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mx-kay · 2 years

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Eddie Munson x Tiny!Reader One Shot

Trigger Warning: Swearing, mentions of drug use, small traces of unintentional fearplay

Disclaimers: I don’t own Eddie Munson or Stranger Things, that goes to Netflix and the Duffer Brothers. I also don’t know a ton about DnD. While I’m currently doing a bunch of research, I might still mess up. Feel free to correct any mistakes I might make.

Rating: T, SFW

Word Count: 1166

Extra: This is a scrapped rough draft of the meeting scene between Eddie and the reader for my upcoming fanfic (if you would like to be included in the tag list for that story, DM me or leave a comment). I loved this version too much to delete it, but I decided to go a different way with the story and couldn’t use this anymore. Hope you enjoy!

—— 🎸 ——

The loud rustle of the doorway curtains being drawn completely froze you. Goosebumps crawled across your skin and you felt your stomach drop. It felt as if your lungs all but stopped working as footsteps sounded in the direction of your current hideout.

You were no longer alone.

Setting down the die you still clung to, you swung your head from both ends of the cardboard divider. I’m technically blocked from the rest of the table, you assured yourself. You knew for a fact that no one in the Hellfire Club even thought of looking in your current position, lest they face the wrath of their infamous Dungeon Master. Eddie didn’t like people looking at his campaign notes, and you honestly couldn’t blame him. You’d seen him pour hours into coming up with his campaigns, sometimes staying until it was time for the school to be locked up for the night. Even then, he’d often show up the next day to add things he’s done at home. The head of the table was his area, and everyone knew it like an unspoken rule. Whoever had come in was probably just here to pick up something they’d left and leave. The only way you’d be spotted was if-

The dark, messy curls that came into view made you want to sob. Of all the people who could have showed up, of course it was Eddie himself. The only person who would ever check your makeshift hiding spot. There was no running in this situation, no hiding. There was no way out of the fact that he was going to spot you the moment he sat down. You were out of place, a foreign object, his eyes would instantly be drawn to you.

So make it look like you belong. It was a brief thought, but currently your best one. Blend in. The table was covered in little figurines, one similar in height to you and some non-human. You’d blend right in. Seconds before he looked up, you froze with your arms crossed and your tail curled beside your feet.

It felt like the world stopped when your eyes met. From far off his eyes had always appeared black in color, like his pupils were blown out of proportion. Now, so close to you, you could see the real color. A deep, rich brown filled his doe-shaped eyes, framed by long, dark lashes. A spark of mischief shone brightly within them, an emotion he seemed to hold to every time you saw him.

He blinked, tilting his head slightly in confusion, and your world came back to you. There was a human, a giant, sitting barely two feet from you. If anything, it was more like he was hovering over you. He eclipsed your entire view, his shadow like a dark sea laid over you. Whatever emotion you had just been feeling was dragged down by an overpowering sense of fear. The feeling of your skin crawling came back to you with a vengeance as eyes bigger than your head stared down at you. Your world no longer existed. It was simply Eddie Munson.

You tried to keep from shaking. Your legs felt like they’d give out any second and your eyes began to water, but any odd twitch would give you away. If you wanted out of this, you had to play the part. Blend in. Be a figurine.

“Now what is this?” His voice was low, but your close proximity seemed to amplify it. It took everything to not flinch at the sound. He leaned in closer, eyes squinting slightly as he studied you. Don’t blink. Don’t move. Don’t breathe.

A hand the size of a semi breached your view, and instinct took over.

Coherent thoughts ceased to form, the only thing ringing through your head being a never ending mantra of run. Not wasting a single moment, you turned opposite of his hand and ran like hell.

You heard a loud exclamation of “Jesus fucking shit!” before a massive crash shook the table. A small part of you was curious to see what had just transpired behind you, but you were too close to escaping to risk it. You didn’t even check to see if your hook was still secure when you reached it. The string swung wildly as you slid down it, not caring if your hands and feet received burns when you slowed slightly to land.

You caught a glimpse of Eddie through the chair and table legs, unhooking his leg from the arm of his chair while trying to turn himself over. He mumbled out a string of curses as you unhook your climbing rope from the tabletop and continued running. Hope flared though you as you saw the small opening at the foot of the wall.

“Hey, wait!” you heard called from behind. For just a moment, a quick second, you did. Grabbing onto the side of the entrance, you turned.

He was sprawled out across the floor on his stomach, looking frazzled. His eyes were wide, clothes slightly rumpled and hair slightly messier than usual. You realized he must have bit his lip during the fall as blood dripped down his chin. Something in you felt guilty, wanting to apologize.

You instead turned back forward and raced into the wall, not stopping until you reached your home and collapsed into your bed.

—— 🎸 ——

It didn’t matter if he knew he hadn’t taken any drugs today, Eddie Munson swore he was high. There was no other explanation. Either he simply didn’t remember taking it or someone had somehow slipped it to him, he was high.

There was absolutely no way a tiny mouse person actually existed. Mouse-human hybrid? Mouseman? Humouse?

God, he must have really hit his head. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth from where he’d bit the shit out of his lip. He groaned, pushing himself up from the floor. His right arm protested at the weight, another injury to add to the list. He was lucky to not have landed on his face and bust up his nose.

He’d come in simply to drop off a few things for the next adventure of his campaign. A couple of miniatures and papers that still sat in his bag at the moment. He hadn’t expected to find an odd miniature behind the DM screen, much less that it would start moving while inches away from his face. The sudden movement had spooked him, his leg somehow got hooked to the arm of his throne, and here he was. On the floor.

Shaking his head, Eddie stood and walked from the room. Whatever had happened, it couldn’t have been real. “I’m just tired and probably high,” he muttered to himself, “Not real. Just a hallucination. Not real.”

But something nagged at him. Some part of him, the part that loved fantasy and impossible odds and believed in the unreal, wished to answer one simple question. What if it was real?

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glossolali · 3 years

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TLOVM Watch Party EP 1 Summary:

- Sam recorded the demo for the Vox Machina song Scanlan sings when they first meet the Council at the park while his kids were running around playing

- They intentionally made all the magic effects unique to each character

- Maximus Riegel and Zoe O'Brien did such a good job at their first voice acting gig!

- Mechanics of DnD like buffing another character was cool to see, and they didn't want to spend too much time explaining how it all works, it was enough to have the solid logic there in the background

- The dragon of that size and complexity had to be 3D CGI, and it started out as too cute and Pokémon-like but they tweaked it till it looked right

- The show's OST starts off orchestral but goes to different genres as the show develops, and Matt and Sam still get teary-eyed when they listen to it

- In the first draft of the script, a messenger goes to the Briarwoods' and things don't go well for the messenger, but this end scene was so powerful it had to be the end of episode 1

Q&A:

Q: How was it handing over the show to the TLOVM team?

Matt: I didn't want to embarrass myself by talking about my DnD campaign, it was very surreal and it was helpful to have everyone with me. A lot of the first meetings were character-focused, and then moved on to story

Q: How not to be heavy handed with Easter eggs and all the early hints for future romances etc.

Matt: Focused on a realistic pace, was great to be able to go back and focus on and flesh out the NPCs too

Sam: Being efficient with what you have to show and say, and writers took everything very seriously with their research

Q: What was the process to make characters into cartoon form?

Travis: Phil Bourassa was incredible and he was dead on from the start, could have had sweet mutton chops! But ended up with a design that was easier to draw over a long time

Sam: There were some more wild child versions like a street urchin Scanlan and lounge lizard Scanlan

Q: The first bar fight scene was great to show each VM member, how was that process?

Brandon: Worked with the cast to figure out how to highlight their character, for example Percy is a tightass and didn't play drinking games

Everyone: Keyleth is that girl at the party, low constitution or something, it [alcohol] always ended up coming out

Q: What parts of the show were important to bring in to this show?

Travis: Did our best to include things that we and critters loved about the original stream, like bottle episodes, shopping episodes, etc.

Q: New Emon design?

Matt: Changed from original design, design team who know how to design cities helped them make it make more sense like the centre of the city is next to the port etc. Design team is fantastic! Everything they brought forward was amazing, as much care and passion as us was put into the project and it comes through in the final episodes, it's all universally positive and exciting

#critical role #tlovm #the legend of vox machina #tlovm spoilers #tlovm watch party #cr spoilers #cr #glossopost #long post

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spirit-shroud · 3 years

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what are some roles that have been largely changed for cityrune? since you said queen was an influencer now :]

hi ty for asking me im vibrating. havent gotten to talk about this au now for three years and now that chapter 2 is like real and this time i can like........draw occasionally and i have more understanding of nuance...... [grips table] [screams]

this isnt quite what you asked but heres what's everyone from chapter 1 has been Up To with a little bit of context (and under a read more bc it got LENGTHY):

kris - professional stay at home teen (they live w/ asgore n help run the flower shop sometimes. this decision was entirely bc i dont like toriel). was wrongly diagnosed w Sudden Soul Rejection when they were incredibly young and given an experimental transplanted soul as a replacement. it works for them fine, give or take having to see gaster once a month for checkups. but sometimes the soul makes them skittish n decides they're going to sit in front of the pc and play 30 consecutive hours of a certain simulation game and not even let them drown people in the pool. if it were entirely up to them, they'd be like. passing out on the sofa to documentaries about bigfoot. or practicing cool knife tricks to impress their friends at their next tabletop meetup

- EDITED IN: the soul is kind of their friend. they are wearing a hypothetical get along shirt. most of the time, they agree on actions and things to do. tends to refer to themself + their soul as we/us which originally was just something they did in their head but they kept slipping in speech/text n just became a Thing of how they talk. switches to 'I/Me' whenever smth is wrong.

- also edited in: they believe the soul they have is their original soul bc nobody has told them otherwise. whenever theyre like 'oh yeah we think about our soul n view it as a separate entity to us like. all the time. it likes to hurt if we make too many choices it doesn't seem to like and kind of forces us to be a toned down version of what we want to be but thats just how souls are haha' and everyone is like.... 'Hey Kris That's Really Not How It Is.' theyre like. 'huh. gonna ignore that for now' - this was going to be a plot point

toriel - head of H0MEWOR1D (H01)'s department of education; kind of lost her roots as a simple math teacher as she was pushed into a lot of power she didn't even really seek out. divorced asgore over some miscommunications in their relationship; also loosely as a result of grief from asriel's death

asgore - the same. runs a lil flower/gift shop. people come in more to talk with him than to buy flowers most of the time, though

asriel Flowey - he's back in flower form, thanks to the government an accident. causes a lot of technology glitches wherever he goes, and wants revenge. isn't sure how to go about it. asriel "died" around 8 years before the story takes place and kris still misses him and refuses to even THINK about even the IDEA of calling someone their sibling after what happened, just in case it somehow happens a second time

susie - more of the same really. she spends most of her time either at grillby's (she's sort of become his assistant n helps with opening/closing. it just happened) or getting into low-stakes trouble w/ kris

noelle - she's in the city's equivalent of college and shes so tired. shes So Abysmally Tired n got kinda pushed 2 follow in her mom's footsteps. she's rarely around anymore except through text or on monsters & mages (dnd) night. (however.........she will come back w/ a long break n hang out w everyone again)

berdly - tbh i didnt even consider berdly when i made the au initially. idk what he's doing. probably in a similar situation to noelle??? canonically got kicked out of the M&M group due to clashes w/ other players but lurks in their group chat to posts memes sometimes

didnt rly think of any other of kris' classmates (+ their families) after ch1 and probably will continue to not, until chs 3-5 come out and i gotta whip up roles and histories for like. a lotta guys all of a sudden. i also forgot about noelle's parents

sans - runs a convenience store that everyone kind of thinks is a front, but also it has really cheap snacks and the local teens make a point of stopping there after school. so essentially, more of the same papyrus - similar to ut. is a very polite and sweet boy but you'll know when he's coming

grillby - he's back. he runs a bar like back in ut but the cozy vibes and weird-for-a-bar hours keep attracting kids who need parents, so half of his menu is comprised of overly sweet mocktails. usually only frequented by monsters

QC - same as usual. has a "rivalry" with grillbz but, theyre besties and have a book club

mettaton - he's real and he's back. he's similar to how he is back in ut w/ his EX body. likes to hang out at grillby's and talk to unsuspecting fans. has a show for everything

napstablook - similar to how they are in ut. helps mtt with making music sometimes. doesn't leave the house too often, but spends a lot of time posting on undernet

undyne - unfortunately. more of the same. she is a cop in the monster district. i am also upset by this but couldn't think of anything better for her

alphys - a doctor studying under dr. gaster in the hopes she'll one day take over his research. she spends most of her time as a nurse with a bigger title, though, and blocks out the weirdness of her job with anime.

gaster - weird guy. H01's top soul researcher and resident House wannabe. trying to manufacture the ultimate soul that can be controlled with simple internal switches, but so far he's only had 1 (very limited) success with a certain human. monsters just melt, and darkners just sorta......get weird... he's onto Something, though.

ralsei - lonely boy with some very strange hobbies. popular on UnderNet for poetry, baking videos, and general cryptid vibe. is the DM for the monsters & mages group (also seems to think everything is actually very fine in H01 when it is very much not)

lancer - about the same. professional Round Boy. lives w/ rouxls full time. follows susie around like a lost puppy and calls himself her "underling."

rouxls - runs a hotel/casino kind of deal where the objective Bad Guys hang out, and usually ends up doing any of the spade king's paperwork.

spade king - mafia godfather. kind of a dick. don't play cards with him

seam - works with the spade king as his right hand cat more or less because they have for a lot of years and are in that 'sunk cost fallacy' zone. thinks of retiring to a quiet life in the monster section of town like, daily

jevil - used to work with the spade king, but got imprisoned for Crimes. got weird after The Accident (separate from asriel's accident)

temmies (all) - dont really get mentioned except offhandedly but they run the monster space station. so far, are the only monsters who have ever been to space.

as far as chapter 2 goes:

yeah i dont have much so far for characters. in the original version of the au i accidentally made darkners as a whole just kinda..... not great? like all sorts of weird organized crime ties n sort of going out of their way to be A Problem to the city (not even in like. a revolution way. in a working against them but with the same goals kinda way). with the whole context it worked At The Time, bc i just had the spade king to look to as a villain, and also in this au the darkners are just trying to survive a world that ultimately was not built for them (that humans think they own, and monsters sort of... seeing this and wondering what it'll mean for them whichever one wins), but w/ new info abt how the dark world works n more guys to work with i want to kind of. edit the vibe a bit. like yea darkners will ultimately do whatever it takes to take over H01, but maybe in a better way than like. idk. all this. it doesnt have to be peaceful or anything it just has to be more adaptable as we meet more kinds of darkners

however yeah i thought up 'queen as some sort of childless mommy blogger/influencer' and that completely revived all memory i had of this au. she should be on mtt's talkshow. also she sells collectible wine glasses w/ her likeness

spamton is another one of gaster's failed soul experiments, but he hasn't melted yet, and seems............fine? sort of. so he hasn't gotten decommissioned yet. he does want to give you malware tho. hot monster singles in your area n all that

im blanking on the rest of the guys but i hope any of this was comprehensible

#kc takes questions #cityrune au #idk if tumblr still autotags things but if it does i am SORRY

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janiedean · 3 years

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the author background is a great point esp given what other anon pointed out about d&d's connections - the fact that all of the focus on smallfolk etc. is taken out (even before we ever get to season 5 which is when they stopped following the books! we have plenty in books 1-3 which they ignored in favour of the politics "game" played by the nobility.)

he's the guy who said "themes are for 8th graders" and goes on to ignore EVERY SINGLE theme and message in the books and chose to focus on the violence and the sex - makes sense that they've led incredibly privileged lives who got this huge break because of nepotism. the way LF and cersei were adapted and continued to be treated later on as some paragon of intelligence while people like ned and jon and robb were called stupid and stannis was made a religious fanatic, *sigh*

listen religiousfanatic stannis when he was the og atheist rep in the books will forever be on my stomach but like... dnd's hatred of stannis aka the only asshole in there who's not classist whatever you wanna say of him (I mean he had no issues treating jon as a peer, his right hand man is a commoner that he made hand of the king when he couldn't read and the right hand woman is a former slave like... please) already says a lot, nvm that 90% of brienne's chapters were about that and they cut all of it for the I'M AVENGING RENLY dumbass storyline but yeah like... classsiiiissssmmmm, CLASSIIIISSSMMMMMM EVERYWHEREEEEE and the fact that a good part of the fandom doesn't catch up on that either doesn't say good things either X°DDD

but like... the glaring thing re c and lf is that they basically told us c was catelyn which... it didn't even like exist in canon but anyway, with lf they just... I mean the thing with book!lf is that I can buy he's a paragon of being smart about things because hey look at how he's doing, he's going to fail just because sansa will have the best of him and she'll be decent but if you look objectively at how he plays his hand he's a mastermind? he's good at that? the show version... 'ah yeah I'mma marry sansa to ramsay without doing research [AS IF LF WOULDN'T KNOW EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT EVERYONE] and well I'M A BETTING MAN??' like lf betting on stannis or just about anyone is out of this world ooc, like... the fact that they thought show!lf was supposed to be smart when they could just have... kept him true to the book will forever boggle me but honestly as a professional lf hater I was outraged at how badly he was adapted *shrug* but again... then it shows they don't think about the ramifications bc SOMEHOW THINGS WILL EVEN OUT which isn't how it works in this context so we're back to the above point *sigh* but yeah pretty much

#1 #23 #4 #5 #6 #anonymous #ask post #asoiaf wank #anti-cersei lannister #anti-cersei #anti cersei #anti cersei lannister

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today-only-happens-once · 4 years

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Have you talked about your DnD PCs before? Can you talk about your game on tumblr? What's all been going on last few sessions :o

ANON you are one of my favorite people today this ask made me so freaking happy. (So is @psychedelicships who said I had an invitation to ramble about my d&d campaign) Sorry for my excited gushing and rambling slkdfjdsklfjskldfj

My D&D Player Character

So my current D&D PC is named Kyssarda. She’s a half-elf neutral-good monk. I’ve rambled about her backstory before but the condensed version is that there’s a pattern of people leaving her/abandoning her in her life. Her parents died in a fire that her older brother rescued her from when she was four. She passed out on the way out, and when she woke up, she’d been told that she’d been left on the doorstep of the temple. Her brother was no where to be found. When she eventually made her way back home, her home was ash. Monks trained her, but they weren’t really equipped to raise a small child, so Kyssarda had a very lonely upbringing. The monks follow Sehanine (d&d deity), so she was raised on the tenants of her teachings and the teachings about following your own path led to her eventually striking out on her own. As a result of her upbringing and past, the people in her life (i.e. the party) are super important to her, because they are the first friends she ever chose and in some ways, they’ve chosen her too. She has abandonment issues up the wazoo, and hoo has she been reminded of that in recent sessions.

She’s very... empathetic and soft. She pays close attention to the mental/emotional state of her party members. Part of that is just who she is, but a lot of that is informed by her own loneliness. She doesn’t want others to feel like they’re alone, because she knows very intimately how much that can suck. Her loyalty and protectiveness of her friends leads her to sometimes not make the most tactically advantageous decision in combat, and also means that she has basically no self-preservation instincts (which is the main reason I’m pretty sure she’s gonna die before the campaign is over).

Campaign Stuff/Ramblings (under a cut because I’m literally just never going to shut up lets goooo):

So the original party consisted of a Teifling Paladin, a Wood Elf Rogue (who is multiclassing in monk), a Leonin Blood Hunter, and Kyssarda. We met during a fighting tournament and was contracted by the king to retrieve something for him. We teamed up for that, and convinced the king to come along too. So we traveled to some ruins, fought some stuff, and found the relic the king needed. We ran into a Jotenheim giant and fought that. In the process, the Leonin ended up attacking Kyssarda (cuz he’s basically a werewolf lion, and when he goes to his hybrid form and drops below half-health, he has to save on a wisdom saving throw or he just attacks the closest figure which happened to be meeee).

Later on in a different fight in the same place, Kyssarda freaking died thanks to 2 chain lightnings (I took damage while unconcious and then rolled a Nat1 on the death save). But the king we brought along was a cleric who had what was needed for revivify. So Kyssarda came back, with a withered left hand. The Leonin felt responsible for her death because he’d attacked her earlier, and vowed to help her fix her hand.

I forget exactly when, but during this journey, Kyssarda and the Leonin learned that there was a war brewing between two different kingdoms and that the Elf Rogue seemed to have a personal (but vague?) stake in the outcome of that war.

but ON OUR WAY BACK to the city, we got side-tracked with a quest to help a little girl rescue her family. So we also fought a troll and a hag. And when we were getting her family out, we also found (Surprise!!) the estranged (kinda) sister of the Elf Rogue.

This lead to some downtime back at the main city. Kyssarda got her hand fixed at a temple. We got the sister of the Elf Rogue healed up at the same temple. The Leonin had a hilarious and embarrassing fight with a creature I can’t remember the name of. And lots of research was done by all about various things. Kyssarda did the most research, as she grew up working in the library section of the monk monastery so she’s always curious. So she starts looking into things about the war going on, and learns that Mr. Elf Rogue is in fact ROYALTY. He’s a prince of one of the countries at war. And we had learned already that he had fled the city with his siblings but not that he was royalty?? So that was a trip to learn.

Meanwhile, Kyssarda is also helping the Teifling Paladin with some research because he’s been having weird dreams. And while they’re chillin’ in the library, the Paladin finds this book and gets sucked into it. Like. One minute he’s there, one minute he’s not and the book is floating before it closes and slams on the table. So Kyssarda (Ms. Abandonment Issues and also Freshly Traumatized By Havivng Died) panics and takes the book and runs. Our Paladin is still in the book. We sent him a Sending Scroll asking if he was okay and he basically said “Yeah im fine I’ll be back eventually”. Kyssarda also had a nice heart-to-heart with the Elf Rogue about the reemergence of his sister and told him a little about how her own brother abandoned her and encouraged him to just be patient with her (because the sister is not happy with him).

But the show must go on, and our Elf Rogue really wants to get back to his home and help in the war effort somehow, plus find his brother who also is MIA. So Kyssarda, the Leonin, the Royal Elf Rogue, his sister, AND another human PC (a guy who helped sneak the Elf Rogue and his siblings out the city all those years ago and was being played by the guy who used to be the Paladin) all travel out headed towards the Elf Rogue’s homeland.

But we get to the border at a bridge, and the party finds themselves facing down some harpies, some marrows, and a water elemental. In the fight, Kyssarda casts silence to help against the siren song the harpies were singing. Which was mostly a good thing. The water elemental was something else though. It engulfed both Kyssarda and the Elf Rogue, and Kyssarda was down to 1 HP when the Leonin yanked her out. However, because of a REALLY unfortunate roll by the human pc to save from a drop into the river (rolled a 2 and had a minus 2 on the modifier), he was unconcious and drowning. And none of our characters knew because. y’know. Silence. He kept drowning as the fight went on. And he eventually got washed up on some rocks and could make one death save after two failed ones. And he failed. And we had no cleric, and besides... it was more than a minute before we found his body down river.

And all of our characters felt terrible. Kyssarda has a tendency to take blame for things that maybe aren’t strictly her fault, so she definitely feels a weight of responsibility for complicated reasons. The Leonin expressed that he felt some level of responsibility as well, and also hesitation about going forward with the journey though some conversation between Kyssarda and him lead to him continuing on regardless. The Elf Rogue was pretty torn up about it.

We got some Elf Rogue backstory that addresses the fact that he was royalty (which was something Kyssarda had thought about asking) and more explanation of what’s been going on with him and his connection to the land we’re heading towards. We run into a fey creature that was an old ally of the Elf Rogue and Teifling Paladin, and we agreed to help him.

Cue the session last night.

We go to get some stuff of his back from an Incubus/Succubus pair. And sh!t hit the fan. Our Elf Rogue rolled really high stealth and decided that was a fine reason to dive through the broken window. Meanwhile, we were going on this side-quest with a half-orc barbarian (played by the guy that’s usually the paladin and who had the first PC death of the game the session prior). And the Incubus and Succubus can each essentially mind-control people, or try to. And both our barbarian and our Leonin Blood Hunter failed their wisdom save and so our two biggest heavy hitters were mind-controlled by the enemy. THAT went about as well as you’d expect.

Over the course of the fight, the Leonin went unconcious twice. Kyssarda once. The Elf Rogue twice. And the barbarian would have gone unconcious but thanks to relentless endurance, he was brought back to one HP. In fact, we reached a point towards the end where the Leonin, Kyssarda, and the Elf Rogue were all unconcious and our barbarian was the only one standing...at one HP. That’s when the incubus (we’d killed his mate by then) took the Elf Rogue’s sister and made a break for it. The barbarian brought me back first (because I was dying in acid and therefore automatically failing death saves). Then I brought back the Leonin and we got the Elf Rogue up too. We managed to chase down the Incubus and save the sister as well. but HOLE. EE. SH!T. Most terrifying, stressful D&D combat of my LIFE. Kyssarda came very, very close for two rounds to offering herself up as a willing victim/slave/whatever if they’d let her friends go. She didn’t because the tide was starting to turn by then in the fight but it was a ROLLERCOASTER.

Before we closed the session, we went back to that fey guy and got paid though Kyssarda stormed off kind of? She didn’t vibe with the guy because she almost lost her friends over his stupid book and she was shaken and upset. But she had a conversation with the Leonin at the end of the session just kinda... dealing with the trauma of the past few days in-game. It was actually a really nice moment. I think my favorite RP moment for Kyssarda so far.

So yeah! If you read all of this, I’m surprised and touched. Heh. I literally love D&D so freaking much, and I’m especially attached to this party and this character... though her lack of self-preservation does have me starting to plan for another back-up character just in case. ^u^

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awkwardplantwrites · 5 years

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tips on how to write when you just can’t

(personal advice. might work for you, might not)

you have an idea for your story but can’t get it out. or you know what’s going to happen but it’s boring and you’re starting to hate your work. the words are not appearing on the page no matter how hard you stare at it.

writing is writing, but telling a story doesn’t have to be solely writing words onto a page. it might come to that eventually if you’re set on your story being a novel, but it doesn’t have to start that way. I don’t think people realise just how abstract and crazy first drafts can be.

here’s some ways you can tell a story without writing:

record your voice and narrate verbally. there’ll be a lot of um’s and pauses where you don’t know what to say and it won’t be nearly as prosey as it is in writing. for me, I definitely prefer writing to speaking because I can edit what I write and think about what I write. but by verbally narrating you can get thoughts out quicker. you’re allowed to say one thing, then include a verbal note where you wonder aloud “that part might be better later on” and just continue. then, you transcribe it. and voila you have words!

it definitely doesn’t have to be a direct transcription. if anything, you can and should rewrite the parts you want to change. with this it’s like getting two drafts for the effort of one. this can also help to give your characters more distinctive voices as you’ll speak as they would (to make it easier to tell who’s talking when you record lol)

record your voice as you give a presentation about your story/chapter. this one’s good for developing stuff, and by developing it you generate new ideas. you analyse your characters, the metaphors, foreshadowings, reasons for actions, and double meanings. you go crazy over your story and fall in love with it again. similar to those comic sans presentation images you see on writeblr, but more in depth.

to use Romeo and Juliet as an example: “Who is responsible for Mercutio’s death? What is the role of destiny in the play? Why is Juliet the most tragic character in the play?” have a look at essay ideas and use them for your story. and when you talk as if you’re in front of an audience, you include the stuff you think they’ll want to know, which translates into what the readers want to know when you transcribe the juicy parts into your writing!

another verbal format can be a DND campaign with you as every character and the DM (feel free to use a die!) it might not work so well for romance novels but do what you want! have fun getting a crit 1 on smooching, baby!!

record the audio/video as you play with toys or objects that represent your characters I feel like this one is good if you lose track of who’s in the scene, because you can physically see who’s there. even if you aren’t writing a kid’s book, you’ll be brought back to the days when you played pretend, and stories and fictional worlds were fun and not stressful to fill with societies and environments. novels have this odd reputation for being grandoise and writers automatically assume your book’s got to be the BEST thing the world has seen. it’s not that deep bro. anybody of any age and background can tell a captivating story.

you can draw instead of writing. or you can write AND draw, where you sketch something you don’t know or can’t be bothered to describe. and if this goes well for you, you might want to consider making a comic or graphic novel instead. or do it on your phone using goddamn emoji’s. who gives a fuck.

on a different note, if you’re someone who mainly struggles with ideas, you need to look at your story like an alien. question and doubt the mundane, what’s considered normal. this will probably include research.

to use an example, in my most recent chapter I had a character who was riding a horse into town. sounds simple right? let’s quesion that: how was he riding the horse? you might think, oh well, it’s just a horse, you ride on it’s back. but there are names for the way you ride. (everything has names and labels, idk why.) and it turns out he was riding bareback, as the horse was wild and had no saddle. and so what I did was look up bareback riding, paraphrased the definition into my story to explain to the reader what my mc was doing. “Bareback riding is a form of horseback riding without a saddle. It requires skill, balance, and coordination, as the rider does not have any equipment to compensate for errors of balance or skill.”

hey look at that! those are words you can include in your story! it’s a form of description! another question: does my character have the skill required? no. and immediately that creates a story. how will this inexperienced rider ride this horse? readers love characters who can’t do what they’re trying to do but who do it anyway.

question the weather. temperature. the location. mythical creatures. superpowers. science. furniture. rethink everything you think you know. brainstorm or play word association games.

to use a more general/random example: your character is hungry. questions: what food? where will they go to get food? why that place? how will they get to the place and what could stop them? will they go with someone? will they not get food despite their hunger, and what’s the reason for that?

everyone will answer those questions differently: and that’s why every story is unique no matter how simple and cliche the premise is.

there’s also the advice to “write badly” and I don’t think people often understand what that means. it doesn’t always mean telling a shitty story, though you absolutely can if you want to. it means you have full permission to abandon grammar, spelling, punctuation, and coherency. include cliches and ignore every piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard! you can tell the story instead of showing bc at this point you just need words. example, a very butchered version of the passage “it was a dark and stormy night”:

It was dark outside somewhere idk. In a house (bedroom maybe?) some lady, wraped in a blanket (or quilt?) sat on her bedd and wotched trees moving in the wind and behind the tres clouds moved fast all spooky like.

a useful tool which squeezes words out is laying down the 5 questions: who, what, when, how, where. mike ran at noon quickly in the gym. and just repeating that structure over and over, omitting certain questions when necessary.

it’s going to suck and you’ll hate it: but you weren’t happy with/able to do a more polished version, so does it matter? the words are there. it counts.

use generators for names and descriptions, you don’t have to come up with everything but you make it look like you did.

steal your favourite lines from ALL your favourite idols and remix them. no-one will care if they can’t tell who you took it from.

if all else fails: get a ghostwriter

#writeblr #writing #writing advice #original writing #original fiction #creative writing #wip #nanowrimo #fanfic #fanfiction #long post #the plant speaks

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50-points-for-ravenclaw · 6 years

Note

Sheith playing monsters and mana with the gang

Disclaimer: Idk like anything about DnD so most of this is wikipedia and guessing with a little creative license thrown in

“So I just make stuff up and you guys react to it?”

“Sort of. We all play off each other, and Coran controls the rules and our level of skill for each activity,” Pidge explains.

They’re seated in a wide circle on pillows and beanbag chairs that they’d dragged to the roof of the Garrison, all wrapped tightly in blankets and comfy pajamas. Allura and Coran seem to have fully adopted the tradition of brightly colored fuzzy socks from the Holts, and Krolia has thrown on a pair of Garrison issued sweatpants only reaching mid-shin borrowed from Keith’s collection. The night is luckily not cold enough to drive them away, but the slight chill in the air calls for the comfort of thick cotton and the small fire they created in a makeshift fire pit in the middle of their circle.

Keith remembers the last time he’d been on this roof, back when he wasn’t allowed, when he was still just a student at the Garrison, when Shiro’s loss was still fresh. He liked to come up here to stare up at the stars and remind himself why he was there. Sharing it now with his extensive family felt better than anything he ever could have imagined.

Keith glances at Krolia, who looks equally as confused as he, as Coran finishes explaining the rules and then Shiro, who gives him a small encouraging smile.

“It’s actually pretty fun,” Shiro says shrugging. Keith thinks he believes him, especially when Shiro looks at him like that.

“Yeah, but remember you’ve been banned from being a paladin,” Lance says with a hostile squint. Shiro’s resulting pout is so adorable that Keith forgets to ask why the ban had been placed.

“Oh, I’m so excited!” Romelle says with a clap of her hands. The mice sway dangerously on her shoulders with the movement though they seem content to stay where they are. “I haven’t played Monsters and Mana since I was young. It was one of my favorite games growing up.”

Hunk gives her a shoulder nudge along with a grin, which she returns.

“Okay it’s time to choose your character class everyone. Due to the number of players and to keep it easier for the newcomers, everyone will keep their actual names for their characters. Now remember to be as creative as possible here! Think outside the prism, as you humans say,” Coran says with a quick twist of his mustache.

Keith thinks to correct him but decides to stay silent on that one, noticing the rest of the humans present do the same. He and Shiro make eye contact and stifle chuckles behind their hands.

“Alright, Number 1! You go first.”

“Okay,” Shiro says. He rubs at his chin like he’s thinking really hard on the topic. Keith enjoys the small flutter in his chest at the action. His fondness for Shiro’s idiosyncrasies seems to grow everyday. “I’m going to be a Monk who is the last surviving member of his monastery. Ever since the day my people were slain, I’ve vowed to protect others from the evils of the world, and my goal is to one day close the portal that leads to the Dark Ruins of Hades and prevent anything like what happened to him from happening again.”

“What is Hades?” Shay asks, raising her hand into the air a little.

“It’s an old Earth version of Hell,” Hunk explains.

“Oh, I see.” She pauses long enough for Coran to take a breath and then says, “What is Hell?”

“Um, let’s just call it the Dark Ruins of Evil,” Shiro says quickly.

“Your character is basically the same as always,” Lance said.

“He’s technically not a paladin,” Pidge says. though she sounds resigned.

“Number 5! You’re next,” Coran says.

“I’m a rogue,” she says immediately. “I used to be an inventor until one day I was cheated of all my blueprints by a rich lord who sold them as his own. Now I spend my time screwing over the rich by stealing their most precious items and hoarding them simply just to annoy them and make their lives difficult. I sell stuff when I need money. I hope to eventually run all the rich freeloaders out of my village.”

Everyone absorbs that in quiet for a moment. “Geez, Pidge. You sound like you have a real grudge,” Keith mutters.

“She’s been watching a lot of documentaries to catch up on recent events on Earth, and her latest one was about the detrimental gaps in income between the economic classes,” Matt explains.

“It’s totally ridiculous! Haven’t they learned their lessons from back during the two-party era? Trickle down never works! People are suffering because our political leaders can’t get their heads out of their asses,” Pidge fumes.

“I don’t know what most of that means, but moving on,” Coran says. Shiro gives Pidge’s shoulder a comforting pat. “Krolia, it’s your turn.”

“I think I will pass on this round,” she says. “I would like to observe first to better understand how the game is played.”

“Suit yourself,” Coran chirps. “Onward then. Lance!”

Lance smirks. “I’m an assassin.”

“You were an assassin last time,” Pidge complains.

“No, I was an assassin thief last time,” Lance corrects. Hunk snorts. “This time I’m a killer for hire, one of the best, if not the best in the business, going by the code name Dark Shadow.” He accentuates his words with broad gestures, and Krolia has to duck more than once to avoid being smacked in the face. “I’m known for getting the job done quickly without any witnesses. Nobody has ever seen me and made it out alive. Except for my latest job. I was sent into a trap by my last employer and barely made it out. The one I was supposed to kill saw my face, so now I’m trying to hunt them down and get rid of them before they can reveal anything about my identity to the world. But they are highly trained and difficult to catch.”

He spreads his hands and wiggles his fingers, slowly gazing around the circle. Keith lifts a brow at the action and takes note of Allura’s quiet giggle from his left.

“That’s actually pretty cool, dude,” Hunk says approvingly and offers a fist bump across Romelle’s lap that Lance gladly accepts.

“Alright, Romelle,” Coran says. “You’re up.”

“Oh, yay!” Keith can’t really figure out just exactly how her eyes seem to actually sparkle. Then suddenly they turn dangerous. “I am a barbarian known in my village as one with unparalleled strength. I’m the protector of my people, chosen through a long, strenuous set of trials. Any who have challenged me have been swiftly defeated. I specialize in brute force fighting and can use my strength to create trenches and break stone. I’ve been known to take out whole armies with just a few blows. Most run away scared as they know the stories of my power.”

“So, you’re just like really strong?” Pidge says.

“Well, yes.”

“Are you an orc or something?”

“I suppose I could be.”

“Do you have an objective?”

“Oh,” Romelle says frowning. “Well…I am…looking for love. Most fear me and it makes finding love quite difficult. I wish to find someone who will not be afraid, who respects my power and loves me for it without wanting to change me.”

“Awww,” Hunk coos. “She’s just lonely. Being the top of the food chain can be really tough.”

“Yes, it can,” Romelle says solemnly, slowly nodding.

“Number 2!” Coran exclaims. “It’s your turn.”

“Oh, okay. Let’s see… I’ll be a ranger,” Hunk says.

“What’s up!” Lance says with a grin.

“I’m the apprentice of a master archer, but my master mysteriously disappeared before my teachings could be finished. Now I rely on the research he left behind to teach myself while I search for him in hopes of finding out what happened. Most signs seem to point to an evil force, but I don’t have a lot to go on. I’ve mostly been traveling around to try and find clues and learn all I can from other rangers and fighters to better my skills with archery and in knife handling.”

“Oh, that’s quite interesting, Hunk,” Allura says. “I’m curious to know what happened to your master.”

“Way to step away from your branches, Number 2!” Coran says.

Keith sighs but once again refrains from saying anything. He can hear Shiro snickering again, feels the soft shaking of his shoulders from where he’s pressed against Keith’s right arm.

“You’re up, Shay!”

“I…” She hums quietly for a long moment. “I am a cook at the King’s palace! I work there to keep my family fed, but one day there is a fire at the castle and I am separated from them during the panic. Unsure where to go, I travel in hopes of finding where they’ve gone. Along the way I learn new recipes and make lots of friends with my meals!”

“Well, usually you want to choose one of the traditional classes,” Coran says uncertainly.

“I don’t know. That one sounded pretty good to me,” Hunk says. Shay beams at him.

“You could choose one of the magic-based classes, something a little less based in fighting ability,” Pidge suggests. “Maybe a cleric with healing abilities or a druid with nature magic.”

“A cleric! I can heal people with my special recipes,” Shay says with a satisfied smile.

Hunk gives her a thumbs up of approval.

“Well, that will be quite useful,” Allura compliments. Keith is inclined to agree. A healer seems a good idea for any group quest.

“And onto Matt,” Coran says.

“I’ll be a warlock,” Matt says. “I made a pact with a reaper demon to gain power, but only so I can get revenge against the sorcerer who killed my parents. The power has twisted me so sometimes I am consumed by dark urges though I fight against them. My powers are of the undead and necromancy.”

“That’s pretty dark,” Pidge says approvingly.

“If you can bring the dead back to life, why not just revive your parents?” Krolia asks.

Matt sputters a moment. “It’s different,” he argues. “I can awaken the dead but not permanently. And the souls tend to be warped and darker than they were when they were alive. I would never put my parents through that!”

“If they are twisted and only half-there, then I would imagine they don’t feel much of anything,” Krolia says.

Matt narrows his eyes. “It makes sense,” is all he says.

“Alright, moving on,” Coran interrupts. “Let’s see, my turn. I will be the trusty in-keeper again, here to advise and guide you as you embark on your quest.”

“You’re not going to be evil again are you?” Lance asks, pointing a finger across the circle.

Keith grunts in surprise. He hadn’t heard about that part. He can see Shiro frown from his peripheral and almost laughs at his genuine displeasure.

“Yeah, that was totally uncalled for,” Hunk jumps in.

“It is all part of the game,” Allura tries, though she doesn’t sound like she agrees much with her own words.

“That was pretty harsh for our first time playing, though,” Pidge says.

“At least you guys didn’t die multiple times,” Shiro mumbles.

Keith actually has to hold back a snort at that and runs a soothing thumb over Shiro’s knuckles where his hand is pressed to the floor behind them. Shiro interlocks their pinky fingers before he can pull away.

“You will just have to wait and see,” Coran says cryptically and the paladins all groan. “Allura, I believe it’s your turn.”

“I will be an assassin of Fae descent. I am Dark Shadow’s nemesis.” Lance gasps, face lighting up. “We’ve been hunting each other ever since he first attempted to kill me and failed. I was also sent into a trap, set to kill him, but he got to me first. There is a larger conspiracy going on which I will soon discover, one led by dark magic. I have only just discovered some of the true nature of the situation and now wish to team up with Dark Shadow though I must figure out a way to do so without him killing me first.” Lance looks on the verge of tears now, and Keith wonders how they have yet to simply confess to one another yet. “Oh and I go by the code name Blue Dragon.”

“Yeeeeesssss,” Lance whispers.

“Nice, Princess,” Coran says. “And lastly it is your turn, Number 4…oh well I guess you’re Number 3 now aren’t you. You’ve grown a bit.”

“Wait, what?!” Lance exclaims. “No, I’m number 3! The numbers have already been decided. It doesn’t matter if he grew. Besides he got 2 free years. I bet I’ll end up taller anyways.”

He crosses his arms, glaring at Keith heatedly. Keith doesn’t much care who’s taller, but he can never resist riling Lance up.

“The numbers can change, Lance, and I’m taller now. Deal with it,” he says with a shrug.

He can practically see the steam roll off Lance’s head. Shiro interrupts before a full argument can start.

“I don’t think the number system was ever going to work long-term. Maybe we can think of something different, Coran?” he says with pleading eyes.

“Oh, of course! I love coming up with nicknames,” Coran says. “I’ll have to think on it a bit though. They’ve got to be really good. Besides we have more members on Team Voltron now. It’ll probably take a tick or two.”

“That’s fine,” Shiro breathes, shoulders relaxing as everyone in the circle visibly warms at the reminder, though Krolia turns a little green at the idea. He shoots Keith a chiding look who simply shrugs in return, though he gives Shiro’s fingers a squeeze.

“So what’ll it be, Keith?” Allura asks.

He can see his mom watching him with curiosity and knows she’s taking mental notes for the next round.

“I’ll be a fighter who is half…elf,” Keith says slowly. “I am a master sword fighter with special skill in dual blade welding.” Krolia nods along. “I am searching to learn more about my human side since I grew up among my mother’s people in the…mountains. Mountain elves.” He looks at Shiro for confirmation and gets an approving nod. Keith maintains eye contact with him as he continues. “Along my travels I met Shiro. I immediately admired his goal to protect and decide to follow him. I travel with him and help him protect the weak and investigate the…Portal of Evil?” Shiro shrugs in a dismissive gesture, though he’s smiling softly. “In return, he helps me research my father’s family and learn more about humans. He’s the first human I trust.”

“Ugh!” Lance groans loudly.

Keith snaps out of whatever fog he’d fallen into. He snaps his gaze away from Shiro, trying to push away the heat he can feel crawling up his cheekbones.

“Can we just establish that they’re married already or something so they don’t spend the entire game trying to get in each other’s pants?” Lance continues.

Now Shiro’s cheeks light up, color blooming evenly across smooth skin and camouflaging the scar across his nose. Keith coughs awkwardly, attempting to think of a retort.

“Somehow I doubt that will stop them,” Pidge says dryly.

“I second that idea,” Hunk says raising his hand with a finger pointed to the sky. “It’s better than letting them run completely wild.”

Shiro exhales forcefully.

“I think I have to agree,” Allura says with a wince.

“All those in favor of establishing a union between Shiro and Keith, raise your hand,” Coran commands.

Every hand in the circle goes up. Keith looks at Krolia in betrayal though she only gives him a knowingly raised brow.

“Okay. Sorry Shiro, Keith. It looks like you’ve been voted into marriage,” Coran says shrugging.

Keith sighs but accepts it. He can’t say the idea doesn’t please him anyway.

“I guess that means we’re married, then,” Shiro says.

Keith tries valiantly to ignore the way his stomach flips at that. He feels a little better when he notices the slightly constipated look on Shiro’s face that suggests he’s feeling the same way. That’s a conversation for much later with a lot more privacy though.

“I guess so,” Keith says weakly.

“Time to roll for first play!” Coran says.

Keith bites his lip and focuses back in on the moment. He and Shiro have all the time in the world now to think about that stuff. Right now, he wants to take advantage of this rare free time with his friends, even if he has to stumble along for the first hour of the game.

#sheith #voltron #fan fic #fics #voltron fic #voltron fanfic #sheith fic #sheith fanfic #monsters and mana #asks #anonymous #oh geez i almost couldn't end it #i could have probably gone on forever with this lol #i wasn't expecting that to happen #thank you for the prompt nonny!#this was a lot of fun to get creative with

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metalandmagi · 6 years

Text

August Media Madness

Well, August may have sucked for me personally, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t keep track of all the media I consumed this month! And spoiler alert, I watched a lot of movies involving adorable talking bears. Although, I have a feeling that as soon as the fall television premieres start, I’ll be watching a lot less movies.

July’s media

Movies!

Dear Evan Hansen

Thank you bootlegs. This isn’t a movie, but I didn’t want to make a separate category for plays when I’ve only seen one this month. Anyway, if you haven’t heard of it, Dear Evan Hansen involves an incredibly anxious teenage boy who is tasked by his therapist to write motivational letters to himself. Unfortunately, Connor Murphy, an angsty boy who goes to Evan’s school sees one of the letters, takes it, and promptly decides to kill himself, with the letter still on his person. Everyone ends up thinking he and Evan were friends and that this letter was a suicide note that Connor wrote to Evan...and a beautiful fake gay relationship friendship was born. Call me basic as hell, but I’ve watched this show twice now, and listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count, and it’s turning into my favorite musical. There are so many important messages in it, and it takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. Every character does good and bad things, and no one is blameless or innocent...except maybe Zoe Murphy. If anything just listen to the soundtrack. 10/10

Night on the Galactic Railroad

Cats...on a mystical train...This seems like the kind of movie they would show you in film school. Very dull plot and characters with the themes being the main takeaway. What even is the plot of this movie? Darker, grittier, furry version of the Polar Express? Incredibly boring slightly more religious version of Over the Garden Wall? I just kept watching it because the main character looks like a cat version of Kagayama Tobio in middle school...cat-gayama. 4/10

Paddington

An adorable bear from South America travels to London and gets into all sorts of trouble with an English family. It’s very charming and sweet, and the aesthetic in this movie is on point, like Wes Anderson directed a children’s movie. This is one of those movies you hear about where everyone loves it, and you think it can’t possibly be that good, but then you watch it and you were wrong! So wrong! 10/10

Paddington 2

Naturally. This time an adorable South American bear goes to prison, and his family tries to clear his name. Again, A+ aesthetic and imagery, but I think I preferred the plot of the first movie a little more because everyone was all together. 9/10

Christopher Robin

Do you like Winnie the Pooh? Do you like jaded adults finding happiness in their lives again? Do you think the movie Hook had a good premise but was extremely long and kinda boring and could have been a better movie with a little tweaking? Well this is the movie for you! Christopher Robin has grown into an overworked adult, and his old friend Winnie the Pooh inadvertently helps him reconnect with his wife and daughter (and also his inner child) just by being the sweet, clumsy, dry humored bear we all know and love. I was so skeptical of this movie at first, and I was absolutely blown away by how funny and meaningful it was. 100/10

The Road to El Dorado

Two lovable Spanish con men named Miguel and Tulio are accidentally swept away on a journey to the fabled city of El Dorado, where everything is made of gold. Once they reach the city, the locals believe they’re gods due to an (un)fortunate series of coincidences, and the con men try to keep up the charade with the help of the best character in the movie, Chel (who I’m pretty sure caused an entire generation of lesbians’ sexual awakening). This is one of my favorite animated movies of all time and one of the reasons I wish Dreamworks would go back to their 2D animation days, where the visuals and music were just as stunning as 3D movies are now. This movie is a classic, and I desperately want a sequel! 10/10

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

When Lara Jean thinks it’s a good idea to write 5 secret love letters to 5 boys that she’s had crushes on over the years, everything is fine until her little sister mails the letters to all the boys (because even a 6th grader knows Lara Jean is lonely and emotionally stunted as fuck). This is a Netflix original movie that was adapted from the book by Jenny Han...which I haven’t read, but now I really want to. Overall, this was super cute, but I wasn’t really crazy about the boys. They weren’t horrible people or anything, and they never pressured Lara Jean or made fun of her for being “innocent”, but they were just kind of bland. I’m much more interested in the other boys we didn’t see in the movie! But the family relationships were so heartfelt, Lara Jean’s fashion sense is AMAZING, and the acting/casting was awesome. 8/10

Summer Wars

I...don’t even know how to describe the plot of this one. A teenage boy named Kenji goes on a country holiday and pretends to date an acquaintance of his in order to impress her enormous family...but it’s really about an AI that becomes sentient and wants to mess up the world through this universal internet program called OZ that’s kind of like a mashup of Facebook and Second Life...but actually no it’s about family sticking together and using a Japanese card game to save the world…but apparently it’s got the same plot as the Digimon movie because they’re both directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Yeah...

Guys, I have a confession to make...this has always been my favorite Mamoru Hosoda movie. Everyone falls all over themselves saying Wolf Children is the best Mamoru Hosoda movie, and that’s great for them but it doesn’t even come in second for me. Summer Wars means a lot more to me personally because I come from a big extended family, and when I first saw this movie, I was blown away by how accurate the family dynamic was. There are so many characters, but everyone has their own personality. Not to mention the music makes the summer atmosphere so on point. And I’m not going to lie...I bawled like a fucking baby the first time I saw this movie. So anyway, I like Summer Wars more than Wolf Children, thanks for coming to my TED talk. 10/10

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Unappreciated researcher Milo Thatch goes on an expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis.

Okay, there are two kinds of Disney fans in this world: Treasure Planet fans, and Atlantis fans. And I will support Treasure Planet as the best underrated vaguely steampunk inspired Disney movie until you can pry my 15 year old dvd copy away from my cold dead hands. But Atlantis is pretty good too. I could write essays comparing the two and why both of them should be successful but weren’t. My main problem with it is that the characters are great, but I feel like we don’t see enough of them, and as a kid a lot of the humor went by so fast that I completely missed it. Also the glowing eyes and spirits taking over the Atlantian princess’s body freaked me the fuck out as a child. NEVERTHELESS! This really is a great movie, with extremely well developed lore and well designed characters that chills me to this day. 8/10

Deadpool 2

The merc with a mouth is back, and man there’s so much going on in this movie I won’t even try to explain the plot. I literally had to go back and add this in because I was so into this movie when I was watching it that I forgot to write it down! Even though I really liked this sequel, I think I liked the first one better, just based on how much I laughed. There was so much going on plot wise, but it really seemed to work for this movie. There were also a lot of great new characters (Domino is my favorite character of the franchise now), but since there was so much stuff going on, a lot of jokes and plot lines were sort of hit and miss. Anyway, I’m sure everyone’s seen this one by now but just in case, I highly recommend it. 9/10

Books!

The Adventure Zone Graphic Novel: Here There be Gerblins by Clint McElroy (technically all the McElboys) and Carey Pietsch

Yeah yeah, for anyone who doesn’t know I’m Adventure Zone trash okay. TAZ is a DnD podcast where 3 brothers and their father create one of the most famous campaigns in history involving three idiot adventurers going on a quest to find a missing person and getting sucked into a much larger grand plan to protect the world. This graphic novel is a visualization of the first arc. I don’t even really like Here There be Gerblins all that much, and yet here I am. Oh well, the art was amazing, and of course I already knew the story. But it was kind of hilarious to see the name changes they had to make to some of the characters and places. I was a little disappointed that the ending was so rushed, and we don’t really spend time around the moon base before The Director is in our face changing the Lunar Interlude parts but whatever. 10 dead gerblins/10

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

When a disease that only affects children kills off nearly all the kids on the planet, the survivors are left with supernatural powers and are taken away to concentration camps in order to “protect” the public. I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time, and since the movie just came out I thought it was the perfect time. This is one of those books that some people adore and some people hate. I thought it was just okay. For everything that I didn’t like, there was something to make up for it. Personally, I felt that Bracken focused on the wrong part of the story. Everything takes place years after this disease has come, and I think it would have been more interesting to see everything from the children’s points of view when this disease was first starting. I would focus on each different character as a child and how they wound up in their respective camps. Oh well, there’s way too many pros and cons that I could delve into, but you like the YA dystopian genre then I say go for it. I didn’t like it enough to read the other two books (not yet anyway). 7/10

TV Shows!

Camp Camp

You know how there are summer camps that specialize in science, or acting, or space, or whatever? Yeah Camp Camp is about a summer camp that throws literally everything you can think of into one summer camp. If you don’t believe me, just listen to the theme song. Seriously though this is one of the best shows I’ve watched all year, but boy howdy this is not one for young children. It’s like Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty had a baby! Anyway, the characters are both surprising and hilarious. David the camp counselor (voiced by Miles Luna) is genuinely likable when you think he’d be the most annoying person on the planet, and the kids are so accurate it’s scary. Also Yuri Lowenthal is in it. And Griffin McElroy has a recurring role where he plays A GHOST! I’ve never been into Rooster Teeth stuff, but they have a winner with this one. 10/10

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

After her husband leaves her, Midge Maisel gets super drunk, goes on stage, and gives a hilarious rant about her relationship at a small comedy/talent club and somehow gets sucked into becoming a rising comedian as a woman in the 1950s. It’s good. Great acting pretty funny, but Midge and her agent/manager Susie are the only likable characters. Everyone else just kind of...sucks 8/10

Voltron Season 7 (spoilers)

Okay, I know everyone had mixed feelings about this season, but I did come out liking a lot of it. It had a lot of flaws (I really thought it would be Shiro’s season, and man was I wrong), but this is the sort of thing we can’t really judge until the last episode of the series is finished. I like to think of the positives: the action was amazing as usual, HUNK IS GETTING MORE AND MORE DEVELOPMENT EVERY SEASON, I refuse to believe the team introduced Adam just to have him killed off immediately so he’s still alive in my mind, we get to see everyone’s reunions with their families, the lost in space episode was cool, and say what you want about the game show episode, but I loved it! There were a lot of good things so it was easier for me to look past the...not so great aspects of the season. 7/10

Galavant

A musical comedy mini series involving a renowned medieval hero named Galavant on a quest to rescue his ex girlfriend from her “evil” husband King Richard. But maybe she doesn’t want to be rescued. Well, that’s just the first season. It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible. I remember liking it when it first came out, and it’s still pretty cute...but sometimes I feel like it’s trying too hard. A lot of the music isn’t really...memorable, but the characters are likable so it’s still worth the watch. 8/10

Disenchantment

Speaking of medieval comedies...Princess Bean doesn’t want to get married, mystical elf Elfo doesn’t want to live in an enchanted forest where everyone is happy all the time, and Bean’s personal demon Luci just wants to watch people suffer. Honestly, I wasn’t very into this show at first, but something compelled me to just keep watching, and by the end I was totally into it! This is one of those shows where you think there isn’t going to be a plot, but then the last few episodes come up and smack you in the face! 7.5/10

Round Planet

A documentary parody...mockumentary...satire...That’s really not a great way to describe it. It’s a nature documentary with funny commentary. I like nature shots and animals so I liked it, but there’s a lot of tangents and running jokes and British references that sometimes don’t land. Oh well, if you like unconventional documentaries, just watch it. 8/10

Honorable Mentions

DnDnD: I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this podcast before, but there’s a DnD podcast made by Practical Folks (aka the Drunk Disney youtube channel). It’s pretty good! I want an Adventure Zone crossover now!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Every time I think I’m out, it pulls me back in. I finally got the DLC and spent most of this month playing this freaking game AGAIN!

The Heathers soundtrack: I finally listened to the Heathers musical soundtrack...and I didn’t love it. There are some good songs in it, but overall I’m unimpressed. And I never could really get into the plot, I’ve always thought it was really weird and over dramatic.

Legendary by Stephanie Garber: I’m about halfway through this book, which is the second in the Caraval series. And it’s pretty good! More on that next month.

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thebibliomancer · 7 years

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100 Days of Comics! 048/100: DP7: Displaced Paranormals #25 (1988)

Today’s selection from the mysterious enigmatic box of 100 random comics brings a story from Marvel’s New Universe.

So the New Universe. For Marvel’s 25th anniversary, Jim Shooter proposed ending the Marvel Universe. And then restarting it but updated to the present era. This was rejected because it would be like shooting the golden goose.

So Shooter instead proposed creating a new universe, a brand new range of IP, which would be set in a more realistic, modern universe where crazy comic book stuff only started happening recently.

This got approved but around the same time, Marvel’s owners Cadence Industries threatened to sell off Marvel, which forced Marvel to cut costs and increase revenue. Shooter’s budget for the New Universe was cut to the bone and instead of top creators, Shooter had to use people new to the industry or who couldn’t get work otherwise. Shooter himself couldn’t devote as much time as he wanted to the line because of intracompany politics that eventually led him to leave his editor-in-chief position.

Damn. I know that a lot of people in the industry hate Jim Shooter but between this and Valiant Comics, it sometimes seems like Jim Shooter can’t catch a break.

ANYWAY. That’s the out of universe origin. Here’s the in-universe origin.

It began with the White Event, a mysterious astronomical phenomenon which bombarded the entire earth with unknown energies two summers past. In two persons out of every million, this energy triggered largely benign body-wide mutations resulting in paranormal forms and abilities. Few people were aware of the ramifications of the White Event. Its mutagenic energies affected people at vastly different rates so that it took anywhere from days to months to years before paranormality would manifest itself in a specific person. Consequently, the general public was unaware that paranormals walked among them for over a year.

Then came the Black Event, the total disintegration of the city of Pittsburgh through the misuse of the greatest paranormal power of all. Although no one knows who is responsible for the atrocity, it is widely believed among high government intelligence circles to be the work of a foreign paranormal. In the wake of the disaster, the president reinstated the draft in an effort to not only mobilize a standing army, but also to locate the nation’s paranormals so that they could be forged into an elite fighting force. But the army is not the only government agency interested in paranormals. The Central Intelligence Agency, among others, has its own paranormal recruitment program. This program is aimed primarily toward female paranormals who are not yet eligible for the draft.

This is the saga of seven of the many paranormals caught up in a world gone mad... Lenore Fenzl, Merriam Sorensen, Charlotte Beck, Stephanie Harrington, and Jenny Swensen, the first five recruits of the C.I.A.’s special paranormal task force... and Dave Landers and Randy O’Brien, two members of the U.S. Army’s first paranormal platoon...

And hey! This issue was written by Mark Gruenwald! Famous for his run on Captain America, the Squadron Supreme, Quasar, and this book. Original owner of the Captain America shield now owned by Stephen Colbert. Apparently the Patron Saint of Marveldom. And memetically killed by a really bad piece of Rob Liefeld art.

So we start off with some paranormal children shoplifting some groceries in Wisconsin. They are runaways from the Clinic of Paranormal Research and as they try to escape from the police, they accidentally drive through the guardrail and tumble down the incline.

Meanwhile: Dr. Randy O’Brien doing surgery on Dave Landers at Major General Truscott, Jr. Memories Hospital in Georgia. For some reason, Dave attempted to commit suicide while in solitary confinement. Impaled himself on a metal spike.

And Dr. O’Brien is wondering why. What happened to Dave during his special powers training in the two months they were separated? And did O’Brien let him down in some way? O’Brien doesn’t want to blame himself but if he hadn’t lost his powers, he would have been in the same training with Dave.

O’Brien’s ‘parability’ was the ability to summon five Antibodies from within his own body, a starscapey version of himself that can fly, become intangible, and transfer memories through physical contact. Each of the Antibodies had a slightly different personality and O’Brien had varied amount of control over them.

But he has lost that power. Just as he started boot camp, he stopped being able to summon Antibodies. And at first he thought he’d be happy to be normal again but now he just feels empty.

But a nurse cuts his musings short. Colonel McInery wants the entire medical staff assembled in the basement at once for an urgent matter.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin. The ambulance has arrived at the car crash and dang its a mess. We don’t see most of it but one of the kids went through the windshield (wear your seatbelts, boys and girls) and another is missing an unspecified piece of anatomy.

But while one of the kids, Evan something, is strapped to a gurney and the EMTs are distracted, the Shadowman comes out of him. We saw him help out with the shoplifting earlier. And he works very much like an Antibody for reasons. During the crash, he came out and covered Evan to protect him. Now, he surrounds Evan and flies off with him thinking of Dr. O’Brien, leaving the EMTs confused about what that was.

Meanwhile, back at the Georgia hospital basement, Colonel McInery shows the medical staff their new patient. The Famileech.

It (they?) are a twisted horrific amalgamation. The Robinson family was just outside Pittsburgh last December right before the Black Event. When it happened, their car was swept over the lip of the Pitt and slide all the way down the crater wall to the bottom where they were exposed to the mutagenic sludge that is the liquefied remains of Pittsburgh.

Yeah.

Somehow, their exposure to the Pitt-Juice caused the whole family to bond together on the cellular level. Also, the Famileech eats people. Even now its banging on the door shouting “HUNNNNNGRY! Need food! Want your bodies...”

Yeah.

With new and improved pressure suits to protect them from absorption (the previous model didn’t help Lieutenant Lancaster though) and piping halothane into the Famileech’s room to knock it out, the medical staff can go in to take a tissue sample for a biopsy and take measurements and any vital signs.

Dawn the next day, the Shadowman arrives at the hospital. Yup. He flew all night from Wisconsin to Georgia. He flies through the window as Dr. O’Brien is examining Dave Landers and pulls Evan out of himself.

The Shadowman gestures for O’Brien to examine Evan and then touches him to share memories of his time with Evan and the car accident.

And O’Brien realizes that this Shadowman is actually his renegade Antibody!

I said he had varied amounts of control over his Antibodies, right? Well this one strangled one of the clinic’s therapists to death. The man was a dangerous psychopath but realizing that his Antibodies could become killers, O’Brien disowned the Antibody, refused to allow him access to his host-body.

He had assumed that without access to him, the Antibody had withered up and died. He didn’t contemplate that another human being could sustain the Antibodies.

O’Brien finishes examining Evan. The kid has head trauma but his vital signs look good.

But before he can have it out with the Shadowman, an alarm goes off. Rushing out into the hallway with the Shadowman tagging along, O’Brien sees that the Famileech has somehow gotten out and is eating Nurse Ahrens.

The Shadowman flies away, leaving O’Brien to try to divert the Famileech from the wing Dave and Evan are in by getting it to chase him instead. He dead ends at a fire door that won’t open, defeating the entire point of being a fire door.

But then the Shadowman comes back to save him. It had only flown off to forehead kiss Evan goodbye.

The Shadowman envelopes O’Brien and tries to fly him over the Famileech but either O’Brien is too heavy or the Shadowman is too weak after flying cross-country all night.

So instead he tackles and tries to punch out the Famileech and gets torn apart for his troubles.

With the Shadowman disintegrating, the Famileech comes for O’Brien. The doctor prays to god not to let him die like this, trapped, frightened and alone.

And bam. O’Brien manages to summon his four Antibodies. But he realizes that individually they’re no match for the Famileech. But... the Shadowman showed him that one of his Antibodies could envelope his body like armor. So what if he did that with all four?

Luckily, they’re cooperate and O’Brien is protected by four layers of Antibodies and wields their combined strength. Nicely solving his issue with his powers where he felt that he wasn’t really directly in control.

x4 Antibodied O’Brien punches the Famileech back into its cell with a lot of wet sounding sound effects like SPLOOSH and SPLOK and barricades the door.

After, the four Antibodies peel off and fly back inside him, needing to recharge after that display.

And O’Brien is left thinking that the renegade Antibody which he disowned has given him a new lease on life by showing him there were possibilities with his powers that he would never have tried!

Eesh, this is getting long. And there’s a backup story. Starring THE ESPEOPLE called Night of the Mask.

Basically a bunch of dorky paranormal draft dodgers are sitting around playing probably-DnD in the guise of Psi-Lord, Purple Veil, Supernatural, the Apparition, Trancer, and Phantom Bullet when Walter (Psi-Lord) faints and Nightmask appears.

Danny/the Apparition immediately uses his illusion powers to cloak the ESPeople as their probably-DnD characters. They demand that Nightmask state name and business but since Nightmask’s powers are all about entering dreams, he thinks this is someone’s dream and decides to flee the ESPeople until he can figure out what brand of dream logic this particular dream is working on.

But the ESPeople manage to pin him down with their assorted cool powers (Phantom Bullet shoots phantom bullets from his fingers, Supernatural controls natural forces, Apparition as I said before does illusions, and Trancer and Psi-Lord seem to be psychics. Not sure if there’s a difference in their powers).

Trancer reads Nightmask’s mind and realizes that Nightmask thinks this is a dream. Psi-Lord comes to and erases Nightmask’s memories of this encounter (the ESPeople are draft dodgers after all and Nightmask has already been drafted).

Psi-Lord then wonders aloud whether the ESPeople should stop hiding out and maybe get involved to help the world before everything falls apart. The others just say “Nah.”

And the issue ends with a confused Nightmask wandering down the road toward his next adventure in Justice #25.

So for my first exposure to the New Universe, it was pretty good. Shame that the New Universe experiment ultimately failed. Some elements eventually made their way to the mainstream Marvel universe, like Starbrand and Nightmask and a new White Event.

#100 Days of Comics!#DP7 #Displaced Paranormals #Shadowman #Nightmask #ESPeople #New Universe

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