#d20 ficlet

[italicized-oh]

hi oh my gosh welcome back!! glad to hear you finished your dissertation omfg congratulations!! for prompts, idk how specific you wanted/what you were looking for, but how about jace and porter getting caught by one of their coworkers while theyre "on a date" in bastion city (theyre actually there for [handwavey evil plan reasons] but yknow. they need a cover)?

oh rip i did not finish dissertation i finished one part of it 😭 but i am putting her aside now bc im sick of her. we're getting a divorce so i can come back to her door in 2 months weeping. but i digress

mmmmm. yes. i love this prompt it's delicious for me in particular. In my head this is early in their, um, collaboration. Jace doesn’t quite have the hang of manipulating Porter yet, but boy does Porter have his number.

Jace has a headache. This isn’t surprising, because he’s out with Porter on a school night in the godawful sports bar they always go to because it’s the best place to not be overheard. Which means that it’s so fucking loud in here he can feel the sound in his teeth. Which means that he’s approximately twelve minutes away from swallowing down a surge and fucking up his blood pressure. Again. 

Which means, of course, that the only thing that could make this planning session-cum-torture hour better for Jace is if someone saw him and Porter together, in a booth, on a Thursday, heads bent together, very obviously not watching the pro bloodrush championship something-or-other that every other person is screaming their heads off about.

“Jace, Porter, how lovely to see you!” Jace grits his teeth together even harder at the smirk already curling across Porter’s lips, allowing himself one moment of sheer, blind rage at the cruel whims of the universe. And then he puts on a smile that says just how happy he is to see his coworkers outside work, because he is a kind and genuine person and definitely not fighting a migraine and plotting the end of the world with Solace’s newest god of rage.

“Lucilla, darling, how are you? You look stunning, as always,” Porter kicks Jace under the table, “and Zara, of course, hello.” Jace lets more of his teeth out into his smile as he turns to Zara, because she, at least, should know better. She’s wearing a smug grin and has her arm wrapped around Lucilla, toying idly with the taffeta bunched at her hip. Eyes dancing, Zara glances between Jace and Porter, and Jace can watch in real time as she starts connecting dots that do not exist to be connected.

“Love, I think we’re interrupting–” is all Zara gets out (that bitch, Jace is going to hex her shelf in the faculty lounge fridge so all her blood turns into Kool-Aid) before Lucilla is gushing about Ruben’s recent developments to Jace.

“Really, he’s made such progress, I can’t thank you two enough for taking him under your wing. I–” Jace tunes Lucilla out, smiling and nodding in all the right places, and subtly Messages Porter.

If you don’t have a way to end this in the next fifteen seconds I’m going to kill everyone in this room and then myself. Porter sips at his beer, seemingly unaffected, having some kind of nonverbal something with Zara, which really shouldn’t make Jace as upset as it does, except he has a headache rapidly developing into a migraine and is being forced to engage in niceties about Ruben Hopclap of all his students, why not one of the competent Rat Grinders, or even Kipperlily. Gods, how is this his life.

Porter. Do. Something. Then a third Message, just for drama. Please.

It’s always a little creepy to Jace when Porter turns on the charm, because even from their relatively few interactions so far, Jace knows that charisma means very different things to different people. Case in point:

“Ah, Lucilla,” Porter says with an indulgent smile (indulgent? What the hell does he have to indulge?). “I’m afraid Ms. Sool is correct; as wonderful as I know your company is, Stardiamond here gets tetchy when people interrupt our alone time.” 

(Gods. fucking. damnit. This is what Jace gets for letting Porter do the talking. Next time, Jace is just fucking Teleporting away or something.)

Porter’s hand covers Jace’s atop the table (fully covers, Jace does not observe, because why would he) and presses down with just this side of too much pressure as he continues. “It’s a full time job keeping him satisfied, you know, or I’m sure we’d love to keep chatting.” Jace feels the bones of his fingers creak as Porter increases the force of his hand on Jace's. “Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” 

Jace barely manages a nod, his brain fuzzed over in some mix of confusion, fury, and- probably nothing else.

Lucilla’s eyebrows creep up her forehead (almost as high as Zara’s have), and she turns a fascinating shade of periwinkle. Putting a hand to her chest with a (truly unnecessary, if you ask Jace) gasp, she says, “Oh, oh, dear, thank you for saying something, Porter, you know how I ramble on, I’m just so impressed by– oh, and there I go again!” Lucilla’s laugh is musical, because of course it is, and her whole body ripples with it.

(Jace isn’t watching, of course, but he is watching Porter watching, which he refuses to think about until this weekend. Maybe next.)

“Anyway, we’ll leave you two to it, won’t we, babe?” She turns into Zara’s arms, and Zara throws a triumphant wink Jace’s way as they depart. He stares daggers at her back, already weighing whether or not to make this a thing he has to talk about with Porter, whose hand is still covering Jace's.

At least, Jace thinks, his maybe-fractured fingers are distracting him from the throbbing pain in his skull. Fucking hell.

[serenescribe]

Ficlet request: something silly about the fact oisin doesn't have dark vision but adaine does?

ficlet frenzy note: this was such a silly idea that i HAD to write it. written during @d20ficoff

In the middle of reading a chapter about the history of chronomancy wizards, Adaine pauses as a Sending spell hits her head. The words zip into her mind with a jolt of electricity, setting the hair on her arms on end like a static shock.

Fucked up bad. Magic spell went wrong. Lights in the hoard are out. Didn’t bring my crystal with me. Please help. Love you.

Adaine can’t help it; she laughs. “Oh my god,” she breathes as she puts her book aside, getting up from her arm chair. She had noticed that Oisin had been gone for longer than usual, but Adaine hadn’t thought much of it. At most, she had chalked it up to him spending more time indulging in his draconic instincts, of cutting loose by draping himself over a pile of treasure. She hadn’t expected him to be stuck.

[read the full thing on ao3!]

[thecryptidzenith]

I wish you would write a fic where... Kalina manages to deflect Pok and keep him alive as a tool instead of having him killed

The way this premise is worded puts Kalina in the position of power, but I love it when Pok's a cheeky bastard so...

~

"I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I think you're getting stood up, hon."

Pok hummed, non-committal, as the waitress refilled his water for the third time, "No, I got here early. Earlier than I should have, probably."

Their meeting was meant to be at 5:15, a reasonable enough time for dinner on a weeknight, but definitely early. Early enough that Pok would have enough time to catch the train to Elmville and see Riz before he went to sleep for the night. Or more accurately, before he went to bed for the night. Sklonda had told him about their son's attempts to stay up as late as possible, just in case tonight was when Daddy came home, just in case he'd come walking through the door in the next minute or hour, and how could he sleep knowing that?

She'd said it wryly, like it was a joke, but he was well-aware of the admonishment in it. Riz wouldn't feel the need to become an insomniac if he was home more. If every second with Daddy wasn't precious enough to be worth losing hours of sleep over.

But that wasn't why Kalina wanted this meeting early. She wanted as few witnesses as possible, he knew that. And it worked for him, so he acquiesced. The interplay of compromises and negotiations was second nature to him at this point. He refused to have this conversation in private, and she didn't want to go somewhere busy. He arrived ten minutes early so she would see him waiting on her, and eight minutes after their agreed upon time, he expected she'd be here ten minutes late to signal that she had better things to do.

"She'll be here," he promised the waitress, in a manner that he was sure sounded like he was trying to convince himself of it.

She sighed, "That's what they all say," and walked away.

Pok took a sip of his water and looked around the restaurant--yet another compromise. Time wasn't the only factor in how busy a place was. He recounted the twenty-three patrons clustered around lacquered wood tables and squished into sticky red booths. Servers with branded aprons over their normal clothes came out every once and a while. He'd been occupying himself with trying to draw the exact boundaries of their sections, and he couldn't tell where along the wall of booths one ended and another began. Maybe the edge of one of the photos on the wall served as the border, but none of them seemed to line up cleanly with the booths.

Nine minutes after she should have been there--either she was relaxed and sloppy tonight or her imprecision disguised deliberate calculation--Kalina walked through the door. Her dress was Solesian, nice, but not overly so. A satiny grey, flowing top with crisscrossing straps. Perfect for a Solesian summer and decently formal, though the black jeans made the outfit more casual. Dying sunlight glinted off her silver arm cuffs, blindingly bright on a usually dark figure. Her eyes seemed to meet Pok's the second she walked through the door. She ignored the employee up front who in turn ignored her as she walked straight up to his table and sat down.

"Pok."

"Kalina."

"It's good to see you."

"Likewise."

A beat.

He hadn't told her why he wanted to meet like this. He hadn't told her why he had wanted to meet at all. But Kalina spoke a second before he did.

"How's the family?"

Standard small talk or an implicit threat? His response was the same either way, "Good. Sklonda just wrapped up a pretty big case, and Riz has been enjoying the summer. Lot of time at the pool, he's a pretty good swimmer."

Kalina smirked, "Good enough to swim across the moat into Fort Quintana?"

Despite himself, he smiled back, "I can't believe you're still bringing that up, it's been... heavens, thirteen years?"

"Fourteen."

"Goodness." It felt like yesterday and a lifetime ago, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yes," she confirmed cautiously, "it has."

"We've known each other for a long time. And over that time, we've done a lot of stuff together. We've been a good team. I've trusted you with my life more times than I can count, and you've always delivered. At the end of the day, this is business. But it has never been just business. I think--I hope--that we've built up enough of a rapport over the years that this can stay civil. I just want what's best for you, for both of us."

Kalina grinned, disarmingly sarcastic and pithy in face of his sincerity, "Pok Gukgak, are you breaking up with me?"

"'I remember when a river ran through here,'" he quoted, "do you remember saying that?"

"I say a lot of things, Pok, I can't be fucked to remember them all."

"I do. You said that you remembered when a river ran through somewhere, a change that occurs on a geologic time scale. I've known you for seventeen years and you haven't aged a day. You can't interact with certain objects, you never eat, and you travel too quickly."

"It's rude to comment on a lady's age."

"Kalina," he chided, "I already know enough to get you removed from the Third Ring. It's in an encrypted email, scheduled to send some time tomorrow if I don't cancel it. But those files don't actually tell me who you are. Or what you are. As a colleague, as someone I respect, and even as someone I consider a friend, I thought I owed you the opportunity to explain. And as an agent of the Solesian Secret Service, I thought I'd be prudent to give you the opportunity to come over to our side."

If he could convince Kalina accept Solesian amnesty, it'd be a game changer for his position in the Service. He didn't want to blackmail her into it--the email was just insurance that she wouldn't murder him right then and there--but if he could convince her to work for their side...

It'd be enough for a promotion. Or at least a change in departments. He was thirty-eight years old and not getting any younger. It was only a matter of time before he finally got sent on a mission he wouldn't come back from. He'd been in the fucking Service since he was twenty-one. He'd done unspeakable things for them, climbed the ladder with bloody claws, and he'd made it farther than he ever thought he would.

But it still wasn't far enough. He was still one stray shot away from everything crumbling to pieces.

Bringing Kalina over to their side would force his superiors to take him out of field work. It had to, she was a legendary asset. He'd get a promotion and a pay raise, probably becoming a handler, hell, he'd probably be Kalina's handler. He'd have the opportunity to train and advise younger agents and work with already competent ones. He'd have more time at home and more importantly, he wouldn't have to worry every time he left for a mission if this was the last time he'd ever see Sklonda and Riz again.

That was the dream, anyway. He'd settle for not dying today.

"Are you trying to blackmail me into flipping, Gukgak?"

"No, the email is just to make sure you don't kill me right now." So was the restaurant and the twenty-three patrons inside. "I'm not interested in blackmailing you."

"Then what are you interested in?" she asked--demanded, really--finally serious.

"The truth."

She searched his expression.

"I mean it. I'm going to find it eventually, but I'd rather hear it from you."

"You wouldn't find it. I've made sure of it."

He cocked his eyebrow, "And you've never made a mistake?"

Kalina glowered. There was a long pause before either of them said anything else. Pok watched her analyze him, weighing her options and his character. He didn't try to appear as anything other than he was: an honest and concerned friend.

"Have you tried this trick on Riz yet?" she asked, "'Cause I guarantee that kid would fold like a collapsible chair if you tried this on him."

He shrugged, letting her have her flippancy, "Haven't needed to yet."

"Just wait," she said ominously.

Pok hummed and didn't deign that with a response, forcing Kalina to focus on the matter at hand.

"Fuck it," she declared out of the blue, "You want to know what I am?"

"I do."

"Okay."

She told him.

~

There's definitely more here and I might put an extended version of this on AO3 at some point, (if I do that, it'll probably be Pok/Sklonda/Kalina, because. i want to.) but obviously I love this premise. My version is less 'Pok ends up as Kalina's tool' (though she certainly does manipulate him) and more 'in which the Gukgak parents have moralities befitting a cop and a Fantasy CIA agent,' which is a concept I've been playing around with for a while because I Think It's Neat.

[pikmininaplane]

@underrated-d20-event day 4! Coffin Run time!! Also one of the most underrated side quests, and rewatching a clip from it to write this made me want to watch it again – hope we’ll get Jasmine back as a DM someday <3 (Also this sorta fits the theme Playlist but also sorta not? Y’know how it is.)

(Spoilers for Coffin Run episode 4!)

Wolf song (475 words)

"My love?" Marina called out, her voice hoarse.

She pushed open the door to her house, trying to keep her strength in check so she wouldn't break it, before stepping inside, thumping the ground with each step.

The place was as she left it. Still. Tidy.

Wrong.

Aleksandr would never have left their place like this. With him at home, there would have been bits and bots lying all around the place, gizmos and gadgets and unfinished experiments that could blow up at any time, but that he still put so much care into. So much soul.

But well, he wasn't there anymore, was he?

She ventured further in, her unusual, massive body pushing the furniture away from her path. She was too big to fit now. And yet this was still not enough to fill the hole left by her husband.

Finally, she made her way to the one item she had been looking for: the makeshift gramophone her husband had built from scraps just for her. On the turntable lay a vinyl record, one Marina remembered well for she had bought it one day, on a whim, just for the pleasure of it.

She remembered how she had brought it home for Aleksandr to hear, how he had smiled and laughed and how they had danced together until the record had stopped spinning.

Slowly, using a single claw from her large paw, she pushed the stylus onto the record and let it play.

The sound of music immediately filled the silence previously broken only by Marina's ragged breath. Her ears perked up as she quietly hummed along to the melody, her tone low.

Finally, after standing in the dark for who knows how long, the record stopped spinning.

Marina only realized then that she had begun sobbing.

He had left. He was gone. He no longer answered her mail, he who had always been so faithful and devoted to her… She couldn’t believe that he had left her alone of his own volition. There had to be something else at play.

Something… or someone.

Her hands tensed up on the edge of the table, clawing deep into the wood.

Yes. Yes, she knew exactly who was behind this. Who was to blame.

She did not care how imposing of an enemy her target was; she had made herself stronger, fiercer, just so she could hold her own against him. So she could rescue her husband from his clutches.

And she had her pack with her now.

Her head shot up as her snout parted open to let out a long, powerful howl; soon, she was joined by others. By her sisters, in arms and in teeth.

"Wait for me, my love," Marina finally growled, baring her teeth in beastly fury.

She would rip Dracula apart with her bare hands if she had to.

[leverage-ot3]

eliot: this is a bad idea hardison you know it

hardison: but have you considered it would be extremely funny and a dream come true?

eliot: it can and will blow your cover

parker: bold words from someone that's been made famous like at least seven times in your career

eliot: dammit parker you're not helping

parker: just let him play his little troll game

We all know that Eliot has a penchant for accidentally becoming famous but if Hardison could would he join a famous D&D live stream just for shits and giggles? Would he make a 12 step plan to befriend the cast of Dimension 20 without raising suspicion and by the end he not only appears in the occasional game but is invited to other shows?

[ladykailitha]

The Christmas Lich?

Hello and welcome to my Christmas AUvent Calendar! Every day from now until the 24th I will be posting a ficlet that is 500-1500 from an AU I've done over the years.

All stories will be marked with the tag #12 aus of christmas so you can follow along as I will only be tagging my permanent list for this (it would get too confusing otherwise).

The next one on our list is: Ser Stephan of Harring's Town. You can read the story here. All links will be to the first chapter, but the chapter itself will have links to the rest of the story.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

~

Steve had to admit he was getting better at the whole role playing aspect of playing D&D now that he had been playing awhile with everyone.

Though it was an adjustment with the rest of Hellfire having the former King of Hawkins High at the table.

He would have to say that other than the kids, Jeff adjusted the easiest, with Brian and Gareth being grudgingly pulled along by his charm and his cookies.

Brian was a particular fan of the cookies. And the brownies. And the chocolate cake... Well you get the idea.

So when Steve suggested they do a Christmas one-shot over at his place Christmas eve, everyone leapt at the chance for Steve to make Christmas delights for everyone.

Eddie rubbed his hands together and got to plotting the one shot.

They decided to do it in the morning as so that they could be home with their families that night.

“All righty!” Eddie greeted, cackling with glee. “There are dark forces at work in the northern town of Ewige Nacht as you boys have to team to stop it before all the world is cast into darkness!”

~

The boss appeared and Eddie yelled with absolute glee, “Lich wyrm!”

Everyone groaned. Everyone but Steve, who was licking his lips slowly, a knowing smile on his face.

“Do I know the lich wyrm is weak to iron?” he asked slowly.

Eddie laced his fingers together, planting his elbows on the table and lowered his hands in front of him. “Interesting. That would be a knowledge arcana. Roll a D20.”

Steve did as he was told. “That’s a twelve with a plus five. That’s seventeen!” He looked up at Eddie, hopeful.

“Yes, your character would know lich wyrms are weak to iron,” Eddie confirmed.

The rest of the party was leaning forward to see what Steve would do.

“I pull out the iron ore we found that I forgot to sell at the last shop we were in,” Steve said and everyone’s eyes went wide. They had completely forgot he had that. “I lash it to the end of a torch.”

“That ends your turn,” Eddie warned him. “And thing else you want to do?”

“I give it to the ranger as an arrow,” Steve said with a grin. “He’s next to go in initiative, right?”

Lucas grinned and everyone else started pounding on the table as a drum roll. Lucas picked up his D20 and shook it in his hand. The drumming stopped as Lucas let go of the dice. It tumbled around in front of him.

“Eighteen!” Lucas shouted, leaping to his feet. “Plus my bonus puts it at twenty-three to hit!”

Eddie sat back in his chair, nodding his approval. “It hits. Roll your damage and add two D4 to you roll.”

Dustin and Mike hurried to give him one of theirs and Lucas took them all and rolled.

“Twelve damage!” he cried. It wasn’t the best, but it was a good hit.

“For a grand total for twenty-four damage,” Eddie said with a grin, “the lich wyrm starts swaying back and forth. He doesn’t look so good.” He scanned his list. “But it’s Gareth’s turn. What’s the wizard to do?”

There was a lot of good rolls so the lich only got off it’s breath weapon once and it hit Steve’s barbarian who could take the hit. Soon the fell beast was vanquished and Christmas restored to the town. Or well, rather Yuletide was restored to the town!

As they were cleaning up Dustin groused, “Having an unholy combination of a lich and a black dragon was just evil, Eddie. If it wasn’t for Steve’s quick thinking we’d all be dead.”

Eddie cackled. “That’s all part of the fun and Steve did a really good job.”

Steve blushed and ducked his head, working on cleaning everything up.

“No, man,” Jeff said, putting his hand on Steve’s shoulder. “I’d want Steve playing with us anytime. He really made it fun because he wasn’t bound by years of rules so he thought outside the box.”

“Yeah,” Gareth agreed, shoving stuff in his bag.

Brian tilted his head to side and then nodded. “You’re always welcome at any D&D table I play.”

A cheer went up for Steve and Eddie wrapped his arm around Steve’s waist. “Merry Christmas, baby.” He kissed Steve’s cheek.

“Merry Christmas, rockstar.”

~

Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12

Tag List: CLOSED

1- @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog @sadisticaltarts @dolphincliffs

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @cryptid-system @kultiras

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji @dreamercec @blondie1006

5- @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @genderless-spoon @fearieshadow @thesecondfate

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @beelze-the-bubkiss

[mithrilwren]

Writing Meme - 1,2,3,4,5

I was tagged by @thetragicallynerdy, thanks for the tag!! This is such a fun one!

Rules: give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the least words (feel free to interpret however you would like; if not on AO3, can be on tumblr or FFN!).

Most hits: Only the Nightingale Sings, Critical Role, genfic with all 7 M9 povs. Canon divergence where Yeza is captured by the Cerberus Assembly and the M9 get trapped in Rexxentrum while trying to save him. This is also my longest fic and still the dearest to my heart.

Second most kudos: A Winter's Ball, Critical Role, Beau/Jester (implied). A VM/M9 crossover wherein the two parties attend a Winter's Crest celebration in Tal'Dorei and Beau gets some romance advice.

Third most comments: Heaven Here, Star Trek: AOS, Kirk/McCoy. A horror-esque extended take on the classic TOS episode This Side of Paradise, where Kirk and a mind-muddled McCoy return to earth in the aftermath, and Kirk tries to help McCoy find his way back to sanity.

Fourth most bookmarks: Four Letter Words, D20: Escape from the Bloodkeep, Leiland/Marcus St. Vincent. A Leiland character study, mostly focused on his relationship with the other vile villains. I think this might be the first EFTB fic published on Ao3, which is kind of fun!

Fifth most words: Transit, Supernatural, Cas/Benny. A road trip fic about our favourite angel and vampire learning to love each other in the absence of the love of both their lives (ie. Dean). This was the first multichapter I ever wrote and man, does it have its technical issues, but it was a great learning experience!

Least words: Metronome, Supernatural, Sam & Dean genfic. In which Dean has sleep apnea and Sam stresses. I'd forgotten how many short ficlets I wrote for SPN back in the day.

It's cool to see the spread of fandoms here! I feel like I sometimes divide my Ao3 eras into SPN, Critical Role, and now One Piece, but there are lots of other fandoms sprinkled in there too.

I'm tired and struggling to think of who to tag, but if you want to do this, please do and tag me so I can see! Also, if you're someone who likes being tagged in these things, feel free to reply to this post and I'll make a little list for myself for the future! (Stealing your excellent idea on that front, @thetragicallynerdy haha)

[kinnbig]

🌸 gifs | posts | writing | drawings 🌸

tracking #userdarcey 🌿 any pronouns 🌿

▸ main: @gayzuko ▸ ao3: gayzuko ▸ wife: @aikinn ▸ d20 blog: @aydafigs

tags/navigation:

tumblr's search function is garbage so this is mostly just so i can find stuff on my own blog lol

my gifs: all | all BL | kinnporsche | kinnporsche cast | only friends | ramking | kpanniversary | glee kinnporsche series | big&ken in every episode

my posts: all | top posts | kinnporsche text posts | thai linguistics | learning to draw tag | objectively scientific rankings | asks | ask games | tag games

fics: all my writing | burnout | chart topper | silence and patience (series) | kiss prompt ficlets 

everything else:

(favourites are pink!)

random tags: 5.8 | fic/writing inspo | language stuff

✨ KinnPorsche:

ships: kinnporsche | vegaspete | kimchay | bigken | armtankhun | kinnbig

characters: kinn | porsche | vegas | pete | kim | chay | tankhun | macau | big | ken | arm | pol | tay | time | tem | jom | chan | yok | tawan | gun | korn

cast: general cast tag | mile | apo | bible | jeff | barcode | tong | ta | nodt | perth | bas | job | us | jj | pong | ping | sprite | na | ex

other: tour | memes | fanart | fic recs

✨ other shows:

i have so many more tags than this but tumblr only lets you add 100 links in one post now rip so these are just the ones I use a lot probably idk

bad buddy | patpran | inkpa

my engineer | ramking

only friends |

cutie pie | jay (lmao)

not me | danyok

dead friend forever |

✨ more actors:

first kanaphan | khaotung thanawut | lay talay | love pattranite | mark pakin | milk pansa | neo trai

[lu-sn]

"Can I get a history check?" Pete asks.

Chay hums, flipping through his notes. "What are you trying to remember?"

"Have I seen or heard of Vegas taking physical abuse from his father before? Rumors, maybe?"

Chay taps his chin for a long moment. "Roll for perception instead."

Everyone at the table groans. Pete slaps a hand over his eyes.

"Can't believe you're doing Pete dirty like that, Chay." Porsche claps a hand onto Pete's shoulder in sympathy.

"What's your record on perception rolls, again?" Macau says. He starts ticking off on his fingers. "Failed that check on Kinn, then that other check on Hia, then the one on Porsche, and then on Porsche, and then Porsche—"

"Leave me alone," Pete says, muffled into his hand.

"Least it's better than his deception throws," Porsche snickers. "Haven't seen you get anything above a five in weeks—"

"He's just a little clueless, aren't you, Pete," Vegas says, arms crossed, mirth clear on his face.

"Fine, you bastards," Pete mutters, grabbing his die.

"You know what, Phi," Chay interjects, right as Pete rolls, "I'll give you advantage on this one."

"Holy shit," Porsche says, leaning over Pete's dice box. "He's not gonna need it."

"Nat twenty," Pete breathes out.

"Dude!" Macau yells. "Absolutely sick—"

"Phi," Chay tries to speak over the uproar, "can you — Macau, shut up — Phi, can you tell the table about your own father?"

Pete leans back. "When I was little, my father put me in muay thai, and he used to, uh," he grimaces, "beat me up after matches, if I lost."

Chay nods. "You watch Gun punch Vegas, and you immediately recognize this as a mirror of what happened to you in your past. You can also tell that this isn't new, that Vegas is used to taking these kinds of beatings, and he's used to bearing them in silence. Vegas is scared of his father — and Gun does not give a shit about his son, outside of how Vegas can be useful to him."

The table is hushed.

"Well," Pete says eventually. "That's just... great."

"Is Pete's background common knowledge?" Vegas asks suddenly.

"Nope," Chay says.

"Well," Vegas makes a note, "I'll wager that knowledge becomes a lot more relevant very, very soon."

Chay smiles, impish. "We'll see."

(inspired by this post from @veliseraptor)

[shrimp-and-crab-activities]

Snippet from a fic I'll never write

[Things go down differently after the scuppers match. Evan is able to fend off the beings on his own, but that means the Pilot Program never gets the opportunity to silence them.]

"When I'm the only one in danger, I don't really have a say in the matter, but when it's someone else too... When I accept their help, it gets bad. Like, really, really bad." Evan didn't know how it worked exactly; this was only the third time he'd said yes. But it was like he put up an internal wall that kept them out, and each favor chipped away at that barrier.

"When you say bad...?" Dream asked, slowly, concern seeping into her voice.

"I... get closer to... them, uh, winning," He didn't want to get into it more than he had to. A thought struck him. "And there's usually- do I... look different?"

"No?" Sam looked him up and down, furrowing her brow.

"They've taken a... physical price, when this has happened before."

Evan thought back on his once-normal shadow, replaced by a beast that only came when called. Of his eyes, now black instead of brown. He looked down at his arms. Hands. Nothing.

"Be right back," he mumbled out, rising from the cot and into Nurse Stitchnit's bathroom. He didn't need to search long. The moment he started to raise his shirt, he spotted the large patch of porcelain white skin stretching his torso. He was a pretty pale guy, but this was truly white.

He sighed and walked back to his friends, whose faces were both riddled with concern. He didn't want to burden them with any more of his shit.

"Hey, a physical price?! What does that mean?!" Dream screeched at him, loud enough that Jammer jolted awake. "Sorry!" she whispered.

"Ev, shit, I shouldn't have fallen asleep, is everything okay? When did you wake up?" Jammer moved from his chair to the cot, grabbing Evan's hand in his.

"I just woke up. I'm... okay. It's gonna be okay." It wasn't a lie. It would be okay. His appointment was so soon, and then he wouldn't be a danger to anyone. Guilt crept up his spine. He can't tell them. Not yet.

Jammer opened his mouth, but Dream started before he could say anything. "Are you sure? A 'physical price' does not sound okay!"

"Physical price?" Jammer's eyes went round.

"No, it's not a big deal," he reassured. "Just, when something like this happens, there's... yeah." That didn't help. There were too many questions, he would just have to bite the bullet. "My skin's different," he lifted up his shirt a bit to show off his stomach, "In technical terms, it's called Vitiligo, but that's a medical lack of pigmentation in the skin, so I don't know if that really... applies to me.... Not nearly as bad as it could've been, trust me."

Jammer squeezed his hand a bit tighter. "How bad... could it have been?"

"Well, I uh... I used to have a shadow. I'll just leave it at that."

Evan was not a fan of the silence that followed, so he switched gears. "Someone should probably let Stitchnit know I'm awake."

[queenangst]

see you in the stars

A fic collection about finding family worth living for in a universe that's out to get you, and moments that build up to it.

part i. count your blessings, name your friends: "What I mean is, you don't have to do all this… anymore. Like, I'm not really your boss anymore, you know? ...so we can be, you know. Friends." | Margaret & Sidney

[serenescribe]

can i request 👉👈 bad kid of your choice figuring out that hallariel is not very kind to her kid, their best friend whom they love

ficlet frenzy note: mads i hope i did this justice o7 written during @d20ficoff

Slam!

“Dude, your mom fucking sucks!”

At her words, Fig watches Fabian whip his head up, his one grey eye immediately locking with her own. She knows what she must look like, standing in the doorway to his bedroom and practically trembling with rage as she clenches the jamb like a lifeline, but Fig can’t help it. She’s absolutely livid.

Her anger only builds as Fabian narrows his eye, his retort barbed with hostility. “No, she doesn’t,” he insists, getting to his feet. Except doing that just makes him stumble a little, unsteady as he rises, and Fig knows that if it were anyone else with worse dexterity than Fabian, they probably would’ve tumbled down into a heap.

[the rest is on ao3 here!]

[rubyofhouserocks]

goblin (in mirror) 1/5

Summary: Riz, the Bad Kids, and all the motions of ordinary love.

Chapter 1: Fig

There’s a thrumming bassline, so thick and loud that it reverberates through the floor and shakes Riz’s bones. He watches the stage from the back of the venue, seated at a bar that he is far too young to drink from. Instead, Riz nurses a club soda as he watches his friend play her heart out onstage.

He listens to her belt the lyrics to Burn Towns, Get Money, and while it isn’t really his style of music, he can’t help the overwhelming sense of pride that unfurls in his chest as he hears her play. She’s got a white-knuckle grip on her bass guitar—the same bass that has saved Riz’s ass in too many battles to count—and there is sweat plastering her dyed-purple bangs to her forehead.

She looks so happy that Riz is breathless, for a moment. She deserves to be that happy all the time, he thinks. Now that she’s got Ayda, Riz thinks she might be.

The thought makes him feel warm at first, before something horrible and acrid blossoms inside of him: Fig has adoring fans, now. Fig has an agent. Fig is big and important and wealthy. She’s a different person than she was freshman year—she has her dads, her mom, Ayda; she’s coming into herself in a way that Riz just. Isn’t.

He tries not to resent her for it, but he can’t quite manage to shake the way his gut feels heavy, can’t ignore the gnawing fear that she may outgrow him. The terrifying thought that he’s falling behind, that all of his friends are going to—

As soon as the worry begins to take shape in his mind, Riz hears Fig yell, “thank you Dune Fort! You’ve been a fantastic crowd,” and he knows that her set is over. After exiting the stage, Fig doesn’t waste a second running up to him. Her enthusiasm is breathtaking as she grabs his arm, pulls him into a hug, kisses his cheek. It’s like there’s so much affection and excitement inside of her that she can’t settle on a single way to express it, and so she chooses to express it in every way.

“Hey,” she breathes, and her smile is so infectious that Riz momentarily forgets the ugly feelings deep within himself, “thanks for coming.”

“Of course,” Riz smiles, and it comes easier than he thought it would, “wouldn’t miss it for all the gold in Spyre.”

“Hey,” Fig says again, and she looks serious this time. “I know I can be hard to read sometimes, and I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve—”

Riz is about to interrupt her, but she puts a finger to his lips and continues on.

“But I just want you to know, Riz, that you and the Bad Kids are the best friends I’ve ever had, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you came to see me play tonight.”

Riz almost chokes on his tongue, he feels so much love for this girl. For all of his friends. If anyone happened to roll an insight check on him at that moment, surely they would see how vulnerable he was, all because he cared too deeply about the Bad Kids.

“Anyway, I completely rocked the shit out of that show and now I’m starving,” Fig says, linking her arm with Riz’s, “so let’s go to Basrar’s.”

And as he and Fig eat sundaes and shoot the shit, talking about everything and nothing in a little ice cream shop in Elmville, Riz can’t remember why he was upset in the first place.

[pikmininaplane]

Decided to participate in @underrated-d20-event by writing a bunch of ficlets (ideally 100-500 words)! Can't guarantee I'll post something everyday, but hey, today is Pirates of Leviathan day and I couldn't just skip the most underrated season of all <3

With the additional theme of Fear, I decided to write about my bird daughter, Sunny :]

Soar (354 words)

It’s alright if you’re afraid, Sunny’s parents had told her. You just have to take a leap of faith and prey to Sol that he may fly you away!

She didn’t exactly believe in Sol anymore, was the thing.

Sunny swallowed her saliva.

There was only one way to learn how to fly. Take the first step into the emptiness, spread your wings, and let the winds do the rest. Easy enough. Right? She just had to…

To…

Jump.

She closed her eyes as the world around her began falling upwards, only for her heart to immediately skip a beat. Her wings– they weren’t opening, they were– stuck? Frozen?

Oh no. Oh, no. Arms flailing around, stunted wings flapping aimlessly, she was falling, truly falling, and the ground was approaching rapidly, and–

It wasn’t Sol she thought about as she plunged to her certain death.

It was her. The woman her mentor had told her about, the pirate, the one that was brave and resourceful.

Save me, Jane Wren!

And perhaps she imagined it; but in this moment, she could have sworn she heard a voice, thunderous and challenging, roaring through her mind.

Look at how brave you are, lass! Show them! Soar through the skies!

Sunny’s wings spread open.

A breath of adrenaline rushed through her lungs.

And, before she could come close to the ground, Sunny rose again, using the momentum from her fall to propel herself across the open sky.

She squeaked in joy as she finally opened up her eyes and saw a world of blue reveal itself to her, blue skies, blue sea, blue everything. The people came and went beneath her, mere dots running through the streets of Leviathan at it slowly rode the waves.

She was free. Free to do whatever she wanted, to go wherever, to fly to the end of the world.

Well. Not now. She could feel her young wings tiring already; soon, she would have to land and go tell the good news to her parents. But after that…

Sunny’s beak stretched into a wide smile.

Watch out, adventure; I’m coming for you!

[pechebeche]

i’ve finally done it. i’ve made a google doc with all of my fabriz (& assorted d20) ficlets that i never posted anywhere but my old tumblr. featuring such classics as “that au where fabian wasnt part of the bad kids and in college he gets a grindr account,” and “theopin college au where lapin is forced to wear a bunny outfit for halloween and theo is like, huh. hope this doesnt awaken anything in me.” weird amnt of college aus. or i guess not so weird since i was In College but yknow

@lionleonora i am SO sorry this took so long, but i made it in the end! i hope its what you were looking for <3

[essektheylyss]

some housekeeping and directions around

howdy! call me megs.

first things out of the way:

spoiler tags I use are as follows, and spoilers will be tagged for a week after an episode, if I'm watching live: #cr spoilers; #wbn spoilers; #d20 spoilers; #midst spoilers; #co spoilers (candela)

I also sometimes liveblog what I'm reading (including, among many other things, philosophy texts); if that sounds utterly dull to you, you can blacklist "#megs is reading"

if I've ever got thoughts on ~the discourse~, they only go under "#cr discourse" and will not be maintagged; for more info on my tagging and filtering methodology, see this post

let's be honest: if you're here, it's probably because you've followed off of a shitpost or something. but now that you've arrived, I write a lot of things and [Jester Lavorre hype voice] you should totally read them!

you can find most of my shit on ao3, and also some additional ficlets and drabbles in my fic tag. I also occasionally write meta, but I'm quite predominantly a writer of fiction. you can even, if you are so inclined, find a small assortment of published original writing here.

if you're like me and you're going, "yeesh, at least show me the wares you're hawking here," there are abridged descriptions of my chapter fics under the cut.

what luminous worlds await (now with bonus sequel!): M, complete (12 chapters, 179k)

champion of the luxon!essek, mostly canon-compliant for c2, as much as a space opera set a thousand years in the future can be canon-compliant. I have it on good faith that it will emotionally shatter you and then put you back together. also that it might change your mind about second person if you hate second person. if you like dynasty and luxon lore, immortals wrestling with the weight of time and grief, and also the lavorre family, this might be for you!

heir to the devil's fortune: M, complete (25 chapters, 348k)

post-canon fantasy soap opera, colloquially referred to as the tiefling fic. essek uses widogast's transmogrification to transform into jester's long-lost brother when the dynasty and the assembly come looking for him. if you like shadowgast getting together fics, explorations of identity, dysphoria, and survivor's guilt, and also the lavorre family, this might be for you!