#alastaria

[twilight-resonance]

Storytelling and Sharing

Once again, here keeping the brain sinkhole at bay. Doing generally better than I was some weeks ago, thank the gods for that. The goal today is to do some writing so that I can scrub my brain clean and focus on planning for D&D with Hearthsnail’s coworkers tomorrow, so that’s what we’re on. Otherwise just the usual general processing etc.

Just finished watching some C-SPAN while playing a game and waiting to warm up so that I can think. Was watching a senate committee hearing on broadband access, and it was interesting watching some actual D-R collaboration going on. The committee chair is Navajo, so there was a lot of looking at parallel obstacles to access between tribes and rural areas. Which is legit. Lots of other things interesting about that conversation, but I was only half-tuned in and I’m not sure I got it all so I’m gonna leave it for now.

Other things we need to do to get my brain going is eat an actual meal (in progress) and warm up (also in progress, though lemme grab my jacket) - then I’ll hopefully be able to actually focus on D&D. The party is at a choice point right now, so I’m working on writing out all three of the possible paths they could choose; a fair amount of work up-front, but will also mean that I don’t need to do planning for a while after this because the choices are very much not mutually exclusive and they can come back to them later. There’s also the chance that they take a completely other fourth path depending on whether they’ve decoded that paper I gave them last session... And depending on what I actually put in there. I don’t actually remember anymore, which makes it, uh, challenging to plan for.

(Oh crap, I was gonna try to make a map today. More things to add time and space for. We’ll get there, I hope.)

I know that I’ve said it before, but this D&D campaign - the one for Hearthsnail’s co-worker - is almost certainly my favorite thing I’m running a the moment. A big part of it is the joy of introducing people to the genre: not only is this their first tabletop RPG, for a few of them this is also their first experience with fantasy and particularly high fantasy as a genera. So there’s a lot of introducing them to the really classic tropes and themes and features, and being able to see them with fresh eyes alongside them. It’s also a lot of fun GMing for a bunch of teachers, in that even if they don’t have the fantasy RPG background, they absolutely have the very clever problem-solving skills and ability to pick up on subtle things going on. That one I also have to keep an eye on - because they’re also picking up on some subtle cues in how I react to and manage things, and I’m going to have to work very carefully to not give things away in tiny ways.

Shit though, man, I think the other big part of what I’m enjoying about running the whole thing is being able to just be who I am in my own skin and not worry about it too much. There aren’t the preexisting politics and traumas that exist is my other gaming spaces, I’m with my actual age-peers who are full adults and can manage themselves, and there are moments when I’m in the middle of running a scene or encounter when I realize that I’m just comfortable and haven’t been self-conscious for an hour and a half. I’m here doing what I love with people who are wonderful, and storytelling and able to share that with people who haven’t gotten to see that side of me and things are just good. So that’s a piece of it as well. 

Anyway, I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Got to finish my planning and make that map, and I’ve got other responsibilities besides after that. I was also going to make some potato skins to bring for snacking on tomorrow, so  that needs to happen too. 

FalJL this weekend was also nice. It was a very rainy event, especially in the afternoon; but all of the players were troopers about it. They were great about keeping each other safe on the field and keeping the equipment covered up once it really started raining, and stayed in good spirits despite the wet and cold. The parents of a pair of my newer players were also incredibly thoughtful and brought both a big easy-up tent space and a tarp to put under it for the inn, so that we had somewhere dry to be. That family also gave me a Christmas present - just a cute little handmade santa ornament, which is now hanging proudly front-and-center on our tree. It was all so incredibly sweet, and I’m glad that as a family they’re getting so much out of this.

It was also nice having more players in general. There were about ten in the morning, which - while, in the grand scheme of things, is still fairly small - it’s been a long time now since I’ve had ten players at once at FalJL. Many left for the afternoon - understandable, given the rain - but even then, we still had about six, which is an improvement by far. 

I’ve been really enjoying the story for FalJL so far this year. I know that I’ve talked before about having rearranged my story pacing for this season, and it’s very much working out for FalJL in particular. So too, being able to use the weather to my advantage; I was realizing over the course of the event that one of the particular qualities/specialties that features in my GMing is being able to respond to and use changes in the weather to enhance a scene, even as they’re happening. There were some cool moments earlier in the day - talking with the Fated Death Cultists, negotiating with a local town and the fey who had taken it over, etc - but it was really the end of the day that was my favorite.

Not to give away too much, but for the last scene of the last mission I was playing Death. It’s important to know that, in my game world, Death comes at sunset - which is to say, we draw from the deathbag at the end of the day. Well, this was just as the rain was picking up; and as the sun was sinking, so it was growing ever-dimmer behind the clouds; and the wind was still, and there was the faintest mist starting to cling to the air. I set myself far away from the party, far across the fields and facing away with them; and all the baddies playing vultures on the first trees skirting the edge of the field between me and the players; and when it was game on, just started - slowly, methodically, calmly - walking away. And oh, it was magical. To say nothing of, watching the players make connections with some other til-then loose threads of things they had learned earlier in the day and earlier in the season; and it was wonderful. So too is that first moment that they work up the courage to come close enough to peek under my hood and see the mask - because they know, somewhere in their hearts before then, that I’m Death; but they’re not sure until they see that first glimpse, and there’s the suspense and the fear and the wonder that comes with the lead-up to it. 

So that was an awesome day. They were also champs about helping me clean all the equipment up as fast as we could to minimize the damp that got into the trailer, and about helping the parents who brought the easy-up take it back down and fold up the tarp without even being asked. My players are great, and I’m so very proud of them. 

Also got to plan for FalAL. We’re out of town for the holidays on the date that would be the normal schedule for it, so I’m running it a weekend-and-a-day early because that is the only time there is to do it in. So that’s one of the things I need to do after planning D&D. Lots of work to do on that front - insert yikes face here - but we’ll get there. I hope.

So that’s all the adventures in my job and GMing and whatnot right now. Actually, that’s a lie - there’s plenty more - but I’m going to pass over those for now and find a handful of things to talk about that aren’t that, for my own health and sanity.

Let’s see. Still reading The Dark Tower, and still enjoying it. Got to the end of a chapter that hit particularly keenly, so I’m going to kind of just sit on that for the day and not go back to it to let it rest. They also finally got whatever rights they need to add Catan to Board Game Arena, so I’ve been playing a fair amount of that in the evenings as well as Plate Up during the day when Hearthsnail’s not home. I don’t know what it is about Plate Up that tickles my brain so good, but it does. Sometimes I fall asleep with the patterns of the game still going in my brain - only once or twice, but still.

Ah - I think the other big obstacle to planning at the moment is actually how messy the house is. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t do the dishes until Hearthsnail takes the garbage out, so things are... a little backed up. All the dishes and kitchen things piled up everywhere is not helping for my focus. I’ll maybe... see what I can do to consolidate that once I’m done writing this, on the off chance that it makes a difference.

Working on holiday gifts for my family and Hearthsnail’s family. We’ve got his sister-and-family’s gifts sorted out for sure, I think; and I have a long list of possibilities for mine, just need to go through them and pick things for settled-true. Also been trying to think of things to put on my own wishlist because people don’t know what to get me and I made that wishlist specifically to help with that, and that’s been its own challenge. 

Yeah, I dunno, I think that’s mostly it. We got a tree last week, finally - a smaller one than in past years - and I’ve been enjoying it as ever. Picked up a tree skirt for it this year. The first night we brought it in, we found out a dragonfly had hitched a ride on it; and somehow clung to the tree through the whole process of cutting it down and driving it home and shaking off all the water from it - until it warmed up enough to wake up and freak out and buzz around the house for a bit. It wasn’t hard to catch - it doesn’t have the same “flee” instinct as, you know, a prey animal would - and after that we tossed it outside to do what it would do. Getting the tree was fun - always is. So’s setting it up. All good things.

That’s about it, I think. Haven’t done much hiking since we got back from Zion; it’s the end of the semester, so Hearthsnail’s had no time for it. He’s already staying late probably every day this week to catch up on grading, so that doesn’t leave much time in the evenings for anything else. We need to cut his hair and stamp some of those wedding invites tonight if we can, but we’ll see how much time we have. All to hope.

Anyway, I’m going to dwindle off for now. Open the curtains, do some tidying up, and maybe play another run of Plate Up before going back to planning. Looking forward to it, at least - just got to get the focus to cooperate. 

[simp2537]

Masterlist

🔥-Smut 🧨-Angst

🩹-Hurt/Comfort 🧸-Fluff

🫶🏻-Yandere

🗝️-Dark/Darkish Aleksander Morozova

Series

Moon Helios: Y/n Starkov a legendary warrior, fierce protecter and monster. Bred and broken in servitude to her saint. She knows nothing but her mission in life. To live, and die at her saint’s command. Aleksander Morozova the most powerful of the grisha, a monster. A general who has been fighting alone for hundreds of years. She hates him, he needs her. 🔥🧨🩹🧸🗝️

Series trigger warnings: Child abuse, anxiety, religious trauma, racism, manipulation, division of canon, Alina hate?, trauma, ptsd, bullying, insomnia, self-neglect, mental health issues, guilt tripping, cult theme, blood consumption, cannibalism?? Lost of murder, talks of SA in other characters, Sexual acts, future smut, predatory behavior(not from Aleks) and all other shadow and bone stuff

Act I : Face Claims Act l : Prologue Act l : The academy Act I : Burn Marks Act I : Where’s my epic background music Act I : Necklace for a Lifetime Act I : The Motherland

Series Blurs

I Have a Dream

Oneshots

Marking (Aleksander Morozova x fem!reader) 🔥 Touch her and die (Aleksander Morozova x fem!reader) 🩹🧨 Scars (Aleksander Morozova x wife reader)🧨🩹 Tension (Aleksander Morozova x fem!reader)🔥

Harry Potter

Series

N/a

Oneshots

A Miracle (Mattheo Riddle x pregnant!reader) 🩹 A Fathers love (Matthe Riddle x wife!reader)🩹🧸🧨 Reunion (King!Siris Black x fem!reader)🩹🧸

John Wick

Series

Pupllis: She was a weapon from birth. Born and bred to kill for the high table. John Wick a legendary assassin who knew more fame than any. She was a gift to him, he didn’t want to keep her. As there time together passes and they learn to care for one anyone the High Table comes for them. platonic! John wick x child!fem! Reader.🩹🧨🔥🗝️🧸 (Smut is not with John but future Oc)

Chapters One

Oneshots

N/a

My Hero Academia

Series

The Final Alice: Aizawa never wanted to be a father but that plan was thrown away when he found a girl during a mission. This girl was like no child he’d ever seen before. As she grew her power and background remained a mystery. How will her life turn when she meets a charming red head with sharp teeth and an explosive blonde. platonic!Aizawa x daughter!reader, KiriBaku x fem!reader.🧨🩹🔥🧸

Help Pick A Hero Name Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine

Oneshots

N/a

Narnia

Series

From the Stars : A star fairy and the prince of the kingdom that destroyed hers. What could happen? Prince Caspian x fem!reader🧨🧨🧨🔥🩹

Sneak Peak

Oneshots

Yandere Prince Caspian x reader headcannons🫶🏻 Something New (King Caspian x wife reader) 🔥

Percy Jackson

Series

N/a

Oneshots

Runaway (Percy Jackson x gn!reader)🧨🧨🩹🫶🏻🗝️ Misery is the Truest way of Love (Yandere Pereabeth x gn!reader)🫶🏻🧨🗝️ Lovers Quarrel (Pereabeth x gn!reader)🧨🩹 Stage Lovers (Yandere Perceabth x male!reader) 🧨🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🗝️

Blurs

Bottom Percy 🔥

Winx Club

Series

Fairy of Monsters : Alastaria the forgotten sister of Bloom. She slowly begins to unravel her true nature, thread by thread. How will she survive the many trials of her life. Sky of Eraklyon x Oc. Dark Winx Club fix.🩹🧨🗝️

Chapters one : Advesperascit  Chapter two : Monochopsis Chapter three : Kalopsia

Oneshots

N/a

The 100

Series

Project SS: It stared as an idea. Take a dying child and infect them with the SS serum. These children would be raised in isolation, to be the future soldiers for the ark, then earth.

Most died out over time.

Not her, Not Y/n Kane. The only child of Marcus Kane and his wife Alice Kane. After her birth, born with a weak heart Alice Kane decided to give her to the scientists that were working on the project.

Forging her husband’s signature upon the document Alice Kane was sentenced to death. The deal though and Y/n Kane became the most deadly of the super soldiers.

When protecting a friend she finds herself in a cell. Then in her way to earth with the rest of the 100. How will her love continue knowing she’s just puppet to be controlled. Will she grow out of such a horrible situation and blossom with the help of her friends and loved ones. Or will she fall so deep into her created identity that there is no hope. Bellamy Blake x fem!reader.🔥🧨🩹🗝️

Sneak Peak Chapter One

Dead Boy Detectives

Series

Scylla: She’s a half-breed mutt and he’s a crow. She was trapped in hell for hundreds of years before she met a teenage ghost who helped her escape. They later met another boy who would soon die and join there friendship. The group created the Dead Boy Detective Agency. Later as their classes become more difficult pieces of her life before her friends is slowly revealed. What should happen when she met and falls deeply and helplessly in love with an enemy crow. 🔥🧨🩹

Sneak peek Cast Chapter One Chapter Two

Oneshots

Poly Crystal Palace x mermaid reader x Niko Sasaki🧸

Request list/Requests are Open