#combine that with reading through War games for the first time and I have thoughts

[teleportationmagic]

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hey! I've gotten super into solo rpgs but I tend to find combat boring. Are there fantasy themed rpgs with less focus on combat that you would recommend? (If they are soloable, that's also a win!)

THEME: Fantasy Solo Non-Combat.

Hello friend, thank you very much for your ask! I'm going to direct you to two Solo-themed game recommendations first, before I dive into today's recs.

Character-Focused Solo Games: Games that focus on character-building. Lighthearted Solo Games: Fun, non-serious solo games.

A Year in the Spirit World, by ToriBee.

The wind rustles through the emerald canopy above as you open your eyes to an unfamiliar world. You're lying on a bed of lush moss, the gentle warmth of the Spirit World sun caressing your face. Around you, a forest of towering ancient trees, each pulsating with an otherworldly glow. It's ethereal, enchanting, and unlike anything you've ever seen.

Drawing from a deck of fate, you'll encounter spirits, creatures, and natural phenomena as enchanting as they are daunting. Each encounter might test your spirit, challenge your harmony with this world, or tempt you to act against your values.

There is some combat in this game, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be the focus. The game is about survival, but you’re as likely to be navigating social situations as you are to be fighting enemies. What I like about this game is the spirit companion who will travel the world with you: there are four different options, each of them cute and enchanting. If you love Studio Ghibli films, you should definitely check out A Year in the Spirit World!

The Goblin Thought, by Kai Medina.

The goblin hoard - a pile of goods and trinkets - is a place of greed, yes. But it's the same greed that thrives throughout this land of men and beetles. It's the allowed selfishness that helps us learn and grow, walk and run, screech and scramble. The hoard is the goblin's memory.

The Goblin Thought is a unique and engaging journaling game that combines chance and narrative to create a compelling story. Players take on the role of a goblin, collecting memories and items in their hoard as they navigate through a world of wonder and danger, allowing for growth and change. With a deck of cards and a six-sided die, each turn presents new challenges and opportunities for creative storytelling, drawing, and reflection. 

This game is placed in a fantasy setting, but with a larger purpose. It’s both a journaling game and a thought experiment, a chance to place yourself in the shoes of someone whose history exists within the hoard they have accumulated. Each card you draw from a deck has three prompts attached to it, so you have the potential to play this game (and build a history) for a very long time.

Little Shepherd, Little Spy, by @psychhound.

You try to keep out of the whole war business.

It’s just not really your thing. There are more important things to worry about, like Gethin, your biggest ram, getting stuck in the fence again, or Ffion rubbing against the raspberry bushes and getting her wool all sticky.

Life is pretty simple for a humble shepherd such as yourself.

Little Shepherd, Little Spy is a solo journaling game about being a spy in the fairy war. Choose which side you're on, then draw tarot cards to interpret the messages coming through the information ring. Your tarot card tells you what book to look at and what page. Then you copy down all the relevant information on that page and consult your spy codebook.

I absolutely love fairy games and the premise for this one is super interesting to me. Your character will be interpreting messages that take the form of books that you have on your shelf, and you’ll determine which book to look at (and which page to read) by drawing tarot cards from a deck. If you look into this one I definitely recommend setting aside some time, and perhaps selecting a few books for each category to have on hand, to ease the cycle of play.

The Wandering Library, by AP.

You are the proud owner of a Wandering Library. Whether you bought, built or inherited it, it is your home. Travelling as far and as wide as you desire, your days are spent encountering an assortment of customers, exploring new locations, and tending to your beloved home of books.

This is a a game designed to generate prompts for you to answer in as much or as little detail as you would like. All you need is two six-sided dice and your preferred method of journaling. Using the tables provided, you will explore locations and meet different people, recording your adventures and encounters as you travel in your Wandering Library.

This is a simple one-page game that presents you with a few starting questions, and the supplies a grid of prompts that you’ll roll 2d6 for. Each prompt is a new event, complete with a question, asking how your character reacts. There’s plenty of room for your own imagination. The house is a travelling library, which feels pretty fantastical to me! This game will likely last a few hours or so; it’s not really built for extended play.

Fetch My Blade, by Ethan Yen.

For years you have served your Master faithfully. A loyal companion, you accompanied your Master through the difficult times, and the good times. Now, you are called in a moment of dire need: a Stranger has challenged your Master to a duel, alluding to time before you. Your Master rises to the challenge, calling you forth. This is your moment. You have trained for this. It is time to do your Master proud. 

FETCH MY BLADE is a solo journaling roleplaying game where you play as the dog of a retired legendary master of the sword, tasked with a quest of your own: retrieve your master’s fabled weapon in time for their final duel. On your quest, you will uncover and explore your Master’s guarded past-- transforming your character, deepening your relationship with your Master, and ultimately influencing your Master’s fate.

This is a lovely little game of exploring a dog’s relationship to their Master, and developing a backstory as you play. I don’t think there’s specifically a setting in place for this game, but the presence of swords certainly points towards the fantastical. There doesn’t seem to be any specific combat in the game, but violence is considered to have happened in the past, as the game provides a content warning regarding a war that has already happened.

[redrocketpanda]

Thanks for answering my ask before. If you don't mind me asking (again), can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......

Hello again - thanks so much for all of these questions!

Hmmmm, I have so many favourite things across so many different forms of media that choosing a top 7/10 is super hard. I've gone with my gut of the first things I thought of that I love, but the list could easily be wayyyyyy longer. I'm sorry - I tried to keep this as short as I could... In no particular order:

My Hero Academia (anime + manga) MHA is the first anime that I think I ever really properly enjoyed. I watched it in 2021/2022, immediately fell in love with it, and proceeded to devour both the anime and almost all of the manga. I obviously adore all of the characters, but I also love the way that MHA portrays superpowers - both in terms of how they function (w/ there being unique limitations to them) as well as how it depicts/explores superhero society. I don't normally go in for superhero type media anymore, but the combination of all of the above (plus literally the sickest soundtrack from Yuki Hayashi) easily makes it one of my fave ever things

The Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers (books) I could write an entire dissertation on why this is one of my favourite series of all time, and why Becky Chambers is one of my favourite authors. But the shorter answer is: literally everything about them. Chambers' writing is beautiful, her narratives are full of love, hope and community, and her characters are incredibly diverse and well written. My fave book from the series is Record of a Spaceborn Few.

Dragon Age series (video games) I first came across Dragon Age at a fan convention back in 2016/2017 during a panel on queer media (I think). In addition to the panel discussing the general queer relationships/characters in the series, they specifically highlighted Dorian and Krem in DA: Inquisition. The following day I went out, purchased all the games, and then played them through from the first game. IThe games are super fun to play, the writing is *chefs kiss*, and I love the themes that the games explore. I love them so much I've even written an article and done a podcast episode about them!

Jurassic Park franchise (films, books, games) Jurassic Park is one of the franchises that I was raised on (along with Star Wars) and I have been obsessed with it ever since. I've seen all the films (up to Jurassic World), read the books, own books about JP, played a bunch of the games, and even have a poster map of Isla Nublar on my wall. Dinosaurs are one of the big reasons I love them, but also I think the films have always been very interesting to me for how they give us a lens in which to think about animal rights + conservation in a science fictional setting (something else I have also done a paper on!)

Final Fantasy XV (video game) I'll keep this one short and sweet: best boys on a roadtrip that will both make your heart full of joy but will ultimately leave you a sobbing mess on the floor (Honestly I didn't play FFXV until the end of 2022 and I am still !!!!!!! over it)

Haikyuu!! (anime) sksalkkljsa. I don't even know what to say about this. HQ is just the fucking best.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (video game) I don't talk about it so much anymore, but Exocolonist is still one of my favourite games and it makes my heart feel so much whenever I think about it. I love the entire aesthetic of it. I love how impactful your choices feel and how many different routes you can go down. I love how inclusive the game is, not just in terms of gender, race and sexuality but also with polyamoury + family/community dynamics. The worldbuilding is beautiful, the soundtrack is *cries*. Just...it's such a wonderful game.

Manic (film) There are a lot of films I could choose for this list, but if I can only choose one (bc space) then I think Manic is a good pick. It's the 2001 indie film with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Don Cheadle, etc, and is set in an adolescent psychiatric ward. This film means a lot to me personally, I'll just leave it at that.

Xandri Corelel series (books) I spoke a bit about why I love the series so much in response to your favourite characters question but to summarise: cool as fuck science fiction series where cool as fuck autistic bisexual polyam protagonist, Xandri, is the head of the xeno-liaisons team. It's got stellar worldbuilding, excellent characters, and explores lots of interesting issues. Also, my favourite book is Tone of Voice (2nd in the series) partly bc its got space whales in it.

Mass Effect (video games) I think by now its pretty clear I love science fiction, so Mass Effect was always gonna be a big hit with me. I actually played Dragon Age first, and then a friend told me I had to play ME. The entire series is just sooooo good for very similar reasons to a lot of my other favourites: well-written, beloved characters, cool ass narrative/s, choice-based, fun FPS moments, cool worldbuilding, sick soundtrack!

[gobblinhours]

Thin Line Commentary

I've never done this before, but @alchemicallymoon made one for their Agent 32 fic, (which can be read here) so what the hell, seems like an interesting idea!

And fun fact, the whole idea for this fic was spawned because I cannot smile, I just press my lips together into a Thin Line (title drop)

Biggest thing to note: How long it took to write. I thought that it would be around 5000 words and I could get it out by Thanksgiving.

This was not the case. The original roadmap was Eight & Four -> Eight & Three, with a one-day time skip in the middle. But then I had an idea to make it less abrupt, so I integrated Off the Hook into it, before realizing I was leaning into Eight's relationship with Pearl, at the cost of Marina, so I had to make another scene with Eight and Marina to even things out. (leading to this post) Then I figured I should throw in a little bit of positive interaction between Pearl and Marina, which luckily was easily able to be adapted into something subtly referencing Pearlina at the end.

Then I realized that someone had to stay back to commentate over the radio, and if Three and Eight were going to go into a kettle together like I planned, someone else would have to be in the story. I'm not confident in writing Cuttlefish or Sheldon for extended periods, and I already utilized Marie for a joke, so Callie was the most viable option.

And she worked surprisingly well! She and Eight bounced off of each other as if they had been friends for years, even though at this point in time this was the first time Eight had spent any time 1-on-1 with Callie, and she was a great foil to Three, with both examples leading to slapdash photoshop jobs. I had them run through a kettle, (24, for obvious reasons.), and fun fact: That was written as I played through it with a charger, albeit with two people and an increase in skill.

After that, I finally was able to get Three and Eight together, although by that point I was already over my estimate and had to cut out a plot point to save time and energy. (Three and Eight get sushi together during the evening with a Three name drop!) Luckily that was at the very end of the fic, so that fact, combined with the fact that I had no idea how to bridge the time gap except for a shopping montage, which seemed like too much of a cut for me, so I chopped it down to lunch, turf war, and video games. In the end, the roadmap ended up more like Eight & Four -> Eight & Pearl -> Eight & Marina -> Eight with Pearlina in the background -> Eight & Callie -> Eight & Three.

The biggest time loss besides IRL business was finding ways to connect the scenes together organically, as I didn't want to overutilize line breaks. I spent days unable to think of a way to connect them, (the kettle run and lunch being especially egregious) to the point where the once-liberal Thanksgiving estimate was now a speck in the rear-view mirror. The second biggest issue was writing a turf war, as I realized that fight scenes (specifically choreography) were not my specialty. (Also why you don't get to see Eight play generic-brand DDR) I can visualize it in my mind, but I can't put it into words. Hopefully with practice that can be fixed.

Overall, this is the second fic I've written that I was 100% proud of upon release, possibly due to the anxiety that came from accidentally posting it early drowned out any perceived issues, which happened with my first fic, which is the other one I was satisfied with. (my one complaint is that I couldn't come up with a good name for Callie to use in a chatroom, because agentFUN was already taken and I couldn't come up with anything else.)

Overall, I'm surprisingly happy with the quality of this, and I doubt that I'll write anything close to this length and quality, at least for a while. And while I know that I did say that I would write another Agent 24 fic next, this has drained me of any motivation to write anything focused on this ship, and I need time to recover. But I have plenty of non-24 related ideas, and motivation still flows within me. The most anyone should expect for a bit is occasional updates to my microfic dump, but that by no means means that I am not going to write anything big again, just taking a break from more time-consuming projects, as I spent over a month on this, and the added pressure of having people vote on this didn't help at all, so from now on I probably won't do that.

But even though it was absolute hell to write, it was oddly satisfying to work on, and it feels weird not having to think about what to write next.

[missing-a-place-ive-never-been]

so i just finished campaign 2

in 6 months pretty much to the fucking day. and what a half a year it was. i don't know how to write down how much i love these characters, just... watching them evolve from the very beginning of the journey was just so special. i started campaign 1 in the briarwood arc (and i honestly should probably rewatch that just bc i was so confused about what was happening still at that point) and i loved seeing these characters from their first meeting as a group and how their experiences and relationships formed them into the people they were a year(-ish??) later.

Although c3 is the one that got me hooked and will always be special bc of that, and c1 felt more of a idk how to say it a story because of the separation and a more clear path (going from the briarwoods to the dragons to vecna just felt more natural to me instead of what mostly felt like side quests next to the war storyline and the lucien storyline), i feel the most connection as a group with m9. their individual development but also their group dynamic in which each of them felt like an integral part to the story and all were important to each other and had special moments together... idk something so very compelling and i will be thinking about them for a long fucking time.

As for the numbers, this means that on average i spend over two and a half hours a day for the past half a year watching critical role and i honestly cannot say i regret it. i don't know if i will ever play d&d myself as i think cr has set such a high bar of expectations and i don't really know the right people for it (at this moment) but i have grown to see the value in role playing games. though the stories might be fantasy, the emotions these people bring to the table each week is are just raw and real and have made me work through some of my own issues, i can't even imagine the impact on their own lives throughout all of it.

in the end, i would have loved to see more of essek and caleb interacting. liam and matt's interactions in the final part of 141 broke me and made me yearn for more. i haven't seen the wrap up of the reunion eps yet but at least for the reunion i don't think we see essek until the last few moments, which is bittersweet; while we don't see it directly play out, we get a good glimpse into their combined futures and i think that open ending does leave for a lot of own interpretation (and def a lot of great fan art!). overall, the characters i enjoyed most were caleb (i adore liam and his faithful representation of a bisexual disaster) and jester (do i need to explain? wonderfully chaotic and the kind of enjoyment of just life and its beauty i admire and aspire to), but even the characters i had less of a personal connection with (for me ford) i really loved for their interactions and relationships with the others.

i laughed and cried so much while experiencing this campaign, and i am just feeling full with love for the cast and crew and their incredible work and play. this is just a rambling of my thoughts at the moment and kind of a time capsule for myself, but if you are a critter and read all of it, thank you to you as well <3 the community (i mostly only interact with the one on tumblr) makes the experience def more valuable and i'm happy we're on the same journeys together!

[zebrashavestripes]

Let's talk about Caesar Flickerman.

What's your opinion about him?

Where do you think Caesar falls onto, supporter of the Capitol or belong to the secret rebel line?

What's your favourite interview moment with Caesar? Why do you like this moment?

What do you think happened with Caesar after the war? Do you think he survived?

How do you like the portrayal in the movies from the books?

Do you like Stanley Tucci performance as Caesar?

Spoiler for TBOSAS :

What do you think the relationship between Lucky and Caesar? Actual blood relative? Or something else?

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

I feel the Caesar is an interesting one. In the first book, when Katniss first meets him, he gives the impression that he genuinely cares about the contestants, helping each of them perform for the audience and seem generally more interesting.

After the 74th games, it wasn't too clear whether he genuinely believed the love affair between Katniss and Peeta or if he was just encouraging it in order to help them stay alive.

But I feel like we learn a lot more about him when we see him again in the second book. His job there is to help Snow quell the rebellion through the death of the tributes. I feel like it was really obvious in that book that he was a tool in the eyes of the Capitol. All of the interviews, the pageantry, it was to sell the facade behind the games, make it as digestable as possible for the Capitol residents (this is even more obvious after reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes). But he still lets each of the tributes say their piece. They each get a chance to tell the audience why the games shouldn't be held. He too seems emotional that night, like he doesn't want to lose these tributes either. But he doesn't really cross any lines, nothing he could get in trouble for.

Next time we see him, he is interviewing Peeta as he's being held hostage by the Capitol. The entire interview is basically a performance of "oh, we don't know what we're doing, this rebellion is based on a lie, let's have a cease-fire". Caesar remains as a Capitol tool.

I feel like, to me at least, it's clear what happened to Caesar: he didn't get the privilege of picking sides. His only choice was do what the Capitol says or die. He chose to survive. And if that meant going against his own wants/beliefs, so be it. It's hard to tell whether Caesar would've become a rebel if given the chance because he was never really given the chance. And I think that at the end of the rebellion, enough people would've seen that. I don't think killing Caesar would've helped anything. So they probably left him be. He probably would've struggled to adjust to the new world, but I think he would've tried to make his best of it, either way.

As for my favourite moment of his, it's definitely him comforting Katniss after she finds out about Peeta's leg. He was just so gentle with her during that whole thing and I thought it was really sweet.

The portrayal of Caesar by Stanley Tucci was fantastic. He really managed to show the charisma combined with his slightly over-the-top antics. I also am biased because I love Stanley Tucci in so many roles though, hehe.

I definitely think Lucky must be a relative of Caesar's somehow. I also think it's fine that it's not explored in depth and left up to the reader to interpret it however we want.

Thanks for the ask!

[cq-studios]

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Ephemer!

First Impression

Honestly, I’m not too sure. I think I was pretty indifferent to him at first, mostly because I hadn’t actually played the game/experienced the cutscenes. I watched Tennelle and Whitney’s recap of it so I was just hearing about what he did, not necessarily about him.

But I guess since he kept ditching people (Player, Skuld, Player again, but this time in Wreck it Ralph), I figured he was kind of a flake. I found that amusing more than anything tho.

Current Impression

He.

I’m a massive fan of all the NULs, but Ephemer is in the top spot very often (and Skuld is normally right there with him but she’s not who we’re talking about right now). I probably should have more to say but like I dunno

Favourite Moment

Ooh this one is tough.

I’m tempted to say when he comforts Skuld about, you know, how the is literally ending by saying “It’s not over til it’s over”, because it is simultaneously the most human and unhelpful thing to say, and it makes me laugh every time.

But there’s also the scene where he first meets Player, which I also think is fun.

Idea for a Story

I’ve had a little AU idea for awhile where, after Union X, Ephemer figures out that he’s never gonna see his friends again and uses the Unchained State to switch worldlines to one where the glitches hadn’t started yet.

He’d have memory loss with a subconscious feeling that something isn’t right, a la Sleeping Realm Theory. So like, he starts noticing that details of past events are different than what everyone else remembers, he’s much clingier than usual and doesn’t seem to know why, or he sees Player and breaks down out of a guilt he can’t remember ever having.

Skuld notices something is off pretty quickly, and Ephemer feels the same. So they, with the help of Brain (who they also roped into this), try to work out what’s going on. Eventually they’d figure it out, and Ephemer would go back to his original worldline.

I’m not entirely sure what would push him to go back. Maybe reading his Book of Prophecies and learning that Brain wouldn’t have a world to appear in if he didn’t. Or learning that he can move on (about Scala and his kids and stuff), once again with the help of the BoP. Or maybe the glitches start again, and the world ends again, and he realizes that there’s nothing he can do to change what he went through. He just has to accept it. Or you know, some combination of those.

I started writing this a bit ago but haven’t gotten very far. Don’t know if I’ll ever finish it but I’m still working on it on and off.

Unpopular Opinion

Uhh, I’m not entirely sure to be honest…

Like I don’t think I have one??? But I’m also not even quite sure what would be considered a popular opinion about him???

Favourite Relationship

Him and Skuld.

I love their friendship. I love that Kingdom Hearts lets a guy and a girl just be friends, and close one’s at that.

I feel like they have a very teasing friendship (definitely a believer of the prank wars dynamic for them), but like, if push comes to shove, they will stick together through the actual end of the world. I find so much comfort in that, even if in the end they get separated.

Favourite Headcannon

Dude’s a massive conspiracy theorist, and I like that for him. Especially because he ends up in a position of power and, due to the all but normal circumstances, I’m sure that suddenly the conspiracies that he would’ve believed were about him and his friends.

I live for this concept but have no clue how to apply it in a practical way.

[kahans]

For the book ask thing: 1, 17, 22, 25, 35, and 47

Thank u tuser sparklestheunicorn for giving me something to do today! Answers are below the cut because this post is way longer than I thought it'd be.

send me a number and i'll answer the correlating question

1. Name the best book you've read so far this year. It would have to be Babel by RF Kuang. It took me two months to get through the first half, but once the ball got rolling the whole story utterly captivated me. If you're looking for a deeply intellectual read that combines geopolitical history, linguistics, and integrative fantasy worldbuilding, Babel might be for you!

17. Favorite finished book series. Trying desperately hard not to seem basic but the original Percy Jackson series has had an ironclad grip on me for over ten years. Although, now that I think about it, I don't know if we can consider PJO a finished series, so I'll also submit the Hunger Games and the Six of Crows duology for holding a place of equal importance in my heart.

22. Favorite example of a Chosen One trope in a book I gotta give it to either Percy Jackson or Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings. Prophecy/fate might have chosen them to some extent, but each character chose to accept it and the responsibility that came along with it. That's just *chef's kiss* a satisfying narrative arc babey.

25. Favorite Middle Grade book(s). Ok if we just set the Percy Jackson series to the side because obviously it's going to win in every category, I was very fond of the Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers series. Like, one of my core memories involves going to my local library and picking up a stack of those books. I could read two/three a day, and I read every single book in the series multiple time.

35. Least favorite trope in your most favorite book genre. My favorite book trope is fantasy. My least favorite trope would have to be giving a character physical/mental disability and then immediately negating it via magic—or, more broadly, actions not having correlating consequences. I think that's why stories like the Poppy War or How to Train Your Dragon or Lord of the Rings have had such a profound impact on my psyche. Characters make choices that have long-lasting consequences—Rin loses one of her arms, Hiccup loses his leg, Frodo never mentally or physically recovers from the burden of carrying the Ring.

47. What are the last three books you read? Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Letter to the American Church by Eric Metaxas, and The Stolen Heir by Holly Black.

[twilightofthe]

writing patterns tag game

Rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

tagged by @loosingmoreletters thank youuuu but i feel bad i haven’t star warsed on main really since the depression diagnosis which has been a few years so the first 4 fics aren’t even SW ;_; Also i put some of my parts from our collab fics to make me feel better about only having published/updated two (2) solo things within the last couple of years xD

Ok but here goes:

1. It’s just after midnight and Wei Ying is mournfully attempting to wash away his blue balls under the tepid-instead-of-cold shower head.

2. Blacking out after summoning however many the fuck demons who live in your head into the living realm does not always last for long, because blacking out means means you’re retreating inside your head where the demons run amok and they really make shitty company for any extended period of time, so sooner rather than later you end up dragging yourself back to consciousness just to avoid them.

3. The thing about being dead is that it’s a very distinct sensation, putting things if not lightly then the only possible way to put them because how does one explain the feeling of death to someone who has never experienced it before?

4. “Hmm…”

5. After two weeks of traveling at sublight with only the distant, unforgiving stars and his own dwindling sanity for comfort, the far-off, twinkling gem of a planet through the viewport would almost be enough to make Obi-Wan cry if crying didn’t take energy.

6. The first time it happens can be blamed on Anakin’s love of questionable quality holofilms.

7. Whenever Anakin thought about maybe changing his mind on his shift-form, he always reminded himself of the massive amounts of hair over the furniture shed from Obi Wan and Ahsoka alone, and how he was more than happy to not add to it.

8. Considering what had happened the last time he was there, Din Djarin hadn’t planned to set foot in the same star system as Tatooine anytime soon, let alone on the planet itself.

9. Anakin was having a shitty day.

10. Trace doesn’t know how long it had been exactly since Ahsoka left them when the galaxy fell apart.

.

Ok, that’s the past 10! What i realize from them is that firstly, I’m an absolute run-on sentence whore and proud of it lol. Secondly, I internalized WAY too much paranoia about what constitutes a good hook because all of these read like “omg please be drawn in PLEASE be drawn in”. Like they’re not bad, but I can recognize myself and my intentions in my words and I see my eagerness. It’s kind of sweet.

Secondly, I realize that I do really miss Star Wars, but i think a combination of pandemic, a sudden depression diagnosis, and some unpleasant interactions ended up like. Tainting my memories of writing from that era and making it really hard to come back. Plus now I’ve got a newer hyperfixation and i keep reading a bunch of fic for it and stalking people’s tumblr blogs but also doing zero creation of anything to participate. I’ve gotten into some other fandoms in the past two years that make up the first four fics on the list, but even then it’s been hard to publish things that haven’t just been gift fics for my friends, jokes i can take a little less seriously, and collabs that make me less anxious as there’s numbers involved. I really do miss writing though. Like I’m a p decent writer I think, of course I’ve got much to improve, but reading through this and it is NOT as bad as I thought it would be, it’s good! But I wish I hadn’t abandoned so many sw fics, people have been so NICE, and it just feels like I’ve let them down. But I can’t even remember my original ending plans for so much of it and Disney continuing to leech all the joy and energy out of the series hasn’t helped either. But I am still insisting that I’ll be back one day. I will.

[cloudshoregames]

Your Mech is Different: Inspirations Behind BTE

Hi everyone, Dan here!

I've always been a fan of mechs. As a kid I would dream of growing up to be a mech pilot. I would enjoy shows like Gundam Wing, Zoids New Century, Escaflowne, and Big O while also playing PS1 classics like Armored Core and Xenogears. I remember one time explaining to my older brother that I thought I had figured out how Roger Smith piloted the Big O, pantomiming the movements with my hands and feet, only to be teased for being a nerd.  While there was no mech pilot's academy to join, some people could inevitably point out, "Well you could have learned to fly a jet or drive a tank. That's the next best thing." This notion, I have found permeates the mech subgenre of science fiction/fantasy. Mechs are certainly a power fantasy, but one that is very flexible. What they represent in fiction are different for each person and franchise.

What kicked off my journey into developing Beneath Twisted Earth was actually a YouTube video by Josh Strife Hayes, Armored Core - Was It Any Good? This took me on a nostalgia trip to my childhood playing Armored Core, and the various franchises I had enjoyed over the year. It got me thinking about if I were to make a mech setting what core elements would I include for it to be my quintessential mech game?  (I've Game Mastered for a long time, so this is an exercise I entertain often, seeing a thing I like as seeing how I would apply it to TTRPGs.) Most mech tabletop games in my experience were very crunchy, (Mekton & Battletech were first to mind). This is because fans of mechs like the idea of customization, and making their mech. Having that control over building your machine, but I've never been a fan of crunchy systems. I've always found them cumbersome and tedious. "I just want to play the game!", I would say. 

The next day I threw together a three page mech construction system, and jotted down some notes for a dystopian setting that I could use with my house system someday. I was really happy with what I came up with. The mech construction was highly customizable, but not overly complicated (no number sheets needed). The setting was suitably bleak for a game about war machines, but had lots of potential to be tweaked to tell many different stories'. As I excitedly went over it with my wife, she encouraged me to put it out there. After all, when combined with my house system which I used to run games in any assorted setting that there wasn't a game for, it could be fleshed out into a full game. So I did.

Over the next six months, I began fleshing out that write-up and combining it with my house system. At the same time, I immersed myself in mech fiction to draw as much inspiration as possible. I played any mech video game I could get my hands on, I watched lots of anime, I researched every TTRPG I could find record of, I watched lots of YouTube retrospectives/reviews, and for the first time I dove head first into the world of Battletech, reading through several of the core novels.

This encouraged my design of the game to be more diverse. I wanted to any players who sat down at the table to play BTE to think of a mech and to be able to build it. Not in the number crunching, twelve volume, 30 hours of work sort of way. There are players who like that, and there are games that catered to it. I wanted a game that an experienced player could create their pilot/mech in 10 minutes without sacrificing customization or growth for the people who just wanted to get in their big, stompy robot and start living that life.

Something I found compelling about this deep dive is what mechs meant to different people. When it came down to it, in stories, mechs were always analogous to other archetypes. Mechs can represent many things, but I most often found them taking the role of the following:

Tanks

Jets

Suits of Armor

Horses

Cars

Swords (or other weapons)

Depending on what archetype the mech filled, determined things like how important the pilot was to the combat, what sort of stories were told, and what the capabilities of the mech would be. Because there was so much variation, I also found a lot of conflict in the fanbase over what they should be. This only reinforced to me the importance of customization, not because all fans are gearheads, but because mechs represented a flexible archetype. That meant the mech should allow for each player to express themselves/their pilot. While one player might want an oversized gun on crab legs with armor a mile thick, another player wants an angelic suit of armor that allows them to have sword fights in the sky, and still others want a custom grown symbiotes with bone claws and mouth lasers that fire when it roars in anger at their enemies. All have a place at the table as mech pilots in Beneath Twisted Earth. 

Tangented a little there, but allow me leave it there to you followers and future readers. What do mechs represent to you? What is your ideal version of a mech?

TL;DR - BTE's main inspirations are Armored Core, Battletech, and Gundam. Also, mechs mean different things to each franchise/fan so individuality is at the core of the subgenre. Because of this customization and player agency at the two core principles behind the game.

Art by JGD

Preview Book now available at https://cloudshore.itch.io/beneath-twisted-earth

[bogbiter]

League Concept: Bazelgeuse

Finally my own content hooorah!

So, for those who haven't caught on, I love creature/character design, I love Destiny, I love Monster Hunter, and I love League of Legend's world building. This culminated in one of my projects of fan champions inspired by monster hunter and destiny.

Before Bel’veth was even launched, I had grown uninterested in new champs because well riot was going through its shirtless hunk era and the sparkly faced whatever the fuck Lilia is era. And though I like Sett and I can appreciate Yone, they ultimately served the "Sex Sells" argument of champ design. All of this later culminated in the Ruined King event, which just... sucked. Viego was the biggest offender of that, and characters like Gwen really felt like cop-outs. I was excited for a living doll, and we got well...

Anyways alot of complaining I openly was unhappy with the newest designs and among mutuals at the time the main thing brought up is "monsters don't sell", people want to look at something pretty not something unfuckable. I found this concept absurd because I could list many times fiction depicting monsters in a non-scantily clad light took off. And so I created this mini project, inspired by the monster hunter caste.

The idea was to make monstrous champions, from lore to kit to aesthetic, interesting to the player, and engaging enough to revisit. And monster hunter to me, had honed that down. It's a game about hunting creatures that can take up to 40 minutes of just chipping away at fantastical megafauna, taking the kill, reveling in it!-

Than repeating because you need more parts but a good monster! Makes the returning fight still engaging. And one monster I especially loved was Bazelgeuse. A strong bombastic and cinematic theme, a massive hitbox. Literal explosions pouring out of it from bomb like scales... and that reverberating trilling roar was just... mwa! And as a fan of playing as the meaty bastards in top lane Like Volibear, Cho'Gath, Malphite, and Sion, I thought that for a tankier crowd-controlling bruiser we deserve the same spectacle up there!

And so here was my attempt: Kyridon, The Custodian of The Sands.

....

Not all who seek adventure are running from something. Not all who are sent for battle do so for a noble purpose or greater plan. No, some just wish to have their fun. Ever since time memorial, the Rocs were ancient wardens of the skies over Shurima and Targon, their presence usually inciting reverence and awe at their body crushing might. Even more terrifying was their power over flame, and when combined with their explosive dust that showered upon their foes from their feathers, oftentimes turned the earth below into a warzone no man is able to take head on. After the Rune Wars, their numbers waned, and they became a more elusive sight as the centuries carried on. They now patrolled the land as ever searching scavengers, often coming in to feast on the sun-bleached meals of travelers and beast below, occasionally hunting the weakened caravanners or outcast of Targon. Yet occasionally, a Roc might bring home trinkets they exchanged with the wiser nomads of the lands they patrolled, or Guardians who offered them some blessings for their travels. Kyridon, the chick of an eccentric literary collector, would wander to his mother's horde and read up on the epics of the races below. These tales, which told of the Ancient Ascended Rulers of Shurima or the Divine Aspects that protected Targon. His little mind was filled with dreams of great power. He wished to be revered for his might. Or, more simply put: "Look cool beating the shit out of someone."

As Kyridon grew, his form was something else to behold, far longer and more wyverian in design than the massive raptorial visage of his kin. The first sparking of a Roc is usually quite uneventful, as they shed their feathers, they slowly begin to shed the explosive scales their kin are known for, and frequently if was accidentally ignited by the emerging Flame sac the Roc possessed, it is usually but a surprising pop that is far more bark than bite. Kyridon, of course, was not so harmless. His ventral feathers on his neck and tail appeared to be braided, ending in feathered clumps that looked like a rosebud. He wasn't producing the explosive scales the rest of his clutch did, so his father, a venerated warrior, took it upon himself to try and teach his chick how to use their explosive arts. Shaking his body, the larger Roc jumped back, and letting out a blast of fire from his maw, ignited the ember- like cloud lingering on the ground, creating a fantastical explosion. Kyridon looked bewildered, and not wanting to disappoint did the same, but instead, the rose buds bloomed with a fiery glow and fell to the earth like a gourd. As he jumped back, he blew just a small flame onto them, and the explosion it produced threw him back and staggered his father. As the sand and smoke cleared, the crater left was far larger than what was typical of a Roc his age. His son was gifted, incredibly so. Along with his musculature, there was no doubt his son was meant to fight.

For the four years Kyridon lived under his parent's roost, every day, he was taken to train and hunt with his father and the others of his colony. He was their Desert Rose, a poster child for their little enclave where the mountains touched the desolate sands. Their praise, however, diluted his vision, and for all his stoicism, he had grown rebellious as well. With so much power, he wished to claim himself as The Roaming Tyrant of these lands. The Custodian of the Waste!"

It wasn't a gradual takeover either, Kyridon had all the subtlety of a firework's display. At first, he set his eyes to the raiders of the sands, those who followed the "Butcher of the Sands." In his mind, he believed himself to be starting an epic, starting with what he assumed to be the "Bad Guy." And at first, the little almost chortle like squawks he made before he did every attack was confusing, bewildering. Before the Rose Feathers began to pelt the earth, detonating on impact with the sands, throwing man, mount, and ground around. Then, the cries for war became more clear as he descended down to attack his foe- no... his prey.

He'd drop his explosive covering onto the earth, as if outlining a runway... Then he'd release an earth shattering bellow, before the beast crashed into the earth, setting his own explosive feathers off as he dragged himself across the ground. His foes were engulfed in flame, the sands polished into smooth glass. Standing up from the carnage he'd patrol around for survivors, eating whoever wasn't entirely scattered across the wastes, then take off once more.

Soon, his roar, his silhouette, his behavior spread across the land. Tales of the strange roc that dropped bombs upon his targets inspired fear upon those who had to trek the open, as they knew well how standing their ground made it easy for him to dive upon his victims. Yet if they were to run, they heard he would still pursue them, until they broke into cover, in which case they'd hear a cry of pure rage as the explosives would descend onto their shelter, as he flew off to find a better fight. And while at first Kyridon attacked those he knew to be the raiders on the outskirts of his colony's territories... he hungered for another chapter to his story.

He soared over the dunes, immediately working upon asserting himself as the apex of the land. He'd steal kills from the invasive void beast or the crocodilians and jackals of the dunes. His own explosives made for a great way to assert himself in any situation, as most would cower at the carnage raining down from above and the vibrations quaking the earth around them. For those who were perhaps too foolish, they'd be met with the beast landing before them, bill snapping, as it charged at them, Kyridon throwing his weight around with little finesse, focusing more on his brutish strength than any greater level of strategy. It, however, grew boring, it grew stale, they didn't tell stories of scavengers, they told stories of warriors and kings! So he began to survey the land, looking for a fight. After two days of searching, he found it, a scuffle between some desert trolls and shuriman nomads. But from so high up, it seemed like a battle of raiders against one another. Such barbarism had to be dealt with swiftly, and so Kyridon descended onto the battle, his explosive feathers dropping around them in a run by flight, as he soared over them yet again, casting his shadow over their terrified forms. Naturally, they raised their arms, and Kyridon dived for the kill.

The battle that ensued was violent, as the beast let off his explosions around them to create a ring for the brawl. He threw his weight around, dragging his head across the ground as he crashed into the crowd with the force of a comet. Smash into everyone, crash into everything, the reckless abandon befitting of kamikaze. Fire threw from his maw, as spell and blade pierced his side, the one leading the trolls throwing a javelin into his neck, Kyridon dropping more feathers from his neck and tail reflexively. He roared in the heat of the moment out of raw joy of the carnage he participated in, not knowing this peculiar below would be enough to light the fuse. As he turned his head to face the troll in charge of his own entourage, him and his opponent were enveloped in sand and flame. As the smoke subsided, he charged forward, hoping to meet his opponent, and instead found nothing but remains. He performed his usual, searching for something to scavenge on that was intact.

However, as he approached a wagon, having been tossed away due to the explosion, he heard coughing. He was snapped out of his foraging trance. He approached the wagon, tearing the fabric off, finding a human child, singed and with broken legs, the bone visible. Kyridon felt his heart sink. Why was there a child here... They looked so young, why didn't he smell them... Why did he attack then?! Heroes defended the innocent, stood for what's right, and legends favored the noble. He heard a whimper, not just from the child, but the female troll whose weapon was now lodged on the back of his neck. He looked around. Everything else was just charred, broken. His battle trance wavered, and he felt shame, knowing he had scarred this child and that the woman on the other side of the crater had perhaps lost something dear to her too. He spilt blood, and while he found it quite easy and fun, here it just felt... wrong. He was astronomically stronger than most of his opponents. He knew that. He didn't think for a second. That was his problem.

The damage was already done, but maybe he could bring them somewhere safer. He gently took both troll and child into his bill and took off, searching the lands for a village to properly bring them to. He flew faster than he ever had before, and as the sun faded behind the dunes and the moon took its place, he found a village fortified by intricately carved stone. But no matter how high it stood, he could simply glide over. He landed in the middle of a bustling market, mortifying all present. As they cowered in their structures, the guard rushing to aid them and drive away the Roc, Kyridon gently laid the two towns against a stall, before taking wing and leaving the market, fighting the urge to combat the guard who pelted him with arrow and bolt. As he soared across the desert, searching for a new place to roost, the sight of the broken boy and woman twisted something in his gut, and as he finally roosted atop a peak overlooking the dunes, he found no solace in resting, simply questioning what it was all for. Was he the hero of his story, or just a self-serving beast, diluted by grandeur.

He stalked the dunes silently now, searching for prey he deemed able to put up a fight, creatures that did not immediately fall to his attacks. However, it became a struggle in his turf, and thus, he had to go toward the "Great Sai," where the most dangerous beast of the desert sands lurked. He had been warned of the Great Worms of that land, and the Sand Sharks and Earth Swimmers, that they were not of this world, and that even the smallest fought with the ferocity of a Rok. But that's what Kyridon needed, a proper fight. As he soared over The Great Sai, it wasn't long to spot the tunnels made by his new prey. Dropping some of his heavier feathers onto the ground, he'd see the sand part as figures immediately swam in for the kill. Only to arrive just as the explosion set off, throwing those hidden by the dunes away and onto the surface, and thus attracting more prey. This, this was the fight he wanted, those who did not flee from the explosions! He roared out to the swarm of purple chitin layered beast below them, opening up their inky black maws to roar at him. He crashed into the earth, setting off more explosive feathers around him, as the swarm would pour over his form. He did not rest. He did not halt, he tackled swatches of the beast, setting off more explosions that slayed many but drew in even more. Fire scorched and bubbled the exposed flesh of his enemies, his bill chomping through their shells. As they lunged from below and tried to gut him, he'd lift himself into the air, crashing back down on the advancing tide, their bodies splintered and fractured. He did this many times over, scoring dozens of bodies out of it, like a gluttonous demon he'd feast on their bodies for weeks, before diving into the heart of the tide, wishing to partake in the cathartic slaughter of these beasts.

He eventually grew tired and stalked after the Great Void Worms, stealing their meals at first with a surprise assault from his run by explosive tactics. But soon, the beast learned of his tactics and tried to bring the fight to him. Such exciting concepts invigorated him, and he met their own savagery with his unparalleled eagerness to brawl. These fights were the stuff of legends, and many told of that same Bomber Roc tackling the whale sized beast of the sands, sealing their fate. The cries of his prey lingered on for minutes before falling silent, his own cry of victory ringing out across the Great Sai.

His feast was plentiful, subsidized by the invader beast and their caches, he ruled over the skies like some guardian beast. No longer did he pursue the Caravans and those passing under his guise. He was now the brilliance that ruled the dunes, The Custodian Of The Waste. And thus, it put him at odds with the Queen Beast of the Sands, Rek'Sai. Innumerable were their fights together, as he preyed upon her and her kin, and for years The Subterranean Queen and The Avian Tyrant dueled in the Sais, leaving craters in the earth, and tumbling stone monuments. Many let the beast fight, less they attract either the Warhead's Ire or the Queen's Wrath. Of course, the two were met in a stalemate, beings of raw power colliding for one goal: Domination. However, it was obvious Kyridon was undeniably controlling the numbers of Rek'Sai's kin, and so, drawn to the commotion, came a desert wanderer, violet eyes under indigo cloth standing out amidst the sands.

The Traveler wandered for a few days, walking among the skeletons of wildlife and void creatures alike, many embedded in the sides of deep craters. It didn't take long for the Sand Swimmers to grow interested in him, a few lunging forward in the sand to attack the strange nomad. He was unbothered by them. He knew once they got close enough, they could see what he truly was. But before they could, he felt his body tremble when he heard the roar of the one he came to greet. Diving down upon the Sand Swimmers, Kyridon didn't even bother with explosives, simply smashing into everyone, crashing into everything. The Traveler barely avoided the Roc as it tossed about a sand swimmer caught in its jaws, and to the nomad's surprise, the other sand swimmers abandoned their kin to be devoured on the spot. The Traveler hesitated for a bit before confronting the Roc.

"...Are you the Custodian of the Waste?"

The creature hesitated, stopping its crunching and tearing, looking back at him.

"What of it?"

Luckily for him, the creature was not one to immediately fire upon him, he continued to talk with the beast as it pulled its head back, its bill hook helping free softer flesh from muscle and ligaments. He peered into the being's thoughts, probing its mind with greater finesse.

"So- you used to soar all across Shurima, why did you stop in the Sais?"

"I was looking for fights... Just so happened it was... One Sided."

He was growing bored of the conversation, the Traveler could feel it, plus he was almost done with his meal, it wouldn't be long before he took off. The Traveler prepared for the worst, ready to cast a shield upon himself as he forced out his words.

"The Child and Woman, whose friends and family you butchered-"

And Immediately the beast turned to face him, his feathers rising as he stomped over to face the nomad, a fire brewing in the back of his throat. The Traveler had to continue, less a fight would ensue.

"They reside in a village, the same one you dropped them in, and it is under the protection of Xerath. But another, with an army made of the desert itself, is on the warpath, and the Village will not bow to a new king, and so they will be silenced. I came here, so you may quit the fight with the Voidborn, and bring it to someone who is actually endangering the Innocent."

The Roc stared for a bit, his gaze hard to read. He stomped over and as the mage called upon his shield, it saved him from being directly smashed into the earth by the tyrant's swinging head. Yet as they were thrown back into the Earth, Kyridon spread his wings and began to take to the air, looking down at the mage-

"So, youre saying there is a good war to fight?"

----

Kyridon traveled from the Sai and flew to the West, as he was carried by the drafts to gain a higher altitude, trying to find the village he left those two behind all those years ago. He spent three days on the wing, scouring the dusty plains for the fight. On the fourth day he saw a village, in the beginning throes of a siege, a man in the distance raising his hand, and the sands themselves formed into a legion of warriors that marched forward towards the village. This was no raiding party, this was a full out battle. He soared in lower, and could see siege equipment being pushed by men with jackal-like heads, and there in the frontlines, trying to push the Sand Soldiers back, was an older female troll, and a man with prosthetic legs. He for some reason felt his mind revert into a battle trace, as he furrowed his brow, gazing at the sand horde below, catching the attention of the sorcerer general, he then let out a warcry that he hadn't bellowed in sometime. The two at the frontlines looked up, their faces paling. They immediately began to tell their men to fall back past the walls, as rosebud-like feathers bloomed in the air as they fell to the floor, the jackal headed men looking confused.

Then the explosions rang off, as Sand Guardian after Sand Guardian returned to dust as their lines were blown apart. As the Jackal Headed men tried to retreat, they found only a searing heat met them from above, and for those who did not succumb to the flame, a crushing weight as Kyridon crashed head first through the earth. With momentum alone, he carved his way through the enemy lines before fixing himself up onto his back legs, roaring into the heavens as he charged forward, any poor soul trampled underfoot. Their searing blades meant nothing, the presence of his blood on the sand motivated him in ways he hadn't felt before. He threw his neck and tail haphazardly, letting them detonate once they made contact with any of the men surrounding him. His flame turned those closest to him into grains of glass, and those not scorched by the flame were charged at, helping detonate any of his explosives that weren't set off. The village looked on at the war-torn earth, and the one man army pushing the enemies' forces back. A spark returned to Kyridon that hadn't been felt in a long while, the spark of war, of might, what all true legends strive for! To be witnessed!

As the man who set upon this small legion to attack the village began to retreat, the Roc felt the need to pursue and grow stronger. He took to the skies, soaring faster than the man could run, as he trailed explosives behind him, making a runway straight for the coward's position. He began to dive again, his wings out as he barreled into the earth, his head raised and his mouth open to roar as he prepared himself to nab the man with his bill alone. As the explosions set off around him, he grew so close, so close to taking a bite out of the coward!- Only for a wall, one of shields and blades stronger than any stone met him head on, as the beast was thrown back, a massive explosion accompanying his collapse as the world began to dim. When he came to, he saw the village garrison looking on at him in fear and wonder. The Roc clamped his bill together, finding nothing. It audibly groaned as it dragged itself out of the crater, scorch marks everywhere. He flexed his wings, finding no permanent injuries on him. And the army he had been assaulting had disappeared without a trace. Yet that wasn't right. There had been flesh and blood he knew it that much. Unless, of course, their mages had helped them retreat. As soon as he realized what happened, he laughed hysterically. The thrill that fight brought him, the adrenaline! He took wing and soared out to find the man who gave him that brawl and finally finish it off. He wasn't done with this man of sand. He was a Roc on a mission: crashing his foe’s party.

Kyridon Kit:

His Passive is similar to Garren's old passive, where you do more damage to people who have a bounty on them, the theme being you're going after the best fights, and his kit is very explosive and offensive

Passive- The Warhead: Kyridon foes more damage to enemies with a bounty, and after takedown, gains a significant movement speed bonus and temporarily decreases ability cooldown.

Q-Fussilade Torp: Kyridon breathes out fire in a straight line in a straight trajectory, doing ap damage upon impact. Can detonate explosives if they make contact. Enemies marked with Q can be dashed into to knock them off the ground.

W- Piledriver: Kyridon charges forward, doing AD damage and pushing people back. Knocks enemies up into the air after being hit by Q, and impact with explosives will cause them to detonate.

E- Gravefall: Kyridon drops a set of interactive explosives in a given area, which, when detonated deal AD damage with AP afterburn. These can be triggered with Q or W.

R- Party Crasher: A chanelling ability, Kyridon flies overhead, dropping explosive feathers as to make a "Runway," which he then then crashes through the entire length of till reaching the end, creating explosions on both sides.

....

It's pretty obvious even when reading, and especially look at this raggedy ass doodle I did his inspirations

Visually he takes Inspiration from Bazelgeuse from Monster Hunter and Phoenix from Dota 2. This is done to add weight to his character and to add a feeling of luminous to him, as if he wishes to be the center of attention. And it helps make him stand out. He is heavy bodied with a massive tail, but instead is alit like a fire, with a sharp bill and robust wings that make him feel as though every scene he is in he captures everyone's awe. Or terror.

Also because Phoenix from Dota 2 is a comfort character and I wanted to make Kyridon a bird.

Kyridon might not be subtle, but he speaks like a Herculean hero. He is full of pride but also believes that for his legacy to live on, he must constantly punch above his weight class. He isn't looking to bully people weaker than him. He's looking to provoke someone stronger than him.

He is utterly violent and bombastic, but he uses his aggression to find higher purpose and praise. This is why he finds kinship with the concepts of self-made legends. People who raised above their station. To him, that is like the ideal dream and aspiration to hold to. Unfortunately, his tactics are pretty mid, and his intimidating bulk is what keeps him from being minced meat.

I am redoing the first one because he deserves it, and I have some destiny Inspired champions I can post here if that is anyone's cup o tea.

[tadbitfooled]

Look, I'm seeing people discuss feeling ignored for female OCs and I just want to discuss this undercut.

I have played a range of muses across various rpcs. I've written from female oc to male canon, in marvel, in star wars, in dragon age, and a few others. Am I going to deny female ocs often get the short end of the stick? No, I'm not. But am I going to discuss the issues which may cause this? Yeah. But I'm also tired of people saying it's a problem in this RPC because this RPC is, statistically, the most interaction I've gotten for my female OCs.

You want to know why canon male rpers don't interact with you? There may be a variety of reasons, but let me tell you what I deal with on my three sideblogs with the origin male romance options

I post on my pinned post that those blogs are private for my mutuals on this blog. I still get followers who follow those blogs but not this one. There's an innate concern of people not reading through all your stuff, just because you write a canon muse.

In the past, I've had people come up and assume entire dynamics (St.eve Ro.gers was a loop with someone who's OC was his wife???) without talking to me first. I've known rpg rpc male canon rpers who have told me they've dealt with this. Just because you know the magic combination to get your favorite to kiss your PC in game doesn't mean you'll have chemistry with every blog that plays them.

It is tiring to have people constantly coming to you for romance-without-plot. It can even at times feel like they're not interested in you or your writing, just in getting jollies with a face they like.

Onto the matter of female OCs being ignored and how my own women are doing decently, or why I suspect. This isn't to shame anyone, just some thoughts I have on maybe why and maybe for people to emulate.

I don't chase for ships or even just shippy writing. I'm invested in development and writing that build up, taking in every piece to figure out how the intimacy would work. and if the intimacy is a platonic one, I enjoy that too.

I'm not against memeing myself for headcanon memes or drabble memes. I'm interested in building in-depth discussions and plots for my OCs, even if I don't have someone I'm plotting with about it.

If I don't get interactions, I write little scenes with my own OCs or go find something else to do. I don't sit and wait with bated breath or reblog the same things multiple times in the same day.

I try to have variety in my memes, try to find things simple to send, or sentences with a variety of dynamics so people can pick and choose.

On the matter of memes, when I do send them, it's because I've carefully combed over the list to find something I feel would fit the dynamic I can picture possibly working between muses. I try to be deliberate.

Another thing to consider is the RPC is dominated by people who are attracted to men. A lot of the time in video games, people put a lot of themselves into the PC and so they have similar attractions. So the male canon rpers get bombarded with these OCs and they can't keep up with it a lot of the time, especially on solo blogs.

Look, my suggestion if you're a female OC and you're feeling frustrated by lack of interaction, do some solo writing. Develop a bit. Have fun with your OC just for yourself, and maybe someone will see you having fun and want to have fun too. It may take time but that's okay, good things come to those who wait. Maybe if you're feeling frustrated, get off the screen (seriously). Because your frustration will show in your writing. Go read a book, go take a walk, go do some chores, and then just write a bit for yourself.

[blasphemme]

just finished call of duty black ops. here are some (long, comma abusing, mostly tangentially related) thoughts after playing it for the first time for anyone who might read them!

altogether the campaign was fine, i guess.

as many others have in the past few years following the modern warfare remakes, my online activity has been inundated with thirst edits made of characters in call of duty — despite having never played the games myself. they’re not my thing.

my flatmate, however, has played them. he played them as a kid when they were being released, and he has had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of me watching these edits and reading fanfics (shout out early 351780!!). increasingly annoyed at my thirsting, he has forced me to play every call of duty campaign on the xbox 360.

i’ve found that i actually really enjoy playing cod. it’s enjoyable, action packed and, most importantly, quite compelling. they’re something i’d never have considered playing without him pushing me to play them. i’m more of an assassin’s creed/ace combat/nier girl and always have been. the closest i’d been to playing a shooter before this experience was playing gta, badly.

my flatmate knew my priorities. after an introduction to the premise with world at war — the first game in the black ops series, which i promise i will get to at some point — we played the original modern warfare campaigns first, because i am a wee bit in love with captain john price, and i loved them. the stories, while simple enough to follow (and already knowing about the main character deaths in advance — it’s a 10+ year old series, after all!), were emotionally evocative. i found myself becoming attached to the protagonists quickly and deeply, all the while having a whale of a time fucking around in the rest of the mission. this girl loves just walking onto grenades! between world at war and the modern warfare trilogy of campaigns, i was hooked from the start.

i realise now that i have been spoiled. those campaigns were just too good.

black ops’ campaign pales in comparison to the other four games i’ve played. i will admit that it is still fun — very fun! i enjoyed the feeling of progressing from one badass area to the next, with sam worthington’s horrific american accent and gary oldman’s alright russian accent pushing me through. i also have to admit that i still play like an absolute scrub, but the enjoyment i got from it outweighed the frustration. (mostly.)

black ops lacks the charm and depth i loved in world at war. while fun, every plot twist was spotted as soon as it was hinted to, much to my flatmate’s dismay. it took one guy telling mason to get a hold of himself for me to figure out the twist around reznov, and one recitation of the numbers on the way to the pentagon for me to figure out that mason would go on to kill kennedy. this, in particular, also felt like a bit of a cop-out — having this confirmed in a post-credits scene was disappointing, when i’d gone through the whole game and sat through an eminem song in the credits expecting a sequence where i’d be on the grassy knoll just to end up in a round of zombies. honk shoo.

modern warfare — modern warfare 2 in particular (kevin mckidd’s soap my beloved <3) — introduced new mechanics that’d be used once or twice in the whole game, most of which i enjoyed. the missions where you have to assist tf141 from an ac130 in the first game? stellar. absolutely unmatched. all ghillied up can go fuck itself on a gameplay front though, fuck you if you think i’m gonna figure out what the coriolis effect is. in black ops, the helicopter sequences felt like hate crimes against me personally. poorly designed flight controls and awful combat mechanics combined to make a literally unplayable pair of missions involving attacking other helicopters that i had to beg my flatmate to complete for me. embarrassing.

this game is utterly us army propaganda. the epic final shot in the campaign after killing dragovich — where suddenly 3 aircraft carriers are there waiting for you flying star spangled banners, and 8 fighter jets pass overhead — only resulted in making me cringe and laugh in disbelief, where in 2010 it would’ve made young men enlist. world at war at least has the balance of ‘war is cool and we’re the best’ in the pacific segments and ‘war sucks, actually,’ in the eastern front segments. modern warfare, too, falls face first into the latter, and that’s part of what i enjoyed about it.

even the little fun things weren’t as enjoyable. i didn’t have a favourite gun, or a favourite mission. the star cast choices were okay, but nothing to call home about. there wasn’t a ‘production babies’ segment in the credits, and they made me listen to eminem and pink. what the fuck?

altogether, black ops 1 has the worst campaign of the franchise i’ve played so far. next we’re onto black ops 2, which hopefully won’t come with a free personal statement like this one, and which i’ve been told is one of the best games ever made. we’ll see.

3/10

[idkaguyorsomething]

Why you should read Darths and Droids:

Are you a fan of Star Wars or tabletop RPGs? Do you wish that the Star Wars movies had a more consistent quality of writing? Have you ever wanted to read a story where Qui-Gon Jinn was a crackhead crazy-as-shit dumbass who orchestrates the most hilariously convoluted terrible plans, Anakin Skywalker was a menacing manipulator who makes the most influential people in the galaxy dance like puppets to his tune, and Jar Jar Binks was a genuinely helpful badass? Well have I got the webcomic for you!

What It’s About: Darths and Droids is a retelling of the Star Wars movies where the story is reframed as an ongoing campaign between a group of friends who keep derailing their poor GM’s plans with their shenanigans. By taking screenshots from the movies and adding different dialogue, it manages to tell a completely different story that weaves in a lot of familiar elements but manages to turn a lot of them completely on their head. The story of the various player’s lives outside of the game and the drama they experience is also added into the narrative, creating two different layers of story that are both interesting in different ways and allows for humor and heart to be integrated with intrigue and adventure.

Why You Should Read It: This comic has some seriously clever writing, you guys. It starts out as a simple parody of a lot of the goofier elements of Star Wars, but as it goes on it whips out some quite impressive Chekhov’s Guns, deconstructs various themes and elements of the Star Wars universe thoroughly, and offers rich new storylines in its place. What it means to balance the Light and Dark when there is a prophecy fortelling one who will even its scales, for example, as well as exploring cool concepts that the movies never quite took advantage of, like the existence of shapeshifters, clones, and the ability to upload one’s consciousness into other vessels. Framing it as a tabletop game also does wonders for clearing up plot holes, and the script is so tight that you’d have a hard time picking out any continuity errors if you tried. Rereads and attention to detail is incredibly rewarding, as you get to see a huge amount of setup pay off, and it’s really nice to see the players grow up and watch their lives change over the course of several years. Also, for the visually impaired, each episode comes with a handy transcript that makes it easily accessible, as well as some nice food for thought from the writers about game design.

Why You Might Want To Avoid: First and foremost, this is a long comic. It’s been updating three times a week for nearly two decades, and at a glance the archives reveals it to be quite a binge (though there are a couple of recorded play versions of the first arc that might take you less time to get through). Some arcs can also drag significantly more than others, since the better Star Wars movies tend to provide less material for satire or plot holes to cover, though they still contain some pretty juicy drama and entertaining jokes. However, if you’re here for the characters from Star Wars that you know and love, you will not find them here. This is a game played between a group of friends, and the versions of every character they encounter are very different from canon. Not to mention that, if you’re unfamiliar with tabletop RPGs, then a lot of the jokes and references will probably confuse you, though the writer’s commentary does a good job of explaining everything to the uninitiated. Still, it was a pretty influential comic back in the day for a reason. It really elevated a lot of the ideas another webcomic with a similar concept, DM of the Rings, first came up with, and by extension, a lot of the ideas in Star Wars.

TL;DR Darths and Droids is a fantastic cleverly written webcomic that combines tabletop gaming and Star Wars to excellent effect and manages to tell a funny, memorable story with tight action, knotty intrigue, and witty plotting. It’s super bingeable and you’ll never be able to look at Star Wars the same way after reading it.

[soulweaverau]

Part_2

Asriel sat idly in his room looking out the window down onto New Home. Everything was peaceful. Yet his Father and the Scientist prepped for a war. Why? This was beyond anyone's guess. But Asriel couldn’t stand it. Why go to war with someone who has no intent of conflict. It would only make things worse for everyone.

If his lessons as a Prince taught him anything it was that war only brings downsides. The upsides are all made up in our heads. Before he let the thought linger one of his younger siblings walked in behind him

Ralsei. Their parents were hopeless when it came to naming. Though their mother claimed that she didn’t name the two boys. She only named Cocoa. The King Named Asriel as a combination of Asgore, and Toriel, as if it was their old ship name when they were younger. It was either that or Togore. Two years later the queen had Twins. Ralsei was born first, and Thus ever the lover of word games, Asgore anagramed Asriel's name and came up with Ralsei.

Cocoa was born last. Toriel named her after her favorite Drink. She didn’t want Asgore to name her something like Resail or Serial.

Ralsei stood up straight when he started speaking. He was always afraid to say the wrong things and so he tried his best to speak as confidently as possible at all times. “B- Brother! I was wondering if you h- have seen Cocoa anywhere… we were supposed to play a game later b- but…” yet despite his efforts… confidence was not Ralsei’s strong suit.

“I have not seen Cocoa Ralsei…” Asriel said bored, rolling his eyes and looking back out the window. A Froggit and a Bunny accidentally bumped into each other on the streets below. But instead of a commotion and argument, they laughed about it and went their separate ways. “Why would you send people like that to war, Father?”

“W- War?” Ralsei seemed spooked at the mention of that. Since Asriel is the eldest and was born first, he is the one who will inherit the throne in case of an emergency. He was also the one who got the Mock Soul from The Royal Scientist. And because he is the Eldest he also sits through meetings that his Father has. Ralsei naturally wouldn’t know anything about a war.

“There is no War Ralsei.” Asriel reassured him. “I’m thinking of hypotheticals.” That wasn’t completely a lie. In fact, it was all the truth. There wasn’t a war, and the notion of a war was only hypothetical at the moment.

“O- oh… well… if you See Cocoa… tell her I’ll be in the Living room reading about Snails…”

“Haven’t you read all those books before?”

“Y- yeah. But that doesn’t mean I’ll always remember it all… plus I find it interesting…”

“Have fun Little brother.”

“O- okay. Love you!” “I love you too.”

And Ralsei was off. Asriel was left alone thinking again. Cocoa probably snuck out to see those Skeletons… AGAIN. She probably didn’t bother asking anyone, like usual.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cocoa was out having fun! Living her best life. She’s learned so much about this Human. All of them have. “So- Trees are like- GIANT plants? With hard stems?”

“Yup-” Chara said casually. “It’s not really something amazing, they’re everywhere above Ground… well except Deserts… and Tundras…”

“What is a Ton Druh?” Papyrus asked skeptically as he helped Sans lift a fallen Boulder out of the way so Chara, Cocoa, and Violet could continue down the rocky path toward the laboratory with ease.

“Well- it’s like a Desert, but Cold, and Icey.”

“Oooh!” Violet beamed. “But there is still sand no?”

“No no. No sand. Instead it’s snow, which is like rain, but if rain was very very small drops of Ice.”

Sans smiled. He knew all this. Unlike most monsters, he wasn’t scared to go above ground. He’d read some books about it. and explore the villages. But he still figured he’d fuel his brother's curiosity. “So… I bet they don’t have a Grillby's above ground eh?”

“No- they don’t. But we have other food places. Loads of them”

“REALLY?!?!” Papyrus was shocked. “For the longest time, it was just Grillbys and Spider Treats. Then when they became one company it was only that”

Cocoa butted in with a happy hop and skip “But my father helped someone open up a new chain of fast food! He funded it all for the first year just so the Monster running the place could worry about other stuff that wasn’t finances!”

“Nyehe! Now we have Burger N' Pants! A fast food shop run by this Tem who originally wanted to be an Actor... but the food has nothing to do with pants...” he squinted his eyes and looked to the side as if thinking of a foul memory “He also doesn't have the talent to be an actor..."

It was now Violet's turn to intervene. “But Luckily he’s like- REALLY good at Business- so he hired my Cousin, Mettaton, and he works there and does Live Performances every other day, and it drove in customers FAST! and, and, my other Cousin, Napstablook, he is like- a SUPER Talented Radio host- and he even makes Music too! I got to be on his talk show once'' she blushed purple as if she was embarrassed about it

“And ya did a good job at it” Sans smiled at her approvingly as they walked on

“Thank You!!” She started laughing and talking with Cocoa and the rest.

Chara was impressed. Despite not… being human. They behaved a lot like them. All with emotions, and stories. The rumors of Beastly Monsters, Giant man-eating Wolves, Hulking Skeletons with swords, and Ugly Lizards with gnarly teeth all seemed to be fake. These guys weren’t horrid monsters. They were just like humans. “So… why are you guys underground?”

The laughing slowly stopped.

“We uh…” Cocoa started after a few seconds of silence. “Monsters feared humans would be threatened by us. We had magic powers they didn’t. But they have souls far more powerful than ours. And they outnumbered us… it was estimated for every Monster that was alive, ten thousand Humans were also alive. And so… my grandfather… decided it’d be best if Humans and Monsters lived separately. To prevent a war from ever happening.”

It wasn’t exactly a heart-wrenching story. Or a happy one. And Chara just didn’t know how to respond.

“I think we’re Nearing Tem Junction” Sans spoke after some time.

“Ooh yay! I love this place!” Violet exclaimed.

After stepping into a large cavern there were loads of rails along the ground, some leading into other tunnels, some just going in circles, others connecting to others.

LOADS of small white Cat-like creatures were lounging around, talking with each other, bartering with different loot they had. Riding in minecarts, sitting in minecarts.

It was as if this one place where all these minecarts connected was an entire small town.

“hOI!!” a small cat creature with gray hair yelled at them from above. “iM tEMMIE” tEMMIE hopped down and onto Papyrus’s head. “Yous all new here, yaya?”

Papyrus picked tEMMIE up and placed them down on the ground “Nyeheheh… we’re just passing through. We’re on our way to the Royal Laboratory!” 

“Ooooh YAYA! tEMMIE no da way-” she waddled away and into a minecart and then was off down the rails.

Chara was confused. “Was that… normal for them?”

Cocoa nodded. “Tems have a bizarre culture. Lots of what they do is really strange to Monsters. But, it doesn’t hurt anyone, so we let them be.”

“They all own one Minecart, and they all live inside them. The Minecarts are their homes. And they have established railways that lead EVERYWHERE in the underground, and make a living taking people places.”

“So we can just get a ride to the Royal Lab?” Chara asked skeptically and hopefully

Sans shrugged. “Maybe, I don’t know if we can afford it. Aye, Bud, you got any G on ya?”

Papyrus shook his head “I don’t carry my Wallet with me when on duty Sans you know this.” Violet nodded in return, showing that she had that same habit.

“What about you Princess?” Sans asked Cocoa with a tilt of his head

“M- me? Well…” she looked down to the ground and her dress fluttered in a way that showed she was kicking her foot from side to side “I Gave it all… to uh… Grillbys… when I said Drinks were on the Royal family…”

“Then that’s settled- we aren't taking the Tem Express to the Royal Lab.” Sans said as if it didn’t bother him

Chara sighed. The walking was exhausting. But… they could manage eventually.

Violet patted Chara on the back as they kept marking forward before…

“Well Well Well… Violet! Hai!” A Temmie with more… robotic features hopped down from a railway above and laughed. “I haven’t seen you in AGES! B.T.W. Thank you for Letting Dr. Alphys study you!! Oh man if you never fused to that doll then Me, Blooky, and Metta would all still be Ghost! You’re amazing”

Violet was bashful and seemingly embarrassed by the interaction. “Well I uh- it wasn’t much…”

“OOOH- And thank you for teaching me to talk like Normal Monsters- I never really noticed How different us Tems talked…”

As this new Robo-Tem yapped onto Violet, Cocoa ruffled Chara’s hair. “I love Tem Junction! C’mon- I’ll take you to get a bowl of Tem Flakes!” She grabbed Chara’s arm and trailed ahead pulling Chara.

The bustling tracks and chaotic and odd communication among the Tems were bizarre. Something else Chara noticed was the mushrooms. HUGE blue Muchrooms hung upside down from the ceiling and glowed, covering all of the Village in light. A Tem with a stick marched along saying "hup, 3, 2, 4, 1" over and over as if they were some guard. As Cocoa held Chara's hand, they noticed an exchange of goods being done over by two minecarts. One Tem was showing off a worn and torn Cowboy hat. but used it as a bowl instead of a hat. The Other Tem was so Impressed that they clapped and pulled out a bright blue gemstone. and they traded the Sapphire for the torn hat. an odd trade that, anywhere else would be idiotic, but they must have been a really really good salesperson

they stopped suddenly in front of a track where a group of Minecarts rushed by and then Cocoa ran along pulling Chara along with her

This caused Chara to trip, fall, and scrape their Knee. “Ouch-!” they exclaimed. 

“Ooh…” Cocoa came over and helped Chara up. “I’m sorry- aha- I get like this sometimes…” Chara winced when they stepped. But overall they were fine. “It’s okay…” they hobbled over (slowly this time) to a Tem with a lazy expression.

Cocoa hopped up on a stool and sat up daintily but still ecstatically

Chara followed along and said “H- hey…”

There was a Tem sitting up on the counter happily holding a notepad. They excitedly greeted Chara and Cocoa. “Hoi!! Mes go on break- Butts Is show Yous to my fren…” they hopped down just as another Temmie climbed up.

“I’m Bob” 

“Hey Bob!!” Cocoa clapped for him. “Me and my friend would like some Tem Flakes!”

“Fine choice friends!” Bob smiled at them. “That’ll be free for the royal family!” he hobbled and wobbled over to a vending machine and pushed some buttons and set up a bowl. After a few seconds some corn flakes fell down into the bowl from the vending machine dispenser. Bob repeated the process once more and gave Chara and Cocoa a bowl. “Eat up.” he jumped down from the counter and the other Tem came back

“Yaya! Mes bak frum brake! Hope u njoy!'' They took out a calculator and started pushing random buttons.

Chara was amazed by the entire interaction. This entire experience underground is so surreal to them. They turned their head to ask Cocoa something as she grabbed a handful of flakes and tossed them into her mouth. She put her paws to her cheek and squirmed and smiled. “Mmmm! They’re so good!”

Chara grabbed a few in their hand and did the same. They chewed for a few seconds and chewed a bit harder. Flavorless… maybe they needed to eat more. Chara grabbed one more handful, bigger this time, and ate even more. Still flavorless. What they did notice, however, their knees didn’t hurt! It was healed like new.

“Oh!” Chara exclaimed. “Didn’t I just-” Cocoa patted their back and laughed. “Monster Food is the best medicine because it digests really quickly, and therefore also heals us really quickly. I guess that goes for Humans as well!”

“Maybe my soul is healed!” 

“No, it’s not. It heals physical injuries sadly… Don’t worry- the Royal Scientist has been studying Human souls for the past few years, it’s why Papyrus and Sans have what we call Mock Souls. They mock human soul traits and give them to Monsters! Makes us more powerful! So if anyone knows what to do it’ll be W.D. Gaster!”

“What does the W.D. Stand for?”

“Gaster likes to Joke and say ‘Well Don’t’”

“Well don’t?”

She puffed out her chest, put on a mocking angry face and with a deep voice said: “Well Don’t just stand there! Go get me those documents!”

Chara and Cocoa both laughed together at that. “He seems like a great guy-”

“Oh he’s wonderful! Truly the most praised monster of his Time!”

Sans grabbed their shoulders and smirked. “Yo! Papyrus and Violet convinced Nala to give us a ride to the Lab.”

“Really!” Chara was excited. No more walking!

“Yeah yeah, in turn however, we gotta treat her to some grub at Burgers N’ Pants. I was planning on going there anyway. My favorite bartender got fired from Grillbys and now works there so I figured I’d pay Chrome a visit.”

“Who’s Chrome again?” Cocoa asked.

Sans stretched while saying “Some bat guy who ran the night shift while Grillby was sleepin’ which is when I used to go all the time before Papyrus forced me to fix my sleep schedule. Haven’t seen the old bat in ages. It’d be nice to pay him a visit.”

Cocoa hopped off the stool and held her hand out to Soul.

“What?” he asked.

“Well I need Gs to tip the kind Tems. and I know you have some.”

“And why’s that?”

“I can hear it jingle when you walk.”

“Caught me-” he handed Cocoa 4 Gs and Chara 4 Gs.

Cocoa put the Gs in the bowl and so Chara did the same.

Sans spun on the heel of his boot and started walking off. Cocoa trailing behind and Chara, patting a Tems head before they followed as well.

They all got to Papyrus, Violet, and the Robot Temmie (who Chara can only assume is Nala) as they were setting up carts onto a track labeled “MiddleLands”

“Heya!!” Nala was carrying two carts. One in each hand. Perks of being a robot. “Weeza just about to leave!”

Sans lazily hopped into a Cart and relaxed with his arms behind his head as a pillow and his feet propped up onto the edge.

Cocoa daintily hopped into the cart ahead of him, and following suite, Chara took their example and got into the one ahead of her. Papyrus laid down the last Cart and Nala hopped inside it “Lets Go! Let's Go! Let's Go!”

But before they could “Go! Go! Go!” a Bright Green Trident shot from the dark of the Cave ahead of them, Stabbing into the Cart Nala was sitting in.

“GYAH!” Nala Jumped up and landed on all fours on the ground. Every Tem in the Junction seemed to be fleeing to the safety of their carts

The sound of heavy metal footsteps clanked and echoed down the cave.

Clunk. Clunk! CLUNK! Getting louder and louder. Getting closer and closer.

A set of Green Glowing eyes illuminated in the dark as another Trident formed beside them. Lighting up their entire figure.

The cave got colder as Chara’s eyes widened in fear and became paralyzed under the glare she was giving off.

There they were. They raised their gauntlet and motioned their thumb along their throat slowly, as a twisted and sharp-fanged grin spread across their face.

“There you are, Sinner.” Next: Part 1

[sleepylilbuggie]

warning: not tlou related just a little rant!!!

ugh okay so, along with tlou one of my special interests is the hunger games. i love worlds full of death and trauma with strong female leads what can i say…. anyways...

i’m on the chapter where prim dies and i’ve been stuck on it for DAYS because i just have not wanted to ruin my mood. i’ve read the first couple pages over and over again but for some reason keep putting it down and restarting the chapter. no matter how many times i read it, it just gets me. katniss got into the whole mess by protecting her sister. it was always about making sure prim was safe and taken care of, she volunteered for her, she fought through the games for the thought of her, she tried to convince all of panem that her and peeta were in love to prevent snow from assassinating her as he implied. everyone could see that the people she loved and cared about were her weakness, she would willingly put herself to what she assumed would be death time and time again to protect them, especially primrose.

however, once they get to 13 and she knows prim is safe, katniss admits it herself, protecting prim becomes a bit of an oversight because she’s all caught up with being the mockingjay while also worrying about the state peeta is in. but when she left 13, she assumes prim is safe because she’s so far away from snow. but she ends up right there, in front of snow’s mansion, to die at the hands of the people who katniss thought would keep her safe. prim should have never been anywhere near the capitol, but there’s no way that in combination with her kindhearted nature and after watching katniss sacrifice herself for others again and again that prim would not have sacrificed her own life for the same reasons. it’s a choice that prim made for herself, the girl was not dumb. she would’ve known the risks of going to the capital as a medic during the height of the war. that fact makes me feel better, knowing that prim most likely considered the likelihood of not coming back to 13 alive but in true everdeen fashion decided to make that sacrifice.

what gets me though, and makes it so hard for me is that throughout transversing the capitol she wasn’t thinking about prim. i mean, why would she? prim is safe in 13 far away from snow and the war training to become a doctor. in the beginning of the chapter katniss was occupied with what gale said about her choosing between him and peeta, and after that completing her mission to assassinate snow. katniss doesn’t really consider her until she’s right there, about to die. one of her biggest reasons for fighting as hard as she did was ripped away from her in an instant, and for once, she didn’t even consider it to be a possibility because in her mind prim was safe until she wasn’t, and it was too late.

but of course, right there in the crowd was her dandelion, there to try and protect her despite her not being able to protect her sister. after surviving for so long and losing almost everything else she cared about, she got to keep her boy with the bread. her reminder of hope and a better tomorrow in human form. the day prim dies is the mark of the end of winter, the end of the war, even after all the death and suffering, it took some time, but her spring dandelion still grew.