#huge roman vibes

[sandersontheside]

contrary to what you may think “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” from Hercules is not the Disney love song for prinxiety. the titular track from Beauty and the Beast is. not only because the lyrics hit:

“barely even friends/then somebody bends/unexpectedly/just a little change/small to say the least/both a little scared/neither one prepared”

“bittersweet and strange/finding you can change/learning you were wrong”

but also because Virgil is initially perceived by the other sides as a villain, as monstrous, and his arc is all about acceptance both from them and from himself, learning both to love and to be loved. Just like Adam/Beast. and because Roman is Belle coded—head in the clouds and obsessed with stories, craving adventure and desperately looking for something more than this provincial life. you get it.

[brother-emperors]

THE BROTHERS PAOLO AND VITELLOZZO VITELLI

man. the fucking. cycles of violence going on here. war, condottieri brothers, the execution of paolo vitelli (but the on the matter of guilt: questionable! no proof besides the absence of potential violence, but what conspiracy-betrayal wants to leave behind proof? torture and execute him anyway. maybe machiavelli has a point! unfortunately you left a surviving brother), the congiura della magione, all of it coming together at the strage di senigallia. just blood and gore and war all the way down, never stopping for a breather, already on to it's next battlefield. also malaria is there!

in other news! it turns out if you want to draw a comic about the strage di senigallia, you have to figure out designs for all the people in the room, but if you draw vitellozzo, you also have to draw his brother because he's like. there. in a dead way. something something vitellozzo's desire to avenge his brother manifesting in his desire to brutalize florence for their role in his brother's death.

that said, I did not want to draw military armor for an illustration that was partially designed to test out some splatter brushes. in the future though….I will have to revisit that visual…..

[narmothewraith]

Concept art for a new painting, based on a picture of me and my uncle's dog (he's a sweetheart 🥺)

[physalian]

Your colloquialisms are ruining the immersion (or, non-contemporary dialogue)

I am no expert here! Whenever I wrote historical fiction it was anachronistic historical fiction. This advice is from a reader’s perspective and from my experience writing high fantasy.

So what’s the deal with immersive dialogue? I’m going to ignore writing dialects and accents and so-called “old English” with the thee, thy, thou and such. Solely focusing here on the narrative telling me this isn’t set in present times, and yet the dialogue being painfully colloquial like present times.

This is coming from a book I had to read set in HRE times. In it, characters were spouting modern curse words, tacking on verbal tics and crutch words like “or something” and “um” and drawing out words like “daaaamn” and “nooooo”. Rip out the dialogue and toss it in a script with zero context and it would read like two high schoolers from 2009, not two adults from the Holy Roman Empire. Which is a problem, because it completely shattered the immersion. —

1. On so-called “formal writing”

Everybody knows that nixing contractions doesn’t do a damn thing to help your writing look more “formal”, it just looks robotic and stiff, right? We’ve gotten past this as a society? There’s a time and a place for replacing contractions with the full words, but not for every single sentence.

I swear this show keeps creeping into my writing advice but here we go. Transformers Prime. The context for Optimus’ dialogue has a lot to do with his aging voice actor, Peter Cullen, and the perception of the character over the decades from the corny 80s paragon hero everyman type leader to the grizzled and wizened old soul type leader. Optimus isn’t “one of the guys,” he’s old. Very old. He’s the dad of the group (one dad, his grumpy medic is the other dad).

So he gets lines like:

“I fear Megatron’s ambition is at its zenith.”

“But if his return is imminent as I fear, it could be a catastrophic.”

“I bore Skyquake no ill-will.”

He doesn’t curse like the other Autobots. His voice only raises in surprise, horror, or rage. He doesn’t go “um/ah/so/but/eh” and always thinks about what he’s going to say well before he says it. Despite him, Ratchet (the dad medic), and Megatron all being very old, Optimus is the only one who’s “proper” and collected and dignified with his lines. The writers didn’t achieve this simply by omitting contractions, he gets them where necessary and removes them when effective (e.g “We do not.” / “We don’t.”)

2. Thesaurus Rex

Continuing with the Optimus example, no other character in that show would use “zenith” unironically. Or “ill-will”. This doesn’t mean crack open and abuse a thesaurus but there’s a huge divide between:

“Megatron’s gone crazy and he’s going to implode soon” and “Megatron’s ambition is at its zenith”.

I can’ think of a better word to use than dignified, perhaps distinguished to describe his dialogue.

He doesn’t say “what?” when he’s confused, he pauses and says something like “please elaborate”.

This is both word choice and a syntax issue so if you’re struggling to fit a non-contemporary vibe for your work, pay attention to both.

3. When to abstain from cursing

There’s something very special about the dialogue in the Lord of the Rings movies: It’s PG-13 so they can’t curse, but if they had, it would have probably ruined the trilogy. These characters are able to yell in rage and anguish, spit vicious insults at their enemies, and stare down armies that are determined to kill them, all while never breaking the immersion.

Insults like:

“Late is the hour in which this conjurer chooses to appear.”

“Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth, you witless worm.”

“Your words are poison.”

And all three were said by or about Grima Wormtongue.

Characters aren’t dumbasses, they’re fools, with the exception of Gollum’s insults toward Sam, the “stupid, fat hobbit”.

Even devoid of name-calling, Denethor absolutely trounces his second son by asking (and I’m paraphrasing) “Is there any man here willing to do his lord’s bidding?” right after Faramir expresses some apprehension about a suicide charge with his remaining soldiers, completely ignoring him and implying that he’s not a real man.

LOTR is full of juicy lines beyond curse words, too. One of my absolute favorites is: “Dark have been my dreams of late” as opposed to “I’ve been having nightmares lately.”

Do you see?? It’s poetry. The motif of Shadow and Darkness as if they’re real, physical things, all the lines of poetry pulled straight from the books like Theoden’s “where is the horse and the rider” monologue just before Helm’s Deep.

It’s dignified.

—

This one was a bit harder to, ironically, put into words without doing a full-blown case study into either franchise’s ability to write dialogue and monologues. I didn’t even talk about Ratchet’s several monologues (one of which was done perfectly in the sound booth on the first take) because Jeffrey Combs has a voice like ambrosia.

TLDR: Immersion goes far beyond your vivid setting descriptors and the clothing or the names and languages. I mostly write fantasy and sci-fi and whenever I read or watch fantasy and sci-fi that isn’t meant to be a world different from our own, or about characters who don’t speak modern English, and they go off with modern slang, syntax, and verbal tics, it just feels sloppy and weak. Pay attention to the following:

Syntax

Modern slang and jargon

Filler words/verbal tics

Curse words/curses

Flat, unmotivated vocab

*All of the quotes were from memory because I watch both of these franchises way too often. So apologies if I got any wrong.

[gilverrwrites]

STOP WAIT THE TIM DRAKE WITH SIONIS!READER THAT WAS AMAZING

love academic rivals to lovers frfr

anyway but tim is also canonically a high school drop out so sionis!reader finishing school without him (technically dropped out when bruce went missing) 💀 idk why but with roman hating the wayne clan so much, I could see it being kept secret.

like a cute little forbidden fruit/secret relationship. robin & the daughter of the most notorious crime lord in the city?? jeez and you wanna ask why bruce/roman are paranoid /hj

but it's them sneaking around and then tim obviously leaves for his search for batman, dropping out of school, and it leaves sionis!reader all alone.

and then tim comes back!! and bruce is back but bruce doesn't really matter to them(reader), because tim left without a word, without a goodbye, and now he's back and I can imagine all the changes between that happened in that year he was too, the angst of him coming back.

like, would they try to find tim? would they try to go to wayne manor and figure out what the hell happened? I feel like it opens the door to possibilities between them

Hang in there, this is a real rambley ramble.

Ngl, I was picturing it for when he went to Ivy (which he also dropped out of lmao), and I like the idea of them being upfront about it for the comedy/reluctant acceptance angle, but there is still the potential for drama. However, I can see the appeal of them keeping it totally secret too (I'm gonna talk about that later in the post).

For now, heres my vision: You’re Romans favourite kid, his perfect lil angel child, the only one who wants anything to do with him so he dotes on you (to the extent that Roman can dote on anyone) and you go to him one day like; “I get perfect grades, I never miss curfew, I help with the family business, I never ask you for anything, PLEASE accept my boyfriend.” And at first `Roman’s just like… “No.”

Queue the “But Daddy I love him!” tantrum.

Unlike with Jason, Roman has never had any strong feelings toward Tim other than a general distaste cause of the Wayne association, so eventually he tries to come around, but it’s just awkward, and Tim hates it too cause he know your dad is Black Mask, and he can’t do anything without risking being exposed as Red Robin or upsetting you by causing a scene/fight. Is it to much to ask for the two most important men in your life to get along for one dinner? Please?

So, every time they meet the vibes are just off. However, they’re both trying really hard to get along cause they love you.

One night Tim unintentionally catches Black Mask red-handed and he can’t not do his job. The whole time they're fighting, Tim has this whole internal monologue going on about whether he should let Roman off with a warning for your sake, but eventually he’s like WWBD?

So, he hands Roman over to the authorities and the next day he sees you and your bawling! Inconsolable! Your dad is going to prison, your life is ruined. You’re also a bit of drama queen but validly tbh, what will this do for your social standings? Your college applications? Your career aspirations? Fuck Red Robin, you hate that guy!

You were raised by Roman Sionis, of course your inherited at least a little of his melodromatic genes.

Even though you're distressed Tim can’t keep from being like ‘You're mad at the wrong person here! Red Robin is the good guy! You're dad is the criminal, he wouldn't have been arrested if he wasn't a bad person! Who does bad things! He needs to face justice!”

It becomes a massive-ass argument until you’re like “Why can’t you be normal about this? I love my dad and this is going to have a huge effect on my life, why can’t you just be upset for me?”

Tim doesn’t have an answer cause the answer is "I'm Red Robin" but fuck that guy, right? The whole issue goes unresolved.

Or maybe he does snap and tell you the truth but that just makes things worse! "You're my boyfriend and you arrested my father! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?"

When you visit him at Blackgate, your father is quietly elated by the break up, he doesn’t say as much. He plays the concerned father, offers you comfort. He reminds you that when he killed lost his parents, it started a new age of loyalty amonst the Sionis clan. As long as you're good to your family (him), it will be good to you. Oh, and btw, he needs you to handle a few things while he's gone. Don't worry, your family pisses money, he'll be out of here in no time but this stuff is important and time sensitive, and he needs you to keep it on the down low.

The next time you see Tim, he’s Red Robin and you’re the one he catches in the act.

Also, Tim telling that Bat-Fam “So yeah, I’m seeing someone new, it’s Y/N Sionis.” And everyone looks at Steph for a second, then back to Tim and is like “Dude! Get a new type!”

Also also, you visit the Wayne family for the first time, and after growing up drilled to hate these people you’re lowkey so nervous. You’re expecting them to hate you, because you learned nothing from presuming the same thing about Tim. The youngest one is definitely scary, and the butler must be convinced you’re gonna steal something because he will not allow you to be left alone (he’s remembering teenage Roman hanging out with teenage Bruce and being the worst), but otherwise everyone is actually kinda chill. Maybe a bit overly polite but not unpleasant.

But I can totally see the appeal of them keeping it totally secret too. Especially if Tim tells you about being Red Robin. How it might force you to come to terms with your morality by enabling your father/not holding him accountable. Major existential crisis material.

Of if he doesn’t tell you, the angst of your boyfriend just up and leaving without a word, not responding to your calls, texts, emails.

When he does come back you’ve ‘moved on’. Or you thought you had until you saw him again. But after he left you high and dry you’re fuming, and won’t allow him to just walk skate back into your life.

Tim pining after you while you’re excelling in your college/job pursuit. You keep catching glimpses of Red Robin while you’re out on dates or visiting your dad. Tim tells himself he’s just vetting your new boyfriends or ensuring your dad isn’t up to no good. But really its because he’s missed you and doesn’t know how to make up for cutting you out of his life.

He also notices how you never bring your dates home. How you still bury yourself in his old hoodie at night. How you haven’t finished binge watching that show the two of you were working on together. Those little nuggets of hope are what keeps him hanging on.

[kneelingshadowsalome]

The way Roman König is so confident and unapologetic while being butt ass naked has me hot and bothered... I had to read the paragraphs over and over again. Just this beautiful marble statue of a man swinging his huge gorgeous dick around and having a quick little breakfast with his morning wood on display like it's nothing is so... Ugh. And he's not doing it in a cocky way, no, he's just so goddamn sure of himself and comfortable with his body, it's incredibly sexy. I had to think of the Farnese Hercules (although I imagine König a bit more lean), just displaying his godly body to the world, relaxed, nonchalant and naturally. (I recommend looking up the statue... The pose, the shoulders, the back, the butt, the everything...)

This series is so fucking good. Thank you so much for gracing us with it!

YES OMG it's based on pure confidence and happiness!

König is happy to wake up with a boner, he's happy to eat a good, healthy breakfast (that includes wine of course <3), he's happy to parade around naked and take a piss while the sun shines nicely & warmly on his skin (everyone else is shivering because the winter only recently turned to spring), he's happy to come back and see that there's a cute little fairy pouting and sulking under his furs nowadays. What a delight to be alive! The only thing he’s missing is a good fight…

And I'm pretty sure this König just doesn't vibe with clothes in general: he needs a fur cloak if he goes to the mountains or armor if he goes to battle but... that’s about it. Clothes are mainly just meh to him.

And lol reader in this fic is soooo hot & bothered too. I think everytime she's angry at him, she's actually just horny and wants to bang? :( But because she's in denial, she thinks it's anger that's making her so hot everywhere and causes her nipples to perk up as if accusing this stupid, impossible, damnable man who's so incredibly annoying >:(

And the Farnese Hercules omg anon. I would be a puddle at his feet. Just squealing "don't step on me pls kind dominus" as he looks down on pathetic lil me. ❤️ (I'm glad you're enjoying the series! Much kisses and love! 💋)

[leoascendente]

Mercury archetype through the houses ⚕️

- Mercury archetype:

· Mercury rules Gemini, Virgo, the 3rd and the 6th astral houses. It's called this way because of the Roman god of communication, he was known as the messenger of the gods, in Greek mythology is called Hermes.

· Mercury is a personal panet, it rules our intellect and mental world. Mercury shows us how we process our thoughts and ideas and how we communicate them with others.

· This planet shows us our intellectual skills and where our minds works more efficiently, is also related to our talents so our Mercury placement can tells us in which career area we are going to excel.

Mercury in the 1st: These are very intelligent people with a huge self awareness, they emanate this intellectual vibe. These natives usually have a joyful and curious personality, they tend to be aware about what is going on in their surroundings what gives them a powerful intuition. They are very talented with words and tend to have a very rich and wide vocabulary to express their ideas. They can seem as anxious or too rational people, depending on Mercury's aspects it can idicate issues separating other people's ideas from their own. Mercurial qualities can also be perceived physically by a younger appearance, long fingers, arms and legs and quick eye contacts.

Mercury in the 2nd: Very talented people to make money with natural resources, they are very in tune with earth's cycles what makes them sensitive to seasonal changes, these natives also tend to be very protective of nature. They usually are very rigid and stubborn when it comes to their ideas, they tend to need time and space alone to process intense experiences, they also need to have a more flexible mindset to gain mental peace. They know how to enjoy and be grateful for the little and basic pleassures of life, they are calmed and logical people, they usually are great counselors.

Mercury in the 3rd: Lovers of random facts and weird knowledge, these natives have always an interesting thing to bring to the table and make a conversation very interesting. They have a sharp mind, they are curious and have a great sense of humor. These natives usually get interest in many topics and loves to share what they have found out with others what makes them very talkative, the only thing they should be careful with is overthinking and being inconsistent with their projects. If Mercury is well aspected they tend to be very good at debates and exposing, also they are very good learning languages.

Mercury in the 4th: This placement usually indicates a childhood where knowledge and intellectual skills were highly important. These natives tend to rationalize instead of feeling their emotions but they still have a 6th sense to catch lies. Their home, family or mother figure usually are a source of wisdom and understanding, they are usually very protective and compassionate of their beloved ones, the only thing to keep in mind is they can take some things too personal or be easilly offended if they don't get along with their emotions. From a young age they develop flexibility and understanding of their enviroment, they also tend to be very aware of other people's emotional states.

Mercury in the 5th: These natives have an infinite overflowing creative spirit, they tend to feel attracted to scenic arts or strategy games, anything they feel as a challenge. They are competitive and passionate when they set a goal, they enjoy winning and receiving the recognition but must be careful of taking bad decitions in the name of ambition. They normally look charming and magnetic to others what makes them highly seductive, people like them easilly and tend to orbitate around these natives. They are warm and close in their way of talk, they also have an strong voice and laugh but they are also terrible when they are angry, they can take their passion to the extremes but is part of their charm.

Mercury in the 6th: This natives are very attached to their routines for the mental peace it gives them, their mind tend to flow more smoothly in organized and clean spaces and usually their are sensitive to loud noises. Also clean places with lighter colors seem to help them with overthinking and intrusive thoughts. They have a big awareness over their health and wellbeing, these natives also usually end up working in healing enviroments like therapist, doctors or even reiki healers. They are very crafty with their hands and have a major gift to find solutions where other people can't find them. These natives have a big hability to deal and create bonds with animals, they are also great plan parents.

Mercury in the 7th: Naturally extroverted people who recharges energies through social interactions, these natives are elegant and polite when they express their ideas, they tend to be very charming in the eyes of others. They usually gain mental clarity by spending time with other people and leisure time but they can have a hard time dealing with solitude. They are highly visual and aesthetically sensitive so it's important for them to have an armonious enviroment to not feel overstimulated. Very charismatic people with very good taste, usually have an alluring and very attractive voice, they also tend to feel attracted to arts and fashion.

Mercury in the 8th: The authentic human lie detectors, besides Mercury in 12th, these natives have a radar to know what's going on in other people's minds, they rarely are wrong when they don't like someone so listen when an 8th house mercury warns you about somebody else's intentions. They are not usually very talkative and when they are is because they trully trust you, they prefer meaningful and deep conversations so they tend to dissociate when a conversation becomes superficial or boring. These natives are awesome detectives, they can see in places other can barely reach, they are reserved but when you get to know them they are very interesting people with a lot of knowledge to share. Something I've noticed about this placement is that they have a really hypnotic voice, like really seducing.

Mercury in the 9th: The true philosophers who enjoy finding the meaning and 'why' of everything. They are friendly and very open with their ideas, they enjoy exposing their thoughts with others and they mostly prefer to learn by experience instead of listening what other's have to say about an specific topic. These natives are very curious and enjoy feeding their mind and expanding their knowledge, they have their own criterion and prefer to see things from a wider perspective to understand better a situation, they can seem dettached or lean on too much on their belief system and take their perspective as the only true. They are awesome speakers and teachers, they are the tipical teacher all students like and love.

Mercury in the 10th: CEO mentality, this people are focused, driven and with very clear goals in life, they are highly ambitious too. When they set a goal they don't rest until they get it and, they always get it, they enjoy challenges for the feeling of outdoing themselves. They usually have good memory and focus but they are also extremely stubborn and can easilly get absorved by work and unattend other areas of their lives.

Mercury in the 11th: These natives are very intelligent, humanitarian and commited with the common good. They tend to feel an strong connection with social movements, representative groups or simply their close group of friends, they really enjoy making other people's lives better. These natives have a radar to be aware of the conditions of the enviroment what gives them a really good intuition to know what others are needing in order of their wellbeing. Sometimes they can feel emotionally dettached or misunderstood by others because their mind is so wide that it can be hard for them to express all they have flowing in their head. They are not emotional but knows how to connect with other people circumstances, they have excentric ideas but they are well intentioned. I've also noticed that this placement is really good at science and maths.

Mercury in the 12th: These natives have a natural conection with the collective unconscious, they have a wide and vivid imagination, if they train enough they are great manifestors by visualization. These are creative and artistic people, they are empathic and very wise with topics related to mental health and psychology. They are energetic sponges too, so it's important and sometimes very necessary for them to move in places that gives them peace and comfort, for some they'll prefer to isolate from other people to gain back their energies. They have a radar to know the emotional state of others but they can get confused between their own emotional world and what they have absorved from other people, is important something that helps them protect their energies.

[bvckbiter]

some thoughts on characterization of the seven in hoo, VERY long post ahead:

for each of the five books in the series, i read them right as they came out and endured the year-long wait til the next release. like many readers, i was thrown off by the introduction of the new trio in the lost hero. but that was offset by 1) the seemingly more mature vibe/themes that riordan wanted to explore, 2) the monumental tension that was being built around the greek-roman separation, and 3) percy's comeback in son of neptune, even as an amnesiac.

mark of athena, released october 2012, was extremely anticipated because it was set to be the long-awaited percabeth reunion as well as the true crossover for the greek and roman spheres. there were a lot of theories being made at the time. would piper be able to mediate between eons-long enemies in a genuinely diplomatic way, or was she going to brainwash charmspeak them into compliance? how is reyna going to take jason suddenly having another girl and a new set of friends and another life after abruptly disappearing? will we get to learn more about jason's relationships within camp jupiter? would nico be dealing with any fallout from essentially boating along two riverbanks (translated directly from a tagalog idiom, so if the wording seems clunky thats why)? it didn't help that the first avengers movie came out in 2012, so the idea of a huge crossover event was all the hype then.

the published work, in my opinion... fell considerably short of expectations.

to be fair, we got some very good character moments. i did not find the judo flip scene cute, just kinda weird in the sense that i felt the author didn't know how to handle such a huge emotional turning point, but percabeth for the most part of moa was enjoyable, really giving you the high of this teenage couple finally being able to resume the honeymoon period they were probably in after four years of pining and a war lol. everything the fans wanted! unfortunately, we didn't get the same with other characters.

while i wouldn't say that percabeth was the reason, the difference in spotlight is nonetheless very staggering. the roman-greek reunification goes bad, sure, but it begins due to outside interference more rather than any actual intrinsic differences between the two camps; so the built-up tension from the previous books kinda falls flat. we get none of jason's backstory, so next to percy, he barely leaves an impression on the reader. hazel, frank, and leo get shafted into this weird love triangle where their enemy is leo's long-dead ancestor who ultimately makes no impact on the plot other than to have hazel and leo intersect somehow, contributing to leo's man-angst of being the seventh wheel. frank, who arguably has the most interesting set of powers and lineage, is basically relegated to being the muscle and hazel's (understandably) jealous boyfriend. piper... good lord. thats probably a whole other post, so i'll just say: cornucopia.

and yet, despite the disparity in characterization... you don't really feel that percabeth has a character arc or development per se. it's an odd contrast, with percy and annabeth getting a lot of time but pretty much remaining stagnant characters, as opposed to the other five who are written pretty blandly, but have valid, explicit inner struggles and questions they must face. for jason, it's being greek or roman. for hazel and leo, they want to parse their connection, even at the expense of frank, who is still struggling with his self-esteem. piper comes into her own power.

so despite being a book full of twists and turns, especially for percabeth, this is where you really feel the stakes begin to slump. decisions are being made to move the plot from point a to point b pretty straightforwardly, but there's not a ton of effort to make you invested in these characters other than what we know about them from previous books and the fact that they have a role to play in this apocalyptic second great prophecy.

but there's still two books left! the yearlong wait demands patience and creativity. surely percabeth falling into tartarus is going to make for some interesting development and impact. it was a brilliant plot twist, after all. with the darker turn that hoo was seemingly taking, there could have been so many consequences. percabeth could shut the doors of death from their side and come back alive, but come back wrong—unearthing old traumas, questioning and ultimately foreswearing their loyalty to the gods, threatening the reunification of the greek and roman aspects, etc.

and once again, house of hades... only semi-delivered? the tartarus chapters were certainly harrowing: percy choking akhlys is still a Scene of All Time to me because it felt earned, after all that percy has been through and what the series has been building up to! annabeth also having to face all the times she's been abandoned in her life, while less focused on, was also a very poignant moment for her character. they were events that seemed to push for development.

back on the argo ii, there's a continuing case of kind of low-effort writing on the other characters. frank and his mars blessing, for one; you kind of understand what rick was getting at, but... what! piper... girl idk what she was doing other than seeing visions in her dagger. leo... ue ue ue. jason commits to chb, but ofc he does because neither he nor we know/remember much about cj, so we don't really feel the loss! but there is one exception for his part, and that is of course the (in)famous cupid scene with nico, but i'll talk about nico much later.

hazel is an interesting case, so here's another paragraph for her. she gets to come into (more of) her powers just like piper did in the previous books, but from my viewpoint, it was considerably less engaged with who she was as a character compared to piper. in mark of athena, piper still struggles with being a daughter of aphrodite and how she can be "useful" as we know she struggles with internalized misogyny. on the other hand, hazel gets in touch with her mother's background... kinda? idk if controlling the mist can be considered equivalent to marie's voodoo; i dont think so. she certainly gains more understanding of her pluto heritage, too, and has this nice back-and-forth with hecate about creating her own path, but you don't really get the sense that doing so has consequences, or that she concretely shirked other paths to get where she was at.

where mark of athena fell flat with character stakes, house of hades to its credit does manage to up the ante—but only truly for percabeth. with all the resolutions to the character arcs in this book, you don't feel that the characters have anymore stakes or reasons to fight gaea other than the fact that she's still coming for them and they are in turn prophesied to defeat her. the one big thing that could be personal to them, which are the camps, ultimately fall under the purview of coach hedge, nico, and reyna, who are side characters, upgraded to main characters in the last book of a series already overbloated by shifting povs and favoritism.

ultimately, this is why blood of olympus falls apart. the best characterization work done, which is on percabeth and their time in tartarus, is in the end of no consequence and is barely mentioned. it's as if nothing has happened. all the build-up and investment fizzles out because in boo and beyond, even though they went through literal hell, they just shook it off (because accdg to rick demigods are extra resilient and don't get traumatized lmfao). the climactic face-off against gaea is headed by jason, piper, and leo, and it has no pay off. the books haven't dwelled on them as a trio after tlh because leo was too busy angsting about his love triangle, and jason's and piper's arcs, both individual and romantic, are shoddy, to say the least. to add insult to injury, leo's sacrifice is a fake-out! so he can finally shed the fucking seventh wheel arc that came about not because of a genuine exploration of how he has been outcasted all his life, but because the argo ii mysteriously became demigod tinder and also because rick thought "haha how funny that the latino is the outrageous flirt!" frank and hazel... just get shafted im so sorry babygirls T_T

what saves boo is not the cast of the seven that we have spent the five books journeying with. no, what saves boo is the three side characters suddenly made main characters because. well, fan favoritism and pandering. nico, reyna, and coach hedge comprised the only arc that wasn't an absolute slog to read through—high stakes, chemistry, and well-rounded character arcs that complemented each other. no hoo scene is honestly more heartwarming than reyna embracing nico. it makes you question if hoo's length and frankly shocking quantity of main ensemble members even constricted the narrative that could've been told, as opposed to the original intention of expanding the world of percy jackson through more povs. five books with at least 700-800+ pages each for five years. what a tremendous amount of time and energy to be wasted.

and there is, of course, the question of "should percabeth have been in hoo." until house of hades, my answer was yes. the fact that their tartarus arc fizzled into nothingness changed my answer to no. taking the whole series into perspective, if their treatment in boo was all that the hype and tension would amount to, it would've been better if they'd been relegated to side characters with mentor/helper roles as opposed to taking the spotlight away from the rest of the seven. their succeeding cameos in the other series + the new college reco trilogy makes the blunder all the more grievous.

heroes of olympus did give us a new cast of characters to love. along with all its racist stereotypes and pitfalls, it also diversified the percy jackson world. if not for the mid-2010s fandom who took up the slack of unexplored storylines and potential, these characters would be very much not impressioned on us. and as a successor to a series that was so deeply driven by family, friendship, love, and belonging, that it couldn't consistently humanize its main cast was the biggest sin.

[fluffyypuppy]

One Piece characters Headcanons part #1 ✌️

>>>DON'T REPOST MY ART<<<

Silly little sketches of Shanks' Headcanons that I made during the morning. Just a warning that there will be a lot of text below, feel free to read if you want!!

========

• The famous "ugly charming guy". After all, I never considered Shanks a soap opera heartthrob, why, guys???!? Come on, this guy was a fool before the Time Skip and he gets a Mewing and a huge shape when he's a DRUNKER FULL OF JOKES?!

• Not very evident gray hairs. (He's almost forty, man. Age has caught up with him)

• A thin, unshaven beard (I DOUBT THAT SOMEONE LIKE SHANKS CARE MUCH ABOUT APPEARANCE AND VANITY)

• Very visible body hair (Especially on the forearms and thighs)

• Beer belly (I THINK I DON'T EVEN NEED TO Elaborate, RIGHT PEOPLE??? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. WHAT'S THE POINT OF A GUY WHO FILLS HIS ASS WITH SAKE AND BEER BEING SO RIPPED?? NOT EVEN A LITTLE BELLY?! Hey Shanks, you're already hacking with that haki of yours, let's take it easy)

• Subtle freckles on his face and body.

• Light sunburn on the face and torso (And we're talking about pirates who spend 12 hours a day in the sun. WHAT'S THE LOGIC WITH PEOPLE BEING WHITE AND ANEMIC, THEN TOEI???)

• He always needs someone to carry his body when the hangover hits hard the next day.

• Sertanejo/Pagode and MPB music lover (OH GUYS, ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ME THAT SHANKS DOESN'T GIVE OFF THE VIBE OF A BRAZILIAN GUY FROM THE CENTRAL WHO EATING A BARBECUE WITH A LITTLE LEMON AND A DIRTY BEER IN HIS HAND IN THE SUNDAYS, JUST ENJOYING THE VIBE BY THE POOL?!)

• Floral underwear with silly, endeavourous prints (This one is the fashion squad's greatest enemy (or ally). As if Christ's sandals from the Roman Empire era weren't enough, this is the average Brazilian kit that has shorts or underwear full of tacky floral prints for a 60-year-old lady who stays at home watching Mexican soap operas on TV)

• And last but not least: THIS MAN HAS A BIG NOSE, THERE'S NOTHING TO SAY. HE HAS A BIG NOSE, PEOPLE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 😭😭😭

• And he has a noticeable Adam's apple on his neck 👐

[ellecdc]

MOTHER

barry giving potter!reader scary dog privileges is my ROMAN EMPIRE ✋✋✋

-🩷

Honestly? I feel like even though Evan gives me HUGE Doberman style vibes - regal, sinister looking, and potentially lethal need be - Barty is by far the scariest scary dog privilege simply for the fact that he is maniacally unhinged and combative. He’s like the malinois of dogs; crazy enough to try and brilliant enough to succeed

(He was such a good boy in that fic though ugh wkfbwifbeisnfw)

[tansyuduri]

Merlin Loregasm Rewatch S1E8

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my rewatch of Merlin focusing on the lore. I am a giant nerd so pretty excited about this. We’re on THE BEGINING OF THE END

So Mordred and his possible father come to Camalot for suplies. Okay the only reason for a druid to come to Camelot for supplies is that it cannot be found anywhere else. The man he talks to looks to be a Spice and Herb Merchant. If it was an herb that just grows only in Camalot you would think the druids would find them themselves. This argues it's an herb of spice that is NOT native to Albion. JUDGING from this we can say Camalot likely has a very impressive trade network going.

If we go out on a limb we can say its likely actually more impressive than it's neighbors. Because why not just get it from another kingdom otherwise? I'm going out on a limb because if they needed it urgently enough they might have no choice but to use camalot.

So the guy snitched on them to the guards or the guards found out he was selling to druids and made him play along. If its the first it's not the only time we see common people seeming to agree with Uther and the no magic ban. I think this hints as I mentioned in the first one of these that magic was used for more "Bad" things then just Arthur's birth around that time. I think this has really intersting implications on magic returning to Camelot that we see in a lot of fics because there likley would be People VERY against that ruling. and not just nobles. Though I'm sure minds could change.

So I've been starting to notice that people tend to use a lot of different hand gestures for magic. (I think sometimes people use none at all will keep an eye on that) But I just think it's intersting. It doesnt always have to be the full hand out merlin tends to use. I keep wondering if the choices mean anything. Are hand gestures nessasary? Is it just what the sorcer feels like and Merlin is all Go big or go home with it?

Same dude different hand gesture. I think its whatever you vibe with.

Arthur: The druids are a peaceful people

Uther: they preach peace but conspire against me

Okay but is there a druid conspiracy? We know by season 5 some of them had turned violent. But was that because Arthur didn't immediately bring back magic? Or was there a sect from the beginning?

Yet Arthur talks about them being a peaceful people. Is this just commonly held knowlage? WHERE did he learn that from. Not from Uther by the looks of it. OMG DID HE LEARN IT THAT TIME HE RAIDED THAT CAMP AND THEY DIDN'T FIGHT BACK OR SOMTHING? Or did he learn it from someone else. Gaius perhaps? Also lets talk a bit about druids Historically. Druids were high ranking members of a Celtic priestly class

They served many purposes from being In charge of legal proceedings, to being religious leaders, To being healers, to Advise in politics, to keeping lore. to divination. Only we don't really know what lore. See druids while thought to be litterate did not write anything down, Its thought their doctrine forbade it. So they likley had a strong Oral history but most of what we know actually comes from the romans and the greeks. They are first mentioned in writing in the 4th centery BCE by jullious ceser. byt the second century BCE they were pretty much whiped out (Thanks rome) However there are mentions of them in tales throughout the middle ages. Druid Lore according to ceaser was make up of a huge number of memorized verses and it could take up to 20 years to learn. Because this was Oral it was pretty much lost when they got wiped out (Thanks again rome.) So the druids passing down the Prophasy of Merlin and Arthur fits their MO they are also said to be exampt from military service so so does being a peaceful people. However from what is recorded they were again more a priestly class then a specific people. While it is mentioned later that druids looked for people with magic skills to train they are refered to as a "people" not a class. HOWEVER Again everything we know about them comes from the assholes who wiped them out (Thanks rome) so who even knows how accurate some of it is.

Okay so the Triskel symbol I get. It could represent earth water and fire, or the tripple godess. BUT WHAT IS THAT AMULET I think it might just be a very weird variation on the symbol for Yule.

Maybye. Perhaps. Possibly. The only other thing I could find is The Axe of Perun. Slavic God of Lightning. what is known a "hatchet amulet" And yeah I don't think its that. It could also mean nothing at all, but for this rewatch we are refusing to go down that road.

Dad has one too... I think it must mean something special to the family or group of druids Mordred is a part of. And likley something to do with yule.

Mordad: (Yes we are calling him that) You have let your fear of magic turn to hate. I pitty you.

Is he refering to the purge? Or was Uther always afraid of magic? We know he welcomed Nimue. But was that only for using her for the make Arthur ritual? I gotta wonder. And evaluate my headcannon about Nimue being court sorcerer. I think there are references to her I frinds with Uther. I'll keep an eye out.

Merlin: Do you know much about the druids

Gaius: very little, They're a very secretive people, especially now that they're being hunted by Uther. Just wanted to point out the reference to them being a "people" And how this is possibly another reference to their Oral tradition. Gaius would not have been able to read much about them in books.

Merlin: I heard the boy calling out He was nowhere to be seen, But I could hear him like he was inside my mind.

Gaius: Yes I've heard of this ability.The druids look for children with such gifts to serve as apprentices.

So there is a training system with apprentices, and it's not all families, I wonder how many people if any are born into being a druid. If the children are adopted, and how they get the children. "Your kid has magic bro, send them with me? Perhaps it was viewed as a great honnor in the old religion?"

Heather has a lot of uses herbally so it makes sence Gaius might need a lot of it. It can treat Arthritis, inflammation of the joints and muscles, kidney stones, inflammation of the kidney and bladder, Some eye diseases, Bronchitis, diarrhea, high blood pressure, Even Anxiety or sleep disorders. It's possible he even uses this as part of Morgana's treatment.

So this is a white paste he uses to treat Mordred's infection, I can only guess that it's mostly made up of mashed garlic. (possably baking soda) Which would in fact treat infection, However, its said later this was not useful. He must have put something else in it that was wrong. Or its made up of somthing else.

Emrys does in fact mean Immortal in Welsh and in the original wealth legends Merlinw as known as Myrddin Emrys The greek version is "Ambrose"

Merlin: how does the boy know who I am. I've never even met any druids

Great Dragon: There is much written about you that you have yet to read

Wait so do the druids in merlin actually write things down? Perhaps they write down some things but not central doctrine. Killy mentions this in response to Merlin's question so it kind of implies the druids wrote things down. HOWEVER these things must not be for general people to see because only certain magical beings and the druids refer to him as Emrys. ALSO how does Mordred know he is the Emrys. Do the writings actually describe him? Is it because he mind talked and is near Arthur? I expect its a bit of both. It cannot be because magic since Morgana has that too.

This is a good point. It it the seer in her showing her though instinct? That's my theory. I mean we know Arthur and Merlin have a mental connection that is used twice, but it seems different.

Okay lets talk about this. We know Uther conqurred the kingdom when he was around Arthur's age in season 3. So early 20s. But Anarchy? Thats big. That means government did not exist or had no control over the people. WE know There were earlier kings of Camelot than Uther. (Bruta who we will talk about eventually) So what would have led to Anacarchy?

My guess would be a succession crisis happened. Small lords who had a blood claim were so busy fighting each other that no actual governing happened, As they fought borders changed and so what might be law in one land could then be different in a day. None of them were undisputed leader so there was no leader.

Now often historically when this happens a kingdom would split and become a lot of smaller kingdoms. However, we know Camalot is pretty big. My guess? Uther was one of the possible claimants or a blood relative so distant that no one took him seriously he then defeated all the other claimants and conquered the kingdom. This is a pretty impressive feat.

Now he likely would want to legitimize his claim (As many new rulers try by having a child or themselves marry someone who will help or give status) and that might be why he married Ygraine du bois. The Du Bois family is ancient in France. and can be traced back at least as far as the 9th century (More on them in later posts) Anyhow this is just my speculation based on what I know of history and such.

The implications of Arthur knowing how to send word to the druid people are huge. HOW does he know to do this? Did he know of a former druid living in Camelot? I can't think he actively has communications open with them. My guess is this: Arthur knows of some merchants that do trade with the druids, He found out about it somehow, but did not tell his father. Thus he could use them to make sure a message reached the druid people.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Team Parent Percy Jackson headcanons

Before i forget to do them again!!He is canonically but Rick dosen't expand on it and i also don't wanna hear any critisism because this is based off irl experiences and Percy used to his full potential because he deserves better

I wanna start off with the canon evidence:He's the eldest main hero in the franchise(T.oa is Not Real)and the most experienced one too,he feels the need to look out for younger people all the time and this is a springoff growing up a bully beater that was so set on protecting the innocent he never stopped even after getting kicked out of 6 schools by age 12,he's constantly compared to Poseidon as a foil to him whos's him but better,Hazel said he looked like a roman god which her dad is and Percy himself even compared his relathionship with Nico to acting like Sally does with him

He also said Sadie looks like his daughter and he specifically used 'mother' for the Nico part so darkskin afro-dominican and transfem bigender Percy is hashtag real <3

Nico and Hazel are his platonic soulmates by choice in every universe and they're known as 'The Dead Sea Siblings'.No Hoo retcons for Nico and Percy's dynamic and in fact between Botl and Tlo they spent the year bonding and reconnecting so when Hazel comes in to complete them they're a proper trio like they were always meant to be and Sally legally adopts Nico and Hazel after Tlo and after Boo respectively but they keep their birth surnames just for shortness' sake

He calls them 'Papito' and 'Mamita' and helps them take care of their hair and they have wash day together with Percy doing the work most often and Nico and Hazel lean on him for support both emotionally and literally when they're exhausted.They hang out almost 24/7 and the younger two are enrolled at a Special ED school as Percy convinced them to out of regret from rejecting Sally's offer to him when he was in elementary school because his internalized ableism was so bad already he had a meltdown and then a shutdown about it.He made sure to tell Nico and Hazel how smart they are too since he knows what it's like to have almost nobody say it to you

He guiltrips Poseidon into giving him money for Nico's chronic pain meds and mobility aids and helps Hazel out with girls,with her love life being as Mabel Pines-esque as she is(Nico is Dipper obviously)

He radicalized them as a multitype punk(afropunk,crustpunk,seapunk and solarpunk-The sea does not like to be restrained)so Nico's goth punk and Hazel's pastel goth punk.He taught them all they needed to know and takes them to safer punk activities like charity events and shows until they get old enough he's comfortable taking them on riots with him too.His battle jacket patches include a skull and a yellow diamond to represent them and a part of punk culture that appealed to him big time was the emphasis on children's rights in the form of older punks taking care of and protecting baby punks.Naturally he did Nico and Hazel's piercings for them too

He uses his powers to make beach days straight up tropical for them and just in general loves making kids happy by doing water tricks for them.He himself is pretty kiddy as a way of healing his inner child and having intergenerational friends where he gets to be the caretaker so he can give kids who're like he used to be a better childhood than he had which includes not making them be his therapist but the reverse is a huge help(Percy just like me fr fr).He loves legos,video games,cats,cartoons,princesses(also his type in women,specifically BLACK princess-y girls since i mean Andromeda?Duh)and pink is his second favorite color after blue

He looks like as much of a dad as he acts like.He's 6'4,thick as fuck(healthy fat and muscles mix),has long hair,super darkskinned and strongfeatured and radiates a vibe that puts off normies and makes children think he's trustworthy.The piercings(tongue ring,eyebrow,spider bite and forward helix on both ears)give him an edge that's oddly friendly

His cooking skills are on par with Sally's so he packs Nico and Hazel lunch and leaves them little sticky notes with positive words/gentle reminders on them.They share the bed often so they can all have good sleep schedules and it was Percy's idea with Hazel's convincing Nico after his initial hesitance out of worry his boney cold build would be uncomfortable to sleep with but they think he's as snuggly as a teddy bear and Percy having boobs thanks to being on estrogen in the past makes his chest comfortable to lay on(Nonsexually for them.If you make it sexual please repent and disintegrate,i literally grew up doing this with my relatives who're girls like me)

Has a 'Protect Trans Kids' banner in his room and a pin of it on his battle jacket.He's known as the cool punk Manhattan dude you go to if you're having gender troubles because he knows his shit and just what to say because of his extreme gender fuckery and obviously Nico and Hazel are his trans kids and inspired him to start handing out knowledge of transgenderism to younger generations in general and same goes for autism,even more so because he's literally the most autistic character ever

The little kids at camp consider him more their parent than their godly ones and some of them even call him 'Dad' or 'Mom'.It makes Percy tear up every time because it makes him feel like really succeeded in breaking the cycle of abuse and changing the system(as if he didn't straight up kill Zeus and cause a revolution he helped out on a lot)

Owns matching Aquapets with Nico and Hazel and it was their idea to buy them so they searched for ones together at thrift stores

He gets maddddddd if someone hurts younger people even if he dosen't even know them and jumps to their defense because it's a built in instinct at this point

Carries around a backpack with emergency items in case anything happens and has important facts about the kids memorized

Wholesome memes connoiseur.These are literally Percy core but he has an entire phone gallery of them saved for when his loved ones are sad:

I wanna make the obvious nsfw jokes but i also want to keep this post to be pg so imma just say Dilf Percy.Yeah that's it

[hyperfixation-fix]

(Totally incorrect but whatevs) headcanon that after the war with Gaia, Camp Jupiter and Camp Half Blood merge.

Hear me out. (TL;DR at the end bc I talk too much)

CHB was never meant to be a permanent home for demigods. Sure, there are year-rounders, but it's not really designed with that intention. There's no formal schooling, and no combing cabins, so the kids who stay with heaps of siblings over summer break are now alone in a massive cabin, and alone at meals.

It does, however, work excellently as a summer camp. There are heaps of activities, the kids learn battle skills through (only mildly life threatening) fun, older kids act as mentors to younger ones, and the whole vibe is easy-going and informal.

On the other hand, CJ is designed for long-term living. It assumes that the lives demigods have in the mortal world are secondary, and that once you get to camp you're going to stay. They are also much more organised, strategic, and strict about their training (and honestly everything) than CHB. And, to their credit, they end up with Roman demigods living a hell of a lot longer than Greek demigods.

Both camps have their strengths and their weaknesses. So why don't they embrace that? CHB becomes a summer camp only, catering mostly for younger campers and run by college-age demigods. CJ/New Rome becomes the central hub for demigods, with a boarding school that offers both formal schooling and demigod training, just like New Rome University, and neighborhoods of older demigods living relatively normal lives in the safety of New Rome. Both camps are open to both Greek and Roman demigods alike.

Demigods with loving mortal families and low-risk heritage can attend CHB in the summer and go to school like a normal kid during the year. Demigods with no family and/or high-risk heritage have a permanent home at CJ where they can grow up going to school and making friends and feeling relatively normal.

This also ties in nicely with my headcanon that Jason settles down in a huge house and starts formally fostering potential demigods who have ended up in the mortal foster system. His fostering acts as a gentle, loving transition into the demigod world for traumatised kids, and when they're ready he moves them into New Rome Boarding School like the proud father he is to start their new lives. They all come back for the holidays, and sleep chock-a-block in sleeping bags on the floor because there aren't enough beds for them all. Percy sees this and shudders at the memory of the Hermes cabin...

But this isn't that. It's not forgotten, unloved demigods fighting for a tiny piece of home and belonging. It's a huge family, each and every one welcomed and loved and giddy with the joy of being home for the holidays.

TL;DR: Camp Jupiter/New Rome runs a boarding school and basically an entire town of demigods, while Camp Half Blood only runs a summer camp. Greek and Roman demigods alike are welcome at both camps. Jason fosters potential demigods before they transition into the New Rome Boarding School. Every single demigod has a home.

[mackenzieesims]

Not-So-Berry (Taylor’s Version) 

I have loved Taylor Swift and the Sims for as long as I can remember so I thought that combining them only made sense! Here is my spin on Not-So-Berry but make it swiftie! A little side note before we get into it! These generations are not meant to be Taylor they are simply Traits and storylines that either fit the vibe of the corresponding albums or fit within the colour scheme i.e. Speak Now or the Purple gen is a nod to the I Can See You music video, and the traits are purple which matches the album cover! Also, I have no intention of taking credit for Not-So Berry, Lilsimsie and Alwayssimming are the original creators of the challenge and this is just my fun spin on it! I will tag the original challenge also! Thank you, I hope everyone enjoys this little Swiftie challenge! <3 

Play on normal life-span, minimal cheats and your Sim should wear and decorate their houses in their corresponding colour/album just like the og Not-So-Berry! (: 

Debut/Taylor Swift (Green/Teal) 

Aspiration: Musical Genious 

Traits: Loves Outdoors, Perfectionist, Music Lover. 

Likes: Colour: green/blue. Music: Americana + Singer-Songwriter. Fashion: Country. Activities: Guitar/ singing. Writing, and Piano. 

Rules: Finish Aspiration. Max Musician Career, Max Guitar and singing skills. 

A Place in this World: a small-town young artist breaks onto the music scene trying to find A Place in This World but it will take a lot of blood sweat and tears to make it happen, good thing  you are determined! 

Fearless (Yellow/Gold)

Aspiration: Friend of the World 

Traits: Ambitious, Loyal, Clumsy. 

Likes: Colour: yellow. Music: Americana + Singer-Songwriter. Activities: Baking and wellness. 

Rules: Finish Aspiration. Max Doctor Career. Max wellness, gourmet cooking, and cross-stitch skills. Host parties at your house with all your friends weekly from teen until elder. 

The Best Day:  your parent taught you to be kind to everyone and now you want to share that with the world by helping others and making friends along the way! You know that The Best Day is when you’re surrounded by friends and making memories. 

Speak Now (Purple) 

Aspiration: Painter 

Traits: Genius, Paranoid, Cat Lover.

Likes: Colour: Purple.  Music: Singer Songwriter + Classical. 

Rules: Finish Aspiration. Max Secret Agent Career. Max 2 skills of your choice. Have an enemies-to-lovers storyline. 

I Can See You: your parent was so nice to everyone and you guess you are too. Although you have a HUGE secret… You’re a spy! You are unsuspecting which makes you perfect for the job! You’re unsuspecting because of your shy nature and value for knowledge. You may be a bit paranoid always worried you'll hear someone say "I Can See You" but that's just because you’re good at your job. 

Red (Red) 

Aspiration: Master Chef

Traits: Romanic, Self-Assured, Art Lover.  

Likes: Colour: Red. Music: Americana + pop. 

Rules: Finish Aspiration, Max Culinary Career, Max Knitting and cooking skills, Live in the countryside and own a goat… if you know you know. Have an on-again-off-again relationship with your children's other parent. 

We are Never Ever Getting Back Together: you guess some of your parent's paranoia rubbed off on you because you just cannot seem to settle down with your partner but you can't let them go either. You love cooking as it is the only time you feel a sense of calm in your crazy life along with Knitting. Oh and what's that noise?? Oh,  that crazy goat is screaming again! 

1989 (Light Blue)

Aspiration: City Native 

Traits: Cheerful, Goofball, Noncommittal

Likes: Colour: Blue. Music: Pop. 

Rules: Max Social Media Career/ Influencer when teen. Live in San Myshuno from young adult until you die. Never Marry. Max Photography Skill and Dancing Skill. Go out to Bars and parties on weekends. 

Wonderland: You moved to the city to escape that screaming goat your parent had but once you got here you absolutely loved it… you could say you found a wonderland in the city! You’ve made a name for yourself on social media and it pays the bills too which i great. You never want to settle down and don’t understand all the fuss about it. If you’re not out with friends on the weekends you're playing video games online with them! You are living your best life surrounded by the city lights and close friendships! 

Reputation (Black) 

Aspiration: Public Enemy

Traits: Loner, Geek, Good.  

Likes: Colour: Black. Music: Pop + Hip Hop. 

Rules: Max aspiration, max criminal career, live on a secluded lot and only leave for work or aspiration tasks. Have a small group of close friends. 

Getaway Car: For some unknown reason the world has it out for you, so screw it, give them what they want. On the outside, you’re a cold-hearted criminal but only the real ones know it's all an act. On the inside, you’re sweet and caring and loyal to the ones you love and trust. The world calls you a monster so suit up and get the Getaway Car ready because there will be no explanation just reputation. 

Lover (Pink)

Aspiration: Soulmate 

Traits: Party Animal, Outgoing, insider. 

Likes: Colour: pink. Music: Pop. 

Rules: Finish Aspiration, Max Style Influencer career, Max 3 Skills of your choosing. Own 3 cats at one time. 

Paper Rings: Your parent was hiding away from the world but you embrace it and want to show off the life you and your partner made. You love your friends and most of all your partner who you’d marry with Paper Rings even though you like shiny things. You like your friends but also are fine to just have a quiet night at home with your partner and the cats… yeah all three of them. 

Folklore (White/Grey) 

Aspiration: Best Selling Author 

Traits: Gloomy, Bookworm, Creative.

Likes: Colour: white and Grey. Music: Alternative. 

Rules: Finish Aspiration. No Career just sell books for money. All published books must have a Taylor Swift-themed name i.e. a song, album, or reference to a song or album or thing she has said. Live in a cottage in Hemford on Bagley and be close to nature. Max Gardening skill. 

August: Raised constantly around people you have decided to slow down a little and smell the roses. You love writing and your lifelong dream is to be a best-selling author. When you’re not writing you’re tending to your garden and enjoying the outdoors. Your favourite time of year is august because that's when your favourite plants bloom. 

Evermore (Brown) 

Aspiration: Championship Rider 

Traits: Horse lover, animal enthusiast, Active. 

Likes: Colour: brown. Music: alternative.  

Rules: Finish Aspiration. Make money only from Horse competitions. Live on a functioning ranch. Max riding and nectar-making skills. 

Cowboy Like Me: you appreciate nature and the simple life from growing up in a cottage with your parents and being close to nature. You appreciate taking care of animals and ever since you can remember you loved riding horses. You hope to have so many medals from riding that one day you won't know where to put them all. When convincing your partner to run the ranch with you you said “Buckle up and become a Cowboy like Me.” 

Midnights (Navy Blue) 

Aspiration: World Famous Celebrity  

Traits: High maintenance, Dance Machine, Kleptomaniac. 

Likes: Colour: Blue. Music: pop. 

Rules: Finish Aspiration. Max Acting career, live in a mansion in Del Sol Valley. Max acting and charisma skills and one other skill of your liking. 

Bejewelled: after two generations of hiding away and living a simple life you have decided you can’t take it anymore. You are Bejeweled and the whole world must know! You hope to be famous and live next door to the biggest names in Hollywood... Simmywood? Anyway, no more of this quiet cottagecore ranch life we’re moving to a city and going out with a bang! Nice!

I really hope you had fun! share with your friends! <3

if you end up doing the challenge let me know how it went or tag me in screenshots! <3

[otakusheep15]

Ranking Hazbin Hotel Songs (S1)

I’m seeing people do this on TT, but I don’t like posting on there, so I’m posting my list here instead. Obvious warning, but these are my own personal opinions. I think all of the songs are absolute bangers, but there are some that are better than others, so keep that in mind.

16. Welcome to Heaven

Pretty much the general fandom consensus. It’s not a bad song, and I like Darren Criss as a singer, but it’s too short and doesn’t do a whole lot for the plot.

15. Finale

This might be a pretty hot take, but I’m not that big of a fan of the finale. There are some parts that I like individually, but as a whole song, it doesn’t do it for me. It’s still good though.

14. Hell’s Greatest Dad

I think this one is the one that’s gonna upset a lot of people, but I really don’t vibe with this one. No, it has nothing to do with Mimzy. In fact, I actually like her a lot, but that’s besides the point. I’m not a huge fan of talk singing, and that’s what both of Alestor’s songs are, so they aren’t going to be very high. Not even Jeremy Jordan can save this song.

13. Stayed Gone

Again, I’m just not big on talk singing. I like this one just a bit more because I like Christian Borle’s voice as a talk-singer just a bit more than Jeremy Jordan.

12. More Than Anything (Reprise)

This is a really cute song! I wish we had more Chaggie moments in the show, but I’m glad we got this. It would be much higher, but I don’t like how short it is.

11. It Starts With Sorry

Idk why so many people hate this song. It’s so cute! Charlie’s voice is so good, and I like the lesson Sir Pentious learns. It gives off children’s show song, but in a very good way.

10. Out for Love

Carmilla my beloved! I am obsessed with her. I like how she taught Vaggie in this song. Again, my only real problem with it is how short it is. Idk why they made some of their best songs so short, but I need a longer version.

9. Happy Day in Hell

I am a big fan of introduction songs in musicals, and this is a perfect example of why. It’s a nice way to see Hell, especially through the optimism of someone like Charlie. It’s silly and upbeat, and I like that a lot.

8. Poison

I love this song so much! Blake Roman did such a fantastic job with his performance as Angel. I’m not usually a big fan of this particular type of pop, which is why I have it a bit lower, but I think it fits well with what they were going for in writing this song. It’s absolutely perfect.

7. Whatever it Takes

I need these two to have another duet at some point. Their voices fit so well together. Both of their individual parts are also very solid. All around just a good song.

6. You Didn’t Know

I blast this song at least once a day. My fave part is Lute, and I wish we got more of her singing voice this season. Jessica Vosk is so talented, so I hope we get more in season two. Obviously, Charlie and Emily’s part is also amazing, and I like Sera’s parts as well.

5. Hell is Forever

Ah yes, my favorite Christian rock song. Seriously though, this song is so good. It’s most similar to the actual kind of music I listen to, so of course it’d be pretty high on this list. It’s a good intro to Adam and the angels in general, and it slaps.

4. Respectless

Velvette might actually be one of my favorite characters. She, for sure, has my favorite design of any character, and she might have my favorite female voice as well (tied with Lute). Also, she was so real for what she said to Carmilla. Her voice is just very fun to listen to.

3. More than Anything

Jeremy Jordan is the reason I live and breathe. His voice is literal honey. He and Erika Henningsen harmonizing has brought new meaning into my life. I may not have daddy issues, but I think this song healed them anyway. It’s so cute.

2. Ready for This

I’m a sucker for a good rally song, and this is exactly that. Cannibal Town is also my favorite location of any place we’ve seen, both in Hazbin and Hellava Boss, and I adore Rosie. The cannibals were very funny in this number, and I like that Charlie was able to gain some confidence.

1. Loser, Baby

I’m officially changing my brand to the #1 Huskerdust shipper ever. I’m so obsessed with them. This episode is tied for my favorite with Hello, Rosie! Keith David needs another song immediately, and so does Blake Roman. They sound so good together, and I can’t wait to hear more of them!

[connorsnothereeither]

Hi! this is a mainly DnD based question that sorta runs into Fable-

So I'm currently running an entirely underwater campaign! The species I've included is basically every aquatic DnD species (some with a few twists) along with some homebrewed underwater dragonborn, etc-

However, I'm having trouble with choosing a clothing type to put on the sea elves? My version has them more telchin-ish- aka, maybe funky colored human base with longer legs, a tail, and I've given them webbed, frog-like feet and fins in a variety of places.

Logically, they honestly really wouldn't wear clothes- but I'm not doing that because that'd make certain scenes very hard to draw-

so what do you generally imagine the telchin wearing? normal clothes, edited versions of those, etc? Right now I have the two sea elves my party interact with on a regular basis in sort of tank-top-esque wear and edited shorts of a kind.

:]

Ooooh okay that’s a really fun question my worldbuilding gears are turning lmao-

I have a post somewhere here on my blog about Telchin clothing and specifically my development of Ulysses design and the cultural influences, which basically boils down to “Telchins at the start of war = Ancient Greek clothes (chitons, togas, cloaks, etc). Telchins during the projects = WW2 fashion (pants, jumpsuits, jackets, etc)”

If you wanted my thoughts on how I would maybe clothe them in a broader sense/outside the context of Fable, I have some ideas! ✨

I think tank tops and shorts definitely fit the vibe. More-modern style clothing just underwater is always a super fun route to take, even for the visual of just clothing underwater being funky and something that’s a little different and new!

Typically in my mind, when it comes to clothing in world building it usually boils down to resources and purpose.

Resources is more the boring side of things. What kinds of materials do they have access to, how do they manufacture the clothing, blah blah blah. Not really something you need to worry about in fantasy worlds cause usually the answer is “cause magic” and “because it’s cool so I said so” which is the more fun kind of fantasy imo, and getting too bogged down in the granular details as a DM/storyteller just ain’t very productive.

Purpose on the other hand is where you can really have fun with underwater clothing! Is it designed to be functional, or stylistic? If its purpose is to be functional, maybe their clothing develops like swimsuits, almost? Like you said: shorts, crop tops, swim-shirts, etc! Something that covers enough or the body while still not being too cumbersome in the water, prioritizing movement when swimming! Or maybe you want to take that to the extreme; maybe their clothing developed like wetsuits! Skintight, smooth, shiny, and insulating! Designed to move with them, just a layer of covering for their bodies to make them more hydrodynamic! Or, if the purpose of the clothing is to be attractive and fashionable and flashy, maybe they do go in a more Greco-Roman route! Maybe it’s all about togas and dresses and cloaks and veils! Layers of long, flowing fabrics which shimmer and billow out in the water and draw attention to the person wearing them! These huge billowing clothes which make a statement, rather than help with movement or anything!

And it doesn’t have to be one or the other, either. You can mix and match both! Maybe the skintight wetsuit-like clothes are designed with patterns that ripple and shift as the wearer moves and they become beautiful and hypnotic! Maybe the large billowing cloaks are useful when avoiding predators underwater, making the wearer seem bigger, scarier and more imposing to any underwater monsters! The telchin’s clothing in my eyes follows a direct path almost: the fashionable pre-war clothing in billowing fabrics which allow freedom of movement and expression, that slowly transition into cleaner, more tailored clothing as they need to conserve fabric, and avoid being grabbed by drowned, losing that expression in the process. There’s so much room to play around with elements of either or both when it comes to it!

I know this was very rambling but I hope it was somewhat helpful!! Your campaign sounds really cool, an underwater campaign is such an interesting concept!! I hope you have fun running it!