#LIAM LEARN SOME SELF CONTROL

[withacapitalp]

tagged by: @unclewaynemunson and @thefreakandthehair

Thanks guys!!! I love getting tagged in these things

rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote and tag as many people as there are words.

“You never scared me,” Wayne managed to whisper, feeling the lump in his throat grow to the size of a boulder as he looked Eddie straight in the eyes.

Twenty nine........Jesus h Christ Liam get your shit together okay I'm actually going to attempt to do this and not cheat

@stevethehairington @steveshairychest @riality-check @flowercrowngods @henderdads @strawberryspence @stevesbipanic @frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe @yournowheregirl @legitcookie @unclewaynemunson @thefreakandthehair @undreaming-fanfiction @sidekick-hero @thelastwalkingsoul @steddiealltheway @maxinemaxmayfield @maxineholtzmann @hexiewrites @laundrybiscuits @wynnyfryd @starrystevie @stargyles @sharpbutsoft @steddierthings @strangersteddierthings @matchingbatbites @blushweddinggowns @corrodedbisexual

[luna-azzurra]

Give your protagonist flaws.

Some examples of character flaws that can add humanity to your protagonist

Stubbornness

Stubbornness can cause your protagonist to cling to their viewpoints, even when they know they are wrong, often leading to conflicts with others. This trait can create dramatic tension and drive the narrative forward as the protagonist struggles with the consequences of their inflexibility.

Michael, a seasoned detective, refuses to consider new evidence that contradicts his initial theory about a case. His stubbornness leads to conflicts with his team and delays in solving the case.

Impatience

Impatience can make your protagonist demand immediate results, struggling with long-term goals or slower processes. This flaw can add layers to their journey, showing the difficulties they face in learning the value of patience and strategic planning.

Celeste, an aspiring entrepreneur, rushes the development of her new app, pushing her team to the brink. Her impatience results in a product that is not ready for launch, jeopardizing her startup's future.

Self-Doubt

Self-doubt, despite evident skills and achievements, can impair the protagonist's decision-making and actions. This internal conflict adds a relatable dimension, making their journey toward self-acceptance and confidence compelling.

Jordan, a talented musician, constantly questions his abilities despite receiving praise from peers and critics. His self-doubt hinders him from seizing opportunities that could advance his career.

Short Temper

A short temper can cause your protagonist to react aggressively to provocations or challenges, creating interpersonal issues. This flaw can drive subplots involving reconciliation, personal growth, and the learning of emotional control.

Maria, a brilliant surgeon, often lashes out at her colleagues and patients under pressure. Her short temper strains her professional relationships and threatens her career.

Selfishness

Selfishness can lead the protagonist to place their own needs and desires above others, costing them sympathy and support. This flaw can create opportunities for the character to learn empathy and the importance of selflessness.

Chris, a charismatic lawyer, often prioritizes his career over his family, missing important events and neglecting relationships. His selfishness alienates those who care about him, forcing him to reevaluate his choices.

Arrogance

Arrogance can make your protagonist overestimate their abilities and underestimate challenges, leading to dangerous or embarrassing situations. This flaw provides a platform for the character to learn humility and the value of listening to others.

Mandy, a top student, dismisses her classmates' ideas during group projects, believing she knows best. Her arrogance leads to friction and eventually to a significant mistake that humbles her.

Trust Issues

Trust issues can make it difficult for your protagonist to trust others, hindering teamwork and relationships. This trait can create tension and development opportunities as the character learns to open up and rely on others.

Liam, a former spy, finds it hard to trust anyone due to past betrayals. His trust issues complicate his relationships and collaboration with a new team.

Perfectionism

Perfectionism can lead your protagonist to set unrealistically high standards, never being content with their or others' performance. This flaw can drive stories about the struggle for balance and acceptance of imperfection.

Olivia, an artist, is never satisfied with her work, constantly striving for an unattainable level of perfection. Her perfectionism causes stress and burnout, affecting her creativity and personal life.

Fear of Change

Fear of change can make your protagonist cling to the familiar and avoid necessary or beneficial changes. This resistance can create narrative tension as they are forced to confront and adapt to evolving circumstances.

Jamie, a successful business owner, resists adopting new technologies or methods in his company. His fear of change threatens his business's relevance and growth.

Haunted by the Past

Being haunted by past mistakes or traumas can influence your protagonist's present behavior and decisions. This flaw adds a rich backstory and provides a path for emotional development and overcoming personal demons.

Zack, a war veteran, is haunted by his experiences in combat. His traumatic past affects his current relationships and decisions, leading him on a journey of healing and redemption.

[piratefalls]

i'm back! between work and trying to write my first fic for this fandom i've been falling really behind on reading, so for now these are going to be a more bi-weekly occurrence than weekly. in any event, there's truly a little bit here for everyone, so enjoy this week's mix of a+ works!

masterlist

you and me, babe, how about it? by @myheartalivewrites

Alex sits in the back of their Secret Service approved, PPO driven Land Rover, excitement thrumming through his body. The leather squeaks as he fidgets incessantly; his skin burns where Kieran’s shoulder is pressed into his, despite the layers of fabric between them. On the other side of Kieran, he can see Henry’s fingers twitch on top of his own knee, playing an imaginary piano, flicking out and squeezing in before releasing and starting again. Like he’s so fucking desperate to reach out and touch the leg next to his he’s having to muster up all of his self-control, draw on all the years of keeping himself restrained, just to not start things too soon. Alex can’t believe they’re actually, finally, doing this.

you know i can't be found with you by stutteringpeach

“He’s cute,” Alex declares on the first day of class. Liam doesn’t even bother to look up from his laptop. “Uh huh.” “The professor.” Liam makes a non-committal noise. “I’m gonna fuck him.”

Longer Than Most by happinessofthepursuit

“Oh,” Alex says. “Sick.” Henry can’t help but grin. He can’t believe he’s so bloody gone on a man who says sick and dude, who he’s slept with all of one time and proceeded to knock him up. Henry’s a cliche, honestly. “It is, indeed, sick, as you say.” Alex rolls his eyes, but his cheeks darken a shade, giving him away a bit. “Listen, the closest I get to poetry is your fucking face. Excuse me if my vocabulary doesn’t quite compare to yours.” Or, Alex and Henry have a one night stand. That is, until a baby’s involved.

Baby (Let Me Put On a Show) by SatinBirds

It’s been five months, and still Alex is never completely prepared for Henry’s performances. Private or otherwise. Or, Henry is a night dancer, and he’s everything Alex wants.

Sun Salutations (Waif for Me) by @duchessdepolignaca03

He repeats the movement five or six times, his body heating up with each repetition, loosening the hangovers’ grip on him through very effective breathwork. Wanting to open up his hips a little bit more, he settles into a wide-legged forward fold. He holds the pose, enjoying the delicious stretch on his lower back and virtually all the muscles of his lower body. Then he just about jumps out of his skin when he hears, “Mmm, breakfast is served.” Or: Alex parties hard on a Thursday night and has some deliciously anonymous sex with the glittery blond he calls Waif. When he wakes to do his naked sun salutations, he learns that Waif is a very, very hungry, 'temporarily unhoused' boy whom Alex quickly invites to live rent-free in his head.

secret, scars, and trust by viciouslyqueer

He trails off and Henry takes the opportunity to cup his cheek, gently swiping his thumb over the smooth skin. “Hey. We don’t have to do anything. We can stop right now if you want to, or cuddle for a while. I can put on a movie if you’d like. I don’t mind either way.” Alex’s smile grows and he leans into the touch, pecking Henry’s lips again. “Thanks, baby,” he murmurs, and Henry has to fight the urge to react at the pet name. “But it’s not that. I want to keep going, if you want it, too. I just have to tell you something before, okay?”

make it five by anincompletelist

“Fifty bucks says I can get that guy’s number.” Popping the bubble of cinnamon-flavored gum Alex had just blown, he glances up from his phone to look at where Nora’s pointing. Just over the soles of his shoes, crossed at the ankles and propped on the flaking black wood of the shop’s front desk, there’s a man with broad shoulders lingering by the far wall. Alex hadn’t even heard the guy come in. “Nora. He’s literally looking at one of the biggest dildos I’ve ever seen,” he deadpans quietly. + alex works at a sex toy shop. it's usually a pretty easy job — if he could just stop daydreaming about the blonde guy that keeps coming in to buy literally all of alex's favorite sex toys.

talk by smc_27

Henry records himself for an audio erotica app. Alex finds it. And listens.

Got a ticket for two by clottedcreamfudge

Henry likes his apartment - he has done since the day he moved in a year ago. The light in the sitting room is gorgeous at all times of day thanks to the ceiling to floor windows which lead out onto a south-facing balcony, only just large enough for the plethora of plantlife his flatmates care for. The kitchen is always stocked with his favourite tea, everyone keeps to their allotted cupboard and fridge space, and the bathrooms are kept meticulously clean. There's a rota for chores stuck to the fridge with magnets from Rhode Island and Minnesota, London and Milan, with everything typed up neatly so that nobody has to squint to read someone else's awful handwriting. His flatmates themselves? Well, they're a little… strange.

Far Away From the One That I Love by allmylovesatonce

It's been an agonizing two months of Henry being in London and Alex being in New York. When an opportunity to finally be reunited with Henry comes his way, Alex jumps on it. But things don't go quite how they expected after so much time away.

If We're Caught in a Wage (I Will Carry You Over) by @sparklepocalypse

There it is, up ahead – the small island just offshore, with Alex’s favorite broad, flat stone outcropping, perfect for sunning himself in seclusion. He splashes into the shallows and dives in when the water’s up to his knees, and it’s a matter of maybe a minute’s swim to reach the island. Alex finds his footing among the sand and pebbles, pulls himself upright, and shakes the water out of his hair, then pushes it back from his face. He can practically hear the outcropping calling to him -- you know, if inanimate rock could speak. Alex stretches, his mid-back satisfyingly popping, and then skirts his way between some larger rocks until his sunning rock is in view. Except – there’s someone already on the outcropping, their short blond hair shimmering in the sunshine, the upper slant of their shoulders visible from where Alex is standing. (Movie or Bookverse AU; Alex rents a remote beach house and Henry is a cecaelia.)

Protect Your Solitude by graceofgrayskull

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Alex stumbles onto Prince Henry crying in a storage closet and is forced to rewrite his perception of their first meeting.

Out For A Bite by everwitch

Henry's eyes fly up, zeroing in on the reflection in the mirror. There, behind him. The man from the bar. He looks different in the fluorescent bathroom lights. Sharper. There’s a look in his eyes that has Henry shivering all over again. It's greedy. Hungry. He’s staring right at Henry. Henry's throat feels dry. His heart beats madly. He's heard whispers of this place, and more importantly of its patrons. He thinks he knows what this man is.

each time we touch / i wanna take too much by @firenati0n

my fingers slipped and now there are fingers in mouths. wrote this in one sitting at 5am today. please forgive any egregious errors, i wrote it without my glasses on and on no sleep lol. hope you like it. <3 title from New Girl by FINNEAS

you took the time to memorize me (my fears, my hopes, my dreams) by coffeecatsme

The tour guide has a small bisexual flag pinned to his chest, right next to where his name is scrawled in big, bold letters. Alex, it reads; simple, to the point. The name tag rests on a red and black flannel, and underneath is a white t-shirt with Georgetown’s name stretched on the front, reminding Henry ever so starkly that he’s thousands of miles away from what he calls home. The flannel stretches over broad shoulders leading up to a strong jaw, all in contrast with the bright, dimpled grin stretched over a beautiful face. Henry thinks there isn't a place on the world far enough away from his grandmother to escape her clutches - even after transferring to Georgetown. Then, his tour guide extends a helping hand and shows him otherwise. Or, 5 steps Alex and Henry take to memorize each other and 1 time they realize they already do.

Praise & Supplication by NoCoastPosts

Alex is always moving, always going, always seeking. He is defiance and brashness tinged with anxiety, but not in these moments. Henry pins him down with a gaze as heavy as his touch, and all of Alex’s motions cease. He is calm, he is obedient, he is pliable. He knows he’ll be broken apart piece by piece, sending waves of heat deep into his core. or When Alex gets stuck in his head, Henry helps him let go.

Another Door Opens by 14carrotgold

Henry takes a long drink. “If it makes you feel any better, my dad's dead. He and my mum had the type of love straight from the storybooks and it got cut tragically short, so what is the point in finding something real if it's just going to hurt you?” Alex bites back a smile and shakes his head. “How in the fuck was that supposed to make me feel better?” He waves his hand awkwardly. “Oh, I just thought we were both sharing the trauma that impacted our romantic relationships.” - Henry and Alex first meet when Henry reveals their partners are cheating on them with each other.

Fifteen Hours Till Forever by inexplicablymine

“I would say that in this life, we aren’t granted many chances at true happiness, at the unadulterated freedom and joy that comes to the lucky ones. I would say that I know right now only fifteen feet apart, fifteen hours till forever, and somehow the universe has decided I ought to be one of the luckiest there are.” “But tomorrow,” he continues, “when we are saying our vows, when we are promising ourselves to one another forever, I want you to look me in the eyes and know that you are it for me.”  OR The year is 2025, and the world doesn't know they are getting married. 

home by rizcriz

For a moment he fears Henry’s been outed against his will somehow, but he scrolls down to find a video clip. Unable to trust himself to watch the video, he scrolls a little further to read the transcript. He learns that Henry had come out during a ribbon cutting, of all things. He’d stood in front of a crowd of a couple hundred people gathered for the opening of a new youth shelter, and he’d told his truth. Alex is tempted to watch the video, to examine his body language to see if it was planned or not, but he reads further and one sentence stands out to tell him it wasn’t. There is no comment yet from Buckingham Palace. -- or, six months after Henry rejected Alex at Kensington Palace.

The Way of Things by writerkenna

Henry and Alex have been very much enjoying the life they’ve managed to carve out for themselves. They’ve had to compromise and work and change to maintain it, but it’s worth it. Henry finds himself pregnant, though, and everything they’ve built starts to turn on its head. as always, let me know if you want to be tagged either because you're a writer or a reader (or both!) and i'll see you next time!

My life is a cosmic joke and you're not a real person by lizzie_bennetdarcy

Alex plans to be a lot of firsts in the world. But this absolutely isn't the kind of first he was thinking. He stares wide-eyed into the mirror at the letters on his shoulder while June whines to be let in. Alex finally unlocks the door and June bursts through. “Show me!” Wordlessly, Alex turns to show her his back. "What the actual fuck?" June exclaims, then claps a hand over her mouth. "Sorry, that was rude, but — is it more than one person?" Or: Five times Alex doesn't find his soulmate, and one time he does

tagging: @starkfridays @stilesgivesmefeels @midnightsfp @sarahjswift omg i feel like i'm missing someone

[deramin2]

Too many people in this fandom put Orym on a pedestal as "the good one" or "the stable one." Even though that's not the story that Liam's been telling. Then other people project their own baggage on that.

Some people seem to equate being stoic and quiet with repressed feelings. He actually shares his feelings quite a lot and has no issue articulating them when he wants to. He just doesn't always want to process them with other people immediately. You know, like a normal person.

The other party members view him as a rock so fandom projects that he must want to be that and put all his self worth into being that. When he's shown over and over that while he likes being a shield protecting people, he wants to be side by side with others doing that and doesn't think he can be relied on all on his own. He feels he failed to defend Will and Derrig. He'd like to do better himself, but he's also repeatedly expressed that he needs the support of a team working together to do that. Military combat is about the entire unit working together to cover each other and do things no individual can alone. Getting better is all of them being more cohesive and filling in each other's weaknesses, not taking them all on himself until it crushes him.

Orym himself has never claimed to have better moral judgement than the rest of Bell's Hells. He has in fact been uncomfortable when they've suggested that. He likes getting into mischief, too. He doesn't like unnecessary conflict with authority figures, and prefers to be on the level, but he's also well aware that's not always possible and some things you have to handle privately and illegally. He's just careful about which those are. One of the first things they did in ExU was take a job from a criminal.

He's firm in his sense of what's right and wrong, but he's not rigid or inflexible. And he's never once claimed to be neutral as they've uncovered what the Ruby Vanguard is doing. As a victim he cannot and SHOULD NOT be neutral. And personally I think we should listen to victims about how individuals, groups, and institutions have harmed them. Ignoring the experiences of victims is not neutral or objective, it's siding with the abuser to protect their power.

The actual show has done a tremendously good job in depicting the inherent conflict between someone who was substantially harmed (Orym), and someone (Imogen) who has personal and biased reasons for wanting to believe a person who committed that harm (Liliana) can't be that bad deep down. Imogen wants Liliana's intentions to be good and Orym is right to point out that intentions never negate the harm being done. (And also Liliana's intentions are only good if you believe a narrow subset of things to be true that largely ignores reality and might be based on being manipulated by a predatory power. She is in a doomsday cult.)

Imogen has longed for her mother her whole life and dreamed of a reunion where they run through a field of flowers and embrace and then all is well and all is forgiven and they can suddenly have a wonderful relationship. After everything they've learned, her mother has to be a total victim not in control of her actions for this to work. But more and more evidence is that she is in control and this is what she wants and she will murder any innocent person she needs to to get it. That isn't what Imogen wants to hear so she's been in denial of it. Which Orym is right to point out is making excuses for that harm.

Imogen can do what she needs to and thinks is right, but Orym's firm that his plan is to stop them because what they're doing in the name of their ideology is evil. It's not even a matter of if that ideology is good in a vacuum. In the real world they're doing monstrous things to enact it and that is not okay. If your ideology is that puppies should get smoochies and little nose boops, but you're murdering innocent people to enforce that, you need to be stopped, even by people who think giving puppies smoochies is generally a good thing. That's how's you can get people like Ashton and Deni$e who are generally in camp "fuck the gods, they do jack shit for us" but are also firmly in camp "stop Ludinus." As Orym said, if there's a power vacuum, Ludinus cannot be the person to fill it.

Orym had never claimed to be infallible (quite the opposite), but there are definitely people with blorbo vision who think their little meow meow can do no wrong. And counter to them are the people who hate seeing Orym be put on a pedestal and are reacting by trying to pull him off of it and smash him on the ground. And who are using mental health speak to act like he's the real abuser for acting from his convictions in ways that aren't perfect. The line of thinking seems to go: Orym clearly isn't totally good or totally stable so if people have that impression it's because he's deliberately misleading them and manipulating them to get his way. Instead of just being a normally flawed guy people are projecting things onto, who has motivations, doesn't act with perfect clarity in every decision in every moment, and had conflicting needs and opinions with others.

Clearly that nod means he wants Delilah back for the power at any cost to Laudna and is manipulating her to get it and that makes him no different from Ludinus. Add opposed to saying he'll back up whatever Laudna wants to do herself including tapping into the power she had been actively using for 9 minutes prior, and that if she didn't kill Bor'Dor he would. But I guess that sounds too much like normal yes-and decision making in a split second in D&D and not like a meticulously plotted villain arc. Because if people you trusted to be the moral compass turn out to be just as flawed and fucked up as all of their friends, that's a massive and deliberate betrayal of trust, not just proof they're actually just mortal and fallible like everyone else.

Good people, after all, never get angry until it becomes unproductive and negatively shapes their actions. They were secretly evil the whole time and now the mask has come off revealing the truth. And other such things people who have never unpacked black and white fundamentalist thinking say without any apparent inclination of how that also reflects on them or how it will come for them because good people by that definition do not exist and everyone's a sinner waiting for their turn at being punished.

(Also interesting that when Fjord the man made a pact with a betrayer god for power after eschewing Uk'otoa's power with help before, it wasn't the Might Nein manipulating him into it. He was allowed to have agency over his decision and it was a second team effort to get back out of it again. Relapsing got to be a crooked path to character growth, not powerless victimhood like is being ascribed to Laudna the woman.)

Orym is a flawed guy trying his best to do good in an impossible situation that's making him feel smaller and more powerless than he ever has before. He doesn't always have the right answer and Bell's Hells putting too much trust in him is just as much a reflection of them as him. Nothing is simple right now and nothing has easy answers. None of this is black and white and purely theoretical ideology is not functional when it runs into real (fantasy) world actions. If you can't approach what's happening with nuance and understand that EVERYONE is a little right and a little wrong and they're just doing the best imperfect work they can, then you're not going to understand what's going on and make weird accusations.

This isn't a morality play. There aren't clear sides or clear right and wrong. There are characters with their own motivations working together and sometimes those motivations conflict. This is the party that fought Ira for caging a werewolf and forcing him to make new werewolves while he was working for Ludinus. And then WORKED with Ira multiple times because he wanted to fuck with his now former employer and that was good enough alignment. Chetney is being bounty hunted currently for assaulting a shop keeper at home for charging too much. Multiple party members have tried to murder the party. These aren't the days of solidly heroic fantasy Vox Machina. Seems like people are just disappointed enough to throw tantrums that Orym is exactly like all of his closest friends.

[bebepac]

The Vampires Live On: Part 3

This is part 3 of The Vampires Live On, that started out as a story I wrote as a teen that has evolved into so much more.  

Please feel free if you’re stumbling across this part, and are curious to see what’s happened so far,  check out

Part 1       and  Part 2

I am participating in @choicesflashfics​ prompt #3:  You know I don’t have the self control for that” which will appear in bold. 

The Book:  TRR Pairings:  Liam x Riley  in this decade.   (Gabriel x Alice) in the past Word Count: 1810 Warnings and Ratings:  Mention of Character death:  Rating:  Teen Summary: Liam and Riley go back to Riley’s hometown.  

Song Inspirations: 

Friday I’m in Love:  The Cure

Together Again:  Janet Jackson

Original Post: 02/25/23 at 11:04PM EST.

I laughed loudly  as Liam continued to pepper my face with kisses.  

The old couple sitting across from us on the airplane  were watching us.  I playfully pushed him away from me, wagging my pointer finger at him.

“Liam hands off!”  

“Actually it’s not my hands that are touching you right now, it’s my lips.”  He leaned into me once more  puckering up; I used my hand to stop him, and he kissed my palm that was blocking my face.

“So lips off then!”  

“You know I don’t have the self control for that.”  

“Indeed you don’t.”  

“Besides, I’m madly in love with you and I don’t care who sees or knows. Love is a beautiful thing, and I love my wife.”  

Finally the older woman's face softened.  

“How long have the two of you been married? You two look very young.  You can’t have been married long.”  

Amusement danced in Liam’s eyes as he smiled at me, softly kissed my hand.

“It feels like a symphony of many blissful lifetimes rolled up into one. Spending eternity with her is like a dream that I never wish to wake from.”  

“Liam….”  Now it was my turn to kiss him cuddling closer to him, he wrapped his arms tight around me.  

The two of them had been so many people over the years, learning to call each other by the new names they selected, having modified versions of themselves.

Whereas I think I had settled into who I am, forever Alice at my core, Gabriel liked to mix things up.  He had  a book with pages devoted to each person he had been over the last seven hundred years.  The entries of each person read like they were his character bios, a list of traits for each man he was that he would diligently follow for himself, and for the world, myself included.

Of the people he had been while in my company, I have to say I love Liam the most.  He is strong yet soft-hearted and romantic, truly the best of both worlds.  The old woman was right, though wrong about how old they truly were, but they had not been married long. Though I had been incredibly fond of Gabriel for all of these years, it was when he became Liam that I truly fell in love with him.

  When Gabriel became Liam, it showed me another side of himself. It was Liam that proposed to me, and it was Liam that I married after all these years. It was Liam that decided it was time for us to travel back to my home.  

A few of our “friends”  we had met over the years from other clans made it to the wedding along with some of Gabriel’s family.  I wish that Clara and Max could have been there, but part of me feels like she was.  Over the years, I feel at times I have felt their presence around me.  

We married in a small ceremony less than one year ago.  

When we landed it was an hour drive to my old city. I exhaled deeply when we passed into the Lumberton city limits.

“I can’t believe we finally made it here.”  

“I know, it’s been a very long time.  Longer than I intended Riley, but I made good on my promise.”

“You did.”  

“Where would you like to go first?”  

“The library.  I want to see what articles I can find  from around what happened.”

“I figured, good thing I decided to call ahead.”  

“How did you know?”  

“Because I know you Love."

“Yeah it only took you a few years to get to know me.”  

Liam winked.  “Only a few.”  

When she stepped out of the car,  Riley took a deep breath.

“How does this town still smell the same after all these years?”  

“What does it smell like to you Riley?”

“Like home.”  

Liam held her hand as they walked up to the library counter.

“We’re here to speak with Mrs. Banks.”

“And whom might I let her know is here?”

“Liam, and Riley Brooks-Rys.  I spoke to her over the phone a few days ago. She’s expecting us.”

“Yes, she said she was expecting a couple.  Let me take you back there.”  

My grip tightened on Liam’s hand as we walked down the hallway.  

“Don’t be nervous.  I’m here. We’re doing all of this together.”

Once the door closed behind them, the lady at the desk acknowledged them with a smile.

“Please have a seat.”  

Mrs’s Banks' eyes drifted between the two of them before resting on Riley for a moment.

“Historical mysteries also bring out interesting people investigating them, and we have had our share of them over the years, but it looks like the two of you might have some answers.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“The resemblance is striking.”

“What resemblance?”

“There is only one photograph of the sisters, and you look exactly like them. Rumor has it the body of Alice Hughes was never recovered.  Looks like somehow she miraculously survived the ordeal, because I have to be looking at her Great, great great, grand daughter right now.”

She held out the photograph that appeared to be a news article clipped and preserved within the frame.

“May I see that please?”  

Glancing down at the picture, I didn’t even remember it being taken, but there we were, almost a year before  the incident, smiling in our costumes.  I traced  Clara’s picture, my eyes filling with tears.  

“You look almost exactly like them.”  

I didn’t know what to say.  Moments like this on the fly I had never been good with, and Liam jumped in immediately for the assist.

“My wife was orphaned at a young age and wanted to know more about her family lineage.  She did genetic testing, and her genetics confirmed she has strong ties to this area, so I did a little research, which brought me to this mystery. And for a wedding gift, we have flown here to do more investigation, maybe shed a little light on her family's past. "

He continued softly in a voice Mrs. Banks could no longer hear.

It’s okay to be speechless right now.”

I couldn’t speak, so I only nodded in affirmation.

“That’s a beautiful sentiment, one should know where they come from, and visit with their past from time to time, to know where you’re going in the future.”

“I wholeheartedly agree.”  

“There are several articles published after the incident happened.  You know how to use a card catalog right?”

Liam laughed. “Yes we do.”  

She handed Liam the sheet with the article numbers on them.  

“The articles are on microfilm, located in our mezzanine.”

“We can handle a microfilm machine as well. Thank you very much for having the information I requested.”  

“You’re welcome.  I hope that you find what you are looking for Mrs. Rys.”  

Alone in the mezzanine Liam still spoke in a whisper.  

“What were you thinking when you saw that picture, Alice?”  

“I thought it was the first time I’ve seen her face, in so long where it wasn’t a part of my dreams.”  

“But….”  

“I know what you’re going to say. We were identical twins.  We looked the same. But I don’t see her when I look at myself,  I never did.  I only see myself.   So seeing her for the first time in a very long time is nice, because I have missed her, so very much.”

“I know you do.”  

The articles that were written in that time period did not shed much light on the people that  attacked us that night, only that they were criminals.

  The articles theorized my whereabouts, that I was taken, I was dead, or sacrificed in some satanic ritual, as one of the men was torn limb from limb, which had to be Liam’s doing. There was nothing more to find at the library.  

I wanted to go to the place where it happened.  

A portion of the wooded area was still there.  

“I was wondering would the woods still be here.”   

“It still smells the same to you here as well?”  

“Pretty much. It smells rich and sweet at the same time.”

Vivid memories of  Clara flooded my mind of her, Max, and I walking home talking and laughing.   

In the midst of  the forest, in the very spot were, was a patch of wild flowers.

“What is this? Did someone plant these?” 

“No, it appears this area is considered a community reserve now, because of these wildflowers that are growing here, that are not native to this area, and only grow here, in this very spot.”  

“In the very spot… where me and my sister died.  It’s Clara.  It has to be. She loved flowers. Max would pick flowers for her all the time, and the more haphazard they were, she loved them even more.”

“Then we must get flowers before our last stop this evening.”  

“I feel her here. I feel me here, at least who I was.”  

“It was a very powerful moment.  You can still feel the love the two of you had for each other.  It is imprinted on this area, that spot.  I will never forget how I felt the moment after you took your last mortal breath.”  

“Seeing the two of you lying there, feeling the love the two of you had for each other, was beautiful. But there was something else.”  

“What?”

“Sadness.  There was this overwhelming feeling of sadness.  Your sister was sad, but not for herself, but for you, and the life she wanted you to have, that she had willingly given her life for you to have.”  

“But I lived.”  

“Not the mortal life you were supposed to.”  

“But I still lived, Gabriel. I have never regretted my choice.”  

“Not after all of these years?  Giving up mortality, motherhood?  Even something simple as growing old?”  

“Gabriel… that was not the life I was meant to have, because if it was, what happened that night would have never happened to me, my sister, to Max. We would have all had a different life.”

I took Gabriel’s hands in mine.

“With you, I had a different life.  I’ve had  multiple lifetimes. I’ve traveled the world, and seen its beauty and different cultures, something I would have never been able to do given my station allotted to me by birth.  I am thankful you decided to come into the pub that night, and more grateful  that you heard me cry for help.  I have no regrets.  Part of me wishes Clara would have been here and could have been saved that night, but she loved Maxwell so much, even though she never said it to him, but I knew, and I believe he knew it too.  I think she would have died of a broken heart without him.  So it was right for the two of them to be reunited right away.”  

“You really amaze me with your outlook on the world at times, and how you put things in perspective.”  

“Alice was a pretty smart cookie wasn’t she?”

“She is, and that’s only one of the reasons I asked her to marry me.”  

I closed my eyes when Gabriel leaned in to kiss me.  

We had one more stop to make and I knew the next stop would emotionally take a toll on me… visiting my sister’s final resting place.

[thisisnotthenerd]

following up on my previous posts about d20 seating: 1 & 2

seat archetypes (all seasons)

as you can imagine, finding a throughline that exactly fits every d20 character that sits in a seat is never fully going to work. i'm not jamming them into an archetype that doesn't fit. these are big general thoughts, just like they were for the intrepid heroes seasons. anyway:

L1: pretty even mix of martial and magic--lots of partial casters. 3/4 d20 paladins. i checked. in game, there's a penchant for big swings and wild decisions. sometimes the payoff of that is insane: ricky's sacrifice in the final battle, fig making arianwen lose her magic, liam's wish, sunny & the bell, maggie giving birth, rick diggins' everything, antiope killing charity in one round, gunnie going ftl with gnosis, conrad's appeal to madam loathing, i could go on. many who sit in this chair have a penchant for party guidance/leadership. they may or may not be an official leader, but many of them are the heart of the party morally and just generally.

Characters:

Fig Faeth, Maggie, Ricky Matsui, Rick Diggins, Liam Wilhelmina, Sunny Biscotto, Gangie Green, Whitney Jammer, Antiope Jones, Terry Talbo, Gunnie Miggles-Rashbax, Dr. Aleksandr Astrovsky, Andhera, Rosamund du Prix, Thane Delissandro Katzon, Troyánn (Karkyn?), Conrad Schintz/Conscience

L2: Martial lean--only a couple of full casters. in game, these characters kick ass in high stakes scenarios (sometimes), or hit rock bottom. there is no in between. sometimes their entire arc is getting knocked down and the getting up from rock bottom in order to kick ass: leiland's whole deal, sofia's chapter 2 arc, timothy . a bunch of tanks. also, a tendency towards older men.

Characters:

Gorgug Thistlespring, Leiland, Sofia Lee, Boomer, Theobald Gumbar, Barbarella Sarsaparilla Gainglynn, Buckster $ Boyd, Katja Cleaver, Riva, Captain K.P Hob, Mother Timothy Goose, A. Tension/Attention

L3: the magic chair. lots of full casters. all 3 d20 wizards sit here. the lowkey chosen one energy persists. think about it. strong narrative investment. several characters who make the hit that takes down the BBEG. either some kind of chaotic gremlin or a parent. oftentimes both simultaneously. actually the split more reflects parent or parent issues. isolated characters who feel ignored in some way taking control of their narratives.

Characters:

Adaine Abernant, Efink Murderdeath, Kingston Brown, Agnes, Jet Rocks, Saccharina Frostwhip, Cheese, Daisy D'umpstaire, K | Dream, Penny Luckstone, Megan Mirror, Norman "Skip" Takamori, Squing, Lady Chirp Featherfowl, Pinocchio, Bishop Raphaniel Charlock, Princess Foehammer, Hunch Curio/Curiosity

R3: slight magic lean. it's the bard chair. 5 of them, to be exact. a lot of charismatic characters sit in this seat. if they're not charm-based, they go the complete opposite direction. not friendly, surprisingly violent, quite abrasive at times. learning to really understand other people and move past your perception of your own needs by contrast. this can go either direction: you can have a fully self-interested character like margaret or you can have danielle barkstock's insane selflessness.

Characters:

Fabian Seacaster, Sokhbarr, Misty Moore, TI-83, Ruby Rocks, Myrtle (the Bitch), Iga Lisowski, Rowan Berry, Vicar Ian Prescott, Sam Black, Danielle Barkstock, Tuti IV, Margaret Encino, Wetzel, Lord Squak Airavis, Puss in Boots | PIB, Karna Solara, Gertrude, Imelda Pulse/Impulse

R2: Split of martial & magic. it's high WIS or no WIS, people. trying to do better than you did before in various ways: kristen's religious crisis, kugrash's atonement, cody's whole deal, gerard's whole deal, dan fucks' revolution, rue coming out, jack's whole deal. there's a very funny split that i've found here; the ladies who sit here have a lot of power and use it to devastating effect. examples: kristen making a god and naming an old god, ostentatia's commune & divine intervention, lilith's everything, sidney taking a vercadian out in one shot. the men? they either hit rock bottom during the season or start there and work upward. the only exception i can think of is bean. and the nbs, rue and lars, are just fabulous.

Characters:

Kristen Applebees, Lilith, Kugrash, Bean, Amethar Rocks, Jack Brakkow, Cody Walsh, Lars Vandenchomp, Ostentatia Wallace, Sundry Sidney, Delloso de la Rue, Gerard of Greenleigh, Colin Provolone, Dan Fucks/Desire

R1: the rogue chair. it's more than R3's bards, with six rogues. no multiclasses. it's the rogue chair. otherwise, a bunch of rangers and sorcerers. this chair is for the plothounds. they're searching it out and making connections, or they're making big magic swings and connecting themselves to gods. they tend to put the detectives here. everyone here is going to make the dm's job easier by idk, communing with a death god (2 nickels for this seat), or going off on their own to find clues to a greater mystery.

Characters:

Riz Gukgak, Markus St. Vincent, Pete Conlan, Car-Go Jones, Lapin Cadbury, Cumulous Rocks, Marcid the Typhoon, Sylvester Cross, Evan Kelmp, Sam Nightingale, Seven, Big Barry Syx, May Wong, BINX Choppley, Ylfa Snorgelsson, Lady Amangeaux Epiceé du Peche, Twyla, The Fix/Hyperfixation

and that's all for this installment of thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats. feel free to tell me what you think, whether you agree or disagree. as always, the spreadsheet can be found here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g7skmX8WuPRsjvU1K0lAjVf4rNVnuuarW3Zb87A5hx0/edit?usp=sharing

@perksofbeingalittletwat you inspired this with your comment on the last seating chart, so thank you for that.

[liamxxslater]

Name: Liam Slater Faceclaim: Cody Christian Age: 27 Sexual Orientation: Bisexual Species: Werewolf Occupation: Personal Trainer Relationship Status: Single Personality Traits: Stubborn, Distrustful, Aggressive, Caring, Loyal, Athletic, Impulsive

**please be aware of triggers listed below**

BIOGRAPHY

TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD ABUSE, SA INFERRED, DRUG ABUSE, ANGER, MURDER, SELF LOATHING

From a very early age–ten to be exact–Liam Slater learned that he couldn’t trust anyone, not even those that had the obligation to keep him safe. Having lived in a small town for the first four years of his life, he was thrilled when his mother announced that they would be moving to Port Leiry. The family of two had already been through a lot in the passed years. Liam had lost his father when he was two and his mother became pregnant soon after and then gave his little sister up for adoption. A new move was exactly what they needed.

Liam was his happiest between the ages of four and ten. It was his mom and him against the world and he truly thought that nothing could come between them. That it would be the two of them forever. But then, soon after Liam's tenth birthday, his mother decided that another move to a neighboring town was needed. This time, it wouldn't be just the two of them, but her boyfriend would be with them.

It took about six months before the boyfriends' liking for Liam took more of a deeper turn. One that, as a child, he didn't understand, nor did he know how to stop. There were times when Liam begged his mother to not leave him alone with her boyfriend, but because she had to pay the bills, she had no choice but to leave him home with someone she thought she could trust.

For a few years the abuse went on, and Liam said nothing because the man told him that if he did his mother would pay the price. Wanting to protect her, Liam tried his best to keep quiet. But then, the abuse escalated and he couldn't handle it anymore. He finally told his mother everything, believing that she would do something about it. That she would help him. But she thought he made it all up.

At the age of thirteen, Liam spiraled. He found anything and everything he could to make himself numb to the world. Anything that might help him cope with the nightmares he experienced while awake, and asleep.

By the time he entered high school, he was deeply entrenched in all the wrong things. However, the football coach saw the potential that the young man had and asked him to try out for the team. He made the cut and it was there where he began to get his life back on track. Football–and really most sports–kept him from going back to the life of drugs. He knew he had to stay clean in order to be on the different teams. Keeping himself clean was no easy task but somehow he managed. Then when he turned sixteen his life once again changed. Liam was bit by what he thought was a dog while walking home from football practice. Suddenly, he felt as though he could no longer control his emotions. Over the course of the month, physical exercise didn't seem to help the anger he felt. The nightmares came back and several times, he exploded into arguments with his mother and now step father.

It wasn't until the next full moon that he realized what had actually happened. And while it was incredibly painful, Liam welcomed it, as it was much better than the anguish he felt in his mind for the last six years. What happened next, however, wasn't something he had planned. In his wolf form, Liam stalked through the house until he found his mother and step father. With his anger at a peak, he slaughtered both of them in their sleep before fleeing.

Liam's been on his own since. He made the move back to Port Leiry, trying to find some semblance of comfort. He left behind football scholarships and any potential for a normal life. And while he doesn't regret killing his step father, he hates that he let his wolf kill his mother too. He hates who he is. Hates who he's become. Hates what his life turned out to be. Liam wishes nothing more than to go back in time to when he was happy but he’s aware that those days are long over.

HEADCANONS

Even though he is a show off, and cocky, Liam has never been in a relationship. He's avoided them all of his life, as he does not like being touched. He is also aware of the expectations of a relationship and knows that he could never (at least not without therapy) meet those expectations.

He is much more comfortable around women than he is around men. Liam tends to keep his distance from all adult men, whether he thinks they are suspicious or not.

Liam desperately misses playing football. He doesn't hate being a wolf, but he does hate that being bitten and the consequences of that have led him away from the life he wanted to live.

Underneath all of the aggression and hatred, Liam is a genuine and kind guy. He cares about people and if he is close to someone, he will protect them with all of his being.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

LEAN ON ME ; This person is someone who found Liam at the age of seventeen and desperately wanted to help him. They know he doesn’t trust people quickly but they are a constant in his life and try their best to be there for him whether he thinks he needs them or not.

INTO THE FOLD ; This person has seen Liam before, has had a couple of conversations, and wants to try to get him to join their pack. (Could be tied into the first connection)

UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP ; This person is the only one that’s been able to cause Liam’s wall to crack. They mean everything to him and even in his low days, he’d do anything to keep their friendship.

FISTS AND FURY ; The hatred Liam feels towards this individual is almost as much as he hated his step father. He’s fought them physically on numerous occasions and uses them to try to satiate his anger, even if it barely takes an inch off.

[kittykitasticals]

DARK MAGIC IS SO COOL LIKEE

(slight LN 10-12 spoilers about dark magic uses so far)

It has so much potential??

Like aside from the usual mind control, we learned that Sarah was able to use it to see Fray's memories in LN12.

You can also use it to manipulate darkness, like making a whole room go dark! (Perfect for dramatic exits). And apparently make objects using it, like how Katarina made a key in LN11. I like to imagine that once she improves in controling her powers, she could make a sword using dark magic to fight during missions/self-defense! Like i think she deserves to finally make use of her sword fighting lessons!!

Oh and let's not forget the whole dark dimesnion fog Thing that Sarah used to trap Katarina, Geordo and Keith in LN10.

AH speaking of Sarah, she also threw(?) those dark magic snakes that hurt Liam's arm. (Might edit this later cuz im not sure how to describe it). But this attack interested me because it left some dark magic injury(?) on Liam. Although Katarina was able to absorb the darkness using her stick (which is another cool power to talk abt hehe)

And dark familiars of course, but unless you're Katarina you'll need to perform a ritual that might kill you haha

(Ok so i might talk about it in another post, but i'm also curious about the mirror (iirc the object) that Katarina got in LN4. I feel like we dont talk about it enough but it could have some super interesting history about the origin of dark magic since i think it's the start that allowed Katarina to gain her powers)

Basically im really excited about any more development/uses we might learn in the future LNs :D it makes me upset that we didn't learn as much about light magic though. Maria is the only light mage we know and although Light magic is supposed to be the strongest element or something, all the spells we know so far are healing and that thing in LN9 where she made the enemies apologize. there was also this other spell where she can make people confess in the same LN too, but idk if it's a separate spell...

Anywho i hope we learn more spells im future volumes since Katarina and Maria are studying the Convenants

[ice-mage]

My Review of Teen Wolf: The Movie

So, I watched the Teen Wolf movie when it came out, but it’s been a busy few days, so I haven’t had the chance to really share my thoughts until now. By now, I’m sure anyone who cares has either already seen the movie or has decided not to see the movie, so be warned that this will contain spoilers.

I won’t belabor my thoughts too much (knocks on wood). In looking at this movie, I think there are two questions:

Is Teen Wolf: The Movie good? No.

Is Teen Wolf: The Movie enjoyable? Yes, I thought so.

Teen Wolf: The Movie is an objectively bad movie. It’s full of plot holes, inconsistencies with existing lore, and bad cgi. From the very first scene, it’s not explained why Liam is in Japan or why he has the nogitsune box. Then, he later shows up in Beacon Hills, just in time to save Derek at the high school for some reason. And this is after the nogitsune has been released and he apparently told no one. When they resurrect Allison, they show up to the Nemeton with dirt and a sword and then tree just does the magic itself. No ritual or anything, they literally just stand there and then all of a sudden magic happens. Deaton apparently could use mistletoe or something to cast the nogitsune out of Chris that he never tried with Stiles. Mr. Harris is somehow alive, but we get no explanation. Lydia somehow got enough control over her powers to no longer have premonitions of death, except that her first scene shows that she doesn’t have control. I could probably go on and on, but I’ll leave it with the biggest two. First, the nogitsune is also a werewolf. Even though it was established in the show that a wolf and a fox cannot coexist in the same body. And second, while I could be okay with Derek having a self-sacrificing death, his death didn’t make sense narratively because it wasn’t necessary. Ostensibly he dies because he has to hold onto the nogitsune so Parrish can burn it to death with hellfire, which also consumes Derek. But we see Parrish holding the nogitsune on his own when Derek pushes Scott off the Nemeton. And even though the movie reminds us earlier that Jackson has paralytic venom, he and everyone else just stands there. From start to finish, there was a lot that just didn’t make sense.

I’ve always thought that Teen Wolf at times sacrificed character development to plot. Nowhere is that more apparent than in this movie. Most of the dialogue is expository. The movie has both Liam and Mason, best friends during the show, but they don’t interact at all. The movie introduced Hikari, but she only has a handful of lines of dialogue. They had a casting announcement for Deputy Kitsune, but he was only really in one scene where he was killed off. And even still I think he had more dialogue than Hikari. We don’t see Eli interact with Peter, not even when Derek dies, even though family means a lot to Peter. And we don’t learn what most of the characters have been up to the past 15 years.

But I expected the movie to be bad, full of plot holes and all the rest going in. I never liked Teen Wolf because I thought it was good. I liked Teen Wolf because I loved the characters. And probably because I had low expectations, I was able to enjoy seeing these characters on my screen again. I loved seeing the relationship between Derek and Eli, his son. And the scenes between Scott and Allison also worked because they were character-driven. Posey has said that the movie is the best worked he’s ever done. I haven’t seen him in anything else, but I thought it was his best performance as Scott.

Jeff said in an interview that he had too many characters. And as much as I love so many of these characters, I agree. From the tier list I did before the movie came out, you know I like Jackson. But he didn’t have a purpose in this movie. And neither did many of the characters. Part of the problem was that so much of the movie was filmed without a complete script having been written. On the Return to Beacon Hills podcast, Vince Mattis, who plays Eli, said that when they started filming, they only had half a script. And in an interview with Collider, Crystal said that they didn’t have a script until the last two weeks of filming. So a lot was filmed while Jeff only had an idea, but not a story. Maybe that could have worked with a smaller cast, but not with this many characters.

The movie needed to have a more definitive focus on fewer characters. I get that Jeff wanted to bring Allison back, so Scott and Allison are one set. When he determined that he would use the nogitsune plot line to do so, he should have elevated the roles of Hikari and Deputy Kitsune. And lastly, he needed to introduce the new teen wolf, so Eli would round out the main characters of the movie. With that core five, you then figure out how your remaining characters serve their plot and character arcs. I liked the relationship between Eli and Derek, but it would have been nice to also see Eli have more interaction with the rest of his family, namely Peter and Malia. And in the movie, Eli mentions that Scott hadn’t seen him in 12 years, indicating that Scott hasn’t been in Beacon Hills in that long. And the pack seemed to not really still be in touch with each other. If the movie had focused on this more, it could have added an emotional arc for Scott that many other characters could have contributed to, even with limited dialogue, while also not detracting from the plot.

From all of the promo and social media posts, you can see that much of the cast loves Teen Wolf as much as the fans do. And it was great to see them on screen again because of that. Unfortunately, Jeff isn’t as great a writer as I think he thinks he is, and the movie suffered. So, was the movie good? No. But did i enjoy it anyway? Yes. And at least it appears to have put the fire back into the fandom a bit.

[gamecn]

my nonexistent impulse control has struck again! please allow me to introduce you to liam warren fortier aka scorch! he is an x-men oc of mine and an inadvertent time traveler. more about him will be under the cut (tws for death, fire, injuries, terrorism, mention of a near death experience, and self harm via lacking sleep)

fc: axel auriant

21 years old (age can vary depending on thread!)

british-french! liam’s fluent in both english and french, is always interested in learning more languages

when he was born, there was an inexplicable orange streak in his hair. a seemingly random physical mutation yet it was nothing that hair dye couldn’t cover up when he was old enough for it.

then when he turned twelve, the truth came to light by way of his mutation manifesting. that orange streak was a sign of what was to come. liam was a pyrokinetic mutant which was revealed when the flames of a bonfire - a fortier family tradition for summer birthdays - seemed to burn brighter and dance along with him as he moved to the music. then when he stubbed his toe on a log while helping clean up, the flames briefly seemed to darken and climb higher with his flash of annoyance.

this revelation was met with love and acceptance. while anti mutant sentiments raged on in the world around them, the fortier family wouldn’t dream of harboring such terrible feelings about one of their own.

on his next birthday, he was presented with a pair of bracelets by his parents. to ordinary eyes, they looked like standard faux leather cuffs. but there was technology within that had been lovingly and dutifully crafted by them - a scientist and engineer respectively - to assist in dampening liam’s powers during times of strong emotions as well as allow near constant access to a flame for him to manipulate.

even after he got the bracelets, he constantly worked on improving his power control. outside of these sessions under the watchful eyes of his parents, liam rarely ever utilized his mutation. the metaphorical flame still seemed to burn within his heart yet it was a dull, background roar when compared to the noises of daily life.

unfortunately, his luck ran out a few years later. a nearby anti mutant rally had gotten out of control when the hatred reached a fever pitch. and a couple of his parents’ coworkers had been in attendance. people who had secretly watched them craft the same bracelets liam still wore and waited until chaos broke out.

his parents did their best to hold off the attackers after telling their son to run, which is exactly what he did. he would stay in group homes long enough to rest for a few hours before he was on the road again. he was determined to keep moving.

eventually, liam managed to reach the fortier holiday house in a part of the german countryside. while it was a traditionally safe space that held so many amazing memories, a small voice in the back of his head continued to nag at him. keep moving, it whispered.

he promised himself that he would eventually resume his travels. but for now, his body and heart ached with the desire to rest.

a night turned into four days at the holiday house. four days turned into a few weeks. a few weeks became five months. five months gave way to a whole year. time passed on and liam remained a resident.

occasionally, he ventured into nearby towns and cities to go shopping which is how he struck up friendships with members of different mutant communities. many of them were also young, attempting to find their own ways in the world while learning how to control their mutations. some of them were younger than liam was at the time and the then seventeen year old came to feel like an older brother.

a cold logic told him to not grow attached. his heart gave it the middle finger because it felt like forever since he had a group of friends. the fortier holiday house quickly became a place to stay for liam’s chosen family if they wished to enjoy the fresh air of the countryside or wanted a secluded place to practice under his tutelage.

he also crafted distress signals with his friends, promising that he would come running or prepare the house for them if trouble darkened their doorsteps.

as fate would have it, trouble came knocking for many of his friends in the form of other anti mutant groups. some of these attacks even managed to capture the attention of the x-men which is how liam came to cross paths with sway.

while responding to a distress call, liam was caught off guard by a small squad and severely injured. sway came to his rescue, having grown more powerful during her time with the x-men. powerful enough to manage time travel.

outnumbered and with a newfound ally’s life on the line, sway called for an evacuation from the rest of her team then prepared for a jump through time while a couple of other x-men worked on healing liam.

the blackbird landed in the 2000s. adrenaline had increased the power of sway’s jump and taken the team back just a little further, yet the mission was still deemed an overall success. many lives had been saved - liam’s included.

nowadays, liam is one of the x-men’s best kept secrets thanks to his own request. he’s still recovering from the nastier injuries sustained during the fight and has been keeping to himself in the less visited or downright unknown parts of the mansion, despite how lonely it gets from time to time. it’s for the best if he doesn’t get attached to this time since it isn’t where he belongs.

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

I took time to watch the first season of “All Work No Play”

And then, after that, because a) I have no self-control b) I felt like I was missing on a lot of stuff c) I just could listen to Sam and Liam fuck around and talk about themselves and their lives for forever ??? d) I saw a Tumblr post detailing the facts we learn on the original “All Work No Play” episodes and just could not believe what I was reading... I listened to the original “All Work No Play” podcast only.

So under the cut, details of what I thought of each episode, and the glorious run of the 15 episodes podcast that started it all, really. But yeah, contrary to my preferences, it does not follow chronological order. Which is fine, because if there was a way to describe this experience, it's "drunk delightful clusterfuck", in my humble opinion.

Sword fighting : the start is awkward, the middle is epic, the end is awkward. So yeah, on parr with the rest. I do love a good pun, so the whole knighting sequence was hilarious to me : "I knight you Ser...Pent, Ser... Cumvent, Ser... Vival." I love Will Friedle dry sense of humour and wish we've seen more of him. The mini-movie was awesome ! Put some swords into actors' hands and it does not matter if they were bad at sword fighting (they weren't !), they will sell it with yells and tragic death scenes.

Tap Dancing : Sam doing the worm in that stupid colorful costume... I was expecting no less of him. Liam has NO coordination, this is true, and again demonstrated it in this episode. Courtenay Taylor was a necessary addition, because she knew what she was doing, and her "mom jokes" were unexpected and dry and hilarious. Sam tells the story of the birthday of Macaulay Culkin, whom he went to school with, and the birthday was this : they were in the biggest toy store in New York, which was privatized, and for 10 minutes all the kids could run through the alleys and get any game and toys they could want. Liam, hearing this story of privilege, boiling inside : "It is super fucking hard to be your friend and love you. I try and I try, and everyday you make it a little bit harder."

Rage Room : Liam can run a half-marathon (I'm not surprised), Sam can't (I'm not surprised). Sam is a night pooper and Liam a morning pooper and they both like to take this time to destress. Liam looks at the stars alone at night when in his backyard (relatable). Sam does not feel stress in general because he's weird. Rage room was fun but not as cathartic as the name would suggest, I think it's because rage cannot be in a controlled environment. But Stephanie Sheh was so fun, and seeing the bass fish get destroyed was nice. Also Sam has no darkness inside of him, and maybe he has no soul ? I would watch Sam and Liam take ayahuasca in Brazil, tbh.

Goat Yoga : this is a thing. Call me stupid, but while I think Yoga is a real thing, I think Goat Yoga is a scam and brings NOTHING to Yoga. But the goats were cute !! We learn that Sam got high with Snoop Dogg on his first week in L.A., that Liam once got arrested because he was too busy rehearsing a scene with an object that was not even a fake gun outside and being too good at it to notice the neighbors were calling the cops. And I'm just going to leave this quote here : "She's an anal sniper. She aimed my ass right at the cameras."

Creature Makeup : I barely recognized Alex Ward from the Elden Ring one-shot (he was so good in it), he seems really talented in his specialty. We learn that Sam nearly got himself killed by locking himself in a coffin and discovering after someone was sitting on it, and that Liam's aunt once saw her long-gone father talk with her child in the rearview mirror. Sam and Liam do want to make out with each other while wearing makeup that makes them look like the other. After hearing Sam talk about how snot accumulated in his latex mask, I do not want to do Creature Makeup personally anymore. But I do want to see the movie for which they shot the trailer !

Fire Spinning : Ok ok ok, I am but a simple wee lesbian, Marisha doing the fire spinning did things to me. Just hearing Sam and Liam talk about how cool she is and how she always has the best style is wonderful. What we have learn : Sam technically committed apostasy since he converted to Catholicism but "crossed his fingers the whole time", and on his wedding night he hurt himself so much by stepping on glass (Jewish tradition) that he had to go to the ER after.

Mame Cabinet : Felicia Day !!! I love Felicia Day. We learn that Sam might have more of a chance to develop Alzheimer’s thanks to his t-rex arms. Why was this the most emotional episode yet ? I don't know but the hug Liam gave Sam almost made me cry.

The Hot Tub with, like 12 people : Ok this was just fun as hell. I want to do this with my friends all the time !!! We learn that Courtenay CAN do the cherry trick of tying it up which is HOT, the S'mores Martini takes a century to do, and that the censored nipples of Liam are Sam's pixel face. Thanks Twitch !!

The original podcast : They're so young (it starts at December 2012)! Travis and Laura are mentioned on the very first episode, and so's Liam fear of skydiving. Malaysia is mentioned on episode 2, also Kit Buss ! Episode 2 is where they decide to do a “Laura Bailey harp music”, after they talk about how great she is. Also Sam and Liam are excited because they've decided to play D&D together, and mention Matt and his glorious hair. Sam asks Liam to pick his race and class : "- Can I just be the worst ? - You could be... A gnome !" I CAN'T BELIEVE I HEARD IT LIVE, THE INCEPTION OF SCANLAN SHORTHALT. Episode 3 is the recap of said session of D&D, and you know what's better to hear them screaming into their mics that they loved it so much ? A FREAKING EXCERPT OF THE VERY FIRST SESSION THEY PLAYED TOGETHER ! (there was even Marisha, who was - if I understand - helping Matt and not playing). Episode 3 is also the episode where we learn that if they were abandoned on an island, Liam and Sam would start to fuck "immediately" according to Liam, "48 hours later" according to Sam, who wants to search for help and shelter before fucking. I love the guests they brought in occasionally : it's so good to hear Mary Elisabeth McGlynn, to discover Jennifer Hale who's chill and funny and Roger Craig Smith who seems insane and is also funny as fuck, and to hear Travis and Laura bickering sweetly. Episode 6 is where we learn the very cursed fact that Liam did gymnastics when he was young, and was pretty flexible, so much in fact that he "could reach it" (Sam, not understanding, at first : "You could reach it ? what do you mean..."). About episode 7 I think this is where their lives became much more complicated ; from this one, I just love the recurring "we promise we're gonna do a podcast next week !" only to have the episode after that dated 3 or 5 months later. I loved the episodes they did at conventions, the questions and horrific and convoluted scenarios they put their friends through were funny. Episode 8 is where we learn that Sam's first and only fight, that he WON, was over tickets for Dave Matthews Band. "- We'd obviously like to nail Travis Willingham. - Of course !" Poor Travis ; in the episode with Roger Craig Smith, when put through a horrific scenario of a plane crash in the snowy mountains, he says "I immediately eat Travis Willingham" to the choices offered by Sam and Liam. That does not seem to deter him, since he later admits All Work No Play is his favorite podcast in the world, and he has listened to all the episodes. They do talk a little bit about Critical Role once they've launched the ship in 2015, mainly how is has changed their lives already. By Episode 13, they're not sure of what the format is anymore, and they nearly start reading their e-mails live. We learn that Liam has worked with Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, and how he was very turned on by Harrison Ford. He also likes Gwendoline Christie “because she seems like she could wreck me, with weapons.” (fair). We learn that when Travis was courting Laura, he wanted to be on her level, so he read the books she was reading at the time... which were the Twilight books : “I've read. Every. Single one of the Twilight Books ! And because there were werewolves, at the end... I kinda liked it.” He went by himself to go see the third movie ; Laura wouldn't go with him because she thought the movies were so bad. By the way, the sound effect for Travis is SO ridiculous, and retrospectively I'm laughing so much more because of Travis Willingham's Yeehaw Game Ranch. Episode 15 is really the end : the show has no format anymore, it's either them reviewing cat videos or them doing podcasts recommendations to each other. But Liam and Sam still talk about their kids with incredulity and so much love. We learn that Liam wants his daughter to learn how to kill a man, to protect her, because he knows “98,7% men are terrible”. We end with a cliffhanger : “Hey, Liam, are we gonna get tattoos ?” Really, what more could you want ?

Overall, the podcast holds a charm from the not-so-distant past who is incomparable. But the VIDEO revival can allow so much more ! They did so many activities, some of them dangerous. Also the editing of the videos is a plus, because it allows things like "let's put cards on the screen to directly contradict what bullshit Sam and Liam are saying", or "Yeah, FAO Schwartz is definitely gone". I'm really glad I discovered another piece of the house that is Critical Role.

[spellbindingnights]

More aura memes that no one asked for

muses: the Sullivan family

liam & cara: ivory

lace, marble, china dishes, doves, paper, bones, vanilla shakes. your essence is ivory: you are a piece of history, sturdy and eternal. others believe you to be gentle; they don't see the pressure that is threatening to crack you. you seek control and organize your life into rows. you are the overseer. you are the porcelain. you find kinship in like-minded individuals of grey, noir, pearl, and ashen, who share the pressure you put on yourself. you are also drawn to the expressive rose and lilac, who will help you grow and learn that things will be okay even if they don't go right. however, you may struggle to get along with the indulgent personalities of sky and apricot who need too much stimulation and decadence.

declan: crimson

rose vines, blood, apples, velvet, sharp nails, galaxies, dripping jewelry. your essence is crimson: you are the strong, defiant and avoidant. you crave some sort of deviation; to walk in another's footsteps feels mundane, a waste of your time. you are possessive and never look back at the things you've lost or forgotten. you are the rebel. you are the one who will change the world. you find kinship in like-minded individuals of red, blush, garnet, and bronze, who share your impassioned existence. you are also drawn to the confident souls royal and gold, who will help you grow and show that not everyone seeks to break you. however, you may struggle to get along with the slow-acting personalities of navy and umber who never seem assertive about anything.

brooklyn: blue

blueberries, canals, gatorade, denim jackets, stationary, coastlines, bluebirds. your essence is blue: you are as deep as the seas, but sensitive to the slightest ripple. you attach meaning to your emotions; they guide you, but also blind you to how things truly are. you act misunderstood but shy away from telling anyone who you really are. you are the poet. you are the sorrower. you find kinship in like-minded individuals of sky, navy, mauve, and jade, who share your need for authenticity. you are also drawn to the self-actualizing green and orange, who will help you grow and open up during hardship. however, you may struggle to get along with the linear personalities of grey and red who seem overly focused on structure.

colleen: indigo

cold water, tile, masks, constellations, dyed fabric, macaw feathers, night sands. your essence is indigo: your emotional depth consumes all who dip their toes. you are sensitive but enigmatic; you project an air of mystery, and deep down are confident no one could ever solve yours. you are darkly romantic and mesmerizing. you are the mystique. you are the widow. you find kinship in like-minded individuals of periwinkle, mauve, royal, and navy, who share your quiet intuition. you are also drawn to the driven souls amaranth and garnet, who will help you grow and learn how to leave your mark on the world. however, you may struggle to get along with the uncommitted personalities of bronze and hickory who seem to lack true depth.

finnegan: yellow

daisies, road signs, bumblebees, lemon merengue, bicycles, polaroids, awnings. your essence is yellow: you are precise yet shy, putting band-aids on your cuts alone. you demand much of yourself; your self-expression feels tempered by a mold you're intended to fill. you seek an anchor to hold and keep your doubt at bay. you are the dutiful. you are the one who rises after you fall. you find kinship in like-minded individuals of cream, gold, honey, and chartreuse, who share your loyalty and compassion. you are also drawn to the sturdy red and brown, who will help you grow and learn to not question your own judgment. however, you may struggle to get along with the overly-involved personalities of pink and green who are unconscious of their own feelings.

[commenter2]

"Cabin Fever" review

Here is my review on episode 4 of Murder Drones. A camping, slasher flick themed episode! Let’s see if Uzi and the other will survive.

Again Glitch Productions, please make a longer intro theme.

Now at first I wondered why the Drones would think bringing a bunch of teen Drones to the surface is a good idea given how dangerous it is for them, when I realized that they only know of the 3 Disassembly Drones and since Uzi killed J, and N and V are good (or controlled in V’s case) logically there really isn’t anything for them to be afraid of about the surface…until J 2.0, Tessa, and potentially other Disassembly Drones appear, likely in this episode.

Given their robots, the idea of vehicles being animal like makes a bit of sense while still being funny. Does that make the pods N and the other DDs came in birds XD

So these must be the new cannon fodder I MEAN characters for the episode. We have a stoner, female nerd, the jock/bully and his girlfriend, and the self-centered jerk. I wonder how they will change as the series goes on…XD

THAD AND LIZZY ARE HOLDING HANDS! BLASPHAMY! Though I do see it adding tension to the love triangle/quadrangle ideas I’ve talked about in the past.

Uzi’s backpack has wings, making her a bit like a Disassembly Drone. Foreshadowing? :3

Uzi’s mom is strangely happy about the core blowing up. Also what Khan said seems to confirm my theory from my last episode review about how this 3rd drone type was able to blend in with the Worker Drones.

Khan: Your mom was a catch!

Uzi.EXE has stopped working XD

Khan’s room has various door designs XD

If the idea of Khan immediately proposing to Uzi’s mom after she told him to make doors doesn’t become canon, we should boycott the show!

This singularity thing will be cool to learn about later. One quick prediction I have is that it’s some kind of electrical hive mind system that connects all machinery, and it’s a part of robots like Uzi and others. It also seems to give them visions. That or some kind of BATDR like vibe given some of the drawings.

If you can ignore the the cool S drawings (a difficult challenge, I know) you'll noticed that Khan is 3 for 3 of being a better father then he was in the pilot.

Seeing the teacher wearing a stereotypical tropical outfit may seem odd given its snowing, but I bet this kind of weather is pleasant for robots trying to relax. Same with the nerd robot making a cross symbol but Uzi did mention a robo Jesus in the pilot.

We better get camp counselor N and V plushies in the future!

WOAH! Poor robot guy. I feel bad for whoever has to tell his parents.

The book the nerd girl is carrying is called “Final Girl” XD

Nice to see Thad and Lizzy being nice to N and V WAIT DID Lizzy just pickpocket the dead drone’s watch!

Sad to see how the others are scared of Uzi to a point they would befriend robots that were killing them some time ago, or seconds in V case.

Cool to see that Uzi seems to have gotten use to her powers.

At 4:51 you can see that mystery human girl from N’s dream from episode 2.

It is funny seeing the other drones trying to use the canoes on a frozen lake and again having fun with N and V given they use to be afraid of them.

Since we haven’t seen N or V overheat yet, but see Uzi and Doll do so (more Uzi) does this mean the 3rd drone type overheat faster?

Bitch move V, scratching Uzi’s screen..face..whatever. It’s a good thing Uzi can heal herselWAIT A MINUTE!!!

A green bug! AND IT “TALKS”. It also seems to think Uzi is her mom. This plus how it seems to be a key to a lab, makes me wonder what the future of this series holds.

Even in the distant future audio to text features still suck.

Doll is back.

Where is Thad in the crowd?

Uzi has the power to turn inorganic matter into living things! This is some big Internecion Cube shit here. Fitting since Murder Drones and Internecion Cube are both made by Liam Vicker. It also seems to give us the main reason why the DDs are there, as robots like those could be very dangerous if they were to attack humanity. Heck Uzi seems to have caused a big problem without even trying! Also that thing she made looks like that image in the pile of papers near the dead drone where she found the green bug.

Now we get to the slasher stereotypes, starting with the couple going somewhere to make out.

Uzi is turning! Also totally called the backpack as foreshadowing!

While N is trying to turn on the computer, you can see a pair of red eyes (likely Dolls) behind him!

From analyzing the visions N sees, it looks like a robot went rouge and ate something organic, a severed organic arm was being held on by some lab equipment, and a giant black hole (likely the singularity) is near a house that looks like the one from N’s dream and the season 1 trailer. This gives me a small theory but more on that at the end.

Uzi’s unpopularity actually saved her from being exposed to the others. It would be funny if it wasn’t a bit sad.

Wait is Uzi’s tail organic? IT IS, and she has human arms on her wings! This is a nice change for the usual DD design and it reminds me of what J’s backup systems did in episode 2. This gives me hope that we will see different designed DDs later on in the series like I have been hoping will happen for some time now.

Lizzy is sassy even on the verge of death XD

The freefalling scene is a great moment. We get to see N’s caring side as well as some good Uzi X N content.

V is jealous :3. Please writers, gives us a love quadrangle. I mean if you can make me want to see one (and I usually hate that trope) then it has to be good.

Oh…Lizzy is alive…that’s good, I guess.

V likes the idea of being a diva.

So vehicles aren’t animals, there just hot-wired and when it acts up, they need to be treated like animals.

There’s Thad! I was wondering what happened to him.

It’s interesting to see V cover for Uzi. It also makes me wonder if at some point, because of V’s actions, the drone society will try and kick out N and V (maybe Uzi as well) for all the killings V have done…. Only for them to want them back when J and the other new DDs appear.

Uzi and N technically held hands!

Can’t wait to see what is on that tape. Actually Zombie Drones sounds like another nod to Internecion Cube.

That was an intense episode, as all slasher films are. I mean we now learn that if Uzi loses control she turns into a monster and why it seems the DDs were sent to the planet, we have a new “character/plot device" in the form of the robotic bug, N stumbling upon a tape that will likely explain everything, and we see V being jealous of how close Uzi and N are which I think could make her start to remember his life before she became a DD.

Only time will tell on what will happen next but I have some new theories based on what we saw.

After seeing Uzi’s ability to turn inorganic things into organic, I have this new theory that Doll is the mystery human girl we saw in this episode. See there was this old theory that went over the possibility of the drones being originally human or used human parts and something like this seems to be true, especially after seeing the lab machinery holding a human body part in N's visions. Maybe Doll’s mother was originally that girl in the flashback who use to own J, V, and N but died which made her father want her back as a robot. However, the inorganic and organic components resulted in their dangerous powers and had to be taken out, but failed and the the girl was able to escape where she had a robot daughter of her own AKA Doll. Also after seeing Uzi turn inorganic into organic matter, maybe Doll could do something similar but on a bigger scale as she could make herself look very much like a human.

I also have this theory that whatever gives Uzi and Doll their powers, its being used slightly for the DD’s. I mean thinking back to episode 2, that heart thing that came out of J gives me a similar vibe to the techno-organic substance Uzi was making in the episode. For all we know after the exoplanet incident, the tech behind it was perfected on Earth and they gave it to N and the other DDs to give them a fighting chance against the 3rd kind of drones. It would explain how they can make all those weapons and regenerate quickly.

What did you think of the episode? What did you like about it and do you have any theories of your own about the series?

[libraryofbaxobab]

UPDATE TO MY PREVIOUS POST December 5, 2023:

I lied. I forced my way through it. Turns out, the first half of the book is the equivalent to a jogger finding the body in the cold open of an episode of Law & Order. I had to suffer through all of that for next to nothing, because the part that I consider to be the actual story picks up decades later with different characters. That said, once that part actually starts (way too late!) it picks up right away and becomes almost as fun as I hoped it would be. It's exciting and gross and there are guns and explosions and motorcycles and other cool shit.

I stand by my criticism of giving the slime mold anthropomorphic thoughts. The narration goes out of its way to explicitly state that it does not actually have thoughts. And yet, it has POV sections where it wants, it decides, it learns, it remembers, it actively problem-solves-- not to imply that it's gaining sentience like I thought but in direct conflict with the book's own insistence. This leads me to believe that this author just does not have the mastery of language to phrase it any other way. That's pretty embarrassing.

Here's a thing that I liked! The mind-control portions. Those were the kind of horror I wanted and the intrusive thoughts/ instructions were delivered in a pretty spooky voice by the audiobook narrator, who otherwise totally sucked. (Seriously, he narrated in almost complete monotone but then inexplicably did some characters' voices as a Hank Hill impression like wtf) Random weird thoughts that are not the character's own? Yes please.

Next, the characters are going to be... divisive, for some. The main guy (again, once the real story starts) talks manically and nonstop and it's super annoying. He is self-aware of this quirk, but it does make him hard to deal with as a voice. He's an exhausting character that starts out hard to like, but I ended up coming around after seeing he is making conscious efforts to better his life. It's actually really interesting to see someone in the early stages of taking responsibility but not quite getting it right yet. I liked the romance subplot (A sentence I never thought I'd type!!) and thought it was weirdly sweet. It was much slower and more thoughtful than the dreadful horny triple-threat in the "cold open."

Not to belabor that again, but after some more thought, I realized that this book actually has two "jogger finds the body" set pieces. We shouldn't forget that the three characters from the insufferable beginning half are already investigating a reported death, which brings them to the remote village where the fungus originated-- a village that the book once again goes out of its way to note that it is specifically reclaimed indigenous land. That's not important to the plot in any way, but it would be mildly interesting if it didn't mean that the book kills off twenty-six indigenous people offscreen just to focus on the actual experience of the white people (or, in one character's case, white-passing Latino. And yes, that he has a Hispanic name but looks "white enough" is actually a plot point in the book, which makes it even more suspect that in the movie adaptation coming out next year he is played by Liam Neeson and given a different name. Oop!). That just feels weird to me, to have gone on and on about the legality of returning indigenous lands for no reason if we weren't going to use any of those characters' perspectives. They were literally set dressing to show the white people how gruesome the consequences of contracting the contagion would be. They're the unnamed "killer's previous victims" on a bulletin board in the "jogger finding the body" analogy.

One of those three cold-open characters comes back later with a plan to save the day because they've ~seen this before and know what it can do~. Except, no they don't. They barely investigated the village at all and left immediately with a sample. This character has a comprehensive list of difficult-to-obtain materials that are absolutely necessary to containing this threat. Much time is devoted to this list but in vague terms; we are not privy to the specific items on that list, presumably until the moment they are used. But rest assured that every single item is totally of the utmost importance to this plan and they have thought of every possible- just kidding they bring, like, a gun. Why is there even a list, other than of course to waste a bunch of time to make the stakes seem higher to the characters who are trapped and awaiting rescue? Why is this book so interested in wasting my time?

I think ultimately this book shows that the author doesn't grasp the writer's mantra of "show, don't tell" which is wild considering he has written a bunch of famous and exciting movies. This might be his first crack at a novel, and since he can't rely on visual shorthand, he compensates by just insisting to the reader that certain things are true, even when the action shows us the opposite. The list is useful because he says it's useful, don't worry about how little it gets used. The fungus isn't sentient because he says it isn't, don't pay attention to all the active thoughts he's given it. The guy from the offscreen inciting incident died horribly because a character says he died horribly, you don't even need a description. It's not even clever unreliable narrator shenanigans, it just comes off as an inexperienced novelist demanding that you believe him no matter what you've seen.

[flowersdaggersviolasandblood]

Blood, Flesh, and Tears

Name: Torment (He/Him)

Race: Zariel Tiefling

Class: Paladin (Oath of Vengence)

Background: Haunted One

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!

So after dealing with the homies outside, we now get to deal with the homettes inside. Before going on another senseless violent rampage, decided to pay a few peeps a visit. One, decided to get Torment acquainted with the dommy daddy, Abdirak.

This entire time Torment was in a perpetual state of "this better not awake anything in me." Spoiler alert, it did. Homeboy was spared because of this. Hope we'll get to see this man later in the game. Torment also rescued Liam and mainly wanted to know where Halsin was, not caring much yet about the Nightsong. As we rampaged across the Goblin camp, Tormet started eating some gummy worms and gaining a few Mindflayer powers from them. Torment is still a bit skeptical about doing this, but utilizing these powers might give them an edge against the Absolute cult.

After wrecking house (fuck Dror Ragzlin, that mf was hard as a cock!) Torment was able to free Halsin and gain some knowledge about his reasons for wanting to reach the old temple of Selune. Apparently the cultist are bring innocents to a place called Moonrise Towers where these individuals come out as True Souls. This could be their main base of operation, so infiltrating it will be high priority if they want to find a cure.

Torment agrees to let Halsin bunk with the Party as they go venture through the Underdark to reach Moonrise Towers. During and after the Goblin slaughter, we learned a few new things about Shadowheart. One, we got the lesbian fight between she and Shadowheart and was able to tell the girls to kiss and make up. Two, we learn that Shadowheart has a life desire to be a Dark Justiciar, but her Mother Superior always deemed her unfit for the role. It is also around this time that we even get a cutscene moment of Shadowheart and her earliest childhood memories that she could remember.

With this in mind, Torment is starting to warm up to her, though he's becoming a bit more worried about Shadowhearts' dedication to Shar. Torment isn't going to pretend that he knows everything about the Lady of Darkness, but the allusion to abuse and the fact that her worshippers adopted Shadowheart into their ranks, when they probably would've left her for dead. Torment is careful to not make any hints that he might disapprove of her worship, wanting to hear more of her story and the Shar worshipers before casting his final judgement.

During the Tiefling party, I won the fucking game my guy! Some time ago, Astarion offered to share the night with Torment, which Torment was unsure if he wanted to because the moment he dropped this, it was when he recently killed Alfira and he feared for Astarions' safety. But after the bloodshed he committed, Torment was high on adrenaline and was a bit more susceptible.

Hearing Astarion's declaration of love made Torment's heart stop and he tried to see if the vampire was toying with him. He wouldn't have pegged Astarion as someone would would drop such precious words so suddenly. Torment, in the brief second, couldn't help but doubt these words, but at the same time, he has withdrawn himself from more carnal desires that he was willing to shove his own self doubt and mistrust to enjoy the night with Astarion. This time, not running away from him.

With that merry song and dance out of the way, we're now ready to set our sights on ACT 2, but first, Wyll asks that we take care of the "Devil" that still prowl the road. With the Goblin threat gone, Torment is more than ready to deal with this Karlach. Before going after her, however, Torment gets another visit from his Guardian.

Apparently this Guardian is also infected with a tadpole like the rest of the Party, and they express that the magic that controls these parasites is secreted away with the cultist. No typical healer can alleviate this burden, as removing the parasite any other way will kill Torment. They urge that Torment find the source to this magic and destroy it, for when the Absolute decides that everyone transforms, it won't be a matter of days, but it will be instantaneous.

[iloveabunchofgames]

#JakeReviewsItch

ARGH-P-G

by Liam Twose @ #PitchYaGame

Price (US): Name your own price

Included In: Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality

Genre: Role Playing

Pitch: Bare-bones, turn-based dungeon crawling with three character classes. Can you complete the 50th floor?

My expectations: Not much of a looker, is it? And I think this is the first game I've reviewed with the status listed as "cancelled." Nevertheless, I tend to prefer a stripped-down dungeon-crawler to a bloated, self-important RPG.

Review:

Walk through a procedurally generated maze of simple rooms. Attack or avoid the enemies within. Plunder whatever loot remains. Find a staircase to the next floor. Do it again. This is the structure of Rogue, a historical footnote from 1980, with no lasting legacy. ARGH-P-G dares to ask, “What if a modern indie game were like Rogue?”

Note: Getting attacked triggers a strobing effect. Out of caution and respect, none of the clips in this review depict direct combat.

Each room is a 3x3 square, always with a free space in the middle for the player’s character. The eight remaining spots might contain enemies, keys, potions, arrows, meat, traps, or debris that can be cleared away to reveal keys, potions, etc. And that’s the whole game.

There are three classes. Paladins primarily attack by bumping into enemies. Mages can use an unnecessary variety of magic spells, assuming they have enough mana. Rogues use a bow to instantly clear a room, but only if they have an arrow on hand for each monster.

Each class can pick up the others’ disciplines, but they’re not balanced equally. My mage and paladin runs didn’t last long. My rogue attempt didn’t last long, either—I unceremoniously reached the final floor in about five minutes. It would have been quicker if several bugs hadn’t impeded my progress.

+ There's something inherently compelling about Rogue, even when it's done this poorly. + Moves quickly. + A variety of control options. I preferred the num pad, but letters, arrows, and mouse are all viable. + It's possible to reach the end.

– It's a bad version of one of the most imitated games of all time. – Somehow looks worse than ASCII characters on a black screen. – Buggy and incomplete. – Thoughtless tedium.

🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 Bottom Line: There are a zillion roguelikes out there, and many of them have some unique selling point. The best that can be said of this one is that it can be completed, for free, in a browser, during a single coffee break. It's harmless enough, and it's always nice in a video game when the numbers get bigger, but ARGH-P-G gets an ENN-O from me.

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