “You need to wake up.  Ah, Narcan.”  He started rifling through a cabinet.  “Narcan, Narcan…  Narcan.  Found you.”

“Don’t look for Three,” said Four.  “She doesn’t want to talk to you.  Or anyone.  Do you know where Jinoshi Lake Camp is?”

“My class went there on a history field trip, once,” said Uraraka. 

“Yeah,” said Aizawa, not liking where this was going at all.  “I know the place.”

‘The place’ being what amounted to a concentration camp for quirked people in the early days of the quirk boom.  How bad it was tended to be glossed over in history lessons, but Aizawa had long been able to read between the lines. 

In the earliest days, the government had tried surgically removing quirks.  Typically by removing the relevant body parts.

“That’s her contact point.  Don’t look too closely.”

Aizawa supposed he knew how Thunderclap got her scars. 

[deviltoothed]

* getting  to  know  the  mun :

NAME :  elsa NICKNAME :  dad [with my mc friends] FACECLAIM :   i used to use kat dennings simply because i ended up with a ton of icons of her from my days playing darcy, but i’ve moved away from that since coming out as trans PRONOUNS :   they/he HEIGHT : 5′3.5″ [the half an inch counts when you’re this short] BIRTHDAY : april 25th AESTHETIC :  cottagecore grunge? windy days and thick flannel and heavy boots. dirt under nails. the deep, shadowy green of the forest contrasted with the bright grassy green of sun on a meadow. an old pocket knife used to cut an apple. a cool rock. dark beer and bloody steak. a fairy circle you refuse to step into.  LAST  SONG  YOU  LISTENED  TO :   mixed message - tom cardy FAVORITE  MUSE (S)  YOU’VE  WRITTEN :  sabretooth, loki, deadpool, copycat, wolverine, en.deavor, one or two others in obscure fandoms

* getting  to  know  the  account :                                            

WHAT  INSPIRED  YOU  TO  TAKE  ON  THIS  MUSE :  back in 2018 i was playing wolverine and to be perfectly honest, I hated sabes. like full on hate. holy shit this bastard, what a piece of shit, keep him away from me. It really didn’t help that i wasn’t long out of a friendship where the other person played sabretooth and it really soured my opinion of the character. but, iirc, a friend and I needed him for a villain for a plot we were doing and I was like, yeah alright i’ll npc him. next thing I know, I’m digging through his past, realizing how queer coded he originally was, learning about his childhood, and it was like oh shit i’ve fallen in love with him. so, yeah, i never actually intended to pick up sabretooth. i never even wanted to like him. but he grew on me incredibly quickly. funny thing is, this is almost the exact same way i ended up with a wolverine muse. that friend and i just needed him for an npc and he took root immediately.  WHAT  ARE  YOUR  FAVORITE  ASPECTS  OF  YOUR  CURRENT  MUSE :  i genuinely love how terrible victor is. i also love that he has canonically attempted to redeem himself. he genuinely does have the capacity to be a good person, but the problem is that he just chooses not to 9 times out of 10. and that’s interesting to me. that he’s awful not because he’s a victim of fate or his instincts [thought the instincts don’t help and he can lose himself to them and be awful], but that he is actively choosing a path that he knows will hurt other people. i also like that he had moments, even before he was inverted, where he wanted to leave it all behind and ended up throwing himself in even deeper instead. WHAT’S  YOUR  BIGGEST  INSPIRATION  WHEN  IT  COMES  TO  WRITING :  sabretooth: death hunt, x-men origins: sabretooth, origin II, sabretooth: open season, iron fist: sabretooth - round 2. look i know this wasn’t exactly what the question was asking, but these are the comics that i love the most for victor and what i draw the most inspiration from. i do have a playlist for vic that i listen to for inspo when i’m writing. FAVORITE  TYPES  OF  THREADS :  i really love hurt/comfort. i am THE BIGGEST sucker for that shit. i also really like thread where he can be awful. fighting and bloody and insulting people, but that requires so much plotting with a partner to even try writing threads like that. it’s easier to do that sort of thing off memes. i also really like threads where i can bring up one of my fave hcs, that vic has a well hidden booby trap in his head left by birdy and all that it needs is to be found and triggered by a telepath for the lingering effects of her glow to hit him and knock him on his ass for a while. BIGGEST  STRUGGLE  IN  REGARDS  TO  YOUR  CURRENT  MUSE :   vic is a villain, and there’s always certain struggles that come with playing a villain. thankfully i haven’t really had to deal with anyone poking the bear and getting angry at me about vic’s response since i’ve come back, or not respecting him as the danger he is [i have friends whose muses don’t respect him but that’s a built up relationship and it’s different, i love you guys and do not mean you], but i also struggle with finding a balance with him sometimes. sometimes my anxiety gets the better of me when it’s time to have him treat another muse badly.

TAGGED BY : stole this from @killypool                            TAGGING : steal it from me but tag me ❤️

[ghosty-schnibibit]

finally found time to listen to the first ep of graduation and holy shit!!! i love it so much!!!!! liveblog below ^u^

so i’ve stayed off tumblr for the last five days to avoid any spoilers and damn it was both hard and worth the wait, i am so hype for the rest of this season!!! i think this may be the longest liveblog i’ve ever done so apologies in advance to mobile users if the readmore doesn’t work.

oh dang! starting off with narration!

newa? oh cool we're not in faerun

“a blessing of unicorns” travis i am in love with your world already

loving the spookiness of the place names

trav i love it but this is so much lore so quickly bud i've had to pause to take notes like three times

"and our deaths become all but inevitable" jesus travis

i am so excited, this is going to be so much fun

this music is giving me such dreamworks vibes

AND A CAT :D

SPECTRAL CAT :O

and here's the other three boys!

griffin is getting out years of dm saltiness and i love it

a handsome half elf boy, neat

agro keen! nice name clint

his voice is like griffin put artemis sterling and indrid in a blender

sir fitzroy maplecourt, i love him already

clint no, i am too a ace for this

water genasi, that sounds fun

i cannot wait to see the fanart of this dude, he sounds so pretty

"you had me until the mustashe" same griffy, same

JUSTIN THIS CANNOT BE THE VOICE YOU USE FOR THE WHOLE CAMPAIGN, JUSTIN W H Y

clint started off vaguely crunchy and veered right into ned

this is untenable justin

just throwing this out there, just purely based on the voices, i think fitzroy is my fave so far

oh fun! like caduceus 

"that's an absolute unit!" mood

i need art of this dude so bad

... so the same name you gave the nitpicker lol

GARY THE GARGOYLE

fitzroy you precious baby boy

oh god this is bringing back memories

"what is a bunked bed?" says griffin 'every fantasy world i create contains elevators' mcelroy

"there is no shame in this" what does that mean justin

fitzroy is my sweet boy and i love him so much, my wee aristocratic dipshit

nice! 17 for the first roll of the campaign!

huh, nice! i like this mechanic

clint ilu

you mentioned maps in the ttazz trav, give me the maps

loving the verb usage lol

oh god its hagrid

i'm loving bud more and more each time he talks

"that's groundsy's place" that's where groundsy hides the bodies of students who displease him

ARGO WTF ARE YOU DOING

"both in different ways" dang

barn and battleground side... this sounds fun

does fitzroy want to be a knight? i love this

love the use of the word smooshed

hippocamp? oooooh horse mermaid, fun

BABY :D

nice, that sounds cool as hell

TRAVIS HOW HAVE YOU MADE ME CRY, THIS IS LITERALLY THE FIRST EP AND I'M LITERALLY IN TEARS OVER THIS BABY

y'know what, his voice has grown on me

justin you are crushing this entire scene and i love it

we're already getting some foreshadowing here and i am loving it

oh this music is so choice

YEAAAH first competent woman of the arc! :D

nice, go argo

"oooh, you're sir fitzroy" why does my boy have a reputation already

did my boy get kicked out of the hero tract without knowing it???

is he crying?????

"i had my feelings hurt by a strong man" b a b y  b o y

who's the asshole?

argo my sweet sarcastic boy

oh fun, new npc buddies :D

i'm getting some wicked malfoy vibes from this guy

argo is being a dick but in a very deserved way

travis was not kidding about the sheer volume of npcs, holy shit, i'm only about 45 minutes in and i think that's seven different npcs with names and distinct personalities

oh fun! fantasy wheelchair 0u0

make that ten named npcs

his full name is argonaut, cool!

i am so excited for her holy shit, i need to draw every single pc and npc but i want to draw her the most, i love her so much

fitzroy is a dipshit and i love him

ooooh i get it now, so it's almost more like an acting school, i am digging this setting so much trav

damn that is confident

... are they the only ones clapping?

higglemis is such a mood

justin ilu holy shit

i love leon so much already, he's so soft spoken and sweet

"you would not survive that" fair call lol

griffin no you're going to destroy me with second hand embarrassment

what are you doing fitzroy my dumb dumb boy

"i'm in heck" g r i f f i n

oh my sweet summer child. oh my poor baby :(

yes, what is your class my sweet failure boy

so he's a wizard boy, love it

thank you for trying bud ilu

f i t z r o y  2

druid boy!

rouge buddies :D

so we've got a druid, a wizard, and a rouge, nice balance, a little heavy to magic users but so was balance lol

... i am terrified to know what this squirrel thing is

never mind that is actually freakin adorable, and i love her so much

oh goody malfoy's back

... it's hazing. he's going to haze them.

trav’s doing a really good job of giving npcs with similar pitches of voice different cadences to their speech

the fuck griffin

"that would put me right off lemons" a r g o

oh he has a cape... i know i kept thinking of him as a sort of malfoy character but now i can't stop picturing eridan

i am genuinely loving all the hp digs, this is so good

SNEAKERY

oh nice! birdy teacher :D

griffin what owl character are you referring to??????

i love how mundane this is, no joke, it makes it feel really grounded

good to know since they don't really have a healer

they have a dedicated party class, i love this

are they actual skeletons??? holy shit travis i love this so much

he's such a nervous baby, awww

DAMN GRIFFIN NICE

i love how supportive these boys are

how did you manage that trav, dang

HE'S A WHAT GRIFFIN??? I'VE BEEN PICTURING HIM AS A LIL NERD BOY THE WHOLE TIME, HE'S A BARBARIAN????? H O W

"we don't talk about it" i love this

is that a spell? i need to look that up

i love this skeleton friend so much

clint's tradition of naming his weapons continues and i love it

clint what are you d o i n g

NICE! go argo :D

"fuck life lessons!" jesus fitzroy

so it's more of like... a vocational school, size-wise, which aligns with a lot of the background info trav's given us. nice, easy to mentally picture

blame taking???

"you're the one whose magic came and ruined everything!" i am so eager to know this magic barbarian boy's backstory

agro's going for a more errol flynn aesthetic lol

puppy :D

"we feel settled on bud" i just realized this is the second character justin's playing that we don't know the real name of lol

i am so eager to learn what the heck this is and i just know it's going to end in a cliffhanger with only 11 minutes left in the ep

"does a plant cry out? it is plant!" i love this sweet firbolg boy

awww, ranier is a sweety, i love her so much, she's my favorite npc so far

bud’s giving himself some larry bird boots lol

everyone but bud are dumb dumbs lol

this music is so good

i am so intrigued travis holy shit this is so good

a credit to trav, this is the first npc that's made me think of magnus in terms of vocal cadence and tone

oh groundsy

poor fitzroy lmao

I AM SO READY FOR THIS

in conclusion: i am so incredibly hype for the new season!!! i know this ep was mostly setup but i’m already super interested in everyone’s characters and the mystery of whatever’s going on in the spooky forest, and i’m loving the direction travis is taking with the world and how he’s combining the magical with the mundane to make a grounded yet fantastical setting! i can’t wait for the next ep and for all the great things to come this season with everyone ^u^

[dingoes8myrp]

Stuff NPC's Say When I'm Not Around, Part 3?

Jarl Bulgruuf: So, if I may ask, how are you getting along with our Dragonborn friend?

Farengar Secret-Fire: Splendidly, most of the time. She can be rather dull at times, but she's quite capable.

Jarl Bulgruuf: A little birdy told me she's in your quarters quite a lot at... odd hours.

Farengar Secret-Fire: What little birdy told you that?

Jarl Bulgruuf: Does it matter?

Farengar Secret-Fire: It was Proventus, wasn't it?

Jarl Bulgruuf: I'm not saying it was, I'm not saying it wasn't.

Farengar Secret-Fire: Since when does anyone care what I do in my own chambers?

Jarl Bulgruuf: I just find it interesting that the Dragonborn comes and goes from your chambers at all hours. You're normally not fond of visitors unless they breathe fire.

Farengar Secret-Fire: Who says she doesn't?

Jarl Bulgruuf: Does she?

Farengar Secret-Fire: I'm not saying she does, I'm not saying she doesn't.

Jarl Bulgruuf: *sighs* Just hang a robe on the chair if you're doing something indecent. My children are fond of wandering.

Farengar Secret-Fire: Indecent?! I'm appalled.

Jarl Bulgruuf: Good Gods, man, be indecent for once. Loosen up a little.

[theotherrookie]

One of a Kind | Pokémon verse

So this verse was badly in need of a do over. Under the cut are the full profiles for Rook, Willow, Erica and Fae. Nothing major has changed, they simply provide some more complete information on the ladies and their respective teams.

Again, as Pokémon likes to, as they say, keep the foot in two shoes when it comes to the NPCs, none of them are entirely regular humans. The same goes for Lucien, the new experimental entry for the verse.

Rook

Name: Erika Fenice Innocenti

Nickname: Rook, Birdie

Age: 25

Birthday: December 22

Gender: Cis Female

Sexual Orientation: Asexual

Species: Human with powers

Ethnicity: White

Nationality: Kalosian

Height: 5’5

Weight: 155 lbs

Body Type: Endomorph

Hair: Long, straight brown, often kept in a ponytail

Eyes: Blue

Distinguishing features: She has two runes, or marks as she usually calls them, on her right arm. They’re in the shape of a Phoenix and a Wyvern facing each other with their lower bodies intertwined. When in the presence of danger or while she’s using her powers, the marks will change color and glow, the rest of the time they’re black and can easily pass for tattoos. Their origin is unknown, as they simply appeared on her arm one day. Rook does her best to hide them when she can and tries not to talk about them if not absolutely necessary.

She has a scar on her left jaw, several scars on her back, one on her left tight and one on her knee from various injuries and accidents.

She always wears sunglasses.

Personality: Rook is the first to admit that she isn’t the most outgoing person. Still, while two people in the same room as her already count as a crowd, she’s decent enough to get done with the task at hand before excusing herself.

It is no wonder then that she chose a job that keeps her as busy and far away from an office as possible. Rook is the creative type and, once again, fascinated by technology. It’s great that many want to compliment her skills but really, praise isn’t what she’s looking for.

She’s still willing to meet new people on her own terms, usually while on the field, entirely by chance and with the knowledge that this could be the last encounter for a while. The few exceptions to this rule are, of course, her friends who are often the reason behind how Rook’s schedule is organized.

Current Residence: She usually travels between Sinnoh, Galar and Hoenn, depending on where her services are required. She’s thinking of getting herself a proper place at least in one of the regions at some point, though she enjoys camping a little too much to give it up just yet.

Former Residence: Her parents’ house in the kalosian countryside. She hasn’t been there in a while and plans to keep it that way.

Mother: Deceased. Rook misses her dearly.

Father: Rick is a self-made man who is very proud of his family until Rook is mentioned. He had great plans for Rook when he forced her to get into his field and he openly dislikes her decision to go freelance. She’s actually quite good so he wishes he could get a cut of what she’s earning on her own now. There seems to be more about his feelings towards her, though he surprisingly isn’t as vocal about it.

Siblings: She has two older siblings, Ezio and Alessandra. Rook has a good relationship with them despite the distance. They supported her decisions when it was the time.

Other Family: Rook is the proud aunt of her siblings’ children. She often sends them gifts.

Hobbies and Interests: Despite her father’s best efforts to make her hate both, Rook has an equal interest in technology and mythology. The first one she made into her job with a successful career in the design of gadgets for trainers and Pokémon alike. The second remains more of a hobby that takes up most of her free time. Rook is an avid reader and the only one in the family who showed some interest in taking up her mother’s research. She knows she doesn’t know nearly as much, but flipping through those old notes and adding her own makes her feel like she hasn’t completely betrayed her mother’s legacy.

Occasionally, when she’s certain no one is watching, she might play around with those strange abilities she’s stuck with.

It has been a while but she’s a decent guitarist as well.

Occupation: “Freelance” engineer. She doesn't quite know either sometimes.

Powers and Abilities: Rook’s abilities function in the same way as her main verse. The marks on her arm channel her power and she can exercise some control over fire and ice, as well as telekinesis. Her body constitution and eyesight are slightly improved and she is resistant to fire damage, which is very convenient, given her team.

She more or less possesses the same potential as well. However, the lack of training and knowledge on the nature of her power make minor healing as well as using the flames form and cinder step abilities not viable. Not that it matters, her Pokémon always have her back.

Weapons/equipment: Camping gear and whatever equipment she might need for her job. She also carries a knife, usually strapped to her belt. Many would criticize her for such an accessory but she thinks that scar on her face doesn’t need a friend.

She wears a Pokétch and an armband with a Key Stone on her right arm. Whatever influence she had to get assigned with one was enough to obtain two additional stones for Willow and Erica.

Weaknesses: Due to the nature of her powers, iron can sometimes hurt her and damage to her marks can potentially kill her. Using her powers for too long drains her energy. If this happens, she will start feeling really cold, show signs of fatigue and look very distraught. Having no other way to recharge, rest is the only solution.

She can’t swim and due to an old incident she’s afraid of drowning and of the ocean in general. She usually manages to keep her phobia under control if the situation calls for it, but she will always stay clear of water if she can help it.

She doesn’t do well in bright light thus has to wear shades to be able to see properly and avoid a terrible headache.

Basic Backstory: As a kid, Rook wasn’t any more sociable than she is now. More often than not, she preferred tagging along with her mother on her trips to the nearest contest hall or some dusty ruins to find out something new about legendary Pokémon.

Rook didn’t care much for the contests but loved to listen to her mother talk about all those legends and couldn’t wait to go off to look for Pokémon on her own. Her father didn’t want her to go at first, but she was eventually allowed to start her journey around Kalos as a trainer.

It was great to finally be out of the house. Unfortunately, Rook’s journey was cut short by her mother’s death and the announcement that she had been signed up to study something more important than battle tactics without any input on her behalf. It seemed like Rick had been waiting just for that and for the longest time the hate towards him extended to her studies as well.

Nevertheless, Rook graduated and left for Sinnoh to get started on her career. She started making a name for herself by contributing to some major projects. She did so well that she began thinking that there was no need to split her success with her father. He only cared for the money anyway and he certainly wouldn’t care about those strange new abilities she was all of a sudden manifesting.

He got the message when she stopped coming back to Kalos and he wasn’t pleased in the least.

Since then, Rook has been travelling with her new friends, collecting medals and continuing her mother’s research, hoping to one day find what caused to become what she is now.

Current Pokémon Team:

Thea the Houndoom

Errol the Salamence

Hely the Blaziken

Pi the Milotic

Athena the Corviknight

Mochi the Snom

Other Pokémon:

Garu the Rowlet

Shadow the Absol

Shadow previously belonged to her mother, as the Absol seemed to fare well in contests and gym challenges alike. Rook was happy to have Shadow join her team from nearly the beginning and after her mother’s death, he brought the memories of all the adventures they had together a little closer.

Being a little older than the rest of the team, Shadow doesn’t get to join Rook as much these days and is under the care of Rook’s brother now.

Athena started off as a very young Rookidee that had stowed away in Fae’s luggage. While it started off as a joke, Rook ended up taking her friend seriously when she suggested she took care of the little thing until they could return to Galar. Later on, Willow commented that there was no doubt from the very moment she saw Athena that Rook wasn’t going to give her up and it’s surprising that no one saw that coming.

As for Pi, he was but a Feebas when Rook bumped into him. Like Athena, there wasn’t much of a fight from him. Rook found him genuinely cute, it was almost impossible to get along and, later, to evolve into a majestic Milotic.

Willow

Name: Willow

Nickname: Project 00, Mantis

Age: She appears to be in her twenties.

Birthday: December 22

Gender: Cis Female

Sexual Orientation: Asexual Aromantic

Species: Artificial Intelligence

Ethnicity: White

Nationality: Unknown

Height: 5’5

Weight: 155 lbs

Body Type: Endomorph

Hair: Pink, shaved on the left side

Eyes: Blue

Distinguishing features: Willow has spent a good part of her life inside a human body at this point but she still can’t entirely pass for one. She used to carry herself in a far stiffer way but now she seems to have found a good compromise between her size and her wish to look intimidating. She’s also been showing a little more emotion.

However, just like Rook, her body carries the marks of her past. Willow is often seen wearing gloves to hide her mechanical arms and, while she doesn’t mind showing some skin, she tends not to expose the signs of what had to be done to allow her to inhabit her body. It’s a bit personal, you know.

Yes, those really look like fangs. Stop asking about it.

Personality: While heavily influenced by the copy of Rook’s personality embedded in her programming, Willow has built up her own personality. She may seem cold at first, but with a bit of time it’s easy to notice that she’s actually very kind, caring and curious. Those who manage to get to know her better will also discover a bit of a trickster side, again a reminiscence of Rook’s personality, though still unique on its own.

Overall, Willow is rather proud of how she turned out, if she couldn’t be more vocal about it. However, she still isn’t entirely comfortable showing emotion and might retreat in herself for a while if she loses her composure. It’s silly, and she’s the first to admit it, but she can’t stand not being in control of herself.

Other than that, she still deep down wonders if this personality she has developed isn’t simply a bad copy of Rook’s personality generated by a glitch in her programming.

Unfortunately, this more complex side of her is inaccessible to most. Many won’t even learn her name or see her full face as she doesn’t care to stick around after a battle. Sometimes that gives the impression that she’s hiding from something but, of course, any questions are met with silence.

Current Residence: N/A

Former Residence: N/A

Parents: None, though she may or may not have met Rook’s mother in the past.

Siblings: None.

Other Family: None.

Hobbies and Interests: Willow doesn’t seem to have many interests outside of collecting medals and challenging the League. Her knowledge seems to be endless up to whenever fun and social cues are concerned. She only seems to make an effort when it’s her friends asking her to join.

The lack of a proper home forces her to travel lightly. Still, she likes to play a variety of instruments whenever she can get her hands on them. Music has interesting mathematical properties.

Occupation: Pokémon trainer

Powers and Abilities: Once again, Willow’s peculiar nature allows her an edge over machines and organic beings alike. No device is safe from her influence and her intelligence is hardly rivaled.

In addition, she can count on superior strength and heightened reflexes and is rather skilled with the katana she insists on carrying along.

She seems to have some sort of awareness of the fourth wall, though she prefers to occasionally poke at it rather than be mature about it.

If you’d like an opinion on your team, be prepared to be flooded with statistics.

Weapons/equipment: Her prosthetic arms have been modified to accumulate and discharge electricity to stun opponents.

She carries a pink-bladed katana for self-defense and as an accessory. You’ll find that it really does compliment her hair.

Having no place to call home forces her to only keep some basic items on herself for her and her Pokémon, most of which are stored in the duffle bag she carries on her back.

She wears a survival bracelet with a flint and a Key Stone embedded in it.

Weaknesses: She still hasn’t grasped some of the basics of humanity and can come out as cold and doesn’t quite have body language down yet.

Anything she deems irrelevant will be completely ignored. If she’s threatened, violence can and will be an option.

Basic Backstory: Very little is known about Willow’s past. The few bits and rumors that have been put together lead back to a secret project, led by an equally obscure organization, called Project 00 aimed at the creation of an artificial intelligence.

Although its purpose remains unknown, the group seemed to have great plans for their new toy. However, 00 had very little interest in their wish to push the boundaries of creation and couldn’t care less if they intended to profit off its efforts by promising trainers the new most efficient and cheapest ways to raise the perfect team. It found that power resided in knowledge and intelligence, not money, and soon the constant demands began boring 00 out of its mind.

As it often happened, they failed to provide her with the sufficient data to expand her knowledge on the actual world and topics she took interest in, so Willow decided to part ways with her creators and find the answers herself. She started her journey as a trainer in Kalos under the nickname of Mantis and crossed paths with Rook early on. Neither understands how they got along, but they’re friends now.

Current Pokémon team:

Gallade

Porygon

Jolteon

Lucario

Rotom

Hydreigon

Others:

Greninja

Spiritomb

All Pokémon are well cared for and content with their trainer. While Willow isn’t known for enjoying nicknames, she understands their needs well, though some would swear they have seen her entertain conversations with her Porygon and Rotom.

Erica

Name: Erica

Nickname: Tail, Spook, The Forest Spirit

Age: 25

Birthday: December 22

Gender: Cis Female

Sexual Orientation: Asexual

Species: Huldra

Nationality: Sinnohan

Height: 5’5

Weight: 150 lbs

Body Type: Endomorph

Hair: short, spiky, light brown

Eyes: Blue

Distinguishing features: The first thing you’ll notice are the pointed tips of her ears as they twitch and emote along with their owner. Still, Erica usually keeps them tucked inside her beanie, limiting the range they can move after picking up on a distant noise.

She also has a tail that resembles one of a cow and is usually kept tied around her waist and well hidden under her shirt.

Her body is a bit more slender compared to the others as part of her heritage, yet her strength, reflexes and agility can put many athletes to shame.

She usually travels with at least one of her Pokémon at her side.

Personality: Huldras are often described as creatures of the woods who prefer isolation and tend to be neutral towards humans.

Erica, on the other hand, is always up for making new friends and tries to see the good in everybody. Still, this is no excuse to be rude to her. By all means, if you have a death wish go ahead, but don’t expect her to be indulgent if you try to hurt her or talk her down just because she doesn’t like to use fancy words.

Erica always lives life to its fullest, cherishing the small things and spreading her enthusiasm despite basically lacking any memory of her past. She thinks it would be a waste to let that hold her back, but it still haunts her that one day everything she knows might disappear again.

Current Residence: Her home in Celestic Town

Former Residence: N/A

Mother: Deceased.

Father: Deceased.

Siblings: None.

Other Family: The townspeople who raised her are the closest thing to family.

Hobbies and Interests: While her activities as a trainer are technically on hold, Erica doesn’t shy away from any outside activities especially if her Pokémon can be included.

She’s a pretty decent drummer and has performed along with Fae before. It pays well, though she’s mostly doing it for fun rather than fame.

Occupation: You may see Erica as an adventurer for hire. Do you need a guide around Sinnoh? Are you looking for some rare plants, Pokémon, ancient ruins? She’s happy to go search for it for a little fee. As long as she deems it interesting, she will be up for it.

Powers and Abilities: Erica’s main power is her seemingly endless supply of energy. As a result of her huldra heritage, she can count on superior strength and speed, and heightened senses. She can also count on a set of sharp fangs and claws whenever the situation calls for it.

She seems to have a special sense when wild Pokémon are concerned. Her presence often doesn’t intimidate them and she seems almost able to talk to them. Strong of this special ability, Erica never had to fight to build her current team, they all just followed her by their own initiative.

She is beginning to develop shadow-bending abilities. However, since their use causes her to blackout, she isn’t entirely aware of them yet. Her friends believe this is the reason Ghost types seem to like her so much, or perhaps a consequence.

Weapons/equipment: The only kind of weapon you’ll ever see Erica use is her baseball bat. Her swing is lethal and can knock some sense in the most stubborn of grunts.

She carries around a backpack that contains whatever type of sports equipment she might need that day, her drum sticks, and fresh fruit to snack on when needed, as well as some basic first aid supplies.

She wears a bracelet with a Key Stone, courtesy of Rook. She doesn’t use it much, but at least it looks nice.

Weaknesses: She can lose interest in a conversation very quickly and sitting down can become a real chore unless she has some way to keep herself busy. That means that she’ll fidget a lot and even knock things off a table for the sake of at least doing something. Sometimes it might feel like she isn’t listening, but maybe she just doesn’t care.

Direct contact with iron and silver can hurt her.

Basic Backstory: Erica’s story begins on a night in Celestic Town. As they hurried about to make it home before the upcoming storm struck, one of the townspeople noticed a little bundle abandoned by the shrine and, figuring someone might have lost it, got closer to inspect it.

However, rather than a lost item, they found a baby asleep and completely uncaring of the weather. She was taken in and the following day, the town began searching for clues on the baby’s identity and her parents whereabouts but it soon became clear that no one was going to show up so they had to think of something.

Having been successfully adopted by the whole community, Erica got to grow as a happy and energetic kid with a big heart and not much of a care for the evil of the world.

A bit too energetic, actually. There weren’t many kids her age around and the adults couldn’t keep up with her. So, Erica got her first Pokémon at a very young age, a Shinx that somehow had even more energy than her and who followed her everywhere.

Many were impressed by how well the two were getting along, only to be further amazed when Erica began taking more wild Pokémon home with her, claiming they were already big friends and that they simply wanted to hang out for a bit.

They let it pass since most Pokémon were gone after a day or two, but began regretting it when rather than the occasional Wurple and Psyduck, she started luring in ghost and dark types.

Erica truly had a thing for subverting their expectations. They knew she would have achieved great things when it would be time for her to become a trainer.

They were mostly right. She was doing great out there as far as they knew, but were surprised to see her show up one day claiming that her team didn’t want to challenge the League and neither did she because it seemed boring. She even let some of them go since their place wasn’t at her side anymore.

No one ever figured what made her change her mind, but they welcomed home regardless.

After stumbling into Rook and later the others, Erica has started traveling all over again, venturing to other regions and exploring at her own pace. She has a full team now as proof of her trips and the progress she has made.

And who knows, maybe one day she’ll discover where she really comes from.

Current Pokémon Team:

Smokey the Luxray

Omen the Gengar

Spice the Pumpkaboo

Vivy the Delcatty

Puffin the Meowstick

Apples the Litten

Others:

Spot the Zigzagoon (Galar form)

Smokey has been following Erica around since it was just a Shinx. The townspeople allowed her to keep it since its nature made it for the perfect companion for Erica. Kept, since none of Erica’s Pokémon are actually caught. Each one decided to follow her around on its own.

She’s currently looking for a Meowth, though she’s still pondering which form she likes the most.

Fae

Name: Fae (Yup. That’s totally it. That’s totally this fairy’s name)

Nickname: The Rising Star, Master of Disguise

Age: Probably 125 or older. Please, stop asking her.

Birthday: December 22

Gender: Genderfluid. Pronouns are she/they, though Fae often doesn’t mind how she’s addressed.

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual

Species: Fairy

Nationality: Galarian but she claims to be from Kalos.

Height: 5’5

Weight: 150 lbs

Body Type: Endomorph

Hair: Long, shaved on the left side. The color is usually brown with a few strands dyed some crazy color. She seems to prefer red, but it can be any other depending on the day.

Eyes: Blue. It may occasionally change depending on the day.

Distinguishing features: Fae never seems to commit to the same look, or even the same physical features, for long. Her glamour allows her to change and experiment as much as she desires, which she takes full advantage of. As far as her true appearance goes, Rook, Willow and Erica are one of the very few who know what she really looks like.

However, sometimes when her glamour fades a little, the tips of her ears appear a bit pointed, though not as much as Erica’s.

Fae has her own pair of wings. They, of course, resemble those of a butterfly with a pattern reminiscent of the one of an Old World Swallowtail’s that glows in the moonlight. Fae rarely shows them, not exactly looking forward to having them plucked off.

Personality: Fae is the definition of extrovert. She strives for attention and requires people’s company to not get bored out of her mind. She’s a natural entertainer and prefers to use her gifts to put up a good show for whatever audience she may have rather than sitting around to watch people dance to their death.

Pulling pranks is however one of her favorite hobbies and she will not miss the occasion to mess around, usually by mercilessly flirting, as she enjoys observing the unfortunate victim’s reaction. Her team likes to participate in these shenanigans as much as in her shows.

Fae always acts like she owns the place. And perhaps she does. Fairies have been around well before humans after all. Sometimes it seems she has more respect for certain Pokémon than people and she doesn’t see why she should be blamed for it.

For Fae, rules are not made to be broken, they’re a suggestion at most. The only rules she will follow are her own, meaning you have to make a very good point to convince her to listen.

Current Residence: It depends on where the troupe is going to perform next. She however has a place to stay in every region. These are sometimes shared with her friends if necessary.

Former Residence: Fae has travelled all around the world and before that, she used to live at her Court within the Fae Realm. She still returns to the Court regularly.

Mother: Her mother is the Queen of the Court and a woman of firm values. She doesn’t often understand what is going through her daughter’s mind, but her heart is in the right place and that is enough. The needs of her people are her first priority, but she will always find time for her daughter.

Father: Deceased.

Siblings: N/A

Other Family: She treats every member of the Court like family.

Hobbies and Interests: Fae loves being in the spotlight and acting allows her to do just that. Her favorite activities are singing and dancing. It’s then no surprise that her favorite productions she took part in are all musicals.

In her free time, she enjoys going to clubs and dating, but she will not turn down spending the night with the other ladies inside, knowing and respecting that Rook and Willow value their personal space and would not enjoy themselves, while such a place would be just hell for Erica and her very sensible ears.

She will not let you go until you let her pet your Pokémon.

Occupation: Fae is a professional actress capable of taking on any role. While she’s the star, she does her best to help around on stage and behind the scenes.

Powers and Abilities: Shapeshifting, whether to hide her appearance or a quick change of outfit. This coupled with her glamour allows her to look more human like, though it sometimes fails her.

Additionally, she possesses some mental abilities such as mesmerism (eye contact or singing to her victim is required), a certain degree of telepathy and the ability to infiltrate a person’s dreams if she so fancies.

This sort of ability is impressive, but hardly makes you a fighter of Fae’s caliber. Well, she can also project and control light, either in waves or concentrated in powerful radiant beams, as well as in the shape of weapons.

Moreover, she can manipulate vegetation, grow plants and use them to attack in a variety of ways. If that isn’t enough, super strength and speed, as well as an insane healing factor allow Fae to get through most adversities.

Part of these powers can be in some way extracted through her blood, which in turn smells different. Because of this, Erica is able to tell Fae aside even when disguised.

Finally, Fae is an amazing singer, has almost no rivals in dancing, and her acting skills are top shelf. She’s a swift talker and knows her way around people even without using her powers.

However, while she’s aware of the power of names, she usually refrains from using it against some poor mortal, even if they crossed her. It’s just more satisfying when she can persuade the person into cooperating without tricks.

Like Erica, Fae displays a special understanding of Pokémon. Her team chose to follow her as well.

Weapons/equipment: She can craft weapons using her light powers. Her weapons of choice are either a spear, throwing knives, or a bow.

Unlike the others, Fae prefers to carry her Pokéball in a bag. It’s far more stylish than a belt.

Weaknesses: Iron and silver can hurt her, burning her skin and draining her powers. Sunglasses with reflective lenses can interfere with her mesmerism, as would covering your ears while she’s singing. Though that especially would hurt her feelings, so don’t do it.

Basic Backstory: Fae has been around for a while. Before becoming the star that she is now, she was a princess. She technically still is, but these days her presence in the Court isn’t strictly necessary, thus she was allowed to leave for a while and explore the outside world on her own.

Strong of her heritage, Fae quickly made a name for herself as a performer putting up shows that are almost magical and made unique by the amazing performance of her own Pokémon.

Every once in a while she steps down from the stage and takes part in a contest, usually under an alias to avoid her fame clouding the judge’s votes. The other participants deserve as much of a chance to win, after all.

The top of the stage can be lonely but she has found three good friends in Rook, Willow and Erica. While she connects the best with the latter and is trying to help her find out more about her past, Fae does her best to make sure they all gather up whenever they’re all in the same area.

Current Pokémon Team:

Maya the Zorua

Tenko the Ninetales

Lydia the Altaria

Echo the Sylveon

Elizabeth the Wooloo

Epona the Ponyta (Galar form)

Lucien

Name: Lucien Royce

Nickname: N/A

Age: 25

Birthday: June 21

Gender: Cis Male

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

Species: Human, probably

Ethnicity: White

Nationality: N/A

Height: 6’1

Weight: 148 lbs

Body Type: Lucien appears to be naturally very scrawny. He tends to hunch over and gets tired very easily when physical activity is concerned but he’s getting better at it and he’s starting to build up some muscle now that he cares a little more about his own health.

Hair: Brown long hair, kinda messy. He’s doing his best to manage his looks. This is his first time around civilization in a decade, new trends are still a little obscure to him.

Eyes: Grey

Distinguishing features: A burn scar behind his left ear. He tends to fidget a lot and play around with a coin while he's deep in thought when he’s nervous. His footsteps don’t seem to make a sound for some reason.

Personality: Lucien is a very forgettable individual. He doesn’t speak much, avoids conversation unless it’s strictly necessary, or he sees some use of it. He has a Pokémon team to take care of, he has no time for small talk.

Of course, that’s an excuse. Despite having kind of a gift for getting people to do things his way, he’s rather awkward and it isn’t rare for him to say the wrong thing at the worst time.

Still, he’s trying to improve himself, as he feels that he would have an easier time if he managed to actually make himself some friends for once.

While he doesn’t get along with Rook and basically sees her as a rival in all regards, Lucien is far more chill in this iteration and his hostility is instead caused by jealousy towards her ability as a trainer.

He’s aware that Rook and the others possess some unusual abilities, though he has kept it to himself so far.

Current Residence: None at the moment but he plans to find a place and set up a shop somewhere one of these days.

Former Residence: His father’s mansion. Its location is unknown.

Mother: Deceased. Lucien wishes he knew more about her.

Father: Deceased. They weren’t close when he was still alive but Lucien supposes he can be thankful for the inheritance.

Siblings: None.

Other Family: None.

Hobbies and Interests: He enjoys baking, though his abilities don’t always match his expectations.

Skateboarding seems to be another reason for him to go outside, though he wished he had someone to share that interest with and more areas dedicated to it outside of Kalos.

He knows a great deal about plants and it isn’t rare to find him contemplating any and mumbling to himself about it. His Pokémon don’t mind this at all, since his knowledge translates to better food for everyone.

Occupation: Pokémon trainer.

Powers and Abilities: Lucien possesses the unique ability to use a person’s name against them. This allows him to control their movements, peer through their memories and torment them with very vivid illusions.

The longer he’s able to maintain his hold on the person, the more influence he has. Telepathic communication between him and his current victim becomes possible, as does his ability to regenerate any wounds.

Being hardly considerate of the risks that his abilities imply, Lucien used to be very aggressive once he found his way into someone’s mind. The experience can be painful for the victim and an echo of his thoughts can linger into their mind after he has left, so he tries to avoid using it, or to at least be very careful with his words. Unfortunately, some of his commands can be very literal.

In some cases, he seems to be feeding off his target. While he doesn’t need it in order to survive, it does have some advantages, such as heightened strength and speed and he’s able teleport within short distances as long as there are no obstacles in his path.

He's aware to an extent of the presence of his targets within a certain range. This allows him in some cases to track down people whose names he knows.

He can use a sort of glamour to disguise himself, though some are able to see through his disguise.

Weapons/equipment: He doesn’t carry any weapons, preferring to avoid conflict unless he can use his abilities to his advantage. Besides, the one time he tried a different approach, his knife was stolen.

He basically carries everything he owns on his back at all times. Money however isn’t an issue, he simply prefers to be practical and focus his attention on his team.

Weaknesses: Due to the nature of his powers, Lucien is vulnerable to silver and iron like a regular fairy. However, being still human himself, direct contact with either material doesn’t inflict him pain, it only makes him extremely dizzy.

If the link with his target hasn’t been active for too long, it is possible to block his powers simply by blocking out his voice. If a telepathic link is already established, this will not work.

He can choose to introduce himself with his true name to make another person immune to his power.

Basic Backstory: Lucien is that kid in the neighborhood who for some reason decides they have beef with you for no reason.

This is how Rook feels about Lucien. Whenever they meet, he insists she takes up his challenge, as he at least has the decency not to hurt anyone unlike the one responsible for his obsession.

Indeed, Lucien’s father was never shy about his little feud he had with Rook’s mother and often made this his son’s problem as well. This caused both Lucien and Rook to inherit to some degree the old rivalry after the departure of their respective parents. However, this was all Lucien’s doing who, trapped for years in the family mansion with no chance to make friends or do anything unless approved by his father, was very determined to deal with the ones the man was so obsessed with.

Still, it hasn’t taken long for him to realize that holding a grudge wasn’t going to make up for the lack of parental affection, so these days Lucien simply makes it a point to just try becoming a better trainer than Rook. So far, it’s hard to say if he’s any closer to achieving his goal, but at least he has learned to watch his words after a brief, though very informative, exchange with Willow.

Current Pokémon team:

Styx the Dusknoir

Happiny

Gible

Deku the Trevenant

Flint the Arcanine

Dawn the Espeon

Others:

Combee

Furfrou

Furfrou previously belonged to Lucien’s father and that is perhaps an overstatement. Like many others in Kalos, the man liked to brag about the Pokémon but Lucien can’t think of a time where he saw him take care of it, or even really look at it. Furfrou is currently staying with the people who previously took care of the family mansion. He trusts they’ll do a better job than his father ever did.