#had fun making some npcs for this save

[nihilismtrcit]

invited to dinner at the yacht club (way fancy, way out of budget) to “catch up” with some old high school frenemies friends. they have a dress code so nora had to break out an old high school dress

[tinycoffeeroom]

miami heat | lando norris

face claim: none ♡

request: here !

a/n: this is SO late but it took me forever to move past the writers block of a text only fic </3 still thinking about lando's race win...

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You and Lando had been inevitable. Your dad was a long time racing fan, often attending karting events around the country and dragging you along. As time passed, you learned to love it too, often waiting for your dad at the door when he got back from work so the two of you could quickly throw some clothes into an overnight bag and travel off to whichever race track you’d be camping in that weekend.

It helped that your cousin was a kart racer, both you and your dad using him as an excuse for attending so many races. Your mum would sigh, pull out the premade lunches from the fridge and stuff them into a small blue cooler before seeing the two of you off at the door. 

When your cousin got the call up to F4, you’d been overjoyed for him. Being able to watch his dreams come true filled you with so much pride. It also gave you and your dad another excuse to attend more F4 races, now offering to pick your cousin up and take him from race track to race track every weekend as well as your dad offering to be his race engineer, using his background as a mechanic to work on the car’s engine. Your aunt and uncle agreed happily, knowing how much the two of you enjoyed watching your cousin race. 

The first live F4 race felt electrifying. You weren’t used to seeing actual cars racing in person, only ever watching the Formula 1 races on the small portable TV your dad had invested in during the first year of your kart watching adventures. You and your cousin would always cheer for your favourite racers, him still sweaty and suited up from his own race but pumped up on adrenaline. 

You watched as he fist bumped other drivers after the race, coming a respectable 4th in his first ever F4 race. This part was your least favourite, having to wait for your cousin to talk to all these sweaty teenage boys was not your idea of fun. Spread out comfortably on the moon chairs your dad had bought for the races, you opened your 3DS to play Pokemon Sun. Too enveloped in the battle between your Incineroar and the NPC’s Crabominable, you missed the sound of someone dropping into the chair next to you. 

“What level is he?”

You jumped at the sound, looking up quickly to lock eyes with a random boy. 

He was obviously a racer, still suited up. Using one hand to push back sweat soaked curly hair, he curiously eyed your 3DS before looking back up at you. 

“She’s level 57. I need to beat this Crabominable to make her 58 so she can learn Flare Blitz.”

He hummed, a soft smile spread across his face as he flits his eyes over you. You took note of your appearance, hair pulled back into two braids to keep it out of your face in the windy English weather, your dads bomber jacket engulfing your figure as you fought the cold. 

“Female Incineroar, rare.” He sounded impressed. “Don’t let me stop you.” Gesturing to the console in your hands, he leant back and focused on your hands. 

Unsure of how to respond, you looked back down at your game. The Crabominable had about half HP but this was a nasty NPC, whipping out potion after potion to heal the Pokemon. You and the unnamed boy sat side by side as you chipped away, bit by bit, at the Crabominable’s HP until the victory message appeared on your screen. A mere 2000 pokedollars given for your troubles.

You watched as your Incineroar, lovingly nicknamed Kitty from when you started the game, levelled up to 58 and finally, she could learn Flame Blitz. 

Saving the game and shutting down the console, you looked back at the boy beside you. He smiled back in response. 

“So… no offence, but who are you?” The second the sentence left your lips, you wanted to smack the 3DS into your face, tone not unkind but wary. You could only hope he wouldn’t take offence to the question. 

“Oh, sorry!” He reaches across to offer you his hand. You shake it gingerly, his hand warm in your wind chilled one. 

“I’m Lando. Lando Norris. Soon to be F4 champion if all goes well. And you are?”

He was still smiling, the curve unnerving you a little. “Y/N. My cousin’s just joined F4, he’s over there.” Reaching out, you pointed towards the boy in question who was high fiving another racer, the two of them laughing loudly over the sound of car engines. 

“Oh, Y/C/N? He’s cool. I met his dad earlier.”

You glanced over at the man mentioned, head bowed as he conversed with the other adults about race tactics and the boys’ performances. “That’s my dad, his uncle. He’s a mechanic so it made sense that he would be Y/C/N’s race engineer.”

“What about you? Are you a big karting fan?” 

From the sound of his voice, you could tell he was facing you. Too nervous to look into his eyes again, you focused on your dad, watching as he pulled your cousin aside to talk about the race. “I am. Me and my dad have been going to karting events most weekends for years.” 

His eyes burned into the side of your face, gaze unwavering. “How about Formula 1? That’s my dream, I want to race against Lewis Hamilton and one day beat him.”

The mention of your favourite driver dragged your attention back to the boy beside you. You smiled softly, pulling your iPhone 6 out of your pocket to show him the 44 sticker on the back of the case. “I love Formula 1. Me and Y/C/N are gonna watch the race in the van while my dad makes some adjustments to the car. Do you…” You hesitated for a moment.

Were you really going to invite a boy you’d just met to come sit with you and your cousin to watch a race? It was harmless, the three of you would fit in the back seats, but you weren’t sure if Y/C/N would want him to join. 

Lando beat you to it. “Aw, I would ask to join but me and my dad have to get back home as soon as possible, it’s my sister's birthday this weekend!” Pulling his own phone out of his pocket, he showed you his lockscreen, a picture of him and who you guessed was his family. 

You nod, turning your own phone in circles in your hands. “Happy birthday to your sister.” 

He grins, the smile seemingly permanently etched on his face. “Thanks, Y/N!” 

You hear a man call for him, presumably his dad. Lando sighed as he nodded towards the man, turning back towards you. “Gotta run! Could I maybe get your number? I think we’re going to be good friends.”

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He was right. The two of you would text every moment you could. In between classes, before and after dinner, even facetiming until the early hours of the morning on weekends. 

Every weekend, you’d pull up to the race track and there Lando would be, permanent wide smile and open arms as you hugged briefly. Before each race, he’d run over to you, head bowed so you could knock on his helmet. You weren’t sure when the tradition had started but ever since it began, it was cemented in his pre-race routine. 

After every race, it would go one of two ways. If it was a good race, he’d run over and hug you, spinning you round as you laughed brightly at him. If it was a not so good race, you’d be the one to approach him, the two of you sitting on the lip of his dad’s van in comfortable silence as you let him work through his emotions in his own time. He’d soon come around, chatting to you about any and everything. 

Before you’d leave, he’d pull you into another hug, swaying the two of you from side to side. 

Of course, your cousin teased you. Singing silly childish songs, “Y/N and Lando sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G”. You’d bat him across the head, willing the blush in your cheeks to go down. 

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Since the two of you were now 16, whilst Lando had allowances for his GCSE’s, you still had to knuckle down and work hard. Hours were spent sitting at your desk, eyes scanning across textbook after textbook. It was only after Lando called you in tears after he struggled to understand the poems needed for his English exams and explained he had dyslexia that the two of you would facetime every night. You’d read out the poems to him as he took it all in and made notes in a way that made sense to him. You told him about these coloured overlays that were meant to help people with dyslexia read, and you’d watch him cry as pink acetate covered the poems and he could finally, finally, understand. The two of you still facetimed every night, he claimed your voice helped him understand so much more. 

Since you had to revise, you often had to forfeit your racing weekends. You’d see your dad and cousin off at the door, much like your mum had done for years, and return to your room, wiping the tears that threatened to escape from your eyes. 

The routine never changed though. Lando would call you before every race, telling you that you had to knock on the screen and he’d hold his helmet clad head to the camera. After every race, you’d either celebrate over the phone or sit in silence, watching him through the screen as he let himself digest what went wrong in the race. 

Your last GCSE exam fell on a Friday, the freedom of your weekends returning. You didn’t tell Lando, wanting to surprise him at the race track. As you sat in the back seat of your dad’s van, you kept up the pretence for Lando, texting him as if you had a normal weekend of revising ahead. 

When the three of you pulled up to the race track, you ducked down so you weren’t visible through the windows. Your dad got out of the car first, greeting Lando’s dad. The two of them had formed a good friendship through the race weekends, often sitting together to watch the boys go round the track. Next up was Y/C/N, jumping out the van and fist bumping a waiting Lando. 

The two boys went to leave, already play fighting about who would win. It was only then that you snuck out the back seat, hands on your hips as you called out to the boys ahead. 

“Forgetting something?”

Lando’s head whipped around so fast, you feared he’d give himself whiplash. You barely had time to laugh at his dumbstruck expression before he’d launched himself at you, strong arms wrapped tight around your waist as he lifted you in the air. 

He pressed his face deeply into your neck, the feel of his smile present against your skin. 

Linking your arms around the back of his neck, you played with the unruly curls tickling your chin. “Missed me?”

He nodded, head still firmly placed between your neck and shoulder. The two of you stood there for a moment, enjoying each other’s presence until your cousin piped up. 

“We do still have a race to get to.” Locking eyes with him, you could already tell he was going to tease you relentlessly when you’re back in the van. 

Lando finally released you, hands still holding firm on the sides of your waist. Warm smile directed at you, eyes glistening a little with unshed tears. 

Lando’s dad bumped his helmet against his shoulder, Lando taking it and pulling on his balaclava and the helmet. He bowed his head, allowing you to knock on it once. This time however, he knocked on your own head once, hand uncurling to cup the side of your face before he walks away to join your cousin. 

In that moment, you knew you were in love with Lando Norris. 

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The two of you stayed close throughout the years. You still attended as many races as possible, celebrating his wins and commiserating through his lows. Soon you were watching him in Formula 3, then Formula 2 and finally, after all his hard work, you stood in the paddock of Albert Park watching as Lando was flanked by engineers. 

His debut Formula 1 race. 

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The day you got the call that he’d been contracted by McLaren was one of the best days of your life. It took him 5 minutes to calm down enough to explain to you what had happened, the two of you sobbing violently over the phone as you realised his dream had come true. 

As you collected yourself once you’d gotten off the phone, your mum had come upstairs with a packed lunch and a flask of fresh, warm coffee. Looking at her questioningly, she smiled softly at you. 

“Go. You need to celebrate with him in person.”

You grabbed the box and flask from her hands, arms thrown wide around her. Packing a quick overnight bag, you jumped in your car, haring down the motorway to Lando’s parents house. 

The look on his face when he opened the door made the possible speeding tickets worth it, eyes wide and glossy as they flit up and down your body. “You’re here?”

You grinned at him, wide and unabashed. “I’m here.”

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The cycle continued. Every podium was met with you running into his arms when he was back in the garage and every DNF resulted in the two of you sitting in his driver’s room, your arms wrapped tight around him as the dream of a grand prix win slipped from his grasp again and again. 

Today, something was different however. Lando had knocked on your door bright and early, inviting you down for breakfast with the team. He told you about a dream he had last night where he won the Miami Grand Prix, how the champagne shower had felt so real. 

This unwavering optimism continued throughout the day. Him bouncing alongside you as you walked through the paddock, greeting the other drivers along your way. The optimism rubbed off on you, finding yourself pulling up old photos of Lando to save to a folder titled “Race Win”. 

When it came time to get in the car, you watched as his engineer secured the final straps before disappearing behind a screen to check the car’s stats. He looked up at you through the open visor, head soon bowing. Leaning down, you knocked once before dropping a quick kiss to the top of his helmet. Extra luck for the day. 

The entire race had you on the edge of your seat. You cheered as Oscar led the grand prix, winced as Max hit the bollard and nearly sobbed your eyes out as Lando overtook to lead. Kevin pushing Logan off the track meant a safety car and Lando ended up fortunate to join at the back but one lap ahead. A pit stop and fresh tires and away he went. Each second he gained on Max left spikes in your heart rate until it reached the 7 second mark and the last 4 laps and you knew. Deep down in your soul, even if everyone was still on tenterhooks, you knew this was his time. His win. 

The engineers ran to the fences, an army of papaya swarming the metal chain link as your eyes stayed glued to the camera. At the last second, you darted out to the fence, away from the chanting crowd so you’d have an unobstructed view of his win. 

The chequered flag waved and Lando crossed the finish line, now a grand prix winner. You couldn’t have stopped the tears even if you tried, knees buckling as you held onto the fence in front of you. 

The noise around you was near deafening, engineers dog piling on one another, a few strays leaving the group to wrap you in tight hugs. 

A hand landed on your shoulder, warm but soft pats pulling you from your stupor. Turning, you looked up at Zak, a fond smile on his face. “Let’s go see our boy.”

The two of you walked in near silence, Zak leaving his hand on your shoulder as he welcomed congratulations from other teams. The tears never stopped streaming down your face, vision swimming as you passed team after team. 

The breath was knocked out of you as arms wrapped around your waist from behind and swung you around. Looking down, you spotted the rose tattoo on a left hand and laughed as Daniel dropped you back softly onto the ground. Spinning around, you threw yourself into his arms properly, the two of you rocking back and forth happily. 

“He did it!” Daniel shouted as you pulled away, hands on your shoulders to shake you gently. 

“He did it!” You responded, a fresh wave of tears escaping your eyes. Daniel laughed at your tears, wiping them away haphazardly before letting you run back to Zak’s side. 

You watch as Lando ran towards his team, still fully suited up, launching himself into the air as the sea of papaya below caught him. The team held him aloft, jostling him through a mass of hands. 

Once he’s back on solid ground, Zak approached him first, the two of them sharing a warm hug. The visor of his helmet is lifted and without even seeing his face, you know he’s smiling, eyes scrunched up in joy. 

Those same eyes finally lock onto you, wide and sparkling. He runs at you as fast as he can, arms outstretched. You brace for impact, a laugh being pressed out of you as he crushes you in his arms. Your legs wrap around his waist as he lifts you up, warm eyes staring straight into yours. 

Before you even know what you’re doing, your lips press against the front of his helmet, right where his own mouth would be beneath the carbon fibre, a universal sign in racing of a lover’s kiss. 

Ignoring the roar of his team around you, you focus on Lando in front of you. His eyes crinkled under the force of his own happiness, shining bright even under the dark cover of the helmet. He lowers you down, arms wrapped firmly around your waist until your feet are planted safe on the floor. 

You watch as he unclasps the straps under his chin and rips the helmet off, his neck support following in haste. His eyes are still locked onto yours, unshed tears gleaming along his lash line. Through the balaclava, you can see his smile, warm and golden in the Miami sun. 

The balaclava comes off next and your heart stutters at the pure, unobstructed view of the man in front of you. Sweat clings to his upper lip, dripping down his thick neck, curls matted to his forehead under the American heat. You’re drawn back to his eyes, green as a hidden forest, full of glimpses of golden hour through the branches. You loved how you could always tell how he felt through his eyes, forever abundant with emotion. 

Hands wrap back around your waist, dragging you into him as he presses his lips unwaveringly against your own. It’s a little gross, the feeling of sweat transferring to your own lips, the damp curls at the bottom of his neck where your hands come to lie but you wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s worth it to feel his smile against your own, the kiss more teeth than lips and you breathe in the way he laughs against your mouth, molten gold dripping from his lips to yours. 

The two of you part slightly, cheeks aching at the way you’re still grinning. The kiss remains unspoken, Lando being dragged off by his team for interviews. You look at Zak who winks knowingly at you. This time, you let the blush rise, overtaking your cheeks and flushing down your neck. 

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Waiting for Lando in his driver's room seemed to never end. It had been an hour since you’d finally kissed him and your lips still tingle with the feeling. 

Your mind was a jumbled mess, thought after thought fighting to sit at the front of your mind. Tracing your finger across your lips, you allow yourself to remember that moment. To fall headfirst into how it felt to finally feel what it was like to kiss Lando. 

The sound of the driver’s room door banging against the wall shakes you out of your stupor, twirling around to face a sheepish Lando. 

“Um, sorry… I guess I was just eager to get back here.” He giggles softly, standing still in the threshold. 

Smiling back at him, you gesture him inwards, scoffing at the absurdity of you inviting him into his own driver’s room. He stumbles in, shutting the door behind him. One hand reaches out to run over the scuff mark on the wall, grimacing as he traces the black mark. 

He turns to face you, smile beaming as you stand two feet apart, eyes tracing over each other as you bask in the long awaited silence. You watch as his hand reaches out, the back of his fingers brushing against yours. The hand reaches around, clasping yours gently in his. You squeeze once, smiling shyly up at him. 

“Can I tell you something?” His voice is quiet, almost shaky as he keeps his eyes trained on your conjoined hands. 

You squeeze his hand again, humming your assent. 

“I love you. I’ve loved you since we were 15 years old and I saw you sitting on those moon chairs. I remember my heart was beating so, so fast and I thought it was just post race adrenaline but when I remember your shy smile and the braids you had in your hair and my heart feels the exact same way. It’s always been you.”

Even after the kiss, the admission makes your heart race wildly. He loves you. He loves you back. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was scared. Scared that you wouldn’t love me the same way I love you.” He tries to come off nonchalant, but the way his hand trembles in yours betrays his true emotions. 

Rubbing your thumb over the back of his shaking hand, heart thumping erratically at both the situation and the sweetness of his nervous confession. “Lan, I was literally a 15 year old racing nerd and you were a boy willingly talking to me. Why do you think I was a nervous mess when you spoke to me? I had the biggest crush on you.”

“Having a crush and loving someone is different.” He leads you by your intertwined hands to the sofa, settling back into the corner as you sit close enough to keep your hands connected. “Back then, you knew me as Lando Norris, F4 driver, and then just Lando, your best friend who secretly stuffs his face with pizza and falls over his own feet more often than not.” He huffs out a laugh at the memory of the last time he’d tripped over thin air and fallen flat on his face when you’d gone to visit him in Monaco. 

Avoiding eye contact, he keeps his eyes trained on the way your fingers interlock almost perfectly. “I was worried you wouldn’t love me when we became close.” 

“You idiot,” using your free hand, you smack him lightly on the arm, giggling at the fact the two of you had been mutually pining for years, “that just made me love you more. Sure, I was 16 and the idea of dating a race car driver, even little Lando Norris,” his arm reaches out to return the smack, “was a dream, but then I wanted to date just Lando, the man who gives me piggybacks from clubs when my feet hurt and bites my arm when I’m not paying attention. I love you, just plain old Lando Norris.”

If you thought his smile when winning was bright, the one he shoots you now is almost overwhelming. Face pulled up so tight you wouldn’t be surprised if he complained of an ache in his cheeks later, eyes crinkling deeply at the corners and shining a bright seafoam green. 

Before you can return the grin, he reaches up and grabs the back of your neck, pulling you in for another kiss. The passion is the same but different, no longer adrenaline filled from a race win, but full of love and adoration and the secret he never thought he’d get the chance to say. 

He pulls back just enough for a whisper of air to pass between the two of you, eyes warm and locked onto yours. “I love you. So much. It’s me and you, plain old Lando and plain old Y/N.” 

You push him lightly, grinning playfully. “Who are you calling plain?”

He rectifies his mistake with another kiss, this one softer and slower, the two of you taking the time to appreciate that this moment had finally come. The kiss moves to the corner of your lips, across your cheek and down to the spot just below your ear. 

A hand wraps around your waist, securing you to your spot. Pulling back slightly, you look down at the smiling man resting his head on your shoulder. “So, I love you, and you love me. What next?”

“We go celebrate this momentous occasion, and the race win, and then I take you out for our first proper date.” Tightening his hold on you, he moves his head to rest in the juncture between your neck and shoulder, dropping warm kisses to the skin beneath his mouth. 

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a/n: 3 of my top 5 boys on the canada podium is so 💞💖🩷💓💗💝💖💗💕💗💘💞 also as an esteban ult, it's on site for alpine fr. ALSO GOTE pt 3 coming soon ❤️

[bogleech]

Pokemon games would be alot more fun if you can choose your age range. I don't want my avatar to be a ten year old, I want to be a lil old lady saving the world with six meowths.

it's weird that wider control over your pc's design is something they still hold off on after all these years, all while marketing pokemon as a deeply personalized experience. The idea that the trainer *IS* *YOU* is part of the entire pitch! Just being able to pick from the random minor NPC designs already in each game would make such a huge difference! Speaking of which, I already can't really remember anymore but did Scarlet and Violet even have any memorably themed "enemy trainers?"

Like what happened to all the "nobodies" who still had designs and personalities as unique as gym leaders? I guess Scarlet just barely had any trainer battles at all, but I know they had some, and I feel like they all looked like the same exact three or four people. .....and yes, it was slightly challenging to find a normal picture of hex maniac

[raguonmynieceandnephew]

"It's so unfair to the Rat Grinders that they are killed instantly and the Bad Kids get to roll death saves." SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUP

THIS IS LONG, AND HONESTLY FOR MYSELF, SO YEAH READ IF YOU WANT

I swear to god, this discourse is going to fucking be the end of me. Idk what kind of mind boggling spell Brennan Lee Mulligan wove into the fabric of the universe that spread through the data center of Dropout in order to absolutely hijack y'all's brains when it comes to Cocklord Assgape and her ragtag of character foils but whatever it was has made you Rat Grinder stans INSUFFERABLE in this site.

The levels of treating fictional characters as if they were real people have reached a level I honestly have never anticipated, to the point of y'all actually being mad AT THE CAST for "mistreating" them and ACTUALLY QUESTION BRENNAN'S CAPACITY TO DM. Do you not get how fucking insane that is?

We can't make fun of Copperkettle, one of the most pathetic, petty and incompetent villains in D20 history anymore (even though she is masterfully written and developed to generate this reaction from us) anymore because it's bullying apparently. I saw an account flip the fuck out because someone compared her rivalry with Kristen to Drake and Kendrick's beef. KIPPERLILY IS NOT A REAL GIRL. SHE IS A MAKE BELIEVE CHARACTER IN AN IMPROV SHOW SPAWNED FROM THE BRAIN OF A 36 YEAR OLD MAN

And then what truly pissed me off the MOST about this whole hell is the fact that, being chronically online avid consumers of this goddamn show, I would think you would have but a grasp of the main cast of characters' characterization.

Why the uproar about Riz saying they should chop Oisin's head off? The same Riz who tortured that pixie from Freshman year by shooting off their finger one by one? The same Riz who murked a disarmed and unconscious Coach Daybreak without battin an eye? The same Riz who ATE THE CORPSE OF KALVAXUS?

And the whole Fabian vs Ivy debacle MY GOD, THE GIRL WAS RACIST TO HIS GIRLFRIEND AND USED HER LAST BREATH TO CALL MAZEY "OBJECTIVELY UGLY". And the funniest thing is that is not even the most unhinged shit he has ever said.

And finally, Death Save Gate: THE RAT GRINDERS ARE NOT PLAYER CHARACTERS. THEY ARE NPCS! THE RULES FOR EACH WORK DIFFERENTLY, ESPECIALLY THEM BEING BOSS ENCOUNTERS. Imagine having to still hit Ivy or Oisin 2 more times to kill them when there is 14 foot tall Porter throwing legendary actions left and right, with Jace, and other 3 spell casters + Mary Ann and KLCK up and running. It's called balancing the fucking game. Also, game masters are entitled to break, mold and make up any rules they want if they find necessary in order to service themselves and their players. IF YOU PLAY WITH ALL THESE RULES AS THEY COME, GOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR TABLE. THIS IS NOT YOUR TABLE.

Not only is Brennan DMing for his CLOSEST FRIENDS EVER, he is also shooting and producing an ENTIRE TV SHOW. So yeah, i think he knows wtf he is doing.

"But the Ratgrinders had no real development": True. But it wasn't for lack of trying from the players. Everytime they tried to know more, the dice didn't let them, so they decided to focus on the mystery. It simply do be like that sometimes.

"But they are just kids!": And so were Penelope, Dayne, Ragh, Zayn, the Bloodrush Players, Aelwyn and Biz. Why wasn't it a problem then? Because most of them were evil to some extent and were about to bring the fucking apocalypse to the world? Yeah, sounds familiar right? And the ones who were manipulated or had any sort of redemption worked their way into earning it, right? Yeah.

In conclusion, I fucking love the Rat Grinders, I truly do, and not unlike 90% of this website, i'm still holding on to hope that they have any sort of development and redemption in the last episode, because I agree, they ARE children and they WERE manipulated by Porter and Jace, but like, can we also agree that they are fucking assholes and had it fucking coming? Also, the BKs are children too y'know. SO STOP BEING FUCKING ANNOYING.

[heytherecentaurs]

Burrow's End is an absolute masterpiece.

In the span of ten episodes Aabria and Co. weave an exciting and emotional adventure story about a family of sentient stoats. It delivers huge laughs, interesting societal criticism, remarkably emotional and well-acted scenes and concludes with a series of epilogue scenes that feel appropriate for each character, some heartfelt and subdued and others bigger than life and all the funnier for it.

Siobhan and Izzy play the perfect pair of siblings. They fight and argue but they also love each other. Jaysohn (Siobhan) looks up to Lila (Izzy) and believes she's the smartest stoat in the world (and by the end she probably is) and Lila hypes up her little brother's athletic skills. They both fully embodied these kids and I could watch them do fun stuff for more episodes. Give me a version of Saved by the Bell with them. Stoat by the Bell.

Brennan and Rashawn, playing sisters, also knock it outta the park, showing a more mature sibling dynamic. Brennan portrays Tula as the quintessential overtired single mother of excitable kids, and Rashawn as younger sister Viola straddles a very interesting line of being intimidating to outsiders but very much more naive and looking to her older sister when she starts a family.

Jasper as Thorn, a guy everyone just lets be a cult leader because he really wanted to, is fantastic. His is a difficult role as the only non-blood relative. Jasper plays Thorn with such real humanity of a guy in over his head and letting his ambition wife call the shots, but also one who agrees with her goal, really loves her and has moments of real menace. He has some very funny scenes, his big speech is perfect, and I just enjoy him.

Erika is wonderful. They play the epitome of generational trauma as many have said but as much trauma as Ava has, she is also loving and willing to learn. The fact Erika took this adversarial role is incredible. The tense dramatic scene primarily between Ava, Tula and Viola is amazing. They act their asses off and make hard choices that I imagine are difficult even for such an experienced player.

Aabria's DMing always feels fun. She doesn't get bogged down in the rules. She knows them. She plays by them. But as a master, she knows how and when to break them too. Her seasons on Dimension 20 have all had a tenseness, a particular edge to them that can give me anxiety during dramatic scenes between two characters. It always feel like one of her NPCs may say something devastating and the tension between characters reaches really thrilling heights. This is present in other seasons, but I don't think anyone does it as well as she does. The first season of hers to have battle maps, Aabria really swung for the fences and gave us some of the wildest maps to date.

Shout out to Carlos Luna's voice acting. He did an incredible job. And shout out to the whole crew who have put together one of the best seasons of D20. They keep finding ways to build on what's come before and they should be commended for it.

Dimension 20 is most successful when the concept is very streamlined. They don't do huge 100 episode campaigns capable of handling huge winding complex narrative, but short focused D&D stories, which is why many of the Side Quests have been so fantastic. They embody this philosophy most clearly, but it's apparent in the most beloved Intrepid Heroes seasons as well—John Hughes/High Fantasy, Game of Thrones/Candyland, Retrofuturism, Film Noir but in a Brain... Burrow's End fits this perfectly. It's streamlined concept paired with great storytellers and great chemistry sets it up to be a smash hit before it begins. And goddamn does it deliver.

Thanks Stupendous Stoats!

[moonyasnow]

Dancing in the Dark.

PROMPT : Dancing in the dark with him

CHARACTER(S) : Idia

TYPE : short fic (~1.3k words)

CONTENT: nerd references ahoy, Reader implied to be shorter than 180cm, Apparently the Phantom Bride event takes place after Book 6 in this one

After such a close brush with death, even knowing you'd made it in time and he was safe, you still felt anxious not being able to see Idia in the dining-hall turned Wedding venue as the band started up a song meant for dance.

With the newlyweds twirling happily in the air behind you, you ventured out into the dark halls of NRC to find him...

Idia had never breathed a bigger sigh of relief in his life…he'd just been saved from a 100% certain one-hit-kill spell, with barely seconds to spare. Talk about clutch.

The bride got her groom and her happily ever after, sure, yay, whatever— he was just glad it wasn't him. At least this groom wouldn't be on the literal chopping block. He'd already done that 500 years earlier, after all.

…But Idia was still stuck in those fancy duds. Even if the other guys said he looked cool or whatevs he just couldn't see it.

He wandered out of the party as quick as he could, untying his hair to let it flow free and cloak him once more. In every mirror he passed all he saw was fire, sharp teeth, and glowing yellow eyes— accentuated by deep eyebags too. He wasn't generic-looking enough to be an NPC, but not cool enough to be the MC either. Was he the villain, then? He stopped to gaze at the pool-like surface of a mirror in the dark hallway. Sounded cooler than NPC, at least… But he doubted he was that cool. He was probs the throwaway 2nd villain in some tactical JRPG— not remembered as fondly as the introductory first boss, not as interesting as the 3d or those that followed. For every second that passed his scowl deepened in the mirror to match his thoughts.

'Healthy, lustrous skin, lidded eyes, a charming smile…'

LOLOLOLOL Eliza was INSANE if she thought ANY of that applied to him.

The smile he'd forced his face into looked all kinds of wrong in his eyes.

He sighed. Then he heard footsteps and his pulse sped up to what he knew Ortho would call 'very unhealthy levels for only having someone walk past him'.

Standing in the dark corner on the hallway with his hair acting like a glow-in-the-dark lamp, he, and his mortified expression, weren't that hard to spot. He didn't need to be able to see your face to know you were probably smiling. 'Because I look like the free clothing option in those normie cash-grab phone ""VNs""' he thought. But he knew from experience that wasn't the case when it came to you. You were even weirder than him, fwee-hee-hee… Ah, and now he was remembering how you'd stared at him the first time you heard his laugh, how he was expecting you to make fun of him but you just called his laugh 'nice'… And now his hair had started turning pink.

Great. /s

“I wondered where you went.” He was never gonna admit the sound of your voice made his heart race a little. There was a reason he always asked Ortho to leave the two of you alone when you hung out. If you really did find out he thinks he could just die on the spot.

"Away from the party, DUH." He rolled his eyes. You laughed at that. "Ha-ha, go ahead; laugh at my misery."

"No, no, it's just…it's so very like you."

"Uh…yyyup. Shut-in's gonna shut-in." He rubbed at his arm awkwardly. Yet even in the dark you recognized the small smile adorning his face.

You loved that expression of his…you could simply stare at it for hours. Yet you knew if you were to ever tell him that, he might stop talking to you for a week out of sheer inability to handle it. So for as much as you would love to compliment him— felt the urge tugging at you at every second you were with him— you refrained.

"You…you're beautiful…"

…Except for now, apparently. You quickly slapped your hand over your mouth. "I-I'm sorry!" The look on his face was like a cat sadly watching you take away its food bowl. "Not that I didn't mean it! I did!" There came another flare at the tips of his hair, coloring a deeper shade of pink. "I just…I know compliments can be difficult for you, and I—"

"N—np…" his flushed face begged to differ.

Silence filled the space between you. He thought it was awkward as all hell. You found it comforting, using it to work up the courage to ask him what you'd set out to.

"They're dancing right now, in the wedding hall. And I was wondering if…"

"No thanks— I do NOT want some rando to know how sweaty my hands are. I'd just step on their toes anyway."

"Oh, that's..." your face fell in disappointment.

[ Idia.exe is loading... ]

...

WAIT WAIT WAIT THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU MEANT HOLD ON ABORT, ABORT—

"I—" he could feel himself choking, words refusing to unclog from his throat. Here you were, his crush, his #1 Oshi if you will, and you wanted to dance. With HIM. EVEN AFTER HE MENTIONED HIS SWEATY PALMS (Sevens whyyyyyy did he do that)

"…If you don't want to I—"

He suddenly regretted he'd never clicked on those random dance videos he sometimes got recommended. And not taking Ortho's advice of playing one of those dancing games 'for his health'.

"I-I'd just suck at it— I'd moodkill. Big time."

"I don't mind. I'm not a very good dancer either…I've actually never done it before. So if anything, we'd both suck.” you said, cheeks flushed a gentle red he could just barely make out in the darkness.

He considered pretending he didn't see it for a moment; couldn't let himself get his hopes up.

This was probably just some prank, and the second he said 'sure' a laugh-track was gonna start playing and someone was gonna pop out and laugh and put an arm around his shoulder and gesture to some hidden camera somewhere—

"Idia?"

He'd been so stuck in his thoughts he hadn't even noticed you trying to talk to him. And now you'd gotten closer to him. WAY TOO CLOSE—

"EEP!"

All those things Eliza had said: "Bright, shimmering hair! Lips so arresting that you just have to kiss them!"

They'd be much more fitting applied to you, and not him. If it wasn't for the whole '180cm' requirement thing, he can't imagine you NOT being the one picked. It should've been you. Not because he wanted you gone or anything, obvs! You were just…out of this world kinda beautiful.

Out of his league, too.

Obvs.

That of course someone else was gonna come steal you away eventually, so why even hope? Why even try—

"It will always be a zero-percent chance as long as you believe it impossible and refuse to act."

Those words tore at the flesh of his chest like a word knife in that high-school murder trial game franchise he liked. Why were they showing up in his head now, like some kind of cutscene? This was sounding like that part in the 3d act where the hero's been demoralized and remembers the words of their fallen mentor to give them enough motivation to go in and K.O. the BBEG.

"S-so…" you said, nervously looking up at him through your lashes. "Do you want to dance with me?" your voice sounded so shaky, devoid of your usual confidence. You sounded almost scared. Kinda like him. (was this what he always looked like through other people's eyes?)

Maybe... Maybe it was ok to listen to that advice. Just this once. Just a tiny bit.

"S-sure..."

Awkwardly, he held his hand out. And you smiled.

He didn't think he was LI material, probably never would. But maybe, rather than cursing his luck at being an NPC in whatever Otome that had you as the MC, he'd celebrate his luck at being able to dance with you like this in spite of it.

He had you in his arms, and he could barely believe it was real, waiting for it to be revealed as just a dream-sequence. But somehow it was real. His palms were sweaty and his expression twisted in panic as he tried not to step on your toes and he probably looked like the worst 'suitor' ever.

But you were smiling, still holding his sweaty hand, and that blush was somehow still on your cheeks.

If this was just the preview of what his route, or life, rather, might look like were he to break free from the 'non-romancable NPC' category…

He better get to re-coding the game.

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

EDIT: just so everyone who reads this is aware, I do in fact take writing requests!

I'm testing out a new format This isn't exactly a 'headcanon' as much as it's literally just a short-fic

Publishing this as a bit of an experiment If people like it, maybe that'll finally convince my perfectionist brain that not every single thing I write has to be perfect according to my own, almost impossible-to-reach standards I set for my own writing

My friend told me the skull I used for Idia's partition gives "14 year old edgy COD kid vibes" It's perfect.

Also damn writing Idia is so fun. Including all his references is SO FUN. I get to pretend to be an extremely terminally online reddit gaming subreddit guy who hasn't touched grass or spoken to a real person in years, who bases his beliefs of how real life works off of anime. He is SO CRINGE (affectionate) and I LOVE HIM FOR IT.

[nuttytani]

Oh no! My suicidal big tiddies man got isekai'd

fandom: honkai star rail

characters: blade and gender neutral reader

tw: none except- maybe not proof read?

a/n: a silly birthday gift for my lovely friend here @tsubaki3192

It was currently 2 AM and you have been playing video games for hours now. Looking at the time made you instinctively yawn and stretch those stiff arms. You were interrupted by a strange gurgling sound coming from somewhere…. Actually, it was just you and your hungry tummy. Since it was super late to cook anything (and risky because it might wake up the entire house), you quickly sneaked into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge.

There were no leftovers. Just some sauce bottles, pickles, butter and milk. The fridge was positively empty of any food. There wasn’t even bread. What were you going to do with sauce and pickles? That didn’t sound appetising at all.

“Awe… There’s nothing,” you said while closing the fridge. Then you opened it again and finally grabbed that milk. That was your only hope.

At least it’s good for my bones, calcium and shit yeah?

Your legs and particularly knees have been creaky and making weird popping noises recently. Maybe those bones might be thanking you for the milk. Chuckling to your silly thoughts, you head back to your room, with a cup of milk and proceed to turn your computer off.

A weird green horizontal line appeared on your screen and your wallpaper surrounding that line turned pixelated. The speaker connected to your computer emitted creepy static-y noises like those really old radio. Something was not right and that something would land you in shit because this wasn’t some cheap ol’ computer. You painstakingly saved up for this bad boy after hours of part time jobs here and there while also struggling with your uni life. The model wasn’t anything new but it was good enough for you and it was your baby. That very baby was dying in front of you. You needed to fix it.  You instantly scrambled back into your chair and tried to check for cables. Maybe some cables were loose. Before you could even touch a wire, the entire screen turned green and turned black. The static noises stopped as well.

“Well… Guess I’m doomed.” You slide your hands down your face and slump down like that Shinji in a chair meme. If this was some horror story though this would be the perfect timing for a hacker or weird murderer to send a message like “I see you” or something of the sort. Actually, what if some weirdo dark web hacker was onto you and wanted to kill you for whatever reason?

Okay, that’s it. This was sleep deprivation talking. You need sleep. Like right now. There’s no hacker that wanted to murder you, it’s probably the lack of sleep frying your brain cells. You were a normal college student, trying to survive in this cutthroat dog-eats-dog world. Even if something does happen, it won't happen to you. Well, your computer dying aside…. NPCs such as yourself don’t get “fun privileges”.

That’s what you thought about 5 minutes ago when you didn’t have a razor-sharp blade pointed at your eye and you laid in your bed wondering what wrongs you committed in your past life that was happening to you. Did you steal a priest's robe? Did you offend some god by swearing at them? Fuck you past life self.

The person holding the sword was still hunched over you and didn’t move their sword. Not even a single centimetre. One wrong movement and you could lose your lovely sight once and for all!

“What is this place and who are you?” asked the person. Judging by their deep voice they were probably a man. They sounded really familiar. You squinted your eyes at the person. Hmmm, bluish-black hair, red highlights… He had some… Real nice assets... Meaning nicely shaped tits…. Hmmm.

“W-what are you doing!” the person raised their voice in surprise and took a step back.

Oh, they must have noticed you ogling. Was it that obvious? You keep staring at their assets because who knows when you’ll have the chance next time? And then your attention finally falls on his sword, it was a deep black that slowly turned into red towards the end and the shaft of the sword had golden crack patterns, you assumed it’s kintsugi.

Wait hold up, that sword looked too familiar. You have seen that many times.

“Holy shit! Are you Blade? Like the Stellaron Hunter Blade?” you exclaimed at the person.

“....Yes. Don’t you dare call the IPC. Or you will face my sword.”

“Well, I’ve been facing your sword for 10 minutes now…. Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m talking to THE Blade. One and only Blade. Like actually from Honkai Star Rail? Who is basically lovers to enemies with Dan Heng? Can I touch you? Actually, I always thought your hair was pretty, can I please braid it?”

Blade was speechless and looked like a fish out of water and slowly sheathed his sword.

“Am I dreaming right now or is this what you call a sleep-deprived hallucination… I can’t tell.”

You were met with silence… He didn’t reply.

“I guess it’s a hallucination. ‘Mkay, goodnight, Mr. Dream-slash-hallucination-Blade.”

Just like that you slumped back into your bed, closed your eyes and snoozed.

.

Blade was left terribly confused.

Well, he was a Stellaron Hunter, you should be scared for your life. He kills people for a living. Most people would just have one glimpse of him and go running down the hill while screaming for their lives. But you didn’t? Even when you knew his identity? And his not-widely-known relationship with Dan Heng?

Clearly, you didn’t see him as a threat. He also noticed the way your eyes lingered around his chest.

Silver Wolf did say that he had “some big tiddies” for a man. Whatever that meant. And he’s currently stuck in this room. He had no idea how he ended up here. Just that he was speaking with Kafka about their latest “script” and the details given by Elio. And poof. Some strange glitch happened, and he ended up here. In this tiny room. A huge mess of a room. It was devastating to look at. The desk was covered with stacks of unorganised documents and some random trashy novels. There were also a few strange items that looked nearly identical to him… he tries to recall Silver Wolf’s terminology sessions… Merch? Clothes were all thrown over the office chair like it was some cover.  And the bookshelf was a wreck. An absolute wreck. He could even see how your closet wasn’t even fully closed! How many things were just packed in there?

Looking at the room triggered his migraine. He needed to do something about the state of this room, as soon as possible. Since he basically had nothing to do, he decided to clean stuff up. He organised your shelf– the books were in the order of the genre as well as the titles. He folded and hung your clothes and lined them up according to colour, as well as length. Cleaned up your desk, put away your documents into your drawer, hung up the merch on your cork display, vacuumed and mopped your floors and everything else that he noticed that was out of place.

By the time he was done it was already morning.

.

The birds were shining– no, hold up, that’s wrong, it was supposed to be the sun was shining. Yeah so, the sun was shining! The birds were singing! But why was your favourite game character in the flesh, right in front of you. Were you still dreaming? That’s impossible. You were definitely 100% awake. So you decided to simply stare at the video game character, who was acting like a total malewife cleaning your room. Your mind quickly flashed a Pikachu surprised face at the scene. You were sure that your face was looking like that too.

After what felt like an eternity of staring, you finally spoke, “So you’re real….?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Blade replied in a deadpan voice and a straight face.

Ok so he was real. That was established. Here’s the issue though. How were you going to keep a used-to-be-a-bunch-of-pixels-but-isn’t-anymore man in your room and your house? How were you going to explain this strange man being present in your room overnight to your family? Although you loved your suicidal big tiddies, man…. He needed to go. All those isekai stories and novels you read never talked about what to do when a fictional man just poofs into your house that you share with your family. How does one handle the situation? Someone better make a novel on this now… How does anyone even expect to cope with something like this? What to do now?

You muttered under your breath while thinking and paced around the room like a manic and started, “Should I hide you under the bed? No, you’re too huge for that. My closet doesn't have enough space for you either…. Oh, maybe you can hide in the bushes? Like jump out of my window and stay in there… for some time till I call for you.”

Blade motioned to you to shut up. Fair enough. You guess you were being too loud. Suicidal man needed some quiet time, you supposed.

“No need, I can simply do this.” Blade snapped his finger and he disappeared into thin air. There was another snapping sound, and he came back.

“This is a high-tech feature made by the Stellaron hunters that helps us to appear as if we’ve become transparent,” Blade explained.

“Cool. You should have just told me that sooner.”

And that is how your daily life with the suicidal big tiddies man started. Well it started-ish. He needed to go back to his universe but he said that the Stellaron Hunting could wait. Blade decided that he was on a paid vacation. Thankfully he could still converse with his colleagues, and they were figuring out how to get him back, although they assured you and Blade both that it wouldn’t be a difficult task except it might take a few months till Blade could reunite with the Stellaron Hunters. In the meantime, however, you were tasked to take care of Blade by Kafka and Silver Wolf. 

You and Blade had lots of fun, or at least you think he did. Every day was like a sleepover. Having facials and putting on face masks on each other while watching movies. Or playing some multiplayer games. Blade sucked at gaming, so you had to teach him a bit. You also read him trashy romance novels and even some funny fanfics to him. One day you two even went out to go shopping for some clothes because your big tiddies man could not wear the same pair of clothes every day. Plus, he needed some variety and those cowboy jeans needed to go. Immediately. He looked funny with them on, and no one wore bell bottom jeans in this era.

Though Blade was very sad to part from his fanservice clothes, he fell in love with hoodies and sweatpants. He said they were soft and comfortable to wear. He also wore his hair in a high ponytail or a low bun to blend in with others. You suggested him to get his hair trimmed but he didn’t like that suggestion at all. Blade even gave you a nasty glare for that.

Meanwhile, your family thought you were getting too lonely because they kept hearing you talk to yourself or “someone”. They tried to gently poke you about it every now and then since they were concerned for your mental health, but you would always brush them off.

Recently they saw you holding hands with thin air. Your family definitely knew something was going on now. They even considered calling an exorcist because that was so weird. They even heard a man’s voice speak.

That’s a whole different story though. Maybe for another time!

Until then, Fin <3.

a/n: yeah this was very crack and not serious lol.

here's my taglist if you ever wanna get notified about my fic/hc posts!

[vyl3tpwny]

wauitb what the fuck i have 5000 followers

this is insane hi guys

to celebrate 5000 followers on tublr here are some facts about myself: - my favourite food is fried chicken

- my favourite food is spicy fried chicken

most of my hyperfixations fluctuate in and out, but some that don't ever seem to let me go are my little pony, half life, skrillex, undertale/deltarune

recently i have developed an unfathomable obsession with bees i have a huge bee hyperfixation i play bee swarm simulator on roblox every day and i watch bee videos and i also just designed a beesona on pony town its name is beetrice the dragon bee:

my favourite movie is probably wolf children or mr. bean's holiday or elf

im basically lucario for girls

i am like a dragon and i collect things that i like.. you can see some here:

i play a lot of instruments, mostly piano, drums, singing, and guitar/bass/ukulele. my first instrument was the drums tho which i started playing when i was 2 or something. i no longer play drums because our house is too small for a drum set right now and i dont like electronic drum kits. one day!!!!

i have had zero music lessons which is why you should also make music bc you dont need to spend life savings on music education to make chunes

non-musicians who have influenced me the most are @sterfler and @astroeden who have changed my brain chemistry forever artistically (this is not an exaggeration)

i am not allergic to anything at all somehow

im the motherfucker who will drink an entire gallon of whole milk with nothing else yeah im just kind of awesome like that

i do not drink alcohol (anymore) or smoke or do drugs or anything like that just a personal pref

i am filipino but i am also chinese and scottish and italian and polish and maybe other things

i have been openly queer since 2011

i have been a furry since 2007 or something?

i have been making music since 2007 or something....?

my first true love as a musician was queen, which (because of their older albums) was my rabbit hole into the world of progressive rock. my passion for creating music was nurtured entirely by my discovery of genesis and the album 'the lamb lies down on broadway'. the next thing that shaped me as an artist? skrillex - 'scary monsters and nice sprites'

i have really bad verbal processing issues so you can probably speak directly to me and i will have no idea what youre saying sometimes

my feelings on art change a lot but i update my topster lists every now and again

i am mostly right [hoofed] but i'm technically ambidextrous

my first concert was bruce springsteen i think it was in 2009. i still love the the boss to this day.

i'm a kitty cat

i am also a dragon

i am also a possum

i am a formless void

my first song i wrote when i was 8 was titled after a jimmy neutron reference

the second song i wrote was a fan song about the flying dutchman

i played the original dota warcraft 3 mods long before dota 2 and league of legends existed because i've been a blizzard fangirl since like 2005 and now i hate blizzard so fuck you blizzard you're evil as shit but anyway i used to try and do map development for warcraft iii games but really my favourite thing to do was build maps where i could build the biggest possible army to fight npcs for fun. one of the first videos on my thecobalion channel is a warcraft iii map someone else made. i've just now turned it off private so you can see it if you want.

my favourite kind of humour is recursive

ok thanks what i can remember about myself right now. thanks for following me!!!!

[centaurianthropology]

Oh man, I think the Circle of the Crimson Mirror might just be MY Candela circle. I enjoyed the goofy schlock horror with the Circle of the Vassal and the Veil, and really enjoyed the amping up of horror in The Circle of Needle and Thread (though the horrors of war theming was not specifically for me, it was still well done). I haven’t gotten to watch the Circle of Tide and Bone because life happened, but from what I’ve heard it was very good.

But I was laughing out loud with glee for the first episode of the Circle of the Crimson Mirror. All these characters are delightful. The setting is fascinating (starting out OUTSIDE of Newfaire and expanding the world was really fun), the theming of Irish folklore horror gives a folk horror mixed with cosmic horror vibe that I’m really excited for. And Liam is just the sort of ruthless DM that is perfect for a horror game. Because for me, keeping your players wrapped up in the horror, making them at least a little genuinely afraid (after talking through Lines and Veils of course) in a fun and contained way IS the heart of playing a horror game. It’s the same as watching a horror movie, in that you WANT to be scared, that’s part of the enjoyment, but in a horror game the fun is having it happen to you.

And both folk horror and cosmic horror are some of my favorite subgenres, so this is hitting all my favorite sorts of horror. And because it’s me, see below for my much longer thoughts about this first episode and the characters. Because I’ve never found a topic I enjoy that I can’t write an essay about.

Liam comes for everyone straight out of the gate, doesn’t he? While I found the train cold open in chapter 2 exciting, I found this even more harrowing. With NPCs we barely know constantly imperiled, all the investigators are really sketched so clearly right off the bat with their actions rather than their more open explanations later. I love that all of them lean heavily into being out of their depth, even sometimes making poor choices because of it. The players are aware they are in a horror game. The characters are not.

So let’s talk about those characters:

MALCOLM TRILLS

Imari Williams was the player at the table I had no prior experience with, and I love what he’s doing here. He puts his whole body into acting out the scene, even at the table. Even before we know he was a Sole Survivor of a massacre during the war (and I found it deeply entertaining that Imari couldn’t help but dump his backstory all over the floor. Liam’s gently encouraging everyone to hold it back for dramatic moments, and Imari is just so excited he’s like “NO! HERE IT IS!” not once but twice in the very first episode), we knew that. Because Imari is clearly dedicated to acting that out through what Malcolm chooses to do. He believes in saving others, especially after losing his entire squad. He has to do it, even (or maybe especially) for those civilians he doesn’t know. His entire point in being in Candela is saving people. So when Liam dunks two unnamed sailors in the ocean, Malcolm goes in. His friends are horrified. They love and value him, and they value him more than two randos. But to him, the randos are the point. Saving people is the point. So no matter how many disappointed dad-lectures he gets from Leo (and this is clearly not the first one he’s gotten), Malcolm is always going to be this way. He’s always going to try to play the hero in a horror setting, which is such a delicious choice for a horror player to make. Everyone at that table knows how perilous it is, but Imari is fully committed, and I love it.

We already know a lot of his background, but there are things we don’t know. We don’t know his relationship with his family, or why Leo is so disdainful of the Trills as a group. There seems to be an implication that the Trills are old money in Newfaire, perhaps, or at least a legendary family for other reasons. And apparently reckless heroism is a family trait. But what does Malcolm do in his day-to-day? He’s the one we don’t have a career or life for back in Newfaire yet, and I am interested to see who he is when he’s not playing the hero for Candela.

LEO AMICUS

I love the description of “I’m going to lie a little and say ‘early forties’” as an explanation for Leo’s age. It tells me a lot about his character right off the bat. We know he’s older (but not how much) and that he doesn’t want to admit he’s older. There’s just a touch of vanity already there, and given that he’s also a man in a dressing gown on a ship in a severe storm, who thinks that his presence is deeply inappropriate? Who asks if there’s a bar on a tramp steamer? We know so much about Leo already, and I love it all. Taliesin plays a dandy so well, his table reactions are so expressive, and it’s so clear that a setting like this is NOT where Leo shines. He shines in social situations, in parties and bars and places where his charms mean something beyond keeping a crewmember calm long enough that she can be knocked unconscious. But he’s so great in being totally overwhelmed and being useless in an action sequence.

And once the storm is over? We find out that Leo is very much the mother hen of the group (probably the oldest member). He knows Malcolm well, and treats Grimoria like a beloved niece. We haven’t gotten a lot of interactions between him and Edgar, but I’m excited to see what their relationship is like, as the two more cautious members of the group.

It was in his interactions with the other members of the circle that I realized how much like family this circle is. They are VERY close, despite ostensibly just being coworkers. There is such a deep care and concern for one another here and I love knowing how dangerous that also is in a horror game. And Leo is the one most open about his attachments here. We know he doesn’t have much blood family, and doesn’t talk to them. We know he looks at these people as his family.

And I love that, for that family, we see a REALLY different side of Leo. While he was overwhelmed and trying not to look at the blood on the boat, the second the Murphy girls (or whatever was masquerading as them) tried to murder Malcolm and the others, Leo was grabbing kitchen knives and trying to kill them. His perspective from his talk with Malcolm also remains consistent: you put your family first. When his family is threatened, meek Leo melts away and we have a man who will do whatever is necessary, kill whoever is necessary, or let anyone die to protect them. He seems to have few moral convictions, but an enormous amount of love, and that excites me for this character.

And I love that we actually know very little about him right now. We know he lives in Red Lamp (because of course he does) and that his apartment doubles as their chapterhouse. So he can be Team Dad at every meeting.

Also congrats to him for getting laid in the very first episode. Hot sailor dude propositions him, and Leo is all about that life. This Professional Man of Leisure is clearly gay catnip.

DR. EDGAR LYCORIS

I was so excited that Alex was finally going to be in a filmed Candela game (he was apparently one of the play-testers during its development, and it’s so clear he knows the rules). Dr. Lycoris is cool, calm, almost robotic in his presentation. He’s definitely a classic Alex character with his calm and his normal-guy-in-a-group-of-weirdos vibe (while secretly being very much a weirdo himself), and filled with casual competence and rudeness. But at the same time there are hints of how much he cares about this circle too. Him quietly calling Grimoria ‘Grim’ when she’s unconscious and he’s tending to her, telling her, “You can’t sleep forever, Grim,” in such a fond tone. The two of them clearly have some quiet history together, and there is a real softness between them that I’m excited to see them dig into as they get deeper into the game. There’s clearly a long-standing connection with Malcolm too, with both of them extremely aware of one another’s skills and weaknesses, working together seamlessly, especially in moments of extreme stress. I want to see more of these soft moments, these personal moments when his icy demeanor cracks, and I imagine we’re going to get plenty of them, given that THIS is how intense the first episode was.

He and Leo are the two characters we know the least about at this point. We know that Edgar is a surgeon working in the main hospital in Newfaire. We know that he is cool under pressure, and that he is both used to fighting (his immediate shift into using his scalpel as a precision weapon to go after arteries and tendons is such a nice touch for the character), but also can really be shocked by sudden violence (I love that he totally freezes after THAT happened to Declan’s mother). He states that he wears nice and fashionable clothing, but the clothing is almost wearing him rather than the other way around, like someone picked them out for him. I want to know who that other person is (is it Leo???). I want to know who he is when he’s not trying to wear what other people expect of him.

I am so excited to get to know Dr. Lycoris.

GRIMORIA

Likely a stage name, and I do wonder if we'll get her birth name, or if that even matters to her at this point. Mechanically, I am thrilled to see a Candela player try to homebrew a multiclass in this system. She’s essentially gone for a Medium/Magician hybrid. We know she works as a procurer of esoteric artifacts. She performs shows with smoke bombs, so likely is a stage magician, and that she has been able to channel spirits since she was a small child.

And we know that she’s 18. In a group in which consists of a man who is at least in his mid-forties, a man who is 32, and a man who is a surgeon (so has at least obtained advanced training, and is probably in his late twenties at minimum, and is likely in his thirties given the hints that he served as a battlefield surgeon during the war), Grimoria is YOUNG. Absurdly so. The guys care about her in a different way than they do one another. They look out for her in subtle ways, though are all very careful not to treat her as a child. The softness between her and Edgar is reflected in the overtly familial way that Leo talks to her, treating her like a very clever niece, but also the person he finds the most calming in the group. It’s fun to see that, even though he treats her as his relative, he doesn’t treat her as a child. She’s the one he goes to when he needs to clear his head. He just wants to listen to her read aloud. He finds talking with her soothing, and it’s clear why. She has a good head on her shoulders, and is rising to the occasion, so while he is caring for her, he also intrinsically understands her need to care for him as well. And Aimee really sells that in-between nature of being 18. It’s such a great portrayal of someone on the verge of being an adult, but not quite there yet. Someone her friends want to care for, but also want to treat like an adult and like any other member of the group. There is a tension in those relationships purely because of her age.

I also like that she’s the most pure investigator of the group. She’s the one who pushes for information, who has a burning desire to KNOW. And that’s a great flaw and danger for a character in a horror setting. The desire for knowledge in cosmic horror is so dangerous. Her willingness to channel spirits right off the bat is dangerous. She is, in her own quieter way, just as reckless as Malcolm and I love to see it. Aimee is throwing herself into this, playing a character who doesn’t know she has limits let, and is eager to push every boundary. I can’t wait to get to know her even more.

CONCLUSIONS

I love that we have two cautious characters and two reckless characters. I love that we have a balance, and we have a group that instantly portrays exactly how close they all are to one another. We’re not sure how these bonds were forged, but they are so well portrayed and so clear. These people love one another. They would do terrible things for one another, and I can’t wait to see what they go through together.

Count me very excited and very eager for next month’s addition to their story (and count me already sad we only get three episodes with them).

[rypnami]

boggart headcanons

this has been rotting my brain for a whiiiile. another completely unoriginal idea but this is my take on the HL npcs’ boggarts. spoilers if you haven’t finished the game!

sebastian: some say his boggart would take the shape of his uncle, or his uncle’s tombstone. in my opinion though, it would turn into a dementor. although what happened to him throughout his childhood was traumatic and horrible, his uncle can’t hurt him anymore. a dementor, however, certainly could. it’s a manifestation of his guilt over his actions and his fear of being sent to azkaban.

ominis: how does a boggart frighten someone who can’t see it? through sound. there are several things it might make itself sound like to scare ominis. perhaps his aunt before she died. the sound of the scriptorium door opening, mc/sebastian getting crucio’d, his father’s voice, his siblings’ voices… that poor boy has so much trauma that a boggart would have a hard time choosing.

imelda: this one seems very clear to me. the boggart would appear before her as the captain of the holyhead harpies, telling her she didn’t make the team. after all that work, after everything she tried to hard to achieve, she fell short of what she wanted more than anything. that’s scary. she fears failure above all, and that’s the epitome of failing for her.

garreth: i headcanon garreth as a very family-oriented person. we know he has at least 1 younger sister, however knowing the weasleys there are probably several more younger and older siblings. we also know that he loves potions experimenting and often has other people test them out. i think his boggart would appear as something awful happening to one of his family members as a result of trying one of his potions. two things he loves coming together and causing harm is probably the scariest thing to him.

leander: his boggart might he something kind of silly to everyone else. he definitely fears failure, loneliness, and being looked at as less-than. there’s a throwaway line he says about how his siblings are older, smarter, more competent etc so i think above all he fears being a disappointment. his boggart would most likely be his parents telling him he’s a failure, that he’s brought shame to his family, and things of that nature.

andrew: we don’t know much about andrew, but i think he’s the kind of person who has anxiety. i think he takes his house placement very seriously and fears letting down his friends/the people around him. his boggart would probably be his close friends or family members expressing that he had failed them in a big way and that they didn’t want anything to do with him anymore.

amit: through the game we see amit as someone who is somewhat timid but can be incredibly brave when he has to be- main example is the goblin mine quest. so i think in the aftermath his boggart would be a goblin, perhaps even ranrok himself, after the trauma he definitely sustained during that quest.

poppy: her boggart would either been one of/both of her parents, or something bad happening to highwing. we know she must have a lot of (likely unresolved) trauma from growing up in a poacher camp, especially with who her parents are, and after what happened with highwing in the high keep quest, she’s probably also incredibly worried about her closest (creature) friend being harmed again.

adelaide: no one talks much about her but i think she’s really sweet okay 🥺 anyway, if she were to see a boggart it would probably manifest as her uncle dying. she’s already lost her parents and, presumably, has no family left besides her uncle. save her she’s just so cute :((

also my mcs just for fun :D

jamie: a werewolf. after his mother’s death there is nothing in the world that will make him panic faster. a lot of his fear of werewolves also comes from the residual guilt that he was somewhat responsible for her death. perhaps the boggart would even switch into his mother’s werewolf form..

jack: definitely turns into his father. after everything he went through, especially as a child, nothing scares him more than his father. even tho he did kill him so there’s no true threat anymore. most of it is psychological torment now :D

ollie: when he was small, his boggart would have taken the shape of a spider. now, it takes the form of a dementor- he’s scared of them taking one of his dads away. although he’s still deathly terrified of spiders/acromantulas so perhaps it changes back and forth sometimes.

[hmshermitcraft]

grian, impulse, and tango trying to run some DnD games. they are completely derailed by session three due to: lizzie and joel realizing the campaigns are interconnected and trying to set their characters up in a crossgame relationship; ren and martyn being in the same party; the DMs flirting; general hermit chaos; Jimmy having the worst luck; and Grian doing Watcher Things (messing with players because he tried to DM while peckish. too many pun NPC names in a row: players started killing them)

Dice rolls being bad isn't the worst but Jimmy manages to take it to the next level. Every important roll, he manages to fail it. No amount of luck or inspiration saves him. The three DMs have learnt to put fail-safes in place solely for Jimmy rolls, to make sure he doesn't get disheartened.

Everybody else has no excuse. What do you mean Lizzie came to the session with a pre-written poem to leave specifically where Joel's character would find it in Tango's campaign? What do you mean Ren and Martyn derailed an entire session (by accident) because they went on a date in a crime den?

But hey, it's the most fun any of them have had before in D&D. Better keep it going!

[tally-ace]

So one of my all-time favorite ways to play through botw is without teleporting. I adore the additional challenge it brings and it adds a certain level of planning ahead and requires you to become familiar with the layout of the world and locations of things.

I've been upset to find out through testing that a TRUE teleport-less run of totk is impossible thanks to the tutorial island. So I have yet to try a "partial" one to see if it's still as fun as in botw.

(EDIT: I've heard conflicting things saying it's possible to get to the fourth tutorial shrine without teleporting? I haven't tried it myself but when I say true run I also mean without exploits. If you need to do some precise exploit of the game to make a run like that work, it isn't really that fun for me anymore. I'll attempt a teleport-less tutorial island one day so we'll see)

I have, however, found a fun way to play totk through accident on my second playthrough.

In botw, it is impossible to finish all 120 shrines without completing each of the four divine beasts. That's because there are exactly 4 shrines (1 in each region) that only become available after completing a shrine quest that does not unlock until after the respected divine beast is cleared.

(EDIT: Correction, there are exactly 2 shrines that are inaccessible without the completion of their respected divine beast. So all the shrines in the game can be completed with the minimum completion of 2 divine beasts. These shrines are the warbler's nest shrine in rito and the sand seal race shrine in gerudo. I mistakenly believed an npc for a shrine in goron did not spawn until after rudania and that the ceremonial trident did not spawn until after ruta (my searching skills are abyssmal and I missed both those things on my playthroughs prior to the beasts lol))

In totk, NONE of the shrines are dependent on the completion of a dungeon to access. All save for ONE SINGLE QUEST in Eldin that requires Yunobo's sage ability to access the shrine.

AND through the heart container granted after completing the tutorial, the heart containers granted after completion of the rito, gerudo, zora, and goron dungeons, and choosing the heart container granted by the bargainer statue beneath the great plateau... You can unlock the door to the underground dungeon without spending a single spirit orb.

Meaning that the only required story progression beats in totk to witness 80% of the (non-flashback) cutscenes with link as a silly little fucked up beast is getting the paraglider and getting up to the point in the goron story line to have Yunobo as a companion. Also meaning that every dungeon in totk can be completed without spending spirit orbs beyond the tutorial.

Playing through totk on a mission to get every shrine without upgrading health or stamina ONCE is more fun than I ever thought it would be. I had a BLAST. As someone who thinks the building mechanic is neat, but not really made for me, it made me interact with a mechanic that I never really enjoyed and find something to appreciate about it.

I also added the challenge of NOT upgrading my battery charge at all, which I would recommend if you're really wanting to make the game a bit harder.

AND it has the added bonus of Ancient Link staring into everyone's soul in every single cutscene.

So get out there and run around as a little beastie.

[knipiko]

Strung from reality

IN WHICH . . . you bought the new CAPCOM remake of Resident Evil 4 . . . only to lead to the unexpected, how will you treat your new infected house guest?

Las plagas infected!Self Aware!Leon Kennedy x reader

a multiple part series of an Leon Kennedy x reader

TW: Implied sexual content, but no smut, Leons fucking coocoo banana rambas, someone lock this man up, implied AFAB reader later on, smut in future chapters, not proof read, knife mention, leons a fucking cereal goblin

A/N: THIS IS NOT PROOF READ! Im a self teaching writer so do not expect this fic to be the most graciously crafted fanfic ever like some writers make (cough cough lipglossanon, luv your work :3)

MINORS DNI FOR FUTURE SMUT CHAPTERS!

You finally purchased the PS5 you had been saving up for, primarily so you could play the Resident Evil 4 Remake video game. A few years ago, you just discovered the series and were eager to play the remake of one of your favorite games. 

Setting it up was the hard part, so many wires and instructions to the TV to your console all confused you. You hated living alone because you couldn't ask someone else for help but hey, at least you can gawk at Leons arms in peace, right? As you finish setting it up you sigh in relief. Turning it on and downloading the game as you went off and cleaned your home in peace, it was a two story house with some spacing. You didn't need all of that room just for yourself. But you wanted to treat yourself when you had the money to move out of that small apartment downtown, it made you almost claustrophobic.

After it finished downloading you jumped up from where you laid on the couch, sitting down and grabbing the console before you looked at the TV, opening the game and selecting a gamemode. ‘Hardcore sounds fun..’ You smirked as you pressed on it, watching as the screen faded to black and then to a cutscene. 

After the entire startup to the game ends you walk around, getting to the village as you start shooting and running around. Trying to escape the Salvador NPC chasing after you, struggling to press the button to shoot at it to lessen its HP. Your controller malfunctions and causes you to no longer be able to walk, the Salvador NPC comes towards you and a cutscene displays of Leons death with the same chainsaw the NPC was wielded with. You curse under your breath,”Son of a bitch!” After you press the button to replay again you mumble to yourself,”Sorry Leon..” before moving again. “Let it go.” Leon chuckled, making you confused– did he just talk to you? Or is that just coincidence?.. (or some shitty Frozen reference..) “That's a weird voice line..” You tried to brush it off, chuckling nervously as you continued to play.

 You got to the point of the underground mining areas of the island, yawning as you set the controller down and popped your back, bending your torso side to side, rolling your shoulders in circles,”Food sounds good right now..” You sat up, your knees cracking with you as you went to grab a snack before you went back to the game. Grabbing a small packet of fruit gummies before sitting back on the floor and picking the controller up, admiring Leon's graphics as you smiled to yourself,”He looks good in the remake.” You took a few handfuls of the small fruit snacks as you stared at his figure. 

“You think so?” 

You jumped up, your back straightening as you let out a sharp inhale. Staring at the TV screen as you rubbed your eyes before looking back at the screen,”Thats fucking crazy..” You backed up from the TV, shocked at what just happened. Was this some new update where he talks to you? What the fuck is happening? Leons character starts moving on its own, walking around as your camera follows him. Your hands reached for the controller, fumbling it in your hands as you tried to stop his movements. Totally stunned as you watched him hit barrels and interact with the digital world on his own,”Woah– What the fuck is happening!?--” You hit your controller and Leon suddenly stopped. Is this some kind of prank? You opened your mouth to speak slowly,”Hello?..” You felt like an idiot for thinking this may work.

“Hey.” Leon says nonchalantly, looking up towards the screen as he smirks. You stood up, hands on your head as you started to pace around your living room,”This is a fucking joke, some prank the seller who gave this to me is doing..” You heard Leon talk,”That's rude.” He laughed, he fucking laughed! You stopped in your tracks, watching as he was now tilting his head as he looked at you,”Sorry, It's just I never had a fictional, programmed, character speak to me before.” You said sarcastically as you tried to control your breathing. What the hell is going on?...

Leon adjusted his posture as he chuckled,”Ah. Well, makes more sense. Thanks Einstein for finding that out.” You sighed, still on edge about the whole situation. I mean, a talking, supposed programmed character that was supposed to just say corny one liners and shoot NPCs is speaking to YOU. Everything that happened in a span of just a few hours made your whole world seem unreal, like a dream. You pinched the bridge of your nose,”Im.. I'm going to bed, i'll solve this tomorrow..” You sighed, looking at Leon one last time before shoving your controller in a random cubby in your TV stand and running to feel the soft sheets below your fingertips.

What the fuck just happened?

Was your last thought before you succumbed into a peaceful sleep. Hours later you were awoken to a loud CRASH! In your home, quickly sitting up to look around your dimly lit room. The rising sun was the only thing illuminating the entire way to the door, quickly snapping out of the frozen shock you reach for inside your nightstand. Grabbing a pocket knife, slowly inching your way to the downstairs of your home. Assuming that's where the crash was located. Grabbing the edge of the wall, you peek around the corner to your living room, immediately noticing your TV screen was broken. Glass shards all over the floor below the now busted TV, whoever broke into your home was a real piece of shit.

Taking the knife out of the built in container you grip it with just enough force so your shaking hands won't drop it, slowly but quietly making your way throughout the house. Footsteps from behind startle you as you jump, trying to turn to see the culprit. Only leading to your eyes to be covered and a hand against the one gripping the knife, you're in shock from how quick this all took place. But before you could say anything you hear a voice that's all too familiar,”Its just me.” You flinched at his hot breath against your ear,”Leon?..” You asked.

Confusion replaces your fear as you managed to escape from his hands, turning around to see it was Leon . . . Your eyes widen,”How are you?-” You trace a circle around his body in the air, trying to find the right words,”Here? In your home?” He seems all too giddy about this situation,”Yeah, Uh..” You put the pocket knife in your sweatpants pocket, staring at him. His body now covered in those black veins like you saw during the playthroughs. Leon snickers,”I honestly don't know, but I'm glad I'm out of it.” I praise lord saddler for he has sent me to this world to rid it of its sins.. 

You pointed at him before pointing in the kitchen,”You hungry? Or do you like . . . not eat?” Leon just shrugs, this whole situation has gone so quickly to the point you don't know how to react, do you scream? Cry? Cheer? You chalked up to what you need to do is just treat him like a house guest at least, it's the best thing you could do right now. Leon bit his bottom lip, walking into your kitchen,”I'm used to eating raw eggs and snakes, so I atleast want to try.” I want to eat you. He jokes, following him as you get him something simple. Cereal, placing the bowl on the counter next to him before clasping your hands together,”How is this going to work? Like, are we going to pretend you were never in a video game? Are you going to get a job or?..” Leon shrugs,”There's no record of my existence, popping out of a video game doesn’t include what you need to even work at a fast food joint.” You sigh, watching him eat as you grab a broom and dustpan,”What’chu doing?” He says with a mouthful of cereal.

You started sweeping up the glass,”Cleaning the shitty mess you made.” Leon finishes up surprisingly quick before grabbing your hands into a still,”Its my mess, ill clean it.” You shrug, nestleing down on the couch. You were not going to complain for a free cleaning service,”I guess no more movies . . . ” Sighing as you watch Leon dump the glass into a trashcan, setting the broom and dustpan down he sits down beside you.

Tomorrow you have to get another TV…

[cryptids-and-muses]

Post canon homestuck crew play Dungeons and Dragons

Karkat and terezi

Co dms

Unstoppable when actually working together

Terezi will get sidetracked messing with karkat

Karkat trying to write a deep and well fleshed out campaign that’s thematically resonant vs terezi’s desire for chaos and traps and trying to “trick” her players FIGHT

Terezi believes in karma and will make the world bend to this

Karkat is trying to set up romance arcs and argues about how it adds to the theming

Dave draws them fanart of their characters. Terezi loves it while karkat argues about accuracy before admitting yes he also appreciates it

Calliope also does fanart and karkat praises her skill and accuracy unlike some people

John

Arcane trickster rogue

Forest gnome

Just a goofy little guy!

Mostly just playing to have fun, starts off with a fun but simple character who develops over time

Ends up SUPER invested and taking this so so seriously

Karkat worked a dramatic reveal into the, in his words, “bare ass bones two paragraphs that a fucking wiggler could have written backstory” and John did not see it coming and loved it

Goes head to head with terezi a lot on her various traps she designs for them. She is getting more and more absurd with it. Karkat had to talk to her about breaking the world building with things she’s introducing. He is the only rogue. Send help.

Rose

Drow warlock

Tries to justify picking drow as anything other than she just thought it was cool

Nearly went old ones for patron but settled on archfey for story reasons

Has a 10 page lore document detailing her tragic past and her toxic relationship with her patron

It became 15 pages after going back and forth with karkat for a bit and adding even more

Only her and one other person are taking the romance arcs seriously and they become karkat’s favorite players

Tries playing morally ambiguous but terezi can be annoying about that and claims it’s just “the consequences of her actions”

Her and karkat both get very very into the scenes between her and her patron, the drama! The acting! Dave is uncomfortable and karkat brushes it off, it’s not like him role playing as his sister’s abusive girlfriend is weird. It’s in fact very important to the plot Dave

Has written fanfic of the campaign

Jade

Dragonborn barbarian

Path of the beast

Don’t ask me I just know

Her GLEE when she says “I’m gonna rage :D”

ANIMAL COMPANION! She nearly went ranger just for that but knew she wouldn’t have as much fun. Found a way to get one anyway.

It was harder naming her animal companion than her character

Having fun and likes the problem solving side of things, but likes breaking things with her massive strength just as much

Terezi likes to throw stuff at her, both traps and encounters, and finds it funny if she can just wreck her way through

“See John that’s how you deal with a pressure plate trap”

Takes the rp side of things very seriously

Once argued with Karkat over if her favorite npc would do that and cursed him out

Has read roses fanfic of the campaign

Dave

Plays a teifling with grey skin and orange horns

“What are you talking about karkat this is just my dude, don’t you like him?”

Hellus Jeffus

He’s a valor bard, eventually multiclasses paladin

Starts out just trying to mess with people but like John starts getting into it, though he tries to down play it

Have hellus more of himself than he realized and it’s making him face things about himself

Eventually hellus self sacrifices to save the party in this deeply intense moment. There were tears, Dave was wrecked, they went on a whole quest to revive him. It was touching and karkat is smug

Dave might have worked through some things

Jane

Halfling cleric

Her and John are small buddies!!!

Started out life but wasn’t having a lot of fun with it so with terezi’s permission switched to war or tempest with later s few levels in fighter

Her John and Jade are the biggest front liners, John’s character ends up really close with both of them as it’s easier for the rogue to bond with the person giving them sneak attack

Jade and jane’s character have an in game arm wrestling match

Took a bit to get into the rp side of things but eventually got the hang of it

Roxy

Tabaxi, easily, it’s so obvious

After much deliberation settles on glamour bard (though wizard and rogue were tempting for the joke, she wanted to branch out)

So many horny bard jokes but very little actual follow through, karkat gets frustrated by this as she’s all this talk but isn’t pursuing any of the romance options he’s giving her

She has SECRETS! She is HIDING THINGS!! Her cheery persona is a FASADE!!!

Cue complaining to karkat about how hard it is to wait to tell the others about her secrets and him threatening violence if she tells anyone before the in game reveal

She tells jake

Lots of egging on Dave and helping him with his fucking around

The BOND between her and Dave!!! They are the duo to end all duos. Team rocket type shit. There is nothing stronger than the bond between the bards of the party. My theory is it has to do with trading bardic inspiration.

Dirk

Half elf Druid circle of spores

Wildfire seemed fun to him but wasn’t as good

Wasn’t originally planning on being a Druid but after going over all the classes he liked all the customization and decisions that go into Druid like prepared spells and such

Didn’t really think about his backstory much, just improved something. He keeps improving new additions and it’s getting more and more elaborate and complicated. He has multiple hidden and long lost siblings by this point. Still doesn’t write any of this down. If he messes a detail up he justified it with more improv.

Yes his character has spiked up red hair and sunglasses. Don’t question how the Druid got sunglasses karkat.

Really likes the tactics side of things, he’s even pitched a few things to terezi she updated and later worked in

Sometimes works on plans and strategies out of game or making a million back up characters that play off the others in interesting mechanical ways

Is considering becoming a dm some time

Jake

Needed some help making his character, he just didn’t know where to start

Eventually after much discussion settles on a teifling bladesong wizard

Wanting to get away from his usual adventurer style Roxy helped with the backstory and they came up with this evil scientist raised in a cult who’s good hearted but was never taught right and wrong

He gets very into playing him and his moral struggle but can lean a little too good for his backstory, karkat points this out and Jake swears to get better at it

Dave pitched a lot of names for them and it was eventually settled on “Bernard Gunn” even though he has a sword. Jake just likes how it sounds

“Why is he blue jake?” “…..uhhh” “why is he blue?”

Calliope

SHE LOVES THIS SO MUCH

Teifling Druid with a focus on healing

Circle of shepards

Not a troll color pallet like Dave though, honestly it might get a bit trickster

Beautiful backstory that she coordinated with one of the others to make joint. The most obvious choice is Roxy but I think it was actually jade, Jane or John.

She gets so into it you guys, like so into it

Gives at least one dramatic speech completely on the fly

The other character who takes karkat’s romance arcs seriously and his other favorite player

Has also argued with terezi about world building and consistency. This may put her above rose in karkat’s eyes

Was also allowed to read rose’s fanfiction and offered full on reviews

Also considering going into doing but for the opposite reasons to Dirk

Vriska

Fairy artillerist artificer with a dip in war magic wizard

Min maxxed to hell and back

(Technically there was a better race, but fairy has its own advantages and she couldn’t resist)

An elaborate backstory too with some secrets of her own, I’m thinking full on lost princess

Yes she is That Player, you know the one

Has nearly been kicked multiple times and now won’t leave on principle

Not the best at sticking with the party and not just doing whatever she wants, but suprisingly Dirk has been able to talk her into it with his talk of tactics and playing smart

Second most effective is John who just looks at her like “vriska you’re not making this very fun :(“

Kanaya

Fire genasi ranger

Really tried to get into it but this just isn’t her thing so eventually decided to leave the group

Karkat came up with a fun story reason for her to leave and eventually brought her character back as an Npc

Did help rose make a cosplay of her character, after which John, Calliope, and Roxy wanted to make ones too

Vriska eventually tried to “manipulate” into helping her make one for her character

[oddlyhale]

Call me a boomer or whatever, but I actually like doing budgeting.

If they're that strapped for cash, and if I had to make budgeting decisions, I would: - Cut Jaune out of the volume. Since his arc ends with him reverting back to his younger self, there's no need for him to be in Ever After. - Weiss killed Penny on the Golden Bridge. She's in terrible grief for what she did and is in constant anxiety to explain herself to Ruby. - Cut Little out of the volume. From what I understand, creating Little was a huge feat because their model is more complex than the usual models we see. Cut them out and save money and time from creating them. - Move the Red Prince battle at the end of the volume. We can keep the marketplace throughout the volume since it helps set some world-building of Ever After through the NPCs and environment. - Neo is fine in the volume, she didn't pop up much. And since she has no VA to be paid, Neo is very expandable, but it was good that they didn't overuse her this volume. - No suicide arc!! It was stupid!! - Keeping Ruby separated from her team for the majority of the time. Would save quite a bit of time and money to only focus on Ruby rather than having to focus on them all at once. Yang, Blake, and Weiss can have their own episodes. - Ruby starts to see glimpses of Weiss running off into different wooded paths, yelling something about being late. Ruby chases Weiss throughout the volume. Weiss doesn't stick around often and vanishes. - Neo is down on her luck. She doesn't feel the need to go after Ruby because she feels like she's trapped in another universe and she can't get back home. However, a new anger towards Cinder festers. - Instead of creating more Ever After characters, utilize the main characters. Weiss can be the White Rabbit and Blake can be the Cheshire Cat. Yang can either fight to stay normal or become a character. All will be cured by the end of the volume. Neo also starts to act like the Mad Hatter. - It appears that Ever After is taking over the minds of whoever has fallen. Ruby and Yang both feel the effects as they both start to feel different from their old selves, but they're able to stay original. - Eating food (A LOT OF FOOD) and drinking a lot of tea was a notable part of Alice in Wonderland 1951. They could say that eating anything from Ever After causes the character change. - Ruby can't find Cresent Rose but she does find Summer Rose's weapon at a blacksmith's shop (but she doesn't know it belongs to Summer Rose). She carries that around because it feels familiar to her, but also she wants a weapon to defend herself. It'd be fun to watch as Ruby tries to work with a new weapon. - Weiss sees the glass sword of Penny's. She doesn't remember Penny, but the sight of the sword throws her into a frenzy and makes her lose time. Her time dilation goes out of control and it causes bouts of chaos wherever she's at, but the Red Prince isn't bothered by it.

i'll come up with more later in a reblog

[fulgurbugs]

Oh hey I hope you don’t mind me asking, this is purely out of curiosity but if you had to picture other duopath runs which characters would you pick and why? :)

Therion & Tressa are such a good combo I’m curious about which other traveler combinations would work well

hm thinking about which ones would be fun…. i think i can think of some that’d be fun

ship ones obvi would be funny, so alfyn/therion Primrose/Haanit, Olberic/Cyrus etc, also i think all of those combos are pretty good and can cover each other, i think Alfyn/Therion probably has the easiest time of it (due to access to steal for equipment and then concoct is just really good) and olberic/cyrus probably has the hardest time of it? i think thats purely because cyrus is frail and might take some investment to make sure he’s not dying every 2 seconds. then again, olberic as a duo is pretty good since he always has incite access. basically cyrus needs saving grace asap i think

Prim/haanit i think mayyybe more middle of the road? you do always get sealticge but its more of a whole thing with just two party members instead of 4, but haanit can hit the big damage and having dancer prim she’s probably easier to minmax damage potential on since you can lion dance her etc… if you run one of them as thief you can probably do some kind of armor corrosive lion dance setup and let haanit just hit the double digit thousands

i think one of the things that would be difficult about both haanit/prim and olberic/cyrus is definitely the lack of path action to acquire npc items, you get literally soooooo much shit out of it it’s super helpful lol.

other ones i think would be fun

Alfyn/Ophilia: healerpath run. while you won’t have to rely on item healing (like i did for the majority of duopath), i think this one would be a fun like, find your damage method one. plus, these two are the ones who usually sit back as supports (at least in their base class roles), but push when push comes to shove- sorry you guys gotta do all the hard work of killing these guys on top of the healing. also the stretch between their ch3s and ch4s would be miserable for them sorry you two

Therion/Primrose: the two traumatized ones with loner streaks, that’s right we’re putting bff bracelets on you and forcing you to work together. i think these two have a kind of kinship friendship that they don’t quite share with any of the others, so they get along quite well, even though i think i’d find it hard to stick them together permanently without the glue of the rest of the party. but as a duopath, i think they could still be pretty fun, and i want primrose to have some help stabbing those guys. gameplay wise, having therion would be a huge benefit for path action reasons, plus thief is like. imo one of the best subclasses paired with anything so i think any duopath he’s in gets some added benefit.

Olberic/Tressa: i always liked their dynamic, as the oldest member and the youngest member they might have an almost parental kind of relationship, and something abt tressa’s plucky enthusiasm and Olberics more stoic, seasoned nature is always fun to me. Tressa is another items-getter path action (though slightly less good than steal, you’ll likely rack up enough money grinding that prices are trivial) which is a help, and merchant is extremely good in duopath due to hired help being one of the best damage options for any character who might not be able to set up huge numbers. olberic however, can set up huge numbers, which means that i think this duo would be super duper set in the damage department.

ophilia/cyrus: i think this is the one i’d do if i really wanted pain, because these two have no hp and will die. this is like, the challenge mode option, because one of the things about duopath is you’re going to be taking a lot of damage on your two characters where you would have that spread across your party. so this duo would require some interesting strategizing to raise those hp stats, figure out how to tank, and then, on top of that, how to dish out the big numbers. while magic is *good* ive always found that when you’re trying to hit big on breaks, you’re better off going for brand or aeber big hits. as well, you get no items path action to work with for them. as for the dynamic, they’re both friendly and agreeable so i think there’d be not much conflict between them, but i think you could have some fun especially by the end if they start to draw the galdera connections between them…